A/N: Magda wakes up. How does she come to be in the castle, and how is she received there?
When Magda wakes up, she's human no more.
She wonders whether she should feel sad because of this, but in the end, she doesn't. The human named Magda might have, could have even cried over her fate, but the vampire named Magda merely laughs.
It's not only because she's now more free than any human will ever be.
Dawn is not far when she rises in undeath, and even though there's now unimaginable hunger inside of her, she knows enough to realize that she needs to find a safe place for the day. The mere idea of day now makes her tremble and snarl in hatred, and only the thought of the soft and comforting darkness makes her calm down enough to think of how to proceed. She can't stay here, a voice in her mind seems to suggest; whether it's the voice of her new mother the night guiding her or just some last remnant of human reason, Magda cannot decide.
So she follows the scent of her sire – although not before devouring a horse at the inn's stable, something she won't tell anyone in the fear of being laughed at – in the hopes of him telling her what to do, where to hide. And the scent takes her there, the castle, and she remembers it from a life past. It's a safe place now, and it makes her giggle to think of how she used to fear it so much... No, not her: someone with her name did. For what could the vampire Magda possibly have to be feared?
The castle is full of scents and sights that greet her as if she were someone well-known, returning home after a long journey. She sees others of her kind, recognizes their sharp and wild eyes, and sees herself reflected in those gazes that follow her. They're beautiful and savage and she wants to be like them, be as fierce and unstoppable and free.
And then she is face to face with him.
He is tall - taller than any of the others, she thinks, but maybe that's just because of the way he carries himself – and imposing, his long hair falling fine like a dark curtain and his eyes sharply inspecting her. He stands quietly at the top of great staircase, dressed finer than anyone else. He is every bit as beautiful and wild as the others, yet there's also authority and self-control about him she doesn't see in others. Instinctively, she knows who he is, and the memories of the dead girl tell her of the vampire lord – dark and magnificent as the night itself. She knows it can only be this man, this king of the shadows.
"Master", Magda whispers, not sure if she does it out of her own volition. They can get inside your head, a voice from far past reminds her, but they is the same as she, and for a moment she's not sure if she's in past or present.
His voice, however, brings her back.
"Young Magda", he acknowledges her, his voice low yet still booming, making her shiver with awe. If her heart was still beating, it would race now with excitement. She's entering a whole new world and nothing has ever been quite as thrilling as this. She wants to become like him, to command such presence and have others quiver in the front of her.
"Master, please take me", she asks, and some distant part of her mind is displeased with having to ask, because she's supposed to be free and uncontrollable... yet every look from him seems to demand obedience, and she is torn between wanting to fight back and surrender. For a moment, his gaze challenges her, his eyebrows slightly lifted as if he were amused by her defiance, and she knows she's not going to win if she fights him; for now, she succumbs. Her time will come.
"You're welcome in my house, Magda", he answers, pleased to see her submission, and his voice is almost like a caress. In a blink of an eye, he has descended the stairs and he is in the front of her. The tips of his fingers glide over her cheek and he smiles.
"You will be a queen."