Thank you for the reviews from last chapter.

Disclaimer: Not mine. I make, nor have, no claims on any of this.

Chapter 10: What dreams may come.

The last thing he remembered, the very last moment of his former life was the remembrance of waking to a woman softly calling to him. He had lain against the cold stone wall of his cell with his ear to the crack in the wall listening for her. When he finally heard her call, her voice was gentle and like music to his ears. She had spoken his name, told him she loved him, and their time was limited. He had spoken soft words, lover's words, to her in return. He remembered digging at the crevice in the stone till his hands bled trying to reach her, even if were just to touch the tip of their fingers together.

When they killed her, when her blood sprayed the wall and pooled to the floor, it ran into the crevice enabling him for a brief moment to be connected to her. It was at the moment he looked at the red, sticky substance on the end of his finger he had forgotten his name and lost his sanity. There was no one he had touched since, at least not in the true sense of the word, no one until now. Now there was Evey.

Since the moment Valerie drew her last breath, since the moment her blood had ran into his cell, and he had tasted her on his lips, he had cared for no one, not even himself. Not until now. Now there was Evey, now there was more than a vendetta, now there was a hope for a future. V smiled at her, thinking she looked beautiful. Reaching out, he cupped her cheek with his hand, tenderly stroking it with his thumb. Her skin amazed him with its smooth softness. Leaning forward, he bent to kiss her, but there was something wrong. 'Evey?' he asked, his face falling in concern.

She looked at him with her honey brown eyes and smiled. 'I think I'm falling in love with you.'

V's heart leaped. 'Evey,' he breathed, over come with joy.

Behind them there was a loud report making Evey jump, her smile waning as she turned to see what had made such a noise. Recognizing the sound for what it was, V instantly sprang forward, wrapping his arm around her waist, lifting her to safety as a warm and sticky spray hit his face. Blood. He recognized the metallic taste instantly.

Looking down, the sight in his arms almost unhinged him. Blood had started to pour from a hole in the side Evey's head and her body had gone limp in his arms. 'Evey!' screamed V grasping her body close to his. Unconsciously, he shook her, trying to awaken the woman in his arms. It was then he heard the laughter.

Peter Creedy stood across the room, gun raised, laughing. 'I knew I would find you eventually. It was just a matter of time.' With him there were a number of Fingermen, each laughing as well. V lowered Evey's lifeless body to the ground, begging her to stay with him, making Creedy and his men laugh harder and louder.

As he knelt by her side, as murderous rage consumed him, a priest made of marble stepped from the shadows and kicked him violently aside. 'She is mine,' said St. Anthony with a laugh, 'She is the price you shall have to pay.'

V looked up in to the stone faced statue, he vision blurred with tears. 'No, take me!'

'She is mine,' said Anthony again, 'You have toyed with temptation, denied your duty, and submitted yourself in lustful treason against me. You challenge my hold and deny the web spun around you. Her thirst for passion and your surrender to desire cannot be accepted, not without a sacrifice. Justice must be fulfilled and I claim her. She is mine as claimed in the name of my martyrdom.'

V shook his head, crawling to Evey's limp body and pulling her to him. 'No, not her, take me. It is I who called upon the curse.'

'She is mine!' stormed Anthony, lifting the limp form from V's arms with the pinch of two fingers. 'She is mine.'

The scream escaping from his lips shook his entire body as V sat up, blinking in the darkness surrounding him. For a moment he was disoriented and uncertain where he was, then a delicate hand lay against his bare chest and an arm wrapped around his shoulder. 'V?' whispered Evey from the void encompassing them, 'Are you alright? What's wrong? Why are you screaming?'

He swallowed hard, his entire body shaking with the aftermath of the dream. 'I'm sorry my love, it was a dream.' He gathered her tightly into his arms, feeling her breast press against his skin as he lay back into the pillows. 'I did not mean to awaken you.' His breathing was quick and shallow and his heart was racing.

Evey snuggled deep against him, 'I hate nightmares,' she whispered. 'They always seem so real and they make you feel you've done something unforgivable and deserve them.'

V held her tighter. 'There is nothing unforgivable about living.' He kissed to top of her head, smelling her hair.

'Can I help make the dream go away?' She asked, letting her fingers trace the outlines of the scares crisscrossing his chest and stomach.

V did not answer.

'Your body is fascinating,' she whispered turning her head to kiss his chest. 'You are like no other man I have ever met.' Slowly, her hand traveled lower and began stroking him.

'You are a nymph Evey Hammond,' murmured V in heavy sighs, 'or a harpy determined to suck the very life from me.'

Evey smiled, 'V you have repeatedly proven you are more than a man.' Her lips and tongue started tracing over his scars. 'You are an idea, and ideas never cease, they go on forever.'

Pulling her to him, V kissed her lips tenderly. 'It is you who will never cease my siren. Have I not fulfilled your desires repeatedly?'

'You have.' She kissed him again. 'Several times now, and I'll not walk properly for days because of it.'

V laughed as she slipped from his arms and started moving down his body. 'And what of you V, are you sated?'

A groan answered her, as she lowered her mouth to him.

When next he awoke, V carefully slid from the bed, making certain not to awake Evey. As he had thrown the main power breaker on the fuse box, there were no lights he could use as he made his way across the gallery. Feeling his way from Evey's door to his own, V entered his room, locking the door as he did so. Seeking candles and lighting them, he stood for several moments gazing at himself in the full-length mirror, touching the many bruises and bit marks left by Evey. He found he could not help, but to wonder how she could have touched and made love to a body as misshapen as his own. It had taken him years to be able to look at himself properly, but then again, she had not seen his body; she had only felt it.

'What would have happened if she had seen her lover as he truly is?' V asked the image in the mirror. 'Would she still have been as amorous? Would her seduction have been so adamant?'

When the image did not answer, V shook his head in disgust.

'I find your silence perplexing and dismaying, but I am not entirely to blame. I did try to stop her. It was never my intent to actually have her as I did, but I must admit the physical desire was to the point of desperation. If she had not…,' he shook his head in self-loathing, '…, but I allowed her to; therefore, she is not to blame. I warned her, but I never let her see. I never let her view what it was she was touching. No fear can stand up to hunger; no patience can wear it out, disgust simply does not exist where hunger thrives in the mind.' With a sigh he turned, candle still in hand and moved to his bathroom to bathe. 1

Emerging from his room some time later, V was once again in his true form of mask, wig, and black clothing. Going back to Evey's room, he quietly opened the door and stood, holding the candle high, looking at the women he had repeatedly made love to. 'So I awoke, and behold it was a dream,' he murmured in quiet reverence before shutting the door quietly and turning to go in search of the fuse box. 2

Quotations and References

1. No fear can stand up to hunger; no patience can wear it out, disgust simply does not exist where hunger thrives. The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

2. So I awoke, and behold it was a dream. Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

Nymphs, harpies, and sirens are all mythological creatures (female) who either "sucked" the life from their victims, caused death and destruction, or lead men to their deaths. (Their victims were always male)

Author's thingy…

Sorry this one is so short. It is a bit of a transition for the next sections I am putting together. I know I am being a bit macabre at the beginning of this (and with the sources of the quotations), but I assure you there is a reason.

As always thank you for reading. Your reviews and kind words keep me writing and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. (Even though it is a bit strange)

Finally, before anyone asks…the Goblin Market plays a heavy role all the way to the last chapter. I know I did not use it this chapter, but it will return. In later chapters, you will even finally learn what V did with the lock of hair he cut from Evey, but more about that later……

OH, almost forgot…someone (actually two or three people) mentioned they thought Evey had practically raped V…and if that was what I was trying to portray. I would say she definitely seduced him, pushing him to the point something physical had occur. HOWEVER, he brought home the champagne, he knew what she wanted, and he asked her to wear a dress which he knew would turn him on. When he left her on the couch, he could have just left (and tended to himself.) He chose instead to throw the breakers and go back to her. Basically, you can interpret it as you will…seduction or something more, but as we just found out from above…they repeat the act several times over before he finally leaves her.

All mistakes are mine and mine alone. I am the one to blame for spelling, typos etc.