Shadow Mountain vampires will never hurt you

They begged and pleaded, hoping for a miracle.

Drusilla. . .Drusilla, please come back to us. . .

It didn't matter. Her body still writhed but her mind was far gone. Four and a half moons had came and went since that bite, before the madness took hold of her.

By the time she was comatose, Vespa was complaining of headaches. Gaius, too, looked sickly.

He could only watch helplessly on, tucked into Agrippa's tight embrace—and he could barely bring himself to even do that.

---

It had occurred to him in the days here that this place was cloaked in moving shadows. Eclipsed by the peaks around it, the mountain's light shifted on and off as the sun moved past clouds and rock.

Unsettling, at first, but he was beginning to grow used to it.

And besides, Hex mused, it matched the constant swirling of his own thoughts and feelings. From darkness to bright to darkness once more; despair to joy to desolation.

He stopped to drink from a small spring that burst forth from a jagged rock, hidden amidst a quiet copse of trees.

The sky lightened a bit, and the slender rays of sun glittered off the spray of water and the tiny droplets on his muzzle.

wanheda travels again. 

back in this; these wilds. it isn't too bad, but there is still much she is missing. lacking, more like. not in herself. but the feeling is there. 

the sun burns hot on her back. a scorching iron, branding her skin. 

water is near, and she makes ungraceful haste toward it. 

she was born a warrior, not a lady. there is not a limb in her body holding care for who sees her in this parched state. 

when it is near, her muzzle dips, tongue taking its first taste of cool liquid in many days.

He was joined, eventually, by a woman of his own pelt, except littered in scars; he thought of Mae at the sight of her, and his stomach clenched at the memory.

But she was older, more self-assured, and he watched as she drank, taking a few laps of his own tongue before speaking again.

Thirsty? Hex asked rhetorically, then added, There are many streams like this here. The mountain is full of water.

Or so he assumed, that the water came from within.

He cleaned his muzzle, standing impassively, waiting for her to reply.

another was here.

they spoke. mocked her, even. the audacity. 

you, mock.. she grumbled her displeasure, a small curl forming on her lip. travel long. sun hot, mountain woman get thirsty.

a moment of both pondering a thought and studying him, and then she had more to say. a question, really:

mountain here big. you, earth wolf... or so she assumed he was. ...claim mountain? was there something she'd missed about this place?

Mock. The word falls on him like teeth. He shook his head, but she went on anyway, and he was left to contemplate what she said next.

I don't mock, Hex promised. Big mountain. I don't claim it all. I was just. . .talking. 

He shrugged and took another drink, though one eye was cast her way, watching, waiting in case she decided to strike. She was, after all, a great deal scrappier-looking than he.

Why come here? he wondered aloud, once more licking his lips.

he says that he does not mock. but she is not so quick to believe him. 

and yet—she lets it pass. 

this time.

no place else. mountain all we know. she shrugs, as if it is all so simple, and goes on drinking as if he is not there at all.

Me, too, he replied—and even that was a lie.

He'd grown up in the valleys and deserts, had found himself in the lowlands. The mountains were a completely new beast to him, and he'd cast them aside completely if they didn't offer the chance of starting over.

Nowhere else to go, he reasoned, without anything cryptic in his tone. He stepped back to let her drink, instead observing the way the water burst from the mountain.

Like magic, seemingly. But he was loath to believe in that sort of thing.

when she'd taken her fill, she couldn't help when her studious gaze found him again. 

like a shadow, he appeared. dark; concealed. 

not earth wolf. shadow wolf. shadow man. yes, this seemed more appropriate.

where from? not mountain. that much was obvious. he looked nothing like a man that came from the mountains. none like she'd known, anyway.

Hope it’s okay I plop her in here!

She had stalked them for some time, her body skimming the earth slowly, paws almost silent against the ground. Her interest peaked by the two canids; they were the first she encountered since getting lost in these mountains.

Ever so slowly she inched forward, and the closer she got, the clearer the words. They did not know each other, she gathered, which if she were to be spotted, they wouldn’t necessarily have any allegiance with the other and her odds would be higher for it. 

At least, she hoped so.

Now she was interrogating him. he straightened and lifted his muzzle, laving clear the rest of the droplets that adorned his muzzle.

I am from the valley, Hex intoned, giving her a gimlet stare. I came to the mountains for refuge. And you—

Grass bending; branches breaking. Someone was nearby.

As the piebald coat against the foliage came into focus, Hex's golden gaze rested upon that sheltered brow.

And you are? he asked patiently, tail swishing just a bit.

from the valley.

so she had been right. this was no mountain man at all.

but valley man.

valley man is good. but where— to seek refuge, she intended to ask, but was so rudely interrupting.

snapping her teeth shut, closing in a low growl, she turned to face whomever his attention had trained upon.

snorting at the stranger, her chin lifted, tail swaying slowly in irritation. rude. interrupt mountain woman and valley man. her eyes narrowed upon them, ears perked, awaiting their response to the valley man's question.

last post since desdemona is inactive!

Mountain Woman snapped a retort. Eventually, the other canid retreated, and it was the two of them alone once more. Hex gave a small shrug of his shoulders and turned to the warrioress.

Here, I think, he replied. Anywhere I can be safe. Keep others safe.

The fact that they'd been ambushed—albeit by a small, unimposing stranger—did not warm him to this place so much.

the stranger left them at last. and only then was she satisfied. 

mountain good, be safe. they had never failed her, especially if the right spot was found. 

and knowing that he would stay here made up her mind. she would stick around too. 

for now, at least.