Fear of the Dark [M]

[Lion]

"Very well," Decebal said with a sigh and moved deeper into the cabin.  It was dusty and had seen little use in recent years it seemed, but it was good enough for the day and would allow them to rest up as needed.

"You sure you don't need anything?"

[DragonSong]

Blood. She needed blood. She was exhausted and hurt and she needed to feed.

Gwen shook her head. "I'm fine." Her eyes flicked over him and her brow furrowed. "You should worry about yourself. I think some of Darryl's little minions took a chunk out of you."

[Lion]

Hm, point taken then.

Decebal didn't respond and instead have a sniff that bordered on a scoff.  They were going to be traveling together for some time and needed to learn to get along.  But for now he'd give her her space and went to set his gear down.  He pulled off his pack and had the right field equipment for medical dressings, and went about binding his wounds.

[DragonSong]

Gwen turned her face away from him and swallowed. Gods. The scent of blood used to turn her stomach, but now it just made her hungry.

She licked her lips, throat dry, and closed her eyes with a shaky breath. "U-um." She winced at her stutter and tried to breathe through her mouth to lessen the scent. "So...Decebal, right? What's your plan once we get to this sacred ground?"

[Lion]

Decebal was cleaning the claw marks on his shoulder.  His brow twitched a the sound of her licking her lips.  Eyes flicked to her and he narrowed them suspiciously.  "My plan?" he replied with a raised brow.

"And why do you need to know?"

[DragonSong]

She narrowed her eyes. "Because it involves me being bait, that's why," she snipped in reply. Gods, she was so sick of that look- only three people had learned what she was since she's been turned, but once they had that was the look they all have her, as though she was a feral animal ready to snap.

[Lion]

"Yeah, and you'll come out still intact by the end of it, so what difference does it make?" he murmured, working at the straps of his weapons and slipping the harness from his shoulders.  Setting them aside, he pulled off his armor and was able to better access the wound.

"I have a plan.  But I'm not sure telling you would be the best thing.  We need to be prepared for anything, right?  So what if you find out, have a change of heart, and go running off to tell Lorian?  Not that you'd get very far if you tried," he said, tone in warning.

[DragonSong]

Gwen hissed at him, catlike. It wasn't exactly that she didn't understand his distrust- in fact, it was probably smart, all things considered. But the implication that she would ever aid her sire had her hackles raising.

"Believe me," she growled, "there isn't a power on earth that could make me go back to Lorian. If anything, I'll just bail on this secret plan of yours and keep running."

[Lion]

"Hmmm," was the noise he made.

He finished up patching his wounds before knotting it and pulling his tunic back over his head.  "You've got a point," he said with a nod.  "The sacred place is called Afasel's Landing, where there remains a relic with legendary magic.  Holy magic to be exact.  A spear weilded by a warrior of the same name, a former member of the Serenian Order of the Moon to be exact.  I figure if the place is real, why not the spear, and the power that it holds.  Afasel was a warrior of the Order of the Moon, and subsequently left because of some disagreement."

[DragonSong]

"The Order of the Moon?" Gwen repeated with a frown. "What- and you think whatever power it had is going to kill Lorian?"

That seemed a bit far fetched to her; her sire was old, and powerful. She'd seen him survive things that would have killed a dozen of their kind when she was under his thrall.

"And what if you're wrong?" she asked. "What if it doesn't work? Or it doesn't even exist? You have some sort of exit strategy?" Gods knew they would need one if things went south.

[Lion]

"I could be wrong.  But I'm trying to stay positive here.  Can't you do the same?"

[DragonSong]

She snorted. "I'm being realistic. If something goes wrong, Lorian will kill us. And it's not going to be quick." She shuddered slightly. Her tone was snippy, but her eyes betrayed a very real fear.

[Lion]

"Then we'll just have to make sure we kill him quicker," Decebal said with a low griping tone.  However, he knew she was right.  What if his plan didn't work?  What then?  What if Lorian didn't die as easily as cutting off his head... Decebal looked to Gwen for a few seconds.

"What do you recommend then?' he found himself asking.  "You've lived with Lorian.  You know him better than I do.  What do you know about him that i don't?"  He was completely serious and sat before her.

[DragonSong]

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Not much, really. It wasn't- I wasn't like a confidant or anything. More like a...toy. Or a pet."

Gwen gritted her teeth. "He's not like the others. I mean, he is, but...he's just more powerful. I don't know how he did it, but I've seen him stand in sunlight. Not for long, and I think it hurt him, but he did it." She shook her head. "And he's fast. And- and he can control people, even other vampires, like it's nothing."

She shrugged and looked up at him. "I'm sorry. I really don't know much."

[Lion]

"Control people?  What does that look like, when it happens?  Is that what happened to you?" he asked.

[DragonSong]

Gwen nodded slowly. "Yes. Before- before he turned me, he...didn't really need to," she admitted, scowling. Gods she wished she could go back and smack her mortal self upside the head. "After...I tried to leave. I called him a monster, I was panicking. And he..."

She frowned as she remembered, working through it slowly. "He sort of took me by my shoulders, and me made me meet his eyes- and then it was like I couldn't look away. And he was talking to me, I think he was telling me to calm down, and then I just felt...nothing. Well, not nothing. Sort of vaguely content."

She shrugged, looking away. "I did anything he asked after that. He'd have to do it over again every once in a while, it would start to wear off. When I figured out what was happening, I started faking it, making it seem as though as was still under his thrall even when I started to feel myself again. That's how I got away."

[Lion]

"Wow," Decebal murmured after a while.  His eyes roved over her a moment, wondering why Lorian wanted to capture her in the first place.  However did it matter? He executed his power how he pleased. And if there was a specific reason, then that remained to be discovered.

"That's heavy," he said.  "When did his power start to wear off?  After you turned?"

[DragonSong]

She nodded slowly. "Sort of. When I was...a newborn, I guess, it seemed pretty easy for him to control me. As I started getting used to what I was, what I could do, he had to- enthrall me or whatever you want to call it more often."

Her eyes flicked back to him, blood red and hard as diamond. "That's a vampire power, but he could do other things. I think he was a mage, back when he was mortal. That magic shouldn't have stayed with him...but I think some of it did, somehow."

[Lion]

"I didn't know that could carry over," Decebal admitted.  "Then again I of all people should know that though.  My...mother was a witch.  And something happned to her when I...when."

He frowned and looked at his arm.  "I should have never been born.  She changed when I became like this.  Turned into some reaver.  I don't think it's much like Lorian, but she found a way to keep her power during her transformation.  In fact it grew in strength.  You think the same thing happened with him?"

[DragonSong]

Gwen blinked and suddenly focused on him, surprised that he'd shared that. "Um...maybe. I'm not sure, I never really was much good with magic."

She cleared her throat and dropped her eyes, mumbling. "I'm uh- sorry. About your mom and all."