Part 9: Ivan the Terrible VI
Humans have always worked under the notion that myths have no basis in reality. They believe that a myth is a silly little tale old women have thought up to put a senseless lesson into the minds of the young. Little do the humans realize that even the most eccentric myths have some grain of truth to them.
Her brown eyes blinked at him several times confusing shining through making him chuckle darkly. "Oh." Beth gasped her eyes widening at the man in front of her. "It is a pleasure to meet you." She said mentally concentrating on keeping her heart beat normal.
Laurent studied the girl his wicked grin widening with each passing second. The smell of her blood was familiar to him something so sweet that he has tasted many times, but he has yet to encounter this century or the last. "Such an intoxication." Laurent breathed his ice blue eyes dancing over Beth's form. "If I had not breathed you in myself I would have thought it a mistake." Roxy hissed softly her pale eyes glaring sharply at Laurent who chuckled and backed away.
"Okay so what is going on?" Beth asked moving back as Josef's strong cold hand guided her into a seat away from the majority of the group.
"Coraline has been swayed by Ivan." Roxy said her eyes slowly changing back to their warm honey color. "We needed to move up our plans."
"What do you mean she has been swayed?" A large bulky male asked hovering protectively behind Liz, Beth noticed his slicing glares directed at Josef. "She is not one to bend to the will of others."
"When it works to her advantage she will." Josef said eliciting several low growls from the far side of the room.
"Gentlemen." Roxy's soft voice sounded warm and kind but Beth could distinctly hear the warning.
"What has she agreed to?" Liz asked her small hand moving behind her to rest on the hand of the large male.
"She likes the idea of enslaving the humans…she is even more overjoyed that it is her blood that can do this." Roxy said the slight curl of her pale pink lip betrayed her distaste for Coraline.
"She likes having the power over others." Laurent agreed his face looked pinched and drawn. "But to make the humans slaves…"
"Is exactly like her." Liz said. "We need to stop fighting about what she would and would not do and just accept the situation for what it is. Corlaine is working against us. This is no longer a rescue mission. We need to put a stop to this."
"Coraline has already donated her blood and he has begun his work. He needs to start off with the compound. Fortunetly for us he has little idea how to create it, but he is making progress. From there he is planning the manipulations." Roxy said.
"How is the security?" Josef asked
"He is a lot like you." Alex said speaking up, Beth took note of the surprise carefully hidden on many faces. "He uses brute force, skilled people trained in the art of killing and technology to get the job done. Except he has one major difference." Alex said chancing a glance at Roxy. She let out an unneeded huff of breath but nodded her head.
"What?" Josef asked looking irritated that someone had a better security system than he did.
"Well he has Roxy. See Ivan knows that if anyone was to ever attack him directly that his mate would step in, you don't have that extra protection." Alex said.
"Wait what does that mean?" Beth asked her curiosity getting the better of her. "I thought that Roxy was his wife." Beth said.
"She is." Liz said smiling at Beth wanting to make her more comfortable, she knew this was a terrifying situation for the young woman. "But she is also his mate. See with our species there is a fine distinction between the two that can mean a very big difference."
"I am married to Ivan and I don't always agree with what he does but I would never be the one to hurt him." Roxy said. "I could just lead others to do so even if it hurts." Her musical voice tickled Beth's ears.
"Damn." Josef muttered. "I didn't see it before." He hissed rubbing his forehead.
"What?" The bulky male asked.
"If I attack Ivan, Roxy will attack me." Josef said.
"But her instincts will fight against it." Liz said and Laurent nodded in agreement.
"The connection between sire and creation never really goes away it is hard to fight it." Laurent agreed.
"But if it is between a mate and a child the mate takes precedence." Roxy said.
"That sounds very backwards." Beth muttered.
"You are thinking about it from a human perspective." Liz said chancing a glance at Josef. "When you are faced with eternity, forever is a long time. Having a mate beside you is the better option it makes the time more bearable so when you are faced with the choice of your mate or your child, you chose your mate." Liz said.
"Great." Beth breathed. "This means someone not connected to Roxy has to fight Ivan." Beth said mentally ticking off Josef, Alex, and the blonde herself. "So someone else in this room will have to do it because you are the only ones powerful enough to do it. It won't be Liz because she is so young and it can't be any of her brothers. Laurent is a possibility and that other male ancient I think you said his name is Alby." Beth said her eyes unfocused as she mentally went through conversations.
"Albert." A strong British voice huffed. Beth's head snapped in the direction of the voice only to meet the sneer face of a tall pale male with platinum hair and narrowed ice blue eyes. "The name is Albert, and whoever called me Alby will have their head removed" His eyes snapped to Josef who just grinned at him.
"Wouldn't dream of it." Josef muttered.
"Good." He droned. Beth was struck by how old Albert actually looked; he was by far the oldest looking man in the room, around his late forties.
"There was also two women ah Panny and Vala."
"Pandora and Valia darling." An amused voice said. "I am Pandora, she is Valia." A pale slender finger attached to a dark jet black haired beauty pointed towards a short redhead.
"Beth has a point." Josef said.
"I do?"
"It would have to be one of the four of you. No one else is powerful enough to take on Ivan."
Beth looked at Roxy and saw a dark resigned look on her face and the guilt crashed down on her. Here they all were assembled together and they were discussing how best to kill this woman's mate, the person who stuck by her forever. It just didn't seem fair. Golden honey eyes turned to her and Beth's heart stopped. She knew when she saw the desperate loneliness in their depths that Roxy had already decided her fate; it was better to die than face eternity alone.
Beth's Apartment
She walked shakily through the door hours of hissed conversation fluttering around her mind. Blank looks and harsh comments all tugged at her but the worst was the look on Roxy's face; she knew it was coming.
Beth walked to her laptop and turned it on before she put on a pot of coffee. She needed to shower; Josef told her to do so right when she got home so that the scent of all the vampires would be diluted when Mick came by. If Mick caught scent of what they were doing than all of their plans would be ruined. She knew now that keeping him in the dark was the only way to keep him safe, he was not ready to go against the people Ivan had with him and she knew that Coraline's family was still looking to get at him.
The steam hit her and she felt the tension lessen in her shoulders, but it was not enough. "It is the right thing to do." Her whisper bounced on the tile walls sounding back to her.
She sat before her computer, her skin pink and damp as she typed in her search; Aesir. The word sounded familiar to her but she was not making a connection and it had been bugging her all night. She knew that if she just put the few missing pieces together several things about the night were going to make more sense.
Josef's snarled hisses and muttered words that she couldn't hear kept nagging at her, she knew that something was off; she was missing something and it was important. The others knew what it was and she was being left in the dark. This led her to believe that whatever they were hiding that to do with her or Mick if not both.
The search ended and numerous popup windows for Norse gods and myths appeared. "What the…"
"Aesir, Norse warrior race of gods. Idavoll or Ida is believed to be their secret meeting place called only in times of great strife. Blood will flow like water and the stench of death fills the air for days." She read. "Vampires." She breathed.
Josef's Home
"She knows something is wrong." Liz said tracing a finger over the clear glass overlooking the valley.
"Beth has always been rather observant sometimes too much for her own good." Josef agreed.
"She saw something though. Something spooked her I heard it in her heartbeat." Her brown eyes flew to his "Something that the rest of us didn't."
"That is not surprising. But did she hear what we said?" Josef asked.
"No she was too preoccupied to try and figure it out. Alex made sure of it." Liz said turning back to the window.
A solid arm slid around her tiny waist as she continued to gaze outside her brown eyes staring into the distance. "This does not feel right." She hissed closing her eyes "I feel as if I am sending her to her death." Liz said turning in the steel embrace to face his pale gaze.
"When the time comes she will chose what her heart is telling her to. Beth will do what she feels she has to." Josef whispered.
"Even if it means getting herself killed." Liz sighed, "She really does love him."
"Which is why this is going to work."
Ivan and Roksana's Home
Alex watched her as she slowly drank from the male, tears of sadness rolling down his dark cheeks as she drank her emotions spilling into him. Her blue eyes remained blank as she drank and it frightened him. His sire was upset but he didn't know why and he wanted to whimper and try to fix it. He heard the male's heartbeat slow and Roksana removed her mouth from his arm, for some reason choosing to go without his neck. She licked the wound closed and turned to look at him, his little freshie sleeping peacefully next to him.
"You should go to your freezer, you need rest." She said and he slowly moved to comply. The strong air of decay doubled in the room and he knew Ivan was there. Without looking at the ancient man he left the room. When he got to the end of the hall he chanced a glance into the room and saw his sire tucked under the powerful arm of the ancient male clinging tightly to him as she stroked his arm. He turned away from the sight feeling an overwhelming pain settle over him when he realized why her freshie wept. She was going to lose her mate.