Born To Run

[The Returner]

The darkness was all consuming. He was drowning in nothingness and the sudden surge of panic and confusion soon dissolved into a puddle of recognition. Just as something invisible wrapped itself around his body and a voice pierced the black, Darien knew very well what was happening. Gritting his teeth, the Hekan took in all the insults that Christian rained upon his head knowing that trying to fight with words would not help; it could only intensify the vampire's wrath which was already enormous from the feel of his shadowy rope cutting into Darein's skin. Darien was never afraid of the dark but he wasn't fond of it either, especially when he couldn't do anything about it but suffer through. Yet, that was meant to be broken soon. After Christian's question, Darien might have replied with something witty; however, his body was thrown through the air unexpectedly. His vision came back just few seconds before he hit the wall, so he couldn't do much about the impact but to try and lessen it with his power, which didn't help much anyway. His head hit the bricks with a recognizable thud and his sense of sight left him once again as the Hekan got dazed. The nausea returned as Darien slid down the wall, partially collapsing on the floor. Somewhere on the edge of his consciousness he could hear familiar female voice that was soon labeled as 'Rowena gone back to normal', yet he couldn't care less what conversation she was having with their loving host.

Who knows whether it was thanks to his ability to temper the hard embrace with the wall, or because he was hit in the head many times before, either way Darien soon regained his eye sight, seeing what was happening in front of him. Christian and Rowena were engaged in some fishy type of dance since it involved breaking one of the cases and the two of them taking floor for their lover's bed. Just out of simple urge to go and help a damsel in distress, Darien tried to get to his feet fast enough to help his partner in crime, but apparently his body had a mind of its own because it refused to even let him get on his knees without screaming with pain and discomfort. Being bent forward on his knees, supporting the rest of his weight with his arms, Darien ironically resembled a beaten dog. His costume was torn around his chest where the rope cut in too much; his mask was lying shattered on the floor not so far from him and as a goodbye present, one of it's sharp ends cut the Hekan on the forehead. It was too dark to see but there was an outline of yet another bruise forming around that head injury. Trusting Rowena that she will be able to take care of herself, hearing her voice being so full of malevolence and spite, Darien stole just one look her way and what he saw would probably stay imprinted in his mind forever. The Rowena he saw was someone suffering no matter how petrifying she looked in that moment. She was clearly enjoying her little torture session, yet she didn't realize one thing and it came to Darien only as a hint, but the two of them actually were not as different as they believed to be. They both fought against their own kind. Rowena, no matter how well she presented herself to be part of the superior vampire race, hated her own kind with so much endearment, it was hard to believe she was capable of hosting those feelings. Darien, then, hated being a Hekan, for so many disadvantages his condition brought upon him. The whole concept of them not having to, in fact, abominate each other was a bit too much for him to comprehend at the moment, but the sense of deep connection between them somehow lifted his spirit, even though he would never trade his place with Christian right there and then.

Since the vampires were busy, and probably would be for another couple seconds or minute, Darien took his chances with his own little robbery. He had to have the papyrus. Sitting back and relaxing against the wall as he didn't trust his vestibular system to help him keep balance shall he try to stand up. Using his power of manipulation which was already weak and giving him headache straight away, Darien somehow managed to skillfully and swiftly unscrew the blots around the glass and move the piece of material on the side without letting it fall. The papyrus, afterwards, just gently, as if by its own will, flew into his pocket. Well, that might have been a bit glamorized since Darien caught it in the mid-air and stuffed it in his pocket just when Rowena finished her torture session with an enthusiastic yet spurious exclamation. For some reason, he didn't want her to know that he had the papyrus and so he hoped she didn't notice anything unusual as he was still collapsed by the wall, almost in the way the blow landed him there before. Watching her approaching, slightly beaten up but still maintaining a sense of nobility, Darien remembered the painting he saw earlier and his face screwed up a bit, though it would be hard to tell for an outsider whether the expression changed due to some precipitous pain, or the idea of drinking blood again. However, deep inside his mind he convinced himself to leave the issue of Rowena's past for later when they would leave this sickeningly colossal and dangerous place. "I guess I have no choice," he answered in slightly husky voice and took her arm, reminding himself to only have one or two sips. He still remembered the incident in the desert too clearly. The irony taste filled his mouth soon and he got light headed. Just as he promised himself, Darien didn't drink as much as his perplexed mind wanted, but it was still enough to get his heart beat faster for no apparent reason. Staying down on the floor couple more seconds after 'feeding' with his eyes closed, calming his psyche down, he then got up, a bit wobbly on his feet but stable nonetheless.

"I really could never get used to this," he commented on his unusual, energy snack, shaking his head only a bit. "I am not sure if what we are looking for is here. He got me before I could have any look further. Did you find it?" The next minutes were crucial for their survival. They had to be quick and organized now. Anytime wasted on something else than their initial purpose of being here, could as well cost them their life. Well, it would definitely cost Darien his own existence since he sincerely doubted that he would be able to take on anymore enemies at the state that he was in. Nothing else would describe his grasp of the situation more than a simple comparison of him feeling like a hive full of unsettled bees. The urgency in his expression was almost tangible yet there was no panic or anxiety undertones, just simple focus and determination of completing the task and getting out of the mansion. All he wanted at that moment was to get the blooming map and get lost, out of the city into the desert, preferably.

 

[Aine]

Never in a million years had Rowena thought giving someone her blood would feel so... natural, intimate even. The scarce leftovers of usual vampire mentality implanted in her subconscious were protesting in disgust over feeding a mere human - what's worse, a Hekan - with her very essence, yet this instinct was easily wrestled into submission by one of the rarest emotions in her arsenal: sympathy. And when his lips touched her arm, sucking the blood somewhat hesitantly, resentment encrypted in her genetic heritage simply crumbled to pieces. Repaying some the favors that Rowena owed him actually felt satisfying; being indebted to anyone, regardless of who it was, had always been more than little aggravating to her. Not that it showed in her behavior, though. The vampire's face remained an enigma, closely guarded secret. As he stood up, evidently still slightly shaken from the encounter with Chris, she almost reached out to support him, but decided against it.The time was their main enemy now and becoming Darien's crutch would have decreased their searching speed significantly. "No," she shook her head, "I've inspected every room of the damned third floor that held reasonable possibility of the map being there and nothing turned out. Unless Christian took a level in unpredictability and placed it in the kitchen, it has to be hidden here."

Refusing to discuss the matter further, Rowena started digging through piles of probably priceless artifacts; any history enthusiast would instantly jump after the opportunity to get his hands on them, but she showed them little respect. Richly decorated death masks, ritual knives embedded with rubies and other gemstones, various amulets, mostly in shape of the sacred scarab beetle... Pretty, yes, but completely useless, just like the Hekans begging for their owner's acknowledgement half an hour ago. Rubbish whenever I look. Seriously, Chris, either you suffer from particularly bad case of kleptomania or you were hatched from a magpie's egg. Despite the annoyance gnawing at her carefully maintained composure, her senses were tingling; maybe the wishful thinking clouded her judgment, but somehow, she felt that the map was really close. The search quickly led her to the darkened departments of this little private museum; even with her vampiric sight adapted to the wiles of night, Rowena had to blink a few times to dispel the blackness in front of her. Many glass showcases were resting her peacefully, sheltered from the greedy public... One of them contrasted in comparison with its comrades, though; the case in the back of the room, right next to unceremoniously battered sarcophagus, glinted in a way she could only describe as "metallic." A smile graced her lips; it was the typical, slightly maniacal grin of a hard-bitten gambler who had just bet his lifetime savings on a single game of poker. She went to the case, not a hint of uncertainty in her movements. Inner voice in the back of her mind told her that the material of the show case was probably a copper. Strange choice for something that's essentially supposed to be a safe deposit box. Expensive? Yes, but not really that solid. Why would Christian...? She frowned pensively; the miniature cogwheels in her brain were rotating so furiously the steam almost came out of her ears. "Darien? I think I've found it. There don't seem to be any protective mechanisms - not even a lock - but to be honest, that's what fuels my paranoia even more."

That was when she noticed the the odd carvings on the case's otherwise smooth surface. They obviously didn't serve any aesthetic purpose; the austere symbols were perfectly out of place as they couldn't be mistaken for hieroglyphs even by averagely intelligent dachshund. Rowena tilted her head aside. What is that? Some runes? Wait... Copper does have a certain advantage over other metals. Conductivity. And electricity isn't the only kind of energy that can be transmitted. "Don't touch the case," she turned to her partner. "From what I've read back in the days, those things short-circuit your magic; some of them can even reverse the magic's flow. If you don't want to end up as a Hekan version of KFC fried chicken, I advise you to stay away." Under normal circumstances, Rowena would have thought harder about how to solve the problem. She would have approached the affair with caution, which meant assembling a council of specialists on the topic of magic runes and letting them do their damn work. Slipping uninvited into masquerade ball where the punishment for getting caught would be being executed with the most brutal method imaginable, however, could hardly fall in the category of "normal circumstances." The weariness from teaching Christian a lesson about real pain also fogged her mind significantly... This, in combination with stress and desperate need to get the hell out of here as soon as possible, made Rowena reach after the fastening under the weak premise of "what-I-do-isn't-technically-magic-so-it-shouldn't-bake-me-alive." And surprisingly, the hypothesis proved to be true. Well... Partially.

Without a slightest sound, the case opened to reveal a scroll inserted into a golden bracelet; the bracelet had a semblance to cobra biting its own tail. An ancient symbol of time and how certain cycles of human history repeat over and over. Her fear of snakes didn't extend to inanimate objects, so Rowena took the map without hesitation and handed it to Darien. "Bingo, man. Now, for our escape plan, I propose..." Suddenly, her face twisted in painful grimace. She was right about one thing; the magic-suppressing signs couldn't hurt her since Vicissitude was regarded as a disease. Disease generally controlled by the individual's will, more blessing than curse, but still an illness that operated in vastly different ways than the magical energy. What the vampire didn't know, however, was the fact that these specific runes had also effects other than those recorded in the books she had read. Her hand, the one that had touched the case directly, felt like the flames broke out inside of it. Rowena squeezed the infected hand instinctively, bewildered and disturbed, but that didn't stop the feeling from spreading from her fingertips right to the palm slowly. And it wasn't just feeling; the afflicted spots quickly lost the healthy color, turning into very sinister shade of black. "Oh, fuck. Scratch that, double fuck. No, triple fuck." Rowena really knew very little about how rune magic worked, but she somehow doubted the hellfire consuming her hand would politely stop once it gets full and thank her for her assistance. Such powers never stopped before utterly devouring your very existence. Realizing that truth, the former commander opted for the only alternative that could save her skin. She closed her eyes. One breathless moment passed and a quiet thud resonated throughout the room. The bone in shape of machette from her second arm slid back into its place as Rowena stared wide-eyed on the piece of meat on the floor that used to be her hand. It didn't hurt, not more than slap on a wrist, but the pain was bound to appear later, when she snaps out of the shock.

The flood of fresh blood from her newest wound brought Rowena out of lethargy; cursing so indecently any drunken sailor would blush upon hearing her, she ripped the strip of a fabric from her dress and strangulated the limb with the help of her leg. "Damn. That's why I don't wear dresses; I always come up with the most outrageous ways to destroy them," she exclaimed, her voice noticeably shaky. Most of the normally thinking people would probably question Rowena's sanity after such a statement, but the shock and natural inclination towards gallows humor actually resulted in similar remarks fairly often. Even though she was understandably upset, thrown out of balance and deeply frightened of what she knew would come, the vampire - probably thanks to handling life-threatening insanity daily prior to her banishment - forced herself to concentrate on the most imminent danger. "Darien. We need to get out of here real fast and since we don't look exactly inconspicuous right now, the main entrance won't do. I am not in the mood to argue with you, so just trust me with this and get on my back. We'll take the air route; the second floor isn't a suicidal height for me." When he did as she asked him to, Rowena took the few steps necessary to reach the balcony, opened the door and jumped without any foreplay. The flight was short and much more uncoordinated than their parachute jump, but her instincts allowed her to land on her feet safely. She couldn't stop the painful hiss, though; the impact was still pretty hard and Darien as an additional weight didn't help at all. Whole world was spinning with her and nausea hit her with subtlety of a bulldozer; her legs gave up as she collapsed on the ground, panting heavily. For once, Rowena had nothing smart or witty to say.

 

[The Returner]

Since Rowena wasn't lucky in the other rooms either, the two of them had to commence a new search. However, this time it went quicker since they didn't explore alone but together. Soon Rowena called out to Darien and the Hekan, as quickly as he could, limped towards her. Sure the box looked rather intriguing and if for nothing else but sheer curiosity, Darien would have touched it. There was something mesmerizing about the complexity of symbols, yet the meaning of the runes eluded him. Thankfully, though, his vampire companion had a clue as to what the pattern meant and prevented Darien's nosy fingers from getting hurt again. Glad he had escaped yet another beating, he watched Rowena retrieve and old-looking piece of papyrus. His heart sped up just as much as when he discovered the other piece of magic in his pocket. This meant end to their visit and a proper head start for their search for the book. This meant a step, or maybe a leap forwards, so that they could become victorious. Corner of his mouth went up in a smirk just as Rowena was ecstatically showing her own content. Though, it was always believed that what looks too good usually is not going to last, or it isn't even true. Such was their situation, believe it or not.

The map flew downwards and Darien caught it in the midair, just as he looked at Rowena with a question written all over his face his eyebrows raised high. Seeing Rowena's face being screwed up in such clear statement of pain, the Hekan got confused as to what has happened. Could there be another vampire or Hekan who discovered them and was now attacking from some hiding place? No, this thought was annulled the moment Darien's eyes traveled down Rowena's body, initially searching for some fresh wound, when he noticed her hand blackening in an unnatural speed. He has never seen something like this happen before. It looked as if Rowena's hand was getting burnt to coals by some invisible flames. Before he could as much as to ask if there was anything he could do, Rowena, graciously as ever accompanying her act by cordial remarks, openly and with precision of a butcher cut her hand off. Looking at the lost limb, properly wide eyed, Darien was certain to have troubles with forgetting this moment and its unalloyed sense of self-harm and brutality. However, he got his act back together very soon just as some blood from Rowena's arm spilled over the hem of his trousers. Remembering that he had a handkerchief in his pocket, he swiftly took it out. "You just gave crazy a whole new meaning," Darien told Rowena as he tightened the fabric near her elbow to slow down the flow. Realizing that what he said was somehow insensitive, Darien looked at Rowena's face frowning in perishing disbelief yet growing concern. "You'll be fine. Don't vampires usually grow limbs back?" At least, Darien hoped they do. Either way, Rowena was the more sensible one at that moment as she pulled him back to reality to even more pressing matter - how to get out of this house.

At first, Darien would argue with Rowena about the ridiculousness of her request in which he was meant to climb on her back. There were so many reasons he could have given her against the idea, beginning with the fact that it would look goofy, over to the unbreakable rule of social etiquette in which a gentleman never gets on the back of a lady unless it includes some kinky sort of thing, finishing his whole contention with the fact that Rowena was possibly in no shape to be able to handle the entire acrobatic performance. Yet the pressure of the situation and the undeniableness that this was their only means of escape, Darien humbly climbed onto Rowena's back. The flight was short and just as nerve-racking as the parachute adventure if not more. As they landed, the two of them almost immediately collapsed on the ground. The Hekan tried to save Rowena from hurting herself anymore as they dropped down, yet his attempts didn't do much. All he could do was soften her fall and watch her laying on the ground and panting heavily. Now, it was Darien's turn to act quickly. "It will be alright. Just hang in there," he told her in an assured voice with subtle tones of caring affection, which crept into his speech unexpectedly. Giving their surroundings one quick look, Rowena actually picked a good place to land because not far away was the parking lots with indeed, quite a few cars parked there. So they had their means of transport within the grasp. Shame all of these cars were terribly expensive and therefore very well secured with alarms and other technological advances against theft. However, even that problem was meant to be solved soon. Off on the side a small unsure voice asked: "Is everything ok?"

Whether it was Darien's feral look in the eyes, due to the expectation of an attack from any direction, the boy, who was actually the one that took their car when they arrived, would have probably ran off and raised an alarm. Darien has never before worked on self-preservation so much, neither on instincts, as he did in that moment. Having recovered from the last encounter with a vampire, Darien was able to hold the boy in place with his manipulation, preventing the lad from doing as much as open his mouth. Wasting no second, the Hekan was holding the poor victim by his neck, making it more than clear that any form of fight would be futile. "Take me to where you have the keys. If you try anything funny, I won't have a problem with cutting your hand off and sowing it onto my friends arm as a compensation for very bad customer service." Green was always a color agreement and this boy, aside from being pale as snow, had a nice shade of green to his skin as well. Or maybe it was just the lightning. Either way, Darien got a more assuring form of compliance - a nod, or many of them. Pushing the boy forwards, Darien chose a rock from a side of the walk that would serve him well as an assault or a knock out weapon. The steward took him to a small booth on a side where one of his colleagues was and indeed, that individual wasn't a boy but a full grown man, dressed in masquerade costume with a scar coming out from under his mask. It was the Hekan that Darien bumped into during the Hekan parade.

"What's going on here?" Asked the newly found obstacle in Darien's way of retrieving the keys of their car. Working just on the moment of surprise, Darien knocked out the child with the rock before sending it flying at the other Hekan. But he should have expected the unexpected. Just as the rock flew in the air and Darien was about to hit the crouching Hekan in the solar, his body couldn't move. This wasn't a manipulation skill that affected him. The headache was a clear sign that the Hekan in from of him was a Life forcer and took control over Darien's body in a blink of an eye. Panic seized Darien's insides for couple seconds. "Ho, ho, slow down, man. No need for aggression," said the masked man and Darien wished he could do something. Something to get out of this trap. And then it came to him. He was in a situation like this before. It was a long time ago but he still remembered it clearly. Maybe the same thing would work for him again. But before he could prove his theory right, the masked Hekan came closer and spoke again. "I know you're with the rebellion." If the night could get any worse, maybe Camilla could just turn the corner and emasculate him. "Don't worry, you don't need to fear me. I am here to help," the Hekan's word came as a whisper. As if there could be someone around to listen to them. "We haven't met before but I have heard a lot about you in the rebellion. They thought you're dead." Swallowing hard, Darien was on the verge of discussing with himself whether to believe this man or not. Just as he was deciding, he could feel the mind control over his body to loosen and once it was gone, Darien grabbed the stone again just in case there was a catch in this sudden lucky chance of meeting a kindred spirit. "No, no. Don't worry. I am not against you." Repeated the man and raised his hands in up in peace sign. There was something awefully familiar about him, though Darien couldn't quite place it. "Who are you?" Darien growled from between his clenched teeth. From his posture, it was still obvious that he was ready to fight. "There is not time for this. Here, take your keys and get lost. I will let the rebellion know you're alive. And don't worry about the boy. I will take care of him." And sure enough, the other Hekan extended his arm towards Darien holding the keys from the Aston Martin that they came in. This wasn't pure luck or coincidence. The Hekan must have gone through Darien's short term memory to find this information out. Still very suspicious but just as much aware of the danger growing with every moment. Darien grabbed the keys and threw the rock away. "If I find out that you've sent us into a trap, I will forget my oath and get you." With that Darien turned around and jogged back to Rowena, feeling the other Hekan's eyes sinking into his back.

Darien was very much aware of the risk that he just took, trusting the complete stranger who was definitely Hekan and who just very strangely proclaimed to have known or been part of the Rebellion. Feeling nervous about the possible outcomes, Darien's mind was very pessimistic at the moment and any shadow that moved ever so slightly, was a lurking enemy to him.He found Rowena just were he left her and without a word picked her up. His expression was very thoughtful and focused. This mystery would be nibbling on his braincells for a long time and not just because of the strange coincidence of finding another member of Rebellion in a place like this, but also because Darien just couldn't get rid of the feeling that he knew that guy from somewhere. Who knows, actually, maybe he has seen him in the camp before he set of on his search for the book of Thoth. Either way, he had to find the damn car now, otherwise he could do all this thinking in a prison cell waiting for his execution. Pressing the button on the keys, the orange flash pointed out to him where the car was parked and so it wasn't hard for him to find it. He quickly, yet gently seated Rowena in the passengers seat before he took his place behind the wheel. Tonight, he would have gladly sped out of Cairo, yet they still could not afford to attract too much attention even if it was well past midnight and the streets would be deserted. Thus, Darien calmly maneuvered the vehicle around the house and out of the front gate onto the street, continuing in a casual pace no matter how much his foot wanted to press the gas pedal against the floor. Stealing a glance at Rowena to see how she was doing, Darien was set on getting her out of the city unless she would say otherwise, and once in the desert again, he would figure out what to do. Surprisingly, the idea of giving her his blood didn't sound vile to him anymore.

 

[Aine]

Regardless of his reassuring words and strange kindness that could be detected in them, the eternal cynic inhabitating Rowena's mind firmly believed that Darien would just leave her here, wounded and struggling for breath. This wasn't about malice, personal antipathies or even the centuries long feud between their respective races; plain pragmatism preached that abandoning his potential future murderer while she had no means to take care of herself would be the most intelligent decision. Kicking your opponent when he was down hardly acquired you the reputation of a hero, but it usually spared you from somewhat permanent excursion to your family tomb. Besides, in her current condition, Rowena amounted to little more than dead weight hindering their quest. Sinking deep into the realm of pessimism, she gritted her teeth and attempted to seize the the control of her own body by trying to stand up. Needless to say, it wasn't her brightest idea; sharp jolt of pain brought her back to her knees and the sudden feeling of weakness invading her every muscle effectively extinghuished her will to continue fighting. The vampire frowned; even in such a tense situation, she didn't allow herself to succumb to despair. Some Christian's underling would undoubtedly come to crush her bones soon for the sin of beating his master's sorry ass, but that worm wasn't going to find Rowena broken and with eyes red from crying. Never. Overcoming the exhaustion with sheer determination of a gladiator thrown into an arena, she gathered the necessary strength and practically crawled to the nearby wall in order to assume more dignified position than that of a run over frog. Fine. Now I just need to think of an utterly unforgettable farewell line to deliver after they stumble upon me. One final performance of wits. Don't you dare to disappoint me, brain.

Just as she was browsing through her impressively extensive mental library of sarcastic insults, she heard the familiar sounds of approaching footsteps. Rowena lifted her gaze from the ground, ready to spit in the newcomer's face graciously and accompany the gesture with equally charming scathing remark, but to her shock, the mysterious stranger turned out to be none other than Darien. He had fulfilled his promise and returned for her, apparently untouched by the dictate of logic. Being rescued valiantly by some knight in shining armor was on her wishlisht about as high as the desire to experience a pox epidemic; she thought it detracted her own archievements, making them meaningless in hindsight. This particular moment felt different for some reason, though. Her lips were tightly shut, so no hasty indication of the emotional fireworks erupting in her chest could escape from them when he picked her up, but honestly, Darien had never looked so enchanting to her before. Rowena didn't give a damn that he could be very well regarded as a walking commercial for violence with his face so neatly decorated by numerous bruises and the vampire also didn't give a damn about torn costume; underneath all that was a man who, despite the microscopic probability of it happening, seemed to genuinely care for her. A man who treated her nice, but without the superficial facade reinforced by etiquette she hated so passionately. For the first time, it dawned on her that the silly little infatuation she had for the Hekan might not be entirely physical, and it had left her quite speechless.

Soft purring of their car's engine enriched the usual symphony of the night composed mainly from chirping insect as they set out on the journey once again. Rowena didn't look too well; the original paleness of her skin got somewhat enhanced, jumping straight to the "unhealthy" territory, and she was trembling slightly from the cold. To add a greater variety to her suffering, the injured arm started pulsating painfully in harmony with the rhythm of her heartbeat. Frankly, as a war veteran and someone who delightfully embraced every opportunity to hurt herself, Rowena knew precisely how to deal with the problem, yet Darien's presence didn't make it any easier. The repair itself couldn't be considered pleasant even by the kinkiest masochist; proper question to ask wasn't if she would scream, but how many windows would fall victim to the resulting sound waves. At least in the army I had the luxury of privacy when I wanted to lick my wounds, the vampire thought, terror-struck at the idea of letting Darien see her in such a state. Just what she needed - another nail in the coffin of her already damaged ego. There were only two ways to handle this, though; either prevent him from witnessing her feebleness by gouging his eyes out and piercing his eardrums or to swallow her pride. Suddenly, her healthy hand grabbed the hem of her dress, tearing away a significant amount of fabric as if she wished to exact a vicious vendetta on the gown. "To elaborate on what you said earlier..." Rowena spoke in a tired tone completely void of arrogance, "healing of such a proportions is far out of my area of expertise. Yes, I can grow it back, but it's not going to be pretty. I'll just shove this into my mouth so you don't have to hear me voicing my discomfort." Staring at the improvised gag for a while, full of secret doubts, she threw a sideway glance at her partner. "Hey, Darien, could you... talk to me? A little distraction would be more than welcome. I don't care what you're actually gonna say - feel free to give me a Geometry lesson if it amuses you - I just need something entirely different to focus on. If you share really juicy info, though... What happened between you and that vampire chick, for example... I can tell you few humorous anecdotes from my life later. An equal exchange."

 

[The Returner]

Streets were curving around like a slithering snake through the night - quiet, yet lethal if the wrong step was made. Darien definitely didn't want to step on the tail of this snake and with every passing minute that he was still surrounded by the concrete jungle, he knew that they were closer to getting caught. Only immense amount of self-control prevented him from pushing the pedal down to the floor and speeding out of this maze. Surely by this time Christian got some of the Hekans or vampires to look for the two of them and it would be just a matter of time when the local force would be contacted and the Hekan and his vampire companion would be hunted down. They probably still were the most wanted criminals in the whole world, but since they were able to sneak around and even invade the house of someone as powerful as Sunderland, the danger meter that was placed on their names would most definitely go through the roof after tonight. Tightening his grip around the steering wheel, Darien focused on the road, occasionally looking at Rowena to check whether she was still conscious and how she was doing. It was riveting how unexpectedly Darien got all careful about Rowena. It felt almost as if it was his fault that she got hurt, even though he knew that when it came to runes his knowledge was equal to nil. Rowena did what she had to do and now they had to cope with the consequences. The only balm for his soul at the moment was the hope that she can grow back limbs and the fact that if not, he might find something useful in the papyrus the was still stored in his pocket.

Upon hearing a fabric tearing, Darien's eyes shot towards the badly injured female next to him as if the sound was a sign of a definite end of her days. There wasn't as much fear in his eyes as an ultimate concern and worry about what was happening. Yet even when Rowena was hurt she still retained the humor that made her such a peculiar person. Fair exchange? How could someone missing a hand think about a fair trade? Giving her a nod of the head, being somewhat glad that there was a way for him how to help her, even if it doesn't ease the pain, Darien breathed in and out couple times. "Yes, that is a fair deal," he said and turned a corner, noticing that they were entering to poorer part of the city. Getting closer to leaving this nest of hornets somewhat helped Darien to think clearly, to get his thoughts in order and start telling a story that Rowena probably deserved to hear. Or at least deserved to hear some of it. "Vanessa was my mistress." Yes, that was the best way to put it and it didn't matter that the thought stabbed him ever so slightly in the dark corner of his mind. "When I was twelve, another evaluating fight in the arena took place. Hekans were showed off there, fighting each other and only the last 10 standing would then be sold in an auction to the vampires who were watching. Back then, I wouldn't probably get sold to anyone as I wasn't the strongest member." Taking a moment to breath, Darien contemplated whether to talk about the incident that happened that day in greater detail or not. It would involve him revealing that he was weak enough to get bullied and frankly speaking, as a man he didn't like that. "However, that day I got involved in an incident which would probably get me executed, but Vanessa somehow convinced the authorities otherwise. Back then, her family was still one of the most powerful ones in the society so it was not that much of a surprise. Anyway, that's how she became my mistress. She taught me everything. She taught me how to control my power, how to use it effectively. Her knowledge in that field seemed to be bottomless and believe it or not, I looked up to her as my mentor and protector. But well, I guess as a teenager I was inclined to screwing things up. Because I carried such dear feelings towards Vanessa, call it love if you wish, it was bound to get destroyed at one point. Especially when Vanessa and I started to have an affair. It began when I was about sixteen or seventeen and would probably carry on until now if it wasn't for Camilla, her sister. She tricked me into doing something that I would never do. She drugged me and quite literally raped me. The worst thing is, Vanessa got to witness it. The affair went public and the family fell from the top to the bottom, creating a clan. I was put in prison and was about to be executed for violating a vampire female. Vanessa betrayed me, putting the whole blame on me. Anyway, as you can see, I managed to escape from the prison and that's how and when I joined the rebellion and ultimately changed my idea about the vampiric society." His voice throughout the talk was someone calm, distanced. Only couple times it got a bit thick with unspoken, hard feeling that were still harboured within his soul but which would be healed by time.

As he finished his story, they just left the city and the vast space of greenery and trees unfolded in front of them not giving away that the desert was just as close as Darien was to Rowena. The stone that was pressing down on Darien's chest was lifted, yet he wondered whether it was because of the fact that they were out of Cairo or because one of his secrets that was bullying his inner self for so long, has been revealed. Looking at Rowena for the first time after he began the story-telling, he watched her carefully to see how well she was doing, shifting his eyes to the hand that she was recreating. A thought ran through his mind, something he was always wondering and never found a proper answer. Was being a vampire really worth the effort? Sure one would get powerful and would get an ability or two to have the superiority over humans, but even over one another. Losing limbs, suffering so much and even having almost eternity to live and deal with the misdeeds that one has done...Darien wouldn't want that. Short human life was enough for anyone to live to the fullest not having to deal with regrets for too long that it would turn one's mind into a battlefield of intrigues and the constant need of self-preservation. Frowning, Darien came back to reality, looking up at Rowena's face again the inevitable question pressing on his lips. "Are you ok?" He asked her as he looked away to watch the road, speeding when he saw where they were going, yet even then Darien stole another glance her way.

 

[Aine]

The familiar scenery quickly passing around them bore no importance to Rowena whatsoever; she seemed to be in a trance. With her body curled up in a fetal position as much as the seat allowed her, deathly pale skin and her eyes tightly shut, the only indication of the vampire still being alive were soft, muffled cries coming from her general direction. Gag in her mouth absorbed the little sounds quite well considering the circumstances, but she couldn't really hope for vacuum-like silence. Not with millions of red-hot needles piercing through her flesh with knack of an especially villainous acupuncturist who went astray from his path of lessening his patients' pain and joined the dark side. Many people would probably think that creating a hand from scratch should have been a child's play for someone who frequently engaged in such wonderful sport disciplines as "forming weapons from your own bones," and that fact highlighted the typical human trait of giving their opinions on something they had absolutely no knowledge of. Growing a perfect, functioning hand - the entire bone structure with the muscles attached correctly - demanded colossal amount of effort. This was nothing like hurriedly elongating already existing bone, fully knowing its only purpose would be to serve as a random pointy object to drive through your enemy's heart. She had to live with this hand and any anatomical mistake could seriously worsen its dexterity. Biting the cloth hard, Rowena tapped her thin energy reserves; yet another tiny shriek forced its way out as she did so. Honestly, nobody could expect her to take in Darien's story while going through such an agony-fest... But, contrary to the anticipation, Rowena listened to him intently and hung on his every word as a child thirsty for a fairytale. His voice, so clear in the otherwise blurred realm of pain, guided her mind away from the injury; it was so easy to concentrate on it, maybe even find some sort of comfort within.

The story itself, however, wasn't the kind of tale that made the listeners feel all warm and fuzzy inside. All the essential components of a good plot were there - action, suspense and even forbidden romance - but Rowena knew better than to look forward to a happy ending. Miracles simply never happened in real life, unless you had plenty of money to bribe the fate. Something horrible inevitably must have occurred... And even though she saw it coming, the wham line about rape still caught her off guard. "Wh-hmm?!" The vampire glanced at him for the first time, her face twisted in the unspoken exclamation of "what-the-fuck." The mask sheltering her feelings cracked and slipped away, revealing not only the surprise, but also compassion and, oddly enough, distant sorrow. Rowena was way too tired to keep up the usual cool facade, especially when she could see glaring similarities between their respective histories. Long ago, both of them had walked the same path of loss of faith. The difference was that while he had been able to replace this old belief with unshakable trust in his precious little rebellion and hold on it firmly, she had just... cultivated cynicism as one of many defense mechanisms. Darien's question brought her back to reality; blinking few times, Rowena pulled out the gag from her mouth.

"Yeah. Well, not really, but I will be, so stop giving me that you're-practically-a-corpse look. You of all people should know I am not particularly easy to kill." No animosity could be detected from her voice, just a friendly little jab. Her hand was healed only partially, offering Darien exceedingly nasty view, but Rowena decided she needed a pause to gain strength again. Hesitating for one breathless moment, the vampire suddenly put her healthy arm on the Hekan's shoulder, squeezing it lightly in a supportive gesture. "Thinking about it now in the context of your story, it's probably for the better you got to knock that bitch out and not me. Don't get me wrong, I wanted it more than that awesome new rifle I got from Haji for Christmas last year, but it must have been terribly therapeutic for you." Rowena was hardly a champion in the art of soothing crestfallen souls, but she felt she had to react on his confession somehow and she definitely tried to sound comforting. "Okay, I guess it's my turn to spill the beans since I keep my word... Occasionally," smiled the former commander whose entire strategy essentially boiled down to "lie to your enemy, screw him as much as possible and throw a party on his grave." With her eyes set on the horizon, not-so-subtly avoiding Darien's gaze, the vampire prepared to tell the story of her life. Outright lying or obscuring the key information would have been her favored method of dealing with this situation as she wasn't exactly overjoyed at the prospect of sharing something so personal with anyone, but Darien did uncover pretty intense stuff.

"If I remember correctly, you asked me once why I joined the army and I brushed you off with one ambiguous line. This is going to be the long version, so brace yourself. Piece of trivia number one; you're not going to believe me, but I actually do come from a noble family... Sort of. You see, long before my father was born, the genius in charge of the family finances thought it would be a neat idea to expand our wealth with minimal effort. And what did this master of economics come up with? Why of course, I am glad that you ask - he resorted to gambling, because as every schoolboy knows, this is the most reliable way to make money. Just like that, most of our property disappeared in the jaws of debt collectors. We never starved or got even close to the definition of poverty, but the Finchleys definitely fell from their elite status, and they fell hard. My parents, though, lived in their little delusional world where our family was still important. They didn't realize that money creates the influence, not the other way around. Bragging about purity of our bloodline predictably got them nowhere, so a quick rescue plan was born; they had to find a rich suitor for their daughters. Rich, but with unquestionably plebeian background. Someone who would love to officially cement his aristocratic position by the virtue of marriage with a member of old house. I have never been what my parents would call bride material; back then, I honestly tried to stick to those idiotic rules, but the Ladies are supposed to be seen, not heard theorem always broke my neck." At this point, Rowena giggled quietly. "Anyway, mom quickly realized I was a lost case. Luckily, it turned out my talent lay elsewhere when my... power manifested for the first time. What I do isn't exactly common vampire power; for some period, the historians even believed that the bloodline with prerequisites to master Vicissitude kinda died out. I was the first one to appear after centuries, a winner of genetic lottery. Well, my parents almost spontaneously exploded upon finding out and devised yet another plan to rise in power again; while Lynn, my younger sis, trained to be a proper lady, I sweat blood in gym in order to become an unstoppable force of destruction. Father's citation, not mine. After that, of course, I was supposed to go and find the Book of Thoth for them, which would solve all the problems with magical poof. So I was destroying my body systematically and studying Egyptian customs until the steam was coming out of my ears, but..." Rowena shrugged, "I felt happy, you know? Useful." Normally, the vampire would have discreetly omitted such a details, but the secret eating her from inside for so long desired to finally get on the surface.

"There was one catch, though; you probably don't know this, but searching the Book of Thoth is pretty much illegal in our society. The great houses decided that the advantage it would give the owner over their peers would be too drastic, yada yada yada, and so they banned it under grave punishment. Nobody actually stopped searching it, mind you. That is a tradition among my race. We enforce restrictive laws and violate them the exact moment they come into effect, but persecute those stupid enough to get caught with gusto. Incredibly stylish. Fine, let's fast-forward in the future a little bit - specifically to the point when father finally found a fitting husband for Lynn. Christian Sunderland. The wedding bells could be already heard since he agreed to the terms and sis... Well, her opinion didn't matter; they hid it under fancy terms, but she was basically sold. Sacrifice for family's well-being and all that jazz. The initial arrangement fell apart rather quickly, namely when Chris found out the chemistry between him and my sis equaled to zero and that he actually preferred me. Father, as a true businessman he was, accepted the reclamation without holding any grudge, allowing him to woo me instead. Not that I complained. He was a gentleman, smooth with words and very much capable of creating the impression I meant everything to him. In other words, the most gifted liar I've ever met. You may have a good reason to think my black heart is only capable of various degrees of hatred, yet I really did love him. Haha, we were absolutely gross together; do you know these couples who always disgust the innocent bystanders in their vicinity by sharing saliva in public places? Yeah, our modus operandi." Her tone got progressively more bitter; at the start, Rowena sounded mostly neutral, sometimes even slightly amused, but this was changing rapidly.

"I pathetically followed him around like a lost puppy, until the blessed day that finally opened my eyes. Probably the biggest disadvantage of having a power that was lost and forgotten for such a long time was that nobody could teach me; I had to learn to control it alone by trial and error. My instincts mostly did a good job, yet it had to happen at some point, just because of sheer probability. I went overboard once and almost killed myself. As you can see, I survived to fight another day, but... Well, I wound up bedridden, nearly immobile. Love of my life wasted little time with explaining that he didn't have the patience necessary to tend to a cripple, and that was the end of our fairytale-like romance. I think he also mentioned something about me not being representative enough in such a state. To make everything that much sweeter, the secret about the Finchleys seeking the Book leaked out somehow few days after that incident. One of the noble houses got an evidence and good old blackmail ensued. Good thing my father was a born negotiator and combined business with pleasure; in exchange for destroying that evidence, he let them take me to their research facility so they could study my awesome and unique power with newest scientific equipment. Thanks, dad. Love ya, too. Do you know what makes me positively happy about our current situation, Darien?" she interrupted the story suddenly, looking him straight in the eyes. "Even if you kill me at the end of that little search session, my legacy will live on. The Finchleys' reputation will NEVER be able to recover from my supposed betrayal of whole vampiric society; really, my only regret is that I didn't actually do it. I should have. Anyway, I spent about three years there - just an estimate since I didn't exactly have a calendar to check - absolutely powerless and wishing to just get it over with. To die. It was a nightmare. I realized they weren't going to let me kick the bucket rather quickly, though; as a specimen, I was simply too valuable. Well, there was nothing for me to lose anymore, so I decided to ignore medics' dismal prognosis and started exercising, little by little. I don't know whether my body cured itself naturally after certain time period, but I like to think my amateurish attempts at rehabilitation helped. What followed wasn't pretty, but definitely satisfying; I massacred the staff, deleted most of the data and bravely disappeared. The police never looked for me as my new friends didn't have the audacity report it, so I was free and with clean shield. Shortly after that, I joined the army. Blending in with the crowd would have been an option, but... I didn't survive through all that just to crawl in a hole and pity myself for the rest of my life. I wanted to do something, to make a difference. The army conveniently offered a legal refuge for murderous psychopaths; that's what you call a win-win situation. So I got practically married to my job and was an exceptionally good wife... Until it ditched me along with the rest of this planet. Isn't it funny?" Rowena laughed as if to prove a point, but shakiness undeniably resonated throughout her voice. Frankly, it was a little too much for her; the exhaustion, pain persistently bothering her hand, finally putting into words what had been hidden for ages, accumulated stress... The echo of her laugh swiftly dissolved in quiet sobs. What on Earth possessed her to say so much?

 

[The Returner]

Rowena's comforting came almost in vain. Darien was already used to this part of his history that couldn't be changed and in fact made him who he was today. If anything he should be grateful for what has happened in the past, he should cherrish it and embrace it...if he was a sadist who received pleasure from torturing one's self mentally. Therefore when Rowena tried as best as she could to make him feel better about himself, squeezing his shoulder as if it was a lemon and she was trying to get as much juice out of it as possible, Darien had to admit to himself that this hint or downright show-off of care did touch a soft spot somewhere within his soul. If he'd be willing to do some deep psycho analysis, he would find out that what made him feel all mushy inside was the sensation of being cared for from someone as peculiar as Rowena. It couldn't be helped but a shadow of smile, nostalgic one indeed, crossed his lips before his vampire companion got his attention with sharing a story of her own, especially the one that included the well hidden secret about the reason why she joined the army.

Sharing secrets was never Hekan's habit. To survive he was often forced to keep even his real name to himself and go by completely made up identity, creating anyone he liked to be but who was still within the boundaries of reality and possibility. Though, something told Darien that Rowena might have been forced to do the same, maybe for whatever other reason but mystery was part of her life style as much as magic was part of Darien's. And so one can imagine how unusual it must have felt in that moment when the two of them were suddenly exchanging chunks of their life stories that both of them probably wanted to keep burried as long as necessary, until the dying day if possible. The peculiarity of the whole situation only added to the Hekan's surprise and astonishement as he listened to Rowena. He could already guess that there was something majorly wrong with her past just from her sense of humour, yet he would never think or his imagination would never stray so far as to come up with a story like this. It was hard to assert which one of them went through worse and it would be an abomination to even try, there was just this horrific sensation, the understanding that their pasts shared a common factor - they were both taken advantage of. An inexplicable surge of anger run through his body as he carried on listening. Sure, Christian was a jerk, that much he could see the first moment they met, yet Rowena's father sounded like the worst type of opportunist. Yet all he could do was to clench his hands around the wheel until his knuckles went white with the effort of breaking the material, and yes it took a lot of self-control not to damage the only means of controling the car.

Just as he thought that the whole thing couldn't get worse, Rowena's first, sort of jovial giggles soon died out and turned into sobs that startled Darien more than her openness about her past. Giving her a quick look to make sure he heard what he thought he was hearing, Darien panicked for a few seconds. There was never a woiman crying next to him. Vanessa wouldn't cry in front of him and any girl, or any boy as a matter of fact, who cried during the magical training was called a coward and so was anyone else who tried to comfort them. Therefore, Darien never had a reason to learn the skills of soothing one's upset mind. But as he came to think of it, there were a lot of situations when he didn't know what to do and everytime that would happen, Darien would let his instinct to take over. This time it told him to stop the car immediately. They didn't even know where they were going for christ's sake! And so he picked a spot of the road near the trees where the car would blend with the dark forest since it was as black as the night itself. Undoing his seatbelt, so that he could face Rowena properly, he looked at her sobbing face and if his sight was right there might have been a trace of tears, yet it was too dark to know for sure. Deep concern was engraved in his expression but it ran even deeper than he was able and willing to admit. Words wouldn't come out and there even wasn't something that he could say that would comfort Rowena. But just as her touch somewhat helped him before, Darien's sixth sense told him, he should return the favor the same way. Reaching out with his hand, he gently touched her cheek and stroke it. If there were tears that he could feel, he would wipe them away with his thumb. The concern somehow lessened into caring expression as if Darien wished that some things were different, yet his expression wasn't all the 'oh i am so sorry for you' type. There was certain edge to it - compassion.

 

[Aine]

As implausible as it might seem, Rowena had never really cried before. Of course the vampire was still subject to wetness appearing in the corners of her eyes after occasional yawn and she had shed few tears in response to especially painful injuries, but real, emotional weeping practically didn't exist in her world. Carefully maintained steel barrier of self-control normally kept such nonsensical outbursts strictly in check, leading many to believe that Rowena had the emotional flexibility of an average obsidian statue. Up-keeping the reputation of a fearless killer more or less forced her to conceal the signs of feelings that made her seem vulnerable and she had accepted the role to such an extent that it merged with her personal life as well. Sure, this little crusade against functioning like normal, breathing person had its undeniable merits, yet it came back to bite her spectacularly right now. Once the ruptures appeared on her mask, Rowena just didn't know how to deal with the phenomenon and everything she tried only seemed to worsen the problem. The usual strategy, repressing the memories where they belonged, obviously wasn't the best choice for this kind of situation, while making fun of her hardships had essentially triggered the flood in the first place. With these two items, the vampire's arsenal of metaphorical first aid kits for the events of emotional emergency emptied. Tears filled her chestnut eyes and Rowena, apparently horrified by her own weakness, opted for covering her face with her hands as an alternative... Or she would have, if Darien hadn't stopped her halfway through the movement.

The gesture, even though heart-breakingly simple and unaccompanied by any further words, conveyed his message quite well. Rowena looked at him, bewilderment written in her sharp features. The surprise hit her so suddenly that it managed to stop her sobbing almost immediately. If this is some cheap attempt at making me less wary around him so he can stab me in the back comfortably later... It works. "I... I'm sorry. I have no idea what's gotten into me. Can we blame this episode on reality-altering particles in the air that feast on common sense? I mean, there has to be some kind of magic involved to make me cry." Apologetic undertones in her undertones implied she genuinely hated being a burden, yet there was also something else present; a warmth so uncharacteristic for the standoffish aura she habitually emitted. Darien's clumsy solace actually touched her, spoke to those parts of her soul she had regarded to be dead for the longest time. A complete silence fell on them as Rowena studied every detail of his face shamelessly, her expression strangely torn between faraway smile and regret. Mere words just couldn't do justice to capturing what exactly she felt. Outside of unremitting tiredness assaulting her logical thinking and pain from heedlessly opened old wounds, there was also the deep satisfaction that someone had actually reached out to her... Someone whose comfort didn't ring hollow. Someone she could rely on, at least judging by the past few days they weren't trying to kill each other actively. Someone who made her heart beat faster, whether she liked it or not. At this point, Darien was the living embodiment of Rowena's ideal partner, summoned straight from her girlish fantasies... Okay, minus the Hekan thing and the pact that involved him potentially murdering her, but our heroine had learned not to be overly picky over the course of time.

Too bad it would never work out for them, even though she had a feeling this crush was far from one-sided. The vampire's eyes served her well and complete blindness would have been required in order for her not to notice the way Darien looked at her from time to time. How he treated her could be ascribed to him just being nice because of his general attitude for the most part, but certain actions simply didn't fall in the category of "friendly demeanor," no matter how hard you tried to make them fit. The conflict between their races, however, transcended the age itself and even if that obstacle was overcome, Darien probably knew better than to step in the same river twice, considering how well that went for the first time. Wave of anxiety washed over her... Until she remembered something important. Oh wait, wait, wait. I am Rowena fucking Finchley. What do I have to lose and, more importantly, when did I get infected with cowardice?! One of the most valuable life lessons she had extracted from her misspent youth was to never give up. Willingness to stand atop a mountain of corpses to reach her goals surely counted as a plus, but what really made her such a good commander was her ability to seek unconventional solutions, get up time and time again after being kicked to the ground and never lose a glimpse of hope. Still somewhat insecure, yet firmly decided to taste the forbidden fruit, Rowena's face gained a tinge of determination. "Darien? I think I'd like to conduct an experiment. Don't panic; it doesn't involve prolapsed organs, villainous laugh or excessive amount of bodily fluids." The last part might not be entirely true, but oh well. I lie a lot anyway. "If you're... not satisfied with the results, I won't force you to participate again." And after what may have been the most awkward attempt at flirting in the whole history of humans and vampires alike, Rowena shifted her position a little to face him properly and seized his lips. Biting his lower lip slightly - just enough to make him gasp a little, but not hurt him - she slipped her tongue in and deepened the kiss. It was nothing like the innocent peck she had given him before; this kind of kiss carried a promise of high-quality night entertainment within. Darien's closeness pressing against her senses felt almost intoxicating; the scent, the taste, the an intimate contact... The vampire ran her healthy hand through his hair gently, pulling away only when her lungs demanded a fresh dosage of oxygen.

 

[The Returner]

Darien was right. Rowena was surprisingly crying and just the fact that something at the back of his mind was right about this unexpected turn of events, left the Hekan not just speechless but also breathless for couple moments. Seeing the vampire female in front of him opening the curtains of her sarcastic self and letting him having a sneak peek at the tender and possibly vulnerable version, somewhat scared Darien yet excited him on so many levels. The feeling of having to protect Rowena came out of nowhere just as a sandstorm appears in the dessert and you have to lay low in order not to get blown away, which he would have done now if he knew what was coming. Clearly this situation was unusual for Rowena just as well considering her initial reaction which, surprisingly with sarcastic undertones, was a weak attempt of a joke. Just the fact that she tried to hide what was so obvious, Darien found it adorable, or at least heart warming on some personal deep level, that it provoked a small smile to form on his lips.

However, when Darien would think about the events of that night later on in his life, he would admit always and every time that what has happened afterwards was an incredibly confusing mix of deja vu, pleasure and inexplicable feel of anxiety. Just as he thought that Rowena might have calmed down and that the whirlwind of strange, unexplored feelings would die out and disappear into nothingness, she pulled closer and suddenly the two if them were kissing. It was a nice upgrade from the sort of innocent peck on the lips from before, yet it was more powerful then it should have been. It took Darien by surprise and it was apparent in the first few seconds when he just sat there trying to comprehend what was just happening to him, until his 'manly' instincts kicked in, his hidden passion and desire came flooding his sensesw, clouding his sensibility and clear judgement, which would warn him that he shouldn't go down the same lethal road again.

The hand previously placed on Rowena's cheek sweaped towards the nape of her neck and possessively put enough pressure on it to sort of hint yet force Rowena to bend her head backwards ever so slightly so that he could gain a bit more dominance that so far belonged to Rowena. His tongue twirled around hers, engaging in the imaginary tango. His other hand reached towards Rowena's thigh covered in the fabric of her dress but instead of trying to get through the cloth to the skin he just moved his palm upwards, somehow managing to miss the injured hand before he caressed her side, still continuing in the upward movement until his hand rested on the side of her breast, enjoying the round shape that fitted his hand so perfectly. His thumb, of course being very inquisitive, started brushing over the top where her nipple was meant to be hiding.

 

[Aine]

The first few seconds when Darien failed to manifest anything other than shock were rather terrifying to Rowena; perhaps she had read the signs wrong in her rare emotional seizure and accidentally managed to give whole new dimension to term "awkward" by forcing herself on him. Being violated by two female vampires in a row while simultaneously being a member of race spurned and universally hated among vampires could be a world record without doubt, but that would be a rather poor solace for both traumatized guy and Rowena's ego. Million thoughts ran through her head during that short period of time, ranging from the classic "I'm an idiot" to "Maybe I can pass out and fake a memory loss". Good thing she didn't put that plan in action, since her partner's response wasn't exactly rejection... Quite an opposite, in fact.

The vampire could feel herself melting into their kiss; right now and there, nothing except him mattered. Rowena had always been a physical type of person, savoring all the pleasures life offered her greedily, and her body was already reacting to his pampering with enthusiasm. Sharp, excited gasp along with hardened nipple visibly standing out against the fabric of her dress probably told Darien much more about sensitivity of her breasts than any essay could. The reins of dominance were slipping away from her clutch, that much she could sense. Rowena actually enjoyed being dominated in the bedroom, probably because she tried so stubbornly to be the main force behind everything else; letting her lover take the control was not only the ultimate proof of trust, but also the most arousing situation she could imagine. On the other hand, the vampire would make Darien fight for his position. Where was the fun in submitting without putting up a resistance, without a little conflict? Oh no, nothing succeeded in killing the mood like a temperament of a dead fish. In one swift motion, Rowena threw her leg over Darien and positioned herself on his lap, stealing another passionate kiss from him in the process.

Her lips moved to his neck slowly, planting soft kisses on its outline, before stopping slightly above area of his collarbone and sucking on the skin. Even though she could sank her teeth into the flesh easily now - and Darien probably wouldn't protest much, considering their situation - but the vampire couldn't bring herself to do it, no matter how tempting the thought of tasting him again was. Rowena generally gave a big middle finger to all those annoying moral barriers that prevented her from getting to the desired goal, yet feeding on her lover without actual permission seemed like an awful thing to do even to her. She knew pretty well how humiliating that felt; besides, Darien wasn't her food. Her hand moved to examine his chest, skillfully unbuttoning his shirt and caressing the muscles underneath. Slowly but surely, she was approaching the lower regions... And after fiddling with the zipper of Darien's trousers for a while, it became painfully obvious that such a task was a little complicated to carry out with one hand only. "Can't you be a gentleman and help me out? I'm struggling here!" Rowena giggled, apparently somewhat amused by her futile efforts.

 

[The Returner]

The nipple hardening beneath his touch was thedesired response that Darien was more than happy to accept at the moment. It was rather peculiar how easily he could fall for a female vampire without realizing, or admitting the reality. Yet, he didn't mind right there and then, kissing Rowena deeply. He only asserted within himself the notion that at this point he had nothing to lose since both of them were probably the world's most wanted criminals by now. The taste of sweet dominance aroused him just as much as a gently searching touch around his crotch would. And by that I mean you could already see or feel the bulge in his pants. No one should blame Darien for that as it has been, well a year, since he had a proper intercourse with a human of the opposite sex and his right hand wasn't always the most exciting sexual companion anyway.

However, even when Rowena seemed to be submitting to his will, she wouldn't let go so easily and in fact the Hekan liked it. He liked that she was still rebellious and didn't melt as ice cream when he touched her. But once she started caressing his neck, getting down to his collarbone, it was Darien who nearly melted. Whether it was an accident or not, she has found one of his soft spots. The sheer thrill of the possibility that Rowena could bite him at that moment, that her teeth could sank into him so easily, excited him more in such an unusual way that affected his libido on so many different level and the bulge in his trousers only hardened. Never was danger more exciting than when it was taken to bed. Oh well, front seat of a luxury car at this moment, and even that was getting somewhat uncomfortable. As he was enjoying being sucked on but not sucked out, moaning deep in his throat, Darien reach to one of the buttons on the side of the seat positioning the back rest slightly lower so that he was in sort of half sitting, half laying position and as if he was a magician there was more room to move around.

Groaning in disagreement, the Hekan looked at his mistress of the moment as she stopped paying attention to his skin which would probably have a nicely pronounced love-bite by now. "Gentleman? Let me show you what a gentle man I am," he said with a more than a shadow of a smile on his face and indeed it was the first, full fledged sincere grin that he gave away. There was no time for wondering what he was doing as he unbuttoned his trousers and undone the zipper, the bulge becoming more pronounced. Running his hands beneath the fabric of the skirt, Darien's palms caressed the skin on Rowena's thighs, alternating between squeezing and brushing, yet the motion was unmistakably directed upwards.

No matter the obvious arousal that Rowena caused and the somewhat excited smirk on his face, there was a still hard undertone, an edge if you please, in Darien's eyes. He wasn't aware of it since it was his conscious that was taking care of the other part of his mind that was now shied away. However, since Vanessa betrayed him, Darien never truly trusted women again and every female who happened to be dominant with him was instinctively shoved in the box where his previous vampire mistress was. No matter how harsh and unfair treatment it was, it was Darien's way how to deal with possible broken heart and hurt again. As for his sudden turn of relationship with Rowena, his subconscious reaction to this sensuous act wasn't a trust issue but bad experience and painful memories that led him to always be on the edge when it came to having sex with women.

 

[Aine]

Mischievous spark was ignited deep within Rowena's eyes as Darien voiced his discontent with her cutting short the supply of cuddling with his neck; this side of his personality had been shrouded in mystery to this moment and frankly, she found it quite endearing. Darien, always so cool, stoic and above it all, enjoyed being sucked on so much that he didn't hesitate to let her know in the most sincere manner. Getting to know him like that held a close resemblance to mapping an unknown territory, but it was ten times more exciting than that, and not only because she genuinely hated anything with vague connection to cartography. After the catastrophic turn of events between her and Christian, Rowena had developed rather bleak attitude towards relationships that could be easily summarized in short but very expressive who-needs-this-shit. Forging emotional ties took great chunks of time out of her already busy schedule and it only created various opportunities for others to take advantage of her comfortably, so she scratched it out from her personal plan. Still, Rowena had felt way too young to give up on the physical love entirely, which had resulted in a long string of mostly anonymous one night stands empty of feeling. Delivering pleasure to someone whom she wasn't indifferent to... The vampire had already forgotten how immensely satisfactory it could be.

The thorough massage of her thighs earned him a delightful moan; Darien's warm hands slowly working their way upwards sent a wave of heat through her entire body. She arched her back for a moment, simply enjoying his skillful touch. Whole myriads of tiny details attacking her senses persistently - the way how the aroma of his blood mingled with his natural scent, the confident grin on his lips, his obvious arousal and growing need of her - only contributed to her own excitement. The bulge in his pants was practically begging for her attention, and the vampire didn't intend to make Darien wait long. "So nice to feel you're appreciating my presence," Rowena purred in his ear, her voice slightly hoarse with thrill as she caressed his groin through the thin layer of fabric teasingly. Her hand slipped beneath his underwear, stroking his erection gently. The past year hadn't been full of opportunities to enjoy herself like that since the never-ceasing investigation of the rebels' activities lingering on her mind constantly didn't exactly boost her libido to heavenly heights, but that dismal period had already ended and Rowena was going to make up for the involuntary celibate.

Just holding his throbbing manhood in her hand made her respond adequately; she couldn't help but imagine Darien inside of her, his body brushing against hers in ecstasy, and Rowena could feel herself getting wet. "I wonder what you'd like me to do to you," she smirked, stroking him once more, "though, on second thought, it's not that hard to guess, is it?" Shifting slightly backwards on his lap to gain more space for herself, the vampire freed his member from the fabric prison and bent down. At first, she just licked its tip in agonizingly slow manner, as if trying to sample a new taste, before her hot, soft lips closed around his cock. Being very careful not to hurt him - something which she had a practice in since screwing up was considered quite rude towards your partner in vampire circles as well - Rowena started sucking on it and going back and forth.

Honestly, if someone had told her beforehand the consequences of her little confrontation with the rebels' leader from roughly week ago, she would have filled out their admittance form to the mental asylum personally.

 

[The Returner]

She was caring, aware of his needs and aware of how to fulfill them. Who would have thought that Rowena was capable of such things. He heard her voice, understood the words, but was unable to answer. What value did words actually have at this moment, when you were meant to be physical and not talkative? Speeches were for politicians, Darien had other desires. Just as Rowena moved backwards, caressing his manhood which sent electricity throughout his body, he could look at her in the confined space of the car. Ragged thoughts ran through his mind about her beauty, sex appeal, and perfect body but even that was snatched away from him, when she took the caring to the next level.

Her lips around his manhood felt like...a long forgotten memory coming back to life with the power of bulldozer that was demolishing his sense of reality. Grabbing the side of the chair, clenching his teeth simply wasn't enough to relieve his sudden radical rise in excitement and a moan escaped from deep within his throat. He wasn't sure how long he would be able to last if Rowena carried on working on him so delicately. He gave her few more second before managing to breath out loudly and surprisingly decisively enough: "Enough." It sounded somewhat like a command or a plea, that was up to the listener to decide, but what was more than obvious from the whole situation was that if Rowena would have carried on, she might have as well end up with a surprise.

Just to prevent her from seizing his cock with her luscious lips, Darien grabbed her bottom and moved her back upwards so that she was once again sitting atop his throbbing manhood. Possessively grabbing her neck too, he planted another deep, this time in a way an aggressive kiss on her lips. His hips flexed at the same time, rubbing his member against her clit, he could feel on the bear skin of his cock that she was ready for him. Releasing her lips just as suddenly as he seized them, his eyes bore deep into hers. At the back of his mind he was still very much aware of the whole load of consequences this action will have, and you can take him for a coward if you want, but Darien just wanted to be on the safe side, he has just given Rowena a choice whether to seize the opportunity, or stop it altogether as this could be her, and his alike, last chance to save themselves from...well, from each other.

 

[Aine]

Suddenly, that ridiculously strict rules about vampires' contact with Hekans made perfect sense in Rowena's head; it was less about general disdain for inferior life forms and more about deadly blow delivered to their collective pride for becoming so overwhelmed by their blood. Any self-respecting oppressive regime worth its name would see to it that the living Kryptonite to their sense of self-importance would have their own egos thoroughly trampled. Simply eliminating them wouldn't be enough of a punishment for their vile existence. Rowena had to admit it was a little unsettling, though; she didn't even have to actually drink from Darien to feel somewhat drunk at his proximity. Maintaining normal level of thought had crossed the borders of possibility a long time ago, but to be honest, her current incompetence to solve differential equations was also tied to a different cause. Darien's every touch continued to attack her link to reason, reducing the previously solid chain to a pitiful frayed thread. Reality had beaten Rowena to bloody pulp enough times for her to know better than to anticipate an actual happy ending; by going down this path, she risked either becoming a food for worms or acquiring a brand new set of emotional scars. In fact, she'd probably get both in a discount package. The vampire didn't mind, though. Rowena had developed handy ability to ignore the perils of future in favor of present, and right now, careful planning wasn't on her schedule.

She didn't want to think for once; just feel.Her lips were slowly sliding up and down on his cock, her tongue lazily circling around him. The small sounds of bliss coming from Darien were more than expressive hint of how she did so far and she enjoyed every moment; driving her lover to the edge was considerably more fun than the eternal verbal fights. Darien didn't seem to agree with her for some reason, though. Rowena raised her head with a quizzical look planted in her eyes upon hearing his request to stop, but before she got the chance to ask what the hell is going on, he promptly silenced her with his lips. Moaning into his mouth with delight, she grabbed his hair with her healthy hand and returned the kiss with every bit of passion he gave her. Her heart was about to jump out of her chest in excitement as she felt his cock pressing lightly against her entrance; it had been so fucking long... The vampire's annoyance when Darien didn't have the decency to actually go through with it could be measured in tons. Only his expression prevented her from blurting out some colossally mood-destroying remark. Rowena regarded staring in your lover's eyes about as amusing as watching a paint dry, but the emotions within touched her. Uncertainty they both shared, desire... And maybe something else she didn't dare to name.

From a certain standpoint, it was nice to know Darien felt just as confused about this as her, yet some long-buried part of her personality wished to comfort him. To tell him that their participation in this blatantly self-destructive adventure would turn out just okay. Rowena just couldn't lie to him. Not thanks to courtesy of - ha, ha - newly discovered moral aversion towards lying, though; she simply understood that a good lie required some grounds to back it up. A hollow reassurance would just sting more. Well, unspoken promises are much easier to formulate. And so she pulled him closer, tasting his lips again; this kiss, however, contrasted sharply with the previous one. It was soft and sweet and everything she ultimately wasn't. "Hey, I like to finish what I start," Rowena whispered in his ear as she finally mounted him. A surge of pleasure immediately ran through her body, stealing her breath and successfully erasing last traces of her sanity. She started moving her hips, slowly picking up a steady pace.

 

[The Returner]

For seconds to come Darien was balancing between the possibility of being rejected after all, or signing his death wish. Both almost equally damaging to his sense of uncertainty and ego, where the former would hurt him just like many women before did, and the latter would...well, to be honest, only a madman willingly signs a contract with the Grim Reaper, right? However, it appeared that Rowena didn't care anymore about any of this, neither did Darien to be absolutely fair, even though at first he could put his finger on the fact that she would get mouthy due to his hesitation. Her reply was something that he hoped for and something that made his insides explode with a ray of different feelings that he just couldn't be bother do separate and examine in that moment. Her kiss, even though soft and sweet and utterly addictive, made him a promise that whatever would come after this night, would ultimately change what was planned before. It was the deal breaker if you will. It was clear that after tonight, they wouldn't be able to carry out their initial plan to the thought perfection as they agreed some days ago in the desert.

As she mounted him, Darien grabbed her buttocks tighter and the first, due to the intimacy that penetrated his whole being, a deep groan full of pleasure was his response to her resolve. Rowena just felt better than any other woman, or a vampire female for that matter. Just as she picked up the pace, so did Darien, flexing his hips to meet the rhythm, gradually thrusting harder as if he wanted to get as deep as possible and multiply their pleasure not just by tenfold. This sort of closeness, its unthinkable occurrence yet delightful resonance, partially fuelled Darien's passion and desire. He wanted more of Rowena than he could possible get and ask for at that moment, but no one would have been able to deny that to him. Whoever would try, would have to deal with deadly consequences of his power and rage. His breathing got faster and hoarse and before realizing it, his fingers were again kneading her nipples, giving her some more pleasure that she surely deserved. Even though he hated the fabric separating the two of them, yes nothing was better than skin on skin contact, he didn't complain. If his wits would get hold of him at that point, they would certainly, ironically say 'Only one baby step at a time'.

Maybe thanks to his previous sexual contact with other women, Darien was able to control his magical powers so that he didn't send things flying like the first time he reached climax after he started his training. Thanks god he was the only one in the bathroom back then. However, this time, due to a year-long forced celibacy, Darien's subconscious just so so managed to hold his power on the leash. Small loose things were vibrating all around them and it wasn't due to the swaying of the car in the rhythm of their 'love song'. He could feel the tenseness around his groin, the sensual throbbing before the sweet end. Just quickly, urgently reaching for Rowena's lips, he managed to steal a deep kiss before raggedly breathing out: "I'll...be...done...soon." His tempo was already slowing down but his thrusts were stronger, deeper, somewhat more immediate which might have served as a hint before his exclamation.

 

[Aine]

Mind games belonged to finer joys of Rowena's life; while they were still just instruments to cause suffering of anyone stupid enough to get in your way which wasn't that different from mauling them with a hammer, you had to train fairly different skills to pull it off. Dissecting someone's psyche demanded surgeon-like precision with words and quick reflexes. The vampire had learned to employ those tactics almost subconsciously, even towards those few she actually liked; the notable distinction was that in the case of those rare beings, Rowena was striving to amuse herself rather than make them crash and burn. Observing Darien's carefully maintained self-control crumble to dust solely because of her would have been satisfying as hell if she wasn't too busy trying not to melt in relish from his attention to really notice. The sweet tension growing in her underbelly, sense of closeness unmatchable with anything else, haze of blissful contentment; it was hard to believe they were indulging in some sort of filthy heresy when it felt so right. Honestly, even if Sekhmet herself descended from the sky and presented her with official document announcing wickedness of their act, Rowena would give her a giant middle finger.

Digging her nails to his shoulders for better stability, she kept their pace steady so Darien could get as deep as he wished. The vampire wasn't really the type to scream - discretion had played a significant role in her post-Christian pseudo-relationships - but she couldn't refrain herself from moaning quietly. His name escaped her lips a few times as well and whenever it did, it seemed like she was cuddling with the word. Rowena loved how he could be firm with her without slipping in the 'violence' territory; too many vampires were all too eager to draw blood and she didn't appreciate it at all. Both sex and combat had their charm, but mixing them up was just distasteful. Rowena failed to see appeal in beating the crap out of someone you liked enough to invite in your bed. Moreover, being on the receiving end of those practices was usually more than powerful impulse to trigger her somewhat hyperactive instinct of self-preservation and well, let's just say that nobody enjoyed it in the end. Her breathing got heavier, more disjointed, and she knew she wasn't going to withstand his care much longer. Shortly after his exclamation, Rowena gasped and her world exploded in a rush of ecstasy.

The moment was strong enough to freeze her in the movement, but then she remembered she wasn't alone here and leaving Darien hanging would be quite impolite. Locking his lips with hers again, Rowena resumed moving her lips and flexing her muscles around him to lead him to the desired climax. She practically collapsed on his chest afterwards, hugging him around the neck with her healthy arm, and rested her head on his shoulder. Normally, this would be the second she'd retreat quickly to avoid giving the guy in question wrong idea about some feelings blossoming between them, but that ship had already sailed. Fatigue previously repelled by her arousal returned immediately - after all, she'd been through a lot today and the physical activity didn't exactly help - but it was a pleasant kind of tiredness that spread warmth in her limbs. Her eyelids suddenly gained additional weight and it was harder to keep her eyes open, yet she struggled to stay awake. "I don't know about you, but I'd consider our little experiment a success. My current evaluation is about nine out of ten, which is obviously a solid score, but we would have to practice a lot more to get the perfect rating. Talent isn't everything, you know," Rowena informed him off-handedly and revealed a set of white teeth in a smirk. What? The fact she had an emotional side didn't mean it would grow like a cancer and rewrite her entire personality.

 

[The Returner]

It was like allevation of something that was weighting down on him for a long time. ThE heavy boulder lifted from his chest to be thrown away with an ease and strength of David fighting Goliath. He almost forgot how it felt to be...satisfied. Year of running reduced his sense to the basic need of preservation. Saving himself and others from the ultimate, inescapable death was his only goal on his mind until today. But now, the life seemed to be kind to him for once and allow him to enjoy what was denied to him for so long. Clenching his teeth just to suppress the moan that was wanting to escape his throat, Darien reached his climax. Sure, Rowena was skilled in what she was doing, not only military related, but he would have probably reached his culmination even without it, after all, it has been so long. Looking at her as she collapsed on top of him, he felt slightly sleepy too. Moving some of the hair from her face as she rested on his chest, he was suddenly frowning. Whether it was the attempt on comprehension of what has just happened or his thoughts of remorse, it would be hard to tell. One thing was clear, though, just as suddenly as he could turn into a passionate lover, he could just as quickly and skilfully get back to his old, pensive self. Without a word he helped Rowena back into her seat, finding some wipes in the glove compartment (god knows why they were there but well), he put one near Rowena's healthy hand in case she would have the need to provisionally clean herself or whatever. Darien had to give himself a wipe though. Once he was done with the simple errand of getting back to presentable state, the silence in the car was almost tangible. He had a slight idea about where they were and if his guess was right there was a town somewhere near. "Humph, if you say so," he replied absent-mindedly to Rowena as he started the engine once again. Darien ignored the pressing matters of their intercourse and began driving. They needed a place to hide before the sun would go up...well, Rowena did need a place to hide, and even though Darien knew that he shouldn't care so much whether she had a place to hide, he did have the need to find a dark place for her when she was incapable of doing so herself. So he pushed himself, no matter how tired he was.

Following the almost straight road in the southward direction, Darien's eyes were glued to what was happening ahead of him, even though his consciousness was coming back together and the impact of actions past was dawning on him. In the days long gone, when earth was still inhabited mostly by humans, if Darien would go to a psychologist to talk about his current issue with his vampire partner, he wouldn't know what to say. For heaven's sake, he could even explain it properly to himself. All he was aware of was the fact that he has just had sex with a vampire female, who happens to be very attractive, but still his enemy considering the deal that they struck. She was someone who tried to kill him for such a long time. Yet still, there were things that Darien couldn't help, feelings he couldn't suppress and to be frank, it did scare him on the level that he got the notion that this whole affair will turn out to be another "Vanessa mistake". His experience with vampire females just wasn't good. His head was throbbing with running thoughts, ideas, solutions that were just as useful as hypothetical plan C; it was just giving him a headache. Just about when he thought that he would explode from over-active brain, he noticed the lights on the side of the road. The lights of El-Saf, a vampire town. Slowing down only a little, this gave him the opportunity to take his mind away from cogitating to evaluating how risky it would be to go into El-Saf. Result...very risky.

El-Saf was crawling with the vampire scum that couldn't find proper living to buy mansion in places like Cairo. These vampires were equal to drug dealers who were losing on their profit because addicts who they supplied were not paying. So yeah, all of them were pretty much pissed off all the time. Taking Rowena there when she still had some healing to do and him being tired to the extent that he would seriously consider even lifting a rock, Darien had to drive past that twisted haven. No more adventures today, not when both of them were vulnerable. But just as he left the lights of the town behind, he remembered ruins of a house, just outside El-Saf, that were not occupied. At least, that's how he remembered it from the last time he went there. Turning the car around, the Hekan could have return using the same road, but has decided not to as that would raise suspicions. Same car passing by twice? Not even the rich vampires would own the same car as their neighbour, or at least that's the impression Darien had. So he went off the road. The ruins weren't far. Some ten miles from the town and this car had a good built to manage the journey.

The ruins obviously used to be an ordinary house, now wrecked by time and negligence, more than half buried in the ground, decaying under the conditions of the desert. However, it did serve him and his team as shelter many months ago, he didn't see a reason why it wouldn't do so again. Nearing their destination, Darien switched of the headlights and utter dark engulfed them once more. There was no need to worry though, as he stopped the car soon after. Looking at the wind blown and smoothed walls that he could just about discern, the Hekan was evaluating the possibility if there was someone inside. He was too tired to use his ability and feel the vibrations on the ground, moreover he was sitting in a car. "Stay in here. I will go and check out the ruins." He informed Rowena before he got out. Considering her state, Darien doubted she would actively leave the car to assist him in the search. Taking out the silver knife from their flight, Darien placed the hilt in his hand and slowly advanced forward, his eyes could just about make out the outline of the wall but his vision was getting better, thanks to the scanty moonlight. He couldn't hear anything, or anyone but there was no chance he would let the silence fool him completely. Searching the ground for a stone, he used the oldest trick on earth and threw the found rock at a random place somewhere in front of him but far enough. When even that didn't provoke any reaction from some unwanted residents in the ruins, Darien got somewhat assured that this was a so to speak safe place from them to stay.

Walking back to the car, Darien opened the passenger door and without waiting to see whether Rowena was able to walk or not, he picked her up and carried her into the ruins. He tried to be as emotionless as possible, his face impenetrable as always, his eyes set on the aim of getting her into the shelter without further delay. Putting her on the hard, dusty ground, he quickly went back to the car, wondering and hoping that Rowena's friend from Cairo might have given them some supplies. As he opened the boot, he had to bless the apparent thoughtfulness of their previous host. In the dim light he could see a bag and a box, but he wouldn't know what exactly they had unless there was a flash light which he found quite quickly on the top of the stuff in the box. In short, Darien found basic supplies like pack of eight bottles of water, some dried meat, two sleeping bags, surprisingly a fresh change of clothes for each of them. Next to the box was a cooling back with several sacks of blood. Clearly, Rowena's friend thought about everything and it was only for Darien's imagination to figure out how he got all that stuff. Returning back to their provisional camp, he placed one blood sack and the sleeping back next to Rowena, then he retreated to the other side of the camp with his sleeping bag, bottle of water and the flash light. Not that the whole collapsed room was big enough, there was scarcely two or three meters between the two of them, but Darien just felt better being apart from Rowena. She caused his mind to cloud and it was hard for him to think and no matter how tired he was, thinking was one of the things that he would definitely do from now on. This room, even though partially collapsed, was the only one that sort of retained all four walls in different levels of decay. As long as they wouldn't start a fire, no one should be able to see them from the outside.

 

[Aine]

Rowena couldn't even remember the last time she felt like this; with the deeply primal urges finally getting their satisfaction and the mist of intoxication blocking thought process rather efficiently, her happiness was complete. One could argue her current state was the ultimate argument for the benefits of lobotomy and surprisingly, this theory held some water in her case. While she would mourn the loss of her sharp intellect bitterly as it was usually the only thing standing between her and total destruction, but the disappearance of that small nagging voice in the back of her head that targeted her inner serenity wouldn't be sorely missed. Over-analyzing every little detail and re-interpreting any given situation to death, the voice would shame even the most hardcore pessimist with its outrageously catastrophic predictions. Rowena didn't know what was more rage inducing; the fact that she tortured herself like that willingly or that those nonsensical guesses somehow still came true with distressing regularity. This time, her alarm bells went off due to rapid change in Darien's behavior. The big leap between somewhat gently if vacantly playing with her hair and icy aura suddenly strangling any sense of intimacy from before was fairly striking even to someone slowly losing her fight against fatigue. The cold shower actually snapped her out of her sleepiness... And what she saw when the rose-colored glasses got shattered by reality wasn't too pretty.

Oh, wow. What an epic level fiasco. Rowena silently accepted the tissue to provisionally clean herself and took a great care to avoid any eye contact; the feeling of elation was slowly falling apart like a leprosy patient. After paying some respect to the hygiene, she leaned on the window to cool down her burning cheeks. Her stare was blank as if her chestnut eyes didn't even register its surroundings. The dull desert terrain offered no interesting sight to the vampire and she believed in Darien's orientation sense, so trying to figure out their location would be quite pointless. Having zero access to any convenient distraction to occupy her mind and being utterly unable to enter that sleepy state again unfortunately meant inevitable self-bashing. What the hell? Has repeating the same basic mistakes become my most prominent hobby or what? Should I get a tattoo saying 'never engage in emotional nonsense' somewhere visible on my body so I can get reminded in times of crisis? Such a tattoo would probably also serve the double purpose of warning anyone who would be potentially interested in some sort of relationship with her; the more she thought about it, the more appealing the idea seemed. Too bad ancient tombs traditionally didn't contain tattoo saloons. Seriously, though. I thought my days of idiocy were over and then I single-handedly wreck a perfectly fine alliance for... for a momentary gratification. Yay me.

Rowena felt no remorse for sleeping with someone she knew personally for a roughly week. There were much more questionable choices in her life and she saw intercourse as a fun physical activity for two. Something like tennis, but infinitely more satisfying; definitely NOT a natural crystallization of romantic feelings towards the second participant. What scared her was that this sex actually did follow those society-approved norms about discarding clothes only after falling in love. Well, love may have been a strong word, but Darien simply wasn't just another notch on her belt. The brief mental connection they had established - how he had listened to her, hadn't berated her for numerous displays of weakness she had demonstrated and seemed to truly understand her - was all the vampire ever wanted from her lover. Shoving individuality in people's faces played an enormous part in her custom philosophy, but being misunderstood by everyone could be a lonely destiny sometimes. Still, those who had hurt her in the past recruited entirely from group of bastards that had once shared privilege of her affection; frankly, Rowena dreaded letting anyone too close to her. It was like presenting them with a poisoned dagger, dutifully pointing out all her shortcomings in martial prowess and foolishly believing they wouldn't use the knowledge. Her own codex further enforced this problem; even though Rowena would gladly pull any dirty trick to seize the strategic advantage and snuff out lives without hesitation, she could never really harm a loved one. Betraying the few principles she had would result in transforming in something she hated with passion; a female version of Christian. Hell, major reason for joining the army was to break out of the treacherous crowd whose masks were so securely sewn to their faces that even they had no idea where the deception ended. Fighting for your bare life had a twisted kind of honor to it, as nobody expected you to play fair and square in the first place.

Granting Darien membership of the exclusive club of cherished individuals would significantly improve the chances of his survival, but she couldn't remove him out of the 'People to kill' list. Not when he had promised to murder her after they were done with their quest for that damned book. Rowena found herself wishing they could go back to the old antipathy restrained only by common goal; hatred was a beautifully linear affair. This mess of conflicting desires just made her head spin. Submerged deep in her reflections, the vampire barely noticed they arrived to their destination. Uncharacteristic silence was the only response Darien got; she didn't feel like collecting her scattered thoughts and returning to their usual routine of verbal jousting. The stillness didn't last long, though. "I haven't sunk as low as to need a human equivalent of a wheelchair, Darien. My legs are still quite functional, thanks for asking," she protested, but he ignored her objections and carried her all the way to the rundown building. Vulnerability appeared to set off some sort of protective instinct inside him, which was all the more reason to hide it from him in the future. Being treated like a porcelain doll tipped the balance in their relationship to the wrong direction. Few moments later, Rowena was nestled in her sleeping bag and delicately sipping blood from the pack. Drinking canned blood after almost tasting Darien was similar to having to resort to moldy bread instead of a juicy steak, but she didn't complain. Far worse meals had been on the former soldier's table in the past. Sleep ambushed her abruptly, without even giving her the chance to change her clothes; Rowena practically passed out.

Awakening with new energy flowing in her veins was pleasant, or at least would have been if events of the yesterday night still weren't haunting her memory. Their tongues wrestling for sweet dominance, the forbidden feelings, the moment of climax... Stop it. There's a time and place for daydreaming, the vampire chastised herself and crawled out of her sleeping bag. Stretching out like a cat, Rowena walked to her pile of fresh clothes. Haji had prepared a long trousers of an indeterminate shade of brown and a white sleeveless top; nobody would win the Miss World contest in that, but no fashion police was likely to criticize her here. Taking special precautions to cover her nudity seemed fairly preposterous to her after yesterday, so Rowena merely turned around and changed as quickly as the injured hand allowed her. "What a relief. I still stand by the opinion that Haji wanted to wreak vengeance on me by stuffing me in that dress. Who would willingly choose to look like an oversized cream puff and lose all mobility as a bonus? Classy place, by the way. I adore the rustic, ready-to-collapse-at-any-moment style," Rowena smirked. It took all her acting skills to pretend that what had happened between them was just a weird dream, but she pulled it off like a professional. Nothing in her expression revealed confusion or regret; the old confidence was back in all its glory when she sat on the floor next to Darien. "Let's examine the map. My hand still needs some healing, but I won't do it now; it will probably put me out of service for a while and I want to enjoy the feeling of my brain working correctly." Grabbing the decades old papyrus, Rowena removed the snake-shaped bracelet and unfolded it gently.

The document was visibly aged, but Christian really knew how to preserve antiquities; the lines of ink on the parchment's surface were surprisingly sharply defined. Another surprise consisted of the fact that the key to their mission's success certainly didn't have properties of a typical map. For one, it didn't depict any sort of terrain or even area. The whole papyrus was covered with tiny pictograms which defied all the laws of written language. They weren't aligned in rows nor in columns; the symbols were celebrating chaos by telling the linguistics to sit down and shut up. "Awesome. How are we supposed to... Wait... I know Egyptian when I see it and if this isn't a code, I hereby swear to eat my shoes," Rowena exclaimed excitedly. "Hieratic or demotic script sure as hell doesn't look like that and hieroglyphs are completely out of question..." The vampire paused, projecting all kinds of ciphers she had learned during her stay in the army in her head, and a wistful frown settled on her face. Yes, she was familiar with many methods of encrypting a text, but breaking a code was usually tedious and unrewarding task. Besides, know-how of the used technique rarely helped you in the long run as pretty much any complex cipher had countless variations and you needed to test them out manually. It demanded full concentration; something that was decidedly hard to achieve when her thoughts were wandering somewhere else constantly. Fuck this. I'm so not letting this stupid dilemma sabotage me. And so Rowena approached the problem in the only way that actually worked; by charging it head on. "So, Darien," she looked up from the document, expression suddenly unreadable, "sorry if I'm being too nosy, but what's your official stance on our adult fun from yesterday? Were we victims of a demonic possession, in emotional turmoil and thus not responsible for our actions or perhaps it never happened at all?" Rowena didn't know what kind of answer she expected or wanted, but resolving it was the logical step to make it stop bothering her.

 

[The Returner]

Sitting with his back pressed against the wall, the darkness prevented anyone to see clearly the details of his body or face which was the only reason why he dared to steal a glance at Rowena from now and then. For the outsider it might look like he was acting as a teenage boy who kissed for the first time and was now shyly staring at his secret lover. For Darien, though, this was a way of dealing with what has happened. There were no feelings in his expression, just that hint of searching as if he was making sure that Rowena was still real, therefore her existence was sealing the fact of what has happened in the car and she would forever be a reminder of that most likely a big mistake. Well, that might be a bit exaggerated since forever would end as soon as he would run a stake through her heart once they find the book. Even though it was hard for him to think about, or picture the situation that will dawn on them at some point in the future, Darien still had to keep in mind that he was with the Resistance and she was his enemy nonetheless. He didn't care that the foundations of this crucial belief have already crumbled under the storm of unexpected emotions and events that happened in the past week; even the shadow of the promise, of the deal they stroke, saved Darien from the inevitable turning point of madness. Gritting his teeth, he massaged his temples, relieving the non-existent headache.

It was obvious that Rowena was already asleep, or so he judged from her rhythmic breathing and still posture. His skin was itchy but it wasn't so much for the clothes he was wearing, even though it was torn, sweaty and god knows what else. It felt more like the muscles under his skin tried to burst out of the confinement of the soft tissue that was holding them together. Darien didn't like that feeling. It was similar to the one he got when he was pushing his powers to the limit, which couldn't have been happening at that moment as any attempt on using magic would simply not work. It was persistent though and it was annoying him greatly. Remembering the fresh set of clothes that Rowena's friend packed for them, Darien went to the car to get changed. The new attire of dark loose jeans and dark woollen, long sleeve shirt reminded him a bit of his previous uniform, yet nothing would ever account to the comfy-ness of his uniform. But it would have to do for now and it was a bit too late for him to complain anyway. And just like the lighting hits the ground swiftly and precisely, so did Darien remember his own secret, his heart leaping up and forward. Now that was a distraction.

Just as he recalled the fact that he possessed one of the greatest revelation in his personal history, Darien also thought of the way he treated the papyrus and his previous excitement and somewhat boyish thrill of the unknown to explore, dropped all the way down and splashed in the sand like a jelly. He was no expert in the treatment of centuries old documents but the common sense told him that stuffing such a thing in his pocket so carelessly probably didn't end well. 'If I ruined it...If it's unreadable...I might as well give in to this whole Rowena accident and it would have exactly the same outcome.' A disaster with the damage force of an atomic bomb that would completely obliterate Darien's sense of what's right and what's wrong. Unsure of what to expect he reached in the pocket and the first that his fingers touched upon where just unidentifiable fragments. Feeling his throat tightening, expecting the expected, he reached further and to his surprise he could feel some firm sheet of old paper that felt to be still somewhat intact. Gently pulling that out, what Darien saw in the circle of light was about half the size of what he captured in Christian's house, but it was something...and he could clearly see the writing on the papyrus too. Still feeling annoyed at his stupidity of not thinking that through, Darien was though relieved that this only thing that might be of a huge importance to his existence, and the existence of other Hekans for that matter too, was not destroyed completely. Almost unknowingly he sat down in the sand, leaning against the car, trying to decipher what was in front of him. It did look familiar, all too familiar for him to ignore the nagging feeling that he should be able to read whatever was written on the papyrus even though it dated some thousand years back.

The Hekan wasn't sure when exactly, but at one point his brain must have given up because that next thing he knew was that he was opening his eyes, the sun coming up, the only thing holding down the script against the forces of the morning breeze was his flash light. Kicking himself in the arse again for his carelessness, this time he carefully folded the document before storing in the front pocket of his jeans where it would be safe. Returning to the provisional camp, Rowena was still asleep and truth be told Darien still felt tired himself and so he laid down, closed his eyes to sleep a bit more. The next time he woke up it was sun dawn, and the Hekan felt perfectly rested. Some food in a form of dried meat only filled his energy and he felt almost as good as new. Yet Rowena was still sleeping. He had no idea when she'd wake up but his own curiosity wouldn't let him rest; moreover, thoughts of yesterday were knocking on the door again and so he took out his own little project, this time feeling like he could unravel the mystery of the scribbles. Looking at it with the remnants of the daylight, Darien was sure that it wasn't just a reflection of the blood coloured sun but that two groups of symbols were written in red. Why? He couldn't tell. The first group was partially torn and the second one...he'd probably need to do the translation of the text before it to be able to figure out the meaning. 'Probably the best time to brush up my knowledge, I guess.' He thought, but the chance was taken away from him as Rowena stirred in her sleeping back. Putting the papyrus back in his pocket quickly yet very carefully so that she would notice anything, Darien took a deep breath. Facing a riddle was easier than facing a woman with whom he slept for reasons that he couldn't quite express, let alone explain. And so he ignored Rowena for the first couple minutes, adjusting to her as she was walking about and being alive in general.

Yet no ignorance lasts forever, whether it is intended or not. Grabbing his flash light Darien shone on the 'map'. His first reaction was a raised eyebrow. Well, don't blame him. When someone says 'map', it is only logical and natural that you would expect a map. Though, based on what Darien encountered throughout his hunt for the book, he got over the initial surprise with the agility of a cat. What he was seeing was some baby doodle on old paper that made no sense what so ever and he saw no point in even trying to solve that since it probably had no solution at all and the good old Egyptians where just laughing at them now from their sandy heaven. As he was to tell Rowena that their tries would be futile and that if they want to solve this they need help, Rowena was already talking, though her topic was completely different. Looking up at her, his expression was just as unreadable as hers. They were two sphinxes staring at each other. From her tone, the Hekan was sure that the vampire wouldn't just drop it. There was no escape for him and maybe it was for the best. If they'd clear this out, the whole incident might as well disappear from their memory and they can carry on with their own roles within this insane adventure. "My official stance is that what has happened yesterday was something that will never happen again," he said, his facial features moving only when he spoke. There was a hard edge to his words, resolution. Yet every word he said stabbed him in the chest. He knew why, but for the sake of his own mission and his own life, he had to make a decision. Sacrifice was the only exit he saw in this corridor of damnation. "We have a deal Rowena. Don't forget that." The finality of his decision dawned on him quickly and as it was rending to the surface of Darien's expression, he looked back at the map, only shadows covering the battle carried out within his own mind. Yet again, it was a sacrifice he had to make. Whether willing or not was out of question for the sake of keeping at least this questionable partnership intact. "So any idea how to wrestle with this...map?"

 

[Aine]

Several objections were burning a hole in Rowena's tongue upon listening to Darien's grim assessment of their situation. The one grounded in logic argued that it wouldn't be the first nor the last time in world history someone exploited a poorly worded deal; enjoying each other's company while they had the chance violated absolutely nothing about their treaty. As a devoted enthusiast of methods that often ventured to the grayest area of legality, Rowena had become well-versed in the noble art of finding loopholes in official documents enough to outsmart an average lawyer. Their deal certainly didn't include a clause like 'be hostile to your ally 24/7'. The reasonable side also pointed out that their contract was just a spoken agreement that could be changed as easily as they had conceived it; she wouldn't insist on a presence of a notary. Raw emotions, naturally, provided a less rational perspective. Darien's quick dismissal struck where it hurt; despite actually agreeing on some level that pursuing relationship would equal to a very slow suicide, she felt as if he had just stabbed her in the gut and twisted the knife for good measure. The vampire took a deep breath to give her sentiments a tangible form, but refrained from cementing her position as a lovesick loser at the last moment. Semblance of dignity was the only luxury she could afford here and you would catch Rowena volunteering to scrub floors at orphanages before you'd see her begging for someone's affection. Never.

Her face betrayed no emotion aside from the usual smug confidence. "Unfortunately for you, Darien, my memory serves me well. Those whom I promised death found out I am quite dutiful in paying off my debts; it's so insulting you dare to doubt my credibility." Getting back in her old role was as simple as putting on comfortable broken-in shoes, but the familiarity couldn't soothe her sore feelings. Damn it, I need to stop overreacting. Now isn't the best time to treat hormonal outbursts as a valid response to disappointment. It's not like I imagined a fairytale wedding and bunch of biologically impossible hybrid kids when I... seduced him, I guess. Luckily, Darien brought up a topic of much greater importance than her wounded ego and if Rowena excelled at something, it was definitely burying bitter emotions deep within herselfwhen provided with a suitable distraction. She glanced at the so-called map, flattening the ancient relic so the symbols were easier to read. "Of course I do. It may surprise you, but I used to be a primary strategist in most of the squads I graced with my membership, not a straight out damage dealer. Breaking ridiculously convoluted codes is on my CV right under 'exotic torture techniques'. I've also devised a plan how to approach the deciphering and your contribution will be crucial, so listen carefully. Don't get in my way," Rowena practically hissed, her voice calm but dangerously low. "No speaking, no disturbances unless it's a life or death situation and no questions like 'are you done yet', understand? Mere fact that I have some experience with solving ciphers doesn't mean it fills me with joy; actually, it'll probably put me in a positively foul mood since it's about as interesting as watching paint dry and similarly rewarding. The last thing I need is an amateur constantly questioning my methods. No offense," the vampire smiled in a manner so dishonest it wouldn't fool a preschooler.

And with those kind words, Rowena delved into a fascinating world of combinations, substitutions and strangely dream-like logic most codes were based on. Inwardly cursing the lunatic who had invented this cipher, the former commander vainly looked for a hint of order amidst the anarchy. How the hell should I proceed in translating this rubbish into comprehensible speech when I can't even figure out where is the beginning of the inscription and where's the end? Am I supposed to determine it with a counting-out game or what? This. Makes. No. Fucking. Sense. Rowena would never admit her confusion after she had painted herself as the most accomplished riddle solver in the continent, however, so she swallowed her misery and continued reaping the sour fruit of her boasting. Most cipher authors at least had the decency to sneak in a little prompter, but nooo, this guy was playing in the advanced league. For the next three hours, Rowena just sat motionlessly, glaring at the map as if she had entered a staring contest with the inanimate object, and ran through different scenarios in her head. The process was simply agonizing. The search for any sort of pattern was fueled by pure concentration and her mind didn't work that way; flashes of occasional brilliance that set her entire universe ablaze with insight didn't result from difficult mental labor. They were born of pure chance, of her ability to improvise under difficult circumstances. Restricting herself to mechanical applying of known systems almost hurt her physically; the vampire could swear she was developing a migraine. Mumbling to herself quietly, she was engraving the pictograms in the earthen floor with her finger until the ground around her was wrinkled with her handwriting.

As days went by and the mystery still stood undefeated, Rowena's behavior deteriorated so rapidly it would prompt any psychiatrist to inject her with sedatives. Threatening to murder the map's relatives in the most brutal fashion possible unless it revealed its secrets and singing folk songs in language so unpronounceable it seemed she was trying to summon Satan could be justified by the lack of sleep, but that didn't make it any less creepy. Rowena acted with stubbornness of a pitbull tracking its prey; if the map was a living, sentient entity, it would be filling out an application for a restraining order by now. The only time she willingly left it alone was when she ventured out at night, murmuring under her breath 'I need to go kill something.' Homicidal maniacs from b-rated horror movies looked like fairly harmless individuals when compared with the vampire right now. Darien was ostentatiously ignored the whole time; in fact, he could spontaneously combust in flames and Rowena wouldn't notice. Personal problems had never snapped her out of her determined trance and she didn't intend to start that trend now. "Spiraling down towards the madness... The stupid map won't talk to meee..." Rowena hummed to herself, blissfully unaware of being completely out of tune, when she suddenly stiffened in the middle of the movement as if struck by lightning. "Oh. OH. How could I not see it before? It's a goddamned SPIRAL."

It was hard to spot in the chaos, but some of those backstrokes were indeed placed in a suspiciously helical formation. Rowena doubted that inclusion of one of the oldest spiritual symbols served as a decoration; Egyptians had been too stuck up to handle a joke about their mystical mumbo-jumbo, let alone use it without a good reason. Think, Rowena. What does spiral fundamentally represent? Energy? Unity? Cheap tools for hypnotism in cartoons? Her eyes were following the uncanny pattern to its center when the realization dawned upon her. As a geometrical motif, spiral twisted the beholder's perception and attracted attention. Last pieces of the puzzle fell in place with a loud crack; the spiral was the key and other symbols just strategically positioned false leads. Almost forgetting to breathe thanks to suspense, Rowena began drawing on the floor frantically as if her life depended on it. Breaking the code with the redundant mess cleared out of her way was a child's play right now. A question of hours, tops. Two hours later, Rowena threw the map in front of Darien and grinned victoriously; she couldn't be bothered to shroud her triumph in a sarcastic detachment. Success was her drug and enjoying a metaphorical acid trip didn't exactly fortify one's inhibitions. "It probably cost me a giant portion of my sanity, but there you go, here is the proof I'm a divine gift to the world of cryptography. I know, I know, I'm awesome; no need to remind me. Anyway, the inscription says this: Under the ever vigilant guidance of Sphinx, when Horus' right eye reaches the highest point, let the treacherous Apep taste your blood and watch the path to wisdom unfold."