Night and Day (closed to Jewelskye and Malkaviankitten)

Another new job after yet another move. If blame was to be cast, he could easily blame his parents, at least, as far as anyone else was concerned. Even though his father was not military and his mother never even had a job so long as he knew her, they faced no legal troubles, they made friends, lives easily, as a child Takai moved more times than he could keep track of. It was never with any reason aside from "a change of scenery" and he never stayed in a single home, school or life for six months even. His mother had left her country to be with her father, quite the mix they were too, a petite and perfect Asian doll she was. His father was large, loud and had hair like fire to match his Irish temper. They'd always seemed happy, their extreme differences complimenting each other so perfectly and yet they were always on the move.
He sometimes wondered if it was his fault, but never aloud. Before they threw him out, his mother had pleaded with him to never speak of what had happened, crying as every word escaped her painted lips. His father threatened him within an inch of his life were he to ever speak of it. So his questions and doubts and fears stayed deep inside, where he would occasionally indulge them, but never for too long. Even if it were his fault, nothing could be done about it now, anymore than he could change his own need to leave everything behind so often.
He was fortunate enough to have the skills with a computer that would get him hired easily as well as a rather significant bank account left by his parents before he was tossed out to the wolves. Moving had long since become easy and now was routine. He never let himself get too attached to anyone and never enjoyed life too much, because he knew in a few months' time it would all change anyway.
As he sat infront of the receptionist's desk of his new employer, he watched her carefully. His jade eyes were one of two hints that his father has participated at all in his conception, but even though they were colored like his father's, they set like his mothers. Takai watched her for what seemed like hours while waiting to be shown to his desk, those piercing jade eyes looking for something, anything within her.
The other hint of his father was the tinge of red in his black hair. It looked almost unnatural most of the time and worse when the light hit it just right. He startled many when the light did that trick, making his hair appear soaked in blood. Even the receptionist had taken a second and third glance at his hair, and he could almost hear her thinking it over, trying to decide if it was blood or dye. Like most of the others, she said nothing in comment, but he had long since learned to read people well enough that they didn't need to say it; faces give away much more than words anyhow.
And so Takai waited, his arms resting on his legs, dressed as casually as he sat, hunched over, staring. A bit of that bloodied hair fell into his eyes, but he let it stay, not wasting the effort to sit up. Infront of him, on the floor, rested a leather laptop bag, in which he had all he needed for the job. He always kept everything close, in case he needed to leave fast.
He glanced at the clock and the receptionist offered a sort of sympathetic smile saying something about a meeting running late. It was hardly important to him. The paycheck was the same, regardless of the actual hours he worked. He half nodded in response anyway, as that was what was expected of him and continued to wait.

The mid-morning sun was high above the building where Alexandra worked by the time she pulled up in front of it, the purr of her brand new emerald green Ford Focus cutting off as she sighed. Pressing a button, she disconnected the Microsoft Sync she'd paid the extra money to have included in the car's price and grabbed her cell phone.

Climbing from the car, one hand pushed her long red curls out of her eyes. Not that their position really mattered... the black lenses of her sunglasses kept them out of her eyes. But still, it was an old habit and she really never bothered to take the time to break that particular one.

After grabbing her laptop bag from the backseat of the car, she sighed and gave a soft yawn, hefting the strap over her shoulder and making her way into the building. She breezed in with an air of perfect comfort and security, curls bouncing around her, falling into her pale face and hips swaying in one of those ways that anyone not keeping firm check of themselves would end up staring just because of the way they seemed to accent her curvy build.

A pair of tight boot cut jeans hugged her hips and down her legs, while a pair of flip-flops were on her tiny feet. The only thing even remotely "work attire" oriented that she wore was the green polo with the company's logo on it where normally a breast pocket would be located. Moving past the newcomer, she didn't even seem to notice him at first as she went to the receptionist's desk. "Any messages, Connie?"

The woman handed over a small stack of "while you were out" notes, and as Alex was shuffling through them, she turned as if to make her way deeper into the building. She stopped short, however, at the sight of Takai sitting there. He looked like a lost puppy... bored, but lost. Arching a brow at the color of his hair, she pushed her sunglasses up atop her head, letting her vivid tricolored eyes settle on him.

Connie seemed to glance between them for a moment before speaking up. "Alex, this is Takai... he's the new network administrator."

"Ahh I see. Fresh blood eh? Well, welcome to the company. Hope you last longer than the last guy," she said, and went on about her way, headed for her desk. In honesty, she'd wanted to keep standing there and finding an excuse to talk to him, and that was unsettling. Alex had always been able to brush people off as if they were nothing. But him... she wanted to sit and pay attention to him. Something about him made her feel drawn in. And that just wasn't right.

Flopping into her chair, she sighed and stretched out her body, a small purr-like sound leaving her throat. Pulling out her laptop, she opened it up next to her desktop and set to work, pulling up various photo shop screens and the like, humming to herself. Despite all this lovely visual distraction, however... her mind kept returning to this new guy... this... Takai. What was it about him?

Alex was the first person he'd seen come through the office all day. For such a successful business, they didn't have a lot of movement in the morning. He watched her pass through, barely lifting his head and yet redirecting those piercing jade eyes to her. she noticed his hair but was much more discreet than "Connie" had been. He looked up and down Alex, just as she stopped to stare at him, glad to see he'd not be the only one refusing business professional attire.
However, just as quickly as she arrived, she'd left again, leaving Takai with the boring and oblivious receptionist.
He asked, not redirecting his attention at all, "Any idea how much longer that meeting will last?"
Connie shuffled through some papers on her desk and finding a note entered into near panic. "Mr. Reeves left instructions for ordering lunch and I must have buried it in all these other papers! I have to go get this taken care of, um.. They won't be out at least until 3 if they're needing lunch brought in. Sorry I have to go!" With a toss of her blonde curls she jumped from her seat and rushed out the door, barely grabbing her purse.
Takai rolled his eyes a look of disgust on his face. He hated useless people, especially blondes.
As it was not yet eleven, Takai decided to give himself a tour of the office, starting with the hall which Alex had disappeared down. He found the cubicles and desks all lined up as well as a mostly empty one which he assumed would be his. He continued to move down the cubicles until he found Alex at her desk, pulling up photo-shopped images.
'She must be their graphics, then.' he thought, watching idly behind her, keeping quiet enough to not be noticed. The quiet was something he got from his mother and hardly intentional, but unless he forced it, he didn't make enough noise for most anyone to notice him.

Sighing, Alex tossed her sunglasses down on the desk in front of her, staring at the image on the screen before her. Normally she was able to concentrate without any issue, but today was just... not happening. She'd been in such a good mood this morning, too.

I just need to relax... C'mon Alex, he's just a guy. Yeah sure his hair is cool, but that's it. He wont last long. The net admins never do she tried to reason with herself. Opening her desk drawer, she pulled out a pack of Jolt! caffeinated gum, popping three pieces out of the foil and plastic wrapper into her hand, then directly into her mouth.

A liter bottle of Mountain Dew followed next, this one pulled from an outer pocket on her laptop bag, condensation still clinging to the plastic, showing it had probably just been bought on her way in to work. Ahh, sweet caffeine. It was one of her few real habits or addictions, but she was pretty useless without it. One of the worst addicts her doctor had ever seen, as he told her. It took at least a pot of of coffee every morning just to be able to operate well enough that she wouldn't walk into walls or be a royal bitch for the rest of the day.

When she didn't have enough... she went through withdrawal symptoms that could rival a crack addicts. She'd get the shakes, headaches, nausea... you name it, she probably would end up with it.

The next step in her relaxing routine was to put on music. She was lucky that the people around her didn't seem to mind her music, because she honestly couldn't work without it. It was what inspired her, what made her see the pictures in her head that eventually got translated onto the screen in front of her. Kicking her flipflops off, she pulled her bare feet up into her chair with her, knees to her chest, one hand idly spinning one of her toe rings around her middle toe.

Picking up the stylus for her graphics tablet, she set to work on her latest project. She was blending the mane of a horse into another image, one of a woman on horseback, jumping over a gate of some kind. The entire image was supposed to be for some charity, where all the proceeds went to benefiting children with one defect or another. She could never keep these places straight anymore... the company offered discounted rates to organizations like these on their sites and all of that, so Alex was usually having these types of jobs heaped on her.

Biting her lower lip, she seemed to think for a long moment before she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. It wasn't that she heard anyone... but she could feel/I] them. Turning slowly, she let her eyes fall on Takai, standing quietly by, seeming to watch her. Tricolored eyes took him in for a moment before she gestured him over, picking up her dew and taking a large swig from it. "Didn't Connie show you where you desk is or somethin'?"

Takai watched as she popped three pieces of caffeine gum and begun to down a Mountain Dew. He laughed to himself, amused to see he wasn't the only caffeine-junkie is the office and continued to watch her work. He was a little startled when she noticed him standing there. So few ever did until they'd already walked into him.
Still, he was paying close enough attention to respond without letting the start slow him down. "No, she told me to wait for Mr. Reeves and that he'd show me around and explain the basics of the network to me. Guess he forgot though, since Connie..." and her name rolled off his tongue with a touch of disdain, his voice slowing a bit to try and hide it, "...just left to pick up their lunch."
Shifting to casually lean against the wall of her cubicle, he changed the subject, "So, why did the last guy leave? Stressful work environment?"
As he stood there, his hands went to his pockets and his entire body relaxed to a point that one would have to wonder how he was even awake. The only thing that gave away any sign of alertness was that pair of jade eyes, striking anything within their path like daggers. His bloodied hair, too long to be professional, had fallen once more around those eyes, coating the daggers in red. His whole self, so calm and at ease and yet, eyes that could kill and hair soaked in blood, it sent chills up the spine. He knew he had this effect, but never did quite figure out how to stop it. He tried to smile, but even that made him look all the more dangerous.
It was a good thing he never stayed anywhere for long. The few he attracted with this sort of look weren't the types he'd want to keep and those who he scared... well, he tried to stay as far away as possible. He wondered about this Alex, though. she didn't seem the type to scare easily, not like that ditz of a receptionist, Connie. She also didn't seem morbid enough to be drawn to him either. Takai watched her, reading her expressions, hoping for a hint of what to expect from her and for once, found himself unable to get a clear read.
This should have upset him and yet, he found himself relieved that he might actually be able to get to know someone without that extra sense getting in the way. That train of thought stopped abruptly though, when he remembered that he could never stay. Shame too. She was just the type he would have wanted, had he ever pursued a woman.

Alex sighed, rolling her eyes. "I swear... if Connie didn't know how to count to ten and write, she'd be be less useless than a paraplegic orangutan." Her hand still toying with the jeweled ring around her toe, she chewed on her lip for a second, her free leg bouncing in that constant manner that was a tell tale sign of ADD to a rather extreme degree.

"Its not so much that is a harsh work environment," she answered, looking at the ceiling. "But you see.. I mean, I'm sure you've done this kind of thing before... but we have a lot of types here who like to think just because they need a computer to do their job, that they know enough to fuck with shit. And because they do that, things can get a little out of hand. Just be glad you're not the sys admin and you don't have to deal with the actual computers, just the net side of things."

She stared at the ceiling for a moment, looking thoughtful, before the phone behind her rang. Jumping some, she grabbed her desk and used it as leverage to spin her chair around, snagging the phone off the receiver. "CT Incorporated, this is Alexandra speaking how can I-Oh hey Jon. Yeah yeah I know I know." She seemed to pause, listening to the man on the other end of the line ranting about something and rolling her eyes some, sending Takai an apologetic smile, one that no matter how small it seemed, still had a way of making her eyes sparkle and lighting up her face.

"Well maybe, if you tried actually sending the work orders through to the designers instead of just ranting a list at them things would get done the right way the first time," she answered, rubbing her forehead. "Yeah I know, I got it. It'll get taken care of when I manage to get to it. Just remember, this is your fuck up, not mine. I'm doing you a favor and you owe me." Her hand moved the receiver back to it's cradle quickly, but set it down with surprising delicacy.

Sighing, she turned back to Takai, unfolding her legs and slipping her petite feet back into her flipflops. Hopping up from her chair, she flashed him a brighter smile than before. "C'mon, I'll show you to your desk and get you set up. I used to do your job, so any questions you can ask me."

With that she moved out into the aisle ahead of him, hips swaying as she walked. "First, we go get your tower. The one that WAS there got trashed somehow... don't ask me, I dunno what the last admin was doing on there but it's still with one of the techs... multiple hardware failures or something. Makes me think he was messing with the power distribution or something."

She led him back to a back room, the place looking like a computer parts distribution center. On one of the shelves was a pc with a piece of paper that read "Net Admin tower". "Well... that's convenient," she said, picking it up and turning back to him, leading the way out of the room and back down the aisle to the cubicle across the aisle from her own. Setting the tower down, she smiled. "Here ya go, neighbor."

Takai watched and listened as Alex spoke, even taking in the conversation between her and the man on the phone. He followed her to the back room, quietly listening the whole time, but more so observing. Something about this woman seemed more genuine than any he'd ever know, except maybe his mother, but mothers don't count. The way she smiled at him wasn't that of someone wanting to possess him, nor of someone afraid of him. Anyone else he'd known would have treated him with a vague indifference.
He felt drawn to that smile and as he walked behind her, he found himself drawn to her body as well. Tight-fit jeans made her ass look better than any of the men he'd been with. He had always been attracted to men and women, but since it was safe to be with men, that is what he chose. He knew as he watched her ass the whole way to the back, that this was definitely not safe. He'd only just barely been introduced to this woman and yet, Takai already found himself dreading what might happen to her.
He forced himself to look away and focus on the tower she'd pulled off the shelf. He then followed her to his desk, not commenting that the tower would be little more than a desk ornament. He smiled, a sort of odd smile that seemed half apologetic and thanked her before sitting at his desk to begin working.

Alex returned to her desk, plopping into her chair and kicking off her shoes once again. It would appear that in all reality, the flipflops were mostly just to protect her feet from anything that might get dropped elsewhere in the office. For herself, however, in her own space at her desk, she preferred not to wear them. Pulling her knees to her chest once more, her hand returned to her toe ring in that ever present nervous habit she had of spinning it round and round.

She turned her music up a bit, switching her play list over to something fitting her mood. Almost instantly, the sounds of My Chemical Romance slid from her speakers. Her lips moved along with the music, and only those with sensitive hearing would hear her singing softly along. "Teenagers scare the living shit outta me... they could care less as long as someone will bleed. So darken your clothes, I'll strike a violent pose... Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me."

Her head bobbed along with the music as her stylus moved over the tablet to her side, creating images on her dual monitor set up with relative ease.

Throughout the day, she seemed to churn out design after design, sending some out for approval, others getting shuffled into a folder on the pc or thrown onto a flash drive(presumably to be taken home for the weekend). The entire time, her play list seemed to shift gears from one extreme to the next, though she never seemed to stop to change it.

She'd get up a few times, leaving the cubical area to go to one part of the building or another, sometimes with printouts the color laser sitting next to her had spit out for her. At one point, she left with a rather hefty file full of papers, and came back instead with two more mountain dews and a bag of chic-fil-a.

Stopping at his desk, she put one of the sodas in front of him, along with an order of nuggets and fries. "I wasn't sure what you like, so I just had one of my team pick up the generic. I have all the dipping sauces in here too." She said it so non-nonchalantly, and walked away without seeming to expect a thank you, it would probably strike most as odd. She was so... comfortable with herself, and with the people around her.

Honestly, when she noticed he wasn't getting up for lunch, she saw to it that something was picked up for him when the rest of the team sent out their rookie to get them food. Sitting at her own desk, she folded one leg up under her, the other pulled to her chest as she dug into her own meal.

The day was, for the most part, uneventful, though Takai would likely hear her on the phone every once in a while, and usually she sounded less than thrilled with people on the other end.

About an hour before the time when most would be walking out the door, her cell phone rang. Sighing, she looked at the name on the display and for a moment she seemed to brighten up. But then, as the conversation went on, her voice seemed to grow first disappointed, then angry, then hurt.

"What do you mean its my fault? I told you three months ago not to make plans for this weekend! I spent half my Christmas bonus on those tickets!" She sighed, and her voice took on the tone that she was trying to hold back tears. "Fine. Whatever. Bye." She hit end on the phone and sighed, shoving it back into it's case on her hip, brushing hastily at the tears in her eyes.

Shaking her head, she sniffled and tried her best to go back to her work, staying oddly quiet the rest of the day. When it was finally time to pack things up, she went about it slowly, not seeming in any hurry.

Stepping out of her cubicle, she paused and looked over at Takai, forcing a soft smile. "Hope your first day wasn't too bad. I'll see you on Monday I guess," she said, though her voice was less than enthusiastic. Bowing her head, she hurried out of the office, climbing into her car and driving off without much more to say to anyone.

He didn't respond to much of anything that day, getting a head start on setting up enough security that without serious hacking skills, no one in the company would be fucking up their computers, and since most with those sort of skills knew better anyways, by the end of the day, he felt quite satisfied that aside from the morons who used disc drives as cup-holders, he'd saved the system admin and the techs a lot of work. He listened to Alex's music throughout the day, finding her choices to be an odd mix, and yet appealing. Occasionally he could even pick up on her softly singing along. At those moments, he listened far more intently, finding himself even more drawn to her.
When she brought him lunch he forced a smile and offered a soft "thank you" but found himself wishing she hadn't. Why was she being so nice to him?
The last call of the day though, in some sense explained it. He assumed on the other line was a boyfriend and the unappreciative asshole type. Standing her up, especially when she'd tried so hard to see him? No, this man was no good for her. Already he had plans running through his brain to fix this. He forced his train of thought to a halt when his past reminded him that it wasn't even remotely possible.
He forced a smile and a "See ya." as she left, trying not to make eye contact. He couldn't let himself feel anything. He knew that and mentally scolded himself for stealing a good long look at her ass as she left.
He quickly packed his own things, giving up on the idea of Mr. Reeves ever coming out of that meeting and headed for the door, trying to make discreet the erection now forming. The first day hadn't gone as he'd hoped, but he had the whole weekend to get this Alex off his mind, maybe find some guy at a club to fuck, pretend it was her gorgeous ass..

Monday morning, Takai had indeed got Alex off his mind, though the consequence of which was waking up next to a pretty face of a man far too young. After throwing his toy out, he got himself dressed and ready for work.
As Takai walked into the office, he noticed the receptionist and her things missing. He laughed inwardly, knowing she'd had an awful trouble sleeping the night before and probably overslept. He made himself laugh about this sort of thing, even if only inside because a part of him still dreaded what he knew was to come. True, she was a ditz, a slut and everything else he hated about the average woman, but still, her future was bleak and that meant another move not too far ahead. He often found himself wishing it would be people outside of work, make himself less suspect.
Just as he was about to head to his desk, speak of the devil, Connie stumbled in, dropping papers every other step. She startled at Takai and nearly ran into him before pushing past to get to her desk. She showed obvious signs of lack of sleep and having rushed out the door, black bags under her eyes, slip showing at the hem of her short skirt and a shirt only partially tucked in. She brushed herself off as she sat at her desk, trying to make as little notice as possible to her having been late and then shot Takai an awkward look. Her tired and bloodshot eyes stared at him for a minute as if trying to place his face. She knew he was the new Net admin, hired on Friday, but didn't she know him from somewhere else?
He asked casually, "Rough night?"
She continued to stare at him as she responded, mustering up her most pitiful voice, "Awful weekend! I swear I didn't sleep at all! Then my alarm clock broke and now I'm late and I know I'll never catch up. I hate having to work late nights, don't you?"
Takai shrugged. "So long as it's the same eight hour shift, I don't care if it's morning, evening or overnight." Changing the subject back, not as though he needed any reassurance, but because a part of him wanted to hear her say it, "Why so much trouble sleeping? Have a fight with your boyfriend?"
Connie startled again; how could he have known? Lucky guess, she dismissed it. "Sort of. I've been having these awful nightmares and well, I told him about it and he got so pissed off he didn't come back all weekend! He can be such a creep sometimes."
Takai laughed at this one inwardly as well but then it occurred to him that he was working late tonight as well. He hated when opportunity presented itself.

Alex didn't breeze through the doors of the office like normal, instead she just walked in, wearing a pair of hip-hugging, form fitting jeans that flared out around the calves, resembling bell bottoms. They pooled around her flip-flip bedecked feet, though anyone who payed attention would notice that the twinkle of her toe rings was missing. Perhaps she'd forgotten to put them on this morning? Not likely...

Her torso was hugged by a long sleeved turtleneck. It wasn't necessarily cold enough outside to merit wearing such a top, but still, it was unusually flattering, hugging to each supple curve and showing her off with it's sleek black lines.

She pushed through the front door, her laptop bag hanging from her shoulder. One could see her customary Mountain Dew bottle in the side pocket, but she also had a large coffee in her other hand, making it obvious she'd stopped off at the local Starbucks for coffee on the way in. Glancing at Connie, she didn't even bother to ask for her messages, just sighed and moved on past, offering Takai a soft smile of greeting, this one obviously as forced as the last she'd offered on Friday.

She'd barely made it five feet past the receptionist's desk, however, before a young blonde haired man stepped out of a hall. "Hey Alex! How was the concert?" he asked, seeming genuinely cheerful.

Her response, however, was severely lacking in enthusiasm. "Hmm? Oh... I didn't go," she answered, tone quiet, saddened.

He looked shocked. "What? But you love Josh Groban! I thought you wouldn't miss that concert for the world."

This only seemed to make Alex's mood slip lower. "Yeah... I uhm... I wasn't feeling well. Must have caught one of those 24 hour bugs," she answered, then brushed by him without another word, her head down and arms wrapped around herself.

She made it to her desk and sat down, taking in a shaky breath, pulling her laptop from her bag and setting up for the day ahead, throwing on her music, though it was of a decidedly more melancholy nature.

Takai watched Alex enter and was reminded of all he tried to get off his mind last Friday. Despite having a few hours of reasonably good sex the night before, he found himself once more craving. He tried not to focus on it ans hurried to his desk, getting to work on his personal projects, all the while monitoring the various computers on the network. From his laptop he could tap into any other computer in the building and with a little work on some of the more secure ones, tap into every single file.
He would browse through the various folders, not really looking for anything in particular, but finding plenty that he could use to get at least half the office fired. Takai wasn't that sort of person though, instead he just replaced various images and documents with his personal "Bad doggie, no cookie for you" image. No one was ever stupid enough to ask why their folders of porn had been replaced with hundreds of this image but just deleted it and went on, using their work computers for work, instead of porn.
He read through some conversations, but with little interest. All the time, his thoughts kept drifting back to Alex. He wanted to take her out, show her how a man should really treat a woman. Takai found himself laughing only slightly aloud at this. How ridiculous, the thought, him, treating a woman right?
He continued working, intentionally waiting until most everyone had cleared out of the building, knowing full well that if he tried to leave early, he'd end up back there and worse off than if he just let it happen.

When she noticed people getting up to leave, Alex found herself considering. She had nothing planned for the evening... and she really didn't want to go home. He wouldn't be there... she knew he wouldn't. Granted... after the rough weekend that they'd had, she really wasn't sure she wanted to see Derek anymore. Well... she did. She didn't want him to leave... but part of her didn't want to see him either. It was an odd feeling, really, and left her overall incredibly confused.

She'd spent most of the day working, or trying to at least, her eyes occasionally glancing across the aisle at Takai, but always when she was sure he wasn't paying attention. Once again, she saw to it he got lunch when the graphics team sent out for it, but this time was a little less perky when she delivered it.

Finally, with a sigh she decided that she'd stay and keep working. It wasn't like she didn't have plenty to do, after all... Her team was short-staffed as most had been cut from the budget last quarter. She missed them, but her arguments to the boss hadn't done her any good. In fact, part of her was certain he'd plotted against her after that point, seeing to it that the sales people did twice their normal intake, and that it was all graphics-intensive work.

Before she returned to work though, it would appear that a personal break was in order. A quick run to the bathroom, and then a stop in the break room for a Mountain Dew and some sort of sugar-packed snack and she'd be back at her desk before anyone knew she was gone.

Standing, she made her way out of the cubicle area and down the side hall where the bathrooms were located.

When he was certain everyone had left, or so he thought, having watched Alex disappear down the hallway, Takai walked up to the front desk. There were no windows and they were up several floors, so there was no chance of being heard. At least this was a moderately safe target and one he didn't like anyway.
Connie startled as he approached silently. "Oh, Takai, I thought everyone had left already. Can I help you with something?"
He nodded slightly, that bloodied hair falling into his eyes which for an instant seemed to glow red.
Connie startled again, blinking and rubbing her eyes, trying to blame what she saw on lack of sleep and a long, late day at work, but what happened next, had her stammering and stumbling back.
Takai's black and blood hair, in an instant grew to mid-back and the color faded to a pure silvery-white. His eyes pulsed with a red glow, the green disappearing as they seemed drowned in blood. In that instant, he seemed taller, broader as his whole body changed into something that though mimicking human, was obviously a creature more preternatural than anything that should be real.
As Connie found her voice, she half scream, half cried, "You! The one from... but no! That was just a nightmare!"
As the creature approached her, Connie shook her head, clenching her eyes shut as if somehow she could wake herself from this nightmare.
The man laughed, a sound that sent chills up the spine and made hair stand on end. He spoke in a preternatural, haunting voice, "Stupid woman."
With that he had her pinned to her desk, shredding her shirt and skin with sharp claws. Her mostly bare chest exposed and cut in several places, the monster smiled down upon her. He leaned forward and grazed a long tongue across one of the stripes of blood.
Connie screamed trying to push him off of her but the strength was inhuman. She knew she was completely alone and was going to die, just like in all the nightmares.
"Please..." she cried, sobbing so hard as to shake her chest, "Don't kill me..."
He laughed again and pulled so hard on the bra as to rip it off her, exposing clearly fake, overly large breasts. He scoffed and grabbed ahold one of the orbs, claws digging in deep. "Such a waste and they don't even look real. You whore! Did your man make you get these?"
He laughed again as his claws dug deeper and deeper and with a sick twist, he'd severed the breast from her chest, blood gushing from the open wound.
"You make me sick, you cow!" He scorned, pulling his pants down just enough to expose ten inches of thick, hard cock.
The scream that escaped Connie's lips at the loss of her breast would have turned any stomach and yet, when she saw the monster unveil his cock, it grew worse.

Alex was in the bathroom long enough that Connie's initial scream didn't reach her ears. No, indeed she just washed her hands and fixed her hair in the mirror, looking at her reflection with a sigh. She thought she looked awful, even if that was the furthest thing from the truth. Shaking her head, she reasoned that it didn't matter. No one was here to see her anyway, and it wasn't like she was going home to her boyfriend this evening anyway.

Leaving the bathroom, she was about to head for the break room when what sounded like a scream filtered back to her through the mostly soundproofed walls of the office building. She frowned, but shrugged it off at first, making her way to the break room. The hum of the soda machine was music to her ears as she fetched herself a mountain dew, followed by a Hershey bar. Chocolate and almonds, her favorite.

She gave a small smile at that, heading back down the hall toward the office. She hadn't bothered to answer the phone all day, so she reasoned Connie must have a stack of messages for her, so it would make sense to stop at the receptionist's desk before going back to her own.

What she saw there, however, left her too stunned for anything to register. A man... tall, powerful, with long white hair was standing over a very bloody and screaming Connie. There was blood everywhere, and his cock was out. It was huge, but that fact didn't register to her as she stood there, rooted to the spot tricolored eyes wide with horror, mouth open in a silent cry of fear.

Taking no notice of Alex behind him, the man smirked at Connie's shock at the sight of him. "Oh you'll take it, bitch and you'll like it too and then, I might let you die."
Without anything further, he pulled up the woman's short skirt to find her already without panties. Takai was right; she was a slut. He forced all ten inches of his thick rod into her cunt with a powerful thrust.
Connie screamed again and again as he fucked her harder than anything human should be able to. Each scream seemed only to excite him more as he grabbed ahold of her remaining breast digging his claws deep into it. Amidst her screaming, Connie begged him to stop, barely getting any words out past the sobbing and finally the man ripped off her other breast and shoved the lump of flesh and silicone into her mouth, grabbing ahold of her throat.
"You're awful noisy for dinner." he snarled, pulling out entirely only to force his cock inside her ass. Holding her up by her throat, the monster thrust her body again and again down onto his throbbing member before he let out a low moan and came inside her ass. As he pulled out, she dripped cum and blood from her swollen and abused holes.
She cried as he released her throat whimpering, "Please... I don't want to die... please god..."
"That's right." he smirked and laughed at her, "I am god, but I'm a cruel god."
With that, he grabbed her up and suck his fangs deep into her neck, drinking from her until her body hung lifeless and empty in his arms. He tossed the corpse aside like a wet cum-rag and laughed a little, but his laughter was cut off when something brought him to his knees. Clutching his head and groaning in pain, the Vampire slowly became Takai again, shaken, shivering and scared as he looked on at what it had done.

Alex watched the whole thing in horror, unable to move or make a noise. Not that anyone would have been able to hear her over Connie's screams and sobs. The man was a monster... no human could have been capable of such things, she was sure. She backed up the few small steps until her back was flush with the wall, but found herself unable to move, tears welling in her wide frightened eyes as she watched him rape and kill the woman Alex had been working with for over a year.

She watched Connie's limp body fall to the ground, a mass of blood and flesh and shredded clothing, and found herself so sure that she was next. That... thing would turn around and realize that she'd seen him and he'd kill her. She knew he would. Tears slid down her cheeks at this realization. Like Connie, she didn't want to die... Gods, no she didn't.

But then something happened. The man clutched his head, and he seemed to... change. His hair seemed to be sucked back up into his skull, turning from that perfect white to black and blood. Alex's eyes, if they weren't already wide, were as large as dinner plates now. Takai was knelt there, looking over Connie's dead body where just a few minutes before something else had just killed her.

A soft squeak-like sound left her at that, and she swallowed hard, staring at him. She was going to die... he was going to kill her... She could feel it.

Taka startled at the slight sound behind him and turned slowly, still shaking, arms wrapped tight around himself. When he saw Alex, standing there, terrified, he knew it was all over. No one had ever caught him before, not and lived. He was sure that thing would take back over and silence her, just like it had to his mother all those years ago. His eyes showed it all, those once piercing jade eyes, now softened to something weak and broken and pleading.
He tried to speak but found himself without words and worse, he felt himself weakening. Almost always he would awaken in his bed, no memories of what he'd done, never even having seen the victims. The few times, he'd been left to see the results of this monster, he ended up passing out and still waking up back home.
He had no idea what to do or if there was anything to be done. Surely, Alex would call the police as soon as the fatigue took over.
She looked so terrified of him, it hurt. She looked on him the same way his mother did after that night. He almost wanted to cry but finally the darkness overtook him and he slumped to the floor.

Takai turned to look at her, and her tricolored eyes met his own. He was afraid too, she could see it there in his gaze. He was just as scared as she was. But he was also... sad... defeated. Despite the shock she found herself in, her heart ached for him somehow. Somehow, that one look he gave her made her want to cry not out of fear, but out of some sense of empathy, like she could feel what he was feeling in those moments. It was like listening to a song that was just so beautiful, you couldn't find words or actions to express yourself. All you could do was cry.

And then he slumped to the floor. A breath of relief left her. He'd passed out... maybe she wasn't going to die after all. Still gripping her dew and chocolate bar in her trembling hands, her back pressed to the wall and she whimpered, sinking to the floor, falling to sit there, knees pressed tight to her chest as the junk food and soda fell from her grip.

Part of her screamed at her to go to a phone, to call 911... but she couldn't move.... She just couldn't move. A sob wracked her and she hugged her knees to her chest tighter, staring in horror at the scene in front of her, shaking from head to toe. What was going on? How could Takai be two people? How could he kill someone? Why would he kill someone?

None of it made sense, and the only answer she had for herself was another hard sob, her body huddling back against the wall a bit further.

As Alex sat up against the wall sobbing hard, Takai's body began to shift back to the white-haired, red-eyed demon that had just raped and murdered her coworker. As he found his feet and looked around, he realized what had happened. He walked up to Alex and knelt before her.
"So, you saw the whole thing then? Enough at least that you know?" he asked, that preternatural voice chilling her spine.
Not getting a response fast enough, both hands grasped onto her shoulders and he shook her. "Now pay attention. I've already fed tonight, so you're safe, but you need to get both him and yourself out of here before anyone finds that body."
He stands, casually, still looking completely inhuman and yet, in a way not quite so frightening. "If you take him somewhere safe, keep him safe tonight and tomorrow morn, I'll make sure you stay safe."
After giving her a moment to contemplate his words, he turns, those blood red eye s piercing much like Takai's, and asks, "Will you make sure we're all safe?"

Alex's eyes went wide with horror again as Takai turned back to the white haired monster, and as quickly as her hope that she may live had come, she felt it disappear. He turned on her, and just as she was preparing herself to die, he walked to her and spoke calmly, asking if she'd seen the whole thing.

When she found herself unable to answer, he seemed frustrated and took hold of her shoulders, shaking her. Alex sobbed, her hands covering her face as if preparing for him to strike her. Instead though, he seemed to offer her salvation, not death. Lowering her hands slowly, she stared up at him, mouth open but no sound coming forth.

When he finally asked if she would keep them all safe, she nodded slowly. If that's what it took to survive... she'd make herself an accomplice. Anything was better than being the demon with the white hair's next victim... something she was sure she'd be if she didn't do as he asked.

Gathering herself, still crying, she gathered up her dew and chocolate bar, she stood and looked up at him. "What do I do?" she asked, her voice a trembling, frightened whimper.

Not offering an answer, he walked into the back, finding Takai's belongings and Alex's and grabbing ahold of them. He muttered under his breath for none but himself, "Humans and all their things... what a waste."
He then moved back up front to find Alex still up against the wall and tossed the bags at her feet. He offered a hand to help her up, thought the look on his face was hardly that of one trying to help, but rather impatient.
"Bring those and take us somewhere for the night. I don't know where he is living yet, so you'll have to find reason tomorrow for him having gone home with you. I can't keep this up much longer though, so you need to hurry while I can still walk." His voice growing more impatient and almost angry, not wanting to admit to this slight weakness.
His bloodied eyes searched hers, waiting for her response and while he held her hand, something within him seemed to call to her, to draw her in and yet he seemed entirely unaware of it. He pulled away, waiting for her to gather the bags and looking towards the door, he spoke, "You may call me Malkav."

He disappeared from her sight, and for a long moment she feared he'd left her there to be the one to be blamed for the murder. Her fears were soothed though, when he returned with both hers and Takai's bags. She took them after he helped her to stand, looking up at him wide eyed. Something was wrong...

She felt increasingly more at ease around him as he stood there, her taking the bags from him. He seemed angry when he talked about not being able to keep things up much longer, and she nodded, her body moving without her mind's consent. Her hand grabbed his own, guiding him toward the door out into the hall, turning as soon as they were outside, taking a side hallway to avoid notice.

She certainly couldn't be seen in the company of a man that looked like him, now could she? When he introduced himself, she answered in her same soft voice, looking back at him over her shoulder, tricolored eyes meeting his own blood red ones, not quite as frightened looking as before. "Alex," she answered softly, even managing to force a soft smile for him.

Looking away, she stepped him into the elevator and let it take them down to the ground level. Out the side door, she used her key-card to let them out without setting off alarms, then around to her car, parked in the side lot. Opening the door, she tossed in their bags and opened his door before moving around to her own, settling into the drivers seat.

Once he was in, she was sure he'd pass back out and turn back into Takai, but that was fine. Takai was much less intimidating and while she did feel drawn to him, she didn't feel quite as... pulled as she did with this Malkav. That white haired angel of death had an effect on her she didn't understand. It was frightening... She wanted to be close to him... but not to talk to him, oh no... there was something far more... intense when he was around. Like her entire being responded to his nearness... and it wasn't fear.

Shaking her head, she chewed her lip as she pulled out of the parking lot, trying to come up with an excuse as to why he would end up at home with her. Oh, if Derek found out, she'd be dead... but that wasn't her biggest worry for now.

All the way home, she turned over the questions in her head, trying to figure out what she would say when they showed up to work the next day together. When they reached the house, she still hadn't come up with a good excuse, but figured that he had started feeling ill and didn't feel safe to drive was the bed she was going to be able to mange. Pulling into the garage of her townhouse, she shut off the car's engine

She climbed from the car and grabbed their bags, draping them over her shoulders and opening the car door, reaching in to grab him, trying to heft him out of the car. "C'mon Takai... help me out here... wake up and walk a little. It's only a few steps to the door..." she grunted, struggling some under his weight. He wasn't too heavy, but definitely was more than she was used to carrying, as he had a few good inches on her, and far more muscle.

Somewhat half asleep and dazed, Takai heard Alex asking him to help and his body responded as best he could manage. He felt drunk and confused, but as she led him to her bed, it didn't matter. He held fast onto her as he lay down, pulling her down with him and close.
As he lay there next to her, an erection grew and pressed hard against Alex's warm body. He whispered to her in a mixture of Gaelic and Japanese that while terribly awkward, sounded sweet coming from him and held her tighter as he drifted back into sleep, dreaming of things he'd sworn he could never have.

Helping the stumbling Takai into the house, Alex grunted, half-carrying him into the place. She dropped their bags in the living room before struggling up the stairs with him, keeping him in front of her(which proved difficult, considering that he was trying to cling to her the entire time) so that he wouldn't fall.

Once they were at the top of the stairs, she let him grab hold once more, walking him into her bedroom and over to the kingsized bed that dominated the room. He fell onto it, and much to her surprise, pulled her with him. She gasped, falling into the soft mattress with him, her arms sliding around him when he made it very clear he wasn't letting go.

His hold on her squeezed some, and she whimpered as mild shocks of dull pain went through her as he pressed against spots on her body she hadn't planned to let anyone touch for at least a few days until they'd healed.

His whispered words were beyond her comprehension, but they sounded beautiful, and Alex smiled despite all that had happened. One hand stroked his hair, the other rubbed up and down his arm as she kicked her flipflops off and rested her head on the pillow she pulled over to her, letting his head rest on her arm, nestled in against the full swell of her breasts.

Eyes closing, she placed a tender kiss to his forehead before drifting off to sleep.

When Takai awoke it was with a start and still hard. He jumped up only to realize the one he was worried over was still sleeping next to him. He stared at her sleeping body, laying a hand on her rising and falling shoulders, just to make sure she was still breathing before letting out a sigh of relief.
Malkav had never let anyone but his mother live and even then it was only after... He paused now terrified that that thing had hurt her, raped her and made her bring him here. How would he ever look her in the eye again? How could he live with himself knowing she'd been on the receiving end of that monster and not even been granted the release of death?
All the while, these thoughts racing through his mind, his erection had grow tot he point of peeking out of his torn pants. He hardly noticed it though over the sound of the front door being slammed and someone stomping up the stairs, steps uneven and clumsy, most certainly of someone well past drunk.