Without You

Mora growled slightly as she paced back and forth before Aurmerle's throne. She needed...

She nibbled on her bottom lip in irritation, running her hand through her hair. She needed to speak to Master Ethon. She needed a way to... to... explain without explaining. To give up Nik's secret without breaking the Unbreakable Vow. She couldn't help her mate dead. Especially since he's on Human blood now...

She hadn't switched it out. How could she, knowing he'd be fighting? She needed him safe...

And the only way she could have him safe was to tell Master Ethon.

"Ethon?" She called into the tunnels. He'd have to come back eventually, didn't he?

"What?" Ethon snapped savagely, silently appearing in the chamber. He hadn't been anywhere near the lair, really. He was simply highly attuned to people calling for him from there. It was a spell he'd laid so Aurmerle could quickly contact him.

Ethon had never looked so feral, so dangerous - at least, not any time recently. His eyes were nearly black rather than their natural grey-blue, his hair unkempt and clothes a bit disheveled. He was no longer the calm, collected man with a sense of humor and patience built from centuries of self-control. Right then, he was a dangerous predator, ready to wreak destruction upon those in his path.

He had crossed the room so quickly, he just might have translocated instead of walked. The man bared his teeth at Amora, standing not more than a foot from her. Despite his overt hostility, it was obvious that he was trying to keep himself calm.

"You had better have a good reason for seeking me out," Ethon growled through gritted teeth. "I'm sure even you have realized my brother is missing, and I cannot contact Vi." He forced himself to step away from her, turning to look elsewhere.

"Well?" he demanded.

"So you've noticed." She said with relief. She bit her lip anxiously, rearranging words in her head until they didn't set off the warning alarm the charm had cast on her.

"I need you to go to the circus with me." She said, very carefully. "Vi always liked the circus, and I'm working there, and I don't think you've been there yet." Her eyes stayed to his left as she focused inwardly, trying to rearrange words still. "Aurmerle...." She said, before pausing again. She tried to hold back the growl of frustration, but it slipped out anyway. "He... doesn't need his matches anymore." She debated her next words with more caution then the rest. This was getting dangerously close to breaking the Vow.

"...Human." She said. "He's back on Human."

Ethon's jaw clenched, but he otherwise made no response to the woman's apparent rambling. He didn't trust himself to. Honestly, she had called him here to ask him to the Circus? He might not have been overly fond of Amora, but he hadn't believed her to be simple, either.

"What sort of idiocy is that?" he finally growled. "Of course, he needs his matches. Aurmerle can hardly maintain his sanity-"

He whirled to face her at her last words, really looking at her for the first time since she arrived. From what he knew of Amora, her words usually weren't quite so guarded, not even around him - or perhaps especially around him. It seemed she felt the need to underplay his dominance with borderline disrespect, at times, which usually didn't bother him. Ethon had never claimed to be anyone's 'master', anyway.

Now, the woman was choosing her words with considerably great caution, and her flippant manner was replaced with obvious concern. Ethon stepped closer to her, cupping her face between his hands as he gazed intently into her eyes.

"Show me," he said. "Your Vow only requires you don't speak of it, yes? Show me. Let me see."

Amora stayed silent through his response, the facts of it slamming into her harshly. Aurmerle can hardly maintain his sanity...

She looked up at him, her eyes full of worry, love for her mate, and - though she'd never admit it - unabashed fear. Her mind reached forward to brush against his, waiting for permission before diving further in to show him. She closed her eyes, images flashing across their temporary bond. The Circus Tent, Her midway through her performance as the crowd roared, Diamante - Vi's new horse -, Niklaus sneaking out of the secret passageway into the tunnels and her following, the cages first with nothing in them, then her mind brushing each creature as she came across them as she fed them, and finally...

"Hello Amora." The thought was definitely Aurmerle's, she'd recognize the mind - and the voice - anywhere. Then came the part she despised, but she showed it to him anyway.

Vi, dragged by the arm, into the cage beside Aurmerle. Mora hadn't reacted at the time, how could she? And Nik had, later back in his trailer, given her an ultimatum.

"You can pick one of them, Angel." his voice echoed in her mind. The offer she'd been given prior to running here. "Any one of the fighters down there. Any of them. And they'll be freed. No questions asked, No strings attached." Ringmaster had left her to think on it, and she had sat there for a full hour, unable to make the choice. Her mate or her ward?

A single tear of blood ran down her face, but she pressed on, showing him exactly where the Circus was located, its layout, everything she knew about it before her mind retracted from his. She stepped out of his hold, and looked away from him.

She had nothing to say.

Ethon let her withdraw her mind and step away. For a moment he simply stood there, as though he was still processing the information. Perhaps, however, he was merely having a brief struggle within himself.

Whichever the case, it didn't last long, because soon his eyes went black, fangs forcing themselves from his gums as he lost the temper he had been so tenaciously working to keep. Whirling about, he vanished between one step and the next, off to the Circus.

People still hadn't quite forgotten the last time Aethon, son of Galen, lost his temper.

Mora took a deep breath as his eyes darkened, her mouth opening as if to say something, add something, but no words came.

She nearly sagged with the relief that hit her as she disappeared, but she was already in motion.

If Ethon was going to take away one of her jobs, might as well get a good seat. Hell, maybe she'd even be able to get some money out of it.

And she was so totally getting the bitch that captured Aurmerle.