Then Snow turn to Flame

The origin story for "Morrigan the Temptress"

Errigal - Year 3676

Morrigan stared daggers at the man sitting across the bar from her.  His meaty fingers covered in enough body hair he could be a werewolf.  The stink could not only be smelled but she was sure she could see it as well.  She continued analyzing him as he gulped down what was left of his ale and the bits he did not care to drink dripped down his bearded chin, clumping the hair together and in a knotted bunch at the end of his face.  She cringed when she saw those hairy fingers reach around her mother’s waist.  She knew later he would be touching her with more than those hands and the thought disgusted her.  She turned away not wanting her mother to catch her staring.

 

She loved her mum more than anything this universe could possibly give her.  She felt the guilt weigh on her heart because she knew the reason her mother let that pig of a man touch her was so Morrigan would not have to do it as well.  Morrigan’s father left long before she was born and ever since her mother had done what she felt was needed to keep the two of them fed.  They did not live luscious lives.  Nearly every night they would drag themselves to another inn to find a man willing to pay enough for her mother’s services.  When Morrigan was younger, it would be easier for men to take pity on a struggling mother, but now all they want is for her to have a taste of their offers too. 

 

Though she respected her mother for everything she had done to keep them alive, she did not want the same life.  Her mother knew it as well, and tried to prevent it, though as Morrigan grew into a young woman, it became more and more difficult to ward the men away.

 

The man with the hairy fingers and her mother had gone when she turned back around to check on them.  Morrigan once again felt that sinking feeling in her gut, knowing what they were doing.  She motioned for the barkeep to get her another drink.

 

The night continued on and the activity of the tavern went from a thriving commotion of drunkards and w****s to something almost peaceful as the bars pianist played through the growing silence as everyone made their way either to a bed or the floor that seemed comfortable enough for a drunk man to sleep on.  Finally her mother returned joining her at the bar for a drink.

 

“After tonight we are just one step closer to leaving this place.”  They had begun saving up enough money to leave the city of Errigal.  It was filled with crooks and creatures who have sneakily made their way out of the Penumbrian Wood and through the Pumbral Mountains for a little fun with the tourists.  Morrigan and her mum knew better though, they stayed away and kept to themselves, never gaining the attention of the evil whose foot the city sat upon. 

              

“It will not be much longer you have to do this mum, it breaks my heart.” Morrigan said with a painful look in her eyes.

              

“Everything is worth doing when it for your child, perhaps someday you will understand.” She said smiling as she brushed a strand of Morrigans dark curly hair from her face.  Her mother had the same hair, but Morrigan had her father’s eyes, a bright blue that would only belong to a mountain dweller as herself.  As much as she hated her father for leaving them, it was a feature her mother loved.

 

They continued with their drinks as the bar was closing up and the last of the drunks stumbled out of the bar on their merry way.  As they began to make their leave as well, a commotion started outside.  A loud scream is what caught their attention, a blood curdling cry for help that froze the blood in Morrigans veins.  She felt her hairs stand on end as her mother calmed her.  “It will be fine dear, just wait here.” She began to move towards the door to see what was going on, but the door swung open before she took five steps.  Morrigan swore she saw something flash through it but dismissed it on the account of her tiredness.  Her mother cautiously walked towards the door, with a quizzical look on her face when she turned to Morrigan.  When she saw there was no one there she closed the door and looked back again at her daughter only to see a strong pale figure behind her.  She screamed but it was too late, the creature grabbed hold of her daughter and bared its sharp teeth.  She lunged towards the creature but not before it could sink its teeth into her daughters neck.  She cried out for her, running towards the creature knocking into him.  He dropped Morrigan who fell to the floor limply. 

 

Morrigan, still conscious and fearing for her life tried to call for help, only to be silenced by a searing pain, one more painful than the bite she just felt on her neck.  The ice she had once felt from fear in her veins now turned to flame.  She was burning, but she couldn’t move.  She lay there paralyzed and on fire, watching as the creature preyed on her cowering mother.  She watched helplessly as the creature picked her mother up by her throat and held her off the ground.  Morrigan desperately wanted to help but could not move, could not scream…she did nothing. 

 

The creature pulled her mother towards him, his teeth growing sharper as they plunged into her mother neck.  She wanted to yell out to this pale monster with the red eyes but she remained voiceless ad motionless as the fire continued to spread within her.  She watched as what she had concluded was a vampire that had escaped through the mountains, devoured the blood in her mother’s body.  Finally he dropped her limp body to the floor, satisfied with himself.  He stepped over their motionless bodies and left the tavern, creating more horrifying screams from the patrons outside as he continued his rampage through the city.

 

Morrigan’s eyes never left her mother, who was across the tavern floor away from her.  She wanted to cry for her mother, for herself but no tears came.  She saw her mother’s eyes find hers, the warmth in her brown irises touching Morrigan’s heart before they closed forever.  Morrigan screamed in her head trapped within her thoughts unable to reach out to the one person she’s ever loved as they left this world.  Morrigan lay there motionless awhile longer before what she hoped was death finally took her.

 

 

Her heated thoughts spread through the darkness behind her closed eyelids.  She lay there still paralyzed, alone in the black, her veins still burning.  Is this what death felt like?   Was she to endure this forever?  She wanted to cry at the thought, cry that she could not see her mother one last time, and spend the afterlife with the one person who made her first life worth living.  Death was a cruel wish she was not sure she wanted any longer.  Though she knew there was nothing to go back to, and it gave her a small bit of comfort to know she was free from her life at last, or so she thought.

              

The fire inside her grew, the pain more and more real.  She wanted to scream, she wanted to yell, she wanted the pain to stop but it only became worse.  The darkness continued to pull her in, and she thought this was her punishment for living a selfish life, leaving her mother to do all the work while she did nothing for them.  At this revelation she took the pain on different, trying to embrace it, punishing herself for her poor decisions.

              

She continued to revel in it, angry at herself for what happened.  Though just has she began to become numb to it, the pain began to fade.  It was a slow fade, but it made her feel hopeful.  The next thing she knew she could feel her hand again, but when she closed her palm it did not feel like her own hand.  She wanted to open her eyes, she wanted to see what was happening to her, but she could not yet do so.  Other parts of her started becoming alive again, she could feel her toes, her other hand and fingers.  Finally she felt whole again, but still unsure.  It did not feel like the body she was used to, it was cold and unfamiliar but at the same time she felt strong.  She felt a tinge of power coursing through her instead of the fire that was there just a few moments before.  Finally with that strength she opened her eyes.

              

She lay on her back, her arm outstretched towards her mother, still dead on the floor across from her.  Her arm was pale.  She moved to touch her skin, and was shocked by the icy feeling she had when she felt her own skin.  She was not cold within but her touch felt cold.  She began to panic, wondering what had happened to her.  Was she a ghost? She knew the answer soon enough as the morning light peaked through a front window on the bar.  The light slowly made its way over to where she laid.   She was welcoming the warmth she knew she would feel from the suns glow, but as the sun shined on her skin the flaming pain she felt before was back with a vengeance.  Her arm was burning and in a split second she found herself curled up in the farthest corner of the bar. 

              

She stared at her arm as the blisters the sun gave her subsided rather quickly.  She knew what she was now.  She wanted to cry at the realization but the dead do not cry.  She scrunched her hands in her still curly hair and she curled into herself even more.  This is not a life she had intended living, especially for an eternity, and now she was to do it without the suns accompaniment…or her mothers.  At the thought of her mother she ran over to her avoiding the light that shined through the windows.

 

Her mother laid there gone from the world.  She wanted to cry some more, but the tears did not come, so she laid there with her mother, holding onto the only thing left from her life she could not bear to let go.  She was unsure of how long she lay there holding her mother, but it was the voices she heard outside that caused her to move.  She could not go see who the voices belonged to, but she could hear them as loud as if they had been sitting next to her.  She waited as she listened to their conversation.

 

“I have never seen a raid this bad before, there are so many dead this time.” One of the voices stated.

 

“Better dead than bitten.” At that statement Morrigans hand immediately went to her neck where there was a small bit of scarred flesh where the other vampire had bitten her.   She had to agree with whoever had said that, she would much rather be dead like her mother than have transformed into the creature she is now.

              

The voices got louder as she realized they were heading for the bar.  She was unsure of what to do so she hid from them, though she did not stay hidden long.  The men reached the bar and as they opened the door a flood of light poured in.  One of them yelled out to someone about there being more dead in the bar.  She grimaced, knowing her mother was one of them.  She tried not to sob, taking a deep breath, but it only made her throat burn.  She grasped her throat from the pain and held her breath.  The men made their way around the bar, one coming far too close to where she hid.  The closer he got to her the stronger the pain felt.  He moved into her line of site and the vein on his neck stuck out to her as if she were a starving child staring at a free meal.  She was hungry; she had never been so hungry in her life.  She needed whatever it was she was craving.  She couldn’t think straight, she stared at him, listening to his heartbeat that seemed to just get louder and louder.  She wanted him, she wanted him more than anything right now.  She would kill, just for one taste. 

              

She stood up from her hiding spot and the man looked at her and spoke, “Oh my dear, are you alright?  Did you see what had happened her?”  She nodded her head slowly, still remaining in the dark, he was too close to the light.  He had to come closer to her, she begged him with her eyes.  She knew one look at them he’d come closer to her.  She went to speak and the voice that she heard was not her own. 

              

“Come help me.” She said as she stared at him.  She could not kill a man but every one of her instincts told her to. He looked at her for a moment, and she saw fear cross his face. 

              

“Your eyes”, he said startled, with the horror spread on his voice.  That was not a response she was expecting, she looked at him with question in her eyes.  He responded, “They are not the color of a human…”  He was going to yell for his friend, she knew.  Before he opened his mouth she attacked him, using him as a guard from the sun she dragged him to the shadowed corner.  She felt her teeth grow with anticipation, they felt swollen but she was certain she could use them as she crushed his neck when she took her first bite.  The blood filled her mouth and it was better than a fine wine seeping down her throat.  It was like she was feeding on his energy, she suddenly felt stronger, more nourished.  She wanted more, so she took more, and more.  When she was finally done, she stood over the man’s shriveled corpse.

 

She had felt disgust before, when her mother took men to her bed, men who did not deserve her.  The disgust she felt with herself now was something far beyond that.  She dropped to her knees at the realization that she just killed this man who had originally only wanted to help her.  What had she done?

 

Morrigan began to panic.  The reality of what she now has carved itself into her mind.  She hugged her knees to her chest and thought about how her mother would see her now.  As she began to swallow in this new depression the other man appeared behind her.  The thirst was back again with a force, and her throat was scorching.  She stood and looked at the man trying to hold onto her humanity with every ounce of strength and will she had left but it was no use.  The hunger took over and before he could run away she snatched him up and treated him as she did his friend, apologizing every second of it. 

She dropped his limp body to the floor and she wanted to run, though there was nowhere to go with the sun up.  She made her way to the top room of the inn, passing the mirror at the landing of the stairs first.  The person staring back was not her.  Her curly hair was still there, richer than before, but the icy looking skin as flawless as marble took place of the pink that used to show on her cheeks.  Her lips were dripping blood and full and when her mouth opened she saw the beastly teeth that she had only a few minutes ago felt break human flesh.  Though it was her eyes that startled her most, what was once the color of the sky was now a devastating citrine color almost, like it matched the fire that had burned in her veins the previous night.  The vision was haunting; her eyes were those of monsters.  She smashed the mirror screaming then running up the rest of the stairs to the bedroom curling up in a ball on the cot hoping sleep would take her, only to realize she may never sleep again.  She waited desperately for night to come, and as the sun set and the darkness took over, she realized it was the best metaphor she could think of for the new life that she had unwantedly attained.

 

              

Errigal �" Year 4330

 

Morrigan observed the grungy man across the street.  He had his hands all over the poor woman who had been passed around the bar all night, she looked young.  This was a brothel with a large variety of women however most of them were still young girls, and this man had one of them.  He began pulling on her hair as they made their way into the secluded alley behind the w***e house.  From across the street Morrigan could still hear the whimpers come from the young girls mouth as this monster of a man began having his way with her.

 

Though Morrigan knew he was not the real monster, she was and he was about to find that out as well.  She ran over to the man and yanked him away from the young girl who was now pushed against the wall.  He began to ran as Morrigan turned to the young girl. 

 

“Get out of here, go find a man worthy of you and stop giving yourself away there is a better life than this.”  Morrigan believed her words for the girls sake, but she had never known that better life she had told so many about.  She easily caught up to her victim who had barely made it a block down the road.  Morrigan pulled him back into the darkness and held him against the wall in the same manner he had the young girl.

 

“I used to watch pigs like you handle my mother that way.”  The man cowered as she whispered in his ear.  “Then one day she was gone, and I had done nothing to help her.  So I’m going to help every other woman I can from revolting men like you.”  She finished her small speech as her fangs sharpened ready for the feast she was about to have.

 

In a split second her head was pounding.  She released the man and fell to the floor gripping her head in pain.  She looked up to see what was causing her pain when she saw a man in the dark.  Her victim had not escaped however and she was confused as to what was happening, but then the man spoke.

 

“Are you going to run if I stop?”  She shook her head, begging him to stop the pain.

 

He relaxed his hand and the pain ceased.  She looked toward the man who had brought his attention to her victim.  “Do not think because I saved you from her I think your life is worth saving.”  He said to the repulsive man.  “In fact I agree that men like you should be kept from this world, you contribute nothing.” He finished as he twitched his hand and her victim’s neck snapped as he collapsed to the floor.

 

“Confused darling?” The man said turning to her.  “Well most would be.”  He paused as he held out a hand to help her up.   She took his offer and straightened herself.  When she looked into his eyes they were like amethyst jewels, something she had only ever seen in a dark elf, but this man was human.

 

“I am not a merciful man do not take this lightly.  I believe I have a talent for seeing potential.”  He paused.  “I am disgusted by your race, vampires, feeding off the blood of other races to stay alive, creeping through the night like a common rat.” He spat at her.  “Though I can see it in you as well, you hate what you are, you cannot stand to feed.  Which is why you choose guilty victims, am I correct?”  Morrigan slowly nodded her head, unsure of what to do in this mysterious man’s presence.

 

“As disgusted as I am with you and your race, something else disgusts me more.  Something I am willing to put more time into.  So right now, I can appreciate the benefits of having a vampire or two on my side.”  She looked at him quizzically.  “I believe I can make you a better vampire.”  Morrigan snorted out a laugh before quickly composing herself.  As a vampire, being able to do what she could, she was still afraid of this man.  So she spoke with respect.

 

“I have lived a very long time, there is not much that I am sure I can do at this point in my life.”

 

“I think you are afraid of what you can be.  You can do so much more, be so much more.  Let me show you, I can make you better.  You will not have to hunt and feed like an animal.  You will be powerful, and you will help me.”  He held out his hand and she stared at it for a moment, before looking to his eyes.

 

Morrigan was startled by the determination she saw in his eyes.  She saw something in this man, something like power but more.  She knew she should take his offer but her mother’s voice was in the back of her head screaming at her.  She thought for a moment to say no, but it was only a moment.