* Tugging my suit jacket back in place and brushing my non-existent lint off my arms* I take a deep breath and knock on the Keep's door. The door slowly opens and I'm greeted by Lady Karla. I've won a hard earned slot to interview her and I'm finally getting to meet her!
La Crimson Femme: Lady Karla, thank you for seeing me! I'm so excited to meet you in person.
Lady Karla: Kiss kiss. Come in.
I follow Lady Karla in and we enter into a beautifully decorated seating room. It is as I imagined. Gothic and dark. I love it. Hearing a slight chuckle, I tear my eyes from the room and focus back on Lady Karla.
La Crimson Femme: Sorry! My first time here. For those who don't know about you, shall we give a quick bio about you and your time when you walked among the living?
Lady Karla: When I walked among the living, I was Lady Karla, the Gray-Jeweled Black Widow Queen of Glacia. I am still Lady Karla. I am still a Gray-Jeweled Black Widow Queen. But now I’m demon-dead and reside at the Keep as a companion to Witch and as an administrative second-in-command for Lucivar Yaslana, the Warlord Prince of Askavi. The Demon Prince of Askavi.
You’ve come to Ebon Askavi to ask some questions. Perhaps I have some answers. Ask before the sun rises and the opportunity is lost.
La Crimson Femme: Excellent. We'll start of with a questions my readers have wanted to know. When you transitioned over to Demon Dead, what surprised you about this state that you didn’t know before? I realize you grew up around the Demon Dead.
Lady Karla: The demon-dead I knew when the coven and boyos lived at SaDiablo Hall had not been among the living for a long, long time. Except with each other, they had no connection with anyone who had been alive when they’d made the transition. They were demon-dead before they met any of us, and we were not part of their past.
When you first make that transition, no matter how prepared you think you are, there is a fierce need to continue to exist in some way, and there is pain when you realize that you can no longer be a part of the lives of those you love in the same way you were before. There is too much temptation to interfere in their lives instead of letting them go on without you. Hell is the Realm of the demon-dead for a reason. We don’t belong among the living.
That is not an absolute, as you know. But it takes tremendous discipline and self-control not to interfere unless invited. And sometimes it takes the request of a beloved Sister and Queen to return and interact as one of the demon-dead with those who remember you from the days when you walked among them in the sun.
La Crimson Femme: Speaking of restraining yourself from interfering. Let's talk about your newly designed position working with Lucivar. How do you like working with Lucivar? What is different this time now that you are kind of his second in command?
Lady Karla: I’m not sure if I took pity on the man who hates the administrative side of ruling a Territory—after all, why write a letter if a fist in the ribs gets your point across just as well?—or the Queens who had to deal with him, but there’s something entertaining about a demon-dead Black Widow Queen who wears Gray Jewels being seen as the friendly alternative to dealing with Lucivar Yaslana, the Demon Prince.
As for working with him, we have an understanding. If he gets too bossy, I will quit helping him. That limits questions like “Have you been drinking enough yarbarah?” or “When was the last time you had fresh, undiluted blood?” to once a week rather than every day. When we all lived at the Hall, getting him to agree that the coven had eaten enough vegetables was sometimes…difficult…since we didn’t have a bargaining chip then the way I do now. So Lucivar and I get along just fine, which is something I remind him of often.
La Crimson Femme: I recall learning about Lucivar's protective streak. And Lucivar's tolerance for paperwork is legendary... I believe the Queens are very grateful to come to you instead. Speaking of Queens, what is it like being with Jaenelle in this altered state? I hope it is okay for me to ask as I know many are not aware she still exists.
Lady Karla: She was my best friend from the moment we met and through all the years we walked among the living. Our bodies, such as they are, have changed, but our minds, our hearts? No. Those haven’t changed. We talk, we instruct some of the young, we work on new pieces of Craft, and we haven’t blown holes in any of the Keep’s walls, or caused any landslides or avalanches. (Lucivar flies around the Keep every few days to check.) We are what we have always been, except… The part of her that had been Jaenelle Angelline slept for most of the centuries when she’d resided in the Misty Place alone, that side of who she was only being present for a very select few and only indirectly, even with those few. Witch had been, and is, the feral side of the Queen of Ebon Askavi, and Witch’s connection with the human races had been tenuous at best. That is not something anyone should forget. Even those who had been, and still are, her closest friends.
La Crimson Femme: Thank you for sharing about Jaenelle who has been a force to be reckon with. I am relieved that she still is around, albeit in the background. You mentioned working on new pieces of Craft with Jaenelle throughout your friendship. Did you ever take lessons with the Arachna? If so, what is it like?
Lady Karla: Witch was the only person who was trained by the Arachnians to weave the webs of dreams and visions—and to weave their deadlier kinds of webs. However, she did share some of that training with the Black Widows who were in the Dark Court’s First Circle, so there were a few of us whose skills exceeded what most Black Widows could do. And on occasion, Witch and I now share that knowledge with one other Black Widow in order to expand his skills.
La Crimson Femme: I find the Kindred to be amazing. I have yet to be blessed with a meeting or interaction with them. The Arachnians are a cautionary tale for those of us without any Craft. Of all the Kindred, which one is closest to your heart and you miss the most?
Lady Karla: The Arcerian cats. KaeAskavi was a member of our household for many years while Della, my adopted daughter, was growing up. He was her companion and protector, and we could always tell by the amount of fur he seemed to shed on someone how much he disliked that person getting too close to his friend. He could thwart any spell used on fabric to prevent clothing from being a fur-laden mess, and the result required days of effort to remove all the fur—and sometimes even that wasn’t enough.
Jaenelle Angelline swore she never taught KaeAskavi how to thwart those spells, but she admitted to me once, in private, that she might have been working on a thwarting spell one day and just didn’t notice several hundred pounds of white-furred cat standing next to her and watching what she did.
La Crimson Femme: Oh my. I have two ordinary house cats and can barely keep up with their shedding. I cannot imagine having to remove fur shed by a several hundreds pound cat...
Lady Karla: So those are my answers. It’s time for me to rest—and time for you to go. Perhaps you’ll come to the Keep again someday to seek more answers from the demon-dead or the Queen herself. If you do, be careful when you walk among us. Death has not dulled our minds—or our power.
La Crimson Femme: *quickly stands up* Yes, of course. Thank you for your time again and I appreciate all your answers. It has been a treat for me and my readers. I will heed your warning. *nodding vigorously*
Lady Karla: *winks* Kiss kiss.
*I exit the salon and leave through the large front doors. Sighing with relief, I check off one in my bucket list. Now to find a Kindred...*
Whilst I was not allowed to take any photographic evidence of the interview, I'd like to share how Lady Karla looked like to me.
There you have it my dear readers! Thank you for stopping by and learning more about the intimidating and formidable Lady Karla. If you have suggestions for others you would like me to interview, let me know by posting a comment below! I'll see if I can wrangle another interview.
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