The next morning Emelia wakes just as Marie-Claire is entering the room to serve breakfast. Sofie is already up and seated at the table. Or perhaps she never fell asleep.

Emelia notices that her eyelids are droopy and her complexion is paler than usual.

"Hey," she says softly, taking the seat across from her.

"Hey," Sofie replies, staring down at her breakfast, a far-off look in her eyes.

"Have you been up all night?" Emelia questions, concerned.

"Yes," her cousin says, confirming her suspicion.

"Doing what?" she asks.

"Reading."

"Reading?" Emelia stares at her, frowning.

Sofie nods slowly in response, tiredly blinking her eyes.

"Good news, girls," Marie-Claire announces, causing Emelia's eyes to snap up.

"We're going home?" she guesses hopefully. Marie-Claire huffs in exasperation.

"No," she says, emphasising the word. "You have both been invited to have lunch with Her Grace in the garden this afternoon."

Her Grace. Emelia concludes that she can only be referring to François' sister Camille.

"Great," she mutters with mock enthusiasm. Lunch with a vampire. Fabulous.

When Marie-Claire leaves, Sofie crawls back into bed and is asleep within seconds, leaving Emelia to entertain herself for the rest of the morning.

She takes her time finishing breakfast, enjoying the fresh raisin pastries and fresh fruit before heading into the en suite to freshen up. Marie-Claire had supplied them with toothbrushes the night before, along with some other female sanitary products.

Afterwards, Emelia tries out some yoga poses to keep herself busy. She has never been a fan of yoga, never found it useful, despite her mother swearing that it is a cure for all ailments.

Depression? Yoga. Anxiety? Yoga. Acne? Yoga. Crushing family expectations? Yoga.

Feeling like an idiot for even trying, Emelia abandons it after ten minutes and goes over to sit by the window again instead.

Close to midday, Frederick comes to escort them downstairs to where Camille is lounging out in the estate's courtyard by an iron-wrought garden table that is ladened with an array of delicacies.

The outdoor air is saturated with the strong smell of lavender and the sky is blanketed by a blanket of off-white clouds, allowing not a single speck of sunlight to shine through. Emelia guesses that this is why Camille is able to be out here. Aren't vampire supposed to be allergic to the sun or is that just a myth?

Camille flashes a wide smile when they arrive and beckons for them to join her at the table.

"I'm so glad you're here," she says, speaking to them as if they are all old friends. "I don't get the chance to sit out here with others very often."

Remaining standing, Emelia crosses her arms.

"What is the point of all this?" she asks, pointedly waving a hand at the table. Camille arches her eyebrows as if she's surprised by the question.

"The point?" she repeats innocently, but Emelia isn't buying it.

"Why did you invite us to sit and have lunch with you?" she demands. "What's your motive?"

"I invited you to lunch to be nice," Camille replies tersely, leaning back and resting her folded hands casually in her lap. "Is that so hard to believe?"

"Yes," Emelia retorts, "It is."

"Well," Camille sniffs, "It's true. You're guests in my home and I would like to get to know you."

"You already know who I am," Emelia counters. Camille shakes her head, a suppressed smile of amusement on her lips.

"No," she says, "I know who your father is - but not you."

"Why are you even interested?" Emelia narrows her eyes at the woman.

"Why wouldn't I be?" she asks, chuckling lightly.

"Are those strawberry tarts?" Sofie speaks up suddenly, pointing to a tray on the table.

"Yes, they are," Camille confirms, smiling sweetly at her. "Please, have as many as you want."

Sofie doesn't need telling twice, taking a seat and helping herself to three. Sighing, Emelia sits as well, too tired to continue interrogation Camille for the time being.

When lunch is over, Camille offers to give them a tour of the house.

"You're going to be staying here for a while," she explains, "so you might as well know your way around."

"If I found out that you have a dungeon in the basement, someone's going to get hurt," Emelia warns her, "and it's not going to be either of us."

Camille laughs lightheartedly, perhaps not realising that Emelia is being deadly serious, and says, "Oh, you're a funny one. I like you."

As she shows them around, Emelia takes this as an opportunity to learn the layout of the house and the whereabouts of its exits. From what she can tell, there are only three. The main entrance, the servant's entrance, and the one leading to the courtyard.

"This is one of my favourite rooms," Camille says when they enter a room with works of art ranging from small to large covering its high walls, all oil paintings. "Some of these paintings date back to the fifteenth century. My father is always adding to his collection. It's kind of an obsession of his," she adds.

"It's like a museum in here," Sofie breathes, her eyes sparkling with awe.

A particular painting hanging in the centre of one of the walls catches Emelia's eye. It's a portrait of a woman wearing a finely embroidered dark green dress with long, tight sleeves reminiscent of a time long gone.

Waist-length sandy blonde hair falls past her shoulders from in waves, framing her pale heart-shaped face. There is a gentle smile on her lips and well-captured shine in her kind, emerald green eyes.

"Who is that?" Emelia asks, giving in to curiosity.

Camille looks up at the painting and says, "That's my mother."

"Does she live here too?" she questions while Sofie moves closer to the wall and gazes up at the portrait with an unusual amount of intensity.

"No," Camille replies monotonously. "She's dead."

Emelia's stomach drops.

Oh, she thinks. Oops.

"I'm sorry," she mutters, genuinely meaning it. Camille offers her a tight smile and changes the subject.

"Come along. I'll give you the remainder of the tour."

Later that evening, the three of them sit in the parlour, drinking tea served by Frederick. This is when Emelia decides to ask the question which has been playing on her mind.

"What's the Elder Committee?"

Camille glances her way, surprise flickering in her eyes for a split second. It's that the question has taken her aback.

"How do you know about that?" she asks.

"Your father and brother mentioned it," Emelia replies. "What is it?"

"Hmm, well, I don't see any harm in telling you," Camille decides after a moment of deliberation, placing her drink down. "The Elder Committee is our version of a government. They make and uphold the laws in vampire society."

"I assumed that was your family's job." Emelia frowns.

"It was once," Camille admits, "a very long time ago. Before the crusades."

"What changed?" Emelia presses.

"I'm not too sure." Camille purses her lips thoughtfully, her eyebrows knitted. "I think my parents decided that our kind was in need of some sort of democracy. Hence, the Elder Committee was formed."

"Why do you call them the Elders?" Sofie asks.

"Because they are old," Camille replies. "Most of them have been around for thousands of years."

Thousands?! Emelia and Sofie both gawk at her.

"How long exactly can vampires live for?" Emelia asks, wondering if the myths are true. Can vampires really live forever?

"Before puberty, we age the same way you humans do," Camille explains. "After that, our bodies age about one year every hundred."

"So you don't live forever then?" Emelia probes.

"No. Just for a long time."

"Can you turn into a bat?" Sofie's question amuses Camille and she laughs.

"Unfortunately not."

"What about telepathy?" she asks. "Can you do that?" Sofie touches her temples and dramatically narrows her eyes. "Quick, what am I thinking?"

Camille shakes her head, smiling widely.

"I think you have been reading a bit too much fiction," she accuses playfully.

Sofie pouts, clearly disappointed by this.

"So, the Elder Committee," Emelia prompts, returning to the previous subject. "Since they make all the laws, what do they do to those who break them?"

"It depends on which ones have been broken," Camille says. "Our society doesn't have as many laws as yours. Most of them are simply to keep our existence hidden from the human population. This is why my brother is in trouble for what he's done."

"So," Emelia says, her tone sardonic, "He's in trouble for kidnapping us but not for killing those men?"

Well, that isn't one messed-up paradox.

Sofie sips her tea.

"There isn't a law against killing humans," Camille informs her. "As long as we are sensible and don't draw attention to ourselves, the Elder Committee doesn't get involved."

Emelia glares at her, utterly repulsed. Sofie sips her tea louder.

"But you don't have to kill," she states, remembering that Francois had bitten her but not killed her. She had survived his attack.

"No," Camille confirms casually as if murder is not a serious matter. "We can take blood without killing but some of us choose to nonetheless."

"And you think that's acceptable?" Emelia demands. To her shock, Camille simply shrugs.

"It isn't my personal preference," she says, "But I don't judge others who do kill. It is nature, after all. Humans are no different. Your kind eats other animals."

"That's completely different!" Emelia half-yells, slamming her hand down on the table. Camille regards her calmly with an arched eyebrow.

"Is it?"

"Yes," she hisses. "You kill people."

"We are predators," Camille says matter-of-factly. "Our bodies require blood to survive and, whether you like it or not, hunting and killing are in our nature."

Fed up of listening, Emelia pushes away from the table and stands up. Camille cocks her head to the side questioningly.

"Oh," she says, feigning surprise. "Are you leaving already?"

"You're just as sick as your brother," Emelia tells her venomously, glaring, and Camille replies with a sugary smile that is too sweet to be real. If anything, it looks like she's just been given a compliment.

"Come on, Sofie," Emelia says with disgust. "Let's go."

Her cousin doesn't argue, getting up from the table, and together they leave the parlour and go back upstairs to their room.

___.___

Hello, my lovelies. I hope you're all staying safe and taking care of yourselves in these tough times. I know it can seem impossible but I believe in you! ♡

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