moving into town (plot specific)

The city of saphilia was comprised of new world high rise towers, small dark alleyways and as busy as new york city. Since the vampire race had come under attack from a group of immortals, their reputation for being on the top of the food chain had dropped, many enslaved and once proud coverns being banished into oblivion. The immortals have since banned together with mortals, limiting the supply of free and willing individuals to feed the ever hungry vampires and enforcing restrictive laws thus overthrowing the heads of vampiric government and forcing Vampires into a minorital race.

the chants that resounded in the market street roused Caine from his brief and uncomfortable kip, eyes pearlescent though unrecognisably dim then they often had been. he flexed his fingers as chains clinked behidn him, his wrists bound in such a way that resistance would prompt his wrists to be torn by pronged shackles, making any effort futile. Had he just stayed back at the matashina covern perhaps he wouldnt have been ambushed in the city, perhaps he wouldnt be up for sale as slavery now. He let a low growl rumble deep in his throat as an immortal man wandered past, his neck constricted by a leading chain and collar which secured him in a cage. The cage had been covered with some sort of tarp, as though it would keep the ten of the vampires quiet and calm. He was anything but calm..

There wasn't much to be said anymore..The great woman had fallen. Fallen to a disease that none saw coming. Her twin, her only rock...was dead. Ajax was gone, Caine had vanished..and she had nearly died from the disease. She had tried to save him, but he had forced the blood into her instead, sacrificing his life to save hers. She both loved and hated him for that....

She sat alone in a room, a strange ring around her left ring finger. One she knew, but did not remember. She just knew she couldn't take it off, without feeling it was wrong. It needed to be there. Her dark eyes were dulled, and lifeless it seemed. She sat upon a bed, a harsh collar and chain hung around her neck. Her pale skin bruised and brandished with the dark leather that strung her neck. The mansion was not grand and warm like her own had been, it was cold, harsh and terrible. A slender fang hung at her lower lip, she was hungry. Though he only gave her enough to sustain her and keep her out of blood-lust. Her head tilted lightly as she waited, waited for anything. She had forgotten almost everything. Faint feelings that fleeted through her mind that she clung too, but she was empty.

He was at the market, searching for another hand to help her in her duties on the property....

the tarp was ripped from the cage unceremoniously, the strong presence of uv lights stinging the surface of Caines eyes as it momentarily stunned him. He closed his eyes as he pulled at the restraints, growling as the shackle prongs dug into his skin, blackened blood slipping from his wounds.
"Settle down, settle down" the merchant grumbled, fiddling with the lock on the cage. once he had open the door only inches, Caine immediately lept at the merchant with two of the other vampires locked beside him though it was a futile attempt. the merchant hollared in fright, stumbling back as his guards stepped in with immobilisers,The leading neck chains and shackles preventing neither of the three to reach the door, evident as the three wheazed as they strained against steel collars,
"jesus get those under control i cant have my stock ruined!" the merchant bellowed as Caine had sized up the guards. he couldnt see their faces from the masks theywore but he didnt need to, he only had to get close enough to rip their limbs apart....

No such luck, the guards were well prepared, enough that they had only need to clamp a claw like device around his neck and hold onto a large pole connecting to keep distance whilst in control, others helping to disconnect lead chains from the cage before the group were removed and led out to a set of selling yards. there was a protective barrier separating the sellers and stock from the buyers.

Caine flinched as he felt a current run from the immobiliser to him, the shock painfull enough to drop him to his knees. God he wanted to kill someone. the air hit his chest as his shirt was cut away at the request of a potential buyer, exposing his glistening runes

Hazed eyes stares at the ring, her brows furrowed. She had tried to kill him, for attempting its removal, but she didn't know why. She couldn't remember. It was a tickle in the back of her mind. After a few moments she left her sad excuse of a room, and went to finish her chores before he returned with the new person.

She moved about and tidied, all the while thinking of what used to be, of what she could remember. He had tainted her, used her....and beaten her to what she is. Or so he thought anyways. She didn't have the strength to fight him off, since he damn near starved her all the time. He knew what she was, who she was...and he held that in great gloat. He had a matashina. A living legend. After she completed her tasks she stood at the front door, and waited as ordered.

"you'll need to keep him either bled enough or sedated to avoid trouble, this one has psychic abilities" The guard instructed as Caine watched the purchase transaction for him go through, bound restrictively as though he were a mortal high risk prisoner. he refused to look at the buyer, paying no attention to him despite the hard pulling on his leash. it wasnt long until he had been bailed into a truck and transported off.

The first glimpse of the property came through the cracks of the trucks walls, the vehicle screeching to a stop outside of the building.
"alrighty" he could hear as he listened to the door slamming and footsteps drawing near...

She could see the truck coming up the road, and she felt an anxiousness she hadn't in a very long time...a strange sort of feeling. She made ready, as the truck came to a halt. She had the doors open and waiting. She herself perched outside to receive the hand and take them to their designated room. She would need to clean them up, and show them the ropes of the duties performed there. Many were grueling, but that was the purpose of the new hand.... She watched the truck curiously to see who had the misfortune of being placed here...

As the truck doors opened, Caine felt the light flood in the darkened container. Though who he saw next he hadnt comprehended.
"Sauri?" he questioned with a shaken voice, everything in her dimmed as well as her appearance. He was with her again...but how? when? his mind churned with thought. He stood before walking to end of the truck as he stared at her, a mix of emotions welling within him
"jesus what have theydone to you?

The sound of her name past his lips sent a shiver through her she didn't expect. Confused eyes looked back at him, but she did not speak just yet. She looked at the male, and then to the house master. A light shift and se looked back at the new male with questioning eyes. He knew her.....

Nervous fingers guided him toward the house. "Let's get you cleaned up, we have work to do." She said and walked by him quietly. She didn't answer his question yet, she just looked at him when they went inside. She took hi upstairs to her shabby room, and sat him down. "The bathroom is there, shower and them I will have clothes for you." She said, her voice gave away how unnerved she was...

He couldnt reach out to touch her, his hands cuffed behind him and attached to an extra chain which lead to a neck collar preventing him from any possible lash out at his buyer. God he wanted to hold her, to shake her when she stared at him blankly,
"No Sauri please..." he murmured as she led him to the house, switching his gaze to the master with a glare
"I swear to god if you touch her!" he snarled, though he wouldnt stop walking with Sauri, he wouldnt allow her to be hurt because he was going to be difficult.
When they walked into her room he let out a soft growl, frustrated at the binds and thoughts of why she hadnt said anything. He glanced to the shower and back at her, frowning
"Sauri...speak to me properly" he told her

She looked at him, and with the key she had been given she unchained him. She touched along his hands gently, and his arms. She came back in front of him, a confused stare in her eyes. "Who are you..." She asked in an almost broken voice. She could feel it, the static between them. It was both welcome and frightening. She had lost so much of herself from the disease. Including a life time of memories. The ring on her finger sparkled in the dull light of her room. "Should not speak to him that way..he is, ...cruel." She said and winced slightly. She looked up at him, and something stirred. His eyes..the pain in them. So familiar to her, a nagging in the back of her mind.

She stood trembling lightly, uncertain. A far cry of the bold and confident woman she used to be...

Relief at being released was strange, his wrists and neck ached but it was nothing compared the funk of his heart when Sauri asked him who he was. caine was a vampire and well known for not being emotional unless he was angry. He stared at her in utter disbelief, had she just asked him such a question? surely she was playing a joke. as she stood he matched her movement, shaking his head as she began to speak of the master of the house

"I couldnt give two shits about him Sauri its me...Caine...you know that annoying but loveable fiance...please tell me this is just a shit stir...where is Ajax hiding....shit maybe your with one of my brothers...have you seen them which one is it?" he asked her, looking around as he choked half a laugh out "righto V, where are you!?" he called out

She looked at him in genuine confusion. "Fiancé?" She said and stepped back when he spoke about his brothers....her brother Ajax. Her eyes instantly widened and she fell to her bottom. "Jax.." She broke down into a million pieces. Everything came back to her...everything. She had to be quiet, but the over riding emotion came on like a tidal wave. "A...Ajax is ..." She couldn't finish the sentence..he was gone and she would never have that bond again. Those bastards took him from her, and then enslaved her.

"Caine..." She choked, her arms around herself as she cried her heart out. "Where...what happened to you why weren't you there?" She asked, confused, angry and so full if sorrow that it was tangible.

Caine wasnt expecting any of this, he still couldnt get passed the fact that Sauri had no idea who he was. As Sauri melted to the ground in tears he could only draw few conclusions, indeed it would seem she had been torn apart from her brother, were it more then that? jesus...

As she stumbled on her sentence he closed his eyes, granted he never got along with Ajax unless out of sheer kindness for his love but to know Ajax had passed was still emotion grabbing. When she spoke his name it tugged at his heartstrings, though her question hit something darker, a much more tender and bruised apart of him.

Crouching down beside her he slid his arms around her and pulled her small delicate frame across and onto his lap, using his body warmth as he wrapped her within his own embrace.
"Im sorry i couldnt be there baby, believe me if i could have been i would have just please whats going on with you?" he asked. He wouldnt say why he had not been there, a subject he would refuse to speak of for reasons only he would know, he just wanted to know why she was in this condition..

Sauri curled up in his arms and buried her face against him for a moment trying to calm down. The wretched memories so fresh again in her mind that it was hard to do. After a few moments she looked at Caine again with sorrow filled eyes. She spoke slowly, trying to stay calmer.

"The humans gave themselves a virus, literally undetectable. We were blind sided, I tried to fix it. I tried to save them, Jax died....so I could live." She said, pain in her voice as she spoke. "But we were all taken by the virus, some were killed, others killed themselves to be free of the madness...and I was taken into slavery by the house master..he does not feed me anymore then I need to just do everyday things. He knows who i am so he does not want me stronger. I am always hungry, tired...weaker."

She said and looked up at him through dulled eyes. "I had forgotten so much...I felt like a zombie. I feel dirty..make me forget again. Please make me forget the horrible things he has done to me..."

The virus he had known something briefly on though the fact that it had hit the covern was all new news to him. As she explained and as usual, it was Sauri who had done everything within her being to fix the problem as both the Matashina twins had always been known for doing. Though the fact that the issue had claimed Ajax's life was traumatic. He looked downward as his insides crawled with unusual emotion, listening to the shake of her voice, the tears as they slid across her skin. She was going through hell and he hadnt been there to help.
The mention of the house master prompted a rumble in his throat, he didnt give a shit if the man had provided her with somewhere to live, the entire subject was purely wrong and now they were stuck in this poor excuse for a house as lesser beings. As Sauri pleaded for him to help her forget he nodded in silence, finding the moment of peace with his love before he stood and lifted her up in his arms. carrying her with him to the bathroom. He couldnt immediately solve things, but at least they had found eachother.

Sauri had never felt so out of touch, and vulnerable. She had always been strong, decisive and fierce. She, in top condition was a formidable force. Now she was but a shell of that woman. When Caine picked her up and took her with him she closed her eyes, and pushed everything else away. He was here, with her and she clung to that with a growing ferocity that no one would dare tear away. She had to find a way to feed them both...she had to find a way to get them out of the hell they were in. She would have vengeance on the slime house master...with Caine at her side. She reluctantly stepped down from his embrace to start the shower. The water warm enough she looked to Caine and began to undress him, though with him ...it was a much better experience...

Her fragile stature worried him. Never had Caine seen Sauri in such a vulnerable way even in times when she was attacked. The virus was the least of their problems now that things had erupted, he was determined to find a way of getting her strength renewed and getting the hell out of such a place. How could he when his own blood would have her hallucinate and possibly poisoned? perhaps he would take things on the offense again their captors. Time would only tell and Caine was never one to sit around. He stood and watched her as she moved, eventually returning the deed and stopping shortly thereafter to plant a kiss on her forehead.

Sauri watched him as he returned the deed she had done for him. Gentle hands, something she had almost forgotten. Out of forced habit she flinched...

She took his hand and led him into the shower, the water streamed onto them and she remained silent for now. With a wash rag she lathered she washed him. As though she had done it so many times. Except this was calmer, more affectionate and certainly not forced. The house master was a twisted man, that she knew. Her heart leaped with a spark of joy that Caine had come to her. Her stomach fluttered, then but at her to remind her of her hunger. She ran her lips along one of Caines shoulders, and closed her eyes. His scent was everything she remembered about the good times. Pushing all of the bad away she moved the rag over his skin slowly, taking care to clean him.

It killed him to see her flinch away though oddly he could understand. the look of her haunted him of all the times he could have been held away and she had damn well near fallen into an abyss. his eyes flickered over her form suddenly growing distant as his own mind travelled back to such time where he had found himself away from home, groggy and out of touch with his own location. the sounds of blood dripping from the tapered tubelines that hung, inserted through the skin of his forearms that had been mercifully strapped back against laboratory sterile steel. the sound it had made as each droplet fell, swelling in puddles at his bare feet, the stench of his own blackened blood as it ran through the maze of guttered grooves below him, stored in medical tanks. he had lost all contact with anyone he had known, haunted by his own thoughts.
the feeling of the wash rag against him brought Caine roughly back into reality, steadying himself with a hand braced against the wall. he joined her in silence, the warming embrace of water and soothing movement of her washing him clean of the muck somewhat theraputic. They werent meant to be in such a place, regarded as such lower commoners but he was at least with her, the woman of his desires.


"i am sorry about Ajax" he murmured softly as he watched her and the way she moved with grace, still so much class in a beaten down woman. he'd hate to think that she would blame herself but he knew their bond had been so great that she no doubt would be.

She washed him with tender care. He had always taken her breath away and now was no different. Focused on what she was doing her dark eyes sparkled with thought, and for the first time held the spark of life.

She stood and looked at him when he spoke to her. The love she had for Ajax had been centuries deep, and the loss of him left a huge hole in her. Though Caine being back with her helped to ease the deviation...she had lost everything, and just when she had decided to greet death he had come back to her. She wrapped her arms around him, and leaned into the embrace she had dearly missed. "Caine" she said, just for the sake of being able to. When he spoke of her brother she made a soft sound. Centuries lost...through hell and back they had built an empire of safety and a haven that was legendary and now..it was gone. Sauri stayed against him a moment, still trying to convince herself he was real, and in front of her again. "I know he would want me to be strong..and live for the both of us." She looked up at him and gave a smile, though it wasn't much..it was all she could muster.

"he would yes" Caine simply replied, though it was purely for her benefit. He wondered how long they would have to be stuck in such a place. He wondered where the hell his brothers were and Asha, he hoped his little sister was not suffering a fate worse than this. He knew he was clean but the opportunity to spend a few more minutes alone with his love was a perfect excuse to cuddle her longingly under the stream of running water for a few more stolen minutes of time. Eventually however he hefted a sigh and switched off the taps, running a hand briskly through his sodden hair.
"So do you know what i've got in store for me?" He asked as he gazed down at Sauri, not entirely sure of the duties that he would be told to complete, if he could be bothered to take an order at all.

His words brought her a margin of comfort, and she held onto the last few minutes that he held her so gently. When he turned off the water she looked up at him before she stepped from the shower. A towel wrapped around her small frame she handed one to him. "Yes, hard manual labor. Normally it would be easy for us, however being damn near starved all the time makes it very taxing...." she said and showed him her hands. They were calloused and bruised from the work the house master made her do. Oh how she would get revenge on that man...though she was terrified to kill him..what if his blood was also tainted? A frown and she dried her body and hair. She looked deep in thought as she did this as if trying to think of a way to get them out of there.

She knew if Caine saw the way the house master treated her he would go nuts..and that was something she could not afford. She couldn't lose him again, and especially to a pathetic coward human like the house master.

Her explanation of the road ahead seemed to hit him where it hurt but Caine tried to make her a little more comfortable with a smile
"hey not like my hands are pretty" he commented and kissed where her own had become bruised and raw with such softness he felt odd.
"I promise you Sauri I will get us out of here and somewhere safe, even if I have to move planets to do it I will"

****

The city was a chaotic mess of slavery and farming country had fast turned a similar pattern save for the dark mountainous forests of Aurelia. Though the mortals had overrun the vampiric race, there had been one small dimly lit area of forest terrain that had become haven to a small yet growing militia of Vampires that had escaped the clutches of slavery in one way or another.

His neck muscles strained as Aurora heaved the saw back and forth over the starkly black metal which had been welded into place around Colt's neck, the last remaining evidence of capture besides the wrought iron cuffs around his wrists. It itched like hell but he had gotten used to them, the collar however elevated his sense of anguish.
"stay still" aurora growled as she pushed his head in the opposite direction of the saw, Colt snarling a little in protest. Aurora had been lucky to get away with a key to detach her own leash but she still bore the scars of a severe lashing. Her green eyes glistened with freedom as she cut away at the collar around Colt's neck. They had worked together, had succeeded in escaping and now they had hidden in a cavernous structure deep in the heart of Aurelia forest with several other rescued Vampires. The militia had been born.
"How

She felt her chest swell when he kissed her hands and spoke to make her feel better. Her eyes on him she felt the guilt that came with not telling him what exactly the house master did to her. Keeping her so hungry all the time gave her the strength of only a mortal woman. How mistaken he would be once she fed truly.

"Caine, please be careful in whatever you do. I do not know if his blood is tainted or not. I would have killed him long ago if I was certain." she said, though wondered to herself if she would be immune to the toxin since she had taken Damien's blood when he was slaughtered. This got her thinking....and she looked at Caine now in thought. "I wonder if I would be immune, because of Damien's blood." She said, and then heard a sound downstairs. "We better get moving, he is getting impatient." she said with a light growl.