Morrigana waited, dangling her feet in the darkness that was just beyond the rocks. In that darkness, nothing was visible including her feet. It was a place of absolute solitude here, where only the occasional ghost or ancient would come to ponder the meaning of death. Life had no meaning, it simply was. Not that it was meaningless, just the opposite, but it is the person who gives meaning to their lives. Love had no need of contemplation, for you just lived it. And hatred had no meaning, no meaning at all.
A dark wind blew up from the canyons of life. Someone walked beyond the boundaries, and was on his way up the hills that had no name. She knew unerringly who it was. She smiled the sort of smile that someone had taught Mona Lisa in another world.
He strode up the path, confidence exuding from him as a visible aura. He had been here before, but had not remembered it until she had mentioned it. It was the place he came at the moment of his transition from human to vampire. He had been here for a few moments only if measured by the normal time, but he remembered spending hours and hours here as if time here had no relation to time elsewhere.
She watched him as he approached. The fabric draped around her was more a robe than a dress, more a wrap than a robe, but it sufficed. It was a shimmering green that changed from palest to darkest hue as the wind played upon it. It hid, yet did not hide, the body beneath it. Angelus surveyed that body with a studied and appreciative eye as he stood before her. He was in no hurry to speak.
"The clear wine that you drank, allowed you to come here," she said. "It is an elixir developed by those who have reached Golconda, the state where a vampire no longer needs to take the blood of the living. It will not harm you, and its effects are temporary. You will remember the way here now, though. I have paid the price of its making for you."
Angelus wondered what she meant by that. What possible price could there be for such a thing? And more importantly, how had she made it? But they were questions that would wait for later. He had read the book of the ancients, and knew that she might be of use to him. He was confident that he could control her, and that this bond that she asked for would be one sided. After all, he was a vampire. The rules and vagaries of humans did not bind him anymore.
He was oddly absorbed in contemplation of her body, her hair, and her eyes. He was always fascinated by women, but this was not the same sort of fascination. As she spoke, her words seemed to vibrate in the air around them. Her eyes were focused on him, watching his every move, every nuance of face and body.
"You are dangerous, you know," she said to him.
"Yes, I am," he said, moving closer. His hand caressed the line of her neck. The blood lust rose in him suddenly. He bent to kiss her, clutching the draped garment in his hand to pull it from her.
"So… am I," she said, the smile fading.
The air between them became palpable, a wall of stone and neither could move for a moment. Then Angelus felt himself wrenched away. Something pushed against him to send him back from whence he had come. He knew with a certainty that it was not she who had separated them, for in her eyes at that moment he had seen desire for him rise too.
He stood in the middle of the room where he spent his days. For the first time in a long, long time, he felt regret. He was not sure exactly for what though. A long green drape fell from his hand, and vanished as it touched the floor.
A feeling that he had not felt for many years nagged somewhere in the recesses of his mind. He shook his head to clear it and the feeling was gone. He had no time for such feelings, they were not allowed to him.
"You are indeed a woman of mystery," Angelus said softly. "But I can solve your mystery, and your secrets will be mine, and so… will you."
Quests
Tome of the Virtues
Twilight Dreams
