The Fallen Vampire

Sometimes, Taira tried to forget that he was a vampire.

It's not like he had any particularly good memories associated with his heritage. Enyo and Keran were the only good things to come out of that life.

And even though he would never tell him, he did in fact feel grateful to Fenris for giving him the opportunity to turn his back on all that. He got to be a new man.

However, there were of course certain moments where he was glad that he hadn't left that part of himself behind fully.

Like right now for instance when the power of compulsion had proven its value once again.

"Idiots..!"

Taira smashed together the heads of Buford and his friends and watched them crumble to the ground.

Amidst their groaning, he placed his foot on Buford's neck so that his complaining wouldn't slip out.

"Contact your grandmaster, now. Get him here before he does anything stupid."

-

Aveena never thought that she would like teaching this much.

She was middle of the pack in her days at the Drifting Snowfall sect. Nothing really seemed capable of holding her interest for long.

Though she did have fun at the sect, she had the most enjoyable days reading stories in the library and pulling small pranks.

Now that she was in a position of instruction herself, she was relieved that she didn't have many pupils like herself around. Outside of some of the children, that is.

Though it also meant that there were moments like this, where her unprofessionalism threatened to slip out.

*Gasp!* *Gasp!* "I-I think one of my lungs collapsed...! I can't breathe..!"

Aveena turned around swiftly while covering her mouth. Normally, something like this wouldn't be enough to amuse her, but Raymond looked like a bullfrog while he was on the ground dying.

"I..." *snicker* Aveena cleared her throat as she kept facing the wall. "Someone help Raymond into the lake..."

Tiche sighed as she lifted her husband by his shirt like a suitcase and carried him off.

Aveena took a few more minutes to steady herself before she turned back around.

Much to her surprise, she caught sight of Shakti leaning against the back wall and wearing a similar smile to hers.

For just a moment, their eyes met and their smiles became just a hair's breadth wider.

"...Alright, back to work everyone." Aveena shook her head to refocus. "The deal still stands. If just one of you can manage to knock me down, then you all get a full night's rest."

The fighting spirit of the cult was instantly reignited.

While a full night of sleep might not have sounded like much before, now that they were here they understood just how much of a blessing it truly was.

They absolutely would not waste this opportunity no matter what!

Aveena wasn't sure who charged at her first, but in an instant, she was surrounded.

The purpose of this exercise wasn't just to simply see who among them could knock her down first. It was to find out which of them could do so while generating power with minimal movements.

Hence, the reason why they were currently doing this dance across a sheet of ice. If one of them were unlucky enough to make an ungrateful movement, then their feet would tear through the ice and Aveena would hurt them very badly.

In an educational manner, of course.

Aveena had discovered her love of teaching based solely on this experience here.

As Aveena watched her disciples improve with all of her might, she too was improving.

It may not have felt like much, but she had already risen up a level in her current cultivation ever since the training began. Constant combat had done wonders for her mind and body.

She had've thought she would have hit some sort of bottleneck by now. But she was still climbing higher and higher with every second that went by.

She was incredibly sharp. Aveena was aware of every one of her disciples who came rushing at her, as well as the method of attack they were most likely to lead with.

As she was now, nothing could break her out of this zone. Her mind was incorruptible.

'Darling..?'

Aveena's head suddenly snapped in one direction when she sensed a presence she was intimately familiar with.

As a consequence of her lapse in focus, Shakti was able to land a blow directly in her stomach- knocking the wind out of her lungs and forcing her to take a knee.

In an instant, everything stopped. No one could believe it.

Aveena recovered rather quickly and didn't even seem to recognize that she had been knocked down.

"Husband?"

In synchronicity, everyone followed Aveena's gaze towards the far wall on the left side.

Taira stepped out of the shadows wearing a slight, apologetic smile on his face.

"I'm sorry to interrupt. Though things look to be going well."

Aveena was happy to see her husband, but her surprise at his sudden appearance didn't so easily fade.

"What are you doing here? Is everything alright?"

Taira nodded. "Don't worry, everything's fine. I just need to speak to you for a few moments."

Aveena nodded and wandered over to Taira with a hair more pep in her step than she had when she was fighting.

As soon as they turned the corner, the two of them were after each other.

Though while their lips were otherwise occupied, their minds were having a full conversation.

So much so that Aveena only pulled away after it became difficult for her to stand and she started to feel lightheaded.

"Do you... really think that we can get everyone ready for something like that in only three weeks...?"

Taira nodded as he kissed her forehead. He was significantly more confident now than he was before he initially came.

"You've done a really good job with all of them so far. I'd even say that we could have them ready in half the time."

Aveena smiled bashfully.

She wrapped her arms around her husband's chest and buried her face in his gi.

"I guess.. things are about to get a little more hectic around here than they are now." She sighed.

"I hope they'll be able to use their full night's rest wisely..." Taira murmured as her ran his fingers through her hair. ".... Oh, and we might have to kill the entire Roaring Sound Sect."

Aveena's eyes were shut as she enjoyed her husband's warmth after too long apart.

But thirty seconds after she had time to digest his words, they snapped right back open and she pushed herself away from him.

"I'm sorry….What?!"