There are few things in this world more tragic than outliving those you love, having to wander the world without them by your side. Two immortals thought they would never have to face that. They were wrong.

Zyphre was the Lord of Vampires. His mother was Turned in the early stages of his pregnancy, birthing him as a living, growing vampire. Due to this complication, he was born with the immunity to sunlight that his brethren did not have, making him sufficiently more powerful than his cousins. He could only transform into a bat, but on the flip side, he could transform at will, no matter the time of day. As for the other vampiric weaknesses, he trained for ten thousand years to overcome them, succeeding in all but the revulsion to garlic, the smell of which nauseated him and still could completely overpower him when he was in his preferred bat form. Despite being the most powerful vampire in the world, he chose to stay by the side of the woman he loved, using his bat form to stay under the guise that he was the sorceress's familiar.

Lydia Liadon was a demi-god. Born an ordinary elf, she was taken notice of by Nerull, the God of Death, and once she reached maturity she was taken as his bride. She had gotten no say in the matter. Nerull granted her sorcery god-like powers, and she was immortal as long as she remained tied to the castle. Zyphre was given to her as her personal servant, though she used him as a mix between a bodyguard and a close companion. His bat form was very useful in the outside world, as he was trusted by nothing in his vampire form, and he was able to masquerade as a familiar with ease.

For several thousand years, Lydia remained tied to Nerull's castle and lived with him as his wife. Her husband showed little, if any, interest in her, and did little to please her. In retaliation to this, she and Zyphre grew very close, much closer than even a true master and familiar. He was completely devoted to her, and she acknowledged his love with her own. When nearly a century had passed without Nerull pleasing her at all, Lydia welcomed Zyphre to her bed. Nerull knew how close they were and openly did not approve, but they were fairly certain he was unaware of their trysts. If he ever found out, Lydia and Zyphre would both be executed. With this knowledge, they could be relatively certain that he remained ignorant.

"Nerull hurt you again," said Lydia softly, touching the deep gash on his cheek.

"It's not a problem," said Zyphre uncaringly. "You know me. I'm a fast healer. He simply had to go through the mandatory you're-too-close-to-my-wife beating before he left. Which means…"

Zyphre pressed his black lips to her pale ones and kissed her passionately as she deepened it without hesitation. Zyphre pushed her onto her back, still kissing her. He was half-dressed; Lydia ran her hands down his bare back. Zyphre ran a hand up her thigh, pushing her elegant, form-fitting gown upwards. His fangs pierced her lower lip accidentally, though she did not care and the taste of blood excited him more.

Lydia broke the kiss, gazing into his wine-red eyes. She licked the blood from her lips erotically. Zyphre kissed the pulse in her neck; Lydia rolled her head up to give him more room. He kissed down her jugular, nipping lightly, not breaking the skin, though he could smell the blood racing just beneath.

He nipped down her collarbone and exposed chest until he reached the top of the strapless gown she wore. He ran his black-clawed hands up her sides and back, tugging on the material on the return journey and pulling it down. He ran his tongue around one of her nipples, drawing it into his mouth. Lydia moaned.

She raised her hips off of the bed, pushing the gown down farther. Zyphre pulled it the rest of the way off and lowered his head. Lydia gasped sharply as his tongue slid over her clitoris.

"Uhnnnn…Zyphre," she moaned as he continued to lightly tease her. "Come on, Zyphre…I want you inside me…"

Zyphre slipped his pants off and kissed her forcefully on the lips. Lydia broke the kiss as he slid in. She cried out, the sound mixing with Zyphre's moan. He began to move, thrusting slowly at first, Lydia moving against him. Zyphre tugged lightly on her earlobe with his teeth. Lydia wrapped her legs around his waist, driving him in deeper. Small noises escaped her throat. She tightened the hold her arms had around his torso.

Next thing Zyphre knew, Lydia had flipped him and he was on his back. Still impaled upon him, she moved up and down slowly, torturously, until Zyphre let out a groan that sounded more like a plea. She dropped down as low as she could without sitting on him. She rolled her hips, causing Zyphre to cry out. He endured her torment for only a few more seconds before pushing her off of him and pulling out. He moved behind her and re-entered forcefully, driving in as deep as he could. Lydia screamed as he hit the end of her passage.

Zyphre's hands moved around to the front, one of them kneading her breast, the other moving lower to play with her clitoris. Lydia only lasted another minute or two before screaming her climax. Her passage contracting around him, Zyphre cried out his own release in mid-thrust, shooting his seed deep inside.

Lydia's body relaxed; she was breathing heavily. Zyphre pulled out and rolled off of her. Lydia turned to face him and kissed him deeply. Zyphre returned the kiss hungrily.

Zyphre broke the kiss. "Stay here tonight," he said. "Nerull won't be back for a few days. He won't miss you like he usually would."

Lydia smiled. "Sure," she said softly. She kissed him again. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Lydia laid her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her.

"Oh, damn it, Zyphre, if I'm staying here anyway, do you want to do round two?"

"I always want to do round two with you."

And so life continued as normal. Nerull returned within a few days, ignorant of his wife's escapades. He ignored his wife for the most part, and openly disliked Zyphre, who treated the contempt as jokingly as he always did. Nerull physically lashed out at Zyphre a bit more often than was normal, but he could do nothing more as he could not confirm his suspicions that his bride was being less-than-faithful.

After a month had passed, Lydia began to feel unwell. She was tired more often than not and according to Zyphre, she was always pale. Predictably more concerned with her health than his own, Zyphre sometimes made unnecessary detours around the castle that would take him by her bedchamber so that he could make sure she was feeling alright. Her trances were lasting longer than was normal.

Lydia got a sinking feeling in her gut whenever she acknowledged that she felt ill. Deciding that the consequences would be much worse if she remained ignorant, she chose herself as the target and cast Detect.

Zyphre was alone in his bedchamber when Lydia barged through the door, slamming the door shut behind her, bolting and locking it. She was biting her lower lip and she had a slightly frantic look on her face.

"Lydia…?" asked Zyphre in concern, raising an eyebrow at this strange behavior.

"Zyphre, I'm leaving this place and I'm never coming back," said Lydia frantically. "I came to say goodbye."

"What?" cried Zyphre in alarm. "Why?"

"Your life is in danger if I stay," she said.

"Lydia, you know I would go with you anywhere," he said softly. "No matter what, I'll be by your side, I promise."

Lydia was silent. "Thank you, Zyphre," she finally said in a very small voice. She sounded close to tears. She sniffed and buried her face in her hands.

"Whoa, hey, hey, hey," said Zyphre, immediately getting up and moving over to her, wrapping his arms tightly around her figure. "Calm down. It's okay. Now, what's the problem? Why do we need to leave?"

"I'm with child."

"Really?" said Zyphre. "That's fantastic! Congratulations!"

"It's yours."

"That's not as fantastic! Congratulations!" said Zyphre with no change of tone.

"Zyphre, I'm scared," she said. "If Nerull finds out…"

"You're certain it's mine?" asked Zyphre, more seriously.

"Positive," she said.

"And there's no way you can pass it off as Nerull's?" he continued.

"No," she said. "You're the only one I've had sex with in roughly the past fifty years. If I tell him I'm pregnant he'll know it's not his, and he'll guess it's yours. He might know about the child already. You know what he'll do if he finds out, maybe even when he gets home if I'm right? He'll kill our child, kill you, and only after that will he kill me. Worse, he might leave me alive. I'm scared."

"Okay, okay," said Zyphre as she buried her face in his chest. "Shh, shh, shh. We'll leave, we'll get as far away from here as we possibly can." Even as he spoke, he knew that they were empty promises. No matter how far they went, how were they to hide from a god?

As if reading his thoughts, she said, "I've just cast the most powerful defensive spells I know. I've taken every precaution to shield us from his eyes. I'm severing my ties from the castle as soon as we walk through the doors. He'll never find me, or you, or any of our blood."

"Wait, you're severing your ties from the castle?" said Zyphre in alarm.

"Of course I am," she said. "If they stayed he could literally pull me back whenever he pleased."

"But you'll lose all your power. You won't be a demi-god anymore. You'll lose your immortality," he said, almost pleadingly.

"Zyphre," she said softly. She looked up at him. Her emerald eyes were filled with tears. "Zyphre, I don't care. I'd rather spend one lifetime with you than live forever knowing that I had caused your death."

"I…Lydia…" Zyphre leaned down and kissed her, unable to put what he was feeling into words. Once they left the castle, she would be a normal, mortal elf, but he would still be the Vampire Lord. "Okay. We'll leave as soon as you're ready."

"I'm ready now," she said. "Please, let's get out of here before he comes back."

With a flutter of wings, Zyphre had transformed into a bat and had nestled on her shoulder. Lydia dried her eyes and walked purposefully through the castle with the dignity of a queen. She paid no notice of any servants and threw the front doors open, walking with her head held high.

When she had walked roughly a mile away from the castle she turned back to face it on the horizon. She spoke the formal words in Abyssal. "With these words, I sever my ties and break the spell that holds me to this place, knowing that I will never return here again." Zyphre repeated her words. He had to, or else Nerull would be able to find both of them.

Lydia swayed and stumbled as she felt nearly all of her power drain from her. She felt naked without the great magical power just below the surface. She was acutely aware of her heart beating, of the air moving in and out of her lungs. She was mortal again.

"Hey," said Zyphre, her falter not left unnoticed. "You okay?"

"Y…yeah," said Lydia. "Don't worry about it. Let's just go."

New story~ I've had the idea for this for months and months and months, I'm just now getting around to it.

Not too happy with the lemon. It was three in the afternoon, you see, and sex scenes is kind of a nightly thing for me. I can't focus when the sun is up. Writing in general is kind of an evening thing. But here we are after midnight and I can't find any way to fix it.

So yes. I like babies. This marks the third fic I've written which includes a pregnancy. Spencer (Lupin, Jean) noticed this as well. "Rachael, you can't DM. If you did, everyone in your world would be pregnant. Even the men." "Especially the men." "Oh god!"

So I know that in the cannon Zyphre ends up dead and Lydia ends up leaving for parts unknown or being overtaken by Nerull again depending on the version Chris is entertaining at the moment. This is my story. With my characters (Chris handed Zyphre's rights over to me at the end of the campaign). But even so, this is fanfiction dot net. This is my fanfic on the future I wanted for the two of them. And now I am done rambling.