38.4. The eyes are the window to the soul
She's seen his eyes when he's hungry, though not her own. It isn't like there's usually a mirror on hand when they're hunting the streets, and she's careful to keep control when trolling the bars for a likely victim. Can't give the game away too early; can't send them running; can't frighten the lambs being led to a slaughter they think is a feast.
Flesh and sex: their want rolls off them, like it's rolled off men for as long as she can remember. They want her, and she wants what they can give her, and for the first few weeks she figures it's a fair enough trade. It always has been before. A moment's pleasure, the illusion of comfort, of caring, of connection, before it shatters and she's reminded such things aren't for her. It's different now. She has him, and she never lets it go that far, but she has other needs. Still, they're fulfilling those, sating a new hunger, and she's generous. She lets them die in ecstasy, clouding their minds from the pain, thinking they're only suffering the little death, not the permanent one she pulls from them.
She never lets them see her eyes.
Until he knows. And one pushes too far. And Peter's fear washes through her and she understands why he does it his way.
She changes the game, then. Hunts more with purpose. She finds one who reminds her of someone whose name she never knew, but the emotional residue is something that never quite washed away. She pulls back from the vicious kiss she allowed him, breaking from the rough press of his hands, and she feels the terror that ripples through him--the terror that was hers, once upon a time--when he looks into the black abyss staring back at him.
She's not afraid anymore. They can't hurt her anymore. He dies with silent screams still on his lips, and she wants more. More of their fear. Each one becomes an outlet for the rage that's simmered, locked up under her skin for nearly twenty years. Each one has a face, a name, not only their own and their unknown sins, but another superimposed across it: a rube who asked too much; a trucker who took more than she reluctantly offered to pay her way, hurt her more than she thought she could bear; a love who betrayed and killed; and Daddy, always, ever completely Daddy.
She makes sure every single one of them looks her in the eyes.
Muse: Lydia
Fandom: Heroes
Words: 433
Notes: Post-canon AU/X-over with Vampire Diaries (book verse)
Flesh and sex: their want rolls off them, like it's rolled off men for as long as she can remember. They want her, and she wants what they can give her, and for the first few weeks she figures it's a fair enough trade. It always has been before. A moment's pleasure, the illusion of comfort, of caring, of connection, before it shatters and she's reminded such things aren't for her. It's different now. She has him, and she never lets it go that far, but she has other needs. Still, they're fulfilling those, sating a new hunger, and she's generous. She lets them die in ecstasy, clouding their minds from the pain, thinking they're only suffering the little death, not the permanent one she pulls from them.
She never lets them see her eyes.
Until he knows. And one pushes too far. And Peter's fear washes through her and she understands why he does it his way.
She changes the game, then. Hunts more with purpose. She finds one who reminds her of someone whose name she never knew, but the emotional residue is something that never quite washed away. She pulls back from the vicious kiss she allowed him, breaking from the rough press of his hands, and she feels the terror that ripples through him--the terror that was hers, once upon a time--when he looks into the black abyss staring back at him.
She's not afraid anymore. They can't hurt her anymore. He dies with silent screams still on his lips, and she wants more. More of their fear. Each one becomes an outlet for the rage that's simmered, locked up under her skin for nearly twenty years. Each one has a face, a name, not only their own and their unknown sins, but another superimposed across it: a rube who asked too much; a trucker who took more than she reluctantly offered to pay her way, hurt her more than she thought she could bear; a love who betrayed and killed; and Daddy, always, ever completely Daddy.
She makes sure every single one of them looks her in the eyes.
Muse: Lydia
Fandom: Heroes
Words: 433
Notes: Post-canon AU/X-over with Vampire Diaries (book verse)