The Good, The Bad and The Fanged

Sam and Nicole had been on several dates now over the past few weeks, Nicole did not seem so bad, the two of them had a lot in common and they both shared the same sense of humour, perhaps Zoe was just saying a little white lie as a joke to shake Sam's confidence. Amber was not a fun of the pair, she would act strangely whenever Nicole was in the apartment and was not a fan of her at all, she took Zoe's sign seriously and constantly begged Sam to stop seeing her for his own safety.

The couple was returning from a date at an Italian restaurant, sharing stories and laughs on their return journey. They both jumped when they walked by an alleyway and heard a trash bin shake, but when a stray dog revealed itself as the creator of the nuisance, they both released a sigh of relief and continued back. They both entered the apartment complex, Nicole persuaded Sam to skip his apartment and go upstairs to hers, she disliked the cat more than she led on, and Sam could understand why, she was beginning to become quite annoying for the both of them.

Sam walked in and sat down on the couch before looking up to Nicole who said "Wait here, I have something that I need to do in the bedroom first" Nicole wandered off and Sam stood up to look around the house, Nicole had a lot of paintings on her walls of women sitting by the sea shore, she must have collected these paintings, after closer inspection, a man could be seen swimming towards each women in the picture, a strange edition to the image he thought. Sam stopped everything he was doing though when he heard a singing voice, the most beautiful voice he had ever heard before, he turned to his right to realize it was coming from Nicole's bedroom. Sam found himself slowly walking towards the singing voice, he wanted to find out if it was Nicole who was making it, he couldn't resist it.

Zoe had been ferreting around in the trash bins when Sam and Nicole walked by, Zoe growled faintly in warning. The siren… her dog eyes narrowed before she shifted into a human. Zoe stood; her hair and skin darkening. Her hair had turned black and her skin caramel colored. Carefully the seemingly Native American woman followed, not being noticed by the two.

Zoe’s scowl deepened when Sam followed her upstairs to her apartment. Stupid boy. That is when the singing started, Zoe’s heart raced as she hurried and picked the lock on the door.

“Come on…” Click… the door swung in and Zoe bounded in, tackling Sam around the waist, covering his mouth with one hand. For a second she turned back into the regular Zoe, stuffed a spare pair of ear plugs in his head, before turning back into the Native American. She stood and got off his chest.
“You don’t ever listen do you?” She growled before pulling her sword out of it’s sheath across her back. With that Zoe the native American stalked forward.

Sam was moments away from turning the handle of Nicole's bedroom and entering to listen to the sweet song being sung for him when he was tackled to the ground by someone, he was about to yell out when his mouth was covered and he saw a familiar face, Zoe had returned after a few weeks of absence, he was not thinking too much though, he still wanted to get into the room and listen to the song. A second sense was stopped however when Zoe placed ear plugs into both ear, Sam's mind came back to him and he questioned why he was on the ground, Zoe was above him, she said something to him but it just sounded muffled to him, the ear plugs doing its job. Sam stood up and looked back at Zoe to see her with a completely different look, why she had hidden her true self was strange to Sam, but she had a sword in her hand and was edging towards the door so he wasn't going to complain.

When Sam got his wits about him, he put the pieces together, Nicole had been a Siren all along and the song she was singing as brainwashing him into entering the room where she could do who knows what to him. Zoe booted the door open much to the surprise of the Siren, she sat up from her laying position with bright red eyes and sharp teeth, she hissed as she jumped towards Zoe who swung her around and through her into the living area, she flew by Sam's face as he was woken up. He stood beside Zoe, fists at the ready, it felt like three weeks ago back at the bar, but instead of thugs they were know about to be attacked by a mythological creature hell bent on killing Sam and possibly eating him... A little bit different.

Zoe moved quicker, her leg lashing out, catching the Siren in the chest. It flew back, crashing into the table. The siren moved in a strange bobbing and weaving movement, eyeing the reflective blade of the katana.
“You have violated my territory,” The Siren hissed, baring fangs. Zoe turned her head, checking the ear plugs.

She drew closer, baring her snake fangs before hissing, “An Arae does not care about territory.”

Nicole’s face paled and she turned back into a human, “No, please… no!” The creature was terrified, as if knowing there was no escape.

Then Zoe was on her, driving the blade in and down, piercing her chest. The siren exploded into several burning particles and Zoe watched, stone faced. She faded back to the redhead and freckles but she still wasn’t there all the way it seemed. It was like a colder and more dangerous creature had occupied her body.

“Come on,” She said, turning away. Zoe slid the sword back into her sheath, only to show another one... the seemingly other half of the sword. Her blue eyes were fixed on a point in front of her before stopping at Sam’s apartment door.

Sam was expecting a longer fight than that, he was ready to beat the Siren down for a little while for leading him on the way she was, but in a swift jab of a sword, she was a pile of dust. Again Zoe said something he could not understand due to his ear plugs, he pulled them out and noticed she was gone, so he assumed she was just saying goodbye and leaving, never to see him again, although that is what he thought three weeks ago and look where she is.

Sam walked down the steps, still confused about the whole situation, Zoe had stabbed the woman he had been dating for three weeks and she was now a pile of dust, that was going to be tough to get his head around, but at least Amber would be happy. His coat was over his shoulder as he looked to his pocket whilst pulling out his keys, he looked to his door to see Zoe waiting there. He smiled as he fiddled through his keyrings to find the correct key, as he pushed the key into the lock, he asked "What's wrong now? Did she hurt your leg again? Do you want some gauze and duck tape?" humourously, referring to when he took care of her before "Thanks for... whatever happened back there, i would probably be a skeleton in the closet right now if you hadn't shown up, I guess we aren't even anymore then huh?"

Zoe glowered at him, her arms crossed over her chest.
“You are so… STUPID!” She poked him in the chest. “I said stay away from her but oh noo, big, bad, and British decides to date the stinking Siren anyway! I thought you trusted me enough to take my word on that!”

Zoe stomped over to the couch and glared out the window for several moments. “Why didn't you listen to me?” Her tone was gentler and at this point Amber wandered in to see what the commotion was about. The cat meowed and jumped onto Zoe lap, apparently siding with the demon as she had already tried to talk Sam out of it. Zoe pet her absentmindedly while she had Sam fixed with her dark blue eyes.

Sam barely had the door open by the time Zoe had barged her way into his house, he hadn't even invited her in yet! She sounded pretty mad too and Sam could understand why, he had pretty much gone against her advice, but what could he do? Go up to Nicole and say "Sorry I can't see you anymore, my friend thinks you are a mythological monster that tricks men to get close to them before you kill them" that sounds like a good idea...

He watched as Amber hopped up onto Zoe's lap and gave him a dirty look, he now knows how it feels to have one of Amber's death glares and it did not make Sam feel very good. "I did listen to you, but completing ignoring her could have made her even more angry and you was in no position to protect me, at least if I stayed with her for a little while it would give you some time to heal up... I know I couldn't have taken her down by myself, I... I needed your help" It was something that Sam knew was true, if Zoe wouldn't have been there, he would have been dead and if he would have confronted Nicole immediately, he would have been dead, two scenario's Sam hoped to avoid.

"And yes Amber, I know you warned me countless times, but it's over now ok? You can quit with the glare" Sam tossed his coat onto the couch and inspected his multicoloured crystal that was gifted to him, he picked it up and shook it before placing it back down again.

Zoe through her arms up into the air, “I didn’t mean DATE her! That is the flaw in your logic!”
She made a catlike noise at Amber and the cat looked smug. Count on Zoe to be able to speak cat. Zoe turned her dark blue eyes back onto Sam, softening just a little. Indeed Zoe happened to be one of those characters who happened to vanish off the face of the planet.

“I can’t just let anyone into the underworld can I?” She asked him, teasingly before stretching her combat booted feet in front of her. She had a personal grudge against sirens… so she was even more frustrated by the whole idea of Sam dating one. It reminded her to much of Adrian and his desire to get into trouble with different mythical species. Always fishing him out of trouble... Zoe twisted her ring on her finger and sighed sadly...

Sam raised his hands in the air as if Zoe had a gun pointed at him, "Ok... Fine... I shouldn't have dated her, you're right, I should have stayed as far away as I could from her, but I didn't and it was stupid of me to do it, but I have things happening in my personal life that I need to get over ok? And doing what I did was the first step to getting past it." Sam was of course talking about Salone, he had kissed her in the heat of the moment several weeks ago just for her to shoot him down and he was still having some trouble getting over it, and dating someone else was going to be the first step to getting past it.

"Why are you getting so over protective anyway? I already have to listen to Amber moaning to me, now you?..." he saw Amber glare at him, she probably did not want to admit it but it was true,

Zoe arched an eyebrow, “That accent not working out for you?” She asked quietly, leaning her head back on the couch. She winced at his over protective question, why? Because he reminded her of him… that’s why. It was still to soon after their death to talk about them.

“Is she pretty?” Zoe asked, deterring the question. “Come on answer the question, is she pretty? Funny? I am trying to have a friend to friend conversation here.”

Amber jumped off Zoe lap and trotted out after her catnip ball. Zoe rolled over onto her stomach and peeped over the edge of the couch; The top of her redhead, blue eyes, and the many freckles on her forehead the only thing visible. Her brow was clearly crinkled and an eyebrow arched, waiting for any details Sam would spill.

"The accent was working perfectly fine until you stabbed her in the chest" he thought jokingly. He sighed and tossed a hand up into the air "All of the above... She has my sense of humour, she's the prettiest girl I have ever seen, she's playful, we are so comfortable with each other that we can make funny digs at each other, and as far as I know she likes me too, just not in the same way..." It felt good to get it all out for once, Amber already knew the whole situation and he hadn't met anyone else he could vent it to. "We was talking here one day and I just couldn't help myself to kiss her, I immediately regretted it afterwards because it made the whole situation awkward and then when she said she didn't feel the same way, it was like tearing my heart out and throwing it out of the window..." Sam slowly walked over to a desk and sat down on it, noticing the top of Zoe's head peaking over the edge of the couch "Now whenever I spend time with her I have to pretend there is nothing there, and it's the hardest thing I have to do because every part of me just wants to kiss her again and hope she is ok with it this time..."

Sam took another sigh before pushing himself off of the desk into a standing position, "So there you go... Now you know..."

Zoe made a sympathetic noise, “Oh, looks like you got the ultimate friend zone then. Is it possible she was in a situation you were not aware of? Like a boyfriend or something?”

Zoe immediately regretted asking the question as a funny look crossed his face, oops. “Sorry, forget I asked.”

Zoe stood and kicked the catnip ball sending Amber skidding after it. Relationships were awkward to talk about, she though. She should know… considering what had happened to her. Zoe pulled her hair over her shoulder before wandering over to the kitchen and getting a glass for water… only that she had no idea where the cups were, in a matter of seconds she had opened about half of the cupboards before discovering a cup. After filling her glass she moved to shut all of the doors of the cupboards.

It appeared it didn't take Zoe to understand the situation, he had indeed been friendzoned pretty hard, but he would cringe whenever he thought of that word. Salone never talked about having a boyfriend, he knew of a guy called Jake who he had met back in England a while ago who said he was pretty close to her, but Sam hasn't seen him for a long time, and Sam hadn't seen him around Salone's place either, maybe he should ask her about him to see if that was the problem.

Sam's brain was running a mile a minute, Salone had been ill the first time the pair of them met up in America, but after seeing Sam she seemed a lot better the next day, so that couldn't have been a problem. Zoe was sorry for asking, but she had asked him none the less, and this sent Sam's mind spinning. He needed some time to think, but that time would come later, for now Zoe was back with a glass of water and he had a question to ask "What about you? Do you have any family or loved ones?"

Zoe stiffened at the question, “Had is a better answer to your question. The-eh-died…”

She twisted the ring on her finger before drinking the water in the cup. She had suddenly become very interested in the plastic superman cup sitting on the table before her. Zoe looked down, her hair shielding her face from view. She generally avoided questions directly about herself.

Sam realized when Zoe answered that the area of her life was a no-go area, it seemed to upset her when he asked and even worse when she answered. All of her loved ones had died, why was Sam so surprised when she has to hunt down beasts from hell? Sam noticed her twisting a ring on her hand, it looked like it meant a lot to her, perhaps something that was given to her by a loved one, Sam wasn't going to ask to find out.

There was quite the awkward silence after she had answered, and he felt bad for her after asking her that question so bluntly, he twiddled his thumbs whilst watching her stare at the cup she had just picked out from his cabinets before saying "Is there anything i can do to make you feel better?..." he was expecting a cold reply and quick exit from her, but if she expects Sam to trust her so much, she should trust him just the same.

Zoe swallowed against the lump in her throat and shook her head.
“No,” She said quietly. “There is nothing you can do.”

There was nothing anyone could do; besides tell her who their killers were. But Zoe doubted than on a massive scale. The Arae picked her cup up and moved it to the sink, before washing it, and putting it back in the cupboards.

“Anything you planned on doing today?” Zoe asked, turning around and leaning against the counters. Her face had cleared up rather quickly, no trace of sorrow anywhere on her face. Zoe was completely healed up and moved with agile speed and grace, the movements themselves weren't even remotely human.