Damien moved out of the bed, making sure Penny was fast asleep. He doubted she would wake up and therefore after an hour passed by, he stepped down on the carpeted floor. Taking the pillow which he had been using, he walked around to place it behind her. She hadn’t changed her position as if consciously knowing her turning on her back would bring pain to herself.
The wound which was supposed to have started to heal after two days had opened up. Bruises on her back where he didn’t need Penny to be specific on where Grace had kicked her. His hand clutching tightly as it formed into fists he let them loose. Bending down he kissed her very gently, his lips leaving a feather-like whispered kiss which barely touched her before standing straight again.
He picked a couple of woods to add them into the fireplace to keep the room warm so that the girl on the bed could sleep comfortably. It was something he had been doing since he had bought her to the mansion. Humans often caught cold which led to serious matters before they would pass away like the fragile being they were. Ready to leave, h walked towards the door when he heard,
“Damien.”
A smile came to form on his lips, “I thought you were asleep,” he turned over his shoulder to see that her eyes were closed. She was dreaming. How sweet was his mouse to think about him even in her dreams while he had asked for her to sleep.
Going for the knob of the door, he turned it around and stepped outside the room. His footsteps were soft along with his movement before he shut the door close. The expression on his face that had been smiling fell like a wave that rose and fell.
As he made his way to Grace’s room, his footsteps were firm and his shoulders straight as he walked all the, not bothering to knock on the door but kick right at it which opened with a loud bang. Stepping inside his eyes looked around to see his sister was not home yet.
“Of course. How could I underestimate you,” muttered Damien under his breath.
With his father gone out for work, the girl wouldn’t return until then knowing his father would stop him if he would plan to do something to his third child. But Damien was as stubborn and cruel as what she had done. Today his father’s presence would not save her.
He walked back into the hall to see his stepmother, Fleurance walking back to her room from the dining room when he greeted her,
“Good afternoon, mother dear,” a look of surprise passed across her face.
“I heard you went to visit Woville. You arrived pretty quickly. Did you use magic?” asked the vampiress with one of her brows raised. Damien smiled, the fake smile which many were aware it to be fake and still he used it on purpose.
“I did. It is one of my many special abilities,” he answered for her to press her lips by seeing him smile vacantly. Even if he told a person openly, no one would believe to think that a person had the power to travel through space in less time than what people were used which were the carriages.
“Is there any time you can speak without being sarcastic?” asked the woman, looking at him as if she were unhappy that he didn’t accept her as his mother after all these years.
The bitter truth was that it was neither Lady Fleurance’s or Damien’s fault as time passed by things had only turned dire with the gap which now could never be filled. Lady Fleurance after getting married to his father had looked forward to a happier family, children that would listen to her. But with the loss of their mother both the children never came to accept her part of their family. The distance only grew, misunderstanding coming forth where now everyone walked on thin ice when they weren’t speaking to each other. If not arguing which often took place in the dining room.
“Is there any time you can put some sense in your daughter’s head? Maybe if you did you wouldn’t be seeing the hour which is approaching quickly,” hearing this the vampiress’s eyes narrowed to look at him.
“She has been perfectly grown, in the right way a pureblooded vampire should behave unlike you and your sister who don’t know how to handle simple matters like that of your slave,” going by his step-mother’s words he noted that she knew what went by today. His older sister, Maggie was unaware and if she knew he would have known quicker.
Finding the right chance, his step-mother continued to speak, “Unlike what your mother has taught you and Maggie, I have taught my daughter better on how to own her lineage.”
Damien couldn’t help but have his lips quirked up, his eyes shining bright and red where the black specks that had been around his eyes had now disappeared, staring at her. Fleurance knew very little about his mother’s upbringing with them. She took in Maggie’s behaviour as a reference while considering his living to be rebellious. Old people, thought Damien to himself, “I never got to put my mother’s teaching to good use. I am sure we can demonstrate some and maybe you will reconsider,” the second wife was bound to be jealous over his late mother who had occupied his father’s heart even after death.
As bad as his mother appeared in the public when punishments had to be handed down, she cared and loved the family she had been given which might have been the reason why the three of them were still bound to her even after years that had passed by.
“Don’t do something you will regret, Damien. Don’t forget. Family comes first and then an outsider. Those are the rules that we abide.”
“You are right, dear mother. How can I say no to it,” he smiled, starting to walk away and he then paused his footsteps, “Don’t forget to let me know when my dearest sister comes back home.”
“Why?” asked Fleurance, her look turning one to be suspicion.
