I arrived at the village of Weir with my meagre belongings stuffed in a bag, clutching Lord Ledley's letter in my breast. I tried to ask the carriage driver for directions to the estate, but he had left almost before I set foot on the ground.

A passing woman was kind enough to point me towards the path that led out of the village and into the forest. Following it would eventually take me to the river Auber, where the Ledley Manor stood. She spoke of Lord Lionel with barely hidden scorn - to hear her say it, the estate was crumbling, which meant Weir was too. The harvest was bad, the rains had brought disease and death, and the young folk were leaving the place to go seek their fortunes in the cities.

I promised to her I would try to carry the people's concern to the Lord, although I planned to do no such thing. This job was all I had left; I did not know what I would have done without it. Lady's maid! It was silly - I did not have the first clue about it, as I had only ever worked in the kitchens, but apparently the position was not popular and demands were not high. In fact, Lord Ledley had thanked me as I was the only one who responded to the job offer and had any qualifications. When I asked some of the staff at my former placement why that might be, they had shown similar scorn:

"Everyone knows Ledley Manor is a ghastly place," said one.

"It stands by the grim banks of the Auber, in the ghost-infested woodlands surrounding Weir - not a nice place to live. Damp, cold, and dark, I've heard," said another.

I did not mind. It was bound to be better than the streets where I had been sleeping for the past month, trying to fend off vagabonds and debating with myself if I should sell my body.

It was October, and the sky was grey, though luckily it did not rain and I reached the river bank without having to dirty my one serviceable set of clothes with mud.

The house rose next to a bridge that continued deeper into the woods, which did indeed seem to get darker and denser in that direction. It was an elegant place, with a large porch at the front, two storeys as well as a wooden tower at each of its corners. At least two of those had broken windows and the garden that surrounded the building was unkempt, but to me it seemed like a safe haven.

I knocked at the door. The elderly man who responded was the butler. Apparently he was one of the only two permanent members of staff left at the household before my coming, the other being the cook, as he was quick to inform me. He led me to Lord Lionel's study, where I stood, trying to smooth my skirts and appear like someone who knew what she was doing.

He ignored me for a few seconds, going over some papers, and then looked straight in my eyes. He seemed like a hard man, and instanly unlikeable, although he was nothing but civil.

"Miss...Lilian, is it? I ask little of you, and offer little in terms of payment. Although," he said as he examined my appearance, "you don't look like you are in a position to demand more anyway."

I lowered my head, wondering if my dress had some tear I hadn't noticed.

"My daughter Lenore does not really need a lady's maid," he said. He sighed and his look became troubled. "She is...a creature of melancholy. What she really needs is a companion. One who keeps her happy. One who points her to a road of virtue, obedience and proper behaviour. Unlike her sister." He said that last part under his breath. "Do you think you can handle that?"

I nodded, though in truth I was wondering what his daughter had to feel melancholic about. I was the one who had every right to be depressed. What problems did she have, compared to me?

He waved me away, and I left. I had not realised Lord Ledley had two daughters, but I thought exhibiting ignorance would not be the best start, so I allowed the butler, Jarvis, to lead me upstairs, then to the left and up another staircase to Lenore's room in the northern tower at the back of the house. It was one of the two that seemed intact, the other being diagonally opposite it, at the front and on the other side. I opened the door and found a girl lying on her bed, reading. Her bed was by the window, across from the door. She regarded me for one second, indifferently, and went back to her book.

"She's always like that," said a voice from next to me. I jumped, mostly because I had not seen the second girl there, and also because she looked exactly like the other one.

She smiled mischievously. "I'm Eulalie. I'm the fun one," she said. She - they - had straight, raven black hair, and were pale like the sun hadn't seen them in months. Which, if the village woman was to be believed about the weather, it perhaps hadn't.

"Nice to meet you, Miss. I'm Lilian, I will be Miss Lenore's lady's maid," I said, making a clumsy curtsy.

"Sure. Lady's maid. Daddy's worried about Lenore's state of mind. He's worried I might've poisoned her with my unruliness. Daddy doesn't understand Lenore isn't a puppet." She looked over at her sister, who hadn't moved an inch, except to turn a page, then back at me, and smiled. "But I think you'll be good for her."

Eulalie caressed my cheek as she said that, as if examining a new pet.

Lenore finally put down the book and acknowledged my presence. "Don't scare her, Eulalie." Her eyes were slightly red, as if she'd been crying before I came up to the room, but now she forced a smile. Standing next to her sister, I noticed their lone discerning feature - Eulalie's hair fell down to her waist, while Lenore's was slightly shorter. Other than that they looked identical, even wearing same gloomy long black dresses with laced necklines and sleeves. I soon understood they were easy to tell apart though, since Lenore never smiled, while Eulalie seemed to have a permanent smirk lurking just behind her twisting lips.

"How old are you?" Lenore asked me suddenly.

"I'm sixteen, Miss." In truth, I did not know exactly - I might have well been a year older, but honesty would just reveal my too-humble origins.

"She's younger than us, Lenore."

"So she is. A few ground rules: you sleep here in our room. You do not report to Lord Ledley what should be kept from him."

"What should be kept from him?" I asked.

"Eulalie. Now go take a bath. I'll lay out some old clothes of mine for you. We can't have you looking like this."

I bowed my head and shuffled my feet towards the bathroom, which was adjoined to the twins' bedroom. The ceiling had stains from the dampness and the window was rattling in the wind, but there was hot water, which I hadn't enjoyed in years. I took advantage of the luxury, only to discover I hadn't asked for a towel. I called out to the sisters.

"Come as you are, Lilian. You're going to sleep here, we'll see you naked, might as well start now." I could not tell which one said that.

I came out of the tub and into the bedroom, dripping, suddenly cold, and trying to cover myself as best I could, afraid the two would be waiting to mock their new toy. Instead, when I came in Lenore approached me and wrapped my in a robe, though I noticed both her and Eulalie staring and measuring me.

"I like your hair," Lenore told me when I got dressed. "It's really red," she added as if I didn't know.

"I like the freckles. They make her look innocent. That will be fun," added her sister, grinning.

I didn't know how to respond to such ominous compliments so I just thanked them.

I spent the next hour arranging my few things on the low bed and nighstand that was reserved for me. A rugged doll, a half-torn daguerrotype of my mother, and a copy of Frankenstein.

Lenore looked approvingly at the book. She liked that one, she said. And a woman had written it! She liked that even more I think. Eulalie looked at the photograph, and seemed for a moment to share her sister's melancholy. She held it for a long time, though she clearly saw something - someone - else in her mind.

"She looks pretty," was all she said before she carefully set the picture back at the nightstand.

"I need to get ready for dinner. Lilian, if you please," said Lenore, and it took me a minute to realise it was my duty as her maid to dress her.

Lenore stood turned away from me and bent her slender neck, her hair falling down its right side, to allow me to unzip her dress. I did it, trying to ease my breath as it fell off her, revealing me her naked back.

There was a reason I had lived in the streets, being thrown out of the house I was working at without a letter of recommendation. The reason had a name: Beatrice, and she was the master's niece, whom I had been caught fingering in the cellar. Beatrice had a thing for redheads. I had a thing for women's backs, and Lenore's was as beatiful as Beatrice's, the shoulder blades protruding mesmerising me.

Eulalie snickered, probably noticing my expression and coloured cheeks, but Lenore just pointed at what she wanted to wear. I fetched it - an equally modest and bleak dress, though deep purple rather than black, and with more intricate lacework. No corset - they were both ethereally slender. I helped her into it and buttoned her up, slowly, as much to avoid catching her hair as to admire her.

I turned to Eulalie, who stood on the bed - there was apparently only one master bed that they both slept in - with her feet dangling. "I can do you too, Miss Eulalie - it's no trouble."

"Oh I'm sure you can, Lilian. But I'm not invited to family dinners. I would be neither expected nor welcomed."

I frowned at the obvious injustice, although what was more confusing to me was why, if Lord Ledley so disliked his second daughter and wanted Lenore to be free of her influence, he allowed them to stay in the same room. I took a look around and noticed that the floor space that my bed occupied seemed to bear marks of a larger bed, as if one had been removed from there. Could Lord Lionel actually not know Eulalie was here?

I decided it was not my business to wonder and accompanied Lenore downstairs to the table.

I stood awkwardly a few steps behind Miss Lenore as she and Lord Ledley took supper in the dining room, with Jarvis going back and forth to bring the food from the kitchen. The time was filled mostly with awkward silence and even more awkward smalltalk, though the Lord did not seem to notice, even when he asked his daughter what she thought of me, as I sat right there. Jarvis had brought me a plate with some lamb and a bowl of soup and a chair to sit, and I devoured everything without worrying about my image.

"I like her, father. I think she will be good for me. Truly." Lenore spoke the words with a practiced smile that seemed to satisfy her dad.

As I followed her back up the stairs, the old pendulum in the entrance hall signalled it was 9 o'clock. It had seemed like hours to me, but dinner had lasted forty minutes.

"Time to play," announced Eulalie the moment the door closed behind us.

"Have you eaten anything?" I asked, my recent life experiences making me conscious of the value of a meal.

"Don't worry, Lilian, my sister doesn't starve," said Lenore. "What do you want to play, Eulalie?"

"I've heard of this game called truth or dare. We're playing that."

Lenore seemed less than enthusiastic, but also unable to resist her sister's urges. It didn't look like I had a say in the matter, which was perhaps to be expected. I was only the maid. Eulalie explained the simplistic concept and turned to me.

"Truth or dare?"

"Truth," I said.

"Why did you take this job?"

"I was fired from my previous job. I was homeless. I had nothing else."

Her look implied it was my turn.

"Uh, truth or dare?" I asked Lenore.

"Dare."

I realised I had nothing in mind to tell her to do. After a few seconds of trying to come up with something, I asked her to sing Scarborough Fair.

Her voice suited her mood. It was soft, melodic and altogether morose, though my choice of song played its part.

"Truth or dare?" she asked me.

"Shouldn't you ask her?" I said, pointing at Eulalie.

Lenore shrugged. "Eulalie has no secrets from me. It would be pointless."

"But it's not fair," I mumbled. "Truth."

"Why were you fired?" Her dark eyes looked straight into mine, and I felt I couldn't hide from her.

"I was cought frolicking with the boss' niece," I said under my breath.

Lenore's lips curled ever so slightly, in the closest I ever saw her to smiling. "You were right," she told Eulalie.

"Truth or dare?" Eulalie asked.

"How is it my turn again to answer?"

"It's my turn to ask, isn't it?"

I opened my mouth to protest but I could see this would get me nowhere.

"Dare. But games are supposed to be fun," I complained.

Eulalie smiled a smile of bright white teeth. "Yes, they are! Fun it is." She looked at the ceiling as she pondered her challenge.

"Stand on your hands." she finally said.

"What?"

"Do it. Use the wall to hold you."

"Eulalie, come on," said Lenore.

"No, no, that's the rule of the game."

When they gave me the clothes after my bath, they did not include any underwear or petticoat, just a stout dress. If I stood upside down it would fall over me and expose me. She knew it.

My eyes started to well up - they had already seen me naked but this felt just mean.

"You don't have to do it, Lillian. Eulalie, you can be a mean little bitch sometimes."

Eulalie seemed surprised at my reaction. "What! It’s just a game!"

Lenore got up, signalling the fun, or her sister’s version of it, was over. Exasperated, Eulalie went and sank in an armchair by the window, watching the rain. She pouted. I composed myself and asked if I could borrow a book to read, picking at random some poetry collection. I cared more to appear occupied than to actually read it. After a while of aggressive whispering with her sister Eulalie came and sat next to me.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult you. I didn't do it because you are a servant or anything. I just...I mean I'd do it if you asked me during the game. But I am sorry that I made you uncomfortable. You really are a nice girl. And father is going to regret hiring you."
"Why do you hate each other?" I asked.

"That's a story for another night. Why don't you come sit with us? You've been reading the same Longfellow poem for half an hour."

I joined them at the bed, where Lenore was playing Solitaire while Eulalie took to drawing my portrait on a piece of paper. When I realised I tried to stay still, and I saw her smile. After a while she handed me the paper.

"That's not me," I said. "She's far too pretty."

"Maybe you didn't have a mirror in the street, but we have one here. You can check."

Lenore had stopped her game and was looking over my shoulder at the sketch.

"Eulalie's good, Lillian. If you find this pretty, then it's because it's true."

“Well, thank you. Both of you. Even if I wish I was more like you two. If your faces were more round, you’d be just like the porcelain dolls I saw in the shop windows at the city.” In fact, their sharper, angled features suited them better. Their eyes and their full lips seemed larger on their lithe faces.

“You’re staring. Do I have something on my face?”

“No, sorry. Sorry. Anyway,” I said to break the silence that was forming. “Lenore said you were right, before. What were you right about?”

Eulalie smiled. “We both guessed you had to be a bit desperate to take this job. You’re young but had some work experience, so why come all the way here? You must have been kicked out without reference letters. Lenore said you were probably a thief. I guessed you are a little whore. No offense. Though I was surprised it was a girl.”

Her look was approving, which felt liberating and encouraged me to be honest. “It was not fair. No one batted an eye when the master’s son cornered me in the kitchen and fucked me - excuse the language - in plain sight. No one cared that every other house guest would grope my ass when I served dinner. Hell, they even encouraged it. I don’t know if they were offended because I was caught with the master’s niece and not his nephew, or because it was my finger inside her and not the other way round.”

“You seem to think the world should be fair. It's a weird delusion for one so poor. But don't worry; we are far less judgmental here in the countryside,” said Eulalie.

Lenore rolled her eyes. “No we’re not. We can just hide our scandals better. Fewer witnesses.”

“How many scandals can a house with two servants have?” I asked.

“Oh you’d be surprised. Sure, Jarvis is as scandalous as a sheep, but the house wasn’t always this empty. And servants aren't the only ones who live here. There are many secrets here in Ledley Manor, Lillian. Dark secrets. Deadly secrets.” She wiggled her hands in a manner that was probably meant to be spooky.

“You don't scare me Miss Eulalie." It was true. Despite my earlier outburst, I remembered what an improvement from my previous situation this was.

“Maybe we can't scare you. But I think we can scandalise you. What do you think, Lenore?” said Eulalie, leaning in and kissing her sister on the lips. This wasn't a performative gesture meant to shock - it was a practiced and honest kiss. Lenore's tongue found her twin in Eulalie's mouth and her hand wrapped around her hip.

My eyes widened in surprise, but I couldn't ponder on the moral outrage their actions represented, as my rapidly wetting cunt clouded my judgment. Then again, my social morality compass was already broken.

Eulalie gave me a sideways glance and extended her hand, taking mine in it and pulling me closer, inviting me to join in. As I approached, she turned to me and our lips touched, while Lenore bent her head and began to kiss my neck. They moved somehow in unison, one's hand reaching between my legs to rub me over the dress while the other slipped under it to grab my ass. They both started kissing me on either side of the neck, moving down till each of their mouths took one of my nipples to lick and bite gently.

They took a break to remove their clothes, standing before me, their backs straight, clearly boasting their beauty. Satisfied with my wide-eyed adulation, they soon went back to work on my hardened nipples, Eulalie's hand reaching over Lenore's ass to play with her pussy.

After a couple of minutes, I interrupted them to remove my own dress, and they looked me over like predators.

"I believe the proper thing would be for her to go down on you, sister. She is after all your maid."

Lenore laid back and spread her legs as I crawled between them, kissing her inner thighs before wrapping my hands around them to work on her cunt. I lifted my eyes to see Eulalie's ass swaying as she had sat on her twin's face. She was soon moaning and my tongue worked on overdrive to ensure I could get the same reaction from Lenore.

It was a lot to ask - those two knew each other's bodies exactly like their own, and it took just a few minutes for Eulalie to start convulsing wildly, though she kept relatively quiet. Judging by her hand pulling my hair and her low moans, Lenore had started enjoying my services, but she was not anywhere near coming.

"I think you need a change of perspective," said Eulalie. I was unsure if it was addressed to me or not, but then she turned me on my back and Lenore positioned herself on my mouth, her tight ass in front of my eyes as she lowered herself to lay on top of me and give me the same treatment. As her tongue started working on my clit, I redoubled my own efforts, my hands spreading her ass cheeks.

Eulalie, not wanting to be left out, at first laid right next to me, playing with herself and whispering in my ear:

"Don't worry, it's not your fault. My sister is very, very tight, and not just figuratively. You need to really try to give her an orgasm. I've always had to do the hard work; I'm much easier. You'd think we'd be the same, but no."

She leaned closer to me. "We're really excited to taste you. We've only ever had each other."

She slapped her twin's ass, then remembered she was trying to be quiet and shushed herself. Meanwhile I could feel I was close to bringing Lenore to climax, as she was moving her hips in tune with my tongue. Suddenly she started spasming and I had to hold her ass in place to make sure I kept eating her out through it all, as she was breathing heavily, her fingers inside me as soon as her mouth left so she could moan easier.

"That's it! Good job, little whore. And using only your tongue - I usually have to fuck her with my hand." Eulalie kissed me, her tongue licking off all it could from her sister's juices.

"I think Lillian deserves some attention too, sister," said Lenore, breathing heavily and pushing her sweaty hair from her face. "And it's just that you use your hands really well."

They both started kissing me, making their way down to my thighs, each of them holding one leg apart so they had space to play. Again, they moved almost in unison, and I soon started to beg, as they seemed intent on licking every inch of my body apart from the wet mound that craved most for their attention.

Eventually Eulalie put a finger inside me, then, seeing how easy it was to slide it in, a second, a third, and finally her whole hand. Maybe it was something about the cold, slender, delicate hand of a high society girl fucking me more savagely than any cock; maybe the fact that I knew almost every man in the world would kill to be in bed with these identically depraved sluts; but in any case, Lenore had to shut my mouth, first with a kiss, then by holding her hand over it, or I would be heard all the way to the across the forest to Weir.

Afterwards, the sisters curled up on either side of me; I fell asleep in their embrace, and though I thought I heard them moan in the night, when I woke up, I was in my own bed. Eulalie was gone, while Lenore was sleeping soundly.

I got up and heard a bell ringing from downstairs. I realised that meant breakfast, so I roused my lady quickly. I though she would wake up in a good mood after the previous night, but the sun had returned her to the morose mood she wore like a veil.

Breakfast seemed like a feast to me, but Lord Ledley seemed discontent. The bread wasn't quite fresh for his taste. I thought he was just being weird; but then the cook, a middle-aged woman called Virginia, came to apologise: apparently the miller's son had fallen very ill, and she hadn't been able to find bread this morning. Lots of people in Weir were falling ill of late, she said. They thought a curse hanged over the village.

Lord Ledley seemed to get the insinuation - the people attributed the disease that plagued their community to him.

"Ignorant, superstitious fools! Maybe they should clean their wells once in a while, see if that helps. It's just a bad year. That's all." He dismissed the cook, and she withdrew with a promise to get some supplies from the next village, though she exchanged a look with Jarvis that said they were not so convinced of Lord Lionel's explanation. For that matter, he didn't seem too sure either.

The day went by quietly. Lenore was almost dormant, reading books at a very slow pace and barely acknowledging my presence, and Eulalie was nowhere to be seen. In the afternoon we went for a walk around the estate gardens beyond the bridge - though the bushes hadn't seen a gardener's shears in a long time and the grass had grown tall, the path that went through the them was kept relatively clean. Lenore talked little, and over trivial things. She mentioned nothing of our nightly adventures, nor of her sister. In the evening, I expected Eulalie to make an apperance, but she did not show, and we went to sleep.

By the next day, I was half-convinced I had dreamed the entire thing. Then, after dinner, we went back to the bedroom, to find the prodigal sister waiting, a smile on her face. Lenore lit up when she saw her, at least a little. I confessed I wasn't sure any of it had been real and was afraid to ask.

"I told you I'm the fun one, didn't I? Without me, Eleonora could sit and watch an ant on a wall all day long."

"We're twins. When you are away I feel empty."

Eulalie hugged her. "I come as often as I can. You know father can't find me here."

There was no sex that night - Eulalie stayed only till Lenore fell asleep, then left quietly as a mouse.

#

And so passed October, and then November came and went. I accompanied Lenore to breakfast, lunch and dinner, and despite her quiet brooding, Lord Ledley was pleased - apparently, as Jarvis told me, before me Lady Lenore would barely come down for one meal a day, so I was making progress.

She spent her days reading, drawing - though not as well as Eulalie - or just watching the rain outside the window for hours on end. When the weather was good we'd go for a walk in the gardens or sometimes a bit further into the woods. Eulalie would occasionally steal in our room in the evening, though I never saw her come in; but that was once, maybe twice a week.

When she came, sometimes the night would turn into an orgy; whether it did seemed to depend on if Eulalie could spend the whole night, which in turn affected Lenore's disposition. I found myself waiting for Eulalie's visits almost as much as her sister. There was no shortage of depravity when the mysterious sister came in a horny mood. Once they had me eat them out for hours, taking turns sitting on my face. I could barely move my jaw to speak for two days, and drank so much pussy juice I thought everyone would smell it on my breath. Another time they did the opposite, each of them licking my cunt until I had come so much that I passed out.

I never asked Lenore about Eulalie during her daylight misery. I was afraid it might ruin what I viewed as a perfect arrangement for me. And on the nights Eulalie didn't come, I never did anything with Lenore, since she was never in the mood for it.

It was in mid-December when, despite my wilful ignorance, things changed. It was an unexpectedly sunny day and we had walked down the garden path, past the bridge and then into the woods. The evergreens glistened in the wake of the previous day's rain. It was a spectacular sight.

"Well, I can't imagine these woods to be ghost-infested," I said, remembering what my former colleagues thought of this place.

"Oh, I'm sure there are plenty of ghosts, and ghouls and God knows what else haunting these woods, Lillian. And perhaps people are right to fear them. But they should fear the living as well. There is no safety, in this life or the next." That was the longest sentence Lenore had spoken in a week. Her eyes were like great black pools of obsidian, always looking somewhere I couldn't see, as if she was peering into another world.

I realised I was angry at myself for being complacent and failing to make this girl happy. I realised all I wanted to do was to see her smile.

"Miss Lenore," I blurted, "I think I love you. Not just you, that is, Miss Eulalie too. What I mean is, being in your service - in all capacities - is what I want to do. But there are so many things I don't understand."

Lenore's kiss came suddenly - her movements were usually extremely slow and graceful, but when she was horny she was almost savage. She pinned me against the trunk of a tree and quickly managed to get her hand beneath several layers of clothes to fuck me with her fingers. I melted under her touch and quickly came, amidst mumbled promises that she could do whatever she wanted to me, as if she hadn't already been doing so.

Then she turned her back on me and bended over slightly, laying her hands on the tree to steady herself. I lifted her skirts - despite the cold and her fragile appearance she was dressed much lighter than me - and knelt behind her. My own clothes would be all muddy but I didn't care - I was going to do the laundry anyway. I pinned the back of her skirt on her bodice, leaving her ass exposed. I slapped it and the sound seemed to echo throughout the forest.

I spread the two perfectly round halves and buried my face in it, my tongue dancing around and inside her hole. She recoiled at first but then brought one hand back to keep my head in place, as I inserted my middle finger into her front slit . She started swaying her body, and when I felt her being close, I swung my head around and went under her to drink from the fountain of her cunt.

We sat for a while on some dead tree trunks to catch our breaths. In the silence, I wondered if I had gone too far with my confession, but Lenore looked at me and said:

"I suppose it's time you knew." She got up and bid me to follow her. We went deeper into the forest, where the trees got denser, and the light dimmer, even in the afternoon. We kept walking, even as the sun lowered on the sky. I was worried of getting stranded here in the dark and cold, when we reached a clearing, in the midst of which stood a mausoleum of grey stone. The statue of an angel with its gaze turned imploringly to the sky decorated the vaulted roof.

"Tell me, what is written, sweet Lillian, on the door of this tomb?" asked Lenore, almost ceremoniously.

I walked up to the heavy oak door. Two names were written on it:

Ligeia Ledley October 7, 1797 - December 8, 1834

Eulalie Ledley January 19, 1832 - January 30, 1849

My knees felt weak, and I held on to the walls of the mausoleum.

"It's been almost a year now," I heard Lenore say behind me. "Just before Christmas last year, Lord Ledley discovered he wasn't actually our father. Mother was a rather...promiscuous woman, and he found some letters attesting to her many infidelities. She should have burned them, really. I guess she didn't expect to die. But it had been too long since then, and father doesn't hold grudges - he sees opportunities. He decided that if we weren't his blood, we could be his concubines.

The first time he tried to force himself upon her, Eulalie run off and drank poison. She got very weak but didn't die from it. But father panicked, and paid the doctor to sign a death certificate, then buried her in here. Alive."

Lenore stayed silent. I didn't know what to say. Had her sister returned from the dead, or had she simply escaped?

"And here I thought he didn't like her because he had found you two in bed and blamed her. What happened? After?" I asked finally.

"I died," sounded a voice from inside the vault. The door opened slowly, and Eulalie walked out. She was much paler than I had last seen her. "And then, I woke up. They tell you the undead spread like some kind of communicable disease, that vampirism is transmitted by the infected to others. Maybe that happens too. But in my case, I was not bitten by a prince of darkness, nor did the Devil visit me to offer me life eternal. It was sheer, pure, unending hatred that brought me back from beyond the veil."

"I knew nothing of what happened. I thought Eulalie got sick and died of a fever. Only when she showed up at my window a few days after her funeral did I learn the truth - about father and what he had done," said Lenore.

"How can you still stay here? With him?" I asked.

"I am bound to this tomb, Lillian. I cannot venture far from it - no further than a night's worth of distance anyway."

"What about vengeance?" I insisted. "Aren't you at risk?" I said to Lenore.

"We know daddy's plans," she replied. "He is waiting for me to turn eighteen, because then I will have access to the trust bequeathed to us by mother's family. Then, he will show evidence I am not his real daughter, and unburdened by blood, marry me. By force, if need be. He's only waiting because he fears I will kill myself like Eulalie tried to do, and then he will lose the money."

"It's not just the money. I think he really wants to win you over. I've seen what he does before he goes to bed, and I don't think he's thinking of Lillian - no offense, dear, I myself think of you often enough when I'm alone." Eulalie smiled her predatory smile.

"But," Lenore continued, "we have plans of our own. Since we can't leave, at least together, we need the house. If father were to die, the manor would pass to his brother, not his daughter. But if he were married, his wife would claim it."

"So you intend to let him follow through on his plan?"

"Only till the wedding night. That's the time when Eulalie comes out. He's in for a surprise."

They seemed fairly certain of their scheme. I wasn't an impartial observer, but if felt just. Still, Eulalie seemed terrifying in the gathering dark, and I felt myself cower before her glowing eyes.

"You are responsible for the disease plaguing Weir, aren't you?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I try not to kill them, you know. Usually. The doctor had it coming. Or the magistrate who's been covering father's - sorry, Lord Ledley's - other misdeeds. But for the most part I make sure they survive. That's why I visit so rarely," she said, looking lovingly at her sister. "I do not risk coming when I'm hungry, only when I've had my fill."

"You can drink from me," I said without thinking. I probably felt guilty for my earlier confession to Lenore, as if I was getting between them.

"Tempting, but you need to get back, and you'll need your strength. I will come when I can. And I may take you up on the offer." Eulalie withdrew back into the darkness of the tomb, her eyes two burning coals of hatred. Or maybe love.

#

Over the next month, Lenore's stance began to change. It was an act, but a well-played one. She didn't become cheerful, but left her room more, and avoided Lord Ledley less. He complemented me on my work on a few occasions.

Before the New Year, he called her into his study to discuss a 'matter of importance'. He deliberately, slowly revealed to her what he had learned of her mother's infidelity. He pretended to be deeply hurt and shocked when he found out. And troubled - so very troubled. His still loved her, he said, but something had broken. He could not simply abide this dishonour and pretend it had never happened. He had to disown her. But he didn't want to leave her impoverished, so he would do it after she got her inheritance.

Lenore told me he almost sounded sincere - if he hadn't suggested that grief or shame over this was what had killed Eulalie, she might have felt a measure of pity for what awaited him.

"But what if mother's family challenges the will, daddy?" Lenore asked with her eyes open wide in worry. She had practiced the delivery of that, or similar lines that she could use, a lot with me in previous days.

That's when Lord Ledley suddenly came up with a solution - what if they married? He needed a new wife and it would help reforge their bond - or something like that. Lenore feigned shock at the notion - but gradually over the next few days reached acceptance.

They both were masterful pretenders. The only difference was that Lenore had read the play's script till the end.

The marriage was a hurried affair. In the morning, a notary came to confirm that the authorities accepted that in the face of the evidence presented, Lenore was not Lord Ledley's daughter. In the afternoon, a priest was brought in, from a city far from Weir, so that he wasn't aware of the situation, to conduct the ceremony. I was the sole witness, as both Jarvis and Mrs Virginia were given the day off.

I do not know what transpired after. I know that when Lord Ledley went to the bedroom, it was not Lenore waiting for him there, but Eulalie. I thought I heard a scream but it might have been the wind.

Lionel Ledley was never found - but Jarvis swore to the constable that he saw his master on the day after the wedding, and he had told him he had urgent business in the north. He had taken the road that cut through the marshes, a notorious perilous choice, full of outlaws, slippery paths and jagged cliffs.

Lenore did not pretend to grieve - her morose mood was already known, and it was not an act. Her twin had died. But gradually Eulalie began to visit more and more often, till she was there almost every night. Lenore's demeanour changed accordingly, and so did mine. Weir prospered, as Eulalie honed her powers to bring unexpected riches to the village. The people were pleased with their new Lady, even if there was talk of her sister's ghost. Even if people still suffered from a mysterious disease occasionally.

There were rumours, of course. Rumours of the undead, rumours of a vaulted tomb and the dead who groaned within. Rumours men coming to the manor so the Lady could watch them fucking her maid. Rumours of forbidden books and cloaked mystics arriving to discuss heresy and occultism. It mattered little so long as the village prospered.

In time, Eulalie's bond to the tomb loosened, and we could relocate. We left Ledley Manor for the sprawling cities where the coming of electricity made the nights a fertile feeding ground. In turn, the night life attracted girls and boys alike to our boudoir. It took a while but I eventually convinced the twins to sample a few of the many cocks that I enjoyed, though they always preferred women. In this new world of sex and blood, they forgot about the Manor and the wounds it carried. But I kept Lord Ledley's letter. For all his unforgivable sins, he was the reason for my happiness. Sometimes I offered a silent prayer for him.

It's been over a hundred years now, and though we've never returned to the ghost-infested woodlands of Weir, I expect the house will have long since fallen, its ruins upon the grim banks of the Auber giving passers-by only a faint echo of things and tragedies past.