Ha ha ha! Guess what this story is connected to... :)

Right. Well, since a few of you are reading this, I'll tell you about it, yeah? A lot of you noticed that I introduced a new character in the last chapter of 'A Devil's Appeal' and I did this for a reason: he is our first main character, our second being Bacchius, Aureus' friend who was in love with him. This time, Salax and Aureus get to be background characters, but they will still be in here because I can't seem to let them get on with their lives.

Salax and Aureus: Go away!

Widom: No. Go make out in a dark corner or something.

Aureus: Okay.

Salax: Who needs a dark corner?

Widom: ...I don't even want to discuss this.

Okay, okay, I'll stop, just one more thing: a demon in my terminology is a half angel, half human. This is rarely done, so you get some hell of weird results from it. Said first character is a demon.

Thank you Athos for beta-reading my stories, no matter how many there may be.

Okay, author note ended. Enjoy the (extrememly short) prologue!

An Angel's Temptation-Prologue

I have to get back to Salax. I have to survive. I have to. Oh please, please, please, I have to know if this can work.

The heart-wrenching pleading that the little blond angel didn't even know he was showing made the demon hesitate, like such things always had. Love, pure and simple and tragic, laced the course of Aureus Teres' thoughts, making the words jumbled and confused and potent. Never having felt these purer emotions himself, the demon couldn't say whether or not it would last, whether or not the feelings of 'love' could remain unchanged once the lust disappeared. He could not be certain if the young devil lord even returned the angel's feelings. Unsurprisingly, however, this large and rather unusual amount of uncertainty made the demon act more than a little out of character: he decided not to kill the angel after all.

Perhaps he was sentimental. Perhaps he was foolish. Perhaps he was just a little more human than most. It's hard to tell sometimes, but never, never, never could the demon harm someone in love, no matter who they may be. Never had he, and never would he...his heart, insensitive and unused as it was, couldn't look past what his inner reaching could feel so strongly, couldn't bring him to extinguish the light and passion that made up someone in love. He marveled at this emotion, many times...despite what should have been there, love erased it, made a person strong. Pain, fear, hesitation...love made them all disappear. It was a fascinating emotion.

And so, the demon let the angel go. Free and safe and unharmed...and welcome to go back to the devil the little blond was in love with at that moment. The demon even gave the angel the food and map he had worked so hard to steal earlier, having not eaten anything for the entire three days he had been in the Kingdom of Angels. He even went so far as to follow the angel and dispose of any attackers personally after that, letting the blood of those he was supposed to be working with stain his black, snake skin gloves. He let their last breaths feather through his hair, and their silent screams or shouts of surprise fade when they saw his eyes, cold and yellow-green, with pupils slit almost like a snake. When he was through with that, the demon moved ahead and cleared the obstacles from the angel's path, nearly up to the border of the underworld...and nobody knew, nobody at all, except the demon himself. It was the way he preferred it: to be the link that nobody saw. He did his work, helped the angel because he was so inclined at that particular moment, and didn't say a word when he was doing so.

He doubted the angels who he supposed 'commanded' him would be pleased to hear of his assisting the angel they had specifically told him kill. He doubted they would forgive him, and they would probably demote him...but then, he saw no point in social or political status. He could always kill those higher than him, so he didn't see the logic at all. Or somebody could hire him to kill them. Either way, they were hardly safe, ever, despite how they wanted to believe it. Not even the angels, the rulers, the council, were safe.

The demon existed only to kill people, to know their weaknesses, and he was very good at what he did.

He was waiting for it to end. Like with all demons, there was always someone who could and would resist them, complete them, a mate, a match. Someone with a mental and emotional strength that could not be bent or read by a demon's superior mind, controlled by their superior wits. There was always one for every demon, and he was certainly no exception...he just hadn't found them yet.

He wondered, perhaps idly, where on Earth or in the afterworld they could be.