It has been ten years since Katerina disappeared. Ten years since Madara became Scourge once again.
Reynold opens the door and ushers Madara in. He nods to her and she notices
that he seems concerned.
"Madara, I need your help. I need your tracking skills. Amalia claims that
Katerina was killed, however I still feel...a tug. I don't believe she is
dead, and with the famine, the city needs her. I want your help in finding
her." He sits in his chair heavily.
Madara looks at the Prince, her forehead wrinkling in concern. "You are still blood-bound to her, Reynold? How can that be?" She thinks for a moment. "Amalia said that Katerina was killed in her manor, therefore let us start there. We will go to her residence, and then I will begin tracking."
"Excellent, let us go now and find what has happened...I do not care for...let us go Madara." He says strapping on his sword and opening the door for her.
The two quickly travel to Amalia's manor-- Madara feeling an anger growing in her chest. "Katerina, still alive?! And again Reynold feels that he needs her help to solve the kingdom's problems! Will they never be rid of the bitch?" she wonders to herself. Luckily, Madara is able to regain her calm and composure before dismounting from her horse.
Madara and the Prince approach Amalia's front doors and knock, waiting patiently.
One of Amalia's few human ghouls answers the front door and quickly ushers the two inside upon seeing who they are.
He leaves them sitting comfortably in a parlour, then walks swiftly through the dimly-lit house until he approaches a large finely-polished door. He knocks softly, and hears Amalia's voice bid him enter.
The door swings silently open on well-oiled hinges, revealing Amalia sitting near a large oil lamp. Her back is to the ghoul, and as he walks closer, he can see the large sheets of paper clipped to a board in front of her. Expecting to see drawings of anatomy or alchemal notations, he is surprised to see that she is very delicately penning a drawing of Madara. Amalia turns when he approaches, her face lighting up.
Her vow of ten years ago to keep herself isolated from anything with a soul has long since cracked and broken, as her time with Madara slowly erased the pain and horror of her experiences under Menthu's thumb. Little by little she let herself forget that horrible time, until she again let people back into her life, and eventually came to create a few human assistants, people she has grown to care for. Gone is her cold demeanor, her expressionless visage, and her denial of her emotions. She almost seems human again, with a new appreciation for life and love for those around her.
"What do you think, does it look like her?" She asks, moving out of the light so that the ghoul can get a better view of the drawing. "I'm not used to drawing facial features.. I don't think I have her nose right.." she purses her lips and sighs with frustration.
"My lady, it is coming along wonderfully," the ghoul responds. "A very accurate representation! But I'm here to tell you that the Lady Madara herself is here, with the Prince. They are very tense about something..."
"Oh?" Amalia asks with concern, wiping the charcoal from her fingers with a towel and quickly looking into a mirror to check her appearance. "I'll be right there."
Amalia stands and quickly hurries from the room, moving with grace through the hallways of her home until she reaches the parlour.
When she arrives, Madara and the Prince both stand. Noting their expressions, she greets them formally, but can't help casting a worried look to Madara.
"What's wrong?" Amalia asks, feeling a growing knot of dread begin to form in the pit of her stomach.
Madara beams a warm smile when she sees her lover, and walks forward to take Amalia's hands in hers and lean forward to kiss her lips. "My love...you look well-rested!" she says, giving Amalia a conspiratorial wink and sly grin. They had had a particularly...energetic day in Amalia's beroom yesterday, but despite that, both of them appear to be bursting with energy. Then Madara remembers the reason for their visit, and her smile slowly fades.
"My beauty, we are here because the Prince still feels that..." Madara glances back at the Prince, "...that his blood-bond with Katerina holds. He would like to solve this mystery, as well as enlist Katerina's help in repairing the famine and crop-failure." Those listening to Madara's words can detect a hardness that creeps into her voice as she finishes her sentence. "Your home was the last place she was seen, therefore we will begin tracking her here, and with God's help, we will discover where she was dragged off to after the Kupala attacked her."
"The Kupala didn't drag her away," Amalia says slowly. "She is dead, I told you. That is why the crops are failing, it was her that kept them thriving. I saw her body myself, there was no pulse. There is no pulse. She is dead." Amalia turns a pleading look to Madara that she will stop this line of questioning and let it drop.
Madara looks at Amalia in concern. Something about the words she just spoke...'there IS no pulse' causes a nervousness to creep into Madara's stomach. She leans in a whispers in a low voice, "Amalia, my love, if you know where she was buried, or where her body could be, it will do much to ease the Prince's mind. If we could find her body and destroy it, then perhaps the pulling my Sire feels would finally end and he could continue his un-life in peace. As for the crops, I feel that it is about time he solved that problem without the witch's magic."
Amalia shakes her head. "There could not be a pull from a bond, she is dead, I swear it." She looks off towards the door leading to her catacombs and back. "If you do not believe me, you can inspect the body. But I cannot allow you to hurt it. If the body is destroyed, then Kupala would be free to enter the city unhindered." Amalia swallows. "The barriers have been slowly weakening, I still cannot explain why...the use of Magick is such a mystery to me..." frustration is evident in her voice at the knowledge that is still kept from her even now. "I have been trying to discover what ties she has to the barriers but I have not had any success..."
Madara looks at Amalia with wide eyes tinged with hurt. "You...you have had her body here this entire time...and have not told me?" Madara unconsciously places a hand to her throat as she remembers the touch of Amalia's teeth and lips from the day before. "Why...WHY would you keep such a retched creature in your home, Amalia!! Especially she, who has hurt all of us so deeply!" Madara suddenly takes Amalia's upper arms in her hands. "You did not...I never asked, but now I fear to hear the answer! You did not sleep with her on that trip so long ago...did you?" Madara quickly turns, not wanting to hear the answer, and begins sniffing the air-- her waist bent a little. "Where is the body, my...my Amalia..." she asks in a sad, low voice, eyes intent on a faded trail of life-force left on the ground a decade ago.
Amalia steps hesitantly towards Madara, ignoring the silent, disapproving stare of the Prince standing nearby, and reaches out a hand to touch Madara's shoulder. Her touch is the lightest whisper, so faint Madara can barely feel her presence.
The pit of fear that has been festering in Amalia's belly blossoms and grows until she nearly chokes on it. She can see her carefully built barricades and defenses crumbling slowly and she steels herself for what she knows must come.
"I would never willingly lay with another, my love," Amalia finally says. "I am true to you, I have been true to you, always."
"The body is deep in the catacombs where I buried her." She looks away but her eyes are drawn immediately back to Madara's turned form, feeling sick and desperate inside. "Please, let it be. She is dead."
Reynold shakes his head, "Amalia I must know, perhaps...perhaps if I see it for myself I will...Please Amalia where is it??"
Amalia withdraws her hand and slowly turns to the Prince. "As you wish, my Lord," she says numbly and leads the way down to the catacombs.
Madara immediately starts heading towards the door that leads down to Amalia's catacombs like someone in a trance. She feels the first blood-tears start to collect in the corners of her eyes. As the door opens, cold and decaying air coughs against Madara's body, but she doesn't feel anything. Pushing past the other and using her heightened senses, she starts down the stairs-- every step feeling like it's being made by legs that weigh a ton. She doesn't take a torch-- just simply continues on until she reaches the bottom of the stairs....following the stale scent of Katerina's essence until it seems to lead her to a dead end. "Appropriate..." Madara thinks bitterly to herself, and turns around to face those behind her in the dank darkness.
Reynold stands just behind her and looks back. Then to Madara, "Is it a dead end or hidden room? Have you even been down here before?"
Madara looks at the Prince with eyes that would betray no emotion...if it weren't for the glistening rims of blood. "It must be a secret room, for I scent something behind the walls." Madara shifts her eyes to look at Amalia, and her eyes suddenly take on a pleading look-- as if begging Amalia to change time and right all the feared wrongs.
"Do you not even trust me to show you where the body is?" Amalia asks, voice filled with hurt. "I told you I would show you where it is. It is not a secret room, I merely blocked it off, for I did not think I would ever need enter here again."
Amalia bends and picks up an old crowbar and begins to chip away the mortar sealing the door shut. With blood flowing through her muscles, she makes easy work of the job and is soon pushing open the protesting door, letting a rush of stale air into the corridor.
She steps aside and makes a low, mocking bow. "My Lord and Lady, I present Katerina." Amalia's light tone sounds forced and unnatural, and she keeps her eyes to the floor as she speaks.
The room is barely lit as the three inch their way into the darkened
chamber. Only their heightened vampiric senses allow them to navigate the
small room. Reynold calls for more light, and Amalia and Madara quickly light
a pair of torches.
There-- right where Amalia had left her, still sealed within her glass coffin--
lays the body of the Countess Katerina. She lays in calm repose-- something that
she had never known in life, finally finding peace in the grave. But things
are not quite as they should be. Her burial shroud had long since rotted
away, leaving her body bare before the three Cainites. But unlike her
shroud, her body had not withered a moment. It was still as ripe and lush as
it had been at the moment of her death. Even now, her flesh was the warm
color that it had always been-- as if she were merely sleeping, and about to
wake.
Reynold enters the room slowly, unable to take his eyes off of her. His brow furrows and he looks at the women, then back to Katerina. "How did she die?" He says looking at her face, "How did she stay so...preserved?"
Amalia opens her mouth to speak but no sound comes out. She clears her throat and speaks again, eyes darting to the darkened corners, half-expecting to see someone standing in the shadows. She steps closer, looking intently at the body laying within the glass coffin.
"No, that's impossible. I slit her throat!" She looks up, her eyes wild. "I know I did! She..." Amalia opens the coffin lid and tilts Katerina's head back, revealing smooth, unblemished skin. She backs away as if burned, letting the lid of the coffin fall shut with a small thump.
"But she does not live! There is no pulse in the body. Maybe it is her Magick." Amalia looks like she wants to bolt from the room, but remains in place with a supreme effort of will and turns to Madara. "Please, if you love me you will leave this place right now. Please. Both of you," she turns to the Prince. "I can seal the door behind us and we can forget we were ever here!"
Madara stares at the...body...seemingly dead...no...not dead...Madara sniffs carefully, but cannot detect any scent of life. No blood...her heart's not pumping...how then, HOW? Madara turns to Amalia. "You say you slit her throat-- there is witchcraft here, I can feel it!" Madara places her hand on the hilt of her sword and turns to Katerina's body, still speaking to Amalia. "You say you were studying her body all these years...then why was the door so hard to open? Why did you not notice her unblemished neck? She lives-- I know it!" Madara feels the rage of so many decades filling her-- everyone she cares for has turned into this woman's puppet, and now the Prince wants her aid once more!! But her new path stills her hand, and she turns to the Prince. "My Sire...what would you have me do? I do not believe she is dead. HOW is this possible?" Madara gestures to the pink body and watches the Prince's face.
Reynold backs up from the body, "See how she died. See what happened-- perhaps there is a clue as to how she is like this." He looks at Madara then back to the body.
Madara nods at the prince, still looking unsure. But the orders of her liege can not be refused, and she walks slowly to the body. With one hand she pries open the lid of the coffin. She hesitates for a moment, trying to fight her urges to desecrate the body of the woman who has caused her so much pain. Steeling her resolve, Madara reaches out her hand and lays it on Katerina's still form. She closes her eyes, and lets the powers of her blood take her back ten years to when Katerina still lived.
Madara gasps as the events unfold before her. She sees Katerina lying naked upon a stone table in the middle of a small room. She sees Amalia wielding the knife as she slits her throat.
But her vision did not end there.
She sees Amalia standing naked before Katerina. And she sees Amalia lean down and kiss Katerina passionatly on the lips as Katerina's arms slowly slide around her, drawing Amalia to her and holding her close.
Madara lets out a moan and squeezes her eyes closed, bending over as if in pain and clutching her head in her arms...and then the moan starts rising in pitch and volume until finally Madara throws her head back and an ear-shattering shriek pours from her throat-- filling the small chamber. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" she screams, jumping to her feet. She puts her hands on her head and lets out a cry of anguish-- she cannot STAND seeing Katerina any longer lest she tear the woman's flesh and give way to the Beast! And she will NOT let Katerina mock her-- even in this unnatural death-- and so she runs. She runs from the room, pushing past everything that might hinder her flight. She runs to the stairs-- almost tripping over something laying on the ground but regaining her balance. And once she's free of that house of death and pain, she calls upon all the power of her blood and tears into the forest.
Reynold's eyes widen as he watches Madara scream and tear up the steps. Before he can even breathe a word, he hears the door slam from upstairs.
"Madara wait!!" he shouts and starts to run after her, but stops, seeing Amalia.
"Take care of this body, seal the room-- seal it so nothing could ever get out. Tomorrow night come to the castle and we'll talk of this."
He then leaps up the stairs and runs out into the night trying to find Madara.
Amalia can barely hear Reynold through the whisper of voices that are rushing through her skull. Madara's screams cut her to the soul and she moves to run after her, to form some sort of explanation.. but then another voice rises above the rest, nearly shouting in her ears, 'look, the Voice Awakens"
And Amalia turns slowly back towards the glass coffin, her body turning rigid with horror.
As Amalia looks on in horror, Katerina's eyes flash open. Her mouth opens as she gasps for breath with her long-unused lungs.
Then she screams. A scream of horror and pain that only the truely dead could understand. And as she screams, her hands smash against her glass coffin, shattering the glass over her, and sending shards flying across the room. Katerina rolls to the ground, blood flowing from a dozen cuts caused by the glass. There she lay, face down, weeping tears of pain and sorrow.
