The Lioness and the Black Widow 11

I sat between two of the veiled women in the backseat of Medea’s Lexus. Anna drove, Medea rode shotgun. Suzanne and the other two veiled women followed behind us in a black Blazer. As we drove up the dark rode leading to the house, I saw The Duchess’ black Lincoln pulling up the driveway, followed by Antigone’s Cutlass. All the lights in the house were on. I saw Black Sally standing on the porch wearing a full length black leather coat, her curly blonde hair protruding out the sides of a black stocking cap, she held the German Shepherd on a leash at her side.

When we got inside, everyone followed Black Sally to the dining room. The room was lit by candles, the table was bare. Lavinia sat at the head of the table in her wheelchair wearing a blood-red Victorian gown. Her long black hair flowed over her shoulders to the middle of her back. Her black wooden mask with the red-stripe down the middle faced straight ahead. Damijana stood against the wall behind her sister. Lilith and Octavia stood with her, all three wore black sweaters and long black skirts. Sally took a position against the wall next to Damijana. I went to stand with them, Lavinia stopped me, “No Clarence, you sit here!” she ordered, pointing to the seat on her right.

The Duchess sat down in a chair at the middle of the table, Antigone and the twins stood behind her. Medea sat down directly across from her. Anna, Suzanne and the four veiled women stood behind her. The room was tense. I felt beads sweat break out on my forhead.

The Duchess broke the silence, “Lavinia, I put everything on the line to fight on your side in this war.”

Lavinia quickly replied, “Your assistance is deeply appreciated Duchess.”

“Then what’s with positioning Medea to be Second-Chair of this council you’re gonna set up?”

“As you know, I changed the structure of the table in this house. We no longer use the old system. There are two Second-Chair positions at my table. I intend to structure the table of the ruling council the same way.”

Medea said, “That’s a very convenient set-up. That way you keep the Second-Chairs fighting, plotting and defending themselves against each other, instead of against you. I’m going to set up my table the same way when I take over my house.”

The Duchess challenged, “‘When’ you take over your house. What are we talking hypothetical fucking situations here? Lavinia had the head of her predecessor chopped off and dropped in the shitter. I made mine dig her own grave before I shot her and buried her in it. You’re not on our level yet. At this point, you don’t have any more right to a Second-Chair position than Antigone. What? Are you expecting privileges just because you’re from the Amazons?”

Medea replied, “Yes! As a matter of fact I do expect privileges just because I’m from the Amazons. My house is bigger than both of your houses combined. I wasn’t invited to this party for my charming personality. I was called here because you cannot overthrow The Old Ladies without us on your side. The current Matriarch of my house would never deal with you two, especially YOU.” Medea pointed at The Duchess and continued, “Now, I AM willing to deal with Lavinia and even you, Duchess. So the situation here is that you need my house’s crown on your side, and the only way that will happen is if I am wearing that crown.”

Lavinia said, “Duchess, we do need Medea on our side. We will make sure that she ascends to Matriarch of her house quickly.”

The Duchess asked, “Do I get a share of her house since I’ll be helping her take it over?”

Lavinia replied, “Duchess, whatever your problem is, we must clear the air right now.”

“The problem is that Clarence is making backroom deals with Medea, with your knowledge and on your behalf, trying to cut me out of everything.”

Lavinia said, “Nobody is cutting you out. You are guaranteed the second highest position on the council.”

“BULLSHIT! You’re telling me I have to share that seat.”

“That is correct. You will share Second-Chair at a table that will rule over ALL the other houses and Matriarchs. That is a substantial increase in power for you. Your house is not strong enough to maintain that power without someone else coming along and taking it away. The only way all of our power will be secure is if we work together. Duchess, believe me, you will be grateful for the fact that you’ll be sharing your seat with the Matriarch of the largest and most militant house in existence. There are other Matriarchs out there talking about us and uniting against us as we speak. Our alliance has everyone on edge. The Old Ladies are well aware of what we‘re doing. They have already made appeals to Medea‘s Matriarch in an effort to get to the Amazons on their side.”

The Duchess asked, “What about this shit with Clarence? He made a deal with Medea that he’ll look out for her best interests after yours? And their deal is that he will ONLY look after you and Medea‘s interests.”

Lavinia answered, “Clarence is required to honor any commitments he made to Medea. However, those commitments must be tailored so that The Duchess is not cut-off from utilizing Clarence as a resource. The Duchess is not to be prohibited from demanding Clarence’s service as long as that service doesn’t interfere with, or undermine, mine or Medea’s relationships with Clarence.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“It means that you will still have access to Clarence. It means Clarence’s deal with Medea now has ‘except for The Duchess’ attached to it. It means that you have nothing else to complain about as your issues have been addressed.”

The Duchess lit a cigarette, “Not all of my issues have been addressed. You still have a skill you’re supposed to teach me. But we can deal with that later. Clarence tried to fuck me over! It’s not in any of our best interests to let him get away with it.”

Lavinia asked, “What do you require of Clarence?”

“I want some alone time with him, and I want to be able to get into his head during that time.”

“How long?”

I focused on Lavinia and thought, “Please don’t…” I blacked out. When I woke up, I was lying on the floor by the table, my pants were wet. I had pissed myself. I saw The Duchess standing above me. She knelt down by head, “Damn Clarence! Are you okay? You just fell out and started having a seizure right in the middle of our little pow-wow. That’s fucked up that you’re Matriarch can make you have seizure on demand. I have good news for you though. Lavinia said I get to spend two whole days with you. TWO WHOLE DAYS! Are you excited?”

I looked around the dining room. Everyone was gone, except The Duchess and me. I looked up at The Duchess’ beautiful, almost angelic, smiling face framed by long curly red hair. The Duchess’ didn’t speak with her mouth, but I heard her voice clearly in my head, “Clarence, Clarence, Clarence. Your mind is a scaaarrry place Clarence. I don’t see how you ever get any sleep with all those demons raging between your ears. I’m guessing it is because you aren’t consciously aware of them. Hopefully…during our time together, you will be able to become reacquainted with some of those demons. Maybe we’ll explore some of these highly intriguing repressed memories I’m thumbing through right now. Maybe I’ll manufacture some new ones and make you suffer through memories of things that never really occurred. Did you know that’s how they tricked Medea into killing her parents and siblings?

“PUNISHMENT! I love the word. It’s not often that I get the opportunity to administer actual punishment. Sure, I do the whole torture thing, but usually it’s not punishment. My victims usually don’t deserve their suffering anymore than a cow deserves to be turned into a jacket and a cheeseburger. When we tortured The Great Sathanas’ guys, that wasn’t punishment. They didn’t learn a lesson from it, they’re dead. When I shot Theresa in the face, that wasn’t punishment either. Again, no lesson learned, Theresa is just dead. You, on the other hand, are to be PUNISHED. That means that I am to teach you through the suffering I inflict on you. You can take comfort in the fact that your suffering will not only serve as a lesson for you, but it will also be a lesson for others who may be inclined to make the same mistake you did. We can’t have every asshole who is lucky enough to be ‘chosen’ running around stabbing us in the back and instigating fights between us. You will have to suffer in such a way, and to such a degree, that it will teach others not to go down the foolish, but tempting, path of acting as a courtier in our houses. The Goddess placed you here to serve us, not sabotage us. By the time our 48 hours together is up, you will understand this.”