He lifted his eyes from the palms of his hands, to find her staring at him as though he was some sort of lost child, her icy blue eyes drilling into him in a manner that made him shuffle awkwardly on the sofa. The dark red leather was surprisingly cold to his skin, but that was the least of his worries at the moment. Only a couple hours ago he had found a fully naked woman, as-good-as-dead, in the streets of Atlas City. What�s more, he had found her encased in the bound flesh of an Embalmed Abomination, one of the Vahzilok�s most gruesome creations. He had taken the strange woman back to his apartment, and breathed the life back into her motionless form. Now here she was, sat in his living room, wrapped only in one his towels, her hair still wet from the shower he had offered her. And his task: to explain all of this to her.

�Silence? You can do better than that, surely?�

Jared Anders gave a weak smile and nodded. From the fierce look in her eyes, she wasn�t planning on accepting any half-soaked excuses either. �It�s make or break, Jared, make or break,� his mind �helpfully� interjected. He ground his fingers into his usually sparkling green eyes, though he knew without looking that they were currently lacking that usual sparkle. If he could only know what she was thinking; but he found for the first time to his memory that his psionic mind probing was reflected back at him. Never before had a mind rejected his irresistible interference. His lips struggled for so much as a beginning to all he had to tell her.

�I found you��

Silently Jared cursed himself. Why did he have to pause there, why couldn�t he follow that? Three words; still, wasn�t a bad start. Again though, his mind spoke out on its own... �Sure, and how do you intend to finish that, Jared? ��inside an abomination, naked, and vomiting livers, lungs and fucking intestines from your pretty, little lips?� Try it, Anders, see how she reacts.� With a growl in the pit of his throat, Jared sighed. Before he could even consider continuing though, the mysterious auburn-haired beauty interrupted with impatience.

�Found me? You found me? I wasn�t lost, Jared, finders keepers doesn�t apply to people!�

Jared managed a wry grin; apparently that shower had helped her develop a little more confidence. Then, perhaps he needed a shower.

�No, no� it was more, more� a rescue, yes. A rescue.�

�You rescued me?�

�Yeah��

His eyes met hers again; predictably, she looked neither convinced nor impressed. Damn. About to avert his eyes from hers, Jared realized with a blink that he didn�t need to. Her eyes weren�t on his; instead they were sizing him up, eyeing the white vest he had quickly thrown on before she came out of the shower, and the muscled arms, tanned, protruding out of it. He folded his arms, feeling suddenly uncomfortable, unable to decide whether she was checking him out or deciding her chances of kicking his ass. �Could really do with your mind probe working now, eh?�

�Oh, very helpful advice, that.�

�What?�

She was back to staring right at him now, and he grinned stupidly and waved off her question with a hand. Without another moment�s hesitation he pulled himself up of the sofa and headed for the kitchen, looking over his broad shoulder and calling across the room to her.

�Coffee? You drink coffee?�

�I drink coffee.�

She seemed to almost smirk. Jared realized all too late that he had been staring at the strange black markings on her cheek and lower jaw as she had answered him. She�d caught him staring and narrowed her eyes, before lifting a hand to cover the markings under the guise of scratching her cheek. Jared muttered a curse at himself and hurried to the kitchen.

* * *

The coffee was a little too weak for Kayla�s taste. Jared seemed to be more interested in the contents of his cup than the looming conversation with the strange woman in his apartment; a woman who still hadn�t received enough answers to satisfy her. Sat on the edge of the armchair�s leather cushion, clad now in one of Jared�s smallest T-shirts, a white one ironically by the brand �No Fear�, and a pair of denim jeans that were so wide around the waist that she found herself constantly pulling them up to keep from revealing herself in full glory to her reluctant host; not that he hadn�t seen it already. That thought alone brought a flush to her cheeks. She wasn�t the only one however; more times than not Jared had to stop himself pondering too much on the fact that was she �going commando� beneath his own borrowed clothing.

�I�m not going to get an answer from you, am I? Any decent ones, I mean��

�No.�

He hadn�t meant to put it so bluntly, and rudely at that, but the word had slipped off his lips before he could stop it. �Smooth, Anders, real smooth.� Just from the annoyed look on the auburn beauty�s face as she took another sip of coffee, he could tell the answer had not best pleased her.

�That�s not good enough, Jared...� she murmured against the rim of the cup.

The man known as The Hive-Mind tilted his head. �Not much of a hive-mind now, can�t hear a word she�s thinking,� he thought bitterly. He didn�t even know her-

�Perhaps you should give me your name before you even start asking questions?�

She gave a small smirk; Jared couldn�t help but notice how the markings on her face twisted when she did it. Cute. She nodded slowly, and he could tell she was pondering the idea. As if there�d be repercussions of him simply knowing her name?

�Alright, yes. My name� my name is��

Black. Darkness. He grasped his head. All senses gone. Sight. Sound. Smell. �You�ve no idea, boy.� A voice; it wasn�t hers�. A pair of eyes, small and young but wise as centuries. �You�ve only just made things worse.� He shook his head.

She was staring at him, a strange look of concern on her face. He could see her again now, blinking at him with those icy blue eyes, her coffee cup gripped, forgotten, in her hand.

�What�s the matter?�

���

He shook his head, trying to push the voice to the back of his mind. It had sounded so familiar.

��Nothing.�

Apparently �nothing� wasn�t a very acceptable answer, but she just frowned and sipped her coffee again. She was becoming almost used to this lack of answers. Jared reached up, massaging his temple. �This isn�t right?� � �D�uh, really?!�

She saw the pained expression on his face; he looked confused. But why, all she had done was told him her name. Had he even heard it? She stood from the armchair and moved to him, one hand holding the overly loose jeans around her waist, and the other still gripping the half-drank coffee. It needed more sugar.

�Are you alright?�

She reached out a hand to touch his arm gingerly; he felt her fingernails on his muscled wrist. Darkness. A face. Rotting beneath a mask of ebony. �She was ours long before you claimed her. It�s time to let go of the past�� A voice. Deep, raspy, familiar as the first.

Like a bolt he leapt from the sofa, knocking her out of his way without a care for her presence or welfare. In her shock, the coffee cup fell from her hand, shattering on the carpet. She gave a shriek and leapt back, but the shards of caffeine-stained glass went unattended, as Jared crashed into his bedroom. The door slammed behind him.

* * *

His dreams were nightmares as he slept, having fallen straight onto his bed and into a wave of unconsciousness, mindless of the fact the bed was still without sheets or blankets after the incident in that same bed only hours beforehand. Jared slept uneasily on just a mattress, tossing and turning as he was plagued by abominations, a woman in a crimson face-scarf, and the voice he had heard earlier, repeating the words, over and over. �She was ours.� �Let go of the past.� �She was ours.�

So deep into slumber was he that Jared was unaware of the figure entering the bedroom, silent as a shadow. So deep into his haunted slumber was Jared that he did not even stir as the figure mounted his motionless form on the bed. Had he awoken at that moment, he might have felt the hips pressing heavily onto his, the bed sagging beneath both weights. Had he opened his eyes at that moment, he might have seen the glint of the razor blade. Had he been to his senses at that moment, he might have heard the revolting squelch that issued from the object the figure held aloft.

Kayla lowered herself over him, her oily black eyes unblinking in the darkness of the bedroom. Red curtains blew in the breeze from the open window. Carefully she raised the object over his lifeless face, bringing the razorblade to it. There was another squelch, and a dark red liquid oozed over his handsome features, marking them. Her expression did not change, emotionless from start to finish. With two fingers she prized his jaw open so that it remained ajar, not a sound or movement issuing from him. Almost playfully, the razorblade was drawn across his bottom lip and it began to bleed uncontrollably, the life-giving liquid sliding down his throat and chin, onto the white vest that covered an otherwise-bare chest. He coughed. Another squelch issued from the object in her hand as she gave it a firm squeeze, allowing the liquid contents to spray out over Jared�s sleeping form; asleep and prone.

Suddenly there was a crashing noise from outside, and the voices of youths� drunken, from the sound of their slurred speech and the noise they made as they bumped into various objects on their way home. Jared was awake in a shot, their intoxicated minds flailing out at his like whips. He gasped at the sight of Kayla straddling his hips, not noticing though the razorblade and fleshy object she quickly hid behind her back. In the darkness, the oily black of her eyes went unseen to him as he gasped out, and with his words came the realization of the blood pooled beneath his tongue, which he swallowed with a distasteful gulp.

�What the... fuck are you� doing?!�

She blinked with icy blue eyes at the muscled figure laid flat beneath her, blood staining his white vest and chin. Kayla swallowed heavily in surprise. She felt it in her hands, the blood-soaked razorblade, and the human heart squeezed untidily between her fingers. Tears began to form in her eyes, and this Jared did notice.

�What�s��

Before he could even finish whatever his question was intended to be, she leapt off of him and sprinted for the bedroom door, rushing out of it with the human heart and razorblade still clenched firmly in her fists. There was small tugging in the back of her mind, that lasted all but a moment, a tugging that cursed the youths that had inadvertently awoken Jared Anders.