Graymere

My clothes were soaked with rain and I was shivering as I stumbled through the darkness. I was completely lost and could not begin to find my way back to the asylum, even if I could convince the rest of my body to come along. Lightning struck again and I could see the faint outline of a building in the distance. I continued towards it, hoping to find shelter before I get hypothermia.

Finally I made my way out of the trees and reached the house, if it could even be called a house. Now that I was out of the trees, the moonlight illuminated a large ornate double door, more windows than I could count, and three towers: one above the door and two on either side of the building. The whole manor was surrounded with a tall fence, the iron gate of which was cold to the touch.

“May I help you?” A man asked as I touched the gate. I had not seen or heard him approach. I couldn’t make out his face very well, but I could see that he was tall and thin, dressed in the black and white suit of a butler.

“I-uh-” I struggled to find my words. “I’m terribly sorry to bother you, but I was looking for shelter from the storm and I thought…”

He face expanded slightly in what was likely a smile. “But of course. The Master and Madame will love to have company.” He stepped aside. “Enter freely, go safely, and leave some of the happiness you bring,” I hesitated.

Fear resonated inside me and my mind screamed run. This was not the terror I felt in the asylum. This was my rational mind telling me not to trust this strange man. But there was something else my mind picked up. His mouth echoed the words of Count Dracula, a fictional character who would not be written into existence for another 34 years. Any anachronism, however small, was worth looking into. In the end, my curiosity outweighed by desire to not become an idiot like Johnathan Harker and I entered.

A moan escaped my lips as I stepped into the warmth, but the sound of the large door closing and the clicking of locks sent a shiver down my spine.

“Fenris?” a young boy asked from the top of the stairwell, looking from the butler to me. As he walked down the stairs towards us, I could see that he was wearing a very nice and expensive black dark green suit, with bits of gold weaved into the fabric. The boy couldn’t have been more than twelve, but he carried himself with a certain maturity and solemnness that made it hard not to be intimidated by him.

Instead of going all the way down the stairs, the boy stood on the second to last step and eyed the bracelet on my wrist. I wanted to cover it up with my hand, but that would only make it appear more suspicious. I waited nervously.

“Take her to Fire,” he said finally. Fenris bowed and escorted me out. Fire? That was my punishment? I scanned my surroundings for an escape route, but I knew that I would not be able to use any of them with Fenris around. He was too strong, too fast. I bit the inside of my lip nervously as I climbed the staircase with Fenris’s talon like grip on my shoulder.

We entered a room with a crackling fireplace. This is it. This is where I will meet my doom. Three years as time travel stewardess and the one day I finally get to leave the ship, I die.

I was expecting a larger fireplace. I mean, really. I might be able to crawl in, but I was expecting something more dramatic. A bonfire maybe. But that might be difficult to do inside. Still.

I was so focused on the flames that I didn’t notice the girl until she emitted a faint laugh. A scoff really. Like she was expecting more than me.