Lore: The Seer of Lies

Post by **Emora Deen** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 5:55 pm

Tenele's eyes welled with tears at hearing him say it. She had long to hear him say it and now that he had she knew she was dreaming. She said nothing to Sinead at first, too shocked that Vlad had told her the words she had always wanted to here. Tenele looked up at the Queen wearily. "Vlad was trying to get me home... Shea... sent her No Life Kings after us. Vlad was trying to get me home before they caught up with us again. He used too much of his strength," Tenele looked at the vampire who was facing away from them. "He couldn't control it. Its not his fault. Shea forced him to push himself... Don't blame him."

Post by **Soran Nightblade** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:01 pm

Sinead looked over at Vlad, confused. Was he upset because he'd bitten her? She had many questions. Why did Shea have no life kings? Why was Shea there at all? What had they done to Tenele? "Come on, I'm taking you back to the ward," she said, gathering Tenele in her arms. "Lord Dracul, do not move from that spot until I return," she said firmly, but with less anger than before. She could be angry after she understood all the facts.

Post by **Emora Deen** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:06 pm

Tenele glanced at Vlad for a long moment and then back at Sinead. She had so many things she wanted to say to him, but knew that they would have to wait. When they appeared in the ward Tenele glanced around. "I'm beginning to think I live in the hospital wing," she said with a little bit of humor in her voice, coughing the little bit of blood that was still left in her throat.

Post by **Soran Nightblade** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:24 pm

"Lie still," Sinead comforted her, setting her down on a bed. "It's a relief to see your sense of humor in tact." Doctors and nurses were rushing into the room. Sinead must have called them somehow.

"Doctor, prepare the materials for two blood transfusions," she ordered the head doctor.

"Two?" he said uncertainly, glancing at Tenele as he pulled on his sanitary gloves.

"Yes, and some steel chains," Sinead said, and disappeared from the room. The doctors stared in confusion, but rushed about following her orders.

Sinead teleported back outside the castle, and saw Vlad lying exactly where she'd left him, just as she'd said. She frowned and approached him with caution, kneeling down in front of him.

Vlad looked up at her with bleary red eyes. His tears were running almost clear now, his body shaking beyond his control. His cheek was seared red-black where the holy pendant had touched him. He closed his eyes, humiliated, and made an effort to sink into the street. He didn't feel like talking to her, didn't have the breath to explain or even apologize. His body was dying, and he was too tired to even be frantic about it.

"You don't have to talk about it if you aren't ready," Sinead said, her steady voice pulling his attention back to her. Vlad managed a hateful expression, disgusted by her pity, but it melted quickly. "You will not bite me when I carry you. If you bite me, I will have you locked away permanently," she said flatly. Vladimir was important to her, but Ighten could not afford to lose a ruler right now. With that, she hoisted him up with a surprising strength. He managed to help a little, but he wasn't used to being carried, at all. A minute later, they both appeared in the ward where Tenele was. Sinead lay him down on the second cot and the nurses rushed to restrain his hands and feet with the chains she'd requested. Vlad ignored them, looking away from Tenele as the scent of blood called to him again. This time, though, he would not be able to attack anyone. If Sinead told him not to feed, he was bound to her order, literally to the death.

Post by **Emora Deen** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:33 pm

Tenele stared at Vlad for a moment as the doctors pulled the curtain closed between them so they could undress her to look over her wounds.

"Good lord," one of the nurses breathed as she noted all the burns, lashes, cuts, scrapes... She applied the device that would allow the blood needed to flow back into Tenele's body.

Tenele winced when they began to apply medicine and clean her infected wounds. She cried out when they moved her broken limbs and pressed on her ribs to see if any were cracked.

Post by **Soran Nightblade** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:47 pm

Vlad lay still and listened to what was going on in the next bed. He resented the curtain; he wanted to see what they were doing that was hurting her so much. He wanted to be at her side, and he knew he didn't deserve to be after nearly killing her. He tugged at the chains on his arms, just testing them for the heck of it. His hunger had stopped burning and receded to some kind of empty ache. When he was human, he could remember that point where hunger transformed into nausea and the appetite faded. That was the closest analogy he had.

His emotions had toned down, finally safely back inside the privacy of his mind. The tears from earlier were drying in caked red tracks on his face. He wished he could rub them off, but didn't try. He watched patiently as another doctor and several nurses came into his unit with cartons of blood and a transfusion kit. He wasn't appetized to drink, so it was a bit of a relief when they felt for his vein and stuck a tube into his arm, the good old fasioned way. They had brought a good deal of blood, at least 12 pints, or one and a half humans. Some of it was hooked to his arm, and the rest was emptied into a large flask.

A nurse set the flask on his chest and carefully unlocked his left arm. They all backed away as his arm came free, staring at him nervously. Vlad just raised an eyebrow at them and raised the flask to his mouth, tilting it upward. He turned his head to make sure they had a good view of him chugging the contents. Stupid humans with their mindless fear. Then again, he'd been afraid of himself too today. The blood first made him nauseous. It was cold, which always reminded him of drinking sewage, but he could feel strength tingling back into his muscles as he drank. The sudden relief of adrenaline made him feel rather unnaturally exhausted, and he was surprisingly tempted to pass out. Instead he just eased his head back onto the mattress and watched the curtain between he and Tenele.

Post by **Emora Deen** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:58 pm

"There is a good deal of enternal trama..." one of the doctors said, his voice was soft as if he were trying to keep Tenele from finding out.

"I would assume so," Tenele blurted out. "They kicked my guts until I wanted to puke them out." She felt dilerious... dizzy... Pain made her dizzy. Her body was stinging from all the medicine that had been applied to the infected areas.

She screamed when one of the doctors moved her broken arm back together and the shoulder back in place. She felt nasea creep into her throat and gagged. "Please... stop... go away."

"We have to do this... You're incredibly ill." The nurse said.

Post by **Soran Nightblade** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 7:03 pm

Vlad glared up at the curtain, wanting to rip it down. "If she says cut it out, then cut it out," he called across the room, glad to hear his voice working. It sounded hoarse, like he hadn't used it in weeks. He knew she needed attention, but she'd gone a week with her wounds, and it wouldn't kill her for them to let her take it at her own pace. He gave another idle tug at the chain on his arm, like the one he'd done before. The chain split in half like it was made of paper. "Hmm," he mused approvingly, casting a smug look at the nurse who was watching him. Her eyes grew wide, but didn't move to report him. Smart girl.

Post by **Emora Deen** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 7:11 pm

"No..." Tenele muttered when one of the doctors reached down to relocate two of her fingers that had been ripped out of place. "No-" she faded into a scream, closing her eyes tightly. She was going to throw up. Panting, she had broken out in a cold sweat. Her head tossed from side to side and she couldn't really see them anymore. Everything was swirling in a torrent of pain, just as it had when she was being tortured.

"S-stop..."

For a moment everything faded away and she was back in that cave being held down while they moved closer and closer to her, discussing what they would do first.

"Her fever is extremely high..." one of the nurses stated bluntly.

"Infection." Obviously, Tenele thought. She groaned, wishing she had the strength and energy to kick there faces in.

Post by **Soran Nightblade** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 7:22 pm

Vlad popped his two legs casually up, one by one, enjoying the expression on the nurse's face as the chains ripped off like floss. He held his finger to his lips, giving her a secretive expression as he climbed out of the bed. he pulled the IV tube and peered at it. Like an afterthought, he sipped the rest of the blood bag like a cocktail and dropped it on the bed. His feet felt a little uncertain as he stood on them again, like when your legs fall asleep, but they supported him. He also had a headache - unusual, but tolerable. He walked around the curtain and leaned over the doctor's shoulder casually. "Well, she doesn't look too bad. I think you guys can go," he said, still sounding like he'd just recovered from a strep throat.

The doctors had to look twice at him before registering who he was. They dropped their tools, staring at him nervously.

"I think you should all go over there," Vlad suggested flatly, pulling his lips back in a smile that was more a show of teeth than anything else. The doctors slowly backed away, lining up on the other side of the room, but not fleeing entirely. They weren't willing to leave their patient. Bully for them. Unfortunately, neither was he. Vlad took a seat tiredly in the chair next to Tenele's bed and turned to her as if he was about to say "Well, what's the plan?" Instead he just looked at her seriously.

Post by **Emora Deen** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 7:29 pm

The nurses covered her form descretly as they hurried off and Tenele laughed dizzily at them. "I was just about to kick one," she said, closing her eyes for a moment and trying to pretend the pain away. "The Queen is going to be mad if they don't finish there torture so I can be interrigated about the information I might and might not have given up to the enemy."

Tenele looked at him now that her vision had cleared. He was handsome... She was... she looked down at her battered form that was now hidden under warm white cotton covers. She sighed, resting her eyes once again.

Post by **Soran Nightblade** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 7:43 pm

"The queen can wait," Vlad said, and he was probably the only person in the palace who could get away with the line. "Now come back, doc. And you," he pointed to one of the nurses. "The rest can go. One at a time," he said sternly. Maybe it was because he was a vampire, or maybe because they all knew Vlad and weren't used to him acting so serious. Normally there was at least a flavor of playfulness to his actions, but today all his jokes seemed more like the cover for something darker. A monster having a bad day, be still their souls.

Vlad leaned his head back against the wall, staying on that side of the curtain while the doctors worked. He did his job of looking at them like they might make a nice hamburger, which for whatever reason seemed to make them considerably more gentle with their patient. But the amusement wasn't in it like it usually was. Vlad really wasn't in a terrific mood. He didn't bother to clean the blood away from his mouth, or the tracks on his cheeks, and he didn't try to touch the scar that was still scalding his cheek. He just kept it facing away from Tenele and sat patiently playing guard dog.

Post by **Emora Deen** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 7:51 pm

When they were finally finished she was almost literally covered from head to toe in bandages with a loost fitting cotton gown pulled over her form. The nurse had washed Tenele's matted hair. They had to cut her hair to where it was too her shoulders, for the knots were to bad to get out. She almost cried when they cut her hair. It had never been shorter than the middle of her back. Then, when they were finished they pulled back the curtain and left the room, backing away slowly. Afriad to anger her guard dog.

She glanced over at Vlad, her face more visible now that the blood and grime had been cleaned off of it. She actually was starting to resemble herself again. She smiled softly at him, reaching out and touching his hand with her fingertips.

"Thank you, again," she said. She wanted so much to bring up what he had said, but in the back of her mind she was slightly afraid. She wondered if she should or not, if he would deny he had said it.

Post by **Soran Nightblade** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 7:56 pm

Vlad frowned and met her eyes, because it seemed better than not meeting her eyes. "I would have killed you," he said. "Don't thank me." He sat very still, like there was something else he wanted to add but he was trying not to say it.

Post by **Emora Deen** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 7:58 pm

Tenele smiled at him and shook her head from side to side. "You could have... but you didn't," she told him and squeazed his hand gently. "I wasn't scared and it didn't hurt. It kept you alive long enough to call the Queen. So in all sense it was a good thing."

She tugged on his hand, beckoning him to come closer. She pushed her body over closer to the other side of the bed to make room for him.