Bambi and the Duke

Turning her head, upright, she looked at Lionel who was staring at the boy with his monocle. Feeling her gaze, the elder man’s eyes turned down to look at her, ”What is it?”

Vivian quickly said, ”His case needs to be investigated,” she kept her voice low.

”You aren’t the one judging her in my seat, Lady Vivian,” the councilman gave her a sharp look and despite receiving an unpleased looked from her superior she spoke,

”No. His case was given to us. Our team received it. You cannot put him under the cell room,” at the same time she had voiced her thoughts, the same time Leonard entered the door from her left-hand side. The man didn’t bow at anyone in the room. Not even his superior which made Vivian look up to him wondering why his mood looked a little irritated as he tried to keep it under the lid.

Lionel who had just processed Vivian’s words, turned back to sit straight to find Leonard standing in front of the accused and the witness, ”Councilman Leonard,” greeted his superior with a slight surprise in his voice on why he was here.

”Council Lionel. I would ask you to withhold your judgment on the boy or anyone else. It is a case that we only received. We would like to take a look at it before you pass the verdict on what has to be done,” Leonard didn’t look one bit apologetic for abruptly stopping the proceedings and instead stood tall and rather daunting. He hadn’t bothered to tone down his words or voice as he had asked. It wasn’t a request.

Vivian with her breath stopped, she turned to look back at Lionel who sat quietly with some amount of murmurs going around the room. After a good minute had passed, the councilman spoke loud making her almost flinch in her seat, ”Call the man who was responsible for this days court files! Why are they being mixed up when the investigation hasn’t been completed?”

”Sir councilman Lionel, a blonde-haired middle-aged man came forward. It was the man she had come to see often now in this building.

”Was it you Abel who sent the files in here today?” Lionel glared down at the man named Abel.

”Of course, not. I didn’t handle this day’s file and am glad it isn’t as I wouldn’t want to face your wrath,” he bowed his head deeply, ”I just came here to look at the proceedings today,” Lionel was angry for the little mishap and though it was a small mistake, it was something he didn’t want to look over, ”Though I have to say that a mark like that isn’t something that should be looked over. Perhaps you can keep the boy in the cell-”

”That won’t be needed,” Leonard’s words were firm which didn’t want to rebuke any argument from the older man who looked at him with a small smile, ”Until the accused is proven for the murder until then he shall live where he lives.”

”For a young boy who has no parents, do you think it is safe for one who is of his age to be alone?” asked the councilman named Abel.

”Mr Senielton,” Lionel interrupted them to look at the man who stood behind Leonard.

”Yes, Sir,” the man waited for what the councilman was about to say to him, stepping to the side so that the councilman could look at him without any hindrance.

The councilman who sat on the high seat spoke to him, ”As you are the only family of the boy, the council would like to ask you to look after him while the investigation is still under procession,” the man wasn’t pleased to hear that his wife’s killer was going to stay with him at his home.

And with that the man didn’t hide his displeasure with the court’s words, ”He killed my wife,” Lionel nodded.

”That we aren’t a hundred percent sure. Unless we are sure that this is what happened, the court cannot adjourn the case. It shouldn’t take more than two days for the matter to be resolved as the case has been given to an exemplary team who will be handling the boy. Rest be assured if it is the devil’s witchery you speak of, we will make sure to protect your home and you from it,” concluded Lionel as he explained it to the man.

With the slight turn of events with Vivian who had spoken her mind and with Leonard who had arrived in time to take the case which had been assigned to them, the young boy looked a little relieved but the mark of worries on his forehead told that he knew that his brother-in-law wasn’t happy with him staying there.

Noticing the boy who looked at Lionel, he spoke, ”Excuse me Sir, I don’t mind staying in these cell rooms that you speak of,” it broke Vivian’s heart to think that a young boy who had not only lost his family and had been excused of killing them had to not only go through it but also the hate of his sister’s husband who was the only relative.

Something told Vivian that the man, who was his brother-in-law had something to do with the death. The displeasure was written all over his face.

”No,” Lionel refused the boy’s request, ”You will be staying at your closest family which is him. We will see in two days on how things turn out to be. Case dismissed,” spoke Lionel loudly for the boy and the man to be taken from the back door.

Leonard took his leave while the court’s proceedings continued until the time of noon. Picking up her book and her quill she stepped out of her seat when she heard Lionel speak to her, ”Good work on the case,” and he left the room. It was one of the very first few things that the man had appreciated and it brought a smile up to her face.

Stepping out of the room, Vivian saw Leonard who was standing outside, looking at the forests with his hands resting on the built wall, ”Leo,” she greeted him for him to take her in his arms and leave a kiss right on her cheek.

”Are you done with the work?” he asked nonchalantly. She, who was still reeling from the public display of affection which he had done outside the court looked as if a deer who had been caught.

”Ah, yes. It was just until noon,” she replied back, a little shy as she caught a few of the spectators looking at the couple.

By now it was no secret for anyone in the council to know that they were a couple. Though some of them wanted to know if they were married as Vivian wore her gloves over the ring Leonard had given her, the couple had done nothing but shown affection to each other.

”Would you like to have lunch outside or in here?” he asked her, taking the file from her he saw the notes she had made earlier during Lionel’s question and the answers given by the accused and the witness.

”Outside?” asked Vivian for him to nod. The food place in the council felt a little hard to breathe with many council members who were usually present. Going outside not only disappeared the eyes that followed them but also gave them time for each other. They went to the local inn where they had started to frequent enough for the owner to know their meal and to give them better seats as they were her regular customers.

Once they had settled in the seats, Vivian picked up the glass of water that had been placed, sipping from it to see Leo drop something in his glass.

”What’s that?” she asked him curiously.

”This, it is a clearing medicine which will remove all the unwanted residues and impurities if someone has tried to put something special in anything we consume,” he answered her question keeping it vague. So it was something that was used to avoid the hearts corruption, thought Vivian to herself, ”It was created by doctor Murkh. Though he went through my parent’s body it was only after I handed the potion to Nicholas did one of the bottles go to him to create an antitode which now is being given to some of us.”

”How many are some?”

”Our team, Nicholas, Rueben, and Murkh himself,” he stopped when the owner of the inn came to place the food at their table, once she was gone, Leo continued, ”It is a test and Murkh isn’t sure if it will help hundred percent but we have no test subject as the pureblooded vampires but only animals.”

”It is good to know he created an antitode to help the corruption of the heart,” she answered, taking the spoon from the bowl which was already in it, she twirled it around the soup before bringing it up to her lips.

When their lunch came to an end where Leo paid the woman with bronze coins, they stepped out of the local inn and walked towards the carriage to get back to work. Vivian stepped inside and Leo followed to take a seat next to her, ”Vivi.”

”Hmm?”

”Did you not read the report that was sent to our office room?” he asked her. It was something he had been meaning to ask her.

”I did,” she replied looking at the coachman who closed the door and went to hop in the front seat.

”Why didn’t you stop the proceeding then? Lionel was going to pass the judgment to put the boy in the cell room.”

”I wanted to know the story that the boy and the man were iterating. The report which Lionel found was something more than what we received,” she confessed. A crease came to settle on his forehead which she was used to seeing.

”What do you mean?”

Vivian began to explain, ”The report we received spoke about the boy being responsible for his families death but there was no picnic mentioned in there, nor about his brother-in-law who refused to take him in. We were given only half the report while there was more in the other report. I wanted to hear both their stories to verify. I did tell Lionel after that, that we only received the case and it needed further investigation because it was only later did I come to realize that the case was still under our hands which couldn’t be pushed to the court.”

”I see. Lionel wouldn’t have stopped the proceeding on your request,” he murmured, ”Unless pointed out in the hall in front of everyone and fought for. The man has enough work that he would like to dust everything quickly at times while missing sensitive information. What is it?” he asked seeing her open her mouth to speak something.

”The councilman in there who spoke today. The man whom you spoke to apart from Lionel, blonde hair, small eyes-”

”Abel.”

”Yes, Abel!” she had forgotten his name as she hadn’t spoken to him before. She had mostly spotted the man during the court proceedings and sometimes in the hallways while passing by which wasn’t very often since she had joined the council, ”He, well, who is he?” she asked him because earlier that day she had noticed the way both the men had looked at each other. It was odd and something she wouldn’t be explained, making her doubt that there was a story behind it.

”He works in a lower department under councilman Morpheus. He specializes in catching the witches and the ones who hone dark magic,” he explained, taking her hand and wrapping it with his own hand, ”Abel might smile and might appear helpful but it isn’t what it appears to be,” Vivian waited for him to continue, ”Almost a year ago, his sister and his brother-in-law used to work for the council. They hail from the pureblooded family but as you know, even the pureblooded vampires have their own levels or hierarchy.”

She nodded her head.

”They worked under the same department as Abel. Nicholas had been searching for a certain set of black witches who were involved in the past massacre that had taken place in Bonelake. The order had been passed through by the head council and they had successfully caught hold of the black witches. But instead of handing over them to Nicholas, the black witches were sent to the Duke to start another ritual.”

Vivian looked taken aback from this information, ”Why would they do that?”

”Money, status. They wanted to be posted to another land which was Wovile, never got to the reason why but I know Abel was involved in it. Letting go of criminals while also knowing what affect it might cause is something the council doesn’t allow. Because of them and the Duke there, the witches escaped but they didn’t spare the Duke’s life there. Later on, we caught most of them, but in the past few weeks I have come to believe that one of the black witches who was part of the coven is the blue-eyed black witch you spoke of.”