Mature: Desert Moon

[Soran Nightblade]

Sinead had been writing a letter at a desk by the balcony. When she heard Tenele's voice, she turned and stood. Sinead?

"Tenele. How nice to see you. I thought you'd be spending the day with your husbands." She offered a motherly grin at the girl.

"She will be," Vlad said, stepping out of the wall. A blood shield spilled around Sinead like a dome.

"Vladimir?" the queen blinked at the rage in his eyes. It crackled through the translucent red shield around her.

Vlad turned toward Tenele, and a second shield dropped over his wife's form. "Get out." The quiet words held a thunderous rage behind them. He stalked toward the dome.

"I had hoped not to see a domestic dispute so soon," Sinead frowned, but her eyes were right where Vlad's were - locked on Tenele.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele's jaw tightened and she cast a dark look at Vlad. "Mother told, didn't she?" Tenele said. She smiled a black, acid smile that was so unlike Tenele. "I can't get out. Its not like I meant to get in. It just happened. We'll all have to sit here until she wakes up. When she wakes up it will force me out. Though, I have to admit that this is the safest place for me to be right now."

She reached into her dress and drew out the dagger. "Though, its not the safest place for Tenele."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad snarled. In an instant, the shield around Tenele shattered and the dagger shot loose from her hand, striking deep into a wood chest of drawers behind Vlad. A second later, she was on the ground, pinned flat on her back with arms and legs spread eagle. "What do you think you're doing with my wife and my Queen, sonny?" Vlad curled his lips in a hateful sneer at the word.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele giggled. "Woah, there... Your wife is like a delicate flower. You should be more careful with her." She twisted her wrists. "You might bruise her." Her green eyes cast down. "I owe someone a debt that I had no intention of repaying until I happened upon this happy accident. That's all. After this moment, I don't think I'll bother your Queen again. She's really not one of my priorities. This is more for fun, really."

[Soran Nightblade]

"Vladimir," Sinead offered quietly, tapping her blood shield.

The vampire didn't oblige. He knew the queen could break his blood shield if she truly intended to leave, but suspected she would avoid doing so to indulge his pride. He did not want her and this creature breathing the same air, much less coming near each other.

"I've been thinking about turning my wife anyway. Much easier to protect an immortal. I thought I'd let her have a few more years, but you make my decision quite easy," Vlad smiled as he approached the figure on the ground. "I wonder how her death might affect you? It's convenient, really - she won't even feel it this way."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele tilted her head at him, thinking. "I'm not sure what would happen... I may stay trapped in here. I may fade away entirely. At any rate, even if I am expelled after this body breathes its last, will you be able to handle her hatred at being turned? Let's give it a try? Come over, have a nibble."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad's expression went cold. "Tenele and I have had our discussions. This only pushes the issue." His posture grew more formal as he knelt beside Tenele's body, as if preparing for a great ritual.

Sinead pressed a hand to his blood shield. He could feel it like cool fingers against his chest. "Lord Dracul," she asserted darkly.

"King Dracul," Vlad corrected, dark as midnight. He leaned down to Tenele's neck, and placed his lips to her throat.

[Emora Deen]

"Go on," Tenele's voice whispered like velvet. Her breath fanned across his cheek. "Murder your wife, the mother of your chi-" Tenele's breathing changed. It froze, and then blew out harshly. "I can't move. Why can't I move?" Panic rolled off her. She struggled.

She was held down to the floor and Vlad was hovering over her with his lips to her neck. "Vlad?"

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad's mouth slackened, and he exhaled a heavy breath against her skin. "Thank god," he whispered. He released the pressure on her body and drew her upper half up tighly in his arms, curled over her like a suit of armor. Another blood shield shot up around them as he straightened his neck to scan the room.

"Did you see where he went, Queeny?"

Sinead was studying the room in the same way. "I saw nothing visible. Let this down."

"No."

She reached out and passed her hand through it anyway. Blue swam through the red and dissolved it in a hiss of energy.

"Queeny-"

"Two at once is too much, Vladimir. I will be my own shield."

Vlad grimaced and looked back at Tenele. Sinead wasn't wrong. The shield was one of his least efficient magics, and it would suck him empty in no time. "Tenele," he focused his glowing ruby eyes on the woman he loved. "What do you feel? Do you hear voices? Are you hurt?"

[Emora Deen]

"Voices?" she asked him, rubbing the red mark on her temple where she bumped her head. "No... How did I get here? I remember that thing coming out of the fire and then nothing. Tenara! Where is Tenara?" Tenele tried to stand up, but Vlad was locked securely around her.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad's arms unwound against their will and gave Tenele the space to sit up. "You were possessed. Lelana's brat could still be here. He could be after Sinead." His thoughts jerked wildly. "He could be going after Atul and Tenara." The thought of his husband and daughter, pillaged and left in Lelana's current condition, sent poorly concealed wrath into his voice. "I need you all in one place," he groused, the blood shield tugging at his focus.

"Who are you talking about?" Sinead asked, calling her servant's focus back to the room.

"One of Verin's kids just popped out of the woodwork. The brat is here and he's after... we don't know what he's after. He was able to absorb Lelana's powers. I don't know if that means he can now use them, as well. I want everyone in one place," he repeated again.

"Drop this shield and take us both to them," Sinead directed.

Vlad glared up at her warily.

*I am not possessed,Vladimir,* she said gently into his mind.

The vampire still hesitated, more from indecision than distrust. Too many people. Since when did he love so many fucking people?

[Emora Deen]

Tenele swallowed. Vlad was spewing information at her and her head felt too fuzzy to comprehend it. "He was mist. Maybe he went through the floor?" she asked. She looked down at the floor while feeling her body over. She was checking to make sure she was whole, all there, that nothing had changed while someone was wearing her skin. She shivered at the idea.

She reached out and touched Vlad's arm when he didn't reply to Sinead. "Its okay. We'll be okay. Don't worry. We've dealt with much worse, haven't we? We'll be fine."

[Soran Nightblade]

They'd dealt with much worse. But he'd had less to lose, then. He was married now. He had a child, a family. He'd just had a large, very public wedding.

The entire world would soon know exactly whom he loved. For a being with few weaknesses, the thought came as a bit of a jolt. He was absurdly easy to hurt. He.

Tenele's warm fingers on his arm pulled him back. He wrapped his hand around hers and felt his nerves settle back into something more rational.

"Ok... we'll go back to the infirmary. My Queen," he reached out and Sinead placed her hand willingly in his.

They ported together to the same hall where Vlad had left his daughter with Atul.

[Emora Deen]

Atul was cradling Tenara in his lap, whispering to her. He sat in a chair just outside Lelana's open door. When they appeared, his eyes brightened. His blue gaze went questioningly from Tenele to Vlad.

There was carefully concealed wrath in his bright eyes, subdued by the gentle, tiny girl in his arms. "Is he gone?"

Tenele nodded. She went to Tenara and knelt down next to her. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. Whatever I did, I'm sorry." She pressed a kiss to her hair and drew Tenara close. "Mommy was scared." Tenara wrapped her arms tightly about Tenele's neck and nestled in against her chest.

"I'll have sorcerers ward off the castle so that no one can teleport in or out," Atul announced, rising from his seat.