Zireael and Rhena

For the next week, as Syanna was trying her best to recover, life was exceedingly quaint and regular for the trio. In the few hours Syanna would be awake in the mornings and then again in the afternoons, Ciri and Anna would devote all of their time to doting on her, keeping her clean, well fed, and entertained; in this time, while her condition was so critical, it was imperative that Ciri and Anna spend every waking second tending to Syanna. While she napped, Ciri and Anna took to cleaning and talking about their lives and the two of them started to develop a very close friendship, bonding over both their love for Syanna and their own personal strifes.
As Syanna slowly got stronger and could start to raise her arms to feed herself and sit up by herself, Ciri and Anna felt better about giving her some time to be alone, which she would ask for in the mornings. Ciri could sympathize that Syanna wanted to be able to take care of herself again, since she had spent so much of her life learning to appreciate being on her own and fending for herself. Ciri and Anna would give Syanna her tray of food, and let her eat and take some time for herself.
One morning, during one of these moments, Ciri decided she would set out in pursuit of information on Syanna’s attacker.
‘Anna, will you be okay for the next few hours while I set out?’ Ciri asked Anna, who was in the kitchen finishing up a snack.
‘What? Where are you going?’
‘Out. I need some things.’
‘…Why are you being so vague? What is going on?’
‘I need to collect information. I have to figure out who attacked Syanna.’
‘Why didn’t you just say so? I want to come.’
‘That is precisely why I didn’t say so. It is too dangerous, Anna, these vampires are clearly not friends of the duchy and you are too valuable. You cannot come. I cannot take on the burden of having to worry about you.’
‘You do not have a choice in this, Ciri. I am coming. I will dress incognito, so as to not be recognized, and we will set off together at once. Syanna is due for a nap after she eats anyway, so she will be fine while we are out.’
‘I knew, and yet I still said it… Damn it,’ Ciri muttered under her breath. ‘Okay fine, dress casual, and prepare to mount up. Geralt told me of a vampire we could go visit to get some information.’
‘Another vampire? In Toussaint?!’
‘Haha higher vampires can be anywhere… there would be no way for you to tell unless they were sucking your blood.’
‘Well that is quite alarming, Ciri, thank you.’
‘No that’s not what I mean they aren’t all like that. I know some I consider family. Now come on, don’t get all timid on me now.’
And with that, they set off to the stables to mount up and hit the road.
‘Geralt gave me some quick directions this morning, but he was also pretty out of it since coming home from his hunt last night. Whenever he comes back home Yennefer always has a big… night planned for him…’
‘Yes I think everyone in Toussaint could hear that playing out,’ Anna laughed. Ciri laughed too, somewhat appreciating the normalcy of what it was like to be embarrassed of one’s parents.
‘Well in any case, he did seem to prove helpful. This vampire in town likely has some intuitions as to what happened,’ Ciri replied more seriously.
‘Hm very well. Lead on, Ciri.’
And with that, they galloped away, almost racing each other into Beauclair, Anna beating Ciri by only a hair.
‘I thought I was going to lead?’ Ciri asked, out of breath.
‘Well you would have been able to, had you been faster.’
‘Okay well now I shall lead us, if you please, Anna.’
‘Fine, fine, lead away.’
‘Thank you. Geralt said it would be a grand mansion in Hauteville, and it would be the biggest building around.’
‘Oh gods…’ Anna said, a look of panic creeping into her eyes.
‘What is it?’
‘I think Geralt is instructing us to talk to Orianna… and I suppose it is not altogether surprising she is a vampire. And it would explain why I always felt so uneasy around her.’
‘Yes! That was her name. How do you know her?’
Anna was turning paler by the second, clearly losing her nerve.
‘Anna? Are you okay?’
‘Um yes… Orianna runs… the Mandragora…’
‘Oh no… Anna, I can handle this myself, don’t do this to yourself. Please, Anna, just go back to Corvo Bianco you don’t need to do this if it is too painful.’
‘No, no. This is for Syanna and if it is meant to play out here, then I suppose it is just poetic justice after all these years,’ Anna said, regaining her pride and composure.
Ciri didn’t know what to say as they proceeded to ride, coming upon the grandest mansion (aside from the palace) that she had ever seen. Though large and impressive, Ciri noticed it was somewhat… deserted? The grounds were not well kept, and nobody was at the front entrance as they rode all the way to the doors on their horses. Dismounting, Ciri knocked on the door, and waited for a response. Nothing.
‘Hm… I am not sure what to make of this. It would seem nobody is home?’ Ciri was confused as to how such a grand estate could be totally abandoned.
Anna replied, ‘We should enter from the back, like the people attending the soirees do.’
Anna led Ciri around to the back, entering through the gate that led into the vast courtyard in the back of the estate. Ciri was shocked as to the state of what should have been a beautiful and palatial courtyard, which was now covered in dirt, dead plants, even the occasional scurrying rat. Overgrown vines grew over the columns and railings of the overlooking balcony, and it truly seemed as though the place had been abandoned for quite some time.
‘Gods, what happened here?’ Anna was in shock over the state of what must have once been an impressive venue for the largest and most lavish parties in all of Toussaint. ‘Orianna’s room is upstairs, Ciri. Let’s go there first.’
Anna led Ciri across the courtyard, over the landfill that now occupied the vast space, to the stairs that Ciri guessed were the very same Anna had ran down all those years ago to try to save her sister.
Orianna’s room was a mess. There was blood splattered all over the walls and smeared all over the floor. It smelled disgusting, like many things had died and been sloppily cleaned. Though there was blood everywhere, Ciri could detect a trail of sorts leading outside of the room, further into the house.
‘All the other blood looks as though it is from other animals, but this blood, leading out the door, this is noticeably human.’
‘Ugh Ciri this is disgusting. Do vampires really live like this?’
‘Hardly… most are quite meticulous and neat; their extra sharp senses are very easily overloaded with stimulus so they have to keep their surroundings quite minimal and clean. This must have been a lesser vampire. Decidedly not Orianna. Come let’s see where the human trail takes us.’
Anna and Ciri were carefully stepping over the dried blood, but there was so much that it produced a somewhat clay-like consistency as it was caked literally all over the floor. The trail led all the way down a grand staircase, further down into the foyer of the front entrance, down into a side corridor before descending down a dark staircase.
‘Oh gods, Ciri of course it goes down into the wine cellar.’
‘I know, stay behind me, alright?’ Ciri brandished her sword and used Igni to light a torch for Anna to hold onto. Descending slowly and carefully, the two of them held each other’s hands, being mindful not to slip on the blood as they proceeded into the cool darkness of the wine cellar.
Once they had reached the bottom, Ciri’s senses detected activity.
‘WHOEVER IS HERE ANSWER. TELL ME WHERE ORIANNA IS.’
Anna wielded her torch in a circle to try to shed light on the dark vastness of what was likely the biggest private collection of wine outside the palace. Ciri was using her ears to follow movement, slightly hoping that what they would encounter was just a nest of rats. Following both the sounds and blood, Ciri finally saw movements in the dark. She immediately ripped the torch from Anna’s hands and followed what she saw, Anna following close behind.
Ciri saw whatever it was and thrust both the torch and sword at the shadows.
‘MERCY MERCY!!!’
Ciri and Anna were looking down at a shriveled, horrible looking woman, wearing tattered clothes and stinking of rotten flesh and blood. Dirt and grime were caked into her face and hair, offering up no distinguishing features, making her virtually no different from the other lifeless bodies that stood piled up in the corner. She was crouched over several dead rats, sucking their carcasses clean of their blood. Behind her, Ciri saw a huge stack of bodies of all sorts, humans, nonhumans, animals. Anna clung to Ciri’s side as they tried to talk to the person on the ground.
‘Who are you? Are you Orianna?’ Ciri asked.
‘Where is Orianna?’ Anna asked, peeking out from Ciri’s shoulder.
From behind them, a voice suddenly spoke, ‘Why on Earth would you be looking for me? And how dare you mistake me for this disgusting creature?’
Orianna was holding a torch of her own, illuminating a ghost like complexion with red hair, and sharp, menacing teeth. She looked as if she had walked out of a stiff painting, with her dress barely moving and completely free of wrinkles.
‘Orianna, what happened here?’ Anna pressed.
‘Ah your highness and you must be Geralt’s ward. Welcome. Ignore the creature. She once was my maid but has since… lost her humanity.’
‘What the fuck?’ Ciri was confused and running thin on patience. ‘Orianna, you tell us right now what happened here and who is responsible for the attacks on Syanna.’
‘Well which is it: do you want to know what happened here or who attacked Syanna?’
‘Well Syanna… but also…’ Ciri was looking at the sorry creature on the ground, trying literally to suck the last drop of blood from those rats. Anna did her best not to look and kept her face focused on Orianna.
‘Well I suppose there is time for both. Come. Let’s get out of this basement and we can take a stroll in my courtyard. Girl, grab us a bottle of wine,’ she said, looking at the maid, who could barely sit up on her own, let alone stand or hold a bottle of wine. ‘Ugh disgusting,’ she said, turning away from the mess of bodies in her wine cellar.
The three of them turned to leave the cellar, and they made their way out of the dark and up the stairs back into the dirty and bloodied foyer.
‘Geralt had come to me, asking for my assistance in summoning Detlaff,’ Orianna began to explain, ‘I was hesitant to help him, but it was convenient to have him around to kill off the lesser vampires that were attacking my orphanage. When Geralt had seen me drinking from the children, he tried to kill me, and he did, but as I am sure you know, only another vampire can kill another vampire. He tried his best, and he hacked me up to pieces, but he eventually knew I would regenerate. But he was running out of time anyway, and had to leave me. And though I was regenerating, even as he was tearing me apart, he still left me a chopped up mess on the ground, completely useless, for as soon as Geralt left, lesser vampires, drawn in by the sweet smell of my children’s blood, descended on the orphanage and ate all the children as I lay in pieces on the ground. The sounds of my children dying as they gulped their last breaths, terrified from the monsters at their necks and facing out the end of their existence haunted me.
It killed me. And though I used them for their blood, I felt like they were the last piece of my humanity. And with them slaughtered, I was broken and I felt any good left in the world die with them. I was crushed. It might have been unethical from the narrow minded perspective of your father, Cirilla, but those children had real prospects but no means; I took them off the streets, clothed them, fed them, even paid to educate them. They were on their way to leaving the orphanage and becoming greater than their humble beginnings, but your father thought they were better off dead or impoverished than being in the care of a vampire…’ Orianna paused to wipe a tear. Ciri could not tell if this was genuine, but she continued to hear Orianna out.
‘Well anyway. After my orphanage was slaughtered, I was left alone on the ground. It took me at least a day to completely regenerate, and when I finally emerged, I saw a Beauclair I did not recognize. The lesser vampires had razed the town into the ground. Blood literally ran through the streets and what was not on fire was soaked by mutilated flesh. I had seen what the vampires did and what they were capable of, and never in my life had I hated more what I was. I was ashamed. And infuriated that your father had rendered me useless against such an attack on Beauclair, a town that had taken me in and accepted me, and place where I could hold the Mandragora and celebrate humanity, art, culture, sophistication, passion, all of the things that humans cherish as they face the unknown of their own mortality. All of the things that make life so sweet before the end. I was completely broken. And angry.
I knew that Geralt would have the protection of the duchy and there would be no point in killing him anyway, despite what he did to me, since he was still going after Detlaff, a position I did not envy. So I took it upon myself to end the existence of every single lesser vampire in all of Beauclair. Yes, your father was credited for killing Detlaff. But nobody knows that it was in fact because of another vampire that Beauclair would be safe once more. Detlaff never would have called off the vampires because he couldn’t handle that Syanna had deceived him, that Syanna didn’t love him. He would not have been able to call them off because more than being betrayed and played for a fool, he was heartbroken. He was prepared to see this entire city burn with him for what she did. And I had my own reasons, but I could not see another vampire kill another person. I just couldn’t. So I ended it all. All your knight in shining armor had to do was render Detlaff useless enough for another vampire to kill him for good.
But I am not bitter about this. After all what good is some medal to a powerful being like me. I wanted to kill them for my own reasons, and it made me feel better to do so. But word got back to the Unseen, presumably one or two bruxa that I had missed during my sweep of the city, that I was killing vampires. And I was forced to make an appearance and answer for my crimes. In return for my life, I was offered peace with the Unseen and the remaining vampires in Toussaint if I brought him the head of Syanna, the very root of it all.
But your Syanna was protected, and you were smart to never let her leave the castle. I admit I was never very enthused by the idea of having to invade the palace, so I told the Unseen that I would bide my time and wait for Syanna to be allowed to re-enter society again to make my move. Not wanting anymore bad exposure of vampires, he agreed, thinking that laying low for a while would ensure our protection. And for at least a few years, I had peace. I rebuilt my estate once more, and even tried holding a few soirees; I was never able to get back the magic of what it once was, especially since the artists of Toussaint had virtually all been slain in the attacks, but at least things started to feel normal once more.
But then, when the duchess supposed that enough time had passed for us all to forget, she let Syanna out again. And the bruxa that were lying in wait came to alert me of her presence again, giving me an opportunity to right myself in the eyes of the vampires. But I refused. I killed the messenger they sent me, and warned them that if they approached me I would kill them too. And that night, when I was holding the first official Mandragora since the attacks, a horde of lesser vampires descended on my party, killing everyone present. I chose to defend my guests, which put my identity at risk, but I was already too late. There were too many and they leveled the courtyard with their thirst for vengeance against me. They left me alive to witness their destruction, and informed me that I was no longer needed to carry out the plot against Syanna.
And judging by your presence here, I suppose they succeeded. And I am sorry, Anna. Genuinely. I am sorry. For all vampires. I am sorry for what has become of Beauclair and Toussaint. I did what I could. But it could never be enough,’ Orianna finished, wiping tears from her eyes, turning away from Ciri and Anna.
‘Orianna?’ Anna reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, ‘It wasn’t your fault. Syanna is alive, Ciri saved her. And I thank you for how you protected your duchy.’
‘Ha. My duchy…’ Orianna chortled through her tears.
‘Yes. Your duchy. You have been here longer than any of us, and you are a celebrated facet of culture in these lands. You are your Mandragora and all of Hauteville and all that is sophisticated and beautiful in Toussaint. And you are your children. Your orphanage was just a building, but your humanity, that will always be apart of you.’
Orianna turned around and hugged Anna, burying her face in her shoulder as Anna held her while she cried.
‘I owe you many thanks, Orianna. I never told you this, but your Mandragora was the only place I ever experienced true happiness,’ Anna said, while tears were forming in her own eyes.
‘Oh?’ Orianna said, looking up.
‘Yes haha all those years ago. That is where I met my first and only love.’
‘My goodness yes I remember all those years ago when my Mandragora was shut down by the palace guards… yes that’s right. I was sorry to see that happen to you and your sister,’ Orianna replied. ‘Your father was always a right cunt robbing you girls of your pleasure despite paying for my dear Cecilia every night and beating her senseless as he and his friends all took turns with her.’
‘He what…?’ Anna said, now unable to control the heaving sobs that were coming.
‘Oh gods I should not have said that. I just mean that your father was a severely hypocritical man, and it was not right for him to have so much control over you girls,’ Orianna tried to recover.
‘No… about…about Cecilia?’ Anna was starting to shake and her knees buckled as she collapsed on the ground.
‘Dear girl…’ Orianna said as she joined Anna on the ground. ‘There are some things you do not need to know. You would be better off not knowing.’
‘Please just tell me,’ Anna said, planting her hands firmly into the ground to hold herself up as she cried.
‘Well… your father loved Cecilia. Well not loved, but frequently purchased her… services. And every night I would watch that girl get picked up in a carriage to be taken off to the palace for a night of torture, beating, drinking, and being treated like an animal and a toy, all because your father loved to take advantage of poor young girls; she was under threat of treason and execution to show up, every single night.
And he also did frequent the Mandragora himself… in fact your father only knew that you two were at the soiree because he himself was there… he always showed up to force Cecilia into an alcove before her performances because he said that as the king, he should be the first to lay eyes on her at the soiree. But when he saw you two enter the courtyard (your masks really did not do a well enough job of disguising you both), he immediately snuck out and rode back to the palace to send his guards here and then cast Syanna out for good.’
At this point, Anna was screaming into the ground, crying and sobbing for her Cecilia, for all of the pain she suffered at the hands of her father, for the hypocrisy of it all, for everything. She just cried and shook as her pain consumed her, right there on the dirty floor of Orianna’s ruined estate. Both of them fully aware of all they had lost at the hands of reckless, insecure men, both human and nonhuman alike.
‘My Cecilia… ruined and beaten by my own father…’ Anna was pulling her hair out as she writhed on the ground. Ciri grabbed Anna’s hands and sat her up, holding her as she cried.
‘Orianna, what became Cecilia after she passed?’
‘Hm well this is complicated,’ Orianna replied distantly.
‘Tell us where she is buried, so that we may pay our respects,’ Ciri said firmly.
‘There is no need for that child. You met her downstairs,’ Orianna said guiltily and mournfully. ‘I could not handle losing my star and the pride and joy of my Mandragora, so I revived her by turning her into a vampire, thinking that if she could still sing and bring her joy into the estate that the Mandragora could live on, despite it all. But it was too late. The bloodlust that was left in the air after the attacks proved too much for a new, young vampire to bear and she turned feral. So I have been taking care of her and feeding her from the basement, but lately I don’t even know if there is a point anymore. She lived such a tragic and painful life; I realized too late that it was no mercy to bring her back to life. But all the same I cannot bring myself to kill her and end it all for good…’
Anna got up, fire in her eyes, burning a hole in Orianna. ‘HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO HER? YOU COULD NOT FINALLY LET HER HAVE SOME PEACE? YOU MADE HER INTO THAT DISGUSTING CREATURE WE SAW IN THE BASEMENT?’
‘Anna, please, I understand you are upset, but I thought that what Cecilia never got in life from being human, I thought she could if she were a vampire. It would make her more impervious to pain, she would be able to overpower any attacker, I thought it would have been better to give her a chance to live again. You humans live for mere seconds before your time is up; I thought that Cecilia deserved better from life so I sought to give it to her.’
Anna softened at this, somewhat agreeing with the logic. But Ciri could tell she was still so confused and raw with emotion.
‘May we go see her again?’
‘Of course, but be careful. She is getting dangerously close to feeding time,’ Orianna cautioned.
‘Ciri you’ll come and protect me if it comes to that?’
‘Of course, Anna. Let’s go down into the cellar again.’
‘But wait now, Anna. Why do you care so much about Cecilia?’ Orianna pressed.
‘It was Cecilia that Anna was with that fateful night,’ Ciri replied, knowing it would be hard for Anna to speak on it.
Orianna’s face betrayed her shock and misbelief, but Ciri and Anna ignored it as they began to descend into the cellar once more, now determined and unafraid of what dwelled there. They found Cecilia curled up in a dirty, shit caked corner of the basement, humming to herself and playing with a spiderweb.
‘Ciri we must get her out of here. Can we bring her to Corvo Bianco to get help?’
‘Of course. Orianna, do you mind?’
‘No, please. Do what you will. I feel bad enough for how I have let this happen to her. All of it, really. I should have been more protective of my little Cecilia.’
‘Orianna… you should come too,’ Ciri urged.
‘What? To your father’s estate? After everything?’ Orianna was now really in shock.
‘Yes, please, I insist. Please. You deserve better than all this, and what are you going to do here all alone? Please come. You are safer with us anyway,’ Ciri begged.
Orianna was touched as she reached out to put her arm on Ciri’s shoulder. ‘Thank you, Cirilla… I admit I am tempted by your offer, but—‘
‘Then that settles it. Come now. I will teleport back with Cecilia and you and Anna can ride the horses back,’ Ciri said, before disappearing before their eyes, holding the deranged Cecilia Bellante in her arms.
Arriving again at Corvo Bianco with a severely injured woman in her arms for her mothers to heal, Ciri felt bad for asking so much of her family. But she knew that they would do anything to make her happy, and she knew that Anna, Syanna, Cecilia, and likely Orianna too, had never felt the love of a caring and powerful family before, which made Ciri even more sad as she carried Cecilia into the house, who was now foaming at the mouth and seizing from the journey and being taken out of the basement likely for the first time in years. Corvo Bianco was about to become a whole lot more interesting, Ciri thought to herself as she set Cecilia down on the very same cot that she placed Syanna on some weeks past.