Countess Alcina Dimitrescu does not enter Natasha's apartment by knocking on the door or ringing the doorbell, Instead, the countess hires several unspecified men to pick the lock of the ornate door. Once the lock had been destroyed by the men who Alcina had hired, and the door opened Alcina had bent down so she could enter through the door; Leaving young Natasha confused and only wearing a pair of navy shorts as well as a black singlet.
"Those are cute." Alcina greets the younger woman, eying her clothing, the greyscale dragon tattoo which adorned her left arm and her uncovered legs appreciatively.
The turquoise-haired woman let out a sigh. She downed the glass of screaming eagle cabernet sauvignon that was in her hand. Once it was empty, she placed it on the oak table.
"Please stop breaking into my house." She spoke slightly annoyed.
Alcina did not acknowledge her and sat on her plush leather chair. Natasha noticed that she was not wearing her normal clothes either, Instead, Alcina was wearing a black petticoat over a vermilion dress, an intricately designed gold and a platinum pin was a change to her usual corsage of flowers, it was keeping her collar cinched shut. She wore a thick, fluffy fur coat over the petticoat. It was black and shaped like a fox draped over one shoulder.
'It should have been tacky,' Natasha thought, 'But Alcina pulled it off.'
"You aren't ready." She said instead. Arranging her skirts so they spilled from red to black in a vibrant array.
Heterochromatic eyes looked at the calendar, she was really confused. "I was supposed to be ready for something?"
"Yes," Alcina replied tersely, "Rosie told you about it."
"Who?" Natasha questioned before she remembered the incident that happened that morning "Wait? That homicidal teenager who tried to hit me with your sister's car?"
Alcina closed her eyes briefly then she let out an audible sigh "Regardless," she spoke, "You are still coming with me tonight."
"Can I at least get a Jacket?" Natasha asked anxiously and then she noticed the older woman's stare.
"No." Alcina replied, and Natasha was 'Picked up' by the wrist and dragged out of the door by the countess.
Natasha was dragged out of her apartment by Alcina and the pair of them passed a group of people, people who were quietly debating the lock that should be attached to the apartment door into which they had broken. Natasha could not glance behind for a single second before the pair was outside in the night.
It is a half-moon and where the streetlights are not polluting the sky, dim silvery lights coat the asphalt-coated grounds. Natasha does not even make it three blocks before she starts shivering. Feeling as cold as the ninth circle of hell, the only thing that was warm was her wrist which was currently in a tight grip by Alcina's own hand.
Natasha attempts to tug her wrist away, but Alcina does not let her. She frowns and does not drag the younger woman, but it was clear to the younger woman that she had lost all patience after what happened. It was not Natasha's fault, but Alcina would consider her equally guilty for not getting her message from a homicidal teenager, who worked for Alcina's sister, who almost knocked Natasha with said sister's car.
Natasha attempts to tug her wrist away again.
"Stop that." Alcina snaps.
Natasha tugs again half-heartedly. "It is two in the morning; it is fucking freezing and I am in shorts. Let go so I can do something to fucking warm myself up."
The countess makes a noise somewhere between a sigh and an angry hum and pulls the dangling woman into an empty storefront before dropping her. Natasha rubs her wrist and though she would not admit it she missed the warmth regardless of how tight Alcina had held it. The street that Natasha lived in was empty even though usually it was not so deep in the city. The storefront is closed and boarded up by its owners in a way Natasha had seen in those old movies. It makes Natasha feel uncomfortable especially now that Natasha was at eye level with Alcina as she had bent down to cover her.
Vigorously, Natasha rubs her arms to smooth away the goosebumps that formed…
"Here," Alcina spoke with urgency as she unclasped her coat and literally dropped it over the woman's head "Quickly now."
Natasha just watches Alcina as she stares at her, Natasha quickly realises that the coat Alcina had dropped on her was going to engulf her; at this point, Natasha did not care as she pulls her scrawny arms through the sleeves as she kept the ends of the coat in her hand, so the ends did not get scruffy. Natasha noticed that the black fox, which was draped around her neck, was a detachable scarf which Alcina comfortably rewrapped around her neck.
After five minutes, where Alcina continuously stared at Natasha's body until her body stopped shivering and she stared back afraid of what the taller woman would do, Natasha noticed that the vermillion dress that she wore was decorated with silver embroidery. Alcina took Natasha's hand again, the taller woman smiled, and this time she held it gently. Alcina took the woman down several side streets that Natasha would normally avoid and with unusual names that Natasha was hardly going to remember.
Natasha had to practically hop as she walked to keep up with the woman as Alcina pointed out several small spots and rattled off some trivia that she had recalled. Poor Natasha had no idea what Alcina was going to inform her about or what information she had wanted to share next. Sometimes she would point out small holes in the wall and their important significance. Or a tree that had some great biodiversity that was helpful to the local ecology.
"What are we doing exactly?" Natasha asks after an hour; she had spent half of that time adjusting a belt which Alcina had given her around the coat she had given her.
"Burning a few things, blowing up a warehouse," Alcina answered and Natasha blinked.
"What?" Natasha Replied
Alcina did not grace Natasha with another answer as she quickly glanced down at her. Natasha did not have a second to blink before Alcina turned down another street and Natasha followed close behind.
"We are going to do a few things," She explained "One of those things includes a warehouse."
"An actual warehouse of things? Not a store?" Natasha Queried as she wanted some clarification on what she was getting involved in.
"An actual warehouse." Alcina clarified.
Natasha racks her brain, and she just comes out with another ridiculous question.
"Why?"
The countess just frowns at her small companion and she cocks her head so that it was half in the moonlight, half in the shadow of a building. Gently, Natasha squeezed her hand and Alcina squeezed it in response.
"Illegal reasons." She answered eventually.
Natasha was really surprised that she decided to be so honest with her, but she could not help but chuckle.
"Wow, really?"
"Hush, you know better than to ask. Alcina replied with her own chuckle. Eventually, the pair appeared from a street and onto a pier.
"We are by the ocean?" Natasha examines. Alcina hummed happily in response. The silver light from the moon made the embroidery on Alcina's dress shine and the dark leather gloves on her hand's shimmer like oil.
The water was still and the silver glare of the moon danced across the top, the sound of the crashing waves was inaudible. To Natasha Alcina always looked the best in the moon's rays, but the young woman wondered, as she continued walking beside her, what she looks like in the daylight. Would she glow as she does in the night, a silver statue with piercing gold eyes? Or would her skin flush with the warmth of the sun and glow with a faint pink hue? She would not change at all; maybe she would stay the same under normal light.
A Monochrome picture brought to life in the modern era…
Alcina grinned at Natasha as she came to a stop. Her smile was feral and pleased. It was then Natasha noticed that she had been staring at her. Alcina's eyes glowed whilst she gave the younger woman the once over, with mirth or malice on her brain Natasha was not sure. Natasha could never be sure about anything given how wild Alcina's moods were.
"Here we are." Alcina spoke, stopping before a dark restaurant.
"Why here?" Natasha's confused was clear in her voice as she glanced up at the woman.
"They poisoned you a few days ago." She trailed off; she grins menacingly before dropping a small booklet of matches into the other's hands.
"It was a mistake!" Natasha exclaimed in a futile attempt to explain as she tried and successfully caught the matches, once she had them in her hands, she put them into the pocket of the jacket she was wearing. Alcina was already away from her, she was hunting for something, and she was humming some old jazz tune. Sooner rather than later the woman comes back holding what seems to be two gasoline bottles.
"Nothing happens to my things, sweet girl." She spoke before gesturing in front of her "Now open the door."
Natasha froze before she tried the handle. When she plucked up enough courage to try said handle of the door, it swung open without creaking. The interior was difficult to navigate once Natasha had entered but the way the chairs were stacked made them look like lobsters out of a child's nightmare. The only light source was from an empty fish tank.
Alcina waltzes inside, just behind Natasha, like she owned the place, she picks up a small table and with whatever strength the older woman had thrown it into the reception desk. Natasha flinched in fright, but her reflexes were sharp enough as she caught a piece of wood which was flying too close to her face.
"Fucking Hell Alcina." Natasha cursed more so out of fright than anything.
"Watch your beautiful eyes, sweet thing." She laughed as she flung another table into one of the walls, a stack of chairs was the next unfortunate victim as they collided with others and fell like dominos. Another table was the victim of Alcina's rage, this one was half as long as the countess was tall, the table ended up in the fish tank with a resounding crash.
Natasha watched as Alcina took her time. The countess was humming a rousing tune, she was dancing around the narrow space emptying the gasoline all over the restaurant as well as leaving a trail of gasoline outside of the messed-up restaurant and she walked off.
Natasha could only follow with trepidation…
Once the pair were free of the building's clutches Alcina took off her gloves, discarding the dirty ones into the cold ocean below. She ran a hand through her hair and huffed out a light laugh.
"Sweet Thing," She called "The Matches please."
Natasha dug the matches out of the pocket she had put them in, and she threw them to the woman before she moved away to a safe distance. Alcina took out a match and struck it against the side of the box once it was lit and burning bright, she threw it onto the gasoline and then she threw them back to Natasha.
Natasha caught the matches and she placed them back into the jacket pocket After she did that she then turned around and watched as in a split second the restaurant went up in flames, she pondered her thoughts from earlier and she figured it out.
When Alcina was in the light.
She really was a monster in disguise…