I'm starting to get a better idea of how to describe this story. I can promise in the next chapter more about Lady D and my attempt at reaching to making some back story for her daughters besides what was found in the game. I know I'm referring to some work that no one will see, but I do it because I want to expand my OC's by using fanfiction to build and flush them out more. You can see them in several other of my works on this site.
Thank you for reviewing my stuff and favoriting it as well. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and the next one once I get it typed up. I'm on a roll, but it might not last.
I hope that at some point we get a DLC in Village where we get some back story on Lady D though either her eyes or Mother Miranda. I really can't wait for it, but I know someone will review this in the future telling me this is awful and not canon. Newsflash: I know. Thanks. Just enjoy the dribble. Lol
Alcina lowers her cigarette holder for Claudia to light. Once its lit she takes a long drag and exhales it slowly to enjoy the flavor.
"Tell me again," She says finishing exhaling. "Where did you get these?"
"I rolled them myself in Juno," Claudia tells her as she lights her own. "The city we took. Its in a place called Niflheim, a place far away from here."
The Lady takes a moment to look over Claudia and her strange attire. She was never a proper woman by any means, even when she was a part of the help. A waste high maroon coat covered a black turtleneck, stone grey pants tucked into military style boots, and a hand made purse. The over appearance made her look like commoner or gypsy woman. She couldn't hide her disgust for her appearance, but she tried for Claudia's sake.
"You would love it there, honestly." She says taking a long drag off her cigarette. "A large city with all the finer things in life and the finer people. Night life, Dance halls, Fancy cars, Fancy carriages, and everything you can image for a countess like yourself. I wish we had your wonderful wine to enjoy. Karl isn't a fan of it, 'To many higher ups' he says."
"Higher ups?" She asks her.
"Generals, Colonels, and other higher ranking military men and women. As well as political party members, industrialists, nobility, and dignitaries." Claudia explains. "The organization I'm apart of isn't just full of balding military men, I assure you.
Alcina smiles as she imagines it. A beautiful city where she is the center of the social scene adored by all and respected by all members of high society. "And here I was thinking you went to England. But you were just spending your time in high society without me."
Claudia replies with a half-hearted chuckle, "By no means. It took me years to get to this point. England was harsh to me till I met the right people."
"Then why are you here?" Alcina asks her bluntly. "If your life is spent with caviar and military men, then what brings you back to your past?"
She sighs, "I wanted to remind myself of where I came from. Its not what you think by any means." Claudia takes another drag off her cigarette and looks at the stage.
"Your past is that of a handmaiden washing cloths for the elite. What would posses you to return to it?" Alcina asks baffled by her response.
"Do you remember when your mother would have the locals perform in plays for her?" Claudia says, ignoring Alcina's question.
"I do." Alcina replies, annoyed she ignored her. "My question and my explanation, Claudia. Now what possessed you to return to house Dimitrescu?"
With a heavy sign Claudia gives in and turns to face her. "I left because I felt it was time. It didn't seem like I was needed anymore. You were becoming a woman and I couldn't help you anymore."
"I find that unlikely." Alcina counters, taking an aggressive hit from her smoking stick. "A vagabond like yourself would have forgotten her place at the other side of the house."
"You wound me Lady Dimitrescu." Claudia replies softly, her tone giving away genuine pain.
"I wound you?" Alcina snaps, her tone shifting from calm to harsh. "I wound you. You wound me. The only person in all of this House to give me the compassion of human being amongst all this!?"
"I left because I had to!" Claudia closing in on Alcina. "I left because I had to! Your path demanded I leave and so did mine!"
"Path? As if your mortal life is determined by the divine!" Alcina's attempt at hiding her distain with upper class calmness failed.
"Oh how gauche! The poor girl isn't allowed to touch the sun I see." Claudia fires back. "Only for the nobles you can reach the sun. I left because there was more than caviar and status to be obtained in England for me, the rest was an after affect."
"How dare you use my own vocabulary against me!?" Alcina scowls.
"I didn't have to attend a bourgeois boarding school in America to learn such terms." Claudia fires back, her tone sharp and cold.
Alcina was taken a back by what she said. Claudia only nods and pushes further, "Your Father sent you to a boarding school for young socialites in New York, I know you were there. I know you where there till his death and when your mother brought you back."
Alcina says nothing and with in a split-second smacks Claudia across the face with her free hand once. "You knew I was in that hell and…"
The large woman stretches back her hand for another go but, to her shock, Claudia grabbed her by the wrist just inches away from her face. "You never were the one to smack your help. But I guess you learned that at school, didn't you?"
"How?!" Alcina demands, her arm locked firmly as if it was in a vice.
"I couldn't help you anymore after I left. If I stayed, I would have held you back." Claudia continues, throwing Alcina's arm away from her. "I protected you from much of the House's terror. But you had to go on your own."
"The only person holding me back was those mortals posing as care givers." Alcina says, her voice full of venom. "My Father, that stupid man thing, was nothing more than a bully and a drunk. My Mother, while she had her moments of clarity, spent most of her time entertaining the elite of either the crown or the elite just before the war. They sent me away once that Austrian painter came to power and when you left. When you left, I grew cold. I never felt the warmth again till my daughters came into this world."
"Your mother had to play the role of the public relations rep while your father fought the government for control of the family fortunate." Claudia explains only for Alcina to recoil in anger.
"They sent me away because I was nothing more than an unwanted side show!" She scolds. "There I was a young emotionally robbed girl sent to a place I didn't understand! Not a letter or a telegram, just sent away like dress for repair. Days spent being… Being beaten, being punished for the slightest of misgivings, and emotionally drained."
"You were never a side show." Claudia reassures her. "You were the pride of House Dimitrescu then and now. She was protecting you and your father was attempting his best to preserve the world you were accustomed to."
"Are you condoning the manthings abuse of me? The beatings, the harassment, and the degrading?!" Alcina shouts.
"I am condoning no such thing!" Claudia shouts back. "He did those once and who took the blunt of his assaults? Your mother!"
"I don't believe you!" Alcina fires back, throwing her freehand out to her side extending long claws from her gloved hand. "You should know better than to insult the matriarch of house Dimitrescu!"
Claudia stood fast and looks the angry matriarch in her eyes. There was no fear in either of the stubborn woman's eyes as they staired each other down like predators sparing. Alcina was baffled that this woman would dare say such things about her past, but more baffled at her grit. The help would run in terror or grovel when her father would beat them, it was he that taught her how to treat a unruly handmaiden, but it was her time in boarding school that taught her how to be cruel.
"It would be wise for you to plead your case." Alcina says coldly. "I'm more forgiving than my daughters."
"You don't have it in you Alcina." Claudia replies arrogantly. "Not for me at least. I know about your vampirism."
"Then you know half the story. What could possibly convince you I won't do unto you as I have done to those before you?"
"Simply because you won't slice to ribbons the last of your humanity." Claudia says boldly.
Alcina, for the first time in years, loses her composure laughing uncontrollably. "How bold of you to assume such things!"
"That is not bold," Claudia firmly says. "Its truth. I'll die only speaking the truth."
"Truth is subjective."
"So are what we deem as delusions." Claudia replies coldly. "Now are those for show or are you going to use them?"
"You'll made a fine vintage." Alcina growls sadistically.
"Mother!" Daniela interjects appearing from thin air to interrupt the tense exchange. "Bela has been attacked by a Manthing!"
"Excuse me?" Alcina replies. "A manthing? Touching my daughter? What manthing?!"
"A tall one in a long coat!" Daniela continues. "He has he by the fireplace in the main hall! Cassandra is with them right now-"
Alcina retracts her claws, "You will tell her to seal him in and not to touch him. I will handle him personally."
"Alcina," Claudia interjects. "Karl is under strict orders to-"
"Don't think your words are going to save your manthing." Alcina growls. "You will come with me and you will watch."
Alcina grabs her by the collar and charges forward behind her daughter to confront the 'Manthing'.
"You think you can just appear out of the blue." Alcina rants, her anger becoming white hot with every word. "You come into my house, enjoy my wine, and let your animal manhandle my daughter! How dare you!"
Claudia does not struggle or fight as the large woman carries her like a purse as she walks swiftly through the halls. Throwing the doors open to the courtyard she smells the iron and rot odor of Lycian blood momentarily. She ignores this in her rage throwing the doors to the dining room and the main hall open. Cassandra and Daniela appear at the opposing doorways and block the stare way with a swarm of flies.
Alcina glares at the sight before her with hate in her eyes. Before her by the fireplace was the manthing, Karl, sitting on the floor holding her daughter, Bela, in his arms. Her hood was down revealing her blonde hair and his man hands were brushing it aside.
"What did you do to my daughter?" She demands. Karl ignores her and stares blankly at Bela as he gently brushes her hair.
She releases her claws and screams, "Answer me beast!"
Karl slowly places her on the ground and rises to his feet. He motions were slow and deliberate as he turns to face the lady of the house. His left hand was bloody with a cut across the palm and his face showing small traces of dried blood across his cheeks. Bela was motionless as she laid on the floor like a blood-soaked angel. Alcina could not control herself any longer and threw Claudia to the side like a rage doll. The large woman lunges forward with claws at the ready to cut the manthing into pieces. Karl draws his pistol and jumps to dodge her attack, then nothing.
Everything stops from Alcina's attack, Karl's bullets as he fires, The daughters flies, and even the fire itself stood paused in time. Claudia breaths erratically with her left hand outstretched as if she was holding all of them back. As she picks herself up she walks over to Karl's bullets and crushes them in her hand.
"Iron bullets wouldn't have hurt her…" She tells him.
"There fucking monsters, bullets would have done something regardless of if it was lead, silver, or iron." Karl replies harshly.
"What the hell did you do to the girl?!" Claudia demands.
"She tripped me when I ran out of that torture cells downstairs." Karl explains. "Wolfmen took the horse and Ulman into the basement for dinner. I ran out after the alpha took note of me, then she tripped me."
"A likely story you pathetic wretch!" Alcina shouts.
"Mother whats happening?! Why can't I move?!" Daniela cries as she tries to move.
"Oh sweetie," Karl says condescendingly to the girls. "Don't fight it and relax. She's just holding us in place so we don't kill each other. If you tense up, you'll regret it later when your seize up."
"You didn't hurt the girl, did you?" Claudia asks him as she crushes the last bullet.
"No, I killed the alpha. Then I put a shotgun in her face then everything goes black." Karl says bluntly. "I just remember carrying her to the fire so she could warm up and then this."
Claudia moves over to Bela to see she wasn't marked by any kind of ballistic wounds, just a handful of claw marks. The girl was beautiful by all definition, even with what appeared to be dried blood around her mouth. In a vain attempt to checking for life, she checks for a nonexistence pulse. She catches herself and checks for other signs of life to feel something else, a breath of life. Bela awakes confused and looks at Claudia as if she had awoken from a nightmare.
"Ms… Ms. Claudia…" Bela asks fearfully. "Where am I? What happen? Where is it?"
"Where is what?" Claudia asks confused.
"The thing… The shell…" Bela replies frantically. The light ring of a brass shotgun shell catches her attention as it rolls out of the girls hand. Claudia curiously picked up the shell to see it was still live as she shakes it in her hand. The rattling of 00 Buckshot, 9 pellets, made her question more of what happened to the girl. She looks over to Karl to see his bloody hand in better detail with what appeared to be lip marks around the cut.
Bela snatched the shell from her and held it tightly in her hand, "He killed the animal and gave me this. He told me to never let it go."
"Why?" She asks Karl.
Karl says nothing as Claudia helps Bela to her feet. The girl ran over to her mother to hug her tightly crying into her.
Alcina looks at Claudia, "Let me go this intense!"
"Only if you calm down." Claudia says flatly returning the cold glare.
"I told you I was house trained." Karl remarks, only to be slammed against the wall by Claudia's power.
Alcina snickers at his pain and notices the cut on his hand with lip marks. "Bela." She says to her daughter.
"Yes Mother?" Bela responds looking up at her mother like a young child.
Alcina could see her lips were covered in blood and drew her conclusions from there. "Manthing." She growled.
"Yes, Lady Dimitrescu?" He asks as Claudia lets go of her hold on him allowing him to walk free.
"Did you, or did you not, aid my daughter?" She asks him.
"I did." Karl replies honestly.
"Why?" She asks him. He could not say it, but he could show it. He shrugs and looks to Claudia.
"Its complicated." Claudia responds. "Its best not to ask awkward question to matter you simply do not want the answer to. Like my power, his reasoning, or the basement of this castle. It wouldn't be proper."
Alcina gives an awkward expression and tries to avoid the dirty secret brought to the attention of the room. She wasn't proud of the fact that the closet thing to a constant paternal figure in her life knew of her dark secret.
"You wound me, Claudia." She mutters.
"You wound me, Alcina. Claudia replies. "Are you done?"
"Yes." She says quietly. "Cassandra and Daniela, calm yourselves. They are our friends and humble guests. Treat them as such."
"Of course, Mother." They both say in unison.
Claudia releases her grasp freeing them all. The Lady retracts her claws, and the girls call back their hoards of flies leaving only the sound of the crackling fire echoing around them. The group stared at one another intensely for what seemed to be hours, but only a few seconds before the maid came down the stairs.
"Lady Dimitrescu," She says to her. "The weather is becoming harsh. I've instructed the rest of the staff to close the shutters and bridges."
"Well then Claudia." Alcina says to Claudia. "It seems you will be staying a little longer than anticipated."
Claudia composes herself, "Karl gather our things from the cart."
"Madam I highly recommend…"
She raises her hand and he stops midsentence, "Yes Madam."
"Maid," Alcina says to the maid, "Ready the guest room for them."
Moments later the couple were unpacking in a guest room upstairs close to Lady Diminrescu's chambers. There wasn't much for them to live out of, only two duffle bags, but Karl couldn't help but complain in regard to having scale several flights of stairs.
"I'm sure we could have found another horse in the village." Karl says to her as he places the duffle bags on an ottoman in front of the bed. "Everyone speaks the language of money or a gun in their face."
"We wouldn't have left even if the weather or the attack." Claudia replies as she checks her appearance in the mirror.
"Insane." Karl says flatly as he pulls out the Beretta submachine gun and loaded Italian samurai vest full of grenades and magazines.
"Says the man with a vest full of hand grenades." She says to him. "Did you not see their powers? Those daughters of hers aren't like that beast you killed."
"I can kill anything with a gun, a knife, and a crucifix." Karl dismisses.
"Not this time." Claudia remarks as she looks outside to see the snow gathering on the rooves of the castle's towers. "I'm afraid we are dealing with something a bit more natural."
"Nine foot Amazonian with scythe like claws and bug daughters doesn't seem natural." Karl counters. "Even if they are natural or supernatural, thirty rounds of iron hollow points and frag grenades can do the job."
"Listen to yourself," Claudia says, turning to him. "You can't just shoot them or blow them up. This isn't a liquidation mission or anything of the like. We are here to visit an old friend to get away from the war. Yet here you are armed to the teeth as usual."
"Listen to yourself!" Karl counters again. "You sat in the company of tormentors! That basement of theirs was something out of the inquisition! Yet hear we are sharing rooms with them!"
"And what are you going to do, Captain Dael?" Claudia replies coldly, referring to him by his Order rank. "Are you going to disobey the direct order of a member of the Console? Are you going to run headfirst into the grips of a woman who could easily cut you into tiny ribbons?"
"Are you protecting a creature for your own personal reasons, Console woman Marlin?" Karl challenges her.
"Says the man who was cradling a creature in his own hands as if it were his long-passed wife."
The two stared each other down intensely. "Then I guess we are both in the wrong, aren't we Cherr?"
Karl growls and breaks eye contact momentarily, "Yes. Yes we are."
Claudia sighs, "The Dimitrescu's are off limits, no questions asked."
"Yes Ma'am." He agrees. "What about the wolves?"
"You said they were coming from a hole in the basement?" Claudia asks him.
"We don't have any form of explosives and I doubt these people have any either." Karl replies.
"Then find a way to close off the area." Claudia agrees. "I'm going to see Alcina and smooth over what just happened. I don't want us to go to sleep and be dragged down with the wolves, or at least you."
"I love you too." Karl chuckles. "Jokes aside, I'm going to back to the hall. I'll check in every couple of hours. I'm not keen on sleeping here with those girls around."
"The bed bugs won't bite," Claudia replies. "I'm sure of it."
"Ja Ja," He replies as he exits the room. Through the opulent hallway he gets to a large section of stairs. They were dimly lit with candlelight and put him on edge. But that paled in comparison to the sound of heel clicking against the floor. The door to the courtyard opened to Lady Dimitrescu ducking under the doorway to enter with a candle in hand.
"Well, Well, Mr. Dael." She says to him, the two staring each other down. "What are you doing with that toy of yours?"
"The wolf things, Lycan, as Bela called it, came from your basement." Karl tells her. "You have a hole in your basement. I'm sure those Lycans are just like any other pest. I wouldn't want them to come in and rip me to pieces. It seems you have already your eyes on that."
The proper lady that is Alcina Dimitrescu begins to laugh uncontrollably with a hearty laugh. The moment itself was more chilling then the beast that nearly killed her daughter, the basement torture chambers, or her massive claws. No, nothing could match her laughter. She composes herself and wipes a tear from her eye returns to gaze at Karl.
"I'm surprised you are willing to handle the problem." She says frankly. "More so after my un-lady like performance in the main hall."
"You were acting like any mother would if she caught a strange man holding her daughter." Karl says. "I wouldn't have expected anything less. My actions, well could you expect anything less from someone nearing death?"
"At least you acknowledge your possible demise at the time." Alcina replies arrogantly as she moves forward to the stairs. "Where is Claudia?"
"She's freshening up in the guestroom Lady Dimitrescu." Karl tells her as she ascends the stairwell.
"Thank you." She says shortly as she nears the top of the stairs. "And Mr. Karl."
Karl turns to Lady Dimitrescu as she looked down on him from the stairs, "I told my daughters not to harm you. Bela is assuring this. Have a wonderful night Mr. Karl."
"Likewise Lady Dimitrescu."