Kain nodded his head,"My lady, your genious, she'll absoluty love it! You sure can read minds." Kain smiled sweetly at her,"If you don't mind, maybe you could come listen to my band one night, I bet you would love us." He pulled a piece of paper and pen, writing down an address of the club they played at and what time,"I would love it if you can and saw me play one night, a lovely lady like you in the crowd would surely inspire me to do my best." He held out the peice of paper,"Before I forget, my name is Kain, whats yours?"

Dawn jolted up in bed, awaking from the same nightmare she had been having for two hundred years, the night she had watched Kain die, and held him in her arms at his last dying breath. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. She hated how she was forced to watch him die over and over again every single night. She couldn't get used to the dream, it haunted her every waking moment. But she had stopped crying along time ago, the tears just didn't seem to be there anymore, its like they were all dried up. Her life was incomplete, everything she had loved had been taken away from her in one single faithful day. She sighed,"I should quit moaning and groaning and just get to work on how to make somemore money, I think steady job...no more of these temps."

She got up and changed into another set of clothing. Putting on a black shirt she had gotten from some random person handing them out with flyers for some new band at the club one night, it read Devil's Angels, with bloody wings on the back. She didn't really understand why she like it so much but she did, it was one of her favorites, maybe becuase it was free. She then put on a pair of black dickies shorts and her combat boots. Redoing her hair in the mirror she tried to smile, but it was hopeless, the ddream had been more vivid, something about it really bothered her.

Kain smiled, he thought he had sensed her presence before,"I thought you looked formiliar Cordielia," he liked the tast her name on his tongue and made it sound sedutvie coming from his mouth," I'm with the Devil's Angels, I play lead guitar and do some back up vocals here and there."

Dawn walked out of her apartment door and locked it after her. Deciding she needed another coffee she walked back to the cafe, hoping to find some work posted on one of the bullitain boards.

Cordielia laughed, obviously not realizing the man was flirting, "Oh yes! I've heard them once or twice while I was in the back getting ready to leave. You sound wonderful, a bit too dark for my taste, but the crowd seems to enjoy it. I'll be sure to stay backstage long enough to hear you all play after I perfom tomorrow night," she added with a smile.

The store clerks, as well as the customers within the store, all stared in disbelief. Here this man, so sexy and seductive, was flirting with Ms. Cortez, a beautiful young woman, and the woman mentioned was so oblivious!

"Dude, chill out, it's not a big deal."

"Not a big deal?!" yelled Akiyama, quite infuriated, "NOT a big DEAL?! This is the eighth order you've mucked up in the past hour! That's it, you're fired!"

"Man, come on, I need this job. How else am I to get tickets to see Devil's Angels tomorrow night?!"

"You should have thought about that before. You can pick up your last paycheck after hours."

With a huff, the man being fired, who insidentally was the very changed punked out man from earlier, grabbed his leather jacket and stormed out the door.

Sighing, Akiyama looked at the list of fill-ins and tried to find someone who could take Peter's place until he found someone new.

Kain smiled sweetly down at Cordielia,"How about after I'm done, me and you go out for a bite to eat? Someplace nice, like that little Chinesse restuarant thats down the street from the club? Its a really great place, majorly the chow mein."

As Dawn walked through the cafe door she was rudely pushed aside by some dressed up punk in a leather jacket. Mumbling under her breath,"What a jerk!" she walked up to the counter, "Hey Akiyama, you looked stressed as hell today, kinda look like how I feel at the moment, mind if I get my usual latte with a lil extra cream? Oh, and do you know about any temp jobs that have opened up recently, or something more perminent?"

Cordielia smiled with a wink and jokingly asked, "No girlfriend or obsessed fan who'll come into my shop infuriated and trash the place if I do?"

The young cashier, who happend to be wearing a Devil's Angel shirt, sighed with envy at her very lucky boss. Whispering to a nearby customer, who shared her feelings, she sighed, "Oh I do wish he'd ask me! I'd go with him in a heart beat!"

Akiyama smiled and sighed a sigh of relief, "You have no idea what good timing you have. Just fired the bloke who stormed out of here," he added as he made her latte.

"Can you catch on quickly?" He inquired as he handed it to it, "If so, you've got the job and the latte's on the house!" Akiyama added with a laugh.

Kain couldn't help but laugh just a little, things were going as planned,"No no, no girlfriends or crazy fan girls to worry about." He smile at her once again, playing the act of the nice guy.

Dawn's mouth was gaping open,"Oh yeah, I can catch on quickly thats how I manage to do some many bloody temp jobs. So I'll take that free latte and get to work if you need me now," She could help but have a huge grin on her face, this was one of the best things to happen to her in a long time, a permanent job. The plus fact was, she loved the place!

Cordielia laughed, "I suppose I'll go. Nothing better to do really. I must ask though, why are you asking me? You hardly even know me."

Akiyama threw her an apron and smiled, "You're hired as of now. You work every day from 9 to 6, except on Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, you only work afternoons those days. Deal?"

Kain continued to smile at Cordielia,"Well because you save my life from my friend, she would have been so angry if I hadn't found the perfect dress, and look you've helped me find it, and your a good looking woman, whom I would like to get to know better." He looked into her eyes with his light blue once trying to seem sincere. He couldn't help but notice the small crowd of people watching him ask her out to dinner, and the looks of awe at his good looks.

Dawn put on the apron and took a quick sip of her latte before replying,"No problemo, I just come to work after leaving the club and getting some food, I'll make sure I get alot of sleep before I go though, so I'm not dragging butt in the morning, k, boss man." She couldn't help but laugh a little at calling Akiyama bossman. "Now here comes the fun part, showing me how to make the wonderfully tasty drinks!"

As she set to work learning to make all the drinks her mind wondered on her dreams a little, wondering why they were getting stronger.

Cordielia laughed, "Alright then, I suppose I'll have to accept. However," leaning in closer, she covered her face with her hand so the rest couldn't see what she had whispered. "I would like to warn you that I am not as innocent and naive as I look, and I do not fall willy-nilly head over heels over your dashing looks." Leaning back she smiled and softly giggled, "But dinner sounds lovely, I look forward to it."

Akiyama laughed, "Please, no bossman - sounds too weird. Call me Akiyama," he said with a smile before handing her a drink manual, "Here, refer to this when you get stuck."

The rest of the day went smoothly, Akiyama hardly had to help Dawn fill her half of the orders, which was a load off his mind. Towards 5 o'clock, he headed to his office and left Dawn in charge. There, he made phonecalls to his suppliers and orders a few more cases of tea and coffee / coffe filters.

Kain thought to himself Now this is an interesting challange, I really do think I'm going to enjoy this very much. "Well, no worries there, I wasn't expecting you to," She's an interesting little elf, Then I will see you tommarow night after the show. My friend is anxiouly waiting at home for this dress, so I better pay and be going." He nodded at Cordielia, smiled and walked to the counter to pay.

After he had left the shop, walking for a few blocks, he found a dumpster and threw away the dress. Money ment little to him, the dress had been just an excuse to get the elf. He would have fun trying to corrupt her, but it would take a little more thinking on his part he knew. His music might just do a little of the job, but the rest was up to his charm and wits, even though his charm didn't seem so effective so far. He would find away, away to make it lots and lots of fun.

Dawn worked hard the whole day and as six rolled around the corner she let out a heavy sigh. Man was she tired, she'd only had about two hours of sleep, and was regretting not getting more.

She walked into the back of the shop where Akiyama was working,"Hey I closed up just like you told me too, is there anything else you need to me to do before I leave?" Yawning she waited for his answer.

Cordielia laughed as the customers and her employees gathered around her, all commenting how lucky she was and how they all wished to be her. Sighing, she excused herself and went back to her office to finish some phone calls. When all business was through, and the shop was locked up, she sighed and began thinking about the man she had ran into that day. 'I wonder what his angle is.. It was obvious he was very handsome and like-able, but something's telling me it's not all as it seems.. maybe I'm just thinking this way because it's been so long since a man's showed any interest in me.. hmm.. well, I guess I'll never know until tomorrow night!'

Laughing at herself for such thoughts, she grabbed her belongings and left the boutique out the back door. Soon, she was in the car. Radio blasting and signing along, she pulled out of the parking lot and headed for home.

Akiyama, a bit tired himself, shook his head, "Nah, just get some sleep." Looking at the clock, he grabbed his things and smiled at Dawn, "I've gotta get moving, it's a few blocks to the bus stop and I can't be late 'cause there's not another for at least an hour. I'll see you in the morning 'kay?"

Kain entered his small, elegant apartment. Everything was new, black, red, or white. All in the modern style. He sank down into the couch, grabbed his black guitar that had red spiderwebs painted on it and started to play a new song he had been working on,

"In the night, I will come for you, hold you close until dawn draws near. Never fear, the time draws near for me to be finally free.... the angel of my dreams is falling from her perch above us. No longer can she torment me with her beautiful voice singing in my ears, I'm dieing in her arms tonight." He let the rest fall away, leaving it for later.

Dawn nodded in agreement,"See you in the morning then Akiyama." She walked out and went to her place. When she reached her stoop she could hear her neighbor playing his guitar, and felt the sadness of his music, Everyone seems so said lately, I'm really getting worried about whats going on. She walked inside, went to her bedroom and changed into an old tshirt and layed in bed, listening to his song fade away into the darkness. She feel asleep to the last chord he played.

Akiyama stepped off the bus, waved good bye to the bus driver, and strolled off in the direction of his appartment.

Walking up to his appartment, he noticed a few of his neighbors had suddenly turned quite "punk" looking. Shaking his head, he unlocked the door to his appartment, and was immediately greeted by his newly aquired tiny black kitten.

Stroking the small cat's fur, he lifted the kitten up and held it against his chest as he headed for the fridge, "Hmm, what shall we have to night eh Juuniji?" Grabbing the milk and a bowl for Juuniji, and the materials for a sandwich for himself, he sat down at the table and prepared their meals.

Cordielia plopped onto her bed and cuddled her pillow close. She was quite exhausted from work, and felt it as soon as her head touched the feather pillow. Knowing there was hard food already layed out for Felicity, Cordielia instantly fell asleep to a CD playing harp lullabies.

Dawn awoke to her phone buzzing loudly in her ear, she groaned, rolled over and looked at the time. "Time for work," she mumbled, getting up to get dressed. She picket out a white tank dop, and some kackie dickies, along with a worn out pare of converse shoes.

On the walk to work, she thought little of the dream she had that night, still vivid, but her neighbor's song interested her more. The melody was stuck in her head, playing over and over again, she terribly wanted to know how it ended.

She walked into the cafe terribly distracted, humming the music outloud.

Kain awoke with a jolt, his angel was suddenly extremely close. He got up and pulled on a black pair of dress pants and ran out his front door to watch his nieghbor walking down the stairs. He stood there in shock, her red hair bright in the sunlight coming through the window, but he never saw her face and to act now was quite suicidal.

He could hear her heavenly voice humming his song and wondered who she was. At least now he knew where she lived, now he just needed to think of a way to move in and destory her.Turning around he walked back into his apartment, and got dressed for his day, putting on a pin strip short sleeve jacket, that had chains hanging off each shoulder. He pulled his long red hair into a low pony tail, and left his apartment alot slower this time. It was time for him to go rehearse with the other demons that made up his band, and get ready for his plans involving Cordielia.

Akiyama stood at the counter, the Cafe had yet to officially open so he was washing down the counter before getting to the tables. Noticing Dawn's changed mood, he inquired, "Something happen last night?"

Cordielia, an early riser, set some ice cold milk out for Felicity, who wouldnt' be up for awhile yet, and grabbed a quick bite to eat before getting ready for the day. Going through her closet, she stopped and took a small autumn dress from the rack. Slipping it on, she tied her hair back in braids and ribbons. Kissing the top of Felicity's head, she grabbed her keys as well as her purse and jacket, and slipped on her low heels.

Locking the door behind her, she made her way down the stairs and out to her car.

She arrived at the boutique moments later, not bothering to stop for coffee this morning. Smiling at her employees and assistant, she made her way to her office after asking Marina to run to the Cafe and get her some coffee.

Dawn sighed,"My neighbor was playing a song last night, can't get it out of my head for some odd reason," She put on her apron and started making preperations for the day ahead, remembering how the day before had gone.

Kain agrued with his band about their mission, he wanted to catch his angel, but that wasn't part of it, and the others didn't care for his obsession. Their mission was to corrupt man kind, turn them evil, make it harder for God to have a foot hold on Earth. It was working, more and more people became corrupt so why couldn't he destory one little angel.

As Akiyama washed down the tables, he chuckled, "For being so dark and dreary, it sounds true of heart. I'd hate to be the one it was sung about," he simply added as customers began to arrive.

Noticing a young woman in her mid-twenties walk in, he smiled and inquired, "Haven't seen you in awhile Maria. How's Cordielia and the boutique going?"

"Not too bad, she's got a date tonight. How're you doing Akiyama?"

He stared blankly at her, "A... a date?"

"Yes, a date. She's gorgeous Akiyama, did you think she'd really stay single forever?"

"N-no I.. I just..I gotta go.." stammering as he walked, he went into his office and shut the door, collapsing into his chair. Sighing, he pounded his fist onto his desk.

Shaking her head in confusion, Maria turned to Dawn and ordered the coffee before heading out of the Cafe and back to the Boutique.

Cordielia smiled as she took a sip from her coffee. Before leaving Cordielia's office, Maria mentioned seeing Akiyama at the Cafe.

"Oh? How was he?" inquired Cordielia gently.

"He seems a bit.. out of wits. Especially after I told him about your date tonight. It looked like he couldn't get away from me fast enough!" Laughing, Maria headed back out to her small office and began checking over the account books.

Cordielia, a bit puzzled, continued to slowly sip her coffee until she got a phone call from the Club de Laranchou, asking her if she could still make it that evening.

Dawn watched Akiyama rush to the back and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow out of curisoty. She gave the drink to the lady that he had talked to and watched her walk out the door. Leaning on the counter she went over the band lists that where playing at a few clubs tonight.

A punk walked into the cafe, and to the counter, "Give me a Vanilla Latte," he said trying to sound punked out.

Dawn started to make the drink, trying her best not to do something dasterdly to it, "Ok, Here you go." Giving him the drink she saw him look at her band lists.

He grinned a lopsided smile,"Go see Devil's Angels, they'll change you life hunny." Turning to walk out he winked at Dawn, causing her to gag.

Kain walked out of the rehearsal infuriated. They hadn't even got any worthwhile work done. Those idiots don't understand the need in me to destory this angel, to take away her wings for what she's done to me. Soon they will though, soon they will truly understand. But what about the elf, what am I going to do with her. Thats where a challange lies.

Akiyama sighed at his desk, hands slithering through his hair as he tried to make sense of what Maria had told him. 'Surely she couldn't have a date . . . she must be mistaken . . . the way she looked when she came outta her yesterday surely said she still loved me . . . maybe I was wrong . . . maybe she really doesn't love me anymore . . .'

Cordielia, already running late for her rehearsal, quickly gave the keys to lock up to her assisstant and rushed out the door. As she pulled in, she noticed Kain walking out of the building. Laughing, she grabbed her things and got out of the car, 'Wonder what's got him in a tizzy.'

Smiling as she approached Kain, she put her keys in her purse and nodded a greeting, "Evening Kain, rehearsal go well?"