Lady Hannah Norwood, noblewoman of the Norwood family, owner of Castle Nor surrounded by the Norwood Woods and local villages. She is the last surviving member of a noble family who defends the throne of the royal family for many centuries. Despite the Norwoods' heroics, it may all come to an end. Noble families have lost their status due to the rise of industrialism and the royal family's military reforms to make standing armies. No longer is the kingdom reliant on the nobility to maintain order and protection in the realm, the national army can be equipped and deployed faster; the noble families of times past remain but their wealth dries up. Even with all of this change, another disaster strikes the standing of the Norwood family. Hannah suffers from a curse from when she was a child; a wandering witch cursed her to suffer from mental hallucinations that cause her at night to wander around naked in search of blood. This has happened since she came of age, but her parents were able to restrain her, with them deceased and no other family, Hannah roams the woods looking for blood. She tried delving into black magic to cure her, but it only reinforced her. Now in every village tales of a haunted specter "The Banshee of Norwood Woods" wandering the forest looking victims; that specter is the Lady of the land, pale and naked, with light blonde hair that comes past her shoulders, caring her family rapier ready to slash any unfortunate soul caught in the dark.
Hannah, groans has she eat her lunch. Last night was rough on her. After killing those two kidnappers a couple night ago, she wandered the woods again last night, deranged by her curse. She found an unlucky wander traversing in the Norwood Woods; she gave chase, but he evaded her and in her wild state didn't notice she fell into a small cave below. She was trapped, and struggled all night to break free, coming home as the arrival of dawn temporarily stops the hold the curse has on her.
"Lady Norwood, who haven't had taken a bite yet," her main servant Alexia Quail states coming into the dinning room with some fresh baked bread.
"You must eat if you wish to keep up your strength," she then says, putting the bread on the table.
"I know I know," Hannah groans, stabbing her fork into a piece of bacon. "I feel queasy right now."
"Didn't get your nightly feast," Alexia says.
"It is not like I want it on purpose," Hannah grumbles.
"Yet it is part of your daily calorie intake. Now a skipped meal is bad for you. Eat, eat." Alexia says, then walks off. She is the only servant in the castle who knows of Hannah's curse. The other servants find things off in the castle at night, but Alexia keeps them in line and makes sure they don't inquire too much. Hannah makes her the head servant of the castle, and trusts her to keep her secret.
"What would I do with out her," Hannah says, finally digging into her lunch. Alexia is only two years younger than the twenty-three-year-old noblewoman; serving Lady Norwood since they were both children, has caused a great bond between the two.
After lunch, Hannah practices her sword skills. The family has many rapiers—the family one is used when she goes out at night to kill—plain ones made by an old local smith still employed by the Norwood family are used for practice. Hannah practices with old soldiers from the time before the king created a standing army. They remain loyal to the Norwood family, but Hannah knows that they won't unless they are paid. However, while they are here she uses them for practice.
She practices striking, parries, guarding, and moving.
"Fierce she is," they say "She has the spirit of her great grandfather who could kill one hundred men during a single battle."
She likes their compliments, though she knows that she could never live up to her great grandfather's reputation, a noble warrior who would rush into cannon fire unafraid, slaughtering opponents with out fear; these acts caused his men to follow him courageously into any battle. Today, she could only hope that the national army would let her fight in a war; the king's government forbids women from serving, and even if her noble status could act as a loophole in this rule, the wars fought now rely more on machine guns in the hands of many soldiers mowing down the enemy, than on the actions of a warrior swaying the tides with his pistol and sword, relying on bravado and overwhelming violence. Still Hannah practices, since as a noblewoman she has local authority, and training can help her maintain order in the villages that reside next to the Norwood Woods.
Hannah washes off after sword practice, and spends the rest of the day doing business work, or reading. By the time she is finished she sees that the sun is beginning to set. She groans with dismay. She can already feel the hunger the curse is stressing on the body; even if she downed a full course meal, it would not delay the hunger for blood.
"Please let this night be tame," she says, put her work away then walks out of her study room.
She walks through the castle in her casual dress, the servants greet her as she walks by. She tells them they are dismissed, wanting them to be in their homes before night arrives. She knows some will stay in the castle, but its walls will protect them if they remain unkown. Hannah continues her walk, feeling her body grumbling with extreme hunger; by the time she gets close to the basement her body is struggling to stand upright.
Alexia in her black maid outfit, with her brown flowing hair, comes to the Lady's aid.
"Lady Norwood, don't worry the servants are gone, and have been hushed."
"I-I don't care. UAARRGGGHH!" Hannah wails. "Just get me in and lock the doors!"
"Yes my lady," Alexia says, helping Hannah into the basement.
She leaves, locking the door. Hannah is left alone in the dark basement with only a torch on the wall to prevent it from being pitch black. She sees her family rapier laying on the wall. The gold handle adorned in rubies gleam as the torch light fell on it, the blade cleaned of the blood stains that accumulated; Hannah knew that this was the work of Alexia, her loyal servant worked hard to remove them and restore the sword to former beauty. Hannah feels great sadness, all that work would soon be ruined during her manic deeds tonight. What Hannah really wished was for the blade to fall apart after wear and tear, that way she didn't need to bring dishonor to the family by having it be used for her vile deeds.
"Good work Al-Alexia," Hannah groans.
She can feel night arriving on the castle, even if there is no windows in the basement. She knows it is whispering in telling her curse that it is time. The dark room begins to become loud. Hannah is the only one in it, but she hears eerie voices conversing around her. All of them are saying "Kill!", "Bring us blood!". Hannah whimpers and lets a tear role down her eyes, but as night roles on the whispers of the curse make her laugh and shriek manically.
"I am hungry, I am h-hun-hun-hungry."
She strips down, her nude body shaking wildly in the dark, the skin of her body becoming paler, her mind itching for violence. She walks over to the grey cape Alexia left for her, and puts it on, she then picks up her rapier and looks for the hole that leads out. Originally the castle basement was meant to keep her in and have her ride out the curse, but in frantic state she dug a hole that led her out of the castle. The hole that she dug when she was younger was never covered up, an acceptance of her fate.
Hannah crawls through the hole until she is outside Castle Nor. The stars dim light on its grey walls, protecting who ever is inside from the monster roaming outside. The monster is Lady Hannah Norwood, her naked cloaked body roams into the Norwood Woods, looking for her next victim, her mind calling for blood.