Bambi and the Duke

Rain continued to fall down from the sky, washing away the top of the soil and picking up the mud as it ran down the slope next to where the Rune mansion was located. Clouds continued to growl while the girl stood in one of the corridors with absolute horror-struck on her face.

She looked terrified, terrified of the man who stood in front of her and the creature behind him.

”I thought you were a normal girl, a human like any other but who knew that the boy had found a gem,” Lord Nicholas commented, his arms crossed across his chest, ”It seems that you possess an ability. A rare one at that. Mind shedding light on it, hmm?” he asked her with him still smiling which unnerved her.

The more seconds passed by the more her breathing got shallower and shorter as if death was standing close to her which would strike at any moment. She shouldn’t have come here. She should have stayed at the Carmichael mansion even if she had to answer people’s question and face them.

The images she saw now...it was of the previous lord who was murdered to death gruesomely. Murdered by his own son, Nicholas Rune. The creature that stood behind her, there wasn’t just one but two of them from what she had seen from the past memory. Lord Nicholas was there too, standing by as the previous lord was butchered to death in his room.

Her instincts had been right since she had met him. She had always found something odd about the Lord but had always pushed it aside. The man was more than what he let people believed him to be. She didn’t know what to say.

Growing up with the Carmichael’s as Leonard was being mentored by Nicholas, Vivian had come to learn that Lord Nicholas had been assigned to take the position of the Lord after his father’s death. People told that his father was killed by wolves but that was not true. She had learned a secret that wasn’t hers.

Was she supposed to lie or tell the truth?

”I-I want some water,” Lord Nicholas raised his brow at the level of calmness she tried to maintain, though her eyes gave away as they were still wide from shock.

”Let’s go to the study room,” he said rebuking no argument from her side as he waited for her to start walking. Her footsteps were slow as they started as if they were tied to rocks. She didn’t dare to look at the creature first but as she passed by Lord Nicholas she noticed it to have disappeared. Or maybe it was still around camouflaged in the darkness. She kept a good distance away from the Lord but when she realized that she didn’t know the way to his study room, looking his way she received a smile.

After taking a few left and right, they reached the room with the narrowest possible passage that led to it.

”Water,” Lord Nicholas offered her water from the jug while she sat at the desk, ”More?” he asked politely as if he hadn’t threatened her with his presence.

She shook her head, unable to get a word out of her mouth even though her throat wasn’t dry anymore. She then heard him speak,

”They usually are very hard to notice especially with no light and the dark mansion. The creature that you saw,” he said taking the glass away from her, ”Do you feel like running away?” he asked it nonchalantly.

”I wouldn’t be able to get that far if I ran,” she answered knowing far too well of her status and the kind she belonged to.

”You’re right,” he agreed, ”With the wolves, ghouls and the guards. I wouldn’t be able to assure that you would come out alive. I don’t mean to scare you,” but he was scaring her, ”You do know I will keep you here the whole night until you start talking.”

Vivian stared at him, her hands clutching the part of the skirt that was on her lap.

”Those things...” she started referring the creatures, ”Are they your pets too?”

”The ghouls? No, they aren’t my pets. Tell me, Vivian, do you see things?” he asked coming straight to the point. Her body turned cold and her face paled. Instead of being furious his eyes lit up in fascination, ”What did you see?” he asked curiously.

”You killed your father,” she whispered in the silence with only the sound of fire crackling coming from the other side of the study room. Red eyes narrowed at her, watching her with unmoved emotion.

”My,” Lord Nicholas finally chuckled before his expression turned dark, ”Should I kill you for what you have discovered?” There was no doubt that if the Lord wanted her dead by now she would have been lying cold on the ground but she was still alive and breathing which meant he was still testing her, ”Or maybe spare it this time, after all, you did answer all my questions to the edicts. You know I won’t kill you,” he gave her a smile.

’Why did you kill your father?’

That was a question she wanted to ask but she didn’t dare to. He already knew that she had found out about the way the previous Lord had died to be false. Why would someone kill their own family? It was something she just didn’t understand.

”Have you always been able to see?” he interrogated her.

”No,” she answered before realizing he was waiting for her to explain. She cleared her throat, ”It’s been happening since we went to the snow castle...Just three-four times.”

”You touch a person and see their past?”

Vivian thought about it carefully before she answered to his burning questions, ”I don’t think it works on people. It’s mostly objects.”

”Hmm,” he hummed in concentration, ”You are a rare kind. A gift like yours could be utilized for great achievements if used well. Does Leonard know about it?” very slowly she nodded her head to a yes.

Seeing him not ask any further questions she asked him, ”Can I go back to the room, milord?”

Lord Nicholas observed the girl as if she had been brought in for one of his experiments he would like to test and try during his free time. For her to be able to see something by barely using the sense of touch, he was curious about her lineage. But then the gifts an individual possessed, it wasn’t in respect to the family one came from.

He then realized something. Leonard had begun investigating on the second lord’s mansion since his return. The girl must have seen something there for him to look into the history of the deceased lord.

In the pureblooded families, it wasn’t uncommon for a vampire to have superiors powers than the rest, a gift that could be a boon or a bane. Not everyone was gifted though, it was very few and if one did possess it they never spoke of it. He had never heard of anyone to have an ability such as this.

”I hope you don’t utter the words of what you saw today, milady,” he warned her with a smile before giving her a nod indicating she could go back, ”And don’t worry about the ghouls. They mean no harm, not unless I want them too,” he smiled kindly.

By the time Vivian got back to the room, she had begun packing the little number of things that she had brought to the Rune mansion. She couldn’t wait for Leonard to arrive the next morning. She was glad that Lord Nicholas hadn’t asked her further questions. She kept the lantern close to her with her eyes wide open sitting on the bed with fear of the creatures, whom Lord Nicholas called as ghouls would enter her room.

Thinking about the tall, dark and ragged hooded creature she couldn’t believe she had slept the last two nights without knowing what was lurking in the mansion! Who would have guessed for something inhuman to non-vampire kind to be hiding in these dark corridors of the mansion.

As hard as Vivian tried to stay awake, when the lantern ran out of oil in it her eyes had begun to droop and she fell asleep to the lullaby of the clouds.