Lady Dhampir

The only One

*Six months later*

“Good Morning, my Lady!”

Milena frowned, turning over in the bed. The maids chuckled a bit. The first thing that the personnel had noticed: even if she was a daylighter unlike her father, the young lady was not a morning person at all. Every day, it took some extra time and effort to wake their young mistress up. Opening the curtains wide, Sofia insisted. With her, two young maids rushed to help Milena sit up.

“Your breakfast is ready, my Lady! Please get up, we have a busy day ahead.”

A maid came in, carrying a large tray full of food. Another thing they had learned was Milena could actually consume blood but she liked the food better. Though, she had unusual tastes for a child her age and hated sweets.

“Today’s menu is red tea, with toasted bread and your favorite omelet!”

There was a lot more than that on the tray, as Sofia was still hoping to help her Lady gain some more weight. Milena wasn’t as skinny as she used to be when she had first come to the manor but she still seemed way too thin for her age. Her eyes still closed, the young duchess sat up with one of the maid’s help, half-asleep.

“Did you stay up late again to read, my Lady?”

Milena nodded slowly. The Head Maid felt a bit helpless about that. Since she had learned how to read, there wasn’t any way to keep Milena off her books. Progressing extremely fast, the young Lady had not only learned how to read, write and calculate but she had done it so fast that she was now at a more advanced level than most children her age, according to her teacher. Their young Lady was truly a prodigy!

Sofia took a glance at the pile of books the young maids were gathering from the bed and bed table. Three of them were about plants, two were novels and one was a history book. Milena had borrowed all those from the manor’s library two days before. She was reading so fast that soon there wouldn't be any books in the manor that she hadn’t read!

“My Lady, do you want some butter?”

“Come on, Blanche, get up too!”

At the end of Milena’s bed, the young silver cat hissed, unwilling to comply. She opened her gold eyes only to glare at the maid and turn around.

“Come on!”

Olivia, the young maid, had resorted to agitating the bedsheets to have the cat finally get up. Annoyed, the feline had no choice but to jump out of bed. When it landed, it had turned into a shepherd-type dog, still growling at the maid.

“What a bad temper!”

“Blanche, enough,” said Milena.

That’s all it took for the dog to stop. Ignoring Olivia, as soon as Milena called her, Blanche got away from the bed and throttled around the room, stretching her legs and avoiding the maids. Sofia sighed. Blanche was the only thing that Milena had ever asked for.

It had taken a while for the Manor’s personnel to get used to the wilful, shape-shifting creature. The Duke spent lots of gold on any kind of toys or stuffed animals for Milena but her books and Blanche were the only things that she had ever wanted to keep close. No one knew where Blanche came from, how old she was, or even what she was exactly. The maids had seen her in at least ten different forms, though she stayed as a dog, a cat, or a wolf most of the time. Since she had come to the manor, she didn’t obey anyone aside from Milena, and never stayed apart from her young mistress very long either.

“Is Father asleep?” Asked Milena, with a husky voice.

“Of course, my Lady. Both the Duke and the second young master went to sleep about an hour ago. You will see them tonight for dinner. Do you want to pick your outfit today?”

“No… You can choose, Sofia.”

The Head maid sighed, and walked to the wardrobe, knowing exactly which dress she would take out already. Milena didn’t have any interest in what she wore, no matter which brand or expensive fabric it was. She never showed interest in the expensive jewelry she was given either.

“My Lady, today you have a doctor coming in to examine you in an hour. Then, you are to study until lunchtime.”

Milena opened her eyes. Another doctor… Since she was brought to the manor, it had become a regular pattern for a doctor to come in and check her condition. Even if she knew she was still unhealthy, she also knew her father’s concerns were mostly about her unique features, but she didn’t really like being examined…

“My Lady, young Master Valentin asked if you would like to accompany him for lunch today.”

Milena put down her cup, her eyes suddenly shining with interest.

“Isn’t Big Brother busy with work?”

“He is, my Lady but he said he would love for you to visit him at the Royal Palace during his lunchtime.”

Milena couldn’t believe her ears. The Royal Palace! That was where the Royal family lived, with their big library and many gardens! How much had she envied her older brother Valentin for being able to go to such a place every day!

“Of course, I’ll go! What time can we go, Sofia?”

“After your classes my Lady, I’ll have a coach ready for you.”

For Milena, it wasn’t just about going to the Palace, it was also her fifth time going out since her father had found her! The previous times were only to go to the hospital and to the City for shopping. Neither had been very pleasant experiences since she was still unable to feel secure in the middle of a crowd.

The Duke didn’t like having Milena going out of the Manor either. Every time she did, she was always accompanied by the Duke or her older brother Valentin and a dozen of their Family’s Crescent knights. However, she didn’t feel bad about being confined to their family lands. The Manor itself was a very large building and she still hadn’t seen all of the rooms, even when playing hide and seek with Lucian and the maids. They had magnificent gardens that she loved very much. She took at least two strolls a day there with Blanche.

“My Lady, here is your mail. Do you want me to open it for you?”

It seemed strange for Milena to receive mail from people she didn’t know but since it had been made known that the young Duchess de Crescent had been safely brought home, she received a dozen letters daily. Most of them were invitations to tea parties from other young noble ladies who tried to befriend her. Milena had yet to understand how the complex relationships between nobles worked but she was aware that her family had the highest status, second only to the Royal Family. As a young duchess, it was inevitable that many nobles would try to befriend her, invite her to meet their daughters, and try to find out more about the protected young Lady of the Crescent family.

However, Milena had only just found her status, got her family back, and had a lot to learn. Hence their family Butler always sorted the mail for her before she opened it, so she would only respond to the most relevant ones and save the others for later.

“Did your friend write to you again?” Asked Sofia.

“Yes, hers is the blue envelope.”

Among all the letters, Milena had finally found a pen pal a couple of months ago, one that her father had approved of. She loved the letters that they exchanged almost daily before they could meet. She opened that one first, while the maids took out the breakfast, only leaving her the tea. Blanche jumped on her lap, in her cat form, while she was reading.

“How is your friend, my Lady?”

“She’s well. She went to another tea party and said she wished I had been there…”

“Do you want to go, my Lady? To a tea party?”

Milena wasn’t sure. She wasn’t feeling very confident about attending a tea party while she was still in the process of learning all the manners that befitted her status and couldn’t yet remember all the names of the noble families…

“My Lady, how about inviting your friend over?” Suggested Sofia. "Maybe our Lord, your father would be more inclined to you having a visit from a friend if you didn’t have to leave the manor?”

Would her father accept? He frowned a lot anytime she asked to go out… Milena decided to get up and get dressed, so she could put her precious letter in her pocket. She wanted to meet her friend very much but wasn’t sure her father would accept. While the Head Maid brushed her hair, she thought she might ask for her older brother’s opinion during lunch.

A knock was heard at the door and the Head Butler walked in.

“Are you ready, young Lady? The Doctor is waiting.”

Milena frowned. She really didn’t like to see the doctor, even if it was only to discuss. Lately, he only asked her a lot of questions, took her temperature, looked at her eyes and skin and that was it. While sitting in the little salon, she couldn’t hide her nervousness. Blanche jumped up next to her on the sofa, curling up in her wolf form with her head on Milena’s lap.

“Good Morning, my Lady,” said the Doctor who came in. “How are you today?”

“Good Morning. I am fine…”

Despite Milena’s uneasiness, the Doctor her father had chosen for her was a nice middle-aged man, with gentle hands and a reassuring smile. As usual, he took her temperature, took notes of it and then observed her skin. When he looked at her eyes, he started asking the same questions Milena had gotten used to.

“How is your eyesight, my Lady? I heard you read very often! Do you still need to use the little light at night?”

“Yes.”

The doctor wrote down another note.

“Interesting, still no sign of night vision… Alright and after that, do you sleep well, my Lady?”

“Yes.”

“She falls asleep very late,” added Sofia.

“Does the young Lady have difficulties getting up in the morning?” Asked the doctor.

“Yes.”

“I see… As we thought, her natural sleep cycle might be a bit different from actual humans. It might be interesting to let her sleep a bit more to see what time she would naturally wake up.”

The butler and Sofia nodded and Milena knew they would do so the very next morning. The doctor checked her pulse, frowning and looking at his watch.

“Do you ever feel drowsy, my Lady? Or very tired or thirsty?”

“A bit of all that.”

“Really? How often?”

“When I wake up and after lunch too.”

“I see.”

He noted something down before turning to the Butler.

“As we thought, the young Duchess might need blood. Certainly not as much as the Lords, but maybe a cup a day would help improve her health.”

“We will make sure our young Lady tries it,” said Sofia right away.

Milena knew they all hoped for her health to improve. The Doctor turned to her with a smile.

“Do not worry my Lady, it may be slow progress but we will definitely find what is right for you. I am very honored to be entrusted with your health.”

“Because I’m Dhampir?”

Milena’s sudden question surprised everyone in the room. Sofia and the Butler exchanged worried looks but the Doctor, once he had regained his composure, answered her with a gentle tone.

“Yes, my Lady. As you probably noticed already with your family, vampires and humans have very different needs and bodies. For my Lady, we do not know exactly how to address yours, since your condition is very unique.”

“What about other Dhampirs?” Asked Milena.

The doctor shook his head.

“Unfortunately there is no other, my Lady. The last living Dhampir we know about died three centuries ago...”