VG - Chapter 7 (Rewrite) - Tensions (Patreon)

“Do you have everything?” Kathrine asked after we rushed back into the lounge to collect our gear. 

“Yes, I double-checked,” I replied as I jogged over to the door while she was waiting. “The last thing I need is for some of my equipment and formulas to make their way into our relatives' hands.”

Kathrine raised an eyebrow. “You really think they’d be able to reverse-engineer and weaponize your stuff?” 

“No, but the devices would require me to place a special order and have to wait for the replacements, and in order to replace my serums and poisons I’d need to ask your mother for access to the secure greenhouses, and I really don’t want to owe her any favours,” I muttered.

“That won’t stop her from asking us for something unreasonable,” Kathrine grumbled “She thinks that people need to be pushed in order to rise to the challenge.”

“And when they fail, it’s because they were incompetent, not because they were given an impossible task, I know,” I said. “I have met the woman before.”

“Sorry,” Kathrine replied apologetically. “Can I take this mask off yet?”

“It’s probably safe now, but you should be careful to avoid touching your face until you get a chance to wash and change your clothes. There might still be residue from the drug, or toxin, or both, and you really don’t want to get a full dose from either of them,” I said.

“Right,” she replied, half reaching for the mask before pausing. “Ugh, the mask is probably covered in that crud then. Do you think my gloves are safe? They’re in my pockets.”

“Probably, but don’t worry, I’ve got this,” I replied, reaching over and gently loosening the straps on the heavy mask before pulling it off her head. Flipping open my satchel, I carefully laid the contaminated mask onto the rest of my stuff before shutting the bag again. Normally I would have taken the time to decontaminate it properly, but there was no way I was going to leave my aunt waiting any longer than necessary.

Besides, if I had to leave my bag somewhere, and someone decided to take a peek, they’d be in for a nasty shock after handling it.

While I put the mask away, Kathrine slipped on her gloves and fixed her slightly tousled hair. I thought she looked fine, but I didn’t care about the social niceties as much as Kathrine did.

“Okay, let’s go,” she declared after a couple seconds, striding confidently back towards the foyer.

I immediately fell into step beside her, subtly surveying the area as we passed by the balcony, heading towards the opposite side of the second floor. “Slug spit,” I muttered under my breath.

“What?” Kathrine asked, without moving her head.

“Both Monique and Pierre are standing in the entrance right now,” I explained quietly. “And it looks like they both have their personal troops with them.”

“In the main house?” Kathrine exclaimed. She started to turn and look, before catching herself and returning her gaze forward. “How is the staff reacting? Normally mother’s guards would flay someone the instant they tried to bring their personal troops into the mansion.”

“They haven’t moved,” I replied, as the large group of Brethern disappeared from my sight, heading somewhere deeper in the house. “Which can only mean that your mother approved of their presence ahead of time.”

“She’s never allowed personal troops inside the manor before,” Kathrine muttered. “Even the other elders have only been allowed one or two bodyguards. What is she thinking?”

“We’ll find out soon enough,” I grumbled. “Unfortunately it looks like we’re going to have to deal with a couple pests first.”

“Well, if it isn’t Kathrine, my favorite niece,” our aunt Cynthia declared as she came gliding down the hallway in front of us, cutting us off. Our youngest aunt was both a high-ranking member of the family and a notorious socialite; she’d used the family’s influence to build a massive cosmetics empire, and, given her high profile, most people considered her the ‘face’ of the family. 

If only they knew what the witch was like when she was out of the spotlight. 

“I see you’re still your mother still has you handling the mongrel’s leash,” she said, not even bothering to look in my direction. 

“I’d rather be treated like a mongrel than go around rutting like a bitch,” I replied calmly, before gesturing to the young guard behind her. “Is that your latest conquest? He’s a little young, don’t you think?”

“Listen here you…” aunt Cynthia snarled, letting her pleasant facade fade. 

“Cynthia, you know what’s at stake here, don’t you? I know you don’t like Dahlia after what she did to Daniel, but we need her.” a quiet, but firm dusky voice echoed down the hallway. “Leave them alone for now.”

My aunt paused, then smoothly turned back towards the darkened hallway, a pleasant smile once again plastered across her face. “Of course, sister. I appoligize,” aunt Cynthia said, bowing to the figure. “I let my emotions get the better of me for a moment. If you’ll excuse me.” 

She bowed to the shadow at the end of the hall before turning and shooting me a hateful look before storming towards the stairs. 

“You two, follow me,” Aunt Helena declared as she shoved open the door to her office. 

“I must still have a touch of Nephilem’s grace in my system, because I swear I just saw your mother back me up against Aunt Cynthia,” I muttered.

“You didn’t halucinate it,” Kathrine said. “She really did tell Aunt Harlot off.” 

“That’s even worse, because that means she wants something bad enough to play nice,” I hissed.

“Come on, we shouldn’t keep her waiting,” Kathrine said, as she gently placed a hand on my back and pushed me forward. “Even though my mother defended you, the way she talked to my aunt… I don’t think she’s in a good mood.”

“How can you be sure?” I asked quietly. 

“Did you see Aunt Cynthia’s face? She is, by far,  my mother’s favorite sibling, but I swear that I saw genuine fear flicker across her face when she turned to appoligize,” Kathrine explained.

“Really? I didn’t see anything,” I muttered.

“That’s because while you excel at reading people’s body language, and identifying compounds, you suck at reading people,” she said. “I keep telling you that you need to work on that.”

“I need to interact with other people to do that,” I grumbled. 

“You two, get in here, now!” my aunt shouted, her voice echoing down the hallway. I’d heard my aunt when she was mad before, it was sort of a cold fury, but this… Kathrine was right, she sounded furious. 

We rushed to the door and as I raised a hand to knock Aunt Helena growled. “Don’t bother with the niceties.”

Kathrine shot me a worried look before shoving the heavy hardwood door open and leading me inside. 

At first glance my aunt’s office was exactly what you’d expect to find the head of one of the great houses to be using. Everything was made of a rich darkwood, upholstered with exotic leather, and all the fixtures were done up in some sort of precious metal, and yet despite all the luxury, the office felt cold. 

Part of that was that my aunt didn’t care what it looked like, and the retainers did their best to dress it up without being too austintacious and drawing her ire, but the other part was whenever my aunt wasn’t putting on a face for the public, always looked like she wanted to kill someone. Just like she did now.

Aunt Helena looked up from the stack of reports piled up on her desk and scrutinized Kathrine and I for a moment before pointing at the oversized chairs across from her. “Sit down,” she grunted. “We need to talk.”