Searching for Something Sweet [Ezrbet]

[ωΘĿƒ]

Coyle sat at one of the small swirly tables and chomped away at a box of milk duds. All around him, rows and rows of sweet treats with sweeter silver and gold wrappers crowded up to him, hugging him in from all sides. You might think that the demonic creature may look out of place in such a happy-go-lucky place, but in all reality the soft, angled features of his childish form and the perfectly round angelic face went better here than anywhere else on campus.

It was only natural then, that Coyle be smiling his huge, sinister smile while popping the chewy treats into his mouth. It was all very natural.

You'd think he loved it here, and the reality was, he did!

Of all the places all over the school, and even all over the world, Coyle never liked anywhere else but candy shops.

Hey, they always had food, they were very colorful and exciting, and the smiles and laughter of children was never lost on any proper candy shop.

Coyle liked kids. They were fun, and not even in a creepy "I'm going to eat you" fun way either. The simple fact was, kids looked at the world in a very new, innocent way. Every vision was warped by their bright imaginations, and every sound or feeling was as if it was felt or heard for the first time.

Kids were awesome, so Coyle usually didn't go around killing people in a candy store. Not to mention he had a sweet tooth and who would kill something when you can just get a sucker instead?

So Coyle sat, happily, enjoying his milky, delicious treat.

It was almost as if he wasn't even planning to kidnap someone...

[Erzbet Bathry]

Erzbet slipped into the candy shop, drawing no notice. You think a girl with long pointed nails and strange glowing eyes would pique everyone's curiousity. Not to mention the graceful way her nearly-hourglass form moved. But Erzbet was rarely noticed unless she wanted to be. It was her favorite of her gifts.

Erzbet ignored the bright flourescent lights, the loud laughter of children, and the smell of candy that was all to sweet to her sensitive nose. She hated the place. So why was she there? Some teacher had a craving for sugar and had called Erzbet, the quietest girl in the class and therefore assumed to be the most trustworthy, to run an errand. For sugar. Erzbet ate a more healthy diet. Besides, the stuff was so sweet is was sickening. She resisted the urge to gag as she saw young children stuffing their faces. How it could make her smile, she'd never know.

Erzbet walked up to the counter and put in her order quietly. The cashiers eyes widened, as if she'd appeared out of thin air. He recovered eventually and went about fulfilling it. Erzbet, unable to handle the scent of candy assailing her nose anymore, turned around for a moment. Her eyes landed on a cherubic face. It was so innocent. Erzbet was struck with a pang of jealousy. She could never look that innocent. Even in her human skin, it was obvious she was something more. Which is why she preferred not to be noticed.

The man came back with her order. She paid him, murmured her thanks and turned to head for the door. Once again she went unnoticed. Well... maybe not completely unnoticed. She spared another glance at the boy. He seemed to fit in with the atmosphere. She didn't. Which is why she wanted to leave so badly. Someone bumped her shoulder. Again their eyes widened as if just seeing her. She murmured an apology and again turned towards the door.

[ωΘĿƒ]

Seeing just the person he wanted to see walk through the door, Coyle frowned a bit.

Well... it wasn't like he didn't enjoy kidnapping people. He lived causing chaos wherever possible, and he loved to see people - especially girls like her - in pain. It was just... He was enjoying his break. Way too much for comfort. Or perhaps with the exact amount of comfort? His youthful form was sprawled lazily out over the chair, and he was nursing his delicious box of milk duds, which by the way had real milk chocolate in them.

Coyle loved milk. Milk was tasty. Milk was sweet and nourishing. It was also completely useless to a creature like him who did not need to eat anything and existed only for the constant amusement of someone screaming in agony, but hey, it was some pretty tasty stuff.

So the beast remained unmoving, even as the girl wandered about her business being all stealthy and whatnot. Stealth couldn't fool the beast though. He could smell her. He could see her. He could taste her, and he could feel the waves of her consciousness ripple out and touch his. She was not too happy about the candy store. Pity. He loved it, and now he was really feeling up to kidnapping her.

Not that he wouldn't want to already, but it was just so comfy to sit here in the store and be a part of the furniture. He'd been working hard lately. Evil plans to commence with. Evil chaos to cause. Evil things do do and evil people to see. You know what they say, "the wicked never rest." Well it was true. Coyle hadn't gotten a moment to himself in a while now, and although he enjoyed every minute of his work, was it too much to as for if he wanted a vacation?

Apparently so... The beast poured the last of the milk duds into his mouth as the girl bought her treats and began to leave. She kept looking at him though. Odd girl... Did she know?

Nawww. She was just paranoid, is all.

When the girl finally did start to leave, Coyle chewed his mouthful of milk duds the best that he could and waved a hand in her direction.

"Hey wait!" he said, or he would have said that if his mouth wasn't full. Instead it sounded something like "hewat."

Cursing to himself with a full mouth, Coyle swallowed the lump of melted milky goodness in one bite and tried that again.

"You're Ezrbet right?"

[Erzbet Bathry]

Erzbet stopped, her golden eyes gaining a more yellow tint. How did this boy know her name? Far as she knew, no one except for her teachers knew her name. Was he in one of her classes? She didn't remember seeing his face anywhere. There was something...something underneath that angelic face that made her uneasy. Like when you look at the completely still mirror surface of a pond and just know there's an alligator underneath it.

"Yes?" She asked quietly, but her voice didn't waiver. She walked a few steps in his direction. "I am Erzbet. How do you know my name?" Even at the distance, she could smell his breath was full of sugar. Ugh. Horrid stuff.

She tilted her head slightly, in a very feral way. A hunter examining it's prey. The teachers had been trying to break her of it since she came there. They'd been, thus far, failing. She ran her tongue over her oddly-sharp canine teeth. Were they slightly bigger than before? She hoped not. There was no way she could lose her skin in public. Stealthy or not, that was guaranteed to draw attention. Very bad attention.

[ωΘĿƒ]

Coyle was deciding now whether to stand up or not. Such a hard decision... Why did these thigs always have to be so difficult?

Sit up. Stand up. Or sit there like a couch potato. Hmmmmm.


He decided on a nice, overly accented rise; like one of those bad guys that has the cape and everything that gets up just to let the cape rustle around their sleek, debonair form. Although... Coyle had no cape. He wore a light pink shirt that said "only real men wear pink" and a pair of worn down old jeans that were too big for him and made him look skinny and small.

Oh well. Details, details. The beast gave the girl a menacing smile.

"How do I know you? Why, you're on my list cupcake... The very first name. Don't you feel special?"

Coyle stood there menacingly with all the glory and power of Darth Vader hismelf, except he was standing in a candy store so small children were running around his legs screaming and laughing incessantly.

Okay... Not too cool... Time for a change of scenery.

Coyle snapped his fingers, and suddenly the room became very dark, like a mist had grown over it. In all reality, this was a plane he picked up from an old friend. It was exactly like this one, but it didn't have any people, it was always shrouded in misty gunk, and no one on the normal plane could see or hear you.

Ah, good times, he had with this plane. Coyle snapped again and the door to the candy store closed. Now that was a little better for scenery!

"Okay so I have a schedule to keep here. Come along quietly and I won't have to go all deamony on you, k?"

[Erzbet Bathry]

First on the list? What list? She didn't feel special. She felt threatened. Part of her knew she was joking. The part that had been learning how to socialize. But the let's-take-everything-literally part seemed to have a bigger say. Her yellow eyes flashed. Her canine teeth grew till they were hanging out of her mouth. Her fingernails resembled claws more than hands. The change of scenery surprised her, but didn't frighten her so much. It reminded her vaguely of the jungle.

"I do everything quietly." She replied, the volume of her voice proving her point. Her face she kept completely passive. Showing fear would only encourage him. She was pessimistic enough to realize that she couldn't beat him. However, it had been weeks since she'd been able fight anyone. She was too preoccupied with keeping her skin on. And the demon, if indeed he was one, didn't plan to kill her. At least not right now. Why not get a little fun in while she could? "But 'coming along' isn't on the list." As fast as she could, which the pessimist in her brain warned her wouldn't be fast enough, she lashed out. Her right hand aimed for his face, the left she held back in case he caught her.

[ωΘĿƒ]

Coyle would have started diabolically laughing, but a claw aimed at his head came a bit too close for comfort. Now, he could have dodged that, but seeing as he wasn't the sharpest crayon in the box as far as reflexes went, he instead just phased out of the dimension into the next one over.

It was great to be an interdimensional beast...

Coyle did a little dodge anyways, but the claws raked through his insubstantial frame and thus proved one point that he hoped the girl got. That being, she couldn't win.

Now it was time for the diabolical laugh, and Coyle laughed very much until he thought he had sufficiently scared her.

It was fun to be evil!

"Now that's not going to work!" he chuckled gleefully. "Wanna try something else? I'm sure if you stare at me hard enough I'll melt all over the floor!"

Then, the happy, laughing visage of the perfectly angelic face darkened.

"Or, you know... You could cut the cute little catch phrases and be a good hostage. I'll give you one last chance, since I'm sodarn nice..."

[Erzbet Bathry]

Erzbet knew from the beginning she couldn't win, but there was something in the fact she couldn't even touch him that added insult to injury. She wanted a fight. It didn't matter matter if it was him, or even a human, she realized with surprise. She was tired of being the good little girl, keeping her human skin on. She was a panther. She was born in the jungle, for God's sake. There was another reason for fighting, though. Another reason that came to her when he said the word "hostage".

Panthers do not do well in captivity.

If there was one real fear she had it was being held against her will. It grated her when she wanted to get out of the class and the teacher held her back. She'd tried to accept the curfew, but being kept inside after dark was something she couldn't do. She looked at her soon-to-be captor and said very simply "I'm not a good hostage."

Rather than attack again and fail, she waited. His laughter, oddly enough, didn't affect her. She wasn't so much afraid of him as she was afraid of where he was taking her. The idea of a cage made her flesh crawl. Her canine teeth shrunk to more-human proportions. Her nails as well. Her eyes, however, stayed bright yellow. One out-of-place thought ran through her head.

I miss my jungle.

[ωΘĿƒ]

He thought he was going to have to get all fighty with her there for a while, but it seemed that she was finally willing to give up. Well... not give up, but be more hostage-like. She didn't seem to be attacking him, so why not call this a cease fire?

And that meant he won. He won! The fact that he probably was supposed to win never crossed his mind. The very fact that he was here was enough to be great, but now here he was in hsi first kidnapping for a long while and it went smoothly! Sweet!

Coyle scooted up to the girl and did his teleporting thing, whisking her off to some unknown location he was given.

She'd end up there safely, and he would be no worse for the wear. A good start to a long list.

Right before the girl vanished, the demon laughed his little devilish laugh.

"Don't worry. I'll teach you how to be a hostage soon enough."

And with that, his job was done.