A/N: Thank you again for all of the amazing reviews! I adore you guys! To people who made requests/ suggestions: I'm not ignoring you. You might see your requests fulfilled in a later chapter. My best advice is: if you want to see it, bug me about it and I'll get the hint. Anywho, I've stalled long enough. Hope you guys like this!

Warning: I got an okay on the cursing overall, so I'm going to use some bad words. Not a lot, I swear. Just a warning.

Disclaimer: I do not own Austin and Ally. When my plot for world domination succeeds though, I will be. :)

Chapter 21

Ally tensed in anticipation.

Hearing his voice on the phone was one thing, but being in the same room with him again was absolutely terrifying. She'd let herself forget the cruelty of his eyes.

"Well aren't you going to give me a kiss, sweetie? It's been nearly a month," Dallas teased, his mouth curling in to a satisfied smile.

His face appeared relaxed and his displayed his confidence. His legs were spread apart as he stood before her, hands crossed over chest. He wore a suit, complete with jacket and tie, as if they were going to a party.

Leave it to Dallas to treat her murder so casually.

"Fuck you," Ally hissed, feeling her fear turn into disgust at the idea of kissing this psychopath.

"Would you like to?" he taunted, a boyish smile spreading across his face. If it had been any other scenario, Ally would have rolled her eyes and smacked his arm.

But it wasn't, so she fought the urge to vomit and snapped, "You'll have to kill me if that's what you want."

He smirked at her and replied, "I have a way of getting what I want. Now," he pulled a gun out of his waistband and aimed it at her, "How about that kiss?"

She snorted and retorted, "You might as well just shoot me then."

Briefly, surprise and confusion flashed in his eyes. This time it was Ally's turn to smirk as she explained, "I'm not as dumb as I look, honey," she practically sneered the last word, "I know the endgame here and I'm not going to be manipulated into doing whatever you want just with the hope that I get to live. That's not how this is going to go."

He looked almost impressed for a moment before his expression reverted back to one of confidence.

He offered her a lazy smile and said, "My, my, Ally-cat. Looks like the Wizard of Oz gave someone their courage. Good for you and you make a valid point. You won't be surviving this encounter," he paused to gauge her reaction and she made sure to maintain a calm exterior. She wasn't exactly surprised. When she didn't react, he continued, "So let's play it this way, sweetie. You do what I say and I don't shoot your bodyguard boyfriend."

He tucked the gun back into the waistband of his suit pants and cocked an eyebrow at her, taking a moment to enjoy her startled expression.

"H-how do I know you won't shoot him anyway?" Ally asked, struggling to remain calm.

"You don't," he droned, his voice suddenly sounding bored, "But there's a better chance I won't if you play nice."

Ally weighed her options in her head. She still planned to kill him, so there was the possibility that he wouldn't be able to hurt Austin. Even if he did try, Austin could certainly handle himself. He'd proven that. Besides, if she complied and didn't manage to kill him, there'd be nothing stopping him from killing Austin anyway.

But there was a small voice in the back of her head that fought to protect Austin at all costs.

"What do you want?" she asked, not even bothering to veil her hostility.

"It seems like you're bravery has its limits then," he taunted, his mood once again switching to smug. He was all over the place.

She rolled her eyes and grit her teeth, waiting for him to say something.

"Come here, dearest," he ordered, opening his arms in what was supposed to be a welcoming gesture. It only served to menace her even further.

She begrudgingly walked towards him into his arms, hating herself a little more with each step. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her snugly against his chest. She kept her hands pressed against his chest in case she needed to push him away.

He whispered harshly in her ear, "Hug me back," and she stoop on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck. He was tall. Slightly shorter than Austin, but practically a foot taller than her.

He tightened his grip around her waist and lifted her slightly off her feet. Keeping her pinned to his chest with only one of his arms, he used the other to lift her right leg slightly and to reach into her boot quickly.

She struggled against him and was about to ask what he was doing when he set her down and waved her taser in front of her face.

"I know you better than you think I do, sweetie," he hissed, tossing the weapon to the side.

His hand moved from her waist and grabbed the back of her head, yanking on it painfully.

Ally let out a yelp of pain and realized with a start that this was where it began. He was done toying with her. It was time to do some damage.

He tossed her across the room like she was nothing. Ally felt her back slam against something hard, which she assumed was the wall, and fell to the ground. Before she could scramble to her feet, she felt a hand pull her up to her feet by her hair and bring a knee to her stomach.

Dallas shoved her into a wall, an almost feral look on his face, and reached for her again.

That put her body into overdrive.

The part of her brain that felt pain shut down temporarily as Ally prepared to fight back. She used the move Austin had taught her to grab his wrist, pull him to the right, and then pull him to the left, making him lose his footing. With as much strength as she could manage, she shoved him backwards off of his feet.

She knew she only had a second or two to make her move, so she instantly charged for where he'd tossed her taser. Maybe she'd be able to stun him and steal his gun to shoot him with.

Her hope was dashed when she felt a strong hand wrap around her ankle and yank her to the ground.

Before she could hope to get away, she was flipped onto her back and Dallas was on top of her with his knees pinning her to the ground. He captured both of her hands in his one, rather large hand and held them above her head. She squirmed underneath him, but to no avail.

He's going to kill me, Ally thought sadly.

No more clever tricks. No more stalling. No more hope.

She was hopeless.

"I'm going to enjoy this," Dallas growled, his hand moving to pull something out of his back pocket. When his hand came back with a rather sharp knife, any hope Ally had of a quick and painless death also died.

He ran the knife down her cheek, not applying enough pressure to break skin, but succeeding in terrifying her.

"I wonder how much blood you can lose before you die," he mused, applying the enough pressure to give her a small scratch just above her eye. She felt blood begin to trickle down the side of her face and tried to quash the fear that was growing in the pit of her stomach.

"Fine. Kill me, Dallas. It won't matter," she spat angrily, hating every cell in his body.

His eyebrows rose, showing some amusement, as he asked, "How so?"

"Your slip-up with me was just the beginning. You're losing it. You've had it too good for too long and it's time for you to pay. Maybe I won't be the one to bring you down, but somebody will. You won't win here."

"And who's going to bring me down? Your little boyfriend? I was under the impression that you left the bodyguard chained in a basement somewhere. How's he going to stop me if he can't even save you?" Dallas asked sarcastically, enjoying the way she tensed at mention of Austin.

His question didn't call for an answer. One came from a familiar voice at the doorway nonetheless.

"Well, luckily for her, the bodyguard can pick locks."

A/N: Can anyone guess who's at the door? It's pretty obvious. I hoped you guys enjoyed this chapter. Let's hope nothing happens to our young heroes. We'll see with the next update. :)