Chapter 7 - POWERS THAT BE
Content Warning:
Visceral Violence / Gore
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t one of the shit twins.”
Alba stood backed up against the wet brick wall of the alleyway, her heart pounding in her chest. The rain poured down from the overcast sky above and all around them she could hear the various city sounds of Fellhaven. People going about their day, traffic and the constant drone of industry. They were surrounded, in theory, by people. But she knew better than to think any of them would step up to help her now.
As Allen and the Wicker Boys approached her she knew she was in trouble. She had tried to circumvent their territory but had only managed to run right into them on her way home to Luna.
“Which one were you again? Luny or Alby? You both look like fucking shit so I guess it doesn’t matter.” said Allen and the two Wicker Boys laughed.
Alba knew she couldn’t stand up to the three boys physically, she wasn’t as quick and strong as Luna. Her only choice was to talk her way out of it.
What are you doing, Alba? She could hear her sister’s voice in her head.
“Oh, I guess we’ve never formally been introduced. I’m Alba.” she said with a smile.
Just get out of there, her sister spoke from her subconscious.
“I don’t give a fuck what you’re name is. Do you have anything valuable on you?” asked Allen.
She did. Bundled up beneath her cloak was a pocket watch she had snatched from a noble when he wasn’t looking. It could get the twins enough money to survive through the next couple of months if they were lucky. So she could not give it to them no matter what.
But she recognized the look in their eyes. She knew if she didn’t give them something they would just take whatever she had. She had to use her words, appeal to their ego.
Don’t do it, Alba. Don’t be like those slimy fucks.
“I don’t actually, but if you want to know a good score, there’s a blue blood just a couple of blocks down the street, over by Samuel’s. I saw he had a nice gold pocket watch. If anyone could get it, it would be Allen and The Wicker Boys, right?”
Allen looked at her with curiosity. Then he looked at his two cronies and they laughed.
Before she could react, Allen spun around, wrapped his long fingered hand around her head and smashed it into the brick wall behind her.
Alba collapsed on the watery street and dropped her hidden bundle.
“Huh, well what do you know? You DO have something for us.”
Allen kneeled down and picked up the bundle. Alba almost reached out to claw his eyes out but she knew that would be a mistake. That would possibly spell her untimely demise. Or worse.
And it seemed that Allen recognized that violent intent in her eyes and he smiled. As he crouched in front of her, the bundled up pocket watch in hand, he leaned in to whisper to her.
“You know my boys will do unspeakable things to you if you even try, bitch.”
Alba bit her tongue and stayed her hand.
Allen smiled crookedly. “Thought so.”
He then stood up and walked away down the alleyway with his two hoodlums.
“See you and your shit sister soon.”
Alba watched the trio vanish into the darkness, her anger, frustration and hurt burbling inside her. She wanted to scream as loud as she could. She wanted to tear them apart. But she was too weak to do anything.
This is what you get for trying to talk pretty like those lying nobles, her sister said in her head.
Mr Prim pulled out a knife and held it up for the two of them to see.
“You know what the clergy say about witchcraft?” he asked in his thin and wispy voice.
The two of them, who had avoided the church like the plague, shook their heads.
“They say it’s an affront to the gods. They say that magic is evil and that's why we’ve all but purged it from the world in these past few centuries. Witches, warlocks, even the hilderfolk. All of it…unclean. And now the doctors have gone and undone their work. They’ve spit on the sacrifices of our forefathers by creating your kind. By trying to bring back magic into the world they’ve created abominations. The gods would smile upon me if I killed you here and now. You’re not even human. It wouldn’t even be a sin.”
Alba had found herself in that alleyway all over again and just like back then she was still powerless.
“The general wouldn’t be happy if you killed us.” said Alba, trying yet again to feebly talk her way out of an impossible situation. “I imagine he’d just throw you out to be torn apart by those beasts.”
Mr Prim turned to look at her. His eyes were wide and manic but she could see contemplation in them as well.
“You should just leave.” said Nikolai. “There’s no need for this to turn ugly.”
Mr Prim now turned his gaze at Nikolai and his expression of uncertainty was quickly replaced with disgust.
“You think to tell ME what to do?” Prim asked, pointing the tip of his knife towards the boy. “After everything you’ve done, you think she’d trust you if she knew how many patients suffered because of you? Just so you could get a gentler deal?”
Alba looked at Nikolai, awaiting a denial, a lie, something. But the shame she saw on Nikolai’s face said it all.
“And you think that makes us friends?” Mr Prim continued. You think that gives you leverage? You’re both filthy, disgusting warlings. Nothing but walking, talking abominations to be put down, like pigs to slaughter.”
Alba’s mind raced, frantically trying to find something that she could do or say that didn’t result in the two of them getting their throats slit. Mr Prim was armed and taller than them so could easily defeat them in a physical altercation. If she shouted for help he’d just kill them faster, before any of the soldiers showed up. IF the soldiers ever showed up.
That only left one alternative; their powers.
Alba didn’t know what Nikolai’s powers were but she knew she could turn her blood into weapons, much like Luna. She had done it once before but she wasn’t sure she could do it again.
But one thing she had been good at doing, instinctively, was influence through blood. But could she do it again? If she did it on purpose, could she extend its effects, could she control it? And if she did it, could she do it fast enough to save their lives.
“Young mister Alvarez. I think it’s high time you saw some recompense for your actions, don’t you agree?” Mr Prim asked as he lifted the point of the knife up to Nikolai’s cheek.
It was now or never.
Alba suddenly lunged forward, grabbing Mr Prim’s knife wielding arm, and pulled it back away from her companion.
“What are you-” Mr Prim asked just as she bit down on his arm.
Alba’s canines sunk in, piercing through his skin and filling her mouth with blood. The act sent a wave of ecstasy over her consciousness, threatening to engulf her completely. But she pushed through it, keeping her focus on the task at hand.
As Mr Prim squealed in pain she used her direct contact with his blood to push her consciousness into his mind. There she was caught up in the swirl of anger, hatred and disgust. She could feel all his hateful conditioning through the church as if she had been there with him. But all these emotions, all these fears and longings were feeble and weak. Weak enough for her to exert her will upon them.
Like a spider nestled at the center of a great web, she pulled on the strings presented to her, and just like that began reining in the very fabric of Mr Prim’s personality. Chaining it up in a bloody web of her own.
And then, her consciousness returned to her own mind.
Nikolai was holding on to Mr Prim’s other hand, with a look of fear and confusion on his face. Mr Prim, however, had his head reared back, eyes rolled in their sockets, with a frozen expression of exaltation.
“What did you do?” he asked in a hushed but serious voice.
Alba let go of Mr Prim, whose body remained frozen in place. She could still feel her influence on him.
“I tamed a wild dog.” she said, unable to contain the spite she felt for the man in this moment.
She then snapped her finger and all of a sudden Mr Prim woke up and stood up right. His expression was vacant but his eyes remained fixed on Alba. Seeing this, Nikolai slowly and carefully released his grip on the man.
“Now, Mr Prim. How about you escort me to Nikolai’s things?” she asked in a curt but malicious manner.
Mr Prim smiled and nodded.
“Of course…right this way…”
He then turned and began slowly walking towards the door. Alba fell in step but when Nikolai did the same she gave him a pointed look.
“Maybe you should stay here. I don’t know if I can trust you anymore.”
“Well tough shit. I’m not staying here to die.”
Mr Prim opened the door and casually walked out. There were soldiers close by who immediately looked at them with curious expressions. But since the two of them were being “escorted” by a staff member they didn’t interfere. This also made Alba refrain from resolving the situation with Nikolai right then and there.
“Fine.” she whispered. “Just don’t draw any unwanted attention towards us.”
Luna slowly skulked through the darkness of the East Wing. Darting from room to room, slowly inching her way to the North Wing security door.
As she approached she heard growling and repeated impacts and soon she saw why.
Huddled around the first floor security door to the North Wing were three of those feral creatures trying to break their way through the reinforced metal door. There was a barricade in the way but what was curious was the fact that the door was moving. It wasn’t locked and whenever they smashed into it the door slammed shut only to swing open again, only to be then blocked by the barricade.
The feral creatures had clearly become so animalistic that they’d lost their critical thinking skills and she could see that if they’d just rip apart the barricade they could easily enter the North Wing.
On the second floor, right above her, she could hear the heavy thuds of something massive stomping its way northward. Its footsteps seemed to slowly move down the hallway towards the security door. The feral creatures seized their efforts and looked up, sniffing at the air. And then they turned to run down the hallway, towards Luna, but unaware of her presence.
Wasting no time she dashed towards them, catching them by surprise. She slid across the floor and ascended at them, swinging her blades in a flurry of strikes. Catching on in the knee, another in the throat and the third with a swift jab into the right temple. One fell down dead, the second clutched its throat in an attempt to stop its lifeblood from draining through the open wound and the third staggered, attempting to maintain its stance.
But Luna quickly descended on the third creature and repeatedly, with great fury, stabbed both blades into the creature’s chest until it fell to the floor, dead.
Upstairs she heard heavy impacts as something large attempted to break the security door there. The frenzied creature that had once been Luna, lurked in the darkness until she was certain she was safe. Then she carved the three creatures up and used her powers to pull out their blood. She needed more. More. More.
She then looked at the barricaded security door before her and quickly found a way to push herself through, although it would take some time.
She didn’t know what was driving her. But there was something. Some need, some urge to go to the North Wing.
The dazed Mr Prim led the two warlings through the busy administration wing, passing by orderlies, doctors and soldiers. All of which gave them curious looks but none said anything as most seemed to just assume that he was fetching the two of them for the general, most likely.
He took them past the main entrance to where a makeshift storage room had been set up in what had once been a little cafeteria on the first floor. There various supplies, tools, equipment and weapons had been placed in an organized manner and in the far end of the room they quickly found Nikolai’s bag and carrion weapon.
“Yes!” Nikolai exclaimed quietly as he darted towards his things. “If we’re lucky we can slip back into the East Wing to find Luna and then get the fuck out of here.”
“Is it true what he said?” Alba asked. “Did you really rat out your fellow patients?”
Nikolai slung his bag over his shoulder and turned to look at her. The look of broken trust was plain to see.
“I did what I had to in order to survive, Alba. I’m not proud of it…”
“And how do I know you won’t do the same to us?” she asked. “How do I know you won’t just discard us in order to save yourself?”
“I wouldn’t do that.” Nikolai tried to convince her.
“I don’t know what you’d do. I don’t know what you’ve been up to. I can’t trust you, Nikolai.”
“You can’t! No more than I can trust you and your sister, who have both proven you have a taste for blood! How do I know you won’t just turn on me and drain me when I least expect it? I thought maybe it was just Luna but now you as well?”
Nikolai pointed at her face and Alba suddenly realized her mouth was still covered in blood. She sheepishly wiped it away.
Nikolai tried to think of something else to say, something to calm the waters, but then he noticed the fluttering eyes of Mr Prim.
“I think he’s waking up.” he said, pointing at the orderly.
Alba turned and saw what he meant and immediately grabbed his bloodied hand and reasserted her will upon him.
“And then there’s that.” Nikolai continued. “You just robbed this man of his free will. I know you did it to save us but…but you can see how that’s hard to justify. You can see why that gives me pause, right?”
Alba turned back to him, after having brainwashed Mr Prim, yet again. Her eyes were sad at the notion of Nikolai fearing that she would do the same to him, and yet they didn’t have any other options.
“I guess none of us are getting out of here with our hands clean, huh?” she said eventually.
The silence hung in the air. Was that a remorseful statement or a reluctant threat?
“Come on. Let’s find Luna and get out of here.” she said before turning to Mr Prim to give him new orders.
“Sure.” said Nikolai, uncertain of this alliance now.
The two of them now followed Mr Prim back to the eastern side of the North Wing, in the hopes that they could slip through a security door back into the East Wing. They stayed close to the orderly, to avoid suspicion, but were hesitant to stay too close to one another at the moment.
As they approached the room they had been kept in earlier they suddenly heard a familiar, loud and commanding voice ring out behind them.
“And where do you think you’re going?!”
The unmistakable tone of General Stockton echoed throughout the hall, driving all those previously occupied to stop what they were doing and turn to look. Now all eyes were on them.
Nikolai and Alba turned to see General Stockton standing twenty or so feet away from them with four soldiers flanking him. His expression was grave and his right hand rested on the pistol holstered at his side. Both of them knew that the slightest bit of miscalculation could rapidly end in their demise.
“Tell them you’re just taking us back to our room.” Alba whispered to Mr Prim.
“I’m just taking them back to their room.” said Mr Prim, vacantly.
Stockton’s heavy brows furrowed even deeper.
“Have you bewitched him?” the general asked.
A hushed murmur went through the nearby staff, patients and even soldiers. All were now paying close attention to the vacant expression on Mr Prim’s face, but none dared to say anything.
Alba, once again, frantically went through their options in her head. If they made a mad dash for it they’d be shot easily. They were also surrounded by soldiers and staff who’d most likely tackle them immediately. If she could somehow get close to Stockton she might be able to influence him…but then she’d have to injure him to get in direct contact with his blood, and then everyone would know she had bewitched him as well.
“Truly, warlings are the foulest scum on this earth.” General Stockton continued when the two of them offered no reply. “Vermin who will infest the minds of good, god fearing folk. I had sought to keep you alive so that Dr Brimwall’s work would not be in vain. But now it is clear that his work has yielded an infestation of apocalyptic potential. It is clear I must put you and your kin down, for good.”
General Stockton pulled out his pistol and pointed it at the two of them.
Alba’s mind quickly jumped to several solutions. Hide behind Mr Prim! Hide behind Nikolai, use him as a shield! Run and hope for the best!
But her body was frozen in place.
This was their place in the world. At the bottom of the food chain. Victims and puppets for the powers that be, to be abused and discarded as they saw fit.
It was then that a loud crashing sound was heard from somewhere upstairs and behind the general and his men. The loud metal clattering was soon followed by distant screams and shouts. And growls.
“They’ve entered the North Wing.” Stockton said gravely, before turning to the soldiers flanking him. “Head up now and secure the second floor!”
The soldiers tried desperately to hide the fear in their eyes as they nodded and prepared to turn and move out. But then their eyes caught something that only deepened their expressions of fear. Their eyes looked past Stockton and even past the two warlings and the orderly, fixed on something horrible.
Alba and Nikolai looked at one another before turning around.
Whistling.
Standing at the end of the crowded hallway, past all the writhing patients and flippant doctors, past the disregarding soldiers and the bloodstained walls and floor, stood Mama Brutus.
Its form had only grown more twisted and horrific. Its smile stretched unnaturally far, revealing rows of long and jagged fangs. And its singular bloodshot eye had been almost entirely consumed by its long and feral coat of hair. The head nurse’s uniform it wore had become almost entirely bloodstained and it now stood on all four of its elongated appendages.
Everyone stared at this horror in frozen fear as the silence droned on, broken only by the words uttered from Mama Brutus’ split lips.
“I found you…”
