The Bathory Curse (25 page)

“Clever boy.” Sabine jeered at him, she understood
at once what he had done.

“You should leave mate, I have plans for this place,
these people…your husband.” Costica told her.

“My husband?”

“You told me yourself you couldn’t be with me
because you’re married, I figured out your husband’s plans a decade
ago. I have a perfect way for us to be together, once I have taken
care of him you and I can be together, I am going to kill him with
that stupid spear he is searching for.”

“Costica, please don’t do anything rash, we can
discuss this,” Nea pleaded.

“Come with me right now and all this stops,” he
demanded. Nea couldn’t even use major magic on him, he was too well
protected, with the Strigoi magic and his natural abilities he was
almost as powerful as she was. All she could do was protect herself
from him and try to find a way to beat him at his own game.

“No, you need to leave now and stay away from Lucy.
I will kill you Costica, even if it costs me everything else,” Nea
threatened. She saw fear in his features for a few moments at her
words.

“You should have just been mine, mate. I don’t want
to hurt you.” He reached out to touch her face and jerked back, his
fingers coming away singed, “why you bitch.” He sounded angry but
there was a pleased smile on his face.

“Don’t ever try to touch her,” Sabine warned, “you
may have won this round, but tonight we will hunt you and every
night until we find you and kill you.”

“That will take some time, since tonight I will be
at the Westenra household trying to save my beloved Lucy and
getting drunk with my friends.” He laughed, turned and marched down
the steps and back into the persona of Arthur Holmwood.

“This ends here,” Nea said as she closed the door,
“I don’t care what we have to do, but we will kill him before this
all ends. He won’t torment me and my loved ones any longer.” Nea
began to storm away, she swore she remembered something about
fairies and iron, but she couldn’t quite grasp the thought.

“What are you going to do? He’s too public of a
figure to be found dead now,” Sabine called after her.

“First I am going to call on Imre, and then I am
going to speak to my husband.”

Chapter 15

“Mihail I found something.” Stasi sat up abruptly.
Mihail had just picked up his knight and was preparing to move it.
He stopped and focused on Stasi.

“Move your piece,” Ruxandra demanded a slight smile
on her lips. He quickly looked down, having forgotten where he was
going to put the chess piece. He set it down and frowned as
Ruxandra’s bishop took it easily, “distraction is bad for chess,
call me when you can concentrate again,” Ruxandra stood and left
the library.

Mihail went over and crouched down by Stasi, peering
at the book she was holding up, “What?”

“I found something, you were right, that box Mama
keeps all the weird books in. I found this, it’s written by hand.”
She showed him a cracking black leather book, the pages were yellow
and old, and he couldn’t even read the words on most of them. This
particular book wasn’t even the worse. Stasi had found a book she
was sure was bound with human skin and one that the leather hadn’t
been cleaned properly and reeked like fecal matter.

“What language is that any way?” He gingerly took
the book and leafed through it.

“Latin.” Stasi took the tome back, finding her
place, trying to be delicate.

“What did you find?” Mihail settled down next to
her, breathing in her sweet scent as she leaned against him.

“An invocation that might help us,” she grinned.

“I don’t know Stasi, invoking something is a pretty
big risk. I could get behind a simple spell, but we don’t want
something coming into the house we can’t handle.” Mihail was always
the worrier.

“This whole chapter talks about Strigoi breeding. I
think the book is kind of a handbook or guide,” Stasi explained. It
had explained that while most body systems functioned normally
after the change, ovaries dried up and sperm died. Which meant no
more monthly bleeding, which was a plus, and male ejaculation
contained no sperm.

“You think Mama knows about this?” Mihail asked.

“Maybe, there is an updated manual she keeps in her
desk that Ion wrote a few years back; all Strigoi read it, didn’t
you?”

“I may have skimmed over it,” Mihail said,
sheepishly. He’d never been one for reading or school work; he
preferred things like chess and his painting, he enjoyed a more
hands on approach, which Stasi appreciated.

“She probably assumes this is the first draft or
something, that everything from here would have been copied to the
new one…at least that’s what I did. It’s only by luck I decided to
see if there was anything important,” Stasi sounded excited.

“What else does it say?”

“Well, it’s pretty vague, but it mentions that once
a Strigoi female is pregnant Bendis cannot interfere with her any
longer, only the Strega can. So I thought, we can’t get pregnant,
why would this rule need to be in place?”

“I’ll bite, did you find the answer?”

“Yes, in another book I found a bunch of random
spells, some specifically for Strigoi. There is summoning ritual
and if done properly that being will grant a boon, which can be
used to restore the Strigoi’s human life or help them create life
anew.”

“Who would we be invoking?” Mihail wanted to
know.

“I can’t tell; a lot of this has been worn away by
time. The ritual is clear but some of the side notes and other
information is illegible.”

“I think we should look for something else then.
This seems a bit dodgy.”

“Please Mihail? I haven’t found anything that gives
us this much hope, ever. I don’t think there is any harm in trying.
Whatever we summon will be in a binding circle and we can banish it
if it turns out to be something scary.” She was peeking up at him
with large sad eyes and Mihail could not refuse her.

Gathering all the supplies, (Why did his mother have
powdered hen’s egg?) the book recommended, they went up to the
attic, figuring it was a good place, if they didn’t want to be
disturbed. Mihail felt silly, lighting candles, burning herbs and
putting down a huge circle of salt, but he could see all the faith
and excitement in Stasi’s eyes and he couldn’t be the one to crush
that.

There was little light in the attic, streaming in
through small dirty windows, causing the shadows to seem more
menacing and allowing them to see all the dust particles dancing
around. His mother didn’t use this space much; she didn’t even
really store anything in the musky smelling rooms.

“We need a podium for the book, will you look
around?” Stasi asked, waving pungent smelling herbs in the air.

“Yes.” Mihail rolled his eyes and began to search.
This place was nothing like the few attics he had explored at his
father’s property. No bats slept in the corners and no artifacts of
historical value collected dust in the trunks. He paused in his
search, mind touching on his parents and hoping everything was
going well with them.

The attic was fairly big, consisting of one large
room and three smaller ones that used to be servants’ quarters. Nea
had renovated the bedrooms to be used for Strigoi who needed to
stay with them, but didn’t want anyone to know.  Mihail
remembered how sad it had made his mother the first time one of her
Strigoi had refused a main bedroom for this cramped, dark space.
Mihail blamed Costica, he hoped that soon they would have a
successful hunt and kill the menace. In the smallest room he found
a podium covered in a white sheet, there was a bible underneath it.
Mihail put the holy book on the bed and carried the stand out to
Stasi.

“Here you go; one filthy podium,” Mihail joked,
setting it down.

“I think that’s all,” Stasi said, kneeling next to
the salt circle, dust on her hands, face and dress, her hair
falling out the already messy bun.

“What do we do next?” Mihail helped her to stand
up.

“We read the invocation.” Stasi put the book on the
stand and moved it a few inches, into the best lighting and
together they read the ancient words, they didn’t make sense to
Mihail, but he could tell Stasi understood the Latin. She had to
correct him several times until the flow was smooth and
rhythmic.

“Nothing is happening,” Mihail whispered a few
minutes after they were done reciting. She shushed him, wanting…no
needing this to work, for everything to be perfect. Right when
Mihail was sure the spell had failed and was going to bug Stasi
about having lunch with him, something changed. Inside the salt
circle the air shimmered, it got colder and brighter in the attic.
The shimmering air stopped and parted like a veil and a woman
stepped out.

She was large, about six feet, statuesque, wearing a
gown of blinding gold and silver that hugged her form. Her skin
glimmered like snow, eyes deep black, twinkling like stars were
captured in them, her hair was long and free, blacker than night.
One couldn’t focus on her features for long they seem to ever be
changing, feminine and masculine, beautiful and ugly all at
once.

“Greetings. I am Phoebe of the Titans,” she
announced, voice loud and pure. “Forgive me for taking so long it
has been a while since anyone summoned me.”
Stasi and Mihail exchanged a glance, a Titan? They had been
creatures who had ruled the earth before any of the Gods. Most had
become weary and gone to sleep long before many were overthrown by
their descendants, the current gods, like Bendis. They were more
powerful, inhuman and the rumors stated harder to contact and work
with.

“Titan Phoebe, we are sorry if we woke you, but we
are requesting a boon,” Stasi bowed her head, Mihail following.
There was silence as the Titan scrutinized them, then she laughed.
They stared at the Titan, shocked as she had changed her
appearance.

“I didn’t realize at first you
were Strigoi,” Phoebe said. She seemed smaller now, easier to look
at, more toned down and she was wearing clothing quite similar to
what Renata and Marina wore while lounging around the house. They
called it 21
^st
century
wear.

“I wasn’t asleep, I was working. I mostly work in
the future, keeping myself busy and getting involved in whatever
suits me.”

“Oh, I thought most Titans were either asleep or…”
Mihail trailed off.

“Locked up? Well most, but I have powers over
prophecy and wisdom, it’s a little harder for me to take a thousand
year nap than most. I also have never been interested in power
struggles.” She shrugged, “Now little Strigoi, what do you want?”
She sat down on the dusty floor, legs crossed, gazing at them with
curiosity.

“How did you know we’re Strigoi?” Stasi asked, most
people just thought they were vampires.

“Because Bendis is my great great granddaughter. I
am the one who taught her how to create Stregas to make you, to
help her with the balance. You should have seen her a thousand
years ago, so tired and stressed all the time from shouldering
magical good versus evil burdens. Most Gods don’t care anymore, not
my Bendis,” Phoebe explained.

“Then that’s why you’re in this book with this
loophole!” Stasi exclaimed.

“Which loophole is that?” Phoebe asked, slyly.

“We want to have a baby,” Stasi gushed, blushing and
gripping Mihail’s hand.

“Interesting. I have been summoned several times in
the last thousand years by Strigoi, most wishing to have their
humanity back, but you are the first to want a baby.” The Titan
looked interested.

“What’s the cost?” Mihail knew nothing, especially
in the realm of the Gods, came for free.

“There isn’t one; not really, the baby itself is the
price.”

“What do you mean?” Stasi was holding Mihail’s hand
so tightly her fingers were turning white.

“Since you only have true physical form at night the
pregnancy will last twice as long as normal, almost twenty months.
You won’t be able to breast feed, except during the night and the
baby will be born half Strigoi, already in service to the Strega
who created you.”

Mihail could barely breathe; it was a gift this
Titan was giving them, a gift and a curse. They could have a child,
but it would never be normal, never be truly alive.

“I don’t know Stasi, could we doom a child to grow
up like us?”

“It is something to think about, for Strigoi to
survive, they must feed on emotions. A child Strigoi must be fed by
its parents and then taught at a young age.” Phoebe was watching
them closely.

“I want this baby Mihail, and it might help Mama
with the curse.”

“Oh, it will.” Phoebe smiled, wide and all
knowing.

“You know about the curse?” Stasi asked.

“I know about most curses, powers of prophecy,
remember?” She wiggled her eyes brows, “The Bathory curse is one of
my better works if I do say so myself.”

“One of your better works!” Stasi exclaimed, taking
a step towards the Titan, Mihail held her back, so far Phoebe had
been amicable, but without that salt circle holding her, who
knew?

“If you did this then please, take it off, my mother
has been trying for ages to undo it,” Stasi pleaded.

“I wrote it, yes, created it, of course, but I did
not place it and it is not my power that fueled it,” Phoebe said
patiently.

“Tell us who did,” Mihail commanded softly.

“I cannot tell you and I cannot change or stop it;
for that I am truly sorry. The curse is perfect and horrible; I am
proud of it and wish I had no part in it. Your mother is doing a
fine job, she, with your help, will end the curse.” The Titan’s
eyes sparkled even brighter for a few moments as she announced a
new prophecy, then Phoebe looked sad, “even though to do so will
require something I wish did not have to pass.”