Bambi and the Duke

Leonard took to serving her the food when she sat down with him. The last time when Vivian had consumed alcohol, there had been no change. It was as if the alcohol taken in by humans and average vampires had no effect on her. He had asked Jan to get him a bottle which was specially created for a pureblooded vampire with a high level of tolerance for alcohol.

The soup Vivian consumed tasted bitter, making her wonder if something more than the usual had been added to it. Not complaining about it, she ate it as she was hungry. The housekeeper picked the empty platter and took it with him after placing the bottle of alcohol which had only half of the contents inside it.

"I had one of the Sisters of the church visit you earlier this day. I needed to make sure you were alright," said Leonard while sprinkling the pepper on his plate of meat, "The medicine she provided is bitter therefore I asked Jan to add it in the soup," there was the mystery to the different taste in the soup.

Idly he picked the bottle in his other hand to read the label of the bottle. The vintage bottle was old, older than he or his parents which would cost any pureblooded vampire a good piece of his land, "You're celebrating my unsuccessful transformation to a vampire," she joked to see his lips pull to a smile.

"My celebration is much more than that today and no this isn't for me. It is for you to drink," he said, pulling the cork of the bottle and pouring the liquid which could be considered lesser than a gulp into the crystal glass.

Feeling less tired after the bath and her mind fresh after a long sleep, her curiosity piqued at his offer for her to drink. It was a common fact that was known that when a man or a woman consumed the alcohol, they were bound to feel light headed and tipsy. The liquid that could bring out the truth or make the person an emotional mess until the time the content of it lingered in one's body.

"It will taste bitter but it leaves an after taste of sweetness. The best among what is present in the cellar," he wanted to find the answer of who Vivian was. This was the easiest and fastest method to find out about her. He had let her take average alcohol last time, one that affected the humans as well as vampires but not pureblooded vampires.

He handed her the glass in midair for her to take. Taking it from his hand, she wondered if she was supposed to take a sip from it, "Is it alright for a sick person to have it?"

"Hmm. Don't worry about it. This one won't produce heat in the body, rather you might feel cold after drinking it," he explained to her.

Dropping the fork she had been holding in her hand, she used it to hold the glass with both her hands. Bringing it close to her face, she smelt it first and then placed her lips tilting the glass slowly until the liquid slid over the glass and slipped into her mouth. Though it was less in content and barely to be called as a sip when the liquid glided down her throat soon it started sinking into her body cell which for an instant made her feel like her body lost its strength to stay still.

Quickly she placed the glass on the table before looking up at Leonard who smirked at some internal victory of his.

"Congratulations, Vivian. You aren't a human but a pureblooded vampire," he said taking the glass and finishing the last two drops that had remained behind after Vivian had gulped from it.

Vivian stared at him, processing what he just said with the twirl she had received after drinking the antique liquid, "What?"

"I praise myself for finding answers and details about people. Getting to the bottom of anything but I could find nothing previously about your family. I finally figured why we couldn't find your parents," his words brought in hope, the hope of wanting to meet her parents and if there was anyone else in the family who was waiting for her, "This bottle here affects only the pureblooded vampires. Not the humans, not the average vampires or the witches. Just the pureblooded vampires. The reason why the transition was a failure was that you are a pureblooded vampire. A former pureblooded vampire," he corrected to see the confusion on her face.

"How's that possible?" she laughed to say, "I have been a human all my life."

"True. That's what all of us have thought but we don't know the part of you before you arrived here. It might take a while for us to know what caused the change in your genes from a pureblooded vampire to a human. I will take a look again when I go back to Valeria again. We should be able to find more about you and your family."

Vivian took the time to digest what he just said. All she could hear was about her being a pureblooded vampire. The news was an unexpected one which had never once occurred to her. How could it? She had been a human all this time, living as one and having no tendency of drinking blood at the sight of it.

Though there was blood in front of her where Leonard was drinking from as part of his meal, she didn't feel the need to drink it. She didn't crave for it the way vampires did.

A former pureblooded vampire?

Unable to eat much, she asked him, "Does that mean my parents are pureblooded vampires?" seeing him nod, her heart shuddered at the thought of it.

All this time she had lived as a peasant, a maid until recently when Leonard had decided to turn her to a lady but to think that her parents were pureblooded vampires, a worried frown fell on her face. Most of the pureblooded vampires were of high and to find one in a lower class was negligible.

Leonard placed his hand over hers in assurance and she smiled softly.

With having slept so much, Vivian stayed awake reading a book along with Leonard in his study room while having her feet scrunched up with Leonard behind her. Her back rested on his front while his hands circled around to hold the book so that both of them could look at it.

Leonard knew Vivian wasn't an idiot to not know why and how her parents would have lost contact with her. He hadn't placed a soul bond on her yet but he could feel the sadness that had come to hover over her mood. The loneliness that she felt, he used it to his own advantage by giving her the support she needed so that she could rely on him.

With her head rested on his chest, Vivian asked Leonard, "Why didn't the sister of the church tell your mother about it?"

"The witches have always been accused along with the black witches. Though I wouldn't blame my kind, there have been some rare cases of the white witch turning their back and involved in some unethical work. They answer only if asked else they information dies within themselves."

"Meaning if we didn't try to transform me, we would have never known about it."

"That's right," he replied back.

"What if they lost me by mistake, my parents I mean, and Martha found me. Out of pity, she must have brought me here," she suggested to hear him hum.

"That can be a possibility," he responded, placing his chin on her shoulder to rest on. Though the truth seemed far from it, for now, he went along with it.

"How do you think my parents are? Do you think I have siblings like a sister like Charlotte?" though Vivian was worried at the same time she wondered how her family was. How they would react upon hearing she had been trying to find them.

Leonard in return this time didn't know what to answer.

He himself didn't know what he would do once he found them for abandoning her at such a young age and at that thought his fingers tightened behind the book as he held it.