Bambi and the Duke

In the empty halls where the sound of rain didn’t reach completely, the boy’s footsteps echoed which was carried in angry strides. His blonde hair had caught few drops of water when he had stepped down the carriage which now stuck to his hair. Getting inside the room, the door shut loudly. Pushing the desk away from the wall, his hands hit the wall as anger still coursed through his blood and with the humiliation of being slapped in front of everyone. The wall was covered with older dents to mark the anger which he covered by pushing the desk back when he was done. On his way to pull out fresh clothes from the closet, the fireplace showed the bruises on his face and smudges of blood that covered one side of his mouth.

With the arrival of the morning came to the promise of going to fair but Leonard wasn’t going to accompany them.

”Why isn’t brother Leo coming with us?” Charlotte who had both her hands on her waist asked her aunt when she found out about it from her brother, Julliard.

”Uncle Giles is very upset as he got into a fight yesterday. He wants Leo to reflect on his behaviour,” her aunt answered but Charlotte shook her head.

”But aunt Renae this is my present isn’t it supposed to involve all the people I want?”

”I know darling. Unfortunately, I have no say in it and it is all up to your uncle. Go get ready or you will miss a lot of things in fair,” Mrs Carmichael reminded her niece who had been excited to go to the fair the humans held in the next town.

”It is only today he can’t come with us?” Charlotte confirmed to get a hum in answer, ”Then does it mean if we don’t go today to the fair and we go tomorrow, brother Leo can come with us?”

”I think so, that is if the fair is still open. I will ask Paul to check if it is going to be there until tomorrow,” Mrs Carmichael replied to get hugged by Charlotte.

”You’re the best,” and as the girl hurried out of the room, she heard her mother shout at her to not run in the halls. On her way to meet her brothers, she caught sight of the girl, Bambi, whom her mother had several times told her yesterday that she should stop calling her that and call her by her name along with saying she wasn’t a present she could keep.

”Hi,” Charlotte halted her feet to talk to the girl. She smiled at the girl and saw the girl return her smile. Not knowing what to say as she didn’t speak, she continued, ”We won’t be going to the fair today but we will be going tomorrow if it’s still there. Mr Paul,” Charlotte greeted the servant when she saw him walking towards them with a basket of clothes that needed to be washed.

”Miss Charlotte, I see that you have met Vivian here,” the man said looking at the two young girls.

”I have! Is it alright if I take her to play? Mother said I will have to take your permission for it,” the young vampiress pleaded.

”Ahahaha,” the man scratched the back of his neck at that, ”I don’t think you need my permission for it but please be careful and bring her back to the kitchen later,” when Vivian looked up to him, he said, ”Seems like you made your first friend here,” he looked at the young vampiress take the human girl with her, hoping she would be okay after all Vivian was still new to this place and also because children were the reincarnation of devil. Deciding to check on them after an hour, he made his way to clean the laundry.

Vivian followed the girl up the stairs, beginning to get a little comfortable after their first encounter.

”So what do you want to play? There are the dolls which I got here for now and there’s also the kitchen set...” Charlotte rambled, talking to Vivian, ”Do you have dolls too?”

”It’s at home,” Vivian answered.

”Don’t worry about it. There are plenty here so we can play house together,” she said turning the knob of the room where her brother and cousin were. Leonard sat on the bed while Julliard had taken a seat on the dressing table which was wide enough to fit his frame, ”I spoke to aunt Renae and we decided we would go to the fair tomorrow with everyone.”

In the meantime, Vivian couldn’t stop staring at the blonde boy due to the bruises his face was covered in. When he stood up, he walked to stand right in front of her.

”What? Never seen bruises before?” Leonard asked the girl.

”It hurts?” she asked him instead softly.

”A little bit,” Vivian remembering what her mother usually did to her, brought her hand up to blow warm air on her full sleeve to place it on the boy’s cheek, taking the boy by surprise again.

Leonard swatted her hand away, a hint of pink appearing on his cheeks embarrassed, ”W-what are you doing?”

”Mother tells it goes away,” Vivian answered, holding her hand close to her chest.

”That’s okay. It will heal in two days,” he said moving away from her and taking a seat on the chair where his books were placed, ”Odd girl,” he muttered pulling a book from the stack before getting lost in it.