Chapter 6: Crystal

Days had past but progress was slow. Dracula and his brides had gone to the barn outside the village but they only saw what Nshina had in the first place,

"There must be something that we have missed!"

Verona cried. She and Dracula were sitting in the study while Aleera, Marishka and Nshina were hunting,

"Verona I don't think there is. We have turned that barn inside out and still we haven't found anything new,"

Dracula looked at his frustrated eldest. He could see that this was getting on her nerves but that couldn't be helped, Nshina was the only one who it wasn't really affecting,

"Master why don't we ask William if he heard anything, I'm sure he would tell us,"

Verona put her hand over Dracula's,

"We have to try everything my love,"

Dracula looked into her vibrant blue eyes and sighed, he knew she was right but thought that if William knew anything he would have told them it by now. 3 dead bodies crashed through the window and landed in front of Dracula and Verona, soon after Marishka, Nshina and Aleera flew in and landed delicately,

"My dears, why do we seem to have these bodies in front of us?"

Nshina and Aleera looked over at Marishka and rolled their eyes,

"Marishka has got it into her head that William isn't eating much, so she wanted to bring them back for him,"

Dracula smiled at Marishka

"How thoughtful of you, has he said anything to you,"

Marishka frowned,

"Like what?"

"Like hearing something while he was in the village, something about the vials and what's happened to Nshina,"

Marishka scowled,

"Are you accusing him of lying to us?"

Dracula stood up and folded his arms,

"No Marishka, I am not doing anything…."

But Marishka wasn't listening,

"You were! I knew it! William has done nothing wrong!"

That comment sparked off an argument, but the only one not involved in it was Nshina. She sat down on a chair and listened to them, smiling to herself,

"The thing is, this is exactly what I was like bef…."

She stopped in mid sentence and frowned. Dracula and Marishka looked over at her,

"Exactly like what?"

"Exactly what I was like before,"

She flicked her head up and looked at them,

"The liquid that was affecting me is affecting you now. It targeted me first because I was weaker, but it was attacking your defences. Now it's got you fully,"

Aleera looked over at Nshina who had a proud look on her face. Dracula thought for a moment then smiled,

"That would explain my temper a few days ago,"

Nshina laughed,

"That and that I was totally out of line,"

Marishka snorted,

"Among other things yes,"

Nshina looked over at her and rolled her eyes,

"Oh just grow up Marishka,"

Nshina shook her head and stood up,

"Are there any trap doors in the barn, like on the floor?"

Verona looked at Dracula and shrugged,

"We don't know,"

Nshina sighed,

"Well did you look?"

Marishka stamped her foot in annoyance,

"Well it wasn't the first thing that came into out minds! If we had known what we were looking for then we might have! But you only told Aleera look in the barn,"

Nshina was about to retaliate but stopped herself,

I shouldn't be arguing with Marishka over something like this, what did I say to make her react with me like this?

"I'm sorry Marishka,"

Dracula smiled at Nshina, he was proud of her that she was trying to make it seem like she cared, but Marishka wasn't seeing that,

"No your not, you don't care,"

If Nshina could feel hurt then that would have hurt a lot,

"I do care!"

Marishka turned around and sighed. Deep emotion was on Marishka's face she just wished that Nshina could see that,

"That's the thing sister, you don't care. You can't care! Because caring involves emotion and you don't have any of that anymore, you gave that up,"

Verona stepped in between the both of them,

"We can argue about this later ok? Can we just concentrate on finding more information please?"

At that moment William walked in the room smiling,

"Hello Master and Mistresses and Nshina,"

Dracula growled but Nshina did nothing, the remark didn't affect her but she wished that it would. Having no emotions was starting to become wrong to Nshina,

"What do you want?"

She asked him; William avoided eye contact with her but kept focused on Marishka,

"I heard raised voices; I was just checking you were ok,"

Dracula growled again and this time William got the message, he left the room with his hands behind his back. Aleera watched him leave and folded her arms,

"Come on lets go,"

Aleera grabbed Nshina's hand and they jumped out of a window. Dracula, Marishka and Verona followed them as they flew to the barn. They flew through the hole in the roof and landed on the floor below looking around. Marishka went over to a pile of hay and threw it away; there beneath it was an iron ring on the floor,

"That is what we were looking for!"

She pulled the door up and looked down, inside the hole there were ingredients lined up against the wall and hundreds of vials. But below that Marishka could see a well,

"I found how they are making the villagers drink the fluid! I guess that the well is connected to the main water supply, they tip it down there and it mixes with the water that the humans drink,"

Verona looked down and smiled,

"Well done Marishka!"

Dracula grinned and started to pace the room,

"Alright, now we know how this works, now we need to find out who it is and why they are doing that,"

He looked over at Verona,

"Verona, I need you to try and find that out for me,"

Aleera groaned and pouted,

"Why can't I do it master?"

Dracula laughed and started to comb her red hair with his fingers,

"Because I can trust that Verona will find out with no questions asked, your talents my dear lie in the category of fighting and scaring them, you seem to have a gift for making them incoherent,"

Nshina laughed and shook her head,

"That sounds like you alright Aleera,"

She pulled a face and looked over at Marishka. Nshina had a funny thought in her head, she knew that it was an emotion trying to break free but it wasn't getting anywhere,

This new power feels more like a curse than a gift, I just wish it would go!

Marishka saw her looking and smiled at her,

"Are you alright Nshina?"

"Yes, I suppose I am alright. Do you think we should go back to the castle now, there is nothing else here and I doubt whoever is doing this will want to work at night. Thy will work when we cannot attack them,"

Dracula nodded in agreement,

"You are right Nshina. Tomorrow night we shall see if we can find much more out about this whole thing,"

When they landed at the castle Igor was sitting on the stairs mumbling something. Nshina saw him and decided to go and see him,

"Igor darling what's wrong?"

He seemed somewhat shocked by the bride's pleasant approach but was glad that she was in a good mood; he did not fancy another beating,

"Oh, I'm alright. It's just that William has kicked me out of the laboratory and he wont let me back in! I was working on something very important,"

Nshina frowned,

"What would he have to do that is so important?"

Igor just shrugged,

"I don't know but I'm not happy about it,"

Suddenly it clicked to Nshina,

"It's William!"

Igor looked at her with a confused expression on his face,

"Pardon your Mistress?"

"William is the one who is poisoning me! He planned it all from the start the lying bugger!"

But Igor still looked confused,

"Please could you elaborate on your theory?"

That made Nshina laughs,

"Today we found out that the person is getting the stuff in the vials to the people by contaminating their food supply, and then we figured out that he would do it when we were most likely to not notice, which would be daylight! None of us are around him in the daylight, we are always asleep,"

Igor smiled and nodded,

"So you think that William goes out during the day with people to help him and makes this stuff,"

But Igor found a floor in his theory,

"Why do you think it is him?"

"I just do. It's how he acts around us, you found the vial in the laboratory and that is where he has just kicked you out of and he showed up when I started to become aggressive,"

It all started to make sense to Igor,

"I see Princess! How are you going to convince the others to think as you do though? Marishka favours him so much,"

Nshina sighed,

"It is going to be hard for them to handle, I don't really care what I say to them I mean it wont really hurt me will it?"

Dracula shouted something down to Nshina and she stood up,

"I have to go now, but remember what I told you ok? Stay out of his way and don't mention anything to the others unless I say so alright?"

Igor nodded and watched Nshina run up the stairs. It was all crystal clear to him now, he could see where Nshina was coming from and he believed her. He didn't like William, there was something strange about him and this explained it. But Igor was scared for Nshina; because she couldn't feel emotion she wouldn't know the right way to put her Idea to her family. Igor felt that it could lead to more problems than it would solve.