1 THE PHOTOGRAPHER

It was supposed to be an easy assignment. His fellow frère had made themselves very clear; while their queen slept, get photographic proof of the female. The rumors had flooded daemon circles for years, he was even certain he had seen the exotic female in the Court of King James I. He clutched the professional camera as he waited in an alley close to her modern Tokyo home. It was full dark and his wavy, messy short pale blonde hair was covered by an expensive grey felt fedora. He was always an immaculate dresser since he had become frère. On his lean but compactly muscled frame; he wore a charcoal grey single button sports coat with a subtle pin stripe. His pants matched his blazer, and he had on an impossibly starched whiter than white button down. The material looked to be a satin/cotton blend with a stark black tie around his neck; the knot was perfect, but then it would be. He always took pride in his appearance when he appeared human.

Painful thoughts and memories of five millenniums ago permeated his brain. The young looking creature viciously shoved down his pain and held onto the camera as he waited for "her". 

Since it was winter; he wore a heavy trench coat in a lighter grey that was waterproof and warm. His kind could only withstand the cold so much. His queen originated from Central Hindustan. He honestly did not know  much else except she was a monster. He truly thrilled when she took a death sleep; they were the only times he did not hate himself and his fellow frère. 

The evening wore on and he continued his vigil. The blonde frère bore pale green eyes as he scanned the Tokyo evening from his alley hideaway. 

"Who are you?" He heard in a husky, feminine voice in Japanese.

"I am only a photographer from a local magazine." He lied smoothly in her native tongue.

He stared at the object of his queen's utter hate; he and his fellow frère's main objective to destroy. She stood about a meter eighty tall. Her face was heart shaped with sculpted cheeks and jaw. Her chin was beautifully rounded and her neck; long and graceful. Her pale blue orbs reminded him of the blue of the dawn sky; they were also a bit big and almond shaped like so many in Far East Asia. Her nose was slight with just a bit of a pert tip. Her mouth was very full top and bottom lips in the color of a peach rose. Her silken hair was the same silver color as the moon at its apex; it was impossibly long and came past her back end. Each sculpted cheek had parallel magenta marks, lighter magenta covered her eyelids, and a violet-blue crescent shape adorned between her perfectly arched silver brows. The daemon female was brazen and wearing only a fawn colored night gown that came to her ankles. The straps were thin and lace barely covered her very full chest. He had seen the back of her sleeping attire and it dipped to expose her back to just above her pert backside. He gulped and noticed she wore no footwear.

"I will ask you again cretin; who are you? Why do you have a camera and why do you follow me? Do NOT think me a fool sir; I felt your yoki from my penthouse!" The luscious woman actually growled at him.

"Does a name matter? I am beholden to another and I am what is called a frère." Thé blonde man bowed his head.

She noticed he spoke in a cultured voice but his refusal to give her a straight answer infuriated her. The youkai (daemon) woman; without warning, rushed the beautiful young youkai male. She jerked the camera from his grasp and crushed it in her hand. She jerked the hat from his head and pale blonde barely fell over the collar of his starched white shirt.

"Last chance to answer before I get violent! Who are you and what is your mission?" His obsession demanded in her native Nihon.

Indecision flitted across the handsome visage of the young looking human man.

"My name is Chrestian. I was supposed to gather intelligence on you for my fellow frère and our maker; Ayille. I do not wish to fight you though." The frère admitted. 

"What do you wish frère Chrestian?" The  silver haired female asked.

"I wish to know you Asuna Jing." Chrestian whispered.

Asuna sucked in her breath startled and could only stare at the man she had just met who had been trying to take pictures; Chrestian was as much a mystery to her as she was to him.