The Princess and the Blade

[Emora Deen]

Laurius paused to look back at the Ivis. “Good night, Ren.”

The east wing of Laurius’s conservatory turned laboratory held the small room the doctor had used, and a square chamber with a fountain, tall, spindly trees with sweeping branches, and long wooden benches.

Laurius took a seat on one furthers from the door, facing the passage they had come from.

Lelana swept up to him and took his chin in her hand. “Plan good, Mr. Merchant, and then I’ll have a look in that head of yours, okay? I promise not to do too much damage.” She smiled, beautiful and sweet, but she spoke in such a way that the imagined her fingers crossed behind her back.

“We will plan in time. Let us rest a moment. We nearly died in that world,” he said.

“Aww.” She pouted. “Well, if you play your cards wrong, you’ll die in this one.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi took zero notice of his surroundings as he followed through the conservatory after them. He stopped behind a bench opposite Laurius and stood there like a statue, as if that petty obstacle could ensure he didn't react to the other male's presence. The Hydris was wearing off, leaving his mind and body feeling like a damp rag. "Laurius..." He had no idea what to say to the man he'd nearly killed. He had no ideas, period.

[Emora Deen]

Laurius shifted his gaze from Lelana to where Havitharon stood. The man looked lost. Exhausted. Guilty. His hand tightened over the blade’s hilt. “No hard feelings, Havitharon. Neither one of us were in our right minds.”

“Ooo,” Lelana mused. “Sounds like something dramatic happened. Do share.”

Laurius sighed and laid back on the bench, throwing his arm over his eyes. He meant to answer her, but he fell asleep.

—-

Tenele approached Vlad, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing her cheek to his chest. “You can’t port them into Arken and us to Hajara on an empty stomach, especially after fueling Knight as you did, and porting us here.” She lifted her head from his shoulder. She reached to her cloak and I clasped the broach, draping the fabric on the table. Then, she loosened the collar on her shirt. “You have to eat something, even if it’s a little bit, or you’re going to put yourself and us in a bind.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Ren watched Vlad turn to his wife. The vampire's expression was totally different than the one he'd just shown the rest of them.

"I would much rather do this on our bed," Vlad whispered huskily into her ear. His tongue slid over the ridge of her ear, and sharp teeth nibbled at its edge. "For fun, and not for hunger."

He lowered his lips to her neck. Artisuren watched without a second thought. It was normal to take a male in front of others in his world, although usually it was with one's own harem.

Vlad's lips drew back, long fangs gleaming in the lamplight, and closed on the muscle of her neck.

Ren's irises shrank to green pinpricks against the blacks of his eyes. He launched forward and drove his weight into Vlad's shoulder, bowling him sideways.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele held her breath and Vlad's teeth sank into her skin. There was the familiar pinch of pain before the sweeping pleasure that drowned out the rest. She almost melted in his arms, but then something fast and hard tore him sideways and ripped his teeth from her neck, leaving behind a searing pain and the feel of warmth running down her chest. She had little focus to pay attention to whatever damage had been done, though. She whirled on the person who had attacked Vlad, thinking that Arken had found them already.

"What are you doing?!" Tenele snapped at Ren, wincing as she reached up to touch her neck the torn flesh at her neck and the river of blood staining her blouse. "Shit." She cupped her hand over the wound, trying to hide the severity of it from her husband before he decided it was better just to put an end to ALL of Tenara's friends.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad snared Ren in a sharp-clawed grip and twisted over him before they even hit the floor. When they did, the vampire pinned the man by the neck to the tile with a bloodsoaked snarl.

Clawed hands gripped tightly over Vlad's back, and Vlad was mystified to realize the man wasn't trying to free his neck. He was clinging to him for dear life, as if to hold him still.

"What.....I doing? What is he doing," Ren strained, terror and resolve equally matched in his glare.

[Emora Deen]

"He's a vampire," she snapped. "He drinks blood. I'm feeding him so he doesn't eat you later, though maybe I'll let him now." She exhaled a frustrated breath through her nose. She lifted her hand away, and it was slick and dark. It painted her chest, down her between her breasts and soaked stained her shirt. "Thar's Mercy, you people are more trouble than your worth. Vlad, please. It's getting everywhere and I'd rather it get in your mouth than on my clothes."

[Soran Nightblade]

Ren's jaw and arms went slack at the Yurivis's rebuke. He didn't understand. He didn't understand anything. Vlad took in the man's cowed behavior and decided not to murder him at this exact moment. He rose, giving the man's neck one last vindictive shove, and turned back to help his wife.

"Fuck. The skin tore." He closed his hand over the wound and pressed firmly to calm the bleeding. The ritual he performed next with his tongue on her neck and breasts was somehow more intimate than if he'd torn his clothes loose and given himself to her.

Ren watched him drink the injured Yurivie's blood in abject horror. She'd scolded him. She wanted to let him hurt her. Ren staggered to his feet and fled. As soon as the front door was closed behind him, he bent and was sick in the snow.

This world.... This world was...

He sagged back against the doorframe, shin-deep in snow, and tried to regain control of his breathing.

_________

Havi slowly sat opposite Laurius. The man's forgiving words were a surprising comfort after Tenara's parents' condemnation, even if he wasn't sure he deserved them. "Did Tenara... are you fully healed?"

[Emora Deen]

Tenele watched Ren leave while Vlad had his meal. It was impossible for her not to feel pleasure or arousal while he made her his dinner. It came so naturally now, after all these years. Her breath came quick, her fingers knotting in his clothes just to keep them occupied and from roaming. This wasn't the time to indulge in fantasies or wants.

She thought she heard the strange being retching out on the snow, and she made an amused sound. "I don't think he likes the sight of blood," she whispered when her husband had finished. Her neck still oozed, so she borrowed a scarf on a hook in Laurius's office and tore a long strip from it, handing it to her husband to help wrap around her neck.

At the same instant she handed him the scarf, a blind, scarred, orange cat came out from behind a potted plant and hopped up onto Tenara's lounge. He crawled up her belly and chest, walking in a circle until he plopped his boney, feral body down over the amulet she wore. He began to purr, loud and unapologetic while glowering at them with one good eye.

----

Laurius lifted his hand, looking sideways at Havi. "She did. She healed me. I can imagine it took its toll, given how... messed up I was." He touched his belly, where the sword had plunged through his body. "What about you? Did the Toothsbane finally beat out that other drug? The one that gave you a raging boner and thirst for blood." He cracked a smile.

Lelana's head cocked, her gaze sweeping to Havitharon, lowering to his crotch for a half a second before her nose wrinkled as she smirked.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad carefully licked her wound clean and wrapped it. His desire to protect her blended together with his possessive satisfaction at the injury. Husband and Monster blended together. "You are my favorite," he purred, licking her cheek.

__________

Havi sighed at Laurius's phrasing. Perhaps he was wrong to be worried. "The Toothsbane did what it does. My wounds are gone. The rut is close to fading as well. Ruts induced by Hydris aren't natural. What's supposed to be spread over several days blows through in a matter of hours. The progression is too fast for the body and mind to handle. Toothsbane just makes everything faster." He shook his head. "Stupid. I was stupid not to think she would use that tactic. It has been decades since I warded myself against the ruts. In the midst of everything else, I forgot I no longer had that immunity. I should have hidden my rings from her. I should have thought of the swords myself."

He cleared his throat. His voice felt scratchy. He'd spoken more in the last few hours than he typically did in a week.

And he'd sung. Twice.

The thought darkened his cheekbones. He changed the subject. "Where do you think the sisters went with the book?"

[Emora Deen]

"There are two places they might go," Laurius said, staring up at the snow on the glass ceiling. "Neither of them are particularly good for us. The sisters will either take the book to Queen Shea. Elias was not her favorite son, but he was still her son. If they were entangled with him, they might offer her the book to appease her wrath at losing him. If we have to go to Arroes and infiltrate that god forsaken palace, we're fucked. Alternatively, they might take the book to the Citadel on the Mount, to share its knowledge with the masters of sorcery, perhaps get some aid in translating it. If we have to go there, we're fucked."

"Oh, don't have such little faith in yourself, Mr. Merchant. You've come this far, no?" Lelana mused, sitting on the edge of the fountain with her feet in the water. Odd, given the temperature. She was a beautiful, bizarre creature that, in another life, he'd probably be trying to bend over a table somewhere for a good time. He almost laughed, at the fact he had no desire to do such a thing at all. Not to her, at least.

"If my theory that Elias acted alone, outside his mother's knowledge, is true, then the sisters will not go to Arroes. They won't volunteer any information they don't have to, especially if it means saving their own asses. Given the death in that camp, they are likely the only surviving members of Elias's little coup, which means no one has a reason to look for Elias at the border. They will spend years trying to figure out what happened to him, unless Tenara's parents go to war with Arken over this second kidnapping. At which point, Shea will know her son did something shitty and hunt for who else acted with him."

"I'll try to convince my brother to keep his temper in check, but when we got your letter, he put the banner men on notice," Lelana said. "If I explain how its a detriment to recovering the book, Atul will see reason. So you think Vlad should take you to the Citadel on the Mount?"

"I think, of the two possible avenues, its the most likely. If it isn't... then we will travel to Arroes."

Lelana looked back at Havi. "You've been to Arroes already, haven't you? That's where Vlad found you and Tenara after you came into this world. I'm sure you're a wanted man there. That might prove difficult to move around."

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi met her gaze with restrained patience. The day's events, compounded with losing Tenara, had resurrected his past disdain for Yurivie. He didn't want to be near anyone who reminded him of Tenara OR his sister and Lelana curiously reminded him of both. "In my experience of Arroes, it seemed the city had no shortage of dubious characters. Perhaps I would blend right in," he said, sounding tired. He looked back at Laurius. "What do I need to know about this Citadel?"

_______________

Ren was doing a poor job of calming himself. It had never been among his skills. Kishva had told him countless times that he was too sensitive. He couldn't afford to be that here.

"More trouble than he's worth." Tenele's complaint was a familiar one. Thanks to his flawless memory, he could relive them all.

An alien warmth he hadn't noticed before touched the edges of his mind. *Tenara?*

[Emora Deen]

Laurius pursed his lips and thought. "Its a place of learning, but all the worst, powerful people go there. It's full of sorcerers and poison masters and monsters. I technically graduated from there, but I ran from my placement, so I won't find any friends there."

"You were a student at the Citadel?" Lelana asked Laurius. "My, you are a wonder. I went there for a time, when I was a girl..." Lelana faded off, a dark look sweeping over her as she stared into the water at her feet and swished her legs back and forth. She cleared her throat and righted herself, that mad smile springing to her face like a shield. "It's not a very good place to hide from evil. I'm sure you'll be fine though."

-----

Colonel the cat wiggled his old body on Tenara's chest, as if not quite finding the perfect place just yet. But a moment later, he settled his head down into the crook of her arm neck and the vibration of the purr increased loud enough to draw Tenele's attention from where she stood leaning against her husband.

"Old thing," she said, stepping away from Vlad to scratch at the cat's ears, but the creature made a low warning sound, its ears flattening back. Tenele withdrew her hand and smirked down at the thing. "You have to give her up in the morning."

-----

It was early morning. The sun had barely crested the sky, so the snowy, forest path was lit in dull, gray light. It was fresh snow, powdery and deep and hard to trudge through. Tenara walked, having to hold her skirts as she went. She walked, and walked, and wasn't certain where she was going or why, only that she had to keep going. She was looking for someone or something or moving away from them. It felt fuzzy in the back of her mind, a nagging sensation of wrongness, of missing information. She kept walking, though, with her breath fogging in front of her face.

*Tenara?*

Tenara paused at the sound of her name. The voice seemed familiar. Confused.

"Hello?"

[Soran Nightblade]

Ren's mind stilled at the sound of Tenara's soft mental connection. *It's me. I'm just outside. Are you well?*

[Emora Deen]

Tenara look around, searching for him in the snow. "I think... I think I'm lost. I'm outside too. I don't see you," she said, taking a few more steps. She tripped over something buried in the snow, landing face-down in the soft white. She groaned, and pushed up on her hands, twisting her head to look back at her legs resting on the hidden log. Then, the log shifted. It sat upright, snow covered and human-shaped. A hand reached up and dragged down the figure's face, uncovering milky-dead eyes. His ghastly, scarred face was missing its nose, and a blade was wedged under his chin. He reached for it, and pulled it free, flexing his jaw. Joints popped. Teeth clacked together.

"Ren..." Tenele pleaded, fearing if she were any louder, the creature would notice her. The gnarled head snapped in her direction, milky eyes boring into her, and he lurched forward. She screamed and scurried across the ground, trying to get up to her feet. His hand caught her ankle and snatched her back down. The dead man dragged her to him, crawled over her, crushed her into the earth and snow. It seemed to get deeper, becoming a wall around her, and then over her, and they were buried in cold darkness.