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.
