Belle Adams' Butler

Portia and Lucas together stepped out of the inn, behaving like husband and wife in front of the innkeeper so that he wouldn't throw any of their things out of the inn if he were to find out that the two people were unmarried. Portia couldn't stop looking at the place with excitement in her eyes. She was internally thrilled like a child to have stepped out in the world of light which she previously belonged to. 

Her red eyes were much lighter compared to Belle's eyes, but most of the vampires who were not pureblooded vampires often had the lighter colour of red eyes in them. She saw the people who were alive, walking past her who didn't stink like rotting dead bodies. The air was much purer and not dense like the land of the dead. Since she had met the adult Belle, she had been planning to trap her, to make sure when the time was right, she would swap, and nobody would ever know. Even the man who held her hands right now had no clue about what happened the previous night as he had interlinked his fingers as they walked on the side of the streets. 

"Did you see anything in George's house that day?" asked Lucas, pulling her close to him when a carriage was going to pass right across them. 

The girl couldn't help but look at the man who had pulled her to him, her body close to Lucas as she stared at him. Years felt like centuries when she had spent it in the land of the dead. Fending for herself without anyone's support, love or care. She had been stolen and deprived of those things in the past. 

"I don't think so," Portia shook her head just as Belle would. She had stolen part of Belle's memories so that it would be helpful for her while she would continue to live in the land of the dead, "There was nothing that I could pick on."

"That's alright," answered Lucas, "Maybe we can find something from the magistrate about George's death."

Portia didn't understand why Belle wanted to go after her dead friend's family who was long gone. Things that were lost could not be found again. The person was dead, and all Portia wanted to do was to go back to the Adams' mansion and live the life happily. And though Portia had taken some memories from Belle, the reflection didn't know about many things. Things like how Belle was alone in the Adams' mansion with no actual family as her parents had been killed in the massacre. 

She wanted to go back and spend time with Lucas. To be loved by him as he was everything a woman could ask and now that she was here, all she could think was to be with him and no one else. 

When they reached the magistrate's office, the person was not there but his assistant, a woman, sat at the side of the room behind a small table who was writing something in the parchments. Upon seeing them, the woman asked,

"May I help you?" 

Lucas waited for Belle to step forward as she was the one who would be having more knowledge and understanding about her friend's family. But she didn't move from her place and looked as if she had suddenly turned to a statue. 

He then said, "We wanted to meet the magistrate. Do you know when he will arrive?" 

The woman looked at the door from where they had come and then she said, "I am not sure as he has gone out for council work." 

Lucas might have been the butler of the Adams' mansion for the last decade. People looked at him like any other person who was a servant of the house or a mansion who lacked any proper knowledge, but they didn't know that Lucas was first a Grim reaper and then the butler which he had used for his advantage. 

"When did he go?" inquired Lucas. 

"Probably four hours ago," answered the woman. She had her hair placed in a bun, and her eyebrows were thin as dust. She looked at the man and woman who had arrived at the office. 

"Do you mind if we stay and wait for him?" saying this, Lucas took Belle and sat down on the chairs in front of the magistrate's desk with a smile. 

The woman had not got the opportunity to speak and deny the request as they had already taken their seats, "Of course," she replied to the rude visitors before going back to do her work as there were many more parchments she had to write and get it signed from the magistrate. 

Lucas, who had taken his seat, turned to Belle, to say, "Do you know what you want to ask the magistrate? It would be good to have some of the questions prepared on what you want to know." 

It was Belle who had been wanting to get the answers. The main reason why she had decided to stay back in the land of Valeria when there was a possibility that the Adams' mansion would be set on fire and turned to ash. He looked at the girl who nodded her head. 

Portia didn't know what to ask, but the thing was she had no interest in this. At the same time, if she didn't want to get caught, then she would have to play along as if she were Belle. She dug her nails into the palm of her hands, at the thought that no one knew who Portia was, and it was only Belle that people remembered. The truth was that Portia was Belle right now, who had been forced out of her body eleven years ago, to have her own identity as she had none in the realm of the dead. 

She gave him a nod, "I have some questions for him. We should probably go visit George's grave along with his parents. I might find something there," she said to him, showing her involvement in this subject so that Lucas would not suspect that this was not the girl, Belle. 

"I tried looking at the nearest cemetery, but there was no name of his or his family," saying this, Lucas turned around to talk to the clerk woman who was in this room, "Ms. Debaunce, might you have the record of the families where they have been buried?"

"We have that," answered the clerk woman. She moved her chair behind to pull out the files from the drawers before putting it with a thud sound on the table as it was heavy, "You should find the names here." 

Lucas took hold of the file and brought it to the other table to read and find the names. 

"There it is," said the vampiress, placing her hand on the name when she found George in there. 

Lucas frowned at this. The name of the cemetery where George's body was placed was one of the many graveyards he had already visited, and he had not found the headstone. He could only conclude that the registry was either wrong or the grave had been moved.

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