The Fallen Vampire

Taira was surprised that none of the girls had woken up when they sensed Inadu suddenly enter their chambers.

Though they were generally hard sleepers, he almost figured that the arrival of another woman around their precious husband would have set them off.

Inadu was getting dangerously close to him and when her hand touched a particular part of his body that wasn't his leg, he sat up in a hurry and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"What are you doing?"

"…I am expressing my thanks to you for your kindness so far. I have no money or anything of value, but I can… do this for you, if it will bring you pleasure."

Taira showed Inadu a rare smile as he wrapped her in spare blankets from the bed.

"A kind offer, but one that I will have to decline."

"…Am I unappealing to you?"

Taira didn't really know how to answer that.

When it came to other women, it was like he was effectively moving through life with a pair of sunglasses on.

He was only capable of seeing the beauty of the women that he was already in love with, making him relatively insensitive and indifferent to the feelings of other women.

Something his friend Aja had already pointed out in kind numerous times.

As such, he was trying to be as thoughtful as possible in how he responded to her inquiry.

"You… are not. But I have commitments I will not betray."

Inadu seemed to be thinking about something rather seriously for a moment before she had some sort of realization.

"I see… you are a good husband to them… I had also wished to be married to someone like you when I was younger."

"You speak as though it is an impossibility. You are still young and beautiful. I am sure you will have many men who will be vying for your hand once you step into the world again."

Inadu smiled wryly as she reached to touch Taira once again.

Though instead of reaching for anything inappropriate, she took both of his hands and placed them on her forehead and the area right below her belly button.

"Kuvunjawa… chafu." (Broken, dirty.)

Though Inadu had her body healed in the waters of the former sect, there were certain things that it could not make better.

The trauma from her experience had still rendered her mind unstable.

She had lots of nightmares, more than a few fugue state episodes, and even just trouble looking at herself in the mirror.
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She couldn't see herself as the strong and capable woman that she once was.

All she could see was what they made her.

And Taira felt terrible that this was the first time that he realized that she felt like this.

He was only just now seeing that Inadu still had so much more that she actually needed to overcome.

Without fully understanding the reason why, Taira delicately cupped Inadu's face in one hand and placed his open palm over her heart.

"What was broken can be made whole. And what was once dirty can always be wiped away… but you are neither, Inadu. You are a survivor."

"…What does that mean?"

"Survivors are the best kind of people. They who are able to travel the lowest pitfalls of life possible, and yet still climb their way forward are nothing short of inspiring."

"I am hardly climbing… If anything I have allowed you and your wives to carry me."

"The girls and I were gone for a week and you took care of yourself then. If you were truly only getting by with our presence, then you would have gone down a much darker road without us.

Though I can admit… it was wrong of us to leave you behind so soon after bringing you here. For that, you have my deepest apologies. It will never happen again, I assure you."

Inadu wasn't really sure how to react to everything Taira was saying to her.

It was very true that staying here on her own had been… difficult for her.

But whenever her mind drifted towards too dark of a place, she was able to pull herself back by thinking that maybe her life in the future could be better than before.

It was a particularly hopeful thought, but also one that didn't feel like too much of a fantasy.

And since Taira and the girls had come back, she was already beginning to see her hopeful perseverance paying off.

"And… I understand that I may not know you very well." Taira admitted. "But based on what little I have seen so far, I think you would be a wonderful wife."

Evidently, Inadu was not expecting to hear such a thing from Taira and it had left her sufficiently surprised.

That surprise cracked the already mounting threshold of her emotions and thick rivers of tears ran from her ruby red eyes.

"I.. don't mean to be a burden, but… may I hug you..?"

Naturally, Taira wouldn't have dared to make her ask twice for something like this when she was already so emotional, so he gently pulled her into his arms without waiting for another moment.

Now that he was actually touching her for the first time, he could feel how slender she really was.

Beneath the blanket, her soft and frail body was trembling furiously within his grasp as she sobbed silently to avoid waking the rest of the girls.

This would continue for over twenty minutes with Taira neither complaining, nor attempting to pull her away from him.

If anything, he just sat there mystified by the fact that such a frail looking woman had so much water in her body to dispel.

When she finally stopped shaking quite as badly, she passed out directly within his grasp and allowed her entire body to go limp.

As soon as she was unconscious, Taira could feel it.

Her inner subconscious which was already chaotic was starting to fight violently against itself and formulate nightmares out of what should have been peaceful dreams.

Aveena sometimes had these about her family in the past, as did Keran about the men she had gotten killed under her.

Even the carefree Enyo sometimes had them about the life she had before she died and was reborn.

During those nights, there was one thing that Taira could do for them that always helped them to go back to sleep right away.

But… it wasn't exactly appropriate for him to do now.

However, once Inadu started whimpering in her sleep, he made his decision up in an instant.

There was so much negativity running rampant through her mind that it almost made him of all people sick.

'You'll have to forgive me for this… all of you.'

"Dream Devouring Art : The Edge of Harmony."

Lifting Inadu's head ever so slightly, Taira just barely grazed his lips against her own.

A dense, dark smoke passed out of Inadu's lips and into Taira's.

She let out a soft yet sweet exhale of relief as a single tear fell from her eye and her body immediately relaxed.

Taira let out a sigh as his eyes temporarily flashed black, then back to red.

He felt movement stir from behind him, and his heart sped up when he found Aveena fully awake, and appearing to have seen and heard most everything.

"You look frightened, darling. Did I scare you?"

"I…"

"It's okay, my love. I am not upset with you."

Aveena sat up on the bed with her beautiful and powerful body fully exposed from underneath the covers.

She nestled close to her husband and Inadu and ran her fingers through his luxurious silver hair as they stared at the new woman sleeping in their bed.

"We… truly did her a disservice by leaving her here by herself. It was a careless thing to do." Taira said.

"That is an understatement I fear.. but we will make it right in the future however we are able. Whether that is as her friends or… more."

"You know that the likelihood of that is…"

"Yes, I'm aware of the risks. But whatever happens, I don't want you to have any regrets about the road not traveled."

Taira felt himself suppress a dry chuckle as his eyes slowly met Aveena's.

"As always, you have given me much to think about."

"Is that not what being married is for? Having someone keep you on your toes when you least expect it?"

"Among other things, I'd have to say yes."

Aveena leaned in gently and placed a soft kiss on the cheek of her husband before resting her head on his shoulder.

Together in the dark room, the two of them watched Inadu sleep for a little longer without saying anything, as if they found her to be the most interesting thing in their world.

"Tell me… what does she dream about?" Aveena finally asked.

"I decided not to pry." Taira admitted with a shrug. "But whatever it is… I take comfort in knowing that this is the first time she has rested peacefully for several years."

Aveena felt proud to see her husband expanding the circle of people who he was capable of providing compassion to.

In fact she was so proud of him that she unconsciously let words slip that she had only ever thought to herself until now.

"I think… you would make a wonderful father."