The Belikov Manor

[AzuraGallu]

Azura heard the front door open and then close, but far before that he heard the tell tale clicking of steel toed boots and the rusty groan of the wrought iron gate outside.
Someone was here.
He lifted himself from the floor where he'd been sitting, tinkering with a few items he'd discovered since the others had let. They were small gadgets, but no doubt some of Olessia's inventions intended to manifest telekinetic powers. Several were broken, and it was there he'd plopped down and tried to discover just how they worked.
He was an old soul, however young he was, and didn't particularly like machinery or wiring, even computers were definitely not his idea of fun. Too simple, too subtle.
He set the gadget on a nearby table, stainless steel and seeming very much like a surgical table from some kind of medical facility. It was lit by a kind of halogen bulb that cast the entire room in an eerie blue glow, but actually made it easier to see, at least with vampire eyes.
As the walking continued, he felt he knew the steps. Somewhere in his brain, he'd committed the sound of them to memory.
Melora.
What the hell was she doing here all alone? He couldn't sense the others, and he was pretty sure he'd know if Anshel was near or not.
A muffled call echoed off the walls as he ascended a stone stairway, to another landing that led to where the voice was coming from.
"What's the password?" he called quietly, unsure if he was about to get a beating, but still not wanting to go down without someone commenting on how snarky he could be. it was his best trait, after all. Aside from his devilish good looks.

[MeloraBelikov]

Melora smiled to herself. Of course, the password. "The password is Smart Ass." She laughed quietly. "As in, you are one." Before she could finish taking another step her knees finally gave out on her, causing her to come crashing down the rest of the stairway. Her tiny body bounced from step to step and off the walls. Sickness overtook her as she spun down further and further, so much so that she didn't even notice the pain of hitting every step on the way down. Finally she came to Azura's feet, crumpled in a pile on the stone floor just below him. Coughing and dizzy, she looked up and squinted to focus her vision. A tiny bit of blood dribbled down the side of her mouth. "Hello Azura," she mumbled shakily from her place on the floor. She would have righted herself and dusted off if she weren't too weak and woozy to do so.

[AzuraGallu]

Azura's brows furrowed into a very convincing frown. Yes, as he'd suspected when they'd first met, she should not be allowed to hunt. She was far too clumsy. Hell, she could end up off-ing someone merely because she happened to step the wrong way.
Then again, knowing her luck, she could kill herself walking off a damn curb.
He knelt, lifting her up from under her shoulders, bracing her against his body as he moved back down the second flight of stair and into the room he'd just vacated.
There were a couple blankets in the cabinets that he'd discovered earlier and went to procure one after setting the clumsy Hunter down on the floor where he'd warmed it with his presence not long before.
He wanted to ask her what she was doing here, knowing she shouldn't be up in her condition, but he was going to make her comfortable first. He wrapped the first blanket completely around her, figuring she'd be cold. But he could figure that out by the feel of her skin. It was like ice. The second he wadded up and placed beneath her head, laying her on her side so she could breath more easily if that happened to be an issue for her. Or if she threw up. She looked kind of queasy,
He took a look after he was finished, pleased with his work. "What are you doing here all alone?"

[MeloraBelikov]

She shifted in the blankets, wanting to be free of them, but once they started to warm her icy body she thought better of it and stayed where he had placed her. "I thought it would be safer for everyone if I came by myself..." her voice began to trail as the images from her nightmare filled her mind. "Azura, I blacked out when we were here last. What happened to me?" Her face went even more colourless than before, not sure if she wanted to know what happened. Her question hung above her head, tied to the memory of blood all over her sheets. "There was a lot of blood, I remember that. Did I hurt anyone?" Obviously she was unaware that it was her blood staining her former bed.

[AzuraGallu]

Azura pushing himself upright from his knees, going to pick up the piece of machinery he'd left on the table before leaving.
Sighing, he sat down next to her, trying to figure it out as the wheels in his head turned to try and find the best way to explain it to her.
The truth was always best, he could hear his father saying now.
"You had something crazy, like PSTD. Basically, to make a long story short, you put a gun to my head and I drained your blood to make you stop. Anshel got pissed, tried to mar my gorgeous face, and I stayed here. i'm curious about all this stuff."

[MeloraBelikov]

Melora wiggled her way from the blankets, standing to get a look at the objects set out on the table. A lot of them looked very ordinary but broken, and each of them had working inside that wouldn't normally be there. She began to shiver the second she was out of the blankets, skin once again freezing despite the fact that the room was at quite a comfortable temperature. She stumbled a little bit, still trying to win against her legs, which didn't seem to feel like cooperating. "You bit me?" She replied, picking up the objects one by one and inspecting them. "So all that blood was mine?" Melora paused, reflecting on it. She'd had a few close calls, but never had she bled that much.

After some consideration of the object in her hand, she set it down. "I'm glad I didn't hurt you. I was really concerned about that. As for biting me..." Melora looked over her shoulder and glanced at him before returning her attention to the metal table, this time picking up a bell that caught her eye. "Are we even for our bet then?"

The bell was perhaps the smallest object on the table, silver and engraved in floral patterns all around. The handle was a stained wood, burned with the very same delicate pattern. She turned it in her fingers, inspecting it from every angle. The object held familiarity for her, and she was waiting for the memory to pop into her head. Finally, her eyebrows raised and she would have jumped with excitement if it wouldn't have sent her crashing to the floor. "I remember this one! I know how this one works!"

[AzuraGallu]

He stopped tinkering, setting the object down as he looked at her from over his shoulder. he really wished she would have stayed put. She'd work herself down constantly be up and about after her ordeal.
"Yes, I bit you. Yes, the blood was yours and no. It wasn't a meal. In fact, I had to spit most of it out."
He growled almost inaudibly, her prancing about making him nervous that she was going to fall again. Then his eyebrows practically hit his hairline in surprise.
"Come sit down and tell me over here. You need to sit still for a while before you go off and do any more walking, talking, seeing, ringing bells, any of it." He growled again, letting her know he wasn't kidding.
He realized he was sounding very much like a mother hen, and knew his father would have been laughing himself into stitches at this sudden change in behavior.

[MeloraBelikov]

She took the bell with her and sat in the direction he was pointing her to. It was nicer to sit anyway, being up and about was accompanied with a faint feeling that she simply wasn't used to. She didn't know the first thing about blood loss so she had to admit, going out on her own was really a reckless thing to do. The concern in his voice was almost a little endearing, until Melora remembered that she hated being told what to do. Still, sitting was in her best interest, so she'd let him think he'd won the ability to direct her. For now, anyway.

"Before we talk I should probably ask, how long am I going to feel like this?" Her walk had now worn her out and she leaned against the wall, breathing heavily as if she was asthmatic. She wouldn't admit that she knew nothing about it of course, admitting that she didn't know something was a stretch for her at best and an argument waiting to happen at worst.

[AzuraGallu]

He shrugged, focusing on the device in her hand. "If after forty-eight hours you still feel really shitty you should probably see someone. But I've drained more than what I got from you from people before and they've done just fine. They just needed a lot of sleep."
he plucked the bell from her fingers, turning it over in his hands, feeling the detailed carvings in the metalwork and the handle.
"So, how does it work? It looks like a simple bell to me." He handed it back to her, eyes alight and curious.

[MeloraBelikov]

"This one takes a lot of practice. What it does," She took the bell in her fingers, careful not to ring it until she was ready, "is similar to mind control. It allows the user to place thoughts into another person's head. I used to use it pretty often." A smile danced on her lips as she remembered making maids fetch her midnight snacks, making the cats meow in a symphony when she was bored, and making waiters dance with each other. Back then, it was nothing more than an amusing toy. But now, it was a dangerous weapon, and she could understand why. "I could demonstrate it for you, if you do not mind. I promise I would not make you do anything horrible." The bell rested silent between her fingers, waiting to be rung.

[AzuraGallu]

Azura shuddered at the thought of a simple child having that sort of power, and eyed Melora curiously.
"Alright," he said slowly, turning to face her completely, pinning her with his eerie golden eyes. "But I'm trusting you, little hunter."
A bell. A weapon. Easily hidden.
His mind didn't stop turning with the possibilities, and soon his stomach began turning with it. It was sickening how simple this was, and how outmatched someone could be against another's brain power.

[MeloraBelikov]

Melora rang the bell and it gave a tiny chime, just as would be expected from any normal bell. If anyone could hear what she was saying about it they'd think her mad, but Azura obviously knew better than that.

Stand. It would be her voice in his mind, chiming cheerfully away much like the bell, but rather than a suggestion, her voice would be more like a tug, pulling him into which ever position she wanted him in.

Jump and turn.

Now turn back around to face me.

Pick me up, please. The floor is unbearably cold. On the last one she gave the word please out of politeness, but it made no difference, every command she gave would still be a force to his body, whether he wanted to do the motions or not.

[AzuraGallu]

At first he felt nothing, then it was as if a giant set of fingers were tugging at him to do as she bade. He did all that was asked, feeling rather silly about it and wanting to stop. He'd even tried once, but to no avail. That tiny thing was really that powerful. It even brought Gallu to their knees.
He was feeling more and more ill at the prospect.
Finally when she'd told him to pick her up, he was thoroughly confused. This, coming from the Hunter who'd thwarted every advance he'd ever made on her.
She was up to something, he surmised, wanting to know what the hell she was plotting. Women and their games. It made fucking men so very, very worth it.
Submitting to Melora's command, he walked over quickly and bent briefly before swinging her up, one arm beneath the bend in her knees, the other behind her shoulders.

[MeloraBelikov]

Melora pocketed the bell. So long as it wasn't in her hand, he was free to do what he wished instead of what he wanted her to do. "The bell was easy, Olessia, my mother, made it for me. But these other ones," He motioned towards the other objects scattered over the table, "I've only ever seen a few times. Since you'd prefer that I not walk in my condition, can you set me down over there? I'd like to get a better look at them, I think I can even fix a few of them." She looked up at him with her big green eyes, wondering if he'd do what she asked despite her not using the bell. He could be so difficult sometimes. "Do you have any questions about how well these work?"

[AzuraGallu]

Azura sighed, rolling his eyes before dropping her. He happened to be standing right over the pile of blankets she'd destroyed, and felt no qualms about just leaving her there.
Though his nice side won out, and he went to the table to retrieve the other artifacts.
"I've been working on one this entire time, though I'm not great with electronics. The build seems fairly simple. At least, a lot more simple than a mechanized catapult. Cleaning sheep hair out of those is a pain in the ass."
He returned, sitting down next to where he dropped her and placing the other pieces on the floor before picking up the one he'd been speaking about.
It looked relatively untouched, his hands having rubbed off the thick layer of dust it previously wore.