Hayaxi the Damned, the Cold, Flame of Darkness in service of Shar, awoke from her self-induced slumber. She slowly rose from her luxurious coffin in the caves where she and her fellow vampires holed up. In a location near Athkatla, in striking distance of the grand city, the Sharran forces lied in wait. Together with Bodhi's vampiric coven on the inside, the Sharrans would wage a silent war with the goal to destroy all forms of order and government in the deepest of secret and of slowly but surely using their newfound positions of power to introduce chaos and strife into the city, creating a perfect feeding ground for future worshippers of Shar to lose their sanity over.

But for now, Hayaxi was still waiting for Bodhi's forces to complete their task. However, the first thing that hit Hayaxi was that there was something very wrong. Her bodyguards were nowhere to be seen. Nor had any of her vampiric consorts and childer arisen yet. In fact, the caves and the camp just outside the mouth of the cave were permeated with the very stench of death.

"My, my, my," a hooded figure spoke as she entered the cavern. "Finally awake yet? By the way, did you know that you snore? You could wake the dead... honestly, you could rattle a skeleton apart."

"Bodhi," Hayaxi grumbled. "Impudent as always."

"Hayaxi," Bodhi giggled. "Farty bitch, as always."

"Watch your tongue, childe," Hayaxi snarled back, showing her inch-long fangs in Bodhi's direction.

Bodhi responded with a low growl coming from the depths of her throat. Hayaxi responded by raising her claws and arching her back, getting ready to jump. Bodhi took on a similar attack-pose. The two vampires circled each other for a few moments, ready to attack each other instantly if need would have arisen.

"So, where were you?" Hayaxi said. "My spies reported you gone. You had abandoned your mission, you have broken your pact with me. I was wrong to rely on you... I gave you immortality, but you spat on our agreement."

"We agreed that you would free me of my curse," Bodhi snarled, her voice echoing through the deep chasms of the cave. Your gift of 'immortality' did not help me... I owe you nothing."

"You have delayed my plans, and now you force me change my strategy. Unacceptable interference! I should have destroyed you at the first sign of trouble!" Hayaxi snarled.

"For once, I agree with you," Bodhi giggled. "You'll soon find out why..."

"I remember the elven girl who came to me to beg for a solution to her troubles," Hayaxi said. "We agreed on an exchange..."

"Before you attack me," Bodhi snickered and backed off from the aggressive circling of her opponent, "go outside and find out... where your priestesses are. Your precious Sharrans..."

Hayaxi blinked and inched towards the exit of her cave while Bodhi seemed to be casually inspecting her nails. "Shayla! Cerisse!" Hayaxi called out to her bodyguards... there was no reply. "Carima! Cyril!" she called out, but her high-priestesses did not answer. The silence was deafening.

Letting out a sigh of frustration, the elder vampire stormed outside the cave... and what she saw took her non-existent breath away. The field outside the cave was littered with the bodies of her priestesses. Tents were torn, wagons were smashed, bodyparts were thrown about like bread-crumbs. Priestesses she had known for years lay dead at her feet. Some were whole and lay on the ground with the bloodless complexion of porcelain dolls. Others were mutilated beyond recognition, literally torn apart piece by piece. It had also been obvious that some of them had been killed quickly, while others seemed to had been 'toyed with'. Apparently, their killer had wanted to thin the herd before playing with her victims. The head of one of her bodyguards lay close as she walked through the camp, the spinal-column still attached as if yanked out of the body with great force. Her other bodyguard had been strung up from a tree with her own small-intestine wrapped around her neck. Another priestess seemed to be intact... excepting the small fact that her ribcage had been removed. The bloody mess next to her didn't even remotely resemble anything that had been human once. Hayaxi was too stunned to notice that she had just actually stepped on someone's liver.

"For what it's worth," Bodhi said, "your forces put up an impressive fight."

"You did this?" Hayaxi whispered. "All on your own? You do not have the power."

"I have now," Bodhi grinned, making sure to keep her face hidden. "And I will have yours!"

"I am your sire, you are my childe," Hayaxi smirked. "You cannot harm me! The bloodbond prevents it!"

Quick as a flash, Bodhi's claw grasped around a stunned Hayaxi's neck who found herself being lifted off the ground. "For years I have lived under your boot heels, 'Mistress Hayaxi'," Bodhi spat. "Well, guess what? I am free now... I no longer need to kiss your boots and beg for the scraps from your table! I am the mistress now! Oh, I've been dreaming about this moment ever since you've made me..."

Bodhi threw Hayaxi against the rock-wall, shed her cloak and jumped forward, only to sink her fangs into the neck of the helpless elder vampire. Hayaxi merely whispered as her power slowly seeped away.

"Aaaah," Bodhi let out a sigh of pleasure as she stroked her face. All of her wounds, scars and mutilations were slowly receding. New hair emerged from her scalp and grew rapidly as Hayaxi's dark powers settled in her own body.

"My looks," Bodhi whispered. "I am beautiful again!"

"Curse you," Hayaxi managed in a meek voice as she barely had any energy left to move as Bodhi started to dragg her back into the cave.

"You know," Bodhi giggled as she produced a stake from her pouch. "It's going to be so much fun to see you on your back like a helpless turtle. Too bad that I won't see you turn to dust, but I just didn't have the heart to stake you in your helpless slumber. I wanted to see the look on your face when your little 'minion' destroyed your plans. But, hey, at least you'll spend an eternity immobilized in this nice little cave."

"Shar curse you," Hayaxi spat as the vampire drove the stake deeply through her heart, pinning her to the rock.

Bodhi stood over the body of Hayaxi with a satisfied grin. "Consider our agreement... broken."

"Your looks seems to have improved," Irenicus spoke as Bodhi returned to the small pocket-plane which served as their base of operations. "But you're still the same idiot you always were."

"As for you," Bodhi chuckled. "You're turning to the same nerd you always were..."

Indeed, Irenicus' hair had returned and his complexion was clear as his face was now covered with new skin.

Around them, the gathered forces were preparing for battle. Most of them where constructs and elementals that Irenicus had created years in advance for just this moment. Others were Rakshasa, Troll and Drow mercenaries, looking for a share of the magic items and gold to be found. There was even a black dragon pressed into service.

"The main defenders are off fighting the Drow," Bodhi said. "The city'll be easy picking."

"So we take our revenge," Irenicus sighed. "And then what, I wonder? Did we ever consider that?"

"I have," Bodhi said. "I'd like to conclude what happened so long ago... The power of the tree could be mine! Ermmm, I mean, ours, of course."

"But do we really want that power? What will it solve?"

"Getting cold feet, brother?" Bodhi snickered. "Hmm, maybe I'll set my self up to carve out an empire for myself! And empire of the undead, crushing the living underneath my boot!"

"Running an empire? You?" Irenicus snorted. "With your short attention span?"

"Well, maybe not, but it'd be nice to know that I could if I wanted to."

"Or maybe," Bodhi continued, "A vampire cult! I could be god-queen! Hey, I could dig that!"

"For about 45 seconds," Irenicus snorted.

"Again, it'd be nice to know that I could, if I wanted to," Bodhi grinned. "But whatever happens, Suldenesselar will burn."