Under the clouds that had begun to turn heavy and dark, Heidi walked outside and around the Rune"s mansion. She had slowly got accustomed to the weather of the Bonelake and somewhere during her stay she preferred it compared to the sunny days of Woville. She enjoyed the quiet atmosphere around her with the sounds of the trees that swayed occasionally due to the wind.

Seeing the fleet f birds fly in the sky, heading towards the forest which they often used for hunting she saw someone walking towards the mansion. By the clothes it appeared that it was the head butler of the mansion. The butler hadn"t noticed her standing there. His expression was dull and wry as he walked through the gates and into the mansion while carrying a long rope which had been folded in circles. She wondered what Stanley had gone for the forest for. Nicholas had gone out on the council affairs and Warren hadn"t visited her today, leaving her alone at the mansion with the butlers and the servants. With nothing else to do, Heidi pa.s.sed her time by looking at the flowers which were recently planted.

It was difficult to pa.s.s time because even with the days that had pa.s.sed by, she was still in daze with how things had turned out to be. Even though her mother, Helen accepted her, trying to make a home things weren"t that easy and even until today, the others had never come to accept her to be part of their family. Unconsciously, she placed her hand on her neck where the invisible mark laid on her skin now. Now with the soul bond, she needed him and she knew he felt the same, if not by words but his actions. Nicholas hadn"t told her the words through his lips but she didn"t need an affirmation after the mark he had shown on that day in her room.

Heidi was looking at the flowers when she heard something rustle behind her and this time it didn"t feel like it was the trees. She turned around to see it was nothing before her eyes fell on the dark figure that stood behind one of the trees. She inhaled sharply when the figure moved away from the tree to reveal a large cloaked hooded figure. It"s movements were slow but steady as it headed in her direction. Her senses had numbed for an instance until she realized it was getting closer and closer with every second. Just as she took a step back, breaking the twig she had stepped on into two pieces, the hooded figure stopped to raise its head which was covered with its cloak. As it brought its bony hands in view, she gulped knowing there wasn"t a man but probably a skeleton under it. The next moment it walked in such speed that she felt her heart would stop if it weren"t for the maid who called her at that time.

"Lady Heidi," the maid who had come in search of the lady as she wasn"t inside the mansion found her standing in middle of the trees that were planted around the mansion.

Heidi blinked her eyes to see the figure wasn"t there anymore.

"Milady, it might begin to rain soon," the maid spoke to which she nodded.

"Yes, it will," Heidi murmured looking up at the sky that had darkened even more than what she had noticed previously, "Thank you for informing. I will head inside before it starts raining," she smiled at the maid to see the maid smile and bow her head.

"Yes, milady."

Seeing the maid head back inside the mansion, Heidi looked around for the figure that had just appeared. She moved her head left and right, her eyes searching for something that had disappeared a minute ago but there was nothing or no one there. Was she hallucinating? She doubted she did. She had never seen anything like this and it surely wasn"t a human. Getting back inside the mansion, Heidi walked into the library to do some research on the different creatures recorded in history but she only ended up with the vampires, humans and witches. There was something about the crossbreeds that was mentioned in few books, which were creatures that had wolf like face with decayed body of a human but nothing about the creature she was looking for.

"Are these the only books that are available in the mansion?" She asked Stanley who stood at the door.

"This is all the collections that master has acquired. Is there anything in particular you are looking for?"

Heidi bit her lip thoughtfully and then spoke, "Could I ask you for a favor Stanley."