Year 1847

The fire crackled beneath the large utensil with the burning charcoal and the logs of wood which were only added a few moments ago. The girl in the kitchen, picked up the wooden ladle to mix the chicken and peas along with the spices and herbs that she had bought at the local market. Bending towards the vessel, she smelled the aroma coming from it and smiled.

"Smells good," Heidi murmured to herself. Taking the cloth from the front pocket of her old ap.r.o.n, she lifted the vessel to put it away from the fire so that it could cool down.

Just as she finished setting the table in the dining room, she heard the clucking sound of the horses coming to a halt just outside the house. Going towards the window, she pushed the curtain to peep out to see that it was her father and her siblings who had returned home earlier than expected. She was glad that she had prepared dinner before they arrived. Wiping her hands on the front side of her ap.r.o.n, she opened the door to see her father opening the gate and walking towards the main door.

"Did anyone arrive at the door when we were away?" her father, Simeon Curtis asked, taking his coat and handing it to her.

"The postman arrived with a letter for you. I placed it in your study," Heidi informed him.

"I see," he replied without any more words to share and went straight to his room. She felt herself being thrust with luggage by her siblings making her stumble.

"Please get these washed as soon as you can," Daniel her oldest sibling said while he helped his sister, Nora"s luggage to be brought in, "Unfortunately, we didn"t have time to get the clothes washed at aunt Gertrude"s house and we have no clothes to be worn for tomorrow."

"Of course," she replied going to pick the luggage from the ground and heading out to their backyard.

Pulling out the pile of clothes that was stuffed into the trunk randomly, she drew water from the well, her hand"s takings turns to pull the rope. As she began to wash, she realized there weren"t many clothes and her brother Daniel had only wanted to keep her busy with work. It wasn"t the first time though for something like this to happen.

Heidi was part of the Curtis family only by words. She wasn"t related to them by blood nor did they did treat her like one inside the house. Her father, Simeon Curtis was a well-respected man in the town who owned a garment factory along with his elder brother Raymond Curtis. Both the Curtis brothers were humans who disliked vampires as they had lost some of their relatives at the hands of the dark creatures. Most of the humans who lived in the north detested the vampires, therefore few towns had their own separate colonies and s.p.a.ce. Raymond was a man well known in the higher society as he was one of the famous traders of the north empire Woville. He was a Duke and therefore he had to keep a good face with the vampires even though he didn"t like them. Due to odd circ.u.mstances, he had taken Heidi home from the street when she was seven and as he had no wife then, he had pa.s.sed her on to his younger brother on his sister-in-law"s request. Heidi"s adoptive mother, Helen Curtis was unlike her husband and it made her wonder even now on how she had married her father when they were both so different by nature. She wondered if opposites really did attract each other.

Daniel was eleven and Nora was as old as Heidi when her mother had taken her in with open arms and had loved her as one of her own. But the two children hadn"t taken the fact of Heidi being added to the family well, feeling that their mother was sharing their love with another person which led to the gap between her and her siblings from an early stage.

When they were young, Daniel and Nora were sent to school like many other high families while Heidi was refrained from such privileges. Even though Helen had tried speaking to her husband about it, he was adamant about not sending the girl along with his children to study, saying it was for the best that the girl works for them than he spend on her than necessary. This led to Helen teaching the girl secretly when no one was around. Though it wasn"t much, Helen taught her from what she knew, and as Heidi grew up she had noticed that the little girl"s curiosity was something to be worried about. Often the little girl would be found locked in the attic with no food or with belt marks on her hands as she would have done something to displease her father.

Three years ago, when Heidi was fifteen her mother pa.s.sed away after falling victim to a disease that was incurable. Helen had spent her last few weeks being bedridden, unable to move or talk much. It was the coldest winter Heidi had experienced when she lost her mother. The grief had stricken to the entire family, bringing more distance between the outsider and the family.

Not that it mattered, thought Heidi remembering her time in the Curtis household while hanging the wet-washed clothes on the string ropes. She had been saving money since her mother"s death so that she could leave this house, to start a life anew.

"Good evening, Ms. Heidi," she saw that it was none other than Howard, their family coachman.

"Good evening, Howard. How was the journey?" she asked him while wringing the cloth in her hands.

"It was a peaceful one," he answered picking up the hay for the horse, "I see that you have already been given work."

After her mother, it was him that she usually spoke to in the house. He was a middle-aged man who had been serving the Curtis family for a long time before she had entered the house. His grey beard already showing the sign of his aging. He was a good man.

"Hmm. Better to finish it quicker than later," she smiled picking up the wide empty bucket of clothes and then turned to whisper, "I have nothing else to do here."

"HEIDI! HEIDI!" Both Howard and Heidi heard Nora call for her.

"Looks like Ms. Nora is searching for you again," Howard spoke looking at the walls of the house.

"Seems like it," Heidi murmured to see Nora walk through the back door of the house.

"HEID-Oh there you are!" exclaimed Nora, a box in her hand as she walked towards where Heidi stood, "Why didn"t you tell me you were here? I was looking for you all over the house," she said looking at Heidi with her bright blue eyes. Nora had inherited her mother"s eyes and hair, her eyes blue and hair blonde which went past her hips, which was now let loose and open. She was gorgeous, unlike her plain self.

"I am sorry, I was only going to come to you," Heidi apologized seeing Daniel leaning against the door, looking at them, "What happened?"

"This is for you," Nora smiled bringing the box forward to give it to her.

"What is this?" Heidi asked curiously.

"It"s a gift! Aunt gave few things to me and I thought to share it with you, aren"t I thoughtful?" Nora giggled and then said, "And by the way could you please get the dinner ready right away, we have been starving since we left aunt Gertrude"s house. You know how father doesn"t stop anywhere in between and rather prefers to have food at home than somewhere out."

"Dinner is already ready in the kitchen, Nora. Why don"t you go ahead and start placing the food? I"ll be there in two minutes," she suggested seeing Nora bite her lip.

"Ah, you see. I have to go try on a dress and see if it needs to be sent to the tailor," Nora replied and when Heidi opened her mouth to speak she heard Daniel speak, "We have to go attend a ball next week and it"s important Nora gets her dress done as we are finding her suitors. I am sure you can help her out."

Heidi didn"t miss the little smirk that appeared on Nora"s lips before it disappeared. After their mother pa.s.sed away, Daniel was the one to carry forward the punishments on her. She could still feel the leathers touch on her skin making her rigid and frozen in her spot. The siblings and she didn"t get along well, and always put the other in a troublesome situation. Once Nora had broken a vase to only blame it on Heidi. The same night Heidi had picked a c.o.c.kroach from their backyard, to smash and mix it with Nora"s food.

"Okay then!" Nora turned her back after seeing her nod her head at Daniel"s words. Heidi saw Daniel say something to which Nora laughed as they got into the house.

When she had first come to the house, she was happy, happy to have a family like the others she had seen on the streets. A place to call a home. When Raymond Curtis had introduced her to the family her happiness knew no bound after seeing the two children. Their mother"s death changed a lot of things, their att.i.tude as well as the stark differences between them.

Remembering the box in her hand, she opened the lid to find a dress in there. Curious she pulled it out to see the beautiful dress in her hand.

"I am surprised to see Ms. Nora give you something of value," she heard Howard from behind. He was usually a quiet man with the Curtis family but it was with Heidi whom he was frank with his words.

"I am surprised too," Heidi replied staring at the dress to notice the tear at the bottom. No wonder, she thought to herself. Nora was too selfish to share anything with her and if she did it meant something was amiss. The dress was mend-able and therefore without a word she placed it back in the box.

"Why don"t you leave the household?" Howard asked her with a frown.

"The Curtis have my grat.i.tude, for taking me in when I had no roof. A child who was in tattered clothes and barefoot with no ident.i.ty. Sometimes grat.i.tude is too heavy to bear with and it takes time to repay it."

"I think you have repaid your debt enough to the late Madame by being at her side."

"Maybe. Maybe, I am just holding on to our precious memories that the lady left," she knew that the love Helen Curtis shared with her was something priceless and didn"t need repayment, yet a part of her felt indebted.

"You have turned into a fine lady, Ms. Heidi," she heard him say as she began walking towards the back door of the house and she turned back.

"I think I still have a long way to go for that!"

"It isn"t the status that makes one into a lady but the manner in which how you carry yourself and how you treat others that turns you into one," Heidi smiled at his words.

"You have always been too kind with your words, Howard," and with that, she went inside.

The following week like Daniel had said, her father and her siblings left to the capital town of Woville to attend a ball there so that Nora could place herself an eligible bachelor for herself. Many suitors letters came to their houses but she rejected them all, the way it looked to Heidi, Nora was trying to aim the Lord of the north as no matter who showed up in front of her, she would turn her face away from them like they were nothing but dirt.

Heidi did her work leisurely as she had to cook dinner only for her tonight. Deciding to pick up the groceries she went out. In the evening, the clouds were dark and heavy, the time already past dusk as rain pelted down the roofs of the houses and the hard ground. The trees shook as it rained, letting the drops of water fall down one after another in a trail. It had been some time since the people of Woville had seen such heavy rain in the northern empire.

Most of the men and women who had been on the streets walking and talking leisurely had already gone into their homes once it had begun raining. Some ran for shelter, standing under the buildings which got them drenched anyways. Out of the people who were there under the rain was Heidi, her footsteps splas.h.i.+ng one after another on the rainy ground as she ran towards her house.

When Heidi had finished buying groceries and had only exchanged the money with the shopkeeper in the local market she hadn"t expected it to rain, especially when it had only been sunny with a clear sky when she had stepped out of the house. Her dry clothes were now soaking wet, the dress sticking to her body as she ran while covering the vegetables in her arms. On her way she saw a few men standing under the barely present roof and decided not to wait for the rain to stop, taking a left and going through the dark deserted alley. It was an alley that connected the humans from the dark creatures residence which she rarely used and she wouldn"t have picked it if it weren"t the shortest route to her house.

As she took another turn, she stopped in her tracks to only realize that she had already run past this place. Unfortunately, it had been quite a few months since she had last come here in these dark streets and the way she knew had been closed for some time now. Thinking it was better to go back the way she came from, she walked this time carefully seeing her way out not wanting to get lost in the dark. Just as she was tracing back her footsteps she suddenly felt herself crash and pull towards a firm, muscular body to the nearest wall. At the same time, she heard footsteps of people heading towards them as though they were chasing someone.

Alarmed by whoever had caught her she went to scream for help to only find a hand covering her mouth to prevent her from making any noise. She struggled to get away but this person was too strong, like a vampire who didn"t budge even an inch. At the thought of vampire more alarms began to ring in her head, and as though feeling her fear the man leaned over to whisper.

"Stay still and I won"t harm you," his voice was gentle like the air itself.