Mature: Desert Moon

[Soran Nightblade]

"Dresses are freeing," Vlad countered blandly, showing little sympathy for his cross-dressing protege as he gestured for him to come. He looked back over his shoulder at Tenele, and tried not to show the ache in his chest on his face. He wanted to be with her more than anything. He wanted to stare into his daughter's eyes into the night, while her mother slept.

He wanted to feel his second lover's embrace, hear his voice warmly call their daughter by name. He wanted to find every scratch or scar those bastards had left on him, and kiss him there until he felt healed, and slice apart their enemies with equal severity until they begged for death.

"We will return," he said placidly to the midwife as he gestured for Talon to take the lead toward the soldier.

[Emora Deen]

By the time their weary guide led them across the desert to the meeting spot it was more than a day and a half later. He was jittery and nervous where he stood, glancing about him as if he expected them to jump out of no where.

"They're gonna kill me because I didn't follow their orders. They're going to know that's not her!" he protested to Vlad.

"They wouldn't have let Tenele take a maternity leave from being kidnapped, and there was no way she could leave her bed, or that we would even consider letting that monster anywhere near her," Talon told him very quietly, to keep his voice low.

From a distance they fit the part. Two people accompanied by a crouching soldier. Two dark figures moving across the evening sands, and silver hair blowing in the wind.

"I saw him skinning people!" the soldier hissed. "Imagine what he's going to do when he finds out I brought the wrong couple..."

"Stop whining," Talon growled. "That alone will give us away before my not-so-girlish figure."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad walked in silence, agreeing fully with his protege. He kept his mind honed in as many directions as possible. Though the area appeared to be plain desert, there would be no escape if someone got the jump on them with one of those chains. His thoughts kept trying to wander toward Tenele and his newborn child. He'd never been a father before, and he found himself surprised at how excruciating it was to be out of reach of his baby and her beautiful mother. What if Maxwell tried some sort of revenge while he was gone?

When he wasn't worrying about them, he was worrying about Atul. Picturing the dominant-minded man trapped in an enemy's chains was grotesque and unnatural.

[Emora Deen]

The soldier stopped them. "There is a stone wall over here, down below this dune. Just ruins." The soldier lead them over a dune and across a sandy plain sat a wall that appeared to have once been part of a loan tower. It was tall and slightly curved, with a opening for a window at the top, and tapered down in collapsed stones to the bottom where it sat half-buried in the sand.

"We're early by a few days, though," he muttered. "Chances are they won't be here."

Talon glanced to Vlad. "If they overtake us with the same chains that got Atul... I know you want to save their king, but you have a duty to Tenele and your child. If it looks like we are going to lose this battle, you have to flee."

* * *

Tenele lay curled on her side, smiling down at the infant laying next to her. She was still too weak to leave the bed, so the nurse brought Tenara to her and laid her to be cradled by a soft pillow. The child was so interested in everything around her, eyes wide with curiosity. Her little hands curled and waved.

She looked out the balcony windows to the setting sun, and quickly turned her gaze back to Tenara. She was frightened and upset that Vlad had left without telling her where he was going, without saying good-bye. Tenara was a pleasant distraction from the dread clenching around her heart.

When she looked at her child, she didn't feel any fear.

Stalker propped his head on the edge of the bed, observing the little fragile creature as Tenele place kisses on the bottom of Tenara's feet and cradled her in the crook of her arm. His ears moved one by one, raising and lowering, as if he didn't quite know what to make of it.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad studied the ruined tower with fierce scarlet eyes. He knew Talon was right, and he knew that Talon could sense his frustration. If it really came down to it, Tenele had to come before Atul. He hoped the situation wouldn't come close to that. "They may just be weaklings with a fancy chain, who took him by surprise like cowards," he spat.

The vampire pushed ahead toward the crumbling tower, crossing the half-buried outer gates effortlessly. He kept his senses on wide, and did not get too close to the structure. "You rang?" he called out with a fierce smirk, letting his supernatural voice ring to the depths of the old tower.

[Emora Deen]

The grunting ravenous delight of his captors echoed in Atul's ears, though he could not see their faces, and maybe any face ever again at this rate. They delighted in the King of Hajara hanging naked from the rafters if their underground lair, his blood leaking from the many cuts across his perfect skin. It dripped in long dark trails across tanned flesh, down his legs, across his feet, and dripped into the silver chalice placed below him.

His head hung low, black hair falling before his face. A bloody rag was tied over his eyes, with trails of red leaking over his cheeks.

This was the first time Atul knew true pain. Being a prince he hadn't suffered much. He had his fair share of wounds, but torture was something the royal was unaccustomed too. But, it didn't mean he'd break.

The large hall built beneath the desert was lit be a single shaft of light falling over him. The rest was torches, and they were few and far between. Tables formed a circle around him, and the demons clattered their goblets across the wood.

One rose from his seat, standing tall and broad. His skin was so grey and pale it bordered on translucent and his black eyes wandered over the King's form. He wore ragged robes, and black metal arm braces, gloves with metal spikes on the tips of his fingers. His teeth were filed, each one, into points.

He placed his hand on Atul's chest, and drug his claws across the flesh. Atul grunted, but did not scream. Then, the demon leaned forward and drug his tongue through the wound.

"He has his father's blood. Our father's blood," the demon groaned. Verin's blood like a drug to them. "Our father is gone!" He announced to them. "We saw him fall and in that moment we were free... No need to follow Shea any longer, or any code, if we ever had one. We are free to rule the dark.... We'll devour every village. Turn every light to dark. We'll eat the flesh of humans and bathe in their blood!"

He tapped Atul's chest. "At least, we will once we put on more God to rest... and the key to that God is almost here."

* * *

The wind blew the desert sands and it whistled through the opening where the window once was. Silence was all Vlad received in return to his announcement. They waited minutes before a shape rose out of the sand. Than another, and another. They popped up from every direction, black cloaked shadows with menacing weapons. Spears, swords, scythes, maces, axes. They came in all shapes and sizes. The lower level demons were monstrous and deformed, while the higher level ones appeared more angelic than demons.

Talon sighed. "Yeah... this is going to suck."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad frowned at the gang of demons. "Are you planning to explain what you want of us? Or are we here to play in the sand?" he demanded to the approaching rabble.

[Emora Deen]

They stopped when they formed a tight circle around them. Talon kept his head low to deceive them as long as possible. The quivering man next to them suddenly stopped shaking.

A demon stepped out with a set of cuffs and tossed it into the sand at "Tenele's" feet. Talon tilted his head, glancing up to his Master.

"Bind him," the demon ordered.

"Oh dear," Talon replied in a shrill voice, very unlike Tenele, but it was the best female voice he could muster. "Pregnant, hard to bend over." He kicked at the chains.

"Its a lie!!" the soldier next to the growled furiously. He trudged through the sand until he reached the one who'd stepped forth. "Harod will be very disappointed." The soldier squirmed out of his armor and crouched. "That's a man. Its not her."

"Why you little-" Talon started, stepping forward.

The soldier hissed, and then cocked his head to the side. He squirmed and contorted. Bones snapped and replaced themselves until he was rising from the sand just as ugly as the rest of them. "Well, that explains why Tenele's healing didn't work very well on him..."

Talon sighed, stripping the cloak and dress off until he stood in his pants and boots. "I'm going to kill that one first." He pointed to the soldier-turned-demon.

"Capture the black haired vampire! I care not what you do with the other," the lead demon barked.

[Soran Nightblade]

Don't hold back, my Blood, Vlad's voice went through Talon's mind like a terrible caress. Be vigilant.

The vampire's eyes lit up like neon. "Capture me?" he inquired of Atul's captors. "Know your place!" His nails stretched out like scythes from his hands as he lunged for the lead demon. His nails sliced through his flesh like pudding, all too easily, but then melded together again. Vlad narrowed his eyes on him, pausing to reconsider. Was this guy some kind of shapeshifter?

Something came at his back, and he spun to knock the approaching sword aside like it was a pipe cleaner. The creature attacking him, and the three standing behind him, didn't even know what hit them.

[Emora Deen]

Talon was in heaven. It was rare, very, very rare that he got to let go. That he got to just be a monster. And he was relishing it. He moved quickly through the pack, ripping and shredding where he could. He tore heads from the bodies of lower level demons, and ripped hearts out of others.

And he laughed. A little joyful for the circumstances, but he laughed at them.

He saved a weaker one for last. After all, someone needed to be tortured for information... He danced around him and leaped for another demon. And then, a large group moved in on him. They impaled his back with spears, and ran swords through his middle. But, Talon still tore at them like a wild animal. He ripped the throats out of the closest ones with his teeth, and strew limbs from bodies like paper dolls. When he was finished with that group he stood among the bodies with weapons protruding from his own. Heaving he drew them one by one, while he searched for his next target.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad ripped through most of his targets like tissue paper. He spared a glance at Talon to be sure he was still kicking. The distraction cost him a strong blow to the back, and he refocused just in time to sense a blade slicing toward his neck. He teleported sideways, though the sands threw chaos into the mix and placed him wide open in front of the leader. He threw his claws into the creature's gut, already knowing it wouldn't work. "Don't like to bleed?" he taunted the demon.

[Emora Deen]

The leader growled, wrapping a hand around Vlad's wrist hard enough to snap bone. "Bleeding is only temporary. Your pain will be eternal," he seethed. "It would be wise to surrender. If not for your life, but for the sake of your wife." He lifted a large metal-cuffed boot to plant center-chest on Vlad, while bringing his overweight sword around.

* * *

Harod lounged back in his chair, observing the King dangling in the now very quiet room. "They should be here soon."

"If you hurt them... If you harm her," Atul growled. "I will..."

"Kill me?" Harod laughed. "That's the biggest threat, isn't it. But, how do you use such a threat against a man unafraid of death?"

"I will make you wish you were dead. I'll boil you in holy water until I can carve you bones out for jewelry!" the King roared.

"Ohh," Harod grinned. "I like that one. That one is new."

[Soran Nightblade]

OOC: I like that one too!!

IC:

Vlad grinned madly at the demon holding him down. You truly expect to defeat me? ME? His smile grew lethal. He was done playing. He wanted his King. He stretched his hand in the air, and a black vortex ripped wide above him. His grin stretched out grotesquely as his form changed to that of a black, almost shadowlike beast. He rose almost 20 feet high, with ten feet of tail, four gigantic clawed feet, and a dragonlike neck with a face too demonic to be a normal dragon. Every inch of him was ebon-black, deep enough that it seemed to suck in all the light around him. His blazing red eyes turned down toward the lead demon, and he roared into the man's face. The unearthly sound just inches away threatened to bowl the demon over with its force alone.

[Emora Deen]

The demon blinked, swallowed, and stood very still. Nope, no comeback for that. He twisted around and bolted across the sands. "Back! Go Back!"

Talon stood amongst bodies, blood splattered all over his muscled body and black pants, matting his long silver hair. He looked up at the dragon in awe, grinning up at him enviously.

He went back for the weaker demon he spared and tackled the creature to the sands. He wrapped on hand around his throat and squeezed. "Now, we're going to have a little chat, you and I... You are going to tell me where the King is, and everything we need to know to get him out."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad watched his prey flee, and for a moment it was entertaining enough. Then he decided not to give him that advantage. While kill him later, when he could kill him now. The dragon heaved into a powerful charge and ran the demon down, driving him into the sand with giant claws the size of blowing horns. "Go back where, plaything?" his psychic voice boomed in the air around them.