of cheeky dogs and haunted corridors [cowt10 | week 07 | m4]

[hannyakoma]

Prompt: Magic - Coldplay

Word count: 1080
Rating: sfw
Fandom: The Arcana
Note: Magic is everywhere, anche in corridoi bui e dove una persona non dovrebbe avventurarsi da sola.

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After the dinner with the Countess, Portia lead the way for Badr towards her assigned room for the night.

The magician thought about the conversation they just had over the dining table. Doctor Julian Devorak was the murderer of the late Count, or so everyone believed; still, something told Badr to not completely trust that idea. Call it instinct, or insight—or more probably, just the tarots.

While walking, Badr looked at the bouncy red hair of her guide. She remembered her reaction at the mention of the Doctor, moreover when Nadia declared he’d be the opening show for the Masquerade (if everything went according to her plan, at least).

Something felt off about that, but she yet didn’t dare to ask.

As they passed a gloomy staircase, a few turns shy from their destination, Badr felt a chill running down her spine. The smell of ash and embers hit her nostrils, but more than that—her attention was caught by the two large, white dogs curled up at the bottom of the stairs.

Their eyes locked onto Badr’s as they stood up, slowly and silently. The magician felt herself stiffen a bit, her eyes narrowing as she watched the two canines approach and smell the air around her.

Whatever they found, they didn’t like. Lips curling back, showing two rows of white, perfect teeth.

Badr almost gasped, but Portia beat her at it.

“Mercedes. Melchior.” she called out, looking down at them with her arms folded over her chest. The dogs looked at her in that same moment, becoming more docile that Badr could have imagined. “Be nice. This is a guest. Got it? A guest.”

Portia then turned to the guest. “They’re lovely animals, but they’re not friendly.”

“Yeah, I think I noticed.” 

At Badr’s lackluster reply, the beautiful servant snorted as to try to stifle a small laugh. She threw them a hard look, to which the smaller one—Melchior—replied by trying to bite her fingers off. 

“Tut tut. What did I say earlier?” Portia sighed, after reprimanding the dog. “Sorry, they’re trained to attack. It’s not your fault, right? No, no it isn’t.”

Badr thought differently. Yes, possibly the two animals were trained to be like so, but there was still something unsettling about them. As their eyes, one red and one black each, stared intelligently at the apprentice once again, she couldn’t help but feel like a bullseye was being placed on her back.

“Oh! That reminds me, they haven’t had their chamomile cakes. They’re gonna be up all night!”The attendant said, out of the blue. Badr turned to her, an eyebrow rising questioningly, but the girl didn’t spare her any time. “Keep Badr company, you two. No biting, no snapping, no growling!”

With that, and a little more insight about how the late Count kept them, Portia disappeared from the hallway. As soon as she was out of sight, both dogs stood up and trotted over the apprentice and began to sniff her on both sides.

Badr looked at them with wariness. Even if Mercedes didn’t show as much as viciousness as Melchior, she wasn’t going to take any chance. Both of them dared to look innocent when she stared at them. 

Cheeky creatures. 

She almost rose her hand to rummage through her bag, when—

“Oooooh hello hello hello, what do we have here… A guest?”

—a wave of uneasiness washed through her like a stormy sea. Badr felt as if her whole body freezed over for a second, then snapped back to action. She looked around frantically, only to see nothing in the corridor.

She nearly jumped when both Melchior and Mercedes started to yank her towards the stairs, almost dragging her relentlessly. They seemed pleased when she took a few steps onto the stairs, but again she stopped upon hearing the voice again.

“Yessss, my beauties… bring that morsel to papa.”

“Who are you calling morsel?!” Badr snapped loudly, without thinking. The dogs growled immediately at that, scampering on the top of the stairs.

They didn’t move farther, waiting and watching the magician intently. Snorting and annoyed, Badr decided to throw safety to the wind and stepped up the stairs decisively. Melchior and Mercedes wagged their tails excitedly when she reached the landing.

“Hehehehehe yesss. It’s been too long since we had company, hasn’t it? And what a little spitfire we have here, mmmhm…” The voice commented again, before dismissing the two dogs.

Badr, despite her demeanor, slowly felt herself growing numb. It might have been the gloomy hallway, or the heat surrounding her form; she barely registered the animals trotting away and herself thinking about some spell lingering around, before a ghostly stare pierced her very soul.

“Now then… Let’s take a proper look at you, my little appetizer.”

She wanted to snap back at the presence again, but she found herself immobile. Hot breath caressing her cheek, the feeling of being circled like a prey—Badr knew she had to snap out of it, but… she couldn’t. Not when the presence commented on her garments, nor when it complimented her “not unfortunate looks”, nor when the ghost took in her aura.

It mentioned Asra. Mentioned Badr being the one “breaking him” and that it would love to get to know her.

Warm, ghostly hands landed on her shoulders and started to push her down the abandoned hall. Panic began to bubble up in Badr’s chest, as the feeling grew hotter and hotter, reminding her of fire and ashes. It burned, but she still couldn’t break out of it.

That is, until she heard Portia calling her name from downstairs.

Badr blinked once, before the feeling of sharp fingers sunken in her shoulders definitely woke her up. She turned towards the entrance of the hallway, taking a step back instinctively as to not bump into the unseen presence.

Then she ran down without looking back—away from the dark and the heat.

Her breath was slightly worked up when she faced Portia again. 

She felt grateful when the redhead didn’t ask her what happened, or where she ended up while she was away. As Badr reached her quarters, but only after saying goodbye to Portia, she curled up on the bed and made a cocoon out of the blankets.

She spent a few hours tossing and turning around, the sensation of fire licking at her skin and claws sinking in her shoulders preventing from getting asleep.

It would be a long night, it seemed.