An Unhealthy Obsession

CH 7: The Darkness Revealed

Groaning, Rachel placed a hand to her forehead as she slowly sat up, her vision going in and out of focus at a dizzying speed as she tried to make sense of her surroundings. The moon hovered majestically overhead through her window, its blessed radiance bathing her creamy skin with its soft, lambent glow. Rubbing her cheek with her palm, Rachel moved to rise to her feet just as a low voice greeted darkly, "Well it's about time you got up, Miss Dawes. I know most women tend to fall at my feet, but you were getting a little ridiculous."

With a gasp, Rachel staggered upward so quickly that she toppled over onto her nightstand, the Joker cackling uproariously as he urged, "Whoa, whoa, relax, beautiful -- all I wanna do is talk." When Rachel eyed him suspiciously, he held up the picture of herself and her father before asking, "Looks familiar, doesn't it? I always knew you were cold and uptight, but I never actually thought you capable of being the black sheep of your family."

"I don't know what you're talking about" Rachel coolly snapped. "I also don't know how you got that picture, but the viewpoint you have on me is completely distorted!"

"Not from where I'm sitting" the Joker lewdly observed. Allowing his dark eyes to travel down to the scoop of her low-cut blouse, he lecherously clarified, "After all, the view I've currently got is anything but distorted."

Upon realizing what he was referring to, Rachel defiantly pulled up her top so that her cleavage was hidden from all prying eyes, her gaze narrowing as she hissed, "If all you did was come here to heckle me about half-baked theories, I'd highly suggest you leave before I call the cops!"

"Half-baked?" The Joker almost regrettably shook his head. "Nope, sorry toots, but my theories are anything but half-baked."

"W-what do you mean? Did you hire a private eye to investigate me?"

"Didn't have to -- this city's crawling with libraries" the Joker returned matter-of-factly. "I decided to look up a few microfilms, and lo and behold...you popped right up, as well as this delightful little photograph." Tossing it at Rachel's feet, he finally rose before sustaining, "After reading that article, I discovered that you and I really aren't so different after all, Miss Dawes. The same blood runs through our veins...the blood of an animal hellbent on survival. When cornered, we lash out at our attackers, but unlike me, after a while you just lie down and play dead."

"Great, more mind games?" Rachel irritably observed. "If you're going to accuse me of something, just get it out in the open instead of shrouding it with metaphors."

The Joker grinned. "Very well, if that's how you want to play..." Retrieving an article from within the recesses of his pocket, he held it up to the light before smugly inquiring, "Look familiar, Miss Dawes? Maybe even a little too close to home?"

Wincing, Rachel turned her back on him before urging, "Take it away... I don't know why you're feeling the need to torment me like this, but I wish you'd just leave me alone!"

"What, and ruin all the fun we're having? All I really want to know is why you did it...why you felt the need to take out a loved one" the Joker insisted, his hand lowering the article as he slowly approached her. Running a gloved finger along the svelte curve of her chin, he chuckled before pressing, "What dark thoughts polluted that beautiful mind of yours and made it crave blood? You were only a child, after all..."

"I didn't do anything!" Rachel hissed, swatting at his hand with such force that the Joker was compelled to laugh. Glaring up at him due to his blatant disrespect, she viciously conceded, "Alright yes, every man's past is worth condemning, but I'm completely innocent of the charges you keep throwing in my face!"

The Joker gave her a mocking pout. "Oh, well I'm sure you're right, Miss Dawes...after all, why would you feel guilt over anything if you have nothing to be guilty for?"

Her eyes widening, Rachel took a small step back as if she'd been accosted. "Who...who ever said I was feeling guilty?"

"You didn't have to" the Joker pointedly observed. "You may've been blessed by the darkness, but you most certainly didn't inherit any good genes for lying."

Rachel frowned. "You keep implying that I have a dark soul, but I don't understand it...why would you say I've been blessed by the darkness when you know I've done nothing but better Gotham?"

The Joker gave a brummagem yawn. "More lies, eh, Miss Dawes? We both know you're just being good to make-up for your murder..."

"But I didn't kill anyone!" Rachel shrieked. "It was an accident!"

"Nuh-uh, there are no accidents, beautiful. An accident is just the misnaming of fate" the Joker insisted, his hand now holding up the incriminating article before her very eyes. "Are you trying to tell me you can just wave this all away, Miss Dawes? That none of it ever happened?"

Gazing upon the bold words 'BELOVED HUSBAND AND SCIENTIST FOUND DEAD' caused Rachel to hyperventilate, her hands grasping at her chest as she turned her back on the article and squeezed her eyes tightly shut. Somehow seeing the blatant reminder made her feel as though she were six again and trying to help her father... God, all she'd wanted to do was help!

"Momma, why is daddy always so grumpy?"

Celia Dawes looked down at the little girl with pity, yet she forced a smile to her lips and knelt down so that she and her daughter could gaze eye-to-eye. "Rachel, sweetie, I know you're thinking this is your fault, but it's not" she earnestly began. "Daddy's been working very hard lately and hasn't been able to sleep, so he often gets upset and says stuff he doesn't mean."

Rachel's clear blue eyes widened in understanding. "Then...he's very tired?"

Celia nodded. "Yes, sweetie, I'm afraid so...just go to sleep, alright? I'm going to go get a shower."

As Rachel watched after her mother, she began to get an idea, her charming features brightening as she skipped merrily into the kitchen. She'd cure her father faster than he could blink!

Fetching the stool beside the butcher block, Rachel scrambled up on top of it and reached into the cupboard for a glass and some sleeping pills. Dumping the contents of the bottle onto the counter, she took her fist and smashed the pills until they were powdery enough to dissolve in water.

As she went to the refrigerator in order to retrieve said water, a loud yawn sounded from the entryway before someone grumbled, "Rachel, why aren't the lights on? And more importantly, why aren't you in bed?"

"Because I'm trying to help you sleep, daddy" she cheerily explained. "Look! I've made you some night-night juice!"

Laughing, Walter Dawes fully entered the room before asking, "What is that, sleeping pills and water? I can't really see...you know how bad my eyes are these days." When Rachel nodded proudly, he smiled before acknowleding, "Well, I guess since you went through all that trouble to make it for me, I might as well drink it...give it here."

As Rachel eagerly watched her father down the concoction, she gave a start when he exclaimed, "Blech! These stupid pill companies just keep making them stronger and stronger, don't they?" Shaking his head, he set the empty glass back down onto the counter before adding, "Goodnight, kiddo...for helping me out like this, I'll be sure to take you out swimming tomorrow."

Rachel beamed. "Oh boy, thank you, daddy! You're the best!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know I am."

After sharing a laugh, Walter and his daughter parted ways, the latter not realizing that that would be the last time she'd ever see her beloved father alive.

"NO!"

Smirking, the Joker sauntered over to Rachel before placing his gloved hands on either of her quivering shoulders. Now leaning in so that his lips were at her ear, he smugly inquired, "No what, Miss Dawes? The ever-tiresome 'no, I didn't do it', or the more truthful 'no, I did it, but I don't want to remember'? Autopsies don't tend to lie, after all..."

"I told them I did it, but they wrote it down as an accident since I was so young" Rachel whispered, her hands covering her face as she began to shake. "I loved my father, Joker, so don't you ever tell me that I did it on purpose!"

As he listened to her cry, the Joker sighed while explaining, "There's no need to be so upset when you hold the key to a better life, Miss Dawes. If you'd just embrace your darker side, you'd discover just what it is you've been missing all these years."

"What, and become some crazed psychopath like you? No thanks" Rachel snapped, her body recoiling from his touch as she promptly moved away from him. As she did so, she happened to notice her gun on the top of her dresser -- she'd nearly forgotten about leaving it there!

Sending the Joker a surreptitious glance over her shoulder, she quickly dove for the revolver just as he realized what she was doing. Effortlessly swiping the weapon before she could even think to pull the trigger, the Joker pressed Rachel against the dresser before blanketing her body with his own, his hand holding her chin perfectly still as he placed the gun's nozzle into her mouth. "See? I toldja you have a dark side" he triumphantly purred. "If I'd have waited two more seconds, you would've put a bullet through my skull without any qualms, whatsoever. That takes skill, Miss Dawes...it takes the expertise of a practiced killer." Now running the gun along her lips and to her chin, he leaned in closer toward her face before whispering, "It's all very orgasmic, wouldn't you agree?"

Rachel shivered, but surprisingly not from disgust. The lustful look in his eyes and the sensual understones of his voice made her squirm, her eyes closing as she felt him slide the gun in a caressing motion up and down her cheek. Gripping at the dresser behind her, Rachel felt her heartbeat escalate as the Joker forced a knee in between her legs, his voice raw and deep as he purred into her ear, "Just think of it, Miss Dawes...if you'd just re-awaken that dark seed within your soul, you could easily be taken to places you've never been...places I could even help you reach."

As Rachel listened to his words, she couldn't help but wonder if they held a double meaning. Sobering up at this thought, she squirmed out from beneath his grasp before moving over toward the far side of the room, her head shaking wildly back and forth as she denied, "No...I-I've already told you that we're nothing alike, and I meant that."

"Why, are you scared of me now, or something? Is it the scars?" the Joker pressed, his shark-like eyes drinking in Rachel's movements as she continued to back away from him. "Come now, beautiful, I thought we'd already gotten past this..."

"I'm not afraid of your scars, and I never will be" Rachel boldly assured him. "It's you, yourself who frighten me, because I can never tell what you're going to do next."

The Joker grinned broadly. "What, you mean like this?" In a flash, he had her by the throat with his knife at the corner of her mouth, his lips twisting into a grotesque sneer as he watched the panic flicker across her eyes. Moistening his lips, he angled the blade ever-so-slightly before asking, "Did I ever tell you about my scars, Miss Dawes? About how my father decided to play 'carve the pumpkin' with my face?"

Rachel swallowed, her alarm only rising as she tasted the tinny flavor of her own blood against her tongue. She didn't dare move, lest he decide to slice up the rest of her mouth.

Petting her hair in an almost reverent fashion, the Joker angled the knife yet again before sustaining, "Like all little boys my age, I had a dear old dad, only this one liked to drink and beat his family. I hated my father...in fact, I wanted to kill him with my bare hands. The only way I thought I could..."

"Stop" Rachel urged, her eyes meeting with his in an almost morbid fascination. "You're telling the story wrong...I thought you said you cut yourself so your wife would start smiling, again."

The Joker gave her an incredulous look."I've got a knife in your mouth, yet you're trying to dictate how I tell the story? I've gotta tell ya, Miss Dawes, for once it looks like you're the crazy one."

"No" Rachel softly argued, "if you were going to kill or maim me, you would've done so a long time ago."

Watching on as a burst of fury alighted his eyes, Rachel held her ground as he removed the blade and pressed it against her throat. A thin rivulet of blood began trickling down her chin in accordance with this action, Rachel giving a whimper of surprise when the Joker licked the blood from her flesh and dragged his tongue across her lips. The taste of him mixed with her own blood was quite heady, for Rachel felt as if her legs were going to give out beneath her at any moment.

Nipping at her chin, the Joker grinned a bloody grin before purring, "You know something, Miss Dawes? You're absolutely right. I haven't killed you yet 'cause I still have plenty of plans left for you...plans that'll take that fake curl right out of your hair." With a giggle, he brushed his hand along her thigh before delicately traveling upward, his eyes never leaving her own as he lowly sustained, "Plans that'll leave you just begging for more..."

Horrified, Rachel felt her reflexes go into play when he touched her panties, her knee flying upward until it nailed him straight in the groin.

Choking on a groan, the Joker cackled amidst his pain as he looked up at her from off the floor, a grin suffusing his lips as he observed, "Well I see you've still got some fight in ya, after all...did I ever tell you how much I love a woman who can kick my ass?"

Not amused in the slightest, Rachel turned to retrieve her phone just as the Joker grabbed her by the ankle, a cry escaping her throat when she toppled over and smacked her head against the hardwood flooring. Before she could even think to get up, she found herself pinned helplessly beneath the Joker's body, her eyes squeezing tightly closed when she felt his hand travel intimately along her front. To her surprise, he stopped directly at the soft juncture of her neck, her eyes re-opening just as he squeezed her carotid artery and rendered her completely unconscious.

With a pleased giggle, the Joker rose from Rachel's prostrate form and laughed even harder, for he knew now that it was only the beginning.

A/N - As you can see, the Joker and Rachel have finally reached the point where they're intensely curious about one another, and there's a whole lot of sexual tension going on. Oh noes! ;) I'm predicting by around chapter 9 or 10 that their relationship will take a highly sexual level, so if sex offends you...BACK AWAY NOW!! lol

RACHEL - Wait a minute...I have to sleep with a clown?

JOKER - I thought you already were sleeping with a clown...

RACHEL - -death glare- Harvey is NOT a clown!

JOKER - You're right, he'd never do the 'bang' gun thing justice...fortunately I know how to do the 'bang' gun thing just right, if you know what I mean.

RACHEL - ...

ME - ...

RACHEL - ...

ME - ... Uuuh, mwuah! Goodnight, everybody! ;0P