[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Shaya couldn't help but growl at the implication that she was unclean, however true it was. She was aware that she still had dried blood on her cheek, however, and was currently locked in a coach with an extremely old vampire, and as such she did not want to risk making him angry.

Mick broke the silence with a sigh. "Shaya, he's right - we're going to need help this time."

"Wonderful! I'll get the castle ready immediately - we shall feast tonight!" chortled Drake, amused by the look on Shaya's face. "Until later then - I shall tell the coachman to take you to the main door."

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Drake rapped on the roof of the coach smartly, and the coach shuddered to a halt. He bowed, then exited the coach and began speaking with the coachman.

As soon as the lock clicked shut, Shaya turned and glared at Mick. "I know you're probably right, and I got us into this mess by not listening to you, but I'm still not happy. I don't like being trapped inside stone walls at the best of times, and I like it even less with a vampire around, no matter how long he's been on the bandwagon as you put it."

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Mick sighed, and tried to make her see reason. "I know you don't, but this time we're not going to be able to do it alone. If Drake's here, we're in real trouble - he wouldn't show up and offer us sanctuary if that wasn't the case."

Shaya folded her arms and wrapped her tails around herself for comfort. "I know; I just don't like that he makes the decisions for me, rather than talking me through it."

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Mick's face was grim, even for a ghost. He knew what living with Drake would involve, and Shaya was going to hate them all for it.

Shaya sighed, and shivered a bit, before turning back to her ghostly companion. "I'm scared, Mick - scared of him, scared of what's going to happen, scared of what I woke up."

Mick sighed; it was times like this that he wished he still had his body, as a ghost is able to offer very little by way of comfort. "It'll be all right in the end; once this is over, we'll go exploring again - we just need a bit of help for the time being whilst we keep our heads down."

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Shaya's troubled thoughts were answered when the coach began to move again, and it became clear that it had started to rain. She sat miserably in the coach with the blinds drawn, dreading the fate that she had somehow cast upon herself in carelessness.

Soon enough, they neared the large wrought-iron gates that stood at the perimeter of the castle grounds, and were escorted through by a number of guardsmen in peculiar armour.

"The armour is enchanted" whispered Mick in reverence; "To be inimical to any undead that may try to strike it. Wearing that, they cannot be turned."

Shaya nodded, and the coach once again commenced it's journey to the castle door.

---

Continued in A Brush With Death, A Sweep With Dinner