The Cost of Peace

[Emora Deen]

Because he stopped, Tenele was only allowed two more feet before she too was unable to carry on. She stood there, her back rigid. She wanted to turn to look at him, but then again was afraid too. She nodded at his words, for if Tenele could believe in anything, she could believe in that. She could hope that he was right, that they could find away. In the end, would it even matter?

"This is one thing I can't fight off. This is one thing that, no matter how strong I'd like to be, I cannot overcome on my own. I don't want to be alone in this Vlad..." She was on the verge of tears again, but she held them back as best she could. She was scared, terrified. Sinead would have a hard time excepting her back if she was carrying the God of Darkness's child. Yet, there was no way of hiding it. She couldn't remain as a Queen's Maiden, and if some religious fanatic found out they'd probably try and murder her before it could be born. Her life was crumbling about her, as well as her relationship with the only man she'd ever loved. Strangely, she knew deep down, he was the only man she ever could. "I'll understand..." She could continue. She clenched her eyes and her fists all at once, taking a deep breath. "I'll understand if you won't want a part of this..."

'But, please, just don't leave me alone. Please,' she thought quietly.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad suddenly moved forward, pulling her back against her chest in an inverted embrace. "I am not going anywhere," he said firmly but quietly just beside her ear. "I never meant you to think that. I would take you to the other side of hell with me before I would ever let you bear that child alone." He hadn't meant to tell her about that option so quickly, but it was the first and most sure that came to mind, so it was just as well to have out with it. If he turned her, there would inevitably be a stillbirth. The loins of the undead could not create life. "But that is our last option. If there is a better way, I swear I will find it."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele felt relief wash over her so rapidly that she couldn't contain her emotions any longer. She tried her best, but as his arms were around her and she heard his oddly comforting words she could no longer stand to hold in the great weight of the emotions threatening to rip a hole in her chest. A trembling hand slowly rose to cup the front of her face as she clenched her eyes shut and let out heaving sobs there were so powerful they actually shook her. She no longer wanted to stand., at least her body didn't. No, her heart just wanted her to fall to her knees and let it all out. She leaned back against him for support as the weight slowly lifted with each gasping breath and each heart felt cry.

"This can't be happening," she sobbed. "I... I..." Tenele couldn't even finish her sentence. She had surely thought that Vlad hated her for what had to be her fault. Even she was starting to believe that Verin was telling the truth. No matter how she reasoned in her head, nothing could explain her pregnancy. Nothing but that one night. "Why me? Out of all the people in the world... Why me?"

She suddenly felt ashamed for becoming so blubbery, especially when they were wasting time. She hated the fact she hadn't been able to keep a handle on her emotions, but in the end she realized this was something to be emotional about. After all, she was very much a human woman.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad's arms held tight around her tiny waist and supported her as her legs barely seemed to carry her weight. Her sobs rocked her body against his. And again, there was very little he could do to help. "He did this to you because of me," Vlad provided her an answer, although she may have intended her question to be rhetorical. "And for that I'm sorry. If I try too hard to shelter you, it's because the danger you're in is my responsibility." He bent his knees and let her down with him into a crouch, until he was able to shift his hands so that they reached under her back and knees. It pulled her chained hand to rest on her thigh, but nothing particularly uncomfortable. "Let me carry you a while," he told her as he stood back up.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele allowed him to carry her without the slightest noise of protest. She couldn't walk even if she wanted too. She shouldn't have tried to hold in such overpowering feelings. Once again, she had tried to be too strong. With her free hand she covered her red eyes for a moment, wiping the tears that were still streaming. She couldn't hide these tears from him like this, and she prayed that he wouldn't stare at her when she was in such a state.

"The only way to get out is to betray eachother," Tenele muttered hoarsly. "How can we possibly do that if we would never consciously betray eachother?" Her silver hair rested on his arm, and strands of it fell to wave in the stale air as the went along. Her face was achingly beautiful, despite the red eyes. They made the green seem to stand out more. She watched him, so thankful that they were no longer fighting. For the moment they were getting along. "I'm sure he's unhappy right now," she mused, a soft smile finally coming back to her face.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad smirked. "He doesn't know who he's dealing with." He wasn't watching her, but all his other senses were sharply attuned to her as he made his way to a dead end. He was carrying her more for his sake than hers, and he was grateful that she was letting him. He reversed, returned back through the last few turns he'd made, and found a different route. Fortunately, memorizing their progress didn't strike Vlad as much of a challenge. It took about ten more minutes before they reached an odd open space. The circular area had ten different passages leading out of it, and a cylindrical kiosk sat at the center. It appeared to be some sort of odd machine, Vlad noted as they got closer.

"One to come by, one to go, eight to live your life no more." The words ran in a circle on the dark ground around the machine, as if made of light. On the bizarre terminal, the word "CLUE" was emblazoned in light on a black material just above a strange pad that showed the outlines of two hands. Both right hands.

Vlad let Tenele down onto her feet, studying the thing skeptically.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele glanced around, studying each pathway. "Oh, that's wonderful. We only get one try to find the right door?" Tenele stepped forward slowly towards the place where two hands were ment to go. "I'm guessing if we place our hands here we get a clue?"

She was a bit wary of doing anything for Verin's little game. She was a little unsure of what would happened. He had promised to help them, but in what way. He promised them bonuses and rewards, and Tenele wasn't quite sure what rewards could come from Verin's dark mind. Praying nothing ripped her hand of, or burned with blinding pain, she glanced to Vlad. "Well... lets get this over with?" She slowly rose her right hand tugging the chain with her.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad frowned at the thing. He had a bad feeling about this, but what was the point in saying it? There was no other reasonable feeling, and dreading it wouldn't help. He slowly moved his hand forward and laid it on the pad next to Tenele's.

Too quickly for either of them to react, two metal clamps sprang up over their wrists from invisible doors on the pad, locking their hands down. Vlad cursed and pulled upward, trying to disconnect his hand. Something sharp on the underside of the clamp gashed against the back of his wrist, scraping bone, and he suddenly put his hand back down. "Don't struggle," he breathed to Tenele, not surprised to see blood beginning to gather beneath his hand on the pad.

The machine was making an odd whirring noise, and Vlad was wondering if it was going to give them a clue at all, or if it was going to try to kill them both.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele gasped when she felt a sharp sudden pain as something scrapped across her skin. She glanced to Vlad, and his blood poring from his wound onto the plate his hand was attatched to. She gripped her arm tightly as she felt the warm pool of her own blood under her hand. "What's happening?" Tenele muttered

[Soran Nightblade]

As if in answer, a cold, monotone male voice suddenly came from the machine: "Payment acquired. Generating clue." The braces lifted slowly and smoothly away from their wrists and lowered back into the console. "Clue acquired," the voice proceeded, and there was a shriek of metal as steel panels crashed upward and blocked off all but one of the doors, including the one they'd entered by. "Clue dispensed," the machine continued. "System detonation in Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven."

Vlad jerked his bleeding wrist back to his chest and stared at the machine, not quite understand what was happening. A high pitched keening was now coming from the machine, growing ever higher and stronger, like the wail of a kettle, but larger. "Six. Five. Four."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele looked at Vlad as the machine began to wail and slowly count down. Why was it counting down? What was it counting down too? But, the shrill squeeling raised the hairs on the back of her neck, and all she could think to do was to run to the one door there was. She pulled on Vlad. "Come on!!"

"Three."

They were almost to the door and Tenele's heart was pounding in her chest hard. She felt like they weren't going to make it. "Two." The voice echoed in her ears, and Tenele knew for sure they wouldn't make it far enough away from that thing before whatever it was going to do happened. "One." They crossed the thresshold of the door and a metal wall came sliding up. Suddenly there was a force that could be felt even through the wall that shook the very ground they stood on so hard Tenele lost her balance and crashed to the ground.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad still hadn't quite grasped the concept when Tenele managed to tug him out of the room. He couldn't think of much of a reaction except to follow, still confused as to what had just happened. What did it mean, payment acquired? How could such a talking device even exist?

That was when the door slammed behind them and an explosion knocked Tenele to the ground. Vlad remained balanced, but he wound up kneeling next to her to prevent them both from swinging each other around on their injured hands.

Injured hands..... Odd, he thought, looking down at his wrist. The gash would take a few minutes, deep as it was, but it shouldn't still be bleeding. Thin paths of blood had made their way over his hand and dripped from his third and fourth fingers. There would be time to figure that out in a minute.

"Good thinking," he said to Tenele. He looked back at the heavy steel door that had risen behind them. The hall they now stood in was dark red, rather than the blue of the maze they had come through before. "How's your wrist?" he asked her, glancing at the cut. It looked shallower than his; he had really tugged at the stupid thing.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele looked at her cut, which was bleeding badly, but she knew it would stop after a while. She took up the bottom of the dress that Nadia had given her, trearing off two long strips of rust colored fabric. She turned to Vlad, taking up his wrist. "Its fine..." She took hold of his hand covered in his own blood. "You're bleeding a hole lot," she whispered, wrapping the cloth around his hand repeatedly before tying it tightly. "How long before it heals?" Her green eyes flashed up to him, trying not to worry. He had mentioned before he didn't need her protection, and probably didn't want her worry.

[Soran Nightblade]

"A minute at most," Vlad told her confidently, catching her fingers in his as her hand began to move away. "Thanks for the thought, though," he smirked fondly at the bandage on his wrist. He bowed his head and kissed her knuckles, raising his eyes up at her in a manner that almost made him look innocent. He breathed the sweet smell of her blood and ran his tongue in a cool line across the back of her wrist, cleaning the wound dry. He licked it again lightly, pulling the hem of his thin cotton shirt away in a long strip as easily as if he were ripping paper. He raised his head and moved to apply the fabric to her arm, when he noticed that the wound had already filled again with blood.

"That's different," he mused out loud. He didn't need to explain to her why, because she knew from prior experience. His tongue could actually slow or stop the bleeding on most minor wounds, as this clearly was. At any rate, it certainly wouldn't cause it to bleed more freely. He narrowed his eyes and applied the cloth firmly around her wrist, double wrapping it and tying it with a secure knot. As he pulled the knot tight, however, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. A red blotch had risen to the surface of the bandage Tenele had put on him. He quickly moved his arm out of the way, where she wouldn't see it.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele's eyes followed his movements with a kidnled spark. Vlad had to know what his touch did to her, especially this. "This place must be doing things with us," Tenele whispered as she gently held the wrist he had treated. She stayed close to him as she peered down the long narrow path. "Do you have your powers?"