Serafina let out a yowl of pain as Nemesis grabbed her by the hair and threw her into a wall.  She scrambled to her feet, just in time for Nemesis to advance on her and pin her against the very wall she had just hit.  As with the pillar she had slammed Nemesis into, chunks of the wall crumbled around her, plaster and stone scattering the floor beside the pair.  "You selfish bastard," she muttered, and spat blood to the ground beside them, having bit into her own tongue when she had been slammed backward.  "Why do you get to have more than one? Why do I have to share you, but I'm not allowed to have someone solely to myself? Why do I have to suffer for you to be happy?!" she shrieked.  

An agonizing scream of pain escaped her lips as he grabbed her and slammed her back against the wall again, the words he screamed becoming more and more harsh with each phrase.  "When you asked me to spend eternity with you, you didn't say I would have to share it," she sneered, earning her another violent slam backward from Nemesis.  A streak of blood stained the wall behind her head - the skin had split on impact with the wall.  She chose to take the beating, let Nemesis take his rage out on her - until he threatened her newly turned protege, the only person in her long life besides Nemesis and Celeste she had ever felt any pang of feeling for.  

The threat towards Xerxez pushed her over the edge.  "I won't let you take him away from me!" she screamed.  An animalistic roar escaped her throat, a sound Nemesis had likely only heard on one or two other occasions.  With a physical rage that she could not recall exerting, she reached up and grabbed Nemesis by the throat, shoving him away from her.  He lost his footing and fell backward.  Serafina wasted no time in pouncing on her prey.  Her eyes still held their jet black void of color, her mouth contorted in an open snarl.  Her fangs had erupted somewhere in the fight, and as she pinned Nemesis violently to the ground.  

With a lunge, she went for his throat, intent on tearing his jugular from his body.  At the last moment, he held an arm up, blocking her mouth from reaching his neck.  This didn't stop her - instead, she tore a chunk out of his forearm, spitting the hunk of flesh to the side.  Crimson blood dripped from her mouth and she smiled at Nemesis in a sadistic manner.  His injured arm fell to the side, and Sarah's hands lunged forward, her fingers intent on clawing at his face.  

She got one good swipe in, drawing a good amount of blood from his cheek, before Nemesis caught her arm and flipped her onto her back violently.  Her had slammed into the marble floor, cracking the mineral and creating a head-sized crater.  Her eyes closed for a split second, and she opened them in time to see Nemesis reach up and grab her hair, his other hand situated in such a manner that he could easily rip her head from her shoulders.

Rather than fight it, Serafina dropped her arms to the side.  Nemesis was so much older, and so much stronger than she.  While she had gotten a few good blows in, she was by no means going to be able to defeat him.  She had resolved herself - if he was not going to let her go, there was no other way.  She coughed and sputtered a bit as he wrenched on her head, feeling the cartilage, bone, skin, and sinew stretching to its limit.

"Do it," she choked.  Tears of crimson blood streaked from both of her eyes, trickling down the sides of her face.  "At least in death, I can be unchained from the misery that my existence has become," she said, the words broken and sputtered from the strain on her throat.

It didn’t matter if it was Serafina, it didn’t matter if she had been the doting and loyal wife for millenias. All he saw was a traitor that dared to defy and insult the head of the house. All he could see was red as their rage battled against the other. There was more emotion coming from her than he had ever gotten to witness, and it was all for that man she turned. His paradise was turned upside down in just one night, in comparison to the several tens of thousands it took for him to establish it. Nemesis didn’t relent when she called him out on his ways- he was selfish and didn’t want to share with another male. No, he was the alpha and he wouldn’t surrender her to her chosen one. As she spoke, all that he could imagine was that brute’s hands on her body, him onto her as they embrace and even worse, the things she likely done to him. It only fueled him into trying to put her through a wall even more, with each attempt getting closer to that goal.

“You were the one that told me to kill Celeste or turn her…I didn’t expect to fall for her as well!” He got sick of the blame and thrusted her into the wall once more before he let those damning words slipped out and earned her ire. Without warning, she took control of the fight once more and he was on the defensive, barely saving himself from a mauling. But the sacrifice for that was still unbearable for him as he screamed in feeling her fangs deep in his arm until she ripped herself away and more blood painted the walls and floor around them. Her smile mirrored his own previous as his rage grew as he felt his cheek ripped rip by Sera’s nails before he caught the next attack and threw her off him. Scrambling up to his feet, Nemesis fought through the execrating pain he felt in his damaged arm to grab her while she was down. His hands ruthlessly positioned themselves to do the one thing he had never thought he would do- to kill his mate.

The killing blow would have been easy from this point, even as he felt his blood pouring from the wounds inflicted by her. It would have been nothing to rip her pretty head off from the rest of her and be done with it. But then she spoke through the pain and the tears of crimson came down…she was crying. Breathing heavily, he looked down to her, seething with anger and disgust before it started to die down. In all their time, he may have seen her cry once and it was nothing like she was doing now. Nemesis clenched his jaw tightly and slowly released her as he felt their link open and felt the floodgates open as her pain came into his mind. She was genuinely sad. He didn’t see the Sera that she had carried herself on to be; instead, he saw a vulnerable one. One that yearned to have another and felt betrayed by him over and over. Her feelings for Xerxez were, as much as he loathed it, real. Gathering himself back up to his feet, the Vaewolf turned and started to punch the wall, repeatedly pounding onto it until he could feel the knuckles getting bloody beneath his gloves. At the last wave of it, he let out a bestial cry before he slouched against the wall, feeling defeated over all of this.

Closing his eyes for a few long moments, they returned to red when he opened them yet he refused to look at her. Not for what she had did, but for what he had almost had done right there and then.

“Keep him”, he whispered softly, shattering the eerie silence after a while. “He will be better for you than I ever was. I won’t take that away from you, not when you’ve done so much for me.”

Serafina gasped for breath as Nemesis released his grip on her, her eyes closing as her hands came to her throat, gripping at the fastly bruising areas.  She had resolved herself to the fact that Nemesis was going to kill her, yet here she was - still living.  She winced, hearing the thuds of Nemesis wailing his hands along the wall, her face flinching entirely as he let out an animalistic roar with his final blow.  She did not move to look at him at first until he spoke.

She could not believe what she was hearing.  After all that had just happened, with Nemesis nearly killing her, he was… releasing her? She struggled to pull herself up into a sitting position, her black eyes, too, having faded to crimson, the bloody tears still streaking her face.  She could see that Nemesis would not look at her, falling under the impression that the only reason he avoided looking at her was out of shame - though she assumed he was ashamed of her, and not of his own actions.

At that point, Sera made an attempt to stand, as though she were going to walk to Nemesis to speak to him - but her left leg shot pain up her body and was unable to support any of her weight - she cried out, the leg crumpling beneath her and bent at an awkward angle - it was clear that her femur had been broken.  It was nothing a few hours would not heal, but it hurt like hell and stopped her from getting up.

Staring at the floor, at her blood mixed with the blood she had spilled from Nemesis, she spoke out - her voice still croaky from the injury that had been inflicted to her neck.  "We're family.  Blood makes us family.  Nemesis, I would have told you about this, I would have asked your permission… but would you really have given it to me?" she asked, her voice breaking off.  Attempting to speak again, she coughed rather violently before spitting blood on the floor.  "Your blood courses through my veins, Nemesis - and now my blood courses through Xerxez," she said, softly.  It was clear that she was no longer enraged, but more wanting to explain herself.  "Xerxez is our family now, too.  I want him to be my companion, if that is what he wants," she said, the tears that had fallen early in pain now welling in her eyes in another manner. The emotion in her voice was something new, something she had hidden for so long.

"You are my sire, Nemesis.  I will always love you, in some way… but you and Celeste, you're having a… baby," she said, speaking the word with no disgust, though it seemed to have taken her a moment to do so.  "You may love me, I don't doubt that - but all of our lives are going to change once that baby is born.  I've held this mask for so long - but I don't want to be alone anymore.  Xerxez is… there's something about him, Nem,"  she said, softly - at which point she actually turned her head to look at Nemesis, and there was something on her face - a genuine smile.  "I think I finally found something - someone - other than you and Celeste that I care about."

A silence fell between the two.  Unbeknownst to the pair, Celeste and Xerxez had returned, in time for them to hear what Serafina said to Nemesis.  She laid back down on the floor, breathing heavily as she waited for some of the pain to subside - though the moment was ruined as the chandelier that hung from the ceiling came crashing down several feet away from the both of them, shattering on the marble floor.  It had been worked loose by the violent shaking of the foundation their fight had caused.  "Shit, Nemesis.  Celeste is going to kill us," she said, laughing bitterly.

Celeste brought Xerxez down to the foyer after the fighting had finally stopped. For a moment Celeste took a look at the two of them. “Sera are you alright?” Her eyes softened more as she ran over and hugged her sister gently. The little moon elf kissed Sera’s brow as she held her. “You look like shit… I have some salve for the pain.” She gently touched Serafina’s leg as she whimpered before the salve appeared in her hand and she worked it into the wound. Then she looked at the foyer and full-blown pregnancy anger kicked in. “You two BASTARDS. I ask for you to keep it to the fucking walls! I ask you to not fight on the foyer fucking floors. WALLS ARE FINE.” She came over and stomped her foot so the tiles came flying up. “BUT THESE TILES WERE MY FAVORITE! IT TOOK ME FIVE HUNDRED YEARS TO FIND THEM!”

It might have been more terrifying than their fight as her eyes went black. “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD IT IS TO FIND ABALONE SHELL TILES?! Your asses are going to be hunting in the market until you find me REPLACEMENTS.” Then her eyes went to the little bloodstained knitted shirt she had been putting all the love into for an hour and that really, really pissed her off. “Nemesis… Serafina… What the fuck is that.” She pointed and went over as she brought up the shirt to their attention. “For the next week you assholes will be learning how to knit and you will replace this shirt or heaven and hell won’t stop the suffering I WILL BRING. And since I know Serafina won’t do it,” her finger moved up to Xerxez, “You get thrown under the wagon.”

After a few moments, her hyperventilating stopped and she had a looked of shock over her as she put her hand up to her lips. “Sorry…” She shuffled herself from Serafina over to Nemesis and pulled him into her arms. “Thank you for not hurting Sera anymore.” She kissed his forehead. “Sera, I’m glad you are alright. I’m sorry I got so angry…” She nuzzled her forehead into Nemesis’s neck. Knowing it would calm Nemesis down she moved one of his hands to his son who was moving.

As Xerxez and Celeste were talking the noise from the foyer had subsided after a series of thumps. There was no sound after that. The fight was finally over. He followed Celeste through stretches of hallways with painting and such. Every now and then a window would reveal the starry night sky over looking the small courtyard that they were in previously. Celeste's company was nice, and comforting even. She tried to distract him with small talk but his mind would fall back to Sera and how much it killed him to sit on the sidelines and do nothing. The anticipation was eating at him, at least when they were fighting he knew she was alive. They rounded some corners and walked though archways, the interior of the house lost on him. The hallways and rooms were beginning to look familiar and he could faintly hear Sera talking. Breathing a sigh of relive, they finally walked into the foyer which had drastically changed. Tables were smashed, walls had dents, and blood stained the cracked tiles of the floor. He stood motionless as he listened to Sera softly speak to Nemeses. He could her the pain in her words, so much that he winced at her words.

But she began talking about him, where her voice seemed to change. He could see a smile on her face that warmed his heart. He had never felt feelings like this before, for anybody in his life. To worry about their safety, to hurt when they did. It was a new experience to have someone who had this much control of him. But he was damn glad it was Sera who he had these feelings for. And he was glad he could make her this happy by simply thinking about him. A chandelier fell, shattering against the tile glass as she made a remark about Celeste. He slowly made his over to Serafina and knelt beside her, holding her chin gently in his hand. Her eyes were puffy, there were dry streams of blood from her eyes. There were bruises all over her, cuts dotted her body. Seeing what Nemeses did to her angered him. The hand at his side clenched down and he felt his body shaking as his eyes flashed black for only a second before he focused on Serafina's face. Seeing her smile calmed him down as he relaxed and grabbed her into a hug. His voice cracked as he whispered to her, holding back his tears. "I am so glad you are okay, Sera."

He didn't break the hug for a long time, enjoying her warmth and touch. He pulled away, taking her face in his hands as he kissed exposed cuts. He gathered her up, careful to not disturb her leg to much as he took her in his arms and lifted her off the floor. Carrying her was no problem at all, barely feeling her weight. He walked her over to an undisturbed sofa and lightly placed her down, carefully to support her neck. To an ordinary human, the injury would be rather serious, but to Sera it would only be for a couple of hours before she would recuperate. He lightly kissed her before he pulled away and watched as Celeste freaked out over her tiles. She was met with some laughs, Xerxez included. He showed a genuine soft smile as he softly exclaimed, "I'll get a broom." He walked through an opening into what seemed like the kitchen and started his search. The human that Nemeses had been keeping hadn't calmed down as he cried from far away. Rubbing the sides of his forehead, he hoped someone would feed on the meal soon. He searched around until he found a broom on the opposite side of the room. He quickly retrieved it and returned to foyer, sweeping up scattered remnants of the fight. Serafina was on the sofa where she had left him and Celeste was busy soothing Nemeses. He cleared his throat, and spoke from afar. "I am sorry for how I acted. Sometimes my temper can get the best of me." He left it at that, not seeking his forgiveness, but genuinely wanted to apologize. He could see that he was important to Sera, and if he was to be a part of this family he would have at the very least not anger Nemeses every time they saw each other.

With a moderate size of broken glass, stone and tile gathered in a pile, it was quickly swept up and discarded as he return to his lover's side. He buried his face as he tried to talk as soft as he could. "I am sorry for I acted also, darling. You warned me and I disobeyed you, knowing full well what I was doing." He felt tears coming up, as he chocked them back down. "Your search is over, Sera. You don't have to share me with anybody, because I am fully yours. In soul, companion ship, body and mind. You have me completely." With that, he brought his self up from her neck and kissed her forehead, his lips lingering for a few seconds on her skin. He sat down at  Serafina's feet as he retreated into silence as he waited for….. his alpha, Nemeses…. to give an order on how they would continue from here. 

Nemesis was in incredible pain now that the adrenaline had cease coursing through his body. His right arm, for the most part, was in tatters and his face slashes and blood run down both like slow crimson rivers. Still, the worse pain was when he realized that he had almost killed Serafina and to a lesser degree, that she had fell for another man. But he couldn’t simply make her give Xerxez up and make her continue living a life she wasn’t happy in. He could have been even more selfish than he already had, but he didn’t want to tear this family apart because of that. Slowly he turned around before sitting with his back against the wall and listened. Really listened to her as she actually spoke to him. The sorrow was written in his eyes but he wouldn’t deny that he’d wouldn’t have given his permission if she had. “Probably not, I would have thought that this was a rash decision.” Holding onto his wounded arm, he knew that sooner or later he was going to have feed to help regain the lost blood and that worthless human up there serve him well after all. While he was still not ecstatic when she referred to Xerxez as family, it was a bitter pill that he would have to swallow at some point. Right now he would have to go and lick his wounds, metaphorically speaking. The smile on her face looked foreign to him as she wasn’t one to wield such normally, but it was all the proof to finalize his thoughts on the matter. “Then be with him”, he repeated, throwing his head back to look at the ceiling. He winced in pain, Sera had got him good. But then again, she had always seem to be able to inflict the most pain to him.

The others returned to the messy scene of the broken and bloodied interior of the manor and the two that caused it. Celeste’s reaction was expected- he had recalled her driving him nigh insane over the blasted appearance and to keep it clean and intact. The pregnancy only made her temper even worse as her voice echoed around the room and likely into the other rooms. Nemesis spotted Xerxez quickly moved towards Serafina to tend to her, watching with passiveness as she was carried over to the sofa. It felt like ages before he gathered himself off of the floor and looked to his arm before gripping it. The amount of blood loss was making him woozy and his wife caught him into an embrace and his free hand was brought to her stomach where he felt their son residing. Everyday the boy seem to be going stronger and it usually soothed him in hopes that he would come to term, unlike so many of his unfortunate siblings. He pressed his lips onto the top of Celeste’s head before gently pulling away. He managed to look up to see the beta offer an apology for his temper, but in truth it was simply a combination of his recent turn and being protective over Sera. He said nothing at first as he started to head back up the stairs, but stopped after climbing up a couple of steps and turned his head enough to see them. “Two thousand years…you hid your pain for nearly most of it. The least I could do is let you be happy, Sera.”

“And you…Xerxez, was it? You best take good care of her.” Nemesis turned back forward and was somehow able to bring himself back up to the study. The human was still going on in his desperate struggle even more with his return and the sound of the door locking. Looking towards him, he moved over to his desk and grabbed a chalice and a nearby letter opener. He was too tired to feed from a struggling victim and so he moved over towards him, and took him by the head to bring the man up to his knees. In a fluid motion, he took the letter opener and sliced through his throat and brought up the chalice to collect the crimson rain as it sprayed out. He waited until it was full before he came over to the windowsill to sit and enjoy his drink beneath the moonlight.

Sera gave Celeste a grateful look as she put the healing salve on her leg - her own healing properties would have easily fixed the leg over time, but the salve would speed up the process, though the look faded into something different as Celeste, in all her pregnant rage, went off at both Serafina and Nemesis.  She didn't respond to Celeste, instead keeping a straight face void of emotion as she was screamed at while she lay bleeding on the floor.  She was not necessarily scared of her, but she knew there would be no reasoning with her at this point.  Serafina chose instead to remain silent and allow her to go about her tirade.

She did feel a slight pang of guilt when she realized that the fight she and Nemesis had waged ended in the destruction of the tiny shirt she had been, but she still remained quiet - though she did chuckle as Celeste turned on Xerxez, who had not been party to the crime whatsoever, telling him that he would be taking her place because Celeste knew damn well that Serafina would do no such thing.  

As Celeste gave her full attention to Nemesis, Serafina was able to give her full attention to Xerxez as he rushed to her side.  When he pulled her into a hug, she winced and let out a bit of a pained noise, but allowed her body to melt into his nevertheless.  She did not respond to his declaration of being happy to see she was okay, because the only words she could think of were snarky remarks towards Nemesis and she did not want him to suddenly change his mind about killing her.  Her demeanor, however, changed as his lips brushed over the many cuts and scrapes that had been inflicted during the fight.  Her eyes fluttered closed and she relished the feeling of being close to him as he scooped her up and carried her to a sofa, laying her down in a gentle manner.  She found herself momentarily impressed by how well he seemed to be handling his newfound strength, as he was still able to carry out such gentle motions.

She turned to look at Nemesis as he addressed her, and then Xerxez, from the stairs.  It felt so awkward for her, to have such a serious conversation with the partner she had for over two thousand years - but it was happening, and there was no going back now.  "Thank you," she said, her tone softer than it had ever been with him.

As he left to search for a broom (a declaration which had caused Serafina to snort in laughter), she grasped his hand, not wanting to let go of him as he walked off.  When he returned, she watched him as he cleaned up before returning to her side, his face nuzzling into her neck as he spoke to her.  "You'll learn that there are reasons behind my commands to you - well, most of the time," she said, her eyes slowly fading from crimson to the masked blue she had at times.  "I want you to tell me, Xerxez, if that day ever comes - if you ever feel like you are treated unfairly, or you no longer want to be bound to me… you need to tell me.  I don't want anyone to feel what I have felt for so long," she said, closing her eyes as he brought his lips to meet her forehead.

When Nemesis had completely ascended the stairs, Serafina turned to Celeste.  "I need to feed," she said, her words solemn and serious.  "I cannot hunt now, and neither can you - and Nemesis needs to feed as well, though I can hear that pitiful human he's bleeding out right now," she said, her voice reflecting the old Serafina.  "And you," she said, turning to Xerxez.  "If I let you out into a populated town of humans on your own, you're going to slaughter the entire village," she said.  "Well, maybe only half - but we can't have you put us in that position," she said.  She looked back to Celeste.  "Which one of the maids is it… Charlena?  Is she that bitch with the nasty attitude?" she asked, knowing full well how hypocritical of a statement that was.  She looked back to Xerxez, running one of her hands through his shaggy hair.  "If you go to the help's quarters, there's a redhead named Charlena.  Complete fucking bitch - you'll know her when you see her," she said, rather haughtily.  "Call her in here to clean up.  We've got enough help - and I don't like her, anyway, the cunt," she added.  It was clear that she was already feeling better, as her attitude easily reflected, but feeding would help her regain a lot more of her strength.