The Bathory Curse (20 page)

“He said his brothers wanted to kill him.”

“They probably do. Fairy kind keep to themselves,
but from what information I have gathered the youngest son of this
Zmeu line got caught trying to steal one of his brother’s wives. It
didn’t end well. This must be your Costica.” Bendis fixed another
book as she spoke.

“I don’t have time to clean this up. I have to dress
for the hunt.” Nea patted some dust off her dress.

“I will repair this for you.” Bendis snapped her
finger, fixing a shelf.

“Thank you, was there anything else?” Nea asked.

“Renata will not be leaving you, you may need her.
She is going home for a visit while you travel and will meet you in
France.” Bendis told her.

“Fine, I have to go.” She had to
get her whip. Sabine had taught her at the beginning that a Strega
had magic, but they also had to know how to fight, Lesson 8. Sabine
favored the broadsword, but
Nea had always been good with
the whip.
A flogger or cat o nine tails worked in
a pinch as well.

She and Sabine dressed, hair pinned tightly back,
wearing men’s hunting clothes and thick boots. Nea grimaced looking
down at Sabine’s as they ran down the stairs and out the front
door, anxious to begin.

“You didn’t wash the blood off those from the last
time you killed something.”

“I never do, it’s like a prize, and besides it was
one of my own Strigoi.” Sabine shrugged, excitement flushing her
features. Sabine enjoyed a good kill, more than Nea ever did. She
loved being sent by Bendis to correct the balance between good and
evil, even when it was her own Strigoi.

They ran into Stasi and Mihail outside. Borbala was
asleep in Mihail’s arms. Nea stopped and saw the girl, she leaned
over and kissed her brow.

“What should we do with her Mama?” Stasi asked.

“There is a convent about fifty miles north, take
her there. She can at least be educated and fed well while deciding
what to do with her life. I shall send a missive to her aunt in the
morning explaining what has happened and where they can find her.
Though I doubt they will want her. She will be safer with the
church.” With all their good and bad points, like vampires, Strigoi
could not enter the churches of the Christian God.

“Before you go I wanted to mention something.”
Mihail took a deep breath, “I am going to stay here with father for
a few years.”

“What!” Stasi’s voice screeched and Nea had to hush
her as Borbala stirred.

“I thought as much, with my blessing, my dearest
boy,” Nea kissed his cheek.

“Mama, how can you let him stay here?” Stasi seemed
much more upset than she should have been.

“It’s his life; he will come back to us,” Nea said,
patiently. Stasi grumbled under her breath something that sounded
like, “his life my arse.” With Mihail frowning at her she followed
him inside.

“Are you ready?” Sabine asked, shifting from foot to
foot in anticipation.

“That I am.” Both women concentrated and then were a
blur as they went after Costica.

The hunt failed; no matter how hard they searched
they could not find him. It was a first for Sabine: she had never
had a failed hunt; no matter what she was after, prey, sex,
death….she always got what she wanted. It was as if he was using
his magic to hide from them, or had simply disappeared from all the
surrounding areas. They searched Hungary, Moldavia and Wallachia;
even with magic it took the rest of the night and the whole next
day. A few times Nea thought she felt him, or saw something
stalking them in her mind’s eye, but it was always gone, fleeting,
when she focused.

When they got back to the castle Sabine was in a
horrible mood. It was almost night again, and she wanted a hot
bath, food and a bed.

“I want a nice fuck as well, but beggars can’t be
choosers and I left my current partner in Italy,” she sniffed,
stomping off once they got inside.

Nea didn’t have such luxury. When she arrived home
she found all her Strigoi, but Costica, waiting for her in the
formal dining room. She had called them and they had come.
 Including Mihail, Ruxandra and Stasi there were only eleven,
a sad state of things and a true testimony to how easily Strigoi
went bad and needed to be hunted.

Antal and Imre approached her first, each kissing
her hand and bowing low. She smiled at the rest of the group, happy
to see them. There was Kato, a Hungarian noble woman who would have
died in childbirth had Nea not intervened. Then came Alin and his
sister Afina, Romanian peasants whose parents died leaving them
nothing. Nea had offered them this life as solution when finding
out Afina was seriously considering prostitution to pay for her
brother’s medical needs.

Next was Zamfira the abandoned daughter of a
Wallachian Voivode. She was left in the woods to perish after being
raped at 18 and considered unclean by her father and betrothed.

Lastly were Erdely and Ion. They were from Moldavia.
Ion was her oldest Strigoi and he had come to her, sought her out,
refusing to die before he had learned all that could be. Any of her
Strigoi that wished to be taught had only to ask Ion. Erdely was
his son. Nea had frowned on changing the boy, well man really, he
was 19, and taking his life until Ion explained that with the limp
and weird facial tics he would never find a wife let alone a way to
support them. Being Strigoi had cured him of both. He and Zamfira
were normally romantically entwined. Nea thought it was
adorable.

“I am very happy to see you all,” she started, “I am
moving. As you know I do not tell you what to do or where to go.”
There was some mumbling.

“You are welcome to join me, I shall be in France
and then onto England. Or you can stay here. Remember you must come
to me once a year to drain off the power you collect and I will be
able to tell if any of you cause problems.” She eyed Imre, he still
served faithfully, but every year he got darker. Then she told them
about Costica.

“So if we find him, we are free to kill him?” Imre
asked, a bit of glee in his eyes.

“Yes.”

“Then I will simply hunt him wherever he goes and
kill him for you.”

“A fairy dragon, huh? Seems dangerous; I think I’ll
steer clear if you don’t mind.” Kato crossed her arms over her
chest.

“Alin and I have wanted to travel for a long time,
perhaps we shall meet up with you in France or England, we tire of
this country.” Afina spoke slowly, as though she had to consider
her words. She often spoke on both their behalves.

“I would welcome your company,” Nea smiled.

“I will stay here of course and keep an eye on
things, as I have always done.” Antal said. Nea wasn’t surprised,
he had long been in a committed relationship with one of Sabine’s
Strigoi and had a settled hunting ground. He was the most contented
of her Strigoi.

“We shall all stay as well, though it will be nice
to take a vacation of sorts to visit you,” Ion smiled, “you shall
send me new books and educational tools on your travels, yes?”

“Of course. I think that in France and England I can
find you all sorts of interesting things. I am looking forward to
the shopping,” Nea laughed.

“Send dresses, new fashions!” Zamfira exclaimed,
holding on tightly to Erdely’s hand. Nea looked at Kato who nodded
her head enthusiastically.

“This I can do as well.” Nea agreed, her Strigoi all
left soon after that, they weren’t servants or children they all
had their own lives, duties and hobbies to see to.

With her Strigoi tended to, Borbala on her way to a
convent, and the rest of the Bathory’s under protection, Nea felt
as if she had covered all her bases. She was disappointed the hunt
failed and knew that sooner or later Costica would resurface and
cause her problems.

As she made her way to her bed chamber she felt her
wards and saw that Sabine had already strengthened the ones around
the castle, but had left the property ones at normal power.
Learning to ward had been Lesson 10, warding provided safety,
protection and advanced warning. Nea fed power to the wards around
her property line making sure she would be alerted the moment
anything crossed them. As she wove the magic she felt two spots
that told her something was lurking outside her magic’s boundaries,
one was Imre and she wasn’t surprised. If he thought Costica would
come here then here he would stay.

She made her way to the top floor that led out to
the battlements on the roof of her castle so she could see well.
The other spot was blank, which meant someone was shielding
extremely hard or was some undead creature, vampire, ghoul, zombie
etc.. It was cold on the roof, the wind whipping around her. The
sky was black with the faint twinkling of stars and the moon shone
so brightly she could see even farther than normal.

She put her hands on the cold almost burning stone
railing and gazed out. She saw a figure in the distance, wrapped in
shadows. She sighed in understanding.

So you are leaving.
A voice whispered through her mind, it was an
unfamiliar form of communication.

I am. I need some time,
some…space.
She had to concentrate to
project her thoughts

You have been with another man, I
am….unhappy
.

You have been with other women, don’t be jealous, it
happens.

I do not like it, you will cease
this behavior
. He sounded so angry it made
Nea’s head ache to have him yelling into her mind.

I am a grown woman who has not been living as your
wife for centuries, do not think you can tell me what to do.

You are mine, always have been, always will be.

I know.
And she was, but it didn’t and couldn’t matter. She rubbed
her temples.

Another man wants you, I shall kill him.

If you can
. She felt rather than heard his snort of
laughter.

Come to me and you won’t need to be afraid.

I can’t.

I will protect you, love you, you wouldn’t have to
leave your home. You shall wither away from our lands.

Maybe, but travel is something I
have always wanted to do.
She struggled to
form the words in her mind, short sentences were easier.

I will protect our son. One day
you will be mine again.
His tone was
abrasive; she had known he wouldn’t be happy with her leaving, but
she hadn’t counted on him already being aware of her moment with
Costica

I know all when it concerns you, I will forgive this
once.

It doesn’t matter whether you forgive me, there is
nothing to forgive. I did not betray you.

YOU ARE MINE.

I am always yours.
She sighed into the night, of course she was. As
twisted and sick as their love could be, it was theirs.

I will come find you.

I know.
 She turned and left; her head hurting. Vampires were
one of the only creatures that used telepathy like that and it
would give her a headache that lasted for days if she continued.
She went back inside, relieved it hadn’t been Costica she felt. It
was odd to have found Vlad and for them to be so similar now, but
to not be able to stay with him.

“Mother?”

Nea had reached her door and turned hearing her
daughter, “you need something my Stasi?”

“I am bored; this being up all night thing is still
pretty new,” Stasi laughed, leaning against the door.

“Then try something new.” Nea suggested, “where is
Mihail?”

“I’m not talking to him right now,” Stasi said,
depressed.

“He will not be long away from us. Don’t fret so. We
are going to have a grand adventure.”

“I know, but I’m not happy about it.”

“Why don’t you go down and pack up the library?” Nea
grinned at the look of distaste on her daughter’s face.

“I’m not eleven; you can’t get me out of your hair
with chores.” Stasi rolled her eyes.

“No, but I can distract you with them. I am sure
cook is still awake, maybe she’ll make you some cocoa.”

“Again, I’m not five.”

“You’ll always be a little girl to me.” Nea kissed
her brow and then went into her own room. She needed to rest, there
was still much to do before their long trip and she just hoped it
went smoothly.

Chapter 13

1893, Limbo

“I hate seeing them like this.” Nea said to Bendis
as they strolled through the top floor of the house in Limbo. No
longer was it a barren room with only Josza rocking away near a
window. Now it held six bedrooms, one for each of the remaining
Bathory girls, except Elizabeth and Stasi. Elizabeth was locked up
in the basement; she could not be trusted around the other women,
two of whom had died virgins.

“I don’t care for it either my Strega, why did you
want to come after 282 hundred years?”

“I have seen my mother once every fifty years, but it
has taken over two hundred years to look at my charges and see what
kind of hell they still live in because of my failure.” Nea’s voice
was devoid of emotion.  She had spent the first 100 years in
France with Stasi, enjoying the culture and rich food. She had
created and killed Strigoi, had met and befriended Jeanne Pompadour
and she and Sabine had helped balance the Thirty Year War.

In all that time she immersed herself in literature,
folk lore, and mythology trying to find some information that would
help her break the Bathory curse.  Mihail had come home to her
in 1705 and left again in 1850, trying to divide his time between
his parents and be kept safe from Costica. Sabine and Nea went
every year to try and hunt down Costica who had a habit of killing
any male Strigoi she made if they were turned under the age of 40.
 He sent her dead flowers, disturbing poems and maimed animals
as presents and was forever just out of reach.