Not yet. My body shudders. I won't go. My own daughter killed me. And yet I am still here. Is this what it was like for her? This coldness. Here I was the one who told her to stop breathing. I push myself up from my desk. She hadn't eaten my soul. Too far to take a bite? I'm not connected to … Sara.

  I don't see through her eye anymore. Of course not. I am just a soul moving a body instead of being the body. All literature on the subject says this body will waste away. The usual body mechanisms for maintaining it are no longer functioning. I go and pull open a drawer. It has a bottle of a healing potion. Made from Sarcea…Sara's blood. She is not my daughter anymore. My soul aches at the thought. She was young and alone in the world. Far too soon for her to leave.

  I look in my mirror. The once shining eyes are beginning to cloud. They stare forward even as I look elsewhere but the eyes don't track. More proof I don't use them. The face itself is static, the usual warmth and motion is gone now. Waxy. I'll need a veil. I dab some of the potion on my face. It returns some suppleness to the pallor. It will be more important than ever to reclaim her.

  I'm back at my beginning, aren't I? Though I can no longer birth them. Less than the beginning then. I'll need to start reapplying the geas. To spread it again. She told me it was a burden. Even I was hesitant at the next logical step. But I am free of such doubt now. An unexpectant gift to this situation. To free the Elves of the burden of vigilance we will simply expunge all life that can mate with Elves. It was a simple solution. My morality had held me back. A long project though. And this body rots.

  What are my options? Could I force her to make me a Vampire? Everything in her skills suggested that it had to be of her own free will. Such things could be forced. I'm certain there are those out there that she loves. But it would make me subordinate to her. Though my soul would easily stop her now that may not be true forever. As if acknowledging this fact, I can feel my soul slowly burn away in this body. If I could get her to eat my soul. She could live my life. Know my pain. Take up my crusade. Better if I could seize her body for my own. It would be a race to see who could purge the other. I might be the larger soul but she would clearly be the more practiced at shredding Tapestries. If I dazed her mind perhaps? She still would need to process my soul. She is very resistant to mental attacks at this point. What I need is another to help control her while I take over. But that would rely on someone actually not using the opportunity to betray me.

  The door opens. Katilinia. I look at her.

  “[Empress]? You still—” She screams.

  My hand is already through her chest. She slumps over. I am curious if this will work. Do I carry the curse? The body stirs. It's attached to her though. I flex my aura. Capturing the new undead. She gives me a vacant look. I feel the pull on my soul. I am only speeding up my soul's destruction. That simply will not do. I go and use more of the potion on my attendant. To fill the spot I had torn. I remember a previous experiment.

  Veil on, I head out my room and down the hall. To that room. A ray of light catches my side. Lincor. Betrayal now. I should have expected it. They all heard my heart stop. A veil to hide myself? Absurd. It's been awhile since I've fought Elves. His footsteps are retreating. He is shouting the news. The empress is an undead. He is not important. I continue to the room.

  The halls are empty. They all are fleeing. Do they wish to isolate me? As if I am stuck in this castle. I open the door to the red blood core storage. I grip one. I had her harvest so many. She cried every time one shattered. I meditate on this step. It will connect me to her. A battle for dominance. I won't be able to control her if she is alive. But I would if she was undead. Her aura pushes out of her undead. Can mine push out of her body? That will be my focus then.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  I push the core into my chest. I feel a fundamental change in myself. I watch my plain nails grow longer, sharper, claws. Rather superfluous to be honest. The soul is closer to the undead body now. The connection, yes. I feel undeath mana traverse it, feeding my soul. The tether. It will need to be unseverable. I thread my aura through it and incase the other body in my aura. The moment she becomes undead she will be mine. And then I will have her walk herself back here.

  I look to the bottom shelf. Her other cores. One shouldn't use too many cores from the same being, less they invariably change themselves to be their copy. In this case though, I am hoping for it aren't I. I begin implanting the rest. I feel myself grow closer but I frown, I am still a mundane undead. I do not have her tails. Perhaps because they were not freely given. Or my soul simply denies being anything but an Elf. No matter. It is still a good assortment of magic types. The mental core being the most important. My death had shattered my own nine cores.

  Perhaps I can coax an undeath core from the dungeon. There is no worry of her trying to claim me. How many lock downs until she decides to give me one. I turn to see Katilinia. I smile. Curious, guess I have reclaimed a bit of emotion. Come Katalinia, let us add to Sara's burden. I push a core into her. Her body changes. I claim her again with my aura.

  “[Empress], what would you have of me.” She says, monotone.

  Hmm, good. With the core they gain a bit of intelligence. I close the hole with the blood mana. I feel a pull for a bit of blood.

  “Present your arm.”

  She does, I use my now very sharp nail to trace the vein. It doesn't bleed, of course not. I squeeze her arm and a bit drips out. Licking it up does nothing. The thirst remains. This could be an issue. I turn and head to the alchemy labs.

  There I found Tinjor, pouring over his notes. He either hadn't noticed the commotion or didn't care. He turns and sees me.

  “My [Empress], so it is true.”

  “It is, but this is only a setback. Are you ready?”

  “Of course.”

  He bends his knee to me, head down. He was always loyal, to me, to my goal. I place my hand on his head.

  “You are to kill any hybrid you see, failing that you must make every effort to report the hybrid so that others may succeed. You know that I hear my name spoken. Should you suspect someone of a hybrid you will investigate to ensure they are not. When you spark the soul of another, you pass this geas to them.”

  He lets it settle onto his soul. Good boy. A pity he can no longer sire children through me. It's a start.

  “What do you need from me?”

  “Sarcea's blood. I need a sample.”

  He goes to a very large tank. Bottle in hand he turns a spigot. The gelatinous blood droops down, he uses a knife to sever it. He brings it to me.

  I look at it for a moment. Consider it. Then drink a bit. The thirst disappears.

  I turn to Katilinia.

  “Have you generated any thirst or yearning in yourself?”

  She nods. The vein I had cut open is healed. I handed the cup to her. She holds it without doing more.

  “Drink it.”

  She does.

  “Has it abated?”

  “No, [Empress].”

  That is an issue. It appears either a connection to Sara is necessary or more of her cores. It's easy enough to determine which but we don't have many of her other cores. First things first though. I look back to Tinjor.

  “Any success at making more?”

  “Being that it's akin to a slime, we attempted making an artificial slime core, [Empress]. The results were mixed. While it did accept mass to make more it quickly became clear and lost her blood's properties. Depending on what we used, the rate changed.”

  “And what had the slowest rate of change?” The answer was obvious but best to hear.

  “Blood, flesh. The higher the soul value the better.”

  “But it will thin regardless.”

  “Yes.”

  Best to avoid injury then. I will need the source. Much to do.