Chapter 9: The Beneviento manor
4543 Words
Chapter 9: The Beneviento manor
The following morning arrives with clear weather. A great day for traveling to wherever or doing any outdoor activities one may want. Since house Dimitrescu hasn’t got a chance to look for a new coachman as well as their new carriage haven’t even built yet, Tiana and the 3 vampire daughters will have to ride a horse to Donna’s house instead. As for Alcina, she has to remain at the castle to take care of other matters. Both internal house Dimitrescu affairs and external affairs from other lords, such as Karl’s, in particular. However. She isn’t going to start her day straight to her office without seeing the girls off. Thus, all house Dimitrescu ladies and Tiana make their way to the stable together.
“Stay close, little prey. Though it’s only a stable, ours isn’t a normal stable” Alcina pulls the botanist by her sleeve when she starts wandering around. Then changes into holding Tiana by her hand.
“What do you mean?” Tiana asks while gets a better grip on the tall lady’s palm.
“Oh. Mother simply worries for your limbs” Cassandra speaks up with a scoff.
“My…limbs?” The botanist lifts an eyebrow questioningly.
“Correct. Some of our horses can be rather aggressive and bitey toward a stranger” Daniela playfully pops out beside Tiana’s shoulder, makes the botanist flinches inevitably.
“Oh, right. You still not familiar with our world yet—Look at us, Tiana. With me and my sisters’ building at 6’4” and mother’s at 9’6”, our horses have to be…rather special”
Bela calmly explains while the group brushes past empty stalls near the entrance of house Dimitrescu’s stable. When the botanist sees one of the horses further inside, she can finally understand how special Bela’s talking about. There’re 8 horses in total, though 5 of them aren’t anything near ordinary—One has thick layers of eagle feathers instead of the usual horse mane, which also changes color according to his mood. His front hooves are replaced with eagle-like claws. Bela stops by his stall and respectfully curtsies to the stallion. Which, to Tiana’s perplexity, the stallion bows his head in return for Bela’s courtesy. The blonde then handles the stallion’s beak-equipped face gently and whispers.
“It’s been a while, Valios” Bela tabs her forehead onto Valios’s before introducing him to Tiana. “Tiana, this’s my most trust companion, Valios”
“Wow,” The botanist mumbles out in awe. “I--*Ahem* Pleasure to make you acquaintance, Valios,” Tiana says, follows Bela’s example by curtsy. Valios looks at the botanist with his yellow razor gaze, sniffs her a few times as if he’s trying to read Tiana out. Then, eventually, he bows his head to Tiana fairly.
“He likes you” The blonde flashes Tiana a small grin.
“It’s an honor then—”
“Excuse me, sister. But I must steal her away” Cassandra pulls the botanist to another stall before she can finish and says, “Meet my Lancer! – Lancer, this’s Tia. Tia, this’s Lancer”
In front of the botanist’s eyes, Cassandra turns herself into a swarm, rushes inside Lancer’s stall to play with him to her heart’s content. Meanwhile, Lancer also playfully raises his front hooves, attempting to catch the brunette who is flying around him. Lancer—Tiana doesn’t need to ask how did he get that name when this boy’s tail is as sharp and long as an actual lance. But it can bend and wriggle around, of course. He also has spikes point out threateningly from his normal horse mane. And there appear to be glowing lines all over his coal body. The botanist fixes her glance on those glowing lines with magma-colored fluid inside, quizzes herself inwardly, are those line Lancer’s…veins?
“Nice to meet you, Lancer—”
“Now let’s meet mine!”
One more time, Tiana’s taken to another stall when her word’s not entirely left her mouth. This time, Daniela takes the botanist to meet a black mare who has sharp, long canines like that of saber tooth tiger. She also has tiger-paws instead of front hooves and her eyes are similar to the cat’s pupils. When Daniela drags the botanist closer, the mare perks her ear up. She suddenly puts on slit-eyes as she smells an unfamiliar scent from Tiana and snarls out warningly. Fortunately for the botanist, Alcina comes to the rescue before Daniela can get Tiana too close to the mare.
“Be careful Daniela—I still want my plaything with every part of her body intact” Says, the vampire lady with a giggle as she’s hugging Tiana to her side.
“Hehe. Sorry, mother. I was so excited to get her to know Bina”
“I-I mean no offense, but Bina doesn’t seem excited to meet me at all” Tiana’s voice shaken lightly, addressing the redhead.
“Ooh, she only teases you. Right, Bina?” The mare gives another frightened yell at Daniela’s quiz.
The intimidation from Bina’s roar makes the botanist squeezes herself closer to the tall lady’s side. Alcina pats her head lightly to soothe her down, then she leads Tiana further inside the stable to meet the other two extraordinary horses. Alcina gently removes the botanist from her side and has Tiana wait by the fence while the tall lady approaches her own steeds.
“Tiana, say hi to Luna and Soare” The vampire lady rubs both steeds’ heads with her hands and pushes on, “Beautiful, aren’t they?”
“Mein Gotto…they’re precisely beautiful” Tiana whispers her reply out, eyes locking on Alcina’s pair of steeds.
The two steeds appear to be twin. Judging by her optic alone, Tiana estimates these two would be around 7” or 8” tall and weigh no less than 1,500 pounds. Well. They have to be this big to be able to support her ladyship, truth be told. The one with a pearl coat is Luna. The top half of her head is an actual skull without any flesh which also comes with antlers that look like white-tail deer. Underneath that skull residing Luna’s 4 bright-red eyes. And she also has soapy fluff covering all hooves. The other with a caramel coat is Soare. He shares similar features with Luna. Though his antlers are more like elk’s, and his eyes are as black as raven.
“How are these elegant beings come to be, my lady?” Tiana admires the way Alcina treats these horses with affection and respect while asking that question out.
“We have my younger siblings, Salvatore and Donna, to thank for all these” Smiles bitterly, the vampire lady carries on, “Sadly. Due to his…condition, Sal can’t be around much as he or other siblings may want him to”
“I’m not sure I follow”
“There’s still so much I haven’t told you yet, little prey. Both about the village and my family. But we can talk about that later”
“Oh. Alright,” The botanist’s face falls a bit. Which Alcina gives it a smirk.
“Don’t fret, Tia. You’ll only have to wait ‘til you came back from Donna’s tonight before I’d tell you” The tall lady retreat from her steeds to be by Tiana’s side. She brushes the botanist cheek with her thump, gazes down into Tiana’s pupils, and says, “Besides. I’m looking forward to showing you the definition of my plaything too”
The botanist’s face colors in an intense shade of red at the tickle sound of her ladyship. Tiana attempts to say something, but only the random yammers leave her mouth. Alcina’s lips curve into an elated grin before she’d give it a snicker and thinks, I wish I could have you all to myself right now. But of course, Alcina knows better than that. She’s fully aware that if she takes Tiana to her room now, none of them will be able to get anything done today. So, she will be patient and wait for the appropriate time.
At long last, the stable tour comes to an end once everyone gets their compatible companion. Bela with Valios, Cassandra with Lancer, and Daniela with Bina. As for Tiana—Out of the rest 3 normal equines, one’s hurt and still recovering from Angie’s prank. And the other two won’t be able to keep up the speed with those mutated horses. As well as Tiana can't ride any of those exceptional steeds of Alcina’s on her own either. Therefore, she’ll have to go with Bela and Valios.
“Up you go” The vampire lady heaves Tiana up to sit behind Bela and gets a surprising yelp from the botanist as her reward. Everyone titters to that softly before Alcina’d turn to addresses her daughters, “Have a safe trip, girls. Make sure to come back before it gets dark—The night’s getting colder and colder lately”
“Will do, mother” The girls answer their mother in unison then set off on the journey.
Bela suggests they should stay away from the main road since the three’s presences and their monstrous horses’ ought to stir a huge commotion within the village unavoidably and that’d prolong their trip to Donna’s. Her two sisters and Tiana also agree with this out of their own reason. For the two sisters, if they avoid the main road and travel by the tree line, they’ll get a chance to hunt something for their aunt Donna. While for Tiana, she’ll get to see the native plants in their natural habitat and to explore the landscape too.
As they’re making their journey, Tiana’s curiosity and her easy-going nature help her bond with the girls. House Dimitrescu’s daughters ask Tiana about the outside world and her countless trips as a cultural anthropologist while Tiana queries them for anything about the village in return.
“So, you’re saying some people voluntarily have their blood drawn out? As on their own free will?” Daniela asks in amazement.
“That’s how blood donation works, yes. Thanks to Dr. Drew and his research in blood transfusions back in the early of World War II, countless lives are saved by this said process” Tiana answers the brunette while taking a short note about the environment around her at the same time.
“Wow. I wish the villagers would be willing to frequently donate me some of their blood too” Cassandra ponders her own words for a brief before shrugs and pushes on, “That won’t be any fun though. No hunting for humans within our territory. No chasing them throughout the maze layout of our castle. And most unfortunately of all—No torturing which means not any screams will be heard. I guess I’d stick to our traditional method then”
The other sisters give Cassandra’s statement an endorse nod while Tiana simpers at their reactions. The botanist closes her journal and stuffs it back inside her backpack once she can think of what to ask the 3 daughters next.
“Come to think of it, how do you become, umm, you? As a vampire, I mean. If you don’t mind me asking” Tiana tries to keep her question as clear and polite as possible. She pokes from behind Bela and sends the blonde a pleading gaze for an answer.
“It’s quite a story, but nothing like those folklores you may have heard. We weren’t changed into a vampire because count Dracula bite us”
“*Giggles* Gosh. How did you human-thing get it all so wrong? Were all human this high imagination?” Daniela teases Tiana with a playful hit on the botanist’s upper arm.
“I’m afraid so” Tiana replies while maintaining a brave face. She rubs where the redhead hits her since it’s sure hurt for a teasing slap. Oww, Tiana yelps internally.
“Anyway. We came to be like this because of Mother Miranda and her Cadou. I’m not as well-informed about this, to tell you the truth. However, if you still want to know more, you can ask our mother, aunt Donna, and uncles for that. They’ve been assisted Mother Miranda with the Cadou experiment for as long as I can remember”
“By uncles, I assume you meant lord Moreau and lord Heisenberg, right?”
“Correct. And a word of advice—It’s fine if you want to ask for more info from uncle Sal, but don’t seek for uncle Karl” The brunette shoots Tiana a meaningful gaze, winks, and carries on, “He likes taking what’s mother’s as his way of teasing her. And your presence, who happens to be mother’s newest plaything, is sure going to get his gear-head working for another prank as soon as he sees you”
Tiana doesn’t sure how she should feel currently. It’s amazing how easily the 3 daughters take her in and regard Tiana as their mother’s plaything this fast. Tiana’s also surprised at how fast she, herself, lets all the supernatural things in this village sink in too—Real-life vampires. Mutated environment and the lives within. The complicated relationship among the lords. The complicated relationship between the lords and the villagers. And the spine-chilling pack of Lycan too. And at the same time, the botanist beside herself with an unknown cause anxious too. Tiana is troubled by this unsettling feeling in her gut, yet she can do nothing about it. She hopes for the best that it’ll gradually go away as the botanist learn more of the village and with enough time goes by.
Swaying her head lightly, Tiana exhales and navigates her attention back to the present. House Dimitrescu’s daughters continue questioning, punctuated with telling Tiana the story along the way. From one topic to another, they talk continuously for quite a long while before Cassandra and Daniela would spot the 1st, unlucky quarry. They ditch off their horse, both with sickles in hand, and chase the poor brown bear deeper in the forest while laughing maniacally all way long. Bela titters at her two childish sisters once she finally catches up with them and the now-dead bear under their boots.
“Hey, that’s unfair. I saw it first!”
“So what? I caught it first!”
A quarrel breaks out between Cassandra and Daniela while they’re in the middle of deciding who would get to show off this trophy. It takes a while, but they’re over it and get back on the journey soon enough.
“Aunt Donna!”
“Angie!”
As soon as the group arrives at Donna’s manor, Daniela instantly goes to Angie’s side for a hug while Cassandra does the same for her aunt. Bela helps Tiana gets down from Valios first before she’d rush to Donna as well.
“*Giggles* Hello there. I miss you too, my nieces” Donna addresses the girls with her soft, kindhearted pitch.
“Look what I got you—It’s a brown bear, aunty!” The brunette beams.
“Hey. I thought we agreed on calling it ‘teamwork’” Daniela protests while still hugging Angie in her arms.
“Oh, come on, you two—Grow up” Bela rolls her eyes wearily at the two.
When Bela, who is in her swarm state, races to Donna earlier, she sends a gust of wind from her movement and lifts Donna’s black veil slightly. It’s quick, but Tiana’s able to get a glimpse of lady Beneviento’s feature. The way she smiles and cuddles her nieces tight spreads a warm, fuzzy feeling in Tiana’s chest. Ah, it’s kind of reminds me of my mama, the botanist thinks while stands there in silence and watches the heartfelt interaction between aunt and nieces with a tender grin.
“Ah. Where’s my manner? – Please come in everyone. I’ll have some refreshments prepared for you” Donna talks with her usual tender tone, then turns to speak with Tiana specifically, “And you must be miss Engelbrecht, I suppose?”
“Yes, my lady. But please called me Tiana. Tia is fine too”
While everyone moves inside Donna’s manor, the lady of the house divides her Cadou among other dolls and separates them into 2 groups. Donna has one group of dolls take the souvenir from her nieces, the unlucky brown bear, to the basement to be skinned, cut, and trimmed properly while the other serves the guests herbal tea and choices of sweets. Though, house Dimitrescu daughters prefer the red fluid of human’s over other types of beverage, it doesn’t mean they can’t drink or enjoy normal potations now and then. The girls inhale the relaxing fragrant of Donna’s special herbal tea and take a small sip, fully savor their cup of tea.
“Hmmm—Your secret-brew tea keeps getting better and better every time we drink it, aunty” Daniela closes her eyes happily while compliments the tea.
“I’m glad you like it. Please take a box of dried leaves back to your mother too” Donna blushes noticeably. Her veil was pulled back halfway on the side of her face she’s comfortable with, so she can enjoy her tea time with her guests.
“Oh, mother will be over to the moon. Thank you, aunty” Bela says with a grateful smile.
The whole time while the others exchange pleasantry over their tea and sweets, Angie either be by Daniela’s side or hides behind lady Beneviento. As if she tries to avoid direct interaction with the botanist. However. Once the courtesy part as a host is done, Donna positions her hand on Angie’s back and says.
“Come on, Angie. You know what to do”
“But it doesn’t mean I want to” A high-pitch and raucous tone of the 9 years old child grumbles, gains a teasing and knowing glance from house Dimitrescu daughters.
“Angie. We talked about this”
“Do I really have to?” The porcelain doll mopes.
“You know what you did to the guest here, thus you need to take responsibility for it” The lady in black nudges her porcelain doll forward, giving her moral support through a gentle back rub.
“Hmph! Fiiiine—Miss Englebrecht. I’m sorry for yesterday. I didn’t mean to hurt you and startle you off like that. Since mommy hadn’t got a chance to tell me we’re expecting a guest before she’d drifted into her blank state, I thought you’re here with poor intention like that mean mister, Ethan. And…and please forgive me” The porcelain tangles her hand together, avoids any eye contact with Tiana while apologizing.
“Oh,” The botanist exclaims softly as she doesn’t expect this. She searches inside her head for the right word and replies, “Well, actually, I’m not angry with you and I’m not badly hurt either. Besides, it’s also my fault for made you felt threaten that you need to do something to protect yourself—So, It’s alright.”
“Huh?” Angie turns back to face the botanist, “You’re willing to forgive me that easy?”
“We’re both at fault, so I say we’re even” Tiana shrugs, flashing Angie a weak smile, “Though I’d appreciate it if you’d ask first before attacking me head-on the next time around”
“See? It wasn’t so bad, was it, Angie?” Donna pats the porcelain doll’s head as the doll ducks her face down sheepishly. “Thank you for your understanding, Tiana. I hope this will be considered as our fresh start. Be in each other’s good term from now on”
“Likewise,”
“Oh, that reminds me—Here’s a new flora for you as a replacement for the other one you dropped here. I suppose sister already told you to keep it on yourself at all times?” Donna places Angie down on the cushioned seat beside her and walks to the botanist to slip the new stem of Gentiana frigida down Tiana’s shirt pocket.
“Yes, she did. Something about dealing with the locals easier of sorts” Tiana touches its petal gently. “Thank you, my lady”
“Oh, please. You can call me Donna. We’re going to spend a lot of time, doing research together in the future. There’s no need for honorific between us”
The botanist flashed the lady in black her most grateful and genuine smile to the kind speech. Tiana tilts her head to the side, chewing over one query before gives it a try.
“Did you still have it? The other flora I dropped here”
“I do, in fact. But it’s stumped on during the chaos” Donna uplifts her eyebrow doubtingly, “Why?”
“M-may I have it back?” the botanist fixes her eyes on her lap as house Dimitrescu daughters tease her mercilessly with a random-knowing sound. “I-it’s the first gift I have ever got since coming to your village—”
“Oh. Just admit it already. You want to have it back because mother gifted you that, don’t you?” Cassandra jumps out from her seat to squeeze by Tiana’s left side while Daniela does the same on the right.
“Come on. Admit it” The redhead adds.
“Did I miss something here, Bela?” Still a little daze, Donna queries the blonde for more detail. Bela snickers with a response.
“Your research partner, miss Englebrecht here, is mother’s new plaything. And she also happens to have a huge crush on—”
“Alright! Alright! I admit! –Please give me back the flora before I’d jump down the waterfall in overbearing embarrassment. I beg you, Donna” The botanist dashes to cover Bela’s mouth before she’d finish the sentence.
Even though Donna wants to join in with the girls and tease the poor botanist some more, she’ll have to stop right here and wait for another chance. After all, Donna can’t risk Tiana jumping down the cliff like she claims, can she? Thus, the lady in black only allows some laughter out and gives what Tiana wants.
“Here you are”
“Can you please pretend this never happen?” Tiana swiftly puts the flora in between her journal, intends to make a bookmark out of it later. She then keeps it safe inside her backpack, away from house Dimitrescu girls’ reach while the girls let out some disappointing noises.
“No promise, but I’ll try” Donna tries to keep her smile from creeping on her face, but fails.
“Ooh, we won’t promise you though” Daniela pauses for a second before banters the botanist further, “We’ll make sure to tell mother all about this, right Cass?”
“Of course,” The brunette then asks her other sister, “Are you down with us, Bel?”
“It does sound like fun” Answers, the blonde.
“Please not you too, Bela” Tiana begs Bela with everything she’s got.
“Yep. I’m in” At the end of the blonde’s response, Tiana groans out in shyness and wishes she could just disappear right now on the spot.
“Alright, girls. You can leave to your castle first if that’s what you want. I’ll accompany Tiana back later once we finish” Donna speaks to the girls.
“Or you can just ring mother to come and pick her plaything up herself. I’m sure mother wouldn’t mind” The high joking energy in Daniela’s voice forces another mewl out of Tiana, naturally. Which the botanist pleads, “I’m begging you—Show mercy please”
“We’re just getting started, Tia” Cassandra wraps the botanist from behind, rests her chin on Tiana’s head then says, “We’ll stick around. Couldn’t pass a chance to bond with you like Dani told mother”
“If you’ll stay for that reason, then I wouldn’t mind. But let Tiana be, my dear. We can conduct our research if you all are going to continue teasing her like this”
“We’ll behave. Don’t worry, aunty” Bela assures Donna even when she’s having a wicked smile on her face.
“Well then. Excuse us, everyone—You can play with Angie while we work. Just make sure not to stir too much noise, okay?”
The girls only reply to their aunt with chuckles as Donna lends the botanist a hand and kindly request her nieces to let Tiana be. The 3 girls play hard to get it, but later give in and let the two proceed with their research discussion at last.
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To Be Continued >>
- Writer
