Mature: Desert Moon

[Soran Nightblade]

Tenele turned her eyes on Vlad. "What do we do?" she whispered to him, panic furrowing the pretty features of her face. "How do we fix this? What do we do? If Sinead.... She has no heirs, Vlad. The Kingdom will fall into chaos. Arken will move in..." Her mind was racing with all the terrible possibilities of what could happen if Sinead didn't recover.

She had to stop thinking like that. Sinead had to recover. They had to find a way to fix this.

[Emora Deen]

"First we need to know what she drank. Then we can worry about the rest," Vlad said darkly. He drew her against him and brought them both to the infirmary, which had even more people than before. The royal physician had taken charge, and the atmosphere was one of organized intensity as everyone fulfilled their role. Vlad and Tenele had to immediately sidestep a lab technician rushing with a tray of small vials of Sinead's blood.

"What's the status?" Vlad paused the tech.

"We'll know what it is in a few minutes," the man said, rushing onward.

Vlad looked over at Sinead's bed. She was having difficulty breathing, and the nurses were giving her as much space as possible while someone swabbed a cool cloth over her chest to relax the muscles.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele's heart dropped at the sight of Sinead. But, then she heard this shrill little voice. "Mommy!" Tenara cried from where she sat on a wooden chair off out of the way. She had tears streaking down her cheeks. Tenele could imagine how frightening the scene must be for her.

The Queen's Maiden rushed off and scooped up her daughter, pulling her into her arms. "Shh," she whispered. "Everything is going to be fine. Grandma is going to feel much better soon. We'll get her some medicine and she'll be alright."

Her tiny hands fisted in Tenele's dress and she hugged her tightly. Her sobs calmed the moment Tenele's warm embrace circled around Tenara.

[Emora Deen]

Tenara's frantic heartbeat lit up Vlad's senses like a bonfire, but as soon a she saw Tenele taking care of the situation, his attention went entirely to the queen instead. He went directly to Sinead's side, brushing aside a protesting nurse. Sinead's eyes went to his and blinked at him. "Worried for me, Vladimir?" she asked breathlessly, a painful smile on her lips.

"Lord Dracul, she needs space," one of the nurses pushed on him.

Vlad didn't budge. He set his hands at the edge of her mattress and hovered beside her like a gargoyle. A feverish hand rested gently over his and gave it a squeeze. "Soon," she murmured.

The lab tech rushed back into the room. Vlad's fierce gaze sucked him in like a vortex. "What is it."

"Lungwort," the young man replied stiffly.

A jolt of relief shot through the vampire. That was a common poison with a known cure. "The treatment," he demanded.

"That's the thing... we are out of stock."

"Out of stock?" The vampire looked ready to wring the cure out of his bones, and the man could tell it.

"It can't be purchased in town. We would need raw ingredients. They are common!" he said as the vampire loomed toward him.

"Tell me what to look for," the vampire snarled. "Tenele," he called to his wife as the nurses began lugging out a huge leatherbound volume from the medicinal library.

[Emora Deen]

Talon rushed into the room, but before Tenele could explain to him what was going on she passed Tenara to him. "Please look after her," she whispered to her brother. She touched her daughter's cheek. "Stay with Uncle Talon and keep watch over Grandma. Your daddy and I are going to find something that will make her feel better." Tenele placed a kiss on her cheek and stepped off where Vlad stood with the nurses.

[Emora Deen]

As soon as the techs had finished describing the plant they needed, Vlad and Tenele joined hands and disappeared. They reformed in the forest about a mile outside the city. There was a brook there, and they'd been assured the tall-bladed grassy plant grew near water. "I'll take the East bank," he said to his wife. They'd been on so many missions together that it required very little effort to coordinate their work.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele nodded to him. She hoisted up the long skirts of the dress she wore and marched hurriedly off in search of the plant. She wondered up and down the edge of the river, slipping and sliding into the muddied earth around the brook's edge. She had several near-misses with plants that looked very similar, but nothing yet that resembled exactly what they needed.

"Any luck?!" she called back to her husband, stooping to push through a cluster of brush for a better look.

[Soran Nightblade]

Behind the brush Tenele was moving aside, a tiny gray creature froze and stared at her. It had large, wide-set eyes that shined curiously, and a body about the size of a small cat. It took a step back and crouched low. A long gray tail with a tuft of bright orange at the tip twitched back and forth.

"Tenele, is this one it?" Vlad called from the opposite bank a few meters away.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele's attention caught by the strange creature. The words fumbled from her mouth, as she meant to say, "One second." to Vlad. Her gaze narrowed. "Aren't you cute..." she whispered, crouching very slowly. Tenele noticed two things. The adorable little fluffball, and the plant he was sitting in front of. "Hi, there little guy. I have no idea what you are, but if you just move aside... I need that plant." Tenele reached out very slowly to shoo him away.

[Soran Nightblade]

The creature made a small hissing noise. Instead of backing off, it crouched down deep against the ground, like it was bracing itself for something. A soft chattering warned her not to come closer, big black eyes shining up at hers.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele bit her bottom lip, taking a deep breath. "If this thing bites me..." she murmured to herself, pursuing the creature. She bumped his body with the back of her hand. "Go on, get away. I need this. Shoo. Go. There are plenty of other places to hide in this forest you little fur ball."

[Soran Nightblade]

The creature bristled as soon as her hand touched it. Its eyes took on a purplish glow, and then the air around it seemed to pulse. "EEE!" it chirruped , teeth bared, and a purple light flashed in Tenele's eyes.

"Tenele?" Vlad said as he made his way to her. "You found it?" He blinked as an unfamiliar creature rushed by him. It had an orange tuft on its tail. He had a moment to consider that he'd never seen something like that before, and then his mind was back on Sinead. "Tenele," he called, setting his hand on her shoulder.

[Emora Deen]

She wobbled on her knees for a moment, the mud squishing around her legs. The world felt very strange, like she'd just woken up. Woken up from where? Her eyes scanned the patch of earth. She admired the mud on one hand, and the plant she was gripping in the other. She let it go, let it fall to the earth like it had shocked her.

What was she doing?

Where was she?

Tenele's heart raced. Someone spoke. Pressure of a touch on her shoulder. Tenele shot up and whirled around. In her panic she lost her footing and stumbled back into the brook. "Don't touch me," she murmured, eyes narrowing on him.

She took in his features. His paleness. His red eyes. Red eyes. What did that mean again? Confusion crossed her features, and then fear, deep terror that sent her stumbling further into the brook, before she turn and fled as quickly as the dress would allow.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad froze at her cold tone. He glanced down at the bladelike leaves she'd dropped and gathered them quickly from the ground. They had it. "Tenele? What did I do?" he demanded, pursuing her. He could feel her terror like a warm hand on his back, urging him toward her.

[Emora Deen]

The woman ran blindly, grabbing handfuls of fabric up to keep from tripping over it. She had no idea where she was running, only that she needed to get as far away from him. He was a monster. A demon. A vampire. She knew that. Gods, she knew that and she didn't even know her own name.

Tenele kept feeling something slap against her leg with each push she made forward, and in a haze of running she slipped a hand down to the short sword hidden in the folds of her clothing.

What kind of woman hides a sword in her dress?

She stopped short, one of her legs skittering over the edge. She slipped down, dragging her leg back. The brook she'd followed poured over and down to the river flowing into the valley below. Tenele took the sword and turned quickly, backing up to the edge. "Don't come any closer," she seethed.