Heirot

Tenele raced up the steps, not really thinking about what she was running into. Frankly, it probably was a good thing she wasn't thinking. She ignored Vlad's angry words to Stalker, because she would make sure this all went well to where he would be thanking them and not cursing them later. "What would you do if I was in this situation?" she muttered to him when she reached the step bellow his. His already tall form loomed over her and she thought she could feel his smoldering fury. She saw the holy ruins about the steps, making a circle around him. He'd stepped right into a binding spell and hadn't even paid attention to it. Tenele bent and swiped her hand across the chalk, smudging the ruin into a useless smear. The spell fizzled and died around Vlad, leaving just a whisper of it, like an aftertaste. "You have to warn Atul," Tenele suddenly realized, glancing up at the sky for the signal that would not come. "You can teleport over in a flash with time to spare, but you have to go now!" This was all happening so fast. Her mind was suddenly a buzz with the fact Vlad would have been ripped from her world had they not turned the corner at the exact moment they had.

Vlad shifted back a step as the bond released him. The fierce tension that was running through his blood dropped, leaving him with only the to-be-expected adrenaline and frustration over the situation. He was glaring at her while also looking too shocked to choose words to bark at her. But her call to action reminded him that there were only seconds left to find Atul. He glanced down at the ground, where Stalker appeared to be vastly outnumbered. "You're hurt, and there are too many here," he said curtly, reaching out and grasping her good arm. He wasn't leaving her on this wall surrounded by enemies, so he'd have to take her with him.

Tenele glanced down at Stalker, and then back to Vlad. She gave him a solemn nod. "Alright," she told him. "Let's go now." They were swarming again, climbing and crawling from all around, and Tenele couldn't see them. She could only feel the brush of something, and no idea what. "Now!" she said in a panicked tone, fearful something would snatch her away if they didn't flee.

* * *

Atul was beating back attacker after attacker, but he was not without his injuries. He, unlike his human allies, could continue on with them. He looked to the sky, knowing that it had to be getting close to that time... What if something had gone wrong? What if the signal would never come? What if the priest and Vlad were dead.

They were doomed.

And he had failed.

Vlad pulled Tenele in tight against his chest and teleported them both out of the area, appearing in the town square where the battle had first started. Very few could be seen standing, which was a terrible sign. Without releasing Tenele, Vlad scanned the area briskly for Atul. When he didn't see him, he ported a few hundred feet and looked again. On the third try, he finally saw the prince fighting a few yards away. He literally swept Tenele up as he bolted for the prince and grabbed him around the waist.

Outside the city, the three of them landed in a disorderly heap on the ground.

Tenele choked on a scream when she landed on her shoulder and it came out more of a strained garggle. She rolled over onto her back, sitting up as she listened for the screams. There was nothing but dead silence... and then a bright light. A funnel of light, and it was enough that she had to turn her head away. She knew that such holy light had to be agonizing for Vlad and Atul.

Atul rolled into the sand, nearly burrying his head. He heard it in the distance, though he and Vlad were probably the only ones who could. His father was angry, and Atul could only pray, hurt from what had just happened. That was to say, if his father had been in the city the whole time. In the midst of the light was distorted face screaming into the air, the aura of all the demons coming together as they were shattered into dust. Then the face was gone, and the light as well and nothing but silence followed.

She could hear the sound of the sand shifting as the wind blew it past and she turned her watery eyes back to the city. She tried not to think about the fact that Stalker had been left inside, just as she had tried not to think about it when Vlad had insisted she go with him. She didn't want to consider how it might have been painful for him, if he even felt pain. "Well," she whispered, pulling her sor arm to her chest. "That was... thrilling."

Vlad pressed his face firmly into the best shelter he could find on short notice, which was wedged between the sand and Atul's side. Even with his eyes clenched shut, the force of the spell was enough to make his mind like he'd been shot in the head for a few moments. When he had the presence of mind to know it had stopped, he pulled back and pushed somewhat dazedly into a kneeling position, squinting at Tenele and Atul to ensure they were each in one piece. Of course, he'd left the hellhound behind in the battle. Despite his warning to the beast earlier, Vlad wasn't happy about it. However, they had won.

"Atul...I believe this makes you king," the vampire said, squinting back at the city with still-sensitive eyes.

Atul blinked and looked at the city. He thought he heard faintly the sound of cries of victory coming from behind the walls, but then again that could have been his ears buzzing from the power he'd felt. He almost looked as if he hadn't thought of the outcome of this battle making him King. He smirked, then looked back at them. Tenele didn't look at all as happy as he thought she should be. They had won after all, and Vlad was whole.... At least he appeared to be.

He poked her in the leg with his finger. "I'll need a queen," he joked with her, and she smiled sheepishly. "I think I might know a few pretty young men to set you up with."

She drew her legs up so that her knees were bent in front of her and she rested her chin there, thuroughly exhausted. "Well...."

Silence.

"What now?"

Vlad looked over at Tenele. "Now I believe Atul has some soldiers to go celebrate with. And you get to tell me why you were playing hero instead of lying low like you promised me," Vlad hid a sour expression before it could get to his face. That wasn't what he'd wanted to talk to her about, but it had been the first thing to come out.

Tenele glanced at him with a look that clearly expressed how much she did -not- want to talk about that at the moment. But, she had a feeling there would be no getting around it. Atul didn't say anything to them because he could tell by the tone in the Vlad's voice that he was very serious about that conversation. He simply bowed his head and rose from the sand to head back to the city.

"Its hard to lie low when invisible people are trying to cut you in half and an oversized child is trying to drag you to the Gods only know where," Tenele replied a little miffed, but closed her eyes and sighed softly. She was being defensive for no reason. Though, she felt Vlad hadn't a right to be angry with her. Especially since she was the reason he'd been able to escape the city instead of being cinders like the rest of the demons. "I tried very hard, in my own way, to not play hero."

Vlad lowered his head slightly, dropping his gaze. "Right...of course. Like you said, I would have done the same stupid thing," he said soberly. "I was just concerned... Hell, I was going crazy. And then Verin was-" he paused and looked at her warily, suddenly registering what she'd said about an oversized child. What was that about? "Did Verin come to you?"

Tenele brushed her silver hair out of her face at his question, her feircely bright jade green eyes flickering to his. "No... not personally." Tenele shifted her gaze away from him as she rested her chin back down on her knees, holding her aching shoulder. She remembered very clearly the feeling of it being pulled right out of place and when she'd pushed it back in. "There was this child on the battlefield... She was crying and I wanted to get her out of the way. I'd planned to take her and hide, as you had told me to stay out of trouble. I'm sorry. I ended up walking into some sort of trap. She lured me down into that place we went to our first day here... It was definitely not a child. A horrible beast... and I tried to get away from it because it wanted to keep me there in that place, at least I think that's what it intended to do. It told me, 'Master wants the pretty safe and sound'. Whatever that means? Like I'm supposed to believe that Verin of all people wants me safe? We don't exactly see eye to eye when it comes to one another's walfare. I kill the thing, though it wasn't easy... Why do you ask? Did Verin come for you?" It wouldn't have surprised her if he had. Verin seemed very intent on getting his claws in Vlad, for whatever reason. She didn't like this, not one bit. It seemed they were starting all over again, or maybe not. Maybe, if they were extremely lucky, they'd find that Verin had been in the city, and was nothing more than ash like the rest of them.

Vlad's eyes narrowed as he listened to what had happened to Tenele. He worked to keep his face neutral, because his anger wasn't meant for her. "He didn't approach me. He only spoke to me," he said. "Apparently he wasn't bluffing. I thought he was only trying to get to me, and then rethought it. I was probably already too late when I called for the-...." he broke off, suddenly casting a strange look at the city.

Why did he still feel Stalker's presence?

Tenele watched him for a moment when he didn't finish his sentence, and even longer after that he still stared at the city with somewhat of a questioning expression. "Is something wrong?" she asked him softly, glancing to the city as well. She could not feel presences as Vlad did. Her's were just feelings any normal human would get. But, Vlad's senses stretched far beyond hers, so there was no telling what he had suddenly realized.

Vlad's gaze broke away from the city abruptly and turned to her. "Nothing important," he said somewhat conspicuously. "I landed on you. Are you hurt?" He reached out as if to touch the shoulder he'd noticed her favoring, his fingers brushing just short of the skin.

Tenele glanced at her shoulder as she watched his fingers grow closer. "You didn't hurt me," she told him softly. "That thing tugged really hard when I jumped on his back..." She winced, probably not the best idea to tell him she'd done something as foolish as that. "Anyway, he dislocated it... But, I fixed it. I think." She smiled sweetly at him, her eyes sparkling.