Blood Red

"It's my Mistress!" Liri yelled. She whipped her head around to Jonas. "She'll kill you, you've got to hide."

"Come with me, you don't have to go back there. You don't even know what they've done to you."

Morrigan interjected. "Go. Both of you. I can handle this."

But Jonas and Liriope both suddenly stopped short, turned around and came face to face the Wren. She'd used the power of the twin amulet and made herself human. Her song had put them both under her spell. Her voice's enchanting power could not be matched, but it could be easily warded by a strong enough witch.

Morrigan turned and faced Aoide, who stood tall and firm on her newly formed legs. The sea enchantress had no idea who she was going up against. The blood of the le Fay witches was the strongest in Morrigan as it had ever been. She rivaled her ancestors in power and matched them in their greed.

How many times had Morrigan wanted desperately to control people to do her bidding? Making them come or go was easy enough, but she never truly experienced any kind of mind control that Aoide displayed so beautifully. Jonas and Liri were not frozen in their tracks, they wanted to be there. They wanted to turn around and await their next command, as they had been told to do. Morrigan instantly envied that power.

"You're lucky she's alive, witch," hissed the Wren.

Jonas walked to the edge of the beach and picked up a branch of a tree that had fallen nearby. He busted it with his knee and Aoide made him hold the sharp end up to one of his eyes.

"Just give her to me and I'll let the boy go," she promised.

"Take her, no skin off my back," Morrigan answered, not caring what happened to Liri.

Aoide frowned at the ease of negotiations, although she had no idea the curse was broken or how strong Morrigan really was.

Liriope began walking towards Aoide at a quickening pace. Morrigan watched and waited for the right moment. When Liriope was close enough, she felt the Wren let her guard down the tiniest inch, so put her hands up, palms outwards, one towards Aoide and one towards Jonas. Simultaneously, the branch Jonas held and the Amulet that lay around Aoide's neck flew into her own hands.

Jonas and Liriope were free of the Wren's hold. Jonas shook his head and looked around, wondering what happened. Liriope saw her mentor writhing and gasping for air in front of her.

"No!" Liriope ran, grabbed hold of her Mistress and watched as she started transforming back into a mermaid. She struggled for air and began to convulse. "Help her!" Liriope screamed at Morrigan.

"Moonlight, please. Help her." Jonas begged.

Morrigan looked over to Jonas, who was just some regular kid now that the curse was broken. She shook her head. "Not this time, Jonas. It's got to end somehow." She began walking over to Liriope and tied the amulet she had stolen from the Wren around her neck. Her power still surging, she had plenty to find what she was looking for.

Liriope noticed the witch coming towards her, she tried to get up and get away but she was frozen in place again, against her will. So was Jonas, who watched from twenty feet away as Morrigan laid her hands on Liriope, one on her head and one on her amulet, to try and find the source of her power. She delved as deep as she could until she found it, an imprint in the DNA of the mermaid. Some sort of magical code placed in her flesh and blood that made her what she was. Morrigan wanted it. She wanted it all.

She sucked it right out of Liriope until she fell to the ground. Liri's skin went pale and her hair turned bleached white. The light in her eyes faded and turned red as Morrigan released her hold.

"No!" Jonas yelled and fought the hold Morrigan had on him until she released him and he ran to her at full force. "What have you done!?"

"Chill out, she's alive. Barely, by definition. She may be half dead, but I saved some of her for you, Jonas. Just for good time's sake. You're lucky I like you, kid."

Jonas shook his head in disbelief, but went and checked on Liriope. She was breathing and looked much paler, but she was still alive.

"Ah, whatever you do, don't take that necklace off her, okay?"

"What? Why? What did you do!?"

"Well, let's test that out now, shall we." Morrigan was eager to try and see if her siphoning had worked. She was sure she had drained every last ounce of power from the girl and made it her own, but she wanted confirmation.

"Hey hey, momma said the way you move!" Morrigan sang one of her mother's favorite songs. "Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove."

Liriope got up and opened her eyes. To Jonas's horror, her eyes were blood red. She flashed her teeth and hissed, exposing her newly formed fangs. She lunged at Jonas and bite his neck and slowly started to drain his blood.

Jonas was in shock. He wasn't sure if it was Morrigan who held him still or his own fear. Liri was a vampire! How did this happen!?

"Now Jonas, the spell's all in her necklace. Take it off and she goes up in flames. Try and break the curse, she'll turn to dust. No hard feelings, eh. Come on, you should be thanking me! At least she's not completely dead, I figured you had enough of that for the both of us."

Morrigan turned and walked away. She released her hold on them and they fell to the ground. Liri choked up blood and spat it all over her hands. She felt her teeth and saw the blood and screamed. She looked at Jonas who held his hand up to his neck as blood spilled from between his fingers and she screamed again.

"Have fun with your new girlfriend!" Morrigan yelled as she took off running towards the ocean. She swam quickly away from the beach and then dove in and didn't resurface.