“Yep, well nothing can really be done about it. At least you have the sense to know you can’t apply generalizations to whole groups of people. You can’t do that to whole species either. Remember that,” he lectured, booping her on the nose

Trying not to be phased by the cute gesture, she nodded, taking what he said to heart.

Levi grabbed the few pages of paperwork from Madeline and started filling out the forwarding address and contact number, which was to one of the pay-as-you-go cell phones he kept rotating through for mundane contacts such as this. Sliding it back to her, he offered her the pen so she could sign at the bottom.

“Well then, I think we’re all set,” the office manager returned and handed Levi back his card. “Just come back when the movers are done and we’ll do the final walk-through and I’ll get you a copy of the paperwork. Oh and congratulations again you two!”

“Thank you,” Madeline and Levi said, nearly in unison, as they stood and headed out of the leasing office.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. After moving her two boxes worth of important items directly into the rental car, she basically sat around and watched the movers box up her stuff and load it into the truck. Levi left in the rental car for a little bit and returned with some burgers and fries for lunch.

“I thought you hated fast-food?” she asked, eyeing the bags.

“I do. However, this is not fast-food. This is grilled to order, 100% beef patties and all locally grown vegetables on freshly baked rolls,” he boasted, handing her a bag and a bottle of water.

They ate mostly in silence, watching the movers. Levi let Madeline know there would be a tow truck coming in about an hour to take her car to an acquaintance of his that owned a dealership. After it sold, she’d get the money. He informed her that whether she liked it or not, her next vehicle was going to be a motorcycle. And if she ever needed a car for whatever reason, she would just rent one or hire a taxi.

After what seemed like forever, her belongings were all packed up around 3 p.m. Levi reconfirmed the address downtown with the movers before letting them drive off, then the pair headed back to the office to get the manager. The apartment was in good shape, it just needed a cleaning before it could be rented out again. The manager kept the deposit of course, but at that point, Madeline just wanted out. She thanked the manager for her understanding, and the two drove home.

By the time they arrived back at Levi’s place, the movers were just about finished unloading Madeline’s boxes into the freight elevator, under the watchful orchestration of Caslon. Levi parked the rental car out front and grabbed the heavier of Madeline’s two boxes. He walked into the elevator just as the last of the boxes were rolled in on the dolly. Instructing the movers to take the furniture to the nearest charity, he paid them extra for the service. Madeline wasn’t going to need it anymore, and the movers were more than happy to oblige with the money they were given. As Madeline, Levi, and Caslon entered the freight elevator and headed up to the seventh floor, Madeline leaned her head back against the rough wall, letting the weight of the box she was carrying stretch her arms out a bit.

“For not really doing anything all day,” she sighed, “I really feel exhausted.”

“Moving will do that to you,” Levi said, as the elevator reached their floor.

Pressing the stop button, the three of them began to move the boxes out of the elevator and into the corner of the loft, taking the two boxes containing Madeline's more precious items to her room.

“I appreciate the help, Caslon,” Madeline said as she watched him set the final box down atop a neat stack of four others.

“It was my pleasure,” he responded with a swanky smile and elegant bow. “You can never have too many friends, ma mie. Remember that.”

“You staying for pizza?” Levi asked, as the trio walked from the loft to the kitchen.

“Unfortunately not,” Caslon said looking at his watch. “I have to pick up Tiff from the airport, and then we were going to… go out. Brother and sister time. Can’t be helped.”

“Did you want me to save you a large empty cardboard box for your apartment then?” Levi taunted Caslon, a playful smile on his lips.

Caslon looked puzzled for a moment, but then it dawned on him what Levi was getting at, and his eyes narrowed. He was not amused.

“No, thank you,” he said in an icy tone.

“Some other time then,” Levi laughed as he politely walked Caslon to the door and locked it behind him after he left.

“Now then,” he turned back to Madeline with a very wicked grin on his face, enticing her to follow him into the living room. “I need to call the rental car in so they can come pick it up, and then I'm going to change the tone of the day so it ends on a happier note. Wait right here.”

“Okay…?” Madeline replied with an uncomfortable smile as she sat on the couch.

Levi momentarily left the room, returning a couple of minutes later to present her with a brand new laptop and cell phone.

“This will be replacing that outdated computer we brought over from your apartment,” he informed. “We’ll boot up your other computer later and transfer anything of importance off of it. Any programs that tracked your IP address are unfortunately not going to be accessible any longer. This afternoon, I want you to use this laptop to access all your accounts, pay off any balances due, and then close them all. I’ll have you use the same card I used to pay off your rent, so let me know when you need it.”

“Do you have any numbers on your cell phone you can’t live without?” He continued.

“No, but I do have some important pictures, and a couple of saved voicemails from my grandmother,” Madeline said, her voice ringing with a nervous hope that Levi would be able to salvage them.

“Not a problem. I’ll even make a copy of them on my server in case you ever lose them. Just bring me your phone and I’ll transfer that over for you.”

Madeline nodded quickly, appreciatively, and then went off to her room to grab her purse. When she returned to the living room, she dug around and grabbed her cell phone and handed it to Levi. He took the phone she handed him, and the new one he was going to pass off to her and left the room. While he was gone, she booted up the laptop and began to log into each of her utility accounts one by one, paying off any balances from the bills she had stuffed in her purse, and closing the accounts. After which, she accessed her only credit card and paid that off too. Her car was already paid off with the extra money she got when she had to sell grandma’s house, so that was one less thing to do. She played a few online games, so she logged into the billing sites for those and canceled her accounts. Oddly enough, canceling those brought her a strange sense of sadness. She was anonymous online, so whenever she had a bad day at work, or things were just going wrong at times in her life, she was able to log in and escape for a while.

And now she lost that.

Returning a few minutes later, Levi handed her back her new phone and explained he would go over how communication would work between them from now on, only he would do it tomorrow. The rest of the evening was to be dedicated to being lazy and unwinding. Levi explained he was going to shower, put on some comfy clothes, and then watch some DVDs. Later, he added, he’d order some pizza. As he headed toward his room, Madeline figured she’d head to hers and unpack the few boxes she singled out. She folded her clothes neatly away in the dresser, setting out a nightshirt and a pair of shorts on the bed to change into. In the bottom of the second box, she grabbed her hand-held game console and walked back into the living room to find Levi already watching some Japanese series that had heroes in armor fighting monsters.

"What on earth are you watching?" she asked with a smile as she rounded the couch and sat down.

"Don’t judge,” Levi warned playfully, eyes back to their natural emerald green. “This is one of the few things I enjoy, something that reminds me the world isn’t all crap and hatred.”

“Sort of like a guilty pleasure?” Madeline asked as she tucked her feet up and got comfortable.

“I suppose,” Levi admitted, “But it’s more than that. If there’s one important piece of advice I can give, it’s not to let go of things that bring you true joy. The journey I’ve made, hell the journey everyone I know has made, has been unforgiving and agonizing. You need to have a light. A reason. Something that you can say ‘fuck this shit’ and escape to for a while. Something that while it might not center you, at least gets you a good deal out of the darkness. This is one of those things for me. It’s not going to win any awards, and it doesn’t take itself seriously, which suits me just fine.”

Madeline was going to make a smart-ass remark, but seeing the serious look on his face as he turned back to the television, she couldn’t bring herself to utter a word of it. Not to mention she was holding onto a hand-held game, about to continue to play on an otome visual novel. Perhaps that was her guilty pleasure.

They spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the sofa together, him watching tv while she played her game. Every once and awhile he would laugh out loud, causing her to look up from her screen, and he would explain something that had just happened on his show. After an hour or so, he let her know he was going to order the pizza.

"What do you like to drink?" he asked, "I have water, sake, and tea, but I can ask them to pick up something on the way here. Fresh fruit juice? Wine? That disgusting beverage your kind calls 'soda'?"

Madeline couldn't help but laugh at his last remark.

"Wine would be great, thanks," she replied, still smiling.

Grabbing his phone from the table, he walked off to another room to make the call. She wondered why he needed to leave the room to order something trivial like a pizza, but she couldn't blame him. He had every reason to remain guarded. After a bit longer than a simple phone order should take, Levi returned to the living room and sunk back down into his sofa, hold a porcelain cup of something, and looking a lot more cheerful than he had fifteen minutes ago.

"Because I am in such a good mood," he began, letting slip a flirty smile, "I'm going to let you ask me some questions. I know you want to."

"Seriously?" Madeline's eyes brightened.

“But we’re going to play it like a game,” he continued mischievously. “The rules are, any question I consider too personal, I don’t have to answer. You’ll have to use your own judgment and perception to know what you shouldn’t ask. If you ask three questions I decline to answer, the game is over.”

“And in return?” Madeline knew there would be some sort of a catch.

“I ask you a question you must answer truthfully. You can’t refuse to answer.”

She always hated games like Truth or Dare, so it took her a few moments to decide if it was really worth it. How much about her life was really that embarrassing, compared to answers she might be able to get out of him?”

“If I ask a question you don’t answer, do you still get to ask me a question?”

“No,” he clarified, still smiling from ear to ear.

“And I go first?”

“Yes.”

Madeline saved her game progress and set the console down on the couch. Thinking carefully, she knew that if she asked him what he was straight up, he definitely wasn’t going to answer, but perhaps there was a way to get a little bit of an answer.

“Okay, my first question,” she said as Levi rested his arm languidly on the armrest and got comfortable with his cup of sake. “Would you be considered cute and fluffy, or a dark and scary type of non-human?”

Levi laughed out loud.

“I could be considered both I suppose,” he responded with a smile, shaking his head in disbelief. “You’re so straight to the point.” His green eyes twinkling with mischief, Levi stared at her with his impish grin. “Now my turn. What part of the male body do you find most attractive?”

He could sense a honeyed aura start to emanate from her body as she looked quickly away and started to think about his question. There was that desire again, sweet and pure. His questions were frivolous, used to groom her for his purposes. And it was working. His grin widened.

“Mmm, well…” She stuttered, still not looking him in the eyes. It was hard to pick just one thing she found attractive. “That’s a really difficult question to answer. The face is obviously most important. But… second to that would be…”

“Let me rephrase that then,” Levi interjected, taking his tease further, “If I were to slowly trace a single fingertip over my body, which part would turn you on the most?”

Madeline stopped breathing momentarily as she locked eyes with him, as his query played out in her mind. Her desire flared up nicely, now that she was being forced to look at him. Most satisfying.

“Your neck,” she answered breathlessly.

“See, easy,” he sighed as he crossed his long legs on the sofa. “Your turn.”

She suddenly felt like she was playing a twisted game of chess. Taking a deep breath, she focused back on the roundabout questions she was going to ask him to get a clearer picture of what he was. As she went back over the list she had been compiling in her head prior to being derailed by his sensually charged question, she remembered the next one she had planned to ask and wasn’t sure if it was over the line or not but needed to know.

“Have you ever killed anyone?”

“Yes,” he responded quickly, a smug grin on his lips this time. “And on that note, would you?”

“If I had no other choice, I suppose I’d have to. Have you killed humans and non-humans?”

“Yes, though I prefer not to,” he replied, unfazed. “Would you sleep with someone to get a job done?”

“I honestly don’t know. If they were attractive, I suppose I could. But not females. I don’t think any amount of money could make that worthwhile,” she said, revolted by the idea.

She was going to ask him if he’d slept with someone to complete a job, but she was pretty sure she already knew the answer to that question. She moved on.