Skedaddle

[Emora Deen]

Laya went back to sweeping, and when she was finished she made a pile of dust on the floor and looked for a pan to throw out the dirt. She was stooping to sweep the dust into a small flat tin pan when she felt a sharp pain in her arm.

Laya dropped the rest of the way to her knees, and let the tin slip from her fingers. She looked around wildly while gripping the mark on her arm. "No, no, no..." she whispered.

Laya tried to think through the pain to stand up. Instead she stayed where she was on the floor, leaning back against the cabinets out of view of the windows. Adonis said that she would be safe, that no one could get her.

The pain faded slowly to where she could think more clearly. It was replaced by a new feeling. She could feel the wisp of lips brushing her neck, a hand sliding over her cheek. She slapped her face to make the feeling go away, and drug her nails across the skin of her neck just hard enough to distract her from that feeling.

"What the..." she muttered.

Laya stood up slowly, drawing herself to her feet with the use of the counter. Adonis was still outside. He could be in danger. She saw a shadow move across the window, the feet bounding off the porch. She saw them move around the side of the house through the smaller windows, then she had no more windows to watch him through.

[Soran Nightblade]

Adonis reached out for the axe he'd located on the wall and picked it up slowly, listening to his surroundings. He looked out the door at the comparatively bright afternoon light. It was hard to believe something this ominous was out there in broad daylight, but he could feel that there was. The unicorn gripped the axe handle firmly and made his way to the door of the shed, studying the house. He couldn't see in from where he was, but he was certain nothing could get in as long as the doors remained sealed. If that creature had come for her, he was going to have quite a stakeout. He kept watch as he slowly stepped outside the shed and scanned the yard for signs of life.

[Emora Deen]

Laya went to her bedroom and watched Adonis standing in the doorway of the shed. She smacked her hands against the glass in the hopes of getting his attention, but he was a little ways off and wasn't sure if he could see her through the grime that covered the glass.

She saw the figure move quickly. "Adonis!" Laya screamed. He came around the side of the shed and reached out fast for Adonis's collar.

He grabbed up the unicorn and slung him back towards the house, smacking the wall. When Adonis was down the vampire pulled a small jar from his pocket and poured a quick circle around the fallen unicorn. He tossed the jar to the ground and stood with his hands in his pockets for a second, admiring his handy work.

Laya ran to the front door and drew it open. She ran along the porch and leaped off to run along side the house. She slid to a stop and started to creep to the corner, her heart thudding in her chest. She wasn't ready to jump out. She wasn't ready for this at all. She held tightly in her hand a small rusty knife she'd pulled from the kitchen. It was dull and had seen better days, but she would get this vampire's blood if it was the last thing she did.

"Where's the other one?" it asked Adonis with a grin.

[Soran Nightblade]

It happened faster than Adonis could think. The sudden yank of someone hauling him up was fierce enough to daze him, and the crash more than lived up to the throw. His vision burst into stars as he collapsed in front of the wall he'd bruised. He tried to focus on whatever had just attacked him, but his senses were blurry. He just barely brought Laya's personal nightmare into focus as he struggled to get himself up again. His bones weren't responding. He tried to take stock of whether any of them might still be stuck in the wall he'd hit.

Before he could stand, a wall of nausea slammed him back to the ground. A familiar and agonizing shock rolled through him as he realized he was surrounded in blood. In his bleary state, he thought it was probably his own. His lips twisted into a grim smirk. "Fool's....not here. And you can't...get at her..." he scoffed to the blur standing in front of him. He didn't know why this thing was going for him instead, but one thing was for sure. Nothing was getting into that house.

[Emora Deen]

The vampire knelt down, his dark hair falling in front of his face as he tilted his head at Adonis. The vampire grinned wickedly. He reared back and punched Adonis in the face, his strength restrained. It could have been hard enough to kill the unicorn if he wanted. "If I torture you, she'll come out eventually. So lets see how loud you can scream?" he asked the unicorn, moving his hands to break Adonis's arm.

Laya swallowed her fear like a rock. She ran and leaped for the vampire, plunging the knife into his back. She tugged hard on it, digging the dull blade into his skin.

The vampire relinquished Adonis's arm and stood up quickly, slinging Laya from his back. She leaped at him again, and he batted her away, slinging her into the same spot of the house that he'd sent Adonis to earlier. Laya bounced off hard, knocking the wind out of her.

She coughed, and wheezed to get her breath, while she crawled across the ground towards the knife.

"Stop," the vampire ordered. Laya stopped, but not because she wanted too.

She couldn't move. She was frozen. Her eyes looked to Adonis in panic. "Your name," he called down to her. "Tell me your name."

She didn't want to answer, but she couldn't help but do it. "Laya," she whispered. Laya could feel the cold in her hands as the snow covered her small fingers. It was growing colder by the second, and she could feel the ache in her joints as the screamed to be someplace warm. "Let him go," Laya breathed. "Please don't hurt him."

The vampire practically stood on Adonis's chest for a moment before he walked back to the shed to retrieve some rope hanging on the outside wall. It was old and half-rotted. He stooped and started to bind Adonis's hands together.

[Soran Nightblade]

Adonis lay rigid on the grass and stared at Laya's blurring form. He couldn't move or even breathe. All he smelled was blood, and he thought maybe he was dying. That made him hate her, just a little. More than anything, he was mad that she'd left the house. *Stu....gir...wh...t's the point if....leave the house?* he growled at her incoherently through a staticy mental link. *Go b..... the door....*

He stared at her and tried to make her understand. She needed to be inside. He felt the vampire grab his hands and start binding them together. He turned his wrist and twisted one of his hands away from his grip, moving his arm over his head with all the focus he had. When the vampire leaned forward to get hold of it again, the unicorn threw his elbow up into his face. It barely had strength behind it, but he hoped to at least keep the guy occupied. *INSIDE*, he forced the thought out desperately at her, not even sure it was words and not just feeling he was throwing outward.

[Emora Deen]

Laya focused on moving. Her fingers wiggled in the freezing snow. *INSIDE*. She winced, trying harder.

She was torn between running for her own safety and trying to negotiate Adonis's well being. At the moment she couldn't do either.

The vampire was hit in the eye. He jerked back, covering his face for a second, losing his focus on Laya. She jerked up and stumbled to her knees. Laya ran for her life without thinking. Gut instinct was screaming for her to do it. She ran along the side of the house, jumped up onto the porch and ran inside, slamming the door as soon as she was in.

She pressed her hands palm flat against the wood, her knees shaking so bad she knew she couldn't stand if she moved away from it.

The vampire grimaced at Adonis. He punched Adonis again, and bound his hands together in that split second of dizziness that always comes with a strike.

He lifted Adonis up over his shoulder, and carried him around the house to the front porch.

"Laya," he sang, dropping the dark unicorn on the old wood boards. "Open the door."

Laya slid down to where he couldn't see her. She was panting, her face torn with worry. She gripped the door handle and listened to him.

The vampire looked down at Adonis. "Seems we are going to have fun, just you and I," the vampire told Adonis. He began kicking at him.

Laya covered her mouth, clenching her eyes shut as she listened to the strikes.

[Soran Nightblade]

Adonis groaned with each hit as blow after blow crushed his ribs. His senses were clearing now that he'd been pulled away from the blood. It made more room for the pain, and he found as his nerves came alive again that he couldn't move for a whole different set of reasons. *Don't you dare...open that door,* he snarled into her mind.

[Emora Deen]

Laya moved her hands to her ears and pressed her palms to them tightly, trying to block out the sound of the vampire's boot being driven into Adonis. She heaved, shaking she was so angry and so afraid. But, Laya couldn't let that thing kill him. She couldn't bare to let Adonis be hurt anymore.

Laya twisted on her knees and turned the nob. She took a deep breath and pulled the door open, kneeling on the floor just before the doorway.

"Please," she croaked out, her fingers knotting. "Stop..."

The vampire kicked Adonis again.

"Stop it!!" Laya screamed, her throat growing sore in that one instant.

The vampire tilted his head at Laya, a dark smirk growing on his face. She could see the edges of fangs. "Move and leave the door open."

Laya obeyed him, and the vampire reached down for Adonis's foot. He grabbed the unicorn by the ankle and drug him inside, closing the door behind him.

Laya backed up until her back touched the wall, and there she plastered herself. "Please let me check on him."

The vampire looked where he left Adonis. "Why?"

"Please, he's hurt," Laya whispered.

"He better feel more lively soon," the vampire mused. "We're going to play some games."

The vampire stepped out of the way and allowed Laya to go to Adonis. She didn't know what to do when she knelt down next to him. She reached out to touch him, her hands shaking just over his skin. She finally cupped his face with her hands, and brushed his hair away. "I'm sorry," she whispered, in tears. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't let him hurt you anymore. I couldn't bare it."

[Soran Nightblade]

Adonis breathed unevenly as the movement finally stopped. A warm hand on his cheek brought him alert again. He looked up at Laya and his eyes slowly panned the room. *You came outside,* he observed shakily. She left the house to protect him. Why the hell would she do that? *Stupid, stupid, stupid, wonderful human,* he muttered hopelessly. He reached stiffly to his chest to feel if it still felt like a chest. *Did you get any of his blood?*

[Emora Deen]

Laya brushed her fingers across his forehead, listening to him. Laya blinked at his words. Did he just say what she thought he said? It shocked her so much she barely registered what he asked next. "I didn't," she whispered. "But I will." She kissed his forehead, like Telanis would do her, in the hopes that maybe it would help ease his pain.

Laya heard the boots of the vampire as he paced back towards her. He stood right behind her, reaching down to stroke the top of her head.

"That's sweet," he told her. "Did Kron teach you that?"

Laya ignored him. "He needs a doctor," Laya growled.

"He'll live," the vampire told her. "Are you well enough to play my game, unicorn?"

The vampire's hand fisted in her hair and pulled her slightly up. She grabbed at his hands. "What do you want?"

"Kron is coming for you. I am merely waiting for him to arrive," the vampire told her. "And I'm entertaining myself until then. So, unicorn are you up to it?"

[Soran Nightblade]

Adonis narrowed his eyes at the vampire. He was more than familiar with the twisted things humans could call "games". Once he'd been exposed to the concept, Erik had practically become a junkie for subjugation and psychological torture. Adonis gave the only answer he knew how to give in the situation. "Tell me the rules."

[Emora Deen]

The vampire smiled. "The woman," he said nodding to Laya. "I am willing to let you both go without further harm, if you take her."

Laya blinked. "What?" she breathed.

The vampire grinned down at Laya. "No further harm," he told her. "I'll wait for Kron to come from the woods. All you have to do is violate your rules of purity and take this woman."

"No," Laya said firmly. She knew that Adonis had been hurt by humans. She wouldn't let herself be used as a tool to hurt him. This vampire wasn't just here to torment her, it was here to torture Adonis too. She thought that he would torture anyone in the room at the moment no matter who they were.

"If he doesn't agree then it will be me you contend with," he told her. "I will not be gentle."

[Soran Nightblade]

Adonis flashed a morbid glare at the vampire. He tried to swallow his pulse and speak with confidence. "Why? Why seek that kind of power here? Does dominating a female enhance the energy you're leeching through your web of slaves?" he demanded hoarsely. He just wanted to keep the guy talking somehow, until he could think of some way to fight him off. The thought of forcing himself on a human, especially Laya, was impossible to think about. Not again. Neither of them could survive that again and come out sane.

[Emora Deen]

The vampire laughed. "Its not about seeking power," he told Adonis. "I'm just having fun. Isn't this fun?"

He looked down at Laya. "I'm having fun," he told her almost innocently. "I knew you probably wouldn't play my game. I tried, though."

His hand tightened in Laya's hair and he started dragging her back. Laya kicked, clawing at his grasp. She suddenly wished Adonis would have agreed.