Nick looked up at the woman standing over him and realised that this was going to end rather poorly for him. While he was sure he’d certainly have a very enjoyable time, every chance of him being productive for the following 12 hours would be forfeit. Nick took a deep breath, doing his best to clear the fog slowly clouding his mind. It wasn’t the time to be indulging in pleasures, he finally had a goal and it was time to make some progress on it.

Paige slowly lowered herself down and Nick didn’t make a move, biding his time. Paige straddled his chest and looked at him with a devilish glint in her eyes, Nick held his own gaze steady. As she lowly lent down towards him Nick readied himself. To Paige it must have looked like Nick had resigned himself to her whims and was nervously tensing up, that’s why what happened next managed to catch her by surprise. Nick twisted his hips into the floor and threw his elbow with as much force as he could muster into Paige’s jaw. Nick’s aim was true, and his elbow connected cleanly with his tormentor's face. The first thing that happened was an explosion of pain throughout Nick’s mind. His elbow had practically exploded upon contact, nearly shattering the joint.

Paige was so caught off guard that the blow seemed to stun her, combined with the fact that Nick was a total of three levels higher than when they’d last fought, Paige was surprised by the power behind the blow. That being said, she still took the blow like it was from a child. She barely moved, but it was enough for Nick, so suppressing a scream he used the space to escape. He stood back up and immediately put some space between himself and Paige, watching her with cautious eyes.

Paige stood back up, rubbing her jaw she eyed Nick up and down. She then grinned a devilish grin that sent shivers down Nick’s spine. Her eyes bored into Nick’s very soul, leaving him feeling weak and exposed. She giggled and then licked her lips.

“I warned you Nick, you can’t be making a girl like me so excited. I just won’t be able to control myself.”

Nick took a deep breath, he’d only have one chance at this and he had to make it count. So after steeling his mind he looked Paige dead in the eye and opened his mouth.

“INEEDTOTALKTOPAIMONWECANDOWHATEVERYOUWANTAFTERBUTIREALLYNEEDTOSPEAKTOHER.”

That definitely seemed to take Paige by surprise and she tilted her head at him. She processed it for a second before her grin returned.

“Anything I want?”

Nick had the distinct feeling that he’d made a terrible mistake but he nodded. “Anything.”

Paige clapped her hands and the predatory feeling vanished. “Well, what are we doing then? Let’s go!”

With that Paige turned around with a flourish and walked out of the room. Nick’s shoulders sagged, he’d just avoided a near-death experience but he didn’t feel any better. Paige had accepted that far too easily, something was certainly amiss. Nick needed to keep his wits about him, the next few hours were going to be pivotal for him. Did he have a plan? Anything at all? Of course not. He just needed to make sure Paimon slipped up and gave him something to work with. He accepted the fact that he was unlikely to leave the Executioner’s watch for the foreseeable future. Now that his mind wasn’t constantly clogged by fog and thoughts of Paige, he could see that Paimon had set this up to keep him around. She had admitted as much when he’d met her. Why she wanted to keep Nick under her watch? Well, that’s what he was about to try and work out.

Nick shook his muscles out, trying to relax a bit more. This meeting was going to go much better than the last one, he’d make sure of it. He confidently strode out of Paige’s room and down the stairs, finding Paige waiting at the bottom engaged in a heated conversation with another man. As Nick approached the man’s eyes snapped to Nick. Nick almost lost his breath. The man was a sight to behold. A perfectly chiselled jawline, piercing yellow eyes, and a smirk that screamed ‘I’m a greek god and I know it’. Nick couldn’t help but feel slightly emasculated. The man stood about six foot three and had an envy-inspiring physique. He wore a tight-fitting button-up and left very little to the imagination.

“Don’t try anything Paine. The Mistress will have your throat.” Paige warned.

Paine, the man, grinned. “You both know I’d love that. Relax, I just wanted to see the man that the Mistress has been keeping her eye on.” He then scoffed. “Nothing special I see.”

The man grabbed Nick’s shoulder and Nick saw something malicious flash in his eyes before it quickly was replaced with the cool, calm, and confident gaze that had been there previously.

“I’m sure she’ll be done with you in no time. Then she’ll be free to focus on the more important things.”

Without another word, the man released Nick and strode off into the shadows. Nick was left confused. Was that a grown-ass man acting like a jealous teenager? Nick couldn’t help but chuckle and shake his head, this place was crazy. Why the hell would a man that good looking be jealous? Suddenly something came flying from the shadows, Nick’s eyes widened as he didn’t have much time to do anything else before Paige grabbed the small blade just before it made contact with his face.

“You’re a child Paine, no wonder the Mistress ignores you.” Paige scoffed.

There was no response and Paige started walking towards the door. Nick followed after her but kept glancing over his shoulder, he had a feeling that the man was still watching him. Paige didn’t seem to care and simply left the building, Nick let out a sigh of relief once he was back in the light. Paimon Hall was far too dark for his liking, he much preferred the Unvoided hall with all its natural light. Even the Hall of the Hogs was infinitely more inviting, though it did feel like a giant frat house of sorts. Paige didn’t say anything about what had just happened, so Nick didn’t ask. It was a novel experience, he couldn’t say he’d ever dealt with a jealous dude before. Hopefully, they’d be able to iron it out, Nick could use a male friend in this place. Maybe he could ask Paine for his workout routine, dudes always loved talking about that sort of stuff.

Happy with his small plan Nick didn’t notice as Paige slipped her arm around his. Nick looked down at the small woman next to him and sighed. You know, this would have been kind of cute if she wasn’t a vampire that seemed hellbent on infecting his body with her mind-controlling junk. Nick had never been particularly unlucky with the ladies, but it wasn’t something he’d really spent much time focusing on. His lack of direction and propensity for dealing with emotions by getting into fights didn’t make him the most attractive of dating options. If Nick stopped thinking and tried to enjoy the moment it was pretty nice to have a woman walking arm in arm with him.

Up until he’d see her face and her creepy visage would remind him of all the twisted events he’d seen this woman alongside. Nick shuddered. Not wholesome at all. The duo make their way into the cathedral and down its hallways, Nick was once again made aware of the really disappointing interior design. It really did feel like such a waste, such a beautiful building having such an underwhelming interior. Wait, there was probably something Nick could read into there…

Nick didn’t get a chance to think about it too much as Paige led him to the grand staircase he so fondly remembered. Paige noticed the happy smile on his face as he looked at the spot he had landed after throwing himself down the stairs.

“There’s something seriously weird about you Nick.” She said, shaking her head.

Nick faked hurt. “Pot calling the kettle black much.”

“Well, I thematically make sense. Small gothic woman with devilish intentions and a wicked grin. Carefully curated. You, on the other hand, you’re just into some weird stuff. Like who makes a habit of throwing themselves down a staircase?”

“The same person who openly walks into the den of a woman who controls a brood of vampires, is markedly stronger than them, and seems to have the ability to control people's minds?”

Paige frowned. “I think you might have just proven my point more so than your own.”

Nick thought about it for a second then nodded. “You’re right. At least I had the excuse of not being entirely behind the wheel the last time I did this. Maybe I am a little strange.”

Without questioning it further, Nick made his way up the staircase and waited outside the ornate wooden door. Paige giggled but opened the door for him. Nick remembered how heavy the damn thing was and wasn’t going to make himself look like an idiot for trying. Nick liked to think he was the kind of bloke that learned from his mistakes. Then again, he was voluntarily meeting Paimon again.

As he stepped into the room he was struck by the realisation that he really had managed to make a catastrophic mistake. Paimon was sitting in the same position as he’d last seen her, and oh boy his heart wasn’t ready for it. Nick felt like his eyes were beholding the most beautiful thing they ever had and ever would witness, and maybe they were right. So of course Nick had to act in accordance with the environment he was in. He bent forward in a bow, before throwing his legs out and letting his face crash into the carpeted floor, with all his weight behind the fall. His face skidded across the floor, the friction leaving his face covered in a carpet burn.

Nick stood back up with a satisfied sigh. He made sure to keep his eyes firmly on Paimon’s desk, not trusting his eyes with the woman’s actual form.

“Well, it’s nice to see you as well dear.” Paimon sighed.

“I remember you mentioned to not damage your walls, I thought your carpet could use some attention.”

“At least he’s polite.” She sighed. “Though I assure you, my carpet gets plenty of love dear.”

Nick felt a shiver zip down his spine. How the heck were her utterly terrible innuendos this effective? Had she perhaps just gotten lazy with time? She had some sort of skill that made her speech alluring and she was just constantly pushing it as far as she could, to see how estranged she could make her speech and still get away with? Nick then noticed that his energy was desperately circulating, trying to form a defensive aura around his ethereal silhouette. He watched as his energy came into contact with the soft pink looking energy that completely surrounded him and turned sluggish. The aura then easily slipped past his defences and was slowly filling him up.

Nick realised that a passive approach wasn’t working at all and he needed to take the reigns. He started directing his energy around, instead of trying to form a static wall to defend against the invasive force he tried something else. Paimon’s aura wasn’t working like the Hog’s had, it wasn’t a strong force crushing down on him. It was soft, it flowed around his energy as it dulled it. Nick had no way of just keeping it locked outside of him, so he took a different approach. Nick tried to turn his energy into a wave and sent it coursing around his body, pushing Paimon’s energy away. It was a hard task, he had to keep his energy in constant motion, moving any energy that came into contact with Paimon’s deeper into the wave and letting fresh energy move to the surface.

Nick had no idea how much time passed, but he was entirely focused on his internal endeavour. Eventually, he got into the right groove, and his energy became a solid moving wave. It rushed around his body, clearing Paimon’s energy out faster than it slowly flowed in, leaving Nick free of her aura. Nick then looked up at the woman and grinned. His eyes still desperately scanned her body, trying to commit every detail to permanent, long-term memory but he felt a little less overwhelmed by it all. An absolute win in his books.

“My oh my, how have you managed to progress so much in less than a day dear?” Paimon asked with a smile that could melt the hearts of the coldest old bastards.

“I-I uh, I.” Nick stammered out, barely able to stop himself from spilling every secret he’d ever had to the angel before him.

He then saw a predatory glint flash through Paimon’s eyes. Suddenly the soft pink aura surrounding him turned harsh. The aura fashioned itself into tendrils that drilled deeply into his ethereal space, effortless suffocating all his energy. Nick was then filled to the brim with the pink aura. His eyes darted to Paimon’s in panic, he went to shout but it choked in his throat.

“Well, funny story. Let me tell you about my adventures down on the 50th floor.” Nick said with a smile, why wouldn’t he tell this gorgeous woman about his day?