5
Sunlight pours across their entangled bodies, a sheet twisted around them, she stretches softly, rubbing her head in a loving motion on the side of his neck. “Hmmm???” His eyes flutter softly, and he slowly picks himself up off of her “Good morning love….” he smiles at her, the morning exhaustion making his words slightly slurred.
Tears come to the edges of her eyes, she smiles softly “Good morning… Did you sleep well…?”
He nods, a loving grin on his face. He wipes away her tears asking “Now why’re you crying my dear?”
“You… You called me love…” she smiles softly “We haven’t known each other very long… and you called me love…”
“After all that you expect me to call you anything different?” He smiles and strokes her cheek, kissing her softly “My sweet, sweet Anisa…”
Tears well up in her eyes again at the sound of her name “Shan… I’m so happy you feel that way…” she wraps her arms around his neck, touching her forehead to his shoulder, “I was scared that you’d regret what you said… what you did… But hearing you say that… Words can’t describe how I feel right now…”
“I’m glad… Now I can teach you all you need to know.” He smiles and winks at her.
“Know about what my darling??”
“The exams.” He smiles and kisses her.
She smiles in return “What exams dearest…?”
“The ones to be a Reaper, my thoughts are that if I can teach you about the reapers then that’ll make it easier for your father to create an alliance between us. And the fastest easiest way to do that is to have you join.” He smiles a big smile.
“You… You want me to be a Reaper..? Are you sure? I am after all a SkyKnight Vampyre… To be a Reaper SkyKnight Vampyre… that’s huge Shan… Is… is the Council okay with this…? With me…?”
“I asked my advisor if he thought it would be possible, and he thinks it would be the best way to bring peace with at least your father’s clan.”
Smiling softly she says “Alright…I’ll do my best to learn as fast as I can… But I was never a fast learner…”
“That’s alright, I’ll go as fast as you can learn it.” He winks.
She blushes softly “Thanks… When do we start?”
“Why not now?” He smiles and stretches, sitting up slowly.
“Right now? As in… this morning today now?”
‘Why not, all we’re going to do is element studies. And when there was a school we used to teach children old enough to walk these skills.”
“Wow… Element studies… Like the normal five, Earth, Fire, Water, Wind, and Spirit? Or any elements?”
“Any really, it depends on which one you’re compatible with, and we’ve a way to test that.”
Sitting up she says “Well why don’t we get started?”
“Now that’s the spirit.” He smiles at her and sets his right hand over his heart “This is the location of the soul, as such it is the seat of all Reaper powers, by putting your hand here and thinking about putting your soul in it you can pull out your element.” He does so, pulling out a crackling fire surrounded by lightening “See?”
Watching the fire on his hand she puts her own hand over her heart, concentrating she takes her hand away. Black water slides between her fingers, then it splashes onto the bed “Oops… That’s not what I intended…”
“It’s ok at least we know your element is water. Which means that you’ve one of the most widely used elements in the galaxy.” He smiles at her.
“That makes me somewhat normal right…? But… Why was the water black…?”
“It means that it’ll be easier to master your element. And the black part might be secondary that you could learn.”
“Cool… But dear… What element is there that’s black like that??” Anisa leans against the headboard, showing genuine curiosity.
“Generally darkness, or night.” He smiles at her.
“Well that’s probably typical for any vampyre…” she smiles back “What’s next in training?”
“We’re going to keep on that ’til you can keep it in a nice little ball, which means control exercises.”
“But that’s so boring…” she whines softly, smiling at him.
“We can make it fun.” He winks at her, moving a little closer.
She grins, the tip of her tongue running across her lengthened incisor “How so..?”
He leans in to breathe on her neck “By making it really hard to concentrate.” He winks playfully.
She giggles softly “If we’re not careful it may get hard to get any sleep within the year… So I don’t think concentration is going to be my biggest issue…”
“Of course not, our biggest problem will be if we get found.”
A look of terror flashes in her eyes “Found? What’s…? What’s that mean…? I… I thought you said your advisor was ok with this…? That this was a good idea…”
“He did, but there are still the people out to find you, remember?”
“Oh…” relief floods her face “Well… After last night there’s nothing they can do about it…” she says, blushes softly.
“Kail no, but the people who led him to us might be a different problem…”
“What do you mean..? Any vampyre will know that we’ve mated, they wouldn’t dare attack you…”
“That’s just it, they aren’t after me, they’re after you… I’m betting that these are people who want to see your father crushed…”
She looks down as a shadow crosses her face “How… How could they have found me…? And why would Kail work with them…” she looks up at Shan “Oh I’m sorry… I know you don’t have those answers, I sometimes talk to myself…”
“Whoever they were I don’t think Kail knew he was working for them…”
“The only group of people who would go to the extent of killing me to crush my father would be my aunt on my mother’s side. She’s jealous… My father was supposed to marry her, but when they were meant to meet he met my mother instead… They fell in love… And that was all grandmother cared about… It sealed an alliance between the SkyKnights and the Vampyres… and the Vampyre’s didn’t have to worry about Reaper’s attacking their daywalking Vampyres and killing them… it was the best form of protection… So to get back at my father for ditching her, my aunt has been trying to kill me for as long as I can remember…”
“Hmmm. Maybe…”
“If she’s behind this… It’ll mean war…”
“Yea, the one man version.”
She looks up, confused “What’s that mean?”
“Basically I’ll be angry enough to wage war against her castle by myself.”
She smiles softly and leans against him “Now darling be nice… She is after all my aunt…”
“I know, but that won’t stop me if she dares to threaten you. I’ve a very strict moral code that’s part of my base instincts, and it says to protect my mate, at all costs.” He smiles in return, wrapping an arm around her.
She blushes softly, looking shyly away “I don’t know if I can get used to that… After all I am only 200… and you’re old… well older than my mother… So this is kind of awkward… and I’m not saying you’re not hot for an older-than-my-mom guy but-“ before she could ramble on any longer he leaned in and kissed her gently.
“My love… hush and enjoy the moment…” He smiles playfully, licking her lips as he leans back.
“Alright my darling…” she says, still blushing softly “That said, shall we continue our training?”
“Yes.” Shan smiles and takes Anisa’s hand and leads her outside. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Several hours later Anisa, exhausted and dripping wet from many failed attempts, holds out her hand, a perfect sphere of water rotating centimeters from her palm. The top half of the sphere is completely black, while the other half is as clear a blue as Shan’s eyes.
“Nice, you finally have perfect control.” Shan smiles his eyes dancing with glee “Now for the second lesson, using the control to change objects into the desired shape.” He summons his elements and aims his palm at a nearby log, shooting the ball into it. The log transforms into a sword like shape “Now you try.”
Anisa summons her element, holding it in a sphere, she attempts to send the sphere to a nearby stone, but the sphere dissolves after leaving her hand.
He comes over to stand behind her, softly massaging her shoulders “Remember how I said that one’s element is an extension of one’s soul?”
“Yes… But how in the world is “one” to throw her soul at a rock and will it into turning into a bed?!?!”
“Don’t throw it, imagine sending it there, and let it flow. And the bed thing is completely up to you.” He winks playfully at her.
She growls lowly and tries again, this time the sphere bursts inches from the rock, splattering it, causing her to mutter a few choice words under her breath.
He chuckles, kissing her cheek and leans against the tree “Why not start with wood, it’s easier to manipulate.” He winks encouragingly.
She smiles softly, putting her hands on either side of his waist, softly kissing his neck. Thinking hard she pushes a sphere of water into the tree, willing it to take the shape of a bed, or at least a comfy couch. It did, unfortunately the bed was still made of wood, mattress and all, and they landed on it with a resounding thump.
“Nicely done. Now, shall we go inside and have something to eat, then get in bed?” He smiles and winks at her, kissing her lips gently.
“Alright” she smiles back, taking his hand and pulling him up off the wooden monument to her infatuation of him, and drags him into the house.
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Kail woke up suddenly and wondered where he was, the last thing he remembered was talking with John…then Caroline walked in, crying, and everything after that is kind of a blur. He looks around him, taking in his surroundings. The walls tell him that he’s not with Caroline and John, the painting says he’s not at his own home; his mother would never allow for his father, or anyone in the kingdom at that, to put a picture of a naked woman in the lap of a drunken man on the wall. Oddly enough, the man wore a crown, depicting royalty; the crown was the same style as that of the one that Caroline had given her husband, to symbolize the mate of the Vampyre Queen.
Looking closer Kail noticed that, sure enough, the woman bore fangs. Suddenly the door opens, and in walks a beautiful maiden, she looks much like the woman in the picture, brown hair, hazel green eyes, except this woman’s hair is streaked with grey, and her eyes, there’s a storm brewing behind those beautiful hazel eyes.
“You failed to bring back your betrothed to me. My pet what do you have to say for yourself?” He gives her a befuddled look.
“Pet? I’m no one’s pet. And why would I bring Anne to a place like this?” Suddenly he remembers why Caroline was crying “Besides… My betrothed is dead…”
Snorting softly the woman sits beside him “The would-be Queen? No. She’s very much alive. And on top of that, she is bound herself to another man. She doesn’t want you anymore that much was obvious when she wiped your memory.” The woman addresses the attendant still standing in the doorway “Tea please, iced with mint and raspberry, and you my pet? What will you have?”
He stutters for a moment “Uh… tea… tea is fine, sweetened, no ice…”
“Very well love, you’ve your orders, go.” The attendant scurries off “Now love… shall I restore your memories of that night? Or do you want to just take my word on it?”
“Wait… Slow down please… I’m… I’m so confused… Why do you call me love? What do you mean when you said that Anne’s still alive? I mean is she at least okay??”
The attendant returns with two glasses, one with ice one with none. He sets them down and returns to the door.
“Here pet, drink this and I will tell you everything.”
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