Astral Odyssey: Dying Ember

World 4.24: Vanora

Another 6 months passed by.

Things were now slightly different between Vlad and Vanora, at least to the hell beings that were following Vlad in war. 

After the first day, they never once saw Vlad fight together with Vanora again. Although they would come together in the morning and leave together at night, they never interacted with each other beyond that. Vanora integrated well with the other demons of her nature and respected Vlad as much as they did. They really would not have thought that anything was going on between the two of them if not for Vlad's behaviour.

Vlad was visibly more cranky and irritable. If he was cold and aloof before, he now felt domineeringly unfriendly and unapproachable to all the hell beings. They originally thought that it was related to an increase in his powers until they found out the truth through gossiping. The ones around Vlad shared their experiences with those around Vanora. From piecing the information together, even the stupidest hell being gradually realised the truth behind their demon lord's bad mood. 

Every time Vanora would have suffered a grievous wound, either the body of an angel or a hell being would come flying over and knock down the opponent, giving Vanora and her comrades an opportunity to fight back. It was only thanks to the information of the other side that they realised it was Vlad tossing the bodies over. Unfortunately, he kicked or threw whoever was closest to him, regardless whether the victim was friend or foe. Once this truth was established, the hell beings were careful not to be close to Vlad every time they were fighting.

The other happening that made them believe Vanora meant something special to their lord was that the hell beings on Vlad's side would suffer more the more Vanora's side enjoyed themselves. Vanora may be quiet and unsociable but they felt that she was easy to get along with. Other females were too loud, emotional, fierce, or arrogant. So whenever they were on route to the next battle or taking a break, they would make merry around Vanora. Some females were jealous, some took this chance to join in, some felt protective over her meek nature, some simply did not care. Despite all that was going on around her, Vanora never actually took part in anything. She was like a bystander being entertained by all their antics and interactions. This changed one day though. Unbeknownst to her, it was the day they realised that she probably meant something special to their demon lord. 

The hell beings began treating her with more respect and took more care of her. There was once when a fellow male demon tried to offer her the reddest and juiciest meat they had caught in an effort to please the demon lord, he was met with a death glare instead that made him wet himself on the spot. Thinking that the fault lied with offering her the wrong food, more hell beings started trying to please Vanora in an effort to get into the demon lord's good books. Unexpectedly, Vlad's mood only got worse and worse. They were at a complete loss about what to do as the ones on Vlad's side continued to beg those around Vanora to take it easy on them. What a pity that they would never know how their actions only looked like seduction and flirtation to Vlad.

Vanora was completely aware of Vlad's mood and behaviour as BaoBao kept her informed. She sighed inwardly as she wondered if it was possible to get him to behave more properly and comply more willingly. She was worried that with the way he was behaving, misunderstandings about their relationship can still happen, especially for any overthinking sensitive hell beings, which would then defeat her purpose of distancing herself from him. It also made their current deal pointless. 

Lying in bed, she began thinking back to what she had to do to make him comply to her wishes.

That day, they returned back to the castle to reduce the time wasted on teleportation the next morning. Vanora brought up the topic of wanting to keep a distance between them whenever they were in front of the hell beings after she came back from bathing. The conversation continued through dinner and after it.