-Hey guys get ready, cuz this one will be pretty deep for Victor. This is dealing with some deep emotional battles, but lots of Carrie and Victor. I am really enjoying writing this. Let me know what you guys think. Enjoy…

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Chapter 4

Carrie walked into her apartment and immediately ripped off her soiled dress. She dragged her emotionally wracked body to the shower, kicked off her shoes, and stepped into the stream of hot water. The shower had been her life savor for the last few days, but she thanked God every time she stepped into it. She sat down on the floor of the tub and wrapped her arms around her knees. She rested her head against her knees and closed her eyes. Her soaked hair hid her face and shielded her from the hate covering her body. She hated those people for treating that girl like that. She hated every person who ever hurt someone because they were different. Victor. Her thoughts suddenly took on another victim. How many times had Victor been persecuted because he was different? She suddenly wanted to take his hulking figure and wrap him away from the world. No wonder he was so cold. She wrapped her arms tighter around her knees, as she imagined it was Victor she was holding. He held so much pain in those eyes. She was familiar with pain, but not the pain of constantly being an outsider. "In that room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo", she smiled as the line from T.S. Elliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock came flittering across her subconscious. Victor reminded her of Prufrock. He was a man who knew what it was like to be on the outside looking in.

She closed her eyes and imagined watching Victor, as he hid in the shadows, watching the people discuss the latest topics. He probably held more knowledge behind those eyes than he let on. She stood up from the shower and slowly turned the knobs until the stream turned into a solid drip. She stepped out into the cold bathroom and wrapped a towel around her soaked body. She had to start cooking. She made up her mind that even if he didn't take her up on her offer she would at least be prepared. She put on some comfortable pajama bottoms and a t-shirt, and then got to work in the kitchen. She pulled her wet hair up into a half bun and started on some easy Hamburger Helper. She decided if he didn't come she wouldn't feel too bad about throwing out old Hamburger Helper. As the ground beef began to brown, she walked over to her window. She pulled back the curtains and opened the big bay window. She knew she was getting too hopeful, he probably wouldn't even show up. I mean he was a guy who was probably wanted on several accounts of…She didn't let herself finish that thought. She had no right to assume what his past looked like.

Carrie walked back to the kitchen to continue cooking her meal, completely unaware of the man below her building fighting a battle within him; he knew he could not win. Victor stared up at the open window on the forth floor of the apartment building. She was giving him an open invitation to just saunter into her house and do what he wanted. He couldn't handle this complete trust she just handed him. Why would anyone trust him with their lives? Why would this girl even care about him? What the hell was he going to do? He sat down on the cold pavement and leaned his head against the cold brick wall behind him. As he closed his eyes, all he saw was red, which wasn't an unusual occurrence. Whenever he closed his eyes he saw the blood of his victims. He quite literally saw red before killing a victim, but this time it was different. He watched behind closed eyelids, as the red turned into hair, her hair. His breathing slowed as Carrie's face formed in his subconscious mind. Her hazel eyes lined with worry and empathetic kindness. He opened his eyes and looked up, for the hundredth time, at that open window. Well, he was already going to hell, why not get a head start on torturing himself.

"Well, I guess he's not coming," Carrie muttered to herself, as her eyes drifted over to the hanging clock, which read 10:30 pm. She knew she was a loser for staying in on a Friday night waiting for some mutant guy to show up. 'No', she gave herself a mental slap for referring to Victor as just 'some mutant guy'. He saved her life; he rescued her necklace, and quite possibly saved her from herself. She had no right to call him 'some mutant guy'. She turned off the stove and put the leftover food in the fridge. She could always warm it up tomorrow. Carrie suddenly felt the day's events catching up to her and began to walk to her bed. She was just about to pull down the covers when the blowing curtain grabbed her attention. She disappointedly walked to the window to shut it for the night, but just as she was about to close it, a large body slipped lithely into her apartment. "Hey, kinda late isn't it?" Carrie allowed the nervousness to sneak into her voice as she took in the man in front of her. His hair was pulled back, which revealed his face completely to her. She took in his dark eyes again and saw the inner struggle raging behind them. She suddenly felt her heart jump into her throat as she watched him turn to leave her apartment. "I was just kidding," she reached for his arm to stop him and noticed how he didn't jerk away this time, "It's Friday night. I wouldn't have cared what time you showed up." He turned to face her, his eyes drifting to the spot on his arm where she was still grasping. "Sorry…"

He watched as her hand appeared to almost drift away from his arm, as if it wanted to stay there. "Why?" He thought it was a simple question to ask. He really wanted to scream at her, scare her, just something to let her know she was stupid for inviting him. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. Her gentle face was looking at the ground, her hands wrapped loosely around herself. She looked as if she was just scolded.

She lifted her eyes to look into his haunted ones. "I just wanted to thank you for all you have done. I know you don't think you did anything, and you probably regret ever doing anything at all, but you have done more than you could ever imagine." She reached out a tentative hand to take the index finger of his large clawed hand. She never broke eye contact as she put her entire hand inside of his and grasped it like a hand shake. She lifted the hand up and shook it gently, "I didn't think we had that great of a formal introduction so…I'm Carrie. Your name is…" She felt the need to guide him through this introduction as he appeared shocked she had initiated contact between them.

He suddenly felt his mind catch up to what was trespassing between them and gave her a quiet answer, "Victor."

"Well, it is nice to meet you Victor. Do you want something to eat or drink…a beer?" She gave him a sideways glance as she sauntered toward the kitchen. He didn't give her an answer and remained standing by the window. He appeared as if he would leap out it at any moment, so using her quick thinking she grabbed two beers from the fridge. "Well, I want a beer. I will just set this second one on the kitchen table." She set the beer down and patted the table as she sat down.

Victor watched as she drank the beer and appeared to tease him with it. She would take a sip and then make a sound of complete satisfaction as she swallowed it. Victor walked over to the table and pulled the chair out. He sat down across from her and propped his feet up on the chair next to him. He gave her a look under his thick eyebrows, as he used his sharp claw to pop the top off of the beer.

"Wow that must come in handy." Carrie gave an awkward chuckle at Victor's attempt to show her how dangerous he was. She was pretty sure she knew at this point. "Okay so let's play a game my friends and I used to play." She laughed out loud when she saw Victor's eyebrow shoot up at the mention of a game. "I promise it's not a stupid little girl game. It's really more of a truth or dare without the dare. We got bored coming up with stupid dares and decided to just ask each other questions. You don't have to answer if you don't want too, but it really helps to dispel awkward moments. You can go first."

He watched as Carrie sat back in her chair and popped her knuckles, obviously getting ready for anything he could dish out. He decided to ask a question he had been wondering for quite some time. "Hair color real?"

"Haha!" He gave her a small smile as she had to cover her mouth to keep her beer from flying out of it. "Really? Okay…yes, my hair color is real, and the carpet matches the drapes." He gave her a real smile at her blatant disregard for propriety. He watched as her smile widened at her success in getting him to relax. "You know Victor, you have a great smile. You should do it more often." Victor allowed his smile to dissipate into a small grin. He watched as she pulled her hair down from a bun and let it cascade down her shoulders. He smelled the cinnamon rolling off of her. He allowed the smell to cover all of his senses, and he felt his body suddenly lose itself in the comfort of her. "Okay, my turn. Um…exactly how old are you?"

He gave her an intense stare before answering the question with another question, "Why do you want to know?"

"I can just tell you have seen a lot. Eyes can tell us a lot about a person's soul. They are the window. So, how old?" Carrie leaned over the table as if to challenge Victor into not answering the question.

"Old." Victor leaned back and took a swig of his beer. He gave the girl a haughty lift of the eyebrows at her obvious disappointment.

"Oh come on. You can't dodge the questions. Then there would be no point to the game."

Victor appeared to consider her explanation, " Well over one-hundred." He had to laugh as he watched her eyes grow inside of their sockets.

"Are you serious?"

"Nope, my turn to ask a question," he almost laughed again as he watched her lean back in her chair and take a swig similar to the one he had just taken. "Why did you save that girl today?"

He felt the room's atmosphere suddenly take on a much more serious feel. He watched as her eyes appeared to look at nothing, while she considered her answer. "She needed someone… just like I did."

He felt his heart pull at the obvious reference to himself. She saved that girl, because he had saved her. Is that what she was saying? "Those men could have hurt you, but you helped her anyway." He watched as her eyes stared directly into his own.

"You could have been hurt, but you helped me anyway." He felt his anger rise at the comparison between the two of them. He was nothing like her. He had only saved her because those men were interfering with his observation. She had saved that girl out of the goodness of her heart, and he had no heart.

Carrie stood from the table as she watched Victor stalk towards the window. She could feel the anger radiating from him, but she couldn't let him leave without knowing what she had done to ruin the evening.

Victor was just about to leap out the window when he saw her small figure block it. "I didn't get my turn to ask a question." She nearly dove out of the way, as he came at her.

"We are nothing alike!" She felt his breath on her face and could smell the beer on it. The smell was nearly intoxicating. "I am a killer Carrie." She watched as his tortured eyes turned away from her.

She reached out a tentative hand and placed it on his cheek. "Then why haven't you killed me yet?"

He closed his eyes only to see her face again. She was making him face those demons regardless of what he did to her. "I could break your neck without giving it one thought." He could feel her tense under his touch. He rubbed the part of her neck where his hand had once held her against the wall.

"You won't hurt me, Victor." He heard the confidence in her voice, even if her body language said differently. He couldn't smell fear on her yet, but he was going to prove to her he was dangerous.

"What makes you think I won't?"

"Don't make me prove it to you." Her eyes held a fearful determination about them. She was going to prove to him he wasn't dangerous. Someone was going to win this battle tonight.

"Prove it." Victor watched as the small woman in front of him gathered up all of her courage and smacked him across the face. He stumbled back at the mere shock of this woman's bravado. He gave her a warning growl as she approached him again. He saw the fiery determination burning in her eyes as she pushed him against her wall.

"You want to hurt me. Then hurt me!!" She took another swing which contacted with his face again. She had him sitting on the ground in front of her when she saw how broken this man was. He didn't even try to fight her off. She squatted down to face him and nearly lost herself when he turned his face away from her. He was not going to win this battle. "Victor, look at me." She gently touched the reddened cheek and brought his face to look at her. "As badly as you want to believe you are a killer by nature, you're not. A killer would have at least beaten me to the ground for striking them. Every sinner has a future and every saint has a past. No one in this world is perfect Victor." She placed her other hand on his opposite cheek and brought her lips against his. She wanted to give him some kind of comfort in this battle he was raging with himself. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry" She whispered into his lips in between soft yet deeply heart felt kisses. Carrie felt her tears falling down her cheeks at the pain this man was feeling. She wanted to hurt everyone who had ever told him he was nothing more than a brainless killer.

Victor's head beat against his skull every time she laid her soft lips on his. She was giving him comfort in ways he had never felt before. He tasted her tears as she kissed his lips. He tasted the strength and the passion this woman had in those few soul bending moments. He gently wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest. He had to feel all of her at that moment. He had to feel the comfort for once. He was so tired of the constant disregard of emotion, and at that moment he felt himself break for the first time in nearly one-hundred years. He allowed himself to let go of the pain of being called a monster. He let go of the hate, anger, and complete loneliness. He let his tears mingle with the strong woman in his arms. He felt her hands wiping them away, and he knew this was something they both needed from each other. This woman needed him as much as he needed her.

Carrie caressed the broken man's face as he wept silent tears along with her. She saw as her tears of hate, loneliness, and relief mingled with his. She wrapped both of her arms around the man holding her and felt her body completely relax into his embrace. She felt her eyes grow heavy as the feeling of complete release filled her body. She breathed in the dark smell of the man she was holding and fell into a peaceful slumber.

Victor looked down at the woman in his arms. Her body was completely compliant in his grasp. He could feel her steady heart beat against his chest and knew she was sleeping. He leaned his head against the wall behind him and lifted her hand to his mouth to kiss it gently. She was his sanctuary at that moment. He still didn't know what he felt for this woman or why he was now completely connected to her, but he knew there was no turning back now. He gently rose to his feet with the sleeping woman still in his grasp and walked her over to the bed. He laid her down on the mattress and covered her with the blanket at the end of her bed. He watched as she took a shaky breath and rolled over towards him. He gently trailed a dangerously, clawed nail down her cheek. He knew he could break her and probably would, but he also knew he would do anything for this woman. She held him closer than anyone ever had in his entire life. He took one last look at the sleeping woman on the bed and took the few steps necessary to exit her apartment. He felt the coldness of the world embrace him the second he exited her warm apartment.

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Who doesn't long for someone to hold

Who knows how to love you without being told

Somebody tell me why I'm on my own

If there's a soul mate for everyone.

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--The song Soulmate by Natasha Bedingfield was kind of my inspiration for this story. I thought the lyrics were just beautiful and just so true. Everyone should give it a listen. Anyway, love all of the reviews and please keep it up. I will be working on Chapter 5, which I am really excited about. Please review. Love ya!