She looked at the young vampiress who appeared with all smiles. It wasn’t just her but even the maid who had been working for the Quinn’s for a very long time looked slightly taken aback by the sudden change in the atmosphere.
It was because almost every single member who lived and worked in the mansion knew the relationship between Grace Quinn and Penelope who was the former maid of Master Damien who now had turned to a lady.
“I will be sure to invite you the next time I go out,” Penny gave false promise words. She was sure that Grace was up to no good and she was trying to do something by being utterly nice out of no reason. Both the girls had never seen eye to eye since they had met and it had only turned to an embarrassing set of events one after another which was followed by shame.
“How kind of you. I knew I could count upon you. Also, sister-in-law,” the way she emphasized on the points, Penny could only keep a keen eye on the vampiress, “I was planning to go out this weekend to shop with mother, how about you join us? You can bring your friend along too,” Grace suggested and Penny smiled back.
“I will look forward to it.”
Grace gave her another smile, she started to descend down the rest of the stairs when the vampiress caught something dark tailing behind Penelope. Grace’s eyes widened when she got the big frog in the hall here and she screamed, “Someone throw that thing out!”
Penelope looked shocked that they had spotted the toad and before she could say or tell anything to them, the vampiress picked up the nearest vase to throw right at the toad.
“Where is the butler!? Ask him to throw it out!” Grace screeched, for a vampire she was too loud and shrill, “Do something!” she demanded from the nearest maids. The toad started to jump around that brought many more maids screaming and throwing things at it.
“Wait, stop!” Penny wanted to help the toad, the butler she meant but the toad started to run away heading out of the mansion.
“Don’t let it in!” Grace ordered the maids, “Such disgusting creature,” she murmured under her breath while dusting the front of her dress and exhaling loudly.
The few maids who had been in the hall had made sure to chase the toad out of the mansion and Penny had followed to only notice that the little thing had disappeared out of sight. She rubbed her forehead in worry to hear Lady Fleurance come out of one of the rooms after hearing the little ruckus that had been caused.
“What is going on here? Why were you screaming, Grace?” asked Lady Fleurance.
“Oh, mother,” Grace chuckled, “It was nothing at all. Just a small toad.”
Lady Fleurance furrowed her thin eyebrows, looking at the entrance and then at Penelope who stood near to the entrance, “You should have chased the toad out of the mansion. We don’t need unnecessary things in here,” hearing this, Penny felt as if the vampiress wasn’t speaking about the actual toad but about her as her eyes were trained on her.
Grace turning to her mother said, “Don’t worry mother, things that are not required here will be removed right away,” the young girl then turned to look at Penny to say, “Isn’t that right, sister-in-law?”
Something really was cooking between this mother-daughter duo or it was just Grace who was being on her disgraceful side.
Penny doubted that she could search the butler right now as he had appeared to be frightful with the way everyone had thrown vases and whatnot at him. Offering both the ladies a bow, she headed straight to Damien’s study room.
Damien was at his desk, pulling the drawer as he searched for something in there. Upon seeing the door open and close, he was about to ask where she had been when Penelope said,
“We have a problem.”
The pureblooded vampire looked up at her with his dark red eyes. He noticed that she was anxious at the moment.
“What happened?” he asked her.
Penny iterated everything from the beginning of her day after he left the mansion until now to see Damien listen to her with a serious expression and when she was done, he burst out to a fit of chuckles.
“Why are you laughing?” Penny asked worried about the butler.
Damien took some time before he said, “Poor Durik. He must be cursing himself right now. Both you and he stepped into a deal without knowing the end of what was going to happen. It is a little lesson. A good, funny one.”
Penny’s lips set itself in a thin line, “I am worried something will happen to him. I thought I would break the spell after reading Lady Isabell’s book of the spells but Grace chased him away. Now more than him not turning back to his usual self, I am worried he might die soon.”
“Durik is the butler of Quinn’s. I am sure he will survive and come back to you while he finishes his little vacation around the mansion. It will be a good break for him from his butler duties. If he doesn’t, he wasn’t a good fit to be the butler of Quinn’s,” Damien stated, making the worry grow further in Penny’s mind. Damien walked away from the desk to where she was and he placed a hand on her shoulder, “You should get to searching the spell in the meantime. People who can survive living here can survive anywhere else.”
She nodded her head. Before she could get back to the room with the books, she asked him, “Do you know what is up with Grace?”
Damien c.o.c.ked his head, asking, “Why do you ask?”
“She was being too nice. Called me ‘Sister-in-law’.”
“Sister dear must be up to no good. You should make sure Grace and Durik don’t meet each other. There’s no telling if she will kill him. She doesn’t like toads,” on Damien’s words, Penny could only wish how she could turn Grace into the thing she disliked.
