Bambi and the Duke

The little girl laughed, her laughter resonating and ringing around the house which was quiet where she was being chased by her little brother. Her small feet ran past the main hall, stepping out of the house with her bare feet to feel the hot ground burning which made her run back inside.

”Miss Vivian please refrain from going out of the house. It isn’t safe to be out,” the housekeeper who had been asked to supervise the children spoke to the little vampiress. The girl looked up with her dark red eyes which were darker than the others in the household.

”It is hot!” her small voice complained looking back outside the house.

”It is the time of noon, miss. The ground is bound to be hot because of the sun,” the housekeeper was a young woman who was in her early twenties.

The little girl stared at the ground, her eyes then looking up at the woman to ask, ”Why?”

”Why?” the servant leaned forward in question as to what was the question the young miss wanted to ask. This child was adorable which made one not angry at her silly questions. She was young and curious wanting to find about why things went the way it was. Not yesterday did she ask her why she drank milk from the cow and not the cat which was hard to explain for the illiterate woman.

”Why hot?” the curious girl turned around, with her hand folded behind her back she waited for an explanation.

Trying to see how to make a child understand the housekeeper spoke how she would have spoken to any other child be it human or a one that was a vampire, ”The sun sometimes gets very angry here at the time of noon as everyone is busy and is not giving him company. He is feeling very lonely.”

The girl gave it a thought, asking, ”I give him company!” she declared with a smile that softened the woman’s heart, hoping if she had a child she would like to have one like this one who was not only adorable but also kind. When the woman laughed the little one looked confused at the same time her brother came to have found her.

”You don’t have to do that, miss Vivian.”

”But he lonely...”

Crouching down to meet the girl’s height, the housekeeper said, ”You see, the matter is that he is unable to meet the moon who appears only at the time of night and by the time moon comes up the sun is gone,” she explained, ”They only meet at the time of dawn and dusk, and then they part ways. Don’t be sad, miss. Come, I have prepared your favorite dish,” hearing this the girl’s mood suddenly brightened up.

”Gregorie, come,” Vivian caught her brother’s hand. When the cuckoo came out of the clock, singing its song, the housekeeper began to set the table for the hour of the lunch for the two children where their parents had gone out leaving them in her care.

The housekeeper was a human but like many in Valeria, she served the pureblooded Harlow’s family. Taking the blood which she had torn out from the rabbits, she placed it on the table in clean glasses for the children to drink when she heard a knock on the main door, ”Have your food, children, I will be back soon,” wiping her hands on her skirt apron, she unlocked the door to find a man standing with his back against the door, ”Sir Abel,” she bowed her head seeing Mrs. Hsrlow’s brother, ”Mr and Mrs Harlow aren’t here and have gone out on council work,” she informed the man.

He gave her a look of surprise, ”Did they now?” she nodded her head.

”Yes, Sir,” she confirmed stepping back for him to get inside the mansion.

”What about the children?”

”They are in having their food,” walking inside to the dining room he received a warm welcome from the children who looked very eager and excited. The housekeeper stood at the corner, her heart feeling tensed and she went inside to work in the kitchen leaving the children with their uncle. As time went by, she went in and out every few minutes by taking the dishes and also asking the man if he would like to join the children which he shook his head at.

The man dotted on the children as he didn’t have one of his own.

The housekeeper went inside the kitchen again, turning to see no one was there, she pulled a little tiny bottle from her sleeve which she had hidden very discreetly since three days waiting for the right opportunity to use it. The little bottle was a compensation gift which she had received from a black witch who had helped her with money so that she could pay her debt. Her mother had left her and her father, turning her father to a gambler where the money she earned here wasn’t enough to live a respectful life even in the lower society. She was given a job where she had to do in return she had received a bag full of gold. Once she was done with this she would leave the household and taker her father along to lead a new life in a different land away from this.

Fumbling with the little bottle which was clear as water, she wondered what this was. With the blood being supervised by Mrs Harlow who took care of feeding her children as the blood was bought from humans freshly she hadn’t got the opportunity to give it to Mr or Mrs Harlow. Every time she had tried to open the bottle Mrs Harlow would appear.

”You need to mix it with the blood else it’s going to go waste. This is a special liquid which you might find only after years so you have only one chance. Make sure you mix it with the blood and then give it to the adults there.”

The housekeeper had then questioned, ”What about the children?”

”Give it to the adults,” the blue-eyed witch loomed over her, ”If you make a mistake don’t think I will let you off. I will make your life more regrettable. And make sure every single drop is used by one person, pick whomever you want but only one person can consume it and everything needs to be taken in,” the person had threatened her.

The housekeeper who had worked for the pureblooded family didn’t have much consideration except for the children who were innocent. Vampires treated humans like food but the pureblooded vampires, they treated the humans as slaves and in their eyes, the humans didn’t deserve to live like others. They were insulted, shamed and ridiculed bringing hate and dislike for the night creatures.

But what the housekeeper didn’t know was that it was a heart corrupting potion which once consumed, a person would lose his sanity, he would lose his reasoning to what was right and wrong, killing anything and everything around and it didn’t matter if they were little children or if it was the maid herself.

The man hadn’t taken any food, offering a glass of blood would be polite and dutiful which she could make use of now. Taking the blood from the tightly fitted container, she poured it into a crystal glass. Taking the little bottle quickly and uncorking it, she poured the contents of the liquid from it to the glass, stirring it well and then taking it out where she saw the little girl who was offering her blood of glass to her uncle.

”Here,” she offered her own glass, her blonde hair falling in waves which reached her back resembling like a doll.

”Sir Abel, I have bought you drink and added the coolant which Mr Harlow bought from the market. It will help in cooling the outside heat,” the housekeeper brought the glass forward. What she didn’t expect was for the little girl to take it.

”Can I drink?” she asked with such innocence that none could refuse.

”Miss Vivian you can drink yours and let your uncle have this. He did travel from afar,” somewhere now the housekeeper had begun to panic, her mind ringing with alerts as to not wanting to have the girl to drink, ”Let me make you another one with the coolant,” she gave the little girl a smile to sway her but to her terror the man said,

”That’s alright. Let her have this and you can make me a new one,” the man took the glass from the housekeeper and handed it to his niece, ”Here you go, Vivian.”

The little girl looked at the glass and then at her uncle, asking, ”Really?”

”Yes, you can have it. Go make me a new one,” Abel ordered the housemaid who stood still, her hands and feet turning cold in terror. Oh Lord, she prayed, she didn’t mean for the child to have but the man. What was she going to do?! How could she divert this fate which the child would have to bear, fretted the housemaid but there was nothing she could do. Not following the orders of the purebloods would result in harsh punishments which no one wanted and not along with the ire.

With blood running cold, the housemaid saw the little girl take the glass out of curiosity as she had told she had used coolant to keep the body cold her lips touched the glass. Tilting the glass, she took gulps of it as much as her little mouth could take in. As seconds passed by, the maid didn’t know what to do. The black witch had given her the potion but she had never been given the details of what it could do. She had guessed that it would bring instant death but if the girl drank until the last drop there was no telling what was going to happen.

When the doorbell rang, it made it that difficult until the man stood up to say, ”Let me go see who it is. Must be my sister and Emanuel who had returned home,” he went to get the door.

The girl was on her last sip when the housekeeper stopped her timely, ”Miss Vivian!” it came out as a whisper and the little boy just stared at them who had been sitting in the chair quietly.

”Mm?” the girl asked with her red eyes and blood around her lips.

”If you drink everything right now you will not have your food. How about you finish your food first. Then you can have more of it,” little Vivian nodded her head, a smile on her face where she started to have her food.

When the Harlow’s stepped in, it was as if nothing had happened with their daughter as their children seemed to be having their lunch like they were supposed. That night, the housekeeper had packed her things and had run from there. Taking her drunk father in the carriage they were travelling in the local transport when they were attacked by a group of rowdy vampires who wanted to feed on the humans.

The next morning when the family woke up, the maid had gone missing. Not paying much thought and only reporting it to the magistrate of how they had lost the maid, their lives had gone about until a week later the little girl started to change genetically.

Mr Harlow had been reading the newsletter at the table when he saw his daughter not touching the food that was placed on the table. His eyes furrowed and then turning to shock when his eyes met his daughter’s, ”Elaine. ELAINE!”

”What’s the matter, Emanuel?” Mrs Harlow asked coming out of the kitchen.

”Vivian,” he nodded his head towards the little girl, getting up from the chair and keeping the newspaper away, he asked, ”Why is one of her eye black and one red?”