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Phia shook her head.

"Devon is with my broth'r and Aria is off...somewhere, the dojo I believe...I was just reading to pass the time." She muttered into his chest. She lifted her head to look at him, a bit of a smile on her lips. She looked tired, she wasn't kidding when she said she hadn't slept. "But whichever decision you chose, it's up to you." She said. She wouldn't impose on him, although she longed to just be in his arms.

*'ome." She said simply a smile on her lips. Home had a different meaning to her now, it wasn't at the Dojo or in New York, part of it was still at the Mansion with her children, but home was mostly now where Xol had promised it would be, at the Keep. She breathed in his scent her head was by his neck, she could feel his pulse, smell the blood just under his skin, she was hungry for him. But aside from more primal desires she just wanted to be with him. "But by my method of travel please..." She begged.

For weeks that cloned body of Draeken lay motionless. For weeks it was taken care of in the hopes that the mind and soul of the man to whom it belonged would return. Delay after delay and problem after problem had arisen in these past weeks. So this body, this clone, this empty shell lay here useless, staring at the ceiling with eyes more blank than a bottomless pool of water on a starless and moonless night.

The mansion was quiet. The rooms were still. In some there was dust built up on the furniture and floors. Only a small portion of the massive building was in constant use. A fact that had always irked Draeken to no end. Tonight, however, that silence was to be shattered. The air would seem to grow tense, the very dust seeming to hang still in the air. Moments passed, the tension grew and grew until it seemed the walls themselves would be torn down because of it. Then all at once it released and for several minutes there was silence. Only, it wasnt really silent, for there was heavy breathing coming from the room where that shell of a man had been laying for weeks. The breathing slowly grew louder until, for a brief moment it stopped. Then a loud scream erupted from that soulless body. It thrashed about, scratching at its face and chest before rolling from the bed and onto the floor. It lay motionless for a minute before standing straight up and gripping its head, savagely pulling at it's hair, staring at the ceiling again with its mouth open wide in another scream that didn't sound at all like it should be coming from humanoid vocal chords.

The body fell backwards then and lay motionless for another several minutes before it started breathing heavily again. The eyes slowly became full of life and began to look around, wildly at first, but gradually their roaming became more calm. Breathing slowing down, the body sat up. No, it was no longer an empty shell. It was inhabited now and there was only one thing that could have possibly done so. That body was built to reject anything else. Draeken was back.

Slowly Draeken clambered to his feet, unsteady at first. It took him several tries even using the bed as support to stand fully erect. Once there he looked around himself with a more coherent expression in his eyes and on his face. He smiled, but only for a moment. There was something wrong. He couldn't quite put a finger on it, but there was something wrong. Moving to the bed he took note of where his body had been laying and though the sheets were thrown everywhere he could tell that his was the only body that had lay there for some time. Also, though it was thin, there was a layer of dust on the furniture and on the floor. He could tell he'd been visited recently, but the footprints weren't the ones he was looking for. His eyes narrowed slightly as he moved towards the wardrobe where his clothes were kept. This was his and Phia's room after all. He remembered where things were.

It only took him a few moments to dress himself and be out the door of the bedroom. Looking around the hall, he saw it empty. He didn't sense anything or anyone nearby. Not his daughter, not his son, and not even his wife. It took him a short twenty minutes to search all the places any of them would have likely been found, only to find them empty and devoid of life. Growing more and more frustrated by the moment he exited the mansion, leaping from a window on the third floor, not caring to use the stairs. Landing heavily on the ground he stumbled and nearly fell face first into the dirt. He was slowly realizing how much weaker he was and how much more he would have to rely on himself now that the old man was no longer sharing his skull.

Standing upright and dusting himself off a bit he looked around, but it didn't take long for him to catch a faint whiff of Phia...and someone else. That smell was one he didn't expect and he didn't appreciate it fouling up the air around his home. Moving around the mansion in a full circle he grew more angry than frustrated. This just didn't seem right to him, that his body would be left utterly alone, for what looked like several days, and judging by the sudden lack of energy he felt, it was several days. He'd been abandoned. Growling in anger Draeken stormed off into the nearby woods. It was only moments later that the high pitched scream of an animal in pain was heard. He had to sate his hunger somehow and that was the fastest way to do it. And judging by the tearing sounds, he wasn't being kind about it.

As soon as Aria and Phia appeared Draeken stood up from his meal, a young deer that lay in pieces. He himself was covered in blood. He obviously didn't care about cleanliness at the time being. Turning to look at them both as Aria ran to him, he had an almost feral look in his eye, but that would only be seen for a moment. He wrapped his arms around his daughter and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. "I've missed you as well, Aria. It's good to be back."

Opening one eye, he looked at Phia, but the look wasn't as warm as it likely should have been. When he had inhaled after being hugged, he had caught a whiff of Phia as well and he did not like what he smelled. He may not have the old man in his skull anymore, but that didn't dull his vampiric senses any. Closing his eye then, he kissed Aria's head and continued to hug her. "How's Devon? He's probably growing up quick I can imagine. I hope he hasn't been too much of a handful to take care of. I know I was as a child."

Smiling a bit and looking at Aria he shrugged. "I can't help what I pass on to my children! He's healthy then? That is good to know. Hopefully he will return here soon. I'd like to see how much he's grown for myself." Nodding to himself he looked up towards the sky as Aria confronted her mother. She hadn't known what Draeken himself was only guessing. Closing his eyes again he sighed lightly. With Aria being the one to instigate the impending conversation, it wasn't going to be pretty. Then again, it likely wouldn't have been so either way. He could let it continue this way, but that would be cowardly of him to do so. "Aria. She's right. It may effect you in some way, but the...conversation...is for your mother and I to have." He was calm. Very calm. Either he had regained some semblance of his normal attitude or he was only holding back what lay beneath. Aria, with her keen senses in such matters, would likely pick up that it was the latter. This was not a true calm, nor was it a good one.

Releasing Aria from the hug slowly, he half turned from her and Phia, looking slightly over his shoulder at his wife. "Wait for me at the Mansion or the Dojo. Either one is fine. I'd like to get a chance to catch up with you later, Aria. Maybe over a drink or two." He grinned a bit knowing Aria would likely delight at the opportunity to drink with him.

"What do I have to say? I think it is you who has more to say than I, Phia." He turned his face from her and looked blankly into the trees. "I'm sure I'll have much more to say when I've heard your explanation, if you have one. Though I doubt I'll see any sense in what I suspect you have done." He glared at her once more, much more openly than before. "Well?"

Phia sighed heavily, again. She removed her glasses from her face and rubbed her eyes a bit then replaced them. She looked to the man before her, the man she once loved completly, the man she still loved, but, it wouldn't be the same kind of love any longer. How was she going to say this? It was going to hurt him no matter how she explained it, it didn't matter, it was going to hurt them all, hurt their children and hurt to say.

"I'm with Xol...." She said simply. "I love 'im." Phi wasn't one to ever sugar-coat the truth, and she knew it wasn't going to help any to skirt around the topic.

Aria sighed and relaxed against her girlfriend, she wanted to scream and the anger could be felt, carefully controlled, she was trying to surpress it, her brother would be back soon and she didn't want to tell him this, to hurt him. To give him any ideas.

"She was sleeping with him wasn't she?" She asked coldly.