Disclaimer: I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings.
Lucian's Story Part 6
FAMILY AFFAIR
Countess Elizabeth Báthory was NOT amused. AT ALL. In fact, she was FUMING mad and she hadn't felt this INFURIATED for many many centuries. Some people were going to die very, very painfully.
"Cum îndrăznesc (How dare they)!" She hissed as she tore apart the poor unfortunate innocent cushion pillows with her claws.
How dare they do that to her lovely nephew?! The crime! Oh, her poor beautiful nephew, tortured to the point of such extreme disfiguration! The Order should have known better than to lay their filthy hands on her kin! And not just any common strigoi at that! They had dared to assault the one and only son-heir of the Count of Wallachia! This called for war! And she would hunt down those vermin responsible for disfiguring her nephew, and she would hunt them down like the pathetic animals they were. They would pay oh so dearly for their crime, beyond the imagination of their mundane human mind. She was going to make sure of that, even if it was the last thing she did.
She began pacing around the room while muttering curses in archaic Romanian that would have made pirates blush. She completely ignored the presence of the man sitting on the chair in the corner of her chamber, cloaked by the shadow of the dimly lit room. The man was stroking the crumbling grey feather he was holding so delicately in his hands as if it was the most fragile thing in the world.
"Tell me you are not going to let this slide, draga vărul meu (my dear cousin)." The Countess said with venom as she paced.
Five rounds of pacing around the chamber later, the Countess realised that her cousin still hadn't graced her with a response.
"Văr (cousin)!" The Countess snapped irritably.
"Elizabeth."
The Countess froze. Her cousin—who usually endearingly called her 'Lizzie'—only called her that when he was deadly serious, and a deadly serious Count of Wallachia meant business that would usually end up with billions of deaths.
"I have not come here to entertain myself with your antics."
His voice was calm and his expression stoic, but Countess Báthory knew her cousin enough to detect the icy fury underneath that calm façade. She could see the tension around his eyes, and how he was trying to hold back the snarl that would have easily shamed any self-respecting vârcolac (werewolves) out there. No, scratch that. The Count of Wallachia was beyond furious. It was beyond simple rage. His crimson eyes were ablaze with bloodlust, with the promise of brutal vengeance and absolute annihilation.
Countess Elizabeth Báthory was not afraid. Instead, she grinned like a lunatic, brandishing her pearly fangs viciously. Her eyes mimicked the bloodthirsty shine of her most feared cousin.
"My entire army is at your disposal, vărul dragi (cousin dearest)." She purred.
"Good."
With a swish of his inky black cape, the Count of Wallachia rose from his seat and made his exit. Before he disappeared into the blackness of the corridor outside the Countess's chamber, he was given one last inquiry.
"What about Lucian?"
A pause.
"She will take care of him."
The Countess watched as his cousin disappeared into the darkness, and she wondered—not for the first time—if the banishment of his tovarăş was intended as a safeguard for this kind of circumstances. If she was 'released' from the cage of the Court to be the wildcard that was free to move and act with immediacy.
For Lucian.
The Countess couldn't help but to smirk like a fool as she followed her cousin into the darkness, and her last thought was:
Damn doting parents.
She was once a human. A wanderer who had seen much grieves in the world. Who didn't believe in a 'happily ever after'.
And then she fell in love. For the sake of that love, she forsook her human life and died to be reborn as a Companion; neither fully human nor fully undead, an existence that belonged to neither worlds. She forsook the chance to ever give birth to her own child, as the love of her life had been deprived of the gift of reproduction due to the nature of his cursed existence. But she didn't mind, as long as she had him with her.
But then she fell in love again. Fell in love just like how only a mother could fall in love with her only child. She fell in love with that sweet little human boy; bedraggled and filthy, skinny and impoverished, but with the endless love for life. Whose smile was like a sun, rekindling hope from within the despair of her childless life.
She thought she had finally achieved her own fairytale. She thought she had finally gained her 'happily ever after'.
But really, a parent should never outlive her own child.
So with the determination of a mother set on the noble quest of saving her only child, she broke the taboo, willingly accepted the penalty of lifetime exile from her home and from her rightful position by the side of her love, and condemned her own existence into that of a rogue Solomonar Witch.
But the worst punishment of all those was the curse put on the child, that he would never remember her. Would never recognise her. Her existence would be erased from his memories. But that was okay. As long as he survived, she would bear the burden.
Nevertheless, in the deepest part of her heart, she hoped. She could only hope that although his memories might fail him, perhaps, just perhaps, his heart would still remember her.
So, assuming the name of Madame Sforza and the mantle of a gypsy fortune-teller, she devoted the rest of her life looking after her son from the distance.
Bia hadn't stepped out of Aranha as much as she had stumbled out of it. She barely managed to stand upright without falling face-first to the solid floor, let alone maintained the grace she usually possessed in her movement. She just didn't have the strength.
What's wrong with me? She had wondered. She had never felt this sick before in her life.
But she ignored it. She ignored the weakness and the pain that plagued her body. She had better things to worry about; like how Lucian was doing and that she had to go see him and apologise apologise apologise. So she dragged her unsteady feet across the floor, knees shaking and ready to buckle under her weight anytime. Forcing herself to go into tunnel-vision mode, Bia made her way out of her Aranha chamber into the interior of the house above ground. Out of the chamber, up the staircase, into the cozy little house that Lucian built as his safe house. The time it took her to reach the house above ground seemed like forever in her snail-paced trudge.
The first thing that greeted her when she stepped into the living room of the safe house was a solid punch to the face.
The sheer force and anger behind the punch sent her sailing across the room and through the wall into the other room. Even if she hadn't seen whom her assailant was, she knew who it was. Even if she hadn't been in so much pain, she would've still let the person hit her as he pleased. The punch was even welcomed; the strike had hit her right across her temple and numbed her brain. Her mind stopped functioning, and she could only observe the proceeding without lucid comprehension.
She had vaguely heard the cries of her younger siblings, shocked by their older brother's sudden aggressiveness. It wasn't uncommon for them to see her and Meta engaging in good ol' fist fight, but this was the first time that Meta had struck her with the intent of harming her.
"Brother! Why did you do that?!" Sarai was wailing again. The crybaby of the family. She was already shell-shocked by what she had witnessed in Hiera Sedes; she certainly wasn't prepared to deal with this.
Noah didn't even bother saying anything. He was gallantly standing between Bia's fallen form and Meta, turning himself into a human shield. He stood his ground even as Meta glared him down with his blazing Scarlet Eyes.
"It's her damn fault!" Meta hissed venomously. He had been so enraged, so angry. He had been blaming and cursing Bia for Lucian's mangled state of body and mind. If she hadn't been so stupid as to go back into the battlefield, Lucian wouldn't have ended up like that.
A blur of black mass flew across the room and Bast was standing next to Noah in her giant form like a stalwart fortress. And she was pissed.
Calm down, you fool!
"Don't tell me to calm down! Because of her, Lucian—!"
Is dying? So is SHE! Look closely, imbecile! The daemon roared savagely.
Bast's words; laced with the promise of agony, was like a slap to his face. Meta's Scarlet Eyes dimmed until they turned back to their dark blue hue. Sarai had run to Bia's side and was trying to shake some life into Bia's unmoving body, while Noah had run off to get help. When Meta looked—truly looked—at Bia's body, Meta's heart sank. Her hair covered her bruised face, but Meta could see her skin in an incredibly pale shade and blue tendrils of veins covering her body. Those veins looked like they could burst out of her skin anytime.
It was then Meta's turn to turn pale.
"How…?" He asked in horrified murmur.
Bast gave Meta a sniff of disdain before she padded toward Bia's fallen form. She delicately sniffed the girl's body and then made a face.
Poison. Of what nature, I do not know. The daemon turned to glare at Meta. Are you going to say that she deserves it? When Lucian dies, will you let her die too? An eye for an eye, a life for a life?
Tears started cascading from Bia's unfocused eyes; a piece of her died when the words sank. Bast had said 'when', not 'if'.
Bast's words; so full of disappointment and disapproval, shamed Meta. Just like the incident with Sarai when he had inadvertently broke her heart as he teased her about not getting Mom's or Dad's legacy, Meta had also ignored Bia's feeling of guilt that he could feel through his empathic power. He had known that Bia wished, more than anything, that she could turn back time and change everything. But he had ignored it in favour of taking out his own anger and frustration at her, the perfect victim who would not fight back because she knew that she was guilty.
He was the lowest.
"I—"
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!"
Meta's heart sank even lower. Now Mom would gut him alive before he could even apologize properly to Bia.
"Mamaaaaa!" Sarai catapulted herself into Kurapika's arms as she cried even harder. "Bas' say sist' gun' die!"
Sarai couldn't even pronounce her words properly with all the sniffling, but Kurapika understood enough. With military efficiency, Kurapika pried Sarai off herself and passed her to Noah—who dutifully herded his upset sister to the sideline so as not to get in the way—before Kurapika dashed toward Bia, completely ignoring Meta. She immediately checked her pulse and breathing, and the more she checked the more dread filled her.
"What is this…?" Kurapika whispered with horror. She didn't know what was wrong with Bia, but she knew enough that it was so wrong that her Healing Chain wouldn't be able to fix the girl.
Poison. Of what kind, I know not. Bast grimly informed Kurapika. The daemon then turned to Meta and literally barked out the order. Get Caladrius here. Maybe she can fix you SISTER.
Meta flinched at how Bast emphasised the last word with such vehemence and condemnation. Nevertheless, the boy obeyed his mentor daemon and summoned the snow-white bird daemon that specialised in healing. The bird fluttered its beautiful white wings and hovered around Bia for a short while before it quickly flew back to Meta with its head bowed down.
"No good?" Meta moaned in despair.
I am so sorry, Young Master. She is poisoned by a strigoi's blood. It is well beyond my power. Strigoi blood is poison even to us. The daemon told him apologetically. If I attempt to absorb the poison to purify it within myself, I would perish and your sister would still be dying.
"Strigoi?"
Vampires. Bast said in a murmur as her feline eyes took on a distant gaze. Lucian's blood. She consumed it by accident at 'that time'. Vampire blood is extremely lethal to humans.
"How can I save her?" Meta desperately and pleadingly asked the bird daemon.
Only the strigoi can heal her. Only his blood can save her.
"But you said the blood is—"
Poison against poison, Young Master. I have no idea how it is achieved. Only the strigoi know.
The bird daemon's words hit Kurapika like a ton of bricks. She quickly connected the dot and she paled even further. Her skin had turned so ghastly ashen until they lacked depth and looked flat.
"Shit!" She hissed as she practically flew across the room and into the subterranean chamber where they were 'quarantining' Lucian. Kuroro needed to hear this.
Kurapika was so focused and single-minded in her mission to relay the extremely crucial information to Kuroro as soon as possible that she didn't notice the new foreign presence that had just invaded the vicinity.
Author's Note: Cliff-hanger! So now you know why Bia is dying. Cookies to those who manage to guess correctly that the Lady in the previous chapter is in fact Madame Sforza. As to what she is to Lucian, well now you know. Madame Sforza is Lucian's (adopted) mother. Vampires can't reproduce, so their 'children' are either adopted (very rare case) or people 'turned' into vampires. More about Lucian's past, about the relationship between him, his Sire, and Madame Sforza in the coming chapters!