When Matthew got back to his room, he realized he had nothing to do for the rest of the day. He packed his few belongings…and then, nothing.
He tried to get some sleep, to make up for the previous night, but he couldn't.
He thought about getting something to eat, but he wasn't hungry.
He thought about TV, but he wasn't in the mood.
Really, the only thing he wanted to do was see Izzy again.
So he thought about her. Izzy. The most amazing woman he had ever met…The most amazing person he had ever met. He thought about all the things he liked about her: Her beauty, her evil smile, the cruelty with which she treated humankind, her skill with bombs, her honesty with herself and who she was…Watching her get off on the havoc they had wrought had been pleasurable for him, too. After all, it had been his action that had caused it…It was almost as though they'd had sex…
He wondered what sex with Izzy would be like.
Based on the way she acted, he guessed she was very experienced. Would she only get off on pain? She had called herself a sadist…Would she have to hurt him while they did it? Well, he wouldn't mind. Whatever made her feel good would make him feel good, too…
I am in love with this woman, he admitted to himself. I am madly in love with her.
The afternoon and evening passed as he lay there, thinking about her - he deliberately tried not to think about the pain in her eyes when he had asked why she preferred to stay outside, or the feeling he got that there was more to her than there seemed. When night fell, however, he started to get antsy. He didn't like the thought of her being out on the streets at night, all alone. Not that he thought she couldn't take care of herself, but what if someone snuck up on her while she slept? What if something happened?
It wasn't long before he gave up and decided to go looking for her. He grabbed his things, just in case he would be all night, and left. He checked out at the lobby, walked outside, glanced around to decide which way he should go first…and saw her, right there against the wall of the hotel. She was sitting back, her eyes closed, a black bag slung over her shoulder at her side.
"Izzy?" he asked.
Her eyes flew open, and she stood, just like at the train station earlier that day.
"Is it morning already?" she asked teasingly, smiling at him.
He blinked. "Uh…no," he replied.
"Then what are you doing out here?" she asked him.
"I was…going to go looking for you," he replied.
She blinked, then smiled mockingly. "Didn't trust me to be here in the morning?" she teased.
"No. I mean, yes. I mean…" Matthew gave himself a little shake. "Look, I just didn't like the idea of you sleeping out on the streets all alone," he told her, stepping closer to her.
"I can take care of myself, baby," Izzy told him.
"I don't doubt that," Matthew said, "but-"
"If some idiot wants to mess with me, that's their funeral," Izzy said. "Besides, I like having an extra excuse to commit murder."
"Izzy, you're an amazing bomber," Matthew told her, "but-"
She reached into the back of her pants and pulled out a gun.
Matthew blinked.
She smiled wickedly. "I don't go anywhere unarmed, baby," she said, her tone both dangerous and sexy.
"But what about when you're asleep?" he asked, trying to get her to understand his fears. "Someone could sneak up on you."
Izzy laughed coldly. "I'm a light sleeper," she said, "and if someone tried to sneak up on me, I wouldn't hesitate to shoot."
Matthew stared at her. She really was fearless…Ruthless…
…Amazing.
She smiled her wicked smile. "Since you're up, though, we might as well go now," she said; "I have no reason to stay."
"Me neither," he said. "How are we leaving?"
"Well, we can't take a train," she joked, the evil in her eyes glinting.
He chuckled. "By plane, then?" he asked.
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, that would be too complicated," she said.
"Then what?" he asked.
She smiled evilly again. "You're thinking too hard," she told him; "it's simple. We don't have to do anything legal to get out of here."
Matthew blinked, then smiled back. "Grand theft auto, is that what you're thinking?" he asked.
She laughed sinisterly. "Now you're catching on," she bantered.
"Well, I'm up for it," Matthew said; "lead the way."
"Why don't you lead for once?" she teased.
Matthew shook his head, still smiling. "I'm just a rookie," he said; "yesterday was the first time I've ever done anything sinister."
"Well, you'll have to learn fast," Izzy said; "if you can't keep up, you should quit now."
"I want to learn," he told her. "Teach me. Show me how it's done."
She gave him her evil, sexy grin. "All right," she purred; "come with me."
"Right behind you," he said, and they walked down the street together.
o~X~o
Izzy wasn't used to someone working with her, or following her as she went about her evil business…Or worrying about her…Or liking her for what she was…
She gave herself a mental shake. It can't last, she reminded herself. He's not you. Sooner or later, something you say or do will drive him off.
Why did that thought make her feel unhappy?
Getting frustrated with herself, Izzy decided to do everything in her power to get Matthew to realize that she wasn't someone he wanted to spend time with. She would make him end it, before she got hurt…as she inevitably would, if their partnership lasted.
"Where are we going?" Matthew asked her.
She turned to him and smiled as wickedly as she could. "To find someone to steal a car from," she replied, working hard to let all her evil show.
"We've passed a few," Matthew pointed out.
"Oh, what fun is stealing something if there's no one there to see you do it?" she asked sinisterly. "We're going to take a car someone's in…and kill them, just for fun." The very thought aroused her, and she deliberately let it show.
He smiled. "You're the expert," he said.
What? How could he still follow her? Did he think she was joking?
I'll show him, she thought determinedly.
She thought as they walked through the silent streets.
"By the way," she finally said nastily, "your bombing time was perfect. I was expecting you to detonate it when there was just a crowd, but you waited until the perfect time for maximum casualties. The very moment I thought 'now', you set it off. I couldn't have done it worse myself." She laughed evilly.
He smiled at her. "I did try," he said. "Did I impress you?"
Yes. "Don't push it, baby," she said mockingly - she would never admit that she had been impressed.
Suddenly, a car rolled into view. Someone was driving down the street, very slowly.
Izzy smiled nastily, her eyes locked on her target. "Here we go," she said. Time to go nuts, she thought - she wouldn't hold anything back.
She turned to Matthew. "A little help, baby?" she asked him teasingly.
He smiled at her. "Tell me what to do," he said.
She motioned to the car. "Stop them," she said. "Find out how many people are inside, and let me know as discretely as you can."
"Is that all?" he asked, walking forward.
She smiled nastily and waited.
Apparently whoever was driving the car was a good samaritan, because all Matthew had to do was walk out into the street and approach the vehicle, and it stopped.
Izzy watched Matthew tap on the window. It rolled down. Matthew said something Izzy couldn't quite hear to the driver. She couldn't make out the response, either, but based on the cadence, she guessed the driver was speaking Arabic.
Matthew held out one hand slightly in her direction, extending only his index finger. One occupant. However, he clearly didn't speak Arabic; his tone of voice as he replied to whatever the driver had said was confused. You're an ex-Marine in Chad, and you don't know Arabic? Izzy thought. Why are you even here?
She smiled; showing off never hurt.
Metaphorically speaking.
She walked up to them. "Excuse me," she said in Arabic.
"Who are you?" she heard the driver ask.
She smiled and walked up to the open window.
"Pardon my friend, he doesn't speak Arabic," she said, motioning to Matthew, who was staring at her with surprise. That's right, baby, she thought; I'm multilingual. Name a language, and I can speak it.
"How can I help you?" asked the man driving the car.
She smiled evilly at him. "Give us your car," she said.
The man blinked. "I'm sorry, but I can't do that," he said; "tell me where you want to go and I'll drive you there, though."
Izzy chuckled nastily. "We don't care where we're going," she told the man; "we just want to have fun." She turned to Matthew. "Help me out here, baby," she said in English, putting a hand to her gun.
Matthew smiled and nodded.
Izzy put her left hand on the car door, her right hand grasping the gun she had tucked in the back of her pants. "We're going to turn you into roadside art," she told the driver in Arabic.
His eyes widened, but before he could react, Izzy opened the car door and pulled out her gun. The idiot hadn't locked his door, so he was exposed and defenseless. He tried to hit the gas, but Izzy pulled out her gun and shot him in his right leg.
"Help me with him!" she called to Matthew in English. "Let's tear him apart!"
Matthew needed no further encouragement. He stepped forward and started wrestling with the guy, beating him heavily. Izzy took a small step back and watched. Matthew was ruthless, even punching the guy's bullet wound sometimes, as he roughly dragged the man out of the car. Izzy moaned with pleasure as the man screamed with pain and fear.
This was what she lived for.
"Wanna join me?" Matthew asked her as he threw the guy to the ground and started kicking him.
She tossed their bags in the back of the car, then rejoined him. "My pleasure," she said huskily with an evil grin.
They started beating the guy up together. He bruised and bled and screamed for mercy beautifully. Izzy was careful not to cause any fatal damage, but quickly became concerned with Matthew, who seemed intent on beating the man to death. Of course, it was hard to think about keeping him under control when she was dangerously close to getting off…
Finally, when Matthew raised his foot to stomp on the man's neck, Izzy was forced to push him and gasp, "No!"
He blinked, his brow furrowed.
"That's not how it's done," she said, breathing heavily from the intense pleasure that torturing and killing brought her. "Let me show you how to do this."
She took a step back, raised her gun, aimed…
"Why are you doing this to me?" the man panted in Arabic, tears streaming from his eyes.
Izzy laughed. "Wrong place, wrong time," she replied, and she shot the man in the stomach. It wasn't quite enough to bring on her release, but it was very close.
She turned to Matthew. "Come on," she gasped in English, motioning to the car. "Get in - let's go!"
"We're just going to leave him here alive?" Matthew asked.
"Oh, he'll die," Izzy assured him; "very slowly and painfully, he'll die." She took a few breaths as pleasure pulsated through her body. "I think you'll have to drive," she told him.
"Need help getting in?" he asked her.
She shook her head, stumbled around to the passenger side, got in, and sat down, breathing hard. So good…
She shut the door as Matthew got in the driver's seat, shakily put on her seatbelt, and then just sat back and reveled in the pleasure she was feeling. She deliberately didn't hide it - Matthew had to understand what she was.
Matthew drove a little ways, then stopped.
Izzy blinked at him.
He smiled. "Let me just do one last thing," he said, and before Izzy had a chance to think, Matthew turned the car around, drove back at the man, and deliberately ran over the man's legs - not a fatal injury, but definitely very painful.
Izzy's head snapped back, and she cried out with ecstasy as she came. The climax was so intense, it was a whole minute before she could think again.
At last, the pleasure subsided enough that she could breathe. "That was amazing," she moaned - forgetting, momentarily, that there was someone there to hear her.
There was a pause for a moment. Then Matthew said, "You're amazing."
She blinked and sat up, staring at him. He glanced over at her and smiled. Smiled!
That made her feel…something…something she had never felt before…something she couldn't identify…
"I've…never been called that before," she finally managed.
"Not even in bed?" he teased.
She chuckled. "Most men I spend time with tend to die very shortly after I meet them," she said. "In fact, I think you're the first one to last more than a few hours."
"Well, I'm honored," he said. He sounded like he meant it.
Izzy was speechless. How could he like her?
"So where are we going?" he asked her casually, as though they hadn't just brutally murdered someone and she hadn't just gotten off on it.
"You pick," she said; "I don't care, as long as there are people to kill."
He laughed, but not as though he thought she was joking.
They drove in silence for the rest of the night, but it wasn't awkward. Izzy took the time to wonder…How could this be? How could Matthew still like her? Why did it seem as though he liked her because she was so evil?
And what was it she had felt when he had called her amazing?
o~X~o
Matthew couldn't stop glancing over at Izzy as he drove. She was so incredible…so beautiful…She was everything he wanted to be…
The way she had attacked that guy had been amazing…and she knew how to brutally kill, that was for sure! She had stopped him from killing the guy too fast, and the way she had finished it was masterful; a gutshot was fatal, but not immediately so.
And he'd added his own touch to the kill, too.
And she had gotten off on it. Explosively, from the look and sound of things.
That made him feel very turned on himself.
He wanted her. He wanted her more than he'd ever wanted anything in his life. He wanted to park the car in some dark, secluded spot, get in back with her, tear both of their clothes off, and work her until she came again - and again and again - and him along with her.
But he wouldn't. He respected her. He loved her. He would leave it to her to start things, when she felt the time was right. It probably wouldn't be long…
…Not that that helped with the painful hard-on that was tenting his pants.
