Belle sat with her parents, her tears falling one after another until there was no more as they had started to dry. Her mind felt numb, her thoughts scattered all over the place that made nothing sense right now. Her father had lost his heart which was undoubtedly the work of Lucas but her mother, her kind mother's head was not only ripped out but it was...it was broken and squashed that brought tears back in her eyes. 

It was just moments ago that she was talking to her parents in this very room. She had her head placed on her mother's shoulder a while ago, her mama's hand holding her hand with love which now laid on the ground without any movement. 

Time continued to pass in the quiet mansion and Lucas had one of the men to go call the magistrate while he sent another one to send a letter to the priestess of the church. 

More officials arrived at the scene before the break of the dawn, inspecting and taking the bodies to the council so that the doctor who worked in the council could look into it and give out reports. 

"Was there any visitor here recently?" questioned a councilman who had come to inquire and look at the mansion over the unfortunate event that had taken place at night. 

"None in three days," answered the butler of the mansion, "The last one we had was Lady Olivia."

"Why does the name sound familiar," he asked with a small frown, and his colleague next to him answered. 

"Mathias, she's the girl who has gone missing. What kind of relationship did Adams share with the lady?" asked the same man. 

"She occasionally came here with Mrs. Adams' sister." Lucas already knew what the issue was but it wouldn't be enough to just give the report without causing some trouble to people, "They liked to have tea here."

The councilman named Mathias said, "By the looks of the body it is obvious that corruption was triggered in here. You said everyone was fine?" asked the man to receive a nod from the butler, "We have asked the maids and other servants who are alive. For now, the others will be taken back to the council."

"How long will that be?" asked Lucas.

"A day should be enough. We'll be returning the bodies back so that you can complete the cremation and pray for their souls," answered Mathias, giving the butler a bow, he walked with his colleague to say, "The Adams were good with their servants and it doesn't have a loophole to hook on."

"Do you think it's similar to what happened to the other pureblooded families?" asked the councilman, "I thought the witches are only targeting the pureblooded families for their rituals."

"Seems not. Get the food that they ate, it is possible someone slipped in spitgrass in there for the corruption to trigger and started the massacre," Mathias sighed, "There are more than twenty bodies in there. The black witches have been targeting families and villages and towns. We'll need to keep an eye on things."

"Do you think we need to interrogate the girl?" asked the councilman. 

"No, that won't be necessary right now. We already are aware it's the witches doing. It would be pointless to ask the girl who is grieving at her loss."

"The butler appears to be suspicious," Mathias eyebrows furrowed. So it wasn't just him. There was something very off about the man who served Adams. Butlers were trained to be composed but this one was too composed even during the death around them and when asked, he was the one who killed most of the corrupted vampires last night.

Mathias said, "Keep an eye on him. We don't know who slipped the spitgrass."

"Yes, Sir!" answered his colleague and they started to take the bodies to the council.

When the officials left, the mansion turned quiet again and the few servants who were still alive had started to clean the walls and floor of the mansion to erase the traces of what had transpired a few hours ago. Buckets of water were brought in, pouring the water on the blood that was on the marble floor while scrubbing the blood on the white walls. 

Belle in the meantime sat on the edge of her bed in the room, staring at space while trying to wrap things around her mind. Her parents were no more in this world and the thought pricked her mind. She knew something bad was going to happen but she didn't know how to stop and the inability of hers tormented her mind right now. 

Only if she knew how to stop it, only if she knew it she would have done everything possible but Belle didn't know how. The tears had stopped and she looked somber. 

Barron who sat in front of her had heard the screams last night. Like Lucas, he knew death was approaching this place and there was no way to stop it. The reaper noticed the vampiress looked lifeless as if light had been taken away from her and she had been put in darkness.

Though last night he had shouted for any of the reapers to notice him, none of them had come to the room to see him. He was curious on what happened but the only person who could hear him was the butler. 

Hearing the knock on the door, Barron's eyes shifted to look at the devil who entered the room with a tray in his hand that had a glass of blood on it. The butler walked towards the bed, to say,

"The council's have left the mansion. They will be back in a day or two," reported Lucas to Belle who didn't respond to him, "I brought you a glass of blood to drink."

She gave a nod. 

"What happened last night?" Belle asked softly. Her eyes shifted from the floor to look at Lucas, wanting an answer to her question.