How Terim Met Zellas

Part 3: The Date

"You're looking very lovely," Terim smiled.

"Go-good evening," Zelas managed to smile. How did he sneak up on her again?

"I have this corsage just for you," he flourished the sapphire blue flowers.

She accepted it and pinned to the pale yellow dress she had "borrowed" from Dolphin. The flowers did smell heavenly. In fact, one of them was very familiar.

"Where did you get these flowers?" Zelas asked, trying to hide her growing confusion. The main flower of the corsage was an extremely rare flower that grew in only one place. Her island!

"That one? I had quite a hard time getting it actually, was almost late getting back here. There were all these wolves and I think some guy with purple hair."

How the hell did he get to her island?!?

"By the way, I don't think we've been appropriately introduced yet. My name is Terim Bartholemew Thomas Retromen..." several more hundreds of names "...Graywords. But everyone just calls me Terim."

Zelas sweatdropped. She wasn't even going to try remembering all of that.

"And your name is?"

"Zela-" Zelas clamped her mouth shut before revealing her entire name. "Zela...Tallium."

"Zela? Spelled like Greater Beast Zelas Metallium but without the 's'?"

Zelas nodded, several hairs springing out of place. What is with this guy?

"Well then my lady," Terim bowed and held out his arm. "Shall we go to dinner?"

Zelas mentally shrugged. She needed to win his heart. Wrapping her arm around his, she smiled gracefully. "Lead on my lord."

Terim lead his date to a classy restaurant recommended to him by Ashford. They were seated at a private table for two on the veranda lit only by candles.

"Order whatever you wish, Zela," Terim smiled, looking over his own menu.

Perfect opportunity to wreak havoc on him! Sure Zelas was going to break his heart but as a Mazoku she'd take any chance that came up to break him.

The waiter fainted.

"You certainly have a healthy appetite," Terim nodded. "As for me, I'll have a Caesar salad but not the Brutus side dish. Last time I had it, I found a dagger in the salad. And I believe you have a bottle of Zefilian wine bottled 50 years ago? We'll have that as well."

"I beg your pardon sir," said the second waiter to replace the first. "But the management would like to be assured that you could pay for your meal..."

"Oh no problem," Terim pulled out a bag as large as a man's head. It spilled open to reveal gold coins. "Will that be enough?"


By the authors' calculation, equal to a king's ransom.


The second waiter bowed and dragged the first unconscious one after him, leaving the couple alone.

"We should use this time to get to know each other," Terim said once the waiters were gone. "Where do you live? What do you do? Do you have a significant other?"

Zelas fiddled with the tablecloth trying to think of an answer that she wouldn't forget later. There was an awkward moment of silence.

Suddenly a chicken jumped onto the table. "How dare you try eat me, the Great Tiiba of the Mazoku?!"

A chef barged in waving a butcher knife. "A chicken is a chicken is carved chicken in white sauce!!"

The chicken squawked and hopped away as the chef cleaved the table in two. He flapped behind Zelas. "Oh save me save me save me save me great one."

This lousy excuse of a Mazoku was going to break her cover!

"What's that over there?" Zelas pointed to something behind Terim. Both the chef and Terim turned to look and Zelas blasted the chicken, because no matter what it said it looked like a chicken, into the stratosphere.

"Thaaaaaaaank you," Tiiba squawked.

"You're right," Terim turned back around. "I've never seen a bear juggling bottles of alcohol within a burning hoop."

A crash and explosion cracked through the early evening.

"Okay, maybe the bear wasn't that good."

Zelas blinked. Actually, it had only been a distraction...

The waiters quietly removed the broken table, replacing it with a much larger one to accommodate Zela's gigantic order. Following the table were plates upon plates of food.

"Please tell use when you have finished this so we can bring the next round," bowed the waiters.

"Well let's start eating," Terim smiled digging in.

Zelas was slightly stunned at the amount of food she had ordered. Note to self, this was only one-tenth of her order and was more than all the food eaten by the Slayers cast in the first season.

"Excuse me," Zelas said standing up. "I need to use the lady's room."

Terim nodded.

Zelas made her way through the restaurant but not to the lady's room. Stepping into the kitchen, she looked around for the remainder of her order. It wasn't hard to find. With a wave of her finger, everyone fell asleep at their posts. She removed several bottles of various deadly poisons and sprinkled them all over the food. When she had used up all of the bottles, she tossed them into the garbage and left, snapping her fingers to wake everyone up once she was gone.

Zelas returned to the table where over half of the food had already been eaten. A sweatdrop hung from her hair as she sat down.

"Would you like some?" Terim gestured to the food. "My friend was right. This place has an excellent cook."


________

Much later when they were leaving the restaurant, Zelas was very puzzled. Terim was still standing, breathing, living. And all the food had been eaten. She had put enough poison to kill a dragon five times over in that food.

"Come along, there is a great show tonight at the theater," Terim lead his date along. "It's called 'Murder at the Opera'. My friend Goldias said he particularly enjoyed the realistic special effects and audience participation."

A new idea inserted itself in Zelas's mind. Oh yes there were going to be some really realistic special effects at tonight's showing. Her mind quickly went through the possibilities as they found their seats in the audience. Right above them was a large crystal chandelier.

Perfect.

Midway through the performance, Zelas excused herself again. With no one looking, she teleported high above the theater hall. She easily crushed the chain attaching the chandelier to the ceiling and was gone even before it began its descent.

Standing outside in the front hall of the theater, she heard the delicious screams of terror and pain as the chandelier crashed into the audience.

"Yes, very realistic special effects and audience participation," Zelas snickered, turning to leave.

"Oh here you are."

Zelas stumbled and fell. Terim was by her side instantly.

"No, no, I'm alright," Zelas stared at the ghost. "But you're...you're..."

"You missed the best part of the show. The chandelier actually fell into the audience. Of course, it didn't hit me. In fact, the theater let me keep it. Would you like to have it as a memento of tonight?"

Zelas was speechless, and even more speechless when Terim swept her up in his arms. He smiled down at her.

"Let's not take any chances with that foot now. After all, there's still the dancing!"

Dancing? Zelas tried to remember all of the dances she's ever been to which weren't very many. In fact, it was zero...

"I'm afraid I don't know how to dance," Zelas murmured.

"That's quite alright," Terim reassured her, leading her onto the open air dance floor. He whispered something to the band and winked.

Zelas was getting a bad feeling about this. It got worse when the band leader waved all of the other dancers off the floor. Oh Ruby Eye, what was this human planning?

"What are you planning?" she asked, as Terim wrapped one arm around her.

"Oh just a little dance," Terim said innocently.

It started simple enough, Terim leading, until the guitarist joined in with the music. Zelas lost her breath when Terim suddenly twirled her off her feet and caught her in a low dip.

"What are you doing?" Zelas hissed.

Terim just smiled.

The tempo picked up.

"Tango," was all Zelas heared before getting whirled away by the fast fiery music and Terim.


____

Several hours later of non-stop floor burning action, Terim lead a fairly pooped Zelas away as the construction crew immediately tried to fix the very burnt dance floor.

"Wasn't that a nice simple dance? Perfect for beginner don't you think Zela?"

Zelas, still trying to get back her equilibrium from that very rousing dance, was having a mental argument with herself.

WHAT were you doing on that dance floor? Chibi-Zelas, the manifestation of all of Zelas's Mazoku-ness, shrieked.

Zelas wished she knew. Still, it was all for revenge. Lull him, make him fall in love with her, and then break his heart and scatter the pieces in the four winds.

Exactly who is seducing who here?

SHE wasn't going to fall for a human. No way, no how.

You didn't pull single underhanded trick during that whole dance!

Well, she was rather...occupied with the dance.

And you were enjoying it too. Being that close to a handsome well-built warm male for the first time in the last thousand years.

Zelas squashed Chibi-Zelas.

"What are you doing?" Terim asked.

"Oh nothing," Zelas smiled nervously.

"I have something nice and relaxing after all that," Terim said as they walked toward the park in the center of the town. "A moonlit swanboat ride."

Soon, they were on a small white boat whose brow was in the shape of a swan's neck and head and the swan's wings made up the boat's sides. The boat was propelled by magic so Terim and Zelas only had to sit in the boat.

There was little breeze to ripple the smooth lake surface that glittered with the stars and the moon. Fireflies danced around the lake surface and around the swanboat and its occupants. The soft trilling of crickets added to the soothing romantic atmosphere.

Terim stood up and turned to face her, his light violet hair silver in the moonlight. Zelas swallowed. Ruby Eye be damned, he looked handsome!

Winking he began to sing. The melody of "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" floated across the water strong and clear. Fireflies flew around the two, diving and spinning in intricate patterns of light. Holding her two hands in his, Terim helped Zelas to her feet. She was transfixed by the genuine love reflected in his violet eyes.

As the final words of the song drifted away, Terim leaned in close to Zelas. "I know this is fast but...will you marry me?"

Chibi-Zelas exploded. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?

Zelas was simply stunned. Her hands moving around Terim's neck froze and she almost lost hold of the wire she was going to use to strangle him. Then her mind exploded when Terim's lips touched hers.

You're letting him kiss you?!?! Chibi-Zelas freaked, feathers and fur molting everywhere. Zelas? Hello? By Ruby Eye you're ENJOYING this!

Well, yes she was enjoying it. At the same time though she was tightening the wire around Terim's neck. He should be strangling about now.


_

In another swanboat some distance away and not in view of Terim's and Zelas's boat, another pair were watching with binoculars. One was a woman with long blond hair and the other was dressed in priest robes. "Don't you think they should be coming up for air?" asked the man.

The woman was only laughing. The water around their boat glowed gold.

Part 4


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