The Bathory Curse (36 page)

“You told me she also gave you a choice, but you
never told me why you chose to say yes.”

“She showed me the lives of all my other sisters,
there have been 12 of us; all through time. By the time 10 of them
were my age they already had full lives, college, husbands, some
had children. It was only me and Lagina who could take over her
role, tie ourselves to her life and her fate.” Anatolia closed her
eyes as the wind picked up, she put a hand down and a large blue
Great Dane was suddenly there, sniffing her and nuzzling her side.
She was never without Fulla, her faithful companion.

“Lagina was in a mental institution in the year
2030. She was born a seer, but since no one believes in magic, her
father had her locked up at an early age. I asked mother why she
left her there, but I could see it for myself. Lagina couldn’t
control her visions and her mind was childlike.” Anatolia pet the
dog, calming herself down.

“She told me if I didn’t choose the path then she
would have no choice but to force it on Lagina….I couldn’t do that,
not even to a sister I didn’t know.” Anatolia looked at Stasi,
hatred in her eyes. “Give her the box, don’t take away her
choices.”

“I have told you what she will do if she read the
letters,” Stasi warned, drunk one night on wine she had spilled to
her friend about Bendis needing to die.

“I will summon mother myself if you need me to. She
has ruined many lives with her anger, magic and selfishness, and I
would rather be a Goddess now than stuck as I am any longer.” Which
was true, Anatolia was frozen in time; she had money, power, youth
and beauty, but she couldn’t have a spouse or children and her
mother wouldn’t allow her to time travel yet.

“As sad as I am that you will be leaving my house,
you two are sure not boring, everyone needs to follow their own
path.” Anatolia leaned in and kissed Stasi’s cheek.

“I hope you still feel that way when you become a
Goddess.”

“My mother has never been mortal. I think that
affects her judgment more than she would care to admit.” Anatolia
left, Fulla following close behind.

Stasi took a deep breath and called Daniela to her.
Daniela came running outside, smiling, a beautiful young lady. She
was forever tanned, her eyes night sky dark and framed with light
lashes. Her hair was strawberry blonde and curling around the
edges, she like to leave it loose and flowing around her shoulders
when they were at home. She had a lovely, if not unique, face and
was curvier than Stasi.

Daniela was a little out of breath
and flushed, she had just come in from riding one of
Anatolia’s horses.

“Did you need something Mama?” Daniela’s smile
dimmed as she saw the serious expression on her mother’s face and
the box at her feet.

“I have something I need to tell you.” Stasi took
her daughter’s hands, she looked so grown up in her tan breeches
and riding boots, a crisp white collared shirt tucked in and a
matching cloche hat.

“Can it wait till I have a bath? I smell like the
stables.” Daniela tried to laugh, but her mom’s face didn’t inspire
much mirth.

“No. It can’t. I should have told you several years
ago, but I was afraid and I was angry.” Stasi led her over an iron
bench, picking up the box and setting it between them.

“You’re scaring me. What’s going on?” Daniela
gripped her mother’s hand tighter, eyes darting down to the box,
frowning as she realized she was seeing dozens of envelopes all
with her name as well as several parcels.

“Your grandma and father found out that you have to
kill Bendis yourself to end the Bathory curse. There is a tea to be
made out of special flowers and you must hand her the ending cup.”
There Stasi had said it, part of the weight on her chest lifted.
Daniela was silent for a few minutes, she closed her eyes and then
spoke.

“Alright then, I can do that.”

“You aren’t scared?”

“No. I have known for a long time that I had to do
something, that I was the key to ending our family curse and it’s
best I do it as soon as possible.” Daniela stood, she didn’t want
her mother to worry, but Daniela had a feeling that she was subject
to the same rules as the other women of their family. She had felt
moments of intense hatred towards people and animals, even horses,
which were her favorite. She had horrible thoughts that left her
giddy with delight and the burning need to run off into the night
and indulge in prostitution, opium and whiskey.  So far she
had suppressed these urges but she was becoming more and more
terrified.

“Apparently your grandma thinks the year you turn 18
is our best bet for this to work.” Her mother’s words focused her
attention.

“But tomorrow’s my birthday? Why wait so long to tell
me?” Daniela narrowed her eyes as guilt filled her mother’s
features, “wait, how long have you known?”

“Eight years.”

Daniela stood up and clenched her fists, biting her
lip to keep awful words from forming, she took several deep breaths
and met her mother’s eyes. “I can’t believe you kept this from
me….Now I will have to go into this unprepared.”

“There is more.”

“How much more could there be?”

Stasi placed her hands on the rim of the box, “This
box contains eight years’ worth of letters from your grandma to
you; letters and gifts.” She could barely meet her daughter’s eyes
and what she saw reflected in them made her flinch; resentment, and
disbelief.

“You kept letters from me? And gifts? How could
you?” Daniela hissed, the temper she struggled with desperately
burning through her.

“I was angry with my mother. Her actions caused our
banishment from your father.”

“You hateful cow,” Daniela’s words were like whips,
“how dare you! I am the only one banished. It was for me to decide
who to be mad at and I chose the horrid Goddess whose fault this
all was!”  She stepped forward and wrenched the box from her
mother and clasped it greedily to her chest.

“I am still your mother and you will show me some
respect.” Stasi told her, shocked. She knew Daniela would be angry,
but the girl’s temperament was usually even natured.

“Why should I show you any respect when you’ve shown
me none? For eight years you have kept letters from grandma from
me, even when you knew I needed to talk to her! That I was writing
her and not getting any response. I guess I should just be lucky
you didn’t do that with my dad. I ought to take every memory of dad
from you for the last eight years and see how you like it!” Daniela
took a step forward.

“Daniela! Don’t threaten me, what’s wrong with you?”
Stasi stood up, worried and afraid. Her daughter could feed on
memories, and if she chose to could make it so her prey no longer
had access to the memories she fed off of.  Unlike other
Strigoi, Daniela didn’t need to feed a Strega when she was done.
She was the perfect blend of human and monster.

“What’s wrong with me? For years I have been stuck
here with you, telling myself to fight all my anger and all my
darkness, when really you deserved every hateful comment my brain
could produce!” She was yelling now, her fingers denting the
box.

“Daniela, control yourself!” Stasi exclaimed. “This
is the curse speaking. I know you have every right to be mad at me
and feel betrayed but I am still your mother and I love you.” Stasi
grabbed her daughter and used her magic to leech the anger out of
her daughter, to gobble it up, it gave her tummy a sick feeling
since it wasn’t the emotion she normally fed off of.

After a few minutes the fever bright rage in
Daniela’s eyes and flush in her skin disappeared, both mother and
daughter stood looking at each other.

“I am sorry I said hateful things, but I am upset
with you,” Daniela finally said, through parched lips, craving a
sneak of her mother’s sherry.

“You have every right to be, just stay calm.”

“Can you leave me alone please?”

“Of course.” Stasi kissed her daughter’s brow and
retreated to the house, lighting the lanterns on her way so Daniela
wouldn’t be in the dark.

Daniela sank into the thick grass, not caring it was
a bit damp and dug into the box, she started with the gifts. She
had received several over the years from her aunts; Sabine, Marina
and Ruxandra, dozens from her father and grandfather but not one
from her grandma, and here they all were. One for every Christmas
and birthday that had passed, 14 in all. There was a teddy bear
with a pink bow tie, crayons, a chess set, a sewing kit, playing
cards, fancy quill pens with ink jars, beautiful stationary with
horses on it, a musical clock, books by Beatrix Potter and Frank L.
Baum, lace gloves, a pot of rouge and blotting paper, a shell
carved cameo on a velvet choker and finally a hand mirror, painted
with blue forget me nots, Daniela’s favorite flowers.

Each gift had been lovingly chosen and wrapped and
inscribed by her grandmother. A bit of Daniela’s rage came back as
she realized the ink pots had long since dried up, the lace on the
gloves was yellowed and the pot of rouge had a smell that meant the
makeup had gone bad. She quickly put the choker on, tears filling
her eyes as she imagined her grandma picking out her presents.

Then she started on the letters, there were at least
two dozen. She opened the first letter and began to read, as she
devoured each page, sentences stood out that made her cry even
harder, the words becoming blurry.

1904

“
I do not know why you keep asking me why I don’t
answer your questions, I do dear one, are my letters getting lost?
Is my hand writing that illegible?”

1906

“
I have come to realize you may never see this,
your mother is very angry with me and has probably not told you
what she should have, but just in case she changed her mind I will
keep writing and keep responding to your letters.”

1907

“
You father told me Stasi is
refusing to tell you about your destiny. Darling Ella you are the
key, you must brew a tea made from special golden flowers and give
it to Bendis, her death by your hand will end the curse. Enclosed
are the dried flowers for safe keeping.”
In the enveloped, pressed, were two dried flowers, still a
shining gold color.  Daniela sniffed at the nickname only her
grandma used and tucked the important contents into her
pocket.

1910

“
Ella, I am writing this with much haste and even
mentioned in my letter to your mother that it is important you read
this particular letter. While you have many of the gifts of the
Strigoi, like your parents, you already know you are mortal. What
you may not know, but have already figured out, is that you will be
affected by the curse. Your mother knows this, but I am worried she
will not tell you. I could feel it when the curse claimed you and I
worry for you every day.  Stay steadfast and do not let the
darkness tempt you. I shall see you soon and everything will be
ok.”

1911- Dated only a few weeks earlier

“
Your birthday fast approaches and I am hopeful
that I shall hear from you that you are on task. I will be arriving
the morning of your birthday at the inn in your town; Sabine and
your father will be joining me as well.  I hope the present I
have gotten you is acceptable, since you never mention my other
gifts I had to guess at it. Send a missive to me letting me know if
you are planning to fulfill your destiny. I will come as soon as
Bendis drinks the tea. Love, your grandma.”

Daniela finish the last letter and gathered
everything up and went to her room. She furiously scribbled a note
to her grandma on the horse stationary and shoved it in an
envelope, addressing it properly. Taking the box she stashed it
under the bed, her heart pounding a mile a minute, when she came
out she almost ran into Anatolia.

“I need you to send a letter for me to the inn,”
Daniela said, breathlessly.

“So it is to begin.” Anatolia nodded, “I will take
this myself. Do you need me to call my mother?” She gingerly
touched the envelope and placed it in a pocket of her dark
skirt.

“No need, she has already accepted
the invitation to Daniela’s 18
^th
birthday party we are holding tomorrow evening,” Stasi said,
stepping out from the shadows.

“You want me to kill a Goddess with all those girls
and their parents here?” Daniela wished she could say she was
shocked but part of her enjoyed the thought of all the stuck up
prisses at her private girls’ school being around when she killed
someone. She had been very happy to graduate and was hoping to
convince her mom to send her to college, she wanted to be a
writer.

“It’s as good a time as any.” Stasi shrugged.

“Okay, I better ask cook to teach me to brew my own
tea.”

Chapter 24

“Everything is lovely!” Daniela cried coming out of
her room the following evening, it was almost dusk so her mother
looked almost completely corporeal.

Daniela hoped she didn’t look as nervous as she
sounded. She had been pampered and scrubbed, polished and made up,
her hair tweaked and her form shoved into a whale bone corset and
was now ready to greet her guests.

“I am glad you like it.” Stasi kissed her cheek as
she led her onto the patio where half a dozen white clothed tables
and chairs had been set up, a dozen girls and their parents were
chattering in and around, like the buzzing of bees. Lanterns hung
from everywhere like floating lights against the pale blue, purple
and red streaked sky.

There was talk of school, boys and fashion, it all
made Daniela’s head hurt a little. Each girl was dressed in her
finest afternoon tea wear, complete with boots and parasols.

Each table had pitchers of ice tea and crochet
covered tea pots, delicate china saucers and cups with hand painted
forget me nots, dainty forks, pale blue cloth napkins and beautiful
name cards of each and every guest.