The Mortal And The Wicked-- ONC 2023

Chapter 11; In which Azrael grows rather light-headed

Miss Lucy Caramonte...

A fascinating woman, to be sure, and one that had certainly charmed him in a manner that not many others had. Indeed, he rather enjoyed the way she had bullied him. It sent shivers down his spine in a most delightful manner as he felt his arrogance ground to splinters beneath her heel.

Gods, he hadn't had such fun in centuries!

To be sure, it wasn't as if she was particularly special; many had challenged him in his game to win their lover back. Yet most of them groveled or were defiantly heroic and noble-- all of them boring and dull in some manner or another.

And yet Miss Caramonte... Well, she had seemed rather annoyed about the whole thing. She had outright insulted him in a manner that made his heart race. As though Azrael were some wicked boy who had insisted on making matters difficult and it was all a bother. Indeed, she hadn't even appeared to be in awe of his mere presence, nor struck speechless by his unearthly beauty as so many tended to be. And his teasing, so apt at making both men and women alike grow weak at the knees... Why, it had hardly phased her.

Her wit was clever, her tongue sharp enough to cut the tender flesh of his ego, and she had looked upon him with nothing but mild contempt and, possibly the most dreadful of all, indifference. For he could scarcely stand it; he loved attention, he craved it, it was his very lifeblood! And to have finally met someone who did not think of him as the most brilliant thing in the room-- why, it was almost unbearable.

She was quite curious, he decided. One that captured his attention from the moment she had called him a stupid, dreadful, blithering idiot.

Yet all thoughts of the esteemed Miss Caramonte were drawn quickly from his mind as the flap to his tent flew open suddenly and Oz entered, his expression as unreadable as ever.

"She wishes to play your game, sir."

Azrael felt himself grinning much like a fool then, a near giddy sense of excitement flooding him. There now! A wondrous chance to prove to Miss Caramonte that he wasn't just a stupid, dreadful, blithering idiot, but an idiot with a magical carnival and wonders beyond her wildest dreams.

With that, he sprung up from his chair and rubbed his slender fingers together. "Wonderful! We shall put everything in order then, Ozzyboy."

"My whiskers are quivering with excitement, sir." the Cat replied drily.

It seemed then, that it would be an interesting game indeed.

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