Closed [Caldera Manor] Trouble Always Follows (Shiress)

[Zavya]

7th Day of Winter, 518 AV, 9th Bell

Warmth.

For the first time in her life, Zavya was surrounded by warmth. Her scarred cheek lay nestled against warm, soft skin, burrowed contentedly beneath the softest of furs. A fire crackled merrily in the hearth, filling the room with that same gentle warmth she felt against her face. And more than that… Shiress herself was the embodiment of warmth. Kindness. Gentleness. Love.

It was almost more than she could bear.

The tigress cherished every moment spent together, but she couldn’t bear it because she knew it wouldn’t last. All of this warmth… it was not for her, not in the end. It was a lie, a beautiful lie wrapped in shadows and paranoia. It wouldn’t be long before the master of the house returned and with him, reality. Not only would she have to own up to what she’d done, she would have to make the cruel admission: Shiress was not hers. The woman would never be hers. Elias, Rook… these were the men her heart belonged to. Zavya adored the emerald-eyed beauty with every ounce of her being, more than she ever thought she could, but this… this was not her place. She would just have to accept that.

Pulling herself from her melancholia and shoving it all to the back of her mind, the Kelvic nuzzled in against Shiress’s throat, her arm tightening around the woman’s waist. Breathing in that sweet aroma of vanilla that had filled her very dreams, she smiled. There would be time enough to worry later. She had to cherish this while she still could.

“Shiress,” Zavya whispered, brushing her lips across the curve of her jaw. “Wake up.”

Languid limbs draped over hers, another smile tugging at her mouth when those eyes inevitably fluttered open. “Good morning,” she greeted her companion, gentle fingers trailing over her cheek before catching her lips in a brief kiss. “Did you sleep well?”

A few more chimes passed of the tigress sleepily curled in her lover’s arms before she roused herself enough to pull herself away, pushing back the covers and letting her feet hit the floor. With a yawn, she rose out of the nest of warmth, leaning down and stretching out to touch her toes. Sighing, she straightened back up and turned to face Shiress.

“Show me around today?” she asked before grabbing a discarded cloak and tossing it over her shoulders. “If you’re feeling up to it, of course,” Zavya hastily added, worried eyes raking over the angry red lines that marred her flesh. She knew well how much one of Ryker’s… sessions… could take out of someone, and didn’t want the woman to push herself for the tiger’s sake. “I was thinking maybe we could take a walk around the manor. I haven’t seen much more than the bedroom, after all.” A mischievous smile followed that last comment, golden eyes sparkling lasciviously.

“What do you say? Up for a change of scenery?”

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[Shiress]

Gradually surfacing from slumbers embrace, Shiress sleepily turned her face, pressing into Zavya's soft touch, emerald eyes opening to focus on golden. Shiress smiled.

"Reluctantly she replied nestling against the slender form sliding into her arms. Shiress drew in a long breath through her nose, breathing in the spicy-sweet scent of the Kelvic's hair. Resting her cheek against the top of Zavya's head, Shiress's heavy lids slid closed.

When Zavya again stirred, rising from the bed, Shiress groaned sensually, pawing playfully at the retreating Kelvic. Lifting herself onto an elbow, head propped in her hand, bottom lip catching between her teeth. She watched unabashedly as Zavya stretched, green eyes examining the unclad body before her. Shiress's appreciative gaze drank in the lithe form before her, green eyes trailing the gentle roundness of breasts, down and across a taut, flat stomach to the soft curvature between hip and rib, before lingering on a deliciously ample backside.

Shiress frowned, glancing up, as an invading cloak obscured her enticing scrutiny. Shiress sat up, blankets slipping down to her waist, brows arching curiously upon hearing Zavya's request.

"I've not seen much of it myself" Shiress admitted, looking thoughtful. "Actually, though, Shiress crawled down the length of the bed and stood, reaching for a blouse laid haphazardly over the back of a chair "there is one room I'm curious about." her words were momentarily muffled as she slid the top over her head. "There's a door that has an odd lock on it." she reached for a pair of trousers, balancing awkwardly as she slid one leg in, then the other. "I think I know where the key is."

Once adequately dressed, Shiress crossed the floor to a table and slid open its top drawer. After a chime of searching, she turned, held up a large metal key, and did a little triumphant dance. Dropping the key in her pant's pocket, she grabbed Zavya's hand and led her from the room.

Traversing down the long hallway, they passed by countless overly sized paintings of men and women in different poses hung along the wall. Elias's family, Shiress assumed. A handsome family She noted, passing by one in particular painting of a young dark-haired man with piercing blue eyes that immediately reminded her of Elias. She grinned and walked on.

They came to the end of the long passageway where a rather detailed carved sculpture of a nude woman sat in the center of a polished wooden table between two lit lanterns, their light casting an eerie shadow of the unclad female against the wall behind it. This area of the manor was colder than the rest and less illuminated. Shiress shivered, giving her companion an uneasy glance. She hadn't remembered it being so when Elias was with her.

The mystery door was to the left, a little way down another hallway. Shiress approached it, pulling the key from her pocket. "This is it." she said, sliding the key into the lock. Her hand twisted, tumblers shifted and a loud click filled the sudden quiet of expectation. Shiress slid the door open and took a hesitant step and quite nearly pitched forward head over heels down a set of narrow steps. Steps? Weren't they on a lake? Shiress returned to the table and the naked lady to retrieve a lantern.

Returning to the doorway, she lifted the lamp before her, casting its light down the stairs. The stairs were a lot steeper than Shiress thought possible for a structure floating atop water. They ended at several tall metal bars where it looked like a door should be. Nothing but a blinding blackness lay beyond. Fridged air wafted up from the hidden room below, stirring the fine strands of hair around Shiress's face, carrying on it a musky, damp scent....and something else Shiress couldn't rightly identify.

She looked to Zavya, eyes wide, with a sudden change of heart.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

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[Zavya]

Fascinated, Zavya linked her fingers with Shiress’s and followed her down the hall, taking in the opulent manor with a mixed air of awe and disdain. It was beautiful, at least that much she could admit, but what was the point of such… excess? How many people lived here to warrant this extravagance? She shook her head as they passed the paintings, wondering at the narcissism that caused humans to depict themselves in such enormously vain ways. Truly, she couldn’t understand what Shiress saw in such a place. But perhaps that was just her own experience with nobility clouding her perception. Wealth for the sake of wealth seemed rather pointless to the Kelvic slave.

At last, they seemed to reach their destination, the tigress breaking away from Shiress to approach the table and sculpture placed upon it. Delicate fingers reached to trace the elaborate detailing, leaning in closer to inspect it more closely. It was marvelously rendered, but the shadow behind it… Zavya shared her companion’s uneasy glance, goosebumps raising along her flesh. Why was it so much colder here than it had been in the walk down? Shivering, she pulled the cloak a little tighter around her body, turned away from the sculpture, then followed Shiress down the adjacent corridor while she unlocked the partially hidden door.

It opened with a drawn-out creak, Zavya peering inside only to find a cavernous maw of darkness that sent a shudder of foreboding crawling down her spine. The Kelvic waited uneasily when Shiress stepped back to retrieve a lantern, but the newfound illumination did nothing to alleviate her discomfort. What were those stairs leading toward? Why the bars? What sort of petched up trap were they walking into?

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

The tigress opened her mouth to agree, ready to suggest they head back toward the bedroom, but before she could speak, a firm shove in the middle of her back sent her reeling forward and toward the yawning darkness that seemed to lead only to desolation. Shouting and instinctively reaching out for anything that might stop her fall, Zavya collided violently with Shiress, the lantern careening from her grasp and pitching them both down the stairs.

Zavya wasn’t sure how far they fell, protectively wrapping both arms around the human to help cushion the jangling impact. The bars at the bottom of the staircase at last caught their fall, the tigress yowling in pain when flesh none too gently crashed into metal. Dazed and disoriented, Zavya lifted her head to look back up the stairs toward the light from the hall before the slam of a door shut them into oblivious darkness with an echoing clash.

For a few ticks, the Kelvic lay motionless on the floor and sought to catch her breath, reaching blindly for her companion to assure herself that she was okay. “You all right, Shiress?” she asked, gentle fingers tracing up the woman’s arm and down her back while feeling for any bumps or blood that might say otherwise. There didn’t seem to be any permanent damage, so for that, at least, she could be relieved. Of course a simple tour of the manor would lead to a tumble down an unknown set of stairs. Had she really expected anything better with the way her life seemed to be going?

Luckily, her eyes were built for night vision, so it didn’t take long for Zavya to adjust to the blackness around them. When she could see clearly, however, it was with a profound shudder that she wished she’d remained blind. They were in a dungeon. An honest to gods dungeon. The Kelvic refused to let her mind linger on why exactly the Stryfer might have a dungeon in his house. Sometimes, ignorance was indeed bliss.

“We should get out of here,” Zavya told Shiress, the barest hint of a tremble in her voice. “I don’t know who the petch pushed me, but I can tell you now this shyke ain’t funny.”

With a heavy groan, the tigress managed to pull herself back to her feet and began groping her way up the stairs. Reaching the door again, she grabbed the knob, turned, and… nothing. Jiggling the metal, she frowned and turned again, only to face the same result.

“What the hell…?” Zavya shoved on the door with a snarl, though it yielded no more than before. “Shiress, did you lock this door after you opened it…?” Surely not, for what kind of sense would that make?

Who would lock them in here? Why? And how? There’d been no one else around when they’d come down the hall. Who could have possibly pushed them in here and closed them in without being noticed? Just what was going on here?

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[Shiress]

Shiress lay dazed at the bottom of the stairs, blinking once, then twice before she was confident that her eyes were, in fact, open and that the darkness they had fallen into was the result of the lantern going out -both of them- and not a head wound. Her head hurt bad enough, though, having rebounded off the doorway of bars behind her.

"I'm okay, I think." she replied in a wheeze, lungs struggling to recapture escaped air, "What happened?"

Shiress could feel Zavya moving as if looking around and realized that being a feline she could probably see a lot better than she could right then. She also felt her companion stiffen, her declaration of departure sending a cold chill of fear gliding down Shiress's spine. "What do you see?" Shiress froze halfway to fumbling slowly to her feet "Wait! Pushed?" Fumbling became more of a scurrying as Shiress felt her way up the stairs on hands and knees after Zavya.

"No" she said, straightening to stand quite precariously on the same narrow stair beside Zavya, "I didn't lock it. I..." Shiress shoved a hand in her pocket, paused, and swallowed hard as her fingers brushed cold metal. Had there been light, the taller woman would have watched as the color drained from her companion's face."Zavya" she said, grabbing her arm "The door couldn't have been locked, I still have the key." Shiress leaned passed Zavya and pounded on the door with her fist "Hello! Alaric?"

Shiress yelled until her voice was hoarse and the side of her hand ached from slamming against the door. She positioned herself to use her other hand, but yelped, as something brushed by her hair. Shiress spun around, lost her footing, slipped down two stairs, landed on her backside hard on the third, and crab crawled backward back up to Zavya. "What was that?" she yelled, eyes staring blindly into the black. "Something touc...ahh!"

A hand closed around Shiress's ankle and yanked, pulling her down the stairs and toward the deepening dark. She screamed, kicking, throwing out her arms toward the Kelvic. Before leaving the last step, Shiress felt her hand close around her companions, and loath to let go, pulled her into the darkness along with her. As quickly as it had happened, both hands let go, leaving Shiress sprawled on her back against a flat surface, chest heaving, heart pounding, too terrified to move.

"Zavya?"

No answer

"Zavya!"

Silence

A hand brushed her chin, Shiress scurried sideways away from the touch. "Who's there!" she demanded, trembling hand hesitantly probing the darkness.

"Do you not know?" A masculine voice from the darkness to her right. Shiress thought it sounded much like what a snake would sound like if they were capable of speech.

"Who are you!" Shiress all but screamed the words, breathing so hard she felt lightheaded.

If darkness can deepen it did, becoming a nothingness of pitch black borne of a fridged stillness surrounding her. Shiress's head was suddenly wrenched backward by her hair, a light caress against her ear, a hissing voice in her head.

"Caaldeeerrraa"

She screamed.

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