Holyhead, Wales
Back in Great Britain, the girls come back from another stage of the Journey, they arrived from Ireland, with Hellene as an ally, who in a little more than two days already managed to conquer the charisma of the whole group of girls, just by showing who she is to the other girls, opening up about her personality, Also because she fell in love at first sight with Marianne Leblanc, the clumsy girl called the attention of the redhead that is trying to flirt all the time, even managing to make her bathe with her during these two days that they know each other. The next stage is the final stage of the journey, they will leave for Edinburgh in Scotland, where after 10 years Croix and Diana will return to the place where they met for the first time, a journey that will have its drawbacks, because many truths will still come to light.
When they arrive at the city, they stay for a day at the Duke of Holy Head's castle, then Daryl says goodbye to the seven, leaving towards the south, Akko's group decides to leave towards the north, the two go their separate ways, they even get a much more spacious wagon and with a little comfort, where they can alternate who is on the outside pulling the horses, But not everything would be flowers, since just in time they would leave for the city, they were there deciding with sticks who would be on the outside of the wagon controlling the horses and just in time the last stick that was left that was the one with the tape came in the hands of Marianne who already had a frustrated expression.
Marianne: Ahhhhhh! Because I always end up being the least lucky with that.
Hellene with a mischievous smile: dis is me good fahrtune, you can rest assured dat you wahn't be alahne, i'll be by yooehr side watchin everythin.
Marianne keeps her eyes turned, without questioning too much, the girls put the bags inside the cart, on the other hand Marianne and Hellene climb on the front part of the cart, taking the ropes and getting ready to get out of there with the horses. McLaren, on the other hand, keeps sitting, leaning her head on Leblanc's shoulder, who blushes a little.
Marianne: You really don't waste any time, do you? We've known each other for two days now and we're already this close.
Hellene: well, you wanted to bathe wit me befahre we left fahr ireland and you dedn't cahmplain yesterday, i dink dat says a laht, naht to mention dat i never even tooehched you, me face stell 'oehrts because o' dat.
Marianne: You put your hand between my legs, it was nothing you little brat, you are really too wild to want to do something like that.
Hellene: you 'aven't seen anythin yet, you know what a beast i am.
Marianne just keeps her eyes rolled trying to ignore Hellene's flirtation, she even heard Diana's scolding coming to Hellene, giving a slight laugh, on the way they end up stopping when they see a woman who gets off the horse and keeps pointing an arrow to both of them, at that time McLaren stands over the cart already in position that she would attack, it was Chloe in disguise, she ended up getting to the girls in the biggest coincidence.
Chloé: Get down now or suffer the consequences, Marianne!
Marianne: That voice... Chloé? What are you doing here?
Hellene: Who is this fake redhead? What is she doing here?
Hellene already has her arms crossed in an intimidating way for Chloé, who then gets off her horse and leaves the bow with the arrows in another corner, taking a sword and pointing it towards the cart, this way she goes walking towards it, only that Hellene jumps off the cart and stands right in front of the hunter who starts laughing.
Chloé: Pfff, pathetic, you did all that, but look at your...
Without even thinking twice, Hellene takes the blade of the sword in her hand and punches Chloé, who then takes a few steps backwards releasing the blade and getting the hand on her stomach and then even kneeling in pain, McLaren felt the slight burning in her hand when she noticed that the sword was blessed, so she released it and Deppailer turned around looking at her still very angry.
Chloé: How dare you? I didn't come to hunt you, you'll stay right there hiding, come out of there Cavendish, my target is only you, I don't care about the others, but whoever is in front will suffer the consequences.
At that moment Diana gets down from the cart, going out the door of the cart and facing Chloé who takes her sword back, Hellene continues facing the girl with anger, she stands up a little with her chin slobbered due to the punch she took from McLaren, she cleans the region with the sleeve of her blouse and aims the sword to Cavendish.
Chloé: You can keep running Diana, but I will always find you and how wonderful to know that you are around here, I didn't expect to find you in this direction, I just heard that there were others of you around here, from what I can imagine you are all from the same organization, creatures of the night who hide this secret.
Diana: If you have come just to bother us, get out, I can defeat you here and now.
Chloé: You will only leave here with a duel, me against you, if I win I will have your head, but you win I
Diana: Will you leave us alone, stop following us, we are not comfortable going our way knowing that there is someone following us, I have more important things to do, even I am not to blame for the many creatures of the night that appear, and I hunt some of them myself.
The two girls take their swords, they stare at each other, a circle of people is formed around the two girls, the people of the city are anxious to see the duel, Chloé spits on the ground, takes a deep breath and goes to Diana with the sword, already wanting to give a fatal blow to Cavendish who defends making the blades meet, sparking the contact, at that moment she ends up passing straight, the Scottish girl just stands still and moves slightly.
Chloé turns around with Cavendish still in the same position, she takes the sword with both hands and goes hard starting to make some movements, Cavendish with only one hand is holding the sword and defending herself, leaving all the movements practically annulled, the Deppailer was slightly more irritated. She speeds up the movements, the swords are raising sparks and comfortably the Scot was defending herself from the attacks, what was impressing the audience watching all that confusion.
Chloé: You love to show off, you're not a creature of the night, it's not for nothing that you can dodge so easily, but I didn't come with just a sword, take this!
Chloé throws a vial of holy water, at that moment Diana cuts the vial with the blade of her sword and nothing happens, not even when the drops hit her, the Deppailer throws a rosary towards Cavendish, she caught it with her hand, it simply did not cause anything, including everyone looked at it with fear, including the Frenchwoman herself.
Chloé: What? You're a creature of the night, you're supposed to be affected by this! You wretch! You can only be using sacred protection.
Diana remained silent, while Chloé clenched her fists, bathed the blade of her sword with holy water and went all out to attack Cavendish, trying to hit her with strong blows, but she kept missing her defence, her attacks were not efficient at all, But it didn't matter for the Deppailer that then threw another glass of holy water that caught well in the Cavendish's chest, but nothing caused, it only served to wet her, as well as some garlic cloves, the same one then started to proceed in just defending herself, a little upset with that battle she decides to start to slightly counterattack.
Akko: Go Diana blow her face off.
Hellene: Honestly, what a pathetic woman.
Marianne and Akko: Diana! Diana! Diana! Diana!
At that time, Lotte and Sucy put their hands on their faces with the cheering that Marianne and Akko were doing. When they saw the girl they like doing that, McLaren did not stop acting in a similar way, following the wave and, this way, the Scottish girl got a little distracted by the cheering, which Chloé took advantage of, She would give a cut with everything, but at the time the blade ends up being defended with only one hand of the Scot, who precisely caught it in a part that cut a little bit on her palm and with that she ended up feeling a little bit of the burning of the sword with leftovers of holy water giving a slight melting on the open wounds.
Diana: No more games!
Diana got a little fed up, she took the sword and started to attack Chloé, with the strength of the hits the Deppailer was getting weak, she couldn't keep up and dropped the sword, that way she tries to throw a small dagger as a desperation movement, but the Scottish girl with quick reflexes puts the blade of the sword in front, rebounding the same, making it fall on the ground, what gives a fraction of second for the French girl to pick up the sword from the ground.
In this same fraction, she goes with everything to try to give a blow, including grabbing the dress of Diana, only that she quickly dodges to the side and then with a very intense force hits the blade of the sword of Chloé, which breaks in a piece leaving her scared, with this Cavendish herself aims the blade to the girl sitting on the floor, she was scared, all disheveled and with an expression of anger mixed with disgust.
Chloé: I swear that one day I will make you pay for everything Diana Cavendish, I didn't mean to do this to cause any harm, but you are responsible for all these creatures of the night showing up.
Diana: Now go on, get out of here and keep your promise.
Chloé: I will go! But I want to know who are the other Cavendish I was talking to and where they are going, they are also responsible for this I am sure!
Hellene: They are my cousins and my aunt, they are heading south, they didn't tell me where they are going, you can go after them, it's not our problem, take advantage and get out of here.
Chloé gets up irritated, looking at that pierced blade, dusts off her clothes, then goes taking her things to her bag, leaving it towards the south exit, the townspeople spread out again with the end of the mess, already Diana looks a little angry at her sister who only shrugged.
Diana: Hellene, our aunt's life could be in serious danger now, she won't rest until she sees one of us dead, she thinks we are to blame for all these apparitions of creatures of the night, did you know that? The way Aunt Daryl has an intimidating pose and of questionable morals, she's going to call what happened on the spot.
Hellene: I don't know why you care about our aunt, she never cared about us, she never even came to visit us when we were children, being that Mama Bernadette was in control of magic, not to mention that she is even today trying to kill Mama Bern, I don't doubt that Mama Laura's death also has her finger on it, I am sure, she looks with disgust at your "friendship" with Akko, she must have some secret, I am sure and for me just by the agreement we made already shows that this woman must have a very doubtful character.
Diana only turns her eyes upwards, getting inside the wagon, on the other hand Marianne and Hellene stay in front of it again making the wagon move forward, at the same time noticing a little that the McLaren didn't lean on it Leblanc puts the girl's head on her shoulder, the two of them are kind of looking at each other, the French girl gives a smile, the redhead gets a little blushed.
Marianne: Having a sister is really tough, I know how it is, you are partners but then everything seems to break down, my half sister Sarah, we grew up together but sometimes we had our disagreements.
Hellene: At least this pain in the ass won't bother my sis, but tell me why she wants to persecute her so much, what is this crazy woman wants?
Marianne: Chloé Deppailer, she is the daughter of the Earl of Loches, this girl is a pain in the ass, I've known her since I was a kid, my friend's parents are earls too, so I was occasionally welcomed with a visit from her and ahhhh, how insufferable she is, because I was a servant she made sure to treat me like a slave, I couldn't even question or anything, she only didn't do that when Sarah was present, it was really hell, this idiot always acted like a spoiled girl, I had the urge to whip her in the face.
Hellene: Why didn't you talk before about that daft cunt, I'd sink her face in a lot, if you want me to...
Diana: Stay there in the wagon Hellene, don't even think of doing anything!
Marianne: Alright, she's been humiliated enough by my sis, but hey, no need, that silly girl is left alone thinking about her things, I'm not around her anymore and I don't need to fear anything anymore, now I follow my own path, I'm a free and confident woman.
Hellene: What about your fathers? Or mothers? I don't know what had you, did they know about it? They were good people.
Marianne: My mother always was, she was a wonderful person, I saw her die with my own eyes, since then I want to be a creature hunter... I'm sorry, I said that from your side being one isn't it... My father, on the other hand, he... He is a bit of a liar man I would say, an earl of property in the lines, but at the same time he was always very disrespectful with his wife, I myself am a bastard daughter, he even forgot that I was a daughter and treated me like a servant and with servants he was not very respectful, I even heard he said he was waiting for me to get older to take advantage of me, ehhhhh, disgusting man.
Hellene: It's you hunting creatures, it's a kind of disgusting motivation, not all are like that, creatures are trying to survive too, they're sent here starving and they try to act in a way without much choice, you know, they're still trapped to act in a way programmed by the summoner, they take these creatures from who knows where, where they could be living their lives peacefully, all of this to send with the intention of killing people, this I really can't understand, but seriously, think of it as a protector of your people, look, I even understand that you have to defend yourself, so I don't get too mad about it, just don't think of exterminating all of them, just of protecting people, without this thing of hunting creatures from hiding places.
Marianne: I always hunted creatures on the way when we were called, people didn't even want to work, I just have a bit of a feeling of revenge, but your sister made me understand a bit, you can also be of great help, besides the most fun of this journey I am already doing and that is travelling here.
Hellene: meetin me was one o' dem?
Marianne: You're very conceited aren't you? I'm going to say no so as not to fill your little head with confidence, meeting you was quite a torment that's for sure, we had to beat you and everyone else up and back to get to you, if I had known you were like this I would have stayed in France.
At that time it could be heard a snort, it was Diana's laughter and everyone was laughing at the same time, McLaren had her cheeks inflated, but then she was laughing with the girls.
But things would still change to another side, Chloé was trotting towards the south, from there she met the wagon where Daryl and the twins were, they were leaving for a long time, the Deppailer was able to catch up due to faster trotting on her part.
Chloé: Stop right there! Stop right there! That's an order from a countess!
The carriage driver stops the carriage, so Chloé gets off the horse, she walks to where her carriage is, knocks on the door, Daryl opens the door and by the intimidating presence, Deppailer gets a little bit taken by the way the woman with the hair tied up was showing a total neutral expression, as if she thought the French woman's presence was pathetic, but she just swallows a cough and then the elder Cavendish herself walks with her arms behind her back in a way full of intimidation.
Daryl: What do you want here girl? A brat with that accent, those blowjobs, you're one of the people from that other side of the speck canal, people who are always dirty, speak another strange language.
Chloé: Have respect for me you imbecile, who do you think you are to make me inferior? I am a countess! I demand respect or else I will send you out for this to be your last moment, I am a battle trained countess too.
Daryl: Your court has no jurisdiction this side of the sea, put yourself in your place Frenchie, what are you doing here? What did you come to bother me about?
Chloé: You're a Cavendish, your eyes are blue, but I know the other one there, she's a creature of the night, because you're older I suppose you must know something, I want to end it all! I see people dying, I see destruction happening, my food has been getting bad, my servants are afraid and they don't do the job right.
At that time Daryl stands still, stops being intimidating, starts to get a smile on her face, Deppailer finds her reaction strange, asks the carriage driver to wait a while, she closes the carriage door.
Daryl: You're a smart girl, let's make a deal, I think you'd love to know the terms of it.
Chloé: I don't care about any deal, you Cavendish are schemers, you are rotten.
Daryl: You seem to say the complaining part is the comfort, you will live better than any countess ever was, if you help me I will help you, from what I assume you must have a hate for us being behind it, because I have something to tell you, this comes from my sister, she is the cursed one, because of her and her daughters all this has been happening, people have been dying, but you are a smart girl, I know you have a hate for my niece I imagine.
Chloé: Yes I have a hatred for her, the damn thing was the reason my suitor was killed, those damn creatures of the night.
Daryl signals to Chloé to go to a more hidden place, they hid themselves in the middle of some trees, with that Cavendish started to talk with Deppailer talking about how she can have contact with death, how she managed to convince Diana to sign the contract that makes her stay in the human form, making it easier to kill her and all she would have to do was follow the path.
Chloé: So you mean you can bring my beloved?
Daryl: All you need to do is kill Diana Cavendish, and that's it her dead soul will serve to bring your beloved back to life through a pact, I can bring that as a possibility, but you need to kill her before my sisters kill her, you will serve as a great hindrance to this journey, so will you accept my proposal?
Chloé: So I get to have my husband? I get to have the privilege of killing that damned Diana and on top of that I get to have the privilege of staying in your castle when you reign? Sounds like a great offer to me.
Daryl: Just don't tell my daughters, they can't know that you're on a mission to kill them first, I'll do everything possible, when we arrive I'll make the pact with death, she'll be our greatest ally, I'm sure she'll love to know that you'll accomplish this, not to mention that I can give you even more, if you want you can make a deal that involves killing them all and still take Diana's vampire power for yourself.
Chloé: And why would I want that? I'll just attract creatures and kill my husband.
Daryl: Oh you can have the privilege of achieving immortality, without this pathetic life of being human, take it from me girl, you and your boyfriend will have the privilege of living forever the riches of being vampires, an immense power, you will be able to have all of France in your hands, become the queen.
Chloé: I never thought of that, I mean I'm going to have eternal immortality, not to mention the chance to be queen of all France, now you've finally spoken my language, you know what, I don't want to be attached to a husband, I want to rule and boss people around, I want luxury, because it's much better this way, I'll have everything good.
Chloé and Daryl shake hands, then the two go to the carriage, Cavendish gets into it, Deppailer gets on her horse and follows them on the way, observing the surroundings, somewhat happy to see the deal being done.
On the other side, the seven girls were starting their route towards Edinburgh, making a few stops, Diana and Akko were there showing a little closeness, standing side by side, sort of paying candle to Lotte and Sucy, Croix was looking out the carriage window admiring all the landscape, the road passing by, the noise of the horse's trots, the wheel having contact with the beaten earth.
Akko: I wanted to be up there, now that Lotte and Sucy are girlfriends I just hang around here.
Diana: It's just a couple of lassies being happy, well I don't know about you, but now I am finding it very nice at least we are in a carriage with a roof, not to mention the seats are more comfortable, I don't know about you Akko, but it is much better than the hay wagon we were staying in.
Akko: Sure, but what good is that since I don't have anyone to make love to like Lotte and Sucy are doing, right in front of me.
Croix: If you stop being so wound up and invest in each other maybe you can have it, I don't know how you haven't noticed yet, but you are seen by everyone as a couple, although you both look like two Chariots, you are as clueless as she is and don't even notice the signs.
Akko: Hey, wait a minute... Tell us more about Chariot Belmont, your adventures with her, I always hear about her, I love to listen, what was it like when you guys were on the same path as us?
Croix: Since this is to get away from the subject of your female feelings with Diana then I will tell you about our trip, it all started 10 years ago, we were already around here in Britain, it was much more full of creatures of the night, we were your age, we were known around here, we travelled because we knew it was the most full of creatures of the night since Wallachia in the last century, that's when the archbishop of a church in London called us, we were summoned to a high reward hunt, the head of the Countess Cavendish of Edinburgh in Scotland, we would win a chest full of gold, that would be enough to never need to know again, not to mention we would have the full pardon of the church to have our union maintained.
Akko: Didyou two already like each other?
Croix: I ran away from home since I was a child, I had an immense passion for guns, they said it was something a lady shouldn't do, but I did it anyway, I used to dress up as a boy to be able to shoot, one day I couldn't do it anymore, I started to create a woman's body, in that I was determined, with 13 years old I went away alone in my journey, I already knew how to assemble a gun and I went for it, I loved to see my little brother Antonio killing creatures of the night and also the stories he told about the incredible missions he did, ahhhhh, that was wonderful, I met Chariot when I was 14 years old, when I ran away to France, we met in the same mission, there I could see how she could with a whip just do it with style, even though most of the time she and I were arguing, I was always saying how my weapons were better than her blessed whip, those were wonderful years of rivalry and friendship, we started to like each other a lot and to date since we were 16, but we hid it from everyone, we were just partners, we stayed those years in France, then we came here, when the call came it had already been two years that we lived here and made our name, Chariot wanted to captivate people to believe in her and that we were fighting evil with the creatures of the night, she was a little crazy about these things, she never stopped being a devout christian even though she was homosexual.
Diana: That's when she came to me.
Akko: This story I already know.
Croix: But you don't know the story of the part where we were going to Edinburgh, it was the last days that I spent with Chariot, we made sure to make it an unforgettable moment, we bought a luxury carriage, we went as we are going now, we hired a carriage driver and all the way we were making out, ahhhhh, it was wonderful, the deprivation of the two of us, the road, the swing was not only of the road but of something else.
Diana and Akko just gestured a bit in disgust and not wanting to hear the situation and with that Croix was just left laughing at the whole situation, on the other hand on the top of the wagon outside, there were Hellene and Marianne watching the road, McLaren was getting a more mischievous look at Leblanc who got a bit of a blush from the look.
Hellene: we cooehld give dis cart a reasahn to shake a bet, what do you dink, loosen dis rahpe and i'll give you sahme kesses, i'll get you all tied oehp.
Marianne: If you lay one finger on me I'll wrap my night creature-killing whip around you and have your neck slit and crossed just like it was done to that leviathan yesterday, get away from me you pervert.
Hellene: comb ahn, you're tooehgh 'oehh, dese might be ooehr last days, dahn't you want to test yooehr loehck? we'll die ahn de way, we'll go 'ead to 'ead wit de great cooehntess cavendesh, me mahther is naht a weak vampire and you're naht a slayer...
Marianne: You want to doubt?
At that time Marianne keeps holding the cart, gives it to Hellene's hands and sits on McLaren's lap, who starts to get all embarrassed while holding the horses' rope, Leblanc takes a whip from her waist and starts showing it to the redhead that gets stuck and with that the redhead gets off and starts laughing, getting to take back the horses' rope and the dhampir girl was getting a little bit stuck that way.
Marianne: I think that way you stay quiet.
Back in the wagon, Croix stopped annoying the girls with stories of a more sexual connotation and started talking about something else, also telling them about the mission, when on the way they had to meet some obstacles, including a huntress who was considered to be Chariot's rival.
Croix: This Chloé Deppailer, she is practically Nelson, a rival of ours from the times when we were slayers, an older Scottish girl, she was competing to see who was the best known slayer, unfortunately Nelson ended up dying when we went to the Countess' castle, she ended up being killed by a minotaur right in the entrance, it was horrible, we were in the coliseum heading to the main hall, so from there we continued, we split up on the way, I followed one direction and Chariot followed another, she chose to go up and I chose to go down, I still found many alternative paths, but I was following my intuition, I don't have a map or anything, I just have a little of the idea in my head, but even so it will be worth nothing, when I found this one, it was quite a challenge.
Diana: Then I had to leave, we went running, on foot, not even the carriage was, the horses were turned into zombies, we had to kill and then we walked to another stable, not knowing what happened, simply a magical force field enveloped the house and we couldn't go back, I just accepted it, that place didn't accept me anymore, the years passed and we are here, we already have Hellene in hand, now all that's left is to solve everything.
Akko: Ihope we really don't have to kill your mother, I would feel bad to have it come to that.
Diana: Unfortunately fate will take us this Akko, I am starting to accept the idea that we are on different sides, but I will try my best not to let that happen, I don't want us to end up in this.
Chloé Deppailer appears again, she came to disturb everything and stir up this journey, but it was no use since she doesn't have the strength nor the power to face the dhampir that is trained and strong for her attacks, even so something mysterious still surrounds Daryl Cavendish, an aura that something is very strange with Diana's aunt that has a plan in mind.
See you, Assassin witches...