Under a Paper Moon

I knew I was exhausted and I still had three more appearances to make tonight. Okay, maybe that wasn't so true. I had three more appearances to make this evening if I wanted to keep the job that I'd gotten by accident alone. Summer in Greece hadn't been going exactly like I'd hoped and as I was refusing to accept monetary assistance from my parents, the job was one that I needed even if I hated my boss. Besides, who ever really got to like their boss ?

Sitting there at the vanity in my dressing room, cramped little closet that it may be, a brush was run through my hair, time and time again, the repetitiveness of it helping to ease some of the weariness from me. The rather lazy knock on the door, then the obnoxious voice of the stage manager as he liked to call himself gave me my five minute warning. Settling the brush back down, I stepped back from the small bench and spun in front of the mirror. A full nude club, it wasn't liked that I still wore the base coat over my skin to shade my private bits, but the actual boss saw my show as too much of a money maker to deny me the one stipulation I'd asked. Smoothing out an imaginary crease in it, I drew in a breath and stepped back from the mirror and to the door.

Down the passage and passed the general room that I could hear the quiet mutter of some of the other girls coming out of from behind the closed door. They disliked me, at least the majority of them did and while it might have bothered some, it didn't get to me the way they wanted it to. They thought I acted like I was better than them ? I was. I was doing this so I didn't have to take mommy and daddy's money where most of them would have loved to have things just thrown at them. Shaking my head, I moved passed the room where actual live music was being played and piped out through speakers distributed about the business in proper places so that the flow of it was even. Was more natural than most. We weren't big, or as popular as some of the other establishments. Not yet, or so the boss liked to say. We did offer certain things, certain little perks here that most of the others didn't. Breath was pulled in through gritted teeth, then exhaled through my nose, as I stepped up to the actual backstage.

Shimmying out of the light robe that I had grabbed on the way out, I hung it on a hook as I saw the flurry of activity going on between sets. The wires and the hooks that I knew were far more real than anyone else believed. The sharpness of them only became reality when they had slipped into your skin and were keeping you aloft. Not that I needed them, but as the Boss didn't want us to be thought a club of Freaks, he required them and the wires. I heard the stage manager begin announcing me as was the usual rather than the DJ equivalent as most of the others received. Hands reached up and removed the contacts that I had to wear unless onstage before slipping them back into their case and tucking it away in the pocket of the robe. The last three minutes were spent stretching and making sure that I was properly prepared. While it wasn't as if I needed it, it just made things easier.

By the time the curtain was raised, the lights in the audience having dimmed to nothingness, I was seated Indian style in the center of the stage. My hair so pale that it acted as a beacon all on it's own, it told the audience that someone was there. It as well as the change in music and the disappearance of the lights all came together to act as a sort of build up for those watching. By the time the other three bodies had appeared on stage, I had risen to my feet. Not moving from where I had been seated, my left arm came out first. As it raised from my side, the fire had begun to appear. Starting as the merest dots of heat at my fingertips, it grew slowly but surely as it traced up my arm and over my shoulder. Crossing my back, the action was repeated, but in reverse down my right arm as it too raised.

Ears so attuned now to the sound heard the system overhead as the wires began being shifted the last few inches needed that the hooks could begin to be affixed to my body. There was not even a wince across my face, no sign whatsoever of pain or reaction as the hooks dug into my flesh. As always, the three who helped to prepare me thought the hooks a joke even as my own blood began to travel intimately down the paleness of my body. They thought it all as much a part of the costume as the flames. It was why they at least never questioned me wearing the layer I did. Five hooks. Five razor edged jolts into my body that were felt quite clearly before the pain danced away even as the flame danced along my body.

They moved away then, stepping into the shadows that began the edge of the backstage and I was finally alone with the audience. Eyes that were cavernous pools of true black reflected the flames and each guest seated in the audience watched themselves be reflected back out. As the system began to "lift" me, I gave myself over to my chosen art. My body and the way it moved made those who turned themselves into human pretzels jealous as limbs and torso moved in ways that should have been inhumanly possible. Once my feet had left the stage, the flame that lined my arms began to run down my spine until it could mimic it's path upon my legs as well until finally my arced body was a pillar of living flame. When finally I was suspended fully upside down in a position that somehow looked graceful, sensual even to the crowd but was actually bordering on painful for me, it was only then that went still, body held with the pose of a breathing statue as mesmerizing eyes swept each and every crowd member giving them their own private "tour" of my body as it was so displayed.

He lingered like smoke, his presence going unnoticed by the crowd and the waitresses alike. More to his contentment, these were not the sort of people he typically associated with. Not that he was a snob, he had just realized over the centuries of his existence, that his presence alone was enough to make them very uncomfortable. The proprietor of this unique establishment would appreciate his discretion, even if he would never know about it. It was the thought that counted.

Or so he kept telling himself.

His lean frame lounged across the chair; heavy black boots buckled to his knees, and currently crossed at the ankle where they rested upon the table. That long waist and chest, carved from marble, were covered in simple fishnet. The silver rods through his nipples glittered dimly in the flickering lights. Those long legs that gave him his impressive height, were cloaked in an expensive but simple leather, a stark backdrop for the silver finger armor that covered four fingers on each hand, their tips coming to a delicate point, their detail lost to shadows.

He had been here for hours, watching with mild interest the variety of spectacles paraded out before the audience. Oh they had flickered, their aura's pulsing in time with their hearts, but each was carved from the mundane substance of their own existence. like a world painted in pastels and a kaleidoscope of grey, truly not to his tastes.

Then it got dark, the lights sweeping out like the last breath of a dying man. Then midnight erupted into an eclipse of flame. Starting slowly at her hands and brushing like the wind down satin skin. Then, like the scent of water to a man lost in the desert the scent of her blood washed over him, and she lifted from the ground with no more weight then the fire she wrapped around herself.

Cerulean blue burned as he watched, and the club fell away until she arched against a plane of flames, Mortalis lost to the vision of her against the backdrop of every possible variation of reds, blues, greens, whites and golds.

Still he was invisible to the room, but her dancers pose she would only have to open her eyes to spot those azure shards glittering in the corner.

As if it were pattern or perhaps sheer and bloody coincidence, you would know the moment my eyes had opened though they by no means went to you first. In fact they caressed every other being in the room before you.That was if you could call my brief perusal of them a caress. While my gaze had left each of them aching for more, you knew it was nothing to me, a mere part of the act, and oh what an act it was. When you first had attained that whiff of my essence spilling free, you had not scented human. Mortal yes, but oh so very NOT human. How no other preternatural creature could have come here before you was a mystery, yet you knew as sure as the sun would sunder your skin from your bones that if one had, our eyes would not be meeting now as they were.

You had seen the distaste in my gaze when finally my eyes had left what I thought to be the last patron. You had tasted my revulsion on your tongue as if it were the sourest curdled blood that you were being forced to swallow. Yet still the charade had been held, the masquerade kept in place as my eyes swept towards your corner, barely a passing glance. They were going to turn back away, my body already beginning to move until I had risen to look as if an arrow posed for flight when I froze. Optics stopped their path save for moving to land fully upon you. From tip of booted foot and then through artfully chiseled form to the top of your head and back before coming to meet your eyes for that first true taste.

You saw, as had the other patron's your own gaze reflected back upon you from those mystery eyes as you felt the sour turn to sweetest divinity. As if you were supping from the choicest of vitae at your leisure , you would watch, my gaze never leaving yours as my body executed a graceful almost sensual set of motions. Coming to land on one knee, head bowed beneath that rain of glistening white, eyes should have been lost to you, yet they were not. For a moment you swore you saw the reflective midnight turn to orbs of purest fire before my body flung back. Arms the wings of the striking hawk, head tossed back, a siren's cry erupting free to fill the room, as you felt, though did not hear the quiet cry of pain as the four hooks were ripped from my flesh in unison.

That position was held, the fire beginning to work up from tips of bare feet, each tongue extinguishing until the room was bathed in true dark. The moment it became so, the applause was thunderous until finally lights began to appear around the room. When it was finally lit once more, I was gone, the curtain closed. In my place stood the owner of the club, his skin glistening, each sweat oozing pore clear to your eyes, as a voice that he thought to be charming informed the audience that waiters would be coming around to collect tips for me as I had went backstage to rest between sets. You would see all too clearly his own self pleasure as he heard the cry's of encore, encore coming from all corners of the room but yours. Even the waiters who were already circulating, ones you had no doubt had seen the performance more than one seemed as effected by it as the rest.

Though you found yourself suddenly aware that I was unlikely to be backstage. You knew from your own performances, as well as from that last heady release of my vitae, along with that soft cry of pain that the muggy heat of the building would be agony upon such fresh wounds, and that unless I was a lover of pain, I would more than likely be outside, somewhere basking in the cooler night air before my next performance.

Damn me and my insatiable curiosity that one day, or one night more likely was going to get me into some serious trouble. If it was trouble that looked like him, Gods have mercy on my soul for it was sure to be the kind that Legends were made of. Not that I was going to be arguing by any means. Having captured my robe and slipping it over one arm, it brushed at my hip slowly as I walked towards the back employee door. It was where the girls and the security stepped out both to catch fresh air on break or to have a smoke that I found myself craving almost as much as I craved air right now. No, scratch that. As much as I craved water actually. As if reading my mind, a bottle was extended by one of the bouncers, a quiet mountain of a guy that I knew to be the sweetest thing likely born to man. Smiling up at him, it was not difficult to press up on tiptoe and brush my cheek against his. As long as I didn't twist or stretch too much just yet, I should be good.

Though he did not speak a word and despite his size moved quietly as a whisper, I knew he followed me. This was our usual routine, had been really since the month before when he had gotten hired on. The brush of air came when his arm reached over my head and guided the back door open for me to slip out of it. Though he did not come outside after me, I knew he still guarded.

Keeping the back that was enjoying the air but not being allowed to fully heal away from the wall, I still managed to find a position that allowed me a measure of relaxation. I hadn't bothered returning the contacts, fingers instead reaching for the pack that rested in the opposite pocket, dark chocolate pack withdrawn long enough to tap one out before returning it. Flicker of flame, whisper of ruby and smokey gold danced and whispered in my cupped palm before that first calming breath was exhaled. Scent and herb along with enough of the the drug to have my body starting to slowly unwind. Keeping track of the time mentally, I had barely begun to enjoy my break when I heard the voices. All masculine, and all easily drunk, I moved enough to slide myself out of full view. I'm not out here, just keep passing on. I don't exist to you were the thoughts thrown outwards. Of course such was not my luck.

Drawn by the scents of my cigarette or perhaps by the sounds that came as a few of the other girls had stepped out, split a cigarette between themselves before heading back in, I would be standing there alone as they came around the bend of the alleyway. Enough space between myself and the door that they would intercept me before I ever made it inside, I simply shifted, covering myself quickly with the robe even though it tore at my back in a far less than pleasurable fashion. Continuing my smoke break, I merely watched as the small group of them eyed one another, their tongues wagging about in their native tongue that surely a foreigner as myself would not speak. I did though as my parents had been adamant that I be quite fluent for the various vacations we took. So I knew well the words they were saying and it only caused a quiet sigh to escape. If course I was just a whore to them, and they some of the more important crop of this city. They thought they could have their fun with the little dancer and none be the wiser.

He turned his head and followed her with his eyes as she passed through her world of dancing flame. The tips of her hair no more tangible then wisps of smoke, almost fluid as it swept around her. Leaving a trail that followed her out of sight. Even when she was lost to his vision, and the fire that only he could see faded away, he continued to listen. Exceptionally keen hearing, usually a benefit, left the cadence of her heart pulsing in his ears.

He rose like he weighed nothing, from his collapsed position, onto those lightly booted feet. Sweeping like a wraith through the crowd, and followed the sound into the area back stage. The bouncer standing at the bottom of the stairs never even glanced in his direction, turning instead to talk to one of the girls as they passed conveniently by.

Once he was beyond the curtain, and the gritty truth of the world came crashing back in around him. The illusion of comfort ending with the red cotton wall. If only the true veil was so easily swept out of the way, to show the world the truth of it all. For a moment he just took it all in, the sounds, the view, the touch of heat that no longer affected him. Then that sweet vermillion scent returned, thick enough that he could taste it as it rolled across the top of his tongue.

He followed, and when he caught site of the large mountain in front of the exit he smirked. It was a simple matter to cut up the nearby stairs, and find a window that looked out over the back ally.

What trouble was this, already she had caught the attention of the shadows. Their gazes illuminated with a borrowed heat, warmed by a flame that they were not welcome to.

The window before him did not open, its multitude of six by six inch frames firmly held in place. Breaking it would be too noisy, it would draw attention. Even he was not so skilled that he could command sound. So he did the next best thing. Stepping back he gave the tall window one long look and with the power of his blood Denied it. To him, it simply and suddenly ceased to exist. No one was watching him, but if they had been he would have appeared to pass like a phantom through it.

He landed crouched, his back to the dancer, those eyes of his burning with the light of his beast. The illusion of his humanity draining away, as full lips peeled back to reveal elongated canines, but he did not speak with that silent challenge. Instead he rose slowly to his feet and waited. Waited for them to recognize death and run, or to come to him and cash in their tickets for the afterlife.

"You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me. Not only did I have drunk frat boys to deal with, but now I have an over zealous fan too with jealousy complexes. Here I just wanted a cancer fix and a breath of fresh air, but looks like I'm not going to get that. As for you Mr tall dark and smashable, do be a dear and get out of my way. I'll give you an autograph later if I must."

There was lilt and there was insistence. There was heat and there was femininity all rolled into one divine package of my voice alone as I slipped passed him. Even as I passed him, the robe was shed to fall to the impressively clean ground of the alley. A hand had come up to rest on his rather nicely molded shoulder and I could feel the strength within his form. Though even from the back, there was something familiar of him though I knew unquestionably I would never have forgotten an ass that magnificent. Even as I went around him, I looked up, eyes bypassing any of his features until ours locked together. An artist's grace kept me from face planting and making a fool of myself, though I now knew why he had looked familiar.

"You."

One, simple, succinct word. Not quite whisper, yet not quite spoken aloud. Cerulean blaze was met and captured by depths of midnight fire. For a moment as my hand slid from his shoulder, I felt a shudder ripple through me to coil deeper within my being than I had dreamed to exist. Once it settled there, watchful as the serpent waiting to strike, I swore I heard something brush my mind. A voice. A caress. Something that I didn't understand but found myself wanting to. My hand fell away then, just as it had reached the center of that sinfully fishnet covered chest. Putting my back towards him, he would clearly be able to see the fifth hook that still rode my skin as well as the fact that while I obviously healed faster than most mortals, the speed with which I had to heal myself before the next show had been interrupted.

"Now boys, I think you've made my friend here a mite bit displeased by your rather rude interruption. You can be the kind gentlemen that I'm sure you are when you're not stupidly trashed and turn yourselves back the way you came before this ends very badly for you. Or you can progress with your original plans and have your night end rather badly."

I knew I could only affect one, maybe two of them without doing severe damage, and the fact that I had spoken to them in the same tongue that they had been conversing in about their intentions for me only seemed to incite them further. Giving a quiet sigh that was more mental then anything, I glided towards them. Five in total, I lifted my bared arms and placed fingers filled by delicate strength upon his chest. Eyes would lock with his as I leaned up and whispered into his ear.

"Burn."

While the flames were like a lover to me, they were his own nightmare, and I watched that in his eyes as I gave him a sudden shove back. It licked oh so quickly at his chest and arms before moving towards his face. Too stunned to scream, one of his companions grabbed him and drug him back, all the while trying to snuff the flames. That would take him quite a bit, though now it left me with three males that were cautiously but rather angrily moving into try to encircle me as if they had completely forgot about the other male.

The sneer that curved those full lips smoothed away under the weight of curiosity as she strolled around in front of him. Standing like a short bleeding wall between himself and the men at the end of the alleyway. Like she would protect him, when that had been his intention with getting involved.

Fearless. Savage. She was setting the bar for his expectations awfully high. still he allowed it, just to see what she would do. .

She became transcendent with that single word and the inferno that followed. Masterful.

They drug him away. Wounded. Damaged. He could smell the searing blood as it burned away into so much smoke. Was she a phoenix? It had been a long time since he'd had the pleasure of company so exquisite. But no, alas her aura had been wrong for that, he knew the flickering blaze of their aura's all to well.

The sound of anger pulled him back from his musing, irritation written across his face at the interruption. Like someone coughing during the crescendo. Indigo orbs narrowed in their direction, even as the girl moved forward. The initial reason for his arrival forgotten, he rolled his shoulders as if he required limbering up before taking action. It was a lie, an illusion of humanity he no longer possessed.

I managed to evade the first set of grubby paws that attempted to grab my bare arm, the second pair catching and tearing against skin still raw from the show. Half gasp, half hiss erupted from my lips as stars began to appear sprinkled about within midnight gaze. The third did actually latch on, fingers clenching like a vise around a fistful of razor straight white silk. Teeth pressed into my lower lip, refusing them the contentment of my scream as I found my head being yanked towards the group of them with little to no care for my well being. Of course they were pissed. I was nothing that they had expected and that both intrigued and terrified them. That and the fact that their companion was still sparking like a stick of dynamite waiting to explode.

While I would have loved to turn and call back over my shoulder for a bit of assistance, both my pride and the hand so solidly tangled in my hair kept me from doing so. Going with the obnoxious male's lead rather than have anymore hair ripped from my head, I was attempting to keep my body angled as far enough away from him as possible. Intoxication lead to stupidity, and stupidity would have been their downfall but it seemed that their inebriation also gave them an added level of strength as well as the loss of memory that I had set their friend aflame as if he were a walking, talking scarecrow. I didn't want to have to hurt them, and well I knew that trying to take all of them on my own was a vain glorious cause, so I really could only hope that the stranger behind me was more than a sinfully alluring face atop an equally distracting body. Casting my voice up towards the three of them, still with that enticing lilt, but now joined by obvious disdain,

"Seriously boys ? Pulling my hair ? I know six year old girls that fight with more balls than you do. Are we going to move onto scratching at each other like cats in heat next ? If so, try not to go for my face. I do really need my money maker inta..."

CRACK

It echoed like a gunshot going off, the noise rebounding off the walls of the alley as the rather solid, tightly closed fist to my jaw had pain exploding through my head like a pair jackhammers doing the flamenco. I should have expected something with that direct, frontal assault on their manhood, but damn me if I had expected something that forward. There was enough force thrown behind it that it ripped my hair from one of the other two's grasp and sent me rocketing towards the back wall of the alley. Had I not been seeing stars both literally and figuratively, I might have been able to break my fall, though Gods only knew how. Now though...It didn't bare thinking about even if I had the time.

"Oh bugger. Someone call a Doctor."

He was a blur, tossing the men away like they weighed little more then tissue paper. Their bodies tumbling away into the nearby walls but they weren't down for the count, not yet. Leaving them for the moment, he stepped around her, tilting her chin upward just enough to catch her eyes with his own. "Sleep." The tell tale fluttering of her pupils as her mind accepted the command was utterly absent. It shouldn't have been, not under the force of his mind. It wasn't arrogance, he was just very old. No one had stood against his dominate in a long time.
How terribly curious.

Still, he could work with it, stars still danced around her. Lifting indigo orbs she looked over her head, his silhouette illuminated by the man behind him that still burned. His power rolled out across them and this time they heeded the warning. Getting to their feet as quickly as they could they darted out the back end of the alleyway, leaving their friend to burn away in their absence.

To the quiet mountain who finally opened the door, he applied the previously failed dominate attempt, sending him back inside without a word. Finally he turned back to the girl, eyes lowering to the top of her still spinning head. "It's alright, your safe enough. Then men have fled." Lifting his hand he placed his hand lightly on her shoulder, practiced enough with the claws of his finger armor that they didn't so much as scratch her silken skin. "Shall I fetch the bouncer for you?" His voice was subtly accented, though it's origins were almost impossible to place. The words were Greek, spoken with familiarity but it clearly wasn't his native tongue.

At the very moment I didn't know that even a doctor would have been sufficient. The wall I had connected with had been far from loving and it left me debating what was or was not broken. My jaw wasn't broken from the connection of the initial hit, common sense telling me the drunk bastard didn't know how to hit properly. He could throw force but that force not equalized properly had obviously left him with a hand that he wouldn't be using the same for a while. I heard the thuds of bodies being tossed about like rag dolls and tried to plaster a grin to my face. I had my own knight in shining armor it would seem. Though that was anything but a fitting description for him. I'd have to work on that. I refused to label him with something that was less than perfect.

As if he knew I'd been thinking about him, I felt what could only be his grasp raising my gaze to meet his. As if one of him hadn't been appealing enough, the multiples that were flickering in and out made me more than willing to stay sitting there. I registered the single word he said, or at least thought I did. He was telling me to sleep here in the alley way while I still had thugs that wanted to do less than reputable things to me ? Crazy fruit bat. Dangerously decadent or not, I was pretty sure he was a few apples short of a barrel. For the briefest second, my brain tingled like someone was brushing it with kid gloves on. Funny. I must have hit my head harder than I'd thought to be imagining things like that. But that wall was there regardless.

I was reminded of the time that my parents had brought me to some head doctor because of the dreams I'd been having and how they thought them to be affecting my personality. The man had tried some tweaked version of hypnosis on me only to come back looking like he'd been kicked in the jewels. He'd been adamant of not taking me on as a permanent client, regardless of how much my parents had offered him. Apparently when he'd tried to mesh with my psyche, he'd been met with a massive brick wall. Covered in rather intricate, if maddening graffiti like images, there had been a single door. Daring to open it, there had been nothing but fire on the other side. Hot enough that he swore he'd felt it's burn, it had been slammed on him before he'd been quite decisively thrown out.

That was whatever the one in possession of that hand would find themselves faced with. Finally taking note of the sound of feet running in the opposite direction, I gave a vaguely wobbly shove to my feet. Realizing that I tasted the heavy coppery tang of blood in my mouth, I turned away and spat it out on the ground. Well great, just great. When my head hit I must have bit down hard enough to tear a rather jagged spot open in my mouth. Stepping towards the figure still burning, I heard the door open, and from the corner of my eye caught the bouncer stepping out to check on me only to strangely turn around and head back inside, nary a word spoken. Strange yes, but not my true focus at the moment. Laying a hand to the downed male,

"Fire bright and fire burns, fire fade and fire return."

Even as I spoke, not completely conscious of exactly what I was doing, the flames licked back down his body and literally seemed to reabsorb back into mine. His eyes dazed with pain, he scuttled back and stumbled to his feet before turning and running into the night. Then my eyes caught note of the stranger speaking again, felt his eyes on me even before his hand with those wicked claws came to rest on my shoulder. Wincing even as I shrugged, feeling the tear, however slight of the wounds on my back attempting to heal anew, I crouched just enough to lift my robe from the ground. His voice had a certain cadence to it, a delightful resonance that let me realize that while he was likely as multi-lingual as I, this tongue to him was no more as true then it was to me,

"Thanks. I don't think they would have stayed long but if they had, things wouldn't have ended the way I would have liked. As to Ares, leave him be. I need to put myself back together, otherwise he's going to blame himself for my injuries. Fuck if I don't have another act in twenty. Care to join me for a cigarette, Tall, dark, and...Do you have a name ? Being as you lent a hand back there, it's the least I can offer you. I'm Eris."

The first of her words inspired in him a rough smile, and those clawed fingertips brushed back through her hair almost tenderly as he spoke. "In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand dare seize the fire?" When she was on her feet again he didn't step back, to offer her space. In fact any illusion she might have had to a personal space bubble was penetrated by his unwaveringly close proximity.

As her words lilted into the air, he watched her. Like she was a piece of fascinating artwork, an observation not utterly without merit considering her work inside a few short minutes ago. The corner of his upper lip twitched in the hint of a sneer at the mention of the manager of the place. His dislike clearly written on his face, he brush away the mention of such vermin and refocused his attention on her. "I am called Vanquish, and yes." The corner of that sinful mouth curved upward into the half smile of a Cheshire cat. "But I seem to have misplaced my lighter."

There was a whisper of memory then. An English lesson forgotten, the whisper of a poem long ago memorized for a recital. Assuredly that was the case as the words came tumbling from my lips as easily as the release of my next breath.

What the hammer ? What the chain ?
In what furnace was thy brain ?
What the anvil ? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp ?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see ?
Did He who made the lamb make thee ?

Even as the words fell from my lips, I felt that brush of his fingertips through my hair. I knew the claws were still there as he'd not had the time to remove them. Yet perhaps it was for those claws that I leaned into the touch. I'd felt the strength in him, knew that such gentleness was a perfect counterbalance to him. I thought in that moment of the beast that it spoke of and found it ironic that he reminded me of one. I wasn't so sure that it was a tiger that perfectly fit him, but rather some other giant cat, ever ready to pounce, and tear. Stalking the murky darkness of night as it trailed it's victim, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

When he had moved on, not so much away but to...I wasn't sure what his intention was as he seemed more than content with popping my personal bubble, I couldn't help but loft one brow. Interesting choice of names, even if it was as unlikely to be his real name as the one I'd given for myself. Though in my defense, the name was at least partially mine, though a lesser used part. I wouldn't question it too much though as it did seem as fitting for him as the piece of poetry he'd chosen. While he had not killed my would be violators, he had seen to their vanquishing rather adroitly. Somehow less than perturbed by his closeness, more so of intrigued by it, his last words, as well as the way that smile stretched even one corner of that mouth had my own grin helplessly rolling to meet it.

"Of course you would have. Likely your cigarettes as well, though Gods above and Gods below only know where you would have put them, wearing what you are and all. I wouldn't be surprised if you'd paid somebody to pain that getup on you. I have either Marlboro Mentholated on me or if you prefer, I do have a few cloves left as well, of the vanilla kind that is. Do pick your poison though as I'm running a bit shy on time at the moment."

Extracting the menthol ones from my pocket, I tapped one out and pressed it between my lips. Quiet as a whisper, soft as the spring rain dancing along your lover's skin, the tip of it came to a vibrant scarlet life. Holding it in one hand after that first relished toke was taken, my free hand moved to check my other pocket, a soft curse breaking the otherwise silence as I pulled out a broken and drained contact case. Shaking my head as I slipped the rubbish back into my pocket, my words were more a mutter to myself, almost as if I had forgotten he were there for the moment.

"Good thing I have another pair of those backstage or I'd be staying here tonight."

The idea of being short on time seemed to confuse him for a moment, and he looked at her as if there was more he expected her to say. When nothing was forth coming he plucked one of the offered cigarettes from her and placed it between full lips. balancing it easily as he seemed to search for the lighter he had already admitted to not having.

"What do you make in a night?" Came the absent inquiry as long fingered hands patting himself. Continuing without really giving her time to answer. "I would gladly double it, if I can convince you to show me around the city." Reaching fingers into a back pocket he produced a ratty book of matches, and one handed struck one of the last three to life and touched it to the pale white parchment.

"Doubtful enough to hurt the pocketbook of someone like you. Though if it's a tour guide you're looking for, I could suggest one to you that would be far cheaper and more informed. Not that I couldn't use the night off mind you."

He wasn't looking for a guide other than myself, that much I was pretty certain of. Something leaving me with the niggling feeling that it wasn't often that he played the Damsel's saving Devil, I drew back after he took the offered cigarette. Moving far enough into the depths of the alley, I twisted my body about. Contorted until I could find that fifth and final hook that was still burrowed so neatly within my body. Fingers were just barely able to grasp enough of it for a solid hold, though that was nothing new. More the fact that one had actually been left behind to begin with had me frustrated with myself. I had allowed the Male to be a distraction. To both take my focus from my job as well as to drive it like a sledgehammer back into it. I knew I'd been good tonight, exceptionally so. Those finishing moments. The way the heat had risen like a tidal wave from the audience to embrace me... Sometimes I just wanted it to be cold. There were moments where all I wanted was to be able to freeze out the fire, make it go away and leave me a normal girl.

Those were the thoughts pilfering so freely at my mind as I ripped the last hook from my body. It required the distraction, the removal did, otherwise I fought the pain rather than flowing with it and allowing my body to start it's odd sort of healing process. My eyes remained open through it all, staring at nothingness as I felt my own blood warm my outer flesh, if only for so brief a moment. Willpower alone kept me from making an audible sound at it, though for the briefest of moments I did feel woozy enough to question my equilibrium. Finally turning back just enough to see if he still stood there,

"Not that I don't appreciate the offer, but to show you the city as it deserves would take more than a night. Sadly as it sits I can't afford to lose this one which I would if I took you up on your offer, tempting as it and you may be."

"Your turning me down?" A pale brow arched upward, as if this possibility had also not occurred to him. A wry smile touched his mouth, and he ducked his head as if befuddled for what to say next. "Would it be better to demand or beg?" Sapphires peered out at her past ivory lashes. "Or shall I walk away now any leave you to shine in your mundane sky, surround by cut out colored paper stars, spattered in glitter. Dangling from twine and spinning helplessly in the winds of fate. All of them too busy making sure their lines are even, to realize they lack the strength to move on their own."

He stepped closer to her, circling around her narrow frame leaving just enough space between them that the air in his wake ruffled her clothing and brushed through her hair.

"But not you. You shine, and twist and dance like a sun." His voice seemed to almost to vibrate into the vacuum of space between them. "Brilliant, burning, bright." His eyes drifted closed as he took in her scent. "I offer you the universe, and you deny me so that you can twist in your current orbit, inside a single solar-system. why?"

"Never show anyone. They'll beg you and they'll flatter you for the secret, but as soon as you give it up... you'll be nothing to them."

His words were unlike any I'd ever had spoken to me before, his questions making me wonder what it would be like if I just left with him right here and now. I couldn't help but grin a bit though, my head dropping for a moment as I tried to picture this Male doing anything other than placing demands. Something though about how he had so easily asked about either option left me wondering. What would he look like, kneeling before me, head bowed as his voice carried up to me ? Would he sound as tempting then as he did now ? Something told me though that if he were to walk away in this moment, I might not ever see him again. Was I willing to take hold of that risk and run with it ? I had only known him for a span of moments so why did it matter if he walked away here and now ?

"A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

Realizing how wordy I must be sounding at the very moment, I finally did nothing more than give a low shrug of one shoulder. He was close, so close, and I wanted nothing more than to be swept away by his words. To allow myself to be swallowed by them and the promise of excitement that they held. It was not an option though. If I was anything, I was a realist, and in that I held true appreciation for the things that money could buy me. Daringly leaning into him, closing that distance as well with one hand, fingers still sparkled by my blood from where I had ripped the hook from my flesh but moments before,

"Because it's your universe, not mine. A pretty face is rarely ever offering a lasting reality. Even a sun can explode if it shine's too brightly, and I don't find myself ready to meet my end. At least not yet. Fifteen hundred dollars and I'll be yours for the week, take me or leave me."