Stone and Cassandra stared at the old necromancer in horror. "But why? Why would she willingly lock herself up with the souls of victims of her cruelty?
"She would not necessarily have to be in the same portion of the soul cage as those unfortunates" Christoph mused. "It is possible that, like any other prison, there would be a section for the "warden" of the jail to inhabit – a place safe from the possible retaliation that could be visited upon her by those poor wretches she's trapped within that nightmare. In that space she could continue to exist, feeding off the life and grace of those she had murdered and whose grace was imprisoned in the book."
"What would that get her?" Lucy's voice called out from the phone. "What good would it do her to be trapped like her victims?"
"I suspect she was not as "trapped" as they were" Christoph said grimly. "She maybe just waiting, in this horrific sanctuary for what would come next."
"Which would be what, exactly?" Stone asked.
"There is a spell" the old man said, hesitantly. "How much has my King told you about the war to redeem the Fae realms?"
"Very little" Jenkins admitted. "Arthur has never seemed to want to revisit that event except at the occasional battlefield story."
"We, the Fay Folk, were created after the angels and created a land of wonder on the lower sphere of Heaven" Christoph began, sinking into a chair with a sigh. "But when Lucifer rose up to try to overthrow the Throne of God, the Fae were faced with a dilemma. Fight and defend the throne or yield their sphere to the demons who rose up to fight for the Morningstar. The Royal House chose to support neither side, deciding instead to close the Black Gates to both Heaven and Hell in hopes to keep the war from our people – but they chose poorly. Many, like my King's family, had already gone out to serve in the Lord's army and were trapped outside of the gates when the demon hordes poured in and closed them against the defenders. Time, for most of the realm, stopped. But not for all."
"What does that have to do with this spell Bathory might have found?" Stone asked, anxiously.
"In those parts of the land where time did not come to a halt, the demons reigned supreme using their traitorous collaborators to control the few wretches who still remained in those blighted lands. To keep these minions under their control, they offered them immortality – but immortality bought at the price of another's life. Many rounded up any magic users such as fairy, elves, and other such and simply ripped their life forces from them to feed their need for long life. Others were crueler - they sired children on the enslaved folk they reigned over and sacrificed those lives instead of their own." Christoph lowered his eyes as the memories flooded back. "When King Phoenix and his Lady Queen come together with the brothers of the Dragon Temple to free our lands the first thing they cleaned from the worlds was that particular sadistic magic. All those who had partaken of it were stripped of their powers – even to the most basic of magic – and exiled from the realm. The King even stripped their blood line of any possibility of magic so that such abominations would not occur again."
"Good for Arthur! That was a horrible thing for those people to have done – using their own to feed their need for power! But what does that history of your land have to do with the Countess locking herself up with all those poor innocents she murdered?" Cassandra asked, her eyes filling with tears for those long dead victims of the war.
"It's possible that whoever originally created the Book of Shadows for the Countess may have known the spell craft needed to transfer life energy from those captive souls to their murderess – and eventually bring her back to life. My King says that the spell isn't all that difficult. It just requires a cold heart, a blighted soul and some degree of magical ability – which the Countess may have had when all of these murders started. Of course, once she started down that path, the more she took from her victims the stronger that original spark of magic may have become."
"Wait!" Stone protested. "This nutcase has been dead over five hundred years. You're trying to tell me that the power of those souls in her book could resurrect her rotted corpse?"
"No – but it could transfer her soul into the living body of a blood relative" Jenkins gasped in horror. "That's why the bodies of the women who disappeared have not been found. Whoever is behind this needs to find the book, charge it like you would a battery with NEW life essence, then free the Countess from her cell so that she can take over the form of her relation…?"
"Candice!" Cassandra gasped. "But wouldn't she need to be a willing sacrifice?"
"Oh no!" Lucy's voice called out. "Candice's family fortunes have been going downhill for years. He father committed suicide after he was charged with embezzlement just last year. From what Cindy has told me, Candice grew up in better circumstances than she has available to her now and is having a difficult time adjusting to the change in her circumstances. If someone offered her a chance to be the heir to the Bathory family fortunes, to be forever young and beautiful…"
"She might just jump at the chance" Stone rumbled. "We need to contact Flynn and Baird. They need to know what they are up against."
In Čachtice castle
Baird snatched her communications stone off her jacket and dragged her two companions into a corner. "Jenkins – any news?"
"Yes, Col. Baird – and none of it is good. Master Christoph has a theory." Jenkins calmly relayed their conversation to the field team, adding that they were still searching the Library's resources for information on the soul cage.
"Well, that just sucks" Baird muttered. "Looks like we should have kept a closer watch on those two girls."
"How could we know one of them was related to the Bathory family?" Flynn replied, laying a hand on Baird's arm.
"Jenkins" Jones asked, taking the communications pin from his Guardian. "Do we KNOW that the Bathory family has a fortune? I've stolen from the best and I've NEVER heard of this family other than scary stories told to children. Other than this castle – which I suspect doesn't belong to the family anymore – what do they have to offer other than a possible chance at immortality?"
"Don't you think that would be good enough?" Stone's voice floated out, sounding irritated.
"Maybe to you but I'd want something more substantial like a Swiss bank account number or evidence of a Caiman islands account." Jones shrugged. "Immortality is all great until you have to live forever without money."
"Jones has a point" Baird said quietly. "Cassandra, do a check on the Bathory family. See if they died out years ago or if any of them still exist. And keep looking for that spell to control the soul cage. If we can keep it from being opened, all of this may end up being a moot point."
"Yeah – except for the souls still trapped inside it" Stone replied grimly.
