Forgotten Prayers

Tayce gingerly walked through the graveyard, lightly running her fingertips over the headstones.  

The girl had gone through some changes in the time that she had been at the coven.  

She wasn't the same girl who had entered.

She still had her curvaceous body and her glasses, but her hair was long now.  It went down to her midback.  

The vibrant blue was now faded, and she was blonde on the top.  It gave off an ombre sort of effect that was really quite beautiful.  

She wasn't wearing shoes, opting to feel the fresh soil on her bare feet.  She liked the way the earth felt. 

She was wearing a sleeveless black dress that went down to just above her knees.  Her makeup was dark as ever.  

She had definitely achieved a haunting look, that was for sure. 

Despite being in the Italian sun, she was still as pale as ever.  

Being a necromancer, she liked looking at the final resting places of the dead.  

Unless something drastic happened, she'd never end up in a grave.  
The young woman liked to imagine the different lives that the  people these headstones were immortalizing lived. 

What did they believe in.  Did they think they'd end up in the ground?  Or did they believe in some sort of higher plain of existence?

Did they pray?  

What would they have prayed for?  

All these forgotten memories, these forgotten prayers.  

It was like trying to solve a mystery.  And Tayce lived for the day she would be able to crack it.

Alyosha liked to find strange places to sit and read.

In the time that he wanted peace from the hecticness of his life, he grabbed a book and went to find somewhere obscure to hide, hoping that Tuzik wouldn't be able to find him for a few hours.

Today was no different. Hair tied back and hidden under a beanie and dressed simply in a pair of loose light wash jeans, Lyo had ventured out with a battered and much loved Russian copy of The Half-Blood Prince.

Pretty soon he had found himself perched up in the branches of the large tree in the graveyard, forgetting the world in favour of good literature.

That is, until he caught a light flash out of the corner of his eyes as he was turning the page. His gaze strayed to that light flash and caught there, watching the beautiful girl walk amongst the tombstones.

In the time since their date, most people would still only think of Tayce and Alyosha being friends.  

They didn't act like a couple would act.  

But considering Tayce's massive amounts of trust issues, this was still great progress.  

The two hadn't done anything romantic, just fluffy and cute.  They'd hold hands sometimes, and she would let him kiss her on the cheek.  

She would lean her head on his shoulder when they would sit together reading or watching a film.  

The girl didn't notice Lyo in the tree.  She had no idea that he was watching her.

Lyo set his book down on his stomach and tilted his head slightly as he watched her.

A little smile curled his lips and the leg he had hanging down from the branch he was sitting on began to swing slowly.

He enjoyed taking the time to just watch Tayce. See the way she acted when she thought people weren't looking. He found himself watching her more than the film most the time.

"Evening," he called out to her.

Tayce didn't jump at the sound of his voice, but did turn her head around to quickly face him.  It caused her long hair to swish.  

The young woman folded her soft arms and gave him a cynical stare.  

"How long have you been watching me?" She asked in her thick French accent.  

In actuality she was happy to see him, but she would never let that show.

"A minute or two," he replied, the held up his book for her. "Was reading before."

Lyo slid out of the tree, landing lightly crouched in a nimble move that didn't seem quite right for someone so large as Lyo. He was quite light on his toes. Something he had learnt he had to be.

He straightened out and the muscles of his stomach and chest rippled under tanned skin and dark tattoos. He strode towards her, a little smile on his lips.

When he reached her, he bent down to press a light kiss to her cheek. As he was straightening up, he pressed a swift kiss to her forehead, too. "Is good to see you."

Tayce kept her arms folded and watched him with only her eyes as he leapt down and walked towards her.  

She didn't smile when he kissed her, but the slight pink dusting her cheeks gave her away regardless.  

She reached out and took his hand, entwining her fingers with his.  

"I was just enjoying the company of the dead.  Maybe you should join them?  I might like you better that way." She said coldly, contradicting the loving gesture of holding hands with him.  She was such a bitch, but that was her natural defense mechanism to try and push people away.  She actually liked Lyo a whole lot, more than anyone else on the whole planet.    

If Lyo couldn't handle her dark sarcasm and jabs, he probably would have bailed by now.

"I think I have a few more years left in me before I end up joining them," was his only reply as he gave the young woman's hand a gentle squeeze.

He swiped another kiss on the cheek before he gave her hand a little tug, guiding her to walk with him at a nice, slow pace.

"You'll just have to deal with me the way I am for a while." He grinned at her. The deep groove of the scar on his right cheek seemed to become even more noticeable as the muscles of his cheeks moved.

"Hmm, what a shame." Was her response.  In truth, if Alyosha were to meet an untimely fate, Tayce would be bedridden for a good long while, covered under forts of pillows and blankets to hide the fact that she'd be crying nonstop.  

Well, he didn't need to know that.  

She decided to walk in silence, enjoying her walk as usual, just now with her hand clasped in his.  

Small goosebumps littered her skin from the growing chill, but she liked it.  Even if she enjoyed spending time with the deceased, she very much liked being alive herself.  

Little things like this reminded her that she was in fact, living.

"Big shame."

He walked with her, enjoying the quiet between them. There was never anything strained in their silences. It was just peaceful.

His skin matched hers, gooseflesh rising on his arms and bare chest. Like Tayce, he didn't make a fuss of it, either. He was getting more acclimatised to Italian weather now, which meant that he was getting cold when it was cold for Italy, but his body did still remember Russia and its freezing winters. He wouldn't bother making a remark about the cold until it was enough to probably freeze his nuts off.

"Tuzik bought new pup home," Lyo murmured conversationally.

Lyo knew what topics of conversation were most interesting to Tayce.  At this news she spun her head to look up at him with eyes full of curiosity.  

"What?  He did?  Is it his?" She asked quickly, not really giving Lyo much of a chance to answer her string of questions.  
She had to bite down on her lip to keep herself from talking and allowing Lyo to speak.

His grin widened a bit and he shook his head.

"Not his. Was given to him. He says by Lucifer." Lyo shook his head once more, this time in disbelief. He still couldn't believe it. He doubted he would ever really get his head around it.

"Is cute. Very fluffy."

Tayce looked a bit bewildered by the news.  

"That's all you know?" She asked, tucking some of her blonde and blue hair behind her ear.

Tuzik had been playing with Nemo all morning, then they had enjoyed a nap and now, now the pup was hungry.

To keep him from trying to gnaw on anyone Tuzik carried him by the scruff of his neck, trotting along in his hound form as he searched for Lyo.

He found the man's scent easily enough and padded toward the graveyard, Nemo bouncing along in his grasp.

Tuz gave a muffled bark as he neared the site and found the man.

"Is cute, affectionate and eats as much as my ex-boyfriend." For being so small, the thing put away ridiculous amounts of food.

Seeing the two white skulls before the shape of their bodies Lyo arched a brow.

"And right over there." He leaned down so he was at Tayce's height and pointed them out. It was getting pretty dark so it'd probably be difficult for people without trained eyes to see them.

"Come meet him."

Ex-boyfriend?  

Before she could say anything Tuzik barked and she was being lead over to meet them.  

She finally spoke up.  

"Did you say ex-boyfriend?" She asked, an odd tone in her voice.

Tuzik lay down and put the pup between his front legs, trying to keep him from running off.

Nemo swiftly proceeded trying to bite Tuzik's ears, yapping and bouncing up to grab them.

Tuzik lifted his head to keep his ears out of the pup's jaw, laying a paw over his smaller body to keep him in place.

"Da. Yes, I had boyfriend once. Long time ago."

It was eight years ago now. Time was such a strange thing. He couldn't believe it had been so long, but at the same time sometimes it felt longer.

The man pushed back thoughts of Maks and grinned as he approached. "Nemo, biting ears is bad," he called out, then crouched down when the pup barrelled out of Tuzik'd hold and ran towards the two Necromancer's excitedly.

Tayce's lips thinned out and her eyes narrowed.  She did not look pleased at this news.  

It wasn't that she was some sort of homophobe, because she wasn't. She'd even found herself admiring the female body before in a more than artistic way.  

But for some reason this news really bothered her.  Was she manish?  Was that why Lyo liked her?  Because she reminded him of a guy?  

Her insecurities played into her ignorance and she just stood there looking irritated and aloof.  Honestly though, that wasn't much different then she always looked.

Alyosha grinned as the large puppy knocked hi to the ground and began bathing his face in saliva.

His hands sank into the thick fur and fussed the puppy until he couldn't breathe. He pushed at the puppy, then, trying to get him away form his face for long enough to take in a breath.

"Mercy," he cried breathlessly.

Within seconds Tayce had turned on her feet and started to walk away.  

She was visibly irritated even though Alyosha had done nothing wrong.  Normally such a cute scene would have been heartwarming but Tayce was not having it.  

Her long hair swished as she briskly walked in the opposite direction of the Russian man.

Alyosha didn't notice Tayce walking away until he went to speak to her, tilting his head back so he could look at her upside down from his position flat on his back.

Tayce wasn't there. His head tilted back further, pressing his beanie into the dirt as he did so, to see her walking away.

"Tayce?" He nudged the puppy off him and pushed himself to his feet. It only took him a second to brush his thighs off before he was making his way towards the retreating woman.