AN: Hey, sorry this is late. It's been a heck of a week and I didn't realise I hadn't posted. Whoopsie.

Chapter 58: The Transmission Mirror

There was yelling that drew their attention. Exhausted as they were, they turned their heads and looked back at whatever was making that noise. Yvette seemed to realise what it was first. She leaned over and pressed her hands to her knees and let herself take a moment to catch her breath. Trevor and Sypha glanced at her.

'What's that?' Sypha asked even as she checked a gash in Trevor's arm. He had several from the fight he'd just had.

'Oh, Zamfir escaped in the confusion,' Yvette said, waving it off. 'I pinned her to the wall. I guess the other guards found her.'

The three of them made their way to the source of the sound. Sure enough, they found Zamfir being held down even as she was being freed from Yvette's throwing knives. One half of her body was free and she was twisting even as she yelled. As she did so, though, Yvette inclined her head in interest.

'…and see what happens?' she demanded. 'We're immediately found and attacked! This never would have happened if not for your treason!'

Trevor and Sypha looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

'Don't be dramatic,' Yvette said, walking over.

'What do you know?' Zamfir demanded of her. 'I'd bet you're responsible for this!'

'Uh huh.' Yvette gave her a dry look and then reached over. 'Then answer me a question.' She tore a small object from the back of collar. Pulling it forward, she held up a small hook-shaped object. 'Were you aware this was on your collar?'

Zamfir stared at it, surprised.

'I'll take that as a "no".' Trevor came over to take a look. 'Huh. That's a tracking device from a divining set.'

'It could have been put on at any time,' Sypha said.

Yvette nodded and looked at Zamfir's shocked and horrified face. 'I personally don't see how you can't have noticed it. This would have been rubbing against the back of your neck. It would have been annoying at the very least.' She glared at her. 'So don't go blaming anybody else when you failed to notice the tracker on your collar.'

Zamfir's shock melted away. She glared back and ground her teeth. 'You will learn your place.'

'No,' Yvette said calmly. 'You will learn your place.' She looked at the guards. 'At first opportunity, I'll have the Holy Roman Emperor contacted and informed of the events in this city. I am sure he'll find the most interesting part the way his relatives' corpses were propped up like fucking dolls.'

'I did what needed to be done!' Zamfir barked.

Sypha scowled and shook her head. 'You're mad.'

'Well, of course I'm mad!' Zamfir snapped.

Yvette looked up at her sharply. 'Aaand there went any lenience I would have begged for you. If you're sane enough to know that you're mad, you're sane enough to know that you should have had yourself declared unfit for duty. But you decided to take command of the entire Royal Guard.'

'I was the only one left who was fit for the task!' Zamfir snapped.

Sypha frowned. 'What is that supposed to mean?'

'If you mean that you're the only Noble left in Targoviste, I'm afraid I'm just not going to accept that.' Yvette scowled. 'You propped the corpses of your rulers up and took fucking everything from their subjects. You were sacrificing the living for the sake of the dead.'

'They,' Zamfir snarled. 'Will. Wake!'

Yvette stared at her a moment before she nodded to the guards. 'Get her out of my sight.'

The guards immediately dragged her off, despite her cursing and yelling. The guards, for their part, looked pissed off. And of course they did. They'd been putting up with Zamfir's crap for something like half a year. And now it turned out that her lack of attention had endangered them, but she was still refusing to admit fault.

That would piss anybody off.

'So…' Sypha drawled. 'We're not giving her any quarter despite the fact that she's been driven mad?'

'Ordinarily, I would,' Yvette said. 'But most insane people don't realise that they're insane. She does, and that makes all the difference. She knew she'd cracked like an egg. She chose to ignore it because of her status. And the people of this city suffered for it.'

'And you really think the Holy Roman Emperor will listen to a Belmont?' Trevor asked.

'I passed through the Holy Roman Empire on the way back to Wallachia,' Yvette said. 'More than a few people have expressed the opinion that we'd been wrongfully excommunicated. It's apparently a pretty common sentiment right now. Besides, I'm not just talking about a vampire nest in a place and a mad noblewoman – I'm talking about something that will scare the shit out of any ruler.'

'Meaning?' Sypha asked.

Trevor knew what she was getting at. 'If it was done to these rulers, what's to stop it being done to other ones?'

Sypha looked thoughtful. 'You mean, after they die, someone could cover it up, prop them up, and act as their proxy, thereby usurping power that way.'

'Right,' Yvette said. 'And, again, that would scare the shit out of any ruler.'

A chiming sound suddenly got their attention.

All three of them twisted around.

'Hm?' Trevor frowned. 'Oh, God. What now?'

"Varney" overlooked the scene the mirror showed him. His grin, though, fell away when he heard someone running in his direction. He had no doubt it was the Belmonts. Without any hesitation, he ran though, passing to the location in Dracula's castle. He landed in the room just behind St. Germain.

The wizard spun around.

Obviously Varney's arrival had surprised him.

'Varney of London,' he said. 'Your conspirator and benefactor. I have come to personally supervise this…uh, this…' What would you call it?

'This…?' St. Germain pressed.

'Well, I was—actually, I was looking for a really big word,' "Varney" said. 'You seem clever and it's important that you know that I'm clever too.'

'Sir,' St. Germain deadpanned, 'I am certain that your wit is as suave as your unique personal stench.'

'Suave?' "Varney" asked. 'Oh, suave! Well, that's a short word, isn't it?' He tugged on his necktie. 'I mean, I appreciate that.'

'How about "epochal event"?' St. Germain suggested.

'Huh?' "Varney" asked.

'Well, suit yourself,' St. Germain said.

Back in Targoviste Trevor, Sypha, and Yvette stood before the Transmission mirror.

'I recognise that,' Trevor said.

'You should,' Yvette remarked. 'It's Dracula's castle. Why the hell would "Varney" want to go there?'

'Never mind that,' Trevor said. 'The point of view is moving. Why's that?'

'It's not being anchored to anything anymore,' Yvette growled in annoyance. 'It's just wafting.'

'The mirror's location lock is drifting,' Sypha added. 'If we're going to go, we're going to have to go now.' She looked at the other two. 'Ready?'

Trevor smirked bitterly. 'Hell, no. But when's that ever stopped us?'

Yvette just leapt through ahead of them.

Trevor and Sypha linked hands and jumped through after her.