Hello all!
So this chapter will be looking at a bit of bonding fluff as well as an extra large dose of hilarity to make up for some of what will be coming up soon. I honestly had trouble not laughing as I wrote the humour part, it was a total blast to put together:D
Don't worry, I won't be going angst central on you but there will be some more serious and emotional moments for sure. As you might notice I have Mel's age recorded at the top of this chapter, that is because over the course of the next little while I will be doing snapshots of Mel's life at different ages rather then walk you through all the monotonus development behind the scenes and drain your souls with boringness XD
As for this chapter, I look forward to hearing your guys thoughts on it!
Pranks and Promises
Mel-10
A rusted dagger spun through the air before landing handle first in Mel's hand. She grinned at her success, then did it again. It sucked that there wasn't anything for her to practice with the dagger on, no small game to kill. But she supposed she could still amuse herself with practicing fancy hand tricks with her dagger.
"Are you self taught with a blade? Or did you learn how to use a dagger from someone else?"
Mel snatched the blade out of the air and spun on the intruder, in defensive until her eyes landed on Galahad in the doorway. Letting out a sheepish laugh the girl put down the blade.
"Sorry, you startled me. Um, I taught myself. My dad told me how to use a knife for skinning and preparing meat but I taught myself everything else." Mel explained, blushing slightly in embarrassment at her reaction.
The blond male smiled slightly and he approached her, holding his hand out to her in request.
"May I see it?"
Mel grabbed it and handed the blade to him, Galahad turning it over his hand as he gave it a quick once over.
"You'll definitely be needing a new one of these if you want to continue learning the art of working with a blade. Even before it became rusted this was clearly made with the lowest of the low quality material."
Mel blinked in surprise.
"A new one? You mean someone's gonna teach me how to use a dagger?" She asked eagerly.
Galahad nodded and set the blade down on the table next to her.
"I'll teach you. Come with me, I have quite a few different types of blades that I've collected over the many, many years. Some of which were gotten for me, some by Te'ijal and even a few by Gyendal as he came across them in his travels."
Mel scurried after the dark knight, reaching his side and looking up at him curiously.
"You know how to use a dagger? But you're a knight, they use swords and massive weapons."
At her words Galahad let out a loud laugh, amusement making his militant and severe expression lighten.
"A sword may be my weapon of choice, but in order to become a true fighter one must learn how to handle any weapon available. I am well versed in the use of a long knife and the various types of daggers made available to me, and although I prefer not to use them I can teach you how to work with them more then easily." He informed her with a smile.
They reached his workshop room and he opened the door for her, Mel entering the brightly lit room and watching as he crossed over to a large wooden chest with a fancy coat of arms on the lid.
"This is the coat of the Sedona royal family. One of the few possessions I brought down here with me when I was forced to live in Ged'here." He explained as he opened the lid and moved aside a few things before lifting out a large bundle wrapped in oiled cloth.
Galahad laid it out on the floor, pulling back the flaps to reveal what had to be close to ten blades hidden in a variety of leather sheaths. He beckoned her over and Mel hurried to his side, kneeling down in front of the bile and eyeing the blades with an excited eye.
"Go ahead and look through them. I don't use any of these, so if you wanted you could even take a couple. I'd suggest one with a longer more curved blade for direct fighting and another smaller for hunting, defence, and anything else you might end a blade for."
Mel nodded and sifted through the blades. There were all types and sizes, some too heavy and others just not sitting right. Finally Mel found one that fit perfectly in her grip and balanced just right in her hand. The blade was longer then the one she had salvaged and wider with a slight curve on the end. It had a blade guard but no sheath and the silver metal when moved around in the light reflected off in hundreds of different colours.
"That one was retrieved from an ancient mine, the old man created it out of a rare metal known as Osmium. That's perfect for combat, is that one you would want?" Galahad questioned.
Mel nodded eagerly, hugging it to her chest with excitement. He chuckled at her eagerness before going through the remaining blades and pulling out a thin one with a black leather sheath and a blood red handle.
"How about this one for your other blade? It's called the needle, it's made of a combination of metal and diamond. Can be sharpened to the thinnest point and blade I've ever seen and is weighted perfectly for use. Try it." He said, holding it out to her.
Mel accepted it and withdrew the blade from it's sheath, eyes lighting up at the sight of the shimmering blade. She weighed it in her hand, moving it around as she twisted her wrist this way and that.
"It's perfect!"
"Then it's yours. You can have both of these blades, I'll teach you how to use all of them."
He wrapped the remaining blades and put them away before standing as Mel rose to her feet with the now sheathed Needle and the Osmium dagger in her other hand.
"When can I take my first lesson?" She asked excitedly.
He gave a broad grin at her eagerness to learn and grabbed a slightly larger dagger out of his chest, closing it and turning to Mel.
"Lets go into the back courtyard, and then we can start right away."
Mel hopped in place.
"Yes!"
Mel gave a delighted laugh that echoed through the halls of the manor as she tore through with Spook floating along behind her. The two of them were engaging in what had to be quite possibly the strangest game of tag anyone had ever seen.
As they played Mel passed the darkened hallway leading into the left wing of the manor and came to a stop, Spook crashing into her and then accidentally phasing right through. After realizing what had happened the ghost turned back to face Mel and let out an inquisitive moan as Mel looked down the hall calculatingly.
Mel was forbidden to go into the left wing, and strangely enough she had never particularly wanted to go down there. That was Gyendal's side of the mansion, and although she had been down there once with Te'ijal who she had followed when the vampiress had gone to talk to her brother Mel wasn't really sure what laid down there. She hadn't seen anything more then the vampire mages study.
She paused for a moment, then realized that she could almost feel a cold darkness radiating from down that hall.
"Oh, Gyendal's back." She realized, recognizing the aura.
Galahad said it was part of the bond, being able to feel that. Mel had instead told Gyendal that he just smelled and the odour carried. Needless to say, he had not appreciated her comment.
"Hmmm...hey Spook. I'm getting a little bored of just playing with the two of us, you always go easy on me cause I can't outrun you. Wanna do something more exciting?"
"Wooooohhh?"
Mel grinned evilly and turned to the ghost who seemed to recognize that expression and was quite quickly taking on the orange hue that signified it's unease or fear.
"How about you sneak into his study. You can go through walls and be really sneaky and when you get to his desk, swipe all his paperwork off. He'll be really mad but not at you, he'll probably think that it was Te'ijal since she does stuff like that sometimes. It'll be really funny!"
Spook turned bright orange and began to bounce in place, making alarmed noises. Mel hurriedly shushed the blobby ghost, looking back down the hall before leaning in.
"Pleeeeeaaassee? I'll try and get you the day off in payment so that we can build a fort."
Spook wiggled side to side for a moment, the orange colouring going up and down the shade scale before becoming vivid as Spook slumped. Long tentacles wrapped around Mel in what was almost like a goodbye hug, then Spook began to float down the hall slowly like a condemned man to the gallows. Mel watched the ghost for a moment before hissing out for Spook to wait as she shot a look behind her then hurried after her companion.
"I'll come with you. Let's hurry..."
They crept down the hall, Mel glancing at the walls and appreciating the lack of creepy paintings. The wall sconces that lined the halls were large but decorative, significantly better then the gargoyle lamps in Te'ijal's wing.
They came within a few feet of the office door and Mel came to a halt, gesturing for Spook to go ahead. The ghost flattened against the floor before melting through the wall.
"Hello Spook" Gyendal's muffled voice drifted out to her ears.
When he wasn't angry or distainful the way he usually was with Mel, his deeper voice was actually rather pleasant. It made Mel think of velvet, smooth and quiet.
"Spook! What are you doing?!"
Spook gave a high moan, the sound it usually made in apology before the sound of a massive paper stack it the floor as Spook shot out through the wall and down the hall wailing as it went.
Mel instantly took off down the hall at a dead run, but didn't make it far before the door to Gyendal's office was thrown open with a mighty bang and an enraged vampire stood in the doorway glaring at her.
"MEL!"
She let out a pathetic eep noise and broke into a sprint, a quick glance over her shoulder confirming that the furious vampire was giving chase. She careened around a corner and bolted down the hallway that led towards her room, but more importantly led to where Galahad and Te'ijal were currently arguing. Gyendal would be less likely to murder her with his bare hands if she was hiding with Galahad and Te'ijal. She hoped.
"GET OVER HERE NOW!" His roar echoed behind her and Mel tried to pump her legs faster.
There was a swipe and she narrowly missed the back of her vest being grabbed. Mel took note of the massive cabinet Te'ijal had set up in her hall to display all her "amusing human objects" and in a last ditch effort to spare herself dived into the small gap between the cabinet and the wall. She just managed to slide far enough away before a hand thrust into the gap after her, trying to grab her and drag her out.
"Oh no, you don't just escape like that. You started this little game, and I'm going to end it." Gyendal hissed.
Mel shot a panicked look at the hand as he wedged his shoulder between the cabinet and the wall and began to push. She had to do something drastic or when he caught her she was more then likely going to suffer greatly. She glanced at his face, his bared fangs glinting in the light. Suddenly an idea hit her, an insanely stupid, downright suicidal, and utterly brilliant idea.
She inched further away, took a deep breath, leaned down to where his hand was reaching...
And bit it as hard as she could.
"?!"
The hand ripped back and Mel shuffled as fast as she possibly could to the other side of the cabinet as Gyendal's shout echoed through the hall. The moment she was out from between the cabinet and the wall she was off again, reaching Te'ijal and Galahad's room with seconds to spare and hurtling past them to dive under the couch just as Gyendal arrived in the doorway, curses spilling from his lips like water.
Galahad abruptly stopped yelling and Mel watched from her hiding space as they both turned to Gyendal in utter puzzlement.
"Brother? What on Aia?! What happened? And why are you waving your hand around like that?" Te'ijal asked, her voice startled.
"She BIT me!" Was Gyendal's furious response.
At his declaration the expressions playing across Galahad and Te'ijal's face were truly priceless.
"She...what?" Galahad said slowly, sounding almost disbelieving.
"That wretched little devil bit me after sending Spook to knock all the paperwork off my desk." Was the reply through gritted teeth.
There was a moment of heavy silence.
Then Te'ijal burst into hysterical laughter. Galahad's deep belly laugh echoed through the room and the vampiress was forced to lean on a dresser for support as her body shook with her convulsions of laughter.
"S-she bit you! A human, bit the chasing vampire!" Galahad got out.
"My great brother, cold and unreachable reduced to chasing a child through the halls as he raged all because she has a mischievous streak." Te'ijal said around her gales of laughter.
Gyendal's eyes were nearly glowing and he easily found Mel under the couch. She shifted back a little further but her eyes kept contact with his and he raised his hand, pointing at her threateningly.
"You are going to regret this."
Mel yawned, stretching in her black silk pyjamas. Spook was huddled in the corner of her room, entire blobby form a dull green as it made mumbly noises.
"Sorry about getting you in on that Spook. But at least he never got mad at you, I'm sure he'll forgive that. I know he gives you the best scrubbing pets." Mel said apologetically, crossing the room to the bed.
As she got closer, she noticed that the blankets were sitting weird, almost ballooned.
"Huh." She muttered to herself, shrugging and grabbing them to pull back.
The moment she pulled the blanket away, she was met with the most disgusting looking black ooze that almost exploded out of it's confines within her blankets. Mel let out a startled shout, scrambling backwards as it spilled all over the floor, the noxious odour it carried filling her room.
She ran to her door, ripping it open and staring down the hall in the direction of the main manor, her jaw dropping at her eyes landed on a tall cloaked figure standing at the hall entrance.
"YOU-"
Gyendal smirked and inclined his head to her before vanishing, leaving Mel glaring in the direction he had just gone, huffing and puffing like an angry bull.
"GYENDAL!"
So what did you all think? Reviews are welcome! Flames shall be laughed at, posted for others to laugh at, and ignored as I continue the story.