Chapter 6

Meredith drifted in a cloud. She was warm and her pain was gone. She rolled onto her side and reached for Esmerelda. Her hand found nothing and floundered in her sleep, searching for her closest friend.

"Mere, where are you?"

She jolted awake, memories of the past stormed through her thoughts. Esmerelda bursting into a pile of ash. Finnick blown apart by his own weapon. Tears fell in droves from her eyes as she weeped for her friends and comrades. Her whole body racked with sobs, yet she was quiet. Not a sound escaped from her. Finally the tears spent themselves and she slipped quietly back into sleep.

"Wake."

The familiar voice jolted her from rest and Meredith searched blindly for a weapon.

"Theres nothing here you can use to hurt me, not that you can." he laughed.

Anger fueled her and she lunged at the shadow before her, "YOU KILLED THEM!"

She stopped in midair, hanging suspended by his will. She fought with all her might but he just held her and stared until her struggles ceased. He lowered her gently back to the bed and stepped into the light of the small lamp beside her. His enormous black wings peaked from behind his broad shoulders, dark hair framed an angelic face. His red eyes tracked her every movement with the intensity of a hunting wolf.

"Who are you?" Meredith asked.

He smiled at her, "I am Darish, Lord of this world."

Meredith stopped breathing. The most powerful being in existence, and her arch enemy, stood before her in simple yet well-made clothing. She watched him intently, waiting for a strike and praying she could dodge it. She remembered how easily he toyed with the three of them and tensed even tighter.

"That won't be necessary. I am not going to harm you. Yet. Even if I wished to now, you could not avoid it. Tensing as you are will only tire you."

His words rang with truth but gave her no comfort. She tensed tighter, preparing to gouge his eyes out if she must. She lunged toward, and found herself immobilized. She struggled to move anything, but not even her eyes would respond to her commands. They were fixed on Darish's own.

The smile was gone and his eyes were hard as rubies. He gave no move but Meredith found herself reaching for her own throat. She tried to fight it but her arms didn't even shake despite her efforts. Her hands tightened, slowly cutting off her hair until she started to black out. Just before she would lose consciousness he released her.

Meredith slumped down, gasping deeply for breaths of sweet air. He watched her, expressionless, as she recovered.

"Do you see now? You are completely at my mercy. With no effort at all I can make you strip yourself of your dignity, your pride, and your life."

Meredith found her hand between her legs, as if to illustrate his point. She nodded fiercely, more tears pricking her eyes. Her body returned to her control and she straightened her spine.

"What do you want with me?" she asked

"To study you. You intrigue me greatly. You resist my ability to read minds, and you drew my blood. Only one other was able to do the former, and none have ever done the latter in thousands of millenia. I wish to understand what the dormant power inside you is, and then destroy it."

His honesty surprised her, but as she thought about it she realized he had no need to lie to her. She couldn't do anything to resist whatever he did to her, he had no fear. Grudgingly, she had to admit she was curious about the power he was talking about. She remembered the icy rage that had taken her, and the red glow around her arm. She wondered how it could've happened.

"Come with me." he turned and walked out the door, disappearing into the shadows. Meredith followed him cautiously, fearing a deceit. The dark of the hallway almost blinded her, but she could make out his form waiting at the end of the hall. She joined him in front of another closed door, no different from the others she passed in the hall. She wondered what was beyond this door. A torture chamber? A room full of demons?

Fear stole her and she began to shake uncontrollably. She had no way to fight whatever Darish threw at her, no defense besides what this flimsy silk shift gave her. Not much considering it barely reached midthigh. She was thankful there wasn't a draft or her most intimate place would be on full display. Her eyes flicked to Darish on instinct. He was studying her, looking her up and down with a cold gaze. Meredith self-consciously folded her arms over her half-exposed breasts.

"What're you staring at?" she asked petulantly.

A small smile warmed his face, causing her to blink, "We can't have you meeting my son looking like this. As... interesting as it is having you looking like that."

Meredith flushed at his implication, and swung her hand out of reflex. To both of their surprise, it connected with a sharp smack. Meredith blinked at what she'd done and fear pierced her heart like a spear. Her hand trembled as it floated back to her, her eyes remained locked on his waiting for the surprise to shift to the cold calculation earlier.

Darish raised his hand to his cheek, still shocked, than abruptly burst out laughing. His laugh was rich and deep, coming straight from his belly. His hands clutched his waist and he was doubled over. Meredith was frozen, she couldn't understand what was going on. Why wasn't he angry with her?

Finally his mirth spent itself and he straightened, a warm smile still creasing his eyes. His eyes, which had changed to a bright gold with specks of blue. They subtly glowed in the darkness, but were gone as quickly as they appeared, returning to that horrible red. He waved his hand and she felt fabric covering her. She felt sleeves that connected to her middle fingers, yet her shoulders felt bare. Shoes were on her feet, some sort of stilted wear that tested her balance. A skirt swished against her legs, higher on one side. Much higher. She sent a glare his way and she swore she heard him snort. She fiercely fought the smile that threatened when she heard that.

Dwrish cleared his throat, "We must go."

He opened the door to more shadows and waited for her to pass like a gentleman. Cautiously, she stepped over the threshold.

And fell to her death.