...

Nyx sauntered past the now dead guard that had been trying to insist that she had to buy tickets or whatever the hell they were in order to get into the damned zoo. She'd declined, and when he'd annoyed her, she'd ripped out his spine, leaving in a pool of blood in the bottom of his little vendor thingy. He'd been completely paralyzed and he'd soon be dead. The redhead didn't care much. He'd deserved it, trying to talk to her like that. Nobody talked to her like that.

Running a hand through her hair, she walked forward like an angry cat, an accurate similie, considering where she was. Her green eyes stared out, ensaring anyone that dared look at her directly. When they did this, they looked away quickly, even the men, despite the sexuality she seemed to exude. She wasn't wearing her usual vinyl or leather, opting instead for low rise navy denim jeans, that were ripped on her thighs, like some giant animal of prey had swiped at her. Her shirt was no more than a denim corset. Snakeskin shoes gave her that extra grace, that she really didn't need. She was just as intimidating and fluid when she was completely naked.

Large cats were Nyx's favourite animals. They reminded her so much of herself, despite how arrogant that might sound. She passed the lion cage, and the only male turned to look at her. Dragging her nail along the chainlink cage, she looked at him, and he back at her. He looked away first, and she giggled like the sixteen year old she appeared to be. Stretching, he came to walk beside her, and she gave him a small kissy face as she moved away.

Her interest was perked when she saw a group of young mortals in front of the leopard cage. Raising an eyebrow, a hint of a smirk on her face, she moved forward, pushing the offending mortals out of her way, ignoring their cries out at her. She pressed herself completely against the offending cage, looking at the sight inside. A man - quite a beautiful one - was playing with her kitties. She turned with a lazy gesture to the people behind her.

"Leave," she said. They didn't. They just stared at her with those insignificant eyes. Rage clouded her vision, and she used a voice she usually reserved for naughty Tarepha members. "Now, fuckers!" They scattered. Turning back to the cage, she climbed the cage, looking like it was completely natural for her. She jumped to the bottom, and stalked through the foliage towards the other immortal - who, surprisingly, was older than her... not that she gave a shit. Stepping out, she leaned against a tree, in a pose that was more than a little sensuous. A smile graced her lips, "Having fun?"

"Now I am."

Ganymede - the cupbearer of the gods. Once, he had been only a sweet young boy, sleeping on a hill top. Then, the mighty god Zeus appeared to him and whisked him away to beautiful Olympus. The present Ganymede smirked. Well, history seemed to be repeating itself. But rather than Zeus, it would appear, he had been visited by Aphrodite herself. Ganymede gently stroked the narrow back of one of the nearby cats, and gazed at the vision of beauty that had approached him. When he was a boy, his mother had worked as a concubine for the king, and she was, along with her colleagues, considered to be of the most beautiful women in the world. Even so, this claret haired Venus seemed to surpass even her. But then again, Ganymede was obsessed with out ward beauty.

"To what do I owe this most unexpected pleasure, Aphrodite?"

Ganymede inquired, spicy Greek accent drenching his words in ethnicity. One of the cats laying near him rose to greet the woman, nuzzling her thigh as if they were the best of friends. The boy merely smiled, vulpine eyes fixed on the other as if hypnotized.

Raising an eyebrow at his first comment, she smirked. "I'm a fun person." It wasn't said in an overly cheerful way, the way a statement such at that tended to be, instead full of self-appreciation. What she did not say was that her manner of fun was open to interpretation. The last person she'd been with seemed to have thought that she was pleasurable, but there were countless before her that had called her a heartless fiend. Though she augmented their torture after this, she did nothing to object to the statement. She was heartless, and she was a fiend. She couldn't very well lie, could she? Just the thought of it amused her.

She stalked forward, crouching several feet away from him, an intrigued smile on her face. "It seems you have mistaken me," she said, though there was no trace of modesty. "I'm Nyx, Goddess of the Night, not Aphordite... though I can inspire lust when I so deem fit, wouldn't you agree?" Oh, she loved playing with people. Make it seem like she was interested - though she was - just not in a deeper level. A game, maybe, nothing more.

A leopard approached her, a female. Nyx ran her nails through the soft fur. "As to why I'm here... you're playing with my kitties." She placed a kiss on the head of the leopard. "All the cats here are mine, whether the zoo knows it or not." A large smile emmerged as she thought of the guard.

"Your kitties....they seem to obey you, yes."

Ganymede purred with a sultry smirk, sitting up and stretching like the cats he was surrounded by. All of the spotted beasts seemed to come out of their sheltered hiding places to greet her, purring and rubbing against her legs with affection. The shimmering python still draped about his mid section now undulated, slithering closer to his face and then gently tapping its thin tounge against his bottom lip. Ganymede giggled and stroked the reptile, palm running down the length of its smooth body. In response the animal stilled, seemingly content with his skin contact. But Ganymede was not so at ease. He remembered, almost like a dream, someone like this woman being described to him before. But who had it been? He had heard of her dazzling crimson locks, her emerald eyes....and her almost cruelly graceful manner. But from whom? He chewed his lip, in deep thought. And then, it all came back to him. That whore, Adonis, bleeding and some what drunk....

"You know Adonis, then?"

Ganymede couldn't help but smirk to himself. He absolutley despised that creature, that prostitute, that...thing. But every time he attempted to kill him, the whore had managed to escape. Ganymede knew that Nephim were quick, but he had not known of their shadow cloaking until very recently. Perhaps this Nyx could help him in Adonis' murder...

Nyx laughed, throwing her head back and nuzzling her face into the fur of one of the leopards. She looked up at him with eyes so much like the cats' own. In the gathering twilight, they seemed to glow, much like a cat's would, showing her to be a true nocturnal predator. Crawling around the leopard, she stalked forward, somehow managing to look fluid even on her hands and knees. Stopping right in front of him, she laid down on the ground, looking up at him like the cat that caught the canary.

"Most beings seem to obey me," said Nyx, her smile still in place. Her red hair was spread out around her like a bloody halo, and for a moment she looked serene just laying there, leaving one to wonder what she usually looked like when she came to these animals.

Upon his comment, her mouth curved into an 'o', like she'd been caught on camera doing something she shouldn't have. Despite the look of surprise, she still managed to have control over her expression. Turning onto her side, she propped her head up with her arm. "Adonis? Yes, I know him, or am at least acquainted with him. We shared a little... game one night." Nyx didn't bother to elaborate. This person would either get it, or the wouldn't, and it wasn't her job to fill in everyone. "So... you know me, but I have yet to catch your name."

"How could I not know you, Queen? It is in Adonis' nature to...seek out those of privelege and wealth to be his hosts."

Ganymede spat the name as if it was acidic in his mouth. Indeed the hellish whore of Babylon did bother him, more than he was willing to illustrate. One who had to be paid to engage in Ganymede's pass time, his sport, his forte was automatically demonized in his mind. However, Adonis was even more abhorrent. He was shameless. He was beautiful. And he was damnable in his loveliness. Ganymede grimaced, eyes fixed on the feline creatures nuzzling Nyx. Was he really so much less than that -whore-? Ages ago, in his native land, Ganymede had been known and worshipped for his beauty, his grace, and his unfailing charm. And like a spider creeping along a web, he could feel that damn whore taking his place.

Jolted out of his musings by the contented purring of a jungle cat nuzzling Nyx's shoulders, Ganymede sat up a little more. The python, shimmering and at ease draped across his body, simply raised up, to look him in the eye, and then lay across his collar bone. He smiled, seemingly knowing, at Nyx.

"I am Ganymede. A...companion of Adonis."

Queen. He'd called her a queen. That was sure something she could get used to. A slow smirk stretched across her face, and to say it was sensual would be an understatement. She chewed on her lip a moment before answering. "Well, I can't say I'm not priviledged or wealthy, but trust me, I don't think he really wanted to play with me." Nyx allowed herself a small pout. "It really hurts a girl's ego. It makes me wonder if I'm really repulsive, but nobody wants to tell me."

Or course, this last statement was a complete lie. Nyx knew for a fact that she was not repulsive... at least not upon first meetings, but she was having fun. That and she wanted to see what he would reply with. Fishing for compliments? Her? She had no need for such a thing. She simply wanted to see his reply. One of her kitties came up and Nyx gave it a kiss as it licked her. She loved these animals. So sensuous, so beautiful, so dangerous. The same could be said about her she supposed. It was half her charm.

"A companion?" questioned Nyx, she crawled a little closer until she was directly in front of him. "You don't sound so sure. That's alright. You can't be expected to like everyone. Look at me. Lots of people hate me." Her expression turned innocent. "You don't hate me, do you?" She gave his lips a slow lick, before withdrawing her tongue back, and just looking at him.

The python's slick skin shone in the moonlight, and it nudged the underside of Ganymede's jaw with it's arrow shaped nose. The Greek boy simply smiled, running an enamored hand down the creature's back. He always had loved snakes, out of self loathing. So evil, yet so beautiful...so grotesque, and yet so elegant. So like him, in ways as countless as the stars. He gazed at the night sky, feeling nothing but the python's skin on his. For a moment, not so uncommon, he missed Greece. Not bustling modern day Greece, but the country of ancient times, of Thebes and Sparta and Athens. His home.

He was aware, suddenly, of another's lips on his. He moaned softly, of reflex and true surprise at the kiss. He hadn't considered Nyx, the Queen of Tarepha, to be the kind to kiss. But she did, and very well. He smirked, stretching as the snake gently slithered around him, finding a more comfortable position. Ganymede focused his vision on Nyx, the rather mysterious woman who had stolen Adonis' spirit. He had always been so completley...normal after 'sessions'. But he had stumbled home truly broken after his term with her. Ganymede, of course, had loved it. Watching Adonis cry was one of his favorite pass times.

"Of course I don't hate you, Queen. But I do...hate Adonis. I swear I'm a better lay. I know I am. He's -gah-! I hate him! Cannot keep his legs shut for money! Disgusting fool...How was he, any way?"

In a way, Ganymede hated Adonis. In the very same way, he loved him.