A/N: So yeah, another fan suggestion! By SilverBanshee on Ao3, who's account is deleted but eh, I hope you'll see this anyways! Don't feel compelled to comment/review or anything either! Just a gift! And yeah, this may be the biggest stretch in terms of the prompt name rhymes.

6th Day of Rayllum: Beast A-Slaying.

Chapter Summary: Callum finally got his first real break. His first real monster: a vampire. But what happens when this... "Rayla" isn't at all what he expected a vampire to be? Monster hunter AU.

Word Count: 5,462

Beast A-Slaying

This was it.

Callum's first big gig. No more killing pests like raccoons or rodents, this was the real deal. A vampire. An actual, living, confirmed sighting, vampire. He had a couple of wooden stakes ona belt wrapped around his chest, hidden within his brown trench coat. On his thighs were holsters for his daggers, and his boots were thick leather made for crushing heads. Well, they were made for trudging through the mud, but that's what he told anyone who listened what they were for.

Regardless of the made up stories, he looked the part. And after his first real monster kill, he would be able to walk the talk too.

He finally arrived at the place of interest, the old abandoned manor of Peake Town. The story went that the Moon family who once owned the place were all murdered in the manor: staff, children, the garden keeper—everyone. Strangely enough, the common theme within the rumours was that the wife was responsible, as investigators couldn't find her corpse, but no one could retrieve any of the residents' bodies either. Nonetheless, Callum didn't care for the investigative narrative, he was here for the kill.

After hopping over the gate, he calmly marched over to the front door, stake in hand, hood up, and turtleneck up. Pushing open the door, it creaked loud and echoed all around the manor, resonating off the walls for what felt like minutes.

"Hello?" he pointlessly called out. "Vampire? I am here to kill you!"

"Aye? That a fact, laddie?" a female voice suddenly appeared from behind him. He whipped around and found nothing. The door closed shut and a cold breeze blew through. He froze in his spot, desperately looking around.

A mockful laughter echoed around him. It sounded like it was coming from everywhere. The roof creaked and the dusty, webbed chandelier swung back and forth. The steps squeaked. Callum's eyes darted all over.

"Boy ya don't look the vampire slayer part," she snorted, "What, they run out?"

"I-I," he cleared his throat, "I'm here to kill you."

She scoffed. "Sure, I'll believe it when I see it."

A woosh blew past Callum and she suddenly appeared, standing halfway up the steps, leaning on the broken guard rail. She had long white hair that dropped down to her waist, matching the complexion of her pale skin, but she surprisingly had two horns protruding out from her head, slicking back. She danced down each step, making a show of her fancy dress shoes and navy slacks as she descended. With her hands tucked into her navy coat, but an unbuttoned navy vest exposed her dirty white dress shirt and its blood stains. She had a sickly sweet smile as she reached the last step.

Dropping down to the floor, she revealed her hands in showmanship-like manner, shaking them as she chuckled. "Frightenin' aren't I?" she inquired as made a clawing motion with her four fingered hand's nails—or claws?

She did not look like a vampire. Maybe the pale skin but this was a demon for sure. She even had pointed ears. "O-Oh wow… you, uh, you have horns," he found himself saying.

She glanced up and shrugged. "Aye. Kinda weird devil look eh?"

"A-And," he blinked, "four fingers?"

She frowned. "I can still flip ya off with them." She demonstrated crudely. "Now are ya done or are we doing the whole Red Ridin' bit through and through?"

He stammered, "Wh-What?"

She sighed. "Fine. Yeah these fangs are all the better to eat ya with," she rolled her eyes, "or suck your blood out with, whatever. Can't make that sound good phonetically."

"S-So you do have fangs?"

She stared at him, amused and confused. "Duh." She opened her mouth to reveal her red stained teeth and then two fangs popped out of her top front teeth, really sharp fangs. She also had really nice teeth? "Can retract 'em whenever," she explained as they went back in, "makes it hard to talk when ya got the equivalent of an overbite going on."

Callum was massively at a lost. "An-And you're Scottish?"

Her face contorted into offence. "Aye? What's that got to do with anythin'?"

"I-I-I, just, you're not what a vampire is supposed to be!" he explained. A frantic worry crawled up in him as he paced back and forth "You're basically a demon incarnate—"

"Hey!"

"—A-And I signed up to kill a vampire. I-I mean maybe I could kill you with a crucifix and Holy Water but you don't kill a demon!" He had his head in his hand and was hyperventilating. How was he supposed to do this now?

The woman/vampire/demon chuckled. "Wow, ya're surprisingly a whole new reaction than what I've typically seen." Another gust of wind and she was in front of him, grinning with her now protruding fangs. "Kinda makes me wanna have fun first."

Callum wasn't sure what it was that made him act.

Maybe it was the frustrations building up within him.

Maybe it was the fact that he already had everything he needed.

Maybe it was her smug, annoying mischievous grin.

Without a word, he clenched the stake in his hand and went straight for her heart, stabbing it directly. The woman released a gasp of pain as she clenched onto the stake before stumbling back, breaking the already rickety railing as she collapsed on the stairs. She continued to gasp and wheeze as she reached her hand out for the sky. "Nooo! My… only… weakness: dying!" She coughed and coughed before finally going limp.

Callum blinked. "Holy shi—"

And she sat up.

He released a squeal and the not dead vampire started laughing. "Oh my goodness ya screamed like a lady, Holy Hades!" She snorted as she doubled over, with the stake still in her. "Ahh bloody Hades that'll be a fun one to laugh about again in a decade or so."

"How are you still alive! A stake to the heart is—"

"One of my weaknesses?" the Scottish vampire interjected blankly. She shot up to her feet and shook the stake in her hand, revealing no blood. He looked at her chest and saw penetration of skin at all. "Yeah… vampires don't work like that. I'm glad ya missed the vest though, this is my favourite outfit!"

Callum's entire body felt chills. They didn't? Of course not. Their immortality wouldn't just fall to such a Human invention. She started to creep closer and Callum realized he needed to regroup. "Ahh, what's that!" he shouted, pointing up at the second floor.

"Eh?" she turned and looked, and he made a break for it. Bolting out the door, and through the courtyard, as fast as his legs could take him. She was bound to the manor, if he left, she couldn't get him.

He needed a new plan.

::::

He crept in through a broken window this time, hoping he could surprise her. Admittedly, announcing his presence on this first arrival was cocky and foolish. He slid through the window and found himself in a study. This time he could—

"Hah, knew ya'd come back."

He jumped. Like, actually jumped. He turned and found the vampire lounging on a sofa, reading a novel. She had her legs sprung up on the armrest and her head rested in the palm of four fingered hand.

"Ya know, ya left without even exchanging names. It's kinda rude to do that." She folded the page's corner and shut the book with one hand. Then stood up smiling at him. "But I'm a polite Hostess," she took a bow, "welcome back to my humble abode."

Callum took a deep breath to calm the red he was starting to see. This was more than just proving himself now. No one. Absolutely no one, should bookmark a page by folding its corners. "You'll crease the pages!" he shouted in fit of rage, pulling his vial of Holy Water from his trench coat and uncorking its cap. He splashed her with it, actually managing to catch her by surprise but—

She didn't react.

She made a small irritated groan as she looked down at herself. "Awww man, Holy Water? That smell reeks. This is my favourite outfit too—ohh." She growled through her tight lips as she shook her head. "I'm so tempted to kill ya now."

Callum's eyes went wide. He bolted out the window, launching himself outside without hesitation.

He bruised the next day, sure, but he also had a better plan.

::::

He had noticed a cellar door on the side from his last entrance. He decided to enter there then make his way up. The cellar was shockingly full and not at all empty, aside from the dust and cobwebs, it still was stocked as if the owners had just abandoned the place. Perhaps that's the true story, the Scottish vampire arrived and kicked them out and stole their clothes to look cool and hot in—Callum shook his head. He was getting off track. As he ascended to the kitchen, he opened the door slightly, peeking through the slit as he slowly opened it and scanned the kitchen.

And of course, at the island, she was standing there, munching on an apple?

"Rayla."

He stared. "What?"

"Rayla, it's my name ya arsehole," she said with a cold tone. Her eyes met his as she took a massive bite of her apple. "Least ya could do now is tell me yours."

He shook his head, reminding himself the foolishness of this whole scenario. "No. You'll be dead before you would even need to know!"

Her expression went blank, her unamusement very apparent but not stopping Callum's resolve at all. "Fine, whattya got this time."

He chuckled, glad that she said that because he was ready (read: practicing this line for two hours) with a comeback. "Oh me? I have nothing for you," he smugly said as his hand dug into his trench's inner pocket, "but the Lord and Saviour has a Gospel for you!" He whipped out his crucifix, holding it out at her as made a quick sign of the cross. "The power of Christ compels you!"

"To what?" she dryly shot back.

Sweat started to bead down his head as his hand started to shake. Maybe he should've brought a priest.

"And isn't a crucifix a downgrade from Holy Water?" She crossed her arms. As if in a last ditch attempt, he chucked the cross at her, watching it pointlessly bounce of her chess and cluttered onto the table. "Sorry, I'm not Christian or Catholic," she shrugged, "Dunno if that affects it but also that's not how vampires work."

He sighed. "Callum.

Her brow raised as she cocked her head.

"My name's Callum," he said as he walked out, heading toward the front door.

"Bye Callum!" she shouted as she marched out the door.

Back to the drawing board to kill Rayla.

::::

He's not sure why he wasted ten minutes trying to scale the building just to enter through the rooftop, but his disappointment of meeting her immediately inside, amongst a dusty webbed collection of furniture and boxes definitely didn't make him feel like it was worth it.

"Why did ya waste ten minutes scalin' the building?" she asked, arms folded across her chest as she had her hip jutted out and a disappointed look on her face.

He panted. "I… I… I thought coming from above would be… the last thing… you'd expect…"

She laughed. "Well it sorta was? I never expect anyone to do that because the manor's so darn tall. I heard climbing like, as soon as ya started. I definitely didn't expect ya to keep going thought, especially after the third fall."

He stared at her, offended. "And you didn't help me? Or at least come outside?"

Rayla shrugged, and he was convinced if he couldn't do anything at least her arms would probably fall off from all its shrugging. "Felt like I would've robbed ya a win."

He sighed as he shook his head, reaching for plan D. Without warning, he threw the garlic at her. But with not energy left in him at all, it fell at her feet. She glanced down, bent over, and picked it up, holding it between her two fingers as she inspected it.

"Garlic?"

"G… Garlic," he panted.

She nodded and dug her teeth in. Her small bite very apparent on the vegetable. She winced as she chucked it out the window, spitting out the bite as she shuddered. "Uggh, ew ew ewwww," she rushed out, smacking her tongue as if to remove the taste, "disgusting!"

He sighed. "Why… why did you eat it… it's… supposed to…"

"Never had it before. Heard that it wards us off but I've obviously come by it before," another damn shrug, "but I still haven't tried it. Damn if it tastes like that I can see why vampires wanna stay away."

He rolled his eyes, managing to regain his strength as he stood up straight. "Whelp, I'll just see myself out," he declared as he made his way over the stairs.

"Aight. Bye Callum!"

"Yeah. Bye Rayla," he said he descended the steps, frustrated and annoyed.

::::

Broad daylight, beautiful birds chirping, and he decided to knock. He wasn't surprised to find her answering within seconds. She opened the door and smiled, "Ahh, Callum! Another dastardly plot for me today?"

He shrugged, taking a page from mannerisms. "Ehh, you feel like going for a walk?"

Her face flushed, wish kind of perplexed him—wasn't she dead, or a corpse? How could she even do that? "W-Wait, really?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it's a nice day out so…"

She beamed back a cute fanged grin as she nodded. "Aye, it is!" She stepped inside, "Gimme a sec to get my parasol!" And she vanished, wind filing her place and nearly blowing him away.

He would've been reluctant to step in, as he wasn't invited in by her, but they've already breached regular societal norms so he couldn't be bothered to care. He trailed inside, trying to follow her voice. "Parasol?" So maybe… just maybe…

"Yeah! It's my favourite! It goes nice with my outfit too!" she returned in the foyer, a dark blue parasol in her hand as she rested it over her shoulder. "Now shall we?" She giggled as she hurried outside, opening her parasol and smiling as she took in a breath. "Ahh, lovely air."

Callum nodded as he held out his arm, waiting for her to interlock. She quickly obliged, and the two began walking. "A stroll around the estate?"

She nodded. "Aye, I'd love that. The garden's actually really nice during the day." Everything was decayed or overgrown, but she was right. It had a sort of natural poeticism to its existence. The result of man intervention abandoning its project and letting nature revive it into its own image.

"So… is this your place?" he decided to ask.

She chuckled. "Ahh, curious 'bout the story are ya?"

He smiled. "Guilty as charged. Rumours all over Peake Town make this out to be some tragic tale."

Her body felt a bit stilled at that, her arm locked for a moment. But a laugh erupting from her dissipated that stilted movement. "Oh yeah? What're the townsfolk sayin' 'bout me?"

He shrugged. "Well, it's not necessarily you being discussed but the owners of the manor. Running tale is a rampant murder, but most believe the wife did it," her face—fort the briefest of instances—twitched at that, "But that's it. Everyone just thinks you moved in."

"Oh, that's the story huh?" she said sardonically.

He suddenly felt a chill in atmosphere. "Uhh yeah, yup." She was distracted.

"Well, I guess it's sorta true," she mumbled. He barely got it, but it sounded childish, bitter.

"What… is the story?"

"What's yours?" she shot back, smirking proudly at her deflection. "Ya're not exactly an ideal monster hunter."

He sighed, smiling through the unintentional insult. "Yeah well… it's what I wanna do. I wanna kill monsters but no one around these parts takes me seriously so I'm more of an exterminator. Instead of bagging werewolf heads I'm ridding houses of rodents and mice."

She snorted. When he made a face she quickly covered her mouth with a whisper of, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I-I just, the thought of ya chasin' vermin around is kinda adorable," she teased, bumping her shoulder against his.

His stomach sort of buzzed at that, like a strange tingle? Regardless, he steeled himself and frowned. "I'm a monster hunter. I swear. You and everyone else may not take me seriously but I will prove it!"

Rayla rolled her eyes at that. "Oh yeah? And whattya call this? Monster Dating?" her cheeks were slightly tinted as she teased, but he ignored it, for it was the perfect setup for his oneliner.

"No, I call it, a trick!" he announced, removing his arm as he swiped at her parasol launching a few feet away from them.

She blinked, staring at him confused as the sunlight illuminated off her skin like a ray of beauty. Her pale complexion was unharmed, rather, it was enhanced? Like the light of the sun highlighted her lovely features and innocent expression. She was cute.

"Uhh, what the heck was that?"

He blinked out of his trance, realizing his plan failed. "I… I thought—'

Her face contorted into anger as she pieced it together. "Ya were tryin' to kill me?"

"I thought sunlight—"

"No of course it doesn't ya arse!" she spat out.

"But the parasol—"

"It looks nice with my outfit, I wanted to bring to impres—to impersonate a lady ya know! I don't get a lot of chances to show off my lady side not with arses like ya tryin' to kill me!"

He looked at her with confusion. "Why are you mad? That's what I've been trying to do this entire time!"

"But I thought this time ya wanted to—" she held back, eyes suddenly welling up with tears? His eyes went wide at that. She acted so human. How was this—she, so human? Her tearful eyes and hurt face was instantly replaced with fury. Her eyes were filled with black and her voice went deep, "Leave."

"I—"

He blinked.

And he was suddenly flat faced on the ground. He stood up, dusting himself off of leaves and dirt as he looked around. He was yards away from the estate. An echoing voice lingered around him.

"Never return… Hunter."

His mind ran with a million thoughts, questions, and contemplations of what to do next. But there was one thing that was at the forefront of his mind. Something he realized in the instant he went face first into the ground. It wasn't that sunlight couldn't kill her. It wasn't that he had no more options left. It was that in the entirety of this strange, weird game they had… she could've killed him within whenever she wanted. Snap his neck, stab him, throw him off the roof—literally anything, not even now, when he clearly pissed her off.

And she didn't…

::::

Rayla sulked herself down the stairs, a tub of sherbert ice cream she had stored in the cellar. She had already wolfed through four tubs in her bedroom and was on her last. She released a sob as she shoved a minty chocolate spoonful into her mouth. She was so stupid. Of course he just wanted to kill her. Heck, even from his mini backstory she gathered he wanted to kill her just to prove something. It was never about her. It was about what she represented.

His opportunity.

As she reached the foyer, she made her way over to the kitchen, continuing her sobs with no remorse because who cared? And then she caught it. A scent. A nice, food scent. It smelled like steak, mashed potatoes, wineand—her eyes widened. Human. Not just any human. She burst into the kitchen and found Callum stood at the island, startled by her arrival.

The counter had two plates of steaks, one was rare, the other medium, some mashed potatoes on the side, all resting next to glasses and a bottle of red wine.

"What. Are. Ya. Doing. Here," she venomously asked.

He obviously looked nervous, but to his credit, he visibly swallowed his nerves and said, "I'm sorry. I-I didn't realize how it all looked to you and I didn't realize what was going on b-but I'm making up for that! Because, okay, maybe I'm a little curious about your story but I can see it hurt you—"

She glanced down, remembering her ice cream plastered face and chucked the tub off to the side as she wiped her face.

"—But also, because I do think you're kinda cool. Like, really pretty and funny, and I…" he laughed, shrugging as he gestured to table. "Give me a shot? No killing. I promise, Rayla," he said it with a genuine smile. Her name off his lips was probably her only weakness.

She was at a loss for words. Never had she ever, not in all her years of existence, met anyone who would do this for her. "How did ya get in?

He chuckled. "I snuck in."

She glared. "Tell me."

"Front door." She blinked, amazed at that. "You never did notice me the first time, and it was only because I announced myself. Every other time you caught me you were busy doing something so I figured that meant you were always just doing whatever and you weren't exactly guarding it, so I just walked in and set this up!" He cleared his throat. "Which, I may add, is getting cold."

She hated that her cheeks flushed at that. He was smooth and smart. The Gods really didn't want to give her an excuse to hate him huh? Maybe Aphrodite decided to bless her with a gift for once. That realization struck her and she relented, taking a seat across from him, trying not to giggle at his childish celebratory fist pump.

As she started to cut into her steak he begam, "H-Hope you like it that. I-I-I didn't want to assume but—"

"It's fine." She liked it medium. But if he was still running with that theme then she could handle rare for tonight.

Her face must've twitched because he sighed, shaking his head. "That's on me," he nervously chuckled as he grabbed her plate and swapped with her, "I prefer rare. You don't mind medium do you?"

She blinked. "Umm. It's my favourite," proudly smiled at that, "Thanks." She watched him take a bite and wince. So it was a lie. He was trying at least. "We can split it," she found herself saying. He stared, confused. "I know ya don't like it rare. C'mon let's just split it."

He shook his head, "No, no, no!" he took another big bite, despite not finishing his first, and shoved a spoonful of mashed potatoes in. He beamed a mouthful of a tight lipped smile. "See?"

She sighed. Darn him being cute too. "So what, ya said ya were curious…"

He swallowed. "I… I kinda don't wanna pressure you now. Don't wanna like, make you uncomfortable y'know?"

Rayla stared at him, watching his genuine worry hold to her surprised stare. "I'm an Empousa," she began, unsure why she decided this but that was it. She went with it, "Like the Daimon. In Greek Mythology? Yeah, that's me."

His eyes went wide as his jaw dropped, spilling his spoonful of mashed potato back onto the played. Despite herself, she giggled at that.

"L-Like Greek Mythos? For real?"

She nodded.

"Fascinating…" he said under his breath, disbelief and wonder clearly battling his mind.

She smiled at that. "Everythin' ya Humans have on monsters and myths comes from us, well, being real."

He looked at her, still amazed. "Really?"

"Werewolves?" He nodded, attention grabbed. "Lycan. Daimon from the Underworld, same powers really—shapeshifters who turn into wolves, but ya Americans discovered 'em 'Werewolf' became the coined term."

He shook his head, chuckling in awe. "S-So you're an Empousa? Not a vampire?"

She denied, "Nah. Some folktales ya have, do get spun around of course. Lycan don't die to silver, Empousa don't die to well… everythin' ya just tried." She shrugged. "We don't die by any mortal means honestly. None of ya have the right metals for it. Has to be mined from Mount Olympus in order to really hurt us permanently. Or at the hands of a Demigod, so yeah."

His face was slack jawed with shock. "Mount Olympus… is real?"

Rayla chuckled. "Don't ask me where, us Daimon don't exactly get dinner invites," she mused.

"An-And how does this relate to you and this manor?"

Her smile fell.

"W-Wait you don't have to tell me." Her heart ached at his immediate backtrack. He was giving her an out. He knew he had no business in any way but to say anything and recognized it from the start. He was true to his word. But at the same time, centuries and centuries and centuries of loneliness and she had yet to met a man to treat her like this.

"I was adopted," she said. Her eyes pricked, the story was on the tip of her lips but the pain was bound to follow. For an immortal Daimon she still felt the pain of grief and betrayal like a Celestial Bronze dagger to her heart. Lain, Tiadrin, Runaan, Ethari, Janai—all gone. She couldn't handle the sorrow that followed with their stories, so she settled for a rough cut.

"I was adopted. I-I don't visibly age. When I was, well, created, my physique remained the same throughout time. I-I am immortal, but I just look always this young. I think they, um, they one said I looked like I was a 18? 17? I dunno, but they took me in 'cause the Moons couldn't sire children. Both Lain and Tiadrin Moon—the heads of the house—were infertile. But Peake Town expected them to sire a child soon because well, it was expected!

"A-And yeah, so they found me. And I don't exactly carry myself like a clean gal. They offered residence, I had to pretend I was their daughter who was a kept secret until I was of marrying age. I accepted because, well, I may be immortal but ya humans have nice food and its tasty! Like, why does Dionysus need to drink wine if he's a God? It's fun! Any-Anyways I stayed because not only shelter and food, but wealthy shelter and food," he laughed with her at that, which made her feel a bit calm continuing her tale, "And… family. Never really had that living all those centuries so… it was nice. I hit my teeth and kept a hood on the entire time, told 'em not to touch it or give me bathing nurses because personal reasons. They never questioned it 'cause it as an arranged deal, y'know? B-But uh, they caught me. I accidentally bared my fangs once and I got caught and… all Hades broke loose." She took a breath, taking a sip of her red wine, enjoying the taste sliding down her throat.

"What… what really happened to them?" he quietly asked. "I-I mean, you can stop there—"

"N-No, no, it's fine," she assured him. He was listening, he was attentive, he meant it. "They uh. We all went out. The entire estate, we were all close. Or at least I was. I hung out with most the help—" Runaan, Ethari," anyways uh, we all went to the lake. I'm, sure ya know the one near town?" He nodded. "Yeah, that's where it happened. And they ran screaming for the Lord's help." She bit her lip, nodding as the tears threatened to form. "Yeah… I went home 'cause I thought they'd eventually come back and… now it's my place!" She let out a humourless laugh.

This was dumb. This was stupid. The tears began to spill. This was not worth it—

A hand fell atop hers and she looked up to find Callum staring at her. His face, heck even if it was pity, was sincerely staring at her as if to say, I am here. A moment passed, and he released a sigh.

"When I was 10, my mom and step-dad and little brother, were killed by a monster," his breath was shaky, his hand clenched onto hers and she returned the embrace with ease. "C-Claw marks. Torn limb from limb I—" He slammed his other hand onto the table, his tears already falling. "I was off with friends. Being dumb—" he swallowed the words, another breath, "And yeah… no one believed me. The town was nearly convinced I did because it was such a ludicrous story an-and yeah… I left. To find the monster that did it but also…" he looked up at her with a smile. "To make sure that it never happened again. So…. 9 years later and here I am. Talking with a vam—Empousa, eating dinner."

She laughed, sniffling away her tears as he wiped his off with his free hand. "Quite the pair, aren't we, Sir Callum?"

He nodded, grinning ear to ear. "Indeed we are Lady Rayla."

The moment stayed, with the two staring into each other's tearful ridden eyes. That was a lot to share for a first date. Maybe it was a date? Who knew. But Rayla didn't regret it. There was more to his story too, she knew this. A step-dad implied a lot of things, the reason why he wasn't there, the way the village must've treated him—but tit for tat, she had her own reasons not to share. Maybe not yet.

"I… I'm sorry one of my kind—" he nodded rapidly, expressing his gratitude but also implying he didn't want to go any further with the story, "but I just wanted to say. I've never done anythin' like that to—" She couldn't ever bring herself to just hurt innocents like that.

"I know," he smiled. She raised a brow. "I mean, I clearly pissed you off with a misinterpreted date earlier and I'm still alive right?"

She laughed, feeling her face flush at the memory. "Ri-Right, 'bout that—"

"This is a date, by the way," he randomly said, and a surge of relief washed over her, "I… I was caught up with my job and I am still abiding by it. Even with… apparently unkillable Greek Myths roaming around because I swore I would. But… I felt really bad about what I did and how you reacted," embarrassment was swelling within her now, "I'm just… I am sorry, Rayla. I know I was trying to kill you but, I didn't mean to hurt you."

She laughed at that, and soon enough her ears were blessed with his joint laughter as well. That line was so strange and such a juxtaposition but she got what he meant by that. It was entirely different, what his mission was. A path of vengeance and justice, maybe, but he didn't seem a fellow who wanted to hurt others excessively. That was how he was with her: no nonsense every time, straight for the kill. He had an honourable heart.

She smiled. "Thanks. I… I… ya're the first person I've met that…" it was too soon for that. Too soon for any of the thoughts she was thinking of doing to him. "That's done somethin' like this for me."

He chuckled. "Well, I'm glad one of us had our firsts…" his eyes shot wide. "N-Not like that!" Rayla burst into a fit of giggles as Callum sighed, shaking his head.

Her thumb caressed his knuckles as he held his smitten smile. She lived long enough to know what a smitten smile was and he had it. Not to say she wasn't probably making a similar face, but she was just amazed it was at her for once. Her, Rayla, the Empousa of Greek Mythology, found a man who smiled at her like she was Human.

It was doomed to fail. Him, a human. Her, an immortal Daimon. His literal life goal was to kill her kind. With his determination and resolve? She believed he would one day. But despite it all, their hands were interlaced; nine fingers in a warm embrace. She felt no ill intent. Maybe she was blinded by her emotions but she decided to trust in that for now.

That would be enough for now.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Honestly this one kinda had me nervous because of all the AUs I've never done before I had NO idea how to approach this one but I felt strangely compelled to do it still? Either way, this was surprisingly fun to write! I might actually continue this one some time again!

Honestly gave me College AU energy of excitement to write! And yeah, MAYBE I got a little inspired from ol' Uncle Rick's Percy Jackson series but HEY. It's fun take on a modern mythos!

Review Responses:

dinochickrox: Yeah I headcanon he's a dork but knows how to be smooth and sweet when it counts.

mdauben: And, a little appreciation for him being a good dad too! Notice the details with her and her father too. ;)

Until next time,

- Bleh