"Perished?" She asked looking at the old mansion that strangely looked much cleaner than what it appeared to be from the outside. With the way, Leonard said it, it seemed like there was a story behind it, "Did someone kill him?"

Leonard smiled.

As clumsy Vivian was when it came to handling things, there were times when she came straight to the point instead of beating around the bush. It was like a breath of fresh air in his world. And as much as he would have loved to tell her the story, he believed a few things to be better left unknown with ignorance than corrupt the mind with the way the world ran.

Even if it meant hiding things with lies.

In Leonard's eyes, she was still young and innocent. There would be a day when she would enter the world as what it was and is, and he would be there to accompany and guide her but that time wasn't now. Not today at least.

"He pa.s.sed away out of age. Some people live a very short life. He was after all only a vampire," which was true. The second lord was a mere vampire, unlike the pureblooded ones whose life was limited.

"Oh..."

When Leonard mentioned about the place being quiet, who knew 'somewhere quiet' equaled a deserted mansion with no one but them there. The coachman walked in with the box which the housekeeper had previously loaded onto the carriage.

"Let's take a stroll, shall we?" Leonard walked her to the huge staircase, "The mansion is sometimes used by the council to hold meetings or parties once in a while. That is why you will find it clean inside no matter what time of day you arrive."

What he said was true in regards to the mansion being kept clean as if people still occupied and resided in here when in actuality it was abandoned for most of the time.

"It is a very huge place to live. How did the second Lord acquire it?" Decades ago for a mere vampire to live in such a mansion was unheard of, "I thought only pureblooded vampires were to ascend on the t.i.tle of the lords.h.i.+p."

"That is true but sometimes dirt slides into the mainstream which we only find out as time pa.s.ses by," he touched the railings of the stairs as they went up and rubbed his fingers against each other. Vivian wondered what he meant by it, "Apparently when he entered the council, he had used the help of black witches to change the color of his eyes to a darker shade to represent himself as one of the pureblooded family. He was said to be capable, at least that's why the council offered him the t.i.tle and the mansion but what most of them forget is that black witches are never to be trusted. They will help you out of their own selfishness and once they have no further use for you, they'll discard you. That's the nature of the black witches."

Pa.s.sing through one of the large windows on their way up the stairs, Vivian looked at the beautiful landscape outside which was covered in snow.

"Careful with your steps," Leo warned her.

Though the mansion now belonged to the council and lord as said by Leonard, she noticed nothing to be repaired. It seemed like the housekeepers came in only to clean and she doubted if any further changes had been done here after the second lord pa.s.sed away. Few things that got to her notice were the broken vase which didn't have any shards of gla.s.s on the floor but it was evidently broken like the rest of the vases she had come across in the wide hall. Then was the staircase which was weak in some areas which went to the point of showing the holes and hollows on the wooden boards.

"This was the place, Malcolm usually brought me to when it came to training me on physical fights and other...things," Leonard's words trailed, he let go of her hand when they reached the end of the stairs. Bending down he tied his shoelace that had come undone and then stood up.

"What did you do for food?" She looked at the dark pa.s.sageways before looking down from where they had come to see the coachman lighting up the hall with candles making the place look much better than before.

"Hunted livestock. Come with me, I want to show you something," he said, their hands grazing against each other.

Walking through the empty and dark corridors, Vivian made sure to not fall behind at the thought of getting lost in this deserted mansion. She walked right behind Leonard such that she could smell his clean ocean like scent coming from him. As if like a mouse she followed so close that at one time when he had paused her head had collided with his back.

Keeping a little distance she walked straight until she couldn't hear him anymore.

Surrounded by the darkness she could hear herself breath in the silence filled s.p.a.ce. She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Leonard speak,

"The door must be somewhere here..."