This chapter was decently fun to write. I was able to hit my goals pretty fast and didn't feel like it was taking forever.

Rushing at him, Bela brings the wooden sword overhead to bring it down onto Ethan. In a quick reaction, he raised his up to meet and block her attack. Weapons colliding, it's obvious that Bela isn't using her full strength, but is still not making it easy for Ethan. Sliding her sword forward, she locks the handguards together, keeping from moving his wooden blade.

"Unlike my dear sister, manthing, I will not let you get the better of me." she hissed and then immediately kneed Ethan in the gut. Stumbling back doubled over, all the air from his lungs is gone, he also feels like throwing up but swallows it. Before he can even look up, Bela boots him right in the chest, sending him sailing back into a table. Hitting the edge, all Ethan can think about is the extreme pain spreading like lightning through his back and spine.

Standing above him, she put a hand on her hip and looked at the wooden sword in her hand. "Hm, disappointing. I thought when you beat Cassandra you would at least hold your own against me, for a few seconds at least." Smirking, she reached down and grabbed Ethan by the throat. "Come on manthing, once more. This time, at least try?" With a threatening smile, she made sure Ethan stood on his own two feet and took some steps back. "Get ready manthing."

Not trusting his offensive skills, he decides that just defending himself until Bela leaves an opening is the right idea. Ignoring the searing in his back and adjusting his feet and positioning his wood sword, Ethan looks to Bela. There's a small look of glee in her eye, most likely about the prospect of beating Ethan.

Figuring he would try and bait her into an attack, Ethan carefully stepped towards Bela, ready to maneuver to block just in case. His gut was telling him that this time around, Bela wasn't going to rush in for the kill, she was going to tease this bout out as long as she could, while still establishing dominance whenever possible. While Cassandra was a bit hot-headed and aggressive, Bela seemed to be more reserved. She looked for Ethan to make a mistake and exploit it. Cassandra was like a shark; rushing into to attack her prey with an incredible show of force. Bela, however, was a leopard; studying her prey, stalking it, waiting for the perfect opportunity to exploit a weakness.

Going back to his high school wrestling days, he remembered something his more skilled and seasoned opponents would do in a match; smack the top of his head. It was a way to get a rise out of the other person and get them to attack, as well as to disrupt their thinking. Ethan applied it as best as he could hear. Gently, he smacked Bela's sword with his, only to quickly pull it back before she could engage it in any way. Doing this a few times seemed to have the desired effect if the narrowing of her eyes and tightening of her jaw was any indication.

Finally, tapping her sword one more time, she swung at him. Blocking it, he knew that Bela was skilled enough to get Ethan from this position. So instead he pushed forward, locking the swords up and closing any sort of kicking distance. He was close

"Ethan, in any sort of close fight, wrist control is important. Grab their wrist, and make sure they can't get free. Then you control them."

Chris's words rang through his head and in an instant, he grabbed Bela's right wrist. Using the leverage he had over her hand now, he began to slowly push her sword away. He wasn't sure what his end goal was, but this was progress either way. As he pushed, he could see that Bela wasn't struggling but was limiting herself to Ethan's strength. Looking at Bela, he saw the gears in her head working, trying to figure out a way out of this that didn't require extreme strength.

He could see the lightbulb moment for her. Looking at him and giving a wide grin, she reared her head back and sent it forward like a bullet, straight into Ethan's nose with a sickening crack.

Stumbling back as he disengaged, he clutched his now bleeding nose. "Fuck! God damn you! Fucking bitch!"

Sauntering towards Ethan, Bela wore a confident smirk as she taunted him, "Aw poor manthing, did that hurt? You know, your kind are more fragile than you appear. Perhaps you should cease this silly little fight and submit."

"How about you get fucked. How does that sound? Come on, I ain't finished yet, I've barely broken a sweat."

Deciding to make things interesting, Ethan decides to do something ballsy.

He charges.

Shocked that the manthing would charge her, Bela can only react in time to push away an attempted stab by Ethan. Instead of resetting back into his guard, he swings the false edge back towards her, catching her by surprise. Leaning back to avoid the slash towards her face, Bela must back peddle to make distance between him and her so she can regain her balance.

"Good try manthing, but that won't be enough against me!" Closing the distance, she slashed towards Ethan's left. In slow-motion, Ethan saw the sword coming for him. Raising his to meet her attack, he seen her wrist shift just like Cassandra's did. Unable to move his sword in time the block, Ethan did the only thing he could. He squatted down, allowing the slash to pash above his head by an inch. From the squat, he thrust up towards Bela.

In an amazing show of skill, she leaned and twisted her body to avoid the stab, while also pushing the sword away with her empty hand. After seeing this, Ethan knew he couldn't beat Bela 1 on 1 in a sword fight. Deciding to do something risky, from his squat he grabs Bela by her legs and lifts her into the air. Too stunned to react, Bela does nothing but looks down at Ethan, which gives him time to come to his feet. After only a short moment of being lifted into the air, Bela is sent back down towards Earth at what felt like the speed of sound.

Smashing hard onto her back, she couldn't help but let out a strangled 'oof' as the air left her lungs. Knowing that she was a sitting duck on her back, she rolled backward, swinging her feet up at the same and kicking Ethan in his jaw.

Struggling to see straight after the swift kick, Ethan stumbles back yet again and tries to focus his vision and forces his eyes to focus on Bela. Blinking, he makes out her form rising to her feet. Narrowing his eyes, he tries to blink the stars away. Getting ready to defend himself, he can only barely block Bela's incoming attacks. Backing up to try and keep her at a distance, Ethan can only desperately hold out from Bela's assault.

An all-mighty attack from Bela finally breaks his defense. Stumbling and off-balance, she grabs Ethan by his shirt, picks him up, and slams him against the wall he had backed up to.

"Stupid! Manthing! I told you that it wouldn't be enough against me!" Yelling, she continued to slam him against the wall. He started to get nervous as he felt Bela slam him against the wall with increasing strength; her rage was disrupting her concentration and making her use more power. "Mother should of let us drink your manblood and feast on your manflesh!"

Slamming him against the wall once more with even more power, Ethan felt the brick wall give, sending him partially through it. A strong gust of freezing air rushed passed him into the room.

Bela let loose a horrifying shriek.

Looking up at her, Ethan saw Bela drop the sword and back away from the hole in the wall in fear while looking at her hands. Astoundingly, the flies that made up her body tried to flee but only fell to the ground, motionless, while white spots appeared on her body and slowly spread.

Fear evident in her voice, she pleads with no one except fate, "No! No no no! Damn you, manthing! This is your fault!" Rushing at him in rage, all Ethan can do is pull himself out of the rubble and get out the of way. It appears the Bela is unable to morph into her flies and get to Ethan. He takes advantage of this and keeps avoiding her slow swipes to grab him. However, after only a few moments of her trying to grab him, she begins to wobbly on her feet.

'She's weak! She can't dissolve into her flies and use her insane strength right now! I can kill her!'

"Manthing! I. Will. Kill. You…" Only able to take a few more steps towards Ethan, her ankle twists and she falls onto the ground, bits of her body breaking off. Caught in a weird moment between life and death, all Bela can do is roll onto her back and look around the room frantically. Seizing the opportunity, he jumped on top of her, pinning her arms down with his knees. Rearing his fists back, he is about to smash her head in before he realizes something.

'If I kill her… then I will be a dead man. I don't know where my guns are. I can't use these weapons here either, they won't help against those goddamn witches or their big ass mother. Fuck… I can't just leave her either, it'll be just as bad.' Dropping his fists and slumps, looking at the delirious Bela once more, knowing the best course of action is for him at this moment. Grabbing Bela, he lifts her onto his shoulder with a grunt and runs out of the door with her. Depositing her onto the floor, he quickly turns and shuts the door.

"Fuck… What now?" Looking down, Bela isn't recovering like Ethan assumed she would. While the spreading of the stoney-spots on her body stopped, they weren't receding. She was still delirious, gabbling nonsense, and eyes darting around in random directions. Her chest heaving with labored breaths, he knew she wasn't in the clear. "I need to do something! It's my ass if I don't! Fuck it! Help! I need help!" Calling for anyone who was listening, Ethan could only hope someone was nearby who knew what to do.

Nothing.

Waiting for a moment, there was still no one coming. Maybe if he…

"Lady Bela is hurt and needs help, hurry!"

Immiedtally, a buzzing sound grew in volume and heavy thumps of footsteps rapidly approached.

In an instant, Cassandra was in front of Ethan. Hoisting him by the throat and pushing her sickle against his face, her lips twisted into a snarl. "What the fuck is going on here! What did you do to our sister!?" Spat Cassandra, immense furry in her eye. Looking past her, he saw Daniela rapidly checking Bela over, looking into her eyes and trying to talk sense back into her. Finally, the thumping footsteps boomed into a crescendo when a door literally blew off its hinges and into the wall across the hall. Ducking her way through, a worried but furious Lady Dimitrescu burst onto the scene. "What the hell is going on!?"

"Mother, Bela is hurt! What should we do!?" Daniela's voice caught her mother's attention and her gaze fell onto her deathly ill daughter. Stunned and for a moment into horrid silence, all Lady Dimitrescu could do was stare.

"Mother!" Daniela shrieked again. Rousing her, Lady Dimitrescu started issuing commands.

"Daniela, take her to my chambers, there is a fire going there! Wrap her in blankets, sit her in front of it, and get some warm fresh blood in her! I don't care if you have to slit her throat open, just get blood in her stomach! Now go!" With a nod, Daniela became a swarm of flies with Bela hovering in the middle of it. In a flash, they were gone.

"What do we do with the manthing, mother?" Seething, Cassandra turned her harsh gaze from Ethan to her mother. Following her gaze, he sees a snarl on Lady Dimitrescu's face. "Take it to their cell! String them up! We will do what you three should've been doing this whole time!"

"With pleasure, mother." With that, Ethan was covered in a swarm of flies as he was taken back down to the dungeons.

"Wait no, stop! I didn't do anything! Please!" His pleas falling on deaf ears, Cassandra continued dragging Ethan back down the dungeon. Desperately clawing at anything to slow her down. Behind them, he seen Lady Dimitrescu following quickly behind, eyes boring into him. All his fighting, kicking, and pleading didn't do anything to help his situation. In an instant, he was hoisted up onto chains.

"What should we do with them mother? I could cut off their penis!" With way too much excitement in her voice, Cassandra leaped over to her mother's side with puppy-dog eyes, begging her mother.

"Not yet, Cassandra. We have to figure out what happened to Bela first, and every time you cut a manthings penis off, they bleed out fairly quickly. No, we will keep it alive for now, but just barely."

"So I will still get to slice them up?"

"Yes, dear. You may still slice the manthing up, but first, we need to get them to tell us what happened. So, manthing, anything you would like to share?"

Desperate, Ethan attempts to form the words that will free him. "I- I didn't do anything! I swear! She- GAH!" in an instant, Lady Dimitrescu's class had extended and sliced across his chest and blood started to leak out.

"Do not lie to me manthing! How else could she end up in the state she is now if you didn't do anything!?"

At that moment, Daniela materialized next to Lady Dimitrescu. Looking at Ethan with hate, she spoke. "Mother, I left Bela wrapped up in a blanket next to the fire in your room. I was able to get her to drink some blood, too. I checked out Cassandra's room; an external wall had been smashed, allowing exposure to the cold."

"You tried to kill my daughter!?" In a fit of rage, Lady Dimitrecus speared three claws through Ethan's right shoulder. Giving a short scream of pain, he steeled himself and tried to explain again.

"No! The wall was an accident!" Came his labored response, trying his best to keep from screaming again as the claws in him slightly turned.

"Oh, so you admit that you caused the wall to break then! Even if you had no intention, you still caused her harm, manthing!" Withdrawing her claws, Lady Dimitrescu continued. "You still put my daughter in danger! So, I will ask you again, Ethan, before I turn my daughter's loose on you; What. Happened?"

Taking a deep breath, he started. "We were sparring with wooden swords. We-"

Cassandra cut him off, "Why were you sparring?"

"Your sister wanted to see what I learned so far. Anyway, after sparring for a moment, Bela threw me through the wall-"

"You lie, manthing!" This time, Daniela was the one to strike him. Sending a fist into his gut, all the air left his lungs and his stomach emptied itself. The women ignored to bile spilling onto the floor. "Bela isn't careless! She would've known what lay behind that wall, she wouldn't put herself in danger like that!"

Gasping, Ethan can't even gather enough breath to retort before Cassandra stepped forward, placing the point of her sickle against the side of his face. "Let's say she did send you through the wall, manthing, the question is why? Why didn't she think about the danger?"

"Because- well, because I think she was getting annoyed with me, getting angry?"

"Why?" She interrogated some more, pressing the sickle in harder as well.

Grunting, Ethan replied, "I had landed a few hits in and was taunting her as well?"

"Why were you taunting her? What did you say?"

Deciding that the truth couldn't hurt, he gave it "I just said that I had yet to break a sweat and that I wasn't done after she asked me to yield."

"Keep going manthing, I didn't say you were finished." Dragging the sickle down slightly, carving a small cut into him, Cassandra waited.

"F-fuck! Ok! After that, she broke my defense, grabbed me, and slammed me into the wall. That's when it collapsed! After that, the air rushed in and she started to attack me again!"

Confusion spread amongst the women. If Bela did in fact accidentally smash the wall with Ethan, why did she attack him?

"Something isn't adding up manthing… why would she attack you? Answer me!"

"I don't know! All she said is that she would kill me! Maybe she was just angry, fuck if I know!"

"I think you are lying. I think you broke the wall on purpose!" With her accusation, she dragged the sickle down slowly, carving into Ethan's face. The sickle ended up piercing his cheek too, causing blood to pour into his mouth.

Gritting his teeth, he struggled but barely managed to keep his scream in. "I think, manthing, you tried to break the wall to escape. To flee from Bela. The only thing I don't know is how you knew that the cold makes us weak! Who told you!? Was it that maid who brings you food!?"

"Wh-what? No! Magda didn't tell me anything, I swear!"

"Hm, how interesting. Quick to defend the girl, manthing. Daniela. Go find this 'Magda' and bring her here."

"Yes, mother." With that, Daniela transformed into her flies and flew away to retrieve Magda.

"What are you going to do with her? She didn't do or say or even tell me anything! I swear!"

Crossing her arms, she turned her nose up at Ethan and gave him a look "We will see, Mister Winters. We will see…"

Stuck in an uncomfortable silence, all Ethan could do was send a silent prayer that Magda would be ok. The poor woman didn't deserve this, not at all. Trying once more to help Magda, he spoke. "Please, she didn't say anything to me. I was shocked when I seen what was happening to Bela. I didn't know. She just slammed me into the wrong wall, that's it! Magda didn't say anything about it! I don't even know if she knows… please, Lady Dimitrescu, I beg you, don't hurt Magda." Ending his plea in a whisper, the only response he got was a narrowing of Lady Dimitrescu's eyes.

After what felt like forever, Daniela finally returned and tossed a visibly shaken and terrified Magda to the ground.

"I found the maid, mother." Gesturing to the woman on the ground, she then stepped back to let her mother interrogate the maid.

"So, Magda was it? Well, dear, it seems our resident manthing knew some information he shouldn't have known-"

"I didn't fucking know! She didn't- smack!" an open-palm smack by Lady Dimitrescu shut him up.

"Hush now, manthing, ladies are talking. Anyway, back to our discussion. So, Magda, did you tell Mister Ethan Winters here anything that he shouldn't have known?"

Looking back and forth between Lady Dimitrescu and Ethan, horror took over her face. Ethan's eyes widen in realization as he remembered what he asked Magda the first time he had seen her, and what she said.

"'Is there a baby girl here in the castle? She's my daughter. Please, I need to know where she is."

"I could have ears cut off just for hearing you ask me that! Do you have any idea what danger you just put us both in!?"

"Please! I beg you! At least tell me if she's ok!"

"...she is… still here. In a way. I must go!'"

'Fuck', Ethan thought 'She most likely thinks it's about that! If she does, she will fuck us both over!'

"She thinks you told her about the cold and her daughters- oof" Another gut punch from Cassandra silenced him, but he got out the message he needed. "Silence manthing! One more outburst and I will have your tongue!"

It seems, however, that Magda got the message; this wasn't about his daughter. Still, she was tensed up afraid. "Well, Magda, what do you have to say?" Lady Dimitrescu probed. Opening and closing her mouth a few times, Magda looked around before finally finding the words. "I did not tell him anything about the cold and your daughters, Lady Dimitrescu. I'm not even sure what the cold has to do with your daughters if I am being honest, my Lady…"

Grabbing the woman by her uniform, Lady Dimitrescu raised her to be eye level with the giantess. Looking at her in the eye for a moment, she then just drops her. Luckily for Magda, her tailbone breaks her fall.

"It appears that Magda here is telling the truth… she didn't tell the manthing. Leave us, now!" Commanded the Lady. Magda, thankful she was alive, didn't press her luck. She got up and ran from the dungeon as quickly as possible. Ethan relaxed knowing that Magda was safe, for now at least.

Turning back towards him, Lady Dimitrescu spoke, "We will find out how you knew, manthing."

"But I didn't know-!"

Grabbing his jaw and forcing it up, Lady Dimitrescu extended one claw out about 3 inches and placed it inside his mouth, against his tongue. "Final. Warning."

'I should shut the fuck up now.'

After a tense moment, Lady Dimitrescu withdrew her claw and hands from Ethan and looked at her daughters, "Well my daughters, it seems that since the manthing is unwilling to admit his involvement, we must interrogate everyone else. I will question The Duke, just in case. You two question the other maids. If we can't find anything, we will resort to more… interesting methods of extraction. Daniela, check up on your sister first. Make sure she is still stable. Try to get her to drink a little more blood, too. Cassandra… don't kill any of the maids right now, I have enough to deal with currently. Now go."

A chorus of 'yes mother' comes from the girls as they dissolve and fly away to carry out their orders. Turning back to Ethan, Lady Dimitrescu continues. "We will figure out how you knew, manthing, and we will make sure it doesn't happen again. Last chance to confess before we turn this castle inside out looking for your co-conspirators. I even promise to give them a quick death if you point them out."

Figuring that he is allowed to talk at the current moment, he speaks carefully. "Lady Dimitrescu, as I said, I did not know. Bela must've misjudged her strength and sent me through the wall. She was fairly angry…"

Looking at him with mild annoyance, he can tell that wasn't the reply she was expecting. Luckily, however, she didn't cut his tongue off or hit him. She simply glared at him and gave a huff, then finally walked out and shut his cell.

Left alone now, Ethan breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment, he thought this was going to be the end of the line. "The rest of the staff should be safe, I never even really talked to any of them. I'm sure most haven't even seen me yet. Fuck… what am I going to do? How the hell am I going to get out of this mess… Fuck, what if Bela doesn't get better? Fuck, what if she does and still tries to kill me! Shitshitshit!" Wracking his brain, Ethan tries to devise a way to get out of this predicament but comes up empty-handed. There's nothing he could do to save himself now. Even if he got free, he would be hunted down like a dog. On top of that, escaping at the moment was a confession of guilt.

Deciding that he could do nothing, he simply resigned himself to hanging from the chains. After waiting some hours, Lady Dimitrescu and Cassandra finally made their way back down to Ethan. Opening the cell, the duo walked in.

"It seems, manthing, that the assistance you managed to get came from outside the castle." Lady Dimitrescu stated while looking at Ethan before continuing. "None of the servants have confessed to helping you. I asked The Duke and he gave me his word that he did not assist you, either. That only leaves those from beyond the castle walls. I believe that I have heard some talk from the other Lords about a... 'Chris Redfield' was it? Apparently, he is somehow linked to you."

Grimacing at the name, the only thing Ethan could think of was Chris shooting Mia over and over. However, Lady Dimitrescu sees this reaction as something else.

"Oh? It seems we are on to something finally. Tell me, manthing. How did this 'Redfield' get information to you in my castle?"

"Chris can go fuck himself, that bastard killed my wife! Trust me, if I knew a way to get to him, I would've done it already and strangled him myself. He didn't tell me anything."

Raising a brow in interest, Lady Dimitrescu filed what Ethan said for later. She could use his dead wife against him if she needed to. "If that is true, manthing, how did you know how to hurt Bela?"

"For fucks sake! I told you already, I didn't! It was all an accident!"

Wrapping her hand around his neck, she began to choke him. "Stop lying, manthing! You are trying the last of my patience! Cassandra."

Stepping forward, Cassandra answered her mother's call. "Yes, mother?"

"See if you can loosen the manthing's tongue. I will be back down in half an hour. Even if they tell you what we are looking for, keep torturing him as punishment for his insolence."

"With pleasure, mother!"

Turning her back to the two, Lady Dimitrescu strolled out of the cell, leaving Ethan at the mercy of Cassandra.

"Wait, please! I didn't do anything! If- WAIT! If I wanted to hurt Bela, then why did I call for help!? Tell me that!"

This made Lady Dimitrescu halt. That was indeed a good question. However, with only a moment to think, she smirked at him and replied. "If you killed her, you would've been slaughtered by us. You simply had realized this after you started your attack."

Leaving the dungeon finally, Ethan realized that she wasn't entirely wrong. Ethan was going to seize the opportunity and kill Bela, but he knew that the rest of the Dimitrescu family would've hunted him down. Looking over to Cassandra, he saw her infamous twisted smile take over her face as she withdrew her sickle from the folds of her dress.

"Well well well, manthing. It seems it's time to have some fun. Oh, and as it seems that we voided our deal by putting you in those chains again, it is only logical that the other stipulation has been voided as well." Lunging at him, she wrenched his head to the side. "Finally! Manblood!"

With that, Cassandra sunk her teeth deep into Ethan's neck and drank greedily.

"Fuck!" Ethan attempted to struggle out of Cassandra's bite, but it was useless. Her jaw was like a steel trap, sunk deeply into his flesh. Struggling would only cause her to dig deeper.

"Mmm, you have an interesting flavor, manthing~ I will be asking mother if I could make my own wine with your blood. You would go so well with the grapes from our vineyard. Let's get down to business, manthing!" Slowly, Cassandra raked the tip of her sickle across Ethan's chest, slicing into his skin. While it wasn't cutting to the bone, it was excruciating. He couldn't help but yell in pain. "Fuck! Fucking fuck! You fucking bitch! Twisted motherfucker!"

"Ah, the sweet screams that I've been craving for days now! Hmm, what else can I do? Ah, you don't need all those fingers!"

Grabbing his right wrist and forcing his hand open, she placed the hook of her sickle against his pinky.

"No, come on! Please don't cut my finger off! I only have 8 left…"

Mulling it over, she decided to humor the manthing. "Fine fine, since you asked nicely, I won't cut it off."

"Thank yo-" Realizing her intentional wording too late, he felt Cassandra's teeth touch down onto his pinky, right on the middle knuckle. Having yet to fully bite down, she shot him a smile with his finger between her teeth.

"No…" Ignoring his pleas, she slowly applied pressure.

Ethan, feeling her teeth crudely cut into his skin once more, and start to separate the joint, couldn't help but scream in pain.

"Fuck! FUCK! JUST FUCKING TAKE IT ALREADY!"

In one fluid motion, she slammed her teeth together, taking half the finger. Sighing in relief that intense pain was over, he was left with the dull ache of a missing finger, now, something he had gotten used to. Looking back over, he wanted to puke. He saw his severed finger held between Cassandra's teeth. As if to mock him as well, she slowly began to chew with her mouth open.

Only able to dry heave, he couldn't block out the sound of the bone brunching or the wet squishing of the muscle being torn apart.

"Mmm, delicious~ Maybe I should take more? No, mother say's improper to overindulge. I suppose I will have to settle for slicing you up, manthing!" Placing and dragging her sickle down his arm, blood was soon dribbling down his leg and onto the floor. Without waiting, she placed her sickle against his face and dragged it down again. She did this a few more times across various areas of his body.

Struggling, Ethan was able to contain his screams of pain, only grunting every time she started a new cut. Sweating profusely and bleeding from various places, Ethan had started praying to whoever would listen to end this hell.

Sadly, no one seemed to hear him.

Biting into his neck again, Cassandra drank again, taking even more blood this time. Staying conscious was getting harder and harder as his time with this crazy bitch ticked on.

"P-please, stop. I-... I didn't do anything. Please, Lady Cassandra, I… I didn't." Exhausted and half asleep, Ethan was trying his best to appease her. Trying anything at all was better than nothing.

"Hmm- no. I am having so much fun! Aren't you, manthing?" Licking her sickle, she then carved another line into Ethan, on his side this time, along his ribs.

He didn't even have the energy to scream anymore, only a low, pitiful moan left him. Finally, he started to pass out from the pain and blood loss. He would no longer feel the pain anymore, and he could just skip… all… this…

SMACK!

Shaking awake, Ethan looked around. Cassandra was standing there with a grimace. "You won't be getting out of this that easy, now stay awake!" Feeling searing hot pain radiating from his face, he concluded that Cassandra smacked the fuck out of him. He even felt his lip busted a bit.

Finally, Lady Dimitrescu returned after what felt like hours.

"Sorry I was gone longer than expected, dear, Daniela was looking for me. Bela had started to come to and I wanted to check on her. She still doesn't have the energy to converse but her thrashing and panic have subsided."

"That is great news, mother. However, I can not return the favor, sadly. The manthing here has been very persistent in their claims that he's innocent."

"That is a shame, Cassandra dear. I have to commend you on your resolve, Mister Winters. There are not many people out there that would take this much abuse and still lie. Even if you were telling the truth this entire time, most would've lied and confessed anyway."

Unable to respond due to exhaustion, Ethan could only slowly blink at Lady Dimitrescu's rambling.

"However, the fact you still have yet to admit what you did does irritate me a good deal." Grabbing his jaw and inspecting his face, Lady Dimitrescu turns to her daughter.

"Cassandra, go get the rack ready."

Unbridled excitement rippled across her features. "Yes! Of course, mother!" With glee in her voice, she vanished into flies and was off to another room.

"Tsk tsk tsk, you should have just confessed manthing, it would have ended all this pain. It seems that we must increase our efforts instead. Have you ever heard of the rack, manthing?"

Gathering as much strength as he could, Ethan only gave a slow shake of the head from side to side.

"Oh, it's a very interesting device! You are laid down on a table with your hands and legs attached to winches. They are slowly reeled in, pulling on your limbs. At first, your muscles will be stressed to their limits. Some will rip trying to keep your limbs attached. After, joints start to separate. Ligaments and tendons will tear too. Finally, once the bone and muscle have separated, the skin starts to rip. It's a very long and drawn-out process that Cassandra rarely gets to perform. You will be the first in over 30 years."

Dropping his head, Ethan can only hope his death was quick. He failed Mia. He failed to get his daughter back. He failed to avenge his wife and kill Chris. After a moment, Cassandra reformed and was releasing Ethan from his chains.

Unable to support himself, he crashed to the floor in a broken heap. Hardly even able to register the pain, he could only really feel the coldness of the floor. Dragging him behind her, Cassandra made her way to the rack with Lady Dimitrescu walking by her side. Even if he wanted to fight back still, he was unsure if he even could. Only partially aware of being placed on a wooden table, he began to think back to Mia.

One of the most treasured memories he had of her was a simple one. They had just moved in together the month before and were still settling down. They were sitting on the couch, watching some random show they found while channel surfing. It wasn't even good. Mia was curled into a ball and laid against him, a blanket covering them. Neither one of them had to work for the next few weeks, so they could laze about as much as they wanted. No pressure of tomorrow. Money wasn't an issue, even after buying a house, they still had plenty. Leaning his head onto her, he took a deep breath in and let it slowly leave. She looked over at him and gave him the most beautiful and warmest smile. At that moment, his heart melted. He found what he never knew what he was searching for; a wife.

Mia and him never really discussed marriage. Neither of them came from a traditional family, so they never really thought of marriage as something they needed. To them, living together was marriage in a way. But laying there, with Mia in his arms, a smile spread across her face, and her eyes holding nothing but love for him, something inside shifted. He didn't know what, exactly, but he knew that Mia was the most amazing woman he ever met. The words tumbled out of his mouth before he even thought of them…

"Will you marry me?"

Her eyes grew wide and she had to lean back. Looking him up and down, Ethan could see the disbelief in her eyes. Hell, he didn't believe he just asked either, but it felt right. Instead of back peddling, he doubled down. Slipping off the couch and onto his knees, he was at her feet. Grabbing taking her hands into his and stroking them gently with his thumbs, he asked again.

"Mia, please marry me."

Unable to contain herself, she began to cry and vigorously nodded yes. Starting to cry too, Ethan laid his head on her lap and hugged her midsection. She laid across him as well and hugged him back. They held each other tightly and silently let their tears fall.

Gently smiling at the memory, he didn't mind the tightening of the straps around his wrists and ankles as much anymore. They took his daughter from him and won. Chris had killed Mia and got away with it. No one could take his memories though. Deep within his mind, he was still there with Mia and Rose, they were still together as a family. Not even death could change that.

"Let us begin; Cassandra, starting cranking."

"Gladly, mother."

Hearing the creek of the wooden pulleys being stressed, Ethan could only watch the slack being pulled out of his bindings before finally pulling on him. Before Cassandra could go any further though, Lady Dimitrescu held a hand up to silently command her daughter to stop. Leaning over the table and Ethan, she spoke, "Well manthing, last chance. Anything you wish to tell us before we pull you apart, piece by piece?"

Deciding to just ignore her, Ethan looked up at the ceiling and kept his mind blank. Annoyed at being ignored, Lady Dimitirescu backed away and motioned for Cassandra to continue.

Creeeek

The pressure on his limbs was greater, but not painful yet. Uncomfortable, yes, but not painful. His body was subconsciously flexing its muscles, pulling on his limbs to keep the strain off his joints.

Creeeek

Grunting, his shoulders began to feel the pain first. It felt like he was back at Highschool gym, trying to do pull-ups.

Creeeek

"F-fuck!" Gasping for breath, no reprieve from the pain came. His ankles started to feel as if there were spikes in them. It was constant and unrelenting. Once more, Lady Dimitrescu comes over. "Confess manthing, and we will release you from this machine."

Figuring that he had nothing much to lose anymore, he gave a strained smile. "Ho- how… how about you go… fuck yourself, you giant bitch." Lady Dimitrescu seemed unphased by the insult. Her daughter, on the other hand, took it upon herself to punish him.

Creeeeeeeeeek

Slowly turning the machine and even further than before, Ethan let out an unbridled scream of pain as he felt his shoulders and wrist pop. He was sure that his left shoulder had just been dislocated if the searing pain was any indication. Ethan did his best to keep from thrashing, lest he does more damage. Wrangling his breath back into a controlled rhythm, he couldn't help but cry a little.

His knees started to hurt now as well. He felt the muscles in his arm and chest hold onto his arms for dear life. His skin was doing its best as well.

"Keep going Cassandra, smaller turn this time. Draw the process out."

"With pleasure~"

Creek

Even if the turn was short, it felt like he stretched a mile. His right shoulder finally popped and his wrists both were yanked out.

Hyperventilating, each of Ethan's breaths contained a pained whine. The stress of the past few days finally getting to him, he couldn't help but fully cry now. Not caring that Cassandra and Lady Dimitrescu finally saw him break. If he was being honest, it felt good to express his pent-up frustration finally. Too bad that was overshadowed by the fact his shoulders had been separated from their normal position and wrenched out. If that wasn't enough, his knees were threatening to go next.

Ethan was unsure if he could survive the next turn. It would start to pull the muscle apart. He just hope he passed out soon from the pain, or at least the blood loss soon to come.

This was the end, he was sure of it. Just like the other times, he thought he was about to die, he charged head-first into it. Laughing, he taunted them. "So… when- when are you going to start? I barely feel anything over here! Come on! Crank that bitch! I'm about to fall asleep over here!"

"As you wish, manthing!"

Cree-

"GAHHH! FUCK!"

-eee-

"C-COME ON! MORE!"

-eee-

"Wait!"

Stopping her cranking, Cassandra turned to Ethan as he screamed for her to stop. Lady Dimitrescu smirked, they were finally getting somewhere after all this hassle. The manthing was finally going to confess-

"I finally started to feel something!" Ethan couldn't help but give a strangled laugh at the looks of anger and frustration on his torture

"Cassandra, don't stop turning till something tears lose!"

"With pleasure mothe-!"

"WAIT STOP!"

Confusion swept across everyone in the room. This shout had come from Daniela, though Ethan couldn't see her. He could hear her approaching though, slowly.

Lady Dimitrescu's worried voice filled the room, "Daniela, Bela!? What are you doing up dear, you need to rest! Get back to my room at once!"

"Mother, wait, please. Cassandra, don't turn the winch anymore. Bela… tell mother what you told me." Daniela said.

Taking in a strangled grasp, Bela spoke in a raspy, quiet, and strained voice. "The manthing… didn't… hurt me."

Daniela and Bela finally made their way into the room, and Ethan could see them from the corner of his eye. Daniela was supporting her sister, arm around her chest holding her up. Bela, looking sickly still, seemed to regain her strength.

Eyes growing wide and shaking their head in disbelief, Cassandra and Lady Dimitrescu looked at Bela in bewilderment.

"Are you sure dear? You were fairly incoherent, maybe you-"

Pushing more strength into her voice this time, Bela cut her mother off mid-sentence. "No mother, the manthing… he… saved me. Release him."

Standing stock still, Cassandra couldn't process this. Eyes darting between Lady Dimitrescu and Ethan, she didn't know what to do. Part of her wanted to crank the wheel as hard as possible and rip him apart in an instant.

"Cassandra… release him."

"...yes, mother." Releasing the ratchet system that held the tension, all the pressure on Ethan's limbs was instantly gone. However, he was unable to move either arm or his left leg. Breathing a sigh of relief, he shut his eyes and calmed his heartbeat. It would suck to go through all that just to have a heart attack.

Looking over to Bela, she looked at him. There wasn't as much hate in them before. Instead of loathing his existence, she seemed to just be mildly annoyed with him. She did something that betrayed this, however; she gave him a subtle nod.

Lady Dimitrescu took a step over and kneeled to her daughter's height and looked her over. "Bela dear, tell me, what happened?"

"It is-" clearing her throat to speak clearer, she started again, "It is pretty simple, mother; I slammed him against the wrong well, it fell, and I started to freeze. It got hard to think, I remembered I tripped and fell. It's mostly a haze, but I remember almost all of it." She shot a glance at Ethan and the look told Ethan she knew that he was about to smash her head in… but she didn't say that. Instead, she skipped it. "He then dragged me out of the room and into the hall. The rest you all should know."

Coughing into a fist, Bela clung tightly to her sister, still very much ill. However, Cassandra had a question.

"Wait, the manthing said that you started to attack again after the wall fell. Why?"

"Simple, Cass; I was angry at them. He got inside my head, made me angry, and caused my concentration to falter."

"Well… it seems the manthing was telling the truth after all. Daniela, take Bela back to my quarters. I will be up in a moment."

"Yes, mother." Turning, Daniela began to assist Bela back out.

Lady Dimitrescu then walked toward Ethan and personally undid his restraints. "It seems that not only were you not at fault for hurting my daughter… it also seems that you saved her. As much as I hate to admit it, it would seem that… I am… in your debt. For saving my daughter's life."

Cassandra seemed to take exception to this statement. "Wait, mother! The filthy manthing doesn't owe you anything! Even if they didn't know about the cold, they still caused Bela to break the wall down!"

"That was Bela's own fault, Cassandra. What she did was because she let the manthing get the better of her, just as they got the better of you! The manthing could've just left her to die, fled into the cold. You and Daniela would've been unable to track them down and I would've been too busy answering to Mother Miranda to chase them myself! As much as it pains me to say, I do in fact owe a debt to the manthing. Cassandra, take them to the healer. Tell them to treat the manthing and that I myself ordered it. Also, make sure they know they are top priority; they are to receive our best quality of treatment."

Begrudgingly, Cassandra nodded and scooped Ethan up. His arms dangled limply at unnatural angles. While painful, it didn't even compare to what he experienced on the rack. Turning her lower body into flies, Cassandra sped off to the healer. When they were out of earshot of Lady Dimitrescu, however, she began to speak to him quietly and with venom laced in her words. "Mother does not owe you a damned thing, manthing. She should've just let me rip you apart on the rack. Bela should've consumed all your blood, too, in reparation for almost killing her." Ethan didn't reply. He let Cassandra ramble and spit her venom at him. He was too tired and broken to fight back at the moment.

After a short walk through the halls, Cassandra knocked on a door.

"Just a moment, please." Came the voice from the other side. After some papers shuffling and a chair being scooted out, the person on the other side approached the door and opened it. Standing there was a woman in her early 40s. She wore a simple white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a long skirt. Her hair was done into a ponytail and she wore glasses. "Oh, good day Lady Cassandra. How may I help you today?" Ethan feels a bit irked, she just completely ignored him, all broken and bloody.

"Greetings Adina. This manthing is to be treated for his injuries. The order comes directly from mother. You are to use the best care for them as well. Where should I put them?"

Stepping away from the door, Adina motions to one of a few empty beds lined against a wall, each separated by a halfway-drawn curtain. "He may go in any of those beds, my Lady. Do you know his injuries, by any chance?"

'Yes, because the way my arms are hanging and that I'm sliced to ribbons isn't clear enough…'

Laying him down on a bed, Cassandra listed off what she did to him. "The manthing has cuts across his body, none serious, though. He was on the rack, as well. His limbs were dislocated. Other than that, nothing of note. Oh, he is missing some of his pinky."

"I will make sure he makes a full recovery, it shouldn't be more than a few weeks for his limbs to recover and the cuts to close. Thank you, Lady Cassandra."

Without a word, Cassandra turned from the bed and left. Ethan looked over to the nurse. He watched as her calm, half-smile demeanor quickly switched to one of mild panic and worry. "Jesus, they really did a number on you! Judging by the bruising in your arms, I am going to wager a guess that you were an inch away from being armless! You're not bleeding out, physically at least. I don't think you're bleeding internally either, which is a godsend, as I can't perform surgery…"

Listening to the woman inspect his injuries, Ethan tried to get this process to go faster. "Random question… how much disinfectant do you have?"

Confused at his question, Adina glanced at her medical cabinet and then back to Ethan. "Uh, I have a few bottles? It's one of most required things in this castle, what with the sickles and all… why do you ask?"

"Listen, I need you to just put me back together and- this is going to sound weird- just pour the disinfectant over my body."

Staring at him for a moment, Adina replied "You are right, that does sound weird. Why the hell would I just carelessly pour disinfectant over you? What the hell will that do? No, I won't waste a perfectly good bottle."

"How about I buy one of those bottles from you? You'll have the money for a new one and not care about pouring it on me?" Ethan countered. This got her thinking. She did have plenty of bottles, and him giving her money to do it would ease her burden, as she had a monthly budget set by the Lady of the house to stay under. Shrugging, she agreed. "Ok, fine. A bottle of disinfectant will cost you… 1100 Lei."

Remembering The Duke's price for disinfectant, Ethan spoke up. "Hey hey hey! I know for a fact The Duke sells it for 1000 Lei!"

Smirking, Adina responds. "Why yes, he does. But I am going to have to spend my free time getting a new bottle myself, instead of it coming with the next shipment. Do we have a deal or not?"

Figuring he was in no shape to haggle, he grunted and nodded. "Just… hurry up and pop me back into place and pour that bottle on me."

"Ok… you'll need something to bite on. This is going to hurt… a lot." Placing a small length of rubber tubing in his mouth, Adina firmly grabbed his right arm.

"Ok, I am going to say '3, 2, 1' and I will pop your arm back into place. 3. 2-"

Pop

"FUCK! You god damn liar!"

"I can't have you tensing up, sir. You will only cause more damage. The wrists won't be an issue to reset, but they will still hurt. Ok, one more shoulder. You need to relax. There. Now, on the count of-"

Pop

"For fucks sake! Again!?"

"Yes again! If you tense up, I will just end up ripping the muscle! Now shush. I need to set your wrists and make sure your legs are ok."

Ethan can bear the pain of his hands being reset, though it did sting. He was lucky that his legs were able to hang on however, he didn't think you would be able to relocate a knee as easy as a shoulder. Finishing her inspection she stood up and clap her hands together. "Alright! Everything else is still in place! Now… this disinfectant… do I just pour it over you?"

Looking up at the woman, Ethan nodded. "Yes. Focus the pour on my wounds and limbs."

Shrugging, Adina walked to the cabinets. "I'm not sure what this will do, but it's your bottle now, so it's your choice. Should I take your clothes off for this, too?"

Shaking his head no, Ethan was able to carefully move his arms out to make the pouring easier. He felt the sockets grinding, the ligaments and cartilage having been damaged and allowing the bone to touch. "Ok, here we go… let's see what you're on about…"

The liquid poured onto his clothes and slowly seeped through his clothes and finally contact his skin. The reaction was immediate. He felt the cuts close and even could see a bit of steam coming off of them. He felt his shoulders gently adjust themselves as connective tissue regrew. It felt slower, however. The disinfectant must not be able to penetrate that well, but it was better than nothing. While it did sting, the pain was easy to handle.

"Holy shit… what the fuck? How the fuck are you healing!?"

Looking over to the shocked nurse, he chuckled at her dumbfounded look. Here he was, a simple human manthing, yet he was healing faster than Bela could right now. Looking at his chest, the slashes were more or less closed and mostly healed. As the last of the bottle poured onto his chest, he could feel the sprawling pain dwindle to a mild ache. His legs seemed to also get better, though he doubted they needed it. "Well… I'll be damned. It worked, however the hell it did I do not know."

Sitting up with some difficulty, Ethan gently rotated his arms. He could feel there was still tenderness to it and that he should rest them for the next few days, it was a world of difference from how he was moments ago. At this moment, a knock came from the door. Without waiting for a reply, the door opened and Lady Dimitrescu ducked into the room.

"Good day, Lady Dimitrecu! What can I help you with, my Lady?"

Lady Dimitrescu waved her off. "I only need to speak with the manthing for a moment. Why don't you go take a break, Adina."

"Yes, of course, my Lady. I will just be outside the door if you require me." Briskly walking about, Adina shut the door behind her.

"Well, manthing, it seems you made a miraculous recovery… strange. Moving on, it seems I owe you an apology."

Gapping at her like a fish, Ethan was at a loss for words. There was a 9-foot-tall monster of a woman, capable of unspeakable horrors and strength, and she was apologizing to him.

"I- wait, what- why? I don't-"

Raising her hand to silence him, she continued. "I loath this, manthing. So do not interrupt me, and just let me get it over with. It already feels like poison in my mouth. I apologize for treating you so harshly after you saved my daughter."

"Uh… apology accepted…?"

"Good." Straightening up, she spoke again. "Speaking of saving Bela, it seems I am in your debt. In return, I will grant you, say, three requests. Name them, manthing."

"Oh um… I uh…" Coming up empty, Ethan just decided to ask for something random. "Well, is there any possibility I could at least get a bed?"

Thinking for a moment, Lady Dimitrescu snapped her fingers and gave a small smile. "Actually, you are in luck; we have special rooms in the castle that were originally meant for royal hostages. They are decent rooms, their own bathrooms, and the like, but the door is sturdy and is locked from the outside. You may have one of those rooms. Two more requests."

Tapping his fingers on the bed, Ethan couldn't think of anything he could expect to get. His daughter was more or less out of the question. Looking down at his attire, he sees that it is now ruined. "Could I possibly get more clothes? I assume that the room also comes with some dressers? Could I possibly get multiple changes?"

"Yes, it is possible. I will give you a small pouch of Lei and I will have one of my girls take you to The Duke to acquire a change of clothes and personal hygiene items. One more, request."

Pressing his luck, he decided to ask about his daughter anyway. "Is… is there anything I may know about my daughter?" Stiffening at this, Lady Dimitrescu turned her head away. She didn't outright refuse this request, yet she wasn't happy about it.

"I… can't tell you much, Mister Winters. What I can tell you is that she is safe. She doesn't know what's going on, and she isn't scared. She's… asleep, to some effect."

"Asleep? What do you mean she's asleep!?"

"She is alive and well, do not worry. We have… suspended her in a state of limbo if you will. It is not dangerous, not in the slightest. She will be ok. We didn't want to stress the child."

Staring off into space, he did have to admit that he was less worried now than he was before. His daughter was safe and wasn't scared. That counted for something, at least.

"I will have some servants ready your new room. It shouldn't take long. Till then, you will remain here under Adina's watch. Once the room is ready, one of my daughters will fetch you and escort you. Now, I have some business to attend to." With that, Lady Dimitrescu left the room and Adina walked back in.

"First you heal at an insane rate and then Lady Dimitrescu came to apologize to you and grant you favors? What on earth happened…" Opening his mouth to explain, she cuts him off before he can speak. "No, I don't want to know. This place is crazy enough at times." Laughing at her remark, Ethan simply resigned himself to relaxing on the bed. It was the softest thing he's laid on in the past few days… speaking of days, how long has Ethan even been here? Two days? Maybe close to, but not yet three days. Yeah, almost three days sounds about right.

"So, Mister Winters, do you need something to drink? I'd imagine you are quite thirsty. Maybe even hungry? While the food I can give you isn't great, it is loaded with the nutrients your body needs to further heal and replace what blood you lost." Looking over to Adina, she was in another cabinet searching through it. There were dried foods, like fruits and meats. "Uh, can I get some of that dried fruit?"

"Of course." Taking a collection of different dried fruits, she walks over to Ethan and helps prop him up so he can eat. "Take things slow. You may have healed a good bit but I can tell you are still in pain and have some tears in your muscles and ligaments. I'd recommend you buy yourself another bottle and use it to help heal quicker whenever you can. Until fully healed, it will be easier for your shoulders to spontaneously pop out of place. If so, report to me. They may also pop themselves back in, but come to me anyway so I can double-check."

Nodding agreement, he hungrily munched on the fruit. It tasted amazing, it had been a few days since he had some and his body desperately needed it, as he was getting pushed to his limits these few days.

Knock knock.

Wondering who else could come to visit him, Ethan watched with interest as Adina stood up and walked to the door. Opening it, he saw Bela.

'Shit.'

"Oh, Lady Bela, good day! Are you looking for your mother? She was just here but left not too long ago."

"No, Adina, I am not looking for mother. I came here to speak to the manthing. Please wait outside."

Bowing her head, Adina quickly scurried out to the hall.

Bela watched Adina leave them. Whatever this was, it was serious. Bela's look and tone she spoke with were heavy and serious.

'Fuck, she remembered everything! She knows I was going to crush her head in! Fuck…'

"Manthing. It seems you and I have some things to talk about. Namely; you trying to kill me. Don't think I was just going to let that go. You were about to shatter my head and kill me. My mother may say she owes you for saving my life, but you owe me for almost killing me."

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Ethan tried not to panic. "Why… why didn't you tell your mother?"

She replied with a sigh. "I honestly do not know. While you were about to kill me, you did also call for help. That does count for something. I figured I would return the favor. You still owe me, however."

"What could you want from me?"

"Well, manthing, I think I will keep this favor for now. Call it when I need it. Who knows, it may come in handy. Goodbye, manthing."

With that, Bela was gone. Sitting there in the bed, Ethan only had one thought.

'Fuck.'

While the writing this week went great, work was grueling. Long week, every day was a full day of work too. Next week will be like this too, but I should be able to pump out the next chapter fairly easily as well. As I get into a rhythm with writing I find myself wording sentences and dialog better. On AO3 and , I've had people talk about the (in)humanity of the Dimitrescu women and the fact that they are murderers shouldn't be ignored. It won't be, that will come into play later 100%. It will be something Ethan has to take care of himself, but before he can his own situation must improve as well.

Thank you for reading!