Chapter 22: Chapter 22

Was there a clock tower in the mansion? Back in her town there was a separate tower built for it. She wasn’t sure where the clock tower was in the mansion but she could always ask one of the maids or may be the butler. Remembering that the butler had helped her, she quickly opened the door to see the butler taking a sharp turn at the corner of the corridor but by the time her feet had carried her forward to the corner the butler was no where to be seen. The butler wasn’t going anywhere and neither was she any time soon, thinking it was better to get ready to go out with Mr. Lawson, she headed back to her room.

As Mr Lawson had told her, he was on time standing at the main entrance waiting for her. By the time she had reached the room, there was already a dress placed on the bed for her to wear and she was thankful for the considerate thought as she had brought no clothes along with her. Both Warren and Heidi rode to one of the towns of Bonelake.

Heidi accompanied Mr Lawson into the town by walk as they had stopped their carriage somewhere at one of the isolated streets, she saw that this one looked much pleasant than the one she had been to previously. The streets were filled with people, some walking straight while some in a cross direction. A carriage that was speeding fast on the street, almost ran over Heidi if she hadn’t moved away from the road quickly.

“Are you alright?” she heard Mr Lawson ask her nonchalantly, “Please be careful, the carriages that run here have no mind and thought when they start the horses,” he advised her.

“I’ll remember that,” she murmured looking at him to see the man was looking at a particular shop before his eyes shifted to her and he smiled.

“Pardon me if this comes out rude but I never got to know your first name,” he said his eyes clear and bright with the ink of red in it.

“I am sorry for not introducing myself!” She apologized with a small bow. It was true. All this time everyone had only called her by ‘Ms. Curtis’. “It’s Heidi Curtis Mr. Lawson.”

“Please call me Warren. You will be my wife soon and I think it is for the best to get familiar with each other. Don’t you think so?” he asked, giving her a relaxed smile and she felt herself nod.

Wife. It was still strange to Heidi to think about it but for now she would go along with what the fates had decided. As they continued to stroll through the streets, Mr. Lawson or Warren had tried to get to know her more. She was glad that he had taken in her feelings of her being new to the surrounding and had tried making her feel comfortable. Instead of taking her to a vampire town he had brought her to a town where both the humans and vampires resided. She found it strange that the humans actually coexisted with the vampires in the same space instead of having different sections to live in. But beneath the happy and quiet people who moved on the streets, the cautious behavior went unnoticed in Heidi’s eyes.

Looking from the corner of her eye, she saw that Warren had decent facial features, his nose slightly crooked at the top but straight until the tip, lips thin that were set in a line as he walked. His platinum hair was parted from the side which didn’t move even a centimetre in the wind that breezed through while her hair kept getting over her face.

After putting few rounds in the town, Warren had taken her to a shop where he had some business with a fellow man. Warren had asked her to wait for him and therefore now she stood outside the shop under the shade. Finding a little stone under her feet, she bent down and picked it up, rubbing it with her thumb in an effort to clean the white stone but it was too stubborn to get cleaned. As she ran her finger over the stone she heard a commotion take place, she turned her head left and right to see where it was coming from. Turning behind she saw the shops door and began heading towards the commotion using her ears. She felt her eyes widen in shock when she saw three men dragging a girl in the narrow space of the alley. The girl’s mouth was tied with a cloth and her hands tied with rope while she struggled to get out of mens hold.

Heidi wasn’t sure what to do but the first thing in response to the sight, she flung the little stone at them, hitting one of the men’s face. Now that she had attracted their attention she didn’t know what to do next. The man who was holding the girl struck his hand across the girl’s head, making her fall unconscious.

“Take her and go. We will deal with this one,” one of the men spoke in a raspy voice.

“Catch her!” Out of fright, she took flight, back towards the shop running from there, until she crashed against someone with an oomph sound.

“Heidi?” came out Warren’s voice above her.

“T-there are few people there! They were-” she breathed to get the words out and turned back to see the men not there anymore.

“Whom are you talking about?” Warren asked, a frown forming on his forehead.

“Three men kidnapped a girl. Please help her!” She begged him worried for the girl, “Please!”

“Okay. Stay here and don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back,” Warren said before heading in the way she had pointed at.

Heidi stood there, her hands slightly trembling with fear for the girl. She only hoped Warren had somehow caught with them but at the same time, she was doubtful. Warren hadn’t seen the men, and identifying them would be nothing but difficult. Several minutes passed by and Warren hadn’t returned back. When she saw him return back, she walked to him.

“I didn’t find anyone in the perimeter with suspicious behaviour but I’ll make sure to let the officials know about this once we get back to the mansion,” he assured her, “Let’s go back,” he said motioning her back from where they had come from.

The whole way she did nothing but worry, her hands held tight together as she looked out of the window of the carriage. The more she thought about it, the more the scenario in her head worsened. Women and men both went missing and it wasn’t any new news when witches were involved but another reason they went missing was that of kidnapping and abduction. The men she had seen in the alley were definitely not witches. Getting back to the mansion, Warren keeping his word wrote a letter and sent it through the bat that had perched itself at a nearby tree. They could do nothing but wait now and Heidi prayed for the girl’s safety.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Please don’t worry yourself, Heidi,” she heard Warren speak to her calmly, “The officials will take no time in finding the girl and return her back to her family,” she nodded her head and sighed.

Hearing a crow caw, Warren spoke, “Looks like the Lord has returned,” he said looking at the crow.

“You know the language of crows?” she asked him curious like a child and heard him chuckle.

“I don’t,” he said, “That’s Lord Nicholas’ pet, Toby.”

A crow as a pet? thought Heidi to herself and then shook her head. Only that man could have an ominous bird as a pet.