The Bathory Curse (14 page)

She paused and spinning around quickly went through
the darker hallways and down the murky passageways that led to the
dungeon. Something was drawing her to the catacombs of the castle.
She descended into the gloom and the smell of blood and gore became
thicker and caught in her throat. There was a large steel door that
hadn’t been there five years ago when she had chased a laughing
Orsoyla down here. Nea remembered scooping the child up before she
could see any of the old torture devices and they had quickly
left.

Using her magic she undid the locks and opened the
door.  The dungeon was lit by oil lamps, but even so a mortal
would have had a hard time seeing in the gloom. She walked over
dirty stone and straw on the floor and peered into the iron cells.
The first few were empty but towards the back where the smell was
the worse she found large blood stains and new implements of
torture had replaced the old.

Nea felt nauseated as she recognized several she
hadn’t seen used in polite society in years: a Pear of Anguish, a
Scold’s Bridle, a set of stocks and several hanging cages. All
which had been recently used. She didn’t need to see any more. Nea
fled the horror with knowledge her Lizzy or someone close to her
was a monster.

She went up the stairs her deep blue trumpeted
sleeved velvet gown making a soft noise on the stone. She had
chosen this dress to help with the age magic and make her look a
little fuller than she was to not aggravate Elizabeth’s vain
streak.  She had made her hair grayer than the last time they
had seen each other, tonight she wore a French hood trimmed in
pearls, her hair braided and pinned back under a net.

As she came to the hall with the family’s rooms she
heard more life sounds. A door slammed open and a young girl about
13, dressed in frumpy clothing came out holding the hand of another
girl, much younger, about 8. They didn’t look happy, just in a
hurry.

“Aunt Nea, oh it’s you. I thought mother had left
her rooms. She hasn’t been out much since Paul was born,” Anna
said, a spitting image of her mother.

“Where are you going?” Nea asked.

“To the stables to see the horses.” Orsolya grinned
a gap where her two front teeth should be.

“I thought we were blessing Paul?” Nea glanced down
the hall to the ornate door that marked Elizabeth’s private
chambers.

“Not us, I don’t want to be anywhere near Mother
right now, she’s in a mood.” Anna’s eyes widened.

“Why not?”

“Anna started her menses this week,” Orsolya piped
up.

“Lya!” Anna scolded, flushing red.

“And?”

“Mother is angry now, she thinks I am going to sleep
around and get pregnant.” Anna huffed.

“She’s just worried, you two have fun.” Nea
dismissed them, a coldness in her belly. She watched the girls run
off. “Not again.” She whispered to herself and sped up her
pace.

She was about to knock when the door swung open and
a woman barreled out, clutching two other children to her, she was
terrified and there was a red mark across one cheek. In one arm,
she was balancing Elizabeth’s two year old son, Andras, on her hip,
and the other held onto four year old Katalin’s hand.

“Oh Nea, it’s only you. Be warned Katalin got away
from me and now the Countess is in a terrible mood, not even the
baby is cheering her up.” The governess darted away. Nea was
surprised; she was on good terms with the staff, most recognized
her and stopped to chat.

She knocked and heard a brisk, “come in!” Nea
entered and it looked the way it always had. Elizabeth preferred
jewel tones in her decorations, and dark wood, elegance without
gaudiness, which was, at least, different from her mother.
Elizabeth was standing next to a crib in a violet colored gown with
gold lattice work; her bosom almost fell from the gown, almost
unfashionably low. Her blonde hair curled and piled on top of her
head.

“Lizzy.” Nea called, using her pet name, her
goddaughter turned, cheeks pale, but stained with rouge, lips deep
red, her blue eyes sparked with anger.

“I hate that name. I’ve asked you to call me
Elizabeth countless times.” She motioned to the food set out at a
little table and sat down.  Nea joined her, but not because
she was hungry.

“I am sorry, I forgot. You didn’t care until only a
few years ago,” she gently reminded her.

“I am 38 years old, practically an old woman, too
old for that name,” Elizabeth bit out.

“Again, I apologize. How is the new baby?” Nea
changed the subject, Elizabeth leaned over to grab a cookie and Nea
was appalled to smell blood on her, not her own and mixed with
something floral, like she had rubbed it right into her skin.

“Good, a little fussy, like all my babes.”

“Anna is beautiful. Have you thought about sending
her to your relatives at court to season her a bit?” Nea hated that
she was having almost the same conversation with Lizzy that she had
with her mother.

“I have thought about it, but I don’t care to have
her out of my sight.” Elizabeth stared at her Godmother, “how do
you keep your skin so smooth, you age…I’ve seen it…but barely!”

“The normal ways, creams and staying out of the
sun,” Nea shrugged.

“You’ve chosen to not dye your hair I see.” Lizzy
snorted, feeling a little better as she picked out the signs of old
age in the other woman.

“No, I find it tiresome to do every week. You
shouldn’t pay so much attention to your looks Elizabeth, you are a
beautiful woman. In fact I don’t think you have aged in the past
ten years.” Nea placated.

“That’s because of my new beauty regime.” Elizabeth
laughed, and it sounded dark.

“Enough of these games Elizabeth, what have you been
doing here?” Nea was done, she had failed her and she knew it. She
stood up, formidable.

“I have been keeping myself young and beautiful.”
Elizabeth stayed sitting.

“At the expense of others?”

“Yes! At the expense of a few virgin peasant girls,
no one misses them and my friends have assured me that their pure
blood will allow me to stay young forever.”  Elizabeth stood
then, the burning lunacy behind her indigo eyes prevailing.

“Oh Lizzy” Nea sighed, “you’ve been killing virgins
and what? Using their blood in your creams and lotions?”

“Yes, and my faithful older maids,
my
friends,
have
drained a few and poured the blood over me as I bathe. It works! I
am young and beautiful. I will live forever and DON’T CALL ME
LIZZY!” She reached back to strike Nea and stilled in awe when Nea
caught her hand and squeezed until Elizabeth whimpered in
pain.

“You have fallen victim to bad advice and the curse
that haunts the women of your family, Lizzy.” Nea sighed, eyes
bright, not letting Elizabeth out of her gaze. She twisted Lizzy’s
arm behind her back and forced her into a chair.

Elizabeth tried to get up and frowned, hints of fear
filling her features as she realized something was holding her
down, she couldn’t get up.

“That curse is a myth to explain bad behavior like
my mother’s,” she spat out.

“So you haven’t told your own daughters about it, or
your husband?” Nea shook her head sadly, she wandered over and
peered at the beautiful little boy in the crib, heartbroken for
him.

“Why would I? Now I don’t know what you’ve done, but
let me up, one scream and the whole castle guard will be in here.
I’ll forgive you this once, since you were my mother’s best
friend,” Elizabeth demanded.

“No. We need to talk, go ahead and scream,” Nea
waved a hand, erecting a bubble around the room that would allow no
sound in our out, “no one will hear you.”

“What are you?” Elizabeth was afraid. Nea dropped
her glamour, appearing as she had the first time she had met Anna,
young and beautiful, forever 25.

“No! No! You haven’t aged, not one day, how it that
possible! She told me no one had that kind of magic, that the blood
was the only way.”

Nea knew she was talking about her witch, the one
that had been with her for years and wondered if she should just
have one of her Strigoi kill the witch, but alas, the damage had
already been done. Fate must now play out the way it was meant to.
 Elizabeth’s actions were far more damning than her mother’s
ever had been.

“I am a Strega, Lizzy,” she stressed the pet name,
“an immortal witch, no amount of beauty products can ever give you
eternal youth…only magic can do that.”

“Then give it to me! Why hoard it?” Elizabeth
exclaimed.

“You don’t deserve it. The curse is real and I have
spent over a century trying to break you free from it. Do you know
what awaits you? A living hell, a limbo where you can be with your
mother for eternity.” Nea hoped to scare her and saw it worked a
little.

“No. I never believed…I can’t wind up like that. I
want to be young and beautiful and live forever.” Elizabeth begged,
tears filling her eyes.

“I have tried, for years and you still chose not to
listen to me. Perhaps if you stop now you can get past the curse
and your afterlife won’t be the hell I have witnessed. I have seen
it Lizzy, seen the crazy dreadful place your ancestors live where
the walls are rank with blood, depravity and there is no
sunlight.”

“If I stop I will age…I can’t do that. I need those
girls. I need their blood.” Elizabeth stated and Nea knew she
wouldn’t listen anymore.

“You will pay for your crimes; you cannot slaughter
the innocent and get away with it, even though your family is tied
to the royal line. Your children cannot stay here either.” Nea
looked back at Paul, why did Lizzy have to have so many children?
It would be impossible to place them all.

“I love my children. I will not abandon them and you
cannot take them from me!” Elizabeth screamed and Nea felt a hint
of relief, at least that was something.

“I won’t have to take them; you will not have
freedom for long. I am leaving here now Lizzy and I won’t be back
except for your children. You live your life the way you want but
heed my warnings.” Nea lifted the spell holding Elizabeth to the
chair and she leapt up and stopped inches from Nea’s face.

“Don’t you threaten me. I am far more powerful than
you. I can have you arrested right now,” Elizabeth growled, “Maybe
if I bathe in your magic blood I will absorb your power.”

“No, you can’t, you have no idea who or what I am
and you are going to continue to pretend I am your beloved
Godmother.”  Nea clenched her hand into a fist and Elizabeth
began to choke, her eyes bulged out as she scratched at her throat,
mouth open with silent pleading.

“I have been lenient with you because I love you,
Lizzy. No more. I will not save you when your wrongdoings come to
light. I will try to save your daughters from a fate equal to
yours.” Her heart was so heavy, Nea released Elizabeth and the
woman collapsed on the floor, distress leaking off her in waves.
 That was how Nea left her, she vanished, appearing on a hill
far from the castle, overseeing everything, depression crashing
down around her.

“It’s not your fault my Strega.” Bendis placed a
hand on her shoulder and felt it tremble.

“It is. I have failed again.” She wasn’t surprised
the Goddess had come to her.

“Perhaps love and friendship were not the keys we
thought they were; maybe it’s something much harder than that,”
Bendis consoled.

“I don’t know what to do now.”

“Maybe we should just destroy the entire line and
let the curse die with them.”

Bendis suggestion angered Nea, she stepped away and
turned on the Goddess, blinking as she saw her in her young, nubile
maiden form, “and allow a dozen Bathory women to rot in Limbo, for
eternity? …I don’t think so….maybe…I can still make a difference
with Klara and Zsofia…last time I saw them they both seemed to be
doing well.” A spark of hope brightened her.

“Oh my Strega, you and Ruxandra have been diligent,
but both girls have been touched by the curse as well. So many of
them at once you couldn’t know the ping in your soul wasn’t just
for Elizabeth.”

“What do you mean? How? They are both married.
Zsofia only has one daughter and Klara only had sons…they are in
love with their husbands, they live within their means…I have seen
it!” Nea rushed on, unbelieving.

“You have been so focused on Stasi and Elizabeth you
have missed some things.” Bendis was trying to be calm, knowing her
Strega was feeling hopelessness and despair.

“Why didn’t you warn me?”

“I didn’t know either,” Bendis sighed, “Klara has
taken to black mailing those in her husband’s circle to maintain
his political position. She got a rival of his drunk and slept with
him, when he woke she cried rape and told him if he tried to do
anything besides back her husband’s leadership she would tell
accuse him, publically…He would of course hang for the rape of a
noble woman.”

“And Zsofia?” Nea sat, head in her hands.

“She is not as bad as others, but she suffers from
depression so deep she tends to neglect her husband and children.
She will eventually kill herself, and possibly take her children
with her.” Bendis sat beside Nea, crossing her legs, as her foxes
nipped and barked around them, looking like a 17 year old girl.

“One thing you can take hope in, because of your
guidance the curse has been effecting them later in life.” Bendis
sounded so young, it irritated Nea.

“Why won’t you help me? I know you know something
you haven’t told me.” Nea begged, angry bubbling in her chest. Deep
down she had always known she didn’t have all the answers, that
Bendis kept something from her.

“Not sure what you are talking about.”

“You do, you have set this impossible task on me and
you know what’s really going on.”

“I don’t want to talk about this.”