Skedaddle

[Emora Deen]

Laya followed close behind Telanis, trying to hide her disgust for the man when she saw him. The idea of what this creature had done to innocent women made her sick. The fact that he showed no remorse for hurting Adonis made her angry.

She clenched her teeth, and held her mouth shut before her words made the situation worst.

[Soran Nightblade]

"Hey, that's Adonis's new bitch," Erik protested as he recognized Laya. His gaze darkened.

"What is the meaning of this?" Telanis overrode him. "I let you have my brother. I let him go with you to this unnatural place, and you were meant to care for him."

"I did care for him! I kept him close. I taught him everything he needed to know! In return, he sealed me up in some kinda spell!"

Telanis came to the foot of the bed and pushed the human backward with one arm, pinning him to the blanket. The human gasped in pain as Telanis pressed down on his ribs, but he wasn't strong enough to sit back up. The unicorn leaned in close, touching his forehead to Erik's. Soft light glowed around them both, but the look in Telanis's eyes was not soft. "You taught him? Tell me what you "taught" to him. Tell me what you've been doing since my brother gave you everything. I would love to know. How did you torture him to the point of taking up dark powers? How did you break him apart? Did you enjoy it?"

The pain of Erik's injuries snuck away, but his fear grew stronger. "I didn't do a thing. He just couldn't keep up with me. All the time I lived with you both, I never quite realized how weak and stubborn you are," he snorted nervously at the silver blur pinning him down.

"He is not a human. You cannot ask him to change his nature. You have a responsibility. He gave you something priceless, and you want to drag it through the dirt and call it garbage." Telanis's voice barely rose, but his eyes flickered with an amber glow. He was livid. "How can you do something like that to the person you love?"

Erik looked up at Telanis tensely. "I don't give a damn about him. He hit me. He actually HIT me! That pathetic bastard can take what's coming to him."

Telanis tugged the man up by the front of his shirt and stared him down aggressively, but a sound at the doorway made him look over his shoulder.

Adonis stood there very still, watching them both like he was coming out of a nightmare.

[Emora Deen]

Laya rubbed her arm as she watched Telanis heal the man. His words ignited a fire of hatred in her to the point she wanted to beat him too. If it wouldn't hurt Adonis, she would. She hadn't seen this side of Telanis, and it worried her. What if Adonis was right not to get these two together.

She turned to find Adonis standing in the doorway. She was torn between pulling Telanis away from that filth, or going to Adonis and making sure he was okay.

"Telanis," she whispered quietly, sneaking forward and touching his arm. "We'll take him to our house and figure out what to do with him... We need to get him out of this place and let the alcohol clear his system. Then, maybe he'll talk with some sense of humanity." She glared down at the beast below Telanis.

[Soran Nightblade]

Laya's voice was enough to slowly bring the unicorn off the edge of his temper. He slightly loosened his grip on the nervous human and nodded. "We'll bring him with us."

"I'm not going anywhere," Erik protested.

[Emora Deen]

"Okay," Laya sighed. "I guess we can leave you here to wait for Sammy to come back. You'll be able to find your way out without our protection I'm sure. Maybe even find a safe place to lie low. Who knows... Or you might not make it out of town, and you'll be gutted like a fish. I like your last option, but that's my personal preference."

[Soran Nightblade]

Erik glared at her. "Adonis said it himself, we can raise the money. You two can get lost, I'm a free man." He looked to Adonis. "Or are you going to betray me again?"

The unicorn stared at him. He shouldn't involve them. He should deal with this himself.

His heart twisted and pounded in his ears. "You will be safest if you come with us. I am not staying here." He sounded devastated, and he was. He'd never needed help this badly and accepted it before. He'd never tried to put a condition on his devotion to Erik. It seemed like maybe it should feel liberating. It felt awful.

The human was silent for a long time. Adonis waited for him to refuse. Erik neither refused nor accepted. He finally just stood up and walked out past the unicorn into the street. His legs were still a little unsteady, but he wasn't shouting belligerently. It was a bit of an improvement.

Telanis watched the human sternly and exchanged a quick look with Laya.

[Emora Deen]

Laya reached out and took Telanis's hand. "Things will work out," she told him softly. "We'll figure something out."

The walk home was long, very long to Laya. A light snow fell as they went, and by the time they got home it was starting to turn into a dark dreary blizzard mixed with icy rain.

"I want summer," Laya groaned as she pushed open the door to her house. It was getting dark, and the fireplace was filled with soot.

She lit some candles on the kitchen table. She wasn't quite sure how things would go with Erik staying with them. She wanted to opt to keep him outside, but he'd freeze to death. So they would have to endure his presence inside. She wondered if they should tie him up to keep him from running away. She wouldn't mind keeping at least one of his wrists tied to something...

She pointed to the alcove that was built into the wall where a bed sat neatly made with a few pillows on it. Luckily she had washed those sheets as well as the others the first day they arrived. "You can sleep there," she told Erik.

She knelt in front of the fireplace and started cleaning out the ashes to make room for a new fire.

[Soran Nightblade]

Erik glanced around Laya's house, far better accommodations than he'd known in the city. He made his way to the bed she'd indicated and stood there looking uncertain.

Telanis stayed outside for a minute to collect enough firewood to keep the fireplace stocked for a while.

Adonis stepped into the house and stood by the opposite wall. Erik stared at him from across the room, but the unicorn couldn't meet his eyes. *Adonis, I was drunk,* Erik's voice pushed into his mind, gentle but also a little impatient. *I was just drunk.*

Instead of answering, the unicorn felt his heart rate rising. He leaned against the wall just inside the door, in case he needed to go puke in the snow.

"Adonis!" Erik called out loud, determined for his attention.

The unicorn lifted a painfully flatlined expression to meet his.

"We're talking about the last two years. Right now."

If it was even possible, Adonis's gaze became even more withdrawn.

[Emora Deen]

Laya looked between them. She moved to stand between them. "I think you need to settle down," she hissed to Erik. "Whatever happened to you, given you're personality I think you quite deserved whatever you got. Now leave him alone." She walked towards him. "Or I'll tie you up and gag you." Laya smiled as sweetly as she could, not quite she given his size if she could accomplish that, and in her weakened state. She was probably going to have to get Telanis to help with that...

[Soran Nightblade]

Erik studied her tensely, as if sizing up an opponent. However, he ultimately grew quiet and sat down on the bed she'd assigned him.

Adonis forced a slow breath. "Thanks," he said. Laya's intervention was a huge relief, and he took a few seconds to think about that instead of Erik. Could Laya and Telanis actually change anything about his fate with Erik? In all likelihood, they wouldn't, but it could still give him a little room to think. He badly needed to think. He glanced at the doorway at the side of the room. After a moment's decision, he crossed the room stiffly and walked into the bedroom Laya had designated "his" when they'd arrived the night before. He went to the side of the bed and glanced back at the main room warily. He couldn't see Erik from here, even if he still felt him. He slowly backed up to the wall and slid down against it as if there were no furniture in the room.

Telanis came back in from outside, casting Erik a stern look before proceeding to set the logs by the fire. His brown eyes rose to Laya's, questioning. "Is he behaving?" He couldn't help noticing Adonis wasn't in the room.

[Emora Deen]

Laya narrowed her eyes on Erik. "He is now," she muttered. Laya sat down on the couch, and knelt down to help Telanis with the fire. She put the logs in, along with some some lighter. She struck flint until the paper at the bottom lit the lighter, and before long the fire was roaring.

"Why don't you go talk to him?" she whispered. "I'll keep an eye on that thing."

[Soran Nightblade]

Telanis's gaze shifted from Laya to Erik's sulking form at the back of the room. "Be careful of him," he warned quietly. "If he does something, call me." He walked across the room and pushed open Adonis's half-shut door. He poked his head in. "Brother."

Adonis looked distracted. He forced his gaze to Telanis and swallowed. "What is it?" he asked hoarsely.

The white unicorn entered the room and left the door open a crack as he approached his brother. Adonis didn't move from his place on the floor, but his expression was a warning. Telanis didn't need empathy to know what it meant. He sat on the bed opposite Adonis and observed him patiently.

"I shouldn't have brought him here," the black unicorn finally said.

"Laya and I can help, Adonis. You don't have to deal with this alone."

"I do," he snapped. "You can't help. You know you can't change this, so why can't you just leave me alone? Why do i have to watch him hurt you too?"

"Adonis...Laya and I will be fine." Telanis's voice was very gentle, but it didn't seem to soothe his brother.

"He doesn't care any more...about me."

"We'll figure it out. There must be a reason for his actions."

Adonis just shook his head, drawing his gaze toward the floor like he couldn't bear to look higher. "It's me. I ruined him. I wasn't enough. I gave up."

In the next room, Erik frowned at Laya for a moment and then began scanning the room tensely. "He regrets it," he said quietly, listening to the brief flashes of volume in the conversation next door. He couldn't make out words, but he had his theories. "He regrets letting me live." It wasn't clear what he was feeling behind the words. "He has for a long time."

[Emora Deen]

Laya wiped her hands on her dress as she stood up from poking the fire. "If he does, you have only yourself to blame. You're actions don't warrant a second chance," she told him, turning to look him over. "What sort of man threatens to feed blood to a unicorn?" Laya frowned at him. "Or rape a woman."

[Soran Nightblade]

Erik stared at her and blinked a few times. "You have to take what you want in this world. Nobody's going to give it up for free. You try carrying on a relationship while you're living with someone who knows your every thought. You try living up to those standards. Let's just see you try. It's cute enough at first, but it'll drive you bat shit crazy. I did everything I could to teach him reality, and how did he repay me? He locked me up!"

[Emora Deen]

Laya wanted to slap him. "There is a very large difference between a relationship and rape," she spat at him, taking an angry step forward. "You're like a child. You were offered a great gift, an important one, and you squandered it. Spit on it, and you ruined him. You hurt him, after he gave up so much for you. You need to grow up. Life isn't fun and games, and we don't always get what we want. You should open your eyes to what you have, and see how wonderful it could have been."