The night was hungry and dark, dark in the way that simple darkness is, yet hungry for it seemed that the same darkness swallowed everything; the world was near pitch black on the out skirts of St. Anne’s. Only the soft orange glow of street lamps gave any respite from the swallowing dark, a waning glow, one that the man expected to disappear at any moment leaving him in the cool and perfect darkness. When this didn’t happen however, the being simply ignored the light, breathing deep and luxuriating in the scent, the cold, the quite like the grave that flowed over the darkly rich earth of the cemetery.

Raven focused on the stillness. It was a silence that permeated every inch of this supposed holy ground, and soon he felt it in his skin, warm and keen, like the sometimes stagnant urban scrawl that he knew he would miss from his old home. Yet standing here, taking in, devouring that which he would openly petition for, he knew he would not miss home as much as he had believed. No, already with the scent of death, he knew he could grow to love this place very much. It had potential.

Taking his first steps from the outskirts into the graveyard proper, Raven continued his feast of the senses. In the low light, his eyes took in every jut of stone, every carve of figure and most pleasing as always, the scent of death, of blood. It was obvious that someone had taken a kill here earlier, that didn’t surprise Raven, merely enticed him.

The beast, as some were so bold as to call him, behind his back. Perhaps not so very bold or perhaps smarter than he gave them credit for. Raven considered this for a moment. No, not smart. Cowardly.

Raven had long ago decided that most of those he met were cowards, children, playing at being warriors. It was not an uncommon disorder among the undead, especially the young, those from generations that warriors were the thing of legend. Cowards were they all and Raven despised them for the petty assassins and fools that they were. It had become The Raven Warrior’s greatest pleasure to dispatch and torture such filth at his master’s bidding, but then too had his master’s biding become his pleasure also.

Was it training that made the sanguine haired man the way that he was? Was it the fact that he had been treated like, no worst than a dog? Could it have been those first few kindnesses during his “recovery” from madness?

The man, vampire, monster…he didn’t know, he didn’t care. Raven would serve his master, though in truth he did and always would serve his coven. Perhaps at first when he was yet lacking in intellect, lacking in knowledge, perhaps then he would have been a mindless puppet. Things however change, and so to did Raven.

Walking through the graveyard, moving past the dotted smells of semi-to-semi fresh-to fresh blood, and through the constant back drop of old death, the Pict warrior came upon the crypt. Moving inside he moved past faceless bodies, vampires he did not yet recognize, they didn’t matter, not yet. Giving them no notice, even the ones that were fast at meal, the man, the beast, the monster, he walked down the steps and into unknown depths in search of she whom he sought.

Kie-Linque was sitting in her office and by sitting one might mean that she was straddling some mortal near death, lapping up blood as she tore at his neck with her fingernails. The filthy mortal was beginning to lose consciousness. There were bonds around Kie's ankles and her torso was tied to the man's, leaving her arms free. As the blood began to cool, she tore at the blindfold from around her face showing eyes glazed with hunger of all kinds. So the silly mortal liked to dominate...dared to believe he could dominate her. Fool. The scent of blood slowly became nauseating so close to Kie's lips, no longer sweet and intoxicating.

Kie carefully untied her bindings and crawled over to a brass bassin on the floor a few feet away. Kie lifted water in her palm and splashed it against her skin. Rubbing her ankles and sides, crusted blood came loose and fell from her body. She would have someone dispose of the body for her. Pulling a silk robe around her body, she stepped from her office. It was time to search for new entertainment this night. Mortals could be so unentertaining.

In the dark, dressed as he was, Raven all but disappeared. Raven wasn’t an especially intimidating or attention grabbing, well that was unless he had reason to be. Well that or if he just fucking felt like it and maybe that too helped him disappear, the reason though, it really didn’t matter. No, it was just at the moment though, the vampire was invisible.

Becoming steadily less visible, he moved with an easy grace into the dark and was rewarded or punished, all a matter of point of view really, with new light after a while.

Why could the light punishment? Well it depended on Raven’s mood. Currently he was indifferent, indifferent in that way that mortals or even some immortals don’t understand. Indifference on this level was well and truly animalistic. It was something that you saw in a wild animal’s eyes, in the eyes of a predator, any predator when there are no more fences or enclosures, when it is just you and the beast. It is a look that will hold steady with your viscera painting the ground or the beast making his escape into the bush. Knowing Raven, things were more than likely going to lean toward viscera painting the ground. Ironically, it was with that thought that the crimson haired vampire caught the scent of blood again. This time though, it was different. The scent wasn’t alone, and it was more than fear or agony that accompanied it. And no, Raven wasn’t referring to the outhouse scent that came with nearly every death. Nope, this scent was different. It was sharp and musky, sweet almost to Raven, despite the fact that it still coated some of his dreams, nightmares really.

Raven knew then that it was the smell of arousal, but not just that, of the frantic hunger that he was rather familiar with. When that smell came with the scent of blood, of death and raw meat, well it was enough to make Raven’s knees weak. His hunger was suddenly a hot iron in his belly.

Damn, he really needed to find The Ishak leader now. Any longer and he wouldn’t wait for her permission. Nope, he’d hit the town and paint it red. Literally.

It was then that the door, the portal that let that wonderful concoction of scents wash over him, opened and the Pictish Warrior’s cut gem eyes took in the form that made its exit.

He would call her a teenage girl, had he today’s standards. But for Raven, his standards were his own. Even though he had regained bits and pieces of his old self-the man found himself actually caring less and less. Raven was himself, good enough, and the same went with his perceptions. They were his, good enough.

To Raven, the woman was just that. She was obviously Ishak. Meeting her gaze, her eyes were too predatory for her to be anyone’s human plaything. And besides, the fact that her skin still kept its dark over tone but was nearly as pale in perspective as his own, well she was obviously old in the blood.

Rave smiled, his fangs flashing in the light, at her and motioned toward the door as he noted her less than satisfied expression.

“Not as fun as you wanted it to be?” He asked.

Kie-Linque stood from the front of her bassin of now vaguely bloody water. She felt the cool water drip from her neck to her breasts, streaming of her nipples and falling to the floor. She reached for a long piece of silk and tied it around her waist and another circling her chest. Silly mortal couldn't even come close. What a fucking disappointment, not as though she had expected anything from him than to die screaming.

Licking her left canine in annoyance Kie glared at the door. She hadn't been properly fucked in sometime now. Not that she expected many to be capable of such reputable work. Though for that period of time, she had only been fucking with mortals. It was her own fault.

Stepping out the door, she snarled at the man's remark. "What can you expect from a filthy mortal. They die to quick for my liking." This was also her own fault. Kie-Linque knew how to draw out pain and death for hours, sometimes days...she was just impatient at times.

Kie stared at the man in front of her. Old...not so old as herself, but still a respectable age. Not like some of the fledglings that scattered around Demaitre like puppies rolling on the floor. He had guessed correctly at the displeasure in her mortal. The night hadn't been all bad however. The man hadn't had the time to beg for death, but he'd been terrified. That had been enough to Kie some pleasure.

Figuring the man had something to do with business, she decided to pay him more attention than she might usually. "What do you want down here?"

It took Raven a moment, but what could he say, he was an enforcer, a torturer, and newly mercenary for his Coven, he wasn’t a reporter and actually didn’t give much of a damn about who was running what Ishak Coven. However, he’d be damned if he didn’t laugh at himself for being a total and complete dumb ass. The chick, she was the Demaitre Coven Leader. Oh, shit.

He had to smile, damn that was just funny. He had thought to just find the nearest important looking bastard and ask, but he’d struck gold right off. Was that a premonition of things to come, naw, probably not. Some folks are just lucky, Rave wasn’t one of those folks.

Running his hands through the crimson curtain of his hair, shifting it back and pushing the wild mane out of his eyes he gave a fanged grin. A grin that was suddenly a bit more fanged than it had been moments ago. When he spoke, his voice was casual, well casual touched with an accent that sounded somewhere between Latin and Modern English.

“Well doll, I want a lotta things. Blood, lots and lots of blood, maybe a few pounds of flesh, and definitely a few good knives also maybe a lady or two or three, but I guess more than anything I’m looking for my next master.” That grin turned devilish.

“You see love, the name’s Raven. I’m what you would call a handy-man, some would say mercenary. Now don’t get me wrong I am a card carrying Ishak member, but I’m not some young blood…I go from Ishak Coven to Coven to find my next home. I’ve been like that for quite a while now. Just came from NYC, was there for a while, but the old boss just got smoked and the new management wasn’t smart enough to lay off…dumb wankers…but long story short…I’m free and looking for employment, ya got something for me?”Raven also wasn’t coy as he ran an appraising glance over the woman’s curves with that last, tracking a particularly interesting drop of water.

Those emerald eyes of his wandered, even though the rest, all the other senses were focused on the woman in a very different way. She was a Coven Leader, no one lucked into that position. She was dangerous, that was a given. And she was also smart, the look in her eyes told him that. So yeah, his eyes enjoyed the show, but the rest was tense, ready.

Kie's eyes narrowed at the man in front of her. "So you just skip out when flows a little faster than usual? I am not your doll or your love either. Not yet anyway. We'll see what somes later." Kie glared at the man in front of her, predatory eyes staring him up and down.

"What makes you believe that you'd even be of any use. You're a bit too jumpy by your own admittance. Blood, you can take from mortals aplenty, same with flesh, knives are easy enough to procure but ladies....ladies will require your own charm and wit." Kie grinned momentarily, "If not your wit than your own brute force."

Kie stepped foreward, her chest nearly against Raven's. Though she had wrapped herself in the two pieces of silk, they left little to the imagination, being transparent and all. It only became more transparent as the water soaked into the silk around her chest. Her legs were no less revealed, even without the transparent silk, as the cloth was held only in place by a knot and the slit from both ends ran all the way up her leg.

"So you want employment then?" The man was a killer, and she enjoyed that about him. Perhaps a little business wouldn't be so bad this time a night. Not when it was with vampires who appreciated their status in the turnings of life.

Raven was undaunted by the woman’s words, in fact he had to say that it was damn well pleasing to meet someone that wasn’t running for their lives around him. Not that that was a bad idea and all, just well it made things monotonous, boring might one say. And Raven hated boredom, hated it the way he hated cowards and he had to say that so far, the lovely woman wasn’t at all boring. Quite the opposite really, she brought something out of him that very few could, that being warmth and personality. But then maybe that was just because she was a woman, he never could play the hard ass as well with women. They tended to see through that crap too quick and besides it was rather fun teasing her, that was as long as he didn’t get to carried away and loose his head, literally. But then again, what was a little decapitation between potential friends.

Placing a hand over his heart, Rave pantomimed a staking, having to take a step back to avoid the lady’s chest, not that it was a problem for him, not avoiding it. But he thought that she might appreciate that gesture. See, he wasn’t a total monster. His lechery had bounds, unlike his bloodlust and passion for violence.

Taking his imaginary stake to the heart, Raven grinned.

“Ah, dear lady, if words where yet stakes, I would be slain…” His voice was both teasing and poetic. He laughed then shook his head.

“It’s not like that at all LOVE,” He stressed the word, direct and subtle rebellion. What could he say; he was looking for a master, not a new brain. Raven was the way he was, always would be. He wasn’t changing, not for anyone, not ever.

“I did not as you so eloquently put it ‘skip out when flows got faster than usual.’ I’m a mercenary and enforcer for our Coven; I do what I do, for whoever catches my fancy. I don’t get paid, hell I’d never even think to ask. I do what I do because I love it and it’s what I’m good at. Now as for the flow getting faster, well my last master was a strong enough leader, but he was a dick. He pranced all the little females about however he wanted and treated all the males as his animals at his beck and call. If they disobeyed, well let us just say that I took many of them apart, both the easy and easier way. I became the number one instrument of their master’s wrath. So it was not in my best interest to stay after being impaled by a sword, after killing, oh I don’t know…their new leader and half of his supporters.”

“What can I say; my judgment was bad with my last home. He wasn’t the guy I thought he was, but I’ll be damned if I skipped out on him. Hell he only died because I was bleeding pretty badly and five, thousand year olds at once was kind of my limit. Damn woman, what do you want for me…survivor’s guilt? That’s just not going to happen.”

Retaking the space that he had made between them, Raven then looked the woman straight in the eye, his smile gone.

“I don’t do guilt sister or rape, not to my taste. Both are for losers and I’m anything but a loser.”

His smile slid back into place.

“If anything, I’m a big winner. After all, I’m alive; a thousand times over I’m alive. Been through hell and back, can’t say it wasn’t fun. And now, well here you and I are and yes I am most definitely looking for employment…that is if you’re up for it. Not worried about me skipping out on you…or…well I’ll leave any and all other possible treachery to your capable imagination.”

As Raven stepped back, Kie-Linque gave a slight pout. Silly boy was running away from her. Still, she was amused. Very few ever poked fun at a woman such as she. Not when they expected to live peacefully. Kie was amused at the dashing attempt that Raven gave. He had balls at least. Though there were many vampires with that trait, few lived with it as long as Raven.

"Dearest, if words were stakes, a great many more than just yourself would be long gone." Raven seemed fairly sturdy, he seemed to hold up the covens ideal, he seemd to be a true Ishak. He defended his actions, he knew when to listen and what was a subtle compliment and if he didn't, he would soon learn. Kie approved. Her approval however, did not mean that their small mental battle was over.

"What would you do if I asked you to fool with one of those little females? What wold you say if I pranced those females...or males...how I wanted? I expect to be obeyed...but I think any Ishak is above being treated like an animal...this isn't the same for those who aren't Ishak though. I also don't blame you for living. What good do you do our noble coven in a valiant fight to the death over a man with no honour. Some people simply aren't made to be leaders." Kie leaned in very close to Raven, her hand sliding over his shoulder than pulling his head down towards her own. Kie pulled him close until Raven's nose touched her own.

"I don't do guilt either, little brother...but I do do rape. Women, men...I like men. Soemtimes they beg for that at first...a peculiar fantasy, is it not? Usually, they want to rape me...or make me feel rape. That little taste of irony just makes the act all the sweeter. I don't consider rape for 'losers'...not in my sense. I'm not some little boy out for a power trip though...maybe that makes all the difference."

Kie gave a small smirk, her left canine resting over her lip and her eyes with a serious but crazed glaze, full of desire. "Would you like to try...after all, you seem to think my imagination is more than capable to think of treachery. It should be just as good to come up with ways to make each other beg." Perhaps the evening might not end so poorly as first imagined.

Raven grinned, he couldn’t help himself. Despite his current position, caught up in hands that were easily as strong as steel bonds, despite this he grinned baring fangs. Cocking his head to the side in the same way that raptors do to study fields and to study the mice within, he looked into Kie’s eyes studying the emerald and the azure he found. Then carefully, thoughtfully, he chose his next words. Words that he knew might very well put his reputation as a survivor on the line.

In truth though, Raven wasn’t given to care. Looking into the eyes of the woman before him, Raven could see the predatory gleam, the hunger that resided barely restrained. It made his skin tingle and at the same time wonder where this woman had been all his life. Damn. The girl was aggressive as hell, and Raven didn’t admit this a whole lot, couldn’t even say it about every bloke that he had called master in the past. But by the realms of Dis he liked this woman’s style. She had him on edge with a good talking to. That was something that he hadn’t felt in centuries and damned if he didn’t like it. He might even let her do him; she might not even have to work for what his “fans” in New York couldn’t manage.

Naw, he liked her style, but he’d be damned before he let her slit his throat without a fight. Well, maybe he wouldn’t draw the line at a slit throat. That might be kind of fun. But no death, well not his anyway.

Rage affected Raven rather oddly, truth be told any strong surge of emotion. His excitement was such a surge, and the capillaries in his irises began to swell, that was until they tore or whatever it was that they did. Rave could feel it as soon as it happened. He didn’t care, but he knew then that his irises bled. Crimson pumped into green pigment, and all of a sudden, Raven’s eyes were the color of fresh blood and his smile was unwavering in both its excitement and its amusement.

“Damn love, you’ve got me ready to beg now. But before it comes to that, I suppose I should answer your questions. After all, I understand, have to be sure I’m the guy for the job. Right?”

The question was more rhetorical than anything, and he continued before Kie might have a chance to answer.

“Alright, so on to explaining myself, again.” He said, his voice alight and falsely indignant. As if he had tired of explanations.

The truth was though, that Raven would explain himself as many times as need be. For her he’d do a lot of things, things that he wouldn’t for anyone else. That was what it meant for Raven, his relationship to anyone that he would claim as his Master. That was also the reason that he defended his last master in the end. For quite a while Rave had understood he had made a mistake with the damned man, but he’d be damned if he’d just give up on his duty to him, to the coven. Nope leaders were leaders until someone could dethrone them. And his master was his master until one of them was dead. Plain and simple.

Raven’s fanged smile seemed to grow a bit longer, at the fangs. It wasn’t anything drastic, but suddenly fangs that had looked perhaps a bit on the small side, were well and truly represented. It was something else that was unique, like his eyes, but again it was something that Raven paid little, if any attention to. Nope, instead he looked into the coven leader’s eyes and spoke.

“If you are my master, I will not disobey you. I will do as you will.” He left the “, but that does not change my opinion” silent. Though it was in his eyes, but perhaps this was a bit of wisdom on his part.

“I will obey and I will destroy for you. I am after all a loyal dog of war.”

Kie-Linque was pleased. Perhaps too pleased for her own good, but this one would be useful...and entertaining. Their business was almost complete. That could lead to more fun...or it might not. Regardless, it would keep the Ishak queen entertained. This man might be worth the effort.

"Very well. I think that you and I will maintain a decent business relationship. Perhaps other kinds of relationships but definitely a good business relationship. I think you might agree." Kie moved close to him again, the top of her lithe, little body coming against his chest.

She admired the change in his eyes. He'd lasted longer than most vampires. It was a beautiful mix of lusts all put together. Raven had pride. He was the essence of what a vampire should be. A great example to fledglings and budding vampires alike.

"Before we continue with anything else, it is customary among some cultures to give a gift when a new partnership is formed. So shall I give you a gift." Tsuka turned to re-enter her darkened office. She gave a pleased purr as a combination of scents surrounded her nostrils. Incense...sweat...and the spiky scent of dying blood. The last scent wasn't exactly peasing on its own, but it gave an interesting spike to the aromas around her.

Kie stepped two feet into the office, aggrivated as her shoulders were no longer pressed agaisnt Raven's chest. She picked up a plate from the shelf. It was fairly new but the metal would be perfect for what she had in mind.

"Raven, I hope you like weapons. You can treat this as...sentimental but I can guarantee you it will be the sharpest knife you'll ever own." As she began to speak, the metal plate began to twist and crumple in her hands, slowly rolling into an elongated piece of metal. At one end, the metal became flat and smooth, the blade became about ten inches long. A round hilt began to form, it had a grooved pattern, much like the scales of a snake. To finish off the dagger, the end of the hilt came to a curved snake head, its mouth open and fangs gleaming. Just as the fangs began to form, Kie popped a ten millimeter pearl in its mouth, the fangs closing tight aound it. As Kie laid the dagger in both hands to hold it up for Raven's inspectation, celtic knots began to entwine down the length of the blade.

"I trust that you will find this a becent gift for an arrangement such as ours?" Before handing it to him, Kie slid the blade against her arm with the gentlest touch, and a small line of blood began to slowly slide down to her elbow. Kie held the blade for him to take.

"So what is that I almost have you begging for?"

Raven looked at the knife, both pleased and excited. To say that he wasn’t would have been the biggest lie that any man had ever told and one that Rave did not see himself as being able to pull off. Raven was many things; the masochist, perhaps the sadist, definitely the sadist, a cunning and manipulative bastard. Oh, most definitely. A murderer and enforcer, a warrior, a dog of war, but he was never much for obvious lies and so it was that he could only force his expression into one of neutrality as he watched the woman and the forming blade approach him, his eyes appreciating the beauty of both, though in decidedly different ways.

Kie’s question, well it was one that Raven had been anticipating for moments. He had been watching the woman’s form intently, watching and feeling for all the sensations that he could derive from The Ishak Leader, and with her question, well he thought it only well and proper that he give her an answer, the same one he had given his first master…oh so long ago.

Opening his lips as if he would speak, Raven sliced his lip with a fang. The pain was sharp and satisfying, but not as satisfying as the motion that had him holding Kie’s elbow as he kneeled, running a long tongue from her elbow over the decidedly smooth expanse of her skin, up to the cut she had made on her arm. There his lips caressed the flesh, his bloody lip pressed to it and for a long moment, Raven could only stifle a moan at the scent of there blood intertwined, their essences intertwined, their lives as the story went.

“For that.” He whispered, his tongue darting out to caress away the crimson stain of their combined fluids, leaving behind warmth despite Raven’s lack of sustenance. Then more loudly he said. “I am yours by flesh and by blood. You are blood of my blood, fate of my fate. You are my master; I bow before you and your whims.”

The vampire rose back to his feet then, fangs full extended, eyes a sharp and ruddy crimson. His skin was still white as snow, but now more easily, the scars could be seen. Those white on white loops and knots, those maps of the universe that Pict Warriors wore on their skin. They were faint, not yet filled with blood as they did once the man was full and well stated, but they were there and Raven’s black swat team-esp fatigues had been ripped in all the right places to make them a dazzling statement of presence when they did. For now however they were simply fine scars, adorning the body of the vampire, Raven, The Raven Warrior.

His face placid, at ease, Raven then asked.

“Now what would you like me to beg for? What would you have of me, my master?”

(ooc: Sorry it took so long! Had this window open for a few days now...)

Kie-Linque's eyes fluttered gently at the scent of blood and her breathing became heavy. The mingling of scents made her mismatched eyes take on a crazed glaze. Blood was such a pleasant scent. A pleasant apohrodisiac in itself. This man was good. Raven showed the qualities that Kie admired in a vampire. He was strong, dominant, aggressive, proud and demonic. He was beautiful in everyway to Kie's mismatched and crazed eyes. If she were a kitten, she might purr as she dug her claws into him.

"I have never seen such a display of grace and manner for a great, long time. I am also glad that you are pleased by my small gift." Kie gave a slight nod to the vampire in front of her then turned to step further into the room.

"Come in, join me. Perhaps we can now spend some time learning of and from one another." Her canines gleamed and body twisted itself slowly as she descended to her knees and made to lie down on the pillowed carpet. As her body slid along the pillows, onto her stomach, the knotted silk around her torso came loose, revealing the black winged cobra that curved along her spine.

Lying stomach down, her neck twisted towards her companion, she pulled at a length of leather and chain that she had been using earlier. The blood had since dried and regardless of whether she used them again, it would need to be cleaned by the end of the day.

"I wonder..." Kie-Linque bit her lip momentarily, "I wonder...if you know an interesting way to use something like this. Come and tell me a story."

Raven was well and truly like the dog of war he so often mentioned himself to be, as he watched his master’s movements, yet in truth there was more lupine than canine in those bloody red eyes. Both dogs and wolves had been used in battle, some as legendary as the legions to which their masters belonged, and it was with a gaze truly kindred to one given by such a beast that this man possessed as he obeyed the woman before him.

To call such eyes cold, no that was inappropriate. Instead indifferent was the term, without deference or deviation, complete and total focus. Something that trained animals had. And as much as Raven might appear to be a man, beneath it all was a beast, glorious and terrible, brutal and unrelenting and beneath it all this monster prowled like a caged animal and as always the “humanity” for lack of a better word was the cage. But like all beasts, this one was patient and so it was that it waited expectantly for its master’s command.

Raven joined Kie at her command. He did not wait or ask for explanation, instead he took off his boots being careful to not upturn their heel, he took off the torn fatigues and it was a moment later that he sat with only a loincloth cladding his sinewy form, his body a portrait of muscle definition, faint white scars, most of which formed into a complex pattern of weaves and loops, and more recognizable designs, until he lay as Kie lay and his back shone with a portrait made in scar tissue. It was a Raven standing upon a sword’s hilt, the sword within a bloody ground that oozed about the blade with a forest half ripe and half wilted as the back ground.

It was the Raven’s forest, the place between life and death, where death’s herald dwelled.

"Yes, my master." he uttered.

It was then that an illegible expression worked its way across Raven’s fragilely beautiful features, in short it was almost a freeze. Yet it was also a look that set his crimson eyes alight and after a series of moments he spoke. His voice flowed from the tones of teasing and subservience that it had taken on from the beginning of his addressing of the Coven leader to that of the story teller. It was a voice that instantly seemed perfect for radio, surprisingly melodic, even despite its less than common accent and it was in that voice that he began his tale.

“A tale of chain and blood, am I right my master?” He grinned when he said it.

“For such a tale, I can recount many many experiences, however for you my master I will share a tale that few know. It was an encounter with a jealous lover of a past master. I cannot say how entertaining a tale it is, but I will recount it from the beginning, without too much mood building.” He laughed at that, a harsh chuckle, then he began in earnest.

****


“I have never been one for coffins and the like, I prefer luxury in most things. I am however not a particularly decadent creature and neither was she whom then was my master. No, instead she was a lover of fine things, silks of the highest quality, colors flowing and vibrant, and most of this finery designed with the blood drinker’s keen senses in mind. Her home instead of a crypt was a palace, converted of course and totally modern in its design, well as modern as things were in the Thailand of that time. But the point of this all is merely to mention that my master was one of rather impressive means, means that she would gladly share with her allies, but she was also a terrible enemy.

Nong or Lady Nong to lesser, more frightened subordinates was the leader of Farang’s, or as the English speaking call it, Bangkok’s Ishak. Her coven was one of the largest I had ever seen, and while Nong herself was from Mongolia, her coven never had complaints. Hell, how could they, the woman was a damn dynamo.

Dark skinned and beautiful, she was Mongol well and truly. She had been a warrior before the reign of Ganges Kahn and fighting since she had learned to stand. Her mortal world had been fight or die. And perhaps it was because of this that she hadn’t trusted me at all when I asked to join her coven and asked her to be my master. She had declared me a would be usurper and threatened to torture me until I confessed it so, but then she was such a tease…”

Raven grinned, his crimson eyes amused at his own joke. However he picked up his story without fail.

“No, in the end she had demanded that I fight her lover. Nong you see was a lover of both women and men. Her favorite lover was a woman called Jade. She was my opponent, win or die, the terms of their game. Needless to say that I won the day, but our battle, it was a thing to raise the dead. It burned the blood in that way that only carnal and bloodlust can.”

He smiled, and there was something suddenly feral in his gaze.

“Jade, you see was a Kunoichi. Nong had sired her after some particularly nasty assassination that she had once called a work of art. And I’ll be if the woman wasn’t an artist. She stalked and killed in ways that I had never seen before and all of this was accentuated by the fact that the woman had a grace about her that some of the blood never develop. Once more, she was one of the most beautiful women that I had met up until this time. Nong’s personal killer sex kitten. And a loyal killer she was, a fellow dog of war if ever I met one.”

His smile became a grin, fanged laced and dangerous and his eyes looked as if he weren’t only remembering, but seeing things again.

“Jade loved chains, my master. Her weapon of choice for our battle was a large Kunai attached to a thick chain. She wielded as one might expect from a woman with centuries worth of practice and while I was older, and of course stronger in the blood she was a skilled. ”

Raven arched his back for a moment, his sinewy form rife with the ripple of combat built musculature. And a sigh escaped his lips as he closed his eyes, once again well and truly transported to back in time to the spill of wrath and blood. Oh, how it touched him in the core of his being, it was visceral and brutal, lovely in his now sanguine eyes and the lust was fore front now, a longing cast upon his features.

“That however was only our first battle, no we would have many more, most stopped by Nong. That was until Jade grew jealous at the time I began spending in my former master’s bed chamber. She was incensed and thought she could kill me. She’d challenged me well and truly, and I did something then that I had never before done, that I had strived to keep from her attention. I let her have her way. It was more fun than I had imagined it would be. She cut into me, chain about my throat, scraping, tearing at flesh, and it…”

He seemed speechless for a moment.

“It hurt so damned good, what else can I say? I loved every minute of it, every iota of the pain, the smell of my blood, the slickness of it wetting the chain about me, soaking the iron crimson. It was amazing, and all the while I looked into her hate filled eyes, saw her lust for my death and that made it sweeter still. Jade wasn’t a fool, but she was arrogant. She had always thought me no match for her skill, oh and how wrong she was. I was a bloody mess, aching the good ache, when I decided that I wanted her. I told you that I’m not one for rape, and that was true. You see she wanted me as well, she wasn’t at all honest with herself. I was detested, a brash beast. Those were her words, yet all the while I knew, Nong knew that she was angry at not being included. And so it was that my master ordered me to show her lover her heart’s desire.”

Kie listened patiently to Raven's monologue. She was impressed with his fair lady. The woman also knew that the man was fully capable of taking contol if it were given to him. This Lady Nong was also an impressive character. In another time and place she might have taken such a woman as lover or in her case, became such a woman's lover.

Her mismatched eyes danced with desire, only increased by Raven's story. Perhaps she would give control to him. Perhaps she wouldlet him force it from her. Kie's excitement grew as Raven reached the climax of his tale. Her body continued to shudder at his words. The man was beautiful in so many ways...he had a lot of potential as a lover and she hadn't even fucked him yet.

As he reached his climax, Kie gave a purr that disguised a moan. She twisted onto her back and began to entwine her wrists in the length of leather and chain in her hands. Now that she was on her back the silk wrap was noticeably missing. Her breasts were slightly swollen and her nipples erect, the air was slightly cold.

"You and I both like our fair amount of pain. Though you were a bit vague on the details. I'd be interested to know what you did to the woman. Maybe you should show me?" Kie gave an antsy purr as she looped her sufficiently bound arms around the man's neck as best she could. This man had certainly captured her interest tonight.

Raven gave a sinful grin, the kind that the serpent must have given Eve oh so long ago. It was an expression of pure seduction, it promised the world, yet in the same breath gave no guarantees, no not a one not even of survival. This expression did not come to the Vampire Raven very often, however it was one to remember, one that had been given to past masters and yet not a one had been the same. Not a single one could compare to the others, and this look, this expression of seduction, obedience, and brutal intent was just for Master Kie-Linque Callaiffe.

“Gladly, do I obey my Master.” He rumbled. His voice was a lusty purr as his hands moved not to her breast, as so many and so inexperience or over excited lovers might have done. Instead his hands rested on her hips and softly, surprisingly gently he lifted her into his lap.

Such a thing should have been awkward she was after all a bit taller than him. However Raven was silk smooth, he brought her into his lap, pressing her thighs into the proof of his own excitement and moving his neck in the prison of her arms as he began planting teasing, fang pressed kisses and tongue strokes down the expanse of her throat.

Each one he would press harder, seeming that a break of skin would be imminent. Yet always, he would draw back with his force when he knew that his canine points well and truly would pierce her skin. After a few moments of this, he pulled his lips away from the temptation of her skin. He had been teasing himself as much as her. Raven was ravenous, and in more ways than one.

“First, I teased the soft expanses of her skin, my Master.” He said, moving his lips to Kie’s ear as he whispered, continuing his story. Raven then gave the woman another example as he took her fleshy lobe between his teeth, sucking softly on the salty flesh.

His hands rose then, cool to the touch with the lack of life blood in his veins. He was however not so starved. After all his blood pressure was up to current task, the proof took in the friction between their two bodies. Those cool hands however traveled softly up the expanse of her abdomen, first kneading her hips, then smoothing, caressing.

Hands coming back down suddenly, Raven then took back his place at her hips and he lifted the woman as if she weighed nothing, and in truth she didn’t. Raven wasn’t particularly that physically strong, that was no stronger than most vampires his age, but then he had punched through stone walls before. That was plenty strong. And so it took only balance on the man’s part as he lifted his master, moving first his right hand and then his left, under her thighs. A moment passed with his eyes meeting her’s, then he opened her legs as he leaned her backward, bound arms still about his throat.

“Shall I continue my tale?” He asked then, his voice perhaps teasing, perhaps not. It was hard to tell and just as Raven had planned.

As Raven gracefully forced Kie's legs apart, the lower half of her silk wrap came undone and slithered against Raven's thighs. There was no doubt that she was excited. The more he had lapped at her ears, the closer to losing herself in madness ad lust she became. If she could be coaxed into the bed, she became a man's servant until her undead heart slowed and relaxed. It was her curse and in the same way it was her gift for as much as she would submit, the more control she attained later. Not that Kie thought this through strategically at all times.

The muscles in Kie's shoulders taught, her spine arched and her legs spread, the pain was mild but it had its effect. With Raven's every murmur she whimpered softly, contently. As his eyes met hers, it felt as though the moment lasted a long time, then he stopped. With her body shuddering, it was all the woman could do not to gnash her teeth, attempt to slit his throat and whimper all at the same time. But the anticipation would only make things more intense later. Between soft pants, Kie tried to answer his question with a level head.

"Please, continue, your descriptions are so fascinating...so real. I don't believe that the girl would have taken it so easily, nor you so gentle. That doesn't match your description of her and wounded horny men are never so gentle. Should I be doing something different?" That was all the talk she could muster, her body shuddering through the silence. Waiting for an answer, the links of chain jingled as Kie began to pull at her bound arms, twisting them so the chain would slowly begin to choke him. She'd stop if he told her and pull harder and fight if he went the other way. Either way always lead to interesting ends, especially if her partner had even a tenth of Kie's abstract and insane imagination. Was it really imagination if it came from experience however? Even if she wouldn't have remembered?

Raven chuckled and it was not a pleasant sound, especially with the chain at his throat and his eyes alight even as he continued. His left hand moved to his throat, slipping just enough between the chain so that he could manage a labored speech as he felt the flow of blood that accompanied such a motion. Raven had nails that were like half inch long shards of glass. The ones that slid between flesh and chain, cut him, and he was still for a moment with the scent of his own blood blossoming in his nostrils. He laughed again then and it was horrid.

Raven’s voice was good, very good, but there was something in the tone of his laugh even half choked as it was, in its pitch or its pentameter that was aggressively harsh. Some might even call it brutal or cruel, and some wouldn’t be wrong, after the man himself were all these things a more. His laugh was merely a shadow of the monster lurking behind his civilized mask. It was something that anyone in contact with him learned sooner or later. For his new master, it would definitely be sooner.

Meeting Kie’s gaze, Raven smiled at her, no smile was the wrong word. Raven grinned, he grinned like the Cheshire cat, fangs fully extended and two or three shades of lust darkening his crimson eyes.

“My, my, my master…” He said. His voice was a forced incredulousness. “You don’t seem to have very much faith in me as fighter or a lover do you?”

He chuckled again.

“Am I not attractive enough to hold a woman’s attention, strong enough to face her in combat? Or perhaps I over rated my own efforts…or do you over rate dear Jade? Was she a woman unaffected by pleasure? Not affected by our fight? After all at this point her hands were chained, not quite as your are, but wrapped, wrapped in the chain of her own weapon. But perhaps I led you to believe that my efforts were unappreciated I am most sorry if that is the case, my master, it was not my intention.”

His free hand began to wonder then, as he spoke, enjoying suddenly the pain that the chain brought to his spoken efforts.

“No, Jade did not resist at least not much. She bucked and fought at first, but once we got to this point, no. She was cooperating.”

Raven’s hand smoothed the length of the woman’s thigh then, upward, pausing… then. Nothing, he drew his hands away, as he leaned forward to whisper in her ear.

“As for horny men…well as injured as I was and horny…well I am a sadistic bastard first. Teasing her was fun. It is with most women, you’d be surprised how fun it was to see her beg.”

He leaned in then, still grinning.

“However, enough with games. I’ll talk later…for now let me give you the fuck of your life my master…”

His lips snapped open then and he struck like a serpent, his fangs searching for the flesh of her throat, his nails suddenly pressed into her thighs. His hand fell away then from his throat as if he where challenging her to choke him and in truth he was doing just that.

As Raven spoke, Kie has let her arms relax, only to pull them taught again as Raven made it perfectly clear that she was no longer acting the part of another woman. So she pulled. As nails dragged down her thighs, she only moaned and struggled all the more. She was trying to be a pleasing lover. The Ishak leader hadn't tried for a long time.

As she pulled, she relished the pain and the scent of blood which slowly began to trickle down her neck. He wanted to wrestle it out. With her pupils dilated with the scent of blood and her unbalanced mind tipping in all directions, she fought back. The woman hissed, snarled and then bit right back. She was unsure of what she managed to clamp onto, but it felt good.

As she bit, strangled and wriggled, the woman's body shuddered with pleasure and nothing had even happened yet.

"I find you plenty attractive dear," Kie whispered, loosening the grip of her teeth momentarily, "You've managed to hold my attention."

(ooc: sorry it took so long)

Raven hadn’t actually bitten Kie, though he had well and truly sliced her with a precision and adeptness that he knew few immortals could match. Even if they did have fangs that lengthened to the proportions that his did, he has a style and grace all his own, and his movement had been as simple as a kiss, yet as good as a knife in the clean line that it made down the woman’s throat where he now took to licking at the seeping crimson, teasing her skin with his skilled tongue. Rave was adept of fang and claw, some of his past masters had called him a surgeon; the funny thing was that they weren’t wrong.

Raven had the medical knowledge to be a surgeon and then some. He had been interested in the human body for a longtime now, centuries piled upon centuries, and education mixed with experience made him something to be feared. He could sever muscles that would paralyze, tear tendons that would cripple, and in times like these, ah he could incense, tease and pleasure to no end. Grunting at the presence of the chain tightening about his throat, he promised himself that he would take his new master apart. He would content them both; it would be bloody and vile, painful, and harsh. He moaned just thinking about it.

She reacted. Reacted just as Raven hopped she would. He let out a pleased groan, the sound short and labored. Between the chain and her sudden bite, he was concerned about his stamina. Damn, she was good, brutal, just how he liked women.

She tore into him; her fangs caught him just above the collar bone, in his greater tubercle. Damn. He moaned loudly through the chain and felt her hit bone. Her fangs ground once against the bone in top of his shoulder blade, this sent a sharp edged tendril of fresh agony through him and he’d be damned it that didn’t finish him.

He shook his head, he couldn’t give in. He would satisfy her, and he’d make her beg. By the realms of Dis, he would. She was his master, it was owed her and his pride would not take otherwise.

Raven’s hands moved instinctively then to the woman’s hips, pulling her forward, slamming their groins together. Only the cloth adorning him, and the lack of their alignment kept him from entering her. That however was not his goal and instead he ground against her, his pelvis moving in an erratic and ever changing rhythm. He would not let her get accustomed to him, no matter how hard she tried. Such a thing fanned the flames, in his loins, and would no doubt cause a similar response.

His fang tips broke her flesh again. His movement was quick and he let enough fang slip in to make this less the cut and more the tear at her throat. It was deeper, if only just, and blood came faster now. He drank her now, in time with the thrust of his hips, letting his tongue catch a rhythm even when his hips did not. And beneath this distraction, his clever hands took her breasts gently in palm. He kneaded at them for but a moment, groping, then thin fingers took taut and swollen nipples and he twisted sharply.

((OOC: Not a problem.))

As much as Kie fought, she allowed her body to mold to Raven's desires. Her heart raced and stolen blood raced through her veins. Muffled sounds continue to make their way from her throat but as she maintained her fight. As a sharp pain exploded from her breast Kie gave a sharp yowl, like an angry cat, followed by a pleased murmur.

She felt the blood run down her skin and smelt their blood mingling in the air and tasted blood in her mouth from both biting Raven and her own tongue. The sensations overwhelmed her mind and it began to slip away from reality. Her eyes glazed over as she snarled and her arms found the strength to continue her pull on the chains that bound her. So little had been done and she was nearly at climax. As that time grew closer, her efforts became more animalistic and spurratic, like a cornered panther. This wasn't to say she wasn't pleased...that of her mind which was still conscious anyhow.

Kie's hands tugged at the chains, her mind jumping forward, back into focus. Now any animalistic behaviour was slowly becoming intentional once more.

Raven groaned; it was a short and chipped sound. A sound that flowed from his chest only to be cut short with the insistent pressure of the chain about his throat. The vampire closed his crimson eyes for a moment against the pain and pleasure that he was suddenly getting in one maddening dose. He did not breath, could not if he wanted to, even if the chain were not at his throat taking away nearly all his faculties as he felt it rub and grind against his skin. It was too good, leaving marks that even then he could feel weeping crimson down to his collarbone and chest, Raven would have been glad to simply let her choke at him, her naked body caressing his. He could have been content to let her blood fill his lips, and to suck at her flesh all night long, but again his pride demanded more.

Pride demanded that he please his master, that he take her apart bit by bit, and opening his eyes his determined gaze promised just that.

A rueful smile broke across Raven’s features then, and his hands moved from their newest task of cupping the undersides of his master’s breasts, suddenly to the chain about his throat. For a moment it seemed the metal was absolute strength, that fingers could not hope to pry it from flesh, but then the fingers working at the chain suddenly seemed more sure of themselves, sure of taking away the pleasing steel pain.

The chain snapped between those fingers and their pulling hands. And though the lost of the restriction, of the constant and enjoyable pain made Raven falter for a moment, but it was less than a moment that he gave his master the full affliction of his grin and his lips surged forward taking an engorged nibble between lips and teeth.

He ground his hips hard then, as he gave the first pull of suction upon the silky mound’s hardened tip. His left hand kneaded and fondled the other breast then, pulling the nipple again, as his right arm slid around his master’s waist, the hand resting against her backside. Or rather it was there until he inclined them both a bit more sharply, and that hand wandered until it began caressing and stroking tender heated flesh.

Wet, slik and glazed eyes. Kie-Linque was reduced to a toy in Raven's grasp. A toy for pleasure. She rather hoped she was pleasing. That was a matter of ego. At this moment in time, her best tool for being pleasing was to submit. Strange role for a coven leader, but it usually worked best in the bedroom, or on the desk, or anywhere she damn well pleased.

She whimpered gently as he played with her chest and fondled her body. The build up was driving her mad, but for the moment she had lost the ability to be violent and playfully resist. For the moment. Resisting too much took all the fun out of it. There was a very fine balance between excitement and too much effort. Raven had to be the best lover she'd had in years. Stamina, prideful, strong, powerful. Most of what she admired in a man.

Men were so pretty when they made love. It gave an essence of divinity to them. Kie told him so. Then sh ewondered if he could comprehend her through rugged panting and sharp gasps. So very pretty...and Kie enjoyed pretty things. This was likely to make a complications sometime down the road. That was her luck. Nothing she couldn't handle. Kie did not, however, have the time to be thinking of such things as her body began to shudder.

Raven stroked and caressed his master’s flesh for a long moment, his fingers sliding against the back of her thighs, him enjoying the pleased heat that almost radiated off her body. Then, suddenly, abruptly, with a thought and a whim, his slid his fingers roughly between her thighs. He was not gentle, yet nor was he rough enough that his nails pierced flesh. It was a balancing act that Raven had gotten rather good at over the centuries. And thus it was that he opened her like a blossom in the sun that he could not well and truly remember and two of his digits became a firm pressure into her core. She was ready, pleased. She allowed him entry, and he silenced any sound that may have come from her lips with a deep and heated kiss.

He made as if to consume her, his mouth wide, lips pressing fiercely into hers. Had he been human, Raven had no doubts that his lips would be bruised, but as it were he didn’t care and instead came away only to press lips more harshly to the softness of her skin.

He spoke then, his words a warm and sensual sensation as he measured them against his master’s sweat washed skin.

“How is that my master? What would you have of me, what do you want?”

He chuckled then, her body warm against his, him having to focus every once of his control into not taking her now, not giving now what he had promised. But she was still his master, she could be subservient, but he still was her’s to obey...He heard his master and obeyed...it was how he had lived for quite sometime now, and it wasn't about to change.

Kie felt her body being cradles by Raven, but that was nearly all that she was conscious of. She knew not whether she was up, down or sideways. As if out of a dream, Raven's words echoed in the back of her skull. Once more in her life, Kie found herself in complete control despite her physical submission. Control or no, she could not bring herself to answer orally. The Ishak leader's response was written across her features, seen in her body's physical responses and felt in her clenched palms. Only the most ignorant male, could miss such a welcoming on so many levels and Kie did not believe it was this man. Any other reason for refusal was simply sadism. He was after all intelligent enough to wait for an invitation in the first place.

She waited, anticipating all that would happen in a very near future. As she bit down on the tip of her tongue, blood began to seep into her mouth. It was not Raven's this time, but her own. Regardless, she imagined that by nowRaven's blood hade made it into her own arteries.

Having not yet received any sort of reply, despite only a few seconds having past, she attempted to speak. 'Please...' was all she managed within a soft, low moan. The bloody man had managed to get her beggin. Kie liked that and knew men liked to hear her beg. She meant every syllable she could muster.