Shadows in the Moonlight.

[Khei]

Khei groaned quietly as the door swung closed with a slow creaking motion and clicked shut. She shuffled over to the bed and flopped onto it, allowing all the events of the day to slowly wash away into the recesses of her mind.

She was still frustrated about Ashven but she clung to the hope that he'd be true to his word and leave them permanently in the morning.

She tried to clear her mind, her head throbbing painfully, and listened to the howling of the wind outside.

Before long she found herself asleep.

[Ashven]

She hadn't been asleep for more than a couple of hours before there came to be another presence in the room.

Golden eyes studied her sleeping form from a dark corner. The man made no movement until the female stirred. He could afford to be patient. She would notice his presence soon enough.

[Khei]

She couldn't be sure how or why but Khei found herself awake rather suddenly. A chill ran up her spine as her mind worked to remember where she was. Moonlight.. It was still night.. the wind had died out and the room had been left in eerie, deafening silence.

Something else.. No.. Someone else was in the room with her.

She turned around, sitting on the edge of the bed, scanning the darkness with her eyes. Her search stopped on those familiar golden eyes. Her eyes narrowed as a growl started to grow in her throat.

"What did I tell you about trying anything funny?"

[Ashven]

A verbal response may have been what she expected. Instead Khei found herself slammed against the far wall, wood beams cracked and splintered under the force of the impact. Her growl, replaced by a surprised yelp.

The golden eyes began moving across the room toward her, carried by their owner. Ashven's face still maintained his signature smile but it was somehow different. Sinister. Even genuinely threatening. His brows furrowed in a glare that she had not seen on his face before.

For the first time, Khei found herself genuinely afraid of him even before he spoke.

"You are proving to be quite a thorn in my side, hairball."

[Khei]

Khei found herself still pinned to the wall, her feet unable to touch the floor. She tried to growl but the pressure keeping her pinned would suddenly crush in around her throat. She gagged and choked, gasping for breath once it released.

She returned his glare, baring her teeth.

"You dare attack me!? Such ruckus will surely wake Thea. She'll be in here any moment. You think you can fight us both?!"

[Ashven]

Ashven laughed heartily before twisting his hand in the air, causing the force around Khei's body to crush in at her gut. She winced and squealed in pain as he continued.

"Your friend will hear nothing you fool. I told you before. Your precious little magic trinkets do nothing to hide what you are from me."

With a flick of his wrist, Khei found herself thrown across the room, slamming into another wall with a disgusting crunch. She screamed as she felt a rib puncture her side.

Ashven strode across the room once more, dropping her to the floor for the moment.

"Tsk tsk. That is going to hurt in the morning. I'll heal you once we're finished with our business. If you live through it that is."

[Khei]

Anger filled her mind as the flush of warmth began making her clothes sticky, her dared not move for fear of making the injury worse. She idly wondered if he would have done the same had she voted to kick him out into the cold.

Thea can't hear anything? What could he mean.. Wait.. He knows what I am? Then.. He must mean.. No.. He can't..

Her anger flushed from her system as a sudden flood of terror filled the void.

"This is a dreamworld.. Isn't it? How dare you. You bastard!"

[Ashven]

Ashven's smile grew larger than what seemed possible for his face as he laughed and clapped his hands.

"Very good for a mortal. You are perceptive. You may be able to dreamwalk but I can do you one better. I'm capable of dreamweaving. Time holds no meaning here. Therefore we have as much time as necessary for our little conversation."

[Khei]

Khei groaned and lowered her head. She couldn't fight him here. She had almost no training for entering the dreamworld. Even then she had only done it twice. She'd never been on the receiving end before.

"Fine.. You have me at a disadvantage. What is it you want?"

[Ashven]

"Oh nothing much really. See I cannot change how you feel about me but I can make you understand why it would be beneficial to change your own mind."

He casually walked to the bed and sat on the edge, leaning back to rest on his hands.

"See I feel I can trust revealing this information because when you wake, this will all be no more than a foggy memory of a dream. Now. Without my gem, I'm at a bit of a disadvantage myself. While normally I would be self sufficient as my gem is a source of power, without it I require the consumption of food as you mortals do. I also require a small amount of sleep to replenish my power."

He stood again and slowly paced across the room as he spoke.

"Now I still need help in finding my stone. These men that seem to know something about me and I need to learn what they know. Perhaps they will have some idea where those bastards have gotten to."

He stopped and knelt next to Khei, grabbing her jaw.

"Now your friend knows this place. Knows the people here. And you two fight well. You two are too closely attached and she is too easily influenced by your misguided thoughts. I need you under control. You WILL help me. And you will convince your friend to help as well."

[Khei]

Khei sneered and spat at Ashven's face.

"If you think I'm going to prance around like a sheep being led around by a rope around my neck you are sorely mistaken."

[Ashven]

Ash chuckled, wiping his face with his sleeve.

"Oh I trust that you'll soon be more than willing to heed my demands."

He reached for her arms but felt the sting of a punch to his jaw. He grinned sadistically as he jabbed two fingers under her jaw and lifted her against the wall once again. He then grab each of her arms, one at a time, and neatly snapped the bones in her lower arms, producing a loud scream of pain from her.

"I warned you. The more you fight me, the more pain I will cause you."

[Khei]

Khei winced, tears streaming from the pain. She couldn't believe that this was happening. She hated Ashven but she never thought he was capable of what he was doing to her.

She tried feebly to move her arms but they wouldn't heed her. She feared what he had planned for her.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

[Ashven]

"To teach you a lesson. A much needed lesson. Let's see how your friend reacts when she sees what you really are."

He grabbed at her arm, unthreading each bracer and removing them. Next he did what seemed to be impossible by tucking both bracers into a pocket in his vest. This, however, Khei completely missed as she lay on the floor in convulsions.

[Khei]

She wanted so very much to scream out in pain. She couldn't decide whether it hurt more from her injuries or from the transformation itself. She tried to force her eyes open but try as she might she couldn't will them open She wanted to grasp at her abdomen but her broken limbs failed to do more than twitch and thrash limply as the pain racked her body. She thought for sure she would black out soon.. Even hoped for it but something kept her awake and coherent throughout.

After what seemed like an eternity, the pain finally began to fade, the convulsions slowing and eventually stopping, leaving her sore and exhausted.