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As he had done many times over the years, Astarion cast a swift detect thoughts. He liked to keep track of her madness, make sure she wasn’t too broken, that he didn’t need to pull her out early. She had a surprising amount of mental fortitude. There was a moment, during that first year, when he thought she wouldn’t ma... |
A sudden pain gripped him, something like fear, and he released the spell. He whistled softly and the spectral wolves appeared, immediately diving into their excavating. The blue metal of the tomb revealed itself and he gripped it with his mind, pulling it from the hole and depositing it unceremoniously on the ground b... |
Astarion stood, not believing his eyes. The wolves whined and nosed around him, sniffing the void in the tomb, the hole in the ground, fur bristling in agitation. He didn’t dare move, staring unblinking into the casket. Dried blood was the only indication it had ever been inhabited. She had been here a mere tenday ago.... |
Astarion stood, stalking the perimeter of the hole, searching for signs of disturbance. Someone had been here, had stolen his prize at the eleventh hour. Eyes scanned the dirt, but nothing revealed itself. He practically dove into the casket, inhaling her scent. His hand pulled a single hair from the hinge of the lid: ... |
"Fucking hells!" His voice was strangled, pinched, not like himself. His useless eyes cast around the scene, searching for anything that would tell him where she’d gone. She couldn’t cast magic inside, it was too narrow. No one could cast magic to remove her without disturbing the scene in some way. With an angry growl... |
"I will find you," he hissed. |
"I can only protect you for so long," Gale said. "You’ll have to come back at least every day so I can reapply the ward." Tav stiffened as green tendrils hummed over her body, into her eyes and mouth, staining her blood. She felt the change immediately. Her ever-present hunger dissipated like a fine morning mist, and a... |
"How am I supposed to get back?" Tav blinked and flexed her fingers, testing her body and mind. Gale let his arms lower to his sides, and she could hear more than see the hairs on his arms stand on end, magic crackling through them like electricity. He conjured in his hand the green ghostly image of a small ornate hand... |
"Find this mirror inside the Crimson Palace. I’ve had it placed there for you. You will know it by the reflection - inside you will see yourself as you are now." Tav’s eyes widened, then her eyebrow cocked in disbelief. |
"I’m a vampire, Gale. I don’t have a reflection." He chuckled softly, and she rolled her eyes at him. |
"It’s not a true reflection - a mirror image that will only work when you touch it." His brow furrowed and his eyes went hard. "Do not let him find it." There was a warning in his face that Tav didn’t recognize. He looked every bit the god he was in that moment, and she nodded solemnly. |
"Simply look in the mirror and speak my name - Dekarios - and I will bring you here. Make sure you are alone, of course, where no one will see you blink from existence." He chuckled, an easy and warm sound, and Tav found herself smiling despite her unease. |
"Onward then, Champion of Dekarios!" He opened his arms wide, and Tav felt a lurching sensation as she was removed from the astral and sent back to the mortal plane. |
The city was dark and acrid. There weren’t many people around, stragglers stumbling home from the taverns. Light pinpricked between the buildings, illuminating and blanketing in shadow at varied intervals. Somewhere a cat yowled, and Tav jumped. |
It had been so long since she’d been alone on a city street in the dark. She never hunted, for herself nor Astarion. He insisted that the night walkers do the hunting, so beneath his darling consort it was. The others, their family, drank from jeweled goblets like she and Astarion. At last count there had been four day... |
The night was too quiet and too loud all at once. Too bright and too dark. She didn’t know whether to blend into the shadows or step boldly into the light. As she neared the park, the gnawing ache in her belly grew. It was not hunger. For the first time in decades she was not hungry; Gale had seen to that, just as he’d... |
Tav peeked around the corner, eyeing the blue-green hue of the grass. It was too colorful, too verdant. Even the damn rocks were too vivid. She felt like she was alive again, for the first time in too many years. The red velvet dress she wore clung in every wrong place. It was the same one she’d worn when she’d been fl... |
She was about to stride out into the night when she was stopped short. A vision in ghostly white lace, long black hair billowing down her back, a night orchid adorning her hair. Vivienne. Her red-purple rouge stood out starkly on her lips and cheeks against porcelain skin. Tav hadn’t seen this child since before she’d ... |
"Vivienne!" Tav affected a hoarse cry, pinched and frightened. It wasn’t difficult to summon the necessary tones, terrified as she was. The girl spun on her heel, hand poised over a silver dagger glinting at her hip. Her red eyes flashed in the moonlight, her face steel. When she saw Tav, a flicker of relief crossed he... |
"Tavwren?" The girl’s musical voice drifted easily across the lawn to Tav, making it to her ears despite the rushing wind. Tav stopped short, about twenty feet away, and placed her hands on her knees, heaving dramatically. "Is...that you?" |
Tav nodded, looking up at the girl. She had been young when Astarion turned her, only fifty. One of the first of their children. She would be over one-hundred by now. Tav always had trouble swallowing the bitter irony that, much like Astarion, Vivienne would never have a true elven name. She trembled violently, eyes fl... |
"Oh gods, Mother, what happened to you?" Vivienne sobbed despondently and Tav stroked her hair, shushing her softly. Already she felt stronger, ready to tear the throat from whomever would try to harm her girl. She held the frail child as she shook, and they both took to the ground. Tav pulled back and held Vivienne’s ... |
"Shh my darling, you’re alright. Calm Vivienne, calm yourself." She soothed the girl with experience, falling easily back into her role. She held the girl and rocked gently, humming a soft tune. Gradually her sobs eased, and she pulled back, large dark eyes pouring into Tav’s, her unanswered question hanging between th... |
"Father said you’d been kidnapped...taken away. Is it true?" The girl’s haunted stare revealed everything: Astarion had not told the other spawn what he had done to her. As far as they knew, she had been missing for four years, and every attempt had been made to bring her back. Bile rose in the back of her throat as Ta... |
"Yes child, but I’m home now. It doesn’t matter anymore." Tav pulled the girl to her again, hugging her in a deep and loving embrace. |
"I wouldn’t quite put it that way myself, Dearest." |
A cold chill ran up Tav’s spine and Vivienne jumped with a small yelp. She stood and flew to the figure behind Tav, leaving her alone and kneeling on the grass. |
"Oh Father, look! Mother is home!" Vivienne’s delighted squeal as she gripped Astarion in a hug echoed through the park. Soon the whole clan would know, just from the joy radiating off the foolish girl. Tav didn’t dare move, terror gripping her and holding her in place. She felt the crimson tendrils of Astarion’s magic... |
Tav stood slowly, one foot and then the other. She turned like a ballerina in a jewelry box, in place on the grass. She first saw the glowing white lace sweeping over the grass as Vivienne retreated, likely to spread the news. Tav’s heart lurched, longed to follow her and steal her away. But she willed her eyes to foll... |
"Just where in the hells have you been, darling?" Astarion’s cool voice was calculated, and Tav sagged under the weight of hearing him again. This was not the man she loved. He had died long ago. This monster replaced him, cold and dead and hard as diamond. Tav forced herself to go on with the act. She had taken her mo... |
"Oh, Astarion!" she cried. "I am so sorry, please don’t send me back into the dark! I swear I’ll never run again! Please my love," she looked up at him, eyes beseeching, as he stared down his nose at her. "I tried to stay where you put me. I was taken! Please, my love." |
Astarion stood for a moment, considering her words. He watched with cold amusement as she sobbed prostrate before him. Finally, he reached a hand down and pulled gently on her arm, raising her to her feet once more. His hand met her face and she flinched, but no stinging strike came. He pressed his palm into her face g... |
"My dear, when I came to fetch you and realized you were not where I had left you," he paused to make a small tutting sound, "I was aghast. I searched high and low for sign of struggle, and found none." His hand gripped her face a little tighter, nails digging painfully into the flesh of her cheek. His ruby eyes flashe... |
Tav knew this question would come. She figured ignorance tinged with honesty would be her best defense. He always did love a good mystery - trying to figure out who had taken her would occupy much of his time in the months to come. All the better for her. |
"I have no idea what happened, my love. I felt a lifting and I thought you had come for me at last. Then I was blinded with light. I could see nothing. I felt I was being carried but everything was so bright and loud, and I didn’t fight because I thought it was you, darling." The words flew from Tav’s mouth and she dar... |
Astarion raised a hand to stop her chatter and she threw her lips together. Perhaps it would be enough. She watched as he considered her words, savoring each one with deliberate thought. She bristled as his hand swept over her collarbone, whispering against the mangled strap of her dress. Fingers ghosted over her split... |
"Darling, you positively reek. Let’s get you inside and cleaned up, shall we?" |
Tav nodded as he slipped one hand behind her back, guiding her toward the Crimson Palace, and the waking nightmare awaiting her inside. |
If thou wish’st to claim a place in the pantheon, thou art as fool as Karsus before. As such, thou will abide by the Old Rules, which were penned in the time before. |
Rule the First: No two gods within one pantheon may claim right and responsibility of the same portfolio. |
Rule the Second: Should such conflict arise, one of three must occur: |
If thou succeed thy task, Gale Dekarios of Waterdeep, thou wilt choose the fate of Mystra. If thou fail, thy fate will ring the same as Karsus before. Dost thou accept the terms of thy challenge? |
"I do so accept." |
It was a disastrous plan, truly. There was no way it would work. And yet, it must. Dekarios’ Folly would not come to pass. Tav was capable and strong, even after 50 years of abuse and servitude. She had survived nigh on four years in a gods-damned box! Her mind was intact, if troubled, and he would lend her the power ... |
But could she actually follow through? There was the rub, and the reason for his keen discomfort in his choice of champion. For whatever reason, the man the vampire once was still held sway over the now-spawn queen mother. Gale had tracked their movements, their machinations, for decades. He knew not why - it shouldn’t... |
Foolish heart! If it was love I would not send her back there. I would choose someone else. |
But the heart is foolish, indeed. Foolishly it watched her from its perch in the astral plane. Foolishly it longed to walk beside her and protect her by sword or shield. Foolishly it clawed desperately at the air behind her copper hair, hoping to clutch and pull her back before she took one more fatal step. Foolish. |
The rules were simple: perform one heroic deed which would change the fate of Faerûn for the better. Complete this task alone or with a single champion. Use one-tenth of Mystra’s power to do it. Gain a following of at least 1,000 souls. Succeed, and ascend. Fail, and be petrified and bound to the mortal plane, as Karsu... |
Tav would kill Astarion in Dekarios’ name. His deed would spread far and wide. The accomplishment would send him into godhood, and give him the ability to return Tav to her mortal state. Lord Ao would allow him to interfere with her life just enough to brighten it. Perhaps she would join his afterlife, grateful for the... |
The cavernous marble hall was void of all life, save the two figures drifting toward the ornate doors at the other end. Plush purple curtains swathed in starlight draped lazily around the large window frames, blocking neither sun nor moon from entrance. The soft rhythmic clapping of leather soles and bare feet were the... |
As they approached, the heavy wooden doors swung open, pulled by stoic servants on the other side. The pair glided through the main hall, its glittering chandelier tinkling softly in the breeze created by the opening and shutting of the doors. As they clapped shut behind her, Tav was reminded of the sliding sound of pr... |
"You are mine," he hissed, fangs clipping her ear painfully. Rapid strokes pushed her higher and higher until she was standing just above the cliff, waiting to fall. "Tell me." |
"I am yours," she repeated mechanically, body clenching on instinct around him. His fingers wrapped around her throat and he bit down, sucking deeply from her cold and clotted blood. She felt no tremble of fear or longing in that bite any longer. It was raw and animalistic, more primal even than the hunger. Her own sce... |
Astarion withdrew immediately, pulling completely away and across the room. The sudden absence of his body left her gaping, cold and tearful. He wiped the pinprick of blood from his cheek and glowered at Tav. |
"Now Darling, we’ve talked about this. How can I trust you won’t run away again?" |
"It was an accident, love," came her timid, shaky response. "Please, come back." She groveled against the bed frame, blood oozing down her neck. |
His eyes flashed. He had not finished, and he wanted to. He didn’t trust her. He wanted to punish her. She braced herself, but the impact never came. When she opened her eyes again, he was gone. Somehow, that was the crueler punishment. |
"Darling, you look as if you’ve seen a ghost." |
Tav snapped back to her body at the sound of Astarion’s cold amusement. He was standing within the enormous master suite, red door swung wide. He held one hand aloft to her with a smirk. She shook off her stupor and walked forward, placing her hand in his as if it had always been there. Funny how much the body remember... |
As he led her to the wash basin, she eyed the bed dubiously. She wondered idly how many he’d had in that bed in her absence. Had he taken a new lover, or had there been many? She was pulled back to her body with a hiss as she registered the feeling of fingers at her shoulder. Astarion paused, head cocked to the side in... |
"In you go," he purred. Something deep in her gut resonated with the timbre of his voice, rattling her very bones. Her body responded, nipples puckering and gooseflesh spreading out rapidly from her stomach. He saw her response and his eyes darkened; he could see he still had the same sway over her he always had. |
He bathed her in silence, carefully stroking every tender inch of flesh and lavishing her body with caresses. It was easy to imagine, there in the dimly lit room, her eyes closed, warm water surrounding her, that he was her love, her spawn once again. It was easier still without his voice to interrupt. Her mind wandere... |
She did not expect him to slip her nightgown on once she was dry. She also did not expect him to carry her to bed. She felt exhausted, as if she could truly sleep for the first time in years. He laid her gently on her side of the cavernous plush bed, covering her body in the red silk sheets. Her eyes fluttered shut and... |
"Welcome home, my treasure." |
—————————————————————- |
*Non-con begins here*—————————————————————- |
Tav woke slowly, her mind taking its time to slide back into place in her skull. She felt a strange sensation, like the ticking of a clock. At first she fought waking, remembering the darkness that awaited her. The persistent ticking continued, and she found it harder to fight. Not ticking, no... Was it tapping? Someon... |
Sunlight. Bright, indomitable sunlight. And Astarion. |
Tav took a moment to register the scene. She was in her bedroom. The sun was streaming in through the large window across from the bed. Her knees were up, forming a peak in the bedsheet. Beneath that peak, between her legs, was a head of soft curls and gleaming red eyes. She recoiled visibly, and Astarion’s smirk fell. |
"I thought you might enjoy a wake-up call, lover." His easy tone betrayed no hurt, but his brow furrowed in mock consternation. "I’m sure it has been quite a while since your needs have been attended to." |
Tav realized what was happening by the pang that shot through her body, ending in her swollen clit. He had already brought her most of the way to climax while she had been sleeping. This was unusual. Her body trembled and heaved, betrayer that it was. She tried to form words, but Astarion busied himself back at his tas... |
She stared, wide-eyed, at his near perfect body, preserved for all time exactly the way she remembered it. As he sidled up between her legs, he peppered kisses along her body. Her head fell back in a sigh and she welcomed the closeness of another being. His breath wafted over her skin and she shivered - excitement, fea... |
A sunburst in the dark, his kiss was everything she remembered and more. It was urgent but soft, filled with hope and longing and possession and pain. Their mouths knew the dance as if it had never ceased, tongues caressing and prodding in equal measure. She opened her eyes to find his already open, staring at her hung... |
He took her slowly, as if she would break, but there was no need. She was as slick as she’d ever been, needing him carnally in that moment alone. She thrust her hips up to meet him, urging on the delicious agony. He made love to her, slowly and sensuously. Their cries and pants mingled through their mouths, fastened t... |
"Say it," he breathed, softly kissing her ear. |
"I’m yours, Astarion." As they crashed together, her chest thundered with heartbreak. |
The grand hall was lit in a soft pink light. A glittering assemblage was present, and couples whirled in lazy circles around the ballroom. Tav focused on the tinkling light of the grand chandelier. One, two, three... A smile, a hand holding hers, lips pressed to her knuckles... seven, eight, nine... a curtesy, some voi... |
A voice pulled her from her reverie, eyes flicking away from the jewels on the chandelier. "My dearest mother...how ravishing you look, as always." |
Tav steeled herself and dragged her gaze to the tall man addressing her. His short black hair was slicked back on his head. One red jewel crowned his slender, pointed ear. He held himself with the ease and grace of old money, but Tav knew he came from nothing. His dazzling ensemble hid it well, and his polished, poised... |
"Darling Beirion, how long it’s been!" She leaned in and gave him a swift peck on each cheek, hiding her sneer as her lips met cool marble skin. "How have you got on in my absence?" |
The high elf’s smirk his his sneer well and he flapped his hand dismissively. "Oh mother how I tire of discussing politics." His fiery eyes flashed dangerously as he shifted closer almost imperceptibly. "I’d much rather hear about what you’ve been doing all this time." |
She laughed lightly, a haughty sound, and cocked an eyebrow. "Of course you want to hear how your poor mother has suffered all these years, my cunning child." She waved him away with a slender hand, letting him know the conversation was over. She may be just a spawn, but she was in charge of all the others, and everyon... |
"Now Brother, it wouldn’t do to upset Mother’s delicate sensibilities on the eve of her welcome home gala!" The smaller man clapped Beirion about the shoulders and shoved him away affectionately. The elf-spawn stalked away, off to pester some poor young maiden with his cruel gaze. Tav turned her attention to the newcom... |
"Caerel, my sweet boy. How I’ve missed that smile." Tav embraced the man, smaller than Beirion but equal in size to her. A drow, his skin was darker than hers by a wide margin, making his eyes seem lighter than the others, more orange than red. Gentle creases crossed along the edges of his eyes and mouth, lending him a... |
"I wouldn’t wish to deprive you of it unless you asked, Mother." His hushed voice never failed to draw mist to her eyes. He was too kind by half to be a spawn of Astarion. He was careful to never pry, keeping his distance from Tav until she requested his presence. He was particularly fond of the delusional Vivienne, bu... |
"I would never want you to stay away," she whispered, hugging him tighter. "I love you, truly." He placed one hand on the back of her hair, smoothing it gently. |
"And I you, dearest Mother." |
He released her, and her body sagged against the weight of the world once more. She inhaled deeply, regaining her regal grace and smiled at him. He bowed low, placing a gentle kiss on her hand, then swept off to dazzle the gentry. |
Finding herself blissfully alone, Tav retreated to her plush chair to the right of the grand throne at the room’s apex. She sat gently, body aching slightly. A silent servant swept by and placed a golden chalice in her hand, thick red blood filling it halfway. She inhaled the aroma, but it did not fill her with hunger ... |
"Is it not to your liking, my love?" Astarion appeared silently to her right, having apparently been in the room behind the throne. She stiffened at his approach, the hairs on her neck bristling. Despite his tenderness with her body the previous night, she still waited for the gentle nature to evaporate like mist. It w... |
"There is so much stimulation, after nothing but darkness for so long. I find it difficult to focus." Tav’s lie was easy - it was indeed overstimulating, though that was not the reason she refused to drink. He considered her for a moment, then picked the goblet up and took a few even strides until he stood in front of ... |
darling. You must drink." His words were soft, but firm. She felt the red tendrils of his magic wrap around her throat, squeezing as they whispered: "Drink." He would leave no room for argument. She opened her mouth accommodatingly, and he lifted the goblet to her lips. She drank the foul liquid deeply, trying desperat... |
He swept her along, her full skirts swinging like a pendulum behind her. The room blurred and swayed around her, and all that was left was Astarion. She gripped his body with her eyes to fight away the dizzying scene. She looked into his eyes, searching for a trace of the man she once loved. They were hypnotic, half-l... |
"Gods, you’re beautiful." His voice was husky and soft, and she remembered the tone from before the ascension, but it was not quite right. Something ragged and sharp was hidden just beneath the surface, and it left a feeling of unease to wash over her. She smiled wanly, feeling as though she might throw up. Faces swirl... |
Astarion prowled around the library, scanning books on the shelves haphazardly. His fingers drummed along the spines, but he did not feel at ease. It had been two days his pet had been home. He was ready to launch a full-on search party, but then she had come waltzing back of her own accord. Stupid girl. When he had be... |
Or, maybe she was plotting something. After all, that was the only reason he had returned to the palace in lower Baldur’s Gate all those years ago. But she had seemed...normal. Compliant. He compelled her and she obeyed. He would know if she lied through his magic. So she didn’t lie. But one doesn’t always have to lie ... |
Her blood...it was foul. It tasted like, smelled like bile. A swirling thought was neggling at the base of his skull, writhing like the tadpole had. There was something he was missing. Would she have poisoned her blood in the hopes he would drink of it? She should know he couldn’t be killed so easily. Even a stake to t... |
Astarion stopped, hand hovering over a section of tomes on poisons. He had read them all countless times, with no mention of some strange anti-vampire blood transfusion treatment. Gods, when would she have even had the time? It was less than a day between when he found her empty cage and when she returned. She could ha... |
Something about the taste of it...it wasn’t exactly bile, but not exactly poison. A blood disease, perhaps? He strode swiftly to the section on blood diseases, scanning the titles. Nothing that would turn the taste so violently, with no other symptoms. Astarion growled his displeasure, throwing his hands over a stack o... |
The Annals of Karsus. |
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