I stretched my arms before bending over to touch my toes and stretch my legs. I'd been warned to stretch by Ciel; Sebastian had stayed silent as Phenex had whined at him for warning me, saying that he'd wanted to watch me struggle with it.

We'd all gathered for an outing together but not with cars: I was, apparently, going to learn how to run, jump, and preform otherwise acrobatic feats as only a demon could. I was excited but nervous: Sebastian had demonstrated how a demon could jump great heights and run extreme speeds for me, and I could guess that I probably wouldn't be able to jump to the top of the mansion as he had. Still, it was worth a shot, and Sebastian had explained that a demon's agility was integral to their abilities (and he was certain I'd be able to do something extraordinary from how he'd evaluated me when we'd fought).

"Well, now that you're ready." Sebastian had that tone he used in the classroom when he was solving a problem on the board. "It really is just like moving for someone like me, nothing at all to do – " I rolled my eyes at his brag – "but I suppose for you, you should perhaps, ah, focus your demonic power into your limbs…?" He frowned, fully aware that that'd been the least useful advice he'd probably ever given. "I'm not sure. But you should be able to, if what I saw when we fought was any indication."

"Erm, right." I frowned, too, and then closed my eyes, took a breath, and pulled my power to myself. "Uh, so what should I try to do?"

"The first thing I did was get my speed up to par," Ciel offered. My eyes caught and followed his movement as he moved to my side, though my body seemed to have a hard time trying to react to the insane speed at which he moved. "Feels like a spring coiled in your muscles you let move you," he explained, trying to give me something to work with.

"Uh, ok." I closed my eyes and flexed the muscles in my arm. Didn't feel any different than normal…

"Oh, let's just accept that she can't do it," Phenex rolled his eyes. "Astaroth, just carry your mate. I'm sure it'd be easy for you, and it's certainly less time then waiting for her to accept she's stuck at little more than human."

"You're such an asshole," I grunted at him. I turned my gaze toward the mansion's roof. "Sebastian, can you get me up there?"

"Giving up?" He gave a pitying look but came over and easily scooped me up in his arms. With a few easy jumps – god, he was graceful and strong – we were on the roof.

"No." I scooted to the edge and peered over. "You'd be able to jump off and be fine, right?"

"Yes, obviously."

"Do you think I could?"

"I'm not certain." A pause, and then a hand on my arm with a tight grip. "I am not going to allow my mate to find out."

I backed away from the edge and Sebastian let me go. "No, I wasn't going to, don't worry. Where's the nearest place you could get from here? Demon wise?" He seemed to think it over for a moment.

"The tree over there. That branch." He pointed to a rather tall tree a bit away from the edge of the roof. "Were you going to try to make it there using the adrenaline of the height as a catalyst?" I nodded. "Not a bad idea, we may as well try. I can be there to catch you if you are about to fall."

With that, he easily leapt over to it and landed with the grace of a crow lighting on a branch. He moved to give me room to possibly crash onto the branch but also seemed to prepare to jump off to catch me should I fail (which was, realistically, the most probable outcome).

I pondered, for a moment, how lucky I was that Sebastian would go out of his way to pretend to give a shit if I broke my legs in a fall. Then, with a running start, I launched myself off the roof.

When you want to reach a goal, in running, or jumping, or even throwing a punch, any expert would tell you that the difference between being able to do it and not is often not one of bodily capability; it's mental. To run a mile in eight minutes, aim for seven. To land a punch on someone's head, you throw your fist as if your target was three inches behind them.

To access the demonic power of your ancestral bloodline and jump twenty feet away to land on a tree branch, you aim for fifty feet and just do it.

And then I was sailing through the air before my feet touched down on the thick branch and I stumbled forwards into the trunk. I managed not to face plant into it and I sunk my claws into the bark to steady myself as I took a few gulps of air to attempt to calm my racing heart a bit. I blinked at Sebastian.

"It worked."

"I suppose it did." He looked rather pleased. I wasn't sure if he was relieved that his mate wasn't quite as powerless as previously thought or if he was genuinely proud of me for having tried something as daring as that. "Now to make it back." I nodded and eyed the roof, took a breath, and then leapt back over to it. I caught my footing better this time and landed with a bit more confidence.

Ciel joined me as Sebastian followed me, and then Phenex was here, too. I shot a sassy glance at him and he frowned back at me and rolled his eyes.

"Impressive," Ciel said, nodding. "It's good that you have this kind of mobility, it means you're much better off in a fight."

"Indeed, now that your general combat ability is acceptable, I'll have to teach you how to utilize it," Sebastian agreed. "That is for another day, however. For now, let's see if you can keep up with us on the way to our destination."

"I'll stay behind and make sure you're okay," Ciel reassured me. "And to make sure nothing nasty shows up to catch us off guard."

"Alright. We're just out on reconnaissance, right?"

"Yeah. We need to check on a few things in the non-human world and, well, you're just here because I thought it would be good for you to see how it's done."

"Uh," I thought about it for a moment, "yeah, that's fair."

There wasn't much more discussion as we headed out, first Sebastian, then Phenex, then me and then Ciel. I could tell Sebastian was moving slowly for my sake and I was grateful for a second before I decided that he had better have been going slow while I figured out how to move like a demon; after all, I had just done my first acrobatic feat ever, the least he could do was let me adjust.

It wasn't long before we were in the more developed part of town, the industrial zones that bordered the shopping districts with huge warehouses and multi-story office buildings. We scaled one of the buildings to survey the surrounding area.

We were quite high up – not that there were huge skyscrapers here, but it was higher than I'd ever been, for sure. The view was stunning and, as a stiff breeze rolled over the rooftop, my demonic senses caught a scent of exhaust and pavement and something I could only begin to describe as human and good. I scooted toward the edge and peered over at the traffic below and the people shuffling by on the sidewalks. So small, so ignorant of the supernatural forces that made the world go 'round – it occurred to some small part of my brain, for just a moment, that it would be so easy for me to kill them and take what I wanted from them, anything I wanted at all, and they'd hardly be able to do a thing about it. A massacre, it would be called, with the whole block of them killed in just a minute – I was sure I'd be able to kill them all in under a minute if I worked hard at it.

"Lydia."

"Huh?" I stumbled back from the edge and wiped at my mouth. I had started to drool.

"There's an awfully delicious soul down there, wouldn't you say?" Phenex came up beside me and tapped his fingers on my shoulder as he grinned at me. My face heated a bit in embarrassment but I peered at him.

"Is that what it is? I just felt like… I could do anything I wanted with them." I settled on that particular phrasing so that I wouldn't have to dwell on the thought that Sebastian and Ciel and Phenex probably got those kinds of thoughts all the time.

"Oh, is that what it's like for you? Interesting." Phenex chuckled. "It must be your first time really experiencing a soul like that. It must be alarming to you."

"It's… a little," I admitted with a frown. "I just wasn't expecting it – I mean, it didn't seem like anything too special…"

"It's hard to notice," Ciel offered as an explanation. He turned his cool, unimpressed gaze to me. "It's just how we are. It's natural. As long as you don't lose control of yourself you don't have to care about any way you feel, right?"

"Right." I let out the breath I hadn't known I'd been holding. He was right, I was a demon. A nightmarish, sinful, violent, forged-from-Hell-itself demon. It would be stupid of me to forget that I had enthusiastically plunged head-first into those dark depths, even if it was gilded over with power and beauty and such sweet nothings. So, as Ciel said, who cared if I got thoughts like that? Of course I would, I was a demon. As long as I was in control of what I chose to do the rest was semantics.

"Lydia." I was pulled from my thoughts as Sebastian slid behind me and leaned down to purr in my ear. My flesh puckered. "A learning moment, perhaps? Tell me – discern for me, where is the source of that delicious soul?" He rested his hands on my shoulders and then slowly slid them down so he gripped lightly at my arms. My skin seemed to burn where he touched me.

I strained my senses for a few moments, trying with all my might to ignore his presence behind me and do as he asked so that I could at least impress him in lieu of stripping him naked and having my way with him then and there. But, either because he was so tantalizingly, painfully close, or simply because my own abilities weren't up to par, even that scent eluded me now.

I shook my head.

"No? Shame. And you, Phenex?"

"Somewhere in that group," he grunted, gesturing loosely at a cluster of people and cars at an intersection.

"Ciel?"

"Probably not in a car. Wearing… denim, most likely. I'm not sure which."

"Oh dear, is that all you three can manage even in the face of such a tantalizing meal?" I shivered as his grip on my tightened the smallest amount. I glanced up at him and found him peering down at me: his eyes were burning like sunlit rubies, his mouth curled up into a deliciously sinful smirk that revealed the tips of his impressive fangs. It felt like he was talking only to me when he said, "Well then, shall I show you? Which of those creatures has such a delicious soul within?"

I nodded and didn't resist as Sebastian – no, this was more Astaroth – pulled me tight against his body and stepped off the ledge. We plummeted and I was struck at how beautiful he was with the wind whipping through his hair, never mind the way my stomach dropped – not like he would have let go of me. He grabbed onto a ledge about halfway down the building so that he could perch there on the side of the building.

"Focus your senses on the crowd, I'm sure you'll be able to find your prey; after all, you are my mate. This will be a trivial matter for you, I'm sure, we're so close now that I can taste it!" I shivered.

"Astaroth, it's hard to focus with you like this," I managed to mutter under a shaking breath. But I could definitely detect it, again, that wonderful, human scent. A breeze drifted by again and I clearly smelled it: a flowery perfume (probably a woman) some denim jeans (as Ciel had said) faux leather (carrying a handbag) and shampoo (long hair). I squinted at the crowd. "The woman with the pink jacket and the long hair."

"Very good!" His grip tightened around my waist and my face heated at the praise. "Indeed, I can taste it on her. What gave it away?"

"It smells like her."

"Is that so? Then I look forward to honing your senses with you, Lydia." He gave a deep chuckle and shifted to peer at me. My heart pounded as I watched his eyes simmer down to their usual, mostly-human level.

I really, really was looking forward to it, too.

"Why are they like this?" Phenex hissed just loud enough that Ciel could hear from where they stood on the rooftop looking down at Sebastian and Lydia. They hadn't followed when Sebastian had jumped, instead opting to stay behind.

"Sebastian has a one track mind when he wants something," Ciel muttered back. "Imagine how it was for me to deal with."

"How long are they gonna be like this? I'm glad I killed my mate."

"I don't know, hopefully they'll calm down after they finally hook up."

"New couples," Phenex muttered as he rolled his eyes.

We finished surveying the area without much issue. I got my first look at the office building my cousin's fanatical cult had been renting to use as their headquarters; it was mostly unimpressive and unobtrusive, but even I could tell that the place had been fortified against any intruders with spells and traps far more intricate than what I could do.

I even spotted my cousin leaving the building before he got into a car and drove off. He looked bad, really bad, and it was obvious that the heavy cough he'd seemed to have over the phone had a deep-rooted cause and effect even from my far-off view. His bratty girlfriend wasn't anywhere to be seen, so I figured she was stayed holed up inside. Fine with me; maybe she'd get a vitamin deficiency from lack of sun and keel over.

We spent the night to ourselves after we returned, Sebastian taking time to train me for a few hours on how to incorporate my new mobility into my fighting. After that I showered and retired to his room for the night; it had gotten quite late while we were out.

I lay in my bed in just my underwear and sports bra. I could still feel a burn on my skin were Sebastian had been holding my waist earlier; I wondered briefly if his body was being just as annoying. Maybe, I settled, though I highly doubted it was bothering him as much as it was me.

Or maybe he was finding it ever more annoying because he was usually so in control of everything.

In either case, I had been dealing with a fluttering heart and blushing face and shaking hands and feeling rather humid in southern regions for quite a while now. Which sucked, royally, and also which made me super uncomfortable being in a house of demons who all had enhanced senses (not that I minded if Sebastian knew; in fact, I relished the opportunity to get him flustered over my arousal. But Ciel and Phenex I could do without).

All in all, I decided while laying in Sebastian's bed, it wouldn't hurt for me to get some… relief.