LORE: Training a Hell Hound (MATURE)

[Emora Deen]

Tenele smiled as she felt his arm around her and his body behind her, and she was safe. She felt perfectly safe. So even if she was a bit paranoid about what the woman said, and even if she didn't want to show that she was secretly a little scared, she felt safe for the moment. Vlad would never allow anything to happen to her, so she had nothing to worry about. "Good night," she mumbled in a sleepy whisper, and she was sleeping again. The thunder continued on, the lightning flashed in white webs over them. A storm was raging with all the fury that Verin must have been feeling after losing his capital and Tenele was sleeping as if nothing was happening.

* * *

Lalana was gone, in a flash of fury and spoiled rage, she was nothing but a movement in the air before disappearing. He sank into the throne, putting a hand to his face. He had not looked upon the face of Anore since the night she was sacrificed to Verin, and he could not get those haunting images out of his mind. They would forever be burned into him. He was thankful for the peace of his sister leaving. He could be happy now. He was king. He would start new, and no one would ever have to lose another to a sacrifice to Verin.

[Soran Nightblade]

The night passed uneventfully, with the exception of the wind howling at the windows outside and the occasional roar of thunder. By morning, the storm had finally begun to weaken, and thin patches of light were beginning to crack through the clouds as the sun rose. Vlad lay in much the same position he'd started in, though he hadn't slept. He hardly needed to, and besides, it couldn't hurt to be sure that nothing took him by surprise in the city that had been Verin's stronghold not 24 hours ago. He'd mostly listened to Tenele's breathing to pass the time, which wasn't unpleasant. Stalker had not made a sound all night.

Outside the room, the faint sounds of people up and about could be heard in the hallway, though it wasn't anything particularly boisterous. That was, until a raucous pounding sounded on the other side of their door, loud enough to make stalker and Vlad jerk their heads up in synch to stare edgily at the door. "What?" the vampire demanded, trying to keep his voice low although there was no way Tenele could have slept through that noise. The only response was that whatever genius was out there decided to knock again at the same volume.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele opened her eyes, blinking several times. She thought she heard a knocking, but thought she might have been dreaming it too. But, there it was again. She slowly sat up, feeling the pressure of Vlad's arm slide off her side. "What is it?" she asked, stretching her good arm above her head and arching her back a little. She still felt stiff, but not quite as sore as she had been that night. The pounding continued.

Tenele slipped from the bed reluctantly, her bare feet padding across the floor softly. She unlocked the door, her expression still very sleepy looking, and opened it slowly to see who might be beating the door so furiously. "Yes?" she asked, not quite able to see who it was through her blurry vision.

[Soran Nightblade]

Eagerly waiting on the other side of the door was a relatively tall and well-built man who appeared to be in his forties. He had long straight brown hair that was pulled into a thin tail at the base of his neck. His eyes were yellow and had bizarre slit-shaped black pupils, like those of a reptile. His left arm was holding a brown leather suitcase that looked heavy, although he seemed used to its weight. He was wearing a long tan-colored coat, which was odd, because it had to be at least 90 degrees, even inside the stone palace.

"Lady Raider, I presume. I'm looking for Vladimir Dracul," he addressed her cordially, with all the rigid sternness of a school teacher.

Vlad's expression went stiff as he glanced over at the door. He knew that voice.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele swallowed hard when she looked into those eyes. At first she almost closed the door in his face, her heart skipping a beat, because for a moment she had thought that he was some demon that had come to take her to Verin. "Vlad...." Tenele called from the door, adjusting the black silk robe to make herself a bit more presentable. She shifted to the side to allow Vlad to see who was at the door.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad stared hard at the person at the door. He teleported out of the bed and onto his feet, the black pajamas hanging thin along his muscled body. He looked like he wanted to hit something, but oddly, he didn't say a word as the man brushed past Tenele and let himself into the room. "You may want to close the door, dear," he pointed out to Tenele as if she'd forgotten, although he'd only just left the doorway. "I'll introduce myself. I am Doctor Maxwell. I'm a researcher of the arcane sciences under Queen Sinead's command. The queen has sent me to spend some time with Vladimir."

"Like hell she has," the vampire suddenly spat. "I've had enough quality time with you for a lifetime."

"And if I'm not mistaken, you've lived quite a few lifetimes since then, thanks to my research," the man returned in an even, calculating tone.

Vlad scoffed. "Research!"

[Emora Deen]

Tenele closed the door more out of her on habit than the fact he'd told her to. She listened to the man introduce himself and watched Vlad's reaction. For the life of her though, she couldn't figure out what to make of the situation. "How did you find us?" Tenele asked him questioningly, already paranoid of him.

[Soran Nightblade]

"As I said, the queen sent me here."

"She did NOT send him here," Vlad interrupted.

"Oh, believe me, she has," the man asserted coolly. "She has finally agreed that the time has come to complete you."

"I am complete as I am," Vlad roared coldly. "She would not ask for such a thing."

"But she has. And you are not complete. Really, Vladimir, almost killed by a common man of the cloth. You are a masterpiece; a superior creation. I will not have you placed at the mercy of every half-versed man of the cloth that chooses to cross paths with you! It's an embarrassment."

"This is an old conversation. Its conclusion was decided."

"That was hundreds of years ago, Dracul," Maxwell said sternly. "My work was postponed at the queen's request, but you should know it must be finished one day. You can not run from your weakness forever. And Sinead seems to think you have a source of motivation to move forward on this," he said, glancing at the unresponsive hellhound on the ground.

"Get out of my chambers," Vlad snarled.

"This is the queen's command."

"Get out," Vlad reiterated," levitating a chair and using his mind to hurl it at the man.

Maxwell raised and arm and deflected the chair with a swift sideswipe. The impact cracked the chair into pieces and sent it clattering into the corner. The doctor himself seemed unaffected by the impact. "Do not forget who engineered that trick. This is not an offer; it's a command. I'll wait five minutes," he said flatly, turning and letting himself out into the hallway.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele jumped when the chair went flying only to shatter. She felt very out of place, but even more enraged. Vlad had told her only little of what had happened to him when he was made into a what he was. She had gotten enough information to conclude that it had been painful. Tenele's eyes followed the man as he left and when the door was shut they returned to Vlad. She didn't want Vlad to be put through such agony again. "I'll send him away. He'll have to listen to me," she told him softly, stepping towards the door.

[Soran Nightblade]

"No," Vlad stopped her, "I'll go in a minute." He set his jaw and paced the length of the room before turning and pacing back. He took a deep breath, but then apparently wasn't ready to say anything yet, so he paced again. "I guess I haven't told you much about this...I spent four years with that man. You might call him my father," he finally said sourly.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele watched him, her features growing more and more concerned the more he paced. She listened to him, unable to believe that she was actually hearing this. That she was actually meeting the man that made him. "Was he the one that made you... I mean, turned you?" she asked him softly, edging a bit closer.

[Soran Nightblade]

"No," Vlad shook his head, forcing himself to stand still. "I was turned during a battle while leading the queen's battallion against Arken in the first Queens War. Standard procedure was to mercy-kill those who had been bitten before they could become monsters. But Sinead wanted me alive. To keep me from losing my sense of self and going mad with the bloodlust, she asked Maxwell to do something about it. He said he could, so I was placed in confinement and entrusted to him.

"He's adapted "if it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger" into a scientific philosophy. Which actually worked out pretty well for me, all told. But when he ran out of flaws to conquer and turned his attention to holy magic, things stopped working. I'd been able to handle a lot, but one drop of holy water and I would completely crack. My body rejected every experiment, until Sinead had to pull the plug. Maxwell wasn't pleased. He was sure he was inches away from finding a solution."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele shook her head. "That's horible..." she sat down on the bed, her hands resting in her lap as she took in what he had said. Tortured to make him stronger... It made her angry. "Well, he won't get a chance to finish. I won't let him. Sinead would not stand for you being tortured... I'll send him away." She looked at him with a very stubborn and hard expression, a very Tenele expression when it came to her being angry. "You will not go through that again."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad grinned, feeling sort of pleased by her protectiveness at the moment. But that didn't change the fact that Sinead had ordered this. "She's stood for it before, why shouldn't she stand for it now?" he said quietly. "And moreover, she's right. Yesterday should never have happened. Some half-baked priest with a blown up ego decided to try to take me, and he was able to. You could have been killed in the process, and Stalker is dying in slow agony, because of an enemy I should have been able to handle myself. What would happen if Arken started smuggling in blessed metal for weapons? I can't be Sinead's 'super soldier' with an opening that wide."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele frowned as he spoke, glancing down. “But, you’ll be hurt by this,” she whispered. “You’ll be in so much pain… Vlad, everyone has weaknesses. It is part of life. No one, not matter how strong is invincible…. Not even Gods.” Her green eyes flashed to him. If Vlad could shun holy magic off like dust on his shoulder then he would, in essence, become a God himself. Immortal, indestructible, and powerful. “Please don’t agree to this.”