The Forbidden Art

Mira shook Azrael's hand, and tried to give a small smile.

"My name is Mira, I think that we met at a forest wasn't it?"

Drake smiled, and kissed Kailyn once more, pushing his body into hers.

"No... I'm just kidding..." He replied as he wrapped his arms around her.

He kissed her again, this time more passionately. "You know good and well I want to just sit here..."

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Robin sat in the tree above Azreal and Mira, not moving, or really even breathing. She had recently become a Psuedo-Crusnik, and was trying to focus herself. Well... That, and she was making sure Azreal didn't do anything stupid.

She breathed deeply, and continued to sit on the branch, one of her knees pulled up to her chest, and her arm on her knee, while her other leg was hanging down. She had recently changed into her black, leather pants, which tightened around her curves irrasistably.

Azrael remembered he incident and laughed.

"Oh yea, I remember that. Why were all the women crowding around me?" He sighed, closed his eyes and gave a soft sigh. " Anyways, what I wanted to talk to you about was, how do you know Vladimir? He seemed pretty happy about patching things up with you before he...you know..." Azrael shifted in his spot, kinda nervous about asking the question.

Mira giggled when remembering what had happened "No idea Azrael... No idea why..." She said with her eyes closed "I knew him only for a short time, but he always seemed to like me..."

She stopped talking and looked up for a moment "Uh? Who is there?"

Azrael chuckled, then he looked up to see someone in the tree.

"Who the... Mira, I think we have an assassin. You get the right and I got the left." Then he actually concentrated and saw who it was. "Oh, it's Robin." He waved at her before turning to Mira. "I see you have one last memento of your love for him. He really loved you, but I guess Falks was in your heart all along." He shrugged and sighed. "When, or if you decide on having Vladimir's child, do you mind if I help take care of him...or her?"

Mira gave a small smile "Sort of" She mumbled before hearing Azrael's suggestion and stared at him for a moment "When. If you want to... I think it would be nice if you could tell him, or her, about Vlad"

Azrael looked back at Mira, into her eyes with the deepest sincerity. He hugged her in and rested her head on her shoulder before parting.

"Thanks Mira. I know Vladimir will appreciate this from you." He smiled. "I see why he fell for you, your beauty and calmness is warming. Falks is a lucky man Mira." Azrael got up and stretched his arms. "I need to train for this battle. Care to spar with me?"

Vera considered Taeisha's offer. It really did sound like she was trying to get out of her babysitting job, but Vera didn't want to be with her anyways... plus, if Asinoir was so worried, who better to watch her than him?

Vera licked the edges of her drink. Her mind went to thinking. The alcohol went to working. And then her mouth went to running.

Encouraged by her third (or was it fifth?) Cosmo, Vera's lips started to move.

"Y'know, I really, hic, hate thish!" She said, slurring a little, "Shtupid Ashi-boar. I hate him fer, hic, putting me in thish shit-utatinamibogger. I hate the council fer taking away MY houshe, I dunno where's my shtuff," She said, "I hate Vexoz fer not, hic, waiting fer me. And I hate the bar-hic-tender fer CUTTING ME OFF," She said the last bit a little too loudly.

And then Vera looked at Taeisha, suddenly looking VERY sober.

"And I hate you for not caring he was in love with another woman," She said, her voice dangerously soft.

With a dramatic tap on the table, she hopped off the stool as if she never took a drink. She hugged Tellas, burying her face against his fur for a little while.

"Thank you," She mumbled into his fur, "You've always been such a good friend to me." She snuggled a little deeper into him, "But let me do something quick. Alone."

As she was leaving, she stopped and looked over her shoulder, "If you want him, you can have him," She said, directing it at Taeisha, "Just pray to god you don't slip into a coma or something. Who knows who he'll be with when you wake up."

And with that, she left to go speak to the man she was letting go of.

Tellas nodded in understanding when Vera said she needed to do something alone. He looked to Taeisha for a moment then said, "You should talk to Retasouhdal anyway,"

"Sure" Mira said while getting up and looking at him with a smile "I also need to train a bit more"

The pair walked only a few minutes up to a large empty grassplain. It was fit for some training of supernatural proportions, and it wouldn't even be that serious. Besides, it was time Azrael went up against a being that was on his lunch menu. Surely, this would be a fine battle. The two distanced themselves, and Azrael calmly closed his eyes and sighed. Fighting non-Vampires was something Azrael was forced to specialize, since the times when vampires came close to extinction. However, he could feel Mira's power, and he knew she was most likely on a whole different level than him.

She knew magic, but he didn't.

Azrael hadn't fought much with magic beings, but even then Mira seemed to possess incredible magic. However, Azrael was becoming an Arch-Crusnik. He wasn't to be taken lightly either.

"Crusnik 00, Limitation Release: 10% I'm ready when you are Mira."

After Vera's little rant, Teaisha waited for her to leave. As soon as she was gone, the Mana Spirit burried her face in her hands.... "By the gods, what have I done!"

Finally, she admitted her real feelings. "I just heard Vera had gone. I don't know why, but... well, I just thought she wouldn't come back. All I wanted was to keep Vexoz from suffering over her.... To get him to move on."

She leaned over on the bar and ordered a quick drink. As soon as Teaisha tried to taste it, she almost jumped out of her seat and spiewed it back out, fanning her tounge. How did anyone manage to drink this stuff!

"All he ever talked about was Vera. But after he was over her I genuinely loved him.... Just like he genuinely loved me...." She looked at Tellas. "Be honest... does that make me a horrible person? I pushed him into this so hard and........"

Tellas shook his head, "It makes you a caring person," he said eventually, "Vera's too proud to admit it but, in the end, she started off Vexoz's heart growing distant from her..." He shrugged, "After the travelling I've done with her, erven on the way back up the mountain to the villiage, she looked forward to meeting Vexoz again..."

He closed his eyes, "I know all too well the pain of falling for someone only to have their heart stolen by another or killed before the declaration could be made," he said a tear in his eye, "Although... I've made my vow to her. I've delcared my love for her... No matter what, I'll see it through,"

He looked to the Mana Spirit then said, "I don't think we've actually introduced ourselves to each other have we? My name is Tellas Strum."

"Teaisha Luvineus." She thought about extending her hand, but chose not to. "You're not missing much. All of my relationships have ended pretty badly...."

She crossed her arms, feeling the spirit cloth. Wearing it was starting to really bug her.... Then, she glanced around at the drunken lustfull men in the bar.

"Would you mind if we waited outside? I know Vera's coming back for you and.... Well, I still need to look after her."

"It would be advisable..." he said rising to his feet, and leaving the bar.

As soon as they were outside the bar, Teaisha couldn't stand herself anymore. She quickly stripped off the Spirit Cloth and neatly placed it on the ground right next to her. The Mana Spirit leaned back and stretched with her arms above her head, enjoying being un-covered again.

"I don't think you of all people would mind seeing a little fur, right?" She joked before stretching a little more to the side. "Vexoz told me about you as well.... Not as much as Vera, but still enough."

"Not surprised..." he said, "In case you haven't noticed it's just my fur keeping me modest." He added with a shrug then said, "What did Vexoz say about me then?"

"He seemed to have both contempt and respect for you. But, I'm pretty sure he was a little jelous over you going with Vera instead of him." Teaisha leaned over on a nearby wall, crossing her arms and putting one leg over the other.

"He was mostly impressed with how much you were willing to give up for her. He said the two of you were insepprable.... In fact, he specifically wondered how exactly Vera would use the bathroom without you following her in there." The Mana Spirit held back a slight laugh and continued trying to talk. "From the way he sounded, it seemed like she could've shaved you bald and kicked you blue.... But you would keep crawling back no matter what."

"Loyalty's always a great quallity to have. I don't know how you manage to keep it up, honestly.... There's so many distractions in the world...."

"Taeisha... If you true love Vexoz... then you'll realize how I can put up with Vera's quirks. I do give her privacy when needed of course." He shrugged, "I stay by her side now to prevent her from suffering something she doesn't want to relive. I am her shield... and she guides my axe."

"I know what you mean...." The Mana Spirit gave Tellas another look. "I don't think I could ever do what you do. Even if I made a Spirit Pact with him. I'm my own person, just as he is his."

A smile crossed her face. "Not that he would want my help anyways. If there's one problem Vexoz has, he's way too proud of himself. That man would rather die than have someone save him." She got off the wall and took a few steps closer to Tellas. "Not that I would need his help either. I can take care of myself now. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that you can't wait on a white knight to save you every time you're in trouble."

He chuckled with a nod, "That's right. Don't let go of his heart Taeisha. That's the least you culd do for him."

Don't let go of his heart.

You know what? She didn't want to let go of him. And that was more than she had with anyone before! "You're right!" Teaisha blurted out, energetically. "If I don't do something, he's going to go back to Vera. I just know it!"

She picked up her Spirit Cloth and put her arms through the sleeves, not bothering to close up the front. "I'm going to go in there and make sure he knows how much I care about him. And if Vera doesn't like it, then so be it!" Suddenly, she stopped and looked back at Tellas. If she did that, then Vera would be crushed!

Teaisha looked back at Tellas. "Wait a minute.... I think I might have a better idea." The Mana Spirit gave him a grin. "I want Vexoz all for myself... you want Vera to like you instead of him." He probably knew where this was going....

"You wouldn't mind helping me set something romantic up, would you? After 100 years of rejecting people, it's hard to think of anything that really...." The exact words escaped her. "Well, you know. Would get a person... going."

Tellas blinked, "Let me get this straight... you want me help you keep Vexoz with something romantic that only you can pull off?" He shook his head, "My only advice is listen to your heart... it's what let me to make the vows I did to Vera."

Vera exited the bar and kicked off the ground, flying towards the weapons training facility. She hoped he would still be there.

She landed in front of the building and just stared at it for a little while. For once, she didn't know what to say. After a few minutes, she took a deep breath and decided to just say whatever came to mind.

Because that would go over well.

She opened the doors and shut them behind her as quietly as she could. She wandered across the floor, looking at how drastically things had changed. Everything looked more worn. It smelled of sweat. It looked... used.

She wandered over to the main office.

"Vex?" She asked, slightly proud of herself for the nickname/adjective she used. It didn't feel right to call him Vee-Vee anymore. Things had changed. She understood that. Accepted? Well... only some of it. She really did want her house back.

She opened up the door to the office, peeking her head through, "Vexoz?" She asked before boldly stepping into the room, "I'm coming in, well, I am in, so you better not be naked or anything. That'd be awkward. Although I was just with Taeisha so you wouldn't have a reason to be naked, well maybe you would if you were cleaning your-- God why am I talking about you being naked?"

Vexoz just gave Vera an odd stare. "Uhh... do you want me to be naked?"

Sometimes, he missed how off-beat Vera was. Sometimes.... "Not even Teaisha has gotten me that far yet.... I guess this is about her, isn't it?"

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Teaisha just looked at Tellas, slightly dissapointed. "Alright. But if you could just get Vera away from him for at least 10 minutes, I can make sure he knows how I feel. Just, how much I really feel for him.... If you get what I'm saying."