With another swing of Bela's arm, her sickle found itself embedded in the back of the infected woman. The maggot-ridden lady stumbled around as Ethan's flashlight tried to keep up with her. The small office that they had entered seemed empty until the lurching menace sprung out into view. She narrowly missed the blonde's face when she reached out for her.
It was another close call that Bela did not want to have. She was pressing her luck, and the next fight always brought with it the chance that she might fail.
Ethan tried to keep his gun centered on the woman, but her constant movements made landing a shot tricky. Bela and Kyia were also within proximity, and he did not want to risk either of them being in the way when the trigger was pulled. The brunette backed herself into a corner, hoping that the fight would not engulf her.
She was too afraid to venture back out, and the commotion could surely invite more denizens to their location. Kyia held her book out in front of her as she bent her knees and shrank further down into the corner. Ethan could hear her tiny whimpers of fear amidst the growls of the plague-infested attacker, as well as Bela's furious groans.
Another sickle blow to the back. Blood seeped out of the torn wounds, but the woman just kept on fighting. Did they even feel pain? Or, did their bodies ignore it enough to continue the hunt? Bela couldn't be too certain, but she was giving it all that she had.
Why isn't she facing me?
Bela ripped the sickle back out and hooked it around the corner of the infected's neck. The tip sank into her tissues without resistance. She could already see the red starting to gush out.
Got you! One nice pull and –
The woman spun around and caused the sickle to turn across her throat as she faced her. Her esophagus was carved open in an instant. Though it was a mortal wound, she threw her arm across her body – and Bela felt a sharp sting form on her left arm.
Argh! Damn it! What was that?!
The blonde put her mind back on task and used her sickle to pull down on the woman's collarbone while it was still inside her. The infected collapsed onto her blood-soaked knees, and the eldest daughter tore the blade straight out. Before the creature could even rise, she drove the tip of the weapon directly into the crown of her skull.
You're dead!
The woman fell at that instant. No resistance. Nothing.
She was finished.
Bela plucked the sickle out from her foe's bleeding head. In a fit of anger, she kicked the face of the corpse, spreading a pile of maggots across the room. The woman's jaw had been completely covered in them, and the removal of the larvae revealed nothing but exposed raw flesh and bone. It appeared that her tongue had been devoured to some capacity, but whether it was by the worms or her own teeth was a mystery destined to remain unsolved.
All that Bela cared about was that this was another one gone off the table. She had hoped for a moment of reprieve after she ended the life of that infected man with the hammer, but a walk into the next hall stomped those hopes into the ground. This building had to be teeming with these things, and the more they explored, the closer they came to death.
Catching her breath, she glanced at Ethan as he turned his light to her.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"Yeah." She stepped away from the dead body and moved closer to him. The stinging on her left arm caught her attention again, and she moved her gloved hand to inspect it. A slick glide was the first thing she noticed.
What?
With the glow of Ethan's light illuminating the room, she turned her gaze down and saw a trail of blood actively leaving her arm.
Really?!
"Ugh!" She huffed a loud groan.
"What?" Ethan turned his head back to her. All she did in response was point to her wound. "Jesus! She got you?"
Bela glanced down at the corpse, seeing that she had succeeded in snagging a shard of glass from a shattered mirror. The fragments were scattered all across the desk that the woman had been hunched over during the blonde's attacks. No wonder why she had her back turned. She was procuring a weapon.
It was a little too smart for Bela's liking.
Ethan rushed over to tend to her injury, but she waved him off.
"Is the outside of this room safe?" She asked.
"As safe as it can be, for now," Ethan replied, poking his head out the door to inspect the medium-sized room that they had crossed. There had been another opened office just across the exit, which appeared to be empty.
"I saw some lanterns in there." Bela pointed to the same room in question. "Right before that lady ambushed us, I had my attention on them. There are two in there. I figured that we could use them."
"My flashlight isn't going to last forever," Ethan stated.
"Exactly." Bela walked past him, still clutching her bleeding arm. "Vikcia is affected by your light. I doubt these will do anything to her, but we should conserve what we have."
"Once again," Ethan said, "you bring up a good point."
"Don't I always?" She flicked an eyebrow at him with a neutral expression before she looked back at the lanterns. As the rest of them exited the room, Bela glanced at the next doorway that led to whatever else was ahead of them. This building was a den of uncertainty. She doubted that they would find peace anywhere else but here. The good thing about this spot was that these rooms were properly sealed off. The entrance had not been compromised at all, and if it were to be locked, there would be no overcoming it. The added security of this area gave a sense of comfort, as the thin wooden doors to some of the other rooms could be smashed to bits in an instant.
Nothing should be able to sneak up behind them, she thought. It seemed as though this spot would be a great place to rest. As her eyes turned to Kyia, who was still shaking in the background, a different idea came to mind.
As soon as she took hold of the lanterns, Bela observed the oil levels to be sufficient. The pieces of her plan were beginning to fall together. She retained hold of one, while she handed the other to the brunette. Kyia's green eyes locked onto hers with a wave of curiosity.
Bela sighed and leaned her head to the office where they had been collected. "You stay here. It is safe, and you have a source of light. Ethan and I will move ahead and scout out the area."
"What?" Kyia raised an eyebrow in protest. She could not believe that Bela would even bring up such an idea. "I am not going to remain here alone! I am defenseless against those…monsters!"
"You refuse to arm yourself," Bela reminded her with a hint of scorn in her tone. "Count this as a favor. It is better to have you out of the picture, rather than caught in the middle of the work that Ethan and I are trying to do."
"Excuse me?" Kyia found a sense of degradation in her words. "What does that mean?"
"You get in the way," Bela explained. "I could have killed that lady with a blow to the face, but, when she backed me into a wall, guess who was there, right behind me? You! I should have just gone for the hit, but that would mean I could have cut you too. The way I see it: you're going to be shaking in fear no matter where I put you. At the very least, you can stay out of harm's way here."
Kyia turned her eyes to Ethan. "Do you hear what she is saying? Ethan?"
The man breathed a sigh. The look he had already told her his opinion. "Honestly, I think Bela might be right. We were all bunched up in there. I couldn't get a shot before you were close."
"But…you're just going to leave me here?!" Kyia was starting to become frantic. The nervousness in her voice rose, and the irritation on Bela's face showed that she was losing patience.
Hoping to find some peaceful middle ground, Ethan roiled his shoulders and extended his hand onto her own. "I don't want to see anything happen to you. We've come this far, and you've helped us out so much. It may be safer if we can clear out the next area and establish a better understanding of where we are. It's dark, and if one of those things sees you, you'll be another target. I've watched too many good people die. I don't want to see you become one of them."
Her thin hand rose to touch his. There was a somber expression to be had in the way she looked at him. Her frown was no less indicative of her perception of betrayal compared to her furrowed brow, yet, there was a glimmer of happiness in her eyes. She trusted his judgment, and that was what kept her together.
"Thank you, Ethan," she spoke with a soft voice.
Bela looked on with a grimace. "Alright, are we done now? Can we just leave her here and move on?"
As soon as she heard that, Kyia turned to her with a pinched brow. Ethan patted her bony shoulder to calm her nerves. He could feel the tension in the air. There was always a looming argument between the two of them. Every time they spoke, it only got closer to happening.
To avoid such a turnout, Ethan softened the fire in her heart with a caring tone, "Hey, I wouldn't want to see anything happen to you. If you're safe here, I can keep my mind at ease." He felt her fingers tighten around him as soon as he said that.
The brunette breathed a slow exhale as she simmered down. Her eyes closed and she drew a small smile. "Please, don't leave me. I'm trusting you."
"I already trust you," he replied. It made her smile more.
Bela huffed a sharp grunt as she stared at the two of them. "Well?"
Ethan dipped his chin and sighed at the blonde's persistence. "Kyia, take this…just in case." He withdrew his LEMI from his coat and handed it to her. The woman stuck her hand out but hesitated before her fingers could touch the grip.
"I…" She pulled back.
"Just point it at anything that tries to kill you." Ethan turned the gun around to show her how it worked. "Keep your finger off the trigger until that moment happens. This is only a last resort, okay? It will keep you alive."
Her hand came back out, and against her previous judgment, Kyia took hold of the weapon. She lowered it to her side; finger off the trigger, just like he said. "I'll be waiting for you."
"Don't wait long," he told her. She tightened her hold on his hand just a little bit more before she let go. Kyia bent her arm as she checked out the gun some more. The end of the barrel went across Ethan as she moved. He abstained from correcting her on weapon safety like the way Chris corrected him.
At the range, such infractions resulted in a serious session of yelling and screaming. It wasn't going to be that way with her. This wasn't her lifestyle, nor did he expect it to be. The Hound Wolf Squad was relentless when it came to ensuring that the gun was never pointed at a friendly.
He bit his tongue and patted her shoulder once again. "Don't touch the trigger until you're ready, okay?"
"Okay."
As soon as the sound of Kyia locking the door was heard behind them, Bela and Ethan knew that there was no going back, for now. The room ahead of them had thankfully turned out to be unoccupied, with the only entrance to what lay beyond being a locked door beside a wooden desk. The room was in good order, unlike the one that had come before.
With all the bloodshed that had occurred in that booking area, it stood to reason that there may not have been any infected nearby. As much as Bela wanted to remain on alert, the desire to sit down and catch her breath was far too tempting to ignore.
Ethan had just finished checking the integrity of the next door, ensuring that it would not be breached so easily. He placed his ear toward the wood – not a single sound.
Once she saw him breathe a small sigh of relief, the blonde walked over to the nearest chair and took her rightful place. The lantern that she had been holding was left on the desk, and that was when both of them were able to get a clean look at all the blood that had been collecting down her arm.
"Jesus Christ, Bela!" Ethan set down his gun and moved over to her.
As soon as he got close, she was already raising her hand to turn him away. "She didn't hit an artery. I'll just wrap it up."
"When were you going to do that?"
"As soon as we killed whatever was in here." She rolled her amber eyes around the vacant room, having realized the futility of her statement. Bela knew that she was fishing for excuses. The amount of blood on her arm was concerning, though she did not feel lightheaded or weak. No spurts of bright red crimson were to be seen.
She understood the severing of an artery quite well. It was her years of satiating her hunger that allowed her to keep her mind at ease. Anyone who had not witnessed firsthand the grievous wounds that the body could survive would likely have been panicking right about now.
She knew she wouldn't bleed to death, but the sight no less disturbed her. She had never bled before, not like this. Another wound to remind her that she was no longer invulnerable. Her eyes snapped back to it as soon as they had moved away. She didn't want Ethan to know how uneasy she was beginning to get, but his presence nonetheless was also comforting.
Hell – she'd be lying to herself if she said that she wasn't hoping to have some alone time with him.
A lot had been weighing on her mind ever since their last argument and that fight with Vikcia. Her animosity toward him had been waning, and she wanted to understand why. He had been nothing but a constant source of aggravation ever since they arrived, but the time spent together had shifted her opinion about him to a small degree. She questioned herself more than she questioned him.
Ethan pulled up a chair and sat across from her. Bela said nothing as she stared him down with sharp, yet, consenting eyes. With her hood draped over her head and her locks of blonde hair obscuring part of her face, her amber glow and crimson frown were the only features he got to see.
She did not pull her arm away when he reached over to inspect it. The tear in her sleeve was long, and it housed a short laceration that was deeper in the center than it was at the edges. Trickles of blood were still coming out, but the wound stung once Ethan's fingers compressed it together.
She hissed in pain and shuffled around. "Ow! Alright, stop!"
"Do you want that to get infected?" He was stern in the way he spoke to her, but compassionate, at the same time. She knew that if he could have cared less about her, he would have let her be.
That's what enemies would do, right? Someone that's just trying to kill the other person? If Ethan was such an adversary, then why would he not allow her to risk her health in such a manner?
She wouldn't have done the same for him – would she?
Bela couldn't admit to herself that she doubted her own impressions. While such conclusions were too unreal to accept, she chose to indulge in her interaction with him. The attention was nice, and with Kyia out of the way, it felt great to have this moment all to herself.
Ethan withdrew his hands so that he could grab something from his coat pockets. He wiped the smears of her blood across the side of the desk before he retrieved what he sought. A needle and stitch thread came out – followed by a green bottle.
Ethan chuckled to himself as he set the glass container on the desk. "Can't believe I forgot that I had this."
Bela brushed her locks away, revealing more of her face. She couldn't understand why those pockets of his seemed to be so endless. "How many things do you keep in that coat?"
Ethan shrugged his shoulders with a friendly grin. "Dunno, I just make space, I guess."
"What are you run out of room, where are you going to start putting these things?"
"My empty head, I suppose…"
A swift chuckle caused a wide smile to break out across her pale cheeks. Her crimson lips pulled from corner to corner, flashing her bright teeth as her eyelids curled. Her dark, fluttering lashes shielded her amber irises while she dipped her head.
"You'd have all the space in the world," she ended with a giggle.
Her reaction brought a bit of warmness to Ethan's response. He maintained a friendly stare, not wanting to invite any hostilities toward the woman who had once set out to kill him. He was a man who took the moment for what it was. The rest of the world would stay in the back of his mind as he went along.
The blonde's violent streak could not be forgotten. There was no arguing that she and the other women in that castle had blood on their hands. He remembered crossing the wine room and staring at the wooden barrels along the ground. The arm of a deceased servant that stuck out from the small hole in one could not be ignored. The room reeked of blood.
Women were being killed long before he entered that sick domain. To think that he was interacting with one of the perpetrators in such a manner was mind-boggling. However, the past was subjective when the threats of the present continued to reveal themselves. He didn't care who was fighting by his side when Vikcia came knocking. As long as he had someone who would have his back.
Bela – of all people – turned out to be the person.
She watched as he popped open the top of the bottle, carefully bringing it toward her wound. The man had been seen dumping that liquid all across his arms as he ran through the dungeons. The Moroaice must have surely landed a hit on him during his travels down there. The Duke had a penchant for selling the concoction, and her mother kept a spare bottle around in her room for whenever she felt like torturing some poor soul to death and they needed their wounds to seal.
Figures that he would have scrounged one up somehow.
The liquid slowly emptied and poured across her cut. Bela immediately felt a sharp sting that caused her to bite her lip and hunch forward. A stressed grunt came out through her teeth as she kicked a heel against the ground.
The scorch of the bacteria-killing fluid subsided, but the sudden addition of his hand on top of hers was what soothed the pain away. Her eyes opened as she looked down at their joined palms. Her tight squeeze survived for a couple more seconds before she drew air into her lungs and let it go. The pain was no more, and it felt like her wound had been cleansed.
That was…too easy. Ugh, it still hurt. You didn't have to hold my hand. I was fine.
She kept her eyes on him as he wiped the blood off with a clean rag.
But, thank you.
Bela sat up as she allowed him to go to work on tending to her wound. The gentle patting of the rag soaked up most of the crimson that trickled out from the gash. She tried to avoid eye contact, but her gaze would not remain ahead as she constantly gravitated toward watching him as he doctored her up. The needle and thread were the next things to be taken, and she squinted her brow once she realized what that entailed.
Ethan glanced at the cut one more time before he steadied the tools in his hand. Bela looked up at him with a sincere stare.
"Can you make this quick?" She asked.
"As quick as I can," he replied. "Sit still and relax. You're a strong woman."
Am I? Why did that make me feel…good?
Bela took a breath and nodded. The needle went into her skin and she felt her lips press in response to the pain. Her eyes shut and Ethan was already aware of her nervousness by the time they closed.
"Stitches are never fun."
She replied with a closed mouth, "Mhmm…"
He threaded the stitches along the injury, pulling it together and sealing it shut. It wasn't the most practical solution, but field medicine was what it was. It would do, for now. As long as the wound did not get infected and the blood loss was tamed, she could press on. Bela eventually numbed herself to the pain, allowing her to calm down and focus on something else – namely him.
"So…" She asked. "I take it that you're not just some ordinary man-thing, are you?"
Ethan paused for a second to look at her. "Uhm, I'm not sure what you mean, but, I guess not."
He resumed his stitching. Bela's eyes traveled around his body, making note of the various injuries that she could see. His left hand had been decimated recently. The wrappings looked fresher than she recalled, but the blonde chalked that up to Kyia's doing. Back in her castle, they were dampened with blood, and she imagined that those two fingers were gone.
Probably a Lycan, she figured.
Still, the man was not deterred by whatever was thrown his way. It was a strange sight to see, as a sickle through the leg was often quite successful at incapacitating a victim for good.
How did he just get up and keep running?
"What I mean is: there have been men that entered our castle throughout the years. A rarity, on most occasions, but they never prove to be different than the women. I find outsiders to be less resourceful, but you, you just keep surviving."
Ethan stopped what he was doing. The stitching was just about done, but the man looked like he was stewing in his mind yet again. She tilted her head at him, but he did not appear to notice her. It had to have been his daughter that he was thinking about. Why would anyone else take her place?
She changed the subject, "The snow itself is dangerous. People freeze to death out there. You're not from our land. America, I heard?"
Ethan re-focused himself and returned to his task. "Yeah, America. Land of the free."
She broke a tiny grin. "Home of the brave…"
"You know about America?" He raised an eager eyebrow.
"Only a little." She lightly kicked one of her feet back and forth. "I read books. I listen to conversations."
"With how isolated your castle was, I'm surprised that word got around." Ethan ran another line of stitching through her skin. The injury was nearly closed. As he prepared the final threading, he noticed a stray fly wing that clung to the inside of her flesh – a reminder of what she was.
Bela hummed as she sat there. There was a sort of playfulness to the way she acted. It wasn't pure bliss. Not by far. She appeared content, as if where she was right now wasn't so bad. The man kept his eyes on her as the displaced wing floated along with the blood. A swift dab of the rag took it away, and she was back to looking like a full-fledged human again.
He felt wrong to judge her, but what he had witnessed in that castle could not be forgotten. Bela and her family wanted to eat him like the pack of carnivorous beasts that they were. It made them no different than the Lycans that prowled the village. The only game-changer was that he could have a conversation with her, and that was when she came off like any other young woman with a pretty face and harsh attitude.
What was it about her that kept him guessing?
Bela slowly threw her foot forward, then back again. "Word gets around; you would be surprised. My castle can keep out the wind, but not tongue. People come. People go. I just spend my time taking more of the world in."
Ethan ran the last thread through her arm. "Can I tell you something?"
She turned her head toward him. There was a sort of kindness to her voice. It only lasted for but a brief second – right at the start – but Ethan's ears couldn't mistake it for anything else. "Sure. Tell me."
"Between you and your sisters: you look like the smart one."
She chuckled again, this time, a little louder. Her eyes dipped down, but they would soon return, and they would not subside once they did. "You would be correct."
"I'm not calling them dumb," Ethan stated. "But, you just gave off the impression like you were the second mother in the house. I never had any siblings, so I can't relate."
Bela's smile soon faded, but she tried not to let what he said get to her. With a roll of her eyes, the blonde shrugged her shoulder and went back to kicking her foot around. She spoke again with a hint of regret, "I guess I was. Hmm…"
Ethan grabbed the bottle of liquid. "Mind if I clean your cut again before we move on?"
She replied with a nod and he proceeded with them cleansing. That sting returned, but it wasn't as strong this time. Her eyelids and nostrils winced a bit, but nothing more. By the time it was over, Bela's face carried her trademark signs of dismay. Her wide cheeks fell above the luscious frown that she held. She started to turn her gaze from him, just as the slow kicking of her feet began to intensify a little.
Ethan got up from his seat as he prepared to put his supplies away. Her wounds were tended to and there was still work to be done. "Alright, once I pack these up, you and I can move ahead and clear this next room. My gun is loaded and hopefully there are no misfires this time. Some of this ammo looks old. I don't know if I can trust it."
She lifted her head. "Can we just…wait?"
"Huh?" He turned his head to her with a confused stare. This didn't sound like the ruthless killer that he had been paired with. She acted like a normal person – one who wanted to take a break and unwind.
Part of her even acted like she didn't want to see him stand up.
Bela's eyes shifted around as she tried to decipher her reasoning for asking him to stay here. Deep in her heart, she knew that she wished to converse with him some more, but saying that to him brought about an unusual feeling that she was not comfortable with. It broke the barriers of predator and prey, and she hated herself for desiring it.
As she allowed her hesitation to multiply one second into six, Ethan ended up being the one to speak for her, "Yeah…we can wait."
With a furrowed brow, her amber eyes turned to him again. She nodded with a faint voice, "Yeah."
Bela's gaze averted as he returned to his seat across from her. Her gloved hand nervously reached up to touch the stitches that he had drawn, but her common sense reminded her to return it to her lap. The blonde was left awkwardly sitting there next to the man who her life depended on now.
She bit her tongue to stifle an impulsive utterance, only to let go and allow a breath to escape. "What do you think of me, Ethan?"
Her impulsiveness won.
Ethan maintained that same look of confusion that he already had when she asked him to wait. Hell, it was even greater now. "What do you mean?"
Bela drew another breath as she adjusted her position in her chair. She leaned back and sat upright. Her hands remained in her lap as they had before, only for one to rise and grace the hood that was on top of her head. She knew he had seen her scar, but her nature would not allow her to reveal it again. Her mind was an assortment of bewilderment; spun in circles with all the turmoil she had endured.
The blonde parted her lips with her tongue. "I'm not your friend. When this is all over, when we get back to our world, one of us is going to kill the other. You know that, right?"
Ethan wiped her brow with his bloodied and dirtied hand. With a deep sigh, he nodded – only to shake his head right after. "That's your choice, Bela, not mine."
"What choice would you make?"
"You give me my daughter, and I leave your castle. I don't want to deal with your family. I just want my Rose."
She could hear the seriousness in his voice. This could very well turn into yet another fight – an explosive one, at that. Conflict was not what she sought. It was a mutual understanding that she craved. No, not craved.
Needed.
Bela's mind had not been what it was ever since she arrived here. Her thoughts were not as tightly wound as they used to be. It wasn't the endless battles and near-death encounters that tore her away from the way she used to feel. It was this newfound mortality and reliance on an enemy greater than she had ever imagined that drove the woman to the edges of madness.
She wanted to hear him agree. It would birth the promise that in the end, she could return to the life she knew. She'd be the killer who would end his life. There would be no worries after that. No care or consideration for this man. He would not exist to influence her actions or thoughts.
All these new emotions – they could just disappear.
At least, she hoped they would.
She still did not understand them.
"We don't have your daughter," she lied. Bela had seen the flask. Alcina explained the situation regarding the infant that Miranda carried with her into the village during the dead of night. Separated into four pieces; one for each lord.
That was Rose's fate – and Ethan would have killed her if she confessed the truth.
It was a funny thing, as telling him the truth would have sealed the outcome that she wanted. They would remain enemies, and that would be that. But, the part of her that retained control was the part of her that did not want that.
And that part of her was steadily growing.
That was what she did not understand, and it scared the hell out of her.
"Bullshit!" He got loud, only to reel in his anger enough to lower the decibels. "Your twisted sister mocked my search for her the moment I met you three. Don't you sit there and lie to me that you don't know where she is."
"Because I don't." Bela's responses did not rise to match his heated tone. She stayed quiet. Small. "We knew she was in the village and that you were looking for her. I know that you don't believe me, but –"
"You're goddamn right," he cut her off. "You're telling me that my daughter isn't in that large castle of yours? Where the hell could she be, then?"
"I don't make those kinds of decisions, Ethan. I am my mother's daughter."
"Oh, so that tall bitch makes the calls? How couldn't I have guessed?" He began to get sarcastic with her. The man's wrath had skyrocketed the moment his daughter had been mentioned. It was clear as day how much he loved her, and how this bitterness had been subtly brewing inside him this entire time. No wonder he was so good at killing – Ethan was a bomb with a lit fuse.
"Do not talk about my mother like that…"
"I'm sure she must miss the hell out of her daughter, right?" Ethan tapped her on the leg when she refused to look at him. It only made Bela turn around and swat his hand away. "You miss her, don't you? It must suck to have to deal with that!"
"Do not touch me!"
He got in her face. "Do not keep my daughter from me!"
The two stayed locked in a stalemate. Bela's eyes were sharp, and so were his. She could see the fury buried inside him. The fuse on that bomb was short, and she was playing with fire. The days of her laughing at his suffering were over. She was vulnerable to his opinion.
Being on equal ends meant accountability, and she was afraid of it. She feigned the deceitful grimace of hatred that she so often gave him in the past, but that expression would falter, just like the others. Her brows furrowed once again, and her chest began to rise and fall at a faster pace.
Bela curled her lip with a slight quiver. "I never hurt your daughter, Ethan. I do not have her. She is not there. We wanted to get into your head. That's what we do."
He snapped away from her and got up from his chair. A swift kick sent the piece of furniture spinning across the room. "God damnit! You and your family are a bunch of fucked up witches, do you know that?"
She hung her head down as she sat forward, palms pressed against the edges of her seat.
Ethan clenched his fist as he took another breath, releasing both his lungs and fingers at the same time. "You think I forgot the sounds of your laughter when you three attacked me? You must have thought my ordeal was pretty damn funny. You know, I never wish terrible things on people, but part of me is glad that you're stuck in this fucking nightmare with me. Because you haven't laughed like that since you got here, you twisted bitch!"
Bela glared aimlessly at the wall ahead of her. "Are you done?"
"Am I done?" Ethan looked at her with ferocious eyes. "What the fuck is wrong with you? What is it that makes you such an evil person? Like, seriously? What happened to you that made you think it's okay to do what you do? My daughter is a baby, Bela! A baby! What the fuck did she ever do to you?!"
What is "wrong" with me? You too, now?
He didn't hear a sound from her. The only thing she did was reach up to brush the side of her left eye. Bela just stayed quiet, shutting herself out from the world. Despite her walls, there was no doubt in his mind that she had heard every word that he had spoken.
Ethan ended his tirade with one, final line, "I'm going to find my daughter when we get back, and if you try to get in my way, I will kill you."
Bela's mouth opened to gasp for a breath. She got what she wanted to hear.
It didn't make her feel better.
Ethan turned his eyes to the door that led to the next room. With his gun in hand, he considered just moving forward and taking the rest of this building on himself. His body was fueled by anger. Arguing with this woman was not going to get him any closer to his daughter, but slaughtering the rest of the infected and reaching that clock tower may just be the only way out.
He picked up the lantern, ready to just walk out and leave Bela in darkness. Armed and illuminated, Ethan approached the door and freed up one of his hands so he could turn the handle. As soon as he gripped the threshold, he paused. Between his heavy breaths, he heard the sniffling from behind him.
Inches away from the door, his eyes blindly stared at the dull sheet of metal in front of him. The sounds from the blonde were sparse, but he could still hear Bela's sadness gently escaping. The creaks of her chair, caused by her adjusting herself, added to the picture it painted in his head.
He remembered that one fight he had with Mia a couple of years ago. A stupid argument that spiraled out of control throughout the course of the night. He needed to step out of the room and get some fresh air. Those whimpers he walked away from – they were just the same as Bela's.
He was right to leave this murderous lady to her troubles. She was a killer with no compassion for those lives she ended. Why should she be spared any grief that she had sowed for herself?
Something tore him apart inside, and he couldn't figure out what it was. All he knew was that leaving this room was only going to hurt him more. It wasn't the right time to leave, he felt.
Not now. Not yet.
Ethan sighed as he turned back to where the fight had been. As he drew closer to Bela, the yellow and orange glow from the lantern caused the moisture in her eyes to glisten. The shiny trails of two separate tears sparkled along her pale cheeks, mixed with the remnants of eye shadow. She still wouldn't look at him, but as he made it to the chair, her face started to tense up.
The blonde held onto her composure as best she could. Breaking down and crying was not what she was expected to do. Eldest daughters were supposed to remain strong and level-headed.
Ethan pulled up another chair beside her and took a seat as he set the gun and lantern on the ground. His elbows rested on his knees, while his hands combed through the hair on the top of his head. Bela wiped her eyes again, deliberately turning her head away from him as she did so. The stillness between them was deafening.
Every breath and movement stood out like a loud drum in a tiny box. Bela could feel how long this conversation was dragging on. Why did she have to bring it to this point? Something about diving into the rich ocean of emotion made her want to take the jump, but she wasn't ready for the waves.
Pulled in by the riptide of her undoing, she regrated bringing up the things that she had said.
Why do I always have to take things and mess them up? Can't something be perfect the way it is? I guess not. Damn it, I feel so upset. I should be screaming at him. I would have killed him for so much less days ago. But, is he really at fault? He misses his daughter, and I…I don't have anything good about me. He is right.
Ethan dropped his arms over his legs before he raised his left finger in the air to speak. It curled back into his palm as he made a fist and pressed his lips. He kept his fury out of his voice this time, "You don't know what I'm going through. She's all that I have left. My Rose, that's it."
Bela still wouldn't say a single word. She just sat there with her hands together, hunched over and looking away. Ethan couldn't tell if she was ashamed as she appeared, or too defensive to even consider owning up to her actions.
He spoke to her again, "Remember that my family never hurt yours. If you had a little girl of your own, I would be doing everything that I can to help you save her."
"Ethan…just stop…"
"Stop?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I'm trying to understand why we just can't –"
His voice was cut short the moment she shot forward and snagged her sickle off from the ground. The brief glance that he got of her face was that of a woman on the edge of her self-control. His heart hit the gas, and instinct compelled him to reach for his pistol.
Unfortunately, he had left it in Kyia's possession, which rendered him defenseless.
Bela let out a loud grunt as she threw the weapon across the room. Ethan's eyes followed it as it struck the wall beside the door and embedded itself in the process. Before he could even process what had just occurred, she was on her feet and facing him.
Teary-eyed and flustered as ever, Bela's teeth bared down at him as she pointed a tense finger his way. "Why do you keep helping me?! Huh?! I'm going to cut your head off the moment we return. You know it, and I know it, and yet – you still help me!"
He softened his tone, "Bela…"
"No! I should have just killed you when I had the chance back home. It would have made being here so much easier!" She stammered as her hand rose to brush the locks of blonde hair away from her eyes.
Bela cast an eviscerating glare his way. "Do you think I like it here? I don't! Nothing about my life makes sense to me anymore, and what is killing me the most, is the fact that the person who is my enemy, is the same one protecting me! The same person that I'm risking my own life for! I shouldn't be doing any of this, especially for you!"
Her face only grew sadder the longer she stared at him. "I need you to be my enemy, but, you keep fighting it!"
He stood up to be at her level. It only made her take a step back.
"Bela, I…" Ethan didn't know what to say. Between the contempt he felt toward her because of her perceived involvement with Rose, and the compassion of her being his only ally here, he didn't know why, either. Of course she would have been so confused, he thought. Even he wasn't certain of what made him search for a better outcome, rather than just hating one another.
"Tell me what you think of me…now!" She demanded. It wasn't the order of someone who thought that they were above others. It was the pleading of a desperate soul who wanted to be released.
Ethan kept his eyes on her, analyzing every detail of this sad, young lady. His mind rebounded like a pinball. It was hard to stick to one viewpoint, especially with all the anger he harvested inside. As she glared at him, her thin brows would only raise higher, and her frown lower. She was trying to hold on to herself as best she could, and he could see it.
"I think you're a bloodthirsty psychopath," he told her. "I think you're evil. You love hurting others. That you're a monster."
Her lips parted to reveal her teeth. Her brow would not signify rage, only greater sorrow. Bela's only response was to breathe heavier.
However, Ethan was not done. "But, I think you're as human as I am. You're capable and dependable. Smart. I can't compare you to those werewolf things I fought. Those are monsters. I know you're scared here, just like me. Jesus Christ, I'm so fucking scared."
I'm scared too. You have no idea how scared I am right now, either.
She stood there for a couple of seconds, aimlessly watching him as the silence around them spoke its speech. The whirlwind of feelings that she held stole her energy. Bela had to take a seat. As she sat there, the blonde quietly wiped her eyes again and sniffled against the webbing of her thumb.
She kept her hand over her mouth for a little longer until a gasp for air steadied her nerves. "Remember when you told me that I didn't know anything about love?"
He shut his eyes, recalling that moment when he acted so cruelly to her. "Yes."
Bela nudged her shoulder slightly. Her voice was calm, "I don't have to tell you how much that upset me." She filled her lungs and released them. "Now, you ask me what is wrong with me. Ha…a lot, I suppose. You don't know how I feel when I don't drink blood. Would you criticize a lion for eating a gazelle? Everything needs to eat. Am I evil? Yes. I know the definition of that word very well. The bodies you found in my castle would agree."
"So, why?" He asked. "Why do you do it?"
She closed her eyes, deflecting the question. "I can love, Ethan. I love my sisters. I hope they love me. I love my mother. She loves me…I hope." She nodded to herself. "Yeah, she does. She does. Your words made me feel like none of them exist. It really feels like they don't, right now."
"Is there something going on in your family that you don't like?"
A tear rolled down her cheek. "I've been asked what is wrong with me before. It feels like nothing about me is right, and I have to work harder to produce the results that are expected of me. You sounded just like –"
"Bela, what are you saying?"
Her amber eyes shined behind their glistened coating. "You're different. You came back to fix things, instead of leaving me to figure it all out by myself. You don't make sense to me. When someone gets angry, they leave. Why do you stay?"
Ethan still wasn't certain of where this was all coming from. It seemed like Bela was reaching into something deeply personal about herself. This wasn't about the violence she had committed, but how she was treated. Nonetheless, she was reaching out to him, and this was his chance to make that connection. "We don't have to be enemies," he said.
"We do," argued. "When we return home, we have to be. And when that time comes, I want you to run as fast as you can. Get away from me and don't look back, because I will chase you. Go wherever I can't reach you, because I don't want to die."
"No one else has to die. I am sick of death. Just tell me where my daughter is, Bela, and I will be out of your castle. You will never have to see me again."
She could hear the sincerity in his voice. He only wanted his daughter, but she knew in her heart that it wasn't going to be possible. The child was dead. Her head was in that orange flask. Her mother's speech about their 'bright future' meant nothing for that kid. She knew Ethan would go ballistic if she told him the truth.
Worst of all – she knew he would give up hope.
She wanted him to have something to fight for, even if it wasn't there. Part of her did not want to let him go, nor witness him in such despair.
"She's not in our castle, I promise," Bela lied once again. She hated herself for having done it, but it may have been the only kindness that she could give to him at that moment. "I wish I could point you in the right direction, but she's not there. You went the wrong way."
Ethan cupped his hands and lowered his head. He was clearly devastated to hear that. Did he believe her entirely? She couldn't be so sure, but her lie may have worked enough to settle that debate, for now. Bela heard the way he breathed. It sounded like he was better at keeping in his sadness than she was, even if a tiny bit of it had broken free.
While Rose's fate was not her doing, she still felt responsible for all of this. She wished that she hadn't lied, but the truth would have been so much worse. Guilt was a strange feeling for her. She had barely ever crossed paths with it, but its hold was great, and she could not shake it.
"I'm sorry, Ethan."
"I'll just have to keep looking, like you said."
She could not find the strength to answer that. This was all too much for her.
As Ethan went to stand up, he felt her hand tugging on his jacket sleeve. It stopped him in his tracks, and he sat back down as she gently pulled him in. "What is it, Bela?"
She sighed down her chest. "Could we just wait, for a little bit longer? I don't feel like killing anything right now. I just want to rest, please?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "Me too."
"Thanks for helping me, Ethan." A smile grew on her lips. "I just wanted to say that."
"You're welcome," he replied, putting his thoughts aside, for now. "You saved my life a few times too. So, thank you. I kind of need to be alive right now."
Her smile grew more. "So do I."
Whether she knew about it or not, Ethan took notice of how her hand would not let go until the time came for them to carry on. When he finally asked her to, she hesitated. It was like she wanted to enjoy the last few seconds of whatever reality warmed her heart.
A woman so vulnerable to the cold needed warmth – but his was different.
NOTES:
Uneasy love.
Bela and Ethan's problems are both linked to each other, and it's shown that those problems are constantly there, waiting to come out.
Ethan cannot let go of the pain of being away from Rose, and whether he smiles or not, that child is always on his mind. A parent's love is undying, and being in a different realm changes nothing. His relationship with Mia wasn't perfect, and some of those imperfections mirror themselves with the blonde woman he is now paired with.
Bela is also no stranger to feeling lost. While it seems like she has been going out of her way to antagonize Ethan, she is only trying to repair what was once normal to her. Her sense of duty contrasts with what she truly wants, and even if she does not know that love is growing inside her, she is aware that this man, whom she previously sought to kill, is now closer to her than she ever expected. He's the only good thing she has left, and what he brings with him is all new to her.
What lies ahead for this (not yet a couple) couple? The constable station holds many dangers, and some are not too far away. I wanted to give them a moment to breathe before their journey continues.
Expect more creatures, as well as a glimpse into what is currently (or was) going on in the village during Bela and Ethan's absence.
That chapter will come out on September 9th.
I intend for more moments like these to come about. This is a love story, but a sad one, too. Bela and Ethan are two broken people, whether they know it or not. Serpenmoor is a decaying corpse of its former self, filled with tragedies all around. With the horror of Vikcia and her army of savage maggot-infested drones, blood will always continue to drain until the end is reached.
Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you think and would like to see down the road! Thanks again for giving this story so much support and love! Been doing well with keeping up with my writing between both stories, and I intend to continue pumping out weekly releases as time goes on. I wish you all a great weekend! Stay safe and happy! 😊