Bambi and the Duke

"Where are you going?" he questioned her, his forehead marred with worry.

The cries of the black witches were mournfull which none of them could bear and their faces flinched at the noise that started to echo around the village. 

"There's a body that needs to be burnt," she said staring into his eyes. 

Leonard stared back into her eyes, looking at her determinedly, "Whose is it?" he asked. Most of them here were the turned black witches, therefore, he didn't know who was this special person whom Vivian had saved.

"Rory," her voice was barely audible with the shrill voices of the black witches but Leo heard it well. 

The name bought a sudden sourness on Leo's face, which turned angery, "He is here?" 

She shook her head, "He's dead," this brought a frown on to his face. She could understand the disappointment that passed across his features. After finding what happened with Charlotte both Leonard and Vivian had wanted to find the man who was responsible for her death. The main intention of Vivian was to find the man and punish him just the way Leonard would knowing well he wouldn't leave a stone unturned when it came to doing that. But who knew that right after her exam she would find him. Not alive but dead as the withered leaves that had fallen. 

Vivian wasn't the kind of girl to hate anything as everything in her life had been filled with love. The hatred she felt for the man was far worse than she could fathom. And with the same thought, she came to believe that a man like him didn't belong in the cemetery where people came in search of peace. 

The world they lived in, a person who didn't deserve respect and a peaceful soul was not allowed to live among the dead in the ground. Instead, the body was either burnt or thrown into the lake of bones where one would forever wander if the soul still did exist. 

With that belief, Vivian during the time when she was at grave had pulled the body away from the cemetery to place it behind a tree and had covered the graveyard where right now there was nothing but emptiness. She wanted the man to be burnt along with the witches, knowing he had no right and place to be there. The man didn't deserve it. 

If someone looked into her, one would notice the hurt and anguish she felt after seeing Charlotte die so gruesomely that it made her stomach twist.

"Where is he?" 

Vivian took him near the graveyard and around the trees to show the rotten man who had been dead for many weeks now. If they waited for the councilman, it would lead to another investigation which both Leonard and Vivian were aware of. Leonard had killed his family due to the involvement but would one explain how they knew that he was responsible for the cause of whatever took place. 

Similar to why they consumed the cow's milk, somethings, were hard to explain. And that was the reason why those things were better to be left unknown by others. 

Vivian hadn't realized how much hate Leo would have held for the man, he caught hold of dead man's neck. Lifting him like a piece of a ragged doll which were made of sticks. 

"Did he kill her?" 

"No," she answered him to see him turn to look at her, "It was the switchers. They killed them."

"Switchers? You're saying those sleezy things killed Charlotte by displaying her in-" his anger seemed to have returned as he threw the man on the ground, temper oozing out that he punched the bark of the tree for few of the dried and loose leave to fall down on the snowy ground. Vivian closed her eyes instantly at the sound of his hand touching the tree. 

Leonard heard the entire story from Vivian while the ritual which Hueren was holding had only begun. His hands twisted and formed in fists which wanted to beat someone and the person he wanted to take out his anger had been long dead. The switchers had died and so did the man named Rory. 

Turning around he went to the body and continued to punch the man over and over again as the sounds of bones breaking surrounded them. 

Vivian didn't stop Leo. She stood there watching him take his anger and frustration out of the dead body knowing well it would still feel empty after doing it. How could you punish someone when you didn't do it yourself and the person was no more? 

What was the point? Thought Vivian before the thought came to her, there wasn't much they could do. Like many of their loved ones, Charlotte had passed away. Their chest was filled with grief with no outlet. To think they couldn't avenge the death of the vampiress, there was nothing they could do but live with what had happened. It wasn't anyone of their fault but things had led one after another. After a few minutes, Leonard's hand had begun to scrape due to the bones that had broken and had begun to slide and scratch his skin. 

Vivian went to his side, placing her hand on his arm, "That's enough," her voice was soft and above a whisper as she spoke to him gently knowing how volatile his mood could turn due to the loss, "He isn't worth your hands or the drop of your blood," and she was somewhere right in figuring it out his emotions. 

Leo's face had turned sullen and the rim of his eyes red. He was angry just like her, the only difference being he showed it while she kept it within herself, "We lost so many lives, Vivi. People who had nothing to do with it but who got involved in it anyways. How many did we lose?" she knew that wasn't what he wanted to know but she stayed quiet for some time as the cries of the black witches could be heard.

Taking a deep breath, she said, "There are times we cannot steer things how we want. We think we are closer to the truth while the truth is an entirely different meaning here," taking his hand in hers, she saw the blood that had smeared across both his knuckles. 

After coming back from the funeral, Vivian had often wondered what would it be if Mr. Easton had opened his arms for the man whom Charlotte loved. There was only more death in that path. They had already seen the reality of what happened when Mr. Easton refused, so what could have deviated the path? 

"Then how do we avenge for the deaths? I might not be able to live with myself," the words pricked her chest. Neither could she but what else was there?

"Maybe we save as many lives as we can, keep them safe in the hope that no one else will have to lose what we have lost," she pulled the kerchief from the pocket of her skirt and started to tie around his hands, "I have only one," she murmured after tying the kerchief on his hand. Suddenly another appeared in front of her face. 

"I have one," she nodded her head. Sure she had given the words of self-assurance to Leo but she was still weak with what she experienced. Just as she was rotating the white cloth and turning it around three drops of water fell on his hand, "Come here," Leo took his hand away from her to bring her to hug him.

"Everything will be alright," he gently smoothened the back of her hair with one of his hand. She nodded her head without speaking a word as her lips trembled. She gulped the pain that had brewed in her chest, "It's okay," he whispered to her, "I won't let anything happen to you or anyone whom we hold dear to our hearts."

"Yes," she responded back, pulling back to see him give her an encouraging smile. He wiped her tears with both his thumbs.

"Come. Let's burn this man the death he deserves," Leo held her hand as he got up.

Picking the man by his leg, he was dragged where neither the magistrate, the guardsmen or any other living soul who wasn't a turned black witch didn't notice them. The black witches had already started to set themselves on fire without the need of spark thanks to Hueren and the magic markings around the village. Having the nearest witch who was still burning, they put the man next to it, which didn't take long for the body to be set on fire. 

Standing next to Leo, Vivian saw the man burn dead. Waiting until the last residue to be burnt to a pile of ashes. Something came to her mind as the fire fizzled out, "Why was it easy to kill the witch, the one main one in the house?" 

"Few witches are weak, as much as brain they try to make use of, their bodies are weak and are protected by spells. Transferring energies can reduce a black witch's resistance to death," he answered her question, making her realize that it could be true. The time when she had been caught by the witch, she couldn't get a word of voice out of her mouth and maybe the black witch had cast a curse which had made her weak at that point of time. 

Leonard put an arm around Vivian's shoulder and brought her close, kissing the side of her temple. 

"Are you alright?" she heard him ask her.

Vivian nodded her head, taking her turn to ask him, "Are you?" 

"In good time," he replied back meeting her eyes and then turning to look at the ashes that were left out of the body, "Our work is done here. Let's get back home now."

Like many other cases which Leonard's team had worked on, the one with the black witch's involvement had turned out to be successful. And though many congratulated Leonard and Heuren for their work in the council meeting, it was something that the lady in their team had done was more than remarkable. 

No one knew her ability which only made it easy in solving the case and the future case she would work on while it made it that much harder to hide the things she found out. Some were nice but most of the things were hard to digest. But the truth was always hard to digest. 

The next cases that were taken upon them were easier and simple one's, some which were very similar when it came to burning the witches. Vivian came to learn the bad and the good side of the people who existed in these lands. Some needed assistance were they had to travel across the lands. A few weeks passed to have two months move from the time they had solved the case of Charlotte Easton. 

In the church of Bonelake, Vivian one day made a visit to confess the turmoil she felt in her heart. Leonard had accompanied her. Sitting in one of the benches ends, he looked at his wife who stood in the confession box. 

It didn't make sense to him as to why one would have a box for privacy when he could hear what Sister Isabelle and Vivian were speaking. He wore a collared white black shirt which stood stark contrast to his blonde hairs which stood out on his face. With his legs crossed and his hand crossed over his chest, his back leaned against the wooden bench to sit comfortably.

"Forgive me, sister, for I have sinned," he heard Vivian's wind chime-like voice drift in the confession box. 

Leonard had grown up around blood thanks to Nicholas Rune but the same couldn't be told for Vivian. Maybe if he and others hadn't sheltered her with abundant love she would have noticed it but then she wasn't living in that part of the world until his family came into the picture. Her life was a tender one and now that the strong breezed trying to pluck the petals ou of the weather, she was trying to hold in the feelings. 

In the past few days that had gone by, she had been quiet. Though she smiled when he was around it wasn't the same when he wasn't around. Her first task would be remembered until the end of the time and for her sake, he had picked simpler ones sending her along with Heuren while he looked into the much larger one.

It wasn't that he thought that she wasn't capable.

Vivian was far more than capable but she needed to ease into the work before she started an actual one. It might have sounded and looked selfish but for him, she was his world and there was nothing more important than her but to protect her.

He wanted to give her time and thinking it might be easier to feel light by talking to someone other than him, he had subtly suggested her to go to the church.