Callie pulled the Mini into the parking space at the front of the quaint bed and breakfast just outside Cork city limits. Driving four and a half hours straight, to the point of almost falling asleep behind the wheel, and she was shattered, grateful to see the signpost on the main road declaring the Robin's Nest open 24/7. As she approached, however, she saw no lights or life about the place. She got out of the car and left the main lights on, hoping it would help her to read the note stuck to the glass on the inside of the front door.

Please ring for attention it read, with an arrow pointing to an intercom. She pressed the button and waited. After a few minutes, the hall light came on and an elderly man shuffled his way toward the desk in his dressing gown and slippers.

"Yes?" His sleepy, static-filled voice echoed from the small box.

"Hi, I'm so sorry to wake you at such an early hour, but we would like a room for a day or two please."

"Push the door when the buzzer sounds," he instructed. "Tap o la morning te ye missy." He laughed outright at her expression upon hearing his overenthusiastic, stereotypically Irish greeting, which trailed into a fit of wheezing and subsequent coughing. "Three rooms to choose from. Top floor joined single, ground floor double, or the flat o'er yonder?" he asked once he caught his breath.

"The flat, I guess."

"Deposit is sixty-nine euro. Sign the register, and breakfast will be at eight sharp. The missus don't do late, so if you wanna eat, be there." He pocketed the cash she handed him after she signed the book and he gave her the key. "Pleasant dreams, Missy."

"Thanks." She jogged back to the car and moved it over a few feet to park outside the flat.

Irene groaned and stretched. "Are we there yet?"

"Hey, sleepy head. Not quite yet. I got us a room just outside the city. I need to sleep for a few hours before I kill us both falling asleep behind the wheel." She yawned, proving her point.

"Go on in and I'll bring in the case. You can take this one though," Irene offered, handing her the bags of blood conveniently wrapped in brown paper.

They made their way up concrete steps at the side of the building that led to the flat over the garage. Callie dropped the keys onto the table just inside the door and headed straight for the bed. Irene kicked the door closed behind her and set the case on the floor.

"I'm just going to grab a shower. Anything in here I shouldn't wear?" she asked, opening the case.

"Anything you like is fine by me. Breakfast is at eight sharp. Don't be late or you won't get fed," Callie warned, slipping off her shoes and lying on the bed still fully clothed. "We'll leave at half nine for the Circle headquarters. Wake me at nine if I'm not already up?"

"Sure," she agreed as Callie closed her eyes and let the blissful darkness take her.

*****

"Caalliee Wiilllliaams...Caalliee Willliaamss... Caallieeee Wiiilliaammmsss..." A familiar voice rang out in a singsong. "Ah! There you are, even more beautiful than I remember," he said with bright smile that flashed his even, pearly-white teeth.

"Where the hell..." Callie began.

Ornate murals of dragons in flight and scenes of ferocious battles interrupted her train of thought as she looked around at what she assumed was someone's bedroom. A rich chocolate brown carpet, with a pile so deep it hid her toes, covered the floor. The bed was huge - like something fit for royalty. It had large ornately carved wood headboard and four equally ornate posts at each corner, sporting a rich cream curtain tied back with dark leather cords. In the centre of the bed, covered to the waist by a matching throw, sat a naked, extremely well-defined chest, with a tan that was enhanced by the colour of the throw.

She allowed her gaze to travel up, expecting to find the serpent-headed demon to match the voice. Instead, she found herself looking into midnight blue eyes of a rather handsome young face. His blond hair was a little long, giving it a tussled look that framed his sculptured features to perfection. He was clean-shaven and when he smiled, his straight even teeth almost sparkled.

"You're not in Hell yet, my love. Another seven levels down before you reach it. I've been there a couple of times and find it a little too hot even for my liking."

"Who are you?" Callie asked in confusion. The voice belonged to Lucien but the rest of him didn't fit.

"Oh." He ran his hand through his hair and cringed. "This is my true form. I wear the other to incite fear."

Callie shook herself from her daze, finding it hard to picture both man and serpent as one and the same. "What do you want from me, Lucien? Aside from my power that is?"

"Hmm, such a quandary don't you think?" he asked. "To obtain your power would ultimately mean my freedom from this underworld prison. However, the mere thought your death causes me pain, here." He held his clenched fist to his bare chest in the region of his heart. "So I have decided to look elsewhere for the power I need, on condition that you visit me here at least once a week to keep me company."

"There are numerous things wrong with that statement. One: you've killed generations of my family. Two: you tried to kill my sister. Three: you tried to kill me. Four: you almost succeeded in killing my boyfriend. Oh and five: you're now telling me you're going to kill innocent people in my place." Seething at his audacity, she continued, "Do you honestly believe that I would willingly spend time with a monster that would do that? Your true form may be hot as hell, but inside you're hideous."

"You think I'm hot?" he interrupted, jerking his head up, suddenly interested in her tirade. His eyes shone with hope.

"What is so important about my world that has you so desperate to leave the luxury you so obviously enjoy here? Do you have grand notions of taking over the world or something?"

His smile was so wide it was almost blinding. "You find me hot!" He threw the bed covers off and jumped up and down on top of the bed. "She wants me, she thinks I'm sexy," he sang repeatedly.

"Lucien...Lucien! ...LUCIEN SHUT UP," she screamed. "Answer me, why do you want to leave here?"

He stopped bouncing and sobered immediately, sitting cross-legged on the bed. He shrugged as he plucked at the fabric of his pyjama trouser. "I just want to be free. I would give it all up, this power and luxury as you see it, for a mortal life. To know that one day I will cease to exist. I have lived for several thousand years and I don't want to live for even a hundred more. I'm tired of it."

"So you end other's lives because you want to end yours?" she asked for clarification.

"In a nutshell... yes." He shrugged again.

"Can't you just do yourself in then?"

He growled in frustration. "Don't you think I've tried? I've thrown myself into the flames of Hell itself, feeling the agony of my flesh melting from my bones, only wake up here a few hours later. I've driven swords through my heart and I wake here. I've given myself to dragons, put my head in their powerful jaws and felt their teeth ripping my body in two, and still I wake up here, whole again. I've been cursed by the gods themselves to spend eternity here." He looked away from her, embarrassed at having revealed his true self, but not before she caught the glassy shimmer of tears gleaming in his eyes.

"If it's truly death you crave then I will find a way to help you. But," she wagged her finger at him, "you must not kill or hurt any other creature. Do we have a deal?"

"You would help me? Just like that, for nothing in return?" he asked, stunned by her offer.

"I want your word that you will not harm another living or un-dead creature and I will help you end your existence," she promised.

"You have my word." He picked up a gleaming knife that lay on the small table beside the bed, the light reflecting from its shiny surface danced around the room. "Do you want it in blood?"

"Tempting, but no. I need to sleep now Lucien, send me back to my bed."

He patted the bed he sat on. "You can sleep here, with me."

"No. Send me back now... Please."

"Aww! Okay, but only because you beg so nicely."

Callie woke with a start, all her muscles twitched once, jerking her instantly awake. She glanced at the watch on her wrist and whimpered when the time showed 8.55am. With a snort of contempt, she sat up and reached for the blood bag tucked between the edge of the bed and the nightstand. She drained it in seconds, but still being thirsty, she drank a second. She blew the hair from her eyes with a frustrated puff, and got up to shower and change for the meeting. Her purpose had not changed; she still needed to know how to kill the demon, but the reason behind that purpose had become blurred during the nighttime visit to his realm. Her disgust at him for what he had done to her family over the decades had not changed, but she sort of understood his motivation.