Bambi and the Duke

When the time came to leave the snow mansion, Lionel and Creed told they would be speaking to Lord Nicholas to what had occurred here as he was the head of the land and everything had to pass through him before any decision was taken.

The lowly vampire decided to take a ride with Hueren at the fear that another word to the councilman Lionel would be like stepping into death. Already taken a seat inside the carriage as he wanted to leave this haunted mansion where the ghost lady lived. He didn’t even want to look at it at the fear of having to catch the sight of the empty-eyed women. This was a forbidden place and no matter if the councilmen didn’t believe him, he knew what he saw.

”Where do you live, Lady Vivian?” asked Hueren at the intention of wanting to drop the fair maiden to her home so that he could take better care of her for the future possibility where he could extend and ask for her hand, ”Let me drop you there once we drop Axel,” the vampire nodded his head. The sooner he reached home, the sooner he would like to lock the door and not come out until he felt it was safe.

”Carmichael’s mansion,” Vivian answered without batting her eyelash. The lowly vampire who had been tapping his feet, waiting for them to leave was looking outside the window when heard the lady mention ’Carmichael’s mansion’, wasn’t that one of the Duke’s home.

”Would you like to meet him?” asked Hueren, having nothing much to talk after the long three days, she gave him a nod, ”Of course, let me take you there and then to your home,” he insisted.

Seeing that the councilman didn’t ask for his address, the vampire shamelessly gave away his address, ”I live in Viscount which is in Wovile,” even Vivian who had been occupied by her thoughts looked up at the vampire along with the coachman who was about to start the carriage and the councilman.

No speaking another word, the carriage started to leave the snow mansion with the dead bodies piled across the lands which would be eventually searched and pulled out for burial after the older councilmen would finish discussing it with the Lord.

When one of the towns appeared, the carriage stopped and the door opened, ”Kind Sir, take this,” Heuren said pulling a pouch which jingled with coins inside it. Pulling out a gold coin and another one, he handed it to vampire, ”There’s a local carriage which leaves at night and one in the morning. I am sure if you take it you will be reaching Wovile soon. We will be soon contacting you with the address you have provided to tell when to come to the council,” the man nodded his head and stepped out of the carriage.

The carriage started again this time headed towards the Carmichael’s mansion. Vivian had tried to sleep on her way back from the town where they had left the man named Axel and wanted to take a small nap now that they were done with the whole ordeal of the exam but she had stayed awake.

”Did you find the others?” she asked Hueren who had been looking at her before moving away his eyes from her as he didn’t want to be caught staring which would be considered rude with the way she looked now.

”Councilman found the pureblooded vampire, Jamien?” he asked unsure if that was the name and Vivian gave a nod to confirm he was right about the name, ”We could only retrieve the human and the pureblooded vampire, might you know what happened to the pureblooded vampire?” he asked her.

The councilman here had missed parts of her explanation when he had gone to fetch water for her. Giving the same version of the story she had given the elder councilmen, she said, ”It was just the three of us left, we didn’t know about Axel and we went to the forest to see if we could find something. After the death of the councilman...but, Jamien insisted on staying and we left.”

”I am sorry if it makes you uncomfortable,” he apologized, bending his head to bow, ”Their death is very odd because of both Jamien and Oliver have the same pattern,” he pointed his eyes to tell the hollowness he had found where there were no eyes in there, ”But the human, it is very strange. I am happy that you are safe. I was very worried,” managing to smile she thanked for his concern.

The carriage went through the gates of the Carmichael’s mansion and the coachman pulled the reins of the horses.

Jan being the housekeeper of the mansion was the one to open the door after hearing the carriage sound. Waiting at the entrance he saw the councilman named Heuren who worked for his master step out of the carriage. The last time the man had come here was to report on his duties where master Leonard had enquired about how the exam was going which the man had said to be well.

But when the lady stepped out of the carriage looking the way she was, his mouth fell open which he quickly closed. Lady Vivian didn’t look the way she had left and it was quite evident with the way she looked right now. Her face had scratches and bruise on her head which looked dark red now, his eyes following a little down he bowed his head to have his Master step out.

Vivian stepping out the carriage managed to stand on her feet which weren’t as difficult as she had felt while walking down the stairs as she had got to rest in the carriage. But the sides of her body hurt. Ezekiel had thrown her across the ground and the wall which must have bruised her right side and her head. The lack of sleep and the number of times her head had been pushed against the wall, it felt dizzy.

It took her a while to take a step forward from where she stood. The councilman stood by to make sure she didn’t fall it felt as if her body was subtly swaying. Hearing the footsteps that sounded distant, Vivian’s eyes followed the expensive boots of a man which trailed up from the pants to the shirt and finally to look into Leo’s dark red eyes. His brows were furrowed and he stepped forward just as she did where her body decided to lose strength for Leo to catch hold of her in his arms in time.

With the examination done, there was no more need to hide their relationship. And though it hadn’t bothered her before when she freely showcased her feelings it felt as if a weight had been lifted from her chest as if she would fly any moment. Though her body was tired and hardly could stand with her two feet, she whispered to him, ”I am home,” Leo’s hand went around, one to hold her wait and the other that rested on the back of her hand, holding her close and securely.

”Welcome back home, Vivi,” he replied back to her to which she smiled, her eyelids feeling heavy. Her mind relaxing in the arms of her lover she felt her worry, anxiety and every other thing that had been hovering over her mind dissipate before she fell asleep right in his arms.

Feeling Vivian’s body fall lax against him, Leo picked her up in his arms, gazing down to catch her fallen unconscious where her head rested on his firm chest.

The councilmen like the rest who had been kept under dark about Leonard and Vivian’s relationship looked at his superior with his eyes that were going to fall off from his face due to shock. Did Lady Vivian fall asleep in his superior’s arms?

”Heuren,” Leonard called for his subordinate’s attention, ”Thank you for bringing her home safe,” thanked the Duke, ”I will see you later in the evening or tomorrow morning. You can take the rest of the day off,” he informed the human who had his brows scrunched up together.

To clear his doubts, Heuren asked, ”Won’t Lady’s Vivian be worried if she doesn’t get back home? Would you want me to inform them about it?”

The councilman might be an excellent human and his subordinate but Leonard wasn’t blind to not notice the way his wife’s presence had affected him, ”Thank you for the concern, Heuren but I think my wife is already home. See you soon,” Heuren gawked at the Duke. Wife?! When did Duke Carmcicahel get married? Wait he said wife, did that mean Lady Vivian was long taken and that was whom he was talking about?

Very few had heard about Vivian which might have been through Lord Nicholas who had always teased him about how in love the Duke was but the name had never come up. Most of them were under the speculation that maybe the man wasn’t someone to show affections due to his aloofness around strangers and the crowd gathering.

He still remembered the one time when the Duke had spoken,

”We hear she is very pretty, who is she?” asked one of the men during a gathering that was kept for the departments.

”The Duke must have chosen himself the prettiest girl. Is she really pretty?” asked another one.

Duke Leonard who was hovered around by a lot of men who were drunk and waiting for him to speak. With a sigh, he answered them, ”She’s beautiful,” this had gained a lot of hoots.

”Why don’t you bring her along? We have to see the woman who has stolen your heart,” a vampiress spoke who was serving them drinks.

”She doesn’t know. She might even reject me if she has someone on your mind,” Lord Carmichael answered.

Heuren who hadn’t known about it had then said, ”We will be sure to cheer for both of you.”

But who had known that this was how he would have to cheer his senior. Internally tears flowed down his eyes at his short-lived dream. Bowing his head, he gave a look at the sleeping maiden and then took his leave. Leonard carried Vivian in his arms, keeping her close to him as he headed to his room with every step on the stairs.

Taking her to the bed, he laid her down.

”Would you need anything from me, master Leonard?” the housekeeper arrived at the room who had after closing the main doors had followed the Duke with a good distance between them.

”No. If there are any visitors tell them I won’t be taking any visitors and will be meeting them after my time’s availability.”

”Yes, master Leonard,” Jan bowed his head. The housekeeper closed the door.

Leonard stared at Vivian, her clothes weren’t tattered which was a relief and a sign that none of the men had touched her wrongly. He had been worried and had let his concern heard by Lionel who was the one in charge of the examination this year. Vivian being the only female, she needed safety and that was one of the reasons why the councilmen had stayed around to observe and to make sure no harm befell on the woman though the third day she was on her own.

Going to the bathroom, he bought a bowl of water and soaked cloth to wipe the little mud that was on her hands and feet. Cleaning it one by one, he came to her face where he pulled out another cloth to soak and wipe the smudgy blood that was on her forehead. A cut had formed which had come to heal as the skin had wrinkled in the cut area. Wiping her face with warm water, his eyes then fell over her neck making his blood boil.

There were finger marks on both sides of her neck as if it had been squeezed to the point where she couldn’t have breathed. Someone had tried to kill her and the thought boiled his blood. The coloration on her skin was too evident where one didn’t have to come too close to check it.

”What happened there?” Leonard whispered, moving her hair away from her face and bending forward to press his lips gently on her forehead.

In the Rune’s mansion, Nicholas sat in his study already working on the paperwork which would come to him in a few hours after what he had come to hear about from his ghoul Everest who now stood in one corner of the room. Once Everest had left Vivian’s side, the ghoul had gone to its master to report on what it saw and did. The ghoul had been not listening to him, doing things on its own accord which for once he didn’t mind but he couldn’t let it off easily. Unhappy with its behavior he had made it stay in the mansion and until his word it would go nowhere, threatening if it left to never come back which was enough to keep it here now. To think that one of his ghouls was childlike while the other was an absolute killer.

Things at the snow mansion had taken a different turn and before he could do anything, he had to wait and see what the council had to say about it which he knew they would come to meet and discuss with him.

A ghost in the snow mansion? How intriguing, thought Nicholas to himself as he wrote down the terms on the parchment. It seemed that both the second and third lord had blood on their hands, and he wasn’t that different, making him wonder if the first Lord of Bonelake had killed anyone too.

Though the council would have no clue on what happened, it would be left as a mystery incident in the public’s eye but there would be people who would want to dig and find what and how things had turned to have a record on the examination procedure. Death was inevitable and it seemed that his ghoul had killed a man this time not on his word but on its own instinct. A hole in the chest on the dead body when the living had no blood on their hands, it would no doubt raise questions in the upcoming meeting of the council.

He lifted his face to look at the ghoul which stood quietly.