Sorry for the long delay! I promise it's all planned out and will be finished.
Chapter 5 - The Prey
Logan
The following morning, not too early, I returned, bringing with me a peace offering. A Snickers bar.
Marie was waiting for me, back to the wall directly across from the door. The air of rebellion in everything from her guarded posture down to the set of her mouth and the blazing look of defiance unwavering in her dark eyes.
"I'm not going to make this easy for you." She said in a low but clear voice.
Despite everything, I couldn't help the smile that curled the edge of my mouth. "Darlin', I didn't expect you to."
"Don't call me that." She looked disgusted.
I shrugged in response. What could I say, only that I didn't like the situation either. We'd both have to get used to it pretty quickly.
Only a few things could really get my blood going, most of them derived from base instincts. My own mutation relied heavily on them. Scent, the most predominate. Then it was desire; the thrill of the chase, feeling the adrenaline pounding through my veins. It didn't matter which stimuli set it off. Fighting. Fucking. Purely physical power. I craved it, the way the blood under my skin seemed to itch, the muscles quivering to be used, only gratified when finally permitted.
At that moment, Marie smelled divine. Pure, undiluted female in her prime. And fertile.
Being shut up with her in a small room only intensified my response to her. I stepped forward, her scent pulling me closer, and she lifted her chin in warning.
"You better stay the fuck away from me!"
"Or what?"
From the waistband of her scrubs, she pulled out a plastic knife she must have taken off one of her dinner trays, an oversight from maintenance. The 'weapon' would inflict little damage to myself but could result in much more drastic injury to a lesser being ie a smaller body with no accelerated healing power.
"Sweetheart, you ain't going to get anywhere with that."
"Try me." The look she shot me was challenge enough. I closed the space between us in a few strides and had the hand pinned above her head before she could even react to my movement.
She looked up into my eyes in surprise, hers shifting then dilating at the close proximity. Momentarily taken at unawares by the unexpected glimmer of vulnerability I saw there, I paused, and she used that opportunity to rake her fingernails down over my face, drawing blood and forcing me to let her go.
She had nowhere to run however, and that was lucky on her part. If she was to flee, well, that would only excite the beast. He'd relish in the hunt, and it would be a lot harder to pull him back under my control once he'd escaped. If I gave over to him there was no telling where things would end. I'd had to much experience with my brother's inner animal to allow that wild part of myself to be unchained.
I turned back to her, watching her face contort between confusion and horror as my gouged skin knitted itself back together.
"That wasn't very smart."
Wiping a drop of blood from my eyebrow, I advanced on her, backing her into a corner. Just as I thought I had her, she raised the stupid little plastic knife from where she'd managed to retrieve it, and pierced it into my neck. She missed my carotid artery by an inch, although even that would't have had me down for long.
In response, I instinctively wrapped a hand around her neck. It was so small my fingers could almost touch, and I could feel her life force thrumming just under the skin, slick and hot. Could imagine the feel of her beneath my teeth. The burst then rush of blood over my tongue.
For a terrifying few seconds, I thought I could've killed her. The red haze of fury swam in front my vision, blocking out sense, drowning rational thought, until I couldn't even breathe through the damp weight of it.
I struggled to breathe, focusing taking each lungful of air deep into my belly and out through my nose. I wasn't a monster. I could control him. And gradually, the vice-like constriction of my fingers diminished, and I was able to let her go. She slid to the floor and crawled away to the far corner.
I couldn't look at her as I left the cell.
I knew I was in for a bollocking. I was thus far unable to complete my assignment. It was the first time in a century I'd failed to comply with a direct order.
In order to carry out this task, I'd have to disattach myself from the situation. It shouldn't have been that difficult. I'd done it before, in different scenarios. Hadn't I all but mutilated opponents in the civil wars? Hadn't I commanded thousands of soldiers to their deaths in battles that we'd had little chance of winning?
I needed to reach that place where things like guilt and conscience became a non-entity. I needed to find that strength in me to carry out what I was supposed to do. No matter how immoral that was.
…
I wasn't until early evening that I returned. Luckily for me, my superiors had other tasks to be overseeing that day, so I'd flown under the radar. I didn't assume I'd be so lucky twice.
Marie lay on the mattress, which was on odd enough occurrence in itself, breathing deep and steadily. Her face in profile was beautiful; full lips slightly parted and a delicately sloping, slightly upturned nose. A warm flush colored her cheeks and she smelled lightly of salt. She'd cried herself to sleep.
I toed off my boots and climbed in the small cot bed behind her. The movement jolted her and her eyelids fluttered open, but she didn't stiffen when she saw me, only sniff and turn her face away.
At this intimate distance, I could feel her heartbeat, elevated but steady, and I wondered why she wasn't scared of me.
I leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her neck, right below her earlobe. A silent apology.
Her breath caught in her throat and the salty smell from earlier intensified.
"Don't cry, please." I whispered.
"Don't cry while you rape me?"
This was the matter I'd thought long and hard on. I might not live by society's rules or even the law, but there was a deeply ingrained code of self-imposed honor one just had to abide by. Not women nor children shall be harmed. Not the innocent.
"I'm not going to force myself on you. What kind of sick bastard do you think I am?"
"The kind of sick bastard who kidnaps women to bring them here!" She had a point.
"You're the only one here."
She sniffed again, "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
I didn't have a reply. My fingers skated over her side, just under the hem of her shirt. Her skin was so smooth and delicate under my fingertips, almost like glass.
"Please?" I breathed against her skin.
She declined with a barely imperceptible shake of her head.
I reached up to tuck a few stray hairs behind her ear before sliding from the bed and taking my leave.
