Sable

Sable's head spun when they finally landed, and her stomach turned over and over. She there the bag down and clutched at her abdomen, groaning loudly. Conor watched her silently.

"You okay?" Conor asked after she finished.

"Yeah, just- rough ride," Sable rasped out.

"I should have warned you about that," Conor said. He had his hand over his mouth, and was stifling his laughter. "But I wasn't expecting it to be so hard on you. Usually it's just the initial jump into the air, and then the landing that causes upset."

"Well, I'm not used to ever being in the air at all," Sable grumbled. "Just how many girls have you taken on trips like that?"

"Just you." Conor was grinning again. "I just meant that in my personal experience... When I was just starting out as a new vampire. It took a while to get used to the newfound strength. It took me a while to learn how to use my new muscles..."

Sable looked up at him as he trailed off. He sighed and shook his head, shrugging his shoulders.

"That's a story for another time," he said.

Conor reached over to pat her on the back, as comfort for her not feeling well. But an intense ache suddenly started in her chest. Sable doubled over, leaning heavily against the tree with one hand, and the other hand still gripping her chest. She coughed a bit from the pressure.

An image of Akeem's face flashed before her eyes. The pain faded, but she stayed in that position- staring wide-eyed at the tree before her. Conor loomed over her, his hand still on her back.

"He's trying to reach out to me," Sable whispered.

"Who?" Conor asked. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Sable said. She shrugged him off and straightened up. "Akeem. He's trying to reach out to me again. Inara told me he could sense my distress. I guess it wasn't great enough for him to appear."

"Your familiar," Conor said quietly. "I don't know much about how the familiar bond works, but I would assume that your life would have to actually be in danger before he made an appearance."

"That's what Inara hinted toward," Sable nodded in agreement. She pulled Conor's bag out of hers and handed it to him, then examined the bread; it was surprisingly unharmed. She slung her bag over her shoulder and stood back up. "So, where are we going? Which way to this magical tower?"

Conor pulled out a smooth, oval-shaped rock that comfortably fit the palm of his hand. He tapped on it twice and the top lit up, revealing a glowing keyboard. Sable watched in wonder as he tapped on it more. The colours over it shifted more. As she stepped closer, it looked like there was a map being revealed over it.

"What is that?" she asked.

"Lucca's castle may be stuck in the past, but the rest of us have moved on," Conor said. He gave her a smile, looking at her from the corner of his eye. "It's like a cellphone. Or- more just like a search engine, actually. You can't make calls or send messages. But anything you want to know, it can answer. And it can help us get to the tower, because it has maps too. And it will help us to avoid... certain areas." His eyes narrowed.

"Certain areas?" Sable asked.

Conor never answered. He gave her a look that she was sure hid his fear. He adjusted the strap of his bag over his shoulder and began walking. Sable looked back around them, and then ran to catch up with him.

"Don't leave me behind," she called. He made a noise acknowledging that he had heard her, and then slowed down a bit.

The forest around them was thick, but beautiful. It was such a vibrant green, wherever there were leaves and grass. Sable had never seen something so breath-taking.

There was one thing though that she had completely forgotten existed: mosquitoes. She swatted at them, wishing she had been allowed some sort of bug spray or repellent. She squeaked and made agitated sounds as she swatted at them. Several itchy bumps had already started to appear on her skin.

Conor glanced back once at the commotion. Then did a double take.

"What are you doing?" he chuckled.

"I'm getting eaten alive," she moaned. "How are you avoiding it?"

"Eaten alive? Avoiding what?" Conor arched a brow.

"Mosquitoes!" Sable exclaimed.

"What- OH." Conor nodded in realization. "I'm already dead. They don't like me, because I smell off. I smell- dead, but I'm up and walking."

"You- what?" Sable asked. She still swatted at the annoying, blood-sucking creatures. "You've never smelled... dead to me."

"Not to humans, or humanoid creatures like me," Conor agreed. "But to other creatures. It's why most animals will tend to avoid us; we smell dreadful to them."

"That's funny," Sable said. "Do you have anything to help get these things to leave me alone?"

"Here, try this," Conor said. He stopped walking, and Sable stopped shortly behind him. She stared at him puzzled until he bit into his thumb and held the bleeding wound out to her.

"What- I'm not drinking that," Sable said. She ducked away from him.

"It's not for you to drink," Conor rolled his eyes and stepped closer again. "Come here."

She allowed him to approach her, but remained tense. She watched his hand warily as he brought his thumb up and swiped it across her collar bone. He stepped back and admired his work, licking his thumb off.

"Gross," Sable said. She reached up to wipe the blood away, but Conor caught her wrist.

"Don't," he shook his head. "See?"

Sable waited, and then she noticed it. The mosquitoes avoided her- confused by the sudden change in her scent. She even reached out to where she saw a swarm of them hovering and watched as they moved away from her. There would be no more new, irritating bites showing up, and she grinned.

"That's awesome," she said. She pulled her wrist out of his grasp. "Gross, but awesome."

"You're welcome," Conor laughed. Sable rolled her eyes at him.

"Yes, thank you," she said. He smiled back at her and turned to continue walking. Sable followed along.

The forest was actually starting to look familiar to her. Why did it feel like she had been there before? Except from the obvious time she had been carried through there to Lucca's castle. She continued to look around, and then suddenly she froze.

There was the rocky area she had dreamed of, where she had last been with Akeem. A tingly sensation moved slowly through her. What was that?

Conor noticed she had stopped. He turned to look at her and then walked back over to her. He stood next to her and followed her gaze toward the rocky area off in the distance.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "Tell me you don't want to go over there."

"The last time I dreamed about Akeem, we were over there," Sable answered quietly. "We were running from some kind of enemy. And he had us stop there. How come you don't want us to go over there? What could be so bad?"

"The territory there has been owned by..." Conor trailed off and grabbed her arm. He dragged her along, further away from the rocky area. "It's now the territory of Finnian, and his minions- and has been for quite some time. They're slowly sweeping the forest, capturing land, trying to locate Lucca's castle."

"What for?" Sable asked. She allowed him to keep his grip on her arm. He looked at her as if she should have known the answer to the question. Sable shrugged.

"Well, for one, they want you," Conor said. "And they know that Lucca has you now. You're the goddess- reincarnation- with the most unique abilities, and the demons want you so they can absorb your power. Finnian himself wants the power.

"They would also love to eliminate anything standing in their way," Conor continued. "Meaning once they locate us, they will attempt to wipe us out. I'm sure Finnian would also love the extra base that killing us would grant him; wiping us out of Green Moss Castle. It would be even more territory."

"I like that name," Sable whispered.

"IT was originally Inara's home," Conor said. He let go of Sable's arm once they had reached a safer distance. "Don't let Lucca tell you otherwise. It was Inara's home, that she had brought down from the- well, wherever she came from."

They walked on in silence a little longer.

Sable imagined days where Inara had been alone inside such a large building. But she had been with Akeem those times. How long had Akeem been her familiar for? Had he been her first familiar even? Had she had more familiars?

For some reason Sable hoped that Akeem was the only one. At first she thought it was because of the strange connection she felt toward him, but then realized that it would have been a crazy handful if there had been more.

Her stomach rumbled then. She glanced up at Conor and flushed in embarrassment.

"What?" he asked, chuckling. "You're human; it's a normal thing. Let's take a break and eat."

"Okay," Sable nodded.

They picked a large tree to lean against, sitting near each other and leaning against the trunk. Sable pulled out a loaf of bread and a can of chicken, while Conor pulled out a blood bag. She shuddered. Conor stuck his tongue out at her and bit into the bag, and Sable looked away- she was going to focus on her sandwich and pretend that he was drinking something else.

"I have a question," she said halfway through her second sandwich. "Though it's probably more suited for Inara to answer."

"I'll give it my best shot," Conor encouraged.

"I know gods and goddesses, well, they typically have familiars," she said. Conor nodded. "Can they have more than one?"

"Oh, sure," Conor nodded. "I knew one who had five. But if you're asking whether or not Inara had more than one familiar, the answer is no."

Sable looked up at him. Luckily he had finished his blood bag, and was staring off between the trees. She took another bite of her sandwich.

"In fact," Conor spoke again, "for the longest time Inara didn't have a familiar. All of the gods and goddesses had made it a priority to find their familiars; a living being that could never die, serving only to protect them. It made her rather strange."

"Oh," Sable said. She started at her sandwich.

When she had finished eating, she dusted herself off and they continued walking. Night fell quickly. Hunger and exhaustion followed soon after, and Conor picked up on it easily.

"Let's stop to eat and rest for the night," Conor suggested.

"Agreed," Sable said.

They found a comfortable spot, between the roots of a rather large tree. Sable fluffed up a large pile of leaves there. She munched on crackers and watched Conor take the comfortable bed she had just made.

"Hey!" she shouted.

"What?" he asked.

"That's where I planned to sleep," she grumbled.

"Well, we can share it," he said. "It gets very cold in this forest, and we're not going to risk you freezing to death. We can sleep huddled up together. Plus I'll have a better chance of catching you if you should decide to wander off."

"I'm not sleeping with you," Sable muttered. "I wouldn't try to escape." She crossed her arms over her chest and Conor rolled his eyes.

"If it makes you feel more comfortable, I'm gay," he said. "You have nothing to worry about, if you even were worrying about something."

The cracker Sable was munching on fell out of her mouth. Conor laughed at the sight.

"Do you feel better about the situation now?" he asked. He patted the leaves next to him.

"I guess," Sable sighed and shook her head. She sat next to him and continued eating.

There was another question that was eating away at her mind. She chewed on her lip in thought.

"Say I decide to stay instead of try to go home," she said quietly. "And helped finished what Inara had started with the demons. All the demons are dead. What happens to me then?"

"Well, you'd be a lot safer," Conor offered.

"Would I be allowed to go home?" Sable asked.

"That I don't know," Conor sighed. "You belong here in this realm now. You're not completely human anymore. But you can visit and stay there if you like. The earth, and here, it's all your home. Just know that this realm will call you back constantly."

Sable made a sound at the back of her throat. That wasn't the answer she had hoped for. Silence fell over them. She continued to think about what Conor had said. But Alex was there waiting for her, and her family too. There was a painful twinge in her chest; she missed them all desperately. There were her other friends too. How long had she been away from them already; two weeks? Had they even noticed her absence?

Of course they had. It would have been reported even. Wouldn't it have been?

She wished she had her cellphone on her. She would call them and tell them that she was okay at least. She would tell them that it had been a moment of temporary insanity, that she had wanted to start anew, but she couldn't go through with it. She needed them. Would there even be reception there though?

Sable sighed and shook her head, continuing to eat her crackers. It was no use thinking about things like that. At least, not until she had finally found her way home. Even though she was beginning to have second thoughts about going.

"We should sleep," Conor urged. He had been watching her the whole time she thought. "It's been a long day. Shut your mind off for a while."

"If that's even possible," Sable sighed. "I'm tired, but I also feel so tired."

Conor pulled her down next to him, having her face away from him. He began to slowly rub her back. Sable sucked in a breath of air, wondering if she should let him. Slowly she relaxed. Her eyelids felt heavy, and everything was starting to drift far away.

"I had a lover who used to do this for me," he whispered. "He was a good man. He's gone now."

"I'm sorry," Sable whispered back.

"It's fine. Just sleep." He hummed quietly and continued to rub her back. Though it wasn't entirely welcome, it was comforting enough to make her drift into a restless sleep.