The trio arrived at the manor.

Corbin looked at Anastasia. "You can start preparing the meal for dinner in the kitchen. I'll talk with Ebony in my study room," he said.

"My lord, what specific meal do you want me to prepare for you?" Anastasia asked.

"No need to include me in your dinner preparation. The driver and I will leave the manor after I'm done talking to Ebony and left her some instructions," Corbin said.

"Ah, okay. I'll prepare the dish for dinner," Anastasia said and walked towards the kitchen.

Corbin looked at Ebony. "Follow me upstairs at the study room," he said.

"Yes, my lord!" Ebony replied.

They climbed the stairs shrouded in silence.

They reached the top of the stairs, walked in the hallway, and entered the study room.

Corbin went to his desk. "Have a seat..." he told her.

Ebony lowered herself on the chair.

Corbin stared at the woman in front of him. Trying to guess her origin.

Ebony feels restless in her seat, she avoided his intense gaze and fixes her gaze on the wall.

Corbin cleared his throat and spoke, "Let's get direct to the point. You're not human, am I right?" he said.

Ebony looked at him in surprise. "How did you know, my lord?"

"Anastasia is 100% human, but you aren't! Can you tell me your true origin? Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," Corbin said, trying to gain her trust.

Ebony sighed heavily. "You're correct, my lord. I'm not human..."

"So... who are you?"

"We are spirits of the woods, that's our origin. Our ancestors cultivated for a thousand years and finally able to achieved human form. Our ancestors were fascinated by the ways of the human beings and strive to be born just like humans. And that finally happened. My sister and I were born from my parents who were able to take a human form and give birth to human babies for the first time. They finally achieved their century long dreams, unfortunately, vampire bandits arrived to our land and massacred our whole clan. My grandmother escaped the tragedy and brought us into a safer place..." she explained.

"Oh, sorry to hear that..." Corbin said.

"How about you, my lord? You're not human, right?" Ebony asked curiously.

Corbin smiled devilishly. "Who am I? Go on...take a wild guess..." he encouraged her.

Ebony stared at the floor for a few seconds, then she looked at him. "You're a vampire, my lord!" she declared without a doubt.

An amused smile appeared on Corbin's lips. "Oh, how come you guess my origin so easily?" he said in amazement.

Ebony smiled. "I have my ways, my lord..." she replied.

"Are you not afraid of me? That I will bite your neck and drink your blood?" Corbin asked.

Ebony shook her head. "Our blood taste bitter, my lord, you won't like it for sure, so don't bother," she told him.

Corbin chuckled. "Yeah, I know. I can smell the bitterness of your blood, it's not my type though. So rest assured that I won't bite your neck," he spoke.

Ebony's brows furrowed. "But how about Anastasia? She's human and for vampires like you her blood must be irissitible to your taste buds," she said.

"Yeah... but I don't drink the blood of my slaves. I brought the two of you here to be my trusted caregiver, not for my food consumption," Corbin explained. "I have endless supply of delicious blood somewhere so there's no need to worry about Anastasia's safety while I'm here," he added to assure her.

"Thank you, my lord. You eased my worries away," Ebony said.

"So... you have a sister and grandmother. Where are they now?" he asked.

Sadness instantly marred Ebony's pretty face. "It's a long story, my lord. I prefer not to talk about my family..." she said.

"Alright, I won't force you to notify me about your family affairs. This place is huge, it can accomodate more than a dozen people. If your sister and your grandmother has nowhere to live, they can also live here with you..." Corbin offered.

"Thank you so much for your kind offer, my lord! But I don't think I can stay here with Anastasia, you have to find another companion for her," she said.

"Ah, I see... you don't want to stay here? I understand. But I'm going on a journey in a far away place. After my return, you can finally take your leave. But I'm still hoping that you'll stay here and help Anastasia take care of my property. Anyways, think about it. You have plenty of time to decide whether you leave or stay in my place, it's up to you," he requested.

"Thank you for your gracious and kind offer, my lord!" Ebony said in a grateful voice.

"Alright, you may take your leave now and help Anastasia in the kitchen," Corbin ordered. "Wait, take this..." he said and put several keys in her hands. "House and room keys... take care of it," he said.

"Okay, my lord," Ebony replied and rose to her feet. She went to the door and exited.

Corbin stared at the door for a long time.

For some reason, he found these women worthy of his trust.

In the kitchen.

Anastasia had finished cutting the veggies, onions, garlic and other herbs she saw in the garden. She was planning to make a delicious vegetable stew, then add a few pieces of dried chicken meat to make it more flavorful.

"Need help?" Ebony asked.

Anastasia shook her head. "No thanks. I'm done preparing everything," she replied.

"Alright, I'll start the fire," Ebony volunteered. She went to the cast iron stove. "This is nice!" she said. There is already boiled rice. She was used to cooking food on a makeshift stove that only requires three medium-size sturdy stones and you can already cook anything on it as long you add dry woods or twigs.

"Yeah, my previous employer also have this kind of stove. But this one has better craftsmanship," Anastasia commented. She added logs on the stove opening then start the fire again.

Ebony went to the sink and washed the cooking pot and put it on the iron stove, she watched Anastasia starts cooking.

She realized that will be safe staying here than in the cave, hopefully so.

She was thinking of her sister. During this time, Menedelia must have already returned to the cave! She always comes home before darkness starts to envelop the land.

She needs to go home!

Corbin appeared at the door of the kitchen and addressed the women. "I'm leaving and I won't be able to return for about two weeks. The horse driver's name is Jagu, he will visit here from time to time to see how are you doing and inform him immediately if you have any concern regarding the property," he said.

"Yes, my lord!" the women replied.

"Ill go now," Corbin said and walked away from the kitchen.

The women followed their master to the main door and watched him boarded the carriage.

Jagu the driver waved his hand at the two women.

The ladies waved back.

The carriage moved towards the open gate.

After the carriage left the property, Ebony went to the gate and closed it.

She went back to the house and entered the kitchen. "Anastasia, I would like to go to my room to have a long rest. If you're done cooking and you're hungry, you can start eating, don't wait for me. I want to sleep for a while. After I woke up from my nap, I'll just re-heat the dish. Okay?"

Anastasia nods her head. "OK," she replied and shifted her attention back to her cooking.

Ebony left the kitchen and climbed the stairs going to the second floor.

Once she was already inside her room, she locked the door.

She initiated the teleportation process in her mind and vanished from the room.

A moment later, she appeared in front of the cave.

"Sisterrrrrrrrrrrrr... where are you!?" Menedelia's voice echoed in the forest.

"I'm hereeeeeeeeeeeee!" Ebony shouted.

Menedelia was near the stream during that time when she heard her sister's voice, she made a u-turn going back to the cave. She's been trying to find her missing sister all over the place, she was alarmed and panicking after she noticed several shoe footprints in the soil in the vegetable garden.

The scene tells her that something bad occurred in the place while she was busy selling the vegetable in the market, based on the damaged vegetables on the ground.

Her sister is safe! Huge relief washed over her after hearing Ebony's voice replying to her.

When she arrived at the cave, her sister was standing near the mouth of the cave. "What happen to you? Are you okay? What are those shoe prints I saw on the soil? They belong to several people? Did strangers come here? What have they done to you?" she bombarded her sisters with questions.

Ebony roamed her eyes around the area trying to detect if bandits are lurking nearby. She wasn't able to distinguish anything suspicious. She grabbed her sister's hands. "Let's get inside the cave. I'll tell you everything!" she said.

The siblings went inside the cave.

They sat on the bed inside the chamber.

Ebony released a deep sigh. "Sister, this place is no longer safe for us to stay..." she said.

"B-but why?" Mende asked, confused.

"Listen carefully... the bandits arrived here and shot me with a poisonous arrow, hitting my back, and I become unconscious after that. Later I learned that together with several women, they bring us in the human slave market to be sold to wealthy client. Me and my companion were lucky because a kind hearted vampire bought us based on the buy one take one promo amounting to 500 gold coins. He brought us to his recently acquired property and made us caretakers of the manor. The rest is history..." Ebony ended her long narration.

"D-did you mentioned of a vampire? A vampire bought you and the other girl in a buy one take one promo? That's outrageous!" Mende asked indignantly.

"Yup, he bought us with that amount," Ebony repeated.

"Where are the bandits? Let's kill them all!" Mende said in an enraged tone, her nostrils flaring with anger.