The Bones of The Rabbit

Chapter 11

Bela sat in her room, her beetle on her hand. "Blitz, you've grown so well." She whispered, grinning. "Hopefully I can get you a lady friend and you'll have baby beetles." She gently placed her beetle Blitz back in his terrarium, stroking the back of his exoskeleton. Closing the top, she got up and poked her head out of her room. Her mother, Lady Dimitrescu, was running, no, speed running down the hall. "Did you sleep in again?" She called out. "Yes, I did." She called back.

Of course you did.

Bela checked inside her mother's room, seeing you curled up in her mother's favorite spot to sleep. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be working?" She asked, climbing on the bed and nudging you. You stirred, opening your eyes. "Lady Dimitrescu said I'm off for today." You mumbled, slowly falling back to sleep. Unhappy with you sleeping all day, Bela ripped the blanket off you.

Wake up, sleepyhead.

Bela grabbed you by your ankles, dragging you off her mother's bed. "Noooo! I'm comfy!" You cried out. "I don't care! You're gonna help me with something!" Bela matched your tone, almost mocking you.

The day is young and you're going to sleep it away!

Bela finally dragged you off her mother's bed, then brought your laptop over. "Show me how to get another beetle." She pointed at the laptop. Bela watched you slowly begin to wake up. Watching you open and unlock your computer. When you went to a webpage for beetles, she pointed to the specific species. "This one. Make it female." Bela ordered, then leaned against you. "Pleeeeaaase." She gave a grin, trying to be nice. "At least you don't choke people out." You mumbled, ordering a female stag beetle. Bela gave you a tight hug. "Thank you!" She cooed and ran off. "And don't go back to sleep! Go hang out with mom!" She called out.

Bela ran back to her room, whispering to her beetle in excitement. Then, she shook out her excitement.

You're the cool sister. You need to remain cool.

Bela took a deep breath, then left her room, heading to the cellar. The older bottles were towards the back. Fetching the oldest bottle, Bela snuck it out and placed it on the table. Tonight, was a celebration. The village had reeled back and took care of the ghouls, the population was booming, there were new people.

I should see how mother is doing.

Bela checked outside, seeing her mother and you. You were properly dressed and she could pick up that her mother was a touch moody from not drinking anything. Bela's eyes widened as she hid behind the pillars, watching you cut open your hand with one of her mother's claws and present your blood to her mother.

You know, when Cassandra said you were going to become our step-parent, I thought she was fucking around.

Bela blinked, watching her mother savor every drop of blood presented. You didn't move, didn't retract away. Bela knew that look in your eyes, she's seen it once before from her mother to the now gone handmaiden. Affection.

Caught off guard by the look in your eyes, Bela broke into a coughing fit after swallowing her saliva the wrong way, sneaking into the foyer and giving a couple more coughs, clearing her throat. "They're in deep." Bela whispered, an excitement rising within her. "Oh they're in so deep!" She screamed, throwing her fists in the air and letting out a howl of excitement. "Who's in deep?"