Vivian was sent to another empire where the sun rarely graced its light and warmth on the land, the land which was infamously told to be built and made of bones, known to many as Bonelake. She crossed towns along with the woman her parents had sent her within the carriage. She had cried, tears streaming down her eyes and begging her parents to not send her wherever they were sending her before they left the manor and the empire of Valeria. Her father hadn’t bothered in staying out to bid her and her mother whom she was attached to had refused to meet her eye.
Getting down from the carriage, Martha, the old woman who had brought her here looked at the mansion in front of them before looking down at the little girl next to her. The woman didn’t work for the Alcott’s but knew one of the maids who worked there by which the Alcott’s had contacted her as she was in the town to take the girl with her while giving her enough money to keep the girl’s lineage a secret and to be forgotten. She pitied the girl.
“Vivian,” she called the girl who had been looking at the massive mansion in front of them. The little girl turned her head, her black eyes looking at her and she gave the girl an encouraging smile, “This is where we will be living from now,” hearing this the girl’s eyes welled up with tears.
“I want to go back to mama,” Vivan pleaded, hoping she would take her back. She wasn’t used to staying away from her parents. The woman was a kind-hearted person and if she could, she could have dropped the girl elsewhere on her way here to avoid any troubles but instead, she had comforted the little one in the carriage.
Bending down, she squeezed Vivian’s hand, “I am sure you’re mama will come to see you in a few days. You will have to be a good girl for that Vivian,” not knowing what else to say she lied about her mother visiting her, “Until your mama comes you have to listen to what I say, dear because if you won’t she might not come. You don’t want that now do you?” she asked her softly, the girl shook her head vigorously before wiping her eyes and nose with the handkerchief the woman had given her.
Taking the girl by her hand, the old woman stepped into the mansion and its wide doors. The Carmichael’s were one of the few good pureblooded families in Bonelake and the maid knew it would be safe to bring up the girl here. It wasn’t that they were tolerant of humans misbehaving with them to show who was the higher creatures but compared to the rest of the pure-blooded vampires one could say they were bearable. By the time of night, Vivian was given a room in the basement of the mansion which wasn’t far from Martha who had spoken to Mr Carmichael about Vivian, introducing her as her niece who was here to learn about a maid’s work.
So began the life of Vivian at the Carmichael’s mansion.
Being the youngest maid in the Carmichael’s mansion, she was told what to do and what not to do. Martha, the oldest maid of the household made sure to repeat it every night to make sure the little girl learned about the house rules. The first one was not to be in the presence of any family members. The second one was if she by mistake did end up presenting herself in front of them by mistake, she was not to speak to them but only nod her head. The third rule was to listen to every word when the Carmichael’s spoke to them and not to misbehave. Many other things followed the rules but one of the most important ones was to stay away from red-eyed people as she was a human. Vivian was given a simple task like helping in sorting and cleaning the vegetables, watering the plants or picking them, following Martha around sometimes until the woman asked her to stay in the kitchen.
During the first week of one afternoon , as Martha minced the meat on the table, she spoke to Vivian who had been staring into the fire, seeing the fire crackle and boil the pot, “Dear, why don’t you go fetch Paul for me,” the girl nodded her head before going in search of Paul who was one of the servants who worked in the mansion.
Looking around carefully while peeping from the walls and pillars that were built, she searched for Paul as if she were a mouse. Before she could walk across the hall, she heard footsteps and voices approaching her making her freeze behind one of the pillars. Surely, when the old maid had advised her not to be in the presence of the Carmichael’s what she had actually meant was to steer clear from them of causing suspicion as Vivian previously belonged to a vampire family. The girl had taken Martha’s words literally due to which she hid behind the wall when she could have walked out of there without behaving like a thief.
Peeking slowly to see who it was from afar, she saw it was Mr and Mrs Carmichael who had guests today. She caught sight of two children, a boy an a girl from afar. She hadn’t seen children of her age here and she missed her brother, Gregorie, wishing he was here with her now. Before she could take a longer look at them, she felt someone tap her shoulder.
Turning around, her eyes went wide at the sight of a blonde boy who looked a little older compared to her with red eyes that stared at her. His blonde hair fell past on his forehead, holding an expressionless stare that was fixed on her face that made her fidget as she stood unsure of what to do.
“Leo!” someone called to which the boy stepped away from her, not sparing another glance he walked towards the children who had arrived.
With the intense gaze that left her face, she bolted back to the kitchen.
“Did you find Paul?” she shook her head to Martha’s question, “He must have gone out to the market. But it’s too early for him to be out already. Here take these, make sure you don’t throw the small ones out this time,” the woman gave her a pointed look. Yesterday when one of the maids had made her sit in front of the peapods to pick out the peas, she had thrown half of it until Martha found it and taught her how to remove all of them before throwing the outer skin. The girl hadn’t spoken a word since they had stepped inside the mansion, she didn’t push the girl to speak because she didn’t have the heart to do it. She hoped that one day in the near future, the girl could let go of her former family as it was clear as the day in Valeria that her family wanted to get rid of her and wanted nothing from her.
