by Amy Cross
"Didn't you wonder why, after a few years, I still had not emerged?"
"I thought maybe you were sulking," she said, "or that you were enjoying yourself down there."
"Enjoying myself?" Edgar roared. "You thought that I might be enjoying my captivity?"
"Let's not fight," Madeleine replied. "It's been so long since we were together, let's not spoil things by getting angry at one another. I'm sure we've both made mistakes, but we can get past that, can't we? We can talk about things calmly over dinner, rather than -"
"You make me sick," Edgar said, his voice filed with anger.
"Oh, don't say things like that," Madeleine said, forcing a laugh. "God, I'd forgotten how serious you can be sometimes. It was a game, Edgar. That's all. A game. I understand that you're upset about losing, but -"
"Get out of my sight!" Edgar shouted.
"Come here," Madeleine said, smiling as she waded through the water. "Let me finish cleaning you. It's the least I can do."
"Don't touch me," Edgar replied, baring his fangs. "I want to be alone. I don't want to listen to your lies. The castle is large and empty, Madeleine. There's no reason for us to be in the same room all the time."
"But this is our big, happy reunion!"
"Get out!"
"Let me wash you first," she said, reaching out for the sponge.
"No!" Edgar shouted, grabbing her by the arm and pushing her away.
"What's wrong with you?" Madeleine shouted back at him. "You used to like playing games!"
"Things have changed," he replied.
"No!" she shouted.
"I grew up!" he said firmly. "I spent three hundred and fifty years trapped in a coffin, and I grew up! It seems that you, on the other hand, continued to play your ridiculous games up here on the surface. I used to tolerate you, Madeleine, but at this point in time I feel physically sick every time I look at you! I've changed -"
"No!" she shouted again, rushing forward and grabbing him by the shoulders. "Nothing's changed! We haven't changed! We can't change! We're like this forever, and the game will go on forever! Don't you understand?"
"Leave me alone," Edgar replied, pushing her aside as he made his way to the edge of the pool and began to walk up the steps.
"Not until you talk to me!" Madeleine shouted, hurrying after him.
"I'm warning you," he replied, still walking away. "This isn't the time to push me, Madeleine -"
"Talk to me!" she screamed.
In a flash, Edgar turned and grabbed her, pulling her close and biting down hard on her bare shoulder, using his fangs to rip away a section of flesh. Although she struggled, Madeleine couldn't get free as blood poured from her wound and ran into the bathing pool, and eventually she let out a gasp of pain. Finally, as Edgar released his grip a little, Madeleine was able to pull away and clutch the deep gash that her brother had made.
"You bit me!" she shouted angrily.
"Be grateful that's all I did," Edgar sneered.
"You haven't bitten me since we were children!"
"You're still a child!" he roared. "You still play games! What are you going to do now, Madeleine? Are you going to bite me back? Do you want to fight me, the way we fought when we were younger?"
With tears in her eyes, still clutching her bloodied shoulder, Madeleine stepped back toward the center of the bathing pool.
"Good," Edgar said, seeming a little calmer. "Your blood tastes weak and putrid these days. I want to be alone for a few hours. We'll meet at dinner and discuss our plans. Until then, keep out of my way."
Once Edgar had stormed out of the room, Madeleine was left standing alone and naked in the bathing pool, with blood still pouring from her injured shoulder and tears still rolling down her eyes. She'd been so desperately looking forward to Edgar's return, and it hadn't occurred to her that he might be angry. Well, not this angry. Trembling a little, she took her hand away from her shoulder and saw that the wound was deep and wide. It would take many hours for her flesh to heal, and for the pain to go away. Looking down, she saw that the water around her was running red. Determined to wash away her tears, she slowly lowered herself beneath the surface until she was floating in a cloud of her own blood.
Two
Staring up into the darkness, Mike realized that the two creatures had stopped arguing. For now, at least. Over the past half hour, he'd been able to hear them in a distant part of the castle, shouting and screaming at each other. They seemed to be totally out of control, as if they were wrapped up in their own very private battle, and Mike was tempted to believe that they'd completely forgotten him. Ever since they threw him down into this small, dark stone chamber in the heart of the castle, he'd been terrified that their plan was to just ignore him and let him waste away. From his limited knowledge of medieval torture methods, he was fairly sure that he was in an oubliette, which meant that there was no likelihood of him being retrieved any time soon.
The oubliette was small, barely a couple of meters in diameter, and with a low, arched roof. There was no light at all, so Mike had been forced to feel his way around the walls. It was clear, however, that the only way in or out was via the hatch in the ceiling, which was firmly bolted shut. There was a small amount of straw on the floor, and once or twice Mike had heard a rustling sound that he thought might be coming from a mouse or a rat. The place certainly stank, suggesting that some kind of creature had made its home in the chamber, and eventually, as he listened to the silence and waited for the distant argument to resume, Mike felt a sudden, sharp biting sensation on his leg.
"Fuck!" he shouted, kicking out instinctively. He heard a nearby squeaking sound as something, probably a rat, scurried to safety.
All he could do was wait and hope that Amanda would have pity on him. The transformation from Amanda Carter, diminutive and passionate anthropologist, to someone named Madeleine, had been as shocking as it had been sudden. Mike found it hard to believe that she could have been hiding her true self all this time, but he couldn't deny the evidence that had finally developed right in front of him. The huge painting was clearly an image of Amanda herself, and the plaque clearly identified her as Madeleine Le Compte; quite how she could have lived for more than three hundred years, Mike wasn't sure, but out here in the hinterlands of the Bulgarian wilderness it seemed somehow more possible that such creatures could exist.
Besides, the revelation about Amanda's true identity had at least helped to explain a few anomalies. Mike had always wondered how and why Amanda had suddenly arrived at the museum to join the anthropological department, especially since she'd seemed far more interested in eavesdropping on the work of others. After the fire, Amanda had taken a particular interest in the recovery of the Bulgarian bones, and Mike remembered noticing that she was the only member of the faculty who'd bothered to go and visit Andrew Marlowe at the psychiatric hospital. Then there was Amanda's determination to bring a party out to the Le Compte castle; she'd said that she wanted to uncover the ancestral home of a long-forgotten European dynasty, but now it was clear that she'd actually been keen to return so that she could be reunited with her brother. The whole story was so incredible, Mike found it hard to believe, yet he couldn't come up with an alternative explanation.
Amanda Carter had never existed. She'd always been a mask.
Hearing a noise somewhere above, Mike froze, and he quickly realized that someone was approaching the top of the hatch. Seconds later, there was a grinding sound, followed by a flood of light as the hatch swung open and someone loomed out of the darkness with a flaming torch in their hand.
"Come on," Madeleine said, reaching down toward him. "Time for dinner."
"You have to let me go," Mike stammered. "There's no way you can possibly think -"
"I don't have time to argue," she continued, sounding a little annoyed, "and you don't have a choice in the matter. Either you can come up willingly, or I'll come down there and get you. Trust me, it'll be a lot easier and a lot less painful if you just come up."
Mike stared up at the flaming torch, which was obscuring Madeleine's face.
"What's wrong?" she asked eventually, sounding annoyed. "Why the hell are you still down there?"
"People are going to be looking for me," he continued. "They're going to notice that I've vanished. They knew where I was coming. Do you think you can just keep me here and no-one's going to come looking?"
"Don't worry about that," she replied, moving back from the opening. "I'll deal with it all. For now, get your ass out of that damn hole. When you're told to do something, you need to do it. Understood?"
Hesitantly, Mike reached up and hauled himself up through the hatch, finally rolling across the floor of the room above while Madeleine pushed the door shut again.
"You probably have a lot of questions," Madeleine said after a moment. "The first thing you need to know is that Amanda Carter never existed. Not really. She was just a role I was playing. Do you think I could have infiltrated the museum if I'd turned up and announced that I was Madeleine Le Compte, and that one of the bodies coming from Bulgaria was actually my brother?"
"Madeleine Le Compte," Mike said slowly, "was born more than three hundred years ago."
"I know," she replied. "I don't look it, though. Do I?" She lowered the torch a little, finally allowing Mike to see her face. Although her hair was messier than usual, it was still clearly her. "Come on," she continued. "Pay a girl a compliment. After the day I've had, any kind words would be sorely appreciated."
"What happened to your shoulder?" Mike asked, looking at the scar tissue just to the right side of her neck.
"Just a little playful fighting with my brother."
"That creature is your brother?" Mike continued. "Are you serious?"
"Deadly. I haven't seen him for a while, though. In fact, tonight is gonna be our first family dinner for such a long time. Don't you feel privileged to be invited?"
"This is madness..."
"No," she replied, "it's not madness. It's sanity. The world out there, the world with its museums and cities and busy lives, that's insanity. You've got no idea how much I hated every second of my life in London. When I was pretending to be Amanda Carter, I had to put on a show all the time and pretend that I was comfortable. The truth is, I hate what humans are doing to the modern world. Here at the castle, though, everything makes sense. That's why I'm so happy my brother came back. It was hard living here alone, but now we're together again and we can put the family back on top. The Le Comptes are going to rule again."
"But why did you drag me here with you?" Mike asked. "Just to torture me?"
"I wanted some company," she replied. "Is that so bad? It was lonely here without Edgar, and I didn't know how long it'd take him to make the journey. Of course, now he's back, I don't need you anymore, so..." She paused. "Come on. We need to go to dinner. Edgar's in a funny mood and it's going to take a while to make him calm down. He's got a bee in his bonnet about something, but it'll be fine. It's always fine eventually. People don't change. Even after three hundred years. I know my brother better than he knows himself."
Mike opened his mouth to argue with her, but no words came out. He felt as if he was going to wake up from this nightmare at any moment.
"Come on," Madeleine said, reaching out and taking his hand. "There's no need to be scared. What will be, will be. You're just an observer tonight. All you can do is watch."
Looking down at her body, Mike saw that she was completely naked.
"Naughty boy," she continued, leading him along the corridor, holding the torch out to guide the way. "We do things a little differently in the Le Compte family. You'll see soon enough. There used to be so many people living here, but now it's just the two of us. We try to keep to the old traditions alive as much as possible, but of course there are always a few problems. You know how it is, right? The classic fight between tradition and modernity. Think about what it's like for those of us who live for centuries."
Mike kept quiet. He was waiting for a chance to run. After all, the jeep was still parked outside, and he figured he could maybe get out there, get it started, and drive away without either of these freaks spotting him until it was too late. First, though, he'd need to lull them into a false sense of security and make sure that they believed he was willing to stay. He'd have to gain their trust, and then later, when they were distracted, he could sneak out to the jeep.
"So," he said eventually, trying to sound as casual as possible. "What's for dinner?"
Three
"This place has gone to ruin," Edgar said darkly as he sat at the head of the table. "What have you been doing all these year, Madeleine?"
Sitting at the other end of the table, Madeleine glanced nervously at her brother, while affecting a carefree tone of voice. "Oh, this and that," she said eventually, picking her words carefully. "Three hundred and fifty years is a long time. You can't expect me to have just sat around here, waiting for your return. The world has moved on. History has been in flux. You missed so much, Edgar. The industrial revolution, the great wars, the dawn of the atomic age, the internet... Gothos fell, and Sangreth -"
"So you've been neglecting our home," Edgar said firmly, interrupting her.
"I've been out exploring," she replied, the tension evident in her voice. "I considered coming to dig you up, of course, but I thought you'd consider that to be rather patronizing, as if I didn't believe you could get yourself out of your own grave. I can't tell you how many times I felt certain that you were due to show your face, only to be disappointed. It never occurred to me that those foolish little men would actually be able to keep you in your grave for any substantial period of time. Obviously, it's now clear that you would have liked me to have given you a hand, but at the time, I thought we were still playing the game."
"You took the game too far."
"So you keep saying."
"The state of this castle is a disgrace to our family name," Edgar continued. "On my way here, I didn't encounter a single human who'd even heard of the Le Compte name. It's as if we've been erased from history. We might as well tear the place down."
"We're the last, Edgar. You know that."
"Meanwhile, you were off in London, pretending to be someone else."
"That was for you -"
"Keep lying," Edgar said darkly. "It suits you."
Sighing, Madeline set down her knife and fork. "I don't know what you want me to say, Edgar. I'm sorry. Is that enough? I mis-judged the situation." She paused. "I thought you had a sense of humor," she muttered under her breath.
"Humor?" he asked. "How can there possibly be any humor in such a fate? You left me down there to rot for more than three hundred years. You obviously struck some kind of bargain with the alderman who presided over my execution. Did you truly believe that I'd find the whole experience amusing? Did you think I'd emerge refreshed from such a long rest?"
"I'm sorry," Madeleine said. "That's all I can say. I know you'll forgive me eventually, dear brother. After all, we're the only members of our family left. We shall have to get onto more practical matters at some point. The blood-line must continue, and there are only so many ways such a thing can be achieved when there are just the two of us." She paused for a moment, smiling as she fixed her brother with a determined stare. "We might have to be inventive, my dear. We might have to try something new."
"And what of this weakling?" Edgar asked, glancing over at the far corner, where Mike was chained to the wall. "You brought a pathetic human to our home. You allowed him to see us at our most vulnerable, to hear our arguments, to understand our curse. He can't be allowed to leave."
"I can!" Mike said nervously. "Really, I won't say a thing!"
"Did you bring him here for sport?" Edgar continued, turning back to Madeleine. "As a pet? I can't possibly fathom why you'd waste any time dealing with such a miserable wretch."
"I was lonely," she replied. "You've no idea what a bad time I had in London. It's such a busy city, but there was no-one I cou
ld really talk to. I just couldn't face the prospect of coming all the way back to the castle without some company. Granted, it might have been better if I'd found a more impressive specimen, but you know what humans are like. Besides, I had to get things together rather quickly." She paused for a moment. "These are just details, dear brother. We must focus on the bigger picture. You're right when you say I've been acting frivolously, but now's the time to get on with the important things."
"You haven't changed, have you?" Edgar replied with a sneer. "Three hundred and fifty years after I last saw you, you're still an immature child."
"Of course I haven't changed," she said, her hands shaking a little as she sipped from her glass of wine. "No-one ever changes, Edgar. We're born with set souls, and nothing can alter that, not even the passage of time. By our very nature -"
"I've changed," he said firmly.
"Superficially, perhaps, but -"
"I've changed," he said again. "Can't you tell? When you look into my eyes, do you see the same young fool you saw all those years ago? Or do you see someone who is older and wiser."
"But..." She paused, clearly a little disturbed by his glare. She wanted to tell him that she saw no change at all, but she wasn't sure if such a claim would be true. "I was afraid you'd say something like that," she continued eventually. "The absolute worst thing in the world is when someone thinks that he's achieved change, even though such a thing is impossible. You'll see. We can restore the castle to its old glories. We can put things back to how they were and defy the changes that have begun to take place in your absence. Of course, in order to do that, we need heirs. We need children. We have few options, my darling brother, and in the circumstances -"
"Why is this creature staring at me?" Edgar asked, turning to Mike.
"What?" Mike asked, his eyes wide with horror.
