Heirot

Vlad closed his eyes to clear his mind enough to think. The sense that he was being burned alive from the inside was actually wearing off. The potion must have done some good. But something was still very wrong... "I can't see..." he said shakily. He'd been out of focus before, but now the whole room really had gone dark, and his body ached to the bones. "You're cold," he sighed at the coolness of her against his chest.

"He's reacting to the fever. If we don't cool him down, some of the damage could be permanent," Maxwell said, walking in with his bag repacked. "We'll have to do it the old fashioned way with wet towels. We should get him upstairs."

"I hope your super human," Tenele muttered. "I can't carry him, she sat up a little, burshing her hand across his face. "You'll be able tp see in a little while. Don't worry. We'll fix everything," she told him. "I'll be back. I promise."

Tenele stood to her feet, "I'm going to ready the towels, bring him up to our room." She turned and fled quickly towards the steps, rushing to get everything read for Vlad. She needed to get away, she was on the verge of breaking down and she didn't want to do that in front of Vlad, especially at the state he was in. She was so worried about him, and she was trying to be strong for him, but the worry was beginning to outway anything else.

"I'll bring him in a minute," Maxwell agreed, not even noticing her emotional state. He really wasn't the type to care about such things. After Tenele had gone, he hauled Vlad up by the arms and hoisted him up over his shoulder. Vlad squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth, but he didn't shout or fight against the movement. The struggle seemed to have gone out of him, which was both convenient at the moment and a source of significant concern. Maxwell balanced the vampire easily over his left shoulder and used his other hand to lift up his suitcase. With that, he began a quick walk up the stairs toward the upper level of the palace. To get to the grand staircase they'd come down, he had to walk straight through the central foyer. Several people noticed the strange pair passing through, but before he could be asked any questions, Maxwell jogged for the stairs and launched up them two at a time.

"Gentle, idiot," Vlad growled, digging his nails into the doctor's back for emphasis.

Maxwell smirked at the complaint as he whisked them both out of view and walked down the hall that led to Vlad and Tenele's chambers. The door was open, and he let himself in. He dropped his case next to the door and carried Vlad over to the bed. He could hear Tenele preparing towels in the bath room. Throwing the sheets and blankets aside onto the floor, he unloaded the vampire onto the mattress and rolled him onto his back.

Tenele piled the wet cold towels into a bowl and hoisted them into her arms. It was rather heavy to say the least, but she told herself to walk fast. The fast she walked, the sooner she could set it down. She hurried into the room and sat it down next to the bed. Tenele clenched her hands together as she watched the doctor, Vlad’s current state totally pushing the idea of him being evil out of her mind. Her hands shifted back and forth nervously.

Stalker raised his head slowly and began a low, fierce growl at Maxwell the moment he brought the vampire into the room. When Tenele entered, the wolf glanced at her for support, still growling. He gathered his front legs shakily beneath him and pulled himself a few feet closer to the doctor, snarling viciously.

"Tell your hound to cool it, Vladimir," Maxwell said.

The vampire shook his head slightly. "I am," he breathed.

"So you're saying you can't control him any more. Miss Raider," the doctor said as she came around the bed with the towels, "cool him off...I'll dispose of the hound before it goes completely out of control.

Stalker let out a horrific bark and struggled closer. His back legs weren't working, but his jaws appeared fully functional.

Tenele drapped wet cold towels over Vlad's back as she watched Stalker crawl towards Maxwell. She had no problems with the hell hound ripping Maxwell to shreads, but she did have a problem with the hound using all his energy to try something that he couldn't accomplish. "You will do no such thing, doctor. Stalker," Tenele called calmly, but sternly, to the wolf. "Please... stop. I'll handle him when he's helped Vlad get better."

"That won't work," Maxwell said. "Without Vlad's power over it, the hellhound will become completely wild. It's better to do something about it now," he argued.

And yet, as if obeying Tenele, Stalker held his position. He maintained a low growl, but didn't move. He just rested his head back on his front paws and watched Maxwell fiercely.

"It still looks like it wants to attack," the doctor pressed.

Vlad tried to follow their conversation, but his brain kept melting apart. The relieving sensation of the cold towels was the only thing that kept him alert enough to think. "Leave my family be," he winced. He clearly barely grasped what he was saying. He opened his eyes to look at the man, though all he saw was a gray blur. He wanted to tell the doctor to get out, but he didn't have the energy.

Maxwell sighed and went to his bag, digging for supplies.

Tenele’s hand faltered as she was draping a wet towel around his neck. ‘Leave my family be.’ Her eyes flickered to Vlad’s face, or what she could see of it and she just stared at him for a long moment, thinking maybe her borderline emotional hysteria at what was wrong with him was causing her to hear things. Because she could have sworn she heard Vlad, a demon prone to thinking lowly of humans, calling what they had a family.

“You need to give him something,” she whispered. Why would Vlad say something like that? It bothered her. Did he think he was dying? Was he dying? Tenele sat on the bed next to him, her fingers running through his hair as she used her other hand to tuck him neatly in cold wet towels, nearly completely encasing his upper body. “You need to make him better. Now.” Her green eyes flashed to Maxwell, and she stared at him very intently.

Maxwell produced a bottle from his bag and brought it over. "This is a fever reducer. It's really intended for humans, but I don't see how it can hurt to try it." He unscrewed the bottle and took several pills out. "Swallow these," he instructed the vampire. Vlad had no interest in swallowing anything, but when Maxwell parted his teeth and pushed the pills in, the vampire chewed them and swallowed them down.

"Eh....he wasn't meant to chew on them," the doctor commented. "Though it might make them work faster, I suppose." He looked at Tenele's threatening expression and twitched. "Keep changing the towels. I'll try to find some ice." Though he doubted he would find any in the middle of the dessert.

Tenele gathered the towels and went back into the bathroom and began pumping cold water on them again. She was watching the water rush over the fabric, and she was concentrating on so many things. She didn’t want to think about how bad off he was, because she knew she’d lose it if she did.

She came back in with the bowl in her arms, and she sat it down next to her on the bed. She ran her finger tips down the center of his chest, hoping the gentle gesture would bring some comfort to him. She leaned forward, her eyes closed and she kissed his cheek and his lips before grabbing the towels and beginning again what she had done moments ago. “You’ll be okay,” she whispered, trying not to talk loud because her voice would crack.

Vlad was breathing like he'd just been in a race, but he gave her a strained smile. "Course I'll be okay," he swallowed. "Sorry...I meant to avoid this." He reached up with a shaking hand and touched her cheek, checking for tears because he couldn't see her. "Don't be upset," he whispered. "It can't possibly last much longer." He sounded like he was partially convincing himself.

“I’m fine,” she lied to him, holding his hand to her cheek, which was for once cooler than his hand. “Well, think of it this way. You get to keep my company, so I’m not alone now.” She pushed his hand down next to his side so he wouldn’t have to be so shaky or use his energy to hold it up. “I’ll be right back, alright?”

She edged away from him and went back into the bathroom, shifting to the wall alongside the open doorway. Her back pressed flush with the stone, the low cut of the dress allowing much of back touch its cool smooth texture. She sank slowly until she was crouching and she took a deep breath. She never saw Vlad in pain. She could count on her hand the number of times she had seen the expression cross his features. Seeing it now upset her, and she couldn’t hide that she was upset from Maxwell, but she could hide it from Vlad for the moment.

Vlad closed his eyes and leaned dizzily back into the sheets. The adrenaline crash left him feeling impossibly heavy. If he just waited it out, he told himself, he'd be able to move. But he felt so awful. Wasn't there a way to speed this up? He couldn't clear his thoughts enough to think it through, so he just lay still with the cool cloths on his body. Tenele would come back. He would be fine.

A few minutes later, the doctor came back in the door holding something huge balled up in fabric. "It turns out they have ice here," he announced as he walked in. He set the giant bundle on the ground and punched it a few times, rattling the furniture with the impact. When he pulled the fabric back to look at its contents, there was a huge pile of crushed ice.

Tenele came running out of the wash room, thinking maybe something was horribly wrong, that Vlad had gotten attacked. Instead she found the doctor and his bundle of ice. She went to him and helped him spread the ice out around Vlad, her hands hurting a bit with how cold it was. "How much longer?" she asked Maxwell, eyeing him suspiciously. Still, in the back of her mind, she was telling herself he was actually Verin. She didn't trust him, and wouldn't trust him... and especially after this. Even if he wasn't Verin, she wouldn't ever trust him with anything.

Vlad's eyes jerked open at the sudden coldness. It was startling in contrast to his burning skin, but it was something to focus on, so he did. His breathing grew more unsteady, but the cold sure enough was bringing his temperature down. He could feel a faint echo of energy beginning to flicker inside him. Were his powers returning? Or was he dying? No....it had to be the powers.

"Normally I'd advise against this method because of the shock," he explained to Tenele as they poured the remaining ice around his chest and neck. "But in this case, the faster the better. It could hardly make him any worse, and once he stabilizes, his body should be able to find a foothold and take care of itself."