Marianne curled her long arm around Vanessa's waist while still keeping an eye on Nikolai she leaned towards the side of Vanessa's face.
"Be a dear and grab the black bag from outside," Marianne whispered into her ear. Vanessa nodded her head with a smile and twirled away to complete her task.
Nikolai's eye twitched as his muffled yells filled the silence around them. Marianne rubbed her gloved hand over her chin as if in thought as she lazily paced back an forth.
"I'm sure it must kill you to see your once beloved weapon out of her cage," Marianne teased with a smirk.
Nikolai froze in his seat as his eyes widened, he started to shake his head back and forth at Marianne.
"We have had this exact conversation a dozen times in this very room and it still brings a warm fuzzy feeling to my gut seeing the look of sheer terror on the great vampire king's face," Marianne boasted as her smile widened in satisfaction.
Vanessa scampered softly across the marble floor of the mausoleum with Katherines black bag in hand. She opened it up and held it out for Marianne to grab hold of the jeweled dagger that sat neatly at the bottom.
In an instant Marianne could feel the threatening aura emanating from the weapon she held in her gloved hand. To think Katherine was stabbed by something so evil at its core, it made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Was this supposed to happen? All the work and preparation she had done to keep Katherine safe and she still died.
Frustrated, Marianne bit the tip of her tongue, the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth as she traced over the scarred sigil carved to the roof of her mouth. She hadn't needed to use the full power of her maledictive articulation in years, but she would get the answers she needed from Nikolai one way or another.
Marianne placed her hands on her knees, tilting forward to stare into his eyes that twitched in anger.
"Do you know what this is?" Marianne asked as she held up the dagger, her words dripped with magic invading Nikolai's eardrums like ivy slithering into his nervous system. She ran her tongue over the sigil that started to itch as if the wound from when she carved it was reopening.
Vanessa removed the cloth preventing Nikolai from speaking, he casually moved his jaw back forth adjusting it to the cloths absence.
"I have no idea what that is, nor have I ever seen it before," He responded with a huff.
Marianne nodded her head as she placed the dagger back into the bag, she would have to speak with Adelaide about what to do with it next but for the time being she needed to deal with the problem with Ivan.
"Why was Ivan in the Human Realm?" Marianne asked not wanting to waste any more time as her mouth was becoming itchier by the second.
Nikolai's mouth twisted, his body started to convulse as his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Marianne shook her head and tisked, there was not a single being alive, or dead, that could fight her maledictive articulation.
"To.. find.. a.. creature..," Nikolai panted as the words were forced from his mouth, dark red blood dripped from his lips down his chin.
Marianne pursed her lips, by answering the question in a vague, yet truthful, manor it would be too easy for him to piece together how her maledictive articulation worked. She needed more specific answers, which would require more magic on her part to pressure his brain. She rubbed her thumb and middle finger together to help her concentrate, she would have to make use of Vanessa's abilities sooner than she had planned.
Nikolai continued to gargle blood from his throat, while Marianne motioned for Vanessa to kneel in front of her. Vanessa's white ballet slippers padded against the marbled floors while her long blonde hair swayed with every step.
"Traitor," Nikolai croaked through his blood filled mouth as Vanessa placed her bare knees against the mausoleum floor to be eye level with her father.
"I was born a traitor," Vanessa retorted with a sly smile, her eyes continued to flitter between red and blue.
Marianne heavy sighed as she stood behind Vanessa carefully brushing her long fingers against Vanessas pearlescent skin to tuck the blonde hair behind her pointed ears. Marianne placed her two index fingers on Vanessa's temples, focusing her magic to flow freely between them.
Vanessa was prone to dramatics when it came to Nikolai, not that Marianne blamed her, if she thought her family had problems, it was nothing compared to the Morozov's. The whole family had a history of genocidal tendencies and atrocious deeds before the Council of Creaturae was created, one of them being the eradication of Sirens, the only creatures in The Valley whose power could rival Vampiric hypnotism.
When Marianne felt the pressure drop in the room, she focused more of her magic into her fingertips causing Vanessa to shut her eyes to savor the magic Marianne was pumping through her bloodstream. When her eyes fluttered open, they settled on a shade of crimson. Vanessa's voice rang out like a wind chime in a warm breeze, "You will tell me all you know of the creature you seek."
A light fog crept into the mausoleum curling around Nikolai, while the lit candles that lined the walled flickered back and forth threatening to extinguish. Nikolai began to thrash as his eyes turned pitch black, he opened his mouth wide to unhinged his jaw, making room for his elongating canines that came to a sharp point. His fingers slowly turned to claws with black nails that grew until they had a slight curve to them.
So this was the supposed Vampire King's true form, Marianne thought unimpressed by the man tied up in front of her. He could try all he wanted, but Marianne and Vanessa could rewire a creature's whole brain if they wanted. Nikolai continued to make gurgling noises through his elongated fangs trying to ignore the commands his nervous system was sending out.
"He.. wants.. the last.. Banshee," Nikolai finally choked out as blood sprayed from his mouth.
Vanessa inhaled a sharp breathe, her fists balled at her sides and her eyes grew darker until they were almost black. Sweat dripped down the side of Marianne's face as she bit down onto her tongue drawing more blood into her mouth to run along the sigil in her mouth. She had to work fast before Vanessa attacked him again.
"Who is ordering you to find the last Banshee?" Marianne called out trying to keep the flow of magic steady between her and Vanessa for a stable connection. She wasn't sure how one was still alive, the Banshees were a type of rare fairy that was supposedly wiped out hundreds of years ago, around the same time as the Sirens by the Morozov family who claimed they were 'cleansing The Valley of impurities'. Many of the Others who exist in The Valley are the last of their kinds like Vanessa who, even though she is half Vampire, is considered the last Siren.
Nikolai threw his head back letting out a booming laugh that echoed around them, "I have no idea who 'He' is, only that he sends a soulless human when he needs something only I can provide him."
Marianne narrowed her eyes, there were only so many witches who could control an animated corpse, she began to ask another question but hesitated not sure she wanted to know the answer. In her hesitation, she could feel the connection between her and Vanessa waver for only a second, but it was enough for Vanessa to lunge forward to wrap her hands around Nikolai's neck.
The chair Nikolai sat in tumbled over as Vanessa landed on top of Nikolai, clawing at him with her nails that blackened and elongated in seconds. She cried and screamed like a child throwing a tantrum thrashing around. She didn't always act like this, Vanessa could be composed and elegant when she wanted to, something Marianne admired about her not that she would ever admit it to anyone.
"Fuck it," Marianne sighed as a lit cigarette appeared in her hand, she was too exhausted to deal with Vanessa's outburst its not like she would actually kill him, so she turned on her heals, exiting the mausoleum.