[Terra] Fire and Ice {Tel x TakodaVega}

[TakodaVega]

The falling snow outside seemed peaceful to most, caressing the ground in its wake with it's frosty kisses. For the redheaded lady, this night was no different than most others. Course she thrived in the frozen wonderland that coated her path. However the gnawing at her gut reminded her just why she needed to leave what would be sanctuary to most. The Hunger had become it's gift and curse, as was the price to all deals one would make with a Demon.

For Siofragana, though, the Demon in question was no ordinary demon. She took in a deep, though unneeded, breath and let it out slowly. He brought her back to her rightful seat of power, to the full potential as the Queen of Ice, only for a small price. A significant one, that reminded her very much like the ancient tale of Rumpelstiltskin. The Hunger, she figured, was part of the side effect of said pact long ago. The day had been seared into her memory as many others that had been locked away had now as well.

She stopped in her tracks and looked up at the sky, the cool flakes gracing her pale skin. That day had been soaked in the blood of the innocent, and then not so much. Parts she would have retracted, but so much more she wish she had done more of. The Demon's voice seemed to lurk in her mind to remind her just what task lay ahead of her. That the Hunger gave her the strength she needed. She wondered, though, where exactly he had gone. She knew he would be back someday, after-all her end of her debt had been yet to be paid.

Though that had almost been four years ago. Siofragana's life was now more settled into the routine. However tonight she was looking for a much rarer delicacy. Her eyes narrowed slightly. Though she fed the Hunger every day now, there were these rare times where she needed to have it fresh, directly from the source. Shaking her head, the flakes that had curled along her hair falling away. Tucking her hands into her leather jacket, she continued her path. Specific. Very specific she needed this time.

Her body shuddered, the need was starting to get to her as she heard the sounds of a scuffle. Her step quickened as she rounded the corner.  The scene was nothing new in the park of this side of town. The ending, though, that would change. Her ice blue eyes fixed on the scene as two grown men kicked at a younger one, barely  a teen if even that. She narrowed as those boots made their silent, but deadly approach.

Siofragana, as it was, was intimidating at a natural six foot two height, the heels didn't help make her even less imposing. Plus the coat, corset, and pants almost made her seem like that joke of a Vampiress in the Underworld movie. Granted she was much more casual, considering beneath that jacket there was nothing beneath the corset, save for that black rose stained into her back from so long ago many people, and newer vampires had no idea who or what she was.

The reigning Coven head of the Black Rose Coven was certainly not a woman to be messed with, she was bordering the ancient category.  But play was just starting as she reached behind the men and gripped the back of their necks. Snapping them would be to easy, instead she slammed the two males into the concrete below them, knocking them cold for awhile as she eyed their own victim.

Only to see the baby blue eyes of a young girl staring back at her. Specific was cruel to her. "Are you alright?" She asked softly, her eyes fixed on the young girl who sniffled and carefully sat up rubbing her tears. "T-thank you, m-ma'am. I d-don't know how to repay you." Siofragana's lips twitched carefully as she crouched down to her level. "I do...and I promise you it won't hurt a bit if you trust me, and I promise you it has nothing along the same vein as these pigs," she absently kicked one in the ribs, "Would want, a simple leap of faith is all I need." The girl nodded slowly and that would be the last thing she would remember of that night.

The price she had to pay for the Hunger was a cruel one, but she tasted the sweeter, trusting taste of the girl. Never too much, nothing that would ever leave a permanent mark, and nothing that would leave the pull of the memory with it. Save for what she made the girl's night more like a dream that she would eventually wake up to, in her own bed that she gleaned from the girl's memory. The Men weren't nearly as lucky as the girl would be.

There were no dances of sugarplums in their heads. Only the nightmare of the cold calculation of the ice queen ripping them to careful shreds so they could never hurt another innocent being again. The bodies would never be found and  Siofragana always felt like a sense of accomplishment in doing so. The cold wind jostled her long, almost blood-red, hair drawing her attention to a different sense. She wasn't alone walking home tonight.

All debts had to be repaid sometime.

[Tel]

There was something reassuring about the way the stars never seemed to change even as the years passed by in a hurried flash, about the way they watched and never judged, about the way they just...twinkled. The figure on top of the crypt chuckled quietly to itself as it lay there staring up into the great beyond, fingers interlaced behind its head, booted feet kicking idly off the end of the stone work that housed some ones dearly departed. Long dark hair flowed down the grey slate tiled roof of the small building, while the moonlight danced on pale flawless skin, a faint shimmer in the air around where it lay, an almost invisible haze of heat in the night air surrounding it, offsetting the cold of the night. The snow flakes that drifted down gently on invisible wings at first glance seemed to melt into its clothes, but a closer look would have told an observant watcher that they simply evaporated in the air around it

It had been so long since the creature had spent a night in its own company, gliding from lover to lover like one might pick and choose a meal, drifting on a whim. The colour of her eyes, the tone of his skin, the cut of their hair or the sound of their voice...there was very little that held its attention for long these days, there were no challenges, nothing it wanted. Nothing that is, until rumour reached its ears. Whispers in the dark, just words but enough to wet its excitement after so long, conjuring up images and flashes of the past, of days gone by.

Now, here in this quiet graveyard on such a beautiful night it could feel the thrill rising in its chest, like a child finding that the plaything it had thought lost suddenly being within reach again. The Demon, its true name purged from the pages of history centuries ago, chuckled one more fighting back the urge to laugh in the dark. Its shadow rolled down the sloped roof of the crypt and vanished, no fanfare, no smoke before reappearing beneath the over hanging branches of a nearby tree, long razor nailed fingers smoothing out the silk of its loose fitting shirt, jacket casually held over one shoulder. With a sharp-toothed smile, flashed in the dark at no one in particular it was gone again.

The girl was pretty he had to admit that to himself as he sat on a nearby wall and watched the show, kicking the heels of his Italian leather boots against the brickwork. Given any other circumstances he might have stepped in himself just to play the hero and have his way with her, letting her fall into his arms of her own will, but that wasn't his intention tonight, he had another goal in mind this evening. There was no need to try and hide himself, he doubted if he could effectively mask himself from her at such close range since their...exchange, but with her immediate attention held elsewhere he had a moment or two to just watch and drink in the sight of her. Their last encounter hadn't gone exactly as he'd envisioned but then things seldom did when dealing with such a strong willed creature, it was part of the excitement.

When she was finally done and the young girl had long drifted into darkness he clapped slowly from a new perch atop a nearby wall, the sound travelling through the quiet night, out of place after the way she had dealt with the unfortunate males that had crossed her path but...he just couldn't help himself. She was magnificent. He lounged on the wall the way a house cat might sprawl on back of a sofa, one leg hanging down swinging, the other knee bent towards the sky. His neck craned to one side as he rested on an elbow, hands clasped together, long black hair cascading down the brickwork like some polluted waterfall.

"You always did have a soft spot for them didn't you?"

[TakodaVega]

Siofragana was not surprised, for some odd reason, that he had been watching. Nor was she surprised her icy, infamous temper rose to the surface a heartbeat later. No matter how pretty Tel's face had been it could never conceal his wicked, and normally malicious, intent from her. Though once the two had been close, after-all he had put her through her paces and trained the female to be able to handle herself, and possibly him if she actually paced herself to that test.

However she remembered the night of the mall and the massacre that occurred.  How the hell could she forget, especially with that condescending tone behind her as those icy blue eyes focused finally on the source of the voice. "Unlike you, I don't feel that children are toys." She said darkly. Her hand on the girl a moment more before they both disappeared in a blink of an eye. Nothing was gone forever though as she reappeared directly in front of the reason she had the Hunger in her veins.

She know that the two of them shared something of a love/hate relationship. He pushed all the buttons that made her want to rip his throat out or throttle him and make him remember who he was talking to, but then the training days would come up and remind her he wasn't always a monster that laid beneath the surface of his outward appearance. "The only reason why you desire one of your own is to cause chaos and mayhem in your wake twofold, isn't that right, Tel?"

The snow around her seemed to disappear, as though her  fury was descending the air around her subzero temperatures, too cold for even snow to exist. She was far stronger than when the two had last met. Perhaps coming into prime as an immortal had something to do with it, or perhaps regular feedings. However she knew that there was sincerely no way to intimidate Tel, especially considering the demon towered over most. That and he viewed it as a game. Just like everything else.

However even then there was some things she knew that were better left unsaid, like the fact she knew his true name. She knew that if she had ever uttered the thing he would have made sure to make his oh-so-gracious presence known, she was sure of that. Whether he had given it to her to mock her, or perhaps he trusted her not to use it and bind him to whatever hellhole he crawled out of it was beyond her.

However that made her wonder, even with her rage around her, why was he was here to begin with. "Why are you here?" Not that he couldn't find her, she was fairly sure that the unique exchange they had made it impossible for her to hide from him forever.

[Tel]

He could tell she was angry, he always seemed to make her angry when he arrived without a forwarning but that was half the fun. He always saw the real her when she got angry not that silly imposter that she tried to hide behind around all the lesser beings. He had never tired of games with her and doubted he ever would, her volitility just made things so much more exciting. She turned slowly and his eyes met hers, pitch black orbs that flickered and changed with his mood peered into her as though trying to delve into her thoughts. A mortal perhaps if they were weak minded and foolish, but the immortal Siofragana? There was a feat that he had never accomplished in all the time they had known each other. Half falling half rolling off the brick wall he vanished into thin air with a chuckle as the object of his obession disapeared for a moment with the young girl.

"They are toys my dear, you've just forgotten how to play the right games"

He leaned close in from behind her, the hot breath escaping his lips brushing down the skin of her neck, his voice barely a whisper. Tall, so very tall for a female, the Demon rose up onto his tiptoes to let his voice carry to her, never touching her but close enough for the heat that constantly rolled off his skin the warm the back of her neck. Listening to her voice again, her words he drew a sharp breath, a breath of feigned shock,

"You wound me my beautiful rose, i simply wish for child to nurture and care for."

The last words escaped his lips with a smirk as he dropped onto his flat feet, his chin resting on her shoulder, hands sliding round her waist to link infront of her. The snow had stopped all around them even through just a few short feet away it had become heavier since his arrival, the slow creeping frost of plummetting temperatures, crawling over the silk of his shirt like a quickly spun spiderweb. He didn't move as the frost crept over him, instead letting it slowly work its way over his body, feeling it spreading over the skin of his hands.

When she asked him his reasons for being here once more he just smiled and let his warm lips touch the cool skin of her neck, tasting her,

"For you...always for you"

[TakodaVega]

She never understood why the demon had always been entranced by her. Was it because she never truly gave in to his demands one hundred percent? Or was it the fact he found her amusing? She was at a loss as she watched him like a hawk. She could never let her guard down, though most people would find her intimidating in the heels she wore, she knew that if her feet were bare the height advantage she gained would be lost and she'd be stuck looking up at him. Not that she could ever look him in the eye. She had shared his blood once, the memory still seared into her brain was far more intimate than she recalled long ago.

His blood had been liquid fire, filled with power, spice and the heady infusion of male and demon all in one. If she had been a lesser woman she would have fallen prey to such a delicate infusion. Any woman would, but Siofragana had been a daughter of fire, though that had not been known till she was far older. A daughter of Fire and Death, apparently became the living epitome of Ice. Her eyes narrowed slightly at his tone and remained still as he started to approach. "Not all toys are meant to be broken, Tel." She said always aware of him.

Heat rolled off of him and tried to permeate through the core of her being. How long had it been since she had been this close to a male, let alone Tel. For all his twisted and sadistic ways, Siofragana knew somehow that there would always be somewhere for him in her life. He had made it a point to be a part of her over the years, training her, manipulating her, and giving her the nourishment to regain her true title. Now she just had to pay the price for such loyalties, a simple enough thing for some, but she knew the lores well. Coupling with a demon is a death sentence for those as old as Tel was. It was almost like the demon world was filled with black widow spiders and praying mantises - killing their mates for their young to feast upon.

Her delicately pointed ears never missed a word of the heat intoned breath, "I could never wound you, you of all people should know no rose is without it's thorns." She waited, oh so patiently as the world seemed to freeze in the little bubble of wills between fire and ice. "Just like the saying goes, some say the world will end in Fire." And deep down she knew that any child of Tel's would have his sadistic ways if not brought under correctly. Something she had never understood, even years later, was his constant insistence of choosing her.

She knew her power well, and she knew it's limitations to some levels. With his arms around her waist, she knew that if push came to shove they would be evenly matched. It was the kiss against her skin however that sent the first real shiver down her spine and she spun in his hold to face him. "Why for me Tel? And why now?"

[Tel]

The scent that clung to her skin was exhilarating as he breathed deep, his lips against the ice cold skin of her neck, the crystalline ice that weaved its way over his clothing and exposed flesh slowly melting away as the heat around him rose. The creeping ice thawed, evaporated and froze again and again in a constant cycle as the two opposed forced tried to conquer each other. For now things were even but like careful balancing act, the slightest nudge in the wrong direction could dramatically change the balance. It was a tightrope they had walked on many occasions and so far both had emerged unscathed from their little dances.

She had grown in power it was true and probably more than the demons match physically, perhaps even his better and he doubted there was little he could that she couldn't exceed, but even with this in mind his confidence never wavered. Tel knew what she was capable of as well as she did and despite the threats, despite her hostility, he knew that something inside her held her back, restrained her from killing him there on the spot just for being who he was. And while it would not be his end he did so detest being torn to pieces.

"I've never put much faith in old saying my dear Phoe"

His lips brushed down her neck leaving a trail of steam where the ice melted under his touch, his fingers interlocked over her stomach as she simply stood there, like a lover long missed. He knew that neither of them would ever admit that one needed the other, even for just a short while, to remind them of who and what they really were...monsters in mortal disguises trapped in a world full of playthings, shadows of what they should be. His fingers stayed locked as he felt her shiver under his touch, turning almost on the spot inside his grasp to face him, face so close to his own, his eyes holding her, the pitch black substance filling his sockets shifting to match the colours and tones of the eyes he gazed into with a smile creeping over his perfect features, inhumanely beautiful, yet terrifying in the same moment.

"There will never be anyone else, you are mine whether you like it or not my little Phoenix."

His lips touched hers as he leant forwards, pushing up onto his tiptoes to match her height, pulling her against him with an otherworldly strength, sharp nails raking lightly across the leather as it would break at the slightest touch, a gentleness that contrasted against the way his arm held her in place. Sharp teeth closed on her lip for the briefest of moments and held as he pulled away, smiling as he looked back into her eyes leaving the skin unbroken. While her memories intrigued him, other peoples thoughts were always so much more exciting when given freely rather than stolen he had found through experience.

[TakodaVega]

This game was far deadlier than most realized, though perhaps it was because she had partaken of his blood years ago that she had not felt like his touch was scorching and burning her with a simple stroke of those wicked lips of his as they tasted along her skin. Most would have thought Tel was a living flame with the waves of heat that poured over him, but the true ferocity of it seemed to be outside of her reserves. The winds danced between them as the snow slowly paused in it's wrathful dance outside of their circle.

She had always known that when push came to shove, should she have to kill Tel she would never be able to bring herself to do it. Oh she would leave him within an inch of his life, but she would leave him alive. She had understood, overtime, no matter how dark and destructive Tel's mentality and wayward ways were, they suited a purpose. She owed him, did she not? Or perhaps the side of her that he always viewed as 'soft' was just as strong as ever and even had a safe haven for him there. At least for a little while until he pushed one of the few things that would send her into a rage that most feared save for Tel.

Only he could stand in front of her with that wicked smile and taunt her to give him all of what she could do to him.

"Really? What about those old promises then? Are they not sayings of truth in their own right?" She asked, those blue eyes almost white in places as she listened to him. Years ago, when he'd given her blood and then promptly left her to her own devices to contend with a newfound power she had never known existed, she had remembered that name. Her birthname. Yet her mind was distracted from that train of thought that he called her the old pet name many had called her once upon a time.

It was if each taste he found was better and more desiring than where he had last been, the frost always there hovering right beneath his lips, but though she had been among the undead there was still a beat of her ancient heart. In a strange twist of things, part of her wanted to trust him in that moment. Yet she always knew that would be her downfall. Tel was a cold, calculating man who had his fair share of worldly chess. If she trusted him to the extent her inner loneliness wanted to, he'd put her in 'checkmate'. There was no way her pride would allow that.

She would not be his kept Mistress that he could come whenever he pleased and waltz in and out of her life all the damned time. Yet at that given moment, she didn't want it to end. If only to feel like she was supposed to be there a few more minutes. Even though they still had stark opinions of what exactly the 'world' was, they both had a common thought. They were monsters, or could be if they were caught on a bad day. Though she was starting to wonder if turning to face her old Mentor had been a wise idea as she stood within his hold.

It was no wonder that woman came crawling to him for attention, despite the so much darker intentions, his almost angelic features made it seem like, for a moment, he was a protector rather than the predator he truly was. Siofragana knew better. Tel was meant for such temptations, it seemed to be a part of his job requirement. With him so close though it was hard to resist that pull that had always seemed to linger between the two of them. Afterall hadn't he always tried to teach her a lesson?

She was going to speak in protest when his lips met hers, catching her completely off guard. His hold coveted her as though to prove she couldn't escape. He could have easily harmed her in that moment, yet all she felt was those sharp nails along her back above the coat. For all he could do to her, he was refusing to actually harm her, and was actually being rather un-Tel like in comparison. Though part of her raged that he dared try to control her life, she let that part of her that wanted to think, even for a moment that she would have been in safe hands, return the kiss.

His lips were making her melt, in ways she had almost forgotten she could. Her hands moving to his shoulders, her grip light though breaking bones wasn't outside of her forte at that given instance. Once he finally released his hold on her, she could breathe once again. Only her breath came out as fog, a simple kiss had started to warm the Queen of Ice. However her mind came back to the foreground as she shoved, trying to put space between them.

"You're wrong Tel. You may use me to some extent in your games, and you may be the father of a child I agreed to have with you. But that does not make me yours. What we have is a business transaction, nothing more than that. You'd have to do a lot more than a simple kiss and a gentle touch to make me think anything otherwise."

[Tel]

Time seemed to stand still between them as they gazed into each other's eyes as if trying to fathom the thoughts that were playing out behind them, neither able to delve to deep into the other without becoming lost in memories that were not they're own. He held her in his arms like one might hold a lover, keeping her safe in his arms from whatever they might encounter while at the same time reminding her that he was not another of the frail mortals she so rarely these days enticed into her bed.

The snow around them seemed in two minds about what it should be doing at that point in time, the heat that rolled off the demon warmed it almost as quickly as the plunging cold that radiated off the ancient Siofragana froze it solid again. The cycle never ended as the tiny particles of ice danced on the thermals that slowly spread out around them...the fire in Tel's blood rising to match the chill that washed from the object of his desire.

"Promises are made to be broken and truths to be twisted to suit the storyteller, I would have thought you of all people would have understood that my dear little Phoenix"

They stood there in silence, the moments passing by, seconds may as well have been hours to their own warped perceptions of the passage of time for all it mattered to them. Nothing on his face gave away what his intentions were or what his game was this time round, a simple smile played across his lips, his hands caressing up and down slowly even through the leather of her jacket, razor talons leaving light score marks in the expensive outfit she adorned herself in. For the briefest of moments he toyed with the idea of slicing through to her soft skin and raking his nails through her flesh...but only for a moment...a fleeting thought that like so many he had disappeared as soon as a new idea flew into his head.

His lips pressed against hers, the cold of her lips against the heat of his...and then something unexpected but much nicer for the Demon than being torn to pieces for his audacity. Her lips pressed back against his, her body relaxing in his hands and leaning into him, hands sliding up his body, over the material of his silk shirt to rest on his shoulders. He could feel his own excitement rising, such a fickle creature aroused by his own thoughts and driven higher by her willingness in his clutches...and then she pushed him away. Him. Nobody pushed him away, they never dared, they couldn't... Her breath fogged in the air as their lips parted, the distance between them growing as she pushed a little against him, his hand slipping down past her sides to fall at his.

As she spoke something bubbled to the surface from deep inside him, a flash of what he really was, how very few knew him. Gone were the smiles and inviting eyes, replaced by a shadow of his true self, claws, clenched closed round her throat, nails touching the skin like searing knives, the snow around them gone, not melted and slushed,  simply gone as if it had never fallen, an empty dry ring of scorched earth radiating out from where they stood together. And it was gone, flitting away as fast as it had appeared a shadowy afterimage gone in the blink of an eye, the smiling Demon with his angelic features and hypnotising voice left in its stead as if nothing had happened. With every word the scene changed, switching with blink of an eye, the faces of the thing that stood in front of her practically raging to be set free upon her, until the words stopped and she just looked at him, his black eyes shifting once more to match her own. His voice was quiet and soft, like a parent talking to a defiant child who just didn't seem to understand,

"My dear dear Phoenix you have it all wrong...so very very wrong...all this time and you still haven't listened to all the lessons...."

He leant close once more, up on his tip toes, lips so close to her face, hands clasped behind his back, the waves of heat that had threatened to ignite the air around them before a distant memory now,

"Your not a piece in this game, you never were and never will be...no..."

He chuckled and took a step back open his arms wide with a grin, no words leaving his lips but whispering in her ears non the less,

"You are the prize..."

[TakodaVega]

There were very few mortals that Siofragana had enticed into her bed in her lifetime, though since she had been awoken by the Niamh, her mother, and the Queen of Fire not one had caught her attention. She did not know if that had been catalyzed by the death of Magi, and the realization she had lost her best friend and a soul-mate that could never be, and never would, or perhaps even the shared exchange that she had gained with Tel that drove the idea of sharing a bed with anyone a bad taste in her mouth. The fact that in Tel's arms that want to surrender and be safe was strong didn't help with the matter.

It was as though they danced between the two ends of the world spectrum. The world had, in one theory, ended in Fire, underneath the guise of a moth to the flame. Yet others said that Ice was also great, in it's sheer will that it would suffice as well. The dance they had going between them would never end well at this rate, someone had to make the first move in order to stop the carefully controlled balance between them. The flames he offered were licking at her, trying to coax her to trust him, like she had once.

"It depends on if you believe the storyteller. There is more to them than just words, they had to come from somewhere. That is why you have to check and recheck to see the truth, or just see if there is something there to believe." There was nothing that could break that small gap of time. It could have been hours, it could have been seconds. Time had always been there when it had come to Tel and Siofragana. Though that hadn't always been a good thing, though he had taught her many things over time. To train, to fight, to know that the demon across from her was very much a man of words.

The kiss had been something she would forget easily, she had kissed him once before. Eons ago, before she had gone to sleep in her ice cavern somewhere far from here. After Magi had died, there had been no real purpose for her to linger anymore. Everyone else was taken care of, then had a been a time to sleep. But her mother, the Niamh, seemed to think otherwise almost a century later. And then she had run into Tel at that mall, the massacre that had changed her view on life.

In the brief moment she had pushed him away however she felt the air change. To humans it was faster than a blink of an eye but for Siofragana she saw, if only for a mere moment, what lay beneath that smiling exterior that Tel had composed so well over the years. The pinpricks of his claws circling around her throat, as though to remind her that to him she was just a doll that could easily be broken. Or at least he seemed to think so. "You mean the lessons you taught me to make sure I could keep my power? The Training?"

She knew that to him, she would always be Phoenix, it was something so quite different to her to hear out of someone from long ago that she froze the moment he leaned near her again. This time her defenses were only down a moment and the waves of heat she could feel almost to her very core. There was power he kept buried there, waves of it. Just as she did, but her eyes narrowed though when his voice lingered around her ears.

"Prize?" She took a step away from him, "Is that all you view me as? A prize to be won? What about me is a prize to you? I agreed to your deal years ago, when you forced me to see my fears and now you're saying I'm a prize?" That was when something harsh slammed into him. The temperature had dropped to the point the snow stopped falling. A mere drop of water would turn to dust in the air, no matter the boiling heat that he produced. For most people this could kill a person, and burn far worse than any fire could.

[Tel]

While to loathe acknowledging it to any, his desire for her, for the creature in front of him in his arms was and had always been greater than his desire for anything else he had known in his lifetime. Fickle and often cruel there were so few things that held his interest for more than a passing moment never mind the years the two had known each other. She had been weak then, something different altogether, unsure of herself against creatures she had never dealt with before but that had changed after their first few encounters. He had beaten her time and time again, when she doubted herself, when she refused him, when she defied him he had beaten her but she had never broken always those eyes glared into his and despite injuries that would have left any mortal on the brink of death she continued to rise and defy him. It had ignited something inside him he had never felt before; the little Phoenix became his obsession.

They had parted ways not long after that, Tel drawn away by some other whim of his, skipping from one empty desire to the next, his thoughts always returning to that woman. The mortals were fragile and weak, breaking easily when his temper flared and he grew bored with them so quickly but her...oh dear Phoenix...sweet desirable Phoenix. Nothing stirred him like the thought of her in his arms, and nothing drove his rages to the surface like the thought of her constant defiance. He'd lost count of the lives that had been ended in the middle of some passionate act or another simply because his mind had wandered back to her and he forgot who he was with until the blood dripped over his hands. They always broke so easily.

The incident in the mall had been the last time he had seen her before vanishing into history and story. The deal, the contract, the agreement, call it what you will it had been made there. All those screams, the palpable fear that filled the air when that first young woman had been torn to pieces in front of everyone. She'd been hiding again. Trying to blend in with the mortals as best she could but he knew. Knew that she wouldn't be able to stand by and watch as he ripped them to pieces slowly one by one. She had always cared about them so much, even after everything they had tried to do to her and her kind. They'd stood there staring at each other even as he threatened the life of another young woman, he could still taste the blood that had dripped off his fingers, her throat torn out without a sound, head practically torn from her shoulders with a single twist. It had been delightful to make Phoenix watch.

Then they had talked, for how long who knew but they had talked, about purpose, about the past and about the future. Innocent lives and a gift of blood to Phoenix in exchange for one thing he desired that she would be unable to refuse him. That had been the agreement, the contract if you will between Phoenix and the demon fascinated with her. She had accepted. He hadn't known then that it would be such a drain, that the fire in his blood would go out for so long. He'd left her there in the mall, sated on his demonic essence, using what was left of his strength to flee before she drained him dry, disappearing, slowly over the years returning to his full power once more. It had been a long painful process and even the memory of her and his obsession seemed to evaoporate for a time being. But it had never vanished and the memories had returned in time, as strong as ever, bringing back the memory of the bargain they had struck and the implications it would have.

But that was the past and here and now he stood with her once more and still danced around, avoiding fate and prolonging what couldn't be changed. His hand had left her throat marked for just a moment before any evidence of his outburst had faded on her skin, feeling her step away and open the distance a between them a pace or two.

"I taught you to be what you are and not some shadow of your true self. Everything I ever did since I first laid eyes on you was for you and you alone. Without me you would have been dust and a whisper in the night's breeze, a story to scare children instead of the goddess you are now."

The air around him had cooled, the shimmering heat that had seethed around him moment before had begun to fade, and the smiling, angelic Tel looked almost calm as he spoke and gestured. Overconfidence had always been a failing of his and now was no exception, he knew what he was capable of and easily dismissed others as beneath his notice, but when he looked into those cold hard eyes, for the briefest of moments there was a flicker of something that clutched at his being he hadn't seen since he had been very young and had stood against others of his kind, those who could make even his blood run cold.

The sudden and harsh drop in temperature caught him off guard, slamming into him and robbing his body of breath and warmth. Crystals formed quickly over his skin and in the very blood that flowed through his veins drawing a sharp hiss of pain from his lips as his body froze on the spot, glittering as the frost spread rapidly over every exposed surface, making his flesh brittle and hard as rock. Every tiny movement became agonising as he glared back into those cold eyes... and smiled...his lips curling, twisting in slow motion as the cold set in.

Even though he couldn't move for the moment the wind whispered for him,

"Do it, you know i'll be back for you little Phoenix."

Even in the breeze his voice was taunting, a chuckling lingering...

[TakodaVega]

Their tango had been long and drawn out over the centuries, or had it even been thousands of years since they knew each other? When Tel had took her under his ever cruel and watchful gaze. He had been persistent in every way and incredibly thorough in her training to make sure no person or one thing would get the better of her. But that had been before the Creed had come, and then the Creed had taken full advantage of her, had used that power to destroy all that he had helped create in her and had almost made it so it had been impossible for her to cope. Yet Tel, as always, knew when to reappear in her life.

She had been working on her penance for all kinds when he had found her in the mall. The memory burned hot in her mind. Especially when she had been helpless to save the child that he tore cleanly into pieces before her eyes. The very creatures she swore to protect and she had been powerless twice now to stop someone from destroying them. It was never something she forgot easily enough. Nor had she forgotten the depth of heat from Tel's blood. There was not just the life giving source, nor had there been the sweetness she had remembered from Angelus' blood so long ago. This was all heat and spice, power that was heady and almost druglike to the Vampire Queen. With the confidence once more she restored her honor but at the price that no man would have dreamed she would agree to.

Yet here they stood, once again, the two of fire and ice, creatures who could potentially end the world within a blink of an eye should their powers grow beyond what they had. A child between them? It could signal the apocalypse of mass proportions. But here she still stood, the Vampire Queen now bordering on the term of 'Ancient' and one of the oldest ones still alive to that day and the demon who had chosen her as a conquest. A conquest that wouldn't be easily be won. Especially with that ego. "You taught me very well, Tel." Came that cold tone, "But you assume simply because I choose to protect the people I love that it makes me less than what I am. You were not there when the Creed decided to take your teachings and destroy all I had worked for. You were not there when the world decided that I had to be the catalyst in a prophecy."

Her eyes were focused on him, and the waves of hurt and anger swirled beneath the surface. Though the temperatures dropped, she could flow through the cold, because it was a part of her just as the fire was a part of him. "You assume so much based on my choices to maintain my heart with the rest of my power. Emotions do not make one weak, they make one stronger in time. Do you not understand that? Love knows no weakness but grows stronger with the bonds it seeks to make and grow." She had finally stood in front of him though he remained his egotistical self she stood with all the grace of the Queen she was. In a flash, though, bones crushed, boiling blood poured along her skin as a frozen hand reached, coiling around the very thing that fought with her. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

"It's because of this," she squeezed, nails lightly digging into the living flesh, "..that allows me to know that killing you would do me no favors. And it's because of it, that I also know that if you would just kick your pride to the curb for once you would see that for all your greatness that you have some of my traits. You wouldn't have given me your greatest secret, the one thing you would never whisper to a mortal soul because you knew the implications it would bring. I have the greatest weakness you have." She released his heart and with drew her hand away flicking the blood into air as it burst into red dust. "And even knowing that it would bend you to my feet I choose not to use it, because of a foolish thing that maybe I think you will see past your ego to see you could have everything if you just fucking listened."

She shoved him away from her. "You hold no power me over me anymore, Tel. You've dealt your hand, now I'll deal mine." Crossing her arms she let the cold die down, slowly the snow started to fall once more, "You'll come find me again when you can understand what I told you. Because maybe, just fucking maybe, I'm still in love with you. And maybe, just maybe, you'll understand that is not a weakness but a strength in your favor if you choose to acknowledge it." Suddenly the snow picked up, blanketing everything in sight with white, unable to see even inches in front of ones face and the next she, and the storm were gone - leaving him to remember that in all her years that she had known him, she had never once uttered his true name, the name he had given her. The name that would compel him to her without regard to anything else. How could he compete with that in this match?

[Tel]

Here stood two creatures so old they should have been relegated to myth long ago but yet here they were once more opposed to each other, the ever living queen and the undying jester seemingly forever locked in this dance of theirs that had spanned ages and outlasted civilisations. The Demon knew without trying to touch her mind that the thoughts running through her head were of him, of the past they had experienced and the future they could bring about, that much was clear simply by her inaction and the look in her eyes, that briefest moment of haze as if thinking of far off places. He had seen it before many times but each time he elicited the same response from the ancient Vampire before him was a moment he savoured. He enjoyed the knowledge that his simple appearance could wrench a beings mind through the ages to every moment they had ever met and make them forget the present, even if just for that one fleeting moment.

So cold was the temperature around them that even his boiling blood began to slow in his veins, the pulse of his heart weakening past the point where a mortal could even perceive a beat, his flesh so brittle it would be like shattering glass should she choose to strike him now, but despite his situations there was that thrill once more of driving her to the point of killing a being helpless before her. But he was different to all those mortals that had fallen before her in the past, despite what she could do to him he would always return to her again, despite all her power Tel had yet to meet a being that could truly end his existence, for sure it took him many times longer to recover and reform after an encounter with a creature so as the queen of ice but he knew for all her power even she couldn't extinguish his long life...yet...perhaps one day she would hold that power.

The smile stayed frozen on his lips as she spoke, unable to physically move, his eyes locked with hers, feeling the anger pouring through her words and letting his own voice dance on the winds that whipped around them,

"Not once did you call for me child. You knew I would come and yet you held your tongue, choosing instead to hold onto your pride as the Creed manipulated you. You rage about me returning to see you and yet here you stand complaining and whining like a child that I stayed away and watched. All you had to do was whisper those words and I would have torn you from their grasp like a leaf in a storm, but you stayed silent and so I watched."

She continued on as the ice thickened over his exposed areas, the ice crystals biting under his skin sending waves of pain through his unnatural flesh, but still he did nothing to stave off the ill effects,

"You anger, your desire, these things make you strong, make you the goddess you should be not the pity and compassion you show the pathetic wretches of humanity...you think any of them feel the same for you or your kind?"

His words stopped as her hand punctured his chest, piercing flesh and splintering bone with a single gesture, his body so brittle from the cold that there was practically no resistance against her inhuman strength. Ba-dum One beat... Ba-dump a second beat, the chill of her hand flowing through his heart as her talons clutched at its surface. Where his blood touched her skin, torrents of scalding steam billowed out freezing before it could hit the floor, smashing like shards of tiny red crystal. His eyes flickered, a shadow of movement, locking with her cold gaze, a dark stare of his own as he felt her nails dig into the slow beating flesh in his chest. Part of him willed her to do it, the pain agonising, the gaping hole in his chest so slow to heal with the influence of the cold against it, knowing that it would be her slide to a darker side of her being once more if she could bring herself to do it. But her words told a different story and it was then he knew she would hold herself at bay, that she wouldn't be playing his game this time. She continued to speak, not in the mocking or taunting tone he would have been using if their situations had been reversed but in a calm and collected manner, her own formidable temper held in check for the time being. And this irked the Demon no end, to be so close to pushing her over the edge but having to watch as she clung to that narrow ledge without falling. It was infuriating.

She spoke of his name, his true name not the alias's he threw about without meaning, the name written for him at the moment he came into being eons ago, the name could bind and compel him, hold him at bay or unleash him. Like all Demons of power it was something he could never escape. And he had shared it with her, promising to come if she called but she never did, and so he had left her with the knowledge of how to bind him, had trusted her with something he had all but erased from human history and not once had she used it against him. But now, now she threatened him with it, taunted him with the knowledge that she could stop him if she desired but still she didn't speak it. He felt the cold rush inside as her nails pierced the soft flesh of his still beating heart for just a moment then withdrew, the creeping chill that her proximity brought slowl fading, the heat and warmth returning to his core once again. The red gore that dripped from her had froze, powdered and burst into dust from the intense cold as she flicked her talons away from him. She spoke of him having it all if he would only listen, if he would understand the things she tried to tell him, to teach him...but old habits die hard for a reason.

With her hand no longer inside his chest cavity and her closeness to him receeding the blood began to rush and flow once more through his veins, pulsing through his flesh with the power that fueled his being...bone began to harden and mend while flesh began to knit and sew itself together once more till nothing remained of the puncturing wound in his chest save for a tear in his silken shirt, the perfectly smooth and alabaster skin of his chest unblemished once more. The ice steamed and evaporated from his body as she turned and moved to leave him, the snow hiding her exit from his eyes as it blanketed the entire cemetery in a sheet of pristine whiteness...save for the spot where the demon stood, eyes blazing, waves of heat rolling from him holding the cold at bay...letting her words sink in...

"...she still loves me..."

The smile that crept onto his lips would have chilled the blood of a mortal, a look that told of things to come and that the game was far from over. His fingers lifted to his lips, blowing a kiss into the retreating snow storm with a chucke, knowing full well she was watching despite her dramatic exit, she had become adapt at hiding herself from him and others but he knew her to well...she would be watching him now she knew he had come back for her once more...