Bambi and the Duke

She looked at the hole, her eyes squinting in deep concentration before pushing the thread in through the little metal space. Winter was approaching them, the time where Bonelake would begin to slowly freeze with a gloomy like white paint splashed over the entire lands which would be covered snow. She loved the snow. Playing outside and twirling herself as she closed her eyes when no one was there to see her do what she did like a child.

The snow wouldn't fall for two months and there was time for it, yet people of the lands began their preparation. Preparing themselves for the cold wind which could freeze one to death if one didn't protect themselves with enough clothing. It didn't affect vampires but only humans.

Vivian wanted to gift him another sweater before Winter arrived so that he could wear it. He wore the one she gave for his birthday once in a while which warmed her heart. Weaving through the wool, she continued to put it through and pull when her concentration was taken away by a bird that chirped nearby for her to only prick the needle on one of her fingers.

Seeing the small red dot on her finger, she put in her mouth to lick the blood away. Feeling the little metallic taste in her mouth her brows furrowed as she pulled her finger from her mouth to inspect the finger clean.

Since she had found out about her being a former pureblooded vampire, it made her ask herself why the taste or sight of blood didn't appeal to her. Thought she had been turned to a human was there no part of her that craved for blood like the rest of the vampire population? At night when she went to sleep she tried to understand what might have caused it, coming up with various possibility which most of the times turned bizarre.

"Vivi," she heard Leo call her from where he sat which was not far where she sat on the ground. Call it a habit but she didn't find it comfortable to sit on the chair and instead prefered to knit while sitting on the hard cold ground, "Have you come in contact with anything lately? Your visions," he asked her and then continued to speak, "I haven't spoken to Sister Isabelle about your abilities but she knows that you aren't an ordinary girl. She should be able to help you with the questions and how to use your abilities."

Vivian had been wearing her black gloves regularly every time she left the mansion. Due to this, there was no opportunity of contacting the memories of others when she touched a person. She wasn't able to wear them during her examination. It was strict rules set by the council on what was supposed to be worn and what not so that no one could cheat their way in, not that they could but it was set for precautionary measures.

With her mind occupied with other things, she had forgotten about the man she had come across right before she left the council. Not able to remember his name, she bit her lip, "I saw a man kill women."

"What? When did this happen?" he enquired.

"It was the day of examination. Sorry, I forgot about it," she apologized seeing the frown on his face appear. She had been seeing a lot of gore that this particular event had vanished temporarily from her mind, "He said his name but I am unable to remember it."

"Who was he? Someone who works in the council?" She shook her head.

"No. Not the council. He was one of the attendee like me who passed through the exam."

"Is that so. With only nine of them who passed and leaving you out. There are only eight of them I need to look through the profiles. It shouldn't be hard to get the name."

The council was made of all sort of people. Men and women who used one another to get to the higher post. There were people who killed others to get what they wanted and that is how most of them secured their position in the council. If Vivian were to touch the council members, he wondered how many would turn out to have clean hands without any blood, and it included him. Leonard was no man with a saint profile, every mission and job he had taken was etched in blood of someone on his hands.

Vivian had come in contact with him several times but not once did she have a vision of him doing what he did in the council. It was something to think about, thought Leonard to himself while he saw Vivian knit something she was working on. He wondered why that was so, was it because of her feelings for him that blinded her from seeing what was in front of her?

He didn't know what she would do once she would find out about the countless amount of men and families he had killed. Would she take it easy? To love a monster who had befriended death. He wanted her to know yet he didn't at the same time.

Vivian who sat on the floor stopped weaving through felt her stomach hurt. It had been causing her discomfort the whole day. Moving her eyes to Leonard who appeared to look as if in deep thought, she asked, "Why did Mr Henz ask for your presence?"

"He didn't. Eleanor wanted to try the cookies she prepared for the first time," he rolled his eyes. So she was right, thought Vivian, "She didn't bother you a lot, did she?" he asked genuinely in concern. Vivian wondered what she was supposed to answer the question he had asked. If she would say no he would let it go but what if she said yes? While she was still contemplating on what to answer, Leonard took her silence to be a yes, "What did she do?" his dark eyes began to narrow.

"Nothing at all," at least not yet, retorted her mind, "When will we be going to meet Sister Isabelle?"

"Maybe next week. I went to the church earlier to meet her as I had told we would be visiting but she wasn't there. Father Connor said she left early this morning telling she had something to look at."

"I see."

"How was your ride back home?" he asked nonchalantly as if hardly interested when it was the opposite of it. Leonard had returned back home two hours ago and they hadn't discussed anything with the way the day had transpired.

Trying to hold back her smile, she replied, "It was good," knowing Leo, she was sure he wanted to know more. Getting up from the floor, she picked the items before putting them in the drawers she had pulled out from. As she walked around the room, she felt Leo's gaze on her back which made her movements a little awkward knowing he was looking at her.

When she closed the drawer and turned around, Leonard pushed her back against the wood which slightly hurt as the wood had been carved to form designs. One hand of his outstretched to rest on the wall near her head and the other had come to settle on the side of her waist.

His eyes burned to a darker colour as it bore into her eyes, "Don't stall my question."

"I didn't," she gulped softly at the dryness of her throat. A little breathless and feeling the light amount of tingles dancing on her skin which could be soothed by a simple touch of his.

Pushing her waist towards him so that her body touched his, he heard a small gasp escape through her delicate lips, her eyes slowly beginning to dilate at their close proximity.

"Can you tell me that you aren't hiding anything and that was all you wanted to say," the hand that was resting on the wall moved to place on her shoulder which slowly slid down tracing her spine until it reacher her lower back.

Leonard didn't like any man so much as to take her attention away from him. He knew he was a jealous man and he didn't care about it. He was used to Vivian to have eyes only for him and with her being in the mansion, it was something he didn't have to worry about. Would he be put under interrogation if he killed the man while making it look like an accident?

"Jerome only saw me back home in his carriage."

"Carriage?" she nodded her head.

"I think he was only teasing you when he spoke about his horse," she couldn't stop the smile that broke down on her lips which then drowned at his next words.

"Was he now? Both of you must have had a laugh over it. How cruel of you," he pressed her body against his.

"I didn't do anything!"

"I offer you the carriage and instead you pick him to ride with," he stated coolly, both of them staring at each other and not backing down.

"It would have been rude to reject a ride from him when technically I would be riding alone. Eleanor suggested it and I didn't see you object," which was true. Vivian knew Leo couldn't object as it would only get his cousin's attention even more especially after buying her the dress as a gift.

Leonard did agree with her on that. It was better to have someone known to send her along with but it didn't mean he would let go of the opportunity of wanting her where he wanted when there was an open window. He said,

"Doesn't stop the fact that I felt tormented by my thoughts," his hand moved down to settle on one side of her bottom, "I think it's time I punished my Bambi for not being aware of what she did."