Zariel was with Van and Aldina at the gym. The three were going over a few techniques to improve their combat abilities.

“Not bad.” Zariel commented. “You certainly have the basics down pat. You just need to branch out and now start acquiring more advanced sword techniques, maybe learning another weapon would also be valuable to improve your overall combat abilities.” Referring to how Van showed her his stances.

“As for you…” Zariel said, now looking over at Aldina. “No offense but… I feel like you make up for a lot of your bad habits and lack of skill through the use of powerful weaponry… Which is not bad mind you, but solely relying on them will come back to bite you in the future.”

Aldina frowned, not liking what she was hearing but unable to refute it because she too has slowly begun to realize the truth of the matter on her own for a few months now since training at the gym with Van.

“I must say though…” Looking back at Van. “When you first asked me out, I was expecting you to take me out on a date like you promised. I didn’t think you would have me train you out of the blue. Not that I’m complaining, but for most people, they wouldn’t simply ask their former enemies to help train them up or reveal all their fighting methods so openly like you are.”

Van shrugged. “What can I say, I prefer to get stronger by any means possible. Besides, even if we may end up as enemies in the clan battle arena once more. It won’t change the fact that you're my subordinate, might as well learn as much as I can from you to use against you later. Right?” Giving her a cheeky smirk.

Zariel smiled. “If only I had won… I would totally be bedding you right now…” Enjoying the smile Van flashed her way and the way he acted towards her. It was a breath of fresh air for a male to act so upfront with their desires and be prideful in a way. Van certainly in her opinion had a lot more personality than the other males her mom had introduced her for marriage interviews.

“A-hem.” Aldina interrupted Zariel’s thoughts. “You were going to help us train?” Crossing her arms and raising a brow. She didn’t fully trust their former enemy on the battlefield. Not just because she felt like she was made a fool of when Zariel simply pushed past her to go towards Van. Though that did play some part in her annoyance…

Zariel smiled. “Don’t worry, I will help you all get stronger. Let’s just do some quick warm-ups so I can see where you all are.”

The next hour or so was spent doing a series of exercises in the gym to test where they were physically. Then the hour after that was spent determining where their skills were at.

“I must say Van.” Zariel said, looking a little surprised. “You really have quite the body! Your strength is definitely above average and you have a well-honed body that is both strong and versatile. I must reiterate what I said before, it seems you're only lacking the more advanced skills necessary for you to reach even greater heights. Afterall, what is the point of all that potential, if you can’t fully access it or make use of it?”

Turning her head. “As for you Aldina… You really need to retrain your basics. I’ve found several bad habits already ingrained into your fighting style. You really overly rely on your equipment over anything else. And while simply overpowering your opponent seems to have worked for you so far. It won’t aid you when training to become a proper vampire knight.”

Aldina grumbled something.

Zariel then began teaching both Van and Aldina a few blood-flowing techniques. “These techniques should help you gain even greater control over your body and push it to its brink. Using it, you should be able to adjust the energy you use in every movement to your advantage and bring out the most power per attack. I’ll teach you a few more as we continue your training.”

Time passed as Van and Aldina learned the blood-flowing technique. After a while, Van felt the difference in how his body was controlled and how he could better distribute his energy into his body.

“Thanks Zariel, this is very useful.” Van said.

Aldina remained quiet. Looking at her hands with some annoyance at how much better she seemed to have control over her blood flow and energy flow.

“By the way… I’ve overheard some of your friends talking about how if you went all out you would have beaten me. Where you going easy on me?” Asking because it would feel uncomfortable to know he won a bet when his opponent didn’t go all out.

“Oh, you heard that. Well…” Zariel gave it some thought. “Technically they were not wrong… But it isn’t as simple as they make it out to be. You see, I come from a long line of vampire knights. My family even still keeps some of the old traditions alive, which really give us the edge in a few things.”

“Such as the blood-sucking, correct?” Van asked.

“Indeed.” Zariel nodded. “But it isn't just that. You know how when you first entered the dorm there were a series of books about blood and shadow as well as a few things about familiers? Well, my family trained in those sets of skills when we are very young. Let me show you.”

She then raised a hand and a drop of blood formed on her finger. With a thought, it increased suddenly and turned into a red imp.

“I have a few dozen imps in my body. As well as a few other creatures I won’t get into. But having them allows me to do something like this.”

All of a sudden her body began to lose form and eyes began to appear all over her body. Her new form seemed to be a mass of blood and darkness and eyes until it shattered and all there was left was dozens of imps that flowed around before smashing themselves back together to form Zariel once more.

“That… Was cool.” Van commented wide-eyed.

Zareil blinked in surprise when her body fully formed. “That’s… A first…”

“But I don’t understand.” Van said. “Isn’t it dangerous to kin so many imps? Can’t they be used against you?”

Zariel smiled. “While that is true for the most part. Instead of giving up on the practice like most other houses and clans did. My family has stuck to it for centuries. Working out ways to overcome some of the drawbacks. Now my family is one of the greatest producers of some of the strongest vampire knights in history.”

“Wow. That’s amazing.” Van couldn’t help but say.

“Thank you.” Zariel said. “Since you seem so interested, why don’t I teach you something interesting.” Now smiling.

Van looked excited. “What are you going to teach?”

“You know the flicker step? Why don’t I teach you how to use the fog step?” Zareil said.

“The fog step?”

“Yes, it used to be something most vampires learned after learning the flicker step. At the beginning it was just used to help move through the fog at high speeds and safely as well. But then it was used in fighting and battles for its evasive capabilities. It also fell out of practice due to some major drawbacks and weaknesses. But my family worked most of it out.” She then gave an example by puffing into smoke and zipping through the air until she stood right next to Van.

“And are you sure you should be teaching me such powerful techniques?” He asked, worried that she might get into trouble.

“It won’t be a problem if we produce me an heir and you become a part of my family.” Zariel said with a cheeky grin.

“Well… Let’s see what happens in the future…” Van said.

Zariel’s smile widened. “Just for that, I’m also going to teach you the Lunar sword dance techniques.”

“Lunar sword dance?” Van felt like a parrot now.

“Yup, you will learn all about the crescent slash and everything,” Zariel said. “Come on, let’s get to training!”

---

Van and Avalyn were on another date. This time they were going all over the city, reaching the highest points they could find, then looking down on everyone below. Apparently, it was something she enjoyed doing back home.

“I used to have this bird that followed me all the time back home… A beautiful white peri hawk. I would look down on the world and see the hustle and bustle of my city, and just feel joy at all the life that flowed through my queendoms veins.” She gave a sigh. “I hope she’s doing okay…”

Van had a feeling she was referring to the bird. “If you like the bird so much, and it follows you around everywhere, why didn’t you simply make it your familiar?” He asked.

Avalyn gave a small smile. “That’s the thing about you vampires that I’ve learned. You try to bind everything. From the bats and birds in the sky. To the trees and plants on the ground. If it can breathe and even think more than one word, it’s bindable, usable, even if you can’t figure out what you can use it for at the moment. It’s bound to come in use sometime in the future. You simply can’t let free things be… Free…”

She gave a long melancholic look into the far distance. Watching as the sun looked so different through the strange ever present clouds that masked the vampire lands from its harsh but gentle and warm light.

“I've… never really thought about it like that…” Van said, realizing how true Avalyn’s words were. “For us, anything and everything can be used. It’s not just because we're greedy. It’s a survival thing that not only benefits us but those we bind as well. Whether it’s to survive in this harsh environment, or prevent others from using a bat or fly to spy on you from a rival house. Binding something is also a way to prevent another person from binding that thing or person. It really all just boils down to being unable to trust someone without some sort of contract or binding between us.”

“Why is that?” Avalyn asked, looking at Van now with keen interest. “Why is it that vampires seem so distrustful of others and even their own kind?”

“Have you taken any vampire history classes?” He instead counter-questioned.

She shook her head. “Honestly… I only know what I was taught in school back in Fandor. Which I believe might be a little biased… But I don’t know where to look in the library over here since there are just so many books, and there isn't really an elective to learn history until next year. And that appears to be for archeology…”

Van nodded. “Well… How should I begin…”

He then began explaining how a long time ago that the previous vampires had all been slaves to the Nilfan empire. And also how though they didn’t mean any harm when they went out to conquer the continent, most people hated them for simply being undead. And so they lost a lot of trust in all those outside Alcray. It didn’t help that there was the constant paranoia that that ancient Nilfan might still be alive in the old capital.

“I see… I had no idea.” Avalyn said after Van had finished. “But that still doesn't explain why the vampires are at each other’s throats. I can understand their dislike for outsiders, but why do they seem to dislike each other just as much?”

Van gave it some thought before answering. “Well… When you can live for thousands of years… That means a lot of animosity can be built up between one house or another. When Alcraz died, there were a lot of factions, each with their own goal and desire, but were able to set aside their differences because of the great vampire lord. It didn’t hurt either that simply being a vampire lord allowed some control on his part to exert some power over them.”

“But more importantly it was the fact that they believed in him. And when he died, they all went and blamed each other for his death. More importantly, so many noble vampires died in that war that, while you might think it’s ancient, some vampire families are still feeling the repercussions of their deaths even to this day.”

“Vampires have a long life. They also have a long memory. If a human slights a vampire, they might forgive and forget because that human only has a century at most to live. But if another vampire slights you, and keeps doing it, then that animosity is going to grow. And soon, before you know it, you have a blood feud. Each vampire is different, just like how each human is different. And it’s those differences that cause division despite having a shared culture. The old and the young are always fighting each other. Especially because the old never die out to make way for the young. Meaning that you have to either move out or fight an uphill battle for change. And so the old fight back and… Well… You get it right?”

Avalyn nodded. “It all sounds a lot more complicated than even some of the politics back home…” Beginning to realize the complications of having a rival house who won’t die from old age…

Van nodded with a long-suffering sigh. “It only gets worse. I’ll explain more later. But for now let’s talk about something else. It’s our date after all. And I just want to make sure you're happy.” He said meaningfully to her.

Avalyn gave a gentle smile. “Thank you Van… You're always so sweet… At first I wasn’t sure about this dating between us… But even if it doesn’t work out, I’m just glad I was able to make a friend like you.”

Van returned her smile. “Thanks, I feel the same about you.”

The two shared a moment and went off to see the next sight they had planned that day.