Dante informed Carlson about Susan's suspicions but deliberately left out the fact that he used the term multiple times.
He also told Carlson about him compelling her.
Although Carlson wasn't pleased with the fact that he compelled her, he knew that there was nothing else that could be done.
He summoned all the staff, servants, chefs and guards, and warned them strictly to never utter that word 'human' or a phrase like 'people of your kind' in front of the lady. Failure would mean the death penalty.
In the Esclairs mansion, which was the vampires territory, there were strict rules. One of those rules was, servants are not allowed to use any of their abilities except speed. With speed, they could get work done swiftly, so it was exempted.
Failure to uphold that rule was either expulsion from the house or whip lashes. It varied on the ability misused.
The guards on the other hand, were exempted from that rule, to some extent.
Since they were guards, it meant that they would subject to violence at certain times but, that didn't mean they were allowed to misuse their powers.
Carlson dismissed them and turned to Dante but then, Dylan appeared.
"My! My! My! Isn't this a face I don't get to see?" He had a cheeky grin on his face.
"Shut up!" Dante glared at him.
From the surface, Dante and Dylan looked like they could never get along but, they were actually very close.
Dylan placed his hand around Dante's neck and Dante got annoyed.
"Get your hands off!" he elbowed Dylan's ribcage hard and disappeared.
"That bastard! He hit me so hard. Doesn't he realize I'm older than him by 200 years? Little bastard!" Dylan cursed as he nursed his nearly broken ribs.
"Refrain from using vulgar words, young master!" Carlson said with an ever smiling face.
"By the way, I haven't seen the little angel all morning, where is she?" Dylan asked.
"She should be currently sleeping." Carlson responded. "Young master, what happened last night please, don't let it happen again. It would be problematic if the lord got to hear of it." He said with a hint of threat.
"He's been sleeping for over 15 years, how's he gonna find out?"
"I don't know!" Carlson said and smiled. "But maybe a little bat might fly up to his ear, once he's awake, and whisper a few things." He smiled more brightly and Dylan flinched.
"You...you and your evil intentioned smile." He took a step back and sighed in submission. "Alright, I won't do it again so just, stop smiling."
"Thank you young master!" Carlson completely ignored his request and kept the smile up.
"Whatever!" Dylan walked away and Carlson sighed.
Fifteen years ago, after the incident concerning Susan's kidnapping, their lord, Derek, fell into a long sleep.
They were sure he wasn't dead because he was still breathing but, they couldn't wake him up no matter what they did.
The engagement ceremony had been scheduled at that time to be as it was now but, he still wasn't waking up.
How were they to carry out the ceremony when the groom was absent?
To postpone the ceremony wasn't entirely difficult but, since it was already promised, they couldn't take back their word. Vampires rarely took back their words.
"You have to wake up, my lord!" Carslon muttered.
Susan slept the entire day and by the time she woke up, it was dinner time.
Carslon had not woken her up because he knew her exhaustion was an hypnotic side effect. Compelling a human was easy but, it also took a lot from that human.
If the human, who was compelled, managed to avoid sleeping, they would end up with confused memories.
Flashes of what had actually happened may dance in bits in the humans head and that would eventually lead to an headache, as well as sleepless nights. So, it was best to fall asleep.
After dinner, Susan took a little walk, to and fro in the mansion with the purpose of stretching her limbs.
She had been asleep for the entire day and was about to return to that same sleep, she had to relieve herself a bit.
She took a bath, got dressed in her nightdress, did a few stretching exercises and lay on her bed but, the sleep was far from close.
"Why did I sleep for so long? I've never slept that long before?" She turned to her left side. "How come I felt so exhausted?" She turned again. "But at least, I didn't have any nightmare. That's good!" She closed her eyes and tried to sleep but still couldn't.
She got up and went to the bathroom. She washed her face and cleaned it with a towel. She looked at herself in the mirror, she had dark eye
bags like someone who hadn't slept for days.
"Did I have dinner looking like this?" She looked closely and all of a sudden, she saw a pair of red eyes in the reflection. "Kyaa!" She turned abruptly, knocking down the toiletries but, there was nothing at all. No one, no eyes!
Her heart raced and her mind became unsteady. That couldn't have been a mere imagination so, what was it?
She attempted to pick the things which had fallen due to her abrupt turn, when a knock came from outside her room door. It shocked her at first but she quickly composed herself.
"Wh...who is it?" She stuttered.
"My lady!" It was one of the maids. She sighed with relief. "Are you okay? I heard a scream!"
"I'm fine!" She went to open the door. "I was just a bit startled at my appearance in the mirror and knocked down a few things. It's nothing at all." Susan said with a smile but the maid looked at her worriedly and nodded.
"If you need anything, be sure to let me know!" She said and left.
Susan closed the door and made sure to lock it before crumbling to the ground. Her knees felt weak for some reason.
"I think I'm going crazy. Definitely crazy!" She shove her hand through her hair. "What's with those red eyes? It's not like I've ever met anyone with red eyes before so what..." She immediately remembered that the 'thing' in her nightmares had red eyes. Scary, glowing red eyes! "I must be hallucinating thanks to the constant nightmares." She concluded and got on her feet.
After lying down for a while with her eyes closed, she opened them and started counting the ceiling.
She wanted to sleep so badly but was also scared of having nightmares. What could she do? She wanted to cry!
In this new environment, where she wasn't close to anyone, she felt lonely and scared yet, there was no one to confide in. There was no one to share her worries with. She missed home so much and started crying.
She cried for a while and finally lost herself to sleep. Just when she had fallen asleep, she had another nightmare. She kept running endlessly until her eyes met with it's eyes but this time, it spoke. Not like the screeching she heard whenever it chased her but, actual words.
"Where are you going, my bride?"