Talk With a Demoness

"..Why do you want to know?" Achilles said after a while, he was still highly cautious against Anastasia since obviously he didn't know much about this woman next to him.

"Oh, I thought we could already be considered friends, so I wish to know more about my friend." Sia said with a small smile on her face, but just like usual, Achilles felt that smile was somewhat fake and this woman was hiding something from him.

'Who is she really?'

"I'm just an artist, that's all." He used to dream of being an artist, so he conveniently made up a lie from it.

"That's impressive." Sia commented with a hint of admiration in her voice.

"What about you?" He asked out of nowhere, he figured that since he was going to be stuck with this woman for a while, might as well try to pry more information about her.

"Me? I run a small company, nothing notable really."

'Why do I feel like it doesn't "small" at all...'

"I see." Achilles answered curtly. The conversation soon died off after that with the slightly awkward silence remained in the atmosphere.

He was feeling flustered since he was an introvert to begin with. Interacting with others wasn't something he experienced regularly nor did he want to try. But for the sake of intel, he mustered his courage and tried to keep the conversation going:

"Are you from around this part of the city?"

"Hm? Well, I live in a different section that is close to this place, so I often come here for certain businesses."

"...Do you know about the recent murder at the morgue, Mr.Stephen?" Sia suddenly asked, which made Achilles taken aback a bit.

"...Yeah, I heard about it too."

"Such a terrifying incident, the killer is still on the loose if I remember correctly."

"...Well, the police are going to catch him in no time." He replied with a tint of nervousness.

"You should be careful too, Mr.Stephen. You might bump into him one day out of luck." Anastasia said, seemingly trying to advise him to be careful.

'What's that supposed to mean?' He was weirded out by Anastasia's strange words but he only flashed a polite smile outwardly as a response to her: "Thank you, I'll keep it in mind."

They continued their walk in silence for another 30 minutes before Anastasia sped up and stood in front of him. She was a tall woman who reached his ears so their faces were only a few inches away from each other. The sweet lily's fragrance enveloped his nostrils, putting him in a trance.

"Thank you for accompanying me today, I hope we will meet again."

With that said she gracefully walked off, her silhouette got further and further away it could no longer be seen.

It was at that moment that Achilles completely escaped the spell that was put on him as he breathed out multiple rough breaths:

"Haa..haa...Who is that woman?"

Achilles could not comprehend what just happened to him. At first, he was only somewhat impressed by Anastasia's beauty(he was still able to feel it even though her face was covered for some reason). The more they interacted however, the harder it was for him to take his eyes away from this woman.

If she had stayed any longer then he would have lost his mind, that was something he was certain about.

'It's not normal for someone to have that kind of crazy charm...What kind of monster did I encounter?'

Anastasia was like a demoness that could control any man she ever wants, Achilles suspected that perhaps even women wouldn't be able to easily escape her charm.

'It'd be best if I never see her again...'

He resumed walking while his mind was being occupied by the encounter just now, along with his plan for today. At some point, Achilles returned back to the hotel with a dark expression.

In the end, he couldn't go to sleep again and had stayed up until the sun rose over the horizon that day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Past midnight, at an unknown part of the city.

A figure wearing white cloak draping over her, covering most of her body was walking through the street. She gazed at the moon while humming a small tune as she said to no one:

"To be able to resist my natural charm...he is filled with mysteries indeed."

The woman was Anastasia Evernight, the heiress of the Evernight family and the boss of the Evernight corporation.

She had purposely kept tabs on Achilles for more than a week by now. Since he was the person who cheated at her casino and also killed a bureaucrat, Sia was greatly interested in him.

She had known most things about him through detailed research but one thing still perplexed her:

Why did a kid working for the government suddenly transform into a man who mysteriously disappeared a few days prior?

This was Sia's personal hobby, once her interest was piqued by something, she would investigate everything about it until it no longer entertain her. She was the last woman that a man like Achilles would want to get himself involved with.

But unfortunately...or fortunately for him, he could no longer escape her grasp.

"I'll see what surprises you'd bring me next, Mr.Mark." She turned her head to look behind her and flashed a terrifying but bewitching smile.