March 21st, Present Day
Ella Hansen owned a castle in Norway, after having married into the royal family.
One of her ancestors was a humble man, with a humble window business, until one day he had killed a little boy and strangely his luck had only increased from there.
Jakob Hansen owned a small store that crafted and sold windows, mirrors, and glass-blown vases which opened in 1989, hundreds of years ago, and during a spring afternoon, in 1999, one of his employees chopped off the top of the skull of a rich man’s child, and he pledged to work for him for the rest of his life, no matter what, to make it up to him.
So, he did.
Jakob Hansen returned home to his wife and children, and he never aged a day after that, working to make up for taking the life of someone who was not a child, who had not died before his time, and he continued his pledge all these years later.
In-kind, his extended family had helped his business grow and prosper, and his human children became wealthy, and his grandchildren became influential, until eventually his most recent descendent, Ella Hansen, married into the Norwegian Monarchy, a true rags to riches story, albeit a slow burn.
The monarchy, like all others that still existed, was in name only and trudged on out of cultural allegiance, tourism profits, history, but mostly tourism profits.
Ella Hansen was not surprised when she entered her chambers to see the many guests who came in unannounced, their reptilian glares glowing red in the dark, and she did not even pay them any mind as she quickly ran over to the bathroom, her little yellow heels clicking as she was in a rush.
She washed her hands and came outside to see them all in her extravagant bedroom, all waiting patiently, because they took hierarchy seriously, and now she was a Queen, so they waited for her to speak first.
“How can I help you, brothers and sisters,” Ella asked.
The devils in human form smiled and they had a few requests to make.
Akershus Castle was renovated many times since its inception in 1290. Its most recent renovation was made to help Ella Hansen’s guests whenever they came to visit. Various tunnels crisscrossing the underneath of the castle used as emergency exits had rooms added in as living space. Little chutes that were randomly placed around the castle would filter in snacks( thieves) , killing two birds with one stone.
Intruders would be killed before entering, and her friends would be fed.
Akershus was no longer used as a parliamentary building, but solely as a residence because people asked too many questions when her friends came to visit. They didn’t understand that some bonds were unbreakable, that in grief, two families had become one.
Ella was worried about her family.
Her grandfather, well, that was what she referred to Jakob Hansen because repeating great the amounts of times she had to describe him was painful, seemed tired, and sluggish recently. They all seemed tired and sluggish, and they could all barely stay awake, and she was confused because they were so full of life for a group of people so, well, dead.
Ella entered the ballroom, where she ordered the staff to decorate for Nymphadora’s main event. She told Ella that if everything worked out, it might mean the end of the debt the Hansen’s owed, and all would be forgiven of their sin, passed down through time.
Ella wore red lipstick, curled her black hair, and adjusted her red dress, excited for the main event. She was getting on in her years, older in appearance than her grandfather, but that did not stop her from looking her best. The entire ballroom would be decorated red, of course for blood, and the punchbowls were well, filled with blood, of course.
Her grandfather Jakob stroked his brown mustache and slyly tried to take some fruit punch before the main event, but Ella smacked his hand, and he hissed.
“Grandpa, this is for the guests, you have your own stable downstairs,” Ella shouted.
“I am tired of them, they all taste the same,” Jakob complained.
“Then I will get you more next week, yes,” Ella said. “Don’t worry, many prisoners are set to be released, we will just claim a few have run away again.”
Jakob was satisfied with this answer and strolled off to pester another employee who nervously pulled up their collar whenever he came within eyesight.
The employees worked fast, decorating the ballroom with red and white alternating table clothes, wine infused with blood on each table, beautiful red and white roses, all to please their very wonderful guests.
The employees did not ask about why Ella the Erratic, as they called her when she was not around, requested so much blood, and assumed her crazy uncle Jakob was some sort of unhinged man.
When the guests strolled in, the predators walking silently, the employees understood why the pay was so high, why not many people lasted long at this residency, and the many open positions, because there were always positions to fill if the employees were always eaten.
Waiters and janitors, they stray cook who stayed late, all contributed to the ballroom that had an inch of blood on the floor, a succulent feast was to be had, and Ella the Erratic laughed, as they all laughed, and Jakob as well, because it is so fun to spend time together, family dinner the best time to makes jokes of course.
Jakob took an empty cup and sifted it through the puddle of blood on the floor.
“Grandpa, don’t do that,” Ella shouted.
She picked up a punchbowl, shuffled through the thin river of blood, and offered it to him.
“Eating off the floor is so improper! Really now?! You know better!”
Jakob got a new glass and took some fruit punch as Nymphadora strolled in, reveling in her plan like a cartoon evil villain revealing it to everyone, even though most of them already knew the plan, but it was the physical act of it all that made it that much more satisfying.
Nymphadora’s white dress blouse was drenched, her pearl earrings glinted, and her sharp black pants went so well with her flats as she stood in the sea of blood, her children quiet as they deliberated over what to do with their problem.
“Children, quiet,” Nymphadora said.
Everyone was quiet and still, and she didn’t need to repeat themselves.
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“I and all the eldest have been discussing what to do about our little, sleeping problem, ” Nymphadora declared.
They said nothing, already knowing this to be true.
“Norway is no longer a safe haven, as since it is almost always daylight, even during the night hours, when we are allowed to be awake, we are weak and open to attack by enemies, especially the Church . Now is the time to fortify our own castle. ”
Polite claps came from the reptiles, but not too loud of course, and they all stopped at once, not to be too different as well. It was not a smattering of claps, like in a normal crowd, but at once. Clap. Clap. Clap. All at once, just to be sure, always one, never many.
“It has come to my attention that among us are free thinkers, ” Nymphadora screamed, drunk on the wine of a drunk and dead man she ingested through his blood.
The reptiles all hissed and slithered around, wondering who the defector was, until their mother told them it was fine, as she slid around in the pool of punch and blood, and they all were shocked as their mother softened up.
“After I thought I almost lost all of you, I decided that I need to let some of you be free,” Nymphadora announced.
All of them thought it was a trick and said nothing.
“It’s not a trick you ungrateful wretches! That’s why we’re voting! No consequences! No one can tell you what to do without father here!”
In unison, they agreed this was true, that they could choose what to do about their sleep issue, and several votes were put to the test.
Nymphadora raised her glass filled with the blood of one of the many criminals in Ella’s basement and brought the first bill to the floor.
“The family is now a democracy, just like meatsuits pretend! Look at us! We’re a rEpReSeNtAtIvE dEmOcRaCy.”
Cheers and laughter went up, another new game was available, and now everyone wanted to try this new game, democracy, and something silly about equal rights, and human rights, but not for those other people, of course.
Kato and Dante were not drunk, so they could properly announce the bills put to a vote for the very first meeting of their newborn democracy.
“Who here wants a new leader,” Kato asked.
The only person who raised their hand was Ella because they all communicated their votes telepathically, Ella being the only human left alive in the room.
“The resolution has passed. By seven votes, a new leader is required,” Dante said with a heavy voice.
Democracy is never easy, Ella noted, as it seemed the family split up into two groups, fighting over who voted for what, and they knew within seconds thanks to their telepathic bonds, their voting record on display, and the game of chicken would soon begin.
“I think your husband’s family had something right with this monarchy business,” Jakob said.
“It’s a shame he’s dead,” Ella sighed. “You shouldn’t have eaten him.”
“I was hungry and bored, ” Jakob complained. “Besides, you have children!”
“One. Singular. A son. ”
Ella shushed her grandfather as the second bill came to the floor, and arguably the most important bill the parliament would ever vote on.
“Should… should we bring back Asher, even though Father has not allowed it,” Dante asked. “He claimed that Asher was ready to die.”
Ella did not vote on this, because her family was the cause of a bizarre freak accident, leading up to her now, standing in a pool of blood, surrounded by corpses of the help in an ancient castle with her almost three-hundred-year-old grandfather.
“The floor is up for debate,” Kato announced.
Everyone started screaming at once, the word debate not in their vernacular, until Nymphadora told them that they would not play this game again if they couldn’t play nice, so the screaming ended.
“Question,” Paris asked. “Like, we can’t bring back anyone unless we keep a vial of their blood, right? The body too! So uh, didn’t we lose Asher’s blood? Isn’t his head you know?”
Paris made a slicing motion with his blood-soaked hands.
“You can’t heal from that!”
Everyone nodded and muttered in agreement.
Paris, like all the others, stopped whatever they were doing when they were called to Norway, and he was still in his work clothes, glitter and a pink cowboy hat, and pink speedo.
“We have stolen a book from the meat suits, and we can trade a soul for a soul, ” Nymphadora announced. “All we need is the body!”
They all whispered amongst themselves, and Jakob leaned over and whispered to his granddaughter, that they might be in trouble.
“That’s silly grandpa, why would we be in trouble?”
“If they bring him back to life, what reason would they have to keep helping us, especially since Father is dead?”
Ella the Erratic told herself there was no way they would do that to her, after she had sacrificed everything for them, that was impossible.
Right?
Right?
Right.
The air was still, and Ella felt hundreds of pairs of eyes on her.
“You are the last to vote, we have already voted,” Jakob told her.
Ella realized that she was standing in a very large pool of human fluids surrounded by limbs and the perpetrators were staring her down, waiting for her to vote, and she did not know which way, because she did not have a telepathic bond like the others.
She voted how she thought everyone would want her to vote.
She was the tie-breaker, and the resolution had come to a conclusion, that Asher would be brought back, against their late father’s wishes, as a new patriarch was needed.
“Asher is the closest thing we have to an original,” Nymphadora declared. “With him, we may be able to keep our strength and in turn, we won't have to worry about the others coming after us as well!”
The last vote was the fastest, and it was to decide what to do about the Church.
They would kill every meatsuit that walked upon Adamh if the Church decided to begin another war.