What a conniving piece of work this woman is, Jasper thought to himself. He had signaled the end of his patience rather clearly, or at least he believed so. The statement of ultimatum was answered with a brief sigh and the withdrawal of her fingertips from his face, along with a teasing question. What was the magic word?

Jasper could answer the query with any number of crass responses, but he needed to ensure the crystals were safely in his possession. If they were recovered, the witch could escape and he would simply put it down as a bad memory. Looking to spend a brief moment in thought over Kyan's raised question, Jasper settled on his answer.

"Please hand over the crystals now, before an untimely accident happens. I cannot guarantee your safety here."

As expected, the man chose his response with much thought. The woman with the electric-blue hair smirked, and then addressed him with a soft sigh to let him know she only felt slightly inconvenienced by his request.  

“Very well.”

The crystals only needed a slight coaxing from the witch's fingertips before they were on their way toward Jasper, glistening like little embers against the dimming evening sky. While Jasper reclaimed the heart crystals, Kyan quietly walked toward the damaged door frame leading back into the hotel. She stopped before it and gave Jasper one last glance before passing through it.

“But know this: You carry something much more valuable than these crystals...” she paused and added, “And I'd much rather hear your heart beat, not your last breath. So take care of yourself because I will be waiting for you the next time we cross paths, hun.” The woman's light laughter trailed behind her as she vanished down the stairwell....

That had to be one of the strangest come-ons that he ever witnessed, let alone received.

Was his hearing functioning correctly? While taking count of the heart crystals and attempting to maintain his outward appearance of strength, Jasper found himself questioning Kyan's thought processes in the unexpected compliment she awarded to the concierge. What, exactly, did she mean by his heartbeat as opposed to his last breath? Was she simply toying with him or expressing a deeper desire for his presence? That was a bit disconcerting; the destruction of the witch's minion was meant to scare her away. Instead, the party crasher conceded a small victory in light of a source of new entertainment.

Jasper beckoned the floating red crystals towards him, and the brilliant red jewels seemingly were all too happy to follow his nonverbal summoning. They must have sensed his intent to return them to their proper vessels for a well-earned rest. Looking over the gathering of precious vital gems, the hotel manager offered them a faint smile before guiding the souls back to the banquet hall where the trouble began.

"Right this way, my dear guests.."

For the concierge's patrons, their night would soon come to a close. Meanwhile, Jasper's was just getting started. He would need to clean the banquet hall mess, answer police inquiries, and screen the camera feeds for signs of his conflict with the witch.

No one else needed to know of his hand in these matters.