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"How are you doing miss?" the doctor asked as he looked around the room.
"I'm okay, doc. You think I can leave soon?" she said with her face turned away from the doctor.
"I'll have to see about that…How fast you want to leave this place?" he asked. Not knowing what he meant by the meaning of his question.
"You know what doc, I'm not sure I quite understand…" she said as she turned herself around to face the doctor. Instead of seeing the doctor holding his stethoscope ready to check up on her, she sees the silver glint of a katana coming down at her.
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Chapter 9: Tempo
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The blade stopped merely two inches away from Faye's head. Surprised green eyes met shocked navy ones. Faye wonders if it's just fate or just plain bad luck that every time she sees Vicious dangerous objects are involved.
"This is bad for my health doc. My heart can't stand these kinds of grand appearances that you always make," Faye commented in her sarcastic tone. Vicious eyes flashed with amusement. Then a glint of mischievousness appeared in his eyes.
"Really Faye? Maybe I should give you a check-up. Afterall…I am your doctor. I need to examine you to make sure you're healthy enough to leave," he said slyly. Faye caught on to his implications and blushed. Her face was tinted with a hint of pink. Vicious found Faye incredibly irresistible. The dash of pink on her snow white skin, her eyes looking away from his gaze to hide her uneasiness, and her soft pink lips combined together made a magnificent sight. 'Beautiful,' he thought, 'She looks so naïve and cute, like a shy teenage girl.'
Faye felt Vicious' unwavering gaze on her. Her heart skipped a beat and her cheeks began to redden in color. 'Damn it. Pull it together, Faye! So many guys had looked at you with desire before, and you played it cool at all times. What the hell is this now? You're blushing like a little girl. Get over it. Look at him in the eye and be yourself!' her mind yelled. Faye forced herself to meet Vicious' gaze. It was too hard to look into Vicious' eyes because they were filled with desire and something else….affection? 'Nah, this guy is a player,' she reasoned, 'Okay, be yourself!' She smiled seductively at Vicious, tilting her head to the side. Faye opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Hey, doctor. Can you hurry up?" one of the guards asked behind the door.
Reluctantly, Vicious answered, "I'll be out in a second." Never did he leave his eyes off of Faye. Finally, Vicious said, "I promise I'll finish the check up some other time Faye. So long for now." With that said, Vicious left her room. Faye lied there thinking about Vicious' promise. Just thinking about it makes her spine curl. She pulled the blanket over her head and tried to block Vicious out of her mind. 'I think I'm going crazy. Haha…crazy for Vicious? Yeah right.'
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"She is under our constant surveillance Mr. Madrick. I just came from her hospital room," the guard reported.
"Good job Evan. Get Shawn to my office right now."
"Yes, Sir!" Evan backed away from Madrick's desk and turned to exit the room. Several minutes later, he reappeared with Shawn next to him.
"Looking for me?" Shawn asked nonchalantly. He plopped onto the chair in front of Madrick's desk without even asking and lazily drew a cigarette out for a smoke. Evan approached the desk carefully and sat down next to Shawn. He sat with his back straight and eyes on Madrick, waiting dutifully for Madrick to give him tasks to carry out. Evans and Shawn are total opposites of each other. While one gives off the "I don't give a shit" attitude, the other gives off an attentive and obedient aura. Although they are nothing alike, both are the syndicate's prized possessions after the resurrection of the Red Dragon. Madrick eyed the two closely, who would've thought they were brothers? He mentally laughed at the thought.
"I have assignments for the two of you," Madrick said. Evan looked at him expectantly while Shawn continued on with his smoke.
"Go on," Shawn prodded. "I hope it's something good this time."
"Shawn, I want you to see if you can get any information on the killer that appeared at the masquerade party a few nights ago. Your only lead is the woman who had an encounter with him, Faye Valentine. I'm tired of wasting my men watching over her. They're not getting anything, so you're going to do the job," Madrick slipped a manila folder to Shawn as he finished his explanation. Madrick then turned to Evan and started to brief over his assignment.
"Evan, you will be accompanying me to the Grey Wolves syndicate headquarters. Since you were the head of the security for the party, they want to talk to you." Evan nodded his head slightly while Shawn took a look at the folder handed to him. Inside the folder was information on Faye, with a picture of her in her famous yellow attire. Shawn gave out a low whistle.
"Working at the Lucky Charms Casino…that's my favorite place to be," Shawn smirked.
"She's full of trouble," Evan warned.
"I like trouble."
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"You're in deep trouble," Faye smiled as she revealed her cards, a full house. The man sitting at the table had nothing but a pair of ten. He lost all his money in this round. Defeated, he left the table with his head hung low.
"Good luck next time," Faye called at the man's retreating back. She looked at the crowd that formed around her table.
"Would any one of you like to play a game of poker with me?" she asked sweetly. None of the people wanted to sit and play after seeing her win so many rounds. Slowly, everyone started inching away from the table, leaving Faye all alone.
"I'll play," came a voice from the crowd. A young man emerged from the group of people and sat in the nearest seat by Faye. She gave the young man a glance over…tall and built, not too bulky, but chiseled like a rock. He wore dark denim and a black close-fitting knitted sweater. You can see the shape of his arms and chest and how built they were. His raven black hair was short, layered to the back of neck; his bangs fell around his mischievous eyes, accentuating them. If Faye was the female version of trouble, this man sitting at the table, was the male version of it.
The man placed 200,000 woolongs worth of chips onto the table. "Hey there," he said with a smile on his face.
"Hi, you're in for a game of poker?" she asked teasingly.
"Actually, that and something else," he smirked.
"And what would that something else be?"
"Since you're so gorgeous, I would like to add a date with a beauty like you into this game," he suggested.
"And what happens if I win?"
"You can do anything you want with me."
"You're on," she said as she started dealing the cards. 'Having a slave wouldn't be so bad; he can clean my house,' she thought amusingly. Faye looked at her final cards smugly.
"Straight flush" There was no way she would lose with her cards. All the spectators gawked at her cards. The guy was doomed. "There's no chance in hell that he'll beat her" one of the men in the crowd commented. Faye's eyes lit up as she remembered herself as Poker Alice. 'That's right pretty boy. Bow down to your master and admit defeat.'
"Well, I guess hell just froze over," the man at the table suggested. The whole table came to silence. The tension filled air weighed down on everyone. Faye thought it was ridiculous. The man was nothing; he couldn't pull anything on her. Wanting the break the heavy mood at the table, Faye decided to say something, anything.
"What?" Faye asked incredulously.
The man revealed his hand. Royal flush. He looked up at Faye and gave her a smug smile.
"I guess I'm too good of a guy for hell." Faye looked at the cards before him. She felt disgusted with herself. 'No cheating…yeah right. I should've cheated my way through this game. Playing fair and square just gets you nowhere.' The man stood up from his seat.
"I'll be picking you up on Friday after your work," he eyed her name tag "…Miss Faye Valentine." Turning his back towards her, he started to walk towards the exit. He stopped after several steps and turned his head over his shoulder.
"You can keep the 200,000 woolongs. Go buy yourself something to nice to wear for our date." He was about to keep on walking but Faye stopped him with her words.
"I don't date guys with no names."
The guy looked at her and saw an irritated look plastered on her face. Slightly irritated with a hint of amusement in her eyes.
"Shawn…Shawn Vonaren," he said as he took in the beauty of the woman standing before him. Shawn proceeded to the exit without look back again. A smirk played on his lips the whole time he walked away from the table. 'I'll definitely be having fun with this pretty thing.'
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'Shawn Vonaren…what a jerk…' she thought. Because of him, she decided to take a day off from work. 'Come and pick me up on Friday night after my shift? Hah…I don't think so. You can't pick me up if I'm not there.' Spooning another scoop of ice cream into her mouth, Faye smiled happily as her eyes glued themselves onto the TV. A day of lounging and eating…it's a day in heaven.
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Faye stretched herself out on the couch. Looking at the clock on the wall, she realized that she slept the whole day away.
Knock knock.
'What the hell…' Mind still groggy from sleep, Faye pushed herself up from the couched and sluggishly walked to the door. Uninterested in the person behind the door, Faye tried to close it but was stopped by a strong hand blocking the door from closing.
"Not even a 'hi' for your date?"
Faye glared at the man before her. "How did you know where I live?"
"Well, one of your co-workers was nice enough to provide me your address," Shawn replied smoothly.
"You must've bribed them," she replied with a tone of voice laced with ice.
"Faye, not everything can be bought with money. You, my dear, definitely cannot be bought. I merely told your co-worker that I was devastated to hear of your illness since tonight was our first date together," Shawn said with fake concern in his voice, knowing full well that she was just trying to avoid him.
"Well, you heard my co-worker. I'm not feeling well so the date is cancelled," Faye said, trying to play it off.
"I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow. And if you're sick tomorrow, I'll wait until the day after tomorrow. I'm a patient man," Shawn replied coolly. He looked at Faye in the eyes conveying the message that there was no way of escaping this date with him. Faye glared at him. Shawn smirked at her glare. How despicable.
"No, you know what; I'm feeling much better after a day's rest. I believe I can go out tonight. After seeing your pretty face and how earnest you are about the date, I don't want to let you down. I'll go get ready just for you," she said with dripping sarcasm.
"That's wonderful. Luckily, I didn't cancel my reservations at eight at this restaurant I wanted to take you to," he said happily. Shawn glanced at his platinum watch. "You have exactly one hour to get ready. Semi-formal attire required."
"Alright, see you in an hour," she said as she closed the door. However, Shawn still had his hand on the door with half of his weight leaning on it.
"Aren't you going to invite me into your place to wait for you?" he asked innocently. Faye could not stand this guy. She was in no mood to play around with him. She turned around and walked into her room to get ready, leaving Shawn at the door.
'Guys are just jerks. Best to steer far away from them so they don't break your heart in the end,' she thought as she started changing into an aquamarine satin halter dress that fell on the right curves of her body with the hem flowing gently down to her knees. It was one of the more conservative dresses that Faye owned. No cleavage at all. But the dress still accentuated her body nonetheless. In that dress, she was a high-class beauty who knows that she doesn't need to show skin to turn heads. Faye pulled her hair together up into a tousled bun and secured it with a few jeweled pins. She put on some silver drop earrings and a matching necklace with a silver bar pendant resting beautifully at the center. She debated on whether if she should wear any makeup or not, but since she was planning to empty his wallet with the most expensive courses offered at the restaurant, she decided to at least make herself to-die-for gorgeous just for his money. She lightly powdered her skin and brushed some silver shadow onto her eyes. She then applied a little blush and a deep red color onto her lips. To finish everything off, she wrapped a matching scarf around her neck and slipped into a pair of silver stilettos. Grabbing a silver purse in her drawer, she stuffed her keys in and walked out into the living room to look for Shawn.
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Shawn was absolutely stunned by the woman standing before him. He had never seen a beauty like her in his life. His mouth dropped slight from his surprise. Faye smirked at him.
"I see you like what you see," she teased.
Shawn did not answer her for he was still in a shocked state of mind. In his eyes, he saw a goddess standing right there waiting for him. He shook his head out of the dream state and smiled at Faye. He walked up to her slowly and offered his hand to her.
"The word 'beautiful' cannot even describe how you look right now. I would love to stay here forever and dwell on your beauty, but we have reservations," he said. Faye eyed Shawn as she took his hand and walked out of the door. 'Trying to be sweet I see,' she thought, 'Well, we'll see how sweet you will be when I drain your wallet dry.' On the other hand, Shawn was deep in his thoughts as well. I'm starting to like this 'assignment' more and more by the second,' Shawn mused as he entered the elevator with Faye.
The ride down the elevator was a silent one. When they exited the apartment building, Shawn guided Faye towards a sleek black car that speaks of power and class with its luxurious look. Faye raised her eyebrow slightly. 'Just how rich is this guy?' she wondered. Shawn, being the smooth man he was, opened the door for Faye and ushered her in. While Shawn walked around the to driver's side, Faye looked at the car's interior. Smooth black leather seats, no junk anywhere. This man is classy, hot, rich, cocky, and clean. What more does a girl want? Suddenly, an image of a silver haired ice cold killer popped into her mind. 'My gosh…what the hell is happening to me?' she mentally exclaimed. Faye mentally scolded herself for thinking of Vicious, but deep in some corner of her mind, her thoughts were on Vicious. 'I wonder where he is right now…' Faye broke out of her reverie when she felt a hand gently shaking her arm
"Huh?" Faye asked as she tried to locate where she was at the moment.
"Are you alright?" Shawn asked with concern in his eyes. 'Maybe she is sick and wasn't lying.' Faye looked at him slightly surprised to see that he was actually concerned of her well being.
"Uh…yeah. I'm fine," she smiled. Shawn kept his eyes locked onto hers, trying to see if she was lying or not. Faye suddenly broke their eye contact by looking out the car window, so Shawn decided to drop the subject and head to the restaurant. He glanced at the time as he started his car. Seven forty-five. It takes about half an hour to get there, and the reservation was at eight.
"Fasten your seatbelt," he said as he floored the gas pedal and sped off into the night.
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Moving silently among the shadows of the walls, Vicious followed one the Red Dragons member in the Lucky Charms Casino. He had no luck in finding Shawn anywhere tonight, the night he decided to end that asshole's life. Shawn made a mistake and the only way he can pay for it was with his life. Two other men were approaching towards Vicious, so he turned back to the corner and pressed his body into the wall, shielding himself in the shadows of the dark corner. The man he was following earlier approached the two, and started to talk about the day's work.
"Man, I wish I was Shawn," one of the men stated, "He's so lucky. He's out on a date with some hot chick right now."
"Haha, you're so jealous because no one wants you," another man replied, causing the third to laugh boisterously.
"Shut up," said the first angrily, "I heard he's taking her to some ritzy restaurant that none of us can afford with our paychecks put together. I think the name of the restaurant is called Tempo."
"Wow," the third one muttered, "I wish I was a hot sexy woman. Then I won't have to work. I can just live off of my man's money like that girl who's with Shawn."
"The hot and sexy part you need to work on. But the girl part…no need to worry man, you're already a girl or at least you act like one," said the first jokingly. The third man stood dumbfounded and red with embarrassment as the two others laughed their heads off. They were so busy laughing or being angry that they did not notice a shadow leaving in the corner.
Vicious has the information he needed. There was no more need to stay, so he left as silently as he came without anyone noticing.
On his way out of the building, he remembered suddenly that Faye worked at the Lucky Charms Casino. 'Maybe I should pay her a little visit,' he thought as his eyes scanned the various crowds in the casino. Faye was nowhere to be found. Known as a man that never cared for anything or anyone, Vicious decided to do something that he himself couldn't believe he was doing; he went to ask an employee where Faye was.
"Ah…Faye? She's called in sick today. Not feeling too well I heard," answered one of the dealer, "Would you like me to relay a message to her?"
"No thank you," Vicious replied. Without saying another word, he left the casino leaving the dealer with a puzzle look on his face. "Not even a name left behind for me to tell Faye," he muttered as he returned to his work.
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'So this is the Tempo' Vicious thought as he looked at the restaurant in front of him. Couples were walking in dressed in expensive garments. Vicious was dress as well as the others, if not, even better in his black suit and black silk tie. He patted the black wig on his head to make sure it was in the right place; he didn't want to draw anyone's attention with his shocking silver hair. As soon as anyone figured out that Vicious was still alive, it would be harder for him to carry out his plans. Without further adieu, Vicious pushed the glass door open and stepped into the restaurant.
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An: Hahahaha. sings: Who loves cliffhanger? I love cliffhanger! Yay, FINALLY another chapter up. I finally have an idea where this story is going! Summer school and work is preventing me from updating as fast as I want to. Don't worry, I will try my best to get the next chapter out asap. Yes, I know, Vicious has so many disguises! But who can blame him? With his hotness, people anywhere would be able to recognize him if he doesn't disguise himself. Hehehe…fans will be stalking him…like me! Hahaha. Sorry, just a lil too hyper right now from toooo much chocolate.
Thank you readers and reviewers!
ShadowCrow25: I'm glad you think my fic is good, because I'm really skeptical about my own writing. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
kaelin77: I know what you mean! I've read some fics that I've really enjoyed and they have no endings! It makes me sad. I'm gonna make sure I'll finish this fic, but I don't know if it'll make you sad or not since I have thought of a pretty teary ending for this fic. But, I'm not sure of anything right now. Hahaha.
Picon: Definitely not enough faye/vicious fics out there. I really hope people start doing more alt pairings.
Lydrel: You know, that sneezing thing actually happened to someone I know…cough cough looks away…uh yeah…someone I know……
ViciousNFaye: Your name rocks! Yay for Vicious N Faye! You're the best!
I love all you reviewers! Please keep on reviewing and suggesting any scenes or plot twists you would like to read!