Bambi and the Duke

In the tall building of the council which was surrounded by trees, she followed the tall lean man. Her footsteps quick as her feet walked to keep up with the elder councilman, her hands holding a file which she was asked to carry along with her. The corridor was filled with other councilmen who were standing at the sideline while waiting for the main door of a particular room to be opened.

Vivian had been reading the files which Leonard had asked her to complete while the three councilmen- Leonard, Heuren, and Dutan had left the building to attend a parallel case which had been given to them. While she was at her given task, Lionel had entered the room to find Dutan gone who usually wrote down the notes for him during a meeting.

”Grab your quill and parchment with the file, and come with me.”

That was all he had told and she had jumped on her feet to take what he had asked before hurrying herself out so that she wouldn’t be lost in the building.

It had been more than two weeks since she had started to come to the council so that she could learn about how the team she had been assigned to would be working along with their past and present cases assigned. The ground floor was made out of the basic design and there was much space given in there with its white walls which greeted the workers and visitors but when one got past these simple walls to walk further, the paths to different departments and floors were confusing. It made Vivian wonder who had given the architecture and had built this odd place. There were several doors after the white built architecture where it led to different paths and corridors. Last week when she had stepped out of the department she had roamed around for more than thirty minutes while trying to find her way back as every time she tried to walk and find the way she ended up at the same spot. Thankfully, Heuren had come in search of her and brought her back while giving out the little pointers one needed when using these confusing paths.

The main door opened where everyone had gathered and Lionel stepped inside, followed by Vivian and the others.

”You can sit here,” spoke Lionel as he moved around the high chair and sat as the men and one woman began to take their seats in front of him. Vivian who had been carrying the files took the seat next to him which was positioned at a height lower than his chair.

She faced the crowd of councilmen who appeared to be a mix old and young people but most of them were vampires with very few humans. Some of them saw her while some didn’t bother that a woman had for the first time entered the jurisdiction which was held three times in a week to make sure the decorum of the lands were upheld with the laws and the edicts that were to be followed by the civilians.

It being the first time for her, Vivian didn’t know why she had been asked to come here or what she was supposed to do. Nonetheless, she sat straight in her chair without hunching her back.

As days had come to pass by, she had been growing with knowledge which increased her confidence in her surroundings. To have made through the second exam which had come with a twist of unexpectedness, she had earned name with it initially apart from being one of the rare female associate councilwomen. To add more to it, word had come to spread around the corners of her being the wife of Duke Leonard, weighing the responsibility of carrying the Carmichael name with her now.

Though most of them had their suspicion both Leonard nor Vivian confirmed it when they were outside. Vivian’s hands which were covered in the black gloves pulled the quill and opened the blank parchment from the file.

”Bring the first offender in,” Lionel’s voice boomed across the room, getting the attention of the spectators who would be forming as the witness, they waited as the doors opened with the guards coming out with a man who looked left and right, anxiety clear on his face. Another man was brought in along with him with another two guards on either side of the person, ”Name,” Lionel asked.

From where she sat, Vivian could see that both of them had cuts and bruises covering their face and body. Funnily, both the men sported a black eye which was dark where the eye had turned small and red, making them squint.

”Gilbert Monar,” answered the nearest man who had a scuff around his jaws which looked ragged.

”Claude Yarger,” the other man answered who was bigger in size. The man was bulky looking with muscles, his brown eyes staring at Lionel passively.

She heard papers being turned above her as Lionel was going searching for their names and reading the short report which was filed by the guards of the village after sending both the men to the cell rooms where people who didn’t follow the law were held before they would be assessed and put under either the cell which was closer to the council or be let off depending on the level of their crimes.

Lionel’s eyebrows raised, reading the paper files through his monocle, ”A brawl in the street leading to a woman’s neck being broken,” said the older councilman who sat in the high seat, ”Is the woman here?”

”Yes, Sir,” one of the councilman replied to get up and help the woman who sat next to him. The woman had a dull-white bandage wrapped around her neck, her moment very slow that Lionel motioned his hand for her to sit down. Bringing her in front of the room would be too much of a hassle as it would only consume his time, ”Have you no shame? Behaving like children. Disgusting,” he spat the words looking at the two full-grown men.

Vivian flinched the way Lionel spoke to the men who suddenly jumped in to defend their case.

The man named Gilbert started, ”This man has been causing me loss since he opened his shop. I told him not to open it next to mine! That was what agreed on but nooo he had to open his shop as revenge,” the man ranted

”I had nowhere else to open. I have no land,” the bulky man responded back to it.

”This fucker has land which he stole from me!” compared to the bulky man, this one looked like a mouse in front of him but his voice touched the ceiling, ”Didn’t you?! When I was drunk you stole the keys too.”

”That is because you are a dumb fucker who is careless. If I didn’t, it would have been stolen,” the bulky man answered, turning to look up at Lionel he said, ”I was only borrowing the keys and there-”

”You stole my keys and took away my money!” the smaller man jumped on him like he was a monkey while the other man pushed him away, ”You were a damn peasant! Working for me! If you have money where did it come from? It is my blood and sweat, you thief!”

”I earned it from my work, get off me,” in the midst of their banter Lionel pinched the bridge of his nose. Vivian stared at the two men who were going back and forth at each other verbally before fists started to fly in the air at each other and the guards had to pull them apart so that they wouldn’t cause more commotion.

Once the courtroom turned quiet with one man staring and the other glaring who was the shorter one, Lionel spoke to the guards, ”Put them in the cell here. Three days in here should set their sights right,” the shorter man’s head snapped to look at the councilman.

”Why am I being put in the cell? He was the one who stole money from me. Give him a week!” the village man said pointing his finger at the bulkier man.

Giving the man a blank look, the councilman said, ”Put him there for a week,” he tipped his head at the shorter man which made Gilbert’s eyes almost bulge out. Before the man had the opportunity to respond about the unfairness, Lionel continued, ”Keep causing a ruckus here and you will only increase your time to a year,” this got the man to shut his mouth instantly without any further complaints.

”Taking into account what happened here and the damage that was caused to a fellow civilian who was not part of it. Both the offenders owe a sum of ten silver coins to the lady for the damage being caused. Mr. Monar shall spend one week in the cell and Mr. Yarger will be put for three days,” he closed the case. The men were taken out by the guards of the council and Vivian who had been following them with her line of sight heard Lionel speak to her,

”You will be the transcript for the Vivian. This is a mild case which doesn’t need diary entry but write down on what you see and hear at the end of what has been concluded of that case. These scripts will be used as references.”

The next case was brought in and the one after that wherein Vivian sat for almost two hours but she didn’t find the job to be tedious. Some of them were quarrels which were brought to the council to get justice. Some held grave importance, feuds between the higher-ups and the lower being who were poor, a few which involved the council for not letting their proposal pass for their lands being taken away or belongings that were taken for not paying the money on time.

Vivian made note of every case that was discussed before the judgment was passed. With the last one dismissed everyone were speaking with a bustle of a noisy whisper when Lionel said,

”You can bring the next one in,” his voice was loud and clear as the room went silent. The double doors on the backside of the room opened for two guards to come with a man who was bound in chains and shackles. Behind him followed a man who must have been a councilman, his sandy blonde hair which was combed to the side in a poised manner. But it wasn’t the man at the back but the one in the front that caught everyone’s eyes.

The man who was bound in chains had a wild appearance, his eyes were as good as considered to be black, his hair which must have been covered with rain and dirt stuck to his head. There was some sort of wilderness in him and if Vivian didn’t know better she would have guessed the man to be possessed. But the eyes were a give away to tell that the man must have gone under an unsuccessful transformation from human to vampire. He was as good to be called as the vampire whose heart had been corrupted as his body couldn’t accept the change.

The man growled looking at the crowd that had been gathered in the room, ”ARRGHH!” some of them who were close by looked at the man as if he were a piece of an experimental mouse, keeping themselves wary of the man who wasn’t sane anymore.

With what Vivian had read, there wasn’t much difference when it came to a corrupted vampire and a human who had been changed. Once a certain stage was reached, there was no turning back for them. They were as good as dead as they would bring nothing but destruction around them due to the lack of mind which would have been far gone.

”You cut the line, Abel,” Lionel spoke not happy that the person, in turn, hadn’t been sent in but that his councilman had put his case forward than wait for his turn.

”Pardon me, high councilman,” the sandy blonde man bowed his head, ”High councilman Creed wanted me to finish it as this man as you can see can be a threat for the people around.”

”The wrong transformation is handled by the transformation team. Take the man there for the execution,” Vivian’s mouth went dry to hear this. She had seen corrupted heart vampires but this was the first time meeting a wrong transformation.

The unsuccessful cases were unfortunate in more than one ways. Not only did they lose their mind but once it was heard that it hadn’t gone well, the person would immediately be taken away from his family to enter the direct execution which would involve less time as there was nothing to argue and discuss further.

”The man hasn’t turned right,” the man named Abel spoke to Lionel.

”I can see that.”

”You see, he keeps fluctuating more often on the human side. High councilman Creed wanted to make sure you were informed about it,” Vivian felt a strange familiarity when she looked at the councilman.

”ARRG!” the man growled, his voice louder than before which shook the room.

He crouched his back looking at the people as if they were the prey, making some of them stand up from their seat and shift. Suddenly, he jumped forward which the guards weren’t expecting as he had looked dull and out of energy, the chain they were holding slipping through their hands which made the chained man move forward to attack anything and everything, Vivian who was sitting there felt her heart jump out of her throat when he came right in front of her barring his fangs at her.

Barely a few inches away from her, she raised her hands to shield herself when the guardsman pulled the chain trying to get the man away from her. At the same time, the man’s fangs retracted back and his eyes turned brown, his expression turning lax. His eyes met hers and there was a feeling of helplessness in there as he said, ”Save me,” and he fell on his knees, sitting on the ground with his head down. One of the guardsmen went to pull the man, but the man turned rogue again and in a blink of an eye, the guardsman’s arm was torn away before working on ripping the head which spilled out blood.

Before more commotion could be caused, Lionel had stepped forward to pull the man’s heart out. Throwing it on the ground, he took the kerchief from his pocket, saying, ”Next time you get a case like this, kill them before submitting the body than create unnecessary dirt,” Lionel then looked at Vivian who looked baffled, ”Write this one down too.”