The Crown's Obsession

Odin had returned to his usual appearance again, where he appeared to be in his twenties with his shoulders slightly hunched, "What happened to you?" questioned Madeline.

The demon servant thought the lady was asking about the crash, and he couldn't help but release a sigh, noticing his master wasn't here to scold him now. "I thought it would be easier to travel at a higher speed through apparition, but I must have not mastered it yet, milady. I thought I would end up in the corridor, but I ended up somewhere else and then here…"

"Your appearance has changed, Odin," stated Calhoun and the demon servant turned surprised.

"Oh?" and he turned to look at his reflection, "Indeed it is true," he said while touching his face with one of his free hands. "I don't know, Master Calhoun. I have been like this since the last two days. Even Master Vlad said it might be a fluctuation in the realm near Heaven."

"Fluctuations?" asked Madeline, and the demon servant nodded his head.

"Yes, milady. I didn't originally belong to the Heavenly realm. In the past, I was a wanderer from the in-between world. It was Master who took me in and tried to guide me whilst he was still in Heaven, I have been with him since that time. The wind carries whispers that the veil between the living and the dead must have been dropped and it caused some changes," explained Odin before he brought the binded parchments to the table and placed them all there. "Did Master leave?"

"He went to Hell," came the dull voice of Calhoun and Odin's eyes widened.

"I brought the ones I found in her room, milady. I shall take my leave!" he bowed his head before disappearing, leaving a smoke in the room.

"What are these?" questioned Calhoun, his eyes falling on the old looking parchments that had folded at the ends. At the same time, he called the servant who stood outside and ordered him to take the dress back to Lucy's room.

Madeline put her hand in the pocket of her dress, pulling the letter that they both had discovered in the old house, "This, I wanted to see if there's a writing that matches this one."

"The letter," murmured Calhoun, and she nodded.

"Did you ever hear your mother speak about a man named Douglas?" she asked him, but Calhoun shook his head.

"I don't think so. Mother never ever spoke a word about people or the things that were related to her in the past," replied Calhoun and he picked up one of the parchments. "But do tell what you have found out."

"Vladimir said Douglas was close to your mother, he was her tutor. He left the castle but never returned back. You said someone came to meet her before she died, do you think it might be him?" asked Madeline, and as they looked at the two handwritings, they finally found the second writing in the parchments that was written to correct the first writing.

"I cannot be sure about it, but I will take a look at the matter," said Calhoun and Madeline nodded her head.

Leaving Calhoun with the letter and the parchments that belonged to his mother, she made her way to where Lucy and Monique were, where the older vampiress was busy showing her new hand that had been fixed.

"I would have never believed that metals can be used as artificial fingers," said Lucy in awe, her hands touching her aunt's forearm and the new fingers.

"It is good that we vampires have advanced ourselves in some of the fields and I don't have to wear a hook on my hand as it is missing," said Monique with a straight face, and Lucy smiled at this.

"Now only if you could also feel the sense of touch, it would be like a real hand," said Lucy, and she noticed Madeline entering the room and the patio where they were seated. "How did it go?" asked Lucy, knowing Madeline had gone to speak to Calhoun about the wedding gown.

Madeline offered her a gentle smile, "He was surprised and taken aback, but he is fine." She decided to leave Vladimir's reaction out of it.

"I see, I am glad," responded Lucy. The last thing she wanted was to make someone uncomfortable by her actions. She felt it to be fortunate, to be wearing a gown made for the late lady.

"What was up with the demon who came with Vladimir?" questioned Monique, "He ended up falling right on the bush before he headed inside the castle. Not to mention his appearance."

Madeline replied while taking a seat with them, "He said something about the veil between the worlds that dropped and must have fixed by now. He returned back to his usual form."

Hearing this, Lucy's eyes narrowed. This was something she had noticed early in the morning. "The in-between world," she whispered to herself, and the two women looked at her, "When I went to visit the cemetery today, I saw Madame Fraunces, the woman who took Theodore and gave work to brother Calhoun. But when I got there with Theodore, she had disappeared."

"There must be some sort of distortion going on up there," said Madeline, her eyes moving up to look at the blue sky. "But a while ago, Odin was in his form. Maybe it is not completely fixed."

Lucy wondered if she would still be able to speak to Madame Fraunces, or maybe Nana. The thought created a spark in her mind, and she couldn't wait to go back to the cemetery to speak one last time.

That night Theodore had gone to visit the next town to investigate one of the death cases, and Lucy had tiptoed out of the castle and into the cemetery in the dark and quiet night.

The dried leaves on the ground drifted from one place to another because of the wind that blew across the cemetery. She walked towards the grave of the people she had been visiting for quite some time, her eyes looking around to see anyone.