Chapter Text
“You may approach, Hellfire Witch.”
Jeanne lifted her eyes from the floor to find lord Bellator glaring at her with barely hidden disgust on his face. She looked over at the large, crescent-shaped ebony table, behind which the other seven members of the Senate sat with their backs turned to her. Not a single one of them acknowledged her presence, not that it was any more unusual than the treatment a bourreau like her would get anywhere else. Although that wasn’t entirely true; lord Ruthven gave her half a smile that the other vampires in the room seemed to miss, but that was all the encouragement she needed.
Jeanne took a few hesitant steps towards the table, while the senators slowly turned halfway in their seats as she walked, the sound of her steps echoing from the ornate walls of Carbunculus Castle. She didn’t know which one was worse, for them to ignore her completely like when she entered the room, or to have everyone’s eyes on her. She decided to focus on the only friendly face at the table to calm her nerves and looked at lord Ruthven, who gave her the smallest of nods.
“I expect you haven’t been told why we have summoned you here?” Lord Bellator didn’t seem to mind that the bourreau wasn’t looking at him despite him being the one to address her, though that may very well have been because he himself didn’t pay any attention to her.
“No, lord Bellator,” Jeanne answered honestly. The senator nodded, apparently satisfied with her answer. Whatever was the reason for her presence in the castle, it must be something that had to be kept secret, at least, for the time being.
“Good. Lord Ruthven, you are the one who has been granted full authority over this matter. I believe you should take it from here.”
Jeanne felt instant relief when lord Ruthven thanked lord Bellator and started to speak in that deep, authoritative voice that she was so used to.
“Three days ago we received an official communication from the Catholic Church in France. A wild beast has been terrorizing the province of Gévaudan for the past two years; the number of its victims is approaching a hundred people. Eyewitnesses describe it as a giant wolf with red fur and a black ridge on its back. The Church has launched an independent investigation and has come to the conclusion that it is no ordinary wolf, but a curse-bearing vampire.” Lord Ruthven paused and looked Jeanne directly in the eye. “You will be dispatched to Gévaudan tomorrow and join forces with the Church's chasseurs to slay the Beast.”
Jeanne felt her limbs go numb. A curse-bearer… in Gévaudan..? Over a hundred years had passed since she last visited the area, but she still remembered the time she had spent there as a child - perhaps, one of the last few happy memories she had. She didn’t know how many vampires moved to Altus after it was confirmed to be a safe place, but something told her that there was at least one that didn’t. Someone who was used to living in loneliness, hiding from the rest of the world in an empty castle in the woods near Saugues. A girl with silvery hair and grey-blue eyes who looked no older than eleven but was hundreds of years old…
Chloé, the hidden vampire of the Marquis d'Apchier’s family.
She... couldn’t possibly be the Beast, right?
“...fire Witch, answer the question.”
Jeanne glanced at lord Bellator, then back at lord Ruthven, who cleared his throat and spoke to her, ignoring the other senators’ dissatisfied mutters.
“I asked you if you understood the assignment clearly,” he repeated calmly, his yellow eye boring directly into hers. Jeanne nodded. A single question weighed heavily on her mind, but she knew better than to speak unless addressed to.
“Very well,” lord Bellator said. “Lord Ruthven will fill you in on the details before your departure. You are dismissed.”
***
Jeanne lay on her bed, staring at the simple wooden ceiling. She left the Carbunculus Castle five hours ago and still hadn’t heard from anyone. A small hope nestled in her heart, the tiniest of possibilities that the Senate decided to reallocate the assignment to some other bourreau. After a while, another hopeful thought replaced the first one: maybe Chloé wasn’t the curse-bearer that she was ordered to kill. Surely there were other vampires in Gévaudan?
Please, not her.
A memory appeared in the bourreau’s mind from the day she first arrived at the abandoned castle in the woods of Gévaudan. The hidden vampire of the d’Apchiers looked so perfect that then-six-year-old Jeanne mistook her for a doll. Chloé was amused by the childish excitement in the little girl’s voice; little did she know that soon enough she would be exhausted beyond belief from chasing that overly energetic child throughout the entire castle. It was so much fun…
A knock on the door interrupted Jeanne’s thoughts.
“May I come in?” Lord Ruthven’s muffled voice came through the wood. Jeanne sat up on the bed abruptly when her teacher walked in, bowing his head so as to not hit the lintel. His expression was solemn, and the scars peeking from under his eyepatch seemed even more pronounced than usual.
“I came to give you the instructions, Jeanne,” he said as he took the single chair next to the bed. Lord Ruthven was the only person who addressed her by her name these days; to everyone else she was the Hellfire Witch, a moniker that inspired reverence and disgust at the same time. Jeanne didn’t particularly care about what other vampires thought of her anymore, but she was glad that her former teacher still called her by the name her late parents gave her.
“You are scheduled to leave at dawn,” lord Ruthven spoke quietly, watching her with a single yellow eye. “Four other vampires chosen by the Senate will accompany you as your minders.”
“Minders..?”
Lord Ruthven sighed, furrowing his thick ginger brows. “That’s right. The Senate decided that you will need supervision on this assignment. Your fighting style, efficient though it may be in obliterating your enemies, is not the cleanest. Besides,” he gave her a weak smile, “it is better if you are not the only vampire to take part in the hunt. The Church may have requested our help, but its chasseurs are no friends of ours.”
Jeanne nodded. She hadn’t been in the other world for decades and had no idea what the humans’ attitude towards her would be. The minders would probably treat her as everyone else did, but at least she wouldn’t be alone.
“You will take Carpe Diem with you, but remember that this isn’t a war, Jeanne. Try to keep the collateral damage to a minimum. This is the first time when vampires will be working with humans, with chasseurs, since the end of the war. We don’t need any… accidents. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good then. Any questions?”
Jeanne gulped. The thought of accidentally stepping out of line terrified her, but she needed to know.
“Who… is the curse-bearer?”
Lord Ruthven looked at her sympathetically. “I knew you would ask that. Normally this would be of no concern to you, and I hope you understand that you will have to finish the job regardless of what I am about to tell you. However, I think that in this case you need to be prepared. The Church didn’t give us any information on the identity of the curse-bearer… but I know only one vampire who lives near Saugues. You may have to be ready to face her .”
Jeanne cast her eyes down. “Understood.”
Lord Ruthven got up from his chair, ready to leave. “Sleep well, Jeanne. You will have to wake up early tomorrow.”
Once she was alone, the bourreau lay back down on the bed, thinking. Why did the Senate choose her? Was it lord Ruthven that suggested her as the one to be assigned for the task? Why did he do that? How was she going to face Chloé? Why did it have to be her only friend..?
“Don’t think. Don’t wish. Don’t want.”
That’s right. She wasn’t supposed to question the Senate’s order. When the morning came, she would set out to the human world with her trusty Crimson Gauntlet and rid the world of another curse-bearer. It was no different from any other assignment. She was the Senate’s bourreau, a weapon of justice, a tool.
A vessel doesn’t need a will of its own.