The Story That Went On... (Formerly Death Cut. Completed.)

[GamingLord]

Jacob took a deep breath.

Jacob: "Okay. Rough start, obviously. May I ask who you are?"

Tiamos: "How long have you resided there?"  

[GamingLord]

Galantros: "Uhmm... Could we maybe have a more detailed explanation of what's going on then?"  

[GamingLord]

Jacob: When she explains it that way... it's almost like a split personality. I love Rosemary's soul, but what about this other side of her? Should I have love for it? It said it would strike out against anyone here without a second thought... That's not the Rosemary I know and care for.

Xylanthos: "So to sum it up, your telepathy and the vampyrisim created a duality in you."

Galantros: "Like a split personality?" I don't like the idea that this Rosemary would strike out easily against Black... I wish they'd put her soul back.

Xylanthos: "In a manner of speaking, I suppose."

Bithmar: Interesting. This other Rosemary is perhaps something her soul still needs to come to terms and cope with, especially considering the bloodlust that still overtakes her. A form of balance and control needs to be maintained.... Then it is a matter of maintaining the hunger of her aura. Perhaps looking into Kreggie artifacts can help with that..

(surprisingly, Bithmar's thinking was more elegant than his speech. His difficulty in grasping english and overall brute appearance hid what most of his species had... a certain wisdom.)

Githar was thinking along similar lines of thought as Bithmar, though Bithmar was more detailed and informative.

Fal'Jenul pondered on Rosemary's situation. How often did this other Rosemary feel repressed? Would that make it lash out more often or severely in certain situations?

Muerte was confused. He essentially understood that there were two Rosemarys. One was a soul, the other a body. Beyond that, he had been busy making sure the body didn't try anything hostile.

Most everyone else, except the soul guiders, where thinking about this other side of Rosemary, born of telepathy and becoming a vampire. How exactly did it happen? Did her brain actually go through some sort of physical change?

Tiamos: "Well, if there's nothing else... Let's return the soul back to the body..."  

[GamingLord]

As the soul guiders placed Rosemary's soul back, Jacob felt a rising anxiety and guilt. He couldn't even look at Veni. He felt both fool and idiot. Did he really not accept the vampire side of his lovers? Suddenly, he opened a portal to the Void.

Jacob: "I-I need a moment..."

Quickly, and without a word, he left and closed his portal behind him. GL's wings seemed to wilt and fold... The necromancer had felt uncomfortable and very upset. Not angry, but emotionally upset and doubting.Veni no doubt had certainly felt that over their bond.

With her soul back into her body, Rosemary was one again, and there was an uncomfortable silence. Nobody was sure of what to say. Almost everyone that had talked was concerned about saying the wrong thing again, and those who hadn't, was sure they would have. Better to be seen as fools, than to open your mouth and confirm it.  

[GamingLord]

???: "Why do you doubt yourself so, death mage? We can clearly sense your love for them."

Jacob heaved a sigh... he was surrounded by several spirits, sitting on a floating piece of rock in the Void. The ghosts had come unsummoned, but he supposed it was better than dwelling on his thoughts alone. The spirits had easily sense his troubles and read his mind.

Jacob: "It's just that... I mistakenly treated her as something that she never should have been treated as... I've undone so much and..."

Spirits: "You've undone no thing, living one. The fact that you are still so concerned shows great strength of love for them. That you've worried you've offended them, that you had no want to do such a thing..."

Jacob: "I treated her vampyric side like it was offensive, thinking it was something else. Veni must also..."

Spirits: "Stop obsessing over idle worry. Go to them."

Jacob: "How can I..."

Spirits: "Go to them. Apologize, if you feel you must. Express your love, certainly. If one lover hurts, the others do as well. Heal each others wounds. Death mage, you faced many horrors, and braved many dangers. Have courage for this one task.

Standing, the necromancer thanked the ghosts and left the Void, and went in search of his vampires. He eventually found them, deep in the forests outside of the Soul Fortress. He swallowed a little, wondering how to approach them... Veni sitting against a tree with Rosemary in his lap, resting from the stress of what had happened earlier.... until he remembered they could hear his heartbeat. He noted that Rosemary was asleep... Had she been upset as well?

Jacob: "Veni... I... I'm sorry I ran away. I..."

His thoughts slipped and poured into their bond.

Does he hate me now, for hurting Rosemary? I still love them so much. I never wanted to make them upset. I've made such a stupid mistake. Will I be able to make it up to them?

Thoughts such as these, along with loving and bittersweet memories flooded Jacob's mind. He mentally cursed and sighed. Why was he getting so emotional?

- - - - -

Galantros just stared at the ground. Nobody had the chance to say anything before Veni put Rosemary to sleep and ran off with her. After Veni told him that she wouldn't have attacked Black, he felt bad. He felt bad that Rosemary was crying. He made his friend to cry, why couldn't he control his thoughts better? Twitching a bit, he wondered if Black was upset with him now because of what he thought... his aura grew gloomy, and could be sensed, but because of the soul fortress, the negative effects didn't affect anyone. It could only be felt, but do no harm.

He'd just lost his mother again, he was over worried about losing Black, and now he made Rosemary cry, and... and... damn it!

Xylanthos: "Galantros..."

Making sure first that Black wouldn't fall if she was still leaning on him, he quickly got up, and ran to a more private part of the fortress. His mind was going insane, and he could feel his body changing again. At least it wasn't into a completely uncontrollable demon, but damn was it still embarrassing and frustrating when that happened, no self-control what so ever.  

[Rosemary Mori]

Veni wiped away a couple tears and leaned against the tree. He then gestured for Jacob to sit next to him and leaned into him a little. After being silent for a few minutes, while stroking Rosemary's hair, he began to tell Jacob a story, "The first time I saw Rosemary, almost 800 years ago, she was about this tall. A little girl at the time...I don't remember how old. I was walking fast among the populace fast enough that I couldn't be seen, like most vampires do. I was there for business reasons. As I came close to her and her mother, it seemed like she turned to look at me. I glanced back at her and, as I had no particular important goal, I followed her home. She was relieved to be at home for reasons other than child awkwardness amongst adults as I later found out.

I stayed and watched a little while before I left and then I would keep running into the little girl with the green eyes and her mom and I would follow her on the occasions that I did run into her. I found out she got headaches amongst people and responded to a person as if they said something when they hadn't. The adults seemed disturbed as if it was beyond idle child curiosity and this aroused mine.

I presented myself as a cat and she took me and invited me into her house. I was her pet Dragos meaning 'precious peace' for many years until I saw it fit to 'die' of old age a few years after her mom died, but while I was there she talked to me of almost anything. Because of her telepathy she isolated herself from almost everyone and had recently become afraid to talk about it to anyone, but me. Everyone didn't believe her and called her a liar when she would say things so she had decided to keep her mouth shut. She told me everyone's secrets she had found out. She told me that she liked me because I listened to her and didn't have a foul temper when she said silly things.

She liked to read and try to learn things considered improper for a lady so I of course made sure she was able to. She also back then had such a temper... I found out that she hadn't only caught my attention, but that of other vampires and as I had started to feel possessive of her I dealt with them accordingly. I had also dealt with any arranged suitors that I came across. I haven't told her much of this...

Later, when she was older, I finally introduced myself but didn't tell her what I was. I never told her. I don't think she knew until she was dead. Vampires usually wake up about three days after they die. Three days turned to three weeks, and three weeks became longer. I was worried she wouldn't rise and when she finally did she wasn't fully awake. This is usually common and doesn't last very long, but once again she was in that stage for such a long time that I wondered if I would have to put her down.

I had told her to not leave the house and went out to bring her back something for the night. I was trying my best to make sure she didn't kill whatever or whomever I brought for her, but one particular night about a season later I suddenly felt panic from her and when I got back...there was a body on the floor and she was awake. She was so upset because it was someone she had loved.

She was rightfully angry at me, but before I could really get anywhere in trying to mend the situation my master summoned me back. She was so angry at me for finding a wife without her permission. I had given up a goddess for a commoner. She had me locked away for so many years. I don't know how long I was in that tiny space, but during that time she had my Rosemary to do with as she liked and I couldn't do a thing about it... my mistress seemed to take a special interest in her because they apparently shared similar powers; namely the aura. By the time I was freed Rosemary's seeds of hatred towards me had plenty of time to fester. That took so long to undo. And as a sort of torment to the both of us, she made us share a room.

I guess my point is that all relationships will have their problems and their small arguments, but I hope I don't have to endure another one that lasts oh so many years."

 

[GamingLord]

Jacob gave a sigh when Veni leaned into him. It was a comfort to know that he still wanted to be close. He wrapped an arm around the vampire, and kissed the top of his head as he listened to his story.

Idly, he wondered how much more easily things might have been mended and how much happier they might have been if Veni's mistress hadn't been so cruel. That only strengthened his resolve to be as kind as he could be.

They sat in silence for a long while, Jacob taking turns stroking both Veni's and Rosemary's hair.

Jacob: "Veni... What do you remember of being human? And how did you become a vampire in the first place?"  

[Rosemary Mori]

Veni sighed a little as he stared at Rosemary. "I don't remember much. I've been this way a thousand times longer than as a human. I don't remember how dark or fair I was, the specific shade of blue my eyes were, my favorite dish, what it feels like to look forward to a sunrise, what it is like to be more than slightly ticklish, or other little things humans take for granted.

Before hair straighteners, my hair was always curly and long. I used to keep it up most of the time in a headpiece. Back then the clothing was draped over a person and had barely any stitches because the needles weren't as nice as what exists today. I never knew my mother and I lived with my father and twin brother. For reasons I am not entirely sure of...maybe my father didn't want a property dispute amongst us or maybe he really did go crazy in the head when my mother died...anyways for reasons I don't know, I had been dressed as a girl all my life. I had really enjoyed adorning myself with cute accessories and still enjoy placing a brooch on my clothing sometimes.

Growing up I was rarely allowed to leave the property and didn't really have much contact with people beyond servants or slaves or art beyond landscapes. Never was I allowed to go near the public bath and was made to bathe at home. My father and brother went to it all the time. I didn't really think much of it at the time. Men of course were superior to ladies and we had to do as we were told. I wasn't really denied an education on our culture, myths, and other history. I cleaned around the house and did other activities to entertain myself. Despite this I remember that my brother and I were still fairly close in our youths and did activities together, but I can't really remember what we did or talked about anymore other than that we were together.

One day, I forget my actual age at the time, a woman came to our door and asked to stay. It was customary at the time to accept traveler's without question and it was the traveler's responsibility to not burden their hosts. We had a guest/host system that was considered sacred and very punishable if broken. She was a beautiful Egyptian woman with a slight tan still despite what she was. I don't know why she took an interest in my family or for how long, just like I am not sure why Rosemary had captivated me. My family welcomed her, but she frightened me since the beginning and gave me the look that no one else saw." Veni his head so Jacob could see and mimicked a look that oddly enough looked like one of Rosemary's expressions that made the person she gave it to so much shorter than her even if in actuality she was shorter than them. It was the look she was considering a person and had evil intent. He looked away again and continued.

"Of course you can imagine how I felt when Rosemary first used that expression...anyways...she of course could see through my outfit and knew that something was up. I remember sharing my uneasiness of her with my father in private and he had slapped me for being rude. I kept my mouth shut after that.

Somehow, most likely through her tricks, we shared a room. My memory until I became a vampire is a little hazy because she did everything to put me totally under her power. She stared into my eyes in a way similar we do to you, but unlike me it'll only affect you as much as you'll let it and it should never have any lingering effects. She... drank a little of my blood, it was the worst thing I had ever experienced at that point and being fed off of was never pleasurable after that, and had me drink a little of hers. She teased me about things I didn't know, showed off her breasts to me, pointed out I didn't have any while rubbing my chest and stomach...and... it went on from there. The whole night she would not leave me alone. One of her animals was large cats of almost all species and I was her little slave mouse. The next day I was very depressed, barely covered myself enough to be considered decent, and everyone thought I was sick.

She no doubt had the whole household under her spell because she could do almost anything to me and I would make noise and no one would know the better. I couldn't even speak of what she did because she had told me not to and she threatened to kill everyone if I resisted too much. I never knew what she would do nor when she'd decide to do it. Some days she'd leave me alone which only would increase my paranoia as I tried to sleep. I cut my hair at some point otherwise it wouldn't be this length, but I don't remember ever doing it.

Despite my dread of her sometimes I... delighted in going to her at times and really desired the... things we'd do at times while other times I'd scream. We can make humans desire us and delight in doing things. She had that blasted aura that she focused on me at random and sometimes... well timed intervals. And then when Rosemary woke up with it... No matter how I felt due to my mistress' induced feelings when I came to her, I would feel very ashamed afterwords.

This cat and mouse game seemed to last forever I remember thinking until finally, before I could kill myself, she did it for me and took me away. She kept playing with me and eventually let up on it a little and as time went on she gave me more freedoms and tormented me less and less, but always would remind me who was really in charge.

She had thankfully left the rest of my family alone and my brother lived to be a strong man with a good family. She allowed me to get away sometimes and I would peek in to see how they were. I remember it being odd to see him, the person who looked just like me, grow old while I remained the same."

He was silent for a little while after he was done revealing his life story, "...I put her to sleep you know...."  

[GamingLord]

Part of him decided that if Veni's old mistress ever came back to cause trouble... Jacob wouldn't hesitate to kill her, using his most powerful spells if need be. He partially already wanted to with what'd she done to them already, including the rape of Veni, seperating the two, and so on... He didn't want his lovers to be tormented, he wanted them to be happy. That sentiment leaked through their bond, and he gave Veni a gentle but firm squeeze, kissed him again, and rubbed his back.

So digusted by what their old mistress had put them through, he hadn't even realized that he whispered, "if she comes back, I'll kill her."

Jacob looked down at Rosemary after Veni said he had put her to sleep.

Jacob: "I figured as much. She must have been rather... upset, I take it?"

Veni told him exactly how she reacted, and he felt even guiltier for running away. He sighed and caressed Rosemary's face.

Jacob: "Let's wake her up then. Rosemary, it's time to wake up..."

He was still a bit nervous as to what she was going to say, but he forced that anxiety down.

- - - - -

Xylanthos frowned when Galantros had ran off and Black returned disappointed.

Xylanthos: "Here, I know where he is."

The soul guider scooped Black up onto his shoulders and lead her through the fortress, passing exotic trees and animals. Eventually, they came to a little hidden spot where a river and mini-waterfalls ran. A large, dark form was hunched over in some tall grass, trying to hide, it's uncovered feet in the water... he had taken his shoes and leg coverings off. Xylanthos gently placed Black down acrossed the river, and left them in privacy.  

[GamingLord]

Veni began to silently sob again as Jacob comforted him after he recalled two incidents he didn't like to recall and almost never shared, especially the last one. There was more to the last story which involved his earlier years, but that could be saved for later.

She may already be dead. I haven't felt her presence since the hell incident which I was knocked out periodically during and may not have felt her die. She may have loved me, I am not sure, but didn't express it right, which could explain her reaction to me finding another woman. I've found that many of the vampires who can put fear in people's hearts don't know how to express it properly.

After Veni told him how Rosemary reacted, Jacob put his game on her cheek and gently told her it was time to wake up. When she saw who was looking down at her, she didn't seem to notice his caressing hand as she turned to her side away from him and gave him the cold shoulder. She didn't want to speak to him let alone be the first to talk.


BlackMN hugged onto Xylanthos and kept smelling him as he walked with her. She really didn't know what she was going to do with GL when she got there. She had already been trying to comfort him so much the past few days and admittedly it was starting to wear her down and she prayed she'd be able to keep it up without breaking down herself. After Xylanthos left them she stared at GL and inched her way towards him. She picked up her pace, but was still slow and cautious as she drew near and tried to touch him and give him a special kiss.



(Posted for BlackMN)