And when Jan had arrived at his door, the first question he had asked was, "Where are the three maids?"

"They have been sent to the market, Sire. They should be here in half an hour," the housekeeper replied back looking at his pocket watch.

"Hmm," counting the number of servants in the mansion had become a habit to Leonard since he had placed the master-slave bond on all his servants. The trust he had gained in years had been washed away with the blood of his own.

His finger skimmed round and round the delicate teacup, he held in his hand. Hearing the sound of the rattling carriage which was used by the servants for bringing in supplies for the mansion, he placed the cup on the saucer and stood up from his seat. Walking to the rails, he looked down to see the carriage being pulled in front of the mansion before the horses came to a full stop.

The maids got down one by one, picking up the items from the carriage along with the coachman who helped them.

Then there was his Bambi, carrying as many bags as she could in her arms.

"You"re going to drop them," he heard Vivian say to the other maid who tried carrying when she was the one who almost dropped a bag from her hand to catch hold of it in time.

"This one is much heavier than it looks," the maid said picking the bags as she went inside following Vivian into the mansion. Feeling the master bond again, Leonard counted the servants again. A total of fourteen servants were present in the mansion, sensing their souls of where they might be present at the moment.

As the day went by, Vivian couldn"t stop thinking about her visit to the prison. She was worried and anxious. Worried about what was going to come tomorrow. With a brave step, she had opened the lock on Thomas" bound hands which she had learned from Leonard and now that she had done, she was more than worried about it. Not to forget that Lord Nicholas had seen her there. There was no telling if he would or wouldn"t tell it to Leonard, hoping he wouldn"t mention her in their conversation, she rubbed the wet cloth against the cold tiles. It wasn"t that she believed she had done wrong by unlocking a prisoner, there was nothing to feel guilty as she knew by all her heart that the family was innocent. With being run out of time, this was all she could do. Every time Leonard pa.s.sed in front or somewhere close to where she was, she couldn"t help but feel the anxiety build in her chest.

While Vivian was occupied with thoughts of worry in the Carmichael mansion, the scene in the prison was nothing less of worry. Grace, Paul"s sister stared at the sun that had risen high up the sky. Dirt and mud covered the wrinkles on her face. To think they would be accused of something they hadn"t done, she wiped the tear that fell on her cheek. Though the council had accused and labeled her brother as a traitor, she knew he wasn"t the kind of man to kill someone. She had known him more than anyone else could and her mind was filled with nothing but sorrow.

To think that the family they had served all these years had put them in prison. Things had never been easy. To begin with, humans and vampires had never trusted each other. They had never seen each other in the eye, harmony didn"t exist between the two creatures.

She wondered if they would ever coexist to be equals, without the kind from where they came from or the status.

"Did you beat this one up yesterday? He looks as if he"s been untouched," she heard a guard speak from one of the cells.

"I did," came another guard"s voice, "I made sure to give him few more but looking at him, it doesn"t look so. No wonder the Lord asked if the punishments were being pa.s.sed," then she heard the heart-wrenching screams that took place in the cell where the guards were present which was none other than her brother, Paul"s scream.

"Ahh!"

She closed her eyes in pain, praying it would end quickly.

When the next day arrived, like most of them Vivian had gone out to the town where the execution was going to take place. Not thinking it through she had come to catch the last glimpse of the family and words couldn"t describe how much pain she felt when the guardsmen pulled the family up to the dais. She frowned when she saw Thomas standing there with the others. She had hoped to save at least one of them but why? Had the lock not come off?

On the sidelines, below the platform stood Leonard with few other councilmen, his face stoic void of any emotions. The announcer came forward to pull out the scroll from his pocket, and read from it, "This man and his family have been accused in involving in the murder of the Carmichael"s and their other family members that took place a few weeks ago. Like other criminals, he shall be executed for the treason caused to his owner, setting an example for the others..." the announcer"s voice dulled in Vivian"s ears when they brought Paul forward.

Fresh red stain was inked on his clothes, his face bloodier than what she had seen yesterday. His complexion that had turned pale. Picking up her skirt in the front, she made her way to the front of the crowd, pa.s.sing one after another person but not coming in full view.

A rope was put around Paul"s neck, his face visibly a little worried until his eyes fell on Vivian who looked utterly devasted at the moment. Tears began filling up in Vivian"s eyes seeing him give her a smile, holding back her tears she stopped breathing when the handle was pushed forward removing the ground from Paul"s feet that he was suddenly left hanging. Her hands tightened on her skirt. As she shut her eyes, the unshed tears splattered on her cheeks. Her feet automatically took a step back, one after another until she was away from the townfolk crowd that had gathered.

As she tried to get far away from the pain with tears that she wiped every two seconds she crashed into Leonard.

When both Leonard and Vivian were little children they always had been on the same team, always together and for the first time, it seemed that they were on different sides that made things difficult for both of them. On one side was Leonard avenging his families death and on the other side was Vivian who was mourning the loss of someone dear to her.