Author's Notes: Hey everyone, sorry that it has been so long since I updated. Hope that this makes up for it.
The humans looked at her, in incomprehension at first and then with growing horror, it truly was delightful to behold. At first Elsa thought they had been struck dumb, or they were just as stupid as most peasants were in Elsa's opinion. As she was trying to think of a way to explain it in even simpler terms the one on the right spoke up. He was slightly larger than the other and was just entering adulthood and his voice cracked in an annoying manner.
"I can't kill Henri! He's my brother!"
"I guessed that my dear. And, as I said, you are going to kill him or he is going to kill you. If you don't…well, let's use just say that it will be better for you two for you to kill each other. Don't think of it as you killing your brother. Think of it as you saving him, from me." She smirked as they looked at her in horror. Slowly, as if finally accepting the inevitability of their fate, they gripped the weapons and rose to their feet. They stared at one another for a moment and just as Elsa was getting impatient the one on the right shook his head.
"No, I can't." Before any there could react he drove the sword into his chest.
"William!" The other boy screamed, dropping his weapon to cradle his brother's body. At the same time Elsa screamed in outrage.
"No! You peasant wretch! You ruined my fun!" In a rage she was about to spring on the survivor and tear him limb from limb when Gaspar appeared at her side and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Wait! We need one alive!" Elsa angrily shook his hand off.
"I don't care! They were supposed to fight! He defied me! They ruined my plan!"
"That doesn't matter! The plan is bigger than your petty cruelties you spoiled little…" He got no further than that as Elsa turned full on him, her claws and fangs extended.
She had had enough of the pretentious little maggot! She was going to tear him to shreds and show him who the true master here was. She did not get the chance to do so. As she lunged at him he stepped back and whipped out an icon of Sigmar, a golden twin-tailed comet. Elsa hissed in fear and anger as being near the holy object, or even just looking at it, caused her pain. She backed away and Gaspar smiled.
"You look down on me for being mortal but, as you can see, there are some advantages. I thought that you might act up and so I brought along a little insurance, although I must admit it worked better than I thought it would. Some vampires are somewhat resistant to holy objects while others are more vulnerable to them. Unfortunately for you it appears that you belong to the latter group. If I were you I would keep that in mind if you should feel the urge to lose your temper again. Now, shall we go?" With a hiss Elsa turned and stormed out of the hut, not bothering to give the crying boy another look.
Outside it was clear that the remainder of the villagers were all dead. Elsa supposed that that meant it was a good thing that she had not killed the boy, but she'd be damned if she told that to Gaspar. Instead she chanted the spell for raising corpses that he had taught her. She had found it easier to do every time and now, using anger to power the spell, it was even easier. Before long all the former humans were standing in something vaguely approaching lines and ready to depart. She mounted and rode out determinedly not looking at Gaspar who rode beside her. For a while they rode in silence, Elsa remaining firm to her resolution not to talk to him. However; as time passed, she noticed something was different about the necromancer.
He seemed different somehow and he was clearly trying to hide it. She was not sure what, but he was trying to hide something. Most people would not have noticed it, perhaps not even her master. Elsa Von Gladischer; however, was not just anyone, she had instincts which had been honed by a lifetime of the politics of the cream of Imperial nobility. There was something going on and she would not be able to rest until she knew what was going on.
The question was how was she going to get the information? She doubted very much that the necromancer would simply tell her what was going on and she did not want to get her master involved. No, if she wanted to what was going on she would have to go about it in a more indirect manner. Had this been occurring back in Altdorf she would have made indirect inquiries among mutual acquaintances, but that, however, was not an option here. Fortunately there were other methods of learning the truth at her disposal. She was going over the various ways when Gaspar spoke up.
"You seem unusually quiet my lady. I trust that nothing is wrong?" She turned to him and smiled with obvious false sweetness.
"What should be wrong? It's not as if I was just cheated of my fun and had a holy object thrust as at me, an act which caused me considerable pain and humiliation." She gave a false laugh and he gave one equally false.
"I do apologize my lady, but it was unavoidable. You were behaving rather irrationally and we could not allow that to interfere with our plans. I trust that you understand." Elsa felt her hackles rise, but she forced herself to be calm. As she did so it occurred to her that this actually provided her with an opening to attempt to gain some information. So instead she gave a conspiratorial smile.
"That is a clever little trick you have with the icon. Tell me, does De Mont know about it?" The necromancer smiled.
"My lady, you know what an intelligent and insightful being our master is." That was not a direct answer, but Elsa guessed that she knew the answer. She very much doubted that De Mont would be thrilled to learn that his servant had a weapon which could be used to hurt him. Which raised why Gaspar had allowed her to see it. He must know that she would be perfectly willing to tell De Mont about it. Did he not consider the older vampire's anger a threat? That could not be, as despite the fact that he clearly had little respect for De Mont, he had gone out of his way to avoid angering him. So if he knew that Elsa would tell De Mont and he feared De Mont's anger that had to mean that he did not believe that De Mont's anger could affect him any longer. She did not know why he would think that way, but she was determined to find out.
They spoke no more on the return to the mansion where they reported the success of the mission, which seemed to please De Mont who then dismissed them. Elsa returned to her room and, finding that a new peasant had been sent there, drank deeply and fell onto her bed without bothering to see if the human had survived the feeding, if he hadn't then she would simply get another. It had always seemed to her that they bred like the vermin they smelled like.
She arose that evening and found that the peasant had survived, a pity really, she would have enjoyed some more practice and the man was ugly anyway. She went down stairs and found De Mont and Gaspar deep in conversation. They turned to look at her as she approached and the looks that they gave her made her imagine that they were adults interrupted during a serious conversation by a precocious child. The thought angered her and she walked up to them, a firm expression fixed on her face.
"Master, Gaspar." She said, bowing to De Mont while barely looking at the necromancer.
"Will we be going out again tonight?"
"No." Gaspar said, speaking before De Mont had a chance to do so.
"We need to give that peasant that we spared time to reach civilization and more time for the authorities time to gather forces to move in order to intercept Van Opfer. If we moved out again then we risk the possibility that we may be discovered by Imperial forces. Thus our master has decided that we should remain here for the time being while I send out my familiar to watch the various both them and Opfer's forces and alert us if either of them come too close to our location.
"So there is no need for you to concern yourself and I suggest that you rest and continue to practice your skills. Unfortunately, I will be occupied most of the night and will not have time to help you." With that he turned back to De Mont and paid her no further attention. Once she saw that De Mont was not going to intervene and she had no way of getting him alone tell him about Gaspar and she did not really have any proof of her suspicions and Gaspar would likely have hidden the icon and would simply deny having it. Thus, for now, she turn and left, quietly and calmly while at the same time giving the impression that she was storming off, a skill that she had mastered during her time attending the many parties of the capital.
She gave some thought to returning in to her rooms and tearing the peasant apart, but decided against that course of action. Her master seemed to be in a mood and might punish her for killing her food by making her wait till she was on the brink of starvation before she would be allowed to feed. That did not; however, mean that she could not find means of amusing herself. She found several human servants, dragged outside and had them run around while she chased them down, reveling in her new speed and strength. When she tired of that she raised several skeletons and had them chased the humans instead. She reasoned that De Mont were to question her she could say that she was practicing her skills, both physical and magical. Eventually she tired of it and ordered the exhausted and terrified humans to return to their duties. Seeing that she was tired she returned to her quarters, drank from her thrall and fell on her bed and went to sleep, determined to find a way to put Gaspar in his place. She was awakened to find the mansion under attack.
Author's Notes: Hey everyone, I am sorry that it has been so long since I last updated. What did you think? I am trying to make a truly hated character, but I think that she is more petty than anything else. Any way that you think I could improve? Feel free to let me know in the comments. Till next time have a nice day.