Darius couldn't help but grin as he heard the voice of a child calling for him inside the house. For the last week or so he'd been sleeping in the guest room of Calistana Nightfox, or Nite as she preferred to be called, and every morning her grandson Cartoarn had chosen to get him up and out of bed by jumping onto the bed, and usually onto Darius' back. So, he'd decided to play a game with Cartoarn, and instead of staying in bed after he'd woken, he'd snuck out the window and was reclining on the roof of the house, listening through an open window as Cartoarn went searching for him.

     When Nite's voice joined the call he quietly climbed down off the roof, and slipped back in through the window into his room, his wings curling as close to his body as possible to fit through the opening. He was in luck, neither Nite nor Cartoarn were in his room when he climbed back in. With a grin on his face he quietly crept out into the hall between the two figures that were looking for him in the halls. "Jeez, you're yelling loud enough to wake the dead.." he said from behind the two of them, feigning the sound of one who'd just woke up.

     "And where have you been?" Nite asked as she turned around to face him, her voice was all serious, but he could see the mischievous sparkle in her eye that showed she had been enjoying the game of 'hide and seek'.

     "Just in my room sleeping. Surprised you didn't look in there first.." Darius responded, a hand rubbing the back of his head.

     "But we checked there first.." Cartoarn protested.

     "Brat" was all Nite said, though her grin gave away that she wasn't serious. "Anyhow, while you two were sleeping, I made breakfast. If you hurry it might still be warm when you get to the kitchen" and with that, the three went to the kitchen to eat breakfast quietly.

     The rest of the day passed quietly, Nite had to go down to Dunbouri Hall where she worked as a Sergeant in the Brotherhood of the Rose, and Darius for his part volunteered to watch over Cartoarn. While Nite did her work, the two men completely the role-reversal with a slight grin by going into the market place and picking up more food and other odds and ends for the house to surprise Cartoarn's grandmother.

     "You're sure she likes this stuff?" Darius asked Cartoarn, they were getting some specialty foods that Cartoarn said Nite absolutely loved, they were going to make a special dinner for her, and Darius wasn't sure why, but for some reason he wanted it to be extra special, just in case. In case of what he wasn't sure, but he knew he wanted the meal to be extra special.
Cartoarn nodded his answer, feigning being upset at the older male's refusal to simply accept what he said without checking, double checking, and triple checking to make sure that the answer wouldn't change. The answer hadn't, and so the food was paid for and the two headed back to the house of Sergeant Nightfox to prepare her dinner, they had two hours before she'd be home, and that would be cutting it close with what they wanted to make.

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     The meal was a success with the 'Lady of the House', and it was truly a delight for the two men seeing the look of happy surprise on Nite's face when she realized just what the two had been up to that day while she was stuck filling out reports and doing other boring stuff in Dunbouri Hall. After dinner, Cartoarn presented his part of the meal, a dessert that he'd bought from the bakery. If Nite had been smiling before, she was glowing when she saw what Cartoarn had selected. The defenseless cake never stood a chance as the resbrinn, her grandson, and the winged drow dug in with appetites that would suggest not having eaten all day.

     A few hours after dinner had Nite all but asleep, and Cartoarn lying asleep on the floor in front of the fireplace. Smiling softly, Darius gently lifted Cartoarn off the ground and while supporting the young boy against him with one arm; the other helped the female resbrinn with standing and climbing the stairs to their respective bedrooms. Cartoarn, as had become almost tradition with the three of them, was tucked into bed in his room by the more awake of the two "adults". Then, Darius led Nite to her room, gently tucking her into bed as well as he smiled down to her. "Darius, thank you for the lovely meal." Nite whispered out.

     Darius nodded as he responded, "It was my pleasure, I'm glad you enjoyed it."

     "But, what was it for?" Nite asked, fighting to keep her eyes open like a little child.

     "No reason that I know of, I just wanted to" Darius responded, and it was true. There was some reason, but he wasn't sure what it was, and that was exactly what he told her. "Now, go to sleep" he whispered to Nite as he leaned down on impulse, his sleepy-mind ignoring years of built in instincts as he kissed her softly on the lips. As with the other three times that they'd kissed in the long time that they'd known each other, Nite's returning the kiss took him almost completely by surprised.

     To an outside observer, the wing-elf and resbrinn's feelings for each other would be painfully obvious. The two were in love, or at least were falling in love with each other, and yet, as was often the case neither seemed to realize that fact, or they dismissed it as a simple crush. Why neither of them told the other how they felt would be chocked up to how they were raised, both being raised in a fashion that it was the member of the opposite gender who made the first moves and started things not you, and so the winged half-elf half drow, and the resbrinn gargoyle, for al that they felt for each other, denied their feelings until such time that the other would make it known that the feelings were ok. At least, that was the case for every time except these rare moments when both seemed to forget.

     All too soon for both of them though, the kiss was over, and Darius with no further reason to stay, bid Nite 'goodnight' and left to sleep in the guest room as had been offered to him again during the day. The thought of telling Nite how he felt, despite his upbringing and the fact that Nite was obviously from a different one and wouldn't mind, never once crossing his mind as he lay down on top of the covers on his bed, and rested his head on his hands. His eyes remaining open and staring idly up at the ceiling to his room.

     Sleep came a little later to overtake Darius, and as had been the case for the previous two nights, his dreams weren't reassuring.

     He was standing in the middle of a war zone, the two sides represented by a large cloud of darkness, and one of light. His mother's face flashed in front of him, and a moment later two dark elven blades were raised against the darkness. From the cloud of darkness large numbers of drider's came running, firing poison tipped crossbow bolts into the cloud of light. Two people, each wielding a dark-elven sword came charging out of the light but he couldn't make either out. The swords took all his attention; he recognized one as Nite's sword, and the other. The other belonged to…. The other belonged to his mother! She was fighting the darkness, and following her sword came an army. The two forces met in the middle with the sound of a loud explosion. Screams and shouts filled the area as death was dealt from both sides. War for peace, death for life.

     Then, as suddenly as it began, it was all gone and he was standing in the middle of a room that was pitch-black. "Save me Darius…please..save me. Remember your promise…save me," An eerie voice echoed through the room. A shaft of light broke the darkness as a door somewhere opened, and a figure stepped in. There was something wrong with it though, the top half of it's body was alright, but the bottom half had too many legs. A drider. He was alone and unarmed in a room with a drider! The drider laughed as it raised one of it's weapons, a cruel looking axe, and then the blade descended quickly, cleaving…

     Darius sat upright in his bed quickly, his arms crossing over his head to ward off a blow that wasn't coming. He was safe, in a bed, where was he? Nite's house. That's right, he was sleeping in the guestroom in Nite's house. A moment later and he picked up that he wasn't alone, and glancing to his right his eyes caught a lock of hair that definitely belonged to a female, and an eye peeking in at him from behind the door. "I'm ok Nite, just a bad dream.."
"How reassuring, but I'm not Nite" the woman responded as she stepped out from behind the door. Darius sat still, his jaw dropping open as the woman padded across the room. She was tall, almost six feet; with long white-he could see its color now-hair. Her skin was an ebony color. She was dressed in a pair of pants and a shirt that ended above her navel.

     "Why Darius, you look like you've seen a ghost," she purred out as she sat on the bed next to him. Idly he noted that the bed didn't sink with the added weight of a woman. His hand reached out to touch her, she was solid, her skin soft and smooth. "I assure you I'm as real as can be right now Darius." She said with a smile, her hand reaching out to close his mouth by pushing up on his jaw.

     "What are you doing here..?" Darius breathed out, "I thought you were dead.."

     "Oh I am, and I'm here to ask you to keep your promise…my son" The woman, his mother, purred out as she leaned against him. Darius just sat there, too stunned to move as he tried to drink in and accept what was happening…

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     The next morning Cartoarn burst into the guest room, "WAKIE WAKIE DARIUS!" The young half-resbrinn called out before stopping in his tracks and looking around the room. Something was different, Darius wasn't in the room again, and this time the bed didn't even look slept in. The bed was made perfectly, not a wrinkle to be found. Looking back over his shoulder Cartoarn somberly asked his grandma, "Where did Darius go?"

     "I don't know Cartoarn, I'm sure he'll be back though" She said with a grin to the young child as she stepped in, "Why don't you go see if your friend wants to eat breakfast with us" she suggested, and Darius temporarily forgotten Cartoarn ran out of the room leaving Nite alone. It was then that a glint off the bed caught her eye, and stepping closer she saw that the bed did in fact have a resident. A sheathed dagger was resting on the pillow, and near it lay a few wisps of white hair. White hair? Someone else had been in the room, and if the hair was an indication it was probably a drow.
Dropping onto the bed Nite hugged Darius' knife to her chest with his pillow.

       "Oh Darius, why'd you have to run off now..where are you?"