There was a stir amongst the spirits that circled endlessly around the ceiling in Lillianna?s apartment, something was wrong. Demons began to gather, adding the red and yellow glow of their eyes to the blackness of the other watchers.

The blood slaves huddled together in a corner, not knowing what was happening and without their mistress to calm them they were scared of the creatures that were moving about in an agitated state.

The door was flung open, making all in the room jump, there stood MaryRead holding the unconscious body of Lillianna, who was covered in blood, though it did not seem to be her own. The demons swarmed down around her, watching, they had never seen their mistress hurt before, but they felt no malice from Mary just concern, they kept their distance as she moved through the room to the bathing area where the pool still held the heated blood from her bath earlier that day.

Mary knelt down on the edge of the pool and carefully lowered Lillianna?s body in releasing it once it was completely covered by the crimson liquid. The watchers all converged on the area. One demon, larger than the others, began to chant in a long forgotten language, others picked it up and the chant grew in power, the blood began to glow slightly for a moment before fading back to what it had been before.
Then nothing? silence? waiting?

Pain radiated over her whole being, every nerve in her body was on fire; it had been so long since she had felt this, confusion washed over her as her mind tried to deal with the sensation of weakening. Her mind was frozen; her chest was too tight to breathe. She could feel herself slipping toward the floor, barely managing to choke out the words: ?my room? pool? blood? before she lost consciousness.

She was falling, wave after wave of pain ripped through her, the physical pain was the least of her worries, she had been tortured by the best agents that heaven had to offer, and never had she broken. This was different, this was the pain in her mind that she tried to hide from. Her heart was torn into pieces again and again as the worst moments of her long life paraded past eyes that stared seemingly unseeing into the images that she had tried to push out of her mind.
Music began to swirl through her mind, words that she knew all too well, as they were very close to those she had called out in her despair?

All the little things
I do to keep you safe
the painful dreams you fear
will release you from this place?

He entered their house, just walking in after being gone for so many days she had lost count. She ran to him smiling brightly in welcome. The Beautiful angel that she called her own, whose smile could wipe away any fears she had, whose arms brought her the comfort that nothing else had ever managed. Her smile slid off of her face as she saw those beautiful grey eyes that she had spent many hours looking in to while laying wrapped in his arms had gone blank, there was no expression as he looked at her? something was wrong. She began shaking as she spoke, ?What was the summons about?? she asked, ?What was it that they had to ask of you, my love?? His eyes shifted to where their baby girl slept, the blankness changing into the worst kind of pain? loss, helplessness, and heartbreak. Her gaze followed his, and then came back to his face, begging him silently to tell her that she was wrong, surely they could not demand that their child be harmed? The tears began to fall down her face, leaving traces of cold behind, her scream tore through her as the truth tried to set itself into her mind, but she wouldn't? couldn't believe it.

Your methods of escape
the guilt that drives you here
spread your wings and fly
and release you from your fear

She had reached for him, but his arms where she had always felt sheltered were hard at his sides, they did not reach out to her. She broke, falling to her knees at his feet, shattering into a million pieces. ?Please?.? She pleaded, ?It can?t be! NO!!!? their baby began to cry, scared by the volume of her mother?s voice, at the sound she jumped up and ran to the bed and lifted their girl protectively in her arms, trying to soothe the little ones crying through her own sobs trying hard to choke them back. The room faded and was replaced by another memory.

Loss and heartbreak were etched into every line of his body, his wings drooped around him, twitching every now and then as if they didn?t know just what they were supposed to do, wrap around his body to protect him, or take flight away from this mess. His voice was dead as he spoke the words of the spell that would hide their child, even from them. The words came to a choking stop and he looked into their daughter?s eyes, the angel?s tears falling onto the perfect skin of the infant?s cheek as he tried to blink them out of his way so that he could memorize every detail of her face. Lillianna had been holding their precious girl at the time, and her tears fell to mix with his before sliding down the baby?s face, as if she herself were crying, but she wasn?t, she just looked at her parents questioningly. The pain in his eyes as together they spoke the words that sent their child away mirrored her own so well. Together, hand in hand they fell apart, shattering into a million pieces, pieces that they had never been able to put back together. The image wavered and was replaced by another.

You see me
falling
I am out of my depth
you leave me
crawling?

There he stood, grey eyes looking at her without pity as she begged him not to send her from his side, her hatred was as strong as his, but his sense of betrayal was so much stronger? he had fully trusted and loved them. His wings were becoming ragged as fight after fight took its toll, he was coldness and rage personified, hard in every way. His eyes only showed the madness that had taken hold as soon as their daughter was gone.

You see me
falling
I can?t catch my breath
don?t leave me
crawling?

Another memory or maybe this was something else, it was not like the others, but the essence of the pain was still there. The angel Rose Black stumbled along the path toward the mountains, frantically trying to repair her costume which had been destroyed during her fight with the demon, tears streamed down her face as she stumbled along, trying to put something, anything back to the way that it should be.




Song: Falling by Bruderschaft

Lillianna made her way slowly back to consciousness, pulling herself away from the fading memories and flashes of emotions that radiated from the angel. Rose Black?s pain echoed and magnified her own encroaching on the lighter dreams that she had willed into her mind. She shook her head, trying to dislodge the thoughts that were beckoning to her, pulling her closer to the darkness where she had dwelt for years uncounted. The walls that she had built up around those memories over the years had been shattered as if they were made of nothing but spun glass.

Her hands twitched with the familiar anguish, her fingers slowly balling into fists at her sides. She had moved! She tested her limbs, moving them one at a time, her strength was coming back and she could move again. Carefully she pulled her legs underneath her and began to stand up. Once on her feet she moved to the side of the pool, taking each step with the outmost care in case her legs gave out, but so far they seemed to be holding her weight. She rose fully, stepping out of the tub as the crimson liquid ran in streams down her garments and to the floor. She looked down at the ruin that was her dress, the sheer fabric had not held up well, and now was stained by the blood in which it had soaked along with her. Sighing she ripped the fabric, pulling it away from her body and dropping it to the floor before stepping into the shower that was set near her bathing pool so that she could wash away the blood and see what damage had been done.

She scrubbed the last of the blood from her skin, wincing as she washed her right side. As the soap, blood, and water ran down the drain she examined her usually flawless skin gasping at the sight of her mangled flesh. It looked as though acid had been splashed over her right side there were extensive boils and indentations along her arm and down her leg where the skin had been eaten away. She felt the right side of her neck and the side of her face, both were painful and as much of a mess and the parts of her body that she could see. She was going to need a lot of fresh blood to heal this damage.

She stepped out of the shower, noticing for the first time that she was not alone, the demons she had expected to be there, but it was Mary sitting next to the pool, waiting, that caught her attention. She smiled at her boss, though only one side of her mouth moved; the damage to the right side went deep enough to cause immobility, the smile was more different than could be explained by the nerve damage though, there was something like madness that showed through. Her normally sparkling green eyes glowed in her marred face, one red and one yellow, matching the eyes of the demons who lined the walls of the room. She held her arms out hands shaped as if they were holding the skirt of a dress as she curtsied. ?Well,? she said, ?I am back.? Her voice was rough, as if all of the screams that had tried to tear their way out of her as the memories had swirled through her unconscious mind had ripped her vocal cords, though no sounds had escaped past her lips.

Mary was crying, tears of blood leaked out of her eyes to roll down her cheeks, even as she laughed and said, "That you most definitely are my lady... I had feared for a moment... But I should have known better I suppose." Lillianna straightened up from her curtsy, if only Mary knew what she meant she wouldn?t look so happy. It wasn?t the obvious return that she was speaking of, she now remembered who she had been, that piece of her that had been locked away when she came here had broken through. She was not meant to be this creature that inspired others to love her; she wasn?t something that you loved. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of those thoughts, She wouldn?t hurt these young ones, especially not Mary who had accepted her without question that night that they met at the bar, she who had given her a home and a place in the Bonny Corporation.

Still shaking her head she hurried past her friend, ?I must find clothing,? she said, making up a reason for her quick departure from the room, a good reason as she had destroyed the clothing that she had been wearing when she entered the pool, but it was nothing more than an excuse to be moving.

She reached her wardrobe and began pushing the clothing aside, growling whenever the fabric caught on her skin, ?this is going to be a problem,? she thought the third time this happened. She pulled a bag out that was hidden in a back corner of the large space; it was old, almost as old as she was, as was its contents. She crossed to her bed and opened the bag, everything was still in it except for her swords, those had been taken from her when she was captured and had not been recovered on the day that she escaped. She ran her fingers over the black demon hide armor that she had worn the day that the angels had captured her, ?it has been so long,? she spoke quietly, talking to herself, or maybe to the armor, ?I believe it is time that I remember at least this much.? She looked at her arm, and the melted flesh that barely covered the bones, ?Forgetting has cost me too much.?

She had forgotten that she was not alone, but Mary?s movement caught her eye quickly, ?I?m sorry,? she said, trying to sound like the woman that they had known, ?I guess that my mind is having trouble sticking to one task at a time,? this was said with as much of a laugh as she could muster, and a wink of her left eye as she gestured to her still naked form, ?My apologies? my lady.? She rose from her seat on the bed and crossed back to the wardrobe, this time selecting a short sleeved robe that would touch the least amount of skin possible, the fabric was the softest that she owned, she wrapped it around herself before turning back to where Mary stood.

Lillianna barely noticed Mary leaving; she was distracted by the pain again. ?Blood,? she said to herself, and back to her pool she went, the blood soothed the heat that was beginning to build up again and she lay relaxing luxuriously floating in the warm liquid until the pain was fully soothed. This time she didn?t bother to wash the blood off before dressing in a light robe and laying on her bed, she was so tired that sleep came as soon as her eyes were closed.

She was immobilized, held to the chair by many straps designed to hold someone much stronger than her, she struggled even though there was no hope of escape, she was just too weak, that was something that she would have to change. What she could see of her skin was torn, burned, and in places looked as though acid had been repeatedly dripped onto it, melting its way slowly through her flesh. She heard noise outside of the door, they were coming back to continue their work, as if she would have answered their questions even if she could, nothing could make her betray those that she loved, for though she had changed into a different being, one who killed without mercy in the worst ways that she could dream up, it was still her love that drove her, she would protect them at any cost to herself.

She jerked awake, sitting up before her mind caught up with her body. She was burning again, the whole right side of her body felt as if she was on fire, or like she had rolled into a bed of coals which were still clinging to her skin, melting it some more. She rose from her bed and made her way in the darkness into her bathing room. She needed the blood; it would sooth the pain from her skin. She quickly stripped off her sleeping robe and lowered herself into the pool; there she sat waiting for the relief that didn?t come. The blood was too old! She drained the pool and called to her slaves, they would need to be bled more often while she healed. She caught sight of her reflection in the mirror as the girls filed into the room, her face still looked as if half of it was made of melted wax, and the rest of that side of her body looked no better.

In a panic she moved to the door, and shut it, the lock clicking into place. Her slaves looked at her nervously, in the past she only called one in at a time, and never had she locked them in. Something was wrong with their mistress, and it wasn?t just her skin or the glowing red and yellow eyes that looked at them hungrily. Her teeth had changed, the canines were longer than they remembered, really all of the teeth looked as if they had been sharpened to points, her half smile showed this a moment before she caught the first of the twenty girls. She pulled her over to the edge of the pool, ignoring the arm with the port that the girl offered her, that wouldn?t be enough, she needed all of the blood, she needed to heal.

The slaves began to scream as, using her teeth, she ripped the throat out of the helpless girl, letting her body fall so that the blood drained into the pool. The girl?s blood splashed onto her burning skin bringing relief, wonderful relief, she needed more, nothing could stand in the way of that. Turning she pounced onto the next girl, not bothering to drag her to the pool before severing her artery and letting the blood spray over her, laughing in bliss as her pain lessened. The next girl tried to scramble away from her, but slipped in the blood that was spreading across the floor, her head slammed into a marble pillar as she fell, leaving a large gash in the girl?s head, her life force bled out to mingle with that of those who had been chosen before her. Lillianna grabbed her by the hair and pulled her body over to the edge of the pool with her head hanging over the side, leaving her to drain out there.

She grabbed girl after girl and tore them to pieces, needing more relief, needing her pain to heal, needing her memories to stop slipping into her dreams and tormenting her, needing their fear. She enjoyed the fear in their eyes up until the point when all life fled from them, leaving their bodies empty as their souls tried to flee from the madness, but not even those were safe, she caught them before they could escape and devoured them, they would feed her one last time, help her heal from the inside as the well as the outside. It had been so long since she had really killed, true, there were a few here and there that would still be alive if it wasn?t for her, but not like this. These innocent girls, their fear, the betrayal, she savored every moment of it, drinking it in while basking in the blood flowing around her along the marble floor as it made its way to the pool in the center of the room, slowly filling it with the beautiful liquid.

Lillianna woke lying on the cold marble floor of her shower in the bathing room, the first thing that she noticed is that the pain had lessened drastically through the night, she examined her arm and saw that the burns looked much better, though they were still raw, it looked less like her skin was continuing to melt away, there was even some new growth! She was sticky, covered in blood that she had not washed off the night before. She rose to her feet sighing as the injured skin sent sharps pains through her, but that too was alright, the nerves were coming back to life.
Her head felt groggy, as if she had been drunk the night before, she wasn?t really sure how she had ended up on that floor, but she must have been in pain and decided to bathe, and fallen asleep in the shower. She turned the water on and proceeded to wash the congealed blood from her skin, it would ruin her clothing if she touched any of it.

She turned to step out of the shower and stopped. There in front of her was what was left of her slaves; by the amount of carnage they had all been killed. She looked at the gruesome scene, and back down to her healing skin, ?oops,? she stated to herself, ?That is what Mary meant by saying that she would request more slaves, this is going to slow down the healing process,? she glanced at the pool where a few bodies lay, there was a good amount of liquid still there, in fact it was almost full. She examined the bodies, and parts of bodies, that lay strewn around the room, ?Must have been a fun night.? She stated laughing aloud.

She walked to a window and threw it open, the sunlight streamed into the room, looking so out of place as it lighted the faces, bodies, and limbs of the girls that she had torn apart. She turned back to the window and whistled, it was a strange sound as if three people were whistling at once, in harmony with each other. She smiled as shadows began to condense in the room, becoming six figures that quickly took shape into her pets. She reached out to the once closest to her, running her hand through the lama?s soft fur, feeling the heat that radiated from deep within the demon creature. ?The bodies are for you,? she said brightly, ?do not touch the blood in the pool, which is mine you will pay dearly if even a drop of it is gone.? They didn?t really understand what she was saying, however there were plenty of bodies for them to feast on, and lots of blood that had not made it to the pool.

She called a demon into the room, ?Watch them,? she commanded, ?the pool is not to be touched, but the rest they can do what they want with.? The demon bowed low before her, its voice grated as it worked its way out of his throat, ?Yes my lady.? She nodded once and left the room.

Once again she pulled the beaten pack from her wardrobe, this time removing the contents and laying it out on her bed. Crossing to her wardrobe again she took a silk dress and began to tear it into strips, these she used to bandage the worst of the burns on her skin, securing them tightly. Over the bandages went a soft shirt of some fabric that she had acquired somewhere that she could no longer remember, she pulled on a skirt made of strips of soft demon skin and silk so that it would not slow her movement. Then on went her demon hide armor, it had been a gift in the beginning of the war, and had helped her hide in the shadows many times over the years, it pulled all light in, devouring it. The straps gave her a hard time, and she had to ask a spirit to work the buckles as her right hand wasn?t working well enough to manipulate them. She pulled bracers on, once again having the spirit help with clasps. Over all of this she placed a cape, it was made of black angel feathers, and was made to look as if she herself had wings, this was more precious to her than any other possession, she had given a lot to collect those feathers, some of them had even come from him. The cape swirled around her in its own wind; the feathers were restless after being kept still for so long. ?Soon,? she said, stroking her hand along them, ?we will fly again soon.?

She turned to a mirror and saw looking back at her the creature that she had been, this was not the face that she wanted to show at the Bonny Corporation. She found a veil among her belongings and used it to hide her face; the wounds would be enough of an explanation as to why she would do this, only Mary need know about her eyes, which hinted at her being more of a demon than a vampire. If only it was that easy to explain, but she didn?t need the questions at this time.

Lillianna felt like she was floating, being carried along by the currents of someone else?s pain. It was a strange feeling, like standing in the middle of a horror scene and knowing that it couldn?t touch her. There were no images this time, just the feelings of anger, pain, and overwhelming loss, laced with madness. The feelings of the broken angel were beginning to fade, the more she healed the less she would feel, until the damage that Rose Black?s blood had done was no more, and then the connection would no longer exist. She ran her fingers along her right side, new skin had covered over where the burns had been, but she could still feel them, no longer painful, just a reminder.

When she closed her eyes she could still see Rose Black in her Harley Quinn costume hopping from table top to table top swinging her baseball bat and taunting the demon. It was not the best idea that the angel had ever had, but she was having so much fun, how could Lillianna stop her? The demon had a lot of self control, he had held his temper as she threw insults and bottles of alcohol at him, and striking him with the baseball bat when close enough, but the inevitable had eventually happened and he lost his temper, giving the angel what she had apparently wanted. Lilli had stepped forward as she saw him going for the angel?s throat, she was still unsure what she had planned on doing, she should have stepped very quickly in the other direction. The little Devil?s night gathering had ended for her in a rain of angel blood as the demon ripped Rose?s throat open, it drenched Lilli?s right side, burning into her skin and sending her into unconsciousness. Mary had carried her back to her rooms, and to her pool where the blood had worked to heal her as she remained unaware of anything around her, her mind lost in images of the past.

Eventually Rose had fled to the mountain, her grief eating at her, pushing her, pulling her back to the madness as she worked.

For a more in-depth look at what was going on with Rose Black click the link below!

http://rdi.dragonsmark.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=28161