BURNING TATTOO

Fluttering her eyelashes and blinking, she tried to clear her eye vision and stifled a yawn forming a teardrop in her eyes. Observing her surroundings, it dawned to get that she wasn't in her room but an unfamiliar room designed in a bluish victorian style. She frowned and tried to sit upright but felt a slight pain in her head, making her feel dizzy and wince in pain.

Hearing her wince, the butler barged into the room, fear evident from his facial expression.

"Mi'lady, are you alright? Is something the matter? Are you in case hurt, Mi'lady? " asked the butler in a hurry, approaching Vilian. She was startled, not expecting someone to barge in, and stood up in a sudden reflex, which made her fall but got hold of the canopy bed post.

Holding onto her head, she felt as if her scalp was about to explode, and she screamed out loud in pain. Astrel immediately entered the room following him Josh and Ashley came in.

"Master, young master, Sir," said the butler and bowed in greeting them. " heard the lady wince and entered the room only to see her stand immediately, losing her balance, and screamed out louder," said the butler in fear.

Josh immediately ran to her side, took hold of her hand, and advised her to rest on the bed, but she was in no state to listen to him.

"Lady Vilian, please calm down. You might worsen the condition if you don't rest a little more. It's going to be alright." He said and called Astrel to take hold of her while he injected the dose into her, and she immediately lulled into a deep slumber.

"Aster, as I said, she'll be alright this time for sure. Falcon, do not disturb her the next time, and I think it is better that you stay beside her, for she's more familiar with you than any of us," he said, trying hard to convince him.

"This is absurd." sighing out, he somehow accepted unwillingly. "Falcon, bring a maid to change her into a set of new clothes." The butler bowed and left the room hurriedly to fulfill his Master's orders. Ashley and Josh left the room. Astrel was left alone with the sleeping beauty once again.

Soon three of the maids came into the room with a clean cloth to get the lady dressed in it, granting permission from their Master. Astrel waited for them to finish their work while he spoke to Malcolm, regarding the day's work delay and informed him that he'd be working from home. The meetings were rescheduled and arranged via an online conference meeting.

In the room, Lizzie, the maid dabbed a wet cloth cleaning the sleeping figure, handling her like a fancy glass, while gossiping in lower voices with the other two maids.

"Ella, who do you think might this girl be? She looks like a doll, don't think?" she whispered aloud.

"I wish I had golden hair like hers." said the other maid.

"I never saw this girl before with Master," said Lizzie thoughtfully.

"Duh, you dumb girl. Have you ever seen Master with any girl? No, right?" Lizzie shook her head. Turning Vilian's head to a side, she was about to clean her neck but gasped on seeing what was on her nape.

"What is it, Lizzie?" Ella questioned the shocked maid and came forward to see what it was. Ella too, fell speechless looking at it.

"What is this? Do you see what I see, Lizzie, Eva? It's... it's glowing!" said Eva, and all three of them stepped away from Vilian in fear.

"What's taking you all so long?" Came the harsh thundering voice from behind. The three maids trembled more in fear, snapping to the direction of the source, and immediately bowed their heads. Ella, not hesitating, walked towards where Vilian was and covered the girl who was half-naked and was left half in cleaning with the blanket quickly.

"M-master... It... She..." Lizzie tried to explain but could barely form a word, stuttering out in fear. Astrel raised his hands and gestured for them to leave. The maids were so glad once they were asked to leave the room, away from the so-called, cold-hearted Master.

"You!" pointed Astrel at Ella, which went unnoticed but the maids stopped abruptly hearing their Master calling and turned to see who was he referring to. A shiver ran down Ella's spine seeing Astrel pointing at her.

"Y-yes, Master?"

"I believe only you being here would be more than, enough to dress up my guest here." Lizzie and Eva gave a worried look at Ella and ran away from the room, building relief, that they weren't picked up.

"Do it in Fifteen minutes, or you'll be labeled as one of the incapable employees of being a maid, begging for work," said Astrel and entered the en-tice to get a shower.

Ella immediately took the yellow sunflower frock and clothed Vilian in it in a hurry. Done with her work, she walked towards the door, turning the doorknob, she was about to fly away from the devil as far as possible, but the idea was crushed when the second, Astrel stopped her again. Ella thought she probably might have woken up on the wrong side for her to face him today a lot. She turned to him but didn't dare raise her head or give a glance at him.

"What was it, that made you maids gasp?" he asked, raising his left eyebrow.

"M-master, there was a tattoo on the lady's nape." She said, trembling in fear.

"Isn't tattooing something usual, or was it the first time you've seen it?"

"That wasn't the issue, Master. The ta-tattoo was g-glowing," she said and was glad that she somehow completed the sentence.

"What do you mean, glowing?" asked Astrel, walking towards Vilian and turning her head to a side, making a view of her nape for him to see. It was reddened, with a black snake tattoo that glowed from green to black, as if it was alive. Astrel frowned, trying to remember the familiar symbol he had seen somewhere. Sighing out, he said,

"What's your name?"

"Ella Quinder, Master."

"Right, Ella. Call the other two maids who were with you earlier." Astrel said, observing the tattoo. "And!" he said it louder enough for Ella to startle in fear again. "Not a word should be uttered, about this incident, do you get it? Unless you would love to be beheaded as an example in front of everyone." Ella quickly ran down the stairs to call Lizzie and Eva. She could only hope that her friends had not yet opened their chatty mouths about the incident, fear of losing her and her friends' lives.

Astrel brushed her soft silky hair aside to take a better look at the tattoo, keenly eyeing it. He looked at Vilian, peacefully sleeping, and then tried to touch the tattoo with his index finger. Slowing trailing from her nape to her tattoo. His index finger got burned just by a mere touch of the tattoo which made him retract his finger away. Though it didn't hurt him, it was not understandable. Why would the tattoo burn his skin unless it was a witchery trick, thought Astrel, and then came a slight knock followed by a stuttering voice of a girl, who was non-other than Ella.