Bambi and the Duke

Vivian sat next to Leonard in the carriage, her eyes once in a while darting towards Leonard who was looking outside the window in silence.

”Leo?” she called him to see him turn towards her, ”Where are we going?” she asked pushing the strand of her hair away from her eye.

”Somewhere quiet,” he answered, offering her a smile.

”Okay,” she didn’t receive the answer she was expecting but at least it was something. Where exactly was somewhere quiet?

It wasn’t that she was expecting something but Leonard hadn’t commented anything about the way she looked. He had hardly even spoken to her, keeping his words to the minimum. It made her wonder if something had set his mood off, not that she could remember of. Maybe it was Mr. Gibbs remarks to her or after she had left in search of the housekeeper.

When she had brought the housekeeper along with her Mr. Gibbs was gone. Leonard had taken Jan to the side, speaking about something to which the housekeeper had nodded his head obediently before leaving them alone in the hallway. They had waited for another half an hour before getting into the carriage with Jan coming back a big box that was placed at the back of the carriage securely.

Feeling the sudden cold wind pass through the window, Vivian couldn’t help but feel goosebumps rise on her skin. Was it her imagination or did the temperature turn colder as they headed up the hill? The night wasn’t dark as the full moon shone brightly up in the sky but with lack of stars around it.

Looking out of the window which was next to her she felt something fall down. Once and then twice before realizing it was snow. It wasn’t Winter yet it was snowing at this time of the year in this part of the land which she found rather strange. Growls of thunder could be heard from up in the sky and howls of the wind that accompanied on the ground.

Once they had reached up, the coachman pulled the black horses to a halt. Opening the door, Leonard got down from the carriage and then gave his hand for her to take as she got down from the black carriage herself to step on the ground which had turned completely white due to snow.

This time he didn’t let go of her hand and instead tugged her gently to follow him towards the entrance of the deserted mansion. Snowflakes fell from the sky, one after another. Scarce amount of trees surrounded the lonely mansion which had no leaves in them. Not far away from the mansion was a watermill that made a distant sound every time it moved up and down with no water in it. If it weren’t for the snow covering the lands and the top of the mansion, the place would have looked undoubtedly barren and haunted.

”Scared?” she heard Leonard ask who had turned to look at her. She shook her head immediately.

”Whom does this place belong too?” Vivian asked, walking between the two worn out pillars and pots that had nothing but dried mud in them without any hints of plants being there before.

”Right now it belongs as a property of council and Lord Nicholas. It is used to belong to the second Lord of Bonelake before he perished.”

”Perished?” She asked looking at the old mansion that strangely looked much cleaner than what it appeared to be from the outside. With the way, Leonard said it, it seemed like there was a story behind it, ”Did someone kill him?”

Leonard smiled.

As clumsy Vivian was when it came to handling things, there were times when she came straight to the point instead of beating around the bush. It was like a breath of fresh air in his world. And as much as he would have loved to tell her the story, he believed a few things to be better left unknown with ignorance than corrupt the mind with the way the world ran.

Even if it meant hiding things with lies.

In Leonard’s eyes, she was still young and innocent. There would be a day when she would enter the world as what it was and is, and he would be there to accompany and guide her but that time wasn’t now. Not today at least.

”He passed away out of age. Some people live a very short life. He was after all only a vampire,” which was true. The second lord was a mere vampire, unlike the pureblooded ones whose life was limited.

”Oh...”

When Leonard mentioned about the place being quiet, who knew ’somewhere quiet’ equaled a deserted mansion with no one but them there. The coachman walked in with the box which the housekeeper had previously loaded onto the carriage.

”Let’s take a stroll, shall we?” Leonard walked her to the huge staircase, ”The mansion is sometimes used by the council to hold meetings or parties once in a while. That is why you will find it clean inside no matter what time of day you arrive.”

What he said was true in regards to the mansion being kept clean as if people still occupied and resided in here when in actuality it was abandoned for most of the time.

”It is a very huge place to live. How did the second Lord acquire it?” Decades ago for a mere vampire to live in such a mansion was unheard of, ”I thought only pureblooded vampires were to ascend on the title of the lordship.”

”That is true but sometimes dirt slides into the mainstream which we only find out as time passes by,” he touched the railings of the stairs as they went up and rubbed his fingers against each other. Vivian wondered what he meant by it, ”Apparently when he entered the council, he had used the help of black witches to change the color of his eyes to a darker shade to represent himself as one of the pureblooded family. He was said to be capable, at least that’s why the council offered him the title and the mansion but what most of them forget is that black witches are never to be trusted. They will help you out of their own selfishness and once they have no further use for you, they’ll discard you. That’s the nature of the black witches.”

Passing through one of the large windows on their way up the stairs, Vivian looked at the beautiful landscape outside which was covered in snow.

”Careful with your steps,” Leo warned her.

Though the mansion now belonged to the council and lord as said by Leonard, she noticed nothing to be repaired. It seemed like the housekeepers came in only to clean and she doubted if any further changes had been done here after the second lord passed away. Few things that got to her notice were the broken vase which didn’t have any shards of glass on the floor but it was evidently broken like the rest of the vases she had come across in the wide hall. Then was the staircase which was weak in some areas which went to the point of showing the holes and hollows on the wooden boards.

”This was the place, Malcolm usually brought me to when it came to training me on physical fights and other...things,” Leonard’s words trailed, he let go of her hand when they reached the end of the stairs. Bending down he tied his shoelace that had come undone and then stood up.

”What did you do for food?” She looked at the dark passageways before looking down from where they had come to see the coachman lighting up the hall with candles making the place look much better than before.

”Hunted livestock. Come with me, I want to show you something,” he said, their hands grazing against each other.

Walking through the empty and dark corridors, Vivian made sure to not fall behind at the thought of getting lost in this deserted mansion. She walked right behind Leonard such that she could smell his clean ocean like scent coming from him. As if like a mouse she followed so close that at one time when he had paused her head had collided with his back.

Keeping a little distance she walked straight until she couldn’t hear him anymore.

Surrounded by the darkness she could hear herself breath in the silence filled space. She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Leonard speak,

”The door must be somewhere here...”