Chapter 4

2076 a.d. – Winter

Recovery

'NO!'

Béla awoke with a start. The curtained canopy overhead told her she was in her own bed at the manor. She looked down at herself. Her belly was smooth with fresh, new skin. Remembering what she looked like before, Béla realized that someone had done a really good job of cleaning her up. She felt squeaky-clean, except perhaps between her legs. There, she definitely felt sticky.

'I think I've been fucked... '

That thought caused her to feel annoyed. She loved sex to the degree that even thinking she may have missed being fucked, or even raped, while she was unconscious and hadn't been able to enjoy it, made her feel a bit ... sulky.

Frowning, Béla twisted and stretched to get more comfortable. She didn't remember the bed being this lumpy. More awake now, she looked to see what was underneath her. The lumpy thing she was lying on was her sister, Elaine. Elaine was asleep. Dried blood streaked her neck and breasts. She looked haggard.

Elaine's appearance surprised Béla. As she stuck out her tongue to lick at a streak of sticky, almost dried blood, she realized that her own skin felt like it had been licked clean, rather than washed with soap and water. Evidently Elaine had been very busy while Béla had been unconscious.

'I hope you enjoyed yourself, you sexy brat! Next time, wake me up!'

Elaine was dreaming, so Béla decided to just lie there and listen to her sister's thoughts. She hoped she was dreaming of running her tongue all over Béla's body. At least, then, she could enjoy some of what she'd missed by not being awake at the time...

But that wasn't what Elaine was dreaming about. Instead, her sister was having a nightmare.

Elaine woke herself up with her nightmare. She looked into her sister's eyes, only inches from her own. Béla looked frightened, but Elaine was pretty sure her sister was only a mirror of her own facial expression.

"Are you all right? What was that thing?" were the first words out of Elaine's mouth. "How did it get inside of you? Are there more of them?"

'Peace, ' Béla anxiously radiated at her sister, smiling to ease her mind

"It was a gown," Béla told her. "It was created for the evil Count we deposed last spring. I didn't know it was alive."

"I didn't even know such a thing could be alive!" Elaine exclaimed.

"I don't know what he might have wanted it for," Béla mused. "It's so dangerous. If Captain Lorraine hadn't warned me..."

'I know what it was used for. Shut down, dammit! She won't want to know! Oh, Christ! She hears me! She knows!'

'Everything! Now!' demanded Béla in Elaine's mind as she held her close to convince her that neither of them were in any immediate danger.

Béla lay, stunned by her unwanted knowledge, tears running down into her hair and the pillow beneath her head.

"We've been under martial law for the last three days waiting for your recovery," Elaine said quietly. "Nobody's being allowed to do anything."

"I would have liked to talk to her," Béla said, softly, "I thought she was a friend. She hid her intentions well."

"She was using drugs to hide her thoughts. LaCrosse had them, according to Jolene," Elaine informed her. "I can show you the record of the sentence. Jolene keeps good records.

"Béla, Sister," Elaine continued, hugging her, "don't feel bad for her. She was the former Mistress of this Manor. She was as evil as LaCrosse."

"Can I talk to Jolene?" Béla asked. "I can't link with her. Where is she?"

"She's using the thought dampener we found in the dungeons. Her mind is troubled. It helps her sleep."

'She's thinking the device will protect her from me. She knows I run my district with a gentle hand and wouldn't have executed Sarah, rather, the Lady Sarah, for tricking me into wearing that gown. According to Captain Lorraine, there was a safe way to wear it. Maybe she thought Jeff knew.'

Elaine watched her sister work the data through her mind. She knew that the bitch 'handmaiden' was aware of Jeff's ignorance. She believed that using the plant to execute Sarah was the correct decision. Elaine had enjoyed watching Sarah die as she was slowly consumed, without haste, as only a plant can do.

'Such hatred, Sister, ' Béla said in her mind. 'It's so unbecoming of you. Why do you hate so much?'

'My sister walks backward to control herself now that she has Carte Blanche, ' Elaine's thoughts cried. 'You worry about what you might do to others, but it's always done to you! You are always being mistreated! You should be happy in your freedom, but people are always doing things to you – hurting you!'

'I have done my share of killing, ' Béla explained, 'as have we all. What has befallen me in the past was not entirely undeserved... '

'But I ... We ... It hurts so much!' Elaine was crying, sobbing hysterically.

Béla embraced her sister, radiating peace at her, for all the good it did - Elaine wasn't having any of it. She needed to cry, to release the pain.

'Relax, Sister. We will travel in your mind and find the cause of this unhappiness. What makes you feel the pain?' Béla asked.

'When they hurt you!' Elaine cried. 'No one should hurt you! It burns me when they hurt you!'

There was an image behind what Elaine was saying. Béla was pretty good at finding true causes. She'd had months of practice as a justice.

'What is that?' Béla asked, and dream-walked into the image, taking Elaine with her.