<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/xI4rbjA.png)</div><br/>She heard a sharp intake of breath from the steward, but by the time her dress was up and over her head, the room had reverted to it's dead, abandoned state.  Her armor, what was left of it, was still sitting exactly where she'd left it.  The oil lamp guttered weakly however and she knew that the oil had to be getting low for it to be burning dim.  She quickly moved, before even taking the time to dress, and went to her pack to fetch another pint of lamp oil.  She knelt on the dusty floorboards in nothing but stockings, heels, and a maid's cap as she very carefully added oil to the lantern.  If the spectral form of the steward was still in this room and could still see her, he'd be getting a perfect view of her delectable butt as she knelt on hands and knees, her sex exposed to the dark room between creamy thighs.  Just the knowledge of that sent a slight thrill down her spine and she wondered if the spirit was even now looking at her from the nether realm, salivating over her nude body.<br/><br/>Then she finished pouring fresh oil into the lantern and recapped it and had a startling realization.  The oil in her lamp should have lasted around two and a half to three hours.  Since it was guttering low that means she had been inside the mansion for about that long already.  She remembered one of the rumors one of the peasant townsfolk had said to her when she'd been investigating that day, "People who stay the night in that house are never seen again."  At the time she'd taken that to mean that they were killed by mysterious spirits or monsters.  But now she had to wonder if that wasn't what the peasant had meant.  He'd said they were never seen again, could that mean that they didn't just die, but vanished into the house?  Could they become a part of this haunted eternity?<br/><br/>She shuddered again, this time not from sexual thrill but the realization that if she took too long, if she was in this house when the sun rose, she might never be able to leave.  Her thoughts about having as many chances as she might need could have been wrong.  Then the thought crossed through her mind that if she could become the mistress's head maid, what else might she become?  Could she take the place of the master's favorite?  Could she supplant the mistress and become the mistress of this home?  Could she even become the ultimate master of this nether realm commanding all inside it, man, woman, golem, and incubus alike?  She felt a wave of arousal flush her body at that thought.  But sensed that her time was not unlimited.  She had till the wick burned low twice more, and then a little bit, then the sun would rise outside this home.  It should be plenty of time, plenty of time to unravel the mystery, even to have some fun with the inhabitants.  But her time was limited.  She needed to either cleanse this house or find her place in it eventually.<br/><br/>The question was, the more she explored this house, the more she was uncertain as to what she really wanted.