Thaddeus's Wet Dream

Thaddeus stood unmoving on the grounds of the Cathedral. A soft breeze blew through his hair, and with it came the smell of roses. He stared up at the pew driven deep into the turf, which had somehow become taller than the Cathedral itself, cold and monolithic. From the gouge in the earth, black liquid seeped up and began to spill outward in small rivers.

Blood.

Thaddeus looked down at the grass, watching in horrified fascination as the blood flowed over his feet, which were oddly bare. He tried to back away, but he could not move.

When he looked up, he saw his surroundings had changed. He was now standing just inside the latticed arch that cut through the high rose hedge and led into the gazebo, and the blood flowed not from a wound in the earth but from the corpse laid out on the wooden floor. Only this time it was not Emma's body, but his own. Thaddeus approached the body, strangely undisturbed by this development, as if he had expected it all along. He knelt before his corpse and touched his face, only to draw it back in horror and shock when it turned into Mai's. Panic flooded him completely, and the world went dark.

He was cold. Freezing in fact, and he could not open his eyes. He felt hands guiding him, wrapping his own half frozen hands around a chalice. He knew what he must do, he knew he was to drink from the chalice, but it was so heavy, and he couldn't see, and it was so cold...

Thaddeus Grey?

With a splash, Thaddeus came awake. His heart raced as he tried to bring his mind into focus, struggling to shake off the nightmare and make his brain aware of where he was, that he was awake now, that it was just a dream.

Who's there?

Who would dare come into my private quarters!

A staticy voice repeated the query, and Thaddeus instantly felt foolish. The intercom.

Shaking the last of the grogginess away, Thaddeus blinked, looked around, and took stock of where he was. Sitting upright, freezing cold, dripping wet, in his bathtub. He had decided to take a soak to shake off the stresses of the night, and had instead fallen directly asleep. Wonderful. He pulled a face at the now cool water as he climbed out of the tub and threw on his robe. Walking across the bathroom to his vanity table, he pressed down on the intercom button.

Thaddeus Grey speaking.

'And God help you if this isn't bloody life or death,' he thought to himself, then shivered as he remembered the dream this call had interrupted.

"Your delivery has arrived, Master Grey."Â?

"What delivery? At this hour? Why was I disturbed?"Â?

Thaddeus barked at the clearly suicidal butler in annoyance. What could have possessed him to do such a thing? The response was smooth and slow, as if expecting this conflict.

"The order you placed last night has arrived. You specifically requested to be informed on arrival."Â?

Oh. That. Thaddeus had forgotten, and might have felt foolish if he were not so annoyed.

"Very well. Send it to my quarters; I will be in my office."Â?

Deciding to forgo a shower at least until he was no longer pruned from the bath, Thaddeus cast off his robe and put on some black silk pajama bottoms and a matching top, then threw a black brocade dressing gown over the entire ensemble. He shoved his feet into a pair of slippers (slippers being acceptable within his quarters, naturally) and padded downstairs to his office.

This really isn't even worth writing down. Just a dream.

Still, Thaddeus recorded everything he remembered, and let the tension from the nightmare slip from his shoulders onto the paper.

There was no denying the dream had disturbed him, and he pondered the possible meanings until he was once again interupted by the butler.

/ooc just to clarify a few things...

First of all, my apologies if you were expecting something different when you clicked on the thread. I am a little sorry.

Secondly, I swear I'm not picking on Talon. I personally thought the image of the pew driven into the ground was a powerful one, and Thaddeus is much haunted by it, but the incident has taken on a symbolic nature for him. It's really nothing personal. Thaddeus does not suspect Talon of any more wrong doing than that of making a mess.

And finally, this takes place after Thaddeus's talk with Alfarinn ends and he returns home. Just wanted to write it while it was hot.