Author: Maaike

Rating: NC17

Feedback: sithlordess@hotmail.com

Disclaimer: All known characters are solely registered and copyrighted to George Lucas and Lucas LTD. No money was made nor received in its creation.

A Special Christmas Night

It was definitely going to be a white Christmas this year. In recent years it had been either rainy or foggy, with temperatures always above freezing and Mirre could not remember the last time there was a Christmas with snow. Now it had already been snowing for days and it had not stopped until earlier that afternoon.

Mirre looked out the window, the pines covered in snow and the ground hidden by a thick white blanket. It was Christmas Eve and she was apprehensive. She felt alert, as if she knew something unexpected was going to happen.

Friends had invited her to join their Christmas party, but Mirre thought of all the inevitable hohoho-ing and hahaha-ing and decided to stay home. She preferred the solitude of her own home to the hectic of an evening with friends.

She closed the curtains and, brushing back her short dark hair, returned to her comfortable couch and her Christmas tree.

Mirre always loved the holiday season. The early darkness outside, the comfort of the fire burning cheerfully and the Christmas tree made her feel like purring. Lighting another candle, she sank down to the floor in front of the fireplace and closed her eyes. The flames warmed her face and she sighed contentedly, breathing in the scent of incense wafting her way.

The room was warm and cosy, only the candles and the Christmas tree were lit and Mirre began to feel drowsy when suddenly the lights on the tree and the one in the hall went out.

Mirre opened her eyes and growled. “Damn! Fuses blown. Perfect timing!”

She swore under her breath and taking a candle with her, went to the kitchen to change the fuse. But no matter where she searched, she could not find new fuses. Swearing again she sat down at the kitchen-table. She could have wept with rage, no fuses and the holiday weekend before her. “Well, I can sit here forever, but that is not going to get me any damned fuses.” She banged her fist on the table once more and went back to the hall to put on her warm coat, get her purse and car-keys. “You cannot sit here in the dark for three days, dearie, besides all your frozen supplies will be ruined. That happens when you don’t buy a new box of fuses after you take the last one out,” Mirre scolded herself.

With another angry exclamation, she blew out the candle and left the house. Her car decided to start right away for once and she drove to town.

The shops were filled with people doing their last minute shopping and the brightly lit shop-windows were competing with each other for who had the best decorations. On practically every street-corner a Santa Claus rang his bell shouting ‘Ho Ho Ho’ and from some shops Christmas music sounded.

Mirre felt her foul temper quickly fade away and smiled, seeing a man and a woman hurry home with their arms full of prettily wrapped parcels. “Someone is getting a lot of presents,” she mumbled.

It did not take her very long to get her much-needed box of fuses and with a sigh of relief she went back to her car. Before she got in she looked up at the dark sky and saw a falling star. “Send the man of my dreams to come and take me away,” she thought. With a smile she shook her head and started the short drive home.

It was not very late, but it was dark and it had begun to snow again, and the streetlights were hardly able to penetrate the heavy snowfall.

A few miles further down the road, the snow had become a thick white curtain and the wind had risen, making driving conditions hazardous. Mirre had to drive slowly, barely able to see a few meters ahead.

Suddenly the car started skidding and she fought to get it under control again. The car spun around and hit a tree sideways, causing Mirre to cry out when she hit her head on the door-window. The engine stopped and for a moment there was a deathly silence.

Mirre put her hands over her face, fighting a wave of nausea. She leaned forward on the wheel until she recovered enough to carefully lift her head again.

For a few minutes Mirre sat shaking in her car before she felt composed enough to try to restart it.

She turned the key. Nothing happened.

Tears of rage and shock came. “This is not my day!” she cried. “First the damned fuses, now the damned car! This is Christmas, you know!” She was aware her anger was futile and got out of the car to check the damage. The car did not seem to be heavily damaged and there was no good reason why it should not start.

She kicked the tyre furiously and banged her fists on the bonnet. However, it did not help, and growling angrily again, Mirre took her precious box of fuses and decided to walk the last mile or so back to her house.

Something inside her said doing so was stupid in view of the weather, but she saw no other possibility, having left her mobile phone on the kitchen-table. “If one thing goes wrong, you can be sure everything goes wrong,” she thought wryly and started walking.

The wind was howling around her and visibility was practically nil as she trampled through the already thick snow on the road. But as she struggled on, Mirre thought she saw a dark shadow moving beside her. She was not a woman easily frightened even though she was alone and as she peered into the snowdrift she saw nothing.

Not much later Mirre started shivering as the temperature dropped considerably. She gritted her teeth and walked on, making slow progress. But her boots lost grip suddenly and she fell, feeling herself sliding off the road into a gully.

Mirre tried to struggle to her feet but with an angered cry she slipped back again. The road was too far up and she could not reach it on her own. Knowing she could not stay here for fear of freezing, Mirre realized her only chance was to follow the gully to a point where it would be easier to climb out.

She was just about to lose the Christmas spirit completely and swear like she had never sworn before, when a dark shadow loomed over her.

Startled she looked up to find the strangest creature ever looking at her. He was totally clad in black; his cloak had the hood raised, leaving only a small part of his face visible in the dim light. And that face was black with jagged red marking. But his eyes… she could see his eyes were yellow and they burned fiercely. Yet, oddly enough, Mirre felt no fear of this stranger.

He did not speak a word, but his gloved hand grabbed her arm and effortlessly pulled her out of the gully onto the road.

Mirre stared at him, as he seemed to merge with the shadows. “Thank you… I could not get back onto the road without help,” she stammered, unable to take her eyes away from his. “I had an accident with my car, could you give me a lift?” The question sounded silly, this strange being was not likely to have a car around, besides she had not heard a car approach.

He smiled slightly. “No, I have no car.” His voice was low and breathy and Mirre stared again.

“If I can make it home, can I offer you something to eat or drink? It would be the least I could do to thank you,” Mirre said, shivering with cold and longing for a hot drink.

“Yes, I accept your offer,” he replied shortly and together they headed towards Mirre’s house, the stranger walking beside her in silence as if immersed in his own thoughts.

By now the storm had become a blizzard and Mirre noticed that as she had trouble keeping her footing and seeing ahead, he walked easily with the grace of a panther.

There was the crackling noise of a falling tree and Mirre ducked quickly, covering her head. But the dark stranger made a move with his left hand and the tree seemed to change direction in mid fall to land safely away from them. He waited until Mirre got to her feet again to follow her to her house.

Mirre breathed a sigh of relief when she finally walked up the path to her house. Upon opening the front door she leaned against the wall for a moment before removing her wet coat and boots.

The dark stranger stood in the door-opening looking at her. Suddenly a little shy, Mirre smiled. “Please come in, you must be cold and wet too. Let me change the fuses first, then I will prepare us something hot to eat and drink.”

She hurried to the kitchen and in no time had the lights on again and water boiling to make some tea. Her dinner of chicken and vegetables was already prepared and needed only heating up. She put two portions in the oven for her guest and herself, grateful that she had made food for two days.

As she turned around, she nearly jumped. The stranger stood behind her and she had not heard him enter.

He had taken off his wet cloak and boots and now she could see him clearly. The red markings on his face were obviously tattoos and his hairless head was crowned with short, blunt horns. Now that she could see him better, she saw his eyes were golden, specked with red.

Mirre stared at him again, feeling magnetism between them as his strange eyes held hers. “I did not hear you come in,” she said only for something to say.

“No one hears me if I do not want them to,” he replied quietly.

Mirre tore her eyes away from his and poured boiling water into her teapot. “But I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Mirre,” she said a little nervously, as she felt his eyes resting on her face.

After a short hesitation he answered. “Khameir Sarin.”

“What an unusual name, but very beautiful. But then, you yourself are unusual. Who are you?” and after a pause she whispered: “what are you, an alien? And how did you get here?”

A shadow of a smile played on his lips. “So many questions.”

Mirre’s eyes fell before his and she began pouring hot tea into mugs. She took the mugs and went into her living room, setting them down on the low table by the couch.

Khameir Sarin did not seem at all uncomfortable at a strange home. He sat down on the couch and sipped his tea, his brooding eyes never leaving her.

Mirre felt him strong and overpowering in the room, yet she was not afraid in the presence of this fearsome looking being. Here she was with someone who was obviously not from this world and she felt perfectly safe with him.

They did not speak; there was no need to, for they communicated wordlessly, his mind connecting with hers.

The magic between them was broken when the oven-alarm went off in the kitchen, indicating their dinner was ready to be served.

Mirre hurried off and returned with the chicken and vegetables, putting it on the dining table. ”Well, dinner is ready, Khameir, will you join me? Maybe I can still experience some of the Christmas spirit,” she smiled, lighting two candles on the table.

Khameir rose in a fluid move and joined her at the table. “Yet you do not believe in it,” he observed.

For a moment Mirre’s brown eyes fell. “No, I do not. I love the Christmas holidays, but it has no religious meaning to me anymore. It used to, but not anymore.”

“I could tell. You were swearing a lot,” Khameir said.

“Yes, a very bad habit. Enjoy your dinner.” Mirre watched him as he ate sparingly and only sipped at his glass of wine.

The soft light of the candles made shadows dance over his tattooed face, making his golden eyes sparkle. In spite of his appearance, Mirre found he had an unusual, savage beauty.

“So, you find me beautiful?” Khameir said a little surprised. “Not many think so.”

Mirre gasped, blushing a deep red. “You can read my thoughts?”

“Yes,” was the short reply.

“I must be careful what I think then,” Mirre said, trying to hide her embarrassment. “I will take these dirty dishes to the kitchen and make some coffee. Do you drink coffee?”

“Yes, I do.” Khameir rose when she did and went back to his seat on the couch.

Not much later Mirre returned with two mugs of fragrant coffee and sat down in front of the fire again. The heat from the flames warmed her back and the scent from the burning logs was pleasant. She sipped her hot coffee and looked up at Khameir.

“You are obviously not from this world. How did you get here? And why did you help me?”

Khameir held her gaze. “The gully was too deep for you to climb out. You might have injured yourself. I could not let that happen.” As he saw Mirre was about to open her mouth to fire more questions at him, he raised his hand to silence her. “How I got here is not important.”

“Who are you?” Mirre asked again.

“I was once a Sith Lord, but I lost that honour when I failed my Master.”

“What? You are what?” Mirre was baffled.

Khameir Sarin shrugged his shoulders. “It is no longer of any importance. All you need to know is that you belong to me. You always belonged to me. From the day I saw you born.”

Mirre’s mouth fell open. For a moment she was too stunned to speak, but then she gave an incredulous laugh. “Get outta here!!”

Khameir Sarin looked at her in surprise.

Mirre quickly shook her head. “No, never mind, it is just an expression. Do you mean to tell me you were there when I was born!?”

“I was always there. But you will remember soon,” Khameir said.

“And why did you suddenly appear now?” Mirre asked

“You yourself called me,” was the simple answer.

“Beg your pardon? I called you?” Mirre frowned in disbelief. “Oh no, wait, don’t tell me! You are a ghost? You are not real and I am imagining this!” Mirre found herself getting irritable. All this was too much like a fantasy film and her logical mind refused to believe any of it could be real.

His mysterious, unblinking eyes holding her dark ones, Khameir took her hand in his and held it against his cheek. “Oh, but I am not dead, I can never die.”

Mirre gasped as she felt his smooth, hot skin under her fingers. At the same instant, she felt his mind connect with hers. She saw images of foreign worlds, planets flying by, a lovely sleek spacecraft dancing amongst the stars.

At the same time Mirre saw Khameir Sarin’s thoughts and memories. She witnessed being born; with him standing beside the bed on which her mother had just given birth, his hands on her tiny body.

She saw him as he had always been with her, his dark presence touching and yet never touching. And she had an image of how he lay beside her in bed, leaning on his elbow, looking at her as she slept, sometimes gently caressing her body. She felt him as he made love to her in a wild, but oh, so wonderful way.

Just as quickly as he invaded her mind, Khameir let her go again.

Mirre breathed in with a hiss. “Yes! I do remember you. Those dreams, those wonderful dreams! I woke up longing for you.”

“This evening you wished for the man of your dreams to come along. I am the one who was always in your dreams. Only they were not dreams. You are mine. Through all the ages you were mine,” Khameir said in his low voice.

Mirre held on to his hand, his higher body temperature making it feel feverishly hot. “But why me? I am nothing special. I can’t ever do anything right, I am not beautiful, I swear all the time…” she whispered, her head spinning. She still had the feeling all this was a just fantasy. Soon she would wake up from this wonderful dream of this wonderful man, alone in her home, Christmas Eve upon her. “Who are you? Please tell me?”

Khameir’s face suddenly became an angry mask with deep lines. “My Master gave me the name Darth Maul, Dark Lord of the Sith.” I lost a battle with our archenemies, and because I failed my Master, he did not allow me to die honourably. Instead, I was banned from his presence forever. His punishment was that I may never rest and have to live with the shame of my failure forever. And all the time I must pursue the ultimate goal of the Sith; total domination of the galaxy.” Khameir Sarin growled deep in his throat as he spoke these last words. “My Master bonded me to my consort, you, and the bonding of a Sith Lord is eternal. My torture is to search for you throughout the universe, let you be part of me for a short period of time and then lose you again. It is never the same. In one life you can be with me for many years, in another our time is limited. Each parting is agony, yet I must search for you and find you again, as I did once more.”

Mirre listened to him, her mouth slightly open in astonishment. “Yes…. yes…I believe you. Incredible and weird though it is, for some reason I believe you. All my life I never once felt alone, I always had the feeling there was someone with me.” She bit her lower lip deep in thought. “I looked at the stars at night and wondered if there was someone out there waiting for me. It was you.”

“You always wondered why you loved the darkness so much, my Lady. Now you remember.”

“Yes. I love solitude and I love the darkness. My family and friends always thought me the odd one out because my interests were so different from theirs. I dated a few men but I never found anyone I cared enough about to want to spend my life with. There was always something holding me back. Something none of them could give me.”

Khameir gave her an amused smile. “Since I gave you my seed for the very first time, my Lady, you belonged to me eternally and no other can satisfy you.”

Mirre raised her eyebrows. “I see you have lost none of your arrogance, Khameir.” She grimaced and shook her head. “How did I know that? How did I know you are arrogant?”

He leaned back a bit. “You always said I was.”

“But why did you come to me on this night? Only because you did not want me to come to harm?”

“You wished upon a star. On Christmas Eve such a wish will come true as the old myth says. This is a special night. On this night all your ancestors are allowed to visit you. They surround you and enjoy the light of the candles, knowing you think of them. I decided this was the appropriate night for me to join you.”

Mirre stared at him. “Why did you never come to me before?”

“Oh, but I did. You do not remember because I erased the memory from your mind. We have been close often in this life as well, my Lady. But I did not wish to wait any longer now. I chose this night to claim you once again.” Khameir’s eyes were intense and burning and Mirre gasped under their unblinking gaze.

The candlelight in the room was more golden than before and she could smell a sandalwood and musk-like scent. Khameir made no move, yet it seemed as if invisible arms drew her nearer to him.

He leaned forward; moving closer and closer until their lips met and he kissed her slowly and longingly.

Mirre closed her eyes and as his kiss deepened, his mind embraced hers and memories flooded her. She felt his arms go round her as he pulled her close to him, his tongue licking her lips as she opened her mouth to him. His taste was alien and yet so familiar, bringing back thoughts and images she had forgotten and yet were very much part of her.

She saw the castle where she lived with him, and the wondrous view of a city with skyscrapers and millions of lights everywhere; she was at his side on board his sleek ship. And all through the images flooding her mind there were his golden eyes, gleaming fiercely.

“Khameir!” She clung to him, her hand going to his head to touch the horns, running her fingers around them, caressing the base in the old familiar way.

“You always liked to touch them, as I enjoyed feeling it,” Khameir grinned.

Mirre giggled and kissed his earlobe, licking his left ear with the silver stud. She gave a soft murmur as his fingers caressed her neck and shoulder, slowly going down to touch her breast. She felt the heat of his hand through the fabric of her shirt and closed her hand over his. “Khameir, make love to me…”

Khameir smiled and Mirre gave a small cry of recognition as she saw the wrinkles around his eyes. “Yes, I always loved it when you smiled at me!”

Khameir lifted her off the floor effortlessly and carried her to the bedroom where he put her down on the bed, sitting down beside her. He slowly took off her shirt and her bra, bending down to kiss her breasts and lick her nipples. His eager hands unfastened her skirt and took it off too, followed by her undies. His hands caressed every inch of her soft body and she felt his slightly calloused palms on her skin. Again his mouth closed over hers in a deep, passionate kiss, his tongue circling hers passionately.

Quickly he removed his heavy leather belt and his tunics, shifting his body to remove his baggy, black pants.

Mirre looked at the naked man so close to her and gasped. A deep, jagged scar, running all around his waist marked his perfect body, disturbing the symmetry of the red tattoos. “Khameir!! What happened to you?”

“The warrior I fought gave me this wound. My Master did not want to remove the scar from my body. He told me it would stay there to remind me of my failure as a Sith Lord and his apprentice,” Khameir’s voice was icy and he growled softly.

Mirre sat up and carefully touched the uneven skin of the scar. “Does it still hurt?”

“It always causes me pain. But the suffering made me even stronger. I use the pain to feed my hatred and the dark side.”

Mirre put her arms around his neck and pulled his head close to kiss him again and as her kiss became more passionate; he pressed her naked body to his.

“It has been so long!” he said hoarsely and with a groan pushed her down on the bed, covering her body with his.

He was arousing her in a way no other man ever had before, caressing her breasts and licking her neck. She felt his hardness against her thigh and reached down to touch his smooth skin. Khameir’s scent was intoxicating and she breathed in deeply as she caressed his muscular chest with the dark nipples.

As Mirre ran her fingers over his chest she noticed the slight twitching of his skin where she touched him. She moaned softly as he touched her womanhood, arousing her as only he could, her body warm and welcoming as he entered her. Slowly he began moving in and out of her, sometimes resting a moment, staying deep inside her, whispering words in Zabrak against her lips. And then there were only the two of them, nothing else existed except his groans and thrusts and her cry as she felt him release inside her.

Relaxing in Khameir’s warm embrace, Mirre caressed his broad chest. She nuzzled his neck and enjoyed his familiar scent. “Khameir?”

“Yes.”

“You are still a Sith warrior, aren’t you? Do you still fulfil your Master’s wishes? I mean, are you still fighting for his cause, to establish his reign of darkness throughout the galaxy?”

Khameir’s mouth was cruel again. “Yes. But I established my own empire of darkness even though I no longer carry my Sith title. I will remain loyal to the Sith Order. It is what I am and always shall be. I pledged my life and loyalty to my Master once; I can never go back on my oath. I will always fight to bring Sith rule to the galaxy. For this I will kill, threaten, and do whatever I must do, until it becomes reality. It is my fate.”

“And what happened to your Master?” Mirre hesitated before she asked it, not sure if he would answer.

“My Master discarded me like a broken tool no longer of any use. He took on a new apprentice and became Emperor. In the end the apprentice broke the power of my Master and turned to the light side of the Force.” Khameir’s low voice was unemotional, but Mirre felt his rage surge around the room. “But like me, my Master too lives eternally. Darkness lives forever, as evil lives forever. Even though I am my own Master now, I can still feel his presence with me and inside me. And thus it will be forever.”

Mirre was suddenly very sure of what she wanted. Her destiny was to share the life of Khameir Sarin once more, or Lord Maul, as he had been when she was bonded to him. “Khameir, will you take me with you? Please?”

Khameir shifted his head to look at her. “You would come with me?”

Mirre sat up, her face serious. “Yes, I meant it, take me with you. I have nothing here. Let me be part of your life. Besides, you did say you had come to claim me again.”

He growled softly. “You are my weakness, my Master knew this when he inflicted punishment upon me. Every time I claim you, your love redeems me, bringing a flicker of light in my darkness. But also the agony starts, for I know I must lose you again as I have at the end of each life with you.”

A frown appeared on Mirre’s face. “But until we have to part again, beloved, let us enjoy the time given to us. This is Christmas Eve, a special time. Miracles are known to happen on this night. Maybe this time we will never be separated.”

He shook his head. “Even if you decide not to join my life, know that I shall never leave you. I will never die, I cannot.” He placed his hand over her heart, feeling her heartbeat. “You are mine, you shall sense my presence.”

Mirre settled back in his arms again, gently caressing his smooth black skin. Her soft fingers trailed the red patterns of his tattoos down to his scarred waist. “I wished for the man of my dreams to come and take me away. You answered my call, so take me with you.”

Khameir smiled mockingly. “You claim me? I am a Sith Lord. No one claims me.”

“You were a Sith Lord. You said you lost that title,” Mirre replied dryly. “Take me with you.”

Holding her warm body close to him, Khameir spoke softly. “You must realise that if you come with me, you will never be able to return. Each year spent with me is the equivalent of twenty earth years. Any of your friends or relatives will be long dead. There will be no return possible.”

But Mirre’s mind was made up. “There is no one here for me, Khameir. I will share your life again.”

“Ah, I see I shall have your stubborn presence to exasperate me again in this life. And I shall enjoy our arguments as I always have, my Lady,” Khameir smiled and his mouth took hers captive for a long, deep kiss. His body covered hers once again to make love to her in his wonderful way and she welcomed him eagerly.

Next the sounds of his groans and her soft cries were all that could be heard on that special Christmas night.

It was in the early hours of Christmas Day when Khameir Sarin and Mirre left. The snow stopped falling and the sky was like black velvet covered with twinkling stars.

They breathed in the crispy, frosty air and looked at each other, their breaths forming white clouds around them.

Mirre only brought some clothes and treasured belongings, leaving all else behind to follow the man of her dreams.

Without once looking back, she went with Khameir to the place not far from her house where he had parked the cloaked Infiltrator.

Not much later they began their journey towards the stars, together again after a long separation.

There were some people coming home from church after midnight Mass who thought for an instant they saw the Star of Bethlehem, a sparkling light upon the heavens, flaring up brightly for a second, then to disappear forever.