Midnight's Fidelity...

[Letho]

((Closed to NightsAngel. All bunnies approved by both parties.

Theme song: Poison (http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Poison-Full-Vocal-Edit-lyrics-Groove-Coverage/134491598E9DA7F448256DD5002EB130) ~ Groove Coverage))

It was a complete overhaul of the way his eyes perceived the world and he couldn’t deny it regardless of how much of a stubborn oak he was. Even his iron will, intrepid and restless, crumbled before this desire that shifted his senses, made his body yearn what his mind couldn’t possibly comprehend. No food could sate him, no trek tire his body enough for his mind to unconsciously neglect this outcry that made his sanity gradually deteriorate.

At the beginning it wasn’t so bad. In fact, at the very commencement of his life as a vampire, Letho felt more invigorated and zealous then ever in his life. It was a marvelous upsurge of new senses and amplified powers, emanating from his every move, pulsating in every iota of his being. His eyes opened to a new perception, his extremities packed with such sheer power that simply ached to burst out of him, yearned to be exerted. He was flying, grasping this power that Sivienna gifted to him just recently, and nothing was the way it used to be. Myrhia’s bedroll never smelled so enticing, her skin was never so lusciously sweet, her smile never so seductive as that night he turned her into a nightprowler. They made love that night for the first time in months, unhinged bestial love of two caged animals released at each other during the heat, and only with the coming of the morning they collapsed in each other’s arms with wide smiles painted over their faces. Because life was en route to regain all the good aspects it held before Myrhia’s illness.

But then came the thirst.

Irregardless of how much they drank, how much food they consumed, there seemed to be this gapping hole within their stomachs that kept rumbling on and on. Letho knew enough about bloodsuckers to know what was the cause of this. After all, vampires were called bloodsuckers for a reason. But just like the light of the day that was supposed to be lethal, he was assured that he could conquer this need by sheer willpower. Vampirism was like a virus and just like any virus, the body had the means to defeat it. Had to have the means. Had to because even though his body craved for fresh blood with every sense available, his mind couldn’t accept the burgundy liquid as the new flavor of the day. Had to because he couldn’t live the rest of his life as a parasite. Had to because people shouldn’t be livestock.

But the more he fought it, bloodlust became more prominent within him. It first drained his body, weakened it to the point when he felt like an old man with a ball-and-chain around his feet. The body, however, was the least of his worry. It was his mind that was beginning to get clouded, fading in and out of dementia, half of the time perceiving every human as a mere vessel, and seeing the real humanity during the other half. Myrhia couldn’t fight with this the way he could, her frail body bed ridden again and blubbering incoherent words despite Letho’s constant reassurance that they could beat this together. However, it took less then two days for the craving to completely bewilder the swordsman and incapacitate the young redhead. His mind was a pandemonium of conflicting thoughts, his figure a shadow of it previous self, wan and ancient. There was only one person that could help him clear this up, the person that has been the venom of his mind for every hour of the day now, the person that intoxicated him in more ways then just one. His shivering hand started to jot a note in sloppy handwriting, so unlike his usual refined winding letters.


Sivienna,

My mind crumbles beneath this unholy craving and I can’t resist it for long. I feel it’s eating through my very bones, and my mind is split between desire and refusal. I... I don’t know what to do. THEY ARE NOT GODDAMN LIVESTOCK!!! Truly we are damned...

Letho

Folding the yellowy parchment swiftly, the caustic knight stepped outside and onto the porch of his manor on Willow Hill, handing it over to the courier he summoned half an hour ago. The evening was coming fast, the sun setting the west ablaze, and he wasn’t certain that he would live through the morning with a sane mind. Dispatching the young lad to Radasanth and growling at him to expedite, Letho collapsed into the shadow on an ancient willow tree that, with its sad swiveling branches, seemed to be dying just like the swordsman and his bride.

[Nightsangel]

Sivienna sighs as she stares at the piece of yellowed parchment. Her night so far had been lovely, she had fallen for the handsome young band singer that had stepped into the tavern. Tonight she had not been working, she had more been relaxing, taking a break after her rigorous battle in a graveyard near Radasanth. She still hadn't quite recovered from her nasty battle with the Drow. She hadn't known then, but it had clicked just as she was drinking her fourth glass of blood wine. The white hair, the lavender eyes all exotic, all out of place on a normal human. She hadn't sensed the essence of undeath from him, she knew that normal elves were fair skinned and golden haired, so she had pieced what she had seen together and had realized that her opponent had been a Drow. Their battle had been tough, they both had fought at first to call the other out, or to be more precise the male had hid in the shadows waiting to see how Sivi fought. The vixen however had called out the Drow, they had fought and from what Sivienna could remember it had been her dragon against a large sphere of white light. She had fallen unconscious then and she had remember waking up in a white room.

She had then left and had arrived here, where she had met the black haired, blue eyed cutie who currently was sleeping in the bed next to her. Placing the letter on the bed side table, the beauty turns to stroke the sleeping male's soft hair. Running her hands through it she murmurs "Damn, this is just the worst timing. Adam...I have to leave you....I know you thought of me as a mysterious and gorgeous night dancer...but really...I am nothing more then a creature of the night. Yes I am alluring and yes I am gentle..but that is because I wish I was a mortal like you..." Softly rustling the sheets as she leaned forward, she placed a soft kiss on the handsome man's lips, she then slowly slid out of the bed.

Standing nude in the pale moonlight, she grasped the yellowed parchment again and slowly read it over.




Sivienna,

My mind crumbles beneath this unholy craving and I can’t resist it for long. I feel it’s eating through my very bones, and my mind is split between desire and refusal. I... I don’t know what to do. THEY ARE NOT GODDAMN LIVESTOCK!!! Truly we are damned...

Letho



Placing a hand over her pale forehead she murmurs 'Letho...you fool." She should have guessed that the stubborn swordsman would fight against the new instincts that burned in his blood. After all he had resisted the temptation of her body on the night that she had turned him. They had shared some wonderful and passionate kisses and his hands had flowered over her body lightly. She could still feel at times the little sparks of lust that sprouted in her stomach when she thought of those hands. If only...if only she had pulled him closer and had started to weave her moves on him. But no, she had been respectful, she had let him go.

She sighed as she placed the yellowed letter into her satchel. A cute furry orange head popped out of the satchel as her pet asked 'Mistress? What are you doing up? We are not leaving already are we?"

Sivienna sighs as she grabs a black leather thong from her satchel, tying her hair into a high ponytail she whispers "Yes Serenity. Letho needs us...the fool thinks that he can fight the lust for blood. I have to go to his home and tell him that he must feed or else he will succumb to insanity."

Serenity sighs as she snuggles back into her Mistress back, however a muffled voice replies "Very well...but, it might be good for you to put on some clothes?"

Sivi blushes at that, and then hurries to pick up her discarded clothing. Slipping on the soft blue silk dress, she hurriedly tied the bonnet around her head as she murmurs "Oops, should have realized that I had just woken up from sleeping with someone." Giggling at her own joke, Sivienna quickly wrote a note explaining to Adam that she had some business to attend to. Slipping it where she had been sleeping. She smiles softly as she gazes down at her sleeping mate one last time.

She then hurriedly slipped from the room. Hurrying towards a stable, she was happy to find a stable boy, he was sleepy-eyed but still alert enough for the night vixen to rent a mare from him. Choosing a chestnut mare, she exchanged gold with the sleepy stable boy. Mounting the mare, she kicked her heels into the mare's flanks sending the gentle steed into a trot. Waving good-bye to the stable-boy she then hurriedly left Radasanth and made her way to the small village of Willowtown.

Entering the quaint sleepy-eyed village. Sivi trotted quietly down the cobblestone road. Finally admist the quaint wooden buildings and other placid dwellings she spotted a lovely mansion. Taking this for Letho's home she soon made her way there. Once she had arrived she saw the shadow of a big man sitting under the shade of a dying Willow tree. Dismounting from her rented mare, she let the beast wander as she called out "Letho? Its me Sivi? Are you alright? Why haven't you been feeding? If you don't then you'll just grow weak and eventually succumb to insanity and an insane thrist!"

[Letho]

As the evening slowly succumbed under the assailment of the oncoming night, Letho felt as if each minute was as long as a lifetime. His mind was a messy study of a demented sorcerer, unable to dwell on a single thought without having the ever-present thirst invading the train of his cogitation. It was sheer mental agony, ripping through his very essence, a feeble battle in which the yearning and the reason collided mercilessly, each goading the warrior to do their bidding. He fought the craving of his blood valiantly, but the more time passed, the shorter his supply of reason became. And little by little he could feel that something was growing within him, a beast whose wrathful eye lurked and waited for him to finally lose his mind. Soon his defenses would cave in and it would be released, bringing death and destruction and all the things he stoically fought against even now, just by sitting beneath a clear night sky.

Below him, at the foot of the Willow Hill, Willowtown was slowly drifting away to slumber. Street torches were shimmering weakly, the icteric light of the oil lamps sprinkled honey through the countless windows, sullen figures scudded through the streets scarcely, finishing up some task that was procrastinated for far too long. He knew these people, not just their names but really knew their hearts and mentalities, all the little quirks and secrets. He knew the way Sienna smelled on a Sunday afternoon, with her mother’s perfume amplifying the lusciousness of her young taintless body. He knew how Edonas never wanted to be a blacksmith, but rather a bard (as uncanny as it seemed for such a giant man) and that every now and then he still plays on his banjo, albeit rather poorly. The taste of Madam Rita’s chicken stew, the sultry look on the Kaena’s face, the acute limp of the old man Peabody... He knew them all by now, got used to them, allowed them to crawl under his skin. They were good people mostly... And now he was to feed on them as if they were sows prepared for slaughter.

Despite these tormenting thoughts ravaging his body, it was fairly easy for Letho to pick up the sound of a horse trotting up the hill and through the archway that the willows formed over the road. He didn’t lift his head though, didn’t have to in order to recognize the rider that advanced. Her enticing scent was carried by the midnight gale and his amplified senses picked it up with ease, the sweet perfume mixed with bed heather and the distinctive smell of her pale skin. She tainted him with that scent days ago, when he held her in his arms and craved for her with every ounce of his being, and even now, when he was being torn apart by the demented thoughts, he felt the familiar tingle in his groin at the thought of the vampire vixen. The thirst may have been maddening, but it was nothing compared to Sivienna Mizami and the call that her body awoke in anybody who called himself a man. This went twofold for Letho since she was the one that turned him, it was her blood that was flowing through his veins and his blood that coursed through the female’s body as well. They shared an accursed bond and it irresistibly drew them together. He didn’t want to deal with her, hoping out of sight would indeed be out of mind, but she was the only one that could aid him right now.

Her voice shattered the tranquility of the midnight with a refined, gentle tone and it made the swordsman’s face curl in a cynical grin as he remained planted below the dry tree, not lifting his face yet towards Sivienna. “Alright?” he spoke, his tone bitter and raspy, almost demonic. “Alright?! I’m a goddamned parasite. No, I’m not alright.” she didn’t deserve neither the tone nor the blame contained within it, but there was very little reason in the man right now. He finally lifted his head, his face a weary pale mask, his eyes as bloody as the ones of a drunk during a bad case of hangover. “How can you stand being this? Drain people of their very lives just to prolong your existence? No, I will not feed. They are people, Sivienna, just like you and me used to be, with feelings and thoughts and dreams. They are not animals we should feed on!”

There was anger in his words now, pent up and dangerous, but she looked down at him with those gorgeous lilac eyes and it sedated him for the time being. He lowered his head again, almost in a wordless apology, before he continued in a more demure voice. “I... I called you here to ask you is there a way to cure this curse. You’re the only vampire I know and this is not a question you can put on a local bulletin board. I just... I can’t even imagine myself drinking blood, Sivienna. My mind is rebelling against the very thought of killing somebody and feast on their blood. It’s not right... and I won’t do it.”

[Nightsangel]

Sivienna felt some symphany for the burly man that stood before her. His eyes looked haunted, as if he had battled his inner demons for some time. It seemed that he thought that the only way to feed was that the victim had to die. Clucking her tongue, Sivienna slowly made her way over the soft dirt, kneeling down when she had reached the shade of the dying Willow. She slowly reached out a pale hand and begin to stroke the frail leaves of the tree. In a soft, sweet voice she murmurs "Letho...you do not have to kill to gain the blood that you need to keep your mind sane. Much like this tree here, a human can die, slowly they can lose their blood until there is nothing left." Letting go of the frail brown leaves, she slowly broke off a small branch and held it up for him to see.

"You see this branch Letho? A human is much like this branch, they start of tender, sweet and innocent." She then broke the branch easily in half and said softly "Then that beauty withers, its goes away and your left with nothing but a frail shell." She then walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Now then in terms of blood, a human can survive if it is taken. You can feed until your sated, but you leave the human alive. If you kill them then your nothing more then a savage beast, nothing more then your basic starving wolf." She then moved a hand slowly up and over his neck, moving to cup his chin she softly purrs "You poor baby, you and your sweet lady must be suffering so. You should have listened to the call of your blood, then you wouldn't be in the dilemna you are now."

Smiling softly she ran a gentle finger over Letho's cheek as she cooed quietly "Your probably so hungry now, despite eating regular food and drink, you just can't feel satisfied." She then slowly and sensously moved to withdraw a dragon bone claw from her satchel, slowly moving one hand away from Letho's face she slipped on the claw and slowly ran the tip over her wrist to draw blood. As a few crimson drops split from her wrist, she slowly moved it up for Letho to see. "I can sense it, if you don't at least sate your craving now, you'll prey on the poor innocent villagers."

She slowly waited for his full reaction, she could tell from the way he was looking at her that he was still enticed by her. She sighed because she was sure that the scent of sex was still on her. After all, she had just left Adam's bed and she knew from experience that the aroma of the act did not just disappear. She hoped that Letho would feed from her and not notice her enticing scent, she prayed that he would stay chaste and faithful to his love. However, she still felt the twinges of lust and desire for him. Closing her eyes she tried to will away the want to turn her light touches of affection into something more.

However, she knew that if she moved in closer, then the bond that they shared would kick in and she would want him. Looking into his eyes she murmurs "Feed Letho, and regain your strength, you look as if you ran a thousand miles without one drop of water." She then moved her bleeding wrist in front of his mouth. She knew that her blood would not fully sustain him, but she knew it would give him enough energy to stand. As she waited for him to feed, an idea came to her. "Alright Letho, to show you that you do not need to kill to feed. I shall take you hunting. Your love can stay here, but I will need you to come with me so that you have first hand expierience on what a true hunt is like."

[Letho]

She took her designated role again, his own personal messiah that offered salvation on the palm of her suave hand. Her words were incoherent for the man, filtered through his own sieve of lunacy but still tenacious enough to get the message across. And her eyes... They burned like thousands warming suns, prodding the emotions that even the dementia couldn’t conceal, hollering at him to come closer, to get lost in her once again. She was like a drug, and he was a junkie with his shot long overdue. He was a fool to call her. Instead of just one craving, he now had to wrestle with two and quite frankly he couldn’t say which one was worse.

But then she drew her own blood and the bloodlust became the more prominent of the two in his system. He could smell her blood instantaneously, the sweet odor of the fresh wound on her wrist, the burgundy liquid that oozed over her pallid skin, dripping onto the dirt like sullen raindrops, he could even hear it gushing out of her veins with every beat of her heart. It invited him, lured him, chained his eyes and focus solely on the laceration that Sivienna willingly offered him like a wealthy man offers food to a beggar. And he couldn’t deny it that almost every part of his body wanted to drink until he could swallow no more, press his lips against that perfect skin and take that sweet crimson wine, once again get envenomed with everything she had to offer. But regardless of this unstoppable yearning, there was still a part of him that defied, the stubborn prideful oaken part that looked up at her and couldn’t understand that her words are not getting through her skull. In the last ditch effort that part acted in spite of the blood call.

“Do you not understand a single word of what I’m saying?” his voice rumbled, low and menacing, and before his words were even finished, Letho moved with speed common for his own kind. He sprung to his feet in a blur, his right grabbing the bleeding hand of the female, twisting it backwards as he spun around her alluring body until he pressed it against her back. His movement was abrupt and harsh, perhaps even a tad rough, but not causing any serious damage as he stood behind the woman now, trapping her between the pressure of his bulk and the rigid willow tree. He peered at her face over her shoulder, his burning eyes gazing at her twisting visage that tried to catch a glimpse of her captor. He whispered into her ear, his voice muffled and horrid. “I will not become like you, stalking and feeding off people like a goddamned leech.”

He could feel the accelerated beating of her heart, feel every breath her lungs drew and even as he did so, the scent of her skin raised into his nostrils like the sweetest aroma ever. Temptation wasn’t a word that could encompass what he felt that moment, with his body so intimately clutching her own, but in the midst of it all, there was another thing his amplified senses picked up. He lowered his head closer to her shoulder, sniffing over her skin almost like a beast inspecting a cadaver, then proceeding to do the same down the stretch of her back. He stopped only when he passed the small on her back, his mind recognizing the scent clearly. His face returned to her shoulder. “Not to mention being promiscuous. You’ve been with somebody tonight, haven’t you, Sivienna? Is he just another notch on your belt, another face in the crowd? I can smell his filth on your skin even now.”

It was the other part of his lust that took over now, the one that was uncannily jealous at even a thought of the vampire nymph in someone else’s arms. It was a feeble thought of a demented mind - she wasn’t his in any aspect after all – and yet at that moment, with her figure joined with his own and the smell invading his system, he felt like he could rip that man’s heart out with his bare hands. Because whoever it was, he didn’t deserve her, none deserved this angelic beauty, this eerily mixture of a seraphim and a demon. She was a gem and she should have been his. He slowly released the pressure on her hand, but refused to let go of her arm. Instead he stretched it sideways, his lips hovering over her bare skin a fraction of an inch from it as he made his way down the length of her extremity.

“He’s a weakling though. I can smell it. He isn’t worthy of you.” this was not just Letho speaking anymore, but the combination of both the bloodlust and the passion that she inspired within him. He couldn’t resist it anymore. He had to sate them both and the only way was to succumb, to give in and drink the honey from her veins. He caressed her wrist once, just beside the bleeding wound, just touching the smooth milky texture of her skin once before he closed his lips around the wound. And he drank and forgot all about his pride and the defiance against the bloodlust.

[Nightsangel]

Shock was the first sensation that came to Sivienna's mind. She let out a moan and yelp of surprise as Letho pushed her against the cold rough bark of the dying Willow. The next sensaton to follow though was lust as Letho begin to sniff her body as if he were a hound dog after a particular scent. Blinking heavily as she bit back a moan, she wanted to ask what he was doing. Why was he holding her so possesively when she wasn't his woman. Struggling against his iron grip, she could feel tears welling in his eyes from the pressure he was applying on her slim body. Trying to twist her supple body so he was not molded against her, she managed to squeak out "Let me go Letho...I am not your woman. I am your Mistress and...it..it..." Her voice died down when she heard his accusations.

Her alarmed face turned into one of a sneer as she hissed 'Yes I slept with someone tonight Letho! I am a free woman! I'm not claimed by anyone and I needed a night of passion!" She then twisted her body around well enough to stare into his maddened eyes. "I am not a leech, I do not feed off of just anyone, aside from human blood there is blood wine, which is a stable substitute for human blood. Then if your desperate enough there is animal blood..." Her lecture was cut short as Letho's strong fingers gently carressed the skin above her slowly healing wound. Shuddering from just that one touch, her lips slowly stopped moving as her eyes closed.

Before she knew it the overwhelming feelings of pleasure swamped her, she hadn't forgotten what it was like for someone's lips to be closed around her wrist. But there was something unbearable erotic to have someone, someone who was connected to you by blood, slowly drinking your own honeyed nectar. Shivering straight down to her toes, Sivienna's lavender orbs slowly opened. Moving a hand forward she slowly threaded her free hand through Letho's thick brown hair. In a motherly voice she murmurs "Thats it, feed enough to sate the thirst, feed enough to satisfy the beast inside you that wishes for this nectar." Moving her hands in a soothing motion, she let Letho feed until she felt he had his fill.

Slowly she applied pressure to his head, pushing his mouth away from her wrist, she smiled when she saw that his eyes had lost their insane glow. Moving backward she slowly stated "Your better now, your lust for blood and death is gone Letho. You should be well enough to hunt with me now." She then turned her back to him, she wanted to hide her aroused state from him. She could smell his lover waiting just inside the manor. In a soft voice she stated "Please don't touch me like you did agian. Don't smell me, and don't sound so jealous that I was with another man." Turning to look at him with burning eyes she murmurs "You ran from me on the night I turned you. We shared a few kisses and I did let you touch me but....when you left it burned. I had wanted you so badly Letho. But I had understood your needs, you needed to save your lover, you needed to stay chaste and pure for her. But, I am a vampire vixen, a lustful creature of the night, if you touch me again, you will get burned."

She then begin to slowly move away from the dying Willow. Heading torwards her mare she murmurs "Saddle up Letho. The night is still young and I need to show you what a true hunt is like. Your love is weak, I can smell that she has not fed since she was changed. But unlike you I cannot help her, you must help her Letho. So since I am your mistress I will show you what it is to sustain your new life and then I will leave you again. Leave you to the sweet girl whom you love so much. I may be a vixen and a beauty of the night, but there is one thing I never do, I never try to break up a relationship that I can tell is mutual on both parties accounts."

[Letho]

Her blood was the sweetest vitae that his senses ever tasted, a vintage wine of life that effortlessly tracked down his every craving and fulfilled it instantly. Once again she supplied him with the tide that washed away all his ailments, that purged all unrest from his mind and replaced it not with serenity, but with enflamed satisfaction. He felt alive again as he gulped down her blood greedily, felt as if he could engorge himself in the sea of her crimson and never grow tired of the ardent liquid that dripped from her gentle hand. He was barred of pride, of all his honor and stubbornness, as he knelt before her and feasted on the tender flesh of her wrist and the secretion of her veins that oozed down his throat and empowered his every muscle. The touch of her hand that rummaged through his hair was blissful as her kind voice descended from her lips and crept into his ears. All thoughts were effaced from his mind, all save for those of the gorgeous vixen whose blood her consummated with fervor, and he could see her once again as she were on that night, sizzling and burning with silver fire of the moon that touched her skin the way he wanted to.

But the moment of heavenly rapture was stopped by a subtle push of her hand that detached him from both the blood and the flesh he craved for so fervidly. Her lavender eyes looked at his from above, and while his bloodlust was satiated for the time being, that glare only further ignited the other portion of his lust that pulsated with passion. But the vampire turned away from him with a touch of reluctance in her movements, leaving the newborn Nightprowler with a warning that made him ponder of his actions on this night. He recollected his bestial advance from mere moments before, remembered them through a filter of blur that almost made him believe it was not he that acted so harshly, so ungentle, so pugnacious. But her voice, still soft but resolved, cleared all doubt and he felt guilty and utterly ashamed of giving in to the beast that he fought so stubbornly up until now. With a touch of fear he wondered what might have happened if she arrived an hour later. Would he be able to control himself or would he be so far gone that he would tear her throat open and fed on her blood without her consent?

“I’m sorry, Sivienna.” Letho spoke in a humble tone, still on his knees, his chest rising and deflating heavily as her blood overrode and empowered his system. “I don’t know what came over me. It was not my right to say those things or act the way that I did. You came to my aid and this was no way to repay you for your benevolence.”

A few seconds of panting as the upsurge quaked through his insides like a storm and the swordsman was consolidated enough to bring himself back to his feet, retaining his usual calm gallant self. She was once again basked in argent, her sinfully luscious skin pale and smooth as her dress rustled with a whisper as she moved away from him, and he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. She was in his veins again, captivating his mind with her presence, her scent, her every move. Letho followed her, approached her from behind and this time his touch was as light as a feather, his hand grasping her shoulder reluctantly.

“I... I never wanted to hurt you, Sivienna. Not tonight and not that night when you turned me. It burned me as well to leave. I ran for miles and miles to douse that fire. And I don’t know why the envy took over me when I realized you did the same in your own way. I am truly sorry.” and with that both his presence and his touch faded away. There was a lie incased in his little statement though. He knew quite well why the jealousy took over even as the beast of bloodlust governed his actions. Because even now, when he walked away to his stables to get his mount, he felt the desire to hold her and to cave in the skull of anyone who dared to touch her. It was quenched now, masked by the satiation of his blood, but it was eminent and yearning to step forward and make its presence known.

He returned to her promptly, gently clucking his dark brown steed out of the stables and approaching her own. He looked indisputably royal in the saddle of his sullen mount, wrapped in his black leather cloak with his collar lifted high and his incisive eyes peering through the darkness. He opted to carry no weapon to their late night snack, but by now he was strong enough to confirm the old saying that a man is the most fearsome weapon of all. “I feel rather foolish for not thinking with enough clarity to realize killing was not the only way to sate our hunger. Hopefully tonight will be instructive enough to convince me wrong. But not in Willowtown. I know these people too well and I could never feed on them, even if it doesn’t kill them.”

[Nightsangel]

Sivienna sighs as she shifts about in the saddle of her rented mare. His touch while harsh had burned her flesh. It was like a quiet fire sliding into her system, waiting to settle there so that the night that could have happened, would. She still could see herself silhouetted against the gentle pale blue moon light, her lips were pressed feverishly against that of the man who sat on his own steed. His big hands had roamed her body with such gentle care, that the vixen thought she would melt beneath them. She knew when he had pushed back, that they would meet again. She knew that he would call on her to come to his aid again, she could feel it in her very veins. Now, now that he had requested her aid, she could feel that sly snake of lust slither through her belly. She had wanted him, when he had pushed her against the cold bark of the dying Willow she had to fight back a moan. True she had never been handled roughly, but there was a small thrill in Letho's actions. Shaking her head, she soon had fought back the fires of lust in her belly. Smiling at Letho she clucked her mare into a soft walk as she murmurs "If you wish to leave this town, then we shall." Smiiling at him she murmurs "There is a forest nearby, I can first show you how to hunt and feed from simple aniimals, then if you wish we can moe on to the process of luring a human."

Looking over her shoulder at him she murmurs "We just have to be quiet and once we reach the forest we'll have ot tie our horses to nearby trees. The tapping of thier hooves scares animals and other creatures away." She then bent down and slowly carressed her mare's mane. Whispering soothing words she soon had worked the animal up into a trot She could feel that the night air was chill, almost crisp and cool, however there was no wind, which meant that their scent would not carry downward to their prey. This relieved her beacuse the night vixen knew that Letho might not be quiet, he may scare their prey away. At least in this way they had a small chance of surprise.

Sighing as they soon had left the quaint town of Willowtown behind, Sivienna had leaned back in her saddle, allowing her mare free reign. However, if her steed veered off the siimple dirt path, she would gently nudge her back onto the right way. Soon they had reached a quiet forest. Sivienna knew that inside the trees were thick, their leaves formed a canopy that blocked out the sun. Grinning soflty as she inched her mare inside she murmurs "This is the place, here rabbits and deer and other docile creatures live. We can teach you here until you get the hang of it. Then we can move onto a town."

Dismounting from her mare, she slowly leads the pretty horse to a large tree, tying its reins securely around a truck, she gave the mare enough reign to nose for grass. Patting her once she murmurs "You be a good girl and stay here." She then slowly and nimbly begin to follow the small dirt path. Looking behind her she softly asks "You coming? Or are you just going to sit in your steed's saddle staring at me?" Her eyes were coy as she said this, a small sweet smile playing about her lips.

[Letho]

Though the night was stunningly beautiful, with a clear dome above them covered with silver splinters and a chipped coin of a moon and the hollow silence shattered only by the constant KLOP-KLOP-KLOP of the horse hooves, Letho couldn’t remove his eyes from Sivienna. Majestic in her saddle, the vampire attracted his eyes as if she was honey and his eyes were filled with restless bees. He would deter his glance from her sizzling figure, focus on the surroundings and usher the lustful thoughts out of his mind, but to no avail. It was as if he was caught in a game “How to get to Sivienna in three steps” and every detail around him was more then eager to play its part.

“Focus, look away, think of Myrhia...” he instructed to himself, reaffirming his frown as he turned his glance sideways and towards the still wheat fields that stretched endlessly down the small hillock, shimmering under the moon with the ripe sullen color of aged gold. His mind’s eyes left his body, backtracked and fled fleetly to the Willow Manor and the confused former slave girl that was shivering in her bed even now, craving to sate the thirst that he took care of moments before. And he took care of it with the sweet ambrosia from the veins of the demonic beauty that once again stood at the end of each and every sentiment of his ever-pondering mind. He managed to keep his eyes away from her this time though, stubbornly keeping the emerald irises and scarred face of Myrhia in his head, but while he managed to deflect his vision, his other senses betrayed him. Riding behind her, the enticing scent of her body was picked up by his amplified senses effortlessly and instantly he felt such a pull towards her that he nearly stabbed his heels into the flanks of his mount in order to get closer. She envenomed him alright, and it certainly didn’t seem like this bond would be exorcised from his system. Not when every part of him wanted it to stay and blossom and deepen.

In such dazzled state, Letho barely noticed that the flatlands around them was interchanged with a sullen forest that benighted the world around them even further. Only when she dismounted her beast and cast a glance over her shoulder (the glance that profoundly drove him insane with lust), his glassy eyes and the foxed mind snapped away from the thoughts that plagued his mind. He managed to track down what she was speaking of in his memory and replay it in order to recollect just what were they doing here. Once he succeeded in doing so, his face curled in somewhat of a content grin as his hand sunk to the saddlebag, rummaging shortly to produce a single throwing dagger.

“Don’t think I’m not grateful for your aid, Sivienna...” he spoke as he slid from the saddle and took a couple of steps towards her, his eyes fixed on her own as his fingers spun the dagger deftly. “...but if I wanted to hunt game, I would have brought my bow and my trapping equipment. I am a ranger after all.” he mused softly and even as he did so, he let his dagger fly with a mere flick of the wrist. The weapon flashed in the moonlight, scudded inches from the vixen’s shoulders and proceeded to fade in the darkness of the woods. His vampiric eyes saw the blade clearly though, saw it swivel through the countless branches, following a perfectly calculated trajectory and finally impaling an owl that sat calmly on one of the lower branches. The animal forced out a dry creak before disappearing in a cluster of tawny feathers, falling on the grass below with her wings twitching instinctively.

Letho, however, didn’t even see this. His eyes were locked on the ones of the vampire female, peering subtly and yet nearly devouring the lilac irises as he approached her so close only a single pace was between them. His lips were now forming a minute smile, his hand moving with agonizing slowness until finally the back of his fingers ran down her pale cheek in a balmy touch. “Besides,” he finally spoke after a handful of seconds that seemed like eternity. “I hear that the humans are much more interesting to hunt...” his fingers descended a bit lower until her ran his fingertips over the corner of her lips, just barely touching the rosy red fire that called him to taste them again and again and again “...much more interesting to taste...” the dark knight continued, barely able to keep his enflamed passion dormant within his body. “So I suggest we should just move on to the main course.”

And with that said, he barely managed to tear himself away from her, turning abruptly and approaching his steed that serenely plucked on some of the lush grass. It was clear to him now that if the situation from that night happened again, he would not be able to turn away. She became the essence of his every desire, their blood forming a union that was a harbinger of the inevitable, and it was only a matter of time before he would succumb to her charms. Even as he mounted his horse he could feel his heart insanely pacing in his chest, spreading more and more of her venom through his system. She was his sin and he hoped that the attrition never comes.

[Nightsangel]

Sivienna laughs soflty as she watches Letho's ardent display as a hunter. Smiling briefly she looks at the dagger he procures from his saddlebag. Raising an eyebrow after hearing his speech, she soon is treated to a sight that she thought she wouldn't see. Letho twirled his dagger deftly in front of her, for a minute she could see the gleaming blade flashing in front of her lavender irises, then not a second later, the deadly projectile was soaring thorugh the still night air. Sivienna's enhanced sight could see the knife flying through the maze of dark green trees. Its aim was true, as it whistled through the rustling leaves it pierced a tawny owl cleanly in its heart. The majestic bird fell like a wounded dove from its perch.

Turning to look at Letho, Sivienna's eyes were warm as she murmurs "Mmm I see, you are a skilled hunter, however, hunting game and hunting a human are two entirely different matters." The night vixen wanted to say more, her mouth opened preparing to explain more details, but her words were cut short when Letho's soft finger pressed against her rosy red lips. A blush crept up her porcelain skin, as the words flew from her mind. Looking into Letho's lacquered wood eyes, she couldn't help but feel that snake of lust twist through her belly yet again. Closing her eyes Sivienna softly murmurs "Alright Letho... we shall move on to the next town." She then moved to to her grazing mount.

Smling as the pretty brown mare nibbled on the lust grass, she smiled as she whistled. The steed trotted over to Sivi as she nuzzled the vampire vixen's shoulder. Mounting her, Sivienna clucked her tongue urging her mare to start moving down the soft dirt path. The trees soon thinned, the lovely green fading into the soft velvet blackness of night. Sighing as they traveled away from the forest, the night angel couldn't help but look up into the pale softness of the moon. She had always gained comfort from the moon's transculent rays, but tonight she found no comfort in it.

It seemed that her lust for her thrall, for the man she had changed had only blossomed and grew since she had seen him again. She knew that it was wrong, she had promised him when they parted that she would never try to seduce him. However, it seemed that her body had other ideas in mind, When his finger had trailed lightly over her lips, she had wanted to move forward and take his finger into her mouth. But sheer will and her need to move to the town had stopped her from making that move. She was thankful that she had been able to reign in her strong desire, but at the same time, she could almost feel it, the two of them entwined together, enflaming and finally sating their passion for one another....but...closing her eyes, Sivienna firmly shook her head as she thinks "I can't think about him that way...he is in love with the red haired lass....and I won't hurt his relationship with her in anyway."

As their horses plodded over the soft dirt road, a town soon came into view, It looked to be asleep however the spirals of smoke issuing from some of the buildings indicted that people were still awake and about. Sighing as she dismounted she soon tied her mare to a nearby tree. Looking at Letho she murmurs "Dismount Letho...we'll go into town as a couple.." Reaching for his arm, she soon had her arm linked through his. Smiling as they soon were in town, she manuevered the two of them through the quiet cobble stone streets. Soon the bright lights of a tavern came into view, smiling quietly, Sivienna waited.

Soon the tavern door opened, the smell of smoke, and liquor wafted through the night air. Grinning as Sivienna saw a petite woman holding onto a tall pretty man. Knowing that these two would make a perfect test, she turned ot Letho and murmurs "I think I found our prey." Moving closer to his ear she whispers "You'll have to distract the man, while I take his female." She then slowly moved out of the shadows, her pale skin amplied by the moon's soft rays. In a gentle voice she murmurs "Lovely day isn't it? Did you by chance have anything to eat?" She noticed that the female's eyes narrowed so she changed tactics "You wouldn't fancy going back in for a drink would you?"

The female moved closer to her date, in a soft voice Sivienna could not hear words exchanged but she didn't catch them. Frowning as she looked around closely she studied the quaint buildings. It didn't seem likely that vampire hunters would be around, but then again the Beauty couldn't be too sure. Looking back at the couple, she studied their clothes, the man was wearing trousers with a tank top and a long trenchcoat. The woman was wearing a short black dress with heels and a long black coat. Frowing as she studied them, the vixen begin to feel uneasy. Shaking her head she thinks to herself "Dammit..this town seems quaint enough...but...could vampire hunters somehow be here?"

[Letho]

Even though his desire for Sivienna was still like live fire within him, the sensation was temporarily sidelined once the two entered the nearest settlement. Here he was, on the same spot like some time ago when he was a wanderer searching for a random inn in a random town. Then he entered the taverns in search for people that would offer him a meal. Nowadays he was searching the taverns for people that were the goddamned meal. It was a disquieting thought to say the least, forcing him to completely convert the role of the hero that he usually played, and turn it into... Into what? It wasn’t exactly that he was a villain despite his modified nature. He still followed the same Old Code, still had the same pyramid of morals and values that stood at the foot of his perception of the world. He just occasionally had to have a snack made out of necks and fresh blood. Shame that detail always seemed to stick with people when it came to first impressions. You could save their firstborn and lose a leg for them, but you show a glimpse of those fangs and instantly you bought yourself a ticket to the lowest pit of underworld, fueled by all the curses and profanities that people could conjure. Letho knew this. After all, before Sivienna turned him, he was one of the people.

Luckily for his wandering mind, his vampire companion was more levelheaded as she twined her arm with his own and led him through the main street of a nameless town. Her touch was gentle, her body once again close enough to bring back both the matter at hand and the craving back into the game. It was an interesting idea to say the least, the two of them going in under disguise of a couple, and the one that Letho accepted readily. Even if it was a pretense, it felt rather gratifying to be the companion of the gorgeous vixen. The town around them was a slumbering bear, puffing smoke through the chimneys and mumbling in a muffled manner from the interior of the simple housings. As per usual, the solitary place exampling liveliness at such a dark hour was the cesspool of lowlifes and watered ale, so Letho and Sivienna made their way to the tavern.

And even as they approached the clamor of raucous voices and shabby music, a pair not so much unlike them stepped through the door and entered the argent illumination of the moon. Sivienna formed a simple plan and Letho nodded in response, following her to the seemingly worriless duo that ambled through the sullen streets. He liked simple plans. Simple plans were like simple calculus; even if something went wrong, you could easily track it down and correct it. As his female companion started to talk to the small female dressed in a benighted outfit, the swordsman approached the dominant male that stood nearly an entire higher then Letho.

“Excuse me, sir? You seem rather familiar. Haven’t we met before? The name is Letho.” the vampire spoke eloquently, protruding his hand towards the man and suppressing a smirk that would reveal his fangs. This wasn’t a lie though; there was something peculiarly familiar in the lineaments of the man’s face that Letho couldn’t quite put a finger on. The man gave him an incisive measuring look, the pair of azure eyes observing the bulky fallen knight for a couple of seconds before casting a glance to his female companion. His arms, instead of reaching for Letho’s, folded before his chest.

“I don’t think so, but I think it’s my brother you’re talking about.” he mused in a cold tranquil voice, keeping those piercing blue eyes on the vampire.

“Your brother?” Letho asked with a perplexed tone, but the man just smiled mischievously. With a single sullen blur his hands moved, taking off the trench coat in one fluid motion, presenting a pair of kriss daggers that sparked menacingly in the moonlight. Around his body and his thighs stood stakes, possibly (and very probably) made out of silver alloys.

“Yes, my vampire friend. My brother that you murdered in the Wretched Oak tavern a couple of days ago. Let me refresh your goddamn memory, beast. YOU PINNED HIM TO THE GODDAMN WALL!!!” and with that spoken instantly about half of dozen men popped from behind the corners, behind rotten barrels and rickety fences, all packing enough silverware to attend a royal party. “You two are certainly foolish, thinking you can just waltz into the town as if it was a restaurant. Well, your wretched existence ends now!”

Now Letho could remember. When he saved Sivienna from the vampire hunters a while ago, that was the face, or rather one incredibly similar to it, that grinned and spat and wanted to see both the warrior and the woman dead. It seemed that what went around indeed came around as the pair just walked into a well-devised ambush. Letho took a couple of steps backwards until his arm touched Sivienna’s. “I go left and you go right!” was the only thing he managed to mumble before all hell broke loose.

[Nightsangel]

Touching Letho's arm briefly to imply that she understood what he had said, she whirled around and with sure feet begin to plod away from the approaching group of vampire slayers. Unlike before in the Wretched Oak tavern, when it had just been a group of five over cocky and over confident men...this time it was a mix of female and male slayers. The vampire vixen had a much easier time with male slayers simply because when she started to use her seduction tactics, they would normally tempt the male human so much that his moves would become clumsy and slow. A female hunter however was a much trickier adversary. The reason was because a female was much stronger against the arts and wiles of female vampires use of vampiric seduction. Groaning when she saw the tiny blonde walk ardently up to her, she withdrew her twin dragon bone claws as she glared into the girl's eyes. She knew what was coming next, the girl meant to slay her with one clean blow.

Firmly shaking her head as she whirled around, her lavender orbs looked behind the tiny blonde, she saw that a few of the other slayers had moved in on Letho while two more were making their way towards her. Groaning as the moon shone its blue light onto the soon to be battlefield, she placed her claws onto her hands softly and murmured. "You know dear, there is no need for blood shed! We can simply leave this little village you’re protecting! We can move on to find prey somewhere..."

Her reasoning was soon interrupted as the blonde spoke in a soft voice "Think again you silly vampire, my boyfriend here wants to avenge his brother's death! Your little bodyguard over there did us an injustice when he killed my poor boyfriend’s brother! So now..." She said softly as she pulled out two short swords "We will avenge his death by spilling both your blood here!" She then charged at Sivienna, aiming a cross diagonal slash at the night vixen's chest and her arms.

Groaning Sivienna moved to parry the blows, then she let out a gasp when she saw the two slayers behind the tiny blonde. One was a male with long brown hair tied back in a sleek ponytail, he wore an outfit of tan trousers with a white button-down shirt. What scared the night vixen was that he was armed with arrows that were ignited with dancing flames. The other archer was an auburn haired female and from the glinting moon, Sivienna could tell that her arrows were tipped with silver. Groaning as she successfully blocked the blonde's short sword slashes, she moved to push her weapons off that of the hunter's.

She then backed away a few paces, waiting for the arrows to fly. Closing her eyes she waited for the ping, just as the archers released their arrows she moved to get out of her cloak. The cloak soon was lying in burning ash as she had used her claws to deflect the silver arrow. Groaning she slowly begin to chant the spell to summon her wolf allies. Looking over at Letho, she hoped that he was doing better then she was, at this rate she might be hunter bait, but hopefully when she had finished summoning her wolves, she'd be able to at least beat back the archers and deal with the blonde on her own.

[Letho]

As if Sivienna’s touch was a crossbow trigger, Letho instantaneously bolted from her side and advanced at the vindictive hunter that held his wavy blades in a battle ready position. But though the vampire moved with vehement speed and force, he had no desire to kill the man despite the obvious contrary emotions within his foe. The fact of the matter was that the swordsman wasn’t out to kill tonight and he held no real grudge against the hunter. The man was merely doing his job, the same job that once upon a time Letho considered as a possible line of work, and even though that job was to end the vampire’s life, that didn’t mean that death should be the endpoint of this duel. With his vampiric powers Letho was more then able to incapacitate any man without a weapon and that was his intention tonight. He would play this game for a while, do some fancy dodging, bruise some faces, just to send out a message he was a force not to be trifled with.

But it took only the first attack for him to realize just how wrong he was. He attempted to tackle the man, use his speed and bulk to throw the hunter to the ground and force him to yield. But even as he was to collide with the torso of the black-attired man, the hunter spun sideways deftly, as nimble as an elf on drugs, moving in a mere shadowy blur. And not only did he dodge Letho’s charge, but he managed to finish his spin with a roundhouse kick that landed on the back of Letho’s neck, launching him through the column that supported the flimsy porch of the tavern. The momentum carried the vampire through three such columns before the whole porch collapsed on his head with a loud cracking sound of wood. The music inside the tavern ceased instantly, a handful of half-drunk faces peering through the blackened windows to see what was that snapped them out of their usual drinking ritual. But the second Letho broke through the sea of rubble with a growl most of them decided that the bottom of the mug was a better sight at the time.

Even as the vampire rose from the heap of broken wood and terracotta tiles, his ears picked up the twin snaps of what must’ve been crossbows. Luckily, the moon was nearly as round as a coin and its argent glow was amply reflected at the metallic tips of the incoming arrows. This recognition came just in time for Letho to roll sideways through the myriad of planks and shattered wood and away from the deadly silver-tipped arrows. But just as he finished his maneuver and regained his footing, another object aviated towards him from the direction of a hunter. The vampire noticed the darting dagger with enough time to react reflexively and grab the blade by the hilt. But even as he did so, he felt something penetrate his shoulder, pinning him to a wall with amazing ease. He could feel the wound burn uncannily, as if the missile was made out of liquid that instantly spread through his shoulder.

“The bastard... A double throw... A nice trick...” Letho’s mind commented as the cringing face turned to the smooth silver stake that stood impaled in his shoulder. The dagger that his hand captured clanged at the wooden floor, falling out of the hand as the wounded arm fell limp at Letho’s side. The two hunters that stood behind an empty carriage reloaded their crossbows and seemed ready to make a pincushion out of the vampire, but the hunter steadied them with his hand as he approached through the rubble with agonizing slowness.

“You know what I find most interesting, Letho?” he asked as Letho tried to pull out the stake, but instantly withdrew his hand since it instantly started to burn at the touch of silver. “It’s that you weren’t even a vampire when you killed my brother. No, you were just a treacherous weak man that fell for the swaying hips of that wretched harlot. But don’t worry, I’ll take real good care of her once I’m done with you.”

“Let me tell you something.” Letho retorted, finally making peace with the stake that stood imbedded in his flesh as he looked at the hunter. “Two things actually, the same two things I told your brother.” at this, the man frowned, his jovial face changing into a deadly serious one. “The first one was that you people talk too damn much.” and with this said, Letho’s foot swept the floor fiercely, kicking one of the columns and launching it straight at the man. The wooden beam struck the man in the gut, sending him flying into the middle of the stone-paved road that stood like a ribbon of silvery moonlight. Letho instantly yanked his body forwards, allowing the silver stake to pass cleanly through his flesh and remain impaled into the wall behind him. The two crossbows were fired instantly, but by this time the vampire already grabbed a hold of a large plank, blocking the two projectiles effectively.

“And the second one was...” Letho continued in his mighty dominating voice, his hand swinging the plank back in an attempt to launch it towards the two archers. But in the corner of his eye he noticed Sivienna’s tranquil figure as she tried to focus while the two hunters that she had on her back seemed deaf to her need for just a few moments of concentration. His aim shifted to her two hunters, flinging the large wooden object at the two ranged fighters, hopefully buying her enough time to complete her spell. His eyes remained locked on her figure, almost captivated by her beauty even at this crucial moment in the middle of a strife, as he continued, his lips curling knavishly. “...it’s not nice to call a lady a harlot.”

[Nightsangel]

Sweat beaded down Sivienna's pale forehead as she focused fully on summoning her wolf allies. She could hear the ping of two silver arrows, and she guessed that the archers had released their shots. However, she heard a distinct whistling thorugh the air. Ignoring this for now, she could feel the wind picking up around her. The thin wisps tickling and stirring her long mane of purple hair. She could also feel the power coursing thorugh her body and she could sense the shadow portal opening behind her. Smiling slightly as her lilac orbs fell on the blonde's petite and curvy figure, she moves a step back allowing her portal to open fully. Grinning at the blonde she murmurs softly "Well I hope you can take on three of us. Unlike your little archers.."she purrs softly as she hears the clang of heavy wooden hitting two bodies. "My pets aren't as fragile as you humans are."

The woman pursed her lips before she twirled her short swords reflexively and spit "Hah! You think that you can get away with summoning your little doggies? Wench! You don't understand! Someone in this town was murdered by one of your despicable kind! That is why my boy and I were summoned here! For fear that it might happen again! If we just shout the word vampire! You'll have a mob on your hands!" Grinning like a wild woman she cooed "and i don't think you and your lover boy would want that now would you?"

A howl sounded as two furry wolves appeared out of the portal. Their soft reddish purple free glistened beneath the moon's pale blue luminious light. As they paced near their mistress baring their fangs. One stomped its paw and looked imploringly at his mistress as if asking Can we kill her now?

Noting the look Sivienna laughs as she murmurs "Hmm I see you whore. This town payed you a large sum to hunt our kind." wagging her finger at the woman she said softly "You know you paint yourself with such honor but my dear, your kind has none! Do you want to know what your precious boyfriend's brother was trying to do? Kill me an innocent dancer! When i had done no crime! I hadn't murdered someone innocent! I hadn't even fed from a human in months!" Stepping forward with her wolves in two Sivienna spat between clenched teeth "My ex boss paid your boyfriend's dear brother to kill me in cold blood!"

The pretty little woman smiled wryly as she said coyly "Oh really? Now whose painting who innocent?" Moving forward she said softly "You know you say your kind are so pure, sweet and innocent then how come you monsters need to feed off blood?" Pointing one of her swords at Sivienna she finished "Its because you belong in hell with the rest of your kind."

Growling Sivienna raised a hand as she spit "You bitch! You can go to hell for your false views and your lack of true knowledge!" Her pets took this as their sign to attack. Howling with glee the two large wolves padded across the moon lit streets, their mouths were opening baring their fangs as they charged at the insolent hunter.

Sivienna meanwhile cooed at her wolves to attack, while she said jovially to the blonde hunter "Well honey I hope you enjoy being my doggies food!" Grinning as her wolves drew closer she finished "because thats what your about to become!"

Moving her swords to a tight defensive position the blonde hunter spit "Think again you stupid little whore!" She then moved to defend against the two wolves bite attacks.

[Letho]

To the left of him, Sivienna seemed to be having a nice palaver with the female vampire hunter, the two vixens throwing bitter words at each other like candy. He seemed to buy her enough time to summon her furry allies and tip the balance into her favor against her contingent of the hunters. Now he had to deal with his own, and yet his eyes craved to linger on her figure a second longer. She looked so dominant, so intrepid, an angel of death with a mysterious smirk and a fierce glint in her eyes. He could almost feel the texture of her skin under his finger, burning his fingertips during every suave caress.

The shuffle on the dirt road made him shake his head minutely and turn his attention to the task at hand. The alpha hunter was slowly regaining his footing, his two comrades pulling back on their crossbow strings and preparing another set of projectiles. They were mere silhouettes, holding their ground behind the shield of shadows, and he knew he had to eliminate them first. Vampire hunters knew very well where to aim and with what to aim with. He was certain that a single slump in his focus would be instantly “rewarded” by a silver-tipped arrow through the heart. And then, just like when he was human, it was game over.

A quick survey of his environment provided him with a plausible plan. His hands effortlesly tore one of the wings of the swinging doors that led into the tavern, creating a makeshift shield. The pair of archers released their bolts with a muffled thwumph! once again, but this time Letho collected them easily with the wooden barricade in his hands. The bolt tips passed through just enough for his eyes to catch a glimpse of them. They glimmered with the shine he begun to hate more as the time went by. Silver.

Not losing any more time to contemplation, the dark vampire started his counteroffensive. The leader of the hunter troupe was back on his feet, keen on intercepting the murderer of his brother, but Letho currently wanted no beef with the man. Not when the two crossbowmen lurked for a free shot at his ticker. With a swift flick of his arm he let his batwing-door shield fly towards the man, the clumsy piece of wood whooshing through the air like a piece of explosion debris. The hunter utilized his physical prowess, measuring the trajectory in the blink of an eye and rolling away from it deftly.

This, however, gave Letho just enough time to cross the street and catch the archers with their pants down. One of them was trying to reload, the other casting off his projectile weapon and pulling out the melee one. But neither got a chance to take another shot at the husky vampire. Letho jumped right between the two, grabbing the one on the left by his shoulder and twisting his body in a counterclockwise motion with his hand still holding to the archer. The centrifugal force carried the man around the sullen attacker as if he was the center of a carousel, ultimately making the cringed body of the hunter collide with the bulk of his comrade.

This little piece of finesse left Letho with just the leader that waited for him in the middle of the street, dusting off his outfit confidently. Letho respected that. There were few men nowadays that weren’t insane and dared to stand fearlessly against him. The moon above was like a lamp, enlightening their dusty arena perfectly, presenting to the peering eyes within the tavern the clash between the good and the bad, the hero and the monster. Letho found irony in that. Because he was always the hero, the knight in the shinning armor that saved the day and all that sentimental bullshit that people liked to hear. And now fate found it appropriate to make him see how the whole picture looked like from the other side of the specter. As if to confirm that, the windows through the town slowly started to come to life, first the ones closest to the tavern, then spreading like falling dominos throughout the entire length of the main streets. The silence of the nightly breeze gave way to screeching windows and opening doors, introducing the first sleepy faces with crusty eyes in their crumpled sleeping clothes.

“You’re not getting away from here alive, demon!” the hunter growled as Letho ambled into the clear road with a nonchalant steady gait. The man was furious, taut as a guitar string and ready to leap on his prey, but it failed to impress the vampire.

“A demon? I took this curse willingly, because it was the only path I could follow.” Letho spoke in a cold serious tone, but ultimately his lips allowed a minute smirk. “But there is no explanation that would satisfy you, now is it? Ignorance can truly be bliss.”

“Then you were a fool to make a choice of undeath instead of dying like a man.”

And with that said the hunter charged forwards with amazing fleetness, his feet almost invisible in the dim light of the evening. He covered the ground between the two in a blink of an eye, firing a shattering haymaker at Letho’s head. Letho reacted accordingly, moving his left to intercept the punch and catching the man’s fist. The hunter tried with the other hand, but the result was the same, placing the two in a wrestler’s clinch. Their faces stood inches apart, their eyes like spears or fire and ice clashing against each other. The man was uncannily strong, Letho had to admit that. He managed to stay in the clinch not as inferior, but as an equal, flexing his muscles and applying the pressure even further.

“Is that all you’ve got, demon?” the hunter squeezed through his teeth. Letho’s frowning face, tensed and relatively emotionless, allowed a mysterious smile as he closed his eyes. His muscles exploded with a sonic boom that sent the dirt flying all around them in a concentric circle as his body started glowing with an ivory aura that erased his pupils and turned them pearly white. The defiant vampire hunter felt a little bit like a man standing against a tsunami, hopeless and feeling minute and weak in front of the onslaught. He fell to one knee first, then the other joined in the dirt as his face cringed, showering his forehead with perspiration.

“Don’t call out what you can’t put down.” Letho muttered before he simply pulled the man by his hands and flung him into the interior of the tavern via a front window. The glass shattered, the patrons screamed and shouted, somebody was complaining about the spilled ale and in the midst of all the ruckus somebody finally shouted.

“VAMPIRES!!!”

That was their cue. It took one panicky word to summon a mob in a flash and Letho knew that. His body metamorphosed back to his original self in an instant, killing the aura and shrinking his muscles. He ran towards his vampire companion and grabbed her forearm as the first torches came to life throughout the small town. “Sivienna, we have to go! We need to get away from the mob.”

[Nightsangel]

Twin howls filled the still night air as the wolves stalked their prey. Both of the shadow creatures knew what their job was, they were supposed to take down the stupid little human whose intention was to kill their loving mistress. Snarling ferciously, the two beasts prepared to sink their fangs into the soft flesh of the vampric hunter. The moon overhead shined on their reddish purple fur, illuminating the two beasts with a pale halo of light.

Normally this would have scared any normal human, however for the hunter she merely snarled viciously as she spit coldly "Down doggies, you stupid little mindless beasts!" The hunter then did a twin double slash, the slashes while slow managed to connect with the two wolves stomaches. She then grinned as she pulled out an ofuda and slapped then on the two wolves foreheads. Holding her hands together she shouts loudly "Creatures of darkness be gone! Disappear back to where thee has come from!"

The wolves begin to whimper and howl in pain, as bright red flames burst around them. Writhing beneath the magic, the wolves yelped and shook before they disappeared in wisps of purple shadows. Sivienna's eyes widened in shock, shortly afterward they narrowed in anger as she hissed coldly "Oh you stupid whore! You'll pay for that!" Sivienna then prepared to advance before the shattering of both glass and wood could be heard. Wincing at the noise Sivienna spun around to see what had happened.

The sight that met her lilac orbs wasn't a pleasant one. First she could see that the male hunter and her child were locked in an all out death brawl, then the next thing she heard was the shout of "VAMPIRES!" which caused the sleepy townsfolk to come out of their houses and form an angry mob. Shivering right down to her half-boots, Sivienna reached for Letho's hand murmuring weakly "I think thats our cue to leave!"

She then tugged Letho away and sprinted torwards the inner sanctuem of town. She hoped that their was some place that the two vampires could take refuge. The sounds of angry feet and shouts of "Kill the vampires!" Could be heard as the two night creatures moved swiftly through town.

Fear raced through Sivienna's heart as she prayed that soon she and Letho would find refuge. She was already tired from the long fight with the blonde hunter and now she desparately wanted to rest. Slumping slightly against Letho as they moved into a more deserted area of town she whispers softly "I can't go on...I"m too tired...I..." the sounds of the mob had quieted slightly. They still could be heard...but it was as close.

Panting the vixen's eyes turned towards the dark horizen before she saw the turrets of what could only be a manor jutting against the black sky. Blinking as she rubbed her eyes she realized that they were standing before an old secluded manor. Smling slightly she murmurs soflty to Letho "I think...we found our place of shelter Letho..." Tugging on his hand she begin to pull him towards the manor whispering breathelessly "Lets get inside before they find us...."

(Permission to bunny Letho given by the writer himself.)

[Letho]

They ran through the night like convicted lovers that caught a lucky break and snuck out of the prison walls. They knew what mob was – it was a roaring beast that, no matter what you did to it, just smiled that sinister grin into your face and kept on coming. A person was smart, reasonable, intelligent. A mass was a nitwitted swarm of locusts gone haywire, ready to start the blood-feast to sate their deepest fears and desires. Sivienna and especially Letho didn’t want anything to do with such enraged folk. They could have fought them head-on, take them down and paint the streets red with their blood, creating a ghost town in one night. They could have... if they were the alleged demons. But tonight they came to feed, to creep in unnoticed and satisfy their natural needs with minimal use of violence, and exterminating a bunch of bewildered commoners certainly wasn’t the conclusion they wanted to see.

Their vehement footrace took them to the outskirts of the small town, leaving the raucous crowd and the flickering torches far enough behind their back to enable them a short breather. The battle was taxing for the two, draining their stamina significantly and it became clear that they couldn’t run for much longer. Luckily for them, Sivienna’s eyes found a valid solution to their problem. A short distance ahead, blotted out by the dense veil of darkness, stood what might have been a gallant manor once. The path to it veered away from the main road, providing a good deception for their escort that marched down the well-trotted path that led out of town.

Wordlessly, Letho agreed to her proposition and led the two up the straying path and past the unfastened rusty gates that stood slanted, barely holding on to the corroded hinges. Both of them puffed and gasped for every breath now, using the last reserves of their energy to climb up the marble stairs and to the main door. Letho’s first ascertainment was right; the manor might have been gallant once, but now it was slowly decaying under the tide of time. The windows were nailed shut, the garden lost under the myriad of vines and ferns that dominated the surroundings, the facade cracked and crumbling on several places. The whole edifice looked tired somehow, burdened by the oblivion to which it was left by its owner, and because of that it was a perfect place to lay low for the time being.

Letho’s right hand still held on to the pale gentleness of Sivienna’s when his left made a move to tear through the front door, but he paused his fist in mid motion. Tearing the front door was pretty much the same as painting a large fluorescent sign that shouted “We’re over here!”. Instead he marched down the length of the wraparound porch, swerved around the left corner of the building and made his way to the servant entrance. His hand removed the pair of crossed planks effortlessly, pushing in the wooden door that offered only a minute resistance before presenting them the frigid interior.

“We’re in luck. This place looks deserted.” Letho spoke in a hushed whisper as he closed the door behind them. His hand, though there was no need for the contact anymore, still held to Sivienna’s for some obscure reason. They walked through the ghoulish interior like unwelcome phantasms, slowly making their way between the furniture covered with sheets that might have been white once, but now stood hidden under a gray layer of dust. Their exploration took them through a deserted kitchen, down a pair of hallways with paintings wrapped in canvas still hanging from the walls. The marble below their feet might have been carpeted once, but now the polished stone clicked at every cautious step they made. Soon enough they stood in a giant parlor, the chandelier above dominating with its grandeur despite the years of that bit into its beauty and no light to illuminate it and present it properly. A dominant stairwell, curving around both sides of the parlor, led to the floor above.

“Let’s go up. We’ll have a better view from there.” the swordsman said, hoping that there would be no pursuit within the field of vision once they got up. Because this whole manor was like a dry match waiting to be set ablaze - the creaking polished wood seemed eager to burn. He led them up via the left stairs, his body finally slowing down and relaxing from the physical strain. However, his heart seemed to remain at the same pace, Sivienna’s touch and her presence replacing the physical strain with the mental one. They escaped death only minutes ago and already his mind started to return to the usual lusty demeanor. But he pushed it aside once again, doing his best to focus as they made their way through the stuffy darkness of the manor interior.

They entered the first room on the left side, finding themselves in a lofty bedroom that overlooked the front yard. The massive bed stood under the same gray sheets, the baldachin above torn and left for the moths. Everything else – something that looked like a mirror, two nightstands, huge wardrobes, an armchair – was covered by the sheets as well. Letho finally let go of Sivienna’s hand as he neared the window and took a keen look down the path they walked mere moments ago, but saw no activity. Further up ahead a couple of torches bobbed down the main road, passing the fork and not taking the turn to the manor.

“I think we’re safe for now. But the town will be up all night for certain. We should lay low at least until little before dawn.” he spoke, his hands folded over his bulky chest as he kept looking down that path. Looking at the path was good. Because he knew that every look towards the vixen behind his back was a temptation against which he had no defense.

[Nightsangel]

A blush was still high on Sivienna's face, her hand still entwined in Letho's, felt...too warm. Using the curtain of her violet hair to hide her flushed cheeks, she nods softly as she whispers "Yes...good thing too...." She then begin to follow Letho through the musky manor. Her eyes were half closed though as the pools of desire filled her belly. She knew this was wrong, knew that the only reason Letho was here with her was for her to teach him how to control his bloodlust. He had Myhria waiting for him at home, she could not, and would not sleep with him, to give in to that desire would not only be wrong, it would be cruel.....


Rooms flashed swiftly before Sivienna's eyes, she could see the interior of a long abandoned kitchen. The pots and pans so discolored with rust that it hurt her eyes. Sighing softly as her eyes lingered on the mothballs littering the once marble countertops, the vixen was sorely reminded of the disuse of her own childhood home. A sigh left her soft lips as she felt Letho tugging on her hand. She had wanted to stay, wanted to explore every nook and cranny that was in the large kitchen, but it seemed that the warrior beside her wanted to move forward. She knew he was right, knew that the town would be looking for them. If they lingered on the bottom floors of the manor they would be caught for sure.

A sigh escaped her lips as they ascended the dusty stairs, to her trained eye she could tell that the wood was Maple and that the manor had once been a regal place. She knew that something happened, something that caused the owner's to flee the place. But as she was pulled into the nearest room, which happened to be a room with a large soft bed. Her thoughts stopped briefly, thoughts had flashed through her mind, but she had just as quickly dismissed them. Her eyes traveled over the sheet covered furniture before they came to rest on Letho's bulky form. It appeared he had taken up surveying the area. She knew that for now they would be safe, so giving into her curiosity, she slowly moved towards an antique looking chair.

Lifting up the white cloth, she coughed heavily as a cloud of misty dust pillowing into the air. Covering her mouth, as she continued to cough delicately, the sheet dropped back onto the plush chair. Waving the dust away from her face, she looked at Letho before she said softly "This room, its been in disuse for years." Looking around at the darkened room, she sighs. Leaning back against the snow white cloth, she sighs as she murmurs "How long do you think we'll be stuck here?" She knew they had to wait until things quieted down, however she wasn't sure how long she could hold out, she didn't want a bad situation to escalate...but she knew that the longer they were stuck here, the harder it would be to control the desire and lust she felt for Letho....

[Letho]

He did his best to focus on everything except Sivienna and he was failing miserably. The wound in his shoulder stung as if there was a piece of hot iron imbedded in his skin, and yet all that he could concentrate on was the sound of her voice, melodic, seductive. The dust particles were drifting through the moonlit interior of the bedroom, spreading an aged scent of forgotten walls and ghostly sheets, and yet all his heightened olfactory senses registered was the aroma of fresh sweat on her spotless, pale skin. All hell was loose some two hundred paces down the road, townsfolk feeding on each other’s wrath to keep the aimless pursuit going, and yet all he could think of was that night days ago.

She turned him that night, shared her curse and made him a nightprowler, and she offered herself to him that night as well. The spark that was struck between them that night was something that Letho struggled to contain, subdue, but it was like trying to clutch water. It evaded his grasp, slipping through his fingers, and the more he tried, the faster it unleashed itself. Myrhianna was his one true love, his soulmate, but this lust for Sivienna didn’t even try to dispute that fact. No, this was something different altogether, something more primal, something that dwelled in the different part of the psyche. It was raw and indocile, running rampart in his head, in his chest, in his veins. It was a straightforward pathway that led to one goal, one act, and he was walking it whether he desired it or not. And he desired. Oh yes, he desired it. His insides practically begged for it.

“I will not succumb to this craving.” he assured himself, as if hearing the words resonate in his head would fortify his dissolving resolve. “Not again.” Letho remembered the last time he was unfaithful. The encounter with Tania and the seduction spell cast over both him and the young farmer lass was different from what was happening right now, but essentially he was on the same path with no detours and no stop signs. He failed to break the bewitchment back then and he was determined not to let history repeat itself. Because Myrhia deserved fidelity. The vampiric swordsman closed his eyes and sought the redhead’s face in his memories, but even as he did so, Sivienna’s voice destroyed this attempt, replacing it with a violet haired vampire vixen. He would’ve damned her... if he didn’t find her so damn irresistible.

“People here are quick to anger.” Letho replied, maintaining his position by the window, keeping his eyes stuck on the empty path that led from the manor. “But they are quick to forget as well. Their zeal usually dies after a good night’s sleep.” Something neither of them would get this night, it seemed. “Besides, the bunch we fought back there weren’t local, so they’re probably going to bury them and turn this whole encounter into a old wives tale that would be talked over for at least the next fifty years.”

Satisfied with the tranquility of the outside, Letho turned to take a seat on the armchair concealed by the grimy gray sheet. But even as he made a move with his left hand to remove the covering, his shoulder sent a jolt of pain through the length of his arm. It was enough to make his face wince, but not nearly enough to elicit a response in a form of a grunt or an outcry. Once he took a seat in the comfy, worn leather of the chair though, the novice vampire decided to at least speak of it to prevent the uncomfortable silence. “Goddamn silver.” he said, the fingers of his healthy hand inspecting the hole in his coat and shirt, and the bloody perforation beneath it. The regeneration process already started, stopping the bleeding at the very least, but it still looked messy and it still stung from the penetration point to the exit wound on the back. “Wouldn’t want to catch one of those a bit closer to the heart, heh?”

The truth was, Letho went through worse wounds and even worse pains during the course of his life. Compared to the arrow that went through the armor and stabbed itself in the right shoulder blade (efficiently disabling his sword arm) in the middle of a battle, this wound was a minor concern. But it presented a topic that they could discuss about instead of exchanging looks packed with lust and want. “Are you alright? Did one of those bastards get to you?”

A part of him – a decent, knightly, almost pious part – hoped not, partially because he hoped she didn’t get hurt but mostly because tending of wounds would get them dangerously close. Another, more manly and much more prominent part of him, hoped that in fact she did get hurt. Not a lot and nothing serious, but just enough and on just a perfect spot on her svelte body that would require some undressing in order to be reached. Because the scene was set – they were after all in a bedroom – and a single look from her lilac eyes made it clear that this desire that boiled beneath the surface was by no means one-sided.

“Focus, maggot!!! Think of Myrhia!” he instructed to himself. He tried. And he failed.

[Nightsangel]

With the white linen cloth back in place and her question answered, a heavy sigh left the young vixen's lips. This is what she had been afraid of....back when Letho and she had fought their respective vampire hunters, the young damsel knew that she had gotten away pretty much unscathed. Well except for her pride...her pride was wounded due to the tussle of words that she and that little blonde hunter whore had juggled back and forth. Those words still stung the vampiress, she had tried to be reasonable with the young human, she had tried to tell her that not all her kind was bad or unjust. But the little witch had kept up with her holier then thou attitude....what was worse, was that the troupe of hunters had gotten the whole town into an angry blood thirsty mob....sighing as she glanced out at the tranquil night. She could still hear it in her mind...the shouts and the screams of "Kill them! Kill them they must die!" Letho and her had been lucky enough to find this old deserted mansion...

Looking over at Letho, the night beauty noticed that he was fingering the wound in his left shoulder, she knew that the wound needed to be treated...but, the close contact would be the downfall of them both. She could see the want shimmering in his dark eyes, but at the same time she could see the knightly intentions there...he wanted to remain pure to his beloved, he did not want to taint their relationship by laying with the one who had changed him....biting her tender lip gently, Sivienna tried to fight her baser instincts. She was a woman after all and even though she was a vampire, wounds still did need some tending.

Sighing as her feet padded across the deep thick carpeting, she was soon in close proximity with the burly man before her. Staring into his eyes, her hands slowly moved forward to touch the soft material of his jacket, pushing it slowly, very slowly away, she soon removed it before her hands touched his soft shirt. Looking into his eyes she whispers "I'm sorry Letho...I know you would rather have your beloved do this but...that wound does need some tending..."

Moving his shirt off carefully, she ignored the display of pale flesh, her hands clinically moved over Letho's gentle skin until they found the wound where the silver bullet had pierced him. Running a hand over it, she could sense that his regeneration was at work, however it was not working properly due to the silver in his system. Shaking her head, the night beauty slowly moved over to the pack she carried with her. Rummaging through it she lifted out a bottle of healing salve and a small pair of tweezers. Checking them over for cleanliness she turned around and returned to Letho.

Looking at his eyes, her hands slowly and carefully begin to tend over the wound. However, she was blushing slightly as she felt the softness of his flesh. In a soft, almost shy voice she murmurs "Forgive me Letho, your wound wasn't mending properly so I had to clean it up a bit..."

[Letho]

She was wrong; he didn’t want his beloved tending to his wound, not here, not now, not when he could almost feel her surging through his veins, overwhelming the defenses made out of scruples and taking complete control. The fact that she did this inadvertently was irrelevant, because at that moment there was no woman Letho wanted more then Sivienna. It was a lust beyond his control, a siren’s call that he couldn’t disregard no matter how hard he tried. It wasn’t the matter of willpower anymore; of that the swordsman had an abundance. But somehow this desire for the vampiress circumvented the resistance of his rationality and started taking reign in every iota of his being. It was something alien, something stronger then him.

And it only got worse when she approached him.

She stepped across the dusty parquet almost on her toes, soundless, as gentle as a gazelle, and her hands reluctantly started to work on his wound. Her pale divine visage was inches away from his own, her lips succulent and calling for him, her body begging to be held and explored with a myriad of caresses, her scent... Gods, her scent was a sweet perfume that almost brought tears to his eyes. The pain was lost in the tenderness of her touch, in the electricity that her fingers transmitted upon contact, and if Letho haven’t averted his eyes from this beauty that was within his grasp, surely he would’ve embraced her. The front yard of the forgotten mansion, enveloped in dense haunting darkness was a good temporary distraction, but what his eyes refused to see, his other senses compensated for.

“It’s alright.” was all he managed to utter, struggling to preserve the usual harsh strictness of his voice barred of all emotions. He could feel her breath now, shallow and timid, spreading over his skin as she tended his wound. And it was an invitation that his eyes could not neglect. Letho’s head turned slowly, his eyes meeting the lilac ones of the coveted woman, noticing the gentle flame that heated her cheeks to a rosy color. He hesitated for a moment, trying to find the last straw that would take him out of this volcano of passion he was falling into, and failing utterly. His countenance moved upwards, just far enough for their lips to merely brush against each other.

“NO!” Letho shook his head, using his wounded left arm to push Sivienna aside before he got up from the armchair. “I’m sorry, but this... It’s wrong. I can’t...” he sought the words, but looking at her even from a distance of several feet disabled him in doing so. He pulled his coat more snugly around his muscled figure, storming out through the door and pacing down the length of the hallway. And immediately, even as he stepped out of the room, there was a hook that stabbed itself into his gut, into his loins, into his dark heart, and it yanked him backwards, impeding his attempted escape. By the time Letho reached the stairs that would lead him to the ground floor that pull brought him to a full stop.

“You want her.” a sly voice whispered, offering an image of Sivi to his mind’s eye. “Look at her and tell me you don’t want her.” it tempted him, forcing him to close his eyes and concentrate. “It’s stronger then you. It’s meant to be. Just once. Just tonight.” And for the finish, the voice offered what seemed like the best argument. “Nobody has to know.”

Letho looked down the flight of stairs. Something inside of him, a notion of his former self, urged his foot forward but his leg disobeyed, refusing to move. Instead it made him turn on his heels and walk back to the room where he left the irresistible vampire. By the time he reached the door, the warrior was almost pacing, his mind blank save the image of what he wanted most. He opened the door abruptly, making it crash against the wall and announce his return. But by the time the door made the sound, Letho was already standing in front of Sivienna, desire glaring down at her instead of the calm brown irises. He embraced her passionately, pressing her body against his own and tasting the poison on her lips properly for the first time. After that, both of them knew there was no turning back.

[Nightsangel]

Once the clean white cloth was wrapped around Letho's firm skin, Sivienna had to take a step back. It was there again, that desire, that need, just the smell of him alone was enough to make her barer vampric instincts wild with need. Turning away from him, she begin to wrap up the remaining cloth tightly, until it was in a firm neat ball. Once that was complete she walked away from him, she needed it, needed a breathe of a different air, perhaps then her senses would be more in balance. Reaching down for her bag, she slowly through the bandages inside it, and then closed it with a firm snap. She then turned around, preparing to confront Letho on what he felt for her. Except he was already walking away, his almost bare back glistening to her, as the moonlight bathed his retreating form.

Taking a deep breathe, the night beauty's eyes turned to stare out into the velvety blackness. Stars as bright as diamonds twinkled in the black river of sky, staring at the twinkling gems, Sivienna sighed. She knew this was for the best, she knew that despite the fact that this mansion had very few actual sleeping places, it would be better for her and Letho to stay away for now. He had his Myrhianna to consider, and she had her own feelings, she couldn't not without a heart full of regrets sleep with someone who had another. No...while sharing a bed was fine, if it came to that, there was no way in good conscious she could actually lay with Letho intimately.

That was in her thoughts until she heard the footsteps coming back, turning away from her twinkling show of lights, she turned to look into eyes that were heated with passion. Before she could utter a word, her lips were pressed against his, a sigh escaped her, before she broke the kiss and murmurs "Are you sure?" She noticed the look, but she still had to wait for his response, she knew that they would probably sleep together, in the sense that they did not want the mob finding them, however anything else, she was not sure of until she heard his response.

"Yes" Was his only reply as the two broke the kiss. Nodding solemnly, Sivienna grabbed his hand and led him to the bed. Slowly they both got into it and rested on the soft silky sheets. Dust clouds floated like little puffs above them as the covers were pulled over them. Slowly a soft wind begin to whistle around the deserted and empty mansion. As the two kissed again, the night slowly begin to fade to day.

-X-

A bird chirped slowly, sweetly, as the sun's soft white rays pressed against the heavily curtained windows of the manor. Groaning as Sivienna touched her head, last night had felt like a blur. Her body felt all floaty, sighing as she ran a hand through her soft threads of violet hair, she tumbled out of bed. Somehow during the night she had managed to wrap the sheet around her toga style over her light night clothes. Flexing her fingers, she blinked before she looked over at Letho's slumbering form. A blush touched her cheeks as she saw his contented smile. Shaking her head, the young vampric vixen went to her satchel. Pulling out a fresh outfit, she slipped out of the shadowed bedroom. Hurrying softly across the long dark hallway, she soon found a quaint little room. It was filled with tiny little knickknacks, precious keep sakes the beauty was sure, of a loyal maid to its master.

Removing the sheet from her body, she slipped out of the wrinkled night gown she wore, quickly slipping into the soft blue halter top, she slipped into the mini skirt before she sighed and folded her night gown over her arm. Looking at the rumpled bedroll on the floor, her eyes fell upon the white lace trimmed oil lamp. Moving to touch it, she sighs as she murmurs "I’m sure you were loyal to your master to miss....very loyal...but I'm sure you didn't do anything that you'll regret later." Sighing again, she rose twirling her hair up into a tight high ponytail. Squaring her shoulders, she moved back to the master bedroom. Hopefully by now the angry mob had quieted down, she was sure that they were far enough away from the village now for them to continue on silently.

Running her tongue over her lips to moisten them, the young night vixen pushed open the creaky wooden door, wincing as it squeaked she walked softly over the plush carpet. Looking at Letho, she nudged him gently whisper "Wake up Letho, it time that we were on our way. Its daylight and I’m pretty sure the mob gave up on finding us by now....."

[Letho]

Even before she spoke, even before the door squeaked and tore him from eerily satisfactory slumber, even before his mind snapped out of the lethargy, Letho knew that what they did... what he did last night was as wrong as wrong could be.

Instead opening his eyes at the slightest disturbance, his stubborn mind decided to keep them closed for a while longer. It used the blackness as a canvas, painting each and every detail of the events that came to pass, giving birth to the guilt that was so prominent, it nearly made the bulky man retch. He recollected the yearning. First it was a carnal thing, his vampiric body seeking satiation, seeking the metallic taste of warm blood. But once Sivienna showed up, the need transcended, it grew in power and changed its primary target. It made his crave for every touch of her hand, for every glance of her sinfully beautiful eyes, for every sigh that escaped her lips. The battle with the hunters he remembered vaguely. The battle beneath the sheets he remembered too well. He offered almost no resistance, letting go to blind passion, taking her with no regards to the consequences, taking her to sate them both in a night of moans and caresses and smiles and rumpled sheets.

But now, as the morning came and the veil of desire was lifted from his mind’s eyes, it was time to face the truth.

And the truth was that, even though this infidelity clawed at his heart like a rabid beast, he still wanted Sivienna. Even before he opened his eyes, he could feel her scent lingering in the room, amidst the sheets, on his skin, a mixture of bodily liquids that reminded him of the ecstasy. And it was enough to make him want nothing else but to remain here, in this abandoned mansion, replaying that night over and over again. It was an unnatural craving, lacking sense, lacking reason, a road with no stops or turns that led straight to heaven.

And then he remembered Myrhia.

Even though the majority of him wanted to rise up from the bed and embrace Sivienna once again, there was a thorn in his side that still stood against this lack of morality. It reminded him that, while the violet-haired vampire maybe satisfied every single bodily desire in a single night, there was little love here. Letho didn’t make love to her. No, he made love with Kristiniel all those years ago, and he made love with Myrhianna when she wasn’t unwell. There was something more then just mechanics and bodily functions involved there, more then just quenching the fire that burned in his loins. There was an invisible thread that connected their hearts, a link that he severed with this one-night stand with the stunning exotic dancer. He had to get away from here. Away from the room, away from the mansion, away from her intoxicating presence that called to him even now. He had to get away and let it slip into oblivion.

When he finally woke up completely, he did so with a grim look on his face, sitting at the edge of the bed and turning his back to Sivienna. Letho owed her an explanation, there was no doubt about it, but whatever his mind offered sounded so bland, so pointless. Was he sorry that they did this? Yes, but not so much that, if he could rewind time, he would – or could – do it differently. Was this wrong? Yes, but not wrong enough for them to share the blame, not wrong enough for her to feel guilty as well. She warned him, she offered him a way out; it was not her fault.

“We have to part ways, Sivienna.” he finally said, his seated figure shamelessly naked and hunched. “What happened last night was...” the bulky man sighed, massaging his temples, trying to find the right words. “...wonderful, but it was also wrong. But it’s not you who is wrong in all of this. It’s me. I’m the one who can’t control himself in your presence. I’m the one who instigated this meeting.”

“And I should be the one carrying the burden.” Letho thought as he got up, slipping into his pants as quickly as possible. He stuffed his feet into his boots, leaving them unlaced as he proceeded to put his shirt on. Finally, he donned his heavy coat. Only then, when he was fully clothed and fully resolved, the unfaithful swordsman dared to face his one-time mistress. He walked past her, but stopped just as he was to leave the room.

“I... I am sorry. Not because it happened, but because I can’t offer you anything else. Goodbye.” Letho spoke, his voice heavy, reluctant, utterly unlike his usually gallantness and determination. Not giving her a chance to respond – to tempt him one last time – he moved out in the hallways and down the stairs. Outside, the day was jubilant, shinning in all its lively colors, but for Letho it was as gloomy as if there was a storm coming.

***

Unlike the room in the mansion, the master bedroom in Willow Manor had a stale air to it, a scent of sickness, a scent of death. In the bed far too large for her scrawny, rapidly diminishing form, Myrhia slept, crumpled in a little ball, the way she always did. Only this time Letho wasn’t there to wrap his large arms around her, embracing her and pulling her closer to himself. Instead, the man was sitting on the chair beside the bed. His face was troubled, his body weary from the run, his conscience fighting a ceaseless battle with the events that unfolded last night. He couldn’t tell the redhead. Once again he was unfaithful to her and he almost lost her. It was not something he could go through again. The risk was simply too great. No, he would stow this secret away, away from her penetrating emerald eyes, barricade it behind stalwart doors of his mind. He promised Myrhia he would never hurt her, and he meant to fulfill that promise.

“Letho?” a frail voice inquired, a dry voice of someone who barely had strength to wake up. She needed to feed, Letho knew now, needed to drink more blood. It was the curse that he brought upon them and now they had to live with it just as he had to live with his secret. “Letho, is that you? Where... where were you? I was worried.”

He remained silent just enough to kneel next to the bed and take one of her pale hands into his own. “I... I’ve been looking for answers. To our curse.”

“Did you find any?” she asked, propping herself up as much as she could.

“Some. We must feed on blood.” Letho said, bringing his other hand up and biting into the wrist with his fangs. “We have to feed and everything will be alright.”

[Nightsangel]

Sivienna averted her eyes carefully as she watched Letho rise sleepily from the bed. She herself had her own regrets over what had occured the night before. Running her tongue over her lips, she tried to think of what to say. The sun slinked sly across the shadowed floor as Sivienna was bathed in the dull darkness. Opening her lips, Sivienna was about to respond, when she heard Letho's words. Frowning as she listened to his solemn words. She sighs as she nods murmuring "Alright, very well." She knew and understood why he had to go. Orignally they had intended to travel onward, so that Sivienna could teach Letho the proper methods of hunting. But, after they had been delayed in this village by the hunters and the anger mob. There orignal intentions had fluttered away like a gangly newborn bird first taking flight.

Smiling softly as she watched Letho prepare to leave, she nodded at him before murmuring "I wish you well Letho and I hope that Myhria improves....." Stepping aside so he could pass she murmurs "Call on me if you ever need anything...."

She then listened to the door slam soundly behind him. Sighing as she shouldered her own pack, she studied the old ancient manor. It had a flair to it, like it was waiting for its owners to come back. Sighing as she turned to exit the manor, she frowned. Dropping her pack to the ground she moved quickly to the unmade bed. With fluid motions, she quickly made it again, before throwing the dusty white cloth back over it. Moving swiftly over the room, she put it back to the way it had been when she and Letho had first entered.

Smiling was her handiwork was complete, she surveyed the room. It looked as if no one had crossed through it in many years. Content that neither she nor Letho would be found if the mob or hunters chose to search here, she moved over to where her pack had landed with a dull THUD. Shouldering it again, she softly clicked the door closed, moving across the prettily furnished hall, she soon had exited the manor. Before entering out into the sunshine, she pulled on her cloak. While she as now immune to sunlight thanks to the bonding between she and Letho, it still at times bothered her immensely. Thankfully though, the sun was no longer able to strike her to dust with one direct rays.

Turning around she took one last look at the mansion where she and Letho had took shelter. What happened there would be in her memory, but she knew deep in her heart it probably wouldn't happen again. She had seen the shreds of regret in Letho's eyes and knew that the burly warrior would try to truer now to the woman that he loved. Smilng as she turned to exit into the soft green woods she murmurs "Good luck Letho, and be safe and well...." She then moved into the soft leaves, her boots not making tracks as she disappeared. For now she would move on ward and try to figure out all that she could about her father. While she had her companions she still had one thing that she could not forgot, she had to solve her family problems and she knew that the only way to do that was to take care of her father and avenge her mother's death.

[Witchblade]

Story

Continuity: - 7 The basic premise of the whole quest was given to the reader within Letho’s first post, a very well written and descriptive post that caught the reader’s eye. My only issue with it was for some reason I thought it was lacking emotion even though the words for the emotion were written in. The whole story was interesting however the sex and lust aspect of it grew tiring on the reader and I shall explain more about that below. I would have liked to see this quest go on for a longer period of time, it felt too short to me and I would have liked to see more depth and perhaps a few more interesting things happen. After all, Letho never does end up learning how to hunt though for obvious reasons he wants to be away from Sivienna.

Setting: - 7 The setting was overall described rather well by both of you, more detailed descriptions coming from Letho. There was also a lot of use of the surroundings in the battle with the vampire hunters by Letho but little to none with Sivi. Besides the good use of setting there was one thing I noticed, at one point during the quest Letho described the moon as being a sliver of a coin and then as round as a coin later on, try to keep stuff like that straight. And, holy crap, that poor owl! What did he ever do to you!?

Pacing: - 5 The pacing was all right. As I mentioned before the quest seemed a little too short and random unimportant things like a battle with a bunch of vampire hunters happened. Then there is of course the ‘tense’ lust that’s just tearing the two characters apart. The reader gets it, it’s there, and you don’t need to constantly remind them every single post. By doing that you take away the tense feelings surrounding the characters and by the time they finally have sex the reader is just glad it’s actually over with so the story can move on.

Character

Dialogue: - 5 The dialogue between the characters themselves wasn’t the best, however it was the NPC dialogue from Sivi that really threw me off. Right in the middle of a battle for supremacy between two female characters you’re breaking off into long-winded speeches to see who can call their opponent a whore more times than the other. Not to mention, that blonde chick’s entire reason for fighting Sivi was ‘Oh, you killed my poor boyfriend’s brother, so die.’ NPC’s need more life than that. Think of an NPC as a real character instead of just a faceless blob in your storyline, which should help give them more personality.

Action: - 5 The action during the battle didn’t flow right. Sivi stops fighting the female hunter for about thirty seconds to summon her wolves and while doing this she’s completely unguarded. Letho has to come up and throw a piece of wood at some guys to keep them from killing her and even then I’m sure they would have had enough time to shoot her before he could do that. Then there were a few points outside of battle where character actions didn’t correspond with the posts. In Letho’s post he walks over and very lightly kisses Sivienna, then pushes her away and storms out of the room. In Sivi’s reply, she makes no mention of this kiss that he gave her and you think she would, considering how much she wants Letho; instead she’s off putting away her bandages. Try to keep character actions straight from post to post otherwise you’re going to confuse the reader and throw them out of the moment.

Persona: - 6 The personality of the characters came out well throughout the quest, especially Letho warring with himself over whether or not to sleep with Sivi and his eventual grief after the deed is done. Sivi herself has an interesting personality especially when it comes to sleeping with Letho, not wishing to poison his relationship with Myrhia. The NPC’s had little to no life in them and I believe neither of you bothered to give them more personality because they didn’t matter in the grand scheme of the quest. Their appearance would have been much more interesting if Letho and Sivi had actually been hunted by them instead of managing to escape into an abandoned mansion that for some reason no one bothered checking. The mob is understandable, but you’d think experienced vampire hunters would think of looking in there.

Writing Style

Mechanics: - 7 There were the usual things that one notices when reading a quest, small grammatical mistakes and small spelling mistakes. I’m only mentioning a few here because they were repeatedly done throughout the quest, Sivi, you continuously said ‘begin’ while writing in the third, past tense, you need to use ‘began’ instead. You also wrote vampric instead of vampiric a few times. I’m not sure if that was on purpose or by accident.

Technique: - 8 There was some nice imagery used throughout the quest, especially the dying willow tree outside of Letho’s house. I’m pretty sure you were using that to symbolize the same situation Letho and Myrhia were in. Onomatopoeia was used quite a bit as well, and if you’re wondering what that is it’s the use of a word in which the meaning is suggested by the sound. Then there was this line where you called Sivienna honey and Letho’s eyes restless bees. I get the meaning behind it however it sounds silly and it takes the reader out of the moment to actually picture Letho’s eyes as bees, humorous by the way, which I’m sure is not as you meant it to be.

Clarity: - 6 Writing wise, the quest was clear and precise, except for a few moments during the battle with the vampire hunters. Action wise there were a few things done throughout the quest that didn’t seem to make very much sense, both NPC and PC action.

Wild Card: - 6 It was an over all interesting read but I really think you two could have done so much more with this.

Total: 62

Reward:

Letho receives 2,700 experience and 300 GP!

Nightsangel receives 1,500 experience and 300 GP!

[Cyrus the virus]

EXP added. Letho actually levelled up a little while ago, sorry I missed it =/