Bambi and the Duke

It was the year 1777 and more than a decade had passed by since he had left his house, trying to be a better-pureblooded vampire which he did. He turned to a fine young man, learning everything and anything. With the leave that he had applied, he had planned to move back to his home where his parents were waiting for him to come back.

Initially, when he was sent away from his home, he had been angry. So angry that he had even bit the man who had provided him with a roof to live. Now that he thought about it he smiled, Malcolm was a patient man, for him to be able to treat the young boy he was before with the same amount of patience, he was thankful for it. He had been angry with his parents for kicking him out of the house but he could no longer blame them. If Lord Nicholas hadn't intervened and had let the council take the matter into their hands, his young self wouldn't have been able to go through with it. Which was having your both fangs being pulled out in the council court. That was a humiliation for any kind of vampire.

He was invited during occasional parties which Lord Nicholas and Malcolm Rufus attended but the visits were usually kept short.

"You must be very eager to get back home," the Lord commented as he placed the book in his coat, "Is it about the excitement to be going back home finally or is it about living with your parents or...could it be the girl?" he asked.

Leonard tapped the bud of his cigar as if he were unaffected by the Lord's words but the Lord knew better; just as well Leonard had come to know about Lord Nicholas. No matter how kind Lord Nicholas appeared, behind the calm demeanour, the man was a cunning fox. Though he had helped him by lowering the punishment for what he had done when was young, the man had kept him close due to the fondness he held for Leonard when he was young.

Due to the short visits to his own house, Leonard couldn't meet the little human girl he had come to befriend. After all, she was a human and he a pureblooded vampire. The pureblooded weren't meant to mix with the humans. Very few did among the lot and those were the ones who were always talked behind the others back for their poor choice of lifestyle. It was after a few months did he meet her, for her to only hug him innocently after she had seen him which hadn't gone well with his uncle Sullivan. He had learnt to visit her without anyone's notice which was in vain as Paul always caught him lingering around for mere seconds of his visit to the kitchen.

Vivian, he thought to himself as he said her name in his mind. He hadn't met her for two years due to the amount of work the council had handed over to him, he had been travelling across the four lands without a break. Now that he had finally moved to work under the Lord himself on the Lord's personal request, he could, at last, go to his home. He would finally be able to see her.

"You didn't show me the last letter you received," Leonard scowled at the man.

"It isn't for you to read," Leonard clicked his teeth, throwing the cigar on the floor he stamped his feet on it, "I thought we agreed to not interfere in each other's lives."

"We did," the Lord agreed with a smile, "But it is hard to resist when a letter with so much of love and admiration is sent to the mansion," Since Leonard had left the Carmichael mansion, Vivian had sent letters to Leonard which in the beginning made no sense as she was still learning to write at that time, "I heard you didn't receive a letter for two years now."

"I asked her not to write. I had to concentrate on work than being distracted," replied Leonard. It was the time he had got his second assignment after the first one didn't go well. At that time he was still young and needed to focus on being part of the council.

"If she is still distracting, I can make sure she is cleared from your path," Leonard sent a quite glare to Lord Nicholas who chuckled in humour, remembering him still as the young boy who always had a glare settled on his face. The lion had calmed in years.

"I was only teasing. There is no need to look at me with such eyes," the Lord smiled. At Lord Nicholas' words, Leonard looked at the darkness of the forest not saying anything.

The next afternoon, Leonard left the main city in a carriage with many trunks being tied behind and above the carriage roof. After hours of the journey where the sun had already set, the black horses came to a halt when the coachman pulled over the carriage in front of the Carmichael mansion. The white walls of the mansion looked the same, the two pillars stood high and mighty on either side of it.

"Young master, Leonard!" Paul was the one who was first to greet him when he stepped inside the mansion, "We weren't expecting you until next Friday. Allow me to take the coat," a decade that had passed by not stopping the time in the humans who lived. Paul now looked older, his physique still the same except for the ageing lines on his face that had begun to appear.

As they walked in with another servant who carried the luggage inside along with a maid, Leonard looked around to say, "The house seems quiet."

"Yes, master Leonard. Mr and Mrs Carmichael have gone to the soiree at Ms Peyton's residence," Paul informed him to continue to speak, "I just got the room cleaned two days ago."

"Thank you," murmured Leonard, walking to the windows he looked out at the estate. Not paying much attention to what Paul was giving orders to the maid and the servant when it came to preparing dinner and heating up the water at the base so that Leonard could take a warm bath after the long journey he just had.