A Wizard Is Never Late, Unless he is delayed by...

[Azeroth]

Arashi shimmered in to his last checkpoint before his jump into the mountains. No doubt Kurei would be pining after him again. However, as much as it was tempting to do so, he couldn't shimmer the whole distance; extended travel in the void regions was inadvisable. Shimmering was better left to shorter hops.

Focusing on the image of lush mountains and a fretting redhead, Arashi prepared for the last jump.

((C'mon ya lil demon hunter You know you wanna....))

[Epitaph]

[ooc: Is that a challenge?]

Epitaph watched the man below with building adrenaline. He was about to port away; she recognized the spell. They called it shimmering or something. It didn't matter to her. She just wanted the taste of this mage's blood. Besides, she sensed something weird about him. He didn't seem demon, nor angel, nor Elven, nor...Maybe he was another halfblood.

Again, it didn't matter. Epitaph took out her sickle and pounced. She'd get him; he was concentrating on the spell, it was too late to turn...

[Azeroth]

Arashi sensed the shadow a little too late. By that time, it was too late to stop the spell and turn around. So, instead, he speeded up his casting and shimmered behind his assailant.

Wordlessly, he swung the scythe down.

[Epitaph]

The clash of metal vibrated in Epitaph's ears as the curve of her sickle intertwined with the curve of the mage's scythe.

"You got away," she said simply. As she did so, she slid her sickle away slowly, making the metal grate against the scythe. She was close enough to him to be able to smell the faint traces of the scent of winter. It wasn't winter yet.

[Azeroth]

The sound of grating metal tormented Arashi's ears. He couldn't hold back a wince, and a quick grimace passed over his face. Finally, the tips of the blades parted, slowly and regretfully, as though they were lovers parting hands.

"Demon hunter, what business have you with me?" he asked. The girl was pretty, in a strange way. Hers was a morbid beauty, the beauty of a dead flower.

[Epitaph]

Epitaph smiled a little when Arashi talked. She knew his thoughts, because she was made that way. She was created to draw demons to her, for it made her profession easier.

"I come for your blood." She lowered her eyes. "But I may yet change my mind," Epitaph added. More slowly than if it were a real attack, she swiped her sickle at Arashi.

[Azeroth]

"I have no need to persuade you to change your mind," retorded Arashi, brushing aside the half-attempted attack against him. He grabbed her wrist to keep her from swinging the sickle again. "If you have no business with me other than to merely annoy me, kindly leave me be." He didn't like the way this girl looked too delicate. She was a capable of killing; that much he could see. This little devil was most certainly not delicate. Yet it just looked so tempting to reach out and comfort her instead...

((If that wasn't supposed to happen, oops. I just assumed Ep looked like that. Oh well! There's an edit button.))

[Epitaph]

Epitaph felt even more content with herself when Arashi grabbed her wrist. He could have just brushed it aside; he needn't grab it. He was falling for it...She could feel it.

"I--don't want to." Epitaph let herself collapse, just a bit. She ended up hanging half-limply in Arashi's grip, almost leaning on his chest, but merely touching it at this point.

[ooc: it's fine]

[Azeroth]

((omg, what was THAT supposed to do?! Fine, I'll play your game

Aya, don't kill me >.<))

Arashi stepped back, surprised. Epitaph merely slumped forward even further, adding more weight. He decided it was a bad idea to step back. "Young lady, kindly stand on your own so that I may go about my own business. I'm already a bit late." Arashi was edgy around this girl. She was still holding the sickle, after all. Her close proximity was truly bothering him; no one ever got that close ((you hear that?!)), except only a couple people he's learned to trust over many years. He wanted to let go of her wrist, but couldn't, as he was afraid she'd fall. There was an evil that glinted in her eyes. "I must leave," he insisted again.

[Epitaph]

[ooc: hey, she makes people suffer, remember? ]

Epitaph brought up her free and hung it from Arashi's neck. With her burning firey eyes, she stared into Arashi's. "I'm a lonely girl," she whispered, bringing herself up a little, closer to Arashi's face. "They're all afraid of my sickle. They're scared by the blood. But you're not, right? You fight back, and don't run away. I like that..." She inched closer, closer...

[Azeroth]

((You makin ME suffer. Don't forget my mage is my favored one So don't mess with him))

Arashi pushed Epitaph away, letting go of her wrist as well. "You haven't yet given me a proper answer for what you want." He steadied his scythe and pointed the end at the demon hunter. "I know your kind and your tricks. Give those up and tell me what you really want. Is it just my blood? Or is it something else?" He was rather surprised to see that, after stagger back a couple steps, Epitaph was still on her feet.

[Epitaph]

"Hahaha..." Epitaph drew herself up. "You know nothing of me, so don't judge. I may want more than your blood after all, but for now, that's all you'd be informed with." She raised her sickle to be even with the scythe. They looked so ironically befitting that she stared at it for a bit. "Are you sure you wouldn't want to persuade me otherwise? I may be a messenger of Hell, but I send people to Heaven too..." She grinned seductively. "There is no danger, as long as you know what to guard against."

[Azeroth]

"I prefer my bedmates to be more loyal, for I do not fancy the idea of sleeping with someone whom I know is capable of murder." Arashi drew his long thin eyebrows together. "You seem not the trustworthy type. As I've said, unless you have meaningful business with me, leave me. Else I'd be forced to leave your corpse for the crows."

[Epitaph]

Epitaph grinned. Then she gave a laugh and at the same time, used her free hand to grab Arashi's scythe. "Then concentrate on making my corpse and pay more attention." Now that the scythe was temporarily out of the way, she drove her sickle in. Men were so predictable.

[Azeroth]

(( OMG, you did NOT just---omg, you did. ))

Arashi felt the edge tear into his side as he twisted to get away. However, though his manuevers managed to free his scythe too, Epitaph's grip on it slowed him enough to make tarry long enough to get hit. "You..." He took back his scythe quickly and swung it at her throat. Simultaneously, he conjured vines from the earth which groped eagerly for Epitaph's ankles.