Holier Than Thou

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad frowned. "In the field, the infection might not be reversible, but here, we can treat her. She may yet fight it off. She has come back from worse," he told the King, standing behind Talon's reasoning.

[Emora Deen]

Talon let out a sigh of relief. "Finally you take my side."

"And if she doesn't?" Atul asked him cautiously. "Your grip broke the skin. The infection could be in her blood. In that case not even taking the arm would save her."

"So, do a blood transfusion," Talon added. "What if you gave her your blood?"

Atul arched an eyebrow. "I don't think Tenele's body would handle my blood."

"I think it would," Talon told him. "Tenele may be very mortal, but her mother wasn't. You're a demi-god, and on a technical level so is Tenele, albiet a very weak one. If you drain her of the poisoned blood, and replace it with yours, could your blood speed up the healing process and fight off the infection?"

Atul blinked at the man. "I... I don't know. I heal quickly, but I don't know what it would do for her."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad glanced to his Blood curiously. The man was more creative than he gave him credit for. "Atul," he said, the single word a request.

[Emora Deen]

Atul looked to Vlad. "Okay," he muttered. "I'll give her my blood. But, how do you plan on getting the potentially poisoned blood out of her system so mine can take over?"

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad hesitated. "You don't have transfusion equipment here?" The thought of taking her blood himself made his chest clench. Moreover, without the right equipment, they couldn't send Atul's blood to her in the first place. he'd assumed medical technology was as advanced here as it was in Ighten, but that wasn't necessarily the case.

His head immediately began spinning in different directions. If he bit Atul and then joined with Tenele, would his strength be shared through their link?

[Emora Deen]

Atul frowned. "We've only gave blood. To my knowledge we haven't siphoned it out at the same time as replenishing. Usually the body's already nearly empty when we feed it blood. What do you use in Ighten?"

"Oh dear Gods," Talon muttered, throwing up his hands.

"Vlad," Atul said seriously. "She's your wife. What do you want me to do, and I'll do it."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad met his friend's eyes. "If I bite her...I'll be able to sense her limits. I would need to drain her at the same speed as your transfusion. In her state, I can't take her down to empty and expect her to survive. We'd need to replace it gradually, in fractions. I would need to use a LOT of your blood, my friend." He clenched his teeth together. He didn't like this. He didn't like any of it.

[Emora Deen]

Atul nodded. "I can give a lot. I'm immortal, for the most part. At least, more immortal than Tenele. It takes a lot to kill me. I'll just take a longer power nap than usual," he told Vlad with a half-smile. "I want to help her. I don't care how much blood you take."

Talon appraised Atul. They might not get along, but Talon was thankful for how much the king cared for his sister. Even if it was a little more intimate than he liked.

Atul poked his head into the room and called on of the maids who was helping draw the bath. "Forget that for the moment," he muttered, and then explained what he needed her to retrieve. She hurried off to fetch the supplies.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad went in to the room again and sat in a chair opposite Tenele. Looking at her hurt. "My love," he whispered. "We are going to do a transfusion. It will help you recover."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele nodded, but wasn't sure she really understood what he was saying, only that he was speaking to her. She reached out for him, her hand flopping along the covers in search of his.

The maid had the equipment needed back to them in record time and Atul ordered everyone out of the room, including Talon. "Its not because you aggrivate me," he told the vampire. "Its because of the blood. My blood is like a drug to your kind. You won't mean to, but you could do something incredibly stupid. You're tired. Just wait outside, you have good enough hearing to know if things are going well or not."

Talon bit his tongue, and accepted what Atul said as truth. He gave one last wary look to his sister, and let Atul shut the door in his face.

"Okay," the King sighed. He climbed onto the bed to lie down next to Tenele. "Let's do this."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad sat on Tenele's other side as solemnly as if he were going to a funeral. He took the equipment the maid handed him and threaded one end of the needle carefully into Tenele's good arm. The other end he worked with deadly still hands into Atul's vein. A thin bandage around each arm ensured the tube stayed in place, but he held Tenele's wrist down to the blanket with a light, but unmoveable grip, just in case she tried to struggle away during the process.

He hated this. He hated holding her arm down. He hated where he was going to have to bite her in order to draw the infection out properly. "My love, I need to bite you," he said, stroking her hair back and looking for some sign that she understood.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele's green eyes fluttered open. Her brow damp with sweat. She didn't answer him, mostly because she really didn't know what he was saying. So, she nodded again, and dipped her head to the side.

Atul frowned at Vlad. Nothing he could say to the vampire was going to make this any easier.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad took a deep breath. "If you need to stop, tell me, Atul." He considered biting the man just so he could tell where Atul's health stood, but he wasn't about to make the procedure riskier just for his own peace of mind. He leaned over Tenele, still keeping her one arm down, and prepared himself to hurt the two people he cared about most in this world. He carefully lifted Tenele's infected arm to his mouth and closed his lips over her wounded wrist, re-breaking the already cracked and swollen skin. He struggled to find enough focus to soothe the bite. He kicked himself mentally for not keeping it together. He couldn't afford to be distracted while he did this. He focused on Tenele's blood and let it slowly fill his mouth while he urged magic through her arm, trying to soften the pain.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele immediately jolted with a cry. She tried to sit up, but Atul through his legs over hers and pressed a hand to her chest to hold her down. Her eyes snapped open, but not quite able to focus on what was going on. She saw Vlad biting her. Biting...

"Don't," Tenele murmured as she began to feel Vlad's magic lesson the pain enough to think. She struggled under their firm pressure.

"Easy," Atul coaxed Tenele while Vlad drank. "This will help you."

"No," she muttered, shaking her head. "Don't turn me. I'm okay..."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad clenched his eyes shut and held her arms still, drinking very slowly. He knew the vacuum in her blood supply was slowly drawing from Atul's. She would get stronger as he got weaker. If she kept struggling...he tried not to think of pinning her down by force with his telekinesis. *I will not turn you," he said gently through their link and the blood connection between them grew stronger. "You are safe. You are with us, and you are safe," he chanted.

He didn't want her inside his head. He tried everything he could to blur what he really thought, praying she was too disoriented to tell.