Soul exchange

Five ~ Thanks for the face wash.

Warm hands cradled Nyx's elbow and her gaze lifted to the darkest brown eyes and furrowed brow.

"It's you again."

"Yes."

"Have you seen my friend? She disappeared a few minutes ago when we were walking back to my place." Nyx slowly got her feet beneath her and stood, the stranger's hands still supporting her shaking arms. Once she felt stable, he released her and stepped back with a frown.

"I can't say I have, Miss Knight."

In a moment of shock, she forgot she shared her name with him in the club after his gallant rescue."Sorry, um, I already told you my name, didn't I? Uh, what's your name?"

The man bit his lower lip lightly before responding, and a soft sigh escaped his mouth. "Neo."

With one look at his face, Nyx knew he lied to her. "A nickname?"

"Neo Mephisto is my name."

It seemed a touchy subject, and Nyx wasn't in the mood to uncover the truth. "Okay, Neo Mephisto, is there any way you could help me find my friend?"

Saying his name aloud had a sour taste swirling in her mouth. Maybe he is bad news.

"Let me make some calls." He pulled a phone from his pocket and quickly dialled someone, holding the device to his ear. "Keep an eye out for a five-foot-six blonde with brown eyes wearing all black. Responds to Selene-"

Neo looked over at Nyx expectantly, and her mouth opened and closed a few seconds before breathing out, "Araceli."

"Selene Araceli." The name rolled off his tongue deliciously, and Nyx stood quietly staring at his perfect outline under the streetlamps. The voice on the other end of the phone spoke for a long time, and Nyx's eyes dropped to Neo's hand half perched in his pant pocket. Out of curiosity and perhaps from liquid courage, she stepped closer as if walking past and attempted to touch his bare skin. I just want to take a peek... 

Despite his head not turning to see her creepy reaching fingers, he jerked his arm up, lightly touching his chin and strode out of range. "That's all, Bee. I'll be back shortly." Then, with a gruff throat clearing, his dark eyes regarded her again. "Do you have a way home?"

Nope. "Uh, yeah. It's not far." In these heels, it might as well be on the moon. "I was just going to walk." Or cry.

Neo's lip quirked up into a half-smirk. "I'll call you a cab."

"I don't have any money." And I don't want to be alone right now.

Neo's brows rose a fraction before his mask of composure settled back into place. "Come back into the club, and you can stay in my private suite. No one will bother you, and you will be close if Miss Araceli shows up."

Nyx blinked and swallowed against a dry mouth. "Private suite? Oh, that's a kind offer, but it's fine, really. I- I'll walk!"

Panic rose in her chest momentarily when Neo's face appeared at her eye level. "You will be safe here. I give my word."

"I don't even know you." Despite her objections, she shakily returned to the club, serenaded by the thumping bass and buzzing lights.

"What do you want to know?" He matched her stride at a safe, unreachable distance. The urge to sniff herself almost overcame Nyx. Noone ever acted so repulsed by her touch. Most people were far too comfortable touching her as if they somehow sensed her unusual abilities. Maybe he's a germaphobe?

"Miss Knight?"

"Huh?"

"What do you-"

"Oh right. Um, everything?" Nyx's eyes shifted across the empty roads to the lone bouncer at the front of Demonology. The nonexistent line contrasted so intensely with her first impressions of the place. Even the fluorescent signage looked dimmer. A foreboding air gripped her when a warm hand clasped her shoulder, pulling her closer to a sweltering torso. She looked up at Neo's contemplative face and raised her brows.