Heirot

Tenele sat on the edge of the bed when they finished pouring ice all over Vlad, she reached into the coldness of that ice and found his hand, wrapping her fingers around it and squeezing gently. "So he'll be alright?" she asked softly. After a moment she had to withdraw her hand because the cold had begun to grow painful.

Maxwell nodded. "The time to die would have been a few minutes ago. If he's lived this long, he'll survive." The ice around the vampire's skin was melting quickly wherever it touched him, soaking into the sheets. He went to his bag and got out the thermometer. He stuck it into the vampire's mouth, but Vlad bit down and broke it in half. He spat the broken pieces at the doctor with a blind glare. "If I'm going to survive, then you can get the hell out," he snapped dizzily.

"I'll still need to test to confirm the success-"

"Tomorrow, if you're lucky. Get out," Vlad pressed.

Tenele smiled at Maxwell. "Go," she told him sweetly, and almost a frighteningly nice tone.

She turend her attention back to Vlad, smoother his hair back as she brushed across his forehead and down the top of his head. "You're going to need to feed now, aren't you?" she asked him gently. The thought of blood reminded her of something. She drew her foot up and looked at the bottom of it where it was dirty and bleeding. She had forgotten about it the moment she'd seen Vlad withering in pain on the dungeon floor. This ordeal was probably going to use up a good bit of his energy and he would need to feed. But, he couldn't very well attack the pesants because that would not bode well for those he was slowly gaining in trust. Slowly, being the key word.

He could take blood from Atul, but that would mean taking Verin's blood as well... She wasn't sure how that would affect Sinead's hold on Vlad, if it would weaken it or even affect it at all.

Maxwell grimaced, but for once, he backed down. "I'll be back in the morning," he said, taking his bag and closing the door behind him.

Vlad closed his eyes contentedly at the touch of her fingers on his face. He could feel things more distinctly now. What's more, with Maxwell out of the room and Tenele next to him, his body slowly regaining its senses, he felt an odd sense of safety. "Not hungry," he said, leaning his face into her hand. It wasn't until several moments later that he registered the scent of blood. He looked at her blankly. "Did you get hurt?" he asked.

Tenele looked at her foot. “Oh, it’s not bad at all. I just cut my foot on something that was on the floor. It just needs to be cleaned up and it will be okay.” She looked at the bed and the water that had soaked into the mattress. “We’ll need to find another place to sleep,” she mused as she realized the bed was essentially ruined with water.

“Can you see?”

His breathing was finally growing easier. He opened his eyes and looked at her. She was a meaningless swirl of cream and silver. At least he saw something. "Sort of," he answered her question. "You should clean your wound," he mumbled, still stuck on that topic.

Tenele watched him for a moment and then looked down at her foot. She took one of the smaller cold wet rags and began running it over the wound, staining the white fabric a pink color as she did so. It wasn't deep, just a gash. "Do you remember where I set my mother's sword last night?" she asked him softly. "I could have sworn I saw it lying by my clothes this morning when I went to find something to wear... but I can't find it now. Its like it has vanished. It has to be here somewhere. Someone wouldn't have stollen it.... I hope."

Vlad took an inward breath of relief. He'd lied about not being hungry. Once her wound caught his attention, it was pretty distracting, but now that it was tended it was easier to ignore. Not that he thought he could pose much threat to her at the moment. "I don't remember," Vlad said, wondering if he should remember. Had he done something with it and forgotten? "It should be here."

He stared at the ceiling, focusing to gather his wits.

Tenele looked around. "Yeah, it should be here..." she muttered. "Maybe it got kicked under the bed or something." She was trying not to seemed alarmed about it, but it was her mother's sword. It was the only possession she had left of her mother's. "I'll need to eat," she told him, changing the subject. "I know you well enough to know that you probably just used a good bit of your energy and will need to feed. So what do you want to do about it? Do you want me to get Atul?" She thought for a moment. "You could take some of mine. I'm healthy and not injured. Just sore and not really even that now."

"You were injured yesterday, and the day before, and before that," Vlad said barely above a whisper. He felt so impossibly tired. "I'll drink after we return to Ighten." She did know him...so well.

She didn't like the way he mentioned her being injured. She didn't like being reminded of her very human limitations. Tenele scowled at him. "That could be weeks, you ca't hold out that long," she told him. She thought for a moment, and knew that she shouldn't press him on the issue at the moment. He'd just been through a lot, and was still not even over it yet. She sighed, reaching out to cup his cheek. "How is the pain?"

"It's under control," he said. "This is like a picnic compared with before." His mind was definitely sharper, even if his body wasn't quite feeling it yet. Her hand didn't feel frozen when she touched him, which struck him as a good sign. He was at least her temperature, if not lower. "This is ridiculous...vampires don't catch fevers," he muttered.

Tenele looked down at him. "Vampires also don't do foolish things, like try and make themselves immune to holy magic." Tenele brushed her thumb across his smooth skin. "Do you want to move to someplace dry?" she asked him with a smile. "I could go get someone to help me carry you."

Vlad shrugged. He supposed he deserved that. It was a pretty crazy idea to test on his own body, even if the queen had told him to. But his body was pretty much royal property at this point. He scowled at the idea of being carried by some servant dragged in from the hallway. "It's fine, I can walk," he said, pushing himself up into a sitting position. His slowly returning vision immediately went black and he wound up falling back down in a clatter of ice cubes. "No, no, no," he groaned to himself, humiliated.

Tenele frowned worriedly. "Don't do that," she told him, shifting to her feet. "I'll get someone."

Tenele was turning towards the door when someone gave a quick knock before turning the nob. Atul poked his head around the slightly cracked door, his dark eyes glancing in. "I was told there had been a problem with a vampire. That he was injured. What happened?"

"Long story..." Tenele whispered, glancing back to Vlad. "He needs to be moved to some place dry. Sorry, we ruined one of your beds when we were trying to cool his fever."

"Vlad had a fever?" Atul asked as he came into the room and towards the bed. "What happened?"

"Like I said, its a long story. I'll explain it if you help me get him to some place dry." Tenele brushed her silver hair behind her ears and went to stand at the edge of the bed next to Vlad. "Is it okay if Atul helps move you?"