There was no light to be found at all inside the castle halls. The darkness was unusual, as a few candles were allowed to stay light during the night. As she navigated through the rooms that led to the Main Hall, Bela could not find a single flame. It was so strange. Why had they all been snuffed out?
It's so quiet. I feel like I am the only person inside this place.
She passed through the double doors that brought her into the wide-open room. The flameless chandelier above her swayed around ever so slowly. It was an eerie sight, as the way the massive light fixture moved around seemed to imply that there had been something on top of it. She scanned around the dim room, but there was nothing to be found. No sign of the servants. No sign of her sisters.
No sign of anything.
Where is everyone?
She spread her arms to ready her horde, but not a single fly would depart from her. Her body felt solid. There was no separation. No deviance from the anatomy of one, individual organism. She could not understand it.
What is wrong with me?
The air suddenly turned cold as a chill rushed across her. Desperately, she spun around to check for any open windows that she could find. Her mind wasn't thinking, as there would never be such danger in this room. However, the intense burst of subzero temperatures argued such a reality. The cold had to have been coming from somewhere, but where?
I…I need to get out of here!
Her legs and arms shuddered and shook; stung by the needles of the frost. She could feel her nerves aching with every pulsating radiation of the winter's touch. Her pale skin had shifted into a dull blue, even though she could barely see it under the shadows. Her legs gave out and she collapsed to her knees. That was when Bela finally felt the familiar sense of fear that emerged the moment Ethan had shattered that window outside the dungeon exit.
The vulnerability to everything around her came back into play. She knew she would die if she stayed here, but for the life of her, she could not move at all.
Her teeth clattered as her breath turned to a white mist. She could feel herself shrinking under the pressure from the cold. The flies inside her body withered and shattered, stunted by the unforgiving wrath of her greatest weakness.
A chuckle from the other end of the room caught her attention.
"Daniela?" Bela had to force the words out of her throat. She could barely speak.
The sight of the redhead did not immediately birth any sign of hope in the blonde. The way her sister stood around was odd. Her body was posed in a dancing motion – but she remained perfectly still. Her arms extended like the ballerina she pretended to be. Her heeled foot kicked outward from behind her. A moment of her prior antics frozen in time.
Something wasn't right.
"Bela…" Daniela's hooded face slowly turned in her direction, her neck creaking like an old board as it did so. "Bela…" She teasingly repeated.
"Daniela…what is happening?"
The redhead's eyes were overcome by a dark shadow, which blacked out the white backings behind her amber-infused rings. Her small lips broke out into a sharp frown at that very moment, just as the first maggots began to drip out from its corners.
"We couldn't find you."
Before Bela could even acknowledge what her sister had said, everything she could see instantly vanished from view. The room was gone, and she was left kneeling in a cold void of nothing. As the next misty breath escaped her teeth, Bela witnessed a pair of dark claws as they emerged in her direction. The reptilian talons gripped her shoulders from the front, digging into her back as the hands clenched.
Vikcia's face popped up from within the shadows. Her mouth was the only visible thing. Her teeth glimmered behind her black lips, unleashing piles of maggots as she vomited them out. The woman's purple tongue polished her canines as she swathed it across her jaw.
A growl and then a giggle.
In the darkness, Daniela could be heard screaming. "Bela!"
The jolting of her body brought her back to the real world – or, at least, the one she was still in. The room was just as dark as her dream, but as Bela's eyes sharpened, she realized where she was. A disturbed groan bellowed from her throat as she turned to adjust herself. Her head was heavy, but she was unsure of how much sleep she had gotten.
All she knew was that the outside world was still gripped within night and there was no telling when the three suns would return. She resigned herself to laying where she was. There was no point in trying to speed up the process besides drifting off again.
"Are you alright?" Ethan spoke out from his corner of the room.
Ugh…him again.
Bela simply groaned as she stuffed his coat under her head. It was so thick that she felt comfortable enough to keep her eyes shut, though her mind was far from restful. Her adrenaline had been jumped-started by the visions in her dream and she was now too alert to easily return to her slumber.
It was an inevitable hell of being energetic and tired at the same time.
"You were asleep," Ethan stated.
"Yeah…" Her voice grumbled. "How long?"
"About an hour or so."
She turned over onto her left side as she wrapped her right arm around his coat. "Not nearly enough."
Ethan kept his head against the wall, alternating between his view of her and that of the outside world. There was the occasional sighting of creatures flying in the distance, though he could not discern what they were. The subtle shrieks and moans of the infected populace below would sound off, but there was no reason to suspect that they knew the duo was in this building.
Most of all – Vikcia had not been detected thus far. Whatever that woman was doing, it was for the best that she was nowhere near them. Ethan was cautious about how great her senses were. He worried that she would find them if she navigated just close enough.
"Yeah, I can't sleep," he mentioned as he held on to his LEMI pistol. "I just have so much on my mind."
He could hear a short, almost amused huff come from her nostrils. "Hmm, sounds fun."
"I think we have two very different definitions of that word." Ethan set his sights back down on his handgun. He wanted to ask for her to toss him one of the weapon's magazines that were stowed away inside his coat, but he figured she was too tired to get into a bout of frustration over where to find it. Maybe he was just on edge, he thought. He had enough bullets in the gun to make due in a pinch.
Let the woman get her rest.
Bela rotated onto her back, cracking her neck along the way as she sought to relieve the tension that her sleeping position had bestowed upon her spine. She opened her eyes up at the dark ceiling, resting her cupped hands just below her breasts. Her voice sounded a little more awake this time, "We have a different everything, man-thing."
"Don't let me keep you up," he said.
"I can't fall asleep," she replied. "I guess you can speak. I figure, if you bore me to death, I'll probably go to sleep faster."
Ethan breathed a silent belly laugh as he smiled to himself in the shadows. "You snore, did you know that?"
"What?" He could see her head lift. There was a small hint of uncertainty in the way she spoke, as if part of her believed him. "No, I don't."
"I was about to wake you myself. I was worried you'd lead the whole city to this room."
The blonde grunted as she turned back onto her side. "You're lucky I'm too tired to get up, otherwise, you'd be screaming."
"Will you be awake when you kill me?"
She crinkled her brow. "What?"
"I mean…if you were sleepwalking, I'm sure the sound of your snoring would drown out my screams."
Bela wanted to take his coat and throw it at him, but there was a part of her that told her to stay put. It had to have been the exhaustion, she figured. A respite from all the harrowing close calls with death was sufficient in zapping the blonde's strength from her body. She would have hated to remove herself from the position that she was in. Even if his annoying voice was to be heard, her body was as relaxed as she could have it.
"Shut up, will you?"
Ethan let out a low chuckle as he continued to sit there. "Yeah, no worries. Sorry, I just had to get my mind off this insanity for a second. You don't know how much I needed to make a joke."
"Make one about yourself next time."
"Will do."
Bela sat there with her eyes open as she gazed at the wall across from her. The eldest daughter of House Dimitrescu often fancied herself as a stern force who kept her guard up at all times. There was never time to kick back and smile in the face of outsiders – let alone, men.
However, with everything that she had been through, part of her wanted to unwind, even just a little bit. She gravitated toward the comfort of the shadows. They would conceal any expression on her face that would indicate how she felt right now. She did not want Ethan to see any signs of worry or sadness in her eyes. Her voice was something that she would have to work on, but right now, her expression had to have been as raw as ever.
She had never been so tired before. The way she was acting felt too human for her liking.
She couldn't escape it.
"Do I actually snore?"
"Huh?" Ethan was caught off guard, even though he had heard what she said loud and clear. "No, you don't. I was just kidding. You did make a sound or two, but it could have just been your breathing. I wasn't paying so much attention to you sleeping."
I'd rather…I'd rather not be in this room alone right now, I guess. At least he's keeping watch.
"I knew you were lying," she responded in her usual, confident tone.
"Sure you did."
The blonde returned to lying on her back, adopting the same pose that she had as before. "My sister, Cassandra, snores. I do not snore, man-thing."
"Which one is Cassandra?"
"The one who can never stay still," she said, unable to hold back a small grin as she thought about her beloved younger sister.
"The one with the red hair?" Ethan guessed.
"Eh, I guess that applies to both of them," Bela replied. "The one with the dark hair."
"Oh, her…"
Yeah, he knows Cassandra…
"Yeah, so, for future reference, you can go bother her about that." Bela twiddled her fingers against her stomach as she thought about what she had just said. It was hard to say something borderline friendly when she remembered how much she needed to kill Ethan when they returned. It would have been best to stop talking, but, something was getting the better of her.
Something that she needed an answer to.
"Hey," Bela spoke as she bit her lower lip. There was still time to abort, but she felt herself falling into the path she had conceived in her head. "What you said about me earlier; did you mean it?"
Ethan glanced her way. He was going to ask what she was talking about when it dawned on him. "No, I didn't. I was just angry because…well, you know."
"Yeah, I know: your wife." Bela sighed as she interlocked her fingers; her eyes still affixed to the ceiling above. "I just wanted to ask, that was all."
Ethan wanted to go over there and sit next to her. He did not know what compelled him to do so, but he abstained from asking or making any sort of mention of it. She was being unusually conversive, and that was not something to be upended.
Nevertheless, the blonde picked up on her own actions. "But, that is it. I know I said it was best if we didn't talk about these things. I just wanted an answer from you."
"We can talk about this if you want." Ethan continued to hold a spiritual hand out to her.
"What good is it going to do, Ethan?" Bela slowly closed her eyes and shook her head as it lay against his coat. "Do you just like revisiting bad things?" She opened her eyes back up, taking a quick glance at where he was, even though she couldn't see him. "Do you honestly think it is going to make you feel better?"
She would have normally asked him that to insinuate that he was a foolish idiot. Hell, she had a great track record of doing so. Yet, like the way she had asked him if he meant everything he said when he insulted her, her voice carried that weak beckoning for clarification.
"I do." Ethan remained steadfast in his beliefs. "But, I don't think my daughter is a 'bad thing.'"
"I wasn't talking about your daughter…"
Ethan replied almost instantly, "I know."
…
Bela rose up from her position and sat up as she straightened out her hood. "What does that mean?"
"You love your sisters, right?"
"Don't." She growled as she glared at him. The moonlight highlighted the viciousness in her eyes. She wanted him to know that he was treading on dangerous territory. If he was smart – he would not take another step.
"I'm not going to talk about your sisters, Bela." Ethan crossed his legs and raised his knees. "I just don't know why you don't want to. I can talk about Rose all day."
"I guess you didn't understand me when I told you we were not the same."
"I'm just saying it doesn't have to be bad things, that's all."
Bela went silent as her vision fell from him. She leaned forward, resting her left elbow on her inner thigh as she crossed her legs. A sigh was breathed into the air as she shook her head once more. The woman saw how easily she teetered on the edge of feeling distraught. She wished that she had the company of one of her sisters instead of this man. It would have been easier to open up to them and talk. They could lay out their problems and sort them out, then they could return to the task at hand.
It would have been so easy – except, she knew it wouldn't have been.
Bela did not know who she was lying to more; Ethan, or herself.
Things had not been too well for her and her siblings in the last couple of weeks, and she knew it. With the way she and Cassandra had left off, the blonde could only imagine how riled up the brunette would have gotten at every single thing that this world threw at her. There was no way the middle daughter could have handled being in another realm, she thought. The woman would have lashed out; doing her damnedest to end the lives of everyone around her.
Trying to wrangle her aggressive mentality and keep it together would have been impossible. If she could not stop herself from fighting with her sisters, then what would it take? Bela could not figure that out.
She knew she and Cassandra would not have stopped to settle any matters. It would have just been more fighting. More insulting. Inject enough stress – things might have even gotten physical after how much their relationship had deteriorated.
Daniela was no better. Her fantasies would have gotten her killed. She couldn't keep it together in their castle. What better would Serpenmoor be? Vikcia would have eaten her alive. She was above Cassandra in terms of wanting to bond, but it was a bond that stood on fragile ground. It was easy to upset her, and Bela had opted to accept the norm for what she perceived it as.
As Bela sat in her corner, facing Ethan, she finally admitted to herself how hopeless things would have been no matter what. Her siblings should have been the closest thing to her, but in her time of greatest need, it was Ethan who was here to lend a hand. The fact that an enemy of such magnitude had tried to forgo the past to advance toward a better future spoke volumes about her life. It hurt to think that this may have been a better arrangement compared to her siblings.
Most of all – she knew it would hurt to accept his help. But, his hand remained extended. If she wouldn't accept it, she would at least keep him at arm's length.
"Did you have any siblings?" Bela decided to make conversation, for once. It would be proof that things didn't have to be all bad, as he had mentioned. She was not searching for a friend. She did not need one. The only thing she needed right now was to prove herself wrong – whatever it took.
Ethan was shocked to hear her ask him such a question. He thought that she was about to spring into yet another frenzy if he continued to speak. The man relaxed himself and kept his back pressed against the wooden panels of the wall. "No, just an only child. My parents could not afford to raise more than one kid in Cali."
"Why?"
"Well," he chuckled. "For starters: we did not live in a monstrous castle. Some small apartment that was located within a larger complex was where I grew up. Not the slums or anything, but hardly your sunny suburbs that you see on the cover of magazines or on TV."
Bela let out a light hum as she tilted her head toward him. He could almost make out the tiniest smile on her face. "For the sake of not making you think that I'm falling back on my question; I have no idea what it is that you're talking about."
Ethan brought out his own smile as he re-lived some of the progress that his life had seen. "Well, I guess imagine a building just as big as your castle, but you only get a small room and that's it. The city is, well, kind of like this, but with a little more traffic…to say the least. California is supposed to be this paradise, but when you're trying to make a living, you don't have the time to enjoy it. I moved out when I went to college, got an apartment, and had a few roommates along the way. So, I didn't really know what it was like to live with someone until that point." He laughed quietly as he thought about how much he wanted to push the future ahead, only for all of this chaos to eventually take root.
Irony was always at his back.
Bela kept her lips parted as she sneaked a peek at him. She wanted to learn a little more about him. His life sounded interesting, much more so than anything she had seen the villagers do. While she never held any romantic aspirations, she always envisioned that any man fit for her would not have come from a common background. He would have had to have been a man of nobility and prestige. Someone fit for a title of their own.
The more Ethan talked about the world, the more she wondered what her standards entailed. Would any man stand a chance? What kind of background would someone have to have in order to win her heart?
Again, she never thought about love too often – if ever much at all. She knew her standards and that was it.
Alcina always told her to never fall for weak men. She said that all men were weak.
Therefore, what reason was there to even wonder?
"Interesting," Bela hummed again. "Sounds awfully boring."
Ethan scoffed. "I guess the castle princess doesn't have anything to share?"
Calling me names, now?
She lowered her voice an octave, curious if he would back down. "Why are you so eager to talk to me?"
Ethan abandoned all formality at that moment as he visibly raised his hands in the air. There was no use in playing games with her, nor did she appear to have the patience for them. "I'm still holding on to my idea that we work best if we work together. I'll tell you the truth: I don't want to work with someone who I think is just some mindless creature, and I know you're not. After all that I've seen from you back in our world, and what I've seen here, I just want to believe that you're more than that."
Bela gave him a soft stare as she thought about what he had said. At first, it lit a fire in her chest, as it sounded like he thought of her as a ravenous beast. While that was true in some regard, the respect that he included was something she could hold on to and consider. She prided herself on her nobility and was willing to elevate such an image if needed.
His mindset was something she could work with.
"Don't cause me trouble. Unlike my sister, I don't enjoy being angry."
Ethan nodded. "It sounds exhausting."
"It is." Bela rubbed the left side of her head, her eyes fleeting around the dark room. There was still time to end the conversation and try going back to sleep. She feared the more she talked to him, the more she would drag herself into a place where it would be difficult to pull out of. If she warmed up to him, it would be harder to go back to square one – which she knew in her heart was where they would be the moment they returned home.
She cared not about him as a person, though his kindness was well-received. To her – he was prey. An animal that was fit for a meal. It was only a matter of time before he would be slaughtered and hung out to dry.
She also understood the bond butchers could form with their animals if they were allowed to live for too long. That could not happen.
"What do you enjoy?" Ethan asked. That was the golden question that set her on a forked path. Would she be honest? Would she be distant?
Why do you care?
"How about you answer that?" She turned his question around. It was a safer approach, as the blonde did not feel the desire to divulge too much about herself. She'd let him take the reins and steer their conversation around. That way – any mistakes would be his doing.
"What do I enjoy?" Ethan re-iterated her request as he sat there, thinking about the way his life had been for the past couple of years. "Huh…you know, it's kind of funny you asked me that."
"Why so?" Bela perked her head up; intrigued by the way he spoke.
Ethan gave another round of that soft, little laugh of his. It wasn't that he found anything that either of them said funny, or anything of the sort. It was more of a nervous comfort mechanism. The way it trickled away into a fading wind as his lungs expelled the last of their resources was akin to the final steps of a man off a cliff, descending into the abyss of his past.
Bela was keen to analyze his mannerisms. Such was a pastime of hers. She loved to observe others and see what made them tick. Ideally, it was often amid torture that she would record emotional responses and physical reactions.
Cassandra was the castle's proud sadist, in the blonde's opinion. In their earlier years, they formed a bond when the brunette got the chance to mutilate her victims. The middle daughter's usual chaotic nature would take a backseat to patience as she allowed the eldest to record her findings. The victim would kick around and scream, crying out for mercy – as expected.
However, there were times they would respond in a flurry of anger up until their very last moments. Others would pray. Some would even lose mental acuity and regress to hallucinations. That was what captivated the blonde's interest, and the involvement of her sister allowed the two to discuss such matters and even share a laugh or two.
It was one of those rare occasions where they would both get to enjoy their respective hobbies and each other. By the same token; Bela also used it as a chance to understand Cassandra. The way she would respond when she was truly happy with herself was different from the way she spoke on most occasions.
It wasn't until the years went on that Bela began to realize how uncommon those moments of happiness were.
Ethan lifted his hands up and shrugged his shoulders high. "I guess I fell off all my interests after a bunch of shit happened to my family. We were so busy with everything that was going on that I never took the time to revisit my old pastimes. When I became a father, Rose became my sole interest, I guess you can say. My daughter was my top priority and I loved every second of it. I remember being a big fan of classical music. Photography is quite nice, too. Never felt like investing so much money into an expensive camera just to take a couple of photos."
He laughed again. "To tell you the truth: I really did forget, and I was okay with that because I was happy. If it wasn't for Rose, I'd say I forgot because life took me away from it."
Her thin eyebrows curved as she raised them. Her lips parted again before her head nodded at the smallest degree. "Hmm…" She mumbled it so quietly that only she could hear it. "That was a little profound, I'd say. Interesting, nonetheless."
"So, what about you?" He asked her again.
Bela stayed silent for a couple more seconds. She was still debating on whether or not she wanted to respond to him. There was nothing that he deserved to know about her, but the way the conversation went compelled her to add something to it. She could not figure out why. All she knew was that he was asking about her, and something about that inspired her to take the spotlight.
It still did not stop her from testing him.
"What do you think I like?" She asked.
Ethan wasn't ready to answer. He grunted slightly as he tried to piece together every interaction the two of them had shared. Admittingly, most of them were not pleasant at all. She had displayed so many instances of ferocity and bitterness that he had wondered if there was anything else she did besides scorn those around her. His hesitation did not go unnoticed, as Bela raised her knees and wrapped her arms around them, interlocking her fingers.
"Well?" She inquired again.
"You want the truth?"
"I don't enjoy lies," she stated.
Ethan threw his caution to the wind. If she was a woman of her word, then she would not erupt into a frenzy at what he had to say. "I think you like getting what you want."
Huh?
"That's not a hobby, man-thing…"
"My only guess for your hobbies is bleeding people like me dry, I don't know. To be honest, I don't know what you and those sisters of yours do all day in that castle." He recalled the vast array of horrors and dead bodies that made up the underground levels. "Besides killing innocent people – I haven't got a damn clue. But, your attitude makes me think you enjoy satisfaction. More or less: you hate disappointment."
She scoffed at his comments. Those words could have described anybody. Who out there enjoyed disappointment? He was right about the killing. It was fun to end the lives of others, though she always favored the product in contrast to the process. The blood was a rich foundation of taste and craft. He would not understand it, nor should he.
If grapes could talk, what would be the point of telling them about wine?
"You hit the nail right on the head, stupid man…"
He shook his head. It was impossible to catch a break with her. It was another reminder of how much he was playing with the devil. Tickling the dragon's tail before it turned around to engulf him in flames. She was subtle in her approach, but keen to remind him of how they weren't friendly with one another.
There was a slight grin to be had on his face for a second as he thought about the blonde woman. She carried a slight charm to the way she went about herself. When she wasn't screaming or actively trying to kill him, she could be sort of personable. She could even display some extremely troubled qualities.
No monster he ever fought had fallen into a depressed stupor after some hurtful comments on his part. They were incapable of rationalizing; their only instinct being to feed and destroy. This woman and her siblings were undoubtedly the results of some form of diabolical creation. It was the village from hell, after all. They should have been just another addition to the nightmares that inhabited it.
Only, their carnivorous ways paralleled their humanity, and her charm made him want to talk to her because he felt like he was talking to a normal person. It was the strangest feeling of them all, and he wanted to know more.
"You also don't like others speaking for you," Ethan added. "So, why are you wasting your time by having me tell you what you like?"
…
It was a clever comeback that took Bela by complete surprise. Her fingers spread apart before her hands draped down the sides of her legs. She looked like she was ready to stand up, but did not know what she would do after. All she could do was think about what he had said and analyze it some more.
Was it an insult? It sounded like one. Only; the man had a point. Why would she let him speak for her?
Hmm…smart. Alright, Ethan, let's talk.
Bela returned to her original posture, rejoining her fingers as she sat across from him. "You're right. I'll bestow some credit on that. So, I'll tell you something I enjoy: wine."
Ethan clicked his tongue. "How could I not have guessed?"
"Unlike my sister, Cassandra, I truly enjoy the finer art of winemaking," she clarified as she touched on some of the days of her past. "She just drinks excessive amounts to quell her boredom. I actually enjoy making wine. I could care less about how it makes me feel, I just love the taste of my own creation."
"So, you're the castle's winemaker?"
"No." She smiled. "My mother is. She directs the servants to do all of that and she personally supervises it, though I was also placed in charge of some parts of the process. That is where I learned more about it and I became fascinated with the science of it. I took it upon myself to try to create my own bottle of wine, just for mother."
Ethan was about to ask for more detail, but the corpses inside the wine barrels that he had seen gave a clear picture of what exactly was the key ingredient to the wine. He cut his ambitions short. "What did she think?"
Bela flicked her eyebrows upward, though Ethan could not see it because of the continuing presence of the dark shadows. Her voice fell a little bit, "It wasn't on par with her own brand, so, more effort was required."
"How did the second attempt do?"
Bela let out a mix of a laugh and a sigh. She didn't sound too happy. "Hmm…she told me that it wasn't needed, so I listened. It's a shame because I thought it was good, but my pallet is not as refined as hers, and I must do better."
"Just because your mother said it wasn't good doesn't mean it wasn't good," Ethan said.
But, my mother said…
"Don't worry about it." Bela ceased the conversation. "You didn't know I enjoyed making wine, and that's what counts."
"Does it?"
"Will you just stop arguing with me? All you ever do is question every single little thing. Take things for what they are."
She was beginning to grow hostile. He wasn't an idiot. The last thing he needed right now was to have her going on another violent tangent about him. At the flip of a switch, Bela had gone from relatively peaceful to something close to the vile woman he had dealt with earlier in the day. He wasn't about to push her further off the edge. If she wanted to be angry, then she could be angry by herself.
"Thanks for telling me about yourself." It was all he had to say to her. A supportive-neutral that left no room for her to craft a belief that he was still fighting with her. The floor was open to how she wanted the conversation to go, and she couldn't blame him if it took a nose dive.
The choice was all hers now.
"I said to stop arguing with – what?" She stared at him, searching for any avenue of conflict that she could find. Even through the dark, there had to be indicators of how he was trying to clash with her. From what the moonlight had to offer; Ethan was as relaxed as could be.
He did not appear engaged with her at all; ready to return to whatever it was that he was going to do. He even looked like he could start getting comfortable enough to sleep. It seemed that he didn't want to fight at all and had decided to give her what she wanted. Bela closed her lips as she pinched her brows, still searching for something that she could complain about. Nothing.
She slowed her breathing as she scooted her body back toward the wall next to her. "That is all that you will hear. Do not ask me any more questions."
"As you wish."
Argh! He is so infuriating!
For a while, neither of the two said anything as they kept to their respective sides of the room. Ethan wasn't angry at Bela, but he wanted her to settle down. Talking was only going to piss her off more, as it had done in the past. He figured he would wait for her to calm down – whenever that would happen.
As Bela glared at Ethan through the shadows, she could not get his words out of her head. She hated herself for having spoken about the wine that she had made. To her, there was no reason why he had to know about it. She thought that she should have kept her mouth shut and not talked to him at all. It would have saved her a horde of aggravation in the process.
What doesn't he understand? I told him my mother said my wine wasn't good. Does it matter if I tried again? She said it wasn't good! Why would I risk upsetting her again, Ethan?! Huh? Think! Argh!
Her lips curled as she pushed her body closer to the corner of the wall. She wanted to get away from him. All the man did was generate irritability. She wanted to relax and fall back to sleep, but he had riled her up so much that she couldn't.
He doesn't know anything about wine, anyway. What would he know about the work that I put into it? Hmm? Nothing! He wouldn't be able to tell me why she didn't like it. I had to have gotten my times wrong when I fermented the ingredients. Maybe I kept the blood at the incorrect temperature. I had to have screwed something up! She could have at least given me praise for trying. She didn't have to dump it out in front of me. I still liked it…
Bela lowered her head and pressed both her hands against it. With the bridge of her nose between both sides of her palms, she slowly filled her lungs and expelled all the hot air inside her. It hardly did anything to help. Even after all those years, she still felt like a failure.
"I hate myself," she muttered without thinking.
"What was that?" Ethan asked, suddenly alerted. Her eyes widened the moment she realized how she had said that out loud.
"Nothing!" She screamed back at him.
Without warning, a crashing sound broke out from the opposite corner of the room. Bela and Ethan jolted back as they heard the disturbance. The blonde scurried over to retrieve her sickle, while the man on the other side snatched his flashlight and shined it in the direction of the noise. With his pistol at the ready, aimed in conjunction with the sharp beam, he prepared his finger for the first pull of the trigger.
To their surprise – the only thing they saw was a picture that had inexplicably detached itself from the wall. With a breath of relief, Ethan lowered his gun and flashlight. He could deal with the close call of pissing himself if it meant that there was no danger. Before he turned off the light, he used it to snag an opportunity to glimpse Bela clearly.
With the fall of the picture, the woman was back in survival mode. Her eyes were steady on what lay ahead of her, her body poised to strike at a moment's notice. Ethan noticed how she crouched over to her side, pushing her long gown out of the way so that she would not stumble if she were to stand up. Her hood was still pulled over her head, but he managed to see deeper into it, eyeing her gothic choker, her ornate necklace, and the pale skin of her neck itself.
There was something about her figure that tore her from the image of a total monster. His eyes drifted to her no longer blood-stained lips, which were still plump and dark. He recalled how wide her grin could get whenever she smiled. What fascinated him was how that smile was often seen with sinister intent, and he wondered why a face like hers had been gifted with such malice.
There had to have been a different woman behind it all.
Her amber eyes snapped in his direction. She had to have seen him looking at her. He turned the light off in an instant before another second could progress. What followed was another period of silence between the two as they kept their ears open for any sign of impending threats. The crash was loud. Something had to have heard it if it was nearby.
Seconds turned into minutes.
Minutes turned into nothing.
Ethan sat back down against the wall, his flashlight and his gun still in his grasp. Bela coiled back into her corner, her heartbeat still at a rapid pace. She took a breath to steady her nerves, but it did little to help. Something wasn't right – she could just feel it.
Why do I suddenly feel like I'm being watched?
She peered around the room, but there was nothing to be seen besides the silhouette of Ethan. The shadows had grown in intensity due to the clouds that covered the moon. It was getting harder to tell what she was looking at. Shapes in the room formed figures that she wasn't sure if she had seen before. They could have been boxes. They could have been monsters.
She whispered out to Ethan to get his attention, "Hey…shine your light over by the door."
"What? Why?"
"I thought I saw something."
Ethan took her up on her concerns, directing his flashlight toward the requested spot and flipping the switch. The beam of light cast upon the opening to the room, highlighting the presence of nothing there except the wall of the hallway. He turned the light off and sat it against his thigh as he laid back.
"Nothing, Bela," he said. "It's okay."
Only, it wasn't okay. She was sure that there had been a shape that stood at the corner of the doorframe before he turned his light on. It was quite small but noticeable enough to stand out. The room was so dark that she could not tell if there was any movement. It seemed to have vanished when the flashlight was put to use. She would have thought that she was hallucinating, but as she stared at the doorframe after, she could tell that something was gone.
I don't like the way I feel about this. What was that?
A couple more minutes passed by as Bela anxiously sat there, waiting for the next shape to appear around the door frame. Her ears remained vigilant for any sounds that would echo down the halls. They were the only ones in the room, but the feeling that they weren't alone would not subside. The temperature of the air was starting to drop in certain areas. It felt like a cold cloud was floating around her.
The skin on the blonde's neck constricted as the icy touch brushed against it. It was an uncanny feeling that something had to have been close to her. She retreated a few feet to her left, noticing how the temperature of the room went back to normal when she did so.
That was when the coldness returned, as if it had followed her.
I'm not doing this!
Without any explanation, Bela stood up from where she was and paced over next to Ethan. The man was without words as he watched the woman who have previously been so distant suddenly approach him. She quickly sat down only a foot away, raising her knees and setting her weapons toward her right.
Ethan turned his eyes toward her, but she would not look at him. Her focus was so concentrated on where she was that it was like she was locked in a trance. Her amber stare sought to narrow in on the first thing that would diverge from the norm. She was waiting for any sign that would confirm her suspicions.
"What's happening?" Ethan had to ask her that question several times before she would finally answer.
"Something is over there," she said in a hollow voice. "I can feel it."
"What is over there? I don't see anything."
"That's the problem."
She continued to look around, using the moonlight that glimmered past the windows as a means to see what was ahead. The man's flashlight would have been a better source of illumination, but she was beginning to feel that whatever she was looking for would not respond to the light. She kept her sights set on that corner of the room.
Where are you? What are you?
Near the edge of the window, she could make out the faintest parts of a mist as it floated around before diving out of view. Her heartbeat doubled in pace, though she did not know how she was going to describe it. The mist was not Vikcia's dust clouds. Those were dark and dense. She would have never been able to see past them. Bela wanted to believe that her eyes had deceived her, but the way the mist appeared made it stand out from anything natural.
It felt almost alive.
As she waited for another sign of the mist, Ethan got up to retrieve his coat that was still on the ground. She wanted to call him back, but she bit her tongue as he made his way over there. The man casually reached down for his beige outerwear, throwing it over as soon as he got a hold of it. He zipped it up, before his head shifted toward his right.
"A little cold over here," he remarked.
"Ethan!" Bela loudly whispered. "Come back here!"
He was confused as to why she was so distressed. What could have –
"What the hell!" Ethan jolted around with a swing of his arm. He shined his flashlight in front of him, hoping to catch something in its path. Nothing.
Bela did not like what she was seeing. She stood up from where she was, frantically looking around in all directions. "What happened?"
"Something just tugged on my coat!" He said as he steadily walked backward toward her. Tension filled the air as the two of them silently agreed that something was not right, but what? Could this be Vikcia? Were the strange phenomena another example of the demon's demented powers?
As Bela took a step over to Ethan, the sound of running could be heard across the hall. Whatever it was – it had darted right past their room. Her eyes were around to catch the doorway in her peripherals. What was scary was that she still didn't see a single thing.
We need to get out of here. We're not alone.
Bela had taken her twin-barrel firearm and angled it toward the entrance to the room. She feared that the slightest sound would cause her to pull the trigger and create an even louder alarm for the rest of the infected population to come running in. However, she held no conclusive understanding of to what extent the threats in the city could be. For all she knew, whatever it was that was watching them was just as dangerous as the flesh-eaters outside, and that warranted a violent response if need be.
A path of cold wind suddenly darted past her and out of the room. Bela nearly pressed the front trigger, but the follow-up of warmth caused her to keep her finger at bay. Ethan had felt the presence too and quietly directed her to retreat further away from the door. The two of them found themselves near a dresser that had previously been enshrouded in darkness. It was so unseen that the man nearly tripped over himself as he bumped into it, but Bela's hand was quick to stabilize him and prevent a fall.
"Be careful," she warned him.
Ethan paused so that he could assess what was around him before he could trip on anything else that had been left unseen. The more he thought about it, the more the darkness in the room created a death trap. It had been so pitch-black that anything caught within its grasp was rendered invisible. He could only imagine what the denizens of this city had to go through when Vikcia first ravaged their world. To have been caught up in an endless darkness, unsure of what was around them had to have been soul-wrecking.
As Ethan's hand graced the top of the dresser, he felt a paper come under his touch. He pulled the page from its location and held it in front of him, turning his flashlight on at it soon after. Bela became alarmed at the sudden introduction of light, but as soon as she saw what he was holding, her curiosity grew.
"What are you reading?" She asked.
Ethan peered closer at the document that he had found. It was a formally-written scrap of text, evidenced by the large font on the top that typically signaled a message from an organization or government entity. Bela tilted her head as she read it along with him.
"Notice of Summons
Onolask Cathedral – 15th Day of the Fourth Moon
Of the authority hereby granted to the third circle of Peak Bishops
Percy Renalds, presiding over the council
To the Bickler family, and/or all residents of Building 46 residing in quarters of the aforementioned:
It has been brought to the attention of the council that reports of spiritual activity have been made alleging such occurrences within the confines of your residence. We have been made aware that local constables were contacted on three separate instances where the complainants, identified as those above, requested government resources, namely personnel, to conduct a review of the premises under the belief that the deceased children of the head of household continue to roam the corridors of the building after death.
Through our own investigation, we have substantiated these reports of complaints and are sending this notice of summons to appear before the third circle immediately upon receipt. As the constables had advised: perpetuating claims of life after death outside of the confines of where the departed are sent to is forbidden under religious law. You were warned twice by the local constables to not make such claims, yet, you continued to spread rumors that such an occurrence was within reality.
While our church mourns the loss of Gerian and Scarlett Bickler, we will not allow such transgressions. This notice was personally delivered to your residence by Peak Bishop Marquet, and as signed below to confirm its arrival, it has been delivered to your possession. If you do not appear within a day's passing, you will be subject to removal from your residence and brought to face greater charges.
Forewarning: this notice applies to ALL surviving members of the household to stand trial based on the charges above. If an absence is noted, all members will be charged with evasion of prosecution; punishable by no less than a decade in confinement.
It is within our prayers that you address this matter appropriately.
Peak Bishop Marquet – Third Circle"
As Ethan lowered the paper and turned off his light, a child's voice could be heard below the stairs.
"Scarlett?" It said.
Vikcia kept her hands curled up to her chest as she calmly walked down the cobblestone street. Her lips pulled to a long grin; the woman hummed her favorite melody as she gazed at her surroundings. A vast trail of dust and shadows followed her path as she trekked along. The night air was warm. It invigorated her senses as she searched for more flesh to devour.
Her stomach had grown empty since her previous meal. Her metabolism easily broke down the carcass of the infant and its mother. The unending hunger that she faced in the last two weeks was noticeable, but she knew there was more prey to be found. This playground was so large that there had to have been more people hiding out.
She tilted her head up at the sky, vocalizing a siren's call as she slowly waved her hands across her sides. The tone of her voice was different from the usual raspy draw that it often carried. She loved these moments when she could embrace these qualities. It was nice to find a place so quiet, free from the commotions of others that sought to feed and breed.
While she yearned for the decay of multiple bodies beneath her feet, the hard road under her toes was a pleasant change. It was a change that needed maintenance, though, as her appetite was steadily increasing. There had to be food somewhere.
She ceased her song momentarily as her gleaming eyes floated from building to building. She inhaled more air – keen for the scent of blood to trickle in through her nostrils.
A group of infected people could be seen as they wandered about down the block, but the way they shambled around indicated that there was nothing of value to be found. They were searching for food, just like she was. Vikcia could care less for these things if it meant that she did not get to indulge in a feeding. It was survival of the fittest in her world, and that would not change in this new one.
She erupted into a cloud of dust and took off into the sky, traveling up the side of one of the buildings nearby. Her dispersed body scaled the wall until it surmounted the roof. At the edge of the corner, she recollected her form and crouched like a gargoyle statue, eyeing the streets down below.
A giggle and laugh passed through her mouth, along with a clump of maggots that plummeted to the stones at the bottom. Vikcia crawled around the elongated spot where she was perched, sniffing for the next sign of where she could find someone to eat. Her dark robes dangled over the ledge, while her sharp claws buried themselves into the bricks around her.
She snarled as her search turned fruitless. For a second, she contemplated killing and eating one of the infected, but their meat would do nothing to satiate her true cravings. She needed fresh tissue; not that which was tainted by the dust. She had never tasted such delectable things until she arrived here, and part of her considered that she may have infected too many people too soon.
Vikcia backed away from the corner and moved further toward the center of the roof. She paced around in a circle, grumbling and giggling to herself as she stared at the ground. Her hunger was growing and she could feel it. Another giggle came out of her black lips before she smiled and resumed her singing without a care in the world.
The dark entity brought her arms back up to her chest as she slowly walked toward the opposite side, ready to peek down at the streets below once again. Her melodies played through her teeth, while individual larvae continued to slither out of the corners of her lips. Her purple tongue pushed some of the worms further out before she stopped in place and dipped her chin to her chest. Her giggling turned into a short cackle before she abruptly fell silent.
Standing atop the roof, the edges of Vikcia's body exuded vapors of shadows as she debated where she would go next. The opposing street still did not yield any new prey. Perhaps, she thought, the other side of the city may hold more options. She had been feeding too close to the clock tower; the epicenter of where her conquest began. It would possibly be best to search further out where her darkness may not have been as prevalent. There could still be others out there, and she was starving.
Just as she was about to disperse once again to travel out, her vision picked up on the display of light from the window of a building in the distance. She recognized such things as indicators of the presence of the uninfected, which turned the light into a beacon of food. This had to be it.
A grim smile drew across her pale face as she exhaled a raspy breath before another slow cackle followed.
NOTES:
Hope you all enjoyed this chapter!
A little more bonding and a little more Bela in this one. She's starting to show more of her true self, if ever so slowly. Only so much can happen in a dark, silent room, but when she has time to think – her thoughts aren't always so uplifting.
I wanted to introduce a new kind of horror in this story – ghosts.
It was something I had in mind in terms of something supernatural that was around before Vikcia arrived here. This will probably be the only chapter that deals with them, but I wanted to change things up. It's just another unsettling thing to be found by our (not yet a couple) couple.
Speaking of horror – Vikcia is about to come knocking.
Expect her next run-in with Ethan and Bela to be more high-stakes than before. They've already escaped from her once and she's not willing to let that happen again. That chapter will release in another two weeks!
Thanks for the support as usual! Let me know what you think/hope to see/wish could have been done better!
I'm so happy to have readers like you all! A lot of my free time is spent on both stories that I'm writing, but the effort is well worth it! Hope you all have been happy and healthy in the meanwhile! I'm so happy to see new readers finding this work and watching it grow from how it first started. Still got tons more content ahead as Bela and Ethan unravel the truth of why they are here and fight like hell to escape!
Thanks again for everything! Stay safe! 😊