Crimson Workings

Jp with Thaen

Base of the Dalen Alps, Gelt's Hideout, Nargozond

Lenore watched the brutal creation of Kragan, her wounds healed from the siege, her eyes more precise than ever. "Just need one hundred more." She hissed, never had she felt so helpless, it made her feel how she felt all those years ago, before she was the Crimson Eye. 

Her claws tightly gripped the railing from where she was looking from, "That won't happen again." She wouldn't try to avenge herself, she knew better than that. Her dream of a new world was just a small aspect of what her master planned, so she would do as he planned. That is how she lasted longer than most.

She turned her head to face the mage that also served the Crimson One. Lenore's red eyes locked with Liliana's. "What in the hells was that? Don't think I didn't notice; our master might have not acknowledged it but I'm not above such small things." She pushed herself from the railing, "Admiration for the son of blue, heir to Dalen's throne. I heard it in your voice, I can smell it's stench. Tis the rush of adrenaline and not that of battle." 

Lenore circled the woman, her eyes watching much like a cat watched prey; looking for a weakness. However, she wasn't going to feed on Liliana, she was looking for disloyalty. To feed off of her would have invited a fight she was confident she could have won, if Draken had not defeated her so candidly.

Liliana's eyes locked eyes with Lenore's, a slow smile spreading as she regarded the entrancing gaze of the vampiress. "It is his pain I felt, the taste when I was close to him almost teasingly tangible. You know what I enjoy, Crimson Eye. You exasperate…"

Even as she said it, Liliana knew that Lenore was right about something. It had been admiration she had felt. Yet, somewhere deep in her she knew a want that she had not felt in a long time. Her mind could not forget how strong those arms had felt as they had bound tightly around her nor the look of pain The Diablo had given when she had tore at his neck with shadow talons. His eyes remained in hers, a pain hidden yet fueling the power he had wielded.

It was a want that she hid behind her mask that smiled back at Lenore. "Speaking from experience? I have seen how you carry yourself. I follow our master faithfully as the rest, yet your ears seem to seek his every breath." She stepped forward, closer to Man's greatest predator. "Are you exasperating admiration for… something?" Liliana finished, never losing her gaze or smile as she moved to caress the side of the vampire's face.

Lenore gently whispered to her ear, "I am his Crimson Eye, one of the few that understands his great plan. I would be dead if I wasn't useful to the larger whole. I beg for death because I thought I was useless to him. I am nothing more than a tool for greatness. For the world he dreams, I don’t seek his eye, nor his attention, only usefulness." 

The vampiress smirked, "However, he wouldn't mind a little fun. You see, when I was shaking, falling apart, crying. It wasn't out of pain. Well, when Draken used his infernal power, that was painful. Anything that would be painful, besides infernal and celestial powers, isn't painful for me."

She traced her claw across Liliana’s shoulder, before taking in her arm. "You see, vampires are beings of pleasure and greed, we find pleasure in pain." She snatched a dagger from the mage's belt, and stabbed herself in the shoulder. Lenore moaned in pleasure at the dagger cutting her flesh. She twisted the blade as she pulled it out, causing her to shiver as the wound healed in a matter of seconds. She licked the dagger in a sensual manner, before offering it back to Liliana. "Want a taste?'' she whispered heavily into her ear.

Liliana leaned closer, fingers closing around the hilt as she kept her gaze locked. She smiled seductively as well, leaning tentative in. The sorceress then took a swift move to plant the offered blade into Lenore's chest. Pierced flesh squelched against the blade as the spellscars lit upon her arm, bright purple lines spreading from her wrist to her shoulder. Lenore's jaw dropped as the blade tipped, barely through her clothes, when the wall slammed into her. Liliana smiled still, staring deeply at her face. Her fangs had popped out as her empowered strike cracked the wall with the vampiress. The sorceress spotted it, the deep black that lingered just behind all vampires and she smiled deeply, this time with her own fascination. Lenore let out an instinctual hiss at her as Liliana withdrew herself.

"No, you’re a creature of instinct. A honed need that’s a pain deeper than even I can cause," Liliana spoke softly to her. "You hide it beneath a facade, one pleasing and very deceiving. But I prefer a pain more open than yours. Oh, it's beautiful! Pain, deliciously beautiful!" She praised, gesturing to her.

Lenore gasped before lunging at Liliana's neck, unable to hold back anymore. She tightly dug her claws into her neck, her tongue licked across the sorceress's face. "Instinct? Perhaps. However my sweet, little scarred mage, I killed my old master, even when my instincts told me otherwise. Why? I simply think you know." Her eyes filled with want and desire, pain burning bright within her.

She let Lilliana go, "How badly do you want Draken?" She hissed at her. Something in her voice was not that of hostility, it was something else. The painmancer tightened the corner of her eyes at that. “It isn’t his pain… No, you saw something else that you want.”

“What I want is for Bathlazaar Gelt to achieve his vision, Lenore Operon. I will no not suffer anyone to declare naked rebellion against him, much less me. What I want, what he wants, is the Empire. I will help him find his Emperor, just as you will remove the Empire's enemies. Together, we shall all rule in absolute and terrible power,” the sorceress said empirically. And if the Emperor wishes an Empress, then he shall have one, Liliana thought to herself.

Lenore's face turned from one of unknown desires to a sly grin, "You are too naive sometimes, who said any of us were going to rule?" The vampiress moved away from Liliana, "Either way. Our lord searches for his potential Emperor. Draken is a good candidate; no one has ever struck Gelt before and that close as well. Promising." She swiftly turned herself and her attention back to the vats. She whistled at one of the Kragan who was surveying the unholy births, "Report the production of our lord's army."

“One thousand strong and ready, Mistress,” called the Kragan pitmaster. “Another three hundred lay ready to be birthed, three hundred more tomorrow still.”

Lenore watched the Kragans being born, "Do any of them show promising traits?" Her eyes flicked to the pitmaster.

The Kragan bared its teeth in a cruel smile. "Yes, Mistress! They await training for the army!"

The look Liliana gave to Lenore was a knowing smile. Their master's army was swelling and soon it would march in far greater number. She decided to not press Lenore on this matter. She was not a threat to her, she felt. She made her way to her the alchemical labs that awaited her attentions.