Once upon a time she had been a bring of great power.

Then she made the mistake of holding an intelligent conversation with her shadow while her sister Olga was in the room and now she was trapped in a space where the moon could not hold her and she was subject to the whims of the suns long fingers. Sasha blamed the shadow, she had always suspected that its allegiances lay with the sun.

The sharp cruel light of morning had driven her away from the uncomfortable cot that served as a bed, until she was crouched into the corner of the small room next to the door, a hiss bubbling in the space between her tongue and her teeth.

This was where the nurse found her, cowering and weak willed. It was a simple matter for the one called Clara to haul Sasha to her feet, even though Sasha whimpered and hid her face from the light of the corridor with curled fists. That kind of light did not harm her but her first instinct was always to draw away from it.

“Hold out your arm, Aleksandrina,” Clara crooned. “It will only hurt for a moment.”

In a moment that was approximately the length of time that Sasha would have been hurt by the needle, the fair Russian witch leaned over and bit her nurse, sharp teeth sinking into pale skin as though Clara was soft like clay.

Sasha was a particularly talented biter, it was the main reason that two different boyfriends had cited for breaking up with her. Clara however did not even bat her eyelashes in surprise once, she simply forced Sasha upright with a strong hand and straightened out her arm so that she could stick the needle into the folds of skin that protected the inside of her elbow and inject her with the substance that had been prepared especially for her.

The patient went limp and sullen against her nurse, and she allowed her to gently tug her into the corridor and usher her towards the dining hall.

“Here,” said Clara. “You can sit over here with Dante, he plays with magic too.”

Sasha tried to bite her again but Clara was a quick learner, and she escaped out of biting reach, leaving Sasha to glare sullenly from the patch of shadow that she had automatically slid into.