Chapter 3:
Plans
* Hope you guys are enjoying my fic. It's gonna start to get interesting soon, I hope. I'm trying to do something original but I'm not really sure if I am or not. As you can probably guess at this point there's gonna be some X/F stuff going on, and I'm not sure if the ending will be happy or not. Everything I have planned is coming along in the middle of the story, and right now I'm just kinda winging it and hoping it doesn't suck. I also might have to change the rating on it at some point. #^_^# I'll warn you if that happens.
*And, just like everyone else on this blasted site, I don't own Slayers (though we all wish we did!)

A cool breeze blew through the mazoki's purple hair and rustled through the trees. He had reappeared in a forest that stood a short distance away from the town in which Filia resided, and far enough from her senses so that he would not be detected. A smile danced on his face and his eyes were closed in amused half-moons once more. Well, he thought, that was much more fun that I had thought it would be. He savored the power that flowed through him. Sweeter than the sweetest hatred, he thought musingly.

A burning sensation in his lips reminded him that he had bit Filia hard enough to draw blood. The burning wasn't entirely unpleasant, but he would rather not have to deal with distractions right now. He licked his lips, but that didn't sate the burning. Indeed, now his lips were wet as well as burning. Oh well, he thought as he continued to smile. I really didn't mean to bite her that hard, just enough so that she'd be pissed. Something made me lose control..But, he thought as he ran his tounge across his lips again, I think I would do it again, if I had the chance.

The burning still hadn't stopped, and Xelloss decided that he would go back to Beastmaster Xelas for an explaination. After all, it was she who had finally given him time off to do "whatever it was that amused him the most," and surely she knew exactly what that was. In fact, most mazoku knew that he enjoyed annoying the golden dragon and they tended to stay away from her lest he be ired. He quite liked that they were so afraid of him that they kept off his favorite feeding grounds, and his smile grew wider when he thought about how they'd be even more afraid if they did visit her. In his mind he pictured various encounters where she had changed into her dragon self and chased him around with potentially bone crushing attacks and her dragon's breath. Feeding from Filia was a dangerous business, and not many mazoku would be able to handle her the way he could even though she had matured and was a bit less carefree with her mace.

A sudden flare up of the burning in his lips reminded him of his resolution to see his master. He looked out on the small town before entering the astral plane. He would be back.

"We're leaving. We're going. We have to leave." Filia was chanting her mantra as she scurried about the house inspecting all of her possessions and deciding what she would be leaving behind. Val stood off to the side, watching her with his mouth slightly agape. He couldn't remember her ever acting like this before, and it worried him. Though he was glad to see that she wasn't as depressed as she was earlier today, she was now angry. Angry enough that her tail had popped out from beneath her dress and was reaking havoc on the house whenever she turned around. He was sure this had something to do with the "rat" that had appeared in the kitchen. The rat that wasn't really a rat.

If he ever found out who had hurt his Filia, he would beat that asshole into a bloody pulp.

He turned from the den and tramped up the steps to his bedroom to pack his necessities. He didn't have much, just some clothes, really. He had a feeling he wouldn't need too much else where they were going, though where that was he couldn't be sure. Filia was hiding something from him. More than one thing, too - not just the identity of the creature that was in the kitchen with her, though that's what baffled him the most. He could almost recognize the scent it had left behind, like he had smelled it before...but in his mind he knew that he had not.

He pounded his fist on his bed in frustration. Why was Filia lying to him? Why did her face fill with pain when she looked at him? She was never like this when he was little. Never. So why now? Why, when he was finally starting to feel something for the woman who brought him up? They were both the last of their race, they should be together. That's the way he saw it. It was only right. But...for the past one hundred years or so, she had been changing. And he had been getting nightmares; horrible dreams that he could barely remember when he awoke. All he could remember was power...horrible, destructive power...

Filia nearly had all her things together. She had decided to head back north to where she remembered there was a dragon sanctuary in a valley somewhere. Lina had told her of it a while back, but she never bothered to go looking for it. She couldn't remember it's exact location, but she was sure that if she asked around she'll pick up some rumors here and there and be able to find it. She knew of only one person who knew where the sanctuary was, but she was NOT, under ANY circumstances, going to ask him.

Just thinking about that piece of raw garbage caused her anger to flare up to an almost intolerable level, but as quickly as it came it subsided again. Filia was proud of herself for being able to control her temper so well, and she sauntered into the kitchen to get her final and most prized possession: her tea set. As she reached for it, she froze and whipped around, half expecting a certain purple-eyed mazoku to be floating behind her with a knowing grin plastered on his face. He wasn't there, of course, and she sighed with relief as she placed her tea things carefully into a bag. She would leave before he found her again; she promised herself that.

Xelloss sat in a shadowy corner of his quarters, pondering his current situation. Xelas did not recommend him to drink any more dragon's blood, though she would not stop him if that is what he chose to do. "Drinking dragon's blood is punishment enough in itself," she had said, "though I don't think you have gotten enough to have any lasting effects." That was just as well, because Xelloss had no intention of feeding directly from her blood again.

He wondered how long the burning in his lips would last. He had been told that if a mazoku drinks of a golden dragon's blood, certain side effects could be seen, the least of which linked the mazoku to the feelings of the dragon. Providing that the dragon was alive, of course. The faint burning meant that Filia was upset, or sad - negative emotions in general. A sharp pain meant that her negative energy was directed at him specifically, and he grinned whenever he got one of those - he didn't realize that he had such a long lasting effect on her. Each pang filled him with the sweet sensation of power, but he still didn't want it to last too long. He wasn't so sure he liked being linked to a violent, selfish golden dragon.

As for long lasting effects, they depended on the mazoku. Sometimes the mazoku would become mortal, and sometimes they would fade away, never to return. Sometimes the dragon's blood would war with the essense of the mazoku, destroying it entirely. Mazoku would often lose powers, and rarely gain them. Xelas had said that there could be other effects, but since most mazoku weren't stupid enough to imbibe blood from any dragon, let alone a golden one, they weren't known. Xelloss had flinched with that last remark; he did not want his master to think him stupid or lose faith in him. Only L-sama knew what would happen to him then.

Oh well! he thought in a sing-song manner. I'll just feast on her anger for a while longer and bother her a bit later. I have orders to follow, after all...

(To be continued...)