Mature: Desert Moon

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad gave her a worried look. "You can have my hand, any time you want it, you know. I'd be pleased to be at your side. I won't do anything out of line."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele thought about it for a moment. But, he'd moved all his things out. It seemed counter-productive to the idea he had when he took everything out of their room. Tenele sighed. "Thank you," she replied. "I will take you up on it if I am scared again."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad made sure not to look disappointed. "Good," he smiled. "If you'd like some more swordsmanship practice, it is my pleasure. I was a key commander in Sinead's army, before I was turned. I'm a good teacher."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele nodded with a smile. "Alright," she agreed, taking up a fighters stance. Her body moved into it naturally when she wasn't focusing on what to do. Whether she remembered the position or not, her body instinctively knew what to do. "Bring it on."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad proceeded to show her the most essential strike patterns and techniques for controlling her blade against collision. After a half hour of practice, he finally reclaimed his sword from the floor and stood opposite her. "Feel free to come at me," he signaled, raising his blade at the ready. He didn't dance or try to move around, letting her focus on his still form. The effect was odd and still. A vampire with a sword was a strange sight, like a wolf posing with a kitchen knife.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele waited a minute, eyeing his form. She took a deep breath and lunged forward. Tenele was a fast learner, always had been, even with her memory loss. It helped that her body remembered how to move as fluidly as it had with her memories intact. She wasn't at her tip-top best, but she wasn't bad.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad kept his reactions human-slow as he evaded or blocked her strikes. He didn't return any of his own; it was too soon for sparring. He watched her graceful attacks, mesmerized. She was so beautiful when she fought. It was familiar and comfortable, seeing her like this, strong and alert and confident.

He was actually so focused on her that he forgot to block her next strike. It went straight into his shoulder. The sensation shook him back into the moment, and he jerked a step back from her. "Excuse me. I lost focus," he muttered in embarrassment, touching his bleeding shoulder like it had offended him.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele let her hands slip from the sword. "Oh gods!" she cried, running forward. She put her hands over the wound to stifle the bleeding, at least if he were human it would have worked. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. Does it hurt? Of course it hurts. I'll get bandages..." Tenele turned to run for the medical ward.

[Soran Nightblade]

"No. Tenele," he grabbed her shoulder and then immediately let go, wary of touching her. "It will be healed in a moment. I am not so delicate as that. I just lost my concentration." He picked his sword back up from the floor. "Come. I may as well show you how to clean that, too."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele hesitated not going for the bandages, but he moved like it didn't hurt him at all. She grabbed her sword from the floor and looked at the blood smeared across the blade. "I've killed a lot of people, haven't I?" she asked as she followed him.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad glanced into her eyes, curious at how she would react. "You've been pivotal in many battles and even wars, not to mention private missions with me. Your sword has seen its share of blood."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele nodded. She expected as much. She wasn't sure how she felt about killing. Her old self seemed to be very good at it. But, Tenele tried not to dwell on that. "Okay, what is the best way to clean this?"

[Soran Nightblade]

"With your tongue," Vlad said matter-of-factly.

"That was a joke," he added just in case his sense of humor served to alienate her even more. He led her back into the armory and sat down on a bench, drawing out a crate from underneath. Inside was a special cloth, protective oil, and a flintstone. "You can buff it with the cloth, then rub in the oil over the whole blade. It won't need sharpening from a single use, but you can use the flintstone if you're eager to practice it."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele smiled, going to work on the blade. She enjoyed having a task to preform to keep her mind from wandering. Tenele fiddled with the blade quietly, clearly thing about something, clearly wanting to speak.

"Why were we lovers to the King of Hajara? Is that why you are hesitant to go there?" Tenele asked him softly. She glanced up. "You hadn't mentioned traveling again since our first conversation about the Hesic... Sinead told me about this King, this Atul."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad went stiff. For some reason, the question made him want to call it a night and return her to her room. But he'd promised to keep nothing from her. "I wasn't kidding when I said the God of Darkness was fixated on you. Your life was in serious danger, and I was having difficulty keeping Verin out of my head. He was capable of taking over my mind and body, as much as I tried to fight it. The only time I've ever betrayed Sinead, it was due to his control."

"Since I wasn't strong enough to protect you, I researched other options. The one that finally came up was to bond my soul to another one, thus consolidating the strength of two into one. Atul had become a friend to us, and more than that, he had begun falling for you. He was willing to make the sacrifice to join with me. The ritual for the spell was...sexual. I don't know if the spell enhanced our attraction to each other, or if love was just the only natural reaction to banding together against a God, but over time.... we fell in love. It was a very unusual relationship." The vampire stopped, his whole body stiff.