The Multiverse: Not A Plaything

The animated cadaver had been lurking around the castle walls again, her body hugging the rock of the structure. One would think she was patrolling, but she was lurking. Waiting.

And when the stench of corpses came to her nostrils, Her head lashed to the side, causing a loose piece of flesh to slide from her cheek and reveal the white bone beneath.

Quickly, silently, like a shadow behind one's back, she crawled into the castle toward the stench.

He emerged from his quarters and looked around, wondering where his dear friend Mortuus had go-

Sniff.

The bodies weren't that old. Casren froze, listening intently for the sound of moving flesh.

A wind would blow Casren's hair forward. A breath. Hot and rhythmic.

Should Casren turn around, he would greet Mortuus face-to-face. Upside-down. The dragon was hanging from the ceiling by her back claws.

"Dinner, Casren?"

Casren whirled, a grin dancing on his lips and in his eyes.

"Mortuus!" He said looking from where he had expected to see her, up, "Dinner indeed. There should be just enough blood left to keep them hydrated for another hour or so." A wink.

The dragon silently crawled across the ceiling, bounding for the scent. She had to ask Casren. Why? Because she did not know if he was going to use them for...something other than food. There were experiments, siring subjects...and, well, she was not quite sure what the lonely vampire did in his spare time.

Once she had found the location of the bodies, there was no hesitation in chowing down. One by one, she plucked them from the ground, then stuffed them down her gullet whole. Every wound and every piece of rotting flesh upon the dragon's body healed and regrew with every corpse eaten. The glow from her core burned brighter.

"An agreement, alignment, that sort of thing. It requires us to drain bodies of blood and dispose of the corpses," Casren said casually, watching Mortuus with bright eyes.

He was always sort of fascinated by the beast at work, even more so by her regenerative...thing.

"An agreement with...who?" asked the dragon between bites.

"Oh you know, people who need people killed. Think of it as a Meals on Wheels, sponsored by the Assassin's Society. They agreed to not kill us, which is also very beneficial," Casren twiddled his fingers around, finally deciding to move towards a chair.

"We can't kill them, either, but that shouldn't be a problem."

"Ah. You seem to be making connections with everyone these days. A bit more productive than the last century. Very good." She turned her massive head towards Casren.

"Oh. You might want to duck."

That's when Catira took a swing at Casren's head with a small golden statue.

Duck indeed, and nearly just in time Casren flashed across the room.

"WHAT IN THE MORTUUS?" Casren booked for the stairs, ascending almost to the next level, glaring down.

"What is wrong with her?!"

The massive undead dragon dropped down to the ground just as Catira began to run off, stumbling this way and that, disoriented still from when Casren had drained her a week ago. But still, the girl ran off, determined to get out no matter what.

"Had you been captured by something you fear, would you, too, not run?" the dragon asked Casren as she pursued the girl. "Her will is stronger than I am able to control this way. Even close, I cannot keep her consciousness at bay."

Casren groaned, this was the worst news ever! Silently he fumed, thinking of what to do. At this point, winning her favor was...Trying, if miracles existed. He couldn't turn her and force obedience, nor could he kill her. Keeping the girl incapacitated was completely inhumane...

Would she calm down enough to reason?

"Ma'am!" Casren called, "Ma'am I know you're angry! You've every right, now please," The old vampire begged earnestly, "Remain Calm!"

Casren would get a scream in reply. She had run right down a hallway that was far too small for Mortuus to squeeze through. The dragon extended an arm down it with absolutely no luck.

"Casren, if you will." said Mortuus. "I have had plans for a while, but I have not been able to put them into action, so to speak. It looks like I will be forced to do so tonight. If you will retrieve her."

Without another word, Casren bulleted off after the girl.

The scream had shook him, it was disturbed, but this problem had to get taken care of now.

Catira would have easily been caught, even as she made for the next door in sight, arms flailing. She was not crying, not like before, and her eyes were filled more with raw determination than fear.

He reached forth, grasping Catira and catching up to her with contact. The vampire didn't stop there, moving to tackle Catira onto the ground. Enough was enough! If Mortuus was truly going to handle this tonight, put in act her plans tonight, Casren had no choice but to simply try to subdue the girl.

It was a pity, he felt himself think, because she was awfully cute.

The girl reached out, even as she landed on the ground, trying to crawl away from him. She was far too weak. Not only was she just a human being, but she was an awfully anemic human being who had eaten very little in the past week.

"...let me go!" she hissed at Casren, trying to elbow him good in the ribs. "I don't want to stay here! Don't you all understand that? I'm not your plaything!"

Casren's humanity hurt, oh it ached and burned. She was right, not a play thing, but what could he do?

Still, he moved in, meaning to feed from her just enough to lock her in a comfortable room.

She thrashed and kicked and wore herself out even before Casren bit into her flesh, eventually giving in because of her physical limits.

"...I'm...gonna...kill you..." she managed to whisper before she was out. Mortuus waited in the next room, watching them through the small hallway.

Silently, Casren carried the frail body of Catira down the hall. He crossed to a door, nudged it open, and laid her down on a bed inside. Leaving the room, Casren fished a skeleton key from his pocket and locked the door.

He then turned to Mortuus, "Just break the damned door when you need here," sounding relatively exhausted. Returning the key to it's place, Casren collapsed into a chair.

What a day.

The Multiverse » Arcs » Not A Plaything

As written by: Moonscar, lostamongtrees

20 pieces and 3 characters involved, written by 2 different authors.

1 places involved

So begins...

Not A Plaything

Setting: Castle Vankoryth Entrance Hall