AN: Very short one, and only promising that I swear I will get back to my original stories on here. This one has to let me go first... xD
Dragon Age = Bioware, yadayadayada...
It was with heavy heart that Isaac rejoined Master and the other Elders in the grand meeting room. Having had control over that mortal boy, Dominic, Master hadn't noticed when he was exactly missing one person from their party. Isaac had slipped away in the distraction, searching for Samantha to try to console her.
Samantha... how could you? he asked himself. She was still very young, a baby in the eyes of nearly everyone else that lived in these underground caves, so it would be no surprise to see her try to befriend a stranger that was still alive. And yet, it was very dangerous to bring anyone from the outside world in. That was what he and the rest of his family strode for- secrecy.
Master didn't live to be many centuries old by telling everyone in Thedas about himself, after all.
Yet, there could be something to learn about the younger generation of blooded kin, as it seemed Samantha had vanished into thin air once again. She wasn't his only 'child', as sires tended to call the ones they turned, but out of them all she was the most worrisome to him. If her only stand-out trait was to vanish at will and not use it as part of an attack, everything about her would be questioned. Questioned kin members didn't live for very long.
He followed the telepathic summons into the meeting room, coming around the long table of seated Elders to kneel at Master's side. Nothing was said for a very long time, the room filling with the sound of scratches from the random deep stalker in far off hiding.
"I thank you, Isaac," Master finally spoke, breaking the prolonged silence. Isaac nearly shot his head up in questioning, but schooled the impulse into submission out of respect. Master continued his musings, saying, "Had I not been stopped in time, and sated my rage on your Samantha, we would not only have lost a needed kin member, but imprinted such a memory into that mortals brain and increased our risk of being hunted. Your quick thinking was well-placed."
"Many thanks for your gratitude, Master," Isaac dutifully replied. "I do not deserve such compassion."
"Your mental fortitude has yet to cease to amaze me," Master said, focusing at a spot down the table. "While you did think quick to stop my actions, had you stopped coddling to your Samantha in such a fashion long ago, we would not have to deal with her new... fascination, as it were."
This time, Isaac did look up to Master's face. "Fascination?"
"Though her thoughts were chaotic, and mostly fueled by fear, her feelings towards this mortal are dangerous for any kin member to have." Turning to Isaac, he continued in voicing his thoughts. "I do understand that Samantha is young, very young, with still fresh memories of what having a real life meant. However, it is long enough after her turning for her to stop momentarily forgetting that she is not alive anymore."
Isaac's head bobbed back down. "I apologize... What will you have me do?"
"Encourage her training. Break these little fantasies of hers." Master leaned in close, letting the power behind his voice speak his threat. "Introduce her to fresh blood. She is a part of the Kinship now, is she not?"
Isaac guiltily flinched, but bowed low. "Yes, Master," he agreed.
"You have my leave," Master dismissed Isaac, sitting back in his chair as the other blooded kin rose. The room fell silent once more, allowing his final words to Isaac to easily carry. "I let you have your daughter; now, let me have my warrior."
o0o0o
When Dominic came to, the first sensation he had was that he was standing. Where, he couldn't tell, because the room was incredibly dark. In fact, that was all his senses could pick up: he was moving somewhere, muffled voices were speaking around him, and he was perfectly fine with not being able to see where he was going. At one point, he was even carried across a stretch of area. He had been standing in this darkness for a while now... was he still enthralled?
As a test, he started to move his hand. When it easily followed the split-second command, his body jerked into action. No amount of squinting could discern any form of light source, so a wisp was quickly formed. He watched as it circled around the room, showing him the dimensions. It wasn't any larger than the living space he had after becoming a Harrowed mage, but it was still enclosed... and underground... in the middle of a blood mage cult...
A quick search produced his robes and boots, tossed carelessly at his feet. Giving himself something normal to do did little to calm his thoughts, but it was done anyway. Blood mages, all living together, taking on barbaric forms of using their talents and apparently going to great means of doing so. Master had searched Samantha's memories, or so he implied, using that same magic... could it even be done normally? One of his learned talents was a mind blast, used to daze those around him and ensuring a quick getaway if needed. This included actively traipsing through someone's mind! Surely, there had to be some consequence involved in that.
The entryway to his room that he didn't spot before slid open, quickly admitting a form before it ground back shut. He could also catch a far off light form, faintly showing a small patch of a hallway that he must have been taken down. His foot was quickly jammed into the second boot, not bothering to finish closing the robe as he backed away from the newcomer. The person was a female, with a small, curved form, and long hair gathered at the back of her neck. It wasn't until she turned to face him that he recognized her. "Samantha?"
She started to answer, then appeared confused over something. Her gaze flitted to a spot on the wall beside her, then up to the wisp, where her eyes- and body- absolutely stilled. After watching her watching it's progress, he explained quickly. "It's a wisp. It strengthens spell power, but most times helps us see... in extremely dark, underground cells, no less."
Samantha had the decency to flinch, then look ashamedly at her feet. "I-I... I w-w-wanted to... apologize-"
"I don't want to hear it," Dominic interrupted. "Unless you're here to free me, then I don't want to hear anything from you." How could he have thought it safe to trust her before? Her, a blood mage! Who knows if she had done anything to him in his weakened state to begin with, either using her magic or those animal-like fangs?
"I want to free you," Samantha stated.
Blinking in surprise, he asked, "What?"
"I mean it," she insisted, daring a half-step closer. "I do want to free you."
As silence stretched on after her declaration, he replied, "Are you going to?"
Samantha fidgeted again, looking just as stricken as before. "I don't think I can... It's still snowing very hard outside, and even with my help, I don't think you'll make it back to the Circle safely."
He released an irritated breath, running his fingers through his hair quickly. "Problem is, I don't want to go back to the Circle... wait, you know what the Circle is?"
"Yes, I do."
Things were starting to look up, now. Maybe if she came with him, he could explain her predicament to the First Enchanter, possibly set her back on the right track of using her magic in a safe way- A hand on his shoulder surfaced him from his thoughts, to him realizing that he was pacing the room, speaking his thoughts aloud. "Sorry about that," he said.
"I'm not a mage," she insisted at the same time he spoke.
Dominic's brows furrowed in confusion, examining the girl before him as if it would give him a clue as to what she was really saying. "You're not a mage?" As she shook her head no, he found himself numbly continuing. "But, your eyes... and, and the fangs-"
"Everyone has those traits," Samantha explained. "But, not everyone here uses magic. I don't use magic myself..." Her eyes drifted off in thought. "Well, there are certain things..."
"Such as?"
Instead of explaining, she immediately clasped her hands behind her back, eyes widening. "I shouldn't... I shouldn't say."
"Why not? You shouldn't start something just to back out," he reasoned.
"Even if it made you uncomfortable?" she asked, surprising Dominic. After the displays of blood magic that he had seen and the now dangerous situation he found himself in, there were now concerns for his comfort? Granted, it came from one that he figured he could expect it from now, but otherwise it was a strange question to be asked.
"It won't be used against me?" he found himself replying. As she shook her head no, he took a deep breath, steeling himself anyways. "Show me."
Keeping her movements deliberately slow, she drew her dagger from the inside of her boot, drew a line across her palm, and pressed it to a wall. A soft word was spoken, one that was oddly reminiscent to a spell used to light something, and a line of ingrained runes outlining the room glowed a vibrant red color. It was strong enough to see by, which was a good thing since the wisps light was starting to fade. "Is this considered blood magic?" she asked, turning her head to look at him.
For the moment, he found himself speechless. The lighted runes in the cave must be the same as the ones here, runes that were magical by nature and activated by blood. By its very nature, if one were to be so technical about it, it would be considered blood magic. However, since it wasn't done by a mage, what did that mean? "I'm not sure what to make of this," he answered honestly.
Replacing her dagger, she held her hands behind her back once more, this time appearing more relaxed. "Would you say it is, though?" she gently pressed.
He stepped closer to a lighted rune, running his finger over it. "There is a magical influence, yes... and there was blood involved..." He turned his back to the wall and slid down to a seat, pushing his hair from his face once more. "You're not a mage, though."
"No, I'm not," she repeated, mimicking his positioning. "I've had some training in the area, and know the basics, but I haven't shown any talents in the area."
Okay, so she was in fact being trained, but didn't show any promise for it? And she didn't sound too concerned about the training itself, which implied this being a normal occurrence... "What is this place?" he asked.
"The Deep Roads," Samantha replied, sorrow sounding in her tone. "It's the only place we can live in safety."
"What about darkspawn?" Dominic pointed out, suddenly feeling the need to look around for any strange shadows.
"I haven't seen one in my years here," she said, reassuring him. "If one were to show up, however, we'd be far from defenseless."
"What about other... outsiders?"
"I haven't seen any of those either."
"And here I thought the Circle was bad," he muttered.
Samantha, with her heightened sense of hearing, was able to pick up what was said. "Why would the Circle be bad?" she asked him.
"How did... never mind," he replied, deciding that it may be better that he didn't know the answer to that particular question. Instead, he cast her a sideways glance. She may be a part of the cultists who live here, but she was sympathetic to his plight right away. He may be able to use that to his advantage... "I have a question."
"Yes?" she asked, waiting patiently to hear it.
"I'm trying to get to Orlais," he started explaining. "To get there, I had to cross the mountains, but couldn't really get far because of the blizzard." As she nodded her agreement, he continued. "But now that I'm underground, and out of the weather, that may make things easier if I wanted to travel this way, right?"
"Right," Samantha agreed, though it was with some doubt.
"I know you may not know the way through these underground tunnels, but surely you may know someone who's lived here long enough, who does know the way through. Do you?"
Thinking of her father, her sire, Samantha replied, "I may."
"I'll need to know for sure, though," he insisted, scooting over to sit close to her side. "This is my third time escaping the tower, and I doubt I'll be able to do something like this again, so I'll need nothing but sure answers." He noted that she couldn't meet his eyes once more, and it was dismissed as a normal quip of hers. For a seemingly curious person, she sure could be shy. "Will you do this for me?" he asked.
"Yes," she breathed in reply.
... I'll admit, that sounded odd... "Samantha?" he asked, trying to meet her eyes.
Her eyes widened, just before they started turning red. Faster than he could think, her hands were grasping his shoulders and pulling her to him, her nose and mouth nuzzling and licking the side of his neck. He couldn't move at first, he was that shocked over the action; his attempts to actually move were met with a surprisingly strong resistance. Her mouth parted against his skin, with a faint scrape of fangs following. His eyes widened as he gasped, a mind blast shooting out of his hands out of reflex. It thankfully impacted, slumping her over his shoulder. She was immediately pushed back to the floor, giving him room to distance the two.
She moaned and panted as he moved away, struggling to recover from the spell. A hand inched out in his direction, grabbing at air. "Dominic," she whispered, soon struggling to rise.
"Stay back!" he firmly stated, stretching out a shaky arm. Blood mage blood mage she's a blood mage, his mind chanted all the while. His heart pounded in his ears as she finally rose to her feet, an arcane bolt forming in his hand. "I'm warning you!"
A blur of movement, and a horrible screeching noise made him flinch and turn his head away from what he knew was coming for him. The bolt was fired, only to impact against the opposite wall rather harmlessly, as no one was in its path anymore.
"Drink," a firm voice commanded, spurring Dominic's eyes to shoot open in surprise. The male vampire that bit Samantha before was now grasping her struggling form in a bear hug, holding his exposed arm near her mouth. She only gave it the smallest of glances before sinking her own fangs into the limb, drinking the blood it gave her with the quietest of moans. His stomach lurched dangerously at the sight, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from it.
The door was open, the same faint light gracing the walls as before. On shaky legs, his senses came back to him, and he took the open advantage by running out the doorway. The further away he got, the more his legs steadied underneath him... and the more he grew suspicious of there being no chasing footsteps behind him. Putting his back into the curve of the hallway, he kept retreating, but actively searched for any possible hiding place. Dangerously fast, and who knows what else they're capable of, with fangs aiming for his neck-
His thoughts were interrupted by a foot meeting nothing but air. It seemed he reached the end of the hallway, and the reason why he would have been carried, as there was nothing but a sheer drop greeting him now. His arms pinwheeled, trying so hard to regain the balance that was lost, and just knowing that it wasn't working...