The Cat and The Canary~OC x Daniela Dimitrescu

Chapter 4

The days soon turned into weeks, and before I realized it, it was the time I dreaded every month. It was time for the full moon to come out, and it was all I could do to stay calm while I did my chores, already feeling the heat rolling through my body and bones. I guess Alcina must've noticed my anxiousness, considering I almost spilled wine all over her when told to bring some to her room, and I swallowed hard, as she gripped me tightly by the throat. "You truly are an incompetent child. Your strength and reflexes are all that are keeping you alive, considering that most other maidens here are far too fragile for the work you are required to do. What on Earth has you so shaken today? You are quite efficient on other days, but something about you is different on this day." I blinked, her insults and concern mixed together really confusing to me, and tried my best to get the words out.

Her golden eyes gazed down at me in amusement, able to tell that I was having a hard time speaking with her hand around my throat, and dropped me, my reflexes keeping me from falling on my backside as I stumbled. "My Lady, I- I know it's stupid of me to ask, but I'll need tonight and the next two nights off. I need to stay in my room. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. Please- If you don't say yes, someone might get hurt." Her eyes narrowed, and I could see curiosity in them, as well as confusion. "Hmm.. And why, might I ask, would that be?" Her question caused me to tense up, and I looked away. "I'm sorry, but I won't answer that question. I can't.." I flinched as I said that, the now healed scars on my back, and the images of seeing a few other disrespectful maidens impaled on her razor sharp claws preparing me to be sliced into pieces, but surprisingly, that didn't happen.

To my surprise, she actually said, "Alright. But once your three nights are up, I expect you to do your normal duties once more, and I also expect you to work harder during these three days to make up for missing your nightly chores. Is that understood?" I nodded, and flinched away as her hand came close to my face, looking up into her golden eyes, surprised to see a look of sadness on her face. "I suppose I overreacted a tad bit when I injured you. Cassandra did attack you, after all, but you see, I am quite protective of my daughters." I blinked, then frowned. An apology? That tall, terrifying vampire woman was apologizing to someone like me? "It's okay. I shouldn't have hurt her. I didn't mean to lose my temper. I just.. Don't like being touched that way. I never knew my parents, but I wonder if they would've done the same things you do for your children." Her eyes widened at that, and I realized I had said too much about myself already, not able to help it with the way she seemed to stare into my very soul, and ran out of her room before she could say anything.

As I bolted towards my room, I had the terrible luck of running smack into Cassandra, both of us freezing as we looked at each other, her eyes looking me up and down, as a frown appeared on her face. "Shouldn't you be working?" I backed away slowly, and shrugged. "Lady Dimitrescu gave me three nights off, and I was heading to my room. I- I actually want to apologize for hurting your hand. Is it okay now?" She blinked, seeming surprised by my question, and glanced at the hand in question. "What? Oh- Yes, it's better. Why do you care?" I was confused, and replied, "Why shouldn't I care? I'm the one who hurt you, so I wanted to apologize. No matter if you hit me or not, I shouldn't have lost my temper like that. I could've seriously hurt you." A voice came from nearby, and said, "You'll have to excuse my little sister. We aren't really used to anyone being kind to us, especially new maidens. Normally, they run in the opposite direction, or hide, so you're something special."

I glanced around, and swallowed hard as I saw the eldest daughter, Bela, materialize from her swarm of flies, a curious look on her face. "You are really different from other humans. You smell different, like the woods and summer rain, and your strength and reflexes are different, too, but I haven't seen any strong humans in awhile, so that might be why you're strange to me." My heart began racing in my chest, and I was panicking a bit, considering they were blocking my bedroom door, and the night was coming fast. I hadn't been careful enough, and had used too much of my strength and speed around them. Their mother already suspected something, and now, they did, too. How was I supposed to explain things? I didn't really understand much about myself, so how could I possibly tell them that I definitely wasn't normal? I couldn't- They would probably send me away, and I would end up back in my cage, in the dark and all alone. I didn't realize I was shaking and breathing weirdly, until a faint voice whispered in my ear, "Shh, Elaine. It's okay." I felt two familiar arms wrap around me, and hold me close, and realized from the scent that Daniela had appeared too.

For some reason, her holding me made me calm down fast, and I didn't know why, but I didn't want her to let go of me, feeling safe against her chest. "Dani, I think you can let go of her now. She's breathing perfectly fine." I instantly felt a bit lonely as Daniela let go of me, and stepped away. "Are you sure you're okay?" I managed to nod, not knowing why my face suddenly felt like it was on fire, and practically raced into my room without another word, hearing a loud smack from outside the door, and a yelp of pain from Cassandra. "What the hell?! Why did you hit me??" Daniela muttered in response, "You gave her a panic attack, idiot." I locked my door, and windows, and flopped onto my bed, my eyes locked onto the full moon slowly starting to rise in the night sky, and swallowed hard.

When the pain finally started, I was ready for it, sinking my teeth into one of my pillows, muffling the sounds of my screams, tears stinging my eyes. I felt my skin grow unbearably hot, and couldn't stop shaking and sweating, as I tugged my clothes off, then bit down harder on the pillow, as my bones began snapping and crunching in inhuman directions, my body changing shape. I guess I must've been noisier than I thought, the pillow not making me quiet enough, because suddenly, my door unlocked, and swung open, and Daniela stood there, key in hand, her eyes and mouth going wide as she looked at me. I managed to shout, "Get out!", before the pain intensified, and I started crying hard, not liking the look of fear and disgust on her face; The same look I saw every time I looked out of that stupid cage I had been locked in every day and night. Now she knew, and she would tell her sisters and mother, and that would be the end of me and my stay at the castle.

I wasn't prepared for my bed to sink down under her weight, or her to gently pull me into her lap, even as I began growing black, silky fur all over my body, or for her to whisper, "I won't leave you. It's okay.." What? I couldn't be hearing her right. "Just go, okay? You shouldn't be near me." With that, she only held me closer, and didn't say anything else, still refusing to leave, and I didn't understand at all. She barely knew me, and yet, she was still holding me like a baby in her arms, even as I turned into a monster before her eyes, as if it didn't matter at all. After that, everything became a dark blur, my mind going blank, nothingness all around me, until the very next morning..