The End of Life (Wraith Soul)

[Ice]

Ice sat alone on the couch eyes closed as he thought of Redeemer. He let out a sigh, realizing it had been a long time since the two of them had been alone, especially since that mortal Dorian had joined their merry group. His lips curled at the thought of Dorian, the one mortal he did not want to like. His eyes drifted to the roaring fire in front of them, the flames mirrored in his ice blue eyes.

Quinlin had taken Redeemer and Epona out to enjoy some nightlife since being healed and Dorian went with a reluctant Izabell back to the Council of Nine to talk over some things with Count Fulkrehm and Dante. Ice had refused to go anywhere, demanding time alone and that was what he was doing now. He had even given Royce, his butler, the night off.

Since the night of their victory over the Descendants, Ice had noticed the subtle change in Redeemer. Like something had spooked her, his Redeemer..the Un-spookable. He often caught her watching him carefully and when asked about it, she would just shake her head and smile lovingly at him.

He let out another sigh, getting up from the couch, knowing he must feed. Grabbing his jacket, he decided to leave his sword at home and quickly flew out the window to the small town that bordered on his property. There he would find a slew of indecent mortals who were not worthy to live to feed on. A grin appeared on his face and he looked forward to this night.

[Wraith Soul]

High within the southern mountainous providence of K’har Sian, the tall ominous asp trees gently swayed with the lulling winds that blew through their canopy. A light fog had begun to roll in over the foot hills below and the moon light from above seemed to cast the surrounding landscape in an eerie surreal wash of dark blue’s and grays. And even stranger yet, the creatures of the woodlands seemed to halt their nightly calls to one another due to the evil that lurked in their midst’s…

With unwavering patients, the outlander stood quietly within the inky recess just beyond the tree line above the narrow road. His silhouetted form blended perfectly as the night shade welcomed and embraced the heavy black hooded robe he wore. Thin crimson slits hung menacingly behind a white porcelain mask of the traveler from afar. A mask of a frowning face that hid the truer hideous intention’s behind its stoic façade.

This night was only one of many that he had stood in the very spot watching, observing with a careful eye for the unwary he spied, eye’s that were affixed to the modest path that snaked its way downwards through the thick forest from the mansion perch to the village far below. The occasion presented its self when the hellish red orbs behind the ivory mask caught a glimpse of the lone figure of Ice emerging from one of the many bends in the narrow road. The sinister plan was about to unfold. However, evil would bide its time for now and follow the unfortunate quarry into the urban flatlands. There, perhaps in a local tavern he would present himself when the door of opportunity creaked open and the whisping tendrils of fate entered unannounced.

[Ice]

Ice threw the hapless victim to the ground, wiping his mouth of any left over remains of blood. He stopped in mid-motion, feeling something not right in the air. He quickly sought out Redeemer and found her safe. He smiled to himself bringing his attention back to where he was.

Turning to leave the alley he fed in, Ice made his way down a few streets, taking in the night, something he hadn’t done in awhile. It was nice to get away from everyone, not talk about the Bloodpack. He took in a deep breath and let it out, watching as it fogged in the cool night air.

Spotting a tavern down the road, he smiled and made his way down to it. He nodded to a few of the older folk sitting outside of it and their eyes opened wide in recognition of who and what he was. They started whispering to each other and Ice just laughed softly to himself. Before stepping inside, Ice stopped and turned around, searching for anything out of the ordinary in the little town. His eyes narrowed and his fangs began lengthened in anticipation.

“Something’s not right.” He growled.

[Wraith Soul]

...Yet he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Even with Ice’s heightened vampire sight, the dark spaces of the night between the adjacent building's and alleyways from his vantage point revealed nothing but shadows and a mass of inky blackness that ran thier length. Nevertheless, any wise man would know to trust his first instinct when it called a warning to his conscious.

Not long after the darkling entered the Ten Bell's, the mysterious lone traveler stepped forth from the murky shadows of a near by causeway to the immediate right of its entrance, out of sight before hand and hidden deep within protective manifold the dark-side its self. A gnarled looking walking staff was clutched tightly in his ebony gloved hand as he approached the elegantly carved door way of the well know pub. Hesitating, the masked visitor effortlessly pressed the heavy door inwards with his freed hand and the coldness that accompanied him rushed inside to greet the patron’s near its entrance. Eyes quickly fell on the stranger that wasn’t from theses parts. Suspicious glances soon trailed off into hushed whispers as the newcomer sought a darkened corner of the tavern from her prying eyes. His movement seemed to be devoid of human stride, smooth and linear to the wooden floor below him as if he was floating!

Moments after the outlander found a dark adequate corner of the pub, a bar servant approached him with a pleasant greeting that was shown to all the new faces that wandered in from the chilly night’s on K’har Sian.

“Good evening sir, can I interest you in some fine ale or perhaps a bottle of our finest house wine?” The young man questioned with a curtain note of enthusiasm in his voice. A brief moment of silence had past before the black hood slowly turned to face the youthful bar keep, and deep within the hollow of the cowl emerged a contorted face of pain and horror that was frozen in its similitude. A faint unsettling gasp escaped the servant mouth as the simple ivory mask seemingly transformed into a grotesque decomposed countenance of unimaginable decadency. Writhing worm’s and maggot’s adorned the hideous face and the hollow eye sockets. Rotted flesh hung loosely about the skull’s features and the decaying facial muscles glinted with a fresh wash of blood that run into the soft collar linings of the visitors black robe.

“Cling to what life you have mortal and bother me no more!” Hissed the poisonous voice beneath the ebony hood, turning slowly away from the young mans view once again. With a stumbling backwards flight that sent the near by chairs to the floor, the servant retreated in horror. Death now seemed to be only a stones throw away...

[Ice]

Sitting in a booth in the back corner, Ice’s head snapped up at the sound of the chair’s crashing and caught sight of the young man hurrying back to the safety of his bar. Ice’s gaze slowly moved back to the spot and found a robed man sitting there quietly. His face was covered by his robes, but Ice did not need to see his face to know that the man was just oozing with evil. He sat there watching him for awhile, trying to figure out his place in the tavern that night.

’You are thinking too hard, My Love. Relax and enjoy your time alone.’ Came Redeemer’s soft voice in his mind. Ice smiled, softly laughing to himself.

’Get out of my mind, Wench. I’ll deal with you later.’ He sent back, feeling her laughter wrap around him as she cut the connection between them. Ice leaned back in the booth, the shadows covering his face as he did so. He brought his arms up to rest on the back of the booth, his eyes never leaving the stranger.

[Wraith Soul]

He could feel Ice's cold stare upon him, wondering who he was and why he was here. The strange out of place feeling he felt from him, an uneasy feeling that something profound was about to occur, yet at the same time he couldn’t quite put a finger on it. Ice would have his answer’s, it was now only matter of time...

"You are thinking too hard, My Love. Relax and enjoy your time alone." The stranger accurately repeated his lover’s word's in a soft spectral voice, just barely auditable for Ice to pick up with his sensitive hearing.

"And what would you tell her in return my friend,...If you knew it to be the last time you would ever lay eye's upon her ever again,?" Questioned the hunched over stranger as he remained unmoving from his spot, his stature looking to be that of an old man late in life. The cloaked man's cryptic words at that moment seized Ice in his place, yet unmistakably forcing him and drawing his full attention to the one in front of him only a few tables away.

[Ice]

Ice literally froze in his seat as the stranger talked to him. His hand tightened around the shot glass he was holding and broke it without even realizing it. His eyes turned steely as he slowly stood and pushed the table out of the booth before walking to the stranger's table.

'Since you seem to be able to hear my private conversations and can talk to me in this way,' Ice sent to him, his first thoughts going to Redeemer and protecting her. 'You lay one hand on her and you will wish you hadn't, Stranger.'

Ice's eyes turned from ice blue to almost white at the thought of anyone harming Redeemer. Ice felt Redeemer's alarm and he calmly reassured her everything was fine and closed the connection, building a wall around his thoughts to keep her out for now, as much as he hated to. His fangs lengthened and he moved closer to the table.

"You are not welcome here." He hissed, leaning on the table with his hands. "Leave here while you still can."

[Wraith Soul]

The Lich showed no outward sign of acknowledgment to Ice’s idle threats as he leaned into the stranger table. On the contrary, the black cloaked figure only motioned to the vampyre to sit with a smooth gesture of his gloved hand, never looking at Ice as he did so. Ice could smell the sweet stench of death around this being, or whatever he truly was. A familiar fragrance he himself was acquainted with, yet disturbing all the same.

“Sssit,…Let me tell you why I am here,…Why you are here as well. That isss of coursse,…If you care anything for the one you claim to love,…You will honor my sssimple requessst.” The stranger’s words were deliberately slow and almost serpentine like, his left hand still extended in an invitation in front of him for Ice to set. Oddly, the newcomer never lifted his orb-less eyes to face the angry darkling. Long silent moments hung over the two accursed creatures and the patrons about the room also looked on with a curtain anticipation as to what would transpire next between the two.

[Ice]

"..if you care anything for the one you claim to love,…You will honor my sssimple requessst."

"Like I said, if you harm her, I will hunt you down." Ice hissed again, his muscles taught and his body ready to react. All Ice wanted to do was rip the cowl from the head of this man, but he would not act out like that.

Taking a calming breath, Ice, curious, slid into the opposite side of the booth, noticing the occupants of the tavern watching the two of them carefully. He quickly flashed his eyes at them all and they hurriedly went back to their business. Turning to look back at the hooded man, Ice crossed his arms over his chest.

"What is it you want from me?"

[Wraith Soul]

"Like I said, if you harm her, I will hunt you down," Replied the vampyre with blood in his voice. The stranger slowly retracted his hand only after Ice sat down across from him. The vampire caught a glint of white that was captured in the dim light of the room as the ivory mask silhouetted features remained semi-obscured from Ice within the black hood. And the awful lingering stench that encompassed the magi seemed to dissipate, yet never quite left as Ice strained to see within the black void of the Lich’s cowl.

“You never answered my question darkling,…It would be wissse of you if you did so.” The hollow voice whispered in low tones as a syrupy blood began to slowly ooze through the cracks of the wooden table until it pooled in small areas. The tavern at that moment seemed to whirl about them, then spinning slowly until it halted and all that remained in the room was the table they sat at and an impenetrable darkness that surrounded their perimeter. The powerful illusion began to take its hold upon Ices mind, no longer could he feel his love Redeemer near him…The connection was lost! Distant voices within his mind seemed to echo her voice, then laughter followed by bitter weeping. Even though Ice was powerful in his own right, it mattered not,…He was not immune to this powerful magic that Wraith had brought forth, and its disorienting effect’s left his head pounding with blood.

“I will ask you once again,… What would you say to her if you knew it to be the last time you would ever lay eye's upon her ever again?” The sepulchral voice asked in a velvety smooth tone as the frowning mask of the stranger came into to view for the first time from the light above them that had no true source. The Arch-Lich paused for a brief moment before he went on to add...

“I can make it all go away,…That is,…If you answer my questions wisssely.”

[Ice]

Ice clutched his hands to his head, trying to block out the dizzying images this man, if that is what he can be called, was torturing him with. He clenched his teeth, feeling suddenly lost not knowing how his connection with Redeemer could be cut.

"Not possible." Ice hissed through bared teeth, his hands going to the table to clasp the edges of it. The table began to shake from his grasp and he opened his eyes to stare the faint show of white peeking out from underneath his cowl.

“I will ask you once again… What would you say to her if you knew it to be the last time you would ever lay eye's upon her ever again? I can make it all go away,…That is,…If you answer my questions wisssely.”

"You want to play games?" Ice spoke, his smooth voice low and deadly as he braced himself. "Fine, I will play your game. I would tell her that I loved her and that we would be reunited soon enough. Is that what you want to hear?"

[Wraith Soul]

"You want to play games?... Fine, I will play your game. I would tell her that I loved her and that we would be reunited soon enough. Is that what you want to hear?" Ice replied in a lethal voice as his piercing blue eyes narrowed at the being before him.

What started off as a low and sinister guttural laugh, quickly escalated into high pitched shriek of sheer mockery. The crackling laughter permeated and echoed in Ices mind like wailing siren’s that cursed his very existence. Everything that that vampire thought to be sane and tangible was now quickly becoming transient. And as the sand’s of time rapidly dwindled, all the more Ice became entangled in the intricate and calculated web that Wraith spun.

“LOVE !...You are not capable of such venture’s foool!...Your incompetent nature has left you delusional as to what love really isss,...” Snapped the stranger in a sharp cutting tone, lifting what now appeared to be a livid hand devoid of nearly all of its flesh, pointing an index finger at Ice in an accusing fashion.

“…Your kind my friend,…Are of the damned! Consumed with the frail notion of immortality and the power’s you ssseek from it…Self absorbed creatures indeed…You love “nothing” but yourself, heaping upon yourselves the lavishness and material treasures that this life affords you. Fulfilling the debauchery you’ve created and hunger after. Yes,…You have willfully forfeited that mortal emotion when you embraced the dark gift long ago...Love,…An affection you know nothing of!” The Lich vehemently hissed in a poisonous voice. As Ice looked upon the cloaked figure in front of him, he noticed the eye lid’s of the frowning mask beginning to seep with a dark inky blood. The small inverted slit that served as a mouth bled as well, dipping like thick saliva to the oaken table until it formed into a thin continuous stream.

“Will you deny that even now!...You may lie to yourself darkling,…Against your very own conscious…But I ask of you this…Will you do to her the same,…When you look upon your lovers face for the last time and this world shall fade from your vampire eye’s?...Yes Ice,…Do tell,…Do tell...” Oddly, the last of the strangers sentence now took on a more clear and discernable tone, his outstretched cadaver looking hand slowly lowering to the table as he finished.

[Ice]

"...embraced the dark gift long ago..."

Ice had had enough, he stood from the table, knocking it over as he glared at him.

"Embraced the dark gift? I do not think so." Ice spat, his teeth bared and dripping with saliva. "I am pure, born into this life and I have never thought twice of it. I know what love is, I know what it is to be happy, to know hurt."

Ice took a step further, blocking everything from his mind that the stranger was now throwing his way. The tavern had cleared out, the mortals afraid for their lives.

"YOU are the one who does not know what it is like. Do NOT sit there and preach to me things you know not of." Ice's voice had taken on a lower, more dangerous tone as he spoke. "Who do you think you are to come in to this tavern this night and play this game with me? I do not know who you are. Why me? WHY ME?" Ice yelled the last question, taking a step back to wrap his hands around the lattice designed backing of the booth and ripped it away from the wall. He turned, his glowing eyes trained on the stranger.

"I have had enough of this pathetic game. It ends now."

[Wraith Soul]

"Who do you think you are to come in to this tavern this night and play this game with me? I do not know who you are. Why me? WHY ME?...I have had enough of this pathetic game. It ends now." The last of the Ice's words were deadly, his heated anger was now visible and evident within his cold narrowed eyes.


Wraith’s outward demeanor remained stoic at Ice’s display of controlled rage, explaining to him that he was wrong in his estimation of his full blooded heritage. A comment that only aroused a crackling snicker from the stranger. It delighted the Lich to know he was finally getting under his skin, that his devious plan was sinking its claws deep into the vampires mind...

A wide and hideous grin stretched across the outlanders rotting face from underneath the mask he wore. The darkened eye sockets of the mask began to glow with an unholy amber hue as he glared at Ice…He was not quite done with this one.

“This may be…But that is irrelevant now Ice. Nevertheless, your kind is still of the same vile cloth.” The cloaked figure snapped in response, uttering the darkling’s name once again...

Suddenly, a brilliant flash emanated from atop the Liches gnarled staff, they were no longer within the Ten Bell’s…They were now standing on what appeared to be the mountainous region that over looked the city below on K’har Sian, miraculously transported to another spot entirely!. “How did this man know his name, and better yet, how was it possible for this being to do theses things?” Where only a few of the troubling question that arose in the vampire’s mind as he looked over the valley below and the tiny light’s that dotted the humble city that indicated a place they had once been.

“You see, this is no game darkling…Your time is drawing nigh…I will now tell you why!” The Lich replied as the cool wind gently blew his black robe back and forth, whipping Ice’s long light brown hair about him.

“This night is the last time you will see such thing’s…The last remaining time you will ever have contact with this physical world as you know it!...It matters not what I know of your past…For you see, tonight…You will surly die! I am only here to show to you the sin’s you have committed, transgressions you will pay in full for with your very life…It is simply inevitable…” Wraith’s hollow voice trailed off into the wind as they stood atop the large outcrop of rocks.

[Ice]

Ice looked over the rocks to the small village below, then slowly turned his gaze towards the stranger. His robes billowed in the wind as Ice's own hair whipped around him. The cold night air would have chilled a mortal, but Ice just stood there, head held high as he continued to stare at him.

"You think to kill me?" Ice hissed. "Try as you might, but you will NOT succeed. I have no sins to pay for." Ice's thoughts trailed to when he took Redeemer's blood that night he was almost dead without her permission and quickly banished those thoughts from his mind. He had already made up for that terrible mistake and would not repay for it again.

"You claim to kill me, stranger. Tell me," Ice said, cocking his head to the right. "How do you know of me?"

Biding his time, Ice stood there, waiting for the opportune time to strike out at him. Something in the back of his mind told him this man was something to take seriously. This was no game to him and Ice was ready to fight for his life and to protect Redeemer. He would stop at nothing to keep her protected, even if it meant his life for her's.

[Wraith Soul]

"You think to kill me?" Ice hissed in low lethal tones. "Try as you might, but you will NOT succeed. I have no sins to pay for."


The black cloaked figure said nothing at first, he only stood there looking at some fixed point that Ice could not discern. As the cutting wind suddenly picked up in its intensity, Ice could hear the distant howls and blood curdling scream’s from somewhere beyond. Unsettling shrieks of pain and suffering that seemed to loft on the brisk night air from the forest that encompassed them. Theses were the unfortunate victims that had died an untimely death at Ice’s cruel hand, murdered in cold blood to feed his veracious and unquenchable appetite.

“Oh,…but you have…Can you not hear their distant cries for justice as we speak?...Their eternal anguish demand’s retribution that has been denied them.” The Lich coolly replied as dark void within his hood turned to face him.

“Their innocent blood is on your hand’s Ice…Indeed, your sin’s…Not even the purest of water’s could ever wash away…And may it be known,…I am the reaper for their cause… Yes,…You will surely die this night...” The inky hood slowly turned from Ice once again, back to the same fixed point within the city below them…

The cry’s of every victim Ice had slaughtered raged on within mind, echoing as if he stood alone in a vast canyon that had no way of escape…The insanity of a thousand voices tore at his soul, pounding in his conscious until he could stand it no more. A painful gasp slipped from his mouth, trying desperately to shut them out…

“Dul’vosh, envoi vanquish,…” the evil Magi whispered in an almost hushed tone as he leaned the crooked staff that was in his hand towards the city below.

A sudden flash, like a luminous star that was being born pierced the darkness atop the mountain summit...And once again, they where then taken to another location…This time they stood over Ices last victim. Her crumpled form was still laying on the cold cobble stones of the dimly lit alley where he had left her. He lifeless eyes seemed to peer back up at him as he removed his hand from his ears…The haunting voices were gone for now…

“If she could speak Ice,…What would she say,...?” The stranger questioned softly in his sepulchral voice, pointing down at her stiffening body as a fleshless finger at end of the Liches' long drooping cuff of his ebony robe emerged.

[Ice]

Ice licked his fangs, turning to look from the lifeless body of the female he had last fed from to the man who has deamed himself their Reaper. His head was pounding and he felt as if he was loosing all control of his senses. Ice allowed himself a sarcastic smirk as he looked back down at the female.

"She...." He began, shaking off the last of the echoed voices from his mind. "She was no innocent. She was a whore who robbed men blind. I do not feed from innocents."

Ice spat in his face, taking a step to walk towards the dead body, smiling in satisfaction as it confirmed his suspicions. An illusion. He smiled, watching as the scene began to waver infront of him.

"Is that all you've got...'Reaper of the Innocent'?" Ice laughed, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "You disappoint me."

Within a blink of an eye, Ice was on him, knocking the stranger to the ground. He grabbed at his robes, his fags bared. Letting out a low, menacing growl, Ice reached to rip off the mask that hid his face when he was thrown off and knocked to the ground by an unseen force. Letting out a yell of frustration, Ice felt something snap inside of himself and he quickly stood, his hair blowing wildly around him, eyes wide and feral. He was no longer the caring Ice Redeemer knew, but the killing monster that all vampyres were one step away from if backed into a corner.

[Wraith Soul]

Over head a thunderous clapping boom ripped through the small town as boiling dark cloud’s rushed in at a rapid pace. The cushion of air within the alley way became increasingly thin as Ice looked skyward. Lighting streaked across the once clear sky, lashing out against the black back drop like wicked finger’s that threatened the landscape below...

As the Darkling’s burning white eyes slowly trailed down to the very spot to where he had thought to have downed the Magi, a brilliant flash over the roof tops revealed his absence to Ices astonishment. He no longer held the stranger in his iron grasp, but the dead whore he had killed earlier!...

Soon after, the heavy clouds unleashed their contents over the city, unable to restrain any further the waters that they once held in check. What started off as a light drizzle quickly turned into a torrent of rain fall, drenching everything in its beaten path.

Again, the clash of thunder reverberated over head. However this time, Ice caught a glimpse of the silhouetted figure on the roof top of an adjacent building right before a thick blue tendril of lighting hit the fist sized jewel atop the Liches gnarled staff. The deadly bolt arced then sizzled off the rod before it shot downwards, striking Ice mid-chest with a searing hot blow that sent him reeling to the wall behind him with a sickening thud. The pain was excruciating as the lasting thin cords wrapped around the vampires stunned form.

“You foolish, foolish man!…You would dare try to match wits and cunning with a wizard such as I,...?!” Wraith shrieked with a venomous voice, his amber eye’s reaching their hottest point from behind the ivory mask as he began to summons another powerful Sith spell of greater magnitude.

[Ice]

With his hair slicked back from the rain, Ice watched as the lightning came at him, knocking him off his feet. Pain seared through his body as he looked down to find his shirt burned away and his skin scorched from where the lightning had hit him. He dragged himself to his knees, ripping his burning shirt off and throwing it to the ground. His wet hair fell over his face as his glowing eyes turned up towards the stranger, his jaw set and teeth clenched.

With the speed of his kind, Ice was on top of the roof behind him, his hands fisted at his sides. Breathing heavily, Ice took a few steps closer to him as the stranger’s voice grew louder as he chanted. Ice bolted towards him, slamming his shoulder into his back, knocking them both off the top of the building, crashing into the street below. Ice landed on his side, feeling the air knocked out of him. Gasping for breath, he propped himself up on one elbow as he brought the other hand around to help himself off the ground.

“Quit your infernal yapping and fight like a man.” Ice hissed sarcastically with a labored breath. Ice stood shakily, his head pounding and body aching. “Do you always hide behind your talk, your illusions? Is that all you do?”

[Wraith Soul]

Plese Delete this post.......

[Wraith Soul]

What Ice thought to be real was nothing of the sort…In fact, the dark refection of his vampire life, his accursed nature had drifted silently into a neither world that the Lich was a master of. Within this frightening, yet deceptive realm of smoke and mirrors Ice now wandered aimlessly…A wicked sanctuary where anything and everything was possible at the weaver’s hand and to the eye of the beholder. All of Ices thought’s, emotions, even his ability to distinguish time and space was now in the complete control of the evil Magi that deemed himself the harbinger of death!...Where it all began and ended was now a confusing maze that would take Ice a life time to figure out…Nevertheless, the hour glass was nearing its end…

The crumpled figure before Ice lay motionless on the wet pavement where the two beings had landed. It would seem in the mind of Ice that the stranger took most of the brunt due to the fact he had landed on top of the wizard as they crashed to the cobblestone streets below. The rain that fell like sheets over the broken black form resembled now more of a heavily saturated mass then a visual person. In his blinding fury, the vampire found a sense of justice served, a means to an end that curbed his unbridled anger for the moment…However, this couldn’t have been further from the truth.

“Quit your infernal yapping and fight like a man.” Ice hissed sarcastically with a labored breath. Ice stood shakily, his head pounding and body aching. “Do you always hide behind your talk, your illusions? Is that all you do?” Ice finished his sentence in weighted tones as he glared at the unmoving stranger at his feet. As Ice looked on, the black robes of the Lich began to rapidly dissolve into an oily gelatinous mass until it finally settled and mingled with the rain water’s that puddle the street he stood on.

“Can you ever forgive me Ice,…For the things I’ve done committed against you?...I,…I only stole from you because I was hungry and in need of shelter…My children were without food,…” Came a distraught female voice from behind him. When Ice spun around, he was shocked to find the prostitute he had murdered prior that night standing only feet from him. Her sad blue eye’s pleaded with his, and a deep sense of melancholy adorned her facial features as she loosely held the familiar frowning ivory mask of the Lich in her left hand.

“Or would you kill me all over again,…If you had the chance? The young dark haired woman finished in low soft tones as her pale hand rose slowly, extending it in front of her as if she was motioning for Ice to take it.

[Ice]

Ice stared at the ‘victim’ in front of him, a smirk playing on his lips as he knew this was a trick of the Magi. He would not fall for such trickery again. Running his hands through his rain slicked hair, he lets out a low chuckle that turns slowly into a hearty laugh. Throwing his head back to let the rain pound on his cool skin, he lets out a hysterical laugh.

“Your parlor tricks do not work anymore, Magi.” Ice laughed into the night. “I do not play these games anymore.”

The night grows quiet, the rain suddenly stopping. Ice turns to look around him, his eyes landing back on the woman in front of him. With a shake of his head, he points to her and hisses,

“You are not real.”

Ice watches at the woman fades from his view and he looks down to find himself dry, his chest still scorched. Running a hand over his chest, he closes his eyes to search for any sign of the quiet Magi.

Standing there for a few minutes, he lets out a sarcastic laugh, then turns to walk away on the road leading back home. His mind on Redeemer and the sudden ache to see her again, to hold her. With vampyre speed, he makes his way back to the house to find it empty. Letting out a sigh of disappointment, he reaches out mentally for her to find no response.

“Ree.” He whispers, grabbing a goblet of blood wine from the kitchen. Slowly walking back into the living room, his mind on Redeemer, he hears a soft muffle and looks up just in time to see the robed Magi standing in front of the fireplace, Redeemer in front of him. Her arms are bound behind her back and her mouth if covered by one of his hands.

“Ree!” He screams, taking a step towards her. As if things were happening in slow motion, he reached for her just as he hears a sickening rip of flesh. The Magi’s hand appears out of Redeemer’s chest, holding her beating heart. Her eyes grow wide then slowly close as she collapsed against the stranger, lifeless.

Letting out another gut wrenching cry, Ice suddenly found himself sitting up on the couch, staring into the fire, his heart beating loudly in his ears, his breathing fast. Looking around the room with wide eyes, he reached out to Redeemer, finding her still at the club with Epona and Quinlin. Suddenly laughing to himself, he sent that he loved her and let out a deep breath of relief.

“It was all some stupid nightmare.” Ice laughed, saying it over and over as he leans back into the couch, running his hands through his hair. Rubbing his eyes, he let his hands fall to his sides and stares into the crackling fire.

[Wraith Soul]

Like a predator surveying his prey before the initial kill, the unwelcome stranger stood silently within the dark-side of the force unbeknownst to the vampire. Outside, the dule moon’s over K'har Sian reached their full zenith, bathing the mansion grounds in hues of blues and grays that lent to the haunting look of the mountainous landscape...

As the eerie light spilled through the tall bay like window’s inside, black velvety lines accented their yawning shapes on the highly polished floor of the sitting room. The warming fire within the stone hearth crackled and periodically popped, its orange flames consuming the thick asp log’s as Ice lounged not far away. His stark blue eye’s were transfixed by their intoxicating hypnotic dance, captivating his full attention for the time being...By the confident look on Ice’s face, one might surmise that he had conquered his nightly demons, putting to an end to the annoying phantom that vexed his conscious…Surreal illusions within his own mind, lasting but only mere moments,…Yet to him, it seemed to be nothing more then a bad dream…

“It was all some stupid nightmare.” Ice uttered to him self as a mocking laugh escaped him...

Leaning back into the plush-ness of the couch, the Darkling relaxed his mind, unaware of the eye’s that watched him within the same room. Again, Ice strangely felt the tug of slumber pulling at him,…Inviting him in once more to its darkened realm. With each passing moment, his eyes grew heaver as the weaver cast his spell from the shadows.

“One would think it as such,…But only a fool would be so bold,…!” Replied a shallow spectral voice that shook Ice to the very foundation of his being…

Nonetheless, before Ice could react to familiar voice and the ensuing threat, icy cold hand’s dug deeply into the flesh of his neck. Powerful boney talons, razor sharp at their tips thwarting his own attempt’s to break free…Even his vampire strength seemed to betray him, much like that of a helpless child in the terrible hands of an abductor. Desperately he tried to fight off the assailant but to no avail. However, Ice managed to reach out with one hand to stay his attacker momentarily, gripping something smooth and hard before a numbing paralysis fell over his entire form. The awful fragrance of death filled flaring nostrils, an ungodly decomposed stench that reeked of the grave…

With his vision blinded by the black mass that hovered over him, engulfing the light of the fire beyond, the darklings hand finally lowered slowly beside him in defeat. The ivory mask that he tore from the Liches face slid to the floor at his feet with a soft thud. Strangely enough, Ice could still see, even his auditory senses had not been robbed of him as the Lich released his deathly grip upon him…

“Such a cruel fate…To leave this world in such a way…” The wizard almost spat as his hideous skull like face neared Ices own. Dark droplets of blood seeped from what appeared to be infectious wounds that never quite healed on Wraith’s grotesque countenance. The acidic looking fluid slowly dripped then spattered on the vampire’s livid cheek bone as Wraith pressed even closer to Ice.

“I will condemn you to a hell far greater then you could ever imagine darkling…An abyss between this life and the after world…There you will spend all eternity,…Helplessly bound to this plane as well…Yesss fateful one, as a spectral ghost,…To watch as your beloved falls into the arms of another…Forgetting you ever existed at all as time slowly creep’s by,…That will be your sentence...” The Lich whispered in soft mocking tone’s near Ices open ear...

As the evil wizard pulled back, he hesitated, hovering over the area where the spatter of blood trailed down the vampire’s face. A slimy rotted tongue slowly emerged between a wicked set of teeth of the decaying skull, lapping up the stain until the two beings were eye to eye once again. A red pulsating glow admitted above them as the Lich chanted in an unknown dialect of Sith magic. Ice wanted to scream as a furnace of burning heat began swell inside of him, searing his thought’s as he fought back the pain...However, nothing came out other then a faint wheezing gasp...

“Envosh nue dae-tum,…Mah’vue specterium un’ oblivious…”

As the Arch-Lich repeated the powerful word’s of enchantment, thin violet wisps of glittering smoke escaped Ices mouth, seeping slowly into Wraith’s own as he inhaled the coiling vapors deeply. Soon after, the vampire’s crystal blues eye’s glossed over, turning them into solid white orb’s that bore no more color within…This was what Ices lover would find to her shocking disbelief and horror…Only the shell of a man she once loved…His sightless eye’s staring back at her and to a world he was no longer part of...


The luxurious den where Ice’s undisturbed body lay on the couch was deadly silent now. The fire that burnt so brightly before was now nothing more then a lingering lump of loose coals and flakes of gray ash. The malevolent strangers flight was only but a memory, yet there was something more,…Something that the Lich intentionally left behind in his wake. A morbid token that would raise more questions then answer’s in the minds of those who found it…A single black rose in the lifeless hand of Ice…A well known calling card of a curtain death knight…Soth Nuevole!

[Ice]

Ice gasped as he realized it truly was not a nightmare. The Magi was real and there was no way to escape his fate. He reached out for his life mate, only to find the connection severed. Feeling the bony hands wrap around his neck, he reached up to rip the mask away from his face, revealing a grotesque being underneath it. He clasped it tightly in his hand, praying Redeemer would find it and search out his murderer.

”..watch as your beloved falls into the arms of another…Forgetting you ever existed at all as time slowly creep’s by,…That will be your sentence...”

Ice had wanted to let out a roar of hatred for this being, but found himself paralyzed in a matter or moments. It truly would be a hellish eternity to watch as Redeemer eventually found someone else to care for. The thought of Dorian ripped through his mind and he struggled one last time to leap off the couch and rip the Magi’s head from his neck. The thought of her with someone else literally sent him over the edge of insanity. To watch as she smiled at someone else, kiss someone else, to hold and spend the nights with someone else other than himself.

’This is not fair!’ He screamed out in his mind.

Ice felt his insides burning, his body over come with the heat. He knew his body was no longer apart of the world, just his mind. Sleep, that’s what he would do. The Sleep of the Dead. He would shut down his mind like he did so many years ago after he attacked Redeemer. He would find a way to come back to her, to get his revenge on this Magi, whose image was now forever burned into his mind.

’I love you, Ree. I will come back to you.’ He sent out, knowing she would not get it. Feeling as if his heart had ripped in two, he called for the dark sleep to over take him, taking him away from everything he loved, his Ree, his family, his home, to one day come back stronger than ever, how ever long it will take him.

[Redeemer]

Redeemer felt her connection with Ice slip away from her and she immediately became alarmed. She stiffened in her seat, her heart pounding in her chest as she called out to Ice over and over, getting no response. Looking at Quinlin and Epona, her eyes wide and bright as they turned their attention to her, feeling the same disconnection from Ice, but not as strong.

“Something is terribly wrong.” Redeemer said, not wasting any time making her way out of the club, leaving Epona and Quinlin standing there staring after her. She did not care, the only thing on her mind was getting to Ice. She tried as hard as she could to stop the over whelming sense of dread that had over taken her. Something was indeed terribly wrong and she had to get to Ice’s side.

Bolting through the front door, she entered the foyer calling his name. With no answer, she began to scream his name over and over again, flying through the house. Eyes wide with fear, she stormed into the living room to find him lying on the couch watching the fire. About to run to him, she stopped, sensing great evil. She slowly looked around the room but found nothing.

“Ice?” She called out moving closer to him. “Ice, My Love?” She asked again, walking to his side. Her eyes roamed his face, inner alarms going off. “ICE!” She cried out, collapsing on her knees in front of him. Crimson tears fell from her eyes, staining her pale cheeks as she stared at her lifeless beloved. She knew he was gone from her.

Redeemer's first thoughts were to grab her sword and take her own life, the thought of living the rest of eternity without him too painful to bear. She reached for it, pulling it slowly out of it’s sheath on her back. Her other hand came up to stroke his cold cheek, then pushed back some strands of hair from his face, tucking them behind his ear. Letting her hand caress his shoulder and his arm, she looked down at her sword, her hand gripping it tight as she reached out to Epona, her pain ripping through her sister as she sent to her that she was sorry, that she could not go on without Ice when her hand that was on his arm came in contact with his hand. Slowly looking up, she saw the mask gripped tight in his hand. Reaching for it, she pulled it gently out of his grasp and looked at it, holding it up into the light, the faint traces of blood on the inside. Her blood turned cold and she knew the owner of this mask was the one responsible for her life mate’s death.

Shaking her head, Redeemer closed her eyes briefly, taking a shaky breath as she brought the sword up into her view. She was torn in two, seek out his killer or end her life and join her beloved in the after life. Her hand began to shake as she held the sword, her eyes burning with tears. She blinked them away, looking to floor as she pondered her decision. Something caught her attention and she turned her gaze into Ice’s right hand, her eyes narrowing at what she saw. A black rose. Redeemer’s eyes widened in shock as she put the mask down at her feet and reached for the rose. She stared at it in her hands for a moment, pure hateful lust ran through her body as her decision was made for her in that instant. She slid her sword back into it’s sheath, slowly standing, staring at the rose.

“Soth.” She hissed, her fangs bared. She gripped the rose tightly, the thorns digging into her skin, cutting her. She did not even notice the blood dripping down her arm and onto the rug. She repeated Soth’s name, her eyes glowing brightly as something snapped inside of her.

“You bastard.” She whispered hoarsely, her voice dripping with hatred. “I will come for you.”

She sent out the warning to every vampyre, pure and turned, whom she could reach, knowing that somehow, her promise would get back to Soth Nuevole and she would have her revenge. She would not rest until his blood was on her hands for taking her life mate from her.

[Epona Rhi]

She sat there before Redeemer go tup and ran out, staring off into her own little world. She knew something was wrong. She knew a vision she had has just come true. She was hoping it didnt as she waited for Ree to contact her. When she did, ,Epona held a choked gasp. Her eyes watered up and Quin was about to say something when he too froze and turned to look out the door Ree had gone then back to the darkling sitting next to him. She held her hand over her mouth as she began to sob. Someone else had been taken from her, someone she care for as her own family. Ice.....not him...she had come to care for that vampire she had so hated before meeting him. He was like a brother, unlike Quin who was more secretive and to himself. Ice was close to her because of her relationship with Ree. Now he was gone.....dead.

By whom though. Who would want someone such as Ice dead? There was alot of people and the Decendants would, but they were hiding licking their wounds. It was someone she didn't know about, thats why she saw the shadow in her vision. This was someone they haven't met. She whispered an apology and bolted out of the place. She sobbed loudly as she ran, and she ran till she couldn't run anymore. She caught her sister's thought of suicide to be with her lifemate and Epona understood. She cried as she hit the wall next to her several times. The hot tears runnign down her face were like two dam walls that broke, the torrent tears washed down her face like the water those dams released. Her sobbing echoed off the walls as she assaulted the stone it was made out of, till her knuckles bled and she couldn't hit it anymore. She screamed his name in the night as she slid down the wall and curled up into a fetal position and continued her sad mourning.

"Ice....*sob*......ICE!!"

[Quinlin Torr]

Quinlin walked into Ice's home, he watched Redeemer closely. He chose to come here for her instead of going after Epona who had a knack for trouble finding her. Tonight wouldn't be like that. Trouble has a way of not coming around when things of this nature happens. He stepped up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

" Who ever has done this crime will pay the price Redeemer. You will have justice I swear it."

He walked to Ice's body and crouched down. His head tilted to the left as he narrowed his eyes. He looked the corpse up and down and no sign of injury. How could someone take his life without leaving a trace of it? He reached forward and ran his fingers down his longtime friend's face, closing the still opened lifeless eyes. He bowed his head and then got up and turned to Redeemer.

"I will check on our darkling, she is not taking this too well herself."

As he walked to the door he stopped, and said one last parting thing. And used her name shortened for the first time since they knew each other.

"Remember Ree, We are all family......we will be here for you if you need us."

[Redeemer]

Redeemer heard Quinlin leave, her eyes still on the rose she held clasped in her bleeding hand. Looking at Ice, new waves of tears fell down her cheeks. They had only been together a short time before he was taken from her.

Laying the rose next to the mask, Redeemer let out a breath and gathered Ice in her arms and took him to their chamber below. Laying him on the bed, she went to one of the huge closets and opened it, smiling sadly when she saw the antique coffin on the floor or it. She pulled it out without even thinking twice about it's weight. In the middle of the room, the dark cherry wood of the coffin caught the soft light of the candles. Redeemer opened it, her eyes going to the the soft red satin in lay and a choked sob caught in her throat.

Turning back towards the bed, she moved Ice into the coffin, placing him gently inside. She straightened his gorgeous mane and stared into his face for what seemed like forever. Her tears fell onto the soft lining, staining it darker. Blinking a few times, Redeemer reached back and took her sword out. She looked at it for several minutes, then placed it lengthwise on Ice's chest, taking his hands and wrapping them around the hilt. Looking up at him, she caressed his cheek, then bent to kiss him one last time on the lips, whispering 'I love you.' against his skin.

Closing the coffin tightly, she busied herself placing the eternal burning candles around him in a protective circle. Grabbing a bag, she quickly took her clothes out of the closet and packed them quickly, not wanting to spend one more minute in there. She wanted to find Soth and exact her revenge.

Stepping to Ice's coffin one last time, she bent over, placed a kiss on the wood, her lips leaving a deep red mark on it. Biting the tip of her fingers with her incisors, she watched them bleed for a moment and then placed the fingers on the lid, swiping them across.

"I will avenge you, My Love." She whispered, turning to leave the chamber.

Outside the door, she sealed it so that no one but herself may ever enter it again and then bounded up the stairs back into the library. She quickly grabbed the mask and rose, stuffed them into her bag. She reached for Ice's beloved sword and sheathed it, replacing her own. She ran to the weaponary room, grabbing her blasters, holstering them at her sides and placed the knives into her belt at her waist.

"I'm sorry Quin, you'll have to catch up with me if you want to help me." She said aloud, sending as well as she made her way to the shuttle that rested at the back of the mansion. Soth was going to pay, that was for sure...and she would delight in it.

[Epona Rhi]

Ree's face was one of shock as she approached the shuttle to see Epona and Quin standing there. Epona's face was a hard mask, eyes red-rimmed from her crying and slightly puffy. Quin stood silent and vigil as he ever was. Epona walked up to her and hugged her sister. Drawing back slowly, her lip trembled as a stray tear fell.

" What, you didn't think I'd let you go after this murdering filth alone would you? "

She looked to Quin who only nodded and then back to Ree.

"This person or people who did this will answer to all of us. They took someone I cared alot for away from me as they took Ice from you too. You all are my family Ree, you're all I have left in this kriffing world."

She wiped the tears again, sniffling and choking back a sob.

" Let's go get this son of a Kryx."

[Redeemer]

Redeemer was not surprised to see Quinlin all ready at the ship when she got there. He was waiting for her and as she approached, they embraced for a long time. She pulled away and they looked into each other's eyes, silent promises of revenge made. Quinlin turned to board the plane and Redeemer bent to close her bag when she felt Epona approaching.

Epona ran up to her, hugging her tightly. Redeemer smiled sadly at her, nodding as she spoke.

"I'll be in the ship in a second, Epona. Go make sure Quin's got everything ready." Redeemer whispered, her voice cracking with emotion.

Turning to look back at the mansion, she felt a great weight on her heart and she thought ot the last time she and Ice were together, laughing and in each other's arms. That image she would keep with her forever. Turning to board the ship, she heard her name being called out to find Dorian and Royce running towards her. They hugged her and she clung to Dorian, her head burried in his neck.

"We'll find them, Royce." Redeemer promised, pulling away to look at him. He smiled at her, his eyes red with tears. She looked at Dorian, her hand coming up to cup his cheek. "Please stay here and watch over him, will you Dorian?"

Dorian nodded quietly, his hold on Redeemer tightening for a moment. She kissed his cheek, turned to hug Royce once more and then boarded the ship. Redeemer let out a shaky breath as she took the controls next to Quinlin.

"We must stop to see the Count and Dante." She said, her voice cold and emotionless. She set the cordinates and then looked over at Quinlin. "Let's go."

[Dorian Gray]

Dorian watched the ship take off, standing there beside Royce for a few minutes after it left. When he first felt Redeemer's pain through their connection, he thought he was imagining it, but it was real and he wished he had imagined it.

He may not have gotten along very well with the long haired vampyre, but he respected him as a man and how he treated Redeemer. The last few months his own feelings for Redeemer had grown more than just brotherly love for her and he had never once wished Ice out of the picture this way. Bringing his hands up, he ran them through his hair, clasping his fingers behind his head and stared into the night sky.

"What kind of monster would do this, Royce?" He asked, his voice gruff.

"I do not know, Dorian." Royce sighed sadly. "But I do know Miss Ree and she will find out who it was."

"Nothing will stop her until she does." Dorian whispered.



*To be continued...*