A/N: Spoilers for 3x03 "One Of Us, One Of Them" (only mentions of the spoiler). I do not own "Heroes" or the characters, nor do I pretend to. I'm simply borrowing them, and will return them in a timely manner. WARNING: Dark themes. Also posted on my heroes LJ, heroesfan86.

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"You're my phoenix," Sylar's voice sends shivers down Claire's body. She stares up at him, the cold air from outside blowing over her body. She was dressed in shorts and a long sleeved shirt. "My beautiful little phoenix."

Claire wants to cry, wants to scream, wants to beat his brains out, but she can't. Once his lips touch hers, the age difference between them doesn't matter. Once his arms wrap around her fragile, shaking body, their pasts don't matter. Nothing mattered but the here and now and when Claire arched her back as Sylar ran a finger down her back, she realized that this was what she wanted. This was who she wanted.

Her and Sylar were perfect for each other in her mind, their imperfections balancing each other out so that they seemed almost normal. She could easily ignore his need to kill and concentrate on how they connected, how they were so similar yet so different. She wanted him in her life always, as a lover she met in secrecy.

Her father definitely wouldn't approve of him marrying her, which made him all the more attractive. She wanted to disobey her father. She didn't want to be perfectly normal anymore, she wanted danger, lots and lots of danger.

Claire woke up quickly and jumped out of her bed, hitting her wall in the process. She ran down the hallway, jumped down the stairs, and barely made it outside before she puked out her dinner. She was nobody's phoenix, and definitely not Sylar's. Sylar didn't own anything about her.

"My beautiful little phoenix."

She shivered as she remembered the touch of Sylar's finger against her skin. It was warm, almost loving, definitely nothing like Sylar. She hated Sylar, so why was she having these erotic nightmares about him, the man who tried to kill her twice?

She didn't look up as her father came running for her, calling out her name as he wrapped his robe around his body. He didn't have his glasses on.

"Claire, what's wrong?" he asked. Claire stood up, wiped her mouth, and went inside silently. She cried in silence as well, feeling like she had been violated. She ignored her father's questions as she walked back up to her room and shut the door.

She didn't see the man in her closet, watching her with brown eyes filled with lust. He was silent, watching her curse him and punch her pillows out of anger.

Sylar liked this new power of his.

He had read somewhere that dreams could deeply affect a person's life, and he found this entertaining. He could break Claire, make her weep and beg for the dreams to stop to a Higher Being. He liked the power he had over her now.