Chapter Text
Winter was fast approaching.
A sudden cold snap that morning drove you into the woods. Get more firewood, check the traps, get out. Simplicity itself. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. Nothing in your life ever was.
Most of the snares were as empty as your pantry. All you'd caught so far was a mangy-looking rabbit – barely had any meat on it, poor thing – and a heap load of trouble, because you were pretty sure you were looking at one of the Dimitrescu girls curled up and shivering at the base of a tree. She'd eaten whatever had been in the trap nearby. Just bones and fur were left. That didn't surprise you. It was common knowledge that the Countess and her offspring were terrifying monsters far worse than the like that roamed the forests. They were rumoured to eat human flesh and drink blood. You weren't sure which of the daughters you'd found, but she looked more pathetic than monstrous right then. Curled around herself as if she were freezing to death. Whimpering like a scared child. Didn't seem to know you were there.
You should just leave her, you knew. Pretend you never saw her. Let fate take care of it. You'd only bring more problems on yourself if you meddled in the affairs of the inhuman. She was evil and deserved this anyway, right? She was probably out here hunting some innocent kids or something.
“Mama,” she murmured amidst a quiet, wet sob when you went to step away, “I…I don't wanna die…mama…”
Curse your bleeding heart. Papa said it would get you killed one day. Today might be that day.
“Hey,” you said gently. You didn't want to startle her too bad. Her head snapped up like a whip. Red locks of hair jutted from beneath a black hood. Yellow eyes, unfocused, their pupils mere pinpricks, stared at you from a pale face caked in fresh blood and ruined make-up. Very unsettling. “Tell me how to help.”
“C-cold,” she managed. “So c-cold…”
You sighed and slipped out of your thick fur coat. The frigid air bit you but you were used to it. “Here.” You knelt down and draped the coat over her, aware of how she watched you the entire time, unblinking. As soon as you let go she snatched onto the lapels and wrapped the coat around herself as much as she could. She kept staring. You tried to ignore how it made your skin crawl. “Can you walk? My home isn't too far away, you can warm up there.”
“Yeah…”
You hovered close by in case she couldn't stand, but the girl got to her feet well enough. She was tall, you realised. Quite a bit taller than you.
“Um, this way.”
She shadowed you quietly as you led her out of the woods. Occasionally you'd hear her foot break a twig or she'd sniffle, but she didn't speak. Her presence had weight though, so you couldn't forget she was there.
When you made it back to your modest home she went and dumped herself right in front of your fireplace. You'd kept a little fire going to stave off the chill; your house was old and draughty, however, and the embers were low. The girl still shivered, buried in your coat. You sighed. You'd forgotten the firewood and you absolutely did not want to leave her in your house alone, so you chucked some old paperback novels into the flames to stoke it up to roaring. Goodbye, The Great Gatsby. Eventually, the girl stopped shaking.
“Would you like some tea, Miss…?”
“Daniela.”
“Right. Miss Daniela. Tea?”
“Okay.”
Such exceptional manners on this one. You set the kettle to boil on your stove, fishing out tea leaves from their tin next to the sink. The scrawny rabbit you caught lay on the table. You'd need to skin it and salt the meat for jerky before it went bad, but you weren't about to do that until Daniela was gone. Instead you made two cups of steaming tea and returned to the living room. The cup you offered to your guest was snatched in a black-gloved hand, cradled close to her face. Not even a thank you. If she wasn't a Dimitrescu, you'd have tossed her out on her ass by now.
“Are you feeling better?” You asked. The tea was jasmine. Its scent was pleasant, calming to breathe in. It kept you grounded.
“I guess,” Daniela mumbled, like a sulky teenager. “Bela's gonna chew me out when I get home, ugh.”
“Is Bela…your sister?” You hazarded a guess.
“Yeah. She thinks she's always right because she's the eldest, but she's not! How was I supposed to know it was suddenly gonna get so cold? The weather was fine last night!” Daniela grew more impassioned as she spoke. Some of her tea sloshed over the rim of her cup and splashed on her hands. She didn't seem to notice. “I bet she's already told mother I got lost like an idiot or something. I wasn't lost! I can hunt just fine on my own.”
Though you'd barely a shred of a clue what she was talking about, the mention of 'mother' definitely caught your attention. “Will the Lord Dimitrescu be out looking for you?” You really, really hoped she wouldn't. All bread crumbs led to you. So far, Daniela had not impressed you with much fear. Her mother, however, was a completely different story. You'd never met her, but her reputation was larger than life.
“I doubt it,” Daniela replied bitterly. The response surprised you. You didn't dwell on it, since Daniela fixed you with a shrewd look. “Why did you help me? Mother said all the village peasants are really stupid and scared of everything, but you don't seem like that.”
“Uh…” You weighed the merits of telling her you were wondering the exact same thing yourself.
“Oh, I get it!” Daniela exclaimed. A manic smile edged her lips up, eyes glittering. Way creepier than her blank stare from before. “You like me, don't you? I knew it! Everybody likes me! That's why you gave me tea, too!” She took a huge gulp of said drink while you just stared, thrown by the sudden mood swing. “You even made my favourite! I love jasmine. You really do like me!”
“Um…yeah, that's right,” you decided to go along with it, smiling – though it probably looked more like a grimace. She wouldn't understand the concept of civility, clearly, and she was obviously way too unhinged for you to make any argument. Your papa was rolling in his grave, for sure. Why oh why did you have to be so 'helpful'…
“Of course I'm right.” Daniela nodded self assuredly. “Y'know, I was going to eat you before I left, but we're friends now! I've never had a peasant friend before. Ooh, this is exciting!”
“Wait…wait a minute…” Your stomach dropped. The peasant thing you could ignore, but… “You were going to…eat me?”
“Mm hmm. I get really hungry when I'm cold. But don't worry! I don't eat my friends unless they want me to!”
“Good to know…”
She was so nonchalant there was no way she was joking. At least you now knew the rumours about the Dimitrescus were true…for whatever that was worth. Honestly you'd be more scared if you didn't know you could simply run outside and Daniela wouldn't follow, adverse to low temperatures as she seemed to be. She was crazy and cannibalistic, sure, but you'd also seen her in a heap on the ground crying for her mother. She would have to try harder to really spook you. Shit, maybe you were crazy, too.
Nevertheless…you were champing at the bit for your new “friend” to get out of your house. She stayed until midday when it grew a bit warmer, poking into everything and asking random questions without really wanting answers: “What's it like being a peasant?” “Why is your house so cold and empty?” “Why do you live so far away from the rest of the village?” “Can I eat that rabbit?”
You gave her the rabbit, just in case she decided she was too hungry and broke her own rule to try and snack on you. She was delighted; you'd probably have nightmares for a while from the way she tore into it like a wild dog. Finally, finally, she left. She blew you a bloody kiss as she went. “See you, cutie!” She kept your fur coat on. The cup she'd drank from had an imprint of her mouth on the rim in blood. You dumped it in the trash. Hopefully you would never see her again. She'd go home and settle back into her horrible life, forgetting all about the silly little peasant who saved her, and that would be the end of it.
That wasn't the end of it.
You returned from market the next morning, lumpy loaf of bread in hand, to see a letter left on your doorstep. Thick manilla envelope, sealed with red wax. It smelled like expensive perfume when you picked it up. No doubt in your mind who it was from. You left it on your table for as long as you thought you could get away with, dreading what you were going to read inside. One cup of tea (not jasmine this time) and slice of bread later and you were carefully breaking the seal, proud that your fingers only trembled a little. Large, elegant cursive spread across the page. Stronger wafts of that sweet perfume travelled up your nose and curled like smoky tendrils in your brain.
'Your presence is requested at Castle Dimitrescu at your earliest convenience.
We have much to discuss. Don't keep me waiting.
- A. Dimitrescu.'
Well, shit.