The Clockwork Conundrum : A Beatrix Belladonna Tale

Stamping down the sewer tunnels, Penny Dreadful stared ahead, eyes narrowed and posture stiff. Behind her the Dazzlings followed but decided to keep their distance. Especially when their leader started to speak aloud. “Doctor Kilroy,” she whispered, her eyes wet. “I'll avenge you! I know you're there, watching me!”

She smiled when the familiar bald bulk of her creator appeared at her side. “Of course. I'd never abandon my finest creation,” the apparition assured her.

Sonata cocked her head to one side. “Who's she talking to?”

“She's lost it,” said Aria who curled her lip.

“Hush you two,” warned Adagio who nonetheless agreed with the assessment.

Yet the clockwork woman took no notice of their banter, full attention locked on the vision of Kilroy who clouded her eyes. “This way,” his voice said to her.

She followed around the murky bend, only to gasp when she realized where he had directed her. “Oh!” Washed ashore was the mechanized octopus he had crafted for her. “I thought for sure you were lost when those maniacs attacked!”

The automaton whirred to life when she plucked it up and drew it to her bosom. “It's my fault really,” assured Kilroy. “I programmed it to obey your commands, but not to defend you on its own. A foolish oversight. Fortunately, the adjustments are simple.” She tinkered with the machine like instructed.

“Better.” Her smile widened when the octopus hopped out of her hold on its own accord. “Next time we run into those nasty bitches, don't hesitate to crush their skulls!” She tittered and spun in a circle, mimicked by her metal companion.

“There's another manhole,” noted Aria who clambered up to remove it.

“Better not to travel in the open,” reminded Adagio, dubious of their leader.

Sonata chewed on her lower lip. “How much further do we have to travel? My feet are sore!” Her ear was pulled by Aria, who had slid open the manhole.

“Almost there,” promised Adagio who sighed. “Trouble is, are we ready?”

“We're ready,” promised Penny who turned to face her minions. “Who needs a plan? We'll rush into their mansion and take them by surprise, like they did to us!” Already, she could see faces frozen in terror, blood spilled by their hands!

She clambered up the ladder, the rest of them close behind.

*****

Beatrix stood before a mirror in a nightgown and brushed platinum locks tinged in violet. Again when she slept, she heard the faint voice of the old vampire in her dreams, yet this time she was able to resist his call. A trace below the silk, over the bare skin of her breasts, dotted in bite marks, made her acutely aware why.

Her hostesses had marked her. Tried to turn her into their thrall. Were these vampires truly much better than their enemies, she wondered?

“Th-thanks,” she whispered when one of the clockwork maids tried to pamper her.

“You seem uneasy,” came the curt voice of Camellia behind her.

“Just...not sure what to think.” She sucked in a heavy breath, reminded that these vampires could be seen in the mirror, as like Camellia her lover Esmerelda also crowded around her. Their hands brushed over her skin and threatened to undress her. She shivered and cooed, her eyelids left to flutter under their touch.

“Why think when you can feel?” The sweet posh voice of Esmerelda filled her ear.

“That would certainly be easier,” confessed the witch who shuddered and hissed out a low moan between her teeth when they lifted up her scant clothes and shucked them aside, their own bared skin pressed to their own in readiness to feed. “W-wait! What if I need my strength? After what we did back there...”

“If they somehow survived, we'll deal with them later.” Esmerelda nipped her neck. One palm slid down their prey's hip, while another rested on a breast.

“You have other concerns,” reminded the white-masked Camellia who cupped her other tit, popped her curved teeth, and bit into the flesh. Blood oozed from twin wounds. The witch squirmed and moaned, paralyzed between the two of them.

Her mind threatened to dull, unable to resist the two mature vampires.

An explosion below that rocked the mansion shot her back to awareness. Immediately the two women pulled away from her and the clockwork maids nearby went on full alert. “Check that out,” commanded Camellia.

“No doubt Penny's after us,” said Esmerelda who slipped into her costume.

Beatrix swallowed as she waved back on her own attire, still a bit woozy and left to sway on her heels. Pretty soon she rushed to follow after the hostesses.

By the time they arrived at the stairs, a crushed clockwork maid hurled in their direction, which Beatrix deflected with an invisible barrier. Below the thrown object was revealed to be the automaton octopus, who strained to overcome more maids.

Esmerelda whirled her pistol, only to yelp when a knife sailed into her hand. Its thrower was Aria, who smirked at her from below, another blade already in hand.

“Time to end this,” yelled Adagio who stood in the rubble of the blown open manor doors, courtesy of a fuel tank they had stolen.

“Amateurs,” muttered Camellia who called upon her magic, her pale hands lit up. Beside her Esmerelda yanked the bloodied knife out and cast it aside.

Penny Dreadful, who snarled, once more saw the face of Doctor Kilroy, heard his calm and measured voice. “Don't listen to them. I will empower you all. That's why I had you send Sonata ahead,” he explained, and on cue, she and her minions started to shimmer. The blood red aura enveloped them.

Aria stared down at herself. “What is this? I feel so...energized...!”

“Oh no,” whispered Camellia, whose eyes widened. “The seal has been broken!”

*****

“Yes~,” came the rasp of the elder vampire in the basement. His mummified form rustled in his moldy cloak which threatened to crumble around him. The moment the madwoman had approached the manor, it had been easy to reach into her mind even in his state, as her madness left her open, her visions malleable.

He shuffled to his feet and spotted the silhouette of the woman who had freed him. “Y-you're creepy,” came the voice of Sonata who nonetheless felt compelled to approach. He leered back with a skull-like face, beckoned her to come.

“You've served me well, child.” He traced below her chin. “Now rest.” She bared her neck to him, whereupon he sank into the offered flesh and suckled. Her eyes hazed over, her blinks slowed, and the color drained from her skin. She sunk to the floor with a thud.

Life and youth drained from the woman, transferred to him as he chuckled. Spiky, purple hair and eyes framed the youthful features that returned, and likewise he mended his rotten clothes to their once resplendent shape, as they shimmered around him.

Sonata's skin was withered, her breaths shallow and her eyes shut. She had fetched his tome under his mental domination, aware she was mentally the weakest of the sisters the moment he sensed their presence near the manor. His hand slipped around the spell book.

"Ah...the Necronomicon," he stated in a masculine baritone. Its dried, mummified contents ruffled when he opened its cover.

He marched out the dungeon as his chains snapped around him, his cloak left to drift after him, his well-toned arms bared.

The trapdoor that sealed him thudded open. Penny Dreadful, under his mental manipulation, had led a suicidal assault on his enemies. It had been simple to invade her psyche and manipulate her hallucinations, the poor lost fool so dedicated to her creator.

"No," cried Camellia when she turned to him.

"Yes," he answered with a smile that bared his sharp teeth when he faced down his former brides who had turned on him. He stepped over one of the broken maid marionettes. "Dhullex Faustus, the most powerful vampire who ever lived, has finally returned!"