She danced for him, for him alone. They shared the jug of jungle vine wine that sat on the table between them, it's bitter aftertaste seeming so much sweeter as he watched this little show.
She wore a hip hugging kilt and a low cut shirt, the whole outfit leaving very little to the feverish imagination. She danced for him...
Gods, she was beautiful for a troll.
Leaning back in his chair and taking another drink of the jungle vine wine, he let his gaze sweep over her in utter appreciation. She smiled to him and did a little turn. He let his eyes linger on the soft curve of her back, wondering and imagining what this forbidden fruit might taste like.
She continued to dance for him, pausing only to take a short drink of the wine, her eyes smoldering with something that made his heart race.
Could she want him as much as he did her?
Her three fingered hands wove their way up, to the laces at the front of her shirt, and she undid them, sliding it off and dropping it to the floor.
She resumed her dancing, her dancing just for him, topless, her blue skin gilded in the candlelight. With one hand, she reached out... beckoned to him.
Heart pounding and mouth dry, he stood, moved across the floor towards her. He smiled at her and stood still for a moment, before her, then slowly raised his hands and eased them up her arms. She was much taller than him... but the look in her eyes, oh Gods, at this moment, he just didn't care.
She smiled down at him, something reflecting in her eyes for a moment, something... something wicked.
It must have been the Jungle Vine talking... must have been.
Creeping a little closer still, he offered her a smile in return, feeling her hands move against his chest. His smile broadened...
Then twisted as her hand plunged through his chest, blood flowing freely as she gripped his heart and tore it away from him, still beating... His eyes widened in horror, and she smiled slowly down at him.
His lips moved... no sound escaped, or needed to. She knew what he had said...
And just like all the others, he had fallen so easily to her...
She took this one's heart with her as a trophy, slipping her shirt back on and quickly leaving the tavern and his crumpled body behind.
"I continue to question your methods, love"
His deep voice was a comfort in the darkness, and the Mantis slipped into the water, into his waiting arms. The tauren smiled as only Tauren could, and he laughed softly, a deep rumble in his chest.
"Well..." she breathed, and began to wash the blood away, the heart tucked securly away. "They DO call me the Mantis, you know."
"Yes, well... I seem to have survived this long." He smiled again and she continued to scrub the blood away. "Let's not linger too much longer. It's not safe here, and you have work tomorrow morning."
She nodded slightly, pushing her red hair from her face.
"Stormy..." He tipped her chin slightly to look at him, his big eyes boring into hers.
"Only a few more left." She gasped. "Then... then it will all be over."
"Then you'll turn yourself in?" He asked.
"You''ll be branded an accomplice, you know that. I can't do that to you... I can't see them take you away..." He shook his head as she protested.
"We get what we give, love of mine... we get what we give."
The blankets whispered against her skin when she moved out of the bed the next morning, her head pounding and her mouth dry.
She showered first, washing away any lingering sign of what had happened the night before... the water felt good on her skin... washing her sins slowly away.
Shaking the water from her hair as she stepped from the shower, Stormy stood for a moment and regarded herself in the mirror, the headache starting to dull away.
"Morning, beautiful." Corbin murmured to her as he entered the room, Stormy's face lighting up with a smile, her cheeks flushing. "Did you use all the hot water"
"Yes"
He sighed deeply and turned, exiting the bathroom again while she laughed.
"As usual... You know me, Corbin."
"Yes, yes. I know you very well. I know your silly habits, I know exactly what you like." He turned and offered her a smile. "Breakfast on the road again this morning?"
"Aye. It' s not like I will actually have time to eat after I get dressed."
"You should just get up earlier, then."
She ignored his comment, reaching over and grabbing her work uniform. She slipped on the tight black pants and the button down white shirt, adjusting her gun holster after sliding it on as well. Over that, her blue jacket, her belt with her smaller gun, and last but not least, her boots. She pulled her red hair into a braid and looked at herself again in the mirror. The badge on her chest glinted almost mockingly at her, and she sighed once again.
"Another day... another dead end." She promised herself, wiping a tear from her cheek. "Only a few more... then... "
Then what? Turn herself in? Become a criminal for all the criminals she had sent to their final resting place? For all the drug lords and crime kings that had long tortured and polluted their world falling to her charm, and then to their death?
She had done it to keep them all safe... she would keep doing it till they all understood.
Every time she left a note at the scene of the crime, a note meticulously written in the language of her people... It was ignored.
And their crimes kept occuring...
So everynight, she crept out and became the person they whispered of in the shadows.
Stormy became the Mantis.
And everyday, she went out with the others in her unit and hunted herself down.
Everyday...
"Getting tired?" Corbin asked from the doorway. Stormy startled and turned to him, shaking her head to clear it and to disagree.
"Not yet." She said quickly. He gave her a look. "Well... fine. A little. Maybe just a little." She sighed deeply.
"Go to work... then come home. I'll have something for us to go for again tonight." He murmured. "And soon, it will be done. Soon, we can be free of this."
"Thanks. Corbin?"
He paused and looked at her again. She moved towards him, wrapped her arms around him as best she could, seeing as she was much tinier than him.
"I love you." She murmured. "Never forget that."
"I love you too, Stormy. Now... get to work, before you're late."