(Chapter 10: The urgent meeting)
Ryan Miles would follow Lady Dimitrescu to the front of her castle where a large stagecoach awaited, given the fact that the tall countess stood at a height of 9'6, this coach was the largest that the ex-marine had ever seen in his life.
"Impressive, is it not?" Lady D cooed as she looked down at the soldier who was still curiously examining it, driving the coach would be two women that were maids of the castle, they had initially been set free when word of Ryan Miles began to spread around the village and between the lords, but they would still be called up from time to time.
"Well, it's huge." Ryan chuckled, the vampiric woman didn't give him a response before she approached her side of the stagecoach to get inside, the ex-marine would do the same and hop in.
When both of the doors of the stagecoach shut the sound of a cracking whip was heard followed by the clopping of hooves on stone brick ground. The coach began to move and Ryan would gaze out of the window to look upon the land as the horses pulled the coach towards the ruined chapel where all meetings would take place.
The two sat there in silence for what seemed like forever, the countess wasn't really paying Ryan any attention and the ex-marine didn't want to look at her for too long, so he would glance at her every now and then. What Ryan didn't know is that she was watching him out of the corner of her eye, seeing him awkwardly glancing at her every now and then made her snicker.
"What's funny?" Ryan asked as he turned to face the vampiric woman completely.
"What are you looking at, Ryan?" She asked with a grin, still looking at him out of the corner of her eye.
"It's nothing, nothing." The ex-marine replied as he looked out of the window once again.
"Just tell me, I don't have the intentions on hurting you anymore. Unless you force me to..." She said, trying to goad him into speaking what he wanted to.
"Well...this meeting, what am I going to do just stand there? How do these things work, was the time I got chased down by lycans in a maze what you consider a meeting?" Ryan asked a few questions, confused on how things would work now that he was an unofficial part of House Dimitrescu, only a not so invited guest that was kept alive by the mercy of the blood drinking countess.
"Well, when we arrive we're going to discuss what has been happening. According to Mother Miranda, Heisenberg has been attacked. This comes only a day after my castle was stormed by those fools that you said you may know. You're going to tell everything you told me, to them." She explained as she flexed and contracted her gloved hand, squeezing it into a fist before opening it up again, hearing the leather on her black glove tightening each time she squeezed.
"So there isn't some turkey shoot where lycans chaze a man through a maze of death each time?" Ryan asked, his intentions was to be playful but he ended up sounding like some sort of a smartass with the tone of his voice. He feared Lady Dimitrescu would snap at him but instead she would only snicker some more.
"No hon, the day you were brought before us and got chased was all because of that fool Heisenberg. He's nothing but a child who wants to play games and mess around all the time, he's a five year old living in an older man's body and quite frankly it sickens me. He doesn't act his age at all..." She scoffed as she remembered Heisenberg's argument with her that day when Ryan was first brought before all the lords and Mother Miranda.
"Heisenberg, he doesn't seem to like you. Does he?" Ryan asked, Lady Dimitrescu sighed at this.
"Stating the obvious, man-thing." She replied, prompting Ryan to speak his mind about who he believed could be the culprit of these attacks.
"Do you think this could potentially be a setup of some kind? A scheme, a scam? Whatever it may be? I think he could be a likely candidate for all of the things that have been going on recently."
That caused Lady Dimitrescu to think for a moment, she didn't think of this before. It could be very possible that Heisenberg could be the one sending out these people to attack, hiring these assassins from God knows where and he could have very well orchestrated the attack on his factory and lied to set up this meeting so he could play the strings on both sides.
"You make a good point, Ryan. I'll be talking with Heisenberg for sure when we get there, his devotion to Mother Miranda is questionable and I wouldn't put it past him to do something like this, to make an attempt on my life and my daughters." Lady D replied with a slight impressed expression, thinking that Ryan could be very much useful than she had initially thought.
After their brief conversation, they arrived at the worn down church. A hole had been placed in the wall as an entrance. The roof had partially collapsed inwards, sitting snug next to a hillside.
The countess and the soldier approached the entrance which was large enough for the massive woman to fit in, within the ruined cathedral stood Heisenberg who was leaning against a wall, smoking a cigar patiently as he waited for the others to arrive.
"Ah, if it isn't that pretentious, bible thumping prick..." He scoffed as the two of them walked past him, Lady Dimitrescu cast him an incredulous glance while Ryan gave him a cold stare, the two of them didn't utter a single word.
Heisenberg followed after them as he noticed that Moreau was coming from around the bend towards the cathedral, not liking the stench of the fish man. As the magnetic man entered into the large abandoned chapel, he still talked down on Ryan and Lady D.
"I'm surprised you're still alive, Ryan. Usually Lady super-sized bitch here, kills men. You should have been devoured already!" He said aloud, his voice filled with mischief.
"He's here due to my mercy and my mercy alone. He's got some information that could help us here today in terms of what has been going on..." Lady Dimitrescu grumbled lowly as she approached the large chair that she usually sat in during meetings.
One by one, each lord would file into the cathedral followed by Mother Miranda who shut the entryway behind her if any pesky lycans wanted to poke their heads in business that wasn't theirs.
"I've brought all of you hear today to discuss matters on the attacks made on Castle Dimitrescu and House Heisenberg-" Miranda began, her eyes glancing from Lady Dimitrescu and then over towards the magnetic man himself.
All while Mother Miranda spoke, Ryan looked around the ruined chapel. He swallowed as he glanced over to where he had jumped in the hole to escape the lycans from when he first arrived here, it was here that Heisenberg had his turkey shoot and games against him.
The original entrance of the cathedral was blocked off by rubble and junk, the pews were set up the way they were as last time. Heisenberg sat across from Lady Dimitrescu, Donna as well as her doll, Angie, sat next to Mother Miranda slightly off to the side and behind her. Moreau was at Miranda's left.
Mother Miranda herself stood behind an altar, candles spreaded across the floor near it that illuminated the chapel in dim light, the bulk of the light coming from the outside of the sunny morning due to the dome that had collapsed in.
"According to both of you, you were attacked by assassins in black. I'll start off with Lady Dimitrescu, she will describe the events that unfolded." Mother Miranda finished, outstretching her arm towards the countess who took a puff from her long cigar.
"Yes..." Lady Dimitrescu spoke before she stood up to deliver her side of the story to the rest of the lords and to Mother Miranda herself.
"Fellow lords and Mother Miranda, not too long ago, I was viciously attacked by strange men clad in dark military uniforms. Attacks on me were once frequent by religious fanatics that once lived in this village, attempts on my life were common... However this is new, these men were dressed in military gear-" The countess began, as she described how the new assasins were dressed, all eyes in the room shifted towards Ryan as if they thought of him to be the one that perpertrated this attack.
"They were dark tactical vests, a red armband. Some wore black masks around their mouths, others did not. Black pants as well as boots, some wore gloves, others didn't. Their heights varied, they weren't a challenge at all but they nearly took the life of my daughters. My poor little Daniela has potential to be traumatized from the events that occurred. I am wanting whoever orchestrated these attacks to be found and punished!" Lady Dimitrescu boomed, her voice like thunder as it reverberated around the room.
The way that the countess continued to describe the way her assassins were clothed only got more incredulous glances to be cast towards Ryan.
Ryan once wore a black tactical vest over a dark green shirt, he wore a black armband with a red emblen of the Forgotten Ops. His hands once were covered by fingerless gloves, his pants were once black and his boots were once black as well. Obviously his attire had changed quite a bit since he had arrived, but the lords remembered how Mother Miranda described Ryan to them on the phone calls prior to his arrival.
"Are you sure it isn't your little simp you have next to you?" Heisenberg asked, pointing at Ryan directly with a grin on his face.
"I have warned you of his potential to destroy us, Dimitrescu..." Mother Miranda said sternly.
"I understand the confusion and suspicion towards the man-thing, however, he has some important information to give us all-" Lady Dimitrescu replied looking down at Ryan Miles, motioning him to move forward and speak.
Ryan moved forward and with a deep breath, he finally began to tell his side of the story. He was thinking that none of the lords would listen to him as he was far inferior to their powers and what they could do, plus the same thing had probably happened to them in terms of the assassins.
"I have been held captive at Castle Dimitrescu for a day or two now, I've lost track of time. During my time there so far, I've gotten into contact with a strange shadowy figure known as the 'Man in Black,' I believe that these assassins that attacked us all were following his orders-" Ryan began, when he referenced the mysterious Man in Black, Heisenberg noticed that Mother Miranda grunted some. The magnetic man couldn't tell what her expression was due to the golden plague doctor styled mask that she wore on her face, but he could tell that her emotions was of concern due to her grunt that she let out.
Heisenberg kept quiet but he had a strange feeling that Mother Miranda knew more than they thought she did about these assassins and this mystery man that had previously been completely unheard of. Behind his dark round glasses, his eyes narrowed towards Miranda as he stared upon her for a moment's notice before turning his head back towards Ryan.
"Lady Dimitrescu mentioned an armband that the assassins wore, when I spent my time with my squadron we wore a familiar armband. My armband contained four wolves barking, the armband that the assasins wore had a different logo on it, it had a skull with a scar going through it's right eye." Ryan continued, this cleared up some of the confusion that the lords had with Ryan but not all was settled.
"This 'Man in Black' continues to target me, he spoke to me several times already. It sounds as if he wants to help me out, but I have no idea who or what he is. I do not trust him, I have more trust in Lady Dimitrescu as well as my faith in the Lord, I would rather not go by the words of a stranger that has attacked people that have been forced to be my allies." Ryan went on, Heisenberg groaned at the mention of the faith Ryan had.
"Again with the bible thumping..." He groaned, no one could see it, but he rolled his eyes behind his glasses.
Ryan was starting to grow impatient with Heisenberg, the magnetic man was already a smartass enough. The irritation that was building up within the ex-marine caused him to curl up his hands into fists.
"I believe a thorough investigation needs to be done and we need to find this Man in Black before something worse happens. It seems as though as long as I am alive, or remain here. His attacks will continue to come and they will get worse as time goes by. So we must prepa-" Ryan went to continue speaking but Heisenberg rudely cut him off.
"So the attacks will get worse as long as you remain alive? If that's the case how about you off yourself?! Do the whole village a favor and end your life so this Man in Black doesn't come after our asses!" Heisenberg barked and this was the breaking point for Ryan's patience with this man.
"No, how about you be a dick to somebody else you bastard?! My time on this Earth isn't done yet as far as I'm concerned, the Lord has sent me here for a reason and I am going to figure out my purpose in this village!" Ryan fired back, Heisenberg snarled hatefully as he stood up from his chair as his hammer flew into his gloved hand.
"I'm fucking sick of this bible thumping motherfucker!" He screamed as he charged towards Ryan but once he took a swing, Lady Dimitrescu stopped the heavy hammer with only one of her hands, showing off her immense strength!
"You will leave the man-thing alone and back away immediately!" She boomed, Heisenberg growled coldly as his hateful gaze remain fixated on Ryan who was now standing behind Lady Dimitrescu.
"You staying alive puts us all in jeopardy! It's quite a simple solution, either kill yourself or leave this village and take the weight off of our chests!" Heisenberg shouted before taking a step back, slumping down into his seat with an enraged grunt with his hammer retracting from Lady Dimitrescu's grip.
"I cannot fucking believe that you're protecting that miserable asswipe, he's a mortal. Your prisoner and by all means a pest to us, yet you keep him alive? Why? You've butchered every other man that has stepped foot in that castle with the only exceptions being the Duke and now this Jesus freak! Are you two a thing or something? How about you get a room and fuck the night away while your at it while the rest of us are doomed?" Heisenberg asked, clearly upset about how everything was going down.
"Ryan, do you wish to continue?" Mother Miranda asked, her voice malicious and authorative.
"No, I think I've had enough." Ryan replied as he went to a knee next to Lady Dimitrescu's chair.
"Very well then, now it is Heisenberg's turn to explain what went down at his factory." She would reply before turning to the magnetic man who was still visibly agitated.
"Alright. So I was minding my own business the other day when several strange men dressed in all black as Lady Gigantis said, arrived. These men were dressed in the exact way in which she described them all, but for mortals they have incredible strength. One of those motherfuckers almost killed my ass, glad I slain that big bastard while I had a chance..." Heisenberg began, his eyes never leaving Lady Dimitrescu while he spoke and the countess could tell that he was staring at her.
"Then from out of nowhere, several more men came in the room. I threw my hammer at one of them but it vanished into this black cloud...when I woke up they had vanished, but black residue remained where the mist was located. They must use that to get around, it's like a moldy material." Heisenberg announced, continuing his story.
When Heisenberg mentioned a black cloud and how things could go in and out of them, to how there was a black residue leftover when the cloud or mist vanished, the eyes of Ryan shot open wide.
He remembered when he had the conversation with the Man in Black while chained up in the Dimitrescu dungeon, the mystery man shrouded in shadow had used a black fog or a mist to get around. The ex-marine also remembered the fateful day he lost his parents, almost every single home in the suburban neighborhood had a strange black residue on it that resembled mold mixed with ash, some of it was even in his own home but he mistook it for cigarette ashes...
"Wait a minute..." Ryan said to himself, unbeknownst to him, his voice was loud enough to catch the attention of the lords who all turned their heads to face him.
"Got something to say?" Heisenberg asked.
"That's what the Man in Black did, he traveled around using that black fog just like those assassins done." Ryan revealed, most of the lords looked as though they were taken aback with the exception of Mother Miranda, who was growing more annoyed.
"So you're saying that these assassins are working for the Man in Black?" Mother Miranda asked.
"Yes, exactly." Ryan said, the chapel went silent.
"I see...for the others, if any of you have had an encounter with the assassins. Please speak your mind." Mother Miranda replied.
"Nu-uh!" Angie squeaked.
"Nope." Moreau grumbled.
"Alright. I've heard all of your discussions and your accounts of the attacking assassins, starting tomorrow. I'll be dispatching a search party of lycans to find the Man in Black, I'll call all of you when I receive an update." Mother Miranda stated.
"Mother Miranda would the lycans need help? I don't mean to underestimate their intelligence but they are certainly not capable of complex thought like the rest of us are." Lady Dimitrescu asked, having her concerns.
"They'll be fine. If things get out of hand, I'll address it in the calls I'll be sending. I hereby declare this meeting adjorned." Mother Miranda replied, she seemed to be quick to end the meeting for some reason and it is something that Heisenberg noticed.
I'm not buying her bullshit this time, there isn't going to be a damn thing done. It will only get worse from here, looks like I'm going to need to mobilize my army as fast as I can. She knows her time is limited Heisenberg thought to himself as he continued to glare at Mother Miranda.
One by one, each lord left the chapel and cathedral entirely. Heisenberg decided to stay until Mother Miranda left, he watched her mannerisms closely.
As she left, her hands were curled into fists and she appeared to be angry with her body language. Right when she left, she let out a sigh of relief. A grin came to his face, feeling like he had power over her...
Meanwhile, Lady Dimitrescu and Ryan climbed back into the stagecoach that was waiting for them to leave the cathedral.
"Thanks for saving me from that hammer, he could have killed me back there." Ryan said, offering gratitude for being rescued against Heisenberg's brutal attack.
"It's no problem, don't mistake it for kindness or love though, man-thing. I did it because I need you currently, times are...strange." Lady Dimitrescu replied, causing Ryan to sigh and look towards the floor of the stagecoach as he would hear the female maids smack the reigns on the large backsides of the draft horses in which pulled the huge coach.
For a majority of the ride back to the castle, the countess and the soldier remained silent. It would be Lady Dimitrescu who would surprisingly break the silence this time unlike earlier where it had to be Ryan.
"You seemed like you know more about the man we're after than everyone else does, you appeared to be blown away by what Heisenberg told us earlier. What sparked that?" The vampiric woman asked.
Ryan would sigh again before swallowing, he didn't want to constantly remember the disappearance of his parents and the day that would start his new journey in life, but he felt like he had no other choice when he was asked to by Lady Dimitrescu of all people.
"When I was younger, I lived in a suburb over in the states. It was a day before I went to school, my life changed that day. When I walked downstairs, everything went wrong. Blood on the floor, signs of a struggle...there was black ashes on the couch and I thought it was my father's cigarette ashes, he's a smoker-" Ryan began as the memories played through his mind.
Lady Dimitrescu was content as she continued to listen in on Ryan's story of the past, curious about what happened to him when he was younger, it could give her clues on everything that was going on at the moment.
"When I left my house, every other house in the neighborhood was coated in this black residue as Heisenberg was talking about. It looked like a mixture of ash and mold, my house was smothered in it as well. Everyone had vanished with the exception of me and a few other sole survivors, assuming the others perished." Ryan continued.
"It does seem like this man has been targeting you, these assassins have never attacked us before but now that you're here, they're on the warpath." She said to which Ryan nodded his head in agreement.
"Considering I was only a teen in those times, it would seem that he's been after me before my days with my friends that perished a decade ago. Perhaps he's been after me for a whole lot longer than just that, I can feel it." Ryan said, this stunned Lady Dimitrescu into silence.
"Now he's followed you here." She would say after remaining silent for a minute or two.
"Yes and I'm getting tired of it, he told me that he's wanting to save me. Save me after he took everything away from me, I don't know what agenda he is following but it clearly goes against saving me." Ryan said with concern, he dreaded what would happen from here on out now that a proper discussion had been made on the Man in Black.
As much as the ex-marine hated to say it, Heisenberg had a point earlier by saying that Ryan needed to remove himself in order to prevent the attacks. Everywhere Ryan went, the Man in Black seemed to follow. If he took this outside of the village limits, perhaps things would change, he certainly wasn't going to take his life, but he wasn't going to kill himself as Heisenberg had suggested, but he was going to try and lure him away if he could.
The two would then fall silent once again until they reached the castle which wouldn't take that much longer to get back following their conversation.
"We thank you two maidens for bringing us to the meeting, now you are dismissed." The countess spoke and with that, the two maidens rode away back towards another section of the village where they lived.
"You mean to tell me that they're still alive even after what the lycans done?" Ryan asked as he looked over at Lady Dimitrescu.
"Yes, there is another large portion of the village still standing where the lycans haven't roamed towards, I don't understand why though." The tall vampiric woman answered.
"Strange, I thought everything would have been wiped out by now." Ryan said to himself as he started to follow the countess back towards the castle.
"Once again, I'd like to thank you for saving my ass from Heisenberg. That hammer would have probably smashed my face in." Ryan said with his voice filled with gratitude, Lady Dimitrescu didn't respond, she only walked away into another part of the castle after the two of them walked through the entrance hall.
Ryan sighed, did Lady Dimitrescu simply not care for him? Was she only using him as a method to figure out whoever this Man in Black was and when she did, would he be the next meal on the Dimitrescu menu? It felt like the whole world was against him and such was a feeling that he despised the most. This is how he felt when he lost the entire neighborhood and it is how he felt when he failed in that mission ten years ago, he needed to cool off and to just soak in a nice warm bath. A nice warm bath that would relax him to sleep, hopefully he could finally get to sleep in a nice bed this time without any worry. It was still in the early morning hours, but he wasn't about to be depressed all day long.
Soon, he would begin to work on finding out the identity of the mysterious Man in Black...