In a mighty stone tower, on the north coast of Wales were two people. A woman in her thirties and a girl no older than six. The woman with long red hair, blue eyes as bright as the clear sky, and a smooth complexion a gift of the gods was Morgana le fay, the half-sister of King Arthur Pendragon and the girl was Morgana's daughter Eleanor.
She too had red hair but whilst her mothers lent more towards the ginger side of the spectrum, Eleanor's was like a rose bright and in full bloom. Her eyes shone like the full moon of a midnight blue lake, it looked almost alien, her iris were crystallized like a diamond and blue like the Gentian.
Whilst Eleanor had rarely ever seen her father, the few times they met were brief but exciting, her eyes resembled his to the point that they looked almost identical, sadly he had little time for them and so Eleanor and her mother lived alone for as long as she could remember. Other than her eyes she looked like a copy of Morgana.
It was strange how similar they looked but there were a few differences, like how Eleanor's nose was tipped up slightly more than her mother's and how her eyes were slightly larger, which gave her a cuter visage.
They were both on the top floor of the tower, in a round spacious room with opulent decoration. There was a Persian rug on the left side of the door, while on the right there was a magnificent suite of armor decorated in the finest Jules and engraved with runes plated in gold. Next to the rug, there was a workbench, most likely made for woodwork and carving runes. There was every tool you could imagine stored above below and in said workbench.
To the right of the knightly garment there was a window overlooking a magnificent forest, which housed all sorts of creatures from the small and weak flobberworm with it's thick brown body to the great and mighty Dragon with its fiery breath and powerful claws, everything lived and flourished there.
On the far side of the room, there was a beautifully carved shelf, that reached the ceiling and was filled to the brim with scrolls of a different origin. To its left side, there was a barrel, filled with all sorts of items, brumes, staffs, and even a longsword with a ruby at its pommel.
At the center of the room, there was an altar made of granite, it was simple and sturdy with manacles attached to it. Eleanor sat on the edge of it, with her feet dangling off the edge wearing a long, she was wearing nothing but a white nightgown made of silk, she felt nervus which only added to the already cold chill seeping into her bones.
Opposite her in a crouching position sat her mother, she was wearing a traditional robe, it was blue with stripes of purple adorning the edges which gave it a royal appearance. Leaning forward and putting a hand on her daughter's knee Morgana asked "Are you really ok with this we can just call it off and"
"No," Eleanor said in a firm voice "We've worked so hard to get here turning back isn't an option" sighing Morgana pushed herself off the floor "I-I'm just so worried what if it doesn't work and and" Reaching out Eleanor grabbed her mother's hand and squeezed it tightly "Mother I'll be fine don't worry," she said with a bright smile.
Cupping Eleanors face in her hands, Morgana placed a kiss on her forehead "Okay fine let's get it over with, but you have to tell me if you feel like anything is going wrong." Nodding Eleanor swiveled over to lie on the altar
. Taking a step forward, Morgana started to place her daughter's appendages in the manacles while saying "The Vampire blood will change you and so it will hurt quite a bit I can try to alleviate the pain, but I can't put you to sleep, as it might cause it to mutate in a way that we don't know, thus this is necessary so you don't hurt yourself by accident." Waving her wand over the manacles, they lock automatically with a small clink.
Walking over to the workbench, Morgana reached down and opened a drawer, inside there were two syringes, each filled with a dark red liquid most likely blood. Reaching out and grabbing it, she strode back over to Eleanor where she takes out her wand and waves it a few times. Suddenly the girl feels like her whole body has gone numb, which hopefully means the pain will be less intense. Leaning over her Morgana asked "Are you ready?" nodding Eleanor closed her eyes.
Moving over to the left of her daughter, she leans down and penetrates her skin with the needle, Eleanor flinches at the sudden pain. As Morgana slowly injects the blood into her Vain, she tenses up and grits her teeth. Pulling the syringe out, Morgana places it in her robe, out of the now needle-free hole in Eleanor's arm, blood starts pouring out.
A spine-tingling scream ran through the tower as her canines started to be pushed out being replaced by longer ones and the same could be said about her nails becoming longer with sharp tips. Morgana lent forward and placed her ear on Eleanor's chest.
She could hear her heartbeat slowly decreasing and so she moved back to the drawer with the last remaining syringe grabbing it as fast as she could Morgana moved back over to Eleanor but this time to her right side where she repeated the procedure. Slowly a few strands of her hair started turning yellow and orange giving them a fiery look.
Reaching out her hand Morgana held Eleanor's firmly while she's still writhing on the altar. The screaming had died down to a low whining. "I'm here sweetie just hold on a bit longer," she said in a calm and empathic tone of voice. Tears started rolling down her cheeks as she whispered "please forgive me this is all my fault."
"I forgive you" Morgana almost didn't hear it but when she looked up, Eleanor was looking at her with a weak smile on her face. She had grown extremely pale as if she was dead which she technically was. She didn't change much, her hair now looked like a raging fire, her nails and canine teeth had elongated and grown extremely sharp.
While you could speculate her becoming a rare beauty. Before now it was certain it would be almost impossible to find a woman of any species that could match her allure. But the most striking thing was her mismatched eyes. The right one was blue as before but the left had changed completely now it looked akin to a blood-red ruby.
"Mother, I'm hungry" she suddenly announced.
"Sure sweety I'll just"
An explosion impacted the tower followed by shouts of "Avada Kedavra" "Bombarda" "Reducto". Jumping up to her feat, Morgana waved her wand and all the manacles opened up.
Helping Eleanor sit she quickly checked her arms and the wounds had healed up perfectly. "Looks like it worked on the surface. I'm just a happy vampire and Phoenix blood works so well together," she stated happily.
"Mother I'm so hungry I-I feel like I'm about to lose control, please I just need a bit," Eleanor said quietly. "Sure sweetie but just a bit". Morgana undid some of the buttons on her dress that she was wearing under her robe sliding it off her right shoulder exposing smooth white skin underneath. Slowly leaning forward and closing her eyes she said "Go on my little princess drink."
Eleanor lunged forward and buried her teeth in her flesh and hot blood gushed out into Eleanor's mouth. To her it tasted like the nectar of the gods she started sucking and sucking.
"Stop your drinking too much," Morgana said weakly, but Eleanor didn't react. "Sweety stop it now". Suddenly the jaw locked around her neck released itself "I'm sorry mother I lost control" Eleanor uttered downcast.
"Oh, my little bloodsucker I understand newly turned vampires often need a lot of blood when they first feast." lifting her daughter's head she saw that there was a small trickle of blood running down the side of her mouth "Still eating sloppily I see," Morgana said jokingly a small giggle escaped Eleanor's lips.
Morgana's head swiveled to the door from where she could hear the voices of soldiers which meant they were close, very close. Dashing about the room she started gathering everything that she needed. While she was doing so Eleanor tried to stand up but couldn't and fell to the stone floor.
Morgana, noticing this, picked her back up and placed her on a wooden chair. Rushing to the other side of the room she grabbed a few scrolls, books and a broomstick the door was suddenly flung open and a large burly man stood in the doorway glaring at them "Now stay here woman the King wants you back alive" he growled.
That seemed to annoy Morgana though she razed her wand and exclaimed "Avada Kedavra ''. An arc of green lightning shot off the end of her wand and hit the man squarely in the chest. He flew back through the doorway and into a huddle of other soldiers behind him.
Mounting the broom with Eleanor in her arms she flew through the window heading northeast.
After a few hours of flight, she noticed that Eleanor was slowly losing control again. "We're almost there dear hold on a bit longer," she said while looking at the horizon where a magnificent stone castle stood as they drew nearer they saw there was a lake and a forest next to it. They started their descent and landed inside the forest in a large clearing with beautiful flowers of every kind.
Dropping her broom and caring her daughter over to the center of the clearing there in the middle was a small sapling. Levitating her daughter above it she used an old art of magic which was lost by time to change the sapling into a crystal by feeding it her magic energy it started to grow and soon covered Eleanor's legs and back.
Morgana stopped feeding it her energy, taking a step forward she took Eleanor's head in her hands and whispered "Sweety, you'll have to stay here for the time being while I go to Camlann to save your stupid father. For you, I will only be gone for an instant. Just so you know I love you and so does your father. I have a reward for you braving the procedure here" and out of her satchel she pulled a white, gold-encrusted book with the crest of house Pendragon engraved on it and a pitch-black wand made of some strange metal with silver runes engraved on it, from the point where the handle ended it started twisting like a screw ending in a sharp point "here take them and don't let go" she said while pushing them into her hands.
Eleanor took them, the wand in her right hand and the book in her left.
Kissing her on the forehead Morgana took a step back and waved to her, the cristal started advancing again with a tear sliding down her cheek, Eleanor was consumed by the crystal, her hair billowing upwards as if she had just jumped into water.
Morgana transferred the energy flow from herself to Eleanor. Which meant the tree would take just as much as it needed to survive and grow.
In years to come the tree would be a place which all Headmasters had to visit to be officially recognized.