The Demon’s Bride

Ian's expression didn't change as he saw the gardener's body that were rigid and cold. His lips were in the color of blueish which proofed he had died out of suffocation from the strangle mark on his neck.

Beside Ian was Lipton who spoke endlessly, "...the first one to find the body is my gardener Nilon," the man stopped when he saw Ian raised his hand as if to cue him to stop his ramblings.

"You keep going around and around we are not shedding any light here. I need the evidence. Have everyone in this house interrogated?" asked Ian to the man.

"The Church Member named Dalton Lone came this afternoon, milord and he had investigate everyone to find no one who could be at the time of the death," Lipton explained with his volume turning smaller.

Of course there wouldn't as he had been the one who killed the gardener.

"Master Ian," from behind his name was sweetly called and Ian turned his face, his smile appearing to be pulled, "Can you please spare me a moment."

Lipton stared at Elise and she could feel the man's gaze on her who seemed as if he was questioning who she was. Ian turned his face to Lipton, "Bring everyone in the house who visit the garden yesterday and in particular people who often linger around the garden; and also the manor's gardener you mentioned earlier."

"Right away, milord!" Lipton went from the place with relief. It was much better to be ordered even though he dislike being ordered than to stay beside Ian where one could never guess his mood swings.

"What is it, Elise?" Ian asked as she walked closer toward him. He wondered what his girl was gong to say this time.

"I saw Mister John's ghost, over there. He seemed to be wanting to say something, it could be a clue to the killer," said Elise who seemed justice for the man.

Ian didn't mind if he was going to be found out now. It would be one way to see if Elise was truly ready to accept him down to the worse part of him. For one to only love the brightest side of him were many but as for one who had stayed with him despite his darkest nature was none.

"We should ask him," Ian encouraged instead of staying idle or dodge her words. He would like to say the dead couldn't speak but with Elise's sight that would be hard.

"He is over there, in the corner," Elise walked and Ian followed. He stood where he was and his eyes flowed lighter to see John was indeed curling like a ball to the corner of the room. Seeing Ian his face turned worse in horror and Ian only smiled at him before bringing one of his finger over his lips.

"Mister John seems to be trying to say something," Elise told him, with her eyes watching Ian who saw John's shaking his head to Elise as of to tell her to stop revealing anything as his killer was standing in front of him.

"What is he saying?" Ian asked without removing his eyes from staring at the man who he had killed last night.

"I can't understand, Mister John cannot speak," said Elise. She recalled how the ghost she met near the shop had a hoarse voice and it was because his throat had been slashed, making it hard for him to speak. "I think Mister John is unable to speak because his throat was crushed."

"So the situation before the person's death could affect the ghost in a long run," Ian summarized for Elise to agree with a nod. "That was a good lesson." Ian smiled, his grin widened as his eyes that shifted from Elise to the dead John loses the sparkles for a grim expression to take over his face.

Elise who was trying to find ways to learn the words John said frowned when she saw how Mister John's ghost suddenly disappeared from the place. Elise stood from bending her knees and she looked around the garden, searching for Mister John to find him nowhere.

"He disappeared," Elise asserted and Ian who was smiling brought his shoulders together and bring it down.

As if to be at the same time, the owner of the manor, Lipton arrived with a man next to him, "My Lord, this is Nilon, the gardener who found the body first before others."

Ian eyes the man; it afterward become clear that the man was the same man he had eyed on earlier because of how his heartbeat skipped.

The gardener, Nilon came forward to bow to Ian, showing his courtesy with his hand squeezing over one another, "I found the body around that corner in the early time before the Sun appeared. From how the ground seemed to be dug, I could tell that it hadn't been long since John was buried there," said the gardener who was well versed with the soil as his annual wage depends on his work.

In meantime, Lipton received a message from the maid and bowed at the Lord asking to leave when Ian replied with a wave of his hand and the man went after the cue.

"Continue, what else did you find out of place?" asked Ian who worked seemingly want to catch the culprit to other's eyes.

"I don't know. If there is one I do find strange was of how the body was buried," said Nilon apprehensively until he received Ian's permission to continue, "It was very beautifully placed inside the dirt. If not for the freshness of the soil, I would never guess that someone had dug the place."

Maroon had done his job excellent that it raised question, thought Ian with a hum.

"I noticed you know John. Does he often come here?" Ian didn't missed how the man had called John by his name and the lady beside him also took not if it which was why her eyes were staring at Nilon with a quizzical look.

"He is my friend, milord. We know each other through friends," the man named Nilon said before he fret and added, "However John never came to the manor," the man was afraid by saying he knows the dead man would point him to be the killer.

Ian didn't gave a change on his expression and watched the man with an observant eye, "How close are you with him?"

"Just enough to meet and visit house every once a year. My wife knows the deceased's wife as they lived in the same village before. I don't think the killer is from the Manor, milord."

"Oh?" Ian looked interested at his words and his grin came, "What support your thought, Mr. Nilon? Did you stayed in the garden for all nights that you could say this for sure?"

Receiving the Lord's suspicious eyes on him, the gardener waved his hand with his head shaking vigorously, "No, milord. It is not what I meant! It's just that the door that leads to garden from the manor is always locked by the housekeeper after nine at night. But the soil seem to be dug around three hours before I found the body. Unless someone have the key or climb from the garden's fence, it is unthinkable that they was the one who dug the ground."

"You are an observant one, I praise you for that," Ian said and the man who turned meek out of fear smiled until he added, "Would you like to work for my castle? My gardener had just died you see," he stated as if the man didn't know about the dead.

"I would be please by your offer but I still have family who could not move from Rubella," said the man who refused to work in the Lord's castle mostly because of the man who stood in front of him. Nilon had just talked with Ian briefly less than five minutes but it felt stressing that he thought an hour had passed.

"Pity, you can leave," dismissed Ian who then turned his face to see Elise in her mind, gathering the information she needed to find out who the killer was. Ian wondered with eagerness what kind of reaction Elise would express when knowing the killer she had been chasing for was right beside her now.

"Find anything, Elise?" asked Ian, probing the girl who was deep in thought almost forgetting him which was hateful.

"I don't think I do. What Mr. Nilon make sense. The soil didn't seem to be buried for a long time and with Mister John's crushed throat, I don't think it could be a human, maybe a pure breed. But maybe we could ask the housekeeper," said Elise in a thought, "Or people who live the closest to the garden whether they heard anything."

"The church member must have interrogated the servants, we could wait for them for information," replied Ian who was lazy to find clues of the killer they were speaking of.

As if in speak of the devil, Lipton came back to the garden with a church member with him. Elise looked at the man, to see it wasn't Dalton but the vampire who had sent her a letter a day before.