Mature: Desert Moon

[Soran Nightblade]

"Is that so? I can call Espha back in, if you like," Vlad offered with a level gaze.

[Emora Deen]

Talon scowled at Vlad. "Why are you toying with me?" he barked. "Do you enjoy pushing buttons on me like I'm some kind of doll? Is that why I am to you? Some useful tool, a servant, a toy?!"

He laughed miserably. "You'd even risk Espha's life for your toy. And to think, earlier today, I thought I was the monster."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad put a hand to his wounded chest and squeezed at the torn flesh, sending fresh pain searing between them. "-This- is what I am to you, and you to me, Talon. Blood of my blood. You are my sole brother, the only bloodling I've created in 600 years, and my darkest sin. If you think I'm not aware of what I've done to you, you are wrong. If you even suppose that you're a toy or a slave to me, you are blind. Do you think I don't know what it means when you walk in with that death in your eyes? If you think Tenele and Atul are the ones who need help the most right now, you are simply wrong." He took a step back to give the man more space. The wounds on his chest began knitting back together.

[Emora Deen]

Talon glowered at Vlad, even as he felt the pain his chest begin to ebb. What could he say to any of that? It didn't make him feel any less like a prisoner. "If I wanted to go, would you let me go?" he asked Vlad quietly. "If I said I wanted freedom to live my own life, removed from you and the others, would you grant me that?"

Espha knocked quietly on the door. "Is everything okay? Talon, I know you didn't mean too..."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad walked to the bed and sat on it. He knew affection didn't always run both ways, but he was a little stung anyway. He called up memories of the months when Talon was the only kindness he'd known in a cold wasteland, the only thing that kept him tethered to life and not begging for death from Maxwell's hand. He wiped the memories clear before he could feel angry. His emotions weren't the issue right now.

"If someone you cared for wanted to give away all their possessions and ride away on a reckless binge of wanderlust, and you knew for sure it was because he was drunk, would you allow it?" he returned calmly.

[Emora Deen]

Talon slumped. "No, probably not," he replied. He reached up and curled fingers in his long hair, tight against the scalp. "What's wrong with me.... I... I know this isn't me. I do. I feel.... devoid of myself."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad looked up at the younger man. He thought about shooing Espha away, but decided there wasn't much more harm she could do. "Focus, Talon. Why did you get those wounds? Don't tell me how. Tell me why."

[Emora Deen]

Talon's brow furrowed, and he tried to think about why he was hurt. "They killed Sho's people, they injured her, and they were threatening Tenele and Atul," he seethed. "They shot me because they wanted you dead. They thought I was you."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad went still. He'd expected the first half of Talon's answer, but before he could decide how to walk the man through his protective affection for his family and children he barely even know, the other half of the answer spilled out.

"They thought you were me," he said slowly, rolling the idea over like spoiled meat. It made sense, in hindsight.... the things Talon had mentioned about the fanatics' convictions, their hatred of demons and the undead that only Atul seemed exempt from. There was a cult out there that didn't want him to marry the king. Seeing Tenele's love redeem Atul's half-demon heritage would perfectly resolve the plague of evil that had ruled this country. Of course they would want him dead.

Talon had been a walking target, traveling with Tenele and Atul like that. Practically a stunt double.

"Talon..." he murmured, but didn't add to his sentence. He thought harder about it this time, instead of launching off looking for a reaction. "Being hit with blessed metal is the most emotional kind of injury we can receive. The pain will piss you off, enough to make you want to hurt anything. But the emotions can be controlled. They're not all powerful." He looked down. "I learned through practice. Tons of it. Years of it." He frowned at the marble floor, at the blood smeared across it. "That isn't how I wanted you to learn. And yet, I almost started to..." he looked at his smeared knuckles in disgust. He could use this room as a caged match, aggravate that fury as many times as it took for Talon to grow dull to it. But at what price? What price had he paid? What price had Sinead paid? He'd sworn to find a different way.

How could a sire help a bloodling through the rage of holy poisoning? It was unheard of. Sires took from their offspring. They stole energy, eked away power and will, deprived them of choice. If there was a way for things to go in the other direction, Vlad didn't know of it.

[Emora Deen]

"It will go away," Talon nodded, looking at his master. "Eventually the pain with fade, the wound will heal, but it will not change what I did while it influenced me." Talon dropped down to his knees. "I need blood. I'm so hungry. Knight only let Tenele spare a little, and I murdered two peasants for more. But, its not enough. I'm hungry again."

* * *

Tenele came back into the hot hut carrying a bucket of water she'd collected from the well. She set it down next to Atul and knelt behind him. Tenele took up a rag and began to wipe the dust and sweat off him, running the rag across his back and shoulders. "If we haven't found anyone alive by tomorrow we should head back home," Tenele whispered, pressing a kiss to his neck. "Dignitaries are going to start arriving tomorrow."

[Soran Nightblade]

Atul huffed and leaned into the touch of the cloth, eyes squeezing shut. They were both bone tired, physically and mentally. Burying children was a grim chore. "If not for the winds and fear of moving her, I would propose we go right now." He opened his sapphire eyes and stared over the sands. His other hand reached up and caressed the side of her neck. "I'm worried for your brother, and the girl. She's barely said a word."

* * * *

Vlad nodded slowly. He knew the man didn't need more blood, if he'd killed two adults. The hunger was a side effect of the pain. "If you're willing, I may be able to try something," he murmured to his Blood. "You would have to open your mind to me. Not like I usually do from my end. You'd have to want me in your mind."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele closed her eyes tightly, resting her cheek against Atul's warm skin. "I am worried too. I've tried not to think too much about it, about whether he made it home or not. I don't like the idea of him wondering the desert, starving, consumed with madness..." Tenele tore her mind away from the thoughts and went back to washing her future husband very dutifully. It was good to keep her mind busy. "If I think..." Tenele swallowed the knot rising in her throat. "Talon and I never got along as children... We fought a lot. I actually think we get along better now that he's a vampire than we ever did as mortals. Even if we didn't get a long, I always loved him."

* * *

Talon turned his gaze on his master. If it would rid him of this nagging, aching hunger, if it could rid him of the pain... "Please," he begged. "Please, help me."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad had an almost physical reaction to those words. He wasn't prepared for them. Something in his stomach turned over sideways, and he felt almost heartbroken. Blinking away the sentiment, he tried to focus on the theory he'd baked in his head. There was no precedent for it, but then again, what vampire had ever bothered to share power with those below him? If there was a link there, didn't it naturally flow both directions?

He reached out to Talon's mind, not penetrating it casually as he usually did, but moving his thoughts slowly to avoid startling his shattered nerves. He didn't want to command. He wanted to listen. It was much, much harder. *Show me the child you found,* he murmured, sounding confident for Talon's sake. He actually had no clue what he was looking for. Maybe some strong memory would be loud enough to help him hear Talon's soul and link himself to it. He felt like he was teaching a cart to pull a horse.

[Emora Deen]

Talon thought of Sho, sweet, innocent Sho, thought of her curled between the stones just trying to stay warm. Poor Sho. She'd lost her family, her friends...

"Lord Dracul, I'm taking Tenara down for super. Khi is still sleeping," Espha's voice travelled through the door, soft and sweet.

His mind diverted for a second to other thoughts. Of passion, damp skin, and heavy breaths. He thought of Espha, beautiful, young Espha. No, he couldn't think of that. No one knew about that. No one knew about them.

So he wrangled heavily with his thoughts, and turned them back to the desert, to the cold night air, and to Tenele healing Sho's burned arm.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad felt just shadows of the emotion at first. Then, the picture came clear. It was probably the candid embarrassment of his protege that cemented the link, but Vlad kept his grin to himself. He ignored Espha, focusing on the connection so he wouldn't lose track of it. And if he dug beneath that memory, beneath his conscious thoughts, he could finally feel his unconscious sensations and the pain that was plaguing his soul.

Vlad took a deep breath, leaning over the edge of the bed with his hands on his knees, and braced himself. Slowly, he spread the link wider. Power jumped at first, then flowed steadily, as though his Blood was Talon's. It wasn't so much a transfer, but a....sharing, like two bodies sharing a heart.

A little wider, and the pain, too, diverged between them. Vlad was no Tenele. He couldn't heal anybody. But apparently, he could share the damage for a while. Half the sickening rage dissipated from Talon's consciousness into Vlad's. The elder vampire clenched his fingers over his knees stiffly, eyes bright like embers. Otherwise, he looked mostly like himself as he slowly looked back up at Talon. He wasn't sure if what he was feeling was just eavesdropping, or if the sharing had worked.