Saints and Sinners

Five:

Five

She had put on the clothes that he had given her. He had had Zoya pick things out after the tattoo had appeared, and in fact had a whole closet of things for her. When she was ready to share his room, that is. For now, the few that she had would do. He would spoil her a little more later once she became a little more compliant. Now, she was fuming, and the rage was practically bubbling off of her.

He sat at the dining room table, a long, black thing. He had a full breakfast there with eggs, bacon, French toast, pancakes, waffles, and pastries. Complete with orange juice, tea, coffee and mimosas (only on the weekends). His personal chef cooked anything he might have been in the mood for and the rest was left for servants through out the day or donated to the nearby homeless shelter. He never let food go to waste. But today, in particular, he didn't want to skip. He wanted Alina to have anything her heart desired. His life depended on this girl, and he liked his life. He had worked hard and done terrible things for everything he had. And he wasn't going to let some little upstart ruin that.

He would get Alina off her saintly high horse, and together they'd dance with the damned.

Her brown eyes glared at him. "You took my cell phone."

"Obviously."

"Am I prisoner?" Alina asked.

"Of course not." He took a sip of his coffee and focused on his paper. "However, until I can be certain that you won't call the stad watch on me, your phone privileges are revoked."

"Revoked?" Alina said. "Are you kidding? I'm your soulmate. I'm not a captive."

He looked up at her and smirked. "You know, the myth would have you believe that soulmates are purely about love. But it's a lot bigger than that, Miss Starkov. Soulmates are about the balance in the universe. Good and bad. If you live a saintly life, one filled with love and goodness, you ascend to sainthood and get to watch over your loved ones in the afterlife. Keep them safe. If you are a sinner, so the Saintism religion doctrine goes, you become darkness itself. Forced to dwell in the shadows for all eternity. I've made my life choices, Miss Starkov. There is no one that will be watching over me when I die. And the thing is, I like darkness. Tastes like chocolate. Darkness gives me those fine, designer clothes you are wearing. The breakfast spread you see before me. All of the luxury I have in life. And I do not intend to have that taken from me by some upstart, little do-gooder simply because I have a tramp stamp with her name on me."

Alina glared. "That's not what a tramp stamp IS."

He smirked. "Are you familiar with such things? Do you have one?"

"No!" Alina blurted. "I just---you know what—what are you saying, Morozova? Are you saying you are going to corrupt me?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying, dearest. Now why don't you sit? You know it's not poisoned, at least. That wouldn't do me any good. I need you to survive, after all."

Alina scowled. "Maybe I'll just starve us both to death."

He laughed. "I give it a week."

"A week? Before what?"

"Before you're completely enamored with the shadows, dear. Now do you take syrup on your pancakes?" He smiled at her. "We do have chocolate, if you prefer."

"What makes you so certain that I'll be the one that caves?" Alina challenged. She had yet to even try to sit down. Standing somehow made her feel more empowered. Zoya, on the other hand, had taken a seat next to Aleksander and was already digging into the breakfast.

Aleksander's lips twitched into a smile. "Because want overweighs nobility, Alina. There's always something someone wants. I've no doubt I can find all your wants and lure you into the shadows."

"He's very good at it," Zoya said, "it was how he swayed me over from the Lantsov firm."

Aleksander laughed. "I did no such thing, Nazyalensky. You did that on your own accord because your soulmate doesn't know he's your soulmate yet and you didn't want to influence his business practice."

Zoya rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. As if it weren't Ivan's waffles that lured me over with that breakfast lunch you had me 'audit'. You really should sit, Alina. The eggs are nice and fluffy."

Alina's stomach growled, and she glanced down at it and muttered something about it being a traitor. "No, thanks. I'm fine."

Aleksander raised an eyebrow. "You know I can feel what you feel, don't you? My hunger won't be sated until yours is."

She grinned. "I am aware of the legends, Mr. Morozova. I know that soulmates feel what the other feels. That's exactly why I'm not eating."

He glowered at her. "This a dangerous game you're playing, Miss Starkov."

Alina walked over to the other end of the table, and leaned against it, glaring at him. "I know the kind of man you are, Morozova. I saw you in the alley way last night. I'm not here because I'm your soulmate, I am here because I'm a witness. The soulmate thing is just a technicality."

Aleksander sighed. "I'm hurt that you think that way, Alinochka."

"If I can't go to the stad watch, I will do everything that I can to snuff you out. Even if it means having to destroy myself first. So no, I'm not eating a single bit of your food, Morozova."

Aleksander clenched his fists and took a sip of his coffee. "That's perfectly fine, Alinochka. But I believe your internship determines your graduation date, does it not?"

Alina frowned. "Yes. What does that have to do with anything?"

He smirked at her, like he had something on her. "You need energy to perform well at an internship. Otherwise, I might have to report to your university that you're performing poorly."

"It's a good thing I don't care, since I'm dragging you down to the darkness with me until there's no life left in either of us. Graduation dates won't really matter once we're both dead."