I stood closely behind Lumiere as he unlocked the door to the girl's bedroom, only to stare skeptically at the girl who was tearing the wallpaper off the walls.

"Marianne?" my brother whispered with obvious pain in his voice. He moved slowly—a failed attempt to avoid startling her. She immediately turned from her art project and jumped to her feet with inhumanly jerky movements.

"You!" she screamed, lunging at him with her long nails poised to scratch him wherever she could reach. He managed to turn away from her, grabbing her wrists to prevent her from hurting his pale skin, but her feet kicked wildly. I was astonished that he let her. It had been weeks now, and she never got better.

"I know, and I'm here now," he said with a sad smile on his lips. "The young Lord is back, and I had to take care of a few things." He said it as calmly as he could, weighing whether he could let go of one of her wrists to retrieve the glass container filled with blood that I knew he had in his pocket.

I didn't trust the girl and immediately took a step forward to help. My hand slipped into my brother's pocket, and I fished it out to hand it to her. As if I had given her a command, she stopped kicking, and her large blue eyes widened even more.

"For me?" she whispered, jumping down from Lumiere before taking a step back. Her body relaxed, but her eyes remained fixed on the bottle.

"If you behave," I warned, removing the cap.

"I will..! I will..! I WILL!" she replied, bouncing up and down in place with a broad grin on her lips, clapping her hands excitedly. "You know I will, Lu-Lu, I'll behave, I do my best every day, you know that." She said with pleading eyes, begging for the ruby drops. "I'm just bored," she insisted, talking far too fast for me to take in every word. "So terribly bored, Clockie," she said one last time before I let her take the blood from my fingers. The glass touched her lips within seconds.

I watched as her expression changed, the beast within her awakened, and that was why we kept her locked up here. She had no control over the monster inside her, and we weren't sure if she ever would.

"How are you feeling?" Lumiere asked gently, sitting on her bed and looking around at the mess she had created.

She had taken to tearing down the wallpaper and painting the walls with vivid colors, mostly depicting beast-like creatures and other horrifying things that belonged in nightmares, not on walls. Perhaps it was her way of accepting her new life, or maybe it was portraits of the demons that moved beside her.

"I'm better," she said with a smile, sitting on the floor with her legs crossed at his feet.She was lying; I could see it. Her body trembled, her muscles tensed, and her eyes flickered around the room. She was anxious.

"Don't lie to us."

Marianne rolled her eyes as she turned to meet my gaze. "Why do you always sound so angry?"

"Because I'm worried about you," I began, my gaze drifting to Lu, who leaned back with a sigh, and I suspected he hadn't told her the truth. That she was an abomination, born of filth, and that none of us had any idea if she would survive the end of the week.

Her bright blue eyes sparkled as she followed my gaze and looked away at Lumiere. What surprised me was the expression on his otherwise emotionless face. It was then that I realized she meant more to him than she did to me. I chuckled to myself, remembering how he had screamed at me to kill her, to save her from the pain. Now, he too was dependent on her smiles.

"Everything will be alright, my darling," he whispered, and I felt my heart sink into my stomach as I heard his lie. We both decided it was time to leave the room.

As soon as the door closed, he rested his forehead against the wood and turned the key. It was clear that he felt bad about locking her up like this. The moment I walked away, we could hear her pacing manically back and forth inside. Whenever she ate, she seemed to get worse, and Lu couldn't find a solution for it. But he was determined; one day he would solve the problem.I followed him in silence down to his workroom. The room was nothing like Anthony's or Luis's; it was filled with experiments, books, bottles, and concoctions. Marianne had been living here as our captive for a few weeks now, and during that time, he had poured all his energy into trying to cure her. He had gone so far as to ask me to capture a bunch of lowborn vampires, now locked away in the basement so he could study their blood for more insight.I watched him closely as he immediately settled down and continued his work without taking any notice of me.

"Is it progressing?" I asked, sitting down in an empty space on his desk, one leg dangling in the air as I twirled a cigar between my fingers.

"You can't light that in here! Something might explode!"

I raised an eyebrow but put it back in my pocket. "No changes?"

"Not yet," he sighed, starting to drop her blood into a green liquid that bubbled under a flame. "She misses you."

I nodded. "And how are you?"

"Me? Never been better."

"Lies," I laughed, placing a hand on his shoulder. "She means something to you. You spend all your free time here trying to save her."

"Maybe because I want to correct your mistake and let her live," he muttered, staring at me, but his words didn't affect me; I saw the truth in his eyes.

"Lumiere, my brother," I said with a broad smile, the kind of smile that could turn men and women to mush. "I'm flattered, but you don't have to do this for me. And we both know that's not the reason."

He was silent for a long time before suddenly turning away to examine his experiments and jot down results. I decided to stay for a while. My brother needed me, I was sure of it, even if he tried to show me otherwise. So I settled into one of the chairs in the room and studied him as he worked. The longer I sat there, the more relaxed he became. Eventually, I even saw a small smile. Maybe he missed the old days too? The times when we went on missions, just the two of us. When we stayed up all night playing cards, laughing, and drinking wine. I missed that. But times had changed, and ever since I got married, I had become his superior, and that changed everything.

"She needs me," he whispered at last. And the truth was, he needed her too. He was lonely.

Slowly, I rose from the chair and placed a hand on his shoulder. "What do you need?"

"Go spend some time with her," he mumbled. "She's waiting."

I gave him two gentle pats on the shoulder before I left. "I believe in you."

Lumiere entered the dining hall long after everyone else. This had never happened before, and three pairs of eyes immediately locked onto him. I looked around anxiously. Anthony looked irritated, but Luis clearly didn't care about him.

"What have we done to deserve your company?" Anthony muttered sarcastically as Lu sat down across from me. I seized the opportunity to give him a welcoming smile.

"I'm sorry I'm late," he mumbled, reaching for the tall glass of wine that had been poured for him. "I lost track of time."

"And exactly what is so important that it kept you?" our lord asked, his voice dripping with disdain. He hated when we didn't follow the rules, and being on time was important to him.

"A personal project."

"Any progress?" I asked cautiously, and he raised his eyes to meet mine, only to shake his head.

"You've grown quite fond of your little project, haven't you?" Luis chuckled beside him. "Have you thanked my husband for bringing her here?"

"He knows exactly how I feel about it," he replied softly, but his eyes shot daggers at the long-haired vampire, who was far too self-assured for his taste.

"The girl," Anthony stated. "So you haven't given up on her yet? How is she?"

He bit his lower lip, and I knew my brother well enough to understand that he didn't want to discuss her with the two princes. We both knew they would want to engage and tell him what he should or shouldn't do. He seemed to hate that side of them more than I did. At times, he seemed to resent himself for being the lowest-ranked in this household; perhaps that was why he needed Marianne so much.

"No progress at all," he replied to the prince.

"Is that why we have hissing beasts in the cellar?" Luis chirped, causing everyone to sharpen their senses.

"A miscalculation on my part," Lumiere mumbled, taking a deep sip of wine.

"A miscalculation that you should rectify without delay," our leader growled from the head of the table.

"Of course."

Luis seemed to revel in my brother's discomfort as he reached across the table for a bowl of fruit, took a strawberry between his fingers, and provocatively pressed it against my lips.I cast a questioning glance at my brother, and I saw him stiffen. Something had clearly gone wrong, and I didn't feel like playing games. I took the berry from my husband's hand and placed it on my plate, much to his chagrin. "I'm full," I stated calmly, not breaking eye contact with Lumiere.

"Oh really?" Luis muttered, narrowing his eyes at me. Seconds later, he pushed his chair back, leaned forward to kiss my cheek while still keeping his eyes on Lu. "I thought we could have dessert in our bedroom. Don't keep me waiting," he whispered in my ear, loud enough for everyone to hear, and then he left.

Lumiere continued to pick at the food but showed no inclination to eat any of the delicacies on his plate. The silence was broken by Anthony's deep voice. "Business is good, Clocksworth. Do I need to remind you to keep your husband happy?"

"I will," I muttered, meeting Anthony's gaze. "After you explain what the hell we have in the cellar?" I shifted my attention to Lumiere, who seemed to grow impossibly paler.

"It seems your brother has misjudged the situation," he chuckled, but despite his feigned calm, I knew he was boiling inside.

"How?" I whispered, turning to Lu.

My brother pushed his plate aside and cleared his throat. "The vampires you captured—they changed," he began.

"And you've been tasked with eliminating the beasts," Anthony muttered from the edge of the table. "And then it's the girl's turn."

Lumiere sprang to his feet so quickly that his chair flew backward and slammed against the floor. "NO!" he gasped. "You promised me more time!"

"And why should I keep my promise when the beasts are still hissing in my own cellar, Lumiere?" he asked gently.

I watched as my brother frantically searched for an acceptable answer within himself. He swallowed hard and seemed to collect himself before he stood tall and met Anthony's gaze steadily. "I've been working on something else alongside Marianne's problem," he began. "The monsters' blood has given me new information that I believe could be useful to you, my Lord."

"Go on," our master replied, bored, waving his hand. Surprised and slightly offended, I stared at my brother as he continued, "Not here, Anthony. Perhaps we can discuss it in your office? Just the two of us?"