(Chapter 8: You and I are alike)
Ryan was laying on his bed within his cell, having been forced back into it by the daughters. He didn't have the privilege to walk around the castle on his own merits just yet, the four women didn't know whether they could truly trust the man or not. The ex-marine found it to be fair for now, after all, he did try to attack her early on that day. For dinner, he had been giving a meager ration of bread and water. The bread he ate was like a biscuit, but it wasn't somewhat soft like they are supposed to be, instead it was hard, as if it had been left to dry out, and then given to him.
A tiny amount of bread, and water wouldn't last Ryan. Bread wasn't part of his diet, for he had been put on a strict carnivorous diet by the Forgotten Ops when they were still together many years ago. Eating meat and other animal products helped them stay strong, and kept additional fat off their bodies.
"This is going to make my anus cry..." Ryan groaned as he felt a rumbling within his stomach not too long after devouring the biscuit shaped hardtack slowly.
After around thirty minutes of laying on his bed, rubbing his stomach every time it ached from digesting the hardened bread within his system, the clicking of heels was heard on the stone brick floor outside of his cell, he sat up to see none other than Bela standing at the front of the door with a key in her hand.
"You're in luck, man-thing. Mother has given you permission to sleep in her bedchambers tonight." Bela said with a wink, Ryan was stunned to hear this.
"Wait a minute, are you for real?" He asked, sounding confused more than anything else.
"You won't be sleeping in the same bed as her, you'll be chained to the wall." Bela continued, waiting to see Ryan's expression change to a look of disappointment, the ex-marine letting out a sigh. The blonde giggled at this before unlocking the door, and forcefully pulled the prisoner to his feet. She guided him to Lady Dimitrescu's bedchambers where she was seen sitting on the large four posted bed. Her heels sat at the front of the bed on the floor, her white dress had been hung upstairs in her other room. The tall woman wore black lingerei on her body, this really flaunted her curvy body that was hidden beneath the white dress she usually wears.
Oh my... Ryan thought to himself as he approached chains that were sitting on the floor, connected to the wall. His eyes looking at the countess from head to toe, the fantastic waistline was eye-catching, the abnormal size of her breasts, and thighs. As dirty as he knew it was, he couldn't help but look because body proportions like this were simply not normal among every day women.
"What are you looking at, little one?" Bela asked as she grabbed him by the beard, forcing him to stare up at her face, she had a grin widespread across her black painted lips.
"Nothing, it's nothing." Ryan said, snapping out of his trance, causing Bela to giggle.
"On your knees." The blonde commanded, and the ex-marine followed her instructions. She took his arms into her grasp, and placed the shackles around his wrists. The soldier noticed that he could move his arms around, the chains attached to a pulley within the wall, so he could stand up or lay down if he wanted to.
"You know, sleeping on the floor isn't at all comfortable." Ryan complained, and it was Lady Dimitrescu's turn to talk.
"You'll sleep however we want you to, and you shall do so without question." The countess said assertively, shutting the soldier up immediately, putting him in his place once again.
"Why can't I lay in a bed, can't you just pull an extra mattress in here so I could at least be comfy?"
"You can't sleep in the bed with me because I don't trust you, now be a good man-thing, and obey my commands." Lady Dimitrescu huffed, her voice filled with pique.
"Yes, Lady Dimitrescu." He replied with a nod of his head, and a gulp.
"Sweet dreams, Ryan...if you can get any." Bela taunted before leaving the bedchambers, knowing that it will be difficult for him to get into a comfortable position for sleeping that night.
"Very funny..." He scornfully replied before his eyes gazed towards the exquisite patterns decorating the floor of the bedchambers, a sigh trailing from his lips.
It's been one hell of a day Ryan thought to himself as he closed his eyes following a yawn.
"Rest well, man-thing." Lady Dimitrescu said sweetly as she removed her hat, placing it on the table next to the bed before throwing a golden sheet over her body, the sheet was adorned with black floral designs all over it, giving the sheet an amazing look to it, certainly one fit for a woman such as Alcina.
"I'll try." Ryan said before shutting his eyes, trying to get his body calm so he could fall asleep for the night. He took in deep breaths in and out, yawning if he needed to in order to help him progress into a slumber.
When he tried to sleep, thoughts surged through his mind. His mind could only remind him of the torture he had gone through, the games that Heisenberg put him through, the torture that the daughters made him suffer through, and his struggle against lycans both in the forest and village. All of that had transpired in just one day, the pressure was insurmountable for even himself, he was lucky to be alive right now, all at the mercy of House Dimitrescu.
So he tried to cloud out the bad memories with the good, thinking of the times he spent with his parents from a young boy all the way up to his teenage years, he remembered the excitement as well as the nervousness about heading into high school, and how different it may be. Unfortunately for him, freshman year would never even start, and he would never see his old friends again, he would go on to make new ones.
The merry thoughts about him and his father fishing lead to that horrible day when a majority of the town had vanished, including his parents. The thought of his mother taking him to a Demon Hunter concert when he was young bled into that tragic date as well, he couldn't get these memories out of his head.
The soldier also dreamed about the battle that took place an entire year ago, the battle that the Forgotten Ops failed to win. Following that day would launch him into isolation, and force him to live on his own within the wilderness. There was times he nearly died, and there was times he suffered from many things, but he stood standing on his feet even this night, even though he was practically nothing more than a slave to these women. At least they weren't savage beasts like lycans he could never speak to.
Each nightmarish dream shook him awake again, his eyes peered around the room to see that Lady Dimitrescu was still sleeping soundly in her large bed, and the only noise you could hear was the crackling flames of the fireplace. He found himself continuously closing his eyes in his struggles for rest, each time he slept it was more like a power nap than anything else.
Ryan decided to stay awake until he could no longer take it, which didn't take long due to how worn out his body, and mind was from that day. As his eyes drooped lower, and lower, there came the creaking of a door which slightly woke him up again as he raised his head. There seemed to be a dark, blurry figure heading over to Lady Dimitrescu's bed. Could this be the man in black?
The thought of that shook him awake, his eyes blinking open wide. This person was not the man of rumor as the man in black had a black shadow that would proceed his arrival, however, this strange man was wearing a uniform strikingly similar to that of the Forgotten Ops. A black shirt, black tactical vest, black cargo pants, and dark brown waterproof boots. This person also wore a red bandana around his face, and around his arm was a black band with a red emblem on it, which is the exact band his old pals would wear. His skin was a light brown coloring, so he would have to be Hispanic, his hair was curly.
In this person's gloved hands was what seemed to be a dagger, it's blade gleaming as he unsheathed it. It looked as though the person was about to murder the countess in her sleep.
"WATCH OUT!" Ryan called out to try and wake Lady Dimitrescu up, which worked. Her eyes opened to see the man raising the dagger above his head, aiming for her heart. The man's eyes were narrowed with disdain!
When the man attempted to stab between her breasts, her right hand snagged him by the wrist, and with no effort at all, hurled the man over the bed. His body slammed into the wall with a loud thud, a grunt was heard coming from his lips.
Alcina rolled off of the bed, reaching her full stature of 9'6 as she extended the claws from her fingernails now. Furious due to her beauty sleep being rudely interrupted by another foolish man-thing.
The assassin growled, shrugging off the pain, but Ryan could tell by the look in the man's eyes that he didn't fully recover before jumping on the bed. Using the posts to swing off of, and try to connect with a punch only to have the long claws of the countess pierce right through his body.
Suddenly, Cassandra burst into the room, she had heard the commotion due to getting a late night drink of wine from the Dining Room, where she had sat her glass on. She noticed that her mother was irate after the assassination attempt, Ryan looked worried. The brunette put the puzzle pieces together, and made the assumption that this was one of his friends coming to try, and kill them.
"Is this one of your allies!" She screamed furiously as she pulled out her sickle, storming towards Ryan with a hateful glare on her face.
"No, wait!" Ryan screamed as she brought the sickle over her head, about to stab him right on the top of his head, wanting the tip of it to pierce his skull!
"Cassandra, stop this at once!" Lady Dimitrescu boomed, and the middle child immediately brought her arm to a halt.
"Now, Ryan, you have some explaining to do. You better tell me the truth, or else you'll share the same fate as that man!" The countess thundered, turning her attention to the chained up soldier.
"Free me, and I'll get a closer inspection. That uniform is similar to what I wore at one point, but I don't recognize this man." Ryan explained, wanting to get set free from from his shackles.
"Fine then, but you better not try anything..." Lady Dimitrescu warned, granting him access to move freely at last for a brief amount of time. She nodded her head to Cassandra, who reluctantly freed him from his chains.
Ryan slowly approached the downed man, noticing that he had a dog tag around his neck. His name happened to be Santiago Alonzo, which was certainly a name he didn't recognize. His blood type was A+, the dog tag included his social security number, he was a Catholic, and the service he was fighting for seemed to be one that didn't exist in the United States military. The service he seemed to be fighting for was known as NOMAD, and not the Forgotten Ops.
"Strange, he's wearing our old uniform, but it doesn't say our name on the dog tag." Ryan said to himself as he detached the armband from Santiago's left arm, he examined the red emblem to discover that it wasn't hound dogs barking or baring their teeth, but it was a skull with crossbones going through it, the skull also seemed to have a crack going down it's right eye.
"This isn't even our logo either..." Ryan continued, a puzzled look displayed on his face as he placed the armband on the chest of Santiago's corpse. He looked up from the ground at Cassandra, and Lady Dimitrescu to explain what he thought.
"I don't recognize this person, nor his patch, or the info given on his dog tag. However, he's wearing the exact apparel that my squadron used to wear. Something is up, there has got to be an old friend that is still alive trying to kill us." Ryan explained what was on his mind.
"Odd...Cassandra, drag this carcass into the basement, and drain him of his blood. Make sure all of it goes into the distillery." The countess instructed.
"Yes mother." The brunette replied, grabbing hold of Santiago's arms, and started to drag him away. Before she could even get out of the door, a blood curling scream was heard from upstairs. Ryan rushed from the room, Cassandra stopped what she was doing, and flown up with Ryan. Lady Dimitrescu followed behind the two of them as fast as she could!
"Daniela!" Cassandra screamed, having recognized her sister's voice. The youngest daughter was in peril, and all of them had no clue of what was going on with her.
"What are you doing to my sister?!" Bela's voice was heard screaming in what sounded like a mixture of pain, and rage.
The three of them picked up the pace as they ran down the hall on the third floor, opening up a door which would lead to a spiral staircase in which would go up to a smaller hall where the rooms of the three daughters were located, it appeared that Daniela's door had been swung wide open, hell, it had even broken off of it's hinges, merely hanging on now.
Furniture within the room was turned over, and there were splotches of blood all over the floor. There was also a corpse of another one of those men on the ground next to Daniela's bed. The window within the room had been broken completely, shards of stained glass littered the floor. Daniela was on the ground, crying hysterically with what seemed to be calcified markings all over her black colored nightgown.
Bela was knocked to the floor by a second man dressed in the black gear, this man was taller, and more muscular than the one on the floor. He was a black person, with a mustache, and another attribute to him was that he was tall.
"Moises?!" Ryan exclaimed, and it became clear that he wasn't his old pal when the man fired at him, Lady Dimitrescu shoving Ryan to the ground, and taking a shell for him much to his surprise!
What was even more awe inspiring is that the countess wasn't even scathed by the shell, it was as if it merely bounced off of her like a rubber ball. Cassandra tried to enter the room, but the cold immediately began to cause her issues, forcing her to groan in agony. Lady Dimitrescu reached out, grabbing the middle child, and pulling her out of the room.
"Let me go, mother. I'll kill this bastard!" The brunette screamed ruthlessly as she squirmed in her mother's grasp, but there was no getting out of her grip.
"Leave her to me, it's too dangerous for you my Cassandra." She replied forcefully, Ryan growled as he got back up to his feet, charging into the room much to the shock of Lady Dimitrescu, and her daughters.
With a defiant yell, the ex-marine rammed his shoulder into the tall man's chest as he jumped up slightly to add extra power behind his attack. Bela was knocked to the ground again in the process, but the assassin was hurled out of the window, his screams being heard as he plummeted to his demise!
The heart within his chest was racing a mile a minute, he went down to a knee as he took a deep breath. Relieved that he had dispatched of this foe before any more damage could have been administered to the daughters, especially Daniela, who looked like she had received the worst of it.
Bela was furious, thinking Ryan was the one to blame. She stood back up, having her sickle in hand as she screamed at the top of her lungs before darting towards the ex-marine with the intentions of killing her.
"Bela, no!" Lady Dimitrescu screamed, causing her daughter to stop just shy of taking his life.
"Mother, these men are his allies. They've come to kill us all!" The blonde screamed back at her mother, Lady Dimitrescu entered the room.
"These men have came to take our lives, but they are most definitely not with him. He can tell you as such." The countess said, but Bela wasn't buying it not one bit.
"Seriously?! You're putting trust in a stupid man-thing?!" She cried, looking completely baffled at how her mother which has slaughtered many men before Ryan, was suddenly putting trust into him, one that even tried to kill her several hours ago!
"He knows stuff that we don't, and he could be a major help in figuring out the plot against me. There must be one, these aren't the regular religious fanatics that have tried to end my life in the past, these are different men." Lady Dimitrescu replied.
"M-mother!" Daniela was heard whimpering loudly as if she was about to break down into tears again after briefly calming down, the red head noticing that her gloved hand started to calcify...
"Ryan, carry her down to my bedchambers, and sit her near the fire. Cassandra, come with us, as well as you Bela." The countess instructed, Ryan nodded his head as he gently picked up Daniela.
The gang quickly retreated from Daniela's room, heading down to her bedchambers. All of the daughters, including Ryan, sat near the fire. Lady Dimitrescu watched over them as she sat on her bed. No attack on them had ever come this close to succeeding with killing one of them, Daniela was so traumatized that tears were streaming down her face. The ex-marine deeply felt sorrow for the poor red head, and he tried to pull her in so she could cry into his shoulder, having some sympathy for one of the psycho witches that had tortured him. His arm was harshly slapped away by Bela, who pulled her youngest sister close to her, and away from Ryan.
"Do not touch her..." The blonde growled, giving the man a hateful glare.
"I'm going to close the gate at the front of the castle, we usually never have to do this, but that was too close for comfort. It will be staying shut until we have to leave for whatever reason, I will also be contacting Mother Miranda about this situation. Ryan, stay down here, and protect the daughters, especially Daniela." Lady Dimitrescu explained before rising back up to her feet, and leaving the room.
The last time Ryan had been alone with these daughters is when he was tortured earlier. He still felt some pain where they had inflicted the injuries, his throat still burned from the vomit. The room had fallen silent, Bela having an angry look on her face, Daniela still softly weeping into her shoulder, Cassandra was staring at the fire. Ryan looked at the ground, the only noises were the crackling and the popping of the flames within the fireplace, the scent of burning firewood was pleasant, but it wasn't enough to calm their nerves down.
Trying to lighten the situation up, Ryan attempted to bring in some comic relief.
"You know, I think this place could afford to have some security cameras here and there." He said with a grin, to which none of the daughters found funny at all.
"Not a good time to joke around, stupid man-thing." Cassandra muttered.
"Do you want me to slash your throat open, because I can right now, and I surely will." Bela threatened, her face shifting from anger into pure rage.
"A-apologies..." Ryan said softly, fearful of what these daughters could do to him...
The room fell silent once more, but then something strange happened. A voice was heard from the fireplace, a male voice that Ryan recognized from the shadow man, or as he had called himself 'the man in black.'
"Ryan..." A faint voice said, to which none of them noticed at first.
"Ryan." The voice said, only louder.
"Did you hear somethi-" Cassandra went to ask Bela, but then the voice boomed like a clap of thunder in the room that shook everyone awake from their trauma induced trance!
"RYAN!" The voice screamed, all eyes were on him now as the ex-marine stared into the fireplace, and then all around, noticing that the sound was coming from the flames.
"You again, what do you want?" The soldier asked aggressively as he backed away from the flames.
"I tried to save you, and you destroyed your only option of leaving!" The voice of the Man in Black scolded.
"I don't need saving!" Ryan barked in response as Bela wielded her sickle, her assumptions about these men coming to save him were true, but it would seem that the trooper wanted to stay here...
"So you would risk your life? You would stay with these women that want to devour you, and drink your blood?!" The voice cried.
"I've been scarred, and tormented, but I stand alive. I would rather much stay with Lady Dimitrescu than to leave here, it's the only means of shelter I have!" Ryan fired back.
"So you would rather stay in a place filled with nothing but blood, and death, rather than leave, and return to a peaceful non-violent life back home in the United States?" The voice asked, sounding angry as well as confused.
"Yes, I have learned to trust Lady Dimitrescu." The ex-marine said, this was followed by a laugh from the voice within the flames.
"The daughters seem to think otherwise..."
Ryan took a glance over at all three of the daughters, whom had their eyes on him. Daniela looked concerned, Cassandra looked as if she still couldn't trust him, and Bela was the same, but the blonde appeared still angry with him.
The Man in Black was right, these daughters were still unsure of whether or not they could truly side with him. Ryan couldn't think of a response to him that could end the argument.
"Well...I'm going to stay here, Malosi has told me that I shall learn to love them." He fumbled out a sentence, it was the only thing that came to his mind, going back to the hallucination he had of his former friend.
"Dammit, Ryan. I'm trying to help you, get your head out of your ass!" The Man in Black screamed aggressively towards the trooper.
"No!" He fired back.
"Suit yourself, all it takes is one mistake, and your life is over!" The Man in Black screamed as a parting message, his voice echoing away into nothing but crackles and pops within the flames.
There were several minutes of silence that followed after the banter between the Man in Black, and Ryan Miles. It would be Daniela to be the one that ended the silence, a look of concern and confusion on her face.
"Ryan, wh-who was that?" The red head asked.
"The Man in Black." The ex-marine replied.
"Who is that?" Bela asked, she had never heard of such a being.
"Lady Dimitrescu has never told you?" Ryan asked.
"She never has, to any of us or the other lords." Cassandra replied for Bela.
"Strange, when I first arrived here I was told of this mysterious man by a villager. I had an encounter with him in the dungeon earlier today while I was locked in my cell, he sounded so famili-" Ryan's voice was interrupted by Bela.
"Wait a minute, was this 'Man in Black' the other man you witnessed before I arrived with Daniela?" The blonde asked, Ryan answered her question with a nod of his head.
"Precisely, and I hope it gives you confirmation that I wasn't the one who was trying to harm you women. It is this man, whoever he is, that is responsible for all of this chaos." Ryan said, hoping that the daughters could finally start to side with him.
Meanwhile, outside of the room and upstairs, Lady Dimitrescu sat in front of the mirror. The countess had already closed the gate off at the front of the castle, and was going to make sure she locked any other entry point to the castle before heading back to bed. The phone held tightly in her hand, she was frustrated at this matter. Those men could have killed her daughters, and her youngest daughter would be crossing the line.
"Alcina...aren't you asleep around these hours?" Mother Miranda groaned on the other line, sounding annoyed.
"Yes, but the man-thing woke me up. I was being attacked." Lady Dimitrescu replied.
"Kill him immediately! He must not be allowed to harm you or my cause." Mother Miranda admonished the countess.
"Mother Miranda, it was another man that tried to take my life. The one I've been holding hostage prevented the blade from from puncturing me, even though it wouldn't do much to me, I still find his compassion to be commendable...to say the least."
"What if that man was trying to ally with Ryan? What if those men passed you by, and went straight for your daughters?"
This question by Mother Miranda instantly made Alcina's eyes begin to tear up, her ruby colored lips trembled as her hand curled up into a tightly clenched fist. Mother Miranda didn't know what happened to Daniela, and almost Bela, it could have been Cassandra if the assassins just skipped the countess by. Her eyes burned with rage, and anguish. She wanted to scream at her superior, but knew she couldn't do it without consequences. After all, it was Mother Miranda who had blessed her with the daughters due to her lonesome life.
The right eye of Lady Dimitrescu started to twitch as she struggled to hold back tears of unbridled fury, about to go into a frenzy if her daughters were mentioned one more time in a derogatory fashion as Mother Miranda had done, it was as if her superior was trying to piss her off.
"I...I would have killed Ryan, and all of those men if they even tried to do such a dastardly thing..." Lady Dimitrescu growled, Mother Miranda could tell that her "daughter" was upset at the mention of her daughters being in trouble.
"Then do the deed, and kill that man. He obviously poses or will pose a threat to us. End his life, and spare us the trouble." Mother Miranda scolded Lady Dimitrescu before hanging up, this time, the countess heard the phone being hung up on her.
"It won't be done..." She said before hanging up the phone as well, she paused, finally, Miranda's words had gotten into her head.
With a look of rage, the countess stood up, and hurled the table against the wall with a loud bang! A furious growl emitting from her gritted teeth as the furniture smashed against the dresser.
"How could she say that, about my daughters..." She growled before storming out of the room, heading to lock every single door that could be used to get in, and if she still didn't feel safe, she would barricade the windows.
Back down in the bedchambers of the countess, the daughters as well as Ryan were having a conversation about this 'Man in Black,' and they were theorizing on who it could be. The ex-marine found it strange that the daughters, and even Lady Dimitrescu herself didn't recall another figure within this village with such a name. It had been quite some time since the head of House Dimitrescu had returned, and Ryan decided that it was time to go check on her.
"Bela, I'm going to ask you to watch over your two sisters. I'm going to go help out your mother at fortifying this place." Ryan explained, but Bela was reluctant for him to leave.
"You're going to ask me? If anything, I should ask you to watch over my sisters. You're just a man-thing, you have no power here." The blonde said, her voice sounding as if she was offended by Ryan seemingly telling her what to do.
"I understand that I have no sovereignty here, but I noticed what the cold can do to you women, and I cannot afford to have an angry momma. I know she told me to watch over you, but I'm concerned if more of those men are coming for us, I know how to handle them, I've served two tours in the Middle East, I have experience." Ryan said, Bela huffed with a roll of her eyes.
"If you say so, but you better keep any other stupid man-things away from us, or else I'll slice your throat and stuff it with worms!" Bela warned Ryan, he acknowledged said warning before getting up, and leaving the bedchambers to go find Lady Dimitrescu.
He would eventually find her within the Dining Room placing chairs over the windows, doing her best to fortify her massive castle that she inherited even further than it already was. After she slid one of the chairs over the windows tightly, she turned to see Ryan standing in the door way. The countess growled, irritated at how he didn't follow her instructions.
"You're supposed to be guarding my daughters, you fool..." She grumbled as she approached him slowly.
"I know, but the bedchambers aren't too far away from here. There were no more men that my eyes noticed, if you want we can head back to the room now." He said, his voice slightly nervous, but he had gathered the courage to speak to her rather comfortably now that he had been with her for a little bit now.
"Ugh...sure..." She sighed, rolling her eyes as she followed the smaller person out of the room, the two of them heading back to the bedchambers were the daughters were staying for the night, their eyes glued to the door. Bela and Cassandra were ready to attack if needed, although they were still weakened due to the cold, and parts of their body still calcified, it would take some time for that stuff to chip away, and get back to normal.
"Why did you even leave?" Lady Dimitrescu asked Ryan as she stared down at him.
"I was wanting to help you out with putting barricades up, I have been in this position before. It's been a decade since I had to make any preparations for an oncoming battle, brings back memories of my brothers in arms." Ryan explained, a smile came to the face of the countess for half a second before quickly going away, the ex-marine didn't notice it.
"I think what we have done so far should do for the night, hopefully they've learned their lesson. If they haven't, I can call upon the other lords to help me out." She replied as they turned into a hall, heading down it, getting closer to the bedchambers.
"Those men, you said they looked familiar to you...Are you certain that you aren't working with them? You must not tell me any lies, or else I'll have your head removed as soon as words are broken that bear truth." The tall woman warned with a question.
"No, well...they do look familiar, in terms of what they're wearing. However the band on their arm, and this person has sent them after me, after us." Ryan explained, when he spoke of a person, this caught Lady D's interest.
"Who? Who is this person that is sending those scoundrels after us? I shall have him dealt with at once." She asked.
"The Man in Black."
"The Man in Black?"
There was a moment of silence as Ryan would go on to sigh before trying his best to answer her.
"Before I stepped into this castle, I spoke with a man in the village. He was old, who probably had countless stories to tell. He told me of a man, a man whose silhouette is only seen when he arrives. They called him the Man in Black, reminds me of a Johnny Cash song. Before your daughters tortured me, he spoke to me. The Man in Black-" The ex-marine would begin, such stories of this person had never been told to Lady Dimitrescu before.
"He arrives in a black mist, and disappears into it all the same. Just then, we heard his voice within the flames in your bed room. He told me that he sent those men to save me, but I believe I don't need any saving, not right now at least. I'm comfortable where I am, with you." Ryan finished, the last of that sentence making a smile briefly appear on Lady Dimitrescu's face before it quickly went away as soon as it came, again, Ryan didn't notice for he was looking down the hall.
"Strange, I've never heard of such a name or title before belonging to a lord of this village. I'm sure I would have heard of it by now, my daughters sometimes go out into the village, and they have never returned with stories of what the villagers told them. Now you're saying he's wanting us dead?" Lady D asked, trying to think of how this all made sense.
"I wouldn't be surprised if this turned out to be the case, Lady Dimitrescu. He spoke to me in an aggressive voice, it's like he wants to see us dead, and will do anything to accomplish the task." Ryan answered.
"I'll be sure to contact Mother Miranda over this matter, I've got a feeling that she isn't telling me all I need to know..." The tall woman said, when she was granted these superhuman powers and capabilities by Miranda, she had explained to Alcina everything she needed to know about the village, and about her "brothers," and "sisters."
Never once did Mother Miranda mention a "Man in Black" to them, Lady Dimitrescu questioned if even her superior knew of this supposed man. Was he a woodsman? Or another lost soul like Ryan who had found his way to the village, and was living off the land, doing his best to stay away from the village itself in order to keep away from the lycans and the other lords?
Another strange thing about him was that he had powers just like these lords, but they were much different. Lady D had metallic claws that grew from her fingers, being able to extend them at will, and her large height, having super strength to go along with said height.
Heisenberg was like a magnet, and could control steel with ease.
Donna Beneviento could control her doll, Angie, and had control over other dolls like some sort of telepathy. She also had hallucinogenic plants, the pollen of said plants had a psychoactive effect to whoever came in touch with it. The Angie doll herself could fly, but could only go for a certain height before lowering back down.
Moreau was essentially a fish man, and as dumb, and childish as his voice sounded, he was somewhat intelligent. The merman could also create gigantic enzyme walls at will.
The Man in Black's powers were the fact that he could travel around with a black mist or cloud, almost like he could use it as a means of teleportation. It also seemed he had a form of astral projection with his voice, being able to speak through flames evident when he admonished Ryan for stopping the henchmen in which he had sent after him. His powers seemed to be more "spiritual" than the others.
"If I call Mother Miranda, there's a high chance that there will be a meeting hosted. I want you to come along, you could tell her about your stories, of this man. Hopefully she'll give us a proper explanation of what has been going on." Lady Dimitrescu explained to the ex-marine as they got closer to her bedchambers where her daughters were still patiently waiting.
"I'll be glad to tag along, I'd like to have a word with that Miranda..." Ryan replied, starting to think about Mother Miranda herself. She was just another figure of this village that he didn't like one bit, he was starting to warm up to Lady Dimitrescu, but the others he couldn't say the same as he hadn't met them yet other than at the meeting where he had been captured by Heisenberg.
The countess noticed that Ryan was starting to act more "bold," instead of being uncomfortable or scared around her or her daughters, he seemed to be more determined to get to the bottom of things. The ex-marine seemed like he wanted to partner up with her, or strike a bond of some kind!
"You're not as weak as you were when I first met you, you seemed to crack so easily in my presence." Lady D noted.
"What? No...I'm not weak, but I had been totally ruined at that point. From all the beatings I received." Ryan growled in response as he glared up towards the countess, who had a smug yet playful grin on her face.
"I can recall you pinned under my foot, the look of fear in your eyes...so submissive, so petrified of what you were thinking that I could do to you." The vampiric woman chuckled deviously as she remembered the brief struggle she had with Ryan.
"Well at least I tried." Ryan nervously laughed out.
"Precisely...but you failed all the same." Lady Dimitrescu taunted him, finally causing the ex-marine to stop in place and turn towards her.
"Listen, if we want these mysteries solved. We're gonna have to work together, we cannot be divided. You and I are in a way...alike, I can feel it, and for that I think we need to stick together rather than fall apart." He said harshly, but the countess wasn't intimidated in the slightest, but her eyebrow did raise up when he stated that they were alike.
"Me and you are alike, hmmm?" She asked with a sly smile, leaning over and patting her gloved hand down on his head gently.
"I wouldn't be too sure about that..." She continued, her voice going from what was once playful into a cold, harsh tone.
"Well, we need to stay together regardless." Ryan said, to which Lady Dimitrescu nodded her head to in agreement