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About a month had passed since the encounter.
One long month of timelines and maps and graphic crime scene photos. One long month of restless nights and glass after glass of wine, trying to make sense of the whole thing. Trying to understand how the funny, charming stranger from the car was the same person who had painted the bloody canvases she had spent hour upon hour staring at.
It was almost sick, the fascination Eve had felt stirring around inside of her, growing the more she looked and dug. Her morbid curiosity wasn't even close to news to her - it was, in a sense, what had got her into her line of work in the first place. She had eaten through a lot of time reading up on killers and coming to understand the why of it all, what drove them and made them tick.
This, however, was different.
This time she had been aware of the person before the monster. She had something real to pin to the board of carnage, something beyond the gore and long list of names spread out before her. Something she had never had before.
She wasn't sure whether it helped or not.
Villanelle seemed to have penetrated everything in her life since that day. She was there upon waking, smirking and joking in that endearing way. She was there as Eve made her way to work, smile on her face and some inappropriate comment on her lips. She was there while Eve worked, quick and quiet as a shadow as she moved to flawlessly execute her latest victim. Neat and creative and impossible to pin down, impossible to ignore.
It felt something like falling into insanity, a bottomless pit of questions with no reachable answers, but even that wasn't enough to make Eve try to put a stop to it. She was in too deep, consumed. Her mind set on one goal and one goal alone:
She had to find Villanelle again.
She never even considered that Villanelle might find her first.
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The package was waiting for Eve on her doorstep one evening, small and inconspicuous. She briefly wondered if she had drunkenly ordered something one night and forgotten about it, it wouldn't be the first time, but there was no brand name anywhere, no printed label. Just her name, written messily on the front and underlined once.
Frown set in her brow and heart beating a little faster than normal, Eve picked the padded envelope up and hurried inside, dropping her bag and keys on the table by the door before heading for the kitchen. Had anyone at work mentioned passing anything along? She was like...90% certain would have remembered expecting anything important. Maybe 85%.
She took a seat at her kitchen table and carefully pulled the seal open before slipping a hand inside to grope around. It felt like a...box? Frown growing deeper, her fingers grasped it and pulled it out to have a look.
It was a fucking copy of Shrek 2.
Eve was instantly taken back to Villanelle's car, to her fit of laughter at the out-of-the-blue revelation and how confused Villanelle had been by it. Her heart thudded against her chest, filling her head with the sound of her pulse and making it hard to remember to breathe because it had to be her. There was no other possibility. No other explanation.
Swallowing to try and revive her suddenly very dry mouth, she pulled the DVD box open to check for anything further. A folded over piece of paper fell out almost instantly and landed on the table in front of her, sending her scrambling to pick it up.
"Movie night? Or maybe you want to ask more of your mystery ruining questions.
Either way; call me, baby x"
The words were written in a slightly neater version of the handwriting from the front of the envelope and followed by a phone number with a little heart drawn next to it.
Oh god.
That same feeling of being well and truly fucked crept back into Eve, but it was tainted with something else this time. Excitement? Curiosity? Whatever it was would be better unpacked with wine, she decided abruptly, and she lunged for the fridge to pour herself a hefty glass of white from an almost full bottle.
A few good gulps and deep breaths later, she was able to start to consider how to react. What she really, really should do was call Carolyn and declare she had a lead, so her boss could arrange for a trace on the number once a connection was established and they could, hopefully, catch the very person they'd spent four weeks fruitlessly pursuing.
It's a shame that what one should do and what one wants to do rarely coincide.
Eve downed the rest of her glass and poured another one before yanking her phone out of her pocket and grabbing the note off of the table, ready to dial. Her thumbs hovered over the screen for a moment as if reconsidering, but all of a sudden it was too late and she was holding the phone up to her ear, listening to the low drone of the ringing tone.
A 'fuck it' had got her into this mess, after all. Why stop now?
"Hi, Eve."
The accent almost disarmed her right off the bat. Her memory really didn't do it justice. "Uh, how did you know it was me?"
"This is my 'Eve' phone. No one else has the number."
Oh, right. Assassin. Burner phones. "Bold of you to assume I haven't turned it in."
A soft chuckle reached her ear. "Right, you know who I am now. I guessed it was coming when you told me where you work. Too bad."
"Too bad?!" Eve repeated incredulously. "I shouldn't even be talking to you right now."
"So why are you?"
"Keeping you busy long enough to trace."
There was a snort this time, almost mocking. "Cute. Even if that were not a lie, I would be long gone by the time anyone got here."
"What makes you so sure I'm lying?"
"I more or less know how long it would take you to get home after work, there was not enough time between then and now for you to contact anyone or set anything up."
Fuck. There was no point trying to argue around it. "What do you want?"
"To get to know you. We had fun, I kept thinking about you. And your amazing hair."
"Get to know me..." Eve trailed off, nose pinched as she inhaled sharply, trying to keep a handle on herself. "You're a fucking assassin, Villanelle."
"So? That is just one layer. I have many layers." A pause. "Like an ogre."
Eve only just managed to contain the laugh that threatened to destroy her seriousness. God, this woman was infuriating. And dangerous. And an actual cold blooded killer. But somehow with every word exchanged these very large, very important facts began to blur and fade into the background.
"I should not be talking to you either, you know. You are literally hunting me down."
"So why are you?"
"You are interesting. And sexy."
Eve scoffed. "Yeah, okay, right. And that's worth putting yourself in danger of being caught."
"Mm, I do not think I am in danger at all."
"Arrogant."
"One of my many qualities."
Eve could just imagine the smug look Villanelle must be wearing and, in all honesty, it wouldn't be unwarranted - Eve had lost whatever game might be underway the second she decided to make the call and Villanelle probably knew as much. So much for trained MI5 agent. "Maybe I should just stop us both doing what we shouldn't and hang up. This was a bad idea."
"Or we could talk. Just for tonight." The words hung for a second. "Our little secret."
The proposition sent an unwanted shiver up Eve's spine, all low-toned and heavy with the weight of an irresistible kind of darkness. She reached for her wine glass and took a swig, holding the phone in place with her shoulder so she could grab the bottle with her other hand and heading for the living room. In for a penny, in for a pound and all that.
"Fine. Just for tonight." She conceded, placing the bottle on the coffee table before flopping down in the corner of the sofa. All the while telling herself this was merely professional curiosity, nothing more and nothing less.
"Great! So, did you like my gift?"
"It was absurd. But very...you. I think."
"I will take that as a compliment. I would have just dropped by instead but I thought you might freak out on me. This way seemed a little safer."
Eve scoffed. "That's...considerate, I guess. Thank you."
"You are welcome. Does that mean you would have freaked out?"
"Probably?" She wasn't about to admit that she found the idea to be more thrilling than anything else. Yes, she was aware she was dealing with a person who had been deemed a psychopath by several different sources, but still. Surely if Villanelle meant her any harm, she would already be dead. Unless said psychopath enjoyed playing with her food first. "I think most people would freak out if the killer they were searching for showed up on their doorstep."
"I get the sense you are not most people."
"What gives you that idea?"
"Well, to start, you do not bore me. Most people do." There was a small creak, Eve guessed of a bed, before Villanelle continued. "And most people would have gone for the glory at work instead of calling me. You chose the interesting option."
"And what would you have done if I hadn't chosen it?"
"That does not matter, I was pretty sure. You are curious about me, curiosity always wins."
"Fine, I'm curious." Eve admitted, somewhat grudgingly. It was annoying to be read that easily, to have her moves predicted before she made them. Especially since it was what she herself was supposed to be good at.
"They say it killed the cat, isn't that stupid?"
"It is. But they also say satisfaction brought it back, so there's that."
"Mm, does that mean you are satisfied, Eve?"
"I don't know what I am." Eve answered truthfully before treating herself to another mouthful of wine. It was going down far too well. "Are you going to kill me?"
"Wow, heavy question."
"Are you?"
She was met with a silence that felt far longer than the few seconds it actually was. "I have no intention of killing you, no. But I would if I had to."
"Okay." Eve nodded to herself and finished the rest of her glass. "That's, uh, fair. Guess I just need to make sure you don't have to." She added as she poured herself a refill.
"So casual. Are you not scared of me?"
"I...don't know. I'm scared of what you've done and what you're capable of, but you? I don't know." She sighed, struggling to put the very dilemma she'd been fighting with over the past month into something coherant. "I know all this stuff about you but it doesn't feel like I actually know you. You can't just be...death. But we only met once and I have no way of knowing what was genuine and what wasn't, if any of it even was so I- I don't fucking know."
"It was all genuine."
"How do I know you're not just playing me?"
"You don't."
Eve exhaled sharply through her nose, the way one does when slightly amused only this really was not funny. It was absolutely fucked and completely enthralling all at once.
"It is up to you whether you believe me or not."
"Jury's still out on that one." She replied dryly but oh, she wanted to believe. Needed to, in a way, because if something that had felt that real turned out to be nothing but an act, she might actually lose the plot.
"You are so serious, Eve. What do you do for fun?"
"Uh, read? I don't get much time for fun, it's mostly all work."
A loud and dramatic groan pierced her eardrum, making her move the phone away a few centimetres until it stopped. "That is tragic. All work and no play...like The Shining, have you read that one?"
Eve laughed. "Yeah, but that line is only in the movie."
"I have only seen the movie, duh. Books are too much effort."
"Figures."
"I liked it, it was fun. Heeere's Johnny!"
Eve almost choked on her latest gulp. "What the fuck? That was like...freakishly good."
"Thank you, I know. I am great at impressions. I am great at many things, actually."
"Being modest clearly isn't one of them."
"It would be, if I tried it."
"Are you still in London?" She blurted before she could stop herself, despite the fact that logically she already knew the answer. Making an in-person delivery to her apartment and then sticking around in the same city for the aftermath would not be the brightest of moves, even for someone so talented at slipping around unnoticed.
"Oh, Eve, you know I cannot tell you that."
Eve heaved a sigh. "Yeah, yeah, mystery. Blah blah. Worth a shot."
"Pretty lame try, if I am honest. Are you tired?"
"No." Her body chose that moment to betray her with a yawn. Almost three glasses of wine on top of an empty stomach were catching up quickly. "...okay, yes. I'm tired."
The gentle laugh she got in response added to the alcohol-induced warmth running through her, raising questions she was in no state to address. "Then go to bed. Early start tomorrow, hm? Don't want to miss the bus again."
"Fuck you." Eve retorted with no venom at all. "I will. I just...it's about to be over. We'll hang up and tomorrow I'll have to go back to seeing and thinking the absolute worst of you and pushing all this...other stuff aside. It's weird." It was more thinking out loud than anything, something she would have kept to herself under sober circumstances.
"Perhaps that is the beauty of only having one night. Makes it more impactful."
"Or more confusing."
A chuckle, still soft. "Do you want it to happen again?"
"It would be a terrible idea."
"That is not what I asked."
There was no doubt in her mind she wanted it to happen again, and she didn't even have enough willpower at present to try and convince herself otherwise. It was, however, a very clear line, drawn out in front of her all bold and red and waiting for her to pick a side. And yes, she had crossed more than a few already, but this was The Big One. This one marked the difference between one morally incorrect night of engaging (and at times shockingly intimate) conversation and prolonged contact.
"You're the one who was sure we'll see each other again, so I guess what I want is irrelevant."
"Good answer! Until next time, Eve."
And with that the line went dead, a departure as abrupt as when they had been together in person. Eve started at the phone screen until it went black and left her face to face with her own reflection and god that was almost too much irony in itself - back to the start.
Shaking her head and blinking a few times, she forced herself up from the sofa, intending to go try and get some rest before the drowsiness wore off and overthinking kicked in.
Until next time.
Whenever that may be.