The Mistresses' Cruel Hand

Laying in a bed was Charles Drake… or what was left of him. Both of Charlie’s legs were casted and elevated, his right arm was propped up but looked badly broken., his other arm… on the other hand, was mangled beyond recognition, as if it had been ran through a paper shredder, reattached and fed into a wood-chipper.

But it was his torso which disturbed Bonnie so… he had a great triangular wound in his stomach, stitched up hastily as if something had torn open his abdomen.

His face was a bloody mess, partially covered by a respirator, one eye bulging, black and blue with his long hair matted and scattered on the stained pillow.

An IV drip had been stabbed into his arm, feeding him a bag of thick red liquid as the EKG steadily monitored his vitals.

Bonnie was flabbergasted by the state of him, so much so that as she slowly walked towards his bedside that she nearly tripped over a loose floorboard.

An arm caught her mid stagger… and Bonnie looked aside to see a pair of Sapphire blue eyes contemplating her. “Oh shit, sorry… I uh, I didn’t see anyone in here… wait…”

The girl who helped steady her was familiar to her, the long curling ringlets of red hair, the constant poker face, beautiful, more beautiful than any of the students who attended the academy by a long shot “hey I know you, you’re that uh….”

“Rose, Bonnie, yes. Thank you for coming.” Rose said as they both turned to Charlie’s mangled form.

“He’s… my god.” Bonnie covered her mouth as she felt her eyes become misty. “What in Christ's name happened to him!? Was he mauled by a fucking bear, looks like he’s gone seven rounds with a god damn semi truck!”

Rose frowned, she looked sadder than any person could ever look, as if she were a goddess watching the collapse of a dying star. “There was a battle, I am told… he… he fought bravely.”

“Rose, all of these… these ‘whatever-the-fuck-they-ares’ aren’t giving me a straight answer, what the fuck is going on, how did this happen?” Bonnie pleaded.

Rose nodded to herself a little absently, before walking over to a set of table and chairs by the window and offering Bonnie a seat “Come, sit. This will take some time to properly explain.”

The Academy Nurse took the seat and over the next few minutes, Rose opened a can of worms which pulled down the pants of Bonnie’s fickle imagination.

She found it difficult to understand at first, not because Rose was bad at explaining, quite the opposite - she was direct, structured and very clear in her explanation. It was more so how insanely complex it all was, how every time she would conclude one point which left Bonnie with loose ends, the next one would simply credit and bolster the former.

It made absolutely no sense, and yet somehow sounded completely plausible.

“...Understand, Ms Murphy, that I was informed of the conclusion of the battle only an hour or so ago, and by Isabelle no less. So please take the information of tonight’s events with a pinch of salt but… You no doubt have questions?” Rose said as she concluded.

Bonnie had been staring at Charlie, in disbelief and shock… that he kept all of this buried deep inside and hid it so impossibly well, despite the obvious signs in hindsight.

“Okay, so… let’s say that I actually buy into all this. That Vampires, werewolves, witches, multiple supernatural myths, have some grain of truth in them. Surely if this “High Court” that you mentioned caught wind of you telling me all this, then I’m screwed. They’ll send one of their… The rank you said you held, Wizards was it?”

“Inquisitors.” Rose corrected sharply.

“Right, Inquisitors. One of your colleague are just gonna show up and cut my head off or whatever-the-fuck?” Bonnie exclaimed more than a little bemused at the idea.

Rose interlocked her fingers, it was a marvel to see her level of composure for someone so young… Although, if what she told you bore fruit, then she wasn’t young in the slightest.

“Perhaps that would have been the case before. However, the Invocation of Conquest has been declared and now all of our ancient laws are rendered inert. I am free to tell you what I wish, purely on the court’s assertion that during the festival of carnage that no mortal will survive.”

“Right, this Grand Inquisitor feller - Your Boss, he swoops in, against all odds doesn’t actually exterminate everyone upon first contact and calls for this all out festival of death. What exactly does that entail?” Bonnie asked, nearly as fascinated as she was unsettled.

“The Invocation of Conquest is a last resort called by the High Court’s nobility, denominated by the High Council of the Elders and sanctioned by the Crown. The most basic explanation that I can offer is this: multiple factions within the Dark Society, that being between different clans and tribes of monsters, have broken multiple laws, laws which would otherwise mean execution for all involved. It seems, from my perspective, that someone within the Court has identified a person, or persons of interest in this incident. In this case, in order to nullify the execution order and to test said person of Interest, His Majesty; my Father has permitted a free for all, a battle-royale within the radius of the city and its surrounding lands. Each faction is given leave to slaughter the other until only one is left the victor and is granted prosperity. This place will soon be little more than a tomb, a charnel house where the stability of law no longer applies.

In the many centuries that I have dwelt upon this earth, I have only ever had the misfortune to witness this event occur once before and…” She paused, ruthfully.

“And!?” Bonnie pushed.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day, but despite the misconstrued history, it did fall in one.”

The Nurse’s face was buried deep in her hands as Rose continued.

“The Invocation means absolute sanction to commence in warfare -If we do not get a tight hold of this now, then there will be nothing left here but madness. I understand that this may overwhelm your mortal sensibilities and morals, but the Invocation demands that a singular ruler arise from the storm of death as its victor. There is only one of us even capable of accomplishing such a thing, only one of us that His Majesty would have taken such an interest in seeing it through..” She pointed to Charlie, struggling to breath through a mirage of plastic tubes.

Bonnie was lost for words, trying to unmuddle the billions of rampant questions which came sprinting to the forefront of her mind. Yet, with a steadying breath, she managed one “If Charlie is part of some Vampire Slaying Master Race and half a vampire himself to boot. Why does he need me, surely he will just recover on his own?”

The question seemed to weigh heavily on Rose as she swirled her pale fingers over her abdomen “That is… Complicated. Neither is it something that - In all honesty - was confided in me. I would die for him, I would kill for him, but he kept the affliction he suffers from hidden. It is something that disturbs me, beyond fathom.”

This woman was truly strange, almost impossible to read. Despite her stoicism, there was one basic truth which was so obvious to Bonnie that she could spot it from miles away. “How far along are you?”

The redhead’s eyes wandered to Bonnie's, sapphires testing the emerald. “Long enough.”

“Is it his baby?” Bonnie asked directly.

Rose let slip a slightly unnerving smile, filled with stress and satisfaction “They, are his babies. Yes.”

“Wow, congratulations… Me Mam was a twin, so were my cousins. You’ve both got a lot to look forward to eh?”

The blue eyed girl paused, troubled, before she continued on “It is as I explained. In his fragile state, He can never know, not until he is himself again…. Or so I am told. Especially while the Frenzy consumes him.” Rose whispered, as if the word disgusted her.

“I ain’t ever heard of no Frenzy in the practice of medicine, not in that context anywho. Then again they didn’t exactly include Vampire Diseases in my post-graduate studies…” Bonnie tried to jest, but Rose continued to frown, seemingly lost in thought as he nurtured her belly.

Staring at her and the crumpled mess that was once Charles Drake, the Irishwoman let out a long sigh before standing up from her chair. She withdrew a hairband from her wrist and tied her brown hair into a tight pony tail.

“Do you plan to leave?” Rose said, in a deep melancholy.

“Leave!? You’re out of your fucking gourd, girl. This is the opportunity of a lifetime! Listen, Rose, I’ll help ya… I would’ve helped ya on principle alone and the fact that I owe that wet-wipe over there a favour. But I will need a few things before we begin. If all goes the way I hope it does then I can have him back up on his feet by morning.” Bonnie said confidently.

Rose arose, looking slightly nonplussed “Morning, how… surely that is not possible. I know of no elixir nor rune which could allow such a fast recovery, not even for an undead of his caliber."

“Good thing I wont need any fancy-spancy devilry then ain’t it? I imagine your vampire buddies are all pretty fast right, have them fetch me a pen and pad. I will make a list of what we need and go from there. And hey - Don’t look so glum, eh? I’ll get your boy back up and punching again. I promise on me mam’s grave.”

…

“No.” The woman who said it was pale as ice, with long icy hair and a narrow icy gaze. The woman beside her who may have been her clone looked equally as spiteful as Rose made her request.

“Do not vex me, Ghost. You dare disobey me, when your own master’s life is at stake.” Rose growled with the weight of a senior, despite looking no older than 20.

The Pale Vampire, who was apparently “The Ghost” alongside her companion “The Phantom” rested her hands on her narrow waist “I am not rejecting Charlie, I am rejecting you! Do you think we forgot what you did?”

The Ghost’s twin was a little shorter and slightly puggier, even more bullish - but most strange of all was how different this one looked when Bonnie made the effort to stare, considering how hard they were clearly trying to match. This one, the Phantom, pointed a sharp talon at Rose and said “Lord Nox and Diana may have forgiven you for your betrayal but that doesn’t extend to us.”

The red haired woman seemed to falter a little, only a little, that was before her stance and expression transformed into cold, cruel iron… it was genuinely terrifying, and yet it was clear to Bonnie at least that The Pale Vampiress’ were only slightly put off by this.

“Inquisitor or not, we can feel the beat of your heart, sense the warmth in your blood. You are no more undead than this delicious little Irish flower here. You have no right to command us to do shit, when it was Ghostie’s medicinal skills, ancient and half forgotten they may be, which have been keeping our Master alive!” She exclaimed viciously.

The Ghost nudged the Phantom in the side, clearly a little self-conscious.

So she was the one who managed to get Charlie stable, and on all the machines? Bonnie didn’t even want to know how they got all this equipment here. Her needlework wasn’t bad but her splinting and casting left much to be desired.

Slowly, The Ghost seemed to pluck up the courage to slowly encroach in Rose's space “You are not one of us, you guaranteed that even before you played Charles for a fool, You never have been anything resembling trusted. I bet you don’t even know our names.”

The other Pale undead folded her arms stubbornly, “I bet, we wouldn’t even get in trouble if we devoured the both of you right here.”

A chainsaw couldn’t cut through this tension. A cold bead of sweat fell down Bonnie's temple and strangely for the first time, she felt truly unsafe since escaping the shadow of that tombstone.

The stone artwork that was Rose’ face cracked as she exploded into a long, shrill, very unnatural laugh. Tears of true entertainment began to well in her eyes as she touched her chest. But then she bucked forward, muscles tense, like a bull ready to charge. Ghost and Phantom quivered like shadows in the flickering firelight.

The both of them suddenly changed. Where once they appeared as normal if not slightly pale, sinister women in clothing which left little to the imagination. Now, they shifted into creatures akin to beasts in a haunting fairy tale.

With tightly wound, unnaturally stretched faces, long sharp fangs and nigh translucent skin which drew in like icy tanned leather, the pair brandished claws which looked as if they could cleave a man in twain.

Hot coals blazed in the deep dark sockets, filled with wrath. Both were an encapsulation, the twisted likeness of mankind when passed through the mind of H.R Giger or perhaps Lovecraft.

Bonnie’s spine trembled, shaken to the core, but even frozen in fear she could not help but step forward.

An involuntary coo escaped her as her freckled hand reached out to the Ghost, who sneered and hissed like a lion confronted by prey.

“My god… you’re… magnificent. L-look at those teeth, and these…” Bonnie was half tempted to take the Ghosts hands, finely sharpened razors but flinched as the Pale Vampire hissed.

“Well well well, what do we have here…?”

The voice was not one Bonnie knew, but nonetheless, the unstable, almost singing southern tone filled her with a strange kind of dread.

Prancing out from the edge of Bonnie’s peripheral vision, was an incredibly boisterous female form, dressed in sunshine yellow dungeries and a tattered white tee-shirt. Her bare feet were silent as she skipped towards the Ghost.

All hostility drained out of her, replaced by what Bonnie could only describe as a rabbit caught in the eyeline of a starving fox. “V-Vulcan… I…”

This “Vulcan” stopped as the Phantom threw herself in the Blonde’s path. “Mistress, w-we… we were just.”

Bonnie had blinked, and in the milliseconds where her lashes fell and opened again, the Phantom had gone from bracing her companion from harm, to half buried into the drywall.

Wood splinters flew, and the Nurse pulled Rose away who seemingly stood unphased by this all.

Vulcan stood, arm outstretched as if she had swat a fly. The Phantom remained unmoving embedded into the wall.

As the dirty blonde Vampire checked her sharp nails, she spoke, trailing the Ghost with her manic magenta gaze “She’ll wake up from that little siesta I gifted to her - granted she’ll be a few fang short but… the last thing little miss phantom will remember is how yall disrespected not only our Lords Honoured Guest but his Favourite too. That is naughty Ghostie, very very naughty.”

Vulcan backed Ghost into the same wall where Phantom was still buried, until their faces were but inches away. “I-I am sorry Rudy. I’m so so sorry, it’s just… Rudolf… we have lost too much already… we can’t trust any of them!” a long crimson tear fell down the pale woman’s cheek and as Rudy glared, something in her began to soften.

Quick as lightning two more entered. Belle and another blonde who Bonnie hadn’t met yet.

“Rudy, the bloody hell is going on!?” The blonde asked in a thick New Zealand accent.

Belle closed the distance, dipping her powerful hands into the collapsed wall and carefully pulling the unconscious Phantom free. “Damn it Rudy, can’t we leave you alone for ten seconds!? What if you’d hurt Charlie by accident!” Belle growled.

But Rudy remained laser focused on the Ghost. “You are going to apologize to the tasty Nurseling, and to Rosie. And then you are going to take that jackass our sweet Isabelly is cradling in her arms and wait in the corner like a little girl. Comprende?”

The whole room went quiet. But after the moment of silence passed, the Ghost spoke without breaking her frightened eyes from Rudy “Nurse Murphy, Lady Dracul. I apologise, on behalf of both of us.”

“How sorry!?” Rudy snarled, running her razor claws across the Ghosts stark white jugular.

“Incredibly sorry… we’ve… we have been through a lot tonight. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.” The Ghost muttered.

Rose stepped forward, her icy stare never wavering “Apology accepted Carrie. While I understand yours and Cosma’s animosity towards me, I would advise against further hostilities. It is not what Charlie would want.”

The Ghost's eyes widened, before her face fell. Giving a respectful nod, she took The Phantom from Belle's arms and went and sat in the corner. Carefully caressing her companions' pale head as she faced away in shame.

The wrath seemed to wilt quickly in Rudy as she swiveled around cheerfully and suddenly appeared before Bonnie, arms outstretched “Blood god’s clapping ass cheeks, wasn’t that tense! How incredibly inhospitable of us, please forgive us, Miss Murphy!”

A hug so tight and so strong that Bonnie feared her spine would snap enclosed around her, before the Manic Blonde took and violently shook her hand in great excitement “Rudenia Vulcan, Head of the Boneheads like those morons over there! Real nice to meet ya!!!”

Bonnie cupped her bruised wrist as she hid a slightly intimidated cringe “yeah… a pleasure.”