00/07/09-12 (this is the third time I've rewritten the chapter)

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I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Mistybulma and her story ‘Falling For You’ is was/is a beautiful story and I really hope she changes her mind about it.

¥: An Athame is a knife for those of you who don't know

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-XII- F a t e o f t h e d a m n e d

'Beauty isn't always the first thing you see'
-Miel Mitsue from Eternal Wish

Piccolo was lost in his own mind; meditation could do that to a person. Sucks you in so deep that you could no longer decipher how to get back. He'd been pondering events and people in his catatonic state. His senses could pick out Kami quickly and get a vague fix on his line of though. His counterpart was intrigued, if not a bit frightened. Events such as this where out of his reach; not something earth's guardian was accustomed to.

The feeling of the woman's presence still vaguely lingered in the air, the sharp electrical feel was still present enough to annoy the guardian's sensitive senses. Kami and Mr. Popo had returned from their conversation with the earlier guardians with no more knowledge of what it was then what they'd started with.

The Briefs sat alone apart from the rest of the group; they were still in a mild state of shock. Dr. Briefs played with an invention while Mrs. Briefs made small talk with an unresponsive Chichi.

Bulma stepped into the room, her boots echoing loudly on the reflective floor. Her reflection glared up at her, barely distorted giving her an almost perfect view of herself. She swallowed the lump in her throat, hoping that it would crush the fluttering butterflies in her stomach. The two escorts on either side of her led her in front of the Prince so she was facing him head on. They bowed deeply and left the room.

Bulma's eyes flickered around the room quickly and unsure; the room had emptied out rather quickly, now there was only herself, Vegeta and another new figure. She assumed it was a man by his build, his face and body was concealed under a long thick black robe that met the floor; he held an athame in one hand and a goblet in another. He took a step forward with the knife’s tip slightly raised. The room fell into a hush as the soldiers that stood outside were led into the room and placed strategically near the braziers.

All the soldiers were all in formal attire, though their battle suits had changed and would stay that way. They all wore crimson suits with polished gold trimmed armor. They all had the royal symbol of the house of Vejiitasei drawn on their faces, under the right eye, in kohl.

The dark robed figure watched the prince, who nodded for him to continue with the ritual. The figure raised the athame and spoke out into the room in a deep and guttural language, the Saiyan language. The soldiers all bent down on one knee with their arms outstretched ahead of them in an offering. The man called out one last phrase and let it echo and die in the large room. Vegeta no Oiji outstretched his own wrist with the arm guard on it and his soon-to-be mate followed suit.

Elsewhere, Stataris sat watching fate unfold, staring deep into a bowl of clear water. Her hair was pinned atop her head as she readied for the next part of her plan. The feel of the room changed sharply, it was filled with a darkened sense. She whirled around to face the body of her lover inhabited by something so fierce and evil, it sent shivers down her immortal spine. The body snatcher sneered at her, "You know the rules, the universe forbids that you play with mortals." She paid him no heed and turned back to the bowl of water. Everything was falling into place, she needed to collect the last elements for her final spell and her work would be done.

The inhabited body's face twitched once as if it was losing control, "Ssstatarissss, you know that you can't interfere with the work of the othersss." The voice began to hiss like a serpent’s as he placed his hand on her shoulder, his face twitched again more frantically, he was losing control over Jespher's body. For a moment the darkness in the room lightened and the woman turned around, Jespher’s soul was in his own body again for a brief moment. "Stataris, you must hurry, he knows" he grunted with the effort to talk, "keep them alive...I..I...I lo..." His body trembled violently as the spirit inside of him took control once again. The darkness returned to the room. "You bastard" he hissed as he lunged at her too quickly for her to dodge. He pinned her successfully on the floor under him while he used the few powers he wrestled away from Jespher on the woman. She was pinned too tightly for her to use her own powers without hurting herself or causing irreparable damage to her lover's body. The spirit reached his hand up and grasped the edge of the bowl. He lifted it up and poured the water down on his captive before shattering the bowl down on the floor next to her head.

Jespher's body grasped a large jagged fragment in his hand and sneered down at Stataris. "See what you've done, Jespher? You told her my secret. I will teach you to hold your tongue!" He brought the jagged piece of pottery down across Stataris' face, slicing through her skin easily. Blood poured out or the open wounds down onto the marble as she screamed to the heavens. When the body snatcher was done he laughed, "This is your punishment for talking, Jespher. Do you see?" Blood dripped down from her face as she pulled herself to her knees, one of her wings was broken; feathers fell down into the blood, never to be used again.

The pain burned up and down her face, her vision was gone, he'd cut it away with his feral and hatred fuelled slashes. She bit her lip as she blindly searched for something to bind the gushing wounds on her face.

On Vejiitasei, the black robed figure pulled the sharp blade across the Prince's wrist, the crimson blood dripped down into the goblet he held. He raised the knife once more and let the blade cut into Bulma's wrist so her blood too dripped into the goblet. The man nodded and Vegeta raised his still bleeding wrist and caught Bulma's hand in his. The wrist guards pulled themselves together with a power of their own. The two horizontal cuts fused together to let the blood from each body flow into the other. The emotions and feelings that the contact made was astonishing.

It was beautiful; Bulma closed her eyes and let the feelings pull her in. Her stomach was in her throat with the feeling like she'd been dropped from heaven never to touch the ground. In Vegeta's eyes, he could feel the echo of what his mate felt, the emotions, things he'd never experienced or encountered in all his existence. He too closed his eyes to pull in the full essence of this moment; it was one experience he'd never feel again. Their fingers entwined and her nails dug into the back of his hand as she arched her back against him. It was like an exquisite lovemaking session where there was no actual sex, just the pleasured emotions involved.

The robed figure passed around the room and gathered blood from each of the warriors into the goblet. He returned to his stop in front of the bonding couple and pulled out a vile from the folds of his robe. The contents of the vial added to the goblet, he waited patiently for the couple to finish with the exchange. Beneath their closed eyelids, the royal couple could see the universe; in one last trembling exchange they pulled their hands apart and opened their eyes. Bulma was still reeling from the power and feelings that came out of the exchange of blood.

The man held out the full goblet to the couple and ushered them to drink. The thought of drinking someone else’s blood was disturbing to Bulma as she watched Vegeta take three large gulps of the liquid before passing the goblet on to her. She stared down into the cup at the reflective surface of the blood. It seemed to shimmer under its own power. She looked closer as it shimmered again and began to drain from some unknown source. The well-known voice whispered in her mind, "...Pretend..." Bulma did as she was told.

The ceremony seemed to be over, the guards stood and left the room leaving the royal couple to their own thoughts. Vegeta-ouji gave her a sideways glance before walking proudly to the large doors they'd entered from, waiting at the threshold for her. The Chikyuu native walked somberly to her prince, sorting out the events in her mind.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 11
Chapter 13