With this Blood……..Part 10

Elena continued to stare intently at Beth, obviously observing and judging her reaction to what she had been told. And she continued to do so, even as she addressed the man sitting to her left.

"Josef……perhaps you and Michael would not mind taking your drinks outside while I have a private word with Bethany." She saw Mick begin to react and quickly continued. "I give you my word, Michael, no harm will come to Bethany while she is in my presence. I have never killed randomly or with malice. I have never turned anyone who had not expressed a desire first to have this done to them." She watched as Mick took in what she had said, and saw that he did not quite believe her. She looked down at her still empty plate for a second or two more before looking once more at the man who sat across from her.

"You and I have something in common, Michael, as I too was turned against my will. There were many, many years when I hated the very thing that I had become, and despised the one who had done this to me. I understand fully what you are feeling even now, some 50 years later. And even though I have not only come to accept my immortal existence, but have come to embrace it wholly, it does not mean that I have ever forgotten what it was like to have this life thrust upon me so cruelly and without my consent. So, I assure you, no harm, of any kind, will befall her."

Mick contemplated what Elena had just said and for whatever reason, felt that he could indeed trust her with Beth's well-being. He glanced at Beth and saw that she wasn't at all afraid and that made his undead heart rest a little easier. He reached out and placed a hand on her arm, silently asking her if it was indeed alright for him to leave her alone with Elena and was rewarded with a calm reassuring smile. He gazed into her eyes for a second more before returning his attention to the evening's hostess and nodding his head in approval. Both he and Josef then rose from their seats, grabbed their crystal goblets filled with blood and headed toward the terrace entrance directly behind Elena.

Once outside, Mick walked toward the marble balustrade and leaned heavily against it, his back toward the doorway. He looked at the glass in his hand and downed its contents in short order. Placing the now empty goblet on the railing, he sighed heavily before speaking, "Josef….."

"I know," came the quiet reply from the man now leaning on the rail next to him.

"We could have…."

"We didn't."

"I wanted to kill……"

"I know."

"I don't think you understand……"

"Believe me, I do."

Mick had yet to look at his long-time friend and only now tilted his head to glimpse at him. Josef looked calm, almost peaceful. His gaze was focused on the doorway opposite, and Mick knew exactly what or who he was looking at.

"How do live like this?" Mick asked quietly.

Josef smiled sadly and looked at Mick. "It's just her way." He must have caught Mick's incredulous look for he quickly added, "I hate to say it, but you do actually get used to it."

Mick let out a scoffing laugh, his eyes closed, his head downcast. "You get used to it," he reiterated quietly. "That has got to be the most pathetic thing I've ever heard in my life."

It was now Josef's turn to laugh, and to Mick's surprise, the laugh was full of genuine amusement. Not for the first time in the 50 some years that he'd known Josef, did Mick wonder what kind of enigma lay under that expensively tailored, although now slightly torn and soiled, wardrobe. Just when he would get the feeling that he understood everything there was to know about Josef Konstantin, something would happen, another chapter would be revealed, another mystery unveiled. He'd heard the tales of Elena Korzha for many years, but he knew now that he'd only been treated to the barest of highlights.

"So what was it like?" Mick asked, indeed curious to know more about their now mutual tormentor.

"You mean at the beginning?" Josef asked.

"Yeah. How did you even meet her?"

"Ah. That. Let's see if I can give you the crib note special," he responded, his voice carrying a hint of humor with it. "Unless you'd rather hear the 1500 page "War and Peace" edition, of course."

Mick chuckled, and turned around, putting the two occupants of the room beyond within in clear view. "I think the highlights will be enough. Thank you though."

There was a pause before Josef quietly stated, "She's going to be alright, Mick."

Mick glanced quickly at his friend and gave him a surprised look. He hadn't thought he'd been that obvious, but he knew he should have known better. Josef always could see right through him. "I know….it's just……"

"…..that you love her?"

Mick thought about denying the statement, but knew that would be like refuting the statement that the sun would rise in the morning. He looked through the glass doorway and saw Beth and Elena talking intently, and he took a few seconds to appreciate the vision before him. It still amazed him how strong and how quickly his feelings for Beth had grown over the past few months that he'd really gotten to know her. Until that moment when he'd actually spoken to her at the fountain outside the Design Center, his life and hers had pretty much paralleled the moment he found himself in at this second -- standing on the outside looking in. Yes, he had watched her reports, sometimes repeatedly, on BuzzWire, but he'd been content to do nothing more than watch over her, to insure that her life remained safe and unimpeded in any way. He felt he'd owed her at least that, since he had been the reason she had been terrorized so many years ago. What he had never expected, never planned on, was how quickly she had captured his heart and invaded his soul.

"Yeah…..I love her," Mick finally admitted, his voice tinged with regret.

"You do realize….."

"Yes, Josef," Mick said hurriedly and with a slight hint of annoyance.

"I'm just saying that….."

"I know…..believe me. I know." He looked at his long time friend and saw nothing but sympathy in his eyes. He knew that Josef had his own ghosts haunting him on a regular basis, his own demons that would never leave him in peace. "It's not like I planned this," he told him truthfully. "This isn't what I……..I never wanted this for her."

A film of tears filled his eyes as he looked back at the woman now speaking animatedly inside. He spoke the truth. He would gladly leave her and never look back if it meant she would be happy and have the opportunity to live a normal mortal life. But his connection to her and what had happened between the two of them just the night before had changed all of that. There was no going back. There was no other option open to them. He knew it was only a matter of time before she asked him to turn her, and he knew that he would reluctantly agree. After all, he could deny her nothing. And as much as having her by his side for eternity would thrill him beyond belief, he knew that she would be the one to pay the ultimate price. He would end up condemning her, just as Coraline had condemned him. The one thing he swore to himself he would never do, and he would end up doing it to the one he loved the most. He should have been stronger, he'd told himself repeatedly. He'd known how she felt about him and he'd given in in a moment of weakness. And now Beth would pay the incredibly heavy price for that failing.

"Have you ever considered that this is what she wants?"

Mick looked at Josef in complete disbelief. "How could she?"

Josef merely smiled indulgently. "I know that it's hard to believe, but it really does make a difference when it's something that you want, something you ask for."

"You mean like you did."

"Yeah……like I did." Josef was silent for a moment longer, apparently gathering his thoughts. "I first met Elena when I was 17. I was a builder's apprentice in Ragusa…….that's modern day Dubrovnik in Croatia."

"A builder's assistant?" Mick interrupted with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Josef laughed. "I know…..I know…..why do you think I let the little people do the hard labor these days?" Not feeling a bit guilty for the sentiment, he continued, "As I was saying, I worked as a builder's assistant for a man who had been contracted to build a small chapel on the grounds belonging to one of the wealthiest men in town. Elena as it turned out was a friend of the family. Actually more than a friend of the family as it turned out. The owner was a descendent of Elena's daughter."

"Daughter? She had children?" Mick asked, his interest piqued.

"One only. The daughter was only 3 years old when Elena was turned by her own father."

"Her father did this to her?" the thought actually making him feel sick.

"Yeah. So much for fatherly love, huh?" Josef took a breath and continued. "Her mother had died when Elena was still a small child, leaving just the two of them. The father was mad with grief and soon took up with an outcast from the village, a woman who lived alone and away from the other residents. Some called her evil, accusing her of all manner of witchery. But they were also afraid of her and shied away whenever she would make her way into town."

"She was a vampire," Mick stated plainly.

Josef nodded his head and continued. "Because of his association with this woman, Elena's father was shunned as well. And for many years, Elena never saw her father. She was brought up by others in the village and eventually married. A year later she gave birth to her first born and everything seemed perfect. That is until a plague ravaged the village and the surrounding area. Many died and Elena soon fell ill as well. She was on her deathbed. Everyone knew she would never survive and that it was only a matter of time before she finally succumbed. It was during this time, that her long lost father finally came to visit. He forced his way in and locked himself in the room with Elena and allowed no one else entrance. Several hours later, he emerged with her in his arms, claiming that she had finally died in the night. Against her husband's wishes, he took Elena from the house and her family never saw her again."

"That's why she said she hated the one who turned her."

"Oh, it gets better," Josef informed him. "As it turned out, Elena was pregnant with her second child when she fell ill. When her father turned her, the unborn child was turned as well. She was close to 6 months along when the plague hit."

Mick looked at Josef, working out in his mind what he had been told. The horror of it clearly showing on his face. Vampires never aged a day from the moment they were turned. Therefore, the unborn child would never mature and would never be delivered. He closed his eyes trying to block out the image.

"While she was still in the first stages of the turning, that time when everything seems surreal, almost dreamlike, the child was forcibly cut from her body by her father's mistress and burnt to death."

"Jesus….." was all Mick could say, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Yeah……when Elena finally regained some of her senses and realized what had been done to her, she swore she would have her vengeance, and eventually she did."

"What happened?" Mick asked, although, to be truthful, he wasn't sure he wanted to know any more of this horror story.

"She had no choice but to stay with her father and his woman for as long as it took to be taught how to survive. She listened, she learned, and she plotted. She even pretended to accept his explanation for turning her, that he couldn't allow his only child to die when he could save her. Then, one day, some two years later, she surprised the two as they slept through the day. First staking both, and then locking them away in the house where they lived as she set the place ablaze. She said she could hear their screams as the flames consumed them and yet she felt no remorse. They had taken everything from her, and they paid the price with their lives."

Mick couldn't say anything. He felt almost numb as Josef recounted the story. Flashes of what he had done to Coraline some 20 years prior ran through his mind. The similarities were eerie but also so incredibly different. What he had done had not been planned. He had not gone that night with the idea of killing Coraline in his head. He just knew that he had to find a way to stop her, to somehow break free of her madness. And, of course, the child's safety had been paramount to everything.

Looking back through the glass framed doorway, he stared at Beth and still felt that protective streak bubble up within him. He also felt tremendous guilt rear its ugly head, knowing that what he should have done was stay away from her. The biggest threat to Beth ended up being himself, only he hadn't realized that until too late. Even now, even after identifying the danger, he couldn't find the strength to do the right thing. Hearing yet another vampire horror story, only this one was all too real, only served to cement the feeling that he would indeed be condemning Beth to an eternity of misery if he turned her. He couldn't help but feel how much better her life would be if he simply disappeared.

"Don't even think about it," Josef stated without any malice or threat.

Mick looked at him with puzzlement clearly written on his face, secretly wondering when he had become so easy to read.

"She'd never forgive you, my dear conflicted friend…….and neither would I." Josef looked at Mick for a second longer, letting him see the all too infrequent emotion on display in his eyes, before it was replaced with a somewhat sad smile.

Josef then picked up Mick's discarded glass and said, "How about seconds? I think we both need another hit before I begin Act 2 of our charming tale." Turning, he headed back toward the doorway and went inside.

To be continued……..

--