Post by ShadaAntoinette on May 25, 2010 0:51:11 GMT -5
When she was stronger, which was about two days later, she told him the news.
"Pandora...when we left you, we joined the Revenant Army, and we fought the Mortals during the war." She began, eyes a pale, almost white blue. "We pushed them back, but there was a traitor in our midst. A Vampire...killed our daughter. I didn't find out who, but I know a Vampiir killed her. None of the others would have been able to turn her into ash like that." She watched his face for a moment. He sat on his throne, face impassive.
"You joined the Revenants?" He asked, incredulous. "I thought the Baninae were a pacifist Race. What the Hell were you doing out on a battlefield?" He was livid, she could tell by the purpling of his face at that moment.
"She and I agreed to, Aye."
"You made my daughter join that revolting bunch of radicals?!" She took a few steps back, the old fear back in her eyes.
"Azazel..."
"No! I want to hear you say it!"
"Would you just listen?"
"You took our daughter and joined the Revenant Army. What the Hell should I listen to?" She couldn't talk to him like this. This always ended in violence, and she didn't need this. Instead of answering, she turned and left the room, heading out to explore the castle.
The place was amazing and so much bigger than her childhood home. Though living in a castle would always remind her heavily of her childhood, she enjoyed exploring. There was so much to see in the castle, but what drew her the most were the back gardens behind the castle; it was breathtaking.
"I thought I'd find you here." Azazel found her sitting upon a marble bench.
"Oh?" She said, raising an eyebrow.
"Aye. You always were attached to the flowers. And I had these planted because they reminded me of you." He said, sitting beside her.
"That's sweet of you." She said, smiling a bit.
"I just wanted to tell you that I'm not mad at you for joining the Revenants and that I understand it wasn't your fault." He told her. She looked down at her hands, which were covered in blood from the rose thorns digging her skin when she had made her wreath, though the puncture wounds had healed.
"I'm sorry I left her alone. I should have taken my squad and gone with her." They sat in silence after that before Azazel spoke again.
"This came for you a few days ago, when you were still recouperating. It's from Miranda, I can still smell her perfume." He handed her a large, wax sealed envelope. She took it from him and ripped the seal open:
"My dearest Shada,
How have you been? How's Blade? I hope you're doing well there." Shada stopped reading for a moment, confused. When she had left, everyone had hated her. What was with the change of heart?
"I wanted to apologize to you for not believing you about Lief. And I am ashamed how I reacted to him in the first place. You were right about him, Shada. He is a terrible man, and you gave him his due when you hit him. I'm just sorry I got sucked into his charm and left you feeling alone and whatnot.
That isn't why I'm writing to you, though. I'm writing to you to tell you about what has happened here since you left. Your step-father is threatening to kill us all if you aren't returned and refuses to believe that you aren't in fact here. I, we, were hoping that you would be willing to come back to Tejatica to see him and change his mind before it is too late.
I miss you, Shada, and all the times we spent together. You are my best friend and my first lover. I'll always love you, you know that.
I eagerly await your answer,
Miranda Victoria Luete."
Oh Shada knew that, but she also knew that the undertone of the letter was that she wanted Shada to come back to Temmora to save her and the Harpies', and more importantly Lief's ass.
"I guess Miranda wants me to come home." She said, looking up at him. She really didn't want to, mostly because she knew nothing had changed there, but had to. If nothing else, it was because Miranda was her friend. "My step-father is threatening to kill them."
"I see. Well, we should go then. Come, I'll take you there now." What? What the Hell was he talking about? They had taken a ship to come here and that had taken weeks. How was he supposed to take her there NOW, if they had to go to Dalvalkrinne to catch the ship? He stood and wrapped his arms around her. "You might feel a bit sick for a moment, but it will pass, I assure you." He told her.
In the next second, she felt like she was being pulled apart, but as quickly as it came, it disappeared, replaced by a violent attack of nausea that threatened to force her to vomit. He released her when their feet were on solid ground, and she looked around to see the nearly unfamiliar sight of the old church, the place of her death and her rebirth as a Vampiir. She loathed this place, and the person who ran it. She looked up at the building with a clear level of distaste, but sighed and walked toward it and yanked open the heavy iron door.
A wave of nostalgia hit her as she walked the halls of the church. Many things happened while she was here; her first century as a Vampiir and things like that. Things she would ordinarily not think of.
"This way." She frowned, but allowed him to take her to Lief's room, the place where she lost her life, her virginity and her dignity as a woman. She didn't want to see it, nor the people that resided here, but it was too late now. She bit her lip as Azazel knocked on the door.
"Enter." His voice called from inside the room. Lief's accent rolled over her; she felt nothing but revulsion for the man.
Azazel opened the door and ushered her through.
"Nightshade! How is my favorite Blood Child?"
"Cut the shit, Lief. Where is Miranda? She asked me to come here and so here I am. I want nothing to do with you." She snapped back. His blue eyes glimmered with mirth.
"Six thousand years and you're still cold to me. I'm hurt." His eyes told her he wasn't.
"Right. Now, where is..." A woman came in and instant she knew it was her friend.
"Shada!"
"Rani!" The two women embraced and kissed, which left both Lief and Azazel in a jealous funk. They had been unaware that there had been anything between the women, but this display of affection showed them that their had been. When they pulled away from each other, they were both smiling.
"Now, what's this about my step-father?"
"Oh that?" Lief said from his spot on his bed. Shada cut him a foul look. "Your step-father has been threatening to kill us if we don't turn you over to him. I have told him countless times that you aren't here, but he refuses to see reason."
"Sounds like him." Shada mused, cracking a grin. "I think it would be better if I went to him myself."
"I'll go with you." Azazel offered.
"No, Azazel. You would be safer here. When he finds out tht I've been Turned and he sees you, he will assume that you were the one to do it and take his anger out on you. I would rather not have that happen." She told him, laying a hand on his arm. He suddenly got a really strange look on his face, as if he had just realized that she still had feelings for him. And, if she had thought about it, she would have realized that she had made a mistake with her choice of words. She didn't love him, she didn't want him, she was just staying with him because she didn't have anywhere else to go, nor the means. She would have asked Liir for her opinion on this matter, but Liir hadn't spoken to her since she had been in Sunnyvale Asylum.
"I'm off." She said, releasing Azazel's arm and moving around him. "I'll be back as soon as I can." She gave Miranda one last kiss and left the room.
Once outside, however, Azazel stopped her again.
"We can use my Tracing again, if you want to."
"I..." Before she could continue telling him no, the church exploded, raining debris down on them. The force of the blast threw her and Azazel to the ground. As soon as they hit, he was on top of her, blocking her from anymore debris. She was already screaming; shrapnel from the blast had shredded her skin and she was bleeding heavily.
"Miranda!" She cried. "MIRANDA!!" She struggled beneath Azazel until he was forced to let her up, but as soon as he did, she was gone. In a flash, she was running toward the burning ruins, and he was sprinting after her.
She leaped fallen roof beams and fire, trying to get the whatever was left of Lief's room. Bodies lay strewn everywhere; none of them had known this was coming. None had expected to die this night. She said her goodbyes and moved on.
Lief's room was the worst hit and she had expected two bodies to lay on the broken floor, instead there was an open door she had never seen before, and a single body lay in front of it, as if the person had been trying to escape. Instinctively, she knew it was Miranda. Tears filled her eyes, which had turned black in her rage. Lief had killed killed her best friend. Her body crackled with violet energy and her eyes completely blackened until no pupil showed.
"LIEF!!!!!!" His name itself was enough to send the Baninae Shriek exploding from her vocal cords; the rest of the building exploded with the force of it. She was silenced only by Azazel, who wrapped his arms around her waist and Traced away from the carnage.
"I swear to the Goddess I will kill him!" She shouted, her body shaking uncontrollably from suppressing the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks. "He knew! He fucking knew and he let her die!" Azazel held her tightly, trying to calm her down, but instead was making things worse. She broke from his grasp and began pacing the floor of her room, mind racing with all the things she would do to Lief when she found him, and she would find him, even if it was the last thing she would do! She was beyond help now, her right eye was whirling the colors of the rainbow, and the left pulsed black and the same colors as the right.
"Nightshade, you have to calm down. I know your angry..."
"Angry does not BEGIN to describe how I'm feeling right now!" She snapped at him, stopping in her tracks and whirling to face him. "He killed the only friend I ever had in this fucking life, I am way beyond angry!"
"You have to understand that she is in a better place now. She's free. She is finally at peace." She let out a broken sob then and collapsed to her knees. He was there in an instant, holding her. "Oh, Nightshade..." He said, smoothing her hair. "I'm so sorry." She sobbed for a long time, her bloody tears soaking him, and staining the stone floor beneath her.
When she was calmer, he picked her up and laid her in the bed. When she was comfortable, or at least as comfortable as she could get in her current state, he laid beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist, comforting her further.
"Just sleep. Everything will be all right in the morning. I promise you that." She was so weary from crying that she barely had time to nod before she was asleep. She grimaced in her sleep, from the injuries she sustained, but he didn't know the extent of them until he gently rolled her over and looked at them. Her skin was raw and melted looking, from the heat that had come from the explosion, and the discoloration he saw was the beginning of an infection. He had to heal her now, or she was going to have permanent scars, if it wasn't already too late.
"Damn." He slit his wrist with a claw and dripped his Fallen Blood into her wounds. Her skin hissed but began to heal, and reject the bits of debris from her. All but one piece came out, but it was small and if she had any discomfort, he could always remove it for her later. Now was just too risky, lest he make more pain for his beautiful Queen. And he hated to do that; his love for her, twisted though it was, was still strong within him. As he kept watch, he began to notice that the scarring was all that was left of her injury. Try as he might, he couldn't seem to get rid of them. Pink scars ribboned her back, some old and some new. He began to wonder what happened to her before she had come here, and what he had done to her when she had gotten here. Some, if not all of the older ones were his fault and her regretted it with all that he was. He wasn't normally a violent person, but there was something about her that made him so angry sometimes and he wanted to know what it was.
"You want to know, Azazel?" The voice was a deeper, sultrier version of Nightshade's, and seemed to come from nowhere. "You want to know what makes her different?"
"Who are you?" He asked, rolling her over on her back, gently. He saw that her eyes were open, but they weren't green, they were a golden color. "Are you awake, Nightshade?"
"Oh, I'm not Shada. But I am a part of her." She laughed and sat up. "Hello, husband of mine...of ours, I should say. You hit the jackpot when you married her. You got two women to yourself. Congrats to you." A smirk twisted his Queen's lips.
"I repeat, who are you and what are you doing inside my wife?"
"Oh, you fool. Don't you see? Shada and I share a body. I am her second soul. My name is Angheliiratiaa Kavihaa, and I was born in this body, same as Shada." He stared at her incredulously. Was she serious?
"I am. Now if you would be so kind as to stop thinking about ways to get rid of me, that would be perfect. You see, if you try to kill me, you risk killing her too, and I'm sure you don't want that." No, he didn't. "Good. Now, you asked a question of me...well, technically you asked it of yourself, and since Shada is unconscious, I figured I would make my presence known. Nice to meet ya. Now, if you ever lay a hand on this poor girl again, you will regret it." Liir's eyes hardened. "She doesn't deserve that, and you know it. You keep your hands to yourself and I won't have to hurt you."
"Hurt me? I don't know what kind of joke this is, but it isn't funny, Nightshade." He was getting angry again; he really thought Shada was toying with him.
"I assure you, I am not Nightshade. My name is Liir and I am her second soul. Succubus soul. You can ask any of your comrades in Hell, shit, you can ask Satan himself, he was the one who asked me to do this. In hind sight I realize this was a terrible idea, but whatever, I'll live with it." She gave a short laugh. "Now, I want you to get out of here and leave us alone. We have a lot of healing to do, physically, mentally and emotionally. Yes, yes. I said begone. Get out." She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him until he moved. "Out. You can come back in four days, when we will be healed completely. Oh, and I don't love you...She doesn't love you."
Azazel was taken aback by the woman's words. She didn't love him? After all they had done these last weeks and she didn't love him? Why was she here if...no. He didn't believe it. She was here because she loved him.
"No. We really don't. Now get out." She raised a hand and magickally pushed the man from the room and slammed the door behind him before laying down again and releasing control over their body.
"Pandora...when we left you, we joined the Revenant Army, and we fought the Mortals during the war." She began, eyes a pale, almost white blue. "We pushed them back, but there was a traitor in our midst. A Vampire...killed our daughter. I didn't find out who, but I know a Vampiir killed her. None of the others would have been able to turn her into ash like that." She watched his face for a moment. He sat on his throne, face impassive.
"You joined the Revenants?" He asked, incredulous. "I thought the Baninae were a pacifist Race. What the Hell were you doing out on a battlefield?" He was livid, she could tell by the purpling of his face at that moment.
"She and I agreed to, Aye."
"You made my daughter join that revolting bunch of radicals?!" She took a few steps back, the old fear back in her eyes.
"Azazel..."
"No! I want to hear you say it!"
"Would you just listen?"
"You took our daughter and joined the Revenant Army. What the Hell should I listen to?" She couldn't talk to him like this. This always ended in violence, and she didn't need this. Instead of answering, she turned and left the room, heading out to explore the castle.
The place was amazing and so much bigger than her childhood home. Though living in a castle would always remind her heavily of her childhood, she enjoyed exploring. There was so much to see in the castle, but what drew her the most were the back gardens behind the castle; it was breathtaking.
"I thought I'd find you here." Azazel found her sitting upon a marble bench.
"Oh?" She said, raising an eyebrow.
"Aye. You always were attached to the flowers. And I had these planted because they reminded me of you." He said, sitting beside her.
"That's sweet of you." She said, smiling a bit.
"I just wanted to tell you that I'm not mad at you for joining the Revenants and that I understand it wasn't your fault." He told her. She looked down at her hands, which were covered in blood from the rose thorns digging her skin when she had made her wreath, though the puncture wounds had healed.
"I'm sorry I left her alone. I should have taken my squad and gone with her." They sat in silence after that before Azazel spoke again.
"This came for you a few days ago, when you were still recouperating. It's from Miranda, I can still smell her perfume." He handed her a large, wax sealed envelope. She took it from him and ripped the seal open:
"My dearest Shada,
How have you been? How's Blade? I hope you're doing well there." Shada stopped reading for a moment, confused. When she had left, everyone had hated her. What was with the change of heart?
"I wanted to apologize to you for not believing you about Lief. And I am ashamed how I reacted to him in the first place. You were right about him, Shada. He is a terrible man, and you gave him his due when you hit him. I'm just sorry I got sucked into his charm and left you feeling alone and whatnot.
That isn't why I'm writing to you, though. I'm writing to you to tell you about what has happened here since you left. Your step-father is threatening to kill us all if you aren't returned and refuses to believe that you aren't in fact here. I, we, were hoping that you would be willing to come back to Tejatica to see him and change his mind before it is too late.
I miss you, Shada, and all the times we spent together. You are my best friend and my first lover. I'll always love you, you know that.
I eagerly await your answer,
Miranda Victoria Luete."
Oh Shada knew that, but she also knew that the undertone of the letter was that she wanted Shada to come back to Temmora to save her and the Harpies', and more importantly Lief's ass.
"I guess Miranda wants me to come home." She said, looking up at him. She really didn't want to, mostly because she knew nothing had changed there, but had to. If nothing else, it was because Miranda was her friend. "My step-father is threatening to kill them."
"I see. Well, we should go then. Come, I'll take you there now." What? What the Hell was he talking about? They had taken a ship to come here and that had taken weeks. How was he supposed to take her there NOW, if they had to go to Dalvalkrinne to catch the ship? He stood and wrapped his arms around her. "You might feel a bit sick for a moment, but it will pass, I assure you." He told her.
In the next second, she felt like she was being pulled apart, but as quickly as it came, it disappeared, replaced by a violent attack of nausea that threatened to force her to vomit. He released her when their feet were on solid ground, and she looked around to see the nearly unfamiliar sight of the old church, the place of her death and her rebirth as a Vampiir. She loathed this place, and the person who ran it. She looked up at the building with a clear level of distaste, but sighed and walked toward it and yanked open the heavy iron door.
A wave of nostalgia hit her as she walked the halls of the church. Many things happened while she was here; her first century as a Vampiir and things like that. Things she would ordinarily not think of.
"This way." She frowned, but allowed him to take her to Lief's room, the place where she lost her life, her virginity and her dignity as a woman. She didn't want to see it, nor the people that resided here, but it was too late now. She bit her lip as Azazel knocked on the door.
"Enter." His voice called from inside the room. Lief's accent rolled over her; she felt nothing but revulsion for the man.
Azazel opened the door and ushered her through.
"Nightshade! How is my favorite Blood Child?"
"Cut the shit, Lief. Where is Miranda? She asked me to come here and so here I am. I want nothing to do with you." She snapped back. His blue eyes glimmered with mirth.
"Six thousand years and you're still cold to me. I'm hurt." His eyes told her he wasn't.
"Right. Now, where is..." A woman came in and instant she knew it was her friend.
"Shada!"
"Rani!" The two women embraced and kissed, which left both Lief and Azazel in a jealous funk. They had been unaware that there had been anything between the women, but this display of affection showed them that their had been. When they pulled away from each other, they were both smiling.
"Now, what's this about my step-father?"
"Oh that?" Lief said from his spot on his bed. Shada cut him a foul look. "Your step-father has been threatening to kill us if we don't turn you over to him. I have told him countless times that you aren't here, but he refuses to see reason."
"Sounds like him." Shada mused, cracking a grin. "I think it would be better if I went to him myself."
"I'll go with you." Azazel offered.
"No, Azazel. You would be safer here. When he finds out tht I've been Turned and he sees you, he will assume that you were the one to do it and take his anger out on you. I would rather not have that happen." She told him, laying a hand on his arm. He suddenly got a really strange look on his face, as if he had just realized that she still had feelings for him. And, if she had thought about it, she would have realized that she had made a mistake with her choice of words. She didn't love him, she didn't want him, she was just staying with him because she didn't have anywhere else to go, nor the means. She would have asked Liir for her opinion on this matter, but Liir hadn't spoken to her since she had been in Sunnyvale Asylum.
"I'm off." She said, releasing Azazel's arm and moving around him. "I'll be back as soon as I can." She gave Miranda one last kiss and left the room.
Once outside, however, Azazel stopped her again.
"We can use my Tracing again, if you want to."
"I..." Before she could continue telling him no, the church exploded, raining debris down on them. The force of the blast threw her and Azazel to the ground. As soon as they hit, he was on top of her, blocking her from anymore debris. She was already screaming; shrapnel from the blast had shredded her skin and she was bleeding heavily.
"Miranda!" She cried. "MIRANDA!!" She struggled beneath Azazel until he was forced to let her up, but as soon as he did, she was gone. In a flash, she was running toward the burning ruins, and he was sprinting after her.
She leaped fallen roof beams and fire, trying to get the whatever was left of Lief's room. Bodies lay strewn everywhere; none of them had known this was coming. None had expected to die this night. She said her goodbyes and moved on.
Lief's room was the worst hit and she had expected two bodies to lay on the broken floor, instead there was an open door she had never seen before, and a single body lay in front of it, as if the person had been trying to escape. Instinctively, she knew it was Miranda. Tears filled her eyes, which had turned black in her rage. Lief had killed killed her best friend. Her body crackled with violet energy and her eyes completely blackened until no pupil showed.
"LIEF!!!!!!" His name itself was enough to send the Baninae Shriek exploding from her vocal cords; the rest of the building exploded with the force of it. She was silenced only by Azazel, who wrapped his arms around her waist and Traced away from the carnage.
"I swear to the Goddess I will kill him!" She shouted, her body shaking uncontrollably from suppressing the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks. "He knew! He fucking knew and he let her die!" Azazel held her tightly, trying to calm her down, but instead was making things worse. She broke from his grasp and began pacing the floor of her room, mind racing with all the things she would do to Lief when she found him, and she would find him, even if it was the last thing she would do! She was beyond help now, her right eye was whirling the colors of the rainbow, and the left pulsed black and the same colors as the right.
"Nightshade, you have to calm down. I know your angry..."
"Angry does not BEGIN to describe how I'm feeling right now!" She snapped at him, stopping in her tracks and whirling to face him. "He killed the only friend I ever had in this fucking life, I am way beyond angry!"
"You have to understand that she is in a better place now. She's free. She is finally at peace." She let out a broken sob then and collapsed to her knees. He was there in an instant, holding her. "Oh, Nightshade..." He said, smoothing her hair. "I'm so sorry." She sobbed for a long time, her bloody tears soaking him, and staining the stone floor beneath her.
When she was calmer, he picked her up and laid her in the bed. When she was comfortable, or at least as comfortable as she could get in her current state, he laid beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist, comforting her further.
"Just sleep. Everything will be all right in the morning. I promise you that." She was so weary from crying that she barely had time to nod before she was asleep. She grimaced in her sleep, from the injuries she sustained, but he didn't know the extent of them until he gently rolled her over and looked at them. Her skin was raw and melted looking, from the heat that had come from the explosion, and the discoloration he saw was the beginning of an infection. He had to heal her now, or she was going to have permanent scars, if it wasn't already too late.
"Damn." He slit his wrist with a claw and dripped his Fallen Blood into her wounds. Her skin hissed but began to heal, and reject the bits of debris from her. All but one piece came out, but it was small and if she had any discomfort, he could always remove it for her later. Now was just too risky, lest he make more pain for his beautiful Queen. And he hated to do that; his love for her, twisted though it was, was still strong within him. As he kept watch, he began to notice that the scarring was all that was left of her injury. Try as he might, he couldn't seem to get rid of them. Pink scars ribboned her back, some old and some new. He began to wonder what happened to her before she had come here, and what he had done to her when she had gotten here. Some, if not all of the older ones were his fault and her regretted it with all that he was. He wasn't normally a violent person, but there was something about her that made him so angry sometimes and he wanted to know what it was.
"You want to know, Azazel?" The voice was a deeper, sultrier version of Nightshade's, and seemed to come from nowhere. "You want to know what makes her different?"
"Who are you?" He asked, rolling her over on her back, gently. He saw that her eyes were open, but they weren't green, they were a golden color. "Are you awake, Nightshade?"
"Oh, I'm not Shada. But I am a part of her." She laughed and sat up. "Hello, husband of mine...of ours, I should say. You hit the jackpot when you married her. You got two women to yourself. Congrats to you." A smirk twisted his Queen's lips.
"I repeat, who are you and what are you doing inside my wife?"
"Oh, you fool. Don't you see? Shada and I share a body. I am her second soul. My name is Angheliiratiaa Kavihaa, and I was born in this body, same as Shada." He stared at her incredulously. Was she serious?
"I am. Now if you would be so kind as to stop thinking about ways to get rid of me, that would be perfect. You see, if you try to kill me, you risk killing her too, and I'm sure you don't want that." No, he didn't. "Good. Now, you asked a question of me...well, technically you asked it of yourself, and since Shada is unconscious, I figured I would make my presence known. Nice to meet ya. Now, if you ever lay a hand on this poor girl again, you will regret it." Liir's eyes hardened. "She doesn't deserve that, and you know it. You keep your hands to yourself and I won't have to hurt you."
"Hurt me? I don't know what kind of joke this is, but it isn't funny, Nightshade." He was getting angry again; he really thought Shada was toying with him.
"I assure you, I am not Nightshade. My name is Liir and I am her second soul. Succubus soul. You can ask any of your comrades in Hell, shit, you can ask Satan himself, he was the one who asked me to do this. In hind sight I realize this was a terrible idea, but whatever, I'll live with it." She gave a short laugh. "Now, I want you to get out of here and leave us alone. We have a lot of healing to do, physically, mentally and emotionally. Yes, yes. I said begone. Get out." She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him until he moved. "Out. You can come back in four days, when we will be healed completely. Oh, and I don't love you...She doesn't love you."
Azazel was taken aback by the woman's words. She didn't love him? After all they had done these last weeks and she didn't love him? Why was she here if...no. He didn't believe it. She was here because she loved him.
"No. We really don't. Now get out." She raised a hand and magickally pushed the man from the room and slammed the door behind him before laying down again and releasing control over their body.
