Emmanuel Bennett

'I dwelt alone

In a world of moan,

And my soul was a stagnant tide

Till the fair and gentle Eulalie became my blushing bride —

Till the yellow-haired young Eulalie became my smiling bride.'

Loneliness was a curse; a man kept away, rejected by others, was no man at all but a cursed thing. Cursed to crave what he couldn't have. Cursed to watch through an invisible barrier that separated the 'haves' from the 'have nots'.

Emmanuel suffered it for years. From his mother leaving, and his father dying, and all the times in between - Emmanuel had always been alone. There was no number of wet nurses or governesses that could change that fact.

So, he sought refuge in what he knew he could have. He could have his looming, sprawling estate. He could have his books. He could have his knowledge. He could have his laboratory.

Eventually his wealth meant he could have maids. Pretty, young maids in desperate need of work. Pretty, young maids who, in exchange for a little more coin than they were used to, would consent to be his guinea pigs.

All died, but two. Delphine and Hyacinth -the names he'd given them in lieu of their birth names of such common origin- survived.

Dutiful. Obedient. Pliant.

His loyal, loving dolls.

For a while, the three were as happy as could be. They remembered no different, their previous lives forgotten in a fog of serums and operations, and he chose to brush his memories of their before forms aside to embrace the Now.

However, as these things often go, Emmanuel eventually felt that itch again. The itch for something new. Someone new.

An addition to his menagerie of creations.

He scouted for months, choosing the perfect specimen. Beautiful, young and naive enough to answer an ad in the evening papers calling for a new maid to begin at once.

They hadn't even been in his estate for an hour before he'd slipped the laudanum and chloral hydrate into their tea. Sweet enough that, with a spoonful of sugar and treacle, it would go unnoticed.

He lifted them, taking them to his laboratory and beganhis work.

TW: invasive medical treatment, kidnap, somnophilia, non-con/dub-con, blood, drugging.

Delphine (R) & Hyacinth (L)

Bennett Estate (ft glimpse of garden)

Kitchen, parlour &