Going for a nice, normal run and allowing myself to rest yesterday seemed to have had a generally calming effect, even managing to wipe away some of the crushing leftovers from the day before. I felt fairly revived, although the ominous truths surrounding my mysterious oppressor continued to gnaw at the back of my mind. Fortunately, mental gnawing was something I knew how to handle.
After a long training session, my body comfortably exhausted, I made my way to the locker room, looking forward to dinner and a solid night's sleep. The shower was, as always, an exquisite sensation. Pouring hot water on oneself somehow never lost its appeal, regardless of repetition. In the clean, revived mood that only clean clothes immediately after a bit of water can provide, I walked outside and made for my apartment, two blocks away.
The sun was out for the first time in a while, although the air was still cool enough to make some sort of coat a necessity. Normally, the sun would have been nothing out of the ordinary. In this case, it served a simple purpose: it created a shadow. The disappearance of the sun from my back somehow felt just a little more chilly than it should have. Unfortunately, my intuition was right. I didn't even need to turn around.
"You look like you have a minute to spare for a lovely lady, don't you, Champ?"
The deliberate, dripping mockery of the last word, even more so than the chillingly melodic, smooth quality of the voice, made the identity of the speaker all too clear. I slowed, stood still, and balled up my fists tightly enough to hurt my palms. Just her presence made me furious, driving me mad with a desire to redeem my lost pride. It took a tremendous amount of willpower to stop myself from attacking her again, but I knew all too well what consequences that could have.
"You. What do you want now?"
"When you say that, it's almost as if you weren't happy to see me. I know that's not true, right?"
The now-familiar icy laugh made it all too clear that I was expected to do more than just cooperate. The notion crossed my mind that she truly enjoyed watching me compromise my pride, dismantle myself out of helplessness, all at her command, crossed my mind. I had seen sadism before, but she was something totally outside my experience. As if to prove my theory, a cold point introduced itself to the small of my back, right over the kidney.
"I won't use this. I don't need it. You'll do exactly as I say even if I don't so much as touch you. Even so, it's fun to use a little teaching aid from time to time. Don't mind me, love- keep walking."
She was practically whispering into my ear, luscious syllables floating into my mind- largely thanks to the fact that she was pressing her body against my back, one hand on my chest. Something about this reminded me of the fatal embrace of a snake. The metaphor seemed to fit alarmingly well.
Largely to avoid saying something dangerous, I kept my mouth shut and continued my walk home, the two of us joined in a bizarre parody of an affectionate, contact-happy couple. After what might as well have been a leisurely marathon, I reached the familiar door, and found myself alone with her in the elevator. Never before had I felt so unlucky to live on the thirty-fourth floor.
When the doors closed, the knife left my back. This somehow seemed like an invitation to turn around. The leather coat she wore this time was a bit less bulky than most of what I had seen her wear, doing more than a little to display an impressively curved waist. Another pair of fairly loose, heavy pants didn't even try to conceal the kind of hips that can only come from a lucky combination of genetics and muscle development. She was undeniably powerfully built, especially for a woman, but that did nothing to counter the intensely feminine lines of her figure. Broad shoulders or not, she was alluring in a truly unignorable way. In fact, oddly enough, the unorthodox details of her physique might have added to the overall impression, not detracted.
.A razor-sharp voice, veiled in feigned velvet ignorance, broke my reverie.
"Hmmm... now, why might you be so intently interested in my wardrobe planning? Or were you perhaps feeling just a little perverted, letting your eyes roam so freely over a woman's body?"
I had completely failed to notice that I was staring. Terrifying as the owner may have been, legs like that were not something that any heterosexual man with a shred of sex drive could possibly ignore. That said, she was now casually twirling a knife in one gloved hand, nonchalantly leaning on the elevator wall and leering like a wolf from beneath the omnipresent dark glasses. This all set a slightly different tone than most of the other times I had found myself staring at a woman's legs. A long braid draped over one shoulder did absolutely nothing to dilute her downright predatory expression, which was pointed at me like the barrel of a gun. I realized that I had to say something, and fast. She was more than capable of doing me severe bodily harm, and any retaliation would earn me the wrath of one of the nation's most feared crime syndicates. Even if neither of those things applied, the situation clearly called for an attempt at diplomacy.
"I... I-"
"You don't seriously think you have the right to just feast your eyes like that, do you? One warning, for now. You're fine, love. It looks nice, though, doesn't it?"
Her grin gained another level of menace. I was walking on a razor's edge. There may well be no right answer to this question. Well, nothing for it...
"It... yes. I can't help it, it's hard not to look."
"And why exactly is that? By all means, be specific."
I was firmly caught in the spider's web, and I knew it. My only hope was to remain as courteous as possible and try not to make a misstep. Taking a deep breath and even further averting my eyes, I attempted to grit out a satisfactory answer. This was not an action conducive to maintaining one's pride. If anything, it was quite the opposite. I could feel a little bit of my self-respect evaporate with every obedient thought- especially the idea that this constituted obedience in the first place. That alien concept sent a tiny shiver through me, one that I could almost have pretended did not happen.
"I apologize. I couldn't- couldn't help looking, your legs are just-"
Grinning even wider, glossy lips baring brilliantly white teeth, she advanced across the small box in one smooth motion. In an instant, her body was pressed against my chest and my back against the wall, our faces no more than an inch apart as she smoothly brought the shining edge of her blade to my throat. I could feel the heat of her breath with every hypnotic, poison-dripping word.
