«Unlike you, I don’t have the gift of seeing in the dark,» Samantha said. «I need some light.»
The brunet grumbled something, but didn’t put out the flame. For some reason his grumbling sounded like a growl to Samantha. The disheveled boy had a predatory look, as if he’d just hunted wolves and had managed to kill them with his bare hands. The nobles living in the wilderness must have gone feral, Samantha concluded. It was a good thing she and her parents hadn’t gotten to that state yet. Probably it was because there was a large village nearby. And the local manor is far away from settlements. Its owners are isolated. The big road nearby is deserted. Samantha had not seen a single carriage or rider in days.
The deep scratches on the walls and paintings became visible in the candlelight. The same scratches marred the floor.
«Wolves must have danced here!» Samantha joked
«Yes, there was a ball,» the brunet snorted.
He must not have realized she was joking. How could wolves give a ball? Only wolves or bears could scratch the hard marble floor like that. Humans in shoes, or even barefoot, were incapable of such a thing.
The scratches stretched along the stair railings, the steps, the columns. What had just happened here? Maybe the manor had been attacked by werewolf wolves. Some of the windows were broken or covered with lead shutters.
Samantha touched the tapestry, which was in shreds. It had definitely been mangled by someone’s claws. No one could cut so unevenly with knives or scissors.
«You need repairs,» Samantha found the trellises flying off and the picture frames cracked.
«What do you mean?» The brunet snorted so dismissively that Samantha shut up. Didn’t he know what repairs were?
Let the companion be quiet. He didn’t want to make small talk, so he didn’t have to. It doesn’t matter that the estate is falling apart. The important thing is that the cook has something for dinner. Assuming there is a cook. There’s got to be some food here.
The companion led Samantha to a large room on the second floor. It was crowded. Thirteen people. Samantha counted them for good measure. Yes, exactly thirteen. What a coincidence. It was exactly the number she hadn’t liked since she’d been cursed with it.
«Dinner has arrived!» The brunet announced in a loud voice.
Samantha looked confused. He probably meant he had brought her to dinner. Usually people go to dinner themselves, not dinner arriving at their door. The beautiful brunette in the bright red ball gown was also surprised and leaned her lorgnette to her face.
«Usually we have to run through the woods for dinner ourselves, but suddenly dinner is coming to us!» She rejoiced. «Isn’t there a ghost behind you, Tien?»
Tien must have been the name of the brunetn. Samantha stepped forward.
«I swear I’m not a ghost!» She said defiantly. «I am alive! Are you often haunted?»
The brunette laughed pretentiously. She was the prettiest thing in the manor. Her luxurious dress looked out of place amidst the tattered tapestries and scratched chairs. Everyone else, though, was dressed in expensive camisoles and looked as scruffy as Tien.
«I’m Jessica,» the brunette introduced herself. Though she spoke and moved, she seemed like an inanimate porcelain doll in a silk ball gown. A diamond tiara sparkled in her black hair, arranged in an intricate braid.
Samantha looked around. Except for Jessica, everyone present was male. They all took the time to introduce themselves by name. That’s rude! Probably should be counter impolite.
«Are you mute?» Jessica wondered.
«I’m Lady Samantha,» she mumbled, but didn’t give her full name. It was probably a precautionary instinct. She wondered if this was a noble robber’s estate.
«I am glad to see you!» Jessica smiled broadly. Her pearly white teeth were very sharp. The front incisors resembled fangs. «Come in! Sit next to me! There’s no need to stand on the doorstep. It’s rude!»
Everyone but Jessica was being rude, but Samantha remained silent. There was no dinner on the low tea table in front of Jessica. But there was a broken tea set, and some shiny objects lying in a pile. Jessica drank tea from the only cup that was intact. The tea was such a thick red color that Samantha would have refused it, but it wasn’t offered to her. There were no cakes or cookies with the tea.
«Do you have any bread and cheese in the kitchen?» She asked, overcoming her pride. She was very hungry, and the picnic basket she had brought with her had run out of food.
«Bread and cheese is peasant food,» said the tall, stately man standing behind Jessica’s chair.
«Then don’t you have a more refined meal?»
«What would you like?» Jessica made Samantha sit down beside her and began groping the girl as if she were a chicken to be plucked before cooking.
«I’d like pâté, pancakes with rose petal jam, dumplings or stuffed cabbage. How is about cottage cheese pie?» Samantha listed all her favorite dishes, but there was nothing like that in the local kitchen. Jessica and Tien’s community didn’t eat cottage cheese, boiled eggs, vegetable salads, soups, or even desserts.
«So what do you eat anyway?» The girl wondered.
«Only the most dainty and exquisite dishes,» Jessica smiled enigmatically.
Probably fish delicacies are not even worth asking about. If the fountain in the garden has dried up, then the ponds on the estate have long since dried up. There’s nowhere to fish.
«Can’t they at least make meat dishes here?»
«That’s interesting,» Jessica licked her lips.
Samantha was afraid. Jessica put her arm around her shoulders. She must be the mistress of the manor, and this way she let everyone know that she had patronized her guest.
Jessica was beautiful, but her touch made Samantha feel sick. It felt like a corpse had touched her.
Among the pile of glittering objects on the table, an earring sparkled, suspiciously similar to the one the demon had pulled out of Evangeline’s dead ear. Samantha couldn’t remember if the dead woman had been wearing one earring or two. Maybe Evangelina’s from this estate.
«Do you have the whole family together?» Samantha asked.
Jessica waggled her eyebrows expressively, and the men grinned as if the guest had asked an amusing question.
«Is a certain Lady Evangelina your neighbor by any chance?» Samantha asked another question.
«Have you met Evangelina?» Jessica was surprised.
«I saw her on the road…» Samantha’s tongue was slurring. How to say that she hadn’t met Evangelina, but her corpse?
«Usually that proud girl was above meeting country girls on the road,» Jessica pouted. Her porcelain face began to look cranky. «Duchesses don’t talk to just anyone.»
«Are you a duchess, too, since she was talking to you?» Samantha thought to herself that Jessica was no less than a marquise. What would she say? What her title is, and who the men around her are. They are all brunets with dark eyes, just like her. You can tell they all belong to the same clan.
«I’m the local queen,» Jessica pulled Samantha’s hair like a doll.
«Are you a bandits’ queen?» Samantha gasped as she saw knives flashing in one of the men’s hands. Or were they not knives, but claws?
«I am the Queen of the wolves,» Jessica corrected. Samantha felt something furry pressed against her back. Was Jessica really wearing a mantle she hadn’t noticed?
The full moon was just peeking through the cracked window. Isn’t it too late for the moon now? Samantha thought she’d been at the manor most of the night. But she guessed it’s still a long way from dawn, isn’t it?
«The moon is our patron saint,» Jessica said in a sermonizing tone. Her companions laughed hoarsely. Their laughter turned to snarls. Samantha was wiping her eyes when she noticed the brown or gray fur growing on the skin of those gathered and their limbs turning into paws. Jessica was suddenly fluffy too, like a large wolf.
Samantha struggled to get out of her clutches. Tickling herself was useless. Wolves in torn camisoles standing on their hind legs were no dream. In the large she-wolf that led them, Jessica could only be recognized by her dress and tiara.
