She thought, "Oh gods at last, Liz!" as she settled slowly into the tub full of suds, exuding a heartfelt sigh as she flexed and stretched in the hot water. So painful. Is every day going to be like this one?
She looked over at the costume bearing the Báthory family crest, crumpled and discarded on the tile floor, and wondered if it was all worth it. This Heroing thing. The bruises, burns, sweat, trips to the hospital and every muscle screaming from the workout. The blood...
Her eyes close suddenly and she inhales sharply as the vision fills her thoughts again. Another Erzsébet in her bath at Cachtice Castle in 1604, so very different yet so similar. Screams, the tormented cries of the serving girl as Dorka cut her again and again with the barbs of the lash. The blood dripping into the bathtub, falling into the water and onto Erzsébet's skin...
Is this memory real or only fevered imagination? Can I possibly remember something that happened 400 years ago to my clone-host, the original Elizabeth Bathory?
The Blood Countess, Comtesse Sanglante. Tortured and murdered somewhere between 80 and 650 young women between 1575 and 1610. Rumored to have taken bites of their flesh, bathed in their blood, tortured them in every conceivable way along with four accomplices. At the very least, the most sadistic woman in history...and at the very worst, one of the most psychotic killers the world has ever known.
"And I am her, or of her. Cloned from her cells, am I going to become a psychotic multiple murderer? NO!"
Fists lashing at the soap suds, splashing water across the tiles, unleashing her fury at the Countess and the Council scientists who grew her in a vat.
"I refuse. I didn't ask for this, I don't want it. I will not be her! I've got to find some way to bring some good to this world."
Grabbing the towel, she quickly dries off and grabs the costume again, pulling it on with sharp yanks. Back to find more of those Outcasts, Trolls...follow the rumor of that new trouble in King's Row? Perhaps the Taxibot or her other casual teammates are up this late too. Or one of the other licensed heroes...
Whatever. Something, anything. Time to save some lives.
She thought, "Oh gods at last, Liz!" as she settled slowly into the tub full of suds, exuding a heartfelt sigh as she flexed and stretched in the hot water. So painful. Is every day going to be like this one?
She looked over at the costume bearing the Báthory family crest, crumpled and discarded on the tile floor, and wondered if it was all worth it. This Heroing thing. The bruises, burns, sweat, trips to the hospital and every muscle screaming from the workout. The blood...
Her eyes close suddenly and she inhales sharply as the vision fills her thoughts again. Another Erzsébet in her bath at Cachtice Castle in 1604, so very different yet so similar. Screams, the tormented cries of the serving girl as Dorka cut her again and again with the barbs of the lash. The blood dripping into the bathtub, falling into the water and onto Erzsébet's skin...
Is this memory real or only fevered imagination? Can I possibly remember something that happened 400 years ago to my clone-host, the original Elizabeth Bathory?
The Blood Countess, Comtesse Sanglante. Tortured and murdered somewhere between 80 and 650 young women between 1575 and 1610. Rumored to have taken bites of their flesh, bathed in their blood, tortured them in every conceivable way along with four accomplices. At the very least, the most sadistic woman in history...and at the very worst, one of the most psychotic killers the world has ever known.
"And I am her, or of her. Cloned from her cells, am I going to become a psychotic multiple murderer? NO!"
Fists lashing at the soap suds, splashing water across the tiles, unleashing her fury at the Countess and the Council scientists who grew her in a vat.
"I refuse. I didn't ask for this, I don't want it. I will not be her! I've got to find some way to bring some good to this world."
Grabbing the towel, she quickly dries off and grabs the costume again, pulling it on with sharp yanks. Back to find more of those Outcasts, Trolls...follow the rumor of that new trouble in King's Row? Perhaps the Taxibot or her other casual teammates are up this late too. Or one of the other licensed heroes...
Whatever. Something, anything. Time to save some lives.