This chapter contains images of blood and such. Fairly warned be ye, says I.
A human would have said that the room smelled like dust and mildew, but to the three non-humans, the scent of fresh blood overpowered everything.
The room was illuminated with a single, old fashioned oil lamp that burned on a large steel table beside a labyrinth of small, glass tubing and a wide array of beakers and test tubes, some of them still with some sort of liquid inside. One wall of the room was completely covered in shelving, and the shelves were packed with assorted clear jars, each with some sort of preserved specimen in them, most of them unidentifiable palled remnants of some poor creature's internal organs. In one corner of the room stood a pair of skeletons, assembled and hanging from a metal hook, one appeared to be an average human, the other seemed vaguely human, though shorter, stockier and with a somewhat oddly shaped skull. The floor was littered with rat droppings and browned sheets of paper, who's writing had faded away long ago.
More noticeable was a strange trail of smeared bloody footprints that seemed to snake aimlessly around the room.
Saya's hand covered her mouth as she regarded the scene.
"We must be too late."
Solomon descended to his knees and lightly ran his fingers along one of the bloody smears.
"It's Nathan's blood."
"Nathan's?" Saya stammered, "they must have fought him and – maybe they beat him after all…"
As Saya jumped to conclusions, Solomon took the initiative to follow the trail of smeared bloody footprints to the other side of the large, steel table.
In his life, he had seen so many strange, bloody scenes, that they no longer seemed to affect him, but even he was caught off guard when he reached the origin of the bloody footprints.
"Saya, I think you should see this."
Both Saya and Haji appeared at his side and beheld the sight before them.
It was some sort of large, rectangular, clear glass box on the floor, at least three feet deep, and twelve feet long, the lid lying shattered beside it. The glass case was filled at least three inches deep with blood, the dim light making the thick, opaque liquid look almost black. Some of it had been smeared against the sides, giving the walls of the box the appearance of red stained glass.
Saya was struck dumb by the sight for several seconds. "I -" she stammered. "I don't understand. What happened here?"
"It's almost like a glass coffin."
"It seems too big to be a coffin," said Haji.
The three comrades stood staring at the strange scene.
Saya's head suddenly turned, and her blood ran cold when her ears caught a familiar sound. "Do you hear that?"
The two men quietly scanned the air for the sound she might be referring to. To the chevaliers, it was just barely audible, but Saya could hear it clear as day.
"Singing," said Haji.
"It's Diva's song," added Solomon.
"It must be one of the girls," Saya said hopefully.
"The girls were never taught Diva's song," said Solomon, "for fear that if they sang it, it could awaken the latent chiropteran in any of the millions of people that have consumed delta 67 laced Cinque Fleches products."
"Who else could it be?" Haji asked flatly.
"Either way, we need to check it out." Saya took a few steps toward the shaft that led out of the basement.
Saya quickly reached the bottom of the shaft that they had used to enter the tunnels, and with an enormous burst of energy, sent her self flying up through it, soon followed by her two Chevaliers.
She landed in a runner's pose. "It's coming from over there."
All three of them took off, virtually flying through the ruins, across an arched bridge until they reached the remains of the old fountain, where the crystal clear streams of water had been replaced by feral vines long ago. Though it was night, the whole courtyard was well illuminated by the nearly full moon and the bright stars of the French countryside, bathing everything in an eerie, slightly blue light.
Saya stopped, and her companions quickly followed suit. She slowly stepped forward toward the fountain.
The singing was getting louder and louder.
She knew she was close.
It sounds like Diva. She thought. But it's kind of different, she's singing it at least a whole octave lower, and it sounds less angry, but still kind of sad. Somehow, it's actually almost - soothing.
She slowly walked around the perimeter of the vine-covered double helix until she finally caught sight of the singing's source, standing in the lunar shadow of the fountain.
The penumbra created by the fountain would have made her impossible to see with human eyes, but Saya was able to partially make her out in the extremely dim light. The singing girl ambled aimlessly, taking tiny, shuffling steps.
Saya gasped deeply and the singing stopped as the girl turned to towards them, revealing a murky, undetailed view of her face.
The moonlight glinted off of her bright, blue eyes.
Diva?
The girl's head slowly bobbed and turned, as her eyes seemed to wander all around, not settling on any one subject.
Even though Saya could barely make out her face, somehow she could still see the girl's expression. She had never seen anyone look so completely forlorn.
Her gaze finally meandered over the three people standing before her. Her eyes fixed on Saya, and she slowly began to approach her.
The girl's dejected countenance quickly faded to a child-like smile.
Saya's hand shot out to the side toward Haji.
"S-sword." She said in a stuttering whisper. Haji immediately complied.
Saya gripped the weapon tightly, her shaking hands causing the scabbard to rattle against the blade.
The girl continued to smile at Saya, her feet dragging as she drew nearer.
Saya unsheathed an inch of the blade, her thumb poised over it's edge.
The girl cocked her head to the side like an inquisitive kitten as Saya's eyes began to glow red. The mezzo-soprano still smiled and walked toward her.
Finally she stepped out of the shadow of the fountain, the light of the nearly full moon brightly illuminating her, making it possible to see her with comparative clarity.
Her face was that of a stranger.
She did bear a striking resemblance to Diva, only with some differences, many too subtle to ordinarily notice, such as her slightly fuller lips, and her slightly smaller, flatter nose. The only things that clearly distinguished her from Diva was her height, at least eight inches taller than Saya or Diva, and her deeper complexion, a rich, rosy shade of caramel.
The moonlight also revealed that she was completely naked, though her thick, bone-straight, ankle length black hair seemed to cover much of her body. Other than the unruly black locks, there was only one other thing that covered her.
A layer of dried blood coated her entire body, her hair seemed to have been soaked in it, making it look oddly stiff as it cascaded over her form. It seemed that a few teardrops had carved their way through the dark garnet swirls on her face at one point.
Saya could see that this girl was clearly not her dead, tragically insane sister. She resheathed the one-inch of her sword, but continued to grip it tightly. Her eyes continued to glow.
"Who are you?" Saya asked, still trembling slightly.
"Who are you?" The girl responded, her voice soft and somewhat deeper than most young women.
"I'm Saya. What is your name?"
"I'm Saya. What is your name?" the girl replied.
"Do you understand?" asked Saya.
"Do you understand?" was the girls answer.
"Parlez vous Frances? Comment vous appelez-vous?"
"Parlez vous Frances? Comment vous appelez-vous?" said the girl, copying Saya's flawless accent.
Saya furrowed her brows slightly. "Why does she keep repeating everything I say?" she wondered allowed. Naturally, the girl parroted her once more.
"Saya," said Haji, "you sometimes do same thing, when you have just woken up."
"As did Diva," Solomon added.
Suddenly, the girl flew at Saya. The two Chevaliers immediately drew their weapons, Haji's demonic hand burst forth from its bandages, and Solomon's hand became a blade. Saya gasped and tensed, for a split second believing that this would be how her life ended, only to realize that the girl had thrown her arms around her and was embracing her affectionately.
Saya now felt both afraid and awkward. Even for westerners, a hug from a stranger, let alone a naked stranger, is considered generally inappropriate.
But fear soon began to turn to pity. Though Saya had no idea who the girl was, something in her gut told her that she was a Queen as well.
Saya had some vague memories of being in her exact position – alone, confused, exposed and completely vulnerable.
Acting mostly out of instinct, Saya returned the embrace. The glow from her eyes faded.
The two men simply watched the odd scene unfold, but both were still ready to cut down the mysterious girl at half a moment's notice.
They had put in a call to headquarters and explained the situation to the best of their abilities. A car had been sent for them, and was to bring them to the Goldschmidt's current estate, since it was only a few hours drive from Bordeaux.
Naturally, it would take a while for the car to find them in such a remote location, and in the middle of the night.
In the meantime, Saya led the strange girl to the nearby river, and used a wetted a handkerchief to wipe off as much of the blood as possible. The girl seemed to enjoy the attention and just stood there until Saya had sponged her off to the point that she at least she no longer looked like an image from a horror film. She led the girl away from the water, dressed her in the long, white cotton nightgown that had been tucked in a small bit of spare space in Haji's cello case. Generally, Saya only traveled with one outfit, the one on her back, but she also generally liked to have a set of nightclothes, and of course, she couldn't just live with only one pair of underwear. Since it was usually their only piece of luggage, what little extra clothes Saya possessed were kept in a spare compartment in his case. Dressing the girl proved especially difficult, the creature seemed to have no idea how to put on clothes, so Saya struggled to pull the nightgown over the girls head, a challenge due to her height, and then had the task of putting all the proper limbs in their proper holes.
The two Chevaliers stood several yards away, with their backs prudently turned.
Solomon turned to Haji. "Its clear that she's not either one of the twins, and most certainly not Diva. Who do you suppose she is?"
"I do not know, but I have been thinking..."
Solomon nodded his head, as if to ask him to continue.
Haji hesitated for several seconds before speaking again.
"According to Joel's diary, Saya and Diva were removed from their mother's mummified remains. It is never mentioned what happened to the remains after the dissection was completed, though I do not imagine that they were simply discarded, they were most likely kept for the sake of future research, and it is logical that they might be stored in Amshel's lab. This combined with Nathan's claim to be the Chevalier of Saya's mother, the fact that a Chevalier's blood is known to have special healing properties for their Queen, and the scene we discovered in the lab, makes it seem possible that -"
"I see what you're saying," Solomon said quietly. "Nathan must have used his blood to resurrect her."
Surprise?