Mature: Desert Moon

[Emora Deen]

Talon dropped the burning hot blade the moment he felt the prick of the syringe. Then, his body exploded. It started with his neck, a burning unlike anything. He'd swear his body was being turned to ash in that very second.

Talon's knees buckled and he withered in the snow. "RAHHHHHHHHH!"

* * *

Tenele's head lifted at the scream. "Vlad?" She whispered, her heart pounding. It echoed off the cliffs, and reverberated in her soul.

The wall was just ahead of them, but it was so high... She pressed a hand to her ribs. Atul had wrapped cloth tightly around them to help with the pain, but it wouldn't help when they started climbing. The pain wouldn't stop her, she only hoped it didn't hinder her strength.

"We're here, Tenele," Atul assured her. "We'll get over the wall. We'll save him."

[Soran Nightblade]

Sho panicked when she saw what the needle did to Talon. Was that what he'd been about to give Talon's master? She leaped up, adrenaline thundering in her ears. grabbed the surgical tray, and swung it hard at the back of the scientist's head. To her shock, he stumbled sideways.

"Come!' she shrieked, grabbing Talon by the arm and hauling. She wasn't strong enough to move him.

"Help me," Vlad said, taking Talon's other arm. He looked at her intently, sweat rolling off of his face. "Quickly."

The shy demon glanced away. It had taken her weeks to trust Talon. This one was a stranger. But she couldn't carry Talon alone, and Maxwell would not stay down long.

"This way. Hurry," she gasped, helping Vlad haul the man up. Vlad took the brunt of Talon's weight and let her lead, staggering to keep them upright as he followed her into the home and down, down, down the stairs. Vlad's arms grew weaker and weaker, trembling with the effort just to hold Talon's small weight. The heat was unworldly.

"What's happening to him?" she squeaked as Vlad collapsed and crawled the bottom few steps before collapsing with his protege.

"Get blood. A lot, fast," Vlad's throat was ripped up from screaming, but it got the words out. Sho stared a minute, then bolted purposefully.

"Talon," Vlad called to his bloodling. *Talon!*

[Emora Deen]

Talon struggled, flopping. His limbs weren't under his control. He just kept thinking that if he rolled he would eventually put the fire out, and all the while he screamed.

* * *

The sound of the metal whirling in the air as Atul spun the grappling hook made it set in for Tenele. They were here. They were about to climb the wall. They would save Vlad...

Or die.

The second grappling hook clanked over the top. Atul's immortal strength aided him. No normal man would have ever managed to get them to the top.

"Are you ready?" the King asked her, cupping her cheek in his hand. "Of course your ready." He took her face in both his hands and pressed his chilled lips to hers. "Whatever happens... I am glad you let me into your life and I will always love you."

Tenele nodded, pressing her forehead to his. "Thank you for doing this," she replied. "You left your kingdom for us..."

Atul smiled, taking the rope in his hands. He didn't say anything more. He took to climbing.

He was more than seven feet above her head before she finally swallowed and grabbed hold of the rope. White hot pain ripped through her side and chest as she drew herself up. She almost faltered... but she forced herself to press on. She went another foot, and another. Exhaling, and drawing in ragged breaths. Tears warmed her eyes, and she blinked them away. There were many, many feet left to go.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad understood exactly what Talon was going through. Except for Talon, it was doubly terrifying, because he'd never felt this before. He pulled the man close in his own shaking arms. "I'm going to drain you. Try not to move," he murmured, doing the only thing he knew of that could keep his protege alive in this situation. He leaned over Talon's neck and drew his blood like he was chugging vinegar, as fast and thorough as possible without killing him completely. He took everything he could and hunched against the man's chest, his whole body screaming at him for what he'd done. Where was the girl, damnit? He was trusting Talon's life to a complete stranger.

The beginnings of a seizure began tugging at the vampire's limbs, but his body didn't have enough strength to hurt itself.

[Emora Deen]

The fire in Talon's body slowly suffocated, like someone had thrown a cold blanket over him. He still felt a pinch of heat, but nothing like before. Now he just felt so tired, like a black hole was sucking him in, and he dreamed.

He dreamed of blue fire and white stone and he knew that it was talcomite. Like coal, but infinitely hotter, and far faster to burn. He watched a pretty reptile girl throw rocks in the fire, watched it sizzle as she walked away.

* * *

"Almost," Atul called to Tenele. "You're almost there." He sat at the top of the wall, looking down on Tenele like a father watching his child take those precarious first steps.

She nodded, taking a strained breath. She let out a soft cry as she pulled herself up another foot. When she was near the top Atul grabbed her wrist and dragged her the rest of the way up. She fell in against him, and he wrapped his arms around her tightly. "You did fantastic," he breathed. He glanced down into the courtyard. "Now, we just have to head down."

[Soran Nightblade]

Sho returned after a few minutes, panting from running so hard. She was carrying an entire armfull of blood bags.

Vlad couldn't believe his eyes when he saw her. He was sure she wasn't coming back. "Leave them near him, and get back," he whispered.

Sho did as she was told, staring at Talon as she set the bags on his chest and backed away until she hit a wall.

[Emora Deen]

Talon was so hungry he could smell the blood through the leather that encased them. His body moved on instinct, grabbing a packet and bringing it to his lips. He bit right through leather. The blood rushed into his mouth and he drank gleefully. His thirst not quenched, he moved onto the next bag. Several minutes later he lay among the carcasses of blood bags, feeling more like a well fed pig before a holiday than a vampire that had been so close to death.

His red eyes fluttered open. "Talcomite," he breathed, sitting straight up. "The fuel source for the fire is talcomite, which can be countered by a higher concentration of cortzim."

The synapse in his brain fired off facts until he thought his head might explode. Then, the spinning gears slowed enough for him to realize where he was.

"What... I... How am I not dead?"

* * *

Atul landed next to Tenele in the snow, taking a moment to survey their surroundings. He saw a table in the middle of the courtyard, but because of the angle he didn't see Maxwell in the snow.

"Cautious," the king advised as they moved quickly across the ground towards the house. "I don't want to split up."

"We will find them faster if we do," Tenele argued.

Atul couldn't argue with that.

[Soran Nightblade]

"Corti....what?" Sho murmured, startled by what she'd just seen. She knew the vampires ate blood, but to see Talon actually do it was odd to her.

Vlad stared hard at Talon, but his vision was failing by the second. His irises were almost entirely absorbed with black, and a greyish cloud was forming at the center. His eyes were burning apart. His whole body was burning. He clenched his throat and concentrated on not screaming. What a lame way to die. He wasn't going to sob his guts out. He was determined to just hold still and wait stoically.

Then Sho's warm hand curled around his wrist, and it was like someone had run a knife beneath his skin and begun spooning out his flesh with a melon baller. Vlad choked out a harsh cry, beside himself with agony. "Don't," he barely breathed. "Don't touch anything."

The girl jumped back like she'd been bitten.

[Emora Deen]

Talon climbed to his feet. "I'll finish this," he told Vlad, kneeling next to him. "Where there is talcomite there is cortzim. Just rest. Stay here and rest."

Talon jumped to his feet and headed further into the heat. He went the direction that Sho had showed him before, but instead of going towards the fire he went towards the mines. The miners regarded him with confused looks as he stormed around looking for what he needed to steal their heat. He was about to become a mass murder, granted he had been a murder for a while since being turned into a vampire... But, he hadn't taken out an entire village yet.

Talon found what he was looking for in scrap pile towards the back of the mine. Carts and carts full of it. The smutty ash like substance was all it would take to smooth the fire and freeze them all to death.

He hooked his hands in the edges of the cart and started pushing it back down the long shaft towards the fire.

* * *

Atul glanced around the interior of the foyer and then motioned for Tenele to follow him. "If you insist we split up, take the upstairs. I'll take this floor."

Tenele nodded quietly. "Be careful," she whispered to him, squeezing his hand.

Atul crept around the corner. This was a large house... and Maxwell could be lurking around any corner. He pressed on.

Tenele went room to room on the second floor. This was probably a stupid idea, but Talon's urgent message to hurry... and then the scream. Where were they?

She went to the window, peering back down on the courtyard and the table. There, half covered in snow, was a still form. Tenele's heart leaped into her throat. She could barely make the figure out now that the snow had started falling again. Whoever it was looked dead.

Tenele ran from the room, despite the pain in her chest, down the stairs, and out into the snow again. She crossed the courtyard in seconds, and knelt in the snow next to the body. She reached forward and froze, noting the skin of his hand and the color of his hair.

He was dead?

If he was dead where was her husband? Tenele lifted her gaze back to the house. Had the scream belonged to Maxwell this whole time?

[Soran Nightblade]

Maxwell's hand shot out and closed tightly over hers. The woman's approach had awoken him, and he was pissed as all hell. "I should have known you lot would ruin him. I should have known he wouldn't have the strength to become what I could have made him, after all your meddling," he snarled, climbing to his feet and lifting her off the ground by her arm.

Sho jogged after Talon nervously. "Talon.... what are you doing with these stones?" The worried look on her face said she knew already. "Our master is a bad person," she murmured her fears out loud. "You want to kill him."

[Emora Deen]

"Not want," he growled. He nodded. "I need to kill him. He will kill us. He will kill my sister."

He shoved the cart closer. "It will snuff out the fire, stealing the heat and his power." Talon frowned. "Your people will die..."

He paused in pushing the cart. "Gather the materials you need to start a fire like this one. When he is dead... you should work quickly to build the fire or your people won't last long. I am sorry about this Sho... but it is the only way."

* * *

Tenele gasped as the pain in her chest flared at Maxwell lifting her off the ground. She cupped a hand over her ribs, her legs kicking. This was a bad time to be short. She kicked her legs out, aiming for his stomach while her free hand went to draw the sword at her waist. It was an odd angle, since he happened to have the arm that she used for that.

[Soran Nightblade]

Sho cringed as she watched him prepare to snuff out the fire. She didn't want to die. She didn't think to argue. After what she'd just seen, maybe she belonged dead. Her master was a bad man.

Vlad took deep breaths and managed to think a little. He tried to call his blade out, and couldn't. He could use his claws. He couldn't use anything.

Maxwell snarled as Tenele's kicking foot caught his holy wound. He threw her aside like a ragdoll, roaring.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele cried out when her body collided with the earth, skidding through the snow. She pressed her hand against her cracked ribs, and pushed up with the other. Tenele's eyes went from Maxwell to the weapon she'd lost when he threw her. She clamored to her feet, heading for the sword.

* * *

Atul saw the open doorway and felt the heat wafting up from it and he almost passed it by. A slow uneasy feeling crept up inside him, and he wasn't sure why, but he knew he had to go down there. Atul went into the darkness with little thought after that, only that he needed to go.

His only hope was that Tenele didn't manage to find trouble while he was searching below them. He didn't think he'd hear her if she did.

[Soran Nightblade]

Maxwell stalked toward Tenele. He used telekinesis to draw her sword further out of reach, then up into his own hand. "I don't know how you found this place," he snarled, "But you're never going to leave it." He leaped toward her, swinging the sword down.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele rolled. The sword sliced across her arm, painting the snow red. She scurried up to her feet, faltering for just a second before she put her fists up much like a fighter would do in the ring. She definitely wasn't going to give this bastard the satisfaction of chasing her around with her own sword.

"Where's Vlad?" she growled.

* * *

"Sho," Talon muttered. "I am sorry..." Talon began shovelling the mineral into the fire. It was messy, and the powder flew all over him until he looked as dark as it. He kept shovelling until one cart was empty, and then he moved to another. But, with a fire the size of a house... It was going to take some work.

* * *

Atul found Vlad at the foot of the steps. His voice somehow seemed to disappear in that moment. He dropped to his knees, his eyes tearing with relief. "Vlad?" he called to the vampire, cupping his burning skin in his hands. "Dear Gods, your melting," he whispered, brushing his hand through Vlad's hair.

"We're here, Vlad. Tenele and I, we made it."