When the carriage arrived near her home and she was carefully guided down, she saw her mother outside with Mr. Sheridan. It seems they were also just rounding up their conversation. On seeing the carriage her daughter alighted from with Vincent next to her, Isabella felt moved to joy and her expression revealed that. Never in her life has she imagined that she would one day see her daughter being treated kindly.
Lorelei turned to Vincent and with a bow, she said, "Thank you for today."
"It's my pleasure," Vincent replied her and before she would leave, he told her, "You should still consider what I said. There really could be someone willing to make it come true."
Lorelei lowered her head and smiled subtly. She turned to look at Mr. Sheridan who now started to walk towards them. Turning her eyes back to Vincent, she said to him, "If you come again, I will tell you what my final wish is." With that, she turned and greeted Mr. Sheridan before hurrying to where her mother stood. They watch them take the same carriage Lorelei and Vincent had arrived in and waited until it had left before making their way back inside the house.
Once inside, Isabella wanted to ask her daughter about Mr. Sheridan's part-timer and if she had fun with him, but due to one or two reasons, she refrained herself from asking and just watched as Lorelei walked into the room they shared.
*
Mr. Sheridan saw Vincent wearing a smile through the ride and he decided to ask him about it.
"Um…Did something good happen between you and Miss Lorelei?"
Vincent moved his eyes to him and asked, "Why do you ask? Didn't you expect that something would happen when you suddenly asked me to take her outside?"
Mr. Sheridan lowered his head and said, "Forgive me. If I had known it won't be convenient for you, I wouldn—"
"That's okay, Matthias," Vincent said with a wave of his hand. "She is one interesting lady."
Raising his head, Mr. Sheridan asked, "Interesting? Did you find out something about her?"
"No, but she did find out everything about me."
"What?!" Mr. Sheridan exclaimed and quickly covered his mouth. Quietly, he asked, "Did you try to convince her otherwise? What if she doesn't allow me back in their house? I mean, this is a perfect excuse to send me away."
"Relax," Vincent pulled his brows a bit. "It's nothing serious. I don't think she cares if I'm a vampire or not. At least, she already found out even before she voiced it. She mentioned that I was kind and different than how she had pictured most vampires. And by the way, she found out I'm not your assistant but that you work for me." Another smile formed on his lips as he remembered their discussion. "She reminds me of someone."
Mr. Sheridan didn't quite feel at ease on hearing that. Lorelei had just found out that he is working for a vampire and he can't help but think that she would start to suspect a foul play. Vampires and humans don't work hand-in-hand except there is something to gain. All humans know that. But looking back at her mood when he saw them together, she didn't look like someone who cared about who Vincent actually is or his purpose of visiting.
The conversation soon changed and the smile faded from Vincent's lips. His brows pulled deeper as he spoke, "About the incident…"
Mr. Sheridan didn't allow him to finish when he lowered his head deeply. If they were talking while walking on ground, he would have lowered himself to the ground. "Forgive me. It was my mistake," he apologized.
Mr. Sheridan knew he had committed a grave mistake. He felt deeply sorry and refused to raise his head.
The first time he met Vincent was six years ago when he suddenly visited his home one night with a blood sample for him to study. Back then, the doctor didn't question him, knowing that he came from such a high class. In return, Vincent had put his trust in him and warned him never to disclose any information he has about the sample or their meeting to a third party. Since then, he hasn't visited until two days ago when the news of the incident reached him. Through the years, they had only communicated through letters. Vincent would send a carriage man to his home to receive the letters and also give feedbacks. But two days ago, he came to check things out himself. That is how the doctor knew he had committed a grave mistake.
Just a week ago, some men had barged into his home and stolen some valuables, including a blood sample that belongs to Lorelei. With that sample gone, their research was incomplete and it only drew them back. Mr. Sheridan knew the perpetrators, but he was only concealing their identity to avoid further complications. He knew the severity of the damage and that they deserved to be punished, but he understood the humans better. One thing could lead to another thing.
"Your mistake?" Vincent asked him and when the doctor raised his head just a little to look at him, he saw how upset he was. He slowly lowered his head back and heard him ask, "What could you have done? After all, your family was threatened. But you know what I hate the most?" he asked and his eyes turned darker. "It is how you keep protecting these people. All I need are just their names."
"I'm sorry, but I fear that if you get involved, it could lead to something worse."
"Isn't it worse already that one of the samples got stolen? How many years of hard work is that, only to be ruined by some mortal thieves? I hope you know how important this is to me."
With a heavy sigh, Mr. Sheridan apologized again, "I'm sorry. I won't disappoint you again."
Though Vincent knows the incident would repeat itself, he didn't say anything to the doctor and the journey continued in silence. When the doctor got to his destination, he got off and waited for the carriage to start moving before he left.
Once they got to a certain spot, Vincent tapped the wooden frame and the carriage came to a halt. The carriage man got down and looked around the place his passenger had decided to stop. When he saw Vincent, he said with concern, "Sir, I doubt you will find any carriage around here. Why don't you tell me where you are going and I wi—"
The sound of carriage wheels approaching and slowing down made the carriage man turn to look to be sure he heard correctly. At first, he had thought the carriage was just passing by, but he was soon to be surprised when he saw the carriage man come down and walk to where his passenger stood, giving him a deep bow.
Immediately, the surprised carriage man realized who his passenger had been all along and he heard him ask;
"May I ask what your name is?"
Knowing that he was someone of a higher class, he lowered his head immediately and said, "It is Duncan, my Lord."
"Duncan," Vincent repeated. "I may have a job for you."
On hearing that, Duncan looked up with wide eyes but he lowered it back and felt his heart leap. 'It will be such a great honor to be of use to you."
"What's your schedule like this week?" Vincent asked.
"Other than transporting customers to their destinations, there is nothing else I'm doing," he answered.
"How about I pay you two weeks' worth?"
Duncan could already feel sweat breaking through his body. He couldn't wait to go home and give his wife the good news. He replied, "I'm available for anything you want me to do sir."
"The lady that was with me earlier, I need you to serve her for two weeks." He dipped his hand into his pocket and brought out some gold coins before handing them to him.
Duncan stared at the gold coins in his hands and he expected to hear more. The coins were more than what he would earn for two weeks work. "Is there any other thing you would have me do? I can take you wherever you want to go."
"No, it's fine," Vincent said. "I just need you to look over that family."
With a heart of gratitude and determination, Duncan said, "I will make sure to do as you have said and I promise not to disappoint you."
*
In the early hours of the morning, Isabella rose early and left a note for Lorelei stating that she was out to work. They needed money to pay for several things, yet income seems slow. She left the house quietly that morning and started to walk in a hurry. The family she was going to work for lives quite a distance but there was no money to spare for transport. The only thing she could do was rise up early and walk as fast as her legs could in order not to get late. But the moment she stepped out of the house, she was suddenly greeted by a cheerful Mr. Duncan.
"Good morning Mrs. Voss. Where are you off to this early?" he asked as he walked to meet her.
Isabella looked at the man strangely, not quickly recognizing him and she asked, "Who are you and what do you want from me this early?" she looked at him warily, wondering if he was one of those people sent by the ones she was owing to either get their money back or harass her.
"I am here at your service to take you to where you are going and back home again." He then asked, "Aren't you running late?"
Isabella wondered if this was a new scheme by the carriage men to make sales, but they had chosen the wrong person. "Never mind. I can get there fine on my own."
"Mrs. Voss…wait!" Duncan tried to call her back but she was already walking fast, maybe even faster than how his carriage would have moved that early.
He quickly got into his carriage and started to move, following her. When he caught up with her, he called her again, "Mrs. Voss, I can take you anywhere you want to go."
Isabella moved farther away from him to the side and continued to walk. She didn't have any time to waste on a carriage man pestering her. It's not like she had any money to give him or that he would be willing to take her for free. But the way he kept following her made her question if he had nothing else to do, or if he wasn't at all desperate to make some sales that morning.
When Isabella got to where she was offered a work, the others that were invited were already present and she was the last one to arrive. The woman, who is a merchant's wife, stared down at her and with one wave of her hand, the maid led them to where they would start the work she had called them for. Isabella worked diligently, doing her part of work in the best way possible. The merchant's wife would walk in once in a while to check on what they were doing and leave again.
By noon, the work had been completed and they all gathered together again to receive their fee. The woman paid every other person and sent them away, but when it was Isabella's turn, she stared her down again and said;
"You won't be receiving any payment."
The woman's words tasted like bile in Isabella's throat and she raised her eyes to look at the woman. She asked her, "Why are you holding back my payment? You paid every other person before me and now you said I won't be getting any pay?"
The woman scowled her down and muttered, "How impudent!" She held her head high and said, "You are one to talk after arriving late. Didn't I give you a specified time to be here?"
"That's because my place is far from here," Isabella tried to explain her situation but the woman spoke carelessly.
"Your problem is not my concern. If you knew that, then you should have stayed back home. I also heard you are a lower-class bottom feeder. I should not have let you touch anything or even step foot into my home!"
Isabella clenched her hands into tight fists and she felt hatred burning through her. "Just because I fall under that category doesn't mean you should treat me like I'm nothing. If you had no intention of paying me, you should have sent me away the moment I came. That would have been understandable. But now, I can only imagine the kind of person you are: a woman with pride and no moral values, eating the labor of others as if they are your own. Who do you think you are?! A god? If this world were right, you would have been the very ground I step on."
The woman looked at Isabella with a shocked expression and then looked at her maid who stood there looking aghast. With a thunderous yell, she ordered her maid, "GET THIS WOMAN OUT OF MY HOUSE! NOW!"
And just like that, Isabella was thrown out of the house by two maids with nothing to take home but humiliation. As she walked back home, her feet moved slowly and her heart was crushed. What would she tell her daughter when she gets home and asks about the outcome of where she went? How would she be able to gather the debt money they had to pay this week? And why was it that every time, even as time was slowly drifting away from her daughter, there wasn't enough spare time to spend with her? The doctor had told her that her daughter has less than a month to live. There are only weeks left now. And yet, day by day, they are rolling into debts and had no time to focus on what really matters—her daughter's happiness.