"Show me how well you fight." Adrian commands, the clanking of silver against silver echoing throughout the forest. It was an achingly familiar sight, which the dhampyr had noticed the moment you had asked to train in combat with him.

It was strange, how he had accepted you to seek refuge in his castle, despite the latest betrayal of humans having asked for his aid. Taka and Sumi still remind him of his heartbreak, of his solitude leading to the desperate need for friendship and love. Perhaps that is another reason why he had staked their heads outside his entrance.

He parries your strike, voice slightly harsher than he needs to be, harsher than you deserve, really. "Do not get too close to your target, especially a vampire." Another strike, sending your sword flying.

Then, you do something he had not expected. You lunge at him, while his sword is still up and pointed at you. He instinctively points the sword elsewhere, away from you so that he would not have to hurt another companion—

"Hmph-!" He's on the ground, with you laying on top of him, laughing. Another flash of past memories conjure up in his broken mind, of Taka and Sumi laying just like this, before they had betrayed him so gruesomely.

Your laughter draws him out of his thoughts, suddenly, especially when his charge looks at him, concern in their gaze at his look, asking if he was okay. You weren't them. You weren't. He desperately wished that you would never turn on him, that you would not betray his care and love for you. He cannot stand it again, he cannot live out his mothers values with another betrayal.

"...You have done well."