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Gods above, he deserves this. People under estimated that unholy, once perished skin still appreciated a nice hot bath.
"Pah!~" Asterion breathed out. Blood in a goblet was more an aesthetic thing. Without an enchantment it congealed against the crystal. He swirled it about as he want to do. Watched the undulating waves churn around and around. Asterion tipped it back. Savoured the mouthful. His tongue hunted over what red remained. Now he needed a chaser.
And a bit of fun.
"You." A snap of the fingers. The spawn knew which of the flock was called to attend him. Pathetic thing lurched forward in a hurry. A 'wine' bottle in trembling hands to refill. Blood and its pink bubbles gurgled and frothed up to the brim. He hummed. Twice as fast the spawn stuttered back. Sanguinous bottle still clutched tight.
"Ah ah.' Asterion tutted.
They had this habit now and then. To presume what he wanted and when. In times of spawn sent out to 'recruit' or do what needed to be done, it was honestly quite hilarious. (Bordering on cute) of the lot upon their return assuming their catch would win his eye. Oh this one is a blond. This one is ever so healthy. Dew-eyed type catch your fancy, yes my lord? At best he'd gift them a chuckle then drain the lost lamb presented. In admittedly one of his moods, he'd snap the pro-offered neck and tell the sniveling failure to do better. He was picky on who he took into the fold. Other lesser past tense vampires, who shan't be named, didn't do it right.
And this was what Asterion could label as a 'teachable moment'. One he was willing to provide.
"I'm a touch peckish. Won't you?" His mussed curls bobbed in the direction of a tray lightly laden with goods to pair with his bathtime vintage. Some savoury, some sweet. He wasn't about to choose at a distance.
"Uh..." The spawn flapped instead of obeying. Beady eyes darting between its master and the gleaming try. Polished silver a blinding thing in the bright sunlight. "I don't think-"
"That's right." His drink warm and thick as it poured down Asterion's throat. "You don't."
Spawn didn't laugh. Nodded and shuffled to the border of a pleasant Summer day streaming through the window. Beseechingly looked back. "Go along now. Silver doesn't burn. That's werewolves. Plus I'm getting impatient." Last warning now.
They plunged their hands forward and gripped the tray with smoke already burning from their pores. Holding it as steady as their trembling muscles could. Held it, still in sunlight for their master Asterion to debate over at his lounging leisure.
When he reached out the light was a welcoming warmth over his considering fingers. He had all the time in the world. And all the delight in having power. Right now the power over a squirming thing. Should he go for a grape? Felt too cliche in the moment. Though loathe he be to deny any form of decadence. Perhaps a salted chocolate? Best of both worlds really. Might as well have both then. He didn't feel like pairing the right cheese combination at the moment. The effort.
Asterion plucked up a grape to expertly land in his mouth. It burst, full and juicy, beneath his fangs. Then between two fingers took a morsel of rich chocolate. Already felt it smear between the heat of basking in the afternoon light and the bath. He shooed away the spawn now in silent tears then leaned back with his prize.
In delight delectable, he forgave the tray being set down with a desperate clatter. Asterion should have known this was the one treat to satisfy him for now. The flavour had him humming. So reliably good.
The smell of burning flesh did sour beneath the bath salts and body oils. Beyond that? Asterion decreed that this was a wonderful day.
-
Bath extended into late afternoon. When he stepped out, was dried, cared for, and dressed in the finery befitting what he deserved - the sun was hovering over the horizon. Not yet ruby red or cast far reaching last light.
He found her in a window overlooking the backgardens. A labyrinthine curation of hedge mazes in bloom, statuary, and butting up pockets that lead into a bit of forest.
Was she so moved by foliage his presence was a secondary thing? That certainly won't do.
"Well there you are, the jewel of my crown." He lounged, chest forward and hip cocked, by her. Tav's attention didn't stray immediately. For a moment he got to appreciate the healing bitemark on her neck. He always found time to appreciate it while she sat on his lap while he surveyed the drudgery of conquest. Now there was an idea for later. Or possibly very soon. She did not leave him wanting and waiting for long. Tav's bright eyes came to lock with his. "And where have you been tucked away?"
"No where special."
"That could mean a number of things." Most likely none of those meant outside the property. The spawn all knew not to let Tav's wanderings dally out of bounds. Whatever was needed or wanted was here. Or could be acquired to here. "You can be honest with me." You have to be honest with me.
"Ordering me about like the others?"
Suppose, for the most part, her keeping her spitfire, could be considered a bit of salty merit. On an entertainment scale. "My consort, never doubt how special you are." Like he wasn't doing anything wrong so how could doubt exist? How could even a frown manifest in the presence of he and what he could provide? Her eyes drifted down his body. Of sunlight blessing his godly form. "And this came about from..."
"Thinking." Tav settled on. What an answer!
He clucked his tongue. "And what could possibly be rolling around in that little head of yours?" Honestly she could be so cute. Like a house cat puffing up or something. Talk about scrumptious.
"Us."
"Us? One of my favourite topics." She raised a brow at his purring. "Well don't leave me wanting." The worst of the outcomes.
Tav resettled on the ledge. Her slender leg on the border of where the evening separated them. She was always a pale thing even before he bound them together. His ascent merely changed her palour from innately pasty Tiefling to one without blood to blush her cheeks or add more bruises under the eyes.
She existed here and now in splendor as their plans moved ever closer to success. Finding out the length of eternity side by side. A length of time he dreaded night after sunless day. Now, he could hardly wait. "Are you happy?"
Breathy air escaped him. "As can be!" Asterion turned to look back over the world. What he could see and in turn what he soon would. A little imagination and Baldur's Gate lay splayed easily before his mind's eye. How a twist of his hand, a dash of his power or a sprinkling of gold and then it would all mould as he commanded it. In its due time. Or whenever he decided that time had come. "And we're just getting started."
So if she wasn't excited yet (as if that was a possibility really) then that was sure to get the metaphorical blood bumping.
A spawn could feel blood satisfied for but a moment. Starting behind the ears. He recalled during his time, that the feeding itself was the high, but not the satisfaction.
He never imagined in the before-before times that hunger could become a second self. Beyond a constant companion. It was your thoughts. Your senses. When blood was near (and it seemed the world hummed with a constant stream of it just out of reach) it called to breach the skin.
"Big plans..." It was like she wasn't even talking at him.
"Yes. Though nothing, again, you needn't worry yourself on the finer points."
"Sit still and look pretty?" Cocked and eyebrow. Looked at him.
"And what a pretty pair we'll make." Upon their thrones. An eternal night above their crowns. Bhaal's little prodigy line of Orin and her just-won't-die grandfather will wish they had the command he and Tav will. He was thinking of taking a variant spin on what those who worshiped the Bitch Queen wore. Like Underdark colours meets how Baldurian's ring in the new year. Maybe. Yet no bolt of cloth or material so far had lived up to his expectations.
"Then what's the broad strokes? The big picture?" A long nail tapped against her thigh. Could set a watch to the beat.
He gave his own hum. A trill at the back of his throat. Once more the image in his mind's eye unfurled. A world under his thumb that would never rise above the nail. With eternity at his command he could rule how he pleased. The known and beloved king of the Sword's Coast? Could do that for an eon or two. The whispered puppet master behind the scenes? Until he grew bored of that. The singular connective point being that he was on top of the food chain and had no intention of being usurped or surpassed.
"I imagine it's what we all imagine when prompted with the word 'power'. Though catered for us." The power to cease being a hunched barely controlled thing when anyone suffered so much as a scratch. All the way up to the power to rewrite the stars.
"Us."
"Yes, you and I." He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. Saw more of her pretty face. Though marred by the long hours without a smile. "Can't help, but be a touch jealous of you. Getting chosen to be my consort."
Tav's hand replaced Astarion's to undo the strands. He pouted, but allowed it. Let her think she won even small victories. Only one of them was leading this dance. "Army of the undead I'm guessing. Like that book."
Quite the blast from the past that. The intro of Mystra Carrion and what would be done. Though hopefully without the glowing, preserved weakspots and lack of skin care routine, gods. "Why yes. That tome was the beginning. In this position I'll have access to resources like that and more."
"Planning on employing any of our old friends?"
Astarion's face, a spectacle of such beauty it lead innumerable souls to their demise. Only one remained to tell the tale and she was honestly asking about,
"That group of weirdos?!"
"Old friends. Whom you liked." Oh he'd put those notions to the coffin.
"Don't. Go putting words in my mouth. They were convenient for a time. But that time is over." Astarion's blood in her cells tightened the leash. Pale silver eyes becoming bright red. "Especially after all that bemoaning about my ascension."
"Seven thousand souls-"
"Who were already long dead!!"
He was sure of that. Yet as sure as he was here Tav was forcing them to rehash it. Astarion wouldn't be swaggering about otherwise. So yes he was quite sure and certain.
(Plus in certain eyes, if the soul be vengeful enough it would stick around past the deed. And if there were seven thousand scornful spectres badgering on he would have noticed.)
What was he supposed to have done? Just leave power like that on the table? Let Caz- let him have it and hope he wouldn't have used it to somehow make Astarion's life even worse? They had shapechangers, politcal gadabouts, Harpers hunting him, and mindflayers attempting some 'grand design' while putting filthy squirmers into their collective skulls. Squirmers that gave him false hope-
Though Astarion supposed it did serve a purpose on getting him to the ritual at all.
In another life he would have snuck under cover of night till somehow he got the drop on the whole debacle. Wrestle the sceptre away. Put his old master in the sacrificial position. And that sounds like it would have been so much more effort.
Also he would have needed to do all that without... without Tav. Who read the Infernal on his back so he knew about the ascension in the first place. Let him feed on her nightly so he might be happy while she stumbled to Shadowheart. And helped him... every step of the way.
A fact she'd forgotten along with something else.
"Remember you chose this. Me." If she wanted to degrade herself by being with him or been blinded by his beauty so she ignored the many opportunities to get away before now then Astarion would be a fool to not take advantage of the morsel. The command of his voice rampaged through the fine halls. "Did you forget life doesn't get any do overs? So now you're complaining I can't be Mr. Cuddlefangs all the time!"
He pulled her forward till the evening light began to heat over her skin. "Don't go making me the bad guy, darling."
Pushed her back against the wall then set his curls in correct order. Let Tav cradle her smarting arm. Waited for her to look back at her Master. Astarion gazed derisively down his nose at her. "Honestly, my sweetling, would it kill you to be a touch happier for me? Why does 'us' always have to be about 'you'?" Waited with hands on hips, but her answer wasn't right.
"What are your plans regarding the sun?"
What the devils was he supposed to do with a prompt like that? He spun around looking for whomever she was clearly talking to, but found only the two still. And Tav's eyes were locked with Astarion's. Her ever signature eyebrow raised. Patient as the world spun. So fine if his consort was so beset on doing tangents when she should be answering his questions-
"Well it's going to have to go away for a little bit, isn't it? I can't raise a very successful army of darkness, damned, and the undead on the strict timeline of night by night!" Astarion didn't want a one and done in regards to his conquering. He wanted on a bright day of his choosing before sweeping over the Sword's Coast as a magnificent shroud. Precious radiant light snuffed out same as a candleflame before bedtime. The people would look from the heavens before looking to each other. What could be happening? Why? A nervous murmur spreading like infection.
Then the curtains would rise.
Turning to his audience, he found Tav with heartbroken eyes. See this was one of the reasons he couldn't bear to burden her mind like this. What was needed and necessary was messy. Those type of small, very temporary sacrifices, were part of getting what they deserved. He put upon a sigh then prepared for some way to reassure her.
Seemed awfully fussy today so the effort... could they possibly go back to the lap plan? He was fond of going back to the lap plan if she started behaving. Astarion opened his mouth, but it was her voice that beat his.
"I'm sorry."
He boggled down at her. "What was that now?" Like there were plenty of reasons she should be apologising, but-
"I'm so sorry." Tav reached across the light line. Muscles already trembling from the burn. "I tried so hard to keep you in the sun. To give it back to you. After everything..." Her voice gutted. This will be a remorse she'll carry past death.
"What are you doing!?" Astarion demanded. Tugged, but she gave no leniency. Her scorching bones stayed bruising. "You fool! You're burning up!" Could she not even understand that?!
Tav leaned forward till half of her face began to crumbling into ash. "We'll be okay. I promise." What pale pink remained quickly was rotting away. Her good eye remained determined on the after-image of the man she once loved. And all that he's become. Of what she has to do. All she will have to take away.
"Enough! Stop this at once!" His final word of authority failed to echo through the halls as it should. Astarion's voice covered by a darkened film threatening to swallow him up. Tav just gave him a gritted smile. Then she stopped everything.
-
Astarion's meditative state was ripped from him. All the air pulled right out of his lungs. His eyes zipped around to see the impossible.
He was at the Inn in Baldur's Gate.
His traveling companions tucked away in dreamland it seemed. Gale was the nearest bed and the wizard was completely gone. Probably dreaming of spell circle fractals or leyline tuning or whatever got his staff focused. Karlach past him was a sprawled starfish that the Elfsong Tavern beds couldn't possibly contain. Her Infernal Engine thrumming and whirring even conked out completely. Lae'zel... slept with her eyes open and Astarion was honestly not sure if that's a githyanki thing or a her thing. Either way he was steering clear of that out of sheer self preservation.
Astarion peeled back the blankets and tip toed to the usually unused section of their merry quarters. Caught a glance at Withers who didn't spare to glance back. Apparently his fate wasn't the one the mysterious undead was watching spin. Sure he had time to teach a little tiefling girl with murdered parents how to harness the powers that be beyond her years, but Astarion slips by for a chat and suddenly the arcane gossip dries up.
Volo was once again curled up in a corner and that's as much thought as he was going to give that man or sentence.
Myzora wasn't haunting the corner as she often want to do. Caught her bursting back in from an ostentatious flame ring before Wyll usually woke. When Tav had asked the cambion clicked her tongue and reminded that she had other dogs on the leash to walk.
Turning the corner he found Tav pacing a groove in the floor. Already in ranger furs and that weathered hat. Tail swishing at fast pace. She saw him and stopped. Looked him over from tip to toe then back again. Her pupils dilating to take in all the small details of his person.
"Astarion." She breathed it. Like a cleric in prayer.
And he had been planning to do a little spin. Give her a show of him in his usual underthings. Or crack that 'yes yes she should take it all in'. But Astarion stalled at that.
Wanting to cross the distance immediately, but not wanting to spook her further - he began to place one silent step after the other. His hands visible. Watched for micro-expressions across her flickering face. "Darling?" Two steps closer and be absolutely calm. Or at least project calm. "You sleep well?" Could have been a nightmare, same as the fog that clung to the back of his mind. Blamed the tapole coupled with the obscene number of horrors they'd run across. Little blighter gobbling up, hopefully something that isn't too necessary, then spitting out... a lost feeling in him.
"I'm fine. How are you?" She peered up to him and when Astarion offered a hand Tav reached out to take him by the wrist. Absently covered hers. He couldn't give warmth, but he could gift pressure.
"For it not even being sunrise yet, I'd say I'm rather dandy." Raised a brow. Astarion was now on. His presentation and assurance automatic, but refined in one talented go. "Decided to get up and stretch my legs before Gale tries to cast Polymorph in his sleep again." His deepest condolences to Wyll, but that was one of the funniest things to happen on this or any plane.
Happened to Halsin at a later point and honestly wasn't nearly the same.
Man didn't even notice!
Her pale eyes flickered down and traced the lines on the back of his alabaster hand. Of drained veins and stilled beating. "Thought I heard you just now. You sounded in pain." A drop of acid landed in his throat. Sweat prickled at being caught. He didn't do anything wrong, but had been caught. His hands in hers flinched, but stayed.
"Hmm? Oh that." Gave a wave away with a well done eye roll. "You see I just remembered how you got down and squidly with our little mental friend for some reason." Completed it all with very pointed smile.
She could claim it was all in the name of placating someone who has ego enough to self name as 'Emperor'. But he got enough of an eyeful to know there was enthusiasm outside of just lying back and thinking of the Sword's Coast.
Tav narrowed her eyes, but soon had the same grin.
"And here I was worried it was you and Dribbles running away together. Setting up a romantic bistro out of the Last Light Inn." Oh so innocent blinks.
His hackles went up, "Oh no no no. We are not bringing up that horror! If you feel so inclined to cast stones then I remind you that somehow that dreaded carnival make up failed to come off for three days!" Despite vigorous scrubbing and at one point begging Jaheira just stake him so Withers might bring him back.
That might have worked.
She glared. He pouted. Couldn't last long as they both began to sputter giggles. His high and behind a palm. Hers low and sparkling like gemstones.
He hooked an elbow out so they could sit in the little enclave by the window. Tav pushed the pillows over to his side. Was never one to seek out 'too soft' comforts. Astarion would never be one to deny any. It was a nice balance. She pulled up a knee to rest a chin on and go back to considering him. Though less like a ghost forgot its way back to the grave. "So your nightmare."
At the prompting Astarion gave a small sigh. Suppose he wasn't getting out of this. "It wasn't so much a nightmare. Just... felt different today I suppose. Can't place the right word on it." Rolled it over for a moment before giving it another go, "Do you ever walk into a room and forget what you came in for? Imagine that, but also a bit of déjà vu. Dash of what I can only describe as nostalgia and you'd be getting pretty close to it." She waited a bit more.
"Couldn't quite place the where and when I was."
Tav nodded. Slow and considering her next move. "Well, what do you remember last?"
Astarion walked backwards inside his own mind. Had to push past the fog and cobwebs of that feeling he awoke with to what felt the most tangible. "Aurelia... and Leon..." The image of their wicked feet creeping across with intent to abscond with him.
How he heard Tav's heartbeat pick up at him calling for them to leave him alone. They tried to calm him. They truly believed in that rotter Cazador's poisoned lined words. As if that absolute monster was even capable of sharing so magnanimously. Took him being (conditionally) free to walk in the sun to set in stone the truth.
The carrot was lovely and rare, but the stick was sure to follow and near constant.
Then Tav had swayed him to being 'honest' and 'not luring them to their sacrificial doom'.
The things he did for love.
Paused to smile. Small and his. That little reminder. Surprised and delighted him. Caught Tav still waiting patiently and refocused on the rest.
Negotiations had broken down when their master seized control, forcing red eyes to flare, and forcing his siblings to try a more aggressive tactic.
Hadn't lasted long as the party was roused by that enough to wayleigh into the lot of them. Enjoyed seeing the resident Owlbear tackle Petras. Nearly made up for the centuries of dealing with him.
"So I suppose that's that." Didn't feel like that's that. An extension of himself and senses with no record of it. That his heels felt familiar hallways and his grip returned to doorways he passed through a thousand times. Scuttling servants that willing (if one could believe it) came crawling to Cazador. Hoping his fangs will meet their necks and his tainted blood would fill their hearts. Swallowed that he related to seeing his old master with that desperate hope. Felt like he could be excused under the circumstances of nearly dying. "Still want to party crash Szarr estate?"
Tav gave a firm nod. "We have to stop the ritual. Stop the ascension from happening."
"And we're absolutely set on me not snagging absolute power? Can't run that by you again?" She raised a distinctive brow. "Had to try."
"It'll never be worth it." She reminded. Her stance that he couldn't trade his siblings (and Cazador) like coins so he might rise above it all. And from the devil Rapheal's description it was really everything.
Sated hunger for the first time in over two hundred years. To no longer living in fear and helplessness of being just a spawn. No more conditions to wanting to live the life he wanted.
A life with Tav.
Could imagine what- no that everything would be possible being an ascended vampire. They would never have to worry again. Still persisted in that belief. And Astarion would be lying if that didn't sway him by proximity.
Peered through the city waking up through one of the window panes. "Yes yes." Traced where each bit of coloured glass were fused to the next. "Though if we were to try it and find out..."
"Please." She held a hand out in the space between them. Tav never crossed without checking with him first. At times he felt like a temple. Others like a real person like he used to be an eternity ago. In all instances he felt completely respected.
He completed the offer. Marveling and how their fingers interlocked. Sun decided it was time enough to spill golden through the window. Honey thick and just beginning to warm. Her pulse echoed in the space where their palms laid so it felt like he had one too. Let his head fall back to study it. Was practiced enough without a mirror now to fix any errant curls before seeing the general public. "I do believe you're turning me into a bit of a sap."
"Wasn't hard." Tav quipped.
Another sigh, she pulled them out of him so easily. "Guess I'll just have to enjoy my time before it all goes away then." Tilted his face to let sunbeams get caught behind his eyelashes.
"Maybe not." She began with rising certainty. A joyful secret about to crack open from her. "Gale helped me do a bit of digging and I found a tome that referenced something that might help." Now he was waiting with an eyebrow raised. "There's a cloak that protects vampires from direct sunlight. It could be a start."
He was about to bite back at that. Oh good he could walk around like the clergy while squinting and still feeling like he's never eaten in his life. But Astarion caught the light off her eyes. Tav was trying. Tav had been going out of her way to listen to a wizard exposit at her just to get a fragment of information in the hopes that it would instill hope in him in return.
That she really believed that there was a circumvention to the ritual. Sounded much harder than the former idea, but... this might be where her belief again was enough for him to trust fall back into a ridiculous scheme.
"It could be a start." He agreed. Watched the pride fill out her features. It was a shame they couldn't just stroll down the easy path.
Suppose the gods didn't think it was their speed. Vindictive lot if his life was any indication.
Looked back to the city hustle and bustle. Watching how the colours moved around and to each other. Held up the image mentally of the night where the primary colour was a skulking blue. "Would love to keep up this view."
Tav was looking out the window as well. Her eyes didn't follow the milling ways of people needing to be somewhere or just spending times catching up on what the Baldur's Mouth had published recently.
Her gaze now looked like it did earlier. This beyond the pale comprehension. "I promise I'll find a way to let you stay in the sun." Somehow being the dangling word of the sentence.
Rest of their little menagerie would be getting up soon.
La'zeal would sit up apropo to nothing then begin strange rituals that she roughly translated to 'calisthenics'.
Jaheira would be next because 'old people will do a much longer sleep soon enough, you know' and give a knowing wink.
Minsc would wake when the hamster told him to.
Wyll would inevitably find himself in an old sleeping position that snagged his horns into the fine pillows.
Shadowheart would be kneeling in prayer, somehow silent from dreams to dutiful worship.
Halsin would limber up by running around with Scratch as the Wild Shape of his choosing. Their antics pulling the Owlbear cub into a playful chase.
Karlach would hit the ground so hard the tavern patrons below would wonder if the earthquakes were starting to come from the sky now.
Then she'd give Gale a few singeing taps across the cheek until his nearly comatose status was lifted. He'd bleary eyed stumble about and somehow serve a full breakfast on automatic rhythm alone.
Astarion turned back to Tav and brought the two of them closer. "Look at us making plans. Stab Cazador. Don't steal ultimate power. And go on a world-wind adventure for a more... ethical alternative to my little condition. After we deal with our stubborn squatter in our skulls. All decided before breakfast." Gave a playful flash of fangs and a wink. "Well your breakfast."
Tav punched him in the arm with a loving smile. Then called Shadowheart over to fix it.