"This will go much more smoothly," Zelgadiss told the trembling man pleasantly, "if you just tell me what I want to know."
"I - I don't know anything, sir."
"Oh, I sincerely doubt that," Zel replied, still pleasant. "You worked with the Necromancer for over fifteen years. You cannot tell me that during all that time he never once showed you its location?"
"No, he - "
"Wrong answer." Zel's voice was suddenly icy.
Zelgadiss impassively broke the man's wrist, his expression not changing in the slightest when the maimed lackey screamed in pain.
"Let's try again," Zel suggested, tone and face devoid of expression.
"Please, sir, I can't - AAAAAGGGHHHH!!" the man screamed again as his other wrist was broken.
"I'm becoming impatient," Zelgadiss monotoned, eyes narrowing dangerously.
"I'll tell you! I'll tell you!" the poor lackey cried, cringing as far away from Zelgadiss as his restraints allowed.
Zelgadiss smiled, and the man shuddered.
Anticipation and excitement warred for dominance in Zel as he approached the Necromancer's laboratory. It was right where the lackey said it would be. Perhaps Zel shouldn't have killed the man, after all. Well, it was no big loss, and the annoying man had tried to hold out on Zel.
For a moment, he wished that his friends were there, to share this moment with him. But, of course, that was not to be. Zel frowned a little as he remembered the last conversation he'd had with Lina...
"The Wampyr's Heart?!" Lina had cried. "Zel, you can't be serious!"
"Of course I'm serious," he had responded earnestly. "Lina, this is my cure, I'm sure of it."
She'd shook her head. "You know how that - that thing works, don't you? Sucking the life from others?"
"It would only take one person's life," he'd protested. "It's not as if we don't kill bandits on a regular basis."
"That's different. It's...clean. It's been said that the Wampyr's Heart steals souls, as well, souls that won't be freed until the wielder is dead. How can you do that to someone? Even a bandit?"
Zelgadiss had frowned. "I've explained it to you. I could explain it again, but you wouldn't understand."
Horror and pity had mingled in her expression as she'd quietly said, "That's what Rezo said, right before he ressurected Shabranigdu."
He'd turned without a word and started walking. How dare she say such a thing, comparing him to Rezo!
"Zel!" she'd called after him, "I don't want you to destroy yourself, like he did!"
Before she could say something else, Zel had broken into a run, leaving her and his other companions behind.
Zelgadiss shook his head, trying to exorcise those memories. His cure was at hand; there was no reason to become melancholy.
The Necromancer's laboratory had been built far underground, the only enterance hidden by an enchanted boulder above the labratory itself. Zel easily destroyed the obstacle with a spell, then jumped down the now-exposed entrance.
He fell for ages, it seemed, before finally tumbling to the ground. Zel took out a ball of string, and let it trail behind him as he followed the lackey's directions.
After countless twists and turns, Zelgadiss finally stood before a rather nondescript wooden door. There wasn't even a spell on the door, probably to confuse interuders who would be looking for the most heavily warded door within the labyrinth.
He stepped into the room, and as the door shut behind him, the room became dim, despite the light spell he'd cast. The light seemed to be disappearing somewhere, as if drawn into a vortex.
Zel's eyes were drawn to the darkest corner of the room. There, on an iron petastool, lay a dark, metallic stone the red-brown colour of dried blood. Zel approached slowly, carefully, wary of any traps.
He regarded the stone a moment. This was the famous Wampyr's Heart? It wasn't very impressive. It looked like nothing more than a glittering stone to Zel. But he could feel the power radiating from it now. He reached out -
He heard the sound of footsteps from outside the door. Someone or something was trying to stop him! They wouldn't succeed.
Zel grabbed the Wampyr's Heart. Tendrils of pure power flowed through the stone, into him. It was intoxicating!
Zel distantly noted there was yelling outside the door, which had caught on fire. Someone must've cast a fireball.
As Zel turned his attention outward, so did the Wampyr's Heart. The stone suddenly shone, now a bright, fresh-blood red. A near-invisible line of power shot out in the direction of the door. There was a scream, to which Zel soon added his own.
The sheer power was almost overwhelming! Zel willed the power to perform as he desired - to make him human again.
Seconds later, everything was silent. Zel looked down at his hands, still grasping the Wampyr's Heart. They were human hands! He set the stone back on the pedastool, then examined himself. Human! He was cured!
Zel realised the door was still burning. He'd better hurry; he didn't want to get trapped. He kicked the door open, actually enjoying the sting his human foot felt through his boot.
And crumpled in a heap outside the door was the fool who'd thought to stop Zel. It worked out quite well; the one who would've stopped him fed the Wampyr's Heart and -
No.
Oh, no.
Zel shakily knelt down beside the figure, moving the cape aside -
No! It couldn't be!
But it was.
It was Lina.
"Never assume," he remembered her saying once. But he had assumed; he'd assumed that since she so vehemently argued against using the Wampyr's Heart that she'd want nothing to do with Zel's quest.
He checked for a pulse on her neck. Her skin was freezing-cold to the touch, all the warmth drained away. He wasn't surprised when he would find no lifebeat; nothing so cold, so still, could be alive.
Suddenly he was cold, too, freezing to death despite the nearby fire, shaking with the intensity of the chill.
He managed to pick Lina up, even without the strength of a Chimera. She was so small...without the force of her personality, Lina seemed painfully tiny, beautiful and fragile like a glass figurine, as just as lifeless.
Zel walked back into the room, and sat in down on the floor. The curtains had caught fire now, and tongues of flame kissed the odd manuscript or scroll, setting them aflame. It was beautiful and terrible.
Zelgadiss kissed Lina's forehead, then closed his eyes and held her close as the inferno raged around them.