Naoto's Journey Westward

[MeloraBelikov]

"For your information, Azura got stabbed and is being dragged into this cave as we speak....uhg, fuck it. Make yourself useful and follow me," She whispered. "You'll get used to the way I talk, Azura did. Forgive me if I come off...rude." Turning from Chris, she made her way towards the source of Azura's groaning and the smell of burns. She had no plans as of ye, but if she could save him then maybe, just maybe they'd be even and she would ask him to never speak of their kiss to anyone. And maybe she'd do it again anyway. For fun. Being around other vampires was a sick reminder that Azura was simply the only one she'd ever relate to, no matter how hard she tried to make nice.

They came upon Azura once more, and Melora looked around the cave, taking in every detail, formulating a plan.

[Christopher Saunders]

"Nothing worse then what I've already heard Azura Gallu speak, or perhaps even Serena at times." He replied, voice deathly quiet.

Chris wrinkled his nose at the stench. Burnt flesh was the least pleasant odor he'd ever smelled, and after this experience and his parents, he was positive that he'd never want to smell it ever again in his life. The point was: there was the Gallian King, burnt and bleeding on the far side of the cave where it opened up. Shafts of sunlight danced throughout, save for several small dark spots, one of which the Gallian appeared to be in, and a few others that must've been the path through.

Small sprouts budded through the light; his source of protection for warding off burns, though they couldn't last forever... Goodness gracious! Nobody had ever said that danger could be such jolly good excitement!

[MeloraBelikov]

"Chris..." Melora eyed the kid, who was in fact very likely to be older than herself. "That," she pointed at the thing dragging Azura away. "How do I said this in English? Can you trap it? Like you did to me earlier? I need it to stop moving, I need to get to Azura." Melora's eyes shown with a spark of an idea, a plan to save Azura's ass and get all three of them away safely. Assuming Melora's Daddykins wasn't hanging around in the shadows and that this wasn't all a ploy to get her in a bad situation, this could work.

Unfortunately Konstantin could see everything, and was ready to pounce when the time came. It was the furthest thing from Melora's mind, however, and Azura was her main priority, self preservation be damned.

[Christopher Saunders]

Chris narrowed his eyes, the bright color flooding them. "Mmm... I think so."

He sank his teeth into his lower lip painfully, the drops of blood snapping his attention to the single task, or rather objects. He felt the coolness of the floor, the strength of the ceiling, and stability of the walls all running through every fiber in his being. Red dripped from his chin, landing on his hand. The entire cave rumbled and groaned in protests, sending shivers up his spine, as a massive, clawed, stone hand broke free from the wall and gripped the 'thing' around what appeared to be its upper body.

"Hurry, up." Chris ground out, sweat already gathering. Shit, too much. That entire half was unstable now. It was a quite real possibility that it could collapse and crush them all.

[MeloraBelikov]

Melora wasted no time, immediately she sprang to Azura's side, pulling him away from the thing. It was a shadow of a person, towering over her even while being held in place. It's head tilted and it smiled eerily, the rest of it's form entirely blank aside from it's almost glowing smile.

She pulled Azura away as far as she could, making sure to avoid the patches of light that danced on the ground. "Azura, just stay with me for a little longer, I'll get you out of here." Whether he heard her or not she meant it. She drew a breath in, holding it as she searched his pockets. It was too bad she was too distracted to be thinking dirty thoughts, instead she produced her item from the pocket on his right side, her bell. Standing, she stepped over Azura, placing herself between him and the shadow man, bell ready to ring out. "Chris. Let it go and cover your ears as tightly as you can."

[Christopher Saunders]

Tiny snapping sounds like thousands of mini crabs pushing their claws together echoed as to many little vines to count bundled the Gallu up like a baby and pulled him to last way over. The force he was using to keep the stone grip on the... whatever it was, began to inflict physical pain on him, mainly in the head and shoulder region.

"Fine!" He barked, hands fumbling before they clamped down on his ears.

[MeloraBelikov]

Her bell chimed though the walls of the cave as the freshly released creature made it's way towards her. It extended a claw and grabbed her around the neck, lifting her from the ground. Melora focused her attention not on breathing, but instead on the glittering energy that extended from her, whipping out at the face in front of her. All at once, it dropped her to the floor as the strand of energy lashed out, beheading the puppet in front of her. It dissolved into the rest of the darkness of the cave, smile fading away with it. Coughing, Melora reached for her throat, trying to catch her breath once more. Bruises were forming on her pale delicate neck, darkening to a purple with each passing second. The shimmer of her mental energy had dissolved into the air as well, and once again Melora could stand. "Fucking hell," she started, beginning to make her way towards Chris and Azura. But Konstantin had been waiting, and finally made his move. In less time than it took her to realize it, she had been slammed against the nearest rocky wall, and hitting it had knocked any breath she'd managed to gather right back out of her. On her hands and knees against the cool stone of the ground, she whipped her head around, trying through sight blurring pain to find the source of what had knocked her off her ass.

Konstantin chuckled, making himself known from a general direction, but none specific. Melora grasped at the wall beside her, trying and failing to regain her balance.

[Christopher Saunders]

Chris bared his teeth in a feral snarl in no particular direction. That searing red of a frenzy began to change his eyes, straightening his stance, breaking the leash that was control. His fangs easily doubled in length in those brief seconds, along with every muscle in his body suddenly charged, like being dunked in ice water.

"Are you alright Melora?" The voice coming from his lips was not the warm, Chris voice, it was icy and brittle, like stone. He spread his legs a shoulder length apart, dropping into a crouch, and snarling again.

Christopher's form rippled, next to Melora the next second. "What was that?" Vines were beginning to lash and slash wildly in the air. Whatever this threat was wasn't human. His initial thought had been that tiny Japanese man, but that didn't make sense. He'd have scented blood.

[MeloraBelikov]

Melora was back to her feet, feeling a little dizzy any out of breath, but she ignored it for the time, hoping first and foremost to find the source of her father's laughter.

"Christopher of the Moroi, how interesting." His voice called from the shadows, echoing from all directions on the cave walls around them. "As if Azura wasn't enough for you, дочь. You've got another one. You know, you could be royalty too. When the clans fall, you'd lead all the vampires of the world." Melora's nose wrinkled as the man carried on a conversation all on his own, speaking to her so familiarly. Then, he revealed himself, standing over Azura's limp body. "You dispatched my newest design so quickly. Perhaps I should take this man away from you as punishment." Konstantin drove a hard kick into Azura's ribs as he spoke, hoping to provoke Melora. And he did.

She stepped past Chris, gun now drawn and shining in a patch of light falling into the cave from above. "You've taken enough from me, предатель." In her other hand she kept her bell poised, ready to ring it. She wasn't sure how well her father would fare against bullets, but he wouldn't be able to escape the chime of her bell, especially with the sun beating down on the desert around them.

[Christopher Saunders]

"Big mistake." Christopher spat, power curdling through his words. He shifted his foot, then clenched a fist, and a jagged pane of rock tore free from its casing in the ground, aiming right for the man-turned-Vampire.

He needed to go to hell right now.

While Chris at times did seem naive, and actually was in many ways, he wasn’t stupid when it came to fealty; it’d been the first thing he’d been taught. Azura was from a different clan, but regardless, they were allies. And allies covered each other’s asses when it came down to when it counted most.

“Don’t touch.” His fangs snagged more flesh, tearing at in a scissors on paper sort of way. More panes of stone broke free, barring the two apart. The only way he was going to stop this frenzy filled rage, was two ways. Burning out by using too much without more fuel source, or burning up by being knocked out. What it was going to come down to was the fact that he was young, and didn't have the hundred percent measured control over his power,

[MeloraBelikov]

Konstantin stumbled back, but managed a smile regardless. "He's none of my concern anyway," he said, brushing off Chris' anger as if nothing the man said could affect him. "I am here to merely turn my daughter into a vampire, crush her soul, force her to work with me to deconstruct this terrible political structure of vampire clans submitting to Hunter laws, and then eventually place her in a position of power, possibly with the the king of the Gallu if she's lucky."

"Stop telling stories, old man." Melora interrupted, no longer having any sort of patience for his voice.

"Melora," He demanded, smile fading. "Come here." Immediately her body pulled forward, as if she were being thrown by the same force as before. Once again her tiny human body hot the wall, this time the one closest to her father. He picked her up from the floor of the cave, pulling her by a firm grip on her chin. "The men are talking, so shut up." With that he cast her to the floor again, returning his gaze to Chris. "And this is what will happen every time she gets out of line. Young king take note, this is how you keep your women from becoming too independent, like my excuse for a daughter."

[Christopher Saunders]

H-He's toying with you. The vague, sane piece of mind screamed at Christopher, only to be silenced by the unbridled rage. "No, you fucking piece of shit." He adopted the American wording, not at all paying attention to the annoyance it burdened his tongue with to conform to the way the words were spoken. "That is exactly how you start rebellions, earn disrespect, and ultimately get back-stabbed and killed by your own people, accept you are too blind to see that!"

His body trembled, growing angrier and angrier with the treatment that frail human was recieving. It wasn't even that he liked her, the fact came down to it that the vivid images of Serena kept flaring through him and sticking like barbs.

Now that his control was wearing thinner and thinner, the simplest movements of rock were visibly taking a toll on Chris's body. The joints appeared to be stiffening painfully. He hissed, and several whistles gave away the lines of whip that flew at Konstantin. There was only one thing that he could resort to, physical. But that was not where his skills lay, magic was. Why hadn't he gone with that advice? Train more, magic less.

[MeloraBelikov]

"Chris, cover your ears!" Her voice rang out over all the commotion in the cave, and she hoped to god he was listening as she rang her bell. The shimmering energy sprang forth in full force, making it's way to her father while she scrambled to her feet. But her attack stopped short, held in place by a shadow coming directly from her father. The shadow slipped under the manifestation of her energy, grabbing her around the middle and slamming her into Chris. Then, he used it to throw her into the ceiling of the cave before dropping her to the floor. "Make sure she lives, won't you? I'll be back for her." And with that, Konstantin stepped back into a wall, fading into it and becoming part of the rock, until nothing was left of him except for his bloody daughter, sprawled across the floor, breathing heavily. Her worst fear had come true, and waves of pain came as reminders of it; she could not kill him. Not as she was.

[Christopher Saunders]

Split second timing was the only thing that stopped him from suffering from the bell.

Christopher’s breath was swiftly knocked from his lungs with the impact of the human, and his back to the floor, though he was certain the actual impact against him hurt her worse. Oozing sounds of blood, Merlora’s blood, that dropped from a small spot on the ceiling brought him out of his stunned motion as it hit his mouth. The taste was disgusting, which left him to wonder why blood lust had nearly sent him after her blood in the first place.

Beginning to lean up, those chilling words sent chills down his spine. “GO TO HELL!” Chris called after him viciously, strangled.

Staggering over to Melora, he had to work his hands slowly, bending the finger tips and joints to close into a fist, then gradually relaxing. It was hard to believe this bloody wreck was still alive. It was bad; that much was clear. “Oh Serena...” He murmured to low for her ears to hear. Chris had to shake himself. This was not Serena, admittedly this was worse condition then Serena had been.

“Hold still,” He ordered as gently as possible. Plants in the entire system of cave and tunnel were dying as he tried to pull energy, attempted to grab one single tiny thread and pull it into an empty pool. Somehow, Chris maneuvered his hands around her face, tapping her cheek. "Don't pass out. That would be bad, I couldn't help myself if it happened. You'd be lunch." Hopefully that would give her something to think on. There wasn’t much more he could do at that point, exhaustion was threatening to over-take his body, already succeeding in blurring his mind. Yes, less magic, more physical, and definately more medical would all be in order.

[MeloraBelikov]

His finger tapping against her face brought her to her senses long enough to hear him. Melora sat up despite her wounds and looked at Chris for a moment, entirely dazed. Serena...no, Melora. She shook her head and snapped out of it. She was Melora, not Serena. And he was Chris and then there was...Azura. Her eyes flashed with the tell tale sign that she had remembered something very important. She stumbled over to Azura, kicking up dust in her wake. He was safe here from the sun shining into the cave, but he was still entirely unconscious. She ran her fingers across his brow, accidentally leaving a trail of her own blood with it. "Azura, wake up! Hey Azura!" But calling to him did no good, he didn't react. "Fuck, Azura...fuck." Melora sat back beside him, frustrated and wracked with worry. Her own wounds continued to bleed, but she made no effort to put pressure on them or tend to them in the slightest. Her body shook from pain, but there was nothing she could do about it now. "Chris. I'll need your help making a plan."