30-03-2019, 07:10 PM
Susan Takes Charge Pt. 03
By Special Guest Author Susan Bailey and T. MaskedWriter
"She's got a date at midnight,
with Nosferatu.
Oh, baby, Lily Munster
ain't got nothing on you.
Well, when I called her evil,
she just laughed
and put that spell on me.
Boo Bitch-Craft."
-Type O Negative, "Black Number One"
"Hi, your name's Susan Bailey, isn't it?"
Lucinda de San Finzione asked me the question in English. Casually, as if we'd met for the first time in a mutual friend's kitchen, and we knew someone else was stopping by, but the friend had to step out and take care of something just then, leaving us to make introductions ourselves. She wasn't lying just yet, though. My name is, indeed, Susan Bailey. Hi.
"Yes, it is." I replied. Since she hadn't lied yet, I figured I'd return the favor. "Hi. And you're Lucinda, right?"
We'd seen each other a few times recently; while I was helping Helen with her nicotine cravings and a couple of times that she's tried to get over to the Palace Wing while I've been there to shrug and pretend to not know Italian and point to a nearby Ultimado to tell her that La Contessa is too busy with the children for visitors. (The Ultimados have special instructions from Helen about La Familia as well. They're to be kept out of the Palace Wing and, when possible, away from Lady Maria; but since they ARE Maria's family, the Ultimados aren't allowed to really do anything to hurt them if they persist. Without a direct order from Helen, anyway. Which she doesn't give often. If Maria's around.)
"Si," Lucinda replied. "Er, yes. Lucinda de San Finzione. Are you lost?"
"Yeah." I said, seizing the opportunity. "I... uh, don't get over to this side of the castle often."
"I see." Came her response. "Perhaps you were looking for La Contessa's office?"
"Yeah. This looked like the nicest once, so I figured it must be hers."
Lucinda gave that a tight smile, the kind that, if she'd opened her mouth to show her teeth, I would have been surprised to see just a single row of them behind it.
"No," Lucinda answered. "This is my office. Would you like me to show you the way to La Contessa's?"
"That'd be nice." I replied, taking the offer, since getting out of this room without her noticing had been my original goal. I'd failed the second part, but still had hopes for the first.
"Come, this way." Her smile lightened. She'd decided not to unhinge her jaw and consume me whole just yet. I let her lead me away from the scene of my not-really crime. I was off balance here. I remembered something from my mind control training with Troy; "The one asking the questions is the one controlling the conversation." I'd had to learn that from him; and so far, everything Lucinda had said to me, she'd ended with a question, meaning that I'd allowed myself to be put in the position of being the one giving her information. I needed to change that.
"Sorry about being in there," I told her. "Just, you know, all the lovely furniture and books on the walls... was that Dante's Inferno in the display case?"
"Si. Er, yes." Lucinda replied. "A first edition. I like the illustration."
We walked on for a moment before I continued.
"The Circle of Lust, isn't it?"
"Yes. The second circle, an endless, warm, wet whirlwind."
I had another thought as we reached the door.
"Isn't one of the souls writhing in torment in that whirlwind for all eternity supposed to be Helen of Troy?"
"Yeeees." Lucinda replied, drawing the word out so that she seemed to be pronouncing it with four Es. Although she was leading me and walking about two steps ahead, I thought I could hear her lips creaking into that smile again. "And how is La Contessa doing?" She asked, trying to take control back.
I hesitated. Hopefully, not too noticeably. When Maria was still Helen's maid, Helen had implanted a trigger in Maria's mind to fall unconscious if she was either being kidnapped or was at risk of telling someone "too much" about La Contessa. (The idea being that there was no point in a reporter ambushing or a kidnapper trying to hurt or get information out of Maria, because she wouldn't wake up for it, so they'd gain nothing from it but MORE reasons to fear the moment the other tobacco, cocoa, and rose-scented thousand-dollar designer shoe drops.) Helen had arranged things to release Maria from the trigger if anything happened to her; so, when something did happen to Helen last year, it was removed. With six words, Lucinda let me know exactly what had been going on in Helen's mind when she came up with that idea. Could Lucinda have known about that and been testing to see if Helen had done the same to me?
By Special Guest Author Susan Bailey and T. MaskedWriter
"She's got a date at midnight,
with Nosferatu.
Oh, baby, Lily Munster
ain't got nothing on you.
Well, when I called her evil,
she just laughed
and put that spell on me.
Boo Bitch-Craft."
-Type O Negative, "Black Number One"
"Hi, your name's Susan Bailey, isn't it?"
Lucinda de San Finzione asked me the question in English. Casually, as if we'd met for the first time in a mutual friend's kitchen, and we knew someone else was stopping by, but the friend had to step out and take care of something just then, leaving us to make introductions ourselves. She wasn't lying just yet, though. My name is, indeed, Susan Bailey. Hi.
"Yes, it is." I replied. Since she hadn't lied yet, I figured I'd return the favor. "Hi. And you're Lucinda, right?"
We'd seen each other a few times recently; while I was helping Helen with her nicotine cravings and a couple of times that she's tried to get over to the Palace Wing while I've been there to shrug and pretend to not know Italian and point to a nearby Ultimado to tell her that La Contessa is too busy with the children for visitors. (The Ultimados have special instructions from Helen about La Familia as well. They're to be kept out of the Palace Wing and, when possible, away from Lady Maria; but since they ARE Maria's family, the Ultimados aren't allowed to really do anything to hurt them if they persist. Without a direct order from Helen, anyway. Which she doesn't give often. If Maria's around.)
"Si," Lucinda replied. "Er, yes. Lucinda de San Finzione. Are you lost?"
"Yeah." I said, seizing the opportunity. "I... uh, don't get over to this side of the castle often."
"I see." Came her response. "Perhaps you were looking for La Contessa's office?"
"Yeah. This looked like the nicest once, so I figured it must be hers."
Lucinda gave that a tight smile, the kind that, if she'd opened her mouth to show her teeth, I would have been surprised to see just a single row of them behind it.
"No," Lucinda answered. "This is my office. Would you like me to show you the way to La Contessa's?"
"That'd be nice." I replied, taking the offer, since getting out of this room without her noticing had been my original goal. I'd failed the second part, but still had hopes for the first.
"Come, this way." Her smile lightened. She'd decided not to unhinge her jaw and consume me whole just yet. I let her lead me away from the scene of my not-really crime. I was off balance here. I remembered something from my mind control training with Troy; "The one asking the questions is the one controlling the conversation." I'd had to learn that from him; and so far, everything Lucinda had said to me, she'd ended with a question, meaning that I'd allowed myself to be put in the position of being the one giving her information. I needed to change that.
"Sorry about being in there," I told her. "Just, you know, all the lovely furniture and books on the walls... was that Dante's Inferno in the display case?"
"Si. Er, yes." Lucinda replied. "A first edition. I like the illustration."
We walked on for a moment before I continued.
"The Circle of Lust, isn't it?"
"Yes. The second circle, an endless, warm, wet whirlwind."
I had another thought as we reached the door.
"Isn't one of the souls writhing in torment in that whirlwind for all eternity supposed to be Helen of Troy?"
"Yeeees." Lucinda replied, drawing the word out so that she seemed to be pronouncing it with four Es. Although she was leading me and walking about two steps ahead, I thought I could hear her lips creaking into that smile again. "And how is La Contessa doing?" She asked, trying to take control back.
I hesitated. Hopefully, not too noticeably. When Maria was still Helen's maid, Helen had implanted a trigger in Maria's mind to fall unconscious if she was either being kidnapped or was at risk of telling someone "too much" about La Contessa. (The idea being that there was no point in a reporter ambushing or a kidnapper trying to hurt or get information out of Maria, because she wouldn't wake up for it, so they'd gain nothing from it but MORE reasons to fear the moment the other tobacco, cocoa, and rose-scented thousand-dollar designer shoe drops.) Helen had arranged things to release Maria from the trigger if anything happened to her; so, when something did happen to Helen last year, it was removed. With six words, Lucinda let me know exactly what had been going on in Helen's mind when she came up with that idea. Could Lucinda have known about that and been testing to see if Helen had done the same to me?
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