[ToxicShadow]

As it was nearly every day within Emilia's household, the morning started with Chevalier knocking on the door of the young (in the relative sense of the word) dhampir's sleeping quarters. The average person would refer to it as a "bedroom," but the thing was, Emilia did not always use it as her bedroom. There were a grand many rooms in the mansion which were mostly unoccupied, which she saw as fit. That was the benefit of being the mistress of the house.

[ToxicShadow]

After a few knocks on the door, which gradually got a little bit louder with each and every knock, the tall, relatively slender built man dressed up in a black suit with a tail coat and a white button up underneath opened the door, first peering inside, before swinging it open all the way and taking a single step inside. The black hair on his head nearly matched the shade of his outfit, although was more sleek and shiny, for obvious reasons.

[ToxicShadow]

He looked much like any ordinary man, although the peculiar horns on the top of his head gave him away as something else. Chevalier was not mortal, same as his mistress was not mortal, although they were not the same kind of being.

As he stepped in, he glanced around the room, his eyes soon landing on the figure much smaller than himself, a young girl with equally dark, shiny hair, that was sitting on the edge of the canopy bed.

[ToxicShadow]

Emilia had, in all actuality, started the day before being woken by her companion; the one that acted as her butler, servant, and protector, in exchange for consuming her immortal life force in order to survive. She was nearly fully dressed, and her hair neatly arranged into lovely, loose curls. She was in the processing of pulling up her second stocking as Chevalier entered.

"Good morning, Miss Emilia," the man greeted, making a proper, sweeping bow, as he did so.

[ToxicShadow]

Once he stood upright again, he added, "You should have waited for me. I could have assisted you."

Emilia, whom had already secured her stocking into place before he returned to his upright position, waved her hand once. "Your serving me in such a manner is all just a formality," she replied, dismissing the idea that she should have waited for him and should have made him help her with something as simple as getting dressed, doing her hair and the rest of her morning routine.

[ToxicShadow]

"It may be a formality," the man replied, as he begin to take several strides into the room, no longer remaining just inside the door way, "but it is my pleasure and purpose to serve you." He stood before her for a moment as he said this, but then changed his course, heading for walk in closet, where she kept her shoes. Although he missed doing everything else, he could do that much.

"Wait there," he instructed her.

[ToxicShadow]

The man slipped inside the closet for a moment and, shortly after, reemerged holding a pair of shoes that he'd carefully selected. Then, he returned to Emilia, whom had waited in her place, sitting on the edge of her bed. Although, in their roles, she was the mistress of the manner that the others served, she still listened to them, as well, as their friend. Since he'd insisted that she remain there, and he help her, she was not going to argue.

[ToxicShadow]

He knelt down before her on one knee, setting one shoe aside, and gingerly reaching out to lift her leg, his hand not much farther up than just above her ankle, slipped the first shoe onto her foot. Then, secured it into place. Once the first one was taken care of, the butler reached for the second shoe, and carefully repeated the process. He slipped the second shoe onto her foot, and secured it into place.

"There you are."

[ToxicShadow]

Once that was settled, the man rose up once more, returning to his full height, and extended his hand out to her. It was obvious that he wanted to help her stand up. Without any hesitation at all, Emilia reached out, placing her hand in his, which he held onto promptly, and rose from her sitting position.

"Thank you, Chevalier," she said, smiling up at him.

"Everything is in order," Chevalier replied, not needing to utter the words "you're welcome," in their companionship.

[ToxicShadow]

"Shall we go down for breakfast and discuss today's schedule?" He inquired.

The girl responded by nodded her head. "Yes, let's."

It was possible that there were a great number that became confused by their relationship, and especially because Emilia often appeared in the form as a young girl. She typically referred to it as her "contained form," and it helped to conceal her magical, powerful signature from other creatures that might be able to sense such things.

[ToxicShadow]

In her more true form, she appeared as a young adult woman, and that reflected her more true age, but she rarely took up such a form. Chevalier, on the other hand, was no less than hundreds of years old. A strange, demonic creature of sorts, that fed off the life force of other living things. They were close, some would say intimately so, but they were no way in a romantic or sexually charged relationship. That did not exist among them.

[ToxicShadow]

However, their closeness, their trust in one another was likely unparalleled. At any given time, Chevalier was more than willing to sacrifice his own life for Emilia's sake. He'd already lived long enough, and, in reality, it was actually she that saved him.

As he could only be bound to one person at a time, until the combination of their aging and his consuming their life force ended their lives, surviving had become a difficult task.

[ToxicShadow]

Although he had become bound to a mortal through their own will, they had to be willing for it to work, it did not stop him from feeling guilty over the years, as he practically sucked the lives right out of them. Slowly watching them grow weaker and weaker, until they breathed their last breath, all because of him, wore on him over the years.

However, since Emilia willingly became his bonded, he no longer had to worry about such things.

[ToxicShadow]

She was not one that would die because of his consuming her life force. As an immortal being, her life force, itself, was endless. Though, of course, her life could be ended in other ways, but that was where he came in. Nothing would come to harm her, not so long as he was standing.

"We'll be having a busy day, will we not?" Emilia questioned, glancing over at him briefly, as the pair made their way out of her sleeping quarters.

[ToxicShadow]

"Yes," Chevalier answered without missing a beat. "As you are already aware, the black mist has already shrouded the lands." They'd already caught wind of it, although they had not yet hashed out the details. "It will be the topic of discussion while we go over today's schedule."

Emilia nodded her head. "In all likelihood, we'll all be going out today," she told him. Things were interesting, so she had no intention of just sending out Blayze and Adair.

[Event posts end here]