What Lies Within [Winters]

[Juno]

He listened to her story and a lump of regret and fear formed in his gut at the idea of their master storming down the halls and not being woken by it. Perhaps he really was that short on sleep lately. It did worry him, though, to think about what Akakios might do if he caught them working together. Yet, it was clear that she needed his help if she was here asking for it.

"I'll save the favor for later. Let's just get this over with before he checks on you," he agreed, though his anxiety about that was already high.

He stepped around her and headed down the hall to lead them toward the stairs she'd just come down. The whole time he was keeping a watchful eye out, though, and he jumped at every scuff or creak he heard in the distance. "And...he didn't bite you, right? He didn't feed from you?" Toren asked quietly as his eyes struggled to make out in the dark if any of the blood on her came from actual wounds.

[Winters-Feather]

For the first time that night, Tessel smiled, practically beaming.
"Thank you!" she said, following Toren towards the stairs.
The young woman looked up at him in surprise at the question, her bright expression dimming.
"No," she said as she grasp the banister, carefully making her way up the stairs.
"But he offered. I turned him down, though... I sorta ran away."
Tessel bowed her head and made a strange face, almost laughing at  the moment that terrified her.
"I think Master Akakios thought he was being generous," Tessel muttered.
Her opinion of the matter was apparent in her half mocking-terrified tone. Were vampires even capable of being such? Tessel doubted it. She was well aware that running away had been stupid, had drawn more attention to herself.

Tessel looked down the hall. She didn't know how long she had been working. Was Akakios still distracted by the girl? Or was he alone? In any case, they needed to hurry. With a nod, she lead Toren to the room that she had been cleaning. The stench of blood and vinegar instantly hit her nose. Her eyes expertly scanned it, re-deducting what needed to be done.
"It was all covered in blood  and ripped to bits when he took me here. But I think I'm doing good."
It would have been a boast if she hadn't looked so anxious. Tessel cautiously tiptoed towards the body, as if it was going to reach out and grab her. She looked down sorrowfully at the corpse.
"This is the one," she  whispered.

[Juno]

It was concerning to hear she'd refused an offer made to her, the mere idea of it causing him to shudder. "I think he did think it generous," Toren sighed, shaking his head for the way he knew their master usually formulated these plans. "But you are probably safe if he didn't go after you," he added.

Toren, unaware that Akakios still resided in the study, was oblivious to the fact he was giving himself away just by the extra pair of footsteps in the hall. He hurried along with Tessel, though, and stepped after her cautiously once they entered the room. The smells didn't bother him anymore but the broken body... She was gone, he shouldn't think about who she was. "Yes, good," he spoke dully.

Moving over bits of broken furniture he stood across from her over the corpse. "And what are we doing with it? Where are we...disposing of it?"

[Winters-Feather]

Tessel blinked at Toren's question.
Wasn't this usually his job?
"I dunno. I've never done this before," she muttered, slumping her shoulders.
Frowning, she took a rag and covered the woman's face with it before hoisting the corpse under the arms. Tess looked out the window.
"We ought to bury her," she said firmly. It was only right, poor soul. However, they didn't have the time, did they?
"There's always the heating room, maybe," she added reluctantly, referring to the giant furnace that helped heat up the house.

With a grunt, Tessel began to drag the body towards the door.
"Please grab the legs," she whispered, mentally hoping that he would be tactful about it. Tess trusted him to more or less be, but she knew some others weren't.

[Juno]

Toren wrinkled his nose at her first idea. "Tessel... Burying her would take all day. It's harsh, but I think the fire down there would be the best choice," he sighed as he lifted the corpse's legs to help Tessel along. "Just don't get in the habit of throwing things in there. It's...finicky," he said, making a face.

"How did you get dragged into this anyway?" he wondered, glancing to Akakios's door as they finally made their way out into the hall.

[Winters-Feather]

Tessel frowned, frightened by Toren's words. To be burned to ashes after such a fate... It was too cruel. Tessel bit her lip. She didn't want to understand what Toren meant by 'finicky.' Nor did she ever, ever wanted to get 'in the habit.' God. Was their master going to make her do this often? Tessel praid not. She crept slowly down the hall, throwing frighting glances at Akakio's door. She shook her head at Toren's question, and tilted her head to the door's direction. Tessel was too petrified to speak at the moment. After all, what if the vampire heard them? Who knew how good his ears were. Tessel crept down the stairs, hoping the foot steps sounded like one pair instead of two. Once they almost reached the safety of the bottom of the stairs, Tessel sighed and  gave a small, bitter smile as she recalled the event that started this whole thing.
"I was stupid enough to leave my bedroom when Akakios called," she explained.

[Juno]

Toren smiled, stifling the chuckle that swelled in his throat as he cast a glance towards the top of the staircase. "It isn't your fault, you weren't to know his intentions," he said, trying to be encouraging to the young woman as he led her down the hall where a set of far less grand stairs behind an unassuming door that would lead to the large furnace room below.

"It was probably an accident anyway," he offered, hoping not to alarm her with the sight of death in the house. "And accidents...happen sometimes."

[Winters-Feather]

Tessel meekly nodded. She felt safer now that  they had went down the stairs and on a soft, thin rug, the sound muffling the sound of their shuffling boots. Even through the door of the furnace room, she could feel the humid warmth streaming from the room. She looked down at the dead girl in their arms with a thoughtful expression.
"She deserves to be buried," she stated, but nevertheless fumbled with the door. 

The furnace room's door was large and heavy. The hinges squealed, loud in the empty halls.

Tessel shuddered violently, alarmed by the sound. She anxiously shot a glance up the stairs, which only encouraged her to move quickly into the room.

[Juno]

"She does," Toren sighed, frowning heavily at the grating sound of the door. "Everyone does, but... That isn't what he asked for, so..." he trailed off, knowing it was pointless to point out that Akakios was in charge of what happened in the house.

Closing the loud door behind them, Toren readjusted his hold on the woman and looked down at Tessel with concern. "Are you going to be alright? You don't have to stay. You can leave once we get her...inside."

[Winters-Feather]

What will happen to us, I wonder? Tessel wondered grimly. When she died, would they throw her in a furnace, to turn to dust?
"You should leave too," Tessel said, a bit sternly. "He MUSTN"T know you're here. Hold on..."
She opened the door, and checked upstairs. When she saw nothing, she turned towards Toren and offered a small smile.
"Thank you for your help. Good night," she whispered.
Tessel began to climb up the stairs, running in her head the chores she still had left.
No one better wake me up come dawn, she thought. Tessel amused herself with the thought of being scarier than the Master in such a state.

[Juno]

Toren finished up disposing of the woman's body, a task he had become numb to in his years. He hoped that Tessel, being so young, would not have to witness their master's carnage again and that Akakios might just forget her and leave her alone. There was enough suffering within his house and he wished it upon no one at all.

Akakios, on the other hand, was positively delighted now in the face of the destruction he'd caused earlier in the night. He was acting as though a woman had not died at all and was happy again once he'd fed from the laundry girl. Lounging after he'd sent her away, he began to wonder about Tessel again, curious about her progress or how she'd even managed to do all of the tasks he'd set her to on her own.

In the early morning light he checked on the room that had been a war zone only a few hours earlier. He was surprised but quite impressed with the way it had been cleaned up, and the lack of the body was noted. The nobleman was curious. Wandering to the slaves' quarters, he rapped loudly on it before entering on his hunt for the young woman. Not knowing her name, he went from door to door, loudly storming into each before his eyes finally settled upon her. "Wake up," he demanded calmly, finally relaxing his shoulders. "I need you again."

[Winters-Feather]

The moment she had trudged back to her room from her night's work, Tessel splashed a few handfuls of water in her face before collapsing in her bed. She buried her face in her pillow and  knocked out like a corpse, finding no strength to take off her shoes or curl under the covers. That night she dreamed deep and of the green fields of Connloath.

So when her master knocked her door, Tessel didn't wake up until the stream of light entered the dark room. She moaned and tossed, at first not knowing who it was.
The head maid, she thought with a groan.  Perhaps the woman would find enough kindness in her heart to let her sleep in after she learned what Tessel went through the night before with Master Akakios....

A voice told her to rise.
Master Akakios!
Tessel bolted up right, her hair a mess. Her face turned red the moment her eyes met his.
"Oh!" she squeaked.
The young woman scrambled out of her bed and smoothed the front of her night dress. She frantically patted her hair down, keeping her eyes to the ground.
"Yes, master?" she asked nervously.
Why was his business so urgent? she wondered. She had spent most of her  time in his service keeping out of his sight. Now his eyes were fixed on her! 

[Juno]

He was pleased to see her respond so quickly, tired as she looked. She knew her place, at least. Though she looked quite harried, the vampire had managed to clean himself up. The lightest of his cuts were already healed, but he was clean and his clothes were unwrinkled. Outwardly, he was normal. His eyes held not an ounce of the wildness that had consumed him the previous day.

"I know it is not normally something I personally assign, but in light of recent events and your evident skill I would like you to personally attend to any other blood stains on the doors and such today. I realized, once the sun came up, that there's quite a mess in the hall," he explained, seemingly unaware that he had been the one to create it. "And in my study," he cringed, the remembrance of the mess extended to his sacred haven nearly the only thing that unsettled him. "And the bath. In my quarters of course. And you might as well just...do a check of the entire place, hm? I'm sure it won't be too much trouble, but those will probably be your only duties today."

Akakios nodded, enthusiastic and certain she had no reason to seem unhappy or hesitant about what he was asking of her. "Oh, and...what is your name, girl? It has slipped my mind," he prompted her, not a shred of embarrassment in his voice for talking at such length before even asking. Truthfully, he did not know her face well enough to match to a name though she certainly looked familiar. If she was like many of the others in his home she had been there a very long time without her master knowing her in any personal capacity, but that didn't bother him.

[Winters-Feather]

It took a moment for Tessel to realize what her master's words meant.
Am I to take this as a compliment? she wondered, feeling a hint of pride. She wasn't praised much, outside of her woodwork, so  it pleased Tess in a small way that the master recognized her work. And he LOOKED as earnest as he could about it... It was a small comfort to Tessel that even that so much blood could make a vampire feel unsettled.  Just a  small one, however. She wanted nothing more to do with the blood stained rooms,  exhausted as she was and how frightened she had been. She took in a breath and nodded at the request.
Get used to it, she thought, trying to keep a stiff upper lip. It was just going to be blood this time. No girls. That was another small comfort.

At the request of her name, Tessel did a quick curtsy. She didn't expect her master to know her name, and he never asked her during her entire service. Not that it mattered at first, as she was scared into being a mute for a few months. Even so, the older slaves, whenever the master was lurking about, would hiss to the girl to be quick to curtsy if he should ever ask. So Tessel curtsied as best as she could in her blood stained nightgown. Though she had tried to keep her distance, she wasn't an anonomous mouse anymore.

"My name's Tessel, sir," she dutifully replied. "Right away, sir, only... is there anything else, sir? Because, ah..."
She bowed her head, her face flushing a little in shame for even asking.
"Might I have some privy, sir?" she asked rather quickly, hoping he would give her that dignity this time around. "I'd like to change into my uniform now, if that's agreeable with you, sir."

[Juno]

Akakios was pleased that she responded so quickly and with exactly the information he'd requested and nothing more. At least, nothing more until she spoke out for her question, something that gave the vampire pause as he raised a brow in genuine curiosity about the girl. She seemed awfully bold for someone who could hardly say she had such a privilege to dismiss her master.

"Thank you, Tessel," he praised gently, acting at first as though he had not heard her question. "You have my permission to change. Take all the time you need, so long as you get the job done. Seek out Toren if you cannot find me and there is something important that requires my attention," he instructed her, finally turning at last to exit the servants' quarters and give her the privacy she desired. It certainly wasn't that he cared about that desire, but she was fortunate it aligned with his own wish to be free of the stuffy lower quarters as well as no desire to be a lecher.