Chapter 56

Tahlia did not return to her hotel room as soon as Taker had expected. He had gotten in, because he could, and made himself comfortable in a chair after helping himself to the bar. She had changed up her taste in hotels, it was… nice, he supposed. Taker idly wondered if she was out with Bradshaw, conjecturing just how he should murder his friend. Probably quick and painless, they were friends after all.

"You are late." He informed her when she walked in.

"Yeah…I had to walk from the arena because those jack wagons decided to destroy my rental." Tahlia was pissed, it was written all over her face and in her tone. She threw her bag against the wall and kicked her shoes off, throwing them against it harshly as well. "What the hell are you doing here?"

She was not in the mood for this, walking over to the mini bar to pour herself a much-needed shot of Jack Daniels. All she could think about was strangling that McMahon bitch and making her life a living miserable hell just like Shane. Tahlia suddenly tossed the tumbler against the wall, the liquor splattering all over and tore her hands through her hair. The last time she'd been this livid was the night she had to lay down for Sable…and boy did that slut ever pay for it too.

He was guessing the jack wagons in question were the McMahon-Helmsley Faction, pondering just what exactly she had done to provoke their ire outside of breathing. He figured Vince would have warned Stephanie off. Hell, even Hunter knew better since he had been in the Corporation during that time. It seemed dipping his dick in gold pussy had made him bold as brass.

"Come here." He rumbled, gesturing her over to him. When she didn't move, he sighed and pushed himself up, walking over to her. "Calm down, Tahlia."

"Don't tell me to calm down." His voice had always been her calming agent, the one thing that brought her back from sheer and utter rage. "I – damn it…"

Shutting her eyes, Tahlia felt his hands on her shoulders and leaned back against him, her hold on the bar loosening. Her shaking had stopped as well and her entire body relaxed. Taker had to do this a couple times with her when they were together to calm her down and stop her from doing something she'd regret later, especially at Sable's beach house they'd broken into. Slowly, she felt him turn her around to face him and her hardened gold eyes had turned into molten gold.

"What are you doing here?" She asked in a softer tone, placing her hands against his shirt covered chest.

"Well, originally, the plan was to harass the fuck out of you for bailing on me over breakfast." He said thoughtfully, reminding her of her fail and smirked when she rolled her eyes. "Then, I was going to ask you nosy questions," About her relationship with Bradshaw. "But now… now I think I'll just sit here with you and we'll sort out what we're going to do about those fuckin' punks."

"What kind of nosy questions?"

Tahlia eyeballed him suspiciously, folding her arms in front of her chest. Something was up with him earlier that night at the arena, after he saved her from the Faction. Tahlia didn't think anything of it…until now. However, she wanted to come up with a plan to destroy the Faction as well, knowing infiltration was out of the question this time around. Everyone knew her as the Ministry's bitch…Tahlia turned around to take a shot of Jack Daniels straight from the bottle and walked past Taker to sit on the bed, patting the spot beside her.

"Get comfortable and tell me what's going through your mind, Deadman."

Comfortable was peeling off the denim vest, removing his boots, letting his hair down and reclining on the bed with Tahlia, a glass of whiskey in his hand. He had brought the bottle and set it on the nightstand, figuring they both might need more than one. "Well, darlin'…" He was considering it, having only toyed with ideas; nothing had been concrete. "Why don't we send Stephanie off with Shane?"

Two McMahons with mental damage? He started laughing at the thought. Vince would stroke out. Tahlia smirked, loving the way Taker's evil mind worked and turned on her side to face him, eyes gleaming.

"You have my undivided attention." They went over a few scenarios, marriage definitely wouldn't be happening, but there were other ways to break a person. Spiritually, emotionally, mentally…physically was a given, but Tahlia wanted her to REMEMBER this for the rest of her life the same way her brother did. "By the way, Hunter did give me a message for you. He said, 'tell your boyfriend he's next' – he actually screamed it at me." She snorted, taking another swig of Jack Daniels and laid her head on the pillow instead of leaving it propped up. "Now then, what was going on with you at the arena tonight? You seemed…peeved and I know it was more than just the Faction attacking me."

Hunter was an idiot and he'd be paying the price for his idiocy, Taker decided right then and there. Hell, why not go to war? Might be fun, he had been gone a long time and let the dragon sleep. Maybe it was time he woke up and reminded them all why the name Undertaker was spoken with reverence.

"What's going on with you and Shaw?" He asked finally, deciding to just get down to it. "Friends, lovers, nothing at all?"

Whether it was the alcohol consumed or his bluntness, Tahlia burst out laughing and rolled to lay on her side, staring up at the ceiling. "Oh Taker…" She sounded thoroughly amused and sat up in bed, turning her head to stare down at him. "Shaw and I are friends. He's actually one of my only friends, him and Ron. They're my brothers and, besides, they're both taken. Don't get me wrong, Shaw is a good-looking guy, but he's not my cup of tea." She swallowed down another shot of Jack Daniels and moved her blood red hair to lay over her left shoulder. "Anything else, Judgy?"

"Damn right I'm judgy," He snorted, refilling her shot glass and his own. "There's a bro code, you know. Had to make sure I didn't need to beat his ass for violating it." Killing him more likely. His mood had improved greatly now that he knew what was what. Taker reached out to run his fingers through her hair. "Been wanting to ask… what's up with the red?" He remembered the purple and missed it.

"If you recall, my hair was this color when you abducted me and brought me into the Ministry." Tahlia reminded him, not minding his fingers gliding through her hair.

She'd added the purple streaks after being fully accepted and initiated into the Ministry. After leaving him in Texas with his son, Tahlia had decided to stop with the black and reverted to the blood red. The black signified her time with the Ministry and, at the time, she didn't want any reminders of Taker. It was bad enough she was branded permanently with his symbol and she had thought about covering it up with a tattoo, but didn't.

"Don't like it?"

"Yeah was – emphasis on was." He had liked the black, the purple had been a bonus. Taker remembered her from before the Ministry. Fierce, savage, and more, but she hadn't been doing so well on her own. Backstage politics had gotten their hooks in her, simply because she was too good to lay down and lose like a good little bitch. McMahon had royally messed that one up.

"Right, I changed it because black fit better with the Ministry." It was her turn to finger a strand of his hair, leaning over him a little and looked up into his eyes. "And what about you, Judgy? Why did you change your hair color?" Because she enjoyed the black immensely, even though this was his natural color. How did she know that? It was the same color of hair his son had.

"Woman, getting with you was the worst thing in the world for my hair," He informed her with a snort. Called Judgy, again. He hoped that didn't stick. "I stopped… uh," He scratched the tip of his nose, took a shot and shrugged. "I had to get weekly hot oil treatments, just to keep the damage at a minimum." Because Taker had been perming, way early 90s or dying his hair for about a decade now, which took a toll. "When we were together, I stopped." Because nobody needed to know the Lord of Darkness went to a salon and it took too much time away from her. "Had to start over."

Once again, they did the same thing without realizing it and Tahlia had to take another shot, feeling a buzz finally starting to come on. "I know what you mean." In more ways than one. She had to start completely over, work her way up the WWF Women's ladder until she beat Jackie for her title. "I never thought I'd say this, but…you look better without the black. You look more in your element with the auburn hair and blue jeans." His backside looked amazing in those jeans along with his powerful thighs. They clung to him like a second skin…Tahlia had to stop her train of thought right there before it dove right into the gutter. "I'm sorry about bailing on you last week for breakfast. That was childish of me."

"Damn straight it was. I even waited for you." He remarked, rolling out of the bed and stretched. "I'll let you make it up to me darlin', don't you worry about that. Just focus on what we're going to be doing to those fucks." Taker was heading back to his hotel room; it was time to call it a night before either of them got too comfortable.

Don't go. Stay. Those were the words she wanted to say to him, but her mind kept reminding her why she'd left him in the first place. They would never work out because of his son. Taker had to put his son first and the boy despised her. Her heart had already been mangled, twisted and abused too many times in her relationship with Taker. Teaming up together and being friends…it had to be enough for her. She had to find a way to move on and nodded back at him.

"Okay." What else was Tahlia supposed to say to him? She didn't bother with the shot glass and drank straight from the bottle, planning on getting rip-roaring drunk alone. "Sweet dreams, Taker." Standing, she stared out the window and had her back turned to him, the bottle clenched in her hand.

Leaving Tahlia was the hardest thing he had to do. No, second hardest. The first had been letting her leave him the first time. Sighing, he stepped out and let the door close behind him, glimpsing back and had to stop himself from raising his hand to knock and demand… Hell, he didn't even know anymore. Friends… and partners as they took down the Faction, that was it. It would have to be enough.

"Night darlin'." He muttered, raking a hand through his hair and walked away.

"Okay Tahlia, give us a smile with the title, hmm?"

Sighing, Tahlia posed with the title and did as she was told, giving a smirk in the camera. That was the closest to a smile they would get. She wasn't eye candy and never would be. In her mind and heart, she was a professional wrestler and proved it every time she stepped in the ring to defend her title. It wasn't a surprise to find out Vince had signed a match with her against Stephanie for the Women's championship at the next pay-per-view. Before then, she would inflict as much pain -emotional, mental and physical- so she would be easy pickings for their match. She just had to figure out how to do it, how to break the Princess down to nothing.

"How about a pose with us both? Sell our big fight, hmm?"

Stephanie McMahon strode on set with a wicked smile. She knew well Tahlia couldn't touch her outside of that ring. Vince was minding his P's and Q's and making sure things were by the book, hoping to avoid Shane 2.0 apparently. Well, she wasn't Shane and there would be no falling in 'love' with this psycho bitch.

"Keeping my belt warm for me?"

"No, I'm keeping MY belt nice and toasty for ME. And the only way you're gonna beat me is if you have HER help along with the rest of your squad." Tahlia was never afraid to speak her mind and stepped up to Stephanie, towering over her by a few inches. It was nice to be able to look down at the McMahon whore. "You better think long and hard before going down this road with me, Steph. You saw what happened to your precious brother…and Sable. Imagine the possibilities of what I can do to you." Amber eyes flashed demonically, a wicked laugh flowing out of her mouth.

Tori didn't like that look in Tahlia's eyes and pulled her friend away, shaking her head. "Save it for the pay-per-view. Just leave her alone for now." She would NEVER forget what happened to Shane McMahon as long as she lived.

Tahlia smiled viciously, not realizing the photographer had taken several snapshots of her and Stephanie face-to-face.

"That's a wrap!"

"Yeah, well… I'm not Shane and I'm not Sable." Stephanie stated arrogantly, once she had recovered from her initial fear, egotism taking over and anger.

How dare that slut talk to her like that? Didn't she know things had changed? Her Daddy, bless him, had lost some of his nerve, some of his spine after what had happened to Shane. It had been all too easy for her and Hunter to conspire, then to coax Vince into their plans. Now she just needed to squash a Ministry whore and everything would fall into place, with that belt around HER waist.

Tahlia laughed evilly, shouldering the title securely. "You're right about that. They had half a brain and you, my dear Princess whore, do NOT. Have fun with your fantasies because that's all they'll ever be – fantasies."

Backing down the hallway, Tahlia left her red-faced and shrieking while Tori had to plug her ears with her fingers. She had been hand chosen by the Undertaker, the master of mind games, so did Stephanie really think her idle threats would work? Snorting, Tahlia felt almost insulted and walked into the changing room, knowing she would have to have eyes in the back of her head from here on out. Stephanie would be out for blood and so was Tahlia.

"Dear God, Stephanie, leave it alone…" Vince ordered when his daughter came shrieking at him about Tahlia, wondering why he couldn't just have a moment's peace. "You saw what she did to your brother."

"I'm not Shane. Besides, I know what she and the Undertaker did with help and they don't have that anymore." Stephanie argued, folding her arms over her chest. "They don't have their little cult anymore, and the Undertaker… well, he had surgery not too long ago. It's nothing my husband and his… toys can't handle."

Vince could only imagine the wrath he'd be on the receiving end of if Hunter broke the Undertaker with a sledgehammer, paling.