"Argh!" She screamed as the window burst open with a rush of cold wind in tow. The bite of the brisk temperature seared her skin, dropping loose flies onto the ground as she stumbled around. The howl of the gusts that invaded the room was only matched by her growls as she studied her arms, realizing that her powers were gone for the time being.
Bela Dimitrescu, the eldest of the castle's three daughters, no longer saw the man standing in front of her as a simple victim of her bloodthirsty desires. With a single, stray bullet, he had flipped the script of how their encounter was supposed to go, exposing her true weakness. She needed to act fast.
The intruder – Ethan Winters – had to die.
Her escalating anger caused her to fumble her words as she stared him down in utter rage. "You stupid man-thing!" With a final grunt, she held her sickle at her side as she sped toward him, ready to cut him apart as soon as she could reach him.
The man was no stranger to a fight – not by a longshot. By the time she was halfway toward him, his gun was already aimed at her and shots began to ring out. Several hits to the body and she found herself shambling around as each projectile cut through her, searing her insides.
"I feel no pain!" She shouted in defiance, despite the impact of his defensive measure.
A quick swipe of her blade found the weapon passing the top of his head as he ducked and unleashed another follow-up shot. The cartridge's head impacted like a punch to the gut as she lurched forward, only to be pushed back with his arms. As soon as her back landed against the wooden shelf that was bolted into the wall, a second discharge caused the board to splinter apart beside her head.
He was getting his hits in and she knew that under these conditions, she could only take so much. She was no expert in firearms, but from what she could see, the slide on the top of his pistol was locked to the rear. If there was any question of its state of operation; Ethan's alarmed expression provided the answer for her.
The gun was empty. This was her chance.
Ethan grimaced as he dropped a magazine out of the grip and sought to insert a fresh one. His eyes briefly locked with hers as she kicked her body off and returned to her pursuit of him. Using all her speed, she dashed toward her target, seeking to get her next move in before he could react.
"How dare you bare your teeth at us!" She scorned him for daring to face her in battle.
A sudden click sounded as the magazine was seated into place. Ethan's thumb pressed against the slide release, sending it forward and chambering the next round. As soon as the weapon was back in battery – she collided with him.
The two of them fell to the ground and Bela landed on top. She climbed across his body like a feral animal, sickle raised in the air as she aimed for his neck. When the muzzle of his handgun began to turn toward her, she shoved his wrist to the side, averting it from her direction. Her blonde hair draped down the right side of her head, masking the wild glare that she held in her eyes.
No one had ever driven her to this point before, nor had her life been placed in such great danger. She could not allow him to make it out of here alive. Not with the knowledge that he now possessed. This kill meant everything in the world. Not just for her – but for her family.
For her mother. For her sisters.
I have you now!
As she was about to descend her tool down into the front of his skull, a sudden rift in the air halted her movement. The frozen torment of the outside wind suddenly bloomed into a warm glow, but it did nothing to aid in the return of her abilities. Ethan was just as alert, as his eyes widened and moved away from the vicious woman who was about to kill him.
The man's voice called out at the astonishing sight that took place around them, "What the hell?!"
Bela turned her head around and gazed at an array of blue sparks that erupted throughout the room, circling across the air and emitting a bright, yellow light as they condensed into tiny orbs. An explosion of these particles poured into the room from what seemed to be nothing. The glow of the light became too immense for either of them to handle and they were forced to close their eyes.
The sounds of lightning bolts could be heard colliding with the structure of the room as small tingles pricked at her skin. Ethan's pistol fired off to the side, but there was no impact to be heard.
What is happening?!
Against the intense brightness of the energy around them, Bela managed to force open her eyes just enough to glance at Ethan withering around from under her. To her shock, she witnessed the man undergoing a physical transformation right from under her – one that she had never seen.
He was not mutating as someone would into a lycan.
No. He was dissolving into light right before her very eyes.
A sharp cry from his voice was the last thing she heard before she felt his body vanish. As soon as she fell forward onto the ground, she realized that whatever had transpired with him was now happening to her.
Where is my hand? Argh! This light is too bright!
She scrambled to get up but there were no legs for her to stand on. Everything felt like it was splitting apart and there was nothing that she could do. Bit by bit, she became fragmented until the light broke through her eyelids and the sounds of the energy overtook the wind.
Then there was nothing but darkness to follow.
The tingling sensation reverberated across Bela's entire body. She could feel herself slowly reforming, though her consciousness itself was still in the process of coming together. As the feeling returned to various parts of her body, she could sense parts of her surroundings.
It was a familiar feeling – much like her horde of flies whenever they'd converge and bring the eldest daughter into existence once again. However, the process was taking slower than normal. It seemed like an eternity before she would be back on her feet.
Time was fluid – lost in the dark without a clear construct of exactly how long things were as her mind continued to seek clarity. Much like her limbs, her consciousness depended on each piece of the puzzle to fall into place. Little by little, she began to understand what was happening.
The merging of her body was coupled with a distinct warmth that she had never felt before. It was soothing, comforting – almost alarming. Wherever she was, it was not the cold room that she remembered. She was wise to believe that she was somewhere else.
But where?
Suddenly, the darkness that she had found herself in began to go away as her eyes reassembled, returning her to the bright world of the yellow light. Through the gaps, she could see her fingers enveloped by an array of particles, each one colliding with the other as her tissues began to return.
That was when she realized that what she had thought to be flies were anything but. She had been transformed into a field of light, and in the wake of this transformation, she could sense that her army of insects was unresponsive to her call.
Something is not right about this. I don't feel like myself. What is happening to me?
As the light dimmed and the orbs neared the end of their conversion, Bela's stare found itself away from her body and focused on the man across from her. Just as she was; Ethan lay on the ground, slowly re-forming as a mass of tiny circles of light gathered together. Any answers she thought she may have been able to conjure turned to ashes once she had seen him undergoing the same transformation. It was unreal. She had never witnessed anything like it.
She struggled to push herself up from the ground, finding her muscles unusually weak. It was like she had been laying down in bed for months on end before immediately jumping off and attempting to stand. Bela wobbled as she rose, her ankles quaking over the heels of her footwear. She could feel the flow of stamina across her veins as she breathed, re-building her strength.
Glancing down at the floor below, she spotted her sickle still reforming. Against her natural caution, Bela reached down to take hold of the weapon, holding it in front of her face as she inspected the phenomena of the energy that trailed off the blade's top edge.
What is this?
As soon as she heard Ethan groan, she realized that her goal had not been met. The man was still alive and now – he was more vulnerable than ever.
Ethan must die!
She adjusted her hood before she rolled her head and shrugged off everything that had just transpired. With a sharp huff, Bela began to step toward her prey. The distinct click of each of her heels echoed around as she paced forward. Her eyes shifted across the environment around her, bringing it to her attention that they were now inside a large, abandoned church.
Nothing about this makes sense…
She approached him just as the last particles attached to his body.
It doesn't matter. You won't leave alive…
Ethan opened his eyes to the shock of the bloodthirsty blonde staring down from above him. With a swift kick, she struck him in the face and rocked his head back, jolting his mind even further into the world of the dazed and weary. Seizing the opportunity once again, Bela descended upon him and prepared to deliver the delayed final strike that she desperately fought for less than a minute ago.
"Die!" She roared as she grasped his neck and exposed his jugular to the aim of her weapon's sharp tip.
"Fuck you!" Ethan shouted back as he struck her with a speedy punch to the ribs.
A world of pain erupted throughout the side of Bela's body as she recoiled from the strike. Without a second to spare, Ethan lifted his leg and sent a straight kick forward that knocked the wind out of her stomach.
Bela coughed as she fell to her rear and rolled along the ceramic-tiled floor, her abdomen roaring with pain. She had never felt such agony before in all her days.
It was almost…too human.
With his instincts for survival firing at full blast, Ethan searched around the room for his handgun. Sure enough, the firearm was to be found mere feet from where he had awoken. He snatched it from the ground – only to notice that the trigger and parts of the slide were missing.
To his sheer amazement, they were slowly coming together as the particles continued to fuse.
"God damn it…" Ethan searched for the next viable option – her sickle.
Holstering his gun, he picked up the completed implement from the floor and balanced it in his hand. Still stained with his blood from when she impaled his leg with it, Ethan could see the irony in its lethality now being in his hands. His eyes drifted down until they met with those of the woman who had caused him so much grief ever since he first entered that horrible castle.
He wanted to kill her, but in her moment of weakness, he knew he could finally get the answer he longed for.
Ethan descended, taking Bela by the throat just as she had done to him seconds earlier. He pinned her down; his knees planted on top of her arms to keep them in place. As much as her hands and legs flailed about – she could not do anything to get him off. He was the one in control and she was at his total mercy.
Not like this!
Bela's amber eyes fixated on his own as she snarled at her foe. "Damn you!"
His fingers clamped against her bloodied cheeks, smearing some of the sanguine trails as she shook her head viciously. As much as she resembled a lady, he found her to be nothing short of a dangerous animal than had to be tamed. He fought against every attempt that she made to free herself, putting more of his weight upon her when the situation demanded it. She grew wilder with each passing second, kicking and screaming at him without breaking her hateful glare.
"Where is my daughter?!" Ethan demanded to know.
Bela would not answer with words – only offering the meanest growl that she could muster at the moment. Ethan's face tightened with rage at her continued resistance. It would not satisfy his inquiries, as he continued to press her for the truth.
"You and your deranged family have my Rose! Tell me where she is, now!"
With a wicked smile, Bela's eyes narrowed. "You have no daughter!"
She could see his face turn into wrathful anger as soon as the final syllable fell from her lips. With a loud cry of misery, Ethan's brow tensed into a tightened scrunch. His eyes shut with a powerful squeeze before they reopened and bared down at her.
With his hand still holding the sickle, he swung his fist across her face.
She felt her teeth cut into her lip at the same time the blunt force of his worn knuckles pounded into her cheekbone. Bela's head twisted to her right side and a second or two of time fell from her memory. The hand that he still had on her throat compressed her windpipe before he suddenly decided to remove it. The weight of his body began to alleviate from her own as he stood up and wiped the blood off of his hand.
With her weapon still in his possession; Ethan looked at the woman he had just struck. As much as he wanted to hurt her – she resembled any other human. Even more so – the way her face felt when he hit her was not like how it was during their fight. Her skin was soft and warm, no longer cold or altered by the constantly shifting insects under it.
Something about it didn't feel natural to him. He had killed many monsters on his journey to this point, but never in his life had he killed what he thought to be a flesh and blood human being. She bore no signs of what she was before, though her personality was nothing short of cruel. Maybe it was the last shred of humanity that he still carried with him despite all the ferocity that he had to muster to press on against the madness ahead.
He could still find the ability to grant mercy if it meant that his efforts of rescuing his daughter would not be impeded.
Most of all – he was not a cold-blooded killer.
"Fuck you, you crazy witch," he said, gazing around the room after he did so. "I'm not going to play these games with you. You can rot in here for all I care."
Ethan turned around, taking a moment to inspect his surroundings more thoroughly. With his battle with the blonde witch seemingly at an end, he tasked his mind with figuring out what had just occurred that transported them to this place. His adrenaline had been operating at peak levels ever since she emerged through those dungeon bars.
Now he could think – and none of his thoughts were adding up.
He had seen some very crazy things ever since that night in Louisianna three years ago. Mold monsters. A madman's deadly traps. A bio-weapon in the form of a little girl.
All of that was crazy enough. Mix wolf-men of various sizes, a crow priestess, a giant aristocrat, talking dolls, discount Magneto, and the reject from the black lagoon – he had seen it all.
He had seen everything – except this.
Ethan turned back to Bela with another question ready for her. His disdain for the violent bug-woman subsided slightly – enough to hopefully coax some form of cooperation from her. "Where are we?"
Rolling over to her side, Bela rose to her elbows as she inspected the blood that seeped from her mouth. The taste of iron permeated her gums, but the painful shock of her tongue drawing along them reminded her that it was her own. There was no delicious sensation to be had, nor had she ever bled before.
She was alarmed more than ever, but she knew she had to hide her fear from him. Without her powers, she was weak and weakness commanded death. If she was to succeed in accomplishing her mother's orders, she'd have to make the best decisions possible. Without even turning her head to him, she spat out a wad of red before rising to her knees – her back toward him.
"We're in my castle, you stupid man…"
"Ugh." Ethan shook his head as he continued to look around. The sheer size of the church was greater than any room in Castle Dimitrescu. There was absolutely no way they were still within its confines. "Take a look around. Does it still look like we are in your miserable castle?"
"Hey!" She finally turned around and glared at him. "Your mouth will not disrespect my home!"
"And I'll say it again: does this look like your miserable castle?" He did not have time for her misguided priorities. As far as he knew; the castle and possibly the village itself were nowhere near where they were now.
That also meant that so was his daughter.
Bela slowly stood up, shaking the dust off of her dark dress as she stretched her back and shrugged off the last of the pain from his blow. Turning around, she gazed up at the large, rounded roof of the church, noticing various characters painted above – similar to those of Michelangelo's work in the Sistine
A historian when the opportunity arose; Bela was keen to take notice of the uncanny resemblance, though this was not the building in question. What she did know was the cold, hard truth that this was not part of her mother's castle and she had no clue as to where she was at all.
The room was dark, cut off from most light, though it was still fairly easy to see around. The place had to have been abandoned, likely for at least a year or two – judging by the dust that had collected upon the various rows of seats that lined the center.
"This isn't part of our castle," she answered him calmly – albeit in an annoyed manner. To even be having this conversation was a slight against everything she had stood for. No man in the world should ever be able to get away with talking to her like that, but for now, she was susceptible to his will to fight.
She knew her weaknesses and understood that it was best to work around them. Until she could regain her powers, she'd have to stay in control of herself. She knew better than to continue to react with violence – lest his next attack caused a grave injury.
"Then where are we?" Ethan pressed on.
Still looking around, Bela's voice grew more frustrated, though she remained still. "Do I look like I know?"
"No," Ethan groaned, "you don't."
The air is cool…but, I'm not in pain from it. How is this possible? What was the source of that light? Too many unanswered questions…
With a sigh, Bela tilted her head toward Ethan before her eyes set on the sickle in his hand. "Give me my weapon back."
Without a single pause, Ethan brought the blade closer to him. "Yeah, that's not going to happen, bitch. You're lucky I didn't crack your head open with it."
She scoffed at his remarks, trying her best to withhold her true reaction to his disrespect. Maintaining her composure, Bela gestured toward the pistol that was tucked into his belt. "You have a gun. Unless you'd care to trade, give me my sickle back."
Ethan squared his body off toward her. Even from over a dozen feet away, it was like they were both face to face again. "And I told you it's not going to happen." His voice began to rise in anger, "You seriously think I'm going to give this back to you after everything that you've done to me with it? Fuck you! You're more insane than I thought you were."
"How dare you talk to me with such words!" Bela took one step toward him, fists balled at her side. "I am a daughter to House Dimitrescu. You will show my family respect!"
"What about my family?!" Ethan yelled. "Where is my daughter?"
Bela shrugged her shoulder with a sinister calmness to her voice, "Why don't you go find her?"
"Oh," Ethan nodded, "I will. You better pray that your psychotic sisters stay out of my way!"
My sisters…
Bela's face suddenly loosened at the realization that wherever she was – her sisters may have been nowhere near them. She parted her lips and pinched her brow as the urgency of her situation began to grow. With a small giggle that she used to play off her concerns, her mouth twitched at the corner as she sought to divert his awareness of her troubles.
"They'll come around, little one…"
Ethan took another glance around the big church before he sighed; finding the woman in front of him to be as in denial as they come. "We're not in your castle anymore. So, doesn't that mean that your sisters aren't coming around too?"
"It may." She tilted her head again and raised her brow. "They may be closer than you think…"
"I doubt that." Ethan would not play into her charade. The vampiric family he had encountered less than several hours ago would not be knocking on the church's door anytime soon. Save for the blonde; they were an afterthought. "You told me to go find my daughter? Well, go find your sisters."
She just stood there without anything else to say – only a gradual forming of a scowl to acknowledge his remark.
Ethan breathed a slight chuckle as he saw through her act. "I let you live. At least show some gratitude."
Her teeth flashed with a hiss. "Gratitude is not what I owe you."
"Shut up." Ethan paced around, inspecting the surroundings for any sign of an exit. He could care less what she did, as long as she stood out of his way.
Bela watched as the man disregarded her, feeling the fire of wrath boil inside her as she sought to manifest herself into a horde of flies and decimate his being. Yet, no matter how hard she tried, not a single insect would disperse from her. It was unexplainable.
She wasn't cold, nor was she still weak from his attacks. Sure, the punch to the face still hurt, but that wasn't going to put a stop to any of her abilities. Thinking back to the sudden light, she tried to piece the puzzle together.
The sudden location change was the biggest elephant in the room, but the man-thing nearby likely wasn't privy to the differences that only she could detect. There was no indication of her sister's presence. Normally, her senses were top-notch. Even the slightest sound or buzz could be picked up by her keen ears.
Now, the only noise she could hear was the gentle hum of a soft wind outside the large building, steadily seeping through unseen cracks in the structure. That – and Ethan's unending patter of footsteps atop the tiles.
She didn't feel like herself at all. Ever since that vortex of light dissolved her body into a million sparkles, she felt more grounded in mortality – and it frightened her to no end.
This has to be Mother Miranda's doing. But, how? Why? I did not fail my mother. I was about to kill him.
She watched as Ethan walked further down into the nave, peering at the aisles along his left and right.
We have nothing like this in our village. How could we have ended up in this place?
A little more blood dripped out from her bottom lip. With her leather glove, she wiped another streak of crimson onto her fingers.
I'm still bleeding. What is going on with me?
Ethan could still be seen searching around, getting further away as he approached an alter at the far end. Bela had yet to move from where she had been standing the entire time. With his back toward her, only then did she feel the chance to release some of her stress. She peered around frantically in all directions, hoping to find something that would set her mind straight.
Any indication – any sign – of her castle, the village lords, or Miranda herself would have worked.
Nothing.
None of the figures painted atop the church ceiling matched anything she had seen before. There was no homage to the prophet of the Black God at all. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that this church had to reside in another region of the world entirely. It shook her to her core, as the prospect of being away from home was something she could never fathom.
I have to find my way out of here. I have to get back!
With a steady breath, she collected her emotions and stowed them away, hoping that the answers she sought would find their way to her shortly. Ethan turned on his flashlight, which illuminated the decrepit furniture – highlighting how aged everything around them was.
His voice spoke half-excitedly in the distance as she stared on, "There we go."
"What is it?" She asked. The man bent down to pick up something off the ground. With the sudden rack of a pump, she realized that he had discovered his shotgun. "Never mind."
Even more weapons for this bastard…
Ethan had ejected a spent shell casing when he operated the action. He pulled a couple more rounds from his jacket pocket and began to load them into the magazine tube, sending one into the chamber with another pull of the pump. He searched again for any extra ammo – finding one last shell for good measure.
Into the tube it went.
"Can I have my sickle back?" Bela called out as she began to casually approach him, knowing full well the power his shotgun had when she could still dissolve into an army of bugs. The 00 buckshot he threw her way was enough to rattle the flies she was made of, sending them into disarray for a few seconds before she could re-form. With her suspected mortality; one shot from that gun now and she'd be done.
"I'm not giving it back to you," he said. "You can stop asking and start helping me find out where we are if you want. Otherwise, go away."
I am going to enjoy killing him. The first chance I get, his throat will be opened up.
"How rude." Bela got close enough so that she could get a better look at the church from the view of his flashlight. Cobwebs adorned the cracks and crevices of the aisle's seats, already caked in a dusty gray. She glanced ahead and pointed her finger at the alter before them. "Hey, shine your light on that."
Reluctant to take orders from her, Ethan clung to his curiosity as he directed the beam toward the podium that stood tall in the center. On top of it was a large chalice of metallic construction. At its side rested a sizable book of scripture, opened to the final passages.
Beyond these was a larger construction that sat against the back wall. It was over a dozen feet in height and carved entirely of wood, dyed to a dark brown. The formation of figures inside the rounded windows reminded him of European gothic-era architecture.
The spires and pointed arches, coupled with asymmetrical shapes were just like the outside of the hellish castle that he had inadvertently escaped from. Figures of what could have been perceived as of noble or religious importance stood inside each window, with one atop the very peak of the altar itself. They seemed to bear no unique appearance – resembling average men and women.
There were no words or writings available to describe these figures, but the themes were uncanny. That was when the truth dawned on Ethan. "This isn't just a church. This is a cathedral."
"So?" Bela remained neutral in her expression, waiting for the man to provide her with more information.
"That means that we must be in a city, or at least a large settlement. Places like this aren't just found in the middle of the woods. I would have seen this when I approached that village, but I didn't."
Her silence was all that she could give as her knowledge of such structures began to trickle in. Her castle was home to many books that she would read whenever the desire to learn something about the past came out. The topics were often limited to science or some history, but the appearance of cathedrals was often accompanied by civilizations of considerable progress. The man had to be right – and that didn't make her growing anxiety any more tolerable.
A city? That's impossible. How could we have been pulled to something so far?! I don't believe it.
Ethan walked up to the podium, visually aware of how close the blonde woman was to him. He knew that she had to have been planning something, and any slip on her part would surely result in force on his. Until then, he'd keep cool and be ready in private.
His light cast on the likely-centuries old pages of the large book, revealing words that made no sense to him at all. "Can you read this?" He asked her.
"Huh?" Her state of concentration broke. Ethan bobbed his flashlight up and down at the book next to him, directing her attention to it. Without hesitation, Bela stepped up to the podium, using her arm to clear some space. "Move."
Upon attempting to read the page present in front of her, Bela could not discern any piece of the language itself. It was not Latin or of any other semblance to words she may have read in the past. Even some of the letters appeared off in their form, not relative solely to whoever wrote the thing.
"I can't read this," she told him as she moved away from the book with immediate disregard. Whatever the scripture might have said; it offered little to no use. She wanted to get out of this establishment – with Ethan's corpse lying dead inside. He would not return her weapon, which she didn't blame him for.
She wanted him dead and pretending her mind had changed would just be a waste of time to them both. As long as he still had the edge over her, she'd have to cooperate.
Ethan turned his light toward the large door on the opposite end of the building. "It looks like it's been boarded up. I don't think any of us are getting through that. There has to be another –"
A low giggle cut his words in half as he paused to listen. Bela may have been too preoccupied with her problems, but she heard it too. Both parties turned in sequence to the source of the noise – hidden between two of the long rows of seats. The sound was mischievous, as well as somewhat misguided as if it wasn't laughing at them.
Ethan honed his light's beam toward the aisles in search of a better glimpse. Sure enough, the fabric of a light blue dress could be seen just above the top edge of the benches. Hunched over, the person's back held the shape of a lake monster's distinctive hump. As soon as the light shined on them, they dipped back down out of view.
Another soft giggle followed.
"Hey!" Ethan shouted. "Who is there?"
This man is so stupid…
Bela reached her hand out for her sickle, untrusting of whoever it was that was nearby. She whispered with a small urgency, "Give me it now!"
"You're not hurting anyone else!" He scolded her.
Their faces were two feet apart; Bela narrowed her eyes at the man, who held onto his guns – metaphorically and literally.
"They're not answering you, you idiot," she said.
Undeterred, Ethan re-aimed his light back at the woman between the benches. A head of shaggy, wavy brown hair bobbed up before hovering back down with a third giggle to heighten the tension. Once again, the blue dress hump became visible several feet away.
"There's more than one person over there," Ethan stated. He called out to the two girls, "Hey! Can you help us?"
"Us?" What does he think?
Another giggle echoed around before the head and hump re-emerged. This time, they did not lower. What he had initially thought to be two, separate ladies turned out to be the opposite. The head connected to the rest of the body via an unnaturally long neck – around three or so feet in length. Her elongated arms and legs climbed atop the bench, bent with a spider's poise.
As her face came into the light, they could see her features were stretched out. Eyes pulled to mere slits. A nose whose bridge became concave, narrowing into a small bump at the bottom. Her mouth was the most horrifying part of all.
An elongated jaw, lined with a pair of lips that had torn in various places, allowed it to still smile despite being pulled past its limit. She flashed her shark-like teeth, curved inward and culminating in pointed tips. Ethan had seen many monsters by now – but nothing like this.
She stared at them through her millimeter-wide eyes and cast a crocodile's grin before all hell broke loose.
The woman leaped over the benches, hurtling over them like a primate running between trees. Her arms and legs remained concealed by the long, Victorian-style dress she wore, but they were still nimble. She sped toward Bela and Ethan, bellowing like a ravenous beast as she drew closer.
"Run!" Ethan shouted as he bolted back to the altar; Bela following not far behind him.
He un-slung his shotgun as soon as he was able to take cover behind the podium. Bela crouched down behind him, once again demanding a weapon. "Give me your other gun! We'll stand a better chance!"
Hesitation would only steal the precious seconds that they had before the creature would reach them. He had no time to ponder whether or not it was safe to give the killer next to him something she could use to cause death. Right now, his focus was centered on the nightmarish creature that was on its way toward them. Without a second to spare, he reached down and grabbed the sickle that he had slung on his belt and handed it over to the blonde beside him.
Bela's face tensed as she saw the blade being held in front of her. "I said I wanted –"
"Just take it!" Ethan screamed at her. Bela's eyes widened into a worried stare and for a short moment, he thought he was the one responsible. It was only when he noticed that she was looking off to his side did he realize that her terror was rightfully earned. A slow, raspy draw crawled into his ear with a gust of hot breath. He craned his head to the right and saw the sinister face of the demonic woman inches away from his own.
Her neck had curled around the podium, allowing her to snake her way to him. Her mouth opened with a snarl and her many rows of jagged teeth presented themselves. Fight or flight was the name of the game and there was no time to second-guess one's moves. Ethan bolted from where he was – desperate to put distance between himself and the vile predator.
As soon as he got on his feet, a sharp pain gripped his right forearm as she clamped her jaws into his jacket. Her teeth managed to cut through some of the tough fabric that composed his winter clothes, piercing his flesh. A scream flew from Ethan's mouth as she yanked him back and dragged him around the podium.
His flashlight fell from his chest and rolled across the ground; briefly highlighting the pale skin of the disheveled creature as the beam scanned past it. She was stronger than she looked – and she appeared fearsome enough, to begin with. Without much effort, she had brought him down the altar steps and was making her way back toward the aisle's benches. He knew such a location would be a death sentence.
The space was so confined that there would be no room to fight her off. One good bite to the throat and he was a goner. The more he resisted – the harder she bit down.
"Help!" He cried out, realizing that his firearms had also been tossed during the fall.
Bela continued to sit behind the podium, debating if she should go out to take on the creature. She wanted Ethan dead but understood that her own mortality was being called into question. She could bleed here and that meant she could die as well. There was no telling if there were more of these things lurking around and until she had a greater understanding of her situation, she'd need all the help that she could get.
She wanted him dead, but she needed him for right now.
Ethan tumbled against the final step and slid easily across the smooth floor. He could see the shadows of the benches nearby and feared that he would be there within seconds. He reached down for his knife, fighting to get a good hold of the handle and unsheathe it from his right side. The angle of his setup proved troublesome as he found great difficulty in retrieving it with his opposite arm. She swerved his body around and stretched his arm into a barrage of suffering. Blood trailed down his jacket as her teeth sank deeper.
Seconds later and it would be all over.
A loud, familiar sound of rage came up from behind him as the beast paused its movement and peered up with its thin eyes. A sickle slammed into the side of its shoulder, unleashing a small splash of blood from the side. In reaction; she relinquished her hold on Ethan's arm and bucked her head upward to kick off the assault.
The blonde who had attempted to murder him earlier was seen tussling with the ravenous creature, fighting to pry her sickle out from it. Her arms wrapped along its neck as it flailed around, dragging the sickle across and carving a long valley across its skin. Ethan could see the intensity on the bug-woman's face as she focused all her efforts on putting this creature down. The beast demonstrated its superior strength by dashing off to the benches, lifting the blonde from her feet as she went with her.
Without thinking; Ethan decided that she would not see the same fate that she had spared him. He needed to go after her. Sprinting up from the ground, he took off after the two of them, leaping onto the thing's back just as it approached the first row of seats. "Let go!" He shouted at Bela.
"Argh!" She yelped as the woman charged head-on against the first bench, crashing her body into it. She broke her grip and dropped as the monster charged along, Ethan still holding on.
The man finally withdrew his knife, though the injuries to his arm would not go unnoticed as he felt a fiery wave of pain erupt from his muscles. Ignoring the trauma for now, he plunged the sharp blade deep into her back before wrenching it out and slashing the bottom of her unnaturally long neck. The metal's edge cut through her skin like butter, ripping a tear across her tissues and arteries. A cascade of blood fell from the newly created wound, steering the creature in all directions as she tried to hop over the next set of rows.
Ethan let go, knowing that the damage he had inflicted was severe enough to eliminate the threat. He hit the hard floor with his shoulder, earning a grunt of discomfort in the process. The sounds of the continuous crashing played out; mixed with the weepy rasps and giggles of the deranged entity that had just tried to kill him.
Giggles turned to gurgles as the volcano of blood clogged its airway and the crashing soon came to a sudden halt.
Catching his breath, Ethan lay down while he listened for any additional noise that would signal the battle was far from over. Only silence filled the air. Silence – and the distinct clicking of someone's heels.
His brow raised as he realized that the blonde was still walking about and she now had access to his weapons. He quickly sat up, panting as his eyes scanned around the dark building. The beam from his light could be seen a dozen feet away, but that dark dress of another figure soon took over his view as she appeared in front of him – bloody sickle in hand.
Pressing his lips, Ethan's respirations increased tenfold as he prepared for whatever blow she would inflict. He knew this was it. There was no way he could deflect her next fatal move, but he wasn't going to go down like a coward, either. He stared her down from below, an undaunted fixation in his eyes as they met with the amber orbs of the witch next to him.
She paused, taking the time to glance down at her own weapon before she nudged her head to where his guns were to be found. "Grab your things. We can't stay here." She turned away, leaving him by himself.
"Wait!" Ethan called out to her as he slowly rose. "We need to figure this out."
Her voice was calm, though audibly displeased. "That's what I'm trying to do. Now, grab your things. We need to go."
He approached her from behind, retrieving his equipment in the process. Ethan was wise to maintain some distance, yet thankful enough to trust her with some proximity. "You were just trying to kill me before, and now you decided to help me."
She halted her movement, rolling her head back in annoyance as she did so. "Let's not talk about this, shall we?"
"I'm just saying," he pulled in more air to satiate his lungs, "I could've used the help back in your castle."
She immediately spun around and pointed her sickle at in, inches away from his throat. "Listen, man-thing: I'm not going to toy with you when there are more serious matters at hand. But, if you are foolish enough to think that I would ever aid you under normal circumstances, you are deathly mistaken…"
With a slow nod, Ethan collected his breath and shrugged his shoulder. A short chuckle came out as she continued to hold her blade in his direction. "I just wanted to say thanks, that's all. It ends there. I just wish the sudden change of heart would have happened earlier."
"Do you think I would ever go against my mother?" Bela's voice rose as she grew agitated. "More so: do you think I would ever help someone like you out of the kindness of my heart?"
Her face dropped into a sudden lack of emotion, save for a small tightening of her eyebrows. "I would never."
With animosity swirling through her veins, she turned away as she wished to have no further conversation for the time being. She had her sickle back and that was all that mattered for right now. Bela replayed the encounter with the deformed woman over and over in her mind as she paced around the shadowy cathedral front, wondering how all of this had managed to happen.
What is waiting for me outside these walls? I wish I could fly out of here, but I fear this is the way I'll be until I can find a way home.
The last remnants of stray blood dripped onto her tongue before she gave one, final spat toward the ground. She could only imagine what would have happened had that creature bit her instead of Ethan.
"Hey…" The annoying man-thing called out to her again. "I never got your name back in the castle, you know. I saw a painting with three girls, but I don't know if that was you or not."
Without looking back, she replied in a loud, authoritative tone, "Bela."
"Ethan Winters."
"I don't care." She approached the cathedral doors, examining them for any way to get through. Unfortunately, they were sealed shut, likely to stop anyone from getting in.
Or – as she began to consider – anything from getting out.
The windows were too high to reach, and the fall from such a height if one managed to circumvent them would be fatal. There had to be another door in the shadows that they did not see, but that meant further exploring, and she was in no mood to comb through this terrible place.
Ethan had his shotgun at the low-ready, checking around the benches for any more bloodthirsty creatures that may have lied in wait. The corpse of the fallen beast that had attacked them mere minutes ago was sprawled over the middle rows – its front dug down toward the floor.
Cautiously, Ethan got closer and aimed his light down at its face, inspecting its features with greater depth so that her may yield a better understanding of what may be out there. The proportions of this woman exceeded that of anything natural, though she was not overly large, which may have allowed her to stay hidden during their initial look-through.
Aside from the long limbs, curved back, freakishly extended neck, and pulled face; the rest of the woman was fairly normal. Even the gown she wore was mostly clean, save for lots of dust and dirt along the ends of her sleeves and skirt. Such things signaled that a transformation had to have occurred, possibly very recently.
The lycans that he had encountered back in that village were on the other end of the spectrum of mutated. They were feral in all ways and likely had lived in that form for years. Their clothing was tattered and their bodies were ragged with experience in the harsh wild. They were a force to be reckoned with when they came in packs, as they utilized primitive strategies and could coordinate their assaults to some degree.
Whatever they had encountered in this cathedral had yet to be understood, but Ethan shuddered to think about what would happen if something like that were to be faced en masse. While he had lost two fingers to a single lycan bite; getting hooked by one of these things was nearly impossible to shake off. Thankfully, it went down just as quickly as any other person would.
"What could have caused this to happen to somebody?" Ethan asked as he moved away from the body and looked over to Bela.
The blonde didn't offer a single glance his way as she walked along the edge of the wall, hoping to find a door of any sort. Ethan continued eyeing her, wondering what was on her mind.
"Aren't you concerned about this?" He addressed her seemingly calm attitude.
"No," she replied. "It's dead."
"And you don't think there's more?"
She still wouldn't turn around; choosing to playfully drag the tip of her blade across the wooden walls as she scanned for any exit nearby. "Maybe there are."
"You know…" He was beginning to get tired after everything that he had seen from her since they first encountered each other in that room. "I get the impression that you really don't give a fuck about what happens around you, don't you?"
She gave no response.
"You and your lunatic sisters just live in that castle all day." Ethan's frustrations manifested as he got louder. "You get everything you want and think the world is going to look after you."
"Enough!" Bela's roar cut the air around her. She rotated her body with raised shoulders, eyes wide at the man across the room. "You will not talk about my sisters. You know nothing about our lives. Cease your foolish words at once!"
Ethan shook his head as he looked away from her. A low mumble whispered out that could still be heard by her, even from the other side of the room, "Spoiled brat…"
"What did you say?!"
He turned around again. "I'm not going to argue with you. Thanks for saving my life over there, but if you don't want to work with me to get out of this place, then fuck off, okay? I could have killed you too, but I'm trying to do my best to figure this all out. All you want to do is act like you're still in that castle of yours, but you're not! Your mother and sisters aren't here, and neither is my daughter, so maybe, just maybe…we should probably work together."
Bela could not stand his attitude. Who did he think he was?
"Look, man-thing; I am not your friend." She made her way toward him in a non-threatening manner. She carried her voice in yet another direct manner as if she was teaching something that she felt he already should have known. "You do not know me at all and it will stay that way, understand? Now, I don't know what happened near our kitchen, but whatever it was, and wherever we are now…it doesn't matter."
She stopped short of getting in his face, her eyes filled with hate. "When we get back to my castle, I will drown in your blood."
Ethan remained firm in his stance, unwilling to bow to such a display. He held his shotgun tight in his hands, staring Bela down. With his mission to rescue his daughter as the highest priority – even above his own survival – he wasn't going to let this arrogant woman get in his way. "Try it."
A slasher's grin appeared across her face. "Oh, I will. Just you wait."
"Then how's about you take me up on my offer, so we can get back to your home? Unless you'd rather sit in the dark all day."
Bela moved in, the tip of her nose barely an inch from his. "Then let's go."
Without saying another word, Ethan pulled back and turned around to search for another way out. Moving away from the corpse and back to the altar, Bela took one last glance at the fallen demon that lay before them.
This doesn't look like anything Miranda has gifted the world. Her transformations are strange.
With a small hum, Bela shifted her focus to where Ethan was, spotting him as he rummaged around the corner of the wall. His light dashed around the side of the panels, highlighting the lack of any door. The man looked like he was onto something, but she could not figure out what.
"No exit?" She asked.
"No," he replied. "I think we've seen the entire inner perimeter and there's no sign of any other doors. The front one is pretty boarded up, right? I could use your friend with the large hammer."
"I have no friends with large hammers," she stated.
"Yeah, you do." Ethan slung his shotgun over his shoulder. "Heisenberg, right?"
Her brows flattened as her eyelids squinted. "Did I stutter?"
He shared a laugh to himself, amused to see that the family drama was somewhat generational. "Whatever. We could have used his hammer. But I have another idea…"
"What is that?" She followed behind him as he continued to move along to the front entrance. She could see him reaching into his coat for something, though she was not sure what.
Ethan suddenly withdrew a small pipe bomb that he had concealed on him. The explosive was roughly the size of a bottle, but it held enough charge to pack a serious punch. Bela tilted her head at the sight of it, knowing full and well how he may have acquired such a thing.
Cassandra…
Once Ethan got to the arched entryway, he began to inspect the construction of the barrier, noting to himself that it was mostly made of wood, with the exception of some iron bars that formed floral shapes along the top and bottom sides. The split of the two doors seemed to have been sealed with a large, metal sheet, bolted straight into the doors themselves. Judging by the size of the nails; the boards had to be thick.
He only had one pipe bomb at his disposal – which meant only one chance to make this work.
Unslinging his shotgun yet again, Ethan set the weapon down and removed his coat from his body, exposing his thin, toned frame beneath a dark blue hoodie. Bela offered his body a single glance, wondering to herself how someone like him could have survived for this long despite everything he had endured back at the village.
"What are you doing?" She raised a puzzled brow as he went about his efforts.
"You might want to step away." He held his coat over his face and body as a shield right before he placed the muzzle of the shotgun against the wood. "I'm going to shoot this door and hopefully gauge how dense it is. If it's not too thick, I can wedge this bomb inside and hopefully blast a hole through it, unless you have any better ideas?"
"Nope. All yours." She giggled as she heeded his warning and moved from the potential radius of shrapnel.
Ethan sighed and shook his head as he let her get the better of him for a second. The man crouched down into a kneeling position before he readjusted his makeshift cover, hoping that everything would go as planned. As soon as the sound of Bela's heels could be heard at an acceptable distance, Ethan pulled the trigger of the M1897 and discharged an assortment of round balls directly into the door. A loud boom rocked the large room as the sound of debris kicked around at high speed. He could feel the sting of several tiny splinters as they embedded themselves inside his knuckles, but for the most part, he was unscathed.
Ethan dropped his coat and surveyed the results, noting a baseball-sized hole that punched through, surrounded a deep crater of wooden shards. Peeking his head through, Ethan's vision of the world around them noted a row of several buildings, composed of old bricks and carrying a modern structure to them.
"We're definitely in a city," he said to Bela, who shrugged her shoulders.
"Lovely…"
"Whatever…" Ethan got to work on setting up the pipe bomb inside the hole. The improvised grenade managed to balance inside the opening due to the large rims that surrounded its top and bottom. The hold would have to stay, otherwise, the explosive would drop and lessen the impact it may have on the door. Once he was sure that the charge would hold, Ethan withdrew a small lighter from his pocket and lit the fuse.
He quickly sprinted away, ducking under the first bench that he could get behind. Bela uttered a small chuckle as she watched him run around like a scared duck from afar.
Such a funny, little man.
The fuse burned down until it met the inside of the pipe and a deafening blast erupted from the door. A sudden burst of light and air entered the room, offered by the large opening that had just been created at its side. Bits of wood and metal lay across the ground, with some still presenting the option of injury if neither of them was careful in getting through.
Ethan lifted his head to gaze at their new escape route while Bela trotted over to get a closer look. "Worked like a charm," she said.
"Yeah, yeah. You're welcome."
The two of the approached the door in unison, Bela waving away some remaining smoke before she sought to enter it. Ethan ejected the spent casing and chambered a new round. He reached into his coat's pocket to retrieve yet another shell and inserted it into the magazine tube, topping off his gun.
"Do you have the entire world inside the coat?" She chided him.
"What do you have inside that dress?" He tried to make the same remark to her before he realized how that sounded. "Wait, nevermind."
"I'm going to ignore that…" Bela peered through the hole, gazing at what lay ahead of her. She couldn't believe her eyes.
This is…incredible…
The blonde crawled through the demolished door, ensuring that she did not get snagged on any of the sharp edges as she made her way outside and onto the street. Ethan followed suit, though his coat did not fare too well, and got caught on three individual prongs before he was able to free himself.
Once outside, the two were met with the astonishing sight of a vast city. Buildings and towers lined the landscape. Bela stood frozen in place as her eyes wandered all around; gazing at sights that she could have only imagined in the past. As impressive as her castle was to her – it paled in comparison to this.
I've never seen anything like this before.
As the blonde stood there in awe, Ethan found himself more troubled than she was. Something about this city wasn't right. His eyes took notice of the shapes of the many tall buildings; their roofs lined with various spires and crowns – similar to that of nineteenth-century architecture. In the distance, a large clock tower could be seen, though its devilish crown of spikes upon the top prevented it from being confused with the Tower of London.
No, Ethan thought, this wasn't London.
This place was not like any city he had ever witnessed before. The scenery was gothic; almost straight out of a Lovecraftian art gallery. The dreary grey sky was coated with a slight orange hue that signaled that dusk was soon approaching and night would be in effect shortly.
Bela continue to stare at everything around her, though she soon turned her attention to Ethan, believing that he may have had some information. "What city is this?"
"I don't know."
"What?" She curled her lip. "What do you mean you don't know?"
Ethan's eyes dropped down to the cobblestone street that the two of them stood on. The sides of it were lined with old lampposts – ones like Jack the Ripper would have hidden from during his nightly prowls. There were old carriages that were left discarded beside that delipidated buildings – but no signs or indications of the usage of motor vehicles.
It wasn't just the lack of modern-day fixtures that set his nerves on overdrive. The atmosphere of the city was uninviting. It was as if death was in the air, enveloping the civilization in a dreary fog. Nothing about it brought upon any sense of salvation.
"Something isn't right about this place." He waved his hand across the street. "Look around! Does any of this look modern to you? Besides that; where is everybody? Why is it so quiet?"
Hmm, he's right…I don't like this…
Bela drew in a small breath as she glanced at the large clock tower. "Where on Earth are we?"
Ethan took a couple of steps forward, allowing the skyline to be seen in greater capacity past some of the taller buildings that were close by. As soon as he was able to witness its contents did he halt all movement. Bela took note of his sudden lack of motion and became alarmed at the possibility of another threat. She lowered her posture and quietly approached him so that she could see what he was looking at.
"Well?" She asked. "What is it?"
Ethan directed his finger toward the heavens; revealing the presence of three suns that hovered over the landscape. "I don't think we're on Earth at all."
Bela's mouth dropped as soon as she beheld the unimaginable sight. Every theory – every possible explanation of their situation – had now been wiped from her head. A sharp gasp revealed some of the panic that she was beginning to feel. Ethan withheld none of his worries; the man's face adopted a tense expression born from stress and bewilderment.
Before they could decide their next move, a sudden bout of giggling could be heard from inside the cathedral – through the hole that they had just created in the door. Bela shifted her focus toward the sound, while Ethan's concerns were caught by the predatory whistle of the wind.
The sky's color began to deepen and they both realized that night would be here sooner than expected. Without any second thought, Ethan grabbed Bela's arm to get her attention.
"We have to run, now!"
NOTES:
Welcome! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Bela and Ethan's adventure certainly kicked off with a bang. From what we can see, both of them have suddenly found themselves in a different world. How? Why? Where? These questions will be answered in time.
Bela will be the main character, as this is essentially her story. Her life in Castle Dimitrescu will be revisited through various flashbacks, where you can expect to see characters from the world we all know and love.
This is going to be a full-on horror story (with some romance elements included) set in a world filled with gothic horror. Expect a very character-driven tale as this story takes deep and heavy turns, finding Bela seriously out of her element. It will lean heavily on gore and language, as well as other very dark elements.
For fans of my other work, Fragmented Flies, this may sound quite familiar. I'm sure you all know what to expect 😉
If any newcomers to my writings are interested in seeing Cassandra transported to a new world where she must face her demons head-on, I invite you to check Fragmented Flies out as well. It's definitely a great companion to this tale, though they both take place in separate universes (quite literally).
On that note, unlike Fragmented Flies, I won't be posting art in every chapter and each one will not have a definitive release date set for this story, but rest assured, the chapters will be out readily enough and art will make many appearances. Personally, I am very excited about this new release and I hope you all are as well! It has been on my mind for quite a while, brought on by the immense support my first story has received. Expect the next chapter to drop in around two weeks or so. Keep an eye on those emails.
Follow this story on Archive of Our Own to check out the art that has been created for this chapter! This website sadly does not allow me to display such creations.
Leave a comment to let me know what you think, hope to see, and want to know! I look forward to hearing from you and until then, I wish you all the best!