Warning: Lewd stuff happens this chapter. Just a little.
Story: Quicken, Question, Quantify
Chapter Ten: Unexpected Counterpoint
"If passion drives you, let it hold the reins."
-Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790
July 18th, 1998 – New York City:
My mirth at this situation hadn't pleased her. She'd recovered from the nightmare swiftly enough when she was sputtering in horror at my having gotten such a nice view. I heard the door knock outside and managed to get my amusement under control to listen as I pulled myself up. She'd soaked the bathroom and some of my clothes. I let her make excuses before coming out to the main sleeping area.
"You want to clean up this mess you made? I'd like to also get cleaned up at some point before we sleep." I sat down to start taking my boots off before my pants dripped into them. I didn't want to be wearing wet boots. I knew better than to let that happen after my years in the military. Though I doubted I would still grow foot fungus, old habits died hard. It was also far from comfortable sloshing around in wet shoes.
She protested and then I pointed out she shouldn't be sleeping in a full bathtub. So, she called me a pervert. Uninspired but I didn't appreciate the insult. I glanced up to her as I set the second shoe down. I looked her over, there was nothing I needed to imagine after she'd leapt on me a moment ago but the towel, she had around her left me wanting a second glance.
"There was little to see, until you leapt free of the water to press against me, wet and naked." I pointed out, still scanning her over. "Though I can't say I minded the view."
"As I said, pervert." She repeated, but her cheeks had flushed under my attention.
"Do you think so?" I asked, walking toward her after discarding my footwear. "What makes me fall under that description?"
She backed into the door, and that just made me want to chase her more. To catch her and have my way with her…she sensed the beast that stirred inside me. If it wasn't for her swift pause I wasn't sure I would have kept myself in check very easily. She didn't seem to know how to answer my question, so I pressed my point.
"A desire to glance over a beautiful woman?" I gave her another once over, lingering at the top and bottom of her small towel a bit longer than the rest. "Not minding pressing my lips into such a woman…grazing my fingers across her flesh…pushing her against me…"
"Uh…" She was much redder now. I enjoyed invoking that reply to her, forcing her body to flush at my approach, at my words. I leaned in as she lacked an escape. Tempted to kiss her but continuing close to her ear so I could lower my voice.
"I suppose then, I could be called a pervert." I reached up to take the door in my hand. I could hear the approach and smell the food, but she hadn't noticed. "I'll get the food set up. You should go get ready and clean up."
Confusion clouded her eyes just before the knock rattled the wood and she jumped a bit, frowning at me after the surprise. Then she scowled lightly before heading back toward the bathroom while shaking her head. I took the food from the boy and handed over a generous tip, moving to set it out at the table. I dug into my food as I considered having teased her. It was unlike me, to be attracted to another…to be interested in sex as more than a means to an end. Had it simply been long enough that my hormones were protesting the lack of contact? Doubtful.
She exited shortly after disappearing, having changed into pajama's and we exchanged thanks, but I kept to myself. Curious as to the reason for my sudden interest. The first exchange had been spur of the moment, a sudden desire we'd mutually acted on. Now though, I was still interested in her. Albeit mostly because I wanted to hold her down, but even that was not in character. Then, giving her my blood had what? Made me want to sex her? Why?
My phone dinged and I checked the text. A time for our extraction in the morning. Just as well, it would give me something to do that didn't involve focusing on the girl.
"Something on your mind?" I asked, hoping to gauge if she was equally interested.
"Yes, just trying to figure some things out." She said, her voice a lot calmer than before.
"Care to talk about it?"
"I do, actually." She nodded. "I know I can be bad about sharing, but I want to change that. I want to discuss this…pull between us."
"Just discuss…" I looked her over, quietly kicking myself for throwing the words out so readily. She at least, had confirmed that she was also interested to some degree.
"Yes." She insisted, annoyed with my implication.
"All right. What would you like to discuss? It's clear the transfusion did something today." I remarked, pushing away the other desires wandering around my head. If she wanted a conversation, I could give her that minus any innuendo.
"Yes. I think so too." She agreed with my assessment it was related to the transfer. "…but I don't think this is just created from nothing. I think I cared about you before that. I hope it's the same for you."
"Doubtful…" My mind echoed my earlier thought. Was it even different now? Did I care about her? Beyond wanting to make her scream my name in my ear? I didn't think so. That would get me no where closer to any of my goals to admit.
"I think that's a logical conclusion." I said instead, nodding to her.
"Then, it isn't something we should feel bad about. I mean…if it's what you want." She began the statement staring at me, but her eyes dropped off in the middle. She did want me then; she was just seeking some sort of reciprocated feelings. Did she care or was she mistaking lust for something more? She was young, she probably didn't know the difference.
"What? Making out in a car for a few minutes?" I stated, putting down my food since I'd already eaten a lot. I wasn't sure what she meant. "What are you looking for?"
"A relationship, I guess." She frowned, still not glancing up at me. "I guess I should have thought about it more before just announcing I wanted to talk."
"I appreciate the frankness; I just didn't expect it from you." I remarked. Which was true. She'd been quite hesitant to part with details of her life. "I don't mind the idea…though I think it's an odd time considering we can't exactly approach this traditionally. I'm not exactly a romantic walk on the beach sort of guy."
I knew that such a statement might lose me the hope of sleeping with the girl, but my other plots were more important than fleeting physical relationships. I wasn't willing to give up her trust for a night of passion…even if it might involve a few nights.
"I know. I just felt like this was better defined though, even if it was just a little." She seemed happy in her own way at the answer. She really was an odd one. "And well, I don't think I was ever going to be interested in guys that wanted that. I just ah…don't wanna jump into physical stuff too quickly. I'm still not really that familiar with it all."
"You will be…"
"Practice makes perfect, I believe the phrase goes." I had to keep from grinning at the way she choked on her drink at my remark. She was all the harder to resist when she started acting so pure, it was impossible not to tease her. "Though yes, I understand your hesitation if you can't remember to breath and swallow successfully at the mention."
"Ha, ha." She drily mocked. "I mean it…today was…"
"Addictive." I suggested, remembering well the taste of her.
"Intense." She stated. "It was a lot at once. I've barely kissed anyone. I want to not just jump in immediately."
"You'll regret the hang up later." I replied, quite ready to show her every part of 'physical stuff' as she described it. "But if you insist, I wouldn't force you."
"Or at least I'll do my best to keep the beast inside my blood chained down…"
"I don't think you would…"
"You should…"
"I just want to cover my bases." She continued, unaware of my thoughts. "I…want this to work, I guess? I've never really dated someone though, and as you said. It's not traditional."
"We'll find what functions for us, or we won't." I commented with much more poise than I felt. "Most people don't mesh with me well enough to seek anything beyond a physical relationship."
"But you want that…or at least to try that…with me?" She was so vulnerable, asking me to care for her…to be something I wasn't.
"I am certain I'd like to try." I agreed, if only because any other answer would have been a wrong one. She smiled brightly at my answer and returned to her food. Still lost in thought. I excused myself to get a shower. In the morning our time would be limited. I started the water and stripped off the rest of my clothes, I'd just use boxers to sleep as that would make preparing faster in the morning. I left my sunglasses on the counter and climbed into the hot spray.
This girl just wanted to be loved. A wholly human sentiment, at least for most. I had never had such illogical inclinations myself. At least not since I was a child. I'd given up on being loved or loving very early on in my youth. The door clicking open pulled me from memories I didn't want to relive, and I glanced around the curtain, amused at the way she was walking toward the counter with her head turned fully away from the shower. She was bringing in more towels after using the rest earlier on the mess her nightmare induced mania had caused.
"I thought you died!"
There was the slightly high-pitched fear in her voice, the same fear I'd heard before from someone that had nearly lost a loved one. Her nightmare had involved my death…so it was something she was so terrified of she nearly cried in relief. Had anyone ever felt so strongly for my well-being? No, but it was more likely tied to the fact that she lacked any other sort of friend and I'd manipulated her into the position. She didn't know who I was, not really. Her concern meant little when it was for a false idol. I shook my head and finished up, knowing the morning would come before long.
When I exited the bathroom, still rubbing the towel through my hair, I noted her feet sticking from the tucked bedding at the head of the bed. Moving around and grunting lightly.
"What are you doing?" It was a new behavior I didn't know how to quantify.
"I'm separating our space on the bed." Came a muffled answer after several seconds of quiet.
"It's uneven." I commented, sitting on the nearer side that was smaller and climbing into the bed.
"You're on the wrong half." She snapped lightly. Did it matter? I continued to get ready for bed after sliding under the sheet. "Hey…"
She struggled a while before her head reappeared, hair everywhere from her strange position.
"You could have just asked me to stay on my side." I suggested, pushing the worthless pillow wall to the center of the bed. "Unless, you are more concerned about what you might do without the barrier in place."
"No." Her protest an obvious lie as she tried to fix her hair. "I just…thought it was best after…"
"We were so ready to enjoy each other earlier." I remarked, grinning at the frown she shot me.
"How do you sleep like this?" She complained, trying to turn over slightly from beneath the tucked bedding. "It's so constricting."
"I don't do a lot of tossing and turning." I answered, reaching to click the light off and laying back. From her other nights I didn't expect much rest. "You should try it sometime."
She didn't rise to the baiting, and after a while we both passed into rest without as much difficulty as I thought we'd have. I was roused sometime in the middle of the night by her rustling, frowning when I heard her start to murmur again, her nightmares were always so extreme.
"No…" She whispered. "Never."
Then she started shuttering, trying to kick and starting to cry out, I shook my head and tossed the pillow aside, reaching over to hold my arms around her. She'd started to hit her own face in her struggle. Screaming growing louder after I held her. She was going to call in more attention if she couldn't calm herself.
"Kagome." I tried softly, but the back of her head connected with my nose. It wasn't anywhere near enough to break it, but the angle made it sting. "Kagome! Stop!"
She paused, shivering but relaxing compared to the tense screams a moment ago. She was shivering and had built up a sweat in her delirium.
"Hey." I whispered, having moved my face to the side of her head to avoid further headbutts. "It was just a nightmare."
"Yeah." She agreed with uncertainty, still shaking. "I'm okay now."
"Yes, everyone who wakes from a dream drenched in sweat and shivering is perfectly all right." I pushed the other pillow between us away and pulled her closer. "What was the nightmare?"
"It…" She paused, all her comments about wanting to be open but she couldn't quite discuss whatever it was that haunted her most. "It would be too long a story for tonight. Let's just say, I pissed off an ancient malignant thing and it emotionally beat me to near breaking."
Her fear, the pain, it was genuine. I understood the sentiment well enough; an ancient malignant thing had ruined much of my life.
"You are here, not there. Whatever it was, you were stronger. Now more so, you aren't alone." I reassured the sort of sentiments I'd expect were needed. Curling around her further, hoping to keep her still so we could both get some rest. Besides, having her nearby was nice. She smelled good and was warmer than the cool air of the room. It reminded me of one of the only simple times in my life, the only time I'd seriously considered the sort of relationship she desired.
"Are you really going to head back already?" Her voice teased, non-too subtly pushing the sheet down so it was just above the cusp of her breasts, barely hiding the nipples underneath. I had training I needed to do with the troops. I didn't tolerate tardiness, and I couldn't know if the soldiers were late if I wasn't there. "There isn't traffic now, stay."
Dark eyes sparkled up at me with a mischief I knew all too well. I had to admit, it was rather tempting. I slipped on my glasses with my right hand and I reached back with my left to settle it on her hip, drawing light circles with my thumb. This vixen was ever tempting. I leaned down closer, letting my hand raise on her side along her small waist as I leaned down to kiss her cheek, lingering to kiss again…trailing toward her ear. I'd miss her this week; it would be another six days before I could see her again.
"Wesker." She murmured, voice a little strange. I took it for pleasure and slipped my other hand around her.
"Wesker!" The shout knocked me out of the dream. How many years had it been since I'd considered Althalia Muller? I realized I'd been feeling Kagome up in place of my lost lover. What had that dream been exactly?
"You were feeling me up in your sleep." She confirmed after pushing my hand away from where it'd nearly snaked between her legs.
"Hmm?" I glanced down at her, her body's general build was obvious enough in the curls of the sheets. "Was I? Must be because you are irresistible."
I kissed her shoulder just to watch her reaction. She was not the girl from my dreams that so readily teased me.
"No more rooms with a single bed." She insisted. "Will you let go so I can get up now?"
"If I'd rather keep you here?" I pulled myself closer to her, slipping my hand down to her stomach before she caught my hand. I wanted something to distract me from that memory, then, I also wanted her. But I didn't push, it wasn't worth the risk of my other plans. "You are a little high strung."
"You're hurting my back." She stated, calling attention to where I was pushed close to her. I was a healthy man though; she shouldn't have been surprised. I took her hand still gripping mine and pulled it to my lips. I could wait, patience made the eventual conquest all the better.
"Did you sleep better after the nightmare?" I let her slip away slightly, altering the topic.
"Uh, yes." She nodded. "Thank you, for that."
"Was it me?" I wasn't sure what I'd done.
"I think so." She smiled lightly. "It was the sentiment I needed, what you said."
"Well, we'll need ot go soon so I"ll go get ready. You should get dressed." I commented, leaning forward to barely touch her lips before thinking better of it and climbing out of bed. I felt a discomfort I didn't know how to place at her appreciation. Was she really this easily fooled?
"Leave him alone!"
She'd defended me against Birkin so passionately. I wasn't sure why I'd thought of the moment…I'd been near death and barely heard it. She'd held me while the world faded out, had kept the cold at bay for a moment longer before the world crashed back in. Then, she'd also reached for a weapon that could possibly unmake me…I was overthinking this. I only felt a pang of irritation at having to fool such an excellent asset, the girl was better than human after all…she deserved better than human treatment.
I finished getting on my clothes and putting on the weapons and armor I'd need before an alarm sounded our need to leave soon. I gave the bathroom a once over, so I didn't miss anything important. She was struggling with some of the tightening on the vest.
"Need help?" I asked, moving forward to tighten the belts at her nod.
"So, we flying out soon?" She asked, probably having heard the alarm. "Will we be okay?"
"Yes." I said simply. Nodding to the vest and starting to check over this room to make sure we were clear. "If you're nervous, don't be. Whatever Birkin has, it won't be enough for you. He might have a sample of your blood, but he wouldn't be able to make any sort of virus immune to it in the short period he's possessed. Most of this time he's been running, after all."
"Didn't he say he had his wife working on it?" She definitely wasn't reassured by my comments.
"His wife isn't skilled enough to manage it in the time allotted either. He's far more gifted than she is." I didn't like her, she was an idiot and he only wanted her because he thought her pretty more than she was on his level. "He'll expect me, which is regrettable, but worse would be giving him more time."
If he was working with Tricell, even more reason to get this cut off as soon as possible. If he'd told them about Kagome, I'd probably have a lot of things to burn to the ground. I headed with her out of the room and toward the car.
"So…what about the samples he has?" She was full of questions this morning. "If what you were saying is right, couldn't he undo…whatever happened to you?"
"I've already been in contact with your blood." I replied, unlocking the doors and getting in to put my seat belt on as she did the same. It would mean little, I'd probably do better tossed from a vehicle than trapped inside, but I didn't want to deal with any tickets or undue attention.
"I admit, skin contact and blood contact are different factors, but all the more reason he can't keep such samples." I answered. It was possible her blood could undo my transformation into a tyrant, the irony of which still hadn't been lost on me. Yet, I couldn't see him using such precious samples just to attack me.
"Uh, shouldn't we know for sure?" She really had to work on those verbal pauses, they weren't a required part of her speech pattern. "I don't like the idea of wandering in and then our powerhouse just stops functioning cause the mad scientist stole my blood. If it's harmful to you, then I'd rather know than find out in the middle of storming an army."
"You want me to do that how exactly?" I was getting impatient with her. "I can't exactly stab you with a syringe, pull out some blood and then inject myself with it."
"Why not?" She frowned back at me. "I mean, you gave me a transfusion. You know how to safely do it."
Yeah, just inject myself with your possible cure that would murder me. Excellent plan. She wasn't thinking this through. I couldn't tell her that though, she was already annoyed. "I have some equipment in the hanger. I can at least see what separate blood samples do. I know it doesn't matter if it's on the skin. We'll see about the rest."
She thankfully left it at that, and before long we'd reached the hanger. I'd picked a place a close distance for sleep. I walked her to a back closet in the hanger after ordering the people to keep the helicopter ready. I slipped us into a small lab I had hidden here. It wasn't massive, and one I could ditch if the need arose. I prepared supplies and got some samples from her. Taking a few myself to compare them.
I didn't expect what I saw. What Birkin had sent me was barely the icing on the cake. I glanced at it again. My blood had a strange extra virus I'd been given years ago, it was what had deformed my eyes. This bonded not just to the t-virus but also the extra virus, evening out any instabilities in the cells that I'd previously seen. It didn't remove the viruses, it closed off the possibility of mutations completely destabilizing the DNA.
"What? What is it?" Her voice was apprehensive, she'd picked up on my surprise.
"You. Your blood can control the virus." I answered, barely paying attention.
"I thought we knew that already."
"I have more than the t-virus." I explained, checking the blood again but it was still stable beyond the degradation you'd expect from being separated from a living host. I glanced up to her then back to it. Her DNA was incredible…it was even taking the cells longer than normal to slow…
"It would work. In the right amount it would stabilize the viruses in any infected. No wonder Birking had lost his mind over it. He'd only kept going on about it being possible…but this…"
"What do you mean, in the right amounts?" She asked, sounding nervous.
"Well." I turned from the slide back to her, not wanting her to worry I'd try to kidnap her as Birkin did. As far as I knew she could still unmake my problem as well. "In the case of the slide the blood is fairly equal amount. I don't know what smaller amounts would do. I don't have the time to do that sort of test. I don't know if it would stick either. Generally, even a full transfusion only lasts a few weeks. But if it did…"
"Okay…well, that being creepy as hell aside." She said nervously. "Are you in danger then? If it's a small amount would it hurt, you?"
"I don't know. Not if I'd already evend out the blood systems…" I stated, trying to come up with a plan. If a full transfusion was able to fully infuse the circulatory system, and it stabilized the virus, the mutated blood might then maintain the changes on its own. "I need to do my own research on this. Dammit Birkin, you even kept how useful it truly was to yourself."
"Uh, earth to Wesker." Those verbal pauses again. I had looked back at the cells, still going quite strong. "What does all this mean? Should I go alone?"
"The opposite, I'm not sure you should go at all." I said, looking her over with a new appreciation. "You are probably the most valuable person on the planet."
"After myself."
"With you, people could use the viruses that have been developed to evolve without fear of unstable mutations." I stated. Still amazed by the news. She could be forged into a perfect weapon from what I'd seen. She'd even bonded with the other virus in my blood, one I hadn't seen in anyone else before…she could be the perfect evolutionary step. I knew I had to keep her out of their hands. I hated to imagine what Spenser would do with her.
"Uh, that doesn't sound good." She remarked, having backed a step. I was making her uncomfortable. "We shouldn't go then?"
"Those samples must go, but we might need to delay for a few hours." I commented, looking around. I had the equipment here. "You want to test the theory? Then we'll need to do a full blood transfusion."
"What?" She furrowed her brow. "You just said it could hurt you."
"It'll need to be fairly fast…which will make it painful. More since it wouldn't be wise to use any sort of anesthetic. It would strengthen us both though. You would gain aspects of what I can do, and my viruses would be stabilized so I could better control them."
I sounded too eager. Too excited. She had backed another step. I had to be more careful. Though I was certainly tempted to try knocking her out and taking what I wanted, she was too valuable to alienate. "Kagome. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so overeager. Not after what you've been through."
She stopped retreating at least.
"I, just want to understand it." She answered. "I'm not saying no. I just…"
"Don't want to be a test subject." I remarked, and she nodded.
"I don't. I'm still afraid of all of this. Even this lab makes me nervous. Why do you have this here? If you were working against these people how do you know so much about all this?" She was figuring it out. My cover couldn't hold well with everything I'd done.
"I used to work for Umbrella." I answered, not lying per say. "It's part of why I wanted to go after them. Why I was trying to infiltrate them and gain trust."
"What?" She returned to backing toward the ladder. At least she hadn't pulled the bow on her back. "You said…you took me there…you knew they were going to…"
She was figuring it out in swift order. "You took me there to give me to them?"
"No." I shook my head. "I…I worked with Birkin. We were going to betray Umbrella together. We were both supposed to be working toward a cure. You heard him speak of it. He fooled us both."
"Then…why lie to me about it?" She wasn't buying my excuses, even if they were well formed for last minute covers. "At first you were undercover, but after…when we…"
Her hand hovered over her lips, and the moisture in her eyes caused a heavy sensation in my chest. I knew the look of betrayal well; I'd worn it before…but I'd seen it many times. I caught her arms an instant later when she reached for her weapon, then covered her mouth when she began to scream for help.
"Kagome, Kagome. Calm down. You aren't letting me explain." I said at the wide-eyed fear that bled into the hurt. "I swear to you, I didn't know Birkin was going to take it that far. I didn't take you there wanting you harmed."
She didn't struggle, and thankfully didn't scream when I lowered my hand from her mouth. She did shake slightly but left her weapon alone. Reaching up to slap me. I let her only with force of will, I supposed I deserved it in the circumstances. I had to suffer a bit now for more power later.
"You…you just…you still. You could have told me!" She snapped finally; her voice infused with outraged misery. "You just…when, when did you stop lying to me and start actually caring? Did you ever? Is that why you said you only did physical relationships? This was all just a game?"
"I'll never stop lying to you…"
"I don't know." I said instead, as honest as I could be. "I thought at first you were just a drifter, that you'd move through. I wasn't sure if you'd seen more than you let on, so I offered to let you stay with me. I wanted to make sure you couldn't compromise the security of the issues happening at Raccoon City."
"I did…but you didn't know that." She hissed. "Were you just pretending to be nice to me then?"
"At that time. I'm used to pretending." I replied, resisting the urge to wince when she slapped my hand away. I'd reached up to wipe at the tears that had started falling down her face. "I got the information about your ability to combat infected without almost any effort, so I tried to find out how you managed it. I sought some sort of proof."
"You didn't send those samples to save people." She realized between sobs, her breath faster now. "You…you sent them to see if you could use me."
"I sent them because it was my job. At that time, you were my job." I explained. "Then Birkin shot me. He went back on the agreement we'd had. You defended me so ardently…you held me while I died…after that I didn't even know how to tell you what I'd been doing."
She'd grown quieter, still crying but less than a moment ago as she listened. Reaching up to take my sunglasses off, and I let her though I felt less comfortable without them.
"When I had nothing, when I was forfeit of all but wanting, I reached into the void to grasp at anything but the emptiness. The moment your hand grasped mine, I knew I had found my way home." I hadn't really expected the words, but there they were. There was no sort of training that had inspired that confession. There wasn't another motive beyond not wanting her to go. I didn't consider if I should just knock her out and take what I wanted. I knew what I wanted in that charged moment: I didn't want her to run from me. I didn't want her to turn away in disgust at the person I was. I wanted her to accept me, beast and all.
End Chapter
Enjoy that 'cliffhanger'.
-Aura
To my reviewers: