Chapter 4

"Hello? Is anybody here? Hello?" Filia walked down the deserted hallway. Everything seemed grey and blurry. She couldn't even tell the ground from the walls or the ceiling, it was all just endless grey mist.

"You're a traitor!" Filia turned all about, but couldn't seem to place the voices that seem to come from everywhere.

"Who's there? Who are you?" Filia questioned the voices, still searching for their origins.

"You have consorted with a monster, you are a traitor to your race!" The voices rang loudly all around her, repeating the same thing. "...consort with monsters...traitor...vile creatures...impossible...love you...traitor..." It was all Filia could do to cover her ears and sink to her knees on the cold hard ground.

"No, no, it's not true, please leave me alone, leave me be, please!" Still the voices continued to sound, relentless in their torment of her. She started to feel a pain in her heart. A searing white hot pain as if someone had ripped it from her chest and set it on fire.

"Please, somebody help me, make it stop, please!" Filia sobbed on the floor. Then amongst the voices she heard a sound. It sounded like a howl. And as the howling grew, the voices quietened and the pains in her chest began to lessen until they where no more. When she finally looked up, Filia saw before her a purple wolf as big as her standing close to her. She looked into the amethyst eyes of the wolf, and suddenly she wasn't sitting on a cold hard surface, but a soft patch of grass with wildflowers all around her. When she looked back into the wolfs eyes, she felt a strong sense of safety, as if nothing can hurt her while she was in his presence.

"Who are you?" Filia asked the wolf. The only answer she got was one last howl from the wolf before she was engulfed in darkness.

/

Filia awoke to the sight of her ceiling and the morning rays of sun streaming in through the small gaps in her curtain.

'That dream again, I wonder what it means,' Filia turned her head to her right to check on the little basket she kept on her nightstand. She gave a small smile when she saw the shining orb of her adopted son. Val still hadn't hatched yet, so Filia always kept the egg close to her so she could be there when Val finally does decide to hatch and be given his second chance in life. With one final sigh Filia turned away from Val's egg to prepare for the day in the shop. Although when she turned over she came nose to nose with a grinning Xellos lying beside her on her double bed.

"Good morning Fi-chan! Sleep well?" Xellos asked, grin still in place. Filia just lay there like a deer caught in the headlights. After the few moments it took for Filia's half asleep brain to register him, her face flushed scarlet and shrieked so loud the house rattled in its foundations.

"XELLOS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM?! GET OUT!" Filia bellowed. It is clear to see that she was not impressed with the idea of waking up in the morning to find a monster sharing her bed with her.

"Mmhmm," Xellos moaned and tilted his head back onto the pillow slightly. "I must say Filia, you serve such a delicious breakfast in bed. I can't wait to see what's for lunch".

Filia blushed harder at this and managed to push Xellos off the side of her bed, pulling the covers up to hide herself from his gaze.

"You stupid filthy garbage! Get out of my room NOW!"

"Alright alright, I'm going, Xellos said as he rose from his position on the floor. "I'll be downstairs when you done up here ok, and I would suggest that you not yell so much when your young dragons egg is in the same room, you'll end up traumatizing the kid before he even hatches," was the last thing Xellos said before he phased out of Filias room, narrowly avoiding the pillow that was thrown at him by the angry dragon (it was really the only thing within reach that she could throw other than Val's egg).

"ARRG, stupid Xellos. Who does he think he is sneaking into my room and into my bed, the nerve of him!" Filia ranted as she got dressed for the day and retrieved her mace from her bedside draw and Val's basket. Trying to coax her heart back into its proper place she then made her way downstairs to make herself some breakfast. As she entered her kitchen she spotted her 'bedside companion' sitting at her table as if he belonged there, his staff leaning against the table next to him.

"Ah so you're finally done I see, my that took a while I must say," Xellos commented, leaning back into his seat.

"What are you doing here again Xellos?" Filia asked with irritation, today was not turning out to be a good day for her right now.

"Well I was in the neighbourhood and thought I'd stop by and see how you were doing this fine morning," Xellos answered with his usual cheerful smile in place, seemingly unaware of Filia's obvious irritation with him.

Filia set Val's basket down on the table near the flower that Xellos had given her the night before. At the sight of the flower Filia remembered her unanswered questions from that night and became somewhat suspicious that he was back so soon after his last visit. Xellos had visited her in the past, but it was usually a quick visit, then he would leave again and it would be a while before he showed himself again. This is the first time he's come back so soon after his last visit. It was understandable to think that she was somewhat curious and suspicious, why was Xellos spending so much time with her lately? It crossed her mind to ask him, but she had a hunch that she wouldn't get an answer out of him, but still it wouldn't hurt to try.

"Xellos, tell me truthfully, if that's even possible for you, why are you here so soon? Usually when you visit it's a long while before you come back, and yet now your here after barely one night from your last visit. Why are you spending so much time here? I'm sure your mistress wouldn't like you skipping out on your missions," Filia stated with a small amount of disdain creeping into her voice at the thought of what Xellos's missions usually entail.

"Well, usually that is true. But at the moment you see I have received sort of a day off from my mistress, which gives me the opportunity to complete my own personal mission," Xellos smirked, opening one of his amethyst eyes to stare into her own sapphire ones. Filia found herself uneasy and exposed when he looked at her like that, and fidgeted with her hands under his gaze.

"Well then what is your personal mission?" Filia inquired hesitantly, she was starting to feel very uncomfortable with the way Xellos was eyeing her, like a predator studying his soon to be prey.

Then in a blink Xellos was standing right in front of her, his nose almost touching hers. Filia gasped in shock and went to take a step backwards, but the wall was right behind her. Xellos had successfully pinned her so she couldn't get away without going straight through him, and he was just as impenetrable as the wall behind her, maybe even more.

"Hmhm you would like to know like that now wouldn't you?" Xellos smirked darkly, both his eyes opened now and staring hungrily into hers. Filia's heart seemed like it was going to burst from her chest and she could feel her cheeks flush so red she probably would have put a tomato to shame.

"Xe-Xellos, wha-what are y-you d..?" before Filia could finish her question Xellos had caged her against the wall with his hands on either side of her arms and brought his face to the crook of her neck and inhaled her scent, engraving it into his memory whilst also getting a taste for her erratic emotions.

"Mmm, I must say Filia if only you knew what your emotions tasted like, it is so very addictive," Xellos hummed in her ear. Filia felt her heart jump to her throat, making her forget to breath as Xellos continued to sniff her neck and hair. All the while though seeming to be very careful not to touch her. However that was not the cause of Filia's inner turmoil, no, the cause was because even though her mind was screaming at her to push him away and beat him senseless, a small part of her wanted to keep him here, wanted him to touch her, for her to wrap her arms around him, this brought about a new fear in Filia, fear of what she was feeling, and what it might mean.

Whilst Filia was dealing with her inner conflict, Xellos was greatly enjoying the feast she was giving him, anxiety, embarrassment, slight fear and something else, something very faint and very deep, but still there, 'I see, interesting'.

"Tell me Filia, is that fear I sense from you? I know it's not directed at me, you where never afraid of me were you? Even when we first met you never once showed fear. You where not a naive dragon, you knew who I was and what I was capable of, yet you still had the courage, or the stupidity, to actually be angry at me, even going as far as to call me garbage, and even now you do not fear me. You never have and I doubt you ever will, so tell me Fi-chan, what is it that you fear right now?" Xellos purred in her ear before bringing his face to hers, still never touching her.

Filia had lost the will to speak. She started to feel light headed and remembered that she still hadn't taken a breath yet. She finally breathed in life giving oxygen and stared back into his eyes. She couldn't quite remember but there was something familiar in his eyes. Something that both made her feel safe and calm, and also caused the butterflies she now had go ballistic inside of her.

"Hmhm, I see, how very intriguing," Xellos chuckled, finally stepping back and releasing Filia from her imprisonment. He closed his eyes again and returned his usual trickster smile and retrieved his staff. "I will be heading off now Filia, but rest assured I will be back, until then". And with that, Xellos disappeared, leaving Filia to crumple to the ground where he had left her.

'What is going on? What's happening to me? Why do I feel like this? My heart is still pounding from how close he was, and the scariest thing is that a part of me actually enjoyed it, oh Ceifeed, what is going on around here?!' Of course, no one was there to answer her questions.

It was a short while later that Filia managed to pick herself up from the floor and go about her usual morning routine. However with the incident with Xellos still fresh in her mind, she found it extremely hard to concentrate on what she was doing. In her morning tea she used salt instead of sugar and ended up in a fit of sputtering. Her day didn't get any better as it went on. She was constantly getting distracted and at times completely zoning out whilst she was talking to her customers. She even broke a few of her own vases in her distraction. In fact the only thing her mind seemed to focus on was Xellos, as well as the strange sensations that he caused her. She spent the whole day pondering how and why he invoked such feelings within her, and most importantly, what they meant.

At the end of the day and a few more broken vases later Filia finally managed to close the shop and prepare herself for bed. After she set Val's egg in her room she retreated to take a nice long bath. She didn't know why but she had a sense that someone was watching her the whole day and so she felt the need to be clean to rid herself of the feeling. As she soaked in her tub she went back to questioning Xellos's actions, but no explanation came to mind. She finally decided that she was not going to get any answers tonight and retired to bed. As she hopped under the covers and settled for sleep, her thoughts began to wonder back to the mysterious priest, for that was who he was, mysterious. Every time she thinks she knows him, he'll show her a side of him she never knew existed that will throw her off and then she's back to square one.

"Xellos, what are you doing to me," was the last conscious thought she had before sleep finally claimed her.

/

"Well that was an interesting turn of events," Xellos stated to the empty study as he leaned back into his cushions.

'Truthfully I wasn't expecting the reaction or the emotions I got from her this morning, not until a later date at least. I was expecting her to try and murder me with her mace for getting that close, my Filia you are a strange one sometimes'.

Xellos laid flat down on his pillows with his hands behind his head looking up at the ceiling, still thinking about the morning's activities. 'I must say though, it took all my concentration not to put my mark on her right then and there, she was just so tempting, and the cocktail of emotions she released didn't exactly help the matter either'.

Xellos smirked to himself, he had to confess that Filia was like his own private drug and like a life addict, he was hooked. And the effectiveness of the addiction only seemed to increase after he acknowledged his bond with her, now it seems that simply being in her presence or even thinking about her made him impulsive.

-sigh-"if I can't get her to accept my mark and soon, these urges will send me insane and I'll end up marking her by force, and I don't think she or my mistress will be pleased if that happens".

This was one of the downside of a getting into a courting bond. If a monster can't get his intended to accept their mark, it usually drives them mad and they may try to mark them by force anyway, that is if they didn't kill themselves and their bonded in their madness first. However that is an extreme case and has rarely happened to any ones recollection, so Xellos figured that as long as he kept his sanity in check and persuaded Filia to accept him, they should be fine. And anyway he didn't think that it should take that long for her to accept the mark, especially after what this morning has shown him.

"Very soon Filia, very soon indeed".