Mature: Desert Moon

[Emora Deen]

A splash of cold water jolted Atul awake. He sucked in a deep ragged breath, and coughed out blood. It splattered up across his chin to mingle with the water dripping across his skin. His body heaved up, pulling against the chains that held him down to the wooden table.

“Not, so fast, your majesty. We’re not done talking,” the voice sneered in his ear. Atul’s heavy eyelids fluttered enough to see the blurry form of his tormentor pick up another knife.

Atul gurgled a growl that finally morphed into a choking scream. When the sharpest of the pain passed he huffed, heaving blood and air into his lungs.

“I’m not going to tell you anything,” he hissed. “Nothing. I will let you peel the skin from my bones…” He winced, coughing to clear his throat. “Piece by tiny piece.”

He chuckled. “You don’t have to tell us anything. We got the information we needed from your personal guard. I’m sorry I have to tell you that he didn’t survive the process. Actually, none of your men did. Someone should be arriving any moment now to deliver our message.” He twirled the blade between his fingers and pressed it to Atul’s side. “Now, I’m just doing this for fun.”

* * *

Talon sat down with the slow frightening grace of death next to the man's bed. The soldier gulped water, each glass he emptied was replaced by another.

"Tell me what happened," Talon asked, lacing his fingers together and leaning back in the wooden chair. "Make sure its quick and the details are as clear as possible. Your king's life is on the line."

The man swallowed, locking eyes with Talon's demonic gaze. "They weren't human..." he coughed, drinking more water. "Not all of them. We were coming back across the sands when they came out of the dunes. We were surrounded. They overpowered us. King Atul's magic was blocked by some sort of metal chain they grappled around him... They blindfolded us. When I could see again I was in a dark damp hole. I could hear screaming. When they let me out of the hole I passed our men. Dead, all of them. Bloody messes and body parts. It was..." He gagged. "Then, this... man... He said... He said I need to escort the Ambassadors to a meeting point and he would consider letting the King go. He is looking for a God and he says that they know who it is."

[Soran Nightblade]

The nurses rallied around Vlad as he returned to Tenele's side.

"Lord Dracul..." one of them murmured, "Is the doctor not returning?"

Vlad took one look at Sinead and knew that he wasn't. "Bring wet towels. Keep her forehead cool and the room quiet. She is through the worst." He hoped he knew what he was doing, because they seemed to be on their own.

He sensed more than saw Sinead come up next to him as he sat with Tenele's hand between his. "You needn't be so cold to him. He is a good servant to me, and he is learning control," he said gently, though the tenderness was likely intended for the woman whose hand he was holding, rather than his queen.

"He knows the dead are unwelcome in my court."

"I am free to come as I please."

"You are not free. I am responsible for you, and you are bonded to serve me in turn," she said without any harshness. "You are an exception. My only exception." She waited for him to argue, but he didn't. "What were you thinking? To even consider going back to that man, to promise such things without my consent-"

"You would not have given it," Vlad said tiredly.

"I would not," she confirmed. "And I do not give it now."

"He has done his part. The debt must be paid."

"Vladimir Dracul," she said, her voice taking on command. Every word suddenly dug into his bones, like an involuntary reflex. She was his master. "You will not go to him. I will repay him by another means, and you will not reach out to him, ever again. Do I make myself clear?"

He wanted to argue, but he physically couldn't. Not when she was swinging around that massive power she held over him. The exception. The pet monster. "Clear," he said thickly."

"Good. He's been similarly warned."

"He is not similarly controlled," Vlad pointed out, feeling the need to stretch after the tightness of her power.

"No," she acknowledged, and offered nothing further. "Take care of my maiden, Vladimir. And, congratulations," she showed him a beautiful smile. "Wish Talon well," she whispered, and disappeared from the room.

[Emora Deen]

Talon returned to Vlad's room an hour after he left with a deep frown. He paused at the edge of the bed, watching Tenele sleep and her husband hold her hand. "He's been taken, but the man was blindfolded and can't tell me where. He was the only one, aside from Atul, kept alive and it was to deliver a message. A high-level demon named Harod sent him with a message." Talon fell back into a chair near the bed and put his hands on his cheeks and dragged them drown with frustration. "He wants you two in exchange for the possibility of Atul's release, citing that he is searching for a God and that the two of you know who he is. The soldier was told a meeting place, and that he was to bring the two of you alone. Of course..." Talon glanced over his shoulder. "There are three of you now..."

He pursed his lips together. "They will kill Atul if they don't get a response. They slaughtered an entire army, they won't hesitate to kill a King. But, I don't think you should be going off into the desert with your weary wife and newborn daughter. They'll slow you down, get in the way. They are a hindrance." It was a cold description of his sister and his niece, but Talon was very calculating in his new life.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad stared at Talon, absorbing the words. He couldn't agree more. He didn't want Tenele or Tenara anywhere near this creature. He especially didn't want to think about Atul trapped in his possession. "It's clearly a trap. How could he possibly have overpowered Atul?" he muttered.

[Emora Deen]

Talon frowned. "The soldier said that a chain grapple caught him, and after that he couldn't use his powers. They overtook them quickly. This Harod has to have an army," the young vampire sighed. "An army his hard to take down, especially when you don't know where they hide."

He sighed, leaning back in his chair. "You have a couple of days to think of how to approach it. The night before the next full moon is the deadline. The soldier says it takes at least a day to travel."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad's gaze frosted over as he mentioned the chain grapple. He thought of the chains Atul had used to restrain him and explore his fantasies. What had he said they were made of? Damn, he hadn't said. "We can't leave him that long," he snarled as he imagined the tool of their lovemaking being used to cause the king pain.

"Come with me. They'll accept you for Tenele, at least until we're too close to fight off."

[Emora Deen]

"They'll be expecting a pregnant woman. No one knows she's given birth... I guess I could stuff a shirt under my clothes. Oh, does this mean I have to wear a dress?"

Talon stood up and straightened his tunic. "Do you want to wait for her to wake?" he asked, looking down at his sister.

The midwife rocked Tenara back and forth in her arms as she glided towards the bed. "I will watch her," the woman replied to them.

Talon looked around the room for Stalker. "I'm all for going with you, but if we leave that leaves this palace completely unmanaged and Tenele and Tenara without proper protection."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad's gaze clouded as he thought through the logic. "I can't leave him," he murmured in frustration. "If Sinead....if I could convince Sinead to help me, you could protect your sister here." He was grasping at straws. He was fairly sure the queen had just made her exit permanently.

[Emora Deen]

Talon frowned. "I don't think she'll go for that... But, then again I don't know her well enough. I would say we could take Tenele and the child back to Ighten to be cared for, but you would use all the energy you need to rescue Atul getting her there. I hate to say this Vlad, but I think we're going to have to trust that she'll be safe in these walls."

Talon decided not to mention his little trust for the kingdom's capabilities when missing vital leaders, or how Arken rolled in last time and nearly burned his wife to the stake.

He pursed his lips together. "Where is your hound?" The hound wasn't exactly a leader to keep forces out of the city. But, he could definitely watch over her while she rested. She would be bed ridden for days, and too weak to hold her own and protect their child.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad grimaced. "I disowned him."

[Emora Deen]

Talon arched an eyebrow. "Bring him back." It sounded like an order, but there was no physical way for Talon to do that. "He's the best protection she has when one of us isn't around. Unless you know of someone else in this kingdom you trust with their lives?"

The midwife stepped up to them. "I watch," she told them. "Go. I watch."

Talon smiled at the woman. "That's sweet..." He turned his gaze on Vlad. "We need more friends."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad sighed, knowing a midwife could be of no help to Tenele if she needed it. Stalker, on the other hand, could at least get a warning to him if there was trouble. And Tenele knew how to summon Knight, if the case was severe. He extended both hands and recited an incantation that seemed to dim the room. Summoning the hound specifically was a bit trickier than simply calling any hound. Of course, any hound he acquired would obey him, but.... perhaps it would be good to be repossessed of his strangely affectionate and yet impudent servant.

A few minutes later, he could the mental signature of the creature he wanted, and called to it. Stalker jumped through the portal, looking surprisingly bedraggled. In fact, he looked like he'd been shown the business end of a meat tenderizer.

Vlad couldn't hide his shock at the sight. "What is this?" he demanded of the creature as he knelt down. Stalker limped up to him obediently, making no fuss over his injuries.

[Emora Deen]

Talon winced. "I don't think home made a nice welcome back party for him," he muttered. "Jealous siblings?"

The midwife froze her careful pacing with the child at the sudden entrance of the hound, remembering very vividly how he treated the doctor.

"He won't hurt you," Talon told her. "You are no threat to them, he won't hurt you." He cast his gaze down at the hound. "Will he heal fast? He doesn't seem to be in much shape to be a guard dog."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad sighed quietly as he inspected the creature's injuries. "I can heal him," he said. "Had I known the others would reject him, I would not have returned him as I did." He held his arm out in front of Stalker lazily. "Drink," he offered, knowing he owed the creature that much.

Stalker didn't move to bite the offered arm. He stared at Vlad, almost worshipful in his obedience and remembering what happened when he bit, even if it seemed right.

Vlad rolled his eyes and drew out one of his razorlike nails. He pushed it through his skin and drew a deep line from elbow to wrist. When Stalker still wouldn't accept the blood, Vlad stood calmly over him, pinned the creature's head against his thigh, and let the healing liquid pour into his throat. He was generous. When the creature's mind seemed sharper and stronger in his consciousness, Vlad withdrew and allowed the wound on his arm to slowly close.

"Now," he asked the mutt, as if nothing awkward had just happened. "Tenele and I have a child. That woman is her caretaker," he gestured to the midwife. "If Tenele is asleep or sick, that woman tells you if someone is an enemy. Unless you are told, you do not attack. Understood?"

The creature's eyes flashed respectfully. Vlad looked to the midwife. "He is yours to command. I will have the servants move your things to the adjoining suite so you can focus on her."

Her eyes lit with protest. "The adjoining sweet belongs to the king," she burst out.

"It will be yours, until we return," Vlad reiterated. "There is a door linking the two rooms, behind that curtain."

"Y....yes, Lord Dracul," she murmured.

"Talon... Please take liberties with your sister's wardrobe," Vlad sighed.

[Emora Deen]

Talon frowned. He was taller than Tenele by a few inches, and his shape was definitely that of a man's. But, Tenele's clothing of late was made larger around the middle, and a cloak could cover the rest.

"Oh, the things I do for that woman," he whispered as he went through the wardrobe. He left his pants on, but took his shirt off, and drew on one of her blue dresses. He balled up his shirt and stuffed it under the dress, and then proceeded to admire his reflection. The dress was too short, and showed his pants underneath, but he pulled on one of Vlad's cloaks and wore it over his shoulders.

"Next we just need to stop by and grab the soldier, though he didn't seem to be in any mood to go back," Talon muttered as he faced Vlad. "Do I look pretty?" He twirled his silver hair in his fingers and showed off his baby bump. His shoulder's quickly slumped. "I don't feel very intimidating in this dress."