Chapter Text
All of the unmarried women above the age of 20 are called to the church early one morning at the request of Mother Miranda. Of course everyone, including you, obey her command and line into the pews inside waiting with the others. She appears at the head of the church in front of her alter, her wings basking in the candle light as they flow like water behind her. Everyone bows their heads and whispers praise in Mother Miranda's name but she silences the room with a wave of her hand.
"Line up" she orders.
You stand in line with the others, each one stands in front of Mother Miranda and she waves them away ordering them back out of the church one by one. Then it comes your turn, you stand in front of the reverend mother, averting your eyes until she comes up and tilts your head up with one of her taloned fingers. You swallow nervously, locking eyes with her having never been this close to her before, her eyes are a dullish blue, bordering on gray that pierces your soul. She drops her hand and straightens herself once more.
"The rest of you are dismissed."
There's no objection as you remain standing there, she raises her hand and motions with her finger for you to come forward. As you do she turns and you follow behind her as she walks away from the church through the village, as if making a spectacle of you. All the other villagers bow their heads to Mother Miranda, while they gawk at you. Why are you with her? What purpose do you serve? Your parents are the last ones you make eye contact with, a subtle feeling in the pit of your stomach that this is the last you will see them.
She leads you up the mountain away from the village, away from the prying eyes and there you see where the priestess calls home. A cottage of sorts with ivy along the walls, moss atop the roof, and the exterior in far better condition than most houses in the village. Inside is the same; exquisite furniture as far as style but the house otherwise remains simple in its decoration. You walk into what looks to be a living room of sorts with a large rug, a fireplace, and an unused couch. Across is a table with two chairs, then what appears to be a kitchen with a sink, and simplistic stove. Mother Miranda leads you through the house and unlocks a door which reveals a dark stairwell, she orders you to go first and you obey. The steps are steep making you hang onto the railing for dear life as you slowly work your way down into the abyss.
The stairs lead to an unfamiliar room with things you've never seen before; floating things inside glass jars, anatomical drawings of various animals strung up on the wall, and the entirety smells like mold. You swallow to keep your face neutral, not wanting to offend her because the smell makes you want to scrunch your nose in disgust. You notice a cell to the left and absent mindedly step in the opposite direction which makes you bump into a nearby table. Luckily nothing fell but you reacted anyways, holding onto it to keep it steady before apologizing profusely for it to Mother Miranda. She says nothing, and instead walks forward deeper into the room where another door stands, then she turns to face you.
"This is my lab, where I conduct experiments and you will be helping me. You will be responsible for keeping my lab and the cottage clean and assisting me when I request it."
"I understand," you respond with a nod of your head.
You couldn't understand why she would choose you though, even as she shows you your room and you settle in for the night it still bothers you. You have nothing to off other than mediocre cooking and cleaning skills, none which she asked about. It couldn't be off looks, could it? You're pretty but there's much prettier girls in the village, many of whom wind up married or in the clutches of Dimitrescu. So why you? One thing you know better than is to question Mother Miranda, you will do as your told and obey her every command.
The next morning you awaken to fresh linens for your bed, and clothing to change into. A uniform of sort; long sleeved shirt, long pants, and an apron to cover the front of your torso and top part of your legs. You exit the room to find breakfast and tea awaiting you but no sign of Mother Miranda. You eat the breakfast silently and quickly, washing your dishes before going to the door leading to the lab. It's unlocked so you take it as your invitation to go down there, finding Mother Miranda already working away on whatever her current project is.
"Ah you're awake. Good. Tell me dear, do you have a strong stomach?" She asks.
"I suppose?" You answer.
"Does the sight of blood, organs, and possible other bodily fluids disturb you?" She clarifies.
"No ma'am," you answer.
"Excellent. I need you to dispose of my most recent failure, you can leave it out in the woods for the lycans to pick at."
You swallow nervously and follow where she points her finger finding a long table with a body on it. The body is cut open with organs spilling out, and blood has collected from a hole in the table into a bucket below. You withhold your gasp and turn your head away from the smell before looking around curiously for supplies.
"Underneath the table to your left," Mother Miranda calls.
You try not to think about her being able to read your mind, because how else would she know what you were looking for? As she said, there's gloves, trash bags, and everything else needed for you to properly dispose and clean up a body. You decide it would be easiest to transport in pieces rather than all one, it's a male, and judging from the looks of him he weights far more than you could lift.
"Um, Mother Miranda?" You ask quietly.
"Yes?" She responds.
"May I....cut the body?"
She straightens up and looks over at you, the beak of her mask poking through her feathered hood.
"Whatever for?"
"I won't be able to carry the entire body myself, it would be easier to move it in sections."
"Hm, very well."
Now with permission you find a bone saw, familiar with the instrument considering you come from a long line of butchers. You saw the extremities; arms, legs, and head and transport them out of the cottage and into the woods like Mother Miranda requested. Next you put the torso into a bag and drag it up to the same spot, hearing the crunching of twigs and branches meaning you hurriedly dump the body and rush back to the safety of the cottage. Next you disinfect the table she used and dispose of the blood according to her instructions before you toss the gloves, bags, and other trash into a biohazard waste bag.
* * *
Mother Miranda is impressed with you to say the least; you do exactly as told and even make executive decisions that she approves of when needed. She's left copious amounts of mess behind all ranging from her human corpses to lycans and yet, you clean them without complaint. What she's not impressed with is how she is starting to...like you being around. She's been by herself with nothing but her experiments and occasionally the lords but she didn't realize how deprived of human contact she was. You're not much of a conversationalist which she enjoys, she hates idle chatter but when she does speak up in your direction you offer a yearning ear.
She finally decided to tell you about her Eva, bringing her back because although you never voiced it your facial expression spoke curiosity. Besides, if you ever think of wrong doing or betraying her she'll simply kill you without hesitation. Well, she might experiment first because she hates to admit it but she's grown rather fond of your company. With this newfound information you view Mother Miranda in a different light. Not only is she considered the mother of the village, but she's actually a mother; a mother trying to bring back her lost child who was taken from her too soon. You can't say you wouldn't do the same if you had a child so you thank her for sharing such confidential secrets with you. Since then there's a shift in the dynamic between you and Mother Miranda, she watches you closer, studies your movements, looking for any signs of deviation. You show none.
When her suspicions subside she leaves you for long periods by yourself while she handles the village and the lords. Often coming back and complaining about them to you as if you're a partner or trusted confidant. Today is one such day where she has a meeting with the lords and you have to mentally prepare to handle her energy when she returns. You've got a system down; finish chores, make dinner, make tea, and patiently await for her to return and be ready to listen. You have one chore left which is to clean out the cage in the lab where she often holds those she's going to experiment on. Her last experiment failed and usually they turn into lycans or a pile of dust if they don't die immediately.
You open the cell door to see a full body lycan lying there but it's not moving so it must be dead. Right? Every alarm in your body is going off to shut the door, lock it, and leave it be but you don't want Mother Miranda angry with you for not completing your chores. It doesn't appear to be breathing so you step in and prepare to do with it what you've been doing with all the other bodies. Then it moves, snarling and jumping to its feet, shaking its head as it lets out a deep guttural growl. You can't help it, leaping back and screaming at the top of your lungs as the lycan lunges for you its claws digging into your arms which you hold up to protect yourself. It bites down and you let out another blood curdling scream as it tries to rip the very flesh from your bones.
What appears to be a large, black vine of sorts shoots up from behind and spears the lycan through the head, splattering blood onto your face and making you gasp. The lycan's jaw slacks as it slumps to the side and you scurry back while holding your bleeding arm and shaking violently. Mother Miranda appears in front of you, holding out her arms as she helps you to your feet and takes you over to a nearby table. You sit on it as she rummages through her medical supplies, mumbling to herself incoherently as she pulls out a spray, some stitching, a needle, and bandages. She approaches you and sets the supplies to the side, taking your bleeding arm as she uses some gauze and saline to flush away what blood she can to see the wounds. Then she takes the spray and uses it over the area making you flinch and suck in a sharp breath.
"This will numb the area so I can stitch you up, but you still need to hold very still," she says.
You sniffle and nod your head as you watch her stitch your arm back together with the flaps of flesh she can pull together. Despite it being numb, and more than comfortable with blood you still flinch every time the needle pierces your skin. She finishes and wraps the arm up in a bandage before holding it gently in her hand looking you over.
"Are you okay?" She asks.
"Yes I'm okay," you answer.
"It's a good thing I got here when I did. Most of the damage is repairable with proper attention but there will be scar tissue left."
"Just add it to the rest," you joke.
Mother Miranda looks at you seriously, "you've been hurt before?" She asks with a serious tone in her voice.
You swallow, "I worked as a butcher, having scars is part of the trade. You should see my father, he has two missing fingers."
Mother Miranda sighs softly and lifts her beaked mask, seeing her maskless for the first time makes you hitch your breath. Her flawlessly pale skin, her bluish gray eyes, and her perfectly angled face draws you in. She leans forward and places a soft kiss to your temple before stroking your cheek with the back of her taloned fingers.
"If anyone hurts you, or has hurt you, I will punish them so viciously that the pits of hell will be a vacation in comparison."
You don't know why, but the statement makes your heart flutter as you nod your head in understanding.