The company reached the Graveyard District at sunset, when they thought that no Vampire would be up and about yet, but as they were moving past the gates, Bodhi appeared in a shadowed corner. "You are an impressive pest, Bhaalspawn", she addressed Meg, trying her best to sound bored and confident, "One I can't seem to get rid of". The Ilmatari bared her teeth in a feral snarl, "I could say the same of you, bitch, but this time, I'll make sure to destroy you for good!". "Oh, look at you, with all that anger...Your God must be very upset at having such a foul-tempered servant".

"That's His problem", Margaret Dawn growled, "Now shut up and die". The Vampiress arched an eyebrow, "No, I have a better idea. Follow me and you will lose much more than you can imagine...Starting now", she smirked and with a flash of light, she vanished...And Anomen vanished too, leaving behind only his pack, his armour and his weapons. "Anomen!", Meg shrieked, looking around wildly, "Where is he? What happened?".

Edwin grabbed her right arm, "Calm down, Meg, he's still alive. That was just a teleportation spell, nothing more (Kossuth, don't let her break down on us now)". "Teleportation? Then they're in her sancta sanctorum. Let's go", the young woman tried to free herself from his grasp, but Solaufein, guessing her intentions, was quick to grab her other arm and hold her back. "Do not rush, abbil", the Drow warrior said in a soothing tone, "She is trying to lure us into a trap, so we must be careful in how we step".

Bloodscalp nodded, "The lad's right, Margaret Dawn. Let my thieves scout ahead first: they'll make sure we won't be killed before reaching her lair". She clenched her jaw and her eyes narrowed until they were emerald slits alight with a soft golden glow, but in the end, she gave a curt nod, "Fine". At Renal's order, six thieves took each a path to an entrance to the lower tombs, but five of them returned sooner than expected and reported that the entrances they had checked were useless, since someone had made them collapse.

"She wants us to take that path, so it must be filled to the brim with traps", Meg noted, "Okay, the thieves go first and clean the way. Minsc, myself and the paladins will go then. The rest of my party will follow, along with the Watchers. Drizzt, you and your party take the rearguard. And now let's go and teach that bitch a lesson".

oxoxoxoxoxo

Just as they expected her to, Bodhi had filled the first floor of her lair not only with traps and locked doors, but also with a veritable army of Undead, going from newly-turned Vampires to Ghouls and though their individual strength was in some cases quite low, they had the advantage of number. The adventurers and their allies still managed to come out of the battle without losing anyone, but they got an outrageous amount of beating all the same, forcing them to stop and rest for a while.

The Ilmatari, who wanted to save as many healing spells as possible for the final confrontation, resorted to drinking a minor healing potion to reduce the damage, but the pain she felt had the only effect of fuelling her rage and this led to her making a decision, Hey, Slayer, she called.

Yes, little Goddess?

Give me your strength.

The creature arched an eyebrow, Oh? Didn't you say that, after killing the Twisted Rune minions, you would have no need of me anymore?, it asked in a mock-innocent tone.

She pressed her lips in a thin line, I was wrong: I need you, I can't do this without your power and strength. Give them to me.

The Slayer smiled, Why limit yourself like this? You could be much more effective, if I gave you not only my power, but my experience too.

This was new, she thought, What do you mean? And how does it work?

Its smile widened a bit,Oh, it's quite easy: we only need to merge and all I have will be yours to use.

Meg snorted, And then you will take control over me and slaughter my family and my allies along with my enemies, like you tried to do in Spellhold. No thanks.

I will do nothing of the sort, it replied, apparently hurt by the accusation, But if you are so worried about that, I can give you my word of honour that I won't try to either take control over your mind, or morph your body: you will be in full control for the whole time and you will also retain your human shape. Is that acceptable to you?

She hesitated, it sounded sincere, but… Why would you do it?

The monster shrugged, I am a part of you, Daughter of Murder: what damages you, damages me too. And even if I am convinced that you could do much better than that Helmite, I also know that losing him would lead to you losing your will to live as well, so it's in my best interest to help you save him.

Margaret Dawn had to admit that it made sense and nodded, We have a deal, then. Merge with me. As soon as she said it, her eyes flared golden for a brief moment as she felt the by now familiar rush of power washing over her, but this time there was something more along with it: her senses became sharper than ever and she noted things that before were imperceptible to her.

She could feel the soft brush of the air on her skin, she smelt the subtle scent of blood coming from the bodies of her allies, she even heard the muffled thumps of their heartbeats in their chests and the light scratching of the rats scurrying inside the walls and as she surveyed her group, she realized that a part of her mind instinctively knew how and where to strike in order to kill, preferably with the maximum amount of bloodshed possible.

Nothing and no one could withstand her force now, she was the perfect killing machine, she was invincible! Why had it taken her so long to do this? Why had she always refused such power, such greatness? Oh, what a fool she had been!

"Alright, before we go downstairs, I think we'd better plan our attack", she said, her voice taking on an unusually commanding tone, "Renal, you and your thieves will take care of the traps, if there are any and then you'll pour Holy Water into all the blood pools you can find: this will prevent the Vampires from using them as a source of power. Everyone else will focus on killing Bodhi's minions, but she herself is not to be harmed: the pleasure to slay that bitch is ours alone".

"Ours?", Jaheira echoed, her forehead creasing in a suspicious frown. "Mine and Immy's, of course", Meg said, hastily covering up her slip of the tongue and smiling at her half-sister, "Both of us have a score to settle with Bodhi, right, pixie?". Imoen nodded, "Right, sis", she confirmed and in the depth of her dark brown eyes, the priestess could detect the subtlest hint of a golden glow, "She's taken too much already and I want her to pay for it". "Good. Onwards, then".