Leila followed Vlad and Maximus with one of the prisoners over her shoulder. She'd finally managed to convince her cling-on that she was safe and thus didn't need to clamp to her any longer, although it had taken some doing on her part. Leila had left her with the staff and all the other kids, against the little girl's preferences but the dungeon was no place for her and Leila needed to make sure there were no other people involved in this mess. Not to mention she still had to find out who had set up Zelda's kidnapping. She had a long night ahead of her, but at least she could sleep soundly knowing the kids and Zelda were all fine.
Vlad pulled her to the side before she could start, concern creasing his brow. "Are you sure you wish to do this now. I know what you saw in the warehouse affected you more than you're letting on. It isn't weakness to need to pause before jumping into a rapist's head."
She smiled at his caring, pulling him down for a kiss as she reassured him. "I'll be fine, I have you after I come out of it after all. But I won't be able to rest until I find out who put this together, not to mention I don't want them to get away while I'm taking a break. If it starts to feel like it's too much I'll tell you, but I want to do this."
Vlad gave a hard smile, he knew his wife was going to say that. She could never stop in the middle of something despite it being the better option for her health. Not that he could fault her, he was the same way.
"Alright, but I'll be holding you to that and after this you are resting for at least a few days." Leila nodded, having planned on that already. Vlad knew how much her ability took a toll on her and she appreciated his concern about her mental health. Once they knew who had started all of this, she'd be more than happy to hand the rest over to him while she napped for a bit. She still had to think over her startling realization in the warehouse after all…
It was hours later when she finally left the dungeon, Maximus staying behind with Vlad to finish up, to his internal disquiet. Leila would make sure to check on Zelda, she knew how crushing it must have been to come so close to joining with Maximus only to have it ripped away at the last minute.
But before she could do that, she had to check on how the kids were doing. After her brief stint in the different psycho's heads, being around children was a welcome distraction.
She heard raised voices as she reached the door, the familiar high pitched crying making her break into a sprint before her next thought. When she entered, the staff froze. The little girl who had previously clung to her was now hiding in the corner with tears running down her cheeks while the other children were on the other end of the room in a huddle, staring at the staff warily.
Before Leila could open her mouth to begin to figure out what was going on, the girl caught sight of her. Relief bloomed as she bolted around the nearest staff that had stopped trying to grab her to bow to Leila.
When Leila saw them go to snatch her, she made a sharp motion with her hand, stopping them in their tracks as the girl barreled into her. The little cheeks nestled into her throat as the smaller form sobbed against her neck.
Leila felt her temper spark dangerously, what in the hell had happened in the time she'd been in the dungeon? These kids acted as if the staff had beaten them or something equally horrific, each child shrinking back from them any time they made a move. Leila would like to believe none of Vlad's staff would do such a thing, but as she glanced down at the terrified girl she wasn't completely sure what to believe.
Exhaustion bit at her bones, but she pushed it to the side. She had kids to soothe and a story to pry out. Sleep wasn't in the cards yet. "What is going on here?" Her tone was icy and sharp, her displeasure obvious as she swept her eyes over every single member of the staff who all stiffened at her tone.
That was eerily similar to Vlad's 'someone is about to be impaled' tone and as of yet none of them had heard it from Leila. When no one went to speak up, Leila felt her irritation boiling.
"Someone better tell me what the hell is going on here or I'm going to come to my own conclusions and none of you are going to like what I'm going to get from them."
That brought all of them out of their stupor as they began trying to talk over one another. The sudden blast of noise made her head ache and her ears ring, but it was the girl's cringe that snapped her patience.
"Stop, one at a time and for the love of all that's holy in this world lower your damn voices." She spoke through gritted teeth, her head pounding while she absentmindedly rocked the scared child still crying into her chest.
One of the staff stepped forward, the elderly lady was one Leila hadn't had the chance to know yet but by the rigid way she held herself, Leila already knew that whatever was about to come from her mouth was nothing she would like. She was proven right not two minutes later when the woman spoke.
"The child was refusing to be washed, when we tried to calm her down she bit one of the staff members and evaded us when we attempted to stop her. You walked in just as this took place."
Something didn't seem right about this, if that was the case why were the children so scared? Leila stared hard into the woman's eyes, which revealed nothing, before slowing perusing the other staff members. Just as she was about to ask again, she caught a flash of guilt and uncertainty in one of the human member's faces.
Gesturing for the human to come forward, Leila asked. "That isn't all that happened, is it? Rest assured, you won't be punished for telling me this and I'll personally be sure that no retaliation will come to you." Leila gave a pointed glance around the room while her hand began to spark, the warning was received loud and clear as the rigid woman visibly stiffened.
The human glanced around momentarily, before shaking her head. She shifted awkwardly on her feet, not liking being the center of attention, as she answered. "No ma'am. After the child bit Melinda, she struck her. After that the girl has been dodging all of us, no matter what we say to calm her. The other children haven't left the corner since."
Leila closed her eyes as equal parts rage and exhaustion swept through her. Weren't these people old enough to know you don't hit a recently freed sexual abuse victim? She knew that and she was only in her mid twenties…
Forcing a slow breath through her lungs, she glanced down to the girl who was watching with teary eyes. "Is that true?"
The girl briefly glanced at Melinda, the elderly vampire now watching Leila warily, before flinching back into Leila's throat, the action more than answer enough. Leila turned her attention back to Melinda while channeling her husband's terrifying aura.
"What possessed you to think hitting a child who has just been freed from captivity was a good idea? So she bit you, she bit me too and I didn't even contemplate striking her. She's scared as she has a right to be and I told her before I left that she was safe. How safe do you think she feels right now? Because I'm betting on not a lot."
Melinda scowled, but didn't say anything. Smart move. Leila was in just the right type of mood to put her ass on a pole if she's said the wrong thing. The girl sniffled against her throat, dragging Leila back to the present. Right, she had a child to soothe, Melinda could be dealt with later after Leila had a chance to discuss this with Vlad. She knew he definitely wasn't going to be happy with his staff after this display, she certainly wasn't…
"Melinda, you're relieved of duty until the voivode tells you otherwise. I will be talking to Vlad about this and I sincerely doubt that he'll be pleased. You're a vampire, you could have easily subdued the girl without resorting to violence and you know that."
She didn't let her glower waver on the woman, even when a twitch of displeasure showed across her face. Yeah she thought she was unhappy now, wait until Vlad got ahold of her…
Melinda held her head up high as she left the room, the tension popping liking a balloon as the younger children began crying and the elders relaxed.
Leila looked to the ceiling and prayed for patience. She could feel every ounce of her exhaustion eating at her, but she couldn't afford to snap right now. That was the last thing these kids needed.
Taking another breath, she gestured to one of the older girls. "Have all the children been given blood and cleaned?"
The teen visibly stiffened in surprise at being addressed, her surprise at not being labeled a child herself obvious, as she choked out in broken English. "Most, not all." She gestured to the girl in Leila's arms, before pointing out the boy who had hugged both Maximus and Vlad.
The boy stiffened at being called out, but didn't run, to his credit. He puffed his chest out before putting on a brave face that made Leila soften instantly. Poor kid had been through hell and it hadn't stopped yet.
Leila sighed, how to go about doing this… Glancing down at the girl, she questioned. "I know you don't want to be touched, but would you let me help you get clean? You don't want that nasty stuff on you any longer than necessary."
To her surprise, the girl nodded while curling closer into her throat. Well, that was easy… Turning to the boy, Leila knelt and repeated the question.
He hesitated slightly, glancing around at the staff nervously before giving a jerky nod. Hopefully she'd manage to balance both in the tub, because it had been a long time since she'd done this but there wasn't any other option. She obviously couldn't trust the staff to think so, for now, she'd leave one of the trusted guards with them to play interference while she got the last two clean and fed.
Gesturing for him to follow, she turned to the door and called for a guard, she had the perfect one in mind too. "Samir?"
The man blurred into sight not a moment later, concern twisting his brow as he took in the children backed into the corner, the one crying against her throat, and the boy trailing after her. "Yes?"
"Can you watch over the kids? There's been a bit of an incident with people losing their tempers with them and I don't want a repeat."
Leila felt satisfaction as Samir's expression settled into steely determination as he nodded before glancing out over the staff with a critical eye, she knew he would be a good fit for this.
With one thing settled, she turned back around to address the staff. "I'll handle these two, for the love of God don't strike out at children who are terrified with good reason. If you are unable to handle this, that's fine but leave now."
Leila eyed every single one of them, staring down one of the louder women who had tried to defend Melinda at the start until she also left. When no one else departed, she nodded with satisfaction.
"Will you guys be alright if I leave this man with you? He's a dear friend of mine and the voivode, as well as being one of our guards." The question was addressed to the children, who were again surprised to be having their opinion taken into consideration.
After some hushed translations, they all nodded after eying Samir. Relief swept through Leila as she smiled, she hadn't planned on bath time but oh well. These kids needed to feel safe and if the only way they would was if she personally helped them, then that's what she'd do.
Waving goodbye to the kids and thanking Samir since this really wasn't in his job description, she set off with the boy trailing behind her.