After amuns body was decorated in long charred lines from sternum to his knees. through the symphony of screams, Vladimir had the time to find a metal pan big enough to fit the hot coals in from the torched basins. he filled the pan and shoved it ever so delicately under amuns body leaving only about two inches of space between his body and the coals. he would smile maliciously as Amun's flesh began to bubble under the heat. his garbled cries in Vladimir's direction made Vladimir smile as he reached down and stroked his face. " oh my dear friend, it has been so long since i had the pleasure of having such fun with you." he said as he began to laugh. Amun made a sound that almost sounded like he was pleading with him, vlad pressed his index finger to Amun's lips. " hush, i can only imagine how excited you must be to see what else i have in store, im trembling with anticipation myself i can hardly contain it" he said with a smile as he removed his ornate silver stake from its sheath behind his back.
the hilt was jeweled fitting in to the palm of Vladimirs pale hands rather comfortably. the blade started with four corners of silver that twisted in to a long pointed spike. the edges of the climbing lines were sharp and could cut through flesh like a redhot butter knife through butter. along the blade in the flattened areas that narrowed the farther they climbed were runes spelled to kill the undead. he twisted the blade between his two hands, the pointed end danced across his palm as he gave it a spin. " you know, i never expected you to be the one to betray me amun. i expected elmyron to be the traitor but you..." he sat down next to him breathing in the scent of his charred flesh. " you were always so loyal to me and my brother, id have liked to at one time call you my friend. i see i was severely mislead in my endeavors for peace. see when i killed elmyrons wife it wasnt just because of defiance. she was going to kill you elmyron and jakaris, loyally i protected you as my allies even if it meant elmyron hated me for the rest of my days...but now, there is a vile woman with a plan to over throw me and instead of remaining true to your oaths, for whatever reason you chose to betray me and stefan. " he tucked his arms over his knees and flipped the blade between his fingers on his right hand.
" usually, i would show you mercy. in fact i want to show you mercy as a sign of good faith and let you live..." vladimir sighed " unfortunately mercy only shows others they can get away with treason warranting little consequence." he looked over amun whose eyes were fixated on the blade in vladimirs hands " fear not amun, this blade isnt meant for the likes of you." he smiled sweetly at amun. " do you want to know why i became a conqueror?...i was young and had lost my wife. she was convicted of a crime under valhalla, i didnt believe they would kill my wife but then i was shown the memory of her flaming corpse as if it was happening in that very moment compliments of aribella. they had more allies then we did and they ruled with fear, i believed we could all co-exist with humans. these ideas led to war, to make the land bend the knee i went after every coven that had sworn their undying loyalty to valhalla burning them to the ground and eventually being named king of dacia, i nurtured this kingdom from the ground up, i let all who defied me make a choice and allowed those who chose to swear oaths of loyaltie keep their lands, i earned my name and the crown...what have you ever earned? what has numon? what right does he have to a throne i earned through my triumphs in war? all i ever wanted was peace and harmony. i did not want to live in secrecy and in the dark shadows of the world. i have a daylight amulet, i should be allowed to make use of it without fear of being killed for it. i did not choose this life it chose me, and all i have ever asked in return was the right to walk among'st my people human and immortal alike in peace and friendship."
he stood up from the ground and gripped the bar he used to mar amuns flesh from before, his back to numon as he stared up at the moon. every word was true, he knew those still alive in the oasis heard him but till now the only person who knew his true aspirations was stefan. he saw many red eyes peering at him from the shadows as he scanned his environment. many immortals emerged from their great stone homes and filled the clearing. some with immortals some with cowering humans behind them clearly involved by the way they clutched to their mates clothing.
vladimir stood tall unsure of what was occurring and readied himself for a coming onslaught. instead, one by one immortals bent their knee and kneeled before him. his eyes widened as he had not expected them to be so accepting of him as their king. he looked out among them...the bodys of the humans he had bitten to change them began their moans of ecstasy. " rise. i will never ask you to bow to me, we are equals. i will ask that you grab these newborns place them in the wagons and head to dacia, i lost something more precious to me than anything else on this earth and i want her back. i will ask of you to fight at my side, and when we emerge triumphant you will sit at the kings table and drink from the finest feeders. i will allow you a place among my people out of this desert wasteland, i swear it."
he didnt need a response from them, they began to move swiftly loading the bodys in to the wagons and speeding off to dacia. a few stayed behind to calm the humans as they knew what was to come next. vladimir didn't really have much of a choice but to kill amun in a way that word would spread in hopes that maybe he would not have to kill any others. he waited the few moments it took to clear the oasis till it was just him and amun once more.
he spun on his heel to face the man taking the iron bar in his hand, if he sqeezed just a little the metal would warp beneath his fingers. he stood over amun and with one hand he drove it in to his chest through the metal tray beneath him and into the stone stairs cracks spider webbed out from the impact. amuns back arched with the pain of the rod plunging deep in to his heart, he used the last of his strength breaking the chains around his body and falling in to the coals igniting almost instantly.
vladimir backed away a few steps and held his arm up to gaurd his face from the sparks that flew in to the air from the flaming corpse before him. " this was not the death i had envisioned for you...but dead is dead no less" he sheathed his stake and headed to the parted pillars that served as the enterance to wait for jakaris and elmyron.
upon the return to dacia,vladimir stared in to his cavern of newborns with a grin. most of them screamed and writhed in pain as they went through their transformations. " its magnificent isnt it brother?" he asked smelling stefan and calliope as they approached him. " are you out of your damn mind?" stefan asked cringing as he saw his brothers grin upon turning to face him " i know not what you mean, i am perfectly sane why?"
stefans nose flared with rage as he stepped forward to slap vladimir across the face with a loud crack that echoed across the tree tops. vladimirs face turned to the side as his hand instinctively touched his cheek. his hair was messed from the impact of his brothers hand as he looked up at him through his white lashes " this was supposed to be peaceful vladimir! and yet i come to find out you killed amun. "
" what did you want me to do brother!" vladimir spat at him. as he stood to his full height towering over stefan by 6 inches " would you have let him live if numon had calliope and amun was so easily persuaded to fight on their side? would you have drawn up some kind of treaty instead?" he stepped closer making stefan take a step back toward the cliff edge " that isnt what i said..." his arms flew up to try and reason with vladimir. " elmyron told me it was for the best...i just meant that you didnt need to draw it out in the manner you did"
vladimir began to laugh before taking another step toward stefan who couldnt step back further as he looked down at the forest below his heels. pebbles skittered down the side of the cliff with every shift of his foot. " if i could have granted him mercy i would, but his death was meant as an omen. to any others who would defy me, i cannot let treason fly without consequence...unfortunately you have not only questioned my motives and struck me i feel that you have no concern in my plight for catarina, i dont think you are as dedicated to helping your future sister as you once seemed to be." stefan could see the intention in his brothers eyes just before vladimirs hands reached out and launched him from the cliff.
calliope screamed as she ran to the cliffs edge, the fall would not kill him but it would do damage. vladimir walked away from her wails of agony for the harm of her lover as it annoyed him. he decided instead to head in to town to his favorite pleasure house.
upon entering the master of the house gave him a bow. "your grace, may i assist you in choosing a companion for the evening?" the human man asked. he was older maybe about fifty and about five foot five, his hair was grey and wrinkles kissed the corners of his eyes. vladimir admired those who chose to grow old in the human life span it showed him the resilience of their kind. " find me a girl maybe five eight with black hair and green eyes." the master nodded and grabbed a girl with brunette hair instead. the ebony beauty of the house was not what he had requested but the brunette had everything but the black hair that was requested "will this one due your grace?" the man asked anticipating vladimir to be unsatisfied.
vladimir shrugged and tossed him the coin purse " it will work." the girl was roughly the same build as catarina, her exposed breasts were covered only by see through sheer that exposed her sternum and belly button tucked in to a plain black rope at her waist. he gingerly ran his fingertips over the exposed skin upon her chest and down to her navel before picking her up in his arms and kicking in the door of one of the private rooms.
he laid her gently down upon the bed and stood over her as he untied the strings of his tunic around his neck slipping it up over his masculine shoulders exposing his fit body, he wasnt overly muscular but he had some definition in his slender form as he took her leg and trailed kisses down her calfs to her inner thigh as he used his long nimble fingers to slid the sheer from her breasts, she tried to place her hands in his hair which he responded to by gripping her wrists and pinning them above her head " no, you are my toy for the night. you do not touch me." he said his voice a low growl.
Stefan hit the ground with a loud boom causing the birds to flee from their nests. the wind was catapulted from his lungs upon impact, his large muscular body cracking in a thousand places at once. vladimir had finally lost it, he was not thinking straight. his brother would never hurt him on purpose stefan knew this just as he knew vladimir would not kill him. but he did hurt him really, really bad. stefan took a deep ragged breath as he made the attempt to sit up wincing. at least he didnt punch me. he thought to himself as he hauled himself to his feet, he lost his balance almost immediately tripping in to a tree to brace himself. they had to stop him, he would need to be placed in the dry tank.
stefan would move along the tree and reach forward for another to balance himself, slowly inching himself to the palace. once he got to the doors the gaurds practically had to drag his body to his throne. calliope was swiftly at his side as expected "my sweet love, you must be in such agony...i will put the order for execution upon your word my love." stefan responded with a glare " i will hear no such things out of your mouth about your king calliope, he is my brother and he is giving in to the darkest of impulses. if you mean to kill the last thing that means anything to me besides you then i will die protecting him. i will choose my brother, no matter how much i love you do you understand?"82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQFko13AGLj
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calliope shook her head in disbelief "he just tried to kill you stefan! you think he cares about whether or not we are family at this point?" 82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkdGJgUGSo3
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stefan shook his head "no, he punished me for my ignorance. i try to handle things with a gentle hand and with creatures like ourselves the only thing that makes a difference is fear and war. he can afford to show no mercy at this moment which is why he is the perfect weapon, if he wanted me dead truly...he would have taken that stake of his and drove it right in to my chest. he didnt. i do not wish to fight my brother and i wont." we gave a wave of his hand to send her away from him as he gestured to drago who stood over to the side silently " where is vladimir?" 82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIcJVG6QAzu
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drago gave a knowing side glance "where he always goes when he is frustrated, to the brothel" 82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzVy9bA7Sml
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stefan rolled his eyes, of course he went there. "alright, i need you and dalilah to help me. we need him to win this fight that i know, but he is loosing his mind. he could have instantly killed amun and instead he tortured him. does that sound like vlad is thinking right?" 82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoXUPTyvXdm
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drago shook his head "no, if i may speak freely?" stefan nodded indicating permission. " in the years i have served your family and the kingdom of dacia, i have only ever witnessed your brother displaying kindness and mercy. though it is no argument that he becomes vile cold and cruel when his humanity is off. i think instead of the dry tank we try a different method?" 82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmHqdMnmQfm
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stefan raised a brow " oh ?" 82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdN9Gj3ZRXw
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"yes my lord, i have seen others without humanity within the dungeons accused of the most heinous of sins my lord. in many cases i have found it is easier to force the switch back on instead of waiting.." drago knew how this sounded but he had no intention of harming anyone more than what was necessary 82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpBstvWiFR2
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stefan leaned forward his head tilted slightly to the side " what kind of force did you have in mind?" 82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡonMmWt2OAE
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drago took a breath of relief sure that he was about to loose his head where he stood. " well, the enchanted metal cross in the cellar i cut in to an x shape. i wrap the hands and feet of my target in ropes covered in vervain and force dead mans blood down their throat until they beg me to stop..."he feared going any further on this topic would get him excuted for treason so he simply stopped there. 82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZrpfBzpHit
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a cloaked man entered the tent of numon that night his hair hung over his ruby eyes like ebony curtains. " is she the right one?" he asked as he entered as if he was demanding to know. numon turned and raised a brow at the cloaked man.82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwG37fiaG0T
"that was not the deal, why were you not present in our...coup d'état?" 82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnKZWa0wAEM
"i had other engagements that needed my immediate attention, you did just fine on your own numon."82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ77aLkNGWN9
"that was not the plan, you used me to put those two in a corner so that you could leave the ever diplomatic stefan vulnerable and the poor conqueror brought to his knees with madness. you told me she would choose to be part of our fight once that boy was exposed but here she is so loyal she prefers to sleep tied to the post outside, "82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSIQJu70jTQ
the man slammed his pale hand on to numons desk in front of him "you were supposed to change her! what happened to that?! i need her powers numon, dont forget your ass is on the line if you fail. i need them immobilized so that her immortal family can remove their heads or did you forget that? "82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡILVC8Ubsin
numon shrunk before this man, he knew he was no match for him. he even feared vladimir which is why he desperately needed catarina and her powers. they had far more combat experience than he did. "yes marcos. ill change her soon but first i need to know the extent of her powers, i need to know what she will be capable of after the change. " 82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNiB0BqYokR
"three days, its time to bury this absurd idea of harmony with humans. its time for valhalla to rise and for me to be king."
