Preys and Predator Part II; the monster and witches' Chapter 49

 

49.

The journey was fast, or rather, the father and daughter only woke when they arrived at the mansion. They disembarked from the carriage, and for the first time, Lauren looked at the huge mansion. The drive unloaded the baggage and then took off.

“It looked huge.” Lauren said.

“Yes, it is……. Wait, you can see it?” Spielberg looked at Lauren.

“I think so.” Lauren smiled. “Since last night before supper. I was ……unsure. Was it a dream or ... real?”

“Can you see me?” Spielberg asked.

“I think so. You look older.” Lauren reached out with the right hand to touch the father’s face. “You have a smoother chin.”

“Oh my God, you could see.” Spielberg wept in tears of joy. “I …...”

“I did when I said the carriage was waiting for us. It was a gift from Carmilla.” Lauren looked at the father. “Are you glad?”

“I … I do not know. I meant I am happy you can see, but how and why baffles me.” Spielberg embraced his daughter.

“Shall we go in, Father?” Lauren led her father.

Soon they were back at the dining hall, and the table was laden with food and drinks. There were also the witches’ items in front of Carmilla: a mini-pentacle, or paten, a disc-shaped altar consecration tool with a sigil, or magical symbol, engraved or inscribed upon it. the athame, the carving knife, black-handled and usually inscribed in the Theban alphabet. It is used to direct energy for the casting of magic circles, controlling spirits, and other ritual purposes. There was also the wand, symbolic of the element of air or fire. It can be made from any material, including wood, metal, and rock, and Wiccan wands are sometimes set with gemstones or crystals. It was to summon certain spirits with whom it would not be meet to use the athame. And not to be missed was the chalice, or goblet, ritually in use as the symbol of the element of water.

The palm-sized cauldron was at the side of the items. It is often used for making brews like oils and incense-burning and can be used to hold candles. The fire is often lit within the vessel, and the flames are leaped over as a simple fertility rite or at the end of a handfasting. If filled with water, a cauldron can be used for scrying. It plays a large role in Celtic magic in a similar fashion to that of Cerridwen's cauldron.

Facing it was Carmilla.

On the right side of the table were Annabelle and Lissa.

“Mother?” Lauren looked at the figure that resembled her mother. She rushed towards the figure.

“Yes, darling. It is me.” Lissa replied. “I am here.”

The mother and daughter embraced there next to the table before they sat next to each other.

“Sit down, Spielsdorf.” Carmilla invited the man to the table. “Please be seated across from your family. The food and drinks are real. You may induce them. My other guest had arrived.”

There was a whiff of wind, and the guest arrived.

“Lady Karnstein, I am pleased to see you.” Vlad ‘Dracula’ Tepes appeared at the other end of the table. His brides were not with him. “You looked……”

“Pale? I am bloodless, if that is what you meant.” Carmilla smiled. “I made my peace with the sisters. We are no longer at conflict.”

“I am glad.” Vlad ‘Dracula’ Tepes lowered his guard. “Please forgive me. I was only wary of us meeting here ……alone.”

“Shed your oafish behavior.  Do be seated there.” It was the voice of Annabelle. She was motioning to the other end of the table. “We are to talk.”

Vlad took his seat there and faced Carmilla. They are a table length apart and a table width from the ladies but still a distance. He saw the mortal taking the seat on the other side of the table. He sensed no hostility there.

“Vlad, I have called my peace with the covens. You may have sensed it. I am dying.” Carmilla looked at the vampire.

“I could cure you. I offered you immortality.”   Vlad leaned forth on the table.

“I am aware of your cure, but do not forget I had it……unknowingly, but the witches held an elixir to the vampire’s lust.” Carmilla smiled. “I should have studied that before we meet.”

“Then it would have been …… just physical interaction between us.” Vlad smiled. “I have to be discreet in the presence of the ladies, more in particular the young innocent ones.”

“Well, a f…… Ok, we will be discreet.” Carmilla saw Lissa staring at her. “As I was saying, Vlad, our union cannot be done. It is not that I am dying now, but I held no love for you. I do, however, love one other.”

Carmilla stared at Lauren.

“I had given her my real love and my blood essence to revive her life force and…… her sight.” Carmilla smiled. “Yes, my dear Laure. This is me, Carmilla, your friend.”

“You are beautiful. As I had imagined then, and now seeing you told me I was not wrong.” Vlad looked towards Lauren.

“I……”

“Hold your lust, Vlad ‘Dracula’ Tepes!” Lissa cried out. “You…”

“I held none, mother of the child. My love is for Carmilla… only her.” Vlad smiled at the child’s mother.

“Just in case you changed your mind, Lauren is different.” Annabelle looked towards Vlad. “Have you heard of the Power of Three?”

Vlad felt the tingling on his spine.

“The power of three is universal and is the tripartite nature of the world as heaven, earth, and waters. It is human as body, soul, and spirit... It is a symbol of the unity of body, mind, and spirit. Also, three is the number of perfections, or completion.” Lissa explained.

“Lauren holds ours. She is the Three.” Carmilla smiled. “Vlad, you are no match for her.”

“I……. I meant no harm to her. I shall take my leave then.” Vlad stood up and turned to the door. “However, she …….”

“Do not tempt me, Vampire.” Vlad heard the call and found himself stuck to the wall above the doorway, face facing the stony surface.

“I am the Three.”

“Oh God!” Spielberg looked with dismay at his daughter. She stood there next to her mother with her right hand held out.

“How …….” Spielberg looked to Lissa.

“It is our legacy, my love. For us to protect Lauren, we have imparted our powers to her. She will be more powerful than all of us combined; with our power, she will head the coven now.” Lissa looked to Spielsdorf.

“Lissa, she is our daughter. How could you do this?” Spielberg cried out to his lover. “For God’s sake, she is……”

“Father, I am well. I knew of my existence and my role to the coven.” Lauren looked at her father. “When … during the accident, I was given the vision of my existence. Mother had told me I will need to learn. For me to do it, I was to see myself. I was given a new vision. I had years to prepare for Carmilla. She saw me at the mansion and recognized my role. She felt drawn to me, like a sister, which I never had then. We confided and slept together, dreamt in unison…….”

“Stop it, Lauren.” Spielberg called out. He looked towards his lover. “I cannot……”

“Accept it, my love. Lauren is a witch, not made but born. Annabelle has three sons, no daughter….  Her lover wanted a girl, but she knew if she did, there would be……. She did not want it. She loved her sons; there were two then, and then the last was a son too. She felt he was not ready.”

“Yes, I was not. My love, your Общий; my Alf will never accept it. I was not ready for him to raise a daughter. He was a monster in his own life. He killed many innocent lives, including some of my own kinsmen.  He raised two of them in William and Victor. I saw it in them, the brutality in their ways, and when Ernest was born, I refused to let them raise the last son. I nurtured the last son. It was unforeseen when Ernest, who was to be a scholar, took up my skills. He found the cauldron first and was playing at it. Soon, he learned to read and found my books. I knew he was not my daughter, but he inherited her in him. I indulge with him, unknown to Alf. He was good, but he was not a daughter. He had the ailment of movement, and it was one method to cure him, but I failed. I died not long soon after.”

“Witches!” Spielberg sighed out.

“Yes, we are. Our coven required daughters. Spielberg, I love you.” Lissa pleaded with the man. “I never meant to …….”

“Hurt me? No, you did not. You destroyed my life.” Spielberg looked at Lissa. “We never should have met.”

“It was our fate, and she is our legacy.” Lissa looked at Lauren. “You hold something that she needs. Please hand back the jewel.”

Spielberg looked at the cane in his left hand. The jewel there glowed. He wanted to toss it away.

“Lauren needs it to complete herself. Please give it to her.” Carmilla said,

"Spielsdorf, you may hate us, but do it for your daughter. Her journey has just started, and to survive, she needs that. Do it for Lauren, please.”

“Hey, someone please free me.” Vlad called out.