Blood Lily

My eyes darted back and forth between the two maids as I waited for their obvious response.

They were in complete unison, including their slightly confused, mouth open head tilts at my question. If they didn’t look so distinct from one another, outside of height, which seemed around my own height, I would say they were twins.

The one on my right had a darker skin color and wavy black hair. I noticed that the brows above her brown eyes were noticeably fuzzy, in a cute way.

The one on my left was nearly as pale as me and Miss Magnolia, err, well, my mother. She had straight blonde hair and pretty sky blue eyes.

What really piqued my interest was how the blonde-haired girl had fangs, much like the ones I saw on my reflection in the mirror. The black-haired girl, however, did not have fangs. Were they vampires or not? I could safely say Mr. Bat-butler, err, I mean Birch, was one, but what about the rest of the staff?

They gave one another a quick glance and affirmed that the only other person in the room, me, was indeed who they were speaking to.

“Yes,” they said in unison. “Please come with us, sir.”

“O-ok,” I said in nervous response.

It was just weird hearing them say ‘sir.’ I mean, it gave off this air of importance, especially with all the formality. It made me uncomfortable, honestly, but I’m not planning on complaining over something so negligible.

I scooted back in my chair, making that really annoying ‘chair scooting’ sound that I was hoping to avoid making.

I stood up then, of course, nervously, and turned around to scoot the chair back in place, but they did it faster than I could myself.

“Thanks,” I said.

Maintaining their unchanging and expressionless faces, they just gave me a unified and confused head tilt again.

“This way,” the fuzzy eyebrowed girl said as she backed into the hallway, gesturing me forth with a bow.

“Go ahead,” the fanged girl said at my side.

Well, they weren’t giving me any other option so I simply nodded and walked towards the hallway.

Moments after I stepped through the door, I heard it shut tight, forming the great leafless tree once again and startling me in the process.

“Follow me,” the probably-not-a-vampire-girl said.

“Follow her,” the probably-a-vampire-girl said.

As I turned around, the latter went around me, to follow from behind I guessed.

However, once she moved out of the way and I started walking towards the former, I caught notice of her from behind.

D-does she have a big fluffy tail?!

“Yes, I do,” said the fluffy-tailed girl.

“Yes, she does,” said the non-fluffy-tailed girl.

I slammed my lips shut, embarrassed beyond belief. I really, really need to stop blurting my thoughts out.

As I silently followed my escorts, I desperately sought out something I could ask to break away from this awkwardness.

“What’s your, uhm, name?” I blurted out. “B-both of your names.”

“She’s Millie,” the girl from behind me said.

“She’s Amber,” the girl in front said.

Ok, Millie the darker skinned girl. With a tail. Amber the lighter skinned girl. With fangs. Got it.

“N-nice to meet you both, I’m… uh…”

I forgot I still didn’t have a name.

“W-well you can just call me O’Sang.”

“As you wish, sir O’Sang,” they responded together.

Well, that still felt weird, but it was better than just sir I guess.

We didn’t really say much else until we arrived at our destination, back up two flights of stairs to the floor I started on. We ended up going back past the room I first woke up in, actually, and I could have sworn I saw someone in there as we passed it.

“In here,” Millie said, opening a door on the left, beckoning me inside.

"In there," Amber added.

There was a tub covering much of the area on the right, a shower with a sliding door in the back, and a marble counter with a sink. Oh, and a toilet near the shower. All a pristine and brilliant white, of course.

As I was taking in the marvel of a bathroom, I felt something being wrapped around me. Around my…

“Ah!” I yelped in surprise.

“Hold still,” Millie said.

“W-what are you doing?”

“Taking your measurements. Lady O’Sang’s request,” she answered plainly.

“Preparing the tub,” Amber said as the sound of hot water came rushing out of the tub’s faucet.

“Oh,” I said, calming myself.

I noticed myself in the mirror above the sink. My tattered clothes were riddled with holes and stains from the months I had been wearing them. I found them in the middle of the park once, near the fountain. I didn’t want to just… steal them, but several days went by with no one taking them back and I was in desperate need of new ones. They never fit me perfectly but they were far too worn out and far too large for me now.

I would definitely look less out of place with new clothes.

Millie finished measuring every inch of my body around the same time Amber finished preparing the tub, steam rising above the water.

Then, Millie handed me a towel.

“We’ll wait outside. Knock on the door when you’re finished. And wrap this towel around yourself, like this.”

She showed me how to wrap it around myself, making sure I didn’t accidentally expose anything.

“And leave your hair tied as it is, for now,” Amber said.

My hair was tied? I checked myself in the mirror, and, sure enough, it was tied up above my narrow shoulders.

Huh, she must have tied it up swift enough for me not to notice when Millie was teaching me the towel wrap technique.

Millie opened the door and they both turned to me.

“A message from Lady O’Sang,” they started saying in unison. “Enjoy yourself.”

And with that, the door closed, leaving me alone for the first time in hours.

I looked over to the mirror then the full tub.

Oh. The realization set in. I have to take my clothes off and take my first ever bath. Hot bath.

I laid the towel down near the tub and took another glance at myself in the mirror. I was quite thankful they gave me some privacy for this, I was half-afraid they were going to wash me themselves...

I squeezed my eyes shut then took the dirty clothes off, tossing them somewhere on the floor.

“Don’t think about it. Just get in the water,” I thought to myself as I turned towards the tub, my eyes staying as high as I could without tripping on anything.

I lifted one slender leg over into the water, without looking. The heat almost made me jerk my leg back out but I decided to just push through. “It’s not gonna hurt,” I told myself.

Then, I stepped in all the way and lowered myself down, slowly, until my entire body, minus my head, was covered by the water.

Wow… It didn’t hurt at all. It was incredibly nice, actually…

“Ahhhhhh…” I let out a long sigh, releasing years of pent up stress as the heat relaxed my body.

And, fortunately, the surface of the water was covered in a thick layer of foam and bubbles. I internally thanked Amber.

I opened my eyes, staring at the ceiling as I continued to relax more and more.

“Hot baths are the best…” I mumbled to myself with an undeniable grin.

Seconds turned into minutes as I had my eyes closed, soaking in all the good feelings I was learning how to enjoy today, until…

“Right?!” I barely heard a voice from the hallway say, breaking my peaceful bliss.

I focused in on my hearing, trying to listen in.

“…can hardly believe he’s supposed to be a guy with how cute he looks and acts. Such a shame it’ll only last a few more weeks,” I heard one voice say.

“Oh, and I almost busted out laughing when he asked if I had a tail out loud like that! Must’ve never met a werewolf before,” another voice said.

W-were they talking about me? I don’t act cute, do I? A werewolf?!

I sunk deeper into the water as my earlier embarrassment rose to the surface.

Me and my dumb mouth…