Kings of War

When Shaun had told her to go and get cleaned up, she was more than happy to leave he and Eli to themselves. Something told her that they had discussing to do and she wouldn't be inthe middle of it. Sitting in the chamber she shared with Xander, she washed the blood from her face and out of her hair. It wasn't until then that the fear she had felt started to sink in. Stephen...she had trusted him a lot, and she knew Shaun and Xander had too. he had a position of authority, and he had abused it horribly. He had never spoken to her with anything less than politeness and the sudden change in his demeanor was frightening. If he had thought for one minute his threats would stop her from telling Xander, he was wrong. Of course, Shaun had handled that swiftly and with the most violence her young eyes had ever seen. Still, she waited on edge for the moment her sire returned, hoping he wouldn't be in the Outlands long.

The moment he was in the building, she could tell. Things just felt different, like something was happening, and besides she could always sense when her sire was near to her. She ran down hallway after hallway, breathless by the time she reached the foyer, and threw herself into his arms. A little melodramatic perhaps, but considering the events, she thought she was entitled to it.

The bruises Stephen had left on her arm had turned a dark, angry black and blue. You could count every finger on her arm, her ghostly pale flesh shining through in between the marks. Her eyes stung with tears as she pulled back a little, arms still locked around his hips. He left her, and this is what happened? She never wanted him to leave her again. She wanted to stay safely by his side, where she knew that things were going to be alright and nobody would ever hurt her.

He ordered her to explain, and she was only too happy to launch into the story she had been just dying to tell him. "After you left, Shaun asked me if I'd take Elisha to get cleaned up, and so me and her were walking, and she was kind of limping, and we were talking and then out of nowhere Stephen came and tried to take Eli with him. I said he couldn't, 'cause Shaun left her with me, and I didn't know why Stephen would need her. Then he...he got this look. And he grabbed my arm really hard," Pausing in her breathless babble, she pointed out the dark bruising to her sire. "He's so big, he just started dragging us, and Eli was really scared. So was I. He just...he shut the door to this room, and he was just- I don't know what was the matter with him, I've never seen any of the knights like that." By now the tears had flooded her eyes and began to spill down her cheeks, leaving glistening trails to her chin. She tried to hold them back, but it was to no avail. "I think I was missing something. I think he hurt Eli before, the way he was talking to her. Eli tried to protect me, but he hit her really hard. And then--- Shaun. he just came out of nowhere and kicked in the door, and I've never ever seen him as mad as he was. And he...he...killed Stephen."

It had been a lot of babbling and she'd probably told the whole story in about two breaths, but he needed to know and she wanted him to know as quickly as she could possibly tell him. The details would come out later. She wrapped her arms around him more tightly, burying her face into his chest. "Please don't go anywhere again," she sniffled, holding to him tight. She knew it was an unreasonable request and that he would have to leave to fulfill his duty as king, but she didn't want to be away from him for a long while. Still clutching his chest, she looked up at him with teary eyes. Something told her he'd be furious.