“I`m not wearing anything, I`m carrying a blasted heavy weight,” Cillean exploded. Daerick just let out a suppressed chuckle.
“Why`s she passed out anyways? I`d think you`d have to hit a head that stubborn with a pound of bricks,” Darien asked.
Cillean just blushed. “I have my ways,” he said defensively.
Daerick chuckled again. “The maiden here was engaged in combat with my friend,” he said. “He didn`t like her success and used a vampire spell.”
Cillean blushed more fiercly. “You`re the one who used the spell,” he muttered.
“Speaking of,” Daerin began, “Are you yearning for that of the fair haired or the dark one,” he asked curiously. Cillean leaned in, listening with avid interest.
“Does it really matter if I want them both safely back in their homes,” Darien asked with some doubt.
“If mine is more valuable to you, that determines if I have to kill you or not,” Cillean muttered.
“Death threats come frequently to this man,” Daerick murmured happily. Whether he was happy to be around the version of his friend that lacked his earlier killer`s aura or pride in the other`s violent nature, no one could tell for certain.
“Well, I can`t stand Jackie. She obnoxious and constantly stressed about everything. And Priscilla`s the type of pathetic damsel in distress kind of gal. And I can`t really leave either behind, so I want to help both,” he said, blithely ignorant of Cillean`s blossoming feelings for ‘his’ nymph.
Cillean drooped in relief. “I thought you meant, um, you know, you don`t, that is your feelings,” he mumbled incomprehensibly. Blushing, he poked Daerick to explain things for him as he was too embarrassed to keep talking without a break to compose himself.
“The other female is being held safely at,” he glanced at Cillean, “Our ruler`s friend`s abode. We shall bring this Jacqueline there as well. Darien became excited, looking between the two with shining anticipation. Cillean simply sighed and waved at him to pick up the pace. He complied, promptly tripping over his feet.
“He really is child like,” Cillean murmered. Daerick gave a definitive nod in agreement.
“We`re almost there,” Cillean called out. Darien grinned in anticipation. “Outsiders may not travel to a safe house with their awareness,” Daerick added cryptically.
“That means it`s sleepy time for the children,” Cillean called out.
Darien whipped his head around, looking at the both of them in alarm. “Can`t we can talk about this, I won`t breathe a word to a soul, so you don`t have to go that far,” he said, skittering away. Both vampires took a step closer to him in unison. “Wait, wait, let`s not be hasty,” came as he was still backing away. He tripped over a tree root, desperately scrambling to get up again. Cillean knelt down, holding the teen`s face between both hands. He took a deep breath, ignoring the boy`s struggles, and blew out in his face. His body became still, limp in the elder vampire`s grasp.
“You just wanted to make him squirm first,” Daerin accused.
“Of course,” Cillean responded. “It wouldn`t be fun to do it quickly or sneakily to the little squirt.” Daerick just sighed in exasperation, having long since accepted some of the negative points of his friend`s nature. “Since my poor character bothers you, you get to carry the body,” he added cheerfully. Daerin looked at him darkly, then looked pointedly at the body his friend was already hauling with a quirked eyebrow. He silently hefted his burden and slinging the boy across his own shoulder. He grunted at the weight, and they both started sprinting off the road and through a nearly invisible path, their forms visible as their increased load slowed their speed down significantly.
Darien groaned and tumbled into wakefulness. “Whatever you guys used to knock me out has quite the kick,” he grumbled while he blinked his eyes. He looked around. The room was bare, holding only a basic pallet on the ground and a bespelled light globe on the wall. No vampires to be found here then.
He got up and rapped a fist on the door. “Hey guys,” he yelled. “Hello?” He shook his head and sighed in exasperation. “Typical. Today is really not my day. I thought I was getting along with the bloodsuckers and now they leave me to play damsel in distress.” He threw his fist up in the air and shook it at the sky. “Thank you for all your help,” he murmured sarcastically.
He tried to open the knob and found it was locked. He sneered at the lock and summoned a globule of gelled power in his hands. It arrived as a perfect sphere in his hands, then wiggled and stretched out a clear gel limb to the knob. It paused, shivering in place, then it launched the rest of its mass right at the hardware and wood next to it and collapsed into a liquid acid that seeped through the barrier and left a hole large enough for the wizard to walk through. “If my power can take on a form and make problem solve issues like that door I’m a damn sight more powerful than the other dweebs my age in the city; wasting their efforts to invent the next great scroll sorting spell to appeal to the elders with in their endless vying for power.” He grinned. “It’s good to be a free agent.”
A blast of sound ripped through the room and pushed him off his feet. “Funny thing to say,” Aeron said as he walked into the chamber, “Considering you are a prisoner here.” The wizard put up his hands to let loose a spell but the dragon just chuckled at him and locked away his powers with a wave of his hand. “Be serious, dragons taught the first spells ever learned by humans and helped foster the great cities of wizards and witches. My people still remember and teach their hatchlings the spells your people used
