A/N: So basically this happened. Where I ended not posting a new chapter in more than 6 months. There are no words that can express how sorry I am for that. I'm not going to write much more right now so you can all see the next update. Only that I want to thank those who favorited the story or that are still following it.
After Mr. Forrester introduced himself to the group, presentations were made between him and the members of the group who didn't know him previously. Mr. Bass, Mr. Archibald and the Rhodes siblings were the ones who did know him.
"We have a property nearby that has been prepared to accommodate you all" Mr. Forrester said after all introductions were made. "Do you wish that I lead you there?"
"We would go, but the issue is that we have rented several rooms in an inn" Mr. Archibald replied, "and we have to stay at least a night there, otherwise it will look suspicious. Besides, we also need to pay our driver before dismissing him. Though we could always use the carriage to take our luggage to the property you prepared"
"No, I believe it's the best if the driver doesn't see this property. Don't you agree?" Mr. Bass said, asking Mr. Forrester the last part.
"I do, and as we agreed in the letters, I will procure the transports that we need to reach Scotland" Mr. Forrester replied.
Mr. Bass nodded and then added. "Very well. We need to return to the town then."
"I imagine you will have to eat first. Luckily this town is big enough so you can eat without driving attention to you. I know certain places where this task is easier" Mr. Forrester said.
"Before doing that, do you have any news that you can advance to us?" Mr. Bass asked.
"The attacks have continued in the area" Mr. Forrester said with a sigh. "For a few days it seemed they were diminishing, and I grew fearful that somehow they knew you were coming, but afterwards things got back to how they were before, so in the current situation it is certain no one will notice your presence in the town, since deaths are already happening before you arrived."
"It is not possible that anyone could know that we were traveling to this area. Did you take all the necessary precautions?" Mr. Bass asked adamantly.
"Of course I did" Mr. Forrester replied. "Based on what you told us, I concluded that the attackers were probably waiting for orders before continuing with their rampage."
"That sounds possible" Mr. Nichol decided to intervene in that moment. "Are you sure you or your group didn't tell anyone about this?"
"Of course not" Mr. Forrester nearly scoffed. "We don't have close bonds with any human, and we haven't had relation with anyone of our kind besides you" he said, referring to the group before him.
"In that case, lead us back to town" Mr. Bass said, "and tomorrow we will further discuss the issue that brought us here."
Mr. Forrester then led the group back to York, and once there, provided the meal for everyone by taking them to some places he knew were safe to find humans that would not be immediately missed. After that they all returned to the inn to rest for the rest of the night, not without agreeing with Mr. Forrester the time he should arrive the next night to take them to his property.
As for Fritz, he remained in the Countess room at the inn all that time. She had manage to get him something to eat before going to the inn's diner with the others, and had left him in her room with instructions to eat, unpack the necessary to spend the night and the following day there, and then rest from the travel. If he felt strong enough, he could read a little of any of the subjects he normally studied. Although she had the rule of not sleeping in the same room as him for his sake, she knew beforehand that at least for tonight, she would have to break it. She didn't dare to let him sleep in a room alone or exposed to people they didn't know. When the Countess returned to her room that night, she found Fritz asleep with a book in his hand. She managed to wake him up enough to change him into his pajamas, half-sleep as he was. She then changed to her own nightgown and went to sleep. They had to sleep in the same bed, like a mother with her child, but she had made sure to eat well so she could be certain that there would be no problem.
When they all woke up the next day in their different rooms, they started to pack in preparation for the ride to Mr. Forrester's manor. Mr. Bass, Mr. Archibald and Mr. Rhodes took care of paying the driver and send letters and instructions back at home, so their servants there continued believing that everything was normal. Mr. Bass also dealt with the innkeeper, giving him a lot of money and explanations for their one-night stay. He pretexted that their travel had been so long and tiring that that they had needed to sleep-in late, and that it would take them all days to recover, but given that their final destination was a friend's property, they needed to go there in order to rest properly. Of course this explanation was complemented by the great sums of money he paid the innkeeper, knowing that this would be a more effective way to keep the innkeeper quiet than any explanation would.
Mr. Forrester came to pick them up at the agreed time. By then the group had ready the horses they brought with them. Mr. Forrester explained that he had hired a carriage from town to bring the women and part of the luggage to his property. The group had already figured out this would be necessary so they proceeded to accommodate the women and Fritz in the carriage like before and to ride the horses. When everything was ready they departed, guided by Mr. Forrester.
An hour later they arrived to Mr. Forrester's property. After dismounting, Mr. Forrester opened the doors and asked the men in the group to bring the entire luggage inside the foyer. Meanwhile, the women descended from the carriage and upon doing this, the Countess took Fritz in her arms and carried him while walking inside with the other women. She knew that she would have to give another round of explanations and she was protective of him at the moment.
While the luggage was being unloaded, Mr. Forrester asked Mr. Archibald and Mr. Rhodes to help him take the horses they brought with them to the stables. They did this as fast as they could, and got back in time to see that the luggage had been unloaded. Mr. Forrester then paid the driver while the rest of group entered the manor, and waited for the carriage to disappear in the distance before going inside the manor and locking the doors.
It was only after the doors were locked that three figures appeared in the foyer to greet the visitors. One was a woman with hair between blond and red that looked to be nearing her 50's, of regular height, pale like all of those of her kind. The second one was a young woman that looked of the same age than the Countess or Ms. Rhodes, or perhaps a couple of years older than them, like she was near her middle 20's. Her hair color seemed peculiar to the Countess, because it could be said that she had sandy blond hair like Mr. Archibald, but certain effects of the candles' light made her hair look with a certain reddish or orange color, nearing the carrots' color but not completely. Her hair had curls but it was up, styled somewhat like the current Neoclassic up-dos. She had regular height like the other woman, eyes in a shade of green or grey maybe, some of her features seemed similar to the other woman as well, and she too was pale. The third figure was a man of the same height than Mr. Forrester (they were both tall, of the same height than Mr. Archibald), but a bit more lean that Mr. Forrester (Mr. Forrester had a solid complexion), more similar to Mr. Hudson's complexion. Mr. Forrester had a dark blond hair, while this man had a lighter blond hair. Also, Mr. Forrester's eyes were brown, while this man eyes were in a shade of grey. Both he and Mr. Forrester looked like men that would be nearing their 30's.
Upon noticing the other 3 people in the entrance hall, Mr. Forrester hastened to make the introductions:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to my aunt, Mrs. Sharp, my cousin, Mr. Benjamin Donovan, and his sister, Ms. Juliet Sharp" he said, while gesturing to each of them. They bowed after this presentation.
"Aunt, cousins, I would like to introduce you to the Countess Constanze Waldorf, to Mr. Randolph Hudson and his sister Ms. Jane Hudson, to Mr. and Mrs. Nichol, Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, and Vivian Parker. You already know Mr. Charles Bass, Mr. Fitzwilliam Archibald, Mr. Richard Rhodes and his sister Ms. Catherine Rhodes" he said while also gesturing to them, who also proceeded to bow.
Ms. Sharp was the first to say a word, advancing a few steps from her group until she stood in front of Mr. Archibald.
"Fitzwilliam, that's an interesting name" she said with a slightly amused expression.
"It seemed fitting for the times" Mr. Archibald serenely replied. "You seem well, Juliet."
"As you do as well" Ms. Sharp replied. "Will you introduce me to your party?" she said, and started advancing past him, observing the persons in front of her.
Mr. Archibald was turning around to do as she had requested, when she stopped and mused aloud: "Well, this is interesting."
She was standing in front of the Countess, who was carrying Fritz in her arms. She had lowered Fritz to the ground so they could both bow during the introductions, but had picked him up again afterwards.
"What is interesting?" Mr. Forrester asked, while he, his aunt and his cousin Mr. Donovan approached Ms. Sharp. Just when he reached Ms. Sharp, Mr. Forrester saw the Countess carrying Fritz, which caused him to stop in his tracks and borderline gasp while saying: "Well, I didn't notice this at all. How did I not see him before?" he wondered aloud.
Ms. Rhodes quickly went to stand to the right of her friend, who was completely immobile while looking to Ms. Sharp and Mr. Forrester faces.
"Colin, we can explain" Ms. Rhodes said. The Countess remained silent. A part of her wanted to bristle, but she knew this was not the way to solve this.
"My dear Celia, you will need a very good explanation to justify this" Mr. Forrester said wanting to laugh out of nerves, but unable to do so. Even internally distraught as she was, the Countess noted Mr. Forrester use of Ms. Rhodes real name.
"Do not tell me this is a vampire child" Ms. Sharp wanted to laugh too, but mostly sounded shocked and scandalized.
"He is not a vampire child" the Countess said in a steely tone of voice. "If that is what worries you, you can rest assured that no moral rule has been broken."
Mr. Bass was the one that remained cool-headed in that moment, partly because he had already anticipated this moment, based on the previous experience back home.
"We can explain it" he started saying, causing the Countess to break the tense stare she had been directing towards Ms. Sharp and Mr. Forrester to now glare in Mr. Bass direction because of the use of the word "we". "But it would be better if we explain it while we are all sited."
"You have brought a human child, to the middle of what is already a very complicated situation, as described in the letters sent by your own party" Mrs. Sharp replied. "This explanation is not only necessary, but urgent as well."
"Mrs. Sharp, please, my brother is right" Ms. Rhodes intervened again. "All will be explained, but it will be better to do so while sitting."
"Mother, it will be better to do as Celia has requested" Mr. Donovan, who had a more conciliatory spirit, said to Mrs. Sharp. "We can all discuss this better in the parlor." At this new use of Ms. Rhodes real name, Mr. Hudson, who had already felt a sense of dreed when he noticed Mr. Forrester saying it, started to wonder even more about the extent of the relation between Ms. Rhodes and these two men.
"Alright then. You can leave your luggage here. Afterwards we can all arrange to take it to your rooms" Mrs. Sharp said, and she turned around to go further into the house, followed by her children and her nephew.
Looking at each other and hoping internally this wouldn't derive in some sort of confrontation, everybody started following their hosts. Mr. Bass, who had been standing in a direction to the left of the Countess, approached the spot where the Countess and Ms. Rhodes were standing, but didn't say anything to the Countess, and when she and Ms. Rhodes, who had placed her hands over the Countess shoulders in a sort of sideways hug, started walking, he followed them just a couple of steps behind, to the left of the Countess. Mr. Archibald had decided to walk ahead of them, following the hosts. Mr. Hudson walked behind Ms. Rhodes, his sister to his left, and Mr. Rhodes to her other side and behind Mr. Bass. The Nichols, the Roberts and Vivian were the last in the group. During all this time, the Countess kept carrying Fritz.
They all reached the parlor, which looked like it had been chosen in advance as the room to hold whatever conversation they needed to have in the first place, since it already had candles and enough chairs and sofas to accommodate them all. Once they took their sits the Countess, who had continue carrying Fritz even when sitting down and now had him sitting in her lap, decided to talk before anyone else could.
"My name is Countess Constanze Waldorf" she started saying, "and I'm currently living…"
"Please, no need of formalities Countess" Mr. Forrester interrupted with a smile. "We know that Ms. Rhodes name is actually Celia, Mr. Archibald name is actually Numerius, and so on."
"My name remains Countess Constanze Waldorf" the Countess said again firmly, "and this is Fritz. All you need to know" she said, while looking in succession to her four hosts, "is that this is not the first time that I have taken in a human child to raise him, and that Fritz is the child currently under my care. I took him in when he was around four years old, perhaps a year older or younger, not even he is certain. His family perished entirely due to a sickness in his village that could have been a plague as much as it could have been anything else; therefore he is an orphan, one that no one in his village was willing to help for fear of the plague. He's been educated in everything that he will need to know when he leaves my side, as others before him had done. He will not be turned into a vampire now or in adulthood. He does know the complexity of our situation, of course, but he also knows it is worst to die of hunger in the streets, and when he leaves my side he won't talk, as other before him haven't talked either. As for bringing him so close to danger" she said, while looking Mrs. Sharp directly, "I know it is not ideal, but the alternative meant to put him in another kind of danger. We live alone, so there wasn't any human back in Germany to leave him with, and leaving him with the servants at my friend's house here in England didn't seem like a solution since he still doesn't speak much English, mostly German. And I'm not leaving him alone after I saved him, least of all when this struggle we are about to face is to preserve a world where he can live in when the time is right."
"So, this is your position about this subject, then" Mrs. Sharp said, looking impressed.
"It is. May I have your full guarantee that Fritz will not be harmed here?" the Countess asked.
Mrs. Sharp looked at her children and nephew and then turned to look at the Countess again: "You may. The child will not be in danger among us. You might not know this, but we have certain codes and one of them is to not feed on children as much as possible, which is something we mostly learned from your friends."
"I know that rule" the Countess said. "I share it too."
"If the child is not a vampire but a human, how do you manage to explain his status in your house to the humans?" Ms. Sharp asked. "How do you feed him and such…?
"The humans are told he's my servant boy" the Countess answered, "which is mostly true, except that being only the two of us back at home, we share the chores. I procure human food for him, clothes and whatever else he might need, besides educating him. He's accustomed to sleep mostly at day, and live at night, waking up at sunset and going to sleep before dawn. This brings me to the issue of his stay here. Normally I don't approve of him sleeping at the same quarters than I sleep in, but I would imagine you would feel more comfortable if he stays with me instead of having his own room."
"I hadn't thought of that nor do I think my children and my nephew had" Mrs. Sharp said surprised, "but if you feel more comfortable having the child sleep in your chambers, it's your choice."
"Of course, this could also be solved if he was given the key to his own room to lock it from the inside" the Countess ventured.
"Except you don't trust us to not have a copy of said key" Ms. Sharp guessed.
"Why don't we solve this matter the same way we did back at our house?" Mr. Archibald decided to interrupt. "Juliet, do you have in this house interconnected rooms like the ones married couples would use?"
"Well, yes we have a pair…" Ms. Sharp answered surprised.
"Then I suggest you give that pair to the Countess Constanze and Fritz, so each has a room but also share a communication door they can use in case they need to communicate. And also give them the keys to those rooms."
Ms. Sharp and her mother looked at each other and then to the men in their family, and finally Mrs. Sharp said: "It will be done."
The Countess nodded her head to Mrs. Sharp in agreement, and there was a small silent pause in which nobody said anything, before Mrs. Sharp decided to speak again.
"Now that this issue has been settled, I imagine you will want to know the latest news about the matter that you brought you here."
"Indeed" Mr. Bass said with a nod.
"Like I told you before" Mr. Forrester started, "the attacks diminished for a while, but now they have turned constant again."
"The frequency and viciousness of them is preoccupying" Ms. Sharp added. "The matter hasn't escalated more to London because we followed your advice and Colin has been contacting the local officials to try to delay the situation as much as possible, as well as trying to find out as much as he can from them. He has even paid some bribes to prevent talk in the town, but we don't think this can remain quiet much longer. And the other problem is that it is making harder for us to feed here. There is much alarm already and if we increase the number of deaths by feeding here, then the local authorities will surely have to take more drastic measures to find out who is responsible for the deaths."
"And the state of the bodies" -Mr. Donovan added-, "because those who feed on the humans are not careful and leave the bodies where the persons died. The bodies have no blood but as you have told us in the past, the current medical knowledge has allowed this to remain unnoticed, however we have reasons to believe one or two doctors are already suspecting something or noticed the lack of blood, and if so it won't be long for this knowledge to spread. The ones who feed on them must be uneducated in our ways as you said"
"We only arrived here a couple of days ago" Ms. Sharp said, "but already the situation is worrisome."
"Don't worry about the feeding" Mr. Nichol said. "Tell me, the attacks are more frequent in the city or in the nearby countryside?"
"In the countryside" Mr. Forrester answered, "but they are growing frequent in the city."
"We will have to feed in the city the first couple of days then" Mr. Nichol concluded, "even if it takes us a good while to go there and get back here."
"It can't be much more different from what I do at my house back in Germany" the Countess observed. "I'm confident it can be done."
"Good, because the other measure to take is to find and stop the attackers" Mr. Nichol said.
"We must develop a plan to confront them" Mrs. Roberts said with determination.
"Uh?" Mr. Roberts asked surprised.
"You know we will have to do it." Mrs. Roberts said slightly annoyed. "It may not be our main objective, but if we don't take care of them, we will risk the chance that humans intervene and even if they don't, we cannot have potential enemies who attack us from behind when we move up North."
"At the very least, we have to make them get back to the North and not advance further to the South" Mrs. Nichol added.
"Are you willing to do this? Are you prepared to fight them along with us?" Mr. Bass asked to his hosts very seriously.
His four hosts looked at each other and Mr. Forrester finally answered: "We will fight along you in any way we can. If you don't mind though, we would like to know more about their leader. I believe you said your other sources told you he was known as Xavier by his followers."
"What can I say?" Mr. Bass said leaning up front while resting his elbows on his knees. "He's the vampire that turned me, my brothers" he said referring the Mr. and Ms. Rhodes, "the Countess and Archibald. He also took part in turning Mr. and Mrs. Nichol. They have been hunting him down even before we were turned.
"We have traveled across Europe for centuries and even beyond, trying to find him" Mr. Nichol said. "We have come close several times, but never been able to capture him. Wherever he goes, he leaves behind death and destruction. What we do know is that this is not the first time he tries to create many followers that he will use to try and dominate or maybe exterminate the humans, but he hasn't succeeded before and he cannot succeed this time either. We had lost track of him for a good while, but even in that situation we always said we would not stop until we hunt him down."
Mr. Forrester and his relatives seemed impressed after hearing this story, and finally Mr. Forrester said: "In that case, you will have all the help you need."
"I believe it is time to arrange for our visitors to eat" Ms. Sharp said.
"It is" Mrs. Sharp agreed.
"How do you plan to do that? Since you said it was difficult to eat in the town" Mr. Bass asked, curious.
"We thought about it after we learned how many of you were" Mr. Forrester said, "and we decided we should divide in two separate groups that will go to opposite parts of town. My aunt and I can lead one group and my cousins another group."
"We established a point where we the two groups can meet again after we finish eating" Mr. Donovan said. "But you must know, this arrangement can work for tonight and maybe one or two more nights, but we need to think something fast to not stay here too long or if it we must stay here, to avoid raising suspicions."
"We must start thinking of a plan as soon as possible" Mr. Nichol said, "preferably tonight after we return from town. That is, if there is no inconvenient for you."
"I can't think of a reason not to do so" Mrs. Sharp replied, "but in order to accomplish it, we must depart from this house promptly."
"And your luggage needs to be moved to your chambers immediately" Ms. Sharp added, to which everybody started to stand up.
"Juliet is right" Mr. Forrester said. "Gentlemen, if you all proceed to help with the luggage, Juliet will lead everybody to the rooms you will occupy during your stay here" Mr. Forrester said to finish the meeting.
At the end all the visitors ended up helping to move the luggage, because among them all there was plenty to move. Ms. Sharp guided them to their rooms, and as agreed the Countess and Fritz got an interconnected room and the keys. In fact all the visitors got the keys to their rooms, since the hosts considered fair to extend the same courtesy to everybody. The house had no human servants so there was no danger in sleeping in the rooms, all of them with thick curtains to block the daylight.
The plan designed by the hosts to deal with the meal was followed without incident, and the visitors and their hosts were able to leave this manor and return to it unnoticed. Only Fritz remained in the house with the instruction to unpack clothes and certain things for him and the Countess. Before returning to the house, the Countess managed to grab some food so Fritz could prepare his next meal.
After returning to the house, the hosts recommended their visitors to go to the chambers to freshen up and unpack their belongings, before meeting in the parlor again to start working on a plan during the rest of the night, of which there wasn't that much left since by then it was past midnight, between one and two o'clock in the morning. Naturally not everybody was that interested in resting and the first one to voice something different was the Countess, who asked how to reach the kitchens so Fritz could cook something for himself with the ingredients she brought. Ms. Sharp showed her the way and the Countess and Fritz used their time to cook his next meal, with Ms. Rhodes' help who was also concerned by this matter. As for the others, after they either rested or unpacked their belongings they started to arrive in the parlor, but not at the same time, and this provided the opportunity for the first of several interesting conversations.
One of the sides of the parlor communicated to a balcony from which a lake was visible in the distance, as well as the nearby forest. Ms. Hudson had been one of the first ones to reach the parlor, since she wasn't really interested in resting and didn't want to unpack much. Mr. Donovan was already in the parlor reading a book, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Nichol, who were talking confidentially to each other, no doubt thinking ideas for the plan they all needed to come up with. Ms. Hudson was not interested in talking about the plan until they were all together to discuss it and in that moment she was more curious about her surroundings and this new house, so she decided to go toward the balcony once she saw it. What she did not expect to find upon arriving there was that Mr. Archibald was already in the balcony, admiring the view.
"You didn't stay in your room to rest?" Ms. Hudson asked Mr. Archibald with a smile while reaching the balcony's veranda and placing her hands upon it.
"I wasn't that tired and I can unpack my belongings later. You? Mr. Archibald replied back with another smile.
"The same" Ms. Hudson answered while shrugging her shoulders, still smiling. She admired the view for a few moments before addressing Mr. Archibald again: "So, how did you know them?"
Mr. Archibald countenance turned more serious. He had hoped that if this conversation happened, it would be much later: "Listen, Helvetia…" he started, while turning towards her, briefly lowering his head and closing and opening his eyes.
"Oh" was all Ms. Hudson could say, quickly figuring out what was behind those words.
"It is not entirely what you are thinking" Mr. Archibald said.
"You don't owe me any explanations" Ms. Hudson said with a fake laugh and taking a few steps backwards toward the exit. "We went our separate ways a long time ago. You simply had an affair with Ms. Juliet and now you though it appropriate to bring everybody to your old flame's house…"
"That is not at all what this is" Mr. Archibald said hurriedly in a hushed tone of voice, which made Ms. Hudson silent. Upon seeing this, Mr. Archibald continued: "I met Juliet at the beginning of the 1700s, in London. Charles and I had just recently arrived to England. What we didn't know is that Catherine and Richard beat us here by a couple of decades. Richard was in Oxford at the time but Catherine was in London. The night I met Juliet, after we realized we were both vampires, she took me and Charles to where her family was, and we found Catherine with Colin. They were together for a while, but then Catherine became fonder of Ben and changed her affections towards him, with the drama that you can imagine" Mr. Archibald chuckled, and then became serious again. "Me and Juliet started around the time Catherine changed from Colin to Ben" he continued, to Ms. Hudson astonishment. "By then, Charles had gotten bored of his stay here and decided to go to the continent for a while. Juliet and I remained together until the 1740s when we parted ways. By then Catherine and Ben had also ended and she had gone to stay with Richard, not before making amends with both Ben and Colin. I stayed in London and a few years later, Juliet came to see me to announce that she and her family were moving back north. They are actually from the north of England. By then we had turned cordials towards each other and she and her family didn't know too many of our kind, so she decided best to inform me that she was leaving town. She later wrote to me with her address and ever since, we only write each other to exchange addresses and a few pleasantries. I think we both thought it was good to have someone to turn to in case of need."
"I see" Ms. Hudson said, still stunned. There was a silence, and then Ms. Hudson added: "I'm glad to see everything has been sorted out then."
"Jane, wait" Mr. Archibald said imploringly, now using Ms. Hudson current name.
"Everybody, now that we have all left the chambers, we will start discussing the plan" Mrs. Sharp voice sounded with the intention to gather everybody in the parlor.
"The purpose of coming here is to complete the task we have set for ourselves" Ms. Hudson said in a low, almost hushed voice, "and nothing shall interfere with that, least of all lovers' drama. I just hope your little Ms. Sharp knows that" Ms. Hudson finished, and with those words she left the balcony and a baffled Mr. Archibald behind.
The conversation had so not gone like Mr. Archibald would have liked.
Once they were all gathered, they started discussing the next course of action. Being the most experienced, the Nichols expressed their opinion that the first thing to do was establish a set of priorities that needed to be achieved. One, they needed to locate and eliminate Xavier's followers in the area. Two, they needed to find out from one of those followers if possible, if Xavier was in the area and if not, where was he or which way up north was his main group. Three, they needed to make sure the authorities or other humans wouldn't further press the issue or send more reports to London; at this point Mr. Bass and Mr. Archibald mentioned that they brought money to help Mr. Forrester and his family pay for bribes and other expenses this adventure might entail. Finally Mr. Nichol stressed the importance of trying to achieve all this as fast as possible, preferably in a couple of weeks.
The first priority required more brainstorming. They needed to come up with a way to detect Xavier's followers in the area that was effective and didn't draw attention from the humans.
"Is there a special gathering in the area, something, a festival perhaps, that gathers most of the city population at night in the coming days?" Mrs. Nichol asked their hosts.
"Not that we can think of" Mr. Forrester said, to which his cousin Ms. Sharp nodded. "The only thing I can think of is some society dinners and I think a gala that will happen this week."
"That will not do" the Countess said. "These vampires are probably peasants or townsmen that were converted in the nearby area, not members of the aristocracy or good society. They are not the kind of people who could get invitations to society dinners."
"Actually, there have been cases" Mr. Nichol said to everyone's surprise. "We –he said, referring to himself and his wife- have heard cases of vampires who don't immediately dry their victims or turn them, but instead take their time and visit their victim several nights in a row, drinking small quantities from the victim, until they have enough and turn the victim. We have even heard this method of turning the victim is a powerful one, but we haven't been able to find someone who can explain it to us yet. What we did hear is that this method establishes a strong connection between the old vampire and the new vampire, and the new vampire can appear slightly normal to humans, interact with them and all."
"So what are you saying? That he could have turned someone with this method and that person would still be living between the humans, at night at least?" Mr. Archibald asked, perplexed.
"I'm not saying that he would have to use that method, I'm just saying we cannot disregard the idea that he turned society people and that they have instructions of interact with humans of the upper ranks" Mr. Nichol said. "I do admit that if there are cases like that, then they are probably vampires turned previously in other parts of the country and came here with instructions, meaning they have been with him for more time than recently turned vampires."
"Or they could be vampires trained to learn how to behave in society" Mrs. Nichol added.
"That still doesn't mean much" the Countess said turning up her nose a little to the idea. "It takes time to learn the social graces of a society. We have the ability to accommodate fast to these changes because we have been around for centuries now, but it's not that easy, especially when one was a human not so long ago."
"Still, we cannot rule out the idea" Mr. Nichol said.
"Mr. Forrester, is there a way you could procure invitations to one of these dinners for at least some of us?" Mrs. Nichol asked. "If we don't find vampires there, at the very least we can find out the last information the humans have on the attacks."
"I think it would be easier to procure them for the gala or a ball if there is one" Mr. Forrester answered. "I will find out tomorrow the coming events in the social calendar and how many invitations I can procure."
"I still think you will not find anything there" the Countess said with a shrug.
"I hate to admit it, but she is right" Vivian suddenly said to everyone's surprise. "You will not find any vampires there" she said, looking at the Nichols and Mr. Forrester.
"Fine, so what do you suggest?" Ms. Sharp asked.
Vivian looked at Ms. Hudson and then at Mr. Hudson. She knew that he would not like her idea, based on one of their conversations back in Surrey.
"The whorehouse" was all she said.
Voices immediately were heard and Mr. Hudson leaned ahead with his elbows resting on his knees and passing his left hand over his face: "Vibiana…" he started saying.
"No, you listen to me" Vivian said with energy. "It's one of the most obvious but also easier hunting places and that is why Numerius chose it the other day. A new vampire is prone to go there. If not a whorehouse, then the city area where they gather. Beggars are an option to consider" she added, addressing the others in the room, "and in general any area in the town with poor people."
"Two hunting groups then" Mr. Nichol said, "one that goes to the society gala or whichever event they have, and the other one goes to the lower part of town."
"Of course you would consider the whorehouse…" the Countess started saying to Vivian.
"Oh, spare me, Cornelia! I agreed with you, didn't I?" Vivian started saying raising her voice.
"Enough! We will not do this here" Ms. Rhodes suddenly said to quiet them down. "We haven't met for this."
There was a silence, and then Mrs. Roberts asked the group: "What else?"
It was agreed among the group that they would try to get one or more of these vampires alive to get information out of them, if possible. And that the next day they would determine who would go to the society event, whichever it was, once Mr. Forrester returned with information about which event would it be and how many of them could go to it.
After such a taxing night, everybody went to rest. Mr. Bass didn't intervene much in the strategizing of the evening. Although one of his favorite activities, in this particular case he wanted to hear what the Nichols and the Roberts had to say, because they were the experts on the subject. He was also more interested for the moment in the part related to the bribes that would have to be paid to humans, and he mentioned that at the end of the meeting. He agreed with Mr. Forrester and Mr. Archibald to discuss that in further detail the next night, to fully plan how it would be done, if in the society gala or in separate encounters with the city authorities. Mr. Nichol also mentioned at the end of the meeting that it would be good to meet again the next evening and discuss in advance how the group that would go to the lower part of town should find and hunt the rogue vampires. This was another subject that Mr. Bass found interesting. Between everybody, they agreed that a new meeting would have to be held the next night as Mr. Nichol suggested, after their meals and preferably earlier than the current meeting, so they agreed to go eat first the next night and then return to the house.
When the group went out for their meals the next night, they used the same method than the night before. Mr. Forrester did go in a solo errant at one point though, to find out the social calendar and related information that he was due to pass on to the others. After the group reunited and returned back to the house, the second meeting was held in the drawing room and Mr. Forrester reported that there was no gala as he had originally believed but several society dinners were due in the coming days and that he had secured invitations for the most important one, which would most likely have many guests. Among all, they agreed initially that the ones who should go to the dinner were Mr. Forrester himself, his aunt Mrs. Sharp, Ms. Rhodes, Mr. Bass and the Countess, while Mr. Donovan and his sister Ms. Sharp would go with the hunting party to the lower areas of town (because it would be easier for Mr. Forrester to bring his aunt to a society dinner than any of his cousins), and that they would go along with Mr. Hudson, Ms. Hudson, Mr. Rhodes, Mr. Archibald and Vivian. As for the Nichols and the Roberts, this is where the decision needed some thought, because Mr. Nichol preferred to go to the lower part of town, but his wife had social graces that made her a good addition to the group that would go to the dinner. Something similar happened among the Roberts, since Mr. Roberts sort of loathed upper class events but his wife knew better how to handle herself in those environments. So after some discussion it was decided that Mrs. Nichol and Mrs. Roberts would go to the dinner, changing their identities a little, and that Mr. Nichol and Mr. Robert would be part of the other group going into the poor areas of town. The dinner would be two days from that night and it was agreed that the second group would go into the poor area of town the same night.
In the meeting it was also agreed that it would be better not to bribe anyone at the dinner, but instead find out how much the humans knew, watch their characters and behavior to determine if it was necessary to bribe them, and if so arrange separate meetings to do this. Mr. Forrester, Mr. Bass and Mr. Archibald pooled their money, made calculations and discussed possible amounts to distribute among the town's authorities. It wasn't the most stimulating conversation for some in the group but they all needed to be informed. The conversation also paved way to another conversation with a more important subject.
"We will need supplies in order to travel north" Mr. Nichol said. "I think we all know that it is not very likely that Xavier or whatever is called, is in this region."
"We will need supplies" Mr. Bass agreed. He then looked at Mr. Forrester and added: "We will need stakes, horses, swords and axes, clothes or at least fabrics to make them, furs, wood for bonfires or places where we can get them, ropes and even firearms to initially scare them off or delay them in a given situation. Also, we planned a route to go up north, but if you have suggestions they are welcomed."
"Well, you just listed almost all the items in my list" Mr. Nichol said, impressed.
"I've been giving a lot of thought to this since before leaving Surrey" Mr. Bass said simply.
"I can provide the horses and the swords" Mr. Forrester started, "and the clothes can be bought here, or at least part of them. I have stakes, which can be used by the group that will go to the poor part of town, but we will need more up north. As for the route, we can review it later today, but I would also suggest that you all come with us up north, since as you know our family is originally a northern family and with the years we have acquired properties, one of them in Scotland, where we can go to; there it would be easier to fabricate more stakes and gather wood. I also have firearms and know of people that would sell us these weapons, as well as the furs, ropes and other supplies you may need.
"I agree with this. You?" Mr. Bass said, asking Mr. Nichol.
"It sounds well" Mr. Nichol said.
"You must know though, that if we achieve our objective and push the attackers up north, you will most likely become our last line of defense while we chase after them" Mrs. Nichol said.
"We understand that" Mr. Forrester replied and the rest of his relatives nodded their heads.
"We also need to discuss how the hunting group will move in the poor area of town" Mr. Archibald said.
"Well, I've been thinking about that and it occurred to me that we shouldn't make ourselves visible" Mr. Nichol said with a sigh. "We need to find a way to spy on everyone's movements while remaining hidden to them. If we can achieve this then we can spy the areas of major movement, taverns, where the prostitutes make business, and so on, to see if these new vampires pick up their preys there."
"That can be arranged" Mr. Forrester said. "Juliet is very good in the art of going unnoticed among the throng."
"We don't live in this city permanently, but we know it well enough to know the places where we can go unnoticed, as well as gather and disperse. With my brother's help, I can also show you how to surround a given area in this city, if needed. And I have clothes that we can use to better mingle with the mob" Ms. Sharp added.
"Ugh" the Countess couldn't help but utter.
"The Countess feels relieved that she doesn't have to go to the poor area of town" Mr. Bass observed amused. That earned him a glare from the Countess, and Ms. Sharp raised her eyebrows.
"Ezequiel and I don't own fancy clothes, just regular ones, so we won't have need for different clothes" Mr. Nichol said continuing the conversation. "Perhaps someone in our group will have use for them."
"I will need some of those clothes" Mr. Archibald said sheepishly.
"Good, you surely have the same measures as Ben or close enough, and the male clothes I have are for Ben's measures. Perhaps some of your friends might need them too" Ms. Sharp said.
"Do not worry about me" Mr. Rhodes said. "I don't have those measures, but it doesn't matter. I'm confident that I will be able to go unnoticed."
"I have clothes that will allow me to mingle" Mr. Hudson said. "But I do appreciate the offer."
"Perhaps some of the ladies that will come with us will want to borrow clothes. I have women's clothes too" Ms. Sharp said.
Before Ms. Hudson could reply anything Vivian intervened: "My clothes are not of a high station and they allow me to go unnoticed as well" she said politely, "and I speak for Jane when I say she's in the same situation."
Mr. Hudson gave Vivian a funny look, not understanding, but no one else thought any of that. "Very well. And once we spy the crowd, what happens then?" Ms. Sharp asked.
"We should try to watch people in small groups of 2 or 3, never alone" Mr. Nichol said. "If we are lucky and observe someone who is going to prey on a human, one of us can follow that vampire while his or her partner goes to alert the rest."
"That sounds good" Mr. Bass commented.
"And whoever follows a vampire, should try not to confront that vampire alone, but wait for the others to arrive" Mr. Nichol added. "Naturally, we all need to know where the other members of our main group are located, and if one of the smaller groups wants to move, it would be good to inform the rest."
"I believe that's important" Ms. Sharp said. "We need to be able to change tactics in accordance with what we see."
"This strategy makes sense for the group that will go into town, but for the group that will go to the dinner it will have to be something different" the Countess commented.
"We can watch the movements of the dinner guests, but our goal there should be look for members of the dinner party that disappear without excusing themselves" Mr. Bass said. "We don't know if there will be Xavier's followers there, but if there are, I don't think they will be silly enough to feed on human dinner guests, nevertheless we can't rule this out. The servants, on the other hand, are a different story, although even that would not be an intelligent thing to do. They could always select household servants and hide them after they fed on them, knowing that when the bodies are discovered the masters of the house could choose to remain silent and not unveil any of this to the public, to avoid being wrongfully accused of the death."
"That is a very valid point" Mr. Forrester said. "But if we do find one of these vampires at the dinner, what are we to do? We cannot create an incident in such a place."
"We will have to subdue the vampire or vampires without create a commotion" Mr. Bass said, "or let him or her feed, follow the vampire after the dinner is over, and confront this vampire in a more isolated place."
"I believe we will have to do the latter" the Countess said. "It's too dangerous to confront anyone at that dinner, to do otherwise will inevitably draw attention to us."
"I think we should agree on a place where both groups meet at a certain hour" Mrs. Nichol said, "or at least choose one of us to pass messages between the groups if needed. The dinner group could need help from the group that will go into town, or it could be the opposite situation."
Everybody agreed to Mrs. Nichol suggestion and it was decided a place and time to meet, regardless of whether both groups discovered a Xavier' follower or not. Mr. Rhodes offered himself volunteer to pass messages between the groups, if needed.
After this the details left to decide were of less importance which caused the meeting to eventually end, though it was done in a less formal way than the night before. The conversation became general and eventually small groups formed through the room, with people moving to other places and striking conversation about different subjects, or doing other activities. Mr. Bass, Mr. Forrester and Mr. Nichol continued speaking for a while, then Mr. Nichol moved to speak with Mr. Roberts, and Mr. Bass eventually joined them. Ms. Rhodes and the Countess spoke for a while and then left the room to check up on Fritz. They were absent for a long period of time but eventually returned. Mrs. Nichol and Mrs. Roberts spoke between them for a while and afterwards ended engaging in conversation with Mrs. Sharp. Mr. Hudson and Mr. Rhodes discussed books while Ms. Hudson distracted herself with drawing. Vivian remained next to Ms. Hudson and conversed with her in the meantime. Mr. Rhodes ended up joining their conversation while Mr. Hudson was half reading, half conversing with them. It was during all these conversations and movements that Ms. Sharp approached Mr. Archibald, who was standing near Mr. Bass but hadn't really taken part in the conversation his friend was having with Mr. Nichol and Mr. Roberts.
"How long ago do you know them?" Ms. Sharp asked Mr. Archibald, while looking towards the area where Mr. Hudson, Ms. Hudson and Vivian all sat with Mr. Rhodes.
"As long as I have been a vampire" Mr. Archibald replied.
Ms. Sharp seemed satisfied with that answer, and after a brief silence, she spoke again: "She's a lovely, sweet-looking girl, although she doesn't speak much"
Mr. Archibald gave her a questioning look, to which Ms. Sharp seemed amused. "You really haven't mastered the art of pretend, Numerius. You have been staring at her all night, at least all the times I've looked at you. I dare say you have been doing the same the previous night, too." She was referring to Ms. Hudson.
"Juliet, I believe you are mistaken" Mr. Archibald started saying in an attempt to try and divert Ms. Sharp's attention.
"You cannot fool me, dear Numerius" Ms. Sharp replied, still amused. "I'm fairly certain of what I saw. And I'm also certain that you had with young Ms. Hudson the same type of relation you had with Celia or with me." Mr. Archibald remained silent, so Ms. Sharp continued: "I must say you are in quite an interesting situation at this moment. Under the same roof you have three women with whom you have had an intimate relation at one point or another in your existence. There is Celia, granted that relation ended long ago and you two have evolved to a deep friendship that is almost a brother-sister bond. There is Ms. Hudson, about who I know I'm not mistaken even if you still haven't confirm it to me, and then there is the time we shared together. Tell me Numerius, are there other women left in this gathering with which you didn't have an intimate relation?" she concluded, almost whispering by now.
"Not quite" Mr. Archibald replied, still staring towards the area where Mr. Hudson, Ms. Hudson and Vivian still sat. Ms. Sharp followed his gaze and it didn't take long for her to guess who he was looking at now.
"What?" Ms. Sharp asked like she was out of breath (which in a vampire is really not an issue, so she was reacting more out of shock). "Her also?" she asked, referring to Vivian.
Mr. Archibald nodded, to which Ms. Sharp spoke again: "Don't you think it's a little dangerous?" she asked in a hushed tone, sounding somewhat upset.
"Dangerous in what way?" Mr. Archibald asked surprised and slightly defensive.
"Dangerous in the sense that this could cause tension and jeopardize the mission that brought you all here in the first place" Ms. Sharp replied still in a hushed tone and still sounding a bit upset.
"Juliet, it was a long time ago and we have all moved past it" Mr. Archibald started saying to calm her.
"We should not have this conversation here" Ms. Sharp replied and linking her left arm with his right one, she managed to steer them away to a corner in the room while going unnoticed to the rest.
"You are telling me that you know them as long as you have been in the condition we are at, which is a long time" Ms. Sharp started, "and in that time you managed not only to have a relation of intimate nature with Celia, but also with them? That also means they and Mr. Hudson were the other members of the group you originally had with Celia, her brother, Charles and your friend the Countess. Is Ms. Hudson the girl you almost told me about once?" Ms. Sharp asked sounding almost amazed.
"Yes" Mr. Archibald answered sounding defeated, since there was no point now in trying to hide any of this from Ms. Sharp.
"How does Vivian play a role in this?" Ms. Sharp asked.
"She and I connected at a point in our lives where we coincided at various levels" Mr. Archibald started. "I suppose we were also in need of support from someone else and we found it in each other. But that ended eventually and so our relation."
"How do you not see what I'm alluding, then?" Ms. Sharp asked. "If one of them resents this situation…"
"I cannot deny what you say" Mr. Archibald replied. "You can quell your worries though, because I can say with certainty that Vivian and Hel… Vivian and Jane are in good terms and I haven't seen proof of ill will between them. Jane is cordial towards Celia, well Catherine" he said, remembering that Ms. Rhodes should be called Catherine. "Vivian and Catherine are civil between them, which is an achievement, but believe me, the root of their problems wasn't me, thought I must admit I was included in what happened." Ms. Sharp was going to say something, but Mr. Archibald continued: "if anything, we must worry more about Vivian and Constanze, because they have never been truly civil towards each other. As for you, you know Celia… I mean Catherine, has no ill will towards you. Vivian will not be bothered by what transpired between us, I'm certain of that. You must know though" he said with a sight, "that I told Jane about our relation and how we met, and she was a little shocked by the news."
"You did what?" Ms. Sharp asked, sounding shocked.
"It wasn't my intention" Mr. Archibald defended himself, "but it came out in the conversation."
"It came out?" Ms. Sharp said in an almost-faltering voice.
"It will be alright. She left clear to me in no uncertain terms that our task here is more important than anything else." He looked slightly wounded when he finished saying this but Ms. Sharp was too upset to pay attention to this.
"I suppose that makes everything alright, then? Am I supposed to endure the hostility of this child without been able to defend myself?"
"First, she is not a child" Mr. Archibald started. "Second, it won't be that way. Jane is not as sweet as you think she is, but she is mature, more so after all these centuries. If anything you two could ended up friends at the end of all this." Ms. Sharp gave him a skeptic look, so Mr. Archibald continued: "I've could have remained silent and not tell you about all this, but not only do I know you would manage to find out about it from someone else, but also there is one last thing that I believe you should know, and maybe that is what could cause the type of problem you were worried about in the first place. I wasn't the only one in our group who was close to Celia and Vibiana" he finished, momentarily forgetting to use the fake names.
"Celia and Vi…? What do you mean? Ms. Sharp said, and then followed Mr. Archibald gaze until they both landed on Mr. Hudson. Ms. Sharp immediately looked back at Mr. Archibald.
"I worry because of your brother and cousin" Mr. Archibald added, and looked to where Ms. Rhodes was sitting. By then Ms. Rhodes and the Countess had returned from the kitchens with Fritz, but the Countess had asked for the library and Mrs. Sharp offered to guide her and Fritz there. Mr. Rhodes also wanted to see the library and decided to go with them. By the time Mr. Archibald and Ms. Sharp were having this conversation, Mr. Forrester and Mr. Donovan had struck conversation with Ms. Rhodes, and they were both vying for her attention. That's what Ms. Sharp saw when she followed Mr. Archibald gaze.
"Can't you speak with your friend? Ms. Sharp asked referring to Mr. Hudson, "Or with Celia?"
"It is Celia who should have that conversation with him, and no one else" Mr. Archibald defended. "After all this time I've learned that is the best course of action. I know Jane hasn't said anything to her brother because otherwise he would have asked me about it by now, but I'm sure that if he hasn't noticed anything yet, he will soon."
"You told Jane about them too? You must be insane" Ms. Sharp commented.
"I had to explain how we met. I couldn't separate one thing from the other" Mr. Archibald defended.
"There is no point in dwelling about how you handled this, which by the way, you could have prevented me about in your letters."
"I don't think there was a better way to tell you than explaining this to you in person" Mr. Archibald said with half a smile.
"You only told me because I forced the words out of you" Ms. Sharp countered. "In any case, I agree that you did right in telling me about your friend Mr. Hudson, who I gather from your words would be far more interested in Catherine than in Vivian, if I'm not mistaken?"
"He hasn't said anything of the sorts to me" Mr. Archibald replied, "but that's what I believe too."
"I will keep an eye on Ben and Colin" Ms. Sharp said. "It seems they never fully got over Celia."
"Listen Juliet, I hope I'm not offending you if I ask you how you are in that regard" Mr. Archibald asked in a confidential tone of voice. "I know you didn't really want us to end our attachment, but believe me, it was for the best."
"Do not worry Numerius" Ms. Sharp said. "I admit it was difficult, but I'm not in the same situation than my brother and my cousin. Especially because I can clearly see that you are still enamored with Ms. Hudson."
"That's not the case…" Mr. Archibald started.
"Please Numerius, you don't need to fool me, and you should not fool yourself. I know this to be case. And because I've come to value the friendship that we have achieved over the years, I will guard your secret, even if I think you should do something about it. I will not say anything to anybody, but I do ask you to think about my words" to this, Mr. Archibald nodded his head. "Now, let's talk about something else before your beloved see us and gets an incorrect idea, since I don't know where she stands in all this" Mr. Archibald gave her a look. "The clothes that I offered to borrow you for the hunting party, do you want to see them now or tomorrow?" she asked, while linking again her arm with his arm to steer them towards the main group.
"Tomorrow will be better" Mr. Archibald replied. He had had enough for one night.
"Tomorrow then" Ms. Sharp said amused, guessing how he was feeling at the moment.
Mr. Archibald and Ms. Sharp were right in suspect that Mr. Hudson might notice the attentions Ms. Rhodes was receiving from Mr. Donovan and Mr. Forrester. When the night was dwindling down and people started retiring to their rooms, Ms. Rhodes left the drawing room to go search for the Countess and Fritz. Unknown to her, Mr. Hudson had left the room sometime earlier. She was passing the area where the main staircase was located when she heard a sound.
"Hum-hum"
"Decimus! I mean Randolph, Mr. Hudson" she said with a smile after she turned around and saw Mr. Hudson with his arms crossed, leaning against a side of the staircase. "Have you been enjoying the evening? Are you in need of anything?" Ms. Rhodes asked with her happy and sunny disposition.
"I was just wondering if you didn't feel the need to tell me something" Mr. Hudson said with shrug.
"What do you mean?" Ms. Rhodes asked still smiling, but slightly confused by what he said. Mr. Hudson sighed.
"What was the nature of your acquaintance with Mr. Forrester? And with Mr. Donovan, for that matter?"
Ms. Rhodes just stood there, without knowing what to do. She was at a loss for words.
"At first, I wasn't sure if the Mr. Forrester' familiarity towards you was something real, or something that I perceived but wasn't what I was making it to be" Mr. Hudson said while uncrossing his arms, glancing briefly to the ground and then looking again at Ms. Rhodes, "but tonight, you cannot deny that both gentlemen have directed their attentions towards you in a clear fashion and…"
"We cannot have this conversation here" Ms. Rhodes suddenly reacted. She walked towards Mr. Hudson until she was standing in front of him. "We need to talk elsewhere."
"Where will we go?" Mr. Hudson asked, slightly surprised by her change in demeanor.
"I was going to see Cornelia at the library…"
"The library? Maybe we can go over there."
"No, the kitchens… No, I believe we should go to another room" Ms. Rhodes said, thinking out loud.
"Which room? We don't know this house" Mr. Hudson started. Ms. Rhodes grabbed his hand suddenly with an idea.
"The gardens! We should go over there" she started walking dragging Mr. Hudson behind.
"The gardens? No Celia, I don't think we should go to the gardens at this hour. Do you even know how to get there?" Suddenly some voices were heard and before Mr. Hudson knew it, Ms. Rhodes opened the first door she saw, dragged them inside and closed the door. Luckily for her, it was some sort of music room.
Ms. Rhodes went to sit in the first sofa she saw and Mr. Hudson sat next to her, to her left. There was a silence where she stared at the floor and he stared at her profile, silently waiting for her to speak.
"I met Colin a little more than 20 years after Lucius and I came to England. He was already a vampire" she gave a sheepish glance towards Mr. Hudson, "and so was all his family. It is true, that we became attached in the romantic sense. He courted me and like you said, he is a gentleman, his attentions won me over." Ms. Rhodes sighed, and then continued. "A few years later, we found Numerius and Gaius in London. I didn't know they were in England" she said, while looking at Mr. Hudson, "it was only later that I knew they had arrived to the land fairly recently. I presented them to the rest of Colin's family, which is how they all know each other. Eventually Gaius left, of course, because he keeps looking for Cornelia, and after a few more years, Numerius formed an attachment with Juliet…"
"Wait, what? Numerius and Juliet were also…?"
"Yes, they were. By then, I had lived with Colin and his family for several years, and got to know them all fairly well. It was then that I began to realize, that Ben and I had more in common than Colin and I. My time with Colin was pleasant and as well-educated as he is, with Ben I could discuss so much more about books, and art, and literature… Ben reciprocated my feelings, and eventually I just had to tell Colin the truth."
"I see" Mr. Hudson said in a controlled tone of voice, which Ms. Rhodes may or may not have perceived.
"It was difficult" Ms. Rhodes continued her recollection. "Ben and Colin went as far as threatening to duel over me. Juliet stopped speaking to me for a while. Mrs. Sharp didn't really know what to do. One was his son, but the other one was also her nephew that was like a son to her. How do you stop two men who can't really hurt each other no matter how much they fight, unless they use the ultimate killing tool for those of our kind? Luckily they didn't go that far. Numerius tried to play mediator in all this. It didn't help that by then, Juliet already knew of my past involvement with Numerius" Ms. Rhodes looked sheepishly at Mr. Hudson again, "and tried to use it to break my attachment with Ben. Eventually Colin left the family for a while, not wanting to hurt his cousin anymore but also not wanting to see us together. Peace returned to the household and eventually Juliet accepted my attachment with her brother, and we lived peacefully for a time, Juliet with Numerius and me with Ben. That was until I realized once more, my attachment with Ben wasn't as strong as it once was. Ben knew this too, and although a part of him wanted to continue the relation, at the end he accepted that the best would be for us to part ways. I decided to go live with Lucius for a while, and made my peace with Ben before leaving. Before reaching Lucius I went to see Colin, we all knew where he was by then. I asked his forgiveness and made my peace with him too, and I also made the case that he should go back to his family, which eventually he did. You can guess by now that the relation between Numerius and Juliet eventually came to an end as well, some years later. I later knew from Numerius that parting ways was difficult for both, and probably more so for Juliet, but their differences overcame any other consideration. Time passed and they made their peace with the situation, establishing a friendship that has continued all these years, and now we are here."
"We are here" Mr. Hudson mused out loud. There was a silence, and then Mr. Hudson stood up, causing Ms. Rhodes to stand up as well.
"Celia, you should have told me about this" Mr. Hudson said.
"Decimus…" Ms. Rhodes started saying.
"You should have told me about all this before asking me and Helvetia to come here" Mr. Hudson continued.
"I…"
"How am I supposed to work with these men when I know they were your lovers?"
There was a silence, and then Ms. Rhodes replied in a calm and collected fashion: "In the same way I'm willing to work with Vibiana."
Another silence, while Mr. Hudson felt how his temper deflated: "I know I have no right to demand you or reproach you anything" he said slowly. "Please, forget that I asked you about this, and forgive me for asking" he finished, and started walking towards the door.
"Decimus, it's not my intention to encourage them to court me" Ms. Rhodes started saying.
"Please, you are in no way obliged to explain yourself to me" Mr. Hudson half-turned around while saying this. "Please just forget we had this conversation."
And with these words he left the room, while Ms. Rhodes stood there without knowing well what to do.
A/N: Somebody asked me why these vampires feel the need to bribe people when they could just hypnotize them. I wasn't going to say this during these chapters but the truth is that due to circumstances related to the time frame in which they were turned vampires and how this happened, they had some training in how to be vampires but they also ignore that they could have certain faculties (like hypnosis). To answer that same person, it is not so much that Chuck and Blair were vicious in the past but it is more like certain things eventually led up to an incident that caused guilt feelings. As for Nate, Jenny and Vanessa, at one point in the past something happened similar to what we saw in the first part of Season 2 but here it's going to have some twists as well.
Regarding Colin and his family, they all appeared in the show in Season 4 so their looks are the ones from that season. Juliet's hair is sort of like the way she had it in episode 4x8 but with more curls and entirely up. Ben's looks are the ones from episodes 4x12 to 4x17 (when he was out of jail) and his behavior is also based on how he behaved in those episodes. Their mother only appeared in the show twice (4x11 and 4x17). Once again, I'm sorry for the long absence, and if the chapter was too long (or not long enough) for someone.
P.S.: Our very own Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) will have a new show in ABC called Wicked City costarring Erika Christensen (from 2000 movie Traffic) in ABC (in the U.S.A.) which premiers at the end of October (he also released the movie Bone in the Throat in South by Southwest festival and Rolling Stone magazine gave it a good review, it is based in a book by chef Anthony Bourdain but set in London instead of NYC and among the British cast is actor Tom Wilkinson, there are other movies in which Ed will appear). Natie (Chace Crawford) will have a show in the same network called Blood and Oil with non-other than Don Johnson (Miami Vice TV show, also the father of Dakota Johnson) that will premier in September. Vanessa (Jessica Szohr) has a new show in the USA Network called Complications which has aired in June (I haven't been able to see it). I watched Blake Lively (Serena) movie Age of Adaline (co starring Harrison Ford and Michiel Huissman of Game of Thrones, he currently plays Daario) and it was good. I guess by now you all know Blake had a daughter with her husband Ryan Reynolds and they called her James, her other baby is her lifestyle company named Preserve, I also guess you have seen her as the face of L'Oreal and Gucci. As for our Blair (Leighton Meester) she had a mini tour in U.S.A. earlier in the year for her debut album Heartstrings, also she released the movie Like Sunday, Like Rain co starring Debra Messing (I saw it and it was good), she is the face of a Jimmy Choo campaign as well of the brand Biotherm and she is pregnant with her husband Adam Brody (yes, Seth Cohen). The Humphrey brothers have become musical people, Taylor Momsen aka Jenny continues as the lead singer of the Pretty Reckless and Penn Badgley aka Dan is the lead singer of a band called Mothxr (pronounced Mother) that has toured like twice during this time and I think they have an album, also Penn filmed the movie Cymbeline (Shakespeare play adapted to mother times) co starring Dakota Johnson and Ed Harris. Finally I need to say that I watched the first season of the show Gotham (starring Ben Mckenzie aka Ryan Atwood in The O.C.) and it is good, waiting for season 2 in September (show will continue airing in the U.S.A. on Monday on Fox) and the cast appeared in Comic Con at the beginning of this month. Except for Chace Crawford, they all have Instagram accounts (also Rufus and Lily, btw Kelly Rutherford who played Lily has a very serious legal battle for her kids). Ed and Leighton each have done charity campaigns; you can check that in their Insta accounts.