Wards of Darkness.

[emipet]

Rosemarie went over to Briana, dropping the unread and tattered magazine on the floor.

"Hello Doctor. I wish to get your approval for my release. I am not crazy. It is the rest of the world that's insane. No one acknowleges the things that are there! Isn'ty that insanity Doctor? Please tell me!"

 

[Luna_Wolf72]

Maggie/Margaret pt 3

"Sharp girl, I can see it would be pointless to hide things from you... To be honest, it is a relief to have at least one of you who I won't need to pretend around... So, I shall lay my cards upon the table. Maggie, I know your secret, you are visited at night by a Childe of Cain: A vampire... And my secret is..."

She listened, head tilted. It was good for him to know that he could not hide from her. It would make for an easier time of it, later. However he called her Sire a Childe of Cain. But he wasn't, he was a Childe of Malkav! She couldn't say that though. It was a secret.

With a small head shake of negation, she focused her eyes upon him, watching carefully as he stood up and exposed himself for the thing that he harbored deep inside.

"I am one of the fallen celestials, but I am also still the mortal you knew as Jerome Manning."

He was beautiful.

"I am honored by your trust Doctor. It is good to have these lies and untruths banished. However, I must ask~if you know that I have a midnight visitor? Why is delusional still in my case files? The murder of the scum that raised me did not garner that particular bit of fluff.

My tale of night visits is what earned me that title. However, if you know of it then I can not be considered delusional, can I?"

She tilted her head again and eyed him with raised brows.

 

[Ravenloft]

"Between us, as our eyes are open wider than most, there is no point to concealing what we are, wouldn't you agree?" Enumael sunk back into his seat, remaining in his celestial form. "I know of your late night visitor, yes... Hmm, you have had your 'companion' far longer than you have lived within the walls of Bishop's Gate. He was with you even before the murder... And we both may know that your Sire's existance to be real... But IF his exsistance were proved two things would come of it... A break of your sire's prescious Masquerade, AND proof that you are not mad... In which case, you would be handed over to the authorities as a criminal... Where would you rather spend your days?" Enumael leaned forward and Calmly steepled his alabastre fingers.

 

[Luna_Wolf72]

"Between us, as our eyes are open wider than most, there is no point to concealing what we are, wouldn't you agree?"

Margaret nodded, once. There was a simple truth to the statement that could not be argued with.

The doctor continued, his voice~ low, musical, soothing, questioning.

"I know of your late night visitor, yes... Hmm, you have had your 'companion' far longer than you have lived within the walls of Bishop's Gate. He was with you even before the murder... And we both may know that your Sire's existance to be real... But IF his exsistance were proved two things would come of it... A break of your sire's prescious Masquerade, AND proof that you are not mad... In which case, you would be handed over to the authorities as a criminal... Where would you rather spend your days?"

Again found herself nodding, agreeing with each point the doctor made. His final statements cemented her thoughts. His final query pulled those thoughts from her.

"But how do YOU know about the before time visits? How do you know about the Masquerade?"

She shook her head.

"Never mind, you are of the Fallen. You know what you need to know when you need to know it. Tis true though, this mad house is much preferable to a jail cell. I would have to kill many people to get by there. Here? I can control my anger, my rage, my lust for...blood. Madness. the Hunger."

Her head tilted. Words stopped. Wide eyes closed. When they reopened, it was not Margaret, but Maggie, who looked out upon the celestial form.

"Do you know, the longer I have my late night visitor, the more I feel as if Maggie is separate from me and not a put on." A small head shake, of negation? "It is very disconcerting." A wide smile. "So how can I help you? Do you hear the murmurs of others? Feel cold emanations or sense the madness that swirls beneath the surface of things? Would you like to? For that matter, how am I able to. My late night visitor won't tell me." She frowned then. Her eyes lost their forthrightness and faded into a partially closed, unaware gaze.

"How should I make the most of this particular journey, doctor? Can you tell me that?"

 

[Ravenloft]

"I was present when Caine was marked... We, the host, all were. It was meant as a warning to us as much as punishment to him, I think."

"Perhaps your paramour is drawing something deeper, something darker from you than merely your blood? It troubles you then? But do you fear what he brings out in you? Or do you relish it?"

"If one murmurs my name, I hear them, yes. I have also felt... Something dark and ancient."

Enumael sunk back in his seat and smiled in reguards to Maggie's question as to how she could sense things beyond mortal means. "So, he would keep you ignorant? The power you sense with comes from the blood he feeds you. His blood... Tell me, how often does he feed you?"

 

[Luna_Wolf72]

Words and more words.

"I was present when Caine was marked... We, the host, all were. It was meant as a warning to us as much as punishment to him, I think."

"Perhaps your paramour is drawing something deeper, something darker from you than merely your blood? It troubles you then? But do you fear what he brings out in you? Or do you relish it?"

"If one murmurs my name, I hear them, yes. I have also felt... Something dark and ancient."

Margaret wanted to stop him, to stop his queries. But he talked on and on. And she felt as if something was pulling answers from her. She answered each question, her voice thoughtful.

"It does not trouble me. I do not fear nor relish, I only accept. After all, he has gifted me with strength, with stamina. If this other gift of his blood makes madness and colors real? Well, then so be it."

She shifted slightly, resting her pointed chin in the palm of her hand before resuming her discourse.

"Something dark, ancient? I only sense a young spirit from time to time. Fleeting. Here and gone, like the wind. She , he, it feels familiar. Like I should know that thing, like I should remember it, as if it is a dream."

He spoke again, asking something extremely personal.

"So, he would keep you ignorant? The power you sense with comes from the blood he feeds you. His blood... Tell me, how often does he feed you?"

She did NOT want to answer that, not at all. Would it not be a breach of silence? Would it not cause harm? Her brain clamored at her~noise upon noise. She couldn't stop the rising storm, so words tumbled out.

"He used to feed me once a week, back when I was younger. He said the feedings were to strengthen me for the trials ahead. Now, I only require his sustenance once a month or so, though he gives me more if I have learned a particularly apt lesson or if I have done a very clever thing."

His aura flashed and beckoned and sparkled and flexed. She found her eyes drawn to his colors, again and again. Almost as if the light hypnotized her. Maybe it was. She didn't know, couldn't tell.

"Why am I telling you this?"

 

[Ravenloft]

Enumael looked deeply into Margaret's eyes as she answered him.

"Yes, you may have come to accept his gifts of blood, but have you never considered that he uses it to control you. Lords it over you? Placing you in a position of dependance upon him? What if I could offer you the ability to trade positions of power with him? Allowing you to feed upon him as you wish, not just when he deigns to feed you?"

"Why do you tell me all this? Perhaps it is because, deep, in your heart, you know that you are still a victim? That innocent young child being raped of her beauty, and turned into something ugly? Perhaps you have simply traded the terror your father inflicted upon you for another form of rape? You have felt it, havn't you? Every time you feed, something slips away, it gets easier, the taste of blood grows sweeter. Is that what you want? Deep down, do you really want to lose yourself to it?"

 

[Luna_Wolf72]

His words plucked at something deep within~ a clarion call against the darkness. However she didn't really have an answer. Not to the questions he asked. All she knew for certain is that she needed the feedings sometimes. Even though she felt like a junkie whenever her almost Sire refused to allow her to feed from him. She craved the taste of his vitae, needing the heat and strength those few precious drops provided.

"Why do you tell me all this? Perhaps it is because, deep, in your heart, you know that you are still a victim? That innocent young child being raped of her beauty, and turned into something ugly? Perhaps you have simply traded the terror your father inflicted upon you for another form of rape? You have felt it, havn't you? Every time you feed, something slips away, it gets easier, the taste of blood grows sweeter. Is that what you want? Deep down, do you really want to lose yourself to it?"

The words resonate. giving her a momentary glimpse of the thing that lives deep in the Doctor's skin~the beauty of the Fallen that one can not look upon for long. She wants to answer but the words get all tangled up.

*blink*

Maggie looks upon the Doctor, a small smile tilting her lips upward. Margaret was never good under pressure. That was the why of Maggie~who knew, even if Margaret didn't, that she was becoming more real, each time she stepped forward to deal with the pressure of being...crazy.

"I don't want to be less than human, Doctor...but I already am. I need the blood to be strong, to see the colors, to heal at a fast rate. I need the blood because it helps me be more than the lost girl who trembled on the edge of suicide. Who fought her way past the darkness of sexual and physical abuse to take back the control that was stolen from me. I don't want to become a monster.

I don't want to become something not living. However, I do want the strength, the clarity, his blood gives to me. Do you know any other survivor who wants to be pushed back into their personal hells? If this is rape, so be it. At least I get more from this than a sore woman place and fractured ribs."

*blink*

Margaret focuses upon the Doctor~the colors surrounding him flashing with brilliance. She feels as if she has lost a bit of time, but she doesn't know the how or the why of it. Instead, she opens her mouth to speak and yawns.

"May I please go back to my room? I believe I have much to think upon."

 

[Ravenloft]

Enumael had pushed Margaret just enough to bring out the Maggie persona. He listened to her in silence. Jerome had, on occasion, inadvertantly broughed Maggie to the fore, however, as good as he may have been at his job, he never listened to her. Enumael knew better than to dismiss her words for madness. He knew that Margaret/Maggie was not insane, nor was she broken. She was simply protecting herself from the tortures she had endured.

Once Maggie had said her peace, Margaret returned and asked if she could return to her room. "Of course, my dear, I will walk with you." Enumael said as he rose from his seat and came to her side, offering her a hand. "You don't need to languish in subservience, I can give you the strength of will to prevent you from being taken advantage of... If you like. If you feel you can trust me."

 

[Luna_Wolf72]

Margaret glanced at the Doctor, unsure of what he meant by his offer but deciding that thinking on it any more would simply drive her madder than usual. She rose from her chair and placed one small hand into his before placing that same hand at the crook of his elbow.

"Take me back back to my room, please? I find myself very sleepy..."

Her eyes returned to the halo of bright light surrounding his head. It flared with a brilliance that made her want to squint. Obviously no one else could see it. If they could? They would KNOW he wasn't normal, not human. Not really.

"I will think on all I have learned today Doctor manning. Mayhap, at our next meeting? I will be able to make better sense of what it is that I want..."

 

[Ravenloft]

Enumael covered Margaret's hand in his with a light pat as she took his arm and walked with him. He gave her a slight frown, feeling her confusion, and nodded in understanding. "Very well, but if you have need of me for any reason, simply say my name. Enumael, my true name, and I will be there for you. I promise you that." Once they arived at her room, he opened the door for her and gave her a gentlemanly bow. "Rest well, young lady." he said with a smile.

 

[Luna_Wolf72]

Margaret/Maggie

'Well that was certainly...odd.'

'Yes. It was. When did you develop the ability to see beyond the physical? Do you remember?'

'No. Can't say that I do. Though I know it was just after we got moved to the Asylum. Til then I saw colors but they came and went, streaky like.'

'Guess our Sire made an ability that already existed, stronger?'

'Yeah. I guess so.'

The inner dialogue ended and Margaret headed for her small cot. She stripped down and slipped in between the white sheets, allowing the overwhelming scent of bleach to calm her. Meeting with the doctor, 'Enumael. His true name is Enumael.' had left her unable to focus.

"I just need some sleep is all."

The words were a murmur in the silence of her room. Resolutely, she closed her eyes. Soon enough, she was asleep.

 

[Ravenloft]

Enumael lingered outside Margaret's room for a moment before returning to the common room, where he looked for Briana. It was her turn to speak with him. "Briana." He said her name with authority as he came to stand over her and her work. "It is time we have a meeting. I hear you have been hard at work in my absence. Please come with me, and do bring your notes."

 

[Cheska]

She raises an eyebrow, turning just a bit in his direction. “But of course heir Doctor.” pronouncing each syllable distinctly.

Rising from the chair, she follows quietly, head high, chin up, shoulders back with almost a march in her step. “You have been tardy heir Doctor. Unlike you, but with loss, I can understand.. you are better now?” she says, weather she actually cares or not is unknown by her voice, said with a very casual tone.

She holds her note book close to her chest, watching the back of his head, studying it as if waiting to see something new or interesting about him.

Following him into his office.

 

[Ravenloft]

Enumael paused, the pangs of Jerome's sorrow over losing his daughter assailed him at Briana querry. "I... Aught not discuss the matter, unless there is some closer you feel you might need." He faltered as he spoke, giving her a quick glance as he opened the door to his office for her.

"The nurses tell me you have been hard at work on a device of some sort? I hope it's nothing dangerous." Jerome had never sounded like this before, like he believed the things Briana worked on were real... But now, he sounded quite serious, even a little worried.

 

[Cheska]

She noted his reaction but gave a shake of her head, "No, I am fine.. " she looked about the office and briefly debated taking his chair. It should be hers by merit of intellect, but he would quibble on the matter and she had no wish to see him further distressed, yet.

"All of my creations are dangerous Heir Doctor, in the hands of the foolish." She sat in the normal seat, where he could pretend to have authority over her, it gave him the illusion of comfort. "Can you be more specific?"

Relaxing, propping an ankle over one knee, she rested her note book on the make shift desk and opened it, ready to make notes of her own.
"Also, you should remind new interns to keep their idiotic hands to themselves."

 

[Ravenloft]

"The foolish and the mad?" Enumael asked, calmly. "Yes, I was told that there were schematics for a weapon of some sort. A strange, alien looking thing. What has inspired you to such a creation? The last I knew, you were working on plans for machines for the good of all... Not weapons. You must know that we frown on such endeavors here, at the institute."

Enumael frowned and paced, stroking his chin. "Yes, of course, I will let the staff know to keep out of your room and not to meddle with your inventions from now on... What sort of weapon is it that you are making anyway? There are no threats here that warrent such a device, are there?" He asked innocently.