"The night was colder than usual wasn't it?" Elliot asked rubbing his hands together like he could still feel the frost biting into his skin. 

"What were you doing outside the mansion walking like a ghost?" Sylvia asked, shaking her head as if wanting to ask him who had asked him to step outside the mansion when the night had only turned colder by the hour. 

"What can I say, lonely nights of the vampire who walks in the garden," Elliot's tone came out to be dramatic. He gave the woman beside him a look who behaved as if she didn't hear it. Elliot then turned to look at Penny to ask, "What do you think about me writing a book with the t.i.tle that goes as 'Lonely nights of the night creature'?"

The sudden question by him she nodded her head, "It sounds catchy. Do you write books, Mr. Elliot?" she inquired. 

"Of course, he doesn't," Sylvia cut into the conversation, the lady looked at her to say, "The first time I gave him a book he tore out the pages and made paper airplanes that Martin had to quickly get the hallways cleaned up before Lord Alexander arrived back home," Penny couldn't help but chuckle at this. 

It appeared that Elliot was the heart of this mansion who liked to keep the atmosphere light around him. The man brought light where he was but at the same time, she wondered if he truly was the way he looked right now. A lot of people brought smiles on other people's faces but the same people held too much melancholy inside that was darker than the darkest hour of the night. 

Before Elliot could notice her gaze, she switched back to look at Sylvia but the vampires who lived with the lord in the Delcrov mansion weren't living for free without any perception. They were intelligent, agile and smart in work, and Elliot was one of the men who had picked on her continuous gaze even though it was more spare seconds. 

At the same time, she felt Damien place a hand on her thigh. She didn't turn to look at Damien, feeling him turn to Alexander to speak about something. 

The problem wasn't that Damien's hand was not still. Instead, it moved up her thighs, she cleared her throat to gain his attention once he was done talking with Alexander. 

"You alright?" he asked her cooly, his eyes and face barely revealing anything as he sat relaxed. 

"Yes, doing great," she said as she willed her heart to calm down. Sitting at a table where there were four vampires, she didn't want anyone catching what he was doing right now. How embarra.s.sing, thought Penny to herself. 

"You both look chummier today," Elliot leaned forward, bringing his hands to close where his elbows had been resting on the surface of the table, "Did the cold night ignite spark-ouch! That hurt," he complained, pulling his chair away from Sylvia who was cutting into her vegetables and bent down to take a bite from her food.

Sylvia had stamped right into Elliot's feet that were next to her, pressurizing the heel of her shoe on to his feet to have him shut up, "You're going to make it awkward for Penelope," the woman didn't bother to look up at anyone but continued to eat. 

Glancing at Lord Alexander who looked hardly bothered, it reminded her of Damien's father who often didn't involve himself when Grace, Lady Fleurance, and Damien got into a verbal banter before anything started to be thrown at each other. Those days...thought Penny to herself. There were some days which weren't peaceful but at the same time now that she looked back the changes that had taken place in Quinn's mansion, it didn't feel like before. She wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. 

At the same thought, she realized that if Damien and Alexander were related by their father's side, it meant that Alexander's father was a second-generation vampire which didn't make sense as both Damien mentioned his father and the lord's father as brothers. She wondered if it was because of the close age that they called each other that. When it came to aging and the ages of the pureblooded vampire, Penny found it hard to count and decide as she found it to be confusing. 

Thankfully, Damien had not moved his hand further but he hadn't moved his hand away from her lap either. Letting it rest there as he spoke to his cousin and others at the table.

"Yes, they will be going to the town today," she heard Lord Alexander say, "You can accompany them and have a word with the magistrate as he hasn't sent the papers yet."

"Are you suspecting him?" Elliot asked, sipping his tea as he looked at Alexander. 

Alexander was stirring the tea that was placed to him, his wrist moving elegantly round and round, "There have been a lot of magistrates who had been scheming with the higher elder council. The reports will a.s.sure us if the man can be trusted. If he doesn't submit them after half an hour of your arrival, have him killed."

Penny who had been smearing b.u.t.ter on the bread paused before continuing to spread evenly. Kill the man just like that? Listening in to their conversation without s.p.a.cing out, she heard Damien say,

"I have a list but the man has never been suspected. What makes you think he's the one who has been supplying the information to the witches?"

The lord placed his spoon down, holding the handle of the teacup but not picking it from the table, "Do you remember about the spitgra.s.s?" 

"The corruption which was used by the black witches," answered Damien.

"Yes, that one. When the search for it had been submitted by the department council of Lionel's team, a warrant was sent out to find and burn it but the magistrate never did it. He instead delayed the work and also had the other councilman who worked here to en route to other lands by saving the spitgra.s.s. Lionel thinks I had something to do with it which has put me in the spot and map of his eyes."

Someone was trying to frame Lord Alexander? asked Penny to herself.