Dan sat staring at the mirror, he had a nice red handprint on the side of his face.  It still stung even 20 minutes later.  

How was he supposed to know?

Thinking about it, there had been signs through college, small little gestures and reactions to certain things said and done. He had honestly never thought of Ms. Lawrence that way however.  

Or perhaps he should call her Sara now, seeing as she was no longer his teacher.

Or maybe he shouldn't worry about it, seeing as he doubted very much she would ever want to see him again.  He let loose another sigh, the day had gone from good to bad in record time.   Turning around he found himself face to face with Amani, who was shuffling and acting like she was worried about something.

“I- uh, I am sorry.”  she said not making eye contact.

“For?” he asked.

She looked up and briefly made eye contact with him, only to have those large green eyes look away in a flash.  Much to his surprise there were the traces of tears in those eyes.  She muttered something he could not hear.

“What's wrong Amani?”  he asked, hooking a hand under her chin and bringing her face back up to face him.

“I am sorry we interrupted your date, we have no right to be jealous, and i am sorry I got in the way.”

“Well, first of all I didn't even know it was a date, and second what do you mean by you got in the way?”

“Well, I am aware you have known other women before you met me, I do not want to get in the way of other people that you have met before meeting me.”  she said sadly, and a single lonely tear streaked down her face.

With his thumb he rubbed the tear away with a gentle caress, she looked up at him and he smiled gently. “You don't need to apologize.”

“But I am getting in the way of your normal life, I realize I am not the best at acting norm-”  she started, but before she could finish that sentence he leaned in and kissed her on the lips,  he ran his fingers through her long black hair and pressed her body against his like he wanted to absorb her into himself.  

He pulled his face slightly away from hers and rested his forehead against her own.  “Do you see this?”  he asked, pulling up her hand and placing a finger on the ring that was placed on her hand. “This means I accept you as you are, this means I love you as you are, and there is nothing you can do to change that.”  he said softly.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Tears ran down her face, this time however it was not tears of sadness but rather tears of joy.

“Heeeeyyyyyyyy, how come I don't have one of those?”  came the muffled sound of a voice, leaning around the doorframe he was able to make out the form of Abyzou laying there on the floor.

She was currently bound and tied tightly, not allowing her to move. She had originally had a gag in aswell but it would seem she had been able to work it out of her mouth.  Dan just shook his head at the sight.  

Amani had told him to allow her to handle the situation, as Abyzou still wanted to murder Sara, and this was the result.  She was bound and restrained in a matter of seconds, it honestly was as impressive as it was intimidating.

“You want one?”  he asked looking at the wriggling Lamia on the floor.

“Uh huh! Uh huh!”  she nodded with her eyes gleaming.

“Well maybe some day, you still need some work before you can have one of those.”  

“EHHHHHH?!?!?!”  she cried out in surprise “But but but, Amani got one why can't I?”

“Well, Amani doesn't try to murder people that talk to me for starters.”  he said bluntly.

“EHHHHHH?!?!?! That's not fair, I- I-”  she said, flopping around the floor like a fish out of water.

“Work hard sister-”  Amani said with a slight laugh.

Dan and Amani had a small chuckle at Abyzou’s expense and were about to continue their conversation when Dan heard the door of the shop open and the bell attached to said door ring.  He glanced at his image in the mirror, the angry red handprint was still there, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

Clicking his tongue he pulled out of Amani’s grasp and walked out to welcome the customer.

The person in question appeared to be a woman, she had slender form and her movements were graceful as she walked the aisles looking at the ornate objects they had placed in the small shop.

He could not make out her face at all, it was obscured in the darkness of a hood.

“Hello, welcome to the shoppe of oddities.”   Dan said looking at her.  She turned in his direction and considered him for a second.

“Are you the owner of this shop?”  she asked, there was a slight purr to her voice.

“I am yes,”  he nodded.

“It would appear I have the wrong shop then.”  she said, turning to walk out.

“Wait,”  he said, and much to his relief he saw her pause in her movements. “This might sound like a strange question but are you human?”  he asked looking at the woman.  She turned around and looked at him deeply for a few seconds before answering.  

“And if I am not?”

“Then I don't think you have the wrong shop.”  he said, a slight smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. It would appear that the magic Amani had placed on the shop was already working drawing in non mortals.

“And what would a human like yourself know of non humans?”  the woman asked.

“Well seeing as my two wives are non human, quite a bit.”  he said.

“Hi!”  Amani said, peeking out from behind the divider.

“A djinn? Interesting.”  said the hooded figure of the woman.  “It would appear I was incorrect, my apologies for the rudeness earlier.”

“Its no problem.” he said with a smile. “My name is Daniel Rhodri by the way, and this is my wife Amani, my wife Abyzou is currently, indisposed.”  he said.

she pulled her hood down and revealed her face. She looked mostly human, with a long angular almost elven face and delicate tan skin, the only thing that looked truly off was the blue eyes, which resembled those of a cats, and those cat ears she had perched atop her head, nestled in the long black hair, that was braided in an egyptian style, beads of gold held the braids in place.

“A pleasure to meet you Mr. Rhodri, I am called Bastet.”  she said with a slight purr.