When mountaindust fades [Faylice]

While times fades the very deep survival instincts stays alive, every second of every day and night. He had his finer moments but to be honest, all the hiding the healing gave him an opportunity to think about certain things … leaving him in a more worse place then where they left him. Last thing he remembered himself was turning that king of Navarre, Thriumph, into something more powerful. But as he thought it caused a reaction … just not the reaction he was hoping for. Dacosta showing up was the least of his problems, it was that beast, that dragon that tore them all together apart. Running and hiding wasn’t his style, but being this old he knew he couldn’t ignore this. In all his time dragons never showed up, not like this. And now he was the one hiding in the mountains rushing in between Navarre and Nymerwell … the monster causing the trouble was trying to avoid a much bigger one, a fatal one.

After weeks he learned to adjust to the pain, but the notion … it never left his mind. If those flames had only be inches closer he wouldn’t be standing here avoiding the sunlight. Now it only left a burning message on his wrist up to his elbow, crusts tainting his pale skin, turning into scars and burn marks who would prove that dragon weren’t all that fairytale alike, not that he believed in much of that. It got easier in time but he got the true honesty of that dragonfire touching him, Avanti was weakened. Sunlight was harder to endure, just as he needed more blood to keep his power. What it didn’t do was break his mind, it was more the other way around …

Karma is a bitch some said, Avanti loved nothing more than hearing the horrors of dead and destruction swirling their way into the kingdom. For once he believer there was something bigger than him, standing on his side and slaying that queen and all her lovely followers on the spot. oh the taste of that fear. After more then four months Avanti showed his face again on the streets, a pale skin sneaking through the shadows of the night, snapping flesh with the coldest gesture. A strategic change, so he called it. He was ready to tear apart something, only to taste what he was longing for all those weeks in those mountains, vengeance.

Despite the heat the evenings where rather cool. The sun stroke his last sparks over the land and Avanti his darker purple eyes looked up into the bussing lives of these people. He didn’t knew what happened after he left, he could feel his Ayana being still alive, he felt even the lingerings from Achilles but that was all he really felt. He was empty, cold, looking for sparks to the past. Killing a dragon would probably get him quicker killed, so he had to do with the satisfaction that the queen died after all. Using his left arm less he pushed the door open to what seemed like a tavern. The usual silence would turn that flash of a grin on his lips but now he only caused a disturbance by the hunger in his eyes. Yet it was the bottle of whiskey he was grabbing after, missing the taste almost as much as he had missed the blood. The bartender let him, a man ran away from the darkest spot in the corner that Avanti so eagerly took, leaving only those purple marks to recognize him with. He needed to get back in the game, he wanted things now, things he didn’t wanted before. His tongue stroke over his teeth before he drank from the bottle, feeling that sting in his throat as he swallowed … leaving nothing more then that two second grin on his lips. Oh god, how they would scream.

He never left the country for what some thought he would be doing. In his state he wasn’t able to do much, a certain frustration he would be carrying around for a pretty long time. And was was he not just the wrong person to be frustrated. He felt something bite on him, a linger just below the empty place in his chest. Despite he still felt the knocking of that heart, it didn’t sustain him with life, not anymore. It was only his cold desire to hear the boom boom of another heart, to feel the swift flow of blood, to tear things apart. Avanti was perfect in self control, more then others often were but after four months there was hardly anything to see from that. Where he would be able to use words it were just looks now and god help everybody who would walk on his way.

His first effort and getting his strength back ended in that tavern, only to get further north from there. He could feel Ayana’s present reaching from the cold north, he would love himself some cold after all the heat. But what he needed more than his beloved right hand was the rest. He thought that those four months would do enough but it only stated how dangerous a dragon was to his race, it would take more weeks to recover and he would be able to do that once he had Ayana at his side.

Avanti moved as slick and fluent as always, even when he felt so weak in body. Nobody noticed, the imago he left still stood. He was a monster and monsters didn’t just changed over time in something good. So nobody said a thing when he reached for that bottle, that cold lingering vibe did all the effort. He choose the darkness of the heart beats skipping paces all over the place. He choose the whiskey over the torture … it wasn’t a good thing, his silence wasn’t a good thing. People got awkward around him, soft whispers he could clearly hear as he stretched his fingers in his lap, looking down to the slight marks curling over the back of his hand. And just as he thought drinking himself waisted in past couple of months his eyes slowly went back up on the familiar scent of a woman.

Normally he would laugh about the co incident, now he did nothing but watch from out of the darkness he was hiding in. She was still alive … his precious Faylice. His teeth clenched in the reminding to that night. She was his backup if Thriumph would fail, now he had nothing of those two things. He wasn’t moving yet she was feeling it. Almost he wanted her to walk out again, he wasn’t in the mood but then on the other side she was the only one still alive enough to tell him what happened. She stopped her gracious body, turning towards her guards. She still had those … Avanti let his eyes rest on her, piercing them right through her back as she said they had to leave, immediately. ‘So soon?’ He asked, a voice that sounded more weak then he looked. He hadn’t talked in quite some time either. Nobody looked and yet they all wanted to look. He placed the bottle on the table, pushing himself up with his good arm. ‘You just got here.’ He continued, stepping into the dim light of the candles as he looked to her. Her guards got anxious, protecting her by stepping forward and Avanti his impatience was in clear view. ‘Please don’t insult me with that,’ he nodded to the guards, still keeping his eyes on those bright blue ones. His voice never changed, it was a neutral cold one, all about the warnings for the state he was in. Just as his face was, pale an threatening as he studied the beauty before him.

Did he believe in co incident? No. Yet here she was, walking in exact the same tavern he was sitting. It had to mean something. Normally he would be the one to surprise somebody he was following around. And he would follow her around, only to learn her he was everywhere. Now he just wanted to rip out that warm beating heart and kick it around for the joy of it. No, he certainly wasn’t capable into conversation like they used to have them. The last thing he had done was push her down on those vulnerable shoulders until she said on her knees, how he had combed his fingers through her hair before he did unimaginable things in front of her. He asked himself if she would have nightmares … about him, that night. It should have sparked that smile but it did nothing in the moment other then gazing at her like a predator annoyed by her sweet smell. Where he would love that sweet smell it only irritated him, given he needed more blood to survive it was only way more tempting. Not that he wasn’t planning on killing her … it just didn’t fit right now.

Her confident, or at least she tried to sound confident, it let his concentration fall to her blood running just underneath her skin. Just for a second his jaws relaxed before another step of his body draw him closer to her. Would she notice the small changed, the hint of a paler skin, the way his arm hang stiff aside his body, the crusts forming from the back of his hand and vanishing underneath his jacket. Yet the old habits were still there, his good set of fingers tapped on a table as he walked closer, that dreadful look shining through his empty eyes. It were just details, details nobody would notice. Nobody except for people like here, who were closer in a way … more afraid. Fear sparked a good set of eyes, she should know, surly every detail of that night was still as vivid as a night sky of stars.

Avanti pulled his eyes away from her to her two guards. He would kill them, he wanted to, yet he left the ball entirely in Faylice her camp, it was her decision if they would live through the night or not. So he shifted his eyes uninterested back to her, seeing that slight nod of her face her guards stepped away. Yet again the corner of his mouth didn’t lift in satisfaction. Would she know what happened to him? Would she have witnessed it? The soft begging made his eyebrows travel shortly up, just for a second. ‘Begging already,’ he started, turning his body a quarter to look over to the place he earlier sat. ‘I didn’t even start yet.’ He followed, walking back. He dragged a seat away, turning his dark eyes back to her. ‘Sit.’ It sounded not harsly, it didn’t even sounded very much alive, yet it was a threat like every other. He himself grabbed the bottle again, sitting down without losing sight of her. ‘We have a lot of catching up to do.’ It was a promise, in a way, saying he wouldn’t let her go that fast, not until he had alle details. And maybe she saw it or not, he wasn’t all that patience. Others seemed to notice, leaving the tavern rather careful. Normally he would have already made a pale joke … but it didn’t came. He tilted his head softly, prying her with his eyes. ‘You look healthy.’ His words stung, patronizing, judging. What kind of pretty life she was living for him to destroy now?

TThing had changed for Avanti, in his head. Strategics shifted, desires shifted … you would say that dragon beat him but maybe it was just the other way. Yet he felt reckless and reckless wasn’t his style. He felt like he could snap on the tiny differences, the wrong words. It wouldn’t make a difference, not even now she was here … the one he played, the one he manipulated. He remembered that moment she gave in to him, that she was the one willingly let him taste her blood. It didn’t matter now, he left his interest and visions in that cave. Where Faylice was secured by a status as the next in rule she was nothing now. So easily he could cast away his desires. He learned one big thing from Thriumph becoming a cult member .. you better did it yourself if you wanted to conquer.

The iceblue against that spark of purple, she didn’t look away under the threat he was carrying with him. Even back then he wasn’t this serious, it was like he left his old fashion humor and charm in those mountains to. She at least didn’t change much, he could hear her heart raise under the look he was providing. Almost he wanted to smile, such a satisfying one but it never came. Her guards stood down, a pity. His hunger was not to still these days, he needed the blood to heal faster and blood he would take. His fingers automatically curled on the thoughts. But just as easy as he got tempted, he lost the interest all together. The soft sound of a chair, of a woman walking out on the threat each step he made caused. He wanted to laugh, so badly over this, but the only things flashing through his eyes was the displeasure over her words. ‘Pity.’ It was hardly a word that came over his lips. She started looking, not for a way out but for an explanation why he was acting like this. She didn’t know what happened, here he was thinking she would be one of those key witnesses but she didn’t know what the dragon did. How it tore him apart, made his mind even more cold then it already was. That dragon made him hide for over four months and it didn’t do him any good but he wasn’t slowed down by it. He only wanted more.

Avanti didn’t had the patience for her to overlook the options, after all she should know there was no other option. His gaze grew more distance the longer she stood there and his eyes already fluttered to one of her guards. He wanted to make a mess, not necessarily of her but at least enough to give her that little one reminder. But just as he decided which one of the two guards it would be she started moving, to his big displeasure. He swallowed his rage, still standing aside the chair as he followed her always so graceful body over to him. She sat, being all confident while she wasn’t. Avanti looked back in the tavern, his presents in this matter already scarring most of the people out. They had the right … one wrong word out of her mouth and everything could change.

As he grabbed for the bottle whiskey with his good arm his comment wasn’t welcomed like he thought it would. He turned to his seat and let his body drop down rather … harsh, tired almost. ‘A little.’ He answered in honesty. He looked down to the bottle before taking a few sips, swallowing it while his dark eyes slowly traveled up to hers. ‘You sleep well?’ It was such a innocent question. But he knew; he knew that nightmares where the shadows of his body. He knew that everybody reminded him through the nights once he had claimed them. Such a poor soul as Faylice wouldn’t be any different, more the other way around, breaking her was probably the easiest thing he had done, even Delaney was harder to crack. But then she fired her observation back and Avanti his eyes froze before they shattered into his anger and slowly looked down to his hand. It was hard to see in the dim light. His fingers from his bad arm started playing with each other, stroking his dumb over the tips of his other fingers while he looked back to her. ‘Shouldn’t that concern you?’ He asked, not really the question, more rhetorical. ‘You don’t have any value anymore so you better think twice before talking, my current state doesn’t allow me to be picky over what I eat.’ In other words he was saying he could kill her here and now. In the corner of his eyes the bartender left his spot and hide in the backroom. ‘Four months,’ his finger landed back on the table, with a hard tud. ‘and you are the first one I encounter. Please enlighten me, how is your cowardly father doing these days?’ And that just contained all the anger he built up in the last few seconds. Here they all fled … because Thriumph couldn’t maintain his own country, or at least that was Avanti’s judgment.