.jpeg)
PHYSIENTS WILL ALWAYS OFFER BEST STORIES AND LIVE STREAMING ALL TIME
ALLURE OF THE NIGHT
Chapter 196 Cost of a prick
Music Recommendation: An interesting proposal- John Powell
—
The drop of blood lay on the piano bench, which none of the women noticed as they locked their eyes. Eve said,
“I have already discussed this with the Marchioness, and closed this matter. What are you really doing here, Lady Camille?”
Eve found this to be a trivial matter. Discussing it now seemed pointless when Rosetta wasn’t living in Skellington anymore. Lady Camille took two steps forward and stated,
“I believe you already know that Vincent Moriarty and Rosetta are going to marry each other one day. It is already in talks and I wouldn’t want someone like you coming in between this.”
Eve didn’t know what Lady Camille had heard, but she said, “I have no interest in who marries who, and I don’t know what Rosetta meant with my approval. She must have joked about something. Wouldn’t it be better if you ask her than ask me? Because I don’t have the answers you are looking for.”
“And risk scandal?” The older woman asked with narrowed eyes.
Lady Camille knew the importance of a letter. A letter could make or break things, and if someone came to know that Rosetta was interested in another man, it would be easy for families like the Moriarty to outrightly reject her niece, which wasn’t good. Her brother and sister-in-law wanted this to work, the union of the Hooke and Moriarty families.
Eve looked at the clock and noticed it was near her time to leave. She started to put things away in its rightful place in the room. While the vampiress continued to glare at this human, who continued to hide her niece’s affair.
“If money is what you want, I can arrange the sum,” stated Lady Camille, and Eve paused what she was doing and turned to the vampiress.
“I have complied with the Marchioness’s words of not reaching out to Rosetta. But you cannot blame me if Rosetta reaches out to me or sends me a letter,” Eve repeated the facts. “This is something you need to monitor and not me.”
Lady Camille wondered if the human’s words held any truth. If Rosetta didn’t meet any other male from what she knew, what did her words mean? Why take approval from this human? Unless this woman was in love with her employer and just thinking about it, her eyes narrowed further.
She wondered what was so great about this person that her niece was so attached to her. Always meeting this person and being excited about it when Meadow held nothing but filth.
“Let us hope your words are true, and be hopeful that my brother or sister-in-law don’t catch your letter,” Lady Camille’s red eyes glowed in warning to Eve. “If you find or understand what Rosetta’s words meant, I want you to come to me. Tell me what or who she was talking about.”
Eve only stared at the vampiress. She wondered why the vampiress was so insistent about the matter with her when the matter could be forgotten. It was as if they wanted to marry Rosetta to Vincent no matter what and were taking precautions. She put the books back in the rack.
Before Lady Camille could leave the room, her eyes fell on the two knitted wool patches.
Lady Camille commented, “It seems like you are good at knitting,” she paused for a second before adding, “You must be used to sewing patched clothes after all, unable to afford.”
Eve smiled at the woman’s arrogance and replied, “I don’t know when you last visited Meadow, but the town I come from can afford decent clothes, milady. And I don’t need to show off anything, I have a family to take care of and I am content.”
Eve’s words struck a nerve in Lady Camille, not knowing what the human even had that she was throwing back her arrogance as if she was in a better position. She looked at the younger woman from the corner of her eyes before shifting her gaze back to the wool. She was ready to leave when she noticed a drop of blood.
Lady Camille softly harrumphed. It seemed like the human wasn’t that good at knitting if she pricked her finger. She walked towards the bench, leaning and her hand stretching forward. Her finger swiped the blood that was in the process of drying, and she then put it in her mouth.
Eve was done with putting the books back in their places. She picked up the knitting items and placed them on the table. Noticing the vampiress hadn’t left and was still in the room, she said,
“You do not have to worry about Rosetta involving herself in the lower society. I won’t be sending or responding to her letters.”
But Lady Camille stood still, with one of her fingers in her mouth and a stunned expression on her face. Eve wondered what had happened.
“Lady Camille?”
The vampiress pulled her finger out of her mouth, while her eyes shifted to look at her. She whispered,
“You are a…mermaid.”
Eve’s face turned pale. She put up a calm smile, regulating the pace of her heart and replied, “I am a human, Lady Camille.”
Lady Camille’s stunned expression turned into awe as she stared at the young woman, whom until now, she believed to be human.
A slow smile crept on the vampiress’s lips. Lady Camille said,
“I should have realised that something was up with you. Your appearance, it is striking for a human of low status. To think Rosetta and I were looking for a mermaid, when the mermaid was right under our nose,” she chuckled, her eyes falling on the place where the drop of blood had earlier been and Eve followed the vampiress’s gaze.
Eve clenched her hands. She tried to keep up with the calm facade and replied,
“You are mistaken, Lady Camille. I am not a mermaid but a human. Miss Allie was earlier drinking mermaid’s blood and must have spilt it.”
But Lady Camille didn’t buy it. She said, “How about I take a bite from you and confirm it?”
The vampiress would have considered Eve’s lie, but it was only recently that she had dinner with the Moriarty family and sipped the low-quality mermaid blood offered to her for supper.
Eve could feel the control of the situation slipping through her fingers. With a composed expression, she said, “Mr. Moriarty has ordered me not to let anyone take a bite from me, even guests. I am not going to let you bite me because of your false assumptions.”
Lady Camille didn’t stop smiling and said, “Your lie might work on others, but not with me. Just one bite shouldn’t hurt.” She took a step towards Eve, and Eve took one step backwards.
The room’s exit was closer to the vampiress than where Eve stood. She tried to rack her brain on what to do now. She couldn’t let Lady Camille confirm her words, but what after it? How would she get Lady Camille not to talk about it? What if the other people in this mansion came to find out?
Eve picked up the first thing her hand could grasp: the wooden needles she had placed on the table a minute ago.
“I do not want to hurt you. Please step away,” Eve warned Lady Camille while pointing the sharp ends of the needles at the vampiress, who only laughed.
Lady Camille said, “I still cannot believe that you are a mermaid in hiding. So free and out in the open and no one has found out about it.”
Eve tried to look for something better than just the wooden needles. Remembering the lean woman’s statue in the room with a sharpened head, she tried to move towards it.
“Go ahead and shout for help,” the vampiress smiled at Eve with cunningness, knowing the mermaid wouldn’t call for help, as doing so would only reveal her true self.
Eve ran towards the wooden statue, but Lady Camille jumped on her. This resulted in the statue knocking down, and so did the two women. The vampiress quickly bit into Eve’s neck, and it was nothing like Vincent’s bite.
Eve grit her teeth, stopping herself from shouting in pain while trying to push the vampiress off her body. Her neck felt as if it was being torn. The vampiress pulled away with her bloody mouth after a rip. Lady Camille licked her lips and laughed in excitement,
“Such good taste, it has been years—You bitch!” she turned angry.
Eve had stuck the wooden needles into Lady Camille’s shoulder.
Using all her strength, Eve pushed the woman and caught hold of the wooden statue before heading towards the door for protection. She could hear Lady Camille groan on the floor. All Eve could think was getting out of here. She couldn’t stay here for another second.
But Lady Camille’s will to drink all of the mermaid’s blood was too high, and she got up, stopping Eve from getting closer to the door. The vampiress turned Eve, opening her mouth and revealing her fangs, that were ready to take more than a bite from the mermaid.
Eve tried to stop Lady Camille, but it was as if the woman had turned insane with the taste of her blood. The vampiress’s fangs snapped near her face and neck, ready to scar her.
The next moment, Eve let the vampiress sink her fangs into her neck, but simultaneously, she took advantage of Lady Camille calming down. She clutched the sharp wooden statue and stabbed Lady Camille’s back, where her heart lay, pushing it as far as she could while hugging the woman.
The vampiress let go of Eve’s neck and flailed her hands to remove the wood from her back. Her face started to turn paler with every passing second.
Lady Camille tripped while moving backwards. When her back hit the room’s floor, the wooden object pierced further into her heart before coming out from her chest with blood. The vampiress’s lips parted with distant pain. The excited light in the vampiress’s eyes dimmed before her body stopped moving.
Eve moved backwards, placing her hand on her neck that was bleeding. Her breath came out uneven, and she panted.
She stared at Lady Camille’s lifeless body whom she had killed.
_______________
ALLURE OF THE NIGHT
Chapter 197 Time with the dead
Music Recommendation: An Interesting Proposal- John Powell
—
Eve’s body slid against the piano room’s door, and she sat down on the ground with horror in her eyes. With seconds that passed, she couldn’t look away from Lady Camille’s body, and her heartbeat increased.
“I killed her… I killed,” Eve whispered to herself.
Never did she think about killing anyone apart from the person who had killed her mother. No, she didn’t want to kill him but punish him for taking her mother away from her. Earlier, when Lady Camille entered the room, she had expected no more than heated words before the vampiress would leave her alone. But who knew that the vampiress would die.
Blood started seeping out of Lady Camille’s wound, spreading on the left side of her body and the floor.
The more the realisation sunk into her mind on what she did, the worse her breathing turned, and it came out ragged as she started to panic. A vampire drinking blood from a lower being wasn’t uncommon, especially when the lower being was working under a vampire family. But for a lower-status person killing someone who was a Marquee’s sister would never be acceptable… More importantly, her friend’s aunt.
Eve tried to regulate her breathing, while her mind had stopped functioning. She couldn’t think with the dead body in front of her. She didn’t know how many minutes had passed.
And while Eve was locked in the piano room, at the front of the mansion, Marceline got down from her carriage and walked towards the entrance. The butler quickly appeared in the hallways, bowing and coming to stand behind the vampiress.
“Welcome back, milady,” Alfie greeted the young vampiress, who raised her hands so the butler could take off her coat.
Marceline slightly turned her head to the side and questioned,
“Who is the guest who came to visit us now?”
“No one, milady,” Alfie quickly replied, as he successfully removed her coat.
Marceline turned her body to the butler and questioned, “Then whose carriage is parked outside our mansion? Next to the gates.”
Alfie turned slightly confused because the Moriartys weren’t entertaining any guests right now.
“Is it the human’s carriage that is waiting to pick her up? The governess,” Marceline added when the butler looked at her with a confused expression. She rolled her eyes.
“I am not sure, milady. Would you want me to go out and check whose it is?” Alfie asked the vampiress, but the lady waved her hand.
Marceline replied, “Not needed.”
For a moment, she wondered if the Duke’s carriage was waiting upon Eve. That wasn’t possible though, because she knew how Noah’s carriage looked. When her carriage had neared her house gates, she had only caught sight of the vehicle, while not bothering to look at the coachman standing next to the carriage.
Marceline said, “I am going to my room to rest. Bring me blood tea, and make it hot or I will show what hot means,” she looked down upon the lowly vampire with a hint of glare in her eyes.
The pleasant expression on Alfie’s face didn’t change. He bowed, “Of course, milady. It will be to your preferred taste.”
Marceline stared outside the mansion for a moment, before she walked away from the hallways towards her room with the sharp sound of her shoes clicking against the floor.
In the piano room, Eve couldn’t look away from Lady Camille’s face, where the dead woman’s eyes stared at the room’s ceiling, while her parted lips were covered with her mermaid blood.
Eve pulled her bloody hand away from her neck, where the bleeding had stopped. Looking away from the body, she stared at her hand, which slightly trembled. For a woman of her nature, who had shown compassion and kindness, taking away someone’s life even in defence overwhelmed her.
How was she going to fix this?
What if someon—
From outside the room, someone turned the doorknob. Eve quickly turned to look at the door and found the door that was locked by Lady Camille. Who knew that the vampiress had closed the door to hide her dead body in the future.
“The door is locked,” Eve heard a female’s voice, believing it to be a maid.
“Is Miss Allie and the governess still inside?” Eve heard another maid ask, who stood near the door. The maid then whispered, “Let us not disturb them.”
“Alfie told me to go get this room cleaned as the governess always leaves by this time. I also saw Miss Allie earlier walking away from this place,” said the first maid. The doorknob shook again, and Eve stood up from where she had been sitting, coming to stand in front of the door.
“Let us come back later. Maybe the governess is still inside,” said the maid. Eve, who had moved closer to the door, placed her ear on the door. She heard the sound of footsteps recede.
Eve contemplated opening the door and running as fast as she could from here without looking back. But how far would she be able to run before being caught by the officials for murder? Marquee Hooke would not see that she had done it out of defence but as murder.
With the murder fresh and the door closed, the scent of blood hadn’t slipped out of the room. But it was only a matter of time before the smell of blood and death would be noticed coming from this room.
After ten minutes passed, the doorknob turned again, and every shake had Eve’s mind slip into panic again. The doorknob moved relentlessly before a voice came from the other side,
“Who is in there?”
Allie had come to pick up the knitting needles and the woollen thread so that she could continue knitting in the gallery of her room, while watching the sunset.
“Hello?” The small voice of the young vampiress came from the other side of the door, and Eve took a deep breath so that she wouldn’t pass out under pressure.
Eve wondered how long it would take until Vincent would return to the mansion. He was the only one she could turn to, and if someone else found out about what she had done, she would be sent to somewhere worse than the dungeon she had last visited.
What if Vincent didn’t come home soon? Would she have to hide here until then?
But then the maids would appear again to clean the room.
Sweat started forming on Eve’s skin from the tension and situation she had put under. And when the sweat slid down her skin, touching the wound on her skin, she flinched.
Eve wondered if a little girl like Allie would understand if she explained the situation of what happened.
Maybe she could use some help in keeping the corridor clear so that no one would come to walk near this room. It was a long shot, but it was the only thing she could think of.
On the other side of the door, the little vampiress frowned before getting near the door and placing her ear on the door. She then sat on her knees, lying her head on the ground before trying to look through the little gap below the door. She wondered if her governess was still talking to the angry lady.
Eve closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before parting her lips to speak,
“What do you think you are doing by sitting on the ground?” Lady Annalise questioned Allie with slight irritation, who had just appeared in the corridor and had stopped after seeing her daughter sitting on the ground like some lowly being.
Hearing Lady Annalise’s voice, Eve’s words stuck in her throat and she immediately closed her mouth. Her hands turned cold.
Little Allie quickly got up as if she wasn’t sitting on the ground a second ago and fixed her dress before turning to her mother. She wondered if she should tell her mother that the lady who had supper with them was earlier fighting with her governess.
Though young, the little vampiress could tell that in the scene she had stumbled upon earlier, her governess didn’t look happy about it. Allie wanted to help her governess, but she couldn’t hear any sound inside the room.
“I keep hoping that your brother’s words are true and the human is teaching you some decent manners. But instead of improving it, it appears as if it is going downhill,” Lady Annalise looked displeased.
Allie looked at her mother with an apologetic look and then said, “Mother, the lady who came to eat with us, she is—”
“Why isn’t your hair combed?” Lady Annalise frowned, looking at her daughter’s unkempt hair and Allie looked down. The little girl had been too busy wanting to continue knitting her scarf. The little girl’s thoughts about her governess slipped out of her mind, when she heard her mother say, “We will be leaving for Mr. Garner’s mansion in ten minutes.”
The Lady of the mansion looked around the place before catching sight of a maid and called the servant, “Help Allie comb her hair and tie the front with a braid quickly. Bring her to the carriage.”
Soon Allie was taken away from the front of the piano room.
Lady Annalise, who was about to leave, her eyes fell on the closed door, not knowing there were two people behind the door. Looking away from it, vampiress walked away from the corridor.
_________________
ALLURE OF THE NIGHT
Chapter 198 Ambitious kill
Music Recommendation: Following the Target- John Powell
—
Another hour had passed, when Eve finally looked at the wall clock in the room. More than an hour had passed, and it was only a matter of time before the dead body would start to stink.
The room didn’t have any big cupboards to hide the dead body until Vincent returned. To clean the blood, the only fabric available were the curtains, her clothes, and the scarf tied around her lunch box.
The sun had set, bringing darkness into the sky.
On the same floor where Eve was, Marceline stepped into one of the galleries. She stood there drinking her third glass of blood tea when she noticed the earlier carriage still next to their mansion.
Marceline raised her chin, wondering whom it belonged to. It was odd to park the carriage next to their house when no guest was visiting them. Stepping away from the gallery, she walked through the corridors and down the stairs.
On her way towards the entrance of the mansion, she met Vincent, who had arrived at the mansion a minute ago.
“Where are you going at such speed, sister?” Vincent questioned, noticing Marceline walk in haste.
“There seems to be a carriage that has been standing outside our mansion since before the time I arrived here. Maybe the carriage has a problem and the person needs help?” Marceline replied as if she was an immaculate person.
Vincent coughed, placing his hand on his chest. The butler, who stood behind him, turned to look at his master and then the young mistress, who frowned. His master exclaimed,
“Don’t speak such words, Marcie. I worry I might get a stroke by just your words.”
Marceline rolled her eyes, “Just because you don’t want to see good in me doesn’t mean good doesn’t exist, brother.”
“Oh, I do believe goodness exists, but your goodness only comes from ulterior motives,” Vincent offered her a smile.
Marceline turned slightly annoyed by Vincent’s words and asked, “What would it take for you to speak nicely to me?”
“Would you really like to know?” Vincent’s eyes glowed in amusement.
For a moment, Marceline wanted to ask what it was, but then she knew it would be something mean. She said, “You are my only brother, Vince. You and I are supposed to help each other.”
“Just because you need help doesn’t mean I need it,” Vincent pointed out before continuing, “But if support is what you need, my advice as your brother is to turn into a better person.”
“I already am. You can ask anyone and they will tell you the same,” Marceline was confident about it, because she had built a facade that no one would find fault in. The people of the high society loved her. She was the kind and polite vampiress, who had won people’s hearts over the years. Even the people who had once looked at her with wary and hateful eyes when she was small.
Vincent turned to look at the butler with a calm expression, while the butler of the mansion turned slightly tensed. He questioned, “Do you think what Marceline said is true, Alfie?”
The young vampiress glared at the butler, who tensed. Though Marceline couldn’t kick him out of his job as Vincent employed him, it didn’t mean the lady couldn’t turn his life into hell.
“Find someone else other than the butler. You ask questions where you know you will get the answers you want,” Marceline rolled her eyes, not having little faith in the butler, while Alfie looked at the floor next to where the lady stood.
“Ah ah ah!” Vincent shook his head, “You said ‘anyone’ and Alfie is someone in that anyone. I think first we need to make sure your words and thoughts match. I can pay the governess double if you want to join Allie. It might help.”
The vampiress’s lips twitched, and she stated, “I will if you will come with me.”
Vincent chuckled and said, “I will keep a stuffed toy that will smell like me for you to get through the time.”
Marceline gritted her teeth and turned on her heel, heading back to her room, forgetting why she had come down in the first place.
Vincent watched Marceline as she stormed out of there. Even before Marceline had mentioned about the carriage, he had already noticed it. He questioned Alfie,
“Did you check whom the carriage belongs to?”
Alfie shook his head and replied, “I didn’t get an opportunity to look at it, Master Vincent.”
.jpeg)
Vincent turned to the butler, “Find out.”
“Yes, sire,” Alfie bowed. He walked towards the entrance.
Vincent walked towards the long stairs at the end of the hallways.
He climbed the stairs, his footsteps firm on every step he took, and when he reached the top of the stairs, he stopped walking in the direction of his room. He heard a heart trying to beat normally, but it wasn’t. His eyes narrowed, wondering which maid had broken what while cleaning.
Taking the right side of the stairs, Vincent started to walk in the corridor. Soon he came to stand in front of the piano room.
On the other side of the door, Eve heard the doorknob turn again. Her breathing turned shallow, wondering who was on the other side of the door.
“Looks like I have to break the door open.”
Hearing Vincent’s voice, relief washed over Eve’s face, and she quickly reached the door and opened it.
When Eve saw Vincent, worry marred her face.
Vincent’s eyes narrowed on noticing her bloody neck. Before he could ask her, his nose picked the scent of a dead body, and he tilted his head to the side. His eyes fell on Lady Camille’s dead body, and his eyebrows raised. Now he knew whose carriage stood outside the mansion.
Vincent stepped inside the room and closed the door behind him. He remarked,
“I know I told you to practise killing. But did you have to find a woman belonging to a high profile to practise? I didn’t know you were ambitious?”
Eve nervously spoke, “I—I, I tried to keep her away from me. She found out that I was a mermaid and attacked me.” She shook her head, “I swear I didn’t mean to kill her.”
Vincent stared at the dead body, and the blood on the floor that belonged to Lady Camille.
Eve stared at the dead woman, who continued to stare at the ceiling as she hadn’t gone near the dead woman to close her eyes. She was terrified of what would happen and wiped her clammy hands against her skirt.
Hearing the increase in Eve’s heartbeat, Vincent turned to look at her. He stepped near her and placed his finger below her chin, before turning her head to the side. He stared at the wound, which was covered with her dried blood.
Seeing how the dead woman had bitten Eve, a hint of annoyance passed through his features.
“Take a seat at the table, we need to fix your neck,” Vincent ordered, and Eve frowned.
“What about Lady Camille’s body? She is—”
Vincent interrupted her, “My priorities are different. Go on.”
Eve’s worried blue eyes stared at him. Hesitantly, she left the dead body’s side and heard Vincent ask, “So, what happened? What was she doing in the piano room?”
He walked next to her, picking up the water jug. He next pulled out his handkerchief.
“Lady Camille came across Rosetta’s letter. Rosetta mentioned something about heart. Lady Camille thought I knew what Rosetta’s words meant. She felt I was stopping the marriage between you and Rosetta,” Eve’s words were small from the shock of what she had done, that hadn’t left her mind. She couldn’t normalise the feeling.
She sat in the chair that Vincent turned to face him with his foot and stared at him. The vampire before her had killed people when he was a young boy. She wondered how much pain had been caused that had pushed the young boy into the path of darkness.
“It is a mystery that you haven’t been caught with a dead body with a mansion full of servants walking back and forth in the corridors,” stated Vincent, and after dipping the handkerchief in the jug of water. He placed the wet cloth on her neck.
“Will I be sent to the dungeon?” Eve asked him, feeling him dab the cloth on her neck.
“Most likely. You killed a woman who is related to a high positioned member of the society. First you will be questioned, but you and I both know that people don’t listen to the weak, but the powerful ones,” Vincent explained in a nonchalant tone. “After that you will be put to dungeon, tortured. If you mention why you did what you did, you will be sold and killed after it. Both ways you are going to end up dead.”
Eve clenched her hands and her face turned even paler. She heard Vincent say,
“Unless, we go for another option.”
_________________
ALLURE OF THE NIGHT
Chapter 199 Erasing steps
Still staring at Vincent, Eve asked him, “What option?”
“Vanish the body without anyone’s notice and burn every evidence that points that the woman was here or you had anything to do with her,” Vincent stopped dabbing the cloth and pressed the bloodied handkerchief on her wound.
Eve felt pain shoot down her neck.
“I am not sure if you wanting to die for being bitten would be for noble cause,” Vincent’s words were sarcastic.
Part of Eve wanted to confess the truth in the hope that the Council would give her justice for being attacked by a vampiress. But the other part of her knew that justice wasn’t for everyone in the society she lived. She didn’t want to die. She asked,
“What if the evidence is spilled all over the place?”
A small smile crept on Vincent’s lips, and he said, “You don’t have to worry about it. I am good at it.”
“In hiding bodies?” Eve asked him with her eyebrows knitted together.
“That too,” Vincent responded.
Once the blood on Eve’s neck was cleaned, Vincent noticed how harshly Lady Camille had bitten her like a rabid dog. If the woman was alive, she would have died by his hands for what she did.
His eyes fell on Eve, who had zoned out in worry. He could tell she was scared with her body shaking with light tremors.
Someone knocked on the door, and Eve’s body stiffened. Vincent walked to the door, saying, “Relax, it is only the butler.”
Vincent opened the door, and as expected, Alfie stood in front of the room. The butler bowed and informed,
“The carriage outside the mansion belongs to Lady Camille.”
“Did you speak to the coachman?” Vincent questioned his butler, who nodded.
“I did, Sire. I asked him what he was doing there and he said he was waiting for his Mistress to return…” Alfie informed and caught a whiff of something in the air. Earlier, he was sure the lady had left the mansion. But according to the coachman, the lady was still in the mansion. When he finally realised what the smell was, his eyes widened. Lady Camille had come to meet Ms. Barlow… in the piano room.
Vincent ordered him, “I need you to do something, Alfie. Go back to the coachman and tell him that his Mistress has ordered him to go to Lady Layla Nicholson’s mansion and park it in the front and wait for her there. Tell him, she will be going there with Lady Annalise in our carriage.”
Away from the piano room, in Marceline’s room, the vampiress was reading the letters sent by some of her male admirers, who were courting her. She didn’t care much about it as she had no intention or interest in them. But at the same time, it was good to see the number of letters she had received, and that the elite males were actively seeking her.
She placed the letters in the drawer, before getting up and taking a peek outside the window. The carriage she had seen was still there outside the mansion, and her curiosity got the best out of her. Leaving her room, she quickly descended the stairs and walked out of the mansion’s entrance.
“Would you like me to pull up the carriage for you, milady?” Asked one of the guards who stood there.
Marceline raised her hand, before walking towards the gate. She stepped out of the gates just to catch Alfie talking to the coachman. Her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes narrowed.
When the vampiress took another step toward the carriage, the coachman started the carriage and left the place, while the butler turned to get back into the mansion. But on seeing Marceline, Alfie stared at her.
Marceline questioned, “Whose carriage was it?”
“It was someone from the Council, who was waiting for Master Vincent’s signed parchments, milady,” Alfie lied with the straightest face he could muster, while feeling the look of suspicion fall on him.
“Since when did the council stop entering the mansion?” The vampiress demanded, feeling something very odd about the carriage. “Hm?”
The butler answered, “I am not sure, milady. You will need to check with Master Vincent about it.”
Alfie bowed and walked back inside the mansion’s gates while Marceline watched the butler with her shrewd eyes. She then turned back to look in the direction in which the odd carriage had left.
Back in the piano room, Eve watched Vincent pour the bloody water into a plant pot. She asked him,
“Lady Camille wasn’t riding in her carriage now. Won’t the blame fall on Lady Annalise or the butler?”
“It won’t,” Vincent replied. “Lady Layla is a woman whom everyone knows in the town, and that would include our dead vampiress here. Not to mention, the mansion is at the centre place, which many people will catch sight of, making them believe Lady Camille is visiting another person. The more the confusion, the better to get rid of the traces.”
Eve walked to where the dead body was, staring at the person’s face and remembering her last words. She whispered,
“How am I going to look at Rosetta?”
“She was the one to bring this upon you. You don’t have to feel guilty for choosing yourself rather than being someone’s evening drink,” commented Vincent. He had read the letter that the naive vampiress had left, making him roll his eyes at her. “If she didn’t write a letter for you, which she obviously failed to send, the vampiress wouldn’t have come looking for you, and you wouldn’t have killed her.”
Vincent’s eyes fell on the sharp object sticking out of Lady Camille’s chest. A grin appeared on his lips and he said, “I am impressed by your work here. You have finally put your feet into the dark side.”
“I didn’t intend to…”
“Nobody ever intends to do anything. This wasn’t an accident, was it?” hummed Vincent, “Did you know that deep down everyone is a killer? You just need the right motivation to bring it out.”
Eve covered her face with both her hands. The tension inside her had slowly disappeared with Vincent in the room, but not the thoughts. She asked him,
“When do we bury her?”
“I would say now, but considering there are servants and my dear sister in the mansion, maybe once they fall asleep?” Vincent said calmly, and Eve nodded. He then said, “How about we talk about something else. How was your day so far?”
Eve stared at Vincent, “I killed my friend’s aunt, who bit me and I spent more than two hours with the dead. How do you think it is going?”
Vincent clicked his tongue, before a broad smile appeared on his lips as he stared at Eve’s sullen face. He said, “I feel like a proud teacher who is seeing his student qualify in his subject.”
Only Vincent Moriarty could see it that way, which was also why Eve knew he was the only one to whom she could open the door. She asked him, “How was your day?”
They stared at each other for five long seconds, and Vincent responded, “It was mundane until evening, but my day just got better.”
As Eve waited for time to pass, the stress she had been holding on exhausted her, she closed her eyes. Vincent stepped away from the piano room while keeping Alfie to guard the corridor so that no one would go near the room.
A bat flew at the height of the trees before dropping on the darker side of the street to turn into a person. Vincent walked on the street with his hat that covered his silver hair and a black coat that covered his casual clothes. His coppery-red eyes swept across the streets ahead of him and the few people heading home.
Soon he noticed Lady Camille’s carriage parked outside Lady Layla’s mansion. He pulled his hand out of his trouser pockets and stepped next to where the coachman was idly waiting for his mistress.
“Mr. Moriarty,” the coachman quickly recognised Vincent and bowed.
“There is something I would like to ask you, you wouldn’t mind coming with me for a bit, do you?” Vincent stared at the coachman with a pleasant expression.
The coachman looked slightly apprehensive but couldn’t refuse the pureblooded vampire. He gave a nod before following him.
_________________
ALLURE OF THE NIGHT
Chapter 200 Suspicious Young Mistress, Suspect Butler
Music Recommendation: He’ll be on You- Nathan Barr
—
In the Moriarty mansion, Marceline stepped into Allie’s room, and her eyes searched for something. She walked to the table and then pulled the drawers, looking for it. When a maid entered to clean the youngest vampiress’s room, she quickly bowed.
“F-forgive me, milady. I didn’t know you were here.”
Marceline lazily shifted her eyes to look at the lowly maid and questioned, “Do you know where Allie’s knitting things are?”
She had just remembered Allie knitting something yesterday, and on seeing her, she had hid it behind her. It seemed like her sister wanted to give her a scarf, thought the vampiress. She preferred the scarf from her favourite store than getting patchy work from the younger one.
But Marceline was generous enough to overlook it because of her kind heart.
The maid moved her lips, but no words came as she was scared of the vampiress. When Marceline looked irritated, the maid quickly replied, “It must be right here in the room.”
“It isn’t here,” Marceline stated. She turned around to check the other drawers in the room.
“If not here, it must be in the piano room, Lady Marceline,” the maid answered with the continued bow.
Marceline didn’t utter another word and exited Allie’s room, making her way towards the piano room. When the vampiress had reached halfway, the maid who had come to clean Miss Allie’s room caught something shiny in the gallery. While walking there, she noticed the needles on the unwinded wool ball.
“I am going to be scolded today,” muttered the maid, wondering if she should let it stay in the gallery or pick it up and give it to Lady Marceline.
Away from the room, Marceline reached the corridor near the piano room, and caught sight of the butler, who was cleaning the wooden case of the painting on the wall.
On noticing the uneven-tempered vampiress walking towards where he stood, Alfie worried where Master Vincent went. His master had told he would be back soon and in the meantime, to guard the corridor. But with the danger that approached him, he doubted he would be able to hold the forts. Even if Vincent was the one to have the key to the piano room.
Alfie stopped pretending to clean the painting and bowed at Marceline, “Do you need any help, milady?”
“No,” came the refusal from the arrogant vampiress.
If it were someone else, Alfie would have pretended to faint and fall to the ground. But knowing Marceline, she would stomp on him like a carpet before continuing to walk.
Seeing Marceline start to walk, so did Alfie, matching her footsteps. The vampiress, who noticed the butler walking right next to her, stopped and glared at him.
“What do you think you are doing?” Marceline’s eyes were filled with disgust. Did this mere butler just try to walk in the same line as her?
“I…” Alfie drawled, trying to come up with something witty, “Milady, what would you like to have for supper?”
“Your blood from your severed head,” Marceline replied in a low, threatening voice. But then Alfie was a lowly vampire and not a human.
“Anything else apart from it?” The butler asked in a polite voice. “We have steak roasted below the charcoal and lamb chops that have been simmered over fire for an hour.”
Marceline’s eyes narrowed as if she sensed something was off with the butler. She took a step closer to him, and he softly gulped. She asked,
“You have been acting suspicious since I caught you at the gate. Is there something you want to tell me that you are hiding? Now would be a good time.”
Alfie looked surprised and replied, “I don’t know what you are talking about, milady. I have been doing my job like any other day.” He felt the vampiress’s gaze weigh heavily on him, ready to bury him under this floor.
Marceline started to walk, heading towards the piano room to check Allie’s knitting skills. Alfie started to panic. He blurted,
“A letter came for you. I think it was from Woodlock… milady.”
Marceline turned even more annoyed and said, “It seems like you don’t like your head on your shoulders, Alfie. Is that why you are making me stop, instead of asking everything together?” She then questioned, “Where is the letter?”
“Earlier it was in the hallways,” Alfie replied with doubt, if there was any letter in there for anyone, less a letter from Woodlock. It seemed like Master Vincent was going to sacrifice him today in his sister’s hands.
“Fine. Take me to the letter as you failed to give it in my hand,” the vampiress decided, raising one of her eyebrows.
“I am not done cleaning the wood of the painting–“
“Now,” Marceline demanded.
Right now, Marceline was the one with the highest threat, thought Alfie, and he obliged, “Yes, milady.”
They walked down to where the hall was, and to Alfie’s luck, one lone letter sat on the little table stand. Excited in relief, he said, “There it is!” Seeing Marceline stare at him to go and pick it up, he went to the table stand. He gingerly took it and walked back to the vampiress, who stretched her hand forward. He placed the letter in her hand.
Only if the letter was from Woodlock and for Lady Marceline, Alfie hoped. But even coincidence had a limit; as expected, the vampiress scowled at him after reading the sender of the envelope.
“This isn’t from Woodlock, you dimwit,” Marceline, who had been hopeful that it was from the Duke, her mood turned sour. “It is from Whitaker. For a butler you don’t even know to read.”
Thankfully, the maid looking for Marceline appeared in the hall and informed, “Milady, this was in Miss Allie’s gallery.”
Marceline stared at the scarf, and lost interest in it. She dismissed the maid with a wave of her hand and then turned to the butler. She said, “I will have both the mentioned food tonight. I hope it tastes good for your own good.” The lady walked away from there.
Alfie let out a sigh of relief. He quickly returned to the corridor, where the piano room was, as if to continue his work. Thankfully, Vincent returned after twenty minutes, and the butler relaxed.
Vincent turned the key in the door, unlocking the room. The butler, who had followed him, peeked into the room and noticed the dead lady on the ground.
“Keep the carriage ready to use later,” Vincent ordered, and Alfie nodded. “Get something to eat and drink. Preferably vegetables and no meat.”
“Yes, Master Vincent,” Alfie bowed and left from there.
[Music Recommendation: Clifftop Prelude- Stuart Earl]
Vincent’s eyes fell on Eve, who had fallen asleep at the table. Stepping inside the room, he closed the door and turned the lock.
His footsteps were quiet against the floor as he made his way to where Eve sat, with the side of her head resting on the table.
His eyes curiously looked at the young woman, whose lashes now rested against her skin. She breathed through her pale pink lips. Pieces of her hair had come to hover in front of her face as if obstructing his view.
In Vincent’s eyes, the woman didn’t look like a murderer. Instead, she looked like a wounded animal that was frightened.
Unable to see her clearly, Vincent raised his hand and gently pushed the pieces of her golden blonde hair away from her face. She held an unguarded expression on her face as she continued to rest, unaware of the pureblooded vampire who stared at her with curiosity in his fierce eyes.
His hand didn’t drop, and the back of his fingers hovered above her cheek. The room’s light was soft and fell on her, tempting him to caress. But noticing her eyebrows furrow, he took his hand away from her, and Eve woke up with a soft gasp.
Vincent watched Eve pull her head away from the table, and her eyes met his. She murmured,
“I am sorry, I fell asleep.”
Why was it that even though she murdered someone, the look in her eyes didn’t change, and the blue eyes continued to hold warmth in them, Vincent asked himself. He responded,
“Sleeping is better than throwing up. Feeling any better, Ms. Killer-of-the-day?”
Eve was going to reply, but her eyes fell on the spots of red on his white shirt. He killed someone a few minutes ago… because his shirt was spotless earlier.
Her eyes moved back to meet Vincent’s gaze, a question in her eyes that he didn’t answer, and he only stared back at her with interest.
_________
NOTE: PHYSINEWS MEDIA WE RESPECT AUTHORS & CONTENT OWNERS WE MADE THIS POST TO ENTERTAIN EVERYONE DISCLAIMERS PLEASE ENTER HERE
--------------
∆∆∆∆∆∆
