Legacies of Blood

“Was any of it real between us?” Elaina asked, her voice quavering. “Was this always who you were?”

Royce’s eyes, fierce and defiant amid the flames and debris, softened for a moment as she regarded Elaina. There was conflict in those eyes of hers---eyes that Elaina had gazed into late at night so many times during their time together at Willowridge. For a moment, they seemed familiar to the redhead again.

“Some,” Royce admitted in a hushed voice, blinking away what could have been a tear. “More than I should have allowed.”

“Why?” Elaina’s voice cracked again, which was only made worse by the smoke. “I don’t understand.”

“It was just a bit of fun at first,” Royce explained, leaning down and picking up the mirror of Oberon from the rubble. Like the scepter, it showed no sign of damage. “Something about you was very alluring---very appealing. But people like you aren’t meant for people like me.”

Elaina’s brows furrowed in confusion. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

The witch’s face turned down into a frown. “I saw a kinship in you, I think---people who had been cast out like garbage. But whereas you rose ever higher, I sank to the bottom and nearly drowned in the filth. I’m no good, Elaina.”

“It doesn’t have to be that way,” the swordmage objected, picking her sword out of the rubble and holding it shakily at her side. “You have a choice in it.”

“I don’t,” the vishanti argued, her voice cracking. “You don’t understand because I never told you. The things I’ve had to do and have yet to do... they’re terrible. Before I got involved with you, I was fine with that. I’d made my peace with it. But now...?”

Royce shook her head desperately, sparing one finger to wipe a solitary tear from her eye. “It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done.”

“Royce, please, if you just---!”

“It’s too late, Elaina!” Royce shouted angrily, her hand running down the front of her body as she wove healing magic into her flesh. “I gave you a chance to come with me, and you refused. We all have decisions we have to live with.”

It took Elaina a moment to realize what Royce had done, healing her wounds from the explosion she had triggered in the alchemy lab. If she was able to use her magic again, it meant that somewhere, there was a break in the limestone barrier around the property. Elaina assumed it must have been somewhere around back where the lab was.

“Now I have to start all over,” Royce muttered, perturbed. But her demeanor changed again almost instantly. “Luckily, you’re here. My perfect plan B.”

The witch peeled the tattered remains of her clothing from her body, exposing her nudity as she took a step closer to Elaina. The hungry gleam in Royce’s eyes caused Elaina to recoil for the first time with the witch. “What are you doing?”

“Without you, I had to seek out the combination of spirits I needed for the resonance to get home,” Royce explained, reaching out toward Elaina to beckon her closer. A wisp of magic rose from her fingers as they moved, pulling at something deep inside the swordmage.

Elaina took another step back, resisting the surge of desire to go to the woman and give her body to her. She nearly stumbled over Steinbach, who was sitting in a heap against the wall. He looked up at slowly, his eyes distant and unable to focus on her fully.

“Lust and pain,” Royce continued, biting her lip. “That’s you, Elaina. You carry it around with you everywhere, a unique mix that seemed too good to be true when I first laid eyes upon you. I couldn’t imagine my luck, but then you got involved with the landgraf. I knew I couldn’t wait for you to come back. I had to move.”

Elaina gripped the sword at her side tighter, unable to raise it in her own defense. “But now I’m here.”

“Now you’re here,” she confirmed. “So I can use you to get home again. It won’t hurt much, I promise. You have so much of it that you carry already, after all.”

“Red,” Steinbach murmured next to Elaina’s legs. “She killed three people just now. Maybe more.”

The reminder her helped the swordmage push the desire and fear out of her mind with surprising speed. She raised her sword, pointing it at Royce defensively. “What happened to Kitch and Lenuta? Did you kill them?”

“They might still be alive,” Royce responded cavalierly. “They were in a separate room, so it’s possible.”

Elaina felt a spark of fury in her chest that began to catch fire throughout the rest of her body. Rather than throwing herself at Royce in a rage or even screaming at her, she worked swiftly in her mind through her other options. “Well, that would be really unfortunate, wouldn’t it?”

“Doesn’t matter to me much,” Royce remarked with a shrug, slowly continuing her advance. Steinbach caught her attention, and Elaina could see she was moments away from treating the man as a loose end. “I just need a little time with you to myself.”

“I don’t intend to let you use me like that, but if Lenuta was alive, you could use her fardoor instead of going through the hassle of a ritual,” Elaina argued bitterly. “Could have been a favor to all of us at this point.”

Royce’s head canted to the side briefly before she glanced back toward the rear of the building. “I would have noticed a fardoor standing around back there if she had it.”

“Unless she put it elsewhere,” Elaina replied, gesturing vaguely to the upstairs. “Resius was positive that she had one.”

“....bullshit,” Royce responded skeptically. The fact that Resius had been so sure of the fact carried more weight with the witch than if anyone else had made the claim, but she remained reluctant.

“It’s in the basement,” Steinbach murmured, clearing his throat to be heard better. “Against the far wall. It was covered with a sheet when we found it. But it needs a key.”

“It needs a key,” Elaina repeated, spreading her hands as she met Royce’s gaze again. “Lenuta probably has the key. So, if you heal them---all of them---I’m sure you’ll be able to get your hands on that key. What’s more, I won’t try to stop you. You’ll be out of here in no time, back to Tenebre Dontae.”

Royce pursed her lips thoughtfully, amethyst eyes darting between the two as she clicked her tongue a few times. “Couldn’t hurt to check. And if I heal them, you don’t lift a finger to stop me from leaving with the artifacts?”

“That’s right,” the swordmage confirmed, slowly slipping the sword back into its sheath in a show of good faith. It took a great deal of self-control to keep her composure, but it was for the good of the others for her to do so.

Royce turned the scepter over a couple of times in her hand before making a decision. With it, she motioned for Elaina to step aside. “After you.”

“Him too,” the redhead said, moving aside as she gestured down to Steinbach. Though her demeanor remained calm and composed, her anger continued to smolder just beneath the surface.

Royce sneered incredulously. “Him? He almost killed you on the bridge, Elaina. He’s psychotic. If there is one thing I could leave you with, it would be his cold, dead body.”

“If you actually care, you’ll leave him alive and warm,” Elaina snapped impatiently. “And I won’t have to draw my sword.”

Royce waved a hand dismissively before kneeling down in front of Steinbach. Reaching behind him, she pulled the most injurious of the wooden pieces from the man’s back. He let out a grunt with each one, but before she could begin properly healing him, the man drew another blade he’d hidden somewhere on his person. Royce caught him by the wrist with her Witch Hand and twisted the arm outward, away from her.

“I should fry you right now,” Royce snarled through gritted teeth, her eyes glowing eerily.

“Royce,” Elaina warned, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword. The witch held Steinbach’s gaze for a moment longer before the man finally dropped the dagger. As it clattered to the floor, she released him reluctantly and whispered a word in vishanti before placing a healing hex upon him with the Witch Hand.

“There,” Royce grunted shortly as she jumped back to her feet. “Now, for the others---if they’re alive.”

Elaina’s expression darkened at Royce’s remark. She hoped for everyone’s sake that Kitch and Lenuta were still holding on. She led the way, glancing over her shoulder to ensure that Royce was following close behind. She’d only given Karl the minimal amount of healing to keep him from falling unconscious or bleeding to death, but he was still in no condition to be following after them.

Many of the flames in the front room had begun to go out, but that wasn’t the case with those toward the back. A gaping hole in the back wall confirmed what Elaina had suspected---that the force of the blast had broken a section out of the limestone barrier along the back. There wasn’t much in the back left, from what she could see in the night. But it looked like none of the damage had extended beyond the barrier itself.

It was only a matter of time---minutes perhaps---that others would arrive to investigate the explosion. The faster she could get Royce away from the scene, the less lives would be placed in danger. With that in mind, she picked up her pace, checking the rubble of the back rooms for Kitch and Lenuta. To her surprise, she found them almost instantly.

Kitch had covered Lenuta out of reflex, interposing her armored body between the vishanti and the source of the blast. As a result, Lenuta had received only minor injuries, while Kitch had sustained the brunt of the punishment. What remained of her armor was twisted and warped. Lenuta had already started removing the other pieces to treat the kyrsahn’s wounds before they arrived.

“Quickly!” Elaina snapped at Royce, doing her best to ignore the puddle of blood that had formed under the warrior. Lenuta looked up at them startled, her eyes wild and desperate with the knowledge that there was nothing more she could do without access to the alchemy lab that had just been blown halfway to the bottommost layer of the hells.

Royce shot Elaina a dirty look before leaning down to look the armored Kyrsahn over. Identifying the most serious of the wounds in the unconscious kyrsahn’s torso, the witch placed her hand an inch from the wound and closed her eyes.

“*Vindikah*,” Royce whispered, just as she had with Steinbach. This time, the healing hex came slower and denser, filling the primary wound first before weaving through Kitch’s flesh to begin stitching the secondary wounds closed as well. Elaina didn’t watch the wounds as closely as she watched Lenuta, who appeared conflicted about what she was seeing.

As Royce moved to direct her attention to Lenuta, the older vishanti held a hand up to stop her. “I don’t want any of your help.”

“It’s part of the deal,” Royce insisted, smacking the hand to one side before placing the Witch Hand firmly on the woman’s forehead. With another whisper, she fed a less potent form of the healing hex into the woman, providing her with a minimal amount of healing the way she had with Steinbach.

Again, Lenuta slapped the hand away, looking between the two women with deep suspicion. “What deal? Haven’t you done enough damage?”

“She needs to use the fardoor,” Elaina answered as Royce stepped back. “Do you have a key for it?”

“What?” Lenuta looked between them, horrified by the suggestion. “Absolutely not. It’s the only thing that ties me back to my mother’s home. I’m not turning it over to you.”

Elaina kneeled beside the woman where she helped her back up to her feet. “Nothing is going to happen to whatever is left on the other side of the door. She’s not interested in it. She just wants to get back home. I told her we would let her go if she healed you up.”

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Lenuta objected angrily, jerking her arm away from Elaina. The look of betrayal in her eyes caused a wave of guilt to wash over Elaina, but the swordmage remained firm.

“Please,” she added quietly. “Before anyone else shows up to complicate the situation.”

Lenuta’s frown remained fixed on her face, but the older woman glanced back toward the taproom, understanding that things still had room to get worse if more people got involved. “Fine. But I’m the only one that can hold the key.”

“I suspected that might be the case,” Elaina responded. “Will you lead the way?”

Lenuta’s lips pressed into a thin line hesitantly but finally acquiesced. Glancing down at Kitch to ensure she would be alright for a few minutes while she brought the two to the basement, the older vishanti turned on her heels and started off at a brisk walk.

The alchemist led them into another of the ruined rooms, where a rug had been moved aside. A trapdoor was opened to reveal a wide stone staircase that made a steep descent below the ground floor. The door at the bottom was slightly ajar, presumably from Steinbach’s earlier investigation. Lenuta pushed the door open and guided them into the musty, low-ceilinged basement beyond.

Glancing around, Elaina noted the unremarkable space as they stepped into it, cluttered as it was with various pieces of old furniture draped with sheets. As they pushed past a collection of trunks piled high atop one another, the fardoor came into view. It leaned against the far wall, spanning the distance from the ceiling to the floor without so much as a quarter of an inch to spare. Both the frame and the door were made of dark, finely carved wood. Even Elaina, with her limited knowledge of the vishanti and Tenebre Dontae, could recognize the aged craftsmanship in every minute detail across the door’s surface.

“It’s beautiful,” Royce gasped in awe. “There can’t be many of these left in the entire realm, yet you have this one stuffed away in your basement.”

Lenuta produced an ornate key from inside her coat, organically curved and ornate as the door itself. It glimmered with a faint trace of magic as she held it between her finger and thumb. “It’s my family’s heritage, not some toy for your kind to toy with. So enjoy it while you can, because it’ll be the last time you ever do. I’m destroying it right after you reach the other side.”

“That’s awfully reckless of you,” Royce laughed heartily, her breasts bouncing slightly as she did. “You really hate witches so much that you would destroy your so-called heritage? For what---to spite me?”

“To deny it to your master when he finally awakens,” Lenuta replied grimly, narrowing her eyes at the witch. “Or any of the others in your circle.”

Royce’s amusement vanished immediately, her smile melting into a frown as her brows knitted together in concern.

“What is she talking about?” Elaina asked, shooting a quick look between them. “Lenuta, what’s going on?”

The older vishanti motioned toward the metal bands around Royce’s arms and thighs. “The Bands of Imonora are almost never used anymore, not since the priestesses of Sophitia became such a staple among our people. The only ones who use them are those whom the Sophitians refuse to touch.”

“She told me about that already,” Elaina commented. “It’s because of her gift.”

“Perhaps,” Lenuta replied. “But they carry the resonance not just of her own magic but of their very creation---as does that thing on her hand. When she casts hexes, I can feel the subtle taint contained within both. It’s a taint born of dark pacts, unclean alliances, and death.”

“Royce,” Elaina frowned as she turned her attention to the blonde. She couldn’t say why she cared at that point, considering she was moments away from being free from her. “What’s she talking about?”

“Just open the door already,” Royce demanded bitterly of Lenuta, ignoring Elaina entirely. The gemstones on the back of the Witch Hand glowed menacingly. “I’ve had about as much of you as I can handle.”

Lenuta stared daggers at Royce for a moment longer before turning toward the door where she inserted the key. She turned the key with one hand while turning the knob with the other. Recesses in the details of the door glowed a faint, pale purple, indicating the activation of the magic within. Then, with a gentle pull, Lenuta pulled the door open. The wood of the door crackled after remaining stationary for so long. Beyond, Elaina could see into the ruins of an old house and to an open moonlit night beyond.

“The fact she’s so hellbent on those particular artifacts tells me precisely which pacts taint her magic,” Lenuta continued as she stepped aside. “In our culture, it’s an ancient and terrifying creature that occupies a spot in our faith not unlike Mephisto or the other dukes of hell.”

“Enough, you old bat,” Royce snarled. “We’re done here.”

“A vampire,” Lenuta pressed on, ignoring Royce as she spoke directly to Elaina. “A traitor from Sophitia’s original circle who seeks to subjugate all vishanti.”

The gems on the back of Royce’s Witch Hand glowed brighter as she approached the older vishanti and the open door to Tenebre Dontae. Elaina didn’t trust that she would simply walk past her and let Lenuta be. The swordmage took a hesitant step after Royce in case she had to intervene.

“Ah!” Royce snapped, pointing a finger of the Witch Hand back at Elaina. “You stay right there. I don’t want you coming any closer.”

Her eyes then drifted to Lenuta, and she gestured for her to step away from the door. “In fact, why don’t you go stand over next to her.”

Elaina breathed a sigh of relief as Lenuta crossed the room to join Elaina, her face still contorted in a sour expression of disgust.

“You can’t let her---” Lenuta began, only for Elaina to raise a hand to cut her off. The swordmage knew what was at stake with what the vishanti had already given her. A scepter capable of controlling other vampires falling into the hands of an entity that sought to subjugate an entire realm of creatures descended from vampires was not a difficult scenario for Elaina to imagine. She had already decided on her next course of action when she’d first mentioned the fardoor. The information Lenuta had given her only underscored the fact that she’d made the right decision.

“Goodbye, Elaina,” Royce sighed, glancing back at her as she stood at the threshold of the door. “All told, I sincerely wish you had chosen to come with me.”

The witch raised her Witch Hand, pointing menacingly at the pair as she drew a breath to speak the words for a hex. Elaina stepped forward, crossing the length of the basement in the blink of an eye with a faestep, and tackled Royce backward through the door.

“How do you keep---?” Royce gasped as Elaina slammed into her, sending them both to the other side of the fardoor in a heap.

As Royce struggled to get out from under Elaina in the ruins of the home, the swordmage rolled her over onto the ground and raised her bracer. “Ruaig!”

The repulsor spell forced the witch back into the ground, crushing parts of the rotting wooden floor beneath her in the process, even as the back of her skull bounced off the ground. With the stunned moment it bought her, Elaina ripped the artifacts from under Royce’s arm and tossed them recklessly back through the door.

“Close it, close it!” Elaina yelled to Lenuta, who immediately sprung into action to cross the basement.

Screaming in frustration, Royce reached out and grabbed a handful of Elaina’s hair and wrenched it backward. Elaina winced and hissed through her teeth even as she drove her elbow into the witch’s solar plexus to interrupt her ability to reach the door. The two went back and forth, hampering one another’s movements and tripping each other up.

“Elaina!” Lenuta called with one hand on the door. “Come on!”

“Just close it!” Elaina ordered, jabbing her finger in Lenuta’s direction briefly before wrapping her arms around Royce to weigh her down. “NOW!”

“No, no, no!” Royce cried, digging the claws of the Witch Hand into Elaina’s skull as she reached desperately toward the door with her other hand. She was only an inch from reaching it before it slammed in her face and locked.

“NYYEAAARGH!” Royce shrieked, shoving Elaina violently away, her entire body tense with utter contempt and fury. She leveled the Witch Hand with the swordmage, her eyes wild and unhinged as she hammered the woman with a rapid succession of hexes. “*Framantat! Framantat! Framantat!”*

Elaina’s body twisted and contorted wildly as the hexborne convulsions tore through her, forcing her to the ground in a writhing mess. “Hckk!”

“You stupid, brainless, meddling fucking cunt!” Royce yelled hoarsely. “You’ve no idea what you’ve done! None!”

The swordmage did her best to pull herself along the rotten wooden floor to create distance between her and the enraged witch, even as her muscles continued to convulse and spasm throughout her body. “W-why don’t you t-tell me how you r-really feel?”

“Always some smarmy quip from you,” Royce growled in disgust, the gems on the back of the Witch Hand glowing more intensely. “You won’t have much to say beyond begging by the time I’m done with you!”

As she loosed the hex, Elaina pivoted at the waist, producing the bracer and focusing as best as she could, considering the amount of pain clouding her mind. “*Ruaig!*”

The collision of magic sent Elaina skittering along the rotted floor and through a collapsed wall in one direction while sending Royce hurling through the air and slamming into the surface of the fardoor in the other. Royce spasmed and convulsed for a few seconds as the rebounded effects of her own hex ran their course, providing Elaina with enough time to draw her blade.

"*Radanta lan!”* With a familiar hiss and crackle, a portion of Elaina’s sword was converted into raw, magical radiance, illuminating the darkness of the ruins around them with an intense blue glow. Not only was her sword infused with light, but it also became lighter, sharper, and altogether more deadly. Now, whatever Royce had to throw at her, she could meet with her blade to shunt harmlessly aside.

Elaina steadied herself with a deep breath, her nostrils flaring as she struggled to contain her emotions and remain focused. “You won’t beat me in a straight fight, Royce.”

“Maybe not in Zelmesca,” Royce snarled, wiping a trickle of blood from her nose as she got to her feet. The look in her eyes was like a cornered, feral predator. The runes and symbols along the golden Bands of Imonora flared a bright pinkish purple as the blonde’s body began to change. “But we’re in Tenebre Dontae now, and I’m far more powerful here than you realize.”