Xehrnon stood across from her, crouched low with his ever so favored blade in hand. The sound of a blade scratching along brick echoed out behind her. Her pulse thudded, loud, too loud to think about much.
Hesitation. Not enough, no, too much.
Before she had a chance to move the shadowmancer's form was shifting, twisting, and very quickly being consumed by black shadows, until it condensed down into a serpentine form, with eyes that glowed of ice blue fire.

"NO!" Her shriek bounced off the walls, echo carrying through the alleyways as she grasped for the blade she kept at her hip. She found nothing, and without another moments thought, twisted away from him. He lunged, and she felt fangs sink into her calf. Fire washed down her leg, and was slowly chased by a tingling feeling that was oh so familiar, and sent terror racing through her.

She jerked, kicked her leg against the resistance and pull that she felt, until it let go. With maniacal laughter, the viper melted into the shadows.

Terror surged through her, kicking up the basic instinct to flee instead of fight, causing her to twist, and run away from where she knew he had been last. The sound of scraping started repeating again, only more frequent, louder, and felt like it was going to swallow her up, consume her. It pushed her forward, despite the fact that she felt numbness spreading through her. Her legs felt the heaviest. It made her movements slow, clumsy, uncoordinated. She had to keep going, keep moving.

She did, for what felt like an eternity of running, while scratching echoed all around her. Then finally, she misstepped and tumbled into a heap. Despite the heavy numbness that had fallen over her, she struggled to roll over and sit up. It was futile.

Something rolled her from her belly to her back, and when she looked up, the shadowmancer's face loomed before her, grin wide and grotesque, like a Cheshire cat's. Glowing Ice blue hues hungrily danced over her, before a forked tongue flicked out between his lips. Shadows surged over her, and tightened, manuvering her until she was in a standing position. Another cackle of laughter escaped him.

He reached out, grabbed her by the face, and leaned in close."You're nothing." The shadowmancer hissed, before he pushed her head back, and in one fluid movement brought his blade up and pressed it to her throat. "You will always end up like this, because you will never best me." He dragged the blade down, over her collar bone, and along the small spanse of skin between it, and the edge of her dress. "All your pretty little wards, your knife flailing, and all the help that your little witchy friend has given you is nothing. Child's play. The only reason I haven't invaded any of your havens? It's so much fun watching you squirm, while you wait for the night that you come home, and find me, instead of your guard dog."

"No! You're lying!" The statement ended with an audible snap of her teeth and low growl. He laughed. "I've no reason to. You're easy to get riled, woman. So much fire inside you. Be careful, or it can consume you."

There was another growl from her, that died off quickly, when he twisted his wrist, and caught the front of her dress with one of the wicked hooks on the back of his blade. He grinned, and with a jerk, cut the front of her dress open, revealing black lace beneath. He leaned close and flicked his forked tongue over her cheek, it felt weird. Surreal almost.

Then he finally pulled away from her, relieving some of the pressure that him being near had brought on. He used the motion to step back, and circle around her, not unlike a predator would, to something it was playing with. He reached out while doing this, so he could drag his blade along her back. Then he circled back around her, and leaned in close once more.

"You've no chance of being saved this time. Everyone's asleep. Thinking you're fine, and dreaming of what ever keeps them warm at night. There are hours before someone even realizes that you're not where you're supposed to be." A snarl sounded, feral and unhappy, and he danced back and away from her. Maniacal laughter echoed as everything faded into darkness, before it was replaced by the sound of a knife against brick, occasional and varying in volume.

Then it faded into hissing, soft and persistent. As the moments passed, the hissing steadily got louder, until it felt like it was reverberating through her. Soon a glow loomed before her, that turned out to be the glowing viper from earlier, eyes and mouth both, alight with fire. It was then, that feeling to her limbs returned, and she thrashed against the shadows that still held her. It laughed.

"Fire. Temper. So much of both. Made you hurt others you care about before. Do....Do it again, and be consumed!" Flames flared from the viper as it roared, before it shot forward, and dove, right into her middle. Her body burst into flames, and with a screech...

She bolted upright in bed, pawing at herself frantically. Then she realized there were no flames, but every bit of her felt like it was on fire, twitchy, and uncomfortable. Her breathing, rapid and irregular, slowed, and finally steadied as she reassured herself that she was in her room, safe, whole, and unharmed. The last words spoken to her, repeated in her mind, as she was overwhelmed of thoughts of the times she had indeed, lost her temper and hurt someone. Finally, she just curled up and sobbed.

The moons were full, and made every witchy bit of her tingle with the energy that filled the air, as she headed back to her apartment. Evidence of where she was coming from was smudged all over her face, in the colors of rich browns, and clung to her in the scent of flowers, herbs and earth. It was the first thing that the demon smelled when she came through her apartment door, along with the scent that was uniquely her, underlying it all.

As the warlock shut the door, and turned to face him, a smile, wide and bright crossed her face. She could hear the loud chuffing purr that he made when ever he was near her. She didn't waste any time in dropping her bag, and making a bee-line straight for him, and into his arms.

"Hi."
"Hi."

He purred the word as he looped his arms around her, and butted his head against hers affectionatly. Smile still present, she leaned up on tip toes so she could press her lips against his. When she leaned back, she peered up at him.

"Tea?"
"Please."

With that, she nodded, and gently peeled herself away from him so she could move for the kitchen.

Mugs were found, teabags were selected, and the kettle was set to boil. As she waited, she sorted through the small assortment of herbs she had drying beside the oven. Those that were dry, were pulled and set aside, while those still green were left. When she was halway through them, she felt Gothrak's large form press against her and loop his arms around her middle. She reveled in the contact, and pressed back against him. His head came to rest on her shoulder. Her head turned so she could catch a quick kiss, before her attention turned back to the herbs she was going through.

"You know I love you, right?" She murmured this, before her form wiggled within his embrace. She felt teeth trace the shell of her ear, before lips pressed against it. "You know you trussst too easssily." The voice that hissed that into her ear no longer belonged to the demon she loved, but someone she hadn't seen in a very long time. She jerked, twisted against the form that trapped her against the counter so she was chest to chest to him. Bottle green Cat's eyes narrowed on icy blue hues, then roamed the rest of his face. Perfect lips, broad nose, messy dirty blond hair.

"Xaphan." The Angel's name was almost snarled, before she reach up to press her hands, which crackled with blue eletricity, against his chest, and pushed. He remained unphased, and grinned. Then he leaned forward, effectivly trapping her arms between them, and let his hand snake upwards and wind itself into her hair, before it fisted. A quick jerk pulled her head back, and his other hand came up to cup her chin. Both actions drew a growl from her.

"You trust so easily. The fact that you were pathetically trying to forget that wretched demon by being with someone else just made it even easier. A little romance. A little interest was all it took." Soon enough, the gentle cupping of her chin turned into an uncomfortably tight grip.

"Too bad my brother got involved and ****ed everything up. I would have taken my time, enjoyed killing you, you little demon whore. Seems like you'll spread your legs nowadays for anyone that has an interest."

"That's not i-" She was interrupted mid-sentance when he shoved his leg up between hers, and stroked at her hair with his free hand. "If I asked you pretty and buy you dinner, would you let me have a go?" This was purred, before he cackled.

"I'd rathe die than have you touch me like that." It was growled, and only made him smirk. Then his features started shifting. Short curly blond hair became longer, slicked back, and ice blue eyes became ringed with silver. Seconds later she felt the press of a blade up against her throat.

"I could manage that, if you'd like, dearie." The shadowmancer purred, as he freed his hand from her hair. Shadows surged between them, wrapped around her wrists, and jerked her hands upwards, over her head, while more shadows secured her feet.

"I promise I'll go slow."

His blade slowly shifted so that the tip was pressed against her neck instead. and slowly dragged it downwards. He traced along the lines of her collarbones, and down along the swells and dips of her chest. Her face twisted into something close to a mask of fear, before she started fighting against the shadows that bound her to no avail. Shortly after this, he paused, and smirked.

"I changed my mind, dearie. I'm not going to kill you yet. I'm gonna let your guard dog step in, and let you know how he really feels when he knows you're off with your legs wrapped around someone else."

Once he finished Gothrak appeared next to him Then, as if he'd been there the whole time, the demon let his eyes roll towards her, then back to the shadowmancer, who offered his blade out to him. With little hesitation, he reached out and plucked it from his hand, before he started towards her.

"Gothrak, wait, You told me yourself that you didn't really care, That you were happy so long as I was happy."

Something darkened on the demon's features, before he grinned, and stalked foward. Once close enough, he reached out to cup one side of her face with his hand. "It's easy enough to lie to someone when they trust you blindly, Zynnara." His thumb brushed over her cheek, "But I think now, I'll show you how bad it hurts, to know I'm obviously not enough to satisfy you." The words may have been said tenderly, but they couldn't hide the malice that lingered just beneath the surface.

He let her go, and drew the blade up. Though, unlike the shadowmancer, he dove right into the heart of the matter, and pressed the blade firmly against her shoulder, until it sank into her just a little. "This is how it hurts when you flirt around." Pause. "And this is how it feels when I see you kissing other people." As he spoke the second sentence, he dug the knife in a little deeper, started dragging it parallel to the line of her collar bones, and didn't stop until he reached the other shoulder. The blade left a trail of wet red, and sliced flesh in its wake.

Her head swam with pain, and a soft whimper escaped her. Her brain was having trouble processing the fact that it was Gothrak causing her pain, and not someone else. It took her a moment to even realize that he had started carving another line, just under the first, only deeper, as there was more flesh the further down he cut. By the time he finished, there were tears rolling down her cheeks. Another line was started, just as painful as the one before.

Halfway through, she spoke, voice quiet and pleading. "Gothrak. Please. Stop. You;re hurting me and this isn't you." He did stop, surprisingly. And when his eyes met hers, a slow, malicious smile spread across his face.

"Zynnara. Ilo. This has always been me. I've just hidden it...But now, I'm going to show you how much it hurts when I know you're wrapping your legs around some other guy."

Then before she had a chance to say anything else, he brought the blade up, and thrusted it forward, straight for her heart.