"Thou hast summoned me. Why, Ainsley Redmont?"
"Once upon a time, I believed that humanity was what my family was sworn to protect. It was our duty, our mission in life, to defend them. To give our lives for theirs, if it came to that. In the past month, those that we've protected from the undead -- and even your kind, demon -- have betrayed my family, and myself. So many of my brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the Redmont line, slaughtered for a cause I can no longer believe in. I want revenge, demon." The Lady Redmont stared at the horned creature that crouched in the center of the room, her soft gray eyes plagued by both sorrow, and something far more sinister. War had taken its toll on Ainsley Redmont, and the wedding ring she wore was finally removed from her left hand, and placed upon the desk behind her. She turned to face the demon, as flames singed the carpet it stood upon, and it tilted its head with an eagerly curious stare cast towards her. Gray-colored eyes met pale, golden-hued ones, and the unholy creature at last hissed. "You wish to become one of us? You would join our kind, as a demon queen of your family?" And there was no hesitation, when she gave her answer.
"I would, yes. I desire the power to devastate this world, to tear it asunder for what it's done to my family. To exact revenge on them, for every Redmont who sacrificed themselves for the forsaken misery of humanity. Will you give me that power, demon?" She stood there, her soft locks of raven-colored hair tangled around her face, blood still smeared across her chin. It hadn't been but a few hours since the last attack upon the estate -- an attack that had left the family crippled, and nearly defenseless. "...We can help you, yes. You have already started walking our path, with your rampant use of black magic, Redmont -- did you think you could stop the change? That your soul could be cleansed? It is fortunate that you wish for this, because it has already been put into motion," the creature explained, its forked tongue snaking out at random intervals as it began to gouge symbols into the floor around Ainsley. The brace of silver stakes strapped to her thigh was torn aside by the beast, as was the silver cross she wore around her neck. The runes that the creature was scratching into the tiles of the floor were beginning to glow with a bright, sinister shade of indigo -- and the chanting of voices was beginning to resonate so loudly that Ainsley thought her ears were going to bleed.
The pain hit at once, striking the Lady Redmont so hard that she doubled over as though she had been stabbed in the stomach, her mouth opened in a silent scream of sheer agony. Blood streamed from her eyes and stained the white fabric of her dress in ghastly streaks, and her nails dug so deep into the skin of her arms that the flesh was torn open. The crimson liquid splattered upon the floor she stood open, and for every drop that touched those glowering symbols etched into the floor by the claws of the creature, she felt more pain erupt in her body. The demon had since backed away, and watching as Ainsley stood there, her own blood boiling on the floor around her. She eventually collapsed onto her hands and knees, and her voice finally rang out in a shrill scream of absolute pain. Bones splintered beneath her skin, and then began to twist and change as her skin darkened. Teeth began to sharpen into deadly fangs akin to that of a vampire, and twin horns burst through her skull upon either side of her head, her dark tresses falling around the new protrusions in a way that only added to her sinister beauty. Her eyes, once a soft shade of gray like the Redmont nobility that was to come, were now indigo, glowing brightly in the darkness of the estate's library. Her claws dug into the floor as the pain slowly began to subside, and her changes began to disguise themselves as what she had been -- a human.
That, she would never be again -- Lady Ainsley Redmont had given up her life, and awakened as a demoness. "It shall take time, but as you recover from the change, you will find your knowledge of the world you once fought against will serve you well. You will be our missionary to this world, Ainsley Redmont -- to spread our gospel of pain far, and wide. You are in our debt, and must do our bidding," the demon hissed, even as Ainsley writhed and began to fight the effects of the agonizing transformation. Her true nature would be hidden -- she knew demons could disguise their true appearance, and that would be an advantage when she began to change those that remained of her family. And as she rose to her feet, she silently vowed that the Redmonts would rise again -- but not as guardians of the world, no.
The Redmont Brood would be conquerors of the world that had betrayed them -- with her as their almighty Queen.
Present day, in Aleris...
The gates to the village were suddenly smashed from their hinges as the guards screamed for reinforcements, smoke billowing into the skies as fire began to spread -- and as the Kinslayer walked through the flames and wreckage, the sentries began to panic. In his left hand, he held a bottle with a burning cloth stuffed into the neck -- and in his right, was that elegant, customized revolver, the hammer already cocked. Vibrant eyes of brilliant scarlet hues locked upon his first target, and the whitened surfaces of elongated, lethal fangs were bared in a venomous hiss as he fired the first shot. Blood and sticky pieces of gray matter splattered across the ground as the headless corpse of the guard collapsed, and the next suffered a similar fate -- blood spraying in a gruesome display from the gaping hole in his chest as he fell. "Utterly pathetic -- none of you will stand, even to defend this place from me," Maxim murmured in disgust, as a sneer of disgust briefly flickered across the handsome features of his eternally pale, youthful face. Dark tendrils of hair were in slight disarray due to the wind that swept through the village, and the guards truly were scrambling not to defend their home...
...but to escape him.
The disgrace of their cowardly retreat was enough to provoke that infamous wrath, and the Redmont began to open fire once more. The first and second rounds burst through the chest of one sentry, where as the remaining two sent another guard to the ground as his blood sprayed across the dirt. And even then, the Kinslayer kept moving, his relentless stride bringing him to the very center of the village, where more men waited with simple weapons, like axes and pitchforks.
Weapons that were useless against Maxim Redmont, and every last one of them knew it.
He stopped, and those fiery eyes swept across the shaking hands of the assembled men, most of whom weren't even his age -- they were either far too young to be fighting, or past their prime and out there to defend their grandchildren. The cylinder of the revolver swung open, and the spent casings were ejected as he began to load fresh rounds -- and the villagers never took a step forward, even while he was reloading the customized, heavy weapon. Eventually, he spun the loaded cylinder and snapped it back into place, before holstering the weapon behind his back -- the flames behind him were already destroying the first few houses, and acrid plumes of smoke were billowing high into the midnight skies above them. "I've come for my sister, the witch -- and I know she's here. If you'll step aside, I'll spare each and every one of you. Defy me, and I'll burn this place to the ground around you." He took a single step forward, and a grim smile crept across his face -- however faint it might've been. That tattered, faded cloak fluttered lightly around the musculature of his built frame, and the Kinslayer waited a moment longer...
"Live or die -- make your choice."
Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 7:58 pm
