"My stomach fills like it's full of butterfly's Victor." Marie giggled nervously as she ran her hands over her dress again. "I've never been to a dinner like this. What if I do something wrong?" She froze when the elevator doors open. He took her shaking hand in his and spoke low and calmly to reinsure her. "You look beautiful darlin' and you are going to do fine. Just be yourself and everything will be alright." He kissed her forehead and smiled at her. She relaxed into him. "You look breathtaking in green baby." She blushed and looked down at her dress. "Thank you." She whispered.
The music was elegant when they stepped into the ballroom. Well dressed people stood in small clicks chatting away as servers with trays of drinks made their way through the crowd. Victor took a drink from a passing servant and handed it to her. "Drink this and just relax." She smiled at him and sipped the drink. The scent of her anxiety was setting him on edge. He mentally slapped himself when he realized he was glaring and nearly growling at people that were getting to close to her. Marie's small hand found his and he looked down at her.
"Victor are you alright?" She looked worried and a little upset.
"I'm Fine baby. Just a lot of people." He smiled at her and forced himself to relax.
"Victor Creed!"
He cringed and closed his eyes as someone yelled his name from across the room.
A well dress and slightly buzzed man made his way through the crowd pulling along a beautiful woman dressed in a ravishing black dress behind him.
"What the hell man? You been holding out on me. Who is this lovely creature?" He took Marie's hand and kissed it. Victor bit back a growl and introduced Marie.
"Tony Stark This is Marie D'Ancanto. Marie this is Tony Stark and his girlfriend Pepper Potts." He said nodding his head at the other woman.
"It's very nice to meet you Mr. Stark."
"Oh please, only people that want money from me call me mister. Just call me Tony."
"OK." She looked from Tony to Pepper with a smile.
"So, you are the artist I have heard so much about." Pepper said smiling at her. "Victor as told me a lot about your work."
"He did,did he?" She said looking up at the big man.
"So tell me, how did you pull this big lug out tonight he never comes to my parties."
"Oh...umm He asked me to come with him." She said a bit confused.
"Well I think its great the two of you came." Pepper said watching the younger woman closely.
"Yes it's great, well do you have the info I asked for Creed?" Tony snagged another drink as a waiter walked by.
"Yeah, we can get down to business."
"Ladies, if you will excuse us for a moment?"
"That's our que to get lost for a little bit Marie." Pepper said wrapping her arm around Marie's.
"Come on lets go set down, I'd love to know where you got that dress." Marie looked over her shoulder at Victor as she was pulled away.
"So show me what yah' have for me Der Schlächter."
"Don't fucking call me that Stark."
"OK,OK... sorry. It's alright Big guy." The look on the feral mans face actually took Tony by surprised and he stepped back and reached into his pocket to make sure the remote control to his suit was safely in his grasp.
Victor huffed at him and pulled out his phone. I just sent the files to you. I hand picked four of my best personal bodyguards. All four were trained by me and they are the best."
"Great, I'll take all four of them. They can rotate quarterly as Pepper's bodyguard. When can they start?"
"She can meet them first thing in the morning." He said not looking at the smaller man. He scanned the room looking for Marie. He relaxed a bit when is sharp eyes locked onto her setting at a table talking with Pepper.
"So how long have you and Victor been together?"
"We're not, we are just friends. I met him when I was a teenager." Marie said sipping her drink.
"Just friends huh?...Does he know that?" Pepper asked watching her closely.
"Excuse me?" Marie said looking at the older woman in total confusion.
"The first time I ever met Victor Creed he scared the hell out of me. He is a very intense man Marie. I honestly think if he snapped he would take out every person here without remorse. Just watching him anyone with half a brain can see he puts everyone around him on a list. He watches everybody like they are all potential prey. He knows he's on top of the food chain. He even looks at Tony that way. But not you. Everything about him changes when he looks at you. You are nowhere on that list honey. That man loves you."
"Oh my gosh, that was so much fun. Tony really knows how to party." She said giggling. "Yeah, I know." He said smiling down at her. He grabbed her when she stumbled. "Your drunk darlin'." He said with a chuckle. "Am not, just tipsy." She giggled. She stopped when she realized Victor was holding her. She stared at his bright blue eyes lost in the depths of them. "You look so beautiful tonight darlin'." Her blush looked like it might reach down to her perfect looking breasts and that thought had him smiling more. Her small finger touched his lip just above one of his fangs as she stared at them in wonder. The softness of his warm skin shocked her a bit. He pulled his head back from her hand and looked at her perplexed. "Oh God, I'm so sorry. I duno' what made me do that." She said looking up at him. "It's OK darlin'." He said letting her go. "You want a water or something?" He asked turning to walk into the kitchen.
Pepper's words from earlier echoed in her mind. "That man loves you." She watched him walk away, he looked more relaxed now. He walked with a fluent grace that he shouldn't have being such a big man. His hair was getting long again. It brushed his shoulders and she had a strange longing to run her fingers through it. Marie's words stopped him in his tracks.
"You know one of the things I like about you Victor?" He turned back to her and cocked his head. He was getting use to the way she would jump from subject to subject but sometimes she'd say something that completely confused him. "No, what's one of the things you like about me?" He asked with a grin. "You never call me Kid, you always say Marie or darlin' or something like that." She said staring at him. "You haven't been a kid for a while Marie. I would have never asked a kid to do for me what I'm asking you to do." He said watching her carefully. "Why don't you go into the living room and I'll bring you something to drink."
She had pulled her shoes off and was rubbing her foot when he handed her a bottle of water.
"Your feet hurting?"
"Yeah, I'm not use to high hills."
"You want me to massage them for you?"
"Oh, it's OK. You don't have too."
"I don't mind. I use to... to do it for Birdy." he said looking away from her.
"Oh, Well umm... OK." He smiled and pulled off his jacket and tie before he set beside her on the sofa.
"Well?" he said looking down at his lap.
"Well what?"
"I can't rub um if you don't give um to me." he said patting his lap.
"Oh..OH! Sorry. Right, here yah go." She said slipping her feet into his lap.
"You want to go change before I do this?"
"No, It'll just take to long."
He reached up and pulled her dress over her thigh where he could see her garter belt.
"Thank you." She said putting her hand over the slit in her dress.
"Welcome." He said picking up her foot.
My foot looks tiny in his hands. She said to herself.
He was careful with her small foot not wanting to cut her with his claw tipped fingers.
"Can I ask you something Victor?"
"Sure you can."
"That night when Magneto kidnapped me from the train station. Why did you touch me when I was in that holding cell?" His strong fingers stopped their heavenly work on her sore foot for a moment only to start again. Marie closed her eyes and wanted to moan.
"I heard you."
"What?" She asked opening her eyes to look at him. He smiled then looked back at her small foot.
"That night I heard your heart fluttering and skipping beats. I told him before we went to get you that would be too much drug for you. You were to small for how much he had. But he never really cared about what I thought. I was just there for muscle. I was the big dumb animal." He said winking at her. "Your not dumb Victor." She said staring at him. "So, you touched me because?''
"Because you were dying from to much of that fuckin' drug. I didn't want you to die in that damn cell,on that dirty floor."
"But you put me in that thing he made and left. It was OK for me to die in that?" She asked angrily.
"You wasn't going to die in that damn machine Marie. I wasn't going to let you." He said looking eye to eye with her. "I'm glad the runt was there, it was better for him to have healed you than me at the time." He could feel the buzzing starting in his head,the animal was waking up and was curious about this subject. "You was going to heal me if they didn't show up to save me?" She was confused and still very tipsy. "I wasn't going to let you die baby." He said looking at her foot in his hand. "Why was it better that Logan saved me?"
"Because I wanted to take you, hide you away from the world and fuck you. I wanted to worship your little body until you couldn't walk. I wanted to make you come so much you'd pass out. I wanted your pleasure to be too much. I wanted to keep you on your back naked and filled up with my seed till your belly was big and round with my cub. I wanted to give you everything I had."
He had thought of dozens of ways to get around her skin. He mentally slapped himself and pulled himself out of his rambling thoughts.
"It was better because I was wild and out of control back then. And you were so young. It would have been bad to have me in your head."
"But...you still would have healed me?" She asked watching him.
"Darlin' I would have given you everything I had. I regret to this very day that I didn't stop Eric from hurting you. If I could change the past I would. I...wasn't right back then." he said staring at her feet.
"It's late darlin' you should get to bed." He said moving her feet gently and standing up.
"Marie?"
"Yeah?"
"When you woke up that night after I touched you. Was I in your head?" He asked running the back of his finger down the side of her face.
"Kind of, it was like an echo. Not like it is now. It was weak but I knew it was you."
"Did you get any of my thoughts?"
"Just a small bit of one." She said smiling up at him.
"What was it?"
"It was really more of a feeling and a voice. I felt warm and the voice was soft. It kept saying I'm not letting you go. As strange as it sounds I felt safe when you was outside my cell."
He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "Sweet dreams baby doll." He left her there setting on the sofa lost in her own wandering thoughts as the morning sun peeked over the horizon.
