Author's Note: I'm okay! Those tornadoes went through my neighborhood, but thankfully me and mine are just fine. We've been trying to help get the surrounding areas back on track with much-needed supplies. Anyway, here's an update!


To her immense surprise (and slight horror), Lady Aubrey was only one of a few Nosferatu whose talents had been enough to procure them as tutors. Each one was eager to get their hands on the poor girl and turn her into a proper gentlewoman. But Lady Aubrey was clearly the most intimidating of the lot, which allowed her to get Seras first in the night.

After allowing the uncultured blonde a quick breakfast, Lady Aubrey carted her off to a room obtained for the sole purpose of being a classroom. Books were crammed into every space, their weight buckling the legs of a shabby table in the far corner. A grade school map of the world was nailed to the wall, written over in many different colors of marker. The continents were broken up into small, uneven sections with each portion outlined in a different shade. A small slate sat on a plain wooden chair, and into this seat Seras was unceremoniously dumped.

After a brief lecture on raising her hand for questions and refraining from speaking unless asked to, Seras was told that they'd start with geography and government.

"I thought you said you were going to teach me grace and poise!" Seras argued, only to squeal as a wooden yardstick was brought down swiftly across her head. It didn't hurt, but she rubbed her head and managed to look forlorn and wounded as her "teacher" loomed over her.

"What did I just say?" she snapped. "Listen with your ears, meisje. I do not like repeating myself." Seras pouted and raised her hand, and was acknowledged. "Better. Now, what is your question?"

"What happened to grace and poise!?" Seras hissed, already getting impatient. She'd never been the best student. If Lady Aubrey was offended, she didn't show it.

"Grace and poise are an important part of life; that is true. But even better for you would be government, because you are ignorant." Seras colored and the woman raised a hand. "Hold your tongue—I mean you are unknowing about how we vampires rule our own kind. To function in this society, you must understand the rules. When you do, social grace and poise come much more easily to you."

Seras considered her words, the corners of her mouth turned down. She supposed the woman must be right. Besides, it would probably do her a great deal of good to know how to behave; her master hadn't been the most informative of people, even if he was the king. He'd more just clarified how she should act around him. And she was awkward enough already; a social faux pas wouldn't make the best first impression among the gentry.

So she took her old-fashioned slate in hand and Lady Aubrey began to teach her the most basic forms of their government—the ruling bodies. By the end of the hour, her mind was spinning as she tried to keep the names of the seven Governors of the World separate.

Her master was the uppermost ruling body: he called all the shots in the world of nightwalkers. But while he made the major decisions, he also took advice from a group of ancient Nosferatu known as the Council. They devoted their lives to wisdom and were called upon to make informative decisions when the occasion arose.

"However," Lady Aubrey said in her brief overview, "The last time anyone even called upon them was in the year of 1889." Seras nodded dutifully and tucked the information back in her mind. "They are very hard to contact, and no one wishes to disturb them. Even the king himself seldom looks to them for advice."

Council aside, the king never had time to keep track of every single problem going on in the world around him. So the Earth was divided into seven sections, which turned out to be the shaded regions on the grade school map. The map boggled Seras' mind, and she spent the longest time just staring at the color-coded map.

Human countries and continents seemed to have no standing on how the world was divided up. Neither were the portions even; the purple side that housed China and Japan looped from Turkey all the way across the Pacific Ocean, while a tiny orange section only held Denmark, Belgium, and the Scandinavian countries.

As she began to take note of Lady Aubrey's lecture, she learned that the portions were ruled by vampires known as Governors. These men and women kept track of the goings-on in their respective regions and notified the King to deal with issues that were out of their jurisdiction. Everything ran more smoothly that way; although there were a good deal of interpersonal rivalry and scuffles between the Governors themselves, many of which had been in office for centuries.

"Do you really fight? As in wars between you?" Seras asked incredulously. Lady Aubrey chuckled and shook her head.

"There hasn't been a war between Governed regions in over 450 years. There's a bit of boundary pushing here and there, but nothing ever happens to it." She pointed the ruler to the tiny orange section with a fond glance. "This is our area—the Scandinavian Region. My Ruthven is Governor there." Seras breathed a sigh of relief. Even if she made a complete fool of herself in other ways, she could easily remember at least one of the Governors.

"These two bordering us are the Eastern and Western European regions," she explained, pointing to green and blue splotches that shared borders along the orange dot on the map. "The Western region has been trying to make us theirs for about 200 years now," she admitted darkly. Seras shivered at the hate lacing each word. "The last Governor was killed in an… accident, if you are one to believe such things," she explained, clearly not believing a word of it herself. "Then Lancelot took over, and we've been at it with him since." She scowled, her features twisting. "I've had half a mind to report him for inspection to the Council. Men like that shouldn't be allowed to rule."

"Why?" Seras asked curiously, forgetting to raise her hand again. But the Lady was too agitated to even notice.

"Because he is… he is…" Words failed her and Lady Aubrey flailed her arms, searching for the right term. "Afschuwelijk varkens!" she cried after a moment, her hands balled into fists. Seras' eyes widened and she coughed politely, averting her eyes as the woman made an effort to regain calm. She wasn't sure what the words meant, but she was sure it wasn't pleasantries meant for the Governor.

After the hour was up, Lady Aubrey moved straight into geography, which pretty much went hand in hand with her government lesson. Seras had to refresh herself on the different countries of the world. However, now she also had to learn which region they belonged to, and who presided over them. It was a task that required a lot of mental focus, and the hour flew by. Seras felt her brain throbbing slightly in exertion and realized that it had been a long time that she'd had to try and learn so much in one night.


Now, they left the classroom and Seras was dragged downstairs through countless archways and past curious workers until they reached the back part of the castle, where Seras had been snooping around the night before. The roof was missing from the entire back portion, and moonlight illuminated a cracked marble floor. Seras looked down at the gorgeous motifs painted onto the marble as Lady Aubrey finally let go of her arm.

"Where are we at?" Seras asked in wonder as she looked at the fanciful paintings, the colors glowing in the moonlight.

"This was the main ballroom," Lady Aubrey explained. Seras heard footsteps behind her and turned along with the gentlewoman to see a man approaching them. She felt her jaw drop slightly as she took in the regal creature heading her way.

If her master was darkness embodied, this man was light. His hair was brighter than anything she'd ever seen. Brighter than even the color humans call platinum, and slicked back neatly on his head. Square frames accented red eyes, which were even starker against his pale skin than her own were. He wore a sapphire frock coat and a pressed shirt beneath, his blue pants tucked into pristine black riding boots.

She blinked and looked away with a blush, realizing that she was staring. He was handsomer than many of the other men she'd seen around lately; if she didn't have her master, she'd be highly tempted to flirt with him. But there was a certain strictness in the furrowed brow and curved lips that instilled a sense of seriousness and shyness in her. He wasn't a jovial creature by nature; that much was easy to see.

He stopped an arm's length away from them, and bowed to Lady Aubrey. She returned with a curtsey and they both seemed civil enough, but Seras sensed the forced nature of the meeting and felt awkward. Both of them seemed like they wanted to say something biting, and both seemed to avoid speaking at all, other than Lady Aubrey's assertion that she would be back for Seras in an hour and a half. The woman smiled confidently at Seras before leaving with a sweep of her skirts. Seras wanted to call her back, all of a sudden nervous at being left alone with this man.

She looked back at him from beneath her lashes, and watched as he looked her over in silent appraisal. Finally he sniffed and bowed low to her at the waist, although she didn't know exactly how to respond to it.

"I am the Baron von Abendroth," he announced, his voice soft and carrying a stern undertone that seemed to command respect. Seras finally gave a gesture in return that was part bow, part curtsy, and part I-have-no-idea-what-I'm-doing.

"I'm Seras, Seras Victoria," she introduced herself hesitantly. It didn't sound as nice as Baron, but she couldn't say much. The man gave her a nod in reply and she looked around the room, wondering what in the world he could possibly teach her in such a large space. Combat techniques?

"Very well, Lady Seras," he replied, and for the first time Seras noticed that he had a gentle German accent, hardly enough to pay attention to but still giving him the sound of a learned gentleman without taking away from his speech. She liked it much more immensely than the sounds of the Nazi FREAKs she'd fought once, long ago.

"Let us not waste any more time," he declared, waving his hand to the side. A light, flowing melody started and he held out his hands expectantly. All of a sudden it became very clear what they were going to be doing in the space, and Seras balked.

"I don't dance," she squeaked, stepping back and glowing with mortification. "I don't know how," she added. The baron glared at her for a moment before stopping the music with another wave.

"I am aware of that," he said stiffly, as if not being able to dance was a personal insult. "That's why I am here to teach you." He looked her over again. "I've been warned by His Majesty that you lack a sense of balance, as well as the natural elegance and ease of movement that comes with it." Seras didn't know whether to be insulted or relieved that he understood her problem.

"However, I believe that with proper training, even the most unrefined clod can be molded into something more… appropriate for nobility." He frowned. "But to do that, you must be willing to try," he added firmly, grabbing her arm and tugging her closely. He showed her where to put her arms and then the music once more filled the open floor. "Now—to begin, you will learn the simple waltz."


To Seras' astonishment, what the baron lacked in easygoingness he more than made up for in patience. She'd lost count of the times she'd trod on his feet, or forgot the steps and stumbled through the dance. But each time, the baron only restarted the music with a calm "Let's try again" before leading her back into the dance.

"No one is perfect the first time," he assured her when she finally cried out in frustration. "Practice is key." By the time Lady Aubrey came to collect her, she'd managed to get through the entire dance without stepping on his feet once, something she considered a personal triumph. "Until tomorrow, Lady Seras," he bid in farewell as he handed her off with another bow. Seras waved goodbye, still feeling a bit too shy to say much out loud.

After leaving the rubble of the ballroom behind, Lady Aubrey left her in the equally disastrous dining hall with Ruthven. The man had taken a generous hour and a half out of his busy schedule each night in order to drill her on etiquette.

Seras had always considered herself being a polite sort of being, but vampire etiquette came with a completely new set of rules she had to learn. And, to her chagrin, they spent the entire time teaching her how to give a proper curtsey. By the end of the hour and a half, Seras was very, very tired.


Now it was midnight, and Lady Aubrey allowed Seras an hour's rest to do whatever she liked. She used the time to wander out to the stables to see the horses. Sala was there and she practiced her "language acquisition" by talking to him. She learned a bit more about the horses and what they ate, and how they were exercised, and before she knew it she was being called back to the castle.

Now she was back in the classroom, with Lady Aubrey showing her how to walk properly. Seras now understood that even if she had the poise of a vampire, it was another thing altogether to learn how to use it without thinking. There was no slumping, no slouching, no tilting your hips a certain way or holding your hands on your hips, either. And certainly no griping and groaning.


After an hour of being abused and forced to stand straight (a hard thing to keep doing when you wear a DD bra) she was sent off to learn science with Lady Diana. Diana was a motherly sort of woman; Seras noted the minute the gentlewoman walked into the room. That sort of endeared the blonde to the scientist—well, that and the fact the woman also hailed from England.

She was large; not in an obese sense, but she was plump with big breasts and a large bottom that stuck out and made her curvy all over. Her ebony locks were pulled up out of her face with a ponytail and she was missing a tooth in the top right corner of her mouth, right behind her right fang. Her eyes glimmered, rather than shone; they were so dark, they looked more brown than red. She wore a nice, pretty sundress and a stained smock.

After learning that Seras came from England too, the two spent a good part of their two-hour time talking about what had changed since Lady Diana had last been there in the early 1920s. The older woman expressed a sense of unrestrained happiness that she had a fellow countrywoman to talk to, and they became fast friends.

Finally though, they turned their attention to their first field of science—anatomy. Seras listened with relative interest at Lady Diana went into detail with the human death process, ending her lesson with a quick overview of how a vampire's body reacts in a different way to bring them back to life.


And so in this way, three months passed without Seras having half a time to think otherwise.


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