This is a joint venture of Kaana Moonshadow and myself. We had lots of fun writing it and hope you have as much fun reading.
We don't own Bishop, but we sure as hell wish we did.
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Grinning, Bishop walked over to the girl and knelt down beside her. Answering nature's call. Priceless indeed. Prissy little princess.
He pulled out the key and decided to let her know what would happen if she tried anything stupid.
"Listen carefully, little mouse.", he said calmly. "I will take this key here and then open the chain around your ankle. When the chain's gone, you will rise slowly to your feet and walk outside the hut, with me following close on your heels. No fast movements, no running, nothing that could give me the impression that you're actually planning on something as suicidal as attempting to flee."
He looked into her face to find her staring back at him with huge eyes. Once more he relished the fear he saw there. The slight trembling of her lips, the moist sheen in her eyes, like she was fighting tears... he loved it. So much power over her...
He could not resist reaching out a hand and had to stop himself from smiling when she flinched. Slowly, he ran his hand over her silken hair and felt her shiver.
"Did I make myself clear, little mouse?", he murmured, certain that he had.
She nodded, almost eagerly, desperately trying to appease him. Gods, he could get used to this.
And her hair felt so good under his fingers. He only wanted to go on running his hands through it, enjoying the feel of it. So soft, like cool silk. And her eyes, staring up at him, those deeply violet eyes, so familiar, so beautiful... so like her...
When she spoke, he had the feeling of being woken from a dream. He blinked his eyes, and then his mind started working again.
"Yes", she whispered, her eyes still huge and fixed on his face.
He ripped away his hand, angry at himself for letting himself be caught that easily.
"Good!", he snapped and opened the lock of the chains, taking care not to touch her more than could not be avoided. He got up and went over to his stuff, picking up her boots, throwing them to her.
"Put them on, and then go", he said sharply, with a flick of his head into the direction of the door.
She threw him an anxious glance and turned a bit, so he would not be able to see her feet and ankles while she slipped into her shoes and laced them up. He grinned derisively. Prissy.
When she got up and went to the door, he followed closely behind, as he had told her. She kept throwing him nervous glances over her shoulder, as if she expected him to attack her from behind. Could not blame her. Attacks from behind were certainly his style. Why risk fighting honourable, when a dagger in the back could do the job so much more easily?
He followed her through the door outside and to a small thicket nearby. As she pushed through the first of the bushes, her stupid dress catching on the twigs, he stopped.
"As good a place as any", he said. "Get it done, and let's get back."
She halted and fidgeted a little.
"What?", he asked, annoyed.
"I... I...", she stuttered.
He raised his eyebrows at her, and she swallowed and hurried to get to the point.
"Well, I... I can't. Not while...", she looked at him and blushed crimson.
Bishop rolled his eyes. "Oh, for the gods' sake. Fine then." He turned around, turning his back to her. "But remember not to try anything stupid, or I will make you regret it."
"Thanks", she whispered, and he heard a rustling of cloth, followed by a gentle splashing noise. A very long gentle splashing noise.
Bishop grinned again. Obviously, she had hesitated quite a bit before she dared to speak up. Oh, she was afraid of him. As she should be, little nothing that she was.
Inadvertently, his thoughts wandered to another woman, outwardly so similar to the one behind him, but so very, very different in character. Riana never had been afraid of him. She had taken no cheek from him, and she had not once hesitated to put him into what she thought was his place. She had smirked at his threats and laughed at his temper.
How it had made him itch to see her defiance broken, to have his way with her, to force himself onto her and watch that amusement in her eyes turn into lust. To drive away the contempt on her face and make her feel the need instead, the same need that was burning him up inside.
Instead, he had to watch her give herself to the paladin...
The rustling of cloth and the noise of twigs scraping over the girl's dress brought him back to the present. He started to turn around when something connected sharply with his temple and everything went dark.
xxx
Liliana ran through the woods as if all the demons of the abyss were following close on her heels.
Branches scratched her face while the thick brambles of the undergrowth tore the cloth of her skirt apart, but she simply kept going, her heart beating like a drum as her desperation drove her onward, trying to get away from it all - from the hut, the woods, everything. Away from him.
She followed a small path between the trees that wound its way around the slope of a steep hill, and thanked the gods fervently for this opportunity to flee. Lady Luck had finally been smiling on her today, and she had promised herself to make the best of that gift.
While she hastened around the slope and then hurriedly made her way down towards the valley of a small brook, her mind wandered back to the moment in front of the hut when she had been kneeling between the bushes, feeling more humiliated than she had ever felt before in her whole life while she had done what they had come out to do, with him standing only a few feet away...
It had been then that her eyes had fallen upon the sturdy branch, half-buried under the leaves and twigs of the small thicket that surrounded the cabin, and Liliana had peeked over her shoulder to look at him, to see what he was doing. A part of her had truly expected him to have turned around again by now, to keep a close eye on her, no matter what he had promised in the beginning, and so she had actually been more than a little surprised to see him still standing there, with his back to her, staring at a point to his feet, obviously deep in his thoughts.
Her heart had started to beat faster than ever before, and slowly, she had reached for the branch, while her mind had been screaming hysterically No, it's too risky! He will hurt you if you try something like this, or even worse. It's too risky!, but the thought of spending hours, or maybe days, alone with him in the small cabin, only to get killed by him in the end, had been more than she had been able to bear, and so her desperation had driven her to such extreme measures.
With the branch in her shaking hand, she had stood and approached him, trying to conceal the piece of wood in the pleats of her skirt while her blood had been pounding deafeningly strong in her ears. He had not looked up at her, obviously still lost in his thoughts, and so Liliana had lifted the branch with both hands and had tried to hit him with all the strength she could muster, aiming for the back of his head.
He had turned then, sensing her closeness, and she had caught a glimpse of his bright amber eyes, looking at her, before the branch had connected sharply with his temple, and he had collapsed onto the ground, lying there with sprawled limbs and closed eyes, unmoving.
For a fleeting moment, she had simply stood there, the branch still in her hands, and had stared at his unconscious form, at first not able to believe that she had actually been successful in her attempt to knock him out. Then a strange feeling had welled up inside her, a kind of panicked joy, and she had let go of the branch and had simply turned around and started to run, driven by the desperate wish to bring as much distance between herself and him as possible, to regain her freedom.
xxx
Bishop groaned and opened his eyes. His head hurt like hell, and his mouth felt like sandpaper. He tentatively touched his temple and found a nasty lump. He winced and groaned again, sitting up, holding his head with both hands as his skull threatened to split. When the pain abated somewhat he looked around. The first thing he noticed was the sturdy branch lying next to him. The second thing he noticed was that the girl was nowhere in sight.
The bitch!
The little harpy had taken advantage of his turned back and clobbered him over the head. And she had run.
He felt fury rise in him in a hot wave as he got to his feet. He'd told her he'd make her regret it if she tried anything like this. And by the hells, he would. No more consideration and amiability from now on. No more Mr. Nice Guy. She would be very, very sorry. As soon as he caught her again.
He checked the ground and nearly laughed at what he saw. There was a trail of swept leaves leading into the trees, the impressions of her heels very visible in the middle. She had not even had the good sense to lift her skirts while she ran. Probably had been afraid some badger would get a peek at her ankles. Stupid little girl. Catching her would almost be too easy.
And he saw with grim satisfaction that the direction she had chosen would only lead her deeper into the woods. If she had taken another route, she might have been able to make it back to her friends, or to reach the small road that went by not too far from here. But like this...
Smiling cruelly, he went over to the well and pulled up a bucket of the cold water again, drinking slowly. No need to hurry. This prey was not going to avoid capture. His thirst sated, he returned to the hut, grabbed his scimitars and fastened the scabbards to his side. Briefly he considered donning his leathers or taking his bow, but decided against it. He would be much faster without them. And he probably would not need them. He did not want to shoot her, after all, and if he ever needed armour to protect himself from a little girl, it would be time to throw himself off a cliff instead of her.
When he was ready, he left the hut and started to follow her trail unhurriedly. He shook his head as he made his way through the trees. An ox would have been ashamed of leaving a track as visible as this.
And he could see she had been running full speed. She would have exhausted herself soon and then be considerably slower. And with that dress... the skirt alone had to slow her down, but she also wore a tight corsage that would not let her breathe properly.
Again he smiled cruelly. The little mouse would soon regret that she tried to get away. And he would make damn sure she would never try anything like that again. His eyes on the ground, he walked swiftly, but easily and soon had the satisfaction to see that he gained on her. Her steps were becoming irregular and she had started to drag her feet, a sure sign of tiredness.
The little mouse would not be running long...
xxx
Liliana reached the small brook and crossed it with a leap, glad to see that, due to the time of year, it was barely more than a streamlet. The hem of her dress touched the surface of the lively rippling water, but she simply kept moving, even as the wet cloth of her skirt touched the skin of her calves. She needed to keep running for as long as she could, knowing that he would finally reach consciousness again, and that he would most likely try to hunt her down when he did.
Could he follow her tracks? The thought made her heart flutter frighteningly fast once more. He sure looked like a woodsman, like one of the scouts her grandfather used to hire whenever he and his friends went hunting in the Cloak Woods every summer.
The thought of what he would do to her, should he ever catch up with her, was enough to send shivers of utmost terror down her spine, and for a while, her fear was all that kept her going, even as her feet and legs started to ache from the unusual strain and her breath started to come in short, painful gasps, forcing her to stop for a short break now and then because her bodice made her feel like she couldn't get enough air anymore.
Finally, she had to admit that she simply couldn't go on any longer, and forced herself to pause with her back leaning against the trunk of a tree, panting heavily and feeling a little dizzy after her strenuous run through the woods, pressing a hand on her stomach to calm the stitches in her side.
For a short while, Liliana could do nothing but lean against the tree, trying to calm her frantically beating heart and to stop herself from passing out. But as the tingling in her ears finally began to subside, her mind became more focused again, and she looked around, feeling another kind of panic grip her heart in a vice-like grip.
From which direction had she come? She couldn't really remember, as her vision had finally become a little blurry in the end, and now, as she stood amidst the large maple trees, the warm light of the late afternoon sun falling through the green canopy of leaves, and with no one but the birds in the trees to keep her company, every direction actually looked the same to her.
What was she supposed to do by nightfall, if she couldn't find a way back to her friends in time?
The thought of spending the night out here in the woods, all on her own, was almost as terrifying as thinking of him, but she did her best to fight her fear. She needed to stay focused somehow. Her panicky flight through the woods might have gained her a bit of a headstart, but now, she needed to think again, to make some kind of plan.
If she could find a way back to the cliffs, she could try to follow the coast line back to that grassy plateau where she had played Catch the Shuttlecock with the girls this morning, and she was sure that she could find her way back to their camp from there.
She closed her eyes for a moment, the beating of her heart finally calming a little, as a voice suddenly echoed between the trees, the familiar sound making her almost jump out of her skin in fright.
"Little mouse…"
xxx
After another half hour of walking Bishop was getting really close. He slowed his steps and took care not to make any noise while walking. Soon, he could see a glimpse of blue ahead.
His lips curled into a predatory smile as he ducked into the bushes and circled around. The patch of blue did not move. Silently, he crept near enough to see her, leaning against a tree, a hand pressed at her stomach, obviously trying to catch her breath. He could hear her wheezing.
He snickered inwardly. That's what she got for wearing a fancy dress to the woods. Could have been a lesson to her, if she would not be dead before she could profit from the experience.
"Little mouse..." he softly called out, laughter in his voice.
Her head snapped up and she looked around, alarmed, but could not see him. With a squeak that lived up to her nickname she turned and ran, her long silvery hair trailing behind her.
Bishop laughed and started to chase her. This actually was fun. Maybe he should let her try to escape more often.
She ran as fast as she could, trying to shake him by switching directions abruptly. He followed her, still laughing, getting near enough to reach for her, and then letting her gain a bit when she dodged.
This was too much fun to end it swiftly.
In the end, he heard her breath come in gasps and saw her stumble on more than she ran, and knew she could not go on much longer.
Time to get down to business.
He leaped, catching her in his arms and pushing her to the ground, trying to immobilise her with the weight of his body.
But he seemed to have underestimated the strength the terror that ran through her gave her. She screamed and kicked like a fury and tried to scratch his face, aiming for the eyes. Cursing, he grabbed her hands and pulled them to the side, pressing his whole weight onto her to fix her to the ground.
With a hoarse cry of pure desperation she lifted her head and bit into his shoulder. Hard. It hurt like a bitch.
Bishop yelled and swiftly pulled her hands up over her head, switching her wrists into one hand, holding them in an iron grip. His free hand reached into her hair, grabbing it near her scalp and pulling viciously.
She moaned, but bit harder.
Bishop clenched his teeth against the pain. "Let go, little mouse", he gritted. "Let go, or I will rip every hair from your head."
She did not react, and he gave her hair another brutal pull. She whimpered and slowly relaxed her jaw. Her head following the pull of his hand in her hair, she let go and stared up at him, tears swimming in her eyes. Her breath was short and choppy.
Breathing heavily as well, Bishop lay on top of her, looking down into her face. "What did I tell you about trying to run, mousie?", he said, out of breath, but menacingly nevertheless.
She sobbed, and again the fear in her eyes was like an elixir. Still panting slightly, Bishop stared down at her, into these eyes. Riana's eyes. Riana's face. His heart constricted painfully, then started to beat fast. She was so close... so helpless. He could feel every curve of her body under his through the thin cloth of his shirt. It would be so easy to give in to the temptation... so easy to forget she was, in fact, not Riana. He could pretend it was her, could take her, take everything he had wanted for so long...
She sobbed once more, and her full, soft lips – Riana's lips – parted. "Please..", she whispered, staring pleadingly up at him.
The sight of her invitingly parted lips was just too much. To hell with everything!
With a hoarse groan his mouth captured hers in a hard, brutal kiss. His tongue roughly forced entrance and sought hers, tangling with it. Heat rose in him and he moaned, forgetting everything but the fact that he wanted her.
His hand let go of her hair and started to softly stroke her neck, his fingers playing with the short, silky hair there. His eyes closed, and without thinking about it, he let go of her wrists as well, searching for her hand and lacing his fingers with hers, squeezing gently.
Easing the pressure of his mouth on hers he still kissed her hungrily, his tongue playing with hers, trying to coax her to reply, while he felt like his blood had turned to fire in his veins. Her sweet, enticing smell was making his head swim. He moaned again, and his hand slid from the soft skin of her neck up into her hair, gripping it lightly, trying to pull her head back so he could deepen the kiss.
How he wanted her... Riana...
A whimper from her as he pulled her head back brought him back to his senses. He tore his mouth from hers, his breathing ragged, and stared down into Liliana's slightly unfocussed eyes.
Liliana's. Not Riana's. So similar. But not the same. Not the same. A copy, nothing more. A good copy, but a copy nonetheless.
He would never get what he craved most.
Frustration rose in him, closely followed by anger. Anger at himself, mostly. He had allowed himself to fall for it again. What a joke he was. A godsdamned, lovesick fool, falling to pieces because this nothing of a girl looked a bit like a woman he once fell for. A woman that wanted nothing to do with him.
Had the little mouse noticed his weakness? He could not afford for her to see the chink in his armour.
So he forced his face into a mocking sneer and grinned down on her, even if grinning made his face ache. He tightened his grip on her hair again, and she winced.
"This was just a small taste of what is in store for you if you cross me again, little mouse", he said, his voice low and menacing, if still a little hoarse. Hopefully she would be too frightened to notice. "I'm not to hurt you so anyone can see, but no one said I can't have some fun with you, understood?"
He pressed his lower body into her, to let her feel him, to make sure she understood what he meant by fun.
"Next time, I'm not going to stop. This is the last time I'm playing at gentleman. Are we clear?"
She nodded, her eyes wide and her breath still irregular.
"Good", he said, slowly and reluctantly lifting his weight from her. The motion made his shoulder hurt like hell. He stood, staring down at her, still lying on the ground motionlessly, a dazed look on her face.
"Get up already", he snapped. "Before I get down again!"
She flinched and hastily climbed to her feet, starting to try and pat the dirt from her dress.
Bishop stepped behind her and roughly shoved her into the direction of the hut.
"Stop preening and get going. None of your fancy friends around here to swoon at the sight of a bit of dirt. And we don't have all day while you spruce yourself up. So this way, princess!"
xxx
"Little mouse…"
For a fleeting moment, Lily's heart seemed to freeze in her chest, before it started to beat frantically once more, the blood in her veins turning to ice. She whirled around, alarmed, but could see no one. Had she just imagined his voice? But then she heard his amused laughter echo through the trees, and the first wave of a panic so intense welled through her that, for a moment, she actually feared that she would simply faint from the sheer intensity of her fear, and with a small, desperate cry, she started to run for it, her thoughts racing frantically in her mind.
She could hear his amused laughter following her as she ran through the woods, her blood pounding strongly in her ears, and her heart almost stopped in fright as she felt his hand suddenly reach for her left arm. She dodged to the right, desperately trying to get away from him, but in her panicked state, she did not see the root on the ground until it was too late, and as she stumbled, he was already upon her, catching her in his arms and pushing her to the ground, his weight upon her actually pressing the air out of her lungs.
But as soon as he touched her, Liliana felt something snap inside her, and in her panicked state, she simply started to fight and kick and scratch at every part of him she could reach, her fear miraculously multiplying her strength. She heard him curse under his breath while he shifted his weight, so that he could effectively trap her legs with his body before he grabbed her hands to pull them away from his face, and with a hoarse cry of pure desperation, she lifted her head and bit into his shoulder as hard as she could, feeling a strange kind of satisfaction as she heard him yell in response.
With a rough movement, he lifted her hands over her head to grab them both at their wrists before he buried his free hand into her hair. A searing pain shot through her scalp as he viciously pulled at her tresses, but she only bit harder, even as a pained whimper escaped her lips.
She felt him shift his weight again, and then he hissed into her ear, his hand still in her hair.
"Let go, little mouse."
The pain in her scalp made her eyes swim with tears, but at the sound of his voice, she only bit harder, unwilling to give in. He groaned and tightened his grip on her hair, his voice now sounding actually a little strained as he went on.
"Let go, or I will rip every hair from your head."
As if to underline his words, he brutally pulled at her hair again, and finally, the hurt was simply too much to bear. With a pained moan, Liliana let go of his shoulder and lay back her head, looking up into his angry face. She could see a red lump forming where her branch had hit him on the temple, and her blood ran cold as she saw his eyes narrow dangerously to slits, glaring at her trapped form.
"What did I tell you about trying to run, mousie?", he said, breathing heavily, and the menacing undertone of violence in his voice was enough to make her shiver with fright. He looked ready to murder someone, and she felt a small sob escape her lips as she looked up into his cold, unfeeling eyes, her fear forming a tight knot in her belly.
"Please…", she whispered, her eyes pleading with him.
Please, don't hurt me. Please, let go of me.
At her softly whispered words, she saw a strange expression flicker across his face, setting his amber eyes on fire, and with a hoarse groan, he suddenly bent down and forced his lips upon hers in a hard and brutal kiss.
Liliana did not know what she had expected of him. Feeling his anger radiate in hot waves from his body, she had imagined him to beat her, or maybe throttle her again to see her suffocate, at least something to cause her pain. But to have his lips now pressed almost painfully on hers, while his tongue invaded her mouth, was more of a shock as if he had actually tried to beat her up, and she could feel every muscle in her body tense as she lay there beneath him, her heart beating fast while her mind screamed hysterically at her.
Oh merciful gods, please, help me, you cannot let him touch me like this…With a moan, he loosened his hold on her hair and let his hand wander slowly from her head to softly strike the skin of her neck, the unexpected touch making goosebumbs rise all over her body. She saw him close his eyes as he deepened his kiss, and as his hand let go of her wrists, she half-expected him to tear the bodice of her dress apart, so that he could force himself upon her. But to her utmost surprise, he simply reached up for her hand to lace his fingers gently with hers, the tenderness of the gesture actually startling her.
What…His scent invaded her nostrils, reminding her of earth and leaves and sun, with a distracting, musky undernote to it - intense, but not unpleasant, and she was startled and a little surprised how different he smelled compared to the men she knew.
Even when they were alone, Cedric preferred to wear perfume, and although she had always liked the one he had chosen, he simply smelled… clean, of water and soap and aftershave. His scent had something wild, animalistic in his unadulterateness, something that actually made a part of her respond to it despite all the fear and disgust she felt at his touch, and somehow, that realization frightened her even more than the feel of his lips on her mouth or the grazing of his coarse stubble on the soft skin of her face.
He moaned again, deep in his throat, and reached for her hair to pull back her head, but her scalp was still hurting from his former treatment, and so she couldn't suppress a soft whimper escaping her lips at his passionate touch. She felt his body tense, and then he broke the kiss to stare at her face, his breathing ragged, that strange fire still burning strongly in his eyes.
For the length of a heartbeat, they just stared at each other, his breath hot on her cheek. Then a strange emotion flickered across his face, the fire in his eyes slowly fading away, and Liliana felt more shivers of dread run down her spine as his lips suddenly curled into a thin and cruel smile.
"This was just a small taste of what is in store for you if you cross me again, little mouse", he said, his voice low and threatening, but with a strange undercurrent, and he tightened his grip on her hair again, making her wince in the process. "I'm not to hurt you so anyone can see, but no one said I can't have some fun with you, understood?"
She felt him pressing his lower body into her, and her eyes widened as she noticed the hard bulge now pressing against her thigh, the tone of his voice making her shiver.
"Next time, I'm not going to stop. This is the last time I'm playing at gentleman. Are we clear?"
Oh gods!
She nodded, her eyes now wide with fear and her breathing ragged as the thought made her stomach churn violently once more.
"Good", was all he said as he finally stood up, staring down at her with an unreadable expression on his face and no hint of the fire that had burned in his unusual eyes only a few heartbeats ago.
"Get up already", he growled. "Before I get down again!"
She flinched, the thought of him holding her so intimately again actually enough to startle her out of her shell-shocked state, and so she hastened to climb to her feet, her head now spinning a little after her fast movement. She desperately tried to avoid his piercing stare, and therefore let her gaze wander over her dress instead, noticing the dirt and leaves that now ruined the formerly exquisite cloth, and she shuddered as she carefully reached up for her hair, feeling all the knots and leaves and small twigs there. She even started to try and pat the worst dirt off her skirt, but he simply stepped up behind her with an impatient growl and roughly shoved her down the path, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Stop preening and get going. None of your fancy friends around here to swoon at the sight of a bit of dirt. And we don't have all day while you spruce yourself up. So this way, princess!"
