The Bathory Curse (11 page)

“I know you know more than you are telling me so why
don’t you just HELP ME!” Nea demanded.

“I don’t know what you are referring to.” Bendis
raised eyebrows at her Strega.

“Fine, then let us go.” Nea gave up, feeling a
weight in her chest and a burning in her throat. She had done all
she could and obviously it wasn’t good enough. Even a grown woman
sometimes needed to just have a good cry.

Bendis touched her shoulder and Nea felt lurching in
her stomach as she was whipped out of her world and through the
veils into another. For a moment it felt like there was no air, and
then an abundance of air as her mind spent a moment giddy like she
had too much ale.

She heard crying, laughter and whimpers in the
ethereal wind swirling around them. As the world came back into
focus her stomach came up through her throat, she fell to her knees
and retched up breakfast, struggling to regain her balance and
breathe properly.

“Take it easy, my Strega, that kind of travel is not
made for a human body, slow deep breaths.” Bendis’ voice came from
behind her. When she was done, Nea stood, grateful when the goddess
handed her a handkerchief to wipe her mouth.

“Here, drink.” Bendis held out a hand and a pewter
cup appeared in it. Nea grasped the cup and greedily drank, parched
and tired. The liquid was cool, sweet, spicy, and like nothing she
had ever tasted before, bubbles flowed over her tongue as she
swallowed. Finishing she took another breath and steadied
herself.

“What was that?”

“A drink from the future, helps with nausea.”

“It was delicious.”

“You’re welcome. From now on you shall be able to
come here as often as you like, do not abuse this gift.” Bendis
made the cup and handkerchief disappear. Nea began to look around.
There was no sun where they were, just an endless black sky with
twinkling lights above them. She knew the lights were not stars;
the color was off a little. The ground was black and hard like
marble or brick, but the texture was odd. There were white poplar
trees scattered around, they seemed sickly, but stretched tall into
the darkness. Paths were carved between the trees and occasionally
patches of greyish grass grew alongside it with strange ghostly
flowers peeking out.

“Is this Purgatory?”

“Limbo, yes…The correct name from back when I was
young is the Fields of Asphodel. Where souls who are neither good
nor evil come to reside and can drink from the River Lethe before
being reincarnated or wander for eternity.” Bendis had a fond
expression on her face.

“Why hasn’t my family done that?” Nea asked.

“They are not allowed; they cannot even get near the
river. For them this is more hell than anything else, stuck here
forever, the memories of their past life clinging to them.
 For souls who become stuck here the Gods take pity on them,
come.”

They walked farther in and Nea began to see
silhouettes in the distance that looked like the faint outlines of
buildings. As they grew closer she realized they were more like
large houses. There were over a dozen, some small, reminding her of
the tiny inns one stayed in during travel; some were large flashy
buildings with bright lights and dozens of windows stretching tall
into the sky, weird sounds, music and laughter trickled out of
cracked windows and doors. These were so foreign to Nea she didn’t
even know what to call them. There was a fenced in area with dozens
of tents, oddly shaped and situated carriages that seemed to be
lived in.  One lot was full of tall sturdy trees that had to
be thirty feet or more in the air, among the branches were wooden
homes and swaying paths, Nea could barely comprehend how one lived
among trees.

Though it must have been miles to walk it only took
a minute or so and Nea realized time, space and distance here was
much different. They finally came to stand in front of a building
that seemed to be a house, but not like any house she had ever
seen. It was at least four stories with a porch that wrapped around
connected with columns. It was made of wood and the windows were
oddly shaped.

“It’s a design from the future I find enjoyable.
It’s called American Colonial.”

“America? That uncivilized place they discovered
less than 100 years ago? I didn’t think it would ever amount to
more than an extension of England.” Nea laughed.

“It will one day be a huge nation and formidable.”
Bendis opened the white gate that surrounded the house and they
walked up matching steps. “A warning, inside is kind of disturbing.
Your mother and…well one other share the top floor away from the
rest…but the others, in death they have done what they could not in
life.”

Nea felt horrible as they approached the house, like
bugs were crawling all over her. She shivered, this wasn’t
right.

“What you feel is the warning in place to make sure
the other spirits in Limbo do not come here. However there are
always those bored, foolish or think they are immune to the
violence that lingers inside,” Bendis explained.

“You give them access to victims?” Nea was
horrified.

“Only those stupid enough to ignore the warnings and
the rumors.”

“Will they know me? Speak to us?” Nea asked, trying
to ignore images Bendis has just given her.

“Not unless you speak first, I advise not drawing
attention to yourself.” They opened the door and the first thing
Nea noticed was the smell, like concentrated female, food and the
underlying scent of sickness and blood, sour with hints of iron.
The house was dark inside and furnished nicely, stale air lingered
in the room with the occasionally wafts of a fresh breeze from a
window somewhere. There was barely any light in the hallway.

“My mother can’t live like this.” Nea said, her
throat clogged with unshed tears.

“She doesn’t.” Was all Bendis would answer, “Come
upstairs.”

“Wait. What about the children? The babies killed
before they could become blights on the family? Those who never
reached puberty?” Nea sounded frantic; was she about to see a room
full of twisted children?

“Thankfully the curse spares you if you never reach
puberty, they have all gone on to the afterlife, though they cannot
reincarnate until the curse is over. I do not want to run the risk
of them being born back into the same family, which happens
sometimes,” Bendis informed a relieved Nea.

They walked and passed a door leading to the
basement, and a formal dining room where a five course meal seemed
to have been laid out and left to rot. Nea became even more
horrified the further inside she went. She knew Bendis had wanted
her to see this, but the twisted sadness in this house was almost
too much.

The first room Bendis directed her to seemed to be a
living room, there was a box in the corner with flashing light and
a woman sat on the couch. She was surrounded by boxes, trinkets,
clothing, jewels and held a small metal device in her hand she was
talking into.

“Yes and two of the Cordial Glass Apples….Yes and I
don’t care if it costs more to ship them first class.” The words
didn’t make sense to Nea but she knew the voice, squinting into the
darkness she recognized the woman.

“Anna.” She breathed, “What is she doing?”

“I had her shown the joys of ordering goods through
a futuristic device you won’t see for years.”

“But how can she get them here?”

“Magic, of course. None of it exists outside this
realm but she thinks she is happy being able to have all the
creature comforts she could ever want and more. When she isn’t in
here she is in her room drinking herself into a stupor and passing
out on whatever man she has hired for the night. There are quite a
few to choose from, those in the Tent City are not picky.” Bendis
shrugged and they continued on.

“Can they leave?”

“Two can, including your mother. The others can’t. I
can’t allow them free access to more victims by allowing them to
wander. This house sits like a dark beacon, most of the other souls
are afraid of it.” Bendis beckoned her on.

They almost ran into another young woman coming down
the hall, Bendis pushed Nea to the wall as they let her pass.

“Anna, come taste what I made in the kitchen!” The
girl called, she was about 20 years old, her eyes wide and
frantic.

“Go away Beth. Every time I let you feed me I wind
up sick for days! I am not like your friends, you can’t kill me.”
Anna’s voice came from the room, bored.

“But we’re sisters, we should spend time together,”
Beth begged.

“Why would I want to spend my afterlife letting you
poison me? Go kill one of those stupid men who peer through the
back windows instead.” Came the uninterested voice again.

Beth seemed to pout and when she turned back around
Nea caught a glimpse of deathly pale skin and smelled old blood as
she walked past them again, to a door farther down the hall beyond
the stairs.

There were two last doors on the first floor and Nea
could hear what sounded like scratching coming from one of them,
she looked at Bendis confused and afraid to see.

“The library, even dead they all like to have
knowledge and now it can cross years.” She waved a hand and the
door cracked open. Nea peered in and then took a step back.

There was a headless woman writing at the desk,
furiously scribbling. Her head was on the table and as she spoke
the body wrote.

“Madalina, what is she doing?” Nea whispered, the
scratching stalled for a moment and then sped back up as Nea
stepped farther away from the door.

“Writing her manifesto, its good she was killed when
she was…her ideas for trying to govern her entire town are
disturbing to say the least. Now that she has more knowledge of the
world she writes about how she would take over and rule it all,
with a majority of it being through deceit and bloodshed.”
 Bendis led away from the door, towards the staircase.

Before they could start up the stairs a woman rushed
down it, she was naked and dripping wet, her skin shaded blue,
steam was rising off her. Nea watched as she ran into the room Anna
was in.

“Did my package come?”

“I have no idea.  Go away, I’m busy here.”

“All mail comes through you first, I want my
package.” The wet girl’s voice sounded weak and watered down, like
she was speaking under the water.

“It’s probably on the kitchen table where the rest
of the trash goes.” Anna dismissed.

“It’s precious! Next time just bring it to me!”

“It’s rape porn and disgusting. Why can’t you strike
a deal with one of those weirdos who live in the trees? It’s what
Catharine did.” Anna couldn’t hide her disgust, “and clean up after
yourself, you’re dripping water everywhere, can’t you wear a poncho
or something?”

The girl darted from the room, moving past them
towards the kitchen, she smelled of mold and wet decay.

“Barbara?” Nea asked, Bendis could only nod.

As they reached the second floor landing, Nea could
hear sounds of a carnal nature coming from at least two of the
bedrooms. She heard cries of pleasure, moaning, the slap of one
body against another and the scent of sex permeated the air.

“You don’t want to see any of that.” Bendis
advised.

“I should say not.” Nea wasn’t a prude, but she
could only guess, with what little dialogue she could hear, what
was going on.

“Agata and Marta are in one of the rooms, right?”
She asked speaking of the incestuous twins.

“Yes, when they aren’t engaged in whatever new kink
they have discovered they are being chased through the house by
other members of their family…Even in death they have a tendency to
steal. The other room is Catharine…” Bendis trailed off and Nea
could hear a small voice pleading to be let go.

“You don’t give her access to the corpses of
children.” Nea was shocked, her stomach clenched.

“No…but there are a spirits here who easily pass as
children. If they come to the door and Catharine is downstairs she
snatches them up and keeps them for as long as she would like.”

Nea marched over to the door, intending to rescue
the poor soul inside. She came up against a barrier and turned,
fury on her face as she glared at the Goddess.

“It’s not a pretty sight, because of her death she
is exactly like one of the bodies she used to favor. Besides, every
few months I come in here and resuce any of the souls that don’t
belong.” Bendis waved her hand and they both flinched as Catharine
shrieked in rage as her playmate disappeared.

“I can’t believe you allow other souls to get stuck
here with them.”

“I am not those souls’ Goddess, my only concern are
these women.”

“I haven’t seen Clara or Maragareth yet,” Nea
commented changing the subject and clearing her head.

“If you must.” Bendis sounded bored, but Nea knew
she wanted her to see everything. The Goddess pointed to two doors
at the far end of the hall way.

With a thought one door cracked open and Nea went to
peer in, she knew it was going to be horrible, but she couldn’t
look away.

In the first room Maragareth was dancing in an
elaborate costume, there was music playing, but unlike the
attractive woman Nea was used to seeing this one was sick, she was
pasty and sweating, like her skin would be clammy to the touch. Her
eyes held the brightness of fever and the room had a sickly sweet
smell.

“She’s just dancing.” Nea whispered over her
shoulder.

“Yes, but she is forever sick, she doesn’t tend to
have any vices left over from her old life, except her love of
costumes and dance. In a few minutes she’ll stop to throw up or
pass out.” Bendis said, Nea shut the door before she had to see
either of those events.

Nea swallowed, and wet her lips,
not sure if she wanted to see Clara. The girl had been
one
the first ordered
Strigoi kills and she wasn’t
proud of it. She peeked in the door and saw that Clara was sitting
on a bed, she wore what looked like a shiny fabric robe. She held a
blanket in her hands that was stained red and was rocking it. Her
room smelled of rotting meat, but Clara didn’t seem to mind. She
just rocked the bundle. Nea watched as she leaned down to kiss it
and came back up chewing something.