Lead Me To Heaven…..Leave Me To Die

Oskan looked around the large cavern, dark eyes taking in each and every person or Snow Leopard or werewolf crammed in close together. The Vampires had fled: nothing could be said against the Vampire Queen for doing so, as her consort had been cruelly snatched by a man undeserving. And Thirrin, his beautiful wife and oh-so-strong Queen, was gone too. Not even a whelp of the House of Lindenshield could with stand a saber wound to the chest.

From above, bombs descended upon Frostmarris like a tidal wave, destroying everything and anyone in their path. And not a one of the Allies were completely thrown into despair…..

"Father, we need to gain the help of the Vampires again. Do you know a way to contact them?"

Cressida's sharp question brought Oskan out of his revere. Those eyes like emeralds made organic seemed to be boring a hole into is very soul. How very much like her mother, his little girl….

Drawing breath and stretching, the Witchfather gazed intently down upon his eldest child. Not a spark of the man he once was could be heard as he whispered, "I shall go speak with Her Vampiric Majesty myself."

Shock radiated from Cressida. "You can't be serious! How are you going to get your arse up to The Land of The Ghosts without being blown to pieces and in time to retrieve allies in time to save our behinds?"

A slight smirk creased Oskan's thin lips. "I have my own ways, darling," he murmured. "Don't doubt the abilities of your dear old dad."

Taking a deep breath and clearing his head, Oskan drew upon energy from within himself, tearing a hole in the fabric of reality. Without breaking a sweat, he pulled himself through that portal, into another desolate world, only to move on to a different world seconds later. Oskan kept transporting himself through his make-shift magical highway until he reached a place that felt familiar.

Stopping only to repair the rip in reality's fabric, Oskan Witchfather looked around at what used to be one of his worst nightmares. The Blood Palace loomed over him like a shadow, ominous and dark and simply screaming for him to leave. Hating eyes of green glared down from their loft positions on blood-red walls, but still, the warlock held strong. Even with all his recent exposure to evils beyond comprehension, this place made his skin crawl horribly.

But something was off. There was another feeling mixed within the palace's normal hatred of humanity. It was a feeling of despair and tears and sadness and that oh-so-very-tragic feel of love gone wrong and someone screaming don't go, don't go, oh dear GOD please don't go. That aura made Oskan draw in a deep shaky breath.

He knew how that felt.

Without another moment's hesitation, the Witchfather stepped up onto the terrace and entered the Blood Palace. He had a feeling that his presence was already known, and the silence was completely, perfectly desolate, so Oskan didn't say a word. Even his footsteps didn't seem to make their normal echoes off cold marble floors and high ceilings as he made his way towards a familiar seated figure.

Her Vampiric Majesty stared down at the floor, barely even glancing up to acknowledge her once-hated rival. The Vampire's eyes were now an almost black color instead of their normal clear icy blue. They sang of sadness and rage; those crystalline onyx orbs were filled with a despair so deep that it startled Oskan.

"What gives you the right to barge into my home without so much as a warning, Oskan Witchfather?"

Goddess, even her voice had cracked! Oskan stayed a fairly respectable distance from the heartbroken Vampire Queen. "Your Majesty, I've come to respectfully request that you return to help us in the war."

Without warning, the queen's head snapped up and she snarled. Hatred of everything and everyone burned within her gaze as she hissed, "You WHAT! What on this despicable earth makes you think that I would come to your aid?"

Now it was Oskan's turn to get angry. His voice deepened, and those obsidian eyes of his darkened to a pupil-less abyss that one could lose themselves in. "I was simply requesting that you and your soldiers return to aid a people that you at one point were quite content to assist. Or have you forgotten the sanctions place upon the treaty that we struck so long ago?"

"To hell with the sanctions!" the queen exploded, leaping to her feet and descending to stand before the Witchfather. "Go ahead and invoke them! I really don't care anymore!"

Tears had begun to gather within those rage(despair) filled pools. "I just lost my consort. You can understand how I feel."

Oskan gripped the Vampire's arms harshly, shocking the woman into utter silence. "Yes I can!" he spat. "Thirrin died right along with your king. She left me and the children alone to win a war that right now seems to be nothing but a blood-and-rain bath. Not only have I lost my wife – the woman who has loved me since we were children- but my kingdom could very well lose it's freedom. So don't you DARE tell me that I don't understand."

After a moment, he gently placed Her Vampiric Majesty back on the ground, bowing his head in shame. Oskan squeezed his eyes shut. Damn, he'd really screwed up this time. "Forgive me for my outburst, Your Majesty."

What seemed like eternity passed before a feminine whisper echoed onto the air. "Forgive you? Oskan, I didn't just lose a consort. I lost EVERYTHING. He was with me through thick and thin for over a thousand years; that man was the only person on earth that had enough heart to love me. He gave me hope; he made me laugh; that King was probably the best thing that has ever happened to me over my death and you're expecting me to just suck it up and go back with you?"

Oskan lifted his head to look down at the Vampire Queen. Tears rolled in thick streamed down her white cheekbones, carving tracks of sorrow down her face. Deep hitching sobs(she couldn't breathe)erupted from her chest, making all her words hiccup together.

But her next sentence caused Oskan Witchfather's heart to shatter like so much an icicle.

"I'm scared to fly in the place that he flew; I'll break and not be able to avenge him."

After what seemed like an eternity of just gazing at her broken visage, Oskan stepped forward and pulled Her Vampiric Majesty against his thin chest. "You don't have to be strong all the time. It's just choosing when to cry that's important."

That simple statement was the all it took. The Vampire Queen, that merciless and cold and strong and beautiful monarch with eyes like glass, shattered.

Collapsing into his arms, she sobbed and wailed, staining his shirt with tears and screaming her sorrow for the heavens to weep over. She shrieked in ever moving waves. They spoke of hurt and love and revenge and rage and sentiments of "goddess bring him back" and new beginnings. Eventually, her weight became too much for Oskan to bear and they sank onto one of the cold dais steps.

His own tears poured down the Witchfather's cheeks as he stroked his fingers through long silky strands of midnight silk. If only Thirrin weren't gone. She would know what else to do…..then again, his consort had never really been all that good at giving comforting speeches. Such was the flaw of the warrior mind. Still, at least he would know what to do other than keeping a sobbing Vampire from falling on the floor!

The Vampire Queen curled onto his lap and laid her head against his chest. Thu-Thump, Thu-Thump, Thu-Thump… Oskan's steady heartbeat was soothing, almost like a lullaby. Her tears began to dry and she simply sat there, listening intently to that steady thrumming pulse. The Witchfather didn't seem to mind, in fact, he'd wrapped his arms around her and was now stroking a thumb up and down her arm.

"Feel better?"

A slight laugh escaped her lips as the queen nodded. "Surprisingly I do." She raised her head up slightly, only to realize that their faces were mere millimeters apart. For a second, all she could do was stare into those dark inky-black eyes, searching for something that not even she herself could place.

And then they closed the distance.

They kissed lovers and cried like children and fought like wildcats; each fighting but embracing the other in a battle of tooth and slashing tongue. He gripped her to his chest brutally, afraid to let go. She entangled her hands in his thick black hair, terrified that he'd slip away from her. And then came the guilt and betrayal and damn-it-this-isn't-right and please-hold-me-just-another-second…

Oskan broke away from Her Vampiric Majesty's dark lips, still holding her to his chest and placing soft kisses to the top of her head.

"Please come back. We need you," he whispered desperately as he tried to bite back tears. "I need you. Please….."

The queen nuzzled her head underneath Oskan's chin and simply marveled at his warmth for a while before replying. "I will return; but, do you think Thirrin is angry at us? I don't want to do this if it'll make you love her any less."

The Witchfather smiled serenely at her childish statement. "I don't think so. Love isn't taken away or given. There's no set amount your heart can make - remember that for me okay?"

She nodded and snuggled back into his embrace on that cold marble floor, both Vampire and warlock wondering…

Will she lead me to heaven?

Or will he leave me to die?