After I return to the inn, I'm greeted by Radu, who takes one one look at me - I'm pale as a ghost - and laughs his booming laugh. He asks me if Baba had scared me, and I do not reply, I just retreat to my room. I go to bed at once, my stomach churns and I cannot countenance the thought of food. Sleep soon claims me, but I have troubled, feverish dreams. I'm back at the dimly lit room, where Baba teases me. She calls me a coward, and a multitude of other names, for not being capable of paying the price she'd demanded. I toss and turn in the sheets, and at some point I wake up drenched in sweat. In the nigh impenetrable umbra of the room, I sense that I am not alone. Fumbling for a light, I turn it quickly on and find that the girl - Viorica - is sitting on a chair across the room. When did she get in? And why? What does she want? She tells me to turn off the light, and I obey her. But as I do so, though the light fades, the room seems to be a a bit less dim. I now can make out her figure, and see her as she walks towards the bed. I push myself against the back of the bed, and she sits close to me. 'We were too harsh on you, yesterday. But that's our way. Well, moreso theirs than mine, and though mine own path is similar, it differs somewhat from their chosen paths. I see and know things they do not, and can not.' She pauses, and draws nearer. I see her place her hands on her belly, and they rest there for a while. This girl is absolutely beautiful, and she smells of... I don't even know what. Whatever animals smell when they want to mate. My heart beats faster. 'I wonder.', she says. 'My blood is upon me, are you willing to let it look into your future?' And it takes me a few moments to realize what she means. In the darkness, I nod. What happens next is very hard to describe. There was sex involved, yes, something of which I had known very little of. But it wasn't just sex we had, it was a ritual, a blood ritual. The very air is acrid, charged with the smell of blood, and semen, and cunt, and sex. It's a primeval smell, as old as humans, it's the smell of lust, and desire, and witchcraft. She rides me incessantly, even after I come, she's still on top of me. Her fingers go, every now and then, to her wet cunt, and she comes with blood soaked fingers and traces symbols unknown to me, and letters of arcane origin on my flesh. They seem to glow in the darkness, and gain weight upon my skin. They rise from me, and hang in the air just above me. And then.... then it stops. Everything stops.
Viorica gets out of the bed, and gets dressed. Then she comes back to where I still lay, broken, spent, and says 'I echo what my brother told you yesterday. Leave, and do it now. There is nothing for you but pain. There is only darkness at the end of the light. This crucible before you, you cannot hope to understand, to truly understand what it would cost you.' I ask her if I were to do it, would she be back? And Viorica lets a single tear run down her immaculate face. 'Yes.', she says, turning to me. I would pay any price, I say. And she bows her head, and tells me that her brother will fetch me soon, so they can go to where Baba waits. A few hours later, there's a rap at my door, and the boy says he's here for me. I open the door, and let him in. He sits down in the exact same chair his sister had sat, and lights a cigarette. He inhales deeply, and then the smoke billows out from him. 'There was a time, you know, when a stranger sleeping with one of us would mean death. But alas, these are not the times of old, and my sister... well, she does what she wills. We know better than to chastise her. Hers is a fury none of us would dar brook.' He leans back on the chair, and seems to fade into the background. 'You have been given a choice,' says a voice from inside the deep shadows, 'by me, and, I believe, my sister. I offered you the forgetting charm, I make you now one final offer. Consider this your last hearth. I will grant you a swift and painful death, and who knows, maybe in some other life you meet your love once more. Will you naysay my offer?' I can tell he's serious, deadly so. I lower my head, and lose myself in thoughts. Then I say, defiantly, 'No. I will not live in a world where she is not here. She deserves to be here, and whatever it costs me, I will gladly pay the price.' He glides silently through the shadows, and is now right in front of me. He lays a hand on my shoulder, and just now I notice how long his nails are, and how wicked sharp they look. 'Come then, I will not gainsay you. Let's go to Baba so we can begin everything.'
They both lead me out of the inn, walking side by side with me as we enter a car that waits outside. We go in, and I sit on the back. They both occupy the front seats. Viorica drives, and as she adjusts the mirror, I can feel her eyes on me. She looks at her brother, and he shakes his head. No words need be said, we all know what's coming. It's a long drive, and it's one that is undertaken in utmost silence. Maybe two hours in, and the car starts to slow down, lurching down to a crawl. We are in the deep woods now, and we walk towards a wooden cabin in the distance. As we go in, I see that Baba is already there, an assortment of black candles laid on top of the table. Their flickering flames dance to an overture. She beckons us to sit, and we all do. I'm certain the brothers are well versed in what's about to transpire. From out of nowhere, Baba pulls out a live chicken, and with one swift movement, lops off its head. She carves it open, and spreads its entrails on the table. The knife works quickly, and she separates bones from flesh. The bones, she throws then on top of the entrails, and mutters something profane. One by one, the candles flicker out. In the darkness, they chant, all three of them. I remind myself that I swore I would pay any price. I will. Baba speaks, but I can understand her now. Had she always been able to? She says, 'It has begun. Now me move on to the ritual. It will comprise three parts : Sacrifice, Penance and Consummation. The boy will be in charge of the Sacrifice, and you will do everything he asks you too. You will not lie, it will not go well for you if you do. Then my young flower here will guide you through your Penance. I would advise you to pray, if you think it might help you. After the Sacrifice has been made, and your Penance is laid upon you, comes Consummation - and that shall be my domain. Are you ready?', she asks. I'm deathly afraid. No, I am not ready. I say I am nevertheless.
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