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Eve practically hacked up a lung as she forced herself to swim to shore, her muscles burning. She kept telling herself how much she deserved the pain, how it was nothing compared to what she had just seen. The memory flashed before her eyes, the calm ocean tainted, dilute red dancing before her. Eve turned her head to the side once she had managed to wrench all of the putrid Thames water from her chest, and promptly vomited the pitiful contents of her stomach. The stinging of bile ripping its way up her oesophagus, like the claws belonging to the beast of grief inching closer to her tongue. As she coughed, her eyes began to sting and stream, the pain becoming too much for her to keep locked behind their ocular prisons. Villanelle was dead. As many as twelve rounds had fought their way through her lover, and she had left her to sink to her grave, the vast floor of the Thames. Eve's throat was scratched rotten by the beast but still she took from it and roared. Her screams of anguish rolling from her lips until they faded into a croak. Those same lips that still tingled, those same lips that were no longer hers.
Eve wobbled to her feet, fighting against the weights that had cemented themselves to her. She was still underwater. Families hurried past on the bridge above, mothers clutching the shoulders of their beloved brood in fear. Eve would have let a mirthless cackle erupt from her if she had any breath left in her. They had nothing to fear of the crazed woman, looking like a wrung out towel, howling as though her heart had been torn out. As she stared, emptily at the fading red smudge in the centre of the river, she concluded that it had. She was going to kill whoever was responsible, she had nothing to lose but her memory. Long as that was preserved, the blonde was not dead. Her fingers as they raked across Eve's forehead into her curls were ever moving. The soft tones with which she muttered her devotions never faltered. The heart that now resided in Eve's expanding chest ever beating. She was going to carve the heart out of Carolyn Martens, and she was going to watch the light extinguish in her soulless eyes.
Eve Polastri was dead.
Christina Yang was born on that riverside. A damaged but kind-seeming widow, no one dared ask her about her late spouse, they feared the look. The look was patented, she became renound for her ability to make even the strongest men pin their tails firmly between their legs and flee squealing. Children of her new town started rumours that she was a Siren, she had lured her past lover into the water to drown him and had grown legs for the express purpose of reaching more victims. She never corrected any of the children, their heart gaining another splinter for each mention of the great blue. Her guilt had challenged her grief to a duel shortly after. She made herself busy, pottering about a joint café-bookshop, the putrid taste of her disdain for herself enough to remind herself of how this was punishment. Punishment for her still living as Villanelle lay merging with the riverbed. Eve had made her a grave, an admittedly shoddy, vacant one but it held so much of her pain it was perfect. As perfect as a grave for ones lover who had been shot in ones arms could possibly be. She visited it fortnightly, with fresh flowers wishing that there would be something different when she returned. That by some cruel trick of nature her love could be brought back to her. She thought of Lazarus, she was being selfish once more.
Eve had spent every waking moment, where she wasn't screaming into her pillow or staring blankly at the foul customers she had the displeasure of serving each day, searching for answers. Plotting the downfall of Carolyn Martens, the only thing that gave her new life meaning. She had a purpose, to be the living one woman revenge squad to make that spineless woman pay. She would not be so careless as to indicate her location, she had no doubt that Carolyn was searching for her, if not already watching her every move. She understood how dangerous she appeared, but she was the only one that knew just how deadly she could be. She had to embody the motivation of Lady Macbeth without the fatal misstep, look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it. All of her scheming was safe within the confines of her bony prison, her skull packed to bursting with homicidal delight. Would she emotionally destroy her, before giving her the kindness of a swift death, her last image in this life the blank stare of Eve Polastri, the woman with nothing to lose? Or would she make her truly suffer, a slow excruciating death? Eve wondered if she could perfectly replicate that night, but with Carolyn felled at the hand of her own firing squad. Eve staring down into the murky water.
Eve never had the luxury of a normal relationship, she supposed that was not what she craved. Her previous marriage was testament to this fact, she had gotten bored. But her lack of physical memorial for her fallen love became swiftly apparent as her own memory of the woman faded as the year came to its close. No photographs of the pair safe in each others close embrace, no stupid gifts full of love exchanged on birthdays and christmases. Eve often caressed her bullet wound, the kiss that lingered on her body forever. Lay awake in her bed, Eve remembered the feeling of Villanelle's soft fingers holding her chin, the thumb playing with her bottom lip before she stole her breath, replacing it with her own. Eve felt sick as she recalled the pleasure those same fingers had brought her, how naïve she was to not clutch Villanelle closer when she had the chance. Eve knew that she was physically appealing to many of the men and some women of her new town, but she could not extend the love of their heart to another. It was far too soon, but eternity would never be enough time. She was simply going through the motions, in reality she too was sinking further into the sediment of the riverbed. Her body may be in a small American town, but their heart had not come with her. She was a dead woman walking, until a beautiful redhaired woman graced her with her presence.
Eve's eyes lingered on the woman as she pressed forward into the café. A novel held tight to her breast, too far for her to tell its contents. The woman had a mask covering the lower portion of her face, Eve was still able to tell that she carried serene beauty. Her breath caught in her throat, as though a spider had crawled down into it and set up a web for this express purpose. Their heart began to beat frantically, Eve felt a pit of guilt opening beneath her, hands gripping at her ankles, slashing at her to bring her deep into the recesses of shame. It had not been enough time, how dare someone try and enter her life like this. Eve told herself to stop being ridiculous and the woman was simply there to purchase an extortionately priced beverage and peruse their collection of also extortionately priced books, not challenge a dead woman for the ownership of their heart. She steeled her face as the woman gracefully stepped towards the counter, her long frame draped in an equally long summer dress, tailored so that it highlighted her frankly illegal waist and as before breathtaking legs. As she stood before her, Eve noted that the deep blue of the dress contrasted beautifully with the muddy green of her...
Eve stepped back in shock, she would recognise those piercing greens if it was the last image that flashed in front of her eyes in her death bed. Her heart had been returned to her and the world regained its lost colour. Villanelle stood just a few steps away from her, but this couldn't be. She was surely making things up to quell the screaming in her head and the pain in her bones. This was just a normal woman, whom she'd never met before and likely didn't deserve to have Eve project the face of her past lover onto her without her consent. She spluttered out a cough, a wheezed apology and set up the register to take the apparitions order.
"Christina? That's an interesting name." The woman spoke and Eve's eyes widened further, she spoke in an English lilt, Liverpudlian, but it was still imperceptably her. Eve was grateful that she had not begun to make any orders, or she would certainly have dropped it. Eve was confused, enraged, overjoyed, everything hitting her at once, a battering ram to the stomach. She had to take a step back and steady herself with a hand on the ugly marble counter. She hated that counter, she was glad to see the backside of it - she would be placing her resignation effective immediately at the end of her shift. With Villanelle alive she was going to be far too busy beating the ever loving shit out of her for not telling her of her plans. But that could wait until after she had been reduced to a shaking mess beneath her. She had priorities, her penchant for violence often outweighed by her desire.
"Thank you." She managed to squeeze out a normal response, she couldn't exclaim to the entire shop that she had returned, she still had no idea if Carolyn was still following her every move or if she was considered safe, or rather far too boring to extend the resources to count how many sugars Eve stirred into bean sludge. The woman stared into her soul and Eve blushed, she suddenly felt so exposed, laid bare for all to see. She felt exhilarated. The mask which still hid Villanelle's lower expression hinted to Eve that there was more to their new situation than she could possibly fathom from face value alone. She had to approach the situation with caution, not letting her glee flicker across her face for too long past the normal greeting. For some regulars, seeing Eve smile was enough to cause a tizzy.
"I was wondering when you got off work? I'd love to take you out somewhere." She spoke, Eve melted. Eve only had an hour left of her shift, 60 minutes, 3600 seconds. She could cope for 3600 seconds more away from the blonde surely. She had managed the past 9 months, Eve mused mentally that this was the exact gestational period for a baby, of course Villanelle would be so extravagant as to time her rebirth so. She had spent a while believing herself the second coming of Christ. Eve smiled again, a withered old crone in the nearest booth nearly fell from her seat from the outrage. She needn't take Villanelle's order, she knew exactly what she wanted and placed it in the register without a word.
"An hour, can I take a name for the order?" Eve spoke, burning eye contact with the masked red head making the patron behind her love feel as though he had walked into some sort of porn shoot. He did question walking away and finding another place to order his Chai Latté, Eve hated hipsters.
"Jodie," Eve could tell she had smiled as she spoke, how it always reached her eyes. Eve wrote the name into the machine which printed out the annoyingly sticky labels and turned to begin making the coffee, forgetting in her excitement to take a payment to conclude the transaction. A heartwarming giggle brought her out of her reverie and cemented her back into the present. God, how she had missed that noise. She vowed now that she had her back she was to dedicate at least a day to provoke that noise from her over and over again, so that she should never be able to forget it again.
"Sorry, it's been a long day! That'll be $3.40" Eve lied through her teeth, they both knew that she was simply too flustered to go through the motions, her previously programmed movements now had a virus in the code and she had to act on manual once more. She could no longer rely on instinct to get her through her day, she had to think for herself. She had never been happier. 'Jodie' pressed a $5 note into Eve's palm, her fingers lingering for much longer than was strictly necessary. Eve let out a shuddering breath as the soft skin she had been fantasising over the night before brushed away from her. She nearly dropped the change, but returned the favour, her finger tips dragging down her palm as she placed the notes and cool coins into what she still couldn't believe to be there. She half expected to hear a clatter as the coins fell through her to the black tiles below. But they didn't, she was not hallucinating, she was real. She was solid, physical. Eve busied herself with making the hot drink before she embarrassed herself further or gained another confused look from her coworker, who had never so much as seen Eve share more than 3 words with a customer. Sticking to her customer service script, the bare minimum that would not lose her her employment.
Eve called out the pseudonym with a wry smile on her face, revelling in the contact made as Villanelle once more lingered her touch as she grabbed the cup. Her bitchy teenage coworker had taken up orders while she remained on the machines, making them. Claiming that if she was going to take that much time with one customer now they'd never get home on time. Eve played out throwing her in front of a car to amuse herself as she performed the mindnumbing task ahead of her. Her body tingling with the excitement of the end of her shift. She felt a pair of eyes on her for the next 3600 seconds, Villanelle had settled into a booth which Eve knew offered little visibility in, but great visibility out. It was often taken up by their breastfeeding patrons, but really anyone that wanted a little bit of extra privacy while they supped the coffee they needed a second mortgage to purchase.
Eve clocked out a few minutes early, the café was clearing out mostly and there was little need for two people behind the counter in circumstances like these. She did not ask 'Jo' if she wanted to leave early, she wordlessly crossed her, moved into the backroom and got changed. Jo scoffed and turned her attention back to the front and continued working, her face screwed up into a grimace. The man at the counter told her 'she'd look better with a smile'. Eve overheard this and was glad that she would never have to return to hospitality. She placed her apron on its designated hook, threw off the stupid brown cap and took her hair down. She knew that Villanelle loved to run her hair through her thick, curly tresses and was not going to deprive either of them of that pleasure. She slung her leather napsack over her shoulder and grabbed her keys. Completely wiping out her locker, and removing herself from the rota. She yelled a gleeful goodbye to the manager who sat in the back, doing nothing while he ogled at the women at the counter. He too was on Eve's mental kill list. She waved another goodbye to Jo and made a beeline for the booth in the corner, praying to some form of God that she would still be sat there. That she hadn't faded into the wind while she had turned her back for a minute. She hadn't.
Villanelle extended a hand to Eve, which she took without blinking. It was an automatic movement that even she was shocked with, as though they were magnets drawn to each other violently. They left the café wordlessly, yet conversing all the same, thumbs setting comforting circles into backs of hands. They remained in silence until they had left the café over the horizon, Eve spotted a woody bank and pulled them into it. Eve looked up at the mask which stood between what she wanted and her. Villanelle nodded and Eve tentatively reached up to rip it from her face. Eve began to cry, tracing her face with her thumbs, holding her chin tightly as though Villanelle was about to bolt at any moment. Anchoring her in place Eve took her all in, feeling the warmth of her breath as it hit her nose. Her eyes scanned Villanelle's face, checking for any discrepancies. There were none but a small scar beneath her right eye, which Eve caressed with extra care.
"Eve." Villanelle spoke, her true accent filling her ears. Eve's head span and she had heard enough. She rushed forwards, pressing Villanelle to the tree behind her with considerable force. Considerable enough that it knocked the wind out of the blonde. She looked momentarily panicked before smirking down at her love.
"I hate you." Eve sobbed as she coursed forwards with as much force as before, connecting their lips. Hands darting to pull the wig from her scalp and run her fingers through her hair. She felt Villanelle's hands come to anchor onto her hips, she gasped into her mouth, giving the other woman the chance to lick at the opening of her soft lips. Eve was in heaven, her hands travelling down from her hair to hold the back of Villanelle's neck, pressing her harder into the tree as she deepened their kiss. Villanelle moaned into the kiss as Eve pulled away to mouth down the blonde's neck, pulling Eve as close as she could get to her without the two merging. Their fronts flush with one another, Villanelle bucked her hips forward as Eve began to nibble at the skin below her ear, her hands dropping from her hips to knead the clothed skin of Eve's firm arse. Eve groaned into her neck and pulled reluctanly away from the woman. She knew that this spot was a common one for joggers and didn't want for their fun to be spoilt by a wheezing middle-aged man in lycra which didn't leave anything to the imagination.
"C'mon we can finish this at my place." Eve panted, allowing for her lover to collect herself and affix her wig back atop her head. Before yanking her by her arm, prompting the pair of them to run out of the woods, not stopping until they reached Eve's small car. Never thinking she would need more than a 2-seater, she never purchased one. Neither of them cared, clambering onto their seats, panting with exertion, flushed with arousal and from their efforts. Eve left her hand high on Villanelle's thigh, moving her fingers in small circles, driving them both crazy. Aware of how precarious their situation was, how easily those fingers could wander beneath the hem of Villanelle's dress.
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Eve lay her head on Villanelle's bare chest, able to hear her hearts gentle beats just below the surface. Her hand danced just below the covers, its path moving from her hip up to her side. Mapping her body out. Villanelle had her arm wrapped around Eve's naked form, a firm hand holding her shoulder as she pressed small kisses to the top of her head. Her other hand running its way through her hair, exactly as predicted.
"I want you to tell me what happened. I understand why, that won't make it stop hurting. But I just want to know where the hell you've been Elle." Eve was the first to speak, up until now the pair had said very little aside from lust-motivated curses and sweet nothings. The nickname falling from her lips before she could swallow it back down. Villanelle sighed, her hand halting in its journey through Eve's hair before resting on her cheek.
"I never wanted to leave you, дорогой¹ but I had to make that bitch think I was dead. I knew she had plans to kill me, I had a girl smitten for me on the inside who would rat her out. But don't fret детка², you are the only one I could ever have eyes for." Villanelle spoke, her chest vibrating under Eve's ear. Jealousy did prickle in her, but she reminded herself that she was the one draped over the woman's bare chest with raging love bites littered down her neck. Eve nodded, humming slightly to prompt her to keep speaking. And that she did.
"I had packs hidden under my shirt which were set to burst, those packs contained my blood. It had to be real blood if they were to believe me truly dead. I had bulletproof gear underneath those packs, and had to hope that the water would prevent any of them hitting my head. One narrowly missed my eye, but I'm alive." Eve clutched to her a little tighter.
"Why didn't you tell me, we could have gone through this together? Where have you been for the past year?" Eve asked, rage evident in her strained voice.
"I could'nt дорогой, I wanted to take you with me but it would have killed us both. I have been in hiding for as long as I have been apart from you. I have been ensuring that those that were looking for me are either assured of my demise. Or assured of their own. If you had not been here, believing me dead, they would not have believed it either." Villanelle spoke, softly stroking her cheek, kissing her forehead.
"Does that mean?" Eve began but couldn't finish for Villanelle pressing their lips together in a deep kiss.
"Sorry baby, I know you wanted to kill her yourself. But Carolyn Martens is dead." Eve frowned, before swiping the covers off of them, Villanelle shrieked at the cold wave which hit her. Eve silenced her with another lip-bruising kiss, straddling the blonde.
"Did she suffer?" Eve's eyes burned with desire, Villanelle grinned widely at what Eve had become. She could feel her arousal, all over the description of another woman's destruction. It was intoxicating. They were the same.
"I'd be surprised if her body were not still aching, if it were not fish food." Eve cackled wildly at this and leaned down to pepper the blonde's face with small pecks. A lingered kiss pressed to the scar, which Eve believed made her all the more beautiful. Their hearts beat as once as they let themselves go to pleasure.
Eve would never let Villanelle go again.