Bambi and the Duke

Leonard stood in the cemetery in front of his parents grave, his warm pureblooded skin had turned cold after staying out here for a while now, doing nothing but stare at the graves that laid next to each other. With the time that had begun closing towards midnight, the cemetery laid quiet in peace with no one except for him among the dead that laid underground.

Fresh flowers were placed on both of them, and since they had begun to reside here it was the second time since he visited them. The first one was when they were buried.

His eyes were hollow and empty, back to being devoid of emotions after his little outburst with Vivian. He hadn’t meant to snap at her like that but asking about Paul had brought in tremendous anger into his mind.

His mother often taught him to be kind, taking extra care over his haste reactions when he was a young boy. After all, anger was his second nature. The entire Carmichael’s preached balance and equality through their actions knowing well if words were spoken, the other pureblooded high-class families would mock their thinking. His father had been strict like any other male vampire but his mother had been kind with her words. Due to their trust in their servants, everything had been taken away from him and his other family members.

No one would have guessed that the Carmichael’s would be the one in the receiving end of the humans hate. It was an unfateful and unfortunate thing to happen, a mistake which everyone took a learning from in the high-class society.

Leonard had spent plenty of sleepless night with the pain that consumed him. The rare time he slept, he woke up with his mind filled with blood on his hands. Blood of his own. He would sometimes think of how he could have looked after his family to avoid what had transpired. But no matter how much thought was put into it, it didn’t change the truth. The home he had been anticipating to get back wasn’t home anymore, not without his family.

A few days ago, memories had continued to haunt him as if he had been taken back to the past to re-experience what happiness was like before the dull grey atmosphere weighed down.

His hands tightly clutched into fists at the thought of the housekeeper. It was true that he had caught sight of Paul with the bottle but the man had worked for more than two decades and not once did the thought cross that he would have been up to killing people whom he served. How did things turn like this? thought Leonard standing at his parents grave as wind breezed through. He wanted to kill the man, make him feel what it was like to lose one’s own family.

Trust wasn’t an easy word. It was usually earned and kept. This time it was broken to the point of no return.

”What are you doing here?” asked Leonard sensing the person who stood not far behind him. The tall figure with brown hair and gentle expression came forward to stand next to him. It was the Lord of Bonelake.

”Toby informed me you were here all alone. And I thought to drop by,” Lord Nicholas stated, his hands placed in his trouser pockets as he looked down at the grave.

”Keep your bird to yourself. I don’t like being watched. I am not a child,” Leonard rolled his eyes.

”No one said you were,” the Lord smiled bending down to pay his respects to the couple, ”The time isn’t right, not with disputes that have begun in the lands between the vampires and humans. I am only keeping an eye, nothing less or more. I would be troubled if I were to lose you. Did you like the flowers?” Leonard saw Nicholas touching the fresh flowers he had brought along with him before moving his hand over the older ones that were pushed aside.

”Hmm,” Leonard hummed in response. It seemed that the Lord had made sure to place flowers until they stayed fresh as he himself hadn’t gone to visit his parents grave. He saw the Lord fix the position of the flowers in a symmetrical fashion at the centre.

”And don’t mind Toby. He likes to look around and give me news instead of wasting my time on the newsletters the townsfolk spew about. Humans can be cunning in their own little ways,” Nicholas turned to look at Leonard who had a frown on his face, something he usually adorned on his face since he knew him as a boy.

Unlike how Leonard was brought up, Nicholas had a different upbringing. He didn’t trust the humans, but then he didn’t trust the vampires either. If there was anyone he could trust it was none other than him himself. It was only because he had seen Leonard grow up close and had mentored him in few things did the Lord feel little biased towards the young Duke. If it was possible it could be told that Leonard was more like a younger brother to the Lord.

”I want to push the dates,” the Duke said catching Lord Nicholas’ attention. The Lord stood up to face him from the front.

”Why the change? I thought you wanted to kill him for killing your parents,” Lord Nicholas tilted his head in question, ”Do you by perhaps doubt what you saw?”

”I don’t. I want to make sure. Speak to Lionel about it,” Nicholas nodded his head.

”I’ll put in a word about it,” the Lord then changed the subject, ”What got you here? I thought you wouldn’t be visiting for another two months. How are the servants?” Nicholas asked as they began walking toward the rusted gate of the cemetery.

”Obedient.”

”Is that so. How about the girl? What was her name again?” Lord Nicholas asked even though he remembered the name well.

Leonard didn’t bother to give her name knowing well that the Lord knew her name, ”She’s doing fine,” though biased, Lord Nicholas always schemed something at the back of his mind while keeping the curtain of his gentle and calm demeanour.

”You have to be careful, Leo. Things could go both good or bad,” the Lord didn’t explain any further and neither did Leonard question the words spoken by him.

Reaching back at the mansion, Leonard wondered if Vivian had fallen asleep. It was rather late for her to stay up yet he decided to go to the servants quarters. Walking through the deserted corridor, he went to stand in front of her door which was closed. He didn’t make an effort to open the door and instead stood still staring at the door. After a minute he turned around and left the empty corridor.

In the morning, when Vivian woke up, she couldn’t shake the feeling of last night that happened in the glass room. When she had proposed the idea of reinvestigating Paul’s action, she hadn’t meant to anger him but she should have known.

Pushing herself from the bed, she began folding the blanket she had slept it while fluffing her pillow when a fellow maid knocked her door.

”Vivian?” the maid called her.

”Yes,” Vivian opened the lock. The maid who was younger than her looked troubled as she stood there at her door.

”Master asked for you,” the maid informed.

”Give me two minutes, I will-”

”No, now,” the maid shook her head, ”He told to call you right away. He’s at the study room.”

”Okay,” nodding her head, Vivian made way to the study room of the mansion. The door was already open and when she peeked in there was no one there. Biting her lip, she wondered what to do. This was a tricky situation.

Was she supposed to stand here and wait for him? Or was she supposed to go an look where he was? But if he was to return back here, she thought to herself.

”Vivian,” she heard his voice from behind and when she turned she saw him not far from where she stood. She walked to where he was, wondering why he had asked for her early in the morning. There was another maid who stood behind him with a box in her hand, ”As I mentioned last night, there’s a tea gathering at Lord Nicholas’ mansion. Unfortunately, Shawn has some errand to run and I would need someone to assist me there,” when he looked at the maid behind him, the maid was quick to hand the box to Vivian, ”We will be leaving here at the hour of eleven. Complete your work here before that,” and he walked away without another word to her.

She looked at the box and then the maid who looked as taken aback as she was. Her fellow maid didn’t stay long to talk to her as it was forbidden to huddle and speak in the mansion.

If Leo wanted a servant to assist him, why did he care how she would look? And out of all the other servants, why her?