Esteemed Malevolence
His Silent Infatuation
Sweeney paused outside her bedroom door, breaths shallow, hands clenching around the sides of the door-frame for support. He'd had a shot of gin to steady his nerves before he'd even made his way to her door...however it didn't seem to be doing much for him, given his sprightly demeanour.
The lack of vengeance-weaved strings made him feel a whole orchestra of emotions. Their waves of loud feeling flowed through him entirely, especially now that Eleanor Lovett was only just beyond that door.
Everything was suddenly much more visible. He had no memories of his late wife in the back of his mind, she was no longer lurking there to torment him. With the blood still staining his clothing, it was a physical reminder that both Barkers were finally laid to rest. It was time for Todd to do whatever he wanted to do now.
And in fact, at that very moment, he felt such excitement streaming through his entire being, that his breathing became faster and harsher. His body sweltered with anticipation and his heart hammered violently against his ribcage.
All because of his unforeseen freedom.
All because of who was on the other side of that door.
He swallowed back his loud breaths, steadying out each one as he carefully grasped a hand around the doorknob, placing another one flat against the door. He slowly opened it in an overly-cautious manner.
He wanted to surprise her.
After all, they'd both been waiting for this moment ever since they'd thought up their little pie scheme. It was a victory he very much wanted to share with her.
He slid in through the smallest gap in the door that he could fit through, all in order to quicken the pace of what he intended to do. He leaned back into the door, pressing it shut gently, the quiet click of the closing mechanism causing a smirk to touch on his lips.
He was unaware of the time, but given the sound of Eleanor's soft snores and the pitch black of her room, it was likely that it was going on for the early hours of the morning by now.
Unlike her, he was completely wide-awake, black eyes gleaming through the darkness at her sleeping form. She had the covers tightly wrapped around her, like they were a cocoon trapping all the warmth around her body. He was quite disappointed that she was facing away from him. He would have loved to have been greeted by her peaceful, enchanting features the moment he'd walked in that door.
His honest feelings were finally breaking through, it seemed.
He didn't dwell on his thoughts - which was a good job, seeing as his feet were already carrying him across the floor towards her. He was surprised at how much of a buzz he was feeling as he sneaked up to the side of her bed, eyes lingering on the hair that was usually up in pins... instead, it was sprawled out in a squiggly mess of faded-red behind her head.
Even in the darkness, the woman was the most enticing thing he'd ever laid eyes upon - he could feel himself burning up now that he was so close to her, the anticipation of surprising her was beginning to get the best of him.
His bloodied fingers were shaky as he brought them up to tear at his top layer of waistcoat and neck ties, his teeth clenching to stop an impatient growl from being unleashed from his throat. He didn't think his lust for her would grow, but it seemed that now his feelings for her were finally consuming him completely, he was near animalistic.
Once he flung his top layers of clothing across the floor, he slipped off his shoes as silently as he could, fixated on the shapely curve of her spine now that his eyes had adjusted to the dark. He practically ripped his shirt off - which was stained with huge patches of burgundy, not that it was any surprise - and slung it to the carpet beneath his bare feet, already starting on his belt.
Eleanor shifted under the covers and he sucked an enormous breath in, one of his hands clawing around his buckle to stop it from jangling. Luckily, she had just been re-adjusting her position, so he carried on, his maddening eyes unable to look away from her.
He couldn't wait for her reaction. Couldn't wait for her to realise just how free he was.
He finally felt alive.
Once he threaded his belt out of his trouser loops, he anxiously lowered it to the floor. He let out a whispery sigh and unbuttoned his trousers, sliding them down his legs hurriedly.
God, he wanted her.
He'd never felt so sure about anything in his life.
This night was certainly going to be memorable. For a whole lot of reasons.
Now fully nude, he slowly lowered himself down, low enough so that he could kneel across the free space on the bed beside her. The mattress bounced noticeably at his added weight, and Eleanor murmured in annoyance, shuffling her legs in discomfort.
His fingers scrambled to find a corner of the sheets in the darkness, his smirk appearing once he struck gold. He slid himself beneath the covers, involuntarily humming out as his form was immediately surrounded by warmth... and the aura of her. He inched himself nearer to her, his eyes already falling shut once the heat had risen significantly. He was close enough that he could breathe in her curious scent now.
Once he sensed her skin was nearby, he reached his arms around her and blatantly pressed his palms over the skin of her abdomen. Once he began to stroke firmly up towards her ribcage, she gasped out, the beginning of a shriek squeaking out of her.
He chuckled darkly, pushing his hands firmly over her soft breasts, darting them over her collarbone in order to come to a rest over her mouth - all to smother her scream.
A scream which diminished quite quickly.
She knew who it was, of course.
That deep sound of amusement and that smell of cologne mixed with the poignant stench of iron told her that it was him. The smell of blood was quite overpowering - from this, she knew it was likely that he was still spattered with the stuff. Not that she minded, in fact, she completely forgot about it as soon as she felt him pushing wet kisses to the base of her neck.
He groaned out into her skin, his hands loosely receding to cup around her bust. She cracked open her eyes, letting out a pleasured whimper of surprise at what he was doing. She wondered what had happened for him to lust for her so strongly ... especially so late into the night that he had to wake her up.
It was incredibly selfish of him.
Then again, she could feel herself reacting to him already - despite her slight irritation at his arrogant actions, her fatigue vanished completely and she willingly gave into him. How could she not? Her adoration lit her up, both mentally and physically - this passion she felt alone, was enough for her to give in.
"Wot's all this for?" she murmured, her back curving against his toned chest and abdomen. She gasped out lightly as he chuckled deeply again, sending vibrations over the tender skin of her neck. One of his callous hands stroked upwards, stopping to grasp hold of her chin between his thumb and index finger.
"Ya not gonna answer me, are ya?"
His kisses to her neck ceased, his hot mouth leaving her skin as he then took a finger from her chin, to lay it across her lips.
"Shh." he hushed, raising himself up slightly, holding back the urge to beam a grin. He was already undeniably happy due to the death of his nemesis, perhaps even delighted that he'd found an unexpected light in his daughter, Eva Fiori.
And now that he was about to make love to Eleanor... it was no wonder the man was so mischievous and oddly gleeful.
Not that the woman was aware of his happiness. Not yet, anyway.
He placed a hand on her shoulder and shuffled back onto his knees, eyes glinting at her once she obediently rolled onto her back to look up at him. Her gasp of astonishment told him she'd probably laid her eyes on just how much blood still coated his skin. He was unaware how alluring it was to her - she adored how he wore his power plainly on his face for her to see. She shivered excitedly, eyes wide as he knelt over her.
He hovered his mouth over hers, their eyelids drooping in unison. Her eyelashes fluttered when she felt a stray hand caressing its way down her left arm, until it came to an abrupt halt in order to clutch around her wrist. He sunk himself down the length her body, his legs pushing back until they hit the foot of the bed. His nose nuzzled against the bottom of one of her breasts and she let out a small moan.
He swiftly brought the hand he'd stolen up to his lips, his elbows bending so that he could prop himself up instead of crushing her with his weight.
She looked down at him through intoxicated eyes, quietly moaning out as she observed the movement of his lips. He enveloped them around one of her knuckles, his tongue lightly tracing down the rest of her digit. She bit her bottom lip, toes curling around the rumples over the sheets beneath her - she was amazed at how the man's slightest touch pushed her into a building oblivion.
She yearned for his every touch.
As he moved to her next finger, sucking her knuckle lightly, he peered up at her. His eyes were full of unrestrained seductive daring, and withheld words that he was having trouble keeping to himself.
His eyes displayed it all.
From that moment, she knew this intimacy between them... it had shifted.
This time it would be different.
With each split second she returned his gaze, his kisses and licks to her hands became agonizingly slower, each miniscule sensation causing her to lightly bite her lip.
His actions were all a rouse to get her distracted.
He carefully bent his legs, pushing them upwards - luckily Eleanor was too busy with his gaze to notice his movements. He lowered the throb between his legs and brushed himself against the covers, harshly breathing out over her fingers. From the realisation on her face, he knew his attempt at deception had been pointless.
A dirty chuckle burbled out of her and his mouth left her fingers completely.
Internally, Eleanor's heart was beating faster than it had done before. She wasn't used to him giving her so much attention, even sexually. Habitually they would just get down to the bones of it as fast as possible... but to see Sweeney slowly sussing her out, calculating every slither of sensation, studying her every cell...
It was something new.
Something unexpected.
Something which told her that he was enjoying her in a completely different way.
Still holding himself up with one of his elbows, he raised his opposite arm to push the sheets off of his back. The cold air swirled around and encapsulated their pale skin. Luckily, the amount of heat they were both radiating took off the bitter edge to the chill - even more so when he sunk down again, pressing his wet lips to her abdomen.
His intense gaze never faltered and never ceased to charm her. Her chest heaved more obviously now that his mouth was heading even lower, his hands easily found their way to gently knead the sides of her thighs. Those black eyes pummelled her and from the feel of his breath panting out over her bottom half, she pleasantly winced.
She'd surrendered this time.
Perhaps it was the fatigue. Perhaps it was her weak heart.
Perhaps, it was because she sensed a change in him.
As Sweeney continued to puff out teases of warm air over her arousal, the sight of him alone sent shivers through her being. Now that she was practically wide awake and full of beans, she drank in his appearance...
Clustered locks of black that had only gotten messier from the arduous day of murder, the white flash which only added to his delicious insanity, the pallid skin that was deathly white even in the pitch black, the pallid skin which also wielded the bloody remnants of his last victim, the endless blackness of his eyes that displayed such wicked intent...
... the mouth that was shadowed with alluring stubble, which hovered inches over her.
She watched with wide eyes as he dropped his head lower, his conniving lips curling into a smirk as he continued to return her gaze relentlessly.
Eleanor wanted to scream out in frustration - the pleasant anticipation surging through her was building far too much for her to handle. Her threshold was fairly minimal to begin with, but she would have to stop him teasing her eventually. He'd never let her go this long without him before.
Then again, she'd never experienced him wanting to kiss her so... intimately.
He'd always made sure to mask his eagerness, especially when initiating their intimacy. Yet there he was, shamelessly staring back at her with such certainty.
She loved certainty.
His tongue slipped through his lips and her entire body tensed as he came into contact with her flesh, her sharp gasp earning a throaty chuckle in response.
The vibrations of his amusement carried on until his lips soon met with her too. His articulate hands firmly clung around her thighs, ensuring she didn't wriggle out of place. His thumbs nonchalantly pressed circles into the tender flesh of her inner leg, encouraging the whimpers of gratification she recklessly allowed herself to expel. Her noises grew in volume and her eyebrows raised, his black eyes taking in her facial expressions with every adept maneuvure of his mouth.
As much as he was torturing himself by pleasuring her... the throbbing ache was worth it. From what he was doing, he was certain she still blindingly yearned for him.
His kisses to her quickened, and that only heightened the quality of pleasure she felt. In fact, he could feel the muscles of her legs tense beneath his palms as she began to blatantly moan out.
His ears savored every note of her pleasure, and he hummed against her, flicking his eyes down to observe his actions. Now that his attention was diverted, her moans were louder and he couldn't help smirking as she began to meet his face with her hips. Her to-and-fro enthusiasm caused him to dart his eyes back up to study her.
Her defined cheeks were smudges of light-grey that had been pressed into the darkness... her chocolate eyes were full of intoxicated pleasure, and they pierced his heart, forcing his blood to pump faster the more that they glistened. Her auburn curls were tangled and free, scattered across the pillow behind her...
In that moment, Eleanor Lovett was the epitome of beautiful darkness. It didn't matter how dark the circles around her eyes were, or how many lines of age she had... such things only attributed to her appearance. The woman was almost otherworldly as she continued to watch him with her droopy gaze, her expression and presence alone seemed to awaken something deep within him.
God, she was his?
She was his.
As he aided her, he couldn't help rubbing himself over the mattress sheet again - when he growled into his kiss, she bucked against him, his hands struggling to keep her in place.
When his attempts at keeping her still failed, he growled with frustration, and gave her a seething look once she managed to gently tap her thigh against his cheek - it was enough to let him know she wanted something else now.
"Sweeney..." she murmured lowly, her arms reaching down to softly caress the sides of his neck. "C'mere love..."
The hoarseness of her voice caused him to shiver, and despite his brief irritation, he obeyed her, carefully crawling up from the place between her legs.
On his way back to hover his lips over hers, he was oblivious to the cheeky hand she'd slipped down, and she confidently grabbed hold of him.
"God!" he groaned out loudly, arms tensing into pillars either side of her, palms pressed flat over the mattress. "Fuck, Nell. Fuck..."
Before he could say anything more, she arched herself upwards and enveloped her lips around his, their eyes instantly closing. He hummed into their kiss, her hand on him taunting his skin in the most pleasant ways possible. He thrust himself towards her and she broke away from his mouth, spilling out a playful cackle before she could stop herself. She was amused - his eagerness took her by surprise, and she couldn't help displaying her love for him by grazing her teeth over her cheeky smile.
He cracked his eyes open, panting out across her face as he studied her features. Her adoration caused him to shiver again, and he groaned out brashly due to her love for him, not giving a damn about how much his audible pleasure surprised her.
"Wot's gotten into you, Mr T?" she whispered, smirking as she sped up the pace of her hand. "Not like you to be so - "
"Be quiet." he breathed back harshly, his tone not matching the silly expression of half-amusement on his face. "I wish for tonight to last longer, is all."
Her hand slowed to a halt after hearing his words and she frowned up at him, her broad chocolate eyes desperately searching for the devious mirth in his gaze. She expected to see his mask, but all she could see was undiluted honesty.
"W-Why?" she choked out, her breath almost cutting out her voice when he shuffled against her. He slid himself upwards, so that he loomed over her, his elbows digging into the pillow either side of her head.
He beamed an enormous grin at her, the tip of his nose brushing against hers.
"We 'ave a reason to celebrate, pet." he spoke calmly, despite the flash of glee in his eyes. His malevolent smile skimmed over her lips and her eyes were bright with giddiness, every brush of his skin over her body causing her insides to set alight.
"He's gone."
His relieved tone was surreal - she'd never heard his voice so soft. Each syllable was laced with danger from his overwhelming lust and new found elation... she knew from the maddening grin he wore that he'd finally fulfilled his vengeance.
And, more importantly, he'd finally given in to her.
She inhaled sharply, feeling tears of joy filling up her eyes as she let out a breathy laugh, still exploring the hypnotic emotion that he stared at her with. Before he had chance to open his mouth to say anything more, she let out a deep breath, reaching up her free hand to clench it around a bunch of his black hair.
He chuckled throatily at her actions, the sound of him only confirming that his existence was real. The poor woman thought there was still a possibility that everything before her eyes was a dream... she was too used to failure in her life, so it was no wonder that when everything seemed to go according to plan, she was incredibly confused.
"I love you." she breathed, tugging at his hair slightly which caused him to feign a frown. He still wasn't sure how to react when she said that, but considering she leaned forwards and smothered his mouth with a passionate kiss... she wasn't expecting him to react verbally.
He brayed his lips hard against hers, the two of them moaning out in impassioned unison. Once he sensed that she was wriggling beneath him, he pulled away from her mouth, smirking at her gasps for air before he began sucking at her neck.
"Ohh... Sweeney..." she panted out thoughtlessly, her fingers entwining around his black locks to make a fist of support. "I love you so much."
It seemed that she couldn't stop herself from saying it.
She was amazed how her words seemed to drive him crazier - his curious kisses and playful sucks to her throat's skin became more aggressive, his teeth grazing over each pulsating blood branch beneath her thin sheet of white skin. He was making her shake with ecstasy from his harshness, the sound of his groans only added to her enjoyment as she began to work her hand around him again.
She could sense that he'd realised he was now free of any chains, for every one of his reactions was brashly unleashed - one moment she was teasing him with her hand, the next he was pulling himself away from her to yank her down into a star shape, her back flat against the mattress.
Everything about his lust was so tastefully impure that her breaths shortened with anticipation. When he grasped his hands around her wrists to hold them over the pillow behind her head, she let out a whimper of amazement.
He poised his face over hers, his hot breath panting out over parted lips. Her eyes scanned over the blood spatter on his features, her teeth grazing her bottom lip to stop a desperate desire-filled sigh from escaping her.
Knowing himself, that he had to relieve his near-insatiable appetite for Eleanor Lovett before he grew even more lustful, he dipped his mouth down, violently caressing her lips. Her entire body reacted in response - something he was rather surprised at, seeing as he'd never felt her react like this before.
He felt her legs wriggling beneath him, her feet stroking against the sides of his calf muscles... then her torso arched upwards, so that her bare chest brushed up against him...
He hadn't expected her to end their kiss so soon, and his eyes opened, and immediately he questioned himself - had he done something wrong?
He frowned at her as she pushed her body upwards, her breasts pressing against him when she brought her mouth to one of his ears.
"Hell, it's about bleedin' time, Sweeney..."
He snarled at her cheekiness and shoved her back down - she let out a playful shriek when her head hit the pillow behind her, and she ended up in fits of giggles, watching his feigned his anger - she could tell that he'd found his frustrated outburst rather funny too, his eyes were shimmering with delightful amusement.
"Oh! This ain't fair, Mr T."
"And why's that, pet?"
"As a good friend'a mine once said, 'cause we both know that you want to fuck me just as hard as I want to fuck you." she whispered, mischief twirling effortlessly in her chocolate pools.
"Friend? That's a curious word." he whispered, subtly aligning his body over her, because she was driving him pleasantly wild with her beautifully clever way with words - he was surprised that she'd even remembered what he'd said to her that night.
His nose nuzzled against hers and she felt him lowering his hot bottom half downwards. One of his hands pushed against her thighs to shakily part her legs, his black eyes never once backing down from gazing at her.
"I would have thought 'lover', would've been more appropriate, don't you think?" he teased, his lips skimming over hers as his eyelids drooped down - he'd completely succumbed to her.
Finally, he was feeling her for what she truly was to him.
The contact between their mouths and their throbbing flesh was almost in unison, their moans commencing instantaneously. He pumped himself into her at a quick pace, one hand gripped to her waist, the other eagerly exploring her tastefully pale canvas.
Their mouths fought firmly as their bodies' maneuvres became more elaborate and impulsive - teeth pulled at the skin of a bottom lip, delicate fingers clenched around strands of messy black hair, whilst callous fingers tortuously teased. When the sensations took the two of them over completely, they parted mouths, gasping, groaning, grunting...
Already, Eleanor missed his lips on hers and she tugged his hair, leaning forwards. Her actions forced him to oblige her, and he felt himself falling backwards slowly - he growled out once he finally laid out on his back, still buried deep inside her. For once, he paid no attention to the dominance she was asserting over him, he merely watched on in audibly loud satisfaction as she rolled her hips over him.
When she paused her movements to lean down, Sweeney's eyes widened in surprise, their deep breaths meeting as their lips pushed together in a chaste kiss. He hummed against her mouth, allowing his eyes to close in submission. He could feel her lips curving into a devious smile as she chuckled into his mouth - he frowned in confusion, but the expression was long gone as soon as she began to move over him again, with twice the vigour as before.
Their kiss finally ended, and Eleanor's energetic cries of enthusiasm filled his ears without any delay. He too, could no longer hold back his deep grunts of enjoyment as she bucked her hips against him. He was hypnotised by the experience of her - the way she was engulfing him was unlike anything he'd felt before.
He was finally seeing her, hearing her, smelling her, feeling her, for the delectable woman she was... he was physically and mentally struck by her... and the mere notion of him being free to do whatever he wished with her, to her...
It sent him pleasantly mad.
"Nell... oh, Nell..." he gruffly pushed out, his eyes wide with pleasure as she stared desperately back at him, her eyebrows knitted together as she continued to bounce up and down. With every shallow breath, a low rumble of her name spewed out from between his lips - his sudden use of her preferred name sent shivers down her spine. His harsh intonation as he said it caused her to give out a high gasp, her legs tensing wildly.
He let out a long, shuddered breath and he finally took back some control of the situation by sliding his hands down from her waist to settle on the skin beneath her hips. Even as she began to waver as the volume of her moans grew rapidly, he kneaded his thumbs over her tender skin, urging her to carry on.
She gulped in air, starting to wheeze from satisfied exhaustion, but Sweeney wasn't content with her surrender. His hands gripped around her more firmly and he guided her hips towards his, moving himself closer to meet her more firmly.
It wasn't long until their pleasure overcame them, and their bodies shook, their groans merging into one loud grunt of completion. Their reward of their gratifying end was the most electrifying high that they'd experienced together...
Eleanor dropped herself onto his heaving chest, panting erratically as she shut her eyes to the wave of happiness that gushed through her. She wore a relieved smile as his arms tightly wrapped around her - he embraced her like she was some sort of comforting teddy bear, and she couldn't help expelling an airy sigh.
"God, that were good!" she croaked out with passion, nuzzling her face into the crook of his neck. He chuckled hoarsely, one his flat palms stroking its way up the back of her until it reached the top of her neck - where it then delved into her head of dark red hair, fingers gently twirling a lock here and there.
"I never knew that it hadn't been good before." he replied with a smirk, resting his chin on the top of her head. She laughed out one of her dirty giggles, lifting herself away from him so that she address him.
"You was all covered in blood 'fore... where's that all gone, eh?" she teased, biting her lip to stop another cackle from erupting out of her. He raised a brow at her in amusement and the giggles flew out of her before she could stop herself.
"I don't know what you're talkin' about, pet. I never came in 'ere in such a state, how dare you." he said emptily, mocking his usual strict and stoic demeanour. She snorted another laugh, shuffling over him slightly.
As she moved a little, he cast his eyes down to explore her chest - but on the way there, he noticed a minuscule break in the precious skin by her throat - an incision. How had he not seen that before?
Well... he had been a tad distracted.
He shot up into a sitting position and she slid off him, letting out a little yelp of surprise.
"S-Sweeney? Everythin' alright, love?" she asked hurriedly, already wearing a look of worried despair.
"You didn't tell me that you were hurt." he whispered, reaching his arm forwards to gently caress the small cut. She winced a little bit but internally, utter relief flooded her.
She thought he'd been having second thoughts.
"O-Oh, this lil' thing? S'nothin' t'worry yourself over. Just nicked meself when I was down in the bake'ouse, its a simple mist - "
"You're far too meticulous for that to ever happen, Eleanor." he snapped coldly, black eyes digging into her through the tinted sheet of night. She was completely flattered by his words, but she knew he hadn't intended to compliment her.
"Who did that to you?" he questioned sternly, and she could already sense the anger in his voice.
"Beadle Bamford!" she blurted out, unable to stop herself from unleashing the truth - seeing as they were thoroughly exposed and his eyes were so warm with concern, it was impossible to keep the facts away from him. " 'Threatened me just after closin' but... 'e's long gone now."
"Threatened you?" he breathed, studying her small wound with a wince. "He didn't dare try to - "
"No." she interrupted, giving him a reassuring smile when he gaze at her. "Certainly not. And 'e didn't scare me either, 'specially seein' as 'e were usin' a silly ol' sword-cane. If ya wanna scare me then that's definitely the wrong way to go about it. 'E's bleedin' snuffed it now though, thank 'eavens."
He frowned at her, yet his eyes were filled with amusement. And before he knew it, he let out a genuine laugh, one that was slightly unusual... but then again, any sign of a giggle from Sweeney Todd was unusual.
Eleanor gawped at him in surprise, her eyes lighting up with intrigue.
"W-Wot? Wot's up? Wot's so funny?" she asked in disbelief, unable to conceal her optimistic smile. She lowered herself down and perched in between his legs, elbows to the mattress as she held her chin in her palm.
"You are... the strangest woman I've ever met." he admitted, still wearing a silly smirk even though his laughter had subsided. "Any other woman would've fought for their life, but you? You just judge the disgusting pig's taste in weapons."
" 'Course I do! I 'ad to be honest about 'im bein' shit when it came to intimidation. I got meself all nervous, and then 'e pulls out this disappointin' baby cane - "
"Ah, perhaps you're just used to a better class of assailant, pet?" he taunted, with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
She gaped at him in shock yet her eyes returned his dark, daring expression. Before she could express her carefully crafted reply, he leaned forwards, pressing his warm lips against her thin wound. He lingered there for a moment, and she only pulled him further towards her, closing her eyes with welcomed completion.
Without Sweeney knowing, his actions that night spoke louder than any meaningful word he could have ever constructed.