Vampire Wars [16]: Princess Mirna Polietkova (IV)

Princess Mirna Polietkova leads the Romanian vampire down a long, narrow corridor that descends at least two levels, arriving at a large underground chamber, a small circular coliseum with a closed roof, a few meters in diameter, and a sand floor. The walls are about three meters high, illuminated with torches, and topped with iron spikes curved downwards to prevent whatever is released to fight in that arena from easily climbing to the top.



The princess's soldiers are evenly distributed around the circle at the top. At a Cruciatus Curse, the two vampires accompanying them stay back near the gates, which appear to be the only access point, thus avoiding being trapped. The Roman vampire stays close to his master, who takes his place next to Princess Polietkova and Kuznetsov on a small wooden platform.



"Release the dog!" shouts Captain Vasily, and a huge wolf-dog enters the arena.

"Mr. Stonian, we'll bet 20 gold coins. Choose first, the dog or its opponent?" asks Kuznetsov.

"What will the dog fight against?" asks the Romanian.

"50 hungry rats!"

"The dog!" the vampire chooses.

Vladic didn't like to gamble, but it's in the Russians' blood; if he wanted to stick to his plan, he had to play his game. After a brutal fight, the wolf-dog prevailed, badly wounded!



Kuznetsov paid Crucio the bet while the arena was being cleared. As soon as it was clear, Captain Vasily summoned the containers for the next fight. Two men entered the arena. One was young, perhaps around 25 years old, blond and chubby, dressed like a shopkeeper or baker. He was holding a piece of dough, and judging by his frightened expression, it was the first time he'd ever held one, the Vampire deduced.



The second man was smaller and older, around 45 years old, with dark, weathered hair, strong arms, and muscles that betrayed his profession, as did his clothes. He was undoubtedly a blacksmith. He had a hateful expression and his hands were clenched on the dough, ready to kill.



"The baker was the blacksmith's daughter's boyfriend. One day, she came home early and realized that her future son-in-law was also 'kneading' his wife's body." Ha, ha, ha, ha!!! A roar of laughter echoed through the place. The baker fled by jumping out the window. The blacksmith went after him, but first killed the wife for being unfaithful and the daughter for being an accomplice, since she was also in the room with the boyfriend and her mother! The winner goes free!" Captain Vasily shouted.

"The baker is the boyfriend of the blacksmith's daughter. He came home early one day and realized that his future son-in-law was also 'kneading' his wife's body!"



"You choose first, Stonian. I'll give 50 gold coins to the other one!" Kuznetsov says. Vladic watches the two men's movements in the arena for a few seconds before deciding.

"The baker!"

"He'll lose this time!" the princess declares with a smile.

The blacksmith seeks out the fight and approaches the baker dangerously close. The baker fearfully backs away, but his opponent isn't very fast. He limps, an old injury perhaps aggravated by the fall he took while chasing the baker, Vladic surmised when he saw him enter the arena and heard their story.

The baker dodges several blows, always with the wall behind him. Finally, the blacksmith lands a powerful blow to the side of his opponent's sledgehammer. From the baker's cry of pain, it's clear he has a broken rib, but the baker is taller and fatter, and his fat helps him bear the pain. He catches the dough of his smaller opponent, and the blacksmith tries to release his weapon. The baker raises his own dough and delivers a sharp blow to his opponent's temple. The blacksmith's legs buckle, and he falls dead to the sand.



"That damned Romanian is so lucky!" Kuznetsov shouts.

"Kuznetsov, show some respect to Mr. Stonian! That sword he wears at his belt isn't just for show. He knows how to gauge his opponents' abilities in a fight!" Princess Mirna Polietkova says.

The baker is released. As they collect the blacksmith's body and clean the arena for the next spectacle, Kuznetsov reluctantly pays. Crucio accepts the coins without showing any emotion. The Russian's gold purse is almost empty.



Captain Vasily announces the next act, immediately clarifying that it will not be a fight but an execution. The accused is a peasant woman who will die in the arena fighting bare-handed against two enormous Siberian Molossus dogs, who are furious because they haven't eaten for several days. A gate opens and the peasant woman steps confidently into the arena. The Romanian vampire observes her closely. She is very beautiful; her wavy blonde hair falls over her shoulders. Her clothes are dirty, and she has marks on her arms. She defended herself and was beaten. As soon as she reaches the center of the arena, the Princess's soldiers erupt in a frenzy, hurling insults at the peasant woman with furious shouts of "Murderer! Witch! Whore!" they repeat over and over.



The young peasant woman doesn't lower her gaze. Her hard face doesn't betray fear, but rather a hint of anger. She looks around, searching for something. Vladic knows what it is: a crack, a gap in that sea of furious soldiers through which she can scale the wall and try to escape death!



She won't make it unless they help her. The former Romanian colonel, back when he still wore his uniform and could fight under the sun, was very good at reading the capabilities of his rivals and even his own soldiers on the battlefield. Since becoming a vampire more than 60 years ago, that ability only improves year after year. He decides to help her, unaware that tonight his decision will save her life.

"What did the peasant woman do?" Vladic asks. The Russian princess nods, and Captain Vasily replies:

"This treacherous witch, using dark arts, attacked five brave soldiers of my Princess, who went to her cabin in the mountains to collect the taxes she was supposed to pay."




"She killed three, and the two who survived managed to capture her alive!" Vasily finishes. Vladic's expressionless face knows the captain is lying. He'd already faced and killed a couple of witches. Some might look very young and be very beautiful, but no matter how much perfume they use, they can't hide their foul, sulfurous smell—not from a vampire's enhanced sense of smell, at least. And the peasant woman on the sand smelled of blood, sweat, and rage! So she had to kill the three soldiers in combat!



"300 gold coins that the peasant woman kills your two dogs!" Vladic shouts. "But she'll need a weapon."

"A war mace? A spear? No, better yet, a stick!" the Princess says, and her soldiers burst into laughter again!

"Not, she used my sword!!!" Vladic replies.

"Very well, Mr. Stonian, you have a bet, but it will be three dogs!!!" Mirna Polietkova retorts.

"So be it, Princess!!!" Vladic draws his fine Damascus steel sword from its scabbard, the finest weapon a vampire can wield, and throws it into the sand, which buries itself in front of the peasant woman's feet. She raises the sword high with skill and smiles at the Romanian knight's generosity. Now she had a chance to get out of there alive!!!



"Release the dogs!!!" Captain Vasily shouts!!!

To be continued…

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LMLB[2]: We're Going Home

Fabiana Morales, accompanied by her friend Morgan the parrot, walked back from her usual stroll under the beautiful reddish sky of the Parisian sunset, along the banks of the Seine. The fading rays of the sun played with the limestone of the buildings, tinting the facades a pale gold, which shone less brightly than the gold the young woman had unearthed from a grave in a small village lost in the French countryside a few days before.



Now Fabiana Morales was rich, not only because of the promise of hidden treasures she would inherit from her friend, mentor, and patron, the elderly Lucia Bentley. The two gold ingots she had unearthed that night had already been sold, and Mrs. Lucia had deposited half of that money directly into the girl's personal account—a small fortune that Fabiana could never have amassed even if she worked 100 years as a servant!

"Morgan, let's go home to Mrs. Lucia!"



"Bellel Lucia, belle Lucia!" the parrot said happily.

It only took Fabiana and Morgan about 15 minutes to get back to their building. Upon entering the apartment, Lucia Bentley, who was sitting on the balcony admiring the beautiful Parisian sunset with a warm cup of tea, greeted them with a smile.



"How was the walk, guys?"

"Very fun, Mrs. Lucia! I'm in love with this city!" the girl replied.

"Très bien, très bien!" Morgan responded.

"I'm going to need another favor, Fabiana. I want you to make arrangements for us to travel back home!"

"Ville Chaotique, ville Chaotique!" Morgan sang.

"What wonderful news, Mrs. Lucia!" Fabiana exclaimed. She was in love with Paris, but she longed to return home, and above all, to fulfill her promise to go dancing with Corcho Marcano. "I'll buy the tickets to fly back to Chaotic City first thing tomorrow morning!"



"I'm sorry, my child, we won't be returning to Chaotic City just yet. We'll be traveling to my true home, the town where I was born, the Jones family settlement on the banks of the Mississippi River. Back then, it was a small village; now it's only slightly larger, Adelaide!"



Fabiana's face fell. Lucia Bentley noticed it immediately. Not only her memory, but also her eyesight and the rest of her senses had improved, and she could read her ward!

"Don't worry, we'll return to Chaotic City someday, and I'm sure that brave private detective, Cork Marcano, will still be single. If no woman has caught him yet, it's because he's waiting for the right one!"

"Cork's Ami, Cork's Ami!" Morgan cried, remembering the detective who defended them from a very bad man and saved both his life and his beloved owner's.




"Sure, Mrs. Lucia, don't worry."

"What's the detective up to these days? He must be involved in another important investigation," the old woman asked.

"Although he got his car back several months ago, Cork hasn't had a big case. Adamaris and Backup were on the trail of a cat gang, but I don't know how that investigation turned out!"

"I'm sure of it, Mrs. Lucia, don't worry."

"Corcho is currently very involved, coaching the children's soccer team at his old school in the working-class neighborhood!" Fabiana replies.



"Les petits arbres, les petits arbres!" Morgan happily recalled the name of the school, because even though he was a parrot, he had the memory of an elephant.

Morgan's cheerfulness revived Fabiana's good mood, and she began to listen attentively to the story Mrs. Lucía was about to tell. During the few years she had worked for the elderly woman, Lucía had recounted countless anecdotes from her life and her family's adventures, but Mrs. Lucía's memory problems meant that most of the time she would jump from a memory when she was six years old to one when she was an adult.




But now that her overall health and memory seemed to have been restored, she spoke confidently and told coherent stories, so it was well worth listening to her!



***My family set sail from the port of La Guaira, leaving behind the chaotic city, with an immeasurable treasure of gold ingots hidden in the holds of the schooner Esperanza, obtained from the sale of the valuable Amazonian jewel to a German millionaire.




Fleeing from deadly enemies, Lucía Bentley preferred not to mention the word "vampire" (so as not to frighten Fabiana, for now). We never knew what they really wanted: the Amazonian jewel, the German's gold, or my mother?! Perhaps all three.




But also leaving behind good and dear friends, who risked their own lives to protect my family!!!






Avoiding the dangers of the open sea, my father, Colt Jones, skillfully captained his ship with the help of my mother, Jane Bentley, my aunt, Tayna Jones, and my grandfather, Samuel Bentley.




They sailed for months, skirting the coast of the Caribbean country, then all of Central America, and finally the Gulf of Mexico, eventually reaching the shores of the great country to the north, in the state of Florida. They gained access to the majestic Mississippi River, embarking on the final leg of their journey to their final destination, the small town of Adelaide.



The schooner Esperanza docked at the pier of the small town on the banks of the Mississippi River. My father had kept its name a secret throughout the entire voyage, right up to the very last moment.



Once they disembarked, my mother asked, "Why here, Colt? Why Adelaide?" And my father told him the story of the first Jones:

“When this country was still a colony of England, about 10 years before the start of the War of Independence, my great-great-grandfather, a cunning and daring pirate captain, erased his name from the history books—or perhaps he never even had one!—to escape and avoid being hanged by English justice.



He settled here in Adelaide, buried his past and his treasure in a grave in the cemetery, invented a nickname, “JJ,” and a name: Jeremiah Jones, the first Jones. He found a wife and started a family, leaving his pirate life behind and becoming a respectable man.



My great-grandfather, Ulysses Jones, and my grandfather, Francis Jones, never learned of Jeremiah's true origins. They stayed on the path of legality and good morals until my father, the black sheep of the family, was born. He told me this story hundreds of times. times when I was just a boy on the docks of Porto Velho.



When Morgan Jones turned 18, he had already gotten into quite a bit of trouble. It was then that he found an old map hidden in a trunk at home, which led him to the grave where JJ had buried his past. Upon unearthing it, some old letters and a few gold coins revealed his great-grandfather's dark secret. My father took his hat, his jacket, his sword, the coins, and set sail from this very dock in search of adventure, vowing never to return until he was immensely rich.***



"Wow, what a story! So the Joneses were pirates originally!" said Fabiana.

"That's right, adventure is in our blood!" replied Lucía Bentley.

"Adelaide, Adelaide!!!" Morgan shouted.

"They must have had several relatives in the village, cousins or relatives of their father!!!" Fabiana commented.

"Most likely, Tayna!!! My dad left a little sister here."

"Only one had survived the ravages of the First World War, which took quite a few Joneses fighting against the Germans in Europe, in addition to her young husband. My grandfather Morgan's little sister was widowed and bitter, since she had no children and never remarried, being the last Jones in Adelaide."



"Berenice Jones, Berenice Jones!!!" Morgan the parrot shouted.

Three days later, at Charles de Gaulle Airport, shortly before departure, while Fabiana Morales was checking in the tickets and luggage, Lucía Bentley whispered to her faithful green friend, "We're going home."



To be continued…

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LMLB[1]: My Family's Treasures

Fabiana Morales, accompanied by her friend Morgan the parrot, strolled under the beautiful reddish sky of early April sunset. Paris sheds its winter slumber, donning a renewed elegance. The City of Lights awakens to gusts of warm wind carrying the scent of chestnut blossoms and the murmur of cafes once again filling the sidewalks. Along the banks of the Seine, the fading rays of the sun play with the limestone of the buildings, tinting the facades a pale gold that only this season can bestow. The Tuileries Gardens and the Champ de Mars transform into vibrant canvases where tender greens and pink cherry trees defy the melancholy of the Seine. In this rebirth, Paris not only shines, it breathes with a vibrant rhythm, inviting the beautiful Fabiana to discover its eternal and unparalleled magic. Morgan already knew it.



After finishing their almost daily afternoon stroll, Fabiana and her green friend return to the building near the city center, where the young woman's patron had rented an apartment. After five months in the City of Lights, Fabiana's French had improved day by day. She went from understanding only a handful of words when she arrived in Paris to being able to speak fluently with Morgan and her owner, Lucia Bentley. Fabiana still had a marked accent that betrayed her South American origin, but the task was already accomplished: learning the language Morgan spoke so she could take care of the parrot when the elderly woman was no longer there. Upon entering the apartment, Lucia smiled at her charge, sipping a cup of tea while sitting on the balcony enjoying the Parisian sunset.



"How was the outing?"

"Very fun, Mrs. Lucia!!!" the girl replied.

"Très bien, très bien!!!" Morgan responded.

Lucia Bentley winked at the girl and her parrot. This farewell trip to the City of Lights had taken an unexpected turn for the old woman when, upon arriving in Paris, she ran into her old friend and namesake, Lucia Etraud.



At that moment, she couldn't remember exactly how many years had passed since they had met on a dark and gloomy road on the outskirts of Chaotic City, but thanks to the mysterious elixir she had given her during that reunion in a city café, her health had improved exponentially. The aches and pains typical of an elderly woman over 90 years old had disappeared. Whatever that small bottle contained was miraculous.



Even her memory loss improved. Her main fear was waking up one day and not remembering who she was or all the adventures she had lived through during her long life. Thanks to that miraculous tonic, that fear vanished. She still had some problems with her short-term memory, but now she remembered as if it had happened yesterday that that encounter on the road of the two Lucias was 80 years ago, when Bentley was 13 and Etraud was 20.



-Fabiana, I need a big favor.

-Anything you'd like, Mrs. Lucia.

-Rent a car early tomorrow morning, we're leaving the city!!!

-Are we going for a drive?

-Je vais me promener, je vais me promener!!!- Morgan shouts excitedly.

-Not exactly, Morgan, we're going on a retreat!!!- the old woman clarifies.

The next day…

The trio was on the road in a small Cuppett. They had lost more than an hour leaving Paris because Lucia Bentley had asked Fabiana at the last minute to stop at a hardware store to buy a shovel. The girl didn't ask why; she just obeyed.



Following the Old Woman's directions, they soon ventured into the French countryside. When Fabiana saw a road sign with the name of the village they were heading to, Giverny, she remembered the story of how, almost 49 years earlier, Mrs. Bentley had rescued Morgan from an aviary in a mansion very near that village. She guessed they were going there, but didn't want to ask. Lucia's eyes shone as if she were reliving that adventure.



A few minutes later, when they arrived in the village of Giverny, Fabiana asked:

"And now, Mrs. Bentley, which way?"

-Où aller ? Où aller ? !!! - Morgan shouted.

"I already told you both yesterday, we've come to make a withdrawal."

"So, to the bank?"

-Au cimetière, au cimetière !!! - replied the parrot, who remembered visiting this village many years ago.

"It's still very early, Morgan. Let's take a walk first, then find a nice place to have lunch, and finally, Fabiana, we'll go to an inn to rest. We have to wait until nightfall to make the withdrawal," explained Lucia Bentley.

A few hours later, back at the inn…



The astute Fabiana had managed to decipher the true intentions behind this impromptu trip to Giverny on her own, by putting all the pieces of the puzzle together: the shovel she had bought, the village cemetery, and the cash withdrawal. Mrs. Bentley had previously told her that her father, Colt Jones, a shameless treasure hunter, didn't trust banks and was in the habit of burying his money, gold, and jewels hidden beneath a tomb in the cemetery. "It was the ideal place to hide treasures, out of sight of the curious, since nobody usually visits them, especially at night, the best time to go for them," her father had repeatedly told his daughter.



Around midnight, the two women and the parrot left the inn, boarded the small coupe, and headed to the Giverny town cemetery. An owl hooted from a branch of an old oak tree that conveniently stood guard behind the graves of Pierre Beauchêne and Susej Beauchêne.



The first grave belonged to an employee of Colt Jones and his sister Tayna Jones at an illegal casino operating aboard a steamboat on the Mississippi River; the second was their mother's.



Pierre, a very funny, strong man, as Lucia Bentley remembered him from her childhood, also helped his parents and aunt with their treasure hunts. One of these hunts, the "Apache treasure hunt," didn't end well for the group. The friendly Frenchman was one of those who didn't return alive from that adventure. Colt Jones knew that Pierre sent money to his mother and sister in his hometown of Giverny, so he made the journey to Europe aboard his schooner, the Esperanza, accompanied by his entire family.



They arrived in the village in early May 1940, shortly before the Germans launched their offensive against France. But after investigating Pierre's family, they only found his mother's grave, Susej Beauchêne, with no trace of his sister. So, to move quickly with his family and return to his schooner without risking the loss of the treasure he had brought back, Colt Jones thought fast. He bought a headstone and a coffin for his employee and friend, and a plot in the village cemetery next to his mother's grave. Beneath the empty coffin, he buried the three heavy gold ingots, part of the fortune he had earned for the Amazonian jewel he had brought back as compensation for the Beauchêne family.




Fabiana Morales was digging rhythmically on Pierre Beauchêne's grave, under the watchful eyes of Lucia Bentley and her parrot, Morgan.

"Come on, Fabiana, pick up the pace or the cemetery caretakers will catch us at dawn!"



"Ugh, three gold bars down here? I hope it's worth it!" the young woman complained.

"There are only two left. Morgan and I made a retreat over 30 years ago!"

"Ugh, this Mrs. Lucia really worked hard. I hope this is the only grave I have to look after!" the young woman complained again.

"Don't complain so much, Fabiana. Now my gold and my secrets belong to you, and I regret to inform you that there are a few more graves you'll have to dig if you want to unearth all my family's treasures!"



-Les trésors de ma famille, les trésors de ma famille!!!- Morgan sang!

To be continued…

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