The Fallen Vampire

"So let me make sure I've got this straight. To avenge Ayame and myself, you snuck into the palace of a rival sect. You knocked out the disciple with the highest influence and used his status to go around freely under the guise of making sure that all disciples were asleep within their bunks. But in actuality you were just using that opportunity to memorize over 100 different faces so that I could hopefully point out the ones responsible to you in some sort of twisted line-up. Am I missing anything?"

Taira continued to draw without looking up. "I didn't do it for Ayame. Only you."

Aja's gaze softened considerably.

"My dear friend... You must forgive her. She was only frightened by the possibility of-"

"I've never given either of you any reason to be frightened of me. If she's so interested in holding onto her suspicions then she is free to keep them until she is old and grey. But she will not do so around me." Taira said firmly.

Aja felt like she was hitting a brick wall with her stubborn friend.

Taira was seemingly unwilling to compromise in his rejection of Ayame. But she knew he still cared about her- because Keran did.

And as long as he was married to her, that meant that they would still be family. And he could not so easily cut her out of his life.

At least, not without greater justification.

But it was too difficult to get Taira to see that as of this current moment in time.

Aja worried that if she pushed this discussion any further then she may also run the risk of ending up on his bad side.

So for now at least, she had to be a bit more patient before trying to move through his erected boundaries once again.

"I will not push you for now... but we will need to return to this conversation again someday soon."

"There is nothing to talk about. I'm beyond such an unnecessary conversation."

Taira finally put down his pencil and turned his sketchbook towards Aja.

"Let's begin now. Tell me if any of these individuals look familiar."

"...Understood."

- 1 Day Later...

"Grandmaster... Grandmaster, there has been an issue."

The avian Gu Mu-Song opened his eyes in clear annoyance.

He woke up with no woman in his bed. And nursing an unnecessarily bad hangover.

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It was a piss poor morning for him indeed.

"Go away. Unless someone is dead, I don't want to hear it."

"..." Gu Mu-Song could see his disciple's silhouette still standing outside the door.

"...You're joking."

"I am afraid not, grandmaster.."

"Ugh.."

Gu Mu-Song stood up and reached for the robes that he had casually strewn across his chair.

He'd barely finished tying his belt together before he threw open the sliding door and stared at his disciple coldly.

"Where?"

His disciple led him toward the first floor of the palace where a great many disciples were already waiting in the front courtyard.

Four bodies were lying out in the open; covered by white sheets.

Gu Mu-Song waived his hand and the coverings went flying.

His eyes narrowed harshly when he saw their wounds.

"What.. is the meaning of this."

A senior disciple gulped as he tried to put forth an explanation. "W-Well.. It seems that disciple Cha and Disciple Doyle were caught in possession of some items that went missing from Disciple Uro and Qin's rooms... A-As a result, they-"

The Grandmaster swiftly held up his hand to cut the words of his disciple short.

"One week... I asked you fools to stay your hands for one week, and not one of you could even do that..? How remarkably insolent."

Gu Mu -Song snapped his fingers and a purple dome covered the entire courtyard.

"Since you all are so eager to prove to each other that your venom stands at the precipice, let me remind you all of who firmly holds thy leashes...!"

A gust of wind blew through the grandmaster's wings and something blew off of them.

Faint, tangible particles of a poisonous substance quickly filled the air, and the disciples went down by the fistfuls.

With the dome still erected firmly in the sky, the sound of their collective agony never traveled beyond the inner walls of the courtyard.

-

"Seems like it went well."

Taira was seated on the roof of his own palace- just out of sight of the Purple Haze Sect.

He was one of the first individuals to see the dome go up and surround their courtyard. Though it was completely on accident.

He was actually up here for a different reason completely unrelated to their business.

"What exactly did you do to elicit such a strong reaction from the grandmaster?"

Taira looked down at his lap where Ina's big red eyes met his own.

"I did not have to do much. Poison users are prone to in-fighting and fits of jealousy. It's why seeing groups of them is rare in the first place."

"Is there any likelihood of them suspecting your involvement?" Ina asked worriedly.

"Not this time. There is no trace of me to track."

Inadu stared at Taira for a long time, and it was clear that the greats in her brain were turning in circles.

"...You're so mischievous." She finally said.

"Oh? I thought that you liked that about me?"

Ina smiled playfully; showing her own little bit of mischief. "I do... I was merely making an observation."

"Are you now? I'm curious as to what else might be on your mind?"

"...I would be more than happy to s-show you, but I'm a bit shy..."

"And why is that..?"

"Because those three are still standing right behind us..."

Taira glanced over his shoulder at Shakti, Vaal, and Tiche who were still here acting as bodyguards for the married couple.

"Do none of you have anything better to do?"

Tiche: "Not at all."

Vaal: "Guarding you in this unfamiliar place is my duty, Dai-Shi."

Shakti: "We would have liked to shadow Dai-Shi Aveena as well, but she sprayed us with water and asked us to leave…"

Taira was beginning to consider doing the same thing if he were honest…

But instead, he realized that there was a much better way to handle this that might yield positive results for all.

"Tiche. Go find Raymond and help him with his body tempering.

Vaal. Saanvi needs help with her weapons skills. I believe as her senior you should aid her however you can."

Both siblings immediately looked like they wanted to protest, but one look at Taira told them that wouldn't be possible without the loss of a tongue.

They bowed begrudgingly before turning and leaping off the roof, leaving Shakti as the sole straggler.

This made Taira realize that he didn't know much about Shakti. His ideal plan was to send her off with someone whom she had romantic interest in so that she wouldn't think about him or Ina any further.

But as far as he knew, Shakti didn't like anyone.

In his defense, she was admittedly quite hard to read since her eyes were always covered and she behaved fairly robotically.

"Tell me something, Shakti…"

"Yes..?"

"Is there someone who's company you enjoy within the cult? A romantic interest of some sort?"

Ina liked harmless gossip. So she leaned forward with her eyes as big as saucers.

Taira got his first look at a nervous Shakti as he noticed her cheeks immediately turn darker.

So there actually was someone she had interest in… Who knew?

"I-I… t-that…"

Ina and Taira leaned forward with clear interest in their eyes.

Shakti eventually hung her head as low as a dog and bowed deeply.

"I'm sorry… but the only one I have considered such feelings for… would be yourself, Dai-Shi."

Taira wasn't a dramatic person, so his jaw didn't fall open at this revelation or anything like that, but he was stunned into a moment of speechlessness.

Inadu, however, was not.

"Woah…"

As Shakti trembled with embarrassment, a blaring horn sounded, and another Sect arrived for the fated event.