Chapter Text

You slammed your hand down onto the worksheets in front of you as another breeze blew through the gardens, preventing the pages of Latin from flying away with the wind again.

It was mid-spring now and the days had grown both longer and hotter, cool breezes passing through the trees. You looked down at the work once more and glanced to your blue watch. You hadn't quite reached your goal of forty-five minutes of uninterrupted work but another 3 minutes wouldn't mean much anyway if it was just spent trying to hold your classwork down to the table. You reached into the bag beside you and put the sheets back into their respective folders, tucking your notebook away with it as you took out your water bottle to drink from as you enjoyed the view.

The countryside was beautiful at this time of year: the fields were full of colour, the trees in bloom, the flowerbeds were full of fragrant plants that looked as delicate as they smelled.

Your deep blue cardigan was placed beside you now, the heat getting to you even in your light black trousers and your thin white blouse with its short puffy sleeves. You glanced over to the cows on the hill only two fields over and took a smaller notebook from your bag, opening it up to find all your scribbled bits of writing from various occasions in the school year.

You didn't like this place.

You liked things that were direct, honest, that made sense; this place was none of those things. You were being given a cheap private-school education at a boarding school where no technology was allowed and students were constantly falling ill or going missing, usually one after the other. You were never allowed to leave and it was almost impossible to sneak out of the school grounds. At first, seeing the buildings and grounds, it had felt like you were attending Hogwarts. But your image of it began to distort more and more with time.

You'd spoken about it to all of your friends here but, judging by the looks they gave each other when you brought the topic up, they were fed up with you going on about it. They had often told you to just appreciate the opportunity you had been given but it didn't sit right with you. You didn't like not being in the know and you were determined to find out what the deal with this place was. Your parents were the ones who made you take up the opportunity when it was presented to you: an all-girls boarding school with excellent grounds, opportunities, education and more. It seemed too good to be true and you were sure that it still was. You'd wanted to go to college to chase a course in criminology and go to university from there but instead, you had been pressured into coming here by your family. It was a four-year course and you were in your third year now and part of you was afraid that you would be the next to fall ill or go missing before you could finish your last two years here.

Alongside regular classes, there were also lots of places for work experience in the parts of the grounds that were open to the public: the café, the restaurant, the hotel, the library, the list went on. You had taken a job as a maid in the hotel between classes.

The grounds themselves were odd too: they were very old and had many buildings scattered around them, one side of the grounds was only attended by students during their work hours and was strictly for public use other than that. Some of your friends had argued that you had no need to be suspicious of why the tuition fees were so low because it must be paid for through the profits made from the public side of the grounds.

But, from working in the hotel, you had gathered that only the wealthiest stayed here: you knew you shouldn't but you often found yourself snooping around to see what you could find. Most of them seemed to be here to sample a famous wine: Sanguis Virginis. You had learned that this translated to 'Maiden's Blood' through your classes and it made you uneasy. You weren't the type to jump to crazy supernatural theories but it did sound like something out of a cult horror movie.

You'd read in one of the guest's magazines that the wine was owned and produced by the Dimitrescu family. A plaque in your house's common room told you that this was also the name of the family who once owned these grounds. You were still uncertain if they still own the place or not but had not been able to find out that information and you didn't trust asking the teachers or managers anything.

You grabbed your cardigan and tucked it into the crease of your elbow, pulling your bag over your shoulder as you began walking along the perimeter of the student grounds for your lunch break.

The place felt like a fortress at times, there were no exits that weren't guarded by staff around the clock. Part of you felt like maybe you were going mad sometimes. No one seemed to care as much as you did, they all seemed to accept this gift and didn't spend their time meticulously looking for the strings attached as you did.

You made your way down to one of the fields, stopping at the tall barbed fence and sticking your hand through the gaps in the wire towards one of the cows in the field. It was a smaller one that approached you and allowed you to pet its head before it licked your hand and you both grimaced and smiled at the same time, retracting your hand to wipe it on your cardigan, reasoning that you could wash it later.

You looked towards your house building, knowing that you would have to change for your work shift after dinner. But you wanted to enjoy the nice weather some more so you caught up with a friend who was lingering around the back of the building.

Louisa was finishing up her cigarette as you approached her, the blonde smiling as you came closer. You had no clue where she got the cigarettes from considering you weren't allowed to leave. Maybe she brought enough for the term in with her suitcase? Maybe she was getting them through her job in the kitchen of the restaurant? Perhaps, someone there was trading goods with her? You didn't poke your nose in there too much: you were inquisitive, not invasive. Her cigarette stash had no impact on you and, therefore, it was none of your business.

"Want to walk around?" You offered and she flicked the end of her cigarette to the ground, stepping on it to smother the remaining embers.

"Sure." She replied simply, joining you as you both followed a route to no destination at all.

"How's that Wilde essay coming along?" You prompted, knowing was yet to start it since your last conversation. This earned a sigh from Louisa.

"I don't have the energy to work on it." She replied, looking towards one of the school buildings, "He's really deep and between my huge workload for anatomy and my shifts in the kitchen, I don't have the..." she brought her hands up, gesturing to her head, "...brain space to pick apart his work!" You nodded your head in understanding.

"Yeah, I get what you mean."

"My anatomy teacher's been offering apprenticeships with that company, Umbrella, but honestly, working in the kitchen has made me realise how much I enjoy cooking."

"That's good!" You replied, "You should maybe start asking for harder tasks or get more involved with the higher-up chefs if you want to go with that. I'm sure they could find something f... hey, are you ok?" You noticed how she had paled and brought a hand to press over her stomach. She seemed to pause to consider the question, the both of you stopping in the path now. Louisa began nodding her head before shaking it quickly and running over to one of the bins.

You could hear the sound of her vomiting and ran over to pull her blonde locks away from her face, grimacing at the black colour of the contents she was throwing up. That didn't look right at all.

When she was done, you searched through her bag for some water, seeing her rinse her mouth out and spit that in the bin too.

"Feeling better or worse?" You asked cautiously, seeing her shake her head, bringing a hand to her stomach again. You reached towards her to press the back of your palm to her forehead, feeling burning up. "You're far too hot, you should see the nurse." You suggested.

"Can you come with me?" She groaned.

"Of course."

━━━━━━━━┛ ✠ ┗━━━━━━━━

Since then, you'd eaten your dinner and finished your work for the day at the hotel. Usually, you covered half of your hours early in the morning, had a nap between classes in the afternoon and finished your hours late in the evening. You hadn't been feeling too well since you ate. Part of you was worried that Louisa had infected you with whatever she had but another part worried that it was the food you'd eaten. Some part of you felt like you shouldn't have touched it as you ate it but rationality said you were just being paranoid about the food and what was really happening was an illness was going around the school.

As you were returning, dressed in your typical black and white dress that was designed to both suit the time of the grounds and reflect its modern renovations, you found yourself gagging with a twisted feeling in your stomach, you found yourself falling to your knees before a tree and vomiting that same black substance that you had seen from Louisa earlier on that day.

You didn't trust the staff so you decided to simply head back to take some anti-sickness tablets and rest then see how you were doing in the morning.

As you pushed yourself up, wiping your mouth with the back of your hand and frowning at the bitter taste in your mouth, a member of staff approached you.

He was stout and build roundly with a bald head and a stern look. He was also your head of year.

"What're you doing?" He asked with that constant hostile look which he had.

"I'm going back to my house building. I just finished my shift at the hotel." He glanced over to the tree where you had just been sick.

"You're ill. Let's take you to the nurse." And he turned to leave, his aura demanding.

"I'm fine. I'm not sick. I was just offered some seafood while I was on shift. I didn't want to refuse but I can't stand it either. It makes me feel ill. That's all there is to it: an upset stomach. I'm not sick." You spoke adamantly. "I'm going back to my room to rest." He glared at you and you glared back equally. You decided to get the killing blow in while you could, "Maybe I'd feel a little better if the faculty here gave us more support between our jobs and classwork. I'm tired and need rest. Have a good evening, Sir." With that said, you turned on your heel and left.

Chapter Text

By the time you had woken up, sunlight was slanting in through the window.

The wrong window. That meant it was sunset, not sunrise.

You leapt from your bed to run over to the window, seeing the familiar sight of the sun setting below the countryside hills. That meant you had been asleep all day! If you were lucky, you could still catch the second shift at the hotel.

You rushed to make yourself presentable: cursing over any imperfection in your makeup, dragging your brush through your hair and finally throwing on your dress, hopping across the room to pull your stocking on and reach for your shoes at once.

You weren't exactly looking your best but you weren't unpresentable either. Besides, you had cleaned the foyer yesterday so it was someone else's turn today: you would be out of the public eye, no guests around to impress.

The hunger that you felt would be forced to wait as you rushed out the door. Your mind was filled with all the little worries of what would be said about missing your morning hours or the teachers you would have to explain yourself to the next day. You had a group presentation due in for philosophy but surely had missed it. Then there was the issue of whatever the hell Louisa had given you the other day. Was the illness the reason why you had slept all day?

You had little time to think as you made your way through the servant's entrance, only just on time and quickly grabbing the laundry hamper to head upstairs with so you could make a start on changing the towels and sheets in the rooms. That was your task on Thursday evenings.

But, as you reached to fix the tie at the back of your apron, your eyes widened in worry as you realised that you had forgotten to put it on altogether. There was little leniency for an incorrect uniform. Just your luck, your manager turned the corner just as you noticed that you were lacking an apron. Though, his look was one that surprised you. He was looking at you as though you were a ghost.

"You're not supposed to be here." He spoke aloud.

"I'm sorry?" Your brows raised, many thoughts going through your head at once. What was that supposed to mean? Were you fired for missing your morning hours?

"Your head of year came by looking for you this morning. You're being promoted." What should have been good news only make you frown. More things that didn't make sense. Why were you being promoted? You only worked part-time near the end of the working week and certainly didn't perform your job to high enough standards in your opinion.

"Ok. . ." You started hesitantly, "Where can I find him?"

"The house right near the restaurant's bakery, the one with the red banners outside of it."

"Thank you." You dipped your head in respect and turned to leave, wondering if you should just head back to your house building instead. The promotion didn't make any sense and you knew deep down that his true reason for wanting to talk to you was connected to the conversation that the two of you had yesterday.

Which reminded you: something was wrong medically too. Whatever you had thrown up yesterday hadn't looked natural at all. Though, you found yourself feeling fine now. That nagging little paranoid voice at the bad of your head cried out that it was the food again but you had no evidence to support this claim.

You paused as the house with the red banners came into view. What would you encounter once you had entered inside? You met the eyes of the head of year who was waiting outside and a dread stirred deep within your gut. You had always trusted your intuition, even when it seemed like the most unlikely scenario. Your intuition and inquisitiveness felt as though they were at war now. One part knew that so many answers would lay behind that door but the other part sensed the danger that radiated from within the place. You froze to consider your next move.

You could run now. Simply turn on your heel and go as far as your legs could carry you. But what good would that do once you got to the grounds' perimeter? You could only play cat and mouse for so long.

Entering the building, however, meant an uncertain fate. You knew that the answers you sought were ones that a buried part of you didn't want to find. You knew that they were dark, that they were terrible, you could feel it like a chill slithering through your nerves. What would happen to you once inside? That meant that running would simply delay the inevitable.

You made your way to the door.

"Where have you been all day?" The staff member snapped.

"Asleep. As I told you yesterday, I was feeling unwell. I've recovered now." You followed him into the house, walking over fine rugs and taking in the paintings on the walls that dated back to over centuries ago. You walked past a music room and a polished grand piano caught your eye, making you momentarily forget the situation you were in. You could imagine yourself sitting there, fingers dancing over the keys to all the melodies you could play on it. You adored music and your classes of it usually helped to make your week more bearable. Classical was your preferred genre.

As soon as that moment where you passed the open door was over, music was forgotten about.

"The owner of our establishment is in need of an employee for her own home to replace someone who recently resigned. We thought that this would be an excellent opportunity for you, considering the work you have already done for the hotel here."

"The owner?" You spoke up hesitantly. I suppose you would soon find out whether the Dimitrescu family still owned the place or not then. But why you? There were many other, much more qualified people for the job.

"You are to be a handmaid after your first week of full-time work there. This is a very important and highly-respectable job." He continued, "You are to meet her now. The two of you should be leaving later on this evening if she deems you suitable for the role."

"But what about my studies here?" You furrowed your brows, refusing to take another step towards the open door at the end of the corridor.

"You shall receive all your qualifications as well as this job if you can keep your mouth shut for long enough to get this job, you'll get everything you could ever need in life." He hissed. You found yourself taken aback for a moment. He seemed desperate to get this job for you. What was going on? Have they decided to get rid of you after all the times you've poked your nose into whatever they're hiding? You no longer had time to decide, your wrist having been grabbed and now finding yourself being dragged by it, almost being thrown into the room.

The door opened into the room and you could just see one end of a leather sofa poking out from where you stood, catching a glance of a pair of feet poking out from behind the door, dressed in black heels.

"Lady Dimitrescu, may I present you to (Y/n) (L/n). Brought by your request." Your brows furrowed as you were introduced this way, the man closing to the door and sealing the three of you inside.

You felt your entire body freeze up the moment you laid eyes on her. Her pale skin looked like one of those marble sculptures, her eyes like gold encased in amber. Her dress showed her curvaceous figure perfectly, finding yourself unable to resist glancing at her breasts as you took all of her in. Her hat was poised elegantly upon her head of midnight curls. This goddess of a woman lounged on the fine couch like a villainous queen on her throne and, despite being seated, you could see that she was much, much taller than you.

She had said something, gestured with her hands, gloved with lace. You realised that you had completely forgotten how to function but found yourself unable to pull all your thoughts together, stumbling back a little and feeling the backs of your legs hit an armchair.

Your head of year snapped his fingers before your face and you were brought back to your senses, blinking before realising that you had now been asked to take a seat thrice.

"You're sure this is the one?" You watched the lady raise her brow before reaching into her purse for a case of cigarettes, fitting it into a holder and turning to your teacher who had offered her a lighter.

"Certain, my lady." He replied as he took a seat in the armchair beside you. She eyed you for a moment and you found yourself unable to make eye contact this time, willing your cheeks to cool as she took in your appearance.

"I heard she was much sharper. . ." She muttered before taking another drag from the cigarette. You stole another glance in her direction but restricted yourself from staring for too long lest you freeze again.

"Tell me, what experience do you have of working as a handmaid?" He questioned and you could feel her eyes on you but you kept your own on your hands on your lap. You rested them against your thighs, resisting the urge to fidget with the fabric of your dress before a woman who held such commanding authority.

"Very little, my lady. My work as a maid at the hotel here consists of staying out of the way and cleaning."

"I've been told that you learn quickly. Would you say this is true?" She continued. Her voice sounded like a dessert you couldn't afford: so rich and sweet yet off-limits.

"Yes, my lady." She hummed at your answer as she waved her hand to the corner of the room where there was a tea set.

"Bring me some tea." You stole a quick glance to her eyes, seeing the contrasts of her features: pale skin, bright eyes and dark lips. You got to your feet and took the tray in your hands, carrying it to the table beside her and setting a cup out for her before pouring the hot and dark liquid into the fine china.

"How do you take your tea, my lady?" You could feel her scrutinising you as you carefully set the pot down once more, reaching for the pot of sugar.

"That will be fine." She waved her hand for you to take your seat once more and you took in the tea's aroma as you took a deep breath. You had never smelled anything like it, unable to place a herb or flower to its name, wondering what it could be brewed from.

"Polite enough." She mused to herself as she took a sip carefully enough to not smudge her lipstick, "Tell me, (Y/n), are you loyal?"

"I would say so, my lady."

"And what are you loyal to? Money? Gain? Desire?" You couldn't figure out what she was doing. Why was she asking you all this? Why did she have to be so damn beautiful did she have to be so damn beautiful to the point that you couldn't help but function like an idiot in her presence? You didn't even know this woman and yet she was filling every single space in your head.

"I'm loyal to what I believe to be right." You hesitated, "I do not lie, I do not steal, nor do I cheat."

"But you like to stick your nose in where it does not belong I hear." You could hear the amusement in her tone as she said this. "I could put this to use. . ." She paused for a moment as she continued to enjoy her tea, gazing into the flames of the fireplace. "Leave us." She gestured to your superior. He seemed taken aback for a moment before obeying and leaving the two of you alone in the room.

"You have been looking into things that are of no concern to you, girl." She began, "I've heard all about your ramblings to other young women enrolled here and many people here are unhappy about it." You hung your head, unsure if this was a build-up to her wrath or not. "Though, I'm not entirely certain if you'll be relieved or despaired to hear that you have every reason to be wary of this place." You looked up to her once more, feeling both triumphant and terrified at once. You had yet to find any evidence to suggest what actually happened to the students who simply vanished and could only hope that, if you were to join them, it wasn't such a terrible fate.

"I want to put these skills of yours to use. The staff here want to rid themselves of these tendencies you have to snoop around but I've just lost the only person who possessed such skills. You should consider yourself incredibly lucky, girl." So your fate would be different to the missing students if you accepted her offer. If you stay, you will find out whatever happened to them all; if you leave with Lady Dimitrescu, you can take a chance on having a better outcome.

"If myself and my skills are what you require lady, both are at your disposal." You bowed your head. You reasoned that you had a better chance if you went with her and you would need to keep in her good books too. If she was the owner of this place, then she most certainly had a hand in the dark things she had alluded to. A smile pulled at her painted lips.

"We leave this evening, someone is packing your belongings as we speak." She rose from her seat and you found yourself frozen once more. You had always felt dwarfed by the doorways which looked as though they were carved for giants but she had to bend almost in half to make her way under the frame, expecting you to follow at her feet. As you tailed behind her, she started talking about the portraits on the walls, how many of them had once been in her family or had been acquaintances of hers.

Though, while her voice reached your ears, her words did not. All you could think of was how gorgeous she was, how small she made you feel, how the top of your head only just surpassed the height of her hips.

"Do you wish for the default tour or a tour of my favourite parts of this side of the grounds?" She asked once you had made your way inside.

"The tour of your favourite parts, my lady," You began and found that your voice had unintentionally become very timid, "I think that what people admire and what they deem valuable can tell you a lot about them. If I'm to be your handmaid, I wish to know you well enough to suit your best tastes."

The taller woman hummed in delight at this and looked down at you. You found that you had tilted your head back in order to glance up at her beautiful facial features, feeling in a daze as you gazed upon her.

"You will learn fast, indeed. . ."

Chapter Text

You had followed Alcina around the grounds for a while as she explained why each building or piece of decor was a favourite of hers, often referring them to her family history. Once you had returned, she requested that you leave her be while she made some important phone calls, leaving you to your own devices in the games room. In there, you found a pool table, a dartboard, a drawer full of decks of playing cards and a chessboard already laid out. The pieces looked expensive: blown from glass with swirling patterns of each opponent's playing colour inside them.

Upon one of the tables, you found a newspaper laid open as though someone had yet to finish it. Due to the ban on technology, you often snooped through the newspapers and magazines of guests to find out whatever you could. You quickly took it up in your hands, balancing it so that the papers remained straight as you skimmed through the words, passing over anything that seemed irrelevant, crouching down behind the pool table in case anyone walked past and spotted you.

There was not much to discover: celebrity gossip, small laws being passed, some missing person reports, an environmental protest, Umbrella's success in providing towns with new and better-equipped hospitals, a winning football team. There was nothing of importance to you there.

"What are you doing down there?" That rich and somehow sultry voice called from the doorway and you froze. But you had almost been caught many times like this in the past and had grown quick at making excuses on the spot.

"Someone had left this on the chair. It looked out of place so I went to put it away but I dropped it, my lady." She had approached you as you spoke, taking it from your hands.

"Yes, I was reading it earlier while I was waiting for you to show up. I sent that fool for you in the morning and it seems you couldn't be found until the evening." She looked down at you and hummed, "Though, you seem to be taking to this job naturally. Good girl." She patted your head twice and you found yourself frozen again as she took a seat in that off-red armchair, crossing her legs as she opened the paper to the page you had found it open on.

You felt the embarrassment setting your cheeks on fire as you realised that you should probably close your mouth and stop gawking at her like an idiot.

"Fetch me some wine and find out when the carriage will be loaded." She spoke as she turned the page, not even looking at you over the paper. 'Carriage'? It led you to wonder just how rich this woman was. She dressed like an Edwardian and travelled like one too it seemed.

"Yes, my lady." You bowed your head and made your way around the house, wondering where you could find some wine. Was there a cellar here? You knew that the hotel kept wine in a cellar. You made your way into the kitchen, assuming that it would be the best place for the entrance to the sort of room you were looking for. You ran into another servant who had assumedly been sweeping the floor judging by the broom in her hands.

"Could you head outside and find out when the carriage will be ready for Lady Dimitrescu?" You asked and she bowed her head before leaving the room to do as asked. Well, your head of year clearly had not been lying when he said that this was a respected job. You headed to the cellar to find a bottle of wine, quickly rummaging through drawers to find something to open the bottle with. You eventually found a corkscrew to open the bottle with and fetched a fine glass from inside one of the cabinets. It looked crystal and had a metal wrap around it that swirled around the cup intricately and had red jewels set into it.

Tucking the bottle under your arm, you picked up the glass as the maid returned.

"They're just bringing your things over from your house building now, it should take no longer than ten to fifteen minutes." She explained.

"Thank you." You made your way back to Lady Dimitrescu who was still reading her paper as you set the glass of wine down beside her. You held the bottle in your hands, not knowing if she would finish it quickly and want another glass or not. "The carriage will be ready somewhere between ten and fifteen minutes, my lady." You spoke.

"Good." She replied as she folded the paper up and took up her glass of wine instead, "I hope that you will settle in quickly, I'm sure you will find yourself at ease once you learn your way around the place."

"I will do my best to please my lady." You spoke with a bowed head, looking away as you tried to push down the memory of how you felt when she praised you and patted your head so tenderly. Though, you still had many questions about what was going on. Why was she so tall? Why didn't the mystery around her seem to bother you as much as the mystery around the grounds here? You weren't comfortable with how easily she could get your guard down, you were usually such a cautious person. "Were you the one to start the brand of wine or was it inherited?" You asked. An innocent enough question should hopefully get you some small answers at least. "I've heard the guests talking about it, is all. A lot of them travel here just to sample it." You continue.

You didn't like the look on her face as you said that second part. Her lips curled up into a small smirk, a knowing one. One that told you that you would not get a straight answer because she liked having what you wanted and not giving it to you.

"I started it myself." She answered simply.

"What inspired the name?" You asked. In truth, you had wondered why the creator would choose such a name. 'Maidens blood' seemed quite off-putting to yourself. "It's very. . . gothic." You did not wish to offend, you had to keep her in good spirits if you wanted to get your way.

"That's precisely why I chose such a name. I've always enjoyed parts of gothic culture, the older decor and architecture, I think it's far superior to all this modern nonsense." Part of you knew that it wasn't the whole truth just from her little smirk. Perhaps, in trying to not offend her, you had given her the perfect escape from the direct truth. Sensing that there was something unspoken in her words frightened you.

You were surprised to watch that her dark lipstick didn't smudge at all while she drank from her glass of wine. Had she simply perfected the art or was it a lip tint and not a lipstick? You didn't have much time to ponder as she caught you staring at her lips and you began to realise that maybe you had been staring for reasons beyond her makeup, feeling your cheeks warm as you looked to your feet instead, missing her amused smile.

Just as she had finished the glass, she instructed you to put the bottle away before the two of you departed. When you met up with her again, it was in the corridor leading to the front door. You followed her through the grounds to the front of the main building that was built like a grand chateau. You had always looked at the long path leading up to the almost rounded gravel area before the place and imaged carriages from centuries past travelling up the road to the manor and now you were able to witness one yourself.

Some students and guests gawked at the sight, the guests watching as though they were gazing upon royalty.

"(Y/n), fetch my coat from inside the carriage, won't you?" She spoke as she looked upon the grand manor, probably taking in the sight of it. You thought to yourself that it must be nice to be so rich that you can own such a place and rarely ever visit it. At least, you assumed she never did as you had heard nothing of her beyond her family name until today.

You took out a fine black coat that felt woven from silken clouds and that was lined and trimmed with the softest of furs. You bit your lip as you wondered if Lady Dimitrescu intended for you to put it on her. How would you reach her shoulders? To your relief, she was right behind you when you turned around and you could use the steps of the grand carriage to reach high enough to help her shrug it onto her shoulders. You stood down to offer her a hand in getting up the steps which she took gratefully as she removed her hat with her other hand and ducked inside.

As you followed her in, a footman closed the door behind you and you sat opposite the tall woman, smoothing out your skirt in a wish to look presentable. Simply because your position demanded it, of course, is what you assured yourself; you weren't trying to impress her, surely?

You discarded that train of thought as the large and powerful horses began pulling the carriage. You instead wondered if this was made solely for her, considering it could fit her height easily enough, even if she had to remove her wide-brimmed hat.

Within a few minutes of gazing out the window, watching as you left the grounds behind, Alcina lit another cigarette, opening the window to blow the smoke out of.

The cold night air intruded into your body this way and you wrapped your arms around yourself, slowly rubbing them to try and warm yourself without the noblewoman noticing.

"Are you cold, dear?" She shot you a side glance, blowing more smoke into the wind.

"N-no, my lady." You inwardly cursed yourself as your shiver gave away your lie. Why had you shivered? Was it the cold or the term of endearment? You told yourself that you must have done something right because she had gone from calling you 'girl' to 'dear. Some part of you missed- no. You stopped that train of thought in its very tracks. She sighed and tilted her head almost sympathetically, opening one side of her coat by extending her arm beside her.

"Come here." She ordered and you wrapped your arms around yourself a little tighter.

"Really, I'm alright, Lady Dimitrescu." She frowned at this and you realised that you had made a wrong choice in denying her.

"That was an order." You opened your mouth to reply but realised both that you had no words and it would not be wise to retort either way. You stood and turned around to sit right beside her, feeling her wrap her arm around you and her coat with it, pulling you into her side as her other hand continued to smoke her cigarette from its holder.

You remained rigid for a while, worried about the slightest of movements in such close proximity to her. It was a strange order, you thought to yourself, for her to want to warm you beside her.

"Poor thing. . ." She muttered after feeling how cold to the touch your skin was, prickled with goosebumps all over. You could feel your face flush with heat and you willed the blood to go anywhere less obvious, taking a deep breath only to realise that perhaps that wasn't the best decision as she certainly would have felt it. "I have some new rules for you when we get to the castle, I like my home to run like clockwork: no room for out-of-place pieces that aren't serving their role. To begin with, you must start waking at seven in the evening. I'll explain the rest of them to you at breakfast tomorrow. I want you to be well-rested."

Your eyes nearly bulged out of your head at the word 'castle'. She was clearly swimming in wealth and if she was able to abandon your school grounds to be run by its staff, of course she lived somewhere like a castle. Though part of you felt threatened by her words, you didn't want to lose such a high-ranked job. You were young and already going into such a successful job. You didn't want to blow this chance.

"If that is what you wish, my lady." She looked down at you and blew the smoke in your face, a teasing smirk on her face. Instinctively, you scrunched your nose and shook your head a little, fanning it away from your face. She giggled at this and turned back to the window instead, her arm pulling you closer.

━━━━━━━━┛ ✠ ┗━━━━━━━━

Once her cigarette was finished, you took the chance to return to your seat and found yourself drifting off to sleep, leaning your head against the carriage door. The journey had taken over two hours now. Most of it was spent through daydreaming or small talk with Alcina. You didn't understand why she couldn't use this time now to explain the rules to you but you didn't want to question her authority.

Usually, questioning that very thing came easily to you, especially when you had reason to. But, her authority was different. She radiated it with each move, each blink and breath. She was a true matriarch: comfortable in her femininity, commanding, sure, undefiable.

You found that you kept on glancing at your watch as the hours stretched out, wishing that you had a phone or book to pass the time with. Then again, judging by the thick trees and absolute darkness outside, you were unsure if your phone would be able to get any service, even if you did have it.

You often felt her eyes on you too, taking you in, trying to read your thoughts almost. While gazing out the window and looking into the dense forest around you, you began to question yourself. What the hell were you doing? You'd just taken up a job with an unknown woman in an unknown location that was provided by people you didn't trust. She said that the staff there wanted you gone due to your inquisitiveness but she was the owner - who's to say that she didn't want you gone too? You bit down on your lip in worry.

While you admired her - and you knew that you couldn't deny that you were attracted to her - you didn't like what she did to you. She had a way of waltzing right through the walls you kept up and you hated it. You felt vulnerable with the way she managed to slip past all your suspicions and doubts.

Suddenly, you felt your mouth almost dropping open at the sight before you. Intricate towers loomed over the mountain valley, many of the windows lit up in the night sky. It was a clear night and the moon was full, allowing the silvery light to give you a decent enough view despite the darkness. There was something very distinctly eastern European and gothic about the castle, quite a unique design. Though you had to admit, it looked like something straight out of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

She giggled lowly at your reaction, pulling her coat around herself more.

"You live here?" You whispered, unable to take your eyes off the place. You could only imagine what it would look like during daylight. Of course, she lived somewhere so grand if she let the grounds of your school be converted for public use.

"So do you now." She replied simply as the carriage began to make its way up the road towards what was undoubtedly the grandest place you'd ever seen in your life. You'd seen castles before: some in ruins, some still in use, some turned to grounds for public entertainment. But this? This place was beyond anything you had imagined during the long journey.

When the horses came to a stop in the courtyard, the footman was the one to open the door. You meekly followed your lady as she made her way to the grand double doors.

"Your bags will be brought to your room for you. Your chambers will be across the hall from mine, as my handmaid I require you to be close." She spoke simply as she made her way inside. You followed closely in case she wanted you to remove her coat for her but she seemed fine enough to shrug it off herself, allowing you to take it to hand it up on the stand by the door. "You deserve to rest after such a long journey. Your only job will be to inform the cook that I'd like something to eat and then you will be able to retire to bed. Remember to be up and ready at seven in the evening."

You opened your mouth to question again why she wanted you to wake in the evening but she was making her way up the red-carpeted, curled staircase now and you knew it was best to not disrupt her. She had said that she wanted to rest too, afterall.

Now how on earth would you find the cook in this place?

Chapter Text

You woke at 6 PM, finding this strange nocturnal schedule easy enough considering you had slept the entire day just the day before. You decided that a shower was in order, letting the water heat up while you searched through your things at the back of the room. You would have to find some time to unpack them, deciding that for now, it was best just to take out the things that you'd need for the day.

You tied your hair out of the way to wash your body, neither thinking it would be acceptable to work with wet hair nor knowing if there was a hairdryer here. You dried off and wrapped yourself in a plush robe to wear while you applied your makeup and styled your hair.

You opened the wardrobe to find a black and white dress, not too different from the one you had worn at the hotel. The only difference with this one seemed to be its many intricacies: the ruffled lace cuffs, the detailed buttons at the front, black lace trim to the skirt. Though the skirt seemed quite a bit shorter than your previous clothing and you weren't sure how comfortable you were with it.

Either way, you pulled the dress over your head, pulling up the ruffled petticoat and clipping the stockings to your garters before pulling on your shoes, thankful that they were platforms and not heels. Standing before the mirror, you felt more like a doll than a maid. The outfit wasn't exactly practical: cuffs that would surely stain if you were to clean nearly anything, a skirt that was too short to bend over in, shoes that you'd surely trip over in if you were to carry anything up and down the stairs. Part of you began to wonder if your job was more for show because surely you couldn't do your best work in this.

However, you realised that you should probably be tending to Lady Dimitrescu with only five minutes left before it would be seven. Walking down the corridor, the window at the very end showed the last vanishing rays of the sun. Handmaids had to dress their ladies, no? You thought that Alcina would expect the whole old-fashioned treatment judging by the way she seemed to live as though she were alive a century ago.

You patiently waited outside her door, glancing down to your blue-strapped watch as you waited for seven on the dot. You decided that it was best to be punctual until you could learn her morning routine a little better. You knocked on the door and could hear her call out an "Enter!"

You pushed the doors open and quickly closed them behind yourself, suddenly very small. The furniture in this room seemed huge! The only normal-sized things you could spot were the tables and the wardrobe. The chairs, vanity and bed were all super-sized. You supposed that the rooms she spent the most time in would have furniture to suit her size.

Why was she so tall anyway? Genetic mutation? Medical condition? You figured that you would find out in time but now did not seem like the right moment to start asking those sorts of questions. Perhaps you could find another servant who knew.

"Morning, my lady." You bowed your head as she sat up in bed, taking in your appearance seemingly in approval.

"Morning." Her hair was in curlers with a wrap around it to keep them all in place as she slept and she wore an off-white silk nightdress.

"What do you need my help with?" You asked, lowering your eyes to your feet as you realised that perhaps you shouldn't be looking at her. Traditionally, you knew that servants were not supposed to look at those who they served but you had always been taught that it was rude to not look at someone when they were speaking to you. You could only hope that whichever choice you made would not offend Lady Dimitrescu.

"Fetch a dress for me to wear. Decide what should go with it." She waved her hand towards the wardrobe as she stood, opening a chest of drawers.

You were rather dumbfounded to find a stepladder folded away at the bottom of the wardrobe. You selected a creme coloured dress, not too different from the one she wore yesterday. You would surely learn her fashion preferences in time but for now, it was best to play it safe and come up with something similar to what she had worn yesterday. You laid the dress carefully over the seat of her vanity before going through her jewellery as she changed behind the screen. You assumed that you would be the one to put that in the laundry. You couldn't picture such a rich woman wearing the same thing to bed two nights in a row.

You picked out a simple string of pearls, matching earrings and a silver broach with red jewels and pearls in it. You thought that the jewels would really make her bold lipstick pop more with another small accent of red.

She stepped out from behind the screen in her undergarments: the palest shade of pink for her matching bra, pants and garter belt which held up stockings that matched her skin tone. You felt the heat rise to your cheeks instantly but you found it too difficult to pry your eyes away as you handed her the dress. You eventually found it in yourself to look away, too embarrassed to look her in the eyes as you knew there was no chance that she had missed you staring so blatantly.

You picked up the nightdress to put it in the laundry hamper before waiting patiently by her vanity, glancing down to the jewellery that you had selected for her.

"Well?" She spoke up and you looked into her amber eyes at last.

"You..." You had the words in your head but couldn't seem to get them to leave your lips.

"Yes, I do expect you to dress me." She replied as though she had read your mind. "I will also expect you to dress and remove all of my clothes in the future but I've decided to go easy on you as it's your first day."

"Thank you, my lady." You bowed your head in gratitude and took a step towards her before realising that you'd never be able to reach her head in order to put her dress on over it. Ah! The stepladder. You quickly turned to grab it, setting it up before taking the dress from Alcina's hands and pulling it down over her head gently enough, being mindful of her face and the curlers in her hair.

She turned enough for you to untuck any parts of the dress's skirt before reaching back up to do up the buttons on her back.

"I quite like your style, my lady." You commented as you straightened out the sleeves, "It's a very authentic vintage."

"Thank you." She hummed. You wanted to know what she was thinking about. "Fetch me a pair of shoes, little one." You almost dropped the stepladder as you were carrying it back when her simple pet name filled your stomach with butterflies.

"Yes, my lady." You blurted out, glad that your back was facing her as you felt an explosion of heat in your cheeks. You quickly pressed the back of your hand to one just to feel the hot blush before you opened the second wardrobe to reveal a rack of shoes inside. You chose a deep red pair, hoping that the small pop of colour would be subtle enough under her long dress and would go well with the broach and lipstick if anyone were to notice.

She had just finished putting on her earrings when you knelt at her feet to put her shoes on for her, seeing her tilt her head as she looked down at you while you carefully took each leg up and slid her shoe on. You took your time with the fiddly strap around each ankle.

You put your hands on your knees to rise to your feet but her hand on your shoulder pushed you back down again.

"No, no," She began, one hand grabbing your chin and turning your head this way and that. You got that sensation of butterflies again alongside something else that made you want to push your thighs together, "Stay down there."

You did as told and watched her with admiration as she applied her makeup expertly and styled her dark black curls. She then clipped her necklace around her throat and pinned the floral broach to the side of her dress.

She stood up, feeling much much taller than you now that you were on your knees. She made her way over to the door and looked back at you, still sitting by her vanity.

"Well?" You could see the amusement in her eyes as she gestured to the door yet never removed her gaze to you. You stood up and held it open for her as she ducked down through the frame.

"Sorry, my lady. You had told me to stay and I wasn't sure if I should have waited for your order to move again..." She looked over her shoulder to you as she led you to what you could only assume was the dining room for her to have breakfast.

"No, you did well." Was she testing you? "You'll take to this job very well at this rate."

You dutifully followed her to the dining room where the table was already laid and a line of servants stood against the wall, all of them looking much like lifeless dolls to you. Their heads hung down, eyes on their feet, hands clutched before them, each one in a pristine black and white uniform. Your staring was interrupted by Lady Dimitrescu's voice.

"You will take your meals with me today but starting tomorrow, it will be your duty to find time to eat. I suggest waking earlier." She explained as she took a seat and you occupied the chair opposite her. Considering you woke at seven in the evening now, you thought that it shouldn't be too hard to wake up earlier in order to take breakfast. Well, could you even call it that at such an hour?

You set your silly questions aside and looked to the lady in front of you instead, your eyes flittering around the room after. There were more important questions to be asked and you thought that mealtime was a good occasion for that. But how could you get the answers you wanted without being too direct. 'Am I safe here?' or 'Do you want me gone as much as the staff back at the school?' didn't seem like great openers to you.

"I assume my family's been informed that I'm working here now." You began instead.

"Of course, dear," Alcina replied as she gestured with her hand towards a servant who then left the room in silence.

"Could I phone them? Just to let them know that I'm alright."

"Absolutely not. Telephones are a luxury above my servants." You reached for the glass of water to try and hide how the blood had drained from your face. That didn't feel right at all, it didn't feel safe.

"Then could I write them a letter?"

"Outside contact is prohibited." Her gaze on you grew cold and it sent a small shiver down your spine. "Look around you," She gestured widely with her arms, "do you not think that I am a powerful woman? Many people despise the influence I hold, the wealth I have gained over the years. I have many enemies and I will not allow my staff the means to feed them all of my secrets, girl."

From 'dear' back to 'girl'. You had certainly overstepped the line. Perhaps it was her security precautions as she said but you didn't believe that. A great weight pressed down on your chest as you suddenly began to feel trapped.

What exactly had you agreed to when you accepted this job?

The servant came back joined by three others who served the dishes in front of you. You were given a bowl of fruit with granola and a smaller side dish of yoghurt while you noticed that Lady Dimitrescu had a selection of meats, many of them looking as though they had hardly touched the heat of the stove. Some pieces were still bloody.

You hurriedly picked up a piece of fruit to chew on in order to hide how your bottom lip trembled for a moment.

What the fuck had you got yourself into?

"You look worried." You could hear the amusement in her voice and you panicked as you looked down at the food. What if it was drugged? "Whatever is the matter?"

"Nothing at all, my lady. Just a dizzy spell, is all." You gave her a weak smile to try and assure her while you sipped from the water again. You could see her grinning like a Cheshire cat and suddenly you wanted to flee. You wanted to take off running. No, you told yourself. In this situation, finding a way to gain the upper hand and using the element of surprise to your advantage would be the best plan.

Which meant you would have to eat the food to avoid suspicion.

"You're not ill, I hope." She spoke, elegantly piercing a piece of meat with her fork as she did so.

"I don't think so." You replied as you took up a spoon and mixed the yoghurt in with the rest of the bowl's contents.

You were sure enough that you had managed to dodge her suspicion by the end of the meal, you had fabricated a confession from half-truths, telling her that the thought of the lack of outside contact had been very daunting when she first told you. Though, you rationalised with yourself that you would be fine seeing as the school had already informed your parents of your new occupation and location. She had looked convinced enough upon hearing this and spoken words to assure you that there was nothing to worry about. You remained unassured.

You had followed Lady Dimitrescu to the library after that, fetching her certain books at her demand as well as tea as the evening (or what you supposed was now your morning) continued. At around eleven o'clock at night, she had asked for you to bring her stationery set from the desk and you stood by as you watched her write out a letter.

It felt like she was taunting you.

She had seemed so kind when you first met (even despite her comments about you being dim as you gawked at her) but now these little comments and actions seemed almost sadistic to you. You bit down on your cheek as you irritably tugged down the skirt of your dress again.

You had been running back and forth between the kitchen to refill the teapot too. You were uncertain as to what type of tea it was: unable to see any back or strainer or loose leaf. You didn't care too much to ask the cook either. Something told you to try and keep the questions to a minimum and search them out yourself instead.

When you returned to the library, you found that she was sitting in the moonlight now, reading from a selection of Shelley poems, and she looked utterly divine. You paused in the doorway for a moment before those amber eyes flickered up to you and you remembered how to use your feet once more, setting the tray down on the table beside her and cringing when you had to bend over slightly to do so. That damned skirt.

"Do you like poetry, (Y/n)?" She hummed as she slowly licked her finger to turn the next page. You replayed that image a few times in your head before you remembered that you had to find an answer for her.

"I've always been fond of romantic era poetry more than most others." You replied as you slowly and carefully poured a cup, the weight of the fresh pot heavy in your hands. You did not want to drop it, "Though, my favourite poet came far before that." You held the cup and saucer out before her as she had taught you only hours beforehand.

"Oh?" She raised a brow as she set the book aside to take the drink.

"Someone will remember us, I say, even in another time." You paused to let her think over the words. "Very impressive considering it was written around 500BC and I'm standing here quoting it now." Lady Dimitrescu hummed as she took the first slight sip.

"Sappho will always stand out from other poets." She nodded her head slowly as she glanced to the window, "Incredibly unique, a love for poetry and music that she shared with those around her, a highly intriguing woman too."

"You like Sappho?" You could feel your heart race a little at the implication but you shooed the thought away as quickly as it came. You were acting like a little girl with a crush. You admired Alcina's beauty but certainly wanted nothing beyond the ability to gaze upon her. Yes...

"I adore her. It's a shame how much of her work is lost to us."

Once she dismissed you for a few hours so she could concentrate in her office, you felt that you were in her good books again after your little bonding session over poetry. You practically ran to your room and rummaged through your bags for your phone, dumping everything out onto your huge bed. But it was nowhere to be found. You could feel your breathing quicken in panic before you reached into a small box of yours instead.

Upon pulling the ribbon loose, you threw the lid open to take out a dipping pen and a pot of ink. You unfolded a piece of card and began to write hastily to your parents, blotting the ink here and there. You tucked the letter into an envelope as soon as the ink was dry and tied it with red string before sealing it with wax. They would know that someone had read it if the seal was broken.

You slipped it into your pocket and occupied yourself with putting your things away, noticing what was missing: phone, money, identification, passport. You felt more and more uneasy as you noticed it was only what you would need to get back home that was missing.

You decided that you would slip your letter in with the ones that Lady Dimitrescu would send out later on that night.

You prayed to each god you could name that she would not find it.

Chapter Text

You found yourself rising much earlier the next day. You'd showered in the evening instead last night in order to make some more time for yourself this morning. You were still finding it difficult to adjust to calling the evening morning now and vice versa.

Either way, you dressed and made your way down to the kitchen where you decided that toast with a side of different fruits and a cup of coffee was a good enough breakfast. As you leaned against the kitchen window, your plate resting on the sill with your mug in hand, you worried your lip as you thought about your letter.

Lady Dimitrescu had called for another servant to take the letters, a young man who looked terrified to be in her presence. He had had a messenger bag over his shoulder and, considering the fact that Alcina had referred to him as 'the errand boy', you guessed what his job around here was.

He had taken the pile of letters away, yours included and you felt a wash of relief when he left the library where you had been. Though, you knew that you weren't out of the woods yet. Your lady had not noticed the outgoing letter but she may catch the reply that you would get in return - that is what you had to be wary of.

You glanced down to your watch and finished up the last orange slice on the plate before downing the rest of the coffee, grimacing a little at the sudden collision of odd flavours before you made your way up to Alcina's room. You patiently waited outside her door until the moment it turned seven, then you knocked and awaited her call to enter before you did so.

She was stretching when you closed the door behind you and made your way to the wardrobe, passing the two mannequins that bore some of her dresses. You looked through the different colour schemes and fabrics attentively. You took out a chiffon red blouse with ruffles at the front and a long black pencil skirt.

You laid both over the seat of the vanity before setting out matching jewels and retrieving the step ladder so you could help your lady out of her nightdress. You gulped as she was then bare and fought with every part of yourself to not look at her naked figure, instead, selecting a matching set of black undergarments.

You kept your eyes on your hands instead of her groin as you pulled up the lace of the pants and the garter belt, carefully clipping the stockings in place. You got back onto the ladder to put on her bra from behind, deciding it would be easier to focus if there was no way of seeing her breasts. Though you couldn't help but wonder what they-

You shook your head a little to stop that train of thought as you clipped the bra in place and picked up the blouse and skirt instead. You did up each brass button and tied the crimson ribbon at the collar before stepping back down the pull the skirt over her legs. When you got to the zipper at the back, your eyes became fixed to the sight of her ass that was only just covered by the dark lace. You tugged at the zipper a little too roughly in your haste to hide the sight, not fancying turning into a blushing mess that morning.

However, you gasped when there was a pop sound and the zip came off between your fingers.

"Uh oh..." You whispered as you looked at the broken zipper and the small piece of metal in your hand. Your words seemed to have caught Alcina's attention because she turned to look over her shoulder and down at you. You stood anxiously for a moment, unable to read the expression on her face.

"Do you have a clue how much this cost?" Her face was calm and collected but her voice dripped with venom and warning.

"N-no, my lady. I'm sure it can be fix-" Your eyes almost burst from your head when she spun around and grabbed you by the jaw, fingers digging into your cheeks. Your entire head easily fit into one of her large hands and it made you feel even smaller and weaker at that moment.

"It can be but that is beside the point, girl." Her words were sharp; sharp enough that you could feel a piercing in your cheeks where she held you. "Do you have a habit of breaking what is not yours? because if so, you will not last very long here." She had been cold to you a few times before but never to this degree and you found yourself trembling in the mere shadow of her power. "If I were paying you, it would years for you to be able to afford such finery."

Your brows furrowed at her words and your lips would have parted if not for her hold on your face, making you give an odd pout instead. She laughed once at your expression, scoffed even, and pulled away, tearing the skirt from herself now, the seams of the clothing splitting.

"Ah, yes," She began, "We hadn't quite got there yet, had we?"

"What do you mean I'm not being paid?" You turned to fetch another skirt for her, thinking that it would only anger her if you asked questions without doing anything to try and cool her mood.

"I will house, feed and clothe you. Don't be a brat and ask for more." Her body seemed stiffer but yours flushed at the words. In any other context they would- You had to stop yourself again, forcing your rampant hormones down long enough to get through the rest of this conversation. "You can add this to your little investigation. I know that you're not as dim as you look whenever I'm around. That little head's full of questions all the time, I can see it."

"And if I ask them, will I get answers?"

"Not today, not after breaking something of mine." You took this phrase as her letting you off the hook if you behaved from now on.

"Understood, my lady." You spoke quietly and dressed her. She instructed you to put on her jewellery for her as she sorted out her hair and makeup. You caught your reflection in the mirror and could see the marks of pressure on your face from where she had held you so roughly. As she started attending to her hair, she spoke once more.

"One of my daughters, Daniela, will be joining me for breakfast this morning. She's not one to listen so I want you to go and make sure that she is there as I've instructed." Your eyes met her amber ones in the mirror and, as with all the others, she could see the question there.

"Yes, I have three." She replied, answering without you even having to ask. You thought back to where she said you would receive no answers today and supposed that this one was an outlier as you technically had not asked her.

You nodded your head with a: "Yes, my lady." And made your way to the dining hall.

As you were making your way through the golden gilded corridors, you began to hear a faint buzzing, bringing a hand up to gently touch the back of your ear, wondering if they were ringing. However, as you approached your destination, the sound grew louder.

Upon opening one of the double doors, you screamed when a swarm of bugs surrounded you, bringing your arms up to cover your face. As quickly as they had flown at you, they were gone and you were startled once more at the sound of a voice.

"So you're the nosy bitch." You spun around and a hand flew over your chest at the sight before you. Your head only just reached her shoulders (still much shorter than Lady Dimitrescu considering your head reached her waist) and she wore a black dress with a veil-like hood. A sort of sigil was drawn in the centre of her forehead and she had dark eyeshadow that ran messily down her cheeks. From that black dust shone fiery yellow eyes with a wild predatory instinct in them. Through, what was the most horrifying was the blood that was smeared all around her mouth and down her chin. Her black-painted lips curled up in a wicked grin that revealed the blood which covered her teeth. You knew in your gut that she was smiling at how terrified you looked.

"A-and you're Daniela, I assume?" It took you a moment to get over your initial shock and clock that she had called you 'nosy bitch'. Was that your reputation here, then? She gave you a one-over before circling you, your head following her in confusion. She laughed but it sounded more like a cackle to you.

"She's always had a soft spot for the pretty ones." She smirked and you found yourself tugging your dress down again. "You're lucky for that or else you'd be dead by now." You swallowed hard, slowly turning to face this strange woman.

"What?" Your voice came out as a whisper. You were starting to wish that you hadn't woken up today, that you had just slept through it all. First Alcina had grabbed you by the face like a ragdoll, told you that you were not earning a salary here and now her seemingly mad daughter was telling you that you were lucky to be alive.

"You were poking your nose in where it didn't belong. Neither Umbrella nor Mother Miranda liked when the reports were coming in that one of the girls at the v-"

"Daniela!" Lady Dimitrescu's voice boomed from the other end of the corridor, "That's quite enough!" Both you and the other woman jumped upon hearing the voice and you stood with your head down, hands clasped behind your back. "You," She turned to face you, tone softening, "go tell the servants to serve up breakfast. And you," turning now to Daniela, "take a seat."

Both of you did as told and you returned with a few servants carrying dishes behind you, bearing an open bottle of wine in your hands now, holding it at the base and neck. You stood by the wall as Daniela and Alcina dined. Unlike her mother, Daniela seemed to have no table etiquette: while Alcina daintily ate her plate of meats from a fork, Daniela ate with her hands, bearing her teeth as she tore the seemingly raw meat while spreading more blood around her mouth.

Now you only had more questions that you would have to seek answers to. Why was Umbrella upset to hear that you distrusted the school's staff? Who was Mother Miranda? Had you accidentally uncovered some large scheme? Were you a liability to it?

Lady Dimitrescu motioned you over with her hand and you took it as a sign to serve the wine. The cups were blown from red-stained glass and had intricate metal casing around them that looked like many eyes. The servants in the kitchen had given you a three-minute crash course in serving wine: the amount per serving, how to hold the bottle while waiting and how to hold it while serving.

"Did you find time to take your own breakfast this morning, (Y/n)?" Alcina asked as she handed Daniela a napkin to wipe the blood from her hands with lest she stain the tablecloth.

"I did, my lady." You replied as you made your way back to the side of the room where you waited to be called over again.

"Good." She replied simply as she picked up her glass and swirled it gently, taking in its scent before having a slow sip. She was calling you by your name now, instead of referring to you as 'girl' again so you assumed that she had cooled off a bit since the zip incident.

"You haven't yet left the west wing of the castle which is good. You are not allowed to leave this wing, nor are you allowed to enter the basement. If you are caught doing so, Daniela here will see to it that you do not try to break this rule again, am I understood?"

"Yes, my lady." You weren't sure if this rule had anything to do with your slip-up this morning or whether it was one of the rules she was still gradually introducing you to.

"She doesn't seem very secure, mother," Daniela noted after downing almost the entire glass of wine.

"This one doesn't seem to trust easily. Perhaps it will be what lets her find the answers she's looking for."

"Unlike the last one. Once sister got close enough she was-"

"Stop trying to scare the poor thing." Alcina cut her off and you could feel your heart racing suddenly. There had been more before you then? Not regular handmaids but women who knew something bigger was at play behind the scenes? You wondered if she had ever found what she was looking for in the end.

Daniela's eyes turned to you as soon as the fear started pumping through your body. Her gaze became pinpointed to your chest before meeting your own eyes, hers seeming to light up with hunger.

"Does she know what we are yet?"

"I want to see if she can figure it out herself." Lady Dimitrescu replied. Is this why Daniela had been invited to breakfast? To taunt you over how in the dark you truly were? You bit your lip in frustration, eyes trained on the bottle in your hands. She liked having what you wanted and dangling it in front of your face, you knew it from the smirk she had given in the carriage when you first started asking questions.

Daniela then asked a question in a language you couldn't understand. You came to realise that it was Romanian but perhaps some old dialect of it because you couldn't understand a single word, simply having to guess here and there from what you knew of Latin but the words you could guess were too few and far between for you to make any sense of them. At one point, you saw Alcina make a gesture with her hand as she caressed her cheek and pointed back at you and you could only assume she was telling her daughter about what had happened earlier that morning.

You thought back over what Daniela had said to you. You were more annoyed at being called nosy than being called a bitch. You had every right to question everything in your situation. Eventually, they finished up and you stepped up to help the other servants clear the table and load all of the dishes onto a trolley to be taken away.

As Daniella stood, her fingers came under your chin to make you look up at her. "I can't wait to see you get broken in." Her words shook you to the core and she leaned down to kiss your cheek, smearing the blood that was around her mouth onto your skin and you jumped back when you felt her nip the flesh there.

"Daniela..." You heard Alcina speak with a warning tone and she vanished into a swarm of bugs with a giggle. Your jaw practically dropped to the floor and you could hear the small growl from Lady Dimitrescu as she looked at your face.

"What the..." Your breathing grew ragged as you looked between Alcina and the place where Daniela had been. You blinked your eyes hard and brought your hand up to your head to feel for a temperature. "I'm seeing things... My lady, I-"

"You saw perfectly well, (Y/n)." She replied as she handed you a napkin to clean your face with.

"No... Things like that don't... Have I been drugged?" She seemed amused at this and took the white cloth back, cleaning your face from the blood with one hand as the other tenderly cupped your clean cheek. You were too in shock to even register what she was doing, tears welling in your eyes.

"What's going on?" Your voice broke as the words left your lips.

"There's no fun in telling you." She replied as she stood from her seat, beckoning you to follow her. "And as I said earlier: you won't get any answers from me today. Wait until tomorrow to start asking questions."

Your feet remained glued to the floor, seeing her turn around to face you when she could not hear you following behind. She didn't seem too impatient just yet, simply analysing your body language.

"Are you afraid, little one?" She sounded amused. You paused for a moment to think before you nodded your head slightly.

"And confused." She hummed pitifully and walked back over to you, petting your hair as you looked up at her, even more bewildered now.

"You're a clever one, you'll figure everything out in time." She mused before gently pinching your cheek, turning back around again. "Come now, I have to taste my latest batch of wine before I can deem it suitable for exportation." She spoke and you nodded your head, soothed by her touch. You followed her once more through the castle to a drawing room with one bottle and glass already set on the table.

You followed her as though in a daze, feeding the dying fireplace as she took a seat, feeling her eyes on you as you bent over. You told yourself that the heat in your face was just from the flames and nothing else.

"Would you like to try some?" She asked as you turned back around, seeing her index finger pointing down to her feet. You sat there as you had yesterday morning at her vanity, feeling her gloved fingers run through your hair once before she reached for the bottle.

"I don't know much about wine tasting, my lady." You replied.

"Then let me teach you a few things."

Chapter Text

Alcina motioned for you to pour her a glass of wine.

"Remember to hold it by the end of the bottle, don't let your body heat affect the wine." She noted as you got up onto your knees in order to reach up and fill the only glass that rested on the table. You had seen in movies and fancy restaurants that the glass was usually only filled to just above the outward curve of the glass so you decided to stop pouring from there.

"Don't wrap your hands around the glass too much either." She added and you held the glass by the neck instead. "Now take a look at it, the colour, tilt it up the sides of the glass a little." She hummed as she watched you follow each order, a large hand landing on your shoulder. "Now see what you can smell from it." You hovered your nose just over the glass but you weren't too sure what your nose was searching for. To you, wine just smelled like wine. Though, you quickly picked up a coppery scent, like one of new coins; not old ones as the smell would be too overwhelming in that case. "Take a sip, keep it in your mouth and really take in all the accents to the flavour."

You brought the glass up to your lips and did as told, looking over the rim of the glass as she walked across the room to open a small drawer and pull an envelope out. It had previously been sealed with wax and she pulled out a written letter along with what seemed to be a printed picture.

"I received quite an interesting letter today..." She began and you could feel anxiety claw its way up into your ribcage, gashing at your internal organs on the way and causing an ache to build within your chest while dread stirred in your stomach. "From the head of your school, actually..." She continued as she returned to her seat. You were sure that she could see how the liquid shook in the glass with your trembling fingers gripping onto it. "Don't be shy, take another sip." She spoke with a wave of her hand. You were too afraid to protest and followed her command as she held out the paper which had been creased with folds.

"Your parents seem very upset with some of the students' behaviour." She paused for a long moment as your mind ran a thousand miles a minute, "They think it's utterly sick to write them a letter from their deceased daughter on the day of her funeral with a made-up return address."

You almost inhaled the wine with the gasp that came from you, spluttering as you quickly brought your hand to your mouth, red covering your palm and chin. It took you a moment to recover before you leapt to your feet, taking a few cautious steps away from the tall woman.

"But I'm not dead!" You exclaimed, "Why would I be dead? They would have needed a body to have a f-"

"Oh, but they did have one. She looked just like you, in fact. There was no need for a DNA test when your parents came in to identify you. All your housemates were witnesses to how ill you had been just the day before."

"As far as everyone else is aware, you walked to work, collapsed and died. The only people who know you're still alive are the last people who you want to be around."

"B-but wouldn't that include you?" You stammered as you felt your back hit a divan. She picked up the glass of wine, her eyes seeming to glare amber in the firelight as she held the glass just below her lips.

"Exactly." Her face contorted with a sinister smile and you froze on the spot, looking at the door in your peripheral. She took a slow sip from the glass. "What's wrong, little one? Still working things out? I thought I'd given you enough hints to know that I'm on my side, not yours."

"And why are they different sides?" Your voice broke as you took the slowest steps in the direction of the door.

"Because under my watch you'll be dead." Your bottom lip quivered and you made a dash for the door, slamming it shut and throwing one of the decorative tables down in front of it. You knew that it wouldn't stop her but it could slow her down and timing would be your most valuable asset in this situation. You made your way towards the main doors, frantically jiggling the handle but they were locked. You heard a giggle from the balcony and ran down to the right corridor beneath it, the newly familiar sound of bug wings resonating from some distance behind you. You found a small room that looked like a storage closet of sorts with a ladder leading downstairs. If you couldn't escape then you could at least hide.

You ran into a room with a set dining table that was covered in bloody and decaying organs, the vile smell making you gag and block up your nose with your sleeve as you shimmied through a broken part of the wall into a much dirtier looking section of the castle, finding the room full of wine barrels and bottles. The wine cellar. You almost shrieked in terror when you saw a hand twitch from a barrel. You could hear Lady Dimitrescu's heavy footsteps from above you and realised that you hide to hide. Fast.

You kicked the top of the barrel in and practically threw yourself inside, laying in with the body and using your feet to put it back in place. You were in utter darkness aside from the few slithers of light that made their way inside through the cracks in the wood. Your eyes quickly adjusted though and you found that you were laying in with a girl your own age. Her hair was matted with blood and she looked deathly thin and pale. Her eyes seemed as hollow as her cheeks when they slowly turned to you and she rasped out a breath. You covered your face with your hands as you willed your breath to stay silent.

She was dying and you couldn't save her but you were perfectly healthy and had a chance at surviving if you could stay hidden here. You didn't want to know what had happened to her.

You could hear another young woman call out your name from the room, not Alcina or Daniela though. You clenched your jaw tight to try and stop yourself from sobbing or whimpering in fear, part of you afraid that she could hear your heart.

"I know you're here..." Her voice drawled out in a sing-song tone, "I can smell your perfume. You shouldn't wear so much when your flesh already smells so, so sweet." A giggle left her lips and you bit down painfully hard on your tongue to stay silent. Surely she wouldn't think you would jump in such a tight space with a corpse? Surely she wouldn't check here?

"Sometimes I even visit you when you sleep. Mother said I wasn't allowed to meet you yet but wasn't technically meeting you if you weren't awake... just observing, sizing you up... You look so vulnerable while asleep... Too many times I've wanted to see what you would look like if you woke to me taking big mouthfuls of blood from your wrist, flesh and all." A shudder ran through you and you whimpered as it did. Suddenly the end of the barrel was removed to reveal a brunette with the same golden eyes and sinister grin as her mother.

You reacted on instinct, kicking her in the face and pushing your body to the side roughly, knocking the barrel onto the floor and breaking the already splintering wood as you did. The dying girl fell on you but you quickly pushed her off and made a run further into the cellar, your surroundings only getting dirtier and dirtier as you did. You started pushing hanging chains out of your way and running past what seemed like prison cells, some of them containing mutilated corpses.

You continued to run and run in the dark until a lantern at the end of the corridor revealed a hoard of creatures. They wore ragged clothes with hoods and had claws at their fingertips. One of them turned to face you, revealing that they had no eyes and its mouth opened in a screech that showed you a set of rotten, missing and pointed teeth. Your heart felt that it could explode with fear as you turned back around, deciding to chance an angry daughter Dimitrescu instead.

You could hear half a dozen sets of feet chase after you as you made your way back the way you came, right into the swarm of bugs. The woman materialised before you could pass through them and grabbed you by the wrist, throwing you behind her as she slashed at one of the creatures, making the others back off as she barked an order at them in that language which you couldn't put a name to. They all backed off into the darkness, hissing. You were puled in front of the woman instead.

She grabbed you by the middle and neck, the hand around your middle also pressing her sickle against your chest, making you fear what would happen if you moved as her other hand turned your head to face her, looking up at her as she stood at around 6 feet. Nowhere near as tall as Lady Dimitrescu but still much taller than you.

"Another pretty one..." She mused, "You'll last longer than your friend back in the wine cellar, I'm sure of that. You must be the nosey one." You inwardly asked yourself why everyone kept calling you that. "Mother's going to have your head over this little stunt, especially after finding out that you sent a letter." She hummed and lifted her sickle to the side of your neck, holding your jaw painfully tight. Part of you worried that it would break under her grip if you tried to struggle away.

You felt the very tip of her blade break the skin of your neck followed by her tongue lapping up the blood that was felt by the damage inflicted there. You whimpered as she bit down and lapped at your skin, making her coo before she pulled back, brows furrowed and eyes trained on your neck. She lifted her weapon again and this time made a small gash, watching it before she lifted the weapon once more and you screamed as she slashed it across your throat, pain blooming in the sickle's wake. Your breath came out in ragged pants as you waited for your vision to fade to black. The woman grabbed you by the shoulders and turned around, grabbing your hair and pulling your head back, your blood-stained throat being revealed to her.

"What are you?" She spoke before grabbing you and throwing you over her shoulder, holding you there as she carried you back upstairs even despite your protests. You brought your hands up to your neck and your fingers came back wet with blood, though you could feel no wound.

Had you imagined all that?

Far too soon for your liking, you were thrown down onto the floor at the feet of Lady Dimitrescu, two other young women stood near her in her chair.

"Mother, she doesn't bleed." The brunette spoke as you took to rubbing your thigh which took the most impact on your fall. "I gave her a small prick, then a slash, then slit her throat entirely and she only bled for moments before her flesh healed before my eyes!" Your hands went to your neck again and, while you could feel the blood, you felt no wound still.

"Truly?" Alcina's eyes lit up and you shuffled back from her on the floor. You recognised Daniela's red hair but had no idea who the blonde and brunette were beyond them being Lady Dimitrescu's other daughters. "I'll have to alert the board." She spoke as she stood over you, "It seems they've finally had at least a pinch of success in their experiments over at the... school." You were back on your feet and grabbed the fire poker, holding it out in front of you.

"Somone needs to tell me what the fuck is going on! Now!" You yelled, tears welling in your eyes. "Am I dead? Am I sick? What the fuck's happening?" You looked around the room of silent women, "Fucking tell me!" You swung the poker around as you spoke and you saw Daniela giggle, the brunette smile at your distress while the blonde and Alcina kept their faces blank.

"Girls, keep her here. I have to go make a phone call." Alcina spoke as she sashayed around with all her usual grace.

"You're not going anywhere! Tell me what's happening to me!" You almost screamed and she looked over her shoulder at you, her golden eyes alight with fury.

"You," she spoke with a poison tongue, "do not speak to me like that."

"Don't discipline me like I'm your child, Alcina, I have every right to know what's going on and you're going to tell me." She looked utterly furious as giant claws sprung from her gloved hands, making you flinch for a moment but you stood your ground, "Because I sent more than one letter and you don't know who got the other one." If she could get any paler, she probably would have blanched, judging by her expression and you prayed that she wouldn't call your bluff. There truly had only been one letter now but your life was on the line and you would use whatever you could to get it out of jeopardy again.

"Where did you send it to?" Her claws retracted and he bent down to get into your face, eyes cold as they searched yours.

"You can find that out once you tell me what's happening." You bit back, eyes equally as cold. She remained silent for a moment, a scowl on her red lips.

"Follow me." she made her way to the door but stopped before bending over to pass through the frame, "And Cassandra, you should not have tried to drink from her. I'll find a punishment for you later." You continued to follow Alcina, dropping the fire poker as she led you to her chambers, seating herself at the vanity and dialling a number into an old phone, picking it up to hold it to her ear.

"Mr Church, it's Lady Dimitrescu. I'm going to need an immediate halt to all experiments at my vineyard."

"Why? Because one of the samples I've taken is now healing at a rapid pace. This could stop all production for my company."

"I do not care about the rate of your production - all of them have been failures up until this point and she's not even showing all the symptoms of your intended result, just immunity-"

"I was not finished speaking, Mr Church, do not interrupt me! You have been given the luxury of testing in my vineyard and now I will have to ask you to stop immediately."

"Funding? Do you think I care for your funding? Do you think I don't own more money than I could ever try to spend? How full of yourself can you get, Richard?" She began to grow angrier and angrier as the conversation continued, it seemed.

"You will put a stop to your testing as soon as I hang up this phone or I myself and my daughters will come down there and make sure you have no staff left to run these tests! Umbrella can find elsewhere to keep their dirty little secrets because now my production is being tampered with and I will not stand for it. Now make yourself useful to me for once, you stupid man-thing!" She hissed as the phone was slammed back into place. Alcina reached into the drawer to light a cigarette and took a slow drag from it before turning in her seat to face you. She could see all the questions that you must have been asking yourself from overhearing her side of the conversation.

"What could you taste in the wine?" She hummed, "What did you see down in the cellar?" She gestured to your torn stockings and red-stained clothes, some of it wine, some of it blood. You spent a moment to wonder if any of it was the blood of that dying girl you had got into the barrel with. The girl...

"It... It's made with blood..." You clutched at your stomach, knowing you had sampled some of the brand, "Maidens blood..." You murmured, finally putting two and two together. It was a literal title.

"Well done." Her lips pulled up into a slight smile as she blew more smoke past them, "I knew that would be one of the first things you figured out. Now, why do you think you're healing rapidly? I'll give you a moment to think. I don't think you need it spelt out for you." You took a seat in a chair that was far too large for you, kicking off your shoes and bringing your legs up to cross them, needing a moment to relax.

"Umbrella... Testing... Viney-" You Covered your mouth with your hand, one part of the puzzle jumping out to you. "That much wine! The girls at the school! It's not a school to you at all... it's just a vineyard..." She smiled and leaned back against the vanity, as elegant as ever still as she continued to smoke.

"What is Umbrella doing there? What are they testing? How did they make me sick, make me heal so fast?"

"And this should be the most difficult part for you..." She hummed as a new idea popped into your head.

"What about you and your daughters then? Why are you so tall? Why do you have those huge claws? How do your daughters turn into swarms of bugs? Why do you drink blood? Unless... Umbrella worked on you too..." She raised a brow, genuinely surprised that you had jumped to these questions instead of wondering about yourself.

"Those questions, you'll get answers to in time." She spoke as she stood to her towering height and made her way over to you, bending down to meet your eyes, "For now, I think you need to be taught that you can't speak to me as you did earlier..."

Chapter Text

Part of you had been shifted from your descent into relaxation right into panic again when she had told you that she would be serving out a punishment for how you had spoken to her earlier. However, you hadn't expected your punishment to be working in the kitchen instead. It came as a great surprise: how was this a punishment? You had wanted to try and seek out the other servants that you had suspected were working around the castle and now she was giving you exactly what you wanted?

Part of you wanted to stay on your guard so that whatever catch she had planned wouldn't take you by surprise. Though, you couldn't help but wonder if that was the punishment? A week of anxiety with nothing to be anxious about. Surely you would be able to drain the other servants of all the information they had to offer without reprimand unlike with Lady Dimitrescu?

Your head spun as you packed your essentials into a bag and made your way down to the servants' quarters, guided by the housekeeper who had been summoned to collect you lest you get any ideas about venturing to restricted sections of the castle. Either way, you settled into your room which was shared with a rather plain and timid girl - the head maid explained that she was a cleaner in the kitchen. The slim girl did not talk a lot, neither did she look at you. In fact, you caught her in the act of locking her possessions away in the nightstand as you entered.

You left your bag at the foot of your bed as you changed into the more plain uniform (your handmaid uniform now ruined and not needed for the next week). Part of you was relieved for the much longer skirt of the dress but another missed the extravagance of the petticoats, ruffles and buttons of your previous attire.

As soon as the head maid left and you were finished changing, you made your way to leave but caught the glare that was shot at you from the other young woman. A brunette carrying a broom passed you in the corridor and you decided that now was the time to ask for directions. You had been told to clean every inch of the foyer for your first task: floor, ornaments, fireplace, railing, the carpets. Every. Inch

"Hi, where's the closet of cleaning sup..." You began but she completely ignored you and continued up the corridor until she vanished into the stairwell. You wandered around for a while until another woman came along, this one older and with a much plumper figure than the one you were to share your room with. "Sorry, where can I find-"

"You have no place here." She snapped, eyes alight with anger, making you take a step back.

"Excuse me?" Your brows furrowed and suddenly you felt that the parts of the castle with Alcina and her daughters were much safer.

"You're one of them." She jabbed a finger at your chest, "Don't belong here."

"One of the Lady's family? But I'm not like them..." You mumbled, confused and quite hurt by the striking lack of hospitality.

"Anna saw you. Miss Cassandra was carrying you with a slit throat and now here you are, alive and walking without as much as a scar on your neck."

"I..." You wanted to offer an explanation but had none to give, even you didn't know what was happening to your body "Where can I find cleaning supplies?" The older woman scowled at you.

"Down the corridor, cupboard on the left." She replied curtly, unhappy with your lack of explanation about yesterday's events. Either way, you made your way through the halls until you could collect a bucket of supplies and you made your way up to the familiar foyer with its chandelier that looked as though it had come right from The Phantom of the Opera.

You got to clearing out the ashes from the fireplace first, deciding that whatever mess was made from that, you would be able to clean away in the process. After that, you got to work with polishing all the ornaments and beating out any dust from the sofas, cushions and rugs. Part of you longed for a phone so that you could at least listen to some music as you continued with this tedious task but you knew that that would be impossible: it had been taken before your arrival and you were sure that sneaking back up to your old chambers wouldn't end well, especially not after yesterday's events.

A few hours into your work, you began to long for Alcina to walk past, even if it was just crossing over the balcony. You were shocked at yourself as soon as you reflected on such a thought. Weren't you supposed to be afraid of her? Of everything that happened in this castle over her watch? Hadn't she essentially stolen your life from you?

You decided to push such thoughts aside and attempted to focus on polishing the floor (which seemed to be taking much longer than you had anticipated with the ache in your arms only growing with each passing minute). Though, no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't sate your longing to see Alcina. You already missed carefully selecting her jewellery for that day from the box, watching her pin her long locks into her signature bun, following her around and sitting at her feet as she read from a book and drank the tea you had served for her.

You felt embarrassed as you delved deeper into how you missed her. You hardly knew the woman, she was hiding things from you, had essentially kidnapped you.

"This is wrong..." You sighed to yourself as you paused for a moment, sitting on your feet. You looked across the half of the black-and-white patterned floor that was already shimming in the candlelight then back across to the side that was yet to be polished by your hands. You missed the pats she would give to your head that felt so affectionate at times, the nicknames, feeling so small as you walked beside her. Part of you wondered if you had been taking your job for granted before you shook your head. No matter how much better it was compared to the duties you would have as your punishment this week, she had still been hiding things from you, she was still keeping you trapped here.

But was she keeping you here against your will?

You glanced over to the door. No one was around to stop you, to even know that you had gone outside. You had been so wrapped up in trying to find out what was going on here that you hadn't even considered leaving yet. You looked around the room and dropped the cloth as you stood up, taking each step slowly and carefully. You turned back around to glance over the balconies as you wrapped your fingers around the handle of the door, pushing it open.

You weren't sure why you were surprised when it opened and you felt an icy gust of air against your back. Turning around, you found a grand courtyard with perfectly trimmed evergreens and colourful flowerbeds. Despite the sun, it was cold and you wrapped your arms around yourself, rubbing your skin to try and build up some heat. The large gate loomed straight ahead of you: you could run there in no less than twenty seconds if you so wished.

Your feet padded across the ground and you took in the terrain around you: mountains rose up high and valleys swooped down below you, a veil of fog hiding their depths from your wandering eyes. Only the tall trees stood out from it and you looked up to the blanket of grey clouds that loomed overhead like a warning, only a few rays of light breaking through quite a few miles away.

Eventually, you found yourself at the gate. There was a rusted chain around them that looked as though it had been cut a long time ago and upon pulling one of them open, the metal groaned. Your fingers curled around the intricate metalwork for a moment as you looked down at the path, seeing imprints of horseshoes, carriage wheels and footprints in the dirt. Your eyes followed the trail down the mountain until that was obscured by the fog too.

You took a step back and closed the gate. What was there to run to? Everyone who knew you thought you were dead, you had no means of travel, no money, no identification. Besides, here is where Alcina is...

You held onto the bars of the gate and rested your head against it, your sigh visible in the cold air. You supposed that the altitude is what was making the spring day so freezing. You felt the ache in your arms and the exhaustion in your body from having to change from having to go from a nocturnal to diurnal sleep schedule again and your hours of work that was still yet to be completed.

You didn't like how you missed her, you didn't like how disappointed in yourself you felt for displeasing her, you didn't like that suddenly your investigation didn't matter unless she was around to watch your progress.

You turned around and walked back into the castle, closing the door securely behind you and looking around to make sure that no one had watched you reenter. After your eyes swept the room and you deemed that you were safe, you made your way back to the cloth and bottle of polish. As soon as you knelt down again to continue, your head snapped up upon hearing the sound of bugs, seeing a swarm of them fly off in the direction of the east wing.

What truly captured your attention, though, was the tall figure of Lady Dimitrescu who was standing at the centre of the curved stairs, looking down at you from over the bannister. You froze for a moment, afraid that you had only worsened your situation by going outside without permission.

She merely looked in your direction, then towards the door before her eyes landed on you again and she hummed to herself before making her way back upstairs. You found that your eyes followed her until she was out of sight, still gawking at where you had last been able to see her for a while.

Had one of her daughters been there to stop you if you tried to escape? You weren't sure but it dawned on you that, perhaps, instead of being punished, you were being tested. How were you doing so far? You began to ponder over this thought as you continued polishing each black and white tile in what felt like the world's biggest chessboard on the floor of Lady Dimitrescu's foyer.

She seemed intrigued with how you were able to find out things for yourself so maybe you should start asking around if you could get any of the other servants to talk to you. Despite all the answers that you had discovered recently, they only revealed more gaps to be filled instead of filling enough for you to understand the whole picture. You began to make a list of questions in your head that you were determined to get to the bottom of:

What were those things in the basement and how did they get there?
What did the other servants know?
Why were you suddenly healing at an unnatural pace?
How did Alcina and her daughters become what they are?

Those were the ones you wanted to start with this week. Something told you that getting answers wouldn't be easy. You sighed and carried on with your task.

━━━━━━━━┛ ✠ ┗━━━━━━━━

You pushed the rice on your plate around with a fork, already having eaten the vegetables that had come with it. You noticed that the servants didn't have access to all the foods of the larder for their meals as you had when working as Lady Dimitrescu's handmaid; instead, they had to make do with whatever was leftover from the last stock of food.

You placed your fork down on the plate and turned to a girl beside you with coiled brown hair and skin the colour of smokey quartz.

"So, how long have you worked here for?" You started up a conversation. You noticed how your end of the table went quiet and the other servants seemed to look at this woman expectantly. Her voluminous curls filled your vision as she turned her back to you, starting up a conversation with the woman seated at the other side of her instead.

You felt the hurt of being intentionally ignored weigh down on your chest as you picked up your cup of water and looked down at your plain meal, no longer feeling hungry. You weren't going to come out of this punishment - or test or whatever it was - without finding an answer to at least one of your questions.

By the time you had slowly sipped your way through your drink, you felt a finger poke at your thigh. You looked down to see that it was the woman, now tapping a finger against the watch on your wrist. What was that supposed to mean? Was it a threat that she was going to take it? Was she telling you that she would talk to you later? With the way that all the other servants had been treating you, you weren't entirely sure if one was more likely than the other.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding it, you anticipated the end of the meal, doing your part to take out the dishes and wipe down the table as everyone was leaving. You lingered around the dining room until it was just you and the woman with the coiled hair.

When the last person left the room, she poked her head out of the door and silently shut it behind her.

"You're the one who came from the vineyard, aren't you?" She spoke in a hushed voice, lilted with a french accent, taking your wrists and pulling you away from the door to decrease the risk of anyone overhearing the two of you.

"Yes, I arrived this week. What do you know about it?" You replied.

"I went there too, that damned place is a trap - like flies to honey... I got sick and then the Lady appeared to offer me a job here. She takes in all the anomalies..." You noticed how she was looking around with paranoia, especially towards the small windows toward the ceiling as the servant's quarters were on the 'basement' level between the ground floor and the actual basement that you had run through the previous day.

"Anomalies?" You furrowed your brows, feeling her grip on your wrists tighten.

"She lets Umbrella experiment there because she wants to know everything they do. In exchange for their data, she gives them test subjects; just a small sacrifice from her annual harvests. I think it might have something to do with her and her daughters' mutations but I've never been able to find that out, she's very secretive of it." You did your best to take in everything she was saying, suddenly hearing everything you wanted to know.

"I take it that you got sick too?" She asked and you nodded your head quickly, "And now you're showing some sort of mutation?"

"Cassandra slit my throat and it healed as though nothing had happened..."

"I became incredibly strong but it's still nothing compared to Lady Dimitrescu."

"I don't understand. Umbrella is a pharmaceutical company, why would they be interested in these strange mutations? Is it a medicine side-effect?"

"Don't tell me that you actually believe-"

There was a creak on the floorboards outside and she went silent, grabbing a cloth from your pocket and dropping to her knees as the door opened. Thinking quickly, you started to tuck all of the chairs in while the other woman pretended to clean up the floor. The door opened to reveal one of Alcina's daughters, the blonde who you had seen the other evening.

"Amelie..." She began with a stoic expression, the young Frenchwoman poked her head out from over the table, "Mother has requested to see you." You could see how the one sentence struck the woman with terror before she shakily got to her feet.

"Of course, mistress Bela." She nodded her head politely and left the room, shooting you a worried glance before she rounded the corner of the doorframe.

"Be careful where you stick your nose, little one." Her smile reminded you of a barracuda: it was wide, beaming and only there to remind you that you were the prey here.

You wondered what would become of the woman as you continued tucking in all the chairs to keep the act up, doing your very best to cover for the only other servant who had been willing to help you out. Part of you wondered if you weren't too dissimilar. Had you been brought here for your investigation or because you were one of these anomalies? Is your inquisitiveness what got you the role of handmaid instead of a regular maid? Alcina did seem to find amusement in watching you piece things together when it wasn't a bother to her. You felt your heart skip a beat when a new thought dawned on you.

What had happened to her last handmaid? There must be a reason why the role was vacant in the first place. You felt a shiver run up your spine and as you thought about your duties as a handmaid, you felt yourself longing for Alcina once more.

You missed her terribly.

You glanced down to your watch. She would usually indulge in some tea at this hour. You almost scolded yourself as you made your way up to the kitchen, demanding that the chef there serve you Alcina's usual brew as you collected a set on a tray, delicately setting it all up. As you picked up the tray, teapot and all, the chef put a hand on your shoulder.

"This isn't a good idea, the Lady isn't in a particularly good mood this afternoon." She said with warning.

"We'll see..." And with that said, you made your way to Alcina's study.

Chapter Text

You remained outside the door to Alcina's study, having set the tray down on the table beside the door. At first glance, all these tables and cabinets seemed merely decorative, but for a servant who had to open various doors with their hands full, they were a great convenience. Your hand hovered over the intricate door, maidens dancing engraved into the polished wood. Everything in this house seemed almost as beautiful and refined as the Lady who owned it.

Indulging in a split second of confidence, you rapped your fist against the door to announce your arrival.

"I asked to not be disturbed..." You heard Alcina's voice drawl out from inside, her tone suggesting she was focusing more on what she was doing than the conversation she found herself engaged in.

"I thought you'd like some tea, my lady. I'd been told you're not feeling in high spirits today..." You spoke and there was a pause. You thought back to the chef's words before you left the kitchen. Perhaps she was about to be proven right.

"Enter." You let out a small sigh before pushing the door open, collecting the tray and entering the study. You spotted a rounded table with two large armchairs and decided that it would be better to set the tea down there to eliminate the risk of anything being spilt over the papers on her desk. "This is no longer your job..." Alcina spoke. There was an intentional warning tone to it but somehow your heart knew it was just a front; in reality, she was quite pleased and intrigued with your appearance.

Despite the way she spoke, she didn't decline the tea and made her way over to sit. You decided that now was not a time to indulge in the luxurious plushness of the white and gold seat and, instead, dutifully stood by her as you poured her first cup.

"I now know that I'm here because I'm an anomaly to Umbrella's experiments at the school." You began before standing by her, allowing Alcina to take her first careful sip, "But... I feel that it's my place... to serve you. It's what feels right." She hummed thoughtfully, taking in the meaning of your words.

"And while I don't doubt your authority - a punishment was absolutely in place for the way I spoke to you - I thought that it wasn't enough. I came here to apologise." Her ponderous expression was quickly disturbed by surprise and she looked up at you with those golden eyes that put every piece of gilded furniture in this castle to utter shame. "I was panicking at the time, confused and afraid. Perhaps it can justify my actions to a degree but I've come to understand your generosity more and it wasn't fair on you for me to talk to you that way. I don't expect you to forget what I did and I expect your reprimand if I ever dare to act in such a way again but I've come to ask for your forgiveness."

"Come, little one." She held out her hand and you took it, feeling the texture of the lace gloves beneath your fingertips. She gently pulled you closer until you gasped when she lifted you, setting you on her lap, "What's come over you?" She delicately brushed your hair away from your face and you could feel the blush creeping into your cheeks, "This is exactly the type of sweet girl I wish to see..."

"I spoke to one of the other maids, she came from the school too. She explained a lot to me and after piecing together some other things - like what Daniela said about how Umbrella and someone called Mother Miranda felt about the reports of my investigating - I came to realise that I'm very lucky to be in your home and even luckier to have the job that I do."

"What was this woman's name?" Alcina hummed.

"Amelie." You replied.

"Ah, her. When she found that she couldn't leave, she threw a wardrobe at me." The tall woman spoke as she carefully picked up her teacup to continue sipping from it. You could see the lipstick print that she left behind. Your eyes widened in shock. Amelie had mentioned a strength mutation but with the way Alcina's third daughter, Bela, had come in, you didn't have any time to question that. You pictured that in your head and thought over it some more, glancing up to her face.

This woman may be a killer but she takes these young women in who have been altered in some way by Umbrella, even if they attack her once she welcomes them in. If your healing and Amelie's strength were anomalies in Umbrella's experiments, you wondered why they didn't keep you.

"My lady?" You spoke, "If I'm an anomaly in Umbrella's experiments, why didn't they keep me? Did they let you take me because you have control over if they can operate at the school or not?" Her face softened into pity and she placed the teacup down again, a hand coming up to cup your jaw and caress your cheek.

"They would have killed you, little one." She spoke in a hushed voice, "They have no place for outliers or failed experiments." You took in a deep breath and quickly felt your eyes brim with tears. Were you that expendable? How many times had you been a hair's breadth away from death? "But it's not your fault, you don't deserve to die for it." You could feel a conviction in her words, something very personal behind them, even despite her hushed tone.

"Thank you, my lady." You murmured as you rested your head against her shoulder, "For saving me." You could feel how her hand began to pet your hair and you practically melted against her.

"Even if you don't understand what's going on as of yet, know that you're not broken because of what they did to you, (Y/n)." Again, you could feel that this was personal to her in her tone, in the way her arm around your waist tightened just the slightest. "You'll remember that, won't you?"

"Of course, my lady." She leaned back a little and her fingers came under your chin, making you look up to meet her soft gaze that had you melting like butter in her hands.

"I don't say this as your superior, I say it as someone who knows how difficult this can be. Promise me?" You leaned into her touch and locked eyes with sincerity.

"I promise."

"Good girl..." The backs of her fingers caressed your cheek and she leaned down enough to kiss your forehead, smiling to herself as she pulled away. She leaned forwards to pass you a handkerchief before taking her tea once more. "You have a little something." She looked to where she had kissed you with a small giggle, taking a long and slow sip.

"Let it stay a little longer." You mused as you leaned against her chest once more, taking in her scent. She smelled like crisp linen and roses and everything else that you expected a Lady of her status to smell like, the very fragrance of high-class elegance.

For the second time that evening, she thought over the deeper meaning of your words.

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You delicately dried off Alcina's hair with a towel as much as you could while she applied different creams to her face, seated at her vanity in a plush robe after her bath which you had run for her. You found yourself softly humming after a while of drying your hair as much as possible until the towel was too wet, discarding it into the laundry basket in the corner of the room. You fetched one of Alcina's nightgowns, silken off-white chiffon that would reach just above her knees.

"Well don't stop now." She spoke and your eyes glanced over in her direction to see the small smile pulling at the corner of her lips, now a soft pink without her bold lipstick and you couldn't help but wonder if that was their natural colour or if it was the remnants of her signature look on her skin. "That was such a nice tune." You hadn't even noticed that you had stopped humming.

You flashed a shy smile before you continued to hum, seeing her close her eyes to listen to you. She picked up a cigarette from within one of the vanity drawers and you cracked the window open a little to let the smoke out. You picked up the lighter before she could and offered the flame to her, seeing how she flashed you a soft look before setting the end of it into the flame, taking a long drag as she pulled away.

You closed the lighter again and set it back down in its place, watching Alcina enjoy her cigarette.

"You know how to braid hair, don't you?" She hummed and you nodded your head.

"Of course, my lady." You carefully picked up the brush and began to gently untangle her wet and dark locks before you began to weave them together. You found your humming turning to quiet singing as you focused on styling your Lady's hair for her to sleep without tugging too hard or catching any knots. You tied off the simple braid with a band that she handed you before she rose up from her seat and you scurried over to the wardrobe to fetch the stepladder. Alcina dropped her robe and you did your utmost to respectfully avert your eyes from her body as you collected her nightdress in your hands.

In your short amount of time here, you had found that it was easier to dress her while standing behind her. You found your eyes wandering less and she was less likely to catch you out if you were looking. Though, as you reached up to pull the dress down over her head, she turned around to face you and you had to look away entirely to avoid blatantly staring at her breasts that were right before you.

"Do not forget what I told you earlier, little one." She mused as your cheeks practically caught fire.

"I-I won't, my lady." You stammered before your eyes widened as her fingers traced your jaw and turned your head to face her, you tilting your head up to not look at her inappropriately. She let out a sigh, her eyes lidded as she brought her lips to your left cheek, inhaling deeply as you felt them trail to the bridge of your nose where she left a soft kiss.

"You smell exquisite..." She spoke airily and her tone paired with her closeness and lack of clothing only had your heart beating faster and faster. She buried her face in your neck and began covering it with kisses, stopping to lap her tongue against your pulse. Your knees felt weak and you gripped onto her arms to steady yourself, feeling her wrap her arms around your body to pull you close. Even despite the extra height from the stepladder, you felt so small compared to her.

Her alabaster skin was soft but you could feel the muscle beneath as she lifted you from where you stood and laid you down on the bed, covering your body with hers. A logical part of you wanted to ask her what she was doing. Just yesterday, she had banished you from her sight and all it took was an apology and some tea to have her like this? You pushed such thoughts aside and instead ran your fingertips over her cool skin as you pushed her hair out of the way as she kissed and nipped at your neck.

You sighed at her touch and soon gasped when she bit down hard. You could feel the wetness of your blood run slick against your skin and panicked for a moment before her hands stroked up and down your sides, soothing you as she sucked down on the wound for a few seconds until she lapped at whatever was left. This happened a few more times before Alcina pulled away to see the few tears that had streaked down your cheeks from the pain of the bites paired with the rapid rise and fall of your chest with each bite.

She looked disgusted with herself for a moment before she quickly pulled back and collected her nightgown from the floor, pulling it on herself. You slowly sat up, dazed and confused. A shiver ran through you as you tried to get up from the bed. Alcina set a hand on your shoulder and you brought your hand up to your head to try and ground the dizziness you felt.

"I'm so sorry, sweet girl, I don't know what came over me..." She murmured as she crouched down to meet your eyes, cupping your face with both hands and easily holding your entire head as she did.

"Don't be..." You murmured as you leaned into her touch, "I'm here to serve you, my lady." She leaned in to kiss your forehead.

"I'll tell you some more about what's going on over lunch tomorrow. A maid will serve you breakfast tomorrow morning." Her hand stroked through your hair and you nodded slowly, eyes closing. You felt her lift you up into her arms and carry you across the corridor to your room. As soon as she set your head on the pillows, you couldn't keep your eyes open at all and succumbed to sleep.

The following morning, you were awoken by a knock at the door and you sat up slowly, feeling well-rested but light-headed.

"Come in." You called. You panicked for a moment, hoping that you hadn't overslept and left Alcina waiting for your assistance. A maid came in with a trolley that was covered in different little bowls and dishes. She brought it up to the side of your bed and you found lots of small breakfast dishes over it. You quickly reached for a bowl of raspberries as you thanked the maid, watching her leave the room.

You gratefully tucked into the assortments of crepes, fruits, granola and washed it all down with some water before you felt ready to leave your bed. Upon getting up, you realised that you were in a nightgown that was far too big for you, reaching your ankles and hanging low on your chest. You brought the fabric of the front up and inhaled deeply, smelling Lady Dimitrescu's scent on it. You found butterflies in your stomach at the thought of her changing you as you slept.

You brought your fingers up to your neck to feel for any wound as you made your way to the mirror, seeing no damage at all. You removed the remnants from yesterday's makeup and reapplied it for the upcoming day... night? You still weren't too sure what to call it. Either way, you styled your hair and remained sitting before the mirror for a while. You didn't want to take the nightgown off just yet. You sighed as you stood to remove it, knowing that you really ought to go talk to Alcina and you dressed in the fresh set of uniform that was hanging in the wardrobe. You carefully brought the nightgown with you as you knocked on the door. You could hear her voice muffled from the other side of it.

"Enter!" She called and you saw that she was on the phone. You put the nightgown in the laundry and sat at her feet as you waited. She titled her head as she looked down at you and began petting your hair, making you release a small sigh as you leaned your head against her thigh.

"Yes, Mother Miranda, I will find out immediately." She spoke, looking back up at herself in the mirror as her hand rested against the top of your head. "In life and death, glory to you." She spoke before hanging up. You lifted your head a little to look up at her at this, finding it a very odd farewell. Was she a part of some sort of religious group? Was this 'mother' a priestess? You didn't take Alcina for the religious type.

"Come, little one." She patted her lap and you shyly stood to seat yourself there, both of your legs hanging over one side of her lap as she pulled you against her chest. "I need you to be honest with me now." She hummed as her fingers caressed your jaw. You gently nodded your head as you melted into her touch and rested your head against the softness of her chest. "Where did you send the other letter?" Your eyes flew open wide. You had completely forgotten about it and realised that you probably should have mentioned it yesterday when you went into her study to apologise.

"I... I'm sorry, my lady, I should have told you yesterday." You took to picking at one of the ruffles on your underskirt.

"Hm?" She hummed.

"There was never a second letter..." She let out a sigh and you weren't entirely sure what to expect next.

"I do not appreciate the lie, however, this does mean that there is less work for me to do." She spoke before looking down at you with those bright eyes of hers. "I'm sorry about what happened last night," She began, "I don't know what came over me and I can only imagine how much more it would have hurt for you considering I had to keep on biting."

Her eyes seemed soft and suddenly she seemed at her most human than you had ever seen before. Whatever she was, she still felt and now she was feeling guilt and sympathy, it was written across those amber pools. She had made a spur-of-the-moment mistake, as had you. So surely it was only fair to end things the same way?

"I forgive you." You spoke, offering a small smile. She smiled back and ran her hand over your hair a few times.

"Come, I have some papers to go over still. You may choose whichever book you wish from the library while I work."

Chapter Text

Your lady had finally permitted you to leave the west wing and was touring you around her home. She had guided you through each golden corridor, pausing to explain the history behind certain paintings or statue busts. Your breath had almost been taken away when she showed you the grand oil painting of her three daughters from when they were still human. You had delicately run your fingers over the plaque which displayed the girls' names and stood in utter awe of the piece. It looked as though it belonged in a national museum, tended to by the most seasoned experts and protected at all costs. And yet, here it was, alongside the many other priceless artefacts in Lady Dimitrescu's possession.

Later on, she had taken you out to the castle's annex where your eyes had instantly lit up as soon as they laid sight upon the glittering grand piano in the centre of the opera hall. Alcina seemed to notice this as her gaze flickered between you and the expensive instrument.

"Do you play?" She hummed. You felt yourself grow giddy with where the conversation was going. You briefly remembered the grand piano you had seen just before meeting her and let your memory continue backwards to your music classes.

"Yes! I loved the classes back at the school!" You could barely keep your eyes from it and missed how Alcina pouted her lips as she thought.

She made her way over to a seat where she then crossed her legs and motioned her hand towards the instrument. You had to withhold the squeal that you wished to release as you went to sit at the stool, fingers grazing over the black and white keys. A book full of musical notes was opened before you but you decided to play something else from memory instead.

You took a deep breath before steadily hovering your hands in place, fingers deftly playing the first few notes of Ludovico Einaudi's Experience. You simply let your memory serve you as you played the piece as effortlessly as the last fifty times back at the school. Your eyes admired the golden swirls encasing the piano as you played before briefly glancing up to Lady Dimitrescu who was watching you with a smile, her foot bouncing a little in time to the song.

You found yourself melting under her admirative gaze, fingers slipping out of place and hitting a wrong key. However, there was little time to take notice of it as the door suddenly flew open.

A young woman, almost identical to her sisters Daniela and Cassandra, save for her bright blonde hair; she wore the same dark lace and grand veil, flies swarming around her and a necklace of small knives hanging around her throat. You had seen her briefly twice before, once in Lady Dimitrescu's bedroom and again when she came to take Amelie. This was Bela.

"Mother Miranda is here!" You could see Alcina instantly go rigid as she briskly rose from her seat. She looked at the ground for a moment as she thought.

"Send (Y/n) down to the basement with the others, I will see what she wants." She declared.

"But mother, she has asked to see her as well as you." You could see how her jaw tensed as she scowled. Lady Dimitrescu sucked in a breath and cursed, taking you by surprise. She seemed to ladylike and regal that it didn't particularly suit her and only went to show just how urgent this matter was.

"Tell her that we will be there momentarily." She spoke to her daughter who nodded her head and vanished in a swarm of flies. Alcina made her way to you in large strides as you stood up, facing her. She knelt down before you and grabbed you by the jaw, tilting your head back suddenly.

"No matter what she says to you," She began, "you will not speak unless I explicitly tell you to do so." She leaned in and placed her mouth upon your neck, making you gasp, though she neither kissed nor bit down upon your flesh. She pulled back and used her thumb to clean up any lipstick that may have smeared around your mouth.

"Understood, my lady." You spoke as she pulled away and she began walking up the stairs of the opera hall, you having to jog in order to keep up.

"No, you do not understand. Mother Miranda is a deity. We all worship her in this village and I am a part of her inner circle. She is powerful beyond what you can imagine and I know that her unannounced appearance here is nothing good for us." She spoke as you made your way through the halls to the main hall where you spotted Daniela crouched at one of the balconies, eagerly watching whatever events were about to unfold.

"Dearest Alcina." A woman's voice called out as you made your way down the stairs, embarrassingly finding yourself a little out of breath from the quick journey through the castle.

"Mother Miranda." You watched as your Lady bowed at the waist in the presence of this woman.

She wore a beaked mask and you could see the end of a dress poking out from the feathers that shrouded her. The majority of her face was covered in a golden mask and a halo rested behind her head. You kept your eyes on the floor and remained behind Alcina as they greeted one another.

"You're usually so eager to tell me of your new experiments, why keep such a perfect one a secret from me?" You could feel the bitterness in her tone even with the smile that she said it with.

"She would have been of very little interest to you, Holy Mother," Alcina spoke as they began walking and you did your best to keep your eyes down and use your Lady's body to hide from Mother Miranda's eyes, "Like the others, she is nowhere near an ideal match for a rebirth. Besides, she isn't local and knows not of our ways. I couldn't possibly present you with an outsider." The two of them took a seat in the red drawing room and you sat on the floor at Alcina's feet, huddling closer to her legs than usual as you kept your eyes down.

"Of no interest? I've heard that she heals as rapidly as you. And of her diet, I have heard that she doesn't require flesh and blood as you do." So many shreds of information were being thrown at you and your brain was frantically running to organise them all. Could this Mother Miranda truly be a god? Why was she interested in the anomalies? Why did she come to see you? How did she already know so much about you?

"Yes, but besides these things she shows far too many human flaws to be of service to you, just like the others. She can only rapidly heal externally; if anything internal is damaged, she shows all signs of weakness. So far, my research has shown that her skin, muscle and blood vessels can heal, however, blood loss results in confusion and fatigue. As for her organs, I am not sure. She is prone to extreme temperatures and suffers from poor stamina, just to name a few." Alcina's hands were grasped in her lap and you stole a glance up to her face. Her jaw was set and her eyes were alight with fire, her expression that of pure conviction. A silence hung in the air.

"There. As you can see, I was building my file of research for you, Holy Mother. Only, she has not been here long and I wished to conduct more research before coming to you on such a trivial matter."

"It is not trivial if she is a perfect host."

"And she is not, therefore the matter is not worthy of your concern, Great One." There was a tone of finality in her voice and the woman stood, four sets of wings spreading as she did. The room seemed to grow darker, colder, heavier, claustrophobically smaller and infinitely larger at once. You found yourself trembling and one of your hands clutched onto the fabric of Alcina's dress.

"Make your decisions wisely, Alcina, and do not forget from whence you came. You are nothing without the life that I provide for you."

"My devotion to you could never sway, Holy Mother." Alcina stood and bowed once more, "In life and death, glory to you, Mother Miranda." With that, the woman seemed to vanish and you released a breath that you didn't know you had been holding, your head resting against Alcina's leg, burying your face in the fabric of her dress. The meeting felt as though it were over as quickly as it had begun and this only left you more anxious.

"Come, little one," Alcina spoke, an uneasiness in her voice as she lifted you from the floor and seated herself once more, this time with you in her lap.

"Who was that? What was with the lipsti-" She cut you off by pressing a finger to your lips and looking around warily. Her hands cupped your face and her eyes bore into yours. Being so close to her, all of your questions were forgotten about as her hand dwarfed your head. From how close you were, you could see all the small details in her eyes: the soft brown around the ring of her iris, the golden lines swimming circles around her pupil within the amber depths of her iris.

"Do you remember when we met, (Y/n) and I told you that I could put your investigating to my use?" You nodded your head once, eyes flickering between each one of hers as you admired them. Her voice suddenly dripped with acid, burning away the sweetness that her tone had previously been laced with and her words had your undivided attention once more. "There is a spy in my castle and you are going to bring me their head."

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The first time it had happened, you had missed Alcina greatly while you were in the servants quarters. Now, however, you had a sense of pride surging through you. Your Lady had chosen you for this task and she trusted that you would be able to complete it for her. You had no intentions of letting her down.

You were back in the same room as last time with that timid maid, now known as Elaine, who was just as unwelcoming as last time. You ignored her obvious distrust, however, and took to working in the kitchen. You decided that you could wash up in place of the usual girl and she seemed ecstatic to have a change of scenery and sort out the laundry instead.

As you scrubbed, you kept your ears perked. Many of the servants had to venture through the vast kitchen in order to get to the laundry room and one of the supply closets so there was a lot of gossiping between. You thought over the servants who you had already encountered: the older woman who somehow knew about your interaction with Cassandra and then there was Amelie who knew so much about Umbrella and the school already.

You had liked Amelie initially but now you were unsure if it had been wise to trust her. She had come to you with answers and help but at what cost? Had you accidentally fed information to the castle's spy if she was the guilty culprit?

"...(Y/n) too. I think it has something to do with why Amelie was taken away by Bela the other-" The woman let out a loud 'ouch' and you could only assume that whoever she was gossiping with had kicked or elbowed her and was now pointing to yourself who stood across the long kitchen.

"You know, I'm not here to snitch on any of you, right?" You called and looked over your shoulder briefly, "Lady Dimitrescu has sent me out of her sight so that she doesn't take too much blood from me."

"And you're ok with her using you like that?" One of them sounded disgusted with you. You turned around and leaned against the sink, drying your hands on the cloth that was tucked into the belt of your white apron.

"I'm alive because of it, aren't I?" You asked, "I'm not sure how you came to work here but I was going to be killed if I stayed where I was for much longer. Our Lady saved me and now I have a price to pay to continue to be safe. Wouldn't you do what it takes to stay alive too? I'm sure you've already had to at some point around this place." The two of them fell silent. "What happened to Amelie anyway? She was kind."

"Bela took her off somewhere and when she came back, she was afraid. That's all I know." The maid shrugged. "What did Mother Miranda want with you though? It must be such an honour to have the Divine Mother request you by name."

"She wanted to see if I was a suitable host or something, I'm not entirely sure, Lady Dimitrescu told me to remain silent throughout the meeting - and it was brief." You decided that feeding them some information would get them to trust your word, "But apparently I'm not a good match because I don't heal quickly internally and have lots of human flaws so she left." You turned back to the sink to continue washing the dishes.

You would keep a keen ear out at the dinner table tonight.

You didn't manage to pick up much else of interest while working in the kitchen for the rest of the day and you started to dread choosing the job of washing out as all the plates, cups and cutlery were laid out on the table.

The conversation at your end of the table was rather quiet until the maid and cook from earlier sparked up a conversation with you, telling the others of how you had met Mother Miranda. You were rather taken aback at how this seemed to earn you a sudden celebrity status as the last few girls filtered in, Amelie included.

"As I said earlier, she just wanted to see if I was a match for something but I'm too flawed for whatever she had planned so she left. She just wanted to make sure that Our Lady wasn't hiding anything from her is all."

"Was she beautiful?"

"Was she fearsome?"

"Does she truly have four wings?"

The questions were shot at you rapid-fire and you suddenly wonder if this is what you often sounded like this to those around you.

"I didn't get to see much of her face, she wore a mask. She had a halo though, and she does have four sets of black wings. When she left, the room felt dreadful and she somehow vanished. I'm not sure if it was because she used her power as a distraction to leave or if she truly did just vanish." You began as everyone started tucking into their helpings of a simple curry. However, the sauce had much more flavour compared to the meal you had last eaten in the servants' quarters and you weren't the only person to notice it.

The cook smiled from the end of the table: "The Lady has allowed us additional ingredients until the end of the month and I thought I would make good use of them." There was excited chatter about how much of a privilege this was and you couldn't help but wonder if Alcina had allowed such a thing because you were here now too. You smiled a little to yourself as the image of her worrying about your health and diet came to mind.

Dinner had passed with the surprise of a honey cake at the end of it and as much as you enjoyed it, you dreaded your task of washing up even more now. Perhaps you would be able to get some help?

Either way, you made your way back to the kitchen as other maids began clearing the table. You filled the sink with hot and soapy water, making sure that the draining board was clear first as a woman with cropped brown hair came in with a trolley loaded with all that needed to be cleaned.

"I don't suppose I'll be doing all this alone?" You spoke with a smile, silently asking for her assistance.

"Of course not." She spoke and reached to help you but the door opened suddenly.

"Don't bother, I'll help her." There stood Amelie, her curls pulled away from her face and now atop her head in a puffy bun. The young woman with the pixie cut seemed eager to pass up the task and quickly left. Amelie pushed her sleeves to her elbows and began to fill the sink beside yours.

"You shouldn't speak of Mother Miranda as trivially as you did at supper." She cast you a glace, "She is the one true deity and must be regarded as such."

"Sorry, I'm just new to this whole religion in this area, I guess. I'd never heard of it before coming here." You began as you wiped the dishes down with a sponge.

"Just make sure that you learn fast."

"Is everything alright?" You asked as you looked back up to her. She was acting very differently compared to the last time you had spoken together.

"Yes, I only have a chunk missing from my leg because Bela caught me feeding you information about the school." She snapped and your eyes widened in shock, looking down and seeing that she was now wearing a much longer skirt than the typical knee-length one of the other maids. Hers reached the floor.

"I'm sorry..." You uttered as you turned back to the dishes. The next several minutes passed in silence spare the sloshing of water and clatter of plates.

"You're lucky that she likes you, you know?" She spoke through gritted teeth, "It keeps you safe." You grabbed one of the knives that were hidden below the bubbles of soap, gripping it as you felt your heart race. You had been the cause for her having a chunk taken from her leg and you could only imagine what manner it was in, surely she would want to even the score with you? "Do you think that with the way her daughters pick us off that she keeps track of what happens to us down here?" She dropped the dish she was cleaning onto the draining board and got right up to you, eyebrows narrowed and you readied yourself for whatever she may do next, hand around the warm metal of the knife's handle. "But you're her favourite and she'd notice if anything happened to you. If not for that-" Her jaw tensed and you could tell that she was restraining herself, "-I'd kill you myself right now."

With that, she stormed out of the room and left you to finish the last few pieces of cutlery.

Perhaps she was the spy. She was given a reason to report you to Mother Miranda and hopefully have you removed. You shook your head. Whether she had a vendetta or not, you couldn't let that cloud your decision. You needed to know more about the other maids first. You had to be sure when you made your accusation.

Chapter Text

Your next suspect for investigation was Ina, you had found out her name from the cook and she was the woman who somehow knew that Cassandra had slit your throat when you were last in the servants' quarters. You knew that she would be trickier to investigate compared to Amelie and pondered how you would go about fishing for information on her as you entered Alcina's room to collect anything that was in the laundry basket.

Much to your surprise, she was in her quarters, sitting at her vanity while noting a few things down.

"Oh, my apologies, my Lady, I didn't think that you would be in here at this time." She simply hummed in reply. The air around her was different than how you usually saw her and you walked up to her side. "Is everything alright, Lady Dimitrescu?" You asked as you craned your neck a little to try and get a better look at her face.

"Yes, my sweet, all is well." You didn't believe her.

"You know," you made your way across the room to collect the hamper, not wanting her to feel as though you were pushing her to talk, "I know that I'm not exactly some high-up member in whatever Mother Miranda's organisation is but... I'm here to serve you, my Lady, I wish to see the best for you. I'm here if you need relief." She glanced at you from the corner of her eyes, her gaze travelling over your entire body and seeming slightly disappointed at the much plainer uniform that you had donned to blend in better with the other maids. Your cheeks quickly heated up as you realised that perhaps you hadn't chosen the best words to get your point across, "I'll always be here to listen to your troubles and offer you any advice." You added to try and clear things up a little more. Not that you wouldn't be eager to participate in what had clearly crossed her mind but you certainly didn't want to push any advances onto her, especially considering that you weren't even sure if she was attracted to-

"Thank you, pet, you're such a tender thing. Though, I'm not so sure that I feel like talking." She sighed and dipped her pen into the well of ink once more.

"Then I'll have an afternoon tea sent up to you, My Lady."

"Good girl." As you closed the door behind you, you were sure that your heart would soon fly from your chest at the rate it was beating at. Did she mean to speak to you like that after your words made it seem like you were offering up your body? Calling you pet, tender, her eyes raking over your figure like that. You could feel your entire face grow hot as you pushed the thoughts from your mind and quickly scurried down to the laundry room, intending to stop by the kitchen on the way to request afternoon tea for Alcina.

Much to your convenience, Ina was in the laundry room, handwashing some of the daughters' silks. The conversation between her and the two other women stopped as you entered and began sorting out the different materials for them to wash.

"Can't wait for one of those witches to take that one out..." You heard her utter to the other middle-aged woman beside her. You turned back on your heel to face her. If she had a temper then perhaps you could use it to get her to spill some information.

"Oh, I don't think that our Lady would allow her handmaid to be killed like that. You, however... Well, I'm sure that she wouldn't even notice if you vanished." You spoke with a smile on your face, hoping to poke at her. Her face turned down in a scowl and she spat something in Romanian that you could only assume was an insult.

"Don't get too headstrong about that, girl, the last one thought she was invisible too." You had thought to yourself now and then about what had happened to the last young woman in your position but your growing bond with Alcina had pushed such ideas from your mind.

"Personally, I don't think that I'll be gone anytime soon. I serve our Lady well and Mother Miranda has no interest in taking me away."

"Oh don't think that I'll be impressed by her asking for you. That woman leaves blood and death wherever she goes and the more interested she is in you, the better for me. There's no place for your sort down with us." Her scrubbing of the silks seemed to grow angrier.

"My sort?" You raised a brow.

"You're not like us, you're like them." She narrowed her eyes at you.

"And how is that my fault?" You threw back, recalling your conversation with Alcina. The woman went silent and seemed to grumble something to herself. "Nothing to say?" You prompted.

"Not to the nosey likes of you." She hissed and you took your cue to leave.

Alright, so Amelie seemed to adore Mother Miranda and wanted to settle the score with you because of what Bela did to her leg while Ina distrusted Mother Miranda and wanted you gone. You considered that the culprit must surely be Amelie but then considered that, if Ina was afraid of the Mother, then she may be working for her in order to stay in her good books and remain alive. You bit on your lip as you considered one more thing: How did they correspond?

You thought about what you would do in their situation, what you had already done: letters. You had found that they were easy enough to sneak out of the castle, though getting the replies seemed much easier, unless... You glanced to your watch and ran upstairs at full speed, a swarm of flies joining you as you sprinted into the dining hall.

"What's the rush, detective?" It was Daniela's voice. Well, detective certainly was better than 'nosy bitch'.

"The errand boy!" You exclaimed. She gasped as you pushed the heavy doors open.

"Do you like him?" She asked eagerly, "Mother won't have her handmaid spoiled by a stupid man, she'll have your head!" You decided that you could ask her what that meant later but for now, you had to get to the door in time. You skidded to a halt as you caught him walking towards the door.

"Stop!" You exclaimed and he looked towards you with nervousness already behind his eyes. "Show me your bag." You held your hand out to him as you panted, trying to slow your breathing back to normal.

"Why should I?"

"Because I am the Lady's handmaid and I demand it on her behalf." Daniela stayed watching everything playing out.

"There are private letters from Lady Dimitrescu in here, how do I know-"

"You will hand it over." You warned, cutting him off.

"No." He took a step backwards towards the door and held tightly onto the strap of his messenger bag. Your jaw set and you looked back at Daniela expectantly, hoping she would offer you a hand. Her eyes lit up as soon as they met yours and she lunged for the man, pushing him to his feet and swinging her sickle until it went through his leg, making you gasp. She removed his bag and threw it over to you. Instead of catching it, you found yourself flinching instead. You had heard word here and there of the daughters' violent natures and could see the blood on their mouths but seeing her actually hurt someone like this made you feel sick, seeing the blade going through this entire man's leg and hearing how he cried out in pain.

Pushing down the feeling of nausea and anxiety, you dumped the contents out on the floor. Three of four letters had Lady Dimitrescu's wax seal of her family crest, however, another was simply folded and tied shut with simple twine.

You narrowed your eyes at the oddity letter and looked back up at Daniela and the man as he cried out again, the youngest Dimitrescu daughter having sunk her teeth into the flesh and muscle of his neck.

"Daniela... His pockets, check them please." You felt sick and had to look away, seeing a pouch of a few coins thrown your way. "Who paid you?" You asked, looking away from the gory sight as Daniela giggled, accompanied by what you could only assume was the sound of her stabbing him repeatedly.

"Amelie! It was Amelie!" He cried out and you nodded your head, leaving Daniela to finish him off as you went to report your findings to Lady Dimitrescu.

You waited outside her room after having knocked, feeling dizzy at the thought of whatever the woman's youngest daughter was doing to that man.

"Enter!" Alcina called and you entered. You caught a glance in the mirror of how pale you had gone. She seemed to notice this too as she popped the last bite of what seemed to be a jam tart in her mouth. "What do you have for me, pet?" She mused and leaned towards you, giving you an excellent view of her cleavage but you shook your head. You had found the spy and there was a man being murdered in the foyer - more important things to think about than the wondrous curves that nature had blessed your Lady with.

"I found the spy, my Lady." You began.

"Oh, good girl! You're such a clever thing, I knew you would make me proud!" She smiled and tapped the space beside where she was sitting.

"Amelie has been sending letters to Mother Miranda and paying off the errand boy to send them." You spoke and could feel your voice tremble as you spoke. You had no idea if Amelie would meet the same fate as that boy and if you were condemning her to such an end. Though, you could only imagine that Alcina would have no mercy to spare for a spy within her own home. "Amelie is our only concern now... I needed Daniela's help to get the evidence from the boy."

"Well, that saves me the trouble of dealing with him, I suppose." She mused as you passed her the letter. She removed the twine and read its contents, scowling before placing it down on the table, taking a sip of tea, "The one boy that I trust to enter this castle and he schemes against me, I should have known, they have no respect for authority when it comes from a woman." She spoke more to herself than to you.

Soon enough, her eyes landed on you again and you watched the emotions that flickered in her eyes, wondering what was going on in her head.

"Amelie will be dealt with but my pet deserves a reward, don't you agree?" She mused with a mix of a smile and smirk on her lips, you lost all trail of thought and nodded your head at her, mind fogging. "Good girl." She hummed as her eyes slowly dragged over your body. "But first I want you out of this attire, you have the privilege of being my handmaid and you should wear it proudly." She stood and left suddenly, finding yourself instantly missing her presence but she was soon back with the familiar bundle of black and white fabric. "On the bed." She ordered and you quickly stood to obey.

"Yes, my Lady." You spoke and sat on the edge of the bed, finding it quite an effort to climb considering the fact that it was made to fit Alcina's size. She leaned down over you and unzipped the dress you wore at the back, pushing it down your torso eagerly and sighing when her eyes fixed on your chest. Your cheeks felt hot once again and her lips were on yours, cold and sweet. You hummed as you tipped your head back to get a better angle and reached forwards carefully, fingertips brushing against her jaw for a moment before cupping her face, sighing into the fast-paced kiss. Her lips tasted like cherries and you could only assume that it was the lipstick's doing. She was firm in her kisses and demanding yet her hands wandered your body caringly, possessive in their mission to touch each part of you.

She pulled down the dress the rest of the way and you raised yourself a little to pull it down your legs. Your eyes burst open and you gasped when you felt Alcina's hand graze between your legs and she broke the kiss to look down at you, cooing as she pulled away and pulled your blouse over your head, followed by the skirt. You whimpered at the sudden loss of contact as she made you stand and pull up your voluminous underskirt.

"Shush, pet, be grateful." She ordered in a voice that had your knees going weak and suddenly you were pushed face-down onto the bed, moaning softly as you felt her fingertips ghost along the tops of your thighs before pushing them apart, squirming where you laid. Your wrists were seized and pinned to your lower back before you gasped as a sharp sensation came down on your inner thigh, making you arch your back as you heard the loud noises of Alcina drinking from you there, feeling her tongue lap at your flesh before biting down again.

It lasted nowhere near as long as the last time she bit you and soon you were turned onto your back, looking up at her with your arms behind you still, panting and red in the face.

"Eager thing, aren't you?" She mused as she sat down and lifted you onto her lap, feeling how you pressed down on her thigh and rested your hot cheek against the skin of her chest. You nodded quickly and found yourself grinding your hips down onto her as she pulled your hair back harshly to look at you. Her other hand pressed at the damp fabric of your pants under your skirt, causing her to hum. "But you're not ready yet." And she leaned back, making you whine.

"I am, my Lady, please!" You sighed as her hands pushed your hips onto her even more harshly.

"Not yet, slut." She whispered into your ear and you felt your entire body flush with heat as you moaned. Suddenly, she was out from under you and sitting back across the room to return to her tea before it got cold. You were left sitting on her bed, hair and skirts a mess, pouting at her. "Don't look at me like that or you'll be waiting longer. Tell Bela - no, Cassandra - to prepare Amelie for me in the basement... I'll teach that girl to not meddle in my affairs." Your pout only grew as you pressed your thighs together before getting up to follow her order.

"Oh, and pet," Your hand rested on the door as you looked at her expectantly, "don't go touching what's mine." You could have died at the sheer embarrassment of the command but, instead, you nodded your head and went off in search of Cassandra. As you wandered the halls, calling her name, you caught a glimpse of yourself while passing a mirror and your eyes went wide as you quickly wiped all of Lady Dimitrescu's red lipstick from your mouth. How on earth did she not smudge hers around her face yet it was all over yours? You wondered if she had perfected the art of keeping it immaculate if she had been wearing the bold shade for so many years. Once it was all gone, you decided to head to the lower floor to look for your Lady's middle child.

You found her soon enough when you passed by the basement, seeing the brunette appear in a swarm of flies.

"You called?" Blood was splattered across her face, more and fresher than usual and you heard the errand boy's scream of pain from the floor below. Daniela must be sharing.

"Your Mother asked that you prepare Amelie for her in the basement." You spoke and her eyes lit up, clapping her hands together.

"Two in one day! How exciting!" She leaned forward with a smile that walked the fence between being sinister and flirtatious as her hand came around your neck, slowly rubbing up and down your skin and pressing her fingertips into your pulse every now and then. "Will you be joining us, beautiful?" She hummed as she brought her face closer and took in a deep breath before sighing, "Don't you smell sweet?" You took a step back and gently pushed her hand away.

"I'm pretty sure that I'm off-limits..." You spoke cautiously.

"You are and it's truly such a shame," She genuinely sounded upset, " because I'm sure you could last so much longer with the way you are..." She trailed her fingers across your throat, in a mocking gesture of when she had slit it before they ran down your chest. She winked and and vanished with a swarm of flies and a giggle, the bugs making their way down to the servants' quarters. You almost felt bad but then you remembered that Amelie had said she would kill you if not for the fact that Lady Dimitrescu would notice your disappearance. You straightened your face and went back up to tell Alcina that you had done what she asked of you, deeply hoping that perhaps this would earn you a reward too...

When you returned to her chambers, she was finished with her tea and food and you began clearing away everything onto a tray so that you could take it down to the kitchen to be cleaned. "Cassandra got right to work, she and Daniela were already in the basement with the errand boy." You explained and you watched as she rose from her seat, dwarfing you with her height.

She had that same air around her now as when you had first met: that aura of absolute authority, elegance and intellect all in one. Though, now, there was another element lingering around her.

Danger.

Something deep inside of you, a sense stitched into your very biology, told you to step away from what was undoubtedly a predator who was capable of complete carnage.

Chapter Text

Much to your despair, you saw very little of Alcina after that day. Your work as a handmaid became very sparse without your lady around and you found yourself aimlessly wandering the halls of the grand castle. You found it easiest to occupy yourself in the fortress of books that was the library and the rivers of melodies that you could produce from the opera hall's glittering piano, though none of these things could fill the space that Alcina's absence left behind.

You sighed as you dropped the hardback copy of The Oddysey to your lap, leaning against the towering window of the library, watching the snowfall over the village at the base of the mountain. Well, on clearer days you had been able to spot the village but it was obscured by a flurry of snowflakes now. Though, you now knew where the small community and its people were.

You missed Alcina and began to think over your actions. You had felt such a strong sense of pride when you rooted out Mother Miranda's spy: your Lady had chosen you for the task and you had completed it in under forty-two hours! Your stomach filled with butterflies as you recalled her rewarding kisses, touches and pet names and you longed for more. Now, you wondered if it had been worth it at all. You had condemned two people to death and for what? After your initial reward, you had hardly seen your lady and you found yourself feeling unappreciated.

Did she miss you as much as you did her?

You sighed as you thought that the probable answer was no, or else she would have made more of an effort to interact with you when you guided her through her morning and evening routines; when you ran her baths; when you brought her wine to her study. She didn't even permit you to sit at her feet as she poured over letters, records and books, as she spoke on the phone for hours.

"What's got you so down, human?" A voice hummed and you looked away from the window to see Bela standing so close to you that you actually jumped. You hadn't heard the typical buzzing of flies wings before she approached and it took you off guard.

"I..." You sighed, thinking that Bela certainly wouldn't be the best person to talk to about this sort of thing. But you had no one else to talk to in this grand, lonely place and it couldn't hurt to try. "Do you ever miss your mother when she's not around?"

Her lips quirked up in a sympathetic and understanding smile as she beckoned you to come and sit with her by the fire. You crossed your legs in the armchair as you pushed your skirt down, gazing into the flames to avoid eye contact.

"Her attention is very rewarding, isn't it?" She began.

"I crave it..." You admitted a little too easily, glancing down at your lap as you felt the heat rise in your face. Perhaps talking to Alcina's eldest about Alcina wasn't the smartest idea.

"She is busy for now but you should know that she is very happy with you. You have served her well." She seemed to catch onto the fact that you weren't feeling like making eye contact and she instead ran her fingers over the patterns on the fabric of the armchair's rest. You let your silence stand as a request for her to elaborate, "Mother has been busy as of late, it's true, but she has no mercy to spare for traitors. When she is finished, I am sure that she intends to compensate for the missing time with you."

"And you?" You looked up at the blonde, at last, knowing from the look she gave you earlier that she adored her mother's attention too.

"We have been helping her with the section of her work that is located in the basement. She thought it inappropriate for you to be there unnecessarily and Daniela confirmed with her that you would not be able to stomach helping mother with such acts." You could only imagine what was happening to Amelie and the errand boy. You came to realise that you didn't even know his name but decided that it was better if he remained nameless. It was a selfish thought, but it was easier on you that way.

"And when she won't let me in her study?" You prompt. Bela pursed her lips.

"I am afraid that I cannot decipher this one for you, human. You will have to ask mother yourself." You frowned at this and insecurity crept up on you again.

"Are you sure I did well? Because I feel..." You were about to voice your thoughts but suddenly felt pathetic about them. Bela burst into a swarm of flies and was at your side in an instant, a hand on your shoulder.

"You made her very proud. When she has the time, she will show it, believe me, I know." She offered you a smile and seemed to hesitate for a moment. "If you were my sister, I would offer you to come on a hunt with me but it's too cold and I don't think that you would enjoy it..."

"I'd enjoy some tea." You offered, unsure if the daughters enjoyed tea as Alcina did or whether they only consumed blood and meat. Bela smiled and stood to her full height of what must have been at least six feet. As you got up to follow her to the kitchen, you realised that you had felt normal in terms of height around the other servants but the Dimitrescus always made you feel so tiny. You enjoyed it.

━━━━━━━━┛ ✠ ┗━━━━━━━━

Your time with Bela passed leisurely and you found yourself surprisingly unhorrified as you watched her mix blood into her tea from a bottle that she produced from her pocket instead of milk. Perhaps you had grown used to the ladies of the castle ingesting blood in such an elegant way after all the times that you had served Alcina her signature blend of wine: Sanguis Virginis.

It seemed that you weren't the only one with a lot on your mind because a comfortable silence often settled between the two of you as you enjoyed your multiple cups of tea; Bela also would stare off in the distance with a pensive look on her face. You began to think about how much your stay at Castle Dimitrescu had changed you: you'd caused the deaths of two people in your stay here and had even been prepared to defend yourself from Amelie with a knife during that evening following dinner when she had washed the dishes with you. Yet... you were nowhere near as bothered about it as you knew anyone else would be and it scared you. You wondered just how much you would change, how much would be left of you after. What was 'after'? You weren't entirely sure.

You were about to pour yourself another cup when Daniela burst into the room, giddy with glee and floating about the place upon her swarm of flies.

"Hello, detective, sister." She addressed both of you before turning to you, "Mother requests you in the basement." Bela stood up, thinking that perhaps Daniela had just happened to glance your way but the redhead tutted, "No, the human." She corrected her eldest sister before giggling and flying off in a swarm. You quickly rose from your seat.

"Thank you for talking and having tea with me. It helped a lot." You smiled and Bela nodded her head, returning your grin. You hurriedly ran to keep up with Daniela and jogged down the stairs into the basement.

You recalled your last visit down here and hoped that none of those horrifying creatures were lurking about in the darkness. Daniela was clapping her hands together with excitement as your eyes focused in the dim light to see Lady Dimitrescu waiting expectantly for your arrival. She quickly approached you in a short few steps ad her body blocked your line of sight from whatever was behind her. You felt your heart quicken as she knelt down.

"Pet, it's been too long since I've last seen you outside of our morning and evening routines." She fondly petted your head which you quickly nodded in agreement. The words 'I've missed you dearly' were on the tip of your tongue but remained there and did not leave your lips.

Being underground, it was much hotter and you found your breath growing shorter too. Something big was about to happen, something bad.

"Do you remember some of the things we spoke about when we first met?" She hummed as she distracted your anxiety with the affectionate touches of her hand upon your head.

"You said that you could put my investigating to use." You spoke.

"Which I have and you did such a brilliant job for me, little one. Though, this is not what I was thinking of: I meant when I asked you about loyalty. You said that you were loyal to what you believe to be right."

"I did, my Lady, and I am." You replied. You trusted your intuition and right now it was telling you to prepare yourself for the terrible, terrible event that was about to unfold within these cobbled walls. She picked up an intricate dagger from a nearby table and gently placed it into your hands before leaning down so that her lips hovered by your ear.

"I want you to be loyal to me." There was a possession in her voice and a surety. A big part of her was already certain that you would obey her every command but there was a desperation in her voice too: she didn't just want to own you, she wanted you to eagerly be owned by her too. She wanted you to surrender everything to her. You looked into her eyes, trying to predict exactly what would come next. She stood up and walked over to where Daniela had been waiting. You cautiously followed and your eyes glanced to the cell on your left where Daniela seemed to have her sights glued to-

The gag left your mouth before you could take in any detail of the sight and you ran to the opposing sell to vomit on the floor, the dagger dropped to the floor and your now free hands pulling back your hair. You heard Lady Dimitrescu's voice, though, couldn't register her words, only the fact that Daniela was now the one holding your hair back as you emptied your stomach of both your breakfast and the tea that you had shared with Bela. The errand boy was dead on the floor and looked as though he had been for a long time - you supposed that perhaps Daniela and Cassandra weren't as patient as their mother because it was the sight of Amelie that had made you vomit.

You had heard of this method of torture and execution once: the blood eagle. It was a gnarly sight to behold and you fought down the bile that threatened to rise in your throat.

"I want you to kill her, pet." Alcina spoke. There was an eagerness to her tone that told you just how much she wanted to see you do it. You hadn't even noticed that she had pressed the dagger back into your palm until you were looking down at it.

"My Lady, I..." You looked back towards Amelie and thought back to when you had first spoken to her, how she had offered you a hand when you felt you had hit a dead end. Then you thought about how she said she would kill you and you wondered if you deserved it.

Sure, you were partially to blame for the situation that she found herself in with Bela but was she angry at you or was she looking to take that hatred for what Bela had done to her out on you because she knew that she would not be able to lay a finger upon one of Alcina's children.

If she had killed you, she would have met this fate, if she had attacked Bela, she would have met this fate. Was it inevitable? Alcina crouched down behind you and tilted your head up to look at the suffering woman.

"I've given you the easiest part, little one. I don't ask that you prolong her pain, I give you the role of putting her out of her misery. She will never recover from this but you can end her suffering before she dies."

You were trembling like a leaf that was threatening to break away from the tree. Swallowing hard, you glanced back to the woman's organs that were out on display, her insides becoming her outsides.

"I don't know if I can kill someone..." You whispered. You bit down on your lips so hard that it hurt and you gave yourself to the count of ten. At the last second, you would decide what to do.

10

Option one: you drop the knife and leave.

9

Though, that very well could result in you having to face Alcina's wrath at your blatant denial of loyalty.

8

Option two: you kill the woman.

7

Perhaps your Lady was right: you could offer her an easier end; each second you spent in indecisiveness was another second of agony for her.

6

And who would you be if you did that?

5

What would be left of you?

4

Who would you become?

3

Could you live with yourself?

2

Would you even live if you didn't do it?

1

Why was Alcina doing this to you? Hadn't you done enough already?

0

"I'm sorry!" The word came out in a sob as you lunged forwards and plunged the dagger into the heart, dragging it upwards in the hope that it would end her faster. You removed it once more and it found home in the dying organ again, hot tears streaking down your cheeks. "I'm sorry..." This time it came out as a whisper and you weren't entirely sure who you were apologising to. Amelie? Yourself? The Dimitrescus? You made your way across the cellar in quick strides and wrapped your hands around the grimy bars, falling to your knees.

You were alive and the door was wide open but you felt that a part of you would now forever be trapped in that cell, that it had died there. You flinched when Alcina splayed her palm across your back and began rubbing up and down in soothing motions, though it did nothing to comfort you.

There was a thud of what you could only assume was Daniela lowering Amelie's body to the ground.

"I killed her!" You cried out, "She's dead!" Alcina pulled you into her arms but yours remained wrapped around yourself.

"I know, I know, but you did well," Alcina murmured against your ear as she ran her fingers through your hair, rocking you gently as though you were a child.

"No! I didn't! It's a terrible thing!" You sobbed, words becoming indecipherable as you practically wailed in that horrific basement.

"Little one, look at me," Your face remained buried in the fabric of her dress, "I needed to know just how far you were willing to go for me and you've proven yourself today, you've proven yourself forever. I have many enemies and I need to know who they are and aren't. I also need to know that those who I care for can protect themselves from these enemies, do you understand?" You continued to sob, "(Y/n) speak."

"I feel rotten." You choked out.

"Yet you will live out your years because of it."

"I don't want..." You sobbed again, unsure of what you wanted. Ideally, a time machine so that you could go back and change the choice that you had made but there was no undoing what had been done now, "I want... I want to go to sleep. I need to sleep." You babbled and felt yourself being plucked up into Alcina's arms. You caught a glance of Daniela who looked confused at your reaction. She was surrounded by a new wave of flies as she floated up to match your height a little better.

"You did very well, human. You will understand very soon." She assured you and while you nodded your head, you were unconvinced. Alcina kept you in her arms as she carried you to her chambers, laying you down beside her and soothing your hair as she ordered a maid to bring you some tablets and water.

Your sobbing subsided long enough for you to speak once again.

"Why did you make-" You decided to change your choice of words. She hadn't truly forced you to do anything, after all, "Why did you put me in that position?" You murmured against her, grimacing at the makeup stains you had left on her white dress from crying. She let out a deep breath.

"Little one, Mother Miranda's spies have put you in danger." She began, "You are no longer a secret and, while our Holy Mother does not yet see you as a worthy vessel, she will grow desperate in time and demand that I hand you over, I fear. What is mine is hers and I have no say in it. She is powerful but not invincible and there are people who conspire against her. Her enemies are mine and I worry that you may become dragged into this, no matter how hard I try to keep you away from it." Her hold on you tightened as though you could vanish at any given second,

"I've grown selfish with you and if she sends anyone after you, I want to know that you will be able to defend yourself by any means should that situation arise. I needed to know that you could kill." You weren't sure if you imagined the way her fingers trembled against your skin and her voice wavered with anxiety or not. All you knew was that your head, eyes and throat all hurt from crying and that you needed sleep. You welcomed it eagerly.

Chapter Text

Upon waking up, Alcina had made you take some tablets for a headache and drink lots of water. You didn't want to leave her bed, burying yourself in the masses of pillows and the silken sheets.

"Little one, come, you need to eat something." She murmured as she caressed the side of your face.

"I don't want to..." You replied, pushing your face further into the pillow. "I can't believe I did it." You felt that another burst of sobs was about to come on but Alcina used her strength to sit you upright, hauling you as though you weighed no more than a ragdoll.

"Killing has made you a monster?" She raised a brow. You hesitated in your answer. You wanted to say yes because that's exactly how you felt, but it would reflect on her too if you did.

"Yes." You decided that dishonesty would get you nowhere, letting out a deep breath, "And before you say what I know you're going to say, it's different when you and the girls do it."

"How so?" She hummed, sounding offended and you winced, not intending to have hurt her.

"You do it to survive, what reason did I truly have to kill Amelie in the face of that?" You looked up at her with exhausted eyes, fearing that this conversation would go in a direction that you didn't want it to.

"Have I not told you that that was for your survival as much as it was for my family's?" She stood to fetch a hairbrush, sitting behind you and tenderly combing out your locks, wanting to make you look more presentable before she would take you downstairs for breakfast. "I need you to comprehend the danger that you are in, the danger that we are all in. Mother Miranda will do her utmost to protect her but we must not be entirely dependent on that. Would you be able to kill in the future when the situation arises if you had not killed Amelie first? Or would you have spent that time panicking over your morals and getting yourself killed in the process?"

"What's going on, Lady Dimitrescu?" You furrowed your brows as she went to fetch a dress for you, not your usual uniform but a microfloral summer dress that looked much more comfortable and flowy than your usual uniform - not that those are typically uncomfortable, minus how short that skirt was. You stripped yourself of your nightgown and dressed, not wanting Alcina to do it for you. It wouldn't feel right considering it was your job to dress her, not the other way around. "What do you know that I don't?"

"Many things, sweet girl. Many terrible, terrible things." She flashed you a sad smile as she tied your hair into a simple ponytail with a ribbon, delicately tying it. She quickly dropped the subject, "The girls wish to speak with you, Daniela, in particular, was talking about it nonstop while you slept." There was a pause before she began leading you to the dining hall, "I hear that you had tea with Bela yesterday... It makes me happy to see that the girls seem to get along with you. In the past, they've been eager to snatch my handmaids when I'm not around but they seem rather fond of you."

"They're lovely girls, and though I don't know Cassandra too well just yet, I suspect that she is the same. You did a brilliant job with them, my Lady." She glanced down at you and you missed neither the way she smiled nor how she straightened her back with pride.

"They're the lights of my life, I wear them upon my heart." She tapped her finger against her corsage of three black roses and you were plunged into thought again. This woman was a murder, she turned young women to wine, had a basement full of monsters and had murderous daughters who could turn to bugs. And yet, she was so human. She adored her children, she fussed over you in what you hoped was affection, she spoke with the utmost eloquence and held herself with the grace of an empress, you had heard hints of her own past torments with her form and she has been comforting you through your anguish instead of commanding you to see it through her eyes.

"What did you and Bela talk about over tea anyway?" She mused, seemingly just wishing for small talk as you made your way through the courtyard.

"You, actually. I... I missed you while I didn't see much of you and Bela seemed to pick up on it. She adores you, I can tell. She wants to spend some time with you. I think she enjoyed spending time with you in the basement, though I can't be entirely sure because she left out the details of it to avoid making me uncomfortable; at least, I'm assuming that was why." You opened the door for Alcina to duck through, "She's a very thoughtful and understanding young woman."

"And what do you think of Daniela?" She mused as she took her seat and you got to pouring her wine, even if you suspected that she didn't expect you to carry out your duties as a handmaid for today.

"She's very lively, humourous, she likes to follow her own path but isn't entirely disobedient. We worked well together to catch the spies. She helped me to stop the errand boy from running. I also appreciate the comfort she offered me in the basement." Alcina nodded her head.

"I think that Daniela tries to get away with the most because she's the youngest. Bela is certainly the most mature, even if she does try to snatch up the credit for what her sisters have done sometimes. As for Cassandra, she certainly is a free spirit and it can be difficult to reprimand her when she knows how to bend the rules, though I don't often have the heart to reprimand her."

Speaking of the girls, they soon materialised from their swarms that burst into the room and took their seats, greeting their mother and then you. You smiled a tiny bit to yourself: it almost felt like a family meal. Servants followed in quickly to serve up the different plates for you women to take from as you pleased while you ate and you wondered to yourself how the dining servants always seemed to conjure themselves up from thin air at exactly the right moment at each meal. You noticed how the servant's hands trembled as she poured your glass of water and you glanced at her oddly.

You could imagine that you wouldn't find yourself among the servants again, certain that they all knew that you had had a hand in Amelie's death by now. It felt strange to know that you had power within this castle and it made you feel an unfamiliar way. Though, when you glanced at the Dimitrescus, the feeling quickly dissolved. You may have clawed your way up a link on the food chain but you were still a long way away from the top.

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After dinner, Alcina said that she had some phone calls to attend to and she wanted you to go outside to the courtyard for some fresh air. You pouted at the thought that you wouldn't get to sit at her feet and feel her hand petting your head but didn't wish to disobey so you made your way outside. There, you found Cassandra sitting in the springtime sun and cleaning her weapons, having them laid out carefully across the garden table.

As you walked laps around the courtyard, taking in the scents of all the flowers - particularly enjoying the sight of hydrangeas that seemed to line the backs of each large flowerbed - you found your eyes landing on Cassandra.

"I will turn your eyes into rings if you do not stop staring and come over here." The horrific phrase paired with her welcoming smile and pat of the seat beside her was quite the contrast but you had proven yourself to the Dimitrescus and trusted that they would not hurt you. That part of you was not lying dead in the basement without reason and you would do her justice by reaping the benefits of her sacrifice.

You took a seat beside Cassandra and looked over the array of weapons that she had laid out on the table, some of them still stained with blood. Your eyes caught sight of a pale gold-coloured sword and you found yourself fixated on its intricacy. It had a baroque style to it and intricate carvings around the hilt, the Dimitrescu emblem at the very base where the blade met the hilt and you wished to weigh the beautiful weapon in your hands. You had always thought that swords were so cool.

"Would you like to try it out?" Cassandra offered and you tore your eyes from the skilled metalwork to meet her amber hues.

"I wouldn't have a clue how to use it." She gasped and clapped her hands together, quickly standing and eagerly tugging you from your seat, grabbing the sword in her other hand and moving to a more open area of the courtyard. She put the weapon in your hand and explained to you how to hold it properly, demonstrating with her sickle in her own hand.

"Use both of your hands on it to start with. You need to get used to the weight and it takes quite some skill to wield it powerfully enough with one hand." She began then moved your body into position, kicking your legs apart to help you balance more. She took your elbows in her hands and started pushing at your shoulders to guide you into a striking motion.

"This move's more for blocking but it can stun your enemy or you can push their weapon away from you." She explained as she got you to go through the move again and again until she was satisfied with how quickly and powerfully you brought the weapon through the air.

She moved opposite you and lifted her sickle, holding it backwards.

"Now push my blade away when you strike, I won't actually try to get you because this is a lesson and it simply wouldn't be fair on you. I could best you with my eyes closed." She winked and you fought the urge to not shake your head at her. Out of your gratitude for her teaching you like this, you would allow her to boast. Besides, she must have been honing her skills for a while so surely she had earned at least that much?

She raised your weapon and went to block it but moved too soon, missing it entirely in your rush.

"Make sure you time it right and don't be too broad, that can leave you open to attacks." She instructed and you nodded, the both of you getting into position once more. This time, you held your patience and kept your swing clean, though she came down with more force than you expected and it made you stumble backwards. "That was better, now try using more force." She was smiling and you imagined how this felt for her. Surely, being the middle child, she had quite a few authority figures above her - her mother and older sister included - so it must be nice for her to be the one taking charge and teaching for once. She certainly seemed happy and had jumped at the chance to teach you, literally.

You did as she instructed and blocked again, pushing her blade backwards and she beamed with delight, "Excellent! You will be coming on hunts with us in no time!" You weren't too sure how you felt about that, but considering how delighted the brunette looked, you had no intention of saying anything. "Now I'll teach you a simple strike!" She was behind you and guiding your arms again, showing you how to block and then swing the opposing way to strike while the enemy was vulnerable. The light glinted off the sword and you followed where it pointed to see Alcina in one of the windows, pushing the curtain back to watch you with her daughter. You beamed a smile up at her and Cassandra must have noticed because she followed your line of view and waved up to Alcina who waved back before leaving so that the two of you could focus on the lesson at hand.

"Now, let us see how you can practise that against me." She was in front of you again and you blocked her blade easily but working with space to strike was much harder than you thought it would be. She walked you through it slowly until you got faster and faster and the sword was hovering against her exposed side.

"You learn so fast!" She exclaimed, "Oh hunts will be so much more fun with someone new! Mother hasn't joined us on a hunt in a while but she's the best at them!" You smiled at how excited the middle child was and she clapped her hands once more, "You wait right here, human!" She had a wide smile on her face and burst into her swarm, heading inside.

You waited quite a while for her to come back, practising the combined block and strike that she had taught you before taking a seat and browsing the rest of her collection. When you were done, you leaned your head on your hand and realised that Cassandra had kept you distracted enough from your feelings but they now plagued your mind again. You had killed Amelie. You may not have been the one to torture her for days, and that fact brought you at least a little comfort, but you had been the one to rat her out and the one to end her. You sighed as you looked at the sword's glinting blade.

Would you ever have to use the skills that Cassandra was teaching you against someone?

Your thoughts were interrupted when she returned to the courtyard with three of those creatures from the basement with her. You gasped in shock and leapt to your feet, gripping the weapon.

"Cassandra?" You looked at her with wide eyes.

"I thought it best that you got some real practise. I'll set them on you one at a time, they're unarmed and I'll kill them myself if I think there's a risk of you getting hurt. Don't worry. Mother said you're off-limits and I can understand why now." You opened your mouth to question what she meant by that last part but she barked an order at one of them in that old Romanian dialect and it stumbled towards you. It lunged towards you, armed outstretched and you thought that you would be able to use what you had been taught but you side-stepped the awful creature instead, swiping at the backs of its legs to send it to the ground.

"Cassandra, I don't want to k-"

"It is not a person, it is already dead and it's going to grab your ankles." The last part of her sentence made you shriek and you shifted your hold on the sword to bring the tip of the blade down on the creature's skull, killing it. You watched it turn to stone and crumble, leaving a glittering crystal in its pile of dust as it disintegrated. You felt a rush flood through your veins and turned to face the next one that Cassandra sent towards you.

"You're a good improviser, human! They are no more than guard dogs, really, the moroaică are even less intelligent than that." She praised and you managed to use the block that she had taught you to stun the creature, side-stepping again to put some more distance between you and it before impaling it with the sword. However, you had moved too close to the third one which grabbed you by the shoulders and dove for your neck, open-mouthed.

However, before its teeth could sink into your flesh, Cassandra had hooked her sickle around its neck, pulling backwards and removing its head with one powerful swing. You let out a sigh of relief and the young woman beamed a smile at you.

"You were brilliant! Much more to learn but you pick up quick and know how to improvise. Obliviousness will cost you though, stay aware of your surroundings." She critiqued, "Lesson over." She smiled proudly and returned to cleaning her weapons. You walked over to place the sword back on the table but she stopped you with a wave of her hand.

"Keep it, I was never fond of swords anyway, Bela likes them a lot more than I do."

"Thank you, Cassandra." You spoke with sincerity, "You helped me in more ways than you might think today." She gave you a smug grin, "I know." Your eyes widened. How could she? You thanked her once more before you headed back inside, hoping to tell Alcina everything if she wasn't still busy.

You reflected on killing Amelie and then Alcina's justification for putting you in the situation to make sure you could defend yourself from anyone who may harm you. If she needed those creatures in the basement to prepare to protect her house, then you would have to face foes that would be much harder to kill than those that you had finished off today. You would gladly spend more time with the girls if it meant giving yourself the means to survive and pleasing your lady.

When you arrived in Alcina's chambers, she was writing in her diary once more but abandoned her pen when you entered the room.

"It makes me happy to see you getting on with my girls." She smiled, "What did you learn?" She patted her lap and you propped the sword up against the wall before eagerly taking up the offered seat.

"A simple block and strike, but I took down one of the..." You were still unsure of the pronunciation.

"Moroaică." Alcina smiled and you nodded your head. That was the word.

"By hitting the backs of its legs and getting it in its head before it could get back up."

"What a skilled little girl." She hummed and you blushed before continuing.

"It made me understand a lot more, somehow, killing those creatures, I mean." You began, "That I am surrounded by danger, even if it feels safe here now, it may not always be. I need to know how to protect myself. I hope I can use these skills to serve you as I served you in killing... the spy." If not knowing the errand boy's name helped then perhaps not calling Amelie by her name would help too. It felt selfish but you knew that you didn't have much of a choice.

"I'm glad to know it has eased your mind and brought you to understanding. Now," She lifted you from her lap, smoothing her hand over your head once more before standing, "let's see how long you can hold your ground against me for."

"What?"

Chapter Text

"What?" Surely she didn't mean that she wanted you to fight her? No, you must have missed the meaning entirely.

"Pick up the sword." She hummed and you saw that barracuda smile that everyone in this family seemed to have, large and warning, fangs protruding from her lines of teeth that were so white, they matched the pearls of her necklace. That sense loomed over you again: that one deep down in the very DNA of your body that told you that you were standing before a fearsome creature that was not to be trifled with.

"My Lady?" You raised a brow slowly, tilting your head a little. Your eyes snapped to her gloved hand when those claws, that you had only ever seen once, sprouted from her fingertips with a noise like a knife in a sharpener. They were almost as long as you were tall!

Oh, dear gods, she did want you to fight her. Your face dropped as the realisation dawned upon you and you stood face-to-face with the impossibility of being able to stand your ground against Alcina Dimitrescu.

She swiped at the air around you in a warning and you lunged to grab the golden sword, gripping it in your hands nervously as you held a defensive stance. What on earth was she planning? You both knew that you couldn't win unless she went ridiculously easy on you.

"Come, little one, where's that strong spirit? You held that fire poker with more confidence." She taunted and you blocked her long claws as she took another swipe at you, stepping around her. Luckily for you, the room was much bigger in comparison to your size and it gave you more manoeuvrability - in your position, you would take any advantage that you could get. You ducked another swipe and blocked when she brought them back the way they had come, hearing the closing of the weapons.

You kept yourself on defence, no part of you desired to hurt your Lady, but you knew that she would only back you in a corner if you kept that up - whether that be literally or metaphorically. However, she kept on attacking and attacking and you began to feel sweat bead at your chest and temples. She was wearing you out fast! What if that was her plan? She knew that weak stamina was certainly your disadvantage in a battle with a creature such as herself. You glanced to the door and she blocked your path.

"Don't even think of it, little doe." She mused and you suddenly felt even more like prey than before. Surely she didn't have any true intention of killing you? She had been keeping you around for blood, amusement and your keen senses in uncovering mysteries. Surely you hadn't done anything to change her mind?

She struck with an unexpected amount of force and knocked the weapon from your hand, sending it clattering to the floor. You backed up quickly but she bent over and grabbed the rug. Before you could figure out what she was doing, she tugged it harshly towards herself, sending you toppling backwards and landing on the floor. You began to push yourself up off the floor but her foot was on your lower chest, pushing you back down to the ground. Your thighs almost smashed together but you froze instead, only imagining what she would think of you if she saw you react in such a way to her stepping on you.

She applied more pressure to your flesh and you found your breathing growing shallower.

"Fight, sweet thing." She mused with a sadistic smile, eyes skimming over your body. You tried to get up but her weight on you was too much. You flopped to the floor, "Again," Her tone drawled out like syrup and you tried to push her foot off to no avail, scowling at it. "Keep on trying." Her tone caught your attention, making you look up to meet her eyes.

Those familiar amber hues were lidded and she bit down on her crimson lip, breathing heavily. She was enjoying this. She was enjoying it a lot.

You tried wriggling away instead of sitting upright but it was still to no avail. Part of you didn't want to escape this position at all. Even more pressure was applied and you were becoming sure that you would bruise. You whined and saw how her eyes lit up in delight.

"Don't be so pathetic, get up." She tilted her head up slightly, looking down her nose at you. Before you knew it, your hips had moved and you looked aside, hands around her ankle relinquishing their tightness in defeat. "I don't reward lousy sluts who give up." Your cheeks flooded with heat. Oh, she knew what game she was playing and she knew the rules all too well. Your eyes fell to the sword that was within arms reach. Mother Miranda said that Lady Dimitrescu healed faster than you, hadn't she?

You grabbed the blade and stabbed it through her calf, using her shock to roll out from under her feet and dash for the door. You knew this game too. As you skidded around the corner, you heard what could have only been her pulling the metal from her body.

"You can't run forever!" She called and you could hear the grin on her lips as she did. You made your way to the courtyard and sprinted across it to the opera hall, sprinting up the stairs. You paused at the balcony, panting while you waited to hear the door open. She fell for your trap and you ran around the upper floor, bursting through the library and into the main floor, bounding down the stairs and into the dining hall. You made your way back out to the courtyard and back up the stairs of her chambers, flopping onto the bed to catch your breath. You had lost her in the opera hall and doubted that she suspected you would return to where you began. You lifted your head from the mattress and kept an eye on the main door, resting your head on your arm.

Suddenly, the back of your neck was grabbed and your face was forced into the silken sheets, feeling the mattress dip on either side of you. Where the hell had she come from?

"Clever but not clever enough, it seems..." Alcina hummed from above you. You squirmed under her, trying to turn over, but she didn't allow it. "You think you can struggle your way out of this one too?" You recalled her words from earlier and knew that surrender wasn't an option. She would make you lose. You struggled under her grip and she pulled on the ponytail that she had tied for you earlier, that same hand wrapping around your throat once your head was tilted back. "Your life in my hands... It has been from the moment you enrolled at the vineyard." She inhaled deeply by your ear and you let out an airy moan.

You didn't want this to be like the other times where she bit you and let you rest. You needed something else and like everything else in this beautifully twisted castle, you would prove that you had earned it. You turned over, now on your back looking up at the woman who truly towered over you. Your much smaller hands caught her wrist and brought it back to your neck, lifting your thigh to press between hers. She tightened her grip and your eyes closed for a moment to truly drink in the pleasure of the sensation.

"Ready to claim your prize yet or do you intend on playing this game still?" You looked up at her with almost defiant eyes.

"I'll do what I want with what's mine." She threw back and you felt her hand raise up the skirt of your dress, glancing down to the damp patch on your white pants. "You're just desperate, impatient." Her hand was removed from your neck to tear the dress apart with her claws. You gasped as the air hit your now exposed skin, looking up at her.

She certainly wasn't wrong.

You glanced down to your body where you saw the bright gashes of red from her claws. She leaned down to lick you clean before they could heal and you found yourself unconsciously spreading your legs around her wide hips, trying to pull her down onto you. When she pulled back, you lifted yourself and lapped at the corner of her mouth where some of the blood remained, wanting to indulge in it with her even if it wasn't quite the same experience for the both of you. You trailed your lips down her neck, lathering the tops of her breasts in your kisses before you were roughly pushed down once more.

"So needy..." She commented as her fingers brushed over your pants, making you gasp softly, "This isn't the first time you've thought about this, is it? Oh, there were more than a few times that I could smell your filthy thoughts on you." Your heart was racing by now and you didn't know what else to do other than-

"Please!" You whined, back arching up embarrassingly from the slight touch.

"Please, what?" She hummed, fingers torturing you with the lightest brushes against where you needed her the most.

"Please touch me, my Lady!" She hummed, pouting her lips a little as she watched your desperate reactions. "Mistress, please!"

"That's more like it." She praised and the pants were yanked down your legs and tossed aside, you felt her fingers gather your wetness and push it up to your clit, making you moan so loudly that it made you blush further. She ran the length of her fingers along your slit before pushing one inside tantalisingly slow. She pumped it shallowly before adding another, pushing both of them all the way inside of your heat.

You gripped the sheets at the feeling of her large fingers filling you and whined loudly when she slipped both of them out. She pulled you up onto her lap, hiking the skirt of her dress around her waist, gracing you with the sight of her long legs in stockings and garters. Her fingers gripped your face, palm under your jaw, tilting your head up to look at her.

"Think you're ready yet?" She hummed.

"Yes! Please, yes!" You sighed and she set her hand on her thigh, two fingers facing up. As you began to move to lower yourself onto them, her grip on your face held you in place.

"You have to follow my instructions, though, or you won't get anything. Understood?"

"Yes, mistress." A smile covered her crimson lips and she let you move, slowly sinking your body down onto her fingers, settling on her hand and thigh once done. You looked up at her expectantly.

"Go." Was all she said and your hands found purchase in her arms, steadying yourself as you began to ride her fingers, leaning forwards to rest your head against her breasts as you did. Her thumb came to press against your clit and you let your moans flow freely. "Stop." You did as told and felt a tightness both in your core and chest. You didn't know how long you would be able to hold out if this is what she had decided for you. "Good pet..." She mused and curled her fingers inside of you. You let out a shuddering moan before she gave you the green light again.

You rode her fingers with more force, chasing the tightening in your core, your moans being swallowed by the plush flesh of her breasts that you had buried your face in, hands reaching up to tug at her neckline. "Stop!" She commanded, a hand around your neck once more, pulling you back. "You will do what I tell you and only what I tell you, am I clear?" You nodded your head.

"Can I touch you?" You looked up at her with fogged eyes and her sharp ones met yours.

"You know what you need to do for that, don't you?"

"Yes, mistress."

"Go." That one word was all you needed to start riding her fingers again, reaching up to pull your torn dress from your body, intending on giving her a show. She seemed pleased because she leaned back against the headboard, legs spreading as she watched you. You would have to earn pulling her dress from her. She thrust her fingers up into you suddenly and you lost your rhythm for a moment, her actions taking you by surprise but you didn't relent. You wouldn't waste a moment of this as you chased your release. You threw your head back, feeling the heat build up so, so, so close until-

"Stop." You let out a loud whine but did as told, feeling yourself falling from that high as quickly as you had got there. "Such an obedient thing...How long can you possibly last like this?" She mused with a sadistic smile while you furrowed your brows at her, annoyed that she had stolen your orgasm from you. Oh, and the answer was 'not long'.

"Please..." You whispered as you leaned towards her.

"Who owns you?" She tilted her head to the side, her dark curls falling around her head as she did. You could feel something like a coil build up in you at the simple question, "Whose property are you?"

"You! I'm yours, Mistress Dimitrescu." You added her name for emphasis as you did your utmost to stay still around her fingers.

"Good slut. Go," Her thumb rubbed quick circles over your clit and she added: "and if you don't finish in time, then it's your problem." You desperately rode her fingers, bouncing over her lap until your juices covered her hand, your thighs and her stocking that would surely have to be washed now. You collapsed against her chest, panting as she shallowly thrust her fingers into you, easing you down from your high.

"Thank you." You murmured against her flesh, pressing a soft kiss there.

"Oh, I'm not done with you, yet." She drawled out and you looked up to see her lifting your wrist to her lips, examining your veins and taking in a deep breath through her nose, picking apart your scent. She bit down and you hummed contentedly, feeling her fangs in your flesh and her tongue lapping at your skin.

You weren't too sure what happened next, all you knew was that you woke up as Alcina was running a warm cloth over your body. You looked between her and the room, disorientated.

"You've only been asleep for a few minutes." She spoke softly and dropped the cloth into a small basin of water on the nightstand. You nodded your head and closed your eyes again, a hand reaching down to hold hers, bringing it up to your lips to press a kiss to her knuckles. You didn't bother to look at your wrist, knowing it would have healed already.

You had wondered for a moment if this would feel awkward when Alcina has begun to drink from you, but, instead, the moment felt tender and you sighed, turning onto your side.

"I'm hungry." You murmured and she smiled.

"I'll call for a servant-"

"No, I can wait." You opened your eyes, holding her hand a little tighter, "Stay." She glanced down at you before covering your body with a blanket and gently pulling the ribbon from your hair.

"I'll be back, little one. What sort of mistress would I be if I left you in poor health, hm?" She raised a brow and you blushed at knowing she would use this title to provoke your libido now. You let her hand go and she left the room. You slipped into sleep once more and found yourself being woken by Alcina again who had a bowl of fruit and yoghurt for you.

She propped you up, sitting behind you as you ate and she watched you down a glass of water afterwards. She tenderly stroked your hair and you relaxed into her touch.

"Does it taste different after sex?" You murmured, just wanting to talk with her until you fell asleep once more.

"Excuse me?" She looked down at you.

"I mean, you turn blood into wine. Surely you must treat it as a connoisseur would? Wouldn't things like the state the maiden's in, her diet, her blood type - those sorts of things - affect her taste?" Alcina hummed thoughtfully.

"They do. Though, diet and state seem to be the most predominant factors. The type can be hard to pick up on unless you've sampled a broad palette." You smiled softly, both to her and yourself. Never in your life did you think that you would be in the arms of a vampiric woman, post-sex, discussing the flavours of blood. Perhaps you had imagined it a few times, but there was just something about truly being in the situation that you found yourself having to reflect on.

"How do I taste?" You nuzzled your face into the fabric of her chest, your voice a whisper now. You never did learn her answer, having fallen asleep in her arms before you could even begin to process her words.

Chapter Text

When you woke, it was mid-afternoon and the sun was slanting in through the slightly parted curtains. You groaned a little as you rolled over in the silken sheets before memories of mere hours ago filled your mind. Your cheeks flushed bright red and you turned over in search of Alcina, only to find the bed empty. Sitting up, you came to realise that she wasn't even in the room and you suddenly felt lonely.

Was this a one-time thing? Did she regret it?

Your teeth worried your lip before you decided that sitting around being anxious would do you no good. If you couldn't erase the thoughts then you could distract yourself from them at the very least.

When you threw the sheets back, the cold air bit at your skin and you made a journey to her ensuite where you borrowed a towel to cover yourself with as you made your way back to your own room. You needed a fresh set of clothes, considering yours were torn to shreds on the floor.

Quickly enough, you were in a fresh set of uniform and had fixed your hair and makeup. In order to keep yourself occupied, you stripped the sheets of Alcina's bed and threw them in the laundry, setting your ruined dress on top in order to throw away on your way down to the laundry room where the group of older maids always sat gossiping as they cleaned.

Your cheeks glowed a bright crimson as you avoided touching the stains that you had left on the fine fabrics of your Lady's bed, some of them much fainter than the dark splatters of blood where Lady Dimitrescu had drunk from you. Setting the heavy basket on your hip, you carried it downstairs through the kitchen into the laundry where you sorted your dress into the appropriate bin and dropped the sheets into the big hamper that the uncleaned fabrics belonged in.

"Whore." You heard Ina mutter from under her breath and you bit your tongue, not wanting a conflict. You only wished to find Alcina to make sure that everything was right between the two of you still. "I knew she'd spread her legs for anyone and anything to get by."

"Do you want to say it to my face or are you too cowardly for that?" You turned to face her. You were met with a glare from her and her gaggle of laundrettes. You held the highest servant position in this castle and you knew it. You wouldn't let the likes of Ina intimidate you.

"Don't think you're special." She spat, "The last one was a slut too and that didn't save her in the end."

"Watch your mouth." You warned, crouching down to where she sat on the stool over the large metal tub of warm water and soap suds, "She'll notice if I go missing but won't care for the likes of you. Perhaps I should recommend you to the Lady's daughters for their next hunt. I'm sure they'd be thrilled." Ina seemed like she wanted to retort but didn't have the words so she simply grunted and got in with her work as you left.

This castle was changing you faster than you were willing to admit.

You grabbed a fresh set of sheets and made your way back up to Alcina's chambers where you tossed the pillows off the bed to set out the clean set of silken fabrics. You moved on to fitting on new pillowcases and noticed something odd as you picked up the final one from the floor. There were the faintest curved scuff marks on the floor.

Tossing the pillow onto the bed, your fingers ran along the patterned wall - white and gold like the rest of Alcina's wing of the house - searching for anything. You laid your palms flat against it and the pressure caused something to click, making the wall come out ever so slightly. You curled your fingertips around the edge and pulled, making it swing on its hinges silently. There was a tall but narrow tunnel with stairs leading down. You gasped as you realised that this is where Alcina must have come from yesterday! Curiosity got the better of you and you made your way down the stairs, closing the secret door behind you.

It was very dark and only dimly lit by the candles on the wall which looked as though they were threatening to burn out. You followed the stairs all the way to the bottom, beginning to wonder if you should just turn back after some time. You made your way through forks in the tunnels and found yourself kicking away rats that ran towards you too.

Eventually, a breeze began to whistle through the tunnel and you found yourself at an old door. Pushing it open, you found that you were outside and the castle was quite some distance away. You glanced around your surroundings and wondered which path led back to the main entrance. Would Alcina be mad that you had gone outside? Surely not after she caught you coming back the first time and didn't say a word.

You chose to go left as it was uphill so it made sense that it could lead back to the castle. It was a much easier walk than going back up all those stairs anyway. What did Alcina need such a tunnel for anyway? Emergency escape? You had already learned that she had quite a few enemies. Maybe this tunnel was a final fallback plan?

Either way, you found yourself at a rickety bridge with a river below it. You knew that the river ran by the castle and assumed that this way could very well lead you back. Surely you wouldn't find yourself too lost? After all, if you could still see the castle, you would know what direction to go in. You stepped on the bridge carefully. Taking one step on and bouncing a few times in order to test its strength. Deeming it safe enough, you gripped tightly onto the ropes as you crossed quickly and carefully. On the other side, you were met with some beautiful gardens that had quite a Victorian look to them. Spotting a shed nearby, you went to see if there was anyone that could give you directions.

"More roses here! Lots of red and white!" You heard a childlike voice exclaim.

"Would you like the hydrangeas and peonies this year too?" A man's voice replied.

"Of course! Lot's of flowers! But leave some of the beds empty so we can plant our own!"

"Of course, my lady." A man replied and you rounded the shed to see a man with a thick salt and peppered beard standing with someone else. Judging by her height and figure, you assumed that she was a woman. You could only see this much as she was covered from head to toe in a black funeral garb. The man's gaze locked with you and seemed to catch the woman's attention as she turned around to face you, catching sight of the old-looking, and rather unnerving, doll that she carried in her hands the way a ventriloquist would.

"Hello, sorry if I'm trespassing but I'm lost." You waved shyly and kept your distance, not so sure how they would feel about a stranger wandering onto their land, "I work in Castle Dimitrescu. If one of you could just tell me-"

"Oh! She's one of Alcina's!" The doll exclaimed and you shrieked, jumping back. Suddenly, all of the Chucky and Annabelle films skimmed through your mind and you wished that you had just gone back up the stairs. "She always dresses them up so pretty! Like dolls!" The talking toy seemed to find her own joke very comical as she burst out into a peal of cackling laughter.

The woman in black approached you and beckoned you to follow her, remaining silent. You noted to yourself how odd it was that she was dressed for a funeral while her doll was dressed for a wedding. Surely this wasn't the strangest thing you had seen? The Dimitrescu daughters turning into flies should be much more bizarre than a talking doll, no?

The woman sat down at a bench and you joined her, seeing how her doll sat in her lap, swinging its legs like a child.

"I'm Angie," The doll spoke up, "and this is Donna. We represent house Beneviento. We're like sisters to Alcina."

"Oh, I didn't know she had family other than her daughters." You remarked.

"We're her family through Mother Miranda." Angie went on, "She hasn't been here for a while, she's away-" Donna snapped her head down to face the doll and you could only assume that she had given her a sharp look because the toy fell silent.

"Angie, we do not know what Alcina has told this woman." She murmured in a quiet voice and your hopes of using these people as a source of information fell.

"I've met Mother Miranda briefly. Something about being a vessel but Alcina said she had found me unsuitable for it."

"Yeah because she won't be able to fuck you if you d-" Your eyes burst open wide at what you heard before Donna put her hand over the doll's mouth.

"Angie! Run along now, play." She set her on the ground and watched as she went to sit by a tree and pick at the daisies there instead. There was a silence between you and Donna which very quickly became awkward.

"So what is it that you do in Mother Miranda's group, exactly? I know she's a deity and she has an inner circle of worshippers but what does that involve, really?"

"Mother Miranda graces us all with her glory. She does her very best to help us all. But her help is immense and not everybody can handle it. It's not her fault, though, she just wants the best for everyone that is in her domain."

"And has she helped you?" You glance over to where Angie is weaving flowers together like a little girl on the school field would, assuming that only the work of this local god could be what has brought her to life.

"Oh, she has helped me so much. I've lost a lot in my life and Mother Miranda has offered me so much support to help me." You nodded your head as you took in this new information.

The man from before returned with a fold-up table tucked under his arm, setting it out before vanishing again.

"One of my gardeners," Donna spoke in her quiet tone.

"I overheard your conversation earlier. You seem to enjoy gardening a lot." You flashed her a smile as you gestured around to the vibrant outdoor area.

"It's always been a hobby of mine, though not one that I enjoy as much as doll-making." She spoke as she straightened out her veil, being mindful of the breeze.

"Did you make Angie?" You questioned as the gardener returned with a tray. He set it own on the table and you took in the black china with its yellow flowers and the matching teapot. There was a tin of loose dried tea in the middle and a much smaller matching teacup that you could only assume was Angie's.

"Oh, it's been so long since we've had a guest for tea!" Angie called out as she ran over and climbed into Donna's lap, settling herself down there. Donna served up the tea for you all, pretending to fill Angie's cup and you looked down at the loose yellow petals that stained your water with a colour that was typical of herbal teas.

"Why's that?" You asked, genuinely curious as this woman and her doll seemed so keen to invite you to drink.

"Alcina used to visit us the most often," Hearing her name said so simply as this came as a shock to you. You had learned her name at the school and had been calling your Lady by her name in your head but to hear it aloud felt unnatural, almost, "But since she made changes to her new vineyard she's been rather busy." Angie looked rather sad before drinking from her pretend tea. You pitied them as you drank your own tea, enjoying the unique flavour and floral scent. You found yourself finishing your first cup rather quickly and Donna continued to serve you more and more as the conversation carried on. You noticed that Angie spoke a lot more when Donna was with her and you wondered if Donna wasn't very keen on talking.

Either way, the teapot was soon empty and the time had flown by.

"I really should get going back to the castle now, though," You spoke as you stood up and saw how Donna reached a hand out to stop you before she withdrew it, "providing my Lady doesn't scold me for leaving the castle, I'd love to come back for more tea another day." You smiled.

"Do you mean it?" Donna spoke with a strange tone, it sounded hopeful but there was something else there that you didn't think to dwell on too much.

"Of course! Again, if I'm allowed, I would love for you to give me a tour of your doll collection!" Donna looked down at her feet and even Angie fell silent.

"We're sorry..." They murmured and you furrowed your brows in confusion.

"What do you have to be s-"

"(Y/n)!" Alcina's voice bellowed and you whipped your head around to see her storming through the gardens towards you.

"My Lady, I got lost in the tunnels and I was asking for directions, I didn't mean to stay for so l-" Your words were quite literally choked off when you were grabbed by the hair and pulled through the gardens.

"Oh, don't give me your pathetic excuses. Surely you were running away because you came to realise how little you truly mean. You are at my disposal and I will rid myself of you when I see fit, not when you want to go skulking away." The words tore at your chest and you felt tears brim in your eyes at her harshness. "Did you really think yourself something so special just because I'd fucked you, hm? You truly aren't as sharp as I was told before I collected you."

"My Lady..." You didn't have any words for what was happening. You shouldn't have left that damned castle in the first place. You should have refused Donna's tea and you should have gone straight back to apologise to Alcina.

She threw you into the shed and you hit your head on the opposing wall, putting your hands up to feel for a wound but if there had been one, it was healed by now. When you opened your eyes, you were outside again, looking around you. It was a graveyard.

Had you hit your head so hard that you had just died instantly? The world seemed mute of colour except for a singular red spider lily. You walked up to it to read your own name upon the headstone along with your dates of birth and death.

"-Wanted her gone anyway. Why else did she think we sent her to that school?" It was your mother's voice. You turned around to see your parents looking down at your grave. Ah, so this was your fake grave. Wait, what had she said?

"I don't doubt the letter was from her. I'm just glad she's gone, wherever the hell she is." Your father's words. Your bottom lip trembled and you looked back down at your grave that you were standing over, suddenly feeling a shift in the ground and feeling the earth give way. You began to fall deep into the earth and hit your body against things that you could not see along the way. When you finally stopped moving, you were in the dungeon of the castle and Amelie was crouched over you, head tilted to look down at your aching leg.

"It should have been you. We both know it." She spoke in that lilted tone of hers, "You know that you deserve it for what you did to me."

"Go away!" You sobbed as you pushed yourself up, looking at the grazes on your hands and feeling how they stung. The world was dark but light illuminated you and the dead girl from who knows where. Shallow water flooded the world and you glanced down at your leg to see the dagger that you had killed Amelie with. It was lodged into your flesh and your skin had already healed around it. You had to get it out in case it got stuck somehow.

Bracing yourself, you wrapped your hands around the hilt and pulled but it remained stuck. You pulled again but it was to no avail. You tried to stand up but the knife seemed to pull you back, anchoring you in place.

"You should give up and die here." Amelie mused.

"I said go away!" You snapped before sitting back down to try and remove the dagger from your body. You twisted it and cried out in pain, watching your body quickly heal the torn flesh. Taking a deep and quick breath, you twisted it again and pulled it free, feeling things move out of place in your leg and then going back to where they belonged. Getting up, you watched as the wound healed much slower than usual, likely because it was more severe, and watched the blood mix in with the water.

You covered your face with your hands to block out the confusing mess that the world had become.

"I want to go home." You sobbed to yourself, hearing it echo around you.

Where was home? Could you call the castle home? You stumbled through the dark, blind, until something grabbed you. There was a loud noise and you covered your ears as various hands grabbed you. There was a loud roar and you were in the castle, standing at the end of the hall of four. Only, a great beast was making its way through from the main hall, breaking the frame of the door as it did. Its face opened to devour you and you closed your eyes in resignation.

You felt so tired.

Chapter Text

You woke with a start, jumping from the bed to find yourself covered with a thin layer of cold sweat. Panting, you checked over your body for any injuries but could find none. It didn't feel like you had been sleeping, you felt as though you had blinked your eyes and found yourself in the bed of your chambers.

Stumbling out of bed, you cautiously took each step, weary that the ground would swallow you up again. You padded your way to your robe, wrapping it around yourself before padding out of the bedroom, needing to know what was happening. What was that beast you saw in the hall of four?

You scowled to yourself as you made your way through the corridors: always more questions and never enough answers to satisfy them.

You caught the eye of a maid who met your gaze and scampered off towards the atelier on the upper floor of the main hall that you had just emerged into. Your eyes fell on a bloodied tea set that was still laid out on the table by the stairs and you gathered them all onto a tray to clean deliver them to the kitchen in order to be cleaned up. No doubt, the maid left to alert Alcina or one of her daughters but you wanted very little to do with Alcina after what she had said to you yesterday. Balancing the tray in one hand, you dashed your eyes at the tears and silently dropped the tray off to the red-haired maid whose task was to clean up all the dishes that day.

You avoided the main hall and returned to the Lady's chambers where your bedroom also was in order to dress. You planned on busying yourself with typical maid tasks today. The girls always left the library a disorganised mess so you could spend a good amount of time categorising the books while you avoided Lady Dimitrescu.

As you tugged on your handmaid uniform, you mentally scolded yourself as you looked in the mirror, your very clothing a solid reminder. You were a handmaid, not a lover - your task was servitude, not affection. You should do well to remember that, especially considering the fact that Alcina very clearly did not feel as tenderly towards you as you did her, despite anything you may have thought.

Fixing your hair, you made your way down the stairs of the Lady's chambers and into the courtyard where your breath froze in your lungs and you turned on your heel to make your way to the library from the terrace-

"(Y/n)!" You almost flinched as you recalled how she had shouted your name yesterday - though, it could have been today, you weren't entirely sure of the time. "Oh, sweet girl, where are you running off to?" She was by your side in an instant and you kept your eyes on the floor. Why was she being kind now?

"I was just going to busy myself with cleaning up the library for the rest of the day, my lady." You murmured and she titled your chin up to look at her, sensing something wrong in her tone, but you averted your eyes.

"Nonsense, there are other maids for that. Come, we have important matters to discuss." She began to walk but you remained behind, watching her and recalling how she had pulled you by your hair like a ragdoll and thrown you into the shed of Donna's garden.

"Little one?" She hummed as she looked over her shoulder to see you in the same place. She retraced her steps and crouched down to better meet your height. "I don't know what you think you saw yesterday..." You wanted to retort, to bite back with something snappy, but you were still too hurt to find the words. "But we need to talk about it. I know that you may be confused but-" Oh, now she had presented you with the opportunity.

"I was confused before but you've made things very clear for me, my Lady. You won't find me acting so ridiculously, again."

"But, my dear, you passed out before I could speak to you." You looked at her as though she were mad and felt your bottom lip tremble; whether it was in anguish or rage, you didn't know. How could she act like she had said nothing? "Do not make me order you to follow me. I want to speak to you because I want to help you to understand what happened yesterday."

Wanting this conversation over and done with, you nodded your head once curtly and followed your Lady as she led you to a drawing-room where you sat opposite her, a coffee table between the two of you.

"My sweet girl, I need you to tell me everything that happened yesterday after you had tea with the Benevientos." You eyed her suspiciously.

"As soon as I got up to leave, I told Donna that I'd like to have tea with her again sometime if you allowed it and then... She and Angie apologised to me." Recalling this, you realised how odd it was, "Then you showed up and..." You looked up to her but her expression was precisely blank - a practised stoicism. "You grabbed me by my hair and started dragging me back up to the castle. You told me that... That I have very little value to you and I shouldn't think otherwise just because we slept together." She glanced away from you and you continued, "I hit my head on the wall of the shed when you threw me in there and suddenly I was in a graveyard, standing over my own grave. My parents were there, but it was like they couldn't see me, and they were talking about how they were happy that I'm gone..." You found yourself sniffling and embarrassedly smearing away your tears, "Then the grave opened up and I fell into the castle dungeon. Amelie was there, saying that we both know it should have been me who died because of what I did to her. Then I pulled the dagger out of my leg and I was wandering in the water until hands were grabbing me and there was a roar. Then, I was in the hall of four and a beast was breaking through the door and I just... I blinked and then I woke up in my bed."

"Donna drugged you, dear, you were hallucinating. I was never in the gardens, you weren't in a graveyard, nor the dungeon and the hands grabbing you were my daughters when you stumbled back into the castle like a drunk woman, sobbing." She explained. Your face contorted in a sense of betrayal, almost. Donna had seemed so kind.

"Why would she do that?" You furrowed your brows.

"She doesn't get many visitors, even less who seem to want to befriend her. She's a lonely woman and planned on keeping you in her home for company. The herbal tea must have been made from the flowers that she uses to control the hallucinations. If you can find it in yourself to forgive her, I will allow you to visit her regularly for tea if it pleases you. I don't want you to feel trapped here but I will still monitor when you go outside. The Village isn't the safest place..."

"If I do forgive her, it will take some time, I think." You looked to your lap and picked at the edge of your skirts.

"Little one, look at me," Alcina spoke and you obeyed, "You do have value to me, a great value at that. I have big plans for you and I want you to remember how important you are to that, understood?" You nodded your head and she patted her lap, watching as you padded over to sit on her thighs. She moved your legs to straddle hers and you had to tilt your head back to meet her eyes, even when sitting on her lap like this.

"You should come to me if terrible thoughts are plaguing you." She added, "And if you can't speak to me then I'm sure Bela would love to have tea with you again." She mused, "I don't often make long journies to collect new handmaids and the likes of you aren't easily replaceable. Where else will I find someone as durable as you, hm?" She flashed a teasing smile and you found yourself unable to not reciprocate at the joke regarding your mutation. There was a long pause.

"This is your home now as much as it is your workplace." Alcina's voice grew sultry as her palm splayed across your back and ran down, down, down. You found the comfort that you sought in Alcina, especially after that heartfelt conversation those few weeks ago in her study when you disobeyed your banishment from her sights to bring her tea and apologise. This was your home now and you would tackle anything that made you feel otherwise.

"So it would do me well to settle into things as much as possible..." You settled your head against the softness of your Lady's breasts and allowed her fingers to caress your body. "I would like to join the girls on a hunt if you'd allow it." You saw her head reel back for a moment but when you looked up her eyes were alight with delight, golden hues shimmering like wildfire.

"Oh?" She raised her brows, drawing you closer to her body, even if it meant you had to crane your neck more.

"There's a laundrette who can't watch her tongue and she's ageing too... I've heard the rumours that young women make for the best wines and I'm sure it would put the girls in such high spirits to have some fun. It's spring and the weather should be warm enough for us to take things outside to avoid dirtying the castle." There was a trembling in your fingertips but it wasn't from shock or fear, it was adrenaline.

This castle was your home now, you had earned it and Lady Dimitrescu had confirmed it. There was no place for anyone who thought they could disrespect you. Your Lady was fearsome and it was one of the most brilliant and beautiful things about her. You wished to command fear as she did, to sit at the top and know no one would dare threaten you. Making an example of Ina would be your first spectacle of power. She wouldn't haunt you as Amelie did and you would banish her ghost with Ina's death.

You were dead to the rest of the world now, killed by whatever experiments Umbrella was conducting at the vineyard which you were yet to uncover. Your new life was here and there was no need to hold on to any customs you had been taught in your past.

Infiltrating the maids as your Lady's spy and killing Amelie had made you the villain to the rest of the staff here and if you were going to be the villain, you would make sure to be the best they've seen yet.

"Whatever you desire, my darling girl, I'll allow the four of you the time while I work in my study tomorrow." She caressed your hair and you sighed into her touch. "Come now, though, let's get you something to eat."

━━━━━━━━┛ ✠ ┗━━━━━━━━

The evening approached and you ran a bath for Alcina, heating the water and adding fragrant soaps and oils. She sat at her vanity unpinning her hair and removing her makeup with all the poise of a viper. You admired her continuous elegance, the power and femininity that she wielded with each breath she took, each move she made.

"Come brush my hair out for me, pet." She called as she wiped at her bold lipstick. You picked up the brush and did a final check for any pins before you began to delicately untangle her long and dark locks, not wanting to pull at her hair in the slightest. You still had to reach up to get at the nape of her neck and set the hairbrush down when you were done, heading back into the bathroom to grab her robe and set it on a rack by the fire to warm as she bathed.

She stood and you climbed onto her vanity stool in order to remove her signature white dress, throwing it in the laundry before setting her shoes aside to be cleaned later. Her lingerie joined her dress in the hamper and once she was entirely naked, you averted your eyes and instead turned around as she got into the bath. Though your eyes had a perfect view of her in the reflection of the mirror and you found yourself unable to look away like this, her shoes in your hands.

She turned to settle into the tub and you were able to see her ample breasts, painted with silvery stretch marks and the same alabaster as the rest of her skin. Your cheeks grew warm with thoughts of how much there was for your hands and mouth to explore before her voice snapped you out of your dirty daydreaming.

"There's still work to be done before that, pet." Her tone was sultry and you knew that she enjoyed being admired by you like this. You looked to the shoes in your hand instead and got the supplies out from the drawer to begin cleaning the white material around the soles of them.

Sitting on the vanity stool, your feet not touching the ground, you could hear all of Alcina's low moans as she lathered herself in soap and enjoyed the hot water. You knew that she was teasing you with all those sounds that had you pressing your thighs together as you did your utmost to focus only on cleaning your Lady's shoes after a day of wearing them.

"Pet, come wash my back for me." She called and you set the large pair of heels aside, knowing what was happening here. You weren't responsive enough to her provocative noises so now she wanted to see how long you could last with your hands on her naked skin.

You prepared the washcloth with some rose and cream scented soap before gently rubbing over your lady's shoulders, her hair out of the way as it rested over one of her shoulders. She let out light moans as you massaged her muscles with your hands, the cloth soon enough abandoned as you lathered her pale skin in sweet-smelling bubbles.

Your face became a picture of concentration as you did your best to not give in to your desires to strip and join your Lady there and then.

"Are you listening to your mistress, pet?" Her voice broke through yet another burst of dirty fantasies and you realised she had now turned her head to look at you, humming as her eyes raked over your body. You found yourself unconsciously wetting your lips as you watched her amber eyes linger over your most intimate areas before she lifted one hand from the bubbles to wave her wrist dismissively.

"Strip yourself of that dress. Leave the undergarments on." You managed to hide the look of delight from your face but not the way your heart leapt at the suggestion behind such a command.

"Yes, mistress." Fumbling with the buttons, you hastily folded the dress and underskirt before laying them on the counter in a somewhat tidy pile before returning to Lady Dimitrescu's side. Much to your despair, she did not rise from the steaming waters to take you there and then, she made you wash and rinse her hair twice before she ordered you to fetch the robe and you helped her into it, not missing the hum of pleasure she let out at it being heated for her. She seemed to appreciate the small gesture as she patted your head twice and murmured a 'good girl' before wrapping her hair in a towel while you drained the tub.

"Sit on the bed, on your knees and wait." She ordered and you clambered onto the bed with much less grace than you would have liked, considering it was so high off the ground. You hadn't had many problems with such but your eagerness made you rush and you found yourself a little embarrassed at such a display as you obediently kneeled on the bed, debating between spreading your legs as you did or not. Could she smell you? Would it only make you all the more impatient if you pressed your thighs together to try and get some of the friction that you so craved?

Alcina rubbed her dark hair as dry as she could with the towel before tossing it in the hamper and opening the trunk at the end of the bed. In all honesty, you hadn't put much thought into what she would keep in here. Considering how organised her room was, you could only assume it was where she kept personal belongings such as the diary that you had spotted resting on the vanity a few times in the past that was no longer there now.

The belt around her robe grew loose and you titled your head a little to try and catch a better look of her breasts that you had fantasised about far too many times by now.

The lid of the trunk blocked you from being able to view its contents but after enough digging around, Alcina seemed to find what she was looking for and you caught a glimpse of a chain in her hand. You had to control yourself from almost bouncing on the spot in anticipation as she beckoned you towards her and you crawled in her direction for her to instruct you to pull your hair aside as she clipped a collar in place around your neck, pulling you even closer with the chain wrapped around her fist as she looked down at you.

"Oh, we'll see how long it takes for you to scream." She punctuated with another firm tug.

Chapter Text

Your eyes widened in both fear and excitement before she dropped the chain and took a seat at her vanity stool. She leaned back with the utmost elegance, legs crossed and peeking out from under her robe as she rubbed her hair relatively dry with the towel and tossed it to the floor. She then glanced at you with impatience.

"Well? I don't like being made to wait, pet." She had a tone in her voice that you had only heard from her a few times before: the tone; the one that made no room for disobedience. But oh, how you wanted to push her patience deep down. You stood to make her way over to her but she tsked. "When did I give you permission to walk, hm?" She tilted her head back as she looked down at you. "Crawl."

A shiver ran down your spine and you found yourself obeying immediately, on your hands and knees, swinging your hips, hearing her low hum of approval as you kneeled before her. You slowly rose your chin to meet her amber eyes, seeing the hunger in them. Once more, you got that sense that she was a creature capable of unspeakable violence and destruction, that she could snap your neck with her fingers if she so wished. Any sane person would run but you found that it only had you dripping.

She tilted her head to the side as she examined you, hand reaching down to palm one of your breasts before taking the chain around your neck once more.

"You want to be good, don't you?" She mused and despite her cool facade, you could see the fantasies running wild in her eyes. You nodded your head eagerly, hands behind your back. There was a sharp tug on the chain that had you reeling forwards, no longer sitting on your feet but now upright on your knees between the lady's spread legs and it took everything in your power to not glance at what she had to offer down there. "Words, pet." She snapped.

"Yes, my Lady, I want to be good for you." You found yourself wetting your lips and focusing on the fact that her lipstick always seemed to leave a slight stain on her lips to keep yourself from looking down. Her other hand came up to harshly tangle in your hair, causing you to yelp in surprise.

"Then put that pretty mouth to use." With that, your head was forced between her thighs and your hands came up to support yourself, resting on the cool and soft skin. Your tongue lapped at her womanhood and you found yourself moaning at the slick you found there.

Gods, you hoped that was all because of you.

Your tongue swirled around her entrance and dipped inside but she clearly wanted your attention elsewhere because there was a harsh tug on the leash you were wearing and suddenly your lips were at her clit instead. You let out a guttural moan, the lady seeming to feel it too as she leaned back against the vanity, back arching as she kept a tight grip on the collar around your neck.

You found your fingers itching to dip down between your own thighs but thought against it, hands kneading into your Lady's flesh instead. You began to use your head more in order to ease up on your jaw a little but found it difficult with the way your head was held in place by Alcina, whining against her dark curls.

"Words!" She growled, clearly not happy at having to tell you twice.

"Could you ease up on the leash, please, Mistress?" You panted, planting a hot kiss to her heat, "I want to make you feel good." You didn't miss how the corner of her lips quirked up in a smile as she loosened her grip a little.

"There, not so hard, was it?" Her hum turned into an airy moan as you got right back to work, eager to find out what else she had in store for you (and in that box). Under your hands, you could feel how her powerful thighs began to tense and then shake when you got back to sucking down on her clit and suddenly you were being pulled away.

You looked up to her, wanting to make sure that everything was alright and you were met with her flushed cheeks and lips that looked swollen from her biting them. She took a shuddering breath to ground herself before she dropped the leash, the clinking of chain the only other sound to your ears other than your racing heartbeat. She waved her hand in the direction of the bed and you almost bounded to it before you remembered what she had said: you didn't have her permission to walk.

You were sure that she had a perfect view of just how wet your panties were as you crawled back over to the bed, only getting on your feet in order to get on and sit on your feet, impatiently waiting.

When Alcina rose from her vanity stool, she undid her very loose robe belt and let all the plush fabric drop to the floor. You almost moaned at the sight of her. She looked so soft and powerful all at once: her thighs not quivering once in her powerful stride, precise steps, her hourglass figure, strong and set shoulders. You could see the silver slithers of stretchmarks across her thighs and breasts and you desperately wanted to paint each one of them with your kisses.

She looked at you as she opened the lid of the box, once more hiding its contents from your view. She looked into her trunk of secret possessions then back up to you, her tongue licking across her teeth as she thought.

"Face down, ass up." She ordered curtly and you all but moaned as you followed her order, her authority constantly finding a way to turn you on more and more. All you could hear was her rummaging, followed by... buckles? Your mind ran around each filthy thing it could possibly be before you felt one of Lady Dimitrescu's large hands on the back of your neck, pinning it to the silk sheets. Then, there was a sound like a knife being sharpened and you felt the elastic of your bra strap vanish, followed by a coolness against your, now exposed, cunt.

You gasped as her fingers teased at your entrance, delicately slipping through your folds but never quite touching your clit or pressing into you. You found yourself squirming under her, a long whine escaping your lips as you waited for her to give you what you needed.

"Poor thing..." She hummed, mock sympathy dripping from her tone. "What do you need?"

"You! Your fingers in me, please!" Your hands made fists in the previously tidy sheets, your head still being pressed down into them, cheek sinking into the plushness of the mattress. This didn't seem to be enough for her, though, judging by her next words:

"Beg me for it."

"Please! Please, my Lady, all I need is you." Your mind fogged with your desperation for the woman's touch, struggling under her inescapable grip, "I'll do anything you want, anything you need just please, Alcina, pl-" You cut yourself off in realising that there was a very high chance that you had just made a mistake. You had never said her name before, let alone ever in a setting like this.

The sound of the slap registered in your mind before the pain that was blooming across your now reddening ass, dropping your hips down to try and escape her harsh touch. There was another slap, with another yelp and you found your teeth sinking into your lower lip.

"I give you all you need," another slap, "and ask for so little in return," biting on your lip didn't do much to muffle your next cry so you turned your face to the sheets instead, back arching at her ministrations, some masochistic part of you desperately needing her to hurt you again and again, "and this is what you give me? Disrespect?" She paused to lean down over your much smaller body, "Give me one reason why I should please you after that."

"It's for you to decide, Mistress," You panted, turning your head to the side once more so that your voice wasn't drowned out by silk, "I'm here to serve you in whatever way you deem fit." You knew your way around Alcina well enough by now. You just had to tell her that she was the one in control and she'd be satisfied.

"So you'd give no protest if I left you right now? Like this?" She tested.

"I'd miss your touch but wouldn't question your authority, Mistress." You breathed out and she hummed before grabbing the leash, pulling you back slowly and making you push yourself up on your hand, back arched and legs still spread. Her other hand came to your waist and pulled off the remains of your underwear before you felt her- or some part of her - pressing against your womanhood.

The hand on your hip vanished and you were able to better feel what it was that was swiping up and down between her legs.

"Want to see it, my Lady, please." You sighed and she loosened her hold on the chain enough for you to look down and gasp. Silicone, sleek between your legs, peeked out from between your thighs and the lady gave a slow thrust to make the shaft of it brush against your heat. You took in a deep breath, both excited and anxious. It was certainly in proportion to Alcina and you tilted your head back to catch a glimpse of her face. One of your hands went back to feel her hip, running down her thigh, feeling the straps there that held the toy to her hips.

You pushed yourself up a little to try and kiss her but she was still so much taller than you. Though, all it took was for her to lean down a little, tilting her head and wrapping her hand around your neck to tilt yours too so that she could capture your lips in a searing kiss, lips trailing to your ear.

"The moment you want to stop, you tell me, pet." She whispered and gently pressed a kiss to your neck as you spoke:

"Of course, my Lady." You whispered back, captured by her eyes as you felt the toy press to your entrance, Alcina's hand on your back easing you back into the softness of the mattress. You moaned as you felt her press her strap to your entrance, slowly pushing in as you squirmed under her touch, uncomfortable at the stretch and itching for more all at once. You could feel the leash pulling at your neck again as she started a steady pace, letting you adjust for as long as you needed.

Though, she quickly picked up the pace once you were pushing your hips back into her thrusts, pulling you up by the chain so that you were pushed up on your arms, kneeling on the bed. Time became a blur and each moan melted into another as she relentlessly fucked you, losing count of each time she pushed you over the edge until you screamed as she said you would.

After only the gods know how long, you felt her large hands delicately caress your hips before you were being eased to lie flat on your stomach. You let out a long hum at the feeling of a warm towel being rubbed down your body and cleaning you, drearily looking over your shoulder to Alcina who was now sitting beside you in a silk robe. Sleepily, you reached out for her hand to bring it to your mouth, covering her knuckles in kisses as she smiled down at you,

In moments like these, it made it easy to question what you were to each other. Could you be considered lovers? Because employees certainly weren't supposed to do this with their bosses. But, when you looked at the softness in her eyes as they met yours, all such thoughts evaporated and you simply wanted to thrive in this moment, even if you weren't entirely sure if you could move your body.

"Rest, little one." She cooed and you managed to turn over as she dropped the towel off the side of the bed. You made a grabbing motion with your hands which she tilted her head at, looking almost confused.

"Hold me." You murmured. "I want to be in your arms." Part of you knew that you were pushing the line and another part knew that it had already been crossed but Alcina seemed to be just as keen to cross that border as she scooped you into her arms and laid down with you curled up to her side. "I want to stay like this forever..." You murmured against her shoulder where your head rested, feeling her bring your thigh over her stomach.

"Forever is a long time, sweet girl." You felt her bring her hand up to caress your hair, a melancholic tone in her voice. You could think of no more words as you drifted into sleep.

━━━━━━━━┛ ✠ ┗━━━━━━━━

The next day, your awakening was much more unusual than you could have imagined. The room was filled with a loud buzzing of insects' wings and the girls were giddily hovering at the end of the bed.

"Mother, when can we begin the hunt?!" Cassandra grinned and you groggily looked around the room to find that Alcina had covered your body with the silk sheets.

"As soon as (Y/n) has dressed and eaten. Go tend to your weapons for a while and I'm sure she will join you within the hour." Alcina replied. At this, the girls seemed to dim a little as the youngest two headed for the door while Bela lingered for a moment to give you a knowing look before herding her sisters out of the door.

You glanced up to Alcina who gently caressed your cheek with her hand before she began to sit up. She fetched a short robe of hers that you had often seen in the wardrobe but never on your Lady. Coaxing you out of the bed, she helped to dress you, the sleeves ridiculously long on your arms and the hem of the white robe reaching your ankles.

It felt odd to have Alcina dress you instead of vice versa but you intended on helping her to at least dress this morning.

"I'll come back to help you dress." You piped up as you made your way for the door, knowing that the girls wouldn't want to be kept waiting too long. Your Lady dismissed such an idea with the wave of her hand.

"I have little work today and would much rather have you meet the girls on time." She replied as she looked over the untidy bed and her bathrobe that was still on the floor. "Though, do send one of the maids up to fix this mess." She added and you were out of the door. As you made your way to your own bedroom, you suddenly became very grateful that the next few hours would be shared with the Dimitrescu sisters; already, you worried about how exactly your Lady saw you and you knew that you needed to indulge in some form of distraction. You could talk to Alcina about tit at the appropriate time and perhaps even confide in Bela again who seemed to know all too well why she had found you in her mother's bed.

As you pulled on your uniform, you wondered if it would be suitable enough for the activities which lay ahead but allowed yourself to come to the conclusion that perhaps Alcina would have some different attire made for you if you proved yourself today. You also wondered if you could possibly get closer to Daniela today too. Other than her offer of comfort in the basement following Amelie's murder and helping you to catch the delivery boy, you had had very few interactions with her - you had shared tea with Bela and been taught some basic sword moves by Cassandra but the youngest was still quite a stranger to you.

You decided that you would make an effort to befriend her today.

As professionally as possible.

In a non 'I want to impress my beautiful boss that I adore by showing that I care for her daughters' happiness and wellbeing' way.

Fuck.

Styling your hair in a manner that it would not get in your way, you put on your shoes and grabbed your sword, heading down to the foyer to meet the daughters after notifying a maid who you happened to walk by on the way there.

When you arrived there, Ina was bound by the daughters and Cassandra was tapping the edge of her sickle against the trembling woman's cheek. Despite her tremours and tears, the older woman seemed to keep up her resilient face.

You wondered if it would make it all the more satisfying to watch it fade when she died.

You pushed down the voice of morality that told you such thoughts were wrong when you remembered just where you were. Castle Dimitrescu. If you hadn't proved yourself to your lady, you're sure that she would have allowed her daughters to pick you off as a newcomer once she deemed you unfit for Mother Miranda. Amelie would have killed you if you didn't tell Alcina about her first and Ina was the poison tongue stirring hatred against you among the staff.

You crouched down before her and you could see that she had something to say - as usual - but she was clever enough to keep her mouth shut in front of the daughters.

You looked up to Cassandra who was analysing your behaviour with a glint in her eye.

"Where will we be hunting?" You prompted.

"We wanted to wait for you to choose. The weather is warm enough for us to go outside but we know that you don't know the woods as we do." She replied. You hummed for a moment before glancing over to Daniela.

"Why don't you choose?" Her black and blood-stained lips curled up into a gleaming smile.

Chapter Text

"The woods!" Daniela clapped her hands together giddily, a few stray flies whizzing out of the way before they could get caught between her palms.

Cassandra approached you with a belt and sheath for your sword, coaxing you to lift your arms as she fixed it around your waist. As you slid your sword into place, you felt the middle child's hands at your back and could feel the hilt of a dagger fixed at your back too.

"It's always best to have more than one." She advised with a smile that was just a little too wide to be considered normal. You nodded your head, taking in her words. The girls were sharing this precious information with you and you took it as a sign that you belonged among them, even if you knew that your status was below theirs and they were much stronger. But you were durable, very durable, in fact, and you would take your chance to use this to your advantage if you truly needed to.

Meanwhile, Ina was still scowling at you as Bela grabbed her by her bindings and dragged her out of the castle door, the rest of you all following her lead. The late spring day was pleasant: warm sun and a gentle heat hanging in the air, the flowers of the garden blooming in various colours. Though, you spotted a few weeds in the beds. What was the gardener so busy with that she hadn't uprooted them yet?

You turned your attention away from the courtyard gardens to realise that you were lagging behind the sisters, jogging a little to catch up and mentally cursing your impractical shoes. In the uneven terrain that took over the ground the closer you got to the forest, you longed for some sports shoes or hiking boots. If you managed to prove yourself today, hopefully, you would be gifted more suitable attire for a hunt.

You noted to yourself that you'd been calling this a hunt the whole time as though Ina were merely a wild animal, a fox being let loose to be captured. You found yourself wondering how you'd ever thought of such a thing as wrong. This is how you get by now. This is how you pave the way for yourself now.

You glanced over to Ina and remembered how little she thought of you. You remembered how Amelie said that she would have killed you. Everyone in this castle was just looking to get to the top. You saw how she was with the other laundrettes; she was at the top of her chain and settled there. You wouldn't settle for less.

You looked down at your hands for a moment, the hands that no longer belonged to the woman who first arrived here. You'd changed quickly in the past weeks and you were sure that you would only continue to do so. You looked up to Ina who was grumbling under her breath at how Bela was roughly guiding her over gnarled tree roots and up the paths which were trodden in the dirt. You're sure that she would help you to change.

Eventually, once you had been walking for what felt like far too long, Bela used her sickle to cut Ina's hands free. You spotted the redness of the woman's wrists and glanced around before your eyes fell back on Cassandra who was now approaching the target of the hunt. The flies around her seemed to buzz with excitement, their wings beating louder as they whizzed around her.

"Run, rabbit." She spoke with that wide grin, and Ina was off stumbling through the underbrush. You assumed that perhaps Ina wasn't the most interesting hunt the girls had shared in the past: it's likely that they would more often go for the younger or newer maids who were faster, nimbler, more agile. But they didn't seem to have any lack of interest in your prey of choice and you wondered if it was because they enjoyed your unusual company. Surely there hadn't been many others who were quite as willing as you were to join them in their sadistic pleasures?

That thought stood out to you: 'sadistic pleasures'. You had your reasons for this, didn't you? You weren't taking pleasure in killing, only bonding with Alcina's daughters.

Right?

This idea weighed on your shoulders and suddenly you felt yourself sympathising with Atlas; carrying the weight of the world with him each day.

The sunlight filtered down over you all in a patchwork of leaves and you realised that you could no longer hear the thudding of Ina's running feet. You unsheathed the dagger from your back and turned it in your hand, taking in the metalwork that spun around the hilt, the little slivers of silvery ivy coiling around it. Nothing in Castle Dimitrescu was ever lacking in elegance, not even the various murder weapons.

Bela sat upon a fallen tree, kicking a little at the dirt in boredom.

"We have to let her get a head start," Daniela explained, bouncing on her toes in anticipation, "It's no fun if we catch them right away."

"Do they always run or do some of them try to hide?" You asked, wondering if they were willing to share their stories with you.

"Only the slow ones end up hiding." The redhead replied, "Some of them don't hide at all, some have thrown themselves from the cliff by the Beneviento Estate and others have hung themselves from trees before we could find them. What a way to ruin a hunt!" She huffed at this part and pouted like a child recalling a punishment. You paused to ponder over this information. You had seen what Daniela was capable of alongside her mother in the basement with Amelie's mangled corpse. But what about the three daughters altogether? What things have they done that are so terrible that maidens have favoured taking their lives over being caught?

You almost shivered at the thought. You were ready to kill again to prove your place but to torture someone? Would you have the stomach for it? You weren't too keen on vomiting at the sight of organs again. You pushed those thoughts from your mind as you waited for the girls to initiate this hunt.

Eventually, Daniela leapt to her feet, snatching your attention from the grass you had begun to pick at. "Let's go!" She exclaimed gleefully. You got to your feet as Cassandra sped off, Bela lingering behind a little to watch over the rest of you all. However, Daniela grabbed you by the wrist and happily brought you along with her and Bela deemed that you had an appropriate enough guide for your first hunt with them.

Daniela kept up a fast pace as you followed the direction Ina had fled to.

"She's probably going to try and hide somewhere in the village." Daniela hummed, "What a fool, the villagers will sell her out the moment they see us." A smile tugged at the corners of her blackened and blood-stained lips as she pulled you along with her, having to maintain a fast jog to keep up with her until the village came into view.

Upon hearing the loud buzzing of the flies that broke off from the Dimitrescu daughter's body, the villagers bowed their heads as you joined the redhead in stalking the pathways of the small town. There was a woman who looked to be in her fifties behind a market stall selling chicken and eggs. Her eyes met Daniela's for a moment and you didn't miss the glint of offence that flashed in her amber eyes before the woman shakily pointed her hand to a rather large house behind her. Daniela clapped her hands together and pulled you along once more. It seemed that the maids weren't the only ones around who were petrified of the Dimitrescu daughters.

You stumbled over your feet multiple times as Daniela pulled you along; she seemed to forget in her excitement that you could not move as quickly as she was able to. She led you through a path of long trampled grass to a small shed that stood outside. She pressed her ear to the door as the flies around her fell into silence, her grin widening as she turned to face you.

You nodded your head in understanding and the redhead pushed the door open with a sudden shove. Her eyes widened when she was met with a shotgun barrel.

"Surprise, you crazy witch!"

In a fraction of a second, you found yourself moving before you could even think. Throwing your sword like a javelin, the glint of metal and sudden movement caught the older woman's attention who turned her weapon on you, firing blindly. The tip of the sword seemed to wound her before falling to the floor as you cried out, doubling over and clutching your midriff. Panic turned your breath to gasps as Daniela turned on the woman who has now dropped her gun, pouncing and starting to slash at her.

You looked down to the hole in your dress that was surrounded by a small blossoming of blood, though your flesh had already healed. You tried to straighten yourself out but cried out again, falling to your knees this time.

It seemed that rapid healing was not always an advantage.

"Miss Daniela-" You called to her but she seemed far too preoccupied with mangling Ina's corpse. You let out a groan as you put a hand on the ground to steady yourself, the sound of flies' wings filling your ears. You could feel the small creatures fly up against you, tickling your flesh as you gasped for breath, worried about the bullet lodged inside of you. "Miss-" Your fingers clutched into raw earth beneath you as each breath only became more and more pained.

"(Y/n)?" Cassandra was at your side, grabbing your shoulder to sit you upright but it only made you cry out in pain, causing her to abruptly let go. The appearance of her older sisters seemed to have caught Daniela's attention as she was now in front of you, eyes wide with worry.

"It hurts." Was all you could manage to get out as you slumped to lay on the floor, finding that it relieved a small amount of the pain.

"What happened?" You could hear the urgency in Bela's voice as she looked up to her youngest sister.

"When I opened the door, the prey had a gun. (Y/n) threw her sword at it and it just fired." There was a pause as she seemed to figure out what was wrong, "Did she heal while the bullet's still in there?"

"It looks like it." Cassandra agreed as you let out a long groan.

"Then the damaged clothes are the only thing we have to show where it is. We need to get her to a medic." The eldest added as she examined the small bloodstain and tear in your uniform.

"No." Cassandra chimed in adamantly, "We know someone who can deal with this better. Uncle Heisenberg knows enough about human bodies and he will be able to get it out from her. If we take her to a medic, they'll slice her open to fish it out and she'll heal up before they can even figure out where the bullet is."

"Good thinking." Bela nodded her head as she reached under you, making you cry out at being moved. She looked down at you sympathetically, knowing that carrying you only caused you more pain, "I'll move as quickly as I can, I promise." She spoke in a hushed tone before she sped off on her swarm of flies. You clenched your jaw to hold back a scream as the village flew past you. The girls took you over a bridge and through what seemed to be a scrapyard before laying you down on a table inside a somewhat rundown building that looked almost like a garage to you from the inside.

"I'll find Uncle Heisenberg," Daniela called as she vanished into a swarm, doors flying open in her wake. Cassandra reached over for a light to shine over you, wheeling it over, knowing it could be of use as Bela examined the damage to your clothing. Seconds seemed like entire minutes as you waited for Daniela's return with the girls' uncle.

"She's taking too long, I'll go help," Bela uttered before she too burst into a swarm and left.

"Hang in there." Cassandra hesitantly brushed some hair away from your face. You could imagine that this was an odd experience for her: comforting someone through pain when she was usually the one inflicting it for her own entertainment.

"Alright, what's the situation?" A man's voice called out as he was dropped to his feet in the room, carried by each arm by the two other daughters.

"She has rapid external healing abilities but was shot and now the bullet is stuck inside." Daniela explained, "A doctor wouldn't be able to get it out but we thought you could control the bullet to-"

"But I'll need to know exactly where it is so I don't cause any more damage. You said she heals externally, will her organs heal if I tear them taking it out now?"

"Hasn't been tested yet." You bit out through gritted teeth, doing your best to not writhe in pain. Your tolerance for it seems to have gone up much higher since your mutation, you noted.

"Then I'll need to do a scan so I can-"

"Don't you fucking move me again." You threw your head back as your arms clutched around your middle, glancing over to the man. He had grey hair and stubble to match. He wore a long trenchcoat and various dog tags with a hat casting a shadow over his face that was already partially concealed by his tinted glasses.

"Sorry, buttercup, but there's not much of a choice for you if you want the pain to stop." You shot him daggers with your eyes but he simply examined where the entry wound was by the damage to your dress before picking you up bridal style. You let out another long groan in place of a scream as it made you gasp, causing a sharp pain to spread throughout your chest while he carried you through tight corridors that were riddled with pipes and cables.

"Should someone tell Lady Dimi-"

"No!" They call called out in unison.

"Mother can become very possessive." Bela began.

"And she doesn't like me," Heisenberg added, "So, chances are that she'll lose sight of reason and demand your return to the castle even if I haven't treated you yet."

"Don't expect me to keep things from my Lady." You shook your head slightly as you let it rest against the man's chest. He smelled distinctly of oil and expensive tobacco.

"You can tell Mistress Mommy all you want when you get back but for now I'd rather have you not die on my property or else she'll definitely be out for my head." You almost blushed at the allusion to his words. Had he been told about your sexual relationship with Alcina or was it just expected from her handmaids at this point?

Eventually, you were placed on an operating table with a machine put over you, watching as the man examined it carefully before he splayed his hand out before you and you cried out, body jolting upwards.

"I'm gonna need you to hold still."

"What? You have all this operating equipment and no form of painkillers?" You snapped, the pain making you easily irritable.

"Believe me, buttercup, you don't want to be any of the patients that this bed has seen." He motioned with his other hand and suddenly the daughters were holding you down, glancing worriedly between you and their uncle. The bullet moved within you again and you cried out, not holding back this time. The machine over you was moved at a different angle, Heisenberg watching the screen of it intently as the bullet slowly made its way out from between your ribs and into the air, floating mere inches from the wound that healed right before your eyes with sickening crunching and squelching noises as you flesh wove itself back together.

You sat up, the pain gone and looked at the man who seemed to be the one causing the bullet to swirl around in the air like magic. Now pain-free, you found yourself amazed by what was a simple trick for everyone else in the room, eyes intently following the little slither of metal that had caused you such agony.

"How are you doing that?" You uttered in complete surprise. You thought that 9 feet tall ladies with daughters that could transform into flies was the end of these bizarre findings. Apparently not.

"Magnetic fields. My mechanical insides and cadou allow me to control-"

"You can't tell her that!" Bela burst out, "Mother has forbidden it, she wishes to watch her figure it out by herself!"

"What's a cadou?" You asked, hoping that a man would not be so easily swayed by three young ladies who he saw as nieces. He seemed to think for a moment before a cocky smirk tugged at his lips.

"What's your name, little maid?" He looked over his glasses and you caught a glimpse of pale green eyes in the dim light of the dirty room as you stood from the operating table, catching the bullet that still hovered within the air.

"(Y/n)." You replied, stashing the little piece of metal into your pocket as you thrust out your other hand, him shaking it strongly as he pulled you in a little closer to pat the side of your arm with a calloused palm.

"Do you like coffee?"

"Love it." You replied, a knowing grin teasing your lips. You knew exactly where this was going and you liked it a lot.

"Come join me for a cup." The hand on your shoulder turned you towards the door as he waved to the daughters. He mentioned earlier that Alcina was not fond of him. Perhaps he felt the same way and saw this as a chance to get back at her: ruin her fun by telling you everything that she wanted to watch you figure out for yourself.

"You three head on home to your mother. (Y/n) and I are going to have a quality conversation."

Chapter Text

Your jaw was clenched tight in thought as you cradled your second cup of coffee in your hands, basking in its warmth as you gazed out of the window of the control room and across the factory where various soldats were being transported across a hanging belt. The factory was cold and you supposed it was to stop any of the machinery inside from overheating but it only made you tense.

"And how do you know that I won't go running to Alcina with all of this?" You raised a brow, "I could foil every part of your plan that I've just been told of."

"Because if you weren't clever, you would have died weeks ago." He replied simply, taking a drag of his cigar. You took in a deep breath, the scent of the tobacco filling your nose.

"So what is it that you plan on doing exactly? Saving me from Miranda?" You glanced back over to him, trying to read what his plan was here. You suspected that he hadn't told you everything and he was wise not to. You both knew where your loyalties truly lay and it was with the ladies of Castle Dimitrescu. Part of you even wondered if any of what he told you was true and if this was just a test.

"You're an outsider. If anyone has an advantage here, it's you. Miranda has this whole damn village wrapped around her finger because they know no better but you," He pointed in your direction as he spoke, "You know things that she doesn't want the others to."

"Like what exactly? I know that she's not a god and she's just some mutation of a woman? What difference does it make if she's a deity, an unstoppable force to everyone else." You took a quick sip of coffee, pondering over how much you could reveal in making your next point, "And Alcina isn't as much of a fanatic of Miranda's as you think. She appreciates the power that she's got from her, sure, but she's growing tired of Miranda taking what's hers and feeling entitled to her privacy."

"Has she visited you yet?" He asked.

"Yes. My Lady told her that I'm an unfit host. She never fully explained what that meant except that going along with it meant that I could stay safe with her."

"Miranda thinks she can take what she wants from everyone." Heisenberg now stood up, pacing a few times before stopping to look over his factory. "She took me, my body, my identity." He sharply turned to face you, "Don't tell me that this demented little village that she's turned into her playground hasn't changed you."

You fell silent at that. Indeed, you had hardened much since you were the blushing, panicking girl when Alcina had first arrived to collect you. You'd killed now and you were sure that you would do it again. To begin with, it had made you sick with yourself but now you saw it as a way of means.

"Once you're in, you're hers and she doesn't like having her things taken away. That super-sized bitch can have you for now but Miranda will snatch you like a child with a toy as soon as she wants you."

"You will refrain from referring to my Lady like that." You snapped. He put his hands up in surrender after rolling his eyes, signalling that it would not happen again. "I don't care about Miranda's plans or this village or whatever weird mould she's implanting people with. I stand with the Dimitrescu family and that is all."

"But you see," He quickly chimed in, "in Miranda's eyes, that means you have to stand with her too and she'll bully Alcina into making you pledge to her. Alcina might not like Miranda taking what's hers and sticking her nose in her business but, at the end of the day, she has to follow that bitch's orders." You grew pensive as you finished the rest of your coffee, setting the empty mug on the ledge of the control panel.

"So what's your proposal?" You raised a brow, crossing your arms over your newly healed chest, "I know you're not telling me all of this without reason. You want my help with something." A smile pulled at the corners of his mouth.

"I knew you were smart, kid. I want you to play along with Miranda for a while. If things go well, she'll implant you and-"

"Well?!" You exclaimed, "A few minutes ago, you said that the cadou kills most of its hosts!"

"But you heal a lot faster than most of the villagers who are implanted with it."

"But we don't know if I can heal internal-"

"I tore your lung getting that bullet out." He cut you off and you fell silent at the revelation, "You would have died by now if you couldn't heal your insides. From what you've told me, you can rapidly repair what's already there but you can't rapidly replace what's been lost entirely. Alcina drank your blood: it went to a place where your body couldn't reach it and so it couldn't put the pieces back together because something was missing. You were shot and had your lung torn but nothing went anywhere so your body patched itself together." He walked closer to you now.

"So if the cadou usually attacks the internal organs, I'll repair while it damages...?" You raised a brow.

"Precisely."

"And if that only causes pain?"

"It's always painful but it will merge with you soon enough." You still didn't like the sound of that but decided to bite your tongue instead.

"And where is Miranda now? She's only stopped by for one visit and considering the fact that she put spies in the castle, she's keeping eyes on you all from a distance." You asked. Heisenberg seemed to be a fountain of information and you intended to keep on drinking.

"She's watching over a child at the moment." You raised your brows. The cult leader false god? Babysitting? The man seemed to see the disbelief on your face because he proceeded to elaborate, "She believes that this child is the key to harnessing the true power of the mould and to be a vessel for reviving her daughter."

"That's what all this is for? Finding a vessel for a dead kid?" You raised a brow.

"She's hellbent." That was all he said in a reply. You paused for a moment as you thought. You wanted to learn everything you could.

"And how long has she been planning all this for?" You prompted.

"Almost a century." Your brows shot up at hearing it aloud. Of course, everything in this village seemed frozen in time but hearing it put so plainly by the man before you seemed to really lock things into perspective. "Look, I get that helping me might not be in your best interest. But you want to help Alcina, don't you?"

"What do you mean by that?" You asked, wanting to make sure that you understood before you agreed to anything.

"Get rid of Miranda and you can set her free." He spelt it out for you, "Miranda gave her everything, sure, but she can take it with the snap of her fingers too." He came up behind you and placed his hands on your shoulders, leaning closer to your ear, "Imagine what it would do to her if Miranda took her girls from her." You felt a pang in your chest at imagining your Lady being so heartbroken but you weren't yet convinced.

"And how do I know that anything you're saying is true? Why would Miranda ever have reason to take so much from my Lady?" You narrowed your eyes at him.

"Because I've been here a lot longer than you. I've looked evil in the face and called her Mother." He looked over his tinted glasses again and you could sense the sincerity in his voice.

"And how will we communicate? I'm banned from sending letters or using the phone... unless?" You bit down on your lip as you thought over the only solution in your head and it wasn't one that you were entirely keen on.

"Unless?"

"I could ask to visit Lady Beneviento and you could meet me along the path so that we can discuss things..."

"Excellent!" Heisenberg exclaimed, looking proud of himself for finally finding an ally in his struggle against the tyrant of the village.

"Not excellent! The last time I visited her, she drugged me in an attempt to keep me but let me stumble my way through delusions back to the castle all by myself instead!" You snapped.

"No other than us Lords have ever returned from the most private parts of her estate alive. You should have a medal." He joked but you merely glared in response, not happy that he was poking jokes at an event that left you so shaken up.

"I don't like the plan but if it's what it takes to free my Lady from Mother Miranda's grasp..." You hesitated before you held your hand out to the Lord before you. "Then we have a deal, Lord Heisenberg." He took your hand and strongly shook it, sealing what was to now be a secret partnership.

━━━━━━━━┛ ✠ ┗━━━━━━━━

You returned to the castle and headed right for your room, wishing to dispose of your dress and take a bath. On your way there, you found Alcina pacing the corridors, her head snapping in your direction at the sound of your shoes on the ground.

"Oh, my darling girl!" She called out, arms reaching towards you as she crossed the corridor in a few strides, "I was worried sick after what the girls told me, how are you? Are you alright?" She crouched down to delicately trace her fingers around the blood-stained tear in your dress, checking the healed skin beneath.

"Yes, my Lady, I am much better now." You replied, your heart swelling at knowing she cared enough for you to worry so much.

"I'll have to reward the doctor for taking care of you, was it the old woman on the west side of the village?" She asked as she stood and guided you with her hand on your back to her room.

"Actually... it was Lord Heisenberg who helped me." You spoke quietly, being wary that the two did not get on. You could feel her tense up, followed by the way her head slowly looked down at you, lowering herself to the chaise lounge.

"Heisenberg? The girls took you there? That's where you've been?" The disdain was clear in her tone.

"I understand your dislike towards him, my Lady," you began, "but you must understand that with my mutation, sending me to a doctor may have resulted in more pain without any progress. Only Lord Heisenberg could take out the bullet without having to slice into me over and over again while I continued to heal..." You watched her body language but she merely beckoned you closer. You quickly obeyed, dropping to your knees far too easily when she pointed to the floor at her feet.

No matter how high you climbed up in castle Dimitrescu's hierarchy, you would always willingly obey your Lady, it seemed. She reached out and took your chin in her large palm, fingers and thumb snaking up the sides of your jaw and turning your head this way and that, inspecting you.

"And he handled you with care?"

"He did his very best, my Lady and treated me to some coffee after." You replied, "I felt safe." You watched her nose scrunch a little, her lips pursing into a pout.

"You stink of that dingy factory, you will go take a bath once I dismiss you."

"Of course, my Lady." You replied, eyes taking in each detail of her face. When you had first met her, you found it difficult to function under her gaze, never having seen a woman so beautiful before. Now, you still saw her in the same way but only found yourself losing all control of your mind in these moments.

"Listen when I talk, little one." She spoke, a warning edge to her otherwise collected voice. You nodded your head to show that you were now listening.

"You returned far later than my daughters. What kept you at the factory?"

"Lord Heisenberg and I were talking over coffee." You began, "You see, he tore my lung when he was extracting-"

"You said that you were handled with care!"

"It was an accident, my Lady, I beg your pardon." You retorted, "But we made an important discovery from it." She raised her brow, a silent sign for you to continue, watching her lean back and missing the warmth from her gloved hand, "My body can heal so long as all its cells are still there. My lungs repaired themselves but didn't regenerate because my healing is about putting pieces back together, not about growing new cells to replace the old. It's why I still suffer from the effects of blood loss; I can't replace the missing blood cells rapidly." You watched emotions flicker across her amber eyes, the first intrigue then anxiety.

"Mother Miranda cannot hear of this..." She began as she got to her feet, walking over to her window to grab a cigarette from a box that she had left there. You got to her feet to grab her lighter, reaching up as she leaned down, not having to go all that far due to the length of her holder. "I will send Heisenberg some gifts as soon as possible, I do not want him to share this information with her... You'll prove to be a better vessel and she'll want..." She stopped herself.

"Not many people survive having a cadou implanted..." You voiced her anxiety aloud, wanting her to know that you were there to hear her troubles, that they were more important than her watching you play detective in this village.

She spun on her heel and her eyes were alight with anger.

"Whatever that foolish man told you, you are to forget about it! Am I understood?"

"But my Lady-"

"Am I understood?!" She exclaimed, towering over you, her grip on her pipe causing her hand to shake. You looked to the ground.

"Yes, Lady Dimitrescu."

"I kept you in the dark because there are things that keep you safer if unknown. I stopped you from communicating with anyone outside of this castle lest Mother Miranda catch wind that you're a perfect vessel for the cadou and now the creature I hate most in this village knows everything that Mother Miranda needs to hear to take you from me!" She dropped herself to her vanity seat and looked over her furious expression in the mirror. It seemed to show her just how angry she looked and her expression calmed, though she remained just as tense.

"My Lady..." You began softly, not wishing to provoke her, "I won't be leaving your side any time soon." She scoffed and looked over her shoulder to you.

"You think that you can take on Mother Miranda? The local god?" A venom swam in her tone.

"I am yours, not hers." The moment the words left your lips, you gasped, stumbling backwards. Alcina's arms flew across the top of her vanity, makeup flying and perfume bottles smashing to the ground - an explosion of sweet floral scents to accompany the fire within the woman before you.

"I am hers and all that I own is hers! My daughters are hers! My home is hers! Every damned brick of this castle belongs to her, every measly shack in that village, each and every breath that everyone in this valley takes belongs to Mother Miranda!" She burst out, now on her feet with her hand around your neck, your toes the only part of you now touching the floor, "You are a foolish little girl if you think that you can defeat a god! If Heisenberg so much as utters your name at the next meeting, she will take you to be implanted with the cadou and even if you survive, your mind may not even remain! You may as well be an animated corpse!"

"My Lady, you're hurting me." You rasped out and she dropped you, a look of shock mixing into her anger.

"Get out." She spat through gritted teeth, turning her back to you. You obeyed, feeling tears flood your eyes as you closed the door behind you. There was another crash from within Alcina's room and you hurried off to your room.

Alcina's words played over in your head and only cemented the idea in your mind that you were right to ally with Heisenberg. Mother Miranda was a monster to you if she could stir such fear within your Lady and you intended to set her free from the goddess' restraints. Perhaps Lady Dimitrescu was right to fear for you but she didn't know that you weren't alone. You smudged away your tears and stripped of your dress, throwing it in the laundry hamper and going to run a bath, pouring in some bubble mix. You had a feeling that you would be sitting in there for a while to brood over your thoughts.

As the steaming water filled the tub, you went to brush out your hair and clean up your makeup that was smudged from crying twice today - both from different types of pain. You hated the feeling of displeasing your Lady.

You sank down into the water and let the heat soothe your skin, thinking over how things would be from now on. You would have to find a way to convince Alcina to let you visit Lady Beneviento so that you could communicate with Heisenberg but had no clue how to go about it now that she had reacted in such a way. You washed your hair and scrubbed down your body, deciding to stay in the tub until the water grew cold.

You rubbed your hair dry and dressed in a nightgown, glancing over to your bed. You bit on your lip as you considered going to sleep. The sheets looked warm and inviting, safe from confrontation.

But your better judgement took control and you wrapped yourself in a robe and stepping into a pair of slippers before grabbing a candle in its holder and making your way down to the kitchen.

You knew your Lady better than that.

Chapter Text

You made a quick trip to the library, finding a section on baking before selecting a book and flipping through the cake recipes. A much as you'd love to make something fancier for Alcina, you also didn't want to overstep your abilities and end up going to her room empty-handed.

Setting the book down on the kitchen side, you were relieved for the late hour. Most of the staff, who weren't very keen on you, were asleep at this hour. You looked over the red velvet recipe and set all of the ingredients out on the counter before nodding to yourself, grabbing a kitchen knife and holding it up in the mix of candle and moonlight to check its sharpness.

Deeming it suitable, you grabbed a bowl and made your way down to the basement, using a candle to light your way. You could hear laboured breathing and used it to guide you to exactly where you needed to be: a cell where a young woman was bent over with her arms restrained behind her back. She looked sickly thin and almost grey in the face, various containers of blood and IV tubes lay on the counter in her cell. You considered taking what you needed from there but could infer that this was supply for Sanguis Virginis and, therefore, not to be tampered with.

Her eyes lazily rolled up to look at you as you entered.

"Do you need some help?" You asked as you sat before her, cross-legged and setting the candle down beside you.

"Water..." She rasped out and you pouted, tilting your head to the side.

"I need some blood." You spoke up and she let out a sob.

"I can't... Not again..." She whimpered. You looked over her dress and assumed that she was from the village, judging by the fact that it seemed as though it was from the past.

"I can't set you free but I can kill you if you want." You offered and you watched as she weakly lifted her head to meet your eyes. You reached out to push her hair away from her face, letting her rest the weight of her head in your palm as you set your hand under her chin. "You won't suffer anymore." You whispered enticingly, "It will all be over..." She opened her mouth but no words came out. How could anyone make such a decision? "No more suffering... You won't turn into one of those mindless creatures crawling around in the dark down here..." You whispered into her ear, "Please, I really need your blood for something. I'll even hold you so you won't be alone. I'm much less sadistic than the girls..." The young woman before you looked up with tired eyes before she nodded her head in defeat, sniffling as tears trickled down her cheeks. "Good..." You cooed.

You knelt beside her, bringing the bowl under her head before the knife came out and you could feel the spray across your hand before the sound of it dripping into the bowl resounded in the otherwise silent basement. You rubbed your hand up and down the length of her back as you felt her pulse fade, leaning down to check the contents of the bowl that was now half full. You set it aside as you cut the dead woman's hand free, lifting her with a bit of effort before setting her on the bench, taking off your robe to cover her with.

"Rest easy." You brushed her hair away from her face and hesitated, leaning down to press a peck to her forehead. She was dead already but you still felt the need to comfort her. Your hands trembled as you took up the bowl and candle to leave but your body cared much more than your mind did. This was how things worked around here. You were just fitting in. She was dying anyway, you were her angel of mercy.

You were her angel of mercy; that's all you had to tell yourself.

You made your way back to the kitchen and got to measuring and mixing all of the dry ingredients together before adding the rest in. You searched for a baking tin and heated the oven before setting the red velvet batter in there to bake. In the meantime, you got to work on the frosting, not being able to resist sampling it every now and then as it thickened in the bowl. Once you deemed it good enough, you mixed in the blood from the woman in the basement, watching it change the frosting from a pristine white to a soft pink.

You checked on the cake after a while, deciding that it needed a little longer and sitting on the counter, looking around the shadowy kitchen. Your eyes landed on the frosting bowl and your stomach let out a growl.

Dropping to the floor, you looked over its contents, taking in its sugary smell and biting your lip. You'd drank the wine and enjoyed it, why would this be any different? You gathered some on the end of your index finger and held it before your face, examining it. You brought it under your nose and took in the scent, wondering if you could actually smell the blood mixed in with the sugar or if it was just in your head. As much as you'd been merciful on the woman, it would be cruel to kill her for a cake and then not even enjoy it, surely? You popped your finger into your mouth and took in the taste. There was a distinct edge to it, a faint and almost salty bitterness.

You gagged and put your hand over your mouth before you hardened yourself. Perhaps no more for you but she hadn't gone to waste and you were sure that Alcina would like it. You grabbed some oven gloves and took the cake out, letting it cool before applying the frosting and boiling the kettle over the stove to brew some tea, adding a little blood to the mix as you had watched Bela do before. You cut the cake into slices and set everything out on a tray to bring upstairs.

You thought about the woman as you made your way up the grand stairs towards your Lady's chambers. The poor girl was suffering and you offered her comfort and peace. She never would have made it out alive so you gave her the only better option. Now she wouldn't even have to become a moroaică. You set the tray on the table and knocked on Alcina's door.

"It's late. Go to bed and we'll talk over it in the morning, pet." You could hear Alcina's voice from inside, her words not quite as put-together as usual.

"But it won't be fresh in the morning." You retorted. You took her silence as intrigue and pushed the door open a little, picking up the tray and making the rest of the way inside, setting the tray down on a table and pouring a cup of tea from the pot. Alcina hesitantly made her way over, not wanting to seem too eager. "I made you a cake, my Lady." You smiled softly as you glanced to her, taking a seat on one of the chairs, "Something to sweeten your mood so that it's easier for you to talk. I understand that this is very difficult for you and only wish to relieve that pressure by whatever means I can." She was in her night robe now, you noticed, as she took a seat and looked over the cake as you served a slice onto a plate. "It's red velvet and the tea is blackberry."

Alcina took the plate, sighing, almost in surrender to your kindness.

"I'll send for a maid to clean up before you wake in the morning." You added as you brought your legs up on the chair. Alcina took a fork and hummed at the first bite, thinking over the flavour. "I'm sorry if I worried you earlier, my Lady. I... I think an awful lot of you and didn't mean to upset you by what I said. But I understand the dangers better now..."

"Good," Alcina murmured, looking over the cake and you worried for a moment that she didn't like it. "I'm sorry for the way I reacted. I was upset, yes, but that it was unjust to turn my emotions unto you. And what is in this? There's such a flavour that I'm sure I know but-"

"I put blood in the frosting. From a girl in the basement." Before Alcina could react, you also added in, "I didn't take any of the supply for the wine, I killed her myself." You saw the smile that painted those red lips as Alcina picked up another bite.

"So that you could make me a cake to apologise?"

"Yes, my Lady." Your voice wavered and you mentally scolded yourself for it. The woman was better off dead anyway, you had little reason to regret what you did.

"My, my, you've settled into your role well." She set the plate down for a moment to try some of the tea. "And where did you learn to bake? I was told you only ever worked as a cleaner at the hotel, never in the kitchen."

"Oh, my friend worked there and there were a few occasions where..." You trailed off, realising that perhaps Alcina was the wrong person to share this story with.

"Go on, pet." She urged, taking a sip.

"Well, I hope that you won't classify this as stealing from you-" Her gaze grew colder but not in a way that was serious enough to make you stop your story there, "-but there were a few occasions where we would sneak into the kitchen really late at night to bake when neither of us could sleep." You smiled at the fond memories: your and Louisa's giggles, the way that any accidents had to be cleaned immediately as you both joked about getting caught, sitting around in front of the oven to chat as you waited for your treats to bake and then sneaking your way back to your dorm building to eat them together, all in your pyjamas.

"Well, if such escapades taught you how to bake so well for me then I don't see it fair to punish you." She replied and you felt a little wash of relief over you. "Do you ever miss this friend?"

"I... I've thought of her now and then but I suppose my main concerns have been settling in here still. I like to think I'm doing quite well." You looked down to your lap as you heard Alcina hum.

"You've managed to fit in much better than my last handmaid, that's certain. She only lasted finding out what was in the wine and went mad from there." She spoke so nonchalantly about it and you knew it would have made you shudder before but now, you understood Lady Dimitrescu's perspective better than anyone else's. This was normal to you now.

"But I do wonder about what happened to her every now and then. She was offered an apprenticeship with Umbrella but she grew sick... I suffered the same symptoms the following day but you collected me that evening. I watched various other students showing the same symptoms and... they never returned." Your tone fell flat, "I know that she probably assumes I'm dead just like my parents but..." You shrugged, "I'm not dead and I still live to wonder what's become of her."

Alcina reached a hand out and smoothed down your hair that was now dry after the time it took to bake the cake and the heat of sitting by the oven. You felt the tenseness in your body melt away at her touch.

"And your parents? Do you miss them?" You scoffed as you shot a quick glance at her.

"Every child wants to be loved by their parents. I don't doubt that mine loved me but... they weren't too great at showing it. Whatever their money could buy, I could have, but they both worked full-time and rarely had time for me. I spent a lot of time by myself and I was never really all that close to them - I think that's the main reason why I was so ok with going to the school in the first place. It didn't make much of a difference to my familial life."

"Do you ever want to see them again?" You bit your lip as you thought over your answer.

"I need to let go of things like that... I can't leave the village now that I've seen it. As far as I'm aware, I was destined to die at the school anyway if I hadn't been such a curious person. This is my life now."

"And are you happy here?" Alcina seemed hesitant to ask the question, sipping on her tea shortly after asking it.

"My happiness is sitting right in front of me." A ghost of a smile graced your lips as you glanced up to the tall woman before you. You watched her chest as it rose and fell with a deep breath that she took and she turned her attention back to the cake, stirring anxiety in your stomach. You had worried that your feelings weren't quite reciprocated and now seemed to be the moment of truth.

"Love," Alcina began, "is a very, very powerful thing, little one. It's as much a blessing as it is a curse. Mother Miranda..." She hesitated once more before turning to face you, "wields it like a weapon. You will not outwardly express these feelings for that very reason, do you understand?"

"Alcina," You boldly used her first name, seeing the surprise flicker across her amber eyes that glimmered with the threat of tears, "I need to hear you say that I make you feel the same way." Your fingers trembled as you reached out to put your hand over her much larger one.

"Oh, my pet," She used your hand to guide you to stand, pulling you closer until she could wrap her arms around you in an embrace. You found yourself curling your arms around her neck and burying your face against your hair, relieved by the way in which this was going, "of course I do. I've just tried to keep it as secret as I can so that Mother Miranda can't threaten to take you too. You've seen how she has already tried." She pulled you forwards until you stumbled onto her lap, resting your legs on either side of hers seeing as there was little room for them elsewhere. Alcina pulled back just enough to plant a kiss on your forehead. Her hand came up to cup your face, practically holding your entire head in her palm as she did, thumb caressing your cheek.

You let the tip of your nose trail down the length of her neck before arriving at the tops of her breasts, smothering them in kisses that only grew hotter and messier as you began to teasingly nip at her flesh, feeling her hands tangling in your hair and pulling you closer, moaning lowly and sighing in pleasure. You reached your hands back and popped off the buttons of the dress just enough to pull the front of the dress down, revealing more pale flesh and the silvery stretchmarks that peppered her skin. You mentally make it your mission to kiss each little mark as Alcina let go of you for a moment to shrug out of her dress, undoing it and allowing it to fall at her waist.

"Such an eager girl..." She hummed in a soft tone, fingers carding through your hair - it seemed that being in control didn't always have to involve rough treatment for her. You fumbled with her bra before deciding to simply pull at the straps and tug it down around her middle, feeling your face flush as you moaned at the sight before you. She hadn't actually let you touch them yet and you were more than eager to explore her. Your tongue lapped against her skin, teasing with teeth as your hands came up to cup and squeeze her softness.

You felt Alcina's fingertips at your chin, tilting your head up to look at her and you watched how she smirked down at you: tousled hair, hot cheeks, lightly panting and looking up at her with wide-blown eyes. She dipped down to kiss your mouth, a hand slipping behind your neck to keep you there before you felt her lifting you, carrying you over to her large bed where she dropped you down, making you giggle as you bounced on the plush mattress. She stepped out of her dress and unclipped her bra as you sat up to take in the sight of the way her off-white dress slipped down to reveal her long legs that were covered in black stockings.

You slowly sat up as she bent over you to reach the tie of your robe, giving you an even better view of her breasts as she leaned tugged at your robe's belt, you shrugging it off your shoulders to help her strip you of it. She then reached for your nightgown and simply tore it down the middle, making you gasp as you looked down at the ruined garment.

"Excuse my excitement, pet." She teased as she leaned down to capture your lips in a kiss once more, you laying back and coaxing her to lay down upon you, though she seemed stubborn to remain standing over you.

"My Lady," Your words came out as a whine and she merely smiled against your lips, making you shiver as her fingers ran up to the apex of your thighs so lightly that they almost tickled you.

"I'll crush you, little one." She let out a light giggle at your pout.

"No, you won't." You huffed, trying to pull her down on you once again, "And if you do then it'll be my ideal way to go." This made her laugh as she hesitantly put a little of her weight on you, feeling her breasts pressed against your chest as she kissed you once again, tongue swiping against your lips and dipping in your mouth. You could feel the weight of her upper body on you now and you sighed happily. You broke the kiss for a moment to smile at the woman above you, pushing some hair away from her face and giggling as you tried to clean up her smudged lipstick a little with your thumb before you simply gazed into her eyes, watching her try to decipher your emotions.

"I love you, Alcina." You whispered, taking in her laugh lines and the faint crows feet at her eyes, trying to memorise all of these little details of her. She closed her eyes and let her forehead rest against yours.

"I love you too, (Y/n)."

Chapter Text

The next morning, following Alcina's breakfast, you tailed her to her study where she proceeded to flip through files and note things down, adding numbers received in letters to various charts that she had pulled from the yellowing paper files. You assumed she was accounting for her profits as a vintner.

"My Lady..." You began cautiously, knowing you would have to request this as convincingly as possible.

"Yes, little one?" She hummed, sparing you a fleeting glance away from her papers.

"A while ago, you offered that I could regularly visit Lady Beneviento if there ever came a time that I could find it in myself to forgive her..."

"Yes?" She prompted you to continue.

"Well, I believe that time has come and I would like to visit her soon to discuss what happened and to tell the Lady Beneviento that I forgive her." You paused, fighting to urge to lick your lips in case it gave away the deception behind your request, "Going out on the hunt with the girls made me realise that I've been missed being outside and in different settings from time to time."

Alcina pondered over your words for a few moments until she set her papers down and leaned back in her chair.

"Fetch me a cigarette, dear, and I'll think over it." Was her reply and you did your utmost to hide your anxieties as you curtly nodded your head and left to go and fetch all you needed from her quarters.

Your heart fluttered every now and then from within your chest and you took a few deep breaths in an attempt to ease your jittery nerves. She had no reason to suspect you of deception so you had nothing to worry about.

You collected a lighter, her holder and a box of cigarettes before jogging back down the stairs and across the courtyard towards the library in order to pass through the cases of books into Alcina's study just beyond the door.

When you returned, Alcina fixed the cigarette into the holder and you reached up to light it for her, watching as she took the first drag - which was always the longest of them all for her.

"Do you feel trapped here, dearest?" Alcina looked down at you, with an expression that coaxed you to dare criticise anything she had given you. But you were good with words and knew exactly how to get around such a complex dance.

"No, my Lady, I feel home here." You paused, "I know that it's my only home now..." A somberness fell over the room. Already, a vast part of your freedom had been snatched from you and what remained of it could only be exhorted within the premises of Mother Miranda's village. "So I should do everything in my power to make sure that it feels like a home. I wish to make amends with Lady Beneviento." Alcina's amber eyes widened in surprise for a moment, flickering down to you as her wrist seemed to freeze in the middle of bringing her pipe back to her lips.

"Is that so?" She raised a brow but you could sense the excitement in her. She took a seat at her desk and neatly stacked the files away to the side, reaching into a drawer for a small box, from which she produced a piece of paper and an envelope, taking up her pen once more. "I'm sure that Donna would love such a thing, she seemed so guilty in her letters after what happened between you two." Dipping the stylus into a well once more, she addressed the letter to Donna and paused.

"Is there anything you would like to do with her? I could order the cook to make some cakes or you could do it yourself if you would like between your work." Alcina seemed so eager for you to get on with Donna and, in your mind, you couldn't help but compare it to how you felt about trying to gain the favour of her daughters to please her. Now that the two of you had explicitly confessed your feelings, you couldn't help but search for her love in these small actions when it had to be hidden from the world; more specifically, from Mother Miranda.

"She seemed oh so excited to introduce you to her collection of dolls when you expressed that you would wish to." You couldn't help but smile at Alcina's happiness at you becoming so much more involved in her world that resided only within the village. Though, this feeling rapidly melted into the grasp of guilt as you remembered the only reason why you were doing this: you had to go behind her back to meet Heisenberg, you had no interest in resolving past issues with Lady Beneviento. Even if it was will all intention of her benefit, you were going being your Lady's back and that was the fact of the matter.

You took a seat as you listened to the scratching of Alcina's pen over the paper, dressing it with her elegant cursive style of writing. You picked up a book from the shelf, Alcina kept all of her favourites in the library and you took special care when you indulged in them as she was very particular about keeping them looking new as the day she bought them.

Your fingertips lingered between the spines of Le Fanu's Carmilla and an anthology of Emily Brontë's poems. You had read both of these before but you felt the need for the comforts of familiarity to keep you distracted from the guilt that began gnawing at your insides.

You continued to try and convince yourself that this was for Alcina's wellbeing, for her freedom. You couldn't care less about the impact that this would have upon the other Lords or even all those who shuffled about in the village down below. This was your only world now and you would make it one where your Lady could live exactly as she pleased.

You stayed with Alcina in her study until it was time for lunch, where she had ordered for the servants to have it set out on the table in the courtyard.

"What are your plans for the rest of the day, my Lady?" You asked as she made a detour to the foyer in order to place her letter in a box to be taken by whoever the new person was running errands around the village seeing as the last one was now cold and torn to shreds in the cellar.

"I was hoping you could play the piano for me for a while, little one." She mused, bending down to pass through the doorway into the main hall. You beamed at the idea, a perfect distraction!

"Of course, my Lady. Another performance of Danse Macabre?" You glanced up to her with a knowing look, having come to learn that this was her favourite song. She glanced down to you from the corner of her eye with a smile, perhaps touched that you remembered such a detail: her favourite song. "Perhaps, one day... I could learn an accompaniment to an opera song that you know?" You offered. She looked off to the side, biting her crimson lip in thought.

"Perhaps." Was her simple reply. It seemed that she still liked to withhold that which you wished to learn, that it still amused her to see your reaction to this.

You followed her through the dining hall to the courtyard, the familiar statue of the woman and demons in the centre of it all. Off to the right, a table and chairs were set up with a parasol for shade, Bela already sitting and sipping on a cup of tea, looking over the gardens. Once more, you noticed that the flowerbeds were strewn with weeds, some of the stems of the gladioli snapped, the roses slightly wilting. What on Earth was that gardener up to that she couldn't even care for the most important garden in the castle?

You decided that you would hunt her down and chase her up about this at a later time when your company to Lady Dimitrescu was not entirely necessary to your work as her handmaid. You made your way to the table, remaining standing as Alcina took a seat in order to wait for the other two daughters.

However, your Lady's golden eyes, now seeming to glow in the faint sunlight - even despite the parasol - landed on you and she gestured with her hand for you to sit. Perhaps such formalities were unnecessary after your conversation last night. Regardless, you bowed your head in thanks as you took a seat, looking over the plate of different sandwiches and the small bowl of salad that was beside your plate. You noticed that no other plates had this alongside them. A bottle of Sanguis Virginis had been placed by Alcina's seat and you noticed that the teapot was already over by Bela. You eyed it cautiously, wondering what it could possibly contain. The eldest of Alcina's daughters seemed to pick up on this as she opened her mouth to speak, but was quickly cut off by her mother.

"It's perfectly fine for you." She spoke and you nodded your head as Bela began to pass it to you, the two of them watching as you poured it into your blue and white patterned teacup, adding in sugar and milk with it. The next to show up was Daniela, who emerged from the annex and placed her sickle upon the table before pulling out a chair, glancing at you sitting opposite her and bringing up the teacup.

"Mother why is-"

"Daniela, how many times must I tell you to not put your weapons on the table?" Alcina cut her off, waving her hand over to a servant who had been waiting in the shade of the overhanging part of the castle into the courtyard. She uncorked the wine and served a glass as you all waited on Cassandra who shortly burst into the courtyard in a swarm of flies, taking her seat.

"I am sorry that I am late mother, I had been in the village." She excused.

"Whatever for?" Alcina asked as she reached for the glass while Daniela outstretched her hand to take one of the sandwiches from the centre of the table.

"To put an end to the pig of a laundrette who put a bullet in your handmaid, mother." She replied simply as she reached for the teapot and you took it up in your hands to pass it to her just before reaching for your own food.

"Thank you," You spoke up as you took the teacup in your hands again, careful to not burn your hands on it, "She deserved all that you did to her." Daniela seemed to beam at this response while Cassandra looked proud, Bela however looked intrigued and Alcina remained unreadable, though an air of tranquillity continued to cling to her.

"So everything is alright with you since you were shot?" Bela brought up as everyone else began to eat. You finished the bite of your sandwich before speaking.

"Yes, we found out something interesting too," You began, pausing momentarily, "While I can't rapidly replace anything that has been lost when I heal, I can repair myself as long as all parts are in place. So, I suppose that you'd have to tear me to shreds and scatter them all to kill me." You laughed and the girls seemed to revel in such dark humour.

You took another sip of your tea and decided that it needed more sugar, throwing another cube in and stirring it, the clinks of the teaspoon against the china echoing faintly throughout the area.

Lunch passed over chatter and tea, the plates becoming almost empty and staff coming in to take everything away as you continued to talk. The daughters waited for her dismissal to go about their day. You remained with Alcina as she made her way to the annex. Once arriving, Daniela was nowhere in sight so you assumed that she was spending her day in the library. You continued to follow Alcina into the opera hall where she took a seat by the stage, gesturing towards the piano for you.

You lifted the lid and leafed through the book that was upon the stand, searching for the one page containing the part of Danse Macabre that you were always so unsure about. Deep down, you were confident that you knew the notes but a part of you always seemed to second guess which ended up in your deft fingertips pushing at the wrong keys. Leafing through the booklet, you finally arrived on the right page and prepared yourself to begin to play.

━━━━━━━━┛ ✠ ┗━━━━━━━━

The following afternoon, a letter had arrived from the Beneviento Estate and you tugged nervously at the hem of your skirt as Lady Dimitrescu took up a letter opener, tearing through the envelope and picking up her reading glasses, holding the lense over each line as she read it, a smile gracing her lips as she leaned back more comfortably in her study chair. You waited anxiously for the news. While you didn't want to see Donna, you needed to see Heisenberg and would simply have to power through the weekly visits.

Alcina looked up to you and you quickly straightened your back, anticipating.

"Donna has said that she would love your company and she would like to make amends for what she did to you." She spoke before looking down at your fidgeting hands. She rose from her seat, making her way around the desk in that effortlessly elegant walk of hers, fingers coming to delicately caress your face before she leant down and pressed a tender kiss to your forehead, pulling back. "No harm will come to you, little one. I promise you that." Her voice was sincere and her eyes, like liquid sunlight, searched yours for belief. You nodded your head once and smiled up at her, expressing your trust in her protection before she laughed softly and reached for a handkerchief, humming at the print of her red lips on your skin before she softly wiped it off. "It's settled then. You will begin your weekly visits to Donna this weekend."

"I have some errands to attend to around the castle, my Lady, will you be alright without my assistance for a little while?" You spoke up, recalling the awful state of the courtyard's flowerbeds... and those at the front of the castle. You wouldn't allow servants to slack off as one of the highest-ranking staff members of the castle.

"Of course, dearest." She replied as she headed for the door, "When you are done, you can find me in the atelier." And with that, she was out of the door while you were making your way to the servant's quarters.

You came across a new face, that of a very young girl who was examining her hands, likely from the labours of her new work.

"Excuse me," You spoke up and her eyes flickered up to you, "Where might I find the gardener?"

"I-I'm not sure." She stammered, "I'm new here, the head maid has put me to work on the laundry."

"The head maid, where is she?" You asked instead, knowing she would likely be able to find the gardener.

"Oh, Adele." The girl replied, "She should be in the kitchen after lunch, making plans for dinner."

"Thank you." You replied and began to head off before she spoke up once more.

"I'm sorry but who are you? I'm still getting to know everyone here."

You gave her a smile that finely danced the line between amiable and sinister, knowing she may well have already heard your name, depending on just how new she was, "I'm (Y/n), Lady Dimitrescu's handmaid." She let out a small gasp and seemed to regret it instantly and then you knew that she had heard things, "I'm sure that the things you've heard are mostly true but you won't give me any reason to bother you in the future, will you?" She quickly shook her head and you felt a rush of power, that came from her fear, surge through you. You liked it a lot.

And so, you made your way to the kitchen where you did indeed find Adele, the head maid. "No, no, we will be putting blood in the tea again. The Lady has said that it's fine now." You stood in the doorway and watched as she ordered around the chaotic kitchen with practised skill.

"Adele," You spoke up and you didn't miss the many glares that were sent your way now that you had made your presence known. She nodded to the head chef who took over the commands as she joined you just outside the door.

"(Y/n)," She smiled and suddenly it felt good to know that you had someone who, like yourself, had probably maintained her position with the blood that stained her hands, "What do you need?"

"I'm looking for the gardener. The flowerbeds have been looking shabby lately and, considering that our Lady has started requesting meals to be taken outside, I want to make sure that the gardener's work is up to standard again." You explained.

"Yes, I've been on her case too. We had an incident in the cellar recently where some of the wine barrels collapsed, the large ones. Miss Bela has been sorting out the losses from a business perspective but Maisie, the Gardener, offered to clean up down there. She's been spending all day down there and the place is still flooded with wine. I'm concerned that she's using this as an excuse to slack off but I can't seem to catch her."

"I'll see that it's done." You replied, "Thank you for your time." You both nodded at each other and you caught the glint in her eyes, one of understanding.

"Oh, and (Y/n)," She added.

"Yes?"

"Do be gentle, capable staff are growing hard to come by."

Chapter Text

You frowned as you looked down at the wine sloshing at the steps at your feet. It was staining the stone with its dark hue and you could only imagine how stressed Bela must be at trying to manage the losses. When was the next harvest? Would it come in time to save Lady Dimitrescu from financial losses?

You figured that you could search for answers to such questions later and instead began stripping off your clothes, setting your stockings, underskirt, blouse and pinafore down on a crate, folding it all neatly. Left in an off-white silk underdress you slipped your shoes back on and descended the stone steps, being careful to not slip. Wine sloshed at your thighs and stained the end of your dress but you trudged onwards, doing your best to be silent despite the ripples that surrounded your body in pulses with each movement.

The oil lamps reflected on the lake of alcohol, casting tendrils of red shimmers around the room, the amber hues of the lights dancing upon the surface, twirling and leaping as your movements reached them. You paused for a moment as your ears picked up on the faintest noise of a pen scratching against paper. Peeking your head around the corner, you spotted a blonde woman with romantic curls that were half tied up with a white ribbon behind her head.

She was bent over a desk, writing letters in the light of a lamp and you kept your body close to the wall as you took in the surroundings. There was a makeshift bed set up to the left of the desk - likely the reason why Adele had been finding it so hard to catch her in the servants' quarters - and a stack of letters to the right of the young woman. But how to get her out of the cellar?

You carefully reached for a bottle on the nearby shelf and held your breath as you silently approached her in the way that a predator hunting prey would. Then, in a flash, you smashed the bottle against the backrest of the chair and pressed the jagged glass to the back of her neck. The woman gasped and dropped her pen.

"Get up and come with me peacefully." You spoke and you watched as her hands clenched into fists.

"Glory to Mother Miranda." The woman hissed as she spun around so suddenly that you had no time to react. She had pushed you to the ground and, in realising that you were falling backwards, you grabbed her by the hair and pulled her down with you.

Maisie couldn't have been much older than you, there was perhaps a year or two between you both. Her eyes were a bright blue and livid with rage as she sat up and struck you across the face. Cassandra had taught you how to wield a sword but now it seemed you would have to improvise with your hands.

You looked to the side and reached up for the bottleneck that you had dropped in your fall but the gardener seemed to have the same idea and you realised that you would lose all hope of getting out unscathed if she got her hands on it. So it seemed that neither of you would have it.

You reached for her opposite arm which was supporting her weight and folded it in on itself, making her fall onto you and rolling over before she could react. You got to your feet and quickly kicked the bottle away, grabbing the woman by her hair and dragging her into the wine, pushing her down by the shoulders. The adrenaline flowing through your body caused your muscles to shake but she broke free from your hold and brought you down with her, forcing your head down instead.

Panic began to set in: you knew that you could survive being stabbed or shot but something told you that your supernatural abilities wouldn't be able to protect you from lungs full of liquid. You grabbed her legs and pulled them out from under her, feeling your foot knock against the bottleneck on the basement floor. Your arm swept at the liquid to splash the alcohol into her eyes as you stepped back and reached down blindly into the water, feeling for the bottle until your hand finally grasped it and you pulled your arm back as the blonde came charging at you.

Though, you couldn't miss the black substance that was streaking her cheeks like tears and staining her otherwise white teeth, dribbling from her lips. It seemed that she had been mutated at the school too then.

You stabbed her in the shoulder with the bottle but this only seemed to anger her more and put her into a sort of trance of rage as she tore it back out and turned it on you instead, plunging it into your side and causing you to cry out in pain. You left it where it was, not wanting to suffer from the blood loss and pushed her down into the wine once more, looking around the room as you held her down, thrashing for air.

Your eyes landed on one of the heavy shelves and you dragged her closer to the middle of it before promptly letting go and running as fast as the almost waist-deep flood of wine would allow you. Your stained dress awkwardly clung to your skin and you made your way to the other side of the shelf as Maisie chased you, leaning your back against it and putting your legs on the opposite wall before straightening your knees and falling backwards with the shelf. Maisie became trapped under it and you finally took the bottle out from your side, hissing in pain and holding your hand against the wound to stop the blood. You looked over to where the wine was splashing with Maisie's desperate attempts to free herself before she drowned and you made your way over to her, climbing over the fallen shelf and grabbing her ankle.

"This could have been much easier." You said as you severed her Achilles tendon with the jagged glass. You then reached down to take her by the shoulders and free her, hearing her gasps for air the moment her head broke the surface. Her blonde hair, in the same manner as yours, was now sticking to her face and tainted with the red hue of the wine. You dragged her out by the shoulders and set her on the stone once more as you searched through her letters. "Well," You lifted your lashes to look up at her, her face full of fury at being defeated and immobilised, "it seems that I only ever caught one spy."

"You killed Amelie." She spat and you bit on your lip, recalling the memory before folding all the letters up and tucking them into your bra.

"You're right, I did." You replied simply.

"Mother Miranda will punish you when she hears about what you've done to me." You laughed, smiling as you approached her, crouching down to meet her vibrant eyes that were now bloodshot with black.

"Is that so?" Maisie nodded her head confidently, "She never came to visit me when I killed Amelie." You let the silence hang, wanting to see the dots connect, "I suppose she promised you power, glory, that she was almost like a mother to you?" Your smile only widened when she cast her eyes away and her cheeks grew hot.

"You must know nothing of loyalty." She snapped in defence.

"Don't take the humiliation personally, you're not the only one that she's done it to. Everyone in this village is a piece on her chessboard but I refuse to be a worthless piece of carved wood when I can be a diamond in the Dimitrescu's jewels. It's a shame that it has to be this way, perhaps one of the ladies may have taken a liking to you if you weren't so conspiring."

"You're just a whore." She snapped but you could see the turmoil of emotions behind her eyes. She was taking her last stand now that she realised she had nothing to lose or gain in the first place.

"Why does everyone keep on saying that?" You sighed as you stood, grabbing her by the shoulder and beginning to drag her through the cellar back the way you came. She was considerably slower seeing as she couldn't use one of her legs but you had very little patience as you took her up the small lift and pulled her through the courtyard, intent on presenting her to your Lady.

You must have looked a state: the both of you drenched in wine, Maisie's ankle bleeding profusely as you dragged her along behind you.

"Stop killing all my staff!" You heard Adele shout and your eyes went over to the kitchen window that she had opened to call out to you.

"She's not dead yet!" You snapped as you gave an exaggerated tug on the spy who had decided to start fighting back now that there was someone else around. "But she'll wish she were once I hand her over..." You muttered to yourself, remembering the image of Amelie's insides outside of her in such detail that you were almost sure you could draw the ghastly sight from memory.

You dragged the woman through the castle halls, caring to avoid the rugs but knowing that the floor could easily be cleaned. You found your Lady in the atelier, as she had said. Like a housecat who had caught a rat, you dropped the spy at Alcina's feet.

"My Lady," You began, causing her to look down in surprise at what you had brought to her.

"(Y/n) what is the meaning of this?" She spoke with a certain nonchalance as she turned back around to clean off her paintbrush, the blonde in your clutches beginning to tremble violently, sniffles being heard.

"She's been feeding information to Mother Miranda." You replied, reaching into your bra to retrieve the letters, placing them in your Lady's large hand. She squinted at the small script.

"Be a dear and fetch my glasses." She ordered and you nodded your head, feeling droplets of wine slip from your hair, down the side of your face and to your chin. "Oh and fetch Bela: I'm sure she'll be utterly disheartened to hear that her volunteer hasn't been helping her at all but wasting her time." There was a sob from Maisie and you bit your tongue to hold back a 'told you so'.

You jogged across the corridor, through the library and into the opera hall where you found Bela tuning a violin, sitting at the piano stool. "Bela, your mother wishes to see you in the atelier about a spy."

"Another one?" She tilted her head as she called up to the balcony you were leaning over, eyes widening at seeing the state you were in: your hair soaked and your white underdress stained a shade of pink with wine.

"The gardener."

"Really?" A hint of malice slithered into her tone, glowing eyes widening between dark lashes as she carefully set the violin aside and exchanged it for her sickle. "What a shame, she seemed as though she would be very useful for this year's harvest." And with that said, the eldest of the Dimitrescu daughters burst into a swarm of flies and buzzed past you towards the atelier.

You made your way down the stairs and back across the courtyard to Lady Dimitrescu's study where you retrieved her glasses before returning to the atelier. When you did get back, you opened the door to find Bela standing over the gardener with a sickle through her leg, examining the young woman's ankle.

"Is this your work?" There was a smile, a hint of pride to it, as the blonde turned back to face you, Alcina equally waiting for your answer.

"She was being stubborn and wouldn't come without a fight." You replied, pausing for a moment to consider how this woman had tried to drown you, your fingers skimmed over the silken fabric of your dress to the hole where you had been stabbed and since healed, the dress stained a much darker colour around the spot. Your eyes cast towards Alcina, "And she called me a whore."

You could see rage overcome the faces of both Masie and Alcina, one upset for having been told on and the other enraged at the implications that the insult threw towards herself.

"Is that so, girl?" Alcina was now on her feet and standing over Maisie.

"Mother Miranda is our leader. I serve the Mother. She loves me... She told me how much I meant to her..." There were tears brimming her blue eyes and suddenly you felt sorry for her. Perhaps she sought with Mother Miranda what you had with Alcina. You couldn't blame her for wanting to be loved.

"My Lady," You were interrupted by the sounds of her claws, tearing through her leather gloves, her head snapping in your direction instead of to the blonde who was laid on the floor, "I ask that you punish her accordingly but grant her mercy." Lady Dimitrescu froze, considering your words.

"Remember that you are a handmaiden, not Lady of the house. Do not forget your place." You fell to your knees, daring a glance at Maisie who was now looking beyond confused. Your body began to tremble.

"I beg my Lady's forgiveness, I was asking of her, not commanding." You spoke, bringing your hands together as though you were in prayer and she stood before you as a deity which civilisations once immortalised with statues that towered over their city's skyline. "The castle is becoming short-staffed, there is still a flood of wine in the basement and capable hands will be needed for this year's harvest. I beg, with your best interest in mind, that you spare this young woman to serve as an example to the rest of the women who work here. Their Lady is just and they do not need to lose themselves to lies or fear, they do not need to conspire against her for their own safety." You slowly lifted your head to look at Alcina who was now looking slightly distracted at the sight of you on your knees. Just as you suspected she would.

"And how would you punish her?" You glanced over to her, to the blood running down her leg from where you had severed her tendon and Bela had put a blade through her calf.

"She has suffered pain and will take long to recover. To set an example with her... cut her hair so that those in the castle may know that breaking the rules calls for harsh punishment but they have a chance to make amends. She will live and she will recover. She will continue her gardening duties and service to Bela and will be here to help during harvest." Alcina considered your speech before smiling and motioning to Bela. The sickle was removed from the young woman's leg with a sickening wet slither sound, causing her to scream. Alcina resumed her position at the stool before her easel and Bela pulled Maisie to sit up, you rose to your feet and handed Lady Dimitrescu her glasses in order to read over any information that she could find within the letters. You knelt by her feet and cast a glance over to Maisie who was looking at you with dull eyes as Bela hacked at her hair with the sickle.

"I will take her to the servants' quarters and send for a cleaner." You spoke up quietly as you got to your feet. It was then that Alcina noticed the hole in your dress and the dark stain around it, her eyes flaring and now on Maisie. 'Please' you mouthed and she seemed happy enough to want to hear you out for a second time so she allowed you to do as you had said. You supported Maisie with her arm over your shoulder and your arm around her waist, half-carrying her downstairs.

"I know you don't want to thank me after what happened but you'd be dead if I hadn't spoken up." You said. Silence. "They made me kill Amelie after days of torturing her. I think a part of me died in that cell with her; an innocent part. You'd have met the same fate and while I've grown custom to killing, even hurting... It was uncalled for in my books." You were mindful of the few but steep steps down to the servants' quarters. "I'll come back in three days' time to try and fix up your hair a little for you. I'm sure Bela would rather have cut your fingers so I went for something a little less painful or permanent."

"You're right, I don't want to thank you after what happened in the cellar." Maisie began as you took her to her shared room and set her down on the bed. "But I appreciate the compromise that you got Lady Dimitrescu to agree with."

You opened the cabinet above the room's sink to take out a small medical kit, wrapping the gardener's leg in an attempt to slow the bleeding, laying her back and fetching some pillows from the other bed in order to elevate her leg.

"You're better off alive anyway." You replied. "I'm going to get Adele to send someone for a doctor." You turned towards the door.

"Did you want to kill Amelie?" The blonde woman asked. You paused.

"No... I didn't."

"Then why did you do it?" You straightened your back and turned to look at her over your shoulder.

"Survival of the fittest."

"What do you mean by that?" Maisie laid back more, wanting to rest.

"Either Amelie dies alone, or I die with her."

"So you did it to prove your loyalty so that you can live?"

"Partially, I suppose." You raised a brow, wondering what she was getting out.

"That's not love, it's manipulation." She pointed out. "You're being played the same way that I was by the sounds of it."

"Just because you didn't get what you want, doesn't mean you need to rope me into it." You replied with a snap, "I'm happy and I'm valued."

"Until you're not."

But you had already left.

Chapter Text

You hadn’t been the one to fetch the doctor, nor had you been the one to welcome the old woman at the door but by the sight of the blonde woman with hacked-at scruffy locks that was weeding the rosebeds in the courtyard, you knew that Maisie was making her recovery. It had been two days now and you were intent on keeping your promise to meet her on the third day in order to see what could be done about neatening up her hair.

You had told her to keep it a secret that you had been the one to bargain for her life - Lady Dimitrescu’s position was the most unquestionable in this castle but if you were suspected of softening up on the lower-ranking staff, you could be putting yourself in danger after all that you’ve done.

Maisie didn’t look particularly happy, but you supposed that such was only natural following heartbreak and having your looks marred in order to be made an example of. But she was alive and she had a chance to move forward thanks to you and you hoped that one day she would pay you in her gratitude if you were ever in need of a favour.

Today, you weren’t dressed in your typical uniform: instead, you donned a sundress that hugged your chest and fell to your mid-calf. It was a pristine white with tiny violets patterned over it and fine lace trimming the cuffs and hem of the skirt. Today was the first day in which you were scheduled to meet with the Benevientos on their estate for tea. Your hands trembled slightly as you recalled the horrors that her hallucinations had thrown you to during your last visit. The woman had tried to drive you mad in order to kidnap you, how could you forgive that? With time perhaps, you reasoned, and your love for Alcina. She seemed so fond of Lady Beneviento and you wanted to get along with her for Alcina’s sake.

You made your way along the same path that you had once aimlessly followed when lost, a basket in the crook of your arm carrying the small cakes and finger sandwiches that the kitchen staff had been ordered to make for this afternoon tea. You weren’t sure if you would be meeting with Heisenberg before or after tea but you figured what he would find you and so you put that trouble from your mind, not wanting to dwell on the guilt of these secretly planned meetings. Even if your intentions were pure, it still felt like a betrayal in a way and you knew that if Alcina were to ever discover them, she would be furious. You, meeting with a man? The very one she detests the most no less? You thought back to how she had swept all the contents of her vanity from the table, sending it all crashing and shattering to the floor. You wondered what she would do if she ever found out that you were meeting with Heisenberg.

You made your way over the rickety bridge that made you feel almost sick with fear as you took each step, making the terrible decision to look downwards. There were various other bridges, no longer fit enough to be used, that crossed the chasm in the ground. You could hear the river roaring beneath you and only just about catch reflections of light dancing off it through the thick fog that rested over the village. You figured that a lot of it must come from the water and the nearby waterfall seeing as it was now summer. There was a screech as three odd looking creatures flew through the fog towards the direction of the castle. Some strange birds of this village, you supposed.

You let out a little sigh of relief when you successfully crossed the bridge and entered the territory of the Beneviento Estate without having fallen to your death into the rocky river below. The gardens looked incredible: bright beds of flowers in an array of colours, their sweet scents filling the air and attracting butterflies and bees alike. You could see a gardener in the nearby shed and you walked through the gardens, passing a grave that was covered in little yellow flowers before pushing open the nearby door and making your way through the building to the lift.

There was something unnerving about it as it took you ever downwards, the machinery of it alarmingly loud and the lights flickering. You clutched onto the fabric of your dress and tried to calm yourself. You lived in Castle Dimitrescu, for the gods’ sake! The castle that all the villagers were terrified of and you slept like a baby in its halls, how much worse could the home of Donna Beneviento possibly be? You’d proven enough to yourself that you were able to adapt to these terrifying places - if you did it once, you can do it again.

When the lift came to a halt, you could hear the roar of the nearby waterfall and stepped outside to see it tumbling over the cliff behind the home of Lady Beneviento. It looked charmingly like a Victorian dollhouse and you wondered if it was intentionally built that way, knowing that she came from a family of dollmakers. You approached the front door, walking slowly in order to marvel at the pristine gardens. It was all so beautiful and well-cared for and you wondered if you would be able to hear all about the plants and their necessary maintenance. Before you could even push the doorbell, the grand carved wood flung open and you were stunned for a moment as no one was there to have opened them.

Until you looked down, that is, where you found Angie and your troubled eased for a moment before rocketing right back up; how on Earth could this doll have the strength to open the doors by herself so effortlessly?

“Miss (Y/n)!” She exclaimed, jumping on the spot in excitement, “Alcina said you would be coming today! Oh we’re so happy!” She grabbed the hem of your dress and began tugging you through the door, “Come, come, Donna’s set the table in the kitchen!”

“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Miss Beneviento.” You followed after the doll, looking around as much of the house as you could as you were pulled through the foyer and straight to the kitchen. There was a large portrait hanging on the wall by the stairs showing Donna holding her precious doll. Your jaw almost dropped at the dollmaker’s beauty. She needed no finery to make her look stunning, dressed as simple as she was with what seemed to be little to no makeup. Due to fixating on the painting, you had no time to take in many other details of the foyer and instead found yourself in a farmhouse-style kitchen.

The wallpaper was old-fashioned and floral and there were dolls scattered around the room: perched on shelves, leaning against walls on the floor. Donna was seated at the table in the funeral garb that you had last seen her in and you wondered if it was something she wore everyday.

“Lady Beneviento,” You began, bowing your head respectfully as you looked about for where to set down your basket. Donna returned your greeting with a dip of her head, remaining silent.

“How have things been at the castle?” Angie asked as Donna lifted her into her lap. You set yourself down in the empty chair on the opposite side of the little dining table, glancing over the two teapots, fine china cups and the series of sweet pastries that were laid out across it. You let the basket slip from the crook of your arm, setting it down beside your feet and glancing over to the far end of the room where large bay windows let in generous amounts of sunlight and displayed a beautiful view of the waterfall that you could just faintly hear through the house’s walls.

“A little hectic, as of late.” You admitted, deciding to carefully select the information that you gave out, “I was shot on a hunt with the Dimitrescu sisters and needed to have the wound treated by Lord Heisenberg.” Donna placed her hand over her mouth to cover what must have been a silent gasp while Angie was much louder, sucking in a breath of air - if she could even do that - rather theatrically.

“And you didn’t die? I thought you were very delicate without a cadeau!”

“Typically we are but I’ve undergone… a form of mutation that aids my body in healing itself, however it can only do so much and I would have died without instant treatment. I’m thankful that the girls thought to bring me to the Lord for aid.” You paused, hoping that you hadn’t given away too much about your mutation’s abilities. “There was a servant recently too whom I had to bring to my Lady to be reprimanded; she had been hiding away instead of completing her duties to a satisfactory standard.”

“How deep was the grave?” Angie cackled and you smiled slightly, having grown to love dark humour due to the girls of the castle.

“Actually, I had to convince my Lady to be lenient.” You replied, “The head maid has had trouble finding capable help as of late so we can’t afford to lose staff unless they commit the most heinous treasons against my Lady or the mistresses of the castle. She got off with a severed achilles tendon and lost all of her beautiful hair.” You paused, “Well, the haircut was the lenient punishment, the heel, however, I had to do to convince her to face up to her due punishment.”

“I can see why you’ve lasted this long.” Angie spoke before her head snapped down to your feet, “Now what’s in the basket?!” You chuckled as you took the wicker basket up onto your lap, opening it to reveal various little bundles and some tins.

“My Lady ordered the kitchen staff to make us some treats and ordered some new teas too; she intends for you to keep the teas as a gift, Ladies Beneviento.” You spoke as you began to set everything out on little plates across the table, Donna rising from her seat as you did so and carefully taking the tins of tea from your hands as you passed them to her. Her slender fingers brushed across yours and you marvelled for a moment at how soft her skin was. You would expect her hands to be calloused from all her time spent in the workshop but she clearly took good care of herself, this assumption only being confirmed in your mind by her immaculate manicure and shimmering black-painted fingernails. Her hands were beautiful. You batted the thought away; you truly only had eyes for your Lady but you were always awe-struck by the sight of women’s beauty and couldn’t help but admire it when it stood before you.

“Will I be honoured with a tour of your doll collection later, Lady Donna?” You asked and her head tilted a little before she cast a look at Angie.

“Oh, she’s already laid out some of her favourites and she said she wants to show you the process of repainting older dolls!” The little bride exclaimed and Donna confirmed with a nod of her head. You smiled at her enthusiasm as she clapped her hands together excitedly.

“I look forward to the demonstration!” You smiled as you set the basket back down at your feet, after emptying its contents, beside the third chair. Angie clambered down from the seat that Donna had previously taken up and used your basket as a form of stepping stool to get up onto the chair which had a series of gardening and cooking books stacked upon it so that she could sit high enough to be able to interact with everyone else who was sat around her. “The gardens are looking very beautiful, I can tell that much work has been done to them since my last visit, even despite how amazing they were before.”

“We keep the gardeners busy!” Angie exclaimed, “Donna was thinking about offering to plan out the gardens at Alcina’s newest vineyard.”

“Oh, I’m sure my Lady would just adore that.” You turned from Angie to smile towards Donna who was now reclaiming her seat, “I’d be happy to take back any plans that you might have already made for such.” The garbed woman nodded her head in appreciation before gesturing a hand towards the two teapots.

“Mint or blackberry?” She asked - a simple and short question that reminded you of the soft tones of the voice she rarely used.

“Mint would be lovely, thank you.” You bit down on your lip while watching the cup fill, willing yourself to not bounce your leg on your heel as you watched steam rise from the delicate white cup, covered in intricate red patterns of blossoming trees. You remembered all too clearly what had happened the last time you accepted a cup of tea on the Beneviento Estate. You tore your eyes away from the green-tinted drink, focusing on its smell instead as your eyes skimmed over the sweets which were laid out before you. It would be most polite to indulge in one made by Donna first, you decided.

In seeking out which you would sample first, you noticed that Angie had a miniature teacup that matched your’s and Donna’s which made your lips quirk up in a smile. You wanted to comment on it out of pure curiosity but decided against it in case you came across as rude. Your Lady had advised you to treat Angie with all the respect of a Lord of the village, after all, even if she was a doll.

“I order all of our tea sets from the Duke.” Donna spoke quietly. You knew that the village had Lords and Ladies but a Duke was new to you. Was there an established aristocracy that you knew nothing of? Surely there wasn’t enough land for that?

“Yep! He makes sure I always get one in my size!” She exclaimed and suddenly you wondered why Alcina didn’t commission this Duke to make tea cups that were bigger and better suited to her size. Perhaps it was because she shared her china with her daughters or maybe it was just easier to keep track of her diet with the standard capacities of normally sized cups and plates.

“Who is this Duke? I knew that there were Lords but…”

“Oh, he’s a trader, comes in with his wagon full of all sorts.” Angie answered, reaching for a strawberry meringue and you took two finger sandwiches to place upon your plate, blowing gently on your tea and feeling the mint tea warm your throat before the flavour left it feeling cool. As charming and humorous Angie could be, part of you wished that Donna would speak more. You knew that she was a dear friend of your Lady and part of you hoped for her approval. Who wouldn’t want the approval of their lover’s friends, after all? Donna was yet another part of Alcina’s life, even if they had little time to talk as of late.

Tea passed smoothly enough, with no more words being spoken from Donna, little Angie doing all the talking for her. This made it so that when she did finally speak up again, it took you a little by surprise.

“Would you like to see the workshop?” She offered and you replied with a smile.

“I’d love to, Lady Beneviento.” She got up from her set and took Angie in her hands, letting the doll sit in the crook of her arm as she gestured for you to follow her through the house until you reached a lift which you noticed only had a down button and unease crept up on you. The last time you had been here, she had tried to kidnap you. You swallowed your fear down with logic. The last time, she may have been able to succeed because no one else knew that you had stumbled onto her Estate in your search for a path back to the castle. This time, Lady Dimitrescu knew exactly where you were and it would raise alarm if you didn’t return before evening came around. The two of them stood silently, watching you and waiting for you to enter the lift for a few moments until the little bride-like doll spoke out.

“What are you waiting for?” She prompted and you stepped inside, the door closing behind you and taking you downwards. Oddly, it seemed to get brighter as you went down and you found yourself in a corridor that resembled the castle a lot: fine polished wooden furniture, deep green wallpaper and the odd golden vase here and there. A few landscape paintings decorated the walls and you passed two armoires as you made your way down the singular corridor. You turned back for a moment, brows furrowing at seeing one of the doors to the cupboard was open and your heart felt caught in your throat when a shadowy hand slithered from the side of the closed door into the small closed space. Donna was now standing by your side, observing with you.

“I’m sorry, the ghosts don’t often see anyone else in the house and I suppose they’re curious.”

“Ghosts?!” You exclaimed, that wasn’t a simple little ghost, that was something straight out of Insidious or Paranormal Activity! Angie cackled at your reaction.

“You live with the Dimitrescu sisters and this is how you react to a little ghost?”

“What is wrong with my ladies?” Your tone was full of fire as you took immediate offence to having Alcina’s daughters likened to whatever dark creature this was who was trying to torment you. You furrowed your brows at the doll before biting your tongue, realising that you had spoken out of line to the Lady’s doll which was as heinous as disrespecting the Lady herself.

“They could do infinitely more damage to you than the ghosts of my home ever could.” Donna replied simply, resting a hand on your shoulder to guide you towards a pair of double doors. Perhaps she could feel the tension in your muscles when she rested that hand on you because she then gently took up some locks of your hair, sliding her finger between them before carefully setting them over your shoulder, “Do not fear, none have lost tongues for speaking out against us in the past. You had every right to reply to Angie in such a manner.”

Alcina had told you that Donna often spoke through Angie and you wondered if this was the dollmaker’s way of apologising for the slip of what could be considered her own tongue against the sisters.

“Many people from outside the village never do settle into our… sense of normality. I now see that you are no longer bothered by the nature of my dear friend’s daughters, the girls I see as my own nieces. For that, I see that you may be from the outside but are no longer an outsider. I commend you for your resilience and adaptation.”

“Now the dolls!” Angie squealed, clapping her hands together and doing her utmost to clamber onto the counter in the centre of the room, causing you and Donna to look over to each other and giggle ever so slightly.

Chapter Text

Your time on the Beneviento Estate could be described as nothing other than charming. She showed you her collections of various parts of dolls that she had imported, others which she fashioned herself and even guided your hands as she taught you how to root a doll’s hair and blush their cheeks or joints with soft pinks. You had genuinely enjoyed your time spent there and it had all been brightened by Angie’s sense of humour. You still had a sense of unease about the dollhouse-looking home, especially when things would suddenly crash or fall from shelves, even more so when you caught sight of a door in the shadows off to one side of the workshop and Donna had advised you against venturing near it, saying it was the hub of paranormal activity in her home and being all too aware of the unease that the presence of the dead brought you.

You didn’t think that you were being irrational in such a fear, even despite the nature of the Castle which you called your home: the creatures in there were living and could be killed. You can’t kill what’s already dead but there’s every chance the dead could kill you once they quit their rest.

“(Y/n). . .” Donna began at one point, making you give her your full attention not only out of respect but out of appreciation. She didn’t talk often so you knew that if she had something to say, it was of utmost importance to her, “I would like to apologise for my behaviour during your last visit. . . I had selfish intentions for you and I frightened you with the illusions that I sent you home with.” You almost opened your mouth to speak but knew there was every chance that this conversation would be finished with Angie instead if you interrupted her, “I hope that today has shown you I’m truly remorseful and want to make it up to you, to make a bond now that you are part of our community.”

“She even made the house look nice for you! Lots of people don’t like the basement so she used an illusion to make it look more like the Castle for you!” Angie piped up. You smiled down at the doll before looking back to Lady Beneviento who nodded her head to verify that what the doll said was true, “The last time she looked into your mind with the flowers, the Castle was one of the few things she could find that made you happy so we hope you liked the look of the place!” You fought the urge to steel your face at the comment. You didn’t want to admit it to yourself but she was right. You had found happiness in your role at Castle Dimitrescu, in Alcina’s arms. What did you have before? A strained relationship with your parents who you hardly saw and classmates who always had other friends to choose before you, except for Louisa, of course. There was a burn in the back of your throat as you forced down tears at thinking of her. She was the only thing you missed about that elite college and you couldn’t even find out if she was dead or alive. She wouldn’t even know to look for you, seeing as you were dead to the rest of the world; somewhere out there was an empty grave with your name upon its stone.

As much as you missed her, for mercy’s sake, you hoped to never see her again because if it did it meant that she would be in the village and you didn’t know if she’d have it in her to survive.

“Thank you, Ladies Beneviento, it means a lot to me and I have seen and embraced your remorse. You have my forgiveness for the circumstances that played out upon our first meeting. I look forward to seeing you both again next week.” Donna handed you a basket that was half full of some extra sweets that she had set aside for you to bring back to Alcina and her daughters.

You had just made your way back over that nerve-wracking bridge when you were startled by scuffling in the underbrush between the trees ahead of you. Old metal birdcages creaked in the branches above you, singing out their warnings in all the wrong keys as you froze and felt your heartbeat quicken in fear. Suddenly you wished that you had your sword with you.

Your head whipped around as the sound grew louder to your left and you found yourself feeling a little bit too much like Red Riding Hood caught in the forest. If you ran, surely you could make it to the escape tunnel from Castle Dimitrescu in five minutes and barricade yourself in with the heavy door and one of the old metalwork torches. You set the basket down on the ground slowly, never lowering your eyes, preparing yourself to sprint before it pushed its way out of the bushes.

It looked as though it had once been a man, it’s furry body covered in dirtied and tattered clothes. Though its eyes were now wild, devoid of conscience and morality as it bore its rotting and bloodied teeth, dropping the magpie whose head it had chewed off in a pile of black, white and red feathers. Just as you were about to take your first running steps, a hand caught your arm from behind and kept you in place.

“Get out of here!” You recognised the gruff voice of Heisenberg from behind you and the creature bent down to snatch up the magpie once more, scuttling off, almost on all fours, back into the bushes it had emerged from.

“What-?”

“Lycans.” He cut you off, anticipating the question, “They’re just about everywhere and eat anything that bleeds but they obey the Lords if we talk to them firmly enough.” He replied.

“And they’ve been mutated?” You asked, turning around as he released your arm, he reached down for your basket and handed it back over to you.

“They didn’t take kindly to the cadeau.” He pushed his sunglasses back over his forehead, resting them atop his greyed hair to reveal pale green eyes. You turned back to where the creature had stood, noting the patch of bird’s blood splattered on the, otherwise green, grass. You thought back to your last argument with Alcina. No wonder she didn’t want to risk Mother Miranda implanting you if that was the potential result. “You need to be brought up to date with Miranda’s plan.” He spoke and you nodded your head, following him as he began to walk and he propped himself upon a gravestone. His eyes gestured to a nearby one but you declined the silent offer, feeling that it was disrespectful. “Suit yourself but this isn’t a short story.”

You had ended up sitting cross-legged on the grass beside a little patch of daisies as he told you everything: that Mother Miranda was almost a century old and had lost a daughter long ago, that she was nothing similar to the godly tale she spun of herself but a crazed scientist who happened upon the mould out of pure chance, that she was determined to bring her daughter back using the Megamycete, the heart and source of the mould samples she experimented with, that there had already been failed attempts but now she had her sights set on a new child whose father had been infected with the mould so that she could be reunited with Eva.

“Sounds a lot like a madwoman who’s planning a kidnapping to me.” You muttered.

“That’s precisely what it is but she’s keeping close tabs on this kid, more so than what would be necessary.” He stuck his hands in the pockets of his jacket and furrowed his brows as he looked to the worn boots on his feet, “I think she’s afraid of the uncertainty with this kid, that whatever it is or whatever it will become is going to be stronger than her because it’s made of a strand of mould that she knows nothing about, it’s own kind.”

“And you think we can use this child to take Miranda down?” You asked cautiously, unsure of what such a plot could involve.

“Exactly.” His eyes lit up as they met yours.

“And how would we go about that?” You prompted, “I know the risks of this mould science stuff, I’m not hurting a baby, Lord Heisenberg.” You’d killed a woman for the sake of making a cake, sure, and you weren’t too fond of children but neither were you fine with hurting them in any way.

“We won’t be doing anything of the sort. I’ve been informed of Miranda’s plan for the child and it’s going to really begin once she can run some more tests on the kid but it’s been going on for a while now and we don’t really know how long it will take, just that it should be under a year.” He explained.

“Whose kid is it anyway? Are they in the village?”

“No.” He replied, “They’re an American family, the Winters. The parents ran into a failed attempt to bring Eva back - her name was Eveline, Miranda made her with Umbrella - and she infected the both of them. Eveline was killed and the couple have had the kid since. She thinks that this child, Rosemary, is the perfect host to bring Eva back.”

“Why not Eveline?” You furrowed your brows, “What was wrong with her?” Heisenberg shrugged.

“She just wasn’t compatible enough, I guess.”

“Poor kid,” You mumbled, “Be made for one purpose then get told you’re not good enough for it.”

“I can’t say whether or not it could happen again with Rosemary but I think she’s the key to bringing Miranda down.” You bit down on your lip as you thought over anything that could play out.

“You said the lycans obey the Lords. What happens if we’re discovered and she turns them all against us?” You quizzed.

“I’m working on a metal army.” He replied, “Experimenting with building them to be stronger, deadlier, more durable.” You nodded your head.

“Good, good. . . How do I keep myself safe from Miranda if she could come poking her nose around me when she comes back from the Winers’ home?”

“I’d worry more about your super-sized mistress before Miranda.” You narrowed your eyes at the hint of an insult towards your Lady but he continued as though he had not noticed your reaction, “I get that you and I see eye to eye but Alcina doesn’t, she fucking worships Miranda like the god she makes herself out to be. You and I both know how important loyalty is to her and you’re screwed if she finds out we’ve been plotting together like this, even if your heart’s in the right place for her.” He paused for a minute, considering how far he could push the line with what he was about to say next, “You’re not just some dolled-up little maid to her, are you? She lets you go on hunts with her girls and sends you out to other Lords for tea. There’s something more between you, isn’t there?” You felt your cheeks heat up with a bit of a blush before finding a way to answer as discreetly as possible.

“Things happened the way they were meant to and I just want the best for her. Her admiration for Miranda doesn’t come from the heart but from fear, even if she doesn’t want to admit that herself.” You diverged from the original aim of the man’s question. “I want her to be free of that because I care for her and her daughters deeply.” He could tell that he wouldn’t get much more than that and so he continued setting down the foundation for your plan to take down the village tyrant.

“Rosemary will be brought here eventually and when she is, we need to make sure that we get to her before Miranda can use her as a vessel for Eva. That is fundamental to the plan because once she converts that kid, we lose our ace.” You nodded your head to show that you understood clearly, “So if you get the chance to get your hands on her or throw a spanner in the works of Miranda’s plan, you take it.”

“Got it.” You nodded your head and he stood from the stone he had been propped against.

“You should get going, we don’t want Countess Dracula to suspect anything.”

“Seriously?” You almost rolled your eyes as you collected up your basket and got to your feet.

“She's an aristocrat, Romanian and drinks blood, it would be more inappropriate to miss the chance to make the joke.” He threw back and you glanced towards the path that you would take home.

“It’s a good book so I’ll let it slide-” You held up a finger to show that you wouldn’t be letting him off that easily, “-but only if you bring coffee next time.”

“Deal. Same time, same place next week.” He spoke and you nodded at each other in a silent goodbye before going your separate ways.

You made your way down the path that would lead you all the way around the castle to the front entrance. You knew that the door to the tunnels was much closer but you had only found your way through them by sheer luck last time and knew that it was unlikely that you would be able to find your way to the little hidden door in Alcina’s room without spending hours wandering around lost and aimless in the shadows.

You took the little path through the ruins and graveyard before arriving at the grand gates of Castle Dimitrescu. You could remember the first time you saw them, glimmering in the darkness of the night you arrived. You could also remember fleeing the castle and debating taking your chances out there on your own before logic and something else took a hold of you and brought you back to your duties within the Castle, catching Alcina’s eyes from the upper floor who had been utterly aware of your little escape attempt.

You made your way straight to the kitchen and handed the basket off to Adele.

“How are the Ladies Beneviento?” She asked as she handed it off to one of the kitchen staff to take care of after ordering that the contents were to be served to the ladies of the house throughout the day. You almost let out a laugh as a thought interrupted what you were planning to answer with. It had been so long since you’d made smalltalk like this with anyone and it felt so out of place in the Castle. But you and Adele were both professional and adaptable enough to be able to thrive in this little act of utter normality.

“They were delighted to have a visitor. I’ve learned a lot about dollmaking.”

“Is that so?” The head maid raised a brow as she handed the basket to another maid to put away in its place.

“Oh, yes, I’ve spent a good portion of my afternoon rooting a doll’s hair. It was unexpectedly therapeutic and the Ladies Beneviento and I have dissolved any hard feelings that might have lingered between us from our first meeting. She may not be a woman of many words but she has a way with them when she does choose to speak. Oh and Lady Angie has such a vibrant sense of humour.”

“So I’ve heard.” Adele replied as she led you out into the gardens and the two of you passed the well-trimmed roses while Adele’s eyes scanned the place. Yours did the same and found that Maisie was nowhere in sight, meaning she must be working in the courtyard. “I need to assemble a team of maids to help Miss Bela with the cellar.” She began in a very professional tone, instantly catching your attention, “She is becoming increasingly agitated at the lack of progress as she is scrambling to find a way to compensate for the losses. I need a dedicated team of people and someone I can trust to oversee them but I think the both of us know that we’re the only truly capable staff around here.”

“I’ll see what I can do but after negotiating for Maisie’s life, I cannot try to sway Lady Dimitrescu’s decisions much more, it is not my place. Do you understand?”

“Completely.” Adele nodded her head once, solemnly.

“I’m assuming there is at least one local carpenter. Commission them to make new barrels to replace the damaged ones. I’ll take over cleaning Lady Dimitrescu’s chambers, the library and her study if that helps to free up some more helping hands. I’ll meet with Miss Bela to discuss these actions and we will see what can be done from there. I am assuming she is planning on increasing the quantity of the next season’s wine to compensate for this season’s losses. I’ll confirm if this is true or not and see if she is able to take tea right now in order to support the Miss with her task.” You explained. Adele scowled at a browning leaf on one of the roses and plucked it off, letting it fall to the soil at its roots.

“You’re a blessedly level-headed person in this castle, handmaid.” She let out a sigh of relief, “I’ll inform the kitchen staff that you may call for tea soon.” You swallowed hard for a moment as you looked down at the pale yellow roses.

“How long have you been at this castle?” You asked.

“Almost 10 years now, the last head maid slacked off too much and I had to watch the castle not be run to it’s best efficiency. A lycan got her when she went to the market to argue with a merchant who refused to sell produce to me because I was sent on behalf of Castle Dimitrescu.” You steeled your expression and searched her eyes, not missing the little glint that passed over them for a moment.

“You hadn’t been denied at all, had you?”

“No, but I did have a run in with a group of hungry lycans.” She replied.

“And now you’re running the staff of this place around like clockwork.” You slowly smiled.

“You’re a clever girl, (Y/n), I don’t need to order you around. The last handmaid was a trembling, blubbering idiot so it was no surprise that she ended up dead. I would be very disappointed should you meet the same fate but I doubt that will happen any time soon. I like that you do your job without me having to tell you anything and I hated when you were sent to work in the kitchen, it was a waste of your talents and I practically had to hold the hand of the maid who was doing your job for you at the time.”

“Thank you for the compliments. I’ll go meet with Miss Bela then.” You spoke and made your way to leave.

“Glory to Mother Miranda.” She spoke.

“It is my Lady that I am grateful to for what I have in my life.” You turned to look over your shoulder and watched Adele’s shoulders slacken a little.

“The correct reply.”

It was all a test of your efficiency and loyalty, something you had picked up on at the start of your conversation and had confirmed with those final three words.

Chapter Text

Tea with Bela had gone smoothly enough; when you presented Adele’s plan to her, she was eager to see it through and you had returned to the head maid to discuss a change in chore schedules in order to accommodate the small team of servants who would help to clean up in the cellar. You weren’t exactly thrilled at seeing the list of additional chores now in your hand but you knew that it would be worth it to help prevent Alcina from losing any of her profits.

You found that you were cursing yourself for agreeing to this as your elbows began to ache from polishing the library floor, knelt in the light slanting through the domed window above your head, the intricate metal-work casting you in swirling shadows and sunlight. You could be sitting at Alcina’s feet right now, head resting against her thigh with a book in hand but here you were trying to get what you were almost certain was an old bloodstain out of the floor. However, your attention was drawn away by a larger shadow moving over you, making you turn your head and squint against the light that was pouring in behind them.

When your eyes adjusted, you were met with Daniela.

“Hi, Daniela.” You smiled, stopping your work to stand and face her.

“Hi, detective,” The nickname brought a smile to your lips. There was not much left for you to uncover, as far as you were aware, but it seemed that the name had stuck between you and the youngest Dimitrescu. “Mother has told me to fetch you for lunch.” She spoke and you glanced down to the brush and bucket at your feet.

“But the chores…” You knew better than to ignore a summon from your Lady and so you nodded your head, following the youngest of her daughters to where the table had been set up in the garden.

“Have you tried the tea from aunt Donna’s yet?” The redhead asked and you smiled at how easily conversation unravelled between you and your Lady’s daughters, you could be much more casual with each other and you had missed spending time with Daniela outside of meals.

“No, not yet.” You replied, glad to know that you could get on with the Dimitrescu sisters like this.

“Oh, we’re having it with lunch now! You’ll love it!” She let out a hearty laugh that had you pondering on her body language for a bit. You dismissed any thoughts that called your attention to the fact that she was acting a little odd, she was the most excitable of the three, after all.

“There you are, little one!” Alcina smiled as you approached her at the table, taking your seat beside her, arranging your skirts over your legs as you tucked yourself in.

The gardens were looking much tidier and it reminded you that you needed to seek out Maisie to help her neaten her hair, as you had promised those three days ago.

Summer was in the air and the sun shone down on the courtyard, casting shadows beneath the walkways at the open area’s edges. The scent of flowers sweetened the air and you enjoyed the warmth, even if it made you feel a bit hot in your black and white uniform.

Alcina took your hands in her much larger ones. You had chosen a striking red pair of lace gloves for her today that flared at the wrists, matching the red sash at the waist of her white dress. That was between your new tasks that you had taken over from the maids who were assisting Bela in the cellar.

With so much additional work, you found yourself missing the nocturnal schedule that the castle had functioned on when you first arrived: it was much easier for you to wake up in the early evening and work into the early hours of the day than it was for you to fall asleep early and fall asleep early. That was how Castle Dimitrescu worked, considering the nature of its leading residents: nocturnal in the colder seasons when the sisters were bound to the castle, diurnal in the warmer seasons when the weather would permit them to go outside. It was put in place by Lady Dimitrescu for her daughters and you admired that she would make all the servants follow such a schedule if it meant giving her daughters a more accommodating lifestyle with their mutations.

Lunch was served up and you couldn’t shake the strange feeling that you got from the way Daniela’s eyes were glued to either you or your cup of tea in front of you. You finished a mouthful of pasta before reaching for the drink, seeing how her amber eyes lit up and you hesitantly brought the drink to your lips, inhaling the scent deeply. Despite making amends with Donna, you were still wary of whatever drink might have come from her and you didn’t think that anyone could blame you for that, considering the fact that you had to stumble back home through tormenting hallucinations and sustained injuries along the way that would have killed you if not for your healing mutation.

You took a careful sip of the tea, not recognising the distinct flavour of the yellow flowers that had captured your mind once before but there was a certain bitterness to it and so you took up the little pair of tongs that were sitting in a bowl in the middle of the table to drop some sugar cubes in the drink, allowing them to dissolve as you stirred the reddish liquid before taking another sip. Much better. You’d always quite liked the fruity flavours of red teas and the sugar took away whatever had been the source of the bitter edge.

Bela was updating her mother on how progress was going in cleaning up the cellar and Cassandra seemed to be listening intently while Daniela had a wide grin on her face as she ate, that expression being fixed to you, even as Cassandra handed her a napkin. Her amusement made you uneasy, something that you hadn’t felt for a while in the castle. You decided, instead, to steel your emotions - you had secured your place in this castle: only your Lady and her daughters were above you in the hierarchy here and you were on level with - if not above - Adele. You would not allow yourself to be intimidated if Daniela decided to mess with you for a bit because the castle being short-staffed meant that she couldn’t hunt down a weak, unsuspecting maid.

As much as you adored your Lady’s daughters, their games could be intense and you didn’t have the energy for them with all these additional chores that you had taken on. You picked up the teacup once more and her grin almost became manic, making you set the cup back down right away and fix her with a glare. Her gleeful look faltered for a moment and she realised that she likely should have hidden how pleased she looked to see you consuming the hot drink before you.

“What game are you playing, Daniela?” You asked in a tone that you wiped clean of any accusation. You didn’t want to start a fight at the table over lunch. She turned her head to Cassandra and it seemed that the middle child had kicked her younger sister under the table. Lady Dimitrescu and Bela’s conversation dropped cold, the two of them turning to look at you. Alcina’s amber eyes seemed to flicker between you and her youngest, attempting to figure out whatever exchange she might have just missed and the silence hanging thick in the air only showed you that whatever was going on was serious; and they all knew about it.

“My Lady…?” You began cautiously and her jaw set for a moment as her eyes fell to her plate.

“I do not see what the problem is, you are a part of this family now, Y/n, and so why should you be held to different standards to us?” You thought over her words for a minute. What was she talking about? She could not be relieving you of your duties as she had so recently agreed to you taking on more in order to help Bela compensate for the losses of stock. But if this was to do with the tea…

“Y/n, you’ve gone awfully pale.” Bela pointed out and your hand flew to your chest, quickly covering your mouth.

“I need to go to the bathroom…” Your voice was weak but Alcina held a finger up in the air.

“You will stay at the table until we are finished here.” You clenched your jaw in an attempt to steel your queasy stomach but you only felt another wave of nausea as your eyes drifted back down to the sweet-smelling drink in the delicate china cup.

“Fine, but I’m not finishing that.”

“You will.” Your eyes, now fiery, snapped up to the woman that you now considered your lover, even if she was still technically your boss.

“My Lady, I have told you once and I do not wish to tell you again that you cannot command me around as though I am your child. This is crossing a line, for how long have you been feeding me blood?” Her head tilted up a little and you could tell that her rage was simmering.

“Daughters, leave us.” She spoke without breaking eye contact with you and you swallowed hard. You were afraid but you would do your best to make sure that she didn’t know it. A part of you liked to think that Alcina would never genuinely harm you and that there was a mutual respect in this blooming relationship. That more primal part of you knew that there was every chance she would impose her superiority over you. The three sisters left in silence, keen on watching from a window if they were to be dismissed - they cared deeply for both you and their mother. “How dare you?” Her voice was quiet yet sharp as her claws once her daughters had left the courtyard.

“How dare I?” You replied in utter disbelief, “My Lady, I’m not a cannibal, for how long have you been feeding me like one?” Your disgust was reflected on your face and it only made her angrier.

“And what does your blatant disdain say of me?” She snapped back, “Had you not already partaken in using blood in baking?”

“Yes, for you!” You exclaimed, frustrated by how she was cherry picking the situation, “With your knowledge! As a part of your typical diet which is necessary for your health! Who has unnecessarily been hurt for me to be drinking blood like this?”

“You’re going soft.” She snapped back, “I’ve favoured you for your ability to adapt and yet here, I’m reminded of the babbling girl who could hardly think straight in my presence when she first met me.”

“That’s not a fair comparison to make and you know it.” Your eyes narrowed and you realised that your fists were clenched into the fabric of your skirt tightly, almost threatening to tear the material.

“Is that so? We will see how far your mercy for that filthy spy stretches, we will see what will happen to you when you don’t have to stomach for what it takes to live in my domain. Do not forget how you found my last handmaid.” Your mind flashed back to all those months ago when you had clambered into the barrel with that mangled woman who was not yet dead, lifely left to suffer in agony for days until she died there.

“Do you have such little faith in me?” You bit back. This seemed to make the taller woman freeze for a moment and it gave you a pause to think. “Alcina…” It was rare for you to use her name like this and it certainly caught her attention as your voice softened, “My reaction is not a reflection upon you. We are different in more ways than just our statuses, we…” You didn’t need to explain, you both knew the nature of your beings, “I put you above all else in my life, that includes whoever provides the blood that sustains you…. I do not hold myself to those same standards as this diet is not necessary for my well-being. I do not react like this to distance myself from your… our… family. I do not want to leave this village because I would have to leave my heart in your hands behind me.” She remained silent, her eyes not meeting yours as you spoke. You let the silence hang a little longer, “I do not see you as broken, my Lady, my love.”

Amber eyes, now watery, met yours and the two of you were both thinking back to your conversation in her study after you had been demoted to a maid for a period of time shortly after your arrival.

“I should not have lied to you.” She began quietly, turning her eyes to the sky (or, in her view, more likely the brim of her hat) to try and quell her tears, “And I know that my actions can be heard to decipher at times but I am doing all of this to protect you, to prepare you. I have lived here for decades, I know the dangers that lurk in the shadows. I have split my heart among you and my daughters, should anything happen to any of you…”

“There would be no need to blame yourself, my Lady.”

“There would be every need, little one.” Molten gold met your own eyes once more.

“Promise me that you will never do something like this again.” You murmured. She looked at you for so long that the distance between the two of you felt as though it were closing without either of you moving.

“How can you possibly forgive me time and time again? How can you accept everything that happens here when you come from the outside world?” They were genuine questions and you weren’t entirely sure if you had any answers for her.

“At first… survival and now…” You trailed off and she reached over the table, her large fingers delicately brushing some hair away from your face.

“Love…” A whispered word. You nodded your head once, bringing a hand up to cover hers. Something must have been wrong with you for you to have settled into the castle as you had, but when you felt the warmth of her touch, when she looked at you with such tenderness, your heart melted, pooling thickly into her hands and you wished for nothing else in life.

“I promise.” A slight nod of her head, dark curls bouncing around her neck and you longed for nothing more than to leave your seat and press your lips to her crimson ones. Instead, you rose to your feet and placed your hand over hers on the table, squeezing her fingers reassuringly.

“I’ll go get the girls.” She nodded her head, offering you a slight smile.

Chapter Text

Two weeks passed and a parasol was propped over your shoulder, shielding you from the blazing heat of the summer sun along with the branches of the trees that passed overhead. You were returning from Donna’s and had just finished your meeting with Heisenberg who had returned to his factory after informing you of the progress of his metal army while you assured him that Lady Dimitrescu remained utterly oblivious to your plot against Mother Miranda.

You paused, however, when your intuition pleaded for you to do so. Something was wrong. Your eyes slowly combed through the trees and foliage that surrounded you on the borders of the Beneviento estate and you set down the basket that you always brought to the Ladies Beneviento, wrapping up your parasol in case you would need it to stun a lycan. Your eyes fell to the ground where there were clearly footprints trodden into the tall grass that tickled at your calves.

“Come on out! I know you’re there!” You called, clutching the parasol tightly in your hands. It would only work well enough to stun an enemy, not to defend yourself from one and you longed for the sword that Cassandra had gifted to you. You were met with a head of cropped blonde curls as she rose up from the bushes, a smug grin at her lips. Maisie.

“It seems I’m not the only one working against Lady Dimitrescu.” She quipped and your jaw set as you frowned. She had overheard your meeting with Heisenberg.

“I would never conspire against my Lady.” You replied, doing your best to steel your expression.

“How would she feel to know that her lapdog’s a traitor?”

“More so than you?” You narrowed your eyes at her, “What are you doing outside of the castle?” Now she fell silent and her eyes became alight. You remembered your fight with her before: the way they seemed to blacken and how black spittle had gathered at the corners of her mouth. She had been strong too, remarkably so, and you knew that - as much as it was a bonus - your healing mutation was not as much of an advantage as her strength one. Your parasol would do very little to stun or disorient her and she needed to die. You couldn’t have your secret getting out.

You fought the urge to turn your eyes up towards the tree canopy as metal groaned in the summer breeze above you.

“The same as you, handmaiden: conspiring.”

“Mother Miranda cannot love you. Her heart has room for Eva and Eva alone.” You realised that perhaps you shouldn’t have pushed so far so soon as her eyes began to swim with a murky grey. She took a step towards you and you shifted your grip on the parasol. There was one way you could use it in which it may have some effect on her.

“You know nothing!” She snapped, taking another sharp step forwards.

“Of one thing I’m certain: one of us will die here-” You began, “-and I will do everything in my power to make sure that it’s not me.” This seemed to be the last straw for the gardener who now lunged at you and you jabbed the end of your parasol at her face with the pointed end, though it was not sharp enough to pierce her skin, only split it with the force of your strike. You quickly dodged out of her path and prepared yourself to have to defend yourself with the parasol as Cassandra had taught you to do with a sword. It wouldn’t be very efficient, but it was all you had and you needed to buy some time to figure out how to reach up into the trees.

She spun around to face you and, as predicted, your parasol was of very little use as you managed to bat her away before a punch sent you reeling to the ground. Tears blurred your vision as pain bloomed in your jaw and you found yourself spitting into your hand, blood thickly dribbling from your lips, mixed with saliva, and two teeth splattering into the mix of stringy red liquid in your palm. You looked up to Maisie who seemed to be feeling triumphant before you stuck them back into your mouth, stifling a groan of pain as you bit down, setting them back in place to heal.

There was only one way you realised you would be able to get up into the trees above and it was a big gamble: you didn’t know if she would feed into your trap or not but it was the only chance you had. You kicked her legs out from under her, survival overriding your want to sob in pain as you hiked up your summer dress to straddle her lap, hands wrapping around Maisie’s throat, pressing down with as much of your body weight as you could.

The gardener was stunned for a while before you were pushed away from her and you scrambled backwards, digging your hands into the dusty dirt at the base of the tree before rising to your feet. The blonde woman did the same and came at you again, taking your own throat in her hands and pushing you against the tree. Luck was on your side: she was playing right into your provocations.

You pushed your feet against the gnarled trunk, pushing your body upwards as you grasped one of her wrists in your hand. She raised you further off the ground and you let go of her wrist to reach up for one of the bird cages that Donna had hung up out here, pulling on the chain and wrapping it around the blonde’s throat, your other hand coming up to rub dirt into her eyes that you had gathered in your fist when she pushed you off her.

The searing irritation in her eyes caused her to let go of you and you latched onto the chain as she dropped you, using your body weight to pull her up into the air. The chain bit at your palms, making them ache, but you simply wrapped it around your fists. Cut circulation or crushed bones were of little concern to someone like you. You hefted the gardener up in the air, eyes scrunched shut in your effort and you cringed at the sounds of her suffocating, feeling her struggle through the chain in your hands.

You had no idea how long you remained like that, your hands crying out in protest being the only thing you honed your focus in on as the chain went still, however long later.

When you, at last, opened your eyes, Maisie’s were blackened and lifeless. You dropped the chain and she fell in a heap to the ground. You looked down at her, feeling dizzy. You had killed before, twice, yes; but this time was different. Amelie had been tortured within an inch of her life, that girl in the basement was hardly clinging to life when you found her, Maisie had been healthy and nowhere near death until your fight began.

You felt sick and turned your back to her body to lean against the tree, resting your head against it as your lungs felt much too small for your chest. You swallowed hard and pressed your bloodied hand to your chest, feeling the pain and bringing them in front of your face to watch as the swelling reduced and they returned to their natural colour after having the chain holding Maisie’s weight.

You had lived and you wouldn’t squander that. You turned around to collect your basket and parasol, setting them down carefully before searching Maisie’s body for anything that might justify you killing her - when you tell Alcina of this, she mustn’t know that you had killed her to protect the secret that you were keeping with Heisenberg, of all people. Much to your relief, you found a letter addressed to Miranda and found that its contents were describing those who were loyal to Alcina before Miranda: yourself and Adele being named first. You took the chain and wrapped it around Maisie’s torso instead of her neck then collected everything up and began to drag the body behind you as you made your way back towards the chasm in the ground with that wretched bridge which you detested crossing during your visits with Donna and Angie. You had shown this woman mercy and how had she repaid you?

You assured yourself that you would not be foolish enough to be merciful in a village like this again.

You took her body to the edge before unfastening the chain and kicking her body off the ledge. You would leave her for the lycans to find. Watching her body hit the ground, you felt a little more disconnected from her. It was just a body now: nothing to pity.

You made your way back to the castle, feeling worse about your apathy to the murder than you did about the murder itself. By the time you returned to the castle, you realised that your hands were still bloody from being hit in the mouth and you went straight to the bathroom to wash your hands and face, stripping off your dress and throwing it into the fireplace. You sat before the flames as it burned and cleaned the end of your parasol with some tissue before throwing that into the fire too. You took out a drawer from your nightstand and set the letter from Maisie’s body down inside of the cabinet before putting the drawer back in place over it. You got into the bath to wash away any traces from your fight, bringing a hand mirror to check your teeth: they had healed back in their correct positions.

You sank all the way down into the water, holding your breath in the warm liquid that enclosed you. You would keep this from Alcina until you had appropriate time to gather your thoughts. You were the one who had spoken out against your Lady’s judgement in order to advocate for mercy upon Maisie and look at how that had ended. You felt foolish for having held onto something as soft as mercy in this place, it had gone against everything that you had learned in your time here and yet you had done it anyway. You assured yourself that you would not repeat the same mistake.

You decided that it would be best to wait a few days. If Mother Miranda reacted to having her eyes plucked out in the castle by visiting to demand that Alcina explain what’s going on, it would be best for your lady to be ignorant of what had become of Maisie. Should this visit occur, you would tell Alcina shortly after and then get to informing Adele that a new gardener was needed. In the meantime, everyone could simply be left to wonder where the traitorous blonde had gone.

You scrubbed yourself clean and left the bath to don your uniform and comb out your wet hair, slicking it backwards to let it dry in the summer heat. You headed down to the kitchen to deliver your basket and then made your way to the sisters’ rooms where you were required to make their beds, clean any mess they had left behind and take their laundry to be cleaned. You went to Bela’s first, finding it the tidiest: she had made an effort to tidy her bed herself and there was nothing around the room for you to clean. You got to thoroughly making her bed, replacing the pillow cases, and collecting her laundry in your little trolly that reminded you so much of the one hack at the hotel on the college grounds. It seemed like forever ago that you had been a part-time maid there now. You saw that version of yourself as an entirely different woman and you weren’t sure whether the student would be in awe of or terrified of the murderous woman that she had become in this hostile environment.

The sound of buzzing wings filled the room and you looked across the floor to be met with the eldest of the three sisters.

“How did everything go with aunt Donna?” She asked and you gave her a smile, a part of you growing suddenly anxious that she knew something.

“Great! We spent lunch in the garden today because the weather was so nice and she gave me a tour on all the flowers and their meanings - she’s full of intriguing bits of information.” You smiled as you set her laundry back in its rightful place. The blonde gave you a smile, revealing bloodied teeth and you wondered who her victim had just been.

“I’m happy to know that you feel at home in our family.” Her bright eyes softened for a moment and she swayed on her feet for a moment, flies buzzing around the hem of her sheer black summer dress, “I don’t… see you quite in the same way that I see mother but… I know that I tease you often but I respect you, how you accept our ways, take them on as your own. I like that you’re smart and you’re not a pushover either. Mother has… I feel she’s been looking for a partner for a while and I see that she’s happy with you. She has a hard time with vulnerability and with having her ways questioned from time to time, I know, but I’ve never seen her so open with a woman before. She seems happy with you.” Those words from Alcina’s eldest meant more to you than you could ever put to words and you stood there, open-mouthed for a while before you smiled at the tall young woman before you.

“Thank you, Bela, that means more to me than you could ever know.” Your fingers twitched as you considered opening your arms to embrace her. You decided to go for it, crossing the room and wrapping your arms around her waist. She melted into the hug with a sigh, enjoying the warmth from your body heat.

“You’re warm, little human, and smell awfully sweet.”

“I hope that I’m still considered off-limits.” You quipped back as you retracted from the hug, knowing that the girls were fond of your dark humour. She flashed you a bloodied grin as she laughed, ushering you back to the trolley.

“Of course you are: we wouldn’t want to kill you anyway…” She paused for a moment, her grin growing, “We might take a little bite if you weren’t off-limits though.” And you rolled your eyes as you laughed at her.

“I’ll see you at dinner, Bela.” You waved as you shut the door behind you. You moved on to clean up Cassandra and Daniela’s rooms next. You had never cleaned them before and had to admit that you weren’t sure whether to be surprised or not when you found that the majority of Cassandra’s wall decor consisted of various weapons that seemed to have been meticulously cleaned by their owner. Daniela’s room had a puddle of blood on the floor and you wondered if the youngest and eldest were currently disposing of a body together. Either way, you minded your own business and focused on mopping up the crimson stain, apathetic to the nature of its contents.

By the time you were done with your chore, it was the evening and you made your way to Lady Dimitrescu’s chambers to run a hot bath from her. She should be leaving her study soon and if she, instead, insisted on working into the night, you would use the bath to convince her to retire at an early hour. You let the water run as you scurried to the wine room in order to fetch a glass and bottle. When you returned, the bathroom smelled sweetly of honeysuckle and a thick layer of bubbles rested atop the water. Generous amounts of steam rose in the room and you shut the tap off, setting a robe onto the nearby radiator before making your way to Alcina’s study.

You knocked upon the carved door and patiently waited to be admitted inside, finding Alcina leaning back up from her desk and removing her reading glasses that you so rarely saw her wear.

“I’ve run a bath for you, my Lady.” You offered her a soft smile which she returned, looking down at the work in front of her before packing it away and returning everything to where it belonged. She knew that you were stubborn when it came to her overworking herself and that she would not easily be rid of you should she deny the bath. However, the thoughtfulness of your action softened her heart and she wished nothing more than to indulge in the luxury that you had prepared for her.

So, you found yourself standing behind her at the vanity in her chambers, gently combing through her glossy black curls as she removed her makeup before you took off all her jewellery and set it safely in its box. You helped her out of her clothing and followed her dutifully to the bathroom, feeling proud of yourself when she sighed in relief at the way the hot water soothed her muscles. She reached for the glass of wine that you had set on the side and her eyes flickered over you.

“Stip.” Her command was delivered in a soft tone and you found yourself obeying without a second thought, laying your uniform haphazardly over the counter and quickly tying your hair up as she beckoned you into the tub. Alcina set you on her lap and your hands rested against her shoulders, making you seem so small in comparison, wrapping her arms around your waist and holding you in the embrace for a while before she withdrew with a sigh. Her hand easily cupped your head and she drew you near to begin peppering gentle kisses across her face.

“Stay with me tonight…” She whispered, “And every night after that, I have found myself missing you dearly in the daytime when you are away taking care of these new additional duties. I crave more time spent with you, little one.” You absolutely beamed up at her, feeling butterflies at knowing that she yearned for your presence, that she would allow you the intimacy of moving into her room with her, of sharing her bed each night.

“Of course, my Lady.” A kiss to your forehead.

“Until we get out of this bath, I am Alcina, sweet girl.”

“In which case…” You reached up to place your hands on her cheeks, her skin a pale grey - especially in comparison to yours - another thing which made her who she was and so another thing for you to fall for, “I love you, Alcina.”

“I love you too, dearest.”

Chapter Text

It happened suddenly the following week.

It was mid-morning and Alcina had decided that she wanted to sculpt in the atelier, which just so happened to coincide with the time you were expected to clean the room with your new chores that you had temporarily taken on so that Bela could have a group of servants to help her sort out the disaster in the cellar.

You had found yourself distracted, watching Alcina’s skilled hands mould the clay into the rough shape of a woman’s torso, the piece in its first stages. You had spun around while wiping down a table top to find Adele panting in the doorway.

“My Lady, Mother Miranda is here and she is very ups-”

“Alcina!” A rich and feminine voice bellowed from the main hall. It sent a shiver down your spine and you felt as though your heart had turned to ice and lodged in your throat. She had come to find who had plucked out her eyes in this castle, who had killed her spy. Alcina’s amber eyes burst wide and her head snapped from the head maid to you.

“Adele, you know what must be done!” The maid gave a sharp nod of her head and took you by the arm as Lady DImitrescu left the room. You remained silent as you were led over to the large, old-fashioned painting of Alcina, Adele prying the frame from the wall to reveal a small passageway that she shoved you into before following you, concealing the entrance behind you.

“Come, this way.” She hurried you to the end of the passage and up a ladder where you found yourself in one of the many attic rooms of the castle, “The other maids are being hidden in the cellar by Miss Bela.” You nodded your head, knowing that hiding her staff was Alcina’s way of avoiding Miranda getting to them. You were desperate to know what was being said between Alcina and Miranda – you were the guilty party here and so it was vital that you weren’t in the dark on anything so that you could keep up your lie.

Keep it up? Hadn’t you said you’d confide your deed to your Lady after this visit from Miranda? You thought to Maisie’s hidden letter between the drawers of the nightstand of your old room, having moved into Alcina’s chambers now. You would tell her once Mother Miranda left. But you planned on telling her that you had murdered the gardener for trying to conspire against her which wasn’t the whole truth either; you had killed her to keep your meetings with Heisenberg a secret.

“I want to know what’s going on.” You took a step further into the attic, assuming that there must be another way out through the doorway that you had spotted but Adele merely picked up a nearby pole and used it to reach up and catch the latch of the skylight, closing the window.

“I wouldn’t if I were you.” She spoke as she sat down on a nearby crate.

“Why not?” As if on cue, there was a screech from outside and your eyes burst wide, looking between the head maid and the door. “Moroaice?” You asked, recalling the horrido creatures from the basement.

“Arguably worse.” The dark-haired maid replied, fingers reaching up to fiddle with the white wrap around her head, straightening it out and combing her fingers through her dark locks that spilled out underneath it, clearly expecting to be here for a while. “Samce. Think: moroaice but they’re faster, can fly and will try to kill you with their really long tongues. Nasty things.” Your face deadpanned.

“Are you kidding me?” Perhaps you should seek out a scabbard for that sword Cassandra had gifted to you.

“Well, they look like bats and they’re as blind as them too.” She shrugged.

“You don’t seem awfully bothered.” You noted.

“We’re safe here and I typically come up here with a gun if I ever come up here at all. I’ve killed them before and, yes, it’s hard to do so without a firearm but not impossible.” Her brows furrowed as she watched you glance at the door once again, “You’re not going out there.”

“I want to know what’s going on.”

“Lady Dimitrescu has trusted me to keep you safe here and I will not fail her. I know that you’re not used to me using my authority as your superior that often because your job means your orders tend to come straight from our Lady but I am still that: your superior.” She reminded you. You bit down on your lip. You had to make sure that you wouldn’t get caught in a lie – Heisenberg’s plot against Miranda could depend on it.

“I want to know what’s going on so that I can do my part to defend our Lady from it.” You replied as you marched over to the door, not allowing Adele to get another word in. She had said that these Samce were as blind as bats, right? So, all you had to do was be quiet.

You squinted against the summer sun when you made it onto the balcony, looking around the rooftops. It gave you a chance to admire the gothic spires and towers up close and suddenly you detested these flying creatures for not allowing you to leisurely spend your time up here enjoying the view.

There.

You wouldn’t have noticed it if not for the flapping of its wings, having mistaken it for a gargoyle at first glance. It was dressed in the same ragged clothes as the moroaice that you had fought that day with Cassandra. Your breath stilled for a moment before you turned your head away from the heights of the towers and down to the path before you. If your mental map of the castle was correct, the lift near the entrance should go up around here somewhere, unless it didn’t reach the rooftop at all which would be terrible. You didn’t want to have to navigate this place while avoiding those flying creatures and their tongues.

You followed your mental map and, luckily enough, found yourself at the top of the lift, pushing the button to call it up. The button made a quiet ‘ding’ and you regretted it the moment the noise resonated through the air as it was soon joined by the screech of a samcă. Your eyes burst wide as you saw it fly up from behind the balcony past the arches to your right and you slowly began to back away from the lift, watching as it began to fly towards the noise of the cage being called up to the roof. It landed on the ground, dragging itself on its feet for a few moments, letting out screeches. Its head snapped in your direction and you cursed your hammering heart.

You could heal rapidly, yes, but that shit still hurts and you’d much rather avoid it if possible.

Your eyes frantically looked around for something to throw, anything to throw this creature off your location. Perhaps you should have thought of that when you were still in the attic but now was not the time to scold yourself for things you should have done, it was time to act. Your hand reached into your pockets, only to find a set of keys that you had been using to unlock certain rooms that you were expected to clean with your additional duties. Oh, Adele wouldn’t be happy about losing her spares but you knew that she had a copy of almost every key in this castle. You would need to be quick.

Snapping your hand into a fist around the keys made a noise that caught the creature’s attention so you tore them from your pocket and threw them across the balcony, watching in horror as the creature’s tongue shot from its mouth and it began to fly in the direction of the tossed keys. You wasted no time in getting into the lift, repeatedly smashing your finger against the button for the doors to close and take you down to the ground floor. You watched the creature fly straight into the cage of the lift’s shaft, deciding that it was better for you to stop looking up at the awful being and keep your eyes straight ahead instead. Suddenly the moroaice no longer seemed so bad.

You made your way out of the little room and past the castle’s entrance, pressing your ear to the door that led to the main hall to see what you could hear.

“-she had been slacking off, showing signs of insubordination and was costing my family valuable time to recover our damaged resources. I let my staff and daughters have a turn at teaching her a lesson before hacking off all her hair so that they could all see that such crimes do not go unpunished.” Alcina’s voice was precise and succinct but it lacked the usual authority that you were so accustomed to hearing. You knew that Miranda was still here, not because Alcina must be talking to someone, but because the air was heavy and the shadows seemed so much more intense, as though they were invading the light around them, pushing it back. It was as though despair itself whispered through the air and you could recall this feeling from the winged woman’s first visit.

“And now she is missing. I find it very coincidental how my two personal informants have vanished, don’t you, Alcina?” Miranda’s voice came back.

“Perhaps you should allow me my privacy and you would not be faced with such inconveniences.” The moment the words left your Lady’s mouth, the air turned cold and you felt that instinctual sense of mortal fear, that awareness that there was something far deadlier than you just behind that door and you would not stand a chance against it.

“Privacy?! What right have you to privacy when I own you! Without me, you are nothing! Without me, you have nothing! I gave you all that you have, all that you are and I can take it away. Do not meddle in how I run my village, you will receive no further warnings.” That sounded final enough for you to scurry down the corridor to avoid being seen, hiding away in the little room beside the fall of four with that charming little model of a castle. You waited another fifteen minutes before emerging from that room, making your way into the main hall to find Alcina slumped in a chair, elbow on the armrest and leaning her face into her hand.

“The cost of your mercy-” She began, her tone sharp, “-was much higher than either of us anticipated, it would seem. That wretched gardener has vanished and she’s causing far more trouble than she’s worth.”

“She will bother us no longer, this I can assure you, my Lady.” You made your way to her side where she looked over her gloved fingertips to meet your eyes, confused at the meaning of your words.

“I will fetch Adele who will see the servants back to their duties. I’ll have them make some tea for you. I have something that you should see.” So, you did exactly that, returning to the attic to fetch Adele and notifying her to have some tea sent to the main hall once she retrieved the servants from the cellar. You also told her that someone would need to fetch the keys from the rooftop because you were beyond reluctant to face the samce again.

While the head maid attended to her duties, you made your way to your old bedroom, all of your things having been moved to your shared room with Alcina now. Well… all but one. You knelt down in front of the night stand and took out the drawer, placing it beside you as you reached to the back of the empty space to pull out the letter. You replaced the drawer and then made your way back downstairs to join Alcina in the main hall, finding that she had now moved to the dining hall instead.

You took your seat beside her and carefully placed the letter down on the table. You had all week to think over this story in your head and you could not mess up a single detail of it now. It should be simple enough, there was only one part that you had to avoid, after all: the plot with Heisenberg.

“As I was returning from my last visit to Lady Beneviento, I came across Maisie in the bushes who had been waiting for a courier to deliver this letter to Mother Miranda.” You began, “Realising that I had caught her out of the castle, she attacked me and I fought back to defend myself. I killed her, retrieved the letter to see what she was sharing with Mother Miranda and, after that, I threw her body down the chasm by the bridge that leads to the Beneviento Estate.” You explained, pushing the letter towards Alcina who picked it up, unfolded the paper, and began to read. “I planned on telling you, this whole time I truly did, but I anticipated a visit from Mother Miranda as a consequence of both of her spies vanishing and I knew that, in that scenario, it would be easier for you to go through that meeting knowing nothing of the spy’s fate. If you believe that I have deceived you, my Lady, then I beg for your forgiveness and for you to understand that I did not intend to keep this from you for a long time and I only delayed telling you with your best interests in mind.”

There was a long silence as Alcina read the contents of the letter, a maid coming in to serve the tea and then promptly leave during this time.

“My love,” She began and suddenly you knew that you were no longer talking to your Lady but your lover, “is this why you have been so distant this week? So quiet and pensive?” You opened your mouth to reply but instantly shut it. Killing Maisie had taken a toll on you, yes, but you felt guiltier about your apathy to her murder than you did abou the murder itself and that alarmed you. You didn’t know that your emotions had seeped out of the confines of your mind enough for Alcina to notice.

“I… yes, admittedly.” You watched her breathe a sigh of… relief?

“I was growing so concerned that your behaviour was because you regretted moving into my chambers.”

“Of course not!” The words left your mouth before you could even think, surprising the both of you, “Alcina, I love you, I adore you and I have never been a morning person but I thrive in every morning that I wake up by your side.” You couldn’t bite back the smile on your lips as you thought of how she looked in the mornings when you would slip out of bed to have a quick bath before waking her to help her dress for the day. A part of you wanted to describe her as angelic however she was anything but. She was like a sleeping dragon, a fearsome and mighty beauty to her, an angel was beautiful enough, yes, but nowhere near dark and formidable enough to be compared to your lover. “I… I have killed twice before the spy but they were different, both on the brink of death and I suppose I found comfort, justification even, in seeing myself as some merciful end for them. The same could not be applied last week and it… left me shaken – not as much as when I killed the first spy but shaken nonetheless…” Alcina’s face crumbled slightly, her crimson lips turning down into a frown.

“I can handle my battles against Mother Miranda, my love.” She spoke softly, reaching a hand out to cover yours on the table, the size of her hand easily dwarfing yours, “But I am upset that I could not be there to comfort you as you struggled, to make you see that you have not done anything wrong, you have served me well, so, so well, my sweet little one.” A part of you melted at her words of praise and you knew that your week would have had a lot less turmoil had you been given this sort of treatment throughout it. “You’re being relieved of your duties today.” She announced and you opened your mouth to protest but she simply held up one red lace-gloved finger in the air. “Whatever excuses you conjure up, I do not want to hear them. I merely want a day with you by my side. Go to the library and fetch some books to bring to the atelier. I will meet you there.”

A large part of you wanted to protest against this either way, to remind her that you had chosen to take on these duties so that Bela could have some direly needed helping hands in the cellar, that it would be a hassle for Adele to have to assign someone else to your job.

“Whatever you’re thinking, stop it.” Alcina spoke up and you looked away, flustered at how easily she could read you now, “You deserve a break and if that isn’t enough to satisfy you, your job is as a personal hand maid to me, I am your utmost authority in this castle and you will obey my every wish.” There was a teasing smile at the corner of your mouth and you wondered if she was casting an innuendo, “So you’re not slacking off at all,” a hand came up to take your jaw in her hand, fingertips and thumb resting on your cheeks, squeezing ever so slightly and making you look up, “you’re merely obeying your mistress.” Oh, innuendo indeed.

Chapter Text

Your moans came out choked between your panted breaths as the silken sheets caressed your damp back, a comforting sensation compared to the overwhelming feeling of Alcina’s strap bullying into your over-sensitive hole. You were practically folded in half beneath her, one of her hands around your throat to restrict your blood supply in a way that only heightened your pleasure and had you near fucked dumb.

You couldn’t decide what to do with your hands, didn’t have the ability to even think over it as they switched between tangling in her dark hair, cupping her face or sliding over her shoulders to scratch at her back, slipping back forwards to palm her large breasts. She mostly had you pinned in place but you couldn’t help but try to buck up into her thrusts as you chased your orgasm, the taste of hers still on your lips.

“That’s a good girl, let go for me, for your Lady…” She took a moment to grind her hips into yours for a moment, repeatedly nudging against that sweet spot inside of you before resuming in harshly pounding into you, a moan falling from her own lips at the sound of the cry you let out when you finally came undone with a gush of your juices. You remained there, looking up at the canopy above the bed for a while as you tried to catch your breath, feeling Alcina slip away from you and go into the bathroom, returning with a towel to clean you up with.

You hummed contentedly as she gathered you in her arms, holding your smaller body close to hers. You adored mornings like this with Alcina when the two of you woke up early enough to indulge in each other. You snuggled closer to her bare chest as she held you tighter. It had been a few months now since you moved into Alcina’s chambers and you never imagined you could have been so happy to wake up beside someone every morning.

She allowed you a quick power nap of ten minutes before waking you once again by peppering kisses all over your face. You had grown used to quickly getting out of bed when duty required now and so, with a sweet kiss upon your lover and Lady’s mouth, you rose from the bed to run her a bath, washing your face in the sink and brushing your teeth as the water rose in the tub. Alcina had informed you that with the beginning of the autumn season, the first harvest for the winery was to be held today. She had informed you that this would mean that girls from the school would be brought over but you had hardened during your time in the village. You had only been close to a select handful of girls there and all of them had succumbed to the sickness that you had miraculously managed to survive and had developed a superhealing mutation from. There would be no one in that crowd that you would be able to feel sorry for. You had felt sorry for no one beneath your station since the gardener whom your pity had been misplaced upon and it had nearly cost you everything.

Mercy had no place in Castle Dimitrescu.

You went about your morning as usual: after dressing yourself during her bathtime, you helped Lady Dimitrescu to dry off, you styled her hair as she applied her makeup, chose what she would wear that day (a deep red silken dress with white lace details, shoes gloves to match and jewellery made of rubies and pearls), joined her and her daughters for breakfast at 8PM with the castle having reverted to its nocturnal schedule with the approaching colder seasons and now you found yourself reaching up to light Alcina’s cigarette for her as she stood in the main hall with you obediently at her side.

You remained apathetic as the daughters began to file the girls into the hall. There were a few faces you recognised: a girl who you always saw checking her hair in the bathroom mirrors in the chemistry building, another who you shared a Latin class with but had never spoken to you, another who had blamed you for the poor state of the staffroom in the hotel once even when it had had nothing to do with you.

All of them nameless.

You did not sift through your memories to recall what their names were, who their friend groups were or what their aspirations had been. It was easier that way. If they could get out of the Castle alive, that would be the only thing they could do worth garnering your attention: survival of the fittest was the only reward system here.

You continued to watch on as girls with bound hands were brought into the room, many trembling, some sobbing. You wondered if they thought they were going to be sold to whoever would pay the highest price, that they would live to suffer and for that suffering to fill the pockets of those who stood command in the room with them. They would not live to suffer as they had already been cultivated to die. You continued to watch on as they filed in, unphased by their clear terror until your heart lodged into your throat.

The air suddenly felt thin, your eyes hot with a sudden sheen of tears, your legs weakened and it felt as though a hand had grabbed all of your organs and was wrapping them around in a fist.

Dark blonde curls, brown eyes wide in fear. She looked sickly: her cheeks hollow and her skin pallid. You had assumed her dead this whole time: girls who fell ill either died or mutated like you and were brought to the Castle to work as maids.

Louisa.

Louisa was alive.

Your best friend was alive and she was here to die.

To die by your assisting hand.

“M-my Lady…” You began in a quiet voice, not wanting Louisa to look up from where she kept her eyes glued to the ground. If she called out for you, for your help, you would not be able to resist such a plea. “I… I cannot, I cannot do this.” Alcina’s brows furrowed as her amber eyes roved between the group of girls being made to kneel on the floor and where you now stood on shaky legs, having gone pale. It had been a long time since she had seen you so squeamish at the prospect of murder.

“It is your duty.” She replied simply, hoping that a familiar authority would ease you up a little.

“My Lady, the- the friend… the one who I used to bake with at night… She's here. I thought she was dead and she’s here.” Your voice broke and a wave of dread washed over your body, cold and unwelcoming as it caught the attention of the last person in the room that you wanted to meet eyes with.

“Y/n?” She called out and it felt like a knife to your heart. This caught the attention of many other girls, some of whom recognised you. What sort of monster were you in their eyes? A classmate now standing over them, an accomplice in their kidnapping. “Y/n? I thought you were dead! What’s going on?! Where are we?! What’s going to happen to-”

“Silence!” Alcina bellowed, her voice echoing through the hall and commanding all noise into submission. “You are here to pay a price.” She began, pausing to take a drag of her cigarette, “I have given you shelter, nourishment, education. The price that you must pay comes in the form of materials to sustain my business.” She looked over the terrified girls, having done this time and time again, “You are those materials.” One girl, her brown hair cropped short with slight curtain bangs rose to her feet and tried to make a run for the stairs but the daughters were too quick and soon she was engulfed in Bela’s swarm, the blonde appearing before her with her stained sickle in hand, forcing the young woman back down to her knees, “I require your blood.”

“Y/n what the fuck is going on?!” Louisa cried out. You swallowed hard and tried to think of something, anything that you could do to get your friend out of this situation. The other girls could be sent down to the basement, you couldn’t care less but Louisa? Louisa who always knew how to make you laugh, who would cheer you up whenever you needed, who would help you do your hair before a dance or would steal your blanket as you discussed all the latest gossip in your room? You couldn’t let her die.

“My Lady-” You turned to look up at Alcina with imploring eyes, “-I just need a few moments alone with her, I swear to you-” What were you going to swear? How could you possibly save Louisa when your only coin of mercy had been spent and wasted on the gardener? “I… Please.” You watched her bottom lip quiver. She loved you with all her heart and detested seeing tears brimming in your eyes but she equally detested disobedience.

“You will have your moments alone with her when you prepare her for harvest, do I make myself clear?” You swallowed hard at her reply. You knew Alcina well enough to know you would not likely get her to budge any more on this topic and so you simply nodded your head, lowering your eyes to the floor as you listened to Louisa call out your name, for you to stop ignoring her, to the sounds of the other girls crying, of their screams as the daughters split them into groups and began leading them towards the basement. You could hear the wails of despair and the harsh breaths of panic attacks as you followed Lady Dimitrescu into the basement. She always oversaw this part of the harvest, even if she did not need to take part in the smaller first harvest like this one.

You sent her a pleading glance, a silent request for you to go to Louisa and talk to her. With a slight nod of her head, she allowed it and you went over to where she had already been chained to a wall in one of the cellars, all of the equipment ready to drain her set on a table in its packaging. Knowing you had to do as told, your brain was working at a million miles a minute against the anxious pain in your chest as you tried to figure out a way to save her without putting yourself at risk.

You set upon washing your hands in the basin, feeling hurt by the glare that your best friend was shooting at you as you pulled on a pair of latex gloves and prepped the needle and tubing to begin draining her blood so that it could ferment into a bottle of Sanguis Virginis. As you approached her with the needle in hand, she flinched away and you could only kneel down beside her as she curled up away from you.

“Louisa…” You began, swallowing hard as you cast a glance over your shoulder. No one was watching you. “I thought you were dead…”

“You thought I was dead?” She asked in a mix of disbelief and insult, “It was announced to us that you were dead! We were told that you grew delirious with fever and committed suicide! I thought that- that since I got you sick, it was my f-” She cut herself off, “And you’ve been here this whole time? Now you’re here trying to take my blood? What the fuck’s happened to you? Why are you acting like this? Are you some sort of vampire now or what? None of this makes any sense! None of it!”

“I know… but please-” You lowered your voice, “-I need you to play along with me if I’m going to have a chance of getting you out of this alive.” You held the needle up and she eyed you warily before the sound of buzzing insects became apparent and she nodded her head. Carefully, you slotted it into her arm and watched as the blood began to drain through the tube and towards the bag, “We’re in a small village in the mountains. I know it sounds hard to believe but seeing as you’ve just watched three women turn into swarms of flies, you’re going to have to open your mind up to a lot of things real fast. I’m a handmaid to the tall woman who’s… think of her as a vampire for now but it’s more technical than that. She needs blood to survive and she sells it to others who are like her as well as stocking it up for herself every year. Believe it or not, it’s more dangerous outside the castle. There are lycans and this dollmaker – who’s really quite sweet but she might kidnap you – and Mother Miranda who leads this whole place. She’s the worst. I haven’t even seen what she can do but I’ve seen my Lady and even she’s terrified of her. I’ll tell you more about that when- if the time comes.”

“This is a lot to take in.” Louisa began as she watched the blood drain from her arm with a sense of dread. The illness she contracted had taken its toll on her, weakening her and now she was losing a lot of blood too.

“I know but you need to listen carefully if you want to survive. I can’t explain why just now but I can’t help you.” You shifted the way you were sitting so that the keys at your hip jangled, hoping that she would catch the hint, “Leaving is unwise but there are veins that lay unseen.” You spoke as you made it seem as though you were tampering with the needle, praying that she would be able to pick up on what you were trying to tell her. The bag was filled with blood by now and you removed the needle, covering the little wound with a cotton ball and plaster as you put the bag in a cooling box to keep the blood fresh. “You’ll be given food and water between the blood letting but the conditions aren’t the best…” You said looking around the place, “I’ll try and make sure that I’m the only one taking your blood, if I can help it. I’ll be easier on you than the girls will…”

“Please don’t leave me.” Louisa pleaded in a quiet and beyond desperate voice that tugged at your heartstrings.

“I have to, it’s the only way for me to save you.” You stood over her and petted her hair gently, wanting to soothe her as much as you wanted to give her an opportunity.

“Y/n, are you done in there?” Daniela’s voice. She had blood around her mouth and you could only assume that, like a child wanting to eat cookie dough, the youngest of the Dimitrescu sisters had insisted on ‘sampling’ the product before it was turned into wine.

“Coming now.” You returned her bloodied smile with your anxious one as you left Louisa chained up in the cell.

Your keys no longer jangled at your hip.

The day that food was served to the girls being drained of their blood, Louisa disappeared from her cell. You were ecstatic but now she was somewhere in the labyrinthine passages that ran through Castle Dimitrescu and out into the village. At least before you had been able to keep an eye on her.

Now, you had taken to charging through your cleaning duties as fast as possible so that you could search through the tunnels for Louisa. Three days had passed and now you were worried that she had not heeded your warning of the village outside being more dangerous than the castle. What if a lycan had got to her by now? You did not give up hope though and so here you were in the narrow, winding tunnels, softly calling your best friend’s name. As far as you were aware, she had been without water for days now and it was beginning to take a toll on your worries.

Alcina could read you like a book, she knew how you were when there was something big on your mind, especially after the gardener incident. She would soon ask you what’s wrong and you didn’t want to have to lie directly to her face.

“Louisa?” You called softly in the darkness, the narrow and winding tunnels illuminated by the lantern in your hand, “Louisa it’s y/n.” You made your way to the place where you had left a bottle of water and a small loaf of bread from the kitchen in the hopes that your lost friend was alive and would find it. As you rounded the corner, you found a shivering and dirtied bundle of a woman curled up next to the empty bottle and plate. A gasp tore from your lips as you rushed to kneel by her side. You wished you had some jacket or blanket to cover her with, “I was worried sick!” You blurted out, “It’s been days and I was worried that you had made your way outside of the castle and been eaten-”

“‘Eaten’?!” Her eyes snapped up to meet yours, wide and panicked and you prayed to any god you could name that she wasn’t on the edge of her sanity. She would need it to survive. “Y/n, I listened to your advice but now I need to know what the fuck is going on in this place?”

“Remember when I said you’d have to open your mind up to a lot of things in this place?” She nodded her head, “I hope you’re not too cold.” You set he lantern down as close to her as possible, hoping that the flame could provide her at least some warmth as it was all you had, “Because there is a lot for us to catch up on…”