Tepin stood at the window at the house in the hills of Westlake, staring out over the lake.  The sun had set, and the city was lit up behind the hills.  Akiel came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, placing his lips along her neck.  His fangs traced her neck lightly.  The house was was a safehouse for the Pervigilans who had come to Austin to relax away from Septentrio.  Right now, they were alone in the house.  His voice was a whisper in her mind.  

"Should we stay or should we go, love?"

Tepin stepped back into her lover, pressing her body against his.  Duty called them in the night.  The Pervigilans were all out there and needed watching.  There was danger in the city.  Austin City Limits brought in all types - some of them not so savoury.  She sighed softly.  

"We go, love.  Aiyana, Itzl, and Isabella are all out there.  They might need us."  She pressed back against him one last time.  "But you could feed before we go."  She offered, love lighting her eyes, though he could see them only in the reflection from the glass.

Darkness was the mood of the night, but brightness ruled Tepin’s eyes in her reflection. Akiel’s teeth hungered for her as any other man’s loins would have. He pressed more firmly against her, wanting more than blood - remembering the tenderness they had shared but a few moments before. Again, he traced the curve of her neck with his fangs. She pressed tightly to him and he pressed back in return. The night sparkled with the lights of the city in the window before them. He was momentarily blinded to them. He saw only her white neck and the promise it would not deny him. And he drank of it.

Carefully, he dipped the tips of his fangs into her neck. Sweetly, he drank gently of her and shared back what he had taken. Lovingly, he traced the danger of his fangs across the wounds and healed them. Suddenly, and fiercely, he pressed tightly to the curve of her offered behind. He pressed and evened his skin against hers. He kissed her chin and cheeks, ending at the base of her neck.

“Yes,” he said with a near hiss in his whisper. “We go, love.”

They’d fed on each other, and it was all he needed for a time. Gracefully, he swept away from her, her right hand in his, and turned her as though in a dance. “I wonder, love …” he whispered. “… if they really might not need us more than we do each other for a while.”

Was this not a vacation? A time away - a time of forgetting needs and responsibilities? It was and it wasn’t - it was the one and with the other. Just as they were. Bound and bound - purpose to purpose and … much more importantly … man to wife. That’s what he thought … man to wife. And he delicately kissed her neck, again. She smelled of impossible flowers.

“Yet …” he felt strangely drawn, “… there is Aiyana. We should see that she is well.”

Tepin allowed Akiel to take her hand and ended the turn with a flourish, making the short white skirt of her dress flare out a bit like a bell.  Her boots were muffled by the thick carpet.  She laughed suddenly, caught up in the festival of the city, in the festival of the moment she and Akiel had had tothemselves.  What they had in the sanctity of their time alone was nothing like what they had to be in public, and it was a relief to be away from most of it all.

"Aiyana," she breathed, searching for the child who had become hers.  "Yes.  We should check on her.  She pushes the bounds of her hunger a bit.  I wonder why.  Prey is on every corner."

Clasping Akiel's hand over hers, she put on the slightest mask of duty and called for a car.  Downtown Austin would be a walking venue, but they would need to drive to get there.  One of the servants brought the care around, and they climbed in, heading for downtown Austin.

Once in the car, Akiel shifted a bit in his seat. He had dressed for the occasion, the occasion of not carrying the weight of responsibilities and of spending an evening out with Tepin. Just two rather wealthy lovers out to see and hear the city. To relax in each other’s sight. Still, there was that bit of worry for Aiyana.

“She may be playing with her food, Tepin,” he said, shifting again to feel comfortable in a short jacket. “I hope she is taking care. This city is quite different from her home, and she might discover her heart above her head.”

Akiel leaned forward and toyed a moment with the latch to the limousine bar. It wasn’t a stretch limo - more of an extended town car - so the reach wasn’t much. The door popped suddenly free with a thwack. He half turned his head toward Tepin and smiled.

“No bloodwine. However, there is a cold bottle of champagne.” He was aware that none of this performance would take Tepin’s mind off Aiyana. Nor did it take Aiyana off of his mind, either. He was fishing for another of those famous, although private, Tepin smiles.

Tepin did smile for Akiel, in that shy way she used when not in public.  It was private and inviting, warm and fleeting.  She had spent so much time under the mask of duty that not wearing it made her the slightest bit anxious and uncomfortable – restless.  She almost did not know what to do with herself when she wasn’t wearing the mantle of responsibility.  However, she knew that tonight she was going to go out with Akiel and enjoy herself.  This was supposed to be a time of rest for all of them.  The rebuilding of Septentrio had been going on for a year, and there was still always something to be done.  Tikal was stable, but it was also in need of regular leadership.  Not tonight, she told herself.  We’re not thinking about those things tonight.

Tepin accepted a glass of champagne from Akiel gratefully, sipping from the cool bubbly.  She reached out a hand for his.  “Aiyana doesn’t play with her food.  She doesn’t kill.  And she doesn’t turn.”  Tepin went over what she knew about this adopted daughter in her mind.  “Granted, she hasn’t been the same since Jeremiah mated five years ago, and she has fought a hard battle for recognition in Septentrio, I still don’t think that she’s changed that much, do you?”

Tepin leaned back against the seat as the car neared the downtown area.

… and there was the smile. Akiel was bound by that smile. Of all the power Tepin wielded in their worlds and in the blood, it was the smile that could make or break him. A flash of forever in an instant. She took the glass he'd filled for her, and he touched the rim of his to hers before they sipped. A fine crystal kiss, he imagined.

“She’s changed enough to notice,” Akiel replied taking hold of her hand. Their hands rested in each others; comfortable, sensuous and at ease. He took another sip of Champagne and denied himself any hint of reaching out in the blood to test their adopted daughter. Even so, he wondered. Leaning back again into the seat, he set the wine glass into a holder in a console on the floor between them.

“We’ve asked a great deal of her, both in Tikal and Septentrio. She has borne all her responsibilities without argument or complaint. However, Septentrio has been difficult for her. She has had to work doubly hard to gain only a portion of the respect and recognition she possessed in Tikal. It took a toll on her, and I think it may have turned her mind again to Jeremiah. She may be thinking about a surrogate.”

The car had entered the downtown area and swathes of colored light painted the car like a Vegas billboard as they passed through the business center. Akiel removed a thin pair of sunglasses from his jacket pocket and held them in his hand.

Tepin leaned forward a bit and shook out her long, thick hair.  Then, she took another sip of champagne, considering what Akiel had said.  Septentrio had been hard on Aiyana.  The Tempus Nocturna Clan had not easily, nor even fully yet, accepted a foreign Pervigilan who looked so young.  Though Aiyana had centuries of experience and  the training of Tikal, she had yet to be accorded much respect by those she had to rule.  It was as though she ruled in the name of Tepin only, by the gift of the Mother.  Aiyana had managed to win some to her side, but each win seemed to drain her rather than fulfill her.

"Jeremiah..."  Tepin sighed.  "Thank the gods she was discreet enough that no one knew about that torch she carried.  Otherwise, it could have gotten very messy."

Tepin took another sip of champagne, and mused aloud.  "No.  I don't think that she would look for a replacement.  A distraction perhaps, but not a replacement."

She could feel Aiyana through the bond, a flash of pain and the need for blood, and she frowned softly, squeezing Akiel's hand tightly.

Akiel nodded. It could have gotten very messy. It would probably do Aiyana good to have a distraction. He glanced out the window and wondered what sort of distraction that might be. He trusted Aiyana as much as Tepin did, and yet they were talking about her for a reason. They both wondered about her. It was natural. Their love for Aiyana went well beyond duties and obligations, and Tepin’s bond with her was strong.

Tepin’s hold on his hand quickly became a grip. He turned his head back toward her and instinctively touched her through their bond. Aiyana was pushing the envelope and dangerously close to blood thirst strong enough to descend suddenly into frenzy.

“Where is she, Tepin,” he asked. The tension in his voice was controlled, but she would know his urgency.

Tepin felt Akiel's urgency and reacted to it naturally.  Without so much as a second thought, she slipped into the bond that connected Aiyana to herself.  It was as easy and graceful for her as a fish gliding through water.  Aiyana was not an open book to her, but much of her was open and available in the blood. 

First, there was great need for blood.  Then, there was the burning pain and need to forget.  Finally, a location came through.  Tepin opened her eyes and turned to look at Akiel.  "She's on Guadaloupe Street?  With some young man."

Tepin frowned even deeper.  "I'll know more once we get closer."

“Driver. Guadeloupe Street. Quickly, please.”

Akiel slipped on his sunglasses and cupped Tepin’s hands in his, and then patted the back of her hand. It wouldn’t be long. They weren’t far. Now that Tepin was attuned to Aiyana,  Akiel was certain they would find her. In time was the question.