"Please...Don't do this".

"You?" I exclaimed with surprise as those eyes, gray as storm clouds gazed down at me apologetically.

"Hercules ma'am", he replied, kneeling down on one leg, offering his hand to me. I blushed as I took it. He rose up from the ground. "And, you may be?", he looked at me quizzically, his eyes never faltering when he spoke.

"Zoe. Zoe Nightshade"