Your pulse is echoing in your ears as your breath is stolen from you by the strong hand clamped around your throat.
What began as passionate and emotional has now become something wrong.
Harry's eyes, your partner's eyes, were black as midnight and there was no familiar glint of mischief in his irises anymore.
There was nothing but depth and shadow.
You began to panic as your air supply was closing off and his hand was unrelenting. You had to think fast even though your heart was shouting at you what your mind had already concluded in Niall's office.
Harry was the serial killer.
He was the suspect with two distinct personalities.
You reached your arm up and slammed your elbow down on his, breaking his hold on your neck. His eyes went wide, the green coming back into focus as you coughed and gulped down air but you were still on the defense.
The heel of your right foot connected with his chest and Harry slammed into the opposite counter before sinking down to the floor.
In your desperation to protect yourself, you reached for the knife set to your left and pulled out the largest one. You hated knives and usually stayed away from them as memories from your childhood would flicker across your mind anytime you saw them but right now...you needed something to protect you.
Hopping off the counter you made a run for it, your eyes catching the golden petals of the flowers sitting on the table as you bolted towards the front door. You had almost made it when an arm wrapped around your waist, locking you to a solid torso while you kicked and thrashed.
You tried to scream but his large hand clamped down over your mouth and tears slid down your cheeks as you realized you were trapped.
"Theron, I'm so sorry. Sshh please don't scream. He's gone. He's gone I swear." His voice was gentle and quiet in your ear, pleading with you to remain silent and calm but you continued to try to escape.
Harry somehow wrangled you to the ground, placing his hips on top of yours, his hands fighting yours for the knife but in your will to escape, you sliced the palm of his hand making him sit up with a hiss of pain.
Your arm snapped out and raised the knife up to his throat as your breathing grew heavy and labored from all of your efforts. Harry blinked down at you, his green eyes filled with regret and sorrow, his hands raised up in surrender while he sat astride you. Blood trickled down from his right palm towards his wrist and began to drop down onto the hardwood floor.
"You....," your voice came out shaky and you don't miss the wince from your partner as he hovers over you, "it was you this whole time," the realization that Harry was the unsub the whole time has finally sunken in and it takes everything in you to drown out the sob rising in your chest, "how could you?"
Harry looked devastatingly guilty in that moment. He showed all the signs of remorse, his green eyes shimmering with unshed tears and yet you didn't know when he would make the switch again.
"Theron...I tried...I've tried for so long to keep him away. I've tried so hard to protect you. I...I've done terrible, horrible things and I couldn't risk him hurting you," the point of the knife moved as his throat bobbed from swallowing, causing a new trail of blood to slide down his lightly tanned neck, "please, let me explain. I'll tell you everything."
"How can I ever trust you? You tried to kill me."
"No! No never me. I could never hurt you. It's him, the other me. Theron, you know me. I'd never harm you. Never." The honesty poured out of him and onto you but you were hesitant and rightfully so. You didn't know when he'd change again and how quickly but you knew some of the signs. The migraines and the knuckle cracking.
"Let me up." You spat out and watched as Harry slowly lifted himself up off of you, the knife still held up towards him threateningly. When he was backed up far enough away, you pulled yourself up off of the floor, your eyes never leaving him in the process.
Angrily you wiped away the tears that continued to seep from your tear ducts and then flicked the knife towards the couches.
"Sit." You demanded and your partner just nodded, his hand and wrist now a bloody mess as he backed away from you cautiously and took a seat on one of his red couches.
As you pressed yourself against the opposite wall from him you couldn't help but wonder to yourself how you couldn't even have the date of your dreams. It was almost laughable that the guy you were head over heels for was also a fucking serial killer.
"Explain." Your tone was harsh and Harry winced again as he cradled his injured hand against his chest, his left knee bouncing in obvious anxiety as you still held the knife up at him, even with so much distance between the two of you now.
"It started a year ago, it was an accident. I had...for a very long time had this voice in my head that was basically dormant until my twenties. I had a rough childhood, my dad he...he did things to my mom that I tried to suppress and...well...I didn't know how to cope," Harry took a shaky breath giving his palm a solemn glance and then continued, "in my early twenties, I started to hear him clearer and then...when you met me, that's when the migraines began." Harry looked up, waiting for you to confirm or acknowledge the fact that you knew the migraines were real and when you nodded for him to continue he looked down at the ground.
"The migraines were a warning, now that I look back on it. He was trying to push forward into the front and push me back and I um...the things he was whispering to me," he flushed a light shade of pink and this piqued your curiosity, "I decided that maybe I was into some weird shit. Maybe I needed to venture out more...sexually," his eyes lifted only for a moment to make contact with yours but then he dropped them down again, "I thought maybe if someone was dominant over me that that might make the thoughts go away...but it didn't...and then I figured maybe I was the dominant one," Harry paused, took a deep breath and ran his clean hand through his hair, his knee still bouncing, "and then it all went to shit."
"The first victim..."
"Yes...Theron I woke up and I had no idea what I'd done. One minute we were having sex, consensual sex, and the next...I'm waking up and she's dead. I ran so fast and I thought for sure you would figure it out even though I'd been so careful to cover up my tracks," Harry made eye contact with you and held it for the first time since the kitchen, "you're so fucking brilliant Theron. You are so smart and the best at piecing together the puzzles and I was terrified you'd figure it out."
"But I didn't." He shook his head slowly.
"No...you didn't and it was painful to see you working on that case and finding nothing. I wanted to tell you, God...but I couldn't. He wouldn't let me."
"Who is he....and what does he want?" You asked cautiously, waiting for any sign that who you were mentioning was coming back. Harry's face turned into a grimace before he heavy sighed.
"He is me just...darker...I can't explain it. My father has D.I.D. and it's not hereditary but...from my research it seems likely that I have it as well. The trauma of my youth splintered my personality and...he is my coping mechanism. He is me and I am him and yet...we are completely unalike in every single way that counts. Think of it as glass or a mirror that breaks down the middle...it's the same image reflected but...they aren't of the same structure anymore. Does that make sense?"
You nodded your head in complete understanding because you had done enough research yourself about his dad. You recalled Niall's words. It wasn't hereditary and yet...Harry suffered enough that his mind needed to create a different being inside of him to protect him just like his dad had.
Your heart ached for him that he'd endured so much so young and he'd never told you about it and even now he couldn't describe it. You felt empathy for him but it did not mean you were going to lower that knife.
Theron," he pleaded suddenly, "I have loved you from the first moment I saw you and I pushed you away because I was absolutely horrified of what I could do to you....what he could do to you and...despite my best efforts he almost did it anyways." You sucked in a breath at his open admission of his feelings and you almost lowered the knife.
"How do I know that that is you and not him saying that? How do I know that you aren't manipulating me right now?" You shake slightly at the idea that those words were meant to disarm you and make you lower your weapon against him.
"You'd know. You always knew. You know now. You can see that it's me, just Harry." And you could. You knew that it was him and you watched as blood continued to pour down his arm where it dripped off of his elbow.
"Come on...you need to clean that up," You offered and his eyes went wide, "but you crack a single knuckle or so much as hint at a fucking headache and I'm knocking your ass out." You threatened, still holding the knife out towards him. A small smile splayed across his lovely mouth.
"I wouldn't expect anything less Shepherd."
You watched as he stood up from the couch and made his way to the kitchen, the knife still out in front of you as you followed behind. He immediately went to the sink, turning the faucet on, and then ran his hand underneath the warm water with a hiss sounding between his teeth.
The two of you were silent as he cleaned up his arm as best as he could before you heavy sighed and placed the knife on the counter while you took some paper towels and pressed it into his large palm.
"I'm sorry that it took me this long to tell you, well, everything," you continued to pat his hand down, the bleeding finally slowing down, "but mostly I'm sorry for never telling you how I felt-feel about you." You folded his hand into the paper towel so that he'd make a fist around it to keep pressure on the cut. Looking up you found his green gaze looking at you longingly.
"It's okay...I never would have believed any of it anyways without seeing it first hand." You laughed slightly and he tilted his head to the side in confusion.
"How do you mean?" He asked and you just shrugged.
"Well...first I don't think I would have believed that you, kind and sweet Harry, would be capable of killing anyone with your bare hands...and two, you are well out of my league." Harry scoffed and took a step back from you in complete disbelief.
"Theron, I have a psychopathic second personality and you're saying I am out of your league?" You contemplated his words and let out a giggle that brought out a dimpled smile from him that had your heart warming.
"Yeah well, I didn't know that before now did I?"
"Theron...you are the best thing that's ever happened to me. You're there for me in ways no one else ever has and...I wish I could be more to you. Even if I wasn't me, you were always too good for me but...I would have loved you no matter the circumstances." Your heart was pounding again and the electricity between the two of you was palpable. You took a giant inhale of breath as you readied yourself to finally admit the one thing you'd always wanted to.
"Harry...I've um...I've always loved you too." You knew you were a deep shade of crimson now, finally admitting words you've long since kept buried deep within you and it felt good to be able to say them to him now after so long. His beautiful face lit up in hope at your words.
"Really?" He asked bashfully and you just nodded shyly with a smile.
Harry bit his lip to try to hide his smile but you knew what he was doing. In an act of sheer stupidity, you leaned up onto your toes and placed a small kiss on his cheek and when you pulled back his teeth had released his lip.
Before either of you could say another word, you both were diving in to kiss each other with the impact of all of the unspoken words you'd both always wanted to say. Your hand found the side of his neck and trailed down to his chest while his hands cupped your cheeks adoringly. His kiss was neither frantic nor hungry but still filled you up with longing and passion and it still burned you deep into your core.
You tilted your head slightly to deepen the kiss and that was when you heard it.
Knuckles cracking.
In the blink of an eye you snatched the knife up and held it to his throat as you pulled back, lips smacking from the abrupt stop.
That mischievous smirk was displayed on his swollen lips as he looked down tauntingly at you.
"Oof little lamb...I do love it when you play dirty." He taunted, his jade eyes dancing with joy as he looked down on you through hooded lids.
"Bring him back." You demanded and he feigned ignorance.
"Who? Oh...him...softy....yeah that's gonna be a no for now. He's had his moment of romance and swooning." He sounded bored of the conversation but you weren't having it. You wanted your Harry back and he was going to give him to you now. Seeing your calculating mind working into overdrive, he placed a hand on the kitchen counter and leaned into it.
"You know... I never meant to hurt you, despite what softy says. I have a thing for girls who like it rough and you my love...well..." he gave you a wink and you scowled at him.
"Shut the fuck up. You don't know anything about me." You bit back and that mischievous look crept onto his face once again. An air of all knowingness seeped from his every pore.
"Ah yes...Theron Shepherd, age twenty nine, orphaned at the age of six years old," your blood ran cold at his words.
"Stop it..." you warned, pressing the knife firmly against his throat but he just continued.
"...your father, Mr. Shepherd, horrible fellow...had quite the fixation with knives am I right?" Harry flicked his eyes to the knife at his throat and smiled devilishly, "I see his daughter loves them as well."
"I said," you lowered the knife so that it pointed at his chest, "shut...up."
"I do believe that this is where I say, 'make me' and we make out before having wild sex but...from your posture and dagger pointed at my heart I'd say that's going to be a no...for now." He smirked and you hated the way his words lit a pleasurable flame inside of you.
"That's a no for forever." You denied and he quickly picked his other hand up from his side and tapped his bottom lip in contemplation.
"Mmmmm not what you were saying earlier."
"Earlier was a mistake and a lie."
"Was it....Theron?" Harry took a step forward and you instinctively took a step back. Your Harry was in there and you didn't want to hurt him if you could manage it.
"Yes, it was. Everything from before was you manipulating me."
"Wow...I'm actually hurt. Here I thought dinner and our conversations went rather well." This caught you off guard. Your mind ran through every moment from the time you arrived and there was no way this Harry had been there the whole time.
"...you...you were there the whole time?" It was his turn to scowl.
"You really think that little guy had the balls to ask you on a date? Please. Do give me some credit. I have been here since our first kiss." Your eyes went wide, your breath faltered in your chest. That would mean...
"The flowers..."
"Yes those peonies were a bitch to find but softy swore by them, said they were your favorite and so I hunted them down and gave them to you," Harry looked annoyed at himself for being thoughtful, "I'll have you know I've never gotten a women flowers...never," he then turned his emerald gaze back on you, giving you a slow once over that had chills breaking out on your skin, "but there is something about you little lamb that has me fascinated."
"Hmmm wouldn't be my tiny little neck that has you fascinated would it?" You spat out and he let out a boisterous laugh that had your stomach doing somersaults.
"No...again...I lost control there, you see you pulled my hair and darling...that's my kink." You resisted the urge to clamp your legs shut as he shot you a knowing look.
"No what fascinates me is the darkness within you," Harry took another step forward making you back up once again and his eyes watched you intently like hawk, "your soul calls to mine. You've seen horrendous evils, witnessed it with your very eyes, and yet here you are...a survivor." You shook your head in denial.
"There isn't a darkness in me. I put men like you away. I use my past for good." You stood your ground this time and watched as that superior little smirk of his pulled into a very wide cat like smile.
"Ah yes little lamb, that you do...but it doesn't matter. Your soul is tainted just like our poor softy's and through him I have seen you. I've observed you from afar and you pretend to be this quiet little mouse but I see you...I see what you have hidden underneath," he took another step forward but this time he surprised you and swiped the knife out of your hand, letting it fall to the ground, and then reached out both of his hands to either side of your face and pulled you close so he could whisper in your ear, "I know what you did Theron...I know what you did to daddy dearest."
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Author's Note:
Okay I lied....one or two more parts AFTER this lmaooooo
-Balletclutz