Alice stared up at the mansion and swallowed. It was pretty big and funnily enough, it seemed a little less gloomy than the orphanage.
"Is it too late to back away now?" she asked.
"Yup!" Anne said brightly as the gates swung open "Don't be shy now."
Anne grabbed Alice's hand and dragged her into the mansion lands. Alice looked back over her shoulder and watched as the gates swung close with a loud echoing clang, reminding her of the time she had spent in prison. Though this mansion seemed worse than prison, bearing in mind that she was going to have to act as a vampire lord's wife and three vampires' mother. Anne watched her face curiously as she opened the front doors to the mansion, tilting her head to the side.
"Mother, if you want anything at all, you can ask Daddy."
Alice took a moment to realise that Anne was talking to her and looked at her.
"Anything?" she echoed.
"Apart from divorce, Daddy really needs a wife if he wants to maintain his title."
"I still think it's rather selfish of him to keep his title and take away my freedom," Alice said through her teeth as they walked down the lobby that had dark purple carpets running across the floors and stairs.
Anne stopped and turned to her.
"I told you, he's doing it for us," she said "Daddy only wants us to grow up like proper vampire girls. It's what our real Mother would have wanted."
"Can't the great Lord Valentine not swallow his pride and lose his title and live as a commoner?" Alice sneered while folding her arms.
"How many common vampires do you see around the streets, Miss Liddell?" Anne sneered back and imitated folding her arms "Exactly none. They all get hunted by vampire hunters because they're easy to catch. Now, do you think it's out of pride that Daddy keeps his title so his children as young as Cynthia gets killed in the street when she's out and about?!"
Alice scoffed when Anne's nostrils flared angrily.
"You said she's over six centuries years old," she started and Anne stomped her foot angrily, unfolding her arms.
"Cynthia! The new Mother is here!" she bellowed, her voice echoing off the walls.
There was a pause of silence until Alice heard the light pattering of feet. She turned and her eyes widened when she saw a young girl who looked about six or seven years old. Cynthia's blood red eyes gleamed happily and her lips curled up into a wide smile.
"She is pretty!" she said and threw herself into Alice's arms "Thank you, Anne! Thank you! She may not be blonde like the old Mother but she's still pretty!"
Alice caught Cynthia and looked over to Anne as Cynthia began rambling aimlessly about this and that. Anne grimaced.
"Well?"
Alice looked down and sighed.
"I see your point," she said reluctantly and set Cynthia down.
"Bella, Bella, look the new Mother's here!" Cynthia cried, waving frantically to the ten year old looking girl that began descending down the stairs.
"How nice," Bella said with poison dripping from her voice.
Anne sighed wearily.
"Please get rid of the blood balloon, she's barely been here for two minutes."
Bella folded her arms, her blood red eyes gleaming stubbornly.
"Make me."
Anne held up a headless doll's body and Bella's eyes widened.
"Get rid of the blood balloon," Anne said slower and Bella snarled angrily.
With a scowl and snarl, Bella cut her hand through the air swiftly, making the blood balloon miss its mark and land next to Alice instead of on top of her.
"There, now give back Eliz!"
Anne threw the head of the doll over to Bella.
"Now electrified trip wires."
"Aw, what?!"
Anne tossed Eliz's headless body up and down and Bella huffed.
"Give me ten minutes," she mumbled and began running around the house, disabling the trip wires.
"Let's take the safe way to Daddy," Anne decided and led Alice through the mansion.
Alice looked around with Cynthia blabbing on about this and that and whatever a Fifi Flower Power was. Everything looked virtually the same in the mansion, sticking to the gothic and gloomy theme. Even with Cynthia's bright and somewhat charming personality it didn't look so bright and charming. She looked up and down at Anne's clothing as Anne took her cloak off and handed it to a passing servant. It was pretty medieval with a velvet maroon dress and a leather bodice hugging her bust tightly, showing off her huge breasts. Alice wrinkled her nose in distaste. These vampires seemed to be so beautiful and perfect, that made every one of them egotistical and arrogant. This was one lifetime Alice wouldn't be enjoying. She stopped at the same time as Anne and Cynthia. Anne turned to her and smiled.
"Daddy is just in a meeting at the moment, we need to wait for a while…" she whispered.
"Daddy talks to Tseng a lot because they work together on businessy stuff and Daddy knew Tseng since Tseng was 1300 years old!" Cynthia said as she handed Alice a poorly drawn map "In case you get lost."
Anne giggled as Alice raised an unimpressed eyebrow. Alice studied the map for a while and smiled at Cynthia.
"Thank you, dear, it will be very helpful for in the future," she said and patted Cynthia's head affectionately.
Cynthia purred happily with a wide smile. Alice and Anne jumped in surprise at the same time when they heard the voices raise to maximum volumes.
"First signs of a fight, Code Sparkle, Cynthia!"
"Daddy, the new Mother is here!" Cynthia put on her cutest smile and cutest voice, running into the throne room happily.
Vincent dropped Tseng after holding him by the collar and turned to his youngest daughter.
"Is she?" he said and looked up to see Alice and Anne by the doors.
Alice saw those red eyes rake over her as Vincent walked across the room, picking up Cynthia and letting her climb onto his shoulder. Tseng got up to his feet and tidied himself up while seeing Anne. Anne solely focused on how Vincent would react to Alice. Alice looked up as Vincent looked down at her.
"She's rather young, Anne, are you sure you want her to be your mother?" he said while turning his sights to Anne "She looks more like she could be your older sister."
"Look, Daddy, you wanted me to get you a wife that might last longer than the others, I got you one that might last longer than the others."
Vincent took another look at Alice and sighed.
"And you have no objections?" he asked "My daughter didn't force you to come here did she? Not violence or force whatsoever?"
"No, sir," Alice shook her head.
"Then Anne will show you to your room, I will have Tseng prepare the marriage contract," Vincent said dismissively and set Cynthia down "If you ladies excuse me."
He closed the doors and the argument continued. Anne sighed and guided them away.
"Well, welcome home, Mother," she smiled at Alice as Cynthia began dancing around them happily.