The moment two bubbles
are united, they both vanish.
A lotus blooms.
--Murakami

"You were a fool to challenge me, Demitri Maximov!"

A tall, muscular man dressed all in black, with the occasional red to break the monotony, cowered beneath his long cape as his tormentor advanced.

"What are you? You are not Morrigan Aensland!" Demitri stammered. The vampire had toppled the thrones of countless Lords, had even battled Beriol, the mighty former Lord of House Aensland, without fear, but the sheer power of the succubus standing before him was overwhelming.

She paused, a smile touching her lips as she brushed aside a few strands of her vibrant green hair.

"You are wrong. I am Morrigan Aensland: this is my true form. I am more powerful than you can ever imagine, little Maximov! Now come to me!"

Demitri shrieked and dissolved into a swarm of bats, trying to escape his one-time rival.

Morrigan spread her bat-like wings behind her, and magically-propelled herself forward, jet-like thrusters emerging from her back to help her catch the retreating vampire. Whatever form Demitri took, he could not escape the Darkness Illusion.

The vampire found himself rematerialized and beset by twin Morrigans, who proceeded to kick and claw at him from all angles, lifting him up into the air with her attacks, her deadly touch scarring his flesh as his life-force was drained, his preternatural strength failing.

A vicious kick sent Demitri to the ground, shattering half the bones in his body.

Morrigan landed beside the defeated vampire lord, her smile having never left her lips.

How powerful she felt! For the first time, she felt complete! She could sense the boundless energy of Lilith, her "sister," coalescing within her, mingling with her own. Since the two had merged, Morrigan's power had increased exponentially--the fallen vampire beside her was proof enough.

Still…

"This is no fun! Let me beat him up now!" a plaintive voice spoke from within her mind. Even as Morrigan sought the voice, a image formed next to her--corporeal, but barely.

Dressed like Morrigan in a skin-tight outfit that was in actuality formed by dozens of bats, Lilith could not be more different otherwise. She had none of Morrigan's voluptuous figure, the body of a fully-mature adult female. Instead, Lilith appeared as a young girl, barely adolescent, her gleaming purple hair cut boyishly-short and her nascent breasts barely distinct from her chest in comparison to Morrigan's impressive cleavage.

"Little girls should not play with big boys like him." Morrigan folded her arms over her chest, propping up said cleavage, reiterating her statement with this ample evidence of being more than a "little girl."

Lilith positively bristled at the remark. "I am not a little girl! I'm as old as you are, sister! Our father Beriol brought us forth into the world at the same time!"

Morrigan's gaze swept over Lilith's pubescent body. "Could have fooled me."

Below them, the vampire stirred, groaning, trying to find the strength to crawl away. Lilith immediately placed a foot over his throat, but what really held him in place was Morrigan, whose streategically-placed boot reminded Demitri that there were some mortal weaknesses that a vampire, at least a male vampire, brought across with him into undeath.

Lilith made a face as she regarded Morrigan's four-inch heels. "Ooh, that must be painful." Shrugging, she continued the conversation, ignoring the slight interruption as well as the vampire's predicament. "I have as much right to that body as you do! But look at me! All you let me have is this!" She ran her hands down her semi-substantial body. "Nothing more than a silhouette!"

"I let you experience all that I feel! All that I see, hear, smell, and taste is yours!" Morrigan tilted her head to the side, impressed by her own generosity.

"But you always get to choose where to go, what to do, who to beat up next!" whined Lilith. "I wanna take over for a change--I share my power with you and you give me nothing in return! After three hundred years in the Sealing Space, I'm tired of being cooped up again!"

Morrigan sighed, as if lecturing a particularly troublesome child. "After three hundred years, you do not know how to take advantage of life. That is what I am showing you! You have to learn from my example!"

Lilith gave a most unladylike snort. "Tormenting poor mortals every night? How many do you go through before you're satisfied? Mortal men have no endurance, I tell you!"

"Well, how about another Dark Stalker? I'll let you have first dibs on Maximov here." Morrigan gave her boot a twist, producing a most undignified, unvampirelike yelp from their prone captive. She bent down and lifted the beaten vampire by his collar. Her hand went to his head and yanked it back, exposing his throat. "Here, dig in."

Lilith sniffed then scowled, "No, he smells so icky! Dark Stalker blood is so putrid, anyway."

Morrigan sighed, "You would not know a fine feast when it is in front of you! I have known mortals to shy away from delicacies like brains and raw meat, but you are a succubus! The blood of a vampire is a rare treat!"

Seeing that her "kid sister" was unrepentant, Morrigan gave Demitri a predatory kiss, draining what remained of his corrupt life-force, then tossed aside his withered husk. She grabbed hold of Lilith's hand and said, "Well, there is always the alternative."

Morrigan drew them away from the earthly plane, into the darker plane that bordered the worlds.

"What are we doing here?" Lilith looked around in askance.

"Obviously, neither of us finds that world appealing any longer. So we are off to find a world worthy of our discerning tastes!" Morrigan's eyes were closed as she attuned her preternatural senses to the astral space around them.

After a few minutes, her eyes popped open and she responded to Lilith's questioning glance with a grin, revealing her teeth.

"I think you'll like this place," Morrigan declared. "How does a world filled with overly-muscled men dressed in skin-tight outfits sound? Can you not just smell the testosterone?"

Lilith licked her lips as she looked below, considering, her inhumanly-keen eyesight sweeping the city.

Morrigan gave a sweet smile.

"I'll let you share," she promised.