To all who know me, I am thought of first and foremost as the daughter of the Demon's Head. Even my chosen beloved sees first that I am my father's daughter, before the person I am bears upon his consideration. This has been such a constant in my life that I've never thought to question it until a pair of assessing green eyes ran over me with cool feline contemplation. As Selina Kyle's gaze slid over me with slow insolence, I knew without question that it was only the woman Talia that held her interest. It was not that she did not know I was the daughter of Ras Al Ghul, the most dangerous of Batman many adversaries, and a person of near unimaginable power within the shadowed, global underworld. Selina Kyle was herself a member of the underworld's elite, an expert thief and professional master criminal. She knew exactly who my father was.
But as she looked at me, as one woman looks at another who is her romantic rival, it was only myself as a woman that entered into her regard. It was unsettling, but also strangely gratifying.
"To what do I owe the pleasure?"
The curl of wariness in her voice had curious roughness, not unlike a warning growl. Her tone clearly conveyed suspicion, but it was still a rather attractive sound. Selina's expression was quietly guarded, but I did not believe she was happy to see me. And why should she be? Of all the women in the world, only we two had shared true passion with the dark knight vigilante known as Batman. It was a very select sisterhood, and our common bond was not only that he had loved us in his own way, but that the most basic truths that made us the women we were barred him from cleaving to us for anything longer than a few short, stolen moments in time.
"Would you believe chance and curiosity, Miss Kyle?" I answered her with the slightest of smiles, wondering if my habitual enigmatic expression would grate upon her nerves as it did so many who saw me as a potential threat. To her credit, Selina did not allow the flash of distrust that initially colored her gaze and voice to show in either as she made a surprisingly cordial invitation to sit. Perhaps I was not the only one who had wondered about "the other woman" and saw this as the rare and unlooked for opportunity it was.
"If you do not mind my asking, are you here on business?" I asked as a ubiquitous waiter appeared silently to hand me a menu and await my order, "Or pleasure."
I waved away the menial, hardly looking at the glossy cardstock folder that listed an array of rare and expensive foodstuffs that made the restaurant the exclusive darling of the world's most wealthy patrons. I was no longer interested in food or drink, though that had been my intent when I'd sought out the shadow dim establishment, where the flickering light of tables' candles provided the only illumination. My complete attention was now only for the dark haired woman who leaned back in her chair with the casual feline grace of her name. Long dark locks waved silky and loose down her back, stark contrast to her pale, fine complexion. Selina Kyle was a beautiful woman with delicate fine boned features that royalty could envy. A lesser woman might have been intimidated by such loveliness in a rival, but with no false modesty, I knew I too was just as attractive, an exotic desert bloom of female beauty.
"And if I do mind?" Selina's voice held an edged, smokey amusement as the question brought a surprised blink to my eyes. I did not often engage the practice of small talk, and even more rarely exchange conversation with other females. With a man I would know how to react, as pleasing conversation had been part of the womanly arts I'd been trained in since my youngest childhood, just as intensely as the arts of the assassin. With a man, I'd have flirted, subtly, and been quietly alluring. Would that work with another woman? A warm flush ran through me at the thought as I studied the woman sitting across from me.
"Do you? Mind?" I asked, letting my lashes fall to half veil my gaze as I felt an unexplained dryness in my mouth.
to be continued...