Heirot

Tenele woke the next morning, combed her hair, made herself presentable... and left the inn before Crackers was awake.

She walked down the city streets, noticing the women that were stand, sitting, and lying around a building. They had barely nothing on, and Tenele already could guess what they were. Poor women. How many were forced there and how many worked there freely?

She made her way to the male brothel, opening up the door and stepping into the common room. She closed the door behind her and looked around, noting that it had grown somewhat more quiet in the common room when she stepped in.

But, then as soon as it had gotten quiet it was loud again. A few men standing casually in the corner were staring at her and talking amongst themselves.

She knew she didn't look like the type that would usually come into one of these places, so they were probably wondering what sort of man she was interested in. There was a man standing by the door she had come in. He appeared to be a receptionist of sorts.

She walked towards him and looked over his table. "I'm here to see a vampire that was brought in yesterday. Strickly business, no pleasure. I'm here to check on how he's doing."

The man nodded to one of those standing in the corner. "Take this lady up to room 50," he told the man who only wore a pair of pants.

The man smiled and looked at Tenele. "Follow me," he said casually, turning to go up a staircase.

Tenele followed behind him, taking in every detail of the place. She looked up and down the halls as she passed them, looking for a place that would look to be an office. Somewhere the owner might be staying.

"You like vampires?" the man asked, stopping just short of Vlad's door, which was marked with the number 50.

"You can say that," Tenele said, reaching for the door. The man casually stepped into the way. In fact, Tenele noticed, everything he did seemed to be casual, no effort at all.

"I can please you to," he said, grinning down at her. "Trust me..." His hand reached around her back, slidding up slowly and running his hand through her silver hair.

"I'm not here for that reason," she said and opened up the door. "THank you for your help." She stepped in and closed it behind her, taking a deep even breath.

Vlad was sitting on a plain chair in the corner when the door swung open. His scarlet eyes raised swiftly toward the doorway, glowing in the dark room. When he realized it was Tenele, he smirked at her. "Missing me already?" he scoffed.

Tenele gasped and jumped slightly, started by the voice coming from two crimson orbs that seemed to glow in the dark room.

She folded her arms. "How was your first night," she asked, stepping further into the room and glancing around.

Her green eyes flashed in his direction.

"Unimpressive," Vlad returned smoothly, wondering why he suddenly felt tense about discussing what had happened with her. It wasn't like he'd never had a woman before... He told himself it didn't matter, but his stomach seemed to be knotting in on itself. "Is my lapdog behaving for you?" he asked, meaning Crackers.

Tenele nodded. "Yes, he's behaving..." she said softly. She walked to the bed slowly, running her hand across the top absentmindedly.

"We would have ended up coming here eitherway..." she said softly. "He planned on selling me... He said he needed to sell me. But, he won't know."

She sat down on top of the bed, sighing. "I don't like you being in this place. It isn't right..."

Detecting what he took for pity in her voice, Vlad grew suddenly prideful. "This is nothing I can't handle," he asserted, his voice like black silk. But he had stood up from the chair and begun pacing the length of the room without realizing it.

Tenele stood up. He was pacing... There must have been a lot on his mind. She walked up to him and grabbed his arm gently, stopping him in mid-stride.

"Something wrong?" she asked softly. The dim light reflecting in her green eyes.

Why was it everytime she looked at him she wanted to kiss him. Why was it everytime she touched him she wanted to touch him more... and be held by him...

Vlad glanced down at her restlessly as her hand closed on his arm and drew him out of his inner thoughts. "No," he returned too seriously to seem honest, meeting her eyes almost in a challenge. He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully and looked to the side for a moment.

"There's something," he said after a minute. "This collar ticks me off," he said flippantly. "If your wanderings bring you across a way to release the lock, let me know. I suspect something external is necessary." Because he'd been working at it all night, but he didn't say that.

Tenele looked up at the lock for a moment and smirked. "What's wrong with it? It makes you look kind of sexy," she told him, giving a playful wink.

She moved her hand up and ran a finger tip over the lock. "I guess I could find a key somehow... I don't know how though. Asking around would be to obvious... and well, looking around would get me thrown out... Maybe I cuold casually mention it?"

"No," Vlad said quickly. "I'll just wear it." His voice carried a hint of sourness he didn't mean to slip into it. "So, find yourself any good entertainment last night? We are in the area," he smirked, trying too hard to change the subject.

"Well, one did make me an offer when he showed me your room," she said, taken a bit back by his sourness.

"He was nice looking," she said, trying to sound like she was interested, when she really wasn't. "And the way he slid his hand up my back did make me feel..."

She sighed and sat back down on the bed, not finishing it until she coudl come up with a good way to describe it.

"Comepletely turned off."

Vlad followed her to the bed as she spoke and touched her cheek, strong, cool fingers sliding back behind her ear into her hair. "Now, that's not kind. Not every man has my touch," he consoled.

Tenele laughed and glanced at him. Her hand touched his, and she smiled, her green eyes sparkling. She tugged on his hand, backing up and crawling on the bed, pulling him with her.

She sat there, crossleged, looking at him with a smile. "No, not everyman has your touch..."

"I guess I might have liked his touch, if my interests weren't some where else." She laughed then. "He told me he could pleasure me better than you."

Vlad's eyes flared slightly, and it wasn't clear if what flashed there was amusement or anger. Moving calmly after her, he sat on the edge of the bed and brought his legs up. For some reason he found himself suddenly reliving what had happened last night, and felt indignance and lust begin building up inside him. "Sadly, that man hasn't had the luck of being pleasured by me, so his comment seems ill-informed," he said darkly.

Tenele laughed slightly. She hadn't noticed Vlad's eyes so she wasn't concerned about it. If she would have seen them she probably would have hopped off the bed, since it seemed to have happened the moment she crawled further onto it.

"Well, you don't need to go prove who'se better," she told him.

Tenele fell over onto her side, curling up there with her head on a pillow, staring at him. "You're bed is much softer than the one in the inn."

She suddenly realized that she hadn't slept that good on the hard bed.

"Do you think they'll get suspicious if I'm up here long?" Her silver hair was drapped across the pillow top, brushing sofly against her skin.