Holier Than Thou

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad looked up at her with affection and lust swimming in his ruby gaze. He instinctively spread his arms out over the edges of the tub, seeking some control, but he was both under water and under her. Everything was wet, sliding heat. He groaned softly and yielded to her weight over him.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele thought she heard a low groan coming from their bedroom, and it tugged her lips into a smile. She pressed her hands against her husband's chest and enjoyed him, knowing that Atul was enjoying it too. "Maybe Atul can be gentle..." Tenele murmured against his skin. She sent her thoughts out to them, what she was playing over in her head. "If you aren't comfortable with it, my love, I will not ponder it a second time. If you don't want me to, or don't think I can handle it, I accept that. I am very happy with what we have and do not want to change or ruin it."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad's eyes glazed with sensation. "This isn't a....very fair time...to ask me," he moaned as she moved over him. All his nerves were saying yes, that he wanted to feel her feel both of them. The pain wouldn't bother him at all. But he kept reminding himself that it might feel different for her. Especially if they both...at the same time... The thought tore a groan from him.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele chuckled at him, trailing light kisses across his chest and shoulder and neck. She ran fingers through his hair. "Fair enough," she whispered to him. She closed her eyes gently and concentrated on moving above him. Her body was elegant in how it shifted, almost like a dance. She reached up and ran fingers through her hair, lifting the wet strands from her shoulders and pinning them to the top of her head. Soft moans left her, and the knowledge that she was pleasing them both like this made her smile.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad sank deeper and deeper into the sensation. Normally he would try to reverse things, to take charge. But he didn't want to this time. It was almost like his muscles were part of the water, impossible to control. He relaxed into her movements.

Until he started to notice that his muscles really were getting hard to control. Gradually, at first pleasant and then painful, something in his chest began to twist over. A blur in his vision was the first sure sign that something wasn't normal. "Tenele," he breathed, confused. He raised an arm to her shoulder. Once it was free of the weightlessness of the tub, the muscles shook just reaching for her. "Tenele, something's off."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele frowned, stopping. His hand was shaking. He looked odd, maybe paler than even his normal paleness. She even felt a reverberation of pain through him. Tenele sat up off her husband, cupping his face in her hands. "What's wrong? What do you mean something's off?" She looked him over. "Atul! Something's wrong with Vlad!"

[Soran Nightblade]

Atul was at the door within moments. His body was still at attention, but that was quickly changing. "What's happening?" he asked, not really believing something could be wrong with Vlad.

The vampire looked up at Tenele's blurring face. "What the..." He winced as the twisting from earlier cut through his nerves in his chest. He twisted over in the water and burst into a fit of scraping coughs.

[Emora Deen]

"Vlad?!" panic ripped through her voice. She hovered next to him, sopping wet, with her hands pressing against his back. Her eyes searched Atul. "What's going on?" Fear lit in her eyes. Nothing hurt Vlad. What could she do to help him? He wasn't a human.... She couldn't think of a single thing to do to help him. "Atul, help me! Help me get him out of the water."

[Soran Nightblade]

"Vlad, can you stand?" Atul asked the vampire.

Vlad nodded, opening and closing his throat to try to avoid coughing. He pulled his knees under him and got halfway out of the water. Then his legs collapsed on themselves. Atul was standing in the tub with them instantly, catching the vampire's weight.

"Okay. Okay, I'm going to lift you," he murmured in a calming tone, for both his and Tenele's benefit. He planted his feet on the slippery floor and hauled Vlad up over his shoulder. A whirl of pain flashed through all three of their chests through the link. Vlad hunched against Atul's back and jerked against his grip.

*Hold still, Vlad," Atul directed, stepping a little faster as he rushed the vampire to the bed.

Vlad cooperated, partly because his arms were shaking. "Shit," he murmured as he landed on his back in the sheets and world spun around him.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele clutched her chest, sympathetic pain filtering through their link. She followed behind Atul quickly, grabbing her silk robe from the chair and pulling it around her shoulders. It lung tight to her damp skin. Tenele clambered onto the bed next to him, running gentle fingers through his hair. Worry creased her beautiful features, and her hands shook with it. There was no calling a healer for Vlad, or doctor for that matter. She felt so very helpless, and so not knowing what to do, she turned her gaze to the King. "Could Verin have done this?" she asked the son of the God, her voice shaking with worry and an undertone of rage.

[Soran Nightblade]

"I'm sure he could have done something, but I don't know what "this" actually is," Atul said. Vlad, has this ever happened before?"

The vampire thought of all the crazy injuries and curses he'd experienced, but this sensation didn't ring a bell. "No. It's like everything's on fire," he muttered, trying to sound casual, but the sensations flying through their link proved it wasn't. How was it possible for him to get this hurt, this fast? It had the same type of agony as holy magic, but he hadn't encountered anything holy, and there was more to this than just some spell. His lungs were on fire.

"Maybe I could give him some of my blood? It usually makes him better," Atul said.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele nodded quickly, stroking Vlad's forehead lovingly. The reverberating pain she was feeling from him was making it hard to focus to form words. "Yes," she whispered. "Maybe it will help him." Tenele slipped her arms beneath his head and tried to help hold his weight so he could drink from Atul. "Just a small bit, maybe? If it helps he could take more." Tenele kissed his hair gently while her arms strained against his weight to hold him up.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad frowned, choking back a cough. *I've already taken from you today. If I weaken you further, Tenele has no defense.*

Atul rolled his eyes. "Don't underestimate me. Remember who you're talking to." He put his wrist under the vampire's nose and let him smell the power flowing beneath the skin.

Vlad winced and bit down. He couldn't focus enough to make the bite pleasurable or even painless, but the demigod didn't complain or move. Atul's blood washed down the vampire's throat, and though Vlad wanted to stop quickly, it was never that easy with Atul's blood.

He was nowhere near wanting to stop when a spasm pulled through his center, worse than before. He broke away from Atul and twisted onto his side, coughing violently. The blood that spattered across their sheets was not Atul's.

Atul stared, nervous. He was sure his blood would help the vampire. Now he was out of ideas. "Perhaps we should call on queen Sinead," he murmured. "Or is there anyone else out there who knows how his weird body works?"

[Emora Deen]

Tenele shook her head. "I... the only person I can think of other than Sinead is Maxwell," Tenele muttered, taking the sleeve of her robe and mopping up the blood on Vlad's lips. "But, that man is a psychopath. The last time he tried to help Vlad he nearly killed him." Tenele drew the blankets across Vlad's lap and tucked pillows under his head. "I don't even know how we could call on him, he's a demon of some sort."

[Soran Nightblade]

"I know how to call him," Vlad muttered. The fact he was even considering it proved how startled he was with his body's behavior. "He's a reptilian demon, and he draws power from heat. If you speak his name into a fire, he'll be able to hear you. If he feels like it."

He shuddered, his inside burning. The pain made his settle a little stiller on the sheets and draw slow breaths.