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Valley of the Hunted (Frelance & Kikora)

Truth be told, Teyha did not think that her scream would be able to do anything at all. It cut off at the end in a sob before she realized that Ross had rolled off her. She had meant to startle him, instead he hit the floor with a thump that made the witch wince, and she wondered why SHE felt guilty for stopping him from raping her. He stayed on the bed, staring with wide eyes as the man tried to recover. "Are you okay?" She asked hoarsely before he leaped at her with a snarl, and she was pinned again, but this time his hand was at her throat.

She swallowed hard, and nodded, staring up at him with wide and fear filled eyes. There was no hate or contempt now, but just a deep fear. She trembled violently from head to toe, her lip trembling despite her attempts to hold it still. One by one tears slid down her cheeks and she sobbed, any resolve she had broken. Still, she was not far enough gone to miss the light bathing the room, from the window curtains that were pulled half aside at one point or another. Had it been Janek, Ophelie, or even Kaura they might have fought to keep the vampire in the light to see how the sun might harm it. But Teyha, she had no ill will for vampires themselves, only what they did while in power. The moment she saw the light she reacted, and pulled at the blanket folded at the bottom on the bed. In one long tug she swept it up, and covered both Ross and herself in darkness. For a moment all she did was sob, before taking in a shuddered breath. "I'm sorry." She said at last, "I just.... I am afraid. I don't want to have sex. I'm not sensual, it's frightening to me, scary... I wont be forced, and I wont be seduced, it's just not going to happen... So please, please don't try to have sex with me?"
 
As Ross watched he saw her will break. he felt sorry for her. He had not wanted to go this far, it would have been better to slowly break down her defenses. He might have been able to to change her views. He slowly let go of her throat as he realized that she asked if he was okay. He didn't get it she hated him and his kind but here she was asking if he was okay just minutes after he had tried to rape her.

His face softened as she started to tremble and cry. He could not help but see her as a defenseless child. He had seen the same look so many times before. It had been part of the reason he had left after they took this valley.

He knew he should get out of the sun before it started to weaken him. As he was about to leave she through the blanket over them and started to speak. He listened in stunned silence as he tried to figure out why she was doing this and even more surprising to him was what she was saying. He could not believe it she was scared, it wasn't that hated him it was just that she was scarred. with out thinking he reached down and pulled down her skirt so that she was covered. He hesitated a moment then climbed over her and lay on the bed next to her. "I will try to respect your wishes. I cannot promise that I will but I will try." Brushed the tiers from her cheeks and kissed her lightly before he lay down and closed his eyes. "Rest." He lay there but he could not go to sleep. He knew he should not have stayed with her. He should have thrown off the blanket and hid the pain as he walked through the sun to his bed.
 
Teyha tensed when his hand landed on her skirt again, but he only pulled it up, covering her again. She relaxed, and let Ross relax under the blanket next to her. His fingers wiped her cheeks clean before he kissed her quick and light on the lips, making her jump again before he pulled away.

Slowly she let herself move next to him, and rested her head under his chin, her breathing slowly returning back to normal. "Please try." She whispered back hoarsely. Her fingers tightened briefly in his shirt, and she curled in tightly to him. "I just don't understand why." She said after a moment, "Why do men only want to force me, time and again? Do I do something wrong that begs such actions? It's frightening, can you understand how terrifying it is to me?"
 
Ross kept his eyes closed as he felt Teyha curl up against him. He didn't move at first, but then he slowly curled his arm around her and held her tight up against her. He kissed the top of her head and started to brush her hair with his other hand. "Sleep, it will make everything better." He could remember hearing those words spoken to him but he could not remember who had said them to him. "I know what its like to be terrified. Just not for the same reasons you are." He could feel himself starting to drift off. "Sleep, your body needs rest. We will talk once the sun goes down." His grip on her loosened slightly as he let sleep over come him.
 
Slowly Teyha nodded, and let her body grow limp. Truth be told, she was absolutely exhausted after all that happened that day, and eager to get some rest. Ross stroked her hair until he fell asleep, and she quickly joined him in slumber, buried under the thick blanket that sheltered the man from the sun. She sighed softly in her sleep, dozing dreamlessly for hours, only rousing when the sun was setting, and the room was pitch black, the candles that lit the room the night before long since burned out. She pushed away groggily, feeling something reflectively pull her back. "What the..." She murmured sleepily, and tugged again, but even asleep the vampire was impossibly strong. "Who is it?!" She cried, trying to make sense of what was happening. She pushed against something roughly, and her weight slid down. Unable to stop herself she slid down out of the vampires arms and off the bed, thumping painfully onto the floor. It wasn't until she landed that she remembered where she was, and who she was with. She scrambled back away from the bed, bumping painfully into the walls in her haste, completely blind in the darkness.
 
Ross didn't stir through the day as he slept. His body had stopped moving while he was asleep years ago. It was safer if he didn't make as sound, while he was dead to the world.

His mind was a rush of images, feeling and thoughts that he had all but forgotten about. He had tired hard to forget about what he had witnessed and helped do in the fight for the valley. Teyha had brought back everything that he had suppressed.

He woke slowly as he felt something pulling away from him and held on tighter out of habit. he felt her push again but still didn't realize it was Teyha. He was about to pull her against him when she slipped away and crashed to the floor. He realized then who it was and he bolted up right. He looked around the room for what she was trying to get away from then shook his head and stood up. "Stop hurting yourself. I could have killed you or raped you while we were sleeping but I didn't now did i?" He walked over the dresser and took out a few candles. He found the matches and lit one and used it to light the others. He didn't need the candles but he was sure that Teyha would feel much better if she could see. "Come here and help me put around the room." He held out all but two of the candles to her.
 
Teyha had herself pressed tightly against the wall when the first candle was lit, and finally she could see. "Very comforting." She said dryly, and pushed herself to her feet. "I am used to sleeping alone, waking up beside someone is an entirely new experience." She informed him as she hesitantly took the candles, and began to light them. "I could have thrown the blanket off you during the day, to see if the myth about sunlight is true." She pointed out as she lit the candles, "I didn't, but that doesn't mean you trust me, or will let me go home..." Her voice cracked at the word home, and she looked somewhat deflated. "Not like I have one anymore."
 
Ross walked into his room and used the candles to light the others in his room. "You didn't seem to mind last night. I think you want it more than you think." set the two candles in brackets on either side of a large map that showed most of the known world. He ran his finger along the roads that passed by the valley and frowned as they all went around it and not through it. It was not surprising since he had needed a letter of permission to get past the border but still it would bring fresh blood if they had roads gong through the valley. "You should not have spit on me. I don't get why you did it. You had already lost and you must have known it then." It hadn't crossed his mind that she might have been trying to get her self killed because he had never killed anyone for insulting him. he had always found it more effective to make there life hell. "Anyways if you had thrown the blanket off of me you would have been disappointed." He turned away from the map and went to her.
 
Teyha stiffened when he mentioned her spitting at him, her jaw working silently for a moment before she shoved the candles into the holders and moved back to the bed. "I was angry." She lied as she flopped back onto the bed, watching as he approached. "I'm as close to a pacifist as you'll find." She told him bluntly, meeting his eyes boldly. "I don't hurt people, not even your kind. As for last night.... I slept because I was tired. You've drained enough blood to make me lightheaded, and I've never slept to well as it is. I'll either miss sleep for days on end, or sleep like the dead through it, depending. It just so happened that last night was the later, and I needed to catch up on lost sleep. Don't get any ideas, I wont let you share my bed regularly."
 
Ross wasn't sure she had done it out of anger but he could not think of any other reason at the moment so he decided not to dig further. He smiled as se told him that she was a pacifist. Before last night he would not believed it but now he could. "If your what is called a pacifist, then I don't want to meet all those violent people." He laughed and walked back into his room. "There are some clothes in the dresser. If you like anything you see it’s yours." He had opened a wardrobe that was directly opposite the doorway to there room. "We are going to get you some food and don't tell me your not hungry. I know you must be hungry now." He slipped the shirt he was wearing off and took a black shirt that made his pale skin even more noticeable. "After that you can do what you want. I have business to take care of. I also have to make sure Vikki hasn't killed your friend while we slept." He was tempted to keep her tired since she seemed to be more agreeable when she was exhausted. He disregarded the thought quite quickly, she was a person even if she was his now. She didn't deserve to go through that hardship.
 
Teyha politely turned her head away while Ross dressed, trying to ignore the burning heat that was spreading across her face at the glimpse of hiss half naked form. "Thank you." She said awkwardly, and moved to the dresser herself. Inside were a few long dresses, far better quality and make than the old navy blue one she wore.... But instead she plucked down a shirt and pants designed for a man Ross' size, and she clutched them to herself. "Would you mind waiting in the hall?" She asked, flashing him a hopeful smile, "I don't want to undress while anyone is watching, if you would...?"
 
Rose smiled at her as he saw her blush. It was not something he saw very often. He raised an eyebrow at her choice of clothing but just shook his head and kept smiling. "Don't take to long. the night its getting any longer." He walked by her and ruffled her hair playfully before he left the room. He would have liked to stay in the room but he was going to try and get her to trust him a bit more. He knew all he should care about is the information she could give him but there was more to it. He had not felt for anyone for almost a century and now he could feel an old feeling forming in side of him.
 
Teyha was surprised that he actually left, ruffling her hair lightly before he moved out of the room and into the hallway. She stared after him for a few moments before she shook her head, and began to undress, her back to the door just in case.

Teyha...? Janek's voice sounded in her mind, and the girl stiffened, pausing as she undressed. Are you alright, did he hurt you badly? He asked, his voice full of concern.

He stopped. Teyha responded, throwing a glance over her shoulder to where Ross was waiting through the door. The sun rose, he was tired. Teyha finished, deciding at the last moment to not reveal the pain she put the man in with her scream. The fact was, she wanted to find out for herself why he stopped, and what he was planning. He was different than the other vampires... And she wanted to find out how.

She finished dressing quickly, brushed her teeth with a gritty paste by the wash bin, and brushed her hair before she emerged from the room. Despite her best efforts, she looked rather comical. Her curls still fell messily around her face, and the clothes hung limp around her petite form, like a child wearing his father's clothes. She had to tie the pants up with a length of chord she found, to keep them from falling around her ankles, and the shirt hung in baggy folds around her, disguising that curve Ross had felt the day before. "So... Breakfast then?" Teyha asked, completely unfazed by her appearance. "Can you kind eat our food?"
 
Ross spoke with a few of the maids and other servants who passed by the room as he waited. None of them had any interesting new for him, which was what he had expected.

He closed his eyes and leaned against the cool stone wall as he waited. He traced the mortar in the wall for a minute as he thought about why he had left the room but stopped when he found that it was a useless question to ask. He knew the answer but he didn't want to admit it to himself. His eyes snapped open as he heard the door start to opened and chuckled when he saw Teyha. "Yes, I can eat it. But its just for the taste. It does nothing for me unless its raw meat." He stood up and headed for the nearest stair case. "Which I have eaten before. If you we wondering." It was not the worst meal he had had but definitely not something he would to again.
 
Teyha nodded slightly, "Well at least you can taste it, right?" Teyha responded with a smile. "I'd imagine only being able to drink blood would become painfully boring after some time." She followed close to his side as they moved through the halls, her head dipped low to the passing servants. She stiffened when a crowd would pass, at some points even ducking behind Ross, her hand grasping his sleeve lightly to keep from being lost in the crowd. "I'm sorry." She said when the people had passed, "I am not fond of large groups, I get swallowed up and knocked around too easily."
 
Ross stared straight ahead as they moved through the halls. he watched as the servants glanced at Teyha then at him. He smiled every time they got a look of terror in their eyes as they saw that he was watching."Yes, I can taste it. It does not taste the same though. at least I don.t think it does." He couldn't quite remember if everything tasted the same as it did before he was changed. He looked down at Teyha and shook his head. "It doesn't get boring to a vampire. What we taste is much different to what you taste." He stopped talking as they moved through the crowd. He didn't acknowledge that she was hiding behind him until they were out of earshot of the group. "It's alright. just stick close and you will be fine." He turned into the kitchen and nodded to the cook, who he realized was one of the men he had bought from the slavers. "The young one here needs some food, give her whatever she wants .. and I will have whatever you have cooking." He walked to the table and ignored the stares that he was getting. He had never eaten food since his arrival and the cook had never seen him eat either. He sat down and looked at Teyha. "To me each person has a different taste to there blood. so I guess to me its like tasting, chicken with one person and bacon with another. It is not something that can be explained really."
 
"Alright." Teyha murmured back, and didn't let go of his sleeve until they reached the kitchen. She smiled briefly to the chef, while Ross explained about his taste in blood. "I'll have whatever is on hand... Preferably red meat or green vegetables, but only if it's available." She told him with another brief grin before moving to sit down. Foods high in iron, they would be helpful with helping her recover after the bite. "I wonder if that has to do with the diet of the person you're feeding from...." Teyha mumbled to herself. "Does that mean some people taste better to you than others? Like me, how do I taste?"
 
The cook smiled back briefly. "I will see what I can do miss." He could see that she had been fed off of recently and not a small feeding either. He watched as Ross continued to talk with her. He went over to the stove and told a maid there to serve the first finished steak to Teyha. She maid hesitated then nodded. The food that they were cooking was for the soldiers that had just come off watch but the cook was loyal only to Ross so his needs were met first. Which in this cases meant Teyha got the food that was meant for the Castle soldiers. The cook just shrugged and moved off the prepare a salad as the meat cooked.

Ross watched the cook as he listened to Teyha and made a mental note to speak to the man later. He was glad that he had chosen well. He would need men like him later on. He turned back to Teyha. "It might be, but I think it is more than that." He smiled at her question. They were questions that came up all the time but he never got tired of hearing them. "They don't taste bad exactly but most Vampires have a type of blood they prefer." He just stared at her for a minute as he let her think her second question over. "Are you sure you want that answer?" If he told her the truth then she may try to run or do something stupid. So he was not sure he wanted to tell her but if she wanted to know he would tell her.
 
It didn't take long for two perfectly prepared steaks to be set in front of Ross and Teyha, and the maid bobbed her head in a quick bow before hurrying off again. Teyha began to eat slowly, nibbling on the salad before she gave it up for the steak. She considered if she honestly wanted to know, but she was a curious enough person that if she didn't find out it would bother her for some time yet. "Yes, I am sure." She said at last, setting down her fork for a moment. "What kind of blood do you prefer? Is it the kind like my own?"
 
"Thank you." Ross nodded to the maid and started to eat the steak slowly. He smiled slightly. it was interesting to eat something that he knew would do nothing for him. It tasted good but nothing like the blood he lived off of. His smiled became a grin at her answer. "I prefer a sweeter blood, most of the time. Though past that it is hard to say, I am sure any other vampire in this castle could tell you exactly what they look for in blood but I have not had the luxury of living in this valley for the past sixty years." He paused and ate a bit more of his steak. "I have taken the blood i can get for the past sixty years, it was not until recently that I have found a way to get blood from willing ... victims is what you might call them." He ate a bit more of his steak as he thought of a way to explain what her blood tasted like. "Yours, is definitely something i like. I guess you could say that it is like eating a fresh fruit. Its sweet but not to sweet at the same time. I would say it is like a good ale but I can't quite remember if that is good or not." He chuckled as he realized she probably had no clue what he meant by the ale. "What I meant was that i have not had ale for so long that i cant remember if it is good fresh or not." He shrugged and kept eating. He could feel his thirst growing and all the steak was doing was making it grow faster as he tasted the blood of in the beef.
 
It had actually been a log time since Teyha had tasted fresh, healthy beef. She ate eagerly, finishing the steak before Ross was even halfway done with his. She took a roll to absorb the juices, and finished that quickly as well, before answering. "So.... My blood is sweet?" She said, sounding somewhat surprised. She would never have guessed that taste, of all the flavors she could attribute to blood. She raised her wrist and peered at it curiously, as though she could see the maze of veins underneath. She shook her head for a moment, "I wouldn't know." She told him honestly. "Not a lot of alcohol in the valley, and I don't drink myself. Without a steady supply of imports we have to watch what we grow... We can't waste lad or food to make ale."
 
Ross watched as she ate. At least she was not trying to starve herself. He was glad that she was still talking it was much better than last nigh, When he had to fight for every word that she spoke. “Yes, to me its sweet. I doubt that you would taste anything other than iron if you tasted it.” He smiled as she looked at her wrist. He reached out and took her wrist gently. He pulled it between them and started to run his finger over all the veins as they went from her wrist to her elbow. “That some how doesn’t surprise me… If all goes well that will change and change fast.” He spoke softly enough that she would have trouble hearing him over the rest of the sounds in the kitchen. He looked up from the lines he was tracing on her arm as he let go of it. “Eat up, we don’t have all day remember.” He wouldn’t rush her but he wanted to get out and do some things before everyone found out that he was awake.
 
Teyha's eyes widened a degree when Ross took her hand, tracing each of her veins with the tip of her finger. She shivered slightly, watching him carefully before he released her again, and she ducked her head and ate quickly. "What do you plan to do with the valley?" She asked once she ate what she could stomach of the salad. Lettuce never held much appeal for her. She was just as likely to eat grass, at least that had some form of flavor. She scooted the plate away, and glanced back up at him, "Now we'll see Ophelie again?"
 
Ross’s eyes hardened at her question about his plans. He didn't trust her enough to tell her what he had planned. That would take sometime. "Now is neither the time nor place to being talking about it." He voice as cool and reserved. He had lots of plans for the valley but only time would tell what he could do. "Yes, I am going to see her. You may come but you won't like it." He stood up and motioned to one of the maids. She came quickly and took there plates. "Thank the cook for me and tell him I would like to see him later this evening in my quarters." She left quickly to deliver the message. “You can come or explore the keep. Its up to you at this point.” He was not sure how careful he would have to be with her but for now she could do what she wanted.
 
Teyha stood quickly and straightened her clothes fora moment so they didn't bunch up around her body. "I'm the town healer, powers or not." She reminded him, "It's my duty to care for the injured... And your friend certainly injured mine. I have to see her." She told Ross, and paused for a moment, her gaze faltering, "I was ruder than Ophelie." She told him at last, her voice dropping low. "I told her to wear the garlic, holy water, and cross... So why is she injured, and I get to sleep in a fine bed and eat food better than I have the sum of my life? If anyone should be punished, it's me, not her."
 
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