Holier Than Thou

[Emora Deen]

"I'll help you," Tenele told him quietly, shifting to her knees and readying herself to help Vlad. "What about Talon? Will he be released too?"

Talon stood up, moving to the bars. "I'll stay here until Vlad is strong enough to keep an eye on me. I don't fully trust myself to my own devices. Its okay Tenele, I'll be fine here."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad turned his neck to study his ward. He was going to have to do something about Talon's confidence. "Alright. Off we go." He took his wife's hand and held it tight. His red eyes were thanking her silently as he met her gaze.

Sinead remained standing as Mick walked to the gate and unlocked it. Damn, she was intending to watch the whole sorry show. Alright. He focused carefully and rose to a sitting position. Scars split open on his back as the rigid skin flexed with his movement. There was something almost psychological about holy burns. The pain wasn't normal. It was like it could get to your core and paralyze you. He gasped and stiffened, upright but suddenly unable to imagine using the muscles he needed to stand. Crap. He hoped Tenele could help him stay focused and get out of Sinead's sight without too much loss of face.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele wrapped an arm around his hips, hugging him low enough to avoid the lashes on his back. She tugged his arm over her shoulder and balanced him, moving out of the cell and towards the door. They weaved through the dungeons, having to endure the cat calling and mocking of the prisoners until they reached the next floor.

It was a slow daunting trip to Vlad's tower, and when they arrived Tenele had to get creative with opening the door and getting him inside. She led him to the bed and helped him down gently so he lay where the wounds faced up.

She stood over him, examining the ruined sleeve of her robe, stained with his blood from his reopened wounds. "Would it feel better if I wiped it with water or put cool rags on it?" Tenele asked him softly, shedding the robe form her shoulders and tossing it towards the empty fireplace.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad collapsed into the sheets, letting her help him without restraint. He was out of breath and starting to lose focus again. "I love you," he murmured emotionally as his nerves trickled back together.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele swallowed hard, taking a deep breath to calm her emotions. She hated seeing him like this. "I love you, too," she whispered to him, bending to kiss his cheek. She knelt on the floor next to him, holding his hands. Tenele rested her head on the bed and closed her eyes. "Just rest."

[Soran Nightblade]

Two days later, Vlad woke up to the new light of the sun drifting through the window and the scent of Tenele's hair against his face. He'd been sleeping on his side, his arm draped across her. His back was greatly improving, to the point where it now only hurt when he moved or stretched it. The time had been highly frustrating, but it had also been strangely peaceful to spend a few days in bed, talking and holding Tenele.

"I'd better break him out today," he murmured to himself lazily.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele sighed softly, nuzzling her face into the pillow. "Yes," she muttered. "When I visited him yesterday he seemed very fine. Their feeding him, but I don't think he cares too much for the stale blood. He says he's fine, but I'm sure he'd like to be out. I think he would leave, but he's still a little unsure of himself. Then, again, he's only been a vampire for a little over a week. He hasn't got the confidence in his control that you do. You've had hundreds of years to gain it."

Tenele rolled in his arms so she could face him. Her hair was messy and unkempt, she still looked a little half a sleep. "Do you think that we could talk... maybe later on, if your feeling better?" She brushed her fingers over his lips before leaning forward to kiss him.

Verin's visit had been more than six days ago, and it didn't seem important to her in the wake of what Vlad was enduring, but she knew that if she didn't tell him and he found out some other way that he would be upset with her.

"Just whenever you feel like it," she added quickly. Tenele bit her bottom lip, wanting to run from the subject as soon as she mentioned talking. Her heart started to speed up, and she knew that Vlad would hear it if she didn't calm down. So she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, exhaling to cool her nerves. "It can wait." Sinead told her to be honest with Vlad, that he could handle it, but at the same time her heart cared more about his pain than her own fear.

[Soran Nightblade]

"Anytime," Vlad replied, his attention piqued. "I'm feeling fine," he reminded her of what he'd spent the last few days trying to insist was the case. Of course, it was a big fat lie, but one he felt obligated to persist at. "He shifted onto his side, his bare torso stretching across the sheets. "Did something happen?"

[Emora Deen]

Tenele watched him move, not very fooled by his words. She reached up and brushed silver hair from her face, resting her cheek on her hands. It took her several more minutes before she finally gathered herself enough to speak. "He paid me a visit," Tenele began, glancing away. She rolled onto her back so she didn't have to meet his eyes, tugging the covers up to her chin. She stared at the vaulted ceiling. "While you were gone, he swooped in and swooped out." Tenele took a deep breath. "He says no one can save me, and that when it is time, no matter how far I run or where I hide I won't be safe." She swallowed hard, feeling nervous just in voicing it out loud. "He says he wants to break me into a thousand pieces just so he can make me into something else, whatever that means."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad's shock lit the corners of his eyes. "He told you that?" He murmured. The glow in his eyes flared to neon. "He dared tell you that?" He pushed up on one arm, not even caring about the stretch on his back. "He's not taking you anywhere. He won't live to lay another finger on you."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele jumped at his sudden response. She looked up at him from where she lay on the bed, hugging the covers tighter to her. She felt silly, like a child afraid of a closet monster. Tenele reached out into the cold room and put a hand on his arm. "Please don't," she whispered pleadingly. Fear strong enough to choke her reflected in her eyes. "Please don't do something stupid. Don't attack him."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad looked unconvinced and very, very pissed. "He can not come and go as he pleases into your life and threaten you at his whim. I am not so tolerant as that, even if you try to dissuade me."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele looked truly terrified. She grabbed hold of his arm tighter. "Please," she called to him, trying to get him back from what ever ledge he was treading on. Her voice wavered with that fear. "Promise me you wont. Please promise me if he comes you won't do anything to attack him. Vlad, if he comes and he kills you, and he takes me anyway... I won't have anything to live for. I'll have no hope. I'll sit in whatever darkness he drags me to without any hope. No one will come for me, no one will fight as hard as you to get me back. If you die, I'm lost."

Her eyes welled with tears. "But, if you're alive I have hope. I can believe you'll come for me. And so, whatever he may do to me, I'll have something to hold onto. I know that having you, knowing you're coming for me, can get me through whatever that may be."

She knew he wouldn't promise her. Deep down Tenele knew that Vlad couldn't promise her. It wasn't in his nature to accept something was stronger than him. He'd fight for. He'd die for her. It broke her heart.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad stared at her, his rage giving in to wide-eyed shock. She didn't think he could protect her. It was obvious in the subtext of her desperate pleas. She didn't believe he could do anything to help her.

"If you think, for one second, that I would feed you freely into Verin's jaws... If you think so little of me as that-" his throat closed, fury and other emotions drawing it tight. He stopped himself. Stopped himself from talking any more, from upsetting her any further. But the truth was there now, and he couldn't let himself pretend he hadn't seen it. "I am overdue to fetch your brother," his tone sounded forced, belying the anger still glowing in his eyes.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele shook her head. "I don't think little of you," she told him quickly. She didn't want him leaving her like this, not when he was angry and she was terrified. "You're the strongest being I know." Tenele stood up out of bed, wrapping her arms around herself. "You're so strong and I try so hard to keep up with you, and I can't. Its not that I think you're weak Vlad, its that I'm afraid. I'm terrified. I'm so scared I couldn't even sleep while you were gone. Every time I closed my eyes to rest I thought that I might wake up somewhere in his realm. In that damn maze where we almost died, wandering it alone. I'm not saying I want you to hand me over to him with a smile, I just don't want you to die. I love you, and the idea of you dying... it hurts."

Tenele put her palm to her heart. "It hurts like someone's twisting my heart out."