Post by Pandora LeAmour on Jun 17, 2009 22:32:54 GMT -5
Pandora LeAmour
Tathar Seregon
Location: Tower Library
Time: two hours after sunset.
Pandora woke with a start, as if something or someone had woken her. The name on the tip of her tongue evaporated, yet the memory refused to do the same. Her eye's scanned her surrounding and she realized that she was in her own private quarters. Upon this realization, the fuzzy memory of her trip from the Library to her own quarters flashed within her mind.
Glancing down at her left wrist, the first mark she spotted was that on the back of her palm, where the Lycan Tathar had wounded her during battle. Flipping her hand over, palm upward, there was no mark from the events last eve. Pandora, however, knew that though there was nothing showing for it at the moment, that wouldn't always be the case.
She glanced around and saw that her quarters were quite untouched. She had made it to her room of her own accord. The memory that William had sent meal to her while she slumbered in the library flashed again in her mind, and Pandora slipped from the bedchamber.
She didn't bother with gown, or gloves. Instead, Pandora slipped her frame into a simple outfit, stuck a pair of blue slippers on her feet, and quickly tucked her hair behind her ears. This evening had already started, the sun gone down more then two hours ago, and Pandora didn't care to waste time on her appearances.
The moment she landed on the ground floor, Pandora glanced around, realizing that William was not in his room. She then headed towards the Meeting Room, certain he'd be there arranging work for her.
Before she even stepped into the Meeting Room, Pandora knew William was there waiting for her. She was running a tad bit late this evening, and the guard had dutifully waited until she arrived. He had enough sense to wait until she was seated before he began the daily speech about all she had missed within the Tower during the Day and all she had planned for the evening ahead.
To Pandora's surprise, there wasn't a single meeting scheduled on her agenda tonight. This small bit of news brought a smile to her mind, that didn't quite reach her expression. With a simple nod of her head, she adknowledged each statment that William made, and when he finished with his speech, she settled back into her chair.
She paused before she continued, catching herself just as she prepaired to dismiss him. Instead of the usual, Pandora changed her traditional replies for something that had never once passed her lips before.
As far as she could recall, he hadn't had a night off since he took up the position of Tower guard in over 18 years. William confirmed this, his eye's downcast.
Before he could get any ideas that she was growing soft, she gestured with her right arm towards the door.
As William placed the large stack o'parchments down infront of her, she glanced to them, dismayed to see the pile never seemed to get any smaller. By the time William backed himself out of the room, Pandora had risen from her chair and was in the process of gathering up said parchments into her pale bare arms.
If there were no meetings scheduled for this evening, by damn she wasn't going to spend it in the Meeting Room. Lord knew she spent enough of her time there as is. That blasted chair would soon wear thin her imprint.
Her silent footfalls followed her out as she stepped through the archway, and headed towards the Library. Luckily, now was a good time to be a Vampire. The extra boost in her senses would still permit her the ability to hear the door from the second floor, should someone come calling.
She crossed the second floor Library, the darkness her only greeting. It seems this room was abandoned, and as she suspected it would be. Not many care for the Parchments within these walls. Pandora could spent a decade simply reading, and be completely content with it all. Perhaps, on this quiet evening, she sought out the comforts this room gave her.
She brought no lantern with her, the darkness more a friend then the light. Lowering the pile of parchments in her arms to the table infront of her, Pandora glanced around with a comfortable smile on her face. Yes, it had been too long since she was able to tuck herself in here, away from the demands of her servants.
Lifting the single chair within the room off the floor, Pandora withdrew it a safe distance from the table and lowered her bottom into it. The memory of when she was a wee child flashed before her, and even as she was unaware of it, Pandora drew her knees up underneath of her, and settled back into the chair. Such a mortals pose. She didn't do this out of comforts, for really a Vampire could stand for hours without so much as twitching and still be utterly comfortable. No, it wasn't for comforts at all, but for longings.
Longings of the days when life was skinned knees and runny noses. Reaching out with her right hand, Pandora picked up the first parchment on the ever growing pile, and settled back again, her eye's instantly scanning over the words scribed upon it.
He had not been able to draw himself to enter his home....That nagging, pulling feeling seeming to recede ever so slightly when he gazed at the Tower, so he had chosen a decent spot and done so...Watching...waiting....He wanted her to be free of meetings and duties for his visit....She would give him an explanation for the way he was feeling....He felt as if a part of himself was slowly slipping away, even as he stood there, his thoughts becoming more rational than they had been ever since last night. He growled to himself, pulling the hood of his cloak up and over his head, tugging it until it was firmly in place and hiding his features in shadows, propelling himself foreward from the spot he had been standing in for hours, well out of view of most villagers unless they were truly nosy meddlers, heading off toward the door to the Tower.
Pandora had gotten through seven different parchment sheets, each one in one of three piles. Important. Not Important. And of course, ones that would be added to her Private collection. As she worked, she kept her ear open should someone beat on the Tower door. Even though she didn't have any appointments today, it didn't necessicary mean that she was off duty. People tended to just show up whenever it pleased them.
Besides, she was waiting for the Lycan. She knew what he would be feeling, and knew that the first night was the most powerful, as her blood still coursed through his veigns. It would wear off, and the pull he would have right now would diminish. Of course, it would take some time for the wanting to subside, but the need would not be there.
A Vampires blood was highly addictive. And for a Lycan, whom could not find solace in the bottom of a bottle, or with the aid of other... items, that addiction would have nothing to subside it. Of course, a Lycan also burned thing's remarkably fast. The feelings were only temporary.
Pandora smirked to herself, her eye's straying from the next parchment as these thoughts danced in her mind. She honestly enjoyed this give and take with the Lycan. Serves him right for thinking he could bait me, tempt me, and then still carry on as if he couldnt stand me.
She was wrong to have given him that first mark, for it had been completely wasted. A vampire could only have one human servant, and though he was not one hundred percent human, the laws still stand. She couldn't believe she was almost willing to give him that gift. He, who hated her. He who wanted to deny that he didn't really hate her at all.
No, whatever pain the Lycan was going through, Pandora justified to herself, he deserved. Lowering her gaze back to the parchment in hand, Pandora resumed reading.
While the pull to her, that seemingly insatiable need for more would wear off, right now it was going strong...and his mood would show it, reaching the door and laying several booming knocks on it quite different from the light rapping that he normally did when he came to visit, be it for a meeting or other reasons....Right now he was here under the "other" category, eyes burning at the door as if it had wronged him severely...he even considered yelling out her name, but that wouldn't be acceptable, no matter the circumstances.
The beating on the door below drew Pandora's attention from the parchment, as if she wasn't really focused on it at all. The hightened senses of a Vampire allowed her to focus on multiple things at once, and thus when the beating summoned from below, Pandora was aware of it as if she'd been waiting to hear it all along. Glancing back to the parchment in her hand, Pandora rose from her chair, her gaze scanning to the place she left off, and she began to walk and read at the same time.
As she dropped from the second floor to the first, Pandora glanced from her paper for a brief moment, to see which direction she had landed, and then, eye's back to the parchment, walked across Williams room, and stepped out into the hall. Directly to her left was the door to the Tower and Pandora peeked out through the small slit, a playful grin tugging at her lips when she realized whom was out there.
With a simple flick of her wrist, she lifted the heavy bolt on the door and swung it open, her free hand tucking the parchment up under her arm.
Stepping aside, Pandora gestured with her right hand, beckoning him inward.
He merely entered, strolling past her and into the meeting room where he removed his cloak and laid it atop the nearest chair....He was trying to decide what to say, and exactly how to say it, without setting her off toward him and irking him further until they both ended up in the same situation they had when he'd been in for punishment, though now that she had her new toy he doubted that it would go anywhere near as well as it had for him last time. Finally he turned, looking toward her, voice slightly elevated and shaky, but not overly so
Pandora followed him as he walked his way into the Meeting Room, though she hesitated just outside the door. She wasn't in the mood to sit in that blasted chair, and seeing as he clearly wasn't here on NightWorld business, she hadn't the obligation to sit there.
She gave a gentle shake of her head and turned her back on the Lycan, a smile crossing her face. Slowly, Pandora began strolling towards Williams Room once more, the parchment still under her arm.
She didn't even want to discuss it here in the meeting room...was this not some form of meeting? Or would she rather not have the rest of the beings here know what she had done...Surely rumors were already flying about concerning their previous...engagements...but rumors were easily dismissed. If someone were to overhear, however, it was likely her reputation as Master of the City would be tarnished in a way that was unforgivable, given what he was...And however much he wanted to break her right now, those damnable feelings returned, so he snatched up his cloak and followed...She had to choose the library, didn't she? He surmised that she had done so on purpose.
Two minutes from the Meeting Room to Williams Room. Another thirty seconds to make the jump, and the darkness greeted her again. She didn't bother waiting for Tathar, and instead returned to her place at the table, once again claiming the chair that she had but moments ago been occupying.
She didnt, however, return to her reading. Instead, she settled the parchment on the table, flipped down so the Lycan could not read it, and turned her eye's to his approaching form.
Her voice was calm, and detached. As if asking a small child to tell her about the glimps of the boogyman under the bed that had tried to get them.
He followed directly behind her the entire time, not bothering to keep to his normal respectful distance. Something was wrong with him, in his opinion, and it hadn't happened until last night, in the very library that they were heading toward, and he wanted an answer to what it was and why. As she made the jump upwards to the ledge he quickly moved to the notches in the stone wall and began scurrying up them fervently. He did not like this feeling of wanting her as he did....at least not this much, even though it was beginning to wane. Pulling himself up onto the ledge he continued on, watching as she sat and flipped over the parchment, tossing his cloak to the side and leaning down right next to her, placing his hands on the table as he did so, moving his face in close and keeping his strained voice low
Pandora glanced up into the face that was even now, glaring at her with hatered in his voice, his expression, his eyes. She knew he didn't hate her, but damn did it irritate her that he tried to. Her voice cool and calm.
Actually, the anger was probably doing him more good then the whole relaxing thing, anyways. He was simply burning more calories in his current state, that the effects of her blood would burn quicker. She remained riggid in her chair, however, her eye's not once leaving his.
She did not tell him WHY she had let him feed from her. She did not tell him that she granted him a gift, and then took it back when he could not appreciate it. No, she did not tell him that she had done it for him, for in truth she had done it for the both of them. She had given him a way to trust her, to be immune to her abilities, her charms. And in turn, she had linked herself with him, when she had vowed never to do so again.
No, he did not ask why, he simply asked what. And she had explained. She owed him nothing more.
Her explanation did nothing more than bring up even more questions, namely why exactly she had done this to him....Of course, with him never having experienced anything like this before, he had no idea that she had forged a link, and even as that blood of hers was being burned up within him it was slowly dying....But for now all he could do was look at her...to stare at her...and for once, without her having to plead and command him to do so as she had done before, he looked directly into her eyes. Not the ever so slight glance that he cast there now and again when her attention wasn't directly on him, and not in that familiar spot on her forehead...no...his brightly colored emerald hues bore into those icy blue depths, feeling, just knowing that she was hiding something from him
She, of course, caught the look and her cold pale palm came up to caress his cheek. Her face expressionless, but a look of age, knowledge and sadness flashed within her eyes, before she dropped her hand to her lap, her eye's returning to their emotionless gaze.
When she stared, she was talking to Tathar, but towards the end she was simply murmuring to herself. Straightening her spine, Pandora began again, the usual Master of the City clearly taking on a business tone.
She didn't wait for him to reply, but continued on, knowing he would remember.
The pet names, the gentle tone, the patience.. Gone. She was cold. She was calculated. She was impersonal.
His face took a quizzical expression, as if he had no idea what was going on around him, and in a sense he didn't...And while under normal circumstances he would have turned her hand away from him, he actually leaned into it, feeling the icy coolness of her skin against his own feverish dermis. Mark...? What mark? And why was she removing it? He started to ask, but she spoke again, and this time it was in her usual tone...Cold and business-like....How he wished she would drop that facade, at least around him, as he had seen how she really was too many times already for that stony expression to work on him....but he left it alone, at least for now. And indeed, he did remember the eve of his punishment...It would be exceedingly hard to forget, after all....And as she asked what he knew of the leeches bite he thought for a moment, sifting through all of the lore and garbage that humans threw out there to flood over truth
To be honest his knowledge on the subject was rather lacking...He'd never needed to know before, just knowing to keep them from doing him harm before he could kill them, and that little tiny piece of knowledge had served him well, thus far, but once again, she was the first Master that he had ever met.
Pandora groaned, her first disgust at the Lycan since this all began. Clearly he wasn't as knowledgable as she had assumed him to be. Her hands folded neatly in her lap and she gazed out at him through unseeing eyes. Her voice monotoned, as she repeate the same facts she went through all too many times before with each member of the staff, and every newly made vampire that stumbled to her in search of knowledge.
Pandora paused to allow that information to sink in before she continued.
Pandora's eye's focused as she looked to the Lycans expression at all this information, before adding onto it.
His mind was buzzing, now, but not from the effects of her blood any longer...No, the last little bit was being burned away as they spoke, and the need for more was beginning to become replaced by his simple and instinctual craving to feed as he normally did....No, it was from this sudden flood of knowledge that she had decided to give him, and it was enough to make him need to sit down, and he did so, dragging a chair to the small table right across from her and almost literally plopping down, the chair creaking in a warning fashion as he did so. He sat there in silence for a long while, mulling what she had said over and over, trying to get a handle on it and piece it together so he could make a reply, but the words kept slipping away, and several times he started to speak and ended up just staring at her once more before finally actually managing words
Pandora sat a moment, completely unreadable, as she decided which course of action to take. Had she been trying to change him, no. She had simply wanted to give him just enough marks so that he was her equal in all sense of the word. She wanted him to know that he had no fear of her trickery. And, yes, she wanted him binded to her. She didn't, however, tell him this.
She was, clearly, struggling to belittle him. How dare he think she would change him. Did he really think so little of her kind, and thus her? Clearly, he did.
She didn't expand on that to tell him why she had done it, hoping he would pick up on the insult and go off on that instead of seeking for the truth.
Her negative response caused a wave of relief to wash over him...If she had said yes he didn't know what he would have said or done. Even among his kind there was an unspoken rule, as he was sure there was the very same among vampires, that it was strictly forbidden and under no circumstances was one of their enemies to be graced with their gifts...To even attempt to do so, or to simply speak of considering it warranted swift judgement, and the verdict was never good. Long hours and even days of torture were followed with the most painful death imaginable, but to actually attempt it was met with an end that was horrifying. To be burned to death in a vat of molten silver, effectively removing every trace of whatever lycan had broken that law...The thought made him shudder visibly...
Oh, he was inquisitive...and his thirst for knowledge great enough that he had no qualms with asking for every little detail on the matter, but for now a general why would suffice...He would save the rest of his questions until he was sure she would not be in a sour mood.
Pandora glanced around the room, anywhere but at the Lycan asking such an honest question. His anger seemed to be subsiding, which meant that his need for her also dwindled. She might as well tell him now, while she still held a little control onto him.
Such a childish thing to say, and Pandora was anything but a child.
Pandora picked up one of the parchments lying infront of her on the table and busied herself looking at it.
Still, she did not look at him, and instead seemed to turn the majority of her focus to the parchment in her hand, as if she all but dismissed any further conversation of the mark that wasn't a mark any longer.
So she thought that he did not trust her...? Something as simple as that made her remove whatever mark she had placed upon him? Did she honestly think that habits he had nurtured his entire life were going to be thrown out in such a short time just because she wished them to be? If so, then her view on how the way things worked was becoming quite skewed from her comfortable seat within the Tower's walls. He had never before looked into a vampire's eyes until the moment not too long ago now that she had almost pleaded with him to do so...But apparently she had not the patience that one of her kind was well known for. And it was as she said...The craving was nearly nonexistent, now...A small nagging in the back of his mind. So was that why Mathas acted the way he did? Because he craved her as much as he had? Such an existence was not something he would condone were it anyone else, but perhaps that little ingrate deserved to live like that...constantly wanting and needing her...He hadn't seen or heard of him in quite some time, now....He hoped the worm was suffering without his fix. He looked to her once more, yet again aiming for her eyes to prove a point, but they were diverted to the parchment, and he reached across the table, moving the parchment down so as not to accidentally damage it with his arm and took her chin in his calloused fingers, lifting her head until his gaze met hers once more
Pandora wrenched her chin from his grasp and instantly rose to her feet, her eye's flashing from icy blue to a deep unsettling red. Then, taking a moment, she closed both eyes and when they opened again, her blue eye's reflected back at him. She would not lose her temper. She had made the mistake in thinking that he was different. She will not be making that mistake again.
She was back to the bitch that everyone viewed her as, realizing that being anything else would only serve to damage the reputation she had spent centuries building. Her eye's were cold, her demeanor colder, as she glared at him.
The battle inside of her was invisible to him, as she had meant it to be. So this was how it would be. She tried to do something for him, in hopes that she had not been wrong. She tried to give him the one thing she had to offer, and he viewed it as a belittling gesture.
Pandora took a step around him, her back instantly to the Lycan and yet her guard up. Defenses on should he shift in a way that counter an attack. She walked towards the drop, and over her shoulder called after him.
And then, pausing at the drop, she turned around and spoke once more.
The cold hatered look, nay wounded look, she gave him lasted but a brief second, and then she jumped, clearing the Library and into her own private quarters.
If he wanted this sort of relationship between her, then so be it. She could treat him as lowly as she treated everyone else. To do otherwise was a mistake she simply wasn't willing to make again.
His eyes yet again took on a confused expression...Clearly she had mistaken the meaning of his words, and she was going to leave without even allowing him the chance to try and explain, her attitude to him changing and taking a turn for the worst in the blink of an eye, acting hateful to him, and to tell the truth it hurt. His fist clenched and his teeth ground together....Very well....If she wanted to treat him like a dog, then he had at least do something to warrant such treatment. In his moment of anger he stood, missing the pained look that she gave him before fleeing for her private chambers, grabbing up the bag of coins and tromping to the ledge, glowering up at the empty ledge above, arm loosing the bag in a hurtling throw, the coins erupting from the pouch as it met the ceiling above that ledge that he wanted to climb to so very badly, but pride and rage of the moment forbid him to do so. He yelled, then, moving to grab his cloak and donning in, words bellowing out as his own form dropped rather than rose, landing heavily on the floor below...She had hurt him, therefore he would repay it in kind...He was done here for the night, and likely for a long while
She simply stood there, just over the edge that led from the Library to her own private quarters and listened to him. The anger he was experiencing clearly could not be withdrawls, for she was certain the anger earlier had already burnt through that nasty sideeffect.
No, she summed his reaction for what she had the illusions to believe were his thoughts on the matter. And it was, if she wanted to be honest, to be expected. He was a Lycan, she was a Vampire. Master of the City or not, he would always view her as something less then him. Something to be removed. Killed. And then forgotten about.
A shame, really, she thought to herself as she stepped from the edge and further into her own private quarters. It could have been fun. She should have known better. To him, she would always ben an obsticle. A 'filthy leech' as he so kindly put it.
Those words would ring in her mind for decades to come. Filthy leech, eh. Why, he hadn't seen a leech yet.
Pandora instantly settled down at her desk to write. If she were to be a leech, he would see just how big of one she could get. If he wanted to think her less them himself, perhaps it was time the mutt realized just how wrong that could be.
And the first step, as Pandora began to scribe the letter that she would have a messenger deliver within the hour, would be to the local Guards. Tathar would be inturrupted this evening, as they forced him from the home she had practically given to him. Hatered did an awful lot of things. Love, just as much.
He was grumbling to himself even as he stepped through William's room and headed to the door...Where the man was he had no idea, but that vampire had better hope that someone could come and bolt the door for her unless she planned on doing it herself. He snatched the large bolt up easily, adrenaline flooding his veins. Whatever blood that was left within him that once resided within her being incinerated in the process...That woman was going to be the death of him one of these days, but before that happened he would be sure to scar her in some manner even more marring than that little mark on her wrist...No, he would make it so that every time she woke from her day's slumber that she would remember him, be it in good spirits or in fear he didn't care right now....Lycans were complex creatures...Their emotions ran much deeper and stronger than those of humans and other races...They could not only love and hate, but they could do so with every fiber of their beings...
She heard him make his way out of the castle, and relying on the speed and angility of a Vampire, launched herself out of her quarters, directly past the Library and landing in Williams Room, her knees bent, palm of her left hand catching her balance. In one fluid motion, she straightened herself, and stood, staring out of the Tower door, as the dog all but stomped away.
She smirked to herself, as she watched him go. She could hate him and love him all the same. Right now, however, it was both and neither all at once. She knew he'd be back. The only troubling thought was if he'd return with the intent to try again, or to see that she not get the chance.
Stepping back into the darkness of the Tower, Pandora closed the door, but didn't lock it. Perhaps it had been a bad idea to give William the night off. Then, Pandora recalled the guards, and she mentally summoned the nearest one. Handing over the letter, Pandora instructed that it be delivered tonight, within the hour, to the guards at the Gate. And that the Tower guard escort them to her property in which the Lycan was living.
A hiss escaped her even as the guard disappeared out the unlocked door. Then, and only then, did Pandora refasten the wooden bolder into place. How dare he... He wanted to bait her, and then complain when she baited him. He wanted to feed from her and then complain when her blood called to him. He wanted her to let him life, but show no res...
No. Pandora ceased that thought at all, pushing the Lycan out of her mind. There was still five more hours before Daydeath would claim her, and she had much parchments to sort through. Returning to the Library, Pandora set to work, the calm collective manner of a Master of the City.
He all but stormed through the village as he made his way home, throwing open the door and removing his cloak, that blasted confining gift that she had given him, including this house...He wanted to trash it...to break the walls and burn it down to the foundation in retaliation of her treatment of him...How dare she misconstrue his words and not even give him the chance to clarify on his meaning...Clearly she was quite new to the subject he had been trying to get at, but that was no excuse...Oh how she infuriated him right now, and he wished for nothing more than to be able to have just one more moment alone with her to set her straight...Hr growled, then, moving to the small table that held the water, splashing some onto his face in attempt to get himself to calm down. He hadn't even realised until now that she had watched him leave, and he had missed the chance to do so then...In a fluid motion and act of aggression his hand flew into the mirror hanging from the wall right in front of him, the glass shattering and falling into the basin in miniscule diamond-like shards, several embedding themselves within his fist with the motion, coupled with splinters from the wood underneath giving way and snapping slightly....
Still in quite the foul mood, Pandora placed the sheets of Parchments down on the table once more and abandoned the Library altogether. Instead, she paused within Williams room to retrieve her cloak.
She didn't need it, but the urge the want to feed was so powerful, she had every intention of doing just that. Metalling summoning one of the Tower guards, Pandora demanded that they watch the door and not a single soul gets in unless it is William, or a matter of life or death, quite litterly.
She then turned on the enchantment charms and flooded his mind with possible punishments should he disobey. NO ONE was to get into the Tower under any other circumstance. Seeing him tremble, she ended the charm and drapped her cloak around her shoulders, grabbing at it roughly and pulling the deep green hood up over her head.
As the guard unfastened and opened the door for her, Pandora stormed out into the dead of the night, not bothering to look over her shoulder to see if the guard was closing and locking the door behind her.
Her footfalls carried her directly forward, instead of walking around to the front of the tower. Tonight, she was going to Sacred Stones. Tonight she would hunt, she would feast. Tonight, dammit, she would forget about the mutt.
Tathar Seregon
Location: Tower Library
Time: two hours after sunset.
Pandora woke with a start, as if something or someone had woken her. The name on the tip of her tongue evaporated, yet the memory refused to do the same. Her eye's scanned her surrounding and she realized that she was in her own private quarters. Upon this realization, the fuzzy memory of her trip from the Library to her own quarters flashed within her mind. Glancing down at her left wrist, the first mark she spotted was that on the back of her palm, where the Lycan Tathar had wounded her during battle. Flipping her hand over, palm upward, there was no mark from the events last eve. Pandora, however, knew that though there was nothing showing for it at the moment, that wouldn't always be the case.
She glanced around and saw that her quarters were quite untouched. She had made it to her room of her own accord. The memory that William had sent meal to her while she slumbered in the library flashed again in her mind, and Pandora slipped from the bedchamber.
She didn't bother with gown, or gloves. Instead, Pandora slipped her frame into a simple outfit, stuck a pair of blue slippers on her feet, and quickly tucked her hair behind her ears. This evening had already started, the sun gone down more then two hours ago, and Pandora didn't care to waste time on her appearances.
The moment she landed on the ground floor, Pandora glanced around, realizing that William was not in his room. She then headed towards the Meeting Room, certain he'd be there arranging work for her.
Before she even stepped into the Meeting Room, Pandora knew William was there waiting for her. She was running a tad bit late this evening, and the guard had dutifully waited until she arrived. He had enough sense to wait until she was seated before he began the daily speech about all she had missed within the Tower during the Day and all she had planned for the evening ahead.
To Pandora's surprise, there wasn't a single meeting scheduled on her agenda tonight. This small bit of news brought a smile to her mind, that didn't quite reach her expression. With a simple nod of her head, she adknowledged each statment that William made, and when he finished with his speech, she settled back into her chair.
"Thank you, William."
She paused before she continued, catching herself just as she prepaired to dismiss him. Instead of the usual, Pandora changed her traditional replies for something that had never once passed her lips before.
"William, when was the last time you had a night off?"
As far as she could recall, he hadn't had a night off since he took up the position of Tower guard in over 18 years. William confirmed this, his eye's downcast.
"Just as I thought. Leave the parchments here with me, William, and do treat yourself to an evening off. I shall mann the door myself. While you are at it, issue a night off to the staff, as well will you? All but the Feeder, and the Guards. They rotate shifts every other day, and thus do not warrant a break."
Before he could get any ideas that she was growing soft, she gestured with her right arm towards the door.
"That will be all."
As William placed the large stack o'parchments down infront of her, she glanced to them, dismayed to see the pile never seemed to get any smaller. By the time William backed himself out of the room, Pandora had risen from her chair and was in the process of gathering up said parchments into her pale bare arms.
If there were no meetings scheduled for this evening, by damn she wasn't going to spend it in the Meeting Room. Lord knew she spent enough of her time there as is. That blasted chair would soon wear thin her imprint.
Her silent footfalls followed her out as she stepped through the archway, and headed towards the Library. Luckily, now was a good time to be a Vampire. The extra boost in her senses would still permit her the ability to hear the door from the second floor, should someone come calling.
She crossed the second floor Library, the darkness her only greeting. It seems this room was abandoned, and as she suspected it would be. Not many care for the Parchments within these walls. Pandora could spent a decade simply reading, and be completely content with it all. Perhaps, on this quiet evening, she sought out the comforts this room gave her.
She brought no lantern with her, the darkness more a friend then the light. Lowering the pile of parchments in her arms to the table infront of her, Pandora glanced around with a comfortable smile on her face. Yes, it had been too long since she was able to tuck herself in here, away from the demands of her servants.
Lifting the single chair within the room off the floor, Pandora withdrew it a safe distance from the table and lowered her bottom into it. The memory of when she was a wee child flashed before her, and even as she was unaware of it, Pandora drew her knees up underneath of her, and settled back into the chair. Such a mortals pose. She didn't do this out of comforts, for really a Vampire could stand for hours without so much as twitching and still be utterly comfortable. No, it wasn't for comforts at all, but for longings.
Longings of the days when life was skinned knees and runny noses. Reaching out with her right hand, Pandora picked up the first parchment on the ever growing pile, and settled back again, her eye's instantly scanning over the words scribed upon it.
He had not been able to draw himself to enter his home....That nagging, pulling feeling seeming to recede ever so slightly when he gazed at the Tower, so he had chosen a decent spot and done so...Watching...waiting....He wanted her to be free of meetings and duties for his visit....She would give him an explanation for the way he was feeling....He felt as if a part of himself was slowly slipping away, even as he stood there, his thoughts becoming more rational than they had been ever since last night. He growled to himself, pulling the hood of his cloak up and over his head, tugging it until it was firmly in place and hiding his features in shadows, propelling himself foreward from the spot he had been standing in for hours, well out of view of most villagers unless they were truly nosy meddlers, heading off toward the door to the Tower.Pandora had gotten through seven different parchment sheets, each one in one of three piles. Important. Not Important. And of course, ones that would be added to her Private collection. As she worked, she kept her ear open should someone beat on the Tower door. Even though she didn't have any appointments today, it didn't necessicary mean that she was off duty. People tended to just show up whenever it pleased them. Besides, she was waiting for the Lycan. She knew what he would be feeling, and knew that the first night was the most powerful, as her blood still coursed through his veigns. It would wear off, and the pull he would have right now would diminish. Of course, it would take some time for the wanting to subside, but the need would not be there.
A Vampires blood was highly addictive. And for a Lycan, whom could not find solace in the bottom of a bottle, or with the aid of other... items, that addiction would have nothing to subside it. Of course, a Lycan also burned thing's remarkably fast. The feelings were only temporary.
Pandora smirked to herself, her eye's straying from the next parchment as these thoughts danced in her mind. She honestly enjoyed this give and take with the Lycan. Serves him right for thinking he could bait me, tempt me, and then still carry on as if he couldnt stand me.
She was wrong to have given him that first mark, for it had been completely wasted. A vampire could only have one human servant, and though he was not one hundred percent human, the laws still stand. She couldn't believe she was almost willing to give him that gift. He, who hated her. He who wanted to deny that he didn't really hate her at all.
No, whatever pain the Lycan was going through, Pandora justified to herself, he deserved. Lowering her gaze back to the parchment in hand, Pandora resumed reading.
While the pull to her, that seemingly insatiable need for more would wear off, right now it was going strong...and his mood would show it, reaching the door and laying several booming knocks on it quite different from the light rapping that he normally did when he came to visit, be it for a meeting or other reasons....Right now he was here under the "other" category, eyes burning at the door as if it had wronged him severely...he even considered yelling out her name, but that wouldn't be acceptable, no matter the circumstances.The beating on the door below drew Pandora's attention from the parchment, as if she wasn't really focused on it at all. The hightened senses of a Vampire allowed her to focus on multiple things at once, and thus when the beating summoned from below, Pandora was aware of it as if she'd been waiting to hear it all along. Glancing back to the parchment in her hand, Pandora rose from her chair, her gaze scanning to the place she left off, and she began to walk and read at the same time. As she dropped from the second floor to the first, Pandora glanced from her paper for a brief moment, to see which direction she had landed, and then, eye's back to the parchment, walked across Williams room, and stepped out into the hall. Directly to her left was the door to the Tower and Pandora peeked out through the small slit, a playful grin tugging at her lips when she realized whom was out there.
With a simple flick of her wrist, she lifted the heavy bolt on the door and swung it open, her free hand tucking the parchment up under her arm.
"Good evening, Smithy. Do come in."
Stepping aside, Pandora gestured with her right hand, beckoning him inward.
He merely entered, strolling past her and into the meeting room where he removed his cloak and laid it atop the nearest chair....He was trying to decide what to say, and exactly how to say it, without setting her off toward him and irking him further until they both ended up in the same situation they had when he'd been in for punishment, though now that she had her new toy he doubted that it would go anywhere near as well as it had for him last time. Finally he turned, looking toward her, voice slightly elevated and shaky, but not overly so"What....did you do to me, vampire...?"
[/center]Pandora followed him as he walked his way into the Meeting Room, though she hesitated just outside the door. She wasn't in the mood to sit in that blasted chair, and seeing as he clearly wasn't here on NightWorld business, she hadn't the obligation to sit there. "Oh, do calm down Darlin. I am located in the library at the moment, should you wish to discuss this you can join me there."
She gave a gentle shake of her head and turned her back on the Lycan, a smile crossing her face. Slowly, Pandora began strolling towards Williams Room once more, the parchment still under her arm.
She didn't even want to discuss it here in the meeting room...was this not some form of meeting? Or would she rather not have the rest of the beings here know what she had done...Surely rumors were already flying about concerning their previous...engagements...but rumors were easily dismissed. If someone were to overhear, however, it was likely her reputation as Master of the City would be tarnished in a way that was unforgivable, given what he was...And however much he wanted to break her right now, those damnable feelings returned, so he snatched up his cloak and followed...She had to choose the library, didn't she? He surmised that she had done so on purpose.Two minutes from the Meeting Room to Williams Room. Another thirty seconds to make the jump, and the darkness greeted her again. She didn't bother waiting for Tathar, and instead returned to her place at the table, once again claiming the chair that she had but moments ago been occupying. She didnt, however, return to her reading. Instead, she settled the parchment on the table, flipped down so the Lycan could not read it, and turned her eye's to his approaching form.
"Now, then. Why do you not tell me what's got you worked into a fenzy."
Her voice was calm, and detached. As if asking a small child to tell her about the glimps of the boogyman under the bed that had tried to get them.
He followed directly behind her the entire time, not bothering to keep to his normal respectful distance. Something was wrong with him, in his opinion, and it hadn't happened until last night, in the very library that they were heading toward, and he wanted an answer to what it was and why. As she made the jump upwards to the ledge he quickly moved to the notches in the stone wall and began scurrying up them fervently. He did not like this feeling of wanting her as he did....at least not this much, even though it was beginning to wane. Pulling himself up onto the ledge he continued on, watching as she sat and flipped over the parchment, tossing his cloak to the side and leaning down right next to her, placing his hands on the table as he did so, moving his face in close and keeping his strained voice low"What the hell did you do to me....?"
[/center]Pandora glanced up into the face that was even now, glaring at her with hatered in his voice, his expression, his eyes. She knew he didn't hate her, but damn did it irritate her that he tried to. Her voice cool and calm. "Relaxe, Tathar m'dear. It is a simple reaction to the sudden change inside of you. It will wear off, just relaxe."
Actually, the anger was probably doing him more good then the whole relaxing thing, anyways. He was simply burning more calories in his current state, that the effects of her blood would burn quicker. She remained riggid in her chair, however, her eye's not once leaving his.
"Your body is simply begging for more of what it is losing. Your mind seeing me as a drug, a substance that it is convinced it must have. It will pass, m'love. It will pass."
She did not tell him WHY she had let him feed from her. She did not tell him that she granted him a gift, and then took it back when he could not appreciate it. No, she did not tell him that she had done it for him, for in truth she had done it for the both of them. She had given him a way to trust her, to be immune to her abilities, her charms. And in turn, she had linked herself with him, when she had vowed never to do so again.
No, he did not ask why, he simply asked what. And she had explained. She owed him nothing more.
Her explanation did nothing more than bring up even more questions, namely why exactly she had done this to him....Of course, with him never having experienced anything like this before, he had no idea that she had forged a link, and even as that blood of hers was being burned up within him it was slowly dying....But for now all he could do was look at her...to stare at her...and for once, without her having to plead and command him to do so as she had done before, he looked directly into her eyes. Not the ever so slight glance that he cast there now and again when her attention wasn't directly on him, and not in that familiar spot on her forehead...no...his brightly colored emerald hues bore into those icy blue depths, feeling, just knowing that she was hiding something from himShe, of course, caught the look and her cold pale palm came up to caress his cheek. Her face expressionless, but a look of age, knowledge and sadness flashed within her eyes, before she dropped her hand to her lap, her eye's returning to their emotionless gaze. "Now you look at me. Now, when I have begun the process to remove the mark. Now..."
When she stared, she was talking to Tathar, but towards the end she was simply murmuring to herself. Straightening her spine, Pandora began again, the usual Master of the City clearly taking on a business tone.
"Do you recall the eve you were summoned to face punishment for entering my chambers uninvited?"
She didn't wait for him to reply, but continued on, knowing he would remember.
"What do you know about a vampires bite, Lycan?"
The pet names, the gentle tone, the patience.. Gone. She was cold. She was calculated. She was impersonal.
His face took a quizzical expression, as if he had no idea what was going on around him, and in a sense he didn't...And while under normal circumstances he would have turned her hand away from him, he actually leaned into it, feeling the icy coolness of her skin against his own feverish dermis. Mark...? What mark? And why was she removing it? He started to ask, but she spoke again, and this time it was in her usual tone...Cold and business-like....How he wished she would drop that facade, at least around him, as he had seen how she really was too many times already for that stony expression to work on him....but he left it alone, at least for now. And indeed, he did remember the eve of his punishment...It would be exceedingly hard to forget, after all....And as she asked what he knew of the leeches bite he thought for a moment, sifting through all of the lore and garbage that humans threw out there to flood over truth"That it can change humans into more vampires...."
To be honest his knowledge on the subject was rather lacking...He'd never needed to know before, just knowing to keep them from doing him harm before he could kill them, and that little tiny piece of knowledge had served him well, thus far, but once again, she was the first Master that he had ever met.
Pandora groaned, her first disgust at the Lycan since this all began. Clearly he wasn't as knowledgable as she had assumed him to be. Her hands folded neatly in her lap and she gazed out at him through unseeing eyes. Her voice monotoned, as she repeate the same facts she went through all too many times before with each member of the staff, and every newly made vampire that stumbled to her in search of knowledge. "Quite hardly. A vampires bite is almost always fatal. It is extreamly rare that a Vampire can sucessfully stop feeding before taking the final drop. Only a few Master Vampires have this ability. Furthermore, even if a vampire is able to stop themselves, the human is not always strong enough to fight the venom that courses through their body. 80 perfect of the time, the human does not survive the change."
Pandora paused to allow that information to sink in before she continued.
"Each bite progresses towards the change. The first bite, which I bestowed upon you during the punishment battle, makes the human immune to their vampire's glance, voice and mind tricks. It strengthens their immune system, and each Vampiric trait is passed on in a small fraction dose."
"The second mark allows the vampire come and overtake the human. They are able to invade the markeds dreams to suit their needs. It is with this mark, that a Vampire can feed off the marked from a distance by sustain their life energy by uising the energy of their marked. The Third, is when the vampire drinks the blood of the marked, not to death, but close enough. This establishes a more firm link. Direct mind contact can then be opened between the vampire and their human servant. The fourth, is the beginning of the change."
Pandora's eye's focused as she looked to the Lycans expression at all this information, before adding onto it.
"Most Vampires either attempt the change on the Fourth Mark, or simply leave it at three, in which the marked then becomes their servant. You, Lycan, received the first mark. Last eve, I was simply taking it back."
[/b][/u][/center]His mind was buzzing, now, but not from the effects of her blood any longer...No, the last little bit was being burned away as they spoke, and the need for more was beginning to become replaced by his simple and instinctual craving to feed as he normally did....No, it was from this sudden flood of knowledge that she had decided to give him, and it was enough to make him need to sit down, and he did so, dragging a chair to the small table right across from her and almost literally plopping down, the chair creaking in a warning fashion as he did so. He sat there in silence for a long while, mulling what she had said over and over, trying to get a handle on it and piece it together so he could make a reply, but the words kept slipping away, and several times he started to speak and ended up just staring at her once more before finally actually managing words"Did you...Were you trying to...change me...?"
[/b][/u][/center]Pandora sat a moment, completely unreadable, as she decided which course of action to take. Had she been trying to change him, no. She had simply wanted to give him just enough marks so that he was her equal in all sense of the word. She wanted him to know that he had no fear of her trickery. And, yes, she wanted him binded to her. She didn't, however, tell him this. "Of course not, Lycan. Do you think I would grant such things to YOU? You, a Lycan. I would no sooner bring in an older Master Vampire to share my quarters with!"
She was, clearly, struggling to belittle him. How dare he think she would change him. Did he really think so little of her kind, and thus her? Clearly, he did.
"Such nonsense."
She didn't expand on that to tell him why she had done it, hoping he would pick up on the insult and go off on that instead of seeking for the truth.
Her negative response caused a wave of relief to wash over him...If she had said yes he didn't know what he would have said or done. Even among his kind there was an unspoken rule, as he was sure there was the very same among vampires, that it was strictly forbidden and under no circumstances was one of their enemies to be graced with their gifts...To even attempt to do so, or to simply speak of considering it warranted swift judgement, and the verdict was never good. Long hours and even days of torture were followed with the most painful death imaginable, but to actually attempt it was met with an end that was horrifying. To be burned to death in a vat of molten silver, effectively removing every trace of whatever lycan had broken that law...The thought made him shudder visibly... "Good...I was beginning to think that you were going mad, for a moment there...But....Why? Why mark me?"
Oh, he was inquisitive...and his thirst for knowledge great enough that he had no qualms with asking for every little detail on the matter, but for now a general why would suffice...He would save the rest of his questions until he was sure she would not be in a sour mood.
Pandora glanced around the room, anywhere but at the Lycan asking such an honest question. His anger seemed to be subsiding, which meant that his need for her also dwindled. She might as well tell him now, while she still held a little control onto him. "You did not trust me."
Such a childish thing to say, and Pandora was anything but a child.
"Even after the first mark, I asked you to trust me. To look upon my eyes. And always, you stare between my forehead as if I sprouted a horn, for goodness sakes. It suddenly dawned on me. If I could not win you over with charms, and I could not win without, there was little point in trying."
Pandora picked up one of the parchments lying infront of her on the table and busied herself looking at it.
"I simply erased the mistake I made. You should be greatful. See, even now you do not long for me. You do not crave me. It is already wearing off."
Still, she did not look at him, and instead seemed to turn the majority of her focus to the parchment in her hand, as if she all but dismissed any further conversation of the mark that wasn't a mark any longer.
So she thought that he did not trust her...? Something as simple as that made her remove whatever mark she had placed upon him? Did she honestly think that habits he had nurtured his entire life were going to be thrown out in such a short time just because she wished them to be? If so, then her view on how the way things worked was becoming quite skewed from her comfortable seat within the Tower's walls. He had never before looked into a vampire's eyes until the moment not too long ago now that she had almost pleaded with him to do so...But apparently she had not the patience that one of her kind was well known for. And it was as she said...The craving was nearly nonexistent, now...A small nagging in the back of his mind. So was that why Mathas acted the way he did? Because he craved her as much as he had? Such an existence was not something he would condone were it anyone else, but perhaps that little ingrate deserved to live like that...constantly wanting and needing her...He hadn't seen or heard of him in quite some time, now....He hoped the worm was suffering without his fix. He looked to her once more, yet again aiming for her eyes to prove a point, but they were diverted to the parchment, and he reached across the table, moving the parchment down so as not to accidentally damage it with his arm and took her chin in his calloused fingers, lifting her head until his gaze met hers once more"Mistake, eh...? The only mistake I can see is that you tried to "win" me. I am no prize to be had at will. I am my own being, and as such I make my own decisions. And furthermore, what led you to believe that you would have need to win me in the first place?"
[/b][/u][/center]Pandora wrenched her chin from his grasp and instantly rose to her feet, her eye's flashing from icy blue to a deep unsettling red. Then, taking a moment, she closed both eyes and when they opened again, her blue eye's reflected back at him. She would not lose her temper. She had made the mistake in thinking that he was different. She will not be making that mistake again. "It matters not, now, Lycan. Now place yourself an appropiate distance before I do it myself."
She was back to the bitch that everyone viewed her as, realizing that being anything else would only serve to damage the reputation she had spent centuries building. Her eye's were cold, her demeanor colder, as she glared at him.
"Do not, for one moment, forget whom you are speaking with, Lycan. This is my home, and as such you will conduct yourself accordingly."
The battle inside of her was invisible to him, as she had meant it to be. So this was how it would be. She tried to do something for him, in hopes that she had not been wrong. She tried to give him the one thing she had to offer, and he viewed it as a belittling gesture.
"I thought I saw something in you, something different."
Pandora took a step around him, her back instantly to the Lycan and yet her guard up. Defenses on should he shift in a way that counter an attack. She walked towards the drop, and over her shoulder called after him.
"I was very wrong."
And then, pausing at the drop, she turned around and spoke once more.
"Your shillings for the dagger are there on the table."
The cold hatered look, nay wounded look, she gave him lasted but a brief second, and then she jumped, clearing the Library and into her own private quarters.
If he wanted this sort of relationship between her, then so be it. She could treat him as lowly as she treated everyone else. To do otherwise was a mistake she simply wasn't willing to make again.
His eyes yet again took on a confused expression...Clearly she had mistaken the meaning of his words, and she was going to leave without even allowing him the chance to try and explain, her attitude to him changing and taking a turn for the worst in the blink of an eye, acting hateful to him, and to tell the truth it hurt. His fist clenched and his teeth ground together....Very well....If she wanted to treat him like a dog, then he had at least do something to warrant such treatment. In his moment of anger he stood, missing the pained look that she gave him before fleeing for her private chambers, grabbing up the bag of coins and tromping to the ledge, glowering up at the empty ledge above, arm loosing the bag in a hurtling throw, the coins erupting from the pouch as it met the ceiling above that ledge that he wanted to climb to so very badly, but pride and rage of the moment forbid him to do so. He yelled, then, moving to grab his cloak and donning in, words bellowing out as his own form dropped rather than rose, landing heavily on the floor below...She had hurt him, therefore he would repay it in kind...He was done here for the night, and likely for a long while"Filthy LEECH!"
[/b][/u][/center]She simply stood there, just over the edge that led from the Library to her own private quarters and listened to him. The anger he was experiencing clearly could not be withdrawls, for she was certain the anger earlier had already burnt through that nasty sideeffect. No, she summed his reaction for what she had the illusions to believe were his thoughts on the matter. And it was, if she wanted to be honest, to be expected. He was a Lycan, she was a Vampire. Master of the City or not, he would always view her as something less then him. Something to be removed. Killed. And then forgotten about.
A shame, really, she thought to herself as she stepped from the edge and further into her own private quarters. It could have been fun. She should have known better. To him, she would always ben an obsticle. A 'filthy leech' as he so kindly put it.
Those words would ring in her mind for decades to come. Filthy leech, eh. Why, he hadn't seen a leech yet.
Pandora instantly settled down at her desk to write. If she were to be a leech, he would see just how big of one she could get. If he wanted to think her less them himself, perhaps it was time the mutt realized just how wrong that could be.
And the first step, as Pandora began to scribe the letter that she would have a messenger deliver within the hour, would be to the local Guards. Tathar would be inturrupted this evening, as they forced him from the home she had practically given to him. Hatered did an awful lot of things. Love, just as much.
He was grumbling to himself even as he stepped through William's room and headed to the door...Where the man was he had no idea, but that vampire had better hope that someone could come and bolt the door for her unless she planned on doing it herself. He snatched the large bolt up easily, adrenaline flooding his veins. Whatever blood that was left within him that once resided within her being incinerated in the process...That woman was going to be the death of him one of these days, but before that happened he would be sure to scar her in some manner even more marring than that little mark on her wrist...No, he would make it so that every time she woke from her day's slumber that she would remember him, be it in good spirits or in fear he didn't care right now....Lycans were complex creatures...Their emotions ran much deeper and stronger than those of humans and other races...They could not only love and hate, but they could do so with every fiber of their beings...She heard him make his way out of the castle, and relying on the speed and angility of a Vampire, launched herself out of her quarters, directly past the Library and landing in Williams Room, her knees bent, palm of her left hand catching her balance. In one fluid motion, she straightened herself, and stood, staring out of the Tower door, as the dog all but stomped away. She smirked to herself, as she watched him go. She could hate him and love him all the same. Right now, however, it was both and neither all at once. She knew he'd be back. The only troubling thought was if he'd return with the intent to try again, or to see that she not get the chance.
Stepping back into the darkness of the Tower, Pandora closed the door, but didn't lock it. Perhaps it had been a bad idea to give William the night off. Then, Pandora recalled the guards, and she mentally summoned the nearest one. Handing over the letter, Pandora instructed that it be delivered tonight, within the hour, to the guards at the Gate. And that the Tower guard escort them to her property in which the Lycan was living.
"He is NOT to stay another night, do I make myself perfectly clear?"
A hiss escaped her even as the guard disappeared out the unlocked door. Then, and only then, did Pandora refasten the wooden bolder into place. How dare he... He wanted to bait her, and then complain when she baited him. He wanted to feed from her and then complain when her blood called to him. He wanted her to let him life, but show no res...
No. Pandora ceased that thought at all, pushing the Lycan out of her mind. There was still five more hours before Daydeath would claim her, and she had much parchments to sort through. Returning to the Library, Pandora set to work, the calm collective manner of a Master of the City.
He all but stormed through the village as he made his way home, throwing open the door and removing his cloak, that blasted confining gift that she had given him, including this house...He wanted to trash it...to break the walls and burn it down to the foundation in retaliation of her treatment of him...How dare she misconstrue his words and not even give him the chance to clarify on his meaning...Clearly she was quite new to the subject he had been trying to get at, but that was no excuse...Oh how she infuriated him right now, and he wished for nothing more than to be able to have just one more moment alone with her to set her straight...Hr growled, then, moving to the small table that held the water, splashing some onto his face in attempt to get himself to calm down. He hadn't even realised until now that she had watched him leave, and he had missed the chance to do so then...In a fluid motion and act of aggression his hand flew into the mirror hanging from the wall right in front of him, the glass shattering and falling into the basin in miniscule diamond-like shards, several embedding themselves within his fist with the motion, coupled with splinters from the wood underneath giving way and snapping slightly....Still in quite the foul mood, Pandora placed the sheets of Parchments down on the table once more and abandoned the Library altogether. Instead, she paused within Williams room to retrieve her cloak.She didn't need it, but the urge the want to feed was so powerful, she had every intention of doing just that. Metalling summoning one of the Tower guards, Pandora demanded that they watch the door and not a single soul gets in unless it is William, or a matter of life or death, quite litterly.
She then turned on the enchantment charms and flooded his mind with possible punishments should he disobey. NO ONE was to get into the Tower under any other circumstance. Seeing him tremble, she ended the charm and drapped her cloak around her shoulders, grabbing at it roughly and pulling the deep green hood up over her head.
As the guard unfastened and opened the door for her, Pandora stormed out into the dead of the night, not bothering to look over her shoulder to see if the guard was closing and locking the door behind her.
Her footfalls carried her directly forward, instead of walking around to the front of the tower. Tonight, she was going to Sacred Stones. Tonight she would hunt, she would feast. Tonight, dammit, she would forget about the mutt.
