The Cost of Peace

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad's relief at knowing the amulet could probably keep him from doing any more damage was tempered by his frustration that it hadn't come two minutes sooner and, more importantly, by his growing confusion about her state of undress. "Are you feeling sick or something?" he asked her, taking her by the shoulders and redirecting her back toward her room.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele stumbled a bit at first as Vlad led her back to her room. The ankle length under-dress was dirty towards the bottom from the city streets. Her feet were clean, thanks to the shoes. Tenele wanted to close her eyes at anything that was moving. It all looked like a fan of color unfolding. "I don't feel sick..." she mummered, her knees buckling for quick second. She managed to catch herself. This was actually far better than it had been. She could at least stand. Her skin still tingled, and Vlad's cool hands on her bare shoulders felt strange. "I feel strange." Strange didn't count as sick. No, she didn't feel sick at all. She felt woozy, light headed, and more. She couldn't even explain what she felt.

Her blue dress was gathered on the floor next to the bed. She never remembered taking it off. She didn't even remember coming back to the room. The last thing she remembered was seeing the ship out at the docks.

When she was close to the bed the amulet slipped from her fingers, she practicly dove through the curtain and tumbled onto the bed, rolling over to look up at the ceiling.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad kept his hand on her shoulders as a precaution as she stumbled back to the room. When the amulet fell out in the open, he cringed and looked away from it, facing toward Tenele instead, where she'd collapsed on the bed. "Tenele, focus," he said, feeling frustrated. "Did someone give you something? Where are your clothes?" A few theories were beginning to swim around in his head that were making his blood boil.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele stared at the ceiling. Her face very calm. All too serene. She watched as it shifted above her. The room was darker than it had been when they had left for the party. Only a few of the lamps were still burning. "I drank wine, that was it," she breathed. A long quiet moment passed and she continued, "I saw you with her."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad froze. "With the princess?" he asked warily. He'd almost forgotten his dance with her, in light of what had happened afterwards. "What did you drink? How much did you drink?" he sounded baffled. This wasn't like her at all...

[Emora Deen]

"I took a sip out of one glass, and gulped down another. That's all." Tenele pulled herself to the center of the round bed, grabbing on of the many pillows and hugging it as she watched the moonlight play on the curtains. "Did you enjoy dancing with her?" she asked softly.

All the while her mind was going over what she had done. She remembered drinking the wine, seeing Vlad dance with that slut... She remembered the ship, and almost making it. Then, after that it all gets fuzzy. She thought harder, trying to concentrate, but her mind just dizzily pushed it away.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad felt guilt like a brick of ice in his stomach. "Tenele...I sent you for the necklace because I was losing control. My head's not working right. If you're angry, that may be a good thing, because I need you to keep this," he pulled the amulet up by its string like it was a dead spider, "and use it, without hesitation." He dropped the pendant on her chest and pulled his hand and his eyes away rapidly, turning his back to her before going on. "I danced with that woman because I wanted to hurt her. Do you understand that, Tenele?" he said quietly.

[Emora Deen]

"I understand," she said, taking the amulet and slipping it under the pillow her head was lying on. "I remember." Yes, she remembered very well that hunger. She never wanted to be that hungry again. She remembered the way he had lost himself trying to get them home from Arken. She remembered Adrian the psychopath, and the knock-off No Life Kings of Sheas. She remembered Lothos and the feel of his fanges tearing through her. She remembered, and because of this, she had new well to go after the amulet.

"Is it hard for you to keep your control now?" she asked him, turning her head towards him. He was starting to clear up a bit. Her green eyes were glazed, her pupils dialated. Wine had never effected her like this. She thought hard, conjuring up the image of the docks. She could see... she was walking forward. Then, slowly everything felt strange. She saw the night sky... Her mind wanted to pull away, everything was blurring together. But, she saw it, as the shadows were closing in she saw there was someone leaning over her. She remembered now. Someone had picked her up.

[Soran Nightblade]

"Not at the moment. I had a sobering experience downstairs," Vlad said flatly, knowing he would have to tell her eventually. "I think I botched our mission."

[Emora Deen]

"I don't think we have had a chance," she whispered. "Why would they bring us here if they were just going to turn us down?"

She needed to drink something. Her mouth felt dry. She crawled from the bed, barely able to keep her balance as she stood. There was a pitcher of water on a table next to a pillar. She reached it, though with a great deal of effort. She lifted it into her trembling hands and drank several sips from it. Her mind still whirling very much with everything. She wanted it to stop. And if by some magic miracle, her brain freezed on a particular memory. A man's hand handing her a goblet of red liquid, and black eyes twinkling with sympathy and delight all at once. In shock her hands let go of the pitcher and it crashed to the floor at her feet, sending water and shards of pottery across the marble.

"Oh..." she whispered, glancing warily over her shoulder. "It slipped."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad turned to face her when he heard the crash. Trying not to notice the pendant lying on the bed, he walked over to her and lifted her up, carrying her over the broken glass. "What in the world did you drink?" he demanded. And this time he couldn't help asking "How did you end up half naked and drunk in ten minutes? Was someone here with you?"

[Emora Deen]

Tenele stared up at him as he carried her, her hands clutching his shirt. "I told you. Wine." Tenele looked at him for a long moment. "It was just ten minutes?" she asked, as if she thought the time was off. As if there had been more time, or shorter time. She clenched her teeth. They had worst things to deal with than this problem. She needed to lie to keep him from asking so many questions. He had his own problems to worry about at the moment. "I got the amulet... and slipped. I fel in some mud. I came back to change my clothes. I must have passed out."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad set her down on the bed somewhat roughly. "So you saw me acting like a fool, you knew I needed help, then you got smashed and went to your room to do laundry?" he asked her angrily. He couldn't believe she could really do something so flaky. "I just beat the living hell out of Prince Atul. Better go have a martini while I massacre the town."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele moved back quickly when he started at her angrily. She swallowed, looking at him a bit fearfully. He never yelled at her like that. She was afraid to tell him the truth now, for fear of him getting angry with her for lying. She couldn't tell if this was Vlad, or his darker side. He had been acting very much like Vlad. He was angry with her.

"I didn't mean..." Tenele tried, but the words escaped her. "Vlad, I-" She clamped her mouth shut and began again in a tremble. "I wasn't trying to get drunk. I just had one glass." She finished in a whisper so faint. "I just wanted him to leave me alone."

[Soran Nightblade]

Whispering didn't help much with Vlad's sense of hearing. "Who?" he growled, his mind switching tracks and his anger shifting almost immediately, because suddenly it was beginning to make sense. "Verin? Verin gave you something and you drank it?"