Skedaddle

[Emora Deen]

Laya smiled, her eyes staying closed. "Of course," she whispered in a tired sing-song voice. She grabbed his hand, and shifted under the blankets to allow him room, while she tugged him down with her. "You're always welcome." She drew back the covers for him, feeling a chill from the cold air outside the safety of the blankets.

[Soran Nightblade]

Telanis smiled. He liked the thought of always being welcome with her. He pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it to the floor before sliding into the sheets next to her. "It's...really nice, being here with you. The house, and the fireplace, and the games...everything." He felt like he was getting a slight understanding of the human concept of attachment to a home. All he normally knew was the bond with his entire forest.

Adonis went to the end table and picked up his book, taking it into his own room. He avoided thinking too much about his brother with the human in the other room, reminding himself that if he'd done this much already to try to save Laya, this was no time to back down. He spread out on his side on top of the covers and continued reading.

[Emora Deen]

Laya moved closer to him once he'd settled under the covers. She rested against him, one her bare legs slide and bending to half drape across him. She wrapped an arm over his abdomen and looked up at him with her gray eyes. "I like it too," she said with a smile. "Its nice."

She listened to the crackle of the fire and the beat of his heart. "I am glad you are here." Her hand slid under the covers until it found his and she laced her fingers wit his. She leaned up and kissed his lips softly. "And I am glad that you like being here."

[Soran Nightblade]

Telanis curled his arm around Laya's silhouette and closed his eyes. His pulse was racing faster lying in this position with her, but mostly, he just felt comfortable and protective tonight. He closed his eyes and let himself fall asleep with her.

In the other room, Adonis waited for a while until the house felt quiet, then got up. "First things first," he murmured to himself. He walked to the front door and used his knife to make a small cut in his hand. The blood rushed to his senses, but he bit back the instinctive horror and set to work drawing a warning seal on the door. The finished figure was about a food wide and full of complicated symbols. When he was done, he shoved his hand in his pocket to muffle the smell and backed across the hallway to give himself some space. He leaned against the wall and took some deep breaths until his legs felt like they had strength again. Then he went to the back door and repeated the process.

By the early hours of the morning, he finished securing every window, chimney and door that could let that thing in from outside, except the window in Laya's room. Since that seemed like a relatively important one to cover, he went to her door and silently opened it. She and Telanis appeared to be asleep. He walked with the grace of his species as he slipped across the room to the window.

[Emora Deen]

The fire had died in the night with no one to feed it. It was nothing but a few small flames and embers, allowing the house to feel with a cool draft.

Laya was sleeping lightly when Adonis entered the room. She shifted closer to Telanis when his presence passing through shifted the cooling air in the room. She shrugged her shoulders more, sliding down under the blankets more. Her eyes blinked open and she saw a shadow standing in front of the pale light from the window.

She froze, her blurry vision unable to tell who it was, and closed her eyes, deciding it was best to pretend to sleep. Her hands clutched Telanis a little tighter, and she waited, listening.

[Soran Nightblade]

Adonis continued to the window and begin etching a small seal at the corner of the windowsill where Laya was unlikely to notice it, like the others. He went lightly, knowing the blood could startle his brother if he was awake to notice it. However, he was about halfway done when he felt a wave of tension in the room. Crap. Laya was awake. He straightened slowly and turned to look at her. *It's me,* he said very, very quietly in her head. *I'm setting up some warding spells. Stay calm.* He did not want his brother waking up, too, but if she got nervous enough, he would.

[Emora Deen]

Laya's eyes fluttered open, and now that she allowed herself time to look at him and her vision to clear she noticed that it indeed was Adonis's form. She relaxed almost instantly, settling back in against Telanis and closing her eyes. Within a few seconds she was sleeping again with the knowledge that their house was safe.

[Soran Nightblade]

Adonis turned and watched her for a moment. She actually trusted him. He hadn't been expecting that. The relief and safety that had spread from her in that brief second of realization was wholly surprising. He thought about that for just long enough to want to stop thinking about it, and turned to finish his seal. A brief, quiet incantation lit the seal up for a brief moment, and then the spell was in place. He turned and made his way back out of the room. Looking over his shoulder, he studied his brother and Laya briefly. Then he went on his way and closed the door behind him.

Well, he'd made the house impenetrable to most spooks and had to assume that the normal rules would apply to the monster they were dealing with. That still left the million dollar question of how to break her seal. He went to the washbasin and sponged off his bloody hand with a damp cloth, then threw it in the wastebasket. He walked back to his room and returned to the book fanned out on his bed.

[Emora Deen]

Morning came and Laya decided they had earned the right to sleep in. So she didn't get up. She slept until late morning easily since the sun was blocked by the clouds. It made the room stay darker than it normally would.

Her body told her, however, that she needed to get up and start working on all the things that needed to be done around the house.

She slipped from the bed slowly, not wanting to wake Telanis if he still wanted sleep. She pulled her skirt on and tightened the belt around her waist.

She stepped out of the room and turned for the fireplace to poke the embers and try and rekindle it. The fire was dead and nothing but ash. She started a new fire with what was left of the wood, and it wouldn't be enough to keep the fire going for long.

Dusting the soot from her hands Laya tip-toed across the room to her cloak hanging on the wall. She was just about to open the door and see how much wood she could find when she spared a glance to Adonis's open door. He was sitting on the bed reading.

"Did you go to sleep last night at all?" she asked him softly as she crossed the distance and stood just inside his doorway.

[Soran Nightblade]

Adonis's eyes shot up to her, looking slightly feral, like he'd forgotten there were other people in the house. "I'm about to go to bed," he said, in a way that said it was something he kept telling himself, not something he actually intended to do. He gestured for her to come in. "I may have found something." He gestured to a two-page spread of extremely cluttered technical notes, written in ancient magical text.

"I still haven't identified what put that thing on you, but if I'm translating this right, the mark you have is a soul brand. A bond that feeds the victim's strength to the host and forms a permanent connection to the victim's location and health. Branded souls can often use the power of their master to brand others, building a pyramid of strength for the one at the top. Sound familiar?"

[Emora Deen]

Laya stepped inside the room and listened while he explained. "Yeah, that sounds like what... Kron's master said," she told him. "I didn't want to believe him. Does it say how to remove it?" she asked him, sitting down on the bed next to him. "If worst comes to worst I've thought about cutting it out..." She rubbed her arm idly, not wanting to consider how bad that might hurt.

[Soran Nightblade]

"Cutting it won't help," Adonis said. Realizing the words might sound callous, he proceeded with, "This is the spell used to cast the brand. There is some seriously dark stuff in this spell. It's taken me hours to make it all out. The caster drinks his own blood joined with the victim's to forge the seal, along with a huge amount of Dark power. Reversing it will take more than just an incantation." He looked at her. "We need that thing's blood. And yours."

[Emora Deen]

Laya's stomach churned at what he said, a memory flooding her vision. Kron had carved the mark into her arm, and smeared his bloody palm across it before dragging his tongue across the wound. She thought the blood on his hand had been her own, and now she knew it was his.

"So we're going to have to get near him again," she sighed. "Does it matter who we use? Do we need Kron's blood since he's the one who marked me, or the original owner of the mark?"

[Soran Nightblade]

"The power descends from the top of the food chain. We need that specific power to undo the mark," Adonis said. "Laya, we'll have to draw him here." He looked at her, testing her reaction.

[Emora Deen]

Laya stared at the floor. "I figured as much," she muttered, fiddling with the fabric of her skirt. "If he's looking for me, then it won't be long before he finds this place anyway. If he is looking for Kron, when Kron comes, he will too... However, we'll be dealing with two of them then. I think it would be best if we found a way to get his attention before Kron finds us. I don't think we can handle both of them. I can't. I know I can't. I can't even handle Kron."

Laya raised her eyes to look at Adonis. She reached out and placed her hand over his. "I don't know how to thank you for what your doing," she whispered to him. "You are being very kind to me, considering... At any rate, I appreciate it."

Laya stood up slowly. "I need to see if I can find any wood. The fire will die soon, and I don't know about you, but I need warmth. I was just going to step out for a little bit and see what I can round up."