Heirot

Tenele nodded. She closed the door behind her, feeling the chill of winter set in the moment she left the small warmth of the manor. She took a deep breath, taking a few steps out into the well manicured garden that had, admittedly, seen better days.

She tried her best to grasp how she felt about the situation. Verin's strange visits seemed less ominous now that she knew it was because she looked like her mother. And he himself admitted that he couldn't decide whether to kill her or not. That didn't sound like the words of a man obsessed, but rather confused.

Her mother... A goddess that could come and go as she pleased had not sought to try and meet her daughter, or save her former husband from the bonds of servituted. But, had stepped in to save Vlad so that he could help her...

She wasn't entirely sure what she thought about any of it. She did however note that she was upset that Vlad would hide that he had any notion of why Verin targeted her. "I'll never let him have you." The words, their implications, turned her stomach. He had known what sort of mess she was in, even if he hadn't wholly believed it and he didn't tell her.

***

Vincent shifted uncomfortably on the couch. "I think she took it rather well," he admitted hoarsely. "Should she be out there alone? I should get going... Shea has sent scouts for me and I won't ruin anymore of your honeymoon. I can't be here if Verin pops back in either."

And then? Tenele never sees her father again, half resenting and half missing him, her last memory an awkward tell-all about the family tree? I don't think so. I can do my own explaining later. But before you go anywhere, you're going to go out there and do something nostalgic and fatherly. Go on. Build a memory or whatever. shoo."

Vincent stood up slowly. "Thank you," he muttered. "I don't have to ask that you take care of her..." He stood at the door for a second longer, as if contemplating more to say. Finally he shook his head. "I will see you around, son," he remarked with a smirk before stepping outside.

Tenele was standing facing the path and away from the house. He could tell be the familiar slump in her shoulders that she was troubled. It was the same stance her mother would take when she was upset with him.

"I'm sorry," Vincent whispered, coming to stand in front of her stern gaze. "for brining this up here and now, when this is meant to be a happy time for you. I wasn't sure, with both Shea and Verin if I would have a chance before the wrong person told you. I wanted you to here it from me."

"And if I had been an easy noble girl and stayed safely in a palace all my life would you have ever came to tell me? If Verin had never found out, would you have ever bothered to see me at all? Or Talon?" Tenele's eyes brimmed with tears.

Vincent frowned. He reached up and placed his hand on the back of her head, tangled in her wet hair, and he drew her forward to kiss her forehead. "I made a mistake. I should have died with dignity, and your mother would have died in battle or of old age. You would have had her longer. Because of what I did you had neither of us, and were too small to really remember us much. I pay for that mistake every day, because it is a pain you cannot understand. I stole away the mother of my children, left them lonely and searching. If I could turn back time I would make it all right. Every night since the moment your mother was brought before Verin and I in Arken I have wished it... But, we cannot change the past."

Tenele nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat. "Your leaving," she croaked out, wiping her tears.

"I have too, it's not safe for you if I stay. This mark allows Shea's trackers to find me." He thumbed the tattoo claw marks in his neck. "I have to keep moving. If I lead them here I lead a means if Verin and Shea to harm you. This isn't goodbye Tenele... I will see you whenever I can. I promise you."

Vincent swept her into a tight embrace before he backed reluctantly towards the forest and was gone in the haze of brush and the start of falling snow.

Vlad watched the kettle steam on the burner and poked at the hot spout idly. His skin singed and instantly reformed. He could feel Tenele in the back of his mind, weaker than the link had been before, but still enough to know that she was having a rough time of it. He waited until the link grew quieter. Then, fairly sure that it meant Vincent had gone, he teleported out to her side in the freshly falling snow. He didn't need to look over at her to know she was upset. He followed her gaze toward where Vincent had disappeared, and for a moment, he just stood with her. "I have that affect on parents," he said apologetically."

Despite how bad she felt about the situation Vlad's words made her smile. She turned to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her face against his chest. "Thank you," she told him quietly, closing her eyes and listening to the world around them.

She drew back enough to wipe her eyes, breathing a ragged sigh.

"I feel like I'm having an out of body experience," she murmured to him. "I know I heard all of that but I can't process it..."

Vlad put his arms around her shoulders and held her securely. "It will absorb with some time. And possibly some food."

"Foooood," she mused, smiling softly. "I am really hungry. I think food is a good idea..."

She took his hand and walked with him back into the house, closing their not very secure door behind them. Stalker was standing in the foyer dripping wet, where he decided to conveniently shake off at the moment they entered.

Apparently it was his way of making her feel better.

Tenele jumped behind Vlad, using him as a shield.

"I'm sorry about all of this," she told Vlad as she wandered to the kitchen. "I know this isn't exactly a blissful honeymoon..."

"I never expected to even have a honeymoon. I've built up no lofty expectations, except to spend a few days with you all to myself," Vlad smiled, touching the side of her face. "And I believe I heard hens outside. Let me scavenge a moment. These things are easier with food." He pulled out a chair for her at the table. "My wife," he said courteously.

Tenele smiled at him, sitting at in the chair he'd drawn out of her and she waited patiently at the table. She wasn't sure what he had in mind for food, or if Vlad could remember how to cook after all these years of feeding on people... but she was excited to find out.

Vlad left Tenele with Stalker while he went out back to the garden. Sure enough, beyond the huge grove of roses and gardens, there was an abandoned henhouse. The chickenwire remained, but the hens were ranging freely in the enclosure.

Vlad opened the gate and roamed casually through the hoard of anxious hens. Inside the enclosure, he was able to locate an armful of eggs and escape only slightly pecked. He took his bounty and carried it back toward the house, enjoying the relatively human chore. It had been several hundred years since he'd lived on a farm.

He opened the front door and let it creak "shut" behind him as he proceeded past Tenele to the counter. He scanned the cupboards and managed to locate a frypan. "Here we go," he muttered in concentration as he set it on the stove. He lit the burner and tapped an egg on the edge of the pan. It all but crushed under what he thought was a very light tap. He rushed to hold it over the pan and muttered to himself as he pulled out the shells and flicked them into the sink. "These people must have flimsy hens," he justified as he attempted a second egg and did the same thing. The first egg began to sizzle urgently on the hot pan, while the third remained uncracked.

Tenele laughed at him. "Flimsy," she mused. "The hens you say?" She sat cross legged in the chair, holding her ankles as she watched him curiously. She enjoyed watching him cook. It was calming, entertaining... amusing.

"What will you do about food?"

"I ate last night," Vlad proclaimed as he destroyed the third egg. He narrowed his eyes at the pan and picked the shells out flicking them into the sink. The first egg was making unhappy sizzling sounds now, and he realized he hadn't yet located a spatula. He stirred the egg decisively with his finger to keep it from burning while he stretched to burrow through a drawer with his other hand. Finally located a wooden spoon but no spatula, he decided to go with it. Then, of course, he noticed he was missing a plate.

Five minutes later, the no-life king was straightfaced as he set a plate of some-scrambled and some-sunnyside-up eggs on the table and a cup of hot tea next to it. It was a very strange looking and inelegantly plated meal...although technically, nothing was burnt. Vlad crossed his arms smugly. "Like riding a bike," he complimented himself.

Tenele took a bite, trying to hide her hesitation. She cleared the plate in considerable time, and when she was finished she sat back with her hands over her belly. "I'm not saying I didn't have faith... but that was good," she told him with a smile.

Tenele reached forward and took her tea, drinking it until the glass was empty and setting it next to her plate.

She gave a heavy sigh, her green eyes lifting to him. "Thank you. That was sweet of you." Tenele leaned forward in her chair, bracing herself on the table, and she kissed his lips gently.

"Now that I'm full would it be wrong to say that I would like a nap? I think my brain would enjoy a rest after all that." Tenele rubbed her temples.

"Of course," Vlad said. His eyes studied her from head to toe in one barely perceptible glance. The tiredness showed in her features. He could almost smell it in her blood, in addition to feeling it through the faintness of their slowly fading link. He didn't really want it to fade. It was pleasant being one with her, being happy or sad with her, being tired with her. But his body was already straining away from the mortality it fed upon, separating itself from silly mortal things like sleep. "I shall join you," he said with resolution. He rose to his feet and held his hand out to her like a proper gentleman.

Tenele smiled at him as she took his hand. "It would be nice to have your company," she told him with a smile, rising to her feet. She planted a soft kiss on his lips and walked with him back up to the room and the bed that still lay dishevelled.

Tenele took the cloak off and draped it on the bench before the bed, crawling across the width until she reached the far side and there she flopped on her back with a heavy sigh.

"I really don't understand why I feel so tired..." she murmured. "Everything seems strange. Though, I enjoyed your meal I do have to admit that I'm a little upset at you for not telling me what my father's theory was, when you knew it was something like that. I guess I wouldn't have believed you. Hell, it is very hard to believe it now."

Tenele frowned, staring up at the fabric draped between the high thick wooden bed posts. "I don't know whether knowing makes me feel less or more worried."

Tenele sat up on her elbows, looking at her husband. "Tell me the truth," she whispered. "How serious do you think he is?"