6/14/09

A/N: Quick point out for your benefit - The way this chapter starts out is a little strange. There's regular dialogue but also thought italics alongside or after certain things people are saying. The italics are meant to be Kitana thinking what she thinks Father Macon is really saying when he speaks. It may get slightly confusing even if you are paying attention.

Disclaimer: I do not under any circumstances own Drizzt and Co. they belong to R.A. Salvatore. I have no intentions of stealing them at all. My own characters have been previously claimed and you should recognize them as mine by now. I think I may have killed most of my spelling errors.

WARNING: This story includes much of the following- Foul language, violent ideas, violence, religion bashing, mush, sexual situations, inappropriate subjects/situations, and most likely inappropriate subjects/situations. If you don't like any of those then please stop reading before you get offended.

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Chapter Nine: Blood of the Holy

This was one of those days that Kitana would rather forget. Sunday. Nothing wrong with this particular day of the week at all, it was the best cleaning day for sure. But not today. Not at the moment. At this point Kitana was sure that she would end up killing someone if Artemis wasn't sitting right there next to her, she was not about to forget that the others had been forced to endure this as well. If it was possible, Artemis was in a much worse mood than she was.

Kitana looked around the room for maybe the tenth time that hour. She was deeply offended by the twenty rows of neat little benches, the high arching ceiling and the painted windows. She hated the people sitting in those benches, praying like obedient little dolls. Each one of them had an expression of ignorant bliss painted on their face, they were perfectly happy to believe in the meaningless words of another hopeless fool. Kitana hated that fool the most.

Father Macon stood proudly behind the church's alter. Behind him a cross and the scales and sword of the god Tyr. By all accounts, Tyr was a goodly god. The god of justice. Kitana did not doubt this, nor did she hate this god. She didn't like to believe in deities and would never give herself to one, but she did understand that they could not be completely ignored. She hated Father Macon because he called himself the messenger of the Just God, he wasn't really. Like most who called themselves profits, he was in it simply for the glory the position of priest afforded. After all, how many people came to a priest and confessed everything about themselves to a priest in total confidence that he would never tell? How many more wasted their entire lives before the church falling to the whims of priests, throwing away their fortunes or actually hard earned pay just to be 'saved'? It was extremely foolish in Kitana's opinion, she could not understand how people could be that stupid.

A glare from her grandmother forced Kitana to continue 'paying attention' to the pretend priest.

Father Macon puffed out his chest as he had been doing frequently throughout the entire sermon. "The gods smile upon those who hear their will. Their followers will always be Blessed for they are the true future of the world. Without the gods the world would be meaningless and therefore we must always give to them."

'You people are fools believing in me. But give me everything and I will give you the pretense of salvation.'

"In order to survive we must sacrifice all that we do not need. Luxuries that would be better off in the hands of someone else. The more you give to the church, the more you give to the gods. Thus we shall be redeemed in their eyes and all sins will be forgiven."

'I want all of your money, all of your fine things for myself. The more you give to me the more lies I shall feed you with your hopes.'

"Those who give will become the very blood of the holy. By giving we give our god life and in return he gives us everything we have. We must lose all of our negativities, our hatred, our greed. Let us instead sanctify that which has value to the Just God. Justice, order and love."

'You will all die poor before me but I care nothing for any of you. I will walk away with everything and you will fall with nothing. Give me everything and I will tell you that you will live.'

The priest ended his lecture on that note. The people in the church all stood and applauded, except Kitana and her watchdogs. They sat there with mouths full of bile wanting nothing more than to leave this vile place and move on with the day. It seemed, however, that three hours was not enough torture. Kitana's grandmother decided to stay another hour talking to people. Naturally she was gushing about how wonderful the sermon had been and there was no one anywhere around here that was as good as him and he was such a fine man. It made Kitana want to gag.

She looked up when she heard her grandmother speaking to Jarlaxle.

"Would you accompany me to a small private luncheon? Many of my friends would just love to speak with you."

Jarlaxle threw her a smile, aptly hiding the fact that he wanted nothing more than to vomit at the moment. He agreed to go anyway, he could not afford to look bad right now with the chance of returning Kitana to normal so close. The others, unfortunately, had no choice in the matter either. Kitana was to be left at home to clean as she was 'undeserving of such a privilege.' Not that she cared all that much.

They returned to the mansion shortly thereafter. The grandmother went to her room to change while Kitana retreated to the kitchen. She would not be forced to remain inside her room this time incase someone came to the door. If someone did she was to let them in and entertain them until her grandmother returned. If it was just a messenger then she was to write down anything they said and relay the information to her grandmother. Nothing different than normal.

Her grandmother came down the stairs smiling dubiously. The stupid bitch had no idea how much everyone hated her. Her long gown was perfectly garish, its like green and rose pink colors clashed horribly and her abundant middle section was obviously stuffed into it. Completely oblivious to everyone else's thoughts she stepped across the room merrily and she left with the watchdogs. Kitana sighed out loud as the door slammed shut, she wished that at least one of them could have stayed. She sat on the floor scrubbing but not really making the effort to actually clean anything. Kitana lost track of all time so she was not sure when the doorbell rang thunderously throughout the house. She didn't bother straightening herself up as she walked to the door, it wouldn't matter what she looked like to the person on the other side anyway, they all thought of her as a monster and that thought would never change. Kitana opened the door and upon seeing who was there her expression turned angry and full of hate. Father Macon flinched at her acid glare, he came in anyway.

"Now Kitana, I thought perhaps I would speak with you again. I saw how angry you looked at my lecture this morning and I was hoping I could change your mind." He smiled but the look was sickening to Kitana. For some reason she chose that moment to breathe in deeply, inhaling the pungent aroma of the disgusting man's cologne. Either he was wearing far too much or her senses had gotten sharper. But there was more. A soft metallic smell, like zinc. And it was sweet...so sweet...

Kitana felt something stir within her veins. She felt her anger dwindling into something else. And she knew this feeling. It was the one she had when Artemis made love to her only there was no potential for emotional attachment here, only the desire to bite. Father Macon stepped precariously forward having no idea of the danger he was in.

"Now Kitana, surely you must understand how much someone like you needs the power of the gods. You could be so much more if you would just give in and hear their words." He reached his hand out thinking to grab hers, she pulled away almost violently. "Shh...Do not fear me Kitana." the priest whispered. He spoke her name sharply, as though he was hating himself for having to use it. "There is no need to fight. I only wish to help you." He reached his hand out again and tried to brush his fingers through her hair. Kitana snarled at him, baring her teeth and slapped his hand away again. The priest stood there gaping, he was not used to young women not accepting his touch. The fool lunged forward. If she would not obey then he would have her as he wanted.

Kitana's blood pulsed, there was no other way to describe it. It felt the danger. She did not want the priest anywhere near her and definitely not on her. He was disgusting. Not like Artemis. He didn't care and wanted nothing more to hurt her and make her bend to his will. She would not stand for it. Somehow she knew that biting him would not be wrong. How many other women had he attempted this on? How many of them had been her supposed age or younger? He sickened her, but she did not doubt that his blood would taste good. Her eyes drifted to the junction of his neck as she sidestepped and he fell to the floor behind her. She spun around to kick him in the belly, he curled into a fetal position with the impact of her foot into his gut. He was too stupid to stop there. Once again he was on his feet, once again he was lunging at her. Kitana braced her footing and chose not to move this time. She had him where she wanted. He crashed into her painfully and she locked him into a deadly embrace. He struggled to get away still not knowing what she was going to do or how she was suddenly so strong. Kitana bit down as hard as she could and dreamily felt her teeth break through his skin like daggers. Her hands clawed, clutching him in a vice like grip making him feel fear like he never had before. It was a sweet spice to her. The harder he fought, the happier she became. His blood poured endlessly into her eager mouth, she was on fire. She felt a strange sense of power returning. No, not returning, it had been there all along. It was waking up again. There was nothing but her and the delicious taste of the blood for many moments. Kitana remained aware enough to feel that the priest had stopped moving. She pulled her mouth away gasping loudly for air not caring that she had blood dripping from it or that her front was almost completely covered.

She pushed the corpse away. She looked at the pitiful form that had been so easy to kill even while she was not really herself. He would not be able to hurt anyone again or spread anymore of his lies. She smiled smugly at the body, how pathetic he was. A strange feeling sprouted from deep within her belly, coiled like a snake ready to strike its prey. Her smile widened and she threw her head back wildly. She fell to the floor laughing.

Kitana did not hear the soft footsteps of her watchdogs returning. She was too caught up in her volatile laughter. All eyes widened when they found the bloodless corpse. Entreri ran to Kitana to see if she was alright. Jarlaxle and Drizzt went to check on the priest. They had known the man was dead even before they ran to him but that did not stop them from wanting to see what caused it. The empty wound on the man's neck was more than enough of a give away. They looked over to Kitana who had ceased her laughing. The blood covering her mouth and shirt was more than enough. It was sickening to say the least but they knew they should have been ready for it. She smiled weakly at them almost as if to say that she didn't know why she did it and she could not have helped herself.

Jarlaxle looked over to Kimmuriel -whose face bore a grave expression- was holding something in his hand. It was glowing the deep gold color as the illithid had promised it would.

Kitana's head was spinning. Everything had become a wonderful array or colors, but one thing remained still. Though the body of the priest was almost completely blurred, an object on his belt was not. Its aura writhed around it calling her to come look. It was hers it was saying. It wanted to be away from the foul man who had thought to use it for his disgusting purposes. Kitana knew that she was not about to stand. She rolled off of Artemis' lap and crawled over to the body and her hand quickly found what she was looking at. It tenderly gripped the well worn leather handle and pulled the weapon effortlessly from the dead man's still form. The whip that the priest had given her grandmother to beat her with because ordinary ones didn't work. Her whip, she knew it was. It had tried to tell her that during the beating though she had not understood it at the time. Had it been used against anyone else, it would have killed them after the first few lashes. it told her that and also apologized to its mistress for haven been apart of the beating. She forgave it knowing it hadn't had much of a choice.

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It was too hot and too cold at the same time. She could feel everything changing. And the laughter was back. Cold, high and very masculine. But she knew it could not hurt her now. Not again. She forced herself to focus. What was he laughing about again?

The desert came back into view. The city of Calimport loomed before her though she remained unfazed. It was her home and the wise here feared her.

The streets around the guild houses were dark and often crowded. This day was no exception. No sooner than she had finished that thought her ears picked up the ring of steal. Alley fights were frequent enough. She could have ignored it but it was directly in her path. She approached the area silently, slipping into the shadows so she would not be seen. The combatants were simple street thugs, a woman at the other end of the alley seemed to be the object of the dispute. A prostitute most likely. She did not have time for these people. The prostitute's eyes widened momentarily and she realized her mistake. She had leaned too far out of the shadows and had been spotted. She retreated quickly and was not seen by the people in the alley again.

She entered the guild house on the request of one of the lesser guildmasters. Normally she didn't involve herself in these affairs but she needed information from this particular one. She would do her part and then get what she wanted. The guildmaster swallowed hard upon seeing her, he was uneasy in the presence of one so powerful. But he did not know just how powerful. The job was fairly simple he said. He apologized for it being so beneath her but he needed only the finest assassins for his work right now. He was at war with another guild. The man was working in between his guild and the one he was at war with, stealing gold in the process. He needed that gold back as quickly as possible and the thief needed to die. He would give her anything she wanted in return for her services. She left the guild house wordlessly only wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible.

On the way out she passed the house wizard. The man glared at her briefly but held his tongue. Like any wise person, he knew that if he said even the slightest thing wrong he would be dead. She said nothing to him, she didn't care enough to. When she was back out on the street she took out the small piece of parchment the guildmaster had handed to her. Her target lived in the part of the city she had just gone through. She passed a large group of begging children. She ignored them as well. Some part of her wanted to help them but she thought it better to not tease them, anything she gave them would be taken away by someone else.

Her target lived in a small, ramshackle hut by the sea. He was not at home and she chose to wait rather than go out and look for him. Her patience was rewarded a few hours later when he returned. He heaved a bag heavy with gold onto the hut's flimsy table which almost collapsed under its weight. She took note of that fact but remained hidden. The man was clearly drunk and there would be no satisfaction in this job. She preferred to kill the people in the higher levels of society. Everything about this man was sickening, death would be a favor. But she needed the information. She stepped out finally and he never even heard her dagger whistling through the air as it made for his back. He fell to the ground oblivious to the fact that he had even been killed. She wiped his blood on his filthy trousers and left with the gold.

She made her way back to the guild house uneventfully. No one stopped her as she entered the plain looking building. She ignored the riches surrounding her as she had before and took her payment without incident. She left as silently as she came. In the alley behind the guild house a large man lunged at her. She knew he had been there the entire time and spun to meet him head on, cutting a thin smile across his throat. She looked down at the body and recognized him as a member of the guild house she had just left. She left him on the front steps with a deep red lip print burned into his cheek. The guildmaster had been foolish to cross her.

She made her way into the streets again and entered a tavern she was well familiar with. Likewise the halflings of this guild knew her well. She was about to open the door to go in when a dark haired man stepped out. She moved out of his way, giving the space he rightly deserved. Artemis Entreri, King of Assassins. She admired him deeply. She watched him go but he did not so much as glance at her. She was used to it having had to follow him around occasionally. She didn't stay in the tavern long, someone approached her with a message from the same guildmaster. Her senses hinted that there was something wrong but she chose to ignore it for the time being. Within moments she was back at the guild house. A dart pierced through her cloak and she felt the cold burn of the poison. But how had they known to use that one? The wizard laughed thinking he had gotten her out of the way. But she didn't die.

Seeing a possible mistake he had his underwizards remove her. She was now in a place near the city of Waterdeep. They had no idea she knew much of what was going on. But she could not fight them. The wizards took her to one of the places she lived. They hired some random noblewoman to pose as her grandmother while pretending to be her father and uncle. She was stripped of everything she had and they cast the illusion that she had come to know in the last six months.

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Kitana woke naked and sweating heavily. She was on her couch, in her room. Covered thoughtfully by a thick blanket and the fireplace was lit. She looked around everything now perfectly clear within her vision. And now she knew how she got here.

The others all sat up anxiously waiting for her to tell than that she was alright.

"I'm fine now." she answered their question. "I remembered a lot is all."

"Will you tell us what happened?" Jarlaxle asked.

"Which part?" There was a lot that had happened.

"I mean will you tell us how you got here in the first place." the mercenary explained.

Kitana shook her head. "No, not yet. I need one of you to do something for me right now." They gave her their undivided attention. "I had armor. Black leather and magically imbued. I need to have that back and I need one of you to get it for me."

"Do you know where it is?" Drizzt asked. "I'll get it."

She motioned for one of them to hand her some paper and a pencil. When she had them in hand Kitana drew a rough map of where her dreams told her it was in the house. She handed it to the drow ranger and he left the room.

Drizzt looked at the map that was fairly straightforward. Down the hall from Kitana's room. Five doors and then to the left wing. Last door at the end of the hall. Drizzt tried to open the door but found that it was locked. He carefully pulled a lockpick from his belt pouch, he had the door open after several seconds of trying. There was a small jolt of magical energy when he pushed through, for one of the few times in his life he was glad that he was born drow. The magical resistance that came with his race had just saved him. The armor was in the center of the room, guarded by more wards. The wards were meant only to keep Kitana out and Drizzt was able to grab the entire suit swiftly and without setting anything off. Back in Kitana's room he handed her the armor after gaining the confirmation that it was indeed hers. She did not put it on but thanked him for getting it and went back to sleep.

The others did not sleep that night. They merely continued to watch her for any signs of her change. Their instincts shuddered with the sense that something very bad was about to happen and they would be there when it did. The illithid's warning flashed through their minds (at least those who had been there to hear it). When she changed, the might not be able to stop her. But she wouldn't attack them, would she?