The Cost of Peace

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad caught Tenele in a secure embrace as she sprawled into him. The sun had no risen enough yet to warm him, so his body and hands were like ice as he caught her. He had an amused and rather satisfied smirk on his face at her reaction to Atul's charity. "Really, how would you like it if a gentleman had that reaction to you in the morning?" he teased her, mock defending Atul.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele yelped softly when Vlad caught her, for it suddenly felt like she had been wrapped in a blanket of snow. Still looking a bit dazed, she took several calming breaths as her skin got used to the stark temperature different between Atul and Vlad. Her eyes flickered back and forth between the two, and finally stalled on Vlad's red irises. "I'm not even going to ask," she said very softly.

"You were freezing, and it was the only way to keep you warm," Atul told her, dusting off his clothing and standing up straight. He bent down and grabbed the bag, reaching in for the flask of water. He took a step forward and handed it to her.

She took several large gulps of water before she decided she needed to use it sparingly. It only mildly quenched her thirst, if she could, she would have drank the whole thing. Atul tossed it back into his sack, and through the bag over his shoulder.

"Let's keep moving."

She would have complained about needing time to get good and awake, but Vlad's cold body had done that quite well. She looked back at him, placing her warm hand on his icey cheek. "You're so cold." She closed her searing green eyes and leaned in kissing his cold lips slowly, offering him a bit of warmth, as if he needed to have that warmth.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad dropped his ruby gaze to her without blinking. For a shadow of a moment, something more might have been there, something incomplete about his expression, but then he was smirking condescendingly in his usual manner. "Cold? Really? I hadn't noticed," he mused, touching the large vein on his neck as if checking for something. "Ah," he said, eyebrows raising sarcastically, "Right." He moved his fingers to trace the outline of her cheek, almost in a caress. "Tenele," he murmured, his voice shifting to something different now, almost lost sounding. "You're so warm," he said quietly. "You...I can't explain it, you give me the strangest urge to..."

His other hand slid unobtrusively behind her. A flicker of a grin betrayed his motive, but it was already too late. He slipped his fingers under the edge of her shirt and pressed his icy palm to the warm skin on the small of her back.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele gasped a ragged shocked breath, arching her back to get it away from his cold hand. She just ended up arching into his solid form. "Don't do that!" she muttered breathlessly, as if someone had dumped cold water over her form. She was on her feet in a heart beat, a bit woozy at first. She managed to keep her balance.

"Could you control yourself until we get to the town, or at least hold off until we get to the oasis. You can have all the fun with eachother you want once we are safely out of this desert." Atul muttered over his shoulder as he trailed down a steep sandy dune.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad smirked at Atul's reaction, but let his comment slide. He proceeded forward and they were on their way. The day was cloudless and blindingly sunny, and windier than it had been the day before. The gusts would occasionally force them to brace their steps or stop entirely before they continued on.

Vlad bickered with Atul intermittently, partly because it was entertaining to see the man's feathers ruffled and partly because it took some attention from the fact he had slowed down considerably to remain as close to Tenele's side as he could without looking like he was babysitting. She really seemed to be moving quite respectably, but there was no way she wasn't dehydrated. If they didn't find their destination soon, he was going to carry her whether she wanted it or not.

They began making their way to the peak of a large dune they'd been ascending for several minutes now. When they reached the top, they got the longest view they'd had all morning of the landscape ahead of them. It was both amazing and paralyzing to look at. Nothing but steep waves of sand stretched on as far as they could see, no sign of city or port.

But what truly dominated the landscape was a thick cloud of red and gray, far ahead, that spread across the edge of the landscape like a horizon, blocking whatever lay beyond it for almost as far as they could see ahead of them. The cloud rose high into the fair sky, and at first glance, it was easy to believe it was actually rain. This was Vlad's first reaction. He narrowed his eyes at the haze, wondering if he was hallucinating. It couldn't be more than five miles away.

And then Vlad noticed something else with his keen eyes. Tiny, distant dunes, being swallowed one by one by the horizon. "That's coming toward us," Vlad said ambivalently, still taking rain as his first guess. But in this place, it was possible that even rain could be an enemy, or something else entirely.

He glanced at Atul to see their desert expert's reaction.

[Emora Deen]

They walked and walked and walked, too no where it seemed. Tenele was beginning to think it was just that. That, maybe Atul was just leading them in circles. How could he possibly tell where he was going? She was doing fine until they came to a stop.

Tenele felt nausea well up in her, and she clumsily stepped off to the side. She doubled over, clenching her stomach as she gagged to throw up. Nothing would come up, because there was nothing there. She managed to calm the feeling of nausea enough to stand back up and wipe the back of her sweating hand across her mouth. She took a deep breath, “I want to rest.” She wasn't paying attention

“Tenele, let Vlad carry you,” Atul said gently but very urgently, placing a hand on her arm and urging her towards Vlad.

Tenele jerked her arm away. “No, I want to rest. I just want to sit very still.” She put her hands on her hood covered head.

Atul's eyes looked out at the storm coming closer. "Vlad, grab her, and hold on to her." It would be moving fast, and the closer it got the harsher the wind blew, until bits of sand began hitting like little bits of glass. "Okay, its going to get very hard for you to breath, Tenele. Put your cloak over your mouth and try very hard not to breath in too deeply."

Tenele glanced at what he was staring at. "You've got to be freaking kidding me," she groaned. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Sandstorm," Atul muttered. "We should hold down here, at the top. We're going to get burried in sand anyway, but at least it won't be at the bottom of a dune."

[Soran Nightblade]

After hearing Atul's words, Vlad's eyes returned to the storm sharply. A sand storm....how unwittingly optimistic of him to think it was rain. And it seemed to come faster and faster, approaching across the landscape until the sand was blowing too fiercely to open their eyes. Vlad grasped Tenele in a solid, inescapable embrace, Pulling her face into the soft indent just below his left shoulder. He had one arm rigid around her back, the other cradling her head. The wind grew fiercer, and the sand began biting even through his clothes. "Atul, you too. We'll lose each other," he shouted blindly over the rising wail of the storm. He couldn't see, and when he attempted to squint his eyes open, he wound up with sand-filled eyes and thin tracks of sand-caked blood on his face. If Atul was going to get to them, he was going to have to do it himself.

The wind pulled harder, and Vlad might have resisted it if the very ground they stood on wasn't swiftly morphing under his feet. He took a strategic fall and lay over Tenele, his body acting like a shield against the storm, her face still pressed against him. It would be a miracle if he didn't suffocate her before the storm ended, he thought. For kicks, he did his best to teleport. It didn't work. He had one other trick up his sleeve, but his defensive 'blood shield' used so much power that even this situation didn't warrant it...yet. With Tenele in her current state, it would be a sad state of affairs if he wound up dying of thirst as well. Still, he kept it in his mind, as a last resort if Tenele lost consciousness.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele at first had no problems breathing. She had eyes closed very tightly, and her face pressed against Vlad. She storm whiped the hood almost completely off her head, if it weren't for Vlad's hand. Her hair slapped around, and her hands clutched at his shirt tightly, the sand digging into her skin.

Slowly it felt as if she wasn't getting enough air. She began to breath harder and faster, trying to get the air she so desperately wanted, and at first that was enough. But, slowly it too became futile. She was slowly sufficating, or at least that's what it felt like. She turned her head to the side, trying to muscle it out from under Vlad's arm so she could get a breath of air. But, sand just slapped her in the face harshly.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad felt her struggle under him, and tried to give her just enough leeway to realize it wouldn't help to face the storm. The air beyond the filter of his clothes was too laden with dust to breathe, and they were being gradually buried alive in sand. His clothes billowed and whipped against him, and the fabric that had seemed like protection against the sand now seemed more like trying to protect oneself with a gossamer curtain full of holes. He couldn't even open his mouth to speak to Tenele without ending up with a throat full of sand, so he focused carefully on her heartbeat, the only thing he could still hear in the storm, and on the slow rise of her chest. He neither heard nor felt any sign that Atul had made it to him, and he wondered darkly if the man would use this opportunity to leave them to their own resources in the middle of the desert. If that were the truth, he might even have to admit it was a pretty good prank. But more likely, they'd been genuinely separated, which, if they didn't rediscover each other later, would equal the same thing. The sand began swirling around him, and Vlad tightened his arms around Tenele's face and body. The sensation of the sand was rather similar to being set on fire.

[Emora Deen]

She tugged on Vlad's shirt as she breathed into it. But, it was hard to get oxygen from it. It became increasingly harder. Her body wanted more, and if it didn't get more soon then she'd be out. She breathed in the fabric of Vlad's shirt, her breath paniced. The sand was burning into her, and she felt like she was getting eaten alive, or blown apart.

Too little air.

She could sleep, and then wouldn't feel the pain anymore. She'd wake when it was all over. That's what she was telling herself as her brain began to grow weary of being awake. Her grip on Vlad slackened. Sleep would do her good...

[Soran Nightblade]

There it was, he thought as he heard her frantic heartbeat beginning to slow dangerously. Their time was up. "Tenele!" he called down to her without exposing her to the sand. Vlad's lungs couldn't get clean air to speak, so his voice came out raspy. He thought he might have heard a faint jump in her pulse, but it was too noisy to be sure. He wondered how much of the storm remained to pass.

It was too risky to find out. He tucked his chin low, muttering a quiet enchantment. Energy rippled over both their skin like a warm blanket of static, and suddenly there was no wind, no noise, and the sand around them fell flat to the ground. A faintly transparent crimson dome arched over them both, glowing a vibrant red, protecting them from all that was outside. Vlad's eyes burned with a matching energy. A good amount of his concentration would remain with the shield for as long as he maintained it. There was enough room inside for Vlad to sit up and give Tenele room to breathe, although that was about it. "Tenele," he called to her again, his glowing eyes watching her intently. His hand lightly brushed sand and hair from her face.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele's eyes fluttered open, green piercing irises staring at him as if she had just woken up from a deep sleep. Her eyes roamed over his face. "Is it over yet?" she asked wearily. Her eyes noticed the red color around him. "What's going on?" She thought she had just fallen a sleep, but she was suddenly confused about where she was.

[Soran Nightblade]

"We're waiting things out," Vlad answered her, gazing outward with distracted neon eyes and looking for some sign of Atul. He saw nothing but blazing sand. Unless Atul was within a few feet of them, he wasn't going to spot him. He felt his energy pulling from him in a steady, controlled current. It wasn't a problem yet, but if the storm didn't pass quickly, it was going to become one.

[Emora Deen]

A little while passed after that and Tenele, taking several thankful breaths, watched as the sand slid off the sheild slower. It seemed that the force of the wind was lessoning and the amount of sand that was being blown about was smaller.

"Should you be doing this?" Tenele asked. "You haven't had a meal in at least two days." Her hair was tangled about her head, and she had sand in every possible spot of her clothing, which was uncomfortable in itself.

[Soran Nightblade]

"Probably not," Vlad conceded through a veil of concentration. "But the alternative is losing you, and that's not acceptable either." He showed her a half-focused smirk. "Alone in the desert with Atul and nothing to tease him with? Not an option," he shook his head. He looked out at the storm, which appeared to be passing them over. Sand had piled on one side of the shield until it nearly piled over the top, while the other side had an increasingly clear view of their surroundings.

The vampire concealed his reaction as a pang dug through his body, warning him he was pushing things. They could survived what was left of this. "Caught your breath?" he asked her, shifting low above her again.