The Bathory Curse (38 page)

“Attack,” the Goddess whispered, retching into the
grass.

The spirit foxes attacked, one went for the party
guests behind Bendis and three went forward.

Stasi cringed as she heard one of the neighbors
begin to scream as her soul was ripped from her body and eaten by
the fox. Stasi advanced on it, baiting the creature to come at her
instead of the remaining guests who Anatolia was desperately trying
to evacuate.

Instead the demon fox went for
Daniela. Stasi grabbed Daniela as one of the foxes leapt at her,
she dematerialized
right as it tried to
bite, appearing a few feet farther away.

“How long is it going to take for her to die?”
Mihail asked, dodging the beasts and using his magic to thwart them
as best he could. He assumed the animals would go when the Goddess
did.

“I have no idea, the sooner the better,” Sabine
grinned, she had a large sword and while it didn’t seem to hurt the
devil fox she was fighting, it took a few moments for the animal to
regain shape after being hit by it.

Nea was preparing to advance to the
fox hunting Stasi and Daniela when
Ruxandra cried out for help. Nea rushed over to her as one of
the animals got the upper hand and sank fangs into her leg. Once it
attached nothing Ruxandra could do would stop it, it worried her
leg, causing the flesh to begin turning a sickly shade of
green.

“Bunica!” Ruxandra sobbed, “I can’t get away.”

Nea used her whip and hit the spectral fox hard,
while pushing her magic at the creature, it exploded and this time
didn’t reform. Nea bent at Ruxandra’s side, “It’s okay, I’m here.”
She stroked the girl’s face, kissing her cheek, but Ruxandra felt
cold.

“Draw on your magic dear one, heal yourself.”

“I can’t.” Ruxandra wept, writhing in pain. Nea
flinched as Sabine stabbed at a fox that had been about to jump on
her as she treated Ruxandra. They nodded to each other and Sabine
went on fighting. Nea gathered Ruxandra in her arms and began to
rock her as the green sickness oozed up her leg, turning the skin a
deep purple then black, Ruxandra shuddered in pain until she lost
consciousness.

“They are made especially to kill Stregas and
Strigoi. Did you not think I would have weapons to kill you? I made
you!” Bendis bragged.

“Don’t you dare take joy in Ruxandra’s pain you
bitch,” Stasi spit at the Goddess, dragging Daniela past her
towards Nea.

“Anatolia!” Bendis called for her daughter again, it
ended on a wet cough, she hacked up blood into the grass, curling
on her side as spasms wracked her body.

“Yes, mother?” Anatolia made her way to her mother’s
side, slowly, her dog right at her heels. She had finally gotten
everyone out and it had made her annoyed and tired.

“Help me,” Bendis begged.

“How?”

“If you give me your power, it will heal me.”

“But leave me mortal, yes? I will age and never take
on your mantle.” Anatolia knelt down next to her mother.

“Who will hold the mantle then, mother?” Anatolia
knew the answer, Lagina would be tapped.

“Someone has to take it, I have to have a daughter to
take my place.” Bendis voice was almost gone now, her eyes were
dull, cheek bones straining against her skin.

“And someone will.” Anatolia stood up and walked
over to Ruxandra and Nea, giving her mother a cold back to stare at
as she died, alone, without anyone paying attention. Just like
that, the phantom foxes were gone. Daniela and Stasi were holding
off one of the canines together when it disappeared. Daniela felt a
lightness fill her soul and the shadows in her mind retreated so
far back she could barely feel them.

“Bendis is dead,” she announced. Mihail and Sabine
looked at the corpse of the Goddess; it aged, crumbled and turned
to dust before their eyes, sinking into the grass and becoming one
with the dirt.

“Help Mama,” Stasi commanded of her husband and the
four of them rushed to Ruxandra’s side.

The death of her mother felt like a relief to
Anatolia. She stood straighter and felt stronger, taking in a deep
breath. It was like she was sucking in all her mother’s magic and
power. There wasn’t any color, no light, no sounds, to show that
the magic and Godhood had been passed over, Anatolia was just
suddenly more, like a neon color in a world full of pastels. Fulla
became more too, the dog seemed larger and more vibrant, her eyes
displaying many emotions and knowledge.

“Can you save her?” Nea asked the new Goddess.

“No. My mother’s weapons were too well crafted,
disposing of them will be one of the first things I do, nasty
creatures, born from her horrible temper.” She bent over and placed
her hands on Ruxandra.

“Is there anything you can do?” Nea had tears in her
eyes. Strigoi that had to be killed just simply stopped being, it
was part of the deal when they became Strigoi.

“I can collect her soul and send her to purgatory
with the rest of your family. The curse is broken but there is
still a link.” Anatolia ran her fingers over Ruxandra’s skin and
the girl gave one last shuddering breath before passing on. Nea
sobbed, fingers digging into her granddaughter, she continued to
rock the girl.

“I have retracted the punishment on Daniela and the
rule about Stregas not being with vampires. I will expect you to
continue making Strigoi and managing your other Strega duties,
however,” Anatolia told them all. “Nea, it is your job to see your
family to their eternal rewards as soon as possible. The insanity
will leave them, but the memories will remain until they drink from
the river Lethe and are reincarnated. I wish you had more time to
mourn Ruxandra, but you do not, duty calls.” Anatolia walked away,
calling for Fulla to follow.

Nea wanted to say, “screw duty,” but she could not,
her family was counting on her, had been for all these years.

“Mother, we will take care of Ruxandra,” Stasi said,
coming forward slowly.

“Yes, we will see she is buried and that her rest is
not disturbed,” Mihail agreed.

“I am going to come with you” Daniela announced into
the silence that followed.

“What? No you’re not! We can finally be a family!”
Stasi argued, watching as Mihail lifted Ruxandra into his arms and
Sabine helped Nea to stand.

“We can be a family for years, I need to help grandma
with this.” Daniela walked over to her grandma and the two women
hugged, “I loved all the gifts.” At her words Nea cried into the
girl’s hair for a few seconds.

“Stasi, everything is going to be fine.” Mihail
wanted to hug, kiss and fuck his wife, but it would have to wait.
All the happiness, the home coming and the celebration would have
to wait until Ruxandra was buried and the Bathory women taken care
of.

“Sure it will be. After we are done with Ruxandra we
will go back to the house in New York and eat something, then when
Dani and Nea get back you two can begin apologizing to your mum
something fierce,” Sabine speared them both with a searing look
that made them feel sheepish.

“Come on grandma, they’re waiting for us,” Daniela
said.

“Yes, they are.”

Chapter 25

Daniela and Nea stood in front of the Bathory house
in Limbo, for the first time Nea couldn’t hear crying, screaming or
the other awful noises that normally came from inside.

“It’s so quiet,” Daniela said.

“It’s weird. Come on, we better see what’s going
on.” As Nea led the way, she opened the door and stopped, surprise
filling her features. Twenty-two Bathory women stood in the entry
way, crowding it, silent, eyes wide, staring at each other.

“Ruxandra.” Nea spotted her granddaughter, the woman
came forward and embraced Nea.

“I got here before you, so far none of them are
speaking, except…” The women parted and Jenica came bustling
through, she held her hands out to her daughter.

“You did it, my beautiful girl, you saved us.” She
gripped her daughter’s hands.

“Daniela saved you, she was our curse breaker,” Nea
admitted.

“Grandma, you did all the work,” Daniela blushed, “I
just made some tea.”

“It doesn’t matter, the details, the curse is
broken. I felt it lift right through me. The house went silent and
Mariska was suddenly speaking to me, clear as day. I went through
the door for the first time and the house was airy and bright,”
Jenica was gushing, tears streaming down her face.

“Thank you, Nea.” Mariska came then, she had an arm
around Viva, her daughter.

“I have to help you all now. Ella and I have to help
you all find the lives you were meant to live,” Nea explained. At
those words, the other Bathory women seemed to wake up, some began
to cry, others to quiver uncontrollably, they found their mothers
and sisters, there was laughter and hugging. Some couldn’t bear to
be touched or even look at those they had wronged and drew within
their shells, it was slowly becoming chaos.

“We need to get them to the river, they need to
drink and forget this life and move on to the next,” Nea continued
with further details.

“We’ll help you, Bunica,” Ruxandra said. She,
Jenica, Ella and Mariska herded the lost and highly emotional women
out the door and down the street. Souls from the other houses in
Limbo came to watch them, some with longing, some with envy and
many with relief.

The River Lethe was a slow moving stream, clear and
bright, with a cheerful burbling, and when you stared directly into
the water you could see thousands of memories swimming just below
the surface.

“Who wants to go first?” Ella asked the women.

“I will.” The infamous Elizabeth Bathory stepped
forward, looking the way she always had, proud and sure of herself.
She strode up to Nea, “thank you for trying to save me,” she said
and then knelt down, cupped her hands in the water and began to
drink. After a few moments she stood up; her eyes became a foggy
glassy color and her mouth turned up into a slight smile. As they
watched, her image began to fade away, almost sparkling, until she
was gone.

“What happened to my mother?” Orsolya asked.

“She was reincarnated. She will now get a chance to
live a life free of our curse,” Jenica told them. Orsolya took her
sister’s hands and together, Katalin, Anna and she drank from the
river.

“That water looks pretty refreshing to me,” Viva
said, through her lipless mouth, making a joke of her burned
state.

“Go, my darling.” Mariska kissed Viva’s cheek and
pushed her towards the river.

“I think so too,”
Catharine said,
stroking her dried out, parched skin.

“Yeah, I could use a drink.” Gryzelda’s laugh was dry
and Nea remembered finding her dead, killed from exposure. Her
heart filled with joy as they each drank from the river and went on
to their new lives.

“I don’t deserve reincarnation, I deserve
punishment,” Clara, the baby killer, moaned into her hands.

“No, you don’t, we deserve forgiveness.” Maragareth
put an arm around her.

“It wasn’t our fault, right Nea?” Beth asked,
desperate for clarification that it wasn’t in her real nature to
poison people.

“You do deserve forgiveness and it wasn’t your
fault. An angry Goddess cursed our family,” Nea confirmed and
watched more of her kin turn into shimmering light and
disappear.

Klara and Zsofia went next after a touching reunion
with their mother, Anna. Zsofia begged her daughter to come with
her but Borbala refused. She was staring down at her hands clasped
in prayer and missed her mother’s transformation into light.

“I was supposed to die and see God,” Borbala
whispered.

“If you had been a good Christian maybe you would
have,” Ruxandra told her. “Now, you have the chance, you don’t want
to stay here in Purgatory.”

“Come on Borbala, I’ll hold your hand,” Jozsa said,
even though she could barely look at her own daughters; Agata and
Marta.

Nea sniffed, trying to hold back tears, even as her
cheeks hurt from smiling so widely as more members of her family
left Limbo; Barbara went next and was pretty brave about it too,
since she had died from drowning; Madalina went after that and had
to be completely submerged in the water since she was holding her
head and couldn’t properly drink.

“I don’t want you touching me, but I don’t want to
go alone,” Agata peeped at her twin through downcast eyes.

“Hold my hand, even if it is disgusting to you.”
Marta reached out, hand in hand they drank together.

Anna, Elizabeth’s mom, was the last to go, “Nea, I
wanted to thank you for being such a good friend, even when I was
so horrible,” she said.

“I love you Anna, you are my family.” Nea hugged
her.

“You tried to do right by me and my girls.  I
hope that’s something this river doesn’t take from me, the
knowledge that someone once loved me enough to spend her whole life
trying to help me.” Anna backed away and bent down, she slurped up
the river water quickly, like she was worried it would hurt and
stayed kneeling as her form wavered and became glittery, then was
gone.

“What’s next?” Daniela asked.

“I think that is.” Ruxandra, shivered a little, a
coldness she wasn’t used to aching her spirit.

There was a boat coming down the river now and
behind it the river turned black and deeper, wider and the water
flowed faster. As the boat came to stop beside them, the ground
quaked and all five women jumped back as the bank widened and a
dock appeared. The river had to be a mile across now. The dark
murky water, the new river, had consumed the old and they stood
looking at a gentleman in a hooded clock, steering the boat.

“Ladies, come aboard and I shall take you across the
river Styx to your afterlife, if, of course, you have payment,” he
chuckled, his voice raspy.