The Cost of Peace

[Emora Deen]

It took Tenele a moment to gain the concentration to respond to his statement. Her eyes fluttered up to him as she gripped his shoulder with one hand and the covers with the other. "Oh, let them hear," she muttered as she leaned up to kiss him. She was unable to control herself, and most unwilling to stop when she knew what awaited them both.

* * *

Atul bid Fero good bye. He hurriedly ran down the hall in the direction of his room, which happened to be in the direction of Tenele and Vlad's room as well. He stepped out the back door for some fresh air. The night was cool, and the back garden was considerably dark. It was lit only by the stars and light poring out in a red beam from a window. As he walked by his eyes glanced in out of habit. He froze for a breif moment, almost unable to tear his eyes away, before quickly averting his gaze and stalking off towards a tree.

"Jealous?" a deep voice asked, one that he recognised very well.

"Hardly," Atul muttered, glancing over his shoulder to the dark figure that had appeared.

"Atul, stop this foolishness. Do what needs to be done. Come home," he said all to patiently.

"No," he replied feircely.

"I can make you."

"No," Atul growled, feeling his chest tighten. His heart bounded, and Verin's blood rushed strongly through his veins. He felt the darkness creeping in around his eyes as another presence was pushing him to the back, making him go into a place he had been before and never wanted to be again. He tried to stay himself, he tried to be Atul, but in the end the darkness took him, and all he saw was black.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad pressed into her kiss, as it was a good way to occupy them against the strong temptation to bite into her slender neck. If he hadn't been so badly distracted, perhaps he could have noticed the faint tingle of Verin's power in the air, but he went on completely naive to what was happening outside.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele held him tighter, her hand sliding to the back of his neck. Her eyes a wild watery green searched his face as she pulled away from kiss. Vlad might not need air to survive, but Tenele did. She leaned up kissing to his throat where she bit down playfully hard.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad had about an instant to be disappointed at the break from her kiss before he felt her teeth on his neck. He groaned dug his fingers against the sheets on either side of her head. She had a good memory for these things, apparently. Since she was playing rough now, he decided to heighten his pace. On top of everything else, her heart was racing faster and faster, which called to all his senses and made his control grow thinner and thinner. He leaned in against her body and pressed his face close to her neck, where her warmth radiated on his cheek. "My love, you are too much," he half-moaned and half-laughed in amazement, warning her that he was reaching his limit.

[Emora Deen]

Atul stepped towards the window, the red light casted by the oil lamp light through the red tinted glass made him nothing but a sillouette in the cold night. His movements were eeriely calm, as if he had all the time in the world. Atul's head tilted as he peered through the window, his empty black eyes flickering across the scene.

Instictly his fingers flexed, for Atul was not himself. The one that had taken him over had a deep longing to make their lives a living hell. He had plans, plans that he hated to be ruined, and these two were the very source of there debauching. What he wanted would come to him, he knew. He just had to remain patient.

He idly wondered if the vampire, through all the obvious pleasures he was feeling, could feel his presence. He wondered how it effected the way he held his love. Did he hold her more feircely, or more fearfully, as if she'd be snatched from him. Or did it effect him at all? He was puzzled by the vampire. Intruiged to the point he'd love to chain him in a dark spot in his realm and annalyze what made him tick. Not to mention the idea of seeing his defiant ass bleeding and screaming, begging him for his graceous mercies would bring him great pleasure.

Atul turned and stepped into the house towards the hall. Fero was kneeling in front of a door. The soft sounds coming from behind it didn't seem to apease him, so he had to become a peeping tom. At the sight of Atul he hopped ot his feet, smoothing his clothing. He clasped his hands in front of him. "Atul! Eh, cold outside?"

Atul didn't say anything, he just glanced at the temple to Verin and then back to him. A smile stretched across his features.

* * *

As much as Tenele tried her best to stay quiet, Vlad was right. The hosts would hear, because it was very much impossible for her to do so. Her nails dragged across his skin lightly as she sought to get a better grip on him. She needed to hold onto him, as if for dear life. A feeling was tearing through her, powerful and strong, it beckoned to take her over. She hugged herself to him tighter, breathing heavily against him. She wanted to make some quirky remark to him, but his words touched her. She had nothing to say. The only thing she could do was tilt her head and kiss the spot on his neck that she had momentarely bit.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad could feel something vaguely around him, an uneasy presence that seemed somehow threatening, but without a name for it, he was able to ignore that it was there. Nothing seemed to matter except Tenele's body against his, her nails on his back and her lips at his neck. He felt alive with her, not just energetic, but actually alive when they were like this. It was like being human. Except that her pulse screamed like a lover inside his head. But other than that, human enough. He pulled his head back enough to meet her eyes with an urgent, passionate stare. He was losing it, but he could see she was in the same state. When he was confident he could bring her there with him, his hands pressed firmly into her skin as he pulled her as deeply against him as possible, and he let his control break with a sharp gasp, his face inches from hers.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele watched his eyes, but had to tear her gaze away from him as she clenched her eyes. The feeling that had been building erupted, and a cry escaped her. She arched against him, her arms, if possible, wrapped tighter around him. She called out his name, her head sinking back into the pillow gently. Her eyes wide open, wide, beautiful she gazed at him with a look of love that she wished she could express in words. She told him many times that she loved him, but still the sentence never seemed to convey what she truely felt. Her hands cupped his face, "I love you." It was a breathless whisper, all she could make come out.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad wasn't exactly out of breath in the sense that he didn't have enough air, though he had gotten into the spirit of their activities enough for it to seem that way. He smiled at her words, and he was hard-put to describe his own feelings with similar coherence. Like her, it was hard to think of a thing to say that wouldn't just sound plain compared to the thing they'd just experienced together. He just took her hand and pressed it flat against the rapid pulse in the center of his warm chest. His temperature and pulse had synchronized sympathetically with hers, so it was just like touching a human chest, until you looked up to his nearly-glowing red eyes. He smiled at her with a breathless laugh, because that was the only way he could think of to explain his feelings at the moment.

However, the smile dropped from his eyes as something seemed to distract him. He blinked as though he was confused, and then glanced briefly away from her at the door. It was almost like he was remembering that he'd overlooked something...but hadn't decided what was the matter yet.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele laughed herself, her hands brushing his face. Then he turned away, and her smile faultered. He seemed to be concentrating on the door. But, what was there to concentrate on. "Someone at the door?" she asked him, gathering the blankets and pulling it from the side of the bed to give there body some sheilding. It was instinct for her to do so.

* * *

"Atul, we keep this door closed for a reason," Fero muttered as he followed Atul into the dusty room. There was an alter in front of a short dark hallway that was nothing but a dead end. No doors or anything. Ruins were carved around the arch and the door frame. A portal for sorts, if you will. The alter was old, and hadn't been used in a while. In the center of a room was a sunken circle, that had steps leading down. An old stone throne sat in the center of those steps. Small strenches were carved in the throne, and met with small carved trenches that ran through hte circle that inevitibly created an unholy pattern that filled the circle. Metal chackles sat open on the arms of the chair, and at the feet as well. "Atul, please, we keep the door closed."

"Think Verin will stirr of you enter?"

Fero said nothing.

"This hasn't been used in a very long time," Atul muttered as his hand ran over the chair. Fero came to stand beside him. "Until now." He pushed the ex-priest into the chair and clasped the manicles around Fero's wrists.

"Atul, what are you-" He stopped when the prince waved his finger at him.

"Ah-ah." His smile darkened.

"V-v-verin," Fero gasped in realization.

Verin chuckled darkly. "I want you to do a favor for me," he said, placing his boot between Fero's legs his arm resting across his knee. He leaned forward, coming eye to eye with frightened priest.

"I will.... not."

"Oh, you will," Verin told him gently. "You will do exactly as I say."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad's features visibly tensed as the nagging feeling that was bothering him abruptly bloomed into something more intense. Verin had stepped into his shrine...his room of power, and now there was no way to mistake the identity behind the aura that was now raising the hairs on Vlad's arms. He sat up slowly, pulling Tenele up against him so that he was kneeling tensely above her lap and holding her stiffly and protectively against his chest. He never took his eyes off the door.

When nothing burst in to attack them, he raced through the possible explanations. "Verin is here," he whispered to her, almost too quietly to hear.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele blinked, pulling her arms in to rest between her chest and Vlad's as if she'd be more safer there. Her eyes fixated on him. "What?" she asked, whispering also. But, she whispered in the hopes the demon God would not let on to the fact that they knew he was there. "Vlad... don't even think about going out there to fight him. Stay here."

* * *

"I can't do that," Fero coughed as Verin's grip tightened around his throat. "I don't work for you anymore."

"You will do it, or your lovely wife and adorable children will die. You know that I'm not bluffing. Killing innocents is sort of a hobby," Verin growled, his words spilling from Atul's usually kind face.

Fero's frightened eyes flickered across Atul's face. "I... I will. Just don't hurt them."

Verin sat up with a smile. "Good boy."

[Soran Nightblade]

For once, Vlad wanted very little else than to do exactly that. He had an instinct to stay put and wait for the monsters to pass over. It was a survival instinct that usually didn't apply to him, but Verin was a special case. Vlad's conflict with him was beyond the point of pride or revenge; it was an enemy he simply never wanted to deal with again, at any cost. But that was just an instinct; Vlad had other, wiser instincts, and they were asking him why Verin hadn't thundered through that door yet. They were telling him they had bigger problems.

He hadn't come after them yet. Why wasn't he coming? At once, it dawned on him, obviously and awfully. He cursed under his breath. "Of course, how arrogant of me. He's not here for us," Vlad whispered. "We have his son. And I believe we just helped him declare war."

[Emora Deen]

Verin patted Fero on the shoulder as he stepped out of the room. He snapped his fingers and his bounds flew open. Fero was free. He rushed to his feet and watched as Verin walked down the hall, closer to his families room.

"No, you said you'd leave them alone," Fero hissed.

"I am," Verin said calmly, pausing at the vampire's door. He tilted his head, stretching out his hand. He placed it palm flat on the door. "I'm merely giving old friends a proper fair well."

* * *

Tenele met his eyes. "Atul? What do we do?" she asked, wondering how in the world they were going to stop a God from taking his son. Tenele gently tugged out of Vlad's strong grip. She wiggled out from under him and leaned off the bed across the floor for her dress. A gentle whisper of air blew through the room. The oil lamps flickered out and it plunged the room into total darkness. Tenele froze her reaching, suddenly filled with flashing thoughts and fears. Some she hadn't had since childhood.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad released Tenele, but hovered close to her listening and waiting for any sign of danger beyond hair-raising sensation that he should take Tenele and run out over the sands until his legs gave out. Then a whisper of power sent the room into darkness. Vlad had no trouble seeing. and he edged off the bed and just to the side of it so that he could see both Tenele and the door at the same time. There was no doubt that was where Verin was, right there, on the other side of that door. But still, there was no attack. Vlad had his mental defenses in full swing, and he knew better than to use any of his powers. That had been Verin's back entrance into his mind last time. But something was different here.

Vlad's lips very slowly pulled back into a cold smirk. He was an aficionado of pranks, and if his guess was correct, at the moment they were the butt of a very effective, very dangerous one. "Enjoying yourself?" he asked aloud.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele found the fabric of her dress. She quickly pulled it to her, slipping the fabric on over her head. She pulled the strips of fabric up over her shoulders, but it hung loosely about her thanks to her happy moment with Vlad. A moment. She was pissed at Verin for interupting it too.

"Vlad, don't taunt him," she hissed, standing on her feet.

The silence was frightening. It felt like the very darkness in the room could reach out and touch her. As if it were alive. She couldn't see, no light could make it in through the windows when she knew for sure that it should. What could block light? Maybe she was the only one having problems seeing.

"Vlad, I can't see you." She felt around, almost stumbling over her boots. She reached out and found a warm arm. "There you are."