Allure Of The Night

The councilman had already heard about this young woman through Lady Aurora Hooke’s mouth. He said in a low voice,

“If you know something about the murder, Ms. Barlow, it isn’t too late. Your punishment will be minimised for hiding something important. I ask you again, are you sure you don’t know what happened to Lady Camille the time she went missing?”

Eve had hoped that this matter wouldn’t come to rise again. But it seemed like Lady Camille didn’t let her in peace even after her death. Not only that, for a murder that she had committed, Vincent was facing consequences as the culprit.

She wondered in what state Vincent was, and worry started to form on her forehead. She replied, “I don’t know.”

Soon Viscount Eduard, with his wife and the butler, arrived at the front of the room and entered it. Viscount Eduard demanded, “What is going on, Byron?”

Byron stood up from the couch, offering a bow to the Viscount and he said, “Viscount Eduard, pardon me for my rudeness but evidences by the Hookes have cropped in the case of Lady Camille’s murder, and Vincent has been put under questioning.”

At the same time, Marceline had only arrived at the front of the mansion and was on her way to meet her little sister to ask where her little sister’s old fangs were, when she noticed her family in the drawing room along with a councilman.

“Vincent couldn’t have killed Lady Camille. Don’t you think you are accusing him for no reason?” Viscount Eduard questioned in slight anger.

Marceline stepped inside the room. Bowing her head to her parents in greeting, she asked, “What is a councilman doing here?”

Byron offered her a bow and said, “Lady Marceline. You have been summoned at the Council in front of the Head Council for questioning. I would be delighted if you would cooperate with me.”

Eve didn’t know if this was a good idea for the council members to question Marceline. Especially when Vincent was the reason she had been dull as she had been defanged. She noticed how Vincent’s family members held the same thought. Marceline readily nodded in agreement.

“I doubt my brother has murdered Lady Camille, but I always prefer to stand with justice. Let us go,” Marceline offered a slight smile with her false expression, stepping out of the room with the councilman.

After two minutes passed, Eve turned to Vincent’s father and asked, “Viscount Eduard, is it alright if I visit Vincent right now?”

“I will be visiting him too. You can ride in the same carriage,” Viscount responded and Alfie quickly ran out of the room to inform the coachman to prepare the carriage for their travel to Darthmore.

Soon Viscount Eduard and Eve left in the carriage, which followed Councilman Byron’s carriage not far from them. The ride was quiet, as they had similar worries, and Eve held her hands on her lap.

Eve hoped Vincent was alright and they hadn’t started to torture him. Given that the pureblooded vampire was always busy burying someone, but this time it was because of her that he was behind the cell bars. It was her murder, and he had taken the blame while sheltering her.

“Don’t worry about Vincent, Ms. Barlow,” Eve heard Viscount Eduard speak to her. She turned away from the window to look at him. “He’ll be fine and be out of there in no time.”

Eve managed a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes. She asked him, “What if he’s unable to get out of it?”

“It is Vincent. He won’t die with a mere execution,” Viscount Eduard’s old eyes smiled at her. She gave him a nod. He then said, “Byron works for Marquee Hooke, and is a loyal councilman to the Hookes. Whatever evidence they used against Vincent to trap him, they have been planning to use it for some time now and it isn’t something that they found this morning.”

But there was something that did worry him. It was his daughter Marceline who could tip the scales of problems right now.

When they finally reached Darthmore and the carriage pulled over at the front of the Council’s main building, the coachman got down from his seat and opened the door. Viscount Eduard stepped down from the carriage and was followed by Eve. Marceline was taken by the councilman, Byron, while Eve and the Viscount went straight to the dungeon to see how he was doing.

Upon reaching the dungeon, Eve noticed a few men guarding and they offered their deepest bow to the Viscount.

“I am here to see Vincent. Where is he being held?” Viscount Eduard asked the guards.

“In ground level one, Sire. Would you want me to take you to him?” One of the guards politely asked, keeping the Viscount’s status in his mind.

“That won’t be needed, I know the way,” Viscount Eduard stated, and he stepped in, but when Eve followed, the guard stopped her. He quickly said, “She is with me. You can let her pass.”

The guards stepped away, and Eve finally stepped inside the dungeon of the Council for the very first time. The place was bright, with light passing through the little windows of every cell, but when they took the stairs to reach the floor below it, the place needed fire torches as there was no window or light in there.

Eve’s feelings suddenly took over her heartbeat as it grew anxious to see Vincent.

“It is always good to have visitors, especially when you are behind these rusted bars,” Vincent stated, and both Eve and Vincent’s father stopped walking when they found him standing in one of the cells.

“Are you okay?” Viscount Eduard asked his son, not liking that his son stood on the other side of the corridor.

“Fantastic as usual. Did you speak to Clayton?” Vincent questioned, and Eduard shook his head.

“Not yet, but I will be going to his chambers. They have summoned Marceline for questioning,” Eduard informed his son. “I will get you out of here,” he promised, and Eve could sense the worry in the Viscount’s voice for his son. “How did you end up here? They didn’t have evidence until this morning.”

This was something even Eve failed to understand. After all, when she killed Lady Camille, Vincent wasn’t in the mansion and he returned only around the time when the sky had darkened.

Vincent replied, “Sadly, one of our maids testified against me. Saying I was in the mansion when the incident possibly took place. Because of the favouritism Clayton has towards me, the Hookes demanded I be put here until they deal with things.”

“Don’t you have an alibi that you were with someone?” Eve asked Vincent.

Upon hearing Eve’s voice, Vincent looked at her and he smiled. He couldn’t be happier to see her now, her eyes worriedly looking at him.

“There are ones when I was out of the mansion. But they don’t believe what happened after I returned home. It opens the opportunity that I could have killed her during her time in the mansion. The maid saw Lady Camille in the mansion, but didn’t see her leave,” he scrunched his nose as if thinking about something.