The Mother

Chapter 7

Scarlett sighed once the lift finally stopped moving and they could safely get off of it. A few of the grey women now littered the courtyard but they took them out fairly quickly and went to sell things to the duke, stopping to put the mask on its statue.

  "It's a pleasure to see you safe. How were things?" The Duke asked when they entered the room he resided inside.

  "No sign of Rose." Ethan said lowly, anger, exhaustion and overall sadness he hadn't found his daughter yet clear in his voice.

  "I'm...so sorry it turned out that way. Well, you'll find your way to her once you're out of this castle. Do you have need of anything for the road ahead?" The Duke asked and they walked forward and sold the things they had collected so far earning a nice amount of money. Ethan used some of it to upgrade his shotgun and pistol while Scarlett looked over what the duke had out.

  "Do you have any food or clothes perhaps?" She asked and the duke shook his head.

  "Most of my stock is outside in my cart, there may be clothes inside. As for food, once you're out of here be on the look out for animals and ingredients, I don't have food on hand, but I can cook you something with the right things." He told her and she thanked him, she would for sure ask again if he had anything she could change into and be on the look out for things he could cook. She'd also make sure to go back to the kitchen area at some point to see if it held anything she could give the duke to cook, she'd and Ethan hadn't really had the time to really look earlier. They were heading back out toward the courtyard when Scarlett grabbed Ethan's arm and warned him, she felt Alcina.

  "Wait long?" Alcina said as she came through the double doors by the stairs and Scarlett glanced at Ethan before pulling her gun and shooting Alcina in the face. They were both surprised to see the bullet quickly be rejected from the woman's cheek before the wound closed over in a matter of seconds.

  "Exactly how much do you plan on annoying me, wretched woman?" Alcina hissed as she staled forward, her long claws glinting in the light of the room.

  "Oh, about as much as it takes to kill you. Ethan, split, I'll lead her on a chase." Scarlett said the last part lowly so only Ethan could hear her. He tried to refuse but Scarlett grinned and pushed him back toward the stairs to the duke's room before going for the stairs leading up.

  "You won't escape me; I'll hunt you down and immobilize you before I go for the man!" Alcina shouted as she followed Scarlett who raced up the stairs quickly, taking two at a time. Scarlett turned the corner quickly and went through where they had encountered Bela and ran down to the other side of the balcony area up there.

  "You can try, many have and failed." Scarlett taunted as she spun and shot Alcina again who growled in anger and tried to slash Scarlett with her claws. Scarlett jumped high and landed on the round railing and grinned.

  "Ah, such a nimble little mouse. You'll die here." Alcina said smiling widely as she thought she had caught the small woman and frowned when Scarlett's grin widened.

  "Heard that before too, you wanna know how that turned out for them? They died, just like you will when we find a way to do it. Trust me, we will find a way." Scarlett said and Alcina shouted in anger and lunged for her only for Scarlett to fall back laughing as she flipped in the air and landed on her feet on the lower floor with ease. She was still laughing as she used her sped to run through the door into the dinning room and out into the courtyard where she caught sight of Ethan slipping through the crest door and went for it. Ethan spun quickly with his gun raised and Scarlett easily disarmed him and smiled when he realized who she was and that she now had his gun hanging from her left hands pointer finger.