BLOOD OF MY BLOOD

And the ancient sand demon is in the far corner of the cavern and it seems that it hasn't noticed the Sith and her companions, yet.

"My Lord, permission to speak. I have thoughts about your present undertaking." Quinn turned to his Master rather sternly.

Vette, on the other hand, was worried. "I really don't have a good feeling about this."

"I think it's adorable how you two lookout for my well-being." It was rather amazing she could have this sense of humor in a situation like this.

"Uh, we're about to face a monster that can swallow us whole," Vette spoke out as her eyes were on the beast.

"I need you focused here Vette." Said the apprentice.

Vette sighed. "Sorry, I just have an irrational aversion to attacking monsters that can swallow me whole." As much as the Twi'lek didn't even want to be near that thing, or even imagine the fact that they could all die here – this thing wasn't something they were used to killing.

"You were saying, Quinn?"

"Respectfully, you are my commander, and it is my duty to offer any assistance I can. I'm not sure what the Padawan could have done to avoid physical confrontation with the sand demon. No doubt some Jedi mind manipulation. But if a girl can nascent in the Force can quell the beast, surely we can. And then we can slaughter the monster with ease."

"I hate to admit it but, Quinn is right." Another thing the two agreed on. "If the Jedi performed the Demon Blood ritual without a fight, there must be a way we can too. As a favor to me, could we please get through this without mixing it up with the sand demon?"

"I was already planning on doing that. If the Jedi succeeded without killing, I must try."

"You are my general, I will back you up." Quinn approves.

"Oh good, that's a relief." Vette approves. "Looks like it's showtime. I'm ready to back you up if it goes badly."

"The demon has caught our scent." The Captain pointed out, as all three of them turned their attention to the sand demon.

Leena took on the lead as the two followed behind her. Vette was ready to draw her blasters in case things go bad but Quinn, on the other hand, was calmer than expected as he stood there. The sand demon is clearly incensed at their intrusion. The Sith sense that it will attack in an instant.

But instead of drawing her lightsaber, she did as she told them. "Desert monster – I stand my ground! I will not run!" She proceeded to sense confusion in the beast and it stands to hesitate in her presence. "Look into my eyes, beast." She could now sense submission, and the demon cowers.

"We are one at peace." Leena could now sense trust. The sand demon lowers its defenses and falls asleep. Vette blinked a few times, trying to register what just happened. "The beast sleeps. Now, let us see what transpires."

The sand demon glows and sheds its skin. Blood oozes from the beast all over their shoes. The overwhelming stench fills the air of the cave.

"Gross!" Vette let out complaining. "The thing went to sleep and shed its skin. It's oozing blood and nastiness all over the place!"

"I find it remarkable," Quinn noted the whole experience. "The beast appears to have gone into hibernation and shed its skin. The amount of blood it's letting is astounding. The beast's stench is thick on us. It makes my eyes water."

"That's one thing we can agree on—Gag! We're gonna skin for days! What if it never wears off?"

"If the smell doesn't wear off, you'll offend the nose as well as the ears. It will pass you two."

"I'm sorry, I hate to complain but this is beyond unacceptable. I take a lot of pride in my hygiene." Vette claims.

"I, on the other hand, am not concerned. I believe we have succeeded in the Demon Blood ritual. Are we to move on the Sand People compound, my Lord?"

"Sounds like a plan. Estimation on how long it will take us to arrive there, Quinn?"

"We can arrive at the compound tomorrow morning, my Lord. With this… the smell, it won't easily wear off."

When the evening came, Vette was rather lucky that the Captain thought of bringing some supplies along with food before they proceeded to the desert.

When the Twi'lek continued to speak about her nonsense chatter, while Quinn was preparing their meal by the fire – the apprentice couldn't help but look up at the night sky, watching the stars and the twin moons of Tatooine. The warmness of the planet's atmosphere became a cold breeze in the night—she suddenly remembered Tremel, the Overseer who looked after her and trained her.

'It doesn't matter what I think, child. Ready or not, you must face him now. Baras is a serious man but a master of deception. Everything he does and says is usually calculated. He will attempt to trip you up, test your nature, get to the heart of who you are. Always take him seriously. And I mean always.'

She took him seriously but the very mistake she made was that she was too unprepared for him. Baras was a man who brought destruction, and pain, and death into her life before she even knew it. She still had those shackles around her neck, still tied to her Master, she felt rather disgusted that she was doing all of this in his name.

She continued to gaze upon the stars with her helmet just right beside her. With no many frightening nightmares and unfamiliar voices in her mind, the one she experienced back at the inn was rather new. It was telling her something, she could feel the pain right through the Force.

As a child, Baras would have her go through the arena and proceed to slaughter the chosen acolytes and other apprentices, sometimes, newly developed battle droids would be tested on her before she could rip them to shreds. For years even before Arrun or Vette came into her life, she was rather determined to hunt her Master down like a dog and she would tear him apart slowly.

The horrors she's been through, she couldn't keep track of them anymore.

"Sitting here all alone wouldn't make you feel better, ya'know?" Vette said rather cheerfully as she sat down beside the Sith who kept her eyes on the stars. "Quinn is still preparing the food. So, what's on your mind this time?"

"Been thinking about all those years I've been through with Baras. Through the punishments and training, and then suddenly, here I am." Leena couldn't help but sigh before she could even turn her attention to the Twi'lek with a smile on her lips. "I know I haven't been so well these past months… I know that Arrun won't come back no matter how hard I pray to the stars or ask the Force. He was something special, yes. But then I've been thinking about my mother, my father, my sister, Tremel – all of the people that have been into my life and are now gone, or still with me. I've been thinking how much I'm like a slave to Baras of all Sith in the galaxy… I know what I have to do but at the same time, I don't."

Vette smiled, and gently patter the Sith's shoulder. It's been a while since the last time she opened up to the Twi'lek, it made her happy inside. "You know I was a slave when I was a little girl. Before I got free. Sort of full circle, I guess. My mother and sister and I were grabbed when I was little. I don't remember much of it. We worked the mines of Ryloth, then they separated us. I got sold to a Rodian, then a Hutt, then some sort of weird three-eyed thing."

"All of this while you were a child?" Leena was given some slaves when they lived on Dromand Kaas but, she never imagined life could be like that for someone like Vette.

"Yeah, I was seven or eight by the time I landed with three eyes. Anyway, I guess you know you've… moved around too much when living with a Sith starts to feel like home."

"This is home." Leena agreed. "And this is our strange little community."

"Even with Quinn?"

She nodded. "Even with Quinn."

When the three of them proceeded to eat, Leena sat there in silence as her eyes were more focused on the flames in front of her. Then her attention would turn to a smiling Vette as she told her takes, an annoyed Quinn who wanted silence for the evening. For now, they were her family. The more people she loved, the weaker she can be – she would do things for them that even she knew she shouldn't do. The monsters out there are real.

The Force works in mysterious ways, and it has a plan.

When the flames died down and her two companions rested for the night, Quinn slowly opened his eyes as he heard noises not too far from them. He immediately sat up when he noticed that his Lord was nowhere on her sheets. When he turned his attention to the sound, he found his Lord holding both lightsabers at hand.

She wore no armor, her helmet was by the sand – he couldn't help but had his eyes locked only on her. The Sith apprentice who stood under the twin moons of the planet. What caught his attention was the ignited lightsaber that was floating in midair. She seemed focused and determined to have complete control, she performed stances that even he wouldn't see often on the battlefield. Lightsabers that would go on and off, every time she would swing – pretending that she had someone to spar with.

He noticed that his Lord had such beauty under the mask when she first revealed her face to him back at the ship. But at that moment, the Captain came to appreciate the rather simple glance of her face. Vette once blabbed about their Lord having this strange shade of grey in her eyes. A rare trait, from his own research out of curiosity – it was only found on a specific bloodline, normally on Alderaan.

The only eyes he knew of Leena were those corrupted, some sort of yellowish color, going to the borderline of a dark shade of orange. Corrupted by the dark side of the Force. Awed by her presence, there was things string of power that he saw in her. He didn't need the Force to even know that.

As she slowly accomplished her tasks in the name of her Master, Darth Baras, the more she becomes feared across the galaxy and proceeded to make enemies. Both of them knew that the moment she shows weakness to them, they will attack.

Quinn respects her. He couldn't understand why his Lord would free a slave-like Vette, but for the Captain, he understood why Vette stayed when she could have gone anywhere across the galaxy.

Even though he pledged himself to her in fear of his own life, he wondered – was she truly loyal to the Empire?

Months of silence and yet even the Dark Council could not question Darth Occlus with her most recent contributions to the Empire. She didn't have much time to grieve, then again, she refused to grieve even though some of the Sith Lords were trying to take advantage of her and failed, sent to the grave on the very same day. No one could question her power or her position as she fortified it after the massacre of her young apprentices and even her son.

When the Dark Lord heard her door open, unannounced, she felt something rather familiar earlier as if an old friend arrived on Dromand Kaas. She looked up to indeed find a very familiar face as she dismissed the Dashade, leaving the room to themselves. A man around his late 30's who had the energy of the dark side around him and yet, he was one of the very few Sith who had a sense of honor and wasn't so stupid to put an honor in place of the survival of those around him.

"My Lord, it has been a while." He bowed in respect. Occlus stood up, removing her helm in silence having her corrupted eyes on him. Observing to see if her eyes haven't aged that much.

"Lord Terra… It's been more than two decades." The tone wasn't so cheerful or even sarcastic, but rather the stern sensation that surrounds her aura as well. "What brought you back to your self-exile?"

"Dromand Kaas has made darker by my presence, I hope so." Ares smiled rather humbly for a mere Sith. Occlus acknowledges if he stayed around the Empire, he would have been a Darth by now. But instead, he hasn't reported and went in silence for years – some assumed he died after the Battle of Alderaan. Occlus knew better.

"Oh, don't be so humble around me." She addressed. "What do you want?"

"Can't hide anything from you, can I?"

"If your Lord and Master are still alive, even she would know that you would want something from me. You have learned and even mastered her charm as well as her boldness, I just hoped I saw that in her own spawn. So I will ask again, Lord Terra – what do you want?"

Occlus wasn't much in the mood to play their usual games. To see who was smarter and who was faster in using the resources they have. Both of them were aware of the dangers and the fast pacing change around the galaxy, the games are changing and the players are showing their trap cards.

The Dark Lord accepted the temporary loss, but it was one of many rounds.

"I simply wish to know how the girls are doing." A simple thing, for the Dark Lord, it wasn't outrageous considering the relationship they had in the past. "I heard that the youngest was… bold enough to abandon her name a couple of years ago. Although that's quite the name to abandon. The other… not so much, though whispers managed to sing that she was handpicked by Darth Baras himself – and you did not do anything, which I found questioning especially for you."

"Baras has his shackles well and tight on that girl," Occlus gave out her answer. A mere observation that didn't take much. "She still wants to be free from it, I sensed it to the core but even she knew that she can't take him down. Not yet anyway."

"And you plan to watch by the sides?"

"She's a grown woman. If I keep on going to her aid when she needs it, she will never learn as much as I want to kill Baras myself." The Darth sighed. "And it even when it cost me, my apprentices and my son, I have no regrets. I warned the bloody fool, it was him or her and he made his choice."

"Lord Zaine has always been… an odd Sith. Our task is to merely look after the girls without any contact and it seems to my attention, that you have taken an interest in Leena Sern."

"Why? Because I spoke to her once in the Citadel all those years ago? Always late on the news, Terra. Why shouldn't I take an interest – she's an interesting girl?

"Is she?" The Lord raised his brow in doubt.

"No. Not really." The Darth admitted. "She had an interesting childhood. I'm not entitled to look after nor discipline her. She's not my apprentice, she's not my child—"

"She's your daughter-in-law, by your only son." Ares reminded her. "I wouldn't believe you if you say she's still a babe in the jungles of Dromand Kaas but you know very well on how much I admired her parents."

"Of course, Lord Sern had a lot of admirers and no one stepped forward when Organa's Jedi friend came for her head. Zabro, on the other hand, managed to rise up the ranks from a lowly second grade Captain to now a victorious Moff, now he's with his soldiers secretly mourning for the two things he had left in his life – his precious girls."

"I know very well that… Azal Sern has this rather… unique character, she can very much handle herself. But as for the one who is to be Sith, you're not the only one who took an interest in her."

"I'm not stupid and it's not so surprising, she's a skillful girl with a strong connection to the Force along with a famous name. And no need to point out what Baras might do with her, I already got a good idea what – breaking the Treaty of Coruscant will be a child's play for any Dark Lord with the right resources and the source of power." Baras is truly one of the most dangerous Dark Lords in the Sith Empire. "And if the Sern brothers reject their claims, this one is the key to the Sern support on Alderaan. I'm sure you knew of this before I did?"

The Lord nodded. "The oldest is too… embracing of the Jedi Code, passionless to even have an impact on the young apprentice, the second boy, however…"

"No need to tell me, I already know what you want."

Ares chuckled. "Let the children destroy each other."

"Aren't you a dutiful apprentice."

"I'm only doing what my Lord commands of me, decades ago, Darth Occlus." The former apprentice proceeded. "Serns follow strength above all, not much of the Alderaan way but, she will have the loyalty of her family as well as her people when she has proven herself strong and not because she's Lord Zylas's daughter."

"Now I see why Zylas insisted on taking you as an apprentice all those years ago." The Darth seemed amused by this sentimental loyalty. "You never once failed her…"

"Never did, never will." Though a lot can happen between now and never.

"You're very much enjoying this and making me do all the work, are you?" The Darth smirked as she sat back down on her chair.

The Sith Lord just kept on smiling as his hands were clapped together, knowing his role in this game, he was never made to be a major player. He knew that killing was the sweetest thing there is, and he knew that Leena Sern could be something more if given the proper motivation. With skin turned to porcelain, to ivory, to steel.

"Blood of my blood."