Temple of the Zamphirs ~ OPEN!~

[Fatal Irony]

"How long is this supposed to last?" Taper screamed through gritted teeth, growling against the pain and fear. "WHY WON'T THE GODDESS FACE US HERSELF?" The words escaped her before she thought about what she was saying. She was already facing something terrible, and she knew it was but a tiny fragment of the goddess' real power. She closed her eyes tight hoping for the pain to end.


All at once the cold and shrieking stopped, replaced by the sound of pealing laughter echoing off the walls. The sound was filled with malice. The air around the two shimmered as the goddess materialized before them. "You wished to face me, tiny mortal?" Her voice filled the air, reverberating painfully in the mortals' eardrums. Vesira stood before them in all her glory, imposing and threatening, dripping with the desire to kill. Her eyes were murderous as she bored into the two. She reached out a hand, gripping the air. Taper rose from the ground, wrenched from the grip of Miseria by an unseen force, thrashing about in the air as she struggled against it. The goddess grinned wickedly. "What is this pathetic thing? Why have you brought it here, my dear Miseria?" She sneered down at the zamphir.  

[Lilith Siran]

Miseria raised a tear streaked face as her mate was ripped from her grasp. Her body bleeding from the attack as she reached out toward Taper.

"Please my Goddess do not take your anger out on her, it is I who deserve your wrath, not my mate. I am here to ask your forgiveness for my absence. Please Goddess, spare my love, and take me instead."

Her voice shaking as she spoke, she continued.

"We come bearing an offering. A necklace. A ruby for every year of my absence and a fang for every month. Every vampire was killed by Taper and I together. She is as devoted to their destruction as we."

She gestured a bloody hand toward the necklace on the altar, draped across the dagger she gave the goddess so long ago.  

[Fatal Irony]

"I will take my wrath out on whomever I please, and I will not be told what to do by a mortal!" The goddess flung the misfit to the side, knocking her unconscious against a wall. She stalked closer to the zamphir, glared down at her for a moment, then turned to the alter. She grabbed the knife and necklace both and looked at them a moment, turning them over in her hand. "Did you think this would appease me?" She circled Miseria slowly, rolling the rubies and fangs over in her hand as she stared down at her one-time best follower. "Why did you return? Why now?"  

[Lilith Siran]

The tears flowed freely from her eyes as she watched Taper, waiting to see her mate breathe. Taper took a slow shuddering breath but remained unconscious. She turned her gaze to her Goddess, still weeping.

"I came to ask your forgiveness and to earn your blessing once again. I was restless, I was hearing so many tales of vampires running rampant, left unchecked. I thought it was the reason for my restless heart. So I left to hunt them. I devastated their ranks, wiped them out of villages and towns, chasing them back to their hiding places in the forest. Everyone who died, the last thing they heard was your name, "In the name of Goddess Vesira you will kill no more." For years I killed them, but I still felt empty. I wondered what I did wrong to not find fulfillment in serving my Goddess.... Then I met Taper."

Miseria glanced at her unconscious mate, watching each shallow breath rise and fall.

"I fell in love, she too was on a mission to kill the vampires. Together we waged war on them. I found a new wholeness that I have never felt before. I knew I had to come back to you, to serve you and to ask for both your forgiveness for my absence and for your blessing to my mate and I so that we..." She paused, her voice growing softer with pain. "So that we may have permission to have children.."

She looked into her Goddess' beautiful mismatched eyes, pain and pleading shimmering in her own grey eyes as the tears fell freely.

"I know my offering is not enough, but it is a symbol of my devotion. I never stopped upholding the purpose of being your follower."  

[Fatal Irony]

The goddess cackled wickedly as she tossed the necklace and knife to the floor in front of Miseria. She moved with a dangerous air, grabbing Miseria by the throat and lifting her up to her eye level. "You were once loyal to me, so I will allow you to live." She glanced at the misfit as she stirred, beginning to rouse herself from the blow. A murderous grin played about the Goddess' face. "This female is so important to you... and she had the gall to step foot in this temple knowing neither of you would be welcome." Her eyes snapped back to Miseria in her clutches. "Right now she has more favor with me than you, and that isn't saying much." She tossed Miseria back onto the floor like a doll. "Pick up those meager offerings and take them with you. If your mate succeeds, you will be allowed to ATTEMPT to please me once again. If you are very lucky, I may allow you to place those things back upon my alter." Vesira moved back over to Taper and without touching her lifted her onto her feet again as she slowly regained consciousness. "Wake up, pathetic mortal. You have work to do."  

[Lilith Siran]

Miseria choked through her sobs, "I will always be loyal to you Goddess."
Watching the Goddess stalk towards her mate Miseria felt fear the likes she'd never known before. She wished she'd never led Taper here, not until after she had made amends with her Goddess. She clutched her family's dagger and the necklace for the Goddess as she struggled to catch her breath through her tears.  

[Fatal Irony]

Taper's eyes widened as she awoke to the angry face of a goddess. She thrashed wildly in the air, panicked. Tears fell down her face unbidden and she wondered what would become of her and her mate. She calmed after a moment, collecting herself. She took a breath and looked at the goddess squarely in the face and tried to hide her trembling. "What work do you speak of?"

The goddess growled at the impertinent mortal before her, causing the temple to shake and rumble with her wrath all around them. "I will not be questioned by a mortal." Her voice was dangerously calm, her anger bubbling beneath the surface. She squeezed her hand in the air directed at Taper and the misfit began to squirm and gasp for air, suffocated by the unseen force of the goddess. She let it go on for a few moments, savoring both the misfit's pain and the zamphir's panic at her mate's distress. Finally she released the misfit completely, dumping her unceremoniously onto the floor as she gasped for air. "Listen well, mortal. You will go forth to spread my name. Bring to me a beaten vampire. Do not kill it, but capture it and bring it to me." She turned and looked at Miseria. "And you will not aid her one bit." Silver chains appeared and wrapped around the zamphir's arms and legs, immobilizing her to the floor. Before her appeared a sphere with swirling clouds within it. "Your task is to merely watch her and hope she succeeds."  

[Lilith Siran]

Miseria tensed as the chains shackled her to her place, tears steadily and silently running down her cheeks. Her fears eased slightly she knew her mate would not fail. She had hunted with Taper long enough to know that for certain. Instead she merely bowed her head and watched as the Goddess directed her to do.  

[Fatal Irony]

The crystal sphere crackled to life, the swirling clouds shifting into forms - the form of Taper and a vampire in battle. The goddess grins.  

[Lilith Siran]

Veronica tediously cleaned the temple, as she did each and every day. Her demeanor calm, her movements lithe and graceful as she nearly danced about her work. The floor shined as if alive, the altar flawless, each offering lovingly cared for. The sweet smoke curling from the incense on the altar. Once she finished her work the young misfit sat on the stone floor before the altar, crossing her legs, her tail winding gracefully around her. She inhaled the sweet smoke and as she exhaled it began to move.
The smoke grew thicker, filling the air with new scents, the smell of blood and the forest. The thick smoke began to swirl and change, depicting images. Soon the altar room was filled with images of the Goddess her self, some in battle, some here in the temple. Some images of Vesira simply seated in her thrown, a baby Veronica and baby Miss Murder by her side playing on the floor. All images of Veronica's memories. Every tale the goddess had ever told her, committed to memory as if Veronica been there. The young misfit watched the images intently, praying silently to her goddess for guidance.
"Mother Goddess thank you for this day. What would you have of me this hour."  

[Fatal Irony]

Missy watched from the shadows as her sister dutifully cleaned. She leaned against the wall, covered in darkness as she watched the smoke shift and change and play out a scene before the other misfit. The smoke never responded to HER that way, but Missy never cared to try. She played with the blade on her arm, running her finger up and down it, her eyes narrowed and her lips twisted in a wicked grin. She chose to show her devotion to the Zamphir Goddess in a ... different... way.




The Godling materialized next to the misfit, her sinister laughter preceding her. "I see your sister is at the alter yet again." She leaned on the wall beside Miss Murder, almost mimicking her. She pushed off suddenly, approaching the red-haired misfit. She purposely walks between the mortal and the altar, bending over the female. "Do you think all of this prayer and devotion is going to amount to anything in the eyes of my Grandmother?" She snorted derisively.  

[Lilith Siran]

Nica stayed still, listening to her sister and the zamphir near by. As Artemis approached Nica simply allowed a small smile to play upon her lips. Her voice was soft, as even as she spoke.
"Artemis, it does not matter what I think. It only matters what the goddess thinks. Her daily blessings are more than enough to tell me. She shows favor to those who earn it."
She continued to watch the tales in the smoke, barely paying Artemis any thought.  

[Fatal Irony]

Miss Murder couldn't help but chuckle at her sister's bravery. Regardless of her standing in the temple, Artemis was a godling - and far more powerful than either misfit. Silently Missy moved to her sister's side, watching the Godling carefully. Her hands clenched and un-clenched reflexively, preparing for a fight if necessary.


Artemis narrowed her gaze at the misfit and her impertinence, but didn't take the offense it was intended as. Instead she smiled sweetly-too sweetly at the mortal. "Do you really think the Goddess thinks of you? Why, in her Infinite Glory, would she waste even a moment thinking about a mortal such as you? You aren't even a zamphir." She laughed and stood up straight, waving her hand in the air to disrupt the visions in the smoke.  

[Lilith Siran]

This time the misfit fully smiled, eyes twinkling wickedly, just like her mother Miseria's would. She stood gracefully, her body strong and smooth. Her voice deepened as she spoke with absolute confidence.
"If she did not think of me then how am I here? It was her blessing that allowed me and my sister to live within these hallowed walls. Every image you see around you was told to ua by the goddess' own lips. I cannot create a memory she did not give me, and there are many more than the scenes you are surrounded by. I would think carefully if I were you before questioning our goddess."
She stood firm and still, watching as Artemis disrupted the smoke only to have the smoke solidify behind her and give her a little push.  

[Fatal Irony]

The misfit cracked her knuckles and eyed the Godling warily, her blade ready. "Zamphir or no, we are valued in this temple and you know that as well as we do." She began pacing around to flank the godling subtly. She wasn't about to let her sister get killed over some insignificant slight.


The godling felt the push of the smoke - and the threat therein. She growled with simmering anger, stalking forward as if to attack the misfit. Instead she stopped short, noting the sister coming around her side. She could easily dispatch the two, she was sure, but she didn't want to explain away killing two devotees in the temple. "I would think twice before thinking to tell a GODDESS what to do." Her voice was low and threatening. "I don't think you realize the position you're putting yourself into." She bent down to look the misfit in the eye, her nose almost touching the mortal's. "I am Divine. I am a Goddess. I am of the blood of Vesira. I will not be insulted in this, MY home."