Heirot

Three Weeks later....

She was returning from a boring day at court to where she had sat by the queen and listened to the petty woes of the rick and the heart felt cries of the poor. As she made her way down the hall she pulled the veil from her head, revealing the long silver hair and soft face and neck. Piercing green eyes that glanced around curiously at the empty hall. Only moments ago had she bid farewell to the queen, two floors billow, and climbed the spiral staircase that had encased them. She had left the queen with two armed guard as she conversed with three advisers about simple matters.

She was turning the corner without really paying attention to where she was going. She ran into a hard body, who had been traveling at some speed. It knocked ehr to the ground hard, however he had stayed tall and firm. Unmoving.

She got her wits about her and looked up to find a tall form before her. His cloths were black. (Think ninja!) Black boots, black gloves, and a black hood that game over his head with a mask that concealed his face from light and view. His hand was on the hilt of his sword and at his breast was the insignia of Arken. A professional Arken assassin. How had he gotten into the palace?!

She rolled to her feet, drawing the concealed sword from the open slit in her dress. How he had changed positions so fast it was undeterminable. His fore arm suddenly came out as he was now standing beside her. It struck her chest so hard it sent her flying down the hall that he had come from.

She reasoned with herself that she hadn’t been paying enough attention and that was how he had managed to get passed her and knock her down. She jumped to her feet and whirled around the corner. He was already at the railing of the spiral stare case that over looked where the queen was standing down bellow, still conversing with the advisers. How the hell had he gotten there so fast? He was facing her, unmoving until his hand came up and he face an eerie wave. How still the rest of his body stood was strangely stiff, like death.

Then, in a rush he ran to the side to head down the steps. He was going after the Queen! In a burst swift motion Tenele took off on her feet, running down the hall. Her shoes clattering loudly against the stone floor. She ran until she almost ran completely through the railing, stopping to yell a warning. It was then that she saw him appear behind the queen, a form of teleportation. It was the only thing she could think of.

She had no time to run down the steps, by the time she got there it would be too late. He would have struck. It only took her a second after he appeared to make her decision. However, all the thoughts that filled her head made it feel like forever. With one hand she grabbed the railing, clenching it tightly as she used her strength to propel her body up and over the railing. She fell through the air, falling towards the black clad figure he was in mid attack. Tenele landed in a crouch just before him, bringing her weapon up to block the attack. Her feet aching painfully at the hit. However, this didn’t stop her from continuing to block the onslaught of attacks. If he was surprised by her sudden appearance, he didn’t show it.

“Go! Protect the Queen!” Tenele said, moving swiftly in a role to the side to dodge a dangerously quick lunge. She brought her foot up and kicked his arm, the arm that held the thin bladed long-sword. He didn’t loosen his grip on it, so she arched her foot around afterwards and brought across his head. Spinning to follow through with a lash of her sword that would have hit had he not teleported away.

“Damn it!” she muttered, doing a diving role to avoid him. He only reappeared right next to her. She rushed to block his attack, though it would have not been a fatal wound. At that point she realized that it was starting to look like a game instead of a fight. A spar. Tenele wasn’t about to play games, and he was about to realize that with the full force of her foot into his ass. With one hand on her sword hilt she blocked his slash and when he went to punch her she deflected it with her other arm, bringing her foot up and planting it firmly into his chest, sending him back.

However, before he hit the floor he teleported back to a standing position just behind her. She through the sword downward behind her head and managed to actually keep her back bone from being sliced in half. She whirled, keeping her sword where it was to push against his weapon. She moved forward swiftly, bring her body in close vicinity of the attacker. She quickly reached out, trying to pull the hood from his face. He kneed her, shoving her form backwards with more strength than a normal human would have.

She rolled backwards when he appeared next to her, whacking downwards with his sword, but more slowly than she knew he could have gone. Now it was even easier to tell he was toying with her and it was pissing the young Queen’s Maiden off. Who the hell was this guy? Her thoughts distracted her. She felt the sting of a blade as it cut too close and sliced between her arm and her side, giving both a good cut. She dropped then, kicking his feet out from under him and bring her sword back around to push through his chest. Of course that was just a jest, what she was really going after was his mask. She was only able to pull it down far enough to see dark brown hair and blood red eyes.

This halted any advance on either of their parts. He whirled away, pulling the mask back over his face as if he had felt the sting of something painful. Huddled in the shadows he turned back to her and pointed his sword at her from across the room. Then with a magnificent bow he was gone and it was over. It left Tenele more confused than she had been moments before. She hobbled over to the queen, holding her side and taking deep calming breaths, trying to regain her composure. She didn’t know what to say, it was clear from her expression that she was distressed. Confused. “Are you alright?” she asked calmly.

Vlad was reading in his tower when one of Sinead's personal guard knocked briefly before staggering in through the open door. "Lord Dracul," he gasped, though he already had the vampire's attention. He bent double and rested his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath, as if he'd run there from the other side of the castle. "Lord Dracul, Lady Tenele is fighting with an assassin who attempted to take the Queen's life."

Vlad turned the page in his book calmly. "Tenele does her job well," he confirmed, hardly worried about her abilities.

"This assassin seems different. I saw him...disappear, and then move to a different place in the room in an instant. The only person I've seen use that skill before is yourself, Lord," the man continued, and it was obvious from his nervous tone that he wouldn't be second-guessing the notorious vampire if he wasn't strongly concerned by the situation.

Vlad rolled his eyes from the book to the guard for the first time. His red eyes seemed to startle the man, who took a half-step back toward the door. A teleporter, eh? Still, he expected Tenele could handle herself, and Sinead would normally have summoned him if she believed a fight was too dangerous. But if the assassin was one of Shea's homemade horrors, he was interested in taking a look. There was still a dull, annoying ache in his shoulder when he moved it; a relentless injury that cried out for blood and revenge. "Where," he demanded of the guard.

"Right in the throne room, sir."

* * *

Sinead rushed to Tenele's side as the fight seemingly ended. "My dear, you're hit," she said with calm concern. Guards were rushing into the room, forming a protective ring around Sinead until they could be sure the threat was gone.

A flash of movement at the edge of the room caused a sudden ruckus as several men rushed toward a newly arrived figure, weapons ready, but their attack deflated quickly. "Oh, Lord Dracul. For God's sake," one guard spoke for the others, sounding relieved for once to see the vampire.

Tenele looked up at her queen, moving her hand away. There was blood on it, but the cut wasn't life threatening in the least. "Just as scratch, she looked at her elbow and her arm was cut as well, blood trickling down her arm." She shrugged with a grin. "He missed." Though, she wasn't about to admit that it felt as if he missed on purpose.

"Oh, Lord Dracul. For God's sake," one guard spoke for the others, sounding relieved for once to see the vampire.

Tenele's eyes moved towards where Vlad was standing, haven't even noticed he had come into the room. "He's gone..." she said. "But, he'll be back. I can't tell if he's a new breed or a regular." She looked down at her bloody hand and moved to hide the wound.

Tenele didn't need to show him her wound for Vlad to know it was there. He could smell the sweet, metallic aroma of her blood from across the room, unmistakably hers. He'd already fed that morning, so the smell did little for him except make him aware she was lightly wounded.

"You believe it was a no life king?" Vlad clarified in his low, half-amused voice as he crossed the circle of guards toward where she and Sinead were standing.

Tenele didn't Vlad to go fighting another one of those monsters. He wasn't completely healed yet. "I believe its a possibility," she said. A guard handed her a cloth and she pressed it between her side and her arm, killing two birds with one stone. It really wasn't that bad, just bleeding since her heart was pumping so fast.

"Look, I'll handle him, okay? You still need to rest," she told him, giving him a look that said, please don't argue with me.

Vlad let out a low, cryptic laugh. "If his goal is to take the queen's life, then it is most certainly my business," he said, sounding a little too bloodthirsty for comfort.

Sinead frowned at the vampire. She wanted to tell him not to make this personal, but it of course was. Furthermore, if this man was anything like their last visitor, Vlad would be an important weapon in stopping him. She had been stunned, even amazed at how badly the no life king had been hurt in the last battle, but he'd won. But that victory had been claimed as a team; neither Vlad nor Tenele could have destroyed the enemy alone. For whatever reason, they seemed to work well together, where Vlad had never accepted a partner before, even when Sinead had offered ones similar in strength. Tenele was a mere human, and he accepted more help from her than she probably realized.

"I want both of you to investigate this. Stay close together, and don't let your guard down," she commanded, turning back toward the throne room. She hadn't healed Tenele's wounds, but it was nothing personal. The queen didn't heal scratches when other physicians could do the work. She intervened only when there was an urgent need. As much as she cared about her servants, there were levels of status to uphold.

Vlad looked over at Tenele with a smirk. "Want to go to the ward?" he asked.

Tenele arched an eye brow at him, then smiled beautifully. "No, I'm fine. I'll just clean it and bandage it myself." She took several steps. "Ah, my feet are killing me."

"Rightfully so," one of the guards still left in the room said. "That's what you get for jumped two floors down."

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," she muttered and grinned at Vlad. "Want to carry me?" She was joking, she didn't know if his shoulder could stand her amount of weight, though it would be like nothing to him.

Vlad grinned at her. He wasn't surprised she wanted to bandage herself. Jumping from the second floor, huh? Ah, well, why not. With a swoop he knew she wouldn't be quite ready for, he leaned forward and swiped her off her feet, into his arms. His shoulder ached, but he knew it wasn't because he was injuring it further. It was just going to ache for a while. Pain didn't affect him the way it used to, and if the arm was still functional under that ache then heck, he was going to use it however he pleased.

Besides, it felt pleasant to have Tenele's small weight against his chest and arms. He could indulge in a little possessiveness once in a while. With a self-satisfied look on his face, he carried Tenele back to her quarters. To be honest, he wasn't terribly worried about the assassin. Even if it was one of Shea's creations, he really didn't think anything could possibly be worse than Lothos. As long as he never had to see that monster again, he was ready for whatever.

Back in her quarters Tenele walked slowly over to her closet. It was clear her feet were aching by the way she walked, but it would get better. She slipped off her shoes and reached on the top shelf, bringing down a first aid kit. She turned, giving Vlad a long "I missed you this morning" kiss.

She laid the kit on her dressing table, reaching back behind her and unbuttoning the dress. "Another one ruined," she said with a sigh as the dress fell to her hips where it hung losely. She took out a bottle and a cloth and pored the liquid onto the bottle moving to clean her arm first. "Ssss..." she hissed as the liquid filled nad cleaned the cut. "There's not telling if those bastards clean their weapons or not..."

Vlad chuckled, moving over to her bed and flopping down on it carelessly. He crossed his arms under his head and watched her. "I'd forgotten that you need to worry about things like tetanus," he smirked. It was obvious he didn't expect her to have it; he just enjoyed teasing her.

"I heard the assassin could teleport. Did he do anything else?" Vlad asked.

Tenele thought for a moment as she looked at the cut in her side before reluctantly applying the medicine covered cloth to it. She hissed, closing her eyes as the pain stingingly subsided. "I don't know, everything happened pretty fast. He was covered head to toe in fabric. I couldn't get a look at his face until I grabbed his mask, even then it was hard to tell. I knew he had the same eyes as Lothos..." Oddly the same hair color, she thought. "He shyed away to the shadows when he was exposed to light, so I'm guessing he probably has the same reaction to the sun. Maybe that's why he was covered in cloth. Its not to conceal his idenity but to protect him from the sun?"

She applied the bandages to her wounds and grabbed a different dress from her wardrobe, this one a beautiful crimson color. Slipping it on over her head she tied the ribbon around her waist. The sleeves of the dress hung off her shoulders, revealing her beautiful soft flesh and neck, belled out at the elbows.

"I really can't remember much more than that, I'm sorry," she said walking back towards him and crawling up onto the bed. "Besides the fact if he wanted to kill me he could have, but seemed to think otherwise. Do I have something written on my forehead that only vampires can see?"

Vlad frowned at her last comment. If she felt like the assassin was going easy on her, she was very possibly right. But that behavior made little sense, unless perhaps the assassin had moral qualms about fighting women. If so, apparently that didn't apply to the queen. Given, Vlad didn't particularly view Sinead as a woman either, but still.

"I'm going to check on something," he said to her, running his fingers along the side of her arm as he pondered. "Lie still until those close." He gave her a light kiss on the lips, if anything Vlad did with his body to hers could really be considered light. The small touch sent a thrill through the center of his body, making him want to do more. But Sinead had said not to let his guard down, and he agreed with her. Pulling back from the kiss, he smirked at her and disappeared.

About five minutes had passed when he reappeared on his feet beside her bed. He looked down at her with a smile, like he hadn't seen her in some time. "I'm back," he said, sliding onto the bed with her. He lay on his side, on top of his wounded shoulder. "You know, if the enemy is one of Shea's no life kings, it will be able to find you easily with all that blood on you. Maybe you should take a shower?" he suggested, a twinkle of mischief playing in his eyes.

Tenele narrowed her eyes on him for a moment, watching him and looking his face over. "What are you up too?" she asked, having known him quite a while to not just look over anything when he had that smile on his face. He was right... and she could go for a shower at the moment. She grinned and rose from her seat, grabbing his hand and pulling him with her.

"Well, I'll take one, but only if you come with me," she said, her lips brushing against his as she pulled him towards her bath room.

The shower was in the middle of the wall with an oval rail overing above the top with a curtain that could be pulled all the way around it. She walked to the side and turned the water on to where it would warm up, her hand idly moving back and forth under the water until the fires from bellow had heated the water in the pipes. With her back still turned to him she slipped her hand behind her and pulled the ribbon from her waist and slid the dress off her shoulders. With a grin she slipped behind the shower curtain, moving a finger and beckoning him in behind her.

Vlad's lips pulled into a wide, almost fierce grin. He removed his tunic and pants, leaving him in all his glory. He stepped forward into the shower, the water taping his black hair down against his pale, handsome face. He stepped in close to her, until his nude body actually pressed hers against the tile wall of the shower. "You are a fine woman," he snarled, pressing his hand to her chest and feeling her. It wasn't Vlad's normal style of aggression, although it wasn't completely out of the question for him either. The no life king bent forward and kissed her in a slow, languorous movement, like he wanted to drink in every inch of her mouth.

The tille wall was cold against her back, the hot water running over her form. She laughed at his rather odd way of discribbing her, but arched at his touch. She kissed him back after her finally stopped his kiss. "I think you must have gotten hold of blood that had alchohal in it today," she said with a grin, looking up at his eyes.