RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE - The House of Dimitrescu

Chapter 29 - Zero Hour

As Y/N headed back inside the castle, he noticed the other stages of his plan flickering at the edges of his vision. All around him, furtive looking maids were bustling about their normal business, dusting, cleaning, wiping, but every now and again, one of them would glance over their shoulder before reaching up and tweaking the hands of a clock or a ornament, anything that could tell the time, moving the day onwards, faster.

It was noon at present, but supper would be called three hours early if everything went to plan. Eight hours wasn't enough time for them to get away, but this would allow them to buy more time, inch by inch. One of the maids caught sight of Y/N, nodding in acknowledgement before disappearing into a side corridor, and Y/N quickly hurried up the stairs, his hand already straying towards his keys. 

Silently, he slipped through the bell-room and into the network of passageways, heading up to his long-abandoned attic room which by now was twice as full of cobwebs as before. Moving through it and out onto the roof, Y/N moved tentatively across the icy battlements, dodging the flying creatures as they patrolled the skies over the castle, not stopping until he reached the tall, dark bell-tower. 

Slipping inside, Y/N began to climb. The clock at Castle Dimitrescu was a thing of beauty. A large, pale face lined with brass engravings, sat low enough on the tower that it could only be seen from the inside windows around the courtyard. It did not have a very loud chime, but instead tinkled musically at nearly every daylight hour, falling silent between the hours of midnight and eight in the morning. It was this clock to which the Countess structured her day, and Y/N was going to tamper with it. 

Climbing up the inside of the stone structure to where the rusty brass clockwork sat waiting, Y/N quickly cranked the lever to wind the clock half an hour forwards, keeping an eye on the large, iron bell hanging in the shadows above him. He would do this five more times today before supper, as the maids were doing to the clocks downstairs. 

If they moved the clocks more than half an hour at a time, they risked exposure, but if they were careful, they could influence the Countess' schedule enough to send her to bed three hours early, buying more time for the staff to escape. Once they were out of the castle and the Countess was asleep, Y/N would then return to the tower and crank the clock back to its original time, so that when the clock eventually did chime, it would be at the correct hour, and would not wake the Countess prematurely.

Eight hours of sleep, plus three hours of tampered, wound-back time, made eleven hours total... it would have to be enough...

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He took no pleasure in supper that night. He dined with the family, per the Countess' request, with a meal of tough, brown bread and cheese which had been supplied for him. The Dimitrescu's dinner was much more lavish, with meats, both cold and cooked, exotic flavours and dishes from all over, which the girls and their mother happily took to. Watching them, Y/N felt a stab of regret, and wondered what their suppers in future might be like without their supply of lifeblood. 

The cursed drink itself was plentiful at the table, crimson bottles stood all around, and though Y/N noticed with a flicker of satisfaction that none of the sisters drank it throughout the course of the meal, their mother had no such limitations. 

The only flicker of joy Y/N could find in the evening were the subtle glances that the girls would give him. Whilst the others talked about the affairs and events of the castle and the village, Y/N would often catch Cassandra smirking and rolling her eyes at him in exasperation. One of Dani's flies tickled his fingertips mischievously as it clung to his hand, and Bela's affectionate gaze was often directed to him when her mother was distracted. He would feel a flash of nervousness whenever the Countess' head would suddenly jerk up, and for a moment he was sure she had caught them, but then she would call commandingly to Cassandra or Daniela, and the conversation continued over the top of Y/N and Bela's nonverbal communications.