X-X-X-X-V-X-X
"Well, this is embarrassing." She muttered with a smirk. "Please, continue."
"I…You aren't…I'm sorry…I don't…" He mentally smacked himself over he head. And there went the bet, thank you for playing.
She stared at him for what he believed to be forever. He averted his eyes and they fell to the jacket she had folded over an arm. Then he felt a hand on his wrist and a sudden lurch and he was pulled through the parting crowd.
She stopped when they reached the table at the far back of the bar. It was a dark corner that was occasionally hit with a beam of vibrant strobe light. To the side was one of the few side exits to the club. She pushed him into a chair and took a seat across from him.
"What were you thinking about then?"
Oh, thank God. She had given him a chance to explain!
"The way you danced. It seemed familiar to me. I was trying to put a face to the movement."
She nodded and then placed her hands in the center of the table. He cautiously glanced up at her and she seemed to be deep in thought.
"That makes sense. I guess." She muttered. When she looked back up at him, he was firmly reminded of a steel blade. An intensity that could strip the truth from lying eyes reminded him of another. The way the blood-stained eyes of his rival always pierced him.
"So you're not offended?" He asked with obvious hesitation. He still wasn't sure he was back in her good book. She was more temperamental than any other girl he'd asked before. There was no telling if she was about to walk out on him and he'd lose the bet. He never lost. And he liked to believe that it would stay that way.
"No." She looked over his shoulder and he followed her eyes to his friend and the two Hiwatari considered his closet friends.
"Do you want to join them?" She grimaced.
"Not in this life time." Then those eyes were on him again. "What did you pick me for?"
He shrugged and let his mind go auto-pilot. Girls asked these self-absorbed questions all the time. They always wanted to hear what set them apart from the others and why he wasn't talking to someone 'more beautiful' 'better' 'just…more'.
"Look around. I'm the center of everyone's envy cause I'm sitting here talking to you. Why shouldn't I have picked you?"
"Wrong answer, charmer." She held up one finger and a silver ring gleamed like a brilliant sword. "Why did you pick me?"
He stared at her. He must have missed something. But then, his gut, always on top of things, told him that this was a three strike thing. And he was already down one.
"I didn't pick you. You accepted my presence. You let me talk to you." This was answer number two on his list of 'Things-women-wanted-to-hear-because-they-were-conceited-but-it-was-their-nature-so-it-was-forgiven.'
She raised another finger. Red strobe flashed and, the shadows must have been screwing with his mind, he saw his rival for a moment. That made the truth fall from his mouth before he registered what he was saying. He'd never lied to his rival before. He liked other ways in defeating him.
"I'm talking to you because I accepted the bet. I didn't pick you. You were chosen by Kuznetsov and Sharkrash. I didn't have a say. I was supposed to get your number."
She lowered her fingers and balled her fists. Her entire profile went rigid and she seemed to pale slightly. Without another thought, she was out of her seat and dragging him to the table where their respective friends….acquaintances…were seated. She shoved him into the other seat, the one he'd asked Ray to save, and then glared at the two.
"I'm done. Do you think this was some joke? Get your laugh? I agreed to this little stunt but I'm pulling out. I've had it. You wanted cash, well you made some. You wanted to get a joke out of this, you've got it. Blackmail, sure. But I've had enough. Consider your debt paid. I'm out." And she walked off.
They sat there frozen before Rei broke it.
"What the hell? What was she talking about? How did she know? This is a friggin scam." The other three were still frozen but gradually, Bryan blinked and turned toward him.
"Not really. We didn't tell her what it entails but…" his eyes drifted to Tala. "Did you tell her?"
He nodded.
"And you're supposed to be slick. No wonder's h-she's ticked. Won't talk to us for days by the look of it." Miriam's slip went unnoticed. Bryan was glaring at Tala, Rei was glaring at Bryan and Tala was dazed out in the direction the other had left in.
"Well! Go after her!" Bryan kicked Tala's shin under the table and the redhead was pulled out of his mind.
"Huh?"
"Go. After. Her. Ivanov. Now." Tala nodded and went in the direction she had vanished. He'd stopped to ask and they pointed to the uni-sex bathroom. He opened the door and scowled at the poor lighting in here. In the far back one light was out, another was flickering and the one he was under glowed only a bit brighter.
"Ice?" He asked and he saw a flash of silver in the shadows. She was in front of the farthest mirror.
"What do you want?" Her voice was cold and dangerous.
"Uh…um…I…"
"Get out if that's all you're going to do." Her tone was mocking and full of loath.
"I wanted to explain."
"Explain what? You took a bet. Do you think I'm hurt that you took a bet to see if you could get my number?" She waited and when he didn't dispute her, she laughed lowly. "You do, don't you? Arrogant, Tala." Her voice then, so like…his.
And she was right. But he didn't have to like it. So he growled. She heard and snorted. "Think that's it?"
"Obviously. You didn't say otherwise." She ran water and he tried to make out her face.
"I wanted to explain why I took it. And why I never asked for it."
"You were hoping to draw me in with promises of seduction, my favorite bar and, hopefully, a little physical stimulation. Don't insult me. I know what you had planned."
He definitely felt out of his depth. Sure, that had been the plan but when she said it, it sounded foul. So he kept silent. It was a very wise move considering.
"So why are you here? Want to ask about my outburst?"
"I…felt like I should follow."
That made her pause. And then sigh. "You don't know what you're going on about. Or how deep you're trying to get. Go on, Tala. Let me be alone."
He felt the drive to comply. But he stayed. "Where are you going to go? You don't want to leave with Kuznetsov and Sharkrash. Do you want me to drive you?"
"I'm taking a cab. It's no business of your's where I live." She turned off the water and he saw the flash of silver in the water vanish down the drain. What?
"I'll stand outside with you until you can hail one." He made his tone definitive. To be obeyed without objection. It had to work some time, right?
"Fine." She shrugged on the leather coat and brushed past him. He left after her and they made their way to the street outside the club.
He breathed in the slightly cold city air and knew they'd be in for a wait. This part of town was deserted around this hour. They were in for a long wait.
She walked a bit away from the club and stopped on the skirt of a street lamp's light. Under the dirty pale glow, she looked like the darkness again, and not at all the fire from before.
"This air reeks." He looked over at her leaning figure and drew up one eyebrow. "Forest air tastes better."
"I know. I can't wait to leave." He had a few years though. Before he had the college he had forced himself to take was completed and he could return to his job out in the Russian wilds. In a few years, he'd be out with the wolves again.
"I've got two years and then I'm out." she sounded yearning. Like there was something she was desperate to get to.
"Same." He nodded and took a place beside her. She looked over to him and he realized that she a half inch taller because of those boots. Why hadn't he noticed before?
"Where are you going then?" He grinned faintly.
"Wilderness. There's a research center out in Russia that I'd like to get involved with. Japan's only good for the school here. Everything else can rot for all I care." He looked at the neon lights polluting the skies above and before him. There were never any stars so close to town.
"City life has it's own perks. I've got a place so high up you can actually see the stars and the moon." She was wistful now.
"I've got a place in Russia where you can hear the wolves. Can't get that here." She shook her head and brushed back her bangs in a familiar gesture.
"There're clean places here too. If you know where to look." She pointed far off, her shadow on the concrete distorted. He followed the direction of her hand and only saw city lights. He shook his head minutely.
A car passed by the club but it wasn't a cab. They watched it until the red lights faded. Music was faint from the club inside but they heard none of it.
"What are you trying to do? Still want to win the bet?"
"I like to talk to you. I don't give a damn what I'm out in terms of cash. This more than makes up for it."
"You're a fool. A devil-horned fool." She muttered and he felt a pang of memory. A smaller, fiercer and male child said that to him when he too was a kid. But that child was gone. Taken by the true devil. He laughed hollowly.
"True. Very true." She narrowed her eyes.
"Why aren't you arguing with me? What are you trying to pull?"
"You're too suspicious. I'm just talking. And you can't argue with the truth." He strode to stand in front of her and noticed with shock that her eyes were another color. Like the silver was washed with blood. Crimson-kissed eyes bore into his own blue.
"What happened to your eyes?" He asked without realizing he had. She flinched and averted her eyes.
"You need to go, Ivanov. I'm not going to be waiting much longer." She swatted bangs but they only moved to hide her eyes. He took a step closer.
"I'll wait until you are in a cab. Then, I'll leave." He nodded as if to strengthen his resolve. She stiffened as he touched the outer edges of her personal space.
"Then you can stand elsewhere. No one stands in front of me. And no one invades my space unless I've given them permission." She hissed and snarled, all in a husky tone that made shivers dart down his spine. He was immune to threats. Hiwatari served them often enough.
"Were you wearing contacts before? Is that even your natural hair color?"
"What the fuck do you care? Huh?! Just shove off. I don't need you watching over me. I'm fine without you, Mr. Arrogant. So piss off." She shoved him, hard. He faltered back a step but there hadn't been enough to dislodge him from his space.
"I've listened to that foul mouth all night. Care to refine yourself?" He attempted the haughty tone his rival often inflected but couldn't quite pull it off. As was obvious by her sudden amusement.
"I'm just speaking on your level. Now, if you don't mind, get out of my face." Now that was the perfect tone and measure of haughtiness. He stared at her for a minute before a smirk played on his lips.
"It's been your game all night. And I've been the dumb idiot who tried to play along. Now, we're in my game. You try playing." He purposefully took a step forward and watched her involuntarily back into the wall. Sadism lit briefly in his eyes.
"I'm not playing any game. You were the one who was stupid enough to listen then. I'm smart enough not to play now." She kept her voice biting like her name. But he ignored it. He was born in the land of snow and ice. It was fire that pushed him away and drew him close enough to burn.
"We were both playing. Like it or not. And now we're playing another game. And the rules are anything goes." She smirked suddenly and he narrowed his eyes. "What?"
"You sounded so cliché. What are you, a twelve year old?" She laughed a bit but even to him it sounded a bit strained and a lot more agitated.
"Insults again." He sighed playfully and stepped closer, "You are missing the point. And you're losing."
"I don't lose." She said before she could stop herself. Then she folded her arms across her chest in a defiant gesture. "What game exactly are we playing?"
"Life." He grinned as she scoffed.
"Right. Let me spin the wheel. Maybe I'll get a pay day." She sneered at the idea and laughed at her own bad joke. "Whatever. Don't get so close to me."
"Afraid?" Of course she was. No woman wouldn't be afraid to be stuck in the middle of a deserted street alone with a young man and her friends out of shouting distance. No one to help her if she screamed. He was getting off track…It wasn't like he was going to rape or kill her…But he was owed something for tonight, and damn it, he wanted a taste of her.
"I fear nothing." And the crimson eyes flashed behind the black hair. Lightning struck his gut and put the face of his rival on the face of this woman. But he ignored it. A trick of the light. His mind conjuring the image.
"You're afraid right now." He stepped close enough to get his face in inches of hers. She wasn't backing away or trying to idle past him like some of the other had always tried before they succumbed to his call. Before they drowned in the depths of his icy azure eyes and gave in. She was daring him to try. Daring him to even attempt it.
He debated for a minute. She could easily handle him. She proved that before. He hadn't been so tongue tied and blank-minded before. But that was in her arena. They were in his, and he was the undisputed ruler.
He leaned in and up only a bit to touch her lips to his. It was a simple touch, barely even registering to her before he pressed harder and locked her hands to the wall when they unfolded to push him away. He'd trapped her and caught a taste of pure lava.
Her eyes were wide. He could tell that even before he pulled away. But he confirmed it when he did. She seemed lost between shock and anxiety. He leaned in for another taste but felt too late that her wrists had slipped out of his hands.
She caught his shoulders and shoved him into the wall. Her eyes were hidden and her grip like an iron band on his wrists. He vaguely thought that they'd bruise from the sheer force of the grip. But that was a thought before he felt the fire pressed back onto him. She was kissing him hard, demanding and brutal. He'd never had a girl slip though before. And he'd never had one be as dominant. But he supposed there was a new thing for each day and today he found it.
So he complied and let her dominate. She bit his lower lip and he tasted blood in the same instant he tasted magma. She brushed her tongue through his mouth, gently before turning demanding. She was harsh and fierce, a taste that burned itself into memory. She flicked a sensitive spot and made his entire body tense. And it made his heart throb. When she pulled back, a bit of blood and saliva hung to her lips that was licked away.
"Don't try to dominate me, Tala. You're not strong enough yet." She leaned in and licked the blood away on his lower lip, making the sting fade. She pulled something out of her pocket and flashed it in front of his eyes. It was a slip of paper.
She tucked it into his pocket and burned him with blood-kissed eyes. Her tone. The way she moved. The way she tasted. He branded it into memory. And he felt the pressure on his wrists recede. And in an instant, a cab was at the curb and she was gone.
He stared dumbly at the empty air before he raised a hand to his mouth. He pulled away a red stained finger and licked away the blood, still tasting fire. Her saw faint marks on his wrists that would bruise but disregarded them.
He slid the paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. "You win. Here's my number" And she'd signed it with a faint flourish that was familiar. He stared at the number though. He'd won the bet. Even if it was now void.
But that didn't stop him from hunting down Rei. Who was still seated at the table with Hiwatari's friends. And looked furious.
"Rei?"
"Tala! What the hell happened to you?!" Rei was staring at his bloody lip and occasionally looked down at his bruising wrists. Personally, he thought that his redheaded friend had a run in with some street punk.
"I got her number." He showed it to the three shocked faces.
"I don't even want to know how, do I?" Bryan asked with a sigh. He looked down at Miriam. "Is the bet void? We didn't set any restrictions on this. Does he get the money?"
"He's earned it. Looks like he got hit by talons." She smirked at the bleeding lip and the bruising wrists. She and Bryan were right about this one. And the bit of money they were out here would well make up for it in the end. Her friend was too lonely. He needed something to spark his light again. So this ice-block painted red would have to do.
"I don't even want it now." He said before Bryan could hand it over.
"Don't be stupid. You won. It's yours and you better take it before I feed it to you." Bryan shoved the stack of bills to the other side of the table.
"I don't want it. Burn it for all I care. Rei, I'm out." And the redhead slipped out into the crowd and toward the parking lot. Ray stared at the stack of money, looked in the direction Tala had vanished in and then up to Bryan.
"I'll take it. And make sure he doesn't' drive into something." Rei held the stack of bills like it was a snake about to bite and vanished after Tala.
"You know what this means right?" Bryan nodded. "And it only took one night of pure embarrassed hell for him to see it."
They exchanged evil grins and ordered something to celebrate. So far, so good. Soon, they'd be swamped with emotional overflow from their friend and leader. He'd been too closed off lately and only allowed the black and red-furred beasts he called 'dogs' close enough to see him. Now that list was going to grow. And they had firm feelings that his redheaded rival was going to be at the top. This year was going to be fun.