From Wolf to Dragon

[Mircea]

Please consider this to have taken place the day before the timestamp.

Mircea knelt for longer than he expected that night, struggling to clear his mind and incapable of discerning why it was such a struggle. Doubts lingered, circling his thoughts and clawing up worries he thought had been put to rest already. His frustration had grown such that he had finally left the Temple without a word, plucking his sword up and strapping it in place as he walked around to the back of the building, finding a clear, virtually deserted piece of parkland, not far from where he had laid the first of Elizabeth's gifts to him. Once there, Mircea had drawn his sword and practised, working through endless, flowing routines, the blade flashing beneath the city lights and moonlit sky as the man moved effortlessly and with more grace than anybody of his sheer size and build should have been able to achieve. He was silent as he worked, the only sounds his feet upon the grass and the whistle of his blade through the air.

He had no idea how long he went on like that, be it hours or merely minutes that he lost himself to simple movement, picking up speed as time went on until finally he stopped, breathing heavily and unable to remember what the earlier worries had even been. With his mind finally calmed, Mircea returned to the Temple and knelt once more, sword as it his side as usual and the words coming easily from his mouth at last.

"Wise Mother, you have sent me a most unexpected ally with a common enemy. Though it is but one that she and I have mutual distaste for, perhaps it is the beginning of something more. She has agreed to pass the boy's location to me should she happen upon him and I the same should I be first to discover where the rat hides. Another pet has been gained and its description given to myself and a number of my blood with the hope that I might destroy the poor creature before it is made to wrought more damage while its master hides. I have concerns, however and I do not know why. You have given our Phoenix back to us, though I have not been able to speak with her since her return, I have seen her words upon the machines this night and must assume her of this world once more. Our allies also wish to move tonight, to take those who would come to kill us and slay them first, but I do not trust their judgement this night, nor their state of mind. I do not think this night to be the night to strike, but Mother, if my judgement is wrong, I ask that you show me the way."

He didn't linger long, still feeling restless that night and eager to move, to distract himself from the nagging doubts that began to torment him once more and so, with that in mind, he rose swiftly, moving towards the city streets quickly as he set his sword in place once more, pausing only briefly at the doorway to ensure all was settled properly before slipping outside once more.

[Mircea]

Mircea had left Habren's side early, while the sun was still risen and many of his kind were forced to remain safely indoors where they would not be burned by its light, but Mircea was amongst the few who could stand such a thing, even feeling energised by it. He had hoped to be out in time to watch it rising over the river, away from the lights and sounds of the city morning, but sleep had held him longer than he expected, wrapped around his lover's sleeping form and so, by the time he finally woke, the sun was already approaching its highest peak. He had moved swiftly through the daylight hours, carrying out a number of small tasks he had determined to be done before the rising of the moon so he might have the evening to himself to either indulge or battle or simply relax as he saw fit. There were a few things he wished to do when the evening drew in that could not be done while the sun was risen and so he had entered the Temple in the daylight hours, kneeling in the silence within and pausing for the first time since he had awoken.

He lingered, simply enjoying the quiet solitude for several hours before finally turning to still his mind and determine what lingered most deeply within him that evening. Finally he stilled, some small measure of tension leaving his body and loosening the muscles in his shoulders before he began to speak.

"Honoured Mother, I am afraid. I know that death may be coming for me and that you may yet call for me to return to your side once more and I have come to accept this. I do not fear my enemies or their allies, their mercenaries or their lies, but instead I fear myself. I worry that I lose sight of why this conflict first began, Mother, of why I sought to demand their blood in payment for my Phoenix's and that instead I seek simply to hurt. Time and again I have seen our blood spilled and done naught, Mother, and time and again have I listened to apologies and pleas for mercy, for life, heard excuses of why our attackers had no choice or were pressured into their actions. I grow weary of such things, Mother, and the urge grows in me to simply bleed them all, to kill all who have ever stood against us and I fear that I lose sight of the desire for justice and the lust for blood. The darkness calls to me, whispers of the power I might have if only I would take it, embrace it and, though I try to resist temptation and fight against the urge, I do not know that I will succeed alone. Please, Mother, I beg of you, help me. Do not let me lose myself to this fight and if my death is all that will prevent such then please, Mother, do not let me live in darkness, for I would sooner die the man you made me than become someone I do not recognise as myself."

Mircea shook where he knelt, though there were no tears this night, simply fear. Never before had he turned from the challenge of a fight, even when outnumbered and almost certain to fail, nor had he found another, mortal or not, who had inspired fear within him and a reluctance to face them, but this... This inspired terror in the man if he allowed himself to face it and so, instead, he had tried to run, but a man couldn't outrun himself and what lay within and there could be no denying that the lust for blood and violence lay within the vampire on his knees, only hope that his resolve to be better than the primal urges was strong enough to withstand temptation, but again... This conflict and the blood it demanded made the struggle so much harder and his urges seemed far easier to simply give into and indulge.

The moon was beginning to rise by the time Mircea brought himself to leave the solitude of the Temple and walk amongst the humans, reeking of blood and with their beating hearts sounding in his ears. He hurried that night, moving more swiftly than he had in many nights past to be at Habren's side again before she woke for the night in the hope that her presence might calm such thoughts within him.