Lizabeth welcomed the intrusion of her older sister Bethany with a glowering sneer, matching it with intensely fired red eyes that only added to the scorn toward her elder sister's presence. It was a scene of horrific absurdity, lit by the many candles and sconces around the room Lizabeth was dining in. Lizabeth was perched on the grand table layed out on the floor of a lower chamber deep in the monestary's catecombs. To her right, slouched in the head chair was the decayed corpse of her mother Eveline, her vacant eyes staring upward and mouth opened in a horrific, silent scream. Directly beneath her on the table, sprawled like a limp doll was a very unlucky Trisanti who had become lost then trapped within the labrynth of the catecombs. Already chewed through to the bone in several places, Lizabeth held the only remaining leg in taloned hands, guarding the rest like a great cat over its kill. Joining them were several skeletal remains of the monks from years past, standing uneasily within tall alcoves carved into the walls.

Her ravaged dress, stained red down the front from the blood of her many victims, swayed like the torn wings of a bat in the drafty breeze of the room, circulating through the tall hallways. Directly across from her stood a woman who only vaguely resembled the red-headed beauty that had been her older sister Bethany. Clothed in a gown of teal the color of the sea, Bethany matched Lizabeth with white eyes, the pupils barely visable. Her skin was the color of ash, wrinkled and cracked and her once flowing scarlett hair was swept back and snarled. But most disturbing and even grating was her voice which was raw and raspy, hinting to the malevolent spirt that now dwelt within her heart.

"I see mother is looking healthy," Bethany said sarcasically with no small amount of disgust. "Hunting is good as well I see." Lizabeth grotesquely shook the partially gnawed leg of the Trisanti at Bethany. "Why are you here Bethany?" she snarled, her jaws snapping together with a sound like cordwood being broken. "You cared little for me in life; always trading us away for time spent with father's books. Why concern yourself now with how I devote my time?" Bethany stood silently before the table. "I care about you and because the King, my husband to be, wills it."

Though Lizabeth's mind had been racked by her changed, twisted to a more beastial nature, she did not miss the emphasis on Bethany's words, 'my husband,' and inside a well of raw, violent jealously boiled to the surface. The King promised himself to her and would not dare promise marriage to such a conniving fiend such as Bethany. The rage switched to paranoia in an instant. Would the King lie to her? No never, she inwardly said, chiding herself with scornful words. The King loved her and would never let anything happen to her. "Care for me like you did our dear brother, Aaron?" Lizabeth challenged and mockingly added. "Perhaps I would ask him if not for the fact his jaw has been removed." "Bah," Bethany spat with a dismissive wave of a hand absent of color. "Aaron was long ago cursed, before the King touched his mind. He was wasted." Lizabeth smiled a broad, sharp-toothed grin. She had struck a nerve with Bethany who had very little patience for her twin brother and ultimately made him face final judgement. In truth all of the siblings had reached their nerve's end with Aaron, even in life. His constant babblings and insane ramblings of other worlds and voices in his head had grown into a maelstrom of irritation for the sibling

"And what has become of the magic man Keisinger Bethany? Has he been a waste as well? A keeper of my sister's secrets, her hidden lies?" "Come dear sister," Bethany said, regaining her composure and speaking sweetly to the younger Lizabeth, turning the conversation from the open wounds of her life. "Is this how you wish to live; squating in some long forgotten room and hidden away in the musty cellars of the dead? I can give you more. All you need to do is follow me. Remember when we were kids, when we would play follow the leader throughout the mansion?" Lizabeth's eyes narrowed. "And what would be my sacrifice dear sister? There is always, 'what will Bethany get'?" An emotion flashed over Bethany's features, one Lizabeth thought could be several at once. It made her uneasy. Finally Bethany smiled with a mouth full of rotting and black teeth. "The King's favor lies with me, the most powerful now of us siblings. Through me the world will be given over to him. Deny your foolish dreams of granduer and follow me." Lizabeth's face twisted in rage and with it she screamed at Bethany, her caveranous mouth opening wide to reveal the full range of her monstrous teeth. Immediately those things called howlers appeared at the top of the stairs behind her. Three of them; two with a ghastly grey coloring and the third, bigger than the others, cast in a dark green coloring. The bigger of the howlers snarled and then howled in answer to Lizabeth. "Bitch!" Lizabeth raged, stalking off the table, tossing aside the leg and slinking toward Bethany. "How dare you threaten me. The days of big sister, little sister are gone Bethany. The King has given me strength and power beyond your feeble spells and it lies with me his promise, not some witch who has fled her own life!" "Mind your words little sister!" Bethany shot back, her hands coming up before her. She was casting a spell Lizabeth realized, but Lizabeth cared little for magic and only moved forward quicker. "You know little of my power. I give you an opportunity for life, but if I must then I will extinquish your miserable existance as I have all others who stood in my way." Though she put up a strong front, Bethany couldn't help but feel a tinge of nerve. Those sickening creatures were descending the stairs and attempting to encircle her. A howl behind her told of others coming into the room through a large, wooden door behind her that opened into a large balcony looking over the sea. She turned and saw three more of the creatures coming forward as well as two of the decaying monks that had come to an unstable form of life, heeding Lizabeth's call. Her little sister did have power; much more than she would ever have admitted.

"You see what I've become Bethany and yet you continue to underestimated me," Lizabeth said, stalking closer. Perhaps Bethany had underestimated Lizabeth's strength and inside she recognized her own fear, but just as quickly she buried it and glared at the monster coming for her. "Challenge me will you?" Bethany completed her spell and shot a bolt of energy toward her sister. With an otherworldly agility Bethany could hardly fathom, Lizabeth leapt out of the way as the bolt sizzled by, striking instead one of the howlers and frying it where it stood. Lizabeth glanced back at her dead pet and growled deep in her throat. With a crazed howl, Lizabeth continued forward, nearly taking Bethany in two strides, but before she could descend upon her Lizabeth was struck by something hard that sent her sailing into a small, circular room where she crashed hard to the floor. Lizabeth scrambled to her feet and glared at Bethany who was descending the stairs toward her. Behind her was a creature Lizabeth had never seen before. Tall and willowly with large, vacant-staring eyes, the creature had strange tattoos all over its body and what looked to be an odd sort of headpiece. It carried a spear that was nearly as tall as it making it clear to Lizabeth what had hit her. It stood easily three to four feet taller than Bethany, yet followed her as a servant. Lizabeth's own pets crouched uneasily behind it, sniffing the air and watching it. For so many of the animals that until now had shown no fear to suddenly display apprehension was a testement to its strength. Yet, Lizabeth displayed no fear and met Bethany with a growl.

"I am impressed Lizabeth," Bethany said with honest appreciation. "You have grown strong, but you have no control and that my dear is why the King stands with me. He has no time for animals." Bethany came to a stop before Lizabeth and passively met her rage-filled sister's eyes. "Your last chance is right now. Follow me or perish. I will not waste my time further." Lizabeth defiantly stood to Bethany's height, angry eyes flashing to the creature who cocked its head unemotionally, and then met Bethany's again. "The night I died the King came to me and he showed me my future. He changed me and it was a beautiful pain. I do not fear you Bethany, but you fear me. I smell it on you like rotting meat. "Yessss," she hissed. "It is there; rich and full. Your creature does not frighten me either and while I have no doubt it is a match for my pets, it is a mere trivial thing for me. Take him and leave my sanctuary and bother me no more." This time Bethany's eyes narrowed as the gears of thought tilted and turned. "Very well," she conceded, a sickened smile growing on her lips. Already the creature behind her was growing dimmer, disappearing like a wisp from a smoking pipe. "But know this Lizabeth, as the King has shown you your future, so have I seen another possible future. You may well regret this decision." Bethany turned and walked through the parted Howlers, turning toward the back door, open now to the ocean. But before she left, she added a final word that echoed through the great chamber. "Beware the scared man my dear little sister. He carries the green stone of power. Beware him for he comes even now to the mansion." And as Bethany's mocking cackle floated down to her, Lizabeth roared, the echo carrying the pain of a reoccuring vision, for in that vision she too saw the scarred man, but far worse than that she saw her own head in his hand and it was in flames.

Fan fiction, © Deathscythe 2007