This is all for you

>Ah, so the sleeper has awoken at truly long last.

>Whom is there? I do not recognise your voice.

>I am Maleficent, and it is because of me that you are once again given life?

>Given life? But...I died? Perished by a spinning wheel's spindle.

>Yes, and for a century you have slept, undying. Still young; still beautiful, you now stand on ageless legs, and see through ageless eyes.

>My eyes...I had never seen so clearly, what happened to me?

 

...........

 

>"Brigands! Looting my castle!"

>"Yes, these are a chaotic time, where criminality reigns, but you are not without weapons. Your vampiric body, in addition to superior strength and agility, your skill with knot together as soon as it is cleaved. All that you should fear is water - even the gentlest of forest brooks will scorch you like acid; wounds that impale through your immortal, broken heart; and the sun, never again shall you feel the warmth of a summer day on your skin Aurora.

 

...........

 

"I see the change in your face, Princess of Gore. You look upon my dark domain and wonder."

 

Aurora clutched her short sword. "I wonder only how I might bring you down and suck your life."

 

"How delightful! You have learned to hate. Your parents would be appalled. But you do wonder, don't you? The reason for all this?" Maleficent swept a coal-cloaked arm across the darkened landscape. "Well then, I shall tell you. From one monster to another, dear Briar." She waited, she waited, she waited until Aurora twitched and briefly bared her fangs. Maleficent smiled. "This is all for you."

 

Aurora's crimson eyes grew wide. "Make more sense, demon."

 

"You are the demon, Briar Rose! And I have made a Hell for you!" Maleficent spread her arms, cloak billowing. "The days are short and gray, the nights are long and black. The forests grow wild, the cities lie ruined. Beasts roam the roads, horrors fill the caverns. And in all the ruin mortal men cower, shaking in fear." Maleficent grinned. "What a wondrous place for a vampire, no?"

 

Now Aurora bared her fangs and snarled at the dark fairy. "So you have ruined my kingdom- my whole world- to please me?"

 

"Of course!" Maleficent said. "To please you- not the you you were, but the you you are. To feed the monster you have become."

 

Maleficent laughed. "Every innocent victim of yours is my victory! Every mortal man or woman whose warm blood you guzzle is my triumph! Ordering the world according to my whims is its own reward, but the chief prize is your surrender to savagery!"

 

"I will-"

 

"You will SUCCUMB, bloody princess, because your love and kindness will fail you in the end. I am delighted to watch you struggle because I know you will fail. Soon you will be one more ravenous beast, a soulless creature of the night, as much a terror to the innocent as I!" Lightning flashed. "And then, dear Briar, I shall claim victory. Perhaps I shall even feed you fresh meat. You may in time make a worthy pet."

 

With a flash of green smoke, Maleficent vanished. Aurora's body twitched, and with a flash of anger she wanted to hurl her sword into the woods. But she resisted. She was still a princess, still the daughter of a king. She had more composure than that.

 

But for how long?