Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this fiction, I'm so happy to read comments. Now, some of this dialogue will be familiar, I figured that since it was a similar conversation they were having - only it's a little ahead of when it happened in the show - that their reactions would be pretty similar as well. Please review and enjoy.
Claire was home alone, her Dad was at work and her Mother had roped Lyle into going with her and Mr Muggles to a grooming show. She was looking forward to the quite night in, curled up on the sofa with a bowl of popcorn, a hot chocolate and an old film. She opened the fridge to get the milk, not knowing that the monster from her nightmares was but a foot away. Sylar had been watching her for several minutes without her knowing, using an invisibility power that he'd picked up from a young blonde girl. A smirk crept onto his face as Claire leant down and he remembered all the things he had done to her body in the alternate reality. The microwave 'binged' to announce that the popcorn was ready, Claire turned around to retrieve it when her eyes met his and she gasped, dropping the open milk bottle with a thud on the floor. He was shocked that she saw him but didn't let it show, quickly adjusting to the situation, 'must have lost concentration when I was daydreaming' Sylar mused to himself.
"Hello, cheerleader" he pronounced with the smirk now firmly embedded on his face. Claire took a step back, wide eyes staring into his. She gently shook her head.
"No" she whispered, "not again." She leant on the side next to her, sidestepping away from the fridge. Without taking her eyes off his, Claire grabbed a knife from behind her and plunged it into Sylar chest, hoping to buy herself a few minutes to get away. Sylar looked down, shocked, as Claire made a run for the door. Instinctively, he used his telekinesis to keep it closed. Claire struggled for a few seconds to get it open before she heard the clang of the knife drop to the floor.
"Claire" Sylar called "your popcorn's going to get cold." The words were a simple statement but were delivered with his normal taunting tone that sent shivers down Claire's spine. She didn't turn around, she just ran, trying to find a way out, a place to hide. "Haven't we done this once before" he laughed, strolling slowly around her house, "the running. The hiding." he listened intently with his, barely used, enhanced hearing ability. "In fact, if I recall... I believe you even stabbed me in the chest" he laughed once more, and heard her shudder "funny, isn't it... how life repeats itself." He leaned against a wall in the living room and slowly disappeared, using his invisibility to mould into his surroundings.
After a few minutes, Claire tiptoed back into the living room holding a gun. She stuck to the sides and carefully scanned the area, every now and then taking a step closer to the front door, planning to shoot at it until there was nothing left for Sylar to keep closed. Before she got there Sylar used his telekinesis to pull the gun out of her hands and throw it across the room, she flipped her head around, looking for him and backing her self up against the wall. He heard her emotions, her fear, from her racing heart beat. Suddenly, he was struck with regret and guilt from making her feel this way. Sylar emerged in front of her eyes, only a few feet away. Her heart picked up pace.
"Its okay" he rushed to say the words, to calm her down, holding up his hands in a peaceful manner. "I'm not going to hurt you." His words lacked his normal menacing tone and actually sounded sincere. Claire scoffed at him.
"Is that supposed to be funny?" She glared at him, "you're not going to hurt me because I can't feel pain?" Sylar heard the slight change in her heart beat, changing from fear to anger. Anger was good, anger he could work with, after all there is a 'thin line between love and hate'. He sighed, his smirk returning.
"You're being difficult"
"You're damn right I am... You come into my home... You harass me... I'm not going to let you get away with this!" Sylar tilted his head in a slight nod.
"Okay, true. But in my defence... I didn't mean to harass you" part of him wondered why he was telling her the truth. "You were never meant to see me, I slipped up, it was simply an automatic response." She looked at him with disbelief and his smirk grew, "even I slip up occasionally..."
"And I'm supposed to believe you?" She asked with venom in her eyes.
"Don't worry... I'm not going to make the same mistake twice" Sylar heard her gasp, 'hmm, probably not the best thing to say' he thought to himself 'she was just beginning to settle down...'
"You're not coming back?" Claire had meant it as a statement, strong and clear... But it came out as more of a whispered question.
"Well, in that case... I should do what I need to now so that I don't have to return..." her rapid heart beat was becoming a distraction, he didn't want her to fear him but didn't know how to stop himself, so he chose denial and switched off his enhanced hearing. He took a step closer to her and reached out his hand, wiping the hair from her eyes, she stayed perfectly still. "We should go out sometime." She scoffed at him.
"That will never happen" their eyes met.
"Don't be so sure... We're immortal, everyone else will die, but not us, papa Petrelli, momma Bennet, Mr Muggles... What's your brothers name again? Larry?"
"Lyle" venom filled her words.
"Lyle, right. He's gonna die too" he looked at her smugly. "Have you ever stopped to think how much we have in common Claire? You were adopted, I was adopted... You can't die, I can't die".
"Oh, you can die... I'll make sure of it" Sylar smirked at her, trying not to show that there was a sting to her words.
"We're immortal, Claire. We'll live for ever, unchanged while everyone else ages and dies. After a few years you'll get bored trying to 'off' me. Eventually, you'll have to forgive me"
"I'll never stop trying to kill you" she replied with tight lips.
"Well, every body needs a hobby" his eyes wandered to her lips and he dropped his sarcastic tone. "I'm trying to change, Claire. I'm not killing anymore..." Despite her hatred of the man in front of her, Claire was intrigued, but she pushed it back. He was evil, this was probably a trick. She shook her head slightly and Sylar managed to move his eyes back to hers, she thought she saw hurt in them.
"You're trying to change?" she mocked. "Ridiculous."
"You don't think I'm capable of it" He intended it as a question laced with sarcasm, but it came out as more of a sad statement. Claire looked pointedly at his hands.
"How longs it been since you last killed someone?" her words were dripping with accusation, he looked down and saw a - not too small - splash of dried blood that didn't match the fresh blood on his shirt from where she'd stabbed him. For a moment he considered saying he'd cut himself earlier and hadn't washed it off yet... but he didn't want to lie.
"It seemed like a lifetime ago" he mumbled to himself, suddenly realising that it had only been a couple of hours. "I... I can be different... I am different." Claire resisted the urge to spit at him, knowing that it wasn't exactly wise to anger a murderer. "I can prove it" he whispered, taking her head in his hand he began to lean into her, for a sickening moment she though he was going to kiss her, but instead he leaned his forehead against hers. Claire froze, not sure what to do. A few seconds past before he was able to push the vision of the alternate reality into her mind.
Awareness drained from Claire's eyes as they delicately shut. But, Sylar didn't notice. His eyes were tightly closed in concentration, trying to push the reality into her mind, something that he didn't know he could do until a few seconds ago when his intuitive aptitude figured it out for him. He wasn't sure how he hadn't known before; he took abilities, it only made sense that he could give them to others... not that he had ever felt a need to in the past.
He could feel it working, but her mind was trying to fight it off and it began to drain him slightly, make him feel weak. Eventually, the last of the defences in Claire's mind that he was struggling against collapsed and he saw how to, not just temporarily but permanently, give her the ability. He considered it for a moment before deciding to wait for her to wake and choose for herself. Part of him hoped she would say yes to a new ability; because, even though she had a great amount less power than he did, he considered her his equal and was overcome with a need to give her whatever she wanted. He stayed like that, still pushing the reality into Claire's mind, only now it was less of a struggle and his energy returned.
He felt her body shake and heard her gasp as she began to wake. Sylar lent backwards, moving away from her before she had the chance to push him away. But she didn't want him to move, instead she grabbed his head and pulled his mouth to hers in a furious kiss. He was shocked and part of him realised that he should stop before it got serious, but he wasn't thinking straight, his mind was clouded with thoughts of Claire. Of her petite body, her golden locks of hair, her deep brown eyes. He placed his hands on her hips, their lips moving together.
Sylar teased her mouth open with his own and their tongues brushed, letting out a small moan as she trembled in his arms. He slid a hand down her thigh and under her dress, running his palm up the front of her leg with his thumb brushing the inside.
"Ahhhhh!" she moaned as his cold hand moved to the warm flesh just below her panties, she angled her hips forward. He rubbed his thumb against her for a moment, smirking at her reaction before moving his hand up around to her lower back and pulling their bodies against each other. She smiled beneath their mouths, reaching down and unbuttoning his shirt, working her way slowly down his front and resting her hand on his lower stomach above his belt, teasing him just as he had done to her. He telekinetically unzipped her dress and brushed his hands against her body as he slid it up over her head and flung it on the floor behind them.
Their eyes met, both filled with the hunger to be closer to one another. Their lower abdomens tingled furiously, not to be ignored any longer. Sylar guided her body backwards and pushed her against the hard wall and their hips moved against each others bodies, grinding. He closed his eyes and titled his head, loving the feeling of intimacy, he was barely aware of a light thud of fabric on the floor and he looked at Claire to see she had removed her bra. She let him have a moment to appreciate her body before grabbing his hair and pulling him as close as possible, the bare flesh on their chests rubbing, their sweat merging together. Sylar could feel her rapid heart beat filled with lust so close to his own. His hardness was against her stomach and Claire laughed through her panting. She slid her hand down between them and delicately traced over the bulge in his pants.
"Mmmm!" he groaned through tight lips, and she rubbed harder against him. "Don't be so cruel" he whispered into her ear before pressing their mouths together in lust. So she moved her hand to his belt instead and began to unfasten it, he stopped grinding momentarily so she could get it off quicker and yank them down to his ankles, where he then kicked them and his shoes off as fast as he could.
He grabbed her hips again and picked her up slightly so she could wrap her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. He left one hand on her bottom while placing the other one on the wall next to her head, their grinding quickened. Claire trembled.
"Please" she groaned into his shoulder. "Now! Take me now!" He wrapped her in his arms and carried her to the coffee table, placing her body, that was writhing with heat and sweat, on the cold wood. She tore off her panties and spread her legs, he knelt in-between then as she grabbed at his boxers, hastily trying to rip them off as well. He was seconds away from claiming her body, her virginity when the image of the last time he lay her on this table flashed through his mind. A time not too long ago when he'd terrorised her and taken her ability for himself. He tried to push it out of his mind but couldn't get rid of the image of her lying covered in blood with her brain exposed.
This wasn't right. Yes, she wanted him now, but her mind was clouded with memories from an alternate reality, how would she feel in an hours time? If he took advantage of the situation then he could ruin any chance of a future with her. She groaned in protest as he pulled away.
"Wait." she said through panted breaths. "Where are you going?" He turned to pick up her dress and sent it towards her using his telekinesis while pulling on his trousers from the floor and buttoning up his shirt. "Gabriel?" She called to him and he knew what he was doing was right. She wasn't in the right state of mind. He turned around to face her, she had refused to get dressed with her clothes thrown off to the side of the room. She was standing close behind him, looking confused and hurt. He didn't want her to be upset, so he hugged her, taking a deep breath and inhaling her smell.
"You're not thinking right, my love." He whispered into her ear "I'm not going to take advantage of you." She was about to argue but he cut her off before any words had formed "I'm leaving now, before I do something we'll regret." He stepped away from her and turned to leave, trying desperately not to look at her naked form in front of him. He stopped at the door, not turning around to look at her. "I'd like to see you again... to talk... Tomorrow maybe? Somewhere public." He put his hand out to the side and Claire's mobile flew through the air towards him "I'll ring you later" he said after memorizing her number and returning her phone. Then he left without looking back at her.
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Claire sat on the floor of her living room, leaning against the wall where everything had almost gone right and hugging her legs to her chest. She was crying. Her phone was to the right of her where she stared at it longingly, wishing for her love to call so she could apologise for whatever she had done and beg him to come back to her. But, he didn't ring. Instead, she received one pitiful text that read 'you should tidy up'.
She stared at her phone, desperately looking for the hidden message behind his words. Nothing. Fresh tears came forward, but these were tears of rage. She walked through her house, still not dressed, shouting profanity at the walls. The same line of thought running through her mind: 'he acted like he wanted me and then just disregarded me like a piece of meat that you take back to the store! He said he would call and instead sent me a stupid one line text that contained no emotion, no feelings, and had nothing to do with what she wanted to hear! He thinks he can tell me what to do?! Why on earth does she need to tidy up?!' She broke down on the ground, gasping. It felt like someone had taken all the oxygen out of the air. He told her that he wouldn't hurt her, but he'd forgotten to factor in one pain that she could feel: heartbreak.
She hugged her knees to her chest once more and closed her eyes, beginning to hate the one man she had thought she loved. Awareness leaked back into her body and so did her memories, her real memories. Memories about her love, Gabriel. But, he wasn't Gabriel, he was Sylar.
Sylar, the man who had plagued her nightmares and life for the past 2 years, who broke into her house on several occasions in an attempt to murder her, to provoke her father, to terrorise her mother. The same man that had threatened her biological family and killed so many, including her biological mother. These memories had always been there but she pushed them back in her mind, not caring. And now, she looked down at her currently unclothed state and felt disgusted in herself. But what disgusted her even more was the fact that, even with her rage and memories returning, if Sylar were to walk through that door and kiss her... She would give into her desires.
She sighed, he said he'd call and they could meet up to talk. And, no-matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise, she needed that conversation. She was thankful that he'd said to meet in a public place, hopefully that would stop her from tearing off his clothes... again.
Claire looked around her house and was shocked by the complete mess it was in. She reached for her phone and realised that two hours had passed since Gabri-Sylar had first appeared, her mother could be back at any moment. She grabbed her dress and through it on. And then stood for a second, not knowing where to start. Claire grabbing her fathers gun and returned it to the home-made alcove in the bottom step of her staircase. Next, she rushed to retrieve a mop and bucket to fill with a bleach/water mixture before slapping it onto the flooring in the kitchen. She had barely started to do this when the front door opened.
Her heart stopped, this wasn't her mum, this was much worse, this was her father. He walked towards her, calling her name, before he saw his surroundings. He hesitated for a split second, but it felt like a lifetime. She was overcome with a sudden need to keep Sylar safe, to make up a story. If her Mum had found her then it might have worked, but not her Dad, he'd worked in the company too long to be able to ignore his gut feeling.
Despite knowing this, her mind raced for a lie to tell him... The blood on the floor could have easily been from her slipping on the milk, maybe even the knife could have been explained as her falling on it. But the blood wasn't limited to the floor, it also covered the wall where she had been with Sylar. She supposed that she could have found a lie to cover that as well if it wasn't for the large bloody handprint, that had been left when he was holding her body against his, the handprint that was much too big to be her own. And she didn't even want to think how to explain the dried sweat marks on the coffee table.
TO BE CONTINUED...
