Resident Evil Lady Dimitrescru/OC Part 1

Every ten years the villages surrounding the tall mountain picked ten young adults, both male and female. All selected would travel to the village picked that round and on the first official day of summer, the ladies of Castle Dimitrescu would descend the mountain. They would look over the chosen young adults and pick the ones that would fill their needs. Whether it be as a maid, gardener, stable hand or something else, whatever role they needed filled they would.

While everyone knew the ladies of the castle were monsters and ate humans, the villagers were under the ladies’ protections. As long as they continued to staff the grand manor, it’s property and pay the monthly tithes, they didn’t have to worry about outside forces taking over and destroying the villages. For centuries, long before anyone alive in the village could recall, the Dimitrescu family kept the villages surrounding the mountain safe. It was a great honor to work there.

It was why every village had a rotation of sorts so that everyone would have a chance to be chosen to be presented to the Mistress of the castle to hopefully be chosen. It was a coveted spot, something announced months in advance to have proper time to prepare. It was something everyone waited for.

It was something Heather had waited for her entire life. It was something she yearned for. She was one of the few orphans the village had, her parents having been killed when she was younger. She was an outcast among her village. Friends she thought she had turned on her, forcing her to become the village pariah. She always had to beg for food and forage through trash for food, steal old and worn-out blankets that were thrown out to keep warm and tattered clothes to wear. It wasn’t the best life, of that she knew, but it was hers.

The parties, celebrations and preparations for the chosen to prepare to show their best selves in hopes of being picked were something the entire family would help partake in. But Heather didn’t have that luxury. Instead, she would do her best to patch up her best looking clothes. She smiled as she watched all the villagers race around grabbing last minute things and preparing last minute foods for the feast that always took place after the ladies of the castle left. The feast would either be in celebration for someone from their village being chosen, as it garners favor from Lady Dimitrescu, or the feast would be condolences for no one making it and to start plans for the next choosing in ten years. Which it was was, Heather was hoping she wouldn’t be there to find out.

Every time someone from the castle visited the village to buy miscellaneous wares and services, they nearly always complained about how hard the work was. They always told stories about how vile the ladies of the castle were with their captures and how very possible it was to be hurt and very likely killed; even if it was on accident. They were never shy about validating long held talk of how the ladies were monsters and housed other monsters in their employ as well. Heather didn’t know what type of monsters there were in the world, she barely knew how to read to look it up in books and no one would talk to her past yelling at her to leave to give her any information.

Heather had spent the entire previous day beating out all the dirt from her clothes; she wanted to do her best to make sure she looked as presentable as possible. Lady Dimitrescu always arrived right at noon. Heather wanted to make sure she arrived just a minute or two before so she wouldn’t have to be around the others for long; there would be fewer chances of the other villages kicking her out of the area. Many weren’t happy that she was chosen, but they couldn’t stop her from participating. But she they could certainly force her to hide and not offer herself as a worker if their words got too harsh or if they did something to ruin her already lacking clothes.

Nervously, just as the horse led carriages started to enter the main city square, Heather slid into the last available spot. She stood next to someone who she had once concerned a friend and someone else who she didn’t personally know before her parents’ death but hadn’t bothered to hide his disdain about her existence.

“I’m surprised you bothered to show your face.” The woman next to Heather said with a sneer. Heather bit her lip to stop from retorting. It was something she struggled to learn: to keep quiet. Saying something to either defend herself or to retaliate, always ended in something bad happening to her. It was never worth it. She always ended up physically hurt. She didn’t want to risk getting any more bruises as she currently didn’t have visible ones.

“Even rats have hope of a better life.” The man on the other side of Heather said.

If it wasn’t for the carriages coming to a stop at the start of their line, the insults likely would have continued. Thankfully, Heather had everything time perfectly so she wouldn’t have to deal with it for long.

The carriage was far grander and bigger than any Heather had ever seen. It was so large Heather was sure there had to be at least a dozen men in it. But Heather knew, as did everyone else in the village, the large carriage held only Lady Dimitrescu herself and her daughters. The other two carriages were to hold any new employees they would get from the village. Heather thought it was always such a waste to bring two carriages when it was said Lady Dimitrescu rarely picked up many people. The Lady’s employees, while scared most of the time to work for her, were fiercely loyal and as far as Heather knew, no one had ever actually quit. It was both a dream and very stressful to work for the Lady of the castle.

All eyes went towards the carriage as a door opened and a brunette-haired woman with a blank look on her face slowly left the carriage. The woman was dressed in a black cloak and if Heather wasn’t mistaken, there appeared to be dried blood on her cloak. Perhaps those rumors of the Dimitrescu ladies torturing people in the castle wasn’t as far-fetched as they thought.

A hush fell over the crowd as the village leader went forward to welcome Cassandra Dimitrescu to the village and to explain what improvements they have made over the last decade or so. Since the village paid tithes to the castle and received help in return, it was customary for the village leader to update the Dimitrescu ladies on anything going on in the village at least once a season. When they came to look for new employees, they gave the update just before Lady Dimitrescru, or in this case Lady Cassandra, looked over the prospects for employment.

“Stop.” Lady Cassandra said with a commanding tone, instantly causing the village leader to stumble to a stop and look on confusedly. “There’s only one person here worth taking. Mother has had her eye on her for a few years now. This was simply the best opportunity to do something about it.”

Lady Cassandra turned away from the village leader and started to walk down the line of the ten selected villagers. She eyed each one with a critical eye as she slowly made her way down the line.

“Everyone else simply not up to the high standards Castle Dimitrescru requires.” Lady Cassandra said as she walked, “It is true no one usually does when we hire them but it seems the last few decades have produced less and less desirable workers. It really is unfortunate.” Her harsh words caused whispers to erupt over the entire crowd. Some villagers were let down of not being up to their standards while others were growing angry over her harsh remarks over the villagers.

“Y-yes milady, I’m sorry.” The village leader said, unsure of what else he could say to defend his own people.

“Next time, please try to be more respectable. The manners you humans have leave much to be desired.” Lady Cassandra said as she came to a stop in front of Heather, turning to face the shorter human with a wicked smile that nearly made Heather shake in her shoes. “This one though, this one belongs to my mother now. Come little human, my mother doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

“She wants me?” Heather said with wide eyes, completely unsure of what that meant. “Are you sure?” Heather could practically feel the loathsome death stares coming from her fellow prospects and even fellow villagers.

Lady Cassandra took on an almost feral look, “Trust me little human, mother would never mistake what belongs to her.” Before Heather could respond or question what position she was wanted for, Lady Cassandra pulled Heather into her and a vice grip hug, “Such fun awaits you.” She said with what appeared to be an evil smirk before all but racing back into the carriage with Heather in hand.

As soon as the two women were in the carriage, which was surprisingly empty of any other passengers, the carriage raced off as quickly as possible to the castle. Heather sat on one side of the carriage, entirely nervous about what was going to happen to her and why the Lady Dimitrescu was interested in her. She would have asked Lady Cassandra about it, but with the wicked smirk still on her face, Heather thought it would be wiser to keep quiet.