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If there was one certainty in the world, it was that Hecate was not in the mood for any shit. She was having a good day, having just finished a large project at Captiosus Technologies, and had extra chocolate in the pantry as a bonus. But then, she got the goddamn fucking E-mail. That single email turned Hecate’s perfectly adequate life to crap. And Hecate swear’s on all the holy heavens in the sky that she will never read another fucking email again.
24 hours earlier
The end of the day had her racing through the research building, in a hurry to leave. “good night Mrs Macksnoluge!” Hecate shouted as she was sprinting out the lobby, her heels clicking against the marble floors.
“Good night Hecate, and slow down you while you are at it! you’re going to hit that-!” Mrs Macksnoluge sighs through her nose heavily. “Why do I even bother trying to warn her, she basically has that spider-sense ironman has” she muttered to herself while locking up the building. Hecate smirked as she heard her,
“close, but not close enough Mrs Macksnoluge” Hecate pauses “to both of those statements” she mumbles under her breath. Hecate slowed to a walk as she headed towards the forest. Even after the long day of exercising her brain to near exhaustion, her mind moved a mile a minute. And while it helped her job as a physicist, sleeping was near impossible. Letting her mind wander, Hecate contemplated one of the theories her coworkers were working on. It had been the source of much agitation the past few days, as with the data they had now, the results they were aiming for were highly improbable, if not simply impossible. They normally would have just passed it off to someone of less import or scrapped it entirely. But something about the results was nagging at Hecate. So before they got rid of it, she had asked them to run another simulation. But this time, adjusting the amount of titanium to a lower dosage. Her theory was that there was merely too much for the particles to pass through the field easily. She’ll just have to check in with the results at the lab tomorrow.
Her mind started to slowly focus in on her surroundings as she followed the worn-down trail, walking deeper into the woods. The house she had “adopted” (not really enjoying the word “owned” for the house). Had a long list of fables, or so-called “hauntings” attached to it. Thinking of some of them were enough to have Hecate scoff. The humans who thought of them were no smarter than a worm. They never could have fathomed the truth and the depths of the secrets that reside inside those halls. Oh well, at least they had not put forth a claim to it. Or they would have quite possibly gone mad.
Finally nearing the estate, she stepped out of the heavily wooded area into a large clearing. In the middle holding what appeared to be a mediaeval mansion. Vines crawling over the cobbled walls, large imposing oak doors just awaiting any visitors she might receive. Although they would get none that she had not approved of. Hecate had made sure of that. Walking up the steps to the grand double doors, she took out the key hanging around her neck. It was ornate, to say the least. The head is covered in intricate swords so painstakingly done, it feels almost a crime to not admire it for hours on end every time she sees it. Shaking her head of the thought, she placed the key in the locked doors and opened them outwards. Glancing around the suspiciously empty entranceway, Hecate called out to the house. “I’m home Vincula, and I do hope you have not killed anyone whilst I was away.” Hearing a ruffle coming from the top of the foyer, Hecate smoothly entered the estate. The doors swung closed behind her.
“How could I? I hath been imprisoned upon this manor for many a moon, who could I hath possibly killed?” Vincula whined, turning the corner to trail down the blood-red winding staircase, her dress hauntingly trails behind her, as if there was a light breeze flowing through the air. Her body moved slowly, and fluidly. As if she was walking underwater. “And must I remind thee Hecate, my soul is bound to yours, till thy death I can never go against you, or what thou hast commanded of me, even if I so wished it.” She reminds quite impatiently, but annoyingly elegant.
Hecate tilted her head at Vincula, eyebrow raised “oh come now, am I really oh so horrid?” She questioned, mock pouting.
Vincula slowly flipped her strawberry blond hair over her shoulder, although it didn’t quite make it down, deciding instead to float at her waist.
“Oh Please, Hecate. Must thee be so melodramatic? But I digress, that tis not what I came down to say.”
Hecate raised an eyebrow, “with the way your talking, it almost sounds as if you think you have a choice.” She remarked. Vincula takes off Hecates coat and silently hangs it on the coat rack. “But never the matter, whatever you wish to give me can wait” Hecate commands as she heads toward the lab.
“thee got mail, Hecate.” Vincula said quietly. Hecate paused “involving thou sister, Hecate.”
At that Hecate swiftly turns around, “what do you mean, Vincula? I haven’t spoken to her in years. What happened?”
Vincula hesitated, “I did not say it was from thou sister, Hecate. Merely that it involved her.” Vincula paused once more, biting her lip in thought. Clearly wanting to say something but not knowing the consequences if she does.
“what, Vincula? Spit it out!” Vincula looks briefly pained, but then relived. The choice of having to tell Hecate or not forcefully taken from her. And by default, any consequence that would come of the action were not hers to take.
“you might not be able to handle what you read, Hecate. Be prepared for the worst.” At that Vincula turned around and left Briskly, leaving Hecate standing in the room, mouth agape. Ignore the fact that Vincula left the room without permission, Hecate abruptly heads towards the lab, swiftly walking through to decorated halls of the manor. As Hecate walked down the stairs that lead to the basement, she only had one thought on her mind. “what has Elizabeth gotten into now?”
Walking into her bedchambers, Hecate turns toward her bookshelf, pulling down “The Iliad”, and triggering a passageway to reveal itself. After a few moments of walking down the dimly lit corridor, she enters a bricked room. Paintings and old relics decorate the walls and floors. Expertly disguised to fool anyone into thinking that this room was the real prize. Jogging to the far corner of the room, she looked for a brick that was nearly identical to all the others. The only difference was a minor chip in the corner of the stone. Pushing on it, she impatiently waited for the staircase to upon up on the floor. Walking down the concrete stairwell she came upon a metal door. Taking out the key used for opening the front doors, she quickly whispered an enchantment onto the key, slowly morphing it into another key altogether, unrecognizable to the original. One not grand, but dull. Entering the key into the locked door, she entered a brightly lit room. Decorated with a king-size bed, sitting area, state of the art lab, paintings, and more that were simply hidden. Ignoring all that, Hecate quickly made her way toward the computers, that greatly resembled the bat computers, ironically. Logging in, and sifting through her emails, she found the one Vincula had referenced in almost no time at all. Surprisingly, It was from an old contact she had lost communication with.
“what is going on?” Hecate murmured to herself as she clicked the link to open the email. It took a few moments for the computer to ensure there were no bugs or trapdoors hidden in the email, but every millisecond made her more jittery to figure out what the hell was going on. Vincula hesitated, Latebras was out of hiding. He had no idea that Hecate even knew he wasn’t dead. Which meant that he revealed himself to give this information to her. Even at the cost of her possible wrath. So whatever it is he knew, it wasn’t good. And Elizabeth was right in the middle of it.
After what felt like minutes but was only seconds, the email was cleared. She must admit, fake death didn’t change Latebras writing style. The email was short and to the point, saying very little. But what it did say turned her pale.
“The Zacolie had Elizabeth, She’s dead. I'm sorry.
-technicus”
Hecate couldn’t breathe. Ignoring even the way Latebras signed his email, meaning he was worried someone might find out who he was. “They had her, oh my god they had her.” The thought was playing on repeat. She ran, the walls spinning around her. Hecate didn’t have a destination in mind, just out. “I need out, god I need out. They have her.” Hecate burst out the passageway, running as if the hounds of the damned were licking at her heels. The world around her, spinning faster and faster. Hecate could barely make out a figure standing in the distance, a voice calling out to her, sounding planets away. Elizabeth, they had Elizabeth, She’s dead, deaddeaddeadeaddeadeadead. Were the only thoughts she was capable of thinking before darkness welcomed her.
“Are you alright? Hecate, answer me!” Vincula shouted from behind the front door. The spell did not allow her to leave. “Hecate you must awaken quickly, Please!” as the darkness slowly left her head, Hecate found herself staring at the sky. Feeling bone-weary, the very thought of moving made her want to even less. But she had to, although she could not recall why. Something happened. Something bad. But what? What? “Wahtwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwh-“ Hecate gripped her head. “shut up, shut up, shut up, you stupid you useless you fucking idiot THINK” She felt like she knew what it was, it was at the tip of her tongue, it was so close. “But I can’t, I can’t, I can’t, I cant’, I can’t. If I can’t even think of this one topic how am I ever going to be able to fix it? God, I’m an IDIOT.” Her thoughts spiralling farther down. But Hecate didn’t know why. She had no idea how much time had passed while she was laying on the grass. When did she get on the grass? Hecate bolted up, back straighter than a ruler. Although she quickly came to regret it as her visioned turned white. “Elizabeth” she breathed “no”.