Fate - First Reply A Bite to Drink

[Marianne Seyorio]

Centuries pass so slowly in a tomb, especially when one is not truly dead but simply asleep, trapped in this inanimate state unable to move, breath, or even think. There are no dreams in death, the aestivated sleep of vampires deprived of blood to the point that they cannot move and essentially die but remain... Dormant... They await blood to wake them up and heal their desiccated flesh.

It was actually treasure hunters that discovered her ancient tomb and opened her sarcophagus, but when it was discovered that there was no treasure except the ring she wore on her finger a fight broke out between the men... A fatal mistake was made, a punch sent blood and broken teeth over the desiccated corpse, where the blood landed it was absorbed into the skin... And that was enough to awaken the ancient vampire.
She arose from her sarcophagus and attacked the now frightened men, one by one hunting them down and draining every drop of blood from their body.

Full up from her meal she emerged from her tomb, still blood drunk and mad with hunger, the blood she consumed only making her appear as some decrepit and aged cannibal. She hunted through the night, ignoring the blood of animals to find the succulent ambrosia of human blood.
Finding and completely draining three villages of people still didn't sate her hunger, but it was slightly more manageable now and her youth had begun to return to her flesh.

From then on she was more careful biding her time for the hunt, trapping and seducing mortals from the road to feed her until she could find a proper feeding ground to establish herself.
During the day she hid in caves and under trees from the deadly rays of the sun, during the night she hunted, stalked campsites of traveling bands, slaughtering bandits or gangs of goblins.

Eventually she found her way across the continent to the magnificent city of Oban.
By this time she was properly clothed and in her right mind, though still not even close to her full strength.
She was able to persuade and seduce her way into the city, and then found herself a nice noble that fell easily under her spell. She lived with him and he provided for her needs in secret while also giving her a new cover story. They became the new unexpected couple in the noble circles of Oban and did very well for themselves together. She used her experience of nobility to make her new consort very successful and powerful, and herself by extension.

Marianne now navigates the political landscape of Oban, one by one trapping people of power and making them obedient to her all the while seeming a regular and submissive Oban woman.
Blood was never out of reach for her with all the men of influence she got in her pocket and she recovered her full strength quickly.
She now wandered the streets of the upper district, escorted by a couple maids and a footman with her latest noble conquest leading her by the arm. She loved these nighttime walks, to see the stars and smell all the blood of humanity al around her. This city was a pen full of sheep, they were never prepared for the wolf to come in and live among them.

 

[GanuCandali]

(Let me know if my introduction is okay buddy.)

Underneath the influence of the master puppeteer, he worked.

He awoke as if from a haze, having worked for many hours prior to that moment. He was sitting in one of Oban's forges sweat trickling down his well chiseled form. His eyes open at that point, he allowed himself breaks only when he was done working for many hours. Oban's guard folks needed blades sharpened and armour repaired. As he sat there for a moment, he decided it was time to go home. The former slave knew when it was time to go home after a few days of repairing said blades and armour.

He feels the heat of the forge, not quite his yet....but one day would be.

He says fond farewell to the fellow apprentices. After, it's night after all, he gets out of the forge and decides to go back home. It's a chilly night and he tightens his coat around himself as he walks. He had exotic markings on his body, that marked him as once a slave. He was a Drow folk, daft fellows from the underrealm proper itself. He'd escaped a life of servitude by making his way to the surface world and putting his blacksmith hammer to good use.

The sisterhood would never have allowed him much upward advancement anyway.

As he walks, relatively near to Marianne's position. Relatively, speaking....he considers his situation and walks over towards his house, his bootfalls were quiet. He places his hands in his pockets and walks in an almost absent minded way. He knew Oban had dangers, but he was safer there than the underrealm....

 

[Marianne Seyorio]

(Looks good to me!)

They wandered the streets, the sun was a long way off, the sky was clear and the stars were out, they were in no sort of hurry.
Marianne didn't hunt for blood in Oban, the blood came to her. Her various consorts and her pretend husband provided everything she needed, thralls to slake her thirst and even storing the blood for her future use.
Oban was known for its wine, and part of this reputation came the advanced ways of storing and keeping things fresh, they used these same methods for storing and keeping blood for her.

The night brought a chill from the harbor, but Marianne didn't feel cold, the touch of her hand on the arm of her escort chilled him far more than the sea breeze ever could, but he was used to it and even relished it.
She was dressed well for a walk along the streets, a long form fitting black dress open at the back all the way down to her hips, but this was a wealthier part of town and from time to time she could hear the whistling and the wings of the griffon riders patrolling from above. They couldn't be safer.

Even though she was expected to play a lesser role as a woman in this country, she was content to run her growing little empire from the shadows.

As they made their way down the darkened streets they turned a corner and she spotted the Drow making his way in a similar direction.
She glanced him up and down as he walked by and she liked what he saw. Drow back in her time were hated, enemies of the overworld and often waged war against those above ground, some ranked them as monsters aligned with goblins and orcs and the like. it seems many things were different now, because even orcs had some level of acceptance in Oban.
She leaned in close to her consort/husband and whispered in his ear. "Head on back home now, I promise I wont be long."
He nodded and he and the maids turned around while Marianne walked forward alone. She seemed to melt into the shadows before appearing in a doorway along his path. With a sharp tap from her heels she stepped out of the shadows and approached him with a seductive sway in her walk.
"Good evening, sir. Would you escort a lady home?"

 

[GanuCandali]

Lost in his memories for a brief moment he blinks.

It was not uncommon for a woman of the court to initiate such encounters and he felt flattered for a moment or two. He looks at the agreeable lady for a moment or two. Then he considers the proposal, his dark blue skin was decorated with the markings of his people. In his particular case, he was a former slave. He looks at her with his grey coloured eyes and narrowed them briefly.

The question lingered for a moment or two in the air in between them.

After a few moments he respond. He'd been lost in thought. "Forgive me lady, where are my manners?" He begins. "Been a long few weeks of work, I been a little on edge. Of course I would escort the lady home." He had a cheerful demeanor about himself, he'd behaved entirely opposite how Drow monsters of old used to behave once upon a time.

He was just a man trying to find his own way in the midst of it all.

Again there was that thought....the lady looked quite agreeable. He wondered where the night's adventures would take him....

 

[Marianne Seyorio]

"Forgive me lady, where are my manners?" He begins. "Been a long few weeks of work, I been a little on edge. Of course I would escort the lady home."

She smiled as she stepped up beside him and laced her arm around his. She was already a tall woman at around six foot one, and with her heals she was even taller. But she seemed so light and fragile at the touch that it seemed no surprise that she needed an escort.
It was a rouse, but her prey needn't know that till it's too late.
"Thank you so much, sir. One can never be too careful at this hour with thieves and kidnappers hiding in the shadows!"
She clung to his arm and started giving him instructions, leading him in the opposite direction of his home.

They walked the streets from one street light to the next. Marianne was still tracking whenever a griffon rider passed overhead.
"If you don't mind me asking, what's your name? What do you do for a living?"

 

[GanuCandali]

Drethok let her guide him where she needed to go. His mind was focused on the revealed bare flesh her dress did show...that was something. Her height was also pretty impressive. She was just a little taller than he was. As before, the question lingered in the air between them, promises like honey that yet lingered between them.

Drethok nods. "I am called Drethok of House Xellok. I'm a blacksmith, apprentice you see. But I hope to be master of my own forge someday." He tells the lovely lady. Already his mind was buzzing from her closeness, the closeness of her scent. He smiles at her. "If the lady needs protection, it would be my honour to help guard the lady." He says with a small smile. His smoky grey eyes observe her, there was a fierce intellect in those eyes.

He also clung back to her....it had been sometime since he'd been close to a woman before. Back in The Underrealm there had been women, but they were masters and not companions in the truest sense of the word. The harshness of the whip, the beatings. His eyes frown for a moment but he guards his thoughts closely at that point. He didn't want to put his troubles on someone else like that, unless questions were asked of him. He holds her arm close....

 

[Marianne Seyorio]

"I am called Drethok of House Xellok. I'm a blacksmith, apprentice you see. But I hope to be master of my own forge someday." He tells the lovely lady. Already his mind was buzzing from her closeness, the closeness of her scent. He smiles at her. "If the lady needs protection, it would be my honour to help guard the lady." He says with a small smile.

Hmmmm... A blacksmith... Her consorts had money to buy for her whatever she needed, but buying weapons had their risks, it left a trail that could eventually be traced back to her... But having her own blacksmith in thrall? It seemed she won't be drinking this one dry after all.
"Well met, Drethok. I am Marianne."
She didn't go into her longer official titles, such things mattered little.
"I'm sure your skills as a blacksmith are better than anyone gives you credit for... You'll be master of your own forge before you know it!"

She could feel his eyes on her in the dark, how he held her touch intimately. She waited for the wings to pass overhead before she smiled at him and coaxed him into an alleyway, in the shadows away from the vigil of the griffon patrol.
She slowed her pace to a more leisurely stroll as she leaned closer to him. Aside from the ambrosia that courses through his veins he was a physically imposing and desirable man.
"You know... I'm not truly out here lost or frightened." She confessed while she walked, her heels clicking against the cobblestones.
"You see, my husband is a wealthy man but he can't satisfy all of my... Needs..."
She stopped and turned to face him, her hands tracing along his biceps up to his shoulder, without her heels he would certainly be taller than her.
"But you... I think you could fulfill me."
She made it sound like it was the flesh she desired, but his skills as a blacksmith was what she truly was after, but she enjoyed the art of seduction.
The man she spoke of wasn't even really her husband, simply a noble that agreed under her mesmerization to play the part.

She would mesmerize Drethok soon, and then she'll taste his blood and make him her thrall.

 

[GanuCandali]

Most normal men...when presented with such an interesting situation would throw themselves at the lovely woman.

Drethok was not most normal men. Flashbacks from when he was tortured horribly in the underrealm haunt his mind for a moment or two. Opportune flash backs. That would make the fear and tension sweeter. He looks at her calmly. There had been women in that life, but the situations had all been horribly abusive and so that's what caused the temporary flash backs.

He blinks for a moment or two. He'd found himself in an admittedly strange situation where a woman wanted someone...like him. Back then, in the underrealm he'd been a lowly slave. He looks at her calmly, he nods in response. He knew desire and lust, but had been on the wrong end of it. The opposite end of the spectrum where lust often ended with the lash of the whip, the bludgeon of a beating utensil, or some other form of torture. Drethok observes her. He knew lust....

"I agree." He quietly tells her, the powerful heart that beats in his chest was pumping heat through his hot body at that point. He looks at her calmly. "If the lady does not prefer, we could go to my house unless here is just a good a bed as any?" He says slyly.

 

[Marianne Seyorio]

"I agree." He quietly tells her, the powerful heart that beats in his chest was pumping heat through his hot body at that point. He looks at her calmly. "If the lady does not prefer, we could go to my house unless here is just a good a bed as any?" He says slyly.

She sighed in what might appear to be relief, and maybe it was to some degree.
"Ahhh, my dear... A bed will be the least of our worries..." She moved herself against him, placing his arms around her slight frame and on the exposed skin of her back, in the thin ray of moonlight shining between the buildings of the alleyway and the starlight shining from above he could see her face...

... And her eyes...

Her eyes appeared normal at first as she moved her face close to his, but they would subtly begin to change... The whites of her eyes vanished being replaced with black sclera, her irises turned into a glowing blood red with a burning golden core that seemed to hold his gaze... So long as they maintained eye contact she held him in a mesmerized and suggestive state...

In the moonlight her pale skin seemed to grow ever more pale, almost having a deathly cast like a recently deceased corpse prepared for her funeral by a master undertaker.
"Have no fear... I will not harm you my dear... Simply be with me, be mine, cherish me and love me... serve me and have your deepest desires finally granted..."
Her words sounded not only in his ears but his mind, her hypnotic stare driving her suggestions deep into his mind.

 

[GanuCandali]

He looks into her eyes fiercely...he was no fool.

He knew deep down she was likely something more than the situation called for itself. However, because of his past beatings and horrendous torture, he just wanted someone to respect him as well. This woman seemed like she would be it...he nods at her command.

He was completely locked into her hypnosis effect, all though, parts of him attempted to resist by instinctively showing him mental flashbacks of the beatings and torture. He submits to her desire and stronger will, he had no normal defenses against such types of power anyway.

He looks at her and a moment or two later simply relaxes in her embrace. She was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen especially the way the moonlight seemed to reflect her pale skin. The nearly supernatural qualities augmented the moment and he moves to kiss her...."I'm yours..." He says to her quietly.

 

[Marianne Seyorio]

She sighs in satisfaction and lets him kiss her, lets him claim her lips as if he were the only one who could.
She returned the affection, kissing his lips and backing herself to the wall of the alley to give him a sense of control even as his mind remained open to her suggestions.

She kissed him over and over, kissing his lips passionately and filled with lust, kissing his face, kissing his throat...
When they came up for breath blood trickled from the corner of her mouth and mixed with her dark lipstick. Her fangs had painlessly slipped through and drew blood in several spots on his throat where she kissed him.
She smiled and her fangs glinted in the moonlight, dripping with his blood.

She wrapped a leg around him, her alabaster thigh pressed against his leg. She raised a hand and pulled down the covering around her neck before she extended the claw on her pinky finger and nicked har flawless white throat. A dark bead of blood welled up from the wound.
"Your turn, my beloved." She beckoned him to drink from her throat.
She wasn't turning him, this was the enthrallment process. Her blood held power in it, in mortals it was like a drug that filled them with a limited feeling of the power that comes with being undead. In reality they were forming a temporary connection with the vampire who fed them, they could feel what they feel and in most it was incredibly addictive.
The enthrallment created a blood dependency, where the mortal would crave and do anything for another taste of that blood and the power it gave them. Combined with the hypnotic suggestion and you have a loyal thrall.

That bead of blood represented his loss of freedom... The new chains he wore would be addiction.
Yes, drinking his blood gave her a little insight into his thoughts and feelings, but she wasn't interested in giving him a choice.

 

[GanuCandali]

In a way....it was fitting. He'd been a slave in his past, having no freedom was nothing new for him. He bites her neck gently and tastes the blood of his new master. He drank his heart racing loudly in his chest, he didn't mind such a thing really. The irony, again, played in his mind over and over. He knew the woman before him would treat him well...better than he deserved. He'd been a lowly drow slave. But before his mistress perhaps he was destined to be more....perhaps he was meant to be by her side.
He drank of her blood until she commanded him to stop.
He was used to such relationships, the priestesses of the underrealm were a cruel lot who treated him and his kind with utmost disdain...the woman before him would be a definitive change from that previous life.
He considers many things as they kiss one another....again the thought passes through his mind. She is agreeable...I must do everything in my power to serve her well. He thinks in his mind as he continues to kiss her he chuckles softly.
"I had dreams before tonight of meaningless things before now. Now my mind feels sharper and more focus. I am a blacksmith...I can help your cause and our people by making you things. Weapons, armor, in secret that won't be tracked." He tells her quietly as they kiss and partake of each other. "I just want to serve my lady." He says to her calmly....strangely enough he actually meant that. A life of servitude was not all bad....

 

[Marianne Seyorio]

She moans softly as he places his lips over the wound and drank her blood. The open vein pumped blood into his mouth though it soon healed over, it was enough. Her blood gave him a feeling of euphoria along with a burst of strength and power that washed through his system.
She kissed him and put her arms around his neck.

"I had dreams before tonight of meaningless things before now. Now my mind feels sharper and more focus. I am a blacksmith...I can help your cause and our people by making you things. Weapons, armor, in secret that won't be tracked." He tells her quietly as they kiss and partake of each other. "I just want to serve my lady." He says to her calmly

She grinned as she arched her head back, exposing her neck for him to kiss, "That would be excellent, My darling... You cannot know how difficult it is for someone like me to survive without a means to protect ourselves."
She pulled him closer to her, chest to chest, deeper into the shadows as the wings of the griffon riders flew overhead.
"Serve me well, and you will want for nothing... Swear yourself to me, be bound to me for eternity, and you will forever have a place at my side."

 

[GanuCandali]

He listens to her commands...flashes of his past as the euphoria sinks in.

He nods towards her, the closeness and tension driving him beyond normal rational thought. It did not matter, his mistress was with him. He'd cut the gods with his sword for her....such elation he felt. The blacksmith nods once more. "I am yours to do with as you will my lady." He says to her as they kiss the whole way through. He walks with her. A soft smile on his face.

The young Drow looked at his lady calmly. "I want to be yours." He says to her, sealing the deal with blood. He was used to being a slave by that time in his life, it would be no different. Except his lady, no, his master, his GODDESS even...would provide what he needed. She would fill the empty void in his heart and soul. She would give what he longed for most...a purpose.

He found himself holding the lady's hand. Any touch she gave him was reward in and of itself. The old life was soon forgotten....

 

[Marianne Seyorio]

His given word and oath was solidified by her hypnotic spell. She withdrew from him slightly to look him in the eyes once again.
"An accord is struck." She slid her tongue over the bite wounds in his neck, "Escort me home now, stay with me for tonight. And in the morning you will return home as if nothing has happened, but expect to be the owner of your own forge before the week is out."
She wrapped a scarf around his neck to hide the bite marks before leading him out of the alley and into the streets once again.

 

[GanuCandali]

Wind passing coolly across the streets that night, he feels it somewhat more intensely. Maybe a combination of the lust and heat he currently felt. He pulls her closer as they walk, he enjoys their closeness and how physical a woman she was. Many surface dwellers from the legends were pent up about such matters. But the woman next to him, that he'd sworn allegiance to, made him lick his lips in desire. He felt the race of his heart, his deep breathing, the bulge in his pants. His eyes observe forward and he considers what she says to him.

He nods calmly as he walks besides her. A rodent runs past them and into a sewer. He continues to hold her hand calmly. His silvery eyes observing the nocturnal world. He was a Drow, such matters of the supernatural world did not shake him or even make him nervous. He had company for that night, and for future nights he hoped to. The woman before him, he'd make sure he would do everything for her.

He'd been through abusive relationships in the past. In the past, it had always been the Priesthood wanting to break him. But he'd survived all of that. The beatings, the arguments, the physical abuse, the being beaten and kicked to the verge of death. Above, he noticed the moon shining down on them. Stars twinkling in their infinite knowledge. "Show me where home is my friend." In Drow society, it was an honour to be called a friend....

 

[Marianne Seyorio]

She led him through the city streets till they reached the manor district, where the wealthy and Nobility resided.
She took him through the guarded gates of a grand estate, metal clad security welcomed the mistress home.
Servants and attendants with necks covered bowed and welcomed home the lady of the house.

She smiled as she showed off her wealth and status to her new slave. But she didn't stop, she led him through the halls of the manor and to a grand bedroom with an extravagant curtained bed.
She led him to the middle of the room and let go of his hand. She turned her back to him as she began undoing her dress.

"Tell me more about yourself, my dear."

 

[GanuCandali]

That night...

He told her things of his people. How the Drow sisterhood did things and how they operated. He'd survived by enduring the horrid torture and beatings. He'd be certain to tell her of how he longed for his own freedom. They partook of each other. It was magical. He'd have mates before in the drow realms, but they were forced situations and he'd undergone horrible things in each of those situations. He told her everything there was to tell of Drow society best he could remember much of it.

For an outsider, it would almost be as if they were there with him in the Drow's home land.

He described every detail that would matter, and many that would not. Simple things, simple victories. He was a simple man that wanted simple things out of his life. As they took one another, he made sure she would know him fully and completely. He was that dedicated to his new master.

He told her details pertaining to the blacksmith arts of his people.

Namesake details that would likely bore some. But he hoped his master would be interested in what she was about to invest in. It was art, that night he knew pleasure...and he hoped that for some iota of a moment he brought his master to equal heights of pleasure. He hoped. Beyond hope that he would give her everything she needed. He would protect his vampire master with his very Drow soul if need be.

 

[Marianne Seyorio]

They made love while he told her about himself, the culture he grew up in and the place he held in it. Drow society was quite the opposite of Oban, a matriarchy where women held positions of privilege and power, whereas Oban disproportionately favored the male gender. Even though she held the strings she was unable to do many things herself as a woman in Oban, having to defer to her "Husband" for permission and privileges or simply being forced to work through others simply because women were socially unable to fill the role she required.

But she found this way of life actually more ideal, the less attention she attracted to herself the better, best to let her minions take the fall than for her to risk discovery and earn a stake to the heart.
She soaked up the details he provided her and she was impressed that he was so easy to influence given his background and an ingrained hatred for slavery and years of being ordered around by women... Perhaps Drow men had a masochistic streak.

They brought each other over the edge and laid in her bed while she let him rest. He was satisfactory to say the least, he certainly knew how to satisfy his mistresses even if he hinted that he despised such a degrading culture. She laid bare beside him, languidly stretched out on the bed absorbed in the afterglow of their lovemaking.
She wasn't out of breath, she didn't need to breathe, but she felt good.

"It does seem strange to me... One would think that you would be more resistant to being a servant once again after the treatment you received in your Homeland. And yet here you are, a fly in another web..."
She rolled to her side and put her lips to his neck, gently kissing his throat and grazing his skin with the flat of her fangs.

 

[GanuCandali]

The shadows of the chamber dance about. He listens to her calmly, his chest rising and falling with every breath, powerfully. He listens to his vampiress for a moment. After a long moment of silence, he finally speaks with a gentle nod.

"Sometimes, we're placed in situations beyond our control." He says. "You've treated me more than fairly even though I know you could end me at any point."

He had a strangely calm expression on his face. He looks at the handsome woman for a long moment.

"Perhaps I am a mere fly after all. But. I just want to serve my purpose and fulfill the bargain me and you have made." He brings up their deal.

He was a Drow of his word. And he intended to serve the beautiful woman to the best of his capacity. He does not resist her, he could, but he chooses not to. He'd been in worse situations in his life. Many of them didn't have outs. He was certain this situation wouldn't have an out either...but at that point he didn't care. He places a finger gently on the bottom of her chin and moves so that he can kiss her deeply. Was proper to seal their agreement with a kiss after all.

He knew the woman could end him at any point. Where most would feel terrifying fear at the prospect, not Drethok he was driven by an entirely other emotion. And that night he dreamed of the gift he would make her with his own hands once the forge was indeed his own...

 

[Marianne Seyorio]

"Sometimes, we're placed in situations beyond our control." He says. "You've treated me more than fairly even though I know you could end me at any point."

He had a strangely calm expression on his face. He looks at the handsome woman for a long moment.

"Perhaps I am a mere fly after all. But. I just want to serve my purpose and fulfill the bargain me and you have made." He brings up their deal.

"An intriguing perspective..." She allowed him to bring her up for a kiss and she held it for a long moment. When she pulled away she opened her eyes and they were glowing red. She once again went down to his throat and sank her fangs into him, drinking deeply from his blood.
When she finished she licked the wound and settled into the bed.
"An interesting perspective indeed..."

The night was drawing on and the sun will be up soon. While he slept she got up and prepared herself for bed, taking a different room so he wouldn't disturb her when he awoke. Servants would tend to him in the morning with instructions to send him on his way... But wheels were already in motion to uphold her end of the bargain.

 

[GanuCandali]

Events were in motion. The next day had come to pass. He was an early riser much of his life and he stood up before their sun rose. He stood up at that point and stretched, he had enjoyed himself that night. It was a good night, though he knew he'd been targeted by a Vampire. He didn't mind it strangely enough. Most would panic, but not Drethok. He'd been built different. He got dressed and prepared himself for the work he would do for his lady that day. He was muscularly built, overall a life of servitude at this or that forge had made him into an adequate smith.

There was a knock on his door. "Come." He says calmly as servants of the lady enter.

He nods. She is very well connected as I thought... He consider the promising turn of events.

The servant nods to the Drow smith. "This way my lord." She says calmly.

His eye twitches for a moment. "Drethok." He tells her a moment later and she seems confused. "None of this my lord business." He grins. At the momentary discomfort. "But yes, do lead the way."

She quietly handed him an elegant scarf.

He noticed she also had one. Seems the lady is quite busy. He grins and nods, placing the scarf around his neck. "So nobody gets too nosy I take it?" He understood the lady's operation. And was taught the rules on the way to his new forge.

"We're all a small piece of the grander puzzle." She tells him.

He nods once more. "Lead away then my friend." And they make their way towards HIS new forge...