Your Love Is My Drug

December 9

Ari tilted his head, fully aware of how dog-like he looked. Many of his fellow Erasers were staring at him, slightly confused by his interest. They were extremely superficial, and therefore only understood his attraction to her body. However, none of them were there for his first fight with her, and didn't know her personality.

Not like Ari was an expert on her or anything—he was just interested, and planned to make himself an expert on all of her.

It would work out just fine.

"Dude, she's a babe," one Eraser commented. It was true. Her hair was vaguely blonde, but every time she moved her head, it looked like her hair color changed. At certain moments, Ari saw copper, brown, and then blonde again. Her eyes were closed now—she was in the third stage of hypothermia by the time he got her back to the truck, and was still recovering—but he had seen the emerald green shine in them, especially when she was fighting. And man, when she was fighting! Ari had to admit, he started to fear for his life after her groin strike—but he could tell she doubted herself, and so his lie had passed easily. Nevertheless, when she moved and twisted and even punched…hot.

And right now, she was cold as hell. After he had pushed her into the lake (which he had found quite entertaining), her temperature had steadily begun to decrease. Currently, it was around 90 degrees, which was about 15 degrees cooler than her normal body temperature (according to the doctors). Ari ran a nice, hot temperature of 108 degrees Fahrenheit, but apparently females were a bit cooler.

Anyway, by the time he and his partner had reached the truck, Ivy in his arms, the poor freak was as stiff as a board and about as responsive. Her shivering had stopped because she was no longer able to, and her attractive lips had gone blue. The splash of vibrant pink had slipped from her cheeks. Her appealing, petite body was shutting down.

Once Ari had reached the base, doctors had instantly swarmed him, and literally kicked him out, snatching Ivy from his arms. As he was rushed out of the room, he saw her clothing being stripped away (although he didn't see anything), and passed a medic who was murmuring "severe hypothermia," and carrying an IV bag.

Five minutes later, he had taken a squad and infiltrated the security camera room. No one was stationed there and he had clearance, but had quickly switched it over to the main operating room and stationed a guy by the door. Ivy was stretched out on a table, an IV with warming fluids stuck into her arm. Her soaked clothes had been replaced with a hospital gown, and an electric blanket was thrown over her. As Ari and his group watched, she started to stir a little, and complain. They could hear her yell something about, "Leave me alone! I just need a little nap, jerk. Why are you trying to kill me?" She kicked off the blanket. "It's too hot in here! Are you trying to suffocate me?" She reached up to her collar and started to rip off the gown.

The Erasers packed around the screen.

Just before the gown turned to glob-of-fabric-on-the-floor, a doctor pushed Ivy down, and yanked her arms back. The Erasers all swore and started to complain. The doctor and two others held her down and bound her wrists and ankles to the table. She screamed.

She looked so… vulnerable and tempting.

Twenty minutes later, Ari was still watching her squirm, transfixed. She just could not hold still. It probably wasn't up to her at the moment—the chill had disturbed her mind.

Ari dropped his head onto the table and shook it, face down. What was he getting himself into? He really wanted to keep her, but knew it wouldn't be a popular request. He'd have to pull so many strings—not like that would be difficult—and convince so many people of her use. So far, he only had one thing in mind for her, and would definitely need a lot more than that.

An Eraser, the one from Navy Pier (worthless piece of crap), walked over to Ari and sat down next to him, smirking. Erasers didn't usually have names, but this one went by the name 'Dax.' No one knew why—not even him, apparently. Anyway, Dax slid languidly into the seat next to Ari, staring at the TV screen and smirking. He opened his mouth and spilled out the lyrics, "I want your love, and I want your revenge, you and me could write a bad romance…" Ari frowned a little, staring at him. He had a decent voice, although Ari didn't recognize the song. "She's hot. But I kinda want to eat her," said Dax. Ari raised an eyebrow. Eat her? That's not what he wanted. He was still stuck on the 'she's hot' part. "Y'know? She just looks so edible!" Dax stared straight at Ari, grinning, eyes wide.

He was obviously crazy. "Are you usually this stupid or are you trying really, really hard today?"

"Can I have her when you're done, dude?" Dax pressed, not hearing Ari's insult. "They don't feed me enough, y'know?"

"Bug off, dipstick." Ari turned his head away as Dax laughed. Idiot.

"Aw, man, you are in so deep. That's bad." Dax laughed. "Already in love and you've hardly even talked to her! Pretty superficial, ain't ya?" The Eraser punched Ari's shoulder teasingly.

Ari looked back at Dax, glaring. "Pardon me—you must have mistaken me for someone who gives a damn what you think." Dax busted up, his head falling back. The mop of bleach blonde hair on his head flew behind him and trembled with his laughter.

"No need to get defensive, bud. Jeez. You're a funny freak, y'know that? I'm sure she's gonna be totally into you. You're personality totally outweighs the fact that you're a freak. She'll be all over you."

His voice could have been a dripping icicle for how sarcastic and cold it was.

Ari's fists clenched. He would show this idiot. She'd be "totally into him." Ari would make her if he had too—but she was totally his. And only his. He was tired of everyone deserting him. His whole history was comprised of loneliness and lack of compassion.

It was time to change.

With no warning, Ari's fist snapped out and back so fast that he didn't even see it. Dax fell backwards out of his spinney chair, still laughing like a madman, his nose beginning to bleed. He rolled to the side, curling up defensively, but still laughing. Ari kicked him in the back once, or good measure, and then turned back to the screen. Ivy was still wriggling a little, but it wasn't anything he needed to watch. He smirked a little, and looked down at Dax once more before striding out the door.

Time to get something to eat.

I'm not quite sure where I went, but wherever I was, I was pretty darn mellow. After getting knocked into the water, dragged out of the water, and thrown into the truck, my vision was down for the count. Everything was dark, and then suddenly bright. For a moment, I was sure I had died, was going to heaven. Didn't really care where Ari and his goon took me, 'cause I was already gone. But then, I felt this insane pain in my back. My wings. See, if I were in heaven, they would have felt fabulous.

Realizing I didn't feel like an angel, I suddenly latched onto the sounds of an engine, and oddly, a radio. It was cranking out some rapper's tune, making the truck thunk its way down the street. I couldn't open my eyes to see where we were, or what comfortable thing my head was rested on. My nose was stuffy. My clothes felt warm and dry, and the warmth in the air made me believe I was on a beach somewhere.

Suddenly, there was movement. Something like a wave of seasickness rolled over me, but there was nothing in my stomach to vomit out. I hadn't eaten in days.

The comfortable pillow and beach were gone, and I felt like a million fat fish were trying to eat me, plucking at my clothes, pinching at my skin. With no warning, they stole the warm fabric right off my body.

The fish, they must have been koi, were so fat and very strong. They picked me up, ignored my resistance completely, and tossed me into a very deep hot spring. And I felt them put a…fishbowl over my head, like in a cartoon.

Too hot. I couldn't breathe. I was suffocating and melting, and those stupid koi were just swimming around. Gasping, I started to kick, swim towards the edge, but with no warning, the koi morphed into one huge sea monster, and it chained me to a rock. I screamed, squirming, but I was worthless.

Attached to a huge slab of stone, up to my neck in boiling water, being suffocated by a fishbowl, I gave up and waited for my Perseus to come and rescue me.

He never came. Or if he did, it was too dark to see him.

"It was touchy for a little while. Her body really isn't meant to withstand that kind of temperature, and, um, you probably shouldn't have pushed her into Lake Michigan, but she pulled through. I guess she's a fighter."

"Damn straight she is. So how long 'til she wakes up?" Ari asked the doctor, crossing his arms over his chest. He knew it made him look more intimidating, and this doctor was insanely squeamish—very entertaining combination.

The doctor's eye twitched. "She should be up and mostly functional in about an hour. B-but she should rest a while. Would you like me to arrange a room for her to be kept for some time?"

Ari, you know they aren't going to go for her staying in your room. Let him set it up. She'll be fine. If you get too attached too quickly, they'll kill her…and you know that.

"Yeah. That'd be fine. But if you can, try to get a room in my sector—I have a feeling she's gonna make a break for it." He jerked his head, mostly in approval, but the doctor winced.

"Of course. I'll have someone come for you when she's been moved to a room." And with that, the doctor turned and quickly strode down the hall, and back into his office.

Ari snickered.

So. She's yours for now. But you felt how strong she is. What are you going to do to keep her in line? the voice prompted.

And with that, Ari decided to go practice.

The training room, which resembled a giant wrestling room, was already starting to fill up with Erasers. Nowadays, when Erasers weren't out on missions, they had certain routines they were required to follow. This included clocking in at least two hours of training every other day, just to keep them functional, as well as keep the endorphins flowing through their bodies. Since Ari had supposedly "graduated," he wasn't required to follow these routines, but the higher-ups liked to keep track of his progress. It was close to four, and a large crowd of goons from Sector 2 had already started to filter in. Ari quickly ducked into the locker room, stripped off his dirty silk suit, tossed it in the laundry pile like a rag, and whipped on a white wife-beater and some baggy blue shorts.

Managing to leave the room just as the crowd came in, Ari snatched up his attendance card, punched in, and headed out onto the padded floor.

Erasers tend to get cocky. Before Ari had finished stretching, some bulky noob from Sector 1 (which is closest to the "nursery," the place where the Erasers are first born) had challenged him to a fight. Most of these youngsters had a sort of distorted perspective—they always thought they could win. Honestly, they were bred that way, and pumped full of adrenaline and 'roids to make them think they had a chance. Furthermore, Ari looked like an easy target.

Ari wasn't a test tube baby, and therefore, he was born with human characteristics. Because of this, he had a slightly thinner frame and less bulky muscles than most Erasers (when he wasn't morphed), making him look like a weak link.

Wrong.

After warming up on a pad a little, Ari and the other Eraser positioned themselves in the middle ring of the room, and began to fight. By the time Ari had thrown the other Eraser so hard that teeth had flown, Erasers had started to crowd around.

The noob pulled himself to his feet after Ari threw him, and lunged relentless. With no effort and no sweat, Ari ducked under his arm, grabbed it, reached over to the other arm, and jerked the Eraser into a full nelson.

Watch his legs, the voice warned. Ari looked down as the noob executed an awkward donkey kick, but he was able to step to the side, and then kicked the other knee. With no leg touching the ground, the Eraser lost balance, and fell forward, taking Ari with him. But the noob had skill—he flipped in the air so that he landed on top of Ari. Pain. In. The. Wings.

"Damnit," Ari snarled, rolling to avoid a punch. That was sort of surprising. But maybe he was just out of it. With no warning, a foot hit him in the face just as Ivy's face appeared in his head. "Whoa, there." He coughed, blood coming out of his mouth. Passion suddenly erupted through him, and he popped up to his feet with a nifty little kip. The Eraser noob was grinning, and that really pissed Ari off. Like lighting, he hit the noob in the stomach, and as he keeled, Ari ducked behind him, swung his leg up, and hit the Eraser with a good solid axe kick, right in the spine.

The Eraser whimpered on the floor.

"Jeez, they just don't make 'em like they used to." Ari exclaimed as all the surrounding Erasers gaped at him. "That was boring." With that, he stepped off the mat, hiding a little limp, and snatched up a sweat rag. Then he strode off, heading back to the locker room.

"Hey!" came a gruff voice. Ari paused, wiping his face. "Where do you think you're going? I didn't tap! I can still whoop you, freak! Come back!" Something hard smacked the back of Ari's head, jerking him forward a little. He looked at the floor and spotted a light weight medicine ball rolling away from him. Snarling, he threw down the rag, picked up the ball, and then spun, throwing it up, above the Eraser. As the noob looked up to dodge the weight, Ari took to the air and swooped down on the Eraser. With one surprising kick to the throat, a heel kick that broke at least three ribs, and five solid punches to the face, Ari had the Eraser back on the ground, bleeding and choking.

"Good luck in the real world, freak," Ari growled, breaking the Eraser's radius for good measure. He left the crying noob on the floor for good this time, but as he left another Eraser grabbed his shirt and tried to get in his face. Before that could go anywhere, Ari kneed him in the crotch. But his shirt ripped, showing off more chest muscles.

After he got to the locker room he remembered that all of his clothes were in his room—he hadn't brought anything to change into. Sighing, he left the room, punched out and started down the hallway towards his private room. Before he had gotten more than ten yards, the doctor from earlier assaulted him.

"Batchelder…she's been moved to room 282 in your sector. She should be waking, but we gave her a very small dose of Rohypnol…she should remain…calm."

Ari frowned. Rohypnol? "Isn't that…the date rape drug?"

"Oh, um, yes. But it will help her relax when it kicks in all the way. Have a good day. She's being monitored." And with that, he took off. Ari shrugged, but was suddenly very excited to see his prize. He decided to go find her, and then find clothing.

The room was blurry. Dirty, small, and blurry. The good doc had given me something extra, and I was seriously feeling it. Yeesh. I blinked a few times, and then noticed the cords attached to my wrists and—a bed frame? No, not cords—leather strips. They were on my ankles too. I sighed.

No use trying. These guys seemed pretty constant.

My head ached. My throat was dry. My muscles were beyond sore. And my wings, which someone had tucked beneath me tightly, hurt like sin. Groggy. Foggy. Anyone got some Claritin? Annoyed and in pain, I shouted. All kinds of stuff.

Eventually someone came. But I didn't want it to be him.

"Well, hell-o there," Ari said cheerfully. He looked like a basketball player in his outfit, and I frowned. Exercise outfit? Furthermore, why was he there?

I swore at him, but the sudden use of stronger words made my head spin, and I felt suddenly sleepy. "Send someone else," I growled, closing my eyes.

His hand swept across my face gently, toying with my hair. I cringed, and then tried to bite him. The movements made my wrists jerk and I winced as the leather chaffed at my skin. Ari frowned.

"That won't do," he said, reaching across me slowly to undo the bonds. I shuddered, and blinked, but my eyes reopened slower than they should have. Ari was still stretched across me, messing with the leather on my wrists, but the edges of his silhouette were getting hazy—like a mirage. Was I imagining him? "Hmm. Is it hot in here, or is it just you?" he murmured, leaning down and brushing his lips across my cheek.

"You—you are—" I gasped. I couldn't get the words out. My tongue felt like cotton. But all of a sudden, my desire to cuss him out and call him every bad name I could think of melted. No point.

"I am? I'm hot too?" he joked. I could tell from the steadily hazier expression on his face that he had known where I was going. I scowled at him. "Aww, c'mon, Creampuff, smile—it's the second best thing to do with your lips." He smirked, and finished untying another bond.

Where did he get these lines? The Internet? Creampuff? God. I sighed, and suddenly experienced a spark shoot up my leg to my core. I gasped, jolting the bed. Lifting my head slowly, I looked at Ari, who had just brushed his hand up my thigh, pushing the hospital gown up. What did I have on under it? Did I have—?

"Felt good, didn't it?" Ari whispered. I strained to hear him, my body curving to follow his voice. "Bet you five bucks I could make your Thursday a helluva lot more interesting…" His brown eyes locked on my green, and I gasped again.

I couldn't fight. I didn't know how. My brain was…

Ari slid a hand across my collarbone, and my heart rate shot through the roof. His broad, warm palm slipped over my shoulder and snaked down to the tie of the gown. I felt him tug gently, and then rub my wings.

Gasping, I fell backwards onto the single pillow. I couldn't feel any of my limbs. My brain felt like someone had replaced it with a sponge. I couldn't even feel Ari as he straddled my waist. He leaned down and kissed my forehead, but of course, I couldn't feel it. He murmured something, but I couldn't hear. Then he hissed, "Sweet Dreams, Love," and leaned back.

And yet again, I blacked out.