A/N: Eh...yeah, I was slightly bad with this one. I accidentally set my alarm wrong on my phone, so it never went off, which, in turn, meant that I wrote for an extra ten minutes before I realized my mistake. However, for some reason, I don't think you're going to hate me for having a longer post. LOL Anyway, enjoy this chapter, and thanks for your comments and enthusiasm. I really appreciate it. :D

Charlynn

Prompt #6: Violence and Bloodshed

Halloween Hookups

Swelter'd Venom Sleeping Got

It one was one thing to avoid Elizabeth Webber; after all, their lives existed on completely opposite yet parallel planes, never intersecting, but it was a whole different story forgetting about the blue eyed, brunette pixie of a woman. And, yes, despite her age, that's how Jason saw her: a woman. Unfortunately, the law didn't quite agree with him.

While she represented to him everything that was pure and good in the world, something he would never confide in her out of fear she would murder him in his sleep for such thoughts, he considered himself as someone who did not deserve her. If he were honest with himself, he would have to admit that he was nothing more than a criminal who had a very rich boss with an excellent attorney who would get him out of the trouble most criminals had to do hard time for, and, while it didn't necessarily bother him that he was involved in organized crime, that he occasionally dabbled in the infrequent case of torture, and that he was a murderer many times over, it was a whole different story to bring that world into Elizabeth's life. So, he stayed away from her.

For the first five months after their kiss, a kiss that, no matter what he did, he couldn't stop thinking about, it was easy to avoid her, for he was on assignment in the Caribbean, far away from the temptation his seventeen year old friend presented. There, in Puerto Rico, he could think about the way her lashes fluttered rapidly before finally closing as their lips met, and no one would be the wiser. There, in Puerto Rico, he could grin smugly to himself as he recalled the sigh of pure bliss and contentment Elizabeth released after they both finally pulled away from what he knew had to be their first and, ultimately, last kiss, and, with so many miles between them, he didn't feel as guilty for his actions. And, in Puerto Rico, where the violence was relatively tame, Jason could entertain the idea of actually seeing the artist again, of perhaps being with her in the future after both the law and they, too, decided they were ready to try and be more than just friends, but that desire had been quickly extinguished by one phone call from his boss, demanded his return back to Port Charles less than half a year after he had left.

There was a new enemy, one that, as winter approached, still had not been taken care of, and the town where both he and Elizabeth resided was now a cesspool of violence, led by a man who did not take into account the fact that women and children were innocents in their war, and, so, he had pushed the seventeen old away, claiming the distance between them was for her own safety when really, if he was being truthful with himself, it was for his own sanity. It was one thing to risk his own life, that Jason could handle, but he would not be able to sit by and watch as Elizabeth was hurt once again or even worse.

Of course she had argued. She had tried to tell him that they could simply meet at night in out of the way places like the bridge and Vista Point. Surely, she reasoned, his enemies would not suspect him being friends with her, so she could easily fly underneath their radar and still remain a part of his life. He could finally start taking her on real bike rides, and, after Jake's closed for the night, she would sneak out of her house and come to the place where he lived so he could teach her how to play pool. Her ideas had been tempting, too tempting, and he had almost caved, allowing her naïve logic and reason to persuade him, but he had been in the business long enough to know that, while a person could hide for so long, they couldn't outrun the mafia forever. With that thought in mind, he had turned her down and ordered her, something she did not react pleasantly to, to stay away from him.

After several chance encounters on the docks and around town at various diners and coffee shops, Jason had realized that the seventeen year old was flaunting his direction and making sure she saw him anyway. In response, he had been forced to change his routine, to work different hours, to find new places to eat and buy his always strong and always black coffee in the mornings, and, by summer, their lives had been completely disconnected.

He never stopped thinking about her though, worrying about her, and, as her birthday approached, signaling the fact that she would soon be a legal adult and not some forbidden but yet oh so tempting child of seventeen, she seemed to literally haunt him. He saw her everywhere. When he was walking down the street, every petite brunette, in his mind, was Elizabeth. Suddenly, he found himself, for some inexplicable reason, craving hot chocolate…and he didn't even like the teeth rotting concoction. Any bench, whether it was at Vista Point or not, reminded him of her last birthday which, in turn, would make him recall in vivid detail the kiss they had shared, and then, by that point, he was lost. His work suffered, his friends and coworkers avoided him, and he was starting to doubt his own ability to do what was necessary and stay away from her. Hell, even a damn commercial on the radio about snow shovels being on sale at the local hardware store made him think of Elizabeth, because, as he had pulled away from the kiss they had shared a year before, he had allowed himself a moment to truly absorb everything about her and become lost in her very essence, an essence, he had learned that night, that reminded him of the purity and cleanliness of snow.

At that point, he had realized he needed to take action. No matter what, he had to find a way to get one five foot, two inch, brown haired, blue eyed, adorably cynical Elizabeth Webber out of his head once and for all, and what better way to do so than to lose himself in someone else?

For the past week, he had fallen into a routine. Get up. Get dressed. Find some drinkable coffee. Go to work. Ignore everyone and everything, especially if they pertained to or reminded him of Elizabeth. Eat something. Go back to Jake's. Sit in the bar, drink beer, and observe. Find a woman who was small and petite, who was brunette, and take her back up to his room and fuck her senseless.

Would other people take issue with his sexually deviant behavior, would they tell him that trying to replace one woman with many others was not only going to be an in vain behavior but also irresponsible and downright disgusting? Yeah, they probably would, but Jason Morgan didn't give a flying shit. He did what he wanted, when he wanted, and he sure as hell didn't think about the consequences. Sex was sex. He didn't lie to the women he took to his bed, he didn't promise them more than one night and then go back on his word, and he made it clear from the very start that they would be simply using each other, so, if they got hurt in the end, it was their own damn fault. The only problem was that his plan was not working.

With every replacement he slept with, they only made him want Elizabeth more, they only made him think of the one thing he wanted most in the world but couldn't have even more than he was before his promiscuous behavior had started, and, as he pounded himself into his conquest for the night, another nameless, faceless diminutive, dark haired woman, all he could think about was the fact that Elizabeth's skin was softer, more delicate, and a lighter shade of alabaster. All he could think about what the feel of her lips underneath his, the way she had melted into him and embraced everything he was and everything he wanted to be so effortlessly.

"I know we normally wait until we run into each other on Halloween, but I couldn't wait this year, and I know that I'm supposed to be staying away from the danger, but I figured you'd let me make this one teeny-tiny exception seeing as how we decided last year you have to do whatever I say on my birthday, so here I am!"

And, as he reached completion, his orgasm mere thrusts away, all the enforcer could hear was the sound of her cheerful, light voice washing over him in a wave of warmth and acceptance.

"And don't you dare think you can pretend you're not here, Jason Morgan," the voice he believed to be inside his head teased, "because that really sweet lady downstairs told me you were in."

Okay, so that got his attention, because no one but Elizabeth would EVER refer to Jake as sweet and be able to get away with it. His actions stilled, and he pulled completely out of the woman leaning over in front of him.

"Okay, ready or not," the warning was given with a few short yet distinct knocks upon his door, and Jason hurriedly threw on his previously hastily discarded jeans. "I'm coming in!"

With no other notice and no more time to prepare himself or get the woman who was currently naked and trying to cover herself up with a sheet out of his bed, Elizabeth Webber, fresh-faced, exuberant, almost eighteen Elizabeth Webber, was standing in his room, and the blonde could do nothing but watch as all her happiness and excitement fell away with one glance at his appearance.

"I'm so sorry," she rushed to apologized, spinning around in her heels to leave. "I shouldn't have…this was a mistake." As she reached the entranceway to his room, she went to leave, but his hand reaching out and gently taking hold of her arm stopped her.

"Elizabeth," he begged, "please wait." Swiveling his head around, he glared at the stranger in his bed. "Get out," he yelled, not caring that he was both sounding and acting like an insensitive jerk. Apparently, the woman wanted out of the situation just as badly as he wanted her to simply disappear, because she grabbed her clothes and slipped out into the hall with only his sheet on. Closing the door behind the other woman, Jason ran a distracted and angry hand through his rumpled hair in an attempt to buy himself some much needed time to think.

She looked beautiful, Elizabeth did. She had curled her hair and left most of it down, flowing freely across her back. He loved her hair, because it was just as wild and untamed as she was, and he knew it would be just as soft to the touch as her lips had been. She had also worn makeup, not a lot he was glad to see, for he didn't want her to hide behind a painted on mask that didn't suit her, but just enough to highlight all the features of her face he found impossible to forget. She wore a dress, an innocently seductive dress that, in that moment, he knew she had picked out and purchased just for him. With everything combined, he had never seen anything as perfect as the soon-to-be eighteen year old was in that moment.

"You look," he paused to clear his suddenly dry throat, "really nice."

Whispering in response and avoiding his gaze, she murmured, "thanks."

Not knowing what else to say, he followed her example and attempted to apologize. "I'm sorry about this." Gesturing towards his room with his eyes alone, he let the statement hang there.

"It's alright. You did nothing wrong. I was the one who showed up here unannounced after we haven't seen each other or even talked to one another in months. I should have called ahead or…not have come at all."

"No, I'm glad that you came," Jason quickly reassured her. "Like you said, we always spend your birthday together."

"Yeah, but you were obviously busy, and I don't want to be a burden to you."

"Elizabeth," he turned to face her completely, lifting a hand to cradle her jaw in his grasp, "you could never be a burden to me. I was going to come and find you tonight," he confessed. "I hope you believe that."

"I do," she nodded along with her words, tears filling her eyes that she stubbornly refused to release, "but I get it. You had…things to do first."

Sighing in frustration, he dropped his hand from her face. "Aw, Elizabeth…"

"No, I understand," she argued, taking a step back away from him. "We're friends, that's it, and you have needs that I can't fulfill. After all, you're a man, and I'm just a little girl, right?"

He knew that she was lashing out at him because she was hurt and embarrassed, but the words still stung as they hit their target, particularly because they both knew what she said had some truth behind it. At first, it had been her age that had kept him away from her, and, even though his distance was now due to the violence that surrounded his life, her innocence and purity were somehow mixed up in his nobility as well, so he knew he couldn't deny her claim. Instead, he tried to change the subject.

"So, what do you wan to do? I could throw everyone out downstairs and we could have that game of pool you were always talking about before."

"Thanks, but no thanks," she declined his offer.

"A ride?"

Finally meeting his gaze, her dark, indigo eyes flashing with anguish, she said, "I think I just want to go home. It's late, and I have school tomorrow. You know how important senior year is, especially if I want to get a scholarship to a good art school, or, well," she paused, cocked her head to the side, and remembered his past, "maybe you don't. Anyway, no matter what, I don't need my parents finding out that I snuck out of the house again, so I really shouldn't be gone too long. Besides, you're busy…"

"I'm never too busy for you, Elizabeth."

She went on as if he had never spoken. "…and I have things to do – homework, I need to shower and change out of this ridiculous dress, there's my fish that needs to be fed."

"You don't have a pet fish," he point out.

Ignoring him, the brunette pivoted around on her high heels and went to walk out of his door and, he feared, out of his life, too. "See you around, Jason…or not." The last two words were whispered quietly under hear breath, but the enforcer heard them anyway.

Just as she rounded the corner of his doorway, he heard the small clock he kept by his bedside emit an almost inaudible peal to alert him to the fact that it was midnight and officially November 1st.

"Happy Birthday, Elizabeth."

His best wishes fell onto silence though, for he was too late; she was already gone.