poppy

It was quiet when she woke up - disturbingly quiet. But, Poppy liked disturbing and she loved her sleep even more so the sleepy girl allowed herself to be lulled asleep again by the slight sounds of dripping water and creaking walls.

She woke once again when she heard chattering close by. For someone that slept so much, it was frustrating for her that she was such a light sleeper.

Being dragged closer to consciousness made her aware of the cold metal around her wrists and the lack of her cherished puppy Lucifer. This made her angry, angrier still that the mysterious people near her kept talking loudly. How inconsiderate.

Poppy made a sound of obvious annoyance and wiggled deeper into her hard metal chair, clearly telling the people to shut up.

She wondered what she was pricked with in the alley way because it didn't seem to leave her with any funny feelings. She was disgusted, imagining a random homeless man had managed to sneak behind her with a dirty needle.

The stranger kidnapping her just made it easier to find shelter for the next few days. "Free victim transportation," she thought. However, she was extremely disappointed she didn't get her victim of choice. She wondered where the handsome stranger she followed was now and if he was grateful for the lucky escape.

Incoherent mumbles made going back to sleep impossible so she pried her eyes open and lifted her head to glare at the direction of the noise. She deduced that it was a couple men in her proximity, not close enough to see or make out words. Her eyes were met with pure darkness. No light of any sort was offered so she couldn't even determine where she was or how to escape.

Thus, Poppy resorted to staring angrily in front her - unmoving and silent.

She did this for what felt like many hours and many days, ignoring every desperate, pitiful growl that her stomach made.

Even when loud footsteps rattled the creaking wood around her, she didn't flinch. A large shadowed figure stood in front of a now opened door and didn't waste time in strongly walking towards her, while turning on a light on the way.

Once her eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness, from what she saw she was in a basement of sorts, although the stains on the concrete floor suggested it was used more than to just store broken kitchen appliances.

The man in front of her was dressed in casual black clothes, definitely not ones belonging to a homeless man. He didn't react to her glaring at him and instead went behind her to unlock the cuffs that had rubbed her wrists dry.

Poppy assessed her options. Now her capture was distracted with un-cuffing her, she could kill the man with natural talent, skill and a lot of luck. Or wait until she had a better view of her escape route to perfectly execute a plan of attack. Or the better option, explore the building in search of Lucifer before killing everyone inside to stay in her new shelter forever.

She decided to go for the latter.

She felt herself be dragged roughly to her feet by the elbow but didn't falter her glare at the man, even as she stumbled up the steps and out of the door. Outside of her dungeon, she was met with impressive paintings lining tall walls and moody lighting provided by expensive chandeliers.

"Stop staring at me," the man ordered next to her. It was an older voice with an indistinct accent.

"A boring voice for a boring face," Poppy thought. Her expression only happily changed into one of a tight-lipped eerily realistic smile when her capture tightened his grip on her arm as a warning. She loved getting under people's skin, even if it wasn't with a blade.

Curious eyes burned into her as they walked through numerous corridors. She dragged her feet purposely, hoping the man would get frustrated and carry her the rest of whatever journey they were taking. However, it just lead to a painfully bruised arm.

Despite the man's obvious strength, she knew she could easily escape from his grip. But, her curiosity was her weakness and so was her missing puppy. This didn't mean she wasn't already planning her attack for when the time called for it.

Her head was full of images, or premonitions, of heavy vases being thrown at heads, fancy alcohol bottles that could be smashed for sharp weapons to slice necks, decorative pillows to suffocate the bigger men where a simple stab wound wouldn't do, and if she was lucky, she may have seen a glimpse of a stray pencil.

Her thoughts were unbeknownst to the large man beside her, who firmly knocked on one of the doors. They opened to reveal a room rich with wealth and poor with character, making her sigh in disappointment. Poppy felt her colourful soul draining out of her and fought the urge to paint the room with her favourite red.

Her disappointment was short-lived, however. Because her eyes soon met ones of the beautiful stranger that was her intended victim before she was drugged by what she thought was the homeless man. The sudden realisation she was wrong in her assumption made her disappointment return, only it was directed at herself this time.

"How mysterious," she thought.

"Hello," he said. His voice made her knees weak and her body tingle in a way she was used to only after seeing a particularly shiny weapon.

The man stepped from behind his mahogany desk and revealed the rest of another well-tailored suit. His shoes were ones of luxury and stepped closer and closer to her.

She noticed the man beside her had fixed his posture slightly and his hand grew warm around her forearm, things the usual person probably wouldn't have noticed. His nervousness around the alpha-like male grew her excitement.

Poppy once again hid this and stared blankly at the man's eyes. She noticed he didn't shy away from the eye contact and instead stared at back at hers with the same intensity. "My name is Elijah," he said strongly. It seemed silence didn't bother him either as there was a pregnant pause before he continued, "sorry to have kept you waiting down there. I hope we kept you comfortable."

Her eyes still stung from the light and her stomach had given up it's protest for food days ago. She suspected it had began to wither away.

He squinted his eyes at her inquisitively and then turned to the man that held her arm, a man that was noticeably more boring looking now she was in the presence of her stranger. "What happened? Is she mute now?" Elijah asked.

"She hasn't said a word since she woke up." He shook her arm violently, almost making her wince. "Don't be rude, little girl," he snarled at her.

Elijah raised his arm and firmly ordered, "leave us, Russel."

He did so immediately but Poppy resisted the urge to soothe her aching arm and instead continued to stand like a statue in his absence. This didn't last long, however, because Elijah grabbed the same arm and guided her to the chair in front of his desk. Unlike his friend, he was gentle - much more gentle than his appearance would suggest. She even felt his thumb subtly rub her bruises, leaving tiny sparks of electricity in it's millimeter path.

"Sit," he commended, which she did obediently to her surprise.

He sat on his chair, much larger than hers. She pondered if the size of chair was how men showed their authority. Some people like Russel deserved stools. Poppy on the other hand knew she was fit for a chair larger than anyone else's - she wasn't easily intimidated.

His eyes held curiosity as he watched her. They sat in silence studying each other, tracing each other's face with their eyes slowly. "What's your name?" he finally said.

The amused smirk disappeared when Poppy remained as still as ever. "Are you not going to speak?" He squinted his eyes at her, almost in warning but Poppy proudly lifted her chin up and shook her head.

"What? Is this the silent treatment or something?"

"Finally! He gets it," she thought in her head. It was the ultimate punishment. She learned that after all the times she held someone captive. Not answering their questions was worse than the actual kidnapping it seemed. They'd go mad and beg for human conversation after only a few weeks.

She nodded her head with a mischievous smile. "Fuck you," she slowly mouthed, accentuating every syllable. This somehow amused Elijah because he laughed. Her smile dropped and her eyes analysed him when he then reached into his desk draw slowly. Fight or flight mode was activated and she was already inching towards the door, flashes of an escape route appearing in her mind.

This all disappeared quickly when he pulled out an extremely muddy and shaken Lucifer. "Lucy!" Poppy squealed and clambered over the desk to reach for him. It was then snatched out of reach when her face was met centimeters from Elijah's, close enough to smell his godly cologne and feel the smugness radiate off him.

"And she speaks," he said softly, not phased by the fact she was on his desk on all fours with a hand outreached towards a stuffed puppy. Also not to mention he was in immediate proximity of her morning kidnapping breath.

"Give. Me. My. Puppy."

Getting closer with each word, she pushed her forehead against his threateningly, hoping he could tell from her eyes how serious she was. Woof woof. Lucifer's cry for help got her attention but this was all she needed for Elijah to land a serious head bump to her head, knocking her down onto her bum.

"That will teach you to be disrespectful." Unexpectedly, he held his glass of ice water against her forehead in a sort of caring way that was foreign to her. Poppy grumbled words under her breath. "I'll exchange this manky thing... for your name," he said, a tone full of confidence.

"Poppy. Now give me back Lucy," she demanded, reaching for him again but this time, Elijah handed her the soiled stuffed animal.

"I can wash that for you," he offered, while using a napkin to wipe the cold condensation off her forehead.

Poppy didn't appreciate how he eyed Lucifer with disgust. "Just so you can steal him again? No thank you, mister!" She inched away from him and slowly slid back into her seat, eyeing him closely. Her mysterious man was getting more and more mysterious. She couldn't identify his goal and if it was to steal a stuffed puppy, he was a stupid as well as beautiful. "Why did you kidnap me?" She asked, before focusing her attention back on her poor Lucy.

"You interested me," he smirked. "Especially when you started following me."

She plainly replied, "it was a coincidence."

"Sure it was."

"Just because I am insanely interesting and adorable does not mean you can keep me in your basement for weeks," she frowned angrily, ignoring the voices chanting hypocrite at her.

Again, he rolled his eyes and leaned back leisurely in his seat, unfazed by her words. "You were down there for barely a few hours."

"Interesting," she thought, "wrong again."

"I had to think of what to do with you. I know you entertain me of sorts, but I couldn't let you stay while being useless."

She wondered how long she's amuse him for - whether a day, a week or just the next five minutes. She made a mental note to always be one step ahead, a step she wouldn't find the need to take with the usual predictable person. "So what clever idea did you come up with?"

He rested his elbows on the desk and entwined his fingers together in front of his chin. "I suppose you'll have to know who I am first of all, Poppy." She quirked an eyebrow at the suspense, unknowingly holding Lucifer closer to her chest for some comfort.

"I run the largest group of contract killers in the country. People hire us to assassinate the people even the most murderous won't touch. And you, babygirl, are going to be bait."

And at that, Poppy smiled.

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Thank you for reading!

How are you?

Now we meet Elijah. What's your favourite bad boy name?

WORDS: 2096

Much love <3

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