Chapter Text
Hearing heavy footsteps, Daciana inched impossibly closer to the corner of her cell, her ears making an appearance, flattening against her head.
"Rise and shine fuzzball," a gruff voice sounded. The man approached her cell, glasses obscuring his eyes, "You have another test today."
___
Bela woke with a gasp, images of her dream flashing through her mind. In this one, the girl was in an arena surrounded by lycans and varcolac. Bela has had similar dreams before always about this girl, whether she is fighting impossible fights or locked in a cell.
Knowing sleep would no longer come easily, Bela decided to begin her work rounds early. She changed from her nightwear into a black lounge dress, sitting herself at her desk. Helping her mother with the winery began as a chore but soon became calming in its repetitive nature. Going over the number of maids in the castle and the bottles of sanguis virginis produced, Bela slowly relaxes after her dream.
That is until she hears howling.
'It's fine, just lycans.' She relaxes back into her seat. 'Lycans that shouldn't be near the castle.'
Bela swarms to her mother’s study, stopping only to knock. As soon as she heard a soft 'Enter' she flew into the room.
"What's wrong molie mică, dreams again?" Alcina asks, opening her arms put to her oldest. Bela quickly swarmed into her mother's arms.
Alcina was the only one who knew of Bela's dreams. As much as she wanted to confide in her sisters, Bela doesn't want them to know how weak she is due to her sleepless nights.
Bela hides her face in her mother's chest, smiling weakly when Alcina tightened her grip. A loud howl causes her to flinch thinking of the girl in her dream.
"Those beasts shouldn't be this close to our castle."
Bela shifts in her mother's embrace. Thinking back to her dream. "She was fighting so many lycans this time," she continues in an uncharacteristically small voice, "there were varcolac..."
Not many things scare Bela, but one is uncertainty, and varcolac are the definition of uncertainty. They are smart but very unpredictable and erratic.
Alcina opens her mouth to console her daughter but is interrupted by another howl. This one, however, is different from the others. Pained, broken, and-
Bela jumps from her mother's arms, "It’s her!"
___
Daciana ran as fast as her injured body could take her, the last varcolac close on her tail. She took care of the others during her 'test' easily enough, but this one was smarter than the lycans. Taking a risk, she cuts through the forest and towards the castle from her dreams.
Those dreams, glimpses of a family, were what kept her sane during the 'trials' and experimentations at the factory.
Looking behind she sees the varcolac had slowed down its eyes gleaming as it tilts its head back and howls.
"Shit" Daciana exclaims, running with a newfound energy. The answering calls of nearby lycans resounding in the forest. Her ears twitch, a low growl in her throat as a lycan takes a swipe at her side, jumping from behind. Daciana rolls to avoid the attack, quickly using her claws to fell the beast.
More and more lycans close in, attempting to either herd her back to the factory or to take her out for good. Her tail bristles, "I'm will NEVER go back to that hell hold!" Daciana growls, fangs and claws lengthening as she charges the nearest lycan. She drags her claws through its throat, quickly moving on to the next lycan.
Through the surrounding fog Daciana can see the silhouette of the castle. Oddly enough the lycans won't step past the tree line. She darts towards the castle gates when another howl sounds.
Directly behind Daciana stands the varcolac, fury evident in its beastly eyes. 'You're still mad I killed your brother' she thought to herself.
The beast growls and lowers itself to the ground in a fighting stance. Bones pop and muscles snap as Daciana shifts into a large wolf copying the varcolac's stance. In this form she was larger than an average wolf, however, she is still smaller than the varcolac.
The varcolac circles her before lunging at her, Daciana dodges but the beast swivels, latching onto her back leg. She tries to kick out and move around to get away from its grasp, only to cause it to clamp down harder.
She let out a guttural howl of pain as she feels the skin and muscles tearing.
With renewed vigor she snaps and claws at the varcolac, forcing it to release her limb. Blood drips from the wound as she tries to put some distance between herself and the beast. Baring her teeth, the beast begins to circle her again, only this time when it lunged, Daciana was prepared. She dodged to the right narrowly missing its jaws as she sliced her claws across the beast’s side slicing easily through bone. Blood and viscera spray from the wound as she limps away from the varcolac's corpse towards the castle gates. Just as she makes it through the gate her eyes meet the most beautiful golden as she collapses.