The Fallen Vampire

Taira was gently stirred awake by the sound of a soft and subtle music.

He slowly sat up in his bed and found the reason for the beautiful one of a kind tune.

Inadu was nestled beside candlelight, kneeling on the ground as she played from an unfamiliar instrument.

She didn't even notice him wake up as she continued to play.

Taira felt water running down his face and touched his cheek.

Much to his surprise, this time it was a tear, not Enyo's drool.

And suddenly, it was as if all of the lights in his brain were cut on and he was hit full force by a tidal wave of emotion.

This music was so

sad.

It was thrilling and descriptive, rousing one to aspirations of personal highs only to inevitably drag them back down into their darkest lows.

And yet it was so soft and subtle that it almost gave off a creeping feeling. Like a wave of seasonal depression suddenly come to life.

This wasn't Taira's sadness he was feeling. It was all hers.

And she had turned something so horrible into true art

.

Taira slipped out of bed without making a sound or taking his eyes off the Arachne.

He didn't even bother to get dressed. He simply sat in front of Inadu and waited for her to finish.

She played as if she were in a trance. Every thrum of the strings at her fingertips was clear, and purposeful.

At no point did she even register that her husband had come to sit in front of her.

Taira was an innate lover of all things artful, be they music, painting, or poetry, he took immense joy in immersing himself within an artist's creation and trying to understand the headspace they were coming from when they created it.

Maybe it was because he was trained as an assassin, but getting into people's minds to predict them was kind of second nature for him.

Him being intimately familiar with Ina's entire life only made this particular experience that much more impactful for him.

When Ina's playing slowly drew to an end, her eyes finally re-opened.

As clarity set into her mind, she realized that her husband was not even five inches away from her, staring at her with a unique sparkle in his eyes that she didn't believe she'd ever seen before.

Only now did she realize what she'd done, and the embarrassment that followed was crippling.

"E-Eeep! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to wake you..!" she said in a hushed whisper. "I-I swear I was just rubbing my fingers along the strings and..."

Taira used one of his tails to wipe away the lingering tears running down her face.

"Of all the things you've shared with me... Why did you never tell me that you knew how to play music?" He asked; utterly unbothered by being awakened.

"I-I don't..!"

"You can't fool me. No one plays like you do on accident, my love."

"I do!" Ina insisted.

Taira could see that she wasn't lying. She had genuinely played that beautiful song on accident.

Ina was a prodigy.

She was beautiful.

He was completely in love.

"Will you marry me..?"

"We're already married, darling.."

"R-Right, that just slipped out.." Taira scratched the back of his head in embarrassment as he tried to hide a rare blush.

He quickly had to change the subject before Ina tried to stare at him too much. "N-Nevermind that... Where did you get this?"

Ina fished inside of the pocket of his robe and pulled out Velreth's medallion that she held with both hands.

{I have a new student now, brat. And this one actually refers to me as... WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU NAKED!?}

"You're hallucinating."

{No I'm not, you just changed into your animal body!}

"I've no idea what you are talking about."

Taira licked his paw absentmindedly and then went back to sniffing Inadu's new guqin.

'It smells like me almost... Is that just because she's wearing my clothing? ...And it's a soul weapon as well.' Taira realized.

"Where did you get this, old man?"

{Nunya!}

"...Stop listening to Vermeil and I when we have conversations."

{There's very little to do when you're dead, unfilial disciple. I will latch on to whatever method of entertainment soothes my boredom the best.}

"I wonder if you'll able to listen in to us as well if I encase your medallion in wax..?"

{Alright, alright, fine!}

Taira nuzzled next to Inadu as he continued inspecting her new instrument.

While his mind was turning, Inadu reached out and lightly scratched his ear.

"I really am sorry for waking you... I was going to play outside at first, but I had to come in suddenly."

"Well I told you it's not a problem, but why did you feel the need to come in abruptly?" Taira tilted his head.

"Raymond and Tiche were on the deck below talking about something. I didn't want to eavesdrop so I left."

Taira paused and stared at the door to the balcony.

Inadu began to get a sneaking suspicion and pulled his ear. "No. You don't need to know everything at all times. Their business is their business."

"...I'll just listen in for a little bit." Taira promised.

{We just need to make sure that the young lad doesn't blunder his confession is all.} Velreth chimed in.

"You both know what this is about??"

""Don't you??""

Now, Inadu felt like she was the one who needed to go and lay down.

-

"So... You have a romantic interest in me?" Tiche asked.

"I-I-I mean... Yea." Raymond was sweating so much that it was easy to think he might've had some sort of condition.

Above their vision, Taira, Inadu, and Velreth were watching this entire debacle go down with great interest.

"Look at the lad. He's blowing it. All that time he spent reciting his confession in the mirror and he can't even remember the first two lines." Velreth shook his head.

"It's sad." Taira nodded.

"Very." Velreth agreed.

Inadu narrowed her eyes as she stared at the two of them accusatorially. "How much time do you two spend snooping around the relationships in the cult?"

"..."

"..."

"I know you both hear me!" she hissed.

Velreth and Taira scooted away quietly- causing Ina to give them a small glare.

"...By the way, when do you believe that Saanvi will confess to Vaal?" Velreth asked.

"Last I checked she was barely holding it in. My guess is that when she breaks into the overlord realm she'll get a surge of confidence and stop holding back."

"Well I know better than to question you again after your guess with Jordan and Corey turned out to be true. Who would have thought that she would have been the one to kiss him? In my day, women were not quite so bold..."

"..." Inadu was beginning to wonder just how much Taira and Velreth really spent together.

Down on the main deck, Raymond took a massive leap of faith.

He calmly took Tiche's hand and dropped to one knee in a well-meaning, but overdramatic gesture.

"I understand that this might seem crazy, but I have to say it... You are the first thing that's made sense to me ever since I came to this world. E-Even when I was about to be eaten, I would have gladly let you do it!"

Tiche's face showed a mixture of a blush and slight amusement.

"Which is why... I've wanted to ask you this for the longest time..." Raymond confessed. "I am In love with you. And I want you to be my girlfriend."

As dawn crept up over the horizon, Tiche's voice quietly doled out her answer, and it was one that Taira could not say he hadn't expected.