Heirot

Over the course of their long ride, Vlad found his leg more and more intolerable. He'd said he could keep up, but after a while, keeping balance in an upright position became simply impossible. He eventually wound up hanging forward against his horse's neck, his hands clenched in her mane. The reins hung loose in front of him, but the force of his will seemed enough to keep them following behind Atul's horse.

When they finally stopped, he opened his eyes and blinked their surroundings into focus. It was such a relief not to be moving. He glanced around for a sign of Tenele, and saw Atul carrying her. The vampire sat up straighter in his saddle and watched him set Tenele gently in shade before heading off elsewhere. He leaned forward to swing his good leg around and slid down to his feet. His left leg gave immediately, but he caught his balance, kicking up a pile of sand in the process. Not very graceful for a vampire, but he was too fidgety to just sit still until it felt better. It was going to heal human slow, as holy wounds always did for him, and there was no way he had the patience for that.

He looked over at where Tenele was seated and began limping toward her.

Her eyes flashed to him as his movement caught her attention, revealing every bit of weariness she was feeling. She sat up, pushing to where her back was against the tree. “Sorry about your leg,” she told him softly, running a hand through her hair, but it ended up getting tangled in the dry blood around the edges. She was bloody, but not wounded. Sinead had healed all her wounds, though Tenele would have preferred she not. Though, there was no way to argue with that woman sometimes.

Vlad made it to the tree a few feet opposite her and leaned into it as he sat down. "Don't be. It's the best thing that could have happened to me," he said, a smirk playing at the edges of his mouth and then fading. "I would have killed you. You saved me in too many ways. As always, you amaze me," he said quietly. His eyes flickered upward at hers. How could he say it to her? An apology wasn't enough. He didn't think anything would be enough.

Tenele smirked, glancing away at the fires as she crossed her arms across her chest, hooking her hands around her neck and tilting her head down. "Yeah, I'm, oh, so amazing," she muttered, getting a chill down her spine it how close she'd come to being ripped apart. "Thanks... for not letting Sinead drag me back to Ighten."

Tenele's green eyes flickered to Vlad. "Can Verin take control of you like he did before? Or not as easily?"

Vlad laughed, though it wasn't a natural sound for him. "I can feel him in the back of my mind, tugging on me. And then there is Sinead, tugging in the other direction. Assuming they don't snap me, I shouldn't threaten you or Atul's men." He shook his head. That was the best he could do to describe it. There was confusion in his expression as he glanced sideways. He still didn't understand why Sinead was doing this. There seemed to be only one explanation for the queen's gentle treatment of him in this situation. "She doesn't know, does she? What I told you."

Tenele brushed her hair back, forgetting the tangles. It aggravated her a bit to have them there, and at the sound of splashing in the water she had the strongest urge to strip and bath in the spring. Tenele’s back went rigid as he mentioned what he’d said. “No, I left that out of my debriefing,” she whispered, her hands falling to her sides and her fingers playing in the sand. “I didn’t even tell Talon until he practically forced me too. You hell hound did a number on him, they didn’t get along. I guess I felt it was no ones business but mine, and maybe I felt ashamed of it.” She hated the words as soon as they left her lips, because she didn’t want to seem that pathetic.

She spotted Atul helping pitch the last of the tents, and the injured made their way under it. He’d checked her before leaving to make sure all her wounds had been healed, he didn’t want to leave her unattended if she was still bleeding.

Tenele turned a hard gaze on him. "She does, however, know that you didn't believe me when I told you I hadn't slept with Verin," she muttered heavily. "She was the one that helped me see it was all a lie."

Vlad's eyes drifted back to hers seriously. He drew a slow breath, hoping he would see the day when the thought of this confession would be amusing and not terrible. "You've probably noticed that I possess a certain...hubris, that no one can rival me. It follows that I have difficulty believing others can succeed where I've failed. I slept with Verin more surely than you ever did. I underestimated you," he murmured. "I wronged you."

Tenele gritted her teeth and her gaze flashed back at him suddenly fierce and strong. She wanted to yell at him, scream at him, just as she had wanted to that day in Verin’s realm. Still, she couldn’t find the words she wanted to say. “You wronged me alright,” she hissed at him. Maybe Talon was right, maybe she wasn’t ready to face him. But, it was too late now. She averted her gaze and shifted to her knees and then used the tree to help her stand. “I don’t know what to say to you,” she whispered softly. “There is a large part of me that wants to hate you for what you‘ve done.” Her stare was not cold, not how she wanted it to be. “But, I can’t hate you. Damn my foolish heart, I can’t hate you.” Her voice was cracking with emotion and she knew that was her cue to leave. She went to walk past him to go to Atul to ask for a change of clothing so she could get her blood stained garments off, and bath somewhere in a more secluded part of the oasis.

Vlad meant to let her go, to accept what he knew he deserved. He really meant to. But when he realized she was really going to leave, something came over him. His hand shot out and caught the leg of her pants, pulling her to a stop. "I lied to you. I could never see you as a nuisance. You're everything to me. I couldn't let you stay with me. I couldn't kill you." He broke off, staring up at her suddenly. What was he trying to accomplish here? Did he think she would come back to him?

No, he realized. He really didn't. And why should he make her? Even if she was saddened by it now, human hearts were resilient. She might live a far better life if it were divorced from his. "You can go," he said thinly, not recognizing his own voice. He released her leg. He looked at the ground with wide eyes. "You have every right to go," he repeated, trying to make it more solid. His lips pulled back in a wince. "But, please come back, later, if you can."

Tenele looked down at him, her face a mixture of too many things to be discernable. She listened to his words with every bit of clarity and understanding that her mind would offer, and as much as she wanted to fall into his arms and forgive him… For some reason she couldn’t. Maybe it was the fact she didn’t know what to say, or something else entirely. She didn’t know. It was easy to tell she was having a hard time controlling her emotions, and so when she replied to him she replied in the faintest of whispers to keep the pain in her voice from showing. “I’m not leaving for good.” Though, she wasn’t promising to come back. Tenele couldn’t put her finger on what she wanted to do. But, looking at him, seeing him after so long, she wanted nothing more than pretend that it had all been a very bad dream and let him hold her for eternity. She turned and walked away, suddenly finding Atul in the crowd.

“Atul,” Tenele called hurriedly as she reached him. He glanced over his shoulder as he carried his pack into his tent. Damn it, they’d set it up again with all the things he asked them not too.

Atul dropped the bag and turned to her. “Are you alright?” was the first thing he asked when he saw her face. “Is he bothering you?”

“No, its fine… I wanted to know if I could borrow something to wear until I get my clothes cleaned? I can’t stand the thought of being covered in blood any longer.” Her watery green eyes closed for a moment as she tried to clear her thoughts.

“Yeah… One second let me dig something out for you,” he told her, pulling the strings on his sack and digging through the contents. “I’ll keep the men away from the left side of the camp. It has the most brush around the water, should offer you some privacy. You shouldn’t bath without someone there. You’re still weak and I don’t want you getting tired.”

“I can handle it,” she whispered.

“Does it matter-”

“Just give me something,” she told him, her voice quivering. She wanted as far away form people as possible so she could let out everything that was threatening to take her over. Everything she’d been holding in, because Tenele knew she couldn’t do it for much longer. She was going to explode.

Atul turned to her, holding one of his tunics in his hand. It would be long enough that it would reach her knees. “Here,” he whispered with concern written on his features. “Do you want me to come with you?”

“No,” she told him truthfully. “I’m fine.”

Atul gritted his teeth. He absolutely hated when she said that. Then, she was gone, cutting across the campsite, past Vlad, and through the bushes next to where he sat. She followed the edge of the water, around a ruin stone wall to a part of the oasis that was somewhat private. It was dark now, and the sky was lit with a bright moon and stars. Even though it was dark, the crystal clear water was still easy to see down into, at least a ways. She draped his tunic over the wall, and went about the task of removing her own clothes. She propped her sword up, and laid her boots down next to it. She wasn’t able to control the fact that tears were streaming freely down her cheeks, and she brushed them away in aggravation.

When she’d removed all her clothes she entered the water. Since it was night, the air was turning cold, but the water was still lukewarm from the afternoon sun. She waded until she was chest deep and draping one set of clothing over her shoulder she began to wash the other. She managed to hold onto herself through that exercise, and when she’d draped the clothes on the wall to dry she went back in and waded until she was shoulder deep. She ran her hands through her hair, trying to get the knots out. It usually never knotted, but blood was something else. Her hand brushed across her neck, and she remembered the fangs that had been there. The coldness in Vlad’s eyes.

For the most part, until then she’d managed to keep herself occupied with small tasks to the point she’d managed to distract herself. But, suddenly she couldn’t grasp any other thoughts but how she’d been perfectly convinced he was going to murder her brutally… and the fact she’d nearly begged him to.

Tenele looked up to the stars, down to the water, back to the glow of the camp fires past the wall and the palms. Still, she couldn’t focus on anything that would help her lock in that pain. With nothing to help, she let it go freely, knowing she’d feel so much better when it was out. Maybe she’d even be able to forgive him?

Maybe that was the reason she didn’t want to let it go.

It was too late though, she’d cried before, but not quite so hard. Not over what had happened between she and Vlad. She’d cried over the possibility of her bastard son, but not over this. Not over something that had caused her such irrefutable agony. She wrapped her arms about herself, her back facing where she’d come from, and she wept until she couldn’t breath. She gasped for air, but just couldn’t seem to breath.

Vlad listened to her footsteps growing more distant, trying to make them out for as long as he could before they were lost. When he could no longer hear her, it began to set in. It was past the point that could be helped by tears, not that that was his normal coping mechanism anyway. The vampire found himself staring at the place where she'd been and feeling the most profound emptiness of his life. He waited and waited for the feeling to change, to lead somewhere, but it persisted.

Eventually, his thoughts were interrupted when he felt the steady tug of Sinead's power in his mind become stronger and more aggressive, pushing Verin entirely from his consciousness. After the extra effort, her own presence died down to a vague whisper in the recesses of his mind. "Trying to cheer me up?" he scoffed quietly. He couldn't deny that it was a relief to feel his mind free of Verin.

He was beginning now to feel a keen sense of injustice. Everything had been taken from him. He had destroyed lives, including his own, against his own will. And he couldn't say a word in his defense. He was pre-programmed to obey Verin. Perhaps the only morally responsible lifestyle for a vampire was suicide. But that option had been denied to him as well. He couldn't make it right.

"So there he is," a voice said from nearby him. Vlad hadn't noticed people approaching, but when his head jerked up, there were eight or nine men staring at him with hate in their eyes. They were still armed from the battle. Some were even injured; Vlad could smell their blood.

"You made a pretty mess of my village, vampire. How does it feel to kill innocent women and children?" one man snarled with pain in his voice.

"You're a monster. You'll pay for what you did to my family," another growled, stepping up to the vampire. This seemed to give the others courage, and they all came in closer, closing in around him.

Vlad flexed his leg. It didn't want to move. He didn't particularly want to move, either. He looked up at the group of wronged soldiers and had, as with Tenele, nothing to say for himself. A kick came to his chest, nailing him against the tree. It came from the second man on his right. It was poor technique, leaving the man wide open on his center line. Vlad didn't hit back. He didn't know where the next kick came from, or the next. He didn't try to teleport away. He didn't try to attack, and he didn't make a sound.

"Scream, damn it!" one man finally shouted in aggravation. "Scream the way my wife screamed when Verin's army took her!" Vlad closed his eyes and felt a heavy boot come down on his wounded thigh. That was more difficult to bear silently. He groaned, but let them proceed with their little prisoner bashing party. It was nothing that would kill him, unless they drew their swords, and even if they did, that wasn't necessarily the worst option.

Tenele managed to gain control, and to her surprise she felt much better without that added weight on her chest. She washed the blood from her body, and when she was clean she rose out of the water. The cold night air brushed her skin, and she shivered. Her clothes were still damp, and she figured if she left them there no one would bother them.

In the distance she heard yelling, what sounded like someone being struck. She grabbed the tunic shirt that Atul had given her. Expecting to have a little break to air dry before putting it own, she hadn’t brought anything to dry off with. She thought she heard someone mention a vampire, and it suddenly came to her what could be happening. She pulled the tunic shirt own over her head, and it clung to her damp body in various places. Lifting her sheathed sword, Tenele took off in a sprint back to the camp, earning her weakened body nothing but a dizzy head.

She broke into the clearing, drawing her sword right as one was about the place another kick. She held it out between him and Vlad. “You will stop this. All of you,” she told them. The firelight caught her wet silver hair and her bare legs still shiny and slick with water. Her bare feet were covered in sand. Tenele’s eyes flickered to Vlad, and she felt a swell of worry and fear for him.

She expected these men to listen to her, but then again she could be wrong. She was a new comer, an outsider, and she had brought him back with her without the use of a chain or sedative. She didn’t know the things that Vlad had done, or had personally done to this people. What could she say to make them stop if they refused?

The men looked at Tenele as she intercepted them, but didn't try to push past her. The stood back a bit, visibly trying to gain control of their anger. But this girl who resembled Atarra seemed to have a calming effect on them. "My lady, this demon attacked our families. He deserves to be locked up in the hot sands, not resting here loose in the shade," one of the men spoke for the others.

Tenele glanced from them to Vlad. "This demon," she began with a stern gaze that suddenly softened as her eyes rested on him. "has been a prisoner of Verin. He tormented and finally unable to fight Verin's hold. What he did he had no control over. If you truly want vengance, than seek it on Verin and his men that serve him willingly." Tenele rested the tip of her sword in the sand, using it for support. She'd ran, and really shouldn't have done that. "Go back to your healers and rest. Please."

The men seemed to have mixed reactions to Tenele's words. Some looked shocked, others seemed apprehensive. A few seemed willing to accept her logic, for now. It happened that one of those few was the one who took initiative to speak. "She is right. It was a long battle. We have better things to be doing," he said, putting his arms around his neighbors and turning them toward the medical area. The group reluctantly filed off, but not without a few backward glances at their unpopular guest.

Vlad watched this whole exchange rather curiously from his place on the ground. Tenele had defended him. Was it just out of duty? "Well. I think the locals and I are hitting it off quite nicely," he said, straining up to his feet. He was bruised up, but it would pass. He wiped blood from a split in his lip that was already healed. He glanced over her pale countenance. Even though they were this close, her smell was faint. "You should be resting," he noted, though without sounding stern. His tone indicated he was simply stating a fact.