The Fallen Vampire

He knew that cultivating once he reached the sovereign realm would be more difficult, but he had underestimated just how painstakingly slow it would be.

As of now, trying to advance through normal means was like trying to fill an Olympic swimming pool with only one drop of water at a time.

Unbeknownst to him, he was finally understanding what it felt like to be a regular cultivator for the first time in his life.

"Seeing someone like you upset about your progress is a bit of a slap in the face to the rest of us."

Looking back over his shoulder from an impossible angle, Taira stared at his mother in law with a hint of surprise in his eyes.

"What? Surprised that I could sneak up on you?"

"No. I am just surprised you bothered to speak to me after you spent so long just watching."

"…You\'re as annoying as your father was. Nothing ever phases you, does it?"

Taira\'s eyes narrowed, and Ayame held up her palms in surrender.

"Apologies… I know you weren\'t close."

"The understatement of a millennium." He spat coldly.

Alucard despised Taira for everything after it was discovered he was inept.

He couldn\'t breathe right, eat right, walk right, or anything close.

It got so bad that the mere sight of his third son filled the vampire king with disgust.

His irritation only became worse when his son tried to find other interests like reading, painting, and poetry.

Things his father felt were utterly useless.

Ayame deigned to intrude closer and sat down beside the nine tailed prince.

"I\'m used to you being less than talkative, but this new air of hostility about you is more than a little bit jarring."

"…Apologies."

"Well since you\'ve spent three days like this, maybe you are tired of it now? Want to share the story of your aggression with me?"

"And me!"

Out of nowhere, Aja climbed on top of the roof of the observation deck and startled the werewolf Ayame.

"How did you do that, elf?"

"I have become the night itself."

"I taught her a basic stealth technique so that she would stop pestering me." Taira answered. "She has become more annoying than before as a result."

Ayame ran her hands through her hair and decided to look past the antics of these two for the sake of her sanity.

"Whatever… just start talking, fox boy."

"…Don\'t call me-"

"Hurry up, I want to get into bed before we land tomorrow and all hell breaks loose."

A vein bulged in Taira\'s head as he tried not to act erratically due to irritation.

"Does the reason you are upset have something to do with the fact that the spider demon girl is not around?" Ayame finally asked.

When Taira\'s scowl melted, the girls knew they had hit the nail on the head.

"I think… I\'ve fallen in love with her."

This was the first time he had said it out loud, and if he was honest it left him feeling a bit like a weight was lifted off of his chest.

"I don\'t understand? Are you just annoyed because you miss her?"

"Partially… but I suppose you could also say… I believe that she will reject my feelings."

At the same time, Ayame and Aja stared at Taira\'s handsome face and extensively honed body.

""You\'re stupid.""

"Excuse me?"

Aja : "All of that hair on your head, and yet no brain to go with it. Sad."

Ayame : "My mother used to tell me that you can only get two out of four things that you want from a man. Easy on the eyes, loyal, good in bed, or smart. Seems the old bitch was right."

"Both of you are about to go the fuck overboard."

Like a crass elder sister, Ayame ruffled the hair on top of Taira\'s head as she stared up into the sky.

"Don\'t be so defensive, we\'re just joking."

Aja : "I\'m not."

"Anyways. Tell us why you feel as though this girl would reject you of all people?"

Already too deep to turn back, Taira lay on his back so that he could stare up at the stars.

For the next ten minutes or so, he told the girls everything that had transpired between the two of them.

From the first night she crawled into his marital bed, and up until the moment where she pushed him away and closed the door in his face.

When he finally finished, he glanced at the girls out of the corner of his eyes.

Aja was incapable of expressing emotion like normal, but she knew just how to make a face like she\'d just heard something that she didn\'t think made sense.

"You\'re so dense… that girl clearly feels just as strongly about you as you do her. If not more so."

"But she.."

"Taira, Inadu is a woman with real trauma. She has wounds that even you cannot fully heal just by coddling her. You have to give her the space to learn how to help herself again."

"But just because she needs that space does not mean that she will not also grow to need you one day." Ayame added. "There is no amount of self love a person can develop that can substitute a romantic connection."

Closing his eyes, Taira allowed the words of the girls to marinate in the back of his brain.

He hated to admit it, but he was starting to feel just a bit better after hearing their explanation more clearly.

The fog resting atop his mind began to clear, and he felt his mood beginning to improve little by little.

"Friendships do seem to have their value… I owe you both quite a bit."

"I-I\'m not your friend you bastard…" Ayame had a small blush on her face as she looked away into the distant sea.

"I am."

Aja knew how much Taira hated being hugged by anyone that wasn\'t his wife, so she did it anyway out of spite.

But much to her surprise, he hugged her back with both arms and he didn\'t even complain as he did so.

She would have thought that she were hugging an imposter were she not intimately familiar with all of her best friend\'s finer points.

"Well… I\'m glad that you are feeling a little less melancholic now." Ayame stood up and stretched her lean body a few times before leaping down from the roof.

"Try not to let these little moods of yours persist for too long again. I find that you\'re much more charming when you\'re only halfway broody."

Aja and Taira watched the werewolf queen retreat towards the cabin hall of the ship.

Even five minutes after she left, they still had yet to say anything.

"Do you think… she was flirting with me by chance?"

"How are you only just now noticing?"

"I\'m used to women being more direct when they are attracted to me. My girls usually just undress and bend over provocatively."

"…Even after hearing that, it is still odd to think that you six have the best marriage of everyone I know."

Finally, the sun started to rise upon the dark ocean and the two of them watched their destination finally come into view.

"Tell me… how many of us do you think will survive this?" Aja asked.

Taira gave her hand a firm squeeze that was meant to act as a form of reassurance.

"I\'m not sure." He confessed. " But no matter what it takes… We will give all that we have to ensure that they suffer more losses on their side than we do."

"Quite a boast, my friend." Aja added with a forced smile.

"I look forward to seeing how you keep your word."