Zenobia's Tale [Undergoing rewrite]

Part 8

Uncle Sven and Zenobia didn't speak during the trip from his broken estate to the city he wished to shop in. once the carriage came to a full stop, Zenobia could feel the driver move from the seat up front to the ground next to the door. The door remained unopened as Sven crossed his arms over his chest and stared the girl down.

"Now child, you are my niece from Scotland. Your parents were killed in a horrid fire and you were sent to stay with me. You only come out at night because of the burns sustained on your body, the heat of the sun hurts you. You should also know to keep quiet and pretend you're scared of people. Should not be a problem if you don't want to give away our little act." Before Zenobia could open her mouth to ask a question a knock sounded on the door causing her to jump. "Open!" He called out and nodded to the man who opened the door before climbing out and reaching back in to help Zenobia climb out and stand next to him. He bent down and straightened out her dress then smiled "Perfect." he whispered and took her hand gently in his own. "If memory serves correctly then it should be to our left. Norman will know you are not what we claim you are, but we must play along to fool his assistant." Zenobia nodded and remained silent as they crossed a slightly busy street.

"Sven! Sweetie!" An older woman with strangely colored hair and white makeup made her way towards them. "Sven darling, it has been far too long!" She said in a high pitch voice as she looked down at Zenobia she scrunched her nose and made an unflattering face. "What it THIS?" She asked tapping her foot looking back up at the man.

"This." He said sounding very angry "Is my niece. I DID mention her once." he stated and pulled Zenobia behind him as he skirted around the stunned woman.

"I-I did not know Sven, I am so sorry!" She squeaked out and turned an unflattering shade of red as she lowered her head in shame. Sven walked away and chuckled at a safe distance while shaking his head before opening the door to a dimly lit shop. Zenobia looked around and spotted a skull sitting on an old desk and covered her mouth in shock. Her hand tightened around Sven's hand drawing his attention to her. He patted her head and smiled reassuringly. A woman scuttled out and gasped moving towards them quickly.

"Out! Out! We are closed to anyone without an appoi-"

"Mariana. Sven is an OLD friend. He does not need and appointment to see me." A tall thin blond man said loudly from another room. The woman let out a sigh and turned on her heel leading them both into the other man's office. Zenobia couldn't help but look around as they moved through the shop. The clothes were odd, like the ones she had found in the closet at Sven's place. She stopped moving after running into the back of Sven's leg having not seen he had stopped.

"Mariana, you may leave us. Go home for the night I shall close up." The woman bowed and left the room a faint sound of bells alerted them to the woman making her leave. "Sven, who is this lovely child with you?" He asked moving to kneel next to Zenobia.

"This is my Niece Zenobia. She is going to be staying with me for a while." Sven introduced them. "Zenobia this is Norman, a very old friend of mine." Zenobia nodded her head towards the man and smiled slightly.

"Where did you find her?" Norman asked and smiled at her before standing to face Sven. "I know as well as you do your family has been gone for centuries now."

"She trespassed, and I grow board up in my castle alone." He pouted lightly and smiled "It would have been a shame to kill the child. Even if she is a creature of the night."

"Sven, love you know better than to get involved with mortals."

"Normy...She is no mortal." Sven leaned in and whispered into Normans ear causing his eyes to shift to Zenobia. "And the best part is she does not know. We can be the first to control it!" Norman looked at Zenobia once again.

"You know not what you are?" He asked and when she shook her head, he smiled and nodded. "Then Sven, we shall try and see if our theory is correct."

"Do you promise Normy?" Sven asked pouting again. Norman nodded and took the man's hands in his own almost lovingly.

"Yes, Sven. I promise you. We can test out our theory and if it does not work we must be ready. For we do not wish to have another mess on our hands. The last one ran naked through the trees, we still have yet to figure out if he killed that child the to-" Looking at Zenobia he drew Sven away from her and whispered just quiet enough so Zenobia couldn't even hear even with her advanced hearing. "Killed the girl that village found all those years ago. Perhaps we can use her to help us find the other one we lost."

"Excuse me," Zenobia spoke up at this point feeling rather left out of the plans that were obviously made for herself, "will one of you tell me what I am?" She asked politely. When the men walked over to her they smiled. Norman spoke first.

"In time child you will know what you need. For now trust, we will care for you and not let anyone hunt you." As he spoke she paled.

"Love, you are scaring the poor girl." Sven interrupted and moved to wrap his arm around Norman. "Yes Zenobia, there are people who will hunt you. There is a fair chance they ARE hunting you." Zenobia nodded and looked down gripping her hands behind her back. "We want to teach you to blend in, and defend yourself. We want to prove people such as yourself, can still be civilized even after you are turned into a bloodthirsty being." Norman watched as Zenobia snapped her head up at Sven's words.

"Civilized?" She nearly spat out. "Civilized?! I am very civilized! I have managed to survive this long without getting caught!" She stamped her foot as she screamed at them. "You figured it out, but you are not human either!" She stormed away into another room and looked around at the odd clothes. The ones labeled woman had trousers, some had odd looking clasps on the front. Skirts that were far too short, others that were able to be seen through. The men all seemed to have the same type of clothes. Pants and a shirt of some type. A few pairs of pants seemed to be too small to fit around a man's leg. The room was filled with strange gadgets that moved like magic, others looked to go in a person's hair, others looked to set on top of the head like a top hat. All the strange garments seemed to calm her as she looked around. She jumped and looked around her as a strange sound went off to her left. Behind a skirt with buckles that seemed to not be needed was a large wooden clock with more moving gadgets. A small yellow carved bird popped in and out chirping in a horrid squeal, covering her ears Zenobia backed away and bumped into both men.

"We are sorry to have upset you Zenobia. We meant nothing by it, but you are still young enough so we can teach you to keep you manners and remain capable of blending in. Others, adults like yourself tend to forget about being civil and take what they want, or simply forget they were once human. They are harder to help." Sven explained and lead her away from the room. "Please forgive us?" he asked her gently while Norman shut the doors behind them. She nodded and looked at Norman.

"What was that loud wooden thing?" She asked him innocently.

"That my dear was what I like to call my Caw-Caw Clock." He nodded. "It is a device that tells one the start of a new day by cawing like different birds. I can't seem to get the sounds correct, and the timing for most people would not be beneficial to well anyone." He said. "I like to explore and create new things and my clothes seem to be far off the fashion trends." He chuckled and looked at her. "We shall take you back to the castle before sunrise. Come nightfall I will start your training in etiquette and Sven here, will introduce you to a few friends who will help us teach you how to defend yourself." He took her hand as Sven took the other one.

"We will have such fun on the ride home. We can get to know who you are! We can tell you who we are." Sven said excitedly and clapped his hands while still holding hers. "What do you think love?"

"I think that is a lovely idea Sven" Norman stated and winked at Zenobia causing her to giggle. "But first, we need to find Zenobia food for when she awakes in the evening. Someone no one will miss." Both men nodded as if they knew exactly who they were going for. All three walked towards the carriage, both men chatted away like it was a bright sunny day. Sven opened the door to the carriage as Norman helped Zenobia into it. "Stay here child, we shall be right back. We must go speak with a woman about some food." He stated with a hint of mischief.