The Bathory Curse

by Renee Lake

  “Good, a little fussy, like all my babes.”

  “Anna is beautiful. Have you thought about sending her to your relatives at court to season her a bit?” Nea hated that she was having almost the same conversation with Lizzy that she had with her mother.

  “I have thought about it, but I don’t care to have her out of my sight.” Elizabeth stared at her Godmother, “how do you keep your skin so smooth, you age…I’ve seen it…but barely!”

  “The normal ways, creams and staying out of the sun,” Nea shrugged.

  “You’ve chosen to not dye your hair I see.” Lizzy snorted, feeling a little better as she picked out the signs of old age in the other woman.

  “No, I find it tiresome to do every week. You shouldn’t pay so much attention to your looks Elizabeth, you are a beautiful woman. In fact I don’t think you have aged in the past ten years.” Nea placated.

  “That’s because of my new beauty regime.” Elizabeth laughed, and it sounded dark.

  “Enough of these games Elizabeth, what have you been doing here?” Nea was done, she had failed her and she knew it. She stood up, formidable.

  “I have been keeping myself young and beautiful.” Elizabeth stayed sitting.

  “At the expense of others?”

  “Yes! At the expense of a few virgin peasant girls, no one misses them and my friends have assured me that their pure blood will allow me to stay young forever.” Elizabeth stood then, the burning lunacy behind her indigo eyes prevailing.

  “Oh Lizzy” Nea sighed, “you’ve been killing virgins and what? Using their blood in your creams and lotions?”

  “Yes, and my faithful older maids, my friends, have drained a few and poured the blood over me as I bathe. It works! I am young and beautiful. I will live forever and DON’T CALL ME LIZZY!” She reached back to strike Nea and stilled in awe when Nea caught her hand and squeezed until Elizabeth whimpered in pain.

  “You have fallen victim to bad advice and the curse that haunts the women of your family, Lizzy.” Nea sighed, eyes bright, not letting Elizabeth out of her gaze. She twisted Lizzy’s arm behind her back and forced her into a chair.

  Elizabeth tried to get up and frowned, hints of fear filling her features as she realized something was holding her down, she couldn’t get up.

  “That curse is a myth to explain bad behavior like my mother’s,” she spat out.

  “So you haven’t told your own daughters about it, or your husband?” Nea shook her head sadly, she wandered over and peered at the beautiful little boy in the crib, heartbroken for him.

  “Why would I? Now I don’t know what you’ve done, but let me up, one scream and the whole castle guard will be in here. I’ll forgive you this once, since you were my mother’s best friend,” Elizabeth demanded.

  “No. We need to talk, go ahead and scream,” Nea waved a hand, erecting a bubble around the room that would allow no sound in our out, “no one will hear you.”

  “What are you?” Elizabeth was afraid. Nea dropped her glamour, appearing as she had the first time she had met Anna, young and beautiful, forever 25.

  “No! No! You haven’t aged, not one day, how it that possible! She told me no one had that kind of magic, that the blood was the only way.”

  Nea knew she was talking about her witch, the one that had been with her for years and wondered if she should just have one of her Strigoi kill the witch, but alas, the damage had already been done. Fate must now play out the way it was meant to. Elizabeth’s actions were far more damning than her mother’s ever had been.

  “I am a Strega, Lizzy,” she stressed the pet name, “an immortal witch, no amount of beauty products can ever give you eternal youth…only magic can do that.”

  “Then give it to me! Why hoard it?” Elizabeth exclaimed.

  “You don’t deserve it. The curse is real and I have spent over a century trying to break you free from it. Do you know what awaits you? A living hell, a limbo where you can be with your mother for eternity.” Nea hoped to scare her and saw it worked a little.

  “No. I never believed…I can’t wind up like that. I want to be young and beautiful and live forever.” Elizabeth begged, tears filling her eyes.

  “I have tried, for years and you still chose not to listen to me. Perhaps if you stop now you can get past the curse and your afterlife won’t be the hell I have witnessed. I have seen it Lizzy, seen the crazy dreadful place your ancestors live where the walls are rank with blood, depravity and there is no sunlight.”

  “If I stop I will age…I can’t do that. I need those girls. I need their blood.” Elizabeth stated and Nea knew she wouldn’t listen anymore.

  “You will pay for your crimes; you cannot slaughter the innocent and get away with it, even though your family is tied to the royal line. Your children cannot stay here either.” Nea looked back at Paul, why did Lizzy have to have so many children? It would be impossible to place them all.

  “I love my children. I will not abandon them and you cannot take them from me!” Elizabeth screamed and Nea felt a hint of relief, at least that was something.

  “I won’t have to take them; you will not have freedom for long. I am leaving here now Lizzy and I won’t be back except for your children. You live your life the way you want but heed my warnings.” Nea lifted the spell holding Elizabeth to the chair and she leapt up and stopped inches from Nea’s face.

  “Don’t you threaten me. I am far more powerful than you. I can have you arrested right now,” Elizabeth growled, “Maybe if I bathe in your magic blood I will absorb your power.”

  “No, you can’t, you have no idea who or what I am and you are going to continue to pretend I am your beloved Godmother.” Nea clenched her hand into a fist and Elizabeth began to choke, her eyes bulged out as she scratched at her throat, mouth open with silent pleading.

  “I have been lenient with you because I love you, Lizzy. No more. I will not save you when your wrongdoings come to light. I will try to save your daughters from a fate equal to yours.” Her heart was so heavy, Nea released Elizabeth and the woman collapsed on the floor, distress leaking off her in waves. That was how Nea left her, she vanished, appearing on a hill far from the castle, overseeing everything, depression crashing down around her.

  “It’s not your fault my Strega.” Bendis placed a hand on her shoulder and felt it tremble.

  “It is. I have failed again.” She wasn’t surprised the Goddess had come to her.

  “Perhaps love and friendship were not the keys we thought they were; maybe it’s something much harder than that,” Bendis consoled.

  “I don’t know what to do now.”

  “Maybe we should just destroy the entire line and let the curse die with them.”

  Bendis suggestion angered Nea, she stepped away and turned on the Goddess, blinking as she saw her in her young, nubile maiden form, “and allow a dozen Bathory women to rot in Limbo, for eternity? …I don’t think so….maybe…I can still make a difference with Klara and Zsofia…last time I saw them they both seemed to be doing well.” A spark of hope brightened her.

  “Oh my Strega, you and Ruxandra have been diligent, but both girls have been touched by the curse as well. So many of them at once you couldn’t know the ping in your soul wasn’t just for Elizabeth.”

  “What do you mean? How? They are both married. Zsofia only has one daughter and Klara only had sons…they are in love with their husbands, they live within their means…I have seen it!” Nea rushed on, unbelieving.

  “You have been so focused on Stasi and Elizabeth you have missed some things.” Bendis was trying to be calm, knowing her Strega was feeling hopelessness and despair.

  “Why didn’t you warn me?”

  “I didn’t know either,” Bendis sighed, “Klara has taken to black mailing those in her husband’s circle to maintain his political position. She got a rival of his drunk and slept with him, when he woke she cried rape and told him if he tried to do anything besides back her husband’s leadership she would tel
l accuse him, publically…He would of course hang for the rape of a noble woman.”

  “And Zsofia?” Nea sat, head in her hands.

  “She is not as bad as others, but she suffers from depression so deep she tends to neglect her husband and children. She will eventually kill herself, and possibly take her children with her.” Bendis sat beside Nea, crossing her legs, as her foxes nipped and barked around them, looking like a 17 year old girl.

  “One thing you can take hope in, because of your guidance the curse has been effecting them later in life.” Bendis sounded so young, it irritated Nea.

  “Why won’t you help me? I know you know something you haven’t told me.” Nea begged, angry bubbling in her chest. Deep down she had always known she didn’t have all the answers, that Bendis kept something from her.

  “Not sure what you are talking about.”

  “You do, you have set this impossible task on me and you know what’s really going on.”

  “I don’t want to talk about this.”

  “Nor do you ever. I don’t know what to do now.” Nea hated that she sounded young and lost, but things were spiraling out of control. She had been so certain she could do it all: raise Stasi and make sure Elizabeth and her sisters went untouched by their curse. She had stretched herself too thin and now all three of them would wind up as portraits in her gallery.

  “Go home and rest, Sabine shall be there in a few days….you haven’t failed, you will try again. As long as you are on this side fighting for your family, I believe it will be ok,” Bendis was always more cheerful in her younger versions, youthful hope and optimism.

  Nea didn’t believe Bendis and closed her eyes, feeling a slight breeze as the Goddess left her alone, again. Defeated she returned home as the sun set, glad Stasi wasn’t at home, but was with Ruxandra. She was trying to do her own research and felt the best place to start was where she was born. She had turned 24 this year and had grown into a beautiful, smart and pleasant woman. Nea felt blessed she chose to still spend most of her time at home, with her mother. Though Nea knew it was only a matter of time before the curse took that happiness and beauty and warped it into something unrecognizable.

  Nea walked into her home, enjoying the rich aromas coming from the kitchen and met with an almost panicked looking Marina. Nea had decided not the send her back, she still didn’t like her as much as Valora but Marina was a competent house keeper.

  Marina was very tall with dark hair she always had in a bun. Unless she was going out she wore clothing from her own time period. She had on what she called low rise jeans, a black t-shirt that said, “Blood Draw? Yes Please” and there was a yellow smiling face with fangs.

  “Did you hurt yourself again? I’ve told you barefoot in this century isn’t always a good idea.” Nea scolded, the former nurse was opinionated and didn’t like to be told what to do.

  “No. You have company…I wasn’t sure what to do…I didn’t let them in the house, of course….but I don’t like having these sorts of visitors.” Marina blurted out, playing with a locket around her neck, it was a miniature silver time piece, it must have been sentimental but Nea never pried.

  “What kind of visitors?” Nea’s eyes narrowed, she opened up her senses and magic. Marina almost never lost her composure and she was very close to doing so. When she noticed the black cold spot out near the gardens she recognized a vampire’s presence.

  “Make sure the staff stays inside, I shall deal with this.” Nea stormed out, pulling her magic around her like a blanket, she was not in the mood to deal with Vlad today, or possibly, any day. She stopped cold upon seeing the two women waiting for her, two female vampires, not quite what she expected. She tried to ignore the bit of disappointment that surfaced. Instead she focused on the vampires.

  One was quite tall with curling red hair and vivid green eyes tinted red, she had a haughty look on her face and her skin was so pale it was almost translucent. The second cowered a bit behind the other; she was smaller, more rounded with dark brown hair. Her eyes were overly large, frightened, like mud and blood and been mixed in a cup, her skin was much darker than the other girl’s, neither of them were older than 20. Both wore clothing common to what was popular; tightly laced long gowns over linen chemises, and on their heads caps with fluted frills.

  “Greetings Princess Cneajna, we bring you greetings from one who has long watched this house and you,” the redhead announced.

  “I no longer go by that name. I am called Nea now,” she corrected, coming a few steps closer, wary. She had already figured Vlad was the dark presence she sometimes felt around, but it was nice to have 100% confirmation.

  “Either way we bring you greetings and blessings from your husband, Vlad Dracul.” The vampire’s green eyes flashed in irritation.

  “He has not been my husband in many years; tell me, where is the little crazy blonde one?” Nea was trying to keep her off balance.

  “Lily? She’s at home, he doesn’t let her out much, he-” the plump brunette received an elbow to the side for her blabbering.

  “She is of no concern or threat to you.” The ginger one came a few steps forwards and Nea halted her with one hand.

  “That is close enough, tell me who you are.”

  “I am Siobhan and this is Marisol, we and Lily are the current wives of Vlad Dracul. He has sent us to extend an invitation for you to come to Snagov Monastery as soon as possible.” Siobhan seemed annoyed.

  “Not happy at being his errand girl? Thought life as a vampire bride would be more exciting?” Nea teased.

  “She doesn’t want to be a vampire at all, I don’t either,” Marisol said.

  “Hush.” Siobhan scolded.

  “Stop being mean to her, she can speak if she wants. I have no problems with either of you. I don’t care for being accosted by vampires in my home, but as long as you stay peaceful say what you must and then go.” Nea looked at Marisol and felt sorry for her. Between crazy Lily and overbearing Siobhan, her undead life must be unpleasant.

  “It is true, I have no wish for this life and neither does Marisol, only Lily seems to enjoy it, and you have seen her. I have no desire to be at the end of my Master’s temper however. Please come to the Monastery.” Siobhan gave her a tight lipped smile, but the strain on her face relaxed.

  “I appreciate the offer, but I cannot.” Nea wished she could. She had wanted to see and speak to Vlad for years and she was angry at the path he had chosen and how he had treated Mihail, but she knew it was best if she stayed away.

  “You have to come, he will be furious if you don’t!” Marisol exclaimed, eyes brightening with red light.

  “Yes. There wasn’t an option for no,” Siobhan frowned.

  “I understand all that, but the answer is the same, I cannot come. I’m sorry. Now if you will both please leave, and never return, that would be wonderful.” Maybe it was the despair she was still feeling clouding her judgment but Nea turned her back on the vampires and began to walk inside. She didn’t see the attack coming, didn’t even feel it until it was too late to defend herself, all she saw were Siobhan’s Christmas colored eyes as blackness enveloped her.

  Chapter 9

  Nea woke up chained to a cold slab of marble in the murky basement of Snagov Monastery. She could hear rats munching in the corners and smell the moldy wetness of an underground chamber that wasn’t built properly. With her good eyesight she could make out the tombs of the monks who used to reside upstairs and see the dust, dirt and cobwebs that crowded the corners in the dim light.

  She knew it was night again and a shiver ran down her spine, it was cold and she had no cloak, just the dress and hood from the day before.

  “At least they didn’t take my boots,” she muttered, straining against her chains, she had more strength than a mortal, but not like a vampire did, the chains were too much and her head hurt from being hit. The ache made doing magic near to impossible. She tried to loosen the chains and managed to give her circulation a little more room for bl
ood flow, but doing magic made the pain in her head radiate into her teeth and she knew she had to wait a little longer.

  “Hello!” She called out and in answer heard a giggle, she stilled, Siobhan or Marisol she could handle, but Lily? She might decide that Nea was a dish ready to be served. She turned her head and screamed at the face that had suddenly appeared next to her, fever bright blue eyes with red rims and a large fang filled smiled.

  “Gotcha!” Lily squealed and backed up, dancing in her night dress. If possible she seemed dirtier and more insane than the first time they met.

  “You’re Lily, right?” Nea said, calming down her heart and taking a few deep breaths.

  “Yes, I am a flower, my dark husband’s flower, ripe for picking.” She giggled again and spun in a circle, Nea could see blood stained the front of her gown and her fingers.

  “Where are Siobhan and Marisol?”

  “They told me to watch you until you woke…I promised not to kill you…” She hid behind her hands and hair, shyly peeking out, “and I didn’t! Not even a snack! My dark husband will be happy….They say you didn’t want to come.” She snuck closer, silent, like a deranged spider.

  “I did not want to come. I have no interest in your husband. Let me go and I will leave.”

  “Oh, I can’t! Siobhan will be angry!” Lily squinted towards the stairs, “I better tell her you’re awake.” Eyes wide she got closer and leaned down, smelling Nea’s skin and warmth, and licked her lips. Nea noticed she stank like blood gone bad and wished Vlad would at least make the poor unhinged thing bathe. How did he feed from her, let alone bed her?

  “I wish I could taste you, they only let me have animals right now, don’t trust me with humans.” She pouted and then after licking Nea’s neck, causing Nea’s stomach to roll, she flew up the stairs, lightning fast.

  Nea didn’t know how long she waited for Siobhan and was relieved to see her, at least she was mostly sane and didn’t smell like a butcher shop floor.