#Trying really hard not visualize Baron Harkonnen everytime I write “My Lord Baron”

[thepenultimateword]

Hard fingers crushed Bryony's arms, yanking, dragging, bruising, and finally shoving her downwards. Her knees hit the floor so hard they throbbed. Why were there marble floors in a study? Who had the right to be this ridiculously wealthy? She fixed her eyes on the veins of grey cutting through the white, half because she doubted the guards would let her look at the master of house so casually, and half because she didn't dare to. The stupidity of her actions was already sinking in with a heavy helping of embarrassed dread.

"My lord Baron," one of the guards said, tightening his fist around Bryony's arm. "We found this thing lurking around the grounds.

"A woman from the village?" came a rich, honied voice. The words seemed to glide with an almost uncanny smoothness. She fought a shudder.

The other guard grabbed a fistful of hair and wrenched back her head, hooking his gloved index finger under her top lip to expose two clearly elongated fangs. "We think she's from one of the clans in the wood."

Bryony blinked up at the figure in front of her, half-shadowed by the sun streaming through the window at his back. Even leaned back on his desk as he was his stature was tall, tall, tall. Lycan were always busting out of their clothes, but this was impressive, maybe more so because his clothes were so perfectly tailored to his massive size. Ac couple button winked braggingly from his waistcoat, snug but not tight across his great broad chest. Her eyes traveled from the fitted sleeves with their gracefully buttoned cuffs to the trouser ends tailored right at... Bryony blinked harder. The baron's shoes were weird. More of a wrap than an actual shoe. As she scrutinized the dark cloth and leather, trying to understand the strange shape, something swished along the floor. She leaped a little in the guards' grip and perhaps misinterpreting the movement as a tug for escape, one of them gave her gruff shake. Her eyes jostled in their sockets, but as her head stilled again, her gaze immediately went back to the spot on the floor behind the baron's feet. The bushiest, sleekest, longest-haired tail she'd ever seen brushed the marble.

"You may release her."

"My Lord Baron," a guard protested. "To release such a creature would be a risk to your safety. Especially if it is at its full power.”

Bryony slowly raised her gaze from the tail to the baron’s shadowed face. Her breath caught in her throat. Baron Pell Wulfhelm. Maybe she should have taken that surname more literally. His fur fluffed over his cravat but was sleeked back along his head and face, obviously just as maintained as the tail. The snout was shorter than what she’s seen on wolves in the wood, but there wasn’t much other disparity except the eyes, a warm, human cognac brown rather than the typical yellow, orange, or amber.

Maybe she made a face because Wulfhelm grinned down at her, in doing so baring all his pearly fangs.

"She doesn’t look particularly well-fed to me. Release her.”

The guards broke under the second order; the hold abruptly lifted, and Bryony fell forward onto her hands.

“What is a vampire doing trespassing on Wulfhelm property? My guards think you’re here for me.” He fluffed the fur on one cheek. “I wouldn’t blame you. However, the unconventional manner of your break-in raises some doubts.”

“What break-in?” Bryony said, a little more snarly than intended. “I came up the walk like any other civilized person.”

“My point exactly. No self-respecting vampire would let themselves be caught if they didn't want to be. Especially not without putting up a fight. Not to mention you arrived in broad daylight, putting you at a serious disadvantage.”

“I was going for submissive. Like you said, you would have been suspicious otherwise.”

Wulfhelm circled around his desk and plopped down his chair. “Fair enough. So. Why are you here?"

Bryony slowly rose to her feet, watching the guards out of the corner of eye. They tensed, but as Wulfhelm remained relaxed, they made no move to grab her "I'm looking for a job. People say you're not picky about employees.”

One of the guards scoffed. “What sort of job would Baron Wulfhelm have for a parasite like you?”

Wulfhelm waved him off. "Why?"

Bryony frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You come from one of the clans, don't you? That's not me making assumptions, it's just facts. Your society revolves around hunting the humans; their lives revolve around hunting you in return. There is no foreseeable reason why you would leave the wood and the safety of your clan--something I assume you've done more than once if you've been talking to 'people'--to come here. I cannot benefit you in any way as I’m not willing to open my or anyone else’s veins for you.”

Bryony took a defiant step forward, fangs flashing as she snarled, “I never expected you to! And I don’t need ‘safety’! I don't know if you've ever seen a clan up close, but it's hell! So if it doesn't make any difference to you, I'd like a job!"

A pair of hands clamped on her left arm, and she had to fight the urge to whirl around and bite the guard responsible. "We'll remove her immediately, my lord baron," he said, an air of barely veiled disgust in his voice.

Don't. Don't. Don't.

His pulse beat loud and rapid behind her, excited on power and devotion. She sank her fangs into the inside of her cheeks instead. Why was this happening now? Just because she was emotional? She'd thought she'd gotten the hang of control, but she'd have to try a lot harder if she wanted to remain outside the wood.

Wulfhelm's gaze seemed to burn into her as the second guard grabbed her right arm. Did he see? Did he know?

“I am in need of a new attendant," he said suddenly, causing both guards to freeze mid-step.

Bryony blinked. "Attendant?"

Wulfhelm examined his nails. "Taking care of my clothes, my hair, my food, and other personal duties.”

Bryony blinked again, slowly registering the position. The guards must have processed it at about the same speed because it took them a couple seconds to explode in protest.

"My Lord Baron!"

"Please, for your own safety--"

“Isn’t that the sort of job for another man?” Bryony said.

Wulfhelm shrugged, long tail swishing up into his lap where he brushed through it nonchalantly with his fingers. “Man, woman, I don’t really care. No one can take their eyes off me anyway."

He shot her a knowing look, though Bryony figured it was hard to keep your eyes off any man covered from head to toe in fur not to mention graced with a wolf's head.

She jerked out of the guards' grip with an ease that, for a split second, made them shy back, and stepped right up to Wulfhelm's desk. "You must have other options."

Let's see..." Wulfhelm tapped his chin with one clawed finger. "I don’t trust you around the livestock, you are unable to taste the cooking, I doubt you have any skill in accounting, you're aversion to sunlight makes you unfit for gardening, and my library is already well-attended. My guards would be sorely displeased with me if I put a strange vampire among their ranks, and frankly, I don't trust this not to be a trap, so I'd rather not give you access to my security. I suppose I could offer you a maid position but it involves polishing quite a bit of silver.”

Bryony's mind raced for some other position. Nightwatch? No, he said he didn't want her as security. Ratcatcher? Was that a job here? She didn't know what work looked like in a mansion. In the clan, it was just whatever needed doing, and even then it depended on one's position in the hierarchy. Things must be different here if Wulfhelm allowed so many people from the village to be his employees. Though it was strange he would offer such a personal position to a stranger, one he didn't trust at that.

Suddenly it struck her. This was a rejection. Wulfhelm didn't actually want her as an attendant; he expected her to refuse. That way he could get rid of her without any conflict. Well, if he thought getting rid of her was that easy, he had another thing coming.

“I’ll take the attendant position.” No sooner was it out of her mouth than a heavy pit lodged in her gut, half regret, half anticipation. She didn't know anything about attending a baron. She hadn't ever been allowed near her people's gentry and even if she had, it was nothing like this. But still, this might be her way out.

She looked to Wulfhelm for his reaction, but rather than looking surprised or upset, he seemed...completely unbothered. Like he couldn't have cared less either way.

"Good." He swished his tail back to the floor and rose to his feet. "Because you are my special employee, I'll give you your first day tour, but after that you'll have to get along on your own."

“My lord,” one of the guards protested as Wulfhelm strode past him. “I don’t think it’s safe to have such a creature so close to you at all times.”

"If you are concerned, Sarian, it's your job to see me protected. Take more precautions if you must. But I assure you, I'll be quite safe. Come along, Miss..."

Bryony hurried after him, just a little bit dazed. "Bryony. Just Bryony."

The guards moved to follow as well, but Wulfhelm held up a clawed hand to stop them. "You may return to your posts."

"But the vampire--"

"I don't think I need a guard to protect me from my own personal attendant. Do I, Bryony?"

She shivered at the attentiveness in his gaze, along with the sudden use of her name. He probably didn't know how uncommon that was amongst her kind. "No."

"You see?" With that, Wulfhem was gone, and Bryony, head ducked down, exited the study several steps behind. The baron didn't look back to see if she was still following, but he talked at the air ahead of him like she was. "We'll only cover the main rooms you'll be frequenting. No need to see every bedroom and parlor in this old place. And you may explore the gardens more fully at night when you've finished your evening duties with me. I'll be sure to tell the guards to leave you alone. I'll ask Ronan, my steward, to instruct you on your duties, and tomorrow we'll get your clothes sorted. You're tailoring appointment and the first two sets of clothes are out of the household account, but after that, any personal clothing choices or uniform replacements will come out of your pocket. Oh, you'll receive a stipend of 2 silver pieces per month. This is the main sitting room."

He waved through an open door at a large, pale-yellow room with plush white carpet a fireplace, and several chairs and sofas. "Mainly for attending guests." He continued on down the hall. "Anyway, I'll give you the rest of the day to settle in, but I do expect you to start immediately. My last attendant quit on me quite suddenly and it's been rather a pain finding another. That's the library." This time Wulfhelm only gestured to a large polished door. "You probably won't need to tend to me much while I'm in there, but you are welcome to read any of the books in your off-time."

"You're trusting me to just wander around?" Bryony interjected before he could start on another long rant.

"Until that trust is broken, yes."

"But it thought you didn't..." She frowned at him. "Why? This all seems too easy."

He stopped his speedy step, long enough to turn toward her. "It's a blend of things. I'm desperate for a new attendant. I don't feel like you're here to hurt anyone. I think your presence could be advantageous."

She cocked her head. "Advantageous?"

"Never mind that. I'll show you the kitchens next. I'm sure we can arrange something with the cooks to keep you fed. You can drink from other sources besides humans, correct?"

Bryony bristled. "Of course I can!"

Wulfhelm clearly knew nothing of the clans. If he did, he'd know that a vampire of her station was forbidden from partaking of the "superior source."

"Very good. I'd hate to lose any of my employees or fall prey myself."

Again, so nonchalant. This wasn't some giant trick, was it? A way to move her willingly to a prison cell?

Baron Wulfhelm didn't seem particularly conniving, and his reputation in the villages was good. But that was for humans. Mortals. Bryony was of the very spawn that his family had banished centuries ago. She would probably do well to keep her guard up while she was here. But that didn't change that she had little choice but to trust the baron was being honest. She couldn't afford to return to the clans.

"With focus, Miss Bryony, you're going to walk this route on your own tomorrow."

Bryony jolted back to attention, quickly blinking in the massive kitchen in front of her, full of bronzy ovens, long tables, and bustling chefs. Upon noticing the baron they bowed their head briefly before continuing on with their work.

"You will come here first thing in the morning to collect my breakfast, then bring it to my quarters. That's where we'll be going next. The most important part of the tour: my rooms."

No, Wulfhelm certainly did not act like a man luring her into a trap. From his steady heartbeat to his confident voice, she detected no deception. Perhaps he really was just as kind as the villagers said. Maybe from now on...things could be different.

#Trying really hard not visualize Baron Harkonnen everytime I write “My Lord Baron” #But I like the sound of the title #so i keep using it #creative writing #werewolf #vampire #fancy werewolf #werewolf x vampire