A/N:To be honest, I'm not completely satisfied with how this chapter turned out. I feel like I didn't write Kilgrave's s point of view well enough. What do you think? Please drop a review to tell me, I think my insecurities are catching up with me
Not Your Hero
Chapter 2: Anticipation
Kilgrave was humming a low, random tune as he raised the knife again to quarter the fruit that presented its tender underbelly to its carver.
He would have the room service cut the fruits he had ordered, but the young man had stared at Jessica for far too long so he commanded him to go home and rip out his eyes as slowly and as painful as he possible could.
However, as Kilgrave brought down the knife, he found himself distracted by a sudden addition to the room, Jessica, wrapped in stiff, white, cotton, towel that outlined her delicate form and contrasted beautifully with her sensuous dark hair that dripped down her back like cascading candle wax. As his eyes traced the line of her body, the blade traced the line of the apple along its designated course, not distinguishing between flesh and fruit when it contacted the skin on the pad of his thumb.
Excised jerkily from his brief moment of silent reverie, Kilgrave swore in a hiss under his breath, yanking his hand away and shaking it rapidly, as if he expected to shake off a knife wound. His unlikely potential cure failed, and he took instead to biting it firmly, sucking off the blood that dripped from the thin slice in his pink thumb.
"Damn it!" He repeated, muffled by the finger in his mouth that made it sound rather less threatening than it might have been.
"What did you do?" Asked Jessica curiously, lazily walking past the counter
She pulled his hand toward her, rolling her eyes at his dramatic antics. She splayed out her fingers, soft against the leathery skin of Kilgrave's palm, tracing the line of his thumb, pressing the odd heat of fingertips against the back of his hand, and examined the cut.
"How the hell did you nick yourself like that?"
She asked, not expecting an answer as she turned to open a cabinet and reach for gauze, casting a glance inside a drawer to retrieve a bottle of iodine.
Jessica took his hand again in her own stroking his palm as if intentionally, and cleaning the cut with a gentle, sweeping pressure, as he inhaled sharply from the sting of it.
Kilgrave stared at her intensely, surprised and half-shocked at the sudden display of gentleness. He tried to catch her eyes. But she was purposing ignoring his gaze.
He shook his head, as if it was unimportant. "I was distracted, I suppose," he replied smoothly, stretching out his fingers as Jessica wrapped a piece of gauze gingerly around the tip of his thumb, taking care not to let it catch on the damaged thumbnail as winds it tightly around the flesh.
He opened his mouth, to tell her it was pointless to be satisfied with her work, that she had just wasted her time because she wasn't the only one who could heal faster than normal.
However, as soon as he saw Jessica's small and rare smile the desire to taunt her cased. He wanted to enjoy the sudden moment of intimacy between them because her touch was so warm and her smile so kind and beautiful and willing.
He stretched out his temporarily sore thumb and balled his hand into a fist, giving her a smile when he noticed that she had yet to pull away.
At that moment he realized that she had gotten under his skin once again. Her touch so warm and welcoming that made his want to keep smiling at her, even when he was bleeding.
He felt amazing when he stepped into the hotel room and watched the light die from her eyes, which was exactly what had happened when he creaked the door open to the room he got, glancing around.
"We're doing fine, aren't we Hope?" He mused quietly, cocking his head to the side as he glanced over her. Slowly, he reached out to stroke her cheek, his ling finger brushing her cold skin.
"Yes, we do." Her answer made him frown; her tone was monotones and was lacking the feeling.
"I ran into your parents today, nice folks." He began casually, enjoying the way her eyes widened in fear.
He had her attention
Good
He went over to sit on the bed. "They're very worried about you, you know." She remained silent, merely staring at him quietly, which secretly disappointed him greatly because if Jessica was here she would have dropped a word from her colorful vocabulary.
God, how he missed her
He had counted himself lucky to have stumbled upon such an alluring creature, both in her physical prowess and, yes, even her foolish morality. It was utterly fascinating to discover that he wasn't as unique as he thought himself to be. And while superhuman strength was interesting enough, it still wasn't really something to balk at.
Her powers (which weren't really as great and brilliant as his) had definitely caught his attention, but it was the power of her mind that made him realize just how much he truly wanted her.
She wasn't like the others. She fought, more strongly than anyone else, to disobey him. Although infuriating in those small moments of defiance (perhaps a brief pause, a dissenting word, the slightest of hesitations in carrying out his commands), he had catch himself quietly admiring her strength of mind, marveling at how she kept him on his toes, and cherishing the beauty of watching her submit, after realizing the futility of refusing his love.
But she had to ruin everything, didn't she?
"Don't worry; they're alive, for now at least. Well, until I get bored that is." He stood up sharply, pacing around the room, stroking his chin as he thought of what he wanted to do to her today.
Or do with her, he figured
Sex with her wasn't really good. She lacked the passion that Jessica possessed. Hope just laid there and waited until it was over (as if she didn't enjoy it! He scoffed at that, of course she did. She wasn't a victim, she liked being with him), his Jessica occasionally tried to punish him through sex (digging her nails into his back hard enough to make him bleed, tagging his hair so hard that he was surprised he still had hair, biting his shoulder, leaving her marks – something which he copied from her once he found how exhilarating it was)
He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts since his body started reacting at his naught thoughts. Maybe later he would ask for a blowjob – it was the least she could do to thank him for being generous enough to not kill her parents. As for now, he had an idea…
"How about we jump?" He turned to face her. "That sounds like fun, doesn't it? Let's see how high you can jump." He bounced a bit, clapping his hands together as if he was summoning a servant.
Kilgrave watched as Hope climbed out of the bed (too slowly for his taste but he could forgive her – he was in a good mood). He tracked her movements as she started jumping. "Higher!" He barked out
Surely, she could do better.
"Come on, you can jump higher than that!" He taunted, walking closer to her.
The muffled thumps of her feet hitting the floor echoed through the quiet hotel room.
She should
"Higheer" He drugged out the word as if he singing it. "Come on, don't be lazy!"
He let out a sigh of disapproval. He knew she would never be as good as Jessica.
"You'll never be as good as her" He murmured casually, watching her for a moment before he turned away without telling her to stop.
He had accepted that he would always compare everyone to Jessica simply because no one would ever be as good as Jessica. But if he closed his eyes and listened only to the muffled thumps of Hope's feet hitting the floor, maybe he could fool himself into thinking he was in the hotel room with Jessica. Even for few minutes.
When he left the hotel two days later, Kilgrave felt almost giddy from the excitement. It had started; the photos of Jessica burnt hot on his hands. He wanted to laugh, to celebrate!
(Oh, he would celebrate once he would hear on the news about the missing girl who went mad and killed her parents inside the building of the private investigator they had hired to find their lost daughter)
He hadn't actually planned to have Hope killed her parents as soon as they were safely together, but the blonde had made the mistake of talking back to him when he mercifully gave her the chance to convince him to let her parents live.
Bringing up Jessica to him was her mistake – and was going to be her parents' downfall
Kilgrave decided that he preferred Hope's obedience through and through
So yes, he couldn't wait to hear about the missing girl – gone mad, he just wished he could be there to witness Jessica's face; to see her reaction
He had always loved a good drama; it was the reason he watched television, after all.
Unfortunately, he had to depart from the hotel at least five hours prior (better safe than sorry) before Jessica came; she was smart and quick with a mind sharper than knife, he couldn't take risks.
His little escape wasn't really hard; he ordered a man to drive him to the closest five star hotel (Jessica wouldn't be checking for hotels nearby, surely, her hands would be too busy for that), and once the moon came up, he ordered pasta amatriciana with Rossese Bianco, because tonight was the night for the celebration. He had to have the best of everything. All he had to do now was to wait for the news, and that's what he did.
He waited
Freshly shaved, dressed in new clothes, and with a glass of Rossese Bianco, he waited alone inside the quiet hotel room (he didn't bring any company, maybe he would do that later)
He waited approximately three hours and forty five minutes
The brand new suit he was wearing suddenly felt too tight, the food was cold, and the wine wasn't as tasty as it was before.
And the worst part?
There was no news
Kilgrave sighed impatiently; the small table with his food abounded behind him, with his hands behind his back, a frowned shadowing his face; he paced around the room like an animal that wanted to escape.
Why the hell was it taking so bloody long?
Jessica wouldn't be able to hide the fiasco; she would be too busy being interrogated by some policeman. So what had happened?
A low groaned echoed to the quiet room. "What have you done now?"
He knew Hope was worse than useless but what could she have possibly done to ruin such a brilliant, perfectly made plan?
His musing was answered with silence, and a renewed wave of anger burned through his chest.
His brain moved restlessly in search of answers to the new problems which confronted him, but he couldn't figure it out.
He had waited
He had bloody waited for months!
First to recover from the impact the crush had on him, then to have Jessica's photos; because had planned to let her know that he had been watching her for the past four three months, and then the case he created for Jessica alone to solve-
For someone who wasn't naturally patient, he had reached a breaking point!
After so much planning, so much waiting, he wouldn't be rewarded?!
How stupid were the Shlottmans, really? (He was now certain they had done something to change his plans. Maybe they had given Jessica wrong clues and now she was hunting the wrong guy – kind of doubtless because Jessica wasn't an idiot – but he was certain it was their fault and they would pay for it!)
The plan had been simply brilliant; he would give her signs to taunt her (because surely, what was the point if she didn't know he was alive? That he was coming for her?) She would be angry (oh and what a beauty she was in her anger) and she would try to find him – start haunting him. He had clapped his hands together at the thought back then because they would have so much fun together!
He snapped out of his memories and came back to reality. The anger burnt in a sickening fashion inside his head and chest. And before he could even realize what he had done, he tore off his purple tie and let out a shout of frustration
If you want something done right, do it yourself
Grabbing his coat, he typed a number as he exited the room; leaving everything else untouched.
He had a junkie to interrogate
A/N: For anyone who cares, I created an account on AOO so the story will be there as well. (My pseudonymis the same)
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