Victoria's mansion

“So, this is how the other half lives…?”

Everything about Victoria’s house was grand. A super modern mansion, it sat on an exclusive mountain to the north of town, right by the coast. The mountain was studded with other mansions, elegant old homes, and even castles, though less the kind that were true medieval fortifications, and more the kind that looked straight from a fairytale and were monuments to wealth’s ability to make dreams come true for those that have it.

I guessed that many of Victoria’s friends and Stefan’s peers must have lived in those other mansions. It made perfect sense really. The mountain location was perfect, south facing and providing elevated views of the sea, the city and over the land spreading out into the distance, not to mention providing a little extra distance to keep the rich suitably far away from the teeming masses of the ordinary.

The door opened softly, perfectly weighted to swing with ease despite its great weight, as I brought the groceries into the house. The embers of dusk light were filtering through the large windows, now that night was nearly here, before I eventually reached the kitchen.

“Oh my God…”

Dropping Maria’s groceries on one of the massive kitchen islands, I walked around the gigantic space. Marble countertops, a number of ovens and gas hobs, a dizzying array of cabinets, multiple fridges… this was the biggest kitchen I’d ever seen.

Logically, I knew that Victoria’s house would be like this. It was a billionaire’s house, and one I’d seen in Maria’s memories. Even so, knowing something is true and actually getting to see it for yourself were too totally different things.

“All this kitchen space, everything the highest quality. It would be a dream to cook here, any kind of dish you’d want.”

I wrinkled my nose as I realized none of the family had ever actually cooked here. Oftentimes, when asked what they were making for dinner, Stefan would simply reply “reservations.” Otherwise, they had a chef, and sometimes a team of them, on standby to prepare anything their hearts desired.

BZZZZ!!

“Aghh!”

I jumped up, startled, a fierce vibration from my pockets jolting me a little too alert. Pulling it out from the well-hidden slip in my billowy skirt, I found Maria’s company phone, the vibrate setting set to max with no way the maid could change it, the name “Victoria” with a little crown emoji beside it emblazoned on the screen.

A dissatisfied frown took my features as Maria’s memories informed me it had been Victoria who’d insisted on the crown emoji, and just like the vibrate setting, the ability to change it was out of any staff member's hands.

“Uhhh, hello? Maid? Did you **** to **** or drown or something on the way to the supermarket?”

“Ah, Mistress Victoria, please-”

“Uhhh, no. Uh, uhh. Don’t think you can cut me off, okayyy? Now, where the hell are you? I’m literally dying of thirst up here, and you know I can’t drink anything less than Suisse Soie.”

“I’m here, I’m just in the kitchen putting away the groceries.”

“Forget all that now, and get your ass up here, okay? I’m sick of waiting, and I don’t have time to waste just because you’re being lazy!”

Victoria hung up the call almost as abruptly as she’d started it, while my emotions burnt inside me.

Who does she think she is?? First she talks to Annie like she’s a bug, barely even worthy of being in her presence, then she’s treating Maria as though she’s a ****? Unbelievable!

Anger boiled in me, Victoria’s callous and petulant attitude pissing me off to no end. She really thought just because she was born into wealth, she was so much greater than everyone else, so much more than they could ever be. The logical part of me, even as it was pushed to the background while my emotional side roiled, still acknowledged that Victoria was a natural consequence of a society where greed always goes unpunished when it’s carried out by the powerful, and her inflated ego was just another symptom of a world where a person’s worth was so often considered to be only what was in their bank.

But tonight… there will be punishment. Victoria has been free to play the brat, to step on everyone around her, shielded by a system that bends over backwards to cater to her every whim. Well… she’s about to realize she’s pissed off the wrong guy. Not all of us are so helpless, so unable to take action. I’ll use Candida’s dark gift to be vengeance and justice all in one, for all the people you’ve stepped on, abused and mistreated. And I’ll take the privileged skin of a spoilt little princess as my reward~

A sinister grin spreading across Maria’s plump lips, I took a crystal glass from one of the cabinets, filling it with some of Victoria’s ever so precious Suisse Soie water. That grin turned positively evil, as a single spine pierced through the skin of my finger, pumping just a little skinwalker liquid into the glass, mingling seamlessly.

I wonder… just what kind of effect a little skinwalker fluid will have on you Victoria?

Maria’s memories had given me the schedules of the family, I knew that tonight Stefan was working late and Eva would be out partying later. I knew that Victoria had been grabbing Sushi in town for dinner with her friends at that five-star Japanese place, before driving her matte blush pink Porsche home.

There’s no-one to get in my way now… no one to save Victoria. I can do whatever I like with her… including experiment a little~