She woke up, bleary eyed and groaned. The hangover ripped through her head and she curled into a foetal position moaning. As she pulled her self up, kicking through the bottles that scattered the floor and the various bodies in stages of undress and inebriation she performed her daily routine of standing infront of the mirror. Again, she could not look into it. Her tears ran as she staggered to the kitchen and pulled open the fridge, pulling out a bottle and raising it to her lips, eyes closed so she could not see any reflective surface. Curling up into a stained chair she sobbed into the bottle, the self pity and remorse filling her slowly being dulled by the fierce alcohol.
The forest estate she was residing in now was covered in snow. A brutal snow storm had hit the region and everything was under six feet of snow. Those staff who were here had left, uncomfortable with seeing her in such a state and unable to cope with it. Now, only three of her staff remained, that she'd let stay, and three of her husbands friends. Drunkards, the lot of them. As it was, only the three staff who were loyal to her noticed when the ship landed in the front of the estate, and by then it was too late.
The door to the house was opened and a woman walked in, wrapped in a thick black fur coat. Beside her six guards, also wearing black coats. She gestured to them and four of them spread out, the other two raising their weapons as the three geisha walked down the stairs. The shock on two of their faces registered for a moment, then they bowed. Only the blind one remained standing.
"I see you have returned. This was not expected, your highness."
"A slight pun, my dear. But yes. Where is she?"
The blind geisha tipped her head and listened.
"Your men will find her soon."
"Are you going to stop us?"
"You know we could... but no."
One of the guards laughed.
"What are you three against the pride of her security force."
"If you were brought here for a lesson in either combat or courtesy then you are in the right place. Any one of us would put you down without breaking a sweat."
The woman raised her hand and gestured back, the guard stiffening and backed away as the two geisha stood up and one walked away.
One of the Geisha opened a doorway and gestured in, the woman and her guards, followed by the other girls entered. The room was warm and comfortable and the woman divested herself of her coat to a guard and sat down. Wine was brought and offered to her in due obediance if not to her rank, than to who she was.
"How has she been, Whisper?"
"I have only seen her like this once before.... I had not hoped to see her like it again. She needs structure in her life, to be a part of something again."
"So, being a Holder not turning out too well for her?"
Whisper sighed and sat down, Orchid and Rose standing behind her, both their hands on her shoulder giving her strength.
"No, I think it was the way her husband was eviscerated infront of her by invisible demons that broke her. All the pain and the torture in the world were nothing when she was with him, as she was once before with.... love does conquer all. Now, all she has is us three. And even we can't get through to her."
"Will you let me try?"
"No."
"Do you have a choice?"
She hesitated... " No."
Two guards walked in dragging a body and dropping it on the floor before her. It moaned softly and giggled then moaned louder and cluthed at it's head. The woman looked down at the figure on the floor and prodded it with her boot.
"My god, I didn't know it was that bad. I think you three had best go. Back to your island."
"You wont' kill her.. will you?"
"My dear Whisper, " she said, the Khanid sing song of her voice softening, "I... won't do anything. It's all up to her now. She has fallen from grace, perhaps futher than her dear sister."
The two little geisha looked to Whisper and the three of them left, heading to their quarters and coming back with heavy coats pulling a trunk on a portable grav platform.
"Whisper, it isn't right..."
"Rose, we have no choice. Anyway, if she lives she'll return to the island. Its been too long and I need the sunshine and the sea breeze."
From the chair she listened as the shuttle took off and sipped her wine and waited. When what she expected did not come she looked up.
"I was expecting...."
The guard listened to the comm in his helmet
"There were no life signs on the shuttle, they must have set it for automatic. Do you want us to send out scouts to hunt them down?"
"No. Burn the estate down, bring that with us. Let them freeze to death out there."
Carmilla awoke to pain and numbness and icy cold blackness. The howling blizzard had half covered her where she lay and already she was loosing the feeling in her arms and back. The thin dress she was wearing was not suitable for the weather, the blizzard and the sub zero temperature would kill her. Staggering to her feet she gasped as the icy wind took her breath away and she started moving, trying to find shelter. As she walked, in the snow, she screamed out in defiance, the tears on her cheeks frozen. Her refusal to just roll over and die pushed her on, but even that will only go so far. Just as she found herself closing her eyes she saw the diffused lights coming towards her and raised her hands.
"I'm coming... my husband... I'm coming....."
And then, she mercifully blacked out.
