<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: teal">From the very beginning, she realized, trying to escape this particular individual had been futile. Someone on his level of creepy never went away like swatting a fly from your shoulder. But he was definitely just as annoying. The only thing she thought as she listened to him taunting her was <span style="font-style: italic">'Damn, I didn't think this guy could possibly get any more agitating. Clearly I was wrong.'</span> Furthermore, as her levels of anger boiled inside the pit of her stomach, she lost any will to speak words. She hated talking even casually, let alone wasting her breath on someone like him. Words would not help the situation anyway, only brains and maybe a touch of foolish bravery. <br/><br/>Her gaze drifted from him to her hand, where she spotted the unusual mark burned into her skin. Despite everything, her mind instantly went into disbelief and she was clearly unamused. As soon as she'd spotted the pentagram with the snake and thorns, her first reaction had been,<span style="font-style: italic"> 'Wow. How cliche.'</span> And had anyone known her mindset at that point during such an encounter, they'd likely find her crazy. However, she had seen, witnessed and heard enough in her lifetime to be less afraid of dangerous things than other humans. She still felt fear- and plenty of it. But time and trial had conditioned her into shutting fear down and hiding it away, where no one would know- sometimes not even herself- that she felt it. Fear only clouded a person's judgement in bad situations. Learning to survive on her own? Controlling fear was the first thing one had to teach oneself. <br/><br/>Then she looked at the identical mark Lancier pointed out on his collar bone. <span style="font-weight: bold">"You and I are bonded now, by blood and magic."</span> He had said. It began to dawn on her that either this was a very clever prank, or this really was some supernatural event happening right now. Her own concept of good versus evil rose to the front of her mind as she continued listening to him talk about how she would be like a dog on a leash, under his control. For as long as she could remember, angels and demons were a foreign concept to her. She heard about them often. Heard about the goodness of God and his helping angelic beings, while Satan and demonic beings wrecked havoc in hell. She had never fully believed those stories. In other beings not of this earth? Yes, she wondered about them all the time. She believed there were good beings and bad beings- although not in a black and white theme. She always denied the idea that any creature was purely one thing. Even demons.<br/><br/>Quickly she shook these thoughts from her head. Now was obviously not a time to go into a spiritual debate with herself over this thing who now seemed to have the upper hand. She took note of his words and listened intently. As boring as his speeches were to her, she was never one to completely ignore, unless she hated the individual. She couldn't say she hated him... yet. Instead she payed close attention. Only a fool would ignore what was being said. One slip-up in someone's speech and you could find an escape. Or it allowed you to find out more about who was speaking in the first place. By the tone of his voice and the content of his words, she could tell he was only amused by her automatic fighting response. He was being entertained. And he was so confident in what he was saying- it sounded too natural to be planned like a prank. So he was telling the truth, then. Bummer. <br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">'Then allow me to change my approach.'</span> She stared back into his eyes evenly, unflinching under his gaze as he taunted her to fight for her freedom. She wouldn't respond to such taunting. She wouldn't give him what he wanted, which clearly was some mindless animal struggling in his grasp. When his talking stopped, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When her eyes opened, her anger had vanished. Instead, she was back to her cold exterior, eyes not ablaze with fury but cold with a look that almost said 'What a drag.' Her fist had relaxed and she placed her left hand back into her pocket, ignoring his grip on her right hand now. <br/><br/>"Quite frankly, I don't give a damn what you are." Was her first response. So he wasn't a human. Big deal. That didn't make him better. Not in her eyes. "Also, you obviously are unfamiliar with human sarcasm. I knew exactly what I was saying." She smirked only slightly, but it vanished as quickly as it had come. It turned into a light scowl as her eyelids drooped. "Say what you want about me being a dog on a leash. But my will is mine and mine alone." Then she angled her head up at him, head tilted back ever so slightly in a daring yet suspicious fashion. "I'm still not exactly sure what the hell it is you want from me. Something like you shouldn't need the help of a mortal. So what exactly is it that I'm supposed to help you with?" It did cause suspicion to her. If he really was some sort of demonic entity, why did he need her help? He said she would help him whether she liked it or not. But what help could she even offer? As smart as he was trying to be when confronting her so forcefully, he was lacking something. Something she knew and he didn't.</span></div>