Sanguine

Put to Rest

"My, my! What a glittering assembly!" Mircalla remarked as she strode in languidly, dark eyes burning.

"Mircalla!" Matilda, Marcia and Margreta called out to the vampire in unison, but she ignored them.

"Ha! Is this your doing, Cornelius, my dear?" she asked, walking further into the chapel with the same indifferent expression as before.

"It is," Cornelius nodded, not meeting her dark eyes. She gave him an unreadable smile.

"Excellent," she said. "You've brought them all here, in one place. Just like I asked you to."

"Asked you to?" Marcia turned on Cornelius. "What does she mean?"

"She means that she knew I was going to call you all here tonight," Cornelius responded.

"Is this a trap!?" Margreta snarled, backing up warily.

"No, no," Cornelius promised. "Not a trap. But a chance. A chance to put this all to rest."

"What do you mean?!" Matilda asked again, angry now. Cornelius smiled beatifically, then he turned to Mircalla.

"Mircalla, my dear, lovely, Mircalla. I have indeed call you all here tonight, but not for the reason you believe!" he said to her. "I have come to put you to rest. Not to surrender the rest of your kin as you so dearly hoped!"

"What?" everybody cried, Mircalla's face darkened while the others contorted into confusion. Cornelius ignored them all in favor of walking slowly towards the woman he nearly got to call a wife.

"Fear not, my beloved. For it will all be over soon..." then the man drew his sword and thrust it forward with strength and speed unmatched. Mircalla gave an unholy screech, narrowly avoiding his blow and swatting his sword away with her bare hands.

"ATTACK!" Cornelius bellowed and, at his words, the other two women leapt at the vampire, drawing their stakes and silver knives.

What ensued was a midnight battle in the chapel. At first, it seemed that it would end no differently than most battles against Mircalla did, but then Cornelius revealed that the spell would keep Mircalla stuck in the chapel so she could never escape.

"So if we flee now, we could just all Papa and have him torch the place?!" Margreta asked hopefully, narrowly dodging a blow from her vampiric sister. All of her desire to save Mircalla had vanished after Maximiliana was killed. Mircalla was even worse that Magdalena because at least Magdalena killed quickly. Mircalla killed anybody she pleased in any fashion.

"No! We must kill her here and now, tonight! Or else we risk the spell breaking and we will never capture her again!" Cornelius shouted from a rafter. He had climbed up the altar to reach this point. John was still in a pew down below while Margreta and Marcia stood back to back, each bearing a silver sword. Mircalla's voice swirled overhead, mocking and wicked. Matilda was just a few feet away, shaking violently with fear, but she still stood tall. She would not be cowed by her baby sister any longer.

"Do you really think you can survive against me?" she cackled. "Foolish mortals! I shall show you how very wrong you are and you shall fall to me as all of Karnstein has fallen before you!"

"But why, Mircalla?! Why?!" the vampire's sisters pleaded. "You used to be so kind, gentle, sweet and cute! You were so sanguine and fun! What happened? Why have you become so cruel and apathetic now?!"

"Why?" Mircalla scoffed. "WHY?! Because it is who I am! I am Mircalla Karnstein! Countess of the Karnstein Kingdom! I am the Devourer of Blood and the Destroyer of Worlds. I am the Ender of Lives and Empires alike! How dare you ask why? I AM MIRCALLA KARNSTEIN! I am the last and greatest Karnstein to ever live and that is how it shall remain, FOREVER!"