Desperate & Ravenous

(stand alone-ish story)

Desperate and Ravenous

“It is a fact that cannot be denied: the wickedness of others becomes our own wickedness because it kindles something evil in our own hearts.” – Carl Jung

Present: The Office

“You’re a damn fool.”

Xanatos stood stoically behind the desk in his office, his eyes unfocused as he looked out the large, floor-to-ceiling windows. The room was noticeably colder as he continued to talk to himself, a quiet storm of anger brewing from the torrid of emotions he was feeling.

“Of all the obvious plays…” he continued, lost in his thoughts over what had been transpiring over the last few years of his life – from the death of friends, the rejection of his former supergroup, to the almost instantaneous support he was receiving from the Challengers regarding his wife.

She had been right – they didn’t want her there and had barely tolerated her.

His thoughts clouded over as he ruminated more on it.

That wasn’t his wife. This woman now parading around inside of her body – that wasn’t Kathryn. He was in the middle of convincing himself that he shouldn’t be so angry and should properly mourn the loss of his wife when a familiar smell brought him back to reality.

“I recognize that alluring odor…” he whispered to himself.

Xanatos spun on his heels and saw Karnal Sin daintily sitting on the edge of his desk, her eyes examining him casually. He immediately frowned behind his mask.

“I won’t ask how you got past the guards,” his tone was even keeled as he tried to keep himself under control.

Karnal smirked, her words a stinging mockery, “I didn’t sleep with them if that’s what you’re insinuating, pet.”

Widening his stance and squaring off his shoulders, he lowered his gaze to her, “What are you doing here, villain?”

She took a slow and deep breath through her nose, a sweet smile forming on her lips – it was a smile he thought he had at one point been familiar with.

“I love that word,” she said breathily, quietly, “and it sounds so sexy coming out of your mouth.” She punctuated her words with her movements, lying down onto the length of the desk on her side. With her right hand propping her head up, her hair falling lazily down onto the wooden façade, she rested her left hand across her waist.

The hero gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, his willpower the only thing from stopping from striking the woman, “Get…OUT,” he managed, barely in control.

Ignoring him completely, she took her lazed left hand rubbed her neck gingerly, “Judas had a point earlier – I thought you heroes were against spousal abuse?”

“My wife is dead.”

A subtle frown came across Karnal’s as she was unsure on how to interpret his words – her eyes searched his face for a brief moment before retorting, “Technically.”

Xanatos’s fiery white eyes narrowed, his voice regaining some form of control, “You are not welcome here,” and with more authority, he ordered her, “LEAVE.”

Taking her time, she turned to lay on her back, not looking at him and stretching cat-like – the red leather corset, gloves, and boots, creaking under the pressure of being bound to her lithe body so tightly.

With her eyes still not looking at his, she asked in a half-moan, “Do you really want me to leave?”

Two Hours Earlier: Pocket D

“You need to make amends with your husband, RIGHT NOW,” Luficia glared at Karnal Sin, her small body standing between her and her colleague Xanatos. The hero sat at a table, lost in forlorn thought.

Karnal regarded Luficia as she wrapped her arm around Judas’s, resting her cheek on his shoulder. She wasn’t angry at the girl – amused was more the appropriate word. A small circle of onlookers, regular patrons of the inter-dimensional club, Pocket D, were trying desperately not to watch in an obvious fashion – they were failing.

Luficia continued, “Don’t you see what you’re doing to him? Just because of one stupid little kiss on the cheek MONTHS ago?” The response her words were eliciting from her target were not what she was expecting, as Karnal stifled laughs at her, making her more frustrated.

The buxom blonde snaked off of Judas, looking back at him; they shared a knowing smile. She turned towards Luficia, getting uncomfortably close to the small statured brunette.

“There is a lot more that is going on here than I think you realize, child,” Karnal Sin’s voice couldn’t help but sound mocking and it only fueled Luficia further.

“What, so that’s an excuse for you to go run off and sleep with that thing – Emperor Xanatos?”

Karnal’s hand rose to her chest in mock indignation, she addressed Judas, “Darling, this one really IS a little obsessive over my sex life!”

Judas snickered at the two of them.

“Funny, that you’re calling ME the child when YOU’RE acting like the child!” Luficia raised her hand at the taller blonde woman, only getting half way through her strike when Karnal Sin’s hand stopped her, gripping her wrist with inhuman strength.

Luficia winced, started to speak again, but was abruptly cut off when Karnal Sin’s hand released her wrist and raised her own hand into the air, waving it dismissively as if the hero was some errant pest in her way. The leggy blonde confidently walked past her – towards Xanatos – her stilettos clicking loudly in the quieter lounge of the club.

Xanatos’s head remained down, as if he wasn’t fully aware of his surroundings, not saying a word.

Karnal Sin stopped in front of him, her legs together, as she leaned forward and bent down to meet his gaze, both of her hands braced on her thighs, her elbows straight, “You look so blue, pet…everything okay?”

The morose hero didn’t look at his wife.

She stood up straight, almost sneering at him, “It’s for the best really – I prefer red anyway,” her words hung in the air, her sneer fully blossomed.

Luficia watched her friend just take the emotional taunting, her own anger growing.

The former consort about-faced, turning her back to the silent Xanatos, “I guess he doesn’t want to play,” she said with a wink to Judas.

Xanatos stood, towering over the petite villainess, the shadow of his form shading her from the dazzling lights of the club. Karnal Sin turned smoothly to look up at him, her neck arching at his height.

The hero proudly lifted his head, his dejected demeanor shed as the heartbreak changed tides towards anger. His muscled framed lurched forward, causing Karnal to jump a little defensively, but he walked past her to stand next to Luficia.

That was all the encouragement the small brunette needed as she released a bombardment of insults and degradations at Karnal Sin.

“You better watch your back! Or else you’ll get arrested just like we did that thing you shacked up with! And all over what? Just because of something stupid that happened between friends? He MARRIED you. You should be ashamed of yourself running off into the arms of that monster!” She was clearly referencing Xanatos’s praetorian.

Judas rolled his eyes at the yappy hero, looking around the two to look at Karnal Sin as they had blocked his line of sight, “Again with the sex!”

Smirking, Karnal Sin walked up to Luficia, summarily ignoring Xanatos once again, taking the affront with an amused look on her face.

“I’ll say it again, pet…”

“I’M NOT YOUR PET!” Luficia barked back at her.

Ignoring her outcries, Karnal Sin continued, “There is a lot more going on here than you realize. And if you want to play with the big kids, you are going to have to come out of that little naïve shell of yours.”

“I’m not taking any sort of advice from a whore.”

The word echoed in the lounge – the music, as if planned, stopping right as she bellowed it.

Karnal Sin hated that word and she had grown impatient with the hero. She raised the back of her hand, “Watch your tongue and learn some respect,” she began her strike, but before contact her wrist was gripped by a large yellow glove.

“ENOUGH.” Xanatos’s hand squeezed her wrist, nearly breaking it, his body shaking with a barely controlled rage.

Judas looked on, arms crossed, relaxed but prepared.

The hero twisted his wife’s wrist back, her knees buckling from the pain as she collapsed to the floor. Her winces of suffering cause him no pleasure, but he is stalwart in his anger and decision. He lowers his large frame to kneel down to her, her wrist still awkwardly bent.

His other hand reached out and grabbed her throat, unflinching as her hands instinctively reached up, trying to pry his vice-like grip.

Judas’s hands slid down the sides of his jacket, his fingers snaking around the cold metal of his pistols, “You got this,” he stated in a half question towards his comrade.

Karnal Sin’s attempts at speaking were hindered greatly by the sheer force of the choke, “Sure…I...” she tried to swallow some air, “…got this.”

Judas stood ready, much like he had done when they were being hunted down earlier that day.

Two Hours Earlier: Atlas Park

“Xanatess, what are you doing?”

“Xanatess?” Judas looked over at Karnal Sin incredulously.

She flashed a dazzling smile his way, shrugging as she lamely explained, “Wasn’t my choice.”

“HA!” He belted the singular laugh in response, the both of them turning towards Springfist. He was an older hero, his gray hair striking against his boldly colored costume, but she knew he was capable. He had trained the likes of Charon and was a legend within the Old Guard ranks.

Judas and Karnal Sin had been around Atlas Park, trying to fulfill a portion of their mission from Judex in finding more information as to why Sebastian Kain had allowed himself to get arrested. Judex didn’t want them to go after him half-cocked. They were barely maintaining their cover when Judas ran to the Atlas Statue to attack it. He was quickly stopped by Springfist.

City Hall cleared itself of other heroes, the new trainee heroes wouldn’t stand a chance against professionals like Judas and Karnal – and they knew it.

Karnal Sin had immediately disappeared into the shadows when she caught sight of Springfist. She was no fool and didn’t discredit his abilities. When the hero had turned to Judas, spouting the obligatory lines expected from the old-timers, she revealed herself, triggering a battle between the two with Judas watching.

Judas liked to let her play, and enjoyed her twisted sense of entertainment from tormenting others. He couldn’t hide his smile as he watched the blonde beauty pace around Springfist, circling him like prey.

“So my husband sends an old geezer to find me?”

“He’s sent scores of us out looking for you. I have to take you in.”

Karnal threw her head back laughing, hysterically. Judas joined in. So did his thugs.

As Springfist stared at them in confusion, his eyes a little sad to see Xanatess carrying on in such a way, and consorting with the likes of Slaphappy, he was taken by surprise as she disappeared into the ether, only to reappear directly in his face, boot first, a breath later.

The kick landed Springfist on his back, the marble of the base of the Atlas statue barely holding up from the force of his body slamming into it.

She landed above his head, looking at him upside down.

Defiantly looking up at her, he stated, “Orders are orders,” he recovered, his body agilely leaping to his feet.

The battle that followed was over quickly. Judas permitted Karnal to play with her former colleague, taunting him, as she glided by, blowing on his ear hidden from his sight, as Judas laughed from the sidelines. Circling him like a hungry lioness, she taunted him, toyed his thoughts, thoroughly enjoying herself.

Once she finally decided to engage him head on, they met each other blow for blow – but Karnal Sin could only take the hits for so long – and it wasn’t until then that Judas joined in to keep the hero at bay. As Karnal happily backed off, licking her wounds, her heart just not into the fight, Judas dropped the old-timer easily, the mass volume of his bullets ripping into Springfist’s body.

The hero collapsed for good this time, having already risen on several occasions to continue the fight. He just couldn’t get up, he was exhausted – his body black, blue, bloodied, and beaten.

The two villains stood above him, his breathing barely visible as he slipped into unconsciousness. They looked at each other for a moment, the high from the fight leaving both of their senses.

“What should we do with him?” Karnal asked her companion.

“Let me put him out his misery, he’s lived a good life…” Judas immediately pulled one of his pistols out, pointing it down at the hero, “Let me take him out back…PAH SAYS I CAN’T KEEP YOU!”

Karnal raised her hands, resting them on Judas’s chest, “No wait…I have a better idea.” She reaches beneath her cape to the back of her belt, pulling the blue and yellow Xanatess mask out of a pouch.

“Give me one of your cigars, darling.”

Judas, not really following her intentions, gleefully acquiesced, “Oh yes!” He grabbed a cigar from one of his minion’s mouth, roughly opened Springfist’s and lodged it between his teeth.

Karnal Sin giggled, “No, give it here…” she lowered herself to grab the cigar, she placed it between her teeth, her right index finger pointed, and at its tip, using a concentrated and small burst of energy to light the tobacco, puffed on it expertly.

Judas stared at her, his head tilted, “Wha? Awww, that was a good look for him!”

Holding the mask out with her left hand, she took the cigar with her right, burning holes in it with the lit end. Kneeling down next to the unconscious hero, she stretched the material over his face.

“Let’s deliver him to my husband.”

Judas scoffed, “I’m not carrying him.”

“Get one of your boys to do it, silly.”

“Oh yeah! That’s what they’re here for, huh?”

Two Hours Later: Pocket D

Xanatos’s eyes were flaring furiously, the icy glare enough to worry Karnal in wondering if he was truly going to snap her neck.

“I will not rest until you are hunted down and imprisoned for your crimes,” he growled out at his wife.

And with that simple statement he flung her to the floor, “Come, Luficia.” He left the lounge with his fellow Challenger by his side.

Karnal tried to get up, her head still fuzzy from the lack of oxygen she just endured, when a hand placed itself in her face. Judas smiled down at her, “You’re fine.” She loved how he would state things so matter-of-factly instead of asking her – she took his hand and got to her feet.

“Well that was interesting,” she said, dusting herself off, visibly swallowing and rubbing her neck.

“Yes it was.” Judas snickered at her, affectionately brushing a hand through her hair to straighten it.

She leaned on his shoulder with her elbow looking out the door of the lounge where Xanatos and Luficia had just walked through, “He’s angry now…they’re so much more fun when they’re angry…”

“Yes they are.” She giggled at him, kissing his cheek lightly.

They shared a knowing look, twin grins spreading on their faces.


Karnal Sin didn’t break her bold gaze at Xanatos as she asked again, “Do you really want me to leave?”

Her husband said nothing, ice shards slowly formed around his enclosed right fist.

Ignoring his threatening stance, she took a slow breath, arched her back intentionally as she lifted her body off the table. Sitting upright, she ran a slender finger down the length of her red leather, thigh high boots idly, breaking the silence, “I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting you to defend the little girl like that…” She turned her head to the right, the corresponding shoulder lifting to meet her chin coyly, pouting out the words, “We’re hurt.”

Xanatos’s fist began to swirl with an icy halo, causing Karnal’s skin to rise in bumps at the drop in temperature of the already chilly room, the windows icing over as his body shook with anger, “Do not talk about Kathryn.”

Dropping the pout, she smirked, raising a perfectly manicured eyebrow at him, “Why not?” She hopped onto the desk, kneeling, “Because you’re all hurt over what we did with Emperor Xanatos?” She scoffed, “Gods, you don’t even CARE that she killed a hero, do you?” The realization of this made her smile, “You DON’T, DO YOU?”

His eyes shut as he tried to control himself, “No,” he managed before taking a deep breath, “I won’t have a…monster…like you make a mockery of the most incredible woman I have ever known.”

He opened his fiery eyes as he finished the sentence, looking at her defiantly; “That’s why.”

“Most incredible woman you’ve ever known?” She stood up on the desk, pacing along the wooden façade as she spoke, “Past tense is key, though, huh, my love?”

He flinched at the affectionate term.

“You know, really…if you hadn’t interfered with Dominion affairs all those years ago, this wouldn’t be happening right now,” she turned on her heel pacing back down the desk slowly, “Tell me, Xanatos, what was it like; knowingly choosing the life of a villainess over a fellow hero?”

She stopped in front of him, bending down as she had before in the Pocket D, her hands on her knees, her elbows straight, meeting his face a mere inches away, “What was it like, ‘hero’?”

“She would’ve died if I didn’t get involved! Where was Chimera II? Rakescar? Machina Shard? Overseer? Fearghas? In the end, there was only me. Even a creature like YOU should respect that.” He practically snarled at her, his anger rising as he felt even more humiliated and ridiculous for having to justify saving her life to her.

Karnal tilted her head, still staring at him inches away, “Did you ever think that we weren’t suppose to live?” She smirked, continuing, “But you don’t care much about the ethical issues in playing God, do you?”

She took a breath, pausing, holding it before finishing, “Don’t you see? This is all your fault.”

“If you say so, villain.”

She stood up, looking down her nose at him, “There’s that word again…”

Karnal was silent for a moment, choosing her next words carefully, “So…how is our daughter? Don’t I get some type of visitation rights or something?”

And with that, Xanatos lashed out, an icy fist connecting with her jaw at full-force, carried not only by his physical strength, but by the frozen forces of nature he had summoned. The power of the blow threw Karnal loudly and violently backwards across the room into the opposite wall. She collided with it forcefully, her tiny yet powerful frame creating a small cloud of drywall, dust, and general debris around the hole the impact had just created.

“STAY AWAY FROM HER!” His yell was pure and unadulterated rage as he casually flipped his desk aside, as if it were made of paper, and continued to advance towards her, his eyes burning a bright white.

The dust began to settle and he narrowed his eyes attempting to peer through the haze. At first he saw nothing, then a dim gleam, a gleam that grew in intensity until all he could see were two red eyes, glowing furiously. Karnal was ready to play.

He braced himself for her counter attack. But when it did not come, the golden age wonder looked about curiously. His usually cautious demeanor was more frantic that usual, without so much of a whisper of her movement to feed upon.

“Where are you?!” he bellowed, his head darting around, trying to seek her out. Speaking into the empty room, he commanded; “Computer, locate Kathryn Moore.”

::Unable to located Karnal Sin::

“That’s not her nam—“ He was interrupted by a focused beam of energy bolting across the room. The strength of the blast warped the air, striking him square in the chest, singeing the fabric of his costume, and knocking him back with the force of a freight train. He shut his eyes in pain as he was slammed across the room, taking out a pillar as his body made a bee-line towards his library. Books exploded from their shelves as his hulking blue form hit home, before it collapsed forwards, twisting, and landing ungracefully on the hard marble flooring. As his head bounced off the formerly shiny surface, Xanatos caught a glimpse of the vivacious vixen swaggering towards him.

Overly confident, having never truly battled her husband before, Karnal glided over to him. Thinking her efforts had done a lot more damage than they had, she stood on his chest gleefully; the heels from her stiletto boots painfully digging into his flesh.

“Hmmph,” came the response as the hero’s' eyes opened, before he effortlessly threw her tiny frame aside. She slid across the now icy floor, before catching herself and leaping away from him. She landed in a kneeling position, slowly rising to her feet as he sauntered over to her, ice charging around his right hand.

“This time…STAY DOWN.”

He struck her again in the stomach, the ice claw around his hand slashing into skin as it ripped through the thick red leather of her costume. She responded by doubling over in pain. With his other hand, Xanatos grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her backwards, nearly lifting the temptress off her feet, causing her back to arch painfully.

He looked into her eyes, his left fist raised to strike her again, icy tendrils gathering around it – but something was stopping him.

His hesitation was her opportunity. She growled at him, her right arm hooking around to connect with his jaw, the raw physical energy surrounding her fist knocking him away from her and backwards through a nearby coffee table – utterly destroying it.

“I like to PLAY with my food, not tenderize it, PET,” her words slowly slinked their way to him as she raised herself from the floor and hovered over him, ice and assorted debris falling from her as she did so. She was not making the same mistake of getting too close to him – he has tricked her once before. This time she was putting a little more confidence into his skills.

His eyes opened to see her floating above him, seemingly allowing him to catch his breath. Her true intentions were far more devious for, as she caught sight of his gaze, her left hand casually extended in his direction, dripping raw energy like hot wax onto his chest. Putting his hands together suddenly, he fired an ice blast at her, but not before the energy rained upon him, burning holes in his costume. A drop landed on his facemask, forcing him to tear off the sheered material, the rest of his costume now precariously plastered to him with sweat and blood.

Karnal tried to block the ice blast with her forearms to no avail. She was shot, backside first into the ceiling of the office, the flimsy ceiling tiles shattering from the force of her crash. Reaching her arms out through the threshold of the ceiling, she grabbed at the edges of the hole she created – she was stuck. Quickly bracing her arms and legs, she pushed with all her strength and managed to dislodge herself, falling forcefully onto the couch beneath her, next to Xanatos. It crumpled under her tiny body.

“That the best you got, woman?”

Lifting off the couch and onto her feet, she wobbled a bit. Breathing heavily, her hands glowing defensively with energy, she looked down at herself – her red, leather uniform was in shreds, barely held together by the buckles, clips, and frame of her corset, her heel broken.

The hero began to swirl an ice storm around them, attempting to obscure her vision, causing her to wince at the gales of wind and ice shards slicing at her exposed skin. It was also obscuring his own vision, but it granted him time to think. He was attacking his wife. This wasn't right. Sure she was a villain...but should he be doing this?

Thoughts of his best interests never further from the front of her mind, she placed both her hands together, cradling a ball of energy that began to swell in sync with her heartbeat. The energy ball grew, fast, and faster, as her pulse picked up pace. Her entire body quickly began to glow with the fury of raw energy, her hair standing completely on end, as if trying to flee from the awesome force she was controlling. She had never been more powerful than she was in this moment as she galvanized every ounce of her rage and bloodlust.

Sensing, but not seeing, his wife, Xanatos leapt towards her. His long muscular arms outstretched, his gloved hands pawing in her direction as he tried to stop her before it was too late...

Speed always his enemy, and Xanatos was met with an explosion of raw, primal, energy that screamed through the both of them. She had not shielded herself to her own attack, deciding rather to simply react against his makeshift assault. The explosion battered through them both, their atoms crying out in unison as the pure, unrefined, uncontrolled energy ripped through their beings. A small crater formed under them as the magnificent explosion lit up the now heavily destroyed office.

Karnal Sin had gone nova.

Husband and wife lay opposite one another in the middle of the aftermath, both struggling to breathe. The hero was lying on his back again, his vision blurring in and out of focus. The villain, Karnal, managed to drag herself to her feet. She sneered as she staggered upright, the act had not been easy, but when she saw her husband laying there, the "mighty" hero Xanatos, she couldn't help but smirk to herself, intermittently, as she struggled to breathe for the second time that night.

Her airways now having calmed themselves, Karnal lifted herself from the ground, her battle-ravaged body glided over the crater that had once been an office, towards the wearied form of Xanatos. As she glided, the buxom beauty reached down and casually snapped off her remaining heel, tossing the broken piece to the side, the patches of ice causing it to skid erratically on the floor. She touched down atop his chest. Pressing one boot towards his heart forcefully, she hovered the other above his nether regions threateningly, a smile creeping along her full lips.

Xanatos’s head was spinning – the surprise energy attack making it hard for him to clear his already befuddled mind. His body ached from the potency of her assault. Her descent into villainy had made her stronger; fiercer. She was more dangerous now than she had ever been. He had been a fool to underestimate her; to hold back because she was his beloved. Now he lay battered and broken before her. Yet, ever the fighter, he raised one arm weakly, trying to move her from him, “V-villain…”

Her smile morphed into a smirk, her foot moved to rest on his inner thigh, “You can call me Mistress Sin, if you’d prefer, husband.” As she spoke, she allowed the pointed tip of her boot to dig into his thigh.

“It’ll take more than tha—“

She grinned, a shot of energy raced down her body, down her leg, and into him.

“—AAAAGGGGHHHHHH!” Xanatos arched his back and cried out in pain as energy coursed through his body. His arms, with what little energy they had left, pressed down onto the crater that had once been his office.

His wife stopped the outburst by lowering herself next to him, resting her tiny body in the nook of his arm and shoulder, her left arm pressed down on his chest, gentle coos of comfort coming from her lips, “Take this moment to rest, my love…” Karnal’s hand that had been holding him down began to trail along the contours of his clavicle, “…at least Kathryn’s being honest with herself now,” she spoke in a whisper, as if commenting on some question that had been hanging between them.

“Are you ready to be honest?”

Xanatos breathed out sharply as she touched him, her caress still making him respond in ways he wished it didn’t. He continued to glare at her, his right hand, slowly and weakly, moving to stop her.

She saw his hand, “Oh…not yet?” The hand that had been caressing him moved with frightening quickness, grappled at his thick, chorded neck. She squeezed, but her hand was small in comparison to the muscular hero, so she gripped his windpipe viciously.

“Too bad I can’t see you turn another shade of blue.” Propping herself up a bit, she flicked her other wrist, forming thin ringlets of energy to bind him to the floor.

She braced her hand around his neck, her fingers extended and flexed to form claws. Her nails, long since sheathed from the nearly nonexistent gloves, raked down the length of his broad chest, his skin ripping open, a trail of dark red blood following in their wake.

The hero cried out in pain, involuntarily jerking, the ringlets of energy keeping him secured.

Her eyes were manic, the normally coral gaze now a hazy red, as she leaned forward to his chest, licking at his wound gently, tasting his blood for a moment. Her tongue languidly relished along her lips, her eyes closed as she lifted herself to be centered on his stomach, straddling his broad frame. She tilted her head to left for a moment, regarding her work, his strong heartbeat causing the blood to gush forward rhythmically. With her wrists together, she started on his left and clawed across this chest horizontally, creating a seething, bloody gash, mimicking his hero’s cross on his uniform.

Xanatos cried out again, through gritted teeth, his jaw clenched, “Raaaaaagggghhhhh!”

When she stopped, he sucked in his breath, looking up to gaze into the eyes of his wife. He paused as he studied her, looking for a trace of the women he fell in love with – only to find her – that very woman, now glaring back at him, her own eyes burning with pure sadism. Her uniform hung around her in tatters, her hair a wild storm on her crown, her lips smeared with blood – his blood. She had, in that instant, truly transcended into the animalistic Carnal Sin itself. There was no love behind her eyes, just pure, raw, wanting.

She pressed her hips into him, the warmth of her body a stark difference to his lowered body temperature. Laying on top of him now, her body slicked in his blood, she glided up the length of his torso, her skin’s friction not allowing his wounds to clot and they bled furiously. Meeting his face with her own, she rested her elbows to cradle his Adam’s apple. Karnal regarded him for a moment before speaking, in a whisper, her breath hot against his skin, “Do you love me?”

Xanatos had been arching his back, pressing his body away from her into the floor. As he heard her question, he stopped suddenly, unable to answer. He fought against himself as he looked at her, watching in fascination and horror as she lifted off his neck, her hands sliding between them to his bleeding cross. She pulsed energy through him, causing his entire body to shake and convulse; wracked with pain.

Momentarily stopping from her play, she gave him a minute of respite. She didn’t move. She just sat there, on him, waiting.

The hero, a broken man, desperately trying to work through the flurry of emotions inside of him, answered simply, “Y-yes.”

She closed her eyes, a sick smile on her face as she heard the words she had been waiting for, kissing his chin lightly, before leaning back again.

“No,” she said simply.

He looked at her strangely as she rebuffed him.

“Not yet.”

His face contorted in confusion and pain; “Wha…?”

She leaned down to him, her face an inch from his, her eyes locked in his gaze, “Not until you have really ventured into the dark corners of your mind…that place that has always been hidden from me…where you truly understand the symbiosis of pleasure and pain, darkness and light…where you can truly understand ME, and yourself…then…then you will love me.”

"Until then, you will know only pain."