I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the affiliated characters. I do own Starlyte and the Dhampiri Clans, Hatuhukra and Fulira.

They were there, as a tall tower, taller than any that should be in this desert. She stared at the building, amazed. The man just continued on, not lessening his grip on her. She closed her eyes and looked away from the building; the structure reminding her of too much that was going on in her life.

"Woman, I take it that you have no reason, that you know of, to be here correct?"

"No, I don't, and I thought I told you to stop calling me woman, you bastard!" she struck at him and hit his cheek. Her claws grazed his face and left four, thin, bloody lines. She gasped and he dropped her on the ground. He reached up and ran the tips of his fingers along the lines, healing them and bringing back traces of blood. Starlyte found her throat drying up at the sight of the blood; he only looked at it and then made to wipe it off.

"Don't do that. Please." He looked up, almost startled. He let her walk up to him and she took his hand. She brought it up to her lips and she took the blood. It healed the poison in her veins and she closed her eyes as he took his hand from her. The blood was the same. "Thank you. I'm . . . sorry for striking you." She let her head hang slightly.

"It is well, wo . . . Starlyte. Follow me. This time, keep up." He started off, and Starlyte followed. She lifted her hand to push her hair back, and found his headdress was still on her. She lifted it off, trying to figure why he wore it. "It's a sign of my position, if you wanted to know." She jumped when his voice sounded. He turned around and held open a door. He wore a smirk and she tried to ignore what it could mean. She stepped past him and into a room that looked much like a bedroom.

"Where are we?" she turned around and saw him close the door. "What are you doing?"

"I want to talk in private, and the other parts of the castle are unsafe to speak in." she nodded, still wary of what he had planned. "If you think I'll try something licentious, you needn't worry." She nodded, still slightly uneasy and watched as he stepped up to her. He took his headdress from her hands and placed it on a table. Then he motioned for her to take a seat on the bed as he sat down. She sat, and then took in the room.

It was beautiful, something she'd not expected from where she was. She didn't care much for what he room was made of, but it rivaled even the morbid beauty of death. She saw him smirk from the corner of her eye and turned towards him.

"Who are you?" her voice was strained, she was confused and she didn't like the feeling, not at all.

"I am the High Priest of Ra. I should ask why you are here, but since you've already said you didn't know, I should make a guess. Most likely, dhampira, it is because someone poisoned you with a very rare herb. It places the person who had ingested it into a . . . visionary sleep."

"That couldn't be right." She shook her head, unless it was her brother, she couldn't remember of any kind of thing she'd taken in before this.

"The herb can also be burned and the smoke used to put one into the sleep, or ground and the juices placed into a perfume." Starlyte looked up to his eyes and then closed hers. She let a small smile grace her face.

"Here I thought I had gone crazy." She laughed lightly. "It's good to know that I haven't." she sighed and the placed her elbow on her knee, with her chin resting on her upturned palm. "But how do I wake from this . . . visionary sleep, as you called it?"

"The herb must wear off." She nodded absent-mindedly and closed her eyes again, enjoying the chance to relax.