Bambi and the Duke

When the children of the vampires were taken to the next town which was holding its last day of the fair, Vivian was left behind in the mansion with the other servants to attend the work like the rest.

After Charlotte had gone on and on in excitement about the fair, the human girl had eagerly waited for morning but when she said it to the housekeeper, Martha about it, the maid had asked her not to be excited about it as today was an outing only for the Carmichael, Easton and Meyers family together. When told, the little girl looked confused as to why she couldn't go with the other children.

"I will be going to the market there at the time of noon. Why don't I take her out with me?" Feeling bad for the girl, Paul had later asked Martha seeing the little girl wipe the already dried utensils in the corner.

"Don't you have an errand to run to the other town to pick up the scrolls Mr Carmichael asked you for yesterday?" asked the old housekeeper.

"Mr Carmichael informed me in the morning that Mr Scruggs letter reached early today to let him know he won't be available at his house for the next two days. I think the children were looking for her. Ms Charlotte seemed very fond," the girl who looked sad since Martha had told her that she wouldn't be going.

"Ms Charlotte is a dear and a welcoming child," the man nodded his head in agreement.

"She indeed is. You should have let her go. She is a child."

The housekeeper replied back to him in a hushed tone, "As much as she is, vampires don't mix with the humans and you know that better than anyone else," picking up the sticks which he had previously brought along with him from the nearby forest, she broke it into uneven halves before putting it under the pot which was yet to be fired.

Paul consciously moved his right hand to trace it over his left hand which was missing three fingers from the left. For a human mind, his memory was bright and clear of the day the incident took place. He was in his late teens when he was punished by one of the vampires whom he had thought was his friend but in actuality, in the relationship of a vampire and the servant, the servant never could be of much value. He smiled at the bitter memory.

"She is my responsibility until the time comes where she will be married to a suitable man," he heard the old woman say as her brows creased in concentration.

Vampires didn't want anything to do with the humans except for the cheap labor and blood that came by. It was a dream for many to have a much better place to live, to live in harmony but that would take years. Two years ago an unfortunate event had caused disruption across the four empires, making the human servants even more distrustful than before under the vampire household. A human had poisoned and killed an entire family. The man was caught but the deed hadn't been forgotten.

If Vivian was meant to go today with his master's family she would have been asked personally to accompany. The Carmichael's were decent people compared to the rest of the vampire family he had come across but that didn't mean they were keen on associating themselves with the lowly humans.

"I will make sure she's next to me all the time. By the looks I think both of us can be assured that she isn't the kind to slip without notice," Paul assured the housekeeper and called the little girl, "Vivi let's go out to the town."

On their way in the carriage which Paul rode himself, the girl sat next to him outside with the wind racing against her cheeks and hair which brought delight to her little heart. When she still lived with her parents, she had never got the opportunity to sit outside the carriage or next to a coachman. She was one of the high society's daughter but now that she had no connection to that part of the world, she got to experience something more beautiful.

Paul, looked to his side to find the girl with her eyes closed and wondered if he should stop to put her inside the carriage but when she slowly opened her eyes, she saw him looking at her. He sent her a warm smile.

"The town we are going is called Winslow which consists of humans mostly. Recently vampires have been making trips so there might be people around so stay close by once we get down," he said not knowing if she understood his words but she nodded her head obediently making him smile, "We might not be able to go the fair but a glance wouldn't harm anyone now would it," the two horses continued to pull the carriage, the chains around them moving as they moved forward in the direction of the city. The girl was a shy one, noted Paul. She spoke very few words and maybe in this entire time since she had begun staying at the Carmichael's he had heard her barely speak more than four to six lines, and they weren't long. She would always hide behind Martha or him when the vampires were around which made him wonder what that was all about.

What the man didn't know was that Vivian was formerly a vampire child before she turned to a human. Turning humans into half vampires was something which was being opted to increase the population count of the species but a vampire naturally turning into a complete human was unheard. It was considered ill omen and bad luck, not to forget what the elite vampires would speak due to which her parents had given her up.

Even though Martha had taken Vivian under the Carmichael's family, the old housekeeper didn't understand the depth of what misfortune her parents had left her in.

A vampire child when was born, grew up slower than a human child. When a human child would reach an age of seven and ready to move to eight, a vampire child would have spent more or less sixteen to eighteen years. The vampire child would have spent two years each instead of a human who spent only a year, which slowed the process of vampire growth initially but it varied with all vampires. Some would shoot up until seven and then spend years developing intelligence or thoughts to think. It was one of the reasons why vampire children were sheltered by their parents. The vampire children would then continue to grow after the sixteen years before seizing their age for a longer time, making them youthful. Most of the vampires grew old at a certain point, maybe after a few centuries but not the pure-blooded vampires. They were considered to be the most elite of all the race.

It was just that in Vivian's case, few years of her young age had been stolen after she turned to a human. She was like a fawn now, younger than her age and a little lost.