The next morning found them once again sitting around the living room, the pale light of early morning lighting the room as Morgan sat there exhausted. Tired out for a while, what an amusing way of putting it, so much nicer than mentioning how he would barely be able to walk the next day.
Maria's skin now had a slight glow to it that wasn't there before. Her pale skin was rosier and had a better complexion; she walked with an extra spring in her step this morning, full of vitality.
Su, however… Well, she had to stop hiding behind her hands eventually. Morgan did admit that she may have gotten a little carried away, forgetting Su was even there, but really, to literally not be able to look her in the eye? Such dramatics.
"Come now Su, surely there's no need to hide for this long?" she chided.
"Uuuu~" Su whined, face blushing even redder as she hunched further down into the sofa.
Morgan sighed, ignoring her childish actions. "Well, ignoring that" she turned to Maria "why don't you tell us a little more about yourself. As my second follower, it would be remiss of me not to get to know you as well as Su here."
Maria stared at her blankly, then pinched the bridge of her nose. "I don't know what I was expecting..." she said. "Is this it, just us 3?"
A playful smile teased the edge of Morgan's lips, eyes glimmering mischievously. "But of course. I'm a child after all. Did you think I was hiding an army of supporters down my trousers?"
"No, no, just… You seemed so… I don't know" she said. "Not that I'm not grateful, but how do you think you can conquer the world with just this?"
"Oh do look up, Maria. From my point of view, this is all going very well really. Why just yesterday it was but me and Su, but now… Well, now I already have a fully trained sorcerer sworn to me. The possibilities..." she drifted off, contemplating. With Maria, she could now find ways to improve her position much faster than she ever expected. Money, training and more, all were now vastly closer to her reach.
Just searching the vampires clothing had revealed a small amount of money, as well as a golden ring. Perhaps she could earn money that way…
"But regardless" she said, snapping her focus back to Maria, voice sharp, "what I need to know most of all right now are your capabilities. What magic are you proficient at, what are you weak in, things of that nature. I was rather impressed with your killing curse last night. We can discuss your personal circumstances in more detail another time, when you feel more comfortable with sharing."
Maria looked pensive, arms crossed, her slim legs folding over each other as Morgan's eyes tracked the pale flesh almost instinctively. Goddamn, but she was hot, and that smile on her face said that she knew it as well, observing Morgans reactions.
"Well, I'm pretty awful at transfiguration, like most people really. I know some spells, but I can't really use them in fights. I'm not good at fighting in general really."
Morgan raised an eyebrow. "And why's that? I would have thought transfiguration would be a useful skill anywhere." Though it did explain a lot. Many wizards seemed incapable of transfiguring themselves some decent clothes after all.
Maria shook her head. "The only people with a decent chance at becoming good at transfiguration are Hogwarts students, and those are a very small part of the population. Only the best go to Hogwarts, unless you happen to be born into one of the Houses that are always chosen…" she mumbled. "But even then, maybe only a third of them will go onto NEWT's."
How very interesting. It was evidently a much more complicated subject than 'canon' as it were. Not that she put much faith in such these days. Fool she was, but even she knew that information had long become unreliable.
"How about other spells? Charms? …Dark Magic?" What an absurd over-generalization. As though magic could be dropped into such broad categories, but it would have to suffice for now.
"I guess I'm best at charms, as for dark magic, well I never really needed to learn it, so…" said Maria.
"Yet you knew the killing curse? Well, I suppose it is a useful spell. How about the imperius?" That was the important thing. Morgan already had ideas swirling around her thoughts, but one of the central themes of them would include the imperius.
Maria's body tensed, eyes widening in alarm. "You don't want to go touching that sort of magic. The ministry will come down on us with fury if they ever suspect we were using that spell. The killing curse and cruciatus is bad enough, but even a hint of the imperius will bring down the aurors" she said, her voice filled with urgency.
Morgan could understand, given the sheer strength of the curse the ministry would no doubt more harshly hunt those that made use of it. The killing curse just killed, and, well, there were a lot of ways to do that. The cruciatus could intimidate or cause madness, but it was highly noticeable. And that pain… A person would happily tell the aurors their every secret to avoid ever feeling that again.
"Oh? Well then, we'll just have to make sure not to get caught then, wont we? Now, I believe you didn't answer. Can you cast the imperius?" This time, her voice was firm. Maria was hers now, when she asked, she expected an answer.
"...Maybe, I don't know. It's not supposed to be a difficult spell – it's one of many reasons it's so dangerous - but I've never tried it before" said Maria, once again sighing with exasperation.
"Excellent. Oh do relax, I'm not going to have you imperio anyone important, just dregs that no-one will care about. Who will really notice if some thug comes under our control, after all?" It would be especially important that they took every precaution when they used the spell for the first time. It could be a nuisance to deal with if she failed it, no doubt some would take offence at having an imperius thrown at them. Actually...
"W-whats the imperius?" came Su's quiet voice, no longer hidden behind her hands.
"Oh? Su! How nice of you to join us? ...Do stop avoiding my eyes. The imperius is a mind control spell, highly illegal but very useful. And now that I think about it..." Picking up the discarded wand, dropped during the nights activities, she tossed the dark stick over to Maria, who caught it reflexively. "How do you find that wand? A good match? Bad?"
Maria's dark eyes assessed the wand, twirling it through a series of motions as various colored lights splashed against the ceiling harmlessly. "It's not great, but it'll do. I know a little dark magic - a bone breaker and blood boiler - and its a bit more responsive to them, so it's not the best match for me. I prefer more subtle spells."
And didn't a blood boiler just sound delightful? It was useful information, but the killing curse would be more useful for now. "Marvelous. In that case, why don't we try out the imperius? Just cast it on me and try to make me dance a little jig."
"Are you serious?" Ah~, Maria, that exasperated tone seemed to be becoming a habit.
"But of course. What better way to practice?" she said, lips curling and eyes sparkling with mischief. It killed two birds with one stone, practice of the imperius and testing whether she could throw it off.
"You... Fine, whatever, I give up" she sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose.
Morgan readied herself, steadying her breathing as she watched Maria cautiously. "Keep it on me until I follow through with your command, no matter what."
Maria shrugged, pointing her wand at Morgan. Her lips moved and Morgan didn't even hear the incantation before a white flash erupted, dissipating like a fog as it struck her chest.
Happiness. Joy. Bliss. None of these were enough to describe the simply incredible feeling washing through her, wiping away her worries, her aches, even her thoughts, until the only thing remaining was joy. It... It was like heroin - what she imagined it to be like - as it doused any pain she felt, mental and physical. It was incredible.
'Stand up and do a dance' her thoughts told her - no - she thought. She wanted to stand up and dance, it was natural, in fact, it was a wonderful idea! Their wasn't enough dancing in this miserable world.
Miserable world? What a strange thought. The world was wonderful, she just wanted to smile at how happy she felt, at the sheer joy of being alive at this very moment, within this- this...
'Don't worry about it. Just stand and do a dance.' Right, dancing! She'd almost forgotten. She slowly stood up, face showing nothing but a small smile. Worries? What were they? She had no worries, why would she have worries in this perfec- perfect...
But the world wasn't perfect, it wasn't good, it wasn't happy. The world was a bitter place, of ruined dreams and crumbling hopes, where the naivety of youth was beaten mercilessly from the stupid. This joy... This joy was fake, why would she ever be happy in thi-
'Shh, just do a dance and everything will be fine, it will make the world happy.' Her feet started twitching and her head started to hurt, two conflicting thoughts clashing against each other violently. Joy, misery, happiness, bitterness, hope, ruin. All clashed as her mind tried to choose between them.
Where was this joy coming from, anyway? Happiness... Happiness was something you beat out of the world's ever hungry pit, something you protected with a wall of fire, it was something you-
'Dance!' came the loud thought, but no, she would not. She bit her cheek, unfeeling as her tongue tasted the copper tang of blood. It was distinctively not her thought, a stranger trying to push her against her very self!
Who was this, to demand that she - she - dance! To beguile her with false joy, with the promise of easily gained happiness. No joy came so easily! This- this invader! Do they not know who she was!? She rejected death itself. Twice. Looked it in the eye, tasted its fruits and spat in the face of such sterility! Turned her back upon those she lost, those that were no doubt happy in death, for the fireworks of life! Who was this - this - child to command her!
Like a ray of sunlight, her true self pierced through the happy fog that enchanted her, breaking the control of her mind as she fell to the floor screaming, her nails digging into her forehead, the sharp pain slicing into her consciousness.
A heavy crack echoed around the room as she heaved, breathing deeply as her mind cleared, recalling the situation she was in, the commands she'd given Maria. Oh dear, that had been much more than she had expected. Her plans to have them all taught to resist the imperius went up in smoke, for now. She had no idea if it would even be possible to train resistance to that. Something to test for later.
A hint of ozone stung her nose, causing her to look around the room, wincing at the pain from the cuts in her head and cheek. A wand was rolling across the floor towards her, falling from the grip of the gasping Maria, clutching her left shoulder where a burn mark showed, a hole through her clothes to the raw skin below, her eyes wide in pain. It looked like she'd just been hit by lightning. Su, meanwhile, was kneeling next to herself, shaking her shoulder frantically.
"I'm fine, Su, just suffering a little headache" she joked, pushing off Su's worrying. "So, Maria, accidental magic, I assume?" She had been under a lot of stress after all.
Maria ignored her, gaping like a fish out of water, stunned. "You- you threw off the imperius. How!? Do you know how difficult that is? How could a child do something like that? Who- who are you!?" Awe, fear, disbelief, all blended within her tone, the situation overwhelming her.
Perhaps she was only just now realising how deep she had gotten herself. She had acted in a fit of desperation and could only now see the well she had jumped down, with no exit in sight. But, well, Morgan had no intention of softening her fall.
"Who am I?" she mused. "Oh, my dear Maria, did you not believe me before?" A slight chuckle escape her as she stood, eyes blazing. "I am Morgan Fay. Why, this is merely the least you should expect. It would be a worthless prospective ruler that could not control themselves, after all." She couldn't help the slight arrogance that entered her tone, she'd just thrown off the imperius after all, a rather momentous occasion. she felt she had the right to brag a little.
"Fay..." Maria whispered, eyes shining before she shook off whatever plagued her thoughts. "There's just us three! How are you so confident? Two children and a former sex worker aren't enough! How do you-"
She was cut-off as Morgan placed a slim finger upon Maria's red lips. "Oh my, it seems you really didn't believe me after all. Such a shame, isn't it a shame, Su?" Su, ever the helpful little thing, nodded her head, now trying to wipe up the small trickles of blood from where Morgan had cut herself. "Last night obviously didn't hit as hard as it looked. But I suppose you were desperate, if you thought me nothing more than a jumped-up child with delusions of grandeur, well, I was still offering to save your life, so you could overlook it."
It was better to nip this in the bud right now. Maria was hers now, every thought, every breath, all belonged to her. Maria needed to learn just how much that meant.
"But now, it's time for you to open your eyes. In exchange for your life, you jumped down the rabbit hole, not expecting it to be so deep. Naive and foolish. Right now though, you have a glimpse of where such a rash dive has taken you and I assure you, it will not be getting any easier from here on out. This is only the beginning, still hiring the actors for the grand play ahead.
And what a play it shall be."
