From Dusk Until Dawn

Chapter 4: Daughters

The days past and the tension between Lady Dimitrescu and Rue only grew thicker. But Rue had managed to fully recover from her sickness and began her work as a maid along with all the other women. Sofia was kind and had showed her where everything was, what her chores were and showed her a few short cuts to get around the Castle quicker.

She hadn't seen much of Lady Dimitrescu. The only times she had seen her was when Sofia would give her a bottle of wine and tell her to bring it to the Countess. And even then, Rue and Lady Dimitrescu's conversations were kept relatively short.

***

Rue hadn't realized how long she had been staring down at her cup of tea. She was currently on a break in the kitchen after cleaning the entirety of the library, which she was told was Lady Daniela's favourite place. Apparently, Lady Dimitrescu had three daughters, who she hadn't met yet. Daniela was the youngest, Cassandra the middle child and Bela, the oldest and most responsible of the three.

Sighing to herself while looking at are barely noticeable reflection in her cup, she couldn't help but think of Lady Dimitrescu. She wanted to see her, even if it was just a glance. She wanted to desperately to speak with her again. Feel her red lips brushing against her-

"Hey, Earth to Rue." she jolted from her thoughts and looked up. It was Dina, one of the the kitchen staff. She was known to be a perfectionist and almost never settled for anything below excellent. Her copper hair was cut short and combed back with a few baby hairs falling against her forehead. The edges around her brown irises always seemed shape an aware of her surroundings at all times.

Dina and Sofia were one of the longest working staff at Castle Dimitrescu.

"Sorry, what is it?"

"I was just curious if the tea I made you is really that interesting." She quirked an eyebrow at her. Rue just rolled her eyes and Dina acted offended before sitting across from her. "But seriously, is there something on your mind?"

"No. No, I'm alright. Just lost in thought I suppose." She said, taking a sip of her tea, which had gone cold.

Dina hummed, fidgeting with a napkin. "Homesick?"

Rue thought for a moment. She hadn't thought much of her family since coming here. She thought of her mother and father. Neither of them made her feel homesick. But then she thought of her brother and a lonely feeling started to crept into her soul.

She sighed sadly before responding. "Miss my brother."

"I get that. The first week, you really miss your family but after a while you get use to being here." Dina said, reaching over and placing her hand over top of Rue's. "You'll be okay, you got me and Sofia looking out for you."

Rue smiled before gulping down the rest of her cold tea and starting the next part of her chores. It was simple, water the plants in the Opera Hall. Not hard at all.

As she walked down the empty hallways, she started to notice just how the air around her felt lonely. Like it was in pain. She couldn't quite understand it and the fly buzzing near her ear wasn't helping either.

She gently swatted it away, never hitting it directly since it would constantly dodge her. Just as she got closer to the Opera Hall, she noticed the buzzing only got louder and more frequent.

A huge cloud of flies swarmed past her. She brought her arms up to defend herself from the flies, which were now hovering into front of her in the shape of people. Then, like some sort of shape shifting creature, the flies turned into three girls. One had red hair, the other had black hair and the final one had blonde hair. Either wore an identical cloak and hood, making it a bit difficult to tell them apart.

The redhead eyes her excitedly while the ravenette stared her down. The blonde just seemed unbothered.

"Oh, she's so pretty! No wonder why mother seems to like her!" The redhead rushed up to Rue, taking her hand with a wide grin, a bit of blood dripping from the corner of her mouth. "Do you like romance novels by any chance?"

"Dani," the blonde said and the redhead looked at her. "Remember what Cass and I told you?"

"Oh, right! Boundaries!" She said before letting go of Rue's had before composing herself. Daniela extended her hand politely with a smile to match. "I'm sorry about that. I'm kinda working on boundaries. My name is Daniela, what's yours?"

That's when it clicked. These three were Lady Dimitrescu's daughters. They sure were... something. Rue guessed this is what Sofia meant when she mention that the daughters were different and that they might frighten her.

"Ruenheid Frostbite. And it's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Daniela, and your sisters." Rue returned the polite smile and handshake.

"Polite little thing, aren't you?" The blonde, who Rue assumed was Bela, said.

"No wonder why mother can't shut up about her." Cassandra said sarcastically with an exaggerated eye roll.

"Mentioning her dove times is not talking about her constantly." Bela said.

"Geez, how far does that stick go up your ass?" Cassandra smirked when she saw her sister's face go red with anger.

"I'm going to spit in your tea." Bela grumbled, playfully punching her sister's shoulder.

"Rue, do you wanna come to the library with us? Keep us company until mother gets back?" Daniela gave her the most adorable puppy eyes she had ever seen.

She had to suppress an awe as she responded. "I'd love to, but I still have a number of things to do."

Daniela frowned at the response but didn't try to convince her to skip one chore. Rue herself was also disappointed. She wanted to see Lady Dimitrescu again.

"Once you're done in the Opera Hall, could you bring us some tea? We usually drink tea when mother reads to us."

"Your mother reads to you three?"

"Yeah. As much as she can at least. She's a really busy woman." Daniela smiled, not noticing the glare that Cassandra shot her. Rue's gaze fell on the middle child and began to realize that she was asking to many questions and her sister was answering to many. Not wanting to test the girls' patience, Rue excused herself from the three girls and walked a little quicker to the Opera Hall.

Sofia was right, those three were certainly different.