He sighed, exasperated. The world was too complicated for him. Tepmted to turn around and leave them to that, Mendax glowered. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be around here much longer. He felt that familiar tug, guiding him to wander somewhere new. Maybe, to find a place he would belong. But it was unlikely, and he wasn't bored of them yet. With a simple snap of his fingers the bag was gone. But it was unlikely he did it for any reason related to the vampires torment. No, it was allways a game to him. First was geting to know something of his players. How to go about this? Before a reaction could come from those nearby, he disapeared from him place. One would think he vanished, unless you knew of what he was. Padding away, was a cat, eyes the same rock grey, and fur a mottled dark brown and black. Mendax purred his satisfaction as he scrambled up onto a small rock ledge, changing back and looking so typicaly bored. A normal expression for him to have.

Senshi snorted in confusion and pranced nervously. His eyes were on the stranger but his ears flickered in Rome and China's direction. Rome wrapped his arms around China, holding her close. He glared in the stranger's direction only to find him not there. He looked around quickly and found him on a rock ledge. "What are you?" he growled.

Silva groaned as he opened his eyes. He felt something soft and damp under him and realized he was laying in a grassy clearing. He felt the moonlight as it shined down on his skin, strengthing his body and mind. He gasped as he suddely remembered what had happened. Thistle had been hurt but he wasn't able to help her. The pain had been to strong. He sat up and looked around and spotted a large mound of black fur. "T-thistle? Are you alright?" he asked quietly, his voice shaking nervously. Two golden eyes opened and looked up at him and he sighed in relief. Thistle raised her head up and gave him a wolfey grin. 'Close call. Sorry about that.' said her voice clearly in his mind. "It's okay. I'm just glad you're alright. Do you know where everyone is?" he asked, listening to the noises around them. 'The male vampire is still in the hideout. The female seems to have left, going fast by the way her scent is barely lingering, and Rome and the horse followed.' came her soft voice. Silva nodded and stood up. He stretched and watched as Thistle got up and did the same. "We'll need to go after them soon. Rome is always getting into trouble. I guess we should go get Fletcher first though." he muttered. They headed back to the hideout. Silva went over and crouched down in front of the vampire, his hand on his sword's handle. "You need to work with me to get the spell right. Then, once the spell is finished I'll let you go, but have no doubts, if you make me mad I will kill you." he told him, his eyes cold.

He grined at Rome. It was a simple twist of the lips that managed somehow to change his entire expression into one of sheer delight at the question. Or so it would look to them. If Mendax was honest with himself he knew that the idea wasn't quite so wonderful. What he was. Well there was something that managed to wiggle it's way into every encouter. Part of life as he knew it. Just beautiful. His grin faded into a grimace for only a split second before returning, false as the lies he often told, "You know I've heard some people nowadays are polite?" He muttered sarcasticaly. Of course he had to point everything out. So normal for him, yet to those who didn't know Mendax, it would seem bitter, harsh. As if he would really try to be that way. But to the question, "Well, I supose the least I can do is answer you. Actualy no, the least is to just leave now, but I'll bite. I'm a warlock. And I must warn your friend that many a vampire has said our blood is downright undesirable. Tastes aweful, their words not mine." he mused. The young warlock sat where he was, watching the others below with curiosity.

China couldn't speak for the moment, but buried her face in Rome's shoulder. She didn't like Warlocks. Sneaky things. She managed to stutter out a whispered Get him away.Fletcher observed Silva. He didn't much care for dieing, but he wasn't scared of it.How do I know you won't kill me when the spell is done?His tone was bored.

Rome ran his fingers through China's hair. He glared at the man, angry that he was upsetting China. He was confused though. He had never heard of the warlocks. 'I guess I need to read up on my creatures I didn't even know existed.' he thought, angrily. He had only had the smallest knowledge of spellcastors to begin with. "What exactly is a warlock?" he asked, his voice nearly a growl.

Senshi tossed his head and pawed at the ground. He could feel the aggression coming from Rome and it was making him nervous. The stallion pinned his ears backand snorted angrily at the man, hoping he would leave.

A small smile appeared on Silva's face. "You don't, but unless you want to stay tied up forever you don't have much of a choice now do you?" he asked, his eyes flashing with amusement.

China started to shiver. Warlocks. Murderers at the best. She leaned in closer to Rome. Fletcher scowled at Silva.Fine, mutt. What do I do?

A frown passed over his face like a shadow, showing his annoyance at them, plain as could be. It disapeared quickly, replaced by a lazy sort of calm look. Of course his mind was really spining, taking in all the informaion he could gather from this short conversation. So, he hadn't heard? Well, that was to have been an expected possibility. And yet he still found it the slightist bit agrivating. He really didn't like going through this, and the fact that he had to try and explain everything to Rome in as simple a way as he could manage, since he didn't want to spend all day on it, was frustrating.

After a moments hesitation he finaly began, "Warlocks are downworlders, a cross between a human and a demon. Born with powers from their demon half, they can use magic and spells for various things. But if I went into more detail on that, we would be here all night." He muttered. Mendax purpously avoided the word 'we' when he spoke of his kind. He wasn't proud of what he was, rather to the contrary. His bloodlines made him shudder at the simple thought. Of course there were those who made the choice to do bad things. To go down a path they shouldn't. But those were the rouges. Not like him. Nothing like him. Mendax was different, or he figured as much to the subject. Honestly he only had a little instruction on how to do the things Hhe knew he could. Ever since he was young he had refrained from learning, fear of it all overcoming him. It was not something he wanted at all.

It was said, or so he heard, that fear was not always an enamy, but a helping hand in life. It drove you forward, pushed you to make a semi rational decision, and kept people from atempting things they shouldn't. Mendax disagreed. It kept him from alowing himself to be who he was. It was a hunter, stalking you and always pushing to take over. His expression changed to one of deep concentration as he pondered it all. Why did this have to happen to him? Life wasn't fair, and Mendax couldn't care about fair less. It didn't matter. Cause life didn't take exchanges. No. He had to deal with it. Yeah right.

He looked at Rome and China again, as if he had forgotten they were ever there at all. A sarcastic comment sat on the edge of his toung, waiting to be set free, but he refrained. Too much was going on with him to be bothered worrying about a possible argument. After all, there was plenty of time left for one to start.

China grimaced and breathed deeply, inhaling Rome's scent, which always calmed her. He smelled like freshly cut wood.

Rome hugged her tight to his bare chest. "Magic and spells? Are you like a spellcastor?" he asked suddenly interested, but still wary.

Senshi stepped closer to Rome and China. His nostrils flared as he picked up the annoyance coming from the stranger. He didn't like the odd scent he was picking up. He knew it wasn't human. He rubbed his large head against China's arm nervously and turned his hindquarters to face the man, ready to kick.

Silva sighed. "For the spell to work you'll have to stay completely still. I'm sure that'll be easy for a vampire. You need to try and get rid of any ill intent in your mind against China, if you have any. Then we can begin. You ready?" he asked.

A small shiver ran down China's spine. Please, Rome, I don't know how much more I can take.She whispered in his ear. Fletcher muttered something under his breath and turned as still as stone.

He let out an exasperated breath, the wall of bordum and agrivation in his mind began to crumble. He struggled, locked in mental battle to keep all defences up. His true thoughts and personality hidden from the world. Of course his catlike personality was in all truth real, but at the same time it was far worse in the eyes of those around him. As though they were looking at him through a pane of glass, his immage distorted. His mind ran over one of the many great questions in the world, Why must everything be so direly difficult? On occasion he felt like giving up. Not just on himself, but on everyone else. They weren't going to see him as he was. Maybe never. The reflection of himself was obscured by that of his kind who made the wrong choices. Who did embrace who they were and took it to an extreemly bad level. He couldn't be like that. It wasn't in him, even if he had wanted to atempt it, "Well, I supose. Remind me if I see you later that I'm an ignorant dumbass." He said biterly. His mind wasn't all on the conversation. He didn't watch his words as carefuly as he would in full focus, "Make us even, as I am not entirely sure of your meaning." He said quietly.

Silva's eyes changed liquid silver, matching his hair, as the words of the spell flowed easily. He spoke quickly and soon his eyes changed back to green. "I hate doing this but if I didn't China would probably get upset which would make Rome mad which would make my life miserable." he muttered as he reached over and cast a release spell on the bonds, watching as they fell slack and dropped to the ground. "At least now you can't cause any trouble for us. Let's go find the others." he told the vampire before turning to Thistle. "Can you find them?" he asked. The wolf growled as if she'd been insulted and Silva lifted his hands up. "Okay, okay. Sorry." he mumbled. Thistle turned and padded out of the hideout, sniffing the air before heading in the direction the scent was coming from. Silva followed swiftly, his hand on his sword's handle.

Rome looked down at China. "Do you want to ride Senshi back?" he asked, his voice quiet. He looked up at the man, confusion clear on his face. "What?" he asked. He had no idea what he was talking about.

China shook her head.I'll run. Come home fast, okay?She turned, put her weight on her toes, crouched, put one hand on the ground and shot off, leaving behind her a huge bang and a crack in the ground. She felt like a midnight swim. Surprise Rome when he got back. Fletcher shot out of the ropes and stretched painfully, then reluctantly followed the wolf and Silvylocks. China stripped, shot up a tree, balanced and jumped, her body making an arc in front of the moon. She dived in to the river, making barely a ripple. She lay back against the river bank and waited, the moonlight glinting off her skin.

Thistle growled as she heard something dart past them not far away, but caught China's scent and relaxed slightly. She ran easily through the trees and skidded to a stop at the edge of the forest. She snarled and crouched low to the ground at the sight of a stranger. Her teeth were bared and her hackles raised. Silva stopped behind the black wolf and his eyes widened at the crack in the ground. "You're girlfriend?" he asked Rome, giving him a teasing smile. Rome glared at him and reached up to grab Senshi's mane. He jumped onto the horse's back. "Handle things here. I'm going to go find China." he told him before sending his thoughts to Senshi. He held on tight as the stallion surged under him, galloping into the trees. Silva sighed. "All that trouble for nothing." he muttered. He looked at the ground and cast a short spell, his eyes changing briefly. The ground shifted and the crack was gone. He looked up at the man on the rock ledge. "And you are?" he asked, his voice bored and annoyed.

Senshi wove through the trees his nostrils flaring to catch the barest scent of China. He slowed as they came to a river and stopped on its back. Rome jumped from his back and landed quietly on the ground. He looked around and spotted China. A grin spread on his face and he moved down to the water. He tossed his jeans up on the ground and slipped into the water, holding back a gasp at the feeling of the cold water. He took a deep breath and dove under water, swimming towards China. He waited until he was close enough and suddenly jumped up and grabbed her leg, pulling her out farther in the water before ducking back in the water and swimming away.

China shrieked and then laughed, slipping all the way in to the water. It was pretty deep, it came up to her chest. She jumped on Rome, pinning him up against the side of the river and pretended to be about to kiss him, then slpashed him and dived gracefully into the water again, laughing.

Silva crossed his arms over his chest. "Nice to meet ya, Mendax. My name's Silva. My friend here is Thistle." he said, patting the growling wolf on the head and getting his fingers snapped at. He pointed over his shoulder. "And that's Fletcher. Not much of a friend though." he told him, his voice bored. "May I ask what you're doing here?" he asked.

Rome started laughing and shook his head like a dog, his wet hair flipping around his head. He swam after her and grabbed her wrist, pulling her to him. "You really shouldn't tease." he chuckled, smiling happily.

Fletcher grunted and scowled, bored. China let herself be pulled towards Rome, slipping her arm around his neck.Oh, whatever do you mean?She asked, innocently. Her eyes sparkled, the moonlight glinting off her tatoos.

Rome grinned and pulled China even closer, one hand resting against her back. He lifted his free hand and traced his fingers along her tattoo. "I think you know exactly what I mean." he said, his voice quiet and teasing. He leaned towards her, kissing her on the lips lightly.

She kissed him back deeply. Her free hand went to his hair. She smiled against his lips and hooked her leg over his hip bone, her lips moving with his.

Rome ran his hands down China's sides as he deepened the kiss even more. He stopped when his hands were against her hips and lifted her up, holding her against him with an arm around her waist. He moved his head away to kiss lightly along her jaw, then down her neck. He felt like fire was burning through his veins.

She threw her head back and sighed. She bent her head down to run her lips across his chest, the hand that wasn't in his hair sliding down to rest on his chest as she kissed his lips again. A small moan sounded af the back of her throat.

Rome sighed into the kiss. He looked at China, love and exhaustion both in his blue eyes. He shivered as she put her hand on his chest and moaned. He closed his eyes and kissed her again.

She pulled him backwards, to a place in the river where the ground sloped upwards. She pulled him down, so that he was laying on top of her. She traced his tatoos with her lips, running her fingernails down his spine.

He lifted himself up slightly with his elbows to keep from putting all his weight on her. He shuddered at her touch, moaning at the feeling of her lips on his skin. He rubbed his hands down her sides as if memorizing the curves of her body. He felt the slow current of the river slide over his back and shivered. The water was freezing, but his body felt like it was on fire.