The streets of Gotham were oddly quiet.

Detective Jim Gordon couldn't tell if it was normal for this neighbourhood, or if something more sinister was brewing on that brisk Thursday night.

As he exited his car and walked up the steps to the location Soren had given him, he knew this deal would likely become something he regretted.

Jim knocked on the oak wood door three times and waited. A few moments later the door swung open to reveal Soren Striker.

"Detective." Soren smiled deviously. "You're here early. Come in." She stepped aside to allow him entrance.

Jim nodded and followed her inside, every ounce of his will trying not to look at her body, and failing.

Soren was wearing a white, silk robe, untied to expose the white lacy lingerie underneath. Of course, she had planned the entire encounter.

"This," she bent over and picked up a decently full beige manila folder, "is everything the GCPD has on Torres. All of it is true and accurate. However, you can tell your CI that Torres has no idea it was them who snitched."

Soren dropped the folder back on her coffee table and approached Jim, her arms crossed, bringing attention to her chest.

"How do you know?" Jim asked, his tone low and almost primal as he stepped closer to her.

"All of the information in that folder is insider knowledge, things only Torres's closest confidants would know." Soren looked up at the detective. "So, I don't know how your CI got it, but it's information only myself, and a few others, would have known. That, and the fact that you arrested me only weeks before the GCPD got the info, means Torres thinks I was the snitch."

Jim nodded, his gaze not moving from her lips. "Have you decided what favour you want yet?"

"Why yes, Jim, I have," Soren smirked and snaked her arms up around his neck. "Whenever you and your goonies decide to arrest Torres and his men, give me a heads up, and leave me out of it."

"You want me to grant you full immunity? You think I'd do that?" Jim grabbed her by the hips and pulled her body close to his.

"Oh, baby," Soren leaned in to whisper in his ear, "I think you'll do whatever I tell you."

Jim suddenly grabbed her by the hair and yanked her head back, causing her to laugh. "Finally taking charge, huh Jim?"

"Shut up," Jim growled, slowly backing her toward the bedroom.

"Make me," Soren smirked.

Jim gripped her by the jaw and slammed her up against the wall. She pushed her head forward, connecting their lips and running her fingers through his hair, tugging slightly every so often, each time earning a small moan from Jim. Jim's hand travelled from her jaw down her neck, her chest, her stomach, around her hip and to the back of her thigh. He pulled her legs up around his waist and walked them to the bedroom, their mouths still moving together in sync, and dropped her on the bed.

"I'm going to regret this." He said lowly, his hand tightly around the back of her neck as he pressed his lips to her collarbone.

"Definitely." Soren breathed, everything going exactly according to her plan.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Soren watched as Jim buttoned his pants, his chest still bare. Perhaps she should've been thinking of the way his lips had felt on her skin, but instead, she was remembering her time with Victor at the auction, the way his mouth moved against hers, the way she longed to feel it again.

Sure, Soren thought Jim Gordon was attractive, very attractive, in fact, and yeah, she enjoyed the time they had just spent together, a lot, but she wasn't emotionally attached. They weren't even friends, more enemies than anything. Jim felt the same way, too. Except, he knew one day this little fling would come back to bite him in the ass.

"Don't tell anyone about this, please," Jim spoke up, snapping Soren from her thoughts. Soren stood and slipped on her silk robe, tying it around the waist as she walked over to him.

"Are you afraid of your girlfriend finding out, Jim?" Soren smirked, holding his face with her hands. "Don't worry, I can keep a secret when I want to."

Jim leaned down and connected their lips once again, a kiss full of nothing but lust. He didn't understand why he couldn't control himself. He loved Barbara, and he was faithful to her, until now. Something about Soren made him want her badly.

Jim backed away and quickly grabbed the rest of his clothes before could rope him in again.

"So, word on the street is you've been doing jobs with Victor Zsasz. You working for Falcone now?" Jim asked, tucking his button-down shirt into his pants and watching her across the room.

"Not really." Soren watched him through the mirror as she put her jewelry back on. "While I respect his values and business a whole lot more than Torres', unfortunately, I'm stuck in bed with my current employer until you arrest him. Or someone offs him, whichever comes first."

Jim ran his hands through his hair and headed towards the door. "Alright, I'm leaving now. Remember what I said, don't tell anyone about this."

"Sure thing, Detective," Soren smirked and watched as he left, closing the front door behind him.

Soren waited, listening for the knock of an expected visitor. When she heard it, she opened the door and looked down at the grimy man in front of her.

"You have it?" She looked at him expectantly.

The man, Simon, handed her a folder and she flipped through the many pictures of her and the detective's secret night together. She smiled and handed Simon a wad of cash before closing the door in his face. She made sure to keep the folder in a safe place and flopped down on the couch.

Her plan had gone flawlessly.

As she sat there, staring at nothing in particular, a pain in her head made her wince. Images flashed through her brain too fast for her to decipher, until finally, she blacked out, and memories came flooding back.

Young Soren watched the trees zip past the car window. She and her parents were headed home after a parent-teacher meeting. The rain outside was coming down hard, obscuring her father's vision and ability to drive. Before she knew it, she heard a loud bang and they crashed, the car flipping several times, knocking Soren out. When she awoke, she looked around to see she had been thrown from the vehicle, her body bloody and bruised as she lay on the asphalt. She sat up as best could, and looked over at the car. She knew her parents were already dead.

"Would you like some help, young one?" A strange voice called from behind her. She turned to see a man, dressed in black robes and soaking from the heavy downpour. Soren nodded slowly, still disoriented from the crash.

The memory suddenly changed. Now, Soren was healed and dressed in similar robes to the man who had saved her, a pair of daggers in her hands.

"Excellent work, Al Shaitan." The man said, his name still absent from her memory.

She bowed and placed her daggers on a nearby table, before laughing and running off with another girl her age.

The memory changed again, this time, she was a teenager. She sparred with the same girl from before. Soren struggled to remember her name as well.

An adult now, Soren stood facing the girl. Soren watched her memories as an outsider, the one thing she noticed was her eyes. Both irises were completely black, meaning her memories till now had been wrong, she wasn't born this way.

"If you leave now, Al Shaitan, you will never be welcome back."

"You heard the prophecy, s5eI0." The woman's name distorted from her mouth. "I'm going to die if I stay."

"He's going to hunt you down anyway."

"Let him try," Soren said, picking her bag up off the floor and walking away.

Soren awoke suddenly, her eyebrows furrowed. Those were her true memories. Those were the same people who had tied her up with barbed wire and gave her all these scars. Who were those people? Why couldn't she remember their names? She had more questions than answers.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
a/n~

posting this chapter early cause Devil's Daughter just hit 20k reads! thank you so much to everyone who reads and supports this book.  we've finally discovered some stuff about sorens past and we'll be exploring that more in the upcoming chapters.

question: when you read, who do you picture Soren as? i'm looking for face claims for her but haven't found one that matches what i'm looking for.