Part 1
Hamlin had to admit he was shocked at how vaguely sinister the Ashe Family Manor was. It made the Baron's Manor he visited decades ago seem downright inviting, and it was daytime. Dead trees, a moat, to say nothing of the wrought iron gates.
"Come on you lot, someone's expecting us." Rebecca said, pushing open the gate with an extremely loud creak. "I sent them on ahead a year ago to clear the way. They might be asleep right now though."
"Who?" Marv asked, curious.
"You'll see, I think you'll be happy to see them though, Marvin."
"Dammit Boss you know I'm bad at guessing games!" Marv complained to no avail.
Heather meanwhile just smiled, as he finally understood why those two left one day.
Reaching the front door of the Manor, Jack had to hold his shirt over his face to keep himself from gagging.
"Rebecca what in the seven assholes of King Xolarand is that smell?"
"I told them to bury the bodies, but I guess she still feels she's too dainty for that. Curse that husband of hers too." Rebecca said with gritted teeth. "That's probably the decaying corpses of all the dead idiots who were occupying my Manor."
Rebecca clapped her hands, and the grounds of the Manor sprung to life. The trees burst with life, suddenly growing leaves and shaking, as if waking from a long nap. The grass turned bright green, and began to slowly wave, as if blown by a breeze. The dead ivy on the manor walls filled with life, and expanded rapidly, covering and consuming the front door of the manor, and revealing a pile of corpses stacked neatly in the entrance hall. The ivy dug greedily into this pile, consuming the flesh as fertilizer, and when it withdrew, only bloodstained clothing and armour was left behind.
"Divine Creation magic. I don't think I'll ever get used to it." Heather said with a laugh.
Rebecca motioned for them to follow her, and they went deep into the Manor, until they reached a servant's bedroom in the basement. Rebecca knocked before swinging the door open, revealing a quite familiar large ornate coffin. Rebecca approached the coffin and swung the lid open, revealing Victoria Valorian and Sergei Ivanov locked in an embrace, fast asleep.
"My two little agents. Adorable aren't they?" Rebecca said with a smile, before closing the coffin lid again. "We'll talk with them in the evening. Looks like they've been asleep for a few months."
Once the five of them were back upstairs in a very damaged dining hall, Marv was the first to raise his hand.
"Yes Marvin you have a question?" Rebecca said with a smile.
"How much of this was planned and how much was 'it came to me in a dream', Boss?"
"Marvin, I want you to look at me." Rebecca said sternly. "For the entire 118 years I was a vampire, I had a nightmare every single night. I had more than forty three thousand consecutive nightmares, and I recall every single one with excruciating detail. You had no way of knowing this, so I will be kind to you this one time, and tell you to never mention dreams in my presence ever again if you don't want to be fed to Vicky and Serge after I personally strangulate you. Do I make myself clear?"
"Absolutely, Boss." Marv said with a gulp.
"Good. As for how much of this was planned, well, that's a state secret." Rebecca said with a smile, folding her hands. "For now, we plan. Heather."
Heather nodded. "Charta et calamum." He said, and his hands briefly glowed before writing materials appeared on the table.
"Marvin, I'm making you head of security. Your job will be to vet external threats, and deal with them before they become a problem I have to be made aware. This also means you will be in charge of hiring and managing security officers for the Manor grounds. Andy will be sending 2 of his best men, the ones you beat at poker in his mansion, to help out for a couple months."
"Head of security? Me?" Marv asked, shocked. "But I don't know the first thing about that!"
"Sure you do. You're a master thief, now that I'm retired, you're probably the best thief in the south. Who better to guard the hen house than the fox?" Rebecca said with a gentle smile. "Jacob, I'm assigning you to be my personal bodyguard at all public events, and head butler while we're at the manor."
"Not the big guy?" Jack asked, gesturing at Hamlin, who shook his head in response.
"I am the Duchess's companion, not her servant, Mister O'Malley. Speaking of companion, now that your condition has been cured, I believe my nightly services are no longer required, am I correct, Rebecca?"
"Like hell they aren't. You need to teach Heather." Rebecca said, shooting him a glare. "Speaking of, Jacob, Marvin, go amuse yourselves for a few hours. Come back at sundown."
Marv and Jack nodded and quickly left, as Rebecca was already undressing.