"Hello, Felix, love..."
He looked at her with gleaming eyes. She faltered under his painful stare. They were silent for a moment, bitter and uncomfortable. She met his gaze with a hurt expression.
"You broke our laws," he murmured, just low enough for her to hear.
She frowned. "Could you have stopped yourself? The sweetest smell..." She trailed off, her mouth filling with venom at the thought.
"I... I saw the way you looked at him. There was so much more than taste... smell..." He trailed off, the pain clouding his voice.
"You think I fell for a human that I had never seen before, never smelled, and all in the span of the two seconds it took me to catch him?" She stared, incredulous. "Do you understand how dumb that sounds?"
His face hardened at her slight. "Irregardless, you know there is no hunting in the city, and certainly not in public."
"Alleys are now public. I'll be sure to remember that."
He looked down, and away, completely unable to meet her gaze.
"Felix...?"
"You don't have to worry about remembering," he murmured brokenly.
"What, you'll remember for me?" She smiled, and kissed his cheek. "You always look after me."
He couldn't speak.
"...Felix, what's wrong?" The concern played her beautiful features into a beautiful frown. "Am I going to be punished?"
He suddenly fell to his knees, clutching his head in his hands, coughing out dry sobs.
Horrified, she dropped down next to him instantly.
"What is it?"
"Ember, love, I've- I've..." He could not continue.
He didn't need to.
She rocked back on her heels, horrified. She didn't consider running, or trying to convince his masters otherwise. She would die.
"Who? When?" she whispered her question, unable to speak clearly.
When he looked up to answer, she recoiled from his tortured face. Again, no words were needed.
"Now?" she choked.
His fist clenched. "It's my job."
She leaned forward and gently, sadly, kissed his cheek. "Good bye, Felix."
If she made any noise, he didn't hear it. He waited as she burned silently, a corpse dissolving into ashes. He kissed the dying embers, and walked away.
"Good bye, Ember, love..."
