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nWith Daniel’s head that was pressed against the wall forcefully, Nora and her father suddenly looked frightened at the lord of Bonelake who wore a perfectly calm expression. Nicholas being a vampire, didn’t have to put much pressure on the human he had his hold on as the boy was weak. Humans rarely overpowered the vampires due to the difference in their strengths but the few whom he knew held the strength close to the vampires worked for the council. He looked at the boy who struggled to free himself from iron grip hold and the sight reminded him of a mouse trying to escape a cat’s paw.

n“What are you doing, Lord Nicholas? Leave my son right this instance!” Simeon Curtis’ voice came out shaky due to their current predicament they were in.

nNicholas moved his gaze from the boy to the father, “I will leave him when I get my answers right. Shush now,” he tutted, releasing the boy’s head from his hold to only push it back into the wall.

n“We told you everything you asked us. She ran away!” Heidi’s father looked stressed and so did her sister who had paled considerably in color.

n“Father speaks the truth!” Nora nodded her head.

nNicholas gave them his full blown smile before picking the boy and pushing him on the floor harshly. Before the boy got the chance to recover from the fall, he stepped on his head to speak, “Move an inch and I will crack your head open with my feet. And trust me, with what I have seen it isn’t a comfortable way to die. So...” he drawled looking back at the father-daughter duo, “The truth.”

n“Lord Nicholas,” Nora bent down on her knees, “My sister Heidi must have run away as she didn’t reach the Rune’s or Lawson’s residence. We are telling you the truth! We don’t know where she is!” she exclaimed hearing her brother in pain as the Lord had increased the pressure on the boy’s head.

n“Are you sure about that?” Nicholas tilted his head in question, giving her a skeptical look, he gauged their beating heart, “How do I know you aren’t feeding lies? Hmm? You do know that tyranny against a lord and the council’s truce doesn’t sit well with the higher ups.”

n“We have no reason to lie, milord,” Simeon answered the lord with his head down, “We would gain nothing from it but misery.”

n“Only if what you said had been ingrained into your mind. Your brother, what was his name again?”

n“R-Raymond?” Simeon replied, fear leaking from his voice. Daniel had gone quiet since the lord had stepped on the side of his head.

n“Ah, yes! Raymond. Sometimes I have a little hard time remembering unworthy names, so pardon me,” the lord chuckled, “I found out that he is quite interested in my matters and it is a little puzzling as to why he would be unless he was a devotee...or someone who was helping another person,” hearing the change in their heartbeat he continued to smile, “So what is this all about?” The next day after he had claimed Heidi completely, he had found out about her uncle and his friendship with the Duke. The lord of Bonelake was well aware with what was going on, yet he still played with his preys out of joy.

n“What are you talking about?” Nora’s question came out of scared in a whisper.

n“I think you know what I am talking about, sweetheart. My little birdie said that you have a very *good *relationship with the Duke, no pun intended of course. You wouldn’t mind giving me the details now, would you?”

n“Milord, if you know about it, you must already know that my children and I have nothing to do with it. We ha-”

n“Father!” exclaimed Nora who hadn’t expected her father to give in so quickly.

nEven though Simeon Curtis had let Heidi take Nora’s place in a blink of an eye, it didn’t mean he had any further motives apart from complying with his brother’s wishes. Nora on the other hand was involved in the matter without much knowledge of her father. All these days, she had lied that she visited her uncle’s house but the truth was that she spent more of her time in the Scathlok’s mansion than at her relatives house. Nora had nothing against the vampires. She had nothing against anyone unless they did what she said and they had enough money to please her. But she despised her sister Heidi, so much that she had gone to the extent of killing her.

nIt was as if the world went round around her sister. Every person she had tried to get close to had somehow been enchanted with her. Heidi had taken up all her mother’s attention when she was a child. The love that was meant for only her and her brother Daniel had not been shared but taken away. What Nora didn’t understand when she was young was that even though her father, Simeon had adopted the girl on his brother’s words, he had never accepted her as his own. He ignored the girl, reducing her to the status of a servant girl inside the house which only led for her his wife, to take care of the girl. Nora’s mother, Helen held a kind heart. She had taken up the responsibility of looking after the girl due to the hostility her family displayed towards the young girl. Helen loved her children equally but the unfortunate times was that her own children failed to see the love because of the jealousy that had brewed during the young age.

n“That’s enough, Nora! Like I said, my children and I don’t have anything to do with it,” Simeon began to speak, “What Nora just said is the truth. We don’t know where Heidi is.”

n“So tell me something and I hope it is the truth,” Nicholas pressed his expensive leathered shoe on the boy’s head, this time with a little more pressure which made Daniel cry out in pain, “Seeing that Heidi isn’t your own blood. Where did your brother find her?”

nNora gulped at the question. Had her wretched sister confessed everything to the lord? Or had she been caught to the point that she had blurted out till the last detail.

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