"He's waking up,

" said Belle when she caught sight of the man trying to move his fingers and his head slowly pushing into the surface of the pillow.

Councilman Joshua opened his eyes, feeling his head heavy and pain at the side of his head. He looked up at the ceiling of the bed, nice looking wood and the drapes of curtain that looked as if he were in heaven because this was not his room. Was he perhaps dreaming? But why was his head hurting? He raised his hand towards his head, rubbing his temples, life in dreams felt so peaceful, thought the man to himself.

He then tried to get up, but something held him back. He noticed the ropes that were tied around his legs. He then came to realise what just happened. His eyes flew wide open when he looked at Miss Adams and the butler who he was scared of. He tried to hurry away.

"Relax, Joshua. We are not going to hurt you,

" informed the butler.

"Untie these ropes around my legs and let me go right this instance,

" councilman Joshua sat up, tried to reach for the ropes and trying to find where the knot had been tied, but he couldn't find it. His hands fervently searched but it looked like the knot had been fused along with the other ropes.

"Please calm down,

" Belle didn't want to harm the councilman. He was someone who was here only doing his duties.

"No! I want to leave this place right now!

" he demanded,

"I am going to tell the magistrate about what funny business is going on in this mansion.

"

Lucas turned to look at Belle and say,

"This is exactly why we need to silence him. I will throw him in the deep forest. The wild animals will feast and feed on him, leaving no remains,

" hearing this, the councilman's eyes went wide.

"T-throw?

" the man asked. He was a vampire who had more strength but the rope was too tight and walking was impossible. He tried to worm his way out in literal sense by rolling off the bed to fall on the ground and starting to crawl one movement after another.

"Don't scare him like that,

" Belle whispered to Lucas.

"How do you think he's going to listen?

" he asked her,

"Given the opportunity, he will be the first one to sprint to the next councilman and inform that all the murders were done by me,

" though most of them were true, not everyone died in his hands.

Councilman Joshua had found his way out of the room, continuously crawling on the ground when he saw a maid walking past the corridor, he yelled,

"HELP! HELP! Please untie me! This mansion is not safe!

"

The maid looked startled with the sudden shouting, and her eyes moved from the man to the butler who waved her to leave and continue her work. And she left as if she had seen nothing. The councilman looked at the empty corridor in shock.

"Scream all you want but you won't find the help you are looking for unless you sit quietly,

" came the butler's voice, his steps quiet that moved across the floor to finally come and stand in front of the councilman.

"You were the one who killed those women!

" councilman Joshua accused looking at the butler with a hateful glare,

"You and your mistress have been playing with the black magic!

"

Belle, who had followed them, stood behind, her arms crossed as she looked at the councilman who was agitated and wanted to run away as fast as he could. The last time he had run away, it had resulted in him being tied up. She wondered if he would be alive the next time he would run away to tell what he saw here today.

"You are playing with black magic, and the servants are under a spell. There's even a talking toy!

" exclaimed the councilman,

"I will make sure everyone knows what is going on here.

"

"You aren't too bright, are you?

" asked Lucas, his voice calm and collected that was the opposite of the councilman who looked ruffled.

Belle came forward, her footsteps known on the ground.

"Councilman Joshua, what you saw today had nothing to do with us here,

" she tried to explain to the man,

"There are some things that are hard to explain, and we cannot get into its details, but you will need to please calm down before sprinting out of here to tell the next possible person of what you saw unless you want to be called as a madman.

"

"Why will they call me a madman?

" asked Joshua,

"I will be telling them the truth, and it is not like this has not happened in the past where the witches have tried to resurrect the dead.

"

"Did it work?

" Belle asked, and the man gave her a sceptical look.

"Yes, they tried to bring up deranged men and women and children that looked like the evil version. Exactly what you have tried right now,

" the only difference was that her mother looked to be calm,

"Where is she? Do you think the others won't notice her? That she's back from the dead.

"

Upon his words, Belle could only come to understand that the witches were taking the help of the spirits and then bringing them back to this world. But it was possible that the spirits made use of the same bodies which was decaying under the ground which made it not feasible to stay long in the realm of the living as they had no vessel.

Belle concluded that if she was going to save Vivian's soul, she would need to keep her body in good condition and that place was not in the coffin. She turned to Lucas,

"The second girl, do you think she has potions that can save the bodies after death?

" she asked him.

Councilman Joshua gave them a look,

"I knew it! You both are trying to resurrect the dead!

"

"I don't think she's expertise herself in it yet. Might take a while before she learns.

"

"HELP HELP!

" shouted the councilman.

.

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