I stroll casually down the moonlight street, as happy-go-lucky as you please. A soft breeze stirs my striking, bright red hair, making it dance playfully around my face, revealing ruby eyes and a grin that has been plastered on my face for hours. I wonder if I should ever frown again.

I am all dressed up for the occasion of having dinner at a fancy restaurant with my beloved, whom I am just now on my way to meet. I feel quite dashing in my favorite suit, which I had taken the trouble to iron out every visible wrinkle only a few hours before. But it had been worth it. Nothing is too good for my dear Risa. How beautiful she is! There is no other woman like her in the world. I spin happily on my heel as I turn a corner that leads to another street.

I suddenly freeze in my tracks, my grin now melting into an open-mouthed gawk, awestruck. She sits on a bench beside the street, her slender legs crossing each other; hands folded in her lap, waiting patiently for my arrival. A silky white dress flows down her body, very much flattering her streamlined waist and curving over her hips. Her youthful skin glows under the pale moonlight, giving the appearance that it has been woven from the very finest silk by an angel of God. I am about to go insane with love! I want to throw myself before her and weep in awe. I want to run my fingers all over her body and kiss those sweet red lips and tell her how mush I lover and how much she means to me and...

"Daisuke!" Risa calls teasingly, interrupting my thoughts," Don't just stand there, you look like an idiot."

I know it is so. But, ah, her voice! It sounds like a hundred angels singing in heaven. Her voice, without any particular accent, makes me very self-conscious of my own, laden with a strong, rich German accent. In my opinion, it sounds especially lousy and ungraceful in English.

I cross the street towards her, never taking my eyes off her for a moment. I embrace her and hold her romantically in my arms.

"Haf you been vaiting long?" I ask politely, seeing as she has gotten here first.

"I would wait an eternity for you," is her reply.

Risa smiles and gently grazes my lips with her own. She pulls away, looking deep into my eyes as though searching the depths of my soul. She brushes my bangs out of my face.

"You're so beautiful," she murmurs.

I silently agree. We share another passionate kiss. I close my eyes, wishing that this moment would last forever. I can feel the texture of her feminine lips and the wet coolness of freshly applied lip-gloss. After a few moments, she pulls away again and I let my hands fall from her waist.

"Ve should be on our vay. It's getting late."

The corners of her lips turn up to a slight smile. She nods and says, "Yes."

We walk up the street together, hand-in-hand. Our young romance seems to illuminate everything around us to my eyes. We continue strolling along in the midst of a busy nocturnal world. While I am obsessing over Risa and our impassioned relationship, I become aware of my surroundings for the first time since we had left. She leads me in the complete opposite direction of our destination. I forget about my male hormones, as I become tense and nervous. Risa stands behind me and puts her arms around my chest, running her fingers up and down my flat stomach

"What's wrong? You're so tense, just relax," she soothes, her delicate words calming my mind immediately.

"Vhy haf you taken us all the vay out here?" I ask, naïve.

Her fingers inch slowly lower and lower down my middle. I stop thinking about everything except her. She stops and takes her hands from my upper thighs. She turns me around and buries her head into the feather-soft folds of my shirt.

"There is somewhere else I want to go with you tonight," Risa replies mysteriously.

"Anyvhere you vish to go, my darling."

She then turns away from me and runs seductively through an empty alley, the hem of her dress teasingly flies up a bit in the wind as she runs, exposing the lower parts of her slim, white thighs. I follow, chasing her through the streets playfully. Her dainty little high-heeled can be heard against the pavement as she runs. Risa disappears around a corner out of my view. I hear her laugh mischievously and I turn the corner, eagerly anticipating her next move.

But instead of Risa, I swerve around only to be presented with a young man, only slightly older than myself. I am mystified by his appearance, but even more so by my love's disappearance. The young man smiles with pleasurable charm at my confusion. I have never seen anyone before like him. His pasty white skin contrasts with the purple colour of his hair quite brilliantly. His deep-set eyes are inhumanly bright, reflecting a light of the moon. His gaunt face looks hungry, starved, and is shows in his eyes. This terrifies me the most. He looks at me as though he will swallow my body whole without an instant of hesitation.

"My dear Daisuke, how is your fine date with Risa this evening?"

He says this with a polite mockery. I just stare at him, stunned. I have never seen this man before, yet he talks in a manner that implies he knows everything about my life. I shift slightly in my apprehension.

"Oh, dear, not very talkative, are you? Perhaps it's the accent. Well, that's fine by me. I was expecting it. Risa had mentioned that you are a rather quiet person."

So, Risa has met his man before. I feel slightly offended by her secretiveness.

"Oh, Daisuke, it's nothing like that," he says, amused. "We just had to make a ... negotiation."

Dear God, did he just read my mind?

"So it would seem. But it doesn't matter if you know I can read your mind, or you unconsciously know that I'm not human, because you're not going to remember it." He grins with amusement, revealing long, pointed incisors.

"Allow me to introduce myself: I go by the name of Dark."

He bows with inhuman grace and stands to his full height, which undoubtedly dominates over my own. Dark saunters closer, lust ablaze in his incandescent eyes. My mistake is taking a step back, which only draws him closer, until I am pinned between his body and the alley wall. I am completely powerless, at the mercy of his intentions. He holds my gaze with his own and leaves me spellbound, unable to move. His nose is centimeters from mine and I feel his chilly breath on my face.

"Come with me, Daisuke," Dark whispers in my ear.

I stir, his words delivering me back to reality. I turn my head, avoiding his glance. I know that once he has me under his spell again, I will not disobey him, this beautiful stranger who has come to take me away from this life I know.

Dark, scanning my thoughts, clenches my wrists tighter in his deathly grip that could snap my bones had he wished so.

"But it's not so bad, leaving everything behind. Come..."

"No," I say blankly, interrupting him.

"You do not have a choice in this matter, Daisuke. I was hoping you would come without force, but it appears that is not the case," Dark says with the patience only an immortal can have.

Suddenly, Dark's eyelids fly open, his irises reflecting red. His lip curls up, fangs bared in a grimace. The sound of ripping flesh explodes in the still night air, and black feathers burst through Dark's back where his left scapula is, slicing like knives through his skin. The overwhelming display of crimson blood splattering across the concrete leaves me breathless. He throws his head back and screeches to the waning moon. More feathers tear through his flesh, opposite of the first. Two dark wings are now emerged from his back. Dark's chest shudders and he rests his chin on it, choking for air. He looks at the pool of his own blood he stands in.

A corrupted simper plays about his lips as he directs his attention back to my shaken figure. I can't help but once again be captivated by his presence. And he knows it. Dark takes advantage of my mortal weakness and forces me to stare into those dangerous, merciless eyes.

"Come..."

My will weakens the harder I try to resist him. Unable to fight this anymore, I collapse into his arms, surrendering to him completely. Dark smiles tenderly as he strokes my hair.

"I knew you would come around to my way of thinking, Daisuke."

He gathers my body in his arms and spread his wings, allowing them to lift us both into the sky. I drift off, unconcerned with the past, distant from the present, apathetic about the future, listening to the slow, steady rhythm of Dark's heart as dawn breaks.