With the banshee's gaze fixed on her, Marcia felt every instinct telling her to leave. Instead she reached up and pulled the pacifier out of her mouth, despite how much worse she felt once it was gone. Whining snot from her nose with her sleeve, Marcia forced herself to stare back into the creature's eyes.
She tried to push her thoughts into its' mind but found her telepathy was unexpectedly weak. Unsure of whether the banshee was even aware of her attempt, Marcia settled for babbling defiantly, "Daba ti wah daba!"
"Come on you have to see this place is too big and scary for you now," it said with a frustrated edge in its' voice, "Besides you know you want to get changed into a fresh diaper. Isn't that right?"
It was right, the warm and sticky mess wrapped around her was horrible. Maybe she could just find someone to clean her up and then...she shook her head to drive out those thoughts. Crossing her arms, Marcia instead plopped down on the floor. Feeling the mess squish against her bottom made her visibly squirm, but she wouldn't be leaving without answers.
Throwing up its' arms in frustration, the banshee said, "Why can't you see this is for your own good? If you'd just run along you could live a long healthy life. Instead you'd rather stay here and let him get you?"
"Gah?" Marcia asked smiling for the first time since this ordeal started.
The banshee winced, "I assume that roughly means 'who is him'?"
Nodding eagerly Marcia felt for the first time it was the banshee resolve faltering not hers.
"Very well. If you're this far reduced and undeterred I won't be able to shoo you away without telling you the truth first."
Ignoring Marcia's excited claps, it sighed and began, "These lands once belonged to a coven of witches. The Atwells burned all but one at the stake, all but Althea."
"Bada?" Marcia asked pointing at the banshee.
"Yes, all but me. I wanted revenge and made a foolish bargain. In exchange for giving my sisters' souls the ability to manifest in the mortal plane and the power to keep myself young so that I could live to see justice done, I made a pact with an ancient evil."
"Ba dah goo? Gee gayah."
"No more interrupting dearie," she chided softly inserting the pacifier back into Marcia's mouth.
Marcia didn't fight the sucking instinct and waited quietly for Althea to continue, "We called him the Elder. The legends say he was once benevolent. He traveled the world offering his power to the just. Whether he is a diety, a powerful mortal warlock, or something else entirely isn't known."
"What is known is the betrayal. One of the mages he offered his power to corrupted his magic for selfish gain. My coven believed the corrupted magic twisted his nature, but it's possible the betrayal caused him to turn his back on mortals of his own volition."
"Regardless turn against mortals he did or more specifically mages. After draining the betrayer of their magic, he traveled across the world robbing mages of their power. With each fallen mage he grew more twisted and powerful."
"When he came for my coven it took the greatest of our witches to imprison him here. We swore to keep him that way for all of time. Unfortunately I was not one of the greatest of our witches and he was all too happy to twist my hatred for his own purposes."
"The deal I made ended up enslaving most of my fallen sisters to him. With their power he almost escaped. Imagine the irony when I had to seal my sisters away to protect this place and the Atwells. Or having to spend lifetimes working as a servant to make sure no one tampered with the seal. Or that I ended up marrying an Atwell."
Marcia cocked her head but stayed silent.
"I'm sure you can figure it out, but yes it was Christine's father. I had hoped to teach her the ways of magic when she came of age, perhaps together we could have solved this mess for good. Unfortunately eternal youth doesn't protect against sudden deaths."
"And once I was dead my soul was trapped with the rest of my sisters until Christine used magic for the first time to break the seal I had placed," she laughed sadly, "Another bit of irony I suppose. Regardless only a member of my coven can hope to return the seal and I don't see Christine mastering the arcane in the time it will take my sisters to break the Elder's prison once the full moon hits."
Reaching her hand out to gently stroke Marcia's face, "Don't you see now? You never had a chance of stopping him. But you are also too stubborn to know when you're spent. No one here will survive his escape you included, but he only hunts powerful mages. Once he's free he won't come after a helpless baby."