[i]“You both underestimate her. She won’t be seduced by his tricks…just like I won’t be by yours,”[/i] With widened eyes, Lisette chuckled softly. “She’s human, Mila! There is nothing to underestimate.. Are you really so blind to that?” Her voice twanged slightly as she leaned her head exasperatedly against the brick wall. “You would do so much better with someone of your own kind, don’t you think.” She sent a sarcastic wink and laughed a little at Mila’s groaned response. [i]“Don’t flatter yourself,”[/i] A look of fictitious shock and hurt masked Lisette’s unnatural featured. “Oh, Mila!” She was ready to fling yet another satirical comment when Mila spoke up again. [i]“Don’t you think I could have had you by now, if I’d wanted? You were still so impulsive when I met you and Booker. Just like a fledgling. You’re still impulsive now, aren’t you. Pathetic. ”[/i] Her smile faltered a tiny bit as her cold heart thudded with resentment. Pathetic? She really had the audacity to call [i]her[/i] pathetic? Lisette’s jaw tightened briefly and her eyes flashed with something more sinister and deadly than her previous sardonic demeanor, before she regained her composure, just as quickly as she had lost it, and a smile pulled back over her sharpened fangs. That possessive, greedy creature that lived inside of her beautiful skin was brewing with anger, even as she tilted her head back slowly, eyebrows raised suggestively. “Do your worse, if you really think that you [i]could of had me[/i].” It only occurred to her for a moment that perhaps this was a bad idea, Mila [i]was[/i] pathetically hungry. Yet, what was life without a couple risks? Besides, she was curious about whether or not she would actually attempt it. Standing there for several quiet moments, Lisette nodded and brought er head back into a normal position. “I see.” Her voice was an amused whisper as she pulled her companion closer, so that her own lips were pressed lightly against the nape of Mila’s neck. “By the way, you’d do well to remember [i]not[/i] to call me pathetic, love.” She pulled away then, yet still uncomfortably close. Her self-righteous heart was still clenched with enmity as her gaze swept Mila’s features. The woman was speaking again, and Lisette had to suppress a groan [i]“As for his junkies..”[/i] It wasn’t hard to miss the slight hesitation in the older woman’s voice, it made her eyes widen, arrogantly questioning. [i]“I’ll…I’ll get to her before they can-..”[/i] “You’ve always wanted to be the hero.” It wasn’t a question, or even a derisive sneer this time. It was more of a pathetic comment, almost sad and disappointed. And perhaps even a hint of jealousy, not that she would ever admit it. “We really should get going.” Lisette was mentally kicking herself for losing her demeanor not once, but [i]twice[/i] already. If she kept up, she really would be the pathetic, impulsive monster that Mila accused her of being. [i]“Fine,”[/i] Lisette attempted a smile, her sharp teeth pressing wickedly against her bottom lip. It didn’t take much for her to reassume her sardonic role and gaze wickedly at Mila. [i]“We’ll eat first.”[/i] “Oh good! Then we’ll have to find some place to bunk for the day, won’t we?” She mused slightly about this, keeping her grip tightly on Mila’s shoulders. [i]“Will you let go of me.”[/i] She ignored the look of contempt in Mila’s eyes and instead reflected quietly, looking thoughtful and incredibly presumptuous. “Well....” She was taking that moment to reassure herself that she wasn’t weak or pathetic. [i]“Please.”[/i] Lisette grinned manically, tightening her grip on Mila’s shoulders for a split second before abruptly letting her go and pushing her backwards, giving herself enough space to walk away from the wall and start down the street. “Only because you asked [i]so[/i] nicely, love.” Her sugary voice drifted through the air as she began an eerie glide down the street. “Hurry up, now, we don’t have forever.” Lisette didn’t look behind herself to see if Mila was following, if she knew what was good for her little pet she would keep up. “Now what we were talking about? Right! I remember!” She stopped for a second and let Mila catch up with her, interlocking her arm through the other woman’s. “We need a place to stay! My, my.... I’d take you back to the house but you’d probably just cause Book and I problems, wouldn’t you?” With a mocking sigh, she continued. “Besides, I’m sure that he is enjoying himself. Oh and Charlie as well! I’m sure she isn’t [i]too[/i] opposed. Oh!” Looking over at Mila, her dark eyes glistened. “I know! Her apartment [i]must[/i] be close by? We’ll go there.” By now she was just rambling, filling the space with pointless banter that she knew would get under Mila’s skin. It gave her an unnatural delight to see others squirm, especially Mila. “Now, that’s settled...” She lifted her face into the air and breathed in deeply. “Let’s find you-” “Aha! Here that? The early bird catches the worm.” She sent a wink towards Mila as her arm slowly raised to point across the road where a middle aged woman was unlocking a small convenience store. The woman was juggling the keys to the store in one hand, and a coffee in the other. Under her arm she balanced a thick brown folder. It was pathetically amusing to watch her struggle to open the shop, especially when the keys dropped to the ground and a sharp curse wafted through towards the two lethal women. “Oh, how awful!” Lisette sighed feigning sympathy. She had moved to stand behind Mila, uncomfortably close, with her hands placed domineeringly on the woman’s hips and her lips pressed against her ear. “Why don’t you go help her? And remember what I said before: Don’t hold back.” She slowly pulled her face away, letting her hands slide up Mila’s sides and to her back, where she gave a small, encouraging push. “Go on, darling, do your worst... I’ve been waiting for this.” With a maniac giggle and a small, mocking wave she shooed Mila away. “And be quick about it!” --- The wind against her cheeks was exhilarating and wildly rejuvenating. She'd done it, she'd actually made it out of the house! She hadn't even expected to make it to the door and now she felt her feet smacking against the gravel on the road and her heart thudding painfully in her chest. She didn't look behind herself and kept her gaze forwards towards the sun that was peeking over the horizon and giving her that little extra drive to move forward and get away. She would go home, and once she was there she would lock her door, shut her windows and hide in her room until she could sum up the courage to face the real world, if this could even be considered [i]real[/i] anymore. Her heavy breaths shuddered out of her weak body as she continued at an increasing rate, accelerating away from the house and to her salvation... until a face flashed across her mind. Mila. Her feet stopped and she slowed. Standing in the middle of the street with a pathetic look on her face. What about Mila? She'd been left behind with that other one. [i]Keep going, it doesn't matter now.[/i] Her inner thoughts chided her as she stumbled a couple steps forward. But it did matter, deep in her gut she knew it mattered. In her sleepless nights plagued with thoughts and memories, in her tireless musings she [i]knew[/i] that it mattered. “Keep going..” she murmured to herself. “You can deal with this lat-” She stopped mid sentence when the sound of a person drove her forward unconsciously. How dumb had she’d been to stop in the middle of the street like that? The pounding footsteps behind her were like ice in her already stony heart. [i]“You’re mine!”[/i] She thundered forward, her mind momentarily clear from all of it’s toil. Charlie could feel the entity at her back, yet it was taking them effort to catch up. She could tell in the back of her mind, as the breath from this person warmed the nape of her neck, that they were human. [i]Human.[/i] That made her feel even more ill as the unknown person threw themself at her, hands wrapping around her midsection as the two tumbled painfully to the ground. “Get the fuck off me!” Her hands reached up to grasp a fistful of nappy hair. She felt nails scraping against her face and was momentarily taken back to high school, the memory didn’t last long, though, when she felt her own hair being tugged at painfully. “Stupid bitch, what the-” Grunting she tried to push the woman off of her in an attempt that was half efficient. Yet in her moment of conceited triumph, she hadn’t noticed the two other people who had stumblingly caught up to them. [i]“Hold her down! Get her arms!”[/i] Her head whipped around, blond, matted hair hitting her face as she did so. “Shit.” She felt their grips on her upper arms, pulling her onto her knees with strength that ultimately surprised her, in their state. [i]“Shit!”[/i] She repeated, watching with narrowed eyes as the blonde one rubbed her hands manically.. [i]“I got you, I got you,”[/i] [i]“We got her.”[/i] Charlie barked out a sound that was half a laugh and half a groan. “You didn’t get shit, you stupid, stupid [i]pets[/i].” She muttered, her voice dripping with contempt as she struggled against the abnormally strong hands that gripped her. She met the woman’s icy glare with derision. [i]“Shut up,”[/i] Her voice was sharp, bitter and even a little despondent, it made Charlie ireful to say the least. She once again tried to pull out of her captor’s grasp, to no avail. [i]“It used to be only me, you know. I had him all to myself. And then he brought more, and more, and now he’s got you, hasn’t he.”[/i] Shaking her head Charlie sighed. “No one [i]has me[/i]. Listen, if you just let me go then you can have him to yourself again. I’ll leave, I promise.” Yet it seemed her words fell on deaf ears as the woman began to pitifully rub at her eyes. [i]“And you’re so pretty.”[/i] Charlie’s gut wrenched at how pathetic that sounded. She must have been beautiful once, why else would Booker have picked her? Her life had been taken just as much as Charlie’s, probably even more, and it was sad. Sad, right up to the point when her booted foot connected with Charlie’s midsection, causing her body to double over and spit to fly from her lips. “What the he-” [i] “Beautiful.”[/i] Another kick in the gut would have sent her sprawling if not for the two hands that kept her firmly in place. The breath was knocked out of her and she was fighting for air, struggling like a mad man as her mind repeated a phrase that she was all too familiar with. [i]She’s going to kill me, she’s going to kill me, she’s going to kill me.[/i] [i]“Young. Don’t let her squirm away!”[/i] A third kick in her gut had Charlie’s eyes blurring, black spots in her vision that wouldn’t clear no matter how many times she blinked. “S-stop.” Her rasping voice pleaded gently. “Please...” [i]“How about instead of bringing you back, we just kill you. And then instead of ‘you’re next,’ it will be ‘you’re first!’.”[/i] Charlie exhaled slowly and shut her eyes, trying to coware away from the hovering foot that threatened a fourth kick, that would certainly send her into full unconsciousness. Her lips formed words that her voice couldn’t speak. [i]Stop...[/i] She kept her eyes firmly shut, ready to be sent into darkness at any given minute and preparing herself for the fact that she might never wake up again, until the people that held her up abruptly let her fall into a heap on the ground. Her eyelids lethargically blinked open to see Booker, standing with the woman’s arm in his hand and sneering something at her. She couldn’t hear him though, not over the sound of rushing water in her ears. But he was mad, she could tell that much. She shut her eyes tightly when he came to hover over her, her rasping breaths fighting for life. It felt like eternity as she lie there in the cold, sodden ground with the sun slowing shying upwards, before his hands scooped her into his stony embrace. She was too tired to fight him as his voice murmured in her ear. [i]“Who could have guessed they would do something like that to you?”[/i] And that hurt little girl inside of her, the one who always sought the best in people, wanted so badly to believe his innocent charade. “Home..” She murmured gently as her head lazily fell against his chest. “Take me.. home.” She shifted in and out of consciousness as his smooth steps, this time walking at a normal human pace and not speeding blindly down the road, took them back in the direction that she had just escaped from. So they weren’t going home, she wasn’t surprised. Her chest ached like she’d been flattened by a truck. Her entire body was like lead in his arms, and she knew that even if she could find the effort to stand, there wouldn’t be any kind of chance of escape again. She was done for. This was it. A small sob came from her nearly inert body as they crossed the threshold, back into the aging house. She felt herself being carried upwards and finally being placed in an uncomfortable bed with scratchy sheets, the end of the bed sagged slightly with the weight of another person... although ‘person’ was probably a stretch. [i]“Can you hear me, Charlie?”[/i] Her eyes fluttered open slowly and she licked her parched lips. “Sadly..” She rasped, the attempt to talk sending her into a coughing fit. She took a couple of moments, sitting powerlessly on the bed, to let herself come to terms with what was happening. With a couple calming breaths, that didn’t really help the growing ball of angst in the pit of her probably injured stomach, she finally spoke. “You know, she’ll come for you,” she wasn’t sure if what she was saying was a lie or not. She didn’t technically know if Mila cared enough to come looking for her... to come [i]save[/i] her, but Charlie hoped. “If you hurt me, you’re done for. So I wouldn’t if I were you.” She could hear the bullshit in her own voice just as much as she was sure he could, but it didn’t stop her from sneering up at him.