Bambi and the Duke

"Her death was caused by the villagers of the next town where the Delcrov mansion is situated. They were in outrage after finding most of the children were killed and cut into pieces to only be thrown back in the common well," Leo iterated the past.

"But she was the second Lord's wife. Why doubt her?" asked Dutan, "Doesn't it sound shady."

"What isn't shady here," scoffed Hueren for Leo to continue with his words,

"My guess is that someone from here in this council was responsible for her death. Someone who instigated the rage in the villagers by abducting and killing the children before framing her. It wouldn't have been hard to do it as those years weren't the time for witches not even now. Where the fuck is Lancelot?"

Heuren who had previously gone in search of the man answered to Leo's question, "He has gone missing, senior," at Leo's narrowed eyes he added, "I searched everywhere and even dropped by the department but he isn't there. No clue."

"Something isn't right. Heuren I need you to go search for him again. This time more ardently because he is the one who heard what Sister Isabelle spoke of," Leo demanded from his junior, receiving a swift nod, he turned back his eyes on the large paper on the table, "In the recent comings we have had three deaths, one which was caused by the switcher who killed the real Lancelot Knight to take up his body. The other two falls under suspicious activities," Leo drew an 'X' on the paper. Writing down Maximillian, Lancelot and the older councilman who was part of the elder council meeting had been killed, "What else did we miss. Lady Isabelle. The white witch," he wrote down her name, adding the year of her death.

"If she's refused to come to the council to show her face which would only reveal her existence which she had been hiding, it would mean the man is still here and it isn't someone new. Whom we are looking for is someone who joined before this year," Leo circled the year.

"You need to add Abel in there," came Vivian's voice. Everything was connected in here like the spider's web that moved from one strand to another to form one single web of the crimes that had occurred since the last few years.

Leonard didn't hesitate but wrote down her uncle's name and after a few spaces, the black witch was added along with him. And then he added his family, the Carmichaels.

Like a story, the Duke said, "What we have is, in this year the white witch had been killed by one of the councilman who still works here. For her to send the switcher to dig would mean that she didn't know herself as to who had framed her. The switcher was sent by her but," he paused to draw the line between the switcher and the white witch and the black witch, "The man was working for the black witch before that. For whatever change of heart he had he decided to switch teams."

"The black witch wouldn't have sent him alone here unprotected. Surely, he would have someone to look after," stated Vivian before she came to ask, "Didn't Oliver belong to the same team as Lancelot?"

"Why do you ask about him?" Leo wanted to know like the rest of the two who waited for her to explain herself.

"We all knew that he had done something because of the snow mansion. For some reason, the ghost knew that all of us who were taking part in the exam had done something we were not supposed to do," said Vivian, taking the quill from Leo's hand, she added the ghost of the snow mansion who didn't haunt there anymore, "She didn't kill everyone in there but she did kill people whom she believed to have done a mistake which was grave. As we already assumed, Oliver had done something which was either personal or on the word of someone. The switcher killed Lancelot and there must have been the reason why he picked Mr. Knight."

"It could also have been due to body compatibility. He said some bodies don't sustain long and they degrade faster," Leo pointed out but she shook her head.

"No."

"What are you getting it, Vivi?" he asked her.

"There's someone whom I have my suspicion on but I cannot say I am a hundred percent sure. Lancelot and Oliver belong to one team. Even though Abel isn't part of the same team," she drew the lines up towards the 'X' that had been marked as unknown, "They all report to one man. Creed."

"Councilman Creed?" asked Hueren baffled, "He has a clean record. I don't think he has anything to with it."

"It is always the cleanest man that has dirt hidden," commented Vivian dropping the quill on the desk.

"Even if he is the one who has been pulling strings how do we make sure it is him?" asked Dutan the main question which Vivian had begun to think herself, wondering as to what could be done.

"Like the rest he knows about the switcher but he must have known long back that is if he has bee working with the black witch. Why else would she send an intel?" questioned Vivian for Leonard to exhale loudly.

Everyone in the room fell silent, thinking and trying to come up with something that could pull everything into the light.

"We won't be able to find anything from Maximilian nor from Oliver's as both their belongings have been pushed to the locked room," that was quick, thought Vivian to herself. They really were trying to close the case as fast as they could, "If Creed is the one pulling out the strings, I will go see if I can dig into his the cases he has handled with the help of Nicholas. He must have some case files which was recorded by the previous father. And maybe it is time for you to enter the forbidden room where the case files are."

Hearing this Vivian's ears perked up instantly. Finally, Leo had agreed to it, "But you cannot get past those doors easily. Stepping in and out of it is not only hard but difficult with the guards guarding the doors."

"We can distract the guards," proposed Hueren.

"It is easy to tell for a mouse to talk about tying a bell around the cat' neck but it isn't impossible. Vivian and Dutan, you can enter the room while making use of Hueren as a distraction," the human councilman wasn't sure if he was to take it as ne of his skill or now, "There is a possibility that the guards might not move if he faints but you'll have a window of less than a minute before the guards in there are switched to two other ones."

"How do we get in there? It is a long passageway," Vivian was concerned as she had already lurked in those hallways when she had tried to take a sneak at how the doors looked like with Hueren. To an outsider, the doors would have looked to be like a way to another simple room but only a councilor knew that it was a storage room which was used by the men here from the time since the council began.

Leonard smiled hearing the question which his wife put up, "There's a window in there. You jump of course. You might get caught and that is why you need the slight distraction before you make through to the doors," he said giving a look at Hueren who felt as if he was really turning to the sheep which the butcher man was going to cut his head off, "It has never been more than a minute if checked upon you will find it is around fifty-three seconds. As you already must be aware, the guards change every two hours. Which would mean you cannot come out before time. Once you enter, all of you will have to time to make sure to step out of the room on time. If you miss the seconds back and forth, consider yourself to be put under trial."

No one was happy to hear the last line. As exciting and thrilling the work ahead of them was, none of them wanted to go through the trial in the courtroom as it wouldn't be a simple interrogation. Stepping into the storage room was one of the rules set by the council and what they were going to do was breaking the old law where people of their caliber had never thought to enter. But then never did anyone have the need to go in there the way they had to right now.

Leo would have gone with Vivian but he had other things to look after and he believed that his subordinates would be able to complete the work without much hassle. And if they did get caught, it would not be just them but him and also Lionel who would be put under the questioning of what the two people were doing in there.

"Keep the time both of you," he ordered both Hueren and Dutan with a serious face. The last thing he wanted was Vivian getting caught.

Up until now, no one had questioned the colour of her eyes. As it was quite common for the original colour of the eyes to be completely replaced by the vampire traits, she had a buffer of two to three days and it was the time after that that clouded his mind.

Except for Nicholas, he doubted that anyone had even given much thought on Vivian. There were other critical matters that concerned the councilmen which made it easy for them. He could go speak to Murk about it. The vampire doctor would have solutions and if he didn't, the worst case was that he would leave the lands here and move somewhere else with her. Just like they had planned about it before.

"I will see you three later. Use the opportunity now. Everyone is busy and the guards are distracted," his eyes lingered on Vivian for a long time to say, "Take care of yourself. Creed or whoever it is has killed a councilman in the early hours of the day. Not anywhere but here in the presence of the council. Stay alive, I will see you soon," he spoke to Vivian.

Once Leonard departed from the room, the three of them did the same. Locking the door behind them, Hueren stayed in the building while Vivian and Dutan stepped outside to make another turn around the large building until they came to stand at the window which was wide and open.

"The guards don't leave until the next seven minutes," said Dutan looking down at his pocket watch.

Vivian could feel her hands turning clammy with sweat. She had turned to a vampire but the fear of being caught was coursing through her veins. As Leo said, it was easy to say but difficult to do. She looked to her left and right, making sure no one was around.

Right now they had to be meticulous. Enough to not be seen by the guards or anyone else. It wasn't that they would be put under death row but the questions that would be asked to them wouldn't stop, not to forget her recent change to a pureblooded vampire. If a person caught the whiff of it, they would be in trouble and even Lord Nicholas wouldn't be able to help them out of it.

"Lady Vivian," called Dutan with a whisper to her attention who looked down at the watch, "It is almost time. I will help you to get in first. To our fortune, the door is straight ahead which has walls on either side to obstruct the view of others. It should give us enough to get in. Be ready."