Chapter 2

And back with some more...

Clutching her broom and bucket tightly, Elizabeta made her way down the narrow staircase that led into the dungeons beneath the castle. It was so frightening down there in the humid darkness, where sounds echoed strangely through the ancient stone walls. She dreaded each step that took her closer to the terrible place in which her Master kept his prisoners. Or should I say pieces of meat? She shuddered at the thought and was glad that at least she didn't have to see any of them.

The descent seemed to take forever and it grew colder and colder. Elizabeta eventually found herself in front of some sort of aisle between two rows of barred cells. The iron doors hung open and there was a foul, suffocating smell about the place.

Oh God, it's dreadful! she thought. And I must endure all this because of some stupid trick that dimwitted vampire has pulled again! Seriously, when would he learn? They were Arthur's servants and had to obey him, or there would be consequences. There was no way out of here. And he may have run but Master was going to catch him eventually and most likely teach him a painful lesson…

Sighing, she had begun to sweep away the dirty straws that lay scattered in one of the cells, when she suddenly heard something like a faint whimper coming from somewhere close.

"Oh no!" the girl shrieked, throwing aside both the broom and the bucket, as she hurried in the direction of the sound. It was coming from the last cell far in the back, and she noticed that it was locked. She still peeked through the iron bars, and distinguished the shape of someone lying crumpled on the hard stone floor. It appeared that the figure was shaking and sobbing.

"Um… hello?" she tried, but the prisoner only pulled himself further away from the door with a muffled gasp.

"Ah, so there you were!" Elizabeta's ears were suddenly grazed by the loud obnoxious voice of none other than Alfred F. Jones. "I just happened to remember that we had one more prisoner left, and an important one mind you! It would have been so un-awesome to overlook him now right? Don't worry, I'll take it from here"

Saying that, he shoved her aside unceremoniously as he unlocked the cell and stepped in determined. She watched in horror as he forcefully grabbed the whimpering man by the collar and dragged him outside – as he could barely use his own feet for support – and then up the stairs.

As soon as they were out of sight, Elizabeta slid down onto the cold floor, silently wiping the tears that had begun to well down her cheeks.

-x-

Cleaning the filthy dungeon took her a while, after which she again heard approaching footsteps. They were hurried and a bit stumbled too, so she knew that it must have been another servant.

"Elizabeta! Are you done here? I'll help if…" said an accented voice and she lifted her gaze to see the Bulgarian Nikola stooping above her, with a concerned look on his face.

"No, thanks Nikola, I'm quite done" she replied standing up and dusting a few straws off her skirt.

"Good then, make haste and come with me! Master wants everybody gathered in the Great Hall. He has something important to say and…" he trailed off awkwardly.

"What's wrong?"

"Um… nothing he just looks pissed…I think" Nikola said visibly worried.

She sighed. "Alright, what did that stupid Romanian do this time?"

Nikola shrugged. "Dragos? I haven't seen him today at all…"

When they finally made it into the Great Hall, all the other servants had already gathered and waited for their Master, fretting nervously. Nikola went to join his closer friends, while Elizabeta found a remote place in one corner. A few moments later, she felt someone sneaking up behind her and she inwardly rolled her eyes. Her hand reached down to grab the frying pan she always kept hidden under her apron – for safety, of course - and she gave it a swift swing backwards.

"Owww!" The back of the frying pan collided with the vampire's forehead, knocking off his hat. Elizabeta covered her mouth to suppress a giggle.

"That was for me having to clean the dungeons because you laughed at Master for looking… um… they way he looked this morning!"

"While you happened to be all serious about it, huh!" came the hissed reply, while the frying pan was abruptly taken from her hand.

She half-turned with a scowl, facing the Romanian. He raised an eyebrow questioningly with a mischievous grin, showing fangs. Ugh! How does he know?

"Anyway…" he said as she turned away and he rested his chin onto her shoulder. "What is all the fuss about?"

"Master has something important to say…" She could barely think, as she felt his cool breath on the nape of her neck and his arms sneaked their way around her waist.

"Honestly, Dragos, how many times did I tell you not to-"

But she was interrupted when Arthur made a majestic entrance, black robes floating behind him as he walked. However, he did not seem pissed off, but rather pleased about something. Maybe about the fact that he wasn't looking like a giant cucumber anymore. But immediately after him came Alfred, again dragging the prisoner Elizabeta had seen earlier. She flinched. He looked even worse now, battered and bruised, while his light brown bangs hung disheveled onto his face. The blue military uniform, which was ragged and torn, looked somewhat familiar.

"As you all know" the Englishman began solemnly "the only people who were ever foolish enough to defy us, were those from the so-called Axis. But since all our enemies are sooner or later met with a cruel fate, we have now captured one of them!" he proclaimed pointing his wand towards the prisoner. "And fear not, the rest of them will follow soon enough!"

"Oh, I know now! He's Italy! Oh my God!" Elizabeta murmured in shock. "They've captured him!"

"An outstanding achievement" the vampire observed. "They got the idiot of the group"

"He's not an idiot!" she retorted angrily. "And he's your distant cousin, is he not?"

"Very distant. So distant that if you tell anyone something very bad will happen to you, beautiful" Dragos whispered into her ear.

"And he's so cute too" the Hungarian decided to push his buttons. "I'd play seven minutes in heaven with him…" she said blushing slightly.

"And I would play seven minutes in hell with all of you"

"Take a good look at this man!" the wizard spoke, again pointing at his prisoner, who had now dropped to his knees and was currently babbling something rather unintelligible and very fast, out of which they could only make out a repeated 'please'. "This man, Feliciano Vargas, has defied me and shall feel my wrath!"

A murmur ran across the room as all the servants stared in terror, waiting for the Englishman's sentence.

"You two!" Elizabeta gasped in horror seeing the wizard's finger pointing in her direction. "Take him down to the kitchen and prepare a feast for tomorrow night. I shall feast on his flesh and thus absorb his power!"

Before she could open her mouth to protest, which wasn't a good idea anyway, Alfred ushered both her and Dragos, together with the prisoner, down to the castle kitchens and shoved them all inside rather brutally.

"You heard my brother, now get to work! Oh, and aside from Iggy's stew, I'd also like a few hamburgers so don't forget to save some meat for that as well". Saying that he slammed the door shut, leaving them dumbstruck.

"Aw fuck…"

So much for chapter 2. I'll surely be updating again this century… :)