Because last chapter was a hair short, I made this chapter a hair long.

"...then she finally stopped sucking my blood. She was furious for a second but then came too, luckily." Slowly eating his food while Magda listened, Ethan told about his encounter with Daniela earlier.

"Yes, Lady Daneial can be swept up at the moment sometimes. It's not all her fault though, some maids have enjoyed serving under Lady Daniela, and also serving under Lady Daniela." Magda tossed Ethan a wink at the end to further explain the innuendo.

A light blush dusted across Ethan's face at the mental image. "Oh! I didn't know that she- or that was even allowed here."

"Inside this castle, what is accepted is different. I wouldn't say it's allowed but Lady Dimitrescu never told us or her daughters to not… mingle with the same sex." Adjusting in her seat, Magda explained a little more. "Lady Dimitrescu knows what goes on behind closed doors. We all know that she knows and vice versa, but she has never said anything about it. Either she does not care about it, or thinks it's too much trouble to deal with."

"I suppose that makes sense…" Vigorously scratching at his face, his facial hair is starting to fully come in. This was one reason he hated it; it would get so damn itchy during the first week. "Good fucking god I need to save this shit off my face! I can't take this itching anymore."

"I think it looks good on you. Makes you look, I don't know… rugged? That's the word, I believe."

Gently rubbing his face, trying to soothe the itching, Ethan contemplates Magda's suggestion. It really was only a week he had to worry about the itching. He wouldn't have to worry about shaving as much anymore, either. Just a trim every month or so. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he did like getting compliments about his looks, so if Magda thought it made him look better/cooler, then he was all for it. "I suppose you have a point. Alright, I will keep it. Hey, wait a minute, why are you still here? You've been here for the past 15 minutes, shouldn't you get back to work?"

"Oh, I asked one of my friends to cover the rest of the night for me. I didn't have much left so they didn't mind. I wanted to make sure you would be alright before I left for the night." Standing up, Magda dusted herself off. "Speaking of which; you do seem better. The food and painkillers look like they have done their job well. I believe I will be going now." Walking over to the door and unlocking it to leave, Magda turned and gave a small wave to Ethan. "Goodnight, Ethan. Sleep well."

Ethan gave a friendly wave back. "Night, Magda. You too." Watching Magda leave reminded him of Mia when they were in college. She would hang out in his dorm till curfew. The time before they admitted their feelings was a cute time. Neither one of them didn't know how the other felt. They would look at each other and blush when they noticed each other staring. When Mia left, she would pause at his door, blush, give a little smile, and wave while telling him to have a goodnight.

Magda was doing the same things…

"Oh. Hm. Well, fuck." Now the other things she had done made some sense. The blushing, compliments, the worrying. She had started to develop a crush. "I'm probably the only man she's seen in a long time. She didn't exactly say that she messed around with other staff members, either. Shit, this might bite me in the ass."

Pushing his hair back, Ethan hoped his theory was wrong. He still loved Mia, so much, and most likely wouldn't stop for years and years, so least to say he wasn't going to get back in the dating scene for a long, long time. Or ever.

"I just gotta wait. Watch her a bit closer, see what she does. She may just be nice. Yeah, just nice."

Setting the mostly finished food onto the desk, Ethan decided to get some sleep. He needed it. Turning off the light switch in the room, the only thing casting light now was a few small flames from the fireplace. Laying down and wrapping himself in a thin blanket, he quickly fell asleep…

BEEP BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP BEEP!

"Wha-what the hell! What is it!? Who!" Looking around for the source of the sound, a half-asleep Ethan panicked for a moment. Locating the source of the alarm, he smacked his watch till it shut up. Laying his head back down, he made to get some more sleep.

Only to jump back up, wide awake and wide-eyed. The alarm. For his visit with The Duke.

'Uhg, why… why why why.'

Forcing his unwilling body out of bed, Ethan slipped on some shoes and grabbed his lockpicks. This lock was a bit newer and looked to be 'easier' to pick. Remembering to keep tension on the lock as he raked the locking pins, he heard it click fairly soon. Pushing the door open, Ethan didn't even bother to check his surroundings. He was too tired to care.

Begrudgingly, he began to walk towards The Duke. Whatever The Duke wanted him for better be good. Quickly finding his way to the fat, jovial man was easy. The path from his room to the merchant was quicker than from the dungeon.

Pushing open the door, The Duke's face split into a smile. "Ethan Winters! How goes it? …seems you just woke up?"

"Yep. What is it you wanted, Duke? I'm about to fall asleep standing up."

The Duke chuckled at Ethan's words. "Oh don't do that! I'm not as spry as I used to be in my youthful years, I wouldn't make it to you in time to save you from your crash to the floor. We will get down to business in just a moment, but first! Have a cigar! Oh, and take a beer too!" The Duke handed Ethan a glass bottle of beer. The label had Romanian writing on it. "Afraid it's from a local brewery, so it may not be of your pallet, but I'm sure at this point you won't mind."

Skeptically, Ethan took the cigar and beer. "I'm not much of a cigar smoker, but I appreciate the beer. Me and Mia's dad shared a few cigars. They were always a little strong for me."

"Oh, don't worry, I myself don't care for the harsher ones. These are as mild as you can get. Now take a seat, relax for a moment- and I mean truly relax. Just sit back, take a drag," The Duke lit his own cigar, "and relax for a moment. You need it."

Ethan took The Duke's advice and sat down on a chair by the man. Looking at the cigar, he realized he didn't have a lighter. Without needing to be asked, The Duke produced a small box of matches and tossed it to Ethan. "If you can help it, you should always light a cigar with a piece of burning wood, namely cedar. It doesn't impact the taste of the cigar. If you don't have one, just use a match. Avoid using the match right after you light it though, as the sulfur will make the cigar taste funny."

Taking a match and swiping it along the striker, Ethan waited until the red tip burned away. Looking back to Duke, Ethan imitated the way he lit his cigar. Taking a draw of cigar smoke into his mouth, he tasted it. It was a very mild flavor, and almost… sweet. Still, it had a faint acrid taste of smoke and a certain bitterness, but it was far less than the other cigars Ethan had tried.

"While smoking a cigar, some might tell you that you should drink whiskey or bourbon with it. Others swear by cocktails or beers. Some even say just water, to avoid messing with the flavor of the cigar. You know what I say to those people, Mister Winters?"

Exhaling a puff of smoke, Ethan looked to The Duke. "What do you tell them?"

"I simply tell them, 'Shove it up your ass', pardon the language." The Duke began to give a belly laugh and Ethan soon followed suit. "I say drink whatever you want! Be it whiskey, wine, or god damn Kool-Aid. I hope you don't mind me dropping the professionalism tonight, Mister Winters, but it's been a long day and it's nice to forget about the business every now and again."

Swallowing the swig of beer he took, Ethan asked "Is there something wrong, Duke? I hope it wasn't my and Daniela's order earlier."

"Hm? Oh! No, Mister Winters, nothing is wrong. Just a particularly busy week, far busier than normal. Started a few business ventures outside the village not too long ago, and they require my attention from time to time, but nothing I can't handle. What's that saying? Oh yes, 'can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen'. I can stand the heat."

Nodding, Ethan sat back and took another drag from the cigar and held it for a moment before releasing it. "Not that I am not enjoying this Duke, because I honestly am, but what is it you wanted to see me about?"

"Oh, right. Apologies, my dear boy! There are a few things I want to give to you, the first being some information. I was able to gather some information about your daughter and the reason for her being here. Sadly, I do not know the details, but what do I know should help. Firstly, I am sad to say that you and your family weren't targeted randomly. Mother Miranda, the one who kidnapped your daughter, was also tied to the Bakers. From what I was able to gather, Miranda was the one who hired the company your wife worked for. Apparently, making a biological weapon wasn't the main goal."

Ethan didn't know whether to be relieved or upset that this wasn't random. On one hand, it wasn't just cruel luck that they ended up in this place. On the other hand, the hell Ethan went through with the Bakers wasn't actually over.

"Secondly," Duke continued, " this 'ceremony' that we've been hearing about directly involves your daughter, Rose. However, the good news is, she is alive. In fact, it's apparently important that not only she stays alive, but in good health too. So rest easy knowing she is being taken care of. However… I am not sure how much more information I can give you. Not for any secrecy reasons, but because things are changing faster than I can learn of them."

"Don't worry about it Duke, whatever information you give me will help. Whenever you find more information, find a way to let me know and I will be back here as soon as I can." Taking a final swig of the beer, Ethan puts the glass bottle down. "There anything else you wanted to give me?"

"Hm, there was but, as much as I am embarrassed to say, it has slipped my mind. Oh well, I'm sure it will come back to me in a moment. For now, let's have another beer, shall we?"

"I don't know. It's late, I didn't sleep for long, and what if we get caught?"

"This is coming from the same man who took on numerous lycans and moroaicǎ?"

"...give me a damn beer, Duke."

"That's the spirit!" Tossing Ethan another beer, The Duke opened one for himself too.

Cracking open the bottle and taking a drink, Ethan decides to make small talk. "So tell me, Duke, how did you get into the merchant business."

"That's not much of an interesting story, sad to say, but I will still tell it. Tell me, do you remember the Racoon City Outbreak in 1998?"

Ethan ran his hand through his hair. He remembered Racoon City alright. It was all over the news that Umbrella had been responsible. Some folk said they had been irresponsible and broke safety protocol, other people said that Umbrella planned the whole thing. Since then, the entire world was still suffering from it. Small pockets of the disease in Racoon City had started to crop up over time. Luckily the outbreaks were contained and stopped.

"I remember a decent bit. At first, we were just told that a deadly virus had broken loose in the city. They said the virus infected people quickly and there was no cure for those already infected. Rumors spread that it was a zombie virus and that there were horrible, mutated monsters too."

Taking a drink, Ethan continued. "No one really believed those rumors, though. How the hell could we? Zombies? Really? Sounded insane at the time. Wasn't until 2004, during the attack on Terragrigia, that the world really learned of the bio-weapons. That's when things clicked and everyone realized that Racoon City really had a zombie plague."

"Yes, what truly tragic times for everyone involved. Anyway. I ask because, during the Racoon City outbreak, there was a man by the name of 'Leon Kennedy'. He was a new hire in the local police department there. Well, right before Terragrigia, this Leon was tasked by the US president then to rescue his daughter who had been kidnapped by a cult in rural Spain." The Duke interrupted his story to take a drink of his beer and a drag of the cigar.

"This cult wasn't what it seemed, however. They had all been infected with a parasite, similar to the cadou, aside from their moldy origins. During this time, I started my traveling merchant business. I would try to peddle food and farming equipment, sometimes even luxury items, but the locals were… less than hospitable. Lucky for me, they didn't treat me like an outsider. That's when I met my long-time friend."

Blowing cigar smoke, The Duke continued. "He never gave me his name, interestingly. Just called himself 'a merchant'. However, where I sell a broad array of items, such as food, tools, clothes, etc., this man exclusively supplied weapons and other military hardware. Leon and my friend regularly did business. So much so that he could afford to make small pop-up stores. One day, the merchant sees me trying to sell to some locals, and failing. That's when he called me over. Kept calling me 'stranger' with a funny accent. Said if I was looking for some work, he needed some done. Never one to turn away good coin, I accepted. I spent weeks running weapons and ammunition for him."

Ethan laughed, "What I wouldn't give for him to be around as well. Maybe I could've talked him into selling me a rocket launcher."

"Rocket launchers. He had multiple. He also had sold Leon a strange weapon capable of firing these exploding darts. High-powered sniper rifles, grenades, medical equipment; this man had it all. Anyway, one day I asked him how he was able to procure all this equipment when he himself was following this Leon around. That's when he showed me his web of connections. After things in Spain died down, he wanted to retire. I offered to take over his business. Eventually made my way here, and… got involved with local politics. The rest is boring history."

"What was Leon's mission like?"

The Duke 'hmm'ed for a moment as he remembered his time in Spain. "Well. I'd honestly have to say his mission was far more dangerous. He had to fight hundreds of enemy villagers, cult members, and militiamen. Unlike you, Ethan, they tried to kill Leon at almost every turn. They sent waves and waves of horrific monsters at him, only for him to slay them. I dare say, Ethan, if you were in his shoes, you would already be dead. Everyone here thinks Mother Miranda is some powerful, god-like figure. Between you and me, she doesn't even hold a candle to Lord Saddler."

"Lord Saddler? Was he like the cult leader?"

Motioning that Ethan was correct with his cigar, Duke chuckled a bit. "Right you are. He was the one pulling the string, more or less. Sure, there we other players like Umbrella, but they didn't care for Saddler's plans. They only involved themselves to acquire a sample of the parasite Saddler had discovered and deployed."

Scratching at his face a bit, Ethan grew annoyed. His skin was irritated and was flaring up a bit. "Ahem, here Ethan, take this salve. It has itch relief and skin moisturizing properties. Free of charge." Catching the small container, Ethan set down his beer and cigar to open the lid. Taking a small amount on his finger, he massaged it onto his face. An icy sensation washed over his skin and the itching stopped. The relief was quick and felt good. "Thanks, Duke, I appreciate it. How come you keep giving me stuff for free?"

"Why it's all part of our first class customer service… well, that, and I enjoyed this little chit-chat. While the local villagers and Lords do make for good customers, they don't make for good company. Especially that Beneviento and her doll, Angie…"

Ethan's brow quirked up. "What's with this Beneviento and Angie?" he asked.

"I'm sure you met them during your 'trial' Mother Miranda put on for you. A lady in mourning and a sentient doll ring any bells?"

"That creepy fucking doll thing? That was Angie? That thing looks like a damn gremlin."

"Don't let that gremlin hear you call her that, Ethan. She'd stab you." In one last knocking back of the bottle, The Duke finished off his beer. Giving a loud sigh, he reclined back into his seat. "It has been a long, long day."

Taking a sip, Ethan agreed through his bottle. "You could say that again."

"...OH! I just remembered what I wanted to give you, Ethan! While I do know that Cassandra is currently mad with you, I do have it on good authority that once all this mess with Bela blows over, pardon the pun, she will continue training with you in sword fighting." The Duke placed his cigar in his mouth as he rummaged around under his desk. Soon he produced a small stack of papers and a wooden sword that look perfectly like the real one he had been using.

"Here, these are manuscripts and other writings about sword fighting. There are a mix of skills and other things I recommend you look through. I also got you this! A training sword. Light weight so you don't throw your shoulder out of socket."

"Uhh… not that I won't take these, Duke, but are you sure that Cassandra will train with me again? She wasn't too friendly the last time I was around her. Also, why give me these things?"

"It might take a minute for her to come around, Mister Winters, but Daniela is sure that she will. Also, don't think of these as gifts from me, as a merchant. Think of these as gifts from me, as a friend. Just as long as you promise to come by every now and again to smoke a cigar and drink a few beers, Ethan."

A bit uncomfortable with how chummy The Duke is being, Ethan just flashes a forced smile. "Sure, I guess. Beats sitting in my room doing nothing."

"Well, Ethan, I suppose we should call it a night. I will be seeing you tomorrow when Daniela drags you here. I will have an update on your order tomorrow, for sure."

Standing up, Ethan takes a final drag from his cigar and then stamps it out against an ashtray on the desk and leaves it there. "Alright, Duke, thanks again for all this stuff. I appreciate it."

"The pleasure is all mine. Good night, my boy."

"You too." With that, Ethan exited the room and quickly made his way back to the room. Looking at his watch it read 2:03 AM. He spent more time than he thought there. As he entered the room, he made sure to reengage the lock on the door. Setting the stack of papers and wooden sword down on the desk, he then climbed into bed and let sleep take him.

It didn't even feel like he slept long before a knock on his door woke him up. Ethan could only muster a half-asleep 'yeah', acknowledging the visitor. Hearing the door open, he hears Magda huff at him. "You're not awake yet? You usually are already up and about at this time."

Sitting up, Ethan grumbled at the woman. "Yeah yeah yeah. Didn't get much sleep last night. Too much on my mind." Ethan disliked lying to the woman, but he needed to keep his visit with Duke a secret.

"I'm only teasing you. Here, I brought you breakfast. Daniela also told me to relay you a message; to be ready in around 15 minutes. She is going to take you to The Duke to inquire about a recent order you two placed. Excuse me for being nosey, but what did you both buy"

"Huh?" Ethan looked up from the food on the tray Magda brought in slightly confused, only half listening. "Oh yeah. Daniela needed my help with trying to lift the spirits of her sisters, mainly Cassandra. The order we placed with Duke is to help with that." Taking the small bowl of hot cereal and fruit, Ethan began to eat. "Daniela said if I helped, she would increase the quality of food I was getting. Although, it was just fine to start with."

Magda laughed. "The food I have been giving you isn't good enough for the Dimitrescus'. If I served them what you are eating right now, they would slice me in two. If Daniela says your meals will increase in quality, you should expect more extravagant meals. Now, I must be off to my other duties, Ethan. Have a good day. I will see you at noon."

"Have a good day as well, Magda. See you soon." Magda had walked back out and shut the door, leaving Ethan alone with his food.

He couldn't tell what grain he was eating or the fruit, but it tasted good and fresh. Perfectly warm and sweet with a dash of cinnamon. A simple yet extremely good breakfast.

Quickly finishing off the food and quickly washing his face in the bathroom sink, Ethan was ready for the day.

Knock knock knock

Just in time. "Come in," he replied. The door clicked open and in walked Daniela. "Good morning, manthing. Are you ready to speak with The Duke?" Ethan gave a positive nod in return. "Excellent! Well, come along."

As the two walked the halls, Daniela idly chatted about some story she had been reading last night. "...and then he brought his sword down onto the creature, cutting its head off! I can't wait to read it more later tonight!"

"Why don't you just read it after we are done with Duke?" Ethan casually asked.

"Ah, see I used to read books all day, but eventually I get bored of them. Limiting myself to how much I read a day keeps me excited. Does that make sense"

"Yeah, that makes sense. I don't know about around here in Romania, but in English, we call that getting 'burnt out' on something. You spend hours and hours every day doing something, only to then grow disinterested and bored of it. It used to happen to me a lot when I played new games."

"'Burnt out'. Interesting. What would you do with these games after you were 'burnt out'?"

"Well, typically I wouldn't play them for months. Then I would just get to urge to one day and start playing them again for a little while, but never as long as the first time." Ethan explained.

"That's how I am with some of my books," Daniela added, "I would read one all day every day for a week, only to then grow disinterested and pick up another. Eventually, I would run out of new books and restart the old ones. However, I would eventually forget where I left off and had to restart further back… that is very annoying."

Ethan chuckled at this. "Oh yeah, trust me I know all about that kinda thing. I used to binge shows on Netflix, get burnt out, and not watch it again for a while. Only to come back later and forget what happened in half the episodes."

Looking at Daniela, Ethan seen confusion stretch across her face.

'Oh yeah, right. If she's never heard of digital media, she has no idea about what I just said.'

"Let me explain; movies aren't the only thing you can watch with today's technology. Netflix is a… service, yeah that's a good word for it. It's a service that will allow you to watch many other films. You have movies. Movies are generally long and have a high budget to be made. There's another type, however, called series. Think of them like a book series. A 'season' is a book, and its chapters are 'episodes'. For example, season 1 episode 1 of a show is book 1, chapter 1."

Eyes lighting up in fascination, Daniela understood the explanation. "So there are very large movies that are broken up into shorter sub-movies? Fascinating! How many of these sub-movies are contained in a series?"

"That depends on however long they keep making them. Some only make a few, while others make literally hundreds. One of the longest-running still going is an animated- that means hand-drawn- comedy called 'The Simpsons'. It has over 700 episodes last I heard. Each 'sub-movie' is around 22 minutes long. That means it would take almost 10 days to watch all the 'sub-movies' back to back."

"Wow…" Daniela was stunned. Even if each sub-movie was only 22 minutes long, if she read only one a day, it would take her almost 2 years to finish them. The idea filled her with excitement.

"However, with Netflix, you can start and stop a show anytime you wish. Before, an episode, thats what the sub-movies are called, would release once a week. Now, they release a whole season at once. Because of this, they now make episodes longer. A lot longer, in fact. One of the most popular shows on Netflix is called Stranger Things. For the first season, each episode was only 50 minutes long, with the last episode in each being decently longer. Now, the episodes are over an hour long. There are about 9 episodes in each season. So that's a little over 9 hours of watch time for each season, on average I believe."

Daniela stopped in her tracks. She had a thousand-yard stare. Ethan looked at her for a moment, worried that she was about to have some sort of episode that Magda had warned him about. She then rushed to him, picked him up by his shirt, and brought him close to her face.

"Manthing! I NEED this 'Netflix'! Can you make it happen!?"

Staring at the desperate vampire, Ethan gave a nervous chuckle as he tried to move his head away from the frothing woman. "I can ask Duke yeah. I don't know for sure though. Do you guys have internet?"

"Whats 'internet'?"

"Yeah, I thought so. If you put me down, I will talk to Duke about it."

Dropping him, Ethan landed on his feet a bit unsteadily. Regaining his balance, they finished their walk to The Duke.

"Ah, just the two people I was wanting to see!" The Duke set down some papers and his cigar. "I assume you came to inquire about your shipment?"

"Yep, as well as something else." Ethan spoke first. "Something for Daniela specifically, but more on that later. When should I expect the movie stuff to arrive?"

Looking down for a certain paper, the Duke relayed the information on it back to Ethan. "Yes, I have sourced all the equipment and have begun the shipments. I charged Daniela's account first thing this morning after I confirmed that we acquired the goods. They should be here by tomorrow morning."

Ethan nodded his head in understanding. "That's good. Daniela, once we get the equipment, take me to the room you had in mind. I'd rather get this all set up as soon as possible for you."

"My thoughts exactly, manthing."

Duke clapped his hands together, signifying they were moving on to the next subject. "Now, you said that you have another order that you wish for me to fulfill?"

"Yeah, about that Duke. This one may not be completely possible. Do you know what the online service Netflix is, Duke?"

"I do, but I myself have never used it. Why?" Duke was curious as to where this was going.

"It seems I have made a mistake and explained it to Daniela here." Ethan motioned to the said woman. She quirked a brow at this. Realization dawned on the tubby man.

"Oh-ho-ho Ethan my boy! That is humorous! I suspect I know where this is going; Miss Daniela here wishes to have the ability to use Netflix, I take it?"

Ethan chuckled along with Duke. "Yeah. I have a personal Netflix account so we wouldn't need to create one. However, it seems they don't have internet access here. Knowing how all that stuff works too, I know it won't be easy getting it here, either."

This statement caught Daniela's attention. "Why wouldn't it be easy, manthing?"

"Well, internet providing is a big business. The companies that set internet up can see their entire grid and who's using it. It isn't something we can just access secretly." Ethan explained.

"Well good news, Ethan, we won't have to." The Duke chimed in. "See, on paper, this castle and the village surrounding it, are completely legitimate. Mother Miranda pays a few people off here and there, but they don't have any idea what really goes on around here. We aren't that far from the main grid. I know a few people with connections in the local ISP. We can privately run a line out here. However, I don't think Lady Dimitrescu would take us installing Wi-Fi routers in random rooms too well. We will have to limit the internet access as much as possible. Any ideas?"

Ethan didn't have one. He had no idea what room would be best for an internet connection, especially one that would only be for a smart TV. Daniela, however, did seem to have one.

"How about the manthings room?"

Both the Duke and Ethan looked to Daniela, completely perplexed. "While I would want it in my room, I do believe it is only fair that if the manthing is the one who actually owns the service, he should have it in his room."

Ethan didn't like the sound of this at all. If Daniela was this excited about Netflix, then having it in his room meant that Daniela would be spending a lot of time around him. Too much time, in fact. "Wait, hold on a minute. If we put it in your room, you could watch it whenever you want. You wouldn't have to sit in my room to watch it. What if it's late at night and I'm asleep?"

"Aww, I thought men liked it when women snuck into their beds late at night."

Ethan sputtered at this while the Duke let loose an uproarious laugh. "Oh calm down, manthing. It was just a joke. Anyway, while you do have some points, I am actually somewhat busy during the day to just watch 'Netflix' all day. If you had it, then you would get much more use out of it. Besides, wouldn't it make for a good excuse to invite that Magda girl to stay for a little while longer in your room." Daniela gave Ethan a wink.

Ethan sighed. "Fuck, you noticed how she was acting too?"

"No, but whenever I am in your room right after her, I can smell her mild attraction to you," Daniela explained. Ethan was a little creeped out by that if he was being honest. "Well, at least now I know I wasn't just overthinking things; she does indeed have a sort of infatuation with me. I don't share those feelings, however. I don't know what to tell the poor woman."

The Duke just contented himself to listen to this discussion as he sorted through papers. Daniela tried to convince Ethan otherwise. "Oh come on, manthing. Give the girl a chance. Why not?"

"Why not? Maybe because my fucking wife was killed last week. That a good enough reason, Daniela?" Ethan heatedly replied.

A snarl formed on Daniela's lips and she looked like she was about to beat Ethan half to death until the Duke spoke up. "He has a point, you know. While his choice of words could've been more polite, Ethan, the love of his life did just recently pass away."

Stopping in her tracks, Daniela looked to the Duke for a moment, then back to Ethan. The snarl on her face slowly relaxed and she looked down at her feet. "You have a point, manthing. I… did not appreciate the tone though."

Understanding that Daniela was trying her best to keep her rage in check and explain why she got angry, Ethan admitted to himself that he overreacted. "Yeah, I suppose that was uncalled for. I apologize."

"...apology accepted." The tension in the air dissipated. Daniela and Ethan relaxed and the Duke… well he never even reacted to the moment.

"Back to business, you two. I will start to project to bring internet access here to the castle, mainly to Mister Winter's room, today. It could take some time, however. Once things are in motion, I will charge your account Daniela. When you two come tomorrow to pick up the previously discussed shipment, I will have a few options for smart TVs for you to pick from, Ethan."

"Alright, Duke, sounds like a plan," Ethan said.

The Duke smiled and leaned back in his chair. "Anything else I can help you two with today?"

"No, I believe we are all set. We will be seeing you tomorrow morning, Duke!" Daniela said as she walked towards the door to leave. "Come along, manthing."

Waving the two goodbye, the Duke spoke. "Take care you two, and have a good day."

Daniela replied, "And you as well."

And Ethan followed suit, "You too, Duke."

As they walked through the hall, they approached Ethan's room…

…and passed it.

"Uh, Daniela? Where are we going? We just passed my room."

"I know manthing, but I also needed your help with something else today."

Nervous, Ethan rubbed his neck. "What do you need my help with?"

"A few of the moroaică have broken loose in the dungeon last night. I need your help to either recontain or kill them."

Ethan stopped. His blood ran cold and he started to breathe heavily. Daniela wanted him to help her capture and/or kill moroaică? "W-why can't you do it yourself? I'm sure your far more than capable."

"You are correct, manthing, but I remember hearing Cassandra say that you killed some moroaică with just a sword." Daniela stopped and turned back to face him with a smirk. "I simply wish to see this why my own eyes." At a loss for words, the only thing Ethan could do was shake his head no. "Oh come now, manthing! I'm sure you will do just fine. I won't let you get hurt… too much. To make things easy on you, I will fly through the dungeon first and light all the lanterns and candles, so you can see all around. How does that sound?"

"Like fucking great time… fuck. How long do you think this will take?"

Tapping her chin, Daniela calculated how long it should take to fix the small outbreak of moroaică. "Well, if we do it quickly, should only take about 10 minutes."

"Oh thank go-"

"However," Daniela cut him off, "I wish to enjoy this, so we will be taking our time. So possibly… an hour? Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Fuck…" Ethan mumbled. "Do I at least get something to defend myself with?"

"Yes, we will get you a sword. That should be more than adequate."

'Fuck. Fuckfuckfuckfuck. I don't want to do this! I don't have much of a choice, though…'

"Alright, fine. Just… promise me I at least leave with what fingers I have left. All… 7 and a half…"

"I think that is reasonable, yes. Also, word of warning; once I get going, I suggest you try not to get in front of me, or else your fingers will be the least of your worries."

Ethan gulped at that. Her words made him think about an animal in blood lust. It reminded him of a crazed Bullshark. He would talk her advice and avoid her once they got down to the dungeon.

"How did the moroaică break lose anyway?" Ethan asked.

"Some of the doors' locks are old and rusty. Sometimes the moroaică get lucky and just lean against a door and the lock breaks. It's fairly rare, so we don't bother with constantly replacing their locks, and it's not like this is something that I or my sisters can't handle."

As they walked through the halls, they made a quick stop at Cassandra's room. "Cass will be busy for the day and not in her room. Go in and grab the sword you've been using. If Cass notices it's gone, I will say I got it."

Nervously, Ethan reached for the door and walked through it. Sure enough, Cassandra was not there. Even the fire in the fireplace was dying, having not been tended to in a while. Daniela however, was not following Ethan in. She simply crossed her arms and kicked the carpet waiting for Ethan.

Looking around, Ethan spots his sword on Cassandra's desk… right next to a few assembled pipe bombs. Reaching for one of the bombs, he stopped for a moment to really think things through.

'I could escape. Their mother said that they can't really pursue me out of the castle. I could take one of these bombs, blow open the front door, and book it. I'm sure Duke would sell me weapons. But… no. I am actually in a better position in here than I would be on the run again.'

Moving his hand again, Ethan picked up his sword and left the room. "I got it, Daniela. Let's get this over with."

"Let's, manthing!" With excited glee, Daniela grabbed Ethan by the wrist, half-transformed into her flies, and rushed the rest of the way. Literally flying down the steps, she reforms completely and speaks to Ethan. "I will go on ahead and light the lanterns, then I will come back and we can begin."

"Sounds… good?"

In a flash, Daniela was in her fly-state and buzzed down the hall, igniting any lantern or candle she passed. How she was doing that with no light or match, Ethan didn't know and honestly didn't care. There was enough weird shit going on in this castle daily already.

It only took a minute for Daniela to fly back. She had an evil smirk on her face that Ethan didn't like one bit. "Ok, manthing. You go first. Down the hall all the way, then take a left at the dead end; that's where the moroaică are roaming."

Nodding, Ethan brought his sword in front of him and began to carefully walk forward. Every time he passed a corner or dark cell, he would watch it for any surprise attacks from the moroaică. While he was sure they were not smart enough to plan an ambush, that didn't mean he couldn't just be caught off guard by them. Daniela followed behind him a few feet back, eager to see what Ethan could do.

Turning left at the dead-end, Ethan saw the first moroaică. It was standing with its back to him. In its hand, it only held a knife. Quietly rushing towards it, he firmly thrust the tip of the sword into the creature's skull, killing it. It toppled to the ground and the knife clattered away.

"They most likely heard that, manthing. They will be ready now." Daniela said behind him…

…and then heard a loud, metal clank. Whipping around, Ethan realizes that Daniela had just shut and locked the dungeon door behind him, with her on the other side.

Rushing towards the door, he tried to open it, although he knew it was useless to try. "Daniela!? What the hell are you doing!?"

"Oh don't worry manthing, I will come and save you if I need to, but until then; fight for your life." A twisted smile grew on her lips. Ethan saw her eyes look past him and onto something else. Quickly turning around, he spotted two moroaică were slowly shambling towards him.

'Fuck, if I stay here and fight with my back to the door, I won't be able to make distance if they start to overrun me. I gotta charge them…'

Taking some quick breaths in, Ethan tried his best to pump himself up.

"Ok Ethan," he began to talk to himself. "they're slow to attack. Stay on the assault. They can't defend themselves, make use of that. They have numbers… so don't get surrounded… Fuck it all to hell!" With a growl, Ethan bolted toward his enemy.

The first moroaică in front of him lifted its sword overhead. Ethan exploited the opening perfectly. Rushing in, he grabbed their armed hand with his free hand to keep the attack from coming while also driving his sword through their chest and heart. Wrenching the sword out and kicking the moroaică away, Ethan switched to his next target. This moroaică had an axe. It tried to wind up for a side attack, but Ethan struck first. Stepping forward, he slashed at its head, cutting it cleanly off.

Ethan stepped back, mildly proud of himself. He dropped two moroaică in just a few seconds with clean attacks. Daniela behind him gave gleeful applause. "Nice work manthing! Let's see how much longer you can keep it!"

Three more moroaică came into view from various hallways and cells. The first had a sword, and they were already swinging their next attack. Ethan moved himself to block the strike. The moment the swords met with a loud clang, Ethan pushed his attacker's weapon down with his, only to immediately bring it back up and slice deep into the moroaică's head with the false edge. The blade had buried itself several inches into their skull, killing them instantly.

Withdrawing his sword, he immediately thrust toward the next monster. Ethan scored a perfect bullseye; right between the eyes. The third and final moroaică of this group was unarmed. However, it had closed the distance while Ethan was busy with the other two. Unable to pull the sword free in time, Ethan resorts to kicking the moroaică in the chest to drive it away. The uncoordinated creature stumbles and falls onto its back. Having freed his sword now, Ethan stepped to the moroaică on the ground.

It was slowly struggling to kick up. Slightly annoyed that he had to deal with this shit, Ethan kicked the moroaică in the face to force it back down. He then stomped on its head till its skull cracked and burst open like a watermelon. "Spelndid, manthing" Came Daniela's excited voice. "This is marvelous!"

Casting a narrowed gaze to Daniela over his shoulder, Ethan was pissed. Daniela had dragged him down to the dungeon, told him that they would be fighting a few moroaică, only to then lock the door behind him and have him fight solo.

"This is bullshit, Daniela! Why the fuck are you doing this!? I bet the moroaică didn't break out! I think you let them out!"

Daniela gave him a sly grin, like the cat that ate the canary. She raised her hands in mock surrender. "You got me, manthing. I kept thinking about what Cass said about you having killed moroaică. I was interested and I figured this would be good practice for you as well. It appears I was right, too. Also, behind you, manthing."

Whipping his head around, Ethan was able to narrowly dodge the incoming overhead strike from a moroaică that had snuck up on him. Throwing himself to the side, the moroaică's sword smashed onto the stone flood, throwing numerous sparks. Quickly recovering, Ethan went to deliver a thrust but was stopped by another moroaică that seemed to appear out of nowhere. It threw a wild side slash at Ethan with its sword. "Shit!" Barely able to maneuver his weapon in time, Ethan deflected the attack. His sword was still ringing when the other moroaică attacked as well with a similar side attack.

Already in a position to block, he effortlessly parried. Only to see the second moroaică gear up for a second attack.

'Shit, this isn't good! They are attacking in sync. While one is recovering the other is attacking!

The moroaică were now both in front of Ethan; one towards his left and the other towards his right. Their attacks came in quick succession; one went and then the other went. The left moroaică went for an overhead strike again. Ethan decided to try something that Cassandra had mentioned.

As the strike came down towards his, Ethan raised his sword to meet it. The blade of the moroaică's sword slides down against his own, only to stop on the crossguard. Thinking quickly, he rotated his wrist and brought his edge down while also keeping his guard pressed against his enemy's blade. This allowed Ethan to deliver a diagonal slash downward, while also pushing the hostile weapon away. 2 birds, 1 stone.

While the sword didn't bury as deep, it was still more than enough to kill the moroaică. Now, only the one to his right was left. For now.

Quickly pulling his sword free, he pushed their attack to the side and drove his left fist into the face of moroaică. It stumbled back a bit, which Ethan took advantage of. With a roar, he delivered a mighty overhead blow. The sword cut to the teeth. Ethan kicked the now dead body off his sword. Looking around, he took count of how many he had killed so far.

'One, two, three… Shit, 8? I've killed 8? So far, so good, Ethan. Keep it up and they won't have any more of these fuckers to throw at me.'

Settling into his stance, he prepares himself for combat.

"This is getting boring," Daniela spoke. Ethan didn't turn to look at her though, too focused on what may pop up. "Let's make things interesting, shall we?"

"How the fuck are you going to make this interesting, huh?" Instantly regretting his words, Ethan heard Daniela form into her mass of flies and buzz past him. She split her swarm and went down multiple hallways. Ethan then heard something that horrified him.

He heard multiple doors from multiple halls open.

'What the fuck did she just do…'

His question was answered almost immediately. He heard multiple weapons being dragged against the stone floor.

"Daniela… what did you do!?" Daniela's only response was to cackle. Her laugh echoed through multiple halls ominously. Ethan's eyes nearly popped out of his skull when 5 moroaică stepped into view from the halls. "Fuck you, Daniela! This isn't funny!"

"Oh but it is! This is more entertaining than I thought!"

Ethan had to quickly block an incoming strike and counter-attacked, dispatching the first by cutting its head off. He had to attack in quick succession now, or else he would be over-ran. The next moroaică stepped up, but he didn't even give them an opportunity to attack. A quick stab to the throat and out the back of the neck cut the spinal cord, dropping them in an instant.

'2 down, 3 to go…'

An axe came for him from his side. Ethan leaned back to avoid it, but the curve of the axe hooked his sword and wrenched from his hands. His weapon clattered to the ground. In a panic, he took multiple steps back. "Fuck!" Ducking and rolling, he dodged another attack. He was too slow. The attack barely sliced into his shoulder. The cut was shallow but over a foot long. The blood instantly began to pour out.

"Fuck! God damn it!" Ethan was angry. Very Angry.

'I shouldn't have to deal with this shit! Fuck you, Daniela!'

Ethan narrowly was able to dodge the next strike. Filled with rage, he rushes toward the closest moroaică with empty hands. Charging, he drops in height, only to grab them by the legs and lift them as high as he could. The moroaică smacked their head on the ceiling, producing a sickening crack. Ethan felt its black goopy blood pour over his face, and some got into his mouth.

"Oh fuck me!" Gagging and coughing, Ethan dropped the moroaică to the ground. He tried desperately to get the disgusting liquid out of his mouth and eyes. Stumbling back he also attempted to keep the moroaică away in his blinded state.

His heart began to pump faster and harder. It felt like he was starting to have a panic attack. The moroaică blood felt like tar in his throat and was only getting worse. Coughing, he dropped to a knee, it was getting harder to breathe. Every gasp of air felt like he was trying to inhale water.

"That's interesting. No one ever drank the blood of the moroaică. It's filled with mold spores."

Ethan tried to ask what Daniela meant, but only a gurgle came out.

'H-how! Th-this shit is fuc- fucking growing in my throat!?'

He tried desperately to get away from the oncoming moroaică, but he only fell onto his back. He tried to scoot away, but they were faster. Between the blockage in his throat preventing him from breathing, the panic, and the anger he felt towards Daniela, he couldn't think straight enough to act.

"How disappointing… I suppose I should help you now. I was hoping for more…" Daniela morphed through the door. She lazily raised her sickle, slicing the first creature cleanly in half.

Ethan was running out of air in his lungs. He began to claw at his throat and lungs, desperate to try and dislodge the viscous fluid. It was resolute in its endeavor of suffocating him, though. He tried and tried again to force air into or out of his lungs, but nothing. His body was running out of oxygen. He started thrashing around in panic. His throat felt completely sealed up. He couldn't even call for help. Daniela had no idea how bad it was.

Things began to blur as the sound of Daniela slaughtering the moroaică faded out as well. His eyelids got heavier and heavier. In a desperate attempt, he tried swallowing the blood.

The effect was instantaneous.

The blood had gone down without a fight and Ethan felt like he had just been injected with adrenaline. Sucking a deep breath in, his senses returned even sharper.

His heart was going a mile a minute now. He was even a little nervous it was about to explode. His eyes darted around, rapidly taking in the details of his situation. Daniela was easily dropping moroaică but more were pouring out from the depths of the dungeon. He quickly scrambled to his feet.

Taking a deep breath in, he was feeling absolutely exhilarated. With an excited smile, Ethan moved without thinking.

Daniela was about to slash the moroaică in front of her… only to stop when the manthings fist exploded out of its chest.

Black blood was speckled across her stunned face. With wide eyes, she leaned to the side to look behind the creature. While she saw what looked like manthing Ethan Winters, the look and aurora he had about him screamed anything but just a simple manthing. As she watched him pull his hand from the chest of the now dead moroaică, she could only look on in fascination as he moved as quick as she could to the next.

Ethan grabbed the jaw of the next moroaică, and raised it effortlessly into the air, only to bring them back down to the ground like a crashing meteor. The poor thing's head practically exploded.

'This… isn't the manthing.' Daniela thought. 'Just what did that blood do to you?'

She watched as Ethan literally jumped onto and tackled the next creature to the ground. She had to fight back the urge to gag when Ethan bit its throat out. The moroaică blood smelled revolting to her, it was one of the few things that made her stomach churn, but here was the manthing with a mouthful of moroaică-flesh.

That's when she saw it. She could see the veins in his neck and face begin to bulge out and darken, almost like his blood was changing.

Daniela had to stop him. She had no idea what the hell was going on, but she knew it wasn't good. "Manthing, I think you should stop. That blood isn't good for you…"

With a snarl, he turned to face her. Chunks of moroaică flesh dangled from his teeth. Gulping it down, Ethan spoke in a hostile voice that Daniela didn't recognize as him.

"Shut the fuck up! I will do what the fuck I want, fuckin' whore."

She was taken aback by this. The hate that poured out of his mouth could rival even Cassandra's. Her shock was replaced by anger now. "Watch your mouth, manthing, or else I-"

"You ain't gonna do a fuckin' thing." Ethan said, cutting her off. Standing up, he wiped some of the blood off his face. "The fuck you gonna do, huh? You gonna 'have my tongue'? Heard that shit so many times, already. The only thing you want with my tongue is to have it in you, don't you."

At this point, Daniela was completely bewildered. Here was the manthing, who just an hour ago was blushing and sputtering at innuendos. She was about to say something but was quickly cut off by a moroaică swinging a sword behind Ethan.

"WATCH OUT!"

She tried to warn him but it wasn't soon enough. The sword was brought down on his left shoulder and buried a foot in.

Ethan stood emotionless, blood pouring like a river from his wound. His left arm pulled slightly on his severed shoulder, exposing the wound to view, allowing a peak on the inside of his chest. Daniela stood in utter horror over the fact she just got the manthing killed.

'Sweet Mother Miranda, he's dead on his feet! Mother is going to kill me…'

Then to her relief but further confusion, Ethan slowly turned to look back at the moroaică, whose sword was now stuck in his ribcage.

He delivered a lightning backhand to the creature, sending it flying into a wall, killing it. Turning back to face Daniela, he haphazardly grabbed the front of the sword sticking out of his chest.

"No don't remove it-!" Ignoring her, Ethan pulls the sword out, allowing a fresh river of blood to spill out and pour onto the ground. Grabbing ahold of his shoulder, Ethan pushed it back against his body, closing the wound. Steam started to rise from it as it rapidly healed. This made Daniela very nervous.

"Just what the hell did that blood do to you…"

The next thing she knew, she was flying through the air. Slamming against a wall and sliding down it, she had no idea what the hell just happened. From the pain in her gut, though, she surmised that Ethan booted her. Normally an attack from a human would barely cause her to flinch, even if she forced her flies from going into an automatic defense.

Ethan had been quicker than her flies could manage. She didn't even see the attack. To make matters worse, the attack hurt. It didn't just knock the air from her lungs, but actually sent a searing jolt of pain through her insides.

Clutching her gut, she quickly stood back up. Looking at Ethan, she seen his skin had started to change as well. His skin became pale and sickly looking. His eyes became grey as well. He was starting to turn into… well, Daniela didn't know. The process of turning into a moroaică was completely different than what was happening to Ethan.

"Come on, get up. You wanted to see me fight. Now come get some." Ethan taunted her, using his hands to gesture for her to rise to his challenge. Hearing a moroaică shamble behind him, Ethan turned around. He grabbed the moroaică by their rags and threw it at Daniela.

Forming into her flies, the improvised missile sailed through her swarm. "Stop cheatin', fucking cunt!

Quickly reforming, Daniela snarled at Ethan. "What did you call me!?"

"I called you a fucking cun-" A fist to Ethan's face sent him flying back. Tumbling to a stop, he started to laugh. "Yeah! That's the spirit!" Ethan effortlessly rose to his feet. "Now do it again!" Rushing at him again, Daniela swung. Ethan, though, easily got her fist. "Too slow!" he said as he delivered a brutal uppercut to her jaw.

Stunned, Daniela couldn't stop Ethan from gripping her hair and exposing her neck. "Let's see how you like it!" Ethan sunk his teeth into her exposed flesh. Daniela screamed in pain. Her flies soon took over and she dematerialized. All Ethan had left was a mouthful of flies. With a twisted smile, he began to chew them. Reforming a good distance away, Daniela clutched her neck. A chunk of her swarm had been killed and eaten by Ethan. "What the fuck! You fucking ate my flies!? You sick bastard!"

"What the fuck you gonna do about it?"

Picking her sickle back up, Daniela roared and charged Ethan. He tried to punch her but she disintegrated, only to reform behind him. She pierced her sickle into his slower back and out his gut. In a quick reaction, Ethan sent his elbow back straight to Daniela's face. She was able to partially swarm and cushion the blow a bit but was still knocked back.

Screaming in rage, Daniela started using her claws to slash at Ethan. While not able to cut as deep as her sickle, her claws struck faster. Ethan held his arms up to keep his eyes from being gouged out. Suddenly, Ethan clapped both hands around the back of her neck and drove his knee into her gut. With her wanting to buckle over, he used her own momentum to push her head down and drove his knee up again, this time into her face.

Reeling back, stars dancing in her vision, Daniela shook her head trying to collect her thoughts. She then swung a wild right hook at him. Raising his arm, he easily blocked it and hooked his arm around her elbow, locking it in place. Using this as leverage, he threw three fast jabs to her face. "Like that? Christ taught me it!" Grabbing her throat and readjusting his grip on her elbow, he threw her into the ceiling. Cracking her head on the stone above her, she flopped back down to the ground on her face, hard. Her flies were as dazed as she was. They couldn't keep up with Ethan. She couldn't keep up with Ethan.

'F-fuck! Maybe I should've taken Cass up on her offer to teach me how to fight!'

She tried to press herself off the floor, but Ethan decided to give her some help by grabbing the back of her gown and picking her up. He didn't give her any time to form into flies as he launched her down the hall. Tumbling and rolling, she finally came to rest nearly 40 feet away from Ethan. Holding her now bloody and bruised head, she could barely see through blurry vision that Ethan was stalking his way towards her. She had lost her anger, having just been beaten like a dog. She could only barely rise, still hunched over. This wasn't a battle for dominance anymore…

…this was a battle for her survival.

"Manth- Ethan. Please, stop! Something isn't right with you!"

Ethan's only response was to dip his head down a bit and give a wide, sinister grin. A moroaică tried to challenge Ethan, only for him to bite into its neck and quickly devour the flesh down to the spine.

For the first time in a very long time, Daniela vomited. The idea of eating moroaică flesh was like drinking blood that had been sitting stagnant in a sewer for a year to the Dimitrescu, yet here was Ethan scarfing down the meat like he was starved and the moroaică were a 5-course meal.

Tossing the finished and practically decapitated moroaică away, Ethan started slowly walking to Daniela. Black blood coated his teeth and dripped from his lips. Once he reached her, Ethan grabbed her by the face and pulled her down to his height, and kissed her fiercely. Daniela gagged and tried to push him away, the black blood tasted god-awful. "Aww, what's wrong Dani? I thought you liked kissing me." Ethan mocked in a silly voice. In a flash, he threw her head back into the wall. She had to struggle to stay awake. Standing, however, was non-negotiable. She fell harshly on her ass.

Daniela realized that she was running out of options. Her flies stopped responding, she had no idea why either. Her head was swimming. She was pretty sure she had a concussion now. It was difficult to breathe too. She was exhausted. Ethan held all the cards.

All except one.

"What would Mia think, Ethan?"

This stopped him.

He looked at her with wide eyes as his breathing picked up.

"What would your wife think if she seen you act like this? Like a monster? Like-"

Lowering himself, Ethan got in her face and snarled. "Like one of you!?"

This sort of stung Daniela's pride, but she nodded yes. "Yes, a monster like us. What would Mia think of that? What about your daughter?"

Stepping back, Ethan shook his head. "Fuck you! Don't think you can guilt trip me! My wife is dead and you imprisoned my daughter! I have nothing left!"

"All the more reason to honor her memory and continue being the man she loved!"

Ethan froze. The look of heated anger dropped from his face as he stared off in the distance. His face went blank and his features relaxed as Ethan thought about Mia and their daughter. Daniela noticed this and discreetly crawled away. She watched as the color came back to Ethan's skin and the black veins in his body began to lower and lighten.

Ethan then doubled over and started puking. Black blood and grey chunks of flesh spilled onto the floor as his stomach purged itself. After a minute of heaving, Ethan slowly turned around to look at Daniela.

"What… the fuck… happened." He swayed back and forth for a moment, before finally toppling over onto his back like a tree and going unconscious.

Daniela laid down on her back, finally able to rest. "What the fuck happened, indeed, Ethan. What the fuck happened indeed… Fuck, I need to drag him out of here before the moroaică eat him… or the other way around."

This chapter was a little fun to write. I always like writing the Duke, he's an interesting character. I originally was going to have Daniela and Ethan fight together, but I realized I was making her too... well, human/rational. The little bit with Ethan changing though was a complete spur-of-the-moment idea. While I do like the idea, I feel like I didn't execute it as best as I could.

Next week a chapter most likely won't be posted! I am taking a break from writing/vacation with the family!

Thank you!

PS: If you see a writing error, *PLEASE* let me know. I hate leaving writing errors in my stories!