She was up to something. As Andraemalek walked to the window in his unfurnished living room, he wondered what the random human was doing. He'd found himself growing much too curious about her in the few weeks he'd known her. He shouldn't have; he had a job to complete if he expected to make it into The Order. His growing attraction to Nadia would help no one, least of all him.
But he did not stop himself as he walked to the window to look into her apartment. When he told her that he lived across the quad, he neglected to tell her that he could see right into her living room. Andraemalek had spent many nights watching as she studied, read, and dotted over the neighbor's damned cat. She was a simplistic woman, he learned, one that he found to be increasingly complicated because of her simplicity.
She was practically naked. Andraemalek watched as Nadia paraded around her apartment in nothing more than a burgundy tank top and black cotton panties. What was she thinking? The curtains weren't drawn. She lived on the first floor; anyone could have seen her. No one was supposed to see her in such a state of undress.
No one save him.
Andraemalek shook his head. What was he thinking? Nadia was allowed to do whatever she wanted. She was a grown woman. If she wanted to walk around in such a state of undress in the middle of a Wednesday afternoon knowing that there was a possibility of unscrupulous men staring at her mouthwateringly luscious body, then so be it.
He still didn't like it.
Andraemalek watched as she walked to a small radio. She fiddled with the knobs for a minute before she began to move her head along to the music she listened to. The music must have been something she enjoyed immensely because she began to dance. They were small movements at first, little kicks of the feet or waves of the arm, but soon, she lost herself in the music and began to sway her wide hips enticingly. He stood fascinated as she seemingly drew circles with her hips. As she skipped and danced in the room, her breasts jiggled and swayed.
His mouth went dry.
Looking away, Andraemalek saw a pack of cigarettes on the countertop and mentally called one to himself. He also called a lighter. After lighting the cigarette and taking a long drag, he looked at her again. His body was hot, he noticed, and only increased in heat when she pulled her hair free of the confines of its bun. Electricity swept through him as her hair caressed her shoulders as she moved her head from side to side. His body tightened at the thought of being in the room with her, watching and feeling as she danced on him. Her lips were moving, a clear indication that she was singing as she danced. "What the hell is she listening to?" Andraemalek called forth a cordless radio and quickly turned it on. He flipped through stations slowly, watching to see if her lips moved in time with any of the songs he heard. It took several seconds but finally, he found the station she listened to and shook his head in amusement when he heard the words she sang to:
"In touch with the ground/ I'm on the hunt I'm after you/ Scent and a sound, I'm lost and I'm found/ And I'm hungry like the wolf/ Strut on a line, it's discord and rhyme/ I howl and I whine, I'm after you/ Mouth is alive, all running inside/ And I'm hungry like the wolf"
He shook his head slowly as he watched her dance. He should have stopped, should not have been so invested in a simple human dancing to music but could not stop himself. She was mesmerizing. Andraemalek felt something on his face and realized that he was sweating, something he'd never done before. He shook his head. "She's only a human." Why did he react to her? He'd been near humans before, even beautiful human women with bodies that should have made him speechless but not one of them made him sweat.
Andraemalek sighed in relief when Nadia stopped dancing. Then he realized that there was a fine sheen of sweat covering her body. "Shit." He had to step away from the window. Walking to the kitchen sink, he got himself a glass of water and quickly gulped it down. There was an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach and a very distinct one in his groin. "Think of the job, Drae." He took a breath and braced his hands on the edge of the sink. He needed to find a reason to get back into the apartment. Once in, he would learn what she knew about the supernatural and if anyone else knew as well. Then he would kill her and move on to his next mission. He needed to leave Earth; living here was humanizing him.
* * * * *
It was a very foolish idea to go to the twenty-four hour food mart at midnight but Nadia needed comfort. She had no friends, no real ones anyway, and being alone meant that she always got her work done when she planned to. Unfortunately it also meant that there would be nights like this where she would have nothing to keep her mind off the fact that she was alone and would thus make runs to the food mart. After the incident that introduced her to Andrae a month before, she should have learned to stay indoors. But she was a foolish woman, one who always found a way to get herself into some kind of sticky situation.
"You are an obsession/ You're my obsession/ Who do you want me to be/ To make you sleep with me?"
Nadia sang to herself as she walked home. That was the problem with being in the Mp3 generation; having one's favorite music at hand at any given moment meant that one could become lost in the music. For Nadia, becoming lost in the music meant that she had to sing the music. Midnight probably wasn't the best time to start singing to herself, especially considering it meant that any predator would catch her unawares but she could not stop herself; she was too far gone.
The hand on her shoulder caused Nadia to act on instinct. She dropped the bags in her hands and turned sharply to hit. She would not be a victim. Not again.
She stopped when her wrist was held in a tight but gentle grip. Looking up, she sighed in relief when she saw Andrae staring at her quizzically. "Jesus Christ, you scared the crap out of me."
