Caught in the Snow

4. SFW

Chapter 4. I want to keep her

The doors open with a crash as Heisenberg uses his magnetic powers to swing the steel bolt out of his way. The room is tall and grand, but that isn’t what catches her eye.

Immediately, a doll rushes over – a creepy little bastard in a wedding dress that she vaguely recognizes. It’s as if she’s seen it before, but it wasn’t so... Weird.

“Fresh meat!” It squeals, shaking its little hands. It isn’t even the strangest thing in the room. There’s also a nine foot tall woman in a white gown and that hideous creature from the picture in Heisenberg’s factory.

“Where are we?” She manages to eke out, taking a step back until the chain pulls tight. Now she knows why the chain was a necessity.

“Shut your creepy ass up!” Heisenberg boots the doll, which squeals back to its owner; a woman shrouded in a funeral guard. That’s when it hits her.

“Donna?” She asks.

Before she can get a reply, Heisenberg yanks her in and shuts the door. “Enough reunions. Let’s get this started.”

He sits on a bench, crossing his legs and keeping a tight grip on her makeshift lead. She might argue, but he’s got that hammer again and the others don’t look all that friendly – especially Dimitrescu, whose golden eyes glare at Heisenberg at any chance she gets.

The council discuss many matters under the watchful eye of— Mother Miranda! She can’t quite believe it. The lady is right there in front of her, before her very eyes. She’s so taken aback that she hardly hears a word that is said; until Miranda calls her name, that is.

“Me?” She blinks.

“Heisenberg,” Miranda turns to him, “What reason have you brought this woman?”

“I want to keep her. Call it an experiment.”

“I must protest!” Dimitrescu cuts in, standing up. Her shadow stretches far across the room. “Heisenberg has a twisted mind. A girl so pretty would be best served in my household.”

“I found her!” Heisenberg stands, accidentally yanking the chain.

“That does not make her your property, child. Mother Miranda, I beg you, let me take the girl. She would make a wonderful daughter.”

Heisenberg isn’t having that. “And turn her into a putrid blood sucker?”

“Better than a hideous man’s pet!” spits Dimitrescu.

“Oh! Because what’s in your basement isn’t hideous?”

Dimitrescu scoffs. “Oh, what crudeness you might inflict, I do not want to imagine! Grotesque.”

“Shut the fuck up!”

The doll starts up. “Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!”

“Enough!” Miranda needs to speak only the one word to silence both of the Lords.
Dimitrescu smooths out her dress as Heisenberg’s captive stands, unsure of what to do. She plays with the links on her wrist as Mother Miranda eyes the room – daring anyone to speak.

“The girl will have the choice,” she announces, gesturing towards her with a sweeping motion. “She has survived this long and shall be rewarded with one of four options.”

“Thank you,” she says, though not quite sure that she should be thanking her.

“You may go with Beneviento, Moreau, Dimitrescu or Heisenberg. Let each present their case. First, my daughter, Donna Beneviento.”

Instead of the woman coming forward, the doll rushes forwards again. “We will have her come be one of our cute friends and live with us forever!”

“This is bullshit!” shouts Heisenberg, silenced by a glance from Mother Miranda. He sits back down and pulls the chain to him. His prisoner falls to his side, grateful for the warmth of his thighs.

Dimitrescu hisses, “Shut your stupid mouth, Heisenberg. You are but a petulant child.”

“I’m a child? You’re the child! Stuck up bitch.”

“Enough,” calls Miranda again. “Moreau.”

The gelatinous goop moves forward a step, all boils and pustules. She doesn’t need him to speak to know that she isn’t going anywhere with him.

Moreau says, “I could teach her medicine. Maybe she could be of use.”

The doll scoots forward. “All work and no play makes Moreau a dull fish!”
Moreau lumbers towards her, interrupted by Heisenberg.

“Both of you shut the fuck up!” He’s really starting to loose his patience now, not that he had much to begin with.

“Lady Dimitrescu.” Mother Miranda nods in the woman’s direction.

The lady sways her arm. “Come with me and I will give you a life of luxury, teach you the refinement of my daughters and raise you in the lap of opulence itself.”

“Heisenberg.” Another nod.
Heisenberg runs a hand through his hair. “I found her, saved her ass. Finders’ keepers.”

“Child.” Dimitrescu rolls her eyes.

Miranda puts the choice to the latest entrant of the room, “the choice is yours.”
Without missing a beat, she says the one name that has been pressing against her lips since the beginning of the conversation.

“Heisenberg,” she says without really knowing why. “I want to be with Heisenberg.”

“Are you crazed?” Dimitrescu asks.

“No.”

“Haha!” Heisenberg laughs. “Chosen over you, oh how I bet that hurts!”

Dimitrescu flounders. “I beg you to reconsider. Think of your future! I can offer you eternity.”

She presses her lips together. “Thank you, but no. I have made my decision and I chose Heisenberg.”

The look on Dimitrescu’s face burns with so much rage that it could melt all of the snow in the village. As for Heisenberg, he remains smug as ever.