Lina panted as she lay spent over Xelloss's chest, remnants of lovemaking throbbed through her body with a massive blush on her face. Seriously how the hell did he coax her into sleeping with him again? Stupid hormones… Her body freaking didn't seem to care that it was a monster doing this to her, just that she wanted the physical pleasure he gave so badly. He didn't seem to tire either, he had only stopped because she was breathless, running his fingers lightly up and down her back. It had happened so fast, he kissed her and teleported them back into his room, and one thing lead to another. What surprised her was how gentle he was being with her, well being a Mazoku she sort of expected him to be a tad more sadistic.

"Something on your mind, Lina-chan?" Xelloss spoke after a moment, his fingers tangling into her hair.

"… I just was wondering how a Mazoku can be so gentle during… That." Lina spoke, trying to control the burn on her cheeks. "I mean I know I threatened you the first time…"

The priest laughed lightly. "One it is to help you adjust, but the main reason is I must still be in the habit of trying to control myself even though you're immortal now."

She raised her eyebrow. "What does that mean?"

"Lina dearest, when you were human I could have easily crushed your bones but merely touching them if I chose to." Xelloss explained, opening his eyes about halfway as his other hand traced the line of her jaw. "I had to watch myself during each of my actions so my own desire as you may call it took over. It's different for me than it is for you, I suppose you could say I can get akin to high or drunk on emotions if I take in too much of certain ones." He shook his head. "When that happens I can risk not controlling myself enough and possibly injure you. While now I wouldn't kill you if I did so, as I explained to you before I find sheer pain and sorrow not a very pleasant taste in emotions. Every Mazoku has their own tastes which negative emotions appeal best to them."

"I'm pretty sure I know your type, anger and rage?" Lina asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Of course, otherwise I would have fed on Filia's sorrow more often rather than tease her into rage." Xelloss laughed. "Her rage was quite well actually, tied with Mr. Zelgadis's." he then flashed a grin. "But yours has always been the most luscious." He wrapped his arms around her back to crush her against him.

Lina squirmed slightly. "And you can feed even on this because of frustration, right?"

"Oh yes, sexual frustration is a lovely emotion." Xelloss chuckled, kissing her forehead. "Why do you think I prolong foreplay? After all we both get better pleasure from it then."

Lina twisted her mouth into a frown. "I wouldn't know fruitcake, since you're the one stealing all my firsts."

The Mazoku smirked at her. "Funny, I only count 1 I 'stole' from you, which was your first kiss. And that I started all the way back when we first met."

Lina's anger flared up at the mention of that, smacking him on the head. "That was just your finger on my lips fruitcake it doesn't count!"

"Oh so kissing your cheek too didn't count that one time?" he asked with an innocent grin.

"Gaaahhh you are impossible!" she snapped. "You're lucky you're a freaking power source or I wouldn't fucking let you touch me again!"

"That's funny Lina dearest…" Xelloss mused, brushing his fingers lightly on her cheek. "I thought I felt the sting of some positive emotions during it."

She glared darkly at him. "Shut the hell up, idiot." She then turned her head to hide the blush, her heart was hammering away in her chest. Granted she had nothing to compare it with, but sex with a Mazoku was pretty damn good as far as she was concerned. But if she actually admitted it, that would just feed that smugass even more to tease her with. The only good thing was from these two times in his bed and that little bit just outside the cave she felt a lot better than before, and charged with more energy than if she cleared a restaurant out of food! And here she thought he was joking that major actions would super charge her, he wasn't kidding it was like the most amazing way to recharge herself. Granted while she loved eating a ton of food, sometimes it got rather costly and with the depletion of bandits around her currency supply had gone down increasingly. Well, Xelloss said he'd give her some of those priceless items and if he could recharge her like this from now on she'd be pretty damn well off. Maybe eternity with this fruitcake might actually be fun after all…

That's when a low growl came from her stomach suddenly.

Xelloss chuckled. "While we have recharged you for magic, your human body does still crave nourishment now and again. Not that you could die of starvation or anything." He smiled. "After all our agreement was for you to stay as close to human as possible yes?"

"Whatever fruitcake, you better not had been kidding before when you said you can cook." Lina snapped. "I never did get to find out."

"Well we should do something about that, shouldn't we?" Xelloss smirked, brushing his lips lightly against hers. "I will meet you at the kitchen then while you dress. Please do remember to wear my cloak while walking the halls." He planted a kiss on the crown of her head and suddenly vanished, which made her plop down onto the mattress since he was no longer under her.

Tightening the sheet around her, she slowly sat up trying to somewhat compose herself. So much had been happening in the past few days her whole life had changed. Of course there was still some lingering questions on her mind, so she decided now was going to be as good as time as any to start asking them. She quickly got dressed, deciding to leave her cape and shoulder armor as she found Xelloss's mantle and wrapped it around herself. Funny, it felt so much just like a real cape, hard to believe it was really just a magical construction. She shrugged it off and strolled out of the room, trying to remember exactly how to get to the kitchen.

"You seem lost… Lina Inverse."

Lina spun around to see a Mazoku floating above the ground, his legs crossed though covered by his thick black cloak. He had elfin ears and his skin was green, brown hair only hanging from his side burns, leaving his scalp bald. His eyes were crimson, his nose long and slightly pointed, his large hands each were missing a pinky. And orange trim on his cloak came around his neck, under it was his purple robes.

Cautious, the crimson haired sorceress narrowed her eyes. "… Who are you? And how do you know me?"

"I am Vandal, vassal to Lord Beast Master." The Mazoku bowed his head a bit. "As for who you are, I heard such from Basanda. I figured you were Master Xelloss's Mate by you wearing his cloak… And his scent." His mouth twitched to a slight smirk.

"Right… You and Basanda are the ones Zelas made to replace Seigram?" Lina asked, crossing her arms.

Vandal raised an eyebrow at that. "Ah, you do not know the whole details? No, myself and Basanda came from… Another order you might say. We came to serve Lord Beast Master when she promised us a delightful position here."

Lina blinked twice at that. "… Were you… An elf by chance?" the elf people were hard to come by these days, and many dragons often were mistake to be of the elves.

"You are sharp, I give you that. My original home was on Mipross Island, eons ago." Vandal replied. "Though we barely survived an attack from a Mazoku named Joyrock once, I believe you remember don't you, Lina Inverse?"

Lina took in a sharp gasp. It had been a very, very long time since her adventure there with Naga. "… You remember me helping Rowdy destroy him, that's why you knew who I was. Not because of Basanda…"

"Yes… You could say that." Vandal chuckled, running his fingers over his chin. "You were quite impressive at such a young age, I was rather curious how Master Xelloss's Soul Touch was with a woman I had seen so long ago. That's when I figured out you must had time traveled…"

"Yeah, I got pulled into it by Rowdy himself." Lina sighed, her hands on her hips. "… But, I saved the village, how did you become a Mazoku?"

Vandal smirked slightly. "… That's something I keep to myself, do you tell the true reason you took a pledge with a monster?"

Her face turned red at that. "H-hey it was to save my life, dammit! What the hell would you know about that?"

Vandal just laughed. "I believe he's waiting for you." He suddenly vanished.

Lina just stood there, blinking at where the Mazoku just was. "What the hell was that about? … But it's weird running into someone from then…" she rubbed her cheek. "Now that I think about it, Rowdy had the Sword of Light… Wait… Gourry said that sword was in his family for a long time… That would mean that Rowdy was..!"

"An ancestor to the swordsman, it's funny how many people tie into your lifetime, Lina-chan." A familiar shrill voice came from behind. "Makes me wish I had paid a visit to Mipross Island during that time, we could have met so much sooner." She then felt a pair of all too familiar lips at her cheek.

"… Fruitcake, you were supposed to wait for me in the kitchen." Lina had jumped at first from the sound of his voice, then closed her eyes and growled. "Why didn't you tell me Vandal knew me?"

"Sadly, that he chose to keep secret from myself and my Mistress, I had no idea about that until now." Xelloss shrugged. "And I came as I sensed Vandal near you, just in case it was another attack like what happened when Sherra impersonated Basanda."

Lina looked at his cloak still wrapped around her. "Oh yeah that's right, this is part of you so you'd sense someone near me."

"Exactly Lina-chan." The priest smiled, running his fingers on her chin. "Your meal is ready by the way."

"Well what the hell are we waiting for idiot?" Lina snapped, glaring at him. "But my threat to Dragon Slave you if it makes me ill still stands."

Shortly after they arrived in the kitchen and Lina began to devour the large feast Xelloss had prepared. To her surprise everything was in fact editable, just minor things like spices and food temperature obviously Xelloss didn't seem to know much about with being a Mazoku. One or two things seemed either overcooked or undercooked, made her wonder if since the monsters wouldn't have to worry about food illness if they ate some meat raw or even burnt. She hadn't spoke much while eating for a good while, then suddenly out of the blue spoke up after she had about half the table worth of food gone.

"Xelloss, what will you do when this… Well, this situation is over if we survive it that is?"

The priest smirked. "Why Lina-chan, are you worried I'd just leave you alone after all this? You signed an eternal contract with the pledge you know."

"I'm not worried about that fruitcake." Lina snapped, glaring at him. "What happens after this mission though? I mean what I'm supposed to expect you to just pop into my life randomly or what?"

Xelloss's brow furrowed for a moment. "Well, I'm not always on missions from my Mistress, they vary how often you could say I'm extremely busy. And since you are my Soul Touch and a human pledged to me, spending my free time with you would not be forbidden." He shrugged with a smirk. "You could probably even tag along with my missions as long as you didn't interfere. Sometimes I'm sent on several scouting missions that take a while, information gathering and things like that. Lord Beast Master might favor you assisting me, and we could easily occupy the nights together." He gave her a wolfish grin.

Lina stopped eating for a moment as a blush appeared on her face. "… Are you asking me to travel with you, Xelloss? I mean…" she rubbed her cheek. "As long as I get to blast away some idiots now and again, also you allow me to keep any treasure we happen to come across it doesn't sound like a bad idea."

He laughed for a moment, placing a hand ontop of hers. "Actually I'm asking you to come to live here with me, Lina dearest." He opened his beautiful Mazoku eyes to look rather at her.

Lina averted her eyes as the red stained her cheeks. "… I-I'd have to give it some thought, Xelloss. For one thing I'd want a bigger room, yours won't hold enough if I gather enough treasure."

Xelloss laughed a bit at that. "Not everything is stored in there Lina, some is in fact in a pocket dimension I created." He pointed to the satchel around him. "I have several just like this one filled with random trinkets I've gathered over the past few centuries."

She twisted her mouth. "… I-If I did stay here, I could research in that library all I wanted to, couldn't I?"

The Mazoku grinned at where her logic was going. "Of course. There's even an area on the island just for practicing spells." His devilish grin got even wider. "And always a few underlings to test such on."

Lina shivered for a moment at the look at his face. "You really have no regard for life at all, do you?"

He held up his index finger. "That is only partly true. I have no regard for the lives of those who are of no interest or amuse me. Your friends for instance, while they have their amusing times the only regard I have for their lives is mostly tied to my affection for you."

"So basically, you let them live by default?" Lina asked, tilting her head to the side. "… After all you could have easily killed them not long ago, when I was the only one you needed for your mission with the Hellmaster's Jar."

"Well, I convinced my Mistress that killing them would only make you emotionally distort and unable to perform the Giga Slave if needed." Xelloss shrugged. "That and it was far more amusing to disable them than to just kill them. Killing is rather messy and means I can no longer use such creatures again for feeding purposes." He grinned sadistically. "Where as if I let them burn in the fury of their defeat, it makes it so much more delicious the next time I face them."

"You are a masochistic bastard." Lina scoffed. "You risk each time someone actually getting pissed off at you enough that they'd find the power to kick your ass."

"Destruction is the ultimate desire of a monster, is it not?" he shrugged his shoulders.

She rolled her eyes. "And doing this causes chaos, which you and your fucked up Mistress love. So that's why you don't usually kill unless you're ordered to. You'd much rather fuck with people's heads."

"The mind itself is a very chaotic thing, especially human's minds." Xelloss snickered.

"Fruitcake." Lina grumbled, finishing her meal. "… Though I have to say not bad, I've had worse. You need to learn how to season stuff and even cooking a little better though."

"Well, it's been about a hundred years or so since I last cooked for a human without faking that I can't." Xelloss chuckled slightly, rubbing the back of his head. "Lord Beast Master's taste is far different than a human's I'd say. Try the dessert."

Lina shrugged and took a few bites into the cake, and her eyes went wide. She looked at him completely in shock. "… Where the hell did you learn to bake so damn good?" she cried. "I've never had a dessert like that in my life!"

"Nice to see your taste in sweets is close to my own." Xelloss mused, as she finished he brushed his thumb against her lips to clean her mouth. "As I explained I experimented with those all over, until I learned how the best ones taste."

"Apply this to your normal cooking and I'll move you back up to Useful Item 2." Lina smirked slightly.

Grinning, he bent over and pressed his forehead against hers. "I'd much rather work my way to number 1, Lina-chan." He then pressed his lips against hers.