Thanks to Ravyn for proofreading, and to everyone on the Dragon and Demon Mailing List for their comments and suggestions. Without your nagging it never would have been completed.
Xelloss looked hungrily at his new bride and decided it was definitely time for the honeymoon. He put his arm around her waist again giving her a little squeeze. Filia squeaked in surprise and dropped her mace, which she had been carrying ever since the garter throwing. Xelloss cheerfully waved goodbye to the reception party. Then he bent over to pick up Mace-sama and return it to Filia. "You dropped this." He said as she cautiously took it back from him. You don't want to forget Mace-Sama. We might need it!" Xelloss grinned and disappeared with Filia, leaving behind a rather disoriented (and quite drunk) reception party.
The new couple reappeared in a room whose dominant feature was a large bed covered with violet silk. There were black candles burning in the room, which was decorated in purple with gold trim. Filia was surprised to see many of the decorations depicted dragons, most of them in gold. There were several different designs, but the most common had pairs of dragons twisted together into intricate knots. Filia blushed when she noticed the highly suggestive positions of the dragons. She looked away, embarrassed.
"Where are we?"
"These are my private chambers. Not on WolfPack Island." Xelloss reassured her.
Filia glanced around the room, avoiding Xelloss' eyes, until she noticed the Champaign glasses on the nightstand. "You're well prepared aren't you?"
"I thought you would prefer a traditional setting. At least for the first time. If you want I'm sure I can find something a little more ... interesting." Xelloss smiled suggestively.
"No! This is fine." Filia replied hastily. She was having enough trouble coping with everything that had happened that day. She didn't need to know what Xelloss considered "interesting." She walked over to the bed and hesitantly touched the sheets. Then she turned on Xelloss, "How many other women have you brought here?" Filia snapped at him. But the waver in her voice showed more nervousness than anger.
"None, Filia-chan. I told you this was my private place. I wouldn't bring just anyone here. Now what's really bothering you."
"Oh, somewhere else then? How many others have there been?"
"Well, now that's a secret. This is your first time isn't it?"
"Of course it is! And no more secrets! I have a right to know, you womanizing Namagomi!!!!!!!" Filia swung her mace around to prove her point, but as usual he teleported out of the way.
"How fun! Foreplay!" Xelloss flashed beside her to give a quick peck on the cheek before phasing out again to avoid the back-swing from her mace. To his vast amusement her swing carried around until her mace got tangled in her veil. "Do you need some help with that? I'll be glad to help you take it off." Xelloss ginned and appeared behind her where he managed to snatch the veil right off her head, freeing her mace in the process. This only provoked Filia further and she swung at him again. "Stop that! I don't need any help from you."
"But it's more fun this way." Xelloss avoided several more swings as he made off with her earrings. The Champaign glasses were not so fortunate. "Yare, yare! You get so destructive when you're aroused!"
Filia's fangs were showing, "I'll show you violent! Now hold still for a minute."
"Sure... if you promise to give me a kiss to make it all better." Xelloss leered.
Filia's only response was to smash him soundly in the side of the face.
"Why thank you." Xelloss said, rubbing his new dent in a way that could as easily have been from pleasure as from pain. Suddenly he teleported right in front of her and grabbed her forcefully for a very deep kiss.
Filia's first instinct was to stiffen and try and push him away. But he simply held her tighter and she soon found herself melting into the kiss. She was floating along in outer space when she noticed that Xelloss had somehow worked his tongue into her mouth. She didn't know a mazoku tongue would taste like that. Wait! A mazoku tongue... "What do you think you are DOING, Namagomi?!?" she demanded, pushing him away and wiping her mouth.
"Kissing you. You have lot to learn if you don't even recognize a kiss." Xelloss teased.
Filia's jaw dropped as she tried to think of a comeback. Then she just broke down, "It's not that. I'm just... I'm afraid!"
"Because it's you're first time? Don't worry. Virgins get married every day. They always figure it out." Xelloss leered.
"Not that either, Namagomi! I'm afraid of what's going to happen to us! After tonight. I can never go back to my people now! Wife of a mazoku? And what about you? Zelas didn't seem to mind the wedding. I don't even want to know what her motive is. But what about the other mazoku? This is all so impossible! This morning I was trying to think of a way to get rid of you forever and now... It's too sudden!" Filia turned around and clung to Xelloss sobbing. He smiled a little at her sudden change in mood. But the sight of her crying made him soften a bit, and that in turn made him uncomfortable.
"It is frightening." Xelloss admitted, "We are certainly an impossible match... Well, there's nothing we can do about it now!" he said brightly, "We're stuck with each other."
"'Stuck with each other?' And whose fault is that!?" Filia stopped crying so she could glare at him. Just the thought of a honeymoon made her incredibly nervous, but Xelloss had a way of making her so angry she forgot about that. One word from him could send her into a passionate rage. And one passion was surprisingly similar to another.
"That's better! But let's save that fight for later. Right now we have something important to do. Our agreement required you to marry me. No wedding is complete until it is consummated." Xelloss kissed Filia again while his hands began to wander, looking for ways to get under her dress. The fear and nervousness that had made her tense up had faded when he teased her. Now she couldn't even stay annoyed at him, not when his hands and mouth were doing that.
Xelloss smiled inwardly when he felt Filia begin to return his kiss. His fingers began to work urgently at the buttons on the back of the dress. Why did she have to choose such a troublesome wedding gown? The other one would have been so much easier to remove! There! Now he just had to pull it off. "It's getting late. Don't you think it's time we got ready for bed?" he said seductively, sliding the dress up over her head.
Filia smiled at this comment, "Oh yes. Zelas told me all about your pink dragon PJs!"
Xelloss looked playfully around the room, "Hmmm, I seem to have forgotten to bring them." he smiled as he tossed the dress over the back of a chair. "I guess I'll have to go without." He then turned back to her, only to find that she still looked fully dressed in her fancy petticoat. He sighed "Another dress? That's not fair..." He stepped forward to attack her remaining clothing. Then Xelloss sighed in exasperation when he saw another petticoat beneath the first. "Just how many layers are you wearing?"
"What? You're not getting tired already are you?" Filia smiled. As usual, unhappy Xel = happy Filia. An unusual arrangement, but at least they could each be content half of the time. ^_^
"Not a chance. Oh, my!" Xelloss exclaimed, "You seem to be overheating under all those layers. This looks like a medical emergency!"
"Look what you've done to my clothes, Namagomi! So violent! I'd almost think you were trying to rape me."
"No, I could have done that a long time ago. And you couldn't have done anything to stop me." Xelloss smiled at her startled expression. "But it's more fun to seduce you... You're afraid of me, yet you want me. And that's what scares you most."
"Tired so soon? I should have expected a golden dragon would have no more stamina than that." Xelloss sighed in disappointment.
"What did you say, Namagomi? I can last just as long as you can and I'll prove it!" Filia sat up and looked at him, a challenge gleaming in her eyes. "But... what else is there? Didn't we already..." Filia trailed off, uncertainty creeping back into her voice.
"Yare, yare! You like a challenge do you? I'll show you what else we can do." he replied, an evil glint in his eyes. "My dear Filia, we have only scratched the surface." He kissed her again. As his hands wandered lower again, Filia realized she was in for the lesson of her life.