Officially edited
When Victor awoke, the sun had settled behind the trees and rested as a sliver over the horizon. He shoved himself off the couch and rose to his full height. His arms stretched above his head and he grimaced at the crackle of dead skin finally peeling off his arms. He brushed his arms off and watched in amusement as the black strips drifted to the floor. It satisfied the petty side of him that wanted her to suffer at least minimally for the pain she had caused him. He adjusted himself through his pants and gazed out her front window. The dark blue curtains lifted in the light breeze through the open window and tantalized his senses with the smells coming from outside.
He approached the front door and exited the house in a hurry. He could taste the blood lust rising, the almost sweet burn it caused on his tongue made him toss his head in frustration. He knew he had to get out of the house or the red haired woman would be just another victim to his viciousness. Fortunately, or unfortunately, for Dezra, he had plans that didn't involve death. Not yet at least. He picked up the pace and launched himself in the woods with a ferocious leap that startled the creatures coming out of hibernation into diving into the bushes. The blood lust rose further and he let out a frightening roar that he was characterized by. A chill went up his spine and he dug his claws into a nearby tree. The old tree snapped with the effort behind his movement and toppled over to crush other trees.
Victor surveyed the damage he had caused and smiled with satisfaction. He snarled at the destruction and turned back towards the house. His blue eyes peered through the settling darkness and caught the barest glimpse of gold from Dezra's upstairs bedroom. He smiled again; but it was a grin of pure lust that promised dangerous things to the woman in question. He started back towards the house, dark fantasies dancing behind his eyes.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Dezra couldn't help but admire Sabretooth's body as he sliced into the old tree at the edge of the forest. Though a frightening man, he was undeniably attractive and had a sinfully lustful nature that tempted her in more than one way. When he turned to catch her watching him, she stared back and waited for him to make the first move. Somehow, she knew that things had changed between them. Whether those changes were good or bad she did not know. What she did know was that she was not going to be terrified into giving the man whatever he wanted; she was pure Shi'Aki and she would not bow to a man of lesser descent.
Thinking of her heritage made Dezra pause. It had been years since she had considered the consequences of obeying her breeding. It was not because of the training via the CIA or because of Doctor Cornelius' medical tweaking. No, she was a cast out and a loner because her alien heritage taught her to treat others as inferior beings. Had she cursed herself to a life of abandonment and loneliness by embracing the very heritage that had defied her?
She shrugged away the uncomfortable thought. She was rejected by the Shi'Aki just as they had been rejected by their distant cousins, the Shi'ar; but that did not mean she was rejected from the rest of the world's culture. However she tried to comfort herself, Dezra found herself unable to requite her inconsistant memories with her ideas. Doctor Cornelius had promised her that her memories would come back with time, but having memories like swiss cheese was disconcerting. She couldn't help but feel betrayed by the man who had turned her Shi'Aki breeding into a mockery of mutation. Though the fire was her own to call, the fangs and claws were not natural and the healing factor was an accident that they had utilised until the day she had escaped.
Dezra realized she had been standing at the window for far too long. Sabretooth was now well on his way back to her house and his black mood was still glinting in his blue eyes. She whirled away from the window and sent herself running to the kitchen. Perhaps if slaking his blood lust would not satisfy the man, a hearty meal would. She slid into the kitchen and stopped herself by catching the edge of the archway. She hastily pulled out the ingredients for a four cheese lasagna and assembled the meal in record time. Dezra didn't bother preheating the oven; she put aluminum foil over the pan and super heated the meal herself. She laughed silently to herself when she recalled all the times she had tried this very feat and failed with miserable results. Though it had taken many tries to get the lasagna to cook evenly, she was quite proud of herself when she finally achieved the desired result.
Hearing Sabretooth's almost silent footsteps, she finished the heating as quickly as possible. She grabbed two plates from a cabinet and two forks from a drawer and set them out on the table. The lasagna was placed on the table just as Sabretooth entered the kitchen. She gave him a secretive smile and served him a large slice. He seemed perturbed at her display of cordiality, but accepted the meal anyways. His table manners lacked in finesse, she soon discovered, but she decided it really didn't matter if he was a sloppy eater.
The meal was spent in silence. Neither felt comfortable speaking to the other after their conflict earlier and it didn't seem necessary to fill the silence with noise. They merely watched each other from across the small table and pretended for those few brief moments that they were different people from different backgrounds with different goals in mind. The reality would eventually catch up to them and their training would reveal their true colors, but defeat was not an option for either. Only time would tell.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
When their dinner was eaten and the dishes put in the sink, Victor finally noticed his state of disrepair. Sweat had soaked into his clothing and hair and blood had dried on his hands from where the trees had resisted his killing blows. He breathed in deeply and caught the putrid scent of his own body. He frowned and decided a shower was in order. Despite popular belief that he was just a mass murdering psychotic that had no care for personal hygiene or upkeep, he was firmly grounded in the idea that you were less likely to get caught on a job if you didn't smell like dead bodies and congealed blood. He ran a hand through his blond hair and turned a questioning gaze to the woman standing across the kitchen from him.
"Guess I need to shower again." She raised an eyebrow as if to say, 'and I'm supposed to care why?' "Got any clothes around here that'll fit?"
"I suppose," She looked carefully critical before she inspected his body totally, "It'll be a tight fit, but I think I have something lying around here you could squeeze into."
She led him upstairs to a bedroom that he hadn't bothered looking into. The room smelled like roses and fresh plants and all sorts of womanly smells that made him want to gag. When Dezra opened the door to step inside, he understood why. The room was covered from top to bottom in plants. Vines wrapped around the bed, lamp, desk and dresser like they were patterned there by the manufacturer. The carpet was covered in a meadow of grass that had grown healthy flowers that looked like they belonged in a vase in a feminine kitchen. Dezra pried a vine from one of the drawers on the dresser and managed to pull it open. She plucked out a pair of pants, boxers and a shirt. When he held the outfit up, he realized that he probably could squeeze into the outfit.
"Hidin' a hubby 'round here frail?" He questioned as he sniffed the room for proof. She laughed lightly and shook her head.
"No, those are my son's clothing." A dark look crossed her face, "And if I have ever had a husband, time has stripped him from me as well as the memories."
"Then I guess I won't have anyone to hold me back from moving in on your territory." His blue eyes revealed the dark fantasies he had imagined earlier. Dezra swallowed hard and forced away her fear.
"Though there is no man to call me wife, I have never needed a man to protect me from villains like you." Their eyes met across the room and his smile scared her more than his words ever could.
"There is no man or woman alive who could keep me from gettin' what I want frail, you'd do well to remember that." He turned from the room and started walking back towards the bathroom.
"Only in your dreams would you have me Sabretooth." He turned back to look at her one last time. The heat in his eyes alone made her skin crawl with the memory of his touch in the kitchen that morning. Lust rose in her flesh like an unsatiable beast. An answering grin from Sabretooth had her collapsed on the floor gasping. He left her like that; lust eating away at her control, her beast clawing at her skin and the reality that self-control and CIA training would not be enough to fight away a man like Sabretooth.