After the first game of hide and seek, the rest of the game Vivian followed Leonard, hiding along with him. Rather than finding it irritating, the young Carmichael boy didn’t mind it as she gave off a feeling of an animal who was following him wherever he went right now.

Lucky for them, Leonard was never the one to get caught. It was his house and he knew every corner of the mansion. When everyone retired for the day, he had a habit of walking through the darker sides of the mansion at midnight without anyone’s notice. Right now both of them had hidden in the halls behind the pillar that covered them completely. Anyone passing by wouldn’t know that there was someone hiding behind the large pillar which was decorated with flowers.

When a couple of footsteps were heard from the main door, Leonard heard his father’s voice accompanied by other people,

“…the councilmen who arrived at the mansion said it was caused by feral wolves that might have entered at the time of night,” said a man, “They said the body would be buried tomorrow behind the Isle town graveyard.”

“The news is hard to believe. Who knew wolves were fatal for the pure-blooded vampires,” his father said walking past the pillar both Leonard and Vivian had hidden behind, “I bet there will be another edict passed soon after this. Did you get in touch with Mal…” the voice disappeared. Leonard stood up from his hiding and signed the girl to get out as they would be going up to the room.

Not soon after lunch at the Carmichael’s mansion, men began to drop by the mansion to talk to Giles Carmichael and the others about an unfortunate accident that took place on the previous night. The Lord of Bonelake, Lord Wilhelhum Rune had been attacked in his chambers and had passed away. The Lord wasn’t a popular man amongst his subjects. He was crude in his behaviour who often dealt in dishonourable work secretly. The councilmen who were in town had gone to inspect the scene to see the body having deep furrowed gashes and it looked like some rabid animal had done it as no vampire or human could inflict something like that. Some of the body parts were torn and shredded, some even missing which added to the gore. As the news passed across towns and the entire four empires, people were shocked to hear the unexpected death. For a pureblooded vampire to die by wolves only made the wolves as a threat to the nightly creatures.

Important people like the council, few of the elites which included the humans and vampires and a few others arrived at the Isle town where the highly regarded grave was located for most of the pureblooded creatures. The Carmichael’s, Easton’s and the others had arrived at the graveyard to pay their last respects to the deceased lord as the priest read from his book which was specifically made for the vampires. Vivian stood next to Charlotte who stood next to her mother, both the girls looking at the ground which was hollowed with a pile of mud settled next to it. Vivian had been pulled by Charlotte before they got into the carriage and her mother Priscella allowed the girl to come with them not wanting to argue with her daughter at that time.

Leonard who stood next to his father caught sight of a young man who stood next to the priest, his eyes were set on the open coffin where the dead lord laid. His eyes and face showed no emotion, and as if feeling Leonard’s eyes on him, the man’s eyes snapped at the boy, tilting his head before his gaze moved back to the coffin. The coffin was made of carved wood and the insides were cushioned. The dead man was dressed in fresh clothes but it didn’t hide scars that were placed. Leonard had heard his father tell his mother that their lord had died by a set of ferocious wolves that were found not far from the Rune mansion. For a boy of Leo’s age who was already in the process of growing again as a human would, he felt something unsettling by looking at the man in the coffin.

After the lord was buried, Leo walked with his parents to greet the Lord’s son, Nicholas, Leonard came to face the man who he had been staring at.

“We are sorry for your loss,” said his father, “It was something uncalled,” the young man nodded his head, his features appeared to be softer and gentle.

“It was. Two days ago he was telling me about the time you, him and the others who had gone hunting and had hunted the wild boar,” said Nicholas with a small smile.

“The memory is fresh. He was so pleased that he gifted the vase we have now,” Leonard who hadn’t been giving his attention to what the adults spoke now turned his eyes on the ground at the mention of the vase. The vase was no more in the mansion as he had taken the pieces and hidden it in the shed.

“Is this your son?” Nicholas asked, his clever eyes falling over the small boy, “How old is he?”

“Leonard completed eight years of vampire age with a plus two years of human time four months ago,” answered his father.

“Ten is it. Good afternoon, Leonard,” Nicholas greeted the young Carmichael and to say, “You must be very excited to finally grow up as an adult. I hope that in future we get to work together,” turning to Giles he then said, “I have few papers father wanted to hand you. I will send them in two weeks of time.”

“Of course,” Giles and his family bowed their head, leaving the young man behind. On their way, Giles met a man named Malcolm, “Renae, why don’t you go to the carriage and go home with the others. I will be back soon,” his wife took their son towards the carriage who was joined by her sisters.

Going to one side where people weren’t there to listen to what they spoke, Giles spoke before the man named Malcolm could open his mouth, “What are the council saying? I heard there might be a problem with Nicholas taking his father’s place as a Lord.”

Malcolm sighed with a hum to indicate what Giles heard was true, “Nicholas is a capable man and he’s proven us in the council many times but with Wilhelhum dead like this, there are some suspecting that it was a ploy to rid the Lord. Not that I deny, the man would have dug his grave by himself without even noticing it. Nicholas is a good man. And even if he did grow up under the shadow of the Lord we all can say he is different.”

Giles who was looking at the deceased Lord’s son, talking to one of the family and shaking their hand said, “Maybe. Knowing you, you would have already thought about resolving it. With Valeria given to Lord Alexander earlier to his age, the council will oblige.”

“That they will. I heard one of the councilmen say that the procession would be set in a week as they don’t want to drag on who might take the lordship. There are few men who have already stepped in wanting to take the role but we all know where that is going to end,” Giles agreed to Malcolm, “The court council is going to be hideous with many fighting for the position.”