Completed Templar: Why did it have to be vampire rats?

[Saul Talith]

Saul shook his head. There was a reason he had chosen Valerie to stay behind. She and Ana were the two most...inconspicuous of their little group.

Most of the other Templar saw them as loyal to the Order, not necessarily Saul himself. That was not true of course, both of the women were as intrinsically linked to him as the others, but their nature made them more trustworthy to the other two Commanders. "They don't see her as...following me."

That was mostly because Valerie worked on the political side of the Chapter. She often dealt with Alliria's Merchant Council, negotiating for the right to investigate certain mysterious happenings and allowing for the survival of the Chapter itself.

She was sharp, and her work with the other Commanders meant they had come to trust her somewhat, if not just see her as a non-threat.

Of course she was as loyal to Saul as the others in their little group, though they had hidden that quite well through a few...public spats. Her idea.

"She'll meet us on the way back, tell me everything that's happened." Saul explained.

 

[Anastasia]

Anastasia sat back, seeing the threads of Valeria's and his relationship and piecing it together as a whole for the first time. "Huh," she mused, appreciating their tact.

"Am I really that blind, or..." Today made it increasingly apparent how much she had been missing out on. Ana had never been one to pay much attention, that was simply fact. If any of them needed to break away from the stress of the job, she was always the one to go to. It usually wasn't on her mind. She was a good solider and a better fighter, but if someone just wanted to feel like themselves again?

Have a dinner with her. She was always good at bringing out the authenticity of people. But at the cost of not seeing the thicker layers of things. It was neither a bad nor good thing, it simply was Ana.

 

[Saul Talith]

Saul couldn't help but smile slightly, lips tweaking under his black well groomed mustache. It was funny how some of them were so involved in their own thing that they did not even notice the world around them.

Ana was just one, Berrick was another. The man was a blacksmith, or closest one could get to it in the Templar. He cared nothing for politics or even really the world as long as he could to work at his craft. Despite that though he supported Saul without reason or cause, simply stating that he would follow unto death.

Funny that. "You don't pay attention to the politics."

Saul said warmly.

"They don't happen on the surface." He explained. "It's all in the dark, in the rooms no one looks into, in the meeting halls."

He sounded disappointed. "All whispered."

 

[Anastasia]

She hicced, her lips pursing as she mused over this.

"Does this make me less useful to you all?" She asked bluntly, her expression genuinely neutral as she looked back to him,

 

[Saul Talith]

He blinked. "No."

The answer came quickly, and it was not a lie. A frown touched his lips, wondering how he could best explain things to her. Ana was not of a political mind, but she was far from stupid.

"If you hadn't asked to come with I would have asked you to do the same thing as Valerie." He said with a slight smile, trying to be encouraging and honest. "You don't see the politics, but I think more than anyone else in the Chapter you see..."

How did he put this? "You see them. The other Templar. What they're thinking, how they're doing."

It was valuable.

 

[Anastasia]

She took a deep breath, nodding no hidden relief. None of them would sit well with the knowledge that they had a failing somewhere in their training.

She hesitated for a moment, then did something rather out of character for her. "Please don't ask me to stay," she told him, expressing her own desires on a mission for one of the few rare times in her service.

"If you do, I will. But with all of you gone..." She shifted uncomfortably on her stool, the very concept making her stomach shift. They weren't just going on a mission, they were planning something near blaspheme. Two months of no word... She visibly paled before him. And she didn't even pale to guts stuck in her hair.

 

[Saul Talith]

"You're coming with." Saul assured her.

She had asked him to come along, so she would. For him it was that simple. Had Valerie asked to come as well he would have allowed it. Though he was technically in rank above them all, though they all followed him, he would not ignore their demands or requests.

That simply wasn't his way.

"You'll be just as helpful along with us." He said confidently. "We'll need someone to talk to the other Templar's, the ones that aren't in charge."

He smiled. "Plus it will be good to have you along."

 

[Anastasia]

She smiled back, eyes swimming with gratitude. "Oh, Saul," she murmured, her speech ever so slightly thick. "Sometimes I miss you."

She flopping into his side, leaning against him and gaining comfort from his presence. With there being so many mission and a fair good number of them, sometimes they wouldn't cross paths with specific faces for months on end as different assignments tore each other in different directions.

"It will be good to be together as a group again. Whatever that looks like." She hicced, her body buzzing pleasantly.

 

[Saul Talith]

"Together." He agreed. "For a month."

He sounded more droll that time. "Probably two."

Saul was kidding of course with how he spoke, though he had no doubt in his mind that there would be some...issues that crept up. All of them were Templar, all of them were professional, but when you were as close as they were and together for that long...well things happened.

No doubt about it. "I don't think we've been together since...the Revenant."

Just after their actual induction into the Chapter they had all been sent to fight a Revenant, a ghost tied to this world through vengeance and destruction. They had managed to kill it, though only after burning down an entire Manor house. Something the Lord Captain had not been pleased about.

 

[Anastasia]

She snorted, elbowing him.

"Hm," she mused. "The good ole days." She patted his chest and sat back up, reaching for her empty glass.

She blinked at it, looked down at herself, and then slowly pushed it away. "S'makes you feel any better, I'm pretty sure Herath is all stone sooooo. Fire. It wouldn't really-" she made a loose wooshing gesture. "Not that Adam wouldn't take that as a challenge accepted. -- I really do- I think. Together. It'll be good. I mean if we can't do this, how we gonna save the world, right?"

 

[Saul Talith]

Saul watched Ana with no small amount of amusement. It was evident that she wasn't exactly used to drinking as much as she had, and the small limits she had were more than pushed.

"Why don't we take a rest." He told her as she slowly stood from the small chair.

The Commander had no fear about any of his friends burning down...well anything. All of them knew what this meant to him, all of this knew what he wanted. It helped that they all knew it was good for the Chapter, good for the Templar Order. They were on his side.

Always had been.

"Maybe go to that room and get some rest." He said quietly. "You can tell me more up there."

Tell him more of what? Saul wasn't really sure, but he didn't want Ana falling onto the floor.

 

[Anastasia]

She hicced, then grimaced, covering her mouth. "I'm not-" She dropped the protest, sensing she was indeed intoxicated.

"Ah, sorry Saul." She sounded regretful. Ana was always the one looking after people and she didn't like the feeling of that being reversed. "No, no. This is your night. I caaaan have some waaater. And then I'll be right as rain and we can-um. I brought cards. Or-" she flailed a little, trying to pull up solutions. "There's other bars with armored girls. I could also find some armor and wear it for you- heh, Iwouldn'ttell."

There was no blush to her cheeks, just laughter entwined in her words and a cheesy grin.

 

[Saul Talith]

Saul shook his head.

It was clear that Ana had gone slightly beyond her means. Luckily she'd already paid for a room before they'd ever started drinking, and thus the decision was made pretty easy for him.

In one feel swoop the Templar Commander leaned forward, down, and then suddenly grabbed Ana. His arms wrapped around her hips, one hand reaching under her behind as he snapped her up off the stool and tossed her quite easily over his shoulder. in one smooth motion.

He did it so quickly and so fast that it would have been hard for her to do anything about it.

Easy enough considering the difference in their height and general size. While Ana was tall compared to the average woman in Alliria, Saul had the benefit of standing a few spans over most men.

 

[Anastasia]

Ana gasped in shock, gaining him enough time without resistance to easily start carrying her away. Her bag drooped over her head, the woman thoroughly disheveled.

"Saul!" She chastised, hitting at his back. "Let me down right now, you're gonna cause a scene," She hit at him again, opened palmed and thoroughly indignant. "I'll walk. Okay? I'll walk."

Her legs kicked a little in protest.

 

[Saul Talith]

"Don't mind her ladies and gentlemen!" A few people in the tavern had already turned and were staring at him. A few of the men had even half-way stood, but when Ana called out his name and clearly wasn't protesting about him being the one doing things they sat once more.

He noted the Rangers were among those that had stood. Always wanting to be the heroes, typical. "She's just had a little too much for the night."

That wasn't even a lie. Ana really did have a little much for the night, and at this point he doubted that she would make it up the stairs without tripping over her own feet half a dozen times. So he hefted her weight on his shoulder, adjusted himself and then trudged through the common room.

A few of the ladies he passed giggled, some of the men chuckled.

He just flashed them a brief smile, then headed towards the stairs.

 

[Anastasia]

Ana huffed, slumping across his shoulder in resignation. "If we were in private I'd kick your ass." And she still was half a mind to, her face flushing red in embarrassment as she, Anastasia, a Templar Knight, was being carried like a babe to bed.

But she hated scenes. So thoroughly. And she wanted to use that room she had bought, it took her quiet a while to save up for it. Though it was meant for a chance to get laid. Not tossed about like a sack of potatoes.

She held her chin in her hand, her elbow in his back, digging in a might too hard as she glowered at his ass.

"I mean really," she fished out the key and handed it over to him, knowing full and well there was no stopping him. "If I had known you'd hate the armor idea so much-- I have a dress." She hicced, then growled at herself for it, going limp and hanging, head and all.

"You'remakingmedizzylikethis."

 

[Saul Talith]

"I have that effect on women." Saul said with an amused smile, snatching the key. He glanced at the top of it, noting the room number before he flicked it into the air and caught it on the way down.

He'd always had quick hands.

"Take deep breaths." The Commander said with a smile as he walked down the hall, old floorboards creaking beneath his feet. "Maybe tell me more about that dress."

Saul couldn't recall ever seeing her in one before, in fact he was pretty sure he hadn't.

It wasn't like the Templar had dances or anything of that sort, and whenever he and Ana had attended any of the political functions in Alliria they'd both been in armor. It was more impressive that way, and oddly enough the nobles seemed to like it.

 

[Anastasia]

Anastasia groaned, but could be felt taking deep breaths against him.

She stirred, the breaths helping. "I uh. I dunno. Its blue? And... dress- like? It's a dress." She stated, possessing no other words for it.

"Valeria gave it to me, said I might need it one day."

She blinked, straining to sit up. "Wait. Was that another political thing and I just missed it?"

 

[Saul Talith]

He smiled slightly. "No darling, not political."

True enough once more. He shifted slightly as they rounded a corner and headed into another hallway. For a moment The Commander simply glanced around, and then he spotted the room marked with the numbers on the key. Walking along the same creaky boards he began to speak again.

"Just saying I'd like to see you in that dress." The key slipped into the lock of the door, a loud click ringing out as he twisted. "Especially knowing Valerie's propensity for plunging necklines."

He'd seen that more than once.

All of them had.

 

[Anastasia]

She fell quiet. Which of course meant she was blushing.

All the while she wasn't sure if she meant to curse out Valerie for such an assumption or thank her.

After a moment more with Saul words, that conclusion would be to thank her.

"Ah, alas. Maybe that's what I've been doing wrong. No plunging necklines," she concluded solemnly.

She bit her lip, then said in a wave of liquid courage. "You know I don't have to be wearing it for you to see that."

Her heart palapated hard against his back.

 

[Saul Talith]

"Oh?" He mused out loud, stepping into the room and glancing back for a moment to make sure no one had followed them out of the common room. When he found no one he kicked the door shut and slid the key back into the lock, twisting it again.

It wasn't that Saul was worried about anyone attacking them, not really anyway, but a lifetime of paranoia and military training had meant he took what precautions he could. It was something that stuck with him even now, in a moment when it should not have mattered at all.

Went to show how far training had taken him.

"Well." He began as he crossed the room to the bed. "That is awfully tempting."

His tone of voice sounded like it was far more than just tempting.

 

[Anastasia]

She giggled. Despite being indignant still, she giggled, the trill of it overriding the fact that she was still over his shoulder.

She fell into the bed in dizzing array, her head swarming and hands reaching out for him in the ill- lit room.

A lantarn sat dimed on the table for them, illuminating his back as she tried to pull him down with her.

Her grip was firm and insistent, the woman more than excited as she leaned up to meet him in a heated kiss.

 

[Saul Talith]

His lips pressed against hers, the fingers of one hand landing at her hip and gently grasping while the other landed just to the side of her head on the feathered mattress.

Pure heat seemed to fill him, lust, infatuation, whatever it was seemed to burn through his veins in an instant. Well muscled flesh moved quickly, the hand that had landed on her hip suddenly snaking below the breadth of her tunic and sailing over smooth alabaster skin.

Their lips parted, and Saul let out a heavy breath. "Maybe more than tempting."

The word was a bare rasp.

Rough and calloused hands, those belonging to a swordsman, slowly floated over her flesh. Fingers seemed to press and glide at the same time, gently coaxing her towards him as he pulled her into another deep kiss.

 

[Anastasia]

"Good," she breathed back, her head tossing into the feathered bed. Her back arched to meet those searching hands, her world swimming as she was pulled closer. A sigh fell from her, the woman simply basking in the sensation of his hands running over her, groping... caressing, plying.

Sometimes it wasn't even sex she craved, it was touch. A sense of connection. Maybe that was why she always failed with the tavern men-- too many walls built up between her and the stranger, their lives worlds apart. It wasn't like that with Saul.

His touch left her buzzing, warmth rolling though her. He encased her in a kiss again; the heated contact grounded her. She groaned into the kissed, her hips rising up to press into his. Her fingers moved through his hair, stroking his face before traveling down his chest and under his tunic.



Equally rough hands traversed over his his side, tugging and caressing across the defined muscles of his body. She explored him, time blurring, growing reaquianted with his form. Beyond her soft curves he'd find hardened muscle, not a part of her body left feeling small or fragile after a life of heavy training.

"I want you," she murmured thickly into his ear, breaking from the kiss to fumbled to relieve him of his tunic.

 

[Saul Talith]

Every thought that passed through his head, every idea, everything was clouded with here. There was no other way to put it, she was like a storm that had swept in from the sea of storms and ravaged him in an instant. No part of him did not want her, no part of him was not singing with lust and desire.

His fingers tightened on her skin, free hand sliding just a few spans to slip into her golden hair.

A part of him couldn't help but think of how odd this was. Not being Ana, not that felt more than right, but being here. This was not their home, this was not anything to them. A small room in a tavern, a place that no one really cared about. A place that no one would have expected to find two templar in.

Perhaps that was what they needed.

A wave of cold swept over him as she pulled his tunic free, hard muscle flexing slightly as his hands finally seized her. Fingers slipped beneath the hemm of cloth that hid her belly, and then in one quick and smooth motion he pulled it free over her head.

The cold was forgotten.