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nFew days ago when they were talking he had said that his father deserved it but there was no record of his father’s death or his mother’s. She found it rather strange and she knew something grave must have happened in the past that even he authorities hadn’t mentioned about it. Unless they didn’t know what actually happened.

n“This isn’t a fairytale story and there are chances you aren’t going to like it,” he remarked before continuing to speak, “My grandmother, after she married my grandfather Reynoldus Perone, she bore three daughters. The eldest daughter was Venetia, the second one was Guilene and the youngest was my mother Louise. As you know most of the pure blooded family like to keep their bloodline as it is without wanting to sully their family line. If you’re going to ask about Venetia, she was married to a pure blooded vampire but they hadn’t created a soul bond. Like now, marriages were purely made for political reasons. The family I come from aren’t exactly the people who are looking for a lifetime settlement.”

n“But you created a soul bond with me,” Heidi stated to see him nod before he said,

n“Every place has a black sheep that does things out of the norm,” he said before continuing with the story, “My mother being the youngest was sheltered and protected all her life. Also because, even though she was a vampire, she had a weak health. I have heard from relatives speak that even after she grew up she was a very gentle person. With the age gap between her siblings, she stayed home with my grandparents who didn’t allow her to step outside the mansion with the fear of being striked by humans who weren’t welcoming at the thought of a vampire’s existence.”

n“My grandparents protected my mother from the outside world but didn’t realize and understand the threat that brewed inside the mansion and in the family,” his words were balant, without any emotion as he spoke, “My grandfather had a elder brother named Wilhelhum who often visited them. One noon when both my grandparents had gone to a soiree, they had left my mother in the mansion, unguarded when Wilhelhum raped her in her bedroom.”

nHeidi looked at him with shocked eyes. She hadn’t prepared herself to hear the story after Nicholas had warned her but this wasn’t something she had prepared for.

n“I did tell you it wasn’t a fairytale.”

nNot knowing what to say, she apologized, “I am sorry.”

n“Don’t be. I am the very child of the unlawful, taboo act that took place that day.”

nHer mouth went dry as she tried processing his words. She wanted to say something to make things better but even if she did say anything, the past would still remain unchanged. Was this the reason why his family were hostile towards him?

n“After my grandparents found out about it, their first thought was to sever the family bond but they didn’t. At that time, Wilhelhum had only taken place as the third lord of the Bonelake. If the word got out, there was no saying what others would think of it; not that didn’t later. They got them married in a private setting but the next week my mother disappeared from the empire with no trace.”

n“She escaped,” Heidi whispered to see him smile.

n“No one came close to tracking her or the boy she had given birth to but nothing stays hidden forever. Even the moon shows up in the sky after a cloudy weather,” Nicholas stated looking afar into the thicket of forest.

n*The boy who walked beside his mother who had covered her entire face, only leaving a small portion open by her eyes looked at the busy market which he had grown accustomed to. This side of the streets were always busy with the people walking in all direction. He stopped in his tracks when his mother halted her footsteps at a nearby newsstand that sold the local news. *

n*The woman picked the newspaper in her hand, taking a closer look at the words that were written after the bold headline that had caught her sight- ‘Search for Perone’s youngest daughter not found. Was it an assassin that killed her?’ **Louise Perone placed it back at the stand and walked with her eight year old son. Getting back home, she locked the door and the windows. *Louise Perone and her son lived in the borders of the small village that wasn’t far from main city of Bonelake. It was human land which kept them safe from being by any of their family members. But it wasn’t an entirely safe place to live for the vampires. During the initial days, Louise had found it extremely difficult to move around when it came to hunting for blood. She had never learnt to kill as it was never necessary before but after she had left the Perone house, it was all about survival. Survival for her and the child she had decided to bring up.

n*”In here should be fine,” she stated, *taking off the cloth that had been covering her face.

n“Yes, mother,” the boy answered, placing the caged rabbits in the corner which they had caught in the forest. The boy then looked outside the window to see boys around his age play outside the house, carefully trying to get past his mother, he unlocked the door to hear his mother speak to him,

n*”Where are you going, Nicky?” *

n“I-I...” his mother sighed, leaving whatever she was doing in the kitchen, she came to stand in front of her son while placing her hand over his head to ruffle it gently.

n“I am sorry darling. I really am,” she spoke gently to him, “I wish I could let you outside to play but you haven’t learnt to hold your thirst yet and if any of them here found out about who we really are, things will not go well.”

n“I am sorry, mother,” the boy looked down at his feet before looking up at his mother.

n*”Don’t be,” she bent down to kiss his forehead, “It isn’t your fault. None of this is, why don’t I make your favourite for dinner today?” she asked him to see him nod his head vigorously. **Days were difficult for both of them but they got by it somehow. Hiding from people and keeping to them to themselves. *

n*One evening, Nicholas just returned back to their little hut to find his mother on the ground with few men who surrounded her with metals in their hand. Blood dripped from her head as she laid there dead with her lifeless body. *

n*”Mother!” he screamed to be pulled by another man. *

n*He screamed and thrashed as two other men came to tie him up. **As Nicholas was a young and a growing vampire, he hadn’t learnt how to defend himself. When he opened his mouth, it was tied down by strings of wire so that he wouldn’t bite anyone. The people who had killed his mother, for the sole reason of being a vampire were the humans of the same village he and his mother resided in. The men torn down her body, limb to limb and then piece to piece in front of the boy who they had tied down while letting him watch what they did to his mother. *

nThe boy had been left in the house for five whole days all alone, in front of the his mother’s shredded body with blood that had flowed to the corners of the small room to immerse the ground he sat on. The boy vomited and turned sick with his surroundings.

n*On the sixth day, wind had caught about a vampire being killed to the entire empire of Bonelake. The Perone’s were quick to reach the place where their daughter and their grandson was. *

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