Bambi and the Duke

"My patience is running thin and if you don't give out the whole story in one ago I will have no use for you," Leonard didn't bother to hide his hate towards the switcher. 

"Ha ha," the switcher kept a safe distance from Leonard, looking towards the exit for the sake of precaution if his dash was required.

"Start speaking. Who are you?" questioned Leonard, the gun up in his hand which he didn't bother to put down. Red eyes met another pair of red eyes, but the colour wasn't dark as the original pureblooded vampire. 

"My name is Hobart. I am a switcher, who traversed from the land of North down here," introduced the man who before went by the name Lancelot, "Many switchers originated from the land of Woville which is very similar to how the white witches and the black witches came to exist."

"How many of you are there?"

"Not many, hardly countable in a person's hands. Maybe four to five how I know," answered the switcher before going back to explain, "I entered the council with no intention to cause harm but retrieve information of what had happened in the past."

"What was it about?"

"It was about an event that took place two decades ago. I was close to death when the witch found me and tended out to me," Leonard couldn't stop his brows from furrowing deeply. Sister Isabelle knew about this man? "Don't look so surprised. The woman has a good heart and precedes her reputation. I was meant to kill her but instead got saved by her. And as heartless our kind our to keep ourselves alive and healthy, even I have morals to not kill the person who saves you. Unlike the other witch who has left a pile of bodies as she has tried to achieve success in her rituals and curses."

Leonard then questioned the switcher, his wrist falling slack which held the gun, "Why to kill a mere white witch? What did Sister Isabelle have to do with what is going on?" 

"Everything. She is the key to a lot of things, have you heard of the time when the great white witches tried to resurrect the power in the past?" Leonard nodded his head in acknowledgement. It was the last revolt that was caused by the white witches. One of the reasons why the people didn't trust the white witch as much as they didn't believe the black witches. 

"That was centuries ago," the Duke stated for the switcher to nod back.

"True and most of them were considered either killed or dead after the event. But there was this one witch who survived for years. It was Sister Isabelle," confessed the switcher, a small relief passing by his face when Leonard's wrist turned lax who gave thought to what he had to say.

Leonard tried to wrap his head around this newfound information. It appeared that Sister Isabelle was more than what she had shown them to be and this switcher though whom he didn't trust, it seemed that he knew about her more than they did. 

Hobart, the switcher continued to speak after his eyes glanced to look at the doors of the church, "What I might say might come out as shock and will need to be something kept just amongst us. The white witch is the former wife of the second Lord of the Valeria," Vivian who had left Father Connor inside the church kitchen where he was brewing milk for the next meal, she had only appeared to hear the switcher say, "She was the white witch who was burnt in the village."

"That's not possible," commented Leonard with a frown, "The second Lord's wife was burnt and killed. There have been reports and files of the closure that took place."

"True," Hobart nodded his head, "The witch was burnt and killed but she resurrected herself back from the dead."

"That's possible?" asked Vivian with an unbelievable look. She had known sister Isabelle since her time here in Bonelake and to think that she had been dead for some time now, she wondered if it was similar to the case they had solved a few days ago on the human boy who had been put under trial.

"It isn't impossible but at the same time, I haven't heard anyone who performed a resurrection of a person," answered Hobart, "She didn't give out details on how it is performed and it must have died with her."

"Died?" Leonard questioned with a tilt.

"She had very little time when I met and if she has gone missing-" hearing the door open from the one where Vivian had come, they saw Father Connor arrive.

"Sister Isabelle didn't have much time," confirmed father Connor to receive a look from the switcher as if he weren't aware that the priest would know about the priestess as he hadn't uttered a word during the interrogation that took place yesterday. The man wanting to be helpful to Leonard and Vivian said, "She didn't tell me what it was but she hasn't been doing well for some time now."

Not wanting just the side of the story from the switcher, Leonard asked Father Connor, "What did she tell you?"

"Sister Isabelle was drawing out the black witches who have been living in the villages, the concentration of their presence has increased since the rise of the massacre. She has been trying to kill as many as she could and had left on the same note," answered father Connor as much as he knew. His eyes looked sceptically at the switcher who had been standing a few feet away from him. 

"A resurrection isn't as same as birth, the body is weaker which is more of an assumed form from the remnants of the soul and what remains," added Hobart, his red eyes staring at Vivian as she came to walk and sit next to Leonard, "What did you see, milady?" he asked her.

Vivian's mouth pressed together wondering what and how she was supposed to answer his question. In her vision, Sister Isabelle words seemed that the man could be trusted and was on their side but what was he doing here in the council? And what help was he providing them or Sister Isabelle? For him to ask her that question only meant that he knew about her ability. It was a secret where no one knew of. For the white witch to tell him must mean that she had trusted him. 

But right now trust was difficult to spare on a person. How could they when the switchers had caused nothing but loss and death. Pain was the only emotion that was imparted by the mention of the switchers. 

Not answering to the switcher's question, she turned to look at Leo and say, "Sister Isabelle, she spoke about him. She told if I came to see this memory, it would mean...it would mean she is dead," she looked down at Leo's hand which had come to squeeze her hand, "She didn't look good," though the memory she had come to read wasn't a long one, she had noticed the tiredness that surrounded the white witch, "Why would she not tell us about it?"

"I wasn't meant to know but she asked me for a favour," said the switcher catching their attention.

"What favour?" 

Father Connor didn't know about it and neither did Leo or Vivian as they had never known about the white witch's true origin. Until now she was a normal white witch for them who had been helping them but who knew that she was someone who had been dead since a few years ago. The news itself was a shock to everyone which included the man who had been helping since the time of the church. 

"Her own case," the man grinned, his eyes gleaming with the curiosity which he was still trying to find, "The case was closed when she died in the name of outraged humans who had killed her but in truth no one went to investigate the case further as that was what appeared in the front. But the truth is that it was someone from the council who had got her killed." 

"What?" came a shocked response of Father Connor. 

"That's right," replied the switcher back before turning his eyes back to the pureblooded vampire Duke, "Unfortunately, the resurrection wasn't as successful as she would have expected. She was brought back to life but her memories have been very hazy where she didn't remember more than half the things she has done." 

"Does Lord Alexander know about her?" it was a question that was biting Vivian. Sister Isabelle had been a lovely woman and when she saw the switcher shake his head it made her wonder why she hadn't let her own son know about her existence to why she didn't reunite with him. But as she thought about it, she came to realize that the first instance the lady of Valeria had been killed in the name of witchcraft. The villagers knew about her but they had acted late when Lord Alexander was five years old? It did look suspicious now.

"Who killed her?" came the inevitable question from Leonard for the switcher to shrug his shoulders. 

"I don't know. Men in the council are very tight-lipped but I did find a few interesting facts in there. The files in the forbidden room. The reason the files aren't shared because none of them wants the cases to be reponed. As tedious as it is, the condition a few years ago and the condition now can draw out different conclusions and answers which might not be the same as what was found at the first try," stated Hobart. Pulling out the kerchief from his pocket, he wiped his face as if he had begun to sweat, also wiping his hands he put the kerchief back in his trouser pocket. Vivian then came to realize that during the Winter's ball, Lancelot or the switcher his hands had sweat almost drenching her gloves which was why she had pulled away the gloves she had been wearing. 

"What were you doing at the ball?" asked Vivian.

"I had only come to visit the ball and to have some good time before you pulled me into the radar. There are people in the council who have caught the whiff of my presence in there after that little incident. It makes it extremely difficult to move especially when my body is giving out too."

"Giving out?" Leonard wondered what that meant. 

"Like Sister Isabelle, my time is coming too close. I have lived to the maximum but I am not sure until when I can sustain in this body that I had morphed into," Hobart answered, "I was only there to find out what had happened a few years ago."

"What about the black witch?" Vivian had found glimpses of his interaction between the black witch and him. If he was really helping Isabelle, what was he doing involving himself in the black witch's matters?

The switcher didn't hide to say, "Initially she gave me a job. It was to kill the white witches as she found out that there was one who was trying to interfere in her work but it was when I came across Sister Isabelle did I find that it was her whom the black witch was trying to hunt. That day, I took the form of the white witch."

"You had the potion. Whom did you turn?" accused Vivian not holding back her accusation.

The switcher smiled, "I was very surprised when I found out that you caught up to me. It was a secret none was to know," he dipped his hand into his right pocket and pulled out the little bottle, "Is this what you are asking for? I was given this in the intention that it would be used but I never used it. Please," he said handing over the little bottle to Leonard. 

"Won't the black witch suspect your actions?" asked Leonard as he took hold of the little bottle. 

"She already has," the switcher replied, "But there is nothing for her to do but hide right now."

"What do you mean?" Leo's eyes narrowed. 

"Well you see, I was the only point of contact until now between the black witch and between the councilmen. I would ask you to take a look at councilman Abel Harlow on what he does, he seems to be involved with the black witch as I report him back with the information what the black witch used to give me all this time. I say it because I have been the only one to go meet her."

"Now that we know about the black witch it shouldn't be difficult to catch her," proposed Vivian for Leonard to shake his head.

"I doubt it will be easy. Even if we do go and start the hunt, finding her right now won't be easy and we will only have more cases on our tail because Abel won't make it easy for us. We will first have to pull out his deeds in front of the council before jumping on to the black witch," said Leonard and then turned to speak to the switcher, "We will need your active involvement from now."

"That is what I planned. I did swear to assist the white witch in finding out on who had set her death," answered the switcher, "Ester, the black witch goes by that name. She is least of your worries right now. She might have already sensed my betrayal and has gone under hiding. You councilmen burnt the only herbs that was going to help her corrupt the rest of the hearts but now that it is out of the picture, it will be a while before she comes back." 

"What are we going to do now?" asked Vivian looking at Leo.

"We try to find what Abel is up to. Do you remember Oliver's death? The one with the writing," asked Leo reminding her of the time they had discussed the time of her night in the snow mansion. She nodded her head, "I think everything is linked with each other. If we are able to find one thread from that piece of information, we'll be able to get all the answers."

He then said something she hadn't expected him to say, "Let's take a look at the forbidden room."