Almost an hour had passed since the looking-glass played Sylvia's execution. Lucia's lone figure hadn't moved from her spot on the couch. She gazed endlessly at the mirrored glass that now reflected her image.
Sabina had seen how broken the young girl was and decided to leave the child to her own devices. After all, Sabina was sympathetic to the girl who lost her mother-figure, she wouldn't force her to work right away.
In Lucia's mind, thoughts raced with repetion of death—Sylvia's death. Imagery of her nanny's twisted features as she fell to her knees and into her own blood carved itself into her mind; the King's bored look as he watched one of his servants die at the hands of one of his own personal knights.
"If anyone had to die, it should have been the King," Lucia thought while seething with rage.
The former princess had seen death before. She'd seen gore and gruesome deaths, even wicked plans of torture while growing up as a Valtori. It was to be expected when your household emblem was that of a snake and daggers; to be expected when your household was the proud royal family of the kingdom Varis. Yet, Sylvia's death seemed the most horrifying of them all.
"I hate him. I hate him. I hate him." Lucia's head continued to buzz with hatred and anger as her own words startd to mix with her beloved nanny's death in her thoughts.
But what could she even do? Lucia, only a child, had long since come to terms with the fact that she was weak, but then Sabina revealed she had power. Unbelievable power according to Sabina; she was a vampire. Unexplored, but when practiced, there's a possibility she could have the power to take down her wretched father.
Lucia darted up from her seat and onto her own two feet. Sabina who had been occasionally looking up from her spot at the kitchen counter was quite stunned when the hour-long-statue started moving again, but pretended she didn't notice.
Lucia had a goal. A reason to keep fighting. King Killian along with the rest of her monsterous family had a storm coming their way in the future. For now, Lucia would have to work her way out of her debt and find out more about her powers.
Turning around to find Sabina, Lucia asked with a hoarse voice, "Is there any work I can do today?"
Sabina, pretending she hadn't even noticed Lucia's sudden motivation, or the fact that her eyes were puffy, nodded. "I had Spells write down your chores beneath your sum on the chalkboard over there." She pointed to a black board that hung up on the wall just underneath one of the kitchen cupboards and above Sabina's counters.
The newly contracted slave moved towards the board of chores where Spells suddenly jumped onto the countertop, puffing out his chest. "Isn't my writing pretty?" Spells asked, pride filling his child-like voice.
"Y-yeah, absolutely," Lucia responded. Lucia was just impressed Spells could even write. Did he do it with his paws or maybe his mouth. . .? Looking at the board, three chores were displayed beneath a large number of two-thousand gold. Sweeping the kitchen, tidying the library, and watering the plants.
'Not so bad!' Lucia thought. It was the big number that made her nervous, but the chores seemed fine.
"Where are your plants?" Lucia asked Sabina.
"Spells show her to the green house," Sabina didn't even bother looking towards either Lucia or Spells and merely pushed the work for Spells to do.
"Aw fine ~ Right away master! Let's get going little fangs," Spells reluctantly answered but chuckled as he gave the former princess a new nickname. He leaped off the counter and onto the wooden floor bounding down the hallway.
Lucia wasn't too happy about the new nickname she'd been given by a cat. Between 'child', 'little monster', and now "little fangs', she wondered if they'd ever use her name. Though with Spells' new nickname she came to check if her fangs were out, and they indeed were when she flicked her tongue across her teeth. How embarrassing!
As she sauntered after the cat down the hallway and now up some narrow stairs, Lucia was able to retract her fangs having to imagine just her normal teeth.
Spells stopped at a small wooden door at the top of the stairs and snickered at the child, "Looks like you learned to put the pointys away! Too bad I already like the nickname I gave you ~"
Lucia pouted at the cat, "You're too cruel."
"I never imagined I'd get to be called cruel by a vampire! This is just too fun! I'm going to enjoy playing with you Little Fangs ~," Spells snickered again from his position on the wooden floor. "Anyway, the green house is just through here, come find me when you're finished."
Lucia nodded and Spells ran back down the stairs pleased with himself leaving Lucia infront of a door. If she was quite honest with herself, Lucia was looking forward to taking on her new tasks to distract herself from thinking about Sylvia. Even just trying to ask Sabina about her chores earlier, while she made up her mind on a goal, Sylvia's death kept popping up in her thoughts.
Lucia shook her head as if to shake the thoughts away and opened the door prepared to water some nice plants. The newly contracted slave's eyes widened in amazement as well as horror.
So many plants! The room was twice the size of the kitchen which while cozy, was still big, so this room seemed too big for such a house! The roof was all glass letting in the natural light from the sun onto the plants which seemed to cover every surface; the wooden floors, the three tables, shelves. . . And Lucia thought it would be easy.
Spotting the watering-hose that was on a small work bench, Lucia got to work. There was quite an abundance of plants, most of which were herbs. Unfortunately there was no labels like most professional gardens had and Lucia was definitely no expert in plants so she was unable to spot anything familiar.
While at first Lucia thought watering plants would be such a quick task, the size of the room and the amount of plants made her take back such thoughts, but fortunately for her, the amount of time wasn't too bad. Managing to finish within fourty-five minutes Lucia was quite proud of herself, though not the part where she almost tripped over the hose. . . Yet when such a clumsy action happened, it was as if her body acted on itself; stabilizing her frame instantly though she was sure she'd take a tumble.
Lucia headed back down the creaky floorboards and intended to find Spells.
'Where is he?' Lucia thought as she checked around the kitchen. She was going to ask Sabina, but she seemed so engrossed in her own work she decided against that idea. Next the living room, then the room she stayed in last night. . . 'Don't tell me he's in Sabina's room," Lucia prayed to herself when she looked at the slightly open door opposite from the spare room.
Taking a glance at Sabina who was still focused on her own work, Lucia decided to take the risk to find that stupid cat. As if she was on air, her steps were silent as she went to further push the door open and peeked inside. An overwhelming presence snapped at her senses telling her to jump backwards. So she did. Just in time too! A shadowy hand had lunged forward to grab at her collar, claws and all. An unwordly hiss escaped Lucia's lips to which she quickly covered her mouth in shock.
The shadowy figure seemed to chuckle as such a response. The creatures voice was deep and scratchy, as if it had swallowed gravel.
"S-Sabi-!" Lucia finally had the nerve to call out to the adult.
"Oh hush! Don't involve master ~ She'll get mad at us both for interrupting her work time!" the voice spoke with such a deep tone, yet the way it spoke sounded almost familiar.
'W-wait! Did it just say "master"? Did Sabina have another familiar?' Lucia panicked, she must be truly powerful.
"Are you another one of Sabina's familiars?" Lucia asked, her distance still far away from the door and her eyes adjusting to see the dark figure.
"You don't recognize me! Too bad ~" the creature mused on. "Little Fangs, you even found yourself a warning hiss, I thought you were growing!"
Spells. He's the only one to use such a ridiculous nickname. "I thought you were a cat?"
As if her words sparked a change, the dark, intimidating, shadow figure morphed info a small, fluffy, black cat. "It is really you!"
"You didn't think I came to be her familiar just because I was cat did you? You're so stupid ~ You don't even seem scared. What gives! I planned to surprise you, even give you a good scratch so you'd know what I can do!" Spells child-like voice returned and his mocking continued. He even seemed genuinely upset he couldn't toy with the young girl.
"You wanted to scare me?" Lucia thought this cat was so cruel. Spells had won in the end though, she was scared of his shadowy form, not that she'd let him know that if he truly thought she wasn't shaken up; yet, part of her also felt . . . capable?
"Yeah ~ I thought it would be fun! Oh well, with the money you owe our master you'll be here long enough for me to have some entertainment," Spells words made Lucia sigh.
"You told me to come find you when I finished," Lucia reverted back to her original goal.
"Ah yes! The library is next then," Spells nodded in agreement with himself before moving out of Sabina's room and just further down the hallway. He paused infront of a door, "Understand that everything in this house belongs to Master, even you and I. If you want to read something, check with her first. Do not act according to your own will."
While she only met Spells today, he didn't seem the type to be so serious, yet when he spoke just now he sounded quite mature.
"I understand," Lucia responded, nodding her head.
Spells stepped out of the way of the door, "The library is just in there. There's some organization to the disaster that is our master's work space, so try and work with it."
"Understood." Lucia then opened the door and paled at such a sight.
The library room was about the same size as the indoor garden on the second level, yet with the amount of floor-to-ceiling shelves, the room felt confining. Books and papers of all kinds appeared everywhere; the shelves themselves messy with books shoved ontop of eachother without thought, the desk that appeared to be by a window blocking the daylight with towers of books.
Where could she even start! It's all a mess! Lucia began by looking at the tall and wide shelves and eventually began to find some sort of a hint at what the library once was organized like. On the right side of the room seemed to hold more magical and educational books, whereas the left side included books of fiction and entertainment, though there was quite a majority more of the former than the latter of books.
Getting to work, Lucia started with the right side of the room and sorted though the selection of books. While doing so, she found quite a few books that caught her eyes; mathematics, literature teaching, foreign language studies—it was all so amazing! The young girl who once took pride in her own education was excited for her new findings and hoped Sabina would let her borrow a few.
Gradually, Lucia was able to split the books from the right side of rhe room and moved over to the left side, bringing a long with her stacks of fictional works. While going through almost every title and checking to see which side of the room the books best belonged in, her eyes managed to catch some compelling titles she found herself intruged by. 'Creatures of the Night', 'Legends of the Four Countries', and even one such text, 'Villainous Heroes'.
The young vampire felt most drawn to the book, 'Creatures of the Night', after all Vampires were known to go by such a title in tales, it must contain something on them!
Lucia, forgetting her agreement to Spells, flipped open the pages of the musty and wrinkled book, scanning for the word 'Vampire'. A few chapters in and the word finally appeared as a title for its own three sections.
Illustrated pictures of what a vampire was supposed to look like scattered various pages, among with drawings of fangs and even what a victim of a vampire would look like. Lucia stared blankly at the pages that described Vampires as wicked and manipulative monsters that had died and now lived an immortal life. Wait, had she died? Sabina had used the term "pure blooded" when describing the kind of vampire she was, and the former princess only knew such a term when talking about the Queen's dogs. . .
Lucia let out a sigh and closed the book. It seemed that any information held within the pages were stories and tales that weren't familiar to her own case.
"What was I expecting from children's stories?" Lucia muttered allowed in the empty room.
The newly contacted slave returned to work and finished sorting the books in their correct locations and by author's last name within five hours of work. By the time she was able to see out the window from clearing the books, she noticed the Sun's position in the west now, soon it would be setting since it was the winter. She really had spent all day working!
Lucia exited the library and went to find Spells for her last task. Spells was fast asleep on the bottom step as she silently made her way down the stairs.
"Spells," Lucia whispered and the cat sprung awake in horror.
"Why are you creeping up on me!" Spells shouted.
"I didn't want to wake you rudely," Lucia replied. Her steps were rather quiet though, almost as if she was walking on air, an experience she felt earlier when she didn't want Sabina to catch her going into her room
"Tch. Vampires," Spells scoffed and rolled his big green eyes.
"I finished in the library," Lucia ignored Spells' comment.
"The broom is by the fridge, you only need to sweep up the kitchen today," Spells spoke and lead her back to the kitchen.
Looking around the empty kitchen, Lucia glanced at Spells in confusion. "Master went out," was all he said before settling down on her empty stool and going to sleep.
'Very helpful', the young girl thought to herself, but started her task as sweeping the snipped plants and crumbs that were on the kitchen tile. She finished within ten minutes and decided to take her own tour around the house now that she had the chance.
The layout of the house was fairly chaotic, and when Spells had lead her to different rooms of the house that seemed small, each door opened up to a large space. How mysterious! The kitchen and living room were within the same room while a hallway connecting from the kitchen to the narrow set of stairs that lead up to the garden room held Sabina's room, the bathroom, the library, and the spare room. Except, there seemed to be another door that was inbetween the bathroom and the library. Just as Lucia was about to open the door, Sabina's voice boomed from the kitchen. Lucia paled in fear.