The dragon's harem - C.790 Blood Marks

"ARAD!" Eris cried, rushing to check on him. The blood was still warm, and his flesh started moving as his wounds closed. He was just cut apart seconds before she woke up. "Who did this?"

Arad's flesh returned to place and his skin closed as he sat up. "Hmmm, you seem to be back to normal." He stared at her.

Arad wasn't that easy to kill, even if his human body was cut to pieces, he'd just regenerate. And even if sufficient damage was dealt to him, he'll just transform into his draconic form.

"Back to normal? What do you mean?" Eris gasped.

"You went crazy and started slashing at me left and right after drinking my blood." He replied. "At first I thought you were only trying to be a bit rough, but soon your nails started cutting into my scales."

Eris stared at her hands, noticing that her nails had taken the shape of claws, dripping with blood. "I did this?"

"Yeah, but don't worry about it. You were probably just too drunk." Arad smiled, waving his hand and cleaning all of the blood that splashed on the room. He quickly sucked everything into his stomach.

"No…it's impossible. I can't cut you with my nails. I don't have enough strength to get through your scales." She stared at him.

Arad approached her and lifted her hand, "Look." He ran her claw on his forearm, cutting a wound. "They've got sharp enough. You've grown stronger in some way. But I'm certain it's not vampirism, I couldn't sense any blood magic from you at all while you rampaged."

"Wait…you could've restrained me, couldn't you? Why let me cut you up like that?" She cried.

"I tried to stop you, but your body kept burning me with holy magic. I could counter it, but that might harm you so I chose to tank the damage instead. Especially since I couldn't sense blood magic from you, I doubted that you could've healed while drunk."

Eris sat on the bed and rubbed her eyes, feeling exhausted. "What did happen? I feel like I've had a really bad dream…" As she looked at her hands, she started to feel it. Something else surged beside Amaterasu's holy magic.

"What's this?" She mumbled.

Arad tilted his head, staring at her. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You said I had holy magic on me. How was it?"

"I can't tell. Its holy magic like everything else, burns and hurts a lot…well…" Arad wasn't a religious, nor a cleric or a paladin; he wouldn't be able to tell the difference between different types of holy magic.

Eris stood, "I'll ask Lydia when we get back to the university."

"She'll know better, or you can ask Sara as well. She's a cleric after all." Arad smiled.

"I keep forgetting that she's a cleric of Asmodeus…won't that make her a cult leader of some kind?" Eris sighed.

"I wouldn't call it a cult if she's a devil that believes in the ruler of the hells. Doesn't that make sense?" Arad tilted his head to the other side.

"Devils believing in devils…you're right." She stood. "How much still until dawn?"

"Not much." Arad stood beside her, "Wear something, and let's head down and take a quick bath before the rest wake up."

The two headed to the bath and Arad quickly filled the tub with water. Eris filled a bucket and put her hand inside, heating the water with her plasma. After they washed out, the two sat inside the tub.

"Say Arad… you aren't angry? About me attacking you?"

"Why would I? You were drunk, and even if you weren't, you can't really kill me." He pulled her to sit on his lap, "And we dragons are supposed to fight all the time. I'm certain is common for dragon couples to try killing each other from time to time." He patted her head.

"But to think I was fast enough to harm you…you're quite fast and durable even in this form." She looked at his face.

"I just didn't want to use that much power. What if I injured you or broke the room, Mira would kill us." He didn't want to damage the room. "You were moving fast, yes, but not that fast."

"I've never heard of a drunken person moving as well as when they are sober." She giggled, and the bath door opened. Aella stood there, staring at them.

"Arad, Eris… I'm smelling blood in the hallway, what did happen?"

"You can?" Eris gasped.

"I'm sensitive to blood, you know I don't get along with meat and such…but I know that smell well. It's Arad's blood, isn't it?" She walked inside and sat on a small wooden stool to wash her body. "What did happen last night?"

Dragon's blood smells different from other races; elves hold a strong sense of hearing and smell as they are trained hunters. "Did you drink too much of his blood?" Aella glared at Eris.

"No, it's a long story." Arad replied and quickly explained what happened last night. Aella was baffled, "She got drunk and moved well enough that you got injured? Even if you were holding back a lot, that would still be the level of elite fighters."

Both Aella and Eris remember Arad's previous fights, even at the beginning; he was well versed in hand-to-hand fights that he brawled with werewolves, he isn't someone that you can be drunk and injured by luck.

"She was moving a bit weird, I guess." Arad scratched his chin.

"How about you Doma, didn't you see it?" Aella stared at Arad and a mouth appeared on his arm.

"[I didn't. I was asleep. I'm not going to sit and watch his night with Eris.]"

"So we have no clues…" Arad sighed, "Well, it won't happen unless she drinks a lot of my blood, so it won't be a problem." He smiled.

"You say that… But you need to give her less blood if she gets this drunk from it." Aella stared at them. "I doubt it's any good to her."

"Than want her to drink yours? You don't have as much volume as me." Arad looked at her.

"And you don't have as much mana as he. Arad's blood is dense and thick. I can tell my smell, if yours is water with sugar, his blood is raw honey. There is no comparison."

"Then don't drink as much of his blood." Aella sighed.

The bath's door opened again, and it was Mira and Merida who walked inside. "Is there a place for us?" Merida asked.

"I've made enough stools for everyone. I even made the tub a bit larger." Mira stared at her as she walked to the corner and picked two stools for them.

Eris stood and so did Arad after her. "We'll leave for now…" As Eris walked past Merida, she stopped her with a knife to the neck. "Care to explain why I smell Arad's blood on you? I really want to cut you on the spot, but I suspect it's not that big of a deal, was it?"

As expected, they aren't getting past Merida that easily. If Aella can pick up on the blood's smell by her nose, Merida has her fungus.

"I'll explain it to you. Let them be." Aella stared at her and Merida moved the knife away from Eris's neck. "Sorry about this."

"No need to apologize. But where did you keep that knife, I didn't see you hold it." Eris smiled.

"I was holding it. I'm just good at hiding weapons behind my wrists and legs." Merida patted her shoulder and moved out of the way.

Arad and Eris left and Aella glared at Merida.

"I warned you to not attack her." Aella growled.

"But you smelled it as well." Merida stared back at her with glowing green eyes. "That strong smell wasn't from a small wound or a love scratch…It's a murder scene."

"You two didn't see any blood." Mira said.

"It's enough to smell that much blood in the air. You don't even smell that amount if fights. I bet Arad only seems fine thanks to his regeneration, but whatever Eris did, it was bad." Merida growled.

"We don't know that, and it's best if we don't start fighting amongst each other. If Arad is saying he's fine, we better trust that." Aella stood.

The two glared at each other for a few seconds until Mira pushed them apart, "Come on! Stop fighting. We don't have that much time."

They indeed didn't have much time. They still need to wash themselves and get ready to leave back to the university."

As Arad and Eris walked back into the living room they saw Tina and Dalla cooking in the kitchen. Isdis and her maids were staying in the castle to govern Arad's domain. King Baltos might be there, but Isdis as Arad's wife is taking care of the specific politics of the region.

"We've got breakfast ready." Dalla called Arad and Eris into the dining room.

Inside there they found Cerilla and Betty already wolfing down their breakfast.

"Arad! Can you give me that maid of yours? Tina, I've never tasted such food." Cerilla stared at him with glowing eyes.

"That's just grass." Arad stared at her bowl of veggies; he could only see salad, onion, carrots, and several leaves. All elves can't digest meat, so they are considered herbivores.

On the other side of the table, the small Betty was wolfing down a whole plate of fried eggs, sausages, two steaks, five boiled eggs, beans, cheese, mushrooms, and roasted tomatoes. All downed with a large mug of beer.

"Where are you putting all of that?" Arad stared at her swallowing a whole egg.

"If I ate well, I might grow taller." Betty replied and quickly turned toward Cerilla, "Elf, give me that maid of yours. She's a great cook."

"I'm ashamed that Dalla can cook meat." Cerilla sighed.

"Then give her to me! I'll put her to good use." Betty smiled.

"No, I'm not giving her to you. She's my maid, bodyguard, caretaker, and trainer." Cerilla pointed her fork at Betty, "Get your own maid."

"No, I want her. And, won't all those roles make give her a lot of power?" Betty stared at Cerilla.

"She indeed does. Besides me, she has the most influence on the elvish kingdom. You never had a maid so you might never know, but the job of a maid is one of the most lucrative and influential jobs out there and one of the safest as well." Cerilla turned toward Arad, "Say, if Tina asked you to blow a city, what would you do?"

"I'll blow it sky high." He replied.

"See? That maid holds a lot of power here as well. She basically has a dragon at her fingers. All she needs to do is play her cards well." Cerilla smiled.

"I should've picked a maid job. It's probably easier than being a chairman."