Let's meet a new(ish) character - you'll know what that means by the end of this scene ;) ...

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Scene 10: Night

A.D. 2015

No night had ever felt so goddamn dark. He fυcking hated it, hated his brokenhearted self, and hated most of all the sad fact that he had a goddamn heart. Hated the tall drink in his hand because it didn't numb the pain. Hated the ring that he kept turning over in his stupid fingers, again and again. The diamond ring that he'd been set to give to her, that one night so long ago, if only she'd been able to admit her love for him. But there was nothing to admit. There'd never been.

More than a year had passed since then, and not a thing had changed. The sole difference was that this time, tonight, she was the one who'd said goodbye. He hated himself for having let her back into his life, after having kicked her out that night, and even more so for having held onto the ring all this time. As if it had ever made sense to propose to the dark rose, let alone to consider it ever again.

Well, fυcking hell. None of that mattered. He knew better now. Axel took a deep swig of his drink and shoved the ring into his pocket, pulling out his cell phone as he did. Dialed a familiar number. Made his statement as soon as Jett answered. "It's done."

The sack of shit replied in his obnoxious accent. "So you've found her weakness, then?"

Axel stared down into the bottom of his glass. "She has none."

The fυcker chuckled. "Oh, I don't believe that for a second."

"Doubt all you want, Jettison. But I'm telling you now that if she even has a heart, it sure as hell isn't beating for anyone."

Jett chuckled again, and Axel could practically hear the motion of him condescendingly shaking his head. "Tsk-tsk. I know what this is, Golde," the cheeky son of a bitch stated. "This is you heartbroken, licking your wounds in some dark, sketchy bar, all alone, drowning your sorrows in drink, till the next slut walks in whose cheap sex might help you forget just how badly you're hurting."

Axel downed another bitter swig.

"You've finally realized that Atria just doesn't love you, and your stupidly oversized ego wants so desperately to believe that this means she can never love anyone," Jettison went on. "But that - dear Golde, you poor lost soul - that's just a pathetic delusion, not a plausible professional conclusion. So if you think this job is over, if you think you're done, then think again."

Setting his empty glass down on the bar, Axel signaled to the bartender for another one, muttering into his phone in a tone dripping with hatred and exasperation. "When I say I'm done, Jettison, I am seriously fυcking done."

Jett sniggered. "Right, and you think you can get away with that because you took some measures to protect your sweet old mum."

"That I did. Now, I know you're good at being a sick, twisted little shit, Jettison, but somehow I doubt you found out where she's hidden," Axel asserted. "If you can tell me where my mother is, I'll listen. But till then? Don't try to make me your bitch ever again."

He promptly hung up, mind turning to strategize as to how he should go about killing the shit-eating bastard.

The lanky, loser-looking guy behind the bar came to refill Axel's drink before vanishing into the backroom. Aside from him, Axel was now the only soul left in this joint. It was past closing time, he knew, but this was probably his thirteenth drink or something, so the bartender was no doubt counting on a big fat tip to finish off the night.

Sadly for the loser, though, Axel wasn't in his most generous of moods. Still, he would have gladly shelled out hundreds if only the one pouring his drinks were a cute chick instead of a dude. Though Axel hated to admit it, Jett had been correct in guessing that some hot sex with a cheap slut was exactly what he needed.

It was just as this thought crossed his mind that the front door suddenly opened and in walked an explosively hot flame-haired vixen.

Axel set down his drink as he flashed her his most flirtatious wink. "Well, aren't you just the fiercest little fox to ever-"

"Go fυck yourself," she snapped, not even making eye contact.

Axel blinked. "I bet you'd do a better job of that..."

"Fυcking myself?" she snorted as she strutted over to the bar, standing just a few feet away from him and then finally deigning to lock her eyes on his. They were a dark and stormy shade of grey, he noticed. With her sleek, shiny hair, dyed a bold cherry red, and her creamy pale skin, this girl's features were fυcking exquisite.

Though her retort had of course been sarcastic, he seriously liked the thought of her fυcking herself. But that obviously wasn't what he'd meant.

Axel cleared his throat. "I had meant me..." he answered, pointing his thumb at his chest, then the forefinger of that same hand toward her. "...but that works, too. As long as I can watch."

She rolled her eyes, averting them away from him. "Look, you're real cute and all, but I don't do men."

Axel's eyes widened. "Way to make me want you more..."

The bartender emerged from the backroom, grinning as he hurried over to the vixen. "Hey, baby," he greeted her, leaning in toward her over the bar. "I love it when you come meet me at work."

Ugh, for real? Axel inwardly groaned. How the fυck had this loser snagged such a fine piece of tail. What a steal. And hadn't this hottie just said that she didn't do men...?

The foxy chick flashed a sly smile at the loser, leant in close toward him, planted a lingering kiss on his lips... and then suddenly, stealthily, whipped out a little silver knife from her back pocket.

In a split second, the loser's throat was slit.

The poor guy crumbled to the floor behind the bar and gurgled to his death.

The vixen nonchalantly wiped the switchblade on a napkin, ignoring the blood splattered all over her skin. "What I meant is that I only do monsters," she told Axel. "Only fair, since I'm a monster, too."

Axel gaped at her, unblinking, eyes and mouth alike wide open. "What'd that guy ever do to you?"

Her shapely shoulders rose and sank in an indifferent shrug. "Wasted my time. With one too many nights of boring sex."

He kept on staring. Was she fυcking serious?

"But Joe may have deserved it for some other reasons also," she added, answering Axel's unasked question. "Guilty of raping little girls and boys, you know. Just never charged because he always got away. He'd always bragged to me about it, though."

Whoa. All of a sudden, Axel had no sympathy for Joe.

And as for this hoe...

Her stunning grey gaze fixated intensely on his face. "Like I said," she uttered, well aware of how vile it was that she'd been with a child molester, even if she had gone on to kill the fυcker, "I only do monsters."

For better and for worse, equal measures appalled and aroused, Axel could hardly believe just how turned on he was right now. No way this woman was human. "What unholy circle of hell are you from?"

She shot a devilish smile at him. "The deepest and the darkest."

"I would so follow you there," he breathlessly confessed.

"Yeah?" she challenged, inching closer, every move of hers too sexy to be true. "You're down to be my dirty little monster, see how long you can last till I get sick of your ass, too?"

Licking her crimson lips, she brought the switchblade slowly up toward Axel's throat. He sat in silence as she did, too mesmerized to pull away, too tantalized to even be afraid.

"Just... like..." she whispered as she swept the blade slowly against the soft skin of his neck, leaving only the subtlest trail of red. Somehow both of them knew she didn't want him dead. "...that?"

When her switchblade left his throat, having drawn not even a drop of blood, Axel found himself craving the fatally sensuous contact again. Though more so with her skin than with the weapon. Either way, every fυcking fiber of his body wanted this. "Hell, yes."

The fiery redhead leant in closer yet, enveloping his senses in her sultry scent, grinning against his lips, just shy of kissing them... then halted just before the contact. "I'm covered in some loser's blood, you know," she teasingly reminded him. "I'd better clean up before getting dirty. Give me a minute, then we'll go."

She strutted off to the restroom, leaving Axel sitting at the bar dumbly wondering what the hell had just hit him. And why he wanted to keep getting hit with it over and over again... It wasn't as if he'd never wanted anyone more than this random, ridiculously attractive stranger; of course he had. Still did, if he was honest with himself, and always would. This redheaded murderess hadn't even come close to eclipsing Atria as the apple of his eye, the fire of his loins, the epically unrequited love of his life or whatever. No one ever could.

Nonetheless, the heat of his desire for this woman was just...

In a minute, she emerged as clean as if no stain had ever touched her skin. Starting toward the front door, she beckoned for him to follow her, not even bothering to waste a second on retrieving him.

Axel tried to gather up sufficient brain cells to make small talk as he stumbled after her. "So, uh, what's your natural hair color?"

"Small talk? Seriously?" she scoffed. "God, I hope your cock is bigger than your talk."

He inwardly winced just a bit, at that, reduced to silence for a moment. That was something Atria would say.

The flaming-haired fox didn't take well to his pause. "What, did I hit a sore spot? If your package is lacking you may as well fυck off."

That unthinkable thought jolted Axel immediately back to his senses. He shook his head. "Trust me, that ain't the problem, honey."

"Then what is?" she demanded. "You looked like a wounded puppy for a second there and I can't have you going all soft."

Another thing the dark rose would have said. Axel tried and failed to forget. "Nah, it's just... you remind me of someone. A lot."

"Was she hot?"

He bit his lip for a second - 'hot' didn't even begin to describe...

"Never mind, doesn't matter," the vixen declared. "Our sex will be better and help you forget her."

For the next few seconds as they walked these shadowy city streets, neither spoke a word.

She broke the silence first. "My hair's naturally black, by the way," she belatedly replied. "Black as night."

God, was he glad that her hair had been dyed. He'd be less likely to accidentally scream Atria's name instead once they jumped into bed. He wondered what this girl's name was anyway, not that it mattered.

Before he could ask, though, they bumped into some other loser-looking guy who recognized the redhead, greeting her with a giddy smile and an awkwardly one-sided hug. Axel vaguely recalled this guy to be one of the other waiters from the bar that they'd just left; during the hours that Axel had spent drowning in liquor tonight, this guy had been working one of the earlier shifts.

"Hey - you seen Joe yet tonight?" the guy asked the redhead.

She nodded. "Yeah. He's back at the bar."

"Ah, okay. So..." the loser turned to look at Axel with an envious, suspicious eye, "...you've just left him for this guy?"

The vixen shrugged. "You could say that."

His mouth turned down into a brokenhearted pout. "Aw. Was sort of hoping I'd be next..."

She rolled her stormy eyes. "Told you a thousand times you're not my type."

"I know," he woefully acknowledged. "But hope dies hard, don't it?"

"Well, let me help yours die a bit easier, sweetie," she offered. "I'm telling you now - you ain't never gonna see me again."

The loser blinked, looking like a dog that had been suddenly denied the one bone he'd been after all his life.

"Why don't you check up on your friend," the vixen suggested.

The guy nodded. "Will do."

Before shuffling off, he bade goodbye, saying her name a final time. Though the name was only softly murmured, Axel heard it well.

"Nice knowing you, Nyx."

And at that, the fierce fox, the goddess of the night, led Axel to her circle of hell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

... So what'd'ya think, now that the main immortal villain has a modern-day mortal incarnation? ;)

Next scene - the second-to-last of Book II! - we'll check in with the Fates in the Cave...

** And if you liked this one, please don't forget to vote! :) **