Resident Evil 9: Return
Chapter Eight: The History of Delinor
"This doesn't sound like Arcane." Averie recognized Chris's voice on the other end of the phone, and pried it out of Carson's hands.
"Chris Redfield?" She asked hesitantly.
"This is a secure line, no one else should have access to this besides Arcane-"
"Yeah who is royally ticked off at you!" Carson said loudly, earning a glare from his sister.
Averie could hear Chris sigh on the other end of the phone.
"I mean the kid has a point. Arcane isn't thrilled with you right now." Averie admitted.
She could see the door of the caravan begin to move, and knew who was behind it.
"Look Arcane is coming, be quiet for a minute." Averie told Chris.
"What makes you think I'm going to listen to a child-"
"Arcane isn't going to reason with you right now but I will so please stop talking for a moment and don't hang up." Averie said before stuffing the phone into her backpack. For good measure, Carson decided to sit on Averie's backpack to stifle any sounds.
Arcane opened the back door, looking at the trio.
"Did someone's phone go off?" He asked. Averie sheepishly held up her phone, feeling guilty for lying to the man.
"You get service out here?" He asked, bewildered. Averie shrugged.
"Maybe the Four Lords have found favour with me and graced me with a signal." Averie ventured, hearing the kids snicker behind her. Arcane rolled his eyes, and closed the door.
"I suggest turning your phone off, no point in drawing unwanted attention from unnecessary noise."
Once the door to the caravan closed, Averie pushed Carson off of her backpack and pulled out the communicator. Thankfully, she could still see Chris's name on the screen, meaning he hadn't hung up. Yet.
"Sorry about that." Averie said.
"Its understandable. What's your name?"
"Averie."
"Averie?"
This question caused Averie to hesitate. What would Chris say if she revealed her last name?
"Maybe he can help?" Taylor asked, knowing what Averie was concerned about. Chris had sent Arcane out here to find her dad in the first place.
Taking a deep breath, Averie answered.
"My name is Averie Delinor. I heard you are looking for my dad."
"Sorry about that. Please continue, Duke." Arcane said, sitting back down beside Kai. The Duke was on an elevated seat, while Kai and Arcane sat on cushions, and Kai couldn't help but be reminded of when his grandfather would tell him and his cousins stories growing up. He had a seat, while the kids gathered around on the floor.
"Averie's family tree goes far back in this village, and she is the fourth generation of Delinor, as there was a name change somewhere along the way. Her family was around when the Four Lords came to power, during the time when her great-grandmother was alive."
"So Averie's family has a history with the Four Lords?" Kai asked. The Duke held up one finger.
"The Four Lords were aware of this family, but only one Lord had anything to do with their downfall."
"Their downfall?" Arcane questioned, while Kai was able to put a name to the Lord in particular.
"Lady Dimitrescu."
"That's right. Alcina Dimitrescu. Her disdain of the Delinor family goes far back, to the time of Averie's great-grandmother, Elinor, as she was the one who started all of this."
"What do you mean-" Arcane tried to ask, but Kai cut him off.
"What does this have to do with Averie?" Kai questioned.
"You see, Averie's grandmother Ida became a servant for Lady Dimitrescu when she was Averie's age, but did so to escape the wrath of Mother Miranda, who wasn't thrilled with Ida's father. He refused to worship her alongside the other villagers, ultimately blaming her for his wife's death.
Anyway, Ida came to find out what had happened to her mother at the hands of Lady Dimitrescu, who has always had a particular…taste for maiden's blood."
Kai felt his blood run cold as the Duke continued, praying for Averie as he spoke.
"Well it has been said that once a maiden enters Castle Dimitrescu they never leave, and that remained true, until Ida Delinor. Realizing that her mistress was the reason her mother was dead, Ida was determined to escape, and make sure Lady Dimitrescu remembered that she couldn't always win. She escaped the castle after destroying every last barrel of wine the Lady had stockpiled, and stole back a family heirloom, one that was taken from her mother after she died. A thin gold chain, with a light blue jewel."
Averie fiddled with the necklace her father had given her, a small blue jewel on an old chain. The original chain had apparently broke years beforehand, but Isaac Delinor had found another chain to replace it. Averie held the small blue jewel in her hand while speaking with Chris on the phone, waiting for his response.
"Isaac Delinor had a kid?" Chris asked. Averie nodded, then remembered that Chris couldn't actually see her.
"Yeah, twenty years ago. Crazy how time flies."
"This is serious, Averie. Your father is in danger, and with this new information now we have two people to worry about."
"I'm sorry, but what about all of the villagers who are held as prisoners here, and the people on the bus?" Averie questioned.
"They aren't in as much danger as you and your dad are."
"Love to hear that. What is it with my dad that makes him so dangerous?"
"We're not saying he is dangerous, Averie. But when your dad was growing up, things happened to him…that could make him dangerous. We just want to rule out any possibilities. It's my job."
Averie felt her heart sink as she remembered what Mother Miranda was, a scientist.
Taking a deep breath, and holding onto Taylor's outstretched hand, Averie sighed.
"What did she do to him?"
"Alright, so Averie's grandma Ida took revenge on Lady Dimitrescu for what had happened to her mother." Kai concluded.
"As well as the friends she had made in the castle. Ida was the only one to escape Lady Dimitrescu and her daughters." The Duke added.
"She has kids?" Kai exclaimed. Arcane elbowed him in the gut, telling him to pipe down.
"Yes, it's an interesting story for another time. But yes, Ida escaped Lady Dimitrescu, and lived to tell the tale. No one else ever had."
"So, Lady Dimitrescu wants revenge, and will take it out on Averie." Arcane said, relieved that it wasn't worse.
"Oh no, far worse than that, my boy. Yes, she wants revenge for what happened, and certainly wouldn't feel any shame in turning Averie's blood into a nice bottle of her famous wine."
"Wait what?" Arcane asked, but Kai shushed him, saying he would explain later.
"Lady Dimitrescu is a wine maker, and one of her special ingredients is a bit…how do you say…horrifying?"
"Getting back to my point, yes Lady Dimitrescu wants revenge. But she also wants help."
"Averie, Mother Miranda was a monster. She used villagers in her experiments, turning them into monsters or having them die from being unable to handle her torture. Your dad…he was experimented on as a young adult, but not for too long as he escaped in his twenties."
Averie could feel tears in her eyes as she contemplated all the man was saying.
"Why did she experiment on him?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out, Averie. That's why we came to look for your dad. We wanted answers, as well as to help him out."
Averie sighed. "How does what happened to my dad affect me, though? I was never experimented on."
"No you weren't, but you are his offspring. We want to make sure that nothing that happened to him passed down to you. Through your genes."
"Wait, are you saying there may be something about me.."
"That was caused by the experiments that your dad went through? Absolutely. That's why we need to find your dad, and get both of you out of there."
"But Mother Miranda is dead, she can't hurt us anymore." Averie argued.
"What about that other lady?" Carson asked politely.
"What did the boy say?" Chris asked. Carson moved closer to the phone.
"Well, Heisenberg was talking to the big, tall lady and asked her about the people they needed. The tall lady with the big hat said she didn't know who they actually needed, and Heisenberg tried to call on someone who could help them. But she was busy."
Chris took a moment to process what Carson had said.
"It couldn't have been Miranda, could it?" Averie asked.
"Two hours ago I would have said no, but now with the news about the Four Lords…it's certainly possible."
"This further proves my point, Averie. I'm sorry that this wasn't expressed to you earlier, but we didn't know that you were his daughter."
"Arcane had been following me since we were boarding the airplane, Chris. He seemed to know who I was."
"He had a hunch, he told me himself on the airplane over a text. He believed that if Isaac had escaped the village that he would start a new life, and that would involve kids. I tried not to think that way."
"Why?"
"With everything that happened to him, I was surprised that Isaac would have risked bringing a child into the world. I wouldn't expect someone to put that much danger into a child's life."
"There is a new leader in the village, and much like Miranda she remains in the shadows. I don't even know her name, and I've only met her a handful of times. The Four Lords say that she was the one who brought them back to life-"
"Yeah about that." Arcane cut the man off.
"How did the Four Lords come back? Chris says that they were killed a decade ago."
Now the Duke took his turn to look sheepish as he tried to back himself away from Arcane, pushing himself farther back on his seat.
"Well, there were remnants left over from each of the Four Lords after they died…remnants that were left in my care by Ethan Winters."
"What happened to those remnants?" Arcane demanded.
The Duke sighed.
"I could never refuse a good trade. A woman came to me and said she wanted to by the crystalized remains. At first I refused, but then I realized that they would merely be seen as collectibles, sculptures as it were. It never occurred to me that the Four Lords could be regenerated…"
Arcane stood up.
"You sold the remains? And that woman brought them back to life?"
"In a way she did." The Duke said, holding out his hands, both to calm Arcane down and protect himself. He reached into a small purse beside him and pulled out eight photos.
"Here are the Four Lords before they died." The Duke said, handing out the first sets of photos. Kai recognized the Four Lords and at first didn't notice any difference. Until he saw the second set of photos and remembered how they had looked when he saw the Four Lords in the Lords' Sanctuary.
Heisenberg looked more or less the same, except that in the second photo there were more scars along his face, and the tinted glasses he wore were cracked. His hair looked more disheveled, and Kai swore that the man looked like he was walking with a slight limp, using the hammer as a crutch at certain moments while he terrorized the bus travelers.
Kai didn't notice the other two Lords as much since they kept to themselves, but he stared at the photos of Lady Dimitrescu and saw the differences. Parts of her neck almost looked cracked, as if she would break at any moment. He could see tints of grey in her hair, where in the original photo it was black. Her dress looked worn out in the second photo compared to the first.
"They aren't like they used to be." Duke said.
"Sure they were brought back, but they aren't fully…alive. They need something, or rather, someone, to help each of them."
Arcane put all the pieces together before Kai, and glared at Lady Dimitrescu's photo, then glanced out the window at Averie, not realizing she was using his communicator.
"Lady Dimitrescu needs Averie." He said aloud. Kai looked over at him.
"To keep her alive. But how would Averie do that."
The Duke sighed, and looked at both young men.
"I'm not entirely sure, but my best guess would be killing her."
"So what's the plan, Chris?" Averie asked.
"Right now, our plan is to rendezvous with your group at a set location tonight, and set up a small camp. The whole village isn't filled with lycans by the sounds of it, so we can catch the Lords by surprise."
"What about the others?" Averie asked.
"My priority is to get you and your dad, along with those kids of yours, out of the village before the Four Lords and this mystery woman try to use you for anything. Then we go from there."
"But Chris, I don't know where my dad is."
"That's your mission. Find your dad, and get him to the rendezvous point. I'll send you the coordinates."
"Arcane isn't going to like this plan." Taylor admitted.
Chris sighed.
"Averie, you're going to have to speak with him. Admit that we chatted, he can call me and the three of us can get the ball rolling."
"Averie has to know what's going on." Kai told the Duke, standing up.
"I say we bring her in here and you explain to her what she has to do with everything. She needs to know what she's up against."
As Kai stood up, he heard a small knock on the door. He opened the door and saw Taylor standing on the ground, looking up at him. She welcomed herself into the caravan, even giving the Duke a small bow. He chuckled graciously as Kai closed the door.
"Arcane, Averie needs to talk to you. Alone." She explained, glancing at Kai.
"Averie can come in here, we need to talk to her about something as well." Arcane answered.
Suddenly, Kai heard screaming from outside of the caravan. He wished he had kept the door open as Arcane shoved past him and opened the door.
"Don't let anything in here." He yelled forcefully at Kai, passing him a small pistol. Arcane slammed the door shut behind himself and everyone inside heard immediate gunfire.