Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. They are the property of Hajime Kanzaka and Shoko Yoshinaka.

Chapter Eleven

Filia sat on her bed and looked out through the window at the evening waking. She had just come out of the bath and was combing through her hair that was still very wet. She had slipped her night gown over her head after she dried herself off – for some reason she couldn't find her housecoat. The gown was a shimmering affair of white silk that went to the floor. She would have put something more practical on, one of her other nightgowns, but the heat of the jungle was too much for cotton tonight.

She had spent the whole day with Xellos, and it had been a very exhausting day. It wasn't that she regretted her time being spent in that way. The tiny roof that hung over her well had suddenly collapsed from disrepair and the two of them spent the day fixing it. It was hard work, and even though Xellos had done all he could to shield her from the heavy labour; she found that she couldn't let him do everything. He was very gentleman like after his own fashion. He hadn't complained at all about any of the work she had coerced him into doing. Even so, her muscles hurt very much now, which was why she felt that she had to have a bath to relax herself.

Suddenly, she heard a faint tap at her bedroom door. Filia thought at once that it had to be Val – Xellos never came to her bedroom. "Come in," she called. "What is it?" she asked, not turning around.

"Don't move," the voice said gently, and it was not Val.

She kept still, but asked, "What are you doing in here Lex?" She would know the differences between Xellos' voice and Lex's anywhere.

"I came to take you out," he said. Before she knew what he had in mind, he had covered her eyes with a blindfold.

"Where are you planning on taking me?" she asked, alarm fringing her words.

"I noticed a very nice little spot over by the water that I'm sure you haven't visited before. It looks enchanting under the moon light, and the moon will just have risen by the time we get there if we leave now," he said.

"What about Val?" she asked.

"Aw, he's fine," Lex said reassuringly. "He's a big boy. Remember, you went to Sayruun, and left him here for weeks. He can take care of himself."

Filia found that she couldn't argue with his reasoning on that front and was annoyed with it. She would have preferred an excuse to get out of it, especially when he took her hand in his to guide her out of the room. She remembered her promise to Xellos and tried to move her hand away, but Lex held onto her tightly – like he didn't want to lose her.

"Wait," she protested. "I'm not comfortable."

"Why? What is it?" he asked, distressed at her uneasiness.

"Do I have to be blindfolded?"

"Of course," he said, and suddenly put his arms around her and teleported. When they landed, he said briefly, "Now you can take it off."

She put her fingers up to her eyes and removed the fabric covering them. When she opened her eyes – the view took her breath away. How was it that she had never seen this place before? He brought her to the top of a jungle overhanging that overlooked a waterfall that emptied onto a lake wide enough to swallow the moon. There were white flowers and fireflies around them in the trees – she could hardly stand for the beauty of it.

"Where did you find this place?" she asked in awe.

He smiled and turned her attention to what was behind them. He had set up a tiny table on the grass. There was a sweet little white table cloth with a delightful spread of food across it. There were strawberries and blueberries that shone magically in the moon light. And tall glasses that seemed full to the brim with stars.

"All this, for me?" Filia asked hesitantly.

"Of course it's all for you," he said leading her towards the table and angling her chair so she could look at the waterfall. "I brought you here on purpose," he paused, "to seduce you."

She gulped, "Not really Lex?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Or something like that." His hair was pulled back into a ponytail as usual and his bangs were covering his eyes again. He pulled apart a little bit of bread that was also sitting on the table and buttered it, then suddenly took her plate from in front of her and gave her half. "I really want you to have a good time. You're always so troubled."

She looked across at him – he looked so . . . inviting. "How am I going to stop from falling in love with you?" she asked suddenly, feeling it necessary to discuss out loud what she was really thinking, and not caring what she sounded like.

"Then fall in love with me," he said softly, reaching across the table for her hand. The light accentuated the ripple of his muscles in his forearm and upper arm, and suddenly she had a hard time fighting for control.

"Because, I can't," she said, turning away.

"Because of Xellos?" he questioned, leaning back and looking away in disgust.

"Hai, because of Xellos."

"Because you were in love with him once, and cannot seem to fall completely out of love with him." He paused, "You tell me that he and I share the same body which is why I can remember nothing of my past life before awaking in Sayruun and why occasionally I can't remember what has happened for days at a time. I wonder . . . if this is true – what is your relationship with him when he's around? Does he love you back?"

"He doesn't love me," she admitted, forcing herself to sound indifferent about it.

"Why can't you just forget him?" Lex pressed. "If he doesn't care for you then why can't you accept my feelings for you and allow me to be your lover. He doesn't care. I care."

She looked across the table at him. His eyes were fully open and gazing at her persuasively, but they bore none of the marks of the dangerous mazoku which she knew Xellos was. She felt so trapped. How could she turn him down when he talked to her like that? She had been so lonely for so long . . .

"I promised him that I wouldn't let you become my lover," she admitted, putting her chin into her hands and refusing to look at him.

"I see," he said, getting up from the table and moving away from her. He went and stood with his back to her seemingly regarding the view. One of his hands rested on his hip while the other lay at his side. Then he put his hand to his head like he had a headache.

Filia looked away – relieved. A headache like that signified a change of character. If Xellos was going to come out now – that would be perfect timing. Then she could be spared from the awkwardness of conversation with Lex. Things were always more comfortable with Xellos.

"Xellos," she said brightly, when he stopped holding his head. "Would you like something to eat?"

He turned around suddenly and said, "I'm not Xellos."

"Lex?" she asked, hoping that she had not offended him too much by the mistake.

"Don't you know who you're having dinner with?" he asked, his tone rasping.

Filia regarded his eyes – not soft purple eyes, and not mysterious violet eyes – but eyes that she had never seen before – a murderer's eyes. Suddenly, she felt impressed to get away from the table, and to get away from him. She knew she was in danger. She got up and said as lightly as she could, "I think I dropped something on the way in. I'll just run and see if I can find it." He wouldn't know that Lex had teleported her there.

She got up and had only just turned around when he was abruptly standing right in front of her. Their noses were almost touching.

"You don't have to go anywhere," he said reaching for the straps on her nightgown and violently pulling one of them off her shoulder.

She screamed, and without warning she found herself on her back with the mazoku's fingers climbing rapidly up her thigh. She screamed again and found herself stuck across the face.

"Don't make so much noise bitch! Don't you know you spoil the mood when you scream like that?"

RIPPP!

That was the fabric of her nightgown as she tried to move away. True panic was racing through her. What was she going to do? What had happened? She had to get Xellos back to save her from what was about to happen.

"Those who sail the Astral Plane reveal these shadows to me – XELLOS!" she hollered at the top of her lungs.

With that the stranger dropped his head in pain. Xellos shook his head and looked at Filia and the area surrounding them. Then he seemed to become even more aware of what was going on and noticed that one of his hands was up Filia's dress and his other hand was holding hers – their fingers entwined.

Tears were flowing down her cheeks; she was so pleased to see him. "Oh Xel," she said, putting her free arm around his back. "I'm so happy you came."

He took his hands from her and leaned back. "What happened?"

"Oh Xel – there's another one. There's not just the two of you – there's another one. He . . . he . . . he attacked me. I was so afraid. Thank-you so much for answering my summons!" she said.

"All right," Xellos said. "That explains part of it. That explains your tear stained face, and your torn dress, and the terrible bruise that will no doubt be on your cheek tomorrow morning. What it doesn't explain is why you are here, with blueberries in the moonlight, wearing practically nothing." He paused, in anger. "I thought I made my feelings on this subject quite clear Filia, or didn't I? I'm very sorry that I'm so messed up that part of me attacked you, but I have to wonder if he would have been able to resist seeing you wearing that."

"This isn't what you think," she answered in what almost amounted to a frenzy.

"Is that it Filia? Is Lex the man of your dreams? Do you wish now that you had not made that promise with me, or are you ignoring it completely and going against my wishes anyway? Never mind, don't answer that. I don't care. Let him touch you and kiss you if you dare – I guess you'll never know when it might turn out to be me holding you – or worse, whoever it was who attacked you."

"Xel . . ."

"I don't want to hear it," he said roughly. "Let's just go back to the house."

Author's Notes: This was the chapter I really wanted to release last time, but couldn't because I had to do that little bit of plot exposition - which is why I'm wasting no time at all in releasing this next chapter. This chapter was inspired by Depeche Mode "Shine" - which is an ulitmately hot song - so check it out. My reviewers have been amazing - thank you so much for taking the time. You never fail to inspire me.