Wilhelmina A Novella (18 page)

‘Why come all the way here in the middle of the night? You could have woken up the children.’

The woman’s blue eyes were critical, somewhat distant as she picked up her cup of tea and gazed upon the lithe figure before her. The black veil only allowed the sight of half of the face of her visitor as it hid the other in shadow. The governess picked up her cup as I watched outside the window. She was here, mere yards away from me.

I heard a swift rustle behind me; Gregor was gone. Once he knew that Elizabeth Bathory was here he ran away like the coward that he was.

‘I came here to warn you and Jonathan to take what you can and leave this place,’ said the governess.

‘Why?’

‘Evonne, you never asked more questions than you needed to, which is something your mother liked about you,’ the governess said. ‘This is one of those times when I need you to go upstairs, wake your husband, take your beautiful daughters and run from here. I’ve already made preparations and a carriage will arrive here shortly.’

‘Auntie, when you dismissed me from your service four years ago I didn’t ask questions, not even about the children under your care. But now you’re involving
my
children,’ Evonne said.

‘A war may be heading to your doorstep,' the governess said.

‘The war is over, Auntie, for months now!’ Evonne said.

‘An old acquaintance of mine knows where you live, she’s followed me here a few times already,’ the governess said slowly. ‘She has a personal army of her own and she will bring it here shortly.’

‘You upper socialites make personal wars against each other over your old fashioned aristocracy, dragging everyone else in your lives down with you!’ Evonne stood up, pacing the room, while the governess sat still. ‘Well I’m not playing along anymore, Aunt Elizabeth. I have a family now, and I have a life here.’

‘Which you started with my money,’ the governess said sharply.

‘Jonathan and I never touched your money. It’s still sitting in the bank, and if you’d like to we can go there in the morning and you can have every penny of it back,’ Evonne said. ‘You made me believe that I was only worth what someone would pay for me, that to be auctioned off was my only hope at happiness – well you were wrong! John loves me. He
loves
me, and that is worth more than all the money you could offer.’

‘You never understood why I wanted you to be a part of my world,’ the governess said. She almost looked genuinely sorrowful. Almost.

‘Why would I want to be a part of a world where children are abandoned by their parents and sold to the highest bidder to be a sex slave?’ Evonne asked, disgustedly.

‘I was trying to secure your future, for eternity! You were my favorite niece, you were practically a daughter to me. And then you met
him
, and had children, and ruined what I tried to give you.’

‘We don’t need you,’ Evonne said. ‘
I
don’t need you, or your money, or your help. So you are going to take your things, and your cash, and your carriages and all of your plans and leave this house right now.’

‘Evonne if you deny my help now then I cannot protect you from what marches to your door,’ the governess said. ‘I am begging you, at least wake the children.’

‘You might have watched over our family, but I don’t need you,’ Evonne said coldly. ‘After learning who you really are, I never want to see your face again.’

‘This is your final word?’ the governess asked.

Evonne set her jaw and crossed her arms with a sneer. The governess rose from her seat and nodded fluently. ‘Then you are but ghosts to me.’

‘You were always dead to me,’ Evonne said.

The governess took one last bow and left the room with silent grace. Evonne took her seat and placed her head in her hands. When she looked at her tea kettle, she saw something there on the surface. Then she looked over her shoulder and jumped when she saw me through the window.

I lifted the frame to see if it was unlocked. It wasn’t, but I hadn’t realized just what strength I possessed in my new hands and the latches broke from the inside. I lifted it effortlessly. I climbed through and stood before her in my dirty and tattered dress.

‘Oh my god,’ Evonne gasped. ‘Wilhelmina?’ she walked right up to me and cupped my cheeks. She jumped when she felt my burning face. She took a few steps away when she looked into my eyes. ‘So that’s how you survived, then. You’ve become just like them.’

‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

She nodded behind me. On the wall, opposite the fireplace, was a tall mirror. When I saw myself I stopped breathing. The eyes staring back at me weren’t mine, they were monstrous and frightening. Two crimson orbs gazed back into my own, and I saw myself for the first time since I’d walked out of hell.

My skin was snow white, my hair far more vibrant and red than it was when I was human.

When I looked over my shoulder I saw Evonne crying

‘I’m so sorry,’ she sobbed. ‘I didn’t know this would happen to you, I thought that you would find some way to get away from it all.’

‘No, I didn’t,’ I said. ‘After you left, the governess cut off my hair and made me her slave.’

‘My aunt is a cruel woman, and for that I’m sorry,’ she said.

‘Yes, she is. More than you will ever know,’ I said bitterly as Charles flashed behind my eyes. ‘She took from me something that mattered more than life and eternity itself.’ I felt a strange feeling in my eyes. I was crying, but no tears came; it felt bizarre to experience agony without tears.

‘But she has kindness in her. She’s watched over my family for generations,’ Evonne pleaded. ‘I realize why you must be here. Please, don’t kill her.’

Suddenly I realized that the governess wasn’t Evonne’s aunt, she couldn’t be. Gregor’s tale would make her much older than that. I recognized the scent in Evonne’s flesh and I knew that Elizabeth Bathory was much more than a distant aunt; Evonne was her flesh, her bone. Elizabeth must have had a family before she was changed. When she came to America she brought her descendants with her. She took care of them, watched them grow, and supplied them with money by selling orphans to rich demons.

The heavy situation made me sick. And Evonne had the nerve to ask that I spare this woman, this Succubus that raped me of hope. My life had been taken because she was evil, vile, and cruel.

‘Don’t kill her?’ The rage inside of me clawed inside of my ribcage, tearing its way to freedom. ‘She ruined my chance of being with the only man who understood how I felt and made me feel human. He was all I had, he was all that was life to me. He came back for me when you and everyone else left me there to die.’ I approache Evonne and she cowered away from my menacing eyes. ‘No, I won’t kill her.’

‘Then why did you come here?’ Evonne asked warily.

‘I thought I came here to face her, rip her into pieces, but now I realize that justice brought me here, not anger,’ I said. ‘I’m not going to kill her, oh no. I’m going to do to her what she did to me. I’m going to take away what matters most to her.'

Before she could scream I held Evonne’s throat in my hand. I forced her eyes to look into mine so that I could see the fear in her eyes. She deserved this, they
all
deserved this for being the reason that me and so many other girls lost our lives and futures. How many of us hadn't survived? How many of us had been abandoned by our makers after they were done with us?

If Elizabeth Bathory’s family didn’t exist then none of us would have been auctioned or turned into what we were. Evonne and her family was the cause of the governess’ business, and so I would end it here.

One quick stroke and Evonne’s scream turned into a gurgle. I wasn’t going to snap her neck before I drained her, I wanted her to feel every ounce of blood leave her body. I wanted to hear her whimpers and feel her squirm as she received her punishment.

Everything was her fault. No matter how kind she acted toward me she didn’t care. Her leaving me there in a shed to run off and live happily ever after was proof of that. But I was about to rectify the curse of the Bathory bloodline right there and then.

After a few moments her struggle slowed down to nothing, and eventually her heart stopped beating as her blood grew thinner in volume. Her heart finally had a spasm and collapsed. By the time I had my fill, she was dead.

I dropped her like a dead fish, because that’s all she was to me. Her life meant nothing more to me than a trophy of revenge. Her pale face, staring at the ceiling on her back, was more than she deserved. The monster inside of me was enraged, stronger for it, and at that moment I felt that I wasn’t even me anymore. I was someone else, a completely new Wilhelmina.

This Wilhelmina had no regard for human life, or anything else for that matter. What happened to the world was no longer Wilhelmina’s problem as far as the monster was concerned. I was powerful, and my rage could no longer be ignored like the rest of my existence; I would be heard. I would be felt. My wrath would tear anyone asunder.

And I liked it.

I was silent as I made my way upstairs to find the husband. I made sure that he was awake and aware before I pushed his head to the side and bit down. He only had time to squeal for a second before I ripped out his windpipe. His blood I could afford to waste, he wasn’t of Elizabeth Bathory’s bloodline. I made no din as I left the master bedroom, only a dark and slick trail in my wake.

As I followed the strong scent of ripe blood, and listened to the sound of racing, frightened hearts, I immediately knew where to go. They must have heard something to alarm them. That didn’t matter; they wouldn’t be able to outrun me. They would be nothing but slow little creatures running away at the speed of a snail riding a turnip, just like that doe I saw when I awoke.

However, I ran into a wall of that burning scent. It was her. She hadn’t left at all, and as I opened the door to the children’s bedroom I saw her standing with a small toddler clutching her gown. She tried to hide a crib in the corner, and she knelt low to urge the toddler back toward it.

‘Listen to Auntie Lizzie and go to the crib, okay Abby?’ Elizabeth said.

‘Wouldn’t everyone have liked to know that you were hiding a family? That you have a
human
family? It would be huge news in the estate. Except for the fact that everyone is dead because of you. Thomasine, Henrietta, everyone – dead!'

'It was a mistake to confide in Rosa that I had great, great, great grandchildren. Now that she’s declared war, she’ll come for them,' Elizabeth said coldly.

'The one person you trusted the most with all your most treasured secrets, the one you loved most as your proclaimed child and friend – the one who was devoted to worshipping you until you cast her aside - is going to rip your head off.'

I was delighted to watch the governess, this witch, in such a bind.

'That’s so tragic it’s hilarious,' I said.

'Where is Evonne?'

I licked my lips and grinned.

'She's joined the others. Now she can stay at your estate like she was supposed to,' I said wickedly.

'So you want to kill me, is that it?' The governess asked sourly.

'No, I’m going to kill your grandchildren and rid the world of your plagued-offspring,' I said, fiercely, and I watched every reaction on her face as it morphed from anger to shock to fear. 'Once I knew you had some semblance of a heart inside of you somewhere I knew it wouldn’t be difficult to break it. You are going to watch me take away what you cherish most, starting with her.'

I pointed at the toddler.

The governess paused and her head slightly inclined over her shoulder. She could sense the same thing I had; a strong presence marching quickly through the woods behind the manor. Rosa’s army had arrived and the governess was trapped. She was going to watch me finish taking what was mine, and then Rosa could exact her jealous vengeance.

The governess hissed and flew at me with a rage so furious that flames could have flared through her nostrils at any moment. She grabbed my hair and pushed me through the wall and into the hall. I grabbed her wrists and a surge jolted through my body; I broke them. I broke her hands off of her arms like taking a sledgehammer to concrete, and they gripped my hair like vices until I pried them off.

She screeched as she flew toward me again. I grabbed her veil and tore it off of her head so that I could see the half of her face that she had left when I twisted her head off of her shoulders. She rammed me through another wall and onto the floor the floor of a study. She couldn’t grab me without her hands, but she proceeded to beat my face back and forth with her nubs. A swift head butt had her off of me in no time, and I was quick to get onto my feet and crouch for the attack.

She got to her feet just as I thrust myself off of the ground. I soared through the room before she realized I was coming and gripped her head in my hands. My feet landed on her shoulders; I thrust again and jumped from her shoulders, through the gaping hole in the wall, back into the hallway. Her head came with me.

I heard her body topple over in confusion as I held her brown hair in my tight fist. I glanced over my shoulder and saw her vile form crawling around. Even her hands tried desperately to find one another. It sent chills down my back; could nothing kill demons?

I walked back into the playroom and dropped the head of the great, great, great grandmother before Abby’s feet. I made dead certain that her eyes were facing Abby and the crib so that she could see me complete my mission. She cried out, but I silenced her quickly. I made sure to be swift about the deed. They may have been Elizabeth Bathory’s offspring, but they were still children. They would feel no suffering.

When I checked the crib for a baby, it was empty.

‘You,’ I heard.

I faced the doorway and saw her there, in the shadows of the hall, watching me intently. It was Rosa.

‘I thought you died.’

‘I did, but I survived long enough to finish what I came here to do,’ I said.

She took a step closer, and I crouched as a warning bark shot from behind my exposed teeth. She stopped in her tracks as she gauged me and the situation. I picked up the governess’ head, gaping like a fish out of water as she looked around with a panicked eye.