The BladeMasters Assention (anyone?)

Alexander was restless...again. he had been up every morning for 2 weeks, disterbed by dreams and memories of a distant family member.

He decided to stroll down to the training room and practice,the small rays of sun peaking through cracks in the wall and curtains. nothing like practicing the art of the sword to calm ones mind afterall.

Alexander had been perfecting his form for many many years and tonight he would be putting everything into it. he removed his shirt and coat , standding topless in the room, his muscles visably toned and defined, even in the darkness.

He breathed deeply to fucus himself and then readied his firststance, bending his knees slightly and placing one hand on his hilt the other hand running slowly down the sheath. suddenly he exploded into action, the blade pommel thrusting outward follwed by a small arcing slash and then readied into a middle guard, the blade tip pointed up.

from there he raised the blade high and swept down in a vertical slash and then arching round up and down again three times. his steps measured and balanced.

this went on for many hours of self training, fully focused and intence.

after this Alexander needed a training partner but as none werepresent he 'created' his own. standing very still he drew on one of his powers to create a mirror image, a shadow opponant for him to spar with. they bowed to each other before readying themselves and waiting patiently.

They flew at each other with tremedious speed, swords clashing in the small cracks of moonlight and their motions fluid and precise. this sparing match would be different to others as the clone would know his whole combat repertoire.

Swords clash once again and small cuts appear on both fighters. the saying to know yourself is to know your enemy wqas never more true than now. |Alexander would have to surpass himself in order to win otherwise it would never end.

Alexander was starting to tire when a blue glow from the rune on his arm stated up, but not on him. instead the glow was coming from the clone facing him.

an evil laugh eminated from the clone recognisable as sorinth.

"You are WEAK!! how do you expect to defeat HER if you cannot defeat YOURSELF?!" he yelled. the clones lips out of sync from the voice.

Alexander was taken back in shock and did not reply.

"ah so its true you fear her, you cannot beat her nor yourself. so you are truely weak... i should have had a better host" the clone still laughing and out of sync.

Alexander lowered his head in acceptance at this fact and sighed. "your right.... i cannot win, not like this..."

What was Alexander to do? after all the blood he had spilt, after all the lives he had ended with his sword, his biggest enemy would always be himself...
through all this the clone was still laughing, spouting insults and put downs towards Alexander, towards his sword and towards his family...

thats when Alexanders head snapped up. and the clone suddenly stopped laughing.

"oh? is the poor vampire going to try something?" Sorinth said in a very mocking tone. "remember we know every move your going to make"Alexander smiled " Im counting on it old friend" with this he charged at the clone sword slashing and being blocked and deflected by the clone.
"what will this acomplish? you cannot win!" the clone now on the attack and Alexander on the defensive, perfectly parrying all but on attack, a slash from the shoulder to the hip.
"SEE?! you ARE weak, just give up now"Alexander chuckled and laughed, he had timed that blow to create a small flesh wound so blood may slowly pour out.
"All the blood ive spilt... and yet none my own. thank you for showing me this..." the blood stopped running and instead flowed upwards towards his arms and grew outwat into what could only be discribed as arms with blades made from hardened blood. "now what am i going to do?"Alexander Charged once more, all 6 blades slashing as he did, triple connetions directly onto to clones sword pushing it outwards from a guard as another 2 struck at the abdoment impaling the clone. "never under estimate me old friend, now back where you belong". the clone laughed "this is not the end!" as Alexanders 6th and final sword, the konari can down the middle splitting the clone in half before melting away.

Alexander slumpted to the floor where he lay for a long time, exhausted.

soon after Alexander had fell to the floor, the blood started slowly flowing out of his body, he managed to corterise the wound before passing out on the training floor in a large pool of his own blood.

The Elf wandered through the hallways, getting accustomed to his new home, hoping to avoid any undesirable company, Zakhar to be exact.

The strong scent of blood abused his senses as he passed by an unknown room, surly the coven did not leave blood or corpses just laying around? The mansion seemed far to tidy for that.

Curiosity got the better of the man and he opened the door.
His eyes grew wide at the sight in front of him, a male vampire, similar to him in size laying in a pool of his own blood.

Why was the man awake during the day and who had done this to him.

Tyrael made his way in, shutting the door behind him and moving over to the man, leaning down and pressing his fingers against the man's neck.

"Hey, are you alright?"
He asked, shaking the man slightly before rolling him onto his back, the cut across his chest came into view.

The Elf bit into his own finger until it bled, running the bleeding finger across the cauterized wound.

Elf blood held healing properties and would help the wound heal faster.

"Come on man, wake up, don't make me force feed you to get you to wake up."

The vampire was breathing and had a heart beat but he had lost a lot of blood.

Alexanders breathing very shallow but his sneses were still working, perculiarly enough it was not the scent of the elf that first came into his range but the strong scent of silver... the voice was distorted by his semi lack of conciousness and heard only half words. infact Alexander barely noticed when he was rolled over and the cool air hit his wound. that was when the scent of blood hit him, but the elfs blood smelt and felt different, as if HE was different.

Alexanders body convulged slightly as the blood was slowly accepted into his body and his breathing became dry but slightly more stable.
Alexander was alive, but only barely. he needed to feed... and soon.

The Elf cursed softly under his breath when the man did not wake.

Tyrael was not a kind man, he didn't go out of his way to help people nor did he particularly care about peoples well being.

But he was not heartless, if he could do something to save a life he would, he was an Elf after all, above all else they valued life, not just those of plants but other beings too.

He glanced around, grabbing a knife from a nearby rack and pressing it against his wrist, slicing it open with one swift movement, wincing from the pain and gritting his teeth.

Tyrael moved the silver chains away from his wrist and lowered the bleeding wound to the man's lips, cupping his jaw so the man's mouth formed a seal around the wound.

He tilted the vampire's head back, making it easier for the blood to travel down his throat.

Elven blood was potent and held healing properties that could benefit any race. This vampire would be fine after a few good mouthfuls considering how old Tyrael was.

Alexander noticed as the scent of blood became stronger and how his head was now being lifted.
as the blood ran down his throat he convulged once more.
after a few gulps he stared coughing and quickly sat up before holding the wrist to his mouth and drinking.

only then did he notice that it was an elf and he abruptly stopped, gasping for air.

"*gasp*...thank *gasp* you.... *cough*" is all he could manage at that moment.

"Shut up, don't try to talk yet."

He Elf replied sternly pressing his wrist up against the Vampire's lips again, there was no way that he had drunk enough yet.

A few small mouthfuls were not going to heal a gash this large, not when he had lost that much blood.

He supported the man's back as he sat up, trying to coax him into laying back down. Moving that quickly so soon after a wound was not a wise idea.

Alexanders head turned towards the elf his eyes a fierce colour "excuse me?"
he tried to say politely before biting hard into the mans wrist again giving the hint of 'thanks but show respect' as he drank again until he was satisfied enough that he would be able to stand and atleast hunt safely.

"so stranger, i have tasted your blood but do not know your name"

this elf may have helped him but he already seemed like he would be a bit of a elitist for lack of a better word. he may have to put him in his place, but for now he had respect.

"You're excused."
He replied with a soft smirk before wincing as the vampire bit into his wrist.
The bite got the man's point across, perhaps he had been a tad, harsh before.

Once the vampire was finished his placed his hand over the cut on his wrist, applying pressure until the wound started to close.

"My name is Tyrael, what happened to you if you were left in such a state?"

He asked, now that the Vampire seemed alright.

Alexander smiled into the bite as the man winced.

"ah well then tyrael i am Alexander and to answer your question i was....training." it was truthful enough answer although the man didnt need to know HOW he was training.

Alexander reached for his sword and then stood. he wobbled slightly and put some weight onto the sword to keep himself stable.
"so, what brings you here?"

"Must be one hell of a training exercise if you almost got yourself killed because of it."

He muttered, getting to his feet slowly, his body was still tired from his encounter with the Lycan and feeding the Vampire was not really helping the matter.

"Here? To the mansion or to the training room?"

He replied, Tyrael wasn't particularly a fan of such open ended questions.

"I am here in this room because I could smell blood and I am here in the mansion because I am taking a break from work."

Alexander chuckled slightly " well if your going to train dont do it in half measures, anyway this was...different..." a small smile on his face.
he was more at peace after this session.

his guilt was slowly fadeing but still their. he never wanted to lose the guilt but at least now he could look others in the eye.

"the question is however you interpret it" he said with a whimsical tone
Alexander looked the elf dead in the eyes when he mentioned work
"and what work would that be tyrael?"

"Yes but there is a difference between pushing yourself and almost getting yourself killed, you could have bled out if I didn't find you.
Not a wise thing to do."

He replied, shaking his head, some people had to consider their well being a little more.

The Elf squared his shoulders as the Vampire looked at him, he wasn't in the habit of lying and he was not ashamed of his work.

"Exporting, I ship certain goods all around Europe and Asia."
That was not a lie, it just so happened that the product he was shipping was not something everyone was happy with.

he smiled towards the elf at his commen, the man smelt of many different things: confidence, heritage and somthing very subtle, something covered by siler that Alexanders nose would not of detected if he had not fought lycans for many years.
"my training style to day took a few ...unexpected turns."


His eyes sharpened again on the elf his smile showing his fangs slightly this time. "and what do you ship my good elf?" a simple question that he believed he already knew the answer to but wished to hear it from the man himself.

Alexander deliberately stretched his arms to reveal a small faded scar from an Alpha many years ago.

"So much silver on you " he commented with a sinister smile.

"Lycan slaves."
He admitted as if it were no big deal, Elves had been known to deal in the Lycan trading business, that much was not a secret and he held no shame for his line of work.

Tyrael chuckled softly at the last comment.
"Yes well, I prefer not to be walking around in a coven filled with Lycans unprotected."

He had always worn that much silver, it was a job precaution.

lycan slaves... he did dispise slavery even if it was alycan. he would sometimes laugh when he hears rumors of lycan slaves escaping and butchering thier masters. his view on it was servers them right for trying to chain up such animals.
"lycan slaves hmm? dangerous line of work for an elf isnt it? even with all the silver"
lycans may be weak to silver but on a full moon a lycan can rage and the silver would do nothing, Laexander learnt that the hard way.

"so been in the business long?" he asked, keeping a calm demenour, trying to get a better gauge on the elf.

"Not too dangerous when you know what you are doing, but there are always risks involved."

The amount of times he had been attacked while training them were high but he had always managed to come out on top.

"I was born into it, Otakar Trading, largest exporter in Europe."
He replied with a shrug, he had been training Lycan ever since he was a young boy.

at least he admitted it, doesnt mean he had to like him.

curious thing about elves, cant read their blood unless they want you too.
shame really.

"there are risks involved in everything." he commented.

"otakar trading? hmmm I dont believe ive heard of it" ok it was a small lie, he had come across a trader or 2 that had mentioned the name.

"so what kind do you deal with? full blood, changed? young?".

"It is a rarity that Vampire's buy Lycan slaves so I am not surprised really."

He replied, the Elf wasn't fussed if people knew about him or not, business was business regardless of reputation.

"Most of my Lycan are trained to be laborers, the majority of them are changed, full blood Lycans tend to be well cared for in large packs, we mostly catch strays.

I'll take anything I can get my hands on, young, old, it doesn't matter, there is a market for everything but I wont bother you with the details.

Most people are not fond of speaking of such things."