Dollhouse

Chapter 3

We entered the building, which happened to be a dress shop.
The woman immediately lit the candles on the walls, giving the room a pleasant glow.
The shop was very wooden and in need of good dusting.
"Now," the woman started, "You two can stay here for the evening, it's no good to be out there at night."
"We're fine miss, I have no quarrels with it" Zenith said, adjusting his shirt collar
She scoffed,
"Nonsense! I have a couple of spare rooms, I'm sure my assistant Blaire will-"
The candles blew out from a gust of imaginary wind. I realised what was going on and I shut curtains at the front window.

"I'm sorry miss, I don't sleep at this time of day," Zenith grinned maliciously, dropping his coat to the ground and stepping towards the woman.
Her face paled as she came to the quick and very grim realisation of what Zenith's intentions were.
"Y-you, y-you're!!" She stammered stumbling backwards into the counter.
"That's right, thank you for inviting me in, it would be a real bother if anyone saw this in the street."

She tried to run for the door but Zenith grabbed her and pinned her against a wall. It was a strange sight, watching a large, formidable looking woman being pinned to a wall by a seemingly average (if not a little fragile) looking man.
The woman let out a mighty roar for help but it was too late, as Zenith was already pressing a finger over a rather fat vein on her neck. He had selected his target.
"Do try to calm down," He whispered devilishly, "I'm sure you wouldn't want me to stain your lovely little shop, now would you?"
Zenith opened his mouth and I caught a brief glimpse of two glistening white fangs, hungry and ready to bite, right before he sunk them down into her neck.
The woman made one final shriek then fell unconscious, hanging like enormous rag doll over the wall.

It was over pretty quickly; once Zenith had finished drinking her he loosened his grip, letting her slide down the wood and fall into an awkward sitting position.
"You should've killed her," said a voice that came from the top of the stairs.
There was a loud creak as a young woman wearing a shockingly pink dress covered in purple bows descended from the top of the staircase.
Her blonde hair was tied into pigtails, and hung in ringlets, framing her face quite nicely. Her eyes were almost the same shade of brown as the wood in the shop, and were the biggest that I'd seen on a fully grown woman.

"You must be the assistant she was talking about; Blaire, correct?" Zenith said, wiping the remaining blood from his mouth.
The girl nodded.
"Are you going to drink me too?"Blaire asked, not at all intimidated by Zenith's general existence.
He shrugged.
"I don't need to, but you've seen too much..."

She stepped forward, shaking her head.
"I don't like Miriam, she never approves of anything I do"
Blaire glanced down at the over-sized woman slumped on the floor before turning her head to Zenith.
"Can you erase memories?"

Zenith nodded.
Blaire smiled and said, "I assume from your appearances that you're nomads who don't really want to be nomads anymore. I can offer you jobs if you wipe her clean and leave her in the forest; if she comes back into the village the town's people will just assume she's gone mad. So what do you say?"
A grin formed over Zenith's face.
"Done."

He hauled Miriam over his shoulder and carried her out the back entrance. I went to follow him but a hand grasped my shoulder and pulled me back.
"Those woods are no place for a young lad, even if that lad is an enchanted doll," Blaire remarked, her voice showing signs of a twangy accent that I'd never heard before.
"Now, what's your name boy?"
I sighed at this.

"Arianna," I stated bitterly, turning to face her.
She gasped and immediately slapped a hand over her mouth.
"Oh I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean..."
I shrugged, staring down at the wooden floor in despair.
"I'm used to it, it's okay."
Blaire lifted my chin up and shook her head.
"No it's not, I can see it in your eyes, it really isn't"

I sighed heavily; everything about this encounter was confusing. Who did she think she was? Why was she so relaxed? What was unsafe about those woods? Why did I feel so tired?
Blaire snapped her fingers and smiled at me.
"I just had an idea; I'm going to clean you up! I'll prepare a bath and I'm sure there's something that will fit you around here..."

After I had finished my bath I dried myself off and put on the undergarments that Blaire had left out for me. There was a knock on the door.
"Arianna?"
"Yes?" I answered.
"Have you finished and put on the undergarments? I've found a few dresses that I'd like you to try on."
I opened the door to see Blaire holding enormous amount of frilly garments in her arms. Her pile was so large that I could only just see her distinctive brown eyes peering over the top of it.
"That's a few?" I asked, holding back a giggle.
She replied, "Yes it is, you'd be surprised as to how much fabric goes into the one dress."

Blaire pulled me into one of the spare rooms and began brushing my hair. For once it started to fall over my head and face rather than avoid it entirely by sticking upwards.
She finished rather quickly and pulled me towards the mirror hanging over the dresser at the opposite end of the room.
I glanced at the figures in the reflection. One of them was familiar, that being Blaire.
The other girl was someone I'd never seen before; her hair was smooth and manageable, though it was short it still looked somewhat feminine on her. It was a dark shade of brown, making her chalky white skin appear even whiter.
I leaned in closer to the mirror; the girl leaned in also, staring back at me with two enormous, glassy green eyes.

She was so thin, her skin barely having anything to cling to other than her bones.
I turned back to look at Blaire.
"I so rarely get to look at my reflection... I had no idea I could look like that," I muttered softly.
She smiled and shook her head.
"I'm not even done yet."

Blaire glanced over at the dress pile on the bed and walked over to it.
She pulled out each dress one by one, examining them then neatly replacing them back on the bed.

"I think this one would fit you best," Blaire remarked, pointing to a baby blue dress with short, puffy sleeves and a large bow at the back.
I nodded and let her put me in it.

I glanced back at myself in the mirror. Surprisingly, the dress fit me quite well, as I expected it to hang off me like a rag.
It fell to just bellow my knees and the collar came up to the top of my neck.
I smiled at my reflection.
I, for the first time since my awakening, liked the way I looked.