AN: I don't own any of this except the plot and the made up people.

Chapter 2:Burn in Inferno

Teagan and I had been here for a little over a week. I can describe it in three words: It is hell. Just like Nadia said. Every morning I would knock on Vincent's- I mean Master's- door and set his breakfast on the bedside table. Then I would open the curtains and put some wood in the fireplace. Then I would sit on a stool in the corner until he asked something of me or until he was done eating. He would get up and go about his daily activities, which consisted of bathing, going off somewhere, to work or someplace else, come home, go to his study, come out for dinner, go back to his study, and go to bed. After he was out of the room, I would make the bed, fluff the pillows, take the tray of food down to Abbey in the kitchen, and then do other things for the Master. I would do his laundry, tidy his study, get the paper for him, etc. If there was nothing to do, I would help Peri and Samantha clean. I was scrubbing the floors with Peri one day when we heard a crash come from upstairs. I looked at Peri with a nervous look. Her eyes were wide. Her voice had confusion in it.

"All the servant's are down here except-"

My eyes were wide. "Teagan." We bolted upstairs with Samantha and Abbey trailing us. We heard another crash. It sounded like it was coming from Peter's room. I tried the door, which was locked. I told the girls to stand back as I kicked at the door. It opened. Thank God for dance. We moved through the door to find Teagan on the bed with Peter on top of her with his hand over her mouth. She was struggling underneath him. I ran at them.

"Get off of her." I tugged at his arm. "Let go! You're hurting her!" He let go of Teagan and pushed me off of him. He slapped me and I fell to the floor. This gave Teagan time to run over to the other girls. Peter stood over me as I held the right side of my face.

"If you ever enter my room like that again, you will regret it. I think I shall tell father about this." He smirked and strutted out of the room. I took a deep breath and walked over to Teagan.

"Are you alright?" She nodded.

"Ok, I'll ask Vincent if I may have permission to switch with you. Maybe he'll listen." I hugged her, and we took her down to Helen, the housekeeper. Helen took her to the servant girls' rooms and fixed her up. I made sure to get to Master before Peter. When he got home that night, I made his tea and brought it to the study just as he sat down. He smiled approvingly.

"You've been very obedient to me since you arrived. I think a reward is in order for your good behavior. Is there anything I can do for you?" He looked me up and down. Ugh. Fucking pig. I pretended not to notice. I put on an innocent, but concerned voice. My cute brogue was the cherry on top of the sundae.

"Sir, I know it's not my place to ask such a favor, but I'm very much concerned about Teagan." He nodded.

"Go on."

"You see, earlier today, I was scrubbing the entrance hall floor with Peri when we heard a crash upstairs. We knew that Teagan was the only one upstairs, so we went to see if she was all right. When we reached the top of the stairs, we heard another crash that came from Master Peter's room. We went to the door and were about to knock when I heard a sort of muffled scream so we entered and found that Master Peter had attacked Teagan. I tried to stop him, but he is much stronger than me, you see." He looked a little slighted, but let me continue.

"I see. What is your request?"

"I was just wondering if it were possible to switch jobs with Teagan. She was very shaken up afterward, you see. I think that being around him alone would frighten her even more and prevent her from doing her duties to their fullest extent. Perhaps, I could be Master Peter's maid, and Teagan could be your maid, Master. She works just as hard as I do." I smiled a hopeful smile. He nodded and looked as if he were thinking it over.

"Very well. If it would hinder her working ability, I think it would be wise for her to work as my maid. Well, it is settled. Starting tomorrow, you will work as Peter's maid." I curtsied.

"Thank you very much, sir." He nodded and motioned for me to leave. I walked out of the study, proud of myself. I couldn't wait to tell Teagan. When I got to our room, I saw her lying on her bed facing away from me.

"Teagan! You won't believe what just happened! I talked to Vincent and-" I stopped short as I saw her face. My eyes were full of shock. There were bloodstains on the sheet. I looked back into her eyes. A tear fell down her cheek.

"Peter came to finish what he started."

"Oh my God. Well, at least you won't have to face him everyday now. I got us switched." She smiled at me grateful.

"Thank you." I sighed.

"Teagan, I've got to go get someone."

"No! If I get thrown out of here, I don't know what'll happen to me!" She started to cry. Just then, Samantha, Abbey, and Peri came in laughing. They stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Teagan. Abbey was the first to speak.

"Bella, we have to tell someone." I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"I told Vincent about the attack earlier and got Teagan and me switched. I came down here to tell her and found her like this. I'm going to get Helen and Vincent. This needs to stop. Now." I walked out of the servants' room and to Helen's room. I knocked. Helen answered the door.

"What can I help you with, dear?" She smiled sweetly.

"He attacked Teagan again." My voice was grim. Her smiled melted away. "Can you go to her?" She nodded and whisked down to the room. I quickly but quietly walked to Master's room and knocked. I took a deep breath. Master answered the door. He looked surprised.

"Yes, Bella?"

"Master, I'm very sorry to disturb you-"

"There was no disturbance." I nodded.

"You see, I went to Teagan's room to tell her of the switch and I found her on her bed. She was badly bruised and we think she was-" I took a deep breath to keep from crying, but one lone tear fell down my cheek, "she was raped. I asked her what happened. She said that Master Peter had 'come to finish what he started.'" I looked down. I waited for him to say or do something.

"Where is she?"

"She is still in our room. Helen is looking after her." He walked past me. I closed his door and followed. We reached the servants' quarters. Helen was sitting on the bed comforting Teagan. The other girls were huddled around her. When they heard Master's footsteps, they stepped back to let him through. I stood next to Samantha. Vincent looked over Teagan's frightened face. He shook his head and turned toward Helen.

"Invia per Dottore Rossi, Helen." I knew something must have been really bad. He never spoke Italian around the girls unless it was either A) something to do with his work or B) something was gravely wrong. Helen swiftly left the room. I heard her speaking to who I assumed to be this Doctor Rossi. Helen came back after hanging up with Doctor Rossi.

"He will be here within the hour." She walked over to Teagan and put a cold rag on her face. Just then, we heard Peter upstairs searching for his father.

"Father?" called his muffled voice. His footsteps pounded down the stairs.

"Father, I need to speak-" He stopped. All eyes were on him. Vincent pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Pietro, ho bisogno di parlare con voi." Vincent walked up the stairs. I heard him close the door to our room. Helen left us in charge of Teagan. Abbey sat beside Teagan. I spoke first.

"I'll be right back." I quietly walked to the door, pressing my ear against it. Maybe I could hear them. I heard muffled voices, but I could make out whose voice was Peter's and whose voice was Vincent's.

"Peter, I will send you to the institute if you do not stop." He didn't sound very commanding.

"Father, are you going to let petty servant girls run your mind against me?"

"Of course not, Peter. They are servants, and you can have your way with any one of them, but if we have company over, I can't have my servants all battered up." My hand covered my mouth, keeping me from shouting. I had heard enough. I walked back to the girls with a look of defeat on my face.

"I heard what Vincent told Peter. He isn't going to do anything about this. He said, 'You can have your way with any one of them, but I can't have them all battered when we have company.'" I put my head in my hands.

"I thought servants weren't supposed to be peeping Toms." I gasped. Peter was standing in the doorway behind me. His father was behind him. "Wouldn't you agree, Father?" Vincent looked at me and motioned for me to follow him. I sighed and did as I was told. When I walked past Peter, he grabbed my hair and pulled me back.

"If you ever do anything like that again, there will be hell to pay." I wanted so much to punch him. He let go and I walked away. I went up to Vincent's room and knocked.

"Come in Bella." I opened the door quietly and moved inside. I closed the door and stood there quietly.

"Yes, Master?"

"I don't know what to do with you Bella. You are a very good maid, but all this trouble that you've caused is no good. Tsk Tsk." That I caused? Try that little brat you call your son. He continued.

"I know that you think it is Peter's fault, but give him a break. His mother died. He doesn't know how to treat women. What do you say we put this little misunderstanding behind us?" I tried to bite back my tongue, but stupid me had to run my mouth off.

"This wasn't a misunderstanding. Peter attacked Teagan twice in one day and all he gets is a slap on the wrist?" I instantly covered my mouth. Shit. Vincent walked calmly over to me.

"If that's how you see it.." And then I was on the ground. He had punched me. My nose was bleeding. He kicked me repeatedly in ribs.

"You see, Peter is just an amateur. If you don't attack visible parts, no one knows that you've been a bad servant." He kicked me once more before dismissing me. I stood up stiffly. I wiped the blood off my face, curtsied and stalked down stairs, wincing the entire way from my ribs. When I reached our room, I pulled up my blouse to see what the damage was. The other girls gasped. I was bruised. No permanent damage, though. Samantha, who was rather quiet, spoke up.

"Bella, we need to get away from here. Who knows who could be next?" Her voice was filled with fright.

"Samantha, all we know is that we're in Italy somewhere. Even if we did escape, there could be German guards everywhere. Do any of us want to be caught by them?" I shook my head trying to think of something. "Well, Switzerland is on the border. If we can make it there, we might have a chance of making it home." Abbey and Samantha were from England, Peri from Ireland.

"Well, if we're going to do this, we'll need money. I found a little while cleaning. I think there's about 5 lire here." Peri said, hoping to be helpful.

"We'll need more than that." Abbey spoke up. She looked like she was trying to think of something. I had an idea, a dangerous one, but it was an idea.

"I could see if Peter has any in his room when I'm cleaning." Teagan looked at me.

"Bells, you could end up like me." I sighed.

"Well, when we have enough, I could swipe some from him the day before we do this." We all agreed it was a plan. Abbey's face lit up.

"I have an idea." We all looked her way.

"Vincent gives me money to go to the market twice a week to get food and supplies. I could take a little from that and just say that the prices went up. If I take the same amount every time, he won't notice." She smiled proudly. It was brilliant, only there was one catch and Peri caught it.

"But doesn't Nadia go with you? She might tell."

Samantha had an idea. "We could take Nadia with us. Isn't she from Switzerland? She could go home." We all nodded.

"Ok, Abbey are you going to the market tomorrow?" I asked. She nodded. "I'll ask Vincent if I could go with you instead of Nadia." Teagan spoke up from her bed.

"He'll get suspicious."

"I'll tell him that we need more laundry soap and flint for the fire."

We all agreed that we would wait for a while to save money. We let Nadia in on our plan. She was ecstatic. She said that she had been saving up for a while and gave the money to us to hide. Every time she and Abbey went to the market, they took 4 out of the 15 lire Vincent gave them. He just went along with our story of the prices rising.

4 months later

Tomorrow was the night of action. We had saved up about 32 lire a month from the market money. We had 128 lire from that plus the 178 lire that Nadia had saved before we came. Peri had found more money when she was cleaning. It wasn't much since it was loose change, but it was something. That came to about 16 lire. I had found Peter's stash of money when I was cleaning one morning. I was going to take about 50 lire right before we left so he wouldn't suspect anything. We would have about 372 lire when we ran. We were going to wait until the dead of night to go. When everyone was asleep that night, I put on my cloak and my shoes. Abbey and Nadia had gone to the market and bought everyone travel shoes one day. When they came back they hid the shoes and told the Master that prices for food went up again. Nadia had arranged for a hiding place in the market with a trusted friend of hers. We would hide there until it was safe for us to travel again. The woman, Maria, was going to put the horses in her stables behind the cows and her horses so no one would find them and recognize them. They were sneaky little devils. Samantha tapped my shoulder.

"Don't put on your shoes, they'll make too much noise. Go get the money. We'll be waiting here with your shoes. Everyone will be ready when you come back. Be careful." I nodded and helped her wake everyone up. They all got ready. Teagan and Peri had gone to get Nadia. They all waited in the hidden alcove in the entrance hall while I went to get the rest of our travel money. I tiptoed up the stairs and down the hall toward the Masters' rooms. I heard snoring from Vincent's room. I breathed a sigh of relief. I swiftly got to Peter's room and thankfully heard snoring. I eased the door open quietly and moved toward his desk. I opened the deep top drawer and pulled out the box he kept his money in. I quietly took out 50 lire and put the box back. I stepped lightly to the door and shit it quietly. I ran quietly on my toes down the stairs. I tapped quietly on the floor twice to signal the girls that it was me. They came out one by one. Peri handed me my shoes and my bag. I put them on quietly as we moved toward the door. Once I was out, Teagan shut the door quietly, and we bolted for the stables. We each took a horse and led them quietly out to the gate at the end of the driveway on the grass. The gravel would have made too much noise. Nadia opened the gate, and we each mounted our horses and hung our bags off of the horn of the saddle. We quietly steered our horses to the other side of the gate and looked back at our prison.

"Burn in inferno." We all said in unison. We turned our backs and rode off toward the market.