"It feels warm," said Penny feeling the candle turn from cold to warm. 

"Didn't the gla.s.s feel warm too before the color changed?" enquired Damien for her to nod, "How do you feel right now? Tell me."

"I don't think there's any change. It was cold and now it's turning...it's turning hotter with every second," she informed him.

"Let it go," ordered Damien for Penny to let go of the candle. Doing what he said, Penny dropped the candle like a hot potato. His hand that went to reach the candle first reached her hand, taking it in his grasp where he ran his thumb over her open palm, "Your hand feels warm," he murmured. It had also turned red, "If it isn't bearable you can always stop it."

"What?" asked Penny who had lost herself in her own thought. 

"You know what you can handle and what you can't," he frowned as he continued to run his thumb. Penny had hoped he would let it go but instead, he continued to hold to it. Strangely, his hands were warm too. Weren't vampires supposed to be cold-blooded creatures? 

He picked the candle with his other hand, squis.h.i.+ng it in his hand were the candle disfigured. It seemed like she would need someone to guide her and he wasn't that person. Penny had no clue about her lineage and had been going through her life without realizing it. He wondered how lucky she was to not be caught by the suspicious village she lived in. 

"Master Damien?" he heard her call his name. Her voice was airy and free, like a bird that flew in the rare summer sky of Bonelake. 

"Hmm?" he raised his eyebrow. 

"Why are you warm?" 

"I am a very warm person?" Penny wanted to smile at his narcist self. She was getting used to it, having not seen or met anyone like him she tried to hold back the smile which Damien noticed either way. 

"Your hands I mean. I thought vampires are cold-blooded," it was at least what she had heard from the people around her and the knowledge she had grown up with. 

"Your questions sometimes make me want to tutor you on the creatures that live amongst us," he smiled, his eyes twinkling as if he were plotting something in his mind, "Vampires and halflings of vampires which are humans turned vampire are the ones who are cold in nature. They lack a heart that beats."

Did that mean the pureblooded vampires had a heart that was different and similar to humans? wondered Penny to herself. 

"Pureblooded vampires aren't sitting in the top of the food chain for no reason. We are the oldest vampires, the first generation that gave to the next and hence offsprings.  Can you guess which one I am?" he asked her.

"Fifth-generation?" asked Penny for him to shake his head.

"I'm the second generation. My father being the first. The pureblooded vampires have a beating heart," he pulled her head and placed it on his chest where the heart laid. It's beat similar to any other human, "The older the lineage to the direct descendants, that much is our ability to hold to our roots and what we are. I believe as years pa.s.s by with centuries, even pureblooded vampires will finally turn cold by falling into the same line as any other average vampire."

"What is the difference between a normal vampire and the pureblooded vampire? Apart from the body temperature and beating heart," she asked him still curious. 

"You want to know?" she nodded her head. Leaning in closer to hear him say, "What will I get if I speak of such cla.s.sified information which not many should or aware of?" 

Penny was curious about the ability he spoke to which she leaned on the detail of wanting to know, "I will not run?" Damien stared at her, tipping his chin to ask her,

"Where were you planning to run, little mouse? Truth for the information. I want you to be open book," he leaned his body towards the bed. Stretching out his legs this time.

When he was asking about running was it about her escaping? "Woville."

"Who is there at Woville?" Damien didn't sound angry and instead, he appeared relaxed at the thought of her running as if that was not going to happen. Though partly he would be right about it now. After knowing the possibility or the after the confirmation of her being a witch, Penny came to the conclusion that if she did hold some sort of voodoo magic, the probability of her life turning to h.e.l.l was much more if she left his side. If Damien had to hurt and torture her, he would have done it by now. 

"There's no one there."

"So you're telling me that you planned to escape to a place where you had no one but to go on a whim. Are you aware of how dangerous the world out there is? Stupid mouse," he narrowed his eyes, "You would only end up in the slave establishment all over again. Like it or nor but young girls as yourselves aren't safe. People will always want to sell you back to the slave establishment. It must have crossed your mind."

It wasn't that Penny had not thought about it. Damien did have a point and the thought of being sold again was something that weighed on her mind but the last time she had been sold, it was because of her relatives who had trapped her. Thinking about that, she wondered how they were doing after making use of the silver coins that was gained by selling her. 

And though Penny had told him the truth, that wasn't the entire truth. She skipped mentioning the part where she had saved her money which should have been enough to travel to Wovile to start a new life. 

But Damien was sharper than the rest, "What else? That can't be all. I wouldn't underestimate the mouse I bought for thousands of gold coins." 

With a small exhale, Penny told him, "I saved some coins in the nearby forest when I started to live with my aunt and uncle." 

"Why would you do that?" he asked her curious, "Didn't trust them?" 

Penny smiled, a smile that Damien hadn't seen a smile as if she were letting her guard down.

~To all READERS. Read the below author's note CAREFULLY before scrolling to the next chapter~