<h4>Chapter 82: Dark society- Part 2</h4>


    After Lord Nichs and Timothy Rufus arrived back at the mansion, Heidi was asked by Timothy to join them at the cer room. It was located underground; a medium sized room where the three sides of the wall was covered with several bottles. At the center of the room was a table with seven chairs in ce. The room had ample amount of light from the simple chandelier that was at the center of the ceiling, holding candles at each interval of space.


    Heidi sat one seat away from the lord and two seats away from Mr. Rufus. Since she arrived at the cer she hadn’t looked in the eye of the lord. He looked different. When she had firstid her eyes on him it took her few seconds to shake her off the trance she was put into by his mere appearance. She didn’t know what had caused in his sudden change of his appearance but if it was possible now he looked more daunting than before. Gone was his bronze brown hair to be reced by an inky ck mane which was cut by the sides while leaving the front long. But it wasn’t just the hair but the small piece of metal that adorned the upper side of his ear.


    He looked too good to be real.


    Previously his brown hairplimented the mask he wore in front of people but now his looks synced with his actual nature, thought Heidi to herself.


    “Heidi, you haven’t taken a sip yet,” Timothy noted looking down at her ss.


    “Ah-I am sorry,” she apologized, taking the ss by its stem and taking a sip to feel her toe curl at the bitter taste it left after she swallowed the liquid.


    “Ahahaha, is it that bad?” she shook her head at Mr. Rufus’ question, “That’s alright. Not everyone is fond of the zorbeten. Isn’t tasting these also part of her education,” he asked the lord.


    “Not all families wee the thought of drinking alcohol, Tim,” she heard Nichs speak and from the frequency of his voice she could tell his face was in the direction she sat, “Would you like to try something less bitter?”


    She turned her head, meeting his eyes to only be captured by them. If it was viable she would prefer tobust into dust than be stared by him with his unwavering gaze at her.


    “Yes, please,” she answered softly without giving it much thought, to which he offered a smile. Getting up from his seat, the lord walked towards one side of the wall while hovering his hand over the green bottles.


    “That’s really unfair, Nick. Now is the only time I would wish to be ady. He is too nice to women,” Timothymented sulkily to gain Heidi’s attention. He then leaned over to whisper, “Nichs never shares the bottles on that side of the wall. Not even the head council had the privilege to taste it. Thest time he opened it was when one of the Count’s daughter visited few months ago.”


    “You haven’t tasted it either?” Heidi asked curious.


    “Oh, I did. Just a couple of times though,” Timothy grinned. The lord and the butler did match each other in few things. One who treasured apples, and the other who treasured the cer of alcohols with what Heidi heard from Mr. Rufus.


    Mr. Rufus continued to speak but Heidi stopped listening to him, seeing the lord pick a bottle in one go and bringing it to the table with a new ss. The bottle was half empty when Nichs opened the cork with his long fingers to pour the liquid which didn’t even fill half of the ss. When the ss was given to her, she leaned forward to smell the aroma that wafted across her nose lightly. She then brought the ss to her lips and took a sip for the vours to burst on her tongue. It had a sweet taste but when the liquid was gulped, it left a light prickly feeling in her throat.


    “Does it suit your taste?” Nichs asked and saw her nod.


    “Thank you,” she murmured. Nichs had also poured an extra ss for Timothy, and Heidi noticed how his ss was filled unlike hers. As though reading her face, Nichs spoke,


    “This is a wine specially made for vampires. Vampires don’t get high on the ones which are made for humans. If I gave you a full ss you wouldn’t be able to handle it,” he gave a short nce towards her while corking back the bottle, “When you are at a vampire’s mansion, make sure you don’t pick something which isn’t meant for you drink. There have been few cases when humans have fallen prey. Even if we speak about equality, I am sure you know the current crisis between the humans and vampires. For precaution stick to water, most of the humans follow it unless insisted by the host,” he warned her to be careful.


    “You are scaring the poor woman,” Timothy frowned seeing Heidi’s guarded expression, “Warren is going to be beside her the entire time. There’s nothing to worry about,” he said to Heidi and at the same time they heard footsteps approaching the cer, “Talk about the devil. Good afternoon, Warren. Come join us.”


    “Thank you for the invitation but I will have to decline. I have somewhere else to be. Heidi,” hearing him address her, she stood up a little worried. She saw him look at her hands that was holding the ss with a serious expression. She realized she shouldn’t have joined the lord and the other man in the cer as it seemed like her fiance disapproved of her presence here. For a fleeting moment she felt his eyes move towards the lord before looking back at her, “It’s a short notice but Duke Wilford wants us to join for a soiree he’s hosting this evening.”


    “I will be ready,” she answered promptly, trying to take up the role as his partner and saw him offer her a patient smile.


    “Thank you, I appreciate that. The butler said you received the invitation too,” he said as Lord Nichs took a mouthful from his ss and gulped it, to empty the ss, “You changed your appearance,” he noted.


    “I did,” Nichs replied with a smile, “What do you think?”


    “It suits you,” Warren kept hispliment short.


    “It does, doesn’t it,” if one heard the lord’s conversation, they would surely peg him to be a narcissist. But Heidi did agree internally that the inky ck hair suited him much better than his natural brown hair.


    “Of course, it would. It is his natural color,” Timothymented to Heidi’s surprise. So the brown and bronze hair he carried with himself all these days wasn’t the natural color? Now that she thought about it, she remembered seeing a family portrait in the mansion with a small boy with ck hair.


    “Heidi, I had something for you, would you like to join me in drawing room?” Warren asked her.


    “Okay,” she nodded.


    Before she could walk out of there she wondered what to do with the ss in her hand which was yet to be finished. She didn’t want to waste the alcohol which the lord had opened just for her but at the same time she couldn’t bring herself to drink with Warren in front of her. Nheless, she turned back, cing the ss on the table and excused herself to walk outside the cer with Warren.