Valerik was flying over the ocean, wind brushing through his hair, the salty taste of the air fresh on his tounge. It was night time, and the crisp night air was chilly and fresh. Stars poked through the blanket of darkness, and a large moon loomed over were the sun shined a mere few hours ago. A noise penetrated the silience. Chirping of a nightingale.

Its beautiful song rung through the air, making a lovely noise. The mealody stopped, and continued. At last, Akor and Valerik made it to a grassy shore, where the nightingale was. It fluttered off, its beautiful music leaving with it. Akor began to land, but Valerik stopped him. They would keep flying.

There was a change in this nights flight. Instead of gliding pointlessly like Akor and Valerik commonly did, the vampire had a destination. He was headed for the Parmamar library, which contained a large wealth of information. Valerik wanted to read up on dragonology, and even a bit of necromancy. He was also searching on some facts on lighting, magic, and conjuration.

Valerik didn't commonly visit libraries, due to his vampiric appearance. Matter of fact, he didn't quite go in public a lot. But he was educated to read, and whenever presented with a book, he would gladly read, if he had the time to do so. Which was rarely. Recently, he wasn't given an oppurtunity to rest, relax, and read a good book. But finally, he decided to take an oppurtunity on a peaceful night to do so.

The lights of Lomedor poked over the horizen, and in no time, they were near the great city. Valerik told Akor to land. Soon, the ground came closer and closer to Valerik, and soon enough, he jumped off the back of Akor. "Akor," the vampire said, "Stay in this area, and do not get lost. Defend yourself if necessary." The massive dragon gave a look of approval.

Valerik turned and headed through the gates of the massive city. He knew his way to the library, for he had been there many times before. A vampire did need blood other than that of cows and animals. After several turns and twists, he finally came into sight of a massive library. He opened the doors, and was immeadiatly overwhelmed by the smell of musty books and wooden shelves.

Noticing signs placed around the library, Valerik head towards the direction of the beast section. Finally, he found a large section labeled dragons. Valerik skimmed the titles, and pulled out one called, Ash Dragons, and their Care. Valerik sat at a table, reading a few pages, all stuff he knew already. "Ash dragons breath weapon is highly poisonous smog. They have black, corroded scales, and are capable of mounted flight," Valerik sighed. He hadn't remembered how boring some books could be. After turning a few pages, he found the chapter called, Mounted Combat Manuevors

Valerik smiled eagerly, and began to read.

"Now this is the letter A. In most words it makes a ah, sound like in man. Now repeat after me. A." The voice was chirping, almost childlike and most definitely female. There was an easily observable clash in expectations: why was a child teaching someone to read? There was a feigned innocence in it too, a quality not so easily observed.

There came a stronger, deeper voice. It's most defining characteristic was that it... growled. "A." It repeated dutifully.

"Now repeat them all."

The student began the laborious task of listing each letter again, one after the other. Some he pronounced well- he was congratulated. Others he pronounced only with great difficulty and he was helped. Yet others he was incapable of getting through his teeth at all, and though it was certain a less dedicated teacher would have instantly given up, this one continued in its dogged, inexplicable determinance.

"You're doing very well, Geis." The... chirping voice said finally after it had all been completed. "Very well indeed. Soon enough, you'll be one of the only lupines who can claim a Parmamar library education."

In response the lupine grunted, apparently unimpressed.

"My progress... has been slow."

"You must walk before you can run. Now have fun, it's been a long day. Tomorrow we might start with words."

"Truly?"

"Only if you've been good." She admonished.

Running away lightly, a small girl could be seen fleeing as fast as her small feet would take her. Behind, a rather short lupine emerged from a stack of books- in his hands nothing more than basic primers on how to read and write an ecstatic look upon his face. Even his eyes, bloodshot as they were, conveyed happiness. There was an unhealthy spring to his step- it was erratic and shaky.

"Good day to you," he said to the only other person perusing the library. He stared hard at one shelf, trying to string together the letters to form words.

"D...R....A...G...O...N...S.... Dr-ah-geon? Dr-ae-geon? Drae-gon? Dragon!" The lupine looked close to tears.

Valerik turned the pages of the book, reading the words carefully, absorbing the knowledge. 'An ash dragon's diet is quite interesting,' Valerik's interest peaked, 'Deer, cattle, goats, etc, are all good for the health of the beast*' A small asterisk was placed at the end of the sentence.

The vampire placed his finger marking his spot, his eyes tracing down to the bottom of the page. A small foot note was at the bottom. Valerik had to squint to read the small print. 'It is not unknown for dragons to consume humanoids,' Valerik chuckled, and continued, 'Some researchers suggest that a diet consisting of humans, is in fact, healthy for the dragon, although it is not recommended that you do so. It is illegal in most Ardian provinces,'

'I don't need your mortal laws,' Valerik thought. He was above mortal. He did not need to obey their rules and regulations. Immortal, he was higher than than humans, elves, and dwarfs. His dark and sinister secret was the source of his arrogant belief. He did not obey laws, fed and killed all his prey.

Although he did not obey mortal laws, he did have a code. This code was strict, and this code Valerik always obeyed. Any person he fed on was subject to death. Valerik killed all his victims. Even though he had no consencious, he did not want to pass on the curse of vampirism to any that were unwilling to bear it. Even if the bite was not intended to spread the unnatural diesese, he still killed his prey.

Valerik closed the book, standing. He headed off to replace the book at the shelf he acquired it at, only to come upon a lupine. It was carrying a stack of large books, which were hiding its face. It wobbled, and stopped near the area Valerik had retrieved his book.

The lupine began to say each of the individual letters, "D...R....A...G...O...N...S.... Dr-ah-geon? Dr-ae-geon? Drae-gon? Dragon!" it exclaimed. Valerik gently pushed his way past the lupine, placing his book back onto the shelf. On his way there, he glanced at one of the many books the lupine was carrying. The spine read, "How to Read and Write," in gold, bold letters.

Valerik smiled at the shaken lupine. He looked close to tears. "Yes! Dragon! Very good!" he grinned at the lupine, trying to cheer it up. Valerik wanted to know why a lupine was in the Parmamar Library. Maybe cheering him up would reveal information. "What are you doing here? Do you think I can help?" Valerik asked, placing a hand on the lupine's shoulder with a caring smile.

'Hmm, this is really weird,' thought Valerik humorously. 'I'm treating a wolf creature like a child!' He chuckled slightly, to himself. 'Well, maybe I can learn a thing or two, or perhaps stir up some trouble,' Valerik thought maliciously.

" ...exactly the reason why we are here. Why don't you two ever listen to me?" A voice was heard from somewhere within the library. Three men strode into the section of the library the lupine was in.

" Yes father, but it's easy to forget when that thing living inside of you keeps taunting me. Can't you go to the Demons section instead and learn how to shut that thing up? You're old enough to know how to easily strangle a dragon by now." Endymion said in an angry tone.

" Maybe I'll end up strangling you if you don't stop complaining. That, or I'll end up letting him eat your soul. Just leave me alone and find somebody to talk to while I go find some books on using magic." Prieth wasn't an ordinary person. The truth was, he really did know how to kill dragons with his bare hands, or wryms like himself. Having read over half of the many books in the library, he was a well known person, even with that dull brown concealing cloak he always wore, he was a familiar sight in Lómëdor.

Gladly spotting a lupine and someone else, Endymion strode from his far-from-ordinary father, tried to strike up a conversation with them. He just hoped that it wouldn't catch the faint smell of dragon on him, but he already had enough cover stories for it.

" Do you know much about dragons? I find them very unique compared to some other creatures. Well, more than a few, in any case."

There was an odd scent in the air, sulphur, Geis decided finally alighting upon the unfamiliar memory. He had smelled it once at a hot springs, something to do with fire-rocks that lay beneath the earth. It was still far-off though, but distracted him because he noticed that the person standing right next to him almost didn't have a scent. Peculiar. He had met someone very similar once, he tried to recall the memory but gave it up as a lost cause. If he had forgotten it already it surely hadn't been terribly important.

"Yes! Dragon! Very good!"

Geis was glad to have his guesses confirmed, but the smile on the fur-head's face was starting to scare him a little bit. No one had ever, except for the weird shapeshifting librarian that was teaching him how to read, and the children that he fed stories to, had smiled at him like that when first meeting him. It was terrifyingly genuine and Geis was panicking. Did he expect him to read more things? He couldn't yet- that one word there had been a fluke-

"What are you doing here? Do you think I can help?"

He almost sighed in relief. No, no, it was going to be alright. Just a good Samaritan. He was meeting a lot of those, these days. That smile sure was freaky though. It was *too* innocent.

"I am learning how to re-." He was interrupted by new arrivals. Shuffling books in his arms, he tried to get as clear a view as possible on the new head-fur and thought, for some reason, of a scholar. The one next to him hadn't quite provoked such a thought but this one did. Like most scholars it launched directly into a subject that made the lupine's brain wince as it tried to connect the dots from point A to point D.

" Do you know much about dragons? I find them very unique compared to some other creatures. Well, more than a few, in any case."

He wondered what exactly had provoked *that* particular response but realized he was standing right next to the dragon shelf.

Well that'd definitely explain it.

"Dragons are dragons." Geis said, as if it summed up everything. It did, to a certain extent. Looking for dragons was like looking to get your arm eaten. They were either ravenous and awake or ravenous and sleeping. Nothing good came out of lupine/dragon interaction. Which was good, because it was rare. He knew a few stories about dragons, but didn't think the ones here would be terribly interested...

Valerik was listening intently to the reply of the lupine. "I am learning how to re-." he said with a smile, an almost purposefully over innocent smile. But he was quickly cut off by a scholar that came to join in the new conversation. Immeadiatly, the man chimed in, adding his opinion.

" Do you know much about dragons? I find them very unique compared to some other creatures. Well, more than a few, in any case." He said. Valerik merely chuckled. Did he know much about dragons? Well, of course the dragon rider did. He could explain the texture of scales, the flight patterns, the growth period.

Akor, his ash dragon, was Valerik's closest thing to family. After wandering Arda for centuries, the vampire had contracted himself as a mercenary. He made gold, buying himself some worldly possesions, usually getting drunk and losing his recently bought item in some bet or something of that sort. Then, he would get angry, and attack someone in broad daylight, reavealing his sinister nature, forcing himself to flee town, possibly still drunken.

Now, Valerik avoided alchoael, drinking in small increments, purchasing very few things, besides the sword that was strapped to his belt right now. He quickly stopped thinking of his money, and redirected his attention back to the conversation. "Dragons are quite interesting creatures," he began, Akor pictured in his mind. "I know quite a lot about dragons, indeed," he said scholarly, acted as if he knew more than he actually did.

He knew a lot about dragons, but not through vigorous studies or years of observation. All his knowledge came from experiance, from Akor. He had no idea about dragon's parenting, for Akor's mother died from a paladin raid. He knew nothing of how a dragon's breath weapon was fired, for he never dissected a dragon. All he knew was from experiance.

"I know quite a bit about dragons. I own one, my ash dragon Akor. He is....beautiful," he said, searching for a proper word to describe his grace and beauty, but finally using that term, "I think the average person does not understand the true destructive capabilities of a dragon until they have come face to face with one," Valerik said wisely, recalling all this information as he went.

He never quite understood dragons until Akor was full grown. He remembered one circumstance quite well. Akor had just learned how to fly, and Valerik had just begun to wander the skies of Arda. The vampire had spotted something interesting from the sky, and ordered Akor to land. The dragon attempted to land in a clearing, but did not calculate the decent correctly.

They crashed in the trees, crushing dozens as the dragon's paws cracked their trunks and branches. Valerik was awe stricken, the dragon was not hurt. Valerik finished, "Dragons are mighty, do not challenge one unless you wish to meet death," he told the two grimly.

" Or if you know on how to deal with them. My father knows much about dragons and other creatures." he said, pointing to the figure of Preith, who was already sitting down at a nearby table, putting his complete attention into the book he was reading. The writing on the front cover mentioned assassins.

" He uses that knowledge in many ways, but some of them I wouldn't ever try. I was interested when he told me one day that he made friends with a dragon, bringing home a bag full of jewels and precious items to prove it. But the week after, I was just getting to know the dragon when my father killed him right in front of my eyes. Sometimes I thought about putting a knife in his back for it, but his abnormal best friend is always with him... In any case, he doesn't know everything, like the one time I stole his favorite sword and gave it to my oldest brother. He is still looking all over his manor for it. He's haunting it like a ghost, asking me, my brothers, and the hundred-fifty two family friends he's invited to live over there as well."

Geis was momentarily in awe of the one standing before him, as calm as a summer's day as he told them that he owned a dragon. _Owned_ a dragon. Geis' mind was spinning by the implications and possibilities that *that* entailed. It was easier to own the wind, or the cold- taming such a beast must have been a feat in of itself. He wondered if the fur-head with no scent was pulling his tail, but he didn't seem to be. And judging from the rather blithe reaction of the other person it wasn't an extremely rare occurrence either.

It simply boggled the mind to hear these people. Was this the sort of power those who read books could garner for themselves?

The two of them were speaking, discussing something that was far out of Geis' own comprehension. The scentless one made some small sense at least- he seemed to be advocating caution- always a wise move. Wisdom from experience was never to be discounted. In fact, discounting it often cost good lupines their lives if the fairy tales and legends that he had brought up had but a single grain of truth to the lot of them.

It was about then that the sulfur smelling one launched into a tale of his own that only seemed tangentially related and extremely confusing. It was an unstructured tale and as a storyteller, Geis disapproved immediately. A story needed a beginning, a middle and an end. Not necessarily in that order but it should have them at the very least. This story had a sort of loopy middle and an open-ended finish. It was... unsatisfying to listen to.

And sounded an awful lot like an omega pretending to be a Beta.

"You," Geis growled at the scholarly one. "Are confusing."

" I guess you are one of those people who prefer to listen to people who tell their memories as a story. I'm just not a storyteller. I prefer to read and listen to stories than to-"

" Can you shut up? I'm trying to figure out the best way to kill a wrym, specifically you! And use that special soap for once when you clean yourself, you leave the smell of dragon wherever you've been to!" Prieth called out, without taking his eyes from another book he was reading.

" Actually, he is the reason I act strange." Endymion murmured to the lupine and the other person." If you've ever had a father who tells you that he wants to kill you every two hours and then blurts out things you want to be kept secret, while never taking his eyes off of a book he's been reading, let me know. He's been doing the same thing to me for years now. It all actually started after I killed his favorite pet snake."

Valerik listened intently to the two's conversation. The lupine's expression was awe stricken. As if owning a dragon was impossibly. That such magnificent creatures were not capable of domestication. In fact, this was true, to some degree. Valerik had not tamed Akor.

They were friends. The vampire and dragon were in an alliance, not a master/surf relationship. Valerik respected him, and Akor obeyed Valerik's simple commands of 'land' and 'fly', 'turn' and 'speed up'. The two were friends, fighting companions, and hunting partners. They adventured together, flew together, roaming the skies of Arda.

" Or if you know on how to deal with them. My father knows much about dragons and other creatures," The scholar retorted to Valerik's comment. Before he could say anything else, the scholar continued. "He uses that knowledge in many ways, but some of them I wouldn't ever try. I was interested when he told me one day that he made friends with a dragon, bringing home a bag full of jewels and precious items to prove it. But the week after, I was just getting to know the dragon when my father killed him right in front of my eyes. Sometimes I thought about putting a knife in his back for it, but his abnormal best friend is always with him... In any case, he doesn't know everything, like the one time I stole his favorite sword and gave it to my oldest brother. He is still looking all over his manor for it. He's haunting it like a ghost, asking me, my brothers, and the hundred-fifty two family friends he's invited to live over there as well."

Valerik chuckled. "You obviously like to tell stories, don't you?" he said. "In the real world, you may want to learn to shut your mouth," he said more grimly. It was true, revealing information, especially for a vapmire. "You, are confusing." The lupine said to the scholar. Valerik chuckled, only nodding his head in agreement.

The scholar continued, only to be interrupted by his father. Then, confessingly, he told Valerik and the lupine that if either of them had a father that wanted to kill them, then they would be just as crazy. Valerik chuckled. "In fact, my father did more than kill me," he said, an evil smile spreading across my face, "his debts caused me to become what I am, but after centuries upon centuries of grief, I managed to accept what he did to me, and use it as a gift," he said, not revealing what he exactly meant.

Then, with a broad, toothy grin (revealing all his sharp fangs), he said, "I am a vampire, spawn of shadows, creature of darkness,"

Geis stared at the scholar. He started thinking of it more as an exotic creature- to be studied, to be examined, but not really to be understood. It had presented him the facts, had presented him its thoughts and seemingly could not link the A's and B's to the C's and D's. It was... like being addled. If this was what it meant to be 'educated' and 'learned' Geis wasn't all too sure he was willing to trade in all of his good sense for something like that. Not unless it was _extremely_ beneficial to his clan.

It was about then he heard a different voice.

"Can you shut up? I'm trying to figure out the best way to kill a wrym, specifically you! And use that special soap for once when you clean yourself, you leave the smell of dragon wherever you've been to!"

Geis was horribly, horribly confused. Was this a fur-head or a worm? His thoughts chased themselves... he had heard of such magicks. It certainly would explain the weird comportment of the scholar. Or at least help to explain. He wasn't entirely sure it could be explained by perfectly logical reasons. He knew a bit about worms, and the bits he knew all stated that they were perfectly rational creatures.

The scholar launched himself into yet another rant. Geis raised an eyebrow. Well, he tried at least, Lupine eyebrows were more the bones that there eyes were nestled in and the result was a minor headache. But that wasn't what was important. What was important was how the scholar didn't seem to realize that he was answering his own questions- his father's behavior was clearly linked to his own misdeeds! Killing a snake indeed, that brought bad luck no doubt about it.

He turned, his thinking having made him ignore some of the Scentless one's speechery. He didn't miss the last one's though:

"I am a vampire, spawn of shadows, creature of darkness."

Geis looked at the scentless one. He tried to raise an eyebrow and was reminded, that he wasn't a fur-head by yet another headache.

"What is a... 'vampire'?"

" I'll admit that I'm not really surprised by that fact. It seemed a little obvious. I'll also admit the fact that I am a half-dragon, if you couldn't guess by the smell and Preith's ranting."

" You always asked for attention the wrong way. Like that time you nailed my snake to the wall, or when you shoved scorpions whose stings give you hallucinations in my bed. It was the worst thing I ever saw: I kept killing you and then there would be two more of you every time I killed you, and I found myself surrounded by hundreds of crazy freak assassins-for-hire who wear white cloaks with hoods conealing their eyes and above." Prieth remarked.

Valerik's face was filled with shock when the lupine said, "What is a vampire?" A smile spread across his confused face. This creature had to be treated delicately, like a child. It didn't know much, how to read, and by his looks of confusion, it seemed that "it was confused by the scholarly fellow. Valerik tried to think of how to put vampirism simply.

Actually, it was confusing. Life through death would be an extremely difficult concept for a child like person to understand. That was the reason most mortals shunned vampires. A creature who was immortal, and dead at the same time confused mortals. Confusion created hatred. They formed groups of confused madmen, paladins. People intent on killing what they didn't understand. In fact, he pitied the mortals, their lifestyle, their blind sense of 'order'.

Valerik, of course, understood his infliction. He knew the science's of it, the magic involved, all of the details. He researched it thousands of years ago, during his period of sorrow. He overcame so much during that time. He recalled the agony, the pain, the fleeing, beatings, torturing. As years passed away, hatred built up.

Mortals were inferior. Even as centuries gathered, his conciseness faded away. He could kill without regret. Feeding was his only exception to his 'no mercy' rule. He killed every victim he feed upon, for pity. For a mortal to endure what he did, no on deserved that. He killed each and every one of his victim. The scholar began to rant again.

He knew about Valerik's vampirism. He must of given it away while he was talking, perhaps his fangs peeked out from behind his cheeks. But not only did the scholar know about Valeriks disease, but he was a half dragon. Valerik said, "Interesting," and then commented no more.

He placed his hand underneath his chin, pondering what to tell the lupine. At last, he decided what to say. "Vampire's are a form of undead. No one knows how vampirism began, but now, if someone is bit by a vampire, then they turn to one after they die. Vampires have to drink blood to survive, and can't stay near sunlight," he said, deciding just to put it blatantly. "Vampires are dead. But through death, they are living. Dark magic's bind their dead corpses to life. Only a stab through the heart can kill a vampire. We are much stronger than a mortal, more powerful," he told him, saying 'we' to emphasize that he belonged to this group of more powerful beings.

"Mortals do not understand really how life through death works. Its hard to understand, really, unless your actually living in that kind situation," he said, explaining why his description of vampire might be lacking.

Encounters with those already known can be a distrubing thing. These can haunt when the feeling of unwantingness hangs in the air. It can condemn a soul to a lifetime of questions of their lonliness, usually starting the same. "Why?..." You might say she was, for her travels, haunted. She had been utterly alone. It wasn't a new feeling, but it was strangely upsetting and perturbing.

She made her way to Lomedor, passing the seaside, though she usually wouldn't notice, as she traveled quite quickly when she intended to do so, but it was unusual to be in a beach at night for her. She was a nocturnal one or sorts, but never had she visited such a place in the dead of the night.

The waves lapped along the shore, dissolving into the deathly black sea. The lighthouse cast its light about the shore, creating menacing black shadows, cast about with the beacon's light. She realized she was in Ëarsúl Marina, along the southern coast, and paused to watch the beacon and sea, crabs scuttling across the shoreline. Aralishia took a few deep breaths. The typical salty smell came to her lips. She felt as if she stood upon salt, the smell and taste was so strong, but this description was not nearly as consuming- it felt as if she was buried in the shaker.

She continued on her journey, now sprinting, and as elves have great agility, it wasn't long before she reached the Parmamar Library. It was strange; she oft hadn't the time to open such trivial things as books, and the only books she were interested in weren't found on common shelves. Nor did she have much respect for bookworms lost amoung the pages, as she learned by doing, by living, and thus she found this the greatest knowledge-it was often called 'wisdom'. Knowledge is knowledge. This is how it was referred by her.

Certainly was knowledge a great thing to seek. But peace, the greater good, and balance were the selfless things to fight for. Knowledge is the quest to quench one's own thirst, and no risk is involved in this quest, other than time consuption. She fought for peace and truth, she fought for the right and good. Each man has a path that he choses, constructs, and follows 'till death. Some of these paths lead to the death of so many it would be unbearable to the great realm. It was her duty and calling to stop these paths so none could follow them again. This was a seemingly simple calling, but so complex within it she oft thought she would double over in the pain and complexity of it all.

Nonetheless, there might be something interesting on the most foreboding of shelves. She pushed open the large, mahogany gate-like doors - not a simple task, and when finnished, her head momentarily sunk slightly. She picked it up and continued forward, propelling herself with her small, yet strong legs. She came across the section labeled 'Dragons', where there was no talk of dragons, but of vampires. She stared in curiosity for a moment, then gazed upon the crimson hair of one of the conversationalists and continued forward, now out of curiosity of the others chatting and why they had chosen the topic.

"What is a vampire?.... Mortals do not understand really how life through death works. Its hard to understand, really, unless your actually living in that kind situation,"

She walked up to them with unknown confidence, something much different than arrogance that she had displayed as if it were one in the same. No. Arrogance is a young man's game.

Hello, I am Aralishia Bandaar. I don't know much of vampirism, but I am curious... She paused. Dramatic effect can work wonders. ...what, may I ask, is the happenings of your vampirism?She brought her gaze to the others. A scholar who smelled of dragon was about them. Made sense. Then a lupine. She looked closer. It was Geis Coldfur.

OOC: Grah, I'm losing Geis IC feel... sorry about this. It might take me longer to post. : P

IC:

Geis was looking to the two of them- vampire and half-dragon- with an intense frown of concentration on his face. He had wondered why their scents were so... strange, not fur-head at all but something either burning or, he glanced at the self-proclaimed vampire, something that didn't smell at all. With a grunt of focus he forced his brain to remember these scents: they were important. Whether or not the 'worm' (as called by his 'father') was really a half-dragon or a mad furhead, both were things to recall. As for vampires, Geis didn't detect dishonesty. It didn't mean he was telling the truth but for some reason he suspected that the fur-head, with canines almost as long as his own was telling the truth. It was an instinctive understanding- each word the vampire had said had been tightly laced with emotion, emotion brought by enlightenment of certain truths.

Geis didn't know whether or not he wanted to know these truths so inexplicable by mere words. He didn't think, even as a loremaster, that the knowledge was worth its price.

Then he detected a different scent: a familiar one. "Aralishia!" His mind said happily, but he kept it to himself- the vampire was still explaining to him certain irrefutable truths about his kind and he didn't think it polite to interrupt. Not that he had thought the presence of the new body had gone unnoticed- surely the vampire had senses good enough to match his own? It was what he was implying, at least. He found the sunlight part odd- trolls turned to stone when thrust into sunlight but that was because they were partially night themselves- he had never heard of the troll curse communicating itself as a disease... he would have to look it up some time.

It was about then that Aralishia appeared- she hadn't seemed to recognize him and was busy saying philosophical fur-head things- but finally, her glance fell on him. Geis smiled, it was good to have at least one lupine friend- no matter how fur-head she looked- here with him. He wasn't all too sure anymore about the intentions of a 'living dead' thingy-person and an insane fur-head who thought himself a dragon.

"Aralishia!"

Valerik finished his sentence, doing his best to explain to the lupine. The lupine slightly perked up, as if he recognized something. "Aralisha!" he exclaimed. After he finished, someone came up to him, "Hello, I am Aralishia Bandaar. I don't know much of vampirism, but I am curious..." She paused, "what, may I ask, is the happenings of your vampirism?" Valerik nodded his head, beginning to speak.

Valerik nearly told her to leave, pointing out that it was rude to interrupt a conversation, but quickly stopped himself when the lupine exclaimed. Apparently, he knew this evish newcomer. Valerik smiled, introducing himself, "I'm Valerik," he said politely. 'She must of overheard,' he thought, 'I wonder why she's curious about my vampirism?' he wondered. Most people would merely ignore a vampire, or fled, or perhaps warned a guard. But maybe, since the elvish were more wise than humans, and more understanding than dwarves, she would understand his infliction. All he would leave out would be his somewhat merciless code.

"Your inquiring about my vampirism?" he asked, tilting his head slightly to the right, in a sign of confusion. "How did I receive vampirism?" he said rhetorically, "My father is to blame for my infliction, no blessing. No, he did not bite me, or hire a vampire to bite me," he explained. His father indirectly passed on the curse, through his own foolishness, and riskiness. Valerik always wondered why a family orientated person would run a forgery business behind his back?

"The story goes," Valerik began, "I was given my father's shoe making business when he died," he said coldly, not adding sympathy when mentioning his father's death, "but little did I know he ran a underground forging business. His forgery of a document had not worked for a vampire he worked for, and so," he said, spreading out his hands, "the vampire came to kill him, only to find him dead, with his son living in his old house. He cursed our family by inflicting me with vampirism," he finished.

"Of course, I tried to live normally, resulting in the deaths of the people I loved. I wandered Arda for centuries full of misery and agony, getting beat, shunned, attacked for what I am," he said with a touch of sadness. "You see," he told the newcomer, "I am a proud vampire, and make a living as a mercenary. Someone of my talents can accomplish much more than that of a mortal," he said, and with a smile, added, "I can even make the people you hate miserable for centuries to come,"

OOC: Now I'm doing this from Prieth's point of view.

IC:

Prieth carefully closed his book, which he had stopped reading after the vampire had mentioned that he owned- or rather had a companion that was a dragon. He was the kind of person who studies dragons, and a good amount of books about individual dragons were ones that he wrote. Prieth once did kill a dragon, but that was after learning that his 'friend' was almost as sneaky and deceiving as he was, and very dangerous as well. Seeing his youngest son- as much as he acted like he didn't like him- being with somebody who wouldn't think twice about killing him, he just had to act.

Getting up and putting the book away, Prieth stood in front of the vampire, putting a friendly look on his face, before turning to stare at Endymion.
" Like I said before, you had no reason to nail my snake to a wall or shove scorpions under my pillow. If you are still sore about me killing your friend, I did that because while you had your back turned, the dragon was about to smash you into the ground like a fly. Now will you leave us for a moment?" All he could see of his son's face that wasn't concealed by the hood of his special-looking cloak was completely expressionless. Without saying anything, he turned and walked away, disappearing behind a shelf. Turning back to face the vampire, he smiled again.

" Sorry for interrupting. I didn't want him lying to you about me or anybody else. If he hasn't already told you, my name is Prieth Black. I've written books that are on these shelves. Have you ever read any of them, or at least seen my name on any of them?"

OOC: Prieth is at least six hundred thousand years old, and he's written a lot of books, so it would be likely that Valerik would find his name on the covers of books if he's been to this library before.

He exclaimed at her sight, but she couldn't help but assume that he had detected her sooner. She didn't know whether to send him a loving glance, speak wolven explaining her pleasure, as he had clearly trouble with english, and elven, while she was fluent in all three, or maybe she should altogether go about and hug him. No, she decided. Far to dangerous. Risks both her life and his. She waited for Valerik to catch up from the excitement the two of wolven kind shared.

Valerik told his story, and in her foolishness of displaying such a pleasured emotion at the lupine, she nearly fell to tears at his story. But all the same, she recomposed herself. There was indeed something she couldn't trust. Though she saw pain in his eyes from the distrust that revolved about him. His story was quite clearly true, and she had no doubt that he, like she, hated his father and really had no reason to be saddened. But there was a touch of distrust, both in his eyes and in hers. He had told his story without question. What a strange gesture. Some call it trust.She found it something to distrust. But she was far too happy and accepted his trust. Perhaps he trusted her because she didn't show such prejudice that most have against the beings.

When she spoke to him, a smile played on her normally calm face, something she knew he would understand that, whencoming from her, was pure and undeniable love that two friends share.
Puede illar, Ner forna te du na gradane. she said, a growlish quality emitting from her throat. She had always covered up this ability quite well.
Nice to see you again. I presume you realize that gratitude, like these books, is far more than the words? (Translated into English) Her words had a scholorly prescence. She didn't need to simplify any wolven word for him. He was, indeed, much more knowledgable than herself in many ways. A healer always is. Playing dumb. What a clever trick.

OOC: Sorry about teh sucky post. I'm not too sure Endy, but did you assume that Valerik followed yas? I can't tell from the post.

IC:

Geis beamed at Aralishia's expression. How well she knew him! Surely she was about to reply in her own way, but the... he fiddled with the unfamiliar word a bit before repeating it in his mind... vampire, had a story to tell and she turned attentively towards him. Geis followed suit, stories were important after all, especially to one such as he.

Geis growled quietly at Valerik's story. Kind-bonds were sacred, for a fur-head, no a father like that to exist was beyond criminal. He hadn't personally done anything himself, true, but it was nonetheless his fault that his son had to bear the wounds of foolishness. He wondered briefly at the story, was it true? Could a father, even if he were a fur-head, be so heartless? He stashed the thought away, he had heard worse of the fur-head cultures before. In fact, of all the sentient species he had encountered, only the short, mountain-smelling, furfaces had bonds about as close as his own people. He had the darnest trouble trying to figure out if any females existed and found it un-wise to ask. He himself would be insulted if he had been taken for a female.

It was about then the other one, the one who had accompanied the sulphur-smelling one, approached them. He spoke quietly to the vampire, but Geis had senses that had been trained by long, long practice and he might have well been shouting. He claimed to be an author of some sort. A noble, if somewhat heinous position. Even words deserved to be free.

Puede illar, Ner forna te du na gradane. He heard and turned back to Aralishia. She had taken this chance to speak with him privately, he savored the lupine words- it had indeed been too long. He felt he was... how did fur-heads put it?... rusty.

Lilas.He replied in the same tongue. Demo lilas perdon inculperacu. He said, his tongue enjoying the soft, swishing sounds that signified the language of the running stream, the raging storms and the great white tundras of the north.

"Yes, friend. Yes- but for now, until I can see underneath the underneath- they will remain words." He said, his eyes waving at the numerous works that populated the shelves of the library- the same doublespeech used to reply to her own question. He wondered what she thought- she seemed to have a knowing expression on her face- what did she see?

Valerik glanced to his side, noticing some movement. The man, apparently the scholar's father, was rising, as if to to approach the vampire. Valerik turned, facing him. " Sorry for interrupting. I didn't want him lying to you about me or anybody else. If he hasn't already told you, my name is Prieth Black. I've written books that are on these shelves. Have you ever read any of them, or at least seen my name on any of them?"He said. Valerik gave a grim look at him. What a paranoid father. Probably almost as capable of the great tragedy his father had done to him. Valerik bowed, introducing himself.

"I'm Valerik, a vampire," He told him politely, revealing his nature, contradicting it in mortal minds with a civilized statement. The average human believed vampires to be horrific monsters, wanting to kill everything in sight. True, Valerik had a hungry beast inside of him, but only at random periods, during a famine of blood. The mortals were naive, not knowing that Valerik was a indeed normal looking, deceiving. Vampires were not vicious monsters, being able to be picked out of a crowd.

He opened his mouth, words following, "I think I have seen some of your works," beginning to recognizing the name. He opened up his mind, trying to recall previous events centuries ago. He entered the same library, the same smell that he smelt now entering through his nose. The vampire was agonized, bruises covering his entire body. He walked through the aisles, picking up a book at random, not really caring for what he was reading, but rather to get away from the tragedies of Arda. The cover had a brown, faded cover, and a title in gold script that Valerik couldn't quite remember. But at the bottom, it glossy, gold lettering, was Prieth Black.

"Yes I do remember," he said, "but not quite the material. It was so long ago," he laughed. Then, turning back to his other companions, he was flooded with growls and roars. 'There speaking lupine, or wolvish,' Valerik thought, unaware that canines had a language. He shrugged his shoulders, somewhat offended by the two talking behind his back, not knowing what they were saying, whether they were planning an attack, or trying to get acquainted. It didn't matter. "If you two don't wish to speak to us, please leave, find some other section of the library, and spare the rest of us your rudeness," he told them quite frankly.

"Yes, friend. Yes- but for now, until I can see underneath the underneath- they will remain words."

She smiled slightly. To hear a true wolf's voice grumble was a magic of sorts. It was rather ironic that the most intellegent and wise of the group was the one frowned upon for seeming unintellegent and seen struggling. He was, indeed, a humble sort of wolf.


"Lilas. Y frensica de fortundo nenalla, resica wolfnia" Her voice had the familiar rumble and she laughed at herself. It sounded like a bark, and she stopped to clarify. Her laughter had been at none other then herself. 'Nenalla' was an elfish term. "Ranonde- rosensica arondefu"
"Yes. It's unfortunate that the words of these aren't shared throughout the wolven language."She hoped that he could sence her appreciation more for the wolven language than the common language. It was much more complex and, yet, fairly simple. The accent is the difficult part. (Though she had no trouble with it.)

Underneath the underneath....words will remain words...... the phrases had a familiar grumble to it, something she couldn't quite capture. She glanced at Geis, his familiar face holding a slight scowl that was somewhat fixed in place, but his eyes held a friendly love that is often indescribable. His furry features had a way of wooing her when in sadness. She found such fur...comforting. She filled herself with his love and tried to focus on the phrase. She didn't know whether it was the pronunciation of the wolven words, or the meaning behind it that perplexed her. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, only for a moment, because she opened them suddenly as Valerik interrupted her train of thought.

"If you two don't wish to speak to us, please leave, find some other section of the library, and spare the rest of us your rudeness."

The blandness of his words and the misinterpereting of her actions upset her, and her brow furrowed. Misinterperitation was why she was usually so blunt, there was no confusion when you state things clearly. Unclarity bothered her, though she hadn't a clue why.

"I didn't think that speaking to him in the tounge he was familiar with would be bothering to you. Seems to me that it would be rude of me not to speak his language, seeing as none of you can speak his." She moved her head slighlty downward as to signify she was done with the matter, not really caring what the vampire though of her reply, and returned her attention to Geis, waiting for his response.

OOC: Oh! Burned! Just kidding. I know you weren't offended, Valerik was. (Obviously, because you could read what we wrote. If I PMed Geis the code to unlock the mysteries of the nonsence stuff, however, then it might be enough to irritate you. (Though it would be kinda cool :xmasgrin: )

Valerik's scowl only widened when Aralishia continued to talk to the lupine, "Lilas. Y frensica de fortundo nenalla, resica wolfnia" It sounded like barking, growling, like wolves were in a pack, howling at the moon. Valerik despised these two speaking in a language he couldn't understand. What if the two were planning a surprise attack? What if both of them were defenders of the light, trying to rid Arda of vampires, starting with Valerik?

He may of just been paranoid, but he did have a good reason. Many times 'friends' would speak behind his back, only for him to get pummeled later on in the experience. Most mortals wishing to kill Valerik used a facade, trying their hardest to act friendly to a creature they absolutely despised. Of course, Valerik usually could detect this, but his own naive nature prevented him from seeing the truth, resulting in broken bones, torn skin, cuts, gashes, scabs, but never death. The average mortal (many centuries ago) was incapable of realizing the true ways to be rid of a vampire: a stake to the heart.

He had come dangerously close to death several times in his life time, and by dangerously close, he meant he was staked in the chest, barely missing the heart. Valerik was constantly chased by novice vampire hunters, back in his youth. He was less wary of his identity, constantly getting caught feeding on civilians. But as the ages wore on, his skill in law breaking had become an art, an expertise. He could usually kill easily, without getting caught.

Valerik scowled at Aralishia's response to his rude remark. "I didn't think that speaking to him in the tongue he was familiar with would be bothering to you. Seems to me that it would be rude of me not to speak his language, seeing as none of you can speak his." she said, moving her head towards the ground. Valerik's scowl widened even more. "He knows the common tongue, let the runt learn it and use it!" he remarked, taking a step towards the elvish women.

His hand drifted obviously to the hilt of his long sword, in an aggressive manner. Although he did not want to distract much attention to himself, the vampire did not take threats or remarks lightly. "Even if I knew the language of those," he searched for the correct word, "beasts, I wouldn't even disgrace myself by speaking it," he quickly stopped, and shook his head, taking a step back, removing his hand from the hilt of his sword. "I apologize," he told them both, "But as a vampire, I am constantly talked about behind my back. How could I be certain that you weren't planning an attack?" he said, hoping to justify his behavior. He didn't quite want to start a fight in the library, and couldn't afford to pay any sort of fine. He outstretched his hand, saying, "Do you accept my apology," hoping to make amends.

"He knows the common tongue, let the runt learn it and use it!"

Big mistake. Very big mistake. Monumental mistake. Ara didn't like the idea of such primitive things, and she knew that a fight with a vampire was a chancy fight to pick, but the vampire forced her wild nature upon her. A deep growl, no longer a throaty one but one from her chest and stomach, emenated from her, her sharp canines flashing as she raised her lip, teeth bared. He clearly didn't notice the warning signs that she was prepared to kill, (although only if in means of defense) and he took a step forward. Another big mistake.

Her hand flew to the side of her belt and she unsheathed her sword, his hand only a few seconds away from his. Her sword hung dangerously above his hand, and she felt a sudden urdge to cut his hand off, but she resisted. There was only one way to kill a vampire.

"Even if I knew the language of those...beasts, I wouldn't even disgrace myself by speaking it."

3 strikes, you're out How dare you- she was cut short by another deep growl, but she didn't know if it was her own or Geis'. She brought her sword back slightly at the sound.

"I apologize, but as a vampire, I am constantly talked about behind my back. How could I be certain that you weren't planning an attack? Do you accept my apology?"

She gave a deep throaty growl and glanced over at Geis. He was the one who needed to forgive. It wasn't her call, though she would have no intentions on forgiving the vampire. It was true, when she had deemed something about him not to be trusted. If he wanted trust, he just forgoed that chance.

OOC: You've done it now. Good job at pissing her off. Lol, I love writing her when she fired up. :xmasgasp: :xmaslaugh:

Geis carefully schooled his features to remain blank. It wasn't terribly hard- he had been called much worse names by much lesser foes and he wasn't terribly sure that they could tell if a twitch of his ears or a slightly parted jaw meant anything to them. But they were in a place of learning- had it been anywhere else it might have been... acceptable to continue this particular conversation with something approaching the less-than-desirable modus operandi known as violence but in a library the very thought seemed incredibly distasteful.

He had a mental image of spitting on the combined cultures and histories of thousands just to nurse a personal grudge against a 'vampire' who only seemed slightly more arrogant than the average fur-head and had been devoting a certain amount of time to explaining certain important truths and shook his head.

No, this had to be handled more subtly. Any teacher, no matter how rude, was to be respected. It wasn't the lupine way or the fur-head way- it was simply Geis' way and Geis' thanks. Still he was impressed at Ara's reaction- she had known and heard about the dragon. His estimation for her bravery and friendship went up several notches. He was well aware that most fur-head friendships were not 'to the death' as the term was and was glad that Ara did understand both the lupine tongue and the lupine definition of friendship that accompanied it.

He gently tried to grasp Ara's hand, a simple restraining motion.

"It is all right Ara." He said this in common- he did not want to incite this rather dangerous individual overmuch and what he said had been reasonable, if not put in the most polite terms. Then again, most lupines were rarely polite themselves. If anything, this fur-head vampire person was handling himself impeccably by actually trying to explain his actions. Not that it made any sense but fur-heads were addled. Most of them anyways. He glanced at Ara, thinking warmly of her.

"Everything deserves a chance at life," Geis sensed hostility but pressed on, whether or not the vampire thought that to be true wasn't his concern- showing him that he meant no harm was- "I did not mean offense. Your customs are strange and I was not aware of your... lack of physical security. I humbly accept your apology and extend my own- will you accept it, vampire?"

Valerik smiled, seeing that this was getting interesting. Aralishia drew her sword, aiming it at his hand. It hung close, as if magnetically attracted to it, yet some how repelled. 'This is getting interesting,' Valerik thought, an amused grin spreading across his face. "3 strikes you-" she started, getting interrupted by a growl.

Was that from the lupine? No, it couldn't of been. The lupine put its hand on the elf's hand, encouring her to not fight. Valerik scoffed, his nostrils flaring as he did so. "Everything deserves a chance at life, I did not mean offense. Your customs are strange and I was not aware of your... lack of physical security. I humbly accept your apology and extend my own- will you accept it, vampire?"

Valerik was very surprised of the lupine's understanding. Obviously, he had a very open mind, and a very forgiving disposition. Valerik did not want to drag this lupine into any possible fight: it was a very lawful creature, noble and valiant. Valerik nodded his head, bowing slightly to him. "You are understanding. Thank you for accepting my rude behaviour," he said, shooting a rude glance towards Aralishia's direction.

"I accept your apology, although it is not needed," he said politely, smiling. "I am very impressed at your learning capabilities and your open mind. You are truly a person of great quality, but on the other hand," he said, turning over to his friend Aralishia, "your friend is very quick tempered," he knew very well he was angering her, and in fact, that was his intentions. She was getting on his nerves as well. "Do not draw your sword unless your willing to use it," he said with an insulting tone, spitting his words at her. "I am willing to use my sword on you, yet I do not draw it. Useless deaths are not needed, especially in a library," Valerik said, nodding his head, gesturing to the environment of study and learning.

"Perhaps a wager?" Valerik said, a scheme forming in his mind. "A bet of a sort," he explained more, the details beginning to become more and more clear to him. "A fight, not to the death of course," he started, "first to be incapacitated will lose," he said, "and what does the loser lose?" he asked rhetorically, "if I lose, I will personally apologize to you with a donation of one hundred gold and learning the wolfish language, expanding my understanding of other cultures," he explained, "but if you lose," he said with a smirk, "you must allow me to feed upon you: of course not a bite that will turn you into a vampire, but one that just allows me to fill up," he finished with a chuckle. "So, are you willing?" he asked. "Well, of course, we could just fight to see who's superior," he said, not caring which on Aralishia picked.

((OOC: Of course I'm not going to actually give gold to you if I lose, but pick if you want to wager or not :xmasgrin: ))

OOC: One- Ara doesn't drink, nor bet.
Two- Do you really expect me to let you EAT her? :xmasangry:
I am slightly insulted!
Oh, and, she never said anything about 3 strikes, they were thoughts.

IC:
"How dare you insult me like this! I am very willing to use my sword, am I not a coward! Nor do I need permission to attack one like you!" She scoffed, then spat the insults at him. "No wonder you aren't trusted." She thrust her sword towards his chest. "Oh, and betting- it's a young man's game."

She sheathed her sword, sent him a dirty look, and turned away.

"By no means do I wish to command you, but this vampire is not trustworthy, and hightly dangerous. I think we should both leave."