sanguinis homo

^{cw for canon typical violence, implications of rape, parental neglect, death from an illness}

Castle Dimitrescu didn't get visitors often, and when it did they never stayed for long.
Maybe it had something to do with the inhabitants of the castle. Vampires weren't quite friendly to people with warm flesh and blood.
And in House Dimitrescu, especially not to women such as the one in front of them.
(Behind the man, of course. She's barely shielded from the rain, the man’s disdain didn’t go unnoticed.)
"Hello, ladies. Is there a man in the house that I can speak to? Your father, perhaps?"
The girls in front of him didn't exactly seem out of place; though if they were his own, surely he wouldn't have let them answer the door.
The blonde opened the door wider, "No men in the house, you can come in for the night. It's wet, and cold, I wouldn't want your wife to get a cold," She hadn't mentioned him at all — quite rude, but he wouldn't announce that thought.
She had invited them in, and that got them out of the cold.
"What brings you in here?" The brunette asked, eyes focused on his wife. "It's not often we get guests, and I doubt you've heard of us." Her voice was extremely full of energy, and especially for the time of night it was.
They were all dressed for sleep, so maybe they just got to bed later than the average man… er, woman.
“Should we know you?” This woman’s husband had a knack for speaking out of turn.
“I’m not talking to you, man.” The Brunette sneered, and he was taken aback.
“Sorry for my sister,” The Blonde spoke up again, “Let us get you settled in for the night, shall we? It’s late, and our mother isn’t home. She would hate to know we treated guests poorly, Cassandra.” The directed words made this ‘Cassandra’ roll her eyes, and cross her arms.
“Your mother just leaves you girls all on your own?” That seemed the most odd out of anything he’d been told, yet.
“It’s a big castle, sir. I promise if anything were to happen, no one would be able to find their way around. And if anyone did get in, unwelcomed, I’m sure they wouldn’t find their way back out.” The look he was given felt more like a threat than a promise. Maybe on second thought, he and his wife didn’t need a place to stay. They could walk a little more.
Yet, before he could protest the brunette had taken his wife’s arm in hers and started leading her further into the metaphorical Dragon’s Den.
Cassandra began chattering as she helped the woman dry off, she’d led the two to their room and Daniela had run off
(the man noted that she seemed to float, and moved just a little too quick for comfort. then again; she seemed the youngest, maybe she was the most full of energy. He needed sleep.)
“Where are you from, Cristina?” Cassandra asked softly, toweling the woman before her’s hair dry. It was a pretty brown, not unlike her own. Cristina’s held much lighter strands, they caught in the lighting of the room.
“Czech Republic, originally. Ștefan insisted that we move to the Ukraine, and on the way there our car broke down.”
“I did not insist. It was a mutual agreement, I have family in the Ukraine, y—”
“I wasn’t speaking to you. You men always think you have to put your words in, don’t you?”
“Cassandra,” A scolding tone came from the door that hadn’t seemed to have moved, yet now the blonde — Bela, he had learned — stood there. “You mustn’t mistreat our guests.” There was an unspoken look between the sisters, something that he wouldn’t understand no matter how hard he tried.
Yet, an apology that he would have expected didn’t come.
“Let’s let them rest tonight. I’ll come by in the morning to get you up for breakfast.” Bela nodded gently.


“What the fuck is up with that guy?” Cassandra spoke in a hushed tone; mostly to herself. Daniela, and Bela had long since fallen asleep. Yet, Cassandra couldn’t rest. This woman was in danger, wasn’t she?. There had been yelling earlier. Bela had told her to keep her nose out of it; the man-thing’s time would come.

She couldn’t do as she was told. Who was Bela to stop her? Just because she was the oldest?
That was bullshit, Cassandra thought.

“Cristina, you can’t speak to these girls. You don’t know who’s home we’re in right now.” Ștefan spoke firmly, “Do you want to be killed? This is how we get killed, telling the wrong people the wrong things.”
“Ștefan… I’m sorry, I just am not—”
“You aren’t listening to me again. Is that so hard to do? Just let me talk and you stay quiet.”

Cassandra’s blood boiled. She could stand here, listen to this, and stay quiet. She could listen to it for so long.

She had tolerated it for so long.

“Cassandra, you mustn’t speak up during dinner like that again, my dear. You are going to scare off my business associates, and like that you’ll never find a husband when you come of age.” Her father scolded. Day in, and day out. Cassandra, don’t speak, Cassandra, don’t say that, Cassandra you need to eat with your fork with that food, not your spoon.
“Yes, father.” Her tone was clipped, polite yet… Something bubbled under her skin, something she had always wished for.

Freedom.

It was so far out of her reach now, maybe it would never be in her grasp. She tried to make moves where it wasn’t serious, but her hand was always slapped away when she was moments away from chasing the feeling. All her life, all she had ever come to want was to be out of this house. Away from the men in her life, how they treated her like a glass prize.

She held her own, she impressed them with her archery skills — yet, she was just intended to be a spectacle.
How was that fair? Her cousins were paraded into shows for their skills, praised and treated as superior.
Yet Cassandra, just behind them, had done better than them. She’d earned nothing more than a “Good job, my dear.”
Simple fucking praise.
Praise that didn’t mean dick to her.

“Why don’t you let me go? If you don’t want me here, just buy some little trinket if you want a prize to show off!” She yelled.
“Cassandra. Keep your voice down. Your aunt is here right now.”
“Do I look like I care? I want her to hear! I want somebody to hear me, father. Since you won’t.”
Her words started a fire in his chest, or she had to assume it did. He shoved her. Harder than he had intended.

He lied about her running away that night, and she was buried in the yard of her family home.

The next thing she remembered was the sight of a blonde woman, her face uncovered with wings tucked behind her.
“Where am I?” Her words were hoarse. Her voice didn’t feel the same, in fact… None of her felt the same. The woman was speaking, but all she could hear was a buzzing.

She pulled herself away from the door, slamming it shut as she stalked away from the door.

---

The next few days passed without much issue, every day Ștefan would go out and try to get help fixing his car.

On this day, he just happened to not come back. er. He was in Castle Dimitrescu.
“Maybe he just lost his way,” Daniela offered, cackling.
“Oh no, I’ve taken one mis-step and now I’ve been lost in the labyrinth of this wretched woman’s house.” Cassandra joined in, pretending to be the man that was passed out in front of them. Originally, they had intended to wait for their mother to continue the deed. Yet, it seemed like her time out of the house would be extended for a while longer.

It was no issue, though.
Bela controlled the girls well enough, and kept things running.
The yard would have a new scarecrow, soon.
“I should go check on our new maiden,” Daniela hummed, she didn’t wait for an answer before dissipating into a hoard of flies and stalking through the castle.

“Hellooo~” Cassandra lulled, splashing the man with water. “Wake up.”

The sound of water pouring. Daniela had stopped into the kitchen to grab a worried Cristina a glass of water, she knew she was in the library. Daniela’s favourite, and she was excited to show off the library to the woman.

Yet, she was hit with a cold draft when she opened the doors. She hissed, backing out of the room. Careful not to drop the glass. “Cristina,” Daniela called. “Could you close the window?”
Maidens had been killed for that very action before, she remembered a time that Cassandra attacked a girl with her sickle for it. She tried to run, and she didn’t make it very far.
“Yes! I can do that, I’m so sorry, Dani.” Cristina was so considerate, in that way. Daniela entered the library without much issue, it was still chilly but perhaps that’s how Cristina enjoyed it.
“Has Ștefan turned up yet? I’m so worried… I hope it was alright that I came in here, I thought it might be a nice distraction, to just read a bit…”
“No, I’m sorry but… I don’t mind. I brought you some water, I don’t know if you’ve eaten today,”
“I- I have not, thank you, sweetheart.” Cristina took the cup from her, it was so distinctly different from the rest of the house. It was a simple clear glass cup, something she would see in a cabinet of her own. “Would… Would you stay with me?” Cristina questioned, her voice soft and low.
“I would love to.”

And so, a few hours passed of the two girls talking. Every now and again Daniela would get excited, and rush from her seat to pick up a book. Out of the corner of Cristina’s eye, she could have sworn she saw the girl get higher than should have been possible.
She didn’t question it.

Now, Daniela found herself with her head in Cristina’s lap, and Cristina braiding soft red hair. It was so rare that Daniela had such a soft, gentle touch. She yearned for it, her favourite novels in the library were the romance ones. Smutty novels bored her, but the way a lover’s touch was described compelled her.
“How did you and.. Uh... “ Daniela hadn’t heard his name enough to have remembered it; Cassandra only addressed him as ‘man’, and Bela addressed him as ‘sir’. “How did you meet?”
“Ștefan. And… We met when we were children, we were in school together — it was some rich, private school. Our parents both agreed that we were just... destined to be together.” Cristina laughed, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. The laughter barely reached her face. “We’ve barely been apart since then.”
That was a scary thought to Daniela, she even found places around the Castle to hide away from her mother and sisters. Being with someone all the time was a fear that she wanted to get over, she wanted to feel loved.


It was all she’d ever wanted. Love, companionship, something. She heaved a sigh, hanging off her windowsill. Who was going to come to her, like in the storybooks strewn about her room? There was no knight in shining armour, those weren’t real, and there was no dragon to protect her.
She barely saw her parents, and it was the nurse who came into her room to speak with her. She played messenger for Daniela’s uninterested parents. It hurt.
She had come to love the nurse though, like her own mother.
“Lady Daniela, I have your medicine. How are you feeling?” She spun around in excitement. Not for the medicine, she hated it dearly. Her parents had insisted that modern medicine was going to kill her, yet she wanted to give it a try.
She would die anyways, right?
“Better than I was a few days ago.” She spoke softly, reaching towards the tray for the cup (which she was to inhale for ten minutes at a time, each day).
“That’s good. The massage seemed to help.” She commented, looking at the state of her room. “Have you coughed up any more blood?”
“A little. It’s getting worse.”
The nurse tucked a strand of Daniela’s hair behind her ear. It was a tender touch that Daniela never forgot, even through her death. “You’ll pull through. I know you can.”

Daniela never saw the nurse again.

"What the hell are you doing? Unhand me." the man was conscious as he sneered.
"Your blood tastes soo much better when you fight back. Your heart starts pumping, an you get scared." Cassandra taunted while Bela set him up, to slowly drain him and keep him in position to be a usable scarecrow for the vineyard, just as she'd been taught.
He tried to thrash, and he had just ended up assisting the chimæra in putting the hook through his palm. She had gotten two through his shoulders already, to keep him upright.
"Food shouldn't try to fight back, especially such easy prey like you. It wasn't even a fun chase."
"What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Don't worry, you won't live long enough for the explanation. What kind of man were you, Mr…" She scrambled his back, "Babich." His ID held a photo of himself, "It seems like this is expired, tsk tsk. And you were driving?" She openly shamed him.
His breathing became laboured as the cluster of flies that was Cassandra hoisted him up over the basin.
"Now it's time for the fun part," Cassandra licked her lips, not taking the time to unbutton his shirt, instead slicing the sickle down, knocking into each of the buttons revealing his bare chest. She pressed cold metal against his chest, laughing wildly.

Bela left Cassandra to her fun, the wine from men was less important. It kept the family alive, so Cassandra was as brutal as she wanted with them.

She sorted through his bag, it was luggage that he brought from the car to keep it safe.
Pouring it out onto the floor, pages of research sprawled across the floor. Pages, on pages of mathematics. Who still wrote this much on paper anymore? She couldn't complain, though. She would enjoy reading this, and studying it.


"Bela, my love… No man is going to want you with your nose in a book, please… We're at dinner." Her mother pleaded, yet it always went in one ear and out the other. Like nothing she said could get through to her daughter.
"Mother… I have exams coming up, I can't just stop studying. You spend time with me almost always, I didn't even want to come to dinner tonight anyway." She pouted, writing down another equation, as she chewed on her lower lip.
"Darling… Put the book down, for your mother, please?"
Bela shot her father a glare, exhaling. "Fine." She set the book down.
"And the glasses. You look so much like your father with them…"
Nitpick, after nitpick, after god-damned nitpick. Still, she complied.

The night went on without much of a hitch, and her parents dragged her to a ballroom. It seemed they planned the whole night out.
Bela felt severely underdressed, long sleeved shirt tucked into pants, her hair down and her reading glasses on her forehead. Bell bottoms that were worn into the ground. Hopefully it showed that she didn't want to be here, especially compared to all of the girls who were dressed to the nines, and looking for love.

Bela wasn't. Yet, she felt like she had found it. A man came up to her, introducing himself as John. He didn't dress like he fit in, either. His clothes were far outdated, compared to the other men in the ballroom. Her taste didn't make her mother happy, but she was glad that something could pull Bela away from her studies.

Their relationship flourished, yet it wouldn't prove to Belas mother that she would receive a happy ending.

Three weeks later, Bela was found with her clothes torn, and severely beaten and her body abandoned in front of the university she attended.