Chapter Eleven: Sleepy Challenges

Drunkenness is a joy reserved for the Gods: so do men partake of it impiously, and so are they very properly punished for their audacity.

-Cabell, James Branch

A dreadful pounding is what began to tug Sand's consciousness back from the thick comfort of reverie. He had stayed up until the afternoon fiddling with various ways and ideas in regards to the blood substitute that Sana would need. He'd finished at least a single vial before he was willing to rest and given his poor sleep schedule as of late he wasn't paying much attention when he'd crawled into his bed to pass out.

His room was enchanted to stay dark unless he otherwise willed it, he hadn't even noticed the slumbering elven vampiress while he undressed and slipped in on the other side of the king-sized bed. He couldn't have been resting for a long period and the pounding coming from his door gave him the fleeting desire to set off some of his summoning defenses. Instead he also slowly came to realize that his bed was much warmer than he was used to.

Sana was settled against his chest, at some point both of them had migrated toward the other and they'd been inexplicably left next to one another. She didn't even seem to budge despite the noise being raised. "Guess that answers the question as to if she sleeps as much as a normal elf...she went to bed at least two hours before I came up here...what the hell is she doing in my bed anyway?"

"Sand you wretch!" Nevalle's voice was the last thing he wanted to hear in the morning. It always heralded bad news. "If you are in there you'd better answer me before we bust down your doors."

As tempting as it was to let the Knight roast himself or his guards the wizard knew it was unwise to allow it to happen. He tugged himself free of the vampire, that seemed equally content to hug his pillow in his absence, he smirked a bit and squinted his eyes as he opened his window, he normally cared more for his physical appearance but it seemed a bad plan to take the time to put anything on. "What in the nine hells do you want?"

"Where is the Lady Sana?" Nevalle seemed livid indeed, his form was rigid and he had a slight twitch in his lip, a contrast to his otherwise controlled and angry face. "What the hell are you still doing here Sand?"

"She's sleeping in the guest room." Sand replied, it wasn't a complete lie, if you took out the guest part. "Pursuit of specific needs for my latest recipe lasted longer than originally expected. This is hardly subtle..."

"What exactly was the point of asking me to be sneaky if they were going to do this?" He thought in irritation.

"Somehow Malyguard discovered that you weren't at the palace, when morning and then noon came and we couldn't produce you it was only a matter of time. You and Lady Sana both face charges of attempting to evade arrest." Nevalle said, Sand idly wondered if a vein in his brain would burst soon. It would be vaguely nice if it did, then he could return to his rest.

"Can't you return later. I'm tired Nevalle and as much as I adore playing along with this song and dance if I don't get some rest you'll find my good nature will quickly wane." Sand frowned, he was exhausted and simply sick of the whole thing. If the desire struck him he could likely do major damage to the city.

"Sand...you cannot...."

"I challenge Malygaurd to the trial by combat." Sand interrupted, he was irritated and it wasn't common for him to jump into action but as it seemed it would end up there anyway, he might as well push the process forward. "For his insults to my honor and his lies in the city of Tyr's justice may he choose to face me or face the swift judgment of the heavens."

Nevalle blinked, though to his credit he didn't let his mouth hang open that long, he shut it nicely while Sand was still evoking the old law that would temporarily clear him of all charges. "Now get your shiny soldiers off my lawn and stop pounding on my door."

He closed his window a little more roughly than he'd planned, surprised it didn't wake Sana. Then he moved back toward his bed, he didn't even care that Sana was still tangled in his sheets, that was a bridge he'd burn when he crossed it. He was far too tired to deal with any of the issues at the moment. Sleep now, kick the vampire out his bed and kill his enemies later...

Below him Nevalle sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Mi'lord?" one of the soldiers seemed uncertain as to how to proceed.

"There is nothing else we can do here." Nevalle confirmed, motioning them away from Sand's business. "I hope the fool know what he's doing."

"What of Lady Sana? She shouldn't be staying in such poor conditions." She'd definitely become a popular member of the nobility among his troops.

"If she is already sleeping then we will let her sleep." Nevalle answered with a small shrug, still disturbed of the idea of Sana staying with Sand but at least he had a guest room and hadn't just given her a couch. "Sand's home is well taken care of. I doubt if she was wanting for anything she would have remained here."

That seemed to placate them and Nevalle stepped over to one of the members of the troop that was a good runner. "I need you to go and inform the Archmage Malyguard that he has been challenged to the trial by combat and to have a response for that challenge by the noon after tomorrow."

A salute later the soldier was running off to follow orders and Nevalle sighed as he gestured his company away from the home again. "Come on, there is much else that needs to be done."

Elsewhere not long after...

"Trial by combat...that irritable self-important fool." Creston was grumbling as he considered the ramifications of battling Sand. He had defeated his daughter and Qara had been in no way weak. No, the elf would have too much up those wide sleeves of his to take such a risk...

There was no one else in his office save the toad that functioned as his familiar. The beast seeming to yawn from it's place on his desk.

"I know." He commented idly, leaning back in his chair and pushing his hands through his hair, smoothing it down. "I didn't expect he would return my finding him free of the palace with this much of an escalation in reply."

The toad looked away from it's master and stretched a leg.

"Perhaps not." He seemed to be agreeing with whatever his pet was communicating to him. "I need to buy myself more time. If he has the chance to prepare correctly he has many more years of practice than I."

More years than he'd been alive Creston knew, it made him logically wary of the elf as he considered other options. His toad hopped into his lap, making him start but then relax, petting the rough green skin.

"Hmm, that isn't a bad idea. Though I doubt the spells would work on her, she isn't an average human." He commented as he trailed his fingers over the toad quietly. "Perhaps if we can catch her away from the elf though we can speak to her more directly. If they are as the rumors say a few well placed words might get her worried enough to volunteer."

His conversation was cut short as there was a knock on the door, the academy too busy for him to have much time to himself.

Back at Sand's Shop...

It was warmer than Sana was used too when she slept. She wasn't completely devoid of warmth but she was cooler than your average humanoid thanks to her half-vampire heritage. She had gravitated unconsciously to where Sand had been a second time when he had returned to rest. Even if there was plenty of room on the bed otherwise the heat had lured her right over.

The aroma of Sand surrounded her, changed from when she'd first lay down to a thicker musk. A deeply spiced coffee with the edge of bittersweet copper, it was as intoxicating a scent as she had ever experienced from anything else. The tables of kings had never known the rich incense Sand's skin bestowed her.

His skin was nearly as smooth as the silk sheets around him, it was pliant beneath her searching fingers as they traced the muscles and lines of him. He was no grand warrior but neither did his figure fail to please. His chest moving slowly up and down in the elf version of sleep as she traced his ribs unconsciously. Her body inching closer to his as the scent curled deeper into her foggy senses.

For better or worse a part of her would always hunger and he was as close to a sinful desert she would every truly partake of. Yet, for a true chocoholic the richest taste never functioned as anything more than an appetizer to prepare the taste buds for something more. She kissed his arm, the taste of salt and other spices spreading from her lips to her tongue as she trailed her lips upward along his bicep and over his shoulder.

Her attention to his body wasn't going unnoticed, it was a much more enjoyable way to wake than how he had been interrupted earlier. Still to groggy to realize the full possible consequences of the particular woman and her velvet lips that were enticing him away from reverie. Mind drug between her electrically charged kisses moving toward his ear and the cool feel of her fingers teasing his stomach on their way toward his hips.

Then she was gone, vanished instantly in result to the spell that he'd prepared to hold her off should she try to bite again. The moment that her fangs had touched his skin, before she'd even been able to push to offer the smallest scrape the contingency had activated and she had been whisked away to her own bedroom as a result of the teleport without error that had been worked into the casting to go off should she bite him again.

Sand took a deeper breath as he realized what happened, trying to steady the uneven breathing his treacherous body had taken on as a result of her attention. "This woman is more dangerous than the various demons of any hell I've come across. If she doesn't have some succubus blood somewhere in her history I'd be amazingly shocked."

Sana meanwhile was left in a much less comfortable place, the spell had gone off in such a way that she'd appeared a few feet above her floor and fell unceremoniously to her carpet. It was just as good as being doused with ice water, her fangs retracting as she pushed herself up to look around the familiar signs of her bedroom at the palace.

"It's a good thing you are so damn clever after all." She muttered aloud, adding up what happened and the comments that Sand had mentioned about not being worried about her biting him anymore. "No creature should have a right to be like him."

She could still feel the warm smoothness of her skin under her fingers, the overpowering delicacy of his scent, his taste...even if it was fading the hunger that was burning through her wasn't wholly a want for blood. Everything about the elf had drawn her in, taken her away to a place where she'd begun to feed without even being conscious of her actions. She knew she'd never done that before.

If he hadn't had that spell to defend himself she couldn't say for sure that she wouldn't have drained him completely. "Guess with a sharp tongue like his he had to be one step ahead over the years or he wouldn't still be here."

She covered her face with her hands as she really had a chance to think about it. Her cheeks beginning to flush as all of her actions caught up to her. "He'll never let me live it down."

Back at his shop Sand was considering to himself the events of how he'd been woken up, much improved from Nevalle. "Next time a Hold Person I think instead of Teleport. She's quite a seducer for as innocent as she pretends to be."

From the floor Jaral meowed up at him and he pushed himself to a sitting position on the edge of the bed.

"No one asked you." He commented to the cat's implication that he'd been enjoying the attention she'd lavished him with.

He had been but he wouldn't admit it out loud, he was slightly annoyed at his own spell. For a moment there the idea of the sensation of her feeding was enough to make him unconcerned for his own well being.

"Hmm, no, I think I should stick with Teleport." He commented at his own thoughts, his body was weaker than his mind. "No more sharing my bed with a vampire so all that's left is to study and kill my enemies."

The cat meowed louder as he curled his back against Sand's bare leg, tickling him.

He rolled his eyes at the feline before getting to his feet. "Yes, I'll feed you first."

End Chapter

I wanted to get some more words in but this seemed too good a point to pause things for the chapter. Contingency spells are so darned awesome! I luvs them.

-Aura

P.S. Hope my readers continue to enjoy my madness.