LORE: Training a Hell Hound (MATURE)

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad's nerves jolted with a slight wave of bloodlust when Tenele became startled by the thunder. He kept that to himself, but grinned as he listened to her talk about thunder. "Well, everyone's got to have a weakness," he consoled her lightly. "As for ravaging you, you are safe for tonight, though I doubt my body will ever forgive me for it." He stood up and water poured down their bodies as he lifted her out of the tub and set her onto her feet to hand her a towel. He didn't try to throw it at her or play his other usual pranks, for the same reason he didn't want to do something as strenuous as lovemaking with her that night. It would be too easy to make her injuries worse. If she developed a problem on the ship, it would be no joke.

[Emora Deen]

"Ahh... its probably for the best. I'm a bit sleepy still, anyway." Tenele drew the towel around her as the water dripped from her body to pull at her feet. She dried herself off and then wrapped herself inthe towel like a cacoon as she slipped from the washroom and began rummaging through the wardrobe of whoever had owned the room previously. Apparently it had been a man, because she didn't find a single dress or article of female clothing. So Tenele pulled from it something silk and black and to her it was nothing but a robe, but it could be a number of things to the Outerland people. She drew it on slowly, it was easier to get on since it was so large. Then she tied the silk sash around her thin waist. The robe dragged the ground at her feet and hung from her hands a good four inches. She held up her hands, concealed in silk to show Vlad how large the garment was. "It swallows me," she mused with a smile, sadly entertained by something so small.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad chuckled at the enormous garment, pulling his towel around his waist and not seeming particularly concerned about replacing it with real clothing. Probably, he was intending to just sleep naked. He was many things, but bashful wasn't quite one of them. Of course, if they weren't going to bed, that made things a little different. "Do you still feel tired?"

[Emora Deen]

Tenele knelt next to Stalker and rubbed his head lovingly. "A little," she replied softly, her features turning concerned for the hell hound. She looked then, to the glass window in the ceiling that was angled with the slope of the roof. She could see the raindrops as the splattered across the grass. "Do you have something in mind?" She glanced to him, tilting her head. Her damp her hung in strands around her face, glinting silver in the dim lamp light.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad's gaze followed her to Stalker, and his own eyes dimmed faintly. "Nothing in particular," he said thoughtfully as he watched her with the hound. Stalker shifted his head slightly to look up at her, but otherwise, he didn't move a muscle. His hind legs looked awkward on the floor, like they weren't quite comfortable. Probably, the creature couldn't feel them at all. He certainly couldn't move them.

He felt sorry for the hellhound. Great. Why should he have to be worried over some summoned weapon that wasn't even of use to him in its current state. He decided to blame Tenele. It was her fault, for naming it. And worse, despite any concern he might feel, there really was no good plan to help the beast. They would set sail, probably the next day, if the rain let up. The wolf's life would pass en route. At the most, his 'mercy' was buying it a few more days of suffering. "You understand that even if we sail at dawn, he won't make it to Ighten, right?" he asked Tenele. "I don't want to raise false hopes."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele averted her eyes from him and tilted her head away, fingers moving in the wolfs warm fur. She was very quiet for a while as she run her hand over the wolfs head and behind his ears. She really didn't know how to answer his question, because she knew the truth deep down. She just didn't want to admit she knew it. It was like, if she admitted it then she would be allowing it.

"He'll make it," she said a little faintly, glancing down at Stalker. She bent and kissed the top of his head, rising to her feet afterwards.

Stalker had been her only link to Vlad when they were seperated. Stalker had been an annoying nuisance to her, and still a comfort. He had grown on her, and she cared about him as anyone would dearly care about a pet. She wasn't like Vlad, she could just think of him as a weapon. "I'm feeling thirsty. I might walk down and get something to drink..."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad moved slightly as if to follow her, but then paused and stayed put. "I'll wait here," he said, glancing at Stalker.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele glanced over her shoulder. "I'll be back," she told him as she unlocked the door and closed it behind her. She felt a little sad, and maybe it was because she had been trying not to think of Stalker dying, or being in pain, since she'd woken up. Vlad's question had brought it all back to her, and she felt as if it were her fault. If Vlad hadn't of asked Stalker to come to her aid, then he wouldn't have been in the city. Then, again, she might not be alive had he not.

The halls were dark, and at first it didn't bother her. But, the further she went the more it made her uneasy. She thought about going back and getting Vlad and making him walk with her, but then it made her look as if she were afraid of the dark. She wasn't, at least she wouldn't admit. So she kept walking, winding down the staircase. She peered over the railing at the common room bellow and the halls that branched off. The large double doors leading into the thrown room were closed, and a warm light came from behind the cracks. She passed the door by, trying to remember if she knew where the kitchen was... and of course she didn't.

There was a scent coming from one hall that smelled distinctly of spices, so she followed her nose towards it. It was dark and for a moment she just stood in the entry way. She swallowed and entered the dark tunnel. A few minutes later Tenele was happily walking out with a glass of tea and a pastry in her other hand. She had to eat it quickly, well before she made it to the steps, because she couldn't seem to walk up them with the length of the robe. So she held the robe up in one hand and the tea in the other. She climbed the staircase until she reached the hallway she'd come from. She turned onto it and began her casual pace, when something came from the darkness of an open door. It was a woman's hand, and Tenele's heart leaped from her chest. The tea slipped from her hand, but the woman caught it with unbelievable and impossible reflexes. She found herself face to face with an older woman, who was abviously blind.

"I see it. I see it. Danger. Leave with the rain," she breathed, gripping Tenele's arm tighter. "Darkness comes for you. Vengance against the Goddess Attara."

Tenele jerked her hand away, taking the tea from the old woman. "I'm not Attara," she muttered and stepped around the woman and began walking away. She was still shaking, despite how much she didn't want to. That had really scared the utter life out of her.

"I know," the woman whispere in reply, one that Tenele never heard.

"Come back in Lady Oracle, what are you doing in the hall this hour?" one of her attendants asked. The frail regal looking woman turned her head in the direction of the voice, but said not a word. She hobbled her way back into the room, the aid closing the door behind her.

* * *

Atul was in the throne room after everyone had cleared, even the drunken men with their songs. He was still up, still awake, still wondering when revenge would come. Was he supposed to feel so paranoid? His hand ran over the vacant throne, his throne. He was the Maharaja, the king, and this gold ornate chair was his.

“I never pictured you to be so solemn on the night you became king. Then again, I never pictured you king this way,” a sweet voice came from behind him. A voice he knew well.

Lalana was standing in the center of the dirty room wearing an elegant embroidered red dress with a sheer hood and veil covering her hauntingly beautiful features. She stepped forward in the dim lighting, a ghostly apparition in his mind. He thought that she was dead; then again Lalana probably had fled the fight before it ever had started. She wasn’t like him. She didn’t like getting her hands dirty. She hired people to do it for her.

She was suddenly in his personal space before he could even manage to avoid her. She lowered the hood and veil and smiled at him. “He’s very angry with you,” she told him, shaking her head with that same smile plastered to her face. “As well he should be.”

“Leave, Lalana,” Atul whispered. “Just go. I’m not who you think I am. I’m not your brother anymore.”

Lalana looked hurt; or rather a fake look of pain flickered in her features for an instant before fading behind the guise of that smile. “I don’t want to leave you… I still care for you. Why won’t you let me? Why won’t you love me? Is it still because of –her-?” She grabbed his shoulders, leaning into his personal space. “Is it her face you desire? I can be anything you want me to be, Atul. Even her.” Suddenly Lalana was no longer the woman standing in front of him, but the woman he had loved and lost so long ago. Atul shook his head and shoved at her to move.

“Stop this! You are my sister!”

Lalana giggled as she fought him, leaning in further. “Not your real sister. And, right at this moment, I’m Anore.”

Atul shoved her harder until she was stumbling back. “GO!” he roared. “Leave me. Never again come before my eyes.”

Lalana frowned as she stepped away. “I hope he punishes you,” she hissed angrily. “You do not deserve his favor or his mercy!!”

“I would have neither,” Atul growled. “Now, go.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Alone in the room, Vlad paced in a slow circle around the edge, as if avoiding what was lying in the center. Finally, he stopped in front of Stalker and studied him. The wolf stared at him silently.

Vlad sighed and took a seat in front of the dog. "What happened back there today? I'm not naive enough to think it was what it looked like," he said skeptically. The hound only lay still. Minutes passed in silence between them. The vampire finally sighed and scratched his head in frustration. "You're a hellhound. You can't really like this," he said, reaching out testingly and resting his hand against the back of the wolf's head. Stalker's eyes slid contentedly shut at the contact, leaving the vampire to stare blankly.

"This isn't natural," he muttered, but he stayed where he was and stroked his cool fingers slowly against the creature's neck. Stalker's face eventually slackened with sleep. Vlad stopped petting, but his hand stayed on Stalker's neck. He just watched the sleeping wolf, feeling deeply unsettled the more he realized exactly what was happening. Maybe it was from being kept on this realm too long, but whatever the reason, the hellhound was no longer a senseless beast. He'd seen it feel pain, and he was beginning to seriously suspect that he'd also seen it display loyalty and affection. Vlad was certainly not the type to have a soft spot for animals, and he saw no point in keeping pets. Yet, why couldn't he take his hand away from this doomed animal's fur?

[Emora Deen]

Tenele opened the door and walked in backwards, as if watching her back for the old woman. She closed it, locked it, and turned to find Vlad on the floor next to the bed, with his hand on Stalker. She smiled brightly, as if she just seen something forbidden and planned to glote about it.

"See," she told him, drinking the rest of the tea and setting it down ontop of the plate she'd cleaned earlier. "Its soothing to him."

Tenele yawned, holding the back of her hand over her mouth as she walked to stand next to Vlad's kneeled form. She put her hand in his hair and tosseled it before moving past him and crawling onto the bed, slipping under the silk covers and resting her head on the pillow. She was thankful that her heart had stopped racing, because she didn't really want to alarm Vlad. Though, her mind was a buzz with what the strange old woman had said, and it bothered her emensely. "Do you think that Verin sent the rain to keep us from leaving?" she asked in a musing voice, looking up at the window in the ceiling.

[Soran Nightblade]

"Don't get the wrong idea...this is just an experiment," Vlad muttered, withdrawing his hand stubbornly before turning to look up at her. "And of course not. Verin may be a god, but he could hardly control the-," he checked himself, "Well, I suppose he could, but I see no reason for it. Do you?" He looked at her quizzically. It didn't seem like a question she would ask on a whim.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele sighed, rolling over onto her good shoulder and curling the pillow under her head. "I guess you are right," she said softly, yawning again. "This old woman really scared me. She's probably bat crazy, but she did a good job of shaking me up. But, I'm not Attara, so I have nothing to worry about. She said that I was in danger." Tenele was talking very faintly, clearly on the verge of falling a sleep again. "And that we should leave with the rain, because 'he' was coming for me. Vengence on the Goddess Attara. Crazy, old... lady." She closed her eyes, humming as the warm embrace of sleep wanted to take her.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad raised an eyebrow. They'd met a lot of superstitious people here, and most of them did seem mostly crazy. Still, for someone to have gone out of their way to imply a threat against Tenele... It set the vampire on edge. But Verin knew better than that. He knew that Tenele was not Attara. He had, however, gone after Tenele during the battle. The threat didn't have to make sense to be legitimate.

"He won't be able to take you, even if he tries," Vlad said, standing up and going to her. He was still wearing his towel, but now he removed it and threw it back into the bath room. He walked to the chest Tenele had rummaged through earlier and located a set of men's black silk pajamas. He'd apparently changed his plans about sleeping in the buff. "I doubt you have anything to worry about," he asserted to her, even as he pulled on the clothing.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele smirked in her her near sleeping state. "Who is worried?" she asked, snuggling under the silk sheets and feeling a bit lonely without his presence near her. "It doesn't make any sense. Why would Verin want me? We hate eachother and have clearly pointed it out. I burned his temples, he tried to get the man I love to kill me, and stabbed me for good measure. The last thing he wants is to be in a room with me for a prolonged period of time. She's off her rocker, so -you- don't worry about anything. Come keep me company while I sleep?"

[Soran Nightblade]

"How could I not oblige," Vlad said, shifting into his courtly flirting mode as he strode gallantly to the bed and climbed under the sheets beside her. His body was still slightly warm from the bath, though that certainly didn't compare to her human heat. He rolled onto his side, pressed up against her back, and wrapped a strong arm loosely around her. "Sleep well," he said in his low, smoothe voice.