With the maid's body which now laid on the ground, lifeless and empty with her head torn halfway through wear it delicately stuck to her body everyone one of them who were around looked stunned and speechless. Death was something that took place behind the closed doors and most of the houses liked to keep it that way but Damien had no interest in keeping things subtle. A point had to be done and he was sure it was enough to keep everyone in check before there was another attempt.
"Damien, why did you kill the maid?" Maggie was the first to ask as she was the only one courageous enough to question her younger brother and it might have been because Damien was a few years younger to her.
"Didn't you hear me ask?" came out Damien's chilled voice which was as empty as the girl who was dead at his feet.
"I did. Servants can get back to their work," Maggie spoke to the servants who recollected their mind of what they just saw while hurriedly going inside the mansion from the backside. Once all the servants had dispersed away with Falcon who had gone to urge the servants in, Maggie looked at Penny who looked shocked.
Anyone would be. The way Damien had killed wasn't a decent and quick death to execute a person. Instead, it was nothing short to be considered as cold-blooded murder.
Fleurance gained back her composure and being the eldest vampire here, she asked, "What is the meaning of this, Damien?"
"I would like to ask the same. The maid tried to push Penelope into the water and not everyone is brave enough to enter my room and do some harm to something that belongs to me," answered Damien, he took the kerchief from his pocket and cleaning the little drops of blood that had come to fall on his skin."
"It doesn't mean you go killing them right in front of the others. Do you know what is going to happen?" asked his step-mother who looked at him with a frown.
"That is called a warning. You don't have to patronize me," he rolled his eyes, "Nothing none of you haven't done before. I am sure we have killed a fair share of people here unless you would want me to shake that rusted memory of yours," he said looking down at the dead maid.
"And the reason being your slave? Don't you think it's going too far unless you are trying to get too attached to a girl who is lower than a maid, she's a slave, Damien. Don't forget that," Grace voiced out her opinion looking at Penny who had the towel wrapped around her shoulders now, "If I didn't know better I would say you are getting attached to her."
A normal vampire, especially from a high standing family would refuse right away about the possible attachment towards a person who was in the lowest state of their food chain. They would outright deny it without a second thought as reputation meant everything in the higher society. But Damien never followed the normal standards of a pureblooded vampire.
"What if I said I did, sister? Do you have a problem with that?"
Grace stared at Damien who was expecting him to deny it but with him agreeing to what she just said, she went to say, "Are you sure you should be accepting it? To think you're considering a filthy slave who is being branded?"
"Damien, think before what you speak. Your actions will not only affect you but will also affect us directly or indirectly. Don't go spouting things you don't want by throwing mud on Quinn's name," Fleurance said while having her gaze strict on Damien.
Maggie on the other hand who was listening to them sighed softly. Looking at Penny, she went to where Penny was and said, "Let me take her in. She's shivering in cold," Damien didn't turn his face but his eyes moved sharply to look at his elder sister who offered to help.
"That's alright. I will take her in. I have nothing more to say but one single thing before I go up to my room," said Damien looking at the three of them. His sister seemed to not take any offense as she was used to his blunt words and behavior, "The maids are quite tamed here to pull a stunt like that. No one has ever been brave enough to do that which only makes me wonder..." he drawled his voice purposefully if any of you tried to instigate her, "The maids won't do it and if not for the push by someone.
Which brings us to on me wanting to know which one of you asked the maid to push her from the patio of the room," Damien gave a look to every single one of his family member. Penny who had been too shocked with everything going around where she was shivering in cold due to her wet clothes, looked at Damien after hearing his accusations.
She wasn't sure if someone had really pushed her but it seemed like it did as Damien had caught the maid but was killing her the right thing to do? A life for another life without any remorse was hard for her to wrap her head around. Could what Damien be telling true? That the maid was being instigated by one of the family members? Penny had done nothing to anyone here. She looked at Grace who stood quietly. Her red eyes staring at Damien who was looking back at her.
Was it Grace? Asked Penny to herself. Grace and she had got on the wrong foot with each other. Even if Penny was careful she would still have been in the same situation but wasn't pushing her off the room taking it too far? thought Penny to herself.
"Isn't that going too far?" asked Fleurance who looked at her step-son with annoyance, "It is one thing to say someone pushed and now that you have killed the maid you suspect the maid's intention on us. Have you no shame?"
"I don't," Damien chuckled finally, looking down at the body of the maid and then up to the older vampiress, "Why do you ask questions for the answers you already know? How silly."
Lady Maggie wasn't pleased hearing this either, she went to say, "Mother Fleurance isn't wrong, Damien. Suspecting like this isn't right. If you wanted to find the person on your suspicion you could have asked the girl before ripping her head apart."
"My..." Damien's lips pulled up, his lips twisting, "Wasn't mother just speaking about family and its status? I was merely upholding it while keeping the family in my best interest. How shameful would it be to drag the person right in front of the servants? If you haven't got the memo yet, I hope you do now. Even something happens to this girl, I will be sure to make it even with the person. Don't beg me that I didn't warn you," he gave the three vampiresses a look before pushing Penny's back so that she would start walking.