.

The clouds that were up high growled against each other, shaking the window panes of the windows as they reverberated with the mere sound of what the clouds did. The snow had started to fall down again, the ground around the mansion which had been cleaned and cleared that noon again starting to collect the coldness and settling down flake after flake. 

With the time of evening that had started to pa.s.s by and the night taking over the lands, the sky had turned darker, the forest and the lands almost mes.h.i.+ng together if one were to view it from the mansion. Durik continued to walk around the mansion, checking every corridor to make sure there was at least one lantern burning at every curve. This time not because he was scared but he was asked to light up the mansion along with the other servants. 

"Sir, the lanterns have been lit on the ground floors," one of the maids arrived, her eyes looking big and wide. 

"What about the backside of the mansion? Make sure you have one there. Also, where is that blonde boy who was with you, did you send him up to the second floor near the attic?" asked Durik making sure one of the servants had covered that part of the mansion. 

"I don't think so, he went out to fix the lanterns at the front side," she answered, rubbing her hands together due to the cold which was starting to fill and creep into the walls of the mansion. The snow had turned to a blizzard. The wind was moving fast as it pushed the snow any and everywhere around the lands of Bonelake. 

"Okay. I will go light up some of the lanterns up there. How many more do we need?" asked the butler, picking up three lanterns in one hand and another three in the other. 

"We might need more than six," the maid answered thoughtfully while looking at his hands, "There should be some in the kitchen cupboards."

"Go get them up there," he jerked his head looking at the top floors.

"Yes, Sir," the maid bowed her head to Durik. Seeing the maid leave Durik couldn't help but agree with himself that having some kind of authority in this big mansion felt good. Even if it was just maids and the other servants, he enjoyed that little control but he had promised to not misuse it. 

He could hear the Quinn's in the dining room who were having dinner right now. The candles had been lit on all the chandeliers, some candles covering around the corners of the mansion where the lanterns had not been placed. Making his way up through the stairs, his shoes made small clack sounds against the carpeted floor.

Reaching the floor, Durik took a deep breath at the darkness that awaited him. The dark corridor where some of the candles had been spent out while some that was about to extinguish with a small blow of wind. 

He started to walk, taking a left and placing one lantern there first. He continued to walk and repeated the same with him positioning the lanterns at every corner of the floor until only two lanterns remained in his hands. 

"How strange," the butler murmured under his breath. The maid had told him he would need more yet he had covered the floor with four lanterns. Wondering if he had missed a corridor due to the darkness a.s.suming it to be the walls, he took another round. 

Noticing that he had covered all the place, he placed one lantern near the stairs if Master Damien would ever need it. Walking back down he met the maid who carried two more lanterns in her hands. 

"That won't be needed. I positioned the lanterns at the corners. Take this one back," he ordered the maid and shooing her back to the kitchen. Durik went back to the dining room to make sure everything was in place and there was nothing amiss where there would be a probability of him being put under the 'meal for today' list. 

"The snow was alright until morning but the weather has changed drastically," Lady Fleurance said while having her dinner. Durik wondered if the vampiress had a huge appet.i.te as she had asked for him to serve her food a few hours ago. He was somewhat thankful that he did get something prepared for her quickly as the time for the dinner had been pushed today due to the heavy snow. 

"The white witch had already predicted it in the newsletter today," he saw master Damien speak, his hand cutting into the meat that was on his plate, "There will be too much snow collected tomorrow again," saying this, he looked at Durik who bowed his head. 

"I will have it cleaned early in the morning," said the butler. People didn't actually talk in here, they were usually quiet as they had meals and if they weren't quiet, there were severe jab of words thrown left and right. Last week if he hadn't moved away on time from where he stood, a plate would have smashed onto his face. 

Such were the days of a butler. Cleaning up the table along with the other servants after the meal was done, he went to check the kitchen and then went to the main doors to lock the entrance of the mansion. The bunch of keys which were given to him, jingled as he twisted his hand around the lock to finally let it go. 

Before he could go to his own room, he heard the sound of a window hitting against the wall.

A frown came to form on his forehead. He had asked the maids to close the windows tightly but instead of making sure they had left one of the windows open. He walked back up the stairs. 

Picking up the lantern which he had placed down earlier, he walked searching for the open window. Finding it, he placed the lantern on the ground and stretched his hand to reach the edge of the window before pulling it closer to him. Even with the gloves on his hand, he could feel the harsh cold that had surrounded the mansion and the lands near it.

For once, he was glad that he was in the mansion and not somewhere else. The mansion had some places which were warm and the walls were thicker than his own house which had the ability to freeze him to death. 

Successfully closing the window back how he wanted where the cold wind couldn't get through, he picked up the lantern for it to only blow out even though there was no way this time for the wind to get in from where he stood. Suddenly the butler was surrounded in nothing but darkness. His only companion and source of courage had been blown out. 

In the cold darkness, Durik blinked twice before he gulping down the fear that was trying to come up. The lantern that he had was covered around with gla.s.s and full oil, did it decide to extinguish just like that?