~O~
Dies Irae
The sounds of clattering in the attic had been one of the Samcă being swatted out of the window by several maids wielding brooms. The shouts were heard below by Hilda, who watched calmly as Cassandra had fallen to the floor.
"Miss Cassandra, we can do this all morning," she said, evenly.
Cassandra growled impatiently, pointing at Daniela. "It's HER FAULT!" she spat. "She tripped me in the middle of the spin!"
Hilda scoffed, shaking her head. "I'm missing an eye, but I'm not that blind."
Daniela grinned playfully at Cassandra. Bela was complaining as she did, but Hilda only watched Sofia as she polished a nearby brass statue. She cleared her throat and Sofia looked over quickly before setting her things down and moving to Hilda's side.
"She's just upset because I'm the better dancer." Daniela teased.
Cassandra bared her teeth at her. "I'm still the better hunter!"
The old woman rolled her eye at the bickering and Sofia stifled a snicker, lowering her head. "I'm going to take a break from this," Hilda told her, "Come."
Sofia smiled, nodding her head.
"So do we just stand here?" Bela called after them as they departed.
Cassandra groaned with disgust. "Ugh, I'm going downstairs and cutting up one of those maids. Anyone want to join me?"
A pause from the other two.
"No. I think they're getting stale." Bela complained. Then, she paused once more and looked at Cassandra curiously. "Wait, which one's O positive?"
"Uh...Raluca is."
"...Okay, I'm coming."
Sofia and Hilda had made their way into the library. Sofia watched as Hilda retrieved a book from a glass case. It was the same book with stories she'd read to the three Dimitrescu daughters. She handed it to her and Sofia winced at the weight.
Hilda raised an eyebrow. "One of the tasks you surely know is story time." she told her. "The girls are getting fond of them. I think it best you practice reading and improving your vocabulary a bit. I know Miss Cassandra likes to tease you about it."
Sofia shrugged her shoulders. "Yes..."
Hilda studied her before crossing her hands. "Well, I see that I was wrong about you, little goa - Sofia." she told her. Her face smoothed out and she smiled thinly at the bright smile on Sofia's face. "I just hope you can make my Mistress and her daughters happy."
Sofia chuckled, blushing.
"It pleases me, then, to offer you this as well." Hilda reached into her pocket, pulling out a key. "Mistress insisted that I give this to you. It's a key to her chambers."
Sofia's eyes widened in shock and awe, reaching for it. Hilda pulled it away briefly.
"BUT, you know that this is something she doesn't give to anyone," Hilda continued, firmly. "You will soon earn my keys in time. But for now, this little gesture of trust is something you cherish. Something you do NOT abuse, am I clear?"
A nod from Sofia. "Yes."
"Mistress does not do affection much, as you are aware," Hilda continued, slowly handing her the key, "And I chose to give this to you away from the eyes of her daughters. They've grown fond of you, I can see it. But they are terrible at these things. And even I... Well, I've grown fond of you as well, little go - Sofia. Sorry, old habits, I'm afraid."
Sofia laughed quietly, lowering her eyes.
"Congratulations," Hilda told her, "Welcome to our family."
Sofia grinned, putting her arms around her in an embrace. It startled Hilda and she blinked, eye widening somewhat. She felt her eye eventually misting and she patted Sofia's back.
"Alright, alright, don't make me change my mind when I just gave you the damn thing," she muttered. "Get off me."
Sofia immediately parted from her with a sheepish laugh.
"Never...had...family." she managed.
Hilda's annoyed look softened somewhat. She sighed through her nose and nodded.
"Well, most of us don't." she admitted, quietly.
O
Alcina was making certain the settings were perfect. She stood back to admire the table of proper dinner and glassware before she noticed Sofia approaching. She smiled and gestured with one hand for her to sit and Sofia nodded, taking a seat across from her.
"Well, I'm certain Hilda told you the news," Alcina said. "You are to be my personal attendant."
Sofia straightened where she sat, reached into her pocket and pulled out the notepad. She scribbled something down, held it up to Alcina.
The older woman stared at the writing with a small frown.
THAT'S ALL?
Alcina smiled, confused by the question. "Whatever do you mean 'that's all'?" she asked, shaking her head, "An offering and a privilege like this and you ask me that?"
Sofia sighed, toying with the fork that was near her left hand. Alcina blinked, feeling vulnerable again. She delicately sipped at her wine, watching Sofia's expressions. She knew exactly what she'd asked and it was a question that had lingered often in Alcina's mind. The girl was a treat for her and she was drawn to her innocence and warmth.
But Hilda's words toyed with her doubts.
"You mean what becomes of you and I." Alcina said, evenly. Her tone was gentle, free of the acid it had seconds earlier.
Sofia looked up at her.
She looked hopeful and that simply made things worse. Alcina wanted to keep her. She wanted her alive and by her side.
She wanted to have a farm girl again.
She would break her heart all over again.
It was doomed cycle.
"Yes." Sofia eventually said.
Alcina smiled thinly now, shifting where she sat. "We shall have to wait and see, won't we?"
O
Hilda walked down the halls before she was stopped by Cassandra, who walked alongside of her.
"Hey, when the Spring comes, can I choose the hunting grounds?" she asked.
"Mistress will choose the grounds for you, as she has done for the things in the basement." Hilda said. A pause. "Still, I admire your devotion to your work. Maybe I'll suggest it to her."
Cassandra grinned, nodding.
"Now, I have a bathroom that needs cleaning." Hilda stopped, looking up at her. "So if you ladies would practice your dance, I'll prepare a blood and flesh stew for you."
Cassandra looked delighted by that and drifted off in fly form.
Hilda walked again, making her way to the west wing of the castle. She felt the cold moments before she saw the open window.
She approached it, heard the whispers from the maids behind her. Scowling, she whirled, gesturing to them as she closed the windows, latching them shut.
"What are you fool girls doing?" she spat. "Do you want to end up in the cellar?"
"None of us opened them, Miss Hilda, I swear!" a maid stammered. "We don't know who did it? We just came up here, same as you."
Hilda's eye narrowed at her. "Lying and stupid, what a delightful combination. Get moving before I take you downstairs myself for lying to my face."
They whimpered, but rushed away to do as she said.
Hilda squinted after them, then looked at the window with a suspicious frown. She considered their words and made a small, thoughtful note.
She made her way down the halls, sniffed the air somewhat. The cold was still there, still fresh and biting; she'd worked so long in the castle that smells changing even a little alerted her. She could see the smallest bits of wet earth on the carpet now and followed it into one of the dressing rooms. She looked around, smiled coldly now.
"Another little lost lamb?" Hilda crooned. "Come now. You really are too stupid."
A man stepped out from behind Alcina's dresses, wearing a fur coat and boots. He looked to be about thirty, his hair greyed and face scarred. Hilda smiled at him, standing behind a table.
"What are you doing here?" she questioned, "You know what Mistress does to men. Let me guess; another attempt at her life? You know how the last one ended."
He nodded, his eyes filled. "Yes. And you know she's a monster." he whispered. "I'm not the only one, you know. More are heading into this castle as we speak with a way to finally put an end to this. You're old and you've just been doing what you're told to do. I'll leave you alone if you just let me do what has to be done."
Hilda laughed a little. The audacity on this boy. "Yes, see, I can't do that."
"I don't want to hurt you."
Hilda smirked at him and viciously kicked the table into his midsection. It knocked him to the floor and he gave a shout when she kicked him across the head. He sputtered out a stream of blood and saliva and Hilda stomped his midsection with her heel.
"Come now, boy!" Hilda hissed, laughing. "I'm an old woman and you can't even beat me? How do you hope to kill Her?"
The man grunted when Hilda took hold of a curtain rope and wrapped it around her hands. He looked up, eyes widening when she leered down at him.
"Don't think so less of me," she hissed, with a gleeful laugh, "I am not some feeble, broken old lady. I will protect the name of House Dimitrescu until my last breath."
She pressed the rope to his throat and he struggled against her. She laughed down at him, grunting with effort.
"Such a feeble little rat!" Hilda snarled, "What will you do now?"
A wet sound, sharp pain exploding in her midsection. Hilda let out a shocked gurgle, eye widening as she looked down at a knife embedded in her belly. The man shook his head with anguish and horror; he hadn't intended for that to happen.
"Fute..." Hilda groaned, spitting blood from her mouth as she rolled off of him.
He staggered to his feet, nearly in tears. "Oh, God, I'm so sorry!" he moaned, "Forgive me, you weren't suppose to - "
He looked up sharply and quickly ran away, leaving Hilda to bleed on the floor.
She groaned in pain, clutching her midsection and began to drag herself out of the room, leaving a terrible trail behind her. Hilda spat out a stream of blood, but looked up when she spotted Sofia hurriedly rushing toward her.
"HILDA!" she shrieked.
Hilda laughed weakly, not rebuking her when she quickly gathered her into her arms. Her eye was wide, shadowed in pain as a hand struggled to stop the flow of blood. She heard Sofia's frantic sobbing sounds and laughed softly.
"Oh, no, please tell me you're not crying," Hilda grunted, grinning through red-stained teeth. "I'm already in pain as it is."
Sofia was struggling to keep herself calm. It had been the first show of true, raw emotion and for her? Hilda just groaned, holding her bloody wound. Sofia stared down at the blood on her hands, struggling to breathe between cries.
"Oh, y-you're crying?" Hilda laughed again. "This is...what it takes to get you to cry? An old woman bleeding to death all over you?"
She saw the man coming back, blubbering apologies and pleading to help.
But it was Alcina who had come next, having smelled the blood and heard the chaos.
She turned the corner, eyes widening at the sight of Hilda's bloody form held in a tearful Sofia's arms - Sofia looking helplessly up at her. Then, to the man there holding the dagger, soaked in Hilda's blood and she saw red.
Shuddering with rage, she seized the man by the throat, pinning him viciously to the wall hard enough to crack the plaster. He let out a yelp of pain and dropped the dagger to the floor.
"I will destroy you." Alcina's whisper was quiet, but the rage in her tone could buckle legions of men and women to their knees.
Suddenly, a loud gunshot rang out and Alcina barely flinched when several bullets ripped into her back. She looked more annoyed than in pain. Sofia looked beyond her, eyes widening at the sight of a man standing there, clutching a pistol in hand. He seemed to realize what he'd done far too late as several swarms of flies were upon him in an instant, feral snarls bursting from them.
Hilda blinked dazedly when she watched Alcina stalk toward the man who had fired his gun. She was still clutching the other in her hand.
"No, no, wait!" the gunman pleaded.
Bela's teeth were in his throat first, ripping an enormous chunk of flesh from him. Daniela was tearing her jaws and hands into his ribcage and Cassandra grasped his head. He was violently ripped to pieces, cutting his screams off completely. It was chaotic and bloody, reducing him to nothing more than meat.
The man still in Alcina's clutches begged for mercy and she threw him into the wall again, laughing maliciously.
"Don't kill me!" he begged.
"Oh, little man thing; when I'm finished with you, you're going to wish that was all I did." Alcina snarled.
Hilda's eye closed and she could only hear screams.
O
Hilda drifted in and out of consciousness as Alcina carried her in her arms. The smell of her blood overwhelmed Alcina's senses; sweat and blood, tainted by filth of that stupid man she fully intended to ruin for days to come.
"Where's...Sofia?" Hilda breathed.
"Cleaning herself up." Alcina swallowed thickly. "She's hysterical. I've never seen her this way. The girl cares for you."
Hilda laughed weakly. "She's a fool, but a good-hearted one."
Alcina carried her to her chambers, sitting by the fireplace to offer warmth to the older woman. Hilda smiled up at her, eye fluttering and Alcina smiled back with anguish in her eyes.
Hilda looked up when Daniela drifted into the room. The Dimitrescu daughter looked down at her, kneeling at her side. Alcina looked up at her daughter briefly before brushing her hand against Hilda's cheek. The older woman seemed to draw comfort in it.
"Bela's looking for them, mother." Daniela told Alcina.
"Good." Alcina did not take her eyes from Hilda.
Hilda tried to smile. "This is how I go? Ugh, to a man thing." she muttered, "One who wasn't old enough to shave, even."
A strained laugh from Alcina. "Don't worry, Hilda. He will pay for this. I'll make that entire village regret ever standing against me."
"You know you can't do that..."
"I will!"
"No." Hilda grunted. "There are people there. Some of them foolish and stupid, but still people. They only survive, just as we do."
Alcina snarled lowly. "And Mother Miranda would never..."
The old woman eventually sighed. "No, she wouldn't." A pause from Hilda now and she shut her eye. "One final request? For an old woman?"
"Anything." Alcina promised.
"Don't let that girl's little flame die," Hilda mumbled, tired, "She will keep yours alive. She will help free you from Mother Miranda. She will let you be human again. Please."
Alcina looked away with a sharp hiss. She felt vulnerable and Daniela had been watching her with uncertainty. She didn't promise anything to anyone and she knew that she couldn't. She just couldn't promise she would turn her back on Miranda.
"I have no regrets, Mistress." Hilda said, after a moment. "You were... I saw you like my own daughter. One I could never have. That's why I wanted..." She hissed sharply through her teeth, earning a wide-eyed, misty look from Alcina. "I wanted to make sure you were happy. It was all I wanted."
Alcina laughed, a strained noise that broke her resolve. She finally looked down at Hilda, licked her lips and glanced down at the bloody mess of her midsection.
"Are you in pain?" she asked.
Hilda hesitated to tell her.
"I could..." Alcina paused, "I could make it quick for you. You won't feel a thing."
Hilda smiled up at her, nodding once. She was gathered into Alcina's arms, pulled close. She heard the sounds of claws emerging and saw Daniela's anguished expression.
"Look away, darling..." Alcina told her, with a sorrowful smile.
Daniela closed her eyes, looked away as Alcina raised a single claw to the back of Hilda's head. The old woman's eye closed, a peaceful smile lighting her lips.
"Hilda Stratford of House Stratford..." Alcina sighed, swallowing thickly. "I release you from my service."
There was a wet sound, followed by Hilda's grunt and then, silence. When Daniela opened her eyes, Alcina was gently resting Hilda's lifeless body onto the rug. Bela had drifted into the room and she noticed the sight. She looked at Alcina with a malicious smile, veiled behind her own pain.
"I found them, mother." she whispered. "Hiding in the crypt."
Alcina's face was free of the warmth. She was hardened, cruel and cold as she had been many times before. Her eyes were bright yellow and glowing in the poor light of the room.
O
The villagers were speaking below.
Alcina had removed her claws from one of them unfortunate enough to hide in the stairs leading to the wine cellar. She cleared her throat, calmly ran her blood-soaked hands through her hair before stepping into the chambers where they were hiding.
Once she stepped into the room with Bela, their weapons were aimed right at her. The fear and confusion in their eyes made her grin widely.
"You cost me my servant," Alcina whispered, tone going to that dark place; they would not see her pain, they did not earn that right, "You destroyed my house. Bela? Darling? Begin."
Bela removed her sickle with a grin and as soon as Alcina raised her hand, her eldest daughter was in the air, rending them to pieces.
Gunshots from their rifles echoed in the air as they shot round after round at her.
Alcina didn't feel them at all. She calmly stood there, chuckling viciously a their futile attempts to bring her down.
When they stopped long enough to stare in disbelief and horror, she grinned widely.
Her hands extended into dangerous, long claws that had them running and screaming from her. She stalked slowly after them, dragging the bladed weapons against the stone walls around her. She looked like a terrifying, crimson goddess pursuing them toward an elevator.
Several other villagers attempted to face Bela when she drew too close. Her sickle cleaved through their bodies as if they were butter. With each death, relief came for both Dimitrscu women. Each one a testament to their violence.
It was a celebration of death.
"That's right!" Alcina snarled, with wicked glee. "Stupid little rats! Learn what it means to steal from my House!"
Bela watched one man attempt to crawl away, but she laughed and drove her sickle into his ankle, dragging him kicking and screaming back toward her.
Several villagers attempted to flee into one of the elevators. Alcina stalked toward them. One of the men pressed the button in an effort to make it go up. They were shouting all at once, terrified and frantic to leave before she reached them.
As the metal gates slowly started to close, Alcina's claws shot between them and she forced them open with a feral snarl in her throat. They gave several yelps and cries as she stepped inside with them.
"Where do you think you're going?" she hissed, with a vicious smile and glowing yellow eyes. "We haven't even started."
The gates closed and the elevator started to ascend.
Along with their loud, terrible screams that filled the castle corridors and halls.
Once it reached the top floor, she was drenched in blood and their bodies had been left piled up in pieces while a maid waited.
The woman looked down at the mess, eyes widening. Alcina wiped her face with one hand, rigidly stepped out of the elevator.
"Get this filth out of this elevator," she whispered, severely.
O
Sofia was shaking.
She couldn't breathe as she stepped down into the cellar, passing empty cells until she reached where the man had been kept. He was hanging by his arms over a bucket, surrounded in tools that would be meant for his torture later. But she was hurt, tears in her eyes and breath trembling out of her. She had to know why he had done this.
When he saw her approach, he gasped, struggling in his restraints. "Hey, hey!" he pleaded. "Please, I need to talk to you!"
Sofia's lips pursed, struggling with her tears again as she retrieved a knife from the table. Her hand was shaking as she approached and his features crumbled.
"No, don't do that, please!" he begged.
"You..." Sofia blinked through her tears as they poured down her cheeks. "Bad...person!"
The man blinked, shaking his head. "I'm bad?" he cried, stunned by the accusation, "You know what that woman does to people! You know she has to die!"
"No," Sofia hissed, voice breaking, "You...k-killed Hilda. You're b-bad."
"Yes, yes, I know," he stammered, struggling to calm her, "But that was an accident! She fell on my knife. I meant it for the other woman. The tall one who eats people. She kills and tortures others for fun. We had to do it! Don't you get it?"
Sofia nodded her head. "Not...stupid," she trembled with emotion, "I-I know what sh-she is."
"Okay, okay, you're not stupid, I'm sorry," he continued when she leveled the knife at his throat, "But I know you can't kill someone, right? I know you're good, I can tell. Please, just let me go and I'll tell everyone at the village never to come back!"
Sofia's features twisted. "You lie? And lie!"
"No! No, no, I'm not lying, I swear it!"
Sofia's eyes snapped wide and she jerked her arm. The blade sliced through his neck, spilling his blood. Her eyes widened and she gave a scream, struggling to stop his blood from flowing.
She didn't want that. She didn't want it.
"No, no, no, no..." Sofia moaned, frantically as she clasped his throat.
Blood was pouring through her fingers, staining her uniform and face. It was warm, smelled so strong and made her physically sick. She didn't understand.
This never horrified her before.
She couldn't stop it. The blood kept coming.
She let out an anguished, hysterical whimper, fleeing the chamber to get away.
But the blood was sticky on her face and she tripped several times to try and get it off of her. It clung to her skin, suffocated her senses.
"No, no," she sobbed.
The creatures in their cells watched her, letting out dry, cruel laughs.
O
Later that evening, Alcina struggled to address the matter to Mother Miranda. The other woman had been relatively calm about what had happened.
Alcina placed a cigarette in her holder, lit it and listened gravely to the other woman.
"...the matter had been taken care of," Miranda explained, with a smile on her face. She was cool, calculating in her words. "These men who attacked your castle were simply small, weak things who sought to undermine me and my rule."
Alcina smiled rigidly where she sat. She felt her throat tighten and took a small inhale of her cigarette. She was angry, blood still rolling in her veins. Mother Miranda showed no sympathy toward the life she'd lost. After all, Alcina knew that there was no love between them.
"You can find yourself a new personal servant," Miranda continued. "In the meantime, I shall address the village below. Perhaps a few offerings can be made."
Alcina spoke through a clenched jaw. Her hand was at the arm rest, out of Miranda's sight, clutching it hard enough to splinter the fabric and wood.
"Yes, Mother Miranda." she said, her tone free of warmth, but forcing the respect as Miranda had demanded of them.
Once the woman was gone and out of her castle, Alcina let out a snarl and seized the chair she had been sitting in, throwing it across the room. It struck the wall and hit the floor, the sound echoing loudly across the halls. Her body surged with rage and pain. She wanted only to tear the walls apart, rend that fool of a man to pieces.
Oh, right. Of course. She had a rat that needed gutting.
Irina entered the room and saw the chair laying on the floor. She watched Alcina take a moment to adjust her hair, straighten herself up and smooth out the wrinkles in her dress.
"Sofia." Alcina eventually said, her tone soft and grave. "Where is she? Is she alright?"
Irina shook her head. "I haven't seen her, Mistress."
Alcina's brow wrinkled. The response made her glare at her. "What do you mean?" she asked, her tone hardening. "Were you not tending to her as I had ordered?"
Irina nodded now, frightened when Alcina rose over her. "I-I was, Mistress!" she stammered, "But she wanted space and I-I thought - "
Alcina snarled and made her way back into the castle to look for her. Hilda's death stung her throat, she sought Sofia's company. But the woman was not to be seen by anyone. Alcina had demanded that she be found.
The dragon was frightened, twisting in the cage and searching the shadows.
Even her daughters had searched for her; Cassandra was flying upstairs and Bela had searched the kitchens and Daniela the library. But Sofia was not to be found.
"Where is she?!" Alcina shouted.
Cassandra was frightened by Alcina's shout. "I don't know, mother!"
Bela was scanning the maid chambers, listening to the sounds of arguments in the main hall. She found Hilda's chamber door had been opened and frowned, tilting her head. She approached the door, stepped into the room and sniffed the air somewhat when she smelled blood. She tracked the smell toward the closet and opened it. Her eyes widened in shock.
As Alcina spoke to Daniela and Cassandra, they eventually looked up at the sight of Bela entering the hall with Sofia in her arms.
The woman was covered in blood, her eyes staring into nothing. Alcina looked horrified and the two daughters at her side confused by the sight. Daniela knew the smell and blinked, staring up at her mother as Bela distributed the catatonic woman to her arms.
"She smells like that man you had in the cellar, mother," Daniela said.
Sofia was silent, trembling only slightly when Alcina held her. Larger fingertips stroked her cheek, but Sofia didn't react. She only continued to stare into nothing, her eyes blank of emotion. She looked like a bloodied, broken doll in her arms.
"Sofia, speak." Alcina ordered, her throat catching with emotion. She was open, raw and on display for her daughters. "What were you thinking?"
Sofia didn't answer.
She was silent again. Her voice lost to what had happened with Hilda.
"Mother, what...?" Cassandra questioned, hesitantly.
Alcina swallowed thickly, held Sofia closer and gestured with a flick of her head. The emotion in her voice betrayed her. "My chambers. We will take her there."
O
Note - The scene of Bela and Alcina slaughtering the men was inspired by the song "Maybe" by the Chantels. I imagined it playing during that scene. LOL.
