Spirits of the Earth

Tags @wandering_giraffe !

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"I hate the Kilanthro's," the one man said, stuffing his mouth full of pan friend potatoes. "And the North. You know what the norther's problem is?" he went on, picking up his knife and beginning to cut into his third layer of steak.

Two men sat at a table, the inn was quite small- with a quaint tavern on the main floor. It was a very unassuming building, with very unassuming people within. Most of the patrons were Connlaothian or norther travelers, so the pair at this table stuck out like a sour thumb.

On one side of the table, a man with a colorful wool, fur lined jacket was stuffing his face- plate after plate- of food. And he kept talking- even when his mouth was full.

"They live in the North!" he answered his own question, giving an obnoxious bark of a laugh- one that just kept on going. He shook his head, the dark brown hair of his had unique streaks of turquoise colored throughout, a color easily emphasized by the garrishness of his jacket.
He continued to chew, smiling, then swallowed, eyeing the man and his plate.

"You ain't gonna eat, Opus?" The man grinned again, his cheeks dimpling.

The other man was much less animated, and sat as a tall and imposing figure with the hearth burning at his back. This only amplified his seemingly gargantuan height- for a seven foot tall man was almost unheard of in the North. No... that stock was more typical of the deeper south- to the desert palaces of Essyrn.

He was cutting at his steak carefully, with neat cuts, rows and lines before he paused to look over at his companion. His companion that was still chewing and smiling with his mouth open as he leaned over his plate, and plopped another piece of extra rare steak into his mouth in just such a way he could see his canines.

"I apologize for not being a heathen," he remarked simply, and took a bite of his food.

The more colorful man shuffled in his seat, laughing, which seemed to spit out some of his food.

"Well, most vampires are," the man pressed, leaning back into his chair as he finished chewing his wad of steak and started to lick at the juice and blood from his fingers as his turquoise eyes studied the room.

"Why do people even bother living up here? Although I suppose you can't go much further or they'd freeze to death.." he snorted, laughing and shook his head, hunching back over his steak and working at cutting another furious few pieces. He stuffed those pieces into his mouth, chewing, then glanced up at Opus. Despite his jests, the other man wasn't eating much. It wasn't like him to just pick at his food.

"Something on your mind?" the other asked, mouth still slapping with steak.

Opus paused, eyes still on his steak before speaking quietly.

"We had been followed."

The colorful fellow turned to regard the room, chewing loudly before glancing back at Opus, one arm lounging on the back of his own chair in a casual fashion.

"Seriously? They're dedicated enough to come all the way here?" He eyed the room, shaking his head again and went back to cutting up the remaining bits of his steak. "Good thing you brought me along. I can handle it."

"Just be sure to be discrete. I know how... colorful you Saranthians can be," The taller man went on, moving to cut back at his steak.

"You sure they're after you? The men over there kind of look homely," the other criticized, narrowing his eyes at them as he chewed, loudly.

"Don't play the fool card. I saw you observing them since we left Kartell." Opus paused, steak cut still at the end of his fork. "Dao... do as you must. I trust you'll continue to oblige the contract."

Dao popped the last piece of steak into his mouth and licked at his fingers again, nodding animatedly before giving a sniff. He then turned around in his chair, chewing on that last bit of his steak and staring directly at the men in the corner.

"Dao.." Opus pressed.

Dao's face blossomed into man lines of dimples as a smile consumed his face.

"Don't worry Opus." He moved to stand, pushing in his chair as he unbuttoned his coat. "Consider our contract obliged."


Moments later, people (well the few that were outside in the cold streets of Hathorath) were gasping and scurrying away- as a man in a fancy red suit stood outside- tossing unconscious bodies onto the rooves of houses and stables as if they were Ansgar's Day decorations. He hefted one up onto a nearby porch roof, which was slanted dramatically- the body sliding down and half dangling off the side.

He dusted his hands off before planting them on his hips to admire his work.
And the town was nearly empty. He laughed- a strange, jackal of a laugh before turning and nearly tripping over the last unconscious body beside him.
"Woah- sorry, almost didn't see you there," he told the man, giving his form a kick as he grinned. Then he hefted him up onto his shoulder and looked around.

"Now where to put you... hrmm.."
As his eyes scanned the area he saw the perfect spot,- the moving blades of a wind mill.
"Ah, perfect. Perfect spot, Dao," he complimented himself, doing that same, odd, jackal of a laugh as he sauntered forward quite merrily  and approached the moving blades.

He just had to time it right to get the fellow onto it. So he waited.. counted...
and threw the man.

He missed.
The body fell to the cold floor. Too bad it wasn't cold enough to snow.
Dao plante dhis hands on his hips, shaking his head at his mistake.

"Not sure how I missed that one.. well.. better try again, eh?" and he hefted the man up again, took a few steps back, regarding the wind mills blades. He shifted the man so he hung off his arm, sizing things up between his hands before-
He gave it another go.


And missed.

He stared at the crumpled body, pouting.

"Well, damn." And he stood there, tapping his foot and thinking over these calculations again, not seeming to notice nor care if he was seen by more or less anyone walking into town.

Bah- who would be walking into this town. It was too damn cold.

Cold.. right...
he left his jacket inside...
Should he go and fetch it?

Ayra muttered as she walked into town. "Stupid traders, ruining this beautiful village." She sent a glare towards a child who was curiously watching her from a house window

The child ducked until Ayra let her gaze wander elsewhere. Ayra was not in a good mood today. She had her double sword swung carelessly behind her back, and her two daggers dangling off of holsters in the front. Her short silver fur cape sparkled in the sunlight. Her outfit was rather plain, but normal to that region, her short sleeved brown shirt accentuated by a plain silver chain inlaid with jade. Her arms were tattooed with runic symbols, and one arm bore a leather gauntlet. Her unruly brown hair was carelessly swept back in a ponytail. She had almost reached the tavern when she noticed bodies everywhere, on the rooves, on stables. Her eyes grew wide.
"By the great god Kaos..."
Then she shrugged.
"gods I need a drink." She shook her head.
 As she passed one unconscious man she discreetly bent down and grabbed his wallet; thinking and praying that no one had seen her. She took a coin out of the wallet and chucked it at the unconscious man.
"Thank you for your donation." She turned around and walked into the tavern, oblivious to the man outside that had been trying to throw a body onto a windmill.

"Yakos! The usual!"
She said as she stood at the bar. Scanning the tavern for any suspicious people as she did every day, she didn't miss the strangely tall man sitting at a table.
"You're a foot too tall for this region," she said to herself and snickered. Yakos came out with a pint of vodka and slid it to her. She flipped him a coin and set her attention back on the man over by the hearth. He looked rather uncomfortable and out of place here, she thought to herself. She turned around and popped the cork off of the bottle of vodka and casually leaned against the bar.

What she considered uncomfortable was more or less Opus trying to swallow his irritation. If Dao wasn't so good at what he did, he wouldn't have bothered to bring the damn vampire with him. So with a sigh, he pushed back his finished meal and leaned back casually in his chair, a fist propped beneath his chin as he stared off contemplatively. 

His large, strong feature cast against the dancing orange blaze of the fire truly made the man stand out- he was almost statuesque- tall, dark and handsome, with a rugged look (he was overdue for a shave..) and rested soft, leather boots onto the table before him.

That's when he turned an eye towards the woman who had entered, fingers lightly drumming on the table. But he said nothing. Only stared, something moving between the fingers of his hand upon the table.

Ayra finished the pint of vodka, slamming it down on the bar. She thought she felt eyes on her so she discreetly looked. Nothing. She shrugged and went back to her thoughts.
She felt it again. She shrugged it off and gripped the bottle, wondering what kind of vodka the Yakos had given her. In the distance, she kept hearing a thud. It would be silent, and then she'd hear it again.
"What is going on outside", she wondered. Her irritation only grew. Between the thud outside and the feeling of someone watching her that she couldn't shake, she was growing more irritated, even angry. She snuck one more glance behind and caught the tall man looking in her direction.
That was it. She snarled and threw the empty vodka bottle in his direction.

And the tall man simply caught it, unmoving, or if he had moved, it was too fast to comprehend. But he still sat there, eyes glittering with amusement as the fire's continued to dance behind him.

Her eyes widened when he caught it. "No," she thought to herself. She pushed up off the bar and unsheathed her dagger, at the same time grabbing a bottle of rum some poor trader was drinking, throwing it at him. She rushed at him, drawing her second dagger as well, eyes glinting with rage, ready to take down this second rate human.

Things escalated rather quickly, the second bottle simply sailing past the man's head, as he casually leaned to one side and let it crashed into the fire. A small explosion flared out from the hearth and the man simply stepped out from his chair, stepped into then through the sudden flare of fire, and to the other side of it for safety.

It singed some of his clothing, which he casually brushed away- and stood to rise, still unarmed, but his tall build was hunched down, menacing. He held.. something in his hand, but his eyes did not once leave the form of the woman who was dancing with daggers across from him.

And then the door kicked open- a blast of cold air and daylight flooding the place as the colorful man from earlier stepped inside.

"Hey boss, mind helping me for a moment? I can't seem to get this man's body up onto the windmill blade."

She stopped as the door swung open, and brisk snappy air blew in. A much shorter man (compared to his tall accomplice) walked in, dragging an unconscious body. Her eyes flicked from one to the other. She snickered. "Well aren't you two a pair?" She settled into a fighting stance. "Hell, I'll take both of y'all on!"

Dao stood in the doorway, the unconscious man over his shoulder, as he blinked over at the woman- and noticed the stance of his boss...
But really the sudden outburst of the woman...

He couldn't help it. It started off as a rumble in his belly before soon it was coming out in full blast as he laughed and laughed and simply laughed as he stood there in the door way. He adjusted the weight of the unconscious (maybe dead) man over his shoulder and pointed in the woman's direction. 

"That's cute." He ignored her, stepping inside and turning to his boss. He cocked his head to one side, sighing and gesturing to the body still limp and.. very battered, hanging like a sack of potatoes off his shoulder.

"I've been trying to get this man onto the Windmill blade but I can't get the timing right. You're good with math, you can help me fix the calculations and then I can give the man a throw..."

Opus just glared a Dao before shifting his eye to the woman. He was still unarmed- and apparently, so was Dao- and while he was in a defensive posture, Dao was strolling up to the table that barely separated the dagger carrying woman from Opus. But Dao's eyes were on something else... he noted Opus's plate-

that he picked up suddenly and tsked. He wagged a finger and picked up the remaining cut of meat.

"You didn't finish your steak."

Arya marched over to Dao and grabbed the unconscious man by his shirt collar. "So that's what that noise was." She turned around, strode outside and chucked the body onto the windmill. She turned around and sent a glare Dao's way. "We were in the middle of something. And by the way you were off by like an inch." 

Dao blinked as the woman snatched the possible-corpse from his shoulder and... just tossed the thing onto the windmill blade as it dipped low and passed. He whistled appreciatively, hands to his hips and watched as the man went round and around.

He then let his grin light up his whole face as he stared at her.

"I knew it could be done!" he laughed, laughter echoing across the valley while Opus slowly returned to his seat. He wasn't sure what the woman's problem was, but he kept himself.. 'armed' just incase she decided to have another tantrum. He wouldn't put it pass any of the locals to be.. slightly insane... not unlike his companion, who... he watched through a bored expression as he leaned against the table. Dao... was....

Well, he did decide to drag him along. What else was he expecting?

Dao gestured towards the woman. "You throw bodies alot? Maybe you can give me a few pointers. I'm not necessarily good at moving targets," he went on, smiling broadly.

And behind them- the other men who were decorating the town began to wake up, groaning as they found themselves in... very precarious situations. This.. Dao thought- was absolutely hilarious and he began to just laugh.. and he did so.. very, very loudly.

Ayra watched the man laughing. A slight, so small that you could barely see it, smile grew on her face. (Now this man is funny) she thought to herself. Her anger, which had mostly fizzled away by now, was replaced with a slight wonder at the seemingly insane but likable man.
She walked up to him and slapped him on the back. Her smile had spread to her eyes. "Come on, I'll buy you a drink."

At the offer, he tossed his head back and laughed some more.
"Don't you think I ought to buy you a drink?" he questioned, following after, grinning like an idiot. He didn't seem to notice (or pay much attention) to his boss, who went back to quietly relaxing by the fire. But his eyes were still on the woman.

"It took me twenty minutes to fail at that task you only succeeded at once," he went on, holding up one finger for emphasis. He looked her in the eyes, his smile tugging leftward on his cheeks. "So what you say.. why don't I buy you dinner and a drink?" he offered again, leaning against the bar and oh so suavely, pulling out a sack of gold and dumping a few coins onto the table. His eyes never left the woman's.

And he was still grinning- eyes alit with unsung laughter.

She glanced at the bag of gold and smiled. "You can buy the meal, but I insist on buying the drinks." She dug around in her satchel and tossed 5 coins on the counter. "Yakos!" Looking at the still laughing man, she realized she didn't even know his name. "My name is Ayra, by the way." Yakos was standing there, looking at her expectantly. "I'll have another pint of vodka please. And whatever he wants as well." She gestured toward him. Ayra gestured to the brooding man sitting by the fireplace. "Put his drinks on my tab too." She smiled. "You gotta show me how you threw that many men all over the place"

When the bar tender looked to the saranthian, Dao simply laughed and said ,"I'll just take the rest of the bottle!"

The man looked to Ayra for confirmation as Dao pulled out a stool for her to sit upon.

"Throwing men? That's easy! On account of me being a vampire."
And he laughed again, although this time, if she were to actually study the man closely, she might be able to just see those elongated teeth.

"It gives me extra strength.  Kind of cheating.. really," he went on, humbly. "You ever meet a vampire before? We can do pretty cool stuff." And he flashed her the most boyish, toothy of grins, fangs and all.

Ayra was up and away from the grinning man in what looked like seconds, even though to her it felt like hours. Her dagger was unsheathed again, only something was happening as her mind began to process what her body understood immediately. Chills were running up her spine, her pupils dilated, her pulse quickened. Her breathing was growing uneven. In her mind, a flash of white. Time seemed to stand still...

6 years ago...
The young teen looked to be on death's door. It was raining hard in Draconi forest. The teen collapsed at a small but beautiful log cabin in the woods. His quiet cry for help went unheard of in the night. Or so he thought as he lost consciousness. He woke up on a couch in a dimly lit room. A girl, who looked to be 14 or 15, saw that he was awake and ran to go get her mother. "Mom, mom! He's awake!" The mother smiled. "Ok Ayra, thanks for telling me. Why don't you go to the well outside and draw him up some water?" The young girl nods, and goes outside to the well. The mom walks into the living room to tend to the young boy, but the couch is empty. She looks around, confused. She doesn't even see the teen boy lunge at her, pointed teeth bared, brutally ripping her throat out. She didn't even have time to scream. Her life is over in an instant. The dad is killed in his bed, never even waking up. The young girl hears the mom drop to the floor and rushes inside. Her mother is laying on the floor, her throat and face barely recognizable, covered in blood. The girl, shaking, falls to her knees and screams; a loud, broken, scream.

Back to present...

Ayra is on the ground, shaking, the flashback too brutal for her as she begins to hyperventilate. She can't seem to catch a breath, her dagger on the floor beside her.

Dao's face fell. Well? The daggers.. predictable. But he couldn't say he'd ever seen someone react like that.

Opus sat quiet at his table, head titled in mild interest as Dao swooped down and scooped the woman up in her arms. He carried her over to the hearth, snatching water up from the table then.. unceremoniously dumping it onto her face. That'd what you did when someone was in shock right? Pour water over their head?

"Ayra.. ! Ayra!"

Was it something he said? Or.. was the drink.. drugged!? He cradled her still, carrying her with weightless ease.

"Arya? You okay?"

What if it was poison!?

Even through the panicked fog Ayra was in, the water managed to shatter it. Her breathing slowly began to slow down, and her eyes slowly came into focus. Everything was blurry, she was trying to remember what happened. The flashback, her dropping to the floor, the vampire picking her up...wait. The vampire picking her up. A vampire...is holding her. She quickly reminded herself that she's not dead yet. "Stay calm," she thought to herself. She tried to control her breathing. And then she looked up at him. "Oh wow, you're even cuter up close", she said. Then she gasped. "Oh I did not just say that out loud," she mentally facepalmed.

Dao's lips tugged leftward into a grin, cheeks dumpling.

"You don't look bad yourself.. even wet," he countered with a laugh. To be fair.. some women looked like drown rats. But she..? Well, he took his good old time admiring her for what she was.

"Can't say it's everyday a woman almost passes out because of how good I look."

He grinned again, it blossoming broadly.

"I suppose it can't be helped I'm sexy. Although.. maybe more women should pass out over me." He laughed.  "Maybe I need to up the sex factor.. give me a minute." He plopped her down before the hearth and grabbed the pitcher of water then .. preceded to tear open the front of his shirt, buttons scattering to the floor as he puffed out his well toned chest and abs like a peacock.. then proceeded to dump the remaining pitcher of water onto himself, it falling like a dancing orange waterfall in the hearth's glow.

Now he sat there, his perfect body exposed... The waters upon him danced as they glistened by the fire's light.. accentuating the 'sex factor' the man just spoke about. He gave a jerk of his chin to remove the locks of curled, dark locks of hair from his eyes and just let them smolder as he eyed her like prey.

"There.. that's much better.. right?" He said, raking a hand through his wild, tosseled locks. 

Ayra was really trying to look everywhere but at the vampire. Her eyes took a quick glance at the tall man, who sat, expression unreadable, watching. Her internal thoughts were very conflicting. "He's a vampire!" "But he's really attractive." "But he's a VAMPIRE!" She glanced up at the vampire's eyes; quickly averting them when she saw him gazing at her. The tavern was empty by now. Her mind began to race. "Isn't this what vampires do? They seduce, and then they strike." She didn't even realize she was talking out loud by now.

Dao just well.. did what Dao did. He laughed.

But his employer had other thoughts on the matter as he picked himself up from the table before stopping right beside the half dressed man. He then dropped a heavy coin pouch onto Dao's groin.

"I believe this is enough for your services rendered. I'll contact you when I'll need you again." And dismissively headed towards the back staircase. As amusing as this was.. Opus had work to do.

Dao.. on the other hand.. made it very clear that vampires were still affected by.. certain mortal elements, as he was keeled over, clutching his 'pouch'.

Ayra tried reallly hard not to laugh at the poor vampire, shirtless, keeled over in pain. But she did grab an empty bottle and throw it at the back of the tall man's head as he left the room. She finally burst out laughing and knelt down beside the poor man. "Are-are you ok?" She tried to say while laughing. She was completely relaxed now, her guard gone. She looked over to the empty bar. "You still haven't got your dinner yet."

The bottle toppled uselessly to the floor. Strange how that was. And Opus Dey disappeared into a room upstairs.

Dao sat there a moment, shaking... trembling.. before he too, tossed his head back in a laugh.  It seemed infectious. All this man did was laugh But then he paused with his head tossed back, and looked at her upside down, and allowed his fangs to show as he grinned broader.

"Is that an invitation to your room?"

Unconsciously, she blushed, laughing, looking down at the attractive man. "Lead the way."

He sat up a little straighter, rolling back his wet sleeves and turning to regard her as he cocked his head, much like a dog. What was left of his shirt was drenched and useless, hanging off his arms. He was clumsily slipping it off.

Then he laughed leaning in closer to the woman.
"That's scandalous of you to presume I already know where the lady's room is..." he flirted, all smiles and all charms.

She glanced around, they were all alone. Her heart felt like it was going a million miles an hour. Ayra leaned closer. "Was my presumption right?" She asked.

His eyes danced devilishly and before she'd know it, she'd be scooped up into his arms. He began to carry her off towards the staircase.

"Did you already forget I'm a vampire?" he flirted, carrying her up those stairs with ease. Heightened senses were one thing he did enjoy as a vampire- if he had to enjoy anything at all. ANd he leaned in real close.. then sniffed her, not unlike that of a dog. He paused at the top of the staircase and paused.. realizing... then barked out a laugh.

"You.. don't have a room here, do you?" At least.. not one she had frequented recently- he sniffed again. He looked down at her and tutted.
"Guess I'll have to take you out in this hall."
She didn't have a chance to even consider if he was joking, because that's exactly what he did- pressing her up against the wall with a sudden, passionate force, as he took one o fher hand and pinned it beneath one of his own above her head.

He bared his teeth, fangs and all.

"You're not terribly shy.. are you?"

Ayra's heart was racing, but not from fear. She breathlessly looked up at the vampire who had her pinned against the wall. His question resounded in her head: "You're not terribly shy are you?"
"Not with you," she smiled.

And something seemed to happen. While Dao was all laughs and grins, something stirred.. a simple memory.. a spark of happinesss...

And at her words.. he actually seemed to smile.

 Something radiant and untempered filled his eyes before he breathlessly smashed his body into hers as they met in a feral kiss against the wall. His hands pinned her's to the wall tightly above them, the other supporting her frame as he growled and felt his fangs elongate, kissing her ferociously and slipping in his tongue.

How long had he felt the hot zing of a kiss? A wild embrace?

But it wasn't just that. It was the way she said it that turned something on.

"Not with you."

Those three little words broke a damn inside him he stored so deeply within. The emotions rushed out in a fury. He was practically trying to make love to her through her clothes as finger nails and claws tried to rip them off while keeping her supported.

"Not with you."

Jada.. the love of his life used to tell him that when he'd kiss her and they'd lose themselves. Each one.. a moment of heaven. A forgotten piece of devoted time.

But that was how many years ago? And she'd refuse him, had refused him now.. yet he still begged and wished to be with her without restrain.

'You're an animal!"

He huffed, hands still wildly exploring this new woman, searching.. wanting to find that thing he'd lost..

Love.

'You're a monster. Stay away from me! Don't you dare touch me!'

Each of those memories was like a slap to the face, and he fought it down, between the heat and the need-

'Jada.. I'm sorry.. I'm...' a door clicked closed in that memory. And all he could think of was... I love you.

He jerked away suddenly, as if he had just been slapped. His face had just been plastered against her body, almost all of their clothing hanging off.

And then he moved away suddenly, as if startled, frightened and alarmed.

What.. why was he thinking of Jada now.

He turned on his heel, releasing a long heated breath as he raked a hand through a tangle of his dark hair.

"S.. sorry, love. It.. we're kinda being a bit inappropriate. "  the laugh came, the one he did after almost any sentence. But something felt.. hollow.. forced of it. 

He composed himself before finally turning towards the woman he had plastered against the wall.

"I.. could see if Opus wants a bang," he suggested, affording her an embarrassed and apologetic grin.

She tried to get her composure together. It took a minute. She looked concernedly at the once shaken vampire. Ayra gestured towards the stairs. "I-I can leave you alone if you'd like." She quietly offered. She was trying to blink back tears. She slowly took a step backwards. Her mind was confused and concerned. "Opus...? Is that the man you were with?" She was slowly starting to put the pieces together. Ayra muttered, "one of the biggest crime lords there is." Damn it, she had left her weapons downstairs. And she was up in a hallway, alone, with an unstable vampire.

He shrugged, trying not to notice her tears.
And the fact he accidently gave away his boss's identity. Whoops.

He scratched at the back of his head, shrugging, the bubbling laughter returning, although softer.

"He's pretty good with women if you're still all pent up. He hasn't taken a whore all week. Bet he could sate you pretty good." The smile returned, he fixing his soaked t-shirt that still clung against his damp form.

Unbeknownst to Dao, hate was filling her body. Not because of the missed opportunity—but because of the mention of that name. He was quite notorious but normally managed to keep a low profile—until now. The money she could get if she managed to capture him, or gods above—kill him! She decided to play the part he was expecting...for now. She wiped away her tears, and a malicious smile began to show. "Then take me to him," she said.

Dao grinned wider. It was so much easier to play it off when he didn't care.

"Guess you are an ornery one." His barking laugh came again.  "Then allowed me to serve you, my lady." He turned on heel to Opus' room and knocked.
 
When he announced who it was, Opus grunted but said, "Come in."

Dao nodded curtly at the door.
"He rarely turns down a good  snogging." Dao winked , moving away for her to enter.

Opus only lazily had an idea of what Dao might be up to, but he had work to be done- penning off instructions with his enchanted pen which.. when paired with its magical parchment, it would send to its recipient once dried, disappearing from this parchment to reappear on the other. He honestly didn't have time to entertain the vampire. Atleast the damn fool was loyal. 

The only payment for his indefinite services was to keep Jada Rein safe. That was too easy, but it did gain him a rare resource. Despite his oddities, Dao was blindly devout. As long as Opus kept up his part of the bargain. 

That anger in Ayra had heated up to a boil. She was desperately trying to keep cool; and was trying to play it up to nervousness in meeting Opus face-to-face. By the time she had made it to Opus's room, she was seeing red. She couldn't believe that the two men she had been talking with—-one of whom was a feared crime boss—-were so casual about everything. Sure, Opus stood out, but she didn't suspect him to be a crime boss! When Dao opened the door for her, it took all her self-control to walk calmly into that room. Her original plan had been to try to take Opus hostage, but with the vampire there, it was just too stupid to try. So then Arya decided on something else. Something probably just as stupid. But just as they say love is blind, rage blinds common sense. Even though she had no weapon, she rushed at him, eyes blazing, a feral yell coming out of her, and thunderclouds forming in the sky outside.

He didn't have time to entertain the vampire, he certainly had no patience for the girl. So he did what any good rich man with toys would do, he commanded a magical chain to go after her. 

Like a snake, the enchanted chains came to life, curling up from where they lay in a pile on the floor,  into the air and coiling up over and around the girl before cinching closed, binding her beneath its power. 

If the chains were successful, and often times they were, they would keep the woman bound and hold her, floating just above the ground.

Ayra screamed in rage when she suddenly found herself unable to move, and suspended in the air. She pulled on the chains, but they wouldn't budge. She struggled with the chains for a good 5 minutes. Finally she just stopped, unmoving, but hate still burning in her eyes. Thunder boomed in the distance. "You can lock me in these chains," she seethed; "But I will never stop fighting until you're dead!" The other option was just to break her spirit. Not once did she look back at Dao, her anger for now, was directed at Opus.

Before Dao could speak , the door was slammed shut, some trick or magic from the crime Lord as he rose from his chair, towering over the floating girl. 

Hard eyes bore into hers as he studied the hate in her eyes.

"Who did I kill?" He didn't ask, he commanded; eyes hard an unyielding. They were barely a foot apart.

Arya began to laugh. The laugh was maniacal, unhinged even. "Who did I kill?" "As if the Opus had never killed anybody. She was beginning to pull at the chains again, her eyes crazed. "It's been two years since you had my ex boyfriend killed! Two Years! But you probably don't even remember his name! So what's the point in saying his name? What's the point?" She was straining with all her might, but the chains wouldn't budge. Lightning struck a tree outside.

The sudden storm brewing outside the window wasn't lost on him. But the anger directed at him was. He was desensitized to her plight, killing too many to name- and even more so killed in his name.

He simply stared at her, almost disinterested before he turned away. He wasn't sorry for her loss, he was well past that lie. Killing.. it was just part of the business.  If you didn't want to kill or be killed.. it was pretty simple. Stay out.

Sure on occasion innocents might die.  But it was never personal. That was the problem. They always took it personal.

Likely her former lover got in too deep or was in the wrong crowd. That was life. He likely chose his fate. The girl.. however.. she chose to be stupid.

"I don't have time for this."
And the door opened again snd this time he commanded the chains to take her outside his door - the enchantment obeying and zipping her out of the room.

"Take back your refuse"

She would smash clean into Dao as the door closed- leaving the woman in chains.. and back in the arms of the vampire.

Despite all of her fake bravado, Arya genuinely was terrified right now. It's almost as if the past few recent occurrences had been a fever dream, and reality was sinking in. She was in chains, in the arms of a vampire, who normally she's terrified of. And that terror is starting to become real now. The fight within her is rapidly dwindling, and is being replaced with unbridled terror. She breaks down into tears, and as she does, it begins to pour down rain outside.

Dao looked towards the nearby window, muttering, "Weather is as temperamental as this girl."

But he had a weakness for crying girls and found himself sighing. She was still in chains... was Opus just gonna leave her this way?

"You know.. killing that man is a silly idea."

Noticing he wasn't going to hurt her for the time being, she calmed down slightly. "I know that now." She scoffed. "But it didn't hurt to try." She sighed. "So what happens now you get me out of these chains and we both go our merry ways?" She desperately wanted to dry her eyes but she couldn't. "You know, someone needs to take down Opus." She had a strange glint in her eye, unreadable. She groaned. "Damn these chains are really tight. Could you at least loosen them?"

He walked with her as they talked, before he approached a room down the way. She was now over his back like a sack of potatoes. The door clicked open.

"Can't loosen them. They're bound by magic. " he chuckled a little. "I personally know they suck."  Stepping into the room, he shifted back to holding her bridal style.

"Now I gotta figure out what to do with ya." And before she could protest, he dropped her onto the bed.

Arya grumbled and shot him a glare. "You mean there's no way to get these chains off?" She uncomfortably shifted around. "Well what am I supposed to do?! Surely there's got to be a way to convince Opus to take the chains off." She sat in silence for a few minutes, thinking. She sighed. "This is a long shot, but you could pretend you wanted to...you know" she got flustered and averted her glance. She hastily finished her sentence. "Not for real just to fool him into taking the chains off." Arya looked at the vampire, hopeful. "All I know is if you're going to kill me make it quick." But her bravado faltered at that.

Dao cocked his head, staring. Then he tossed his head back and laughed and laughed. 

"I could ask the infamous Opus Dey to release the bonds of his wannabe killer.. or..  " he went on, snapping as he paced beside the bed. He paused, "or I could just sit here and watch you struggle. You know.. until the magics run out."

He turned to her and gave another ridiculous laugh.

Ayra sighed. Then she remembered the silver and jade necklace she was wearing. She didn't know if it was magical, but it wouldn't hurt to try it! Her eyes sparkled with mischievousness. She used all her body weight to shift on her side. The necklace was touching the chains...nothing. She muttered to herself. She decided to try breaking through the chains one more time. This time, the chains started to loosen. Internally she was praying the vampire wasn't paying attention.

He wasn't paying attention, the vampire wasn't paying attention in the least as he fussed over his fingernails- rambling about (and even laughing alittle at the audacity) that a vampire could get a hangnail.

Arya smirked to herself. She strained with everything in her. the chains seemed to grow tighter, almost as if they were alive, then they broke. The enchantment was gone. While the vampire was studying his hangnail, she grabbed a broken chain. Emitting a guttural yell, she tackled the vampire, pressing the chain against his neck. The sudden exertion had her breathing hard. Through rage-filled eyes, she glared at him. She laughed, a full, care-free laugh. "Now how to get your boss..? This is going to be fun."

Dao lay there, casually grinning. 
"Well, this is a kinky way to flirt. "

Ayra only pressed the chain harder. "I'm not joking." Then an idea popped into her head. Suddenly, she bolted out the door. Leaving the vampire behind. She ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time. She had to find her double sword that was downstairs.

Dao lay there a moment, blinking. 

"What .. did she just.."

Then he realized what she was up to.
So by the time she'd get to the end of the stairs, Dao was standing there, grinning.

"You know.. it's not fair to race against a vampire," he drawled.

Her eyes widened, as if she was seeing a ghost. "W-what? How did...but you..." she trailed off, absolutely dumbfounded. She looked at the vampire, then at the stairs, then back at the vampire. She sighed. "Alright, you've won. But I broke out of the chains." She decided to just try kinda walk by the vampire, and down the stairs. She was terrified.

He grinned, showing fangs.
"Do you did. " he eyed her. She was pretty flustered. Maybe he shouldn't have refused her against the wall...

But well.. maybe she shouldn't have refused Opus.

"What business do you have to want to kill Opus Dey?" He asked, genuinely interested, but in that casually eccentric way of.his.

She stopped at that question and turned and looked at him. "Two years ago, He killed my former boyfriend, who had just proposed to me a month earlier." She took a deep breath, trying to hold it together. "We were going to travel, see the world. Settle down in a cabin in the mountains. Occasionally hunt a dragon, if word got out that said dragon was terrorizing villages." Tears were filling her eyes. She sighed. "He genuinely wanted to make the world a better place. I scoffed when he first told me that. How could one person change the whole world. I told him it was pointless. But he never gave up on me. It just really hurts that he's not here with me to take on Opus. Killing Opus would bring closure to my failure of a life. I would...finally be happy." She was full on sobbing now, and she didn't even understand why she had just told the vampire all of that.

If he tried to be more perceptive, he could have guessed that- or even listened in to what she confessed to his boss. But he was, at times, a gentleman, though strange as he was. He figured privacy would be appreciated.

Death though.. that was nothing new for Opus. He knew Opus didn't kill wastefully.. yet, as he considered her story his smile slowly faded and he nodded , as if in condolences. He was leaning against the wall now, arms folded across his chest.

"So your boy made the wrong choice. Or was in the wrong place at the wrong time," he surmised, thoughtfully. 

He saw she was crying and frowned before walking over and kneeling beside her, offering over a silk kerchief. 

"Girls shouldn't be allowed to cry."

She took the silk kerchief and wiped her eyes. "Thank you. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told you all that." She leaned against the wall. "So, what now?" She looked at him. She wiped her eyes again with the handkerchief. She slightly laughed, more in her eyes than anything. "They're serving dinner downstairs if you'd like. You haven't eaten all day? I haven't either, I'm starved."

Dao shrugged at her apology. But then as she went on about food... he perked up.

He looked up at the ceiling, thoughtfully. 
"Let's see.. today I've only eaten seven- No-" He shook his head. "Seventeen rare steaks." He rubbed his chin contemplatively. "I suppose I could eat some more bloodied meat. " he flashed a fanged grin. "Better than the alternative." He winked.

Arya smiled. She shyly took Dao's hand and pulled him downstairs. "I'll make it for you!" Her smile faltered a bit. "That is, if you trust me..." she pulled out a chair and gestured to it. "Sit. I'll be right back!" Then she ran outside, grabbing one of her daggers from the ground as she ran. Dao must have been confused and alittle concerned. Or he just laughed and lounged in the chair, shaking his head at the weird girl. Not 10 minutes later, she came back in, struggling with half of a skinned deer. She chucked it on the table, where it landed, and almost broke the table in half. "Hopefully that's enough, I...I have more if you need it." She was awkwardly cradling her right arm, half covering half squeezing it. "I...I may have cut myself. Not a huge cut! But if it bothers you, I can leave." She said, awkwardly standing rather far from the table. She shyly glanced at the vampire. "I...I might need a bandage though."

Dao just grinned as she dragged him along. It was charming in its own way. She was moody, then excited- like a firework, or child. He couldn't say he fully understood her.  One second she hated and the next.. he nearly had her against the wall. 

It was.. interesting. And Dao liked interesting.

And apparently she was also surprising because the last thing he expected was a deer carcus on the table. He beamed, laughing, deeply..  thoroughly until.. the fresh blood of a human caught his nose and suddenly he reared back away from her like a hissing cat, stumbling from the table and cowering beside a wall.

She.. he felt his teeth grow and the feral hunger grip his body... she was bleeding.

Her eyes widened when she saw him stumble. "Are you ok?" She asked, and stepped closer, passing the table. "Do I need to try to get your boss?" She really was foolish. She turned and took a small chunk of deer meat from the table. Arya seemed to forget about the cut on her arm, she was worried about the vampire. She walked over to the vampire and offered the meat. "Maybe this would help."

He tensed when she neared, baring fangs and wild eyes.

"Your.. your arm.. its.. bleeding.." he grunted through restraint. Which was annoying. He had had 17 rare steaks that day...

But the innate desire to drink that bleed wasting away from her arm.. bubbling out freshly from within her...

"You.  You need to.. take care of it.. before I eat you.."

She realized what was going on. The blood from the cut on her arm was beginning to ooze out, which she did not notice until now. She hastily backed up, putting the table between her and the vampire. She quickly ripped a piece of her shirt and clumsily wrapped her arm. She winced as she wrapped it, it was a much deeper cut than she was expecting. "W-what can I do to help?" She asked. She was mentally running through options in her head. She shakily took a breath. "I don't even know the first thing about vampires. If you even think you could slightly control yourself, you could just feed off my arm...If that would help. Do I need to get Opus?" Arya didn't want the vampire near her while he was in this state, but she really did not want to have to face Opus again, but if she had to, she would. Arya had decided that it's not wise to even attempt to kill Opus right now.

It looked like Dao might spring at her... or vomit.  He turned away... shaking..

"I.. gotta go.." he stumbled towards the door, every aspect of his being screeching to go after the blood. "S.. sorry.." he had made his way to the door, pausing as he gripped it, straining against his urges. 

"We'll have to take a rain check on that date."

He gave her a wink, despite his shaking restraint, the vanished in a flash outside the door.

She concernedly watched him leave. Her double sword and other dagger were still laying where she had dropped them earlier. By now, the tavern was beginning to fill up; there were sounds of people laughing, some were arguing, and some just were quietly eating their food. She walked to the washroom down a hallway in the back of the tavern so she could clean up her wound. A wave of dizziness suddenly overcame her. Arya had to lean against the wall so she wouldn't fall over. She hadn't eaten anything; she hadn't drank anything...the chains. What kind of chains were those! She shook her head. She's overthinking it too much. She went back to the task at hand: cleaning her wound. As she unwrapped the wound, streaks of searing pain shot up her arm. She sucked in a breath. "Holy Shit that hurts! Dang that deerhorn did a number on my arm." Gingerly she tried to clean it as best as she could; washing all of the dried blood off her arm. Ripping off more of her shirt, she attempted to wrap it up as best as she could. Her wound had stopped bleeding by now. Leaving the washroom, she walked back through the hallway into the main part of the tavern. Another wave of dizziness came over her, more severe this time. She almost fell down; but managed to make it to a seat near the front of the tavern. She put her head in her hands. "What is happening," she muttered to herself. Even though the wound was clean and not bleeding anymore, her entire arm was throbbing. She looked around the tavern. She couldn't see the vampire anywhere. The dizziness was getting worse. The room felt like it was spinning all around her. Arya really was lost this time. She decided to take a risk. She stumbled outside. She was beginning to panic, and was trying to keep her cool. She looked around, trying to find the vampire. Then she saw him. Through the dizziness, she couldn't even tell what he was doing, but she was desperate. She almost fell over trying to make her way over to him. "Hey...dizziness...the chains...I don't know what's happening...I didn't know where to go...and that's as far as she got before she fell over.

By the time the woman had found the vampire, he had more or less.. taken care of himself. He had been returning to the tavern, so.imagine his surprise when the girl practically threw herself into him, ranting like a loon.

Or rather , threw herself onto the floor. He blinked, confused and prodding her with a foot.

"What are you going on about now?" He said, keeping his distance for although her wound was covered, he could smell that she was still healing. 

Arya tried to sit upright. The dizziness was coming and going in waves. "What kind of enchantment was on those chains?" She grimaced and rubbed her head. "By the way, I still don't know your name," she said, glancing up at the vampire. She got one knee and then paused for a second, letting the dizziness pass. Shakily, she got to her feet. She gestured toward the tavern. "I'm going to get the rest of my weapons I left in there"—-something on the wall caught her attention. It was a scroll, and it said: "Wanted: Arya. Reward is promised for information leading to arrest. Crime: Dragon Poaching."

Dao cocked his head to one side, watching the girl struggle before he tossed his head back in a laugh. And laughed and laughed and then moved towards her to offer out his hand.

"Dao'bachpa Barrocisto," he said, bowing curiously before taking her hand and gently kissing the back of it. Then he raises his head in a fanged smile. "But you can just call me Dao."

Funny how he answered one question and not the other. And he was completely oblivious with his back to the well.

Arya found herself unconsciously smiling at the charming vampire. She smiled, and did her own sweeping bow. "Nice to officially meet you." The smile was slowly spreading to her eyes. "Earlier you were saying how I should show you how to land bodies on the windmill blades. I could teach you a few pointers, if you still wanted me too of course." She glanced toward the tavern. "That is, if Opus doesn't need you for anything." She mischievously grinned. "Hell, maybe I could teach him too." She laughed and looked at Dao.

Dao raised an eyebrow, amused. 
"Shame I don't got anymore bodies for tossing," he said, but shrugged it off and studied the young woman.

"You sure you're alright?" He eyed her up, half of her clothing was torn up. And it looked like she had been fighting a fever. 

Arya couldn't believe it. He saw through her facade that easily? Damn. "I bet we could find some unsuspecting people somewhere." And she halfheartedly laughed. Arya shook her head. The dizziness was coming back. She didn't understand why the dizziness was  attacking in waves. She smiled, but it felt hollow. "I'm fine, really." Then she groaned and clutched her head.

Dao only smiled.
"It seems the chains had multiple enchantments," he mused. "Second line of defense," he explained. "You know.. if a captive is clever enough to escape."

Arya shot him a glare. "I'm not captive anymore. See? No chains."
She mumbled to herself. "Of course the chain would have multiple enchantments—-how could I be so stupid?" The dizziness was turning into a dull ache in her head. She was so tempted to just make a run for it and try to get home. Maybe this was all just a weird dream. She had completely forgotten about the wound on her arm. It had stopped bleeding, luckily. Or at least that's what she thought. It was hard to tell through the homemade bandage. She hoped it wasn't infected; that opened up a whole 'nother slew of problems. She realized she had been lost in thought. She turned her attention back to Dao. "Well, how do I get this cursed damn enchantment to go away?"

Dao simply looked at her, eyes twinkling mischievously.

"You ask Opus Dey politely."

Arya just blinked. It was almost as if her brain stopped working.
"Just ask him politely? Oh yes as if he'd say yes to the person that literally attempted to kill him." She shook her head. "Not on your life." Then a wave of dizziness hit her again, this time almost knocking her off her feet. She swayed alittle bit, then caught herself. Thinking about the options, she sighed. "Fine. I'll go ask him." She threw her hands in the air. "It will be totally fine!" Because of the dizziness, she leaned against a post connected to the tavern. Sheepishly, she looked at Dao. "You might have to take me up to him, because I don't remember where his room is. And I also don't want him to think I'm trying to kill him."

At her antics, he simply grinned. 
"My boss kicked you out. He pays me well enough to know better than to bring you back. "
Eyes sparkling with mischief, he finally added some more insight. 

"Opus Dey spends very good money on his magical tricks. Those side affects, assuming it came from the chains, could take anywhere from a few hours to wear off.. to a couple of days. However, Opus wouldn't likely waste that sort of magic on someone like you, so you could always just sleep it off!" He suggested cheerily.

Arya pondered her options. Dao had suggested "politely" asking Opus; and now he was suggesting just sleeping it off! A bed actually sounded really nice. She was tired, her arm was still hurting—well now the pain had intensified to a throbbing pain. Not to mention the annoying waves of dizziness.
"Yeah I'm just going to sleep it off." She decided to just go to her home, it was on the outskirts of town. And she could grab a change of clothes while she was at it. "Dao, could you help me get home, I don't think I could make it home by myself because of the dizziness.  She gestured down the main road. "It's down there, then you turn right onto the last street and it's on the end."

Before she could protest, he scooped her up, bridal style.

"You know.. for someone whose enemies with my boss, you sure ask his lackey for a lot of help." He laughed but continued to carry her, moving down the street. 

She couldn't even protest. She was half-expecting him to agree to escort her down the street, but wasn't expecting him to carry her!
"Hey, watch the arm, it still hurts!  And...thank you, for helping me."
(Well now that she thought about it, she's not that suprised.)
"Also I don't have a quarrel with you, so why should I make my life any more difficult?" She laughed. The pesky dizziness was still annoying her. She inwardly hoped that it was just a result of drinking way too much alcohol. Arya pointed out her house. It was small. Not falling apart but not a mansion either. She grumbled.
"I know it's not much, but it's all I can afford. The door is unlocked. Oh! And since your boss likes weird magical artifacts so much, maybe he'll like this one I found last week."

He continued to carry her up to the door, indifferent to what sort of house it was. He'd seen better ... And had certainly seen worse. 

But he paused at her last statement and raised a brow.

"I thought you hated Opus. Now you want to show him your toys?" That made him smirk before he asked her, gesturing at the door. 

"Is it locked?"

Arya shook her head.
"No it isn't locked."
"I do hate Opus. I don't know what most of these artifacts that I have do, but im sure some of them are cursed." She half-heartedly laughed.
"It was worth a shot. Anyways, once I get a little bit of rest, I was going to make dinner. I have no idea what vampires eat, if anything, besides raw meat, but I'm willing to make you something if you'd like.

He turned the nob and used his hip to open the door, stepping inside with the woman still in his arms. 

He titled his head at her question. 

"Vampires eat humans," he told her bluntly, then laughed. "You think I'm any different? We drink blood. "

She glared at him.
"I know that, I just wasn't sure if you could have anything else. I do have a small slab of raw meat near the fireplace, I forget what kind it is but you're welcome to it."
She sighed inwardly when he opened the door. Home sweet home. The fire in the small fireplace had died out, and there were a few embers quietly crackling still. The house was all one room. There was a loft alongside one side, where her bed and her weapons cache was. The kitchen was quite small, situated right next to the fireplace. In front of the fireplace were two wooden chairs, and a bear rug on the floor. There was a circular window in the loft, and a window on the left side of the door. On the coat rack by the right side of the door, there was a cloak made out of a peculiar, rather shiny substance, and then her fur coat as well.
"Thank you, for helping me get home." She said. Dang she needed her med kit.
"Would you mind getting my med kit from the loft? I think I have a poultice in there I could use for my arm. Don't worry, my arm isn't bleeding anymore."

Dao just smiled and let her talk.
"I can eat whatever I want. Will it sate my hunger is another question entirely. "

When she asked for his help in fetching her kit, he obliged, fetching it up quicker than most humans could before handing it over to her.

"Blood is blood. I can step outside if you get too smelly."

She nodded, and took the med kit from him. She dug around for the poultice, taking that out of the satchel. She quickly put the poultice on the wound and wrapped it up.
"That feels much better," she sighed. She went over to the mantle above the fireplace and grabbed a small vial and drank it.
"This is supposed to help with dizziness, I kinda forgot I had it."
She grabbed the small parcel of meat and gave it to Dao. She shrugged.
"Like I said, I don't know what kind of meat it is, got it from a trader. But you're welcome to it."
Arya went over to the loft and climbed up into it. She disappeared for a second, then poked her head out over the edge of the loft.
"I'll be just a second." She didn't even wait for his response and she had disappeared again. When she reappeared, she had changed her torn clothes to new ones. She had leather gauntlets on both wrists, a dark green hooded tunic, and a wide dark brown leather belt. Her pants were dark brown, and she put on leather boots with fur around the tops.
She threw a pillow over the edge of the loft, and then she threw a peculiar looking sword onto the pillow. Arya climbed down from the loft, feeling quite refreshed. She looked towards Dao. "Dont worry, I'm not using this sword on you." She picked it up and weighed it in her hands. It was a beautiful sword, with strange runes engraved into the blade and the blade having this iridescent look to it.
"While in Adela, I stumbled upon a dragon. I killed it and afterwards, this ancient looking man came up to me and spoke a ton of gibberish, thrust this sword at me, and ran. I don't know what he said but now I'm stuck with this stupid sword. Do you know what this sword says? I can't read a word of it."

Dao just watched her with idle interest, waving off the meat. He'd get some real blood later. But then she returned, refreshed, dressed and holding out a sword.

Dao raised an eyebrow at her.
"Not for me, huh? Opus then?" He accused with a playful grin.

But when she asked him of all people about the strange markings he actually laughed.

"Do I look like a scholar?" He pressed, giving her the 'did you really just ask me that' look. "They look like gibberish to me."

She mentally facepalmed.
"Ok let me rephrase. Do you know anybody that could read it? Not a lot has been happening in this town recently and I'm itching for some adventure, ya know?" She sat down in the chair by the fireplace, idly looking over the sword.
"This thing is lighter than most swords I've used. Wonder if it's charmed? Perhaps," she mused to herself.

"Charmed or cursed," came his reply. He shrugged. "I could likely track someone down to decipher if it's magical or not."

Now that he worked for Opus Dey, he had connections.

Then he considered her comment of being bored and mused,"Is that why you threw yourself at Opus Dey? Looking for excitement?"He asked with a toothy grin.

Arya grinned.
"That...and once I put the pieces together that he killed my boyfriend...I lost it." Her grin slowly faded and she got lost in thought. She shook herself out of it and forced a smile, looking at Dao.
"Well what say we find somone to decipher the runes?"

Dao went quiet. He could understand where her rage came from. If something were to happen to his own lover... well... ex-lover, Dao was certain he'd lose it on whoever was responsible.

That was the thing about Opus Dey. He was as good as his word. Jada had been protected ever since he had signed the contract. Becoming a bloodied knife for a well known criminal mastermind.... it was inconsequential to her safety. He wasn't even sure if he would have trusted himself had she not rejected him after his.. unfortunate transformation.

Then at her inquiry to him, he lifted a brow.
"I'm not sure many places are open at this hour.. but..." he went on, giving a thoughtful shrug.
"There might be one place on the other side of town..."

Her eyes lit up.
"We could go tonight, but if the place is closed already we can go in the morning." She jumped up and climbed up the loft, grabbing a piece of leather and then jumping down. She grinned.
"Thought it would be wise to wrap the sword up, so we don't draw attention to it." She quickly wrapped the sword up.
"You ready?" she went over to the door and opened it, and a cold blast of wind blew in. Arya shivered. "Holy gods it got cold! She looked at Dao, and then grabbed the fur cape off the coat hook and threw it at him.
"You'll probably need this more than me."

Dao blinked, staring at the cape then tilted his head as he looked over at her.
"Are you trying to give me pointers in fashion?" He laughed, tossing his head back. "And here I thought I looked dashing already!"

She laughed.
"I mean, you can take it for what you will, but it's also freezing outside. Unless you like the cold. Hurry, the place might close! Lead the way!" And she carefully opened the door this time, making sure the wind doesn't slam the door wide open.

Dao found it amusing she kept forgetting the little detail that well.. he was no longer human. So he threw the cloak on. Might as well humor her.

Once the pair were outside, Dao moved quietly over the cobbles, humming softly to himself as he studied the streets as they went. There was still the slight bustle of the city's night life, so it was possible some places remained open at such an hour.

Coin was coin, after all.

"Where did you say you got that sword from again?" he asked, not recalling the whole details, or if she had even brought it up. Would be interesting if the damn thing were cursed. But he didn't want to consider that at the moment. It seemed, for now, he had an adventurer wanna-be to escort across town.

But damn, he was getting cheap on his fees! He didn't even ask for a penny. Hrmm..

Arya felt she had to walk twice as fast to keep up with him.
"I got it in Adela. I killed a dragon and some old guy came up and spoke a ton of gibberish at me and then thrust it at me and left," she explained.
"Honestly it was kinda weird, but sometimes weird things happen after I kill dragons." And she shrugged.
She thoughtfully looked at him.
"So how did you end up under Opus Dey?"

He mused over her words, muttering something to himself before pausing and turning to her.

"Wait.. did you say you.. killed a.. dragon?" he paused, no.. she said it plural. then asked, even more 'carefully'.. "..In.. Adela?"

Arya rolled her eyes.
"Yes I killed a dragon in Adela. That's where most of them live." She laughed. She didn't even realize he had stopped walking. She too stopped walking and looked at him.
"...what? Didn't know people could kill dragons?"

At that response, his lips twitched into a wider grin.

"You're... not from Adela, are you?" he questioned, eyeing her critically. 

"No I'm not," Arya said, rather exasperated. This guy sure asked a lot of questions.
"I'm from Connlaoth, actually—why are you grinning? What's so funny?" She asked, glaring at him.

Dao said nothing, a playful twinkle in his eyes. He continued walking, shrugging as he passed her.

"Adela.. has a thing for dragons.." he mused.

She rolled her eyes. She knew Adela was weird. She started walking, keeping pace with Dao.
"Well they can't have a thing for the dragon I hunted, because I killed it." She scoffed, and kicked a rock down the street.

Well, he supposed she was lucky she was extremely far north of Adela. Killing a dragon...
Eh, he'd let her worry about that if the girl ever found herself back in dragon country.

"You're also in another kingdom," he went on with a shrug. He eyed her, then the covered sword she carried. "So.. some thugs just dumped that thing on you?" He pondered over that. "Have you tried to use it? Or have you just sort of.. looked at it?"

She shook her head.
"No I haven't tried to use it. This dragon ordeal happened fairly recently." She could not figure out what he was trying to get at. By now, it was getting dark outside. She looked around.
"Is the shop close by? This isn't a good area of town to be in after dark."

Dao shrugged.
"It's close enough. Maybe.. ten blocks that way?" SHe shrugged. He didn't seem too concerned about the time.. or how 'dangerous' it might be. Let someone try to mug a vampire. It never ended well for the mugger. It was, however, very amusing to him!

Ten blocks—-She snorted.
"Unlike you, I'm not a vampire." She gestured to the sword.
"And this package is very obnoxious I feel." She began to wonder why she didn't just put the damn thing in a sheath. As if she had one that fit the sword. She was getting rather nervous. Her hand rested on one of her sheathed daggers, just in case.
"So, how did you end up entangled with Opus Dey?"

Dao watched her struggle before unceremoniously plucking the wrapped sword from her, then tossing onto his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Here, let me carry that.. for the lady.." he went on with a wink.

He began to move on, but then she asked her question and he peered at her questionably.

"Are you actually interested how someone comes to associate with a crime lord.. or are you just getting antsy there's ten more blocks to go?" he smirked, pausing to eye her up.
"Do I need to carry you as well?"

She wasn't expecting him to grab the sword, and her dagger came out in the blink of an eye. But then, she realized what he was doing and sheepishly put it away.
"I am actually interested in how someone comes to associate with a crime lord. And also slightly nervous," she admitted.
"Last time I made the mistake of coming on this side of town, I got jumped." She admitted

Dao gave a nonchalant shrug.
"If someone's stupid enough to jump a vampire, maybe I'll have an evening snack," he mused, then turned to her, smiling, but it slowly faded as he noted her seriousness.

"Good men don't associate with evil men," Dao surmised. "Good men also don't become blood suckers."

And though he smiled.. there seemed something a little different in his eyes- something that almost seemed like... hurt, a far too human emotion for the overly jovial vampire. But it was gone as quickly as it had came, and he continued to escort her down the road.

"So, do I have your permission to bite if we do get jumped?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows as if he asked her something dirty.

"Yeah you could bite me," her hands clapped over her mouth.
"Holy shit, so sorry!" She was absolutely mortified now, all nervousness forgotten.
"How about you take that sword and just kill me now," she muttered. If only Dao could have seen her face in the dark, her face was tomato red. She tried to shake off the absolute mortification she was experiencing and act like she had said nothing. She cleared her throat.
"Yes, you can bite them. I kinda forgotten you hadn't eaten."
Something crashed across the street from them. Arya jumped, and darted behind Dao.

He couldn't help himself. That was the funniest thing she could have said right then as he tossed his head back in the most dramatic and over the top of laughs. It came straight from his belly, and he just laughed and laughed. So when she hopped behind him, he just coyly turned towards her and waggled his eye brows.

"Oh, did you change your mind and want to bite me?"

She snorted.
"Hell no!" but there wasn't much conviction in her exclamation.  If her face could have gotten any redder, it would have.
"Just kill me now," and she rolled her eyes. Then, she started laughing.
"I have to admit, that was kinda funny." Unbeknownst to the pair, a pair of red eyes is watching them from the shadows.

He just smirked at her.
"Then why are you behind me?" he looked her over, then raised a brow.
"Weren't going to try and stake me, were ya?" But then he laughed at that, turning around to her. "You're awfully jumpy tonight. You sure you want to do this? We still got.. like seven more blocks to go.."

"Oh so stakes do work! I didn't think they would!"
She jokingly picked up a stick and poked him.
"I was totally planning to stake you." She held up her stick.
"With this absolutely lethal, definitely sharp dangerous stake—-Seven more blocks!! Are you kidding me? That's absolutely ridiculous"—-the words caught in her throat. In an alleyway, she could see a tall, shadowed figure. His eyes were trained on her. She discreetly tugged on Dao's shirt sleeve.
"Dao," and she lowered her voice, "there's something over there."

When she tugged on his arm, mentioning something over there, he gave a devious laugh.

"Maybe you shouldn't be paying so much attention to my pants," he flirted, but his own eyes flashed in the direction she had been looking, before he continued on in nonchalance and allowed two fingers to tip toe up her 'stick'.

"You really going to try to stake me?" he went on with a mock pout.

She shot a glance at the alleyway and the figure was gone. She shook her head. It was probably her imagination—-and then Dao's pants comment sunk in.
Her face was an absolute inferno now. When Dao asked if she was "really going to try to stake him" a mischievous glint appeared in her eyes.
"Yes it is I. The feared vampire hunter!" And she thrust the stick at him, trying not to laugh but failing.
"Fear me!" And she tried to look fierce but she was laughing too much.

And Dao tossed his head back, giving off a laugh- a rather devilish laugh, before scooping her up towards him and gripping her wrists in a playfully threatening gesture to get her to 'let go' of her 'stake'.

"Now, now, we can't have the vampire killer doing all the work. Besides.. shouldn't the man being doing all of the staking?" he flirted again, leaning in real closer before something caught his attention and his playfulness died in a blur of motion- the stick ripped so suddenly from her hand and then was sticking out of the chest of some man lingering in the alleyway corner.

The figure grunted and fell, and Dao sneered in his direction.

"Some people.. always trying to ruin the mood.."

She laughed as he scooped her up towards him. "Oh no help I've been caught! Oh woe is me," she said, faking fear.
When he leaned in close her heart felt like it skipped a beat, and her breathing quickened. But then the stick she had been playfully threatening him with was gone in a flash, and was sticking out of a man's chest. She gasped.
"That was him! I think." She glanced at Dao again, then winced.
"Ah shit, I think the stick scraped my hand. I think It might be bleeding alittle."

Dao was already trembling at the scent of blood. He could smell the injured man, his fear..his blood.  And he could smell it on her.

His fangs were obvious now. More Pronounced.. hunger simmering in his eyes. 

He loosened his grip on her.

"Hey.. girly.. can you do me a favor. Walk away.. and.. " he drew in a long; stabilizing breath  "and keep on walking.."

Her eyes widened in realization.
"Oh shit! Yeah, I can leave," and she started to back away, rather unsure of how to. She was concentrating so much on Dao, she wasn't paying attention to anything else. She just kept backing away. The man on the ground groaned, and then saw how close Arya was and how her attention wasn't on him. There was a flash of steel, the man managed to slash Arya across her side and Arya screamed, quickly turning on the injured man and twisting the bloodied knife out of his hand and quickly stabbing him in the chest, praying that was enough to kill him.
"Oh shit god damn it, he got me." And she stumbled and clutched her side, trying to stop the bleeding.   

It happened in a blur. He was only partially in control when he grabbed Aryn and growled , "Get the hell out of here."

Before he tossed her Bodily away with such force down the alley before moving forward in a hungered blur- and the man screamed as Dao began to tear him apart.

It all happened so fast. Arya found herself on the ground, dazed, as Dao tore into the man on the ground. She slowly pushed herself up to a sitting position, and leaned against a wall. Simply doing that caused searing pain to shoot up her side. She quickly tore off part of her shirt and pressed it into her side. She sucked in a breath. It was getting hard to stay awake. She sincerely hoped the man Dao was feeding off of had quenched his bloodthirst.

The screams didn't last long, but the feral grunts of the vampire soon crescendoed- the squelched and slurping rabid feast was over in less than a minute- but to poor Aryn it might have seemed to last forever. 

And there was blood everywhere.

And his form remained possessive over the corpse until he drained it of its last drops of blood, sucking in deep of the veins before just letting the arm he had been feeding from drop.

His entire mouth was stained bright red, his eyes appearing wilder, feral as he slowly turned towards the trembling form in the alley

He bared bloody fangs her way and hissed, "I thought I told you to leave!?"

Arya meanwhile, had been desperately trying to stop the bleeding before she bled out. She had found some old dirty rags in the alleyway and had quickly grabbed them, packing the wound best she could and trying to ignore the pain that was seeming to get worse. What she couldn't ignore were the sounds. The screams of the dying man, and the absolutely rabid vampire as he tore the man apart. She tried to push down the absolute terror she was feeling, as memories of her past were creeping up on her. She was almost done securing the makeshift bandage when Dao turned away from what was left of the man and turned his attention on her. When he asked his question she didn't even look up from trying to fix the bandage.
"I was leaving, but then former human over there slashed me"—-and she raised her head to look over and instead her eyes fell on Dao.
"Motherfucker..." He looked rather demonic, she thought. She was so close to the end of the alley, she used the last of her strength to half crawl half walk around a corner. She kinda just leaned against the wall, not having much strength to do anything else. The pain was so intense, she almost couldn't think. She had lost one of her daggers when Dao had thrown her, but she drew the remaining one she had. As a last resort, she took off her silver necklace and wrapped it around her dagger, and sent up a desperate prayer to the cosmos.
 The night was almost nearing its end.

Dao let out a roar of frustration. Why couldn't this girl just make things easier. 
He was already on a blood lust high, and he could smell her fear and pain and the blood...

Gritting his teeth, he rushed around the corner to where she remain, frantically attending to her wound. 

"Cover your wound and hold onto me!" he growled, putting out his arm. "I'm going to stash you somewhere safe so I can recover."

He wasn't sure it was the wisest choice to carry her when she was as wounded as that, but the still too human part of him just couldn't let her there to suffer. If he wasn't careful...
He could easily let the lust in and tear her to pieces, not unlike he did to that ruffian but amoment ago.

She froze when she heard him running around the corner, and weakly held the dagger in front of her. But then she heard what he was saying, and quickly covered the wound again, trying her best through the pain to stay awake. She grabbed his arm and tried to stand up. She couldn't even tell if the bleeding had stopped, but she sure hoped it had. Hopefully with the extra dressing on it, it would stop. Arya blinked back tears, genuinely scared for her life.

He wasn't thinking straight. And if he kept her this close, he would lose it again. There was only one option he knew was a certain bet, one he held his life on contract with and knew for sure would guarantee her safety if he were to give up even more.


So imagine Opus' surprise when Dao kicked open his door and dropped the wounded woman onto his floor.

He hadn't been sleeping, but thr man had been at a desk wearing only trousers.

"What's the meaning of this?" He hissed, standing tall from his chair as he looked at the woman.

"Protect.. her.. " Dao grunted, with drawing towards the door. "Just add her to my contract." And then he slammed the door and was gone, Opus left there cursing as he eyes the woman at a distance.

Everything was fading in and out for Arya. Her mind was racing. Next thing she knew, she was lying on the ground. She heard someone—-it sounded a lot like Opus—-asking "What's the meaning of this?" Oh gods he sounded pissed off. Then, next thing she knew, Dao was gone. Wait, she'd seen this room before. Or had she? It was hard to tell through the pain.
The ground was hard underneath her. She was on the floor, she could tell that much. Her thoughts began to slow down. She was safe, at least it felt safer than being outside. She maintained pressure on the wound on her side. She was super worried to do anything else, as if she had the strength to. She squinted in the man's general direction—-oh God it was Opus. Last time she was in here she foolishly tried to kill him. She still had one dagger...she pushed that thought away as quickly as it entered her head. That would be suicide. So she took her dagger and weakly slid it across the floor. Merely doing that sent streaks of pain shooting up her side.
 She grimaced.
"I'm not going to try to kill you." Not right now anyways, she thought.
"Truce?" She managed to ask. "Oh shit that sword...did Dao go to get it?" She realized she was thinking out loud. She coughed weakly. She could taste copper. She couldn't remember if that was a good sign or a bad sign. Coughing up blood means you're getting better...right? Maybe she could just sleep. Maybe this was all a dream...and that's the last thought she had before everything went black.

If Dao'bachpa wasn't such a good resource to have, he'd never entertain what he was about to do. After it seemed the insane young woman 'passed out', he approached, crouching down to study her.

She was bleeding.. a lot. He wondered how the vampire hadn't full on gobbled her up.

Well, he could always use more from the vampire and knew the thing was good on its word. He would draw up another contract later.

For now he'd oblige his side of the verbal bargain. He wriggled off a single, simple ring from one of his fingers- and he had many rings lining each.

Then he snatched up the woman's hand, holding onto it as he shoved the ring onto a finger and held both hand and ring as he waited for the healing ring to work, being sure to keep a firm grip on her hand and the ring. He wasn't about to let her keep it, after all. Those things were far too valuable.

Arya slowly regained consciousness. She had a ridiculous headache, but for the most part, the searing pain in her side was gone. She did feel a little better—-how did she not notice Opus? He had her hand in his, and there was a ring on her finger that wasn't there before.
"OI! Don't curse me or some shit!" And she weakly tried to move her hand. Damn, she must have lost more blood than she thought. Then she narrowed her eyes.
"Where's Dao?"
She looked around.
"Did you take my sword?"
Or maybe it was still in the alleyway. She groaned, and coughed weakly. Maybe the ring was magic. Then she realized, Opus saved her life. Probably not willingly, she surmised.
"Thank you, for saving my life." she reluctantly said.

Once she seemed lucid and healed enough, Opus roughly removed the ring and returned it to his finger.  Then he stood up, sneering down at her before walking away.

"I'm not here to entertain you, girl. The vampire dropped you off and enacted an extension to his contract.  You can thank him for not eating you. My healing you was just another transaction ."

Arya scoffed.
"I didn't ask for you to entertain me. And I definitely didn't ask to be brought here, but here I am anyways. You think I want to be in a room with you?" She attempted to stand up, stumbled, and leaned against a wall. She was still pretty weak.
"Hey! Brood-face!"
She weakly waved a ring at him.
"Missing this?"
 Her sleight of hand was coming in handy. She smirked to herself.

Opus narrowed his gaze at her, obviously annoyed. He had many trinkets one could swipe, and he was pretty good at being the deterrent from many who dare try. But those that did usually lost a finger.. or hand.. or arm.

Or you know, just their life.

He did a quick check for the ring she had sniped and swore under his breath. It wasn't just a healing ring she had taken, but one of his rings of invincibility. And those things were damn expensive.

Suffice it to say, he also did not want  someone as unstable as this wannabe assassin having it.

"You'd do well to return that," he threatened, his demeanor growing much darker as he glared at her from his side of the room.

Her head was still bothering her, so she curiously slipped the ring on. Fascinating, the headache was subsiding. She leaned against the wall and studied the ring.
"Damn, I bet this cost a pretty penny." It was beautiful. She glanced over at Opus, who was glowering at her. Then she remembered her dagger, which was closer to Opus then she would have liked.
"I'm just gonna grab my dagger and leave. I'd say it was nice knowing ya but I'd be lying."
She slowly moved toward the dagger.

Opus's eyes went frantic, trying to decipher where she was at. The fool didn't even seem to realize what she was doing, nor that she was invisible. Good, that means it was easy to pin point her location. -

And he fortunately had a counter for her unfortunate and sudden invisibility spell.

Unfortunate for her.

He didn't waste any time in whipping out a pouch from his side, tugging it open and tossing some sandy looking powder into the air- and he blew it in her direction- a breath aided by magic-
and suddenly a smelly, dusty substance struck her full on like a gust of wind...

Skunk sand. It was a handy trick to use against invisible opponent, and would thoroughly coat her and make her smell vile for days.

Arya's eyes watered as she got hit by the sand. God that stuff was potent. But she managed to not make a sound, and quickly grabbed her dagger. She smirked. If she was going down, she'll take Opus with her. She crept behind him and threw her cloak which was by now encrusted with skunk sand, hoping it would land on him. She sprinted towards the table, grabbing the bottle of whiskey that was there and dunking it on herself. That would temporarily dull the smell. And then it hit her. Why did he throw skunk sand at her? What the hell did this ring do? Well she'd have to figure it out later. Right now, she had a sword to find. She turned towards the door, and looked back over her shoulder.
"See ya!" And she laughed. She couldn't help it.

Opus should have expected that- he would have rather not have the damn skunk sand tossed back at him, but he caught the damn cloak and threw it angrily towards the ground. He'd deal with the smell on his hands later.

Because the damn woman just took off with his ring.

If Dao hadn't asked me to protect you with a contract...

There wasn't time for that. He couldn't let her out of his sight and wanted his damn ring back. No one out wit Opus Dey and sought to get away with it.

Thankfully, despite her invisibility, she still had the dust on her legs and face- and parts of her hand- not to mention, he could easily track that smell a mile away. And because he was much larger than she, with larger legs, for now- it seemed he was actually gaining on her as they rushed down the hall.

Arya was on a mission. And then she stopped right before she got to the stairs, thinking. She didn't even know where the stupid sword was. She didn't even know where Dao was for that matter. What was she doing? She glanced down at herself—-what the absolute fuck—she couldn't see herself. What was in the sand Opus threw at her? But then wouldn't he be invisible too? She looked behind her—-oh gods he was right behind her. So she ducked and ran the opposite way. It must be the ring, she deduced. She threw a glance behind her—-how is Opus so fast?

Part of him wished he hadn't used his enchanted rope from earlier. He only had the one and really needed to replenish it. It was a useful tool. However, this woman was beginning to get on his nerves and becoming increasingly less valuable to him the more she continued to cause this scene.

He didn't have time for this.
Protect this little shit...
Well, he could always heal her later.
He picked up a chair nearby that sat against the hallway wall...
Then proceeded to throw the damn thing entirely at Aryn's legs.

She didn't even see the chair. She had to hand it to him, he's got great aim...for an egotistical maniac. The chair crashed into her legs, and she fell, hitting the ground hard and slamming her head into the ground. Dazed, she weakly rolled over, making sure the ring was still on her hand. She was lucky she didn't stab herself when she fell.  She grimaced. That's gonna leave a bruise.
She kicked the chair off of her and sucked in a breath. Great, her ankle was screwed. Hopefully not broken, but it hurt like hell. She muttered to herself. "Damn you and your endless bag of tricks."

Opus approached her and commanded, "Get back to the room."
There was no room for debate in that tone, and his eyes held promises she'd likely not wish for him to engage.

Oh right, the ring. That healed her ankle nicely. It still hurt, but she could walk on it. She quickly grabbed her dagger and got up, wincing slightly. She shot him a glare, and slowly walked back into the room, wincing every time she had to put weight on her ankle. It was slowly starting to feel better, luckily. She eyed the door, thinking it would be hilarious to slam it in his face, but quickly thought better of it.
She sighed.
"We're back where we started. How about I keep the ring until Dao gets back, for safety." She nervously eyed him. Opus looked absolutely pissed.

He saw her limping and considered giving her the healing ring back. He had snatched it back from her the moment she felt better.. and the dolt stole his invisibility ring in its stead.

"How about you give the ring back that you stole before I consider breaking the verbal contract.?" He threatened. 

He simply put out a large hand, expectantly. 

How did he end up with Dao's mess?"

"I didn't steal it, I borrowed it!" Arya argued. She was going to say more, but decided against it.
She started to take the ring off her finger and hesitated, then sighed and gave it to him. Inwardly, she was laughing. She was gonna make this guys life difficult.
"Well, I'm gonna go find my sword that I lost. I guess you have to come with me since you have to protect me or whatever the hell Dao said." And as she half walked, half limped by him, she slugged him on the shoulder and laughed.
"Well c'mon loser, sword isn't gonna find itself."

Opus just gave her a rueful smile- curt and sour.

"I can see how you've become quick friends with a vampire," he said, voice clear but like a low rumble of thunder.

But then when she mentioned she was just going to walk off after some sword-

The door suddenly slammed shut with an audible lock.

A soft glow faded from it as whatever magic was enacted had finished its task.

He folded his arms across his chest.

"Going somewhere?"

She was almost to the door when it abruptly slammed shut. She whirled around.
"OI! Yes I'm going somewhere! You can't just lock me in here! I've got a sword to find! And you're supposed to follow me!"
And she shot him a glare. She pulled on the door, but it didn't budge a single inch. She eyed the window. Maybe, just maybe, she could get out that way. But she'd rather not hurt her leg again.
"I'm not bound by any sort of contract to you, broodface," she muttered to Opus. Then she had an idea. She quickly grabbed her cape from the floor and threw it at Opus, and turned and ran towards the window.

Except upon her attempt, the cape flew suddenly (and quite) forcefully into her form as she went foe the window. 

The cape hit her with so much force, in fact, that she was slammed into the wall rather forcefully, completely missing the window. Her frustration was starting to grow, and outside dark, ominous clouds were gathering. She got up and was about to draw her dagger when lightning struck the window, shattering the glass and sending her to the floor.

Opus looked at the broken window then down at the girl. Where had the storm come from? Strange weather seemed to follow this one.

He folded his arms across his chest.

"You have the patience of a child. What's so important about this weapon?"

Arya just slowly sat up, making sure nothing was broken, and then leaned against the wall. Why the hell does crazy weather happen sometimes when she's feeling strong emotion and then not happen other times? She wondered if she could control it.
Then Opus asked his question and shook her out of her thoughts.
She eyed him suspiciously.
"Wouldn't you like to"—-she caught herself. He was being halfway civil at least, she could return the favor.
"I don't know; after my last dragon kill in Adela some ancient dude practically threw a sword at me! He was babbling on and on about something in a language I didn't understand. I think he was insane. Anyways, it has runes and shit etched on it and Dao was helping me take it to some guy."
Now that she thought about it, she didn't know why she was telling Opus all of this but it was too late now.

Opus lifted a brow.
"So you have a cursed sword?" he presumed. From h ow she obtained it, it seemed the most likely. But he also had to wonder about her mentioning of killing a dragon- specifically in Adela. He ignored that thought for now.

Arya threw her hands up in the air, exasperated.
"I don't know if the sword is cursed or not! But I'd rather go get it before someone else finds it! Wouldn't you want to find a 'cursed' sword too?"
That window was looking more and more tempting to jump out of. The clouds outside were still dark and ominous, and occasional rumblings of thunder could be heard. She wondered if she should try to steal the invisibility ring again. She subtly glanced at his hand, counting the rings. Problem was, it looked identical to the all the other rings he had on.

He instinctively stepped away from her, hands into fists as he folded his arms over his chest.

"How is that your concern? If the item is cursed, you would now be relieved of it."

"Because, the sword was given to me. So that makes it my concern! I don't have time for this, she muttered. And she picked up her cape from off the floor and put it on.
"I'm going to go find it whether you come or not." And she turned and marched towards the window.
"Damn Opus with his never-ending magic tricks," she muttered.

"Wait."

His voice was a command, not a suggestion. 
He moved to pick up a few unseen items.

"Let's be quick of it. The vampire will likely still be put the rest of the night hours."

And he didn't want to keep dealing with her idiocy.

Arya stopped and smiled—-a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"You want to see that sword as much as I do—-what are you doing?" She eyed him suspiciously as he picked up several things. She kept one hand on her dagger, really not trusting him as far as she could throw him.

The wind had picked up to a howl outside, and Arya threw a quick glance out the remains of the window.
"We better hurry."
She put her hood over her face and yelled over her shoulder.
"How much stuff does one man need?"

Opus gave her a flat look.
"I'll take the sword. You just stay close. You owe me that anyway," the man snarled. Never mind he had killed one of her former lovers however man years ago it was. 

Arya shot him a glare. If looks could kill...
"Like hell you'll take the sword," Arya growled back. But she stayed close to him regardless. Inwardly, she was excited. There hadn't been enough craziness in her life.
"You need a satchel for all that stuff?" She teased.
"Also since the contract mentions protecting me do I get a ring? Better yet do I get two rings?"
She pulled on the door.
"OY Opus unlock it for goodness sake!"

Opus just have her a soured smile, not answering any of her questions and gestured towards the door.

"Try again."

Arya actually laughed. A short, unamused laugh, but a laugh nonetheless.
She pulled on the door and this time it opened.
"Hurry up!" She impatiently said, and then ran out of the room.

Outside, the thunder clouds had gathered, but stayed silent, blanketing the whole sky in dark, ominous clouds, completely blocking out the stars.
Arya stepped outside and eyed the clouds. She unconsciously stepped closer to Opus.
"You don't have to worry about me not sticking close."
Arya did wonder where Dao was. She hoped he was ok.

Opus grunted. He couldn't believe he was entertaining this. If Dao hadn't offered to pay...
Never mind that. They had a curses sword to find.

"Which way did you drop it?" He asked impatiently, pulling his cloak around more tightly to shield against the weather.

Her eyes looked around the street, finally falling on the windmill.
"It's that way, I think. I had wrapped it up to try to conceal it, but in the chaos with Dao I'm not even sure if it's there anymore."
As they were walking, she fell into deep thought. What if Dao still had it? Lightning flashed in the distance, followed by a low rumbling of thunder. The wind had been roaring, but now it was eerily still. As they passed by alleyways, Arya would try to see down them, desperately looking for anything that looked even remotely familiar to her sword. She quickly pointed down an alleyway that she thought was the right one. No luck. That continued for a good hour, every alleyway only resulting in a dead end.
The next alleyway she came to was deserted and dark. She could barely see down it at all. She drew her dagger and squinted in the blackness, trying to see anything that would hint at her sword being there. She could see a body-sized lump on the ground, and blood stains everywhere. This must be the alley. She looked at Opus.
"I think I found the place," she whispered.

Opus was growing impatient, so when she finally confirmed the location, he just gave a gruff grunt and nod. Then he saw the body. He supposed that was the vampire's doing. His eyes glanced around the place, but he saw nothing to match the description of what she said. He did, however, make his way over towards the fallen corpse. Definitely the vampire's doing- the man was near in pieces.

He produced something from a pocket and sprinkled it over the corpse before recorking it and returning it to a pocket. He then turned towards the girl.

"There's nothing here."

How irritating.

Arya sighed.
"I could have sworn this was the right alley." She turns around and promptly trips over something, falling to the ground. She caught herself and kinda just rolled into a sitting position. She reached behind to check what had tripped her up and gasped.
"I found it," she holds up a long sword wrapped up, the hilt peeking out from under the blanket.
She glanced down the alleyway and her breath caught in her throat. There was something down the alley, but she couldn't quite make it out.

His eyes followed hers to where a figure remained in the corner of the alley, barely lit and seemingly humanoid. And here he was relieved she finally found the damn sword.  Now it seemed like there might be trouble. Of course this couldn't go without incident. 

He gestured for her to back up, and hoped she was smart enough to shut up.

Arya slowly got up and backed up quietly, gripping the sword tightly.
She ended up behind Opus.
"We could just leave, I have the sword," she whispered. She really hoped whatever was down the alley wasn't hostile. It was hard to even tell what the figure was from here. It was eerily quiet, but the clouds had dissipated at least, showing a star-lit sky up above.

As the moonlight bathed across the cobblestone- Opus noted the glittering ground around the form- and a few crumpled figures strewn at the figures feet.  The creature was bowed over what Opus could now see were dissemboweled corpses- rib cages jutting from open torsos and glittering with slick; fresh blood. Blood was also on the cobblestones, a pool at the other's feet.

And Opus recognized the figure. 

It was Dao.

Arya gasped when she cautiously looked down the alley and saw the absolute carnage that the figure—was that Dao? In the dim moonlight it was rather hard to tell. It looked like him.
She had a death grip on the sword. She wasn't about to lose it again. She tapped Opus on the arm. The glint of the rings on Opus's hand caught her eye. She just needed one.
"Don't you think we should leave? Last time I was in a dark alley I almost became a vampire's meal."
She shifted nervously from one foot to another. She had to move fast. Quietly, she bent down and grabbed a small rock, throwing it between Opus and Dao.
Then, she lunged for one of the rings on his hand.

The rock tittered between and Dao's eyes registered them instantly. Do when Aryn rushed forward- so did Dao.

Opus reacted unnatural fast, catching Aryn with a fist to her throat and lifting her; while his other hand glowed as blue magics held back a hungered and thrashing Dao.

"What do you think you're doing?"Opus growled, tightening his grip on her throat.

She was so close to getting a ring. So close. And then she found herself off the ground. Opus had her by the throat. "Not...becoming...a vampires meal?" she managed to get out. She grabbed onto his hand that was around her throat with one hand, still stubbornly holding her sword with the other.
"Can't you knock him out or something?" Arya desperately asked. She coughed. She was getting lightheaded.
She could not believe Opus wasn't a mage of some sort, the way he was freezing Dao in place looked suspiciously like a mage's powers.

Opus gave her a darkened stare for her answer. He saw through her and knew what she was after. Yet he wasn't about ready to waste another enchanted item on her. 

Dao was still snarling mad, savagely clawing at them through the air- the blue wall of magics holding him back.

But for how long?

"I have the nerve to knock you out, woman. I've killed others for less."

But he just let her drop. But before she'd be able to recover, he pressed a heavy boot onto her chest.

"I could crack a few ribs," he threatened, eyes cold as night.

Arya could finally breathe again, but she had gotten so lightheaded that she just collapsed, taking deep, ragged breaths.
Then she felt a weight on her chest. She had no energy left to fight back.
She tried to conserve her breathing, but it was rather hard with Opus pressing his boot onto her chest. A slight pain began spreading out from where his boot was.
"Do it," she bluffed, coughing. She wouldn't be surprised if he had bruised a rib already.
She couldn't see Dao from where she was on the ground, but he sounded absolutely feral.

The way Opus looked at her, it seemed he might make good on those words. It also seemed as if he were to spit on her, but instead, he stepped away from her now, walking down the road - the effort shoving Dao along with, before he grunted. 

"I don't suspect you'll be seeing Dao anytime soon. " and with an unseen motion, something flashed beneath the snarling vampire, engulfing him in a prism of yellow light- the nothing.

The man was simply gone.

Opus lowered his shield and glared over at Aryn.

Then hr walked over to her, and moved to snatch the damn wrapped blade from her hands.

The weight was gone from her chest, and she sat up, taking deep breaths, and clutching the precious sword. She watched as Dao disappeared. Did Opus just kill him? Surely not. She slowly stood up, finally catching her breath.
She gave him a death glare back.
"Absolute motherfucker," she mumbled to herself.
As he snatched the sword from her she stuck out her foot, hoping to trip him, and grabbed for a ring.
"Two can play at that game, Mr. "I'm not a mage".

And it may have come as a surprise to her when a man, even of his size, suddenly retaliated by twisted his ankles around hers, and threw himself  down to a knee then pushed, using that falling momentum to toss her up and over to the other side, then moved with a leopards deftness, pinning her beneath his strong form. 

And his free hand snatched at hers- the one trying to steal...

"Drop it," he commanded, knowing full well what she sniped.

There was a loud crack as Arya got slammed into the ground. Sharp, piercing pain shot up Arya's left side of her chest. The sudden, intense pain coupled with suddenly finding herself pinned to the ground made her drop the ring, the ring rolling a few feet away. The wind had gotten knocked out of her, and so she took a deep breath. That was a mistake. The pain intensified as she breathed. Surely she didn't break a rib just from that. She grunted in pain.
"I...don't have...your ring," she told him in between deep breaths. She gestured to roughly where she thought she dropped it with her one free hand.

Although Opus slipped away from her, a pool of blue magics gathered around her, laying overtop of her as an unyielding blanket of weight. It was the same magics he used to keep back the vampire and as Opus scooped up his ring, he looked pissed.

He gave a sudden heft up with his arm, and she'd feel herself become lifted off the ground, where he gestured to still her- her form would- as she'd simply float, entrapped I'm a blue blanket of light before him.

"We're going back to the tavern," he growled- then strolled passed her- an unseen tether of magic pulling her along to float behind him.

Opus left her and she tried to get up, but she couldn't. Something else was keeping her pinned to the ground. Then she found herself off the ground.
She coughed, and the abrupt motion sent shocks of sharp pain shooting up her chest. Opus better have the sword with him, she thought to herself.
"So...uh...how did a nice guy like Dao end up entangled with...you?" She carefully asked, genuinely curious and also trying to keep her mind off the probable broken ribs she was dealing with. 

If she had been worried for the sword, she would soon realize it was bobbing beside her in the casted magics. And when she asked her question, Opus merely answered,"He and I have a contract. " And then he paused to turn to look at her. "And before you cast your judgement, he came to me. "

He then continued walking, pulling her along.

Arya took an experimental, shaky deep breath. The pain wasn't intensifying anymore, but it also wasn't getting any better.
"A contract...interesting." And she fell into deep thought, talking becoming too painful to do.

Eventually Opus got them back to the inn, only releasing Aryn after tossing her unceremoniously onto the bed. He then moved over towards the desk where he sat down with a sigh.

Dao owed him big time for this.

Arya winced as she hit the bed.
"Thanks for helping me get the sword," she said, alittle annoyed. The pain had actually died down alittle bit but now was back in full force.
She slowly grabbed a pillow, putting it behind her and leaning on it.
Arya unwrapped the sword and studied it. It was the lightest sword she had ever held. The blade was a black metal, and had a strange rainbow sheen to it, light seeming to reflect off of it with a vengeance. There were runes engraved on the blade and on the handle. The handle was silver, inlaid with a solitary opal in the center of the hilt.
"It's almost like...light is attracted to this thing," she muttered slowly.

Opus mostly ignored her, trying his best to keep himself occupied at his desk. He was half tempted to lock her in the damn room herself while he went to the whore house.  It was tempting. Awfully tempting.

However, he was mildly curious of the sword she held- and contemplated knocking her out to examine it himself. That was even more tempting. Damn girl was more trouble than she was worth!

Arya pushed herself up more, trying to find a way that her body wouldn't be constantly reminding her about her cracked ribs.
She knew she was going to regret what she was going to say next.
"Do you want to look at the sword?" She faintly asked.
"Dao at some point had mentioned you liked artifacts. You can look at it if you'd like." A fit of harsh coughs overtook Arya, making her clutch at her chest in pain. She could taste iron in her mouth.

Opus didn't even give her a reply, he just remained where he was, scratching a note before going back to reading the book or journal he held.

Arya shrugged.
"Your loss, I guess."
She went back to studying the sword, idly testing the weight of it. The pain in her chest had subsided some, so she cautiously got off the bed. Arya was alittle shaky, but she could stand. She put the sword in her belt.
"I'm going to go get some food from downstairs. Do you want anything?"

Opus paused and eyed her.

"You're not going anywhere. Not until Dao returns."

And if she were to try the door- she'd realize it's locked. The same would go for the window...

"Not until Dao returns," she muttered angrily to herself. The idea of stabbing Opus was so tempting...she sighed, sitting on the bed again and lying the sword beside her. Might as well rest while she could. And her chest was starting to hurt again. The pain kept coming in waves. There was a bottle of something, looked to be wine, on the shelf next to the door. It looked expensive. She snuck a glance at Opus. He was reading something, and looked engrossed in it.
Screw the pain. She needed a drink. She quietly got off the bed, and went over to the shelf, picking up the bottle of wine and getting back to the bed, sitting back down and grinning to herself. She uncorked the bottle. It made a louder noise than she would have liked but oh well.

"If you're going to drink my wine.. you'd better atleast use a glass," he told her tersely, not bothering to look at her. But their were a set of glasses, unused, on the desk beside him.

Arya froze when he spoke, and then eyed the two glasses sitting on the desk.
She really did not want to get up again. Of course it was his wine. Probably imported from Thanatos or something, too. She sighed. Maybe she'll wait. She yawned, setting the bottle on the small table beside the bed. She didn't realize how tired she was.
"Anyways, I'm going to sleep," she muttered, lying on the bed, a hand gripping and guarding the sword.
"You better not touch this sword or I'll"—-she fell asleep, her threat left unfinished.

And as she slept, she'd find the sword missing when she'd awaken. Opus would be missing as well.

But she wouldn't be alone. Because sleeping curled up at rhe foot of the bed, naked, was the vampire.

Blood stained his face and hands, but he slept innocently, as if a child after scarfing spaghetti down with his fists.  His hair was an unruly mess, dark sprigs intermingled with vibrant strands of a bright turquoise coloring. And though he was naked, he still had jewelry adorning him- but if one were to observe it...

It wasn't even high quality jewelry, and most would consider it gaudy junk. 

Arya had no idea how long she'd slept, but when she woke up, it took her a second to remember where she was. She felt a lot better, although her chest was still giving her pain. She sat up slowly—-her eyes fell on the foot of the bed. Was that...Dao? Oh gods he was naked. She was not expecting that, and shrieked, falling off the bed. Surely she was seeing things. Then she realized Opus was gone. She got up, looking around the room. Opus was gone—-where was her sword? She desperately looked on the bed. She had fallen asleep with it. Opus must have taken it. She let out a yell of frustration. What was she expecting?

She tried to organize her thoughts, running a hand through her hair.  Was Dao ok? She honestly thought Opus had killed him. He had blood stains all over his hands and face. Why was Dao naked? She had so many questions, but they would have to wait. She took her coat and threw it on Dao.
"It's not much but it's better than nothing," she muttered. Gods her face was so red. It didn't help that Dao was  attractive. She sat at the desk and put her head in her hands. She definitely didn't get enough sleep.

Dao scrunched up his face, groaning as he turned and buried his face into the bed. When he turned, the coat pulled with him, slipping off just his ass to reveal its firmness and all of its glory, while the rest of him was hidden away beneath the coat.

He immediately went back to snoring. 

Arya shook her head.
Her eyes looked around the room, until they landed on a wooden bucket of water in the corner. She got up from the desk, walking over to it and picking it up, almost dropping it in the process. Arya walked over to the bed, sitting it down by the bed and then sitting down by Dao. She gently shook Dao by the shoulder.
"Dao, wake up." She shook him again.
"I could clean the blood stains for you," she softly said.

Dao mumbled something that seemed it might be another language, turning and draping an arm over his face and pulling half the covers from his body. It was apparently not going to be easy to awaken this vampire.

Arya rolled her eyes.
Was he alright? She didn't know much about vampires at all. Maybe they're naturally difficult to wake up. She grabbed a pillow and threw it as hard as she could at his face.
"Dao, wake up! Opus is coming!" Arya actually had no idea where Opus was, but she had to try something.

He simply grunted as it hit his head, his unruly hair puffing on impact. But he simply snuggled his face in deeper to the bed and his arm, and pulled the blanket up over his head.

And a second later- he was somehow snoring again.

She let out a frustrated groan.
But then she looked around. Opus was gone, Dao was sleeping. And the sword was with Opus. She could just leave. No one would ever know. She actually laughed. A rather bitter laugh. She'd probably never see the sword again. Or Opus or Dao for that matter. She wouldn't miss Opus. Dao on the other hand...she would miss him. The obnoxious but adorable way he laughed, the way he had kissed her...she shook her head. It was better this way.
"Goodbye, Dao. It was enjoyable getting to meet you. And..." she hesitated. "I really enjoyed our kiss." Then she turned and walked to the door.

"Huh.." There was a muffled laugh, then a snore. Has he heard her? 

But after a moment he groaned,"Five more minutes.." before burying his face again. 

She paused when she heard him say "five more minutes." She opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it, merely shutting the door behind her.
She needed a drink. Or two drinks. Or seven drinks.
Arya cautiously peeked down the stairs, making sure Opus wasn't down there. She didn't see him, so she made her way down the stairs and to the bar.
"One pint of ale, please," she said to the bartender, sitting down on a stool and looking in her pockets for spare coin.
"Don't worry about it, ma'am, I've got your tab," a deep voice interjected, startling her out of her thoughts.
The owner of the voice was a tall, lean man, covered in a black cloak and two swords sticking haphazardly out of his belt. "That's very kind of you—-she squinted at him. "Do I know you? You don't look like you're from around here."
Something slammed down beside her and she quickly looked over to her side, where another man had slammed down a piece of parchment.
"That's because you don't know him. But we know you," and the man smiled a leering grin, his amber eyes boring into hers. He smoothly slid her the parchment paper.
Her face paled as she read it, and looked up at the men, who now were uncomfortably close on either side of her.
The bartender had brought out the mug of ale, and gave it to her, sending a suspicious glance the mens way.
She took the mug and drank some, trying to steel her nerves for what she was about to do. Her eyes glanced subtly around the room, trying to gauge the best way to leave.
"Listen, sweetheart," the man with the black cloak said.
"Just come with us and we can avoid all this violence."
One of his hands was resting on the hilt of one of his swords, ready for her to make a stupid move.
Arya downed the rest of the ale, and then lunged for the man that had just spoken, bringing the mug down on his arm.
"It's too bad I don't have someone to help me throw these guys onto windmills!" She yelled as loudly as she could. She had no idea if Dao would even hear her, much less help her, but she was desperate at this point.
He cursed, grabbing the stool out from under her.
"Azrael!" He yelled to the other guy.
"She's choosing the stupid route!"
"So be it," Azrael sighed, casually drawing a dagger from his sleeve and flipping it in his hand.
"I like it when they fight back," and jumped into the fray.
Arya couldn't quite stop herself from falling to the floor, but she quickly rolled out of the way of Azrael's dagger, using the opportunity to grab a small throwing knife out of her boot, kicking Azrael in the shin in the process.
"Fuck!" Azrael yelled.
"Daemon! Alittle help here!" Daemon kicked her roughly in the side, one hand holding a glass of mead that he was trying to drink.
"Seriously!" Azrael sent him an angrily glare.
"We talked about this last time!"
Arya coughed. The kick to her ribs was unexpected, but she was able to grab the guys foot and yank him down, forcing herself to jump up, only to be met with a dagger to her throat and a rough grip on one of her arms.
"Move, and you'll choke on your own blood," Azrael threatened, pressing the dagger into her neck to show he wasn't playing around.
Arya hoped Dao heard her.

That's when an over exaggerated yawn was somehow heard above the chaos. Dao'bachpa stood a top of the railing, looking haggard and?- very much naked and still stained in blood. 

He barely noted what was going on at the bottom of the stairs but- despite all the violence- a lot of eyes went to Dao.

Because while his slow ass had finally made it to the bottom if the stairs, many were gasping because well-


The saranthian vampire was completely naked.

Azrael and Daemon froze, looking upwards at the balcony, and watching Dao come down the stairs.
Arya took that opportunity to push against Azrael's arm with her free arm, ducking under it and elbowing Azrael in the face.  Azrael stumbled back, clutching his nose.
Arya made a run for it, but Daemon swung his legs at hers, tripping her. She grabbed at Daemon's cloak as she fell, successfully getting it. She threw the cloak to Dao, also sliding her throwing knife across the floor to him.
Azrael, blood running down his face, was pissed off. He had recovered some and swung his dagger at Arya, her quickly picking up a bottle from a nearby table and blocking it. She subtly grabbed another knife from her belt and brought it up to parry as Azrael brought his dagger back around in a backswing. Metal met metal in a clash, the sound echoing around the room.
"Where's the sword," Azrael growled, using his weight to push her back.

Dao yawned. He still wasn't fully awake for this. So when the cloak was tossed at him, he caught it and just stared at it. Then he looked down to remember why she might. And his grin broadened.

He dumped the cloak over top of Azrael's head then leaned ontop of him like an arm rest and peered down at Arya.

"What's going on? Why were you trying to wake me up?"

The man beneath the cloak was writhing furiously, but Dao kept adjusting his position and weight so the man couldn't get up.


And when the other fellow came over in a foolish attempt to stop Dao, he simply kicked the man hard enough there was a crunch from his leg and he fell to the ground, screeching in pain.

Arya disarmed Azrael, grabbing his dagger from the floor. "Honestly, I thought you were dead. You sleep like a dead man," Arya said, breathing hard. Arya grabbed Daemon by his shirt, slamming him against the ground.
"What sword?" Arya asked.
"Who are you guys? How did you find me?"
 Daemon was in severe pain, and holding his leg.
"There's posters everywhere," he said through gritted teeth.
"You...you killed a dragon rider's dragon...in Adela...you're a marked woman."
Daemon shot a glance at Dao.
"The reward is huge. I'll even split it with you, man. 50/50. Even 60/40!"

At Arya's comment, Dao shrugged.

"I'm a vampire. We kind of are dead."

Then when the men went on about her being some marked woman Dao nodded his head and tsked at her.

But then the man asked if he wanted in on this and Do could not help himself but toss his head back in a barking laugh, fangs gleaming as he did so and well- he was still standing there- very much naked as he laughed and laughed.

Arya actually laughed at Daemon.
"That's funny."
A mischievous glint appeared in Arya's eyes.
"We could throw them on the windmill," Arya suggested.

"We could.." Dao agreed between laughs. "But they're not dead." Then he paused.. grinning mischievously as he eyes the two bounty hunters. "They're not dead.." he repeated, eyes glimmering at the idea. He turned to Arya and pulled her close, kissing her suddenly upon the lips before he pulled back with a laugh. 

"We can throw them onto the Windmill still alive!"

Arya laughed and picked up Daemon, throwing her over her shoulder.
"Can you pick up the other bounty hunter?" A very mischievous gleam was in her eyes.
"I'll show you how to actually throw them onto the windmill and not just over the windmill."

"Tch, can I pick 'em up? You know, I could carry atleast ten unconscious men without breaking a sweat!" Dao boasted, hefting up Azrael onto his shoulder. The bounty hunter squirmed and one squeaked.

"What.. what are you planning to do to us?"

Dao turned to regard Daemon before tossing his head back as he laughed and laughed.

"We're gonna throw you onto the wind millblades!" He informed cheerily before moving to hold the door open for Arya.

Once Arya and Dao got to the windmill, Arya stopped.
"Should we knock them out first or just throw them while they're still conscious?"

The two were undoubtedly a strange sight, with vagabonds wriggling in their grasp. But the two stood in nonchalance.

But at her question, Dao just blinked.

"Why?"

And without much warning, or finesse- he tossed his up onto the wheel as it came around, the person screaming as they landed, scrambling to fetch hold of the windmills blade.

Arya studied his throw.
"Hmmm. Alittle to the left I think."
And she threw Daemon. His shirt snagged on the windmill blade and caught, him dangling precariously from his shirt.
"Damn it. I was alittle too short."
She nudged Dao.
"Not a bad throw this time," and she laughed.

The two hung precariously as the wind mill continued to spin, flailing as much as they'd dare as a crowd began to gather, gasping at the scene.

The vampire had hands firmly planted on his hips and was studying the scene intently. 

"I wonder if they realize that the more the wriggle.. the faster they'll fall.." he mused.

"Hmmm. Perhaps..." Arya thoughtfully muttered.
"Well! They made their own bed let them lie in it...er...hang from it, I suppose!" Arya laughed, then took Dao by the hand, nervously trying to get up the courage for what she was about to say.
"Dao...come with me...we could go on adventures together...see where the wind takes us..."
God that sounded ridiculously stupid when she said it out loud. But she didn't care.

Dao was all smiles- infectious smiles, so when she got all serious looking when she addressed him- he only seemed to smile broader. 

But at her question, a smile exploded across his face. And he laughed. Then he leaned forward, his hands still on his hips as he paused a meter few inches from her face.

"Are you asking me out on a date?" He asked, eyes and teeth glittering as he smiled.

Arya fell silent for a moment, her heart racing.
"I used to be scared to death of vampires...but you...you're—-you're different. I can't explain it...I guess I am asking you out on a date."

Oh.

That in itself intrigued him.

"It was the kiss, wasn't it?" He rubbed his chin, contemplating. "Jada always said I had one hell of a kiss... or was it the creative way I handled those men?"

He considered then shook his head.

"Unfortunately, I'm already claimed by another."

He gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder. Then grinned.

"Opus doesn't much like to share."

Arya laughed. Not a mocking laugh, no no no, a genuine, carefree laugh.
Was it the kiss? It might have been...but not wholly from the kiss. The way he laughed at everything, his carefree personality...she was drawn to it.
"To hell with Opus!"
And she kissed him.

Oh.


Oh...

Oh.

It took a few moments for Dao to realize what he was doing, but somehow he and Arya were now pressed up against a building, kissing fiercely as his tongue wrestled in the heat of her mouth with his.

And his body..

Well...

It's been sometime since he'd just let himself fall to the whims of a woman..sure there had been some since Jada- she had rejected him countless times...

But they were few and far between. And normally when he was too pent up for his own good. And now was clearly one of those times, as he was apparently trying to have sex with her through their clothes.

Arya might as well have practically been a vampire herself the way she hungrily was kissing Dao, her back pressed up against the brick of the building. One of her hands was gripping Dao's black and turquoise hair, the other hand on his chest. If her heart could beat any faster, it would probably burst. And for the first time with somebody, she felt...happy. Like she could spend forever right where she was. Right now.

He could hear her heart racing, practically smell the heat pumping through her veins.  It called to something feral within him as he continued to growl and kiss at her, his fangs lengthening. 
And she'd begin to feel him ripping and working at her clothing- never mind the fact they were still very much in public as his body still reacted to hers with animalistic magnetism. 

Ever since Dao first kissed her, Arya had been thinking about how his lips felt on hers...and now she didn't have to remember because it was happening again. Her hand gripped Dao's hair tighter and she kissed back harder. A tiny inkling of fear was in the back of her mind, but she ignored it, feeling the electricity and the passion of the moment.

One button, two, three, four...
Buttons flung away from her clothing, scattering to the ground where torn string that once bound some of her clothing began to collect.

"You're wearing an awful lot of layers.." he growled through kisses, deft hands working at each layer atop his prize.

"We could be on it like rabbits if you'd only had a skirt.."

Fangs traced against her throat as he lapped at her pulse. Then kissed and nibbled against it, whimpering at the blood that heated within.

Arya gasped as she felt him kissing on her neck.
Dao was insanely good at this, and Arya found herself grabbing at Dao's shirt, wanting to just tear it off of him.

He could feel the heat of her veins, almost taste its coppery zeal as he nibbled and sucked at her throat. He was beginning to lose himself-
The hunger.. the lust...

Jada, forgive me.

There was a savage flourish of motion. He knew if something wasn't satisfied he'd tear this woman to pieces. 

That was the problem with being a vampire- hunger and lust were so closely woven together. But atleast there was obvious consent-

And after a rage of pure animalistic fury- he began making wild love to her against the building- half their clothing ripped off and hanging off their bodies as he simply took this woman with wild, unhinged abandon.

Arya was lost in a whirlwind of passion. Somewhere along the way she had torn off Dao's shirt, and was making love to Dao with reckless abandon.

When all was said and done, Dao'bachpa lay in a heap with a woman in his arms and a pile of useless clothing in the back alley of a building. Occasionally, some passerbyers would stroll past and then stare before scurrying on their way.

Dao didn't much care. He was considered an animal now, a beast- and was just thankful he didn't try to suck the woman dry through the act.

And it had been far too long since he'd had sex. He smiled satisfyingly from where he lay and studied Arya. He just hoped she didn't mind they kind of did it in public.

"You were about as wound up as me," he said, giving her a dimpled cheek, crooked grin. "Sorry we went about it so long. I forget normal human limitations and well.." he shrugged. "It was either do that with you for the past hour and a half or I'd try to suck out all your blood "

Arya gave him a wolfish grin.
"Don't apologize. I could have gone at it longer."
"Wow, that was amazing...you were amazing," Arya softly said.


"Should we get presentable again? Then we could get something to eat? And...if you don't mind...I'd like to share some of my backstory—-explain why I was so scared of vampires.

Dao's eyebrows raised.
"Wait... you're still not frightened of me?" He tilted his head, appearing serious and thoughtful before flashing her a toothy grin. 
"Even after all.." he gestured towards their forms, both naked, and looking still joined.
"All this?" He teased.

Arya thought about that for a minute.
"You could have easily killed me, but you didn't."
She traced patterns on Dao's arm.
"I'll take the risk."

"Well.." he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That is true. I even had to hold back when we were acting like rabbits.  "

He smiled and just remained nestled against her.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised you'rea risk taker.  I mean you did try to kill Opus Dey."

Arya giggled.
"I did, didn't I?"
She grew somber.
"That was rather stupid of me, I'll admit...but I couldn't help myself."
Then she gasped as she remembered something.
"That fucker stole my sword!"

Dao, amused, tilted his head.

"See.. now the first mistake was likely you told him about the sword."

"Well, I made the mistake of falling asleep and then when I woke up he was gone, and had taken the sword with him."
"So," Arya said, happily resting against Dao, "What's the plan?"

Dao casually looked up at the sky.

"Well.. " he proposed with a thoughtful demeanor.  "We could have more sex."

Arya's heart started to race at the thought.
"I—-I would like that, actually...do you want to go somewhere else or just do it again right here?"

At that, Dao grinned broadly. 
"You should be careful offering that to a vampire," he chastised, playfully. "We have eternal stamina," he then added with a wag of his brows. "But good news for you, since I'm technically undead.. I'm shooting blanks! No vampire babies for us!" He went on, tossing his head back in an almost maniacal laugh.

Arya laughed and and snuggled closer, teasingly kissing Dao on the neck.
"I wouldn't care if you weren't shooting blanks, Dao. I just want to be with you."

The vampire went strangely quiet after she spoke. Then he looked down at the woman in his arms and gave a fanged smile. 

"You know.. that's exactly every vampire's dream. " he barked a laugh.  "Dinner and a date!"

He must've found himself hilarious as he tossed his head back and laughed some more.

Dao's laugh was endearing, and so she lied in his arms, her mind considering something.

She laughed along with him, it was impossible not to.

"Do you think I'll ever get my sword back from Opus?"

Dao considered her question with a shrug. "We could go ask him," he suggested. "For being a criminal master mind, he can be a pretty nice guy. Maybe he'll give it back if you say please?"

He was curious though.

"What's with that sword anyway? It got a story?"

She really didn't want to face Opus again.
"Well, the sword was highy practically thrown at me by some old wizard after I killed my last dragon."

Dao considered that conundrum before frowning.

"Do you think it's dangerous?"

Arya contemplated that.
"Well...it is light for its size...I don't know! I don't know much about magical swords."

Dao considered her words briefly, but got distracted by her pert breasts. He moved a hand to lightly caress them, that stroke moving down her form as he grinned.

Then he looked back up into her eyes.

"You know.. you're a lot of fun to be around." Then he laughed. "Reckless.. but fun. Can't say I've had this much fun in ages."

Arya laughed softly, then her breath caught in her throat as she felt Dao touch her breasts. She smiled, resting her arm on Dao's leg and squeezing his thigh, lightly kissing his neck.
"You're the nicest person I've ever met," she said sincerely. "And the funniest," she said, kissing him this time on the jaw.

He hummed in appreciation to her affections.

"Nicest?" He couldn't help but laugh, but another hum of appreciation rose as she kissed at his jaw. He bit a fang into his lower lip, trembling at the attentions. 

"Well, the last part is atleast honest..."

Nicest..

He couldn't help but let that idea roll around inside his head. He had always been sweet on his lover, Jada, when they had been together.. she would coo over him and make a fuss over how handsome he was- falling in love with the strikingly unique features of his Saranthian heritage.

He was idly running a hand down the soft skin of her back before he turned to her, really taking the moment to admire the woman in his arms.

"Could we make love this time?" He asked, sincerely. It had been too long since he'd gotten a chance to just.. indulge properly with a woman.

"Both parts were equally honest, Dao," she said softly, this time pressing a kiss to his neck.
"You are the nicest, funniest, sexiest person I've ever met," she breathed, a slight blush creeping onto her cheeks.
"Has anyone ever told you your eyes are the most striking turquoise? They're so handsome," Arya whispered.
Arya's breath caught in her throat at Dao's question.
"I'd love nothing more," Arya said, the blush settling fully on her cheeks, her hand wandering up Dao's thigh.

There was a new light to his eyes and warmth to his cheeks. He cupped her face, smiling as he looked into her eyes mord deeply.

"It's been a while since I've been able to feel a woman more deeply," he told her, voice breathy as he coaxed her beneath him. "More properly..."

He settled above her, keeping her legs parted as he slipped his body between hers. He could feel her heat, and smell their scents from having peaked earlier. He just allowed himself to revel in it all, his eyes never leaving hers, as he leaned forward, forehead pressed to hers as his body sunk into hers.

He shivered at the feeling and began to move slowly, gently as he moaned.

She felt his hands on her thighs, spreading her legs so he could slide into her.
Arya felt him sink into her, the sensation of feeling so full causing her to moan in pleasure.
If what they did before was unabashed lust, this was wistful love, their movements slower, but just as full of passion. The slow burning flames of—-could it be love—-love burned at both of them, and Arya gazed into his eyes, feeling as she could drown in them.
"Fuck, Dao, don't stop," she breathed, meeting his hips with movement of her own.

He grinned at her words.
"I wasn't planning on it." 

His actions were tender, slow but with purpose- stoking her inner flame with long, purposeful strokes. The sensations were so tender, the embers between them growing hotter as he panted, and just continued to slide in and out of her, shivering each time he returned to her anew.

Everything felt so good.
She gripped him tightly, and like she was starving, kissed him passionately, moaning into Dao's mouth, reveling in the sensations.

The motions were even agonizing to him. One slow stroke within... a slow, steady and needful pull back; only to slip inside her again- a little faster but still slow in a way it was like taking a drink. He shivered, their kisses deepening as he moved with primal, lustful need- only doing it at a snail's pace.

But he wanted to taste her, to fully experience the sensation of her body.

"Arya.." came his words, breathily through a kiss. "Tell me all about you... about this woman who I am making love." His hands held onto her hips to keep their bodies pressed together as they sensually moved in a sweet, slowly brewing ecstasy. 

The sensations were almost torturous.
At Dao's question, she took a breath.
"My—my parents were killed by vampires. That's why originally-when I found out you were a vampire-I had reacted the way I did. But,"-one of Arya's hands was holding Dao's hip, the other one tracing patterns on his back—"I'm not afraid anymore," she said softly.

He shivered at her reveal. Did that.. make him want to fuck harder? He swallowed back that animalistic tendency.  No.. no he wanted to make love to a woman properly.  But at that revelation...

He shared one of his own.

"I gave myself to a vampire," he confessed. "They were after my lover. I couldn't let them have her." Inspite of himself, his rhythm within her began to move faster. 

"And so I turned into one of them. They didn't est me but turned me into this." He could have laughed but..

He didn't. 

Still he moved inside her with a purpose, long and painfully sensual.

He panted. 

"But my lover rejected me once I turned... but I can't blame her. I'm a monster."

Arya gasped as she felt him slowly pick up speed. The small flame in her core was beginning to kindle into an inferno.

"Dao...you're not a monster," she said softly, moving her hips slowly to match his rhythm.
"You sacrificed your life to save your lover. That's not the actions of a monster. That's the actions of a good man."

This time he did laugh. 

"A good man who sold himself to Opus Dey.. wanting to protect the woman who rejected me."

He panted, picking up the pace another notch as he grunted, moaning at the feel of her. 

"I've done terrible things for that contract," he said, keeping pace and eyes locking to hers. 
"My days of being good have already come and gone."

There was a feralness to his eyes at that statement, as he could feel the blood pumping inside her veins. 

That delicious blood...

"I'm not bound to a contract...but I too have done bad things...but not in the name of protecting someone...simply because I wanted money..."
A moan escaped her, Dao's length moving almost torturously slow.
"Fuck...I need you," she whispered.

It had been too long since he'd had a woman. Simply enjoyed her, had her all to himself. And to be so intimate...
So connected and so deep...


The pair warred between passion and bliss- riding that fine line before both had fallen onto the throws of passions and lay in a heap- exhausted but so very much content. There was something to be said about making that deeper connection when you were with a woman, and he lay curled up beside her, humming softly as he kissed at her hair.

He knew this moment, this distraction might not last- especially as a few that scuttled past them made a fuss.  Dao only sighed and closed his eyes.

" I suppose we ought to move."

But he himself made no such effort.

"I suppose," Arya murmured, sitting up alittle and grabbing what clothes they had left.
"We could go back to my cabin...rest alittle. I only have one bed but I can share it with you—I-I mean only if you want to," she was tripping over her words in an almost comedic fashion.

Dao gave a soft laugh, an echo of the strange laugh he always gave. 

"Are you offering to share a bed? Isn't that some silly kinda troupe?" He waggled his eyebrows at her before he moved to stand, offering her his hand. 

"But I like silly troupes.." he gave her a grin. "Otll add more depth to our story."

Arya took his hand and stood up, looking around to get her bearings, finally pointing south.
"My house is that way."

Dao couldn't help but grin that silly grin of his. Perhaps it was because he was unlike most vampires, and most men, that few took him as a serious threat. In truth, he was still himself.

Just now he had to battle with the demon's of blood lust. And there was no easy way to put it- when those cravings hit... he was something else.

"You know.. I always figured a woman like you didn't have a place of her own. You don't seem like the type to be chained to one place."

"Oh I'm not...but I still need a place to lay low occasionally. And store all of the artifacts and weapons I find."
Arya was still pissed that Opus had taken her sword.
She started to walk ahead of him, pulling on his hand to get him to follow.

Dao allowed her to lead, smirking thoughtfully at what she had said.

"So it's a place you feel is safe. Or atleast, hidden well enough to keep treasure.." he mused, then his eyes lit up. 

"Oh! Is that why you're taking me there?"He so cleverly asked, giving her a broad, toothy grin.