Evening came far too quickly for Amara's taste.

They'd made it through the first movie, and part of the second before she had reluctantly concluded they needed to start getting ready. She stared at herself in the mirror uncertainly. She wasn't one for dressing up, but it was a custom that when she and Rachel went out in the evening they made a point of looking their best. Which meant turtlenecks and baggy jeans were out of the question. Rachel had dragged her out shopping not that long ago, and the blonde likely expected her to make use of what they'd bought. It wasn't really Amara's style, but she uncomfortably admitted to herself that Rachel knew how to dress to attract-shiny, black high-heeled boots snuggly hugged the curves of her calves over a pair of tight, dark, skinny jeans. A pale blue blouse made of wispy material clung to her figure and fell off of one shoulder, showing a touch more skin than she was comfortable with. A shimmery scarf wrapped about her neck to hide the bandage there and her eyes were darkened by more makeup than she typically made use of. She'd swept her coppery waves to the side in a loose side ponytail that fell over her bare shoulder, offering some warmth and reassurance.

She let out a resigned sigh. On any other night she might actually enjoy going out with Rachel-at least a little. It got her out of her dreary apartment. But between Envy, her upcoming exam, and how unpleasantly hopeless she still felt, socializing wasn't an appealing thought. She glanced at the door and swallowed nervously. Envy was waiting in the living room in his Enver form. And doubtless he wouldn't be dressing any more casually than she was. She wasn't sure she was going to be able to survive an evening with the sin in that form. Especially given that every other female they ran into would be falling all over themselves to get a chance to know the darkly attractive young man.

All in all it looked like things were shaping up to create a hellish evening.

She pulled the door open reluctantly and slowly strolled down the hall. It was already completely dark outside, so the lights of the apartment cast a warm glow over everything. She hesitated at the entrance to the living room. Envy turned away from the window to face her and, as expected, her heart skipped a beat. Furthermore her throat tightened, making air somewhat hard to come by.

Honestly, Amara, this is just stupid!

But then, Rachel probably wouldn't have reacted any differently. A black, button-up shirt with the top three buttons undone showed off part of Enver's muscular chest. It tucked into a pair of belted black jeans, with black cargo boots to complete the outfit. Despite the casual nature of the clothing, when placed on the physique of the disguised sin it had a stunning effect. His sleek black hair was swept back in its usual, tousled style, and his large dark eyes captured her gaze and refused to let it go.

He let out a low whistle. "Wow. You can actually shine up when you choose to."

She felt her cheeks flush with heat. Ugh. It was just Envy in a different form, but she couldn't help it. He was gorgeous.

She swallowed her nerves and found her voice. "Are you sure you want to look….quite that…appealing? You're going to attract a lot of attention..."

He crossed the room to her in several slow steps and raised an eyebrow. "Hmm. I think it'd be more appropriate for me to tell you that. Are you ready to go?"

Amara let out a reluctant sigh. "No. But I doubt that'll change anything."

He smirked, a leather jacket appearing on his form with a crackle of electricity.

She turned and grabbed her winter jacket from the hook by the door. She would probably freeze on the way to the bar, but it would be hot enough when they got to the crowded joint that it didn't really matter...

Their boots crunched softly against freshly fallen snow as they walked side-by-side down the street. Streetlights created evenly spaced pools of golden light amidst the darkness, highlighting the snowflakes that drifted lazily down from the otherwise black sky. The exposed skin on Amara's cheeks and ears burned in the crisp air as it slowly grew numb. Their breath puffed out in small clouds, hanging hauntingly in the still air.

"I hate winter," Amara whispered, hunching her shoulders within her jacket.

Envy glanced at her. "Why?"

She shot him a look. The sin was apparently unaffected by the cold. It really wasn't fair.

"Because it's dark, and cold, and miserable."

There was a brief silence before he finally responded.

"There's plenty of warmth over here if you're cold." The smirk in was audible in his voice.

"No thank you!"

She turned her gaze pointedly back down the sidewalk, grateful that her cheeks were already flushed from the crisp air. The bar was several blocks away. Ordinarily she would have taken a taxi, but she wasn't keen on inflicting Envy upon any more people than absolutely necessary. She still hadn't figured out how she was going to keep him from turning the bar into an all-out warzone. There was no way he'd just sit still and behave himself...

Envy abruptly grabbed her arm and dragged her into the alley to their right.

His hand clamped over her mouth, preventing any sound from escaping her lips. "We're being followed," he murmured near her ear.

Amara let out a soft squeak of disbelief. Seriously? This

Despite the alarming information he had imparted to her, he took her arm and led her down the alley at a casually slow pace, almost as if he was waiting for the pursuer to catch up with them.

Amara's eyes widened.

Maybe that was exactly what he was doing. She wasn't sure what sort of creeper would start stalking a couple walking together at night, but she suddenly felt very sorry for whoever it was...

Envy came to a stop and turned to face the entrance of the alley.

Amara couldn't hold back her gasp when a group of figures rounded the corner, silhouetted by the streetlight behind them. There were five in total, and while she couldn't make out their features as the strode boldly into the dark alleyway, they were clearly male.

"Just hand over your wallets and we might not have to hurt you," the leader of the group drawled casually. He sounded young. Probably not more than twenty-five.

Envy snorted. "What makes you think we have any money?"

"In that case, we'll just take the girl," the man sneered.

Alarm thrilled through Amara's stomach as the group closed in on them.

Envy chuckled, sounding thoroughly amused. "You're more than welcome to try..."

And then the dimly lit alleyway exploded into chaos.

Amara stumbled back as Envy lunged toward the men. She realized with a prick of horror that he'd shifted back to his preferred form, his arm crackling into a blade.

Shit.

These guys were so totally screwed. Realistically, maybe they deserved it. They probably would have raped her, and maybe even killed her. But regardless, there was no way she was comfortable with lives being taken right before her eyes.

"Envy don't!" she cried, knowing it was likely totally useless. She opened her mouth to shout something when a hand clamped over it roughly from behind. She squeaked as she was pulled back against someone's chest and a blade was pressed to her throat.

Apparently there'd actually been six attackers.

This one had come up behind them from the other end of the alley.

"Back off, or the girl's as good as dead!" her captor ordered hoarsely

The other five men already lay strewn on the ground. From the moans and half-hearted attempts to move, they were all still alive. But their blood spilled darkly into the snow around them. Envy stood in the midst of the carnage, his arm still morphed into a blade, black splatters of blood covering his arms and face. With the light from the street at his back, his palm-tree-like silhouette was suddenly menacing, his violet eyes seeming to glow in the dark.

Amara drew in a sharp breath. No wonder the guy holding her sounded scared. Envy looked downright terrifying like this.

The homunculus turned and began to saunter towards them. Amara held her breath as the man tightened his grip on her, the blade at her neck beginning to tremble unnervingly. Then, abruptly, he dropped the knife and released her, turning and bolting down the alley with a terrified cry.

Time slowed.

Amara saw Envy move to pursue the man and knew all too well that if he was allowed his way, none of the men would be alive at the end of it.

She swiftly bent and snatched up the knife. "Envy, stop right there!"

Something in her tone must have drawn the sin's attention because he paused a moment and glanced at her.

"Don't you dare kill them." Her own voice came out a little hoarse as she felt the weight of that ominous purple gaze. Even when she reminded herself that he couldn't do anything to her without injuring himself in the process, there was a primal reaction in the core of her being to the predatory aura radiating from the homunculus.

"But they're criminals!" His tone was incredulous as he turned to face her fully.

"I don't care! I know you don't give a damn about humans or the sanctity of human life but I do! As long as you're in my world, you're under my charge. And you won't be killing anyone! Am I clear?"

The words were brave, but her voice wavered, and she shrank back slightly when he took a step towards her.

"And just what do you plan on doing to stop me?" He whispered, a threatening edge to the question as he took another step towards her.

A strange sensation electricity seemed to race through her limbs, and then her body went numb as her mind emptied out all thoughts. Except for one.

This was it.

She'd promised to throw her life away and now she had to be true to that.

She lifted the knife and pressed the blade against her throat. "Don't push me," she warned. Her voice was soft, yet deathly serious. "Because I will do something we'll both regret if that's what it takes to stop you."

Somehow, she held his terrifying gaze. Unblinking. Unwavering. Her heart thundered in her chest, a mile a minute. Then her own hand began to tremble.

She'd thought it would be easy.

So many times in the past few months she'd wanted nothing more than to die. She stared down at her bottles of pills and hesitated only because she'd been afraid that there wouldn't be enough to properly finish her off. Because she was afraid she'd wake up in a hospital, still very much alive and trapped in her life.

At least, that's what she'd told herself.

But now that it suddenly came right down to it... Now that she was literally staring death in the face and she knew there was no way around the fact that she had to take her own life... She came to an earth shattering realization-she didn't want to die.

Not here. Not now. Maybe even not ever. She wasn't ready. And she wasn't sure she would actually be strong enough to pull it off.

Envy slowed to a stop in front of her, still staring her down with his ominous gaze. "Do you really want to die?" he purred.

"…N-no… But what I want doesn't matter in this case." Her stomach clenched, threatening to empty itself as her entire body tensed to the point of quivering, the mixture of fear and dread in her gut overpowering her desperate desire to be brave.

When his hand reach up towards the knife, she jerked backwards, accidentally nicking herself with the blade and opening another shallow wound at the base of her throat.

He rolled his eyes. "I won't kill them. Give me the knife."

She stared at him uncertainly, not at all sure she could trust him. "...You promise?" it came out as a whisper.

He sighed heavily, and a moment later there was a crackle of red light. She blinked. The form of Enver stood before her once more. The blade for an arm and the blood spatters were gone.

"I promise." He sounded resigned.

She swallowed nervously, but slowly lowered the blade from her neck. Then it slipped from her fingers without her consent and thudded mutely into the snow. She was trembling much more violently now, and was shocked to realize she was actually on the brink of tears. She couldn't believe how terrified she felt.

Not of Envy.

She was terrified of the idea of having to take her own life. How many times had she wished for an acceptable reason to take that route? Yet now it was apparent she didn't actually want to die.

What exactly are you supposed to do when you've lost the desire to live but you're afraid to die?

"Do you realize what these men were planning on doing with you? And yet you're willing to throw your life away to make me spare them. You're an idiot."

A shudder ran through her and she drew in a shaky breath. For once, she actually agreed with him. But not for the reason he was pointing out. She stared up at his expression, feeling strangely out of breath. Her chest felt tight.

"Do you still want to go to the bar?" she blurted.

He blinked. "Why wouldn't I?"

She swallowed hard, then shrugged half-heartedly and sniffed. "I dunno. Maybe we could find something else to do... Do you really want to be crammed into a hot, dark, loud building packed with intoxicated humans?"

His expression grew thoughtful. "Well…given that I can't kill any of them without you getting suicidal it does sound like a nuisance...You're willing to ditch your friend?" He arched a curious eyebrow.

"She's ditched me more than once because a pretty boy snatched her away. She'll survive."

Envy blinked, then tilted his head, an odd expression creeping over his face. "Did you just call me a 'pretty boy'?"

She blinked several times and then rapidly backpedaled. "No!"

That definitely wasn't what she'd meant. Especially given what Rachel tended to do with the pretty boys she ran off with…

Envy stared at her.

She let out an exasperated sigh. "I just watched you nearly slaughter a group of guys! That does not equate with the description 'pretty boy.'" she pointed out bluntly.

He hummed thoughtfully. "What if I'd done it in this form?" There was dark amusement in the words.

Her jaw dropped slightly."...Doesn't make any difference!" Her voice came out a little squeaky.

He snorted. "Uh-huh... So where else is there to go if not to the bar?"

Amara paused a moment to think. Where could they go? I mean, really, what could she do to entertain a human-hating instigator like Envy? Short of grievously breaking the law, she didn't really have any ideas…

"Umm…"

"You have no idea, do you?"

"Well…do you feel like doing anything that doesn't involve inflicting bodily harm on people?"

His eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at her. She shifted uncomfortably, suddenly self-conscious beneath such intense scrutiny. Then a slow, rather predatory smile spread across his features, making her heart kick into triple time while her stomach did an intense swoop.

That expression... On that face...

It triggered off a multitude of interesting sensations throughout her body. Which was not reassuring in the slightest.

He took a step closer, invading her personal bubble and making her lean away.

"Envy…" she piped up in a warning tone.

"I promise not to harm anyone, in any way, shape or form, if you promise to go along with my plans for the evening." The way he was grinning wasn't helping her breathe normally. She blinked several times, desperately trying to formulate a response, but with his face so close to hers it was growing increasingly difficult to think straight. He was promising not to hurt anyone. That was good, right? I mean it certainly took a huge amount of worry off of her mind. But his plan for the evening…why was she getting a bad feeling…? This couldn't be a good idea…no, she definitely shouldn't agree to this.

"Well," he drawled, leaning closer and reaching up to brush a loose strand of hair away from her face. His fingers brushed lightly across her cheek, leaving a burning trail in their wake. Her mind went blank and her heart came to a stop. Some very distant part of her registered the spark of smug amusement in his deep brown gaze, and recognized that he was just toying with her to get his way. But that part wasn't the part of her mind calling the shots at the moment.

"U-uhmm….okay…."

He smirked triumphantly and released her from his predatory gaze, brushing past her and strolling towards the alley's entrance.

She continued to stare unseeingly into space for a moment, her breathing slowly returning to normal. As her scattered thoughts returned to some form order, a chill crept through her.

What had she just agreed to?

"You coming ginger brain?" Envy called, glancing back at her from the end of the alley.

She swallowed nervously, glancing at him uncertainly before turning to follow.

Why did she suddenly feel like she was in way too far over her head?

A/N

Heavens, I forgot how intense this chapter was until I reread/tweaked it just now. XD BTW, if anyone is interested I actually drew this scene a few years back. You can find it here: okbrightstar deviantart com/art/Predatory-Gaze-410360129 (copy and paste into your browser and add periods where the spaces are).

Hope my new followers are enjoying the story so far. ;) I'm editing it slightly as I go, but some days I'm lazier than others so I apologize for any sloppiness that slips past. Got a lot on my plate right now.

All the best, and take care of yourselves!

~ Kasani