A Loss in the Bloodline, by Vaklamana

Published: Dec 20 2007

It was too much.

The pain came to an excruciating pinpoint, a steak driving through her heart. She felt as if she were trapped inside a burning funeral pyre, but instead of burning and falling to ash as she was supposed to, the burning continued. Her flesh was restored and burned again. A cycle of pure and utter pain.

None of it mattered. It didn't matter that she was sitting before her Queen's altar. It did not matter that she had sacrificed many a soul for her Queen that night. It did not matter that Sero still held half of her soul captive. It did not matter that Pentamere had changed. It did not matter that Dakh's blood was dried on the stone temple floor. It did not matter that Coil had been taken captive and that she had not been able at the time to go. It did not matter that her skin was warm with the human blood she had to drink earlier. It did not matter that she had enjoyed feeding for the first time in a long time. It did not matter, any of it, if he were not there. It did not matter. It was all in vain.

Loss.

It was the only thing she could feel once the pain was too much to be considered pain.

It was a giant hole in the middle of her being, ripping, eating, and threatening to swallow her whole. A black hole, sucking everything she knew as life in on itself.

She froze in the position she was in, eyes staring ahead, fathomless in their sadness. Her face was washed of all emotion, every line smoothed. This would pass, she kept silently telling herself.

It would pass...