Happy to Meet, Sorry to Part, Happy to Meet Again

[Kyra]

The young Italian woman paced around her cozy magic shop with a gray feather duster sheathed like a sword in the belt loop of her tight gray jeans. Her black t-shirt was hidden by a full handmade apron emblazoned with the words: "Triskele" in a deep purple. Just above it was a simple swirling triskele pattern, and on the neck tie of the apron was a simple name tag with "Kyra" written on in ink. Kyra's green eyes scanned the shelves for books that had strayed away from their proper homes. Occasionally a slender finger would push a book back into its proper alignment with its shelf mates.

She drew the feather duster from her belt loop and dragged it along the solid oak book shelves. Cleaning her shop like this was a bi weekly ritual. No matter what time of day, the shop was always immaculate. In the same order she swept the floors, dusted the shelves, restocked materials, recharged her anti theft charms, then finally retreated behind her wooden counter to the register to sit and watch people walking by her shop. She never had too many customers during the day time. Most of the time it was young women curious to learn magic or make potions. None of them had the gift to do more than light a candle or make a healthy edible concoction. It was at night that she really made her business. All manners of people wandered into her shop during the night time. Serious witches, supernatural beings, watchers, slayers, some times lycans would come in to buy extremely powerful sedatives or perfumes, she had only had a single vampire come in. It was with much reluctance that she sold him what he wanted. Kyra's shop had not been around for very long, but she'd become very popular with the night crowd. It was a dangerous business, but she loved it.

She began humming a tune to herself as she continued dusting the shelves. A young Siamese cat watched the feather duster anxiously. Its head moved from side to side as it followed its movements.

"Ozzy.. dont even think about it." Kyra glanced over her shoulder at the cat as she issued him the warning. From the corner of her eye she noticed the lamps on the old town streets were already lit.

"Oh damn it." Kyra frowned and quickly finished her job. She had just noticed how dark it was getting in her store. The young witch could start feeling the anxiety welling up inside of her. She took a deep breath and spread her arms out in front of her. Kyra summoned her power and mumbled a few words under her breath. The result was the immediate ignition of hundreds of candles all over the shop. A dull orange glow surrounded her. Kyra sighed with relief and went to lean up against the counter. She put her hand to her cheek and closed her eyes. She hated being afraid of the dark. She could walk outside at night when her path was lit by streetlights, but as soon as darkness fell with no light in sight, she began to shut down. Hot tears began to roll down her cheeks and she began to sob silently. She slowly slid down to the floor with her back to the counter.

"Grow up... You're fine now.. grow up." She tried to calm herself. Ozzy began to mew at Kyra with a concerned tone and put his paws on her arm.

"I'm okay..." The witch started to wipe her tears away. "We're okay, Ozzy.."

[Seth]

A sigh of boredom broke through the silence of the small shop. It was just another one of those days that was going to drag on until the apocalypse was going to be coming in through your windows and door. Right now Seth wouldn’t have minded a little bit of carnage, at least it would have broken up the monotony of this god damned slow day.

As usual Seth was located at the back of the shop behind his cash register, it was a strange site to behold if you knew what Seth was, a fallen angel, a demon sitting their ready to greet you with forced smile and a friendly ’Hello’ . There was of course a couple of places he could have been, one of them was still burning in hell with the rest of his kind, but fuck that, who would want to roast down their when you had the lovely streets of Mortalitas.

And of course, there was another place he could have been, but, well that was a place he could no longer return to, and so, this was as good as it got. A little slice of town that Seth could call his own until hellfire and brimstone was raining down outside in the streets.

~Many, many slow and painfully boring hours later~

Still sitting behind his cash register, Seth cast his green eyes up at the clock that was sitting on the wall, it was still quite a while from closing time yet and he didn’t want to shut early, at any moment, at any time a customer could come through the front door ready and willing to drop a lot of cash.

Convincing himself to stay open wasn’t going to happen, he got up from behind his register, locked up the front door and flipped the open sign to closed. That was better, at least now he didn’t have to sit around pretending he wasn’t going to be closing and doing jolly sweet nothing all day. Now he could go and investigate his lack of business. His flock of wannabe witches had all but flown the coup and the crap sitting on the shelving in the main section of the store hadn’t been touched in over a week.

It was time to pay the source of his money troubles a visit, another little magic shop called Triskele. “Triskele” Seth mumbled to himself, it didn’t have the same nice and friendly ‘hey come do your arcane shopping here’ feel to it that ‘Seth’s Apothecarium’ had, “probably corporate owned” he mused to himself, “like Starbucks…no soul” Seth paused for a moment at the word soul, it reminded him that he hadn’t eaten in a while, maybe the owner of Triskele would cater to his needs.

It didn’t take long for Seth to find Triskele. It looked, nice to say the very least, but he liked his little shop better. His place had that slightly dusty, musty old feel and smell to it. It practically screamed occult and a magic at you as you stepped through the door, or was it spring cleaning that was screamed? Either way Seth liked his place better.

The door to Triskele opened, the bell, much like his shop chimed to alert the owner of the store that they had a potential customer, or maybe someone just to mess around with the expensive products on their shelving. Seth closed the door softly and looked around the confines of the shop, “fuck me” he mumbled to himself, “how many candles?” the question voiced to nobody in particular.

[Kyra]

Kyra had managed to collect herself enough to turn on the proper lights in the store. They were only slightly more powerful then the glow of the hundreds of candles. It really was a fire hazard, but it was piece of mind knowing she would never truly be in the dark. The Italian woman still was not expecting people until true darkness fell over the city. She'd decided to take the time to think up creative ways to blow out the candles. Sadly there were not many that really amused her. For lack of nothing else to do, she kept blowing out the candles. She was behind the book case perched on a step ladder when she heard the bells on the door chime.

"Good evening. I wasn't expecting someone this early." She said with a cheerful tone.

The silver Siamese, Ozymandias, sat on the counter and stared at the man who had entered the shop. He let out a cautionary growl followed by stiff posture and bristled fur. He never got up from the counter though.

"Just a minute." She called out. She stood on the tips of her toes trying to release her black shirt from a snag on one of the book shelves. "I.. seem to be stuck. Are you just browsing?" She was starting to untie her apron when the foot stool tipped too much. The woman fell to the wooden floor with an unpleasant thud. An audible tearing noise followed.

"Damn." This was embarrassing. Her pride hurt more then her body did. Kyra's apron rested on the footstool and half of Kyra's sleeve was still on the bookshelf. "Sorry. Don't mind me." What the hell. The customer probably thought her a fool already, she might as well be a shirtless fool too. Kyra took off her ripped shirt. Underneath she had worn a white tank top and underneath that, a purple bra. Her undergarments were clearly visible through the fabric, but then again, she wasn't counting on showing anyone her underwear that night. The witch certainly had the body and to pull it off, but it did not mean she enjoyed doing it. She had more shirts in the back room, she'd get one later. She picked up her apron and the ripped shirt and draped them over one arm then went to greet her customer.

Kyra finally emerged from behind the book case with an embarrassed smile. Her green eyes were fixed directly on the customer. "Hi. Welcome to Triskele."

[Seth]

Seth looked around for a moment at the layout of the shop and some of the things that were on offer to the buyer. He was completely unfazed by the cat’s behavior, after a couple of hundred years of dog barking at him, horses whining and cats hissing, he was used to it.

"Good evening. I wasn't expecting someone this early."

He tried to fix on the location of the voice but instead of trying to find where it was coming from he just looked around, making comparisons between his shop and this one. Seth didn’t like the candles, they were a fire hazard here but in his shop with all the dust it was just asking for a fire, although that wasn’t exactly something he wasn’t used to.

"I.. seem to be stuck. Are you just browsing?"

He didn’t realize it but a small smile had grown across Seth’s lips, “pretty much yeah, just seeing what kind of selection you have…” he was going to continue but the sound of fabric ripping and the possibility of seeing some kind of flesh took precedence over coming up with an elaborate lie.

Seth began to look around for the owner of that delightful voice and couldn’t help but let his imagination draw up pictures of what this girl looked like, and of course in his mind there was only one woman he would have wanted her to look like. He stepped around the store a little more and called out to the girl, “hope everything’s ok” there was little hint of concern in his voice, and it almost sounded genuine.

"Hi. Welcome to Triskele."

The man before her turned around and fixed his own vibrant green hues on her own lovely looking green orbs. Seth had been right, she was a pretty little thing, but not the woman he wanted her to be, it was never going to be her, but he hoped every time. “thanks” he said while taking in what the woman looked like. He did of course notice the purple bra showing through the white tank top, but he didn’t draw attention to the fact that he had noticed it.

Seth wasn’t exactly sure what to do for a few seconds until he remembered why he was here, “nice shop you have here” he glanced around the shop for a moment before he had pretty much done a three sixty degree look around, “I have one just like it, a little dustier and mustier but yeah…similar” he fixed his eyes back on Kyra and took a step forward, a friendly smile on his lips and a friendly hand out stretched to shake her hand, “my name is Seth, I own Seth’s Apothecariuma few streets away…just thought I should scope out my competition” he sounded friendly enough, no hint or sign they had harbored any resentment towards her or her business at all.

[Kyra]

Kyra could feel his eyes moving over her, though she was asking for it at that point. She went to toss the black shirt over the counter and stuck the apron over her head again to cover her earlier fashion oversight. The man in front of her was handsome and well dressed, there was something about him that interested Kyra. Something about his eyes that made her feel uncertain. He had seen a lot, that much was apparent. She smiled when he complimented her shop. "Thanks.. I gutted the whole place and rebuilt it with my brothers." Kyra was damn proud of her shop.

The witch stuck her hands in the back pocket of her jeans and leaned against the wooden counter. She studied him while he studied her shop. Damn. Her relaxed pose stiffened when he stated he was the owner of the store down the street. She'd heard stories about him from some of her female customers. Good looking, but had some weird clientele, poor housekeeping skills. Kyra was no better for selling to non-humans, but she had not let her human customers interact with the non-human ones. Not to say this guy did... But she'd heard some stories about what had gone in there. The man in front of her did not look like the owner of such a shop.

"Oh... I've heard a little bit about you. Nice to finally meet you, Seth." She forced herself to stand up properly and shake his hand, matching his smile. "I'm Kyra."

When her hand touched his, she felt a horrible dark sensation. Her ex-boyfriend had made sure she knew that dark feeling well. He was a demon. Kyra summoned all of her will and tried not to flinch. Her heart rate increased brought on by anxiety at being reminded of "him". Kyra held the hand shake for the appropriate length of time then slowly released the demon's hand.

Damn it Kyra, relax. There was no need to get jumpy. Seth was a demon... she could handle that. She lived over a supernatural hots pot.. she shouldn't have been so surprised.

"So.. is this the part where you issue me a warning letter and threaten to break the legs off of my chair?" She was trying to relieve the tension in her mind with her usual sarcastic remarks. It was semi working.

[Seth]

Seth may not have looked like the owner of a shop like the one he owned, he looked young, not a day over twenty but there was two thousand years of life behind those lovely green eyes, and she thought right, he had seen a lot, seen things and experienced things that would have driven any lesser being insane.

"Oh... I've heard a little bit about you. Nice to finally meet you, Seth." - "I'm Kyra."

Kyra here was not the only one to feel something, he could feel her pulse, hear her heart start to race and beat against the inside of her rib cage like a drum. Just knowing that he was having this effect on her brought a smile to his lips. If he had been the kind of demon that fed off this kind of thing he could be stuffed up to the gills with this girl, he could smell that fear in the air like lovely bouquet from a perfume..

"So.. is this the part where you issue me a warning letter and threaten to break the legs off of my chair?"

Seth retracted his own hand and shook his head, “I had thought about it…and more, but a half dozen people saw me come in here and they all know who I am and who you are, they would be able to pin a motive for killing you on me quicker than a nine year could pin the tale on a donkey” he smiled sweetly at her and once again looked around the shop, “they would jump to the conclusion that I was the one who had…dispatched you and then they would try to arrest me and from there it would all get rather messy” Seth used the word ‘try’ because they wouldn’t succeed in making any kind of arrest, he would make sure of that.

“so my flower I am here to offer you a deal, a deal I recommend that you accept” he stepped closer to her this time, his eyes piercing down into hers “you will no longer accommodate patrons of an unsavory or demonic nature, I had a stamp on that side of business for a long time before you showed up and I think that its only fair it stay that way, everything else is yours, any customer I receive looking for slime, snails or puppy dogs tails I will be sure to direct here” he paused for a moment, letting that slight insult hang in the air for a few seconds, “I hope you find this arrangement amicable, if not, well…I’m sure you have a diary or journal you can tell all about how the nasty demon threatened you”

In a way, in a very weird twilight zone twisted kind of way, Seth had probably done Kyra a favor, on the surface it may have seemed like he was being a complete and total jackass to the sweet witch, but most of his demonic clients that he had ever served would have taken one look at Kyra and done something nasty to her, from torture to organ harvesting or just plain and simple kidnap and murder, so yeah, in some kind of crazy, screwed up way, Seth had done her an act of kindness.

[Kyra]

Kyra's deep green eyes narrowed when he spoke of the reasons why he had not killed her yet. Apparently a couple dozen eyes had saved her from a premature demise. He seemed to think she was completely helpless. Kyra had grown up with threats all her life, from her brothers, her ex, in a weird way, threats fueled Kyra's desire to spite anything that threatened her. Though, she did have to play it safe with Seth. However, this did not mean Kyra would simply back down. She was not a push over, especially when he was in her damn shop. Though, she had to admit, he was somewhat intimidating.

Kyra did not flinch or step back when he took a step forward. She tried hard to curse him by simply looking into his eyes. They were so damn soulless she had nothing to simply attach her negative thoughts to. Which was okay, even if Seth was a demon, she would have felt bad about cursing him. She was a white witch after all. Deep down something told her he would not share the same bad feelings if he had done something in return.

Instead Kyra took a step forward, almost pressing in to him her gaze with his was intense. She was angry, afraid, determined and insulted that he took Kyra's shop as some sort of innocent happy little place. She ran a serious business damn it! She actually took the time to care about the young witches that came into her shop. Nothing in her store was a simple front hiding her business in the basement.

"First off, my big brother said never to make a deal with a demon." She knew better, but for some reason her tone sounded calm, collected.... sexy. It surprised even Kyra how calm she had gotten all of a sudden.

"Well, shouldn't we let the customers decide where they want to go?" She paused and crossed her arms. She parted her pale pink lips to speak again.

"Anyways, I dont see the point in selling to both sides, but if I see a demon around, I'll certainly tell them where to go and how to get there." She would have flipped him off for added effect, but she was fond of that finger and decided to keep it to herself.

[Seth]

Seth grinned widely as she made her independent tough girl stand against him. He thought it cute when the lower orders in situations like these thought that they actually had a choice.

"First off, my big brother said never to make a deal with a demon."
Well that was all well and good for him, but clearly he nor she had ever dealt with his kind before, there were very few who had, he wasn’t just some low underling like a vampire although the trip up from down below had certainly left him feeling as week as one.

"Well, shouldn't we let the customers decide where they want to go?"

Seth just looked down at the feisty young woman while slightly shaking his head as she tried to play the big girl. He took a deep breath, sighed deeply and exhaled a cloud of black smoke through his nose, it would not have been a comfortable feeling having that cloud of smoke touch you, not enjoyable in the slightest and considering she was almost pressing up against him that smoke was going to billow all over his face “I like my idea better witch” he stated flatly.

"Anyways, I don’t see the point in selling to both sides, but if I see a demon around, I'll certainly tell them where to go and how to get there."

“Then I believe we have an accord, I shall see to it that if a Witch enters my shop to send them your way to get their witchery needs from here” Seth slowly started to step back away from the pretty young thing in front of him while smiling with the sweetest of sweet smiles “I hope you keep up your end of this deal Kyra” that’s right, he used her name, “otherwise you might find out just how dark this world can get” just as he finished speaking, every single candle blew out and every light bulb exploded leaving Kyra and her cat very much alone in the dark.

[Kyra]

Kyra had been doing very well for herself until Seth started smiling like their conversation was the best thing ever. She hated his smile already. It was empty.. like his eyes. She held her ground until the smoke touched her skin. She hissed and stepped back. She never managed to regain her nerve after that.

".. Whatever, Seth." She seethed as he recited what he believed to be the conditions of their deal. Kyra had never fully agreed to anything other than the demons. Whatever, she had friends in high places, and like he said, there were too many witnesses for him to kill her now. Kyra would get back at him some how.

She did not flinch when he said her name. Big whoop, he knew her name, the name Kyra was written on her name tag anyways. She figured that was where he'd gotten it from. Even if he hadn't, and some how read her mind, Kyra's real name was filed somewhere in the back of her mind. She had been using Kyra long enough that she thought of herself as Kyra. Her true name would never get out. She was too afraid of her demon finding her to let it slip.

She had started to hate Seth the moment he threatened her again. Suddenly every single light went out. She gasped and fell to the ground in fear. Not of Seth, but of the darkness. "F-fuck you!" She knew he could still hear her. She wasted no time in reaching into her pocket for her cell phone. The little light provided enough comfort for her to stand up again.

"Damn it, Seth!" Her heart was still racing. She needed the lights on soon. "Cmon.. c'mon.." She kept mumbling her fire spell under her breath to get her candles lit again. Hot tears started pouring down her cheeks.

[Seth]

As soon as the little witches shop was cast into darkness, Seth had stepped back outside into the world feeling pretty pleased with himself and with what he thought was a rather good business deal. A part of him hoped that the white witch would keep it up and stick to it, it certainly would be a shame to have to teach her a lesson, a more painful lesson.

"F-fuck you!"

The insult was heard through the door and it brought a small smile to his lips, “only in your dreams witch” he mused to himself and began to head back to his own shop and place of residence.

So, all in all it was what he thought a rather successful night. He had managed to threaten and assert his dominance over the witch and establish a small amount of ground rules, well one rule and that was ‘do as I say or I’ll fucking kill you’ it was crude, but effective. The threat of death usually made people see reason.

~~~~~

Seth approached his shop and headed into the back alley to enter through the stock room door and from there down into the basement that acted as a subterranean apartment. It was nice, big, open plan, spacious but while still maintaining an aspect of coziness. All over the basement were little stone statues, or in some cases rather large statues made material foreign to this world. They depicted old gods, goddesses and monsters from different religions and even other dimensions.

Along some of the walls were glass cases with some old weapons, relics and in one instance wooden shelving that was filled with books, new and old. The entire basement was like a dimly lit museum and that’s just the way Seth liked it. The small amount of glow from the wall lights added just the right amount of illumination so as not to be to bright, but not to dim, perfect.

Seth settled down on his sofa with a lamp on beside him so he could read one of his books. It was a very old leather bound book with embossed golden lettering that spelled ‘Traditio ~ Bellum ~ Cado, and it was the only thing in his apartment that had anything to do with his fall from grace.

Traditio ~ Bellum ~ Cado = The Betrayal ~ The War ~ The Fall

[Kyra]

_____ THE NEXT DAY_____

The young witch was seething as she laboriously worked to sweep up the broken shards of glass and try to chip off the candle wax from the hardwood flooring without ruining it. Seth's trick had literally killed her light bulbs. Some of them had shattered. Of course, she had done her clean up in the day light. Some of the candles had been knocked over because of Kyra's hasty exit from her shop, and Ozzy's running around. He had been able to see in the dark, but the feline was arrogant enough to expect that the unlit candles to move for him. If they didn't he'd knock them over. Kyra had not been there to yell at him for getting close to the candles.

The night before Kyra had managed to steady herself enough to find a flashlight and lock up. Naturally, she had closed very early. That had really bugged her. She'd lost a whole night's worth of business because of Seth. She would be billing him for that.. and the fucking light bulbs. She had decided to upgrade to better, more eco-friendly light bulbs with a long life. He had no idea what she would have had before. If he knew what was good for him, the least he could do was pay.

Kyra had gone to the circuit breaker in her shop and turn off the electricity to fix her bulbs. This meant she had to work in the day light, and with no air conditioning. She had shed a lot of clothing since she had begun in the morning. It was rolling around noon, and she was now wearing shorts, and a tank top.

The witch stood on her step ladder and reached into one of the lamps to retrieve yet another dead light bulb. She threw it into a basket with the rest of its cursed brethren then screwed in a new bulb. After she was done with that, Kyra wiped the sweat from her brow and sighed. The young woman crossed her arms and surveyed her shop. She'd have to take anti-demon precautions to ensure Seth and his 'business' never bothered her shop again. She clenched her jaw. Just thinking about him infuriated her. She growled then got back to cleaning.

_______ THAT EVENING_______

The witch walked down the Old district looking drop dead gorgeous. Kyra's scarlet heels clicked in the old cobble stone streets. Her red hair had been pulled into a loose ponytail and pulled forward to accentuate the ample cleavage that the plunging neckline of her top provided. A few locks swept over her deep green eyes. She wore only enough makeup to make her lips crimson and to accentuate her eyes. Kyra had chosen to wear a corset that stopped an inch or so below her breasts. She wasn't sure why, but she had chosen to wear a skirt that displayed her mile long legs. On her arms was the usual silver bangles. Kyra wanted to get back at him somehow. Hopefully a sexy woman delivering him a 600$ bill and a promise to annoy him would be a good start.

Kyra entered Seth's magic shop in the similar way that Seth had walked in to hers.

"Fuck its dirty in here." She mumbled to no one in particular.

[Seth]

It’s funny how things work out some times and how a random thought or action can place you in a great location at an opportune time. That’s what had happened to Seth. Right beside the doorway and entrance to his shop was a book case that blocked off one of the windows so you couldn’t actually see inside unless you came in through the door. This is where Seth was when the lovely white witch stepped inside his dusty little abode.

He was leaning against the aged shelving with his back pressing into the books as he casually flipped through a pages of a very old book. It wasn’t a rare book, but it was one that he thoroughly enjoyed reading through. It was a book about Myths and Legends from far and wide, from the legends of the far east and to the legends of the deep jungles of south America.

"Fuck its dirty in here."

As Kyra spoke Seth watched her for a moment, closed the book and placed it back onto the book case with all the other leather bound books without making a single noise. Seth had to admit it to himself, she really was a hot little piece and no doubt that she was well aware of it, otherwise why would she dress like that? Unless she was just a slut? But that probably wasn’t the case.

Very quietly Seth took a few quiet steps and closed the distance between them until he was standing no more than a few inches behind her. He waited for a few seconds until everything was dead quiet in the shop, it was as if someone had pressed a pause button and all around them just ceased to move “Hello Kyra” his voice seemed overly loud as it broke the tranquility of the shop.

Seth was glad to see Kyra turn around to face him, and was it a look of shock and surprise on her face? Possibly and that made his smile seem even more sincere and just outright lovely. He stood there for a moment taking her all in, from her lovely eyes that a lover could get lost in for eternity, down to her crimson painted lips and no he didn’t stop there.

His own green eyes continue to give her the once over. Seth’s gaze shifted over her neck, to her slightly exposed shoulder to her young perky breasts that seemed to be even more perky due to the low lying corset that rested just underneath them “I didn’t think I made “That” kind of impression yesterday…maybe I need to change my game plan a little bit when I’m trying making threats” he took a step closer towards her and Seth would keep going until he had her backed up right against a book case.

To keep her in place Seth wedged a knee between her legs and placed his arms either side of her hot little body pretty much pinning her against the heavy set shelving “you really are a pretty little thing aren’t you…” he said with a smile. Seth’s eyes diverted from her own lovely green hues and slowly lowered until he was one again looking down at her very exposed cleavage “is this what you expected Kyra” the tone of his voice had changed dramatically, it now had a soft silkiness to it. It was now a tone only fit for a caring, affectionate lover.

Soft finger’s reached up to her face and very tentatively caressed her soft made up cheeks with even softer fingertips. He slowly brought them around to her scarlet coloured lips and ran his thumb softly across them “is this what you fantasized about when you practiced telling me off this morning in front of the mirror hmmm?” his angelic face came slowly closer to hers, his lips mere inches away from her own soft crimson coloured lips and drawing in closer “is this what you want?” so very, very close.

[Kyra]

Kyra had been a little surprised that Seth had managed to sneak up behind her silently, more than that though, she was annoyed. The entrance was supposed to be hers, she was supposed to still be in control all the way until the end. This was a minor setback, but it was not good. The witch had to get back in control. She chose to stay silent and let him lead for the moment. 'Like what you see, Seth?' She thought to herself and glared intensely at him as he looked her over.

The witch took a step back when the demon took a step forward. They continued that pattern until her back hit the cool book case. The back portion of her top was also low cut, so part of her skin was also exposed to the old wooden shelves. She did not like this at all. It got even worse when she felt his leg go between hers and his arms caged her in. He was so damn close.

Her crimson lips parted ever so slightly when he asked is that what she expected. "Not.. quite." She had to admit, he made her feel really good when he spoke like that. It made her despise him. Why did his touch have to feel so nice. If he had not been a demon, their shop rivalry could have turned into an amazing love affair, by the way he was touching her now, she almost did not care that he was a demon. No one had caressed her cheek or lips like that before. A small shiver crawled up her spine. Her eyes remained completely focused on him. She had to figure out how to get control back. Her heart was racing with excitement and a small amount of uncertainty and fear.

Kyra could not help but let out a small moan as his lips came dangerously close to hers. 'Is this what you want?' Not exactly, but since it was heading in that direction, she was alright with seeing where that was headed. She had almost completely forgotten about what she had been there for. Almost. She almost did not want to stop him, but at the same time, she had to.

The witch brought her hand up to Seth's. She guided the demon's hand down her neck, then to her collar bone, then to her breasts. She slowly brought his hand just slightly underneath the her top. Kyra made sure he felt the piece of paper pressed up between the bare flesh of her left breast and her bra. She made sure the paper was secure between his two fingers before she pulled his hand back out. The piece of paper was the invoice for the light bulbs and a preliminary assessment for lost wages for the night before, with a promise of a more thorough assessment pending an examination of the past week's financial records. That was not her price for her to bed him. She had no intention of bedding him, that was just what he owed her. The moments before she produced the invoice was by no way planned. A part of her realized that and wanted to get back on track. Another part of her wanted to continue with Seth. The former part knew Kyra could get killed if she gave in to the latter.

[Seth]

As Seth’s lips came within mere millimeters of brushing against Kyra’s, the heat from his lips and his breath being exhaled softly through his nose would be felt by her blowing tenderly across her soft white skin. If she could read, or feel changed in people she may have felt a sudden change in Seth’s body language, instead of now being an oppressive force laying into her in an aggressive manner, it was now more of an embracive force melding around her.

His left hand now gently rested on her shoulder while her delicate fingers ran his own hands across her body. Seth’s eye lids slowly fluttered closed and his breathing became shallow as she controlled his hand. It felt, it felt wonderful to Seth, even though in the beginning this act was a way to assert his dominance over her it had now seemed to turn against him in a way he hadn’t thought possible.

Seth’s heart had started to thunder away at the inside of his chest and then it suddenly stopped. Everything just seemed to completely come to a stand still, his eyes flicked open and looked straight into hers as he felt that piece of paper slide between his fingers. He glanced down at the paper for a moment and quickly glanced over it, “A bill…” he sounded like he had just finished running a marathon, he gulped and realized that he still had his hand on her shoulder, it was quickly pulled away.

“…for…light bulbs…loss of wages” he shook his head slightly and just for a very brief moment his gaze was once again resting on hers and if Kyra looked she would see that his gaze was no longer filled with just the emptiness that she had seen before, but now with feeling, it may not have been the greatest feeling in the world but at least it was better than the void of emotion she had seen before.

Seth gulped again and pushed himself away from her body. He felt, he wasn’t sure what it was but it hurt in the pit of his stomach. He almost felt betrayed for some reason and that she had done something to wrong him “I’ll uh…just go get that for you then…” it sounded like there was going to be more talking coming from Seth but with a strange, confused look on his face he turned away and began to head over to his back storage room.

[Kyra]

Kyra's heart was in her throat as Seth left to go into the back room. She'd seen something in his eyes. Maybe what she had seen was the last remaining shard of a soul that Seth possessed. He looked hurt. She had come in to get back at him for threatening to kill her yesterday. She wanted to make him hurt, damn it! It was not fair! He had made her cry yesterday, why couldn't she crush his heart into tiny pieces?

That bastard! Why did he have to grow a soul right now. And why did he have to be so attractive to her!? Kyra wanted to scream. She had promised herself never to fall for another demon. She knew Seth was still a cold blooded demon. The tenderness he had shown her was only a small fraction of who he was, but she'd instantly fallen in love with that part, and her white witch side felt horrible for what she had done. DAMN IT! Seth was still a dangerous demon, why did she have to love anything about him. Maybe not love, but.. feel a certain fondness... and an emotional connection that she wanted badly. Kyra wanted to bash something very hard and repeatedly.

Maybe it was her want to not being alone anymore, maybe it was a morbid curiosity, maybe it was just her deprived libido. Something made her chase after him.

"Seth, wait!" Kyra quickly closed the gap between them again. The witch grabbed his arm and pulled him back to her. Normally, in the movies, it would have been the man pulling the heroine back for a 'sorry kiss'. Instead it was Kyra who grabbed the demon's shirt by the collar and pressed her deep scarlet lips against his for a deep and meaningful kiss.