Claire woke up warm and comfortable, curling her body closer to the solid mass in her arms. Memories of the past few days catching up with her, she opened her eyes wide to see Sylar's back underneath her cheek. She gasped, pulling away quickly and promptly fell off the side of the bed with a startled yelp.
"Good morning," Sylar said dryly, rolling over and bracing on his elbow to look down at her.
"Morning," she grumbled, crawling awkwardly to her knees. She stayed there, guarded, waiting for something bad to happen, her bladder fit to burst.
A knock at the door, drew both of their gazes.
"Go to the bathroom, Claire. Get cleaned up." Sylar stood quickly from the bed and slipped on a pair of jeans. "Go." He stared at her, ignoring the second impatient knock.
She stumbled to her feet and into the bathroom. Shutting the door, she leaned her face against it, trying to hear into the next room. Fortunately, the walls weren't insulated worth a damn, so she could hear pretty clearly.
"Yes?" Sylar answered the door, sounding vaguely hostile.
"How're things going with your new little plaything?" a feminine voice asked.
"What do you want, Hilda?" The door shut.
"You know what I want." Her voice was sultry, seductive, and it froze Claire to the door. "So, where is she? Your sweet little Claire?"
"Busy."
"Well, I could think of a couple ways to keep us occupied until she returns."
"How thoughtful. But I can think of a few things too, though none so pleasant. At least not for you."
"Mmm...you tease."
"For now."
"I only want to meet her. It's not just any woman that could distract a man from me." Even her chuckle was seductive.
Claire wondered if Alice was jealous of that voice; it matched her ability so well. But then, she supposed she didn't need it. Curiosity was eating at her, she itched to see Hilda's face; did it match her voice? Could she possibly be that beautiful? That sexy? She had to fist her hands so she wouldn't open the door.
Every part of Claire wanted to be near Hilda, as if she were calling to her. Which is exactly what made her grit her teeth with doubled effort.
"So stubborn. Both of you. Her, I want to meet. You...you, I want to taste."
"How does disappointment taste?"
"Slightly bitter. I think you'll have the sweet tang of evil. Maybe I'll have to sample Clairie too. Would that motivate you?"
"Not in a way you'd like."
"Oh, but I think I would."
Claire jumped away from the door when an impact nearby shook it. She could hear a choking sound and debated whether to interfere or let Sylar choose for himself what to do. As she waited, the gasping turned to gurgling and she cracked the door.
Sylar held a hand out to a gorgeous brunette, pinning her to the wall and choking the life out of her. His eyes darted to Claire and he hesitated, allowing Hilda to take in a coughing breath.
"Sweety, I want you inside me, but that's not exactly what I had in mind."
Forgoing his powers, Sylar moved quickly to wrap his big hand around her neck. To his displeasure, she writhed her body against his, moaning loudly.
Claire could see him fighting himself not to crush her throat. His eyes were hovering on the edge of murder. "Sylar?" His hand flexed, drawing another moan from Hilda, although it wasn't from pleasure that time. "Sylar please?"
She stood behind him, getting a good view of Hilda's lovely purple face. Slowly, she placed her hands on his waist and rested her forehead on his back. His body was so tense it was trembling, his breath coming fast as if he'd been running.
"If you so much as touch her, this," he squeezed her throat harder to the wall, "will seem like playtime." He released her roughly, shoving her towards the door.
She stumbled to her knees, coughs wracking her body. When she looked up at them, she was afraid; no more teasing, no more lust, just naked fear.
"Tell the others, I don't bother with idle threats. They're not near as much fun."
She climbed to her feet, swaying slightly. Standing, her courage returned along with her haughtiness. Her gaze shifted to Claire, who had stepped away form Sylar. "Is he that rough in bed?"
Claire's eyes widened, but before she could decide on a reaction, Hilda's body hurtled through the suddenly open entrance. The door slammed shut before the woman landed and Sylar turned angry eyes on her.
Claire simply blinked back, unsure of how to respond. Whatever he seemed to expect from her, it apparently didn't happen and his anger quickly burned out. With a puff, he walked passed her and into the bathroom. She listened to the water running for a few minutes.
She felt so lost; she didn't know what to do with herself. Her stomach rumbled giving her an idea of where to start. In the kitchen, she searched the fridge for something easy. He had cereal, but no milk; butter but no bread. Except for one heel, but she didn't like those for toast.
Feeling awkward and like she might be overstepping her bounds, she warmed a skillet. She cracked a few eggs, remembering how her mother hated other people to fiddle in her kitchen, especially with her stove. Eggs sizzled as they hit the heat of the pan and Claire threw a lid over the top, letting them set.
While the eggs slowly cooked, curiosity had her searching through the rest of his cabinets. She was bent over looking through boxes of cereal, potatoes, and canned goods when she heard a noise just behind her. Claire stood up and spun around in one movement; Sylar was adding cheese and bacon bits to the eggs. He expertly flipped half the thing over, so that it folded into the perfect omelet.
He slid it gently out of the skillet and onto a plate, holding it out to Claire.
"I was just-"
"Snooping," he supplied, wiggling the plate.
"Yeah." She took it and cut the omelet in half, sliding the rest on a plate in front of Sylar. "That was the last of your eggs."
"Thanks," he mumbled, joining her in the front room to eat.
"I can never keep the omelet whole; always ends up as cheesy eggs."
"It's an art," he said sarcastically. They finished their breakfast in silence, barely even glancing at each other.
"So...what's with that Hilda chic anyway?"
Sylar groaned. "She's always plotting," he began.
"Sounds familiar," she butted in and got stared down. "I'm just saying." She held her hands up in surrender, forcing herself not to smile. His eyes narrowed, giving her a creepy chill down her spine.
"I haven't figured out what she wants yet. She's hiding it well."
"I hate all this subterfuge crap; I'm no good at it. To me, it just looks like she wants you."
"Precisely."
"...What does that mean?"
"She's pretending to want me. It's ridiculous and insulting."
"I'm missing something here. What's ridiculous? And what-"
"Don't!" He stood abruptly, snatching her empty plate away and stalking to the kitchen.
Claire stared open-mouthed after him. He went from calm to cold fury in seconds. "Sylar? Whatever I said,"
"Don't play games with me," he growled, inching closer to her.
"I'm not," she soothed, hands up again. "I'm sorry if I said something to make you mad. I honestly didn't mean to." He was still edging slowly closer, hands balled into fists. "Come on, you know me; if I want you to go to hell, I'll tell you. Or try to send you there."
His eyes burned into hers as he tried to gauge her sincerity. After much too long, the fire in them died down to a low smolder and he took in a deep cleansing breath. "You mean that."
"Course I do, proved it dozens of times."
"No," he smirked. "I know you'll tell me how much you hate me, how disgusting I am." He dropped back onto his seat. "You really don't know why it's ridiculous?"
"No, I don't," she confirmed.
"Sometimes, you confuse me." His head drooped, resting in his hands. "It's absurd that she would find me desirable enough for sex." Claire's eyebrows bunched up as she listened. "It's ridiculous that she would be jealous of my...attention for you. It's completely ludicrous that she would go to such dangerous extents for sex with me. And it's beyond insulting that she thinks I'm gullible enough to believe it." He was ranting himself back into a roiling simmer by the end.
Claire stared at him for several minutes, unsure how to proceed. She wanted to calm him, but she was still confused. "Okay, let me get this straight; you're angry because a woman like Hilda couldn't possibly be attracted to you, but she thinks you're pompous enough to believe it anyways?"
"Yes," he sighed at the straightforward way Claire had presented it.
"You don't see yourself very clearly, do you?"
A/N: Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review.