The Bloody Masquerade

The stairs spiralled deep under the house but came to an abrupt stop just as I wondered when they would ever end. The darkness here was not so thick, in fact tiny candles flickered in this new stone corridor. I didn’t like that though. Candles indicated to life. The cold was horrible down here however. It was bone chilling and caused my breath to become mist that hung in the air in front of my slightly open mouth. Elizabeth didn’t seem to care. As a vampire, she was probably enjoying the cold. The ominous presence was very thick down here, almost smothering. I didn’t like it at all and made me increasingly jumpy.

We waited at the foot of the stairs for a few moments, listening to see if this faceless threat would show itself, before deciding we were as safe as we were going to be. With a sharp nod, Elizabeth began to trundle down the arching tunnel to the thick oak and iron doors that stood in the gloom at the other end. I followed her, ready to defend her if anything were to burst out of those doors. When we got to the door, Elizabeth tapped it lightly and jiggled the door handle. It was locked but no Matter was carved into the surface this time. I raised my eyebrow when she raised her leg and rammed it into the door, shattering it open. Elizabeth definitely wasn’t elegant in her methods.

She walked in slowly, keeping her small body low while she observed the single wide room. It was darker in here but there was still a source of light from the small flickering candles. Uncovered equipment littered the whole room. Practice dummies, targets, bars and pillars. All were there to teach a child how to use their weapons and run effectively in both combat and hunting. Nothing in this room was unimportant in the training of a young witch.

I wondered about it absentmindedly as I observed the gym, letting my mind go back to when I was small and back in the Halls, training alongside Ilda and Romana. Elizabeth however was like a bloodhound and was sniffing in every crevice for the information we needed. It was no surprise that it was she who found the small thin door.

“Augusta. Found a room.” She called to me sharply.

I shook my head, scattering the old memories, and jogged over to her side. Elizabeth stepped aside, indicating I was to take over in case she burned her hand again. I took hold of the handle and tried to open it but found it locked. By the sensation tingling at my hands I knew it was held fast by Matter. With my gun already drawn and ready, I fired a couple of shots at it. It fizzed for a moment but it remained the same and locked. I sighed irritably before I knelt down and placed the palm of my hand against the lock. Summoning all Matter into my hand, I let it slip into the lock and began to force it open. It took a while. The Matter in this was strong and it did take a while to controllably force the Matter out but I eventually did. The loud thudding click of the heavy locking releasing caused a smile to spread over my face.

Gently, and without standing, I let my fingers wrap around the handle and pulled it down. It clicked open and the door came loose, letting me push it open slowly. It swung open to reveal a long and very dark room filled with shelves, cabinets and a single desk. With my Matter now flooding back into my suit and gun, I began to make my way inside with Elizabeth sniffing beside me.

“Something smells wrong in here.” She said sharply, glancing around manically.

I simply nodded my head silently. There was something wrong with this room. It didn’t feel so cold, so empty. I smelt life.

“Look around quickly and do it very, very, carefully.” I murmured, hoping she might try and be a little bit more elegant in her way of opening things.

Elizabeth grunted and turned to the right side of the wall and began to rummage around through the cabinets there. I winced slightly when she threw one of the draws open to begin flicking through the papers. I shook my head and wandered towards the desk to begin rummaging around.

The papers were pretty much useless. They were reviews of the girls of the Allaway Family, only six. I did however become intrigued as I realised this is where the information for each member was held. I began to dig deeper and more frantically until I found the face of the woman I was searching for. The pretty face framed by thick deep brunette hair stared blankly at me. I knew this face. This was the scout.

I read the account and pretty quickly came to the conclusion that Anna, as was her name, was only second to Irma in strength. She was best with her sword however. Apparently her gun skills were only average. I was intrigued to see there was a special mark by her name. It was a simple red mark and none of the other girls had this. I decided it would be best to find the papers of the past members of this Family to see what this meant. It didn’t take long. I found a few boxes filled with files, all of which were about every member that was born.

Elizabeth helped me after not finding much in the room and we soon began to discover another marker. In every generation, a purple marker would appear beside the names of at least two girls. These ones tend to show a lot of potential in the amount of Matter they held. As I set them aside, putting them in line as I began to create a timeline that went backwards, I began to notice something a little strange. The women with the purple marks were the same women in the paintings up stairs.

“Could be as Alexis said. These women were chosen as the ones to take over as Head.” Elizabeth said a little bored beside me.

“No. I don’t like this. We don’t choose a Head by strength and Matter alone. They have to have a good leader and organiser or the Family would fall.” I said and frowned when Murray’s face flashed in my mind. All brawn just destroys a family in the Old World. You have to know how to use your brain to keep everyone safe.

“Well then, what do the marks mean?”

“I don’t know.” I replied.

Elizabeth sighed and leaned back, looking into the gloom as I continued to search for the marked women. So far nothing had happened thankfully. We could feel something in here though. It just wasn’t aware of our presence yet.

So far I had found twenty seven women and nine of them were the painted women in the hall, including Irma, and one of Anna’s aunts, Victoria, who had a blue mark. As I dug deeper, I found Ethelinda, and noticed she too had a red mark beside her name. I stared at her painting for a moment and read briefly through her profile, noting she didn’t exactly excel at running or combat. She was pretty much average in every area she was trained in. I placed her beside Anna and began to search again but found that the files no longer had the purple marks. They stopped at Ethelinda’s nieces. I stared at the twenty-seven women, trying to figure out what linked them together when Elizabeth turned to face me.

“Did you find your boy’s file?” She asked.

I froze then blinked at her. “No, I haven’t.” I replied and began to search for him among the shelves and draws.

As I was looking, I found a box put at the top of the shelves. I only needed to glance at it to know it was sealed by Matter. It was old though, like the lock, so I sat down and set to work in getting my Matter to eat away at it. Eventually I managed to wrench the lid free and peered inside to find a lot of paper work. On top was a smiling face I recognised. Eugene.

I gave the box to Elizabeth to rummage through as I took out his profile and began to look through. There wasn’t much in it seeing as he last lived here over five years ago but Irma apparently was very interested in her son. Constantly measuring his Matter, testing his strength and speed and senses. He was a wonder to her and something she wanted to use and obviously keep hidden. The purple mark was on his profile too but bolder than the rest, as if someone had gone over it again and again. It worried me.

I stiffened when I felt Elizabeth stiffen and hissed savagely.

“Augusta.” She snapped. “Look at this.” She demanded and shoved a file under my nose without waiting for me to look at it.

I opened the file and began to scan through. The more I read, the more a cold smile began to tug at my mouth. This box I had found was never to be touched it seemed. The file had human names, survivors of parasite attacks who were not taken into the Old World as servants, but were kept hidden by the Allaway family. The dates went back as far as one hundred years ago. It then went into detail about where they were hidden. In houses, hotels, large housing complexes. They were always underneath the buildings. Two of the addresses I knew. One was in England, the other in Romania. The other files contained vampire and human names and profiles, declaring them either dead, captured and rejected. Some I recognised from similar files I had seen seven years ago within a hidden lab deep under an abandoned house. Two names however stopped my rapid scanning. Peter Blackburn and Vincent Blackburn. While Peter had ‘dead’ planted over his face, Vincent had ‘success’ on his. Their files were the last ones. They were the last experiments.

“This is the Family I need to destroy, isn’t it?” Elizabeth snarled.

I nodded, trying my hardest not to laugh insanely to myself from relief and triumph. I had found them. I had found the traitor Family. The Family feeding information to the human threat, giving them our own people to create a poison for madness. The Family trying to force the Old World to destroy itself. I had finally found them.

My joy was short lived however when I heard something slip from above and land on the stone floor. Elizabeth stood sharply, edging her way to the other wall, while I rose slowly and readied my gun. The woman sighed and wiped down her skin tight suit, instantly alerting me. The colour of the thin sash was all I needed to see to know she was an Allaway witch.

“You shouldn’t have been able to open that.” The woman said, stepping closer so I could see her features. It took me a moment to recognise her as Victoria, the blue marked one. That threw me. Victoria was meant to be in her late forties but appeared to be barely out of her teens.

“I can open anything.” I said simply, not bothering to explain how my Matter could eat through any other witches seeing as I didn’t know why it could myself.

“Apparently.” Victoria said then smiled brightly and clapped her hands. “But you’re intruding and looking into mother Ethelinda’s private papers. You’re not allowed to do that. I was told so.”

“I am sorry but I was looking for some information on Eugene.” I said coldly, taking note about Ethelinda’s apparent title and increasingly significant role in this mess.

“Little brother? O-o-oh I have not seen him in a while.” She said happily. “What do you want to know about him?”

I was taken aback for a moment but went on to ask anyway when Elizabeth only shrugged her shoulders. “Why did Irma want him?”

“Ethelinda.” She corrected then cupped her face joyously. “Eugene was supposed to be the new Ethelinda but things went wrong.” She frowned.

“The new Ethelinda?”

“Yes, the new one. Mother has to have new bodies you know.” She said.

“She’s dead.”

Victoria blinked then laughed hard. “She’s not. Anna told me so. Mother is currently in another and waiting for Eugene. Or another. There was someone else she was interested in.”

“So Ethelinda is still alive.” I asked.

“Mother is yes. Must have sacrifices for our strongest and most loved mother to live. It is an honour when she chooses you.” Victoria said then clapped her hands again. “Now I have told you what you wanted, I will ask you to do me a favour and not fight.” She said happily as she drew her witch-blade. “It is only fair after all.”

I sensed something wrong as she lowered her sword and filled her body with Matter and barely had time to tell Elizabeth to run when Victoria came dashing forward in a blurred stream. My gun was replaced by my sword just in time to meet hers and they clashed loudly together. She gripped her hilt firmly and, using her momentum, catapulted me away. I flew back and hit the wall of the training hall hard, cracking it slightly. I coughed heavily and winced when I felt pain shooting up my back. Her strength was insane. No witch could have that amount of Matter.

I looked up sharply when I heard in coming footsteps and saw Victoria darting towards me. I stood sharply and prepared myself for the defence but apparently that wasn’t necessary when a small body dropped from the ceiling and came plummeting down hard. Victoria was forced to stop when Elizabeth’s bare foot hit the flat of the sword and forced it into the ground. Seeing Victoria hesitate from surprise, Elizabeth quickly took advantage. She jumped and kicked out at Victoria’s head, catching the side and forcing her to fly across the room.

“Be ready Augusta. We take on this Black blood together.” Elizabeth said darkly, flexing her fingers.

I watched Victoria carefully as she organised herself and suddenly decided to be a little bit more careful. Victoria was a Black blood witch and that was not good. Technically, she wasn’t meant to even exist. Not only did she have the strength and speed of a vampire but she had Matter to bolster it. After a huge outburst of Black blood witches turned rogue two hundred years ago which killed hundreds, the leaders of the Old World declared that turning a witch into one of the Old Ones was prohibited, especially among the vampires as Black blood witches could turn to parasites. If any were found, both the witch and the one who turned them were killed.

Victoria shook her hair happily before she addressed Elizabeth. “You are stronger than you appear little girl.”

“Little girl?” Elizabeth snarled. “I am older than you by well over nine hundred years.”

“Then I shall call you old woman.” Victoria replied before readying her sword once again. “Shall we begin?”

I raised my gun, glancing down at Elizabeth who snapped her tiny fangs together. “Let’s.” I replied and smiled stiffly.

In one synchronised movement, Elizabeth and Victoria ran to one another, claws and sword bared, while I aimed my gun and let out a barrel of bullets. Victoria managed to deflect them with her insane sped but barely managed to defend herself from the tiny enraged vampire. Now Elizabeth knew she was one of the people who tore apart her small clan, she was out for blood.

Victoria swung round, swiping out at Elizabeth’s head, who ducked and thrust her claw in the ground. In one very smooth motion, Elizabeth suddenly grew, becoming larger, then launched her foot upwards, catching Victoria’s chin easily and caused her to fall backwards. The now adult Elizabeth darted forward and threw her fist at Victoria’s face, just missing her and creating a huge hole in the floor. Victoria stood above Elizabeth, her face now a mask of rage, and aimed to stab her in her back. I aimed hurriedly and poured every inch of Matter in my gun and fired, catching her blade and giving Elizabeth time to dart away.

Victoria stood still for a moment, scowling at myself and Elizabeth, before she bared her fangs and hissed. “You two are challenging me.” She snarled. “No one has challenged me.”

Elizabeth laughed dryly. It sounded strange hearing a slightly deeper and older voice come from her. In fact it was bizarre seeing her as tall as me. “You sound like my brother.” She cracked her knuckles and smiled grimly. “You should be honoured you are the first one to die in my quest for vengeance of him and Peter.”

Victoria’s face twitched in recognition. “Then you’re last the last Blackburn.”

“Wrong. Vincent is still alive and now mated to the most sappiest woman in history.” Elizabeth said then bared her fangs in disgust and stepped forward. “I have your bloody Family to thank for that.”

In a blur, Elizabeth darted forward, yelling at me to cover her as she initiated the next fight. I did my best. The two moved to fast it was hard to be sure I wouldn’t hit Elizabeth. Something happened somewhere though to change the weight of the battle. Elizabeth was at first dominating Victoria and getting in a few clawed swipes to her face and neck but that seemed to put Victoria into a corner. Being cornered seemed to kick in her instincts to survive. She began to fight back, using far more strength and speed then she was originally using, and eventually forced Elizabeth to the ground.

I didn’t think before I acted. All I could see was Elizabeth, wounded and tired, about to have her head hewn off. I just reacted. Letting the odd energy that was always kept under close control within me flow free, I willed myself to stand before Elizabeth and the witch blade. In an instant, my body separated in a mass of red moths and gathered before Victoria, forming my body where my soul was. Victoria’s mouth gaped just as her blade went straight through my side, stopping it from touching Elizabeth.

I cried out as her Matter at my skin, battling my own. Victoria stood stock still, completely confused and stunned at what had just happened. She should’ve acted though and killed myself and Elizabeth when Alexis came darting into the training grounds. He froze only for an instant, letting his gaze linger on Victoria holding the blade that was sticking out of my waist, before he flew into a black rage. He ran towards Victoria, whose mind was working very slowly and not registering the threat, and shifted smoothly as he barrelled into her.

Hart came to my side quickly and made me sit down on my knees before observing the sword that was still stuck in me. My focus however was focus on the large wolf man attacking Victoria.

Alexis pinned her down and aimed for her throat but only managed to catch her shoulder as she wriggled and screamed. I saw him bite hard and shake his head, spraying blood everywhere, before Victoria managed to get her fingers into his mouth and wrench his teeth out of her skin. Getting a foothold on his stomach, she kicked him away into the wall hard. Alexis recovered rapidly, baring his fangs and letting out a horrific growl as his large claws scraped at the earth. Victoria was slow however. She stood unsteadily and held her mangled shoulder in an attempt to stop the blood from flowing. Her face was practically covered in her blood and it spattered on the floor in alarming amounts.

“I will not be taken down by a wolf.” She snapped and aimed her unused gun at his face.

“Then allow me instead.” Elizabeth said snidely having slithered behind her.

Victoria stood no chance. Having lost so much blood, her speed was dreadfully low and could not move out of the way of Elizabeth’s powerful hand. It pushed through the witch suit and flesh easily, gripping the heart before ripping it out. Victoria died instantly and dropped to the floor.

“There’s a reason why that decree was passed.”Elizabeth snapped as she dropped the warm heart onto the floor. “Bloody turned witches. Pain in the arse, all of them.”

I chuckled lightly but winced and stopped when it caused a ripple of pain. Alexis was by my side in no time, sticking close to my side and stroking my hair and face. He talked quickly with Hart, demanding how bad the wound was and how they should go about getting the sword out. I smiled warmly at him. He was flustered and I could tell he didn’t quite know whether or not to panic, cry or get angry. Seeing him so torn up weirdly comforted me. It meant he still felt something.

“Friend, this will hurt, okay?” Hart said as he gripped the hilt.

I nodded once and he didn’t hesitate. He pulled it roughly, ripping it free and causing me to whimper from pain. Alexis held my hand, bring the palm to his mouth to press numerous kisses against the skin before taking me into his arms and rocked me gently as Hart threw the sword away.

“We found something.” Hart said.

“So did we.” Elizabeth said and smiled a bitterly toothy grin. “But first let Augusta rest. We should be safe in here now that abomination is dead.” She growled and kicked the leg of Victoria.

I was happy to do as I was told. My Matter was currently healing my wounds, another thing my Matter was capable of doing that it shouldn’t. I was content though. I was being held by Alexis who has been avoiding me and acting strangely towards me. It made me want to cry with joy that he still blatantly felt affection towards me. I just didn’t understand why he wanted to hide it now.