“A Dark Proposal...” Part II-(Virrana'h Tei)- ::Closed::

[Lord Soth]

The Death Knight walked slowly through the hanging garden’s in deep thought. Periodically he would stop to admire the many finely carved statues that were scattered throughout the large courtyard outside the Shrine Keep. His pale hand’s rested behind him as he pondered his options with the Dathomir Witch…His dark intentions for her future played in his mind like a sabboc game in his favor. A subtle smile formed on his lip’s as he continued on down the cobble stone path that stretched before him.

Earlier that evening, Soth had sent a Shrine Guardian to the bed Chamber where Tei resided; bidding her to the beautiful garden’s where he now strolled. The young woman’s stay at the coven of the damned was now nearing its third week since Soth had last seen her in the Dead Forest. He was highly impressed with her magical skills and resourcefulness for combat. Unknown to the Clan Sister, her vicious assault on him that night left him severely incapacitated and on the thresh hold of eternal death due to the blood loss he suffered. Fortunately for the two combatants’, the short, yet brutal fight was being closely monitored by the Ancient Vampyre,…Pandora Damaris. It was her doing that saved them both from the eternal planes of hell.

As Soth neared the central water fountain within the courtyard, he paused. His eye’s traveled slowly over every fine detail of the nude marble bodies that encircled its circumference. The craftsmanship was extraordinary to behold, Soth thought to himself as he awaited the Dathomir Witch.

[Virrana'h Tei]

Following behind the Guardian, Virrana'h sifted her thoughts - why had Soth called for her? Why hadn't killed her yet? As tumbled and disorderly as they were, the possibilities were not new, and she had pondered them endlessly during her weeks of secluded recovery.

Her only company had been that of the beautiful Shrine Ancient Pandora, and only then it had been a spartan fellowship, with just the occassional visit to check on her welfare.

Up until this evening, Tei had been as much a prisoner as she was a guest. It was a strange captivity. One of luxury and creature comforts, of good food and better wine. It was a captivity willingly accepted by the Dathomir Warrior. Having lost in contest with the Death Knight, Virrana'h would not shame herself by trying to flee whatever consequences that failure would bring.

Which brought her once again to her unsettled thoughts.

The evening air was cool and it prickled at her skin. Virrana'h remained in her traditional armor of her Clan. She retained her proud bearing, but there was a restraintive air to her now, a resignation.

The Guardian halted infront of her, bowing to the figure who stood motionless in the ambivalent glow of the courtyard torches.

"Master"

The Shrine servant bowed and then stepped aside, taking his place to the side of Soth.

Seeing the Death Knight again, coming face to face with him brought fresh again her failure and made her throat constrict in inner remonstration and self disappointment.

Doing her best to stand tall, proud, Virrana'h forced herself to meet the Dark Master's gaze.

"I have come like you commanded, Lord Soth."


http://abberition.homestead.com/files/VTei.jpg

[Lord Soth]

The crystal clear water that ran out of the beautiful fountain hit the large marble basin at the bottom, making a rhythmic noise that was soothing to the senses. Soth continued to admire the statues in wonderment as Virrana'h and the Shrine guardsmen approached him from behind.

"Master"

The Shrine servant bowed and then stepped aside, taking his place to the side of Soth.

“That will be all for now Nah’zear.” The Death Knight said in cool tone’s without looking back at either of the two. Soth’s gaze continued to remain affixed on the spectacle before him as he cupped his hands behind him.

Once the guard bowed and then went his way, Soth turned slightly towards Virrana’h, motioning for her to come closer as he extended a hand out to his side.

“Please,…I am honored that you have come at my request m’lady.” The Dark Master finished smoothly as his stark blue eye’s studied the Witch’s demeanor. Soth could since Tei’s reluctance as she hesitated at his polite invitation…After all, how could he blame her, they had almost killed each other a few week’s prior and the stain of that thought was still fresh upon her open mind.

[Virrana'h Tei]

The Dathomir native drew closer, her uneasiness apparent, but she didn't hesitate to do as Soth asked.

Moving up beside him, she followed his eyes and looked over the sculpture's that he was admiring.

Turning to look at the Death Knight once again. When she spoke, it was with a deep and boiling emotion.

"I should not be alive to enjoy such beauty, Death Knight. You have wronged me by showing mercy. It is for the weak. And now....that is what you've made me."

[Lord Soth]

There was a brief awkward moment of silence between the Dathomir Witch and the Death Knight before Soth spoke. The light pitter-patter of water was now the only audible sound that could be heard in the hanging gardens. The Death Knight pondered Tei’s word’s then casually turned his head towards her with a nonchalant glance.

“Really?...You believe that our little encounter in the Dead Forest has left you weak and incompetent my dark sister?” Soth eye’s seemed to flash like highly polished Sith steel as he attempted to refute Virrana'h blatant comment. In the mind of the Death Knight it was quite the opposite. It was through battle and war that forged men into greatness, granting one power and wisdom, a curtain profound knowledge that lent its self to the arsenal of tack and bearing that shaped and molded the warrior into what he or she was.

“If we are not strengthened by our failures and short coming’s m’lady, then we have truly learned nothing in the lesson’s of life.” Soth’s emotionless and unblinking stare bored right through the young woman as he went on.

“Yes,…Perhaps your death would have heaped honor upon your name according to your tradition’s…But I ask this of you Reverend Sister,…What profit is there in the grave?…And where is honor if it lay’s low in the dust with the dead?...No,…I have neither given nor taken from you anything in all of this…It is what you have carried out that matter’s the most witch. What you have learned and gained in the end is that which make’s the difference.” The Death Knight’s razor teeth protruded slightly as his iris’s glowed like simmering coal’s with his heated words of passion. The Death Knight was well aware of Tei’s customary law’s and deep rooted traditions; nevertheless, it was something over time he would have to remedy.

[Virrana'h Tei]

Tei shrank back slightly at the sight of Soth's extended incisors. Her dark eyes dropped suspiciously to them and then lifted once again to meet the dark gaze of the Death Knight.

"I have gained nothing" she said blandly. "You speak of the waste of death with honor - but what is Life without it? This is what has been taken from me. My people understand battle. There is the victor and the vanquished. To the winner go the spoils. On Dathomir, those who are shown mercy are spared for a reason. For the service of those who have bested them. It is our way."

A certain candidness came into the Witches eyes, and it was a moment that would define how the rest of her life would be served....and the length of it. The answer Soth gives her now will determine her next course of action, and wether or not she will force the Dark Warrior to no other choice than kill or be killed.

"Tell me, Lord Soth - is it the way of the Shrine also?"

[Lord Soth]

Soth turned slowly towards Virrana'h and motioned casually for her to walk with him before he responded. More painful moment's passed before he spoke. The look on his solemn face gave the feeling that he was weighing Tei's words once again. As the two made their way into a large open courtyard beyond the lush tropical setting they had just left behind, the Death Knight spoke.

"Lady Tei,...As you know, our worlds are quite different. Your way of life back on Dathomir, granted, in some way's mirror our tradition's here at the Shrine. Yet on the other hand, there are many beliefs, law's that your clan lives by and adherer’s too that are foreign to our coven." Soth paused then turned to face Virrana'h, his demeanor was calm as the word's he spoke.

"You see reverend sister,…I am also bound by my own deep seated conviction's and code of honor as well, one that I have lived by for nearly 5500 years." The Death Knight folded his pale hands in front of him as he went on. He did not venture to guess nor did he care at this point what the witch thought of the last part of his statement to her. His ageless eye’s remained locked on hers as his voice became smooth and insipid.

"Before I became a creature of the damned m'lady, I was a Knight of the Back Rose...Thus, I will always remain one,…Even if it mean's beyond the call and duty of that in which I have become now.” The Death Knight’s raven hair gently swayed in the cool night air as he let the words of his past sink into young woman mind.

“I have not called upon you this night to suffer nor incur a past that is behind us both m’lady…On the contrary,…I have beckoned you here Lady Tei to make you an offer, a proposal if you will.” Soth’s head bowed slightly forward towards the Dathomir Witches; however, his eye’s never left hers for the briefest of moments.

[Virrana'h Tei]

Strolling along beside Soth, Virrana'h slid sideways glances toward him often. Her inner appreciation of such a fighter was not diminished, even though she had lost in battle to him. Skill was skill, and when weilded with such power as Soth had displayed, one could not help but admire it.

Her eyes lingered occassionally on the long raven mane whose tendrils swayed slightly about his shoulders with the motion of his walking. Behind her hooded eyes, she hid the still present desire to possess such a prize for her own.

As he finished speaking, they stopped to face one another on the stone path of the gardens. Scents of the night jasmin drifted on the air and vines of Erisidine gave off their delicate aroma as their glossy green leaves shuffled in the sliglht breeze. The Death Knight's eyes were eternal and as he held her gaze, Virrana'h felt she was looking into a deep abyss where she could not see an end. She had never seen such eyes and she found it difficult to meet their stare.

"You and I, Lord Soth are both of a warrior heart. We understand each other. You have roots in your former life that are unshakeable. Things around you may change, you even may change - but those traditions and convictions are a part of you, in your blood, and cant be dismissed.

You, however, have succeeded to take on your new life without compromise of the old. This is not an easy thing, and it shows me yet once again, you are superiour to the image I at first gave you credit for." She allowed the faintest smile, "The male thing still works against you though."

"It does not seem right to me for you to make such an offer, to show me such respect, to give me a choice. It is not the Swamp Clan way. But it appears to me, that I am in the Dathomir Swamps no longer."

Tilting her head upward, as if steeling herself to hear bad news, she asked simply.

"What is your proposal?"

[Lord Soth]

The Death Knight motioned once again for the Dathomir Witch to set on a stone bench that sat just on the outside of a beautiful circular courtyard. After Virrana'h took her place, Soth sat next to her, folding his hand's on his lap. Her word's to him where spoken in truth and laced with a curtain respect that Soth noted. Yet at the same time, he felt a deep admiration for the Clan Sister, a respect that was quite rare in the Death Knight and one that was not easily attainable. The Death Master had killed countless foes in battle, destroyed innocent lives without a second thought. Nevertheless, that lingering shred of humanity still remained in his being and he now found himself taken by her disposition. This was why he had called Tei this evening;...She shared the same spirit as he...

"What is your proposal?" She asked of him as her eye's met with his. Oddly, Soth closed his eyes then turned his pale face towards the heavens. A tinge of magic floated on the cool night air as his mind delved deep into the Dark Side of the Force. Tei could feel the welling energies surround them both as the Death Knight remained silent. A brief moment passed then Soth opened his eye's to the night sky, he spoke and Virrana'h could hear his silky word's in her mind, yet Soth's ruby lips did not move. His word's where in her native tongue, an ancient tongue that only her Clan knew of...

"I desire to show you thing's Lady Virrana'h...Thing's that are hidden, secret’s that have not been revealed to many." The Death Knight's knowledge of her ancestral language was extraordinarily fluent as he went on, his eye's still cast skywards as he spoke to her open mind.

"Beyond Roon's cloud cover are a vast aray of stars known to this unaverse...They are there even though we see them not as we both sit here. Nevertheless, how often are they turly reconized for thier significant role? How often does one really ponder thier beauty and relativity...Yet they go unnoticed night after night without the slightest recognition..." Soth then let his gaze travel back to Tei's. A look of nobility seemed to set on his face as he turned to her.

"You see...The cloud's represent the mind's limitation to see what truly lay's beyond m'lady,...The night star's themselves being the hidden secret's and treasure's that many have sought after,...Yet in vain. The true nature of the force that is always there, however,...Out of reach." Soth paused as he looked deep into Virrana'h shadowed eye's. Her own pool's that she thought to be concealed behind the dark shroud that covered them. In that moment, Tei felt the gentle touch of Soth's hand slip over hers. A curtain look of sincerity passed over the Knight's face as he reviled what his true intentions were for her.

"I wish to show you these hidden wonder's Virrana'h...Train you in thier way's if you will...To open the locked door's to the unattainable and to lay bare there hidden power's and secret's that even your Clan Mother's could never show you in all of thier great wisdom and knowledge...This is my proposal, one that is entirely within your hand's to decide." Soth's hand slowly pulled way from Tei's own as he interlaced and rested them once again on the soft black fabric of his Sith robes.

[Virrana'h Tei]

After the shock of hearing within her own mind, Soth speaking to her in her native tongue, Virrana'h followed his gaze and, too, looked upwards at the evening sky.

The inflections of his speech, the fluidity of the ancient revered tongue of her elders inclined the Dathomir sorceress kindly to his words.

They were words full of promise, of dark wonders to be revealed if only she would embrace instruction. What Soth asked of her was something no male from the beginnings of Clan generations had ever asked a before. To to teach, to reveal, to lead.

And yet, as naturally as the dark clouds suspended above them were in their proper element, so too seemed such a proposal for such a place and time.

The touch of his hand upon hers, and Tei immediately bent her gaze to look down. It was a strangely possessive gesture and then as quickly as he had reached out, he withdrew.

Tei was a force user, but her skill was in the mystic arts of the Dathomiri. She had much to learn of a force-wielders realm, as Soth knew.

Studying him as he sat, hands now resting in his lap, his offer laying open before her to make her choice. A strange sensation was growing in depths of her being. As unorthodox as such an arrangement was to her, Tei found herself experienceing a strange emotion. A deep respect was being formed for the warrior sitting beside her. Unaware as she was of how strong it would tie her to this man, the changes of destiny it would launch her inextricably on, she found herself wanting to learn.

Clear, candid, eyes looked into his,
"And you would show me these things willingly, Lord Soth?"

[Lord Soth]

The Death Knight's unwavering stare seemed to pierce the very shadows of Virrana'h cowl, as if looking into her soul...And he was.

"Why,...Yes m'lady. That is of course if you concur…However,..." Soth paused once again, an unnerving trait that the Dark Knight exhibited, one that Tei found her self already growing accustom too as the night went on.

"...It will require something of you,…Something that must be forfeited in the process if you are to ever break through to the other side." The Death Knight continued to speak in her natural tongue, his voice as cool as the night air that brushed against her bare skin.

"You must know by now that you could never go back Lady Tei...Would they ever understand?...I think not." Soth then stood and walked a few paces from Virrana'h as if looking into the distance at something of great interest. His long black cloak gently billowed in the wind as his back was now turned from her as he went on.

"The question now is,...Will you let your past stand between you and the greatness that is beckoning, calling to you now?" Soth turned abruptly to face her, his pale hands slowly slipped behind him in a non-threatening manner.

[Virrana'h Tei]

"You must know by now that you could never go back Lady Tei...Would they ever understand?...I think not."

Soth was right, of course, they couldn't understand, and the truth of it rang hollowly within Virrana'hs heart.

Her Clan would receive her back, that would never be a question. They are true to their own - Sisters linked by more than just Name.

But how could she go back when her own pride would not allow it? Pride in herself, pride in her family name and the pride of the Noble Clan itself would sit heavy upon her. She was a leader among them, yet how could she command when she herself viewed herself as lacking. No, she would suffer Soth's pity - but not theirs.

Virrana'h stood now and stepped toward the Death Knight. The wind was picking up and tugged haphazardly at Soth's black cloak, but he barely noticed it. His intense eyes never shifted from the Witch coming toward him. Her proud features distinct even in such shadows of the garden.


"The question now is,...Will you let your past stand between you and the greatness that is beckoning, calling to you now?"


"There is no need to ask such a question of me, Death Knight. My place there ended the moment my breath was restored to me by the healing ministrations of the Lady Pandora - who did so at your bidding. All is forfeit. My life belongs to you, Lord Soth. It is for you to decide my future. Speak it, and I will obey."

[Lord Soth]

Soth smiled inwardly, however his marble like face gave no indication to his inner most thoughts as he listened to her. Tei's confirmation of the "life debt" she felt compelled to grant him under the circumstances was exactly what he wanted to hear and it now opened wide the door to Soth's intended exploit. The first phase of his sinister plan was a success and the rest was now only a matter of time. Indeed, he would show the Dathomir Witch the deepest of secret's when it came to the Dark Side of the force; nevertheless, there would be a heavy toll that would inevitably come with it. In do time he would woo her to the un-life of vampirism.

"Very well then M'lady..." He replied smoothly, taking a small step towards Virrana'h, Soth then placed his livid hand upon her forehead. At first his touch was cold and clammy then it progressively grew warmer until she felt she could no longer bare the heat of it. As Soth chanted in an ancient unknown dialect unfamiliar to the Dathomir Witch, a searing sensation fell over Tei's entire body then after a few moments, it subsided. The Death Knight hand glowed then faded back to its original state. His "unseen mark" was now upon her, a mystical foretoken that represented the unbreakable contract between the two as long as Virrana'h drew breath...The young woman was now the Death's Knight's willing servant according to her custom’s and her own admission, even in the after life.

"My dark blessing is now upon you,…Sister of the Waling Clan...I will bestow to you all that I know,...Train you in the way's of the Dark Sith and the knowledge there of.” Tei felt feverish and somewhat disoriented in that moment as the Death Knight finished in low tones. Thin blue tendril’s of lighting coursed over head and across the night sky, followed by a large clap of thunder as if signifying and confirming the dark pact that had just been made.

[Virrana'h Tei]

Within, Tei reeled at the touch of the Death Knight and the transference of his seal upon her forehead that transcended through her body, mind and soul. But to an onlooker, she was rigid, solid as one of the marble statues that adorned the beautiful gardens.

Her eyes closed and even should she have tried, she would have been unable to lift them. Something that was not of this present realm snaked its frozen tentacles throughout her being, traversing her veins and tissues and wrapped its steely fingers around her heart and mind.

As the lightening crackled over head and thunder echoed far across the Roon landscape, the Mark of the Blessing appeared on her skin. Soth lifted his hand slightly to hover it against the aura of the Dathomir's as it illuminated about her body. She was his now. Sealed and set apart.

He had expected now an easing and receding of his mystic power, but it was not so. Tei's body remained taunt, her eyes shut, but the kinetic activity between Master and Servant continued of its own and its passage was electric. The Clan Sorceress was somehow drawing still from Soth - taking into herself the mystic energy he had so recently unleashed.

He could feel the transition from him giving, to her taking - and whether Tei was doing it deliberately or not, Soth knew he must stop it. For her sake, more than his own. She was taking to herself more than his mark. She was taking the years - the centuries - of mystic energy the Death Knight had accumulated over the years.

Beneath her eyelids, Virrana'hs eyes moved eratically in sensory overload. Her hands struck forward, clutching onto Soths arms, her long fingers gouging into him until her nails could be felt on his skin beneath his thick cloak. Her face became a tortured mask, the soft natural lines about her eyes and mouth, deepened and multiplied. Her skin sank into the hollows now forming about her cheeks and eyes until her face was a stark image of aged skin drawn thinly over bone.

Her fingers, still clutching, became bent and gnarled and her hair - moments earlier thick and glossy and rich brown - was now streaking white and becoming coarse and wild. Her back began to twist and deform with age


And still, the energy cyphoned from him to her, and the effects of the "eternal" on her frail mortal coil ravaged her.

As a testament to the Dathomir's inner strength, Virrana'hs eyes shot open - her only outward indication that she was not in control but yet, that she was fighting inwardly against such a terrible phenomenon.

Shocked, frantic eyes locked onto Soth's own. Within their stare, her desperate plea for him to make it stop.

[Lord Soth]

Soth almost flinched at the suddenness of Virrana'h death grip upon his forearm. A desperate look of agony inscribed upon the Witches ashen face pierced Soth's Vampyre soul as she pleaded for her life without spoken words. Sparkling tendril’s of blue spilled fourth from the Death Knight's form as the Dathomir leeched the kinetic energies from him. Like a magnate, the Death Knight felt himself being pulled into her as the over whelming power's tugged at him. Tei's youthful countenance seemed to waver and fluctuate as old age tried to claim her for its own in that very moment. A fanged grimace formed on Soth's face as he too was now locked in the deadly struggle with the paranormal. He had to act quickly or they both might parish in the onslaught.

"Ven nosh havol dos envea!" Soth managed to force out the word's of Sith Magic from his mouth as he placed both hands on Tei's bare shoulder in a vain attempt to distance himself from her.

"VEN NOSH HAVOL DOS ENVEA!" Once again Soth uttered the words, raising his voice in defiance to the power's that stayed him. Suddenly, a brilliant white hot flash emitted between the two bodies. The force was so profound that Virrana'h and Soth were blown some fifteen feet apart from one another. Smoke rolled off the two stricken forms as they came to rest in the cool grass of the garden.

[Virrana'h Tei]

Her body was tossed through the air as if it were a small stone and came to rest on the damp mossy ground.

Thin blue smoke rose in whisps from her body as she lay motionless. The force of the kick from the broken link with the Death Knight had propelled the two far from each other.

Soth groaned lowly as he rolled over onto his back. Blinking open his eyes, he looked up into the ever darkening night sky. Thick heavy clouds were hanging above him and the air was taking on an unusual chill. He lolled his head to the side, seeking Virrana'h and saw her inert form far to his right.

She was simply a dark mound on the earth, but her shock of now white hair was clearly visible.

Tei's breath came to her in deep burning rasps and she slowly elevated herself on her elbows where she lay. She was unaware of the ravages the connection with Soth's essence of being had on her - she felt extraordinarily powerful. It was exhilarating and she started to laugh, for want of any other way to express and release the incredible adrenilin that was rushing through her.

At the sound of her voice, Soth sat up, then got fully to his feet. Tei's laugh had become a throaty cackle, unnatural and harsh.

As she heard her own voice, Tei stopped abruptly and slowly, painfully got to her feet.

Instead of her proud athletic form, she had become a wizzened ancient crone. One eye was clouded white and she could not see out of it. But the power she felt.....was overwhelming.

She walked in slow shuffling steps towards her new Master, incomprehension stamped all over her face.

"What have you done to me, my Dark Lord?"

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[Lord Soth]

The Death Knight subconsciously reached for the hilt of his dule sabers as he eyed the old woman before him some distance away. Soth could feel the rejuvenating power that was leeched from him slowly returning to his jolted being. Tiny wisps of magical smoke continued to roll off the ancient armor that Soth was housed as he shot the gnarled crone a narrowed look of disgust.

"What kind of trickery is this witch?" The Death Knight snapped in a demanding voice, ignoring what Tei had asked of him prior as he began to circle her cautiously.

"You dare to trifle with me when I have just bestowed upon you the Dark Blessing...And this is how you repay me!" Soth almost spat the words out at Virrana'h as his ivory teeth clenched in a fanged snarl. Soth's temper flared in that moment as the color of his eyes dissipated and turned a stark white that glinted with a harbored power within them. Tei could also see the talon hand's of the Death Knight ebbing with an unnatural light of their own until the power about them begged for release once the purplish hues reached thier zenith.

[Virrana'h Tei]

Soth's fury frightened Virrana'h. She shrank back further to the shadows as light sparked about his lethal talons. Her bewilderment was complete. The sorcercess couldn't understand what had happened. She looked down at her twisted, ugly hands and began to wail.

The combination of the power coursing through her, and the confusion of what she had happened to her, together with Soths angry words sent her into a tailspin.

Her wailing and shreiking grew louder as she looked over her own wretched body and ran her crooked fingers through her hair. She crumpled to a crouch on the ground and cried out in her Dathomir tongue. Her terrible noise sent the nightcreatures of Roon scattering to their darkened holes.

Lifting her ancient head, Tei looked fearfully at the Death Knight as he strode toward her, intending violence with every step.

Her clouded white eye locked onto him, looking beyond the present, beyond the physical, and saw the inner essence of the man as he stormed towards her. And as he came closer, the image became clearer.

Soth was beautiful to look at. Handsome, majestic, powerful. But he was a child of the damned. The darkness had complete rule within his soul, and had so for generations. And Virrana'hs blind diseased eye could see this. And suddenly, the witch understood.

As Soth neared, Virrana'hs anger matched his own as she flew at him. Leaping her spindly, brittle body at the Vampyre, she sprang on him like some wild clawing vulture.

"YOU did this Soth!"

It was her turn to spit out her ire.

"It is your own twisted evil darkness that you see infront of you! I am the mirror of what your soul has become. I am what you are."

She gripped his face in her steeled fingers and wrenched his head toward her, forcing him to look into her eyes.

In the milky white pool, Soth saw his reflection and it was the same image the Dathomir could see.

[Lord Soth]

Soth stayed his power's that were held at bay for the time being as the old crone shrieked in horror at what she had become. No sooner had the Death Knight lowered his defense, the Dathomir Witch made a mad dash for him. With one fell swoop from his humming sabers or the powerful magical discharge from his glowing hand, Soth could have easily killed the old woman; however, the Death Master froze in his steps. It was that eye, that damnable blind, sickly eye that held him fast. The brunt of the woman's small frame clashed with the Dark Knight's as she ran up on him, her boney hand's almost instantly clutching at his marble face as she pulled near to her.

"YOU did this Soth!" Tei retorted in a venomous voice as the murky eye narrowed at Soth.

"It is your own twisted evil darkness that you see in front of you! I am the mirror of what your soul has become. I am what you are." She said mockingly as she craned her head to one side as if giving him a better look at what she spoke of.

Indeed, the old crone could see Soth for what he truly was and the startling revelation of his dark nature became evident to her "new sight" with each closer examination of him. Nevertheless, the countless year's of wickedness and absolute carnage that lay just beneath Soth's noble countenance was not fully manifest to her. This deliberate and shadowy deception was sadly underscored by the Dathomir Clan Sister as her appraisal of him was superficial at best. The Death Knight knew all too well what he was and had become long ago. He had made peace with the dark-side of his nature, embraced it and harnessed it to do his evil bidding...

And what the old hag saw next began to burn her "mind's eye" as Soth showed Virrana'h the true unholy horror that lay behind his own eternal eyes. Carnage and death, decay and then finally...Oblivion! It spilled like tides of blood throughout her confined mind. Tei began to physically reel backwards from Soth but he now took hold of her in his mighty grasp.

"Yes,...Behold the Dark Side of the Force!" Soth hissed in Tei's native tongue as the end of his sentence trailed off to a guttural growl. Soth's solid white pools narrowed into thin slits as his razor sharp talons stung her leathery flesh. The Vampyre's mouth instantly opened in a gapping fanged mask of terror as he trusted the witches head to one side and tore at her exposed neck. The old crone's blood spurted then spilled effortlessly over Soth's pale hand as he kept her in check with the strength of thirty men, draining her life's essence to the point of death in the matter of second’s as he ravaged her like a rabid wolf gone mad.

[Virrana'h Tei]

Virrana'h dangled at the mercy of the Death Knight as he ran rampant in her mind with images of chaos, violence and murder.

The sorceress was not new to such scenes of carnage - war in any setting was a brutal affront, bloody and violating. But this was not war that she was seeing. This was wickedness and hate given a free reign - and so given for centuries to sow misery, terror and pain. It was willful black evil and it was all done by the one who's talons clutched about her throat.

Virrana'h shrieked and wailed at the awfulness of it, her wraithlike arms waving helplessly at her sides, unable to protest more than with the anguish of her soul.

But the worst was yet to come.

Baring his fangs, Soth plunged them deep into her throat and the pain was like nothing the witch had ever known. She panicked and began to frantacally beat and tear at her assailant.

With yellow age-stained nails Virrana'h tore at the Death Knight, gouging into his face, tearing at his raven hair. She arched her back, twisting and writhing like a fish on a hook. But for all her beating and flailing, it aided her nothing.

After only seconds, the tulmut subsided, and Soth felt Virrana'h's resistaince drain. As her lifes blood was drawn from her, the Dathomir's features fluctuated in the extreme. With each draw the Vampire took, Viranna'h's form shifted back and forth between the ancient crone, and the young strong beauty she had formerly been. Like some strange everchanging holographic image, she moved and shifted between two extreme polars of appearance.

After the violent satisfaction of his own bloodlust, Soth relented as he heard Virrana'h surrender a long low breath. All struggle was gone. As was all movement. In his arms he held once more the dark haired warrior of the Dathomir, her face pale, her pulse nonexistant. And clearly on her forehead, Soth could see, the runes of the Mark of the Blessing he had placed there.

[Lord Soth]

Slower and fainter was the beat of Virrana'h heart until it throttled and rattled in her aching chest. The inky veil of death now held her in its loving embrace, but it was the Death Knight that was to claim her for his own this night. The deep wounds on Soth's marble face closed then faded back to normal as he carried the Clan Sister to the stone bench they had sat on earlier. Slowly he lowered her limp body to the cold surface, cradling her head in the soft creases of his black Sith robes. Tei was aware of her surrounding's and the familiar face that neared her as she glanced up into his piercing blue eyes. Virrana'h's fresh stain was still upon Soth's glistening lips as she felt his breath near her. A gentle kiss touched the “Dark Mark” on Tei's forehead then Soth pulled away from her form, fading and slipping away from her view as the shadow’s of the night eclipsed his noble features.

As Soth held out his exposed wrist, he quickly ran the razor tip of his index finger over it until it oozed with his own precious blood and spilled to the ground at his feet. Once again Virrana'h could feel her wobbly head lifted from the hard stone pillow of the bench that she rested on and then into the welcoming comfort of the Death Knight's arms.

"Virrana'h,...Drink and live. Take from me the sweet nectar that will heal your pain. If you do not,....You will surly die." Soth’s seemingly pleasant words were low and inviting to her ear's, like the velvety black robes that caressed her ashen face. The pitter patter of Soth's blood fell upon Tei's wanting lips as he placed the open wound to her hungry mouth.

"Drink and live Lady Virrana'h...It is your destiny."

[Virrana'h Tei]

As the crimson drops fell, the stark redness of their hue seemed brilliant against the pale drained lips they dressed.

Tei's mind was dull, her senses struggling to arrest anything tangible in order to bring her back from the darkness that was engulfing her.

The peircing blue of Soth's eternal eyes were the only image that seemed to anchor her, even after he moved from her actual range of sight, their image remained.

Drop by drop she was summoned back from the edge. Each falling tap of the Death Knights blood upon her lips brought an urgent call to the Dathomir - pulling at her natural instinct to survive, firing the primal urge to live.

Her parched tongue touched forward, tasting blood and like a bolt of electricity, its revelation shreiked through her every pore. She tilted her head, and Soth accommodated her hunger by keeping his wrist just above her mouth. Virrana'h lifted a weak hand and placing it over his arm, pushed his weeping wrist forward hard and for the first time, drank from the fountain of the damned.

It was like a fire had been lit inside her. The heat of an eternal flame burned so hot it felt like a steel knife slicing through every vein, tendon, muscle and bone in her body. It was agony and ecstacy at the same time. And it couldn't be stopped. And it couldn't be satiated. It both inflamed Virrana'h and destroyed her. She would never be the same. She would never want to be the same.

After some moments, she lifted her eyes, now wild with the blood of the undead coursing unfettered throughout her being, and understanding and enlightenment dawned..and holding the eyes of her Master, she smiled a bloodied smile..

[Lord Soth]

A visible grimace of pain etched its way across Soth's ashen face as Virrana'h took in the life sustaining fluid with a veracious appetite that could not be suppressed. Soth's glistening fangs clenched as the Dathomir Witch ravaged the open wound of his bloodied wrist. The Death Knight could feel the very essence of his power he had taken from Tei only moment's prior beginning to wane as he disparately tried to free himself from her thirsty grasp.

"Enough!...You have,...You have had enough Virrana'h!" Soth managed to force the word's out as he tore his arm from Tei’s stained mouth. No sooner had the Death Knight stumbled backwards from the young woman, the deadly venom of his Vampiric being took its relentless hold upon her.

Virrana'h's passionate hunger quickly subsided into to racking pain and agony she had never experienced in her entire life. The burning fire now consumed her being as her body arched backwards on the stone seat she once rested on. Her mind cried out in horror yet only gasp's and faint whimper's escaped her contorted face...She was dying...Her mortal coil was now giving way to the new life that was replacing it...The Dark Gift was now claiming Virrana'h unto its self.

“Fear,…Fear not lady Tei…It is only the mortal body that dies,…I assure you.” Soth said in labored tones as he examined the now rapidly closing wound of his right wrist.

[Virrana'h Tei]

It was like the thunder of a thousand Rancours on the battlefield of Dathomir. A deafening cacophony of power and life stampeding her mind, her body. It smothered every thought, every sensation shutting out everything completely. All she knew was the sound of the blood swamping and flooding through her. So much life, so much energy -yet she couldnt breath. Her chest constricted, her heart turning to a solid knot in her chest, tight and petrifying as the moments past.

It was a terrifying experience.

It was like a river that had burst its banks and was relentless in its advance. Unstoppable. One could see the disaster, the inescapable danger, but could do nothing about it.

This is what Virrana'h felt.

She tried to cry out, but had no air in her lungs to do so. She tried to twist, to move, to do anything to gain some control, but it simply was not possible. Her body was like a stone - a dead weight. But on the inside was a wild raging turmoil.

She heard the soft murmerings of Soth's voice and at the far corners of her mind it brought a slight comfort. And then as suddenly as it had hit her, everything stopped.

And as the Death Knight looked down into her face, her features were as carved marble. Hard, still, pale. And all light had gone from her eyes.

[Lord Soth]

Like unbridled waves of pure energy and an awakening dark knowledge to the mind, the rejuvenating powers of the Death Knight coursed through Virrana'h's new form. The long tendrils of her hair became more lustrous and vibrant with each passing second. Her eyes glittered and sparkled with life as the Roon moon light was captured in their silver irises. Muscles and bones, fibers and tendons were strengthened as her body rapidly transformed into an image of perfection. Tei's bewitching countenance seemed to carry an inner glow of power, ebbing in her like a fire that could never be squalled nor vanquished...She was now a creature of the night!...A Vampyre of the Damned!


With graceful ease, the Death Knight stretched fourth his livid hand to Virrana'h, offering it to her as he pulled her to her feet. Already the world about her took on a different appearance as her now acute peripheral vision soaked in the subtleties of it. Shadow's seemed to move with a life of thier own. The once stone eye's of the marble statue's about the hanging garden's opened and peered at the Dathomir Witch as if welcoming her to thier world that she had been dead too for so long. And oddly enough, as Tei locked eyes with the Death Knight's, an understanding washed over her. She knew him in a way that she had been blind to before she had shed her mortal coil. Virrana'h had taken on more then just the likeness of her newly accepted master or the granted Dark Blessing he endowed her with...Tei had received from him some of the Vampiric gift's and the residue of Soth's power's as a Death Knight. In time Soth would hone theses rare gifts, train her in thier discipline’s as time faded in the distance, no longer an element that she would have to concern her self with.

"Behold Lady Tei...Let your Vampyre eyes take in what was once veiled to you...Embrace the Dark Side as your sister…Welcome the powers that it offers you as your brother." Soth's hand gently caressed Virrana'h's porcelain face as his smooth word's filled her heightened hearing.

Above them, the dark clouds parted, separating until it opened a celestial window to the heavens. Sparkling pin points of light dotted the ebony curtain of space like countless grains of sand...

Virrana'h Tei could now see them as they were no longer obscured to her...The numerous star's over Roon were no longer a mystery to her as well...They were now simply hers to take!...

[Virrana'h Tei]

Soth's hands were gentle as they touched her face, tilting her chin upward to look at the heavens.

Virrana'h's flawless skin caught the lunar light as it washed over her with the parting of the clouds. A cold unnatural glow seemed to radiate from off her skin, a dull gleam in her beautiful almond eyes.

This was not the same world she had arrived on, she was sure. It couldnt be. Looking about her now, the gardens were the same, yet completely different. Nothing was as it had been only eternal moments before. In the night there lived such entities that were hid to mortal eyes. The orbs of the damned knew no such ignorant comfort. She moved slightly closer to the Death Knight seeking his shelter.

Soth smiled down at her, she could sense it. He was pleased with what he had created, and she was pleased that he was pleased. She turned and took his hands in her own. Looking down at them, examining them closely. So lethal, so exquisite. His flesh was cold to the touch, as was her own - it was a strange intoxicating sensation.

Virrana'h looked up now, to meet her Masters eyes. The one clouded eye of the crone still shone from behind the youthful beauty before him, a grim reminder of the price the Dathomir had paid.

"What is this world you have brought me to...?"

[Lord Soth]

Soth slowly lifted Virrana'h pale hand to his ruby lip's, once stained by her own blood ironically, but now faded and absorbed fully into the Dark Knight's being. Soth's eye's remained focused on Tei's own questioning pool's as he gave her a gentle smile.

"What is this world you have brought me to...?" Virrana'h asked sincerely as she spoke in low tones. Soth then straightened in his posture, yet the Dathomir’s cold livid hand continued to rest in Soth's as he answered.

"Why,...To the Land of Dream's of course. You are now among the rulers of the night, a spawn of her royalty." The Death Knight offered the fledgling Vampyre his armored arm as they began to walk the cobblestone path before them.

"Never be ashamed of your calling Virrana'h...On the contrary, take hold of your new gift and bend the will of man to do your bidding...This is your right to do so. For what being now holds precedence over you when is now your destiny to command at thier folly?" Soth replied arrogantly as he walked with a stately stride beside her.

[Virrana'h Tei]

As Soth offered his arm, Virrana'h took it gladly, folding her own around it and walking in the haven of his experience.

It was a strange, unnatural world she had been ushered into and Tei felt as one who had entered a theatre of players half-way through the first act. The story was unfolding before her eyes, but understanding was incomplete. She was a step behind, a scene late and she was inwardly trying to catch up. This would be corrected in time - by Soth, by experience, and by the natural progression of her new transcendence.

As he spoke, a new boldness was birthed within her, a new arrogance. She looked about with eyes now freed from the scales of mortality, released by the dark gift, and she felt a certain wonderment. However, the uncertainty of what she had become, what she was, held her in check. She was content to just allow her new reality seep into her being.

The Death Knight could sense her struggle, perhaps he had been expecting it having seen it before on fledglings of the damned. It would take time, but only a very little time, for her to fully catch the revelation of what he had given her and feel the complete exultation of what she was.
And that would happen with her first bloodlust, her first real thirst.

For now, it was the amazement of the veil of ignorance being drawn back that was consuming her.

"I never knew the night was so beautiful.."