Heirot

"Tenele...Tenele, stop," Atul panted, but couldn't twist around to stop her. He had never experienced a holy wound like this before. No one would have dared strike a prince-son of Verin with such a thing. When he told his muscles to move, he found that they complied, if he could stay conscious through the pain. "I'm okay. Breathe deep." He placed a hand against her back to support her, finding his thoughts steadier by the moment now that the offending metal was gone. He looked around to try to focus on the situation.

Talon was being attacked. They thought he was Vlad... "That's not my lover!" he snapped out, but realized as soon as it left his throat that it would make little difference. They wanted to kill him because he was a vampire. It mattered little if it wasn't the vampire they'd come for.

That was when he caught sight of the two arrows lodged in the vampire's back. Shit.

The men scattered, looking a lot less organized and haughty now that they were fighting someone who was fighting back. One of them shot an ally in the leg as they scrambled to reload without getting near the clawed and furious vampire.

"I'm okay," she groaned, wiping her hand under her nose and smearing away the blood. She reached to her injured arm and pressed her thumb against the arrow shaft, snapping off the wood and standing. "Ride away, back to the palace. I will send Talon after you. Do not argue. These weapons will kill you."

Tenele reached to her side and took out her sword. She ignored the pain in her arm and charged the men attacking her brother.

Atul staggered to his feet, staring after her warily. He held out his hand to summon a bolt of power, but his body refused to answer his call. Apparently the contact with holy metal scrambled that up as well. He whistled for the horses, keeping his distance from the battle. The men seemed all too happy to leave him alone and focus on the two angry siblings who had already reduced them from 12 to 3.

The king got another view of Talon's back. He wasn't going to be swinging when those wounds caught up to him. "Bandages," he muttered to himself, collecting the nervous animals in a row and diving into his supplies for their med kit. He scrambled in the wind to prep what he'd need to get those two to shelter alive.

The girl. He turned and ran back in the direction he'd seen Tenele head, and nearly tripped over Sho's body in the wind. "Here we go," he hushed her softly as he cradled and lifted her from the sand. His side screamed as the cracked rib that had probably saved his life protested the movement. He trudged back toward the horses and the battle, dreading what he was going to find.

Talon stumbled around like a confused rabid animal. He huffed and howled, and his knees buckled only for him to stand again. Eventually he flopped over onto the hard dry earth, writhing in pain.

"Talon, its okay," Tenele huffed, kneeling protectively next to him. "Back off! Lower your weapons and back off."

Talon hissed and growled, reaching behind him to grasp the arrow. He pulled one from his shoulder, tossing it across the earth and struggled to reach the other. He made awful sounds as he stretched to tear it lose.

"Tenele, stay back," Atul ordered. He'd laid Sho near the supplies and was running to her side. Talon had lost control before with Tenele, and the king couldn't forgive a second attack on his lover, no matter the reason. He needed to make sure the risk wasn't there. He knelt beside Talon, carefully wedging between Tenele and her brother.

The last two men standing didn't look nearly as confident as the leader had. "You've struck Attara," Atul seethed at them. "The gods are angry. You will be eviscerated for your blasphemy." His tone was so quiet and dark that it seemed to drain all the blood from the men's faces. "Put down your weapons."

The men slowly crouched and set down their crossbows.

Atul reached for something on the ground beside him, and calmly raised it to show them.

Thwop. The crossbow fired, and one purple robe collapsed, screaming. The other began to run. The King loaded a new arrow, calm as death.

Thwop. More screams. He'd shot them both in the gut. It would take a long time to die.

Tenele watched Atul kill each one ruthlessly. He was a deadly man when anything he loved was hurt. She pressed a hand to his shoulder. "We must remove the arrow in Talon's back. It will burn you, so let me do it."

She went around to the other side of Talon. "Hold him, he may attack you if you don't. Watch his claws..." Tenele reached out to grasp the arrow and rip it free.

Atul nodded silently, anger still fueling him into a placid rage. He kept the emotions off his expression and out of his touch as he hauled Talon up toward him and grasped the vampire as if he meant to kiss him, trapping his arms safely against his sides. He could see the agony and madness in Talon's eyes, and that ruby gaze reminded him too much of Vlad in pain. "Now," he signaled Tenele, his voice soft and deadly.

Tenele nodded, kneeling close behind her brother she reached out for the holy arrow in his back. She pressed a hand palm flat to his shoulder and wrapped her fingers around the broken shaft.

Talon roared, deep and demonic, even at her light touch only slightly shifting it inside him. It was deep, much deeper than it originally looked. The claws in his fingers grew longer and he bent his arms as much as he could. He clawed at earth and Atul where he could reach, slicing both like butter.

Tenele pulled hard, but it seemed wedged between the disks of his spine. No matter how she pulled she couldn't get it to budge, and it only made him howl louder.

Then, Talon jerked forward, mouth open, and sank his teeth into Atul's neck.

"Talon!" Tenele screamed, fear causing her to punch the back of Talon's head. "Stop! Stop! Let him go!" Not only was he biting Atul, which was horrible in itself, but Atul's blood was poisoned from the holy arrow. It would only drive him further into madness.

"Guh!" Atul ground out, stiffening under Talon's bite. He tugged his neck sideways, but other than tearing up his neck, the movement did little to free him. He'd have to let go of Talon to truly make him release, and Atul wasn't willing to put Tenele in that kind of danger. "Tenele," he panted, wincing. "Call Knight. Call his Master. Quick."

Tenele wide-eyed, watching blood gush from the wound in Atul's neck, choked on the incantation. It fell her from her lips in such a quick rush that she wasn't even sure if it would work. She wasn't sure how any of this would work. The holy magic in Atul's veins, there was no telling how it would affect Knight.

"Sagra ne reion," she repeated quickly.

Atul faded into nothing beneath Talon's teeth. Knight materialized in front of Tenele. He didn't sweep to kneel before her and greet her as he usually did. He was in motion immediately, and a second later Talon was on his chest, flat on the sand. One hand and one knee pegged him fiercely down, while telekinetic bonds nailed his hands and feet to rest.

*Be calm. I am with you.* The guardian's power blew through Talon's mind like a cyclone, dominating his power in a heartbeat and forcing it still.

He gripped the arrow shaft with his free hand, and drew the holy metal loose in a quick jolt.

"Be careful," Tenele yelped, and she wasn't completely sure what she was warning Knight of. Whether not to do irreparable damage to her brother's spine, or not to touch the holy metal she was convinced would hurt him.

Talon struggled, even though every part of him was held down his muscles trembled with effort and his face contorted with rage.

Atul's blood covered the vampire's chin, singing his lips and skin. Tenele wanted to wipe it away to ease his pain, but he only snarled at her. When she drew away to sit on her heels the vampire chuckled darkly, as if her fearful retreat was amusing to him.

"He lives. Stay back, Tenele," Knight dropped the arrow as quickly as it was out, his hand twitching. He placed his shaking palm against Talon's spine and felt along it, probing into the tissue to be sure the vital spinal cord hadn't been singed. Talon's psychic connection screamed that it was, but Knight knew that feeling crippled and being crippled were two different things, where holy magic was concerned. *Talon. This is not who you are. Show yourself.*

He reached toward one of the fanatic's bodies. It was the one Atul had shot, still slowly dying of his gut wound. With the faintest bite of a gasp, the guardian curled his fingers and the body dragged across the sand to his side. He took the dying man's arm and hauled it forward just in front of Talon's nose. "Bite," he ordered, the full force of Vlad's power behind the command.

Talon bit, just as he was instructed, a hateful look narrowing his gaze. Orders. Fuck orders. Why did he have to take orders? He hated being a puppet. But, he drank, drawing blood into his mouth. It burned everything it touched, just as Atul's blood had. Figured that they would drink holy potions to protect themselves against such things. But, he drank regardless, even as it scalded him, because he was told to and he couldn't stop.

Knight narrowed his eyes as a familiar scorched scent entered his mind. *Stop!* he flashed the order, confusion replacing the urgency in his mind. He reached out and touched the blood dribbling from the wound in the man's gut, and it burned at his skin like a rash. *Damn.* He cupped Talon's chin and pulled it straight up, exposing his neck.

"Tenele," he asked the woman in front of him unhappily, "How much blood have you lost?"