The same night after the incident, Rendfield walked the battlefield and noticed that no remains were present from the deceased individuals and he pondered as to why…
“Who do you serve?”, asked the ebony harlefi. “The Dark Lady, I am hers to command.”, said a former Blackwood Legionnaire that was risen into undeath and who’s mind was twisted to serve. “Simply magnificent…”, said Nilofar, the brown gorgon, who looked on with joyous pride.
Their new plague had work as they intended and the Grand Apothecary had used whatever dead corpses were dismembered, unfortunately, in the battle to form his abomination.
“It’s alive…”, he seemed satisfied and the abomination then stood up, the largest of them all just as the Dark Lady had dreamed. “Magnificent.”, it was for the first time that the scientist smiled and only for a short moment as he raised his right hand over his cold heart.
“Shall we inform the Dark Lady, Grand Apothecary?”, he was asked and the Grand Apothecary waved his hand, dismissing his assistant. “Make it so.”, before giving him the final say.
“Apothecary…”, the Grand Apothecary, however, called him. “Yes, master?”, the apothecary replied. “Tell the Dark Lady that I wish to see her. Tell her that I wish to improve onto the school of necromancy. Tell her I wish to add more curriculum.”, the Grand Apothecary shared.
“For what point and purpose, master?”, the apothecary asked. “That should not concern you, but considering that we are both men of the science…”, the Grand Apothecary was already sorting through the remains of the deceased brought to him. “I want the Dark Lady’s dream to blossom, to grow, further and I have a vision of a great army, a great scourge that could ravage this world and so many others. Tell her that I wish to ensure our workload improves a hundred times over and a hundred times again.”, the Grand Apothecary explained the apothecary bowed.
Barrels after barrels were being designed with the intention of new catapults being constructed for war, and these catapults would serve as living monstrosities that would hold the great plague. The Brides of Frankenstein were satisfied with their work and they drank goblets of blood, and then they shared that blood with their mistress that was lying in bed. There would be licks, kisses and touches galore. There would be heat and chains rattling as claws marked the brides and their Dark Lady. The council, however, was told to wait and waited they had.
“Am I disturbing you?”, asked Briar Rose and her aunt smirked. “Not at all, my little niece.”, replied Talia Carabosse. “I thought I killed you.”, said Briar. “You did…”, replied Talia. “Then how are you here among the damned? How is it that you bear the same curse as I do?”, asked Briar. “For the same reason that I have decided to abandon Teyvat, for the same reason that I am here…”, replied Talia. “And what is that?”, asked Briar and Talia smirked.
“Because she wills it, my niece, and no, not the Dark Lady…”, Talia revealed to her niece what she did not know. “Then who?”, Briar raised an eyebrow as she asked that question. “And please don’t tell me it’s that bitch, Bloody Mary, I hate that sorceress with all that’s left of my heart.”
“No, my dear niece, it is not Bloody Mary. Although her and I get along exquisitely, she is like an uncontrollable ticking bomb waiting to happen and the gorgon has plans for her as well.”, it was here, for the first time, that the aunt revealed that this mysterious figure was a gorgon too.
“The Dark Lady is a gorgon as well.”, said Briar. “Yes, but this gorgon is far different. Everyone absent-mindlessly rides the wave of fate and she puppeteers their little strings.”, replied Talia.
“Huh, sounds like someone I know.”, Briar smirked as she then took her seat at the table with her aunt. “I assure you that this gorgon is not like me and nothing, nothing like the monsters loose inside this castle.”, the look that Talia then gave her niece was one of confidence and also fear.
Briar Rose knew her aunt pretty well and she knew, for a fact, that Talia Carabosse never feared anyone until she rose from her coffin to kill her once upon a time ago…
“Rose Red, is it?”, Jour Spriggins, on the other hand, would approach the step-mother of Snow White, and question her near a window. “Jour Spriggins, is it?”, she replied by pretending to get formal with him although they were both well aware of who they are.
“I heard that you were a great and powerful queen once, a tyrant, who betrayed her own family and ended up here. I guess that’s something you and Talia have in common.”, Rose Red smirked at the comment that Jour Spriggins made. “Our families betrayed us first, Lord Spriggins or is it Lord Rose? Although that would sound weird for my name is Rose.”, the two human vampires spoke and they both carefully looked into each other’s eyes, searching carefully.
“Lord Spriggins is fine or simply Lord Jour, whatever it is you prefer. Now out of curiosity, if I may, how did your family exactly betray you first?”, Jour questioned the vampire lady that then rolled her eyes. “I haven’t come here to talk about my past with you, Lord Spriggins. After all, we might be allies but that does not mean I trust you entirely. Now is there something else that you perhaps wish to know?”, Rose Red gave her heartfelt reply or what she could anyway…
“How did you become a vampire exactly?”, asked Jour. “I bit on an apple before my adopted daughter fried me to death, hence why appear I burnt and severely withered in the moonlight.”, Rose Red replied and turned to face Jour Spriggins with a smile on her face.
“That does not still explain how you became a vampire.”, stated Jour. “I guess you are right.”, replied Rose. “Alright, I’ll bite.”, she added and then turned her whole body to face him. “I was approached with an offer I could not refuse; my own kingdom, my own army, my own treasures and most of all vengeance for all those who wronged me. However, my sister was quite…”, Rose Red paused for a moment and turned her head right as she placed her fingertips on her lips.
“Better?”, asked Jour. “Loved more than I.”, her reply astonished him. “She was able to muster a grand army, an army far greater than that made from my treasures and those unwillingly made to serve me. She had the loyalty of her people and I did not, and when those people came knocking at my door so did my own step-daughter whom I tried time and time again to kill.”, she explained her story to Jour who found her and consider her to be a wicked evil woman at once.
“I deserved it, of course, to be killed by one such as her in the end but before I was killed I was told that they knew it would happen, that my death was expected all along, and that the promises they made are slowly bearing fruit…”, when Rose Red explained this is when Jour Spriggins realized that there was something more at play here. “And speaking of bearing fruit, that is when they gave me the apple that carried with it a blessing unlike any other, a gift…”, as she further went into detail, a sinister grin formed on her face and this time Jour saw a different person.
The three brides were lying in their bed, naked, as they kissed and licked one another, they felt and touched one another, and the beast did not bother with them. All that he focused on was his beauty for their love was unlike any other and it is she that commanded his heart. It is her that holds sway over his soul. They tried to pull the beast and their tails kept surrounding him. He would shift back and kiss one of them, but at the same time he would focus on his beloved. The brides were jealous but they knew their place in the hierarchy and the beast’s claws felt the tails of his beloved little beauty, touching the very bone and marrow that remained after the flesh and skin burnt off. In his human form, the long raven haired man was just a human and his lycan-like arms transformed into human arms just so that his hands could better feel her touch.
“It’s time, little wolf.”, the beauty said to her beast that looked to her with passion. “But kitty…”, he replied, it sounded like he was disappointed. “I know, I know, but our little subjects await.”, she felt his cheek and reminded him off their duties, duties he wished they could just abandon.
He then pushed himself up and pulled her by her arms as she laughed. They both continued to kiss for they celebrated that they have conquered everyone within the castle, that their evil is the one that reigns supreme and that the curse of the rose has come to an end despite never talking or even worrying about it. The beast would keep touching and feeling the gorgon as he helped her to dress up in her red uniform. The brides held her rings, her collar and her belt that they would generously and voluntarily place around their mistress. As the ebony harlefi, Lalu, and the white malfhi, Liss, waited for the beast to straighten up her collar, the brown gorgon turned her head and her ears would rise upward as if she was at alert. There was something she felt and she could not quite understand just what that is, but it felt like it was coming closer.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Lord Rendfield!”, it was then that a wight would salute his master, the abomination that was Rendfield. “What is it, little wight?”, Rendfield replied. “Forgive me, milord, but there are visitors…”, the wight implied before gesturing out into the distance.
Lord Renfield himself saw a gorgon in a black robe accompanied by a sorceress wearing what appeared to be scarlet colors and a pale lady that came in the company of an elven pack. Lord Rendfield then took a walk along with the wight and several other undead that would then accompany him. However, what he did notice is that the elves did not wish to accompany him.
“Who are you?!”, Lord Renfield raised his voice. “State your business here.”, he demanded to know at once and then the gorgon in the black robe raised her head, and all that he could see is her smile that was so sinister and yet so playful at the same time.
“We are here to see the Dark Lady, Lord Rendfield.”, the gorgon revealed. “And you come in the company of the living? How bold…”, the abomination commented and the elf leaned her head on the side observantly, and Lord Rendfield found something strange about her.
“Lord Rendfield, are you going to allow us entry or do you wish to disturb the Dark Lady’s alone time?”, this question puzzled the abomination even further. “Lady Frostclaw.”, but the sudden tension was cut short by the arrival of none other than Gloryana Deathwing herself. “We are pleased that you came.”, Gloryana seemed thrilled and Lady Frostclaw stepped forth.
“She is here…”, Nilofar commented and this caused the beauty to slightly lean her head back. “Who is, my dearest Nilofar?”, asked the beauty. “True death…”, she replied and this caused the beauty’s thoughts to stand still for the moment before she turned to face the gorgon.
“Pardon me?”, she questioned the gorgon only for the belt to tighten around her waist. “Worry not, our love.”, said Lalu. “It is just Lady Frostclaw.”, Liss revealed to her but what the beauty could not understand is how the brides knew that it was the gorgon they were expecting.
At that same moment, Gloryana Deathwing and Elina Frostclaw smiled to one another and one could notice the fondness they had to each other, the closeness of their fellowship…
“Ah, Lady Deathwing, it has been centuries since I’ve last laid my eyes upon your beautiful soul. I hope that we could have some much needed alone time later?”, the way that the gorgon spoke reminded Lord Rendfield of the Dark Lady but at the same time he wondered. “Centuries?”, in his mind before he huffed and puffed for a moment.
“Of course, Lady Frost, I would be delighted.”, said Gloryana who then looked to Rendfield that she saw approach Lady Frostclaw, and she looked down to see his arm and hand reaching out.
“Now hold on for just a second here, Lady Frostclaw, I don’t know who you are or what you…”, Lord Rendfield did not shy away to share his thoughts and suddenly his words were cut short…
Lady Deathwing’s gaze shifted towards his hand that held onto the gorgon. Rendfield did not have regular eyes for he was a construct made out of metal, wire and flesh of many victims. What he saw for a moment was the pale and red robed women display a sinister grin. He was considered to be an abomination of nature by the living and a wondrous design by his makers, and yet with his direct vision, with his direct sight, he looked into the eyes of the very elf that stood before him as she focused her gaze upon his head while the sight of everything else around him became so blurry he could not make out the figures anymore. In that moment, the vampires of the council felt the same presence he felt mixed with an ominous silence throughout the air. In that moment, Talia Carabosse and Rose Red smiled…
“Ah…”, Talia and Rose spoke at the same time, as if they were linked. “The entertainment has arrived.”, both stated with a delightful tone while Jour and Briar were left puzzled. “Who?”, both Briar and Jour tried to ask but they found that they were unable to speak.
The arm that Rendfield had reached for was unable to let go and it was as if all of his will had abandoned his body, it was as if his spirit fled and all that remained behind was an empty husk, a host for any wisp to consume. The elf, however, remained where she stood and did not say a word, her eyes gazed into the very depths of his soul and he saw nothing at first until a sudden glow, a glimmer, would appear in her eyes. It was then, that for a mere moment and that in that brief pocket of time, it was as if something willingly allowed for the soul of the abomination to return and gave him just enough energy to express what he felt in that moment. Rendfield’s head shifted slightly backward and every undead that stood nearby turned for they felt a dark presence unlike any other. The blizzard on that day subsided and the wind seemingly stopped, and all the denizens of Blackwood were unnerved by the sudden silence and it felt as if all life in the air disappeared for a moment. The elves surrounding the castle lowered their heads and their ears, and the Brides of Frankenstein suddenly lowered themselves down along with their ears as well.
“What is it?”, asked Bellindia Frankenstein and in that moment the beast placed his arms around her until she too felt the presence she could not possibly explain. “I don’t know.”, the beast then replied as he too was baffled and confused as to what was going on.
The power that once gave Rendfield his strength, which made him feel so powerful, seemingly vanished. Lady Deathwing shifted her gaze towards Lady Frostclaw, it was as if she knew what Rendfield had done was wrong but she ignored his presence. The monstrosity kept looking at the elf that shifted her head to her right as if she were a curious little cat, a child observing a small toy, and in that moment of silence it felt like even his soul was being ripped, bit by excruciating bit. There were a few among the damned that displayed an evil grin on their faces mixed with joy, delight and pure satisfaction. What Rendfield did witness was the smile that formed on the elf’s face, a playful and sinister one that mocked his very existence and saw him as nothing more but a mere plaything. The abomination felt unimaginable horror and terror that caused him to quiver. Strength would finally return to his arm but he could not move or command it. The elf looked downward at first, displaying a look that was merely curious still but that was merely a means of how much she enjoyed manipulating him by feeding him hope, and then she shifted her gaze back into his eyes, into the very windows of his soul and the air slowly returned to the lands of the world of Perrault. The abomination’s body seemingly had its full strength returned to him and the grip of his hand suddenly let loose of the gorgon’s arm that shifted away very slowly for it just regained its power. Rendfield, in that moment, took his bow and then stepped aside.
“My sincerest apologizes, Lady Frost.”, said Rendfield and then he would raise his right arm towards the castle, and he did not dare to lift his head anymore. “Welcome to Castle Perrault.”, he did not even direct her and he kept gazing downward because he felt fear unlike any other.
“What was that?”, asked the beauty just as the beast let her go, and the beast did not know. “She has arrived…”, said Nilofar and Bellindia turned to face her. “She, who is she that you speak of, Nilofar?”, and she questioned the elf immediately that responded with. “Lady Frostclaw.”
“I told you…”, said Talia and Briar looked to her aunt, and for the first time after a long time of becoming one of the damned could she feel fear. “The apple contained a small piece that was but a taste of the things to come, Lord Spriggins.”, said Rose who then turned to look to Jour. “We are all but instruments in the long absent-minded ride upon the waves of fate, fate easily woven by Lady Frostclaw.”, that would be the last words that Rose Red said before she would venture back to the council’s chambers with Jour following after her.
Bellindia Frankenstein would then leave her chamber in the company of her brides and the beast. They would make their way towards the imperial chamber and what they did not see is how each watcher within the castle bowed their heads as well as placed their hands and claws over their own hearts. Hester Nikola Zank, the Grand Apothecary, saw the gorgon in a black robe walk through the very halls of the castle through the monitors of his camera and felt his presence. It was as if a rush of emotions suddenly came back to his heart only to disappear just as quickly as they had arrived. Briar stood up from her seat upon witnessing the gorgon entering the room.
“No need to stand on ceremony, little vampire.”, Lady Frostclaw said to the vampire that then sat back down and immediately recognized the scarlet sorceress as well as the pale lady.
The pale lady took her seat right next to Briar’s aunt while the scarlet sorceress reached for the back of the chair that stood closest to Jour Spriggins who immediately recognized her.
“Is this seat taken?”, the scarlet sorceress asked. “If I said yes would it really make a difference, Bloody Mary?”, Jour questioned her and he looked at her with spite while she just pulled the chair backward, sat upon it and then placed both of her legs over on the table.
At that same moment, the doors of the throne room burst open as the beauty had arrived with the company of the brides, the beast and even Rendfield. The Dark Lady looked around and in her field of view, and that of the beast, stood another figure with her back leaned against the wall that they both recognized. It was an elf in red tribal garment, a malfhi that was the same elf who once upon a time placed a curse upon the Draculas. Belle’s focus, however, was on the great tree and the seat of the throne that was nestled between its roots. Is there that she saw the legs crossed of Lady Frostclaw and her blue mesmerizing eyes that simply took the Dark Lady’s breath away.
“Hi…”, only one word did Lady Frostclaw had to say with a sinister smile that made everyone in the room feel as if they were nothing after all that they’ve been through in death…