We meet yet again. [[EZRA]]

[Ophelia Cait]

[[Damn. Must have lost my post.]]

“That’s exactly what I think!” Ophelia replied as she looked at the scarves. She muttered under her breath, “If no one robs me today then they will the next time I come here.” Wearing this piece of jewelry said that Ophelia was either wealthy or knew someone who was wealthy. Why had she worn it? She should have wrapped it in paper or something. She had just wanted to wear it one last time. Ophelia glanced around Chinatown. She was a regular here though no one knew her name. She was just a ‘tourist’ in these parts. But if she popped out that giant ruby someone would see and someone would talk. She had never been robbed but that was because she minded her own business, did not wander down dark alleyways, was not involved in drugs and did not owe money to anyone.

Ophelia took the six scarves when the man handed them to her. Instead of paying him twenty-five dollars as she had said, she handed him a twenty dollar bill. She did not think it odd. She just thought that Ezra had this sort of fearsome personality about him. She was slightly glad to be giving it back to him. He seemed like a badass. What would he do to her if she would not give it back? Ophelia took a scarf and used it to hide where the ruby would show. She covered the ruby with the scarf and then handed it to Ezra. “Here.” She said as she thrusted the beautiful ruby necklace into his arms. She missed it already.

[Ezra]

It was nice to get his ruby back, but that made him think of something. Now he had no excuse to randomly show up wherever she was... now that the ruby covered in the scarf was in his hands, he had no reason even to say anything else to her. The part of him that would've just stopped her from taking the ruby in the first place was gone at the moment. Now the rest of him that had actually wanted her to take his ruby was taking over his thoughts. Even though Ophelia didnt seem to like him that much, he had a feeling in his immortal gut that she would miss him, too.

And just because he got his ruby back didn't mean that he'd never see the little redhead again. He'd make sure that he ran into her some other time. And he actually wasn't completely convinced that she wouldn't make a good theift-in-training for him. He hadn't had an apprentice in years... a couple thousand, actually. Of course, they weren't thief training, they were just... morality training. But although Ophelia was clearly a diabolical little thief, she did know her right from wrong. She just chose wrong. And if she spent a little more time with Ezra, he knew he could probably change her unintentionally. He tends to do that the more he spends time with mortals.

He just waited to see what he thoughts had to say about perhaps seeing him again. Would the thought even cross her mind or did she not care for him at all like he feared? Even though Ezra's a clever, cocky sort of demon, it doesn't mean he doesn't care. He was intimidating even when he didn't mean to be. But when he meant to be intimidating, then usually the humans he intimidated ran for the hills. Yet, he still found himself a little sad to not have an excuse to see Ophelia again. She'd taken his most valuable - sentimantally valuable - possession he had, and he wasn't even the least bit made about it. "Thank you."

[Ophelia Cait]

“You’re welcome.” Ophelia said as she tied a black and gray scarf around her neck. She flung the long end of the scarf over her left shoulder. She looked good, especially with the hat. Though this would probably be the first and the last time she would wear this scarf. Ophelia would probably lose it on the way home. Along with the other scarf’s. No, most likely she would dump them into the Santa’s bucket on the way to her car.

Ophelia turned and waved her hand. She was waving him a final goodbye. On her face she was smiling a devious smile. It had happened just like Ophelia wanted. She had wanted Ezra to demand his necklace by the scarves. She had wanted him to get her a great deal on all those scarves. And she wanted to give him a scarf. And he did not open it. It wasn’t the necklace inside. It was a lock-a-like. The real ruby necklace was tucked into her purse. She had spent thirty thousand on a look-a-like.

[Ezra]

Ezra pulled the ruby necklace out of the scarf as Ophelia walked away. He tossed it from one hand to another. Part of him was relieved that she'd kept the real ruby rather than give it to him. That gave him an excuse to see her again. However, his pretending to believe it was the real ruby wasn't all that believable. She must know he'd find out sooner or later. Partly because that ruby was so important to him and there was no other crystal like it in the entire world. And partly because he knew a fake ruby when he saw one. That just comes with the experience you gain from living for thousands of years.

But this fake on must've been a couple grand, so he looked at the scarf seller a moment. Then he tossed the scarf to him along with the thirty-thousand dollar crystal. He caught it in surprise. "Happy Christmas," he smirked at the man and then walked off behind Ophelia a good distance away. She probably wouldn't notice him. If she did happen to notice him, she'd have to know why. He might not say anything to her tonight, but he'd definitely get his ruby back eventually. Even if he had to steal it from her by force. He just had to wait.

[Ophelia Cait]

“Hehehehe.” Ophelia couldn’t help but actually say. The people who heard her did not give her strange looks. Or if they did, she did not see them. She seemed to be skipping as she crossed street after street moving like a graceful ballerina. She unlocked her car with a ‘push to start’ button. She turned around and glanced for any signs of Ezra. There was a gun in her boot though it would do absolutely no good. The coast was clear. There was no one there that anyway resembled Ezra. Ophelia glanced upwards at the sky and the tops of the buildings, including the windows. He couldn’t fly, could he? Ophelia spread herself against the wall arms and legs out as if she was making a snow angel. “Damn. I look pretty weird.” Ophelia muttered to herself before she hopped onto the sidewalk and decided to get out of Chinatown with the red ruby.

[Ezra]

Ezra just followed her from a pretty far distance. To the passersby, it was completely unnoticeable that he was following anybody at all, especially the redhead who was five blocks in front of him. But he did catch up with her when he wanted to, and stood before her when she hopped out onto the sidewalk. I got an interesting one on my hands, he thought to himself, but then he had to remind himself that he liked weird, even if the person was human and stole his precious ruby. But he had managed to hear what she'd said to herself in that strange position against the wall. "Yes, you do look pretty weird," he nodded slowly with a smirk. He hoped that he'd startle her again. Humans were fun to play with, especially when he appeared out of nowhere. That got the best startled expressions. But Ophelia might be used to that by now, even though he hoped she wasn't.

[Ophelia Cait]

“Ek!” Ophelia said as she jumped back an inch. But of course since she was standing against a brick wall she did not get quite far. She had seen Ezra do that of course and by no right should she be frightened but she had just given him a phony diamond necklace and had possession of the real thing. “You’re one to talk about me being weird. I bet you’re not even human!” she thought referring to the television show V where there were aliens who only looked like humans. Though of course she was not calling Ezra an alien, or was she? “Stop following me!” 'I think the only way I can get rid of him is to kill him.'

[Ezra]

Ezra hadn't meant to scare her like that. He wanted to startle her, that much was pretty much obvious, but he hadn't really expected her to jump back and yelp. And then the comment about not being human. He couldn't lie, which was the part of being a demon that he was really beginning to loathe. But, he still was incapable of lying so he just said nothing at all. Her own thoughts of why she'd said that were enough for her to suspect, so he didn't think he needed to say anything. And then, the popular line, Stop following me! Yeah, right. She still had his ruby. No way was he ever going to leave her alone again until he got it back. She might not know how important it was to him, but she did know that it was significant, she was just too greedy to give it back. But, he like lying, Ezra found himself almost completely incapable of being angry, too. So, he just smirked, "No, I don't think I will."

[Ophelia Cait]

Ophelia thought very carefully before she spoke. Finally she had come to the decision that if Ezra was going to have killed her he would have killed her already. She felt that she was quite safe or as safe as one could ever be when they knew demons existed and had one in their present company. It was a full two minutes before she spoke yet she did not feel like it was awkward silence because of all the thoughts and proposals running through her head. “If you’re not going to stop following me does that mean that I’m going to need to carry a Bible around twenty-four seven or have a Priest exorcise my home and maybe me?” Though with all Ophelia knew about religion it could be the Nuns or Alter Boys who did the exorcism and read sermons each Sunday morning.

The only thing Ophelia knew about religion was that there was a lot of them, people were expected to go to their places of worship on Sunday and that each religion hated other religions. As far as which one was correct or which one worked, Ophelia had no opinions of. For all she knew it could be the Nuns who read the sermons or their speeches. Pastor? Priest? Rabi? Buddhist? As far as Ophelia was concerned they were all the same thing. Maybe instead of investing so much time into faking that ruby she should have invested her time divulging deep into religion and maybe demons. Of course it wasn’t until now that she knew that Ezra was a demon, but still. There had been hints. Her body had almost subconsciously warned her with subtle, subtle hints.

[[Sorry it took me so long to post!]]

[Ezra]

Ezra would have found the silence awkward if he hadn't been able to listen to all those thoughts running through that mind of hers. But her mind was working so fast, even for a human, that it caught his interest. And then, finally, she spoke. And since she knew what he was now, there was no point in holding anything back anymore. Not that he could lie about his secrets if she asked directly, anyway. He chuckled slightly at her question. "That won't be necessary. I'll stop following you when I have my ruby back." He held up the fake one she'd given him and held it out for her to take back if she wanted it. It was probably valuable, not as valuable as his ruby, but worth a few thousand at least that came out of her own pocket, even though most of that was probably stolen. "Not a fake one."

He honestly had no idea if any of that religious demon repellent worked. Even though he was from the demon world and all, he never had any demon friends who were summoned to Earth when he was. Therefore he didn't know what happened to any of his semi-friends that he'd known back in his home. For all her knew, that Bible and Priest could all be a some old myth. But he wasn't about to find out.

[Ophelia Cait]

Ophelia eyed her fake. Up close and personal it looked like it might be real and worth half a million if not more. But if one got up close with a jewel microscope it would be certain that they would find imperfections. “No, sorry it’s mine now. You should just forget about it because I’m not going to give it back. So go away before you get exorcised or raped by a demon hunter!” Those were bold words to be spoken to a demon. But if he hadn’t killed her by now, maybe he wouldn’t. Ophelia took the real necklace out of its hiding spot and placed it around her neck. It was such a fine piece of jewelry that she couldn’t resist finally wearing it. And she looked rather splendid in it if she might say so without even seeing herself in a mirror.

“And I doubt you’d stop following me once you got your ruby back. Liar!” she claimed. Wasn’t it impossible for demons to lie or was he telling the truth? Or was it a lie that demons couldn’t lie? Ophelia turned her back on the demon and began to walk down the street out of Chinatown to her car. “Go away please!” Ophelia shouted. “Or I might just have to start reading the Bible!”

[Ezra]

Ezra sighed. Now, she was just being stubborn. But even though he'd known she was going to say what she said, to actually hear her say the words was different than in her thoughts. He thought a moment. No demon hunter had even stood a chance against him thus far, and hew as pretty sure that if even the best hunter around spotted him, he or she wouldn't get very close to the "exorcised or raped" thing. He sighed after a moment. Now that she knew what he was, nothing could really surprise her, and it wasn't much fun anymore. And even though a normal person would think that once a demon was bored they just murder the person, but even though Ophelia had stolen his most valuable ruby and was now refusing to give it back, Ezra wasn't going to hurt her. That thought never even crossed his many thoughts.

"Well, even though you know I am a demon now, it is quite obvious you know nothing about them. And trust me, if I could lie, I would have lied a long time ago. I have never wanted to lie so much in my life until I met you," he admitted. He'd attempted to lie more than ten times just that first night they met, which she stole that Tiffany Diamond. He sighed after a moment and leaned against the wall, staring down at her. Usually that would intimidate a human but he doubted Ophelia would be that afraid of him until he actually did something to put her in danger. "And I'm not going anywhere."

[Ophelia Cait]

“Good stay against that wall then!” she said smugly as she turned and walked. Though she saw out of the corner of her eye that he was following her. “Damn it!” she cursed very anti-religious like. “What do you want for the necklace then? Maybe if we trade then you won’t bother me. You must want something for it. Something you would consider worth enough in value or name that you’d trade. What’s the story behind this necklace?” she asked, wanting sincerely to know why it was so valuable to Ezra.

Did the necklace belong to a lost love? Did it have some sort of horrible Egyptian curse? Was it a code to a long lost valuable treasure? Did it belong to his father and he had inherited it? Was it a relic from earlier times? Why, why, why did Ezra want the necklace so bad? He must be really quite bored to chase Ophelia around for it. Surely there were other things and people in which he had to annoy. Oh how troublesome he was!

[Ezra]

Ezra sighed. Again, he wanted to lie so badly, but she'd asked him directly. That, of course, didn't mean he had to go into major detail about any of it, but he still had to tell her at least the basics. He sighed and looked at her for a moment. She had a lot of ideas running through her head, and one of them was correct. He would have lied and said it was just because it was pretty, but he couldn't. And it's not like he even had to mention her name. Ever since she died it was always hard to talk about her, even for a moment. He tried to avoid her name when he could.

"It belonged to someone who was very important to me." He held out his hand to her, patiently waiting for his ruby around her neck to be placed in his palm. "So you have two choices. You can either give me the ruby now, or you can keep refusing and tomorrow when you wake up it will be mysteriously gone. Take your pick." Either way I win, he added in his thoughts. And there was nothing she could do about it. Even then, though, he doubted he'd stop following her. She was too much fun to sneak up on and bother. He was such a pest when he gets bored, but it was purely for his entertainment. It was nothing personal, even though at this point it probably felt that way to Ophelia.

[Ophelia Cait]

“Let me guess. It belonged to a girl who died tragically. Was she mortal like me?” Ophelia didn’t need the answer. She knew it. The mortal probably had red hair just like her. She clasped onto the red ruby with her right hand, guarding it. “How did she die?” What Ophelia wanted to add on, was if it was by old age. Who could snuggle up to a demon? The little hairs on Ophelia’s arms sprung up. It was a little, little bit cheesy to fall in love with a mortal who died by old age.

She waved her hand as she turned and walked. “I’ll choose the mysteriously disappearing option. Though can I trade in the prize for a new car?” like the game show where people won prizes, much like all game shows. She wasn’t serious about trading in the necklace for a new car. She was going to figure out how to keep it. Certainly there was some sort of way to keep demons out and away from things. She would need to figure it out before she went to bed because she had no doubts that this demon kept his word.