Erron was continuing his work, that of distributing the logs to the chimney stores. It had been 4 hours since his meeting with the Lady of the castle, he had fortunately recovered, despite the large amount of blood lost. When he got to the kitchen, Mariana had given him bread and milk to replenish energy.
Erron told Mariana how long the bite of Lady Dimitrescu lasted, Mariana was surprised by two things, normally Lady Dimitrescu took a maximum of 8 seconds to collect the blood of the maids, but she had never seen her Lady take 20 seconds, except when Lady Dimitrescu consumed the lives of her enemies, something that Mariana always remembers with fear, but at the same time with satisfaction especially with the hunters of the past week. And the last thing that surprised Mariana is that Erron managed to stand up due to such an amount of lost blood. Either way, Mariana instructed Erron to take a 30-minute break and then return to work.
"They squeeze me like a lemon and they still expect me to work for free." - Erron said to himself as he carried logs of wood to distribute them around the castle. It took him some time to get acquainted with the castle, luckily for him there were several rooms, however only some had their respective chimneys, so it was easier for him to do his work.
But it seemed that Erron's luck was not good at all, after distributing the wood on the first floor, he had to continue his great work on the rest of the floors. Erron asked each of the maids who was on the road which were the exact rooms to distribute the wood. With that information he expedited his work.
Every quarter of the upper floors was better than the lower ones, it was clear from the luxury and the most expensive decorations. Erron finished his work little by little until he asked one of the maids which were the rooms with a fireplace on the upper floors, the answer was it was not entirely good, because the rooms with a fireplace that were missing were the rooms of the ladies and library
Erron felt a chill as he learned that one of the next rooms to attend to was the family's private rooms. However, there was something really important to Erron: his personal belongings, the last thing he remembers is that Daniela's brat possessed his mask, hat and gun. Maybe that brat has the rest of his belongings like the backpack with the gold, his rifle and more importantly, some of his books.
As Erron made his way to the library fireplace, he began to formulate a plan. Since he cannot create a portal within the next 6 days until the locket gem is recharged and in addition to not owning any of the books, Erron considered that the best thing so far will be to be more submissive to these women, for more humiliating as it is. Erron will be off guard until he gets one of the books and his gem is loaded, then he can get out of that damn castle. But until then, his first objective will be to locate the books and the rest of your belongings.
Knock Knock knock
Erron had knocked on dozens of doors inside the castle, with some exceptions where the one who answered was one of the servants, most of them were empty so he would simply open the door and do his job. However, a very familiar voice would answer him on the other side.
"Come in" - Said a youthful and humorous voice. Very different from the docile and serious voices of the other servants.
"Shit" Erron said knowing that he would not be alone in the library.
The door opened, Erron was not a person who read a lot, even after living more than 150 years, one would expect that Erron would like him, but the reality is not. But that didn't mean he hadn't seen a library before. The library was large with a small set of cushioned furniture for readers to read comfortably. And there it was, a figure dressed in black reading one of the books, while the fireplace was lit. It was clearly that she was one of the daughters of the castle. That woman was so focused on her book that she didn't notice who was really at the door.
"Issue?" The young woman said as she read her book.
"I am distributing the wood for the fireplaces, my young mistress." - Erron said.
The young woman sitting there hoped that whoever it was that interrupted her was one of her many servants, but when she heard Erron's male voice, she turned in the direction of the great door.
"Of course, come in." - Said the young woman with blond hair.
Erron took a good look at her. She was clearly a pale blonde haired eternal youth, plus the young she was attractive. But Erron had a simple job to do.
Erron walked in the direction of the burning fireplace. He walked to the fireplace with his eyes open and direct toward the fireplace, avoiding in any way any contact with the young woman on the couch.
Erron simply continued on his way until he reached the lit fireplace and checked the wooden barrel and if, like most barrels, it was half empty so Erron proceeded to fill it with the pieces of firewood that he had in his large bag. .
As Erron laid the pieces of wood, the blonde haired girl killed the silence that Erron wanted to maintain at all costs.
"Tell me Erron, what brings you here?" - Asked Bela curiously as she put her book on the table.
"She'll be an idiot" - Erron thought to himself as it was more than obvious that he was there.
"I came to fill the barrel with wood, miss ..." - Erron said, he had forgotten the name of the young woman there.
"Bela, my stupid servant." - La Bela said haughtily. - "And you haven't answered me either, what is an old-fashioned American cowboy doing in Romania armed with such a rare sword and such… obsolete weapons? "- Said Bela.
Erron was speechless. This woman asked difficult questions to answer. So he would have to improvise.
"My private security job allows me to have my own tools, my lady" - Erron said as he finished his work on the barrel.
"Private security huh?" - Bela said, while she closed her book. - "I think you are not from" private security ", rather I think you are a kind of assassin, right?"
"Smart girl." Erron thought, this woman knew what he really was. Perhaps the other women in the castle already knew Erron's true profession from the books.
"What makes you think that, my miss?" Erron said as he stood before the woman who was still on the couch.
"MY sister told me how you beat Uncle Heisenberg's beasts, and I was really impressed. You took out most of them without the firearms and only relied on the sword. Also, they told me that you murdered a NeoLycan, but before killing him you made fun of the familiar fallen from him, that's a very low blow, don't you think? " - She explained directly. - "But that final touch made you earn points with Cassandra, you know?"
"Well in my defense I can say that it was legitimate defense, in addition to the fact that the beast deserved an explanation, after all. Although I can't deny that that bastard deserved it. " Erron said as he remembered that disgusting beast and his empty threats.
"As I thought, you will be a very interesting toy. That reminds me, I want my part Erron. " - Bela said with a hunter's smile as she got up from the sofa. - "We can do it the easy way and the hard way."
Erron had a feeling of what would happen next. Those vampire teeth, again. Although these were smaller than the mother's. It also did not help the fact that this woman was taller than Erron, of course, not as tall as her mother, but enough to exceed Erron by a few inches.
"I guess I have no choice, right?" - Erron proceeded to slightly expose his bare neck. Clearly Erron's plan called for being as tame as possible, even if it cost him several liters of blood.
"How nice you are, it must be because of my beauty, right? Bela giggled as she moved a few inches closer to Erron just to continue her mother's work.
For the second time Erron was squeezed like a lemon by another vamp. Although unlike the mother, the amount of blood drawn was less as was the initial pain. At least she would be lucky that after that woman drank her blood she would reject him, as her mother did hours ago.
How wrong was Erron.
"My mother said your blood was delicious, but not something as delicious as this." Said with great joy the eternal young vampire as she tasted the blood of the man-thing for herself. - "Never in my long existence have I tasted such a flavor."
"But your mother said ..." Erron said as he kept his balance because despite having lost less blood, she had actually weakened him slightly.
"Oops" - Bela said as she with her left hand put her hand on her lips hiding a mischievous giggle while with the other she materialized a sickle from her abdomen. - "If you say something, I'll cut off your little finger, okay?" - The vampire said in a playful way.
Erron remembered when one of those brats had materialized a sickle the night before, however, he did not make enough of it the night before, because the giant woman had stolen all the attention besides that he was still groggy from sleep. But now, that he saw that in addition to the sickle some insects appeared, he reminded him of D'Vorah, although this version was more beautiful, but just as lethal.
"Well, my miss Bela." - Erron said as he readjusted his shirt. His false "foul blood" advantage was gone.
"You can retire, although if I remember correctly, in my sisters' room we lack wood. So good luck cowboy. " - Bela said as she tasted the blood on her chin. - "And don't forget that I'll be watching you"
Erron walked to the door. To then close it, leaving the blonde woman behind.
"Damn bloodsucker bitch." - He said to himself Erron. His hatred for this woman was less compared to the matriarch.
Come on, Erron. All that remains is to deliver these bloodsuckers from the older bitch to the room. " - Erron said to himself. - "But first, a short sandwich." - Erron continued as he remembered that the servants would eat a light lunch at noon.
"Attack with all your might Dani" - Said the young woman with black hair to her sister.
"Ok Cassie." - Daniela said as she charged with all her strength her sickle against Cassandra's new toy, Erron's sword.
The clash of arms was exciting for the girls. The metallic sound was comforting. Cassandra enjoyed training with weapons or doing something much better, using the weapons for which they were forged, to kill of course. Cassandra's familiar Sickle had seen a lot of blood a week ago. She would not change her much preferred weapon for nothing, but that did not mean that she did not try to use other weapons such as axes or spears from the rich Dimitrescu Armory, which defended the castle in the past from the Ottomans and the Russians.
"You know Daniela, I think I'm in love." - Cassandra said as she clashed arms with her sister.
"Seriously! From who?" - Asked with great joy her sister Daniela of her through the leather and metal mask, because at that moment she had her new cowgirl costume, of which her other sisters made fun of her, although she didn't care.
"You're seeing it in action right now." - Cassandra said referring to the sword in her hands. This weapon was very strange. The fact that it was a hand with a saber was something very exotic as well as being very sharp.
"That sword is very beautiful." - Daniela said when she saw her sister with such an exotic sword.
"I know, that man-thing knew how to use it perfectly. I'd like to play with him right now. " - Cassandra said as she contemplated her new sword once more.
As the women played with weapons, a knock was heard on the door to her room.
"Pass." - Cassandra said while she continued playing with Daniela.
The door opened only to reveal Erron with her bag full of firewood, ready to be burned in the fireplace.
"Miss Bela sent me to replace the wood in the fireplace." - Erron said as he watched the women play with weapons, especially Tarkata's sword, which he considered Erron to be a trophy that he won just a few years ago, during the OutWorld civil war. Such a trophy earned him the hatred of the people of Tarkata.
For Erron, the room was very large, in that room there were 3 beds, three closets, several sofas, some cushions thrown on the floor, some tables with "women's things", there was his main reason for going in there, the fireplace.
The 2 women stop fighting, look at the door and look at Erron with his wooden bag.
"Just the man he wanted to play with." - Cassandra thought, as she watched as Erron walked across the room towards the fireplace.
Erron walked and tried to ignore the young women fighting in the middle of the room with their bladed weapons. This last barrel of the day was almost empty, so he quickly filled it with firewood. It was much faster than the other times, the danger was there with the clashes of swords.
As Erron finished, he felt a pair of gloved hands on his shoulders.
"Hello man-thing, what are you doing?" - Asked a female voice in a jovial tone in Erron's left ear.
"I'm working, my lady" - Erron said meekly but still with his manly voice as he turned his face to see the woman directly.
"Won't you play with me?" - Asked the young Cassandra with a more tender voice while she made puppy eyes.
This woman had 2 weapons in both hands, a sickle in her right hand and the Tarkata sword in her left. Erron didn't know what to answer, this woman was really crazy, she wanted to fight him.
"I'm sorry, miss, but I'm afraid I have more work to do." - Erron said as he took a few steps towards the other direction with the intention of leaving the room.
Not even 3 seconds passed when Cassandra's sickle threatened to cut into Erron's neck.
"Please I insist." She said she with a more sadistic voice accompanied by golden eyes full of energy.
Cassandra was just as tall as Bela ... Her smile, on the other hand, was the scariest of all.
Erron really felt threatened in that moment, a sickle in his neck carried by a sadistic woman. This woman reminded him of Melinaa.
"What kind of games?" - Erron said with an angry tone of voice and an expression on his face of displeasure, even with the sickle in his neck.
"I want you to play with me to fight." -Cassandra said walking a few steps to face Erron, still with the sickle on the neck of the new exotic toy.
"I'm sorry, my lady, but I don't want to be hurt." - Erron said with his serious and passive voice to the woman. His attempt to be docile failed with her. His pathetic response was met with maniacal laughter from the woman.
"HAHAHAHAHA !" - Cassandra's manic laugh flooded the large room. Even Daniela started laughing too, but because of her mask, her laugh was weaker.
Cassandra's laugh was such that she pulled the sickle from Erron's neck.
"Seriously? I saw you eliminate Uncle Heis's dogs, you eliminated them with such grace and skill that you surprised me as well as my mother, you did not show fear of her yesterday and not in the morning. And yet, you are fearful of being "hurt" by a woman with a simple sickle. That's a very pathetic excuse, don't you think? "-Cassandra said in an explanatory way, as she handed the Tarkatana sword to Erron.
"Enough of the talks. We will play now. "- Cassandra said as she took a few steps back.
"Okay" - Erron said taking the sword from him. The sword is clean and sharp, so this woman took good care of it.
"Well, I suppose there is no other way. But I warn you, not because you are a woman I will be gentle with you. " - Erron said as he took off his jacket and folded his shirt sleeves. Daniela retired and sat on one of the beds to watch the next show.
"Play as rough as you want. On the other hand, I will be more friendly. " - Cassandra said with genuine joy.
"What you say." - Erron said with disgust.
"That's the man-thing I want to play with." - Cassandra said as she waved her sickle.
"giddy Up." - Erron said as he got into position with his sword. As with Heisenberg, he allowed Cassandra to make the first attack.
Cassandra lunged in the form of insects from her, at least from the waist down. Allowing from her waist up she was still solid.
The clash of arms gave the expected result. Cassandra's sickle collided with Tarkata's sword. Unlike the even, smooth edge of the Sickle, Erron's sword was jagged and jagged, but sharp.
"You know how to block." - Cassandra said while the 2 made force with their weapons. Cassandra's left hand, which was free, began to rise to attack Erron's shoulder.
[X-RAY. A female hand, with hardened nails, attacked the subject's shoulder. Only 4 of the 5 fingers managed to do considerable damage. Each finger drew a clean line, tearing the upper part of the muscles, causing a very slight hemorrhage.]
Erron felt a lot of pain in his shoulder, weakening him in his struggle with Cassandra. To his surprise, Erron expected Cassandra to attack him again. But the woman in black only backed away as she turned her back on Erron.
"Delicious!" - Cassandra said in a jubilant tone of voice as she licked her reddened fingers. But her mistake in turning her back on her opponent would be expensive.
His mind was flooded with anger and stress from being treated as a mere servant. Erron took his sword with force and anger, and charged at the woman in black.
Erron struck his sword in …
[X RAY. The bone-metal sword attacked the semi-ethereal body of the woman from behind, with the intention of marking her with a clean cut, the first 12 centimeters of cut were effective, however, the rest of the cut was no longer stable and soon began to be ethereal thanks to the hundreds of flies inside]
… ..The woman's back.
"AHHHRHRHGG" - The woman yelled in a guttural way. After that blow, the woman managed to advance a few meters. Then the woman turned to see the man with the sword.
"How dare you?!" - Said the young woman, with anger in her eyes.
"You showed your back to your opponent, I just take the chance." - Erron said calmly and seriously, while he held his sword.
Little by little, Cassandra's back would begin to regenerate, as she glared at the man-thing. In a way, it was Cassandra's mistake in showing her back to Erron.
Daniela watched the show of those 2 with fun, looking at the proud Cassandra being hurt so easily by a mere mortal, was the most comical. Whereas the previous week, Cassandra had gutted 7 armed and armored men with an ancient battle ax without showing a scratch or exhaustion, she was now wounded by the edge of an exotic sword from a simple servant.
Cassandra's gaze softened little by little. Returning to show her smile of superiority in the face of her skillful adversary.
"I recognize it." - Cassandra said as she held her sickle. - "I was carried away by your taste, mom says your taste is regular, but for me it is delicious."
Cassandra then proceeded to charge Erron. Again there was a clash of arms. Cassandra's sickle against Erron's saber.
The fight between the two opponents was intense. Daniela observed how Erron held his sword with very good skill, for Daniela that was incredible, the vast majority of her prey fought with firearms and at the moment of desperation, with serrated knives or electric batons, but the lack of mastery of these , caused those prey to fall before her and her sisters.
But this show was different, the fight between her sister and the man-thing was more than interesting. Both were skilled in combat with their weapons. Cassandra showed a smile of amusement while Erron showed a face of someone who really took combat seriously.
Erron was blocking all the attacks of that maddened woman. The face of that psychopath reminded him of Melinaa because of her eyes and her manic smile.
Cassandra maintained the offense for much longer than normal, invading Erron's personal space, keeping her face against the man-thing's.
The status-quo of the battle was broken when Cassandra managed to grab Erron by the neck and push him against a wall. The movement took Erron by surprise. As they both fought, Erron didn't notice that while one hand, Cassandra was holding her weapon, the other was a free practitioner. While Erron used both hands on his sword.
Once against the wall, Cassandra managed to pierce Erron's forearm with the sickle, Erron's cry of pain was greeted with joy by Cassandra and in a way Daniela, who watched as her sister Cassandra defeated the man-thing.
"You're not so rude anymore." - Cassadra said as she brought her nails against Erron's throat.
Erron was cornered. There was no way to defeat this beast-woman who was holding him with great force. Then Cassandra's face approached Erron's face.
"You have beautiful eyes, can you give me one?" - Cassandra said with a "tender" giggle, looking into Erron's blue eyes. As she stared at Erron's face, from her mouth, vampire fangs began to grow, ready to take in the blood of trapped prey.
[X-RAY. A human head of a man collides with another head of a female. The force of the blow stuns the hive mass of insects within the female skull. Momentarily causing a daze.]
As the young Cassandra brought her head close to attack her prey. Erron butted him with all of her might causing the young woman to lose her grip on Erron, making Erron free again.
"How vulgar ! Didn't your damn mother teach you to respect women? " - Cassandra said as she regained her balance.
"Yes, I was raised by strong women. Like your mother. Errron said as he stroked his bruised neck.
"All the more reason, you are a rude dog who did not learn anything." - Cassandra said as she pointed her questioning finger at Erron, then showed him a smile. - "But my family will see to it that you learn manners."
"The only thing I learned from living with those strong women ..." - Erron said as he got into point position, ready for anything to happen. - "... went to hit back "
What began in a "friendly" combat was beginning to transform into something more rude and deadly. Daniela was the only audience on the show, although the idea of seeing Cassandra gutting Erron seemed like an incredible final part of the show, she knew that if she didn't intervene, things could enrage Mom, or worse, Mother Miranda, because she ordered that don't kill the man-thing.
Daniela rushed between them 2, to prevent the fight from continuing.
"Enough. Erron, get out of here. " - Daniela said to Erron, she was wearing the cowgirl costume that she had taken from Erron.
Erron saw the situation, one of the maniac daughters of his "mistress" wanted peace. That red-haired woman who wore her hat, mask, holster and pistol demanded peace.
"Dani, get out. This is between me and the man-thing. " - Cassandra said while her sister interrupted her fight with the rude servant.
"No. Remember what Mother Miranda ordered. Just no." - Daniela said, to then look at Erron.
"You didn't listen, get out." - Daniela ordered.
Erron, accept. He picked up his black butler jacket and left the room. Leaving the maniacs in their nest.
"It seems that one of them is the only one with common sense." - Erron said softly as he descended the stairs to the first floor.
As Black walked, he watched through the windows as the sun began to set, giving way to night.
Erron got to his room, it was a difficult day. Walking around the castle distributing wood, having been consumed by the Lady and her daughters, and finally her confrontation with Cassandra. He really did feel exhausted.
Dinner relieved him a bit, although Mariana's scolding for having fought with Cassandra had stressed him out. Finally, Mariana helped him with bandaging his injured shoulder.
Now Erron was ready to sleep in his lonely room. Although now Erron doubted whether to sleep in that same bed, because when he asked Anna about that bed, they told him that in that same bed one of the maids had died last week. Sleeping in a dead woman's bed didn't bother Erron, but what bothered him was getting infections. However, the bed still smelled good. So Erron would continue to sleep there.
Once with the blanket over his body, Erron began to remember what the red-haired woman said about Mother Miranda's order.
"Mother Miranda, the famous mother Miranda. That religious figure of this town. " - Erron said to himself as he remembered the prayers between the maids. That figure hid many secrets. - "What did that hat thief mean?"
Erron, he didn't want to think anymore, he just wanted to sleep. It was a difficult day, having to work honestly was not his thing.
Lady Dimitrescu was smoking a cigarette in her personal office. Her serene demeanor was shaken when she opened an old envelope that she had long forgotten to open. But a certain face and name reminded him of the existence of this old box. Its contents left her shaken.
"And me believing that my world was very small." She told herself when she saw the moon over the town. Well, after reading that old letter, she would discover the origin of a certain person who intrigued her.
Hello guys who read this. I appreciate you reading my story. I would also appreciate if you could leave me a comment about the things you like about the chapter or to point out mistakes. The truth is, that would help me a lot. Thank you for your preference.
