#-feelings department and i feel like it'd be like. really fucking irresponsible of me to show that kinda stuff

[chocolatespyro]

me knowing i shouldnt post vent art publicly but also going "but what if it looks REALLY good????"

[littlelesbinonny]

The Devil's Den

Chapter 32: In Which The Tower Begins to Lean

You can read this also on Ao3 at: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46831621/chapters/117962293

"And uh, we have your daughters, Lady Dimitrescu."

"You - what?"

"We have your daughters, but they're unharmed."

Alcina was completely dumbstruck by the words spoken just now, unsure if she heard any of that correctly. 

Anjelica, a lieutenant under Dmitri's command had been the first to call at this ungodly hour to report another collapse in what had now been discovered as a whole new tunnel system under the already compromised cave.

"I-I'm sorry, what do you mean you have my daughters?"

"They were assisting in the exploration, as you'd sent them to do, my lady? They were the first to find the system - "

Blood boiling was a low, minimal, grossly understated, description of the fury Alcina was currently experiencing.

It'd been only two goddamn days since she'd spoken with Dmitri. How had they slipped their way under her nose and escaped to the camp? How had they known about the tunnel to begin with? How had she been so blind as to not notice the absence of her girls? How had she, a mother, been so irresponsible?

"THEY WHAT?!" she screamed, interrupting the explanation coming in from the other line.

Donna and Karl felt the undeniable shards of ice shoot from Alcina's energy field, her shriek a nerve pinching addition.

Donna was mortified the girls were there and had been caught up in this, a thousand and one thoughts of the situation crashing around in her skull, though simultaneously relieved beyond measure they were unscathed.

Karl was doing everything he could to contain the chaotic mix of anger and guilt that was bubbling grotesquely from his gut.

Hey eyes began to fill with blackness, her rage transforming her into the monster no one wanted to meet as she spiraled at the news.

Like a bomb hissing the hint at its explosion, Alcina's voice dropped to an eerie hush, "keep my daughters in your sights. Do not let them go anywhere. I will be there by the end of the day."

Anjelica was unable to respond as she slammed the receiver down with such a clang Donna and Karl jumped. Her nails began digging caverns into the wood of her desk as she fumed to the brink of implode.

"Tell my team they better be hot on my trail to the old tunnels because I am leaving now!" she barked, ripping herself from the cat-like, hunched stance over the phone.

She was gone in a flash.

"Karl!" Donna blurted at the man already dashing after her.

"Don't worry, I got it, I got it!"

Luckily for Karl, Alcina's perfume allowed him to follow her flitting through the vastness of the city, she was faster than lycans by a landslide but he finally caught up to her as she was headed for her exit.

"Alcina!" he called, "Alcina! ALCINA - WOULD YOU FUCKING WAIT?!"

Turning a sharp corner he about ran face first into her chest, "holy fuck!" he cursed, forcing his course change and slamming into the neighboring wall.

"WHAT?!"

"Listen!" he bit back, "I've got a very nice gift for you before you depart that I really feel like you NEED on this particular little venture, so would you chill your shit for JUST A SECOND?"

The black orbs that had encapsulated her eye sockets began to slowly sift away the darkness, her clenched fists relaxed slightly and her breathing mellowed to a point her lips were no longer screwed into a tight grimace.

"Yes?" she replied with a very prominent bite, annoyed at being stopped in the first place.

Karl huffed, "I uh, I made you a new suit. Will you please come with me back to my shop so you can change into it?"

Dropping the last of her guard at the very rare sincerity in his voice, Alcina released the tension in her shoulders, "oh."

The new suit Karl had crafted for her was impeccable. It fit very similarly to the last one but the blackness of the material was unlike anything she'd seen before. It was as ebony and absent of light as a void in space. However, the feel was soft and malleable, it moved well, and it was comfortable beyond measure. As she ran her glassine nails down the fabric on her arm, testing its resiliency, she noted how the material moved similarly to chainmail.

"I know it feels light and basically shreddable, ya know like some catsuit knock off from a shitty Batman movie, but I promise this is... dragon scales tier."

He was so eloquent.

Alcina threw her gaze to him as he scratched his head unceremoniously with his ragged hat, "it looks nothing like that. This is a beautiful piece of work... thank you. I assume you won't tell me what it's made of?"

"Nope! That shit stays in my brain."

"A scary place, I'm sure."

"You know it. Now come on, quit oogling my goods and get your ass moving."

A sharp eyeroll later Alcina was headed to the door.

"Be careful, ferocious predator."

All he received was a limp-wristed wave with her back turned as she ducked though the doorway.

~

Alcina arrived right on time as she had announced. The sun had set not seconds ago and she was now in the warehouse with Dmitri, her girls, and a few soldiers.

The warehouse was not soundproof and the vampires were struggling to ignore the chastising from the Matriarch behind a closed door. Gerard, Mateo, and Elina arrived just in time for the worst of it.

"How could you?!" she scolded, pacing back and forth in the stark, ugly, bleak bunk room at the very back, "how could you all do something like this behind my back?! And how dare you all LIE that I sent you to do this! You could have been killed! What were you thinking?!"

"Mama, please!" Daniella tried, "there's more to it than just - "

"I don't want to hear a word of it! I don't care your reasonings - this is easily the most irresponsible thing you all have ever done."

Cassandra huffed, brushing off some left over dust and rubble, "Mamă, dacă nu eram noi nu ar fi știut niciodată că există un întreg sistem de tuneluri! NOI, noi, l-am găsit!" (Mother, if it weren't for us they never would have known there was a whole tunnel system! WE, us, we found it!)

Alcina's eyes grew dangerously deep as she peered at her middle daughter, her nostrils flaring as she debated how much she could hold back; "Cu toții știați clar despre peșteră când ați ajuns aici și tot ați decis să faceți asta? A meritat gloria? Nu știu a cui idee a fost și nu-mi pasă că a fost o prostie și egoistă! Idiot!" (You all clearly knew about the danger when you got here, and still you decided to do this? Was the glory worth it? I don't know whose idea it was and I don't care, it was foolish and selfish! Idiotic!)

"Egoist? Egoist?" Cassandra tested. (Selfish? Selfish?)

Bela sat upright quickly, "Cass, nu" (Cass, don't.)

"Vrei să discutăm despre egoism?" (You want to discuss selfish?)

"Cass!" Bela hissed.

"Da mamă, hai să vorbim despre asta, ai ști multe despre asta, nu-i așa." (Yes mother, let's talk about it, you would know a lot about it wouldn't you.) 

"Cassandra Dimitrescu - " Alcina warned fiercely, but the strong willed, bull-headed daughter that was so much like her butted right back in.

"E egoist din partea ta să ne ții în întuneric! Este egoist din partea ta să ne tratezi ca pe niște copii - este egoist din partea ta să ne ignori și să te prefaci că nu vedem, auzim sau știm lucruri! Este egoist din partea ta să ne ții lucruri pe care le putem ajuta și de care ar trebui să fim conștienți! Suntem luptători! Așa cum ne-ați antrenat să fim! Nu ne mai tratați ca niște figurine de sticlă care se vor sparge dacă suntem scăpați!" (It is selfish of you to keep us in the dark! It is selfish of you to treat us like children - it is selfish of you to ignore us and pretend like we don't see or hear or know things! It is selfish of you to keep things from us that we can help with and should be aware of! We are fighters! Just like you trained us to be! Stop treating us like glass figurines that will shatter if we're dropped!)

Her voice reached the pitch Alcina's had taken not moments before and she rose from the bench she was sitting on, angry and waving her arm at her sisters, her eyes never leaving her mothers.

"Dacă nu ai fi atât de consumat în micul tău om, poate ai avea o idee despre ce se întâmplă cu noi încă o dată! Poate ai avea timp pentru noi... Dar nu, noi suntem egoiştii?" (If you weren't so consumed in your little human maybe you would have a clue what goes on with us once more! Maybe you would have time for us... But no, we're the selfish ones?)

The silence flooded the room like a tidal wave, slamming down everything in its path.

Alcina stood still as a statue, her eyes locked with Cassandra while the cold pit in her stomach grew heavier and more unbearable. She felt hot.

Finally dropping her gaze from the stare-down with Alcina, Cassandra placed her hand over her mouth and shook her head, "Mother, I'm sorry, I -"

"Tăcere," Alcina stated in the most unfeeling tone the girls had ever heard, "Mateo te va duce înapoi la conac. Vei sta acolo până la întoarcerea mea." (Silence. Mateo will take you back to the manor. You will stay there until my return.)

"Mama -"

"Mateo!" She called, shutting down Bela's voice. As he entered Alcina looked to him with sternness, "take my daughters back to the manor. You will occupy the courtyard with whatever comrades you choose. They are not to leave and no one is allowed to enter. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, my lady." He replied with a curt nod, looking to the girls who were uneasily shifting and moving towards the door. 

With her eyes donning a sharp glance, she watched her girls shuffled by without moving a muscle. Daniella stopped just shy of her arm to touch it gently.

"Go."

~

The camp had progressed impressively since she had been there last and they finally looked fortified to her liking. There was a myriad of artillery boxes lined about and everyone was indeed armed to the teeth. Their readiness might have made her smile, but not tonight.

Dmitri guided her, Elina and Gerard to the new base closest to the cave. Sylvia was there going through photos and some kind of ground scans their men had produced before the newest collapse.

"Lady Dimitrescu," Sylvia smiled warmly at the Matriarch, "a pleasure to have you with us again."

"If only the terms were better. What do you know?"

They spent the next several minutes reviewing the data they had collected before and after the fact, all of which was interesting but still no solid answers to anything at all. The cave and the newly discovered tunnel system was still just as cryptic. When she was told that Angie was also on the frontline of the exploration expedition, Alcina raised a brow quickly and asked for here whereabouts. She had conveniently already made her way back to the underground city. Making a mental note to grill Donna when she got back was moved to the top of the list. Getting ahold of Angie for direct questioning would be as fruitful as catching a slimy fish with bare hands.

"Still no activity anywhere, thankfully. There is still one pocket that we have access to; these print outs here of the scan show that we might be able to slip one person through... if we can safely infiltrate it we might be able to continue our search for where the mutant came from."

Alcina pursed her lips at the suggestion.

"I don't think it is wise," Dmitri chimed in, "we still have no answers as to why the integrity of this place is so compromised or what is causing it. We had nearly the whole team down there when the faulty layers began to give. Had it not been for your daughters exceptional hearing, we might have all been lost."

While that softened her a little, it still left a sour taste in her mouth.

"I want to go down."

"My lady -"

"I want to go down," she reiterated firmly, "I will test the waters, so-to-speak. I may not be the lightest or the smallest, but I am fast and I will be as good as any candidate to push its limits. You will all be right there to aid me if I need it."

Everyone else exchanged glances as Alcina mulled over the scattered photos. Weary of waiting for any verbal confirmation she headed towards the crumbled cave entrance.

"Well?" Dmitri called.

Cramped but carefully navigating her way between rubble, Alcina grimaced as she pushed through some rocks, knocking them over with a cracking crash. Silence. 

"Nothing else is shifting thus far - I believe it's safe to follow."

It was blessedly dark in this stupid cavern and it smelled musty and was dirty. Alcina forced her displeasure aside and was soon joined by Dmitri and Petra, a small lycan who was the true scout on the escapade.

There was very little room to move any which way but forwards or backwards and it was a bit of a steep decline into the tunnel entrance that they were now facing. The pocket in question was directly to the left and Alcina crouched down to examine her next move.

"How's it look? Everything still alright?" Sylvia asked from the comm.

Dmitri huffed, "all fine. We're at the entrance. Will update as we go," he stuffed the comm back in the holster and held his flashlight above Alcina, "I think she misunderstood me when I said I would update her as needed... perhaps it is my accent."

Alcina smirked, "she's eager. I doubt I'd be any less unbearable if I were in her shoes."

"Indeed."

He winked as she peered at him over her shoulder.

After at least half an hour of rearranging rubble and rock carefully as they might, they managed to create an opening stable enough for Petra to slip through.

The moment she slithered her way in, the unfortunate grumble of shifting earth rumbled loudly and with haste Alcina grabbed for Petra, yanked her from the opening just as the rocks came crashing down on the other side.

Dmitri hoisted Petra up and shoved her through the way they came, he and Alcina racing to the surface behind her as everything began to collapse behind them.

Petra had made it out, Alcina and Dmitri were just to the birth of the cave when the ceiling above them came tumbling down. In the blink of an eye Dmitri grasped for Alcina and in his infinite wisdom and instinct lunged for the mouth with barely a split second to spare as the debris came down in a dust cloud that gulped everything up.

-

Your unease had started earlier that evening. Maybe 7, 7:30 or so. 

There had been no apparent reason except that perhaps tomorrow was Monday and you were generally dreading having to go back to work.

Still, you had memories of yesterday and it painted a smile on your face.

Today was Alcina's birthday and you doubted you'd see her tonight, for maybe even a couple days now, what with whatever vampire business was happening, and Donna. You didn't know Donna at all, but the way Alcina mentioned the ass-chewing she may receive upon return from her made you snicker. She seemed spicy but overall concerned and loving of her friend. The thought of what her life was really like down there in the underground kept your brain distracted for a while anyway. You so wished you could be part of it one day. Meet her daughters. Donna. Karl. You'd already met Angie and that was a wild ride all its own, you couldn't help but wonder what everyone else was really like.

The unease didn't really get any better as the night progressed and after a couple of episodes of The Nanny you turned into bed.

You'd wasted an entire Sunday being a complete bump on a log and that was fine.

With Alcina's gloves securely in your grasp as you snuggled into your bed, a small smile resided on your face as the haziness of sleep wafted through you, the image of her wearing the new ones you bought her still beaming in your chest like a bright beacon. You'd give her anything in the world if you could. Anything. And the thought swept you into the darkness.

There was so much blood.

So much blood, everywhere.

It was pungent.

Bodies everywhere. And in the near distance you could hear... crunching. A sloppy sound, lapping, sucking, something... terrible.

Wherever you were the halls were tight, the rooms dense, closed-in, blood on ever inch of every floor. Bodies scattered here and there. Massacred messes of broken bones and torn up flesh, faces, clothing, unrecognizable. 

You tried to be mindful of where you stepped, steadying yourself on the sticky cold walls as you searched out this chewing, crunching, slurping sound.

The building was rumbling. Low at first; like a train was passing by on wobbly tracks - it ebbed - pulsed, long, drawn out, like wind picking up momentum. It seemed as though every step you took was bringing about a harshness of the grumble, and each move you made you expected to hear something crashing to the ground and breaking. And nothing ever did.

Stairs.

Stairs that lead you up but took you down.

And you followed each creaking, shaking, unsecure step.

Down - up - sideways?

Light. Light at the end of a corridor.

A room, where the sounds grew louder and poignant.

The smells were so much more intense and you gagged as you rounded the corner. And there in the room, the only one flooded with red and purple light pouring in from the windows, was a figure hunched with a broken body in its grasp.

More bodies lay strewn in a haphazard manner, limp and bent and broken and rotting in their own dead blood.

The figure growled and began to stand, you froze in the doorway and watched unable to budge.

Tall. 

So tall.

The body dropped from its claws with a thud and white eyes met you as it turned.

Alcina.

She was gaunt. So thin. So much taller. Vicious and sneering at you. Covered in blood from mouth to toe. Fingernails long, protruding from her fingertips like scythes. Teeth jagged, bloody and sharp. 

You wanted to fall back, or call to her to remind her it was you, that it was you, just you. But those white eyes made you immobile. For the first time in your life you felt fear of her, terror, horror, the strongest desire you'd ever had to run from her.

'I am what I am.'

She said, her voice so unlike her own you didn't believe it was her. It was sickeningly sweet, yet bitter and slimy, breaking with a hiss.

'You know what I am - I will kill - I will kill - a monster is what it is.'

She moved towards you like a skip in a video and yet you still could not move from her advance.

'You cannot tame me - I kill - and I will kill you, too.'

Another glitch and she was closer, your breathing laboring harder and harder until you felt you may scream out the fear swelling inside you.

'Run - run - make me chase you, little mouse!'

She lunged.

You screamed.

"Fuck! Fuck!" you shouted as you shot up in bed, huffing and sweating, "what the fuck... what the fuck...." reaching for your phone with the utmost clumsiness, you looked at the screen hastily for a time.

4:55.

"Oh holy fuck," you huffed, still catching your breath, "oh my god... what the fuck."

The sheer terror of that dream was still too potent in your veins and you physically had to get up an out of bed to feel better. Fight or flight had never felt so real in a dream and you hated every second of it. What the fuck was that even about? 

You didn't want to be scared of Alcina. You knew that wasn't real. You knew her. You knew her. 

Fuck that dream, fuck that dream.

You promptly jumped in the shower.

~

Dazed, confused, and exceptionally wired energetically, you found yourself sitting outside on your lunch break, desperately needing silence and alone time.

Rustling overhead finally caught your attention and you looked up.

More than pleasantly surprised to find your crow family had followed you to work, you were now all smile from ear to ear as you shuffled on the bench in the courtyard while they landed and pitter-pattered around.

Today had been too weird for your liking but you were trudging through it. You used every bit of your willpower to ignore your dream altogether and gaslit yourself at every turn that it never happened. Work was wickedly busy and you weren't bitching about it for once.

"Well look at you beautiful little creatures - I uh, I don't have any goodies for you I'm afraid..." you grinned leaning forward on the bench, simultaneously pulling your scarf a little tighter around your neck, "happy for the company though."

The largest, once again, came up to your feet and eyed you with focus. The beautiful black of its feathers flickering the prism of color off the suns rays.

"You all need names," you blurted at the one below you, smiling still, "can I name you, or will I be cursed from the fae world?"

The crow didn't budge at your chuckle so you shrugged and pondered.

"Ok, I'm not even going to attempt to guess genders here, not that they are relevant, but... let's see... you," you stated softly looking at another one approaching you, "how 'bout Ash. Very clever, I know," you giggled, "and you... Onyx? Yeah, I'll be here all week with this brilliance," you said to another coming close, "you - Noir. And you - Shade - and you... how about Obsidian, call you Siddy, or Sidda for short? And... you," you hunched on your knees looking to the largest, the one at your feet, who seemed completely unafraid of you, "Ebony."

The six of them were gathered in front of you in a crescent moon shape. Silent. Almost as if they were pondering you as hard as you were pondering them. Each set of shiny, pitch black eyes watching you watch them.

"Do those suffice?" you asked the group, your gaze settling on Ebony.

Whether it was the faint wisp of a a whisper from the wind, or your own imagination slithering through to take advantage of your unbalanced state, you heard in your ear, clear as day; "yes."

Before you could react they took flight and left you there in silent bewilderment.

-

"LADY DIMITRESCU!"

The shouting and mayhem of everyone closing in with shouts and barked orders galore was quite muffled as Alcina pawed her way out from under a boulder or two. Dmitri was doing the same as the patrol of vampires and lycans reached them with haste.

"Are you alright? Are both of you alright?" 

Sylvia's voice permeated the haze in her skull. "Yes, yes, I'm - I'm fine," Alcina replied taking the hands that had been offered to pull her from the remaining rubble.

Side-eying Dmitri, he nodded his answer of being unharmed and she dusted off her new suit. Not a scratch or a snag.

"We heard the rumbling underground before the collapse - we tried to radio - did it not come through?

Dmitri patted off his uniform and ran a hand through his thick, white hair and twisted his neck with agitation, "no, we did not receive it. Though I'm not sure how that would cause interference."

"You heard rumbling all the way out here?" Alcina reiterated to Sylvia as the soldiers were now investigating the fully concaved disaster behind them.

The lycan commander nodded with a worried expression on her face, "it started from under us and moved in your direction... then spread like spider legs in all directions afterwards."

Silent thoughts and unspoken concern plagued the three.

"Your scan showed no sign of tunnels under the camp and outposts." Dmitri stated.

"Correct. Which makes this all the more baffling. And now we have zero access to anything underground that isn't blockaded by boulders and rubble galore. We can't very well start digging and drilling holes. We've already had a run-in with the Bureau of Land Management; we dropped your name to two officials before their dumbasses got word to fuck off from the higher ups. We don't need more issues with the humans."

Alcina was over this day. 

She scrunched her face as she rubbed her forehead, "does anyone here smoke? I want a fucking cigarette."

"M'lady." Came a gruff voice from beside her not five seconds after. 

A large burley lycan with his arm outstretch held a crunched, half used pack of Marlboros and Alcina plucked one without pause. He flicked open his lighter and lit the end while she took a long, drawn out drag. Marlboros sucked but she wasn't about to be picky.

"Thank you," she sighed out the smoke, nodding in return to him, forcing her focus to the task at hand, "well... I suppose this means more work, more man hours, more dead ends, and less answers and more questions than we ever had to begin with. Does this sound about right?" she questioned flatly.

Everyone nodded.

"Wonderful!"