[PRP] Something Wicked This Way Comes (Malkav x Grendel)

[Sylent Nyte]

He was in a deep sleep when it happened -- when his bond to Caine was severed. It forced him awake with a gasp, as if he had been deprived of much needed oxygen. Something was very very wrong.

He could feel it in his old bones that there was unrest amongst the Vampires. It was time he awakened and took control of his clan once again. More importantly, it was time to pay the Vampire God a visit.

Malkav was furious, and there was going to be hell to pay for whatever had happened to him. The voices told him to destroy everything in his path, but he maintained his wits (as much as a Malkavian vampire possibly can) and made his way into Grendel's temple with a snarl. He knew the new God would know he was there, so he did not seek him out.

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[Seussi]

The temple was not anything like what the oldest of vampires were used to. Where Caine had built something stark and foreboding, Grendel had attempted at something a touch more welcoming. Though still shrouded in darkness and shadows that blocked out any chance at sunlight, various windows glowed with warm, soft, flickering light, the temple itself looming out of the darkness like a sanctuary or a haven and not a place to fear.

The moment Malkav got anywhere near, Grendel could feel him. Though the God could sense the Disciple's unrest and festering rage, he did nothing to try and block his entry. All former Disciples of Caine were welcome to seek him out. Grendel was sure that they all had questions, and though many were only too happy to shed loyalty to Caine and join with him instead, the God had always been sure that he would encounter at least one or two who questioned this new way.

And here was the first, strolling into the temple with a fury that felt almost tangible, with an anger that seemed to stalk ahead of him and taint the very stones where he laid his feet. Malkav had barely made it through the entrance and into the main hall when Grendel stepped out of the shadows to stand in his path with a guarded look on his face, red eyes burning bright against the flickering flames held in sconces that lined the walls.

"Malkav." His voice rumbled, though there was only a greeting in the word and not a hint of threat. "To what do I owe the honour?"

Sylent Nyte

 

[Sylent Nyte]

The temple was not the way that the old Disciple remembered it. He may have been as old as dirt itself, but Malkav was not a fan of change-- this was reflected clearly in his ratty brown cloak that he kept draped down over his eyes. When he lifted his clawed hands to pull down the hood, his blackened eyes narrowed and he ran his claws through his matted hair.

Fists clenched as his side and he sneered when Grendel slipped out of the shadows. While he knew the younger Vampire God had taken Caine's place, Malkav wasn't quite as welcoming or as accepting as he should have been in the God's presence.

"What did you do?," he growled low in his throat, skipping the pleasantries.

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"What should have been done long ago." Grendel's cool and calm response came, though his voice still rumbled through the air like a coming storm. Something shimmered in the air behind him. This was the God's home, and he had his children here. It was not hard to see that Malkav was pissed and, knowing him, probably on the verge of becoming completely unhinged.

So, Grendel placed a protective shield on the hallway behind him, and it rippled along the walls. The Disciple would not be able to pass him to enter any other part of the temple, and the walls on either side would not crumble, no matter how hard they were hit. Everything that occurred would be confined to this space and this space alone.

"I take it you do not approve?"

Sylent Nyte

 

[Sylent Nyte]

“Approve?,” the rage that the Disciple felt was starting to overpower him, consuming every fibre of his being. The calmer Grendel was, the more Malkav was infuriated by the God. “How dare you,” he took a step forward, his lip curling.

His black eyes flicked away from Grendel for the briefest of moments as he took note of the protective shield he threw up. The snarl upon his face turned into a wide grin slowly as he returned the God’s gaze. He was keeping Malkav from something…. Someone? The fingers of his right hand brushed over the hilt of his dagger, as he considered violence being his best course of action.

He took another step forward. “I will not bow to a child,” he boomed loudly, practically spitting the words. “I am loyal to Caine and only Caine.”

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He could feel that rage. It practically slammed into him, a force unto itself, as it was spat from Malkav's lips, filling his words with its vitriolic poison. As Malkav took a step forward, Grendel knew there was no calming him, and there was likely no way forward. The God's face turned cold, and his eyes darkened, deepening to a shade that was nearly black, his pale features smooth.

"I wouldn't." He warned, his voice edged with something sharp as if it alone could cut the Disciple down where he stood. He saw how Malkav's eyes flicked away, saw the recognition there, and the way he smiled.

The insane vampire took another step toward him, and Grendel stood perfectly still, save for the shadow tendrils that began to snake from his back.

And then the former Disciple of Caine spoke again, and Grendel's head tilted by mere increments, and finally, a small smile of his own graced his lips. He gave a shrug of his shoulders, casual, a smooth and effortless rise and fall that spoke volumes about how little he gave a s**t about whether he had Malkav's loyalty.

He did not need it.

"So be it." He said, and within an instant, the tendrils from his back surged forward, black whisps of shadows, a multitude of them converging on Malkav all at once. He could fight them if he wished. His blade could only slip through them, not cut them, and they would grab at him and twist around his arms, legs, waist, and neck. They would hold him tightly in their grasp, entwining around him, constricting him, and then he would be slammed against one wall, and then the other, and then pushed, with decisive force, against the large wooden door that led back outside, and held him their, taut.

Grendel moved forward through the hallway, still appearing relatively calm, and came to stand just a foot away from where Malkav was being held, suspended, against the door.

"Was there anything else?" He asked pleasantly, the smile growing, the darkness of his eyes glowing from somewhere deep within.

Sylent Nyte

 

[Sylent Nyte]

Malkav’s body tensed the slightest bit when it registered the shift in Grendel’s face. “You wouldn’t?,” he repeated back at him. “I may not stand a chance in this fight, tiny Godling, but the final death means nothing to me. I do not fear you.” His nose wrinkled with a snarl, his fangs bared as he spoke, filled with spite and anger.

And then…. The God smiled, and the Disciple of Caine laughed. He laughed and laughed and laughed, in the most unsettling of ways. The black tendrils wrapped around him and slammed him into the wall, and his laughter only got louder. “Do your worst,” Malkav croaked as the tendril tightened around his neck, and he spat at the phony god of Vampires.

“Caine will wake again,” he snarled.

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The laughter may have been unnerving to anybody else, but to Grendel, it meant nothing, except to remind him that he was dealing with someone who could not, would not be reasoned with.

That was fine. He would simply replace him with somebody better. Somebody just as strong, and loyal. As loyal as Malkav seemed to be to a God who had long since been buried beneath a burned-down and ruined temple. A God who slept while his son took everything.

Malkav spat at him, and it hit Grendel in the cheek. Lifting a hand he wiped it away, the smile never leaving his pale face.

When he closed that last bit of distance between them it was impossibly fast. A blink and he had his clawed hand shoved against Malkav's forehead.

"Oh, I hope so. I doubt it, but I hope so." The God growled, voice low, and then he chuckled.

At that exact moment, Malkav would feel as if his body was on fire. No, not just his body, every fibre of his being felt like it was burning up as if he had just stepped out into the sun. But it was not that. This was the Gods power, flowing over him, through him, invading his mind, curling around his core, enveloping his very essence.

Whatever weak tether the Disiciple had left that bound him to Caine was burned away. Whatever ties he had that held him to his clan were burned away. And finally, the Madness Network, like a tree with many branches and roots that had dug deeply into Malkavs mind...

That was torn free and burned away. The Disciple, would likely be in agony.

But he was also free. Free from the burden of his clan. Free from Caine. Free from the voices that whispered endlessly in his mind. Free from all of it.

Just an ancient, clanless, and horribly sane shadow of his former self.

Grendel pulled his hand away, and the power pulled away with it.

A flash of impossibly long and sharp teeth as the God smiled now, though it did nothing to warm the cold, dead, blackness of his eyes. Malkav was still held by tendrils of shadow, but behind him, in the wooden door, a portal to the wastelands had opened.

"I think you should take some time to reflect on the poor decisions you made here today...with a clear mind, of course." The shadows began to unwind, but Malkav was still held at bay with power, a wall of it that would stop him from moving forward once he was freed.

"Goodbye, Malkav. It has been a pleasure."

The only way he could go was backward, through the portal, and Grendel stood there, waiting for him to see himself off.

Sylent Nyte

 

[Sylent Nyte]

Grendel was right about one thing, Malkav could absolutely not be reasoned with in that moment. His mind was focused on one thing and one thing only - and that was denouncing the new god of vampires, supporting only Caine. He could only accept the reality that was in his mind, the reality that the madness had convinced him of. The reality that Caine would ever return and Malkav would be his loyal Disciple until his final death.

Malkav snarled like a feral animal, thrashing against his binds and the clawed hand that had a hold of his forehead. Before the Ancient vampire had a chance to respond, the madness that plagued Malkav for what felt like an eternity now clawed at his brain, forcing himself into the darkness that consumed him. But something was off. Painful. But the madness was never painful. How? What was he doing?

Am I screaming? he thought as the fire consumed him from the inside, from his core. Yes, he was definitely screaming. Maybe this was it. Is this what the final death felt like? Did Grendel possess the power of the sun? No… This was different. He felt this burning sensation in the deepest crevices of his mind. This came from the inside.

Blood poured from Malkav’s eyes as he cried out, his very being pulled away from him bit by agonizing bit. He pulled against his binds once again in a last desperate attempt to cling to any semblance of the Madness Network that he could, before it was all taken from him. But there was nothing to be done. No amount of fighting would stop what was already in motion. When it was done and he was free of his curse, he went limp in his restraints. He looked up and met Grendel’s eyes as he smiled at the now clanless vampire before him.

As he dropped to the ground when he was finally released, he made an attempt to lunge at Grendel, only to be kept back and away from him by the magic he was wielding. Malkav stood, breathing heavily and sweating, his white fur stained with thick dark red under his hollow black eyes. The mention of a clear mind was like a final slap in the face to the former Disciple, and in his defeat he retreated through the portal, swearing under his breath to have his revenge.

He would not remain without a curse of madness. There was no way Malkav could survive such a fate.

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He watched Malkav depart, the portal beginning to shrink the moment that he walked through.

Leave him...

The words were whispered to the Wastelands, to the one who dwelled there.

As the portal closed, Grendel let down the shields that had kept the space closed off.

He walked away without thinking twice about what he had done. He had only now to add another Disciple to the list of replacements.