Bambi and the Duke

In one of the forests of Bonelake, human bodies were dug from the ground which had been buried there. The magistrate peeked with his nose covered with his kerchief, a human himself who couldn't bear the pungent stench of the rotten, mud-covered bodies that had wafted towards his nose. Fresh rain poured from the sky, cleaning the dirt that was on the surface of the ground yet it was enough to drive the smell coming from the decayed bodies.

The continuous rain and the gravel mud had camouflaged the bodies in the pit that must have been filled eventually. By the looks of it, it could be told that it was a recent killing. Throats were slit open, which allowed the mud and other particles to settle in the open wound which led to the little insects to settle in and around the body.

Next to the magistrate stood Leonard with the town guard who held a wide black umbrella over his head. Unlike the older human, he didn't feel the need to cover his nose as he was used to the foul smell. His sharp eyes looked at the bodies that were pulled out one after another to have a total of twenty-two people who were piled one over the other.

"Why didn't any of them report on the missing family members?" asked Leonard, seeing the council worker push the body with his hands as it had begun to slip down to fall back into the pit.

The magistrate's lips which were set firmly, twisted in some thought as he replied, "One of them said, they had come to report but there had been an attack by the black witch."

"That makes no sense," clipped Leonard. This was too many bodies which had been found in one site, "They could come later. What about the guards? Haven't we set forts as requested to have a watch to alert the villagers."

"The bell didn't work. The tower watchman said the bell had been broken but he did manage to get some sound out of it," when Leonard turned his gaze to the man where he had to look down due to the short height of the man, the magistrate completed his sentence by saying, "I was there to hear the bell."

"At this rate of supervision, we will have to replace you for someone more efficient in the job, Mr. Perinagi," the Duke didn't hold back in his thoughts, his words brutal making the man cower in worry, "Get it fixed."

"Yes, Duke Carmichael," the magistrate bowed, making his appearance look smaller than before.

Taking the umbrella from the manLeonard's friend Maximillian Gibbs who was beside him began to walk with him when they turned back to leave the men to handle the dead bodies and in the Magistrates care for a few minutes.

Once they were far away, their footsteps halted to talk about it where Leonard spoke, "The number of dead bodies being raised here is more than the number of chickens grown in this village."

"I doubt they are only of this village," the blue-eyed pureblooded vampire answered, both his eyes brows that were designed to be arched from birth. Rain pelted on top of their umbrella, giving a churring sound which blocked their words from going further. With Vivian who had fallen sick, Leonard hadn't stepped out of his house and made sure to tend to her by handing over the work to his friend Maximillian Gibbs, "I made a background survey of the nearby villages."

"What did you find?"

"There have been missing people there, missing for four to five days in approximation. The people must have been manipulated by one person who had them dumped here in a single place. It only appears to be people of the same town when it is actually the aggregated result."

"The black witch," stated Leonard for his friend to nod his head in agreement of the suspicion, "This isn' the first murder in the last few months. There has been a pattern of nine weeks before a murder like this takes place. Not just the humans but also the vampires have been getting used and dumped."

"And here I thought the vampires were much better compared to the humans in not falling for a trap set by the black witches."

Leonard hummed, turning his gaze back to the magistrate and then the bodies. Something told him that it was for something bigger than just causing havoc and using the humans and vampires for building potions.

In the midst of the human and vampire war taking place in the four lands of Mythweald, Valeria, Woville and Bonelake, the black witches were plotting over a possible ritual that was still getting prepared. He could hardly imagine what it could be and if his gut was right, they had to stop it quickly before the black witches eradicated both the human and vampires existence.

"They all have the same slit marks. Did you see the angle of it?" asked Maxmillian in interest.

"They are all crossed from the upside," it was the first thing he had noticed when the first two bodies were dug out of the pit. Usually, a person would have the slit cut in a horizontal fashion but here they were cut out vertically. Not to forget the way the cut had been made looked as if the victims didn't struggle even for a second. It was something to worry about, "Get the bodies to the council morguetry and file in the report," asked Leonard to his fellow councilman to complete the job, "And get the man out of the position."

Maximillian raised his brow, "Not giving a chance?"

"I can bet on the rain that the man hasn't got the bell in the tower watch fixed yet even after days have passed since the black witches came to attack the village."

"I have to go visit Lord Nicholas before I head to the council. I will file the report once I reach. Where do you want to put it? The black box?" The blue-eyed man asked him.

"The white box."

Maximillian asked surprised, "White?" the boxes were where reports were filed and put in for the councillors to sort on later. The white box was where lower importance of matter was put in while the black box consisted of high important matters which were crucial and only the higher and older council members took a lot to asses the situation.

"Yes," Leonard answered not elaborating why he had asked to switch the box when a sensitive matter like this was to go to the black box.

He hadn't stayed in the council for long years like the others but Leo had the best mentor anyone could have. Right after stepping into the council duties, he had found out on how some of the reports always went missing from their assigned box, especially the black box which needed reviews from the head council. The reports though pushed into the box in the hope to be read would at times not reach the necessary hands and would be destroyed with no evidence of particular evidence.

He didn't usually go to change his reports but his gut this time told him to switch the boxes. There were chances that if the file went to the black box directly, there would be some sort of manipulation in the data. Not wanting to take chance, he decided to push it to the white box where it would end up in the hands of less toxic people. In the name of the mistake, the report would directly go to the head council.

Reaching back at the mansion when Leonard stepped down from the carriage, he saw the housekeeper rush to his side to take his coat,

"Where is Vivian?" was the first question he asked to get back the response from his housekeeper, "Master, Lady Vivian has gone to a tea party invited by your second cousin Lady Eleanor."

Hearing the information, he stopped in his tracks. Taking back the coat he asked the whereabouts of where the tea party was being held at.

If it were Charlotte, Leonard would have understood but Eleanor didn't know Vivian. She had only met her twice and to invite her to a tea party was out of character of his second cousin. Reaching the mansion of the lady who had held the tea party, he learnt that everyone had gone to look at the bridge which was recently built.

What he didn't expect when he neared the bridge was to his see Vivian drenched in water with blood that must have caused due to a wound. Her clothes stuck to her skin like a second skin, the piece of her dress showing off the milk skin that was beneath it. Having missed the scene where Vivian and Lady Sheryl had fallen due to the breakage of the roots, he found his cousin with other few of the vampires who stood on the other side of the bridge with smirks and giggles playing on their lips.

Furious couldn't even cover up how he felt right now. Once he had picked Vivian out of the water, having her wound that was deep, he noticed the sway of Vivian's head who was losing a lot of blood.

"Leo-" Eleanor tried to speak.

"I would ask you to refrain yourself from calling Vivian outside from now. I did not expect this from you, Eleanor," he glared at her like never before, his lips set in disappointment before he took Vivian in the carriage back to the Carmichael's mansion.

On their way, Leonard didn't wait to reach the mansion and instead lifted up her dress to look at the wound, "Hush now," he said when she flinched as he removed the kerchief which he had tied around her leg. Bending down, he licked the wound to hear her hiss in pain, taking away the blood and cleaning it before pulling.

Vivian didn't dare to look at the wound, for now, feeling dizzy due to the loss of blood, she felt utterly weak. She wanted to go to sleep but the ride wasn't the smooth nor was Leo letting her sleep with his mouth on her wound.

She saw him look worried at her, "Only if you could heal yourself," she smiled hearing it but the man didn't seem to be in the mood to smile. As if deep in thought, he looked down at her wound and then his hand to bite on it.

"What are you doing?" she asked him a little more than confused.

"I don't know if it'll work but it's worth trying," he said, sucking on his own blood he leaned forward to let his blood be poured into her mouth for her to drink.