Bambi and the Duke

Vivian hadn't expected for Abel to ask this question. She should have known the man would pry about her. Though he didn't know about her, everyone knew her to be the wife of Leonard Carmichael and the human who had passed the second exam during the gruesome exam which had left many examinees dead by the end of the test.

"I am from Bonelake," she answered. The man must have been curious about her origins as she was one of the rare human women who had passed the exam. It was obvious that one would be curious to know and find out more about her, to see if she was hiding something that was not to be known. After all, how could one explain her still being alive after even the vampires and pureblooded vampires had died during the whole ordeal?

"Where in Bonelake?" he questioned her, taking the tea which he had poured for himself earlier, Abel took a sip from it, "Are you sure you don't want to drink tea?"

"I am fine, councilman, Abel. I come from the land that is behind the Isle Valley, the one next to the river that flows down," she answered his question and to make it even while trying to subtly shift the conversation, she asked him, "How about you?"

She looked at the pureblooded vampire, place his teacup down with a small clink as it made a contact with the saucer, "I am from Valeria, Lady Vivian. It is a small world, therefore, I am just surprised that we never met before. I must have missed you seeing how the Duke has hidden you all these years away from the news of him being engaged to you," the man gave her a smile and the smile would and could have been considered to be a decent one if his eyes on her weren't so stagnant where it didn't move away from her. It made her only feel more uncomfortable and making her know why she had avoided looking anywhere near him until today when he was in the same space as her. It was as if he were waiting for something to happen which jittered her nerves that she constantly cooled down so that the same wouldn't reflect on her face.

The story that was pushed in the public was that Leonard had been engaged to her for some time now which was spread by Lord Nicholas' word of mouth which made many not ask them but to rely on the passing rumours. But then rumours always died down quickly due to the heavy work each person was given to keep themselves occupied.

"I am here now," she smiled back at his words. It was evident that in Able's view Vivian was a naive human who didn't know about the politics that went around between the people here. Or who in sane mind would go to the enemy's territory for help. To Abel, she was a stupid woman from whom he would be able to take up information on what the team was working on and before he could do it, Vivian was to be able to get her own information and escape from the place as she was feeling slightly claustrophobic in this room right now.

Getting back to what she had come, she asked, "Do you know how to identify the murder case in here?"

The man picked up the parchments of papers she had given him and he looked into it, reading through to speak, "Well, you have the sister and brother pair in here, it seems more of a family issue where one has killed another. Other family members," he turned the pages murmuring something, "There are his children. You will need to go talk to them before working into further equations that you have in here. Would you want me to send one of my men in there? It will make your interrogation move smoothly as people are not so easy to speak with a woman," this struck a nerve at Vivian and her hand clenched softly which was on her lap.

"I will be good with just your direction. Wouldn't want councilman Lionel to know about it as he wouldn't take it too well," she replied back to see the man nod his head.

"True. He wouldn't like that," he responded back. Minutes passed by as he spoke to her on how to approach the current case with what to do and what not to. There were times when Vivian had to rack her brain to come up with more lies which only made the case that much interesting not just to the man who was sitting in front of her but also to herself wondering what kind of case she was solving in her head.

As time passed, Vivian couldn't help but wonder on when she would find the right opportunity to read the man like a book. After all, that was the main intention of her visiting him here. It wasn't as easy as she had thought it to be. Grabbing the man's hand forcibly wasn't an option nor was asking him to read his hand.

Her time here was coming close to an end and there wasn't much time left before she would have to leave the room without achieving anything. And going empty hands wasn't what she was looking forward to. When Vivian's eyes fell on the teapot, she decided to look at it longer to hear Abel ask,

"What is the matter?"

"Ah, I am sorry," she apologized, "It is a pretty teapot. Where did you buy it from?" she asked with a smile upon her lips.

"It was a gift from my sister. She used to love collecting antique items and ended up gifting one which I have continued to treasure," Abel took the teapot in his hand and then moved it front for Vivian to have a look.

Initially, Vivian had decided to make him ask for her to have tea again but she had already refused and she wasn't keen on drinking the tea after she would pour it on her hand so that she could make a contact. Now that he had mentioned about his sister, Vivian decided to pry a little over the same matter.

"She has very good taste in it. It is lovely," she complimented for him to agree quickly. She had heard from Leonard on how his sister and his brother-in-law had been involved in letting the black witches escape where even he had a part in it. She found it rather strange that he was left unharmed while the rest of the family were killed.

"That she does," the man kept his words short on the matter which was brought to Vivian's attention.

"Thank you for your help, councilman Abel. I will sure to help you if you ever need assistance where I can help you," she answered, getting up from the seat, she stood up, taking the parchments of paper which he handed her as she racked her brains quickly on what to do.

"I look forward to it. You know, Lady Vivian, I once had a niece who shared the same name as you," he said to her surprise.

How coincidental, thought Vivian in her mind, "What do you mean by 'once'? Aren't you on speaking terms with-" Vivian tilted her head as she stepped away from the chair but just as she did her innate nature of dropping things around her hadn't improved and as she had moved, her hand pushed the teapot from the table which fell down but that wasn't all. Her luck was bad but good at the same time where she went to catch hold of the pot but instead ended up burning her hand over the split hot water on her hand.

Not want to scream out of the burn on her skin, she closed her eyes as she held her breath while calming down her heart. She could feel the sting heat on her hand.

"Are you alright?" Abel came around the desk quickly to help her on her feet, and it was then that the moment she had been looking for knocked her with his own hand.

When the councilman caught hold of her hand, her hand making contact with his own hand and even though she could still feel the burn, she pushed the feeling away to welcome the rapid flowing memories that came flooding down into her mind. Vivian had been trying to specialize and advance the ability she had acquired, and as Sister Isabelle had once said in the beginning she had learned to pick memories as if they were books on a library shelf.

She had practised enough that she could see the memories like in terms of years that had been ordered in sequence. Her time wasn't infinite here and though she wished to read each and every one of them, right now she had to pick the memories wisely. Thankfully the only advantage here was that the memories used the similar concept of a dream where the long time spent in the memories was indirectly proportional to the time spent in reality.

Touching the memory from the man's past, Vivian entered his time and space...

It was a house that she felt was familiar and for some odd reason, she didn't understand why it felt so. She looked around the little hallway before she came to walk through the next room. It might have been an important memory to the man but she doubted it would help her in any ways with the reason she had come to him here today.

Deciding to leave this one, she started to withdraw her touch from his mind when she heard a woman speak to Abel,

"What did the council say?" Vivian's head snapped around to look at a woman with blonde hair, her cheekbones high and eyebrows that were as thin as hers. There was a resemblance to Abel, making her think that this must be his sister.

"They don't want to sign the parchments over the lands. It was rejected. Lord Zachary has been keeping a close eye on the lands as some of them have been hoarded wrongly," replied Abel and the woman gave out a displeased look.

"And you must have not bothered pushing it through again. Emmanuel was hoping for you to get it signed so that we can rebuild the estate here in the village," replied the woman, "How difficult is it, Abel?" she asked, her gaze stern with her lips set in a thin line, "Emmanuel even got you a job there," there was a hint of arrogance as she spoke down to Abel and the man did nothing but stand in there quietly for a few moments.

As if to fill up the silence she heard a burst of laughter from a young child which was followed by another child's incoherent words.

"Mama!" came the voice right behind the woman who had been blocking the view of the door. It was when she moved did Vivian look shocked and utterly taken aback like never before.

A little girl came around to walk up to the woman, her blonde hair which she shared with her mother and uncle left open which was combed to perfection. Red eyes stared at the councilman as she exclaimed, "Uncle Abel!"

The woman then spoke, "Vivian, why does your hair look like you were crawling under the bed again?"

"Elaine-"

"She's a pureblooded vampire and needs to know what to do and what not to," Vivian who stood there looking at the little girl, she felt her eyes fill up with unshed tears and a lump formed at the back of her throat.

She wanted to stay longer to read but her time was up and she could only let go of the memories she had touched of Abel. The scene dissolved like a white fog that surrounded her to bring her back to reality.

Abel misreading the tears in her eyes, thinking it was due to the hot tea said, "Let's take you to Murkh," but she quickly shook her head.

"I am fine. Thank you for your help," she bowed her head and exited the room.