by Eric Vall
“Why can’t I ever be left alone?” I groaned.
The Duchess’ carriage door slammed open, and the blonde emerged from within with a smile curling the corners of her lips. The tall woman slammed her heeled boots down into the gravel, unfurled her long, elegant dress out, and then turned toward me. The Duchess’ colorless hair was styled into a mass on top of her head, with a single, perfect curl resting over her shoulder. Edony had applied a light layer of makeup for the occasion, and her red lips shone like the surface of a calm pool in the sunlight.
The Duchess wore a light blue dress, the color of cornflowers, and over it, a red, yellow and blue floral print jacket. Lace peeked out of the collar and sleeves, and golden buttons down her front glittered as she turned, rested her hand against her corseted stomach, and chuckled lightly. The cane she always carried rested loosely in her right hand, and she stabbed down at the gravel with it as she stalked closer.
Her presence was just as massive and oppressive as I remembered it from the day before. The anger she showed may have subsided, but the burning fire in her violet eyes certainly had not. Edony looked like a hungry tigress on the prowl, and I was nothing more than a tasty meal just within her reach.
“Charles,” the blonde breathed as if we were the closest of friends. “How wonderful to see you on such a beautiful day such as this.”
“This is my manor, Edony, of course, you’d see me here,” I stated. “What can I do for you?”
“No, no, no,” The blonde giggled. “This is my property, one that I bequeathed to you when we signed the contract together. Now that the contract is void, I’m here to reclaim it.”
“W-What?” I whispered.
“You really thought I was going to let you keep it?” the blonde barked. “After everything you’ve done to me? How stupid of you, Charles, I am not that kind to those who turn their backs on me.”
“What’s going on?” a voice snarled from behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder.
Daisy stood at the top of the steps, her hands on her hips, her head cocked to the side with her bonnet firmly in place, and as the brunette gazed down at the scene, Edony scoffed.
“You can’t save him this time, Miss Browning,” Edony snarled. “You may be his Mistress, but I own this property.”
The door to the second carriage snapped open, and a long, shiny thigh-high boot slipped out. Ortensia slunk out of the carriage, brushed off her leather jacket, adjusted her hat, jerked her head to whoever was inside of the carriage, and then stomped over with assured ease.
The scarlet-haired woman wore the same skin tight uniform from before, and the badges across her ample chest glittered in the morning sun. Her long, wavy red hair rested over her shoulders, and the wide-billed hat resting on her head sat at a jaunty ankle. Her leather boots creaked loudly, but she kept her sparkling jade eyes hard on my face.
The Duchess and the Chief Constable’s appearances may have been polar opposites, but their tyrannical auras matched each other perfectly. Edony almost looked like a porcelain doll come to life with her rouged cheeks, her stylish dress, and glossy lips. Ortensia, on the other hand, seemed better suited as a war general than the Chief Constable of such a tiny town such as Edenhart. Both of their smooth faces were angular, almost pointed like the snout of a snake, and their eyes held the same venom like a reptile’s.
Though they were wildly powerful, and the biggest threats to my life, I had to admit, they both were strikingly beautiful women, not on the level of Valerie and Daisy, but I could almost imagine what the two of them would look like as monster-women.
Five muscled men burst out of the carriage behind her, came to stand behind the two women, and glared up at me like a group of angry bulldogs. It was clear to me what they were: the muscle behind all of this, though, I was sure that their strength was nothing compared to Ortensia and Edony’s powers.
“Chief Constable,” Edony bowed her head, snickered, offered a hand, and then shook the scarlet-haired woman’s.
“Duchess Edony,” the Chief Constable grinned back. “What a beautiful day it is, such a lovely end of summer breeze. I hope the winter is good to us as it is in the capital. We hardly get any cold weather or snow there, that’s why the Queen loves it so much.”
“Hello?” I grunted. “So, what are you going to do? Throw me out?”
“Well, the technical word for it is ‘eviction,’” the blonde simpered through pursed lips. “But yes, that’s what I’m going to do, throw you out and leave you and your Mistress homeless. It seems like the only right thing to do. You did break our contract after all. All promises of money, shelter, food, those are gone because of what you’ve done to me.”
“You can’t do this,” I stated. “Our contract is indefinite, it never had an end date, so as long as I keep working on my machine, you can’t evict me. I can get you a copy of it, it’s upstairs.”
“I don’t need to see the goddamn contract, Charles,” Edony snarled. “I know what it entails, I’m the one who personally drew it up. I know what I promised, and I certainly know what you promised. I still haven’t received what I asked you for, and once you signed a contract with Miss Browning here, you broke the one you signed with me. Therefore, you no longer receive the bounty of my patronage, and I’ll be kind enough to give you a few minutes to collect your things.”
“It’ll take more than a few minutes for me to break down my machine,” I uttered, and suddenly, the blonde threw herself forward in a fit of giggles.
“Your machine, Charles?” The Duchess crooked an eyebrow. “No, no, no, I asked you to construct it, I paid you thousands of ducats to build it, but not only that, it resides in the manor I own. If you take it with you, that’s theft, and I will have you arrested the moment you step off of this property.”
Ortensia didn’t speak, but her blood-red lips curled into a wicked smirk. She glanced over her shoulder toward the five men, and then jerked her head toward me. The men rumbled forward, stepped toward me with their hands outstretched, but suddenly, a body blocked their path.
Daisy held her arms out in front of me, her lips curled back against her teeth, her eyes hardened on each man, and then she snarled.
“If you dare,” the brunette snapped. “Lay a hand on him, and I’ll slaughter each one of you before your Mistress’ eyes.”
“I just said you couldn’t stop us,” Edony barked. “Are you deaf or stupid? What do you think you’re doing?”
“If you were listening, Edony,” the brunette growled. “I just said if they came one step closer to Charles, I would rip them limb from limb. Call off your dogs, do as Charles asked, and look over the contract. I won’t repeat myself.”
“You can’t do that!” The Duchess roared as electricity snapped around her.
“It’s not illegal to kill meaningless mongrels, is it?” Daisy scoffed. “They serve no purpose than to protect you, but do you need protecting, Edony? No, you’re the most powerful woman in all of Edenhart, so why did you even bring them along? It’s not like they’re needed, you could wipe out Charles and me with a single swipe of your hand. You’re doing nothing more than posturing, posing like a proud peacock in front of her lowly servants.”
“I am the Duchess of Edenhart!” the blonde shrieked. “You cannot speak to me that way!”
“And what will you do?” The brunette snarked. “I’m a woman, but not only that, a wealthy, aristocratic woman from a high-powered family, you can’t lay a hand on me unless I’ve actually done something illegal. As I said before, killing a few dogs isn’t illegal, most women in your city do it without thinking about it. Why should it matter if I slaughter your guard-dogs? Do as I say and call them off.”
“Stand down,” Ortensia finally spoke up, stomped forward, rested her gloved hand against the handle of her baton, and glared down at the smaller woman. “We may not be able to arrest you, but I can detain you if need be.”
“Detain me?” Daisy scoffed. “You can’t detain me, I won’t allow you to lay a h
and on my person.”
“As the Chief Constable,” Ortensia uttered. “I can do whatever I need to protect my lady Duchess, even if it means subduing you in some form.”
“Try it, I dare you!” the bear-girl roared, darted forward, gripped one of the guards, lifted him entirely off the ground, and then tossed him easily as if he were a ragdoll.
Edony’s eyes followed the man’s movement through the air while Ortensia’s mouth dropped open in shock. The scarlet-haired woman turned in place, gripped her baton hard in one hand, and cringed at the guard’s loud, pain screams.
The man, clothed entirely in black, flew through the air like a comet, spun once, hit the gravel drive with a loud grunt, and then slid across the ground. He laid there limply for a moment, shifted, cried out in pain as he gripped his ribs, rolled over, and stared up at the sky with tear-filled eyes. The downed man attempted to roll forward, but screamed in pain, laid back down, and sobbed openly like a child.
“That’s not even the worst that I can do,” the brunette spat. “Do you want to see, Edony? Would you like to witness the full power of the Browning family?”
Chapter Two
Daisy’s shoulders rolled back, and her head tilted sharply to the side with a loud crack. She shook out her hands, bent her knees, brought up both hands in front of her, and then stepped forward toward the four men. Her honey-colored eyes sharpened, narrowed on the first man as he stepped forward, and then blasted forward.
“Your strength may be impressive,” Edony scoffed. “But do you really think that you can take on four augmented men at once?”
Edony’s violet eyes flitted over to me, a sly smile spread over her lips, and both of her delicate hands came down to clutch the crook of her cane. The blonde tilted her head, licked her lips, glanced over at Ortensia as if the two women had a secret, and then leveled her hateful gaze to mine.
“What do you mean?” I called out. “Augmented?”
“Don’t worry, Charles,” the Duchess breathed. “It’s just a little project I’ve been working on, nothing in comparison to what the two of us worked on together, but something a bit smaller. It seems to have worked… so far, there are a few glitches here and there, but the scientist who produced it for me is brilliant, more talented than you will ever be.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I scoffed. “To make it known that I’m no longer your paid employee?”
“No, Charles,” the Duchess snickered. “To let you know that there are others out there like you… but they’re succeeding.”
“Augmented men?” I grunted. “That doesn’t exactly sound like what you contracted me for, Edony. It sounds like a downgrade or a cheap knock-off.”
Edony’s violet eyes widened on my face, she took a step forward with her hands curled into fists at her waist, but Ortensia placed a firm hand on the blonde’s shoulder.
“Don’t,” the scarlet-haired woman warned. “He’s not worth the trouble.”
“Enough talking!” A gruff voice came from below. “Augmented or not, they’re dead-meat.”
The brunette slammed forward so fast that she was almost nothing more than a blur. Her tiny left hand clasped around his meaty throat, lifted him from the gravel while her right jabbed forward toward his ribcage.
A thick, moist thunk reached our ears as Daisy’s hand connected with the black fabric of his shirt, tore through it, and then disappeared inside of his broad chest. Blood sprayed out, dripped down to her elbow, but the tiny woman ignored it, and she gritted her teeth, gripped something inside of him, and then tore it out with all of her strength.
And he screamed.
The bear-girl’s arm wrenched free from the guard’s chest, rose in the air, and gripped three bloodied, spike-like objects. It took me a moment to realize what they truly were, Daisy held three of the guard’s broken ribs tightly in her hand, and in one swift movement, she swung the smeared hand forward. The jagged, broken ends of each bone connected with the screaming guard’s temple, sunk in with soft squelches, and then the tips exploded out the other side.
The squirming guard roared in pain, kicked out his feet wildly, and then, just as suddenly, went limp. His meaty hands hung limply at his sides, his massive head fell forward, and his pink tongue dropped out of his open mouth.
Ortensia’s eyes widened in horror, she slapped both gloved hands over her mouth as a low retch rumbled up her throat, but Edony stood firm. The blonde’s lips curled down at the corners, but she simply blinked, scoffed under her breath, and then gestured to the three remaining guards.
“Do what you will with her,” the Duchess sighed. “Don’t kill her…. But I will overlook a few broken bones, bruises, hmm… and maybe a few missing limbs. You’re a doctor, too, Charles, if she loses one of those, you can always just sew it back on, correct?”
“As I said,” Daisy roared. “You won’t lay a hand on me!”
The brunette moved to drop the dead guard, glanced over her shoulder, gripped even tighter on his neck with both hands, turned at the last second right as another one of the guards was about to reach her, and used the dead man’s body like a hammer.
The tiny bear-girl slammed the heavy, dead-weight of the man’s comrade down, hit the third guard, and sent him sprawling onto the gravel. Only then did the brunette drop the dead guard, climbed on top of the man dressed in black, lifted her head, and roared angrily at the sky.
Daisy’s tiny, blood-stained hands slammed down; the right went to his forehead, the left curled into his mouth and held onto the bottom jaw with tightly clamped fingers. The bear-girl’s lips pulled back against her teeth, she snarled hatefully into the man’s face as he struggled against her, and then suddenly, the brunette ripped her hands in opposite directions.
The sound of cracking bone and tearing flesh resounded around the small drive as Daisy completely halved the man’s skull. The gray-matter of his brain shredded into two, plopped out onto the gravel, and then laid there like a jellied mold.
The guard’s body fell backward, and then Daisy stood, glared toward the last man, and took an assured step toward him with the halved skull still tightly clamped in her hands. The guard held his ground with eyes that showed no emotion at all, not even fear, and I had to wonder if this was the augmentation that Edony spoke about.
Another sound reached our ears, but this one didn’t come from the guard or Daisy. I swiveled my eyes toward the Duchess and the Chief Constable, and Edony looked utterly uninterested in the fight surrounding us. But Ortensia was bent over with her back toward me, vomiting onto the gravel as she clutched her stomach. The scarlet-haired woman groaned, stood upright, wiped off her mouth with the sleeve of her jacket, turned, and then gripped Edony by the wrist.
“Call it off,” Ortensia grunted. “Tell her to stop, make her stop.”
“Excuse me?” Edony snapped, pulled away her arm, and furrowed her brows. “You’re the goddamn Chief Constable, aren’t you accustomed to seeing these things? Not only that, but you think I’ll back down now?”
“I’m ‘accustomed’ to hangings, beheadings, and burning at the stake,” the Chief Constable gasped. “Not… not this abhorrent violence. She’s stronger than you thought she was, just admit it, and look over the contract with him.”
“No,” Edony boomed, leveled her gaze at the guard, and growled. “Take out the man, ignore his Mistress as best you can.”
My heart hammered in my chest as the towering beast of a male stepped closer, cracked his knuckles, and grinned.
Daisy bent her knees, leaped into the air, and threw herself at the guard with swinging hands, but he calmly swatted her out of the way. The brunette hit the gravel, spun on her knees, growled underneath her breath, and raced after him, but it was no use. Each time she attacked, he used defensive moves to deflect her, avoided her heavy-handed punches, and pushed on toward me.
“You want me?” I rumbled. “Come get me.”
“Wi… w-w-with pleasure,” the guard grunted.
He seemed to
have trouble speaking, and I was sure it was from the augmentation. The men didn’t seem very strong compared to Daisy, but I was about to find out what he was made of. I bent my knees as the guard came near, raised his fist over his head, and swung it down at me, almost like a hammer. I jerked out of the way at the last second, felt the air split from his sheer strength, lifted my own fist, and fist him square in the jaw. Pain vibrated up my arm all the way to my shoulder, almost as if I’d punched a solid bar of steel instead of the fleshy face of a man, but I couldn’t let that distract me.
The guard’s head turned slightly to the left from my punch, I breathed out through pursed lips, slammed my left fist up, and uppercut him with all of my strength. The guard’s head snapped back with a crack, he wobbled on his feet for a second as a low groan mumbled between his firmly closed lips, and finally, he fell back onto his haunches in the gravel. He wasn’t knocked out, but something certainly was wrong with him as he rubbed at the back of his neck.
“Ow,” the man grumbled. “O-Ow.”
“I have studied the various fist-a-cuff techniques, scoundrel,” I hissed as I raised my hands once more into a fighting stance. It was a bit of a stretch of the truth, since I’d merely read a few books on the matter and practiced in front of a mirror.
When he turned his head, I finally saw what he meant. At the base of his neck, embedded into the skin was a small black, diamond-shaped apparatus. Its outer surface glowered in blues, purples, and greens, flashed twice in alarm, and then dropped off in his palm as he rubbed at it.
“Goddamnit,” Edony growled.
“So,” I snickered. “This is your plan to best me? I heard you when you said that they were augmented, but this poorly? The apparatus popped off with two punches, Edony, you need to find a better inventor next time. This is a sad excuse for what I would’ve made for you.”