Chapter Nine

I awoke to sunlight on my face. I put my hand over my eyes. I lay on something warm, comfortable, and I wanted to keep sleeping here.

Then I realized: the sun was shining. My eyes snapped open. I saw the cheerful blue summer sky. What a wonderful sight.

I was on an ornate couch in the Scarlet Mansion’s observatory. The place seemed less ominous in daylight, more like an innocent academic’s lounge. The battle with Remilia Scarlet might have been a bad dream, except for the huge, black blood stains in the carpet a few feet away.

I sat up to stretch, and felt two other bits of evidence that last night had been real. The bandage around my leg was still there, though there was no blood splotch on it. It was a fresh wrap. There was another bandage, wrapped above my right shoulder and below my left armpit. This one covered the bite wound in my neck.

I looked around the room. Remilia was nowhere to be seen. Her servants had carried her away, or she had walked out on her own. Either way, I was still alive, and someone had tended my wounds. That meant I wasn’t in immediate danger.

Not to mention the blonde-headed girl snoring on the armchair closest to me.

Marisa was curled in a ball on the chair too big for her. She wore the same dress as yesterday, and we both needed a bath something awful – but she had no new injuries that I could see.

I got up from the couch, limped over, and I stood over her. She snoozed with that unnecessarily adorable zehzehzehhh noise. I was in no mood to listen to that.

“Hey,” I said, bumping her with my elbow. “Rise and shine, sleeping beauty. It’s almost noon.”

She snorted, and her eyes opened. She looked up at me. Relief came over her face.

“Reimus!” she said, throwing herself at me. She clamped her arms tight around my waist. I patted her on the back.

“Glad to see you too,” I said. “Mind telling me what happened?”

“Hoping you could tell mees.” Marisa pulled back and settled into the chair’s cushions. “Pull up a seats.”

I sat in another huge armchair across from her, letting my left leg hang. “How did you get out of the dungeon?”

“Master escape artists,” she said. “Dislocated joints to get out of the chains, then climbed out the cell windows. Tough squeezing between the bars, but just sucked in my bellies really hards and—”

“All right, all right,” I said. “Ask a stupid question. So they freed you.”

Marisa nodded. “Chief maid-girls, Sakuya, came down and let me outs. More like, threatened to get outs. Come help clean up mess Reimus made, or get your eyes replaced with knives. So batty youkai-girls was Scarlets?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Remilia is her name. Is she still alive?”

“Think sos. Came up heres with Sakuya, saw bunches of fairies carrying Scarlets out. Soaked with bloods, konked out, but breathings. Sakuyas went with hers, but left some fairies to get you patched ups. Wondered if she’d come backs, kill us or spit on us or call us fat to hurt our feelings. But haven’t seen hers. She’s more worried about Scarlets than us.”

“The fairies did this?” I touched the bandage on my neck. It felt like the one on my leg, meaning this mansion’s youkai servants tended my first injury too. Strange that Sakuya had ordered them to. I couldn’t imagine such a killer caring for the health of her enemies. Maybe she only wanted to keep me from bleeding on the furniture, making a mess for her to clean.

“After clean-ups,” said Marisa, “everyone wandered offs. Nobody told me to go homes, so here I ams.”

“This place is hardly clean,” said Sakuya. “You can’t get that much blood out of carpet. It’ll have to be torn up and replaced.”

Marisa and I jumped at the maid’s sudden appearance. There had been no footsteps sounding her approach. The observatory doors were open, but we hadn’t heard their knobs turn. We hadn’t seen Sakuya walk across the room to us. She was just there.

“How do you do that?” I said, catching my breath.

“I’m the head maid.” She put her hands on her apron and bowed her head to us. “May I ask if you are both feeling well?”

“No!” I said. “I’ve just been through a butcher’s shop and you keep popping up out of nowhere. Why did you let us live?”

Sakuya fixed her cold blue eyes on me. “Your death was not my mistress’s wish. You’re no longer considered intruders. You’re the mistress’s guests.”

I stood, meeting Sakuya’s eyes. “Is Remilia still alive?”

“Alive and well. She asks that you forgive her for not granting you both guest rooms. She knew you would be tired after last night’s… happenings, so she let you rest in the observatory.”

“So now what?” I said. “Will Remilia let us go?”

“You’re free to leave,” said Sakuya, “but she requests you spend the day here. She wishes to speak with you. She’s instructed me to guide you to your rooms, and have the fairies give you a bath and fresh clothes. Once you’re ready, you’re invited to lunch with us in the main dining room.”

I glanced at Marisa. She nodded.

“We’ll accept Remilia’s hospitality, if you answer a question,” I said. “Why should we trust you?”

“You shouldn’t,” said Sakuya. “But I will say this. Last night, you staked my mistress through the heart. She survived, miraculously. After that, if my mistress had the slightest hint of harsh feelings, this conversation wouldn’t be happening.”

Sakuya and I regarded each other. This woman was my enemy. She must feel the same way.

“Good answer,” I said. “Lead on.”

She nodded, turned and walked out of the observatory. Marisa stood and helped me limp along, following the maid.

---

Going down the stairs was painful, but easier than going up. I made it with Marisa’s help. Sakuya led us to a pair of neighboring bedrooms on the third floor. Each room had the same floor space as Marisa’s entire house. A huge, four-post bed with pillows of varying size. A bay window with a view of the lake. A fully stocked walk-in closet. A bathroom, complete with wash sink and a porcelain tub.

Sakuya led Marisa to the room next-door, leaving me with a dance of fairy maids. Three brought my bath fixings, a bar of soap, scrub brush, sponge, fresh bandages and towels. A fourth fairy drew hot water into the tub.

“I appreciate effort,” I said, “but I want to bathe by myself.”

The fairies all looked at me, wearing hurt expressions.

“Did we do something to offend, dear guest?” said one.

“We give the best baths in all of Gensokyo,” said another.

“The mistress told us to treat you with the utmost care.”

“Please don’t send us away.”

The fairies wanted to pamper me. It was their trade. If I refused, they might feel how I would if people stopped coming to my shrine for spiritual guidance. It would be saying: what you do best isn’t good enough for me.

I felt bad.

“All right,” I said. “Use kid gloves, okay?”

Turns out, I didn’t need to say that. The fairies were gentler than I thought youkai knew how to be. They lifted my shirt off me and undid my dress. They slowly, carefully cut off my bandages and sarashi. My skin tingled with warmth everywhere their hands touched. It was a good thing I accepted their help. After they had undressed me, I realized my wounds were too sore. I couldn’t bend my left leg all the way, nor lift my right arm above my head. Remilia must have bitten one of my shoulder muscles.

The fairies led me to a stool beside the bathtub. I sat, watched them roll up their sleeves and go to work. They slowly poured bucket after bucket of hot water over me. Once I was thoroughly wet, they brought out the soap and brush. They lathered me up and scrubbed me down. I washed my face and front myself, while they used the soft sponge to clean the wounds on my leg and neck.

Yesterday’s sweat and grime were gone. The fairies dumped more water on, rinsing me clear of soap. That done, they helped me into the bathtub. I sunk into it, relishing the embrace of hot water. The fairies let me soak for a while. I lay back, letting my hair hang over the lip of the tub. One of the fairies took this as a cue. She patted the water out of my hair with a towel. Then she brought over a tiny, fairy-sized hairbrush and stroked one lock at a time.

This was heavenly.

“Dear guest,” said one of the other fairies. “About your clothes. Would you like them washed and returned to you?”

I turned my head, saw the fairy beating her wings to hover five feet off the floor. She held up my miko blouse. It was stained with dirt, blood, wine. It hurt to look at it.

“No,” I said. “Burn them. They’re not fit to wear.”

She seemed happy with that decision. She gathered up my clothes, the remains of my bandages and sarashi, then flew out of room.

“We’ll help you pick your new outfit,” said one of the two other fairies. They started bringing clothes out from the closet, holding them up for me to see. First, they showed me an extravagant red and white ballroom dress.

“Kudos on noticing my colors,” I said. “But something a little plainer, please. I’m not going to a dance with some prince.”

Next they brought out an expensive double-breasted jacket on top of a button-up shirt and slacks.

“Nor am I male,” I said.

A silken evening dress, made for much curvier women than me.

“Nor am I trying to attract a lover,” I said. “Look, girls. I’m a miko. The high-priced look doesn’t work for me.”

A pair of revealing lace panties, and nothing else.

“I’m not low-priced either!”

The two fairies flew from the room, laughing themselves breathless. They were playing with me. Finally, they brought out a pair of trousers and a plain, long sleeved shirt. It would protect from the sun, but was open to air, perfect for summer travel. I bet they had picked out these clothes from the beginning.

I wanted to stay in the tub longer, but Remilia was probably waiting for me. I forced my self out of the water. I stood while the fairies each used a towel to dry me off. Once I was dry, they wrapped a new sarashi around my chest. I didn’t need it, since I wouldn’t be wearing a miko’s blouse, but the fairies seemed to think it would make me comfortable. I didn’t stop them.

They also wrapped new bandages around my wounds. I wasn’t bleeding, but punctures are best covered until healed. Once I got back to my shrine, I would have to disinfect them with something.

I was soon clean, dry and dressed. I nodded to the fairies.

“Thank you,” I said. “Please go tell Sakuya that I’m ready to meet the mistress.”

The fairies bowed to me, then flew from the room. They left the door open behind them. Marisa came running in after they were gone.

“Reimus!” she said. “Why are you dressed in thats? Could’ve bummed some good clothes off Remis.”

I let out one laughing-bark, Ha! She was wearing the men’s jacket and slacks. I was surprised the fairies had found those clothes in her size. Her hair was washed and combed like mine, but it was still a yellow mess.

“Do me a favor,” I said. “Never wear that outfit when you come to visit. It’ll feel like you’re taking me out on a date.”

“Should be so luckies,” she said. “Anyways. Gonna go eat or somethings? Pretty hungries.”

“I hope your table manners are better than your speech,” said Sakuya, having appeared in the doorway.

Marisa yelped and jumped, clinging to me.

“Damn it!” I said. “Would you please stop doing that? Is Remilia waiting for us?”

“Not at all. The mistress just sat down to lunch. The meal took a while to prepare.” Sakuya turned and headed down the hallway. “Come with me, please.”

We followed, Marisa again helping me limp along. It was hard to keep a straight face with her dressed like this. If I closed my eyes, I could imagine she was a little man using my injury as an excuse to grope me.

“I still can’t believe you’re wearing that,” I said.

“Makes me look goods,” she said.

“Well, there are worse things. The fairies tried to get me into some slinky lingerie.”

“Oh yeahs. Lacey panties. Wearing those toos.”

---

The dining room was in the same decor motif as the rest of the mansion: big and ornate. Several tables surrounded with chairs were dotted around the room. Chandeliers hung from the high ceiling. Windows on one wall looked out over the lake. They were all open, letting in a summer breeze. The curtains were drawn so that little direct sunlight came in.

Sakuya led us past the tables and chairs. They were all empty, except for one at the far corner of the room. This one was covered in plates, pitchers, wine glasses and flatware. Remilia sat at the head of this table. In the chair on her left sat Patchouli, and beside her sat Hong Meiling.

I would have tripped over myself if Marisa hadn’t been holding me up.

Sakuya looked back at us. “What’s wrong?”

“Meiling!” I said. “How is she here? I…”

“You beat her senseless and dumped her in the lake?” said Sakuya. “So you did. Fine job, too.”

“I killed her!” I said.

“Never stops her from being on time for a meal,” said Sakuya.

“China-girl’s a youkai,” said Marisa. “Whole heck of a lot harders to kill than your or mees, Reimus.”

“Don’t worry about Meiling,” said Sakuya. “I give her a worse treatment at least three times per week. She has a problem with authority.”

We approached the table where Remilia sat with her servants. They all wore different clothes from yesterday, but in the same styles. Meiling wore a gi that showed off her body without showing much skin. Patchouli had on a heavy nightgown, as if she would take a nap after lunch. Remilia wore a clean white dress. To look at her, you wouldn’t know she had been stabbed through the chest hours before.

“Welcome,” said the lady of the house. “Please, have a seat. Lunch is coming out soon.”

Marisa and I took our chairs, sitting beside each other. Sakuya helped me scoot my chair in. I expected to get angry looks from Patchouli or Meiling, but neither seemed to care that Marisa and I were here.

“Shall I get the appetizer, Mistress?” said Sakuya.

“No,” said Remilia. “Sit beside me. I want you here for the conversation.”

Silence. Patchouli and Meiling exchanged looks.

Sakuya hesitated, then sat at her mistress’s right hand. On the other side of the room, a pair of double doors flapped open. I assumed that was the kitchen, judging by the pair of fairies flying a large tray out to us. They set the tray on the table, then began dishing out the appetizer. I expected truffles or crepes or stuffed mushrooms or some other expensive food I didn’t know how to eat. Instead the fairies served us sliced fruit and bread rolls with pats of butter. A third fairy filled our glasses with drink. The mansion residents all had wine. Marisa and I asked for water.

“Dig in,” said Remilia. “Don’t worry about manners. Eat if you’re hungry.”

So we ate. We demolished our appetizers. We hadn’t eaten since yesterday afternoon, right before crossing the lake. Remilia gave us time to take the edge off our hunger before she started talking.

“I hope you liked your accommodations,” she said.

“More than generous,” I said, wiping my mouth with a cloth napkin. “Your fairies do good work.”

Remilia smiled. “I’m glad you two decided to have lunch with me. There’s much to discuss. I’m sure you have questions for me, too. In fact, why don’t you ask your questions first? That way we might be done talking before dessert.”

“Only one question actually matters,” I said.

Remilia and her three strongest servants looked at me. They all knew what I was going to say.

“The mist.”

---

“Yes,” said Remilia. “The mist. That’s what brought you here, isn’t it? That’s what led you on a mad crusade through my house. Here we are, enjoying a nice meal on a summer afternoon. The sun shines in a clear sky. It’s almost as if the mist never happened. We couldn’t just forget about it, could we?”

“Absolutely not,” I said.

Remilia showed a pained smile. She took in a breath, let it out slowly.

“You’re right. ” Remilia took a sip of her wine. “I need to start by telling you about myself. Last night I used the name Vlad Tepes as a roundabout way of telling you that I’m a vampire, but in truth, I know precious little about my family. I use the word precious literally. What small bits I have, I hold dear. Do you understand?”

Marisa and I nodded.

“I knew you would,” said Remilia. “That’s a trait that nearly all humans share. You feel the value of your loved ones. The bonds are strong and deep, so much that they can drive us to do foolish things. The family will defend the foolish one, because their love for her defies reason. The fool will take that to mean her deeds are acceptable, and continue them. This enables a downward spiral until the family falls apart, or someone ends the stupidity. In rare cases, the cycle is broken by outside intervention.”

The appetizers were done. Two fairies cleared away the first round of dishes, while another was refilling drinks. Two more dished out the main course: a seasoned side of roast beef with vegetables, and two more baskets of rolls on the side. I noticed this only in passing. My attention was on Remilia.

“I have a sister,” she said.

---

“Vampires have sisters?” said Marisa.

“This one does,” said Remilia. “At least, I call her my sister. She’s been with me for as long as I can remember. She’s similar to me in height and build. Her hair is a different color, but her face is like mine... and her eyes. She has vampire eyes.”

“What’s her name?” I said.

Remilia didn’t answer. She looked down at her plate, sawing apart a piece of meat. Her servants acted the same, looking at nothing as they ate. I guess the Scarlet sister wasn’t topic for casual conversation in this house.

“Whatever you’re trying to tell me,” I said, “we can’t talk about her very easily without speaking her name.”

Remilia looked up at me, pained.

“Her name is Flandre.”

---

“What’s in a name?” I said. “You act like it’s a dirty word.”

“It’s not the name,” said Remilia. “It’s a label for something terrible.”

“Not nice to say about a sisters,” said Marisa.

“It’s the kindest description I can use,” said Remilia. “She looks like me, but there are other important differences between us. Patchouli, would you explain?”

“Yes, Mistress,” said the youkai witch. “I have done research on the origin and characteristics of vampires, and come to a few assumptions. Vampire youkai are likely either the descendants of, or a specialized breed of, the youkai version of the vampire bat. However, humanoid vampires have higher degrees of intelligence than most animal youkai. They have cognitive and processing abilities equal to or greater than a human’s. That, combined with their youkai lifespan and consumption of human blood, has caused the legends and horror stories about vampires.”

“Art mimicking life,” said Remilia.

“Interesting to note from these stories is their account of vampire weaknesses,” said Patchouli. “Sunlight, holy symbols, running water, garlic, and that the only way to kill a vampire is a stake through the heart.”

Remilia waved a hand to the windows. “I stay out of the sun, but only because I have pale skin. I’ve never burst into flames because someone holds a cross at me. If water were a problem, I wouldn’t live in the middle of a lake. And garlic is delicious.”

“I used some on the roast,” said Sakuya.

“As for getting staked through the heart.” Remilia smiled, showing her teeth. “I’m still here, aren’t I?”

Shivers went down my back.

“The depictions of vampires throughout texts are variable in describing a vampire’s characteristics,” said Patchouli. “The only unanimous agreement is that they drink blood. The reason for this, I assume, is that vampires actually do vary. It’s not dissimilar to how human traits change within different subsets of humans; colors and physical builds, for instance.”

“So vampires have hereditary differences,” I said.

“It seems not to be hereditary,” said Patchouli. “The mistress’s younger sister is drastically different from Remilia in those vampirical traits. Flandre cannot be exposed to sunlight, direct or otherwise. If she were hiding under one of the tables in this room now, her skin would break out in severe rashes and bleed profusely.”

“One time,” said Sakuya, “I brought her a dish with a small amount of garlic, less than the meat here. I couldn’t get close to her with it. The smell of it made her sick. She refused to eat anything for two days after that.”

“That explains why she’s not here now,” I said. “Where is she?”

“In an underground cellar,” said Remilia. “The vault. For her protection, as well as ours.”

“Yours?” I said.

“Certainly,” said Patchouli. “My mistress is a powerful sorceress. She gave you a small demonstration in the observatory, with the telescopic spell. Yet Flandre’s power….” Her voice trailed off.

“Is greater than mine,” said Remilia, “by far. She could wipe out an entire village. She might, if she got too excited. She has great power but little control.”

“We’re getting off track,” I said. “What does your sister have to do with the mist?”

“Everything,” said Remilia. “She’s the source of it.”

---

Fairies took the dishes away, giving us each a small bowl and spoon. A particularly hefty fairy flew a larger bowl out to the table. She gave us each a scoop of homemade ice cream, then topped it with a squirt of sweet syrup. It looked delicious, but I didn’t have any. The talk of Flandre Scarlet had taken what little remained of my appetite.

Marisa, on the other hand, cleaned her bowl. Then she had mine.

“About a week ago,” said Remilia, “I was in my atelier, doing some experiment or another. The whole mansion suddenly shook!” She grabbed the table and jerked it once, almost toppling the wine glasses. “There was a massive magical shockwave coming from the vault, bigger than any single spell I had ever seen. I went down there to make sure Flandre was safe, but she wouldn’t let me in.”

“The vault door has a lock that’s opens from the outside,” said Sakuya, “but the door swings inwards, and Flandre is stronger than any of us. She can keep us out if she wants.”

“I was confused,” said Remilia. “I talked to her through the vault door, but she just told me not to worry. It would all be over soon, and then she would come out.”

Marisa stopped shoveling ice cream into her mouth, mid scoop. Even she didn’t like the idea of Flandre getting out of her cage.

“We don’t know what she was doing or why,” said Remilia, “but if we didn’t stop her, the mansion’s remains would soon be in a crater half the size of Gensokyo. We had to get the magical energy away from here. The only safe place to send it was up.” She pointed to the ceiling.

“Together we crafted a spell,” said Patchouli, “to redirect the magic disturbance. We simply aimed it at the sky. Our initial hope was that Flandre would see she was making no progress, and she would desist. The opposite was the case. Her output increased. The mist outside began as a light haze, and quickly became the blood-red color you saw yesterday.”

“And at night,” I said. “There were things up in the clouds.”

Silence.

“I know I’m not the only one who saw them,” I said.

“You’re not,” said Remilia. “We’re just... not happy with what it means.”

“Means?” I said.

“I have done some reading on child psychology,” said Patchouli. “The images that were visible in the mist are typical pictorial expressions from a young person heavily stressed or abused. Violence, pain, threats.”

“Well duh!” I said. “How would you feel if you’d been locked up for…? How long have you people been here anyway?”

“The years blend together after you’ve been for so many,” said Remilia. “Looking at the calendars recently, I think I’ve lived half a millennia. Flandre recently passed her four hundred and ninety-somethingth year in containment.”

“That’s insane!” I said.

“She is,” said Remilia. “Anyone would be. I hope you can sympathize, Reimu. I had no choice. Neither did Flandre. If it were up to me, I would go downstairs this very second and free her. Then every field, every tree, every home, every shrine in Gensokyo would be razed. I would be sentencing your homeland to death.”

“You have anyway!” I stood, ignoring the pain in my leg. “Sealing your sister in a box just prolonged the problem. You might have made it worse, in the long run!”

“Don’t you dare judge!” said Sakuya, standing. “It wasn’t your decision to make! The mistress—”

“Sit down and be quiet, Sakuya.”

The maid looked at Remilia. “But she—”

“Sit.”

Sakuya sat, but she wasn’t happy about it. Remilia looked at her for a moment, as if ensuring there wouldn’t be another outburst. Then she looked to me.

“You’re right, Reimu. If you two hadn’t come here, the mist would be even thicker than yesterday. In another day, it would’ve blocked out the sun completely. This just means that I’m not the only one who prolonged a problem, making it worse in the long run.”

“What do you mean?” I said.

“Why do you think the mist went away? Why would stabbing me with a stick clear the weather? Didn’t you ask yourself what the connection was?”

I said nothing.

“You changed me,” she said. “I don’t know how, but I’m not the vampire I used to be. I’ve lost whatever connection I had with Flandre. The redirector spell is gone. Patchouli and I tried to reestablish it this morning, but we failed.”

“Flandre no longer has an outlet for the energy she is gathering,” said Patchouli. “We do not know when, but that energy will eventually reach critical mass.”

My skin went cold, despite the warm summer air coming through the windows.

“That means….”

“Yes,” said Remilia. “We’re sitting on a very large time bomb. It might be tonight, or it might be a month from now, but when it happens, this mansion will vaporize, and take half of Gensokyo with it.”