Epilogue: The Black Chapel (Excerpt)
Carina groaned as she was thrown unceremoniously to the ground. She could taste blood from where the ball gag had chipped one of her molars when the thug standing over her had shoved it hard into her mouth. She could feel Estrella's body against her back, and cowered against the other woman. She felt very warm in comparison to the coolness of the non-descript room. She scuttled against the floor with great difficulty because of her restraints, and wrestled her way to a sitting position, sweaty and tearful. She was very afraid, and cast a sidelong look to Estrella, who seemed to be rather calm, given the dire circumstances. Her mahogany skin was void of sweat, and her dark eyes only briefly flickered over to Carina, but she felt reassured, just by that simple look. Estrella had that way about her. It made her feel a swell of affection for her sister's best (and probably only) friend, and Carina rolled her body so her trembling fingers could wrap around Estrella's hand, feeling both the warmth of her skin, and the cool metal of her three robotic fingers.
"Melba will be happy," one of the kidnappers muttered to the other.
"Let's hope so," the other replied, fingering his neck.
"You think so?" A voice suddenly replied. Carina bit back a muffled yelp of surprise as the voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. In the corner of the room, a woman appeared, as if materializing from the shadows. "And… why would that be, Gerald?"
The taller of the kidnappers swept into a bow, keeping his eyes on the ground. Estrella stared straight ahead, while Carina kept her eyes screwed tightly shut. She didn't hear footsteps, but suddenly felt the woman standing in front of her. She screamed from behind her ball gag as the woman's icy, inhumanly strong fingers clamped around her chin, and forced her face upwards. Carina kept her eyes slammed shut, but even through her closed lids, she could make out the impression of the strange woman's irises - hypnotic discs of glowing, burning orange with a mere pinprick for a pupil.
"Why would I be happy?" The woman asked again.
"Lady Melba…" Gerald began.
The woman named Melba gave a quiet sigh that sounded more like a death rattle, and plucked the black toque from Carina's head, a lock of blonde hair falling across her forehead, having come loose from her bun. "Blonde hair," Melba murmured, her voice laced with malice. "I told you brown hair."
Carina couldn't help but open her eyes, and briefly looked at the other woman's face. It was icy and remote, her skin paler than the snow that had been falling all day. Her poisonous orange eyes glowed with anger, and the hand that gripped Carina's chin was covered in rune tattoos. Curse tattoos.
"I told you brown hair, so you bring me blonde hair." Melba stood up quickly, still gripping Carina in her iron grasp. "Oh, and I think I told you something else. What was it…? Oh, yes. I told you she was a fucking Vampire!" She screamed, throwing Carina away from her. She went skidding across the floor and hit the wall with a heavy thud. It knocked the wind out of her, and she gasped and sputtered for air, but the ball gag made it difficult.
"We thought this one would be a good bargaining chip!" Gerald offered, still bowed. "The girl's obviously a relative."
Melba glared at Gerald, and then quicker than Carina or Estrella could see, she lunged at her servant, and plunged her hand right into his chest like his ribcage were made of parchment. With a loud squelching sound, she pulled out some massive gob of flesh that had probably been a vital organ. Carina felt bile rise in her throat, and started to silently pray that her sister knew where they were.
Melba clenched and unclenched her right, tattooed fist, looking down at Gerald's gurgling body. Her phosphorous eyes now glowed like suns in the presence of his seeping blood. The Vampiress began to feed, and Estrella watched the whole thing with detached amusement. That amusement grew, and made her eyes dance with it, when the door to the room was kicked open, and a figure stood there, katana sword flashing in the candlelight, dripping blood on the floor. She came into the room, holding her precious sword in one hand, a severed head in the other. Rigel dropped the head loudly on the floor, and nudged it towards Melba with the toe of her boot.
The head rolled, and Melba looked to see Ishmael's surprised, dead face staring back up at her, his once phosphorous cobalt blue eyes now dull and rotten black, his mouth opened in one last scream, revealing his long fangs. Melba was on her feet in a flash, blood smeared on her hand and mouth, gore dripping from her monstrous fangs. Her glowing orange eyes locked with Rigel's, the vile yellow ring around Rigel's warm brown irises glowing with the same intensity as the other woman's, excited in the presence of bloodshed.
"So…" Rigel murmured in her maddeningly calm voice. "I hear you've been looking for me."