Mature: Desert Moon

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad smiled. "As did yours," he said quietly. He turned so he could look into her eyes next to him. "How much did your brother tell you?"

[Emora Deen]

Tenele frowned. "Not much," she whispered. "I think he hid it from me so I wouldn't worry. But, I could hear your voice. I could hear the pain in your voice." Her eyes glistened.

[Soran Nightblade]

"The second time we talked... I was planning to die," the vampire said quietly. "In the past, I always imagined that if he got far enough along and it wasn't working, he would stop, or I could persuade him. He didn't. My body rejected everything he gave it, but there was no way to control him or slow him down. I thought I was so clever. I figured I could get out of anything. There's no fighting back with poison. It's not a battle you can win. It just takes pieces of you, and warps and humiliates you until there's nothing left but to die." He laughed sourly. "And if you go through all that, and then live... what if you don't return to normal? Maybe the poison just stays a part of you and leaves you at that humiliating edge forever. Maybe things you're supposed to love just hurt, forever." His garnet eyes took on a tremoring neon glint as he spoke.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele watched him quietly as he spoke, reaching out to brush her fingers across his cheek. "It doesn't matter if you change, if you are different. You are loved... We will love you no matter what. You didn't die Vlad, but you came very close. Remember how I was after Atul's people tried to burn me alive? I was inconsolable. I was changed. But, you loved me anyway..." She pondered his last sentence longer before addressing it. She wasn't sure what he was saying, what he meant by it. It sounded like...

"Do I hurt you?" Tenele asked softly.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad's gaze sharpened. "No, you've done nothing to hurt me," he said with firm quickness. "Absolutely nothing. But I'm so tense. Things I should want...I don't. It's worst with Atul. I miss him so badly, and I can barely be touched. If he realizes...if I can't calm down, I'll never be with him the same way."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele shook her head. "You don't have to worry about things like that," Tenele smiled. "Not right now. You haven't healed yet. Things will get better. Atul doesn't expect you to want those things right now. Don't worry. I'll give you the space you need, and so will Atul. I love you, Vlad. Not for your body, but for you. Who you are to me... I can't describe it. The same goes for Atul. He isn't in love with you because you are physically pleasing... He just loves you."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad took a deep breath and let her logic calm him down. His skeptical side wanted to pick it apart in case she was wrong, but he couldn't handle it if he found the logic flawed, so he didn't let himself try. He clung to her words and desperately wanted them to be true, and threw himself into that hope as best he could.

"Maybe...you could help me get back up there," he finally asked, rolling his eyes up at the bed seemingly miles above them.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele smiled. "I can try," she offered. She knelt, preparing to hide any discomfort helping Vlad's heavy form up. She stood and reached down, one hand holding her blankets up and the other grasping his arm.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad glanced up at her and pushed himself up to his knees. He took her hand, but didn't pull too hard. He made it to his feet and kissed her. "That was good motivation," he grinned as he finally reached her lips. He put his arms around her shoulders and her blanket armor, and pulled her in close. "My wonderful maiden girl," he murmured into her hair as he nuzzled her possessively. "Thank you."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele smiled, curling against him. "You're welcome," she whispered. Her arm curled around his lower back and held him to her. She stayed like that a moment more before ushering him to the bed, where she made him lay. Then, she uncoiled from her blanket and draped it back across the bed before climbing beneath the covers with him.

The cold air had momentarily chilled her skin, and she shivered as her body acclimated to the warmth beneath the fabric.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad rolled to his side and gently rubbed heat back into her arms. "I'm sure we'll heal up just fine," he sighed at their sad state. The movement left his muscles burning after a few moments, so he just rested his arm over her and let sleep pull him under. He hadn't slept this much in ages, and the fact his body was tolerating it was proof that he needed it.

For three days, he was completely outcold. The others tried several times to gently wake him, but he was unresponsive and still as the dead. On the four day, Sho brought up breads and eggs from the kitchen for their breakfast. She had been helping Talon, and showing them around the place, so she freely pitched into to check on them here and there. When she came into the room in the late morning and found Vlad still passed out in the bed, she frowned. "Should you bury him soon?" she asked Atul with her usual bluntness.

[Emora Deen]

Atul glanced up from the book he was reading. "Probably," he muttered. "But, he hasn't started to rot, so I'll take that as a sign we can leave him on display longer." He went back to reading.

Tenele glared at him, kicking his leg.

"He's not dead," she argued, glancing to Sho. "He's dead... but not." At least... Tenele cast her gaze to her husband. Atul was too calm about this. He told her, repeatedly, that he was fine. That his body was just mending itself, pushing all of his energy into that. But, Tenele feared otherwise. There wasn't any way to tell whether he was alive or dead. She'd even taken to sleeping in a different room because she couldn't stand the idea of lying next to him like this. She couldn't sleep. She concentrated on watching and waiting for him to move, to flinch, but he didn't.

[Soran Nightblade]

Sho frowned at her. "Are you upset?" she asked. This whole "empathy" thing Talon had been trying to teach her wasn't her strong point. "You want him to wake?"

[Emora Deen]

Tenele looked to her husband. "Yes, I want him to wake." She glanced down at her own book. "To move at least. To flutter a finger or an eye. Just something to show me that he's still here. Unfortunately, he seems to be stuck in power-napping mode."

Tenele closed her book with a loud pop. "I think I'm going to take a walk outside," she whispered, rising from her seat.

[Soran Nightblade]

Sho glared over at Vlad's body. The woman elf seemed upset. She walked to Vlad and slapped him hard across the face. When that didn't work, she tried punching him in the solar plexus.