#killer characters

She huffed, wondering what she should do with the mysterious man upstairs. She was so used to traveling alone that the presence of someone made her anxious and stay on her toes for anything to happen, especially seeing how this man wasn't a usual one, her icy blue eyes drifting from the window to his weapons.

After five minutes, she got up from the chair, taking the tray of food, and marching upstairs to the bedroom, opening the door to see the brown-haired man smoke, gazing out the window at the snow falling down.

Without saying anything, she set the tray of food on the nightstand, taking her own portion and sitting into the old armchair next to the bed. He eyed curiously and suspiciously, taking the bowl and setting it in his lap.

"It's not poisonous if that's what you're wondering. If I wanted you dead I would have left you to the wild animals in the snow." she stated, taking a spoonful of her own stew.

He snorted at her words, taking a generous spoonful of the stew, his eyes closed, savoring in the taste and warmness of the dish.

"I've been through worse, myshka." he told her with a smirk.

Xaviera didn't say anything else, a tranquil silence falling on both of them as they eat. After she finished eating, she set her empty bowl on the nightstand, then gazed at him, many questions filled her head.

"Are you going to tell me now who you are and don't play that stubborn game of telling me a false name, Andrei Kulokova. It's not that hard to read your dog tags." she broke the silence, his own ice blue eyes widened a little at her words; that she knew who he was.

His surprised expression quickly changed into a hard glare, the hard cold walls surrounding him like some sort of protection.

"If you know my name is only fair to know yours." he told her, voice rough and with a certain predatory curiosity, like a wild animal wanting to acknowledge the other predator's identity.

"Xaviera Lah-Mo." she simply answered, making herself comfortable on the armchair, her eyes moving to his bandaged ankle, only for him to finish the food and starting to try to get up from the bed.

She gently pushed her hand on his chest to stop him from trying to get up, his eyes like a dangerous wolf ready to strike, but she kept her braveness, not breaking eye contact, macing his glare with her strict one.

"Your ankle is twisted, you need to rest." she firmly told him, who raised a scarred eyebrow at her words.

"What is it your business if I twist my neck?" the Russian man asked her, placing a big, rough hand on her arm gently, a silent warning for her not to pull a stupid stunt.

"I know you care too much for me, but try not fall in love." he whispered, a smug smirk tugging at his lips, K9's on display, but she only scowled at his arrogance, rolling her blue eyes at his attempt at flirting.

"Don't get all high and mighty. I don't want to drag your stubborn self upstair....again." she explained, his hand on her arm, burning her skin through the sweater she was wearing.

"And don't make me kick your ass out. There's a blizzard outside and there are worse killers that I'm sure will love an injured prey." she hissed, tugging at her arm from his hold, without a good result.

The Russian laughs; sadistic and twisted amusement in his wolfish eyes, his face inching towards her own; the two looking like two deadly wild animals ready to clash in a ball of claws and sharp teeth, the fight for dominance evident between the small woman and behemoth of a man.

"So much fire in such a little frame, darling..." he mused, lightening up his cigarette, blowing smoke in her face, making her venomous eyes intensify.

"I like that."

His grip on her arms tightens, it was loose enough that Xaviera could escape but also tight enough that she had to put on a little fight to escape the grips of the big bad wolf.

He was asserting the dominance here, reminding her of a male wolf in the prime of life, hot-blooded against a smaller one. It was a silent assertion.

'I am the big bad one, little one.' That's what it screamed.

Xaviera dismissed his comment, feeling her cheeks heat up involuntarily, something that happened to her in years.

"You know...Some of the deadliest animals are very small." she whispers, face pulled into a frown, just like a feline is ready to hiss in a warning.

Yes, size was important in the animal kingdom. Xaviera remembers during one trip in India when she was studying the King Cobra; a small animal in comparison with a tiger, but the snake packed enough neurotoxin to kill an elephant with a single bite.

"Don't make me scratch your eyes out." the white-haired woman warns him, tugging on her arm from his hold, without success.

The cigarette from between his lips hangs lazily, while he smirks her way.

"Come and try it, little kitten." he challenges her, only for Xaviera to blush at the use of the pet name on her, gulping down nervously, a weird feeling settling in her chest like something was crawling from the deepness of her ribcage. Despite that feeling, she kept a defensive demeanor.

"I'm not little." she hisses.

Andrei raises an eyebrow at her attempt to be threatening.\

"Have you looked in mirror?" he asks, pulling her closer, his body language telling her that he was deep in thought.

"Your neck will be so small under my hand as I squeeze...your trashing will be like nothing to me, little kitten." he spoke lowly with an animalistic growl that made Xaviera shiver, despite her facade at putting a feral face that made the Russian smirk.

Xaviera was the most sensitive at her neck, next to her ears and the prospect of him touching her there, made alarm bells ring in her head like a nuclear reactor ready to blow.

"If you touch my neck I am gonna castrate you, doggie." she hissed under her breath, brows pulled into a frown and her eyes looking directly into his.

She knew that if she broke the eye-contact that would be a sign of weakness on her part.

The man snarls only mere inches away from her face, one of his larger and rough hands moves to run along her thigh and she had to use all her power to control her breathing, trying not to show weakness or hesitation.

"Oh, you would love to get that close to me, wouldn't you....that intimate." he spoke, the air in the room turning from dangerous to sexual, the hand on her arm moving up to run the back of it along her cheek.

"You don't have to ask, baby girl, you know where to find me." with that said from his part, he removes his hands with a little shove and grabs the tea from the tray on the nightstand, taking a long sip while he held eye-contact with her.

Xaviera was taken back by his obscenity, never had she meet a man who spoke so directly at her in such lewd ways; probably because all the men she encountered were either too scared to addresses her, because of her ice-cold demeanor.

She snorts, pulling on a face of disgust.

"Keep dreaming, asshole. One more of that and I am gonna kick your butt in the snow." she warned him with her trademark icy glare.

Andrei holds the cup of tea in his lap and scoffs at her threat.

"Baby, I'm from Russia, the snow and cold is no bother to me." he tells her with a cocky smirk.

"You're infuriating." she tells him, stalking out of the bedroom and walking downstairs, leaving him alone.

After that, she went back on her research; she couldn't wait to kill the group of poachers that she had stalked for so long, mostly because their target was the rare snow leopard and just the idea of them killing the beautiful and gracious animal for the majestic fur made her see red and almost break a compass in her hand.

She needed to focus and that unnerving Russian was driving her nuts. Gazing out the window, the time passed so fast that it was starting to get dark outside, the night slowly falling in. Might as well rest herself during this blizzard, because she will need all the power for the upcoming hunt.

Her eyes looked to the stairs and she scoffed; no way was she going to sleep next to that male that she wanted to scratch his eyes out. She moved towards the fireplace, laying down on the fluffy blanket in front, the flames warming her up and making her eyelids feel as heavy as her sniper rifle.

Before she knew it she was fast asleep.

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She was running, that's all she could do, hearing the loud hitting of numerous paws hitting the dry ground. Her ears perked up as the sounds of laughing growling meet her, basically feeling how the sharp canines will tear her flesh to the bone.

No weapons, no defense. Xaviera was scared and she felt like death was chasing her in the form of a pack of hyenas; the only animal she was anxious to be around, mostly because it reminded her so much of her parents dead.

No, not the animal killed their parents, the poachers did and the feliform carnivoran mammals just clean up the mess. A 14-year-old being forced to watch how her mother was devoured by the feral animals. How the hyenas tore the flesh of her mother's face-off, ripping her limbs apart.

She couldn't run and before she knew it she was on the ground, mouths of sharp teeth surrounding her, snarling and mocking her.

She wanted to wake up!

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She jolted up with a scream, moving to get away from anything until her back meets a corner; she was hyperventilating, scanning her surroundings.

She was back in the cottage, in the bedroom, but she remembers that she fell asleep in front of the fireplace. Her gaze moved from the bed to the other side of the bedroom, seeing the Russian in a defensive position, one hunting knife in hand, the blade shining from the moonlight that peeks from the window.

Seeing that there was no danger, just the two of them in the silence of the night. He lowered his knives down, bending down and just looking at her.

She took as much air in her lungs as she could, controlling her breathing and uneasiness, reminding herself that it was only a nightmare and there is no danger, nothing to harm her in....that way.

Still, the gruesome images of her mother made her muscles tense, like a feline ready to pounce if she was threatened.

Xaviera was pulled from her dark thoughts by the slight shushing and cooing voice of Andrei, as he took careful steps towards her, her hands ready to strike if she had to, but he just stopped in front of her, not showing any sign that he will hurt or kill her.

Without realizing it, she leaned her forehead against his chest; she was so small compared to him and he could easily twist her neck if he so desired, especially in her vulnerable state.

That thought made her pull away from him slowly, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

"It was nothing." she told him in a quiet voice, exiting the bedroom and going downstairs, not having it in her to be around anyone at this moment.

The vulnerability was dangerous; she saw many times how that could cost someone's life. Animals showed no mercy when they got their prey in their claws or jaws....and so were humans, but humans were greedier, their avarice destroying everything.

Xaviera sometimes wondered if she was human because she felt more in connection with the wildness and animals.

Life thought her that is either you're the predator or the prey and she sure as hell wasn't going to be the second option. Still, she wondered why she saved the predator upstairs.

Maybe, because like her, he was more animal than human, and her soft spot for feral creatures kicked in?

Howard McKenzie (amputee; lost his right arm) is considered in-universe a serial killer by the one competent local police officer and I tend to agree considering how he treats his targets but one could argue that putting down demons is not exactly killing human beings? Yet Richard Aldana (depression/PTSD+alcoholism) killing the same demons albeit in self-defense, not deliberately hunting them, actually gets a higher body count Howard, you're an asshole and you're inefficient! (Comparision point, Dave McKenzie (no disability) is a nice guy and less a cold-blooded murdered than his brother; see their respective treatment of Baby Corinne Cass, but killed roughly just as many demons and would still fit the same by-the-book definition of serial killer if we go that way.) Rizel (visually impaired/facial trauma/scarring; had his right eye ripped out) is a monster and a cold-blooded murderer but doesn't fit the «serial» killer part. The Undertaker (amputee, lost is left arm) is a serial killer, period. Tomie Katana (substance abuse disorder; facial trauma/scarring/visually impaired) is good! Duke Diamond (heart disease; substance abuse disorder) is good too. And... Cristo Canyon (amnesiac) who's a positive character, who you're supposed to cheer on for taking out the Kahllo Cult, well, is still a damn serial killer for it.

Discuss?