He had given her false information. Again.

The imp was trapped, writhing in agony in the circle she had used to call him. Bellora employed demons, imps, and the like from time to time, and this one had been (she stupidly thought) a reliable one.

Flinging blessings on him in her frustration with herself, she watched him smoke, smolder, and scream. She'd screwed up. BIG TIME.

Just days ago, the imp had come to her, claiming to know where Dalia was getting her power from these days, and how to get to her. Bellora knew the mad woman was being protected by a demon of some sort. She'd been to Dalia's Dark Side herself, and had been befuddled and confused, waking in an alley. She had not been prepared for that.

Still suffering from the effects, Bellora found she could not remember how to even FIND that damned shop.

Growling at the whimpering imp, Bellora banished it back to hell and sighed. She'd have to start again. This was going to be harder than she thought.

Dalia lay on a beach towel, moon bathing alonside the river at midnight. Scantily dressed in a black bikini, her hair piled messily atop her head. She rolled over onto her stomach, shapely bottom revealed to the full moon. It was midnight, and she heard him coming.

It was Jay, the "flamboyant" interior designer she had wrapped around her little finger. "Is it done?" she asked. He nearly ran to her side, falling to his knees beside her, drawing in her scent like a drowning man sucks in air. She hid her smile.

"Yes, Madame Dalia. The cameras were woven into the fabric of the drapes, as you requested. I managed to convince her to hand sets of them in her bedroom and living room upstairs, as well as the sitting room in her office. The microphones are placed in them as well as embedded in the couches. Here is the reciever."

He laid a small black box beside her, the tiny viewing screen barely 2x2. His hand brushed her bare arm, as if in accident, as he scooted it closer to her. Jay feigned gayness, finding it gained him more clients, but he was far from it. Jay nearly drooled as his fingertips tingled, having touched her cool, marble flesh. He risked it, hand reaching out to brush a curl off her shimmering back, hearing a clock tower strike midnight as his heart pounded in his chest. She let him touch her, let him stroke her hair. She moaned softly, rolling over onto her back, amble breasts perked in the cool night air. He licked his lips, staring at them. Her voice brought his attention to her full, ruby lips.

"Jay, you have done well. Teach me how this silly thing works, and then I will reward you for your efforts." she purred. He fumbled with the box, turning it on for her to see. He went over everything with her, patient as she pretended not to understand, faked the "Oh, I am a girl, I can't do anything without a big, strong, man to show me" attitude. He bent closer to her, stealing brushes of flesh against his own. She could feel his pulse through his clothing, smell the slight beading of sweat on his brow, the unconscious release of pheremones from his body. She knew he was ready, primed, and willing.

She pulled him down beside her, a finger pressed to his lips as he looked around, about to object to their tryst being so out in the open. She pulled him into a kiss, biting at his lips, piercing them. He moaned deeply, she sucked at the sweet blood that bubbled forth. He wrapped himself around her, holding her tight as she yanked his head back by his hair, the young man willing and aroused by her rough play. Dragging her fangs along his throat, he shuddered and clung to her. She purred to him, dirty secrets whispered so softly he could barely hear. It was then that she struck.

Dalia held his body tightly to her as her free hand twisted his head around backwards, then tore it free. She laughed, lapping and drinking from the font that spurted forth. Covered in his blood, bathing in it, she licked her fingers, licked his lips, and then stood. She carried the head and body to the entryway alcove of The Vendetta Offices, dumped them there, and walked away. She called the RhyDin Watch, leaving an anonymous tip about a body outside a warehouse in the WestEnd, then slid soundlessly into the river, washing all traces of Jay's blood and ensuring that no hounds could follow her scent.

Laughing as she swam up river, "Dalia one, Bellora zip." Not needing to breath, she swam the rest of the way under water, ingoring the rankness and grime it was leaving on her flawless skin. She'd have Lyric bathe her when she got home, and with that to look forward to, she spent the time devising a lie to tell the young girl about why she was covered in slime, grime, and dripping with the foul water.