"I can’t believe you’re dead. You betrayed me.” A woman told the photo of a man in her hands, tears quietly falling as she pulled at a worn and singed jacket.

A month ago her father had died after being the random target of some desperate people. Muggers had shot him while he’d been digging for his wallet. A week after he died her house burned down, she had no job, and he’d left her with mountains of debts to pay off. He had pretended to protect her from everything he could, ever since she was little and now he was gone. She had no idea of what to do, so day in and day out she sat in various parks, sleeping on the benches and digging through the trash for the food that people with money wasted. Wearing only the clothes that she had left the house in the day her house burned down.

“Oh, dear. Are you ok? You seem distraught.” She looked up to see a man a little taller than average height leaning down to look at her. He had messy dark brown hair, and looked down at her with concern through incredibly green eyes, holding his glasses as if they were going to fall off his face. He looked too thin and was tall. He wore a nice brown pinstriped pant suit with grey tennis shoes.

“No shit Sherlock.” She told him grumpily, crossing her arms in a childish gesture of anger, turning away from him as she tried to stop the tears.

Straitening up from his crouched position, he calmly pushed his glasses up with one finger and sighed, “Oh, well. Is there anything I can do to help? My name’s Oliver. You are-” Sitting down; he held his hand out to her.

“Tink. Well actually Tinica, but you can call me Tink.” She stared at the hand suspiciously for a moment before shaking it. “Why do you care? I mean, I’m stinky, dirty, homeless and jobless.”

Oliver shrugged “Well to be honest,” He paused with a wry smile, “you’re sitting on my bench.”

The woman’s jaw dropped, why was he picking on her? “Yeah? Well you know why I’m sitting on your bench? Because, I don’t have a home. This is my bench now. I see no name on it.” Tink snapped at him.

“Well, I’m just as homeless as you but, unlike you, I actually have friends.” Oliver grinned at her as if he knew something she didn’t.
“How do you know that?”

Oliver chuckled, “Because, if you had real friends like me, you’d be clean, fed, and happy. I get to mooch off my friends, because they’re real friends, not posers.” He knew his ‘friends’ were actually one person, his sister, and though she was the one that was actually homeless, her last home being burned down, she’d kicked him out last night and hadn’t let him back in yet. He’d been insensitive towards the newest member of their house hold, another mythical being that had trouble blending into society.

Tink rolled her eyes at him. “You know what? You’re a loser.”

“I know that. Tell me something new and interesting.” His glasses flashed in the lamplight, as he smiled at her, forgetting his vampiric teeth might not look normal to her.

“A-are you a vampire?” Tink asked, trying not to panic as she thought of the many vampire books she’d seen youngsters reading these days. They weren’t supposed to be real but she couldn’t help asking.

“Hmm? Oh, no.” Oliver gave a small huff of a laugh, fingering a canine tooth. “I’m not a vampire, my mom was human.” He smiled, again, this time not as wide.

Tink gulped, and asked “And your father?”

“Umm. He was a demon.”

“Oh really? Then why do you have those sharp teeth? And why does your skin have those weird markings?” She asked him smugly, pointing to silver swirls on his skin, reminiscent of tribal tattoos.

He glared at her. “Because you’ve been reading too many of those crappy teen books. My teeth are perfectly normal for a half demon. And so is my skin.”Oliver nodded his head once, sharply, giving an ‘And-that’s- final’.

“Oh. I see.” Tink scooted away from him, looking at him side long as if he were insane.

Suddenly over his almost-a-snit, Oliver looked down at the pavement under his feet. “And what of you? How did you come to be here? Sitting on my bench in the middle of the night?”

Her voice flat and emotionless, she looked straight at him.“My father died, left me mountains of debt, I lost my job, and then my house decided to burn down while I was out looking for a job.” Tink let the words hang in the air for a moment before getting up to walk away, offended that he was so obviously making fun of her and then just asking random questions about her.

“Wait, That’s not right!! Where’re you going?! You can’t just say something like that and then get up and walk away! You have to give the person time to react!” Oliver yelled following after her.

“Yes I can. See? I’m doing it right now. Good bye.” Tink, not turning around, waved her hand in the air behind her in a short chop of a wave.

“Huh, what a horrible woman, quite unpleasant.” Oliver muttered to himself, turning south heading for his house to see if his sister would allow him back in.

Armida tugged this way and that on the top hat, frowning as she tried to get it just right so that her horns wouldn't show underneath. Most hats in the costume trailer were far too soft, allowing her horns to push out oddly from the inside. Sometimes she could get away with saying it was just the design of the hat, but those instances were few. This old top hat was the stiffest one in the trailer, and had been her longtime favorite for extensive outings, like the one she was about to go on. It had been a long while since she could enjoy the cool night air all alone, and tonight there was a bit of down time before the rest of the crew would start setting up in the morning.

Once Armida was satisfied with how the hat sat over her horns, she snapped on her favorite earrings and reached for her coat. Tonight, she was going to be as far away from Armida the Devil's Bride as she could get. She shrugged into the simple black button-up coat and tugged on a belt over the waistline of her jeans. The coat used to be an expensive looking high necked number bought by one of the ring-leader's ex wives. The woman in question had left in a huff when she found that her coat had been used in an emergency with a horse that had wounded itself during a fire ring trick. Good riddance, that what's Armida had called it.

----

Walking in the park at night was a wonderful experience, one that Armida would gladly take any day over the pomp and circumstance of the circus shows. Not even the most elaborate light display could compare to the overwhelming sprawl of stars overhead. Armida spun in a slow circle as she gaze up at the stars that spread from horizon to horizon, holding tight to her hat with one hand. How she would love to take off toward those stars, to race against the pull of gravitation strapped tight in a rocket seat. She grinned up at the stars and laughed at the thought. One day, maybe, if the humans of the world could learn to accept that they weren't the only things living on this lonely little planet.

Armida eventually continued her walk, her wandering feet taking her along a quiet path between a row of trees. The sound of a lone owl echoed along the path, effectively silencing any sound from the rest of the nighttime creatures. Smart little things, they were. They know when to shut up and back down in the face of true danger. Humans might find they can learn a lot from the critters, if they ever took the time to bury their pride.

Before long though, Armida noticed that even the owl had grown quieter, and she soon realized why. She could hear two voice up ahead around a bend in the path, blocked by a thick grouping of old trees. She frowned and continued on with careful, quiet footsteps, sneaking around to the old trees and finding a niche of an opening through which she could spy.

A couple sat on a bench, or as far as Armida could tell they were a couple. The woman looked a little worse for wear though, as if she had been crawling the streets all day. Armida slowed her breathing and focused on listening in to their conversation. It would be interesting to know why two humans, man and woman, were out here in the middle of the night not fucking like rabbits. Compared to some sights she had encountered on nights out on deserted parks, this was a pretty rare, once in a lifetime opportunity.

From what words Armida could catch, she eventually pieced together that both were homeless, and one was either a vampire of the son of a demon. Well, wait....that could be the same thing anyway. She shrugged and pushed the thought aside as she ducked down behind the tree. One of the two, the woman, had just gotten up with a sour look on her face. Whatever the man had said last had apparently upset her greatly. Something or other about losing her job was all that Armida could make out.

Then Armida heard the man get up and start walking, and she quickly and quietly went to the other side of the group of trees to watch him walk away in the opposite direction of the woman. Huh. That was interesting. Maybe they weren't a couple after all. The man certainly looked much better dressed, and the step to his stride told her that he was pretty laid back and confident in himself. Armida couldn't help but to smile. Traits like that were pretty attractive in men. Plus for a classy sense of dress, and she was nearly hooked.

So, after a split second of deciding what to do, Armida climbed out over the interlocked roots of the ring of trees and quickly caught up to the man, falling in step beside him easily as if they were friends. "Nice night for a walk, isn't it?" she greeted with a smile.

Oliver slowed at the sound of a woman's voice, looking around to find the owner of the voice walking alongside him and speaking to him, "Hmm?" He asked but a second later his mind processed what she'd said, "Oh, yes, quite wonderful actually." He said, looking up ward at the sky and back to her with an unimpressed smile. His teeth were slightly uneven and one of the fangs, his top right, was blunted while the top left was slightly crooked but all of them were pearly white.

With a sigh he glanced down the path behind them and back to the woman beside him, "I'm Oliver, to whom do I owe the much appreciated company?" He asked, shoving his hands back into his pockets and staring up at the sky once more, walking once more and humming softly as he waited for his answer.

((Terribly sorry it took so long and also that it's so short. x-x))

(( no problem ))

Armida noticed Oliver's teeth as he spoke and couldn't help but to stare. No human in the world could have teeth like that, no matter how jagged their teeth were set. It just wasn't possible. What was possible, she realized, was that she was definitely not walking with any human. This guy was different, just like she was different. He had fangs. Real fangs. Could be vampire fangs, but werewolves had oddly pointed canines too. She knew that from having to bunk with one in the circus' housing trailers.

She laughed at Oliver's way of speech, stopping suddenly when she realized she had leaned forward to far. She reached up to catch her hat just in time though, tugging it back down firmly on her head. Her thoughts were so caught up though with how funny he sounded that she wasn't careful in re-adjusting her hat, and didn't notice when her horns bulged out from underneath the fabric.

"Well, you're quite proper. I think it suits you. How you dress, I mean," Armida added with a smile. "It is nice to meet you too. I'm Armida," she answered, holding out her hand.

Oliver gave a cheerful nod, "Well thank you. My sister keeps telling me it's an outdated look but I say it's all in the way one wears their clothes. Walk confidently and no one stares, they know you're an odd ball from the start. If you go fliting about like you're ashamed of what you're wearing... Well that's when you start having problems." He shook her hand when it was offered, ignoring the odd way her hat was sitting on her head for now though it hadn't gone unnoticed, "That's a lovely name Armidia. About as lovely as my sister's."

The hand shake over he continued walking for a couple city blocks before he really started to look at her, she wasn't the oddest girl he'd ever seen but she wasn't exactly normal. He was growing curious about her and suddenly turning to her, "I take it you can't retract those. Hmm?" he asked, tapping his forehead and grinning, "You know if you can't there's a place where you can live without the worry of having to hide."

Armida blinked at his comment, then looked away and automatically reached up to touch her hat when he tapped his head. Great. All her carefulness down the drain. At least he wasn't human, or else she'd have a real reason to worry. She lowered her hand and looked back up at him with a sheepish smile.

"I was hoping you wouldn't notice. But don't worry about my secrecy. I live and work with a circus crew. I can show my face...well, horns technically, around there all I want and no one gives a second thought. Other races live there too, like the werewolf I bunk with. He has your fashion sense, but he never wears anything like yours for fear of tearing it up."

"What about you, though? Vampire....?" she guessed, tilting her head slightly as she looked at him.

Oliver sighed and shook his head, "Hm, how odd, you're the first to turn down the offer. It's not your secrecy I'm worried about but rather you sanity. Dear little Penwyn was near insane when we found the little tyke, being stared at all day when you're five isn't healthy." he looked off for a moment, the serious expression on his face didn't fit well but he shrugged and flashed a halfhearted smile, "But if you'd rather be gawked at..." he looked forward once more and mumbled, "At least I won't be nagged at for not offering."

Her question made Oliver look back at her and for the first time he seemed annoyed, somehow playfully so, "What's up with everyone tonight? Can't anyone come up with something more creative than vampires?" he paused, "Actually, no, or I wouldn't have a broken canine. I'm a half demon. My mother was a very beautiful human and my father a quite handsom demon."

Armida laughed at his mock displeasure. "Even among people like us, you have to admit vampires are more common. It was just the first thing that came to mind," she said with a shrug. "Plus, I don't think it's bad for our types to show our faces to the public, if we can get away with it. Eventually they'll discover us, and maybe by then they'll just shrug and go on their way."

Armida glanced around at the street they were on, looking in every direction to make sure no one was watching, before reaching up to slide her hat off. Her horns gleamed in the yellow light of the street lamp, catching the hidden blue tints in her hair as well. Now that she wasn't focused on talking, her eyes caught the strange way the light played over the silver swirls on his skin. Out of pure habit she reached up as if to touch the pattern on his neck, but stopped herself just in time. She had a thing with wanting to touch all that sparked her curiousity, and those swirls definitely made the the list.

"Tattoo's from a clan?" she asked, holding her finger up close to his face and making little circles with it.

Oliver nodded agreement, sighing, "True." He didn't like that vampires were so common. It bothered him though he never really knew why. "Have you considered there's some of us that rather have that discovery come pater than sooner?" He asked her, watching her look about and slip the hat off. He couldn't keep from smiling when she did though, "Beautiful." He simply said, still walking to the south.

When her hand moved towards the souls he leaned back from her and got a more realistically annoyed expression on his face, "No, they're not. Kindly don't touch without asking first. They're part of my skin. I was born with them. They're my soul and damaging them will take that away. Dying is not in my schedule for another couple hundred years. Don't touch my sister's either. She'll down right bite you."