The dust and blood below Persephone's hands began to lose texture. As each fervent tug on her throat sent more of her blood out of her body all of her senses seemed to dim, the pale light from the moon fading. Her body littered with wounds, bruises and holes seemed to lose their ache as her body grew colder.
Persephone began to close her eyes letting the abyssal darkness that was leaking around her eyesight claim her but she was stopped in her tracks. A firm grasp on the back of her neck pulled her forward and suddenly a wet object was forced between her lips as it began to drip onto her tongue.
At first she felt nothing but the buildup of fluid on her mouth but it quickly awakened something within her. Her tongue tasting the metallic heat present, urged what last dregs of energy her body had to swallow and as she did it unleashed a flood gate. It felt like all her existence was focused on the blood pouring down her throat, all she knew was heat, desire, hunger.
All too soon the blood stopped coming and in her desperation Persephone bit down, the sharpened canines that had already begun to grow as a fledgling piercing the flesh and drawing more blood into her willing mouth. With the blood she felt wounds seal, her senses grow but her body remains cold, no longer absorbing any heat or creating its own, the only source of it the dwindling blood in her mouth.
Shortly after the grip on her neck tightened separating her from the bleeding limb and with it her connection to the mortal coil, as fast as her senses and energy had blossomed they faded once more, her collapse into the abyss hastened with its retreat.
As awareness left her she heard two words ring out over and over and over again as she spiralled down into the depths of death. Alexander's voice slowly morphs into a shapeless sound.
"Rest well."
Persephone thought the void she sank into would be just that, a void. One without senses, thoughts or memories, and that it would be permanent, but her body and mind seemed to resist its pull. Every so often consciousness would return and she dreaded it. Every time she awoke and could feel again it was only pain.
At first she could feel an ache in her gums, her jaw creaking as blood began to leak onto her tongue as her sharpened canines grew into true fangs lengthening into ivory daggers. Her nails began to cut at her own hands, the blades, hardening into a pointed talon, digging rivulets into her palm as she clenched from the pain. She slowly felt her organs shutting down and then felt them wither inside her. When her heart stopped she felt the tightness in her chest as her lungs failed to expand, she didn't get a chance to think on it before falling but now she could feel each organ, each as useless to her new changing body as the last and in need of reshaping.
This continued for as long as she could think, sometimes when the sensations came back she would fight against them, begging with a desiccated throat for the pain to stop but nobody heard her. She would fight and claw with all her might ready to destroy the confines of her spiritual prison, but it was all for naught. It continued and as she ebbed between the void and agonising consciousness. She felt strength growing within her, senses growing once again and with each awakening the pain did finally begin to lessen. In a final wave, awareness clawed its way out and her eyes shot open. For a second she was encased in wood, deep scratches in the wood and filth and blood splattered across the walls, but before she could register what this meant, her mind fled. Leaving the mortal realm for something... Comforting.
The world she awoke in was as crimson as the blood she spilled. Opening her eyes she found herself on her hands and knees, the surface covered in a thin layer of the carmine liquid her life seemed to revolve around, blood. The scent of the planet was almost overwhelming, the urge to let go, her humanity shedded until naught but a beast surged through her, but she resisted. Looking up she saw barren wasteland, blood and viscera for as far as her eye could see. The sight both horrific and enticing was almost distracting enough to stop her releasing her improved sight, being able to take in the land around her so much further than before.
The most startling thing in this world however was the twin moons in the sky, blood red like the rest of the desolate wasteland. They hung in the sky and felt oppressive, being under them felt like being trapped in a cage, the moons acting as her guards.
Trying to get her bearings was near impossible, the allure of the blood before calling to her as nothing ever had, falling back onto her haunches Persephone tried to take a deep breath but finding no comfort in it, her dead lungs no longer inflating as they once had.
Opening her eyes she saw approaching a figure, shock surged in her body but she felt unable to rise, remaining on her knees. The figure appeared to be a man, a beautiful man at that, his body almost looking like sculpted marble, she could make out the blond crop of curls on his head. His visage seemed angelic if not for the black horns and black feather wings and finally piercing crimson dots peeking out of black eyes.
As the man grew closer his body seemed to shine a white light building to engulf him, almost blinding Persephone. Once the light dimmed she was able to look back and see he had slowly shifted, his body remained similar in build but shrunk as his hair grew into loose brown curls she knew well. In an instant the man crouched before her and Alexander's clawed and blood stained hands took her face in a gentle caress.
"Be not afraid, child. I mean you no harm." Persephone felt a strange familiarity in the imposter's embrace. A kinship almost.
"Who are you? Is this, is this hell?" A soft smile grew on his face, with no sense of fear, anger or mockery which Persephone feared.
"No sweet. Well not the hell you imagined anyway. You're in my prison, but you won't be staying, do not worry."
Alarm rang in Persephone's foggy mind, her body still unable to listen to her commands; she just stared at the man before her.
"Who are you?" She hoped the fear she felt didn't leak into her voice, if he did he did not react or pull away.
"Who I am is unimportant, it is who you are, who you will be, that concerns me. Know that I have watched over you since birth and you have been chosen, Persephone."
"Chosen for what?" The man smiled rising from his crouch and as he did he pulled Persephone up with him and steadied her as her balance tilted.
"You will understand when it is needed, enjoy the unlife that has been chosen for you. Know that I will watch and guide you as needed." The riddles and cryptic nonsense was finally starting to crack through the haze shrouding her mind but before anger could bubble to the surface the man laughed the rumble through his chest shaking Persephone.
"I can practically feel your indignation pouring off you in waves, relax please, I am not your enemy, although you have had many." At his words her body reluctantly calmed, her mind unable to fight against his will. "First I have one task for you, then I will give you a look into your future." Leaning to his side the man cupped his hands into the carmine liquid swimming around them, in the light the blood seeming so dark it was almost black as he lifted the cupped liquid to her face. "Drink deep childe, let the waters of this world flow through you. Find strength in the shadows and power in the blood." Persephone's body reacted on instinct and before she knew it the blood had been tipped upwards and spilled into her waiting mouth. The liquid had all the usual hints Persephone associated with the vampiric blood she had drank but this... it was like wine, heady and surprisingly fruity on her palette, a hint of pomegranates.
As the imposter released his hands the last of the blood spilled down her bare chest. Persephone felt the dark power settle within her, it wasn't what she expected when she had been a fledgling but there was always a taste of this darkness in Isabella's and Alexander's blood. It felt evil, wrong, blasphemous but yet everything inside her rebuilt body craved it, she was unable to deny herself as it settled into the pit of her stomach.
Once her eyes returned to the man who bore the same easy smile, he raised his hand and Persephone followed to where he was pointing. Rising from the blood was another body and as the blood sluiced from its form Persephone could make out familiar features, the face and hair made her feel like she was staring into a warped mirror. The woman before her resembled her to a degree but the additions left her equally horrified and intrigued.
She could picture the claws and fangs on herself, she understood what it was to become vampire, the pallor of her skin could be explained the same way only it seemed more shocking surrounded by so much of the carmine liquid. But that was where any recognition ended. The man motioned forward and the carmine illusion moved forward, gliding along the surface of the liquid with more grace than Persephone had ever managed. As it stopped before them she tried to pull away from the man's grasp but his grip only tightened.
"Do not fear, it's your destiny, a vision of what is to come." It felt so wrong, she had done a lot to shake off the restrictions placed on her by her religious upbringing but this blasphemy, the woman before her stealing her visage was demonic, and the snake had her in his clutches.
The woman had horns similar to his, black fading into blood red at the tip and curling around the top of her head before jutting out. Her eyes crimson like a vampires, but resting in a inky bed of darkness. Red leathery wings with bone protrusions on its top rested languidly behind her as well as a spaded tail hanging loosely at her side. Worst of all was her hands, stained by the abyss itself from claw to forearm black stained her skin and seemed to move and undulate by its own free will, like liquid trying to hold a constant state. She looked magnificent and horrific. But her confusion was broken through by the imposter Alexander.
"Your determination in life has brought you here to me, Persephone, and it's why I know you will be..." The man paused, his face growing still as he considered his words. Snapping back the man pressed on without completing his former thought. "It's time to return to your realm, you have been here too long as it is. You will not remember your time here until it is needed. Be safe Persephone, until we may meet again."
The world began to quake, the vision before her returning to the carmine depths it sprung from. As she lost her footing Alexander faded back to the man she had originally seen; he looked regal, demonic and yet sad. Her vision began to fade, blood floating upwards as the hard glare of the twin moons beat down on her before there was nothing.
Waking was hard, her consciousness bubbled to the surface slowly but felt like it was fighting against a barrier, her mind split between lucid thoughts and snarls and hisses. Voices made themselves aware slowly, a conversation happening around her.
"We could have used her in Greece and Italy, would have loved to see her shoot that Hapsburg prick." Persephone was finally able to open her eyes and as clarity slowly came back to her she realised she was laying down in the living room of their New Orleans home, not the dusty streets of Blackrock. Moving her tongue in her mouth almost felt like sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill. The effort needed to respond was overwhelming but eventually she managed to get out.
"Shoot who?" She felt eyes flick to her, a hand that had been carding through her hair gently stilled as she spoke, to her surprise and displeasure. Continuing to look around she was quickly pulled into a sitting position face to face with Alexander, and she felt it.
Isabella had tried to describe the tug, the bond between Childe and Sire. Alexander had always seemed wise, and caring towards her but now, it was as if being in contact with him was safety, pride, love all in itself. He was her creator. Her Sire.
"Persephone dear, are you with us?" Taking in her Sire she struggled to form any words looking around the room her new eyesight could pick up the most minute detail, she could see the specs of dust riding in the wind, she could hear the hiss of flames in the burner, she realised she could taste something, it was pleasant, like iron which was strange, earthy almost, blood.
