Return from Exile

Chapter 9 Betrayals of Trust

\"There you see,\" Adrian pointed out. \"I knew they\'d go back. When I was in the hospital vents on the floor where Kale was held, I could sense dozens upon dozens of fearful people. Many of them young ones. I knew they couldn\'t transport them all so quickly.\"

\"Those three trucks, how many do they carry?\" asked D counting off the six vehicles.

\"Well some carry four, others six to eight.\"

\"If they go all night,\" said Dracula, backing away from the edge of the hill with his sons. \"They could be finished by morning.\"

\"I know father, but...\"

\"No. Listen to me. In order to keep the women in Airomat from becoming trapped here, the trucks must be stopped. I\'ll take care of that. You two just get those other girls out, and Adrian, do what you can to save your sister and D.\"

Before either could protest, Dracula\'s form split into the hundreds of bats once more, and scattered across the ambering sky. \"I hate it when he does that.\" One of the bats, swooped passed Adrian\'s face, it\'s wings slapping his cheek. \"Very funny father.\"

\"Quiet. They\'ll hear. Humans always become more attentive at night. Father is also trying to draw Turngold into the open. He wants a fight with father, and he\'ll get one. But on father\'s terms.\"

\"And without us!\"

\"He\'ll need us later. Edward is also coming. Once he gets Elsie\'s family home.\"

\"Thank god they\'re safe.\"

\"Tell me what you had in mind.\"

\"Well, the only reason they\'d make an island like that with so few connecting bridges, is to cut the bridges later and then stay on it. The women wouldn\'t\' be able to get off. If we cut the bridges on this side, nearest the village, they\'d have to go all the way around to get us. Cause our horses can easily jump that cesium. Kale will know its you by the commotion and try to get to where you can grab her, or where Max can meet up with her so she can ride off.\"

\"What kinds of weapons do they have?\"

\"That\'s the drawback of the plan. Pulse Rifles, laser pistols, and a few other nice little fire crackers.\"

\"Wonderful.\" Just then, several of the buildings exploded into flames.

\"What the hell?!\"

Kale looked out the window of her new cell. She had to stay still when they brought her across the rope bridge. She didn\'t appreciate the view, straight down to a deep raging river. She use to go tubing down a river as a kid, but nothing as rough as the one she saw. They\'d untied her and removed her chains, but pushed her into the room to buy them time to close the door. Not that escaping would do her much good, sense there were only two bridges that she could get to, and both were well guarded on either side.

She\'d found her clothes, her own clothes, folded on the bed, pressed and cleaned with a note from Fraser Panteck that read, \'Thought you\'d be more comfortable.\' But all her weapons were missing. She changed her clothes and pulled on her cloak. It was cold, and though the warm air was coming in the small vents around the room, it was still as cold as the outdoors.

She pressed her hand to the window only to find it a sheet of thick clear plastic, better than plexiclear, and much cleaner to look through. \'No getting ouere,ere,\' she thought. She looked around for the wall mirror, but all she saw were small desktop ones on pedestals. \'Oh well,\' she turned back to the window and noticed a familiar shape climbing higher into the darkening sky. \'Can\'t be...\' she thought. \'No one has planes any more...oh great...Archers. Just what I need, locked in...\' She then got a familiar feeling. One of warmth, love, and worry.

\'...my Kale...\' a distant voice whispered.

\"D? Oh god!\" Just then the door opened, and three men stepped in. Two with guns, the third with a tray of food, covered by a silver tray topper.

\"Hello Miss Kale. I\'m Devine, I\'ll be your...personal care giver, during your stay.\"

\"You mean my keeper, the one who holds all the keys. Thanks but no thanks.\"

\"As you wish. I brought you some dinner. I\'m sure you\'re hungry by now. I know hospital food isn\'t very appetizing.\"

\"I\'ll starve first.\"

\"Come now, you don\'t really mean that?\"

\"Don\'t I? I wanted my arm cut off at the hospital, to bring attention to what was going on in there, but someone pulled me back.\"

\"I know. That was me.\"

\"Thanks a lot.\"

\"You\'re welcome. Come on, have something to eat. Please? I fixed it myself.\"

\"No.\"

\"Miss Kale please...\"

\"You come near me Ass Hole! And you\'re one dead motherfucker, you get me!! I\'m in no mood to fuck around!!!\"

\"I understand you\'re upset, but if you\'ll just sit and...\"

\"Upset!! There\'s the fucking understatement of the year! No, shit for brains, I\'m not upset. I\'m fucking pissed off!!! And if you and your little boy toys there would like to feel your nuts in the morning, I\'d suggest you get out before I REALLY lose my temper!!!\"

Suddenly an explosion went off outside, so close it shook the whole room, knocking over lamps, mirrors, and tilting pictures. \"What the hell!\"

When Kale turned back to the door, the men with the guns were lying unconscious on the floor. Devine nursing a sore left fist. \"Shit that hurt. Are you always this dense?\" he asked her, lifting the lid off the tray to reveal a pair of pulse guns. \"How\'s your aim?\"

\"Who...?\"

\"Devine, Airomat Security, a handful of us managed to infiltrate this group. Now lets go! The ordinance piles were blown first, next is the fuel. We haven\'t a lot of time!\"

Quickly she grabbed the gun and ran with him out the door. \"Sorry about the mother remark.\"

\"Don\'t worry about it. I make allowances for fucked up situations. Head for the bridges! Go! Anyone gets in your way, shoot \'em!\"

\"It\'ll be a pleasure!\" She ducked down behind the building, scanning the area quickly to make sure no one saw her. On the other side of the cesium she saw three dark figures charging across the land. Two with flowing cloaks behind them, the other smaller and moving just a bit faster. \"It is them! MAX!!\" Her horse called out as it leaped the cesium, followed by one of the riders. The guards from the bridge quickly held back the second.

\'D!\'

\'Go Adrian! Find her for me!\'

\'I won\'t let you down!\' Quickly the rider turned and followed where Max had gone. \"KALE!\"

\"Adrian! Lets get the hell out of here!\" Before she could mount up, another explosion went off across and down the street a bit, taking out most of the buildings around it, and setting the rest on fire, including the one she was hiding behind.

\"You alright?!\"

\"Yeah! Come on!\"

\"There!!\" They turned as several of the purist\'s guards rounded the building. \"The Queen survived! Get her! That\'s a Dunpeal with her!\"

Adrian dismounted, drawing his sword. \"Flames are too high here to ride out, run for the open, we\'ll mount up later!\" Quickly the two ran, their horses beside them, Adrian blocking what shots the guards fired, with his sword and his Dhampire reflexes, not letting a single shot pass.

Suddenly a guard came at him from his left between the buildings, throwing water in his face. Kale grabbed him as he staggered, shooting their pursuers in the knees, securing their escape. \"Max, Necromancer. Jump the cesium! We\'ll go via the bridge!\"

She could see D fighting with the guards on the other side of the gorge. Max had leped across safely, with Adrian\'s horse following. The rope bridge was the only means of her to escape, but she couldn\'t leave her brother-in-law. \"Adrian!\" she screamed, hauling the wounded Dhampire to his feet. \"Come on! Adrian! Help me!\"

Slowly he moved his feet to support him. \"Ho...ho...holly...\" he stammered.

\"Holly water. I know. They splashed it in your face.\" She pulled his arm across her shoulders. \"Come on. Can you move your feet?\"

\"I\'ll...try.\"

\"That\'s it. We\'ve got to get across. Or we\'re toast.\" They moved awkwardly to the bridge, the Dhampire falling every few steps, pleading with her to leave him, but she wouldn\'t. Finally she pulled his arms over her shoulders, dragging his feet on the ground, as she started across the rope bridge. \"God Adrian, you\'ve gotta cut back on the blonds.\" She heard him moan, the closest he could come to a laugh at the moment. She hated rope bridges. With each labored step, the structure rocked, and it didn\'t help when she\'d fall under Adrian\'s weight, but she pressed on.

She looked up to see she was nearly half way across, when there were people rushing over from the other side carrying guns and swords. \"Oh, crud!\" she cursed, and managed to turn back to see the other side, only to find the purists rushing over to her from that side as well. \"Double crud! Adrian, Adrian! You\'ve got to fly!\" But the Dampier was in no condition to use his shape shifting powers. There was only one choice. \"Please forgive me.\" She searched the cliff line and found D fighting off the last of the purist guards. He met her gaze and watched in horror as his wife and brother fell from the bridge.

\"NO!!\" she heard him yell, and concentrated all her thoughts to him.

\'Find us, my love,\' her voice echoed to him in his mind, and the two disappeared in the icy water below. He turned then to the people before him, and fought on in a blind rage, working his way towards the three horses.

She wasn\'t sure how far the river had carried them, but she was sore from being banged around on the rocks. It was all she could do, to keep her shivering cold white hands clenched around Adrian, to fasten the belt around them both, so he wouldn\'t be lost. With shaking icy breath she dragged them both out of the water, making sure her glasses were secure between her breasts where she\'d quickly stuffed them before plummeting from the bridge.

\"Got...to...f-f-find ...shshshelter,\" she told her brother-in-law. Though the Dampier was not only unconscious, but violently shaking. \"Hhhhhang on, Adrian...pppplease.\" She grabbed his shirtfront, forcing her frozen fingers to curl around the wet fabric, and hauled him with her over the embankment, on unsteady feet. She could make out a stand of trees, and what looked like a window with a light on. She wasn\'t sure if it was a hallucination, or not, but she had to go to it. If she kept moving, she\'d warm up some.

It seemed like hours she\'d been pulling Adrian, and not really covered that much distance, but at last the light she thought she\'d seen was in front of her. The remains of another traveler\'s campfire.cklyckly she laid Adrian close to the warm stones. She pulled his smaller dagger out, took one of his derks, and headed off to the trees, collecting fallen branches, and taking lower dead branches off the stands. Soon the fire was roaring high once more, and she had both hers and Adrian\'s cloaks held up by tree branches overhead to dry. Despite the roaring heat around them now, still the two were cold.

She ran her shivering hands down their cloaks, finding them dry she took them down. \"Adrian. I\'m sssorry,\" she whispered shakily, \"But we\'ve got to get out of these wet clothes.\" The Dampier only shivered harshly in answer, as she tried to unbutton his shirt. \"Ccccome on hands, p-please. Work!\" Finally exhaustion and frustration getting the better of her, she tore the shirt open, the white disks flying off into the night.

She managed to strip the man of all his clothes, throwing his warm cloak over him before removing his pants, then started on her own. Before long she was huddled naked beneath her cloak, tossing more sticks on the fire, and making sure their clothes were adequately spread out to dry.

But still, they were cold, Adrian shivering even more. \'D\'s gona have a fit,\' she thought, as she lay down next to Adrian. \"Hold on. P-please,\" she spread her cloak over him and pressed closer to him under his cover. \"We just have to h-hold out. Till D g-gets hhhhere...I jjjust...can\'t...fffall asleep...\" But in her weakened state, she did surrender to sleep.

D had managed to free himself and the horses from the mobs, and followed the river down. He heard several vehicles approaching as he descended the nearby cliffs, the reinforcements for the Airomat Security Officers he was sure were undercover in the purist\'s village like prison. The rapids were harsh, and deep in many sections, but still there was no sign of Kale, or his brother, on either bank, be it washed up or tracks. \"She\'s got to have made it,\" he sighed, after yet another fruitless search of a calm section.

\"Are you kidding,\" scoffed the sym. \"She swims like a fish. Half the time I expect to see gills on her. Of course she\'s made it. Adrian on the other hand, is questionable.\"

\"The water is so cold. If she\'s in it much longer...\"

\"D! Shut up and get moving! If they both lived, than Adrian will need blood. And if Kale isn\'t able to hunt something for him, she\'d be...\"

\"HE WOULDN\'T DARE!\"

\"Then get moving!\"

The night air was cold, and it seemed to come under the covers too. She shuddered and tried to move closer to the warm body nearby. She felt someone kiss her cheek, but she was so tired she couldn\'t open her eyes. Why should she though, she knew who it was. \"I knew...y-you\'d...f-find usss,\" she stammered through still chilled teeth. \"I\'m ssso ccccold.\" Almost at once she felt his lips on hers, the warmth of him so close, she pressed nearer. \"I\'m s-so cccccold,\" she whispered once more.

\"I\'ll warm you,\" he whispered back. His body moved over her, his full length greater than hers. Slightly chilled fingers danced across her goose pimpled flesh, gentle lips teasing her nipples, strong hands carefully guiding her legs around him. \"I too am cold my love,\" he sighed, feeling his sword sheath itself within her.

She pulled him closer, her soft lips kissing his ear. He was warm, and cold at the same time. But nothing, save a warm bath, warmed them like this, and she opened herself to him more. \"Warm...us... both...Uh!\"

\"There is more love,\" he said, as glowing eyes warned of what was to come. \"I...hunger...\"

She felt a sharp pain in her neck, so sudden she cried out. Not wanting him to be afraid, she thread her fingers through his hair, holding him to her, wanting him to take all she had to offer him. \"D!\" she called out, ecstasy spurring him further, the warmth of her blood consumed him, the thought of her own body sustaining him thrilled her, excited her in a way she never imagined. She pulled her arms around him, her heart racing with the joy of his force, his body, his feeding, and then...and then sleep took her once more, not really sure what caused it, but joyful all the same.

He could feel a warmth spread through him, his pleasured flesh taking what it wished from this one with him. The taste of her blood across his lips. He took all he wanted, his pleasure, his sustenance. In his rapture he lifted her closer to him, feeling the flow of her blood lessen, then increase as his fangs tore through her skin. She was warm against him, but cold against the night air. He\'d taken many like this, some half asleep, others distracted, and then not. Enjoying the fact that they allowed themselves to lay out alone, unprotected, ripe for the feeding of those who ruled the night. Letting bloodlust and sexual lust consume his senses, he lost himself in the moment of his feeding, feeling the pulse of his victim against his lips. He wanted more, he needed more from this one, this hoer, this...

Slowly his senses returned, pushing his dark desires aside with an inward ferocity that few would understand. He thought at once of Castle, and believed it was she he\'d taken, but he soon realized, to his horror it was not. At once he let her go, her pale form falling unconscious before him. \"Oh god,\" he whispered. He felt his body\'s joy explode into her, his desperate effort to stop it failing. Unable to pull from her completely before it happened.

\"What have I done?\" he gasped, covering her naked flesh with one of the cloaks around them. \"What have I done?\"

Suddenly, something struck him, and sent him away from her. He turned to see a dark figure across the firelight. \"D...\" he gasped, blood still coating his mouth and chin. Her blood...the blood of the one who saved him...the blood of his sister...his brother\'s wife...Kale\'s blood. \"D...I...\"

\"Say nothing!\" he shouted, the fire accenting the fierceness of his scowl in the dark.

It was well after dark now, and D could smell a campfire not far from the river. If he were lucky, it would be Kale and Adrian, warming themselves while waiting for him. He dismounted and left the horses to graze while he headed through the trees, seeing the fire now his hopes became stronger. \"Don\'t get too hopeful D, it may not be them,\" whispered the sym.

\"It has to be,\" he gasped, pushing the tree branches aside.

A woman\'s cry echoed for a moment through the trees. \"D!\" he heard clearly, and he started to run. She sounded in pain, and if his brother were still incapacitated, and if she were wounded...He couldn\'t...he wouldn\'t lose her to some animal.

The fire now lay before him, and to his right was a sight he wished he could burn from his eyes. His brother, his wife, and what they were doing. He could smell the blood, and saw Adrian savagely lift her off the ground with his teeth.

\"D,\" called the sym. Seeing threw it\'s host\'s eyes what had shocked him so.

He said nothing as he watched his brother drop her, as though she were some piece of meat to dispose of. The blond Dhampire whispered something, but he wasn\'t listening. \"D!\" the sym. yelled, controlling his hand to punch him across his chin. \"Get over there! He\'s out of his mind! He\'ll kill her!\"

\"No...\" he whispered, \"...he...they...\"

\"Forget what you saw and get over there! You can get answers later. Just snap him out of it!\"

Quickly he ran out of the trees and with all his strength and rage, he struck out at Adrian, and sent him across the fire. Not far enough for his liking, but it would have to do. The young Dhampire slowly recovered and looked back to him, the light of the fire glistening off the blood that still coated his face. \"D...I...\"

\"Say nothing!\" he shouted. \"Not a word brother. Or I will kill you where you sit.\" Carefully he turned his wife\'s head to see the terrible tear on her neck. He took his kerchief and pressed it to the wound, finding his brother\'s scarf hanging above, he took it and secured it around her neck. He wrapped both cloaks around her and sat her up against his chest. She was still alive, barely. \"Kale,\" he whispered taking her hand, \"Kale. If you can hear me, squeeze my hand.\" For a moment all he could hear was her heart slowly beating, and all he could see was her hand, gently twitching around his. \"Kale, listen to me. I know you\'re tired, but you\'ve got to try and stay awake as best you can.\" He watched as a gentle smile spread across her pale lips, one that took his breath away. How could she smile after what had just happened? How could she be pleased after what Adrian had done? But answers would have to wait. She was in no shape to talk.

\"Oh GOD!\" Adrian cried, as he dropped to the ground after putting his pants on.

\"Save it Adrian!\" D scoffed laying Kale down, his hat her pillow.

\"D...I think...I\'m in trouble...\" Adrian gasped, clutching his stomach.

\"You\'re safe for now. We will discuss this...\" D rushed over to his brother, as the man promptly threw up. Something Dhampires never did after feeding on blood.

\"Oh...god...D!...HELP!!\"

He stood there shocked. Adrian was expelling the blood he\'d just consumed. But why? He was never ill as a child, the worst illness he remembered his mother having was a cold. When Kale was sick, it was because she was suddenly woken from a vat of partially contaminated soup. What was he to do about his brother?

Snapping himself out of his shock, D grabbed Kale\'s water skin from Max, who\'d come closer, and poured out some of it into his hand. It was freezing, but he had to get some fluids into Adrian, before he got worse. As long as something was in his stomach, he\'d be ok, and maybe the chill in the water would bring about a hibernation sleep. He hopped.

\"What now?\" asked the sym, as D returned to Kale after settling Adrian under his own cloak. \"We can\'t stay here. They need help\"

\"I know,\" he whispered, securing the bandage better around his love\'s neck. \"I\'d hate to suggest this...\"

\"Oh no...\"

\"But the only place we can go...\"

\"I hthisthis idea already...\"

\"We\'ve no choice. We have to go...\"

\"But D...They\'re...\"

\"The Barbarois.\"

\"I knew you were gona say that.\"

\"I have enough money. They\'ll help us for a price.\"

\"Lets just hope its enough.\"