[A.N Thanks muchly to those two beautiful people who reviewed this! I'll come up with some lame explanation about the doughboys later, to be honest, it never occurred to me that they'd need a reason to be back *smacks own forehead*]

Johnny stood over Devi's unconscious body which he had laid down on his couch - he had specially cleaned the blood stains off of it the previous morning owing to his imminent plans to kidnap Devi. She was quite a sight: her pale skin almost glowed through the dullness surrounding her; her fuchsia hair was tangled, though Johnny had carefully swept it back to reveal her face; she remained completely still aside from the small movements she made to show she was still breathing. She was completely at peace; unaware of the death and decay which lay beneath the floorboards of her present location…

Devi awoke and immediately knew she wasn't in her bed; even before opening her eyes she detected the strange musky smell that hung in the air - a combination of blood, sweat and disinfectant. She delayed opening her eyes for as long as possible, not looking forward to what she might see. She slowly lifted her eyelids and it took her several seconds to focus.

Moving her arms, she suddenly realised they were tied. This alerted her and she came to her senses quickly, panicking. She now observed the highly inconvenient situation she was in: she was lying on a couch with her hands tightly bound together by a length thick nylon cord; the room around her was vaguely recognisable – this was Johnny's lounge. She noted that all of her clothes were intact, which relieved her to a great extent (though she wouldn't have expected any less form Johnny) but she had the distinct impression on reaching for her head, which felt slightly sore, that he had brushed her hair. Briefly she contemplated what else he might have done while she was unconscious, but she wouldn't worry about that now.

She appeared to be completely alone (then again, this was Johnny; she wouldn't put it past him to be watching her form somewhere) and in spite of the cord tying her hands, it seemed all too easy for her to escape - there must be some sort of catch: presently, it walked through the far door:

"Devi… you're awake."

"O come off it, don't act so surprised to see me. And I know you've been watching me."

He grinned in reply, she knew him so well… "Now if I were in such a compromising situation as you at present, I'd watch how I spoke to my captor…"

Realising that he was correct, Devi bit down on her lip. How many others? Did they all end up dead?

"Have a good sleep?"

Devi began to articulate the phrase fuck you, but thought the better of it, "what do you think? And it wasn't a sleep anyway, was it?"

Johnny smiled mildly at her. He could sense her frustration.

"May I ask why my hands are tied?"

"I'd have thought that would have been obvious."

"The door was open though, I could have easily gotten away."

"I thought you said I was watching you. You shouldn't doubt your own intelligence, Devi."

"Soooo…" she began, uncertainly, "what exactly do you want with me?" She eyed him nervously, "you're not going to kill me, are you?"

Johnny remained silent, his eyes were expressionless but there was evidence of a  smile playing at the corners of his mouth; Devi was unsure of how exactly to perceive this: was he trying to aggravate her? Or perhaps he was still contemplating…

            "Are you going to answer me?"

            Silence.

"Damn it, Nny!"

"I'm sorry, you're just so beautiful. You are, Devi."

Devi furrowed her eyebrows, her mouth was hung open slightly, "What the- is that all you have to say to me? Did you kidnap me just to tell me that?"

"I "kidnapped" you because I knew you'd never hear me out were it that you free not to."

"Fine. Great. [she raised her eyebrows and rolled her eyes] Talk to me. I'll listen, then can I please go?" She was sounding irritable by now.

"Perhaps. I'm unsure at the moment. I will give you a promise though, that while you are here, if you treat me fairly and listen to what I have to say, I shalln't harm you. It would pain me to harm you, Devi."

"O come off it, Nny! You attacked me with a knife! You didn't look like you were in too much pain then. Treating you fairly would be to turn you in to the police."

"But you've already tried that, haven't you, my dear? And they'll never listen."

"Wh- what? Have you been watching me?"

"I'd rather not answer that at present as I'm kinda trying to persuade you of my good nature, so it would be just plain foolish to incriminate myself any further – plus I'm the one with the knife, so I call the shots."

"Fair enough…"

"Look, I know I wasn't the best… date… and I probably don't deserve another chance, I'll give you that… but-" mid-sentence he reached a hand into one of the inner pockets of his trench coat, when he removed it, he was brandishing a butcher knife – "-what choice do you really have? Come on, you might like me once you get past this area of my personality."

"How long do I have to stay here?" Devi asked sheepishly.

"Until I grow on you… or until it becomes jaw-droppingly obvious that it isn't going to work…"

"Then?"

Johnny smiled and blinked a few times before answering, "you're free to go. Providing you don't attempt to contact the police. Believe me I'll know, and remember what good it did you last time anyway."

"OK. I can't remain in these clothes forever though."

"I'll collect some of you things for you from your apartment… and I'm sure there's a washing machine around here somewhere…"

"Thanks," Devi mumbled, feeling slightly demoralised at the prospect of living alone with a homicidal maniac. It figures.

[A.N. You'll be pleased to know I've finally decided on an actual plot for this story! (yeah I know, kinda a vital part really, isn't it…) And don't worry, I'm fully aware of different Johnny is acting around Devi in comparison to the way he talks about her when he's on his own, it'll all be explained with my diabolical plot!]