Filia closed her eyes, wishing sleep would take her. Or death. Or anything. Anything would be better than this damned heat! she thought to herself, sighing. Her whole body was burning up, as though she had a fever, and nothing could cool her off, and she'd been that way for the past week. Only three days ago had it gotten so bad that she had to resign herself to staying locked in her room so the others wouldn't see the state she was in. Now her entire body ached, not only from her ailment, but from the atrophy of laying in bed for three straight days. But she didn't dare leave her room, or even get out of her bed. She knew if she walked downstairs, even to eat, she would do something she'd regret.

Filia was in heat.

Dragons, like most other creatures, choose mates at some point in their lives. Female dragons, much like other females in the animal kingdom, would occasionally go into heat, driving them to mate and hopefully produce young. Filia, being a female dragon, was no exception. However, unlike most other dragon women, the priestesses at her temple were required to remain celibate. In order to do this, they used magic to repress their heat and continue serving the Fire Dragon King. From time to time, they'd go into heat again and the spell would have to be re-cast. This worked fine, but the only problem was, only a dragon priest could perform the spell correctly.

Filia, far from home and in a strange land, had no priest to cast the spell for her. When she first felt the heat taking hold, she tried to fight it back herself, hoping perhaps that it was only a state of mind. At first, it was little things that she thought she could over look. She was finding herself becoming excited whenever she was left alone around Gourry or Zelgadis, and eventually even total strangers. She was hot all the time. After two days, she could no longer keep her mind out of the gutter. The last straw finally came on the fourth day when she practically threw herself at Zelgadis. Not that she had any deep seated feelings for him or anything. It was a physical impulse, and her body was undergoing changes that demanded that she take a mate soon. After that, she decided that there was no way she was going to embarrass herself like that again and resigned herself to her room.

Perhaps the worst part of the whole thing was the outcome. Once a dragon went into heat, she'd stay in heat until either one of two things happened. The first way to end it was simply to take a mate. The other way was to simply let the heat progress until the dragon expired, either from complications or from simple starvation. Filia, unwilling to break her vow of celibacy, and not wanting to throw herself at complete strangers, had resigned herself to staying cooped up in her room until it was over. The alternative wasn't even an option in her mind. She could tell Lina and Amelia had feelings for Gourry and Zel, so they were out of the question. The only other person she knew of was Xellos, and that was dismissed out of hand as well. It was true that she did have something of a little crush on him, but knowing what he was and who he was, she'd never admit it in a million years.

Filia rolled onto her side, facing the wall her bed was pushed up against. The wall had somewhat of a cooling effect for a little while at least, so she would periodically turn toward it. She tugged the sheet that lay loosely over her body up to cover herself and looked unhappily at the encroaching darkness that sundown was bringing. It wouldn't be much longer. She could already feel her insides tying themselves in knots. It might take another day, maybe two. This comforted her a little, knowing that it wouldn't last much longer. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, making Filia hide her head underneath her soaking wet pillow.

"Go 'way!" she mumbled, hoping whoever it was listened to her. She was thankful she'd locked the door to her room so no one could come in without her permission.

"Miss Filia?" Amelia asked from the other side of the door. "It's time for dinner. Are you coming down?" Filia didn't even roll over toward the door.

"I'm not leaving my room," Filia replied hoarsely. She tugged the sheet tighter over her sweaty frame.

"Then I'll bring some food in to you, okay?" Amelia asked, worriedly. "You need to eat something, Miss Filia. You'll make yourself sick..." Filia repressed the urge to chuckle bitterly to herself.

"I'm not hungry," she snapped instead. She really only wanted to be left alone right now.

"Oh, okay," Amelia said dejectedly. "I'll come back and check on you a little later, then, okay? If you need anything, let me know." Filia didn't answer. Instead, she waited on the smaller girl's footsteps to fade out down the hall. She really didn't like hurting Amelia's feelings like that. She supposed the girl felt guilty over snapping at her a few days ago over the incident with Zelgadis and blamed herself for Filia's recent retreat into her room. Filia sighed, removing the sweat-soaked pillow from her head and flopping back down on top of it.

A few minutes passed while Filia watched the shadows play across her window, making patterns of fading light against the wooden floors and walls. She considered rolling over to light the lamp on the nightstand beside her bed, but decided it was too much effort and she wasn't going to be doing anything that required light anyway. Suddenly, the lamp was lit, casting light against the wall Filia was carefully studying. She started for a moment before realizing that someone was in the room with her, and she had a pretty good idea who.

"Get outta my room, Namagomi," Filia said weakly, her pulse beginning to quicken a little. She rolled over onto her stomach and lay on her hands to make sure they didn't do anything without her permission. A chair skidded across the floor and came to rest in front of her bed. There was a rustle of clothing as Xellos sat down.

"That wasn't very nice of you," he remarked evenly. "Amelia said you don't want anything to eat." Filia could tell he was trying to see what was wrong with her. Was he really worried about her? She didn't want to feel like she was stupid enough to believe something as romantic as that, but she was certainly entertaining the idea.

"I'm not hungry," she said again, sounding a little less venomous this time. "Why do you care, anyway?" She felt like he was studying her or something.

"I was only curious what was wrong with you," Xellos replied, "and a little worried." Filia's heart began to pound and she started feeling like she so hot she was on fire. She clutched the sheets underneath her hands and fought to stay still.

Xellos sat watching the dragon maiden quietly. She was certainly acting odd, like she was ill. He ran through a list of ailments in his mind while taking note of just what appeared to be wrong with her. She was covered in sweat and panting slightly. Her legs were exposed, sticking out from underneath the sheet she was using to cover herself, and she appeared to have taken all her clothes off. Xellos followed her legs down and saw that the tip of her tail was twitching slightly while the rest of it was limply lying to one side of her body. He wondered about that, noticing that it looked a little odd. He hid a smirk, thinking just how alluring she looked when she was helpless.

"I have a fever," she said quietly, her voice husky, "so just go away now." Xellos did nothing of the sort. He continued to study her, wondering idly what she looked like from the front.

"Roll over," he commanded. "I want to see how hot your forehead is." The twitching of her tail turned into a limp swish as Filia contemplated rolling over to face him. Her face and most of her body slowly turned a bright red. She knew that if she could look at him, she'd likely throw herself at him as well. "If you don't roll over on your own," he said, teasingly, "I'll roll you over myself. You don't want the big, bad Namagomi to touch you, do you?" Filia knew he was trying to use that as a threat, but at that particular moment she liked the idea of him putting his hands on her. She didn't respond, half hoping that he'd just leave her alone and half hoping that he really would touch her. She suddenly felt a cool hand grip the shoulder closest to the wall and a jolt went through her body. She gasped at the contact as he rolled her onto her back.

Xellos drew a sharp breath as he looked Filia over. The sheet that was covering her body had slipped off, revealing her chest and she made no motion to cover it back up. But what was more shocking was her overall appearance. Her lips were fuller and bright red and her cheeks were full of blush. Her eyes were half-open, giving them a more seductive appearance. Her breasts had swollen and were now round and full. Her hands, which were now resting on her stomach, were adorned with gracefully long nails. Her hips had widened a little, giving her the appearance of having a fuller bottom. Her body had changed to make her look more 'womanly' to attract a mate. Xellos sat back down, taking all this in and trying to make sense of it. He even thought for a moment that his eyes might have been playing tricks on him, but another look at her confirmed that she had indeed changed.

"Filia," he said quietly, "you look different." He leaned over and placed a hand on her forehead. She did nothing to stop him, instead opting to feel his cool hand on her face. She's as hot as fire, Xellos thought, taking his hand away. He watched the lamplight shimmer off the beads of sweat that clung to Filia's body as he thought. Her chest heaved up and down, her breathing having turned into a heavy panting. She watched him think, looking at him with round, saucer-like eyes. "This isn't a fever," he said seriously, "is it, Filia?"

"No," she whispered, closing her eyes and wrapping her arms around her stomach. She couldn't stand being so close to him now. All she could think about was dragging him into bed with her and undressing him with her teeth. He sat there, watching her and thinking for a few more moments before he spoke up again.

"You're in heat," he finally said quietly, smirking, "aren't you? Must be hard for someone as... pious as you." Filia's eyes snapped open and her jaw dropped, sensing the sarcasm in his voice. Her entire face turned beet red. She brought her hands up to her mouth, trembling.

"How do you know about that?" she asked nervously, fearing the knowledge he now had. "What all do you know about it?" Xellos, satisfied that he had guessed correctly, leaned back in the chair, crossing his legs.

"I know something of your kind's anatomy," he replied smugly, placing a hand on his chin. "So how long has this been going on?" Filia looked down at her feet, wiggling her toes in an effort to take her mind off of him.

"A few days now," she answered shyly.

"How long?" Xellos asked again, beginning to lose his patience. He knew it was dangerous for her to just lay here like this and the longer she did it, the sicker she would be, until at last she died. He really didn't feel like letting one of his favorite toys just kill herself.

"...Seven..." Filia finally said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"So did you intend to ask for help?" Xellos asked, his voice acidic, "or did you simply intend to lay in here and die?" Filia didn't respond. Instead she played with a piece of her hair. Xellos was getting irritated with her. Sometimes he just couldn't understand her stubborn, self-righteous, overly-moral behavior. He hoped he wouldn't have to take her by force just to save her life. After a few more seconds of tense silence, Xellos finally spoke up again. "Is this the first time?" he asked, some of his irritation seemingly dissipated.

"No," she replied meekly. "The first time was almost three hundred years ago..." She purposely avoided his eyes, embarrassed. She felt vulnerable with him knowing this much about what she was going through. But at the same time, she felt hopeful that maybe he would feel like helping her with this little problem.

"What did you do up until now?" he asked evenly. "How did you suppress this before?" Filia tried to find somewhere in the room to look other than at him. She tried the floor. That only showed her his feet. She tried her lamp. That only caused her to glance at his lap. Finally, she settled on staring at the ceiling

"The priests would cast spells on us," she replied weakly. "The spells would hold off the heat." She could feel her whole body burning, particularly her chest and the area between her legs. She didn't really want to admit it, but it felt almost nice now.

"Then I can learn the spell," Xellos said firmly, breaking her out of her thoughts. "I am a priest, after all. Remember?" Filia glanced shyly at him, becoming immediately transfixed by his open eyes.

"Silly," she said softly. "Only dragon priests can cast it. And there aren't any around..." She broke off her stare, shutting her eyes and turning away. She could tell he knew exactly what she was thinking about. His eyes seemed to have the power to see right through her.

"I see," he said slowly. "Poor little dragon. Doesn't want to mate with anyone. You know I'm not going to let you just lay there and kill yourself, Filia." He sat silently and watched her for a few more moments, smirking. Filia could hear her heart beat echoing in her ears, silently praying he'd go ahead and offer himself to her.

"Why not?" Filia asked hoarsely. "Why not just leave and forget about me?" That was the part that didn't make sense to her in the part of her mind that could still make sense of things at all. He shuffled uncomfortably in his chair, his smirk fading. Honestly, he didn't know why he was so concerned. He should be happy that she was suffering, that one of the members of the race that hated him so much was dying. And it was true, he was getting nourishment from her pain. On the other hand, he knew he didn't want her to die. Not only was she much too amusing to toy with, but he'd begun to find himself strangely attracted to her presence as of late. He wasn't sure if it was her negative emotions or if it was simply her, but he could feel himself becoming drawn to her more and more.

"If you insist on knowing the truth," he replied unwillingly, sounding a little bit edgy, "I really have grown rather attached to you. If in no other way, then as a sort of investment." Filia didn't respond. The only sound she made was the sound of her breathing, thick and heavy, while she stared at him in shock. He seemed to have been made nervous by the last statement. Now he looked like he was considering deeply what he was about to say next. "Filia," he finally said, "Would you consider... mating with me?" Filia couldn't believe her ears. She smiled weakly, her breasts burning.

"I... I would mate with you," she said softly, blushing, "I... want to mate with you..." Filia watched him for a reaction, half expecting it to be a joke. Instead, he smirked, removing his gloves with his teeth, then unclasping his cloak and sliding his shoes off into the floor. As soon as he was done with that, he stood up beside his chair, making no motion to come toward her. Filia watched him, almost too nervous to move.

"Stand up," he commanded, holding out his hands to her. "Walk over here." He wanted to make sure she was going to go through with this on her own. She would probably be angry enough over this when she came to her senses in the morning as it was. In truth, he'd been hoping to save seducing his little dragon into giving herself to him for a rainy day, kind of like one saves a special candy for a special occasion. But this would be acceptable. He'd wanted her for awhile now, her fiery spirit and explosive emotions becoming a treat for him.

Filia stood up, blushing heavily and gripping her sheet to try and maintain some semblance of modesty. She took a step forward and realized that the sheet was tucked in. Not feeling motivated enough to fight with the bed for it, she dropped it, allowing the fabric to rustle down around her ankles. She was vaguely aware of Xellos studying her as she stepped toward him. She was more aware of her heartbeat drowning out the sounds around her and the warmth that was growing between her legs.

Xellos watched her walk toward him, her chest rising and falling in large heaves as she breathed. Her eyes were still half closed, her bright red lips half parted. Her tail swished lazily behind her, still in that odd kink that it had been in when she was laying on the bed. Xellos' eyes wandered lower, where she had been covered by the sheet before. Her waist was still slim, though her belly had turned soft and round and curvy. Her hips were widened, rounded and voluptuous. He took note of the nearly-white little tuft of hair covering her crotch, observing that she was indeed a real blonde. He suddenly became painfully aware of the physical effect she was having on him, noticing his own arousal. At last, she reached his arms, looking up with uncertain eyes. He folded her into his embrace, smirking.

"You may do as you wish," he said slyly, "I'll let you have control... for now." Filia noticed the tone of his voice, becoming fearful only momentarily. She wrapped her arms around his neck, disbelieving what was happening. Her whole body was burning up, even worse than before, but it was no longer uncomfortable. She pressed herself against his body, the sensation exciting her. Just the friction of his shirt against her bare chest was about to drive her completely mad. She reached up and hesitantly kissed him on the lips, her apprehension apparent in her trembling touch.

Xellos let one of the arms he had wrapped around her back slide a little lower, moving her tail aside, until he was cupping her bottom with his hand. He pressed her harder against him, allowing her to feel his arousal. Filia gasped a little and blushed, but didn't stop kissing. He moved his fingers lower, reaching between her legs and feeling the slickness between her thighs. That definitely wasn't sweat. Filia peeped, surprised but enjoying the touch, and Xellos was satisfied that her body was ready for him.

Suddenly, one of Filia's hands moved down his chest and clutched at his shirt. She tugged on it, obviously trying to rip it off his body. She found it was stronger than it looked and pulled harder. His hand wrapped around her wrist, stopping her. He broke off the kiss and grinned sheepishly at her. "This shirt... ahhhhh..." he said softly, "All my clothing are a part of my being." She looked confused for a second before closing the distance between them again.

"But you can take them off...?" she asked, curious about his cloak and boots. His arms tightened around her waist again and his hand wandered back down to her bottom.

"Yes, I can," he replied, listening to her thick, heavy panting. "If you want, I can take it off." Filia's hand slid down to his waist, beginning to untuck his shirt.

"No, I've got it," she replied hastily, before looking back up and kissing him again. The sensations she was feeling were incredible, setting her world on fire. The shirt was aggravating her by refusing to come untucked. Impatient, she finally broke off the kiss and pulled it roughly over Xellos' head. Startled, he stepped back and grinned wickedly as she threw it onto the floor. This was definitely not his normal, sweet, demure, if a bit stubborn, Filia. Oh, what fun this would be!

Filia looked back up at him, blushing, before she closed in again, gathering him up in another kiss. She pressed hard up against him, her hand wandering down to his sash. She quickly ripped it off and discarded it, next focusing on the hem of his pants. She tugged them down over his slight hips, feeling the coolness of his skin against hers. She stopped kissing again, taking his pants down farther until they were gathered around his ankles. He stepped out of them, Filia's eyes never leaving him.

Filia felt a twinge of nervousness as she sat straight up on her knees. She moved close to him, shyly touching his manhood. She could feel a blush creeping over her body. She'd heard of other girls doing this with their mates before, but she'd never done anything like this in all her life. Silently praying she did everything right, she gently took him into her mouth. A few seconds later, she felt his hand clutching her hair. She noticed that he'd also started growling low in his throat and a small time later, he started panting just as she had a few minutes prior. Encouraged, Filia continued, her own arousal nearly driving her insane.

Xellos gritted his teeth, growling low. He couldn't believe she was doing things like this to him. How could that pure, sweet, and innocent little dragon girl know how to do things like this? It felt insanely good, so much so that it was frightening. He didn't want to lose that kind of control to her, but it wouldn't hurt to give it up for just a second, would it? He ran his fingers through her hair, trembling as he did so. The pleasure swept through him, causing him to gasp. He could feel himself nearing climax, so he swiftly pulled Filia away and brought her to eye-level in one fluid motion. Confused, the dragon gave him a pleading look. "Did I do something wrong?" she asked innocently, "I thought that was the way it's done?" Xellos, head still spinning, hugged her tight and began leading her toward the bed.

"No, no," he said soothingly, "that was just fine. I just thought it was time we got started. So, shall we?" Filia looked at the bed, then looked at him, then smiled. She could feel the blush and the heat spreading across her body again, settling in her chest and between her legs and drawing her attention to the spreading wetness there. Her heart leapt into her chest and she fought the urge to scream 'yes, yes, yes!' and throw him onto the bed. Instead, she stopped at the edge of the bed and watched as he lay down, leaning up against the headboard in a sitting position. Filia stared at him for a second, feeling the heat running the gamut up and down her body.

Will that thing even fit? she thought to herself, nervously looking at his lap. He was watching her expectantly now, waiting on her action. A second passed and the heat took over the better part of her judgement again as she climbed into the bed on top of him. She straddled him then slid down his stomach, bringing her most sensitive areas into contact with his. She began moving slowly on top of him, not having him inside of her yet. He smiled wickedly, running his hands up and down her back as she got ready to accept him. Finally, Filia's heat got the better of her and she bit her bottom lip, moving up just far enough and then bringing herself down onto him hard. She felt a flash of pain as she took him inside. Filia cried out quietly but began moving in rough, jerky strokes, quickly dispersing the pain. She leaned her hands against Xellos' chest as she moved haltingly.

Xellos felt the flash of Filia's pain at the same time as he felt her body come down on top of him. Both feelings were intoxicating and heady, but after a moment her pain was gone and she was panting heavily. He wanted to cry out, too, but bit it back, opting to breathe heavily instead. Seeing her trying so hard to get the right motions, he placed his hands on her hips, guiding her roughly. Now the strokes were hard and deep, causing Filia's pants to turn into soft gasps. She shut her eyes, leaning into him and digging into his chest with her nails. Now it was his turn to gasp, the pain burning but satisfying at the same time. Inky pools of black humour sprang up beneath Filia's fingernails as she broke the surface of his skin. He looked up briefly to see that his face was almost buried in her chest, which was bouncing appealingly in front of him. He ran his hands up her sides, causing her to squeal with pleasure, before they came to rest, cupping her breasts. Grinning crookedly, he began squeezing her nipples, causing her to cry out in a mixture of pain and pleasure.

"Xellos!" she gasped, her eyes snapping open. "Don't... do that! Those are... sensitive!" He grinned wickedly, squeezing her harder.

"I know," he replied in a sultry voice, smirking. He took one into his mouth, suckling hard, and continued fondling the other. Filia cried out in pleasure, driving her nails deeper into his chest. She forced him into her body hard and kept him there. She stopped for a moment, feeling something new coming over her. It was warmer than she had been for the past week and made her whole body tingle. Suddenly, it was over, the hot spell gone, leaving her with a cool feeling, as though someone had opened a window. Her heart beat hard and fast, but it was gradually slowing down, as was her breath. Her nails released their grip on Xellos, the Mazoku seemingly noticing the sudden change in her demeanor. He stopped suckling and looked up at her, eyes open. "Done already?" he asked teasingly. "That was awfully short, wasn't it?" Filia didn't respond, but looked at him with half-open eyes. There was a sudden start as she felt his arms wrap around her waist and pull her down against his body tight. Filia watched with curious eyes as his grip on her tightened.

"Xellos, what are you doing?" she whispered. He grinned mischievously down at her, not letting her move.

"I'm taking control now, Filia," he said, his voice low and playfully dangerous. "Won't that be fun?" He gently stroked her hair with one hand, using the other to hold her down tight. Suddenly he rolled her over, pinning her against the mattress faster than the eye could see. He towered over her, pinning her wrists down with his larger hands, grinning wickedly all the while. "You've had your fun, doing whatever you wanted with me," he whispered. "Now I think turnabout is only fair play, don't you?" Filia's eyes went wide for a second before he kissed her again. She was a little afraid for a second before she melted into the kiss, moving her hips up to meet his. The remnants of the heat began taking over her body again, as she deepened the kiss, responding to him in kind. A few more seconds and she lost control of herself, biting Xellos' lip in something of a fit of passion. Realizing immediately what she'd done, she drew back, gasping.

"I'm sorry!" she gasped, her eyes going wide. "I... I didn't mean to..." Xellos grinned hungrily, slowly licking the black blood that was trickling down his lip and enjoying the sharp pain.

"So you like to play that way, do you?" he asked, taunting. "I'll oblige you..." He covered her mouth with another kiss, driving deep and hard into her as her legs wrapped around his back. He loosened his grip on her wrists, sliding his hands down to brush her breasts momentarily. One hand ran down and looped underneath her leg, lifting it over his shoulder. Filia gasped at the odd new sensation, breaking off their kiss and crying out loud. Filia clutched the sheets still clinging to the bed, gasping and breathing heavily. His thrusts were stopping just short of actually hurting her. Her hips began moving in time with his, the synchronization causing them both to breathe even heavier. Filia began to feel the same feeling from just a little while ago coming back over her again. Xellos released her leg, leaning into her and kissing her again. He sensed her growing pleasure, leaning beside her face as he broke off the kiss. "Do you like that, priestess?" he whispered softly, nipping the bottom of her ear. "Do you like the mean Mazoku to do bad things to you?" Filia gasped in response, the warm feeling growing stronger. He pressed her shoulders hard into the mattress and she kissed him again roughly. She closed her eyes, feeling the familiar warmth wash over her again. Suddenly, Xellos drove as far into her as he could before he emptied himself into her.

Xellos lay down on top of her, gasping for air. Filia, likewise, was gasping for breath, running her fingers through his hair while he settled his head onto her chest. She could feel the heat leaving her body as he withdrew, rolling over to her side and freeing her body from being pinned underneath him. Suddenly, an intense wave of sleepiness washed over her, reminding her that she hadn't slept well, if at all, in at least a week. She kept her fingers entwined in his hair, her breathing slowing down as she let her eyes drift shut. She was only vaguely aware of Xellos sitting up and reaching into the floor for her sheet. She felt the cool fabric cover her body before he lay back down, nuzzling underneath her chin. Filia blinked sleepily, wondering why he was still there at all.

"Xellos?" she asked, getting his attention.

"What?" came the somewhat sleepy reply. Filia could feel herself drifting off into sleep so she spurred herself to speak quickly.

"Why are you still here?" she asked quietly. "I thought you would've disappeared by now. Are you staying the night?" She felt his fingers cover her lips as he sat up, grinning.

"The thought had crossed my mind," he said slyly, "if for no other reason, just to see the look on your face when you wake up beside me in the morning. I suspect you'll accuse me of taking advantage of you." He chuckled, watching her try to fight falling asleep. She smiled sleepily, shaking her head as he looked down at her.

"Nuh-uh," she said softly. "I took advantage of you..." She gently closed her eyes and leaned her head into her pillow. Her breathing deepened, barely audible, and Xellos knew she was asleep. It was hardly surprising, as exhausted as she'd seemed to be when he arrived. He played with a strand of her hair for a second before willing the lamp beside her bed to be snuffed out.

Early morning rays of sunlight hit Filia's eyes, forcing her to roll over and try to shut them out. She was vaguely aware that her mouth was dry and cottony, probably the aftereffects of all her sweating over the past few days. She fought the urge to drink a gallon of water and stretched, hoping her body wasn't too terribly dehydrated. She settled back in, not opening her eyes, and was fully prepared to doze back off for a little while.

"So the little minx finally wakes up," she heard a soft voice chide from the other side of her bed. "Of course, I expected you to sleep longer, what with all the effort you expended last night..." She felt a cool arm wrap around her stomach from behind before she felt a cool body press against her back. Filia's eyes snapped open as she recalled everything that had happened last night. Her face suddenly turned hot as fire as blush spread across her cheeks.

"We... we..." she stammered, her thoughts having returned to normal. "We mated..." She thought she would cry for a second before she felt him kiss her neck.

"That's right," he chimed, smirking as he kissed her neck gently. "As I recall, you were rather eager to do so, too..." He was beginning to become quite amused with her conflicting emotions. On the surface, she seemed upset, mostly at herself because she knew what he said was true. But deep down, she really had enjoyed everything. It was quite a satisfying combination of emotions for him.

"And you... you stayed the night," Filia said softly, surprising him. He wasn't expecting her to say something like that. An accusation, or even crying he might have expected. But the tone of her voice suggested wonder and even... happiness?

"Ehh, yes," he said slowly, "I couldn't miss this opportunity to tease you. It's too perfect! And of course I couldn't pass up seeing you undressed one more time. I mean, as soon as you get up, I don't doubt you'll beat me with your mace..." His kisses traced down her neck and onto her shoulders, where he began giving her love bites. It satisfied him to put little round bruises on her perfect skin like that, marking her in some manner as belonging to him.

"No, I won't beat you with my mace," she said softly, relaxing against him. "I'm not angry at you. You... saved my life." He stopped, seemingly considering her words.

"Why, yes," he responded after some careful deliberation, "I suppose I did." Filia sighed softly, wrapping her arm around the arm he'd slung around her waist.

"Your mistress will be angry with you," she yawned. "Mating with dragons and getting taken advantage of by them and all." He chuckled, returning to lightly nipping at her shoulders.

"I doubt it," he replied, "although she might be curious as to why I didn't report in last night. I'd say you'll be in worse trouble with your elders. Mating with Mazoku... getting taken advantage of..." Filia gasped as his hand ran up to her chest, gently squeezing her. She got some of that warm feeling back and thought for a second that perhaps the heat had come back. No, this was different. Was this what being turned on was normally like?

"You mean to say," she asked, stunned, "that you just took advantage of my situation?" Xellos chuckled from behind her.

"Of course!" he said playfully. "Who would pass up that kind of chance?" Filia thought about being angry for a moment, but then realized that she had done exactly the same thing. She smiled, liking what his touch was doing to her.

"What if you had that chance again?" she asked suggestively, taking his hand and leading it down over her stomach and lower. She felt the nips again, shuddering at their sweetness.

"I still wouldn't pass it up," he replied, a dangerous, playful edge to his voice.

Filia poked her head into the dining room of the inn, looking for Lina and the others. Ah, there they were, still eating, even though it was already after ten. She smiled, tugging on her overly large pyjamas as she walked over to their table. She'd chosen a pair of pyjamas that were at least twice as big as her in the hopes of hiding her subtle new 'endowments' from the rest of the group. Quietly, she pulled a chair up to the table and took a plate, skillfully avoiding Lina and Gourry's forks as she shoveled food onto her plate. They didn't notice her return, but Amelia, and then Zelgadis, did.

"Miss Filia," Amelia said, smiling, "you came out of your room! And you're eating!" Filia looked up, then smiled shyly, blushing.

"Oh, yes!" Filia replied. "I feel much better this morning! My fever's gone away now, so I feel like eating. I'm so hungry! I've not had anything to eat in at least three days!" She began eating happily, noticing the relieved look on Amelia's face.

"So, you're not mad at me anymore?" Amelia asked sheepishly, watching Filia sit up straight and blink at her.

"What?" Filia asked, taking a drink of some orange juice. "Oh, no! Of course not! I just stayed in my room because I was sick, that's all." She blushed, totally unused to lying. Then again, she'd been doing a lot of things she was unused to lately. But it really wasn't a lie, was it? She had been unwell. That reminded her. She turned to Zelgadis, who was drinking his coffee. "And Zelgadis," she said shyly, "I'd like to apologize for the other day. I really had no idea what I was doing. I think it may have been my fever. Please forgive me?" He lowered his cup of coffee and nodded his assent.

Suddenly, Xellos appeared in a chair across the table from Filia. She noticed, but few other people at the table did. He quietly drank a cup of tea, acting as nonchalant as possible. He smirked, bringing the cup down from his lips.

"So, the prodigal dragon returns," he taunted. "Here I was hoping you would've left us in peace." Amelia turned on him, brandishing a fork with a bit of egg on it.

"Mister Xellos!" she exclaimed, "leave Miss Filia alone! She's been sick and doesn't need your picking on her!" Filia smirked across the table at him before continuing her breakfast. It struck her then that he was a very convincing actor. At least she knew he wouldn't share her secret with anyone.

Oh, Miss Filia? she suddenly heard a familiar voice calling in her head, almost making her choke on her bacon, You know, if you're still not feeling well, I can play doctor for you later... She took a swig of her orange juice to wash down the errant bacon and began to blush.

Xellos! she sent back. You pervert! She thought for another few seconds, taking another bite of her bacon. Well, she sent back thoughtfully, I suppose... She watched him smirk again, taking another sip of tea.

It's a date, then, he responded, watching her eat and try to pretend as if nothing had happened.

"Miss Filia?" Amelia asked suddenly, causing Filia to look up nervously and smile.

"What is it, Miss Amelia?" Filia responded, picking up a piece of toast.

"Pardon my asking," Amelia said politely, "it might just be part of your fever, but... what are those bruises all over the side of your neck?"