March 7th, 2006
"Run."
The voice had been but a growl, a whisper - a warning.
His accent had been thick. Something so very alien and uniquely him that it had sent shivers racing down Rylli's spine and her heart beating wildly within her chest.
His eyes - oh his eyes had been like liquid amber, burning right through her - boring into her very soul as the command left his lips. And the young blackette, clutching onto what little sanity that still remained within her, heeded the warning clear in his tone and wasted no time in doing just that.
Turning on her heel, Rylli ran.
Trees passed in a blur as she headed deeper into the forest; their branches trying to hinder her progress as they snagged at clothes while their roots threatened to trip her up as her pursuer gave chase. The young woman knew that was she was doing was silly - childish even. But as Rylli continued on her way towards the forest's very centre and further from the place she was compelled to call home, the blackette knew that this...
This was what it was like to live.
There was nothing else that mattered at that very moment in time.
Not her duties.
Not her studies.
Not even the obligations and responsibilities her family were so insistent to force upon her.
At that moment in time, while her heart was pounding within her chest as adrenaline chased its way through her veins, it was just the witch, the forest and its soul-cleansing breeze that whipped through her hair as its roaring silence threatened to swallow her whole, the soft ground covered in leaf litter that scrunched under her bare feet as she ran... and him.
She could hear his pursuit behind her as he tried to catch her, but the raven-haired witch knew these woods like the back of her hand and it wasn't long until her ear twitched, alerting her to the sound of running water somewhere to her left. Rylli deviated from her current path and headed towards the sound, a smile appearing on her lips as she drew closer. The thought of a quick dip in the river, or even a swim across a stream appealed to the blackette as sweat mattered her hair and had strands sticking to her face and neck; the summer sun continuing to glare down upon her despite the forest's canopy above.
Though Rylli knew that enjoying such things were far from both her reach and mind, and she had no intentions of slacking off and allowing her pursuer to catch her.
Well... not right now, anyway.
It took the witch a few minutes of following the sound, manoeuvring her way easily through the trunks and underbrush before her blue eyes finally settled on the stream and disappointment settled into her stomach at the size. It was barely as wide as she was high, though the witch knew as she glanced up towards the sky that it would be a few more weeks before storm clouds would hang overhead and the end of the dry season came, bringing with them the rains that would have this stream and others like it threatening to burst their banks that herald the beginning of the wet season.
There would be no swimming today, but Rylli's displeasure was short-lived and thrown to the wayside as her heightened hearing picked up the sound of a branch being snapped somewhere in the forest behind her. Exhilaration thrummed through her body at the sound of her pursuer getting closer and she took to the water without a sliver of hesitation. There was no way that Rylli wanted this game to end just yet and she tried to put as much distance between herself and the man following her as she could without completely losing him.
The stream barely reached above her ankles, however the cool, refreshing water was welcomed upon her heated skin as the ends of her pants ended up drenched as she splashed her way upriver.
Nothing else mattered to the blackette in that singular moment of her life but the chase. And as Rylli headed upstream, the witch hoped that the water was enough to cover her scent. She wanted to make it a little bit more of a challenge for the man chasing her, even though she knew that without a sense of smell that matched her own, the brunet did hold an uncanny ability to be able to locate her no matter how hard she 'tried' to escape him.
"Shall I inform the Master that Missy isn't feeling well?" a voice squeaked from behind Amaryllis and jolted the blackette from her wool-gathering.
"Oh, no," she said as she shook her head, sending the small house elf that she spotted in her mirror a small smile that seemed to ease the nervous air around the creature. "Missy just got lost in memories again, Thimble."
"That's good, Missy," the elf breathed as she continued to tend to her mistresses hair, braiding the long locks before wrapping said braid up into a bun so it wouldn't annoy Amaryllis as she went about her day. "Thimble was worried that Missy might reject Master's proposal again," she added as she finished her work and the elf's comment caused Amaryllis to snort at her bluntness.
It was something quite unheard of in the magical community, though neither Amaryllis nor Thimble's Master had liked the idea of having slaves despite the fact that was what they knew house elves were. The blackette had helped Xero hand pick each one, knowing that he wanted elves that weren't afraid to speak their mind, though also understood that in accepting them into his household, he would still end up with slaves.
Humble, sometimes rather blunt, humorous, and bloody good cooks... but slaves non the less.
"Ah, but Thimble. Has your Master accepted Missy's yet?" she asked the elf, a smile tugging at her lips as the elf's eyes seemed to grow very, very wide.
"Mi-Missy's asking Thimble's Master?" the elf questioned in a revered breath, almost as if she were afraid to voice the question out loud and jynx the outcome. Even though she was certain she already knew the answer if Amaryllis' growing smile was anything to go by.
"Missy will be asking Thimble's Master tonight after the party," the blackette said, her eyebrow twitching slightly in her hidden amusement at the continued referral of herself in the first person as 'Missy'. But it was something that Amaryllis had long gotten used to after having lived in the magical world for more than a few decades. Creatures of all walks of life communicated in different ways and she had had that lesson drilled into her time and time again over the years.
Though none had been more of a learning curve when her Master had taken her under his wings - and quite literally for that matter.
"Missy's going to ask Thimble's Master!" Thimble squealed from behind Amaryllis and the witch let out a chuckle at the way the words had the creature's features lighting up with utter delight. "Does Missy know what she's going to wear? Thimble knows of the perfect dress, and had even looked into those muggle papers that all the witches secretly reads and learned the most perfects hairstyle that Missy would love..."
Amaryllis let the elf ramble on, holding onto the firm belief that Thimble had had everything set out and pre-planned the moment she had realised that her Master's eye had finally been drawn to someone... even if Amaryllis herself hadn't known at the time. It was still rather surprising for the young blackette to believe herself at times. And even more so now as memories she'd thought had been long forgotten were deciding to make their presence known as they continued to fill her mind at the most inconvenient of times. Although Amaryllis was glad that's all they were - just memories. The feelings she knew to be linked with them were hidden from her and she much preferred it that way.
Theta had abandoned her after all.
"... best be off. Master will be down shortly, though Thimble knows that Master's friend Master Enlil is already waiting downstairs. Thimble will have Rook make certain that breakfast is ready," Amaryllis heard before there was a crack and the house elf disappeared. The blackette blinked and looked at herself in the mirror, finding that Thimble had already finished getting her ready for the day and she shook her head, trying to clear it of the man she'd rather forget.
Why Theta was taking up so much of her mind as of late, Amaryllis really didn't have a clue. And she was rather hesitant to ask Xero for his opinion, the glimmer of silver that wrapped around the ring finger of her left hand speaking for her reasons not to far more than any words she could possibly come up with. She knew that she loved the man; nothing having filled the emptiness that had been carved into her very soul the moment Theta had left her with that same old promise of five minutes and a companion that would never leave her.
A part of her wondered if he had known what would become of her - what her fate held given their final moments. But the part that had been reborn the moment he'd walked away to never return didn't care. He had clearly made his choice, and now Amaryllis had made hers.
Rising from her seat, the blackette moved to her bed and grabbed the clothes that Thimble had left out for her before disappearing into the bathroom to get changed. She had a date and fiancé to find, and Amaryllis would rather not leave Xero waiting.
"Shall I inform Anshar that you're not able to attend the party because you've come down with another rare strain of some unknown disease that only recently resurfaced after muggles shoved their noses where they didn't belong once more?" Marduk asked as Amaryllis finally made an appearance for breakfast.
"If it doesn't result in zombies, apocalypses, or a death in the family, I really don't care what you tell that bloody man," the blackette sniped as she took her seat at the breakfast table.
"You're going?!" the blond questioned in surprise as he fixed himself up a cup of tea.
"I have plans," Amaryllis replied a little evasively.
"Oh, call the Prophet," Marduk cried sarcastically and the witch just rolled her eyes. "And what plans do you deem so worthy that you finally agreed to attend a Ministry function?" he asked, eyeing the blackette over his cup as he took a sip of the dark liquid. "It wouldn't have anything to do with the small box I noticed in your office the other day?"
"I still think that the party is just a stupid reason for people to get drunk and act like idiots," Amaryllis grumbled. "And you need to stop snooping through my stuff!" she added half-heartedly, shooting her Master a look. "There's a lock on my desk for a reason."
"There is?" the blond questioned with a look of innocent surprise that Amaryllis wasn't buying for a minute. The witch just shot him a dark look and he shrugged. "I don't know why you haven't asked him yet," he stated in an almost idle manner. "You know that Death waits for no one and cares not for the situation He may stumble across while doing his duties. All He cares for is the continued balance that must be upheld between the living and the dead and the price that all must pay for the gift that is life. The fact that you've waited this long to come to the decision to finally accept Xero's proposal, and ask him your own... it all means so little in the eyes of the one who has lived since the beginning of all things and will continue to do so long after the sun and moon have disappeared from our skies."
"Must you bring Him into everything, Master?" Amaryllis questioned, though there was a fondness in her tone that belittled her words. "And besides, if you are right, what does that make us?"
Something flashed across Marduk's face as he smiled; a glimpse of fang showing before it disappeared behind his cup as he sipped the contents once more. He savoured the flavour as he placed the cup back onto the table and the golden tinge that had slowly been appearing in his eyes since his first sip grew brighter as he finally replied to his apprentice's question. "We are but His misguided children that still have valuable lessons to learn before we are welcomed back into His eternal embrace."
"You make that sound like a bad thing, Master," Amaryllis said with a laugh.
"Ah, but just think of all those who would be lining up to 'offer' themselves to Him if they knew the truth behind the lies that they've been spoon-fed since before they could walk and talk," the vampyre stated with a knowing smirk. "People fear Death because he is the absolute truth. They fill their lives with fantasies and lies, deceiving themselves from the fact that their time upon this plane is limited and unable to accept who awaits to greet them at the end."
A inelegant snort escaped Amaryllis as the image that Marduk provided her over-exaggerated mind with almost sent her into another fit of laughter. "Could you image int line-ups?" she chortled as she tried to catch her breath.
"Hrn." Marduk waved her off as he finished his tea, though the witch didn't miss the way his face scrunched up in disgust at the thought. "Have you had anymore... memories?" he asked after the witch had managed to calm herself.
Though his question caused what humour was left in the room to disappear like the shadows of night fleeing the first lights of dawn and Amaryllis took a moment before replying, pouring herself a glass of something that looked like dark red wine - if such a drink poured itself in such a manner that spoke of a consistency far thicker than that of the juices from mere grapes.
"I did just before I came down," the witch admitted when she was finished, taking a sip from her glass as she met her Master's gaze.
"Hrn."
The pair sat there as a silence descended upon the room, each lost to their own thoughts. Though it wasn't long before it was broken by Amaryllis.
"How much do you think that beetle Skeeter would have paid to know what was about to go down tonight?" the blackette asked after a few minutes and Marduk blinked at the unexpected question.
"Hmm." The blond took a moment to actually think over the question and a wicked smirk slowly begun to appear on his lips. "I'd think that it would be as much as it'd take her to pay her way out of Azkaban and back into the Prophet's good graces just to be able to cover such a story," he said before his golden-tinged gaze seemed to pin his apprentice to her seat. "Is someone thinking of making a few calls?" he enquired 'casually', "'Cause I know with good knowledge that Harry Potter may be showing his face despite the fact that his cousin is still missing. He's under the Ministry's fist, and as such must play by their rules. The Minister has requested for Mister Potter to join the man tonight as his personal body guard to try and promote the newest Auror's program that they've introduced."
"Oh, you do not know how tempting that is," Amaryllis stated with her own smirk before she suddenly sighed rather dramatically. "But alas, where would I find someone who could not only break someone out of prison, but also blackmail one of the largest magical newspaper in all of the United Kingdom into allowing said escapee to cover one of the biggest stories to grace their pages since Potter himself managed to slaughter the supposed Lord Voldemort while he was still in diapers. And if you were to add what they're saying in the Aurors office at the Ministry, his aunt Jackie had been acting up so much that one of Potter's elves actually begged the wizard for clothing just so they didn't have to deal with the woman for a second longer."
Blond eyebrows flew up on Marduk's forehead as he stared at his apprentice. "Well..." The vampyre seemed to be at a loss for words, his jaw moving up and down though no sound passed his lips. It was a rare sight to see and Amaryllis had the sudden urge to pull out her phone and take a picture. "Blimey," he finally breathed, running a hand through his slick-back locked. "Can't say I've ever heard of an elf begging to be given clothes so they didn't have to deal with a grieving woman. And a muggle no less."
"Really goes to show that whatever bad blood that seemed to run between James and Petunia had nothing to do with the fact that one was magical and the other wasn't," Amaryllis agreed. A thoughtful expression passed over her features as she added, "But Mrs Tyler is said to be muggle, though also able to see the magical world, right?" curiously, tilting her head a little to the side.
"Yes, I was informed that she was considered a squib by magical standards, even though it's known that her heritage is very muggle. I think the officials in the Muggle Registry were forced to look into her family tree to determine if there was a possibility that magic had appeared somewhere else after her name appeared in the book at Hogwarts the day she was born, although was gone by the next year. But as far as I know, the search never unearthed anything unusual."
"Could it possibly have had something to do with the leys?" Amaryllis enquired as she mused over a growing idea in her mind.
"Hrn?"
The witch seemed to struggle for a moment, almost as if she was figuring out a way to formulate her thoughts into words that her Master would follow without it coming out overly longwinded. "Well, anyone who studies the leys know that Cokeworth once was home to one or two before they inexplicably vanished. It was why I chose it as the place to 'grow up'. The scars that lingered from those very leys covered up who I was to the ones who cared to notice and would do me harm... almost in the same way a Fidelius Charm can hide something someone doesn't want found. But the missing leys were also contributed to how terrible that place had become. We both know that nature will rarely flourish were ley lines are absent, and maybe those same leys that had once run through Cokeworth and possibly gifted James with his magic had tried to do the same with Jackie. But what if there wasn't enough? Or maybe she'd been sick as a child and what magic she had been gifted with was used up in its effort to heal her?"
Amaryllis shrugged before finishing her glass. "We may never really know how muggleborns inherit magic or why some are chosen and other's aren't, but it does put a little bit more of a perspective on how squibs are born. Especially since they happen to occur more often within the Sacred Twenty-Eight that are known for... intermingling with their relatives. The very magic itself, let alone the leys that provide it, would be working overtime as it was just to right the very wrongs their heirs were born with."
"It's something that definitely needs to be considered," her Master agreed when she was done, though a glint appeared in his eye and Amaryllis' own turned guarded, knowing that his next words would be a jibe. "Have you thought about bringing up your findings to the Board?" he asked, ignoring Rook as the elf appeared at his side and replaced his used cup with a glass that matched Amaryllis'.
"And what? Get laughed out of the Wizengamot?" the witch retorted with a huff. "You know that those fools wouldn't dare think that the very magic that they'd been born with had a say in what it chose to do. To them it's nothing more than an ability they've managed to master. Nothing but something they've only known to force into their very will and desires and it has led to their own magic - something that was always meant to be natural and ever-flowing the very nature we're born into - to becoming stunted and tainted." Amaryllis' nose wrinkled as she added, "Just look at the Black Family. If there was ever a family that showed the signs of magical deterioration, it was Regulus'."
"His family had always been an odd bunch," Marduk agreed with a thoughtful hum. "Though I had believed that, like Regulus, Orion had managed to escape the yoke that was his families 'curse'." The vampyre took a long sip from his glass, rolling the warm liquid around his mouth before swallowing it down in one go as he thought over the wizard he'd known for but a moment. The golden glow in his eyes grew brighter the more he drank until the brown had all but disappeared, and Amaryllis being privileged with the knowledge of what such a thing meant felt herself relaxing as a silence fell over them once more.
The witch knew that it was a sign that the vampyre's more instinctual 'inner beast' - something that was the complete opposite of a werewolf's - was sleeping and the more logical and thoughtful mind was currently in control. It was only when those same eyes darkened to a pitch black did Amaryllis know to worry, and it had thankfully never occurred since she'd agreed to apprentice under the vampyre. Though each were secretly worried for their own reasons at the knowledge that it could happen and that if Marduk was ever driven to the point where he did end up losing control, their bond of Master and Apprentice may not be enough to save her.
It was something they had agreed to deal with when and if the time ever came the moment she had signed her life away to the blond-haired, ancient Ley Master. However the reasons she had first agreed to his apprenticeship had changed as the years went on.
They had first met during a Ministry function almost after a decade after Amaryllis had been inducted as an Unspeakable after leaving Hogwarts with more Outstanding's than the school had seen in decades. Sanguini was what he had called himself at the time, and was a name he stilled used and was known by to this date. But Amaryllis - much to her embarrassment - had found the vampyre to be utterly fascinating; swooning around him like the other witches - and surprisingly a few wizards - that had flocked to try and garner his attention. What the young witch hadn't thought to believe at the time was that she could manage to catch his eye, but something about her had stuck out to the vampyre and 'Sanguini' had excused himself from what looked to be a very boring conversation with a few other people that the blond looked to have no interest in conversing with before making a beeline straight for her.
She hadn't known what it had been at the time, still learning as to exactly what she was herself, but there had been something about the way Marduk had approached her that had the witch fleeing; the golden glow in his gaze that gave away what he was burning through the glamour that was supposed to hide them in such a 'formal' setting and promised far more than a simple conversation if he caught her.
And for the second time in her life, Amaryllis had turned on her heel and ran.
The pursuit that Marduk gave had been nothing like the ones that she had shared so long ago with Theta. There was a natural predatory grace that the vampyre possessed that Theta never held, something in the way that Marduk had pursued her - the way he had stalked her through the halls of the Ministry, denying his need to flaunt the skills and powers that Amaryllis knew he held that had the raven-haired witch suddenly very interested in him. And when Marduk finally did corner Amaryllis, she was feeling completely exhausted and utterly exhilarated at the same time.
However, even then the blackette had noted that the fire that was coursing through her veins was again nothing like what she had felt whenever Theta had caught her; trapping her against the closet obstacle with his firm body, a hand wrapped around her throat as he whisper into her ear - demanded that she finally stop running and submit to him.
Amaryllis always had, of course.
There was nothing the witch wouldn't have done for her Mate if he had but asked her, and Theta knew he held that power over her. But he also never used it. Her submission to him had always been only in that single, heated moment. Something that was solely physical as neither had been prepared to take the next step into the unknown; both not even certain as to what the bond was that had drawn them together to begin with.
All they knew was that the moment they had met, it was as if each had etched the other's name upon their very soul and Amaryllis was left with a 'tattoo' of Theta's chosen name upon her wrist; he sporting hers upon his own.
It had not been long after that when Theta had given her his final promise and they had parted; and his parting words had been left unfulfilled for almost a decade before Amaryllis felt as though it was time for her to re-enter the world she'd once left behind and start anew. It had only been then, at that very Ministry function she'd been swooning over Marduk did she notice that her mark had slowly faded. And by the time the vampyre had cornered her in that hallway and she had agreed to apprentice with the Ley Master - the mark had all but disappeared completely.
The raven-haired witch still had no idea as to how Marduk had known who or what she was, though the vampyre had given her the key in forgetting the pain and misery she had been hiding for far too long. It had been that promise - the very oath that Marduk had taken against his very magic that had sealed her fate and had her signing her life away to the Wizard, Ley Master, and Elder Vampyre all rolled into the one powerful and ancient being. It had been her wish to forget the man who had broken her heart and left her stranded in a world that suddenly felt empty without the company that he had offered to her that had Amaryllis taking what Marduk had to offer with both hands and no shred of hesitation.
And not once had the witch ever regretted her decision.
In fact, Amaryllis' resolve in her choice had only been strengthened as the years had passed, and by the time she had met Xero for the second time, any thoughts of Theta had long been forgotten and locked away in the deepest reaches of her subconscious.
Or at least that's what she had thought...
"What's got you two so quiet?" the raven-haired shifter's voice cut through the silence of the room as he entered and Amaryllis looked up to her elf-refilled glass with a warm smile. One that was both so similar and dissimilar to the ones she had once gifted Theta.
"Just thinking of how my life led to meeting you again after I became Marduk's apprentice," she told him honestly and Xero's oddly orange-amber gaze softened at her words.
Though the moment was ruined by the Ley Master in question.
"And I was thinking that if Orion hadn't been murdered by his wife, his family may not have ended up as crazy and deranged as it did," Marduk piped up, earning himself a curious look from Xero as the blacket took as seat beside his fiancé, placing a kiss upon Amaryllis' temple as he did so. "I mean, we all know that Bellatrix was a lost cause from the very beginning. But Narcissa and Regulus... Well, I guess with the later it was just a matter of like father, like son. But we all must admit that if he hadn't decided to run off after that blasted Horcrux and had gotten himself killed in the process without warning anyone with what he was doing, Potter may not have ended up with Jackie and Sirius may not have spent twelve years in Azkaban for the supposed murder of his best mates before he was finally released after Pettigrew was suddenly found 'alive and well' hiding with the Weasleys."
"Oh, I'm fairly certain that Pettigrew would have figured out a way to kill those muggles and make his death still look like it was Black's fault with or without the wizards' help," Xero commented as his features seamlessly changed from the raven-haired young man that Amaryllis was so used to seeing and to a platinum blond with rather odd blue eyes.
Well, odd for me, the witch mused silently as the moment Xero's features settled, an elf appeared at his side, knowing not to do so while his Master was using his other 'face'.
It wasn't that Xero didn't want people to know what he truly looked like - or at least the face he had claimed to be his own the moment he'd first used it. But Amaryllis knew that it was just something that Xero did to make it less confusing for his elves. It did nothing to show good training and care if one couldn't identify who their master was in a crowd, and the blackette knew that despite what others may think about her fiancé, Xero really did a lot to cater to his elves and make their job less confusing. Though it wasn't as though anyone outside their close circle of friends and family knew that Xero could change forms in the first place. Most just thought that while he was in the guise of the blond, that he was some distant cousin of Amaryllis' on the Malfoy's side that she'd been acquainted with to learn how to manage her vaults after she'd been named the Malfoy heir after Lucius' death.
Both just allowed the crowds to believe what they would. It wasn't uncommon for distant cousins to marry in the Wizarding World as it were, and so neither Amaryllis nor Xero could find the energy to care if that was what the local populous wanted to believe.
"You're drifting, love," Xero's quiet voice purred in Amaryllis' ear and the witch shivered as pink cut across her cheeks, causing the shifters' eyes to glow an odd mix of amber and blue.
"Sorry," she apologised, turning her attention onto her cup so quickly that her fiancé had the image of her mind somehow managing to get whiplash with how avidly she was now studying the contents inside the crystal glass.
"Will you two just get a room," Marduk cut through their little moment, however immediately regretted his words when the shifter turned to him with a predatory grin - right as he speared a piece of fish from his plate.
"We could," Xero agreed after he finished the mouthful. "But then we'd be late for lunch with Charity at the Leaky," he added.
Amaryllis felt herself flush even more at his words and she thumped him on the arm with her fist lightly. "Stop it, you," she scolded, ignoring the amusement that was practically radiating from her Master as Xero's gaze turned to her. "And what do you mean that we're having lunch with Charity. I thought that we weren't seeing her until this afternoon," the witch added as she tried to divert the conversation back to waters that were far shallower and safer for such a place as the breakfast table.
"Well there's the Ministry event happening tonight, and from what I hear... you don't seem to have a date," Xero stated as his eyes gleamed at Amaryllis in a way that had the witch shifting slightly in her seat as fight or flight instincts were suddenly ignited.
"I'm currently unavailable," Marduk interjected once more with an overly dramatic sigh, which only earned him a dark glare from the blackette. "And Anshar informed me that he's already prebooked for the evening as the Minister's official 'Vampyre Envoy'," he added as he ignored said glare.
"That poor man," Xero drawled as he speared another piece of fish with his fork. Amaryllis turned her gaze onto him, thumping his arm again for good measure.
"I was going to ask you to take me," the witch told her fiancé, turning her nose up and away from him as if she disapproved of his very presence. "Though I gather that I'll just have to ask Charity if she knows anyone that would want to go with me."
"Oh, I did hear that Master Sheppard was thinking of finally taking on an apprentice," Marduk 'helpfully' divulged. "Twenty-two, brunet, and supposedly a good chef."
"Do you think she could organise a meeting?" Amaryllis enquired as she played along with her Master, enjoying the way she could see Xero glaring daggers at the both of them from the corner of her eye.
"I'll have to get back to you."
Marduk hid the smirk that was growing on his lips by taking another large sip of his 'wine', feeling rather privileged to see a man that most considered to be rather cold and uncaring having an internal struggle at deciding if trying to rip a vampyre apart for insulting his honour in front of his Mare was better than trying to win back said Mate's attention before deciding that the latter would provide him with a more fruitful outcome and turned to Amaryllis to try and win back her affectionate gaze. The Ley Master would have found such a sight rather nauseating all but a few decades prior. Though after seeing just how heartbroken the young witch had been when he'd first laid eyes on her all those years ago compared to what he was seeing now, Marduk found his discomfort to be worth it knowing that it was worth every second if Anshar's chosen kin and his sister in all but blood continued to grace them and their house with her warm smiles.
"And what would this other have that I do not?" Xero murmured into his fiancé's ear at the same time he snuck an arm around her waist.
Amaryllis let out a squeak of outrage when she suddenly found herself in the platinum blond's lap as his form returned to the one she had grown up with and fallen for without even realising. However, before Xero could even get a word in to try and soothe his Mate, Amaryllis had already managed to slip out of his clutches and was already disappearing out the door.
Oh... So that's how she wants to play, the shifter thought as he gave chase, a delighted and very predatory glint appearing in his now solely amber gaze as both Marduk and breakfast were forgotten; all thoughts turning to Amaryllis and the tantalising invitation she had left in her wake.
The Ley Master in question sighed as both Amaryllis and Xero left him sitting at the dining room table on his own - again. He glanced to the elf that apparated into the room to clear off the table, having already gotten the message that neither his Master nor 'Missy' would be continuing with their breakfast, and Rook shrugged before he disapparated the moment the table was clear. Marduk just shook his head as he rose, the muttered word of, "Kids," escaping him as he decided that it was probably best to go and find something to fill in the time that he'd been left with now that his current hosts had become pre-occupied with something far more interesting than an old vampyric Ley Master that had popped around to see his sister.
Though there was a small smile that tugged at Marduk's lips when Amaryllis' squeal reached his ears the moment he knew that Xero had managed to finally catch his Mate. And leaving the two lovebirds with whatever came next with such an act, the vampyre disapparated away from Xero's estate to see what muggle London had to offer him that day.
