A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

After they'd made sure that Dimitri wouldn't be able to reveal all of their secrets, it was time to start moving seriously. With a wave of his hand, Erik suddenly created an oval shaped hole in the air that took both Dimitri and Seraphina by surprise.

While Seraphina had actually seen him conjuring people out of thin air before, she'd been so preoccupied with the separate situations of Emily and Dimitri that she'd forgotten to ask about it and, eventually, just forgot all together.

Both their eyes opened wide as they looked at the hovering doorway. Dimitri muttered, "Oro…" presumably being some expression of amazement.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Seraphina recovered quickly, however, and returned to a serious expression. "What the hell is that?" she asked, with an almost accusatory tone.

Erik ignored her, however, and instead kissed Emma, before sending her through the portal. Then, he turned to Seraphina and shrugged, "It's your ride, if you want it."

Since Seraphina was a Runebound like him, she was perfectly capable of running along with him. Technically, Emma and Emily could do the same if they used Emma's golden disc, but there was no need to go through the effort if they could just travel inside their home instead.

Without waiting for the dark-haired vampire's response, he turned towards Dimitri, "Unfortunately, this place is my home, and only for family, or friends of family. Right now, however, you are neither, so you'll have to travel with me."

Dimitri was still staring at the portal in awe when Erik's voice tore him out of it. Fortunately, he didn't seem to mind, because he laughed and smiled, "Haha, of course, of course! I understand. Your wives would be uncomfortable with me there."

Then he scratched his head and chuckled a little awkwardly, "And honestly, so would I…! Hahaha!" He laughed boisterously, before waving his hands, "Anyway, I like to run, so is fine."

Erik nodded with appreciation, before turning to Astrid. "Would you like a drink before you head in?" Erik asked Astrid, smiling mysteriously.

Astrid wasn't very hungry, because she hadn't really expended that much energy in the previous battle, but she still intended to take him up on his offer, because she knew the real reason behind it… and she was completely onboard.

So, she smirked, while glancing smugly at Seraphina, and nodding at Erik, "Don't mind if I do."

She stepped forward into Erik's arms, and carefully pierced his neck with her fangs. Instantly, she relished the taste and power of Erik's blood, pouring down her throat.

Meanwhile, Seraphina couldn't stop a look of desire, hunger, and jealously appearing on her face. His blood smelled even better than it did a year ago, and she couldn't help herself from desiring it. To say she was addicted would be an overstatement, but she definitely wanted more.

After Astrid was done, she licked the wound while it closed, before turning to Seraphina and licking her lips. "Delicious," she grinned, before kissing Erik as well, and then stepping through the portal.

Seraphina's eyelids twitched a little. She was especially annoyed because she actually was a little hungry. It had been a few days since she last drank any blood. Her previous plan had to been to drink some from one of the castle guards, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to.

Actually, she knew the reason, she just didn't want to admit it to herself.

Regardless, she wasn't actually in need for blood just yet, so she kept her mouth shut.

Meanwhile, Emily smirked at her old friend's obvious struggle, "Well? Are you coming? It'll be at least sixteen hours before we meet up with Katya, so we'll have plenty of times to truly catch up. Plus, there's amazing training facilities in there~~" She ended her pitch with a sing-songy tone full of enticement.

Her provocation worked. Seraphina's eyes shone with interest at both of Emily's suggestions. But first, she turned to Erik with narrowed eyes, "No tricks, right?!"

Erik smirked, but he was used to Seraphina's attempts to paint him as worse than she actually believed him to be. "What would be I be trying to accomplish with these tricks of yours? And do you actually believe I'd pull them?"

In response, Seraphina just grumbled grumpily, snorted noncommittally, and then walked up next to Emily, apparently having completely forgotten about Dimitri already. A fact the shapeshifter noted with a wry smirk.

Emily and Erik then shared their own kiss, before the two friends disappeared into the portal as well. Naturally, Erik had offered Seraphina her own kiss, but for some reason she declined.

For a moment, Erik's eyes followed them into the portal, and he wondered if Seraphina would request the chance to drink Emily's blood. He hadn't forbidden anyone from feeding her, and he wouldn't really mind if they did.

That said, he couldn't deny liking the idea that she'd continue to hunger for him.

Shaking himself free of this thoughts, he closed the portal, turned towards Dimitri, and changed into werewolf form. "Ready to go?" he growled at him.

Despite this being the first time he'd seen Erik transform, he wasn't surprised. Even if he hadn't heard about Erik's status in the castle earlier, it wasn't so hard for a shapeshifter to recognize another.

Dimitri transformed as well. Unsurprisingly, he was a werebear, just like his sister. Then, he nodded, "Da! Let's go see my sestra."

Thus, they took off towards the south. Unfortunately, Dimitri was a bit slower compared to Erik, so rather than his previous 80 km/h (~50 mph), they now travelled at 70 km/h (~43.5 mph). And even that was pushing Dimitri's limits.

But, of course, he knew the stakes, so he didn't complain, and pushed his muscles to the max. They still had a small three hours before Alexandre would arrive back home, and they had to make as much distance as they could that in time.

They knew Alexandre would hear about the events in Bamburgh soon, of course, but he'd have no idea where Erik would travel from there. It was safe to assume that he would first go to Bamburgh to asses the situation, before starting to search for them, but even then Erik and his allies could have gone in any direction.

Fortunately, they'd also left a delaying tactic behind in Bamburgh…

All in all, they should have plenty of time to make their escape, but that didn't mean they should take more risk than necessary.