" We have searched six houses and all we found were dead bodies. We are certain that no one survived', Theo said to the figure standing in the dark unmovingly. His silhouette showing off his broad shoulders. "I believe what you're trying to say is that there are only six houses in this village, yes?", he asked calmly still standing under the one of the huge trees that viewed the burnt village. The lord just stared at the man for a while before giving him a nervous smile and said, "Vizier, we have been searching for traces survivors and the black witches since ewe arrived in the afternoon. This isn't a big vil-" "I know that, Lord Theophilus, unless you think I am an idiot", the Vizier said bluntly to the lord. 'Of course not,Vizier' the lord responded. "Good, then continue with the search unless you want to end up like the dead bodies". And with that, the Vizier walked away from the lord into the burnt village. The lord quickly followed him behind, still thinking of what to say next. "You finally decided to join the show, Vizier?", Marcus asked with a slight smile. He was the Vizier's right-hand man, the only one to be precise as the Vizier rarely trusted people. "Have you found anything unburnt?", the Vizier asked, ignoring the latter's question. "No yet but there are three more houses we haven't checked. We found out that the tips of the arrows used were poisonous but not with the poison the black witches normally use. We also noticed that all the villagers who died by the arrow started to disintegrate after an hour". "Well,well. Our devilish friends decided to upgrade their weapons ",the Vizier said with a smile that was far away from kind. The next second, the smile disappeared, replaced by a serious look on his face and said "Take one of the arrows to the carriage, we are going to examine it". He walked away and entered one of the many burnt houses.
"You said you would be there always.....w-w-when things got tough, b-b-but you left already. What am I going to do? There's n-n-no village now, no friends...no you. You promised to s-stay. Please ...co-come back. You can't leave me like this ", Davina sobbed hugging her knees as she sat on the cold floor.She couldn't cry anymore as she felt like she had cried all her tears out. She didn't know what to do, what to think. Everyone was gone, Mama,Papa,Ryan,her friends,Frederick....everyone. Right then,an awful but peaceful idea popped into her head. She stared at the sharp arrow that had been pierced into her mother for a while before reaching for it. She wasn't a witch to find a way to bring them all back, so if she couldn't bring them back, she would join them instead. She wiped away her tears and stared thoughtfully at the arrow in her hand. This was the only way to unite with the people she loved. She slowly moved the arrow to her chest, closer to her pounding heart ready to stab herself when," Do it already", a man said with a bored voice from behind ,making Davina shriek . She immediately got up and turned to find standing in the once-bright kitchen of the house which was now dark. "W-w-who is t-there? Show yourself", Davina said as she shakingly pointed the arrow to the direction she heard the voice from. "Are you a black witch?", she asked, now feeling angry. "No, I'm a purple witch", the man deadpanned as he walked to her. "Stay where you are .....d-don't come closer or I'll....", she stopped as she saw the man stop at a distant. As he walked,the little light in the room fell on his face.Davina who could now see the man's face almost gasped. Handsome was an understatement when it came to his sharp features. His black raven hair was separated into two with half of it falling on his face and covering his right eye, creating a shadow on his face. His lashes were indecently long for a man and his nose and jaws looked soo sharp. Davina had seen handsome men but this one was out of this world, just breathtakingly gorgeous. His thin-unsmiling lips were soo appealing that if not for his cold eyes that were piercing through her's, she would have mistook him for the god of beauty. He had dark-red eyes, a vampire but she still thought he was too good looking for even a vampire. It was a sin to look this good. "What, you told me to show myself and now you're saying I shouldn't? Is there a fault in one of the wires connected to your brain?", the man said bluntly, snapping Davina from her trance. She narrowed her eyes at him after hearing what he said. Who said someone looking good meant they were all good and well-mannered?, Davina thought. "Who are you? What do you want? Were you part of the people who did this", Davina said pointing at the dead bodies behind her as she began to sob again. She hadn't plan to cry in front of the stranger but she felt weak. The man who stood in front of the girl gazed at her as he saw her break down again. He had finished checking the third house which was a small cottage and had entered the second to only find a small figure with an arrow in her hand,pointing it to her heart. He was a little amused because whenever the girl pointed the arrow to her chest she would draw it away ,only to pull it back as if she didn't want to kill herself. When he spoke, she had turned and he finally got to see her face. She had brown hair and a pale skin. Her emerald-green eyes were teary and swollen and the tip of her nose, red as it seemed like she been crying for hours. She was pretty. When she had pointed the arrow at him,he saw her struggling to act brave even though she was broken. She looked innocent, she didn't belong here: in this corpse-filled village. Not that he could offer her a better life, the path to his was even hell itself. "Is this your family?", he asked her. He knew, but he wanted to ask. "Yes", Davina said sniffing. "Where were you when this happened", the man asked, walking to the bodies and staring at them. "Who are you?", Davina asked again but the man stared at her and said," I work with the Council." Davina stared, as if thinking about it before she nodded at him. "I went to the stream to get some water for my family. It's thirty kilometers away from the village so it took quite some time to get back. I saw smoke from my village when I was heading back. I thought they had already started the Lantern party. But when I got here..."she trailed off as she felt her voice shrinking because of the pain she felt. "Vizier, the men took an arrow to the carriage as you orde-", the lord stopped as he saw the girl in the room. He thought there were no survivors but-"What was this girl doing here?",he asked, unable to keep his curiosity to himself. "Since you said there was no one here ,she's a ghost ",came another blunt answer from the Vizier. If it were any other man who had spat such nonsense, the lord would have chopped his head off like a piece of tomato but ,this wasn't any other man, it was the Vizier who had been appointed by the king of the four lands. Even though he was below the king, he was above the king when it came to intimidation. The king sometimes felt frightened by him. In all the four lands: Ferville,Crowgetin,Symry and Sole River, all the lords were under the Vizier. Lord Theo was the lord of Ferville where the village of Vespia was located. He had left his mansion after hearing the invasion of the black witches,only to find out that the Vizier was already here. After searching for survivors for hours, the Vizier found this girl who now dropped the arrow upon seeing him. She knew who he was. "Did you see any creatures ,when you came back?", the Vizier asked. "No, but I think the black witches did this",Davina replied. "How would you know? You didn't see them", the Viziers paused and finally looked away from the corpses and stared at the girl. "Unless you're one yourself ", he trailed off with a smirk,making Davina gasp in disbelieve. "W-why would I kill my family.Are you insane?", Davina screamed out of rage. Her family was gone and now this crazy vampire was calling her a witch? Could this day get any worse?,she thought. The lord just stared at the girl and then at the Vizier. He thought the Vizier would snap the girl's neck after hearing what she said but he just smiled at no one in particular. What was happening!
The Vizier walked to the girl and stood in front of her. "How rude. Is that how you speak to your savior-",he stopped when he realized what had happened. The girl had leaned in on him, her head on her shoulder. She had fainted. Sighing, he carried her in his arms and walked out of the room. The lord,not knowing what just happened decided to follow him without a word. Marcus saw the Vizier with a girl in his arms and signaled the coachman to open the carriage. "I thought everyone was dead ",he said as he came to Vizier and looked at the girl. "But you found a girl. A pretty one too ", Marcus continued, smiling and slightly showing his fangs. "Don't get any ideas ", the Vizier said narrowing his eyes at Marcus. "What? You've never taken interest in any woman ever since I met you, and that is a very long time,Ronald. You should think of settling down at a point, you know? Get a wif-" "Get inside the carriage unless you wish to work to the mansion", the Vizier, now sitting in the carriage with the girl still in her arms said to Marcus whilst glaring at him. "This is why you don't have a woman. You would have froze all of them to death with your coldness",Marcus mumbled whilst entering the carriage. The Vizier ignored him and told the lord , they were leaving. The carriage started and the Vizier stared at the girl in her arms. "Will she be living in the mansion?", Marcus asked with a concerned look. " She'll be living far from the mansion", he replied,mostly to himself. Marcus, who knew what he meant decided to not say anything and with that, the ride to the mansion was filled with silence.
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