It didn't take more than 30 minutes before the rush of anger deserted me, and I started to regret what I'd said. I knew I'd crossed well over the boundary of what was acceptable between friends, and that if Rei ever forgave me, which I wasn't sure she would, our friendship would never be the same. She'd said some mean shit too, but I knew between us, I was the ones who had crossed over more lines. Remorse weighed on me like a jacket full of bricks.

I was admittedly distracted with all the crying, but I did notice a silver car behind me most of the way back to the apartment. I ignored it though, as it turned down the street right as I pulled into my parking spot. Sometimes being a woman is an exercise is being perpetually low-level paranoid.

I'd made it back to my apartment in one piece, and had spent a good bit of time googling where to get a replacement mirror installed. I wasn't sure I cared enough to get the dent in the hood repaired, it gave the old girl more character. Or so I told myself.

Nothing works up hunger like a good cry though, and so even though it was quite late and the weather was still awful, I knew I needed to eat something soon. A quick glance in the fridge confirmed that unless I wanted to resort to stealing Mina's food, I'd need to order pizza or go out to find real food. It was unlikely we'd get any tornadoes this far into the city, Denver itself rarely did, but after the whole shouting match about who was trying to get who killed, somewhere nearby seemed best.

There was a decent taco joint within walking distance that stayed open late, and I made the executive decision that running sounded good because it might clear my head. One rain-jacket later, I was on my way towards delicious tacos.

Running while crying, if you've ever tried it, is difficult at its best. Impossible at its worst. Its an extra difficult challenge when its muggy out and raining. You're already winded from crying, but then you compound that by trying to run on your already low oxygen. It just doesn't work. I ended up walking instead of running in pretty short order, wishing I had thought things through better because walking left me alone with my thoughts and that wasn't a happy place for me right now.

All the things I'd been pushing down, trying to drown out with alcohol and enough company around me were bubbling to the surface like a furious froth. My mind kept gravitating back to my fight with Rei and all the hurtful things I'd said, and then yo-yo-ing to the night of the accident and the horror and loss. God there had been so much glass and blood. I wiped a few rebellious tears off my face, emotions seeping to the surface like poison being drawn from a wound.

"FUCK," I yelled at the sky, not caring who heard me. Not many people were out during this weather anyway. I wasn't sure if I wanted to punch something or hide away in a dark hole.

"Bad day?" a smooth voice drawled from behind me.

I should have known that when it rains, it pours. I should never have tempted fate by acting like I didn't care who heard me, I knew better. I had no energy left for a demon right now. "No," I lied. "Stop stalking me. Please. I can't deal with you today."

"Stalking you?" he sounded amused. So glad I could make his night. I was too irate with myself and the world right now to care about my own safety, so I threw caution to the wind and engaged in what I was sure would be a pointless, and possibly life-endangering, argument with a demon.

"Yes, you are stalking me." I rubbed my hand over my face to get rid of the last of the tears and wipe any snot off my nose, spinning to face him. "I don't know who or what you are, or why you keep following me, but I don't appreciate it. You showed up at the party yesterday and are here tonight."

"Couldn't it just be a coincidence? Destiny, perhaps?" He frowned as he stared at me. "You've been crying." How was it achievable that he looked even better with his hair wet?

"Your powers of deduction are astounding, Sherlock. No such thing as destiny, just me and my terrible decisions and atrocious luck."

"You think our meeting was bad luck?" That baritone was sinfully nice to hear, even with how lousy I felt.

"Atrocious," I corrected. "I mean the spell wasn't even FOR summoning demons and yet here we are."

"So you do know what I am then. Well, I'm glad I'm here," he said, walking closer to me. I took a cognizant few steps backward.

"Well I'm not. STOP stalking me," I repeated. "There are plenty of other victims out there for you to torment, give me tonight off." If I wasn't so exhausted, my newfound confidence while dealing with an actual demon would have probably felt more self-destructive and less like a reasonable demand.

"I can see how you might think that way," he mused, rubbing his chin. "But it was you who summoned me, not the other way around."

"And also me and mine who sent you right back," I added.

"Yes, but you can't unring a bell." He didn't sound remotely sympathetic to my plight, in fact I'd have described his tone as almost gloating. He held out his hand towards me. "I'm Darien."

"Nope. No physical contact. Not knowing you're a demon." I still had enough sense not to willingly shake his hand, even emotionally drained as I was.

He pulled his hand through his hair, expelling a heavy sigh. "I don't suppose you'll share your name with me?"

"Did your stalking not already give you the full details of my entire life?"

"Your university calendar," he amended, "Only gave me knowledge of your schedule and general location." I suddenly had a lot of self-hatred for buying a university calendar. No wonder he'd been studying it so intently. "The key card you left sitting on your desk had your name on it, but I would much prefer to hear you introduce yourself." I could have kicked myself.

"Who does that?" I raged. "What gives you the right to invade on my private life without permission?"

He had an infuriatingly lovely smile on and it made me want to hit him, "You summoned me," he simply repeated. "Best accept it."

"What will it take to get you to go away?" I asked, desperate.

He exhaled slowly and I got the impression he was holding his temper in check. "I can see this is troubling you, so I'll try a different approach. I won't touch, be-spell or otherwise harm you in any way. But in exchange, you will tolerate my presence, on occasion."

I actually considered it. "No deal," I said after a brief consideration. "You're basically just trying to justify continuing to follow me as part of an agreement."

"You realize you don't have any choice in the matter," he said, head cocked slightly to the side and that damnable smirk curving his lips up. And now that we were out in low natural lighting I could see that his eyes weren't in fact glowing but were just very bright. "I'm offering you a guarantee of your safety, with no cost to you."

"Out of the goodness of your heart," I let the sarcasm drip into my voice.

"Because it distresses you that I am here," he murmured, and I actually believed him. "But presently, because something else is weighing on you, and it is tiresome to help someone who fears you."

"You're going to 'help' me," I couldn't keep a harsh laugh from escaping. "You don't even know why I'm upset."

He was silent for a long moment and I began to think he wasn't going to reply. "I know you do not trust yourself alone right now." It was surprisingly accurate, and now it was my turn for an awkwardly long pause.

"Look, Darien," I sighed, "I don't know or trust you." Some demons lied to make pacts, that's what Rei had said. "I'm sure you're a fine demon, fantastic at devouring people's souls or whatever it is you do," there was that infernal smile on his face again. "But I'm starving and I really just want to get dinner in peace."

"By all means," he said, extending his arm out as if to allow me to continue walking. Damn the risk, I was too hungry and tired. I turned my back on him and kept walking towards the taco place.

I wasn't more than half a block from where we'd spoken when I realized he was still following me. I ignored him, as best I could, and kept walking until I'd reached the restaurant and acquired precious sustenance. I could see his profile through the window, leaning up against the wall of the store across the street. I'd have to look up some sort of demon-repelling spell later, see if Rei-I stopped chewing. That's right, Rei was still pissed at me.

I'd managed to forget everything horrible that had happened today, even stopped crying, while I talked with Darien. Sure it had been temporary, but for a glorious few minutes, I hadn't felt like shit. Had I unknowingly fallen prey to some sort of magic? I chewed my taco and considered. It was certainly possible. But it was more likely that just the presence of someone else to distract me from my own thoughts was enough to keep my brain from going to darker places. After all, it was the strategy I'd been employing for weeks now to avoid remembering... him. I had to give it to Darien though, he was a more effective distraction than alcohol, friends, and drunken frat boys combined.

Regardless, a demon repelling (no even better, banishing) spell seemed to me like a good idea.

It was at this exact moment that I got a text from Mina asking if I could do a spell with her tonight. Why yes, in fact. That sounded just dandy.

AN: Now I want a taco.