That hadn't been easy. The little bastard could muddle through even too well, he had to admit it, while he was plugging the blood in his nose with the back of his hand. The unexpected elbow-nudge that had broken his nose in two parts had been a good shot, fast and devastating. He still couldn't comprehend how he could have been caught off guard so suddenly, it almost made him piss off.

He had lowered himself down on the road and he had been following the boy for a while, at close range, waiting for the right moment to act. His blood had a particular smell, it almost drove him crazy. Delicious.

The dark-haired male had stopped after ten minutes and the virus had attacked him almost instantly, believing that it was the moment he had been waiting for. He was wrong. The boy had immediately thrown his elbow back, blindly, as if he had had the certainty that Alex was behind him, and he had broken his nose with such a power that was almost too overstated for a human. He had began to run breathlessly, but the hooded figure with the face covered in blood had blocked him the way, out of nowhere, a few seconds later, letting him scream with pure terror. The boy however had managed to react and avoid Alex's grab, bending down and rolling back, dodging the biomass that had just extended menacing toward him. He had blocked the next whiplash with his forearm, but he had not considered a little particular: that sort of arm (or whatever it was) was a living-thing and it had been twisting up his arm, trapping him in its vise. His attempts to free from it had been useless and he had been too concentrated on his arm that he had distracted himself from the real menace, Alex, that had decided to end that thing, shooting a well-dealt punch in the boy's face, letting him lose consciousness.

The boy was now lying on the bed in Alex's sort-of-apartment, that looked more like a nuclear laboratory, at the tenth floor of an abandoned building. Despite that, it was clean enough, or at least he had become so, after the cleaning that he gave to host his new prey. Before that, it would have looked more like a surgery clinic, involved in human experiments: the blood he had left after devouring his last prey had not been cleaned until that moment. After all, Alex rarely spent time in the house, only to do chemical experiment with the purpose of enhance the effects of the virus. It all had born to find a cure, but he had become too addicted to the powers that the virus was giving him.
He approached the boy and tied his wrists firmly to the headboard of the bed to avoid any attempt of escape and its necessary consequences. His last prey had decided to do heroic acts, trying to escape, and had come back to that house only as another of the many voices to add at the collection inside Alex's mind. Losing control again and consuming that boy too, would have surely annoyed him. Not that he couldn't easily find another prey, it was just because he was special, his amazing smell could prove it.

As he tied carefully the knots at his wrists, he remained there, watching him from above like a vulture watches his prey: his chest lifted and lowered regularly, his legs were abandoned on the sheets without composure and his face rested against his tied arm, partially hided by the shadow of the latter. He took his chin between his fingers and he turned him towards him, studying carefully every detail of his face. His warm breath was meeting his cold hand and in a certain way he was liking that, it was quite some time he didn't feel that kind of heat.
-Mmmmh...- the other moaned, hardly opening his eyes.

His head was painfully pounding and his left cheekbone, where he had received the virus' punch, was throbbing too strongly. The room seemed to be terribly twisting and a sudden feel of devastating dizziness (probably nausea) hit him hard like a punch in the stomach.
As he found Alex's face so close, he literally jumped on the bed and squirmed, complaining weakly about the pain caused by the too-tight ropes around his wrists.

-Oh fuck!- he shouted, jerking the ropes again. -What the hell is happening?!-

-You're finally awake.- Alex said, lapidary, standing up and watching him again from above.
He loved being in a position of superiority among the others, it fed his pleasure in subjugating the world at his will.
He took a chair from a corner of the room and he trailed it to the side of the bed, sitting down astride and letting his elbows lay on the seatback, just to make sure he would comfortably attend at the show that was going to begin.
-Who the fuck are you?! And what the hell does this means?!- the boy screamed, continuing uselessly to wiggle.
-Oh, you never heard about me?- the virus asked, almost surprised.

-No, it happens that I had been away from this place for a while. Could you tell who the hell are you?!-

-I don't like you tone, you know?- a devilish sneer appeared under Alex's gray hood. -But I will ignore it. My name is Alex Mercer. And you are...?-

The other male wavered a bit, studying the situation. That name hovered in his mind threateningly, as he had heard about it before but he couldn't remember: his appearance was enough to let anyone's blood freeze right in the veins. He decided to indulge his requests just for the moment to understand what he wanted.

-My name is Desmond...Desmond Miles.- he answered, swallowing a bit.

-Desmond.- Alex repeated, tapping the fingers on the dark wood of the chair. -Not bad.-

-Now, could you please tell me what do you want?-

-It's simple.- the virus shrugged with pride. -I want you.-

-Me?-

-You. Nothing else.-

Desmond blinked a couple of times, he couldn't understand. Maybe it was just the echo of the pain caused by the punch in the face he received before, but he couldn't really understand.
-What the hell does it mean?-

Alex burst out laughing, his unsettling laugh spread around the room and it seemed to be echoing endlessly.

-That's not so hard to understand. I want you, your flesh, your blood...and why not? Your company, too.-

He laughed again, with the same macabre laugh, and Desmond felt the need of screaming loudly, tearing out his hands just to run away from that place. He jerked the ropes the hardest he could and the only result was the increasing of the burning sensation on his already scraped wrists.

-I don't think there's much you can do about those.- Alex continued, pointing them out proudly.

-What the fuck is this?! A joke?! Because if it is, it's not funny! Release me!
-No, Desmond, this is not a joke. That's exactly as I said. I captured you, you are my prey, you are mine. Now you belong to me.-

An evil smile was printed on Alex's face, who had glanced up shortly before, revealing his charming blue-iced eyes that was resting mischievously on Desmond's body.

-Fuck you! Fuck you and this damn place! I don't give a f...-
He couldn't finish to speak that the virus in half-a-second had stood up and had thrown the chair against the wall behind him, smashing it in little pieces. In a strange way that Desmond still couldn't explain, his arm had become a shapeless cluster of tissue (that at sight seemed to be muscle tissue), which ended in three huge, thin, silvery blades. He felt them against his throat in the same half-second and he had just a moment to ask himself how the fuck Alex could be so fast.

-Oh shit! Shit! Shit shit shit!- he screamed, scared to death, he never felt the terror massacre his depths so hard in his whole life.
-You will learn to respect me, Desmond Miles.- his voice had suddenly become hoarse and deep, almost ghoulish. -One way or another. Or do you prefer me cutting your throat and devouring you without any mercy?-
The younger man didn't even dare to swallow, feeling one of the three blades pressing dangerously on his carotid. He barely said "no", shaking his head, relaxing a little when he felt the blades drawing away from his throat, curving inwards from where they came out, with that same tissue now recomposing quickly Alex's human arm. He could barely stay conscious in front of that scene, feeling suddenly weak.

-You will stay here until I won't decide the opposite. And you will do what I say. Do we have a deal?- the virus continued, gripping Desmond's face violently with his fingers.

-Y-yes...-

-Good. We could even get on well this way. It would be the first time...- he concluded, leaving the room grinning.
"The first time"? Desmond gave the umpteenth despairing jerk to the ropes, deciding to give up just for the moment at the umpteenth burning sensation that irradiated down his wrists.

This time he had really drowned in a sea of troubles.

NB: Finally, the first chapter! As the same: sorry if it's not well-translated, I did my best in about an hour or two because I wanted to post it this evening. I hope you will enjoy it!