As the Ash Settles

Chapter Eleven: Blood in Waterdeep.

The moon shone brightly on Waterdeep, and the news of the arrival of the heroes of Baldur's Deep, did not fall on deaf ears. Smiles and cheers were everywhere the group went. Scratch and Robin enjoyed the affection from the crowd. Gale stood straighter than usual soaking in all the praises.

"I'd say off to the Flagon Dragon, you haven't truly experienced Waterdeep until you've had their famous Zzar, a beautiful mulled wine that leaves your mouth craving more. We can sleep more peacefully during the day at my tower and hopefully, Elminster will have some free time to pop over for a visit. Plenty of room in my home though someone will have to sleep on the couch. I'd offer to share my bed but apparently, I kick. Not, the usual response I've had but a response nonetheless."

Flagon Dragon was a modest pub, its furnishing left little to be awed over but Gale was correct the zzar was delightful and so were the talyths he had ordered with it. He did order Citrine's without the sausage but the potatoes on the cracker were blended nicely with herbs and cheese that tasted divine. A silver-haired high elf, with a dress that's neckline cut to her naval, was eying Astarion the entire time she served them. Her long straightened hair would twirl between her fingers. Biting her lip as he spoke. Citrine swallowed her anger looking to Shadowheart and Gale who both tried to distract her.

"Why yes, in fact taking down the nether brain was easy. Probably the easiest part of all, the Illithid creations those had power one thought and they could blow you back sixty feet at least, that is if your mind is weak. And sweetness no part of me is weak. In fact, I'd love to show you how powerful my mind and body truly are. I bet you have a nice bed we could run off to for me to show you."

Shadowheart dug her fingers into Citrine's palms. "I'm okay" Citrine mouthed to her.

Gale cleared his throat, "Well here is your gold we really should be going, thank you for being our server tonight." he pushed the gold into the woman's free hand as he stood from the table, Shadowheart and Citrine followed.

"Gale, directions to your place. I have someone I need to attend to." his hand traveled up the woman's thigh. "I think she can take the rest of the night off for the hero of Baldur's Gate. She'd be doing a great service to Faerun."

This time it wasn't Shadowheart digging her nails into Citrine but Citrine into her hand. Warmth had spread as Shadowheart winced. She was used to pain but was not expecting this. Blood trickled from their palms. Astarion smirked. "I'm- I'm so sorry Shadowheart." Citrine picked up her hand to look at the wounds she had caused.

"I'm fine, really. Gale we are going to wait outside for you." Gale nodded in approval. The two women walked into the night air. Citrine apologized over and over. Shadowheart healing herself tried to reassure her best friend that she was indeed fine and more worried about her. "He is just doing this to anger you. It is a game to him. You can not let him into your head like that. He's just testing to see if you care."

"Of course, I care. I love him. I will always love him, no matter how badly this hurts." A woman's shriek could be heard from inside, the two went to the door as it opened. Shadowheart caught a glimpse of Astarion on the floor fallen back in his seat. Gale held his fist as he walked out.

"Directions were given, this way ladies." Shadowheart pulled Citrine, unsure if her friend caught the sight or not she smiled to Gale who winked back at Shadowheart. With each step to his tower Gale pointed out buildings or parks recounting memories of his time in Waterdeep.

A tall stone building nestled beside others stood before them, purple accent trims lined the stone of the three-story tower. "I see Tara has made sure to keep everything nice. Hopefully, she didn't waste too much gold on keeping things up. She's rather resourceful so I do doubt it." They walked up the steps to the large purple-stained french doors pulling out a large iron key, he bowed stepping to the side and allowing Shadowheart and Citrine to enter first.

The home was beautiful, with dark wooden floors and tall ceilings. The room was decorated with magical artifacts and golden trims. Citrine pondered on how his condition helped with clutter when the walls and surfaces hummed with magic.

"Gale you've been holding back on us, your home is lovely," Citrine said still eying all the home had to offer.

"And it will but just as lovely in the morning. I say we get an actual night's sleep, while we can." he closed every curtain blocking out the sun as he gave a tour of the tower, he stopped at a large guest room with two full-sized beds. "You two should be comfortable here."

Shadowheart leaped onto the bed and then pulled a pillow into herself. "A bed, sleep with an actual mattress. I think I can die happily now."

"Now, no talk of death. I do not need you haunting my halls for eternity." Shadowheart had stuck her tongue out at him playfully. "If you two need anything my room is down the hall. Sweet dreams if you can. I imagine Elminster will be giving us a large amount of information that we'd be fools not to give our undivided attention to him." With that, he left closing the door behind him.

"A bed! Have you seen anything more lovely?" Shadowheart was like as joyful as a small child in a candy shop who had all the gold they could imagine. Citrine mustered up a smile. Her eyes fell on Robin and Scratch making themselves comfortable on the other open bed leaving her little space though she did not mind. The two women in silence changed into bed clothes and soon said their goodnights. Shadowhearts' snores filled the room.

Citrine's mind wandered to Astarion and the high elf. Thoughts of him, caressing her. His lips tasting her smooth skin. She wondered if Astarion would feed from her, would fuck her the way Citrine had been denied. In her thoughts another appeared, Citrine had the high elf strung from ropes, the woman's naked body fully exposed. The knife her sister Orin wielded in her own hands. Citrine slowly started flaying the woman, removing each patch of skin skillfully until she was just a mass of muscles and blood. A devilish smile came to Citrine as she licked the blood from the blade, Astarion would be jealous to know just how savory his little infatuation was.

"FUCK!" Shadowheart's scream awoke Citrine from her thoughts, no she had fallen into mediation. She was cold and wet. Scratch and Robin are no longer on the bed, though blood replaced where they once were. Citrine darted up, scanning the room she found them staring at her from the corner. Her eyes moved over to Shadowheart. "Whose blood is that Citrine?"

Gale burst through the door and Shadowheart sighed with relief. "What in the nine hells happened here?" Gale yelled.

"I- I don't know. I had a dream but I swear I would have said something if I had been feeling- well you know." Tears crawled down her face.

"Oh, but I do." Astarion's voice came from behind Gale. "It seems our murderous little elf was at it again." He let out a rather fake chuckle. "So who were we dreaming of tonight?"

Citrine's eyes filled with anger. "GET THE FUCK OUT! THIS IS YOUR FAULT! If you hadn't of-" Sobs replaced her screams. She spoke to Shadowheart and Gale recanting her dream, leaving out the piece where she licked the blade clean, that was just too much at this moment to go into.

Astarion had not listened and was indeed still there. "The good news is, that isn't her blood. Though it is nice to know you dream about me still, or even those I've chosen to conquer. This blood is too old, and when I left her place, well let's just say it would have been fresher."