RE: VILLAGE Lady Dimitrescu Edition

Love & Death (PT 2)

The mission, as previously expressed, was precise, but hazardous and a near failure, - a knife, small and serrated protruding through your right, upper thigh, to the gunshot wound in your shoulder, cuts, and bruises upon many - left you helplessly wandering.

The gash over your left eye, from the final attack from Chris, had blood spilling into your vision, and your mouth.

Even though you won, he inflicted injury sure to leave you dead if not treated soon.

Tracking him far into the forests of the Romanian mountains took enough out of you, and then to be taken by surprise by a pack of Lycans was an entirely different story.

So, going to the only place you knew, you made the trek, four miles back to the castle - fighting both Lycan and brutal weather all until you passed those stone gates leading up to the vineyard.

Just at the entrance, from the same one hours before, you notice a gold crested carriage, a decorative 'D' carved into the plating. The size was far more substantial than any you've seen before, yet you continue forward, stumbling up the few steps of the castle.

Black spores begin to appear in your vision, and you all but faint. Hand gripping the handle of the door and shoving with all your weight as you tumble forward and onto the floor beneath, the cold air breezing past as you momentarily lose consciousness.

Unsure when you regain it, you fight to keep going, utilizing your ability to crawl all the while losing and regaining vision.

In the distance could be heard a click, continuous and ever nearing, yet you couldn't place it.

You couldn't die now, a determination fueling you forward down the vast hallway toward descending stairs that would lead to the four marble statues.

Yet, as your palm reaches, a tight grip encloses your ankle — your center of gravity flipping as a strength unknown to you cranes you into the air, dangling you helplessly, and abnormally high above the ground.

A flash of white clothing and a blur of burning eyes is the last thing you see before your eyelids shut, and an exotic smell sends you off into an exhausted slumber.

>>>

It had been just moments when Alcina had returned, an emotional phone call halting the meeting with Miranda, yet, the imposing woman had a greater issue. Her eldest, Bela, was nearly taken from her in her absence, by a wretched creature known as Mr. Winters. The very man she loathed to see in the presence of her fellow lords just a day before.

Alcina knew he would be trouble, yet she hadn't expected it to risk the lives of her family.

So when she heard the front gates slamming open, heavy labored breathing, and the faint beating of a panicked heart, a sense of bitter irritation devastated her.

Dare another human trespass into her home to harm her daughters again?

Alcina wouldn't give them the chance to get close and hurried to take matters into her own hands - a mother's rage burning like a hearth on a cold winter night.

Already could she feel the tips of her talons sinking past gloved fingertips, eyes glowing a pale red as she takes the shortcut through to the entrance.

It is where she finds you, a bloodied mess laid helplessly along the floor, beaten close to death with two blood-drenched, fabric weaved bags - the items within unknown to her.

She finds herself crouching down to grab your ankle, hoisting you so she may look at you properly — your eyes fall shut and the entirety of your body falls limp, arms hanging clumsily.