Chapter Twelve:
Alec beat Vlad for his own good. For his own salvation.
Not – not – because it pleased him to do so. Certainly not because it aroused him to do so. That would be a sin... and it was Alec's job to save Vlad's immortal soul from damnation, not to give into it himself.
That was the promise Alec had made to himself when the infant was delivered to their doorstep by a weeping woman who swore that the vilest man in the world had taken her against her will; had done such horrendous things to her that one member of Alec's monastery had fainted dead away, just hearing the words spoken.
She had entrusted them with her son's future, his deliverance, terrified that he might become like his father if left unchecked. Alec was determined to give him no such opportunity.
As the infant grew to toddler; from toddler to child; from child to teen, Alec was there, always watching. Guiding. Teaching and, yes, sometimes punishing. When it was the only way forward. The only way to correct Vlad's wild behavior.
Growing up in a monastery was not the most carefree childhood, it had to be said, but it was, in its own way, the safest place for Vlad. It kept him safe from the people outside the walls who, if they were to learn of his parentage, would surely demand his head in retribution for the evils committed by his father – a man the child had never once laid eyes upon. In the same vein, the holy ground kept Vlad same from that man's reach, should the evil prince ever learn of his child's existence.
As time went on and Vlad grew into a man, Alec had to be more proactive; had to take up the whip more often as the young man started to ask the sort of questions a lifetime in a monastery should have beaten out of him. Alec was forced to do it instead.
For all the good it did him.
It became something of a ritual. Alec would lecture the young man, who would give every impression of listening intently, then repeat the crime exactly as he had before. So, Alec would pile on extra prayers, extra chores, more penance. Vlad would do exactly as the abbot demanded, without seeming the least bit contrite. Then, he would repeat the transgression – this time, with more fervor. Vlad was, after all, a young man testing his limits.
The abbot had no experience in raising children but, if his own wayward youth was anything to go by, rebellion was just part of the job. Over time, however, Vlad's minor acts of defiance grew into something worse, something more sinister. Alec could see Vlad's father squatting deep inside the young man, just waiting for his opportunity to break free and claim the monk's soul. Though he was sworn to stop that from happening, Alec feared he had exhausted all possibilities.
That was when she came into their lives, with her hair like sunshine and a smile radiant enough to hide the darkness in her heart. She blinded Vlad from the beginning, stealing his heart and turning his eyes from God. After much prayer, Alec could think of only one thing to be done – and he did it. They all suffered the consequences for that decision.
But that was hundreds of years ago and Alec had come to accept, even enjoy, his fate. Being a vampire suited him, once he could put aside the gnawing certainty that he had been damned. In time, Alec had even come to accept the feelings he'd harbored for his young charge for so long. It took more than two hundred years, but he was finally able to accept the fact that he was attracted to Vlad. There had been a time, perhaps, when he'd even loved the other man, but Alec no longer put stock in that emotion.
What people thought of as love was nothing more than the desire to claim another, to possess them in every way imaginable. He was convinced that, if he could only show Vlad that, the other man could put aside his remorse and self-pity long enough to make their un-lives together a bit more enjoyable. That was when she came into their lives again.
Alec came across Theresa's photograph online, while he was looking for someone to restore the monastery's many paintings and it was as though a light switched inside his head. He finally knew how to make Vlad see that the love he'd clung to for the past several hundred years was misguided. Now, all he had to do was resist eating the bitch before he could put his plan into motion…