*Dorien had decided he needed to get away from everyone for a few hours. So he had left the castle and crossed the grounds and entered the forest. It was freezing cold out, being the middle of winter, but he didn't feel the cold. He wore only a thin black coat. Dorien moved silently through the under brush, carefully moving all the branches out of his way. He moved slowly, wanting to take everything in and savor the time he had away from the castle. He could have easily ran and been far far away by now, but something was holding him back. A twig snapped in the distance. Dorien stopped and turned in the direction the noise had come from. Someone was walking into the forest and they were still on the edge of it. Unfortunetly, the wind was blowing in the opposite direction, so he couldn't pick up on it's scent. He was vaguely thirsty, his eyes a chocolate brown today. However, he tried not to think about hunting, just incase it was a person. Was he being followed? The thought scared him. There were plenty of people that would want to follow him somewhere to find out about him., Most didn't know, after all. If they did they'd be keeping their distance.*

*Tristan had dared Lea to do something rebellious, off limits. She didn't want to, but she couldn't just tell him no. She had done so many fun things with him that she never would have done if he hadn't forced her into it. He suggested walking in the forest. So, unwillingly, she did. The adrenaline rush made all of the fear worth it. She wasn't going too far in at that point, and doubted that she would. She looked as innocent as usual, but her eyes burned with the joy of doing something...something her parents wouldn't allow. Lea walked further into the forest, not knowing that the danger level was soon to increase exponentially.*

*Dorien stayed in the shadows and slowly crept back towards the edge of the forest, following the noise. He decided it had to be a person based on the amount of noise they were making. Just as he had them in sight, the wind shifted and blew the girl's scent in his face. She smelled wonderful. For a moment he toyed with the possibility of just killing her. She was so small and weak, and it would be over so fast she wouldn't know what hit her. But although it was forbidden, the forest was still on school grounds. And if he killed a human on school grounds, things could get very bad very fast for him. So instead he took a deep breath of cold january air to clear his scences and leaned against a tree that wasn't in the shadows so she would see him.* "You know, the forest's off limits." *He said softly, his voice audible despite the wind and his softness of tone. It was like velvet. Black velvet. He smiled slightly, his eyes on the girl.*

*Lea stopped walking where she was and felt goosebumps form on her arms. She was scared by the voice, but it was so beautiful that she couldn't help but be charmed by it. She would have run, but she was too...intrigued...now.*
Lea:"I know." *she replied, her voice higher than usual out of excitement.*"That's why I'm here, sir." *the voice was definitely that of a boy, and Tristan hadn't managed to break her of the habit yet.*

*Dorien shrugged off of the tree and gracefully moved towards her, hardly making any noise.* "You're here because it's off limits? I haven't heard that one before." *His smile widened as he moved towards her* "You don't look like a rule breaker. You look too.....sweet for that." *Dorien's pale flawless skin stood out remarkably against his black jacket and dark eyes.* "You could get hurt in here...I wouldn't want you to run into anything dangerious." *His smile changed, as if he was sharing a private joke with himself.

*Lea looked at him. He was beautiful...no, beautiful didn't do him justice. Her parents would cry if they would have seen him. They worked so hard to make her perfect, but she was nothing compared to him. She gaped at him, and didn't even bother to scold herself for staring. His smile made her almost dizzy.

Something about him made her want to stare at him forever...but from a distance. She wouldn't want to let herself get closer to him than this. In fact, if she had any control over her body right now, she would be backing away. This was the last thing she had expected in the forest, though...he had surprised her beyond belief.

She smiled nervously and blushed.*

Lea:"Well, I'm not really a 'rule breaker'. I was put up to this by one of my friends. He wants me to be rebellious. According to what I have read about the forest, I should be fine as long as I remain in this area. The real danger is in the heart of the forest."

*Dorien nodded and glanced over his shoulder from the direction he had come from* "Yes, that's true....well....for the most part" *He felt midly guilty upon looking back at her and seeing her reaction. All he would have to do was ask her to follow him into the forest and she would do it simply because he was saying it.* "What's your name?" *The wind was starting to die down, which was much easier on him. she was bearable to stand by now. Dorien pushed a stray strand of hair out of his eyes which were still intently focused on her*

*Azalea, normally good in conversations, was a bumbling fool. She was being dazzled, and he had no idea he was doing it.*

Azalea:"Well, my name is Azalea, sir, but I'd much prefer it if you called me Lea." *It took a while for the words to come out. She was stuttering and stumbling over most of the words.*

*Dorien couldn't help but smile at that. His perfectly straight white teeth gleamed in the dim light of the forest.* "Lea." *He repeated.* "I'm Dorien. Come on....If you're going to go into the forest, then I'd rather you go with someone that's been in here before." *He took a step back and motioned for her to follow, his eyes everypresently focused on her. Dorien knew that bringing her into the forest could be potentially bad for both of them, but he tried to tell himself that nothing would happen to her*

*Following a stranger into the forest went against her morals and good judgment, but, she couldn't say no to him.*

Azalea:"Nice to meet you Dorien. Thank you for the..um...supervision." *she said stupidly, knowing fully how awkward she sounded.

She took two steps forward to show that she would follow him.*

*Dorien turned around when he was sure she was following him and started back in deeper into the forest . He was sure to go slow enough so she could easily keep up with him. Dorien stepped lightly, making practically no noise at all, his natural grace very evident in this particular situation.* "So." *He glanced back over his shoulder at her* "What were you planning on doing once you got here into the forest?"

*Azalea, who was very graceful herself, looked very clumsy next to Dorien as she followed him into the forest. She felt danger in the air, but had no idea that the danger was right next to her.*

Lea:"I was going to walk around, nothing in particular, really. I'm here more for being able to say that I did something rebellious rather than to do anything. I hope you don't mind me asking, but why are you here?"

"It's peaceful out here." *He replied softly, holding a twig like branch out of the way for her* "I come out here to get away and think." *It was only a partial lie, but he delivered it perfectly as if he had never told a lie in his entire life.* "Why does this friend of yours want you to be more rebellious?" *Dorien was trying to gain her trust without even realizing he was doing it. He looked back at her again and met her gaze*

Azalea:"Oh." *she said in response to his answer. When he held the branch out of her way, she passed*"Thank you. He wants me to be more rebellious because...apparently I am too innocent, I cross the fine line between stupidity and normal. He's trying to break me of the habits that my parents have created for me."

"What kind of habits?" *He asked, walking behind her now since she had passed him. Dorien's strategy was to ask all the questions so he wouldn't be stuck answering many. He was once again struck by how simple it would be for him to just kill her with nobody around. It was very irresponsible of him to lead her into the forest, but something compelled him to do so. He resisted his thirst and instead tried to ignore her scent as it wafted back to him.*

Lea:"Oh, just little things like saying 'sir' and 'm'am' too often. Mostly my obsession with obeying everything my parents have ever told me to do. They've also forced a lot of..untrue things into me. It's hard for me to accept that they're wrong." *she explained*"So it's not habits as much as...flaws." *she sighed*"I'm sorry, I've been talking too much."

"No, there's no need to appologize." *He said softly, smiling at her again as if to assure her that everything was alright* "You're not talking too much." *They had reached a path that would take them deeper into the forest. He easily fell into step next to her.* "Why do you think your parents forced things on you like that?"

Lea:"If you say so." *his smile reassured her and made her feel safe.* "I don't know. I think they want me to be like...a trophy...they want me to be exactly what they want...perfect. I try to, but I can never do it. I never give up because I don't want to disappoint them."

*Dorien nodded. He understood what she ment. It was a little obvious not that she mentioned it.* "I thinknt hat as you grow, rebellion from your parensts will come more naturally. You won't need to try so hard." *They had reached a clearing in the forest. The sun was filtering weakly through the clouds and leaves. Dorien stood back in the shadowy protection of the trees on the edge of the clearing.*

*Lea didn't make anything of Dorien staying in the shadows. She walked in the faint glow of the sun. For some reason, he could tell her anything right now and she would agree with it. If he told her that she needed to cut all her hair off, she would do it. If he said that she should jump off the astronomy tower, she would do it.*

Lea:"I suppose. This right now isn't quite me attempting to break rules, it's me trying to make Tristan happy. Sorry, sir, that's the name of my friend. I didn't mean to confuse you. Anyhow, I don't want to lose him as a friend. I have so few in the first place..." *she smiled awkwardly. She had no idea why she was telling Dorien so much. Normally she was very shy.*

"Quite a lot of people find me annoying, you know. They think I'm very snobby."

*Dorien chose not to comment on her unnecessary explanation of who Tristan was. Or how she called him sir. Instead he smiled and leaned against a tree.* "I don't find you annying at all . I tihnk you're rather sweet." *He smiled midly again, his eyes still trained on her with the same incredible intensity as before.*

*Lea smiled an embarrassed sort of smile when Dorien smiled at her yet again. His intensity was begin to make her edgy, but she was still too enticed to care.*
Lea:"Why thank you, but to be honest, you don't know me very well. I do become a bit of a problem after a while...as many people have kindly pointed out to me." *she sighed and looked up at the trees surrounding them, not taking in how it was growing darker and darker by the second.* "I try so hard to get people to like me, but they only ever despise me."

*Lea was too absorbed in Dorien's perfect face to notice the root sticking out of the ground. She ended up tripping over it, falling to the forest floor and scraping her knee on a rock. The scrape started to bleed....*

*Dorien automatically took a step towards her. If he'd been a bit quicker he could have caught her. But since there was sun on the clearing he was distracted.* "Are you okay....?" *He saw it before he smelled it. But when he did smell it, it was bad. He tensced up at once, frozen there, halfway towards her. His jaw tightened and he tried not to breathe. But it was hard not to. It smelled so amazing And he was thirsty. Dorien knew that this was getting to be too much. That this little girl could very easily die out here simply because she fell over a tree root.*

*Lea started to cry a little, but not audibly. Obviously she had zero tolerance for pain. She got up quickly, shaking a little bit from the pain of the fall. She brushed herself off. She noticed that her knee was stinging and looked to see what was wrong. She saw it was bleeding and almost fainted. Zero tolerance for blood, too.*

Lea:"I'm fine." *she whimpered.*"It only stings a little bit." *if she didn't get something over it she would have blood dripping down her leg by the time she got out of the forest. Lea noticed Dorien's hesitance and was a bit weirded out by it.* "What's wrong?" *she asked*

"Blood makes me sick." *He said simply, trying to keep himself in check by thinking about anything and everything distracting* "Come on....we should get you back to the school." *He turned his back to her and started to lead her out of the forest. His eyes slid shut as he took a breath of the air that didn't smell of her blood. It helped him to clear his head a little, and forced him to stop and turn around to make sure she was okay and was following him* "I'm sorry...I just don't like blood..." *It was lying at it's best. Although he knew that he was probably a little too tense to be convincingly sick from the blood* "Are you alright?" *He asked, still trying not to focus on the blood that wsa driving him completely insane*

*Azalea believed him, simply because she believed anything that anyone told her, especially him. She started to walk, limping a little on her injured leg because of the stinging.*
Azalea:"I'm fine. I'm sorry...I didn't mean to make you sick." *she apologized, truly feeling horrible that she had tripped, even though it was out of her control. She figured that he wouldn't like her anymore.*

"It's not your fault." *He felt guilty about his urge to kill her...she was so sweet and innocent. Dorien hadn't been like this before the family held him in captivity. He had been forced to drink human blood in order to survive. For 90 years he had survived on animal blood. It wasn't nearly as satisfyingbu t it got him through. But now that he had tasted human blood again, he was back at square one, trying to build up his self disciplin agian* "Do you need me to carry you?" *He offered, wanting to get out of the forest as quickly as possible and into a crowd of people where he knew she would be safer. He felt like such a monster.*

*Azalea assumed that his offer was because of her limp. She tried to hide the limp*
Azalea:"No, thank you. It only stings a little bit, I'm really fine."

*A drop of blood fell onto her sock. She looked down when she felt the sudden wetness and cringed.*

Azalea:"I'll just have to walk very fast."

*Dorien didn't respond. He just kept walking, trying to force himself not to turn around. It litterally took all of his self control* 'I'm sorry about this Lea....." *His voice was strained, as if he was hiding something from her*

Lea:"...But there's something else." *she finished.*"You're okay but there's something that you don't feel like sharing." *she wasn't going to force him to tell her, she was just worried. She was falling behind very quickly. He was walking a little too fast for her to keep up. She figured it was her fault, not his.*

"Look." *He stopped and turned around to look at her. The smell of her blood hit him full on when he was faced towards her. He clenched his jaw and stopped breathing, forcing himself to look composed. However, he wasn't able to hide the hungery and angry look in his eyes.* "There's really nothing else. It just makes me feel sick. Alright? Can we go?" *He paused and looked at her pointedly, his stare intense* "Please?"

*Lea stopped, paralyzed, when she saw the look in his eyes. For the first time, she was scared. She was so frightened that she began to cry.*
Lea:"I'm sorry...I should go on without you...I'll be fine." *she stammered in suggestion, not entirely sure of her statement. of being fine.*

*Dorien ignored her and stepped foward. He grabbed her wrist, still not breathing, and yanked her foward. Dorien scooped her up into his arms as if she weighed absolutely nothing and started foward, supporting all her weight in his arms without holding her obdy against his chest. He walked swiftly, probably quicker than he was supposed to. It was consipcious. But it didn't matter All that mattered was that he got Lea out alive.*

*Lea screamed when Dorien lifted her up. It was so effortless...was she really that light? She noticed how cold he was...cold and...solid. It wasn't normal. She felt like she was being carried by an ice sculpture. Then she noticed how quickly everything was moving around her- much faster than usual. She no longer attributed the coldness to Dorien, but herself.*

Lea:"Sir, I think something's wrong. I lost almost no blood, but everything is cold and blurry. I suppose I must have hit my head and not noticed...." *she was clearly in a panic. She tried not to look up at Dorien, afraid of seeing his eyes again.*

"You did hit your head. It was off of a bone root or a rock. I think you'l be okay though...probably you just have a concussion." *Dorien layed it on thick with his voice, trying to persuade her simply with the attractive power of his voice.*

Lea:"Oh no...Dorien, my parents can't find out about this. They'll know I was here and they will get very very upset with me." *she almost shuddered at the though. She would definitely be beaten for doing something like this.* "A concussion isn't that bad...as long as I'm in the castle I should be fine." *she tried to convince herself, but she was having horrible images and losing consciousness and falling down the stairs to her doom.*