chapter sixteen

The room was silent, Bhoots was waiting for Zeke to respond but no words came out. Maybe it was not supposed to be as potent as it had been or maybe it was supposed to be overly potent so he could see Cordelia suffer but his answer never came and so silence was all there was in the room.

"Bhoots, Claudia I believe we must be going, it is getting late and we would not want to overstay such an... Interesting evening." Cordelia spoke not entirely trying to lighten the mood but trying to have some type of noise to fill the silence Bhoots reluctantly nodded and Claudia made for the door but they were stopped by none other than Zeke.

"I... Apologize for the mishap that occurred. Please allow me to make it up by letting you stay for the eve." Bhoots wanted to protest but Cordelia swiftly covered his mouth nodding, she got up from the chair her legs still a bit numb she grasped Bhoots' hand for support. Claudia opened the door and headed out with Cordelia and Bhoots leaving Zeke alone to think on why he drugged the two, Cordelia, Bhoots, and Claudia both went their separate ways Claudia wanted to explore the mansion they were in, Bhoots wanted to roam around in his human form and Cordelia wanted a quiet place to meditate in after all it had been days since she last slept and it was starting to catch up to her. She ended up in a garden, a beautiful garden filled with poppies, red roses, magnolia's, and red star chrysanthemum. This must be a garden dedicated to the late duchess Maude. Cordelia only remembered seeing the late duchess when she stayed at the palace with Clovis, she always had a smile on her face and would never turn a blind eye to the suffering of the people around her. In her youth, she was known as the 'saint of the people' and was beloved by all. The red star chrysanthemum created a walkway to a gravestone above the final resting place of Maude, Cordelia paid her respects to the grave and found a spot to sit down and meditate.

The sounds that were once entangled together became much more clearer, she could hear the sound of the water falling into the spring in the garden, she heard the footsteps of the many in the mansion. Her eyes shot open feeling fully energized as she got up from the ground and looked around, she placed a small protection spell on the garden and headed back inside.

As soon as the sun had come up from behind the hills Bhoots, Claudia, and Cordelia all were sneaking out of the still mansion.

"Are you sure we have to do this Cordelia?" Claudia asked timidly gazing back at the mansion as the trio walked on, Bhoots had decided to stay in his human form for a little while longer because he thinks it's better to stay as a human because he can help with potions, of course, Cordelia had no objections to this and agreed with him.

"Yes. After all, he is a noble duke and I am just a humble witch hated among the populous and you are a new noble. Others would look at this and believe I have vexed both of you." Cordelia responded keeping a steady pace once the reached the main road she covered her hair with the cloak she always wore heading start for back to Mariella's home to drop Claudia off. As the trio walked something caught Cordelia's eye and she stopped the two from walking further, a gang of boys who seemed to be kicking a person not giving a moment to chance she raced over to the boys leaving both Claudia and bhoots at a loss for words. "May I ask what you're doing." The boys turned looking at Cordelia who peered down at them like a mother scolding her children they gulped and became rather timid.

"We... We were teaching this beggar a lesson."

"Oh? And what type of lesson involves kicking?"

"Uhm... Well..."

"Apologize."

"What?!" The boy yelled in disbelief he couldn't believe this random woman would tell him to apologize to a mere beggar, she kneeled down to match their height and softly smiled.

"She was only doing what she needed to survive how could you, sweet and innocent boys hurt her? What if the money she was asking for would save her mother or father's life or make sure her brother or sister doesn't go hungry?" The boys were stunned, of course, Cordelia knew they were taught from a very young age to laugh and mock the poor but she wanted to change that in these boys while they didn't know her true identity. "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"I want to be a knight who protects people!"

"I've always wanted to be a medic!" The answers came flying and Cordelia could not help but smile at these boys who showed such promise in the world.

"Well, the first thing a knight and a medic and everything else you want to behave in common is that they must show kindness to those who are less than fortunate. Knights are sworn to protect people not harm and scare them, medics are meant to heal those in need regardless of gender or wealth. At the very end of the day, what are we all? Humans and some people are vampires but you don't see very many vampires out." She looked at the girl who was breathing slowly and held out her hand healing her wounds, the boys stood in awe Cordelia sprung up and gently picked the girl up. She protested at first but stopped once she realized Cordelia would not be putting her down as she walked back to the two who stood there gobsmacked the boys stopped Cordelia.

"You're the witch Cordelia aren't you?! The adults say you're evil and can't be trusted but you healed the girl and we still gotta apologize!" The eldest of the five looked at each of the boys who nodded and one by one they bowed sincerely. "We're very sorry! Our parents taught us to not care what commoners and beggars think and that we should always hold our heads high because we're nobles but from today onwards we'll treat everyone equally!" Cordelia smiled nodding to the boys who looked overjoyed and one ran up to Cordelia and grabbed on her cloak.

"You live in a forest right? Can we visit!? I promise we'll be quiet well... All of us except Cody he's really loud."

"Hey!"

"You are allowed in the witch's forest so long as you don't tell anyone." Cordelia whispered beaming at the boys, she did not know what lied ahead for the five boys and she did not want to think the families would shun their own kin but as a safety precaution, she had to make sure they'd never speak of her. Hearing this the boys jumped for joy hastily saying goodbye the boys ran off. Cordelia rejoined the two with the girl still in her arms.

"So are we taking her home?" Bhoots asked looking at the girl who glared at him, Cordelia peered down at the girl.

"Do you have any family?" She shook her head no. "Yes, she's coming home with us. I need to treat her injuries."

"Don't worry! You're in great hands, she healed me and I had bruises and cuts!" Claudia happily added smiling at the girl who slowly nodded staring at Cordelia. They walked towards Mariella's house dropping Claudia off and left hearing the earful Mariella was giving her and headed back to Cordelia's small cottage.