New Giver

Of course, Olivia could not feel Alexander's aura at the moment as it wasn't aimed at her. She could, however, see that the instant Alexander spoke, all the commoners crumpled to the ground. Some of them were wheezing for air while others were clawing at their necks as if there was an invisible grip around their throats, strangling them.

Looking around the room, the nobles didn't seem to be that fazed at what was happening, neither had anyone given looks of worry or sympathy.

"If I kill you now, do you think The Order will come and save you?" Alexander calmly spoke in neither a rushed or angered tone.

Olivia was not sure whether the people had heard his words, especially under the circumstances they were in.

As their faces started to redden further while the veins in their foreheads bulged due to the lack of air, Edgar gave a cough, "Mr De Vere that's enough now."

Olivia looked up at Alexander. At the moment, she could see that his eyes looked to be abnormally darker than usual. Truthfully, Olivia didn't know whether he really would kill them.

"Ahem… Mr De Vere. If you may," Edgar quietly pleaded.

A few moments later, the collective sound of gasps rang throughout the room. All the commoners, although continuing to kneel on the wooden floor, took deep breaths of air to replenish their lungs.

Once they had composed themselves, one by one, they slowly stood up. Their weary gazes landed on Alexander, their eyes holding fear and dread as they looked at him.

The elderly man looked the worst out of the lot. He still continued to take deep breaths of air despite it being some time ago since Alexander used his aura.

While Olivia thought that Alexander's warning would be sufficient enough for the group to run back with their tails between their legs, the group of seemingly simple commoners, soon displayed exactly how stubborn they were.

"You will all burn in fire one day," The old man's voice quivered as he spat out a curse.

Eli, who hadn't spoken in a while, sighed deeply, "Why must they continue to stand there? Shouldn't they have run off by now?"

Alexander, on the other hand, seemed unperturbed by the man's words.

"Fire?" He questioned in an amused tone.

He then glanced down at Olivia before looking back up at the old man, "It's not like I'll die."

Hearing his words, Olivia's eyes widened before an involuntary smile made its way to her lips.

Who would've thought he'd speak her own words to others?

Looking at how indifferent Alexander looked, the old man suddenly felt frustrated and exasperated.

Before the group of commoners could babble some more nonsense, Edgar's stern voice echoed through the walls, "Enough with this. You have come here and have arbitrarily decided to disrupt our work. Not only that, you have also acted in an uncouth and uncivil manner. While we are being lenient enough to not take action against you, it would be wise for you to immediately leave the premises before I change my mind."

"Commoners have always acted in a barbaric manner. It's not anything new now."

"Well, indeed, they are known for being loud-mouthed and graceless."

"Especially, ill-mannered. How dare they try and disrupt our work because of their ridiculous 'law recommendations'? Absolutely preposterous!"

The nobles soon started to quietly mutter their complaints as Edgar continued to pressure the group to leave.

Hearing the threats and complaints from the nobles, the commoner's faces twisted. Their expressions looking particularly sour in that moment. Nonetheless, they understood that the threats of these nobles were not to be undermined in anyway and soon they quietly and promptly filed their way out of the reception hall, allowing it to resume to its previous tranquillity.

"That was… quite a handful," Olivia breathed out when everyone had gone back to their workstations leaving only Alexander, Eli and herself behind.

Eli held his forehead with one hand, "Don't make me recall it."

"And you," Olivia turned to look at Alexander with narrowed eyes, "Are you copying me now?"

As he remembered, the corner of his lips lifted slightly before dropping, "And what if I am?"

Olivia had the urge to roll her eyes but instead a bright smile creeped up on her face.

Eli's eyes flitted between the two. He could not understand what they were talking about and felt uncomfortable being left out, especially when he witnessed her dazzling smile.

Eli was then reminded of the smile she gave him during the Annesley dinner party, causing his entire being to feel tingly.

"What's this? I feel left out," Eli gave his normal gentle smile, hoping no one could point out his abnormalities.

Olivia felt stumped at his comment. She couldn't simply explain to him what their little sayings meant without delving into other things. Something that she absolutely had no intention of doing.

She turned to look at Alexander only to find that he had, in fact, begun to already walk away, only leaving a few words, "We need to return to work."

Olivia gave Eli an apologetic smile as she ran off after him while Eli was relieved that she had left. At the moment, his thoughts were far too distracting and he didn't quite know what he was thinking. Allowing them to leave was the best choice.

Recently in the De Vere household, there seemed to be a new addition.

Since the death of one of the Givers, no one seemed to fill the empty gap. That was, until this morning when Olivia came downstairs with Alexander for breakfast, per their usual routine.

As Olivia walked to sit down at her low rising table with the now regular group of Giver's, she soon noticed an unfamiliar face.

There was now a woman sitting opposite her. The woman looked quite young, perhaps only a few years older than Olivia herself. Her hair was reddish, while her skin had yet to match the same pale hue as her counterparts, holding only a neutral tone. She wore the same dull outfit as the other Giver's, the sleeves coming to a stop just above her wrists.

Except, Olivia could see that unlike the other Givers she usually saw and occasionally communicated with, this one seemed to look around the area with bright eyes as if to soak up all the new information.

Olivia was quite amused with this change as the others usually had their head down and tip-toed quietly as if they were not meant to be seen or heard.

Of course, Givers were also able to walk around the house, only in certain places. One of them being the garden.

As Olivia was crouched on the ground pruning the leaves, she heard a voice from above her head.

"Hello there!" The new Giver greeted.

Olivia was surprised that she would speak to her but nonetheless greeted back, "Hello."

"My name Orpha. What's yours?"

"Olivia," Olivia was curious to see such a lively Giver.

Orpha did not say much after that only opting to pick up a watering can.

Olivia glanced at her for a while, watching her give the plants sprinkles of water before looking away.

Not long after finishing her job, Olivia stood up and walked back into the house, leaving Orpha alone in the garden.

During the past few weeks, after that first awkward encounter in the servants quarters, Olivia found herself spending more and more time there. Sometimes she would join the servants in having dinner instead of eating at her normal table of Givers.

"Have you seen the new one?" Lila gossiped.

Of course, this was one of the popular topics going around the servants quarters these days.

"Its just a Giver, why do you care so much?" Ivan grumbled as he stuffed a spoonful of porridge into his mouth.

"You're so boring Ivan," Lila pouted.

"I supposed you'd have some information," One of the maid's turned to Olivia. In fact, this particular maid was not unfamiliar as she was the same maid Olivia once spoke to in the garden, Almira.

While Almira claimed to not like humans or converted vampires, Olivia found her frequently sitting together with the trio.

"Well…" Olivia paused to think of a word to describe her, "She's very spirited, is all I'll say."

"She might just take your place," Lila teased while Almira nodded.

Olivia sighed. These two still believed she was a Giver. Although she had tried to thoroughly make them understand, it seemed to not get into their heads. Ivan was the only one who looked to somewhat believe her.

Suddenly, Lila motioned for the four of them to lean in.

"What is it?" Almira asked.

"Shh! You have to talk quietly or we'll get caught."

Ivan looked at her with a frown, "Won't everyone hear anyway?"

"Only if they focus their hearing," Lila said.

Lila then proceeded to look around, making sure that nobody was indeed paying attention to them. Once the coast was clear she finally spilled.

"Let's meet in the stables tonight after lights out."

"What? Why?" Almira asked in a whisper, skeptical as to what Lila was planning.

"I have something to show you all."

After that, she sat properly at her table, not allowing the rest of them to ask any further questions.

The rest of them slowly ate their food. Olivia was especially curious as to what Lila had in store for them as she chewed on her fish.

Soon, night had fallen. It had been a few hours since dinner, and about an hour since the lights went out.

Olivia had not changed out of her clothes and was still in her plain, black cotton dress. At the moment, she was contemplating on how she could leave her bedroom. Even if she walked around barefoot, knowing that vampire's had extra sensitive hearing, she knew that she would get caught the moment she stepped out.

Olivia's eyes roamed around her room anxiously before it landed on her window. Looking at her window, it didn't seem that big but it was tall enough and wide enough for Olivia to slip through.

Although she was well aware that she slept on the second floor, she knew that even if she jumped off the fifth floor, not much would happen.

A while later, a slightly dusty Olivia crept into the stables and closed the gate behind her.

"Why did you take so long," Lila complained.

"And why do you look like that?" Almira questioned.

"Don't ask."

"So?" Ivan stared at Lila, "Spit it out."

Lila then quickly sported a smug smile before she presented a brown glass bottle, with four mugs to match.

"What's that?" Almira asked.

"Deadly night."

"Oh?" Ivan for the first time seemed to be genuinely intrigued and curious, now that he had heard her.

Almira's mouth gaped, "How did you get that?"

"While I was out buying groceries, I stumbled across a stall selling this from the black market. Although it was a bit expensive and took almost half of my savings, I think it was worth it," Lila looked longingly at the bottle with a complacent smile.

Olivia, however, was confused at the whole ordeal but did not say anything.

Lila poured everyone a drink, each into their own mugs.

Looking at the colour of the liquid, it had a murky brown tone.

While everyone else drank, Olivia took a moderate sip, allowing the taste to invade the corners of her mouth. Soon, she felt that the taste was quite familiar. It fact, as she continued to take sips, she felt it was all too familiar.

Olivia soon realised that this drink was the same one that she drank with Alexander in his room a few weeks ago albeit this one was more diluted than the one Alexander owned.

"So it was called Deadly Night…" Olivia quietly whispered to herself.