Alix sighed heavily and ran her fingers across her neck quickly and tensely. Hearing about the girl had shaken her up and she needed something to calm her down. She thought, amusingly, that sleep would be nice but for someone in her position, that sort of thing rarely happened. She was also positive it was not about to happen tonight, either.
She gave a grunt and pushed away from the wall where she had been leaning, starting for the elevator. Luckily, her wait was short. The inside of the elevator was as impersonal and cold as the rest of the building. Since the destruction of the classical White House and most of the Washington D.C. monuments in the early 2070’s, most of the buildings in Washington were hulking skyscrapers of steel and glass; glossy, white, and clean, but cruel. Airships buzzed by at all hours. Most people actually lived where they worked; Alix was no exception, as most of the White House staff lived in the gargantuan structure which just barely surpassed the Taipei 101 tower. From the top floor you got a perfect 360 degree view of the city, but for the most part the top floor was inaccessible.
Alix pressed the button for the second highest floor over and over again, as if in a futile attempt to get to her room any faster. She either needed to lie down or needed a hit, and seeing as how she was never going to get to sleep she opted for the latter, now even more anxious to get to her room, anxious to relax.
As the elevator passed over the 40 floors into the low 50‘s, it slid to a smooth stop and Alix let out a load moan as she realized she’d have to spend alone time with some lackey she knew she wouldn’t know; people on the 50-60 floors were technical support and all of that shit behind the scenes she really didn’t care about, so never really bothered to visit. The door slid open almost soundlessly and Alix focused her attention from the ad on the wall onto the unfortunate individual who had to spend time with her.
“Oh,” she stated simply to the person in front of her. “Hello, Mr. President.”
The meticulously groomed man in from of her let out a laugh and stepped into the elevator beside Alix. He made sure to stand on the left side of her, then casually reach across her to press the keypad for access to the button for the top floor, then proceeded to press the button. He smiled a pleased smile and settled, leaning against the wall next to her. “Cute.” he paused, in thought for a moment on how to word what he wanted to say. “I’m angry and disappointed in you.”
Alix frowned. “You say that as if I went in and handed the girl and the gun to the Angels, Eric.” she spat at him, angry that he would act like this with her.
Eric looked over then down at the ground, and momentarily afterwards the door opened to Alix’s level. “You know what, Alix...” he said, pressing the close door button. “Why don’t you come upstairs? I need to talk to you.”
Alix stared at his then at the still open door; the close door buttons didn’t actually work, they never had in most elevators since they had been invented. “I really need to --” she stopped, deciding just to leave it at that.
“Just come on.” he insisted, putting his arm across the elevator doors as they slid shut. Alix clenched her hands and looked off to the side, but stayed quiet until the doors slid open into Eric’s quarters.
It was a handsome room; off to one side was a sparsely decorated office, where most people came if he had some sort of business to talk with them, as it was the most aesthetically pleasing office in the White House. Off to the right she could see his penthouse; it was generally closed off and one would never know it was there. He had it open now, for one reason or another.
“I don’t know what you want but I’m not in the mood for it, I assure you.” Alix said sharply, turning to glare at him. She knew Eric well enough to know what he was thinking. Or at least she liked to believe so.
“I don’t want anything, Alix, except a little competence from you every once and a while.” he grit out.
She recoiled. “There was nothing I could do about that and you know it, so why don’t you stop this before I rip your throat out.” she spat, her nerves grating.
“Calm down.” he demanded. He reached into a desk drawer and retrieved something. “Catch.”
He threw a small pen shaped object into her hand. She looked down, slightly caught off guard but relieved none the less. She smiled, then looked back up at him. “Is it my birthday?” she said sarcastically.
“When did you start using that shit?” he asked bluntly, ignoring her question. That shit referred to the substance Alix now held in her hand. Originally designed as another form of morphine, it basically gave the same effect as heroin but with far less risk of addiction. It was still in high demand, though, for the simple fact that it wasn’t addictive. It was as if people were addicted to the idea that they would never really “need” it, so therefore used it whenever they could. The pen shaped needle, however, had been invented to ease the pain of immunization and to lessen the bleeding to practically nil. It was perfect for injection but hard to find outside of hospitals.
Alix cocked her head. “About the same time I started working for you.” She replied, then smirked again and flipped the end case off of the needle. “Why do you have it?” She added.
“I found it in your bedroom.” he said, walking to the same side of the desk as she was on, his hands in his coat pockets.
Alix narrowed her eyes. “Why were you in my bedroom?”
“I was looking for you.” he returned her smirk.
Alix rolled her eyes. “Cute.” she said, mimicking him. She started to walk out of the office and towards the door, but Eric steered her into the house area.
“That’s not all.”
Alix walked into the house area, noting a old burning smell she couldn‘t quite place. It was a lavishly decorated home, with windows completely around it; a fantastic view, she had to admit. She walked slowly over to a large couch and slumped down into it.
“Eric, why the fuck does Vincent have to come with me?” she suddenly blurted. “You know I could do this by myself, I don’t even want to hear the excuse. What the hell is he doing to do there?”
“Well,” he paused, thinking about his answer. “I know it‘d be a shame if he got caught by someone he couldn‘t handle...”
Alix was thrown off guard for a moment, then a smile slid over her face. “Oh. That’d be tragic.”
Eric let out a laugh and sat down next to her on the couch. “Well, you know I don’t like to share unless it’s someone I like, and I like Vincent just that much less.” he said, illustrating his statement with a hand on her thigh. She looked over at him and shifted enough for his hand to slide back off.
“No, no.”
Eric made a tsk noise and moved his hand just slightly to lie beside his own leg. There was a small pause afterwards, but to Alix it seemed at eternity, the needle burning a hole into her hand. She hesitated; she wasn’t ashamed of her “addiction,” which it wasn‘t really. She just didn’t think getting high in front of Eric was the best thing to further her career.
In frustration, Alix looked forward and started spinning the needle in her hand as if it really was a pen, almost subconsciously. Eric watched her do this and grabbed her hand, stopping the spinning.
“If you don’t want it, fine. Give it back or use it.”
Alix pulled her hand from his grip. “Take it, fine.” she pressed the hypodermic into his hand sideways and he closed his fist around it, both ends sticking out the sides.
There was a long, uncomfortable silence as Alix grew more and more impatient and Eric just smiled back at her, holding his hand exactly where he left it.
Only a few moments later, Alix found herself effortlessly digging her fingernails into Eric’s forearm. His grip loosened and the needle dropped onto the cushion, unharmed and completely intact. Alix loosened her grip as well and saw five half moon blood marks on Eric’s arm. Good. Alix reached down and plucked the needle off the cushion and held it tightly in her hand. Eric continued to stare and smile. Alix returned his stare with fury in her eyes.
“Fuck you.”
Alix slammed the needle into her neck and pressed down, feeling the drug flow through her veins. She suddenly felt uncharacteristically calm and slumped over to lie down on the couch, but managed to swing the needle into Eric’s palm for good measure before she did.
“Alix, please.” Eric said, as if reprimanding and small child, then pulled the needle out of this hand and threw it across the room.
Alix drew her legs up onto the couch and slung them across Eric’s lap. He looked over at her out of the corner of his eye as her stiletto heel stabbed into his thigh. He waited for a few more moments, silently, before he shoved her legs back onto the floor.
“No, no.” he mocked.
Alix gave a grunt and sat herself back up, woozy but not completely out of it. She turned her attention back to Eric, smiled, then let out a laugh. He just kept staring at her like she we some sort of freak.
“You’re still mad at me, you bastard. You shouldn’t be.” she said, glaring at him.
“Oh really?” He said, anger rising in his voice.
“Really. Maybe if you knew two things about being a President we wouldn’t be in this situation, but you can’t even handle your own army well enough to keep that place safe from the Angels.” she criticized, eyes narrowed.
Eric just sat for a moment, digesting what Alix had said. He was still and quiet for a moment, then turned to face her. “Who do you think you are?”
“I think-” she attempted, but was cut off by Eric’s hand around her throat. She was pressed down onto the couch with a very intimidating Eric over her, who now seemed much more threatening than he had before. She felt like her senses should have been clearing, but they weren't.
“No, wrong.” he spat. “You do NOT think. You do exactly what I say, when I say. Do you understand that?”
Alix truly felt fear now; she was still a bit confused and not prepared for this. “Eric, I-”
“What do you do, Alix?” he commanded. Alix recoiled at the force of his words.
“Eric, what-”
“What the FUCK do you do, Alix?” he screamed into her face.
Alix felt herself shrivel inside; she wanted to die. “I do what you want, when you want.” she whispered timidly; shamefully.
Eric loosened his grip on her throat and put his hands on each side of her head. He seemed as if he was going to get off of her, but instead leaned down next to her ear and whispered. “You’re nothing. That‘s what I think you are.”
Alix bit her lip and cursed herself for ever holding that needle; she was too disoriented to even disagree. “Eric, please.” she pleaded, hoping.
Instead, he laughed. “You are nothing but a whore. A whore that goes out and does my dirty work while I sit here and drink expensive wine and wait for you to come back and tell me how you fucked up again. Because that’s all you do, Alix. All you do is fuck. everything. up.”
Alix felt her eyes well up involuntarily, and she wanted to crawl under a rock. She attempted to shift her position to try and get out, but it was no use.
Eric smiled and she felt it against her cheek. He put his mouth right next to her ear, nearly touching it, and repeated. “You are nothing but a whore.” he kissed her neck lightly. He then lifted up to stare her straight in the eyes, their noses nearly touching. He kissed her roughly.
Alix made a move to hit him with a free hand but he grabbed it, twisted it and put it back down beside the couch.
“My whore.” he whispered, in an almost affectionate manner that scared her more than the yelling. There was a silence as he stared her square in the eyes and she met his gaze, fury showing through and through on her face. He smiled wickedly. “And I will alwaysbe on top.”
-------
------- [Previous entry: "Heaven Give Me Say"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Midnight Departure"]
