Synful Demon

Aria already knew from a glance at Brian that he was fairly well-off, having donned Seven for All Mankind jeans and an Ed Hardy tee shirt but that still didn’t prepare her for what she saw when she stepped into his house. She’d been to the house once, helping the Ashton family when they had bought too many groceries to bring in on their own. She could not have imagined the large but cluttered house- spotless but with modern furniture in the newest styles, red and black color combinations branching out into purples and greens in the other rooms. It was immaculate, tasteful, but completely male- no drapes or flowers could be found anywhere. The interior designer and immediate renovations must have cost at least a million dollars, not to mention the expanded high-ceilings and side panels made of glass, light glowing from the edges. They were paneless, vertical sheets of glass that she would estimate to be five feet by one, glowing red in contrast to the walls painted black. The panels seemed to have replaced the windows in the room, though she could see windows in the adjoining rooms- visible since the walls dividing them previously had now been collapsed.

A chuckle broke her out of her thoughts. She turned her astonished face to Brian, whose look of amusement was clear, his shades and fedora on the sparkling countertop. It didn’t look glittery, but instead had a look of being made with jewels or diamond. “What do you do for a living?” She stared as he laughed.

“I’m the lead guitarist in a band.” There was a long pause as he allowed her time to digest the information and she froze. It sunk in slowly as she stared at a huge emblem of a skull with bat wings protruding from either side of its smile, mounted on the wall.

“…Holy hell,” she managed. “You walked in on me crying and cussing out your lyrics, didn’t you?” she looked up in horror to see Brian using every ounce of his willpower to keep himself from laughing. She buried her face in her hand in utter embarrassment before a deep laugh broke her out of hiding. It wasn’t Brian’s and she lifted her head to glare at the new voice, to find another man with darkwash jeans and a wrinkled shirt sporting tattoos and piercings.

Already embarrassed and now more caught off-guard because Brian hadn’t told her that she would be ambushed by his friend, Aria took it out on him. “And you are?”

Her rude tone did not, unfortunately, faze him. Or so she thought, until his irises glowed red. Her eyes slid slowly from his eyes to Brian’s, still glaring, and her hand inched down to her bag. Brian threw his friend a look, and said friend’s eyes turned hazel again.

“That’s Matt,” Brian introduced off-handedly. “And this is-”

“-Aria.” Matt broke in, smirking and revealing sexy dimples. Aria hated the jerk already and no muscles, dimples, or sex appeal was going to change her mind.

“How does he know my name?” Aria demanded to Brian. Could this day get any worse?! This guy was such a creep- and Brian could very well be too, considering this was their/his house.

“I know everything,” Matt smirked, knowing exactly how to grate on her nerves- his existence and every breath did just fine. “Why’s your hand in your bag?”

Aria’s fingers on the metal calmed her, and she brushed off the attempt to make her feel threatened by his attentiveness. “Why are you such an ass?” She countered coolly, and Brian bust out laughing. Matt’s eyes began to narrow as red began to seep into the edges of the pupils. Aria leveled her unamused gaze to Brian. “What the hell is with your eyes?”

He stopped laughing, though amusement continued to sparkle in his eyes and he answered with a straight face, “We’re demons.”

Aria brushed it off and continued, “I’m asking if your contacts change according to your mood or temperature not a supernatural BS story to waste my time. I originally came to take you home because supposedly your eyes hurt. Clearly that was a lie to lure me to your little mansion. Are you done with your game yet?” Aria didn’t wait for an answer, despite that Brian had opened his mouth to answer me. “Nice meeting you.” She turned to the door when Matt suddenly appeared in front of her face.

It was no time to question whether this was his twin or the same one from the stairway, so there was no point in turning to look. Someone had crossed the room in two seconds and that just screamed ‘DANGER’. She feigned a punch to the left and Matt caught it, predictably, and she whipped her.50 AE (handgun) out to point it at his neck at the same time.

However fast they were, there was no way they could dodge a bullet aimed at their throat. He could break her wrist and she could shoot him in the throat. The overall situation status was not too bad. “Let go.” Aria stated calmly.

The asshole smirked.

She pulled the trigger.