DISCLAIMER: … I do not own the Slayers or any quotes I have listed at the top of the chapters…
-x- Chapter Ten -x-
It starts with…
One thing…
I don't know why…
It doesn't even matter how hard you try…
Keep that in mind…
I designed this rhyme…
To explain in due time…
All I know…
-x- "In The End"- Linkin Park -x-
"You have to bend orders to follow them properly, was it?" Zelas echoed distantly, immediately returning her focus to her servant's now anxious grin.
"You can open your eyes, Xelloss. I'll approve of your silly claim." She reassured him with a wolfish grin, shifting on her throne as a glass of wine appeared in her waiting hand.
"Hai. Thank you, Mistress…" He fumbled rubbing the back of head with a sheepish grin, quite thankful as always that his mistress seemed to find his arrogance cute rather than cocky.
"Not at all, you are the servant, you would know best in such matters!" She murmured, her gaze narrowing as her lips quirked ferally.
Xelloss could practically feel the weight of this comment as it hung between them. He could certainly taste her bemusement as she watched him sweat and await her certain turn-around.
"And as the servant in this relationship…" She began delicately, running a finger along the rim of her glass calmly. He hated when she did that, and of course that only made him admire the irritable gesture all the more. Mainly the move just ended up causing him immense discomfort on the whole. Of course, that was why she did it!
"Perhaps…" She continued softly, peering into him coolly. "You could inform your dear Mistress why you bended orders in that cave. You know, so that I can see it from your servant's perspective…"
Ah yes, there it was. She was never going to let that go and he really couldn't blame her. Afterall, he wasn't planning to let it go either…
"Humbly…" He stated unable to help but make that one word as bold and arrogant as possible to which she couldn't help but smirk. "My answer still remains the same as it did that night!"
"Ah yes, one little 'sore wa himitsu desu' got you grounded from playing with your little toys for quite some time." She stated calmly, fingering the glass once more. "Pity you couldn't answer me."
He said nothing to this, there was nothing to say. He had been bad! But then again, he was somehow sure he'd do it again. Besides, he had made sure to make up for the lost time when he'd gotten to see Filia again. He wasn't planning to let that memory go anytime soon either.
His mistress gave him a look that said she knew precisely the track his mind had taken and then she downed the glass in a single fluid swig. The movement would have seemed barbaric if preformed by anyone else but somehow she made it look graceful, thus making it twice as unnerving.
She smirked tasting his renewed unease and then the glass was replaced by a cigarette and she relaxed back in the chair, taking a long drag and blowing it out at him coolly.
"You know what I think, Xelloss." She stated calmly, flicking off some ashes and appraising him calculatingly. "I think even you don't know why you saved her."
She took another drag and he held his ground, unwilling to let her unnerve him any further. If he did she might never tire of this torture. He certainly wouldn't if in her position!
Zelas' grinned wanly, knowing Xelloss well enough to know if he could hold his tongue at this point her fun was done. Time for business then…
She straightened up calmly, flicking the cigarette and crossing her long legs as she blew out another train of smoke. "And that, above all things is why I've let you bring her here. This! Is an experiment…"
"An experiment?" Xelloss echoed incredulously, arching a brow and holding back a grin.
"Oh yes…" She replied solemnly, arching a brow at him and giving him a sardonic grin. "Where do you think you inherited that curiosity of yours from?"
He grinned, arching a finger and a hopeful brow. "And my sense of bemusement with human behavior!"
"We're not human." She stated coldly, cutting his smile from his face as hers vanished into the smoky air.
Xelloss swallowed softly as she put out her cigarette expressionlessly.
"But…" She whispered, lifting her head and meeting his gaze. "We're certainly getting close these days, aren't we?"
"Hai Mistress." He agreed softly, able to taste both of their fear in the room as thick as the smoke wafting around them. "Lord Dynast too."
"Yes…" She whispered, a distant look in her eyes, as she wrenched her gaze back at him. "But, you did get the tome and that is something."
"Would you like to read it then, Mistress?" He asked, offering it to her, his face once more a pleasantly grinning mask.
She grinned at this and waved him away. "And take away the first new book you've had to read in about seven months? Certainly not!"
He grinned, tucking it back into his bag and kneeling smartly at her feet. "New orders then!"
"Naturally!" She stated wanly, summoning up another glass of wine. "I want you to read it immediately and then give me a full report complete with sound effects!"
"Do you think there will be any?" He asked curiously and she shrugged.
"Who knows, depends on the author I suppose." She replied boredly.
"Hmm…" He stated thoughtfully eyeing the book with even more anticipation and curiosity.
"Oh… and Xelloss…" She stated coolly.
"Hai mistress?" He replied quickly.
"Do it someplace public, won't you?" She ordered delicately, waving her free hand gracefully. "Like… oh that library of yours."
"Oh, why you're just plain mean, Mistress." Xelloss pouted with a wince, secretly impressed at the foresight.
She smiled wolfishly, arching a finger coolly and raising her glass to him smartly.
"No matter how human we may become, we are still monsters, Xelloss." She stated calmly, and for a moment he saw something else there under her smirk as she held her glass high, something he'd hidden under his own many times.
"Cheers…"