Heirot

Erom shuddered at the sound of his elders' voices. What in the world had he gotten himself into? "If I go...they could do this again," he murmured in horror. He glanced to Vlad uncertainly. Why was he risking so much to help this Athraka?

"Well, it looks like visiting hours are over," Vlad said.

"Please don't hurt anyone," Erom demanded of Vlad as he edged toward the door.

The vampire found himself leaning on Tenele unsteadily as he started forward. "Okay. Legs," he muttered, pulling his muscles along like they were dead weight.

Tenele wrapped an arm around Vlad's waist and helped him to the door. "We won't hurt anyone," Tenele told Erom. "But, if they move to burn him again I will." Tenele glanced to Vlad, her lips twitching with a smirk. They reached the edge of the doorway, where the shield separated them from the elves. "Just encase this goes badly," she whispered to him. "I have enjoyed being married to you for these three days, and I'm not mad at you for keeping Talon's secret."

Tenele stood on her tip toes and kissed him, her lips melding gently with his. Tenele drew away, her green eyes lifting to his. Tenele led him through the doorway and out into the frigid winter air.

"Make one move to harm him and lose Attara's protection forever," Tenele told them loud enough for any of the elves around to hear. "This Athraka has found favor with the Gods, as he entered a holy cathedral to protect it and was not burned. He is my husband and if you have any love for my mother you will leave him be."

"Tenele," Hakom said, emboldened by the weakened appearance of the vampire. "Please come here. I believe you, and I wish to help you, but we cannot permit this Athraka to exist. He is an abomination, and it is forbidden."

"Then, I'll take my chances with Verin," Tenele told him firmly. "And I will find a way to save my brother. This abomination is a man that I love, and if loving him dooms me as you say it will, then there are worst ways to come to such a fate." Tenele left Vlad to lean against the hut, and she took a step forward.

"You will let us go," Tenele pressed, no longer asking. She informed him, as one would inform another of the rising sun. "Verin wants me, remember what I said about him if I call loud enough?"

Vlad watched the interaction. "And if I leave?" he demanded. "If I leave the city quietly, will you help her?"

"They won't let you leave," Tenele told him. "They'll kill you. Its all they know. I already tried to bargain for your freedom. I don't want their help anymore, I have no desire to stay another minute with them." Tenele looked back to Vlad.

Vlad wanted to leave with her too. Instead, he asked "And if your brother dies, will you still feel good about this moment?" He leaned away from the wall and walked less gracefully than usual to the edge of the platform. "You will not capture me a second time, but you do have a second chance to help her," he said to Hakom firmly.

Tenele looked to Hakom. "Talon can't be saved," Tenele whispered. "The curse cannot be broken because his entire existence is its cause. Isn't that right? He can't be saved because his blood is what is killing him. Our mother is Attara, Goddess of Nature and life and I'll live because I'm a woman, a creator of life." She remembered Hakom's sympathetic expression the moment before Eram interrupted them. She remembered that split second of sorrow. She'd known, somehow in that instant, that Hakom would tell her Talon could not be saved. "Verin's bastard children live because they're demons, but the mothers take on the full force of the curse. But, my brother is doomed because of love." Tenele blinked the tears from her eyes, and forcibly swallowed the knot in her throat to speak.

There was nothing she could do, nothing but say good-bye to him. And then, she was the last. Her father was running from Shea, thought dead all her life, and still felt that way. Her mother seemed unconcerned with her, or more concerned with something else. Her brother, a man she'd not always gotten along with, but had always loved, would be dead soon.

Tenele didn't want to even mention the fact that nothing could save her from Verin, if he did indeed want to come for her eventually. Vlad wouldn't be able to stop him. Hell, the only thing that would probably keep her safe would be to join a nunnery. Celibacy and choir duty were not in the cards for her. She didn't want to even voice that to the elves because then Vlad would know what she already knew; she was living with borrowed time.

"You spoke of helping me while you burned my husband alive," Tenele told them angrily. "You knew who he was to me, and you still didn't stop. It is taking all that I am to keep from killing you. It is not the Athraka you should fear."

Tenele backed away towards where Eram stood by the door, she turned her back to the elves. The hate on Tenele's face washed away, melding into a gentle, but very sad smile. She reached down and grabbed Erom's arm. She couldn't voice what she wanted to say, or the elves would know. She hoped that Eram would understand, and not be too afraid.

"If no one will let us done from here, then this boy will do it for you. I will release him when we are on solid ground," Tenele announced, feeling sick inside for using such an empty threat. More so, because she knew the kid was probably scared out of his mind.

"Tenele, release him!" Ilthe pleaded, starting forward in terror. "He is not of age!"

Erom froze for just an instant at the sight of his elders' terrified expressions. Then, his mind decided, he spun with Tenele toward the edge of the platform, grabbed Vlad's wrist with his other hand, and pulled them both over the edge with him.

It was a rocky start. He closed his eyes tight and concentrated on controlling all three of them as they fell too quickly toward the ground below. About 50 feet away, the magic finally started pulling against the gravity hurtling them. Their speed slowed significantly, but it was still a harsh landing. Vlad and Tenele crashed into a leafy tree, while Erom lost his grip on them both and fell thoroughly for the last 10 feet.

Vlad caught himself on a limb and gripped it firmly while it soaked in that they had made it down in one piece...and that Tenele had lost her hope of saving her brother.

Tenele fell on something lumpy, and it collapsed beneath her with a groan. Her blood was rushing too fast from the fall to really understand what she'd fallen on until it started to move. It rose up, shoving her light form off like blowing dust from a book.

"Ahh... looks like a little bird fell out of her nest," crooned the Arken soldier.

Tenele looked around for Erom, spotting him amidst more soldiers. Lots more. A group of them had gathered with axes around the base of one of the elf's trees, hacking away at the wood.

The soldier grabbed her up, and as he lifted her she ran her hand along his leg to his belt, drawing his dagger. When he lifted her eye-level she drove the blade into his neck. As his body fell backwards Tenele jumped into a run. It was fast, and most of the soldiers hadn't noticed the blood on the snow or their fallen comrade until she dove into the center of their group and in front of the boy.

Tenele leaped onto the back of a soldier, and as he fell she cut his throat. She took his sword and swung it to block the attack of another.

"Run. Hide!" Tenele told Erom.

Three soldiers came at her. She kicked one center chest just as he was rearing back with his long-sword. She turned, slicing through another. Seconds later they were added to her pending body-count. She choked up on the sword when a big one waltzed up. She was almost about to attack, but instead she smiled.

Tenele whistled, sharp and high-pitched, for the Hell Hound they'd left away from the elf's land, because they feared seeming too hostile.

Stalker wasn't the only demon to materialize at her side moments after her call. Vlad dropped from the tree and landed in a crouch, his movements getting smoother by the minute. His powerful legs beat into the earth as he crossed to her side. Stalker was feinting forward at the Arken soldiers in front of Tenele, snarling viciously. Vlad casually threw some of Arken's men aside like they were wayward cornstalks and surveyed his wife and hound for injury, ready to tear the throats of any who had dared to touch her.

"You've chosen an interesting place to attack. Living hundreds of feet off the ground can hardly be convenient," he mocked a man ahead of them who appeared to be some sort of leader to them.

"That's why we're bringing them to us." He grinned and motioned his head to the men hacking at the trees behind him.

Tenele didn't have time to pay attention to the conversation. She deflected another soldiers attack. They swarmed like ants, managing to coral her into a circle. She was blocking an attack, when a fist came out of no where and struck her across the jaw. She collapsed dizzily to the earth, sucking in a sharp breath when one kicked her. He reared back and kicked again. On the third kick Tenele wrapped one arm around his leg and hugged it to her as she rolled towards his body. She pressed her other arm against his knee, and jerked to role again, dislocating his leg at the knee-cap.

A blood curdling scream ripped up from his throat as he fell back into the snow. Tenele rolled over him, snatching his sword from his loosened grasp and bringing it up just in time to keep from losing her head. Her angry green eyes bore holes in the Arken scum, and she licked the blood from the corner of her lips.

Vlad held his hands out to extend his claws, but found that apparently those powers weren't really working either. For the first time in ages, he picked up a sword of the ground next to one of Tenele's poor victims and joined the party.

His progress through the men was quick, starting with the one that had just kicked his lovely - and deadly - wife. At Vlad's cue, Stalker also took off into the crowds, his huge body ripping through the men so quickly they could barely even raise their arms to block as they were pummeled to the ground. Stalker ripped open their throats and left them to bleed out, not interested in eating them but more than pleased to tear them apart.

Erom lay very still on the ground, clutching a fractured elbow and staring at the carnage in shock.

Tenele worked her away towards the soldiers hacking away at the tree. They had to turn away from what they were doing to keep from getting stabbed in the back. They had axes, but all of them seemed quite capable of using them. Tenele went through two. The third was bigger, heavier. Tenele jumped back to avoid the low swipe to her gut. She perried and fought him, until she lost her footing on the roots close to the tree. He moved in, kicking the sword from her hand, and pushing the axe handle up against her throat. He pinned her back up against the tree hard enough to choke her.

She struggled, legs kicking wildly until she found purchase between his legs.

He didn't budge. Didn't even flinch. She kicked him again, and the corner of his lips curled with a smirk. Tenele grimaced. He moved, tossing her away to the snow. She saw a glint of his boot, and then felt a sharp pain in her thigh. She groaned, rolling away and jumping to her feet. Her left leg buckled under her for a moment, but she regained her balance quickly.

Vlad went into his own little demonic zone as he crushed through his enemies. Non-lethal though it may have been, being burned alive had been...ruffling. And he had some frustration to work off. It wasn't long before the Arken soldiers started approaching him with more caution, as he left a literal heap of bodies behind him in the snow.

Stalker looked away from the men he was terrorizing at the sound of Tenele's voice. He spun from his current target and leapt up into the man who had just kicked her to the ground.