You Better Not Be Her Prey

Chapter 6: Personality Switch

That evening... 

As the sun began to go down in the fading afternoon sky, the first thing that the Avengers noticed was Adelaide's change in behaviour. She barely spoke, unlike that morning when she was talkative and somewhat docile. She hardly touched any of her evening meal, and would regularly pace back and forth in her cell, muttering words under her breath, or simply sitting in the corner of her cell, staring vacantly ahead. 

Natasha and Steve watched Adelaide in her cell. She was quiet again after another bout of pacing and muttering. Suddenly, almost as if she knew they were there, she looked up at him and smiled wickedly, showing off her vampire fangs. 

Steve had been tossing and turning all that night. When he came to after a while, he looked at his alarm clock by his bed. It was only 12:45 AM. He sat up slowly, looking around his room, and suddenly his eyes met what looked like a shape standing by the door. He blinked, trying to make out the shape, but it was too dark. Just then the shape moved and he sat stock still, trying not to move any further. The shape's head - or what seemed like a head, seemingly moved again, and a pair of glowing red eyes met his. He froze, blinked and shook his head, thinking it was all a dream, but when he opened his eyes again, the shape still held its polarising red, glowing gaze. He leaned over, keeping an eye on the shape, and turned on the lamp next to him. As soon as the shape had appeared, it was gone. He switched the light off again. The shape was gone too. Pulling himself out of bed, he pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a sweater, then walked out of his bedroom and to the stairwell door. The elevator would be too loud. 

He walked down the stairs. As he got closer to the prison cell level, he heard something soft, and it sounded an awful lot like a voice. A voice that was singing. When he finally entered the prison cell block and began to walk to her cell, the sound grew louder. It was a voice, and it was her voice. She was singing something, but it was in a different language, and he couldn't make out any of it. The sing-songy voice that she was doing it in made his blood run cold with fear. And the fact that it was in a different language was worse. He stopped in front of her cell, keeping his distance from the door. She smiled at him, but the smile was neither genuine nor pretty. His heart beat hard. 

'Your heartbeat's very loud,' she said softly with a laugh that was nothing like he'd heard before. She tilted her head, her lower lip sticking out in a pout. 'Am I scaring you, baby?' His throat went dry. 

'Don't call me that,' he choked out. 

'Oh, Steven, you know you like it when I call you that. Do I scare you?' He wanted to say yes, but before he could, he blurted out, 

'No.' She smiled again wickedly, her fangs showing. She tilted her head slightly. 

'I don't believe that. Your eyes give you away, handsome. I would love to taste some of that blood. Feel it running down my throat. And I think you'd find it just as pleasurable.' He opened the door to the cell and all but walked to her, as if he were in a trance all of a sudden, then pushed her up against a wall, smashing a bruising kiss against her lips. 

When he finally came to himself again, he was on the ground of Adelaide's cell, and she was on top of him. He blinked, looking up at the gorgeous sight above him, staring down into his eyes with a smile that could only be described as glittering, but it wasn't a pretty kind of smile. Her eyes had a predator's glint to them. 

'S'pretty,' she said softly, in the shell of his ear. 'I'mma treat you so good, you'll forget your own name in the morning.' He tried to sit up, but she pushed him back down, and leaned forward, running her teeth and tongue over his carotid, then licked the spot. The feeling was so spine-tingling that he let out a moan. He desperately tried to clear his head but to no avail. She had him trapped. Then sharper teeth dragged across his skin, and he knew this was her fangs. Then she went to bite down on his carotid, but before she could, he picked her up and threw her to the other corner of the cell. She hit the wall behind the bed and fell onto it, then got up, jumping to the floor, hissing and growling, her fangs bared and her eyes red and stormy. He ran for the door and slammed the button on the control panel to close it immediately. She jumped against him, clawing at the glass, letting out an inhuman screech. Then her eyes flickered to something that was seemingly behind Steve, and she let out a panicked scream, backing up to the bed. 

The change in her behaviour was terrifying, and he could only stand there frozen in front of the glass as her eyes glowed even more and then he saw claw-like nails come from her hands and go up to claw the power-restraining collar around her neck. She screamed again, scratching more fervently at the collar, but it did nothing. Her cries were desperate, pained as she seemed to scream, cry and call for help at the same time. After a full five minutes, she slumped against the wall, the scratches on her neck healing somewhat. Her claws retreated into her fingers and her eyes darted around the room nervously, looking everywhere except at Steve.

How someone could switch so easily and yet painfully was beyond him. He watched her as she curled into herself and laid down on the floor, barely registering his presence. After a few moments, and as she laid curled up on the floor, she met Steve's eyes and shot him a malicious smirk.