Bambi and the Duke

Vivian wasn't sure about placing her hands on something so fragile right now. Yesterday when Leonard had been inspecting the body, she had wanted to touch and see if there was anything that she could learn from it as the objects in the house wasn't much of help. It was as if she had been touching nothing to get no memories, like a black blinded light which gave out nothing.

"The body will be taken out. There shouldn't be much problem," she heard Leo speak next to her when her eyes were on the turned man. 

Murk, the doctor wondered why the duke had asked the lady to check when he had done the job already and if they hadn't noticed and heard what he had said, touching the body had with a little amount of force had got him the leg of the man with his boot which now smelled. Did they not believe in his work? With a hint of arrogance, he watched the lady step forward to the table where the man had been tied. 

Vivian wasn't fond of dead bodies, and if one asked her when she was a child on what she was looking forward to, dead bodies would be the last thing that would have popped in her head. But then this was the line of work she had chosen. 

Though she had come here to look for the man who was responsible for killed Charlotte, they couldn't ignore the daily jobs that were handed down by the council. There were towns and villages that needed attention and help. She was happy to help and this being her first job, it saddened her to see the death of an innocent. She had hoped for him to get back on his feet and maybe also let them know what he knew after he would gain his conscious but that wasn't going to happen now. 

Standing in front of the dead man, Vivian pulled out her gloves without anyone's notice as they stood behind her. She didn't want anyone knowing of her ability.

They lived in a world who was accustomed to the existence of vampires, humans and the witches with other subcategories but the world was yet to know and learn about others. It was very much similar to how this man had turned to a half unsuccessful black witch. The look the doctor had given when they had brought in the body it was obvious that he wanted to dissect every part so that he could learn without holding a conscious mind that he was a living person and not just a test subject. 

She understood Leo's concern over her well being and the need to protect her. Once people would find about it there was no saying what would happen to her. Sure they would tell that nothing would happen and it was a simple procedure but nothing was ever simple. Even for an egg to hatch, it took the right temperature and the chemicals inside it. 

Her heart felt heavy as she breathed in, placing her hand very careful over the man but hearing a crack sound she moved her hand up quickly. The body was much more fragile than it looked. Maybe as time passed by, the body turned thinner and whiskier than a bag of dust. It made her wonder what state the body at the village could be in. It was getting covered in snow but the councilmen had blocked any more snow to come and settle down on the body. 

"The body is very fragile," commented the vampire doctor, doctor Murk who stood behind with a lopsided grin. He was one of the niche doctors the council possessed and he was proud to say he knew almost everything in and out no matter how crazy he looked and could be. It was one of the very many reasons that councilmen came to his help but his favourite customer was Leonard Carmichael. The Duke always brought the most strange and enjoyable test subjects who could dream of getting his hands on. 

Moving her hands away, Vivian saw the little dent that had formed where she had placed her hand. It was true. The body was very delicate and a little more pressure the man would no longer have a chest but what about the bones?

"Doctor Murk, would you need the body later?" she slightly turned her head to the right but not enough to look at the vampire doctor and instead kept her eyes from the transitioning decomposed body that laid in front of her. 

Murk came to where she stood and gave the dead body an overall look, "Hmm, I don't think I will need him. I wanted to operate on him earlier but now it's impossible. I won't learn anything except the composition of the dust particles here," he waved the boot with the uneven half leg he held in his hand, "He is all yours, except for the bit of hair," getting the permission, she sighed. 

"Alright," she replied back. The doctor gave her a look as to what she could possibly do with the rest of the dust when he as a doctor couldn't make use of. 

Readying herself this time, she placed her hand on the man's chest again this time not worrying about the way the cracks could be heard as she pushed down his chest with both of her hands until a deep hollow like cavity formed in the dead man's chest. 

Leonard had by then come to stand to see her hand submerge and cover in the dust which was once parts of the dead man's chest. 

Vivian didn't bother to close her eyes. As she guessed, the bone was still in here. The skin had first begun to crumble but it seemed that the bones were tender and would take time before turning just like the outer layers of the body. Feeling the spine of bones beneath her fingers and palms of her hand, she felt something hazy come in front of her vision.

The images weren't easy to see and it felt very much familiar to the time when she had tried to read Sister Isabelle's hand. It made her wonder if that was the reason why she couldn't read anything in the village yesterday when she had run her hands to almost everything without able to pick a single hint of flicker that could make her halt and read what might have happened. 

But now that the body right here had started to form into dust, it was obvious that the man there had a similar effect when getting turned to a black witch. If the man hadn't come out where the villagers could see, the incident would have never come to light. It wasn't just one but the black witch had targeted this man too. How unfortunate, thought Vivian in her mind. 

It wasn't easy but she heard the voice of a woman, concentrating more as she stared into the man's empty eyes, she heard,

"Aren't you a good man. The more the merrier."

But that was all she could hear. It appeared that when it involved witches, her ability fell short. Lifting her hand away from the man, she dusted the dust off her skirt and spoke, "I am done."

"Murk, we'll be leaving. Get everything tidied and send in the report to Rueben and Lionel," Leonard informed the man. On their way out Vivian said,

"She's turning everyone in there!"

"Everyone? What did you see?" his eyebrows drew closer in question. 

"Yes, I think the black witch is turning everyone to one of hers. I couldn't get much of it from this man, except that she plans to have more than one or two," said Vivian as they went to where their carriage had been stationed, "Do you think that is why they are behaving strangely?"

"That can't be it. If it was so then there wouldn't be failed experiments."

Vivian shook her head, "But even human transitioning to vampires go wrong with corruption. What if they aren't able to digest and are giving this kind of reaction instead. For the body to shut down," she saw him give some thought on what she said.

"It might be. But it would be hard to say that if everyone is in the procession or have already finished turning into a black witch."

Stopping at the door of the carriage, she asked him, "What if they have?" 

"Then we burn the entire village along with the black witches."

Reaching the village, both Leonard and Vivian were greeted by the magistrate and also the two councilmen who had stayed the night here until now. The village appeared to be quiet as yesterday.

"Anything that took place?" Leonard asked his fellow councilmen.

Dutan was the one to speak, "Nothing. It has been like this without a change. How is the man?" he asked.

Leonard let out a soft sigh pass through his lips, "He's dead."

"Dead?" asked the magistrate, "But he was all fine. The council doctors must have injected something for him to die. They all die," he commented.

The man's mother, who had cried the previous came to them after hearing the sound of carriage. Waiting for them to return her son back to her where they had forcibly taken him away, "Magistrate. Councilman, where is my son?" she came with half short of breath as she had run from the inside of her house to talk to them. 

With a lack of tact, the magistrate answered, "He's dead. Now you can go back," the woman looked at them in shock and horror.

"No," she first whispered and then began wailing out loudly which made most of them around uncomfortable.

"If this is how you handle your the public we will have to appoint a new one, Mr. Fleek," stated Leonard with a grave voice and a glare to the man who cowered at the threat passed. It was no secret that Leonard Carmichael had the power to dethrone a man's job if it was needed. Not just because he was a reputed well-known man but his jobs had always held a success rate of ninety-eight per cent in the council work. Not to forget his closeness to the Lord of Bonelake, "We are sorry to say that he passed away last night."

"No!" she screamed, falling down on the ground on her knees she cried, her shoulders shaking 

"Vivian, could you take the lady back to her house?" Leo asked her. Giving a quick nod, she hurried to the woman's side to console her. Leonard saw Vivian speak to the woman with a gentle voice, her hand placed on the woman's back as she got the elder woman to stand up and walk her to her house. Mr. Fleek didn't dare to open his mouth in the fear that he would lose his job if he spoke another word out of line, "What about the man behind the house?" he asked Dutan as they made their way there.

"He looks the same as yesterday, no change," answered Dutan keeping up with his senior's steps, "Do you think we should move his body if it's going to give the same result as the man you took?"

"That would be wise. It looks apparent that the ones who were turned cannot be turned back again to their human self. If you find any oddity, kill them right away," coming upon to stand in front of the dead corpse which was turning white due to the deposition of the snowflakes that had made its way to settle on he then said, "I want you to test every living soul here of the village if they are witch or not."

Dutan looked taken aback, "E-every one of them?"

"That's right, you can start with the magistrate here," Leonard turned to look at the magistrate who gave them a look of bewilderment. 

"Duke Carmichael, I am no black witch," the man tried to laugh it off but seeing the serious look on the councilmen's face who stared at him, he defended himself, "I am only a mere human."

"We never said you aren't but you must have heard the saying, precaution is better than cure. So let's have everyone checked. Dutan," Leo ordered his subordinate to start his work.

In one of the houses of the village, Vivian consoled the elderly woman who had lost her son. Tears that had streamed down her chubby cheeks had been wiped away with an old faded handkerchief. 

"I grew him up by myself. M-my child," the woman cried sitting on the wooden chair with both her feet up at the edge of the chair. She had her hand placed on her forehead, "How did he die? I cooked him a meal and then..." the woman's voice trailed. 

"The council is very sorry for your loss. We did everything we could and thought he had gotten better but when we returned back in the morning, he had...he had passed away," Vivian squeezed the woman's shoulder whose shoulders began to shake again as she wept in her hands.

"W-will I be able to see him?"

"I am sorry," she replied back. What was she going to say? that her son had crumbled into dust? Or she was partly responsible that her son now had a cavity in his chest as she had pushed her hands into it? Having already read about how and what to do in these kinds of conditions, "The council will compensate you for the loss that you have acquired during the time the person has been under our care. You have nothing to worry about."

The woman rose her head from her hands, her red-rimmed eyes turning to look at Vivian, "I have nothing to worry? He would have been fine here, I would have helped him."

"You wouldn't have been able to help him, milady," she saw the woman stand up from her chair, walking to the side of the little room.

Sniffing loudly, the woman said, "I would have fixed him," the word fix felt odd to Vivian and she furrowed her brows when she felt a sudden sense of alertness ring in the back of her head. The woman turned around to face Vivian whose face had turned dark and full of scales,

"Shall I fix you?"