All I Have to Do is Dream

Aragorn felt ever-so-slightly rejuvenated from his night of peaceful sleep. There hadn't been any nightmares or demons to scare him from his sleep, it was almost like he was free for the first time in weeks. He smiled as he headed down the stairs of the dungeons and made his way to the armor room. It had been his favorite hiding place, at least until Ms. Karma came and ruined the peace of it. He minded, but not so much. He glanced at his new book, a gift from his sister a while back. He hadn't read it, even though he'd had the time.

He slipped into the dark room carefully, leaving the door cracked behind him as he trudged over to his corner. He sat down and looked around curiously as he slowly opened the book to the first page. He missed the memory-less realm the room had. Now he had memories in it and he would constantly think of them when he thought of the room. He sighed and shook his head, looking down at the book. He flicked his wand with a quiet 'lumos' and smiled as he started reading. Peaceful, quiet, relaxing. Hallelujah.

Arsen smirked as he finally picked up the boys scent. It had only taken him all day. After the inital threat to do some damage to a human he'd spent the day searching for the one he knew karma would feel something for if he hurt.

"You're a hard one to find, Ravenclaw." He said slipping into the armor and lighting the first torch he came into contact with to give them a little light. "I take it you haven't seen Karma today?"

Aragorn flicked his gaze up from the book he was reading, grey-green eyes narrowing as he caught sight of Arsen. He slowly closed the book with a dog-eared crease and cleared his throat, standing up and raising his eyebrows. He shrugged with one of the blankest looks he could, "I feel flattered, Arsen. Looking for me? How sweet. And no, I haven't." He let slip a small panicked glimmer as he tried to feel for Karma, "Why is something wrong?"

Arsen rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't get my hopes up if i were you. "It never ends good when a demon puts out a search for you and i can tell you this isn't going to be any different." He smiled and began to walk around the room lighting the other torches with his hand. "Oh yes i imagine so. Why else would i be here?" He asked coming to a stop in front of the younger boy.

"Karmas becoming a problem so you get to become my back up plan. Congratulation." He smiled and clamped a hand around his throat. "This wont hurt one bit, you just won't be able to breath." He said and consumed Aragorns head in flames and shortly after performed a bubble head charm to trap in the small amount of air.

"I'd say you have 10 seconds tops before you pass out. So cut off all ties with Karma or next time i'll kill you. Consider this your warning."

"A proble-" Aragorn's voice cut off as Arsen gripped his throat roughly, cutting off the air that he'd been letting out. He groped at Arsen's hand around his throat as he tried to get lose, his legs dangling stiffly below him.

He tried to take in a breath but failed, squeezing his eyes closed as he stared at Arsen. He could be begging if he could speak, or breath, with his pained eyes that slowly began to close. He yelled for Karma as panic overwhelmed him, wondering whether she could feel him call for her when he passed out.

He fell limp in Arsen's grip and his hands fell down to his sides.

She hadn't ran. That was something she'd regret for a long time; not running. Not rushing.

The small glimmer of panic had been enough for her to look up from her book, giving her the slight jolt to move through the common room and into the hallway. She reached through the bond for Aragorn, knowing that he would be in the Armor room, more for the fact she knew the boy then the bond itself. She had nearly gotten to the doorway when her breath caught in her throat, and she couldn't breathe. Maybe it was because she'd strengthened the bond, but the sheer force of Gorn's emotions had her slamming into the doorway, holding herself up.

It took a minute for her to be able to force herself to breathe, to remember that she didn't need oxygen. She shivered as the bond went cold, as if he no longer...

She looked up, light brown eyes filled with worry and pain as they lighted on the boy. Then, she looked at Arsen, blinking owlishly at him before she sank slowly to the floor.

"So is this the human you were talking about?" She asked, cocking her head to the side. "Are you happy now?"

Arsen tilted his head to the side and watched in slight satisfaction as the lights began to leave the boys eyes. Once he knew he was gone far enough to not just come around he drop the bubble and opened his hand so he could watch his body fall to the floor in a heap.

His eyes turned from the body before him to the door and he raised an eyebrow. "Oh didn't see you there." He said casually. As she asked the question he turned as looked back at the human at his feet and shrugged. "No." He frowned and walked away back to the door. He didn't feel nearly as good as he thought he would have.

Karma closed her eyes, breathing deeply through her nose, trying to calm her racing heartbeat. "That hurt, you know." Her eyes fluttered open, and she watched him easily, eyes darkening slightly but staying relatively light. "That's the thing about pets, I feel what they feel. Sucks." She groaned slightly and brought her knees to her chest, resting her head on them against the pounding head ache she was beginning to get. Lucky Gorn couldn't feel it.

"Why did you do this, exactly?" She asked quietly. "Wouldn't want your big demonstration to go to waste, would we?" Her tone was only slightly bitter, more confused than that, but tired. Exhausted even. That's what was prominent.

Arsen stopped in the doorway and turned his head slightly to look over his shoulder. "Good." He knew she would have felt something. There was always a connection between pets and she deserved everything she felt for making him look like a fool. She was his and his alone.

"I told you, the minute you made me look like a fool i would hurt you. Consider yourself lucky it wasn't more." He shrugged.

Laughter. It wasn't allowed through her lips, but it bubbled beneath her throat, sparkled behind her eyes. He was angry because she hadn't spent enough time with him? Here she was trying to distance herself not to seem clingy. Thinking her possessiveness over him was a turn off. It would seem she was wrong.

Pushing herself to her feet, she staggered toward Gorn. Falling on her knees, she grabbed his arm and pulled his wrist toward her mouth. Sinking her fangs into his vein, she took a deep gulp, her eyes closing against the taste of claimed blood before licking the wound closed. He was fine, then. She hummed softly before pulling his arm over her shoulders and facing the door again.

"The next time you want to send a message because you're a little lonely, try talking about it. I would have happily spent more time with you, you know." Moving slowly under Gorn's weight, she made her way toward him, her walk almost drunken. "And if you can't do that... and if there's a next time..." She paused beside him in the doorway, swaying slightly before walking again. "Kill whoever's in the way. I won't make the same mistake three times." She paused again, shifting Gorn's weight over her shoulder before glancing at him. "And if this is to become a thing, suppose I can just start hurting you whenever I need to tell you something. Since it's the way you prefer to do things."

Arsen laughed. "You think i did this because im lonely?" He smiled throwing his head back to allow more laughter to flow. Did she really think he was that pathetic? "You're confusing me with a human Karma. That's a human trait i don't follow." He frowned.

"I'm pointing out how weak you are! I can't have someone like that by my side." He growled. "So stop claiming the humans just feed like normal people. You're making yourself an easy target and so making me an easy target." He confessed.

Stumbling slightly, Karma nearly faceplanted, catching herself at the last second and cursing fluently underneath her breath as she caught Gorn. This wasn't going to work. She could barely keep herself upright, not to mention...

His laughter sliced through her, each and every peal of it tearing a different piece from her heart. "Sorry, I keep forgetting you don't need anyone." Least of all, me. Lowly, she whistled, a house elf appearing almost instantly. Karma's gaze stayed decidedly left of the creature, and she offered Gorn to the creature, carefully lying him on the ground before the crack of elf apparation filled the space, leaving them alone. Standing slowly, Karma attempted to keep walking, her sense of balance gone for the moment.

"I. Am not. Weak." The words were barely more than growls as she forced her spine to straighten, gritting her teeth as she tried to keep moving. It wasn't working. Like a tether had wrapped around her body and tied it to the boy with an unbreakable line. "Then find someone else!" She snapped. "I haven't made a pet in ages, and I'm not gonna change myself for some guy just because I'm madly in-" Her voice vanished, a false calm stealing over her. Somewhere, something in her mind realized that they had given Gorn pain and numbing potions, and that their affect was working on her, not the boy himself. Wincing slightly as a jabbing sensation hit her somewhere in her left side and her arm went numb, Karma started walking again. "That's a human trait I don't follow."

"All vampires need Fangbangers. I can't feed freely here, I can't go off campus to hunt, and I'm not drinking any animals." She wrinkled her nose. "I only have three."

"I'm not an easy target." She frowned, turning back to him and cocking her head to the side, slightly confused to why he was still as close as he was. She was almost completely sure she'd moved away from him... "How does that even affect you at all?"

Arsen sighed and kicked himself off the wall he was leaning against. "You're not weak? Then explain to me how i was able to hurt you through a human Karma?" He said moving to stand beside her. "Huh? If you're not weak, how can you be so low to feel their pain?" He asked.

"Some guy?" He laughed hysterically. "Madly in...?" He asked willing her to continue. "You're doing it again aren't you? You're feeling his pain?" He guessed as he watched her face. "For fuck sake Karma stop all this!"

"Im not telling you to get rid of your fangbangers just stop with the connection shit you don't need it. Just compel them if you have to, it makes more sense than putting yourself at risk." He explained almost bored as he moved to sit on a bench.

"Oh really cause im pretty sure i just hurt you without having to actually get near you." He said looking up from his hands which he'd turned to making flame on and off out of boredom.

"I don't know if you noticed or not but im not exactly liked amongst my people and they're willing to use anyone to get to me." He frowned. "And seeing as it's known we're together that makes you target number one when it comes to me." He shrugged.

"I'm well aware you hurt me, Hothead. You can stop saying it." She closed her eyes, massaging her temples and taking a step decidedly away from him. "I get it."

"Will you stop laughing at me?!" She near snarled, running her fingers through her hair. "You think I want all this pain? If I could just switch the damn thing off I would! It's not that simple!"

"Yes, you've hurt me, I get it. Really." She winced as something somewhere in her chest cracked painfully, and she wasn't sure if it was from Gorn or... or not. It was becoming increasingly hard to keep focused on things, the potion used to numb Gorn starting to affect her thoughts. She wouldn't be able to keep this up much longer.

"Oh." The word was a breath, her mood plummeting further downward. "So this is about you, then." Rubbing at her eyes tiredly, she turned to leave, actually walking this time. "Pets. Right. I'll do something about it. Don't know what, but I'll do... whatever."