"I'm thinking about it, and so far the verdict is no."

Larei rolled her eyes, leaning against the wall beside the bathroom door and watching it with all the patience of her less-than-one-hundred years. After about three minutes (give or take, really - Larei never did like the number 'three', it was too symbolic), the door cracked open and the vampiress grinned, sliding inside without any trouble.

She looked around her spacious bathroom for her demigod, finally spotting him in the bathroom, huddled and watching her with his wide, Bambi eyes.

...Well maybe she should start referring to Eiel as 'her', given the current situation.

Eiel Lokison (a newly appointed last name as of recent events, but neither Larei nor Eiel thought of said recent events without one turning homicidal and the other turning catatonic) sat curled up in the shower, long brown hair falling into her face and expression that of confused terror. Larei cooed, walking over to her Bambi and kneeling on the floor in front of the shower, reaching out and wrapping cool fingers around burning-hot forearms.

"You still ready to set the world on fire, Bambi?"

"I don't mean to be," Eiel muttered, voice still low for a woman's but higher-pitched than usual. Larei tugged her out of her shelter carefully, wrapping her arms around the now-demigoddess with a hum. The T-shirt and boxers Eiel usually wore to bed looked huge on her female frame, and she looked more rumpled and adorable than she probably wanted.

Larei would keep her comments to herself.

(For now.)

"What's the fuss, hmm? Couldn't your momma do the same thing? I sure hope so - else that is some strange biology, and I don't care if Loki's a Norse God - he shouldn't be able to break the laws of biology."

"She - He - Loki could - change gender, I mean, yeah, but I'm not Loki."

"I'm gettin' that, yeah."

"No, I'm not Loki - so why can I?" Eiel pulled back, pushing back hair and spitting out strands with a frown. "How do you not get hair in your mouth all the time?"

"It's a skill set."

"Right - anyway, I'm not my mother. I shouldn't be able to do the same things."

"But maybe," Larei interrupted before Eiel could really getting into a tirade (which was, in fact, his speciality), reaching out and running her fingers through long, dark hair with a contemplative expression, "just maybe, Bambi - you should. You're only half human. Maybe you grabbed some fancy trickster powers on your way out screaming."

Eiel shook her head, but she didn't argue against Larei's logic, so the vampiress took that for a win. She smiled then, cupping her demigoddess's face between her hands and lifting her face up.

"Besides, this could be fun!"

"Fun?"

"Mmmhm," Larei grinned, the expression sharp and predatory. Eiel's brows raised, and she wondered for a moment if Larei was going to eat her alive. Which was silly, really. Right?

...Right?

~+~

Three hours later (give or take, really), Larei stretched out and tucked herself against Eiel's side; cool skin pressing against warm and slowly bringing down the demigoddess's temperature.

(She remembered the first time she'd grabbed Eiel's bare hand after the incident, and he'd freaked out and tucked himself into a nook of her house where even she couldn't find him; it'd hurt, but she got the feeling it reminded him of something else. He was better now. Well. Getting better.)

After a moment of silence where she counted Eiel's heartbeat, hand pressed atop her chest, she grinned and looked up at the man-now-woman and waggled her brows.

"Told you it could be fun."

Eiel blinked, looking down at Larei as if seeing her for the first time.

"...uh-huh."

Larei Lamont had one of the prettiest voices Eiel had ever gotten the chance to listen to, and over 600 years of life meant he had gotten to listen to quite a few. But the sassy redhead with the devil's smile and the angel's face sang with a skill and a passion that he had not heard for many years, as so few of the artists of today cared enough about the music to put their heart and soul into it. They put in their training and they made their big bucks and that was that.

But Larei sang from somewhere deep inside and Eiel had to sneak around just to listen to it without her noticing he was there. 'Cause if she noticed he was there, she'd probably change her song to something that would make him blush. Larei liked to play with him like that.

But he caught her singing on the balcony, hands gripping the railing and eyes tilted up towards the sky. A new moon had risen, leaving only the stars and the soft light from inside Larei's home to illuminate the night. Faintly Eiel could hear night birds singing, crickets chirping in the grass and bullfrogs croaking in the stream; Larei's accompanying band.

She stopped suddenly, turning to look at the doorway and straight at him, and he cursed under his breath. Smiling slowly at the sight of him, the woman frozen in time - much like himself, but under different circumstances - turned around and leaning back on the railing, crooking a finger at him as if saying 'c'mere'.

With a sheepish smile, the demigod walked over to the vampire and laced his fingers with hers when she grabbed his hand.

"You spyin' on me?"

"I was enjoying your singing - there's a difference," Eiel said wisely, squeezing his hand. Green-blue eyes took in youthful features, a pale, cool hand lifting up to smooth away the worry lines by Eiel's eyes - lines that carved their way into his face from years and years of looking over his shoulder and freaking out about everything.

(He still did that. He just did it less around her. She called that sweet; he didn't comment.)

"And you'd know the difference, huh?" Larei said with a grin, poking his nose and dropping her hand to his shoulder. She pressed into his neck soothingly, scratching just at his hairline and hitting that one spot just behind his ears that made him jelly without fail. He hummed at the ministrations, dropping his head to her shoulder and feeling himself relax as she worked.

"You could always sing with me, y'know?"

"Wouldn't want to ruin the quality of your voice."

"Oh, you wouldn't do that," Larei assured, swaying a little. Eiel picked up on the swaying, placing his free hand on her waist and adjusting his grip on her hand so that it looked as though they were going to dance. After a moment, they did. Larei laughed.

"Has my life suddenly turned into a Disney movie, or a romantic comedy?"

"Romantic comedy; I'm just waiting for me to fall flat on my ass and accidentally take you down with me."

"If you cause my dress to rip in any of your silly shenanigans, I will personally end you."

"Y'know, I believe that."

"Good."

They were quiet for another few minutes, dancing in silence, before Larei started to hum softly under her breath. Eiel leaned closer, closing his eyes as he listened and smiling as a familiar song met his ears.

"One day as I was closin', my country music store~ In came a red haired lady who was all cried-out and sore~"

Eiel snorted, burying his face into her shoulder; but Larei shrugged, forcing him up and off, grinning at him and squeezing his hand.

"She walked right in and grabbed me, just right out of the blue~ And said, 'I need someone to listen and this someone will be you'~"

Eiel shook his head, spinning her around as she laughed, words still tripping off her tongue and fighting against her amused expression.

"I know that men are stupid, I know that you are, too~ So I will try to simplify my story just for you~"

"I am a maneater," Eiel cut in, dragging her in close and watching her grin turn from amused to victorious, "I own them from the start~ Bust somehow this handsome fucker got his grip around my heart~" He dipped her, pulling her up again an quickly pressing a kiss to the backs of her hands. "What an appropriate song."

"It speaks to me," Larei said with a smile. She leaned forward, kissing his cheek, leaning back after a moment and slipping her hands out of his. "I'm gonna head back inside. You coming?"

"In a minute," Eiel said, leaning back against the balcony railing, hands tapping out the beat to the song. The vampire nodded, giving him a quick smile before disappearing back inside. He listened to the sounds of Diamond go to greet her mistress, closing his eyes and letting the quiet of the night blanket over him for a minute.

It felt nice, he decided then and there, opening his eyes and looking up at the starry sky.