RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE - The House of Dimitrescu

Chapter 10 - A Deal with the Devil

'CASSANDRA! Come here... Now!'

Alcina's blood boiled with fury as she stood halfway up the staircase in her castle's hall. Beside her, a shivering, pale Bela stood quietly, and as the howl of black flies grew louder, Alcina roared again into the castle's halls.

'That man has twice now brought my daughters into danger! I want his head!'

She turned to her shivering daughter, whose black veil and garments still bore the signs of her scrape with death, bloodstains and rips all across them. 

'It was cold, wasn't it Bela?' She asked softly, taking her daughters face gently in her gloved hands and turning it upwards towards the light. Bela had hardly said a word since the Countess had found her wandering the corridors in the direction of her chambers, frozen and shivering, and seemed oddly distant following her ordeal.

Bela's golden eyes were oddly vulnerable, and as Alcina held her close, sharing her body heat with her icy daughter, Cassandra's swarm poured in through the upper balustrades of the gallery above them, materializing into the dark-haired woman on the floor below them, and a moment later, Daniela flew in from the doorway opposite them. 

'Mother!' Daniela cried out as she flew over to stand beside her sister. 'The Moroaicǎ in the cellars... they're dead!' 

'The Samcă on the roof too!' Cassandra added sharply. 'Four of them over by the elevator and above your chambers.'

Alcina felt a low growl build in her chest as she fought to contain her rising fury, and beside her, Bela shifted slightly in fear as she heard the low rumble. 

'Well.... it seems the little rat has been rather busy...' she chuckled quietly, then she turned to her daughters, but as she opened her mouth to speak, there came an almighty, echoing bang from somewhere in the castle.

'What was that?' Alcina asked sharply. Her daughters heads' immediately snapped around, and they stood silently for a moment, listening intently, before an ear-splitting crash came from somewhere nearby.

'The hall!' Daniela shouted excitedly. 'He's in the Hall of Masks!'

'Kill him!' Alcian roared, and her daughters disintegrated before her, swarming away towards the door even as Alcina began to move after them. Behind her, Bela seemed to hesitate slightly, but even as she turned back to console her daughter, there came a slight crackling sound as the last of her chilled flesh thawed, and a stream of dark insects swarmed past her after the other two women. 

With an evil grin, Alcina flicked her talons out of her fingertips, following her daughters at a more leisurely pace down the stairs, feeling a savage joy burn through her at the thought of slicing the insolent boy's head from his shoulders.

'He will pay for his crimes with blood!'

---

'Oi!!!' 

Y/N slashed his chain through yet another priceless-looking vase, then raised his revolver and fired another shot into the air. He was stood in the center of the Hall of Masks, the doors closed firmly behind him, making as much noise as humanly possible.

'I'm in here!!!'

He had planned this out across hours... everything meticulously calculated... all the pieces in place... but for it to work, he could afford no mistakes. Just as Y/N took another deep breath, preparing to shout again for the attention of the murderess's and their mother, a loud howl of buzzing and whirring wings filled the hall, and the doors at the far end burst open to spew forth a writhing cloud of dark insects.