Lights, Camera, Blood: Ch. 03

this chapter was a group effort, I cannot take credit

Chapter 3: Tangled into Legend

Adamir looked down at the red strands pulled straight back atop her head, flames stroking her scalp in a carefully controlled burn. Beneath her soft orange brow, her nose, an angelic triangle, buried into his silvery pubes. Bats - dark myriads of them - swarmed down her arms. He stroked her cheek and cupped the back of her head in his palm as Anna backed off, exposing his shaft and ringing her delicate lips about the edge of his glans.

With his gentle urging, she plunged again, her breath hissing through her nose as she took him right down and held herself there while her hand moved to cup his sac. With cheeks concaving and a slight wiggling of her elegantly perfect skull, she flicked and curled her tongue around the underside of his cock, taunting it to ejaculate, while her palm measured the tightening of his balls.

"Ngh, that's enough," Adamir said as he let her go. She pulled back and his cock slipped out, wet and bobbing, as she rested back on her heels, licking her lips to keep them from dripping, and caught her breath. "I didn't think it possible that you could get any better at this but somehow you are," he complimented her.

"You're the only one who can resist climax with me," she said as she reached for her sports bra, slipped it on and began putting herself back together.

"I wish I didn't have to," he said and rebuttoned his dark blue, nearly black shirt all the way up to the collar. "But such is the ritual. Build up the creative energy and keep it before shooting. It is essential, the only way." Adamir tucked his shirt neatly into his pants and and pinned his cuffs with links.

*

"So, that movie that I was telling you about, The Office, you know the one that I modeled your interview look after?" Mina asked once they had reached altitude.

"Hm?" Lucy turned her attention from the window. She hadn't flown often in her life and had found the view of the channel below rather mesmerizing.

"He directed it," said Mina. "Adamir! That's the guy!"

"Yes," Lucy confirmed. "He's made twelve movies in the past twelve years. This will be his thirteenth." Lucy had been doing her research.

"It turns out that he also directed this other flick that I love, called Starship 9," said Mina. "It takes place on a ship deep in space and there are these lizard man aliens. There's even a hot lizard woman," she blushed.

"Yes, he's best known for The Terroroids, Curse of the Ruby Necklace, Phantom at the Gate and Esmerelda," Lucy listed some titles. "He gained fame from his first movie, Zombie Storm."

"I downloaded a couple of them," said Mina, coyly brandishing a tablet screen.

"I did too."

On the boat to Bratislava, they watched The Terroroids together, sitting shoulder to shoulder, temples resting against one another, sharing one earbud each as the tablet sat in their laps. It was a story about three incubi who put their victims into a state of absolute panic and fear as they inseminate them in hopes of of siring hellspawn, only for a generation later, their offspring to hunt them down to confront and destroy them one by one. Lucy had intended to review the picture on its technical merits but was so engrossed by the images and the performances that she could not take any notes. Instead, she found herself squirming in steamy perspiration, and in several instances squeezing Mina's hand, with Mina squeezing back enthusiastically.

At one point during a scene where one of the incubi in humanoid form was chasing down and about to pounce his dirt-streaked naked victim in the grimy boiler room of some old church, a silhouette reflected off the lexan screen. With a start, Lucy looked up to see another passenger, a tall wispy nondescript man, walking past and noticing what they were watching with a look of disgust. Turning hot pink, Lucy, fumbled to tap pause and tilt the screen upwards, angled out of sight, just as the victim, her stringy greased hair wildly flying, screamed at the sight of thin serpentine tentacles emerging from the demon's flanks. Mina looked up to see the passenger walk on with a scornful shake of his head. With a quiet snicker, she nuzzled closer and unpaused the movie. They may have been outsiders, but they were outsiders together.

Lucy and Mina arrived in Čachtice that afternoon. Their reservations were at the Údolný Hostinec, a comfortable yet affordable wooden lodge style motel on the short business strip of the small town.

"Here are your keys. Enjoy your stay," said the receptionist at the front desk. "If you want to know about the local attractions, there is a board with pamphlets over here," he continued. "I can show them to you if you like."

"Do you know anything about the movie being shot here?" Mina asked, jumping in feet first. Lucy gave her a subtle elbowing.

"There is something going on at the castle but I don't know," he shrugged. "Someone has booked it closed for the winter, and also the Danica Estate."

"The Danica Estate?" Mina pried further.

"The manor on the hill. It is a hotel," he explained. "We are getting good business because it is full. Some kind of conference."

They got to the room and put their bags down.

From their second floor balcony, Lucy looked up at the mountainside behind the hotel. The old stone tower of the castle loomed above its fissured walls. Just a couple of miles up the hill, it was so close. They'd come so far already. She imagined what kind of story would be unfolding within it soon, perhaps already begun, committed to celluloid, images of blood and fear and lust.

Mina had gone out for food. It was a bit early for dinner but all of the travel had brought up their appetite. Leave it to her to find a sushi place in small town Slovakia for an order to go. She came back with boxes and chopsticks.

"That's the castle," said Mina as she stood next to her at the balcony window. "And that must be The Danica," she added, pointing out the multi-gabled estate nestled in the woods halfway down the slope. A slit cut into the trees switched back and forth indicating the road between them.

Lucy sat in the desk chair and Mina took the edge of the bed. They had dinner.

"I need a fork," said Lucy. "I can't use these." She brandished the chopsticks awkwardly.

"Yes, you can," said Mina as she held hers up and demonstrated. When Lucy fumbled, Mina reached across, grabbed her hand and fixed her grip. "Just like that," she winked. Her touch was warm and caring.

The two of them kept an eye out the balcony window. Mina was just as anxious as Lucy about their covert mission, although for different reasons.

"We're going to be on the set of a horror movie!" she said full of giddiness.

"I'm still not sure this will work," said Lucy, her mind still trying to sort everything out. "Adamir is terribly secretive. No one is even sure of his last name," she noted from her research.

"Someone must write him cheques now and then," said Mina.

"Maybe we should just confront him for an interview," said Lucy.

"No no, trust me. We will infiltrate," Mina grinned.

"What if we get caught?" asked Lucy.

"We're tourists," Mina answered between scoops of rice. "Just play dumb. We'll get in."

"But then we won't get a story and we came all this way," said Lucy. "Charlie expensed the trip and everything."

"Get brave," said Mina. "How did you get the job in the first place?"

"I dunno. I'm just so nervous."

"You wanted the job, you got brave and went for it," said Mina. "You wanted the trip and you gave up Richard for it. Those are big moves. They take guts," she explained. She put down her sushi box and walked over to the edge of the bed where Lucy sat and took her hands. "Like you say, we've come all this way. We've got this. I believe in you. Just stay brave."

They finished dinner and got ready to go scouting. Short Mina, looking a little more tomboy than usual in her plaid flannel shirt and spider web embroidered jeans. Lucy, of course was classic blonde Anglo-Saxon, on the tall and slender side. Her jeans were loose fitting and she wore practical trainers for the mission.

The front desk called them a cab and soon they were on their way to the castle. The road began its ascent through the woods, then switched back. They passed a set of gates on the left. Peering down the driveway, they saw a round rose garden before an elaborate house with vehicles parked all around, several vans and a limousine among them.

"He must be there," said Mina. "With all of his crew."

"You really think he's rich enough making B-horror movies to ride in a limousine?" asked Lucy.

"Who else could it be?"

"It could be just someone's house."

"Hey, driver," Mina called. "Do you know who lives there?"

"That is the Hotel Danica," said the driver.

"There you go," Mina smiled at Lucy. "A little detective work." Then she leaned forward again. "Do you know if they're making a movie there?"

"No idea."

"I tried," Mina shrugged.

The castle was only a couple of miles from the town, but with all of the switchbacks, there were six or seven miles of road to cover the distance.

By the time that they reached the top, the sky was darkening. The orange over the horizon was gone, replaced by a soft azure blue crossed by fingers of dark grey cloud of which the crescent moon lurked between. Lucy paid the fare and the taxi left them standing alone before Čachtice Castle, the infamous home of the notorious Erzebet Báthory, Countess of Blood, whom history had labeled a mass torturess and murderess of young women, and legend had marked as a vampire who had bathed herself in the blood of virgins to steal their youth and beauty. Presumably, such would be the setting of the film.

Lucy stopped in her tracks, startled by a chirping sound moving overhead.

"A bat," Mina said with a mischievous grin. "How appropriate."

"Very funny," said Lucy. They continued on.

There was still some hundred yards of climbing to reach the walls and find their way around. Just as they started the ascent, they saw a flash of light. It was a tall broad shouldered man with a torch.

"Security guard," whispered Mina.

"We'll never get in," said Lucy.

"Sure we will," said Mina. "Just not yet."

"We'll get caught. Then he'll know who we are and that we're snooping and it will be impossible," Lucy fretted.

"Adamir's not here right now anyways," said Mina. "He has to be back at the hotel. The limo is still there."

"It's getting dark. I'll just call the taxi back and we can try again tomorrow."

"Let's go down to the hotel," Mina schemed.

"It's all gated off and has more security than the castle."

"It's a hotel. "We'll just walk in."

"We can't just walk in."

"Sure we can," said Mina. "We're tourists, remember?"

Lucy followed her friend back down the road. At spots, there were pedestrian staircases to shortcut the switchbacks but it was becoming too dark to use them. There was no traffic. After several minutes, they arrived at the gates of the Danica. They were closed and there was no bell to ring. All of the windows of the house were warmly lit. Mina walked right up and gave the bars a shake.

"Mina, what are you doing?" Lucy hissed.

"Okay, so we can't just walk in," said Mina. Then she headed to the left where the brick perimeter wall tucked in behind a thick hedge. "This way," she said, and she led Lucy along the hedge several yards until they reached the corner. They turned and were in the trees.

"It's too dark in there," Lucy protested.

"Come on," said Mina as she picked her steps through the fallen leaves and over the tree roots. Reluctantly, Lucy followed, bending annoying twigs from her face as she went. She stopped when she lost sight of her friend.

"Where are you?" Lucy hushed.

"Here."

Lucy followed the sound of Mina's voice up a small incline until she could see light glinting from the edges of her hair. She was in a gap in the brush that allowed her right up against the bricks. Embedded atop it was a grid of old iron spikes. On her tiptoes, Mina gripped two spikes to peer over the wall. She made room for her friend to join her. Lucy was a bit taller and could see over more easily but likewise grabbed two spikes of her own. The old metal was dirty and cold.

The round rose garden was lit up by lamp posts surrounding the driveway. An engine was running. It was the limousine now parked right out front of the grand entrance.

"Now, we're gonna find out just whose limo that is," said Mina.

"And if it's not Adamir?" asked Lucy.

Mina didn't answer, her eyes fixed upon the black car, the front door and the space between. Lucy was getting rather cold. After several minutes of no action, she was having second thoughts about the whole ordeal.

"Shh, there," hushed Mina.

The two of them watched intently as a tall redhead in a plain grey zippered suit, all business with her hair in a tight braid, descended the step to open the car door. Behind her a dark haired woman in a thick coat followed her to sit inside. The redhead closed the door and waited outside as the engine continued to run. After another couple of tense minutes, he emerged. With his silver streaked hair combed back behind his ears and down his neck, his slender form wrapped in a dark overcoat, lapels flapping at his chin with his brisk movements, he hopped spritely down the step to the limousine. Going by the few images of him that she had seen online, the slender form, the combed back hairstyle (although he was not wearing the round rim shades that he commonly wore) it had to be him - Adamir, the avant-garde auteur himself. He sat in. The redhead closed the door and then walked around the front to take the wheel.

"Let's go," said Mina.

"Where?"

"Follow them!"

"They're in a car! We're walking! Hel-lo?"

"Just see which way they go," said Mina as she picked her way back through the trees. If they turn right, they're headed into town. If they go left, there's only one place to go," she reasoned. Lucy had a sinking feeling that either way, Mina was going to take her back to the castle.

They returned to the road but all was quiet.

"We lost them," said Lucy as she took her phone from her pocket, ready to call the taxi again. "Let's just go back to town. We can try again tomorrow."

"Look," said Mina, pointing up the hill to the left. Two red tail lights glowed in the distant dark, then brightened as the brakes were applied, before turning left into the switchback and disappearing. "Adamir's going to the castle," she said and started off briskly up the road.

"I can't believe I'm letting you drag me on a wilderness hike in Slovakia after dark," Lucy huffed, then hurried to catch up.

Going up was much slower than coming down. Night had fully fallen by the time that they reached the top once more. The waxing crescent moon hung in the black sky and the clouds were mostly gone. The castle was decrepit and broken, not at all kept up, simply presented by the government as history had left it to, crumbling and cracked. Only certain sections of the stone stairs were still in service and much of the steep ascent was traversed over grassy clumps. They kept an eye out for the security guard.

Eventually the slope began to even out and the strides became easier. The stone walls were full of breaches and there seemed to be just one usable building, an old tower. Thick cables ran from what looked like the back of it (although with the state of the ruin it was difficult to discern the front from the rear) out across the yard to thrumming generators. It made sense that the generators would be far from the set so that the noise would not be heard. Mina stopped them to survey the scene. There were mobile units lined along the back wall and the security guard was leaning against the corner of one as he lit up a cigarette under its doorway lamp.

"This way," Mina whispered to Lucy. "Keep quiet and stay in the shadows." She offered her leading hand and Lucy took it. Her fingers were cold but her palm was warm. They ventured forth along the wall of the tower, feeling with their footsteps for clumps of thick grass and loose stones. The bat returned overhead, or perhaps it was another. Its sharp chirps rang clear above, then faded. Dim light shone through the first open archway through which the cables fed the set its power. The stonework was blunt and square, harsh and cold. Lucy peered inside to see a couple of stacked crates in a small room that led to a hallway to which the cables ran, one of them bending to the right, the other left.

Mina looked over her shoulder across the yard. The guard was gone. She gave Lucy's hand a reassuring squeeze and darted across the light of the doorway to where her friend joined her in the shadows of the other side.

*

"Everything running top?" Adamir asked Wolf, his lead cameraman. He'd had him filming the moon for a month. Hours and hours of 35mm stacked in cans in a crate kept in the editing trailer where the rushes were printed and viewed, just footage of the moon marked with phase and angle, closeup or wide, clear, cloudy, through window, with tower in fore, et cetera, an extensive library of images that could be used for inserts, and afterwards could also be sold off for stock. Adamir only shot on real film, only making digital prints for the distributors from his final master reels.

"We will need to keep the fog off the lenses tonight," Wolf replied.

"All right," Adamir nodded. "We'll turn the heaters up a couple of degrees on set."

Mircalla was in costume, a white gilt corset with full skirts and topped with a shiny red fox pelt cape. It had taken wardrobe nearly twenty minutes just to get her ample curves cinched in and squeeze her small waist, even after hair had meticulously pinned her up and fit her bejeweled golden tiara. She had made her way to the bedchamber set, which the crew had packed up and moved from her hotel room. It would double as her living space after shooting each night as it would keep her in character while the rest of the cast would bunk in the mobiles or stay back at the hotel. Adamir had sequestered everyone until wrap. It was in the contract. Principal shooting was expected to take between four and eight weeks.

Set dec was miraculous. The old thick stone was dark, cold and gloomy, but the furnishings were opulent against it. Heavy black painted wrought iron chandeliers were fitted with dozens of dripping tallows. The originals were long gone so the props crew had spent a month tracking down authentic antiques and refurbishing them, then mounting them into the ancient stone ceiling. There was also extra lighting - subtly diffused pale yellows and oranges to help out the camera lenses capture the colors, highlights and shadows.

"We have visitors trespassing," said Anna as she approached the director. She held out her phone for him to view her security app. Adamir watched intently, contemplatively for perhaps a half-minute as he surveyed the two women step through the yard with care.

"Let them in," he decided.

*

Mina and Lucy continued along to the next doorway. This one was not lit, but peering inside, they could see dim illumination from the hallway beyond, revealing the edges of all sorts of crates and lights and tripods. Mina silently nodded to follow, and led Lucy inside, stepping with care. Faint voices could be heard. Mina's toe clunked on a box and Lucy froze, stifling a gasp and gripping Mina's hand hard. The two paused a moment and Lucy's eyes pleaded for her friend to be more careful.

"I told you not to wear those clunky platform boots," she whispered. Mina dismissed her with a shrug and led on. She was determined.

Lucy's heart pounded into her throat. She felt her calf start to shake. The tension was thick as they crept into the hallway, stepping over the heavy power cable running down its length, yet Mina was not afraid to dare. She seemed excited in fact. Her dark eyes were wide and shiny bright as she chased adventure. She headed to the right, the direction of the voices. Mina was always so much more confident. Lucy could not have done any of this without her.