New Enemies Appeared, and... New Allies Made?(3)

In Alcina's chamber, the latter was dressed in a white nightgown since she had awoken from her sleep a few minutes earlier and was sitting on her bed reading a book after brushing her teeth. She was sitting there waiting for the maid to bring her morning breakfast when she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in."

As she said this, the door opened, revealing the maid with a tray containing her morning breakfast and a cup of red colored tea. When the maid entered her chamber, Alcina detect something strange from the maid, she was staring at the tray and was making no eye contact with Alcina, as if she didn't want to look at her. 

"Is something wrong?" Alcina asked the maid in curiousity, but the maid didn't respond but instead mumbled something.

"Hello?" 

The maid's mumbling intensified as Alcina questioned once more.

Alcina sighed, putting her book down, and got up to approach the maid, holding the maid's chin with her hand and lifting her head up so the maid could look at her, but as soon as she does that, she discovered something very horribly wrong with the maid's eyes and face.

"What the?"

The maid's eyes were a bit bloodshot as her face had a crazed look to it as if she had witnessed something that would drive a person insane. 

With a confused look, Alcina watches as the maid continues mumbling until it turns into crazy talking

"Answer me, damn it!"

The maid dropped the tray, and catching Alcina off-guard, the maid suddenly lunged towards her and tried to grab her head, but Alcina grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her up, keeping her a good distance away from her head as the maid tried to claw her arms and force Alcina to release her, but Alcina being a mutant, it was useless. 

"Calm down!"

"115! The orange eyed monsters! The aether! I see it! They will feast upon our souuuuullllls!!"

"What are you talking about?!" Alcina shouted in confusion, watching as the maid continued to scream like an insane person.

Until then, the room of her door got forcibly kicked open by Rodeo as he and Daniela immediately rushed in after hearing a loud commotion from outside.

"What the hell is this?"

"I don't know. She's lost it!" 

"Put her down."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

Alcina did so and put the maid down, who instantly tried to rush at Alcina again, only for Rodeo to quickly karate chop the back of her neck, knocking her out. Daniela, meanwhile, checked on her mother with a worried look.

"Mother, are you ok?! You're not hurt are you?!"

"I'm fine, dear." Alcina responded, "The scratches she gave me on my arms had healed instantly." She said, holding up her arms which appeared unharmed.

Daniela hugged Alcina, who hugged her back. After the mother and daughter embraced for a few seconds, Daniela turned to face the unconscious maid and began fiercely approaching her with her sickle in hand. However, Rodeo stood in front of her, obstructing her path.

"No, Daniela. You're not killing her."

"But she tried to hurt my mother!"

"Agreed, and I believe she should be made an example out of," Alcina agreed as she stood beside her daughter.

"And how will you do that?"

"Using her blood for a special wine through a process which will undoubtedly kill her." Alcina answered with a cold smile, "After all, we are called vampires by the villagers you know."

"I'm afraid I can't let you."

Alcina's expression twisted to a frown, "Would you like to stop me like you did yesterday?" she asked.

"If I have to, I will, but first explain why she was attacking you."

"She was talking about the number 115 and something about the Aether and our souls being taken and whatnot. Basically she was rambling like a lunatic."

Hearing Alcina's explanation, Rodeo had a sudden realization of what it was, but he couldn't confirm it just yet, so...

"...We're keeping her alive."

"Listen boy-"

"No, you listen, tall vampire lady! If this 115 or Aether or whatever is something she saw directly and experienced its effects, or if she may have seen visions connected to it, we need to know whether this thing is real or not, and she's the only one who knows it. Killing her means we lose our only lead in this aether."

"This village and its people are ours, not yours, so step aside and we might not kill you right now." Alcina replied with a severe scowl to Rodeo.

"Oh, and what if this aether is real?! Clearly it could be a threat! And look, if we ignore certain threats that are still unknown to us, lots of people will get hurt, including you and your daughters, you stubborn lady."

Alcina then stood in front of Rodeo, bringing her long razor-sword claws close to his neck and spoke to him in a menacing way.

"Don't... drag my daughter's into this."

"If you care about them then wouldn't you want to at least find out what this thing the maid has seen might be and stop it, because if it's something powerful, we can't ignore it." Rodeo stated to her with no hint of fear in his voice, "Fate might have guided her here as a way to warn us."

Alcina was unsure whether she should deny his words or not. The maid could be speaking nonsense, but... what if this Aether or 115 were real, and if it was capable of driving her insane so easily, could her daughters be similarly affected? She shook away the thought and returned her glare at Rodeo. 

"And how do I know you're not using this opportunity to help her escape my wrath?"

"Because I would fight you right now if I could, but I haven't, and I know you care a lot about your daughters and your anger towards me yesterday and right now is a clear indicator of that worry for your loved ones, so I ask you, lady Alcina Dimitrescu, do you care for your daughter's safety more or your ego and need for blood?"

Glaring right at Rodeo who stood there with a serious expression, Alcina ended up sighing and retracting her claws, "I will always choose my daughters over anything else, so what do you propose we do with her?"

"We wait for her to wake up, then we ask questions," Rodeo remarked, looking at the comatose maid.

"Fair enough I suppose."

——————————————————————

Thirty minutes had passed, the maid woke up to find herself on one of the couches in Alcina's room, much to her surprise and confusion. She looked up to see Rodeo, Daniela and Alcina in her black velvet dress and hat staring at her.

"...Did I do something, my lady?"

"You attacked me and were blabbering words in the most crazed way possible," Alcina answered with a blank stare.

This made the maid let out an expression of surprise and fear, "My lady, forgive me! I really don't know what I did! I'm really sorry!" she exclaimed anxiously.

"For now, forget it." Alcina said, to the maid's relief, "Right now, sir Rodeo wishes to ask you questions, if you're willing to answer them."

"I am ready, my lady."

Alcina nods to Rodeo, who returns the nod and glances back at the maid before questioning her.

"What's your name first of all?"

"My name is Anna."

Rodeo nodded. The maid in front of him had light brown hair, pale skin, and silver gray eyes, as well as a beauty spot on her right cheek, and she was dressed in a black European maid attire that she generally wore when on maid duty.

"Now Anna, I just want to know when you starting feeling strange in your mind and actions."

"Since yesterday I believe. I remember finishing work here at the castle before heading out to find some berries for my mother in the forest areas carefully, and then…"

"Then?"

"I don't know, after that I remember seeing something purple with a mix of dark to it but I forgot where I saw it, it was glowing before I came back to the castle, slept in my room, then woke up and came to lady Dimitrescu and everything went dark and... I find myself here right now on this couch."

"Can you tell me where exactly you saw the purple light illuminating from?"

"Like I said, I forgot, it's no longer in my head."

Rodeo sighed and said, "Thank you for your cooperation, Anna."

"You're very welcome."

"Anna, I'll let you head back to the village today." Alcina told her.

"You're giving me a day off?"

"Yes, so you can get some rest from whatever it is this purple thing you saw. Don't object to my decision."

"Thank you, my lady!" Anna says, bowing to Alcina with a smile on her face, "Again please accept my apologies for anything I might have done that may have harmed you."

"Just move it."

Anna nods and walks away. 

"Hmm…"

Once the maid named Anna left the room, Rodeo was left deep in thought.

"We barely got anything from her other than the whole purple thing." Daniela added, her face expressionless.

Rodeo's head shook as he added, "No, but it's a start."

"Are you sure you have no involvement in this?" Alcina asked Rodeo with slight suspicion.

"I swear I have no involvement, even I'm hearing this for the first time."

"Should we tell mother Miranda about this?" Daniela asked.

"No, we don't." Rodeo refuses, "If we tell her now, no doubt she'll try to find the source of this Aether and become affected by it in some way, and we'll end up creating huge problems for ourselves."

"Indeed," Alcina nodded in agreement, "It's best to play it safe, and if she goes the way like Miss Anna, she would kill us all."

"Exactly. So I devised an idea."

"What sort of idea?" 

"In order for the idea to work, I need Bela and Cassandra's cooperation on this." Rodeo said as he looks at Alcina, "Tell them to meet me and Daniela at that statue in the village." he glanced back at Daniela, "You will fill them in on what happened and I'll tell them what to do next."

"By statue you mean the Maiden of War statue which is close to the graveyard, right?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. I'll fill them in."

"Good. Then we'll move out." Rodeo stated as he and Daniela prepared to leave when Alcina suddenly grabs Rodeo's arm and says to him. 

"You better not try to get my daughters hurt, or I will permanently end you, and I mean it this time," she threatened

"I won't. I promise."

Alcina, her brow furrowed, lets go of his arm, and both Rodeo and Daniela head out.

'The boy is honest with his words, yet... still, I'm not sure whether I can trust him or not. He had better not pull a stunt.' Alcina thought as she watched the two leave.

——————————————————————

It was a few hours close to noon, and Rodeo and Daniela were standing next to the Maiden of War statue which was situated in the center of the village as they waited for Daniela's sisters, Bela and Cassandra. 

Rodeo broke the silence by asking, "Are they going to show up?"

"They'll show up. My sisters always listen to Mother. We've never ignored her orders ever."

"I see," Rodeo said, gazing up and saw two swarms of flies approaching their direction, "Right on cue."

As the two fly swarms approach the two, they morph back into Bela and Cassandra and land on the ground right in front of them. 

"Mother told us what happened, what's your play in this?" Bela asked Rodeo while giving a suspicious look.

"I have no play in this, Bela. Even from my side this is new to me. I just want to confirm my suspicions and make sure whatever Anna saw ain't too much of a problem to deal with, and I'm also doing this for the village people's safety."

"Hmm... since Daniela is watching you and you haven't done anything suspicious yet, she should've killed you already by now, especially your expressionless stoic face is hard to read sometimes, but body language wise you're not raising any suspicions, so we'll listen."

"What she said." Cassandra said.

"Alright. So here's what we are gonna do. Bela, I need you to go to any specific areas in the forest where berries grow because Anna mentioned berries in her questioning, so by chance we find this purple glowing thing in those specific areas we might get lucky," Rodeo said to Bela before gazing at the other sister, "Cassandra, you will keep an eye on Anna from afar in case she shows any changes in her behavior or if she mentions anything important about what she saw, and Daniela will be with me for well... keeping an eye on me."

"And what do you plan to do?" Bela questioned.

"I'll head for the other Four Lords' place, as I mentioned in our yesterday's discussions to keep Miranda's suspicions to a minimum. Same goes to you two as well, Bela and Cassandra. If Miranda had eyes everywhere, we can't let her go after what Anna saw or send anyone otherwise... we mess things up. So are we good?"

Bela and Cassandra exchange a short glance before nodding. Bela returns her attention to Rodeo and adds.

"I'll make one thing clear though, we haven't forgotten yesterday's events, and we're only helping you because our Mother told us to. We are still enemies."

"But there is an old saying, "The enemy of my enemy, is my friend."

"I'm well aware of that quote, you don't need to remind me, but Rodeo, if all of this comes up empty and we suspect it as a play from your side, there will be consequences."

"Got it, so once we are done we meet back at the castle and share our findings."

All three nod their heads in agreement, and Bela and Cassandra transform into a swarm of flies and fly out in two different directions to start their search. 

"All right, now I'm off to the creepy dolls house to see how my armor is doing," Rodeo remarked to Daniela after watching the two sisters leave.

"You mean Angie and Donna Beneviento?"

"Yeah, think you can guide me?"

"Well, I'm keeping an eye on you, so yes."

"Then let's move."

Now the two are walking towards the direction of house Beneviento, not noticing the G-man watching them leave as he stood next to a tree with a smile on his face before vanishing without a trace.