A deep early winter's night engulfed Kirkwall. The starless sky swallowed buildings whole and the bitter cold chased all livings things into hiding leaving the city filled with the eeriest silence. The nights had become so long that it was almost impossible to tell evening from midnight and midnight from morning. Most have little trouble simply sleeping such a night away. Meredith Stannard of late had become one who couldn't.
She writhed and twisted on her bed; her sleep fitful and light; her eyes flitting back and forth beneath the lids. She was caught in yet another vivid visitation from the Fade. The dream picked up strength and she shook her head in her sleep, clenching the sheets and grinding teeth. Finally her eyes shot open and she lay still a moment listening to her own ragged breathing, before sighing with relief. She brought fingers to temples and squinted as she felt pressure building. She slowly got up from her small bed, carefully slipping on old but comfy slippers and walking to her washbasin as quietly as possible.
The feel of cool water on her face dulled the growing pain some, and it felt even better when she squeezed a sponge out over her golden mane. She idly watched the rivulets fall into the basin and sighed again.
'When will these nightmares leave me?' she thought, not at all for the first time. The dreams came first nearly six months before. They unsettled her, they weren't like the old dreams of her sister's possession and death and her family's murder. These dreams tapped into all the worst longings and fears of her recent life. They dredged up the most horrible secrets and actions and threw them in her face, paraded them around on a stage like a common gypsy show.
After watching the ripples in the basin disappear she lifted her head again and pulled her half wet hair back. She turned around intending to go back to bed and stopped dead in her tracks. A low humming sound was filling her small rooms, echoing off the cold stone walls. She went straight to her nightstand and hurriedly lit a candle. The light brought everything into sudden focus. Meredith felt some relief to see everything as she left it, or more to see she was indeed in her own living quarters.
But her stomach dropped when she saw some vestiges of darkness moving in the corners of the room. They weren't swaying with the flickering of the candle, they gathered and slid along the floor bringing in more shadows. Meredith's blood ran cold as she watched the shadows come together in the center of the floor. Barely audible whispers left her lips as they began to rise from the floor, becoming more smoke than shadow.
Two green lights appeared in the mass, revolving around within it before coming close together and forming eyes. The green orbs stared out at her, narrowed and predatory, drinking in the sight of her. A night owl had spotted its meal, and only had to swoop down and snatch it up.
The mass moved forward and a mouth formed, then a nose, then a pair of long pointed ears. A vicious, sultry smile came to a familiar face and as the creature came within inches of her it posed, like it was leaning on something that wasn't there and its transformation was complete. Orsino floated in midair, half formed and naked looking at her like a practiced old ladies man looks at a simpering virgin.
"Demon," Meredith's voice cracked but she refused to let herself back away, "Leave me be. Go back to the Fade, I am no mage you can prey on."
The demon wearing the First Enchanter's skin laughed, Orsino's silky voice echoed off her cold walls.
"You need not be a mage to commune with me." Orsino closed those last few inches between them and put a still smoking hand to her cheek, "I fact you don't need to dream."
Meredith bristled; this was nothing like the Orsino she knew. This creature made him act and sound wanton and confident and despite the vast difference it still felt so much like him. She could smell his light musk, the cinnamon and cedar, his eyes were every bit as wide and expressive as they normally were, only now instead of showing calmness or deep thought they bored into her with barely contained lust.
She turned and marched to the other side of the room, holding a hand up to her candle's flame. The room felt like it was growing colder by the second. Suddenly she felt arms winding around her waist and a long, slender leg pushing in between hers. A quick blast of icy air and the candle was snuffed out. Meredith dropped it to put her arms around herself defensively as Orsino's hands wandered freely over her body.
"Mmmmmmmmmm," he blew in her ear as he molded his body to hers, "This is absolutely delightful without all that pesky, pointy armor."
"Get away from me demon!" Meredith waved her arms and marched over to the other side of the room, covering her face.
'How? How did it follow me out of the Fade?'
"Mmmmeeeerrredith."
She tried to ignore the taunting but that infuriating fragment of herself made her turn around. Orsino, now fully formed hovered in the air, reclining on a cloud of smoke. He writhed and moaned hiding not one inch of his body from her. This forbidden sight mesmerized Meredith; even on this moonless night somehow there was a silver of light coming in that made his pale skin gleam. His slender, almost delicate form pulled at her in ways she didn't dare admit. Every movement, every twitch revealed a new part of him that she just wanted to kiss. A very strong impulse to throw herself at him and worship that delicious elven mage made beads of sweat form. A hand clutched the neck of her shift and the other fisted the cloth at her thigh.
It was nothing less than a war inside her, her rational mind fighting for dignity and control while her instincts pushed harder and harder for satiation. Finally she managed to turn back towards her bed. She gnawed on a knuckle and mentally recited part of the Chant of Light.
'Blessed are the righteous, the lights in the shadow.
In their blood the Maker's will is written.'
Rhythmic gasping broke her fragile concentration, and again hands found their way over her body. Orsino's grip was like cold iron and she felt his hips grinding and thrusting against her rump.
"Enough with this!" she broke away from him and whirled around, jabbing a finger at the apparition.
"What could you possibly want with me demon?" she demanded.
For a spilt second he looked dumbfounded, then that evil grin came back on his face. In slow motion his gripped his sides and started laughing, floating up to the ceiling on the silky, mocking sounds. When he finally stopped he continued to grin at her; turning up side down, reminding her of a reposed bat.
"If you haven't figured that out by now, my dear Meredith," he cooed, floating back down to her, "then I'm not going to bother spoon feeding it you."
He ran a finger down her cheek and despite herself Meredith felt goose bumps form all over her.
"Oh, you're so cold." He grabbed one of her hands and lifted it to his chest, and wrapped an arm around her waist, "Lay down and let me warm you up."
Meredith was momentarily terrified by the husky turn in his voice, and could swear she saw images of them fornicating in every forbidden way in his eyes. Yet again she wrenched herself away. This time he did not let her get far before pursuing her again. He chuckled as this back and forth mirrored the many cat and mouse chases they'd had over the months.
"Don't you know that the chase is the most exciting bit for a man?" he purred as he slipped arms over her shoulders.
"You little tease." He bopped her nose and nuzzled her neck, taking in a huge whiff of her thick scent.
Meredith went into a frenzy, throwing punches and snapping her teeth at anything within reach. Orsino simply watched her with hands on hips.
"Come now, you're only going to hurt yourself."
"I will hurt you demon, if you dare touch me again."
He scoffed. He floated towards her again but kept some distance between them, circling around her. She eyed him through mussed, tangled gold hair fists poised if he so much as came a millimeter too close.
"This is wonderful, don't misunderstand," Orsino's green eyes seemed to drink in every inch of her as he circled, "but I am beginning to wonder how much longer you can play the 'innocent holy mother'. After all, you've been lusting after my flesh for what? Years now? How much longer will you deny yourself the pleasure and satisfaction you've been dreaming of?"
As the words rolled off his tongue Meredith's mind went to perverted and foul places. She could not stop the torrent of fantasies from being rehashed, Orsino splayed on her bed gasping for air and crying with pleasure, she thought of all the places on him she wanted to kiss and taste. That beautiful line in his lithe neck, his graceful collarbone, she wanted to leave love bites on his shoulders, run her tongue over his nipples and hear him gasp, she wanted feel his body writhe beneath her, she wanted to take his member into her mouth and bring him to intolerable ecstasy.
She could see herself riding him, feel his hands locked onto her hips and his throbbing cock pull at her in the most wonderful ways. She could see his face as they made love like rutting animals, the shock, the rapture, … the triumph. Whenever she let herself slip into these lewd fantasies Orsino laughed like a conquering general.
Meredith gripped her head and forced back the horrid thoughts. To take him to bed was to put her pride and her power in his hands. It was to hand all of the Templar Order over to him and his mages for the meager price of some heavy breathing and an orgasm. Just as her mind cleared Orsino's hands locked over hers and he slammed his mouth into her. The kiss was not really a kiss, if felt more like the demon was sucking her very soul out through her mouth. His grip was so tight she could not break away from it and started screaming into his mouth. Finally he broke the kiss and sighed with satisfaction, devouring her with those emerald eyes yet again.
"You are so…very…tasty." He put his hands on her bosom and felt her up from hip to chest, punctuating his words with squeezes. Meredith did nothing for a while, she felt suddenly drained of all strength and willpower. All she wanted was to sleep. Over his shoulder she saw her bed, it hadn't looked so inviting since the night the Qunari revolted.
"Go away." She managed. He voice warbled and she felt her knees begin to shake. "Go away and leave me in peace. I want nothing to do with you tonight."
"You're tired. I could make you feel so much better, and afterwards you'd sleep like a baby." Orsino's sultry grin was still glued to his face and his fingers traced patterns over her body that stoked a small flame in her belly. Yet she was thankful her weariness made his offers easy to refuse.
Meredith shook her head and took a few steps towards her bed.
"I wish to sleep. Go away."
Orsino made a frustrated sigh.
"Will I get nothing for my troubles tonight?"
Meredith stopped and turned around to glare at him.
"Never."
She flopped into her bed and drew the duvet back over herself. It had lost all its heat but the feel of wool and cotton soothed her a bit. A weight settled on top of her and she felt Orsino's body molding itself over hers.
"I would thank you for staying over the duvet, but I hate you too much." She muttered.
Orsino chuckled.
"Please don't fall asleep on me, that's really the worst thing a woman can do to her man."
Meredith had a few retorts for that but bit them back. Talking kept her awake. There was silence for a few moments and Orsino sighed again.
"Very well, no coupling for us tonight. But…" his voice rang out in the quiet room and snapped her out of the near doze she had fallen into, "Do give me a hello in the morning."
Orsino floated into the darkest corner of the room and pressed his back into the wall, letting her have a full view of his naked body as he blended with the shadows.
"And I'll be back tomorrow night. If you can't wait that long, do visit me. I could use the diversion." He laid a kiss on his fingers and blew it to her, and a puff of dark smoke landed on her cheek.
Finally he dissolved completely and Meredith was left to a still light but blessedly dreamless sleep.
The next morning she rose from bed before dawn as she always did, polished her lyrium blade as she always did, issued orders to her captains and knights as she always did, and collected papers and engaged in unwanted debates with the First Enchanter as she always did. But her mind was not always as clear as she pretended. That day more than any other her eyes were drawn to Orsino. She lost count of how many times she'd watched his neck flex as he spoke, or how often she'd glanced at his long ears. Today her mind wandered back to the demon's offer. She was not idiot enough to confuse the real Orsino with that thing. The real Orsino would cry rape the second he realized what was passing through her mind as he tried to convince to be more lenient on the apprentices.
And still she saw herself pinning him to desk and wall, kissing him like they would die before the sun set. Once as he went to his huge book stand for a reference she was bombarded by the fantasy of him ripping her armor off and hoisting her up onto that sturdy stand and pounding into her mercilessly. The thought left her so undone she had to excuse herself, saying she needed to supervise some recruit's exercises.
Sometimes she cursed her libido, and her unnatural taste for elves. When she was young she'd once bought some time with an elf in the Rose. Because of that experience she knew how limber and sensitive they were, and how easily they accommodated the sensitivities of a lover. She went to great pains to hide this part of herself, to seem stoic and chaste but every contact with that damnable, delectable man brought her closer to just giving into the demon.
And when she thought about that, she couldn't help but think that it might be better to go on bended knee before Orsino and beg him to bed her. Every night she was faced with this choice, become possessed by a demon in the name of pleasure, become the possession of an elf, a mage in the name of pleasure, or continue to suffer.
'Blessed are they who stand before,
The corrupt and wicked and do not falter.'
She said these words often of late, but they brought little comfort now. One thing still did. Her sword. That beautiful sword she paid an arm and leg for and took nearly a year to forge. Its low, steady hum at her back reassured her, the 'thrum thrum' of its power made her feel powerful again. Tonight she would sleep with it by her bed; perhaps having it in arm's reach would alleviate her night terrors.
She prayed fervently that night, pleading with the Maker for guidance. She hoped that somehow revelation would come to her and she might finally be free of this demon and her insatiable lusts. She slept not long before Orsino slipped into her dreams again; again he teased and touched, gasped and panted, and chased her around the Fade. But tonight she awoke quicker than normal.
It was her sword that roused her from her fitful slumber. It was glowing in the darkness and the hum of its power had grown in strength. She smiled and ran her fingers over the pommel relieved that it had pulled her away from her tormentor. She rolled over and snuggled her duvet but presently heard the sword's humming grow even louder and begin vibrating against the nightstand. She thought it was trying to prevent the demon from returning to her room till she heard Orsino's smooth, silky purr behind her.
"Hello again my delicious little strumpet."
Meredith gnashed her teeth and whipped around in bed. Orsino was materialized from the thighs up, the dark smoke winding around him like caressing fingers.
"You need better sleep. Our fun was cut far too short tonight." He took one of her hands began kissing up her arm, the touch of his lips hot and cold all at once. Meredith stared at him, her sky blue eyes burning with hate. He turned in just the right way to offer her a tantalizing view of his groin and legs; and she found herself following the lines of his flesh then of the trails of smoke that…led…too…
Orsino chuckled, the sound running over her like so much venom.
"At last, the penny drops." He purred, planting a few more kisses on her shoulder and nibbling her neck.
"How could it be?" Meredith was frozen in shock. "You're supposed to be my power, my hand of righteousness. I…I had you made…"
"You had me re-made." His mouth was so close to her ear he practically licked it when he spoke. "Thank you for this more refined form. Now…"
He pulled away and fully formed himself, sinking into her bed and wrapping arms and legs around her, locking onto her with gleaming green eyes and a sultry smile.
"You know what I am, what I want, and what I can offer. Do we have a deal?"
