Forbidden Love 10

CHAPTER TEN...

Aleksander looked around impatiently wondering where Danka had run off to. He had asked her to keep an eye out for Damien. No, she had even offered to do so, and now she was nowhere to be found and neither was he. He turned to look at his parents who were staring at him confused and worried. He had informed them about his thoughts on Damien and his father had quickly understood the connection he was making to the human chambermaid he had told him about. His mother had not understood but he had left it to his father to explain to her as he scurried over to his throne. He had not meant to put his father in trouble with his mother as he knew he would be for keeping this story away from her. But there was nothing else he could have done. Belle's life could be in danger and he could not risk anything.

He jumped as Danka materialised beside him. He looked round to see if anyone had noticed but they were all concentrating on the elders and the few pure breds that had been joined together in front of them.

'Merde!' He swore. 'I'm not even going to bother asking how in hell you can do that when the elders here cannot, but I am going to ask this. Where the fuck have you been?'

'And that's the thanks I get for scuttling about the countries running after your adversary because you were too busy looking for Mummy and Daddy to help you do what you, as a pure bred, can do.' She retorted in disdain.

Aleks looked at her confused, 'What do you mean, scuttling?'

Danka started to explain then looked up, 'Oh проклятие! Damn, it's our turn to be mated after this next couple. I'll give you the abridged version and be calm about this, okay. Elder Damien found out that Belle is in Paris and is going after her to kill her.'

'WHAT!?' Aleks roared loudly causing the proceedings to come to a halt.

'Thanks for replying as calmly as you could.' Danka hissed looking round as everyone stared at them.

'What is the meaning of this? What impudence!' An elder, Alphonse asked in quiet fury.

Aleksander ignored them and turned to Danka, 'Are you sure about this? Of course you are. Tell me where she is. Quickly.'

Danka whispered in return, 'The Hyatt Regency. Supposed to be near the airport, although I know not what airport she speaks of. And right now, the elders are talking to you!'

Aleks turned, his eyes glowing so red that they reflected off the polished oak table.

Alphonse widened his eyes a little as did the other elders but he said again, 'I will not repeat myself, pure bred. What has you so riled that you dare disturb such an important proceeding?'

'It's the Elder Damien, my lord. He is out to kill a very important person to me.'

Aleks replied through gritted teeth.

He could not waste any more time here but he knew leaving would result in a dire punishment. He did not care if he was punished but he could not leave his family like that.

Damien?' Alphonse asked in surprise. Was Damien not with them? He turned round to look and realised Damien was nowhere to be found.

'I see.' He stated then added, 'I can understand your anger, but how important is this person that it causes you to be so impudent?'

'Very, my lord. She is my rightful mate.' Aleks replied loudly.

A loud gasp went through the vampires in the room.

'Silence!' Alphonse yelled as loud mutterings escalated.

'Your rightful mate is by your side, Aleks so I will pretend I did not hear this. Now...'

'I'm sorry, my lord but you deliberately misunderstand. I have kept quiet as have the other purebreds out of respect to you and the other elders over this archaic nonsense about being mated to other purebreds.'

'Aleks!' His mother gasped in fear.

Aleksander continued as if he did not hear her, 'And due to our respect and silence, the girl that I love is about to be killed. I am sorry if this causes you offence, elders. But I cannot stay here and argue over the right duties that I should abide by. I will leave it to my parents to do so and I ask for your leniency in your punishment. If you believe that I do not deserve such grace then I ask that you do not punish my family. I take full responsibility for what I have done and what I am about to do.'

He turned to his parents, 'I am sorry, but the longer I stay here, the closer Damien gets to Belle and if she dies, I simply cannot carry on living.' With that he left the room.

There was silence for a split second as everyone absorbed what had just happened.

'Well?' Alphonse said breaking the silence, 'Start explaining Claudio.'

Aleksander's father, Claudio cleared his throat and explained to the elders and all the vampires about Aleks' love for Belle.

'I see.' Alphonse said when he was true. 'Well, who is this Belle? I know not of any vampire called Belle.'

Claudio ducked his head wincing as he delivered the final part, 'She is human.'

Alphonse stared at him in shock as mutterings erupted in the room once more.

'Human?' He hissed so quietly yet so effectively that it silenced the whole room. 'All these disturbance over a human?' How dare your son?'

'He loves her. I thought I could dissuade him but his love for her is too strong as we can all see. I am sorry about this, but I stand by my son.' Claudio said firmly.

'I see. And who else stands by this nonsense?' Alphonse asked with narrowed eyes.

'I do.'

'I do.'

'I do.'

The 'I do's' came from Aleks' mother, sisters and Malik. Then Danka raised her hand as well. 'So do I, my lord. I do not know the French pure breds, or the Italian, American, African...all the other ones. But I am aware of this as surely as I stand here and speak. No purebred wants to go through this mating ceremony. The only reason we are doing this is because of the threats we have received on our families' lives. You claim you want what's best for us yet you threaten us into following your rules. If you had thought to talk about this with us in a rational matter we may have accepted, although this is something we shall never know now. You want us to act in respect for you, yet you do not consider our personal views important. You threaten us into submission so that you can have your own strong army of pure bloods. We have been foolish enough to stand for it. I have been foolish enough to stand for it and I shall do so no longer. We should not have relationships forced upon us to better your protection. Aleks does not want it and I am in full support of it. He is an honourable man, and I believe an honourable man should have people standing for him.'

Her father turned to her and pleaded, 'Милый мой, не делать этого, я прошу вас (My darling, do not do this, I ask of you.)'

'I am sorry father. But if we cannot stand for ourselves now; if we do not stand for ourselves now, then who would? If you had stood for us as parents we would not be in this situation. Well I stand for myself now and for my children. No one has the right to decide their fate, my fate; no one but us.' And with that she disappeared.

New mutterings began at the turn of events and the elders saw that the pure breds were looking at them in defiance. Alphonse suddenly realised that the elders and vampires were definitely outnumbered by the pure breds in the room and he felt a little thread of fear run down his spine.

He stifled it quickly and said 'I see that what my Russian pure bred has said made a large impact on your minds. Are you all in agreement with what she so passionately stated?'

There was a large roar of agreement from the pure breds.

'I see. And you are all aware that what we elders agreed upon, it was for your own good? That this way you are invincible, we are all invincible?' He asked again.

'Oh put a sock in it.' A male American voice drawled from the crowd, 'We already are invincible, don't you see? You've drummed it in our heads for so long that we are, so why say we will be invincible if we mate when we already are? It doesn't matter who we marry or mate, we're still gonna have pure bred kids, ain't we? Pure breds are vamps born as vamps not vamps made by other vamps. Even normal vampires can get pure breds by giving birth to vamps.' He ended sarcastically.

Alphonse nodded again as he saw the other pure breds and even the normal vampires nodding in agreement with the American.

He signalled to the other elders and they gathered in a huddle to debate on the new situation. It was a futile debate, Alphonse secretly thought. Things were out of his hands now, he concluded to himself in resignation.

He turned round to the large gathering and said in a calm voice, 'I have heard what you have to say and here is our verdict as elders; if you do not want an alliance then who are we to stop you? You have gained your much argued for freedom to choose who you want to mate. And if anyone ends up with a human, then be it upon your head how you deal with that consequence as long as our existence is not made known to all humans. Be aware however that if it is, your punishment will be exceedingly severe.'

All the pure breds and vampires alike roared in approval. Finally they were free. Why had they not thought of uniting together before to stop this? Ah well, the end result was the same, was it not?

Claudio smiled as well in relief to his wife. Thank God, his son would not be punished then. But he had to go help him. It was one thing to end this rule, but it was also another to make sure his son and future daughter-in-law were safe.

He turned to his wife and said, 'Esme, I have to go look for my son and the human. I have to make sure that they are safe from Damien. I know how evil Damien can be and I have to help our son.'

Esmerelda grabbed his hand, 'Explain to me what you mean by this. Aleks started to say something before but he never finished. What have you been hiding from me Claudio Romano?'

Claudio sighed and turned back to her, 'Once upon a time, long before I ever met you, my darling heart I once fell in love with a human. Damien found out and bit her, almost draining her. He left her for me to turn and I wanted to but she refused. She chose to die than be turned by me and I let her die. It's something that will always be a part of me but I want you to know that I did not keep this from you because I still love her. I did because she was a part of my past and you are my present and my future. And I will love you for eternity.'

Esmerelda smiled gently and lovingly at him, 'Thank you for trusting me with something you have carried alone for so long. And I do not blame you for keeping it from me. I guess we are all entitled to our secrets, n'est pas? Now, I will follow you to hunt down this murdering elder. I have never liked him to be frank.'

'No, Esme. I go alone.' Claudio quickly said shaking his head.

'We shall not argue about this, my love. I go with you. Now let us go. The longer we stay here arguing over something you know you shall not win, the greater time we waste helping our son. And the human of course.' She added quickly.

Claudio sighed in resignation and nodded. 'Fine.'

'We're going too.'

Claudio began to shake his head firmly as he turned round to look at his twin daughters. 'To borrow a phrase from you youngsters, there is no way in hell you are following us. Remain here with Danka's parents.' With that he walked out of the room with his wife.

Katerina turned to look at Danka's worried parents who sat together clasping their hands tightly.

'Oh poor them. They came here to watch their daughter mated and now she's flown off to help some stranger who's human no less.'

Elena turned to stare as well then snorted rudely, 'Oh who cares? We can take care of ourselves as can Danka. I mean, she disappeared for Pete's sake. No one here can do that. She's probably got more gifts stored in her deceptively blonde head than our lot, so why should her parents be worried? Anyway, I'm off to help the parents and Aleks. You coming?'

Katerina shook her head frightened, 'Father and Maman said not to. We shouldn't.'

Elena rolled her eyes and said disdainfully, 'This is why when we were kids, Aleks and I never did stuff with you. You were a wimp then and you're a wimp now. Grow up Katerina and don't remain sad for the rest of your life. That means for eternity!' She rolled her eyes once more and blurred out of the room.

***

Belle soaked in her bath and hummed alongside the crooning of Billie Holiday from her IPod. She had had a delightful dinner and was now luxuriating in her Marks and Spencer's passion fruit bath foam. She thought about taking a walk down the street towards the well lit Eiffel Tower then shook her head. She would do that tomorrow. She was too tired and sated to move anywhere but her bed after this much needed bath. She started singing out loud as opposed to humming when she heard a knock on her door.

Room service?

She had just had dinner; or had she rung up for dinner before she changed her mind to go downstairs and eat with the other guests? Her mind was failing her and she wasn't even sixty!

Talk about early onset Alzheimer.

She laughed softly to herself and got out of the bath to turn off her IPod speaker before wrapping the hotel's thick white towel round her newly thin body.

'I'm coming.' She called out as a knock sounded again. Keep your hat on, she thought to herself a little irritated.

'Sorry, if I rang for food...' She started then trailed off when she saw a pale skinny face staring back at her.

'I'm sorry, you have the wrong room.' She said, fear doing the tango up and down her spine as she made to shut the door.

The man stuck his hand out and pushed the door backwards before stepping in and shutting it behind him.

'Look, I didn't know it was possible to steal in hotels, but I can only offer you pounds. My euros are all gone.' She whispered in fright as she backed away from him towards her bag.

'What do I need with money?' The man replied with a little laugh.

Oh dear, he was going to rape her.

He laughed out loud at this.

'You are incredibly stupid, even for a human. At least your friend had spotted immediately that I was a vampire, although I did not care so much for her description of me as villainous...no matter. Do you now realise that I would rather rape a carcass than do so to a human?'

Vampire!

Claire!

She gasped out loud and hurried to her phone but Damien grabbed her hand before she had taken more than two steps.

'How is it that you have been with Aleks, for a presumable long time I am sure, and yet you do not know how fast we are? Your stupidity is growing by leaps and bounds dear Belle.'

Belle struggled but to no avail in his arms, 'Fine you've made your point about my stupidity. But would it be alright if I put something on? As you said you could never have sex with a human and right now it seems a tad silly seeing that I am practically naked.'

Damien looked down at her towel that had almost slipped to the floor and cocked his head to a side, 'You are right, ma chere. And your bravado right now by talking to me so spiritedly makes up for your earlier bout of stupidity. Let's chalk that up to fear and surprise then shall we? As you wish.' He released her abruptly and she stumbled back rubbing her bruised arms and staring at him with abject loathing.

'Let's not waste time giving me horrible looks. Put something on or I shall kill you here and leave you naked body for room service to find. You can never tell, a pervert may be the one who discovers you and does untoward things to your dead naked body.'

Belle rushed to throw on the dress she had been wearing when she arrived at the hotel and dragged on the first knickers she grabbed from her opened suitcase.

'Fine. Do as you wish then. But before you kill me I'd just like you to know that if this has to do with Aleks, and I'm sure it does, there really isn't any reason to kill me. We aren't together anymore and you've got your wish. Your pure bred is all yours.'

Damien threw his head back and laughed. 'I'm beginning to like you more and more, Belle the human. Begging for your life in such a defiant way. How wonderfully charmant. Yes my darling, it does have to do with Aleks but for a very different reason. You see, I once did away with some silly little human that Claudio, Aleks' father once was in a relationship with. I had nothing against him, I just felt like being my normal evil self and I did what I felt like doing. Then I met a human myself some years later. Oh it's not like all those pathetic sob stories about falling in love. Non. However, I fed from her and she tasted...exquisite. Something about her blood was so delightful. I wiped her memories but several days later, hunted her down and fed from her again. This went on for a little while. Wiping her memories after feeding from her. Until I yearned for more. I wouldn't say I loved her, but I certainly felt something for her. I decided to change her. Of course, I'd learnt from Claudio's lesson how the humans viewed us as nothing but spawns of the devil so I decided to wipe her memory of me during the change. I wanted her as a newborn vampire who would then be 'found' by me. I was going to tutor and nurture her and finally make her my mate. It all went well, the memory wiping and the changing. However, before I 'found' her, it seems my darling friend Claudio did so first. And, how ironic it was when I'd looked for her for months then saw her during Claudio's mating ceremony. He mated my Esmerelda.'

Belle, against her will, was fascinated by the story, 'So what happened? Did you tell her about you?'

'Of course not; don't be stupid. She would never have believed me. What was the point anyway? They were already mated and clearly enamoured with each other. Killing Claudio or telling her about my role in her past would not change their love. I always regretted ending his little arrangement with his human. If they had gone on, maybe he would not have been with my Esmerelda.'

'Wait...do you mean he and Esmerelda...that Aleks is their son?'

'You're a bit slow aren't you, Belle? Yes it does. And now I have my perfect revenge. I cannot take away the closest thing I had to love from Claudio but I can do so to his son. You. I can cause the pain I have always wanted to cause Claudio to fall upon his precious son.'

Belle shook her head as her fear eroded her earlier fascination. 'But that doesn't make any sense! Aleks doesn't like me anymore! He practically told me so with his actions the last time we met, plus you're gonna end up killing the son of the only woman you ever loved...well potentially loved.'

'That's all the more reason why I despise that little chien! I could never hurt the girls, his sisters. They look exactly like their mother. But him, he is the carbon copy of the father. Everywhere I look, I see little Claudio or big Claudio. I cannot live with two Claudios. I have been looking for a way to finally destroy one Claudio and now I have. Through you, Aleks will be so crushed he will end his life. I would gladly have done it for him, but I cannot kill a pure bred. Annoying rule I myself made which I have bitterly regretted for a long time.'

Belle started to talk again but Damien raised a hand, 'Enough. I have wasted so much time here and I have to start thinking of a suitable lie to tell the elders for missing the ceremony.'

The ceremony, Belle thought to herself. Ah, the mating ceremony then. How incredibly ironic. She had let Aleks go in order to save them all, yet he was getting mated at the exact time that she was about to be killed.

Damien stepped closer to grab her and she side stepped him, lunging for the door. He grabbed her and slammed her to the floor. 'Now, now let's not make this anymore difficult than it already is.'

'How is it difficult for you, you vengeful creature?' She spat at him, fighting the nausea that rose as her head spun from the slam to the floor. 'You've stewed for years, centuries waiting for the perfect time to avenge some pitiful hold you've had in your black husk of a heart. If you were so sure about Esmerelda you wouldn't have needed to wipe her memory every time. Blaming it on what you did to Aleks' father before...pitiful excuse. And for the genius elder who's supposed to be oh so powerful and fearful. Well I don't fear you, so do your fucking worst.'