by Renee Lake
Before they could start up the stairs a woman rushed down it, she was naked and dripping wet, her skin shaded blue, steam was rising off her. Nea watched as she ran into the room Anna was in.
“Did my package come?”
“I have no idea. Go away, I’m busy here.”
“All mail comes through you first, I want my package.” The wet girl’s voice sounded weak and watered down, like she was speaking under the water.
“It’s probably on the kitchen table where the rest of the trash goes.” Anna dismissed.
“It’s precious! Next time just bring it to me!”
“It’s rape porn and disgusting. Why can’t you strike a deal with one of those weirdos who live in the trees? It’s what Catharine did.” Anna couldn’t hide her disgust, “and clean up after yourself, you’re dripping water everywhere, can’t you wear a poncho or something?”
The girl darted from the room, moving past them towards the kitchen, she smelled of mold and wet decay.
“Barbara?” Nea asked, Bendis could only nod.
As they reached the second floor landing, Nea could hear sounds of a carnal nature coming from at least two of the bedrooms. She heard cries of pleasure, moaning, the slap of one body against another and the scent of sex permeated the air.
“You don’t want to see any of that.” Bendis advised.
“I should say not.” Nea wasn’t a prude, but she could only guess, with what little dialogue she could hear, what was going on.
“Agata and Marta are in one of the rooms, right?” She asked speaking of the incestuous twins.
“Yes, when they aren’t engaged in whatever new kink they have discovered they are being chased through the house by other members of their family…Even in death they have a tendency to steal. The other room is Catharine…” Bendis trailed off and Nea could hear a small voice pleading to be let go.
“You don’t give her access to the corpses of children.” Nea was shocked, her stomach clenched.
“No…but there are a spirits here who easily pass as children. If they come to the door and Catharine is downstairs she snatches them up and keeps them for as long as she would like.”
Nea marched over to the door, intending to rescue the poor soul inside. She came up against a barrier and turned, fury on her face as she glared at the Goddess.
“It’s not a pretty sight, because of her death she is exactly like one of the bodies she used to favor. Besides, every few months I come in here and resuce any of the souls that don’t belong.” Bendis waved her hand and they both flinched as Catharine shrieked in rage as her playmate disappeared.
“I can’t believe you allow other souls to get stuck here with them.”
“I am not those souls’ Goddess, my only concern are these women.”
“I haven’t seen Clara or Maragareth yet,” Nea commented changing the subject and clearing her head.
“If you must.” Bendis sounded bored, but Nea knew she wanted her to see everything. The Goddess pointed to two doors at the far end of the hall way.
With a thought one door cracked open and Nea went to peer in, she knew it was going to be horrible, but she couldn’t look away.
In the first room Maragareth was dancing in an elaborate costume, there was music playing, but unlike the attractive woman Nea was used to seeing this one was sick, she was pasty and sweating, like her skin would be clammy to the touch. Her eyes held the brightness of fever and the room had a sickly sweet smell.
“She’s just dancing.” Nea whispered over her shoulder.
“Yes, but she is forever sick, she doesn’t tend to have any vices left over from her old life, except her love of costumes and dance. In a few minutes she’ll stop to throw up or pass out.” Bendis said, Nea shut the door before she had to see either of those events.
Nea swallowed, and wet her lips, not sure if she wanted to see Clara. The girl had been one the first ordered Strigoi kills and she wasn’t proud of it. She peeked in the door and saw that Clara was sitting on a bed, she wore what looked like a shiny fabric robe. She held a blanket in her hands that was stained red and was rocking it. Her room smelled of rotting meat, but Clara didn’t seem to mind. She just rocked the bundle. Nea watched as she leaned down to kiss it and came back up chewing something.
“No.” Nea backed up, eyes wide, glancing at Bendis.
“She doesn’t know what she’s doing most of the time. She feels deep guilt over killing her own babe, she’s quite insane. She’s cradling a roast Beth made her.”
“Isn’t she worried that Beth will poison her?”
“No. Beth feels too sorry for her to do so, she makes her a roast a week, Clara keeps it like a baby and eats it. Eventually it goes bad and makes her sick. She tends to herself and once she is well again Beth cooks another one for her.”
Nea was pale and felt cold all over. Then the doorbell rang and she and Bendis froze. There was a few minutes where the whole household was silent and then laughter radiated from the first floor.
“Agata, Marta, come down here you have a visitor!” Anna’s voice shrieked. Nea closed her eyes, she didn’t want to see; instead heard the door slam open and someone dash down the stair.
“I have got to break the curse and get them out of here,” Nea whispered and for the second time in less than an hour she threw up.
Chapter 7
After cleaning Nea up, they were about to ascend to the third floor when a horrible burned meat smell filled Nea’s nostrils, it was rank and acrid. Bendis grabbed her arm and pulled her up two or three of the stairs right as another woman walked by to reach the first floor. She was burned to a crisp. Nea only knew it was a woman because of the dress she was wearing, it was new, clean and without scorch marks. Her flesh should have been sloughing away; black with dark red underneath, pale eyes looked out from all the scars and scalded flesh. Her hair was almost gone, what remained were just straggly hunks jutting out of her head. It was Viva, the one who had been burned at the stake, the first Bathory whose portrait hung in her gallery.
One of the doors creaked open and Catharine peered out, Bendis had been right, she was dried out and sunken in, like a pale raisin. One skeletal hand came around, gripping the door knob. It was hard to believe she had died at 19.
“Viva, you should come join me,” she rasped.
“I have no interest in playing dead for you today….” Viva sounded clear and normal which surprised Nea.
“You didn’t use to mind; besides, my last friend disappeared,” Catharine pouted.
“That was before, when I cared to feel again.” Viva’s smile was a hideous thing, all white teeth, her lips basically gone.
“Now you let Beth poison you instead,” Catharine pointed out, “and sometimes I hear you in there with Marta and Agata.”
“And when I tire of that I will change to something else.” She shrugged and the sound it made had Nea almost throwing up again. Viva descended the stairs as Catharine slammed the door.
“I can’t believe you let them live like this,” Nea exclaimed, turning on her Goddess.
“They don’t really live Nea…they exist and I don’t have any control over it until the curse is broken. I just make them…comfortable.”
“There’s nothing you can do?”
“I have even appealed to Death Gods of old. Hades, Osiris and Ereshkigal are tired of hearing from me…This curse has to be broken before anyone can fix any of this.” Bendis was so weary it made Nea’s heart ache even more. Nea had never met any other Gods. Lesson 22 was that no other Gods came near them, or interfered with Stregas and Strigoi.
The third floor was a giant empty room, sitting in a rocking chair watching out a window a thin beautiful Jozsa was crying to herself. She looked just like her portrait.
“Why does she cry?” Nea wanted to comfort her, but knew better than to disregard Bendis’ warning about not calling attention to herself.
“Because she most of all understands what is happening here…Those are her preciou
s daughters that she died for downstairs fornicating with each other. She sees how her actions affected them more than the rest.”
The crying halted and slowly the 22 year old woman in the chair turned around, eyes searching for something she couldn’t quite grasp; around her mouth were sores that seemed to be like angry blisters. Recognizing an unnamable illness when she saw one, Nea knew she would have those lesions in places they couldn’t see as well.
“Does she know we’re here?” Nea whispered.
“She senses something…She stays so close to the fourth floor your mother’s lucidness rubs off on her sometimes. It’s another reason Jenica does not wander the house, she alone is completely aware of what has happened. I can’t have that rub off on the rest of the crazy downstairs,” Bendis sighed.
“Why not?”
“It would get worse. I know that’s hard to believe, but it would be nothing but screams, crying and bloodshed.”
“Poor Jozsa.”
“Yes, she is the saddest of them so far. When I visit she is never in her rooms or with the others. She just sits up here and cries.”
“Why not give her a room up here, why is it so empty?”
“It is waiting.”
“For what?”
“More of your family. The house grows to accommodate you all.” They began up the narrow staircase that led to the fourth floor. A heavy metal door barred their path.
“I cannot go any further, it’s part of an agreement I made with…well with who shares your mother’s space. I have only one rule you must follow while inside.” Bendis leaned against the wall, looking even older than she normally did as the crone.
“What?” Nea didn’t understand and didn’t like that.
“You may say anything to your mother you would like…but you may not speak to the other. She may speak to you however and you can listen, but do not talk to her directly, and especially, do not ask her questions, you won’t like what I do if you disobey me. I will wait here for you.”
“How is that fair? This is all so ridiculous.” Nea was angry, why all the rules and secrets? Her task would be so much easier if Bendis would just be forthcoming.
“Your mother is the only one who can talk to her.” Bendis clamped her mouth shut, lips thin.
Nea went to the door and placed her hand on the handle, it seemed to warm to her presence and with a resounded snick it opened. Nea stepped inside, the door shut silently behind her, and breathed in relief. The room was warm and lovely; full of light. Her mother was standing in front of a stove making tea and turned slowly at her approach. Her eyes widened at first, the same blue as her daughter and then became distraught.
“Mama! I’m here, but I’m ok, Bendis brought me!” She felt ten years old again as she ran to her mother and the two women embraced.
“You are not dead? You are unaffected by the curse?” Jenica patted her daughter’s hair and face, checking to make sure she was alright; it had been so long since she had seen her. Jenica was a plump woman in her late thirties with the Bathory signature blue eyes and blonde hair. She wore strange blue pants and a tunic that was thick and cut funny, in a pale peach color.
“Mama, what are you wearing?” Nea asked as they sat down on a thick comfy elongated seat.
“They are called jeans and a sweater. Since I no longer need be burdened with things from my own time I pretty much pick and choose from whatever I like in whatever time I wish,” Jenica laughed.
“You’ve cut your hair so short.” Nea complained reaching up to touch a sheared lock.
“I like it this way.” Jenica shrugged, “what are you doing here?”
“I am a Strega now, in Bendis’ service for all eternity or something like that. How are you?”
“A Strega? That’s a great honor, I wish she had chosen me, then I wouldn’t be stuck in this hellish place.”
“Is it really bad?”
“Oh I am well enough. I meant only that I wish I could be with your father.” Jenica sighed, sadly, “Enough about me, how are my grandsons?”
Smiling Nea told her all about Mihnea and Mihail, leaving out some of the darker parts for later.
“And that husband of yours?”
“When I died Vlad had a hard time of it, eventually he was imprisoned and then they tried to kill him.” Nea knew her mother understood the politics of their homeland. “As far as I know he has turned vampire.” Nea gave a small smirk as her mother crossed herself, then Nea told her about Ruxandra, Sabine and some of the adventures she had since becoming one of Bendis Strega’s.
“Are you ok here?” Nea asked again, after a little while, she had to know.
“Well, I wish I could move on, and some days it can get a little boring around here, but yes, I am fine. Bendis has given us so many tools of the future I can’t even begin to describe them. I have everything I could want here, my own chamber, kitchen, indoor plumbing, a space to do my weaving and a library.” Her mother frowned and pointed out a wooden door that was propped open letting in more fresh air and Nea could see the darkness outside was illuminated by fake sunlight.
“Why didn’t you come up the back stairs? The house is atrocious.” Jenica asked, confused and thinking about the strange sounds and smells that sometimes made their way upstairs and her first initial visit with Bendis after her death when all had been explained.
“I didn’t know there was a back way. Bendis must have wanted me to see all that awfulness.” A thought crossed Nea’s mind, “Bendis said you can leave, do you?”
“Of course, we visit some of the other people here in Limbo and that big flashy building down the road is called a casino; it’s ridiculous and fun…it’s for gambling, not like we really need to lose or win money.” Jenica laughed at the expression on her daughter’s face.
“Now darling, Bendis would not have brought you here to me simply in a gesture of affection.”
“I am trying to break the curse and I don’t think I am succeeding, Mama I need help.” Nea shared and told her about all the Bathorys she had encountered in the last 100 years. Jenica got a strange look on her face and then turned around.
“I think you should come out now,” she called. She reached out and grabbed her daughter’s arm, “you know the rules yes? You cannot speak to her.” Nea nodded with wide eyes, she had never seen her mother so serious before.
A young woman came out from behind a curtain, Nea jerked in disbelief, she hadn’t had a clue anyone else was in the room. The girl had beautiful pale skin and eyes that were so blue they almost had lavender in them. Her hair was black and long, in a braid past her bottom. She was lovely to look at with perfect features. Nea guessed she had to be close to 21 years old, or at least when she died. She was wearing a pale blue dressing gown and holding a small baby doll like it was precious to her.
“Mariska, this is my daughter Cneajna, I have told you about her.” Jenica had a comforting smile on her face, calm and serene. Mariska studied Jenica and then stared at Nea.
“She calls you Nea when we are alone.”
“That’s right, a nick name.” Jenica agreed.
“You are with Bendis now, you stink of her magic.” She frowned.
“She’s trying to break the curse,” Jenica explained.
“My baby is downstairs.” She seemed so sad, Nea wanted to ask which one, but bit her lip.
“Maybe you should introduce yourself.” Jenica prodded.
“I am Mariska. I am the first of all of us.” She seemed proud of this fact.
“Yes you are, you need to tell her what you can. I know you don’t like talking about it.” There was a pleading tone in her mother’s voice.
“The root is love, love and jealousy; a rash decision ruined my life and all of yours.” Mariska tugged at her dress. Then she speared Nea with a dark look, “you cannot fix it the way you have been, I’m sorry. Only one can truly end this and they have chosen to be blind and not see what needs seeing.”
Nea’s face fell. She couldn’t fix it? T
hen who could? “Mama, do you know who cast the curse, what the wording of it was? When it was cast?”
“I only know what Mariska tells me, she was the first, she told me she was born back in 1290, and that she loved the wrong person. I’m sorry but she doesn’t like to talk about it, even to me and when she does it is all in riddles.” Jenica hugged her daughter again, not knowing when she would have the chance to.
“The portrait,” Nea pulled away, “it’s Mariska’s picture in the first portrait, the one that has been ripped away and scratched out.”
“There might be another way…I see so much power surrounding you.” Mariska had wandered away but she was back, kneeling by Nea and staring into her face.
“A granddaughter who isn’t a granddaughter, alive who isn’t alive.” Mariksa chanted. She stood up and began to dance with her doll singing quietly, “A granddaughter what isn’t a granddaughter, alive who isn’t alive.”
“What are…is she talking about?” Nea caught herself, watching her mother who was staring at the girl fondly.
“No idea, but she has visions of the future sometimes, prophecies. She probably had the gift even before she died.”
“She’s not all there is she?”
“No. When the curse was cast she died within the year. I am afraid she won’t be normal again until it’s broken, just like everyone else.”
“Mama, how did you escape it?”
“I hate talking about that, Nea.” Jenica stood and went back over to the stove, stirring a large black pot that had steam rising from it.
“It might be important,” with that, Nea explained about Stasi. Her mother got paler and paler until the spoon in her hand was simply a forgotten tool. Mariska had stopped dancing to listen, she crept a little closer to Nea.
“It hurts your Mama to talk about such things,” the crazy girl murmured.