From Dusk Until Dawn

Chapter 7: Intruder

Rue immediately started to shiver and watched in fear as the girls screamed, their bodies beginning to crack and turn pure white. The man looked at the girls who tried to move closer to him before falling to their knees and violently shivering. Daniela weakly shouted for Lady Dimitrescu, but Rue wasn't sure if the Countess could hear her.

The intruder just smirked before his eyes landed on on Sora. Barely thinking, Rue stepped in front of Sora, not fully thinking about what she could do. The man just rolled his eyes. ''Get out of the way. What do you think you can do? You're just a scrawny little bitch.''

''You don't know fuck about what I can do.'' Rue growled, trying to sound as intimidating as she could despite the fact she was shaking in fear. She wasn't even sure what she was going to do but the only things going through her mind was to get Sora and the daughters, who had curled next to each other, out of this room.

The man just started laughing, which was cut off when Rue tackled him, sending him to the ground. Rue scrambled on top of him and punching him as hard as she could. The man seemed startled at first before kicking the woman off of him. Rue was sent to the ground, coughing violently as she curled in a ball, gripping her stomach. The man got up, wiping his nose, which had started to bleed. He looked at her angrily before looking at Sora and pointing to Rue. ''Don't you dare fucking move, or else I'm going to beat the shit out of you even worse than what I'm going to do to her.''

The man turned to Rue, who started to crawl away. He got on top of her, slapping her when Rue tried to hit him. Looking around for something to use but was punched before she could find anything. Before he could hit her again, Sora came up behind him and hitting him as hard as she could with a painting. The man groaned in pain, falling off of Rue and allowing her to scramble away from him.

He cursed and looked to Sora, who was hyperventilating and holding a painting. ''You stupid little... I'll fucking kill you!'' he shouted, trying to move to her. Rue got up and pushed him away. He just grabbed her and threw her to the ground violently. Sora tried to step in and was just punched in the face, causing her to fall to the ground and holding her face. He looked back at Rue, putting out a knife a approaching her.

He launched himself at her and she managed to dodge the first stab, bringing her arm up to protect herself. The man brought his knife back up before pinning her arms above her head. She watched the knife but before he could stab him, five claw like nail pierced his chest, droplets of his blood landing on her face. The man dropped his knife and began choking on his own blood before being lifted off the ground.

Lady Dimitrescu glared at the man with disgust and anger before violently tossing him to the side and nearly cutting him in half. ''You disgusting man-thing! How dare you harm my daughters and my maiden!'' she spat before quickly going to her daughters.

Rue couldn't hear anything she said due to the winter air whipping through the room. However, she did see the girls get up before Lady Dimitrescu rushed to Rue, picking her up and ushering everyone out of the room. Once they were out of the room, Rue squirmed slightly, causing the Countess to set her down for a moment. Without saying anything, she went to Daniela, who was shivering heavily and tried to warm her up.

Lady Dimitrescu brought them to her personal chambers, carrying Cassandra in her arms while Sora helped Bela and Rue helped Daniela. The daughters sat close to the roaring flames with blankets as their skin began to regain colour and heal.

Rue watched as Sora and Bela cuddled close with the blonde planting soft kisses on her head. She knew it was probably not the right thing to be thinking of, but she couldn't help but recall the conversation she and Daniela had. She could understand why Daniela would be jealous of her eldest sister. She couldn't help but wonder if Daniela felt as if she had to be with a man to be happy.

''Rue, can you come with me for a moment?'' Rue looked up at Lady Dimitrescu, who looked at her with concern.

''Of course, my lady.'' she said, following her to the bathroom. Before Rue could ask anything, she was picked up and set down on the counter.

''I'm just going to fix your wound, alright?'' she said in a soft tone. Rue was confused before looking down at her arm. There was a long cut going down it, still leaking blood. She hadn't even realized she had gotten hurt.

The Countess removed her gloves, pouring some alcohol onto a rag and looking at Rue, silently telling her it was going to sting. The ravenette took in a few shaky breaths as the Countess began to clean her wound. Once she was finished, she grabbed a sewing kit and Rue's heart dropped.

''M-My lady?''

''I need to stitch up your wound. I'll try to make it as painless as possible. Just squeeze my shoulder whenever it hurts.'' the woman said, gently caressing her cheek. The brunette couldn't help but melt into the touch, her eyes fluttering shut. They stayed like that for a moment before the Countess began to working the needle through her skin. She hissed a few times and squeezing Lady Dimitrescu's shoulder.

''What were you thinking?'' Lady Dimitrescu suddenly said. ''Throwing yourself into danger... you foolish girl.''

"I apologize, my lady. I just was worried about your daughters..." Rue muttered quietly. In response, Lady Dimitrescu stopped her actions for a moment, glancing up at the girl before returning stitching up her wound.

"Please, don't apologize. Just don't throw yourself into danger like that ever again." She said, finishing up the stitches and tying a knot. A bit of blood seeped from the stitching, which the Countess stared at for a long moment.

The tall woman bit her lower lip before lowering herself to the wound. Her tongue caught a droplet of blood, causing her to moan softly which caught Rue off guard.

The Lady pulled away, her eyes fluttering up to see the confused and slightly scared look on Rue's face. Her eyes widened in realization and she brought her hand up to Rue's cheek, gently caressing it. "I apologize. I lost myself for a moment. Oh, darling, you're blood tastes divine."

"Y-You drink b-blood?" Rue stammered. Is that why people say no one returns from this Castle? Lady Dimitrescu dries them of their blood because she drinks it?

"Yes, I do. I need to in order to survive. But don't fret, I'll never drain you and I'll ask for permission next time." She said, picking up a cloth and cleaning the the small droplets of blood on Rue's arm.

She couldn't fully explain why, but the feeling of her Lady's lips against her skin made her heart race and caused a pool of heat between her thighs.