Natalia

Damon landed on the top of the Crowmark mansion. He passed through the walls and entered the building.

"Where is the little rabbit?!" Damon whispered as he walked the hall and noticed the maid bringing the food out of the kitchen. He decided to follow her.

The young maid was moving as fast as she could, but the older maid tripped her. The girl spilt the soup all over the floor, and the older maid smirked.

The little maid's name was Natalia Crowmark. She was the stepdaughter of Arnold Crowmark. After Natalia's father was killed, her mother married into Crowmark's family. Despite Natalia's wish to keep her father's last name, Arnold forced her to take his last name.

"Now look what you've done, you clumsy brat!" the older maid complained. "You should be more careful!"

This woman had grey hair, blue eyes, a white coat with red trimming on it, and was wearing glasses. Her name was Mr.s Helen Youngs. Miranda ordered her to make Natalia's life miserable.

"B-but…" The girl wanted to complain but decided to stay quiet because she knew she would only get into more trouble.

"You brat! Go clean this up!" The older maid pointed at the soup on the floor.

Natalia picked up her skirts, bowed deeply towards Mrs Youngs, and ran upstairs. Once upstairs, she started cleaning the mess. Damon stepped out from the shadow, unnoticed by the girl, and walked towards Mrs Youngs.

"Good day, Mrs Youngs," he said politely. Mrs Youngs turned around and looked at the shadowy man in front of her, and her eyes widened. "H… How do you know my name?" Mrs Youngs questioned. "Wait, who are you?!"

"I know many things about the Crowmarks and their servants. I am here because Miranda orders me to watch over them. As for the question, who am I…." Damon paused for a moment and smirked, revealing his fangs. "I am here to punish the disobedient employees!"

Damon felt the malice within the old maid, making him sick. To Damon, the malice the woman emitted was almost on the same level as Miranda's. So he knew she must have done some shady things.

"W-what?" The woman gulped, and suddenly Damon grabbed her arm and scratched it with his claws, leaving a deep wound. The blood spurted out the lady's arm and stained her dress crimson. Damon held his hand above her wound while looking at the woman's face.

"I will let you live for now. However, if I hear of anyone abusing that girl," Damon pointed his finger at Natalia, coming here to clean up the soup off the floor," "I will kill you. I don't care who or what will bully her. You will be the one who will suffer." he threatened.

Mrs Youngs placed her palm on the wound to stop the bleeding. The old maid couldn't speak, she was frozen in fear and the blood dripping down her arm didn't help either. Mrs Youngs looked at Natalia, who didn't even glance at the old maid.

"I am going to leave your presence right now, Mrs Youngs. Don't forget. I was never here. Otherwise, I'll hunt them down everyone you told about me."

Damon took one last glare at Mrs Youngs before disappearing into the shadows. As soon as Damon left the room, Mrs Youngs started crying.

Natalia turned to the old maid to see blood splashed all over the floor. Her face went pale, and she dropped the mop she was cleaning the floor with and ran to help Mrs Youngs to stop the bleeding.

"W-What happened?!" Natalia panicked, and Natalia wrapped Mrs Youngs in the first aid kit and sat next to her on the chair. Natalia watched Mrs Youngs cry in silence. She felt terrible for that woman. However, it would be a lie if she didn't feel like Mrs Youngs deserved it.

Mrs Youngs wanted to tell. However, behind Natalia, a shadow appeared, showing to keep quiet with his finger.

"N-Nothing, I… I just cut myself, but it wasn't bleeding as bad before, so I didn't pay any attention until now!" The old maid made up an excuse. She leaned against the wall and wiped off her tears. "I will be alright!"

Natalia gave a slight nod, still worried about the blood. Natalia heard footsteps coming toward them. But when she turned around, she didn't see anyone. The chills went down her spine, but the steps soon passed them.

"W-what was that?!"Natalia gasped. Her eyes widened as she saw the claw marks on the wall leading to the second floor.

The claw marks continued as the invisible creature went further up the stairs. A few moments later, they vanished altogether.

Natalia gasped, her heartbeat quickening. Natalia looked back at Mrs Youngs. "What is going on?!" Natalia asked the old maid, who shrugged instead of answering.

Despite all the abusive treatment from the old maid, Natalia helped her to walk toward the workers' room and called an ambulance. Natalia kept asking if something was going on, but the old maid kept saying everything was fine, and after a while, Mrs Young lost her patience.

"You realise it is none of your business, you bitch?!" She yelled at Natalia, but after saying the last word, she paled as a smirk showing a mouth full of teeth appeared behind Natalia.

"Y-yes. I am sorry," Natalia bowed her head and left before Mrs Youngs could apologise.

The day passed, and Natalia did not hear from an old maid or any other maid who would take their sweet time making Natalia's life a living hell. She felt relieved after work and went to her room. Her skin felt itchy, her head was hurting, and her forehead was burning. Natalia took some medicine and went to bed before even sundown.

Natalia woke up in the middle of the night to a scream. In her shock, Natalia jumped out of bed and ran downstairs. She heard voices of people arguing inside the kitchen, as well as someone knocking something over. "Hey, what did we say about shouting?!" Someone yelled from outside the door. "I-it wasn't my fault," someone else replied.

When Natalia walked into the kitchen, there was no one inside. The lights were off, except the light from the stove was on. There were traces of broken glass on the ground, along with blood. Natalia gasped. This had to be some sort of nightmare, right? Or it was a dream, but Natalia couldn't remember. Natalia looked at the table again. The glass from the dishes and pots lay scattered on the floor, broken, and dried up with blood stains all over the place. Suddenly she heard a voice behind her, calling her.

"Natalia!~" the voice called for her. The voice was cold, making shivers go down Natalia's spine.

When she turned around, there was no one there. Natalia's skin felt itchy again, and she kept scratching it; her neck was hurting.

"Who is this?" she raised her voice.

Instead of answers, she heard insults coming from behind her. She turned again, but the voice always came from behind her.

"Natalia!~ You're a fucking whore!"

Soon the voice turned into many voices that continued to insult her.

"Why do you always try to run away?~ Don't you realise how much of a disgrace you are?~"

"A whore. They say a whore sleeps with every man she meets!~ You're lucky I didn't kill you the first moment I met you!~"

And then, another one who sounded slightly different from the others spoke up: "They all think you are weak and useless. No wonder nobody wants you!"

"Not even your mother!~"

Natalia felt like running away from the voices as her breathing became more rapid and heavy each time she turned around to look at them. She felt the air thinner, and her throat was getting dryer as time passed. Her eyes were turning bloodshot red.

"S-stop!" Natalia broke down crying. Her throat began to ache painfully, and she tried hard to get rid of the awful feeling.

"S…shut u..up!!!"

Natalia cried and screamed at the voices. Soon, the voices became quiet and disappeared, leaving only silence. That's when Natalia collapsed to her knees, gasping. Her chest heaved up and down rapidly as she attempted to catch her breath, tears streaming from her and her eyes. Her chest began to ache worse than ever, and Natalia felt like she couldn't breathe anymore. She reached out her hands and gripped onto the wooden countertop. She heard footsteps approaching her, and someone placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You're becoming a demon? Let me help you." A shadowy figure told her.

She turned around and asked. "W-who are you?"

The shadowy figure smirked at her. "Don't worry; I won't hurt you. I won't give any trouble to anyone either if that's what you wish." The shadow explained, but Natalia felt like the monster lay. "However, if you wish to get vengeance, I can help you!~"

"Vengeance?" Natalia's eyes were utterly red by now. She recalled how her father died. Arnold was there, and he could have saved Natalia's father. But he didn't. Natalia believed that it was Arnold who murdered her father. "I…I want vengeance."

"My name is Damon Richards! It's a pleasure!"