His eyes remained closed as she pulled him back to speak, not able to look at her just yet.  It would take some time before he’d feel comfortable enough to do that, as if merely looking at her or anyone else would cause some great misfortune or risk him coming out again.  His shoulders dipped from the touch in his hair closely followed by the press of her lips against his forehead, but he shook his head despite it, “I can’t sleep…You can’t let me fall asleep, not so soon after.”  Now his eyes opened, looking back at her and though they couldn’t land directly on her eyes he was still uncomfortable at looking upon her face even this much, but he needed her to understand the importance of what he was telling her, “There’s greater risk right now.  If I sleep…”

His words trailed off and he closed his eyes once more, shaking his head, “Please promise me that you won’t allow me to drift off, not even a little.  I can withstand long periods of sleep deprivation, I’ll be fine.”  Which was true, even if he hadn’t been of demon blood he’d grown so accustomed to this that he’d trained himself to handle great spans of time without actual sleep.  Rest yes, but not sleep.  And since it would be a while before he could get back to work, he had plenty of time to rest without needing it or risking feeling ill.  Even if you could live without it longer than humans could, it still didn’t mean it was unpleasant, and bursts of psionic energy or the physical work he did for his hunts always left him feeling sick if he hadn’t slept.

At least I’m tapped…  So for now, even if Minasé did come out, he’d have no psychic standing against anyone.   “It might be best to restrain me actually…”  At least then if he started to doze Minasé wouldn’t be able to go anywhere.  He would be…unpleasant to be around, but no more dangerous than a chained human with no magick or psychic inclination.   “Either way, I’m going to have to return to Ataiyo, I need to begin the purification…”  He sighed, unable to help in doing so.  Even though it was necessary, it still wasn’t something he was looking forward to.

She hushed him softly. "Then I won't let you sleep." She softly pushed back his hair as she pulled him closer. She wanted to protect him for all that it was worth. They were together and she wanted to make sure everything was alright. "I won't let you sleep just shut your eyes and rest." 

Holly washed the water over him softly as she held him. She seen one of her fellow Rosenites up on the bank watching them to make sure everything was alright. It was odd to be so cared for after the taboo she had caused but then again she was the goddess's daughter and one of the children of the true blood. 

"I have you restrained enough. I'm stronger than I look and you are barely able to move. I will take you to Ataiyo when my magic is good enough again. For now though we can stay here. I'm sure they have a place for us to rest. Are you well enough to leave the river?" She looked at him with concerned eyes. "I know you want to avoid looking at me, I can tell, but you need to trust in me. I would never hurt you and I would do anything to help you. Right now we just both need rest. It took a lot for me to get us here and calm you down."

He calmed slightly, though he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing since the one good aspect of being tense and on edge was it would keep him awake and alert much easier.  For now he’d try his best to stay away from substances to aid in that but he knew that eventually it would come to it.  He at least wanted more energy before attempting that though.  Staying in one place seemed to be safer, and the further away he was from others, the better.  The shed they had been in appeared to be remote enough, and as much as the water at the river was soothing him he knew they’d need to return.  There were no restraints here, and Holly’s arms could only do so much.

She had noticed his aversion to keeping eye contact and if anything it had him turning his head away.  She was his friend, a very tempting target, and he knew that well.  If she and her troupe had arrived only ten minutes earlier things may have ended up very differently…with much more bloodshed.  He was thankful that hadn’t been the case.  The idea of more people had him shaking his head, “No…No, we need to go back to the shed.  It has to be somewhere further away from people…”  Breathing out slowly, he pushed himself up to sit up straighter on his own.  At least his body healed quickly…that didn’t mean the pain was gone, but at least movements were easier.  Though the ache from being so tense caused his head to throb.  His eyelids drooped and closed, swallowing down against the dryness of his throat,

“Believe you me, if we go anywhere that has other people I need true restraint.  I’ve seen your strength, but you’re injured and he’s…”  He shook his head, not wanting to talk about it.   “Please just take my word…”  He brought a hand up, moving water onto his face, dragging his cool fingers down over his skin, paying closer attention to his right cheek.  His jaw locked at the light sting he felt there.  The daemonic marking may have been gone with Minasé, but its tainted burn still lingered just under the surface.  His fingers curled there and he moved his hand back into the water before he could scratch at the area.  

“Perhaps it would just be wiser to go to Ataiyo now…”  The more he thought about it, the more anxious he became and he knew that at least there they’d be able to subdue him.

Holly was watching his every move. He was a close friend and sometimes he was even more to her. He was being very protective of her at this moment. Her lips quivered and she couldn't help but feel like that weak little girl she had always been. Shaking her head. "I have a much better idea. You need healing just like I do and I don't have the stretch to take us far."

The Rosenite pulled him closer and shivered for a moment. "Alright it's settled. We are going to my mother's." It seemed like a stronger possibility that she could help them. "She can help the both of us… and she has been wanting to see us both. I've heard her callings from the plants from I haven't had the strength to face her until now anyways. We are in a corner and I can't take u to Ataiyo right now or I'll be in worse condition then you are." She brought him up out of the water and the guard stopped her.

The guard took Holly's hand and she stared at how the skin had begun to turn black and wilt. "You've used too much magic as it is. We'll take you to an arch. Anymore magic and you'll be dead." They had blankets put around them as they were loaded up into a cart with no other choice. 

"Sorry, I thought I had more in me than that… but we had just come from a show and hadn't rested at all. I guess I used up the remainder of my magic teleporting us back and forth like that." She put her head on his shoulder and rested. "It hurts not being able to help more right now but lets hope Mother is understanding and lets us right in."

One of the Rosenites looked over. "Not likely, worse have showed up then his condition before. Demons and others of the like who were a lot more tainted by evil. I wouldn't hesitate to talk boy, Holly's cousin does runs with us. She is the same as you. She has to bathe in an herbal bath prepared by Lady Angela after each battle to keep the evil at bay."

Before he could do anything to stop it he and Holly had been taken onto a cart, with barely enough time for him to grab the blood ruined pants and get them on.  The raw feeling of wet skin on dry clothing rubbed uncomfortably but sitting in the cart, feeling the movements of wheel over grass and pebble began to lull him.  In protest he widened his eyes, not wanting to fall into slumber.  How many Rosenites were there…?  It bothered him to know there could be so many nearby without him knowing.  Their race was rooted with vampirism but they weren’t the same and it was off putting that he was unable to sense them in the same way.  With Holly being who she was it should have come as no surprise that she was constantly watched, or at least that’s how it appeared to be.

Her head rested against his shoulder and he leaned his own back against her, eyelids drooping but eyes never closing completely.  For some odd reason he was comforted at the idea of seeing Angela, she truly was The Mother, no one could deny that, and she exuded maternal compassion whether he liked to admit it or not.  His eyes lifted up to the other, thinking about Holly’s relative that had a similar circumstance to his own.  While he was reluctant to the idea of not immediately continuing on to Ataiyo, he calmed himself with the thought that he could learn yet another way to keep this…problem at bay.  Sometimes he could tend to get stuck in his ways, despite how in almost every other aspect of his life he kept from doing so.

His eyes closed, but he spoke to make sure that he wouldn’t drift off, “If she is unable to do so then I’d prefer to be taken home that way I can start my own process…There is always time for follow up with Angela, and her attention is needed for those in much more dire situations than my own.”  Though for once he was in about as bad of a circumstance as a person could get, he just didn’t like to admit it or put himself before others if he could help it.  At least he couldn’t be immediately killed off by something like much weaker species could.  His thoughts began to expand, sounds started to muffle into things that weren’t there as the familiar onset of slumber began and he promptly opened his eyes and focused up on the sky: internally going through the constellations to keep his mind working.