Resident Evilove (Lady Alcina Dimitrescu - Resident Evil)

Chapter 16 - Midnight Love

The next day, Mathias had not slept much, because his mind was still very marked by the revelations he had learned yesterday in the Dimitrescu chapel. His family, the Derunes, were not what he thought. This had been kept from him all his life, but what he wanted to know was why. Yet, as far as he knew, no member of his family had been shown to be a monster or to have supernatural abilities, and he himself had none of those things. But what he would like to know so much is ... how did this woman, Miranda, manage to create this parasite, the Cadou? How could she have created such a genetic mutation, with the scientific means of the 1950s, capable of transforming humans into beings endowed with extraordinary capacities? It wasn't just simple science ... for Mathias it was almost magic, or maybe a mixture of the two? Science mixed with witchcraft? He almost wanted to laugh at such a thing that wasn't even meant to exist. He had seen so many inexplicable things since arriving here, in this cursed village ... a whole new worldview had opened up before him. A view that would drive the majority of mankind totally mad if they knew it. What if they knew that while they are sleeping, somewhere, beings like vampires, lycans or other monsters roam the forests, the mountains, or maybe even the cities, unbeknownst to them?

On that graying morning, where outside some snowflakes fell softly against the windows, Mathias had returned to see the Duke in the small room which served as his booth for his business with Lady Dimitrescu. As usual, the obese merchant had been very polite and welcoming to the young man, hoping perhaps to see him make a purchase. Always on the lookout for future profit, this Duke, Mathias thought. The merchant, seated in his large chair, was busy counting the silver coins he had recently acquired.

_ "Lady Daniela bought me one of the vinyl albums. A copy she had been looking for for a long time. If you had her face ... it was Christmas before its time." The Duke laughed cordially as he finished counting his money which he put back on the table in front of him.

_ "Did you know that?" Mathias asked, changing the subject, as he glanced at the merchant's stand. "Did you know that my great-grandmother Alice Derune was one of the lords of this village?"

The Duke looked at him with a slight smirk and his usual mischief.

_ "I could tell you no, but I never liked lying." The Duke replied calmly, leaning his back against the back of his chair. "I even knew Lady Alice. A really lovely woman, and who knew how to have a good business sense. And smart besides, very open-minded. I had a lot of respect for her. And that spark of spirit, I recognized it in your eyes, Mathias. That's how from our first meeting, I knew who you were and that will mean big changes to come."

Mathias turned to him, still wondering how this merchant could know so much ... one of the mysteries he would surely never be able to unravel.

_ "If you knew who I was, why didn't you tell me?" the young man then asked, even if he guessed the answer in advance.

_ "You already know why ..." confirmed the Duke without surprise. "Lady Dimitrescu told you that herself. Here the only prevailing law is Miranda's, and I myself can't do anything about it."

Like Alcina, the Duke had been forced to remain silent or face reprisals from Miranda. This woman had total power over this region.

While he was thinking, lost in his thoughts, Mathias then noticed a pile of newspapers near the Duke's table. Newspapers, and some appearing to be several years old. So the Duke was getting information about news from the outside world? But by what process did he obtain these newspapers?

In the pile of newspapers, Mathias noticed one in particular, from 2017. The front page article, he had heard about at the time. A very curious and tragic incident which had occurred in Dulvey, Louisiana, in the United States. A very ordinary family had died under strange circumstances. Among the victims was Jack Baker, 57, a former Marine. His wife, Marguerite, and their son, Lucas. Only two family members were found alive: Zoe Baker, Jack and Marguerite's daughter, and Joe Baker, the family's uncle and Jack's brother. But also, two unknown survivors had been found at the scene of the incident: a couple of strangers, Ethan and Mia Winters. The area of ​​the incident was placed under government order. To this day, the nature of the incident has never been found, or perhaps, never disclosed to the general public. At the time, the incident had made the rounds of networks on the internet around the world, and many theories, each more eccentric than the last, were born. The Bakers had become something of a local urban legend, with several witnesses claiming to have seen their wandering ghosts without finding rest, still haunting their home in the swamps.