Sorry about this being late! I will talk a little about that at the end.
"Why on earth do I have to go with you to this…" Bela asked as she trudged down the hall, following Ethan.
Ethan didn't turn around to look at the tall woman. Instead, he let out a chuckle and replied "Your mom said so."
"Stop, you make me sound like a child."
"It doesn't help you're acting like one. You're throwing a hissy fit because your mom told you to take a break tonight." Ethan pointed out.
Bela took offense to this and stomped a bit. "I am not throwing a fit!" The only reply Ethan gave was a smirk and a raised eyebrow Bela realized her self-contradiction and immediately collected herself. "I just don't see the point. I don't need a break. I'm perfectly fine."
"That's not what your mother says, Bela." Ethan said. "She thinks that this will be good for you, and I'd have to agree. You can't deny that the night with the wine and the kitchen was fun, even if the hangover the next day wasn't."
"Even so, I didn't need that night. It caused more harm than good."
"Sometimes you gotta be a little stupid, Bela. Working all the time is no way to live, even if you are immortal. You gotta have some fun in your life." Ethan explained. "If not, you might go insane." Ethan looked to Bela and whispered to himself, "Well… more insane."
"I heard that!"
"Anyway! Don't worry, tonight will be fun. I promise."
"What're we even going to do tonight? Smoke cigars? Drink beer? Play cards?" Bela asked sarcastically, but Ethan only gave her a small smile in return. "Oh my god, we actually are!?"
"It's not like theres much else to do!" Ethan retorted.
"We have an entire gaming room, Ethan! We have billiards, bowling, bar, darts, all sorts of things!"
"How would we play those games? Duke doesn't exactly move in front of others."
Bela sighed and admitted defeat. "True, I suppose. I'm not going to smoke any damn cigars though. Those things are bad for you."
"Mold is bad for you, too, and yet here we are." Ethan retorted.
Bela huffed in amusement, "Touche, I suppose."
"Whatever damage is caused to us is just healed right away anyhow, what's it matter?" Ethan reasoned. "You guys can just turn into flies and bam, perfect health. I still need a bit to recover from pretty serious injuries. Bone breaks suck. Feeling the pieces come back together? No thank you."
"Stop being such a baby." Bela teased.
Ethan became a bit curious. "Hey, what is it like when you guys transform?"
"It's a bit hard to explain. When we are in our flies, we have so much more awareness. We can see out of each fly, we can hear, smell, and all that. Yet, at the same time, it's muffled. Like we have 1,000 views of a single situation, but it's all blurry."
"Is that why you have to go back into your bodies to fight? You can't tell exactly what's happening?"
"Yes, but also our flies can only do so much damage. Given enough time, we can kill someone, but the chances of them running off and shaking us is too high, so we reform and strike."
"What about you're wounded and use your flies to heal?"
"Well, if the flies in the specific area just organize, we can feel them move, but if we completely change then it's different. We don't feel it healing, just know that it is healed."
"Strange. What about when you're like halfway in between? Like only your upper body is formed."
"Numb. It's like we should feel something there, but we don't." Bela answered.
"That's how some amputees feel. Hell, that's how I feel with my hand. Even still when I reach for something, I forgot a part of my hand is just gone."
"It looks like a portion of it is growing back, however." Bela pointed out, then looked at it again. "Wait, what? I didn't know you could do that?"
Ethan laughed, "I couldn't. Not until recently when the mold started to become more active within my body. It's slow going but I think it'll be a couple of more weeks."
"That's good. It'll be weird seeing you with all your fingers. Are your teeth coming back as well?" Bela asked.
On reflex, Ethan pushed his tongue in the gaps where teeth were missing, but shook his head 'no'. He had been checking every day. It was more embarrassing to miss some teeth rather than fingers. At least that had a cool story about his hand.
"I mean, your hand is regrowing, why wouldn't your teeth? Perhaps they will just take longer?" Bela offered, hoping to lift Ethan's spirits.
"Maybe. Anyway, come on, Duke is most likely waiting, we're a bit late."
"Ethan my boy- Oh? What's this, a guest? Well, good evening Miss Bela!" Duke jovially greeted, jiggling a bit from his own laugh. "If I was expecting you to grace us tonight, I would've cleaned up a bit more around here. I do hope it's up to the Dimitrescu standards."
Bela assumed her more official and prim style of speaking, "I apologize about the intrusion, but mother was insistent about me attending with you both tonight."
However, Duke waved that off with a smile. "Oh drop the formalities, my dear! We are here as friends tonight, are we not?"
Bela nodded after a moment, "Yes, we are."
"Sad to say that I was expecting only Ethan here tonight, so I don't have any good wines prepared. Sorry that I can't be more accommodating." Duke said in a slightly somber tone.
"It's ok. I will just drink whatever it is you two normally drink." Bela answered, causing Ethan and Duke to share an unsure glance.
"Have you ever had beer, Bela?" Duke asked hesitantly.
"No, but I can't imagine it being too different."
There was only a moment of silence before Ethan and Duke began to laugh.
"Sorry, my dear." Duke said, wrangling his laughter down. "Beer and wine are very different. Beer is made with grain and hops, whereas with wine it's fruit. Though wine is typically stronger. Here." Duke said as he brought up a bottle, removed the cap, and handed her the glass bottle. "I believe with beer, it's best to just experience it."
Bela took the bottle and felt the cold glass in her hand. She smelled it, and it smelt vaguely of bread. Daring a sip, she almost spit it out. "That's… bitter."
"Yep. Don't worry, the more you drink it, the better it tastes. Now sit, let's relax a moment." Duke said as he handed Ethan a pair of bottles, both for him. Removing two cigars as well, Duke gave one to Ethan. "I most likely know the answer, but would you care for a cigar Bela?"
"No thank you." Bela said quickly, causing Duke to laugh a bit.
"Thought so. Now, why on earth are you here, Miss Bela?"
"Because my mother thought it necessary for me to take the night off and 'relax'."
"Well I do say, that is nice of her."
Bela scoffed, "She treats me like a child at times."
"You will always be her child, Bela. Trust me." Duke said with a smile.
"Alright, enough of this mushy shit. Duke, get those cards out. We got a newcomer here finally." Ethan interrupted, and Duke gave a throaty laugh as he withdrew a deck and some chips.
"Have you ever played poker before, Bela?" Duke asked behind his cigar.
Bela shook her head. "No, I have not."
"Oh well, we can easily teach you. Pull up a chair and join us, please!" Duke urged.
Bela, finally relenting, joined the two. As she sat down, Duke began to deal her in and handed her some tokens. "Are these… bottle caps?" She asked, a bit disgusted.
"Oh yeah, sorry. We don't have any really chips so we just use those. They are clean, don't worry." Ethan explained, looking at his cards.
Bela grabbed her cards and looked at them a bit dumbly. "So… how does this work?"
Ethan spoke while looking at his own cards. "Well, while poker can be played with at least two people, it shines with around 4 or 5, so don't expect this to be too invigorating. Now, poker is a game about finding combinations. Multiple combinations can be made. However, some combinations are valued higher than others. For example, let's say you have two cards of the same value, that's just called a pair. It's the lowest true combination. However, if no one has anything, then the person with the highest card wins. If, somehow, multiple players 'win' but have the same exact hand, the winnings are split."
Ethan began to explain how the rest of the hands worked, and how and when to use 'call' and 'check', among other rules and how-to's. In the first round, Ethan had to look at Bela's hand to help her, however, she caught on quickly. On the third hand, Bela only needed to be reminded of what combinations trumped what. By the fifth, she had won her first round.
"Finally! I win one!" Bela exclaimed, sounding a bit more bubbly than usual. Ethan looked over and saw a couple of extra empty beer bottles hanging out on Bela's end of the table. He laughed a bit.
"You might wanna slow down on the beer, Bela. Who knows how long we will be playing tonight."
"What? I feel fine! It's hardly even affecting me. I drink wine, remember?" Bela said with a smirk.
"Well yes, but you drink like one or two glasses, you just downed like four bottles in 15 minutes. That's a good bit…" Ethan explained.
Bela just scoffed and grabbed another beer from the stockpile at Duke's side. "I am not a child Ethan, I know how to limit myself."
"Ok." Ethan drawled as he went back to his cards. "Whatever you say. Your turn." Bela quickly nodded and continued the game. Ethan began to grow a little worried at how quickly Bela finished off the most recent beer… Shrugging, Ethan went back to his own cards and drink.
"So tell me, Ethan." Bela started. "How have you been enjoying your stay here at Castle Dimitrescu? I hope that even given the reason for your stay, it's been a decent time here."
"Yeah, it has. I mean aside from the occasional nights where Cass tries to kill me, but yeah it's good." Duke let out a small chuckle at the comment. "Foods good, company too. The pets are a bit too aggressive for my liking, but as long as they stay away…"
Bela laughed at that a bit. "I suppose you're right. They can be a bit nippy at times. I'm glad this isn't a complete nightmare for you, Ethan. The first time I met you, I wanted to rip your throat out and drink from your insides-" Both Duke and Ethan glanced at each other, a bit uncomfortable.
"-but now that I've gotten to know you, I'm happy we didn't. It's funny, if you didn't come off the hook when you did at first, we most likely wouldn't be here. Strange how things happen like that." She said, taking a swig from a new bottle. Bela was no longer grimacing from the bitterness of each drink, now she swallowed the beer with ease. "Check!"
Ethan sighed, "Check."
"Check," Duke said once it was his turn as well.
"Let's see their cards, boys!" Bela exclaimed, excited.
Duke laid out his hand and revealed 2 of hearts and 4 of clubs. Coupled with the cards on the table, he had a straight with a 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Ethan sighed and laid out two queens. "Damn. Only had a pair." Both men looked towards Bela who, with a cheeky grin, laid out a 4 of spades and a 7 of spades… which paired with the 3, 5, and 6 of spades on the table, resulted in a straight flush.
"Damn! Second highest hand in the game." Ethan shook his head before pounding the rest of his beer.
"Woohoo! In your faces!" Bela celebrated while dragging her winnings across the table and adding to her own pile. As she began to organize her collection a bit more, she reached for another beer but almost knocked it over, catching the bottle before it went over the edge.
"Um, Bela? I think you really need to slow down. I don't think you realize just how much the beer is messing with you." Ethan said, a bit concerned.
This made her laugh a bit and pop the top on the bottle. "Thanks for worrying about me, Ethan, but really, I'm fine! I feel good!"
"Oh, I am sure you do feel good." Ethan laughed. "I'm just trying to keep you from feeling too good."
"You want me to relax and have some fun, now you want me to slow down and be 'responsible', make up your mind." She said with a teasing smile. "Keep the cards coming and keep the beer flowing!" Came her cheer. Ethan and Duke looked at each other, shrugged, and followed Bela's lead and drank. Putting their beer down, they watched Bela with growing shock as she chugged the entire bottle.
"Woo! Another!" Bela said as she reached for another beer, but Duke pulled the last one on the table back.
"I really don't think you should, dear…" Duke said softly. "You've already had a few. Perhaps take a break?"
"What is with you two?" Bela said in an upset tone. "I'm not a child, I'm almost 65 That's older than either of you!
"Even adults need a friend to tell them when to stop, Bela." Ethan offered. "No shame in it. You're just feeling the mood a bit too much is all. Nothing wrong with that, but if you wanna make it back to your room on your own two feet, you need to slow down." Ethan explained. Bela thought about this for a moment, before slumping in her seat with a pout.
"Fine! I suppose your right."
"Now! How about a change of pace; blackjack, anyone?" Duke asked, shuffling his cards.
"What's blackjack?" Bela asked, forgetting about the past 10 seconds instantly.
"It's also called 21, but the game is pretty basic. Easier than poker. In blackjack, however, you only play against the house. So we can actually look at each other's cards, and it won't affect us. We will teach you how to play as we go, but it shouldn't take more than one turn." Duke said, tossing out two cards for everyone, and then added two cards to the middle of the table, one face down and one up, showing a 7.
"Now, the object of the game is to tally up to at or less than 21. Each card has a value, obviously. 2 through 10 are obvious. Jacks, Queens, and Kings are 10 as well. The only different ones are Ace's. They can either be 1 or 11. For example, if you are given a 2 and an Ace, that can either be 3 or 13. Each turn, you can request a card, 'hit', or stop playing and show your cards, 'stand'. Theres a few other things you can do as well, such as splitting, but we will worry about that when it comes time. Now, let's say you have an Ace and say it's 11, and you have a 5, so a total of 16. Let's say you take another card and let's say it's 6. That would push you to 22, so you can then say the Ace is a 1, so now you have only 12."
"Gotcha!" Bela said as she picked up her cards and looked at them.
"Now, similar to poker, certain hands can beat others. For example, a natural 21 is if you have an Ace and a 10. A natural is considered higher than any other 21 that is created with more than two cards. The only thing that can possibly beat a natural 21 is a Charlie. A Charlie is an automatic win if you draw over a certain amount of cards. The amount itself is usually between five and seven, but is set permanently. Let's go with a five-card Charlie tonight."
Duke then pointed to the cards in the middle. "Now, this here is the 'house' hand. There are specific rules that the 'house' will follow, such as not being able to take another card if their current cards are valued at 17 or higher. When the game is played, all the players take turns going. Then, once everything is done, the house goes. Easy as that! Unlike Poker, however, it's a buy-in each round, which means you place the bets at the start of the round, and only bet once. The house will match your bet."
Nodding, Bela threw in some chips that Duke collected and matched. Ethan did the same. Ethan, to teach Bela a bit better, showed her his cards. "Look, see how I have a 2 and a 3? That's only five, so hit." Duke then quickly gave Ethan a card. Flipping it over, he revealed a Queen. "Now I have 15. This is where the game gets interesting. For my next turn, I have to decide if I want to risk it and hit, or stand and hope the house doesn't beat my 15. It's now your turn."
Bela looked at her hand and saw a Queen and a 2. That was a 12 and Bela figured that it was a low enough number to hit on. "Hit!" She said, imitating Ethan. Duke threw her a card and she flipped it over to reveal an 8. "Oh, 20! Nice!"
"Nice indeed! Don't hit on that next turn, as the chance of getting an Ace is slim."
"My turn!" Duke said happily as he looked at a pair of cards in his hands, much to Bela's confusion.
"Wait, I thought that was your hand?" Bela said, pointing to the house cards.
"No, see that's the nice thing about blackjack; since the house has a set of rules by which it plays, theres no bias or cheating for someone to operate the house's hand but also have their own! Now, hit!" Duke yelled, withdrawing a card for himself, then quickly grimacing. "Ahh hell. Bust." Duke said, throwing his cards onto the table, showing two queens and a 2, totaling 22. "Now it's only you two in the game!"
"Damn Duke, what luck! Drew every queen in one round." Ethan looked at his cards for a moment, "Hit!" Flipping his new card over, it showed a 3. "18. Not bad, I'll stay next round. You should stand."
Bela looked at her hand and nodded. "Stand."
"Ok, Bela is at 20 and Ethan 18." Duke said. "Ok so house has 7…" Duke flipped over the hidden card, showing a 3. "House has 10. House hits, now has 14. House hits again and- King! The house busts!"
Ethan leaned over a bit, "See, when the house busts, no matter what, as long as you didn't bust as Duke did, it's an automatic win. Now the bets and winnings are returned to the winning players, and we play again."
Shuffling the cards once more, Duke passed out another round. Bela looked at her hand and saw two 5's. Ethan looked over again and smiled. "Ah, nice! You can do what's called a split on your turn. Basically, you separate your two cards into two separate hands, and you are given two more cards to put in each hand to round them out. You also have to bet again. But the nice thing is, if you win one hand but lose the other, you break even. The question is now, do you wish to split?"
"Sure, why not." Bela said, laying her cards down and splitting them apart. Duke placed two more cards down in front of her and they continued their game.
"How's work going, Bela?" Ethan asked.
"Shitty. A lot of maids are still sick, but the good news is I believe we stopped the spread. No more maids have come forth with illness. If things keep going well, we should be back to full strength in no time. I just hope it doesn't carry over to spring. If it does, we may have next to no workers for some time." Bela said.
Ethan looked over at her, "Why would that happen?"
"When spring hits, it seems whatever illness traveling around gets worse. It's happened a few times before and was rather debilitating to our workforce. It even had a significant impact on mother's business."
"Gocha." Ethan nodded. "Why don't you just have Adina give all the workers shots? I'm sure them getting cold and flu shots every year would help a lot."
Duke replied to this question. "We've looked into it. It's not that easy. Simple over-the-counter medications are no problem. Prescription pills and higher-end medical equipment? Yep! Vaccines? Not so much. Aside from them being in constant high demand, they do not store long nor does the Romanian government allow us to buy them."
"Why not?" Ethan asked.
Bela grumbled, "They want to inspect our medical facility before allowing us to purchase those."
"Allow me to further explain," Duke said, "Most medical items acquired for this castle are either seen as generic items that anyone can own, or are supplied through less than legal means. Vaccines are rather heavily controlled. Can't seem to ever secure a merchant for them. The only option is to buy them legit. However, they don't just hand them out. Our medical facility has to be sanitary, though I'm more than certain it is, it also has to be inspected and up to standard. Having an inspector here is more trouble than it's worth, so Lady Alcina simply doesn't do it."
"Why don't you have a fake clinic set up on the outskirts, beyond all this, and have the vaccines shipped there, then transport them the rest of the way? Who knows, if you actually staff it and use it, maybe the Dimitrescu could earn some extra Lei that way as well, and even increase the family standing within the village." Ethan said offhandedly.
Bela looked at him with wide eyes, and Duke also seemed a bit surprised. "That's… a great idea, my boy!" Duke laughed. "We would need some more workers to staff it, but I don't think that would be an issue. What say you, Bela?"
"Yeah, I'm sure we could put something together!" Bela agreed excitedly. "We can't use Adina there, that's too far and she's ours, but I can't imagine securing a doctor and some assistant would be unreasonable. I will talk to mother about it tomorrow." Bela spoke while she removed the top of a beer bottle. Duke and Ethan shot each other a glance of confusion and mild panic.
"Where the hell- Bela where did you get that? There's no beer on the table." Ethan asked.
Bela smiled and raised her hand, which turned into flies and flew over to a card on the table, and picked it up. "I can use my flies to get things, so I just used them to get a beer from Duke's stockpile.
Duke looked down at his side to see that indeed he was one beer shorter. "That's a dirty trick." He said, unamused.
"Don't care!" Bela laughed and quickly got to taking a large drink. "Ah! Good stuff! So are we gonna keep playing or…" Bela asked.
"Of course we are! The night is still young!" Duke said, lighting up another cigar. "Care for one?" Duke asked Bela in jest.
She crinkled her nose, "I may be a bit tipsy, but it's still a no. There are only so many vices I wish to partake in." Ethan and Duke chuckled behind their billows of smoke.
"More for us then." Ethan said.
Bela rolled her eyes, "Yes, more for you."
"Fresh beers, new hands, let's get to it!"
After another hour of play, Ethan and Bela staggered out of the Duke's little room, both rather drunk but happy. "Goodnight Duke! See ya later!" Ethan waved to the man, Bela threw a wave as well but didn't give a verbal goodbye. The two held onto each other, trying to keep their balance as they stumbled down the halls.
"That was shockingly fun." Bela admitted. "I'd honestly love to do that again." She sighed, leaning her head on top of Ethan, exhausted from the day's events and the beer flowing through her system.
"Just because I'm shorter than you, does not mean you can rest on me like that." Ethan said with mild annoyance. Bela, however, did not respond. She simply sighed and staggered along, arm around Ethan's shoulder for support. "Great talk." Ethan smirked before shucking her off, letting her fall on her side with a painful 'oof'.
"That was mean, Ethan." Bela whined. Ethan turned around to look at the woman but felt bad for her when she tried to stand. Instead, she looked like a newborn deer, tripping over its legs. She stumbled and had to sort of crash into the wall to gain support. "Damn… perhaps I did drink too much."
"You drank more than me and Duke combined, Bela."
"Shut up… help me back to my room." Bela asked. At first, Ethan was about to tease her, but when he looked at her face, he could tell she was starting to feel sick.
"Yeah, I got you." He said, taking her arm across his shoulder and wrapping an arm around her body to help her walk. "Why did you drink so much, Bela?"
"I don't know. At first, those beers were kind of hard to drink, but the more I drank, the more I wanted. I felt sort of… alive? Free?"
"Like you were having fun?" Ethan finished. "Yeah, I bet you were. See, told you that you needed a night off." Bela 'accidentally' stepped on Ethan's toes while they walked, causing him to yelp in pain.
"Oops, sorry." She said with a smile.
Ethan rolled his eyes but smiled. "I'm sure you are." At that moment, he 'accidentally' guided her into a wall as they rounded a corner. "Oops, sorry."
Bela clutched her stinging forehead. "I suppose I deserved that."
"Mhm." Ethan agreed.
"...you're a good friend, Ethan. I can see why Dani grew so attached to you." Bela mumbled. "Thanks for being nice to my sister, Ethan."
"It's no problem." Ethan said, a bit embarrassed.
Bela smiled, but vision still foggy, "I know she isn't the easiest to be around-"
"Easier than Cass."
"Good point, but still. You didn't have to be friends with any of us, Ethan. Yet you chose to. Why?"
Ethan sighed. "Honestly? At first, I didn't care. I didn't want to be your friend. I didn't want to be anyone's friend here. But… it just happened. The more time I spent here, the more I learned that you and your family are more than I originally thought."
"Who did you think we were?"
Ethan didn't know why he answered, perhaps it was the beer. "I thought you were all monsters. I thought each of you was insane- like actually insane. It was like something you read out of a horror story. It was terrible, honestly."
"And now?" Bela asked.
"I still think you're all utterly bat-shit crazy, but in a different way." Ethan said with a smirk. "But really, I see that you all have much more personality than meets the eye. You have likes, dislikes, hobbies, wants, and desires like anyone else. At first glance, you all seemed so vile, so vicious, evil. Monstrous… But now I see that you're all far more human than I could've ever imagined."
"We are still human to a certain extent, Ethan…" Bela said, a bit saddened.
"True. In defense of you and your family, there have been some pretty revolting humans in history. Hell, there have been loads of people that are far worse than any of you, and have done horrible things, things that none of you would even consider."
Bela grew a little intrigued, "Like what?"
"Trust me, you're better off not knowing." Ethan said ominously.
"I'll take your word on it, then." Bela agreed. For a moment, Bela just allows Ethan to carry her, until they pass by the kitchen. "Hey, Ethan…" She said with an ever-growing grin.
Looking up, Ethan followed her eyes toward the door. "What? You hungry?" Bela shook her head. "Then what do you want? …wait. No. Hell no. Fucking hell no!" Ethan began to yell, but Bela withdrew her arm and began to stagger towards the door. Ethan tried to pull her back but she just dragged him along. "Bela no! I'm not trashing the fucking kitchen again!"
"We won't! We will just take a few bottles with us and leave! No biggie!"
"Of course it's a biggie! Leave the wine alone!" Ethan demanded as Bela pushed the door open revealing the dark and empty room.
"You either drink with me or I drink by myself Ethan, you pick." Bela said, marching towards the wine fridge.
"Fine!" Ethan said, letting go of Bela. "But I ain't drinking, I'm just gonna watch over you, make sure you don't do anything stupid."
"I'm not the stupid one here."
"Shut up."
Bela barely made her way over to the fridge and began to fish out a few bottles. Ethan listened to the clinking of the glass, praying to any god listening that nothing would break. It seemed someone was listening as he heard the door shut. "Alright, I'm ready." Ethan did a double-take and stared at Bela in shock.
In her arms, she had 4 bottles of wine. "Just what the hell are you going to do with those, Bela!?"
"Uh.. drink them, I guess? What else would I do?" Bela said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"That's too much you crazy woman!"
"Guess you better drink some then." Bela said with a smirk, shoving a bottle into his hands.
Ethan scoffed, "You're ridiculous!" Ethan tried to hand the bottle back, but Bela shook her head.
"Nope, drink it." For a moment, Ethan and Bela stared at each other, each other's eyes glassy and unable to completely focus on each other. After a moment of her hard gaze on him, Ethan sighed.
"Fine! Fuck, I'll drink it. Jeez." Ethan said, removing the cork from the bottle and going to take a sip. As he went to lower the bottle from his lips, he felt Bela tip the bottle back up again, forcing him to drink more until he was able to shove her hand away. "God damn it, you trying to drown me!?" Ethan yelled, wiping the trails of wine off his mouth. "You got some on my shirt too, this is going to stink!"
"Stop being such a crybaby!" Bela yelled back. "Let's go."
"Go where? Where the hell are we gonna go?"
"Hmm…" Bela stopped, thinking about where they should go. "My room?"
"No, pick again."
"Could go to the common room?" Bela offered. Ethan thought about it and decided it wasn't a bad idea.
"Yeah, sounds fine. Let's go. Maybe there will be something to do."
A moment later and with a portion of wine down, Ethan and Bela walked into the common room to see a small fire going. Ethan looked at it a bit hesitantly, "Do maids normally leave fires going?"
"Some rooms in the castle always have a fire going during the winter and some maids take shifts every few hours to check them." Bela said without looking, setting her bottles on a table in the middle of the room. "Fight me, Ethan."
Ethan almost spits the mouthful of wine he had. Forcing it down and looking at the woman in bewilderment, Ethan slowly spoke. "I'm…sorry? What did you say? I don't know I heard you right?"
"Yes, you did. I said fight me. It's been a while since we've fought and I will admit I am curious to see if your mold will make a surprise appearance."
"Can I say no?"
Bela smirked, "Nope. It wasn't a request, it was a demand."
Shrugging his shoulders, Ethan set his bottle down. "Fuck it, sure."
Bela did a little clap, "Excelent! Let's just stick to hand-to-hand for now. Grappling, mostly." Rushing over to the couches and chairs, Bela began to push them away to make room for them.
Ethan took off his hoodie and made sure his pockets were empty. He decided to leave Bela to the prep work and he began to stretch his arms and legs out, doing a bit of jumping to get his blood jumping as well.
Ethan went over to wine and took one last gulp before setting it somewhere safe from the incoming fight. Returning to the chosen spot, he watched Bela remove her cloak and lower her hood. She also raised the skirt of her gown a bit and tied a knot in it to keep it from hanging too low.
He was a bit confused about this, as none of the other times fighting the Dimitrescu daughters did any of them do that. "What's that about?" Ethan asked.
Bela shrugged, "Feels like a good idea. No use for a cloak or this long gown, but I don't have anything else to wear. Unless you wish to wrestle me nude." Bela smirked.
Ethan blushed a bit but quickly replied, "Nope. Much rather not even fight."
Bela rolled her eyes and spoke in a sarcastic tone. "Shame. Sounded like a fun idea, no?"
"As much fun as pissing broken glass."
"Just try not to piss yourself when I beat the hell out of you." This surprised Ethan a bit and Bela smirked. Shaking off the surprise, Ethan settled into a fighting stance.
"You ready?" Ethan asked.
Bela nodded. "Yep. Give it your best shot."
Without preamble, Ethan rushed the distance and clasped his left hand around Bela's neck, and grabbed her left wrist with his right hand. Acting on instinct, Bela raised her free hand to grab onto Ethan's neck as well, but by simply raising his left elbow, he was able to stop her. Quickly stepping forward, Ethan took his left hand from her neck and grabbed her elbow, and threw his right around her neck as hard as possible, causing Bela to be knocked off balance and wind up on her back.
Bela quickly kicked Ethan away and got to her feet. The two were able to recover from the clash on unsteady feet, having to stumble over to furniture to be able to stand still long enough to regain their bearings. However, Bela took advantage and rushed to Ethan.
Trying his best to recover, Ethan was barely able to avoid being latched onto by the woman. Ducking around her reach, Ethan grabbed Bela's side and swept her legs, forcing her onto her back once more. "Oh my, Ethan. Rather forward off you, don't you think? If you wanted me on my back so bad, you could've just asked." Bela said in her best tease she could manage.
Ethan wasn't able to think for a moment, and it was a moment that Bela took full advantage of. Before he realized he let her have an advantage, Bela kicked out Ethan's legs, causing him to end up on his back as well. "If you don't mind, however, I like being on top." Bela said, quickly standing. Ethan rolled away before standing as well, trying to generate distance. Bela let him have it. Not for any noble or honorable reasons, Bela just couldn't see straight, and standing up too quickly made her a bit sick.
"Stop the damn teasing already, it's getting annoying." Ethan huffed as he struggled to maintain a steady stance. "We are too drunk for this, Bela."
"Perhaps, but I'm having fun." Bela replied as she got back in a stance with her hands out in front of her, Ethan quickly followed suit.
"Fucking Christ. Why do we have to do this right now?"
Bela charged. "Stop your bitching!" She said as she let a would-be devastating right hook fire off toward Ethan, but luckily he dodged. Her fist missed the man and planted itself into and through a wall.
Ethan's eyes bugged out a bit, "Damn Bela! Are you trying to kill me!?"
"You'll be fine! I won't kill you. Now fight me!"
Ethan dodged another punch and gave one right back into Bela's kidney, driving the fist into her as hard as possible. The woman recoiled in pain and fled from the source for a moment, blinded by pain. Ethan took the chance and gave another strike into the same organ, and one more for good measure. Bela stumbled back, crashing into a table rather loudly, clutching her side and hissing in pain.
"Fuck! Damn you, manthing!" Bela said, voice dripping in venom. Ethan didn't give her an opening to attack. Instead, he dropped into a standing guard and prepared to defend himself against any attack the woman could throw at him.
Bela took one wobbly step toward him, and he took one forward. Ethan made a juke towards her, causing Bela to falter in her stance trying to defend against a non-existent attack, leaving her open. Slipping her defense, Ethan gripped Bela's elbow and wrist, pulling the arm and trying to best to throw her. Ethan knew the chances of it working perfectly were slim, but it still threw her off balance enough to wrap his arms around her waist and hoist her into the air-
-before slamming her down into the air. The woman let out a rather painful gust of breath and tried to move, but Ethan was on her too quickly. Straddling her stomach and gripping her wrist, Ethan retained complete control. That was until she disappeared into her flies and reappeared behind him, quickly putting him into a headlock and squeezing. Ethan flailed, trying his best to free himself, but to no avail.
Grabbing her hand, Ethan found a grip on one of her fingers and snapped it. "FUCK! God damn you!" Bela said, back-peddling and forcing the finger back into place. Bela hissed in pain once more as Ethan coughed, trying to regain his breath. The duo got back up and readied themselves once more. This time, however, both rushed forward at once. Ethan drove a fist into Bela's chest, right under her ribs. Bela kicked Ethan with her shin, delivering the blow to his side. Both their attacks did serious damage to the other.
Bela fumbled back, desperately trying to breathe, while Ethan fell onto the floor, clutching at some now broken ribs. "You're powerful, I will give you that." Bela said. "But you're mold isn't doing anything yet."
Ethan groaned. "Ain't like I can control the shit. It kinda just popped up." He said as he tried to rise to his feet again. He felt the ribs slowly set back in place but he still couldn't breathe right. Wheezing a bit, Ethan got ready for another attack, while Bela gave a few coughs. Slowly settling back into their stances, they inched forward this time.
Once Ethan was within reach for Bela, she lunged at him. She grabbed his neck and pulled him close and drove a knee right into the same spot she kicked him. Ethan felt a jolt searing somewhere in his chest, and he tried to gasp for air. When he did, however, an unbelievable pain struck him. The pain and inability to breathe right made it rough to call down. He clutched at his chest as his breath became shallower.
Bela recognized what was happening and quickly drew her sickle. Rushing over, she stabbed the tip of her blade just a little into Ethan's chest, just between two of his upper ribs. Ethan immediately felt the pressure release. For a moment, he clutched onto Bela and tried to regain his composure. "One of your ribs stabbed into your lungs when I hit you that second time. Pressure began to build inside your chest." Bela explained to Ethan. "I'm sure you would've been fine, but this will help regardless."
Ethan could feel his breathing return to normal, though he could feel the soreness from his side still, telling him his ribs are still damaged. Ethan saw that the opening that Bela stabbed into him was already closing up and he wasn't having any issues breathing again. Without warning, Ethan gave Bela an uppercut.
Bela fell back and crashed into a table, clutching her face. "You son of a whore! That was a cheap shot and you know it!" She yelled, clearly furious.
Ethan didn't have time to defend himself when Bela charged and tackled him to the ground. Straddling around his stomach, Bela grabbed the front of Ethan's shirt and pulled him up by it, but drove a punch straight into his mouth, busting his lips. Pulling him once more, Bela slammed her forehead into his nose, knocking stars into Ethan's vision.
Standing up, Bela still a bit furious, kicked him. Ethan rolled over from the force, groaning. The only thing Ethan could think about was checking his teeth to see if he lost any. Ethan tried to stand back up, but before he could get off his hands and knees, Bela grabbed him by his shirt and slammed him back down.
Laying there for a moment, Ethan felt himself heal from the damage. Rolling over a bit, Ethan looked up a bit to see Bela huffing and puffing as well, downing a full bottle of wine, with her back to him.
Silently he rose and grabbed an empty bottle forgotten by Bela. Quickly, he smashed the glass against Bela's head. She clutched at the side of impact, forgetting the wine, and let the bottle crash to the ground, blowing apart and spilling wine. Ethan then ducked down a bit and picked Bela up by her legs and quickly slammed her down face-first on a table, breaking the wooden furniture.
Ethan took a few steps back. Still in pain all over and tired, he observed Bela. She took a moment to collect her thoughts while laying in the rubble. Rising and turning, Ethan saw the cuts and scraps across her face. Sighing, Ethan was disappointed to see that Bela was still in the fight. Ethan raised his fists and dropped into a boxing stance, while Bela stooped lower like a primitive hunter.
The two slowly side-stepped around each other in a circle, slowly inching their way closer and closer, before Ethan took a large step forward with a quick right jab, tagging Bela in the face, and quickly followed up with a left hook. Bela quickly recovered and gave Ethan an overhand punch down onto his face. Ethan tried his best not to fall but another fist came just as hard as the first and he was unable to keep himself steady. With his guard now dropped, Bela kicked him in the chest. She had obviously put her all into it, as Ethan now found himself crashed into a wall, with the plaster and wood behind him crushed.
Looking up, Ethan saw Bela with a grin that just pissed him off for some reason. Letting out an angry growl that turned into a short but furious roar, Ethan quickly pulled himself out of the wall. Seeing his shirt in tatters, Ethan ripped the rest off and let the anger give him energy. Looking down at his arms, he could see the mold starting to creep its way up, but it was slow. It wasn't as dark either.
Bela saw this too and smirked.
Ethan settled back into his stance once more and so did Bela.
Each advanced onto each at a walking pace, neither afraid of the other.
Bela tried to boot him once more but Ethan quickly side-stepped it and caught her ankle and quickly drove a fist into her outside thigh, damaging the muscle badly before kicking her like how she kicked him.
Now it was Bela that found herself rolling across the floor. She groaned, feeling the added power of the mold. "Damn, that hurt." Bela mumbled.
"You wanna stop?" Ethan asked, a bit hopeful.
"Hell no. Things just got interesting. Though I am curious how you called upon the mold like that." Bela said. Ethan just shrugged. "I wonder how long it'll last for."
Ethan didn't say anything, but he doubted it would last very long. He could easily see that it had stopped progressing. He didn't feel as fresh as he did when it flared up with Cass, but it still gave him an edge here. Bela was already tired and injured while Ethan was mostly healed now. "Why don't you use your flies and heal?" Ethan asked.
"Can't, not after drinking. My flies absorb alcohol as well. They are only able to hold me together." Bela said, standing up. "Lucky you though, that your mold just exists within you. I bet you're not even drunk anymore."
Bela was right. He wasn't. The mold cleared that up rather quickly. "Bingo. Come on Bela, just stop. You've seen enough, right?" Ethan asked once more.
"Hell no." She spat. Ethan sighed. He was going to have to either knock her out or make her submit, but neither of those was easy.
Rushing over, Ethan grabbed onto a bent-over Bela and drove a knee into her chest twice, before driving a third into her face. Not letting her fall, Ethan pulled her up and gave her two uppercuts in her face. Absolutely stunned, Bela couldn't stop Ethan as he threw her into a wall face-first. He felt bad for beating on her so much, but he knew a Dimitrescu would never stop.
Bela crumbled onto the floor a groaning, half-conscious mess. Dark, thick blood was dripping from her face wounds, and mouth. She tried to sit up once more, but Ethan wanted to finish this. A quick kick to her face and she flopped over and her head smacked off the ground. She lay there, motionless and without a sound for a while. Ethan dropped onto the ground near here, tired as well. He could see the woman was still breathing, so that was could.
After a moment, her eyes fluttered open, and looked around, but otherwise stayed still. Ethan had since calmed down and his mold receded. He heard Bela shift and looked over to see her sit up. She was still bleeding a bit and confused. "You ok?" Ethan asked.
Bela looked over at him, face busted. At first, she just stared but then remembered what he said. "Yeah. I think." She answered in a tired tone. "That hurt… a lot. I think you broke… a lot of stuff." Bela said, trying to move towards the wall so she could sit up.
Hissing and huffing, Bela barely was able to manage it. Leaning her head against the wall, she looked at the room. "Luckily mother never comes in here, or else she would be furious. I will have the maids clean this room up. Shouldn't be too much to do."
Bela tried to wipe a bead of blood off her forehead, but she simply did not have the energy or coordination to properly clean it off. Instead, she just smeared it across her face. Ethan sighed and grabbed his ruined shirt, wetted it with his tongue, and started to clean up her face a bit. "Thanks. That last bit knocked me senseless." Bela said with a bit of pride.
"I didn't know you girls could really bleed." Ethan said.
Bela sighed, "It's weird. Honestly, our whole physicality is weird. We have everything- guts, bones, organs, everything. Yet it's somehow made of flies…"
"Yeah, that doesn't really make sense." Ethan nodded in agreement. "How can flies just meld together like that?"
"Mold. That's the only answer I got and the only one that makes sense. Outside of that… magic?"
Ethan laughed and Bela tried too as well, but started to just cough. "You should probably try to relax until your flies can heal you." Bela nodded, trying to stop the coughing fit.
"Can you do me a favor? Can you carry me over to the couch? I want to go to sleep and I don't think I'll make it to my room but passing out." Bela said after wrangling in her voice.
"No problem." Ethan said. He too was tired and wanted to go to bed. It had to be past midnight and he rarely stayed up that late. Standing up, Ethan grabbed onto Bela's hand and gently pulled her up, and grabbed her around her waist to help move her. Carefully, the two walked over broken furniture and shards of glass, made set down on the only couch that wasn't ruined to some extent.
Bela laid over and closed her eyes. "Goodnight, Ethan." And like a lightbulb, she was out.
Ethan grumbled something in reply before he rested his head on the couch and closed his eyes as well, drifting off to sleep…
Some issues with the pregnancy popped up the previous week and that took my attention away for a few days, but everything turned out to be fine. Then the following weekend me and my girlfriend went out of town to watch Oppenheimer (great movie, really intense). Now... after I came back I took a look at what I had... and scrapped it. It just didn't feel that great to me, and I kept scrapping sections as I wrote, too. The ending of this chapter is like the 3rd version, each of which was completely different.
In some life news though, I learned the gender of my baby! It's going to be a boy! Me and my girlfriend were hoping for a girl, but I'm happy non the less... shes a bit sad, but still excited for them to come into the world.
I believe that for the next couple of weeks or months, updates should come out fairly regularly, but there's a good chance they will come late. However, nearing the end of the pregnancy, things will get dicey. After the baby is born (looking like February), I may not post for some time, perhaps 2-6 months at the least. At that time I can try to write a little bit and push an update whenever I could, but just know that this story won't just stop without me saying something.
I've got some damn big plans for this story. I've written a rough two-page outline for what I want to happen throughout the entire story... and I'm not even a quarter of the way down on the first page.