III. Bound
Bound. Slave. In chains. A dog. Not free.
These thoughts and more clouded the vampire sniper's mind as she stared forlornly out of her jailer's bedroom window. The sun had just set, and overhead the two gigantic moons hung; to her the two celestial objects were painful reminders of her current state. She was no longer on Earth. She was on another planet, or another dimension, or who knew what. The Doktor often went on insane diatribes about quantum physics and parallel universes, but she never bothered to listen. She couldn't really be blamed for this since such moments were often just the mad scientist ranting to himself and much of his babbling made absolutely no sense. At the moment though she regretted not listening more closely to the maniacal genius, as now she had no idea just how she would make it back home.
Rip Van Winkle was an Obersturmführer in the Third Reich's Last Betallion. She was an officer of the Millenium Group. She was a member of the elite Werewolf division. It was her duty to return to Earth and aid the Major in his war against Britain. It was a goal they had been working on for over fifty years, she couldn't miss it!
Sadly, she had to consider the fact that she had failed her last mission; the monster had taken back the Adler and slaughtered all of the men she had onboard, after all. But, like any good soldier, she was prepared to take whatever consequences came. She felt that the Major would be fair in his punishment; hopefully it wouldn't be too severe. Rip figured that if he was truly so displeased with her, then he would have activated her kill chip before now. Since she wasn't a pile of ash, then he couldn't have been too angry with her, could he?
But then again, what was the range of Dok's kill switch? It had to be quite long, since he had used it on Alhambra and the man was all the way in Brazil. But Rip was in a different dimension or planet entirely; she doubted very much that the Doktor's technology, as advanced as it was, could reach that far.
"Scheiße," she muttered, leaning against her musket mournfully as she stared up at the twin moons. "Vhat the hell am I to do?"
"Dammit, familiar! Are you even listening to me?" shouted a grating female voice behind her.
Rip sighed and tilted her head back, forcing her dulled and depressed eyes to focus on her so-called master. The pink-haired girl was currently standing in the middle of her room looking furious at her new familiar. She had been ranting and raving about how much of a disappointment Rip was, on how she was so embarrassed, on how she didn't want a commoner or whatever as a familiar, but Rip herself didn't bother to listen very well. The rantings of an irritating child held little merit for her at the moment; after all, she had much more important things to worry about.
Mein Gott, is the little fool still talking? Rip wondered to herself as she noticed the girl's lips were still moving.
"Well?!" the teenager yelled at the end of whatever it was she had been saying. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
The sniper sighed and stood straight up. She needed to get out of here and fast, before she ended up tearing her little enslaver's throat out. "I'm going for a valk."
"What?! G-get back here! Familiar!"
Rip ignored her shrieking, calmly walking out of the room and into the dark, candle-lit hallway outside. She frowned at the sight; although her vampire eyes were quite well suited for the darkness and thus she was able to see very clearly despite the shadows, she was still disgusted at the level of technology in this place. "How absolutely primitive," she muttered. "Vhat a bunch of barbarians."
The vampire continued to meander through the castle halls, her mood sour and full of depression. The hallways were long and labyrinthine but that didn't worry Rip very much; she could still sense her "master" from where she was so she was confident she could find her way back to the room if need be. Besides, ever since she received those runes, her already heightened senses had all but quadrupled. She had first noticed back at the courtyard; after the professor and her summoner managed to calm her down, they convinced her to follow the little girl (Louise! That was her name) back to her room so that she could have a rest. Ha! Rest! As if she could do that whilst the little schlampe kept on ranting and raving at her about stupid, idiotic things. Plus she didn't even have a bed! The arrogant little fool actually expected her to sleep on the floor atop a pile of hay! Like a dog!
But back at the courtyard, when Rip had bent down to pick up her musket, she felt it happen. Upon her fingertips touching the solid, polished wood of the weapon, she felt the runes beneath her glove flare to life. She quickly noticed that all her senses had improved: sight, sound, touch, even her preternatural sixth sense. It had already been powerful, even by vampiric standards, but now it was like her inner third eye had been opened even further. She could push out her senses to even greater distances. She could now feel the birds, the beetles, the insects, the worms; even the smallest of animals could not hide from her. Pushing with her mind further out, she could feel a large collection of human souls which could only mean a city several kilometers away. Beyond that mass of lives were several smaller settlements and villages.
Whatever these runes were, they had just made the Huntress of Millennium an even greater force to be reckoned with. This though made her smile and almost forget about her annoying, loud, and irritating master. Almost.
As Rip continued her night stroll through the grounds, she spotted two students in a shadowy alcove. One was a girl, a mousy-looking thing with brown hair and a brown cloak. She was being wooed by a blond boy in an open-necked white shirt and black cloak. The boy reminded her of Luke Valentine.
Valentine and his brother Jan were one of the newer additions to Millenium. The elder Valentine too had been all suave and debonaire, though in this boy's case it was mostly a sham. Luke, though a prat and arrogantly full of himself due to his powers, could still be quite charming and had the air of worldliness about him that made one forgive his faults. (He was also very nice to look at.) This boy, however, was more of a parody than the genuine article. He spat out flowery words like a bad comedian on stage, his romantic lines obviously well practiced and rehearsed. Sadly, the girl was young and naive and fell hook line and sinker for the would-be lothario's act. The poor fool would probably be spreading her legs for him at the end of the night, giving up her innocence to the arschloch before being tossed away afterward.
Oh well, not her problem.
The vampire strode past them, her footfalls silent enough that she went by unnoticed. Rip idly wondered what time it was, and cursed silently when she remembered what had happened to her alarm clock. She grew even more depressed upon recollection of its dire fate; she loved that clock. It was so cute. The moment she had seen it at that shop window in Rio she knew she had to have it. Her eyes watered at the memory.
Her free hand, the one that wasn't carrying her musket, grasped at the swastika pendant hanging around her neck. She sighed and said a silent prayer to her departed timepiece. "Rest in peace, old friend."
Rip was so preoccupied with her delusions that as she turned past a corner in the hall, she accidentally bumped into another person who was passing through from the other side. Said person was knocked back on their behind and let out a girlish squeal of surprise. The vampire looked down and saw a young woman in a maid's uniform sprawled out on the floor.
"Ow," the young servant complained before noticing Rip. "O-oh, I'm extremely sorry! Excuse me!" She quickly shuffled up to her feet and bowed in apology. "I am so clumsy sometimes, please forgive me!"
"It's... alright," Rip told her.
The young woman was slightly older than most of the students she had seen so far, and curiously enough was the only one with black hair that she had met on this world. Said hair was cut into a cute style, its ends just brushing against her delicate shoulders. She also had slightly Asiatic features, which reminded Rip of her Fatherland's allies way back in the war. "My, my, aren't you a pretty one?" she told the maid, her lips widening into a lazy smile.
"Oh, um, thank you, my lady," the maid returned the strange woman's smile nervously. She didn't like how the other girl was looking at her. Her smile looked positively... predatory. The maid then gasped when she noticed the woman's musket and weirdly styled clothing. "Oh my! You're that human familiar all the students have been talking about, aren't you?"
Rip's smile widened. "Vhy, yes. I am. My name is Rip Van Winkle." She shifted her gun onto her shoulder and reached out to grasp the young maid's hand in hers. "A pleasure to meet you. Und you are?"
"Ah, um, ah," the maid blushed as Rip leaned in uncomfortably close. "Sorry, my name is Siesta. Siesta of Tarbes..."
"Siesta. Such a pretty, pretty name," the sniper told her, blue eyes staring intently into the maid's. "For such a pretty, pretty flower..."
"Um, um, um," Siesta looked extremely anxious, her nerves not at all helped when one of Rip's arms suddenly curved around her waist. "Ah! Um, um, um! Is th-there anything I can help you with?"
"Vhy yes, there is," Rip told her, grin devilishly wide. "I'm very, very hungry."
"Oh, I can take you to the kitchens if you wish! It's really no problem, I'm sure they're still open!"
The vampire chuckled and licked her lips. "Oh no. That von't be necessary."
0
Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt-Zerbst woke up feeling very refreshed. The previous day's summoning ritual had gone very well, as she had managed to summon such a great and wonderful familiar! Flame, her magnificent fire salamander, was such a beauty! His being her familiar not only proved that her affinity was of the fire element, but it cemented her passions as the brightest burning of all!
She was also happy for her dear friend Tabitha. The quiet girl had truly impressed when she summoned such a magnificent dragon. She hoped that now that Tabitha had a familiar she could maybe learn to come out of her shell a little bit. Although she never showed it, Kirche was very worried for the girl's well being. She didn't know the full story of what her friend had been going through, but she had heard enough to make her concerned.
Another bright note was that prissy little fool Valliere's summons. It was utterly hilarious watching her rival fail; it served that snobbish little princess right to be knocked down a peg or two. But honestly! The nerve of her to actually have the gall to hire some commoner (a Germanian no less!) to pose as her familiar! How utterly shameless can a girl be?
"Come, Flame!" Kirche called out to her familiar after she had gotten dressed. The salamander croaked before following the tall redhead out the door. In the hallway, leaning against the wall next to Valliere's door, was the crazy woman from yesterday's summoning. She was still dressed in her strange black attire and still carried around a giant musket. Her dark blue, almost black, hair hung far down, well below her knees, and her freckled face had a far-away look to it as her eyes stared blankly out of an open window nearby. What actually caught Kirche's attention though was the fact that the woman was singing softly to herself, the words of the song in strangely accented Germanian.
"Ein Mannlein steht im Walde
ganz still und stumm
cs hat von latter Purpur
ein Mantlein urn.
"Sagt, wer mag das Mannlein sein,
das da steht im Wald allein
mit dem purpurroten Mantelein?
Das Mannlein steht im Walde
"Auf einem Bcin
und hat auf seinem Kopfe
"Schwarz Kapplein klein.
Sagt, wer mag das Mannlein sein,
das da steht im Wald allein
mit dem kleinen schwarzen Kappelein?"
What a strange little song, Kirche thought to herself. The woman sang it well though, in fact her voice was quite lovely in spite of her homely appearance. This was just further proof that Louise the Zero had hired an actor to play her familiar; no one with a voice that good could be anything but a stage performer.
"That was a very lovely song," Kirche said aloud in her native Germanian. "And your voice is superb."
The woman seemed startled out of whatever spell she was in. She turned her eyes towards Kirche, the blue orbs hazy for a moment before finally focusing back on her. The woman took a second to collect herself before smiling and greeting Kirche in Germanian. "Good morning."
"Good Morning." Kirche returned the smile, part of her feeling good that she was able to speak in her native language once more. Although she was fluent in Tristanian, she had missed conversing in her native tongue. The woman's accent struck her as odd, though. She couldn't for the life of her place the dialect. "You sing wonderfully. Have you been performing long?" Kirche hoped to catch this actor off guard, thus ending the ridiculous charade that Valliere had hoisted upon them.
The woman blushed, looking away in what seemed like genuine embarrassment. "I... I'm sorry. I didn't know I was so loud."
Kirche laughed; my my, this girl was such a good actor. "Oh, don't apologize. It was WONDERFUL. Your voice is superb. You must get much accolade and many admirers from your work on stage."
The dark haired woman frowned. "I am not a performer. I only like the operas and operettas." She sounded strangely bitter about it.
It was Kirche's turn to frown. Could anyone be this good of an actor? She decided to push further for more information. "So... what part of Germania are you from? Your accent is most... curious. I can't quite place it."
"Germania? I, ah..." The woman looked nervous.
Aha! Kirche's lips turned upwards into a small grin. So she was hiding something. But what?
"The east. I come from the far east of Germania." The woman coughed.
Okay, that was obviously a lie, and a bad one at that. But, could this, too, be an act? Could this woman be lying about the fact that she was lying? Damn, it made her head hurt. Kirche's ponderings were interrupted when Louise suddenly burst out of her room, pink hair in a wild mess and uniform in disarray.
"STUPID FAMILIAR!" the young Valliere shouted as she caught sight of the dark haired woman with the musket. "Why didn't you wake your master? I should-" The young girl stopped her shouting when she noticed that her hated rival was nearby. "K-Kirche!"
"Good morning, Louise," Kirche greeted, this time in Tristainian. " My my, you are looking quite ruffled today. Was it the guilt that kept you awake all night?"
Louise had busied herself patting her hair back and straightening her uniform. "What in the Founder's name are you talking about, Kirche? What guilt?"
"Oh, you know," Kirche almost sang, smiling roguishly at the other girl. "The guilt of hiring an actor to pretend to be your commoner familiar so that you wouldn't get expelled from the Academy."
Lousie sputtered. "Wh-what?! How dare you say such a thing! You insufferable... Zerbst! I did not hire an actor! I summoned my familiar, you saw me do it!"
"No, Louise, what I saw was a lot of smoke. Then this woman appeared underneath said smoke." Kirche leaned forwards and pointed an accusing finger at the shorter girl. "I know how stage plays work, it would have been easy as pie for you to sneak in this performer. Just admit it, Zero. You aren't fooling anyone."
"I... I..." Louise continued to sputter in impotent rage and disbelief. How could anyone, even Zerbst, question her abilities now after she had actually succeeded in performing a real spell! It wasn't fair! She turned towards her familiar, who was currently remaining silent while staring out the window with a bored expression on her face. "Familiar! Why don't you say something!" She demanded.
The woman turned her eyes back to Louise and raised an eyebrow. She then shrugged nonchalantly and let out a grin. "Oh my. I guess ve have been found out, little master. Do I still get payed even though ze jig is up?"
"Damn it, don't even JOKE about such a thing!" Louise screamed. "Stupid familiar!"
Kirche merely sighed, straightening her posture and giving the Valliere girl an annoyed look. "Honestly, Louise. I'm disappointed in you." The Germanian then departed, her salamander following.
"Like I care what you think!" Louise yelled after her. "The nerve of that... that... UGH!" She then rounded on her familiar and glared. "And you! Why didn't you tell her the truth?"
Rip Van Winkle snorted. "Like zese people vould believe me when zey von't even believe you." Her eyes narrowed slightly at Louise, a frown forming on her thin lips. "And vhy would you even care what zese fools think, anyvay? Are ze opinions of others so important to you?"
The pink haired girl dropped her gaze, eyes falling to her feet as she clenched her fists hard. "You... you wouldn't understand!" She turned swiftly on a heel and began stomping down the hallway. "And no breakfast for you! Maybe then you'll learn not to disobey your master!"
Rip waited until the girl was out of earshot and the hallway was empty. She turned her attention back to the window and the bright, cheerful scenery outside. "Zhat's okay, Louise," she said, then smiled widely. Her teeth had turned razor sharp, the fangs stained slightly red. "I already ate."