Music Recommendation: Sharpening My Knives- Kris Bowers

The sky was cloudy with no hint of the stars or moon. Marceline stood on her room's balcony, staring at the street right in front of the mansion with a serious expression. She knew it was impossible for anyone outside the mansion to know about her being defanged, and she decided to keep it that way.

Humiliation had sunk in the pureblooded vampiress's mind, and she hadn't stepped out of her room except for having her meals, and even less from her room. She wondered if she should perhaps find someone who could help bring back her lost fangs. A witch? Surely they would have something, but witches couldn't be trusted.

While Marceline was busy thinking about her situation, a carriage arrived at the front of the mansion's gates. Her eyes moved to look at the carriage that didn't look like it was of a person who belonged to a high-class person. She looked down at one of the mansion's guards and ordered,

"Go and find out who is at the gates at this hour." She then added, "Don't let anyone enter. Whatever the matter is, finish it right there out of the gates."

The guard who had looked up at the vampiress bowed and walked to the gates. He and another guard moved closer to the carriage to see who it was.

"Who are you and what do you want?" One of the guards asked Eugene, who wore a coat around his body and a hat on his head.

But before Eugene could answer, Vincent, who was inside the carriage, responded, "Open the gates."

"Yes, Master Vincent!" The guardsman quickly obeyed the order, while the other guard offered a deep bow before opening the gates so the carriage could enter.

Soon Eugene drove the carriage inside the Moriarty mansion's premises and pulled the horses' reins to stop the vehicle in front of the mansion's entrance. A frown appeared on Marceline's face. Her eyes narrowed on wanting to know which human had the nerve to enter their mansion. She quickly left her room's balcony while going below where the carriage had halted.

In the meantime, Eugene climbed down from the carriage and opened the carriage door for the passengers to step out of it.

When Marceline arrived in the hallways, she noticed Alfie entering the mansion with two servants carrying trunks in their hands. She demanded, "What is with all these trunks? Is it some sort of gift by someone?" She was curious to see if there was anything of high value.

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Alfie bowed and replied, "These are Ms. Barlows trunks, milady."

"What?" Marceline quickly walked past the butler, who led Eugene along with me, while she made her way towards the entrance to catch in time her brother and the lowly human, who was accompanied by another human. "What is going on here?"

"What a perfect time that you have come here to greet your sister-in-law, Marcie. Seems like defanging you did you good," Vincent remarked with a bright voice.

Eve noticed Marceline wanting to glare at her, but she tried to hold it back. The pureblooded vampiress stated, "If you are going to get her to the mansion, can't you do it after you both are married? Or have you forgotten the basic protocols and decency of the society that we live in?"

Vincent blinked at Marceline and asked, "Decency? I think the Moriarty children lack it. But you should already be aware of it. You should be the last person talking about decency, dear sister. Now if you would be a doll and carry my beloved's umbrella. From today onwards, Eve will be living here with us. A big happy family, isn't that lovely?"

Marceline gritted her teeth, and though Vincent stretched his hand forward to hand it to her, the vampiress glared. Turning around, she left the place.

And though she walked away from there in speed, the vampiress stepped to the side and stood behind at the corner of the hall, watching the couple giving each other romantic looks.

Back to where Eve and Vincent were, Vincent informed her, "You will be sleeping in the room next to Allie's room. The room has already been cleaned and is ready to use. It would be better for you to stay in company than in the guest room. Even though, personally I would like to have you in my room. Stop moping now."

"I cannot believe you expect me to be okay with what you did," Eve muttered.

"But you did expect that I would do something of that sort. You worry for nothing, I was frankly quite fair in choosing the degree of heat," Vincent offered her a charming smile, and they walked past the wall where Marceline stood. The vampiress's eyes fell on a black cat that somehow managed to enter the mansion. With her concentration away from the couple, he said, "It is the people who still speak ill about you, and didn't come to your aid, whose houses have been burned similar to your neighbour and the Humphrey's."

"How do you know who did what?" Eve asked the crazy vampire, whom she had agreed to marry.

"I got my special ways to find out about such information. The people you are so worried about whose houses were burnt, don't forget that these were the same people who watched you drag through the streets of the town, without offering a word of protest to help you." He paused and then said, "No one is ever innocent. Not you, not me, my beloved girl. Not even the hamster."

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Eve's eyebrows raised, and she asked, "What did Allie do?"

"Keeps treats in her room that comes from the lowly bakery her mother so despises, hide sensitive information of crimes that takes place in this mansion," Vincent shrugged his shoulders.

Eve didn't have any words for this as the secrets Vincent mentioned about Allie knowing was one of Eve's crimes. It was hard to refute what he said about people's innocence because his words made sense when she paused and took a closer look. She wondered if it was because she was spending this much amount of time with him, which was why it made sense.

Vincent said, "If it makes you feel better, some of the houses will be fixed in your name."

"My name?" Eve asked with a slight frown.

He gave her a nod, "Mhm. Your name. We'll be fixing your house from tomorrow, and the ones who can afford will be working on their own house. I will help rebuild some of their houses, which will be done under your good name."

Eve turned to meet his eyes and realised what he was doing. He wasn't just reconstructing the damaged house but fixing her name by bringing her good name back into the townsfolk's eyes.

"I thought you didn't care about what people thought," Eve remarked, and Vincent's lips curled.

"It doesn't matter to me, but it does to you, doesn't it? I didn't feel it would cause any harm, in brushing the dust off your name," Vincent replied as they continued to walk in the corridor. When they came near the room that was supposed to be used by Eve, he said, "What matters to me is your happiness, and no one else's. You are my priority. The rest can go to hell, so stop thinking about others and think only what I think, and that will be enough."

This was a hard thing to do for Eve, and she answered, "I will try."

Far away from where they were, Marceline walked near where the black cat that had intruded into the mansion. She waved her hand and said, "Shoo! Shoo from here!"

The black cat stared at the vampiress, blinking once before it walked past her.

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Marceline clenched her hands and called one of the servants, "Take this filthy cat out of here! We don't know where it has been."

Timotei wasn't impressed by this woman's words and sized her up and down. Especially when he took such a long time to groom himself. When the servant came to pick him up, he pulled out his claws and scratched the servant's hand.

"Meow," Timotei growled, and he huffed. Did they think they could throw him from here?

The servant noticed the light scratch marks on his hand and made a second and third attempt to catch the cat, but the black cat kept playing with him by moving back and forth.

"How hard is it for you to catch a small cat?" Marceline questioned the servant and rolled her eyes at the servant's incapability.

Timotei noticed the vampiress making her way to him and her nails sharper than his claws. When Marceline bent down, ready to grab the cat's tail, his eyes narrowed, and he scratched her face.

"AHHH!" Marceline screamed, feeling the cat's claws swipe across her face.

Hearing the vampiress's shriek, Eugene quickly ran to see Timotei somewhere between glaring and sneezing at Lady Marceline. He picked up the black cat without prior notice before closely hugging it so its paws wouldn't move and over its mouth..

"Forgive me, milady. The cat is untamed," Eugene apologised to Marceline with a bow.

"That horrible cat cannot live here! Throw it out, right this instance!" Marceline demanded with a glare, feeling the burn on her face.

Horrible? He would show what horrible meant, but Eugene had covered the cat's mouth. If Eve didn't need this cat around, he would have kicked it out himself, but this cat was notorious. He said,

"This is Miss Eve's cat. Please forgive it!" Eugene quickly ran to the servant's quarters carrying the cat, leaving behind a fuming Marceline.

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