The Cost of Peace

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad didn't miss the minor shift in Tenele's breathing, and it drew a similar reaction in him, although seeing the strange way his arm was healing took most of the fun out of the moment. Now he was curious about her question as well. He raised his good wrist up and experimentally drew his claws out to a foot, like five fine daggers. He focused on the chain between their arms, and was able to control it, raising it up so that it made a point at the middle and then letting it back down between them. "I have my powers," he mused, looking back at her. "Have something in mind?"

[Emora Deen]

Tenele's eyes followed up the wall, to the sky above. What you could consider a sky. It was nothing but mist and darkness. "I wonder how Verin feels about cheating?" she asked, a clever smirk growing on her lips as she glanced back to Vlad, looking up at him with a twinkling sparkle in her eyes. "I've got an idea, though I don't believe our host will be pleased with it. You teleport us to the top of the wall, so we can get a birds eye view of where this exit is. That way we know which direction we need to head in."

A gust of wind from no where caught the light strands of her silver hair and tossed it about her. Her eyes glanced back down the path way, and it seemed to grow darker up a head, which was strange. She thought she saw the shadows themselves move, but it had to be her eyes playing tricks on her.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad felt the wind as well, but missed whatever Tenele had seen. By the time his eyes followed hers, the shadows were gone. "It's worth a try," Vlad said, but he sounded measured and wary, not hopeful, about the idea. He would be surprised if Verin hadn't thought of that, but then again, what sense did it make to ignore the possibility without even trying? "Alright, we'll go up together," he said, since they didn't have much other choice. They made their way back to their feet, and Vlad stood just behind her. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her securely against the front of his body.

A moment later, they were there, successfully, standing on top of the maze wall and looking out at the layout around them. A pulling sensation seemed to drag at the Vampire's gut, as if he had swum too deep underwater or stretched a spring to its maximum length. Like he could snap back to the ground at any moment. It was very unnatural, possibly dangerous, but it was tolerable. Behind them was the ruined clue room and the blue corridors they'd come through earlier. Ahead was a fan of red, and in the distance, he could see black, and something bright and glowing. Though he couldn't see that the maze ended there for sure, he had a feeling that was where the mirror was.

"How do you feel?" he asked Tenele, his voice sounding faintly strained by the effort of....of what? Of being six feet up?

[Emora Deen]

Tenele felt pressure. Strange, it felt like it was pressing in all over her. She felt like her ears were plugged as she stood with her back pressed flush against Vlad's body. She swallowed hard, finally managing to pop the uncomfortable feeling in her ears. "Weak," she whispered truthfully. "Strange, I felt fine a moment ago. I feel like I'm wading through mud that's neck high. Thick mud."

Her eyes found the glowing spot in the distance. "That must be it. I guess we just have to remember that we need to head in that direction." The longer they stood there the harder the pressure on her seemed to get and it felt like someone was squeezing her. A giant had wrapped its hand about her body and was squeezing tighter and tighter.

She hadn't a clue as to why her mind thought of it, but she wondered idly if this was good for the child in her womb. Strange of her to think of such a thing, when never before a thought like that had crossed her mind. Then again, she had never been pregnant before. Her hands fell absentmindedly to her belly, overlapping Vlad's arms. "Can we get down?" Her voice was a fearful whisper.

It struck her that she feared for the child. She wanted to protect it. She felt mortified at the thought, of wanting to protect something that had been planted in her by evil. Something that was not made from love, but from lust. Still, it was a child. The image of the baby she had held in her arms back at Fero's came to her mind. Such a beautiful baby, his fingers curling around her's. A tiny helpless being that had no control over who its father or mother was or what situation it was born into. Yes, she feared for this child.

Her child.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad frowned, half-heartedly considered leaping a few walls before going back to the ground, but the pressure was strong enough that it was taking most of his leg strength to resist it. "Okay, back down," he promised her, holding her tight and he called the power to teleport back to the ground.

As things would have it, that pulling sensation didn't seem to wear off just because they were teleporting. A surprised sound escaped the vampire's throat as they both crashed to the floor, Vlad on his back and Tenele on top of him, as if a giant rubber band had slung them there.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele was surprised to find herself flat on her back ontop of Vlad, staring up at the bleak misting sky above them. It was a dingy gray color, morbidly dark and dreary. "Are you okay?" she whispered, rolling from attop him to kneel at his side. Her eyes caught the color of the rust rag around his wrist. At least, it should have been a bright rust red. Instead it was wet and bloody. "Vlad..."

Her hands reached out and she grabbed his arm, pulling his wounded wrist back to her for examination. The bleeding was not stopping and the pressure had just forced more blood out. Quickly she worked her hands at the fabric of her dress, treaing off longer strips to wrap tighter around the wound. "The bleeding hasn't stopped." Her eyes fluttered to look at him, as she was still feeling slightly weary.

"This place is going to kill us."

Not kill, Tenele thought. If they were dead, Verin would have no use for them. And since he apparently had plenty of use for them, they would live. Tormented, but alive.

[Soran Nightblade]

"Fine," Vlad grunted as he sat up, but the sight of his wrist brought a scowl to his face. What was the meaning of this? His powers worked. How could the wound still be open? His eyes flickered to Tenele's wrist, where a small wet patch had formed on the fabric. The scent of it was vibrant in the air, heightening his awareness of her. Neither of them were healing. How was that possible?

He narrowed his eyes as the long-term repercussions of this scenario crashed into his head. "He's given us a time limit," Vlad said darkly.

[Emora Deen]

"Time limit?" Tenele whispered. "But, that makes no sense! He can't actually want us to die. I mean, he wants us for something. Else he wouldn't go through all this trouble to get us here. I'm carrying his child, and he wants you to become his. What's the point of just letting us die?"

Tenele was confused and angry, and tired. She was irritable, and not in the mood for his games. In fact, she had half a mind to call on him to give him a good yelling. What would he do to her anyway? She was pretty much inexpendable. Or so she thought.

"Okay," she whispered, taking a deep breath. "Let's just keep going. If there is a time limit, we haven't got any to waste."

It felt like forever passed as they walked up and down paths. Often having to turn around, or walk in a square before realizing that they were going in circles. It was quiet between them for the most part. Too quiet to Tenele because it let her mind come up with scenerios she'd rather not think about... and questions she longed to ask.

"Vlad," she said softly, glancing to him out of the corner of her eye. "Why do you not hate me for what's happened?" She thought it was the most logical thing to do. The woman you love apparently has slept with a man trying to do you more harm than anyone in the world, and she now carries his child. Why would you not hate her?

Off in the distance she heard the sound of metal scraping and a loud thud. The closer they get the thudding grew louder to the point she could feel the vibrations in her feet.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad looked at her strangely, distracted by the thudding pulse they seemed to be approaching, but it was impossible to ignore her question. Why didn't he hate her? Certainly he was unhappy, and he still hadn't decided what to do with the inevitable distrust that came from knowing she'd lied to him. "I guess you're just too damn beautiful," he supplied with a smirk as they walked faster down a long narrow passage that seemed to be leading them straight toward the noise.

The noise had the pleasant side effect of overbearing the sound of Tenele's heartbeat in his ears, making it seem more distant. He could smell her blood as well as his own. He looked down at the wrist he'd been cradling hard against his shirt to try to resist the bleeding. the was a wide, slick stain across the front of his clothes, and his wet shirt was clinging to his stomach. It was hard to say how much he'd lost, but he was beginning to notice it now. Tenele's skin seemed almost luminous with alluring heat when he looked at her, so he kept his eyes ahead and focused on their situation.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele glanced back at him, but her expression was hard to read. She couldn't be flattered by such an answer under these circumstances, and in fact it made her a bit angry. He wasn't hating her because she was beautiful? Not because he loved her? And she had to tell herself he wasn't being serious, and that was just an answer to give her when he had no other. So she didn't reply to it, not really having anything to say. She went to brush her silver hair from her face, forgetting the chain until she had begun to do so. The cloth around her wrist had finally soaked through with blood after all there walking. It probably wasn't helping at all to be walking. The motion would get there blood pumping, which would only cause more blood to leak out.

The noise grew louder to the point it was almost deafening as they rounded a corner and Tenele froze in her tracks. "You've got to be kidding me," she muttered as her eyes found the obstical ahead.

The walls were quickly closing in over and over, which was the source of the loud booming noise. Behind it were spikes that erupted from the ground in a timely manner just after the walls had closed. Beyond that were long spicks protruding from the side that flashed out after the spikes from the floor had come back up. Then, beyond that was a dark hall, that was strangly black despite the open maze. She could barely make out a figure standing in that darkness, cloaked in shadow itself. A large robust figure with no shirt. He wore tight leather pants with the seems messily sewn together, and leather straps that criss crossed across his chest. One of his hands were gloved with spikes protruding from the knuckles, the other was nothing but a metal spike, no hand at all. He drug it across the wall, creating a horrifing high pitched metallic sound. Across his face he had a tight brown leather mask, with slits in it across the mouth held open by tiny metal wires. His eyes glowed a fearsome burgandy. Then, the stone walls closed and for the moment he was gone.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Tenele repeated again, this time louder.

It was clear that this too was another test, but this was timed as well. They had to figure out the pattern of the moving wall, the spikes, and then get passed the nut with the spike for a hand. Was this all some gaint test? What were they trying to prove to Verin?

"How do you suppose we do this?" Tenele whispered, though it was unclear whether she was talking to Vlad or Verin.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad studied the setup, smirking in disbelief. Verin had to be kidding them. Perhaps Vlad could survive a hit from one of those traps, but Tenele surely couldn't. He watched it, almost fascinated, for a full minute. "There's a pattern there, alright," he said to Tenele as he continued to watch. "But the timing needs to be dead on. We could try to run together," he looked at her, "But it may be safer to consolidate."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele arched an eyebrow. "Consolidate? You're going to carry me aren't you?" Tenele muttered. She looked back at the monsterous set up that only a deranged psychopath could dream up. Tenele could almost image herself trailing behind Vlad and one of those spikes rising up out of the floor to impale her body. Which would snatch Vlad back and get him pinned by them or the next round. Then, if they did manage to make it through they had to tackle the big guy in the dark.

"Let's do it," she finally affirmed, swallowing hard.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad smirked, pleased that she trusted him. The fact that her life was in danger made him uneasy, but at the same time, some part of his darker nature was wired for this challenge. He wanted to try it, and to beat it. Doubting his mortal soulmate would be comfortable with that concept, he wisely kept it to himself.

He walked in front of her, faced her, and lifted her up under the arms, the way a father might lift a child. He raised her up and then brought her in against the front of his body, so that she was straddling his bloodied shirt. Her pulse thrummed like a beacon through the thin clothing pressed between them. "Hold as tightly to me as you can," he whispered into her ear, fighting back the urge to press in closer to the warm flesh of her neck.

"It will be fine," he murmured and stepped to the edge of the deathtrap before them. He counted the milliseconds, watching the devices pound through their routine and knowing his cue was about to come.

And then it came. The rhythms aligned. He let Tenele hold on for herself and used his arms to control his momentum as he burst down the hallway, zigzagging between the dashing spikes. One caught the back of his pants leg, shredding the fabric, but he ran as if untouched, mentally keeping time with all the accuracy he could muster to ensure he didn't lose the rhythm.

They were a yard away from safety when something unexpected happened. The unidentified challenger on the other side of the trap, whom Vlad had assumed he could deal with later, threw a handful of daggers out directly toward them.

Forced to modify his pattern, Vlad twisted abruptly sideways, nearly throwing Tenele off as he angled her away from the blades. Three whistled past them, two Vlad was able to deflect by drawing his claws on instinct, and one landed neatly in his shoulder. There was no time to react to the attack; they were off schedule. Vlad jumped upward, having lost his graceful rhythm, just in time to avoid the spikes from below. When he landed, he grasped desperately at what he had left of the rhythm and thrust himself into it, making a mad dash for the finish line. A spike coming in from the side grazed Tenele's back as he stopped short and then literally leapt for safety, pulling Tenele away from his body and literally throwing her ahead of him. Only the sudden jerk of her weight on the end of the chain tugged him the rest of the way forward in time to avoid being severely tenderized. He tripped and landed ungracefully on his side on level ground, heart pounding.

[Emora Deen]

All Tenele could do to keep her sanity was hold tight to him, probably tighter than she ever had, and keep her eyes shot. She felt every movement of his body as he shifted directions. She even felt when he had lost his rythme, for everything afterwards seemed rushed and frantic. Then, she felt it. A sharp slice across her back as the needle sharp point of the blade scraped across her back, cutting through the fabric of her dress and into the skin. It wasn't a deep cut, but it was enough to hurt. She clutched Vlad sharply, clenching her teeth as her eyes snapped open to see what excactly they had come through.

Then, they were moving, and she was flying. Yes, flying, only to come to a unceremonious skidding land across the rough stone. It scraped her exposed legs and arms, but she was alive, and that was what counted.

Tenele was a bit stunned, too strunned to really manage a reaction. She merely laid there, huddled on the ground, taking a deep slow breath as she assessed the fact they had actually managed to live through that.

"Are you alright?" Tenele asked as she ignored the stinging scrapes to role over and check on him. The stunned look on her face would have been comical, if it hadn't been for the looming figure behind her, who was stooped down. His hand wrapped about Tenele's small ankle easily, and his spike moved downward to drive into Vlad's left one.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad barely gained a perspective on the situation in time to realize what this new enemy was about to do to him. With a grunt of effort, he threw his leg forward, narrowly missing the attack, and kicked the hulking man's other arm hard with his foot, hoping to make him release his grip on Tenele.