The Bathory Curse (35 page)

Nea’s thoughts were interrupted as she watched her
granddaughter lift her head and look around. Ella stood and Nea
watched her go through the house to make sure the other occupants
were asleep. The girl smiled and went into the drawing room, Nea
lost sight of her for a few minutes, when she came back she had a
large glass and was greedily gulping it.

“Kato, Lok?” Nea whispered for her companions, the
beautiful Hungarian noblewoman, had been one of her Strigoi for so
many years now and her newest Strigoi, from China.

“Yes?” Kato materialized next to Nea.

“Did you need us, Zhufu?” Lok asked, much more
mature and subdued since his change.

“Find out what she’s drinking.” Nea had a bad
feeling, she had been compelled to come check up on her
granddaughter, a ringing she hadn’t heard in many years had alerted
her to a Bathory woman’s curse coming to life. She had been in
France, shopping with Kato and Sabine when it happened and had
instantly bolted to England.

“She’s stealing from the brandy bottle.” Kato’s
words were a whisper as she shimmered back into view. Lok nodded in
agreement.

“I do not think Ella was allowed spirits yet.”

“I didn’t get the impression she was supposed to
have it,” Lok shrugged.

“All girls rebel a bit, I suppose it’s normal. I
shouldn’t see more than a simple answer.”

“Not all girls have Bathory blood running through
their veins,” Kato commented

“True.” Nea frowned, a sound caught her attention
and she saw a shadow creeping towards the house, she took a step
forward.

“Nea, you are not supposed to be here. You can’t
interfere, if Bendis finds out you are breaking her command, who
knows what she’ll do,” Lok reminded her.

Nea stopped herself and watched as the shadow came
into a circle of light from the window and she realized it was a
boy, he tapped on the window and Ella went to open it.  She
couldn’t hear their words but both parties seemed excited to see
each other. Ella left the room again and came back with a bottle,
Nea watched as she snuck out the window.

“No….if someone sees them her reputation will be
ruined,” Nea hissed.

“I’ll go in a little closer and see what’s going
on.” Kato patted Nea’s shoulder and disappeared. Nea could see Ella
and the boy hunker down under the window, behind a bush and she
lost sight of them. The seconds passed by so slowly, she had to
stop herself from rushing forward several times. Finally Kato
appeared.

“She and that boy are simply getting drunk and
kissing.”

“She should know better!” Nea said.

“If she does, she isn’t acting like it.”

“What if Stasi found her; what if that boy tells
everyone that Ella is a hussy who will kiss without a proper beau
and gets drunk like a prostitute in a gentleman’s club?”

“It would be bad, though I’ve seen you drunk a time
or two,” Kato smiled.

“Yes, well…I am over 300 years old, I don’t have a
reputation to worry about.” Nea rolled her eyes.

“What are you going to do about it?” Lok asked,
agitated that his mistress was upset.

Nea thought for a few minutes, “Kato you go back to
shop with Sabine, I’ll meet you in Paris in the morning. Lok stay
here and keep an eye on things. I am going to visit my son.”

“Be careful.” Kato bowed and then was gone, looking
forward to more shopping, Sabine had excellent taste.

“Whatever you say.” Lok smiled and faded from
sight.

Nea thought herself to Vlad’s castle instantly, she
knew Mihail and Vlad were both in residence. She walked through the
ruined and abandoned section and then came to the part hidden from
mortals that had been fully renovated and restored.

Pushing open the doors she was surrounded by warmth
from the fire and the familiar smells of her homeland.

“I thought I felt you coming,” Vlad’s deep voice
came from the sofa, he uncrossed long legs and stood up, smiling,
teeth white and perfect.

“I have to speak to Mihail.”

“He’s upstairs, I will summon him. Do I not even get
a kiss hello? I haven’t seen you in almost seven years.” Vlad
almost glided to her side, cape swirling behind him like something
alive. Nea gazed into his dark eyes and her face relaxed for the
first time in a while.

“Of course, hello.” She leaned up and placed her
lips against him, he smelled like the woods and tasted rich against
her mouth. His arms snaked around her waist and pulled her closer
to him, hand roaming down to cup her backside, he growled against
her.

“How is the sword working out?” Nea asked, pulling
away, whispering against his mouth.

“It seems to help. As long as I do weapon training
with it every so often the need to kill and for blood is not like
it once was.”

“Good, I am glad.” Nea pressed her mouth against his
again.

“Ugh, even after all these years I could do without
seeing that,” Mihail laughed, coming down the stairs and finding
his parents kissing like young lovers.

“Mihail, you look well,” Nea said, pulling away from
her husband.

“Thank you, did you hear about the peasant revolt
two years ago?” Mihail asked.

“I did. In one of your letters you mentioned you and
your father had been working behind the scenes politically to help
improve the quality of life here at home.” Nea sighed, so this is
how it was going to be, impersonal talk.

“Mihail, this is your mother, not a stranger,” Vlad
admonished. All three of them stared at each other for a few
moments.

“It doesn’t matter, I have already apologized to
Mihail and Stasi for my part in their family being destroyed. I am
doing all I can to fix it. If he cannot see past that to the mother
who has loved him for centuries there is nothing I can do, Vlad.”
Nea leaned into her husband’s embrace, placing her head on his
chest, he tightened his arms around her, unhappy with the way their
son was treating her.

“I’m not getting into this again with you mom, I
can’t help but be angry and will stay that way until I can be with
Daniela and Stasi again.”

“Son, you see Stasi every month, though I wish she’d
let the girl come here for vacation. I am not ruled by your
Goddess,” Vlad said.

“She is too angry at mom to allow Daniela out of her
sight for long, and once a month is not enough.”

“That’s why I am here. I think Daniela is finally
being affected by the curse, I saw her tonight…” Nea was cut off by
her son’s cursing.

“You saw her! If Bendis finds out
you are cheating she will punish us further, how dare you put us in
that position, do you think of nothing but yourself?!” Mihail
exclaimed taking a few steps forward.
It made Nea furious,
she wished he was still a little boy and could be spanked for bad
behavior

“ENOUGH! You are still her son, you will show your
mother respect, now be quiet and listen!” Vlad roared, holding out
a hand and freezing his son where he stood, red flashing in his
eyes.

“It’s alright, Vlad, calm down. Mihail,” Nea took a
deep breath, “I watched Ella sneak out after Stasi was asleep and
get drunk and kiss a boy.”

“What?” Mihail was taken a back.

“You need to tell Stasi, since she will not speak to
me, you are the best bet to have her keep a more diligent eye on
your daughter. I will speak to Bendis and find out how bad we
should expect this to get.” Nea squeezed Vlad a bit closer, then
let go and stepped away, “I love you both, but I better go.”

“Mom- wait…”

“No, Mihail, I will not take any more abuse from my
children. I have always done what I thought was right, what I had
to for our family. I stand by my decision to take Ella to see my
mother that day. We learned valuable information, I am sorry it
ended the way it had….I have to go.” Nea ran out the door, before
Vlad or Mihail could stop her.

“Ungrateful boy,” Vlad glared at his son.

“I am a grown man. I don’t need your approval of how
I handle my affairs.”

“No, just my home to hide out in. If you are a man,
start acting like it. In my day, I would have been beaten for
abandoning my mother, think on that, I am going to feed.” Vlad
vanished in a swish of his cape, putting out the fire and the lamps
at the same time, leaving Mihail to consider his words and actions,
in the dark.

Chapter 23

English Countryside of Erewash near the City of
Derby

August- 1911

Stasi stood in the courtyard of the large manor
house that had been her home for eight years and the weight on her
chest was as heavy as the day they arrived. As the cold English
wind beat against her face, she remembered helping Daniela unpack,
both silent and grieving. Daniela and Stasi had both prayed to
Bendis, begging for the exile to be rescinded. All Bendis had told
Stasi was that she could leave at any time, but Daniela had to stay
until she was 18.

Daniela blamed herself for breaking the rules; Stasi
blamed her mother for taking her and blamed herself for not putting
her foot down. She had known going to Purgatory was a bad idea and
now they had been punished for it.

They had made the most of it, shopping, eating,
trying to laugh and learn to love their new cold and wet
environment. Stasi still fed, she was compelled to and had to seek
out other Stregas to give the excess magic, since she had refused
to see her own mother.

In the beginning, Sabine had stopped in, but when
Daniela was 15 she asked Sabine why her grandmother never wrote,
Sabine had looked crossly and darkly at Stasi and told Daniela,
“Strega rule number 13; everything in good time.” It was the last
time Sabine came to visit.

Stasi couldn’t bear to be away from her daughter for
long so she had only seen her husband once a month for eight years,
sometimes less if Vlad Dracul had something for Mihail to do. There
had been three months at the beginning where she had even refused
to see Mihail, after he had come to tell her that their little girl
would have to summon and poison Bendis. Stasi couldn’t tell her
that. It was something too dark and horrible to lay on the
shoulders of a ten year-old.

Stasi had known from the start that her daughter
would have a grand role to play in stopping the Bathory curse, she
just hadn’t thought it would be something like murdering a Goddess.
So every year on her birthday she contemplated telling Daniela, and
every year she decided against it, one more year wouldn’t hurt.

Stasi received dozens of letters from her mother,
some addressed to her and others addressed to Daniela. Her mother
sent apologies, love, promises, funny anecdotes and tales of where
she had been and what she was doing. She sent a long detailed
account of finding the golden flowers, and her time in China. She
also sent gifts, some simple and some lavish. Stasi’s anger at her
mother had prompted her to horde those letters and refuse to give
them or the gifts to Daniela.

When a letter came for Stasi, Daniela would cry in
her bed at night wondering what she had done wrong. This always
made Stasi feel guilty, but she convinced herself each time she was
doing the right thing.

A year or so back Stasi had decided that keeping the
letters and presents was wrong, but by that time she had made a
commitment to the act and was afraid Daniela would be angry if she
found out what Stasi had done.

Daniela was stubborn; she wanted to see and speak to
her grandmother. She knew she was destined for something big, but
she still didn’t know what. As she grew older she told Stasi she
knew how different she was, not just that she was born a Strigoi
that fed off memories, but that there was something inside her
waiting to be let out.  When she asked her mother and got a
simple, “I don’t know,” her resolve that she must speak to her
grandmother grew. Over the years she had written hundreds of
letters, each more desperate. Stasi had sent them all, she just had
not given her the replies.

Something else, though, had stirred in Stasi, the
need to tell the truth and end the curse immediately. She had begun
to notice a darkness within her daughter, shadows in her eyes, a
meanness to her comments, a sneer where there used to be a smile.
After a conversation with Mihail they had both realized their
daughter was falling under the Bathory curse. Stasi had wanted to
reach out to her mother to confirm her fears, but there was too
much between them now.

“You know the wind won’t make this decision any
easier.” A deep female voice came from behind Stasi. It was Bendis’
daughter Anatolia. Stasi had found the name amusing until,
bitterly, Anatolia told her, “My mother names all her daughters
after people and places that worshipped her, apparently since we
could one day take on her mantle and BE her, having a real name
isn’t important.”

Anatolia looked just like Bendis in her young form,
dark skinned with strong features and long black hair. The only
difference was her eyes, they were bright green, apparently the
same shade as Anatolia’s father.

“I know it won’t, but I still have to make it” Stasi
said, irritation laced her words

“Don’t be angry with me, I didn’t do this to
you.”

“My mother did.” Stasi was still irate.

“No, MY mother did. I wish you’d forgive yours and
get over it,” Anatolia sighed, she put an arm around the smaller
woman’s shoulders.

“I know…I wish I could. I want
everything to go back the way it used to be. Mihail with me and
Daniela and us with my mom.” Stasi kicked at the huge box at her
feet, filled with the letters and gifts of eight years. Tomorrow
was Daniela’s 18
^th
birthday.

“I understand. I remember when I turned 21, I had
lived with my father my whole life and then this old woman comes
and tells me she is my mother, an ancient Goddess and it is my
destiny to hang around, immortal and young until the time comes for
me to take her place.” Anatolia was 65 years old and didn’t look a
day past 25.