Cap 17. The man who drank the wine.

It was noon at the castle, Mariana was in the welcoming room cleaning the most delicate paintings and sculptures, because she and a couple more of them are more than allowed to clean such delicate and expensive objects.

Most of the maids were distributed around the castle performing duties, some were washing the family's clothes by hand, others were doing the usual cleaning and others were preparing the evening meal.

Mariana, being the older servant, was there due to the remote possibility that one of the Lords or even Mother Miranda herself would pay a visit to her Lady.

Mariana kept doing her job until she heard someone knock on the door. Unprecedentedly, she approached the door to receive whoever it was, since the main door only works to enter, but to exit it was required to use the master key of the Lady of the castle herself, however, she had her copy, but this was a secret to the rest of the staff.

Normally, the Lords were the only ones to visit, and of course Mother Miranda herself. Each had their own way of entering, Mother Miranda would touch and enter later, always so grandiose and polite with any servant. Then there was Lady Beneviento and her doll Angie, Lady Beneviento is reserved to speak and it is Angie who does the rest. Lord Moreu did not visit the castle, perhaps due to his condition or other things.

And finally, Lord Heisenberg, he came in with his clothes stained with oil and dirt, always so rude and wicked with the young maids. So vulgar and disgusting, perhaps it was because of this particular man that Lady Dimitrescu hated men in general. Be that as it may, he was a Lord and should be given that respect.

"Who is it?" - Asked Mariana on the other side of the door.

"I'm Elena Lupu, I'm here for the hiring." - Said the other voice from the other side of the door.

Mariana remembered that name. She was the only girl who had not been taken by Lady Dimitrescu, and had instead been taken by the American foreigner.

"Sure, just push." - Mariana said to the girl.

The two double doors opened. Marina saw young Lupu on the threshold, this young woman was carrying village clothes and a small suitcase. This girl's face looked upbeat, as if she was unaware of the danger of the castle.

"Good afternoon, I'm Elena Lupu, a few days ago I received this letter from a friend asking me to serve the castle. I come to take work." - Said the young woman to the maid.

Mariana was surprised, never in her several years of service to the castle did she see a young woman work voluntarily at the castle. Several decades had built a Lady's bad reputation with the villagers of the village.

"Are you sure young woman?" - Mariana asked the young woman. - "Someone has already taken your place, better get out of here."

"I need the job. My father is sick and I won't be able to run the family business. I need the job, please." - Said the young woman between tears that began to come out of her eyes.

Mariana did not know how to react. This young woman really did look desperate. Mariana wondered if it was really worth hiring her, after all an extra hand is always welcome.

"Well, first I'll ask Lady Dimitrescu if she gives you that job opportunity. Follow me, maybe she's in her office." - Mariana said to the young woman.

"Thank you very much, I appreciate it very much, lady ..." - Elena was speaking very happily until she realized that she did not know the name of the lady in front of her.

"Mariana, Main Maid Mariana." - Mariana formally introduced herself to the young woman.

"Nice to meet you Mariana, I hope we can work together." - Said the young woman before shaking hands with Mariana.

Soon, the two women started walking towards Lady Dimitrescu's office.


Mastering Lady Dimitrescu's mares was very exhausting for Erron, his legs were aching and his arms were tired. The beasts were almost indomitable, but for the years of experience with these animals and of course, his charisma, would not have achieved his goal.

Now Erron was cleaning the floors in the upper corridors. It wasn't that complicated, considering there wasn't a lot of dirt in there.

It would have been a normal workday had it not been for the presence of a familiar face.

"Elena?" - Erron thought when he saw how Mariana and Elena Lupu walked towards him.

"Erron." - Mariana said to pass by him.

"Mrs. Mariana." Erron said as he gestured with his recovered hat. Apparently, Mariana had not complained to him about his hat, so Erron was able to keep it.

Then, Erron and Elena's gazes collided. For Elena, it was the first time she had looked at Erron without her mask. Black's face seemed very handsome to her.

"Miss Lupu" - Erron said making the same gesture, but with a warmer voice.

Elena simply replied with a smile.

Soon, the two women would withdraw from there.

Erron continued his work undisturbed until he heard the familiar hum of various wings flying.

"Who will it be now?" - Erron said to himself when he recognized the sound.

"Oh there you are." - Said the redhead Daniela, who was holding a leather bag.

"Tell me miss, what do you want?" - Erron asked.

"Do you remember our bet from a few hours ago. As a daughter of the Dimitrescu clan, I come to keep my word. Here" - Daniela said as she handed Erron the leather bag.

Erron took the bag. He looked at its contents and found some of its objects that he originally had. There was the leather-metal mask, his wallet, a holster, lighter, and pieces of armor. But all this was useless, since the object of greatest relevance to him was not there.

"Thank you very much, Miss Daniela." - Erron began to say - "But I think something is missing."

"Yes, I know. But my mom will never allow a gunman in her home. Don't worry, I'll take good care of your weapons." - Daniela said.

"If you want to keep them, I meant ..." - Erron was talking when Daniela interrupts him.

"The sword? Cassandra is practicing with your sword every day. Since you beat her, she has been training so she can have a rematch with you, so I recommend you watch your back and jugular." - Daniela said with her happy and carefree attitude. Very contrasted with what Erron felt at the time.

"Look, Miss Daniela, I had a pocket book the day I was captured. I want to know where it is." - Erron said.

"Is it a paperback with a red cover?" - Asked the vampire.

"Yes, that's it." - Said Erron.

"Of course I remember. When we brought you to the castle, my sister Bela looked at your objects and among all of them, she found your little book. She is a real book eater. She From that day she began to read it." - Daniela said to Erron, who now had a disappointed face at such news.

"Anyway, what did you have in that little book? Your journal?" - Daniela asked.

"Notes, only that." - Erron answered.

"If you want your diary back, ask Bela. Maybe she will help you or ignore you. Anyway, bye." - Daniela said and then disappear into a hundred flies.

Again, Erron's luck teased him.

It was a few hours to midnight.

The family dinner was being prepared by the staff in charge. Mariana, Olga, and other servants were preparing the small but extravagant feast. The imported Asian meats that the Duke had brought in were being prepared for dinner. They were a small but efficient group, however they needed to send someone over for dinner.

"The meat will be completely ready in 10 minutes and the dessert in 20." - Said one of the maids.

"Okay, and your new girl, is the salad ready?" - Mariana asked Elena, who had officially joined the castle after being "tested" by Lady Dimitrescu.

"Yes, she is." - Said the young woman, who had recovered incredibly quickly from the loss of blood.

"Everything seems to be in motion." - Olga said to slice a piece of meat and taste it.

"It seems that way. Everything will be ready in about a few minutes. Now, who should go tell them?" - Asked Mariana. No one in the room wanted to go, other than they were busy cooking and other chores. It seemed like there would be no volunteers, until Erron walked in.

"I'm just coming for water." - Erron said walking to the huge jug of clean water needed.

"Have you finished Erron?" - Asked Mariana.

"Sure, it wasn't difficult." - Erron said before taking the glass of water.

"Very well, you will go to the music room. The Lady and her daughters are there right now. Tell them that the food will be ready in 20 minutes," Mariana said.

"No problem." - Erron said, but in his thoughts, he thought. - "damn it."

Erron walked through the corridors of the huge castle. With the days that passed, he had learned about the castle, some abandoned rooms with no real use, the guest rooms and of course the special rooms, such as the wine room, the extraction room and the music room.

As Erron walked, he thought about how he would have to act in front of Bela, since she possessed her pocket book. That book not only had the locations and chants needed to make the jumps between dimensions, but also notes on targets hunted and to be hunted, from targets in OutWorld as well as on Earth.

In that pocket book, characters as varied as the mercenary Kano, an outcast for Earth as well as for Kotal Kahn, stood out. Sonya Cage, the general of the special force. She, her family, and her comrades in arms were potential enemies to the Emperor, so eliminating these individuals was a top priority, of course in the event of war between the realms.

Then there were the NetherRealm demons, they were mostly returnees, controlled by Liu Kang, Emperor of Hell. He and his friends were hostile to any of the kingdoms, including OutWorld.

Each and every one of the characters had notes of advantages and weaknesses that could be used in combat, although most were human, there were certainly others who were of different races.

"I should have thrown away the data sheets." - Erron said to himself, reflecting that I must have destroyed the notes, because more than half of the goals scored were already dead.

Thoughts were shaken as he got closer to the music room. The sound that he slowly increased was very welcoming. It was the sound of a piano. Erron knew there was a piano in the main room, but for such a wealthy family, having those pieces of instruments represented status and more of that crap.

The sound was beautiful, someone was playing the piano, so the sound of it was recognizable to anyone. But as he got closer, he heard other instruments, among them a wind instrument. The melody gave low and fast tones. And he also heard the familiar sound of a violin that was played with great skill.

And finally a voice, a deep and serious voice singing things related to love.

Erron heard perfectly, for he now he was one door away with the music. Despite carrying a message, Erron thought very well of the situation, "if I interrupt this session, these savages would drain me right there." So Erron waited until they finished.

And so it was, Erron decided to stand by the door, waiting for them to finish their session. And yes, he waited for about 5 minutes. In those minutes I listen to the beautiful chords emitted by the music. The song reminded him of the 1930s Jazz that he had heard when he visited Earth to collect ammunition. Whoever of the 4 women there, she had a beautiful voice.

He was not such a fan of that genre, but he had to admit that vampires had a good ability with music. However, when the song ended, there was only applause. Very powerful and the Lady's voice rang out.

"Excellent my daughters. You are very skilled." - Said the voice of the Lady, from the other side of the door. - "Now let's take a break for a couple of minutes."

"It's my chance" - Erron thought.

And with all the courage that he had, he knocked on the door.

"Ahead." - I heard from the other side.


Lady Dimitrescu had had a bad day for a reason, and a good day for 2 things. First was that she tasted the wine that the Duke had brought her the other day, the taste so unpleasant and disgusting did not compare to the fact that for the first time, she had competition. Although when evaluating the situation, she considered that the loss of simple clients was something that may not happen, since the letter came from a loyal client, which meant that her clients would recognize that the DImitrescu quality surpassed that of Asian wine.

Then there were the 2 good things of the day, first was that one more servant would join the castle as a servant, it was Elena Lupu, the girl who had originally been replaced by ... Him.

The second good thing of the day was Erron's show with the mares. She saw how her imposing horses, which had within their bodies the same Cadou parasite as her, were dominated by a single man in a single day. That man showed his mastery, she saw how the muscles of those arms took the reins of the horses with great force.

She also remembers the statement he made about horses.

"When I put my mind to it, I can tame the fiercest of females with strength and charm." - She remembered those words so challenging, so confident and self-determined. Those words awakened something inside her, something that her conscious repressed from her, but hers, unconscious of her, unleashed her by choosing the song in music class with hers, her daughters.

In her younger days, she enjoyed singing and even formed a Jazz band in 1910 known as Lady D and the Pallboys.

She felt that she expressed her ideas and feelings when she sang now, and for the first time in a long time ... no ... it was the first time that she did it like this.

Her daughters hadn't noticed, for now, but it would be a bad idea for them to find out about such low thoughts that her own mother had.

"Excellent my daughters. You are very skilled." - She said at the end of her class with her adorable daughters. - "Now let's take a break for a couple of minutes."

Lady DImitrescu wanted to rest her vocal chords, a drink of Sanguinis Virignis would soothe her, but before she could help herself, she would hear the door being knocked.

"Go ahead" - She said disinterestedly, thinking that it was a simple sieve.

"Good evening, My Lady" - Erron said as he entered and saw the scene. In the music room there were 3 women on the stage, clearly the daughters of the castle. Each with an instrument. Daniela on a saxophone, Cassandra on the piano and Bela on the violin. All of them reacted to seeing it.

But the one who was closest to him was the Lady of the Castle. She was sitting in one of her red velvet armchairs, watching him. She was not wearing her huge hat, as it was in another armchair, so big that it took over her entire seat.

"Greetings, Erron." - Answer Dimitrescu, she answered in the same dominant way, although inside her, deep inside her, she felt ashamed for having sung a romantic song ... and thinking about him.

"Why are you here?" - Asked the Lady, intrigued.

"I come to report that dinner will be in 15 minutes." - Erron said the family in general.

"Excellent, we'll go now. But first, would you be so kind as to pour me some wine." - Lady Dimitrescu said, pointing to the shelf where the extravagant wine was. Although Erron already knew for sure what the contents were about, the bottle was more than interesting, the ornate design and size made it an extravagant bottle.

Erron took the bottle and walked over to where Lady Dimitrescu was, from that view, he could see her better. Her well-made-up face and her dark hair matched. Her face, with that smile of satisfaction and supremacy, watching him, Erron felt ... strange to feel that golden sight on him.

Once he was at his Lady's table, he would begin serving the wine. With the help of the clasp, he managed to uncork the bottle on the first try, slightly surprising the other women in the room, including Dimitrescu herself. He then he took one of the glasses that he was there and then appropriately poured the glass. Not very crowded and not very little. In perfect balance.

"Here is your drink, my Lady." - Erron said as he handed the glass with the red wine to the table.

"Thanks, Erron." - Lady Dimitrescu said as she took the glass. She sipped her drink, but kept eye contact with Erron. The comforting and delicious taste of the drink made her have a moment of harmony in it.

"Hey, man-thing, serve me some" - Bela said, approaching.

"I also want." Cassandra said calmly and serenely as she took a seat

"Yes, I also want some before dinner." - Daniela said excitedly.

So Erron had to attend to the requests of the women at the table. Female Vampires who wanted a glass of wine, it was clearly better to serve them a bottle of wine than to give their own jugular to women.

He served the other 3 ornate glasses and handed them to each of them. After each of them took their glasses, they moved to the other side of the room.

After serving them, he put the bottle on the table and stood at attention, he intended to leave, so he was about to speak when Lady Dimitrescu herself spoke.

"Tell me Erron, have you tried wines before?" - Lady Dimitrescu asked as she held the glass half full of it.

"You can bet so, although I am someone with less neat and elegant drinks such as whiskey or rum." - Erron said, trying to be nice to the lady.

"Sure, it can be seen at various distances that he is that kind of man-thing." - Lady DImitrescu said in her mocking tone, but her mind said. - "But a very special one for me."

"You know something, I want you to taste my wine." - Lady Dimitrescu said, pointing to the bottle on the table.

Erron processed the order ... or request, he looked at the luxurious bottle still full of that drink. However, there were no more glasses on the table.

"My lady, I would be delighted to have your wine, but ... There are no more glasses." Erron said to the Lady.

Lady looked at the table, and sure enough, there were no more empty glasses, her daughters kept drinking and talking among themselves, ignoring the situation between Erron and her. Then she looked at her own cup, this cup was about to be finished, and she thought.

"What if I give you this drink?" - He thought for her. The idea of sharing her wine was hers, and as a good daughter of the Dimitrescu clan, she would carry out her order, but she also felt that it would be ... rare for this servant man to drink from the same cup as her.

After a battle of ideas within her mind, she would finally yield to him her cup with the contents that she had not taken.

"Have my drink then, I hope you don't mind." - Lady DImitrescu said, offering the glass. Despite her strong voice inside her mind, she said she wanted to see Erron's reaction, her other voice said, "I want to taste you ... with this drink."

Erron took the goblet from the Lady's gloved hand from him. Erron's bare fingers touching the vampire's gloved hand.

With the glass in hand, Erron would begin to examine it with his eyes. The glass, totally clean except for a red stain, was clearly the vampire's lipstick. For obvious reasons, Erron drank from the other side of the glass.

But before taking the first drink, he proceeded to inhale the contents. The smell was very intoxicating, the characteristic smell of wine, as well as a slight metallic odor. Erron already knew that Lady Dimitrescu's wine wasn't exactly made from pure grapes and alcohol. Erron would have to be a fool not to know what the extra ingredient was.

Then Erron took the first drink. The sweet taste of the grape and the alcohol gave it a very good taste, but the metallic touch of the blood gave the final hit of the flavor, however, inside the glass there was a sweet aroma of strawberries.

Erron would put the glass down, then look directly at Lady Dimitrescu.

She watched Erron's reaction, she was more than pleased. A part of her thought that he would not drink from the wine made of virgin blood, however, he took the drink naturally and even she noticed the expression of satisfaction that he had when taking the famous drink of her. This made her feel a spark of happiness, but of course, that spark would be behind her superior smile that she always had with Erron.

"Well, how is my drink? You must be honest with me." - Said Lady Dimitrescu.

"I must admit it is a very exotic drink my Lady." - Erron began. - "The grape juice and alcohol mixed and empowered with the blood give it a delicious touch, in addition to the strawberry flavoring."

"Strawberries?" - Asked Lady Dimitrescu surprised. The wine productions are standard, they do not have flavorings.

"I mean the smell of lipstick, my lady." - Erron said as he pointed to the glass. - "It really gave him a nice smell."

Lady Dimitrescu's mind was in conflict. Her strong voice told him to punish the arrogant thing-man for making her feel ashamed, but her other voice said that the compliment was beautiful. For this time, she silenced the loud voice and only limited herself to expressing herself with a giggle hidden by her clenched hand.

"You are a good connoisseur, Erron Black." - Lady Dimitrescu said regaining her composure.

"In the other dimension, all kinds of drinks are prepared, of course, not of the quality of this drink, but very ... rare in the concept of our world." - Erron said.

"That sounds interesting, could you give me some examples?" - Lady Dimitrescu said, curious about that information.

Then Erron would start telling Lady Dimitrescu some stories of OutWorld's drinks, from the grossest to the most refined. He observed how her face reacted to each story of her, he told her about the magical drinks that the witches sold at exorbitant prices, ritual drinks from some cultures and of course, the famous rice wine from OutWorld. But before continuing to tell more stories, one of the daughters approached.

"It's dinner time mother, we must go." - Said the young woman with golden hair to her mother sitting by her.

"True dear." - Lady Dimitrescu said to then stand up and show her great height, however it did not impress Erron.

"Daughters, it's time for dinner." - Lady DImitrescu said and soon the other two daughters transformed into swarms to go out the door, but then ...

"Allow me to." - Erron said, advancing to the door.

"Well, well. If you have become a more educated dog than last time, man-thing" - Cassandra said to return to her human form.

"It's simpler than that Cass, it's clear that he fell in love with me, that's why he's very polite, right cowboy?" - Daniela said while she and Cassandra left the room.

The daughters' laughter was happy at such a funny statement, however, it was not shared for the Lady of the castle and for Bela.

"It's just a silly joke Alcina, calm down." - She said to herself, calming her feeling of anger for that joke. Maybe she didn't realize it, but her small voice was saying a word to her: jealousy.

Soon Lady Dimitrescu looked at Erron's face and with her superior smile she would say the following.

"Did you have dinner, Erron?" - Lady Dimitrescu asked.

"Not yet my Lady" - Erron replied.

"Wonderful, you're invited to dine with us, and I won't take no for an answer." - Said Lady Dimitrescu.

"Well, if you want my presence, I'll be there." - Erron said at such news. Dining with royalty was not his thing, although the banquets with exquisite meats were more than attractive, the long talks on politics and economics between the feudal lords and the nobility of OutWorld was really annoying, however, being surrounded by women was not It bothered him a lot, of course, except for the fact that they are vampires.

"Excellent, see you there then." - Lady DImitrescu said to then turn around and leave.

Erron watched as she walked towards the stairs, descending slowly, taking sure and firm steps until he lost sight of her.

"It seems that this will be an interesting night, doesn't it Erron?" - Said the young woman with golden hair.

"What do you mean Miss Bela?" -Asked Erron, he hadn't realized that he was still with one of the daughters.

"You know, eat, drink, tell stories ... like the ones in your notebook." - Bela said with a mocking face as she crossed the threshold of the door.

Before Erron answered him properly, she had transformed into a mass of insects and moved at high speed leaving Erron with the answer in his mouth.

"This castle is stealing my patience." - Erron said before closing the door of the music room to go to the DImitrescu Family table.

"If it weren't for those beautiful golden eyes of the giant, I would have shot her already" -said Erron before reflecting well on his thought. - "Wait? I said beautiful?"


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