Heirot

Vlad briefly contemplated ripping the dolt's throat out right on the spot, but instead he dug a towel out of the bag; the only dry thing large enough to be useful to him. "I heard her, you idiot," he snapped before grabbing him by the back of the collar like an unruly puppy and blinking them both out of existence. They reappeared just far enough away to be out of Tenele's earshot (he thought) and to disorient the human enough to keep him from finding his way back to her in the middle of the night.

Vlad released his grip on the man roughly, setting himself sternly to the task of peeling off his clothes and laying them over a tree branch to dry. The stranger stared in astonishment, both that he'd apparently just appeared in an entirely different place and that this guy was stripping in front of a total stranger. On top of that, he seemed quite well-put-together.

"What's going on?"

"You're shutting up, and I'm going to sleep," Vlad spat, pulling the towel around his bare waist and sitting back against a tree.

Tenele sat in front of the fire gazing sourly at it. "Hmph..." she muttered, resting her head on her knees. For a moment she thought about going to find him, but then what good would that do.

"If you think I was here to get off watching some human bathe, you're dead wrong."

Some human? Yes, that's what he had said. She stared at the fire for a moment. And that's all I'll ever be to him. Just another human...

She sighed and stood up, grabbing her saddle bag and pulling it down to use as a pillow. She took her pants off, hoping they would dry before morning to. She wrapped her blanket around her and curled up on her side by the fire.

Vlad sat in grim silence, staring out at nothing.

"You're not sleeping," the other man commented after about ten minutes.

"You're not shutting up," the vampire returned spiritlessly.

The man tilted his head to the side, as if Vlad were some strange piece of abstract art. "Well, I don't know much about you, but I know something about women. She won't be coming over here any time soon, if that's what you're waiting for," he commented indifferently, snapping off a leafy twig from the bush next to him and twirling it in his fingers.

"She can suit herself."

"What'd you do to get her so pissed?"

Vlad didn't bother to respond, his red eyes narrowing in the moonlight.

"Well if you aren't going to her, I am," the man said, climbing to his feet. An unseen force shoved him roughly back down. He stared at Vlad warily, and didn't try to move again. He sighed and flopped back in the grass.

Tenele sighed and sat up. "Damn it..." she muttered and stood up, walking out of the clearing and in some direction. She really didn't know where Vlad had gone. She didn't know why she was going to look for him. But, she didn't like being in that clearing alone. It gave her the creeps.

She held her blanket around her, guessing it wasn't a good idea to go looking for him in a blanket, but her clothes were still wet.

Vlad finally stood up impatiently, winning a smirk from his smartass camping companion. "Don't move," he ordered venomously, and teleported away to the campsite. He appeared near the horses and looked over at where he expected tenele to be by the fire, but didn't see her. An odd tension filled his chest as he listened to hear if she was nearby. He gathered focus and teleported to the river where she'd been earlier, but she wasn't there either. Showing no emotion on his face, he took off on foot in a wide circle around their camp, growing more tense with each minute he didn't discover her. Memories began nagging at him again as he went through the things that could have happened to her. There'd been no sign of a struggle. Would she have gone on toward the city alone? Without the horses? He thought she was more practical than that, but...

Tenele stumbled through the forest, hissing as she stumped her toe on something. Where could he be? Did he leave her completely... Did he go on to Lighten with out her. Was he that mad? Did he not like her that much?

She sighed as she thought it was pointless to look for him.

"Well, I'll just go back the way I came and if he doesn't come to me by morning... then..."

She turned around, and around... and around. "Uh..." she said outloud. "Which way did I come from..."

"No... I'm not asking for help..." she muttered, trudging through some high leaves.

She sighed, holding her blanket tighter to her.

"No I won't..." she said as she heard a rustling in the leaves behind her. She froze and looked over her shoulder, but it was too dark to see. "Vlad... if that's you..." she muttered. The rustling grew louder... "Stop playing around..."

A dark thing leaped out and it startled Tenele into screaming. She jumped back and watched the dark thing run away.

Vlad's head jerked to the right as he caught the sound of Tenele's voice screaming in the distance. Suddenly caught up in adrenaline, he broke into a sprint towards the sound, porting short intervals as he went and looking around for her. She wasn't appearing...did he aim in the wrong direction? He was an instant away from calling out after her when another teleport brought her suddenly into view just a fwe yards away. He skidded to a stop and stood in front of her, suddenly trying not to appear out of breath. His eyes scanned her in an instant and found no sign of injury before returning to meet hers, staring at her strangely while taking slow, deep breaths.

"What happened?" he demanded uncertainly.

Tenele straightened herself and tried to appear calm. "A thing jumped out at me," she said, trying not to say that the thing was a very small thing. "I don't know what it was. I think it tried to bite me..."

She pulled her blanket around her, holding it under her arms, leaving her shoulders bare. Her hair hung over one shoulder, leaving her smooth neck visible. Her green eyes darted around for a moment before resting on him again.

"Why did you come?" She all the sudden felt like that was a stupid question.

"You screamed," Vlad returned evenly, reaching down to secure the towel that was beginning to loosen around his waist from running. "Idiot, what are you doing in the middle of the woods?" He took an involuntary step toward her.

Tenele titled her head to the side. "I got bored," she said, and sighed. "I went to make sure you hadn't violated your new pet..."

She glanced around, trying not to focus her eyes on him.

"You can't expect me to stay in a clearing by myself and not get bored..." she said. She didn't want to admit she was afraid to be alone.

Whatever it was showed back up again and ran right out in front of her. Tenele screamed again and ran around to where Vlad was.

"Its trying to bite me I tell you..."

Vlad glanced down as whatever it was scrambled around his leg and made him stumble forward into Tenele. He reached up and caught her by the shoulders, either to steady her or himself as they stood chest to chest. He pinpointed the source of the noise and floated the creature up where they could both see it.

Tenele's mind jolted as she found herself pressed up against Vlad and she knew she was only wearing a blanket and he only had a towel. She swallowed hard as she looked up at him and then turned her head towards whatever was tormenting her.

It was a small plump racoon looking rather confused and frightened.

Tenele rolled her eyes, feeling comletely foolish. "Okay, so it wouldn't have eaten me."

"You never know. Some creatures eat the darndest things," Vlad teased, turning a fanged grin toward Tenele. He was teasing, but he didn't notice yet that he was still clutching her shoulders unnecessarily tightly as he dropped the raccoon back to the ground and let it scuttle away.

Tenele winced slightly. "Uh, Vlad... I don't need you to rip my shoulders off.." she said softly, glancing up at him, holding a hand to her blanket, which wasn't completely working correctly. It was shifted over to reveal a hip marked by a sun tattoo and a slender leg.

Vlad's hands eased and lifted away from Tenele's shoulders like an afterthought. Vlad suddenly became more conscious of the contect between their bodies, and took a slow step back. His eyes drifted away from hers uneasily. "I'll bring you back to the camp," he said.