A belated birthday present for Carissa.

Enjoy!

Pamela Swynford de Beaufort.

That's what it says on the opulent plate hanging from her office door on 3rd Street, an imposing name for an imposing character, and yet it's nothing compared to her old name, to the woman and majestic creature she used to be.

Regina remembers riding on her back, scaly wings stretching into the darkness of night, back when all that mattered was the wind and the seductive thrill of torturing their enemies.

Maleficent has forgotten who she is, carried away by a curse of Regina's own making, a curse that Rumplestiltskin had stolen and used on the only thing she cared about, knowing it would hurt her. But Rumple had made a mistake, he'd still considered Regina his apprentice, a youngling trying to earn his respect, the broken girl seeking revenge to seal the gaping wound of her loss.

Once again, the Dark One had vaingloriously thought himself above her. He hadn't realized that upon banishing the dragon, he'd awakened a fierce quality in the queen, a raw instinct known only to those who share an intimate bond with such a magnificent being.

The Dark One hadn't realized that in taking the dragon away, he'd unleashed the wrath of an equal.

Regina hadn't hesitated, had trapped her former mentor in an impenetrable cell, one flanked with squid ink spiked with mushroom oil from Wonderland, to paralyze him and make him hallucinate all his past transgressions and losses, to hurt him as much as he hurt her.

She'd left him to rot in that cell in the Enchanted Forest, and gone in search for her friend. Spells, potions, enchantments and ancient runes have helped her travel to this world, to this humid spit of land in the swampy corners of Louisiana, where Maleficent has lived for the past year, completely oblivious to her true abilities, her power, her name.

Regina's done her homework, has kept an eye on her former lover and discovered everything there is to know about this new persona. She's a lawyer here, as it turns out, lives in a small mansion in the outskirts of town and constantly dresses provocatively in pant suits and heels and red lips that torture her the longer she stares at them.

"May I help you?" Pamela asks, sounding bored, yet soft and alluring, just like Mal always did.

"I just... I, uh, I'm..." Regina trails off, exasperated at not having the faintest idea how to fix this, how to tell her about her true nature without sounding like a lunatic and getting herself thrown out of the dingy vampire-themed bar she's found her in.

She seems to favor this place, and Regina would wager it has a lot to do with the crowd, weird and sharp-toothed as they are. She can't help but think maybe Mal feels a pull to them because she knows she's different, too. Perhaps this means there's still a chance to reawaken the dragon inside her. Perhaps this means not all is lost.

"Are you going to babble with that pretty mouth all night, or are you going to buy me a drink?" Mal drones, still sounding disinterested, though her eyes roam Regina's figure in a way that makes her shiver. Yes, she'll buy her a drink, definitely.

"Bourbon, please," she tells the bartender, showing two fingers.

They don't say anything else, foregoing the banalities of introductions and small talk, take their shots at the same time, and then simply look at each other, Mal's gaze devouring her like it used to during those late nights at the Forbidden Fortress, when her desire licked at Regina's skin and had her moaning and writhing under her fiery touch.

Five shots later, the young queen is being unceremoniously slammed against a wall in Mal's house, after a speedy ten minute drive full of sexually charged silence. They hadn't even made it past the foyer before they were surrendering to each other's feral wants, the feel of Mal's shallow exhales on Regina's neck making her burn that much more for her.

Eager teeth and warm tongue assault her neck, and Regina nearly cries out at the sensual overload. Mal may have forgotten who she is, but the fire is still there, a fire that has always drawn them together, and it's that fire that ignites them now, when she rams Regina harder against the wall in the living room, lips harshly kissing hers, bruising and primal and absolutely titillating.

"Mal," she gasps against her when she feels her hand squeezing a breast, and the blonde stops, releases her delicious grip on the gentle swell over her shirt, and stares at her.

"My name's Pam, dear," she breathes with an impish smile, then dives right back in, tongue instantly plunging into her mouth, exploring her, teeth grazing against Regina's bottom lip as she moans and grips her hips to bring her closer.

If she hadn't been so busy ripping off her shirt, tasting and licking every inch of skin that she can reach, Regina would've noticed the magic, would've seen the tendrils of purple smoke now wrapping around them, thicker and thicker the more heated their exchange becomes, until they're enveloped in them completely, and it's the wind that startles them apart, the cold bite of it hissing against the embers left by wanton kisses on heated flesh, cooling wet patches of skin on necks and shoulders and mouths.

When warmth settles in again, it's Mal who speaks first.

"I've missed you, my darling," she whispers, hand caressing Regina's cheek, her jaw, and it's only then that it dawns on her.

She remembers.

It catches her off guard, to recall that true love's kiss can break any dark spell, meaning that it's because she's in love with her that the curse has been lifted. Regina had never considered her feelings for Maleficent to be love, she'd always thought them too sinful for that, too physical, but she understands now that this bond they share goes way beyond the carnal gratifications their bodies crave from each other, and it terrifies her .

"Don't overthink this, Regina," Mal rasps as she finishes stripping them both of their clothes, "it's just you and me. Like old times."

And it is, it's just them, the familiar scrape of her teeth on her nipple, the sultry looks and heady kisses, all of which Regina is indulging in right now, losing herself in the sound and smell and feel of the dark sorceress she loves, one that's only just now recovering her identity, but whose body has missed Regina's as much as she has missed hers in turn.

They end up in the living room floor, sprawled on the afghan rug near the fireplace, decorative candles on the surfaces around them lighting up with her own fire, burning bright and casting their yellow gleam on the contours of Mal's body as Regina moves to straddle her, hands seeking her breasts, kneading and squeezing while she watches her face intently, taking in the pleasured gasps that escape her, the way she licks her dry lips and orders her to keep going.

But Regina stops instead, smiling softly at the little whine Mal gives her when she does. It's not for long, though, just enough to grab the nearest candle, staring at its flame with awe as she hovers it over Mal's body, waiting for her to nod her approval before tilting the squat pillar just slightly, watching with fascination as hot wax drips down and onto the fair skin of the dragon temptress writhing beneath her.

Maleficent whimpers at the action, arches up with every drop, and Regina continues to watch, enraptured by how she turns those pinpricks of pain into buds of pleasure, rolling her hips and grasping at her thighs.

"More," she breathes, writhing still, and Regina obeys, tracing a line of hot melted wax from one breast, down her middle and all the way to her navel, pausing to return the candle to the coffee table and move off of her, only to loom over her body and lick a parallel path next to the waxy strip, stopping to suckle kisses here and there, until she's down with her face buried between Mal's thighs, tasting her wet folds, basking in the strangled moans of ecstasy she's able to coax out of her with her attentions, two of her fingers finding their way inside and searching until she hits the spot that she knows will drive her mad with pleasure.

"I've missed the way you taste," Regina admits, savoring the moment, the mere concept of having her back in her arms, hers to sample and explore, making her wetter and wetter.

It usually takes them longer, but they've been apart for too long, the passionate brushing of their naked bodies against each other adding to the pent-up nostalgia of their sexual reacquaintance, and after a few thrusts of Regina's fingers, a few more firm passes of her tongue, Maleficent is coming, hard and wonderful as Regina continues to lap at her, her eyes fervent as they look at her from where she's positioned, watching her face as it contorts and relaxes, breaths leaving her in deep exhales for a few moments before she's sitting up, dragging Regina's body atop her, murmuring how beautiful she is when she's astride her again.

"Get the candle, let me watch you," Maleficent says, her tongue licking her lower lip as Regina heeds her soft spoken command and grabs the pillar from the coffee table once more, tilting it over her own body this time, hissing at the sharp heat when it makes contact with her skin, but Mal's gaze is scorching as it watches the oily drops cool and harden on her breasts and the smooth valley between them.

Regina moans when Maleficent's thumb finds her clit as she wedges a hand between them, and it all shifts, turns any remnants of pain from the wax into intense pleasure, a gateway to the erotic satisfaction being provided by the soft pad of Mal's finger against her sex. She's wet, needy, rowdy for her, grinding her hips against her, searching for any kind of friction as more and more hot wax begins to coat her body, until she's a mess of smooth solid drops, the last one landing so close to her nipple that it borders on unbearable, but then her lover is there, mouth latching on to that nipple and sucking, tongue swirling, teeth grazing, moving in a wet trail to the other and doing the exact same thing, one arm holding her tight around the waist while the other continues to thrum her clit, spreading the wet evidence of her desire all over it before she leans further into her, carefully taking the candle from her and laying her down, her back on the rug.

"My turn, dear," her dragon whispers hotly after setting the candle back on the table, fingers venturing inside as she scoots down low enough to lick at her clit and rams her hand against her, her rhythm quick and deep and incredible, a depraved moan spilling from her lips when Regina loudly whimpers a Yes! Right there! that disrupts their breathy, quiet atmosphere in the best of ways.

She comes on a particularly hard thrust of Mal's fingers inside her, lips parting open as she gives a high-pitched squeal that makes her lover laugh lightly against the inside of her thigh, dropping a kiss there before she moves up to pepper more of them along her skin, until she reaches her jaw, nips at it, and finds her lips, tongues tangling and tasting each other's arousal, Mal's hand still roaming her body, catching a breast and groping lightly before moving down behind her and grasping her rear, pushing them closer together.

"You came back for me," Maleficent says against her lips, her tone low, cheeky, even a little smug.

"Of course I did," replies Regina nonchalantly, kissing her long and slow for a few delirious seconds, the taste of her, of both of them, addictive and intoxicating all at once.

"Making it to this realm without a curse can't have been easy," Mal says then, looking curious. Another kiss, and her blue eyes start to shine, a purple glow igniting them, bringing back the shadow of the glorious beast that hides within her.

Regina thinks of everything she did, of all the lives she took, the pesky potion ingredients she risked her life to find, the days she spent lost in Wonderland after looking for that mushroom oil to mix with the squid ink, all the torture she had to endure, to get through the vicious creatures guarding certain ancient spells that she thought could help her, the pain of the wounds caused by enchantments gone wrong... and then replies, holding nothing back.

"It was worth it."