Bambi and the Duke

Rueben stared at the picture of the woman who was in the box. Though it had been twenty years since he had legally wedded his wife to live a calm peaceful one, the one that laid in the box was the one who had stolen his heart long ago. 

Picking up the picture, he bought it close to look at her. Her hair was inky black along to accompany the color of her eyes. Her expression was one which was serious like many other times he had seen her during the time he had known her but there was a faint smile which the painter had captured where one would think that the painter had added to it as a touch of his own to bring out the beauty of the person.

Turning the picture to look behind the name on it read 'Isabelle Genevieve'. 

Isabelle, he thought to himself. She was a white witch, a woman who was strong just like the man she had married. He had loved her in those years when he had only turned to a half-vampire and she was still an alone witch, traveling the four lands to not be caught by the humans as at that time, a word of the witch was volatile like a fire who would be set on fire on the doubt of being one. 

The picture he had was of that time, maybe a month old after they had met. He had been out and hungry, wanting to kill any living thing from which he could quench his thirst to only stumble upon this woman. It was the time of night when he had pounced on her,

"What do you think you're doing? Don't you know a witch holds poison in her blood," it had made the young Reuben who was still new to the way of vampire to look at her cautiously, "One bite and you will die out of mere corruption," seeing him not retrieve his hands where he had her pinned against the ground, she said, "Go on...Take a bite and see it for yourself."

A smile came to form on his lips at that particular memory of his with her. She had always been quiet with her eyes stern. Most of the white witches he had come across were gentle in nature but she wasn't so, her thoughts were strong and the way she lived was wild until she fell in love with Zachary Delcrov.

Placing the picture back in the box, he pushed it to its secret compartment. It had been years since she had passed away yet the memories of her was clear as yesterday. If it weren't for her will he wouldn't have turned to a head council and he would have continued to be a rogue vampire who would by now been ripped apart for breaking laws of the council. How ironic, he thought to himself. 

To think she was no more now brought in a faint discomfort in his chest. She was his dear friend, a woman of the time and he wished she was still alive. With that thought in his mind, he closed the drawer shut to start signing the papers that laid on the desk which needed to be assessed. 

Vivian followed Leonard through another side of the council, walking through the corridors which were sectioned and each time she moved forward she caught sight of some of the people who were in there while some caught her eye while her eyes went to move on without stopping by. 

After walking for a few more steps, Leonard opened the door and she stepped in to see the two men whom she had already met before. 

Hueren and Dutan who were looking at a chart which was spread wide on the table had their back set straight at the presence of Leonard who had entered the room with Vivian behind him. 

"Lady Vivian, congratulations on joining us," Dutan welcomed her with a bow.

Hueren who had been standing and staring at her realized he had to wish her to else it would seem impolite. Bowing his own head, he greeted her, "Lady Vivian."

"Thank you," Vivian took the greeting. 

If it were before, the human, Heuren would have been happy but this time there was awkwardness in the air which was emitted from him. Lady Vivian wasn't single nor was she an anybody but she was his superior's wife whom he had been trying to court every time they had met which was twice until now. 

Finding it out and dropping it out of nowhere had come as a shock to him. Maybe if someone said a dog could talk would have been much easier to digest than this news to him. He then saw her smile, a huge wide smile that was plastered on her face. 

"You seem to be in a very good mood, Lady Vivian," Dutan commented.

Vivian beamed with happiness, to speak, "I am happy to have finally made it here," it was nice to have a touch of female in the team, thought Dutan to himself while Hueren couldn't stop his internal tears like a child, unable to believe he had lost his opportunity with the lady like herself.

Dutan was glad to finally be able to have someone normal in this team apart from him. Lionel was a man who easy to set off when something went wrong and he had the habit to be rude as possible with his words. With them being on his team it made it even worse. Then there was the Duke who rarely spoke unless they were working. The man usually kept to himself without mingling much with others. There were only a few handpicked people if one wanted to know whom Leonard spoke to. Then there was Hueren who had surpassed a cat's curiosity and often got into trouble by wandering around the wrong departments where he was not supposed to be. This often led to more scoldings by Lionel who would punish just one but the entire team. 

Leonard left Vivian's side and went to take a seat at his desk.

"After having such difficult tasks to be completed in the second exam it is a common feeling of accomplishment. We should be gladder that you made it alive. I heard what happened," he stated and before they would dive into the serious matter, he shifted the subject immediately, "Did you receive the mansion and the carriage?"

This got Hueren's ears perked up, "Mansion? Isn't it the lands?" he asked his fellow councilman.

Dutan shook his head, a smile upon his face while he had his eyebrows raised, "No, I overheard Lionel speak with Reuben about how they were going to offer Lady Vivian with a mansion and other things as a future example." 

"Fu-ahem! I wished I was a woman now!" there was a disappointment in his voice as he said it. 

Dutan chuckled, "Yes, I think most of us would wish it after hearing what is being offered by the main council. Did you like it?" he asked Vivian.

"I didn't take it," her simple answer made Hueren whip his head, his eyes full of admiration for her noble heart until she said, "There's already the Carmichael's mansion. I don't need another one where no one would live. Not right now at least," Dutan, in the beginning, blinked his eyes and his eyes then widened to look at Hueren who gave him a sad look before looking at his senior who had his eyes glued to the book he was holding in his hands. 

"Pardon me, milady," Was it that Lady Vivian and Duke Leonard were having a relationship without anyone's notice? But then Heuren seemed to know about it.

Vivian who came into the impression that the councilman was wondering why she had given up the mansion after all mansion wasn't something a person acquired so easily, "I thought it would be easier to maintain a little house once Leo and I have children so that we can give the mansion to them maybe. A quiet life would nice to look forward after years ahead," Leo who had been reading the book happened to stop looking at the words in the book to have his ears perked up. To think that she had thought about it so far ahead brought him immense joy though right now he didn't show it. 

Dutan smiled understanding what the Lady said and then gave a look of pity to Heuren who had taken a seat in the corner of the room as if to mope. He then turned to look back at his senior, "I didn't know you were married. Congratulations on the wedding," he wished him to get a small nod from Leonard who went back to reading his book, "I gave the reports to Lord Nicholas as you asked but he is yet to bring them back with the signatures. Would you want me to go collect it?" 

"That won't be necessary. He said he would be dropping by the time of evening. You can collect it from him and put it in the box," suggested Leonard, "Did you find about the potion maker?"

Heuren came to answer it, "Not yet. Her trail has been close but every time we think to have found her, she disappears."

"Vivian," at the mention of her full name, Vivian turned around standing straight to hear about her duties she would be working on, "To brief you about what we do. We usually work on the calamity deaths that take place which isn't natural. We try to find the cause of death and report it back with the right conclusion of what might have happened on the scene. Apart from it we also work on holding the criminals who break the laws against the council."

"Against the council?" she asked him.

"If one were to share a particular piece of evidence which was obtained by the council to be given away to another team or a third party which would cause harm to the welfare of people, we are the team who step in and clean the evidence," he put the book down and stood up from his seat, "Also there are times when a certain department might request your assistance which is usually sent down by either the Lord of the lands or the head council."

Dutan added to the conversation, "Right now, we are under the assistance as we are much more suitable for the work. The one which you came to see that day at the land of the dead man."

"To make it short most of our work involves in overtaking another's work as they were incapable of finding what had occurred. Me being one of the Duke of Bonelake I have other responsibilities which I hand down to these men which saves time," Vivian felt as if she had been placed under the right team and was glad that this is where Leo worked. Everything sounded so exciting that she could hardly wait to get to work. Charlotte's death was still in question and had been taken in by Leo but it was something they would have to work side by side with the current job that they had. 

Taking out his watch from his pocket, Leo informed the two of his fellow councilman who was in the room, "I have a jury meeting to attend. See if you can go to the room and get the paper out as we discussed," he ordered Heuren whose face suddenly turned serious. The man nodded, "Dutan you can collect the taxation fee which hasn't be given by the families who live next to the Isle town."

"I think everyone has already given out their tax," Leonard gave his junior a look to say,

"Not everyone. Do you want me to pull out the reports and show who you might be missing? Make sure you run through the checks and then proceed to go to the town which is in the radius of five kilometres."

"Yes, Sir!" Dutan had held his breath when Leonard had given him a look. 

Vivian who saw them get ready to leave the room, asked Leonard, "What will I be doing?"

"You?" she diligently nodded to his question. 

"You can read the documents we have here, the trails which we have found to catch up," Leonard pointed the little stack of papers that was on the other side of the table, "Finish it quickly and you can do some research after that."

Her eyes followed the direction of his hand and then to meet his eyes again, she said, "I will finish it in a day."

Leo turned to look at the table, "Not that table. The table next to it," he said holding in his smile when her eyes widened with the amount of more than twenty files being stacked on the table which held information about the case they were working on. Before he left it felt like Leo wanted to tell her something but he held back his words, she was a councilwoman now and hence he trusted her with things. Giving her a nod he left the room for herself with the two men following him.