Chapter Text
You panted as you ran blindly, fleeing into the darkness. That horrible creature was chasing you and didn't seem to get tired. Would it be the day of your death? Probably it would.
Your life fell apart too quickly. A breakup, a loss, a deception... The feeling of having nothing, of being alone and desperate, threw you to make the biggest mistake of your life.
A change of scenery, that's what your move to Eastern Europe was going to be, a new opportunity to rebuild your life from scratch. You had nothing, you left nothing behind. Your heart was broken and your wallet was practically empty. What did you intend to do in Romania? You didn’t know.
One night, when you were resting at one of the motels you visited, you watched a documentary that extolled the virtues of the country, its beautiful landscapes, the majesty of its castles, the snow that covered the fields in winter. That was just enough for you to spend your savings on that little adventure, an adventure to move to a new country, to meet new people, with a brand new life waiting for you. There was only pain on your old home, just sad memories.
How delusional you were to stop at that place, to think that you were too tired to continue driving.
It was a small, seemingly quiet village. The castle that stood imposingly on a hillside told you that it would be an ideal place to spend the night. You were very wrong.
As you searched for an inn or some bucolic place to rest, a growl in the darkness startled you.
It wasn't a man, it wasn't a wolf. It was a monster, a bloodthirsty monster, thirsty for your blood. Despite how incredibly irrational your situation seemed, you didn't want to wait to find out the trick, the tasteless joke the locals were playing on you. That drooling beast was chasing you relentlessly. It couldn't be a joke, or a disguise. You didn't want to stop to find out either. You limited yourself to run away, to escape.
A terrible scratch ran down your leg as you passed through what looked like an orchard. You didn't know what you had hurt yourself with, but that couldn't stop you. You refused to let your life to end that way, even though a part of you wanted to trip and be devoured by that monster. Your life had gone to hell. You didn't understand why you wanted to continue fighting.
An old church was proposed as the best possible refuge for you. The door was open and that relieved you, entering the building and blocking the door with one of the wooden benches.
“Fuck... Fuck...” You gasped, moving away from the small barricade, which shook with the attacks of that monster.
Sooner than you thought, the knocking stopped causing an eerie calm to reign over the place.
You took out your phone to call for help. It was useless. There was no signal.
You ran your hands over your head, crouching on the ground, growling in rage and pain from the scratch on your leg.
“What was that thing?” You asked yourself, scanning the small chapel with your eyes.
Mysteriously, the walls had no crucifixes or any symbols that you would recognize as religious. In the background, there was a strange altar decorated with some disturbing photographs.
A woman with a serious, pale look, but partly beautiful, a deformed creature, a woman with a black veil covering her face, accompanied by what looked like a doll, and a seemingly normal man. The image of a creature with a female figure and black wings stood in the middle of the altar, as if it was simulating a kind of nocturnal bird, dressed in the clothes of a priest.
“Who are these people?” You muttered, exchanging panic for curiosity. Below the winged woman, there was an inscription.
“In life and in death we give glory, Mother Miranda,” you read. “Mother Miranda? Oh, God, but where the hell I got into?”
You had read about cult and satanic groups, but none of them matched what you saw. No matter how dangerous cults were, you didn't know any of them with deformed monsters and bloodthirsty werewolves. It was not just a strange cult. There was something else in that place, something you had stumbled upon by accident, and that you weren't sure you could escape.
Before you could relax and cool your mind to think a way to get out of there, the blows returned, this time stronger, as if that monster was not alone. You couldn't stay there forever. You needed to run away again.
Fortunately, on the other side of the chapel there was another door. You felt a chill at having overlooked that. They could have caught you coming by there. Miraculously, they didn't and that gave you a new chance to live.
The claws of those creatures passed through the wood without problems. There was no time for more questions or for more rest. You had to run for your life again.
You left the chapel through the other door, finding yourself in a kind of gloomy square, where small tombstones rested dimly, lit with candles and a tinkling street lamp. The roars told you that they were too close. You looked around, desperate. A huge door, which seemed ajar, was your best option. It looked like it was the entrance to the castle grounds.
You ran with all your strength, pushing the door until it was completely closed. You walked up the hill, starting to limp as your wound cooled enough. You could barely make out the surrounding landscape, but you could glimpse another door that led to a drawbridge. It was your only chance to save yourself. Maybe there was someone in that castle who could help you, although your intuition disagreed.
You arrived to a brick room, full of barrels containing food, fruit, meat... Someone definitely lived in that place. The question was whether that one was friendly. Probably it wasn’t. The roaring stopped. Mysteriously, the creatures that were chasing you didn’t cross the bridge. They could have done it, but they didn't. You felt both relief and terror. Whatever was in there could scare even those monsters.
“Are you lost?”
A mocking male voice bounced off the walls, scaring you. You almost lost your balance.
A man, holding a metal hammer emerged from a dark corner. That hammer looked very heavy, and dangerous.
“Oh, thank God,” you said without looking closely at that man. “Please, you have to help me, there are some monsters out there that…” you stopped talking when you recognized that hat, those glasses and that look.
He was in one of the portraits that were in that chapel. You backed away, suddenly feeling cornered.
“Well, well... But what do we have here...” That man muttered, with a sinister smile, dangerously swinging his hammer.
“Who are you?” You asked with a trembling voice, looking for somewhere to escape. There wasn't, you were trapped.
“Who am I?” He asked stopping, frowning, as if you had asked something stupid. “Oh... You're not a villager...”
“No, I’m not,” you sighed, hitting your back against the wall, under the mocking and discreet laughter of that man.
“Now I understand why the lycans were so nervous,” he murmured without stopping smiling.
Lycans? Was he referring to those monsters?
“I just, I just want to get out of here,” you said, trying to reason with that man, who was making fun of you, who was looking at you as if you were his prey, exactly like those werewolves did.
“Oh! Why? It had been a long time since we had any visitors,” he asked amused, enjoying the terror that ran through your body. “Coincidentally we were in the middle of a family meeting. I'm sure everyone would love to meet you.”
“I... I, thank you but...” You said breathily, making a vague effort to appear calm.
“I must insist,” he said with a harsher tone. “I'm sure everyone is happy to meet a stranger who was trying to dig into our business...”
“I didn't mean to dig into anything... Those monsters were chasing me and...”
“Please! Don't give explanations to me... Give them to Miranda,” the man said, lowering his tone in a disturbing way.
“I don't...” You whispered before turning around and running away, passing by that mysterious man. “No!”
A strange sound stopped you. It seemed as if the metal objects in the room were floating in the air, around that man who was still laughing contentedly.
Before you could react, chains jumped forcefully towards you, wrapping your body abruptly, making you fall to the ground. And you thought that those creatures were scary...
“No! Help me!” You screamed scared, trying to untie yourself, which was impossible.
“Come on, come on, relax... Let's go to meet the rest of the family,” he said, grabbing the end of the chains, dragging you across the ground.
You stopped resisting when you knew there was no way out. You couldn't get out of his grip. You were dragged like a sack of straw, going through what seemed like caves, stairs, doors... There was nothing that looked familiar. You didn't know where you were going, or who you would face.
You entered a room, similar to a cathedral, with high ceilings and candles illuminating the place. A murmur was distinguishable in the darkness. You were not alone.
“Mother Miranda! Here's the problem! It seems the lycans couldn't catch this stranger,” the man said, letting your chains fall to the ground.
In front of you, a disturbing vision.
All those people in the portraits sitting, staring at you, curiously, with a gleam in their eyes that made you truly fear for your life.
That beautiful woman, who turned out to be enormous, unfathomable, that slimy, deformed monster, the woman with the veil holding that sinister doll... In the middle of the room, presiding like some kind of goddess, that feathered figure, dressed in black and gold. She was Mother Miranda, without a doubt.
With a movement of the priestess's hands, your chains dragged you closer to her, causing you to inadvertently kneel at her mercy.
Everything was so surreal that you didn't even stop to think about the creatures around you. You simply kept calm with the little strength you had, suppressing the burning of the wound on your leg.
“Are you the one causing so much fuss?” The woman asked, tilting her head slightly, looking at you with pride and superiority.
“I was just... I was trying to escape,” you whispered, struggling to make your voice sound the way it should, scared, terrified.
“Why have you come here?”
Her questions were soft, with a more or less calm tone. But you weren't calm at all.
“I didn't want to come here... I was just looking for a place to sleep and…” You said in an almost imperceptible whisper, a whisper that only that kind of witch could hear. A much louder and more chaotic murmur began to catch your attention.
“And I’m telling you, I saw her first...” That man said, apparently arguing with that huge woman. A heated and tense argument, drowned out by the giggles of that horrible doll.
“You always want everything for yourself. Right, you magnetized man thing?” The enormous woman responded with deep contempt. Miranda was silent, watching that fight.
Something next to you took you away from that woman's gaze. The doll, that creepy doll jumped out of the woman in black's lap, approaching you cautiously. You gasped and opened your eyes. There were no threads, there were no mechanisms. It moved by itself. How far could an experienced ventriloquist go? No, she couldn't do that. She couldn't make the doll walk on its own.
“Ah... What the…?” You gasped, stepping back as that macabre puppet approached.
“Hello, hello stranger,” she hummed, watching you nervously, with a childish voice that you thought was impossible for the woman in the veil, who, by the way, seemed not to look away from you. “Look at her, Donna. She’s beautiful, very beautiful, isn't she?”
The lady looked away from you, as if she had been embarrassed by the doll's words, gesturing for her to return to her lap.
“You are unbearable, selfish!” The large woman screeched, catching your attention again.
“Am I the selfish one? You have hundreds of helpless young girls in your castle, why do you want this one? Forget about her, she’s mine.”
“What do you want from her? Don't you have enough metal spawns? What a waste for such a promising young woman…”
“A waste, you say? All your maids are disposable, Dimitrescu.”
You swallowed, knowing perfectly well that they were fighting over you, to kill you or so you thought. You could tremble with fear and be terribly scared, but apathy and fatigue took their toll on your way of look at things. You came from your country with a heavy depression. The end of your life had happened a few months ago, not at that moment.
You had no one. No one was waiting for you on the other side of the ocean. You went to Romania to get away from your demons, just to find yourself face to face with hell itself. You had fought to escape from that beast, but this was different, something that seemed unreal, absurd, like a trial for crimes you had not committed.
That Mother Miranda, visibly tired of the attitude of those who seemed to be her servants, looked at you with curiosity, noticing your barely expressionless face, just surprised for the scare that living doll gave you.
“Aren't you scared by the way my children talk about you, stranger?” She asked you in a low, confident voice. You shook your head, having already given up, having stopped wanting to fight.
Children?
“I have nowhere to go and nowhere to come back,” you said with a serious tone, avoiding looking into those bright eyes. “I don't care about what they do to me.”
Miranda laughed softly at your words and looked away from you.
“Oh really? Now that's curious,” she whispered with a disturbing, almost pleased voice. “Tell me, what’s your name?”
“Does that matter?” You asked, noticing how your throat began to sting.
“Not really, but I would like to know,” she said passively, amidst a sea of laughter and too-volume squeals.
“Eveline,” you whispered in a clear enough voice.
The witch's head turned towards you immediately, causing you to jump. Her pale, cold hands, covered in golden nails, grabbed your chin tightly, lifting you off the ground and fixing her eyes on yours with a terrifying shine.
“Did you say Eveline?” She asked, intensifying her grip on you.
You hissed in pain, but managed to nod slowly. It was impossible for that woman to know you at all, but her nervousness increased considerably upon hearing your name.
“Well, well... Maybe it's a sign,” she murmured before releasing your chin and descending the two steps that kept her above the other monsters.
“Silence!” The priestess shouted, spreading an elegant set of black wings, causing the discussion, laughter and babbling to end abruptly, leaving only a brief laugh coming from the doll. “I don't want to hear another word without permission, is that clear?”
“Yes, Mother,” those people murmured at the same time, bowing their heads. They were terrifying creatures, surely as deadly as the beasts chasing you or even more so. Despite this, they seemed to fear Miranda, truly fear her. She was the most dangerous person in the place, that's for sure.
“Good. It is true that I have always let you play with all the unfortunate people who have had the bad luck to get involved in our business,” the woman said, with a calmer tone, but just as severe.
“Yes, play, play, we like to play!” The doll repeated happily, quickly silenced by the woman in black, who seemed to want to cradle her.
“Yes...” Miranda sighed, turning her head towards the doll, indicating that it was better for her to shut up. “But this time, just for a change, we're going to let the girl decide her fate.”
“What?” They all asked at the same time, surprised.
“This stranger poses no threat to us. Besides, I think she can even be useful in some way.”
“What way?” The man asked, crossing his arms.
“I don't know yet, but I have a hunch,” Mother Miranda said, making that man nod suspiciously. “Well, stranger, it's your turn.”
“My turn?” You asked, feeling dryness in your mouth due to tiredness, uncomfortable with so many eyes on you at the same time.
“Uh-huh,” the witch agreed, helping you up. “I'm going to give you two options, Eveline,” she said, emphasizing your name with a dark tone, resting her hands on your shoulders. “If you care so little about your life, I can make any of my children to end it immediately.”
You looked at them one by one. Their looks were anxious, disturbingly amused. You gulped again, beginning to shake unconsciously. Yes, you had nothing to live for, but you also didn't have a crazy desire to lose your life. It was more complicated, and you didn't want to give them the pleasure of suffering under their clutches.
“What’s the other option?” You asked quietly, finding a strange confidence in that fearsome and visibly dangerous woman.
“Serve us, Eveline, stay with us. My kids always need some help. Stay here, and I guarantee you they won't hurt you. Well, at least not too much.”
“I, I don't know how I could help,” you said, finding that option stranger and scarier than the previous one.
“Oh, don't be modest, there is always something to do in this village,” she whispered with a mocking, sarcastic laugh. You nodded a bit confused. Serve or die. What a new life.
“Okay, I will do it,” you said, still not sure, but knowing that at least you could live one more day, although you didn't know under what conditions.
“That's what I wanted to hear, little bird...” She said satisfied, walking forward again.
“I’ve made a decision! The stranger will preserve her miserable life by serving us,” she announced, generating a new murmur in that mysterious room. “Now then… It's time to decide which of you, my dear children… She will stay with.”
“The stranger must stay in my castle, Mother Miranda. I can never have enough maids,” the huge woman, Lady Dimitrescu, said hastily. A shiver ran down your spine as you saw that woman slowly approaching, looking at every corner of your body.
“Oh, of course... Of course, why am I not surprised?” That man with the hammer said, standing up to face the enormous woman, who looked at him disgusted. “Stop the nonsense, Alcina, the girl is coming with me. A lot of work is needed at the factory.”
“Silence, you metallic monster. You wouldn't know how to take advantage of a beauty like that...” She whispered sensually, raising her eyebrows dangerously at you.
“Shut up, you perverted giant... Not all the girls in the world belong to you,” he replied, seeming like there would be a fierce battle at any moment.
“Mother Miranda... Give the girl to me... I have always, always wanted a mermaid...” That deformed creature said, childishly pulling at the priestess's clothes.
“Stop it!” She screamed again, enraged. “Speak one by one. Give me a reason why I should give her to you and it is appropriate to remind you that I want the stranger alive, at least for a while.”
You shifted in place, with those terrible eyes fixed on you, imagining a thousand ways to torture you. If you could choose, you would prefer to stay with Miranda, who apparently had taken a certain liking on you. Maybe it was just pity.
“Heisenberg,” the witch spoke, pointing to the man with the hammer.
“Mother Miranda, if you give the girl to me, I promise you faster and more efficient results in my experiments,” he said with a satisfied voice.
“Right, Alcina,” Miranda said, now pointing at the large woman.
“Give the stranger to me, Mother Miranda, and I guarantee that the birdie will stay alive in my castle. My daughters are very lonely lately.”
“Bah,” Heisenberg responded, sitting down again, shaking his head.
“Salvatore,” the witch mentioned, pointing at the trembling creature. “And please…I don’t want to hear anything about the mermaid.”
“Mother... It's been a long time since any girl has come to my swamp... It would make me so happy.”
You recoiled involuntarily at those words.
“Okay, okay... If no one has anything else to say...” Miranda whispered in a tired voice, meditating around you like a scavenger bird.
“We have, Mother Miranda!” The doll screeched, raising her hand like a child at school. The witch turned sharply, slowly approaching the woman in black.
“You?” She asked with a certain mocking tone. “Angie, you can't decide that.”
“No, it’s not me, Mother! It's Donna! Donna wants the stranger!”
The gaze of that mourning woman pierced you again. You couldn't see her face, but you felt her eyes on yours somehow. You looked at her curiously. She hadn't opened her mouth during the entire meeting, but that didn't mean she wasn't just as dangerous as her siblings.
“Donna,” Miranda murmured, approaching the woman. “Is that true or is Angie talking too much again?”
A murmur came from that black veil; it was too low for you to hear, but loud enough for that witch to do it.
“Are you? What a surprise, you haven't had a maid in your house for years, why this sudden change of mind?” Miranda asked, ignoring the accusatory words of the other monsters, mocking each other in a low voice, like children fighting, trying not to get noticed by their mother.
The lady in black leaned towards her again, whispering new words. Miranda pulled away and looked at you briefly.
“A maid, a maid just for us!” That doll squealed, whose name was apparently Angie.
“Okay, fine...” Miranda said with a breathy laugh, walking past you with bright eyes. “Listen to me!” She shouted, drawing the attention of the rest. “I know where she’s going to be.”
The expectation was visible on their face. You were shaking due to the cold and to the fear of what your fate would be. You had agreed to serve them willingly, but something told you that you weren't exactly going to have a good time with any of them.
“The girl will serve House Beneviento,” she said, spreading her wings again, as if sealing her words with a sacred halo.
“What?!” They asked in unison, getting up from their seats.
“It’s my decision. There is nothing else to say,” Miranda reaffirmed, putting her hands on your shoulders again. You were not attentive to her servants. Well, you were to one of them, to that mysterious woman who seemed to never take her eyes off you, just like her doll, who stood in front of you dancing happily.
“Mother Miranda, I must protest,” said that Alcina, getting a little closer to you. “That’s not fair.”
“Why do you say so, Alcina? If I remember correctly, I sent you three villagers last week,” Miranda said in a passive voice, pressing her claws into your skin, making you stir.
“I agree with the supersize bitch, without it serving as a precedent,” Heisenberg said. “The doll psychopath doesn't need a maid.”
“Silence, you losers! You’re envious!” Angie squealed, clinging to one of your legs by surprise, with that almost maddening childish tone.
“Donna, dear... I know how much you like to be alone...” Dimitrescu whispered, approaching the woman in black, who tilted her head up, shaking it softly. “Don't be so stupid. Give the stranger to me.”
“No, no, no! She's ours, ours!” Angie screamed, clinging tightly to your leg. You had to make a superhuman effort not to try to shake off that sinister puppet.
“As you wish...” The big lady whispered, glancing askance at the chatty doll.
“Damn... I can't believe it,” Heisenberg protested, avoiding the mockery of that doll which seemed too enthusiastic about the idea.
“Well, you can go now. You all have work, go away!” Miranda shouted, making impatient gestures for her children to leave the place between protests and grunts. “Donna, dear, you can go. Your new acquisition needs… Some tuning. I will send the girl to you as soon as she’s presentable.”
The woman in black nodded, instructing the doll to take her hand, slowly leaving the place, but not before giving you one last mysterious look.
You sighed a little nervously, with that witch's hands still on your shoulders.
“Well, Eveline. It could be said that you were lucky,” she whispered, laughing lightly, reassuring you with the tone of her voice.
“Lucky?” You asked, blinking rapidly to make sure that this wasn't a dream, or a nightmare.
As much as it was hard for you to admit, you had just sold your soul to those people, to that village. Your other option was death, a terrible one, for sure. That was the last thing you expected when traveling to that country. Deep down you were not so scared, but you were intrigued, very intrigued.
“Donna Beneviento is not exactly known for being especially violent. I think you can be comfortable with her as long as you behave properly.”
“Yeah, I guess...” You huffed, following the witch's directions to an adjoining room, to what looked like some kind of laboratory.
“Mother Miranda,” she said in a dry tone, pointing to a stretcher that clearly matched the rest of the furniture.
“What?”
“You will call me Mother Miranda. Your loyalty may now be to House Beneviento, but don't forget who you're talking to. They are my children, my servants. I’m above them, you understand? I don't tolerate disrespect.”
“Okay,” you stammered, hissing as the woman's hand went to your wound, squeezing it to hurt you. It would be better not to ignore her.
“Okay?”
“Okay, Mother Miranda, I'm sorry,” you apologized, bowing your head as she smiled satisfied, cutting the leg of your pants with scissors.
“Okay, little bird. I'll turn a blind eye because it's your first day. Now be still. You don't want to show up to your lady looking like this...”
“No, Mother Miranda,” you said, starting to shake as she acted on your wound. You had definitely sold your soul, and something told you that it was to the devil himself.
“That's it... Good girl... You’re so beautiful... I'm starting to understand why Donna is so interested in you, mm?” She said with a false tenderness that caused a knot in your stomach. “Now, Eveline, you no longer have to look for a home, you already have it… You are at home now…”