"That is what Alcina said we should do Salvatore... Yes, I know you fear Mother Miranda's reaction the most… Please Salvatore, we need the village to survive." Donna said patiently over the phone. She decided to call her poor "brother" the second she got back to the safety of her estate. Angie was tottering around with the other dolls, telling them about the events of the day. "Salvatore, things will work out in the end… No, I don't know what will happen to Mother Miranda… Salvatore think of your reservoir and how much it'll prosper once we have the village restored." Donna pleaded with the man. Salvatore truly saw Mother Miranda as his own mother, never stepped out of line, always did as he was told. Yet Donna knew Miranda did not harbor the same feelings towards the deformed man. Suddenly the phone was out of her hand and being cradled by Angie.
"Listen up Ugly, I don't like you. That being said, I don't wanna see you die either." Angie said into the phone. "I know you'd do anything for Miranda, but she's gonna bring about a whole butt ton of bad things and we all are better off doing what we can to live through it. So stop crying like a little girl and act like the grown man you claim to be!" The doll yelled into the phone and hung it up.
"Angie, you said you'd be nice to Salvatore." Donna chastised the doll softly.
"Donna, he needed a wake up call. You're lucky I didn't tell him that Miranda doesn't love him." Angie said nonchalantly. Donna sighed at the fact her friend was right. She swiftly undid her hair from its usual bun and thought back to the final moments of her conversation with Alcina.
"Tell me Donna, how long have you had a crush on my servant?" Alcina asked coyly. The glint in her eye was scrutinizing Donna's every moment as the younger woman sputtered and choked on the tea she had just sipped. The girls had taken Angie into the library to show her a book on dismemberment, something Donna was completely against.
"What do you mean Alcina?" Donna asked as she finally had control of her breathing.
"Oh come off it little sister, your reactions to Y/N says it all. I'll ask again, how long have you been crushing on my servant?" Alcina asked again. Donna gave pause, unsure of what a crush exactly was. None of the books she had read described anything about it.
"I-I don't know. What's a crush?" Donna asked, cursing her naivety with social situations and relationships. She wished Angie was here, to explain things in a way she could understand.
"Donna, do you truly not know?" Alcina asked with a frown. "I know you're a bit of a recluse, but surely you've read a romance novel or two while at home." Donna thought back to the small collection of her mother's books at the estate. The covers had never sparked an interest for her, so she hadn't bothered with reading them.
"I don't understand, why would I read my mother's old books?" Donna was completely puzzled. "Was there something important to my development from adolescence to adulthood in them?" Donna asked.
"I forget how uninformed about life you are." Alcina mused and placed a hand on her temple. "A crush is what someone experiences when they are looking to pursue a romantic relationship with someone else. Their thoughts become consumed with nothing but the person they desire." Alcina explained delicately. "When Y/N enters the room, you tense up and get rather nervous. Angie refers to her as 'Gorgeous' meaning you find her rather attractive. I simply wish to know if I must give my servant the 'big sister' talk."
Donna sat there and pondered what Alcina had said, it still wasn't making sense to her. "Alcina, I'm still unsure. When I first met Y/N we were small children, to this day I don't know if we became friends or not. Then my family perished and I didn't see her again until recently." Donna confessed. Alcina crossed to the other couch and gently placed a comforting hand on Donna's shoulder.
"I definitely think you made a friend that day and still have one in her. Hopefully when all this business with Miranda is finished, I can assist you in cultivating that friendship." Alcina assured her sister."Earth to Donna, you with me?!" Angie shouted frantically. Donna jumped back startled at the doll's increased volume.
"Sorry Angie, I was just thinking about what Alcina said to me." Donna admitted, cheeks pinkening at how easily she was distracted.
"Is it because you got your own wake up call?" Angie asked gently. The doll had felt Donna's panic and confusion while she was in the Dimitrescu library earlier. She had wanted to fly back to her Mistress's side, but knew this was something she couldn't explain to Donna.
"Alcina is certain Y/N is my friend, but how does that translate into a crush?" Donna asked her friend. The other dolls in the study turned to their maker, mentally chittering words of support and comfort.
"Well maybe you should read one of your mama's books, I know reading helps you at least grasp the basics of something." Angie offered. Donna felt rather apprehensive when it came to her mother's books. Her older sister Claudia had told it was full of things she was too young to understand, things Donna assumed now were sex. The rose colored flush on her cheeks darkened slightly, she knew about sex and why some chose to have it, but she couldn't quite figure out how it would help her determine if she did have a crush on you. "Don't go back off to LaLa Land now Donna, grab a book and read. I'll even pick one if you like." Angie said, making her way over to the shelf.
"I'll read after supper Angie, right now I want to go back over the last experiment notes from Mister Simon's death." Donna said firmly. She then slowly made her way to the lab, hoping Angie would stop pushing for her to read until later.
The following morning, you had slowly woken up. The revelation of the village's impending destruction was still weighing heavily on your mind. You could only hope your parents would see sense and fled into the caves before nightfall. "Papa probably drunk himself into a stupor and passed out before Mama could even pack the essentials." You thought to yourself bitterly. The thunderous howls of the Lycans could be heard in the distance, terrified screams shortly following after. Though you wanted to mourn the loss of lives you had known since your birth, you knew that you needed to stay on alert for that man. The Lady had decided that the staff who stayed were free to do as they pleased today, so long as the castle did not fall into a deplorable state. Instead of your usual uniform you changed into an old pair of pants that you used when you assisted in the gardens during spring. They allowed you a little more free movement and had deep pockets should you need to store a weapon. You had just slipped on a simple shirt and shoes when there was a light knock at your door.
"Good morning Y/N." Daniela said cheerfully as you opened the door. "Since Mother gave the castle the whole day off, I thought we should work on being friends." The redhead continued with a charming smile.
"Good morning Miss Daniela. That sounds like a great idea. Will your sisters be joining us?" You asked as you returned the smile. You thought back to the strange dreams you had the previous night, flashes of the Lady and her daughters turned to mere crystal, and shuddered. You wanted to deny that it was a premonition, praying that it was just your nerves getting the better of you since the news from last night.
"Please call me Dani when you aren't working, friends don't use titles with one another. As for Cass and Bela, they'll join us later. Mother will be going to a council meeting soon, hopefully nothing bad has happened." Daniela said casually. She then quickly grabbed your hand and started dragging you towards the main library. "Come on Y/N, I wanna show you a cool book I think you'll like." You chuckled softly at Daniela's enthusiasm. As you approached the library, you couldn't help but notice how empty the castle was. Normally you would've seemed at least five other maids at this point, but with more than half the staff leaving the night before, there were probably twenty of you still left.
Upon entering the library you marveled at the large tomes of knowledge that had been stored here through the ages. "Miss, uh I mean Dani, do you normally spend time in the library?" You asked, correcting your mistake in using her title at Daniela's frown. It would take some getting used to not using her title.
"Sometimes. I love my sisters, but they can get on my nerves at times. Bela is often busy in the cellars, as the oldest, she is expected to help mother with the winery business. Cass likes spending her alone time in the armory, she likes to make sure all the weapons are kept in pristine condition." Daniela explained.
"I wonder if that's because of how historically the second born was generally expected to make a name for themself in the military." You pondered out loud. Daniela stared at you with a rather owlish expression.
"Ya know, in all my years I never thought about it like that. I just thought she was crazy about weapons." Daniela said with a small laugh. "How'd you know that anyway? Most of the servants just have basic knowledge." She asked curiously.
"Oh, um, I like to read." You answered bashfully. "Anything history related is guaranteed to hold my attention for hours. I had an uncle who left the village to pursue his education, he would always bring back books for me to study." You said with a fond smile.
"Oh, what happened to him?" Daniela asked.
"I'm not really not sure. One night, just before I came of age, I heard him arguing with my Father about how I should leave with him, to get a real education and start a life outside the village. The next morning he was gone, Father said I'd never hear from him again." You answered. You could remember the night clearly. You hid, just out of sight as your father hurled empty bottles at his brother. Your mother was there, crying about how your uncle was going to condemn you and their family to damnation if you ever left the village.
"Wow, so your father is just a piece of shit all around?" Daniela asked as she put a hand under her chin. You stared at the casual swearing from her, knowing her mother would not approve of that particular use of language.
"Yeah, he is." You offered as you started laughing. Daniela soon joined your laughing, the two of you acting as if your father was the laughingstock of the village. As the laughter died, you wiped a tear from the corner of your eye. "As much as I detest my father, I hope he and my mother made it to the caves." You said rather somberly.
"I'm sure they did, even a drunk bastard values their life." Daniela offered in an attempt at comfort. This led to even more laughter from the two of you. Together you spent the better part of two hours looking through books in the library, Daniela pointing out interesting titles you might be interested in as you explained bits and pieces of what you did know. Your stomach making its presence known brought a pause in the conversation.
"I think I should grab something to eat Dani." You said with a sheepish smile.
"You're right, I can feel Cass looking for me, feel free to come back to the library when you're done. I'll have Cass and Bela join us this time." Daniela said with an optimistic smile. As the two of you parted ways, an ominous chill ran down your spine. Staying on high alert, you didn't notice anything out of place as you trekked towards the kitchens. Entering the kitchen cautiously, you let out a soft sigh as you saw the cook was working on a meal for everyone.
"Yaya, you didn't need to cook for us today." You said as you relaxed your shoulders. You moved to help her, but received a swift smack to your hands from the wooden spoon she was holding.
"Hush, Y/N. It is Yaya's duty to feed her family. We still have people here, so I will still cook. Now sit, I will bring you a bowl of the soup." The cook said, her grandmotherly tone left no room for argument. You took your seat at the small table and waited patiently, your stomach growling louder as the kitchen aroma filled your nose. "You look as though you didn't sleep a wink last night, and you skipped your morning coffee." The cook said with a disapproving tone.
"Sorry Yaya, Miss Daniela asked me to join her in the library this morning. She didn't really give me a chance to check in earlier." You admitted with a small smile. The cook shook her head as she placed the bowl of broth in front of you. "Has the Lady returned to the castle yet?" You asked as you sipped your soup broth.
"Yes, Lady Dimitrescu came back to the castle not too long ago. I couldn't make out much, but she was murmuring about Mother Miranda and a "Man Thing," I don't know what that means." The cook offered and let out a puzzled sigh. Your spoon clattered back into your bowl of broth suddenly. The image of the man came back to you, but you quickly shook it off. "You know something about this." The cook said plainly. All you could do was slowly nod your head.
"I don't know much, but this man is not good. I wouldn't say he's evil, but something about him is not right. The feelings aren't telling me much." You admitted. "Yaya, something is going to happen, but I don't know what." Your nightmares didn't feel like they were just nightmares anymore, perhaps they were omens of what was going happen. The cook placed a calming hand on your shoulder and you continued to eat your soup.
"Relax Y/N, you'll know in time what your visions are telling you. You are a smart girl, you just need to keep a calm head. Just as the Oracles of ancient Greece would have prophecies, they weren't always completely accurate, sometimes they were just images of what could be." The cook offered sagely. You smiled at the advice and quickly finished your soup. Suddenly you heard the shattering of glass and stood up abruptly. The cook looked startled as well and handed you one of the knives. You slowly made your way out of the kitchen, you saw no one in the halls, but as you neared the foyer you saw one of the glass cases had been smashed open. You frowned as you noticed one of the many intricate vases had been destroyed as well. That chill you felt earlier was getting colder with each passing second, yet you took a calming breath. It was undeniable that there was an intruder in the castle, none of the staff that stayed would've broken a vase and smashed open a cabinet. You turned around and was surprised to see the cook had followed you, cast iron skillet clutched firmly in her hands. "Go inform the Lady of the intruder, I'll clean this up." You gave a quick nod and headed for the Lady's study. As you made your way across the main hall, you heard the distinctive clicking of the Lady's heels along with the laughter of her daughters.
"Y/N, what has you looking so frazzled?" Alcina asked as she took in your stiff appearance. The constant rise and fall of your chest caused her to pause for the briefest of moments, maybe a change needed to be made to the maid uniforms, before she quickly regained her composure. Her daughters were staring at you, though Daniela looked more concerned compared to Bela and Cassandra's indifferent attitudes.
"I'm sorry My Lady, but there is an intruder in the castle. I found one of the vases in the foyer and a glass cabinet smashed." You answered, trying to calm yourself from the rapid pace you were taking through the castle.
"I am well aware of the intruder, the stupid Man Thing is currently hanging from the ceiling in the first floor bedroom. The girls' were kind enough to quickly bring him to me, though we should move him to the cellar soon." Alcina mused as she remembered the stale taste of sickness in the man's blood. She knew that Heisenberg's show wasn't going to actually do anything to the man, but she still kept her act of disdain going to keep Miranda in the dark. "Worry not, Y/N. The wretch will be gone soon, but thank you for continuing to serve House Dimitrescu faithfully." She added with a warm smile.
"Of course, My Lady." You said with a bow, not realizing your shirt had fallen a little and gave the Lady an ample view of your cleavage. "Miss Daniela, I'll meet you in the library soon, I'm going to let the cook know everything is okay." You said, noticing the frown on Daniela's face. You then turned to leave, missing the quizzical looks that Daniela received from her sisters.
Alcina stared at you as you left the main hall and then turned to her youngest daughter. She noticed the frown maring the redhead's face, as well as the disapproving and angry stares from her other daughters.
"Dani, did you make plans with the human maid?" Cassandra seethed. It was bad enough there was a human man in the castle, but off all the times for her littler sister to act so impetuously, she chose now?
"What happened to the plan of letting me arrange the meetings first?" Bela said before Cassandra could continue.
"Will you two lay off? The castle is suddenly bleaker than usual, so I wanted to work on having a friend. A friend, who I will add is much smarter than the average villager." Daniela said in an annoyed tone. "You two were busy this morning, so I asked Y/N to come with me to the library. She got hungry, so we agreed to meet back in the library after she ate and I was going to bring the two of you with me." She huffed out as she crossed her arms.
"Girls, knock it off now." Alcina said. "This is not the time to be arguing, hopefully we can drain the Man Thing quickly and avoid any more problems until this evening. Daniela, you came up with the plan to let Bela act as a liaison to set up meetings for the three of you to assess if Y/N is trustworthy and then you would pursue a friendship. I can't say that I'm happy with you for blatantly going behind your sisters' backs." Alcina explained as she chastised her youngest daughter. The redhead had the decency to look apologetic for her actions.
"I'm sorry mother, but I was worried about her. She looked really distraught last night and probably needed the distraction." Daniela said with a frown. Alcina couldn't help but feel proud of her daughter for trying to comfort someone in need.She thought back to the previous night when the two of you made eye contact. She could see just how terrified you were, but it seemed as if there was more fear than warranted.
"I guess I cannot fault you for acting out of concern, but you are still in trouble for not telling your sisters. Now I'm off to inform Mother Miranda that the Man Thing is in the castle, make sure he doesn't escape." Alcina said as she strode off to her private chambers. Her daughters all nodded at the order and took off in their swarms. Though she said she was going to call Mother Miranda, she was actually going to call Heisenberg first as was their agreement after last night.
"Hesienberg, I'm going to ask this once and all information will be kept between us. Do you have a plan to go against Mother Miranda?" Alcina asked as she gripped the phone in her hand.
"I might have something up my sleeves. Are you gonna get in my way if I do?" The gruff voice answered her. Alcina pinched the bridge of her nose to keep her anger at bay.
"Be smart and actually use that brain of yours for a minute Karl. We are all going against a direct order, we may all be killed for this. If you have a plan to take down Mother Miranda, I suggest you clue me into it now." Alcina seethed. She could hear her "brother" taking deep inhales of his cigar, the thrumming of the factory machinery working in the background.
"I do have a plan, but it needs to be reworked. The original plan called for all your deaths, but that is no longer necessary." Hesiberg said after a moment. Alcina wanted to fly into a blind rage and throttle the man. She couldn't blame him though, she knew that if she were still blindly devoted to Mother Miranda, it would only make sense to have her taken care of. Taking a deep calming breath, she released most of her fury.
"I see, well that plan will clearly be forgotten from this moment forward. Now here's what I'm thinking…." Alcina began as she and Heisenberg came up with a new plan to subdue Mother Miranda.
"What's up Big D?" Heisenberg said cheekily as he answered the phone.
"Karl, I'm going to use that hammer to turn you into a puppet if you call me that again." Alcina said through clenched teeth. "Ethan Winters is currently in my castle. I know your paltry little games are easy at first, but how the hell did he survive it?"
"Well fuck, how the hell was I supposed to know he didn't actually die?" Heisenberg asked in a very astonished voice. "He's gonna fuck up the plan."
"Don't you think I know that already? He wasn't even supposed to show up to the village, Mother Miranda was only supposed to bring the child. I will try to dispose of him here in the castle, but we may need to come up with a backup plan." Alcina mused as she thought of what to do now.
You were on your way back to the library when you came across more broken vases. The logical conclusion was that the intruder had escaped from whatever was holding him and was now roaming about the castle, probably trying to hide from the Lady and her daughters. The cook had gone to round up the remaining maids in the main hall, so that they could stay safe together. Your premonitions seemed to keep taunting you, forcing chills up your spine, causing you to constantly keep your head on a swivel. You couldn't fathom why this man felt the need to intrude and search through the castle, but you could tell he brought an unknown danger with him. The sharp feeling of ice in your veins made you stop in your tracks as you passed the main dining hall. You could faintly make out the voice of Bela, gleefully taunting someone in the kitchen. The struggling grunts in response seemed deeper, so it must have been the intruder. Suddenly you heard the distinct sound of gunshots and the shattering of glass, followed by the howling wind from outside.
"The window!" You thought in a panic. The windows were never to be opened, especially in the winter months, it was detrimental to the survival of the Lady's daughters. For one to be opened, so close to one of the daughters, was sure to result in certain death! You quickly rushed towards the kitchen, crouching out of sight as you saw the tan jacket from your vision. Bela was breathing heavily, doubled over as if she had been hurt by the man. You could see bits of her freezing away and slowly turning to dust. Slowly you reached for the cast iron skillet the cook had left on the counter, clutched it firmly in your hands, and silently crept towards the man. He had yet to notice you, yet Bela could see you out of the corner of her eye. You raised the skillet high in the air and swiftly swung it at the man's head. Crack! The man fell down to the floor in a crumpled pile, he was certainly unconscious, but you weren't sure if he was dead from the impact of the skillet to the back of his skull.
Without thinking you grabbed the freezing body of Bela, and carried her back into the main hall where the nearest fireplace was going. The other maids gasped in shock as you bursted through the doors, coming to a halt in front of the fire. You gently lowered Bela to the floor as you threw countless logs on the fire, making it burn hotter than ever. You looked over your shoulder at the shocked maids staring at you and immediately gave out orders. "You two," You said as you pointed at the stable maids that stayed. "There's an intruder in the kitchen, who should be knocked out on the floor. Tie him up and take him to the dungeons, make sure you get any weapons he may be carrying hidden in his pockets." The two quickly took off running towards the kitchen after nodding. "Yaya, I need you to get several bottles of Sanguinis Virginis for Miss Bela and as much raw meat as you can." You said to the cook who nodded and took off for the wine room. "The rest of you, I need a first aid kit, more wood for the fire, and as many thick blankets as you can find right now. We need to save Miss Bela, someone please go get the Lady." You said to the other maids as you clutched the shivering woman in your arms. You could hear the maids starting to take off, but suddenly stopped as a voice rang out.
"Now wait just a minute here!" Florianna yelled. "Who are you to be giving the rest of us? I don't care if you've knelt between the Lady's skirt to make yourself her favorite, I'm not taking orders from you." The older woman continued with venom flowing through her words. Before you could even begin a retort the doors leading to the private chambers violently slammed open and the Lady and her other two daughters quickly entered the room.
"What the hell is going on in here!" Alcina seethed as she looked at Bela still blue and struggling to breathe in your arms.