Music recommendation for this and next chapter: Lullaby of Woe - Ashley Serena (LYRICS)

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Lucas stepped out of the mansion, wearing his coat and gloves with a black hat on his head. It was the time of night where people who were strolling during the time of day had begun to head back to their houses after their day's work. With the land of Bonelake which was filled with vampires, it was still unsafe for them as one didn't know what was stored for them in the corner of the streets.

It wasn't just humans or vampires who lived here but also the black witches who waited for the opportunity to abduct people for their own use while there were some other creatures who stood wanting to loot the innocent men or women who would be walking during the time of night.

Lanterns that were fixated on the lamppost burned quietly letting light only around it but not reaching too far towards the streets and alleys that were left in dark.

He walked past the village, walking on the side of the road while seeing some of the carriages pass by. Entering the town, he saw a man who stood outside the local pub with who he was familiar. The man had a scar that went from his eye to his jaw and a smaller scar that created a cross near his cheek.

Instead of walking past the man, Lucas walked towards him and asked,

"Good evening, mister. Might you have a matchbox with you?" his tone was polite as usual.

The man who was looking at the crowd inside the pub turned to look at Lucas with a grim expression on his face. He pulled the matchbox from his pocket and handed it to Lucas.

"It is a very cold night, isn't it?"

"Aren't all the nights cold," the man stated to take back the matchbox and place it back in his pocket.

"Indeed. They are very cold. Thanks for the matchbox," he thanked the man.

On the other side not too far away from the town, Lady Olivia had come to Mrs. Yardley's mansion to play cards and gamble the money she had inherited from her parents. It was many pureblooded vampires' lifestyles, to attend soirees, having lunch or dinner, or attending the parties while gambling money they didn't care about. Olivia was a third-generation pureblooded vampire who enjoyed the praises and picked to move only in the high society.

"I told you, the game is always mine, Mr. Parker," Olivia laughed heartily.

"I should have known that, Lady Olivia. You are very good at it," said Mr. Parker, "Are you sure you don't want me to drop you home?" asked the man.

"I have my own carriage, Mr. Parker. And from the day after tomorrow, a new butler. You should definitely meet the man. He works for the Adams right now."

The man nodded his head, "I have heard good things about him. How did you get them to agree to it?"

"Just a few strings," Olivia chuckled, "Mr. Wellington wasn't ready to trade work but I paid him, double the amount. Money speaks in more than one way," the woman then leaned forward to kiss the man's lips to give out a seductive smile, "Goodnight," she whispered on his lips to finally pull back and get into her carriage that was waiting outside.

Men were easy, thought Olivia to herself. A little touch and sway of words were enough to wrap them around her little finger. Mr. Parker was a decently handsome man who already had a wife which he appeared to be bored of, a little entertainment didn't hurt him or Olivia herself.

She was going in the carriage when one of the wheels of the carriage broke down and she asked, "What's wrong?"

"Milady, I think the carriage got stuck in the puddle and the horses are unable to pull it out," the coachman replied with a slight dread knowing how moody the pureblooded vampiress could turn out to be.

"Whip the horses and they will start moving!" She rolled her eyes and pushed the door open after a minute of the carriage not moving forward. Stepping on the ground, she crossed her arms and huffed, "Don't you have eyes to see where you are going? Get it moving soon," she said, deciding to take a walk on the side of the road, heading in the direction of her mansion.

Crickets could be heard chirping on either side of the path she was on, the wind passing through as leaves rustled against each other. An owl was heard at a distance that hooted and its hoot echoing through one side of the forest.

As she continued to walk, she heard something more than the leaves and the wind rustling through and she stopped to look to her right side where the sound was coming from. She had walked for more than three hundred meters to leave the carriage and the coachman behind. As Olivia was a pureblooded vampiress, there was nothing she was scared about but there was just something that lurked behind those many trees that made her give out a wary look.

Not caring about it, her shoe continued to move against the mildly wet ground before she finally heard something moving again to only stop when her footsteps stopped. She had traveled here enough to know that

"Thomas, is that you?" she called her coachman's name with an unimpressed look on her face, "Get out of there before I punish you for playing games instead of fixing the carriage," she said looking at the forest from where the sound of rustling was heard.

Not hearing a reply back, she heard the rustle coming again and this time she heard a chuckle that came from behind the tree as if someone stood there. Pressing her lips in annoyment, she walked inside the forest, making her way there and when she finally came around the tree of the silhouette she had seen, she noticed it was just the branch of the trees that were thick that made it look like someone had been standing here.

Olivia exhaled loudly and then turned around to start walking when she felt something hard hit her head and she fell unconscious. When she woke up after four minutes, she found herself on the ground being dragged by her leg.

The hit on her head was too impactful that she felt as if her strength had been drowned due to which she wasn't able to fight the person who was pulling her across the forest ground.

When she did try moving her leg and her body to free herself, Olivia couldn't get the person's hold off of her ankle, "Stop dragging me! Let me down!"

Her voice echoed through the forest and she hoped someone would hear her but something told her there was no one but her and this person on this side of the forest. Suddenly a crow startled her that was sitting on top of a tree branch that looked at her. Olivia could only see the person's back which was black in color almost camouflaging in the night.

After a few more struggles where she found it impossible to free herself, Olivia came to realize only a pureblooded vampire could have strength like this. There was a shovel that was dragged in another hand of the person with the metal touching the ground that gave a scraping sound.

"What do you want? Do you want money? How much do you need?" she asked the person to receive no reply, "I will give you whatever you want. Name it!" she said now slightly worried as she didn't know who this person was who had been dragging her. Her clothes had started to tear and she could feel the wet mud and the small prickly stones on her back, "My father is a big man! If he finds out that you did anything to me, and I mean anything, he will hunt you down-"

"So noisy," the person finally spoke to her. It was a male's voice, "We are finally here," said the man and the voice somewhat sounded familiar to her ears.

Whoever it was, dropped her leg and she sat up quickly to notice a heap of mud that was put out to make a hollow pit in the ground.

Her heart started to thunder in her chest and she looked up at the man to finally notice who it was who had dragged her here, "It's you."

"Good evening, Lady Olivia," Lucas greeted with a bow.

"What the hell are we doing here? Why did you bring me here?! Is this the way you treat your mistress?" Olivia glared at the butler who was lower than her in status.

Lucas had a very calm expression in his face, "Apologies but you aren't my mistress, not yet," he corrected her.

Olivia was in no mood to play games and she looked irritated until she realized he had hit her head and had dragged her next to the hollow pit, "Why did you bring me here?" the vampiress questioned to finally stand up and take a step away from him, "Stay away from me."

"You hurt my feelings, milady. Weren't you asking for a kiss from me?" he gave her a subtle smile before telling her, "Why don't you come near."

Olivia turned around and started to run, her feet carrying her as quick as she could until Lucas caught up to her and swung his hands for the metal that belonged to the shovel to hit her head harder with blood oozing on the side of her forehead and splattering some on the metal.