Chapter Three:
Beautiful sunkissed fingers stroked my short hair behind my pointed ear. I had never seen this woman before but love for her was imbedded into my soul.
My inhabitant's care for her ran deep.
No more than a child, I realized as I wiggled my toes causing the covers to rustle not too far from my face.
She begins humming a soft tune in a language I had never heard. She leans down and her warm soft lips push firmly against my forehead.
Just as she pulls away something wet and sticky slid down my face, narrowly missing my eyes. It pooled around my mouth, the metallic taste exploding against my tastebuds.
My fingers lazily touched the thick liquid only to realize that were covered in blood.
Slowly, so antagonizing slowly I glance up to come face to face with the most terrific beast I had ever seen, its red hot gaze set upon me with the dead woman now sliding down his massive body, her eyes lifeless and her throat gapping opening silencing the lullaby.
Despair tore through every vein in my little body, a roar tore from my throat and I was aiming my hatred right toward his face. My hands were outstretched in front of me, blue light zapping from my tiny palms. The magic did little to stop the deformed beast from tracking towards me with the same claw that slit the lovely woman's throat.
The Werewolf's shoulders were built for moving mountains, hair sprouting from nearly every inch of his grey-colored skin. Sharp teeth sneered at me as he pinned me down onto my blood-stained bed.
Little I could do, his gigantic form overpowering my small body.
His razor sharp claw came into contact with my forehead and slowly slid down the trail the blood had made.
-.-.-.-
Five days had passed since Queen Juva had nearly rid me of all of my blood supply. The sensation of her sucking me dry never quite left my memory. After I fainted in her quarter's Servants escorted me to one of the few Mortal hospitals.
It was much more modern compared to the castle, the small room made of brick that was slathered with naturally colored paint. Twenty or so occupied beds shoved so close together I could hear my neighbor's heartbeat. There wasn't much complaining to be spouted from me since they had gifted me a blanket which was more than I had had in the cell.
I was nourished back to health for two days and two nights, not only letting my blood supply build back up but also gaining a smidge of body weight back. My shoulders not as protruding as they had been and my stomach was certainly fuller. A letter came with the details of my probationary job, stating that they would be taking a third of my earnings for six months. Working during the day and having nightmares at night left me feeling weak and drained.
The boy in the vision, that I had every time I closed my eye, remained nameless which had never happened in all of my life. Every death I had ever witnessed through Miladies magic had a name, it was a mystery to me what was different about him.
"... Commander Haldis won another great battle last century, he seems to be facing another upcoming war soon."
My fingers typed away on the typewriter not having to put in very much thought as I blindly copied everything the rigid professor rambled on about. His voice was so gritty and deep that it tempted to whisk me away into a deep slumber my body desperately needed. The ink stamped onto the paper repeatedly caused a continuous clicking, adding to the fuel of my dozing.
"That's all for today." He was staring at me with irritated eyes, how dare his servant doze off while he rambled on about his nonsense.
He stood, for a Fae, he would be considered short but he still towered over my mortal height reminding me just how inferior I was to their kind.
The physical differences between the Fae Privileged and Mortal Servants never ceased to amaze me. The shortest of their kind still towered over us by at least a half foot, their hair like silk flowed straight as a board where as most Mortal hair tended to have volume to it. Mine more so than others. The curly black locks were finally free from their tangles. Fae eyes held decades of knowledge and wisdom, Mortals just showed suffering and struggle.
"Get some sleep, if you persist to come to work dazed then I'll have the WarLord place you somewhere else, child. Doing something far worse than typing." He sent one last sneering look towards me, letting the disgust shine through those dead eyes. This place was slowly draining me of my once kinder joyful spirit or perhaps it was the queen that sucked all of that out of me.
Closing my eyes, I rid my mind of all of the negativity that stormed behind my lids. Although this dark and demanding office was like a second prison, I knew what the actual prison felt like. Knew what hunger grudgingly gnawing at my stomach embodied.
I tidied up my work area and bonded the document papers for today, labeling them with the date.
Despite the beauty of Professor Pines's house, I breezed past it with boredom. The till green walls are nothing more than my new form of torture. His yard was polished to perfection, not a weed or flower out of place. It was fitting for the heavily cleansed man that it belonged to.
My aching feet followed the stone walkway past the streets I was becoming familiar with again. My sister had found a man to marry while I had been away, selling the family home to pay her dowery. Although I was happy for her because if anyone deserved a happy ending it was Ivy, with her innocent doe eyes and naive way of thinking, this left me with nowhere to go.
The sky was growing darker and darker, the strikes of colors being replaced with empty black, as I trudged onward towards the brothel. Although the company was little to settle my nerves it was the only available room for rent in all of Ouiswell, most guessing that the rent had to be paid with services, but I had promised to pay three silvers a week instead.
Although Mistress Kiara seemed skeptical of the bargain she had excepted, the price was too good to turn down. All of the women there fuss over me and treated me as if I was their daughter being as most of them were ten or so years older than me.
The main objection I had to stay there was the amount of perfume they coated themselves in. They used such a generous amount that it had started to leak into my room and cover my belongings with its pungent rose stench.
Surely the people that smelled me on the streets thought of me as a harlot, not that I too much cared for what they thought.
The small two-story house came into view a few yards away. The outside was grey stone blending into the pathway nicely, the chimney adorning the roof already bellowing smoke keeping us warm for the night.
Their voices could be heard from where I was standing now, men and women chattering inside along with the occasional moaning of Vally, she was the only one of the girls that weren't courteous of her company, not caring if the whole city heard her as long as her conquest tipped well.
Her moans grew louder and more forced causing me to roll my eyes as I made my way into the overly crowded house, slipping past the working woman making my way to my attic room.
I nearly gagged at the obnoxious stench that invaded my nostriled and coaxed my skin like a layer of oil.
Not any of the seven women stopped me on my way all of them were occupied, which was a silent reprieve for tonight. I needed to at least attempt to get some sleep if I wanted to avoid being transferred to a more hideous job, probably along the lines of mopping up throw-up in their bars.
Once inside the sanctuary of my tiny dust-filled room, I threw myself onto my lumpy mattress and heaved out a large breath into my pillow.
The house groaned and creaked as it housed one too many people, the moans had quietened finally for the first time in nearly a week I was lured into a peaceful uninterrupted sleep.