Hi! So in this chapter, I'm introducing some new characters that will definitely be important in terms of the last chapters. I have to say, I've planned the rest of the story out, and there will be five more chapters left! The DANGER starts next chapter.
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Achiel
"My friends," Alexander is the first to speak. "Let me introduce you all to the very reason for why you are all gathered here today. This is who you've come to see, who you've come to fight for," he says. Alexander continues to look me straight in the eyes, before he turns to the crowd. "My friends," he gasps: "Veronica Watson".
Alexander turns back around and finds his way to me, stopping a few stairs below me. He holds his hand out to me and I eagerly take it, returning every smile from the crowd below. He grabs my right hand in his and puts his other around my waist, before I stop him.
"Please, I too would like to say something." My voice is barely a whisper as it trembles, but I am in no doubt that every vampire in the room just heard me.
"Of course," Alexander smiles and takes a step back to give me room. He glances up at me and winks encouragingly at me.
"I've been told that I'm rare. In fact, I am so rare that I may be the first of my species that many of you have ever come across. Some of you probably didn't even believe the rumours about Healers, until now. But I assure you that this is all as new to me, as it is to most of you and I am afraid for what could happen. I only know three people in this room, and if I am not given the chance to meet and thank you all in person tonight, I want you all to know how grateful I am for what you are doing for me. I am sure that you are all aware of my past as a vampire hunter, but I realize now, looking at all your faces that that life was wrong. You are risking your lives for me and you are good people. Thank you."
As the crowd below erupts into claps and cheers, I hold onto Alexander's hand with all that I have for strength. Although they continue to stand full of admiration for me, fail to focus as a gush of wind passes over me. I feel myself falling into Alexander's arms for support and aware of my state, he grabs me and holds me up straight. I look into his deep eyes and breathe.
"You were perfect Ronnie, you are perfect," he says, no longer the proud crowd-pleaser he was just a minute ago as he introduced me. "Are you quite alright? If this is too much…"
"No, I'm fine." I smile, as he brings my hand to his lips. Putting his other arm round me, like he had before, we make our way downstairs.
For the first time tonight, my eyes fall on Eric.
Alexander entwines his arm around mine as we walk down the stairs, grinning and kindly greeting close friends. Waiting for us are a crowd of strangers, but Alexander signals towards the path of Roxanne and Eric. I don't think twice about it, wanting to be with Eric despite everything that has happened between us today. As I step out in front of Alexander, he releases his grasp on me and I take Eric's extended hand.
Like most of the men in the room, Eric is wearing a simple black suit with a white shirt and a bow tie, but to me, he stands out from everyone else, looking more handsome than ever. I begin to wander if he too feels the same about me, as he thoroughly examines every part of my gown before he lays his eyes upon mine. He smiles down at me and caresses my cheek, slowly moving his hand onto my neck and onto the sacred mark below my ear.
"Ronnie…" he begins.
My body crumbles at the soft sound of his voice and at the sound of my name on his lips and I curse myself for being weak and for giving into his power. I cannot resist him. I wrap my arms around his neck and our lips meet in an embrace of forgiveness and sadness.
He is the first to break of the kiss, but he continues to hold me close; his lips tempting mine.
"You look beautiful tonight," he whispers with an excited look in his eyes.
I blush, looking down with embarrassment. However, his cool fingertips carefully bring my head back up so that I can gaze one more time into his eyes. His look takes me by surprise as only seconds ago his eyes had been full of joy and love. Like our kiss, they have succumbed to sadness.
"Ronnie, I need to apologise for this evening," he begins.
"No, not tonight Eric," I interrupt him.
"Yes tonight," he fights back, holding my hands in his. "What I said, it was stupid. I should have known better, especially after all we've been through. There's nothing that I want more than for us to be bonded in blood and for you to spend forever with me," he exclaims. My hopes are lifted, but the expression on his face doesn't keep me from worrying. There's more he has to say. "But Ronnie, I can't bear to think that all of this danger you're in is because of me! Had I let you leave with Kyle when we first met, none of this would have happened. Can't you see? I'm weak and I'm selfish. I had to have you."
Despite the weakness in his voice, Eric remains strong, burying his head in my neck and holding my body to his.
"You mustn't think like that Eric," I assure him, whispering into his chest. "If I'd fallen into the hands of another vampire, one not destined to be with me, what would have become of me?" I simply ask and he glances down at me, smiling.
"I'm glad it was me," he says, and I feel Alexander and Roxanne's eyes on us. "I love you and I promise that we will talk about the Blood Bond."
My heart sinks in appreciation as I realise how hard this must all be for him. "Thank you Eric," is all that I manage before I wrap my arms around his neck once more and kiss him. "I love you too. This means a lot to me."
"Mother," a voice sounds from in between the crowds and I jump from Eric's as a young man with blonde curls approaches us.
"My boy," Roxanne exclaims, throwing her arms around the man's neck. "I have missed you."
"And I you mother," he smiles, his eyes shining radiantly. "Alexander, thank you for having me," he continues, as he shakes his hand. Alexander bows and warmly smiles at him, before the young man turns to Eric and I. "Cousin, would you do me the honour of presenting your Healer to me? It would please me to make her acquaintance." He says, in a rather cold voice.
"Of course Achiel," he starts, but as Eric says his name, my eyes widen as I realise who this man is. Everything I know about him rushes back into my mind, but one particular sentence Eric had said lingers in my thoughts.
"I don't think a Healer can belong to two vampires," I remember Eric saying, when he had told me the story of the first of my kind.
"This is Ronnie," he says. "Ronnie," Eric calls me, bringing me back from my thoughts. Pictures of a young Alexia, struggling for life in Antoinne's hands disappear from my mind as I focus back on Eric and more importantly on Achiel. "This is Achiel, Roxanne's son."
"Nice to meet you Achiel. I've heard a lot about you," I say, as I extend my hand out to him for a handshake. His response just makes me like him more.
"Ronnie, I am truly happy to meet you," he says as he pulls my hand and me into an embrace. "In fact, I was hoping to talk to you before your attention is diverted to the society in this room, which I believe is just as eager to meet you as I. Do you care for a dance?"
I glance quickly at Eric behind me, and although he does not smile in agreement, I decide to make this decision for myself and I agree to dance with Achiel, knowing that this may be the only chance I'll ever get to answer some of the questions that Eric cannot answer for me.
"I would love to," I say, and he takes my hand, pulling me into the crowd and away from those whom I know. I glance back one last time at Eric, who mouths, "I'll be right here."
As we walk, the dance floor clears, with only a number of couples remaining to join us for the first dance. Achiel pulls me towards him, as the song starts, and I recognise it to be a slow-dance song, Van Morrison's "I'll Be Your Lover, Too".
"I must say, I was delighted when I heard the news that a Healer lived. I myself had given up on the idea of them, for it has been over half a millennia since anyone has had the pleasure of meeting one. There have only been 9 since my beautiful Alexia passed," he says with a tone of sadness creeping into his voice, "which makes you number 11."
"Since I've known of your existence, I knew that nothing would give me more pleasure than to see you for myself. In fact, I'm quite surprised that your two suitors have even let me steal this time away from them!"
"Oh no, you are wrong. Alexander is just a friend," I exclaim. "It's Eric who I'm with," I say smiling although dreading what Eric must be thinking as he listens to mine and Achiel's conversation.
"Oh forgive me Ronnie. I thought that history was repeating itself," he says, smiling weakly before spinning me as we dance.
"So it's true?" My lips blurts out.
"What's true?" He enquires.
"Forgive me, but I wish to know about Alexia. I'll understand if it makes you uncomfortable, but I've only heard it from Eric and he believes that a Healer can only belong to one vampire."
He smiles and shakes his head.
"Eric is naïve," Achiel begins bluntly. "He is a good man, but naïve, for he only believes that which he has seen for himself. My mother turned me long before his maker turned him, and when I met Alexia, Eric had not even been born a human. He may have been Antoinne's favourite son, for he stayed by his side most of his life, but he was certainly not the first. His experience with Healers begins 500 years after Alexia was murdered, and those whom he met did in fact turn out to be monogamous; they only belonged to one vampire, which explains why his beliefs are the way they are."
"But you see, when my mother turned me, we were still a very small population. We lived as nomads, roaming from population to population, but we were no more than a handful. It was just Alexander, Antoinne, my mother, a few others that had been turned and me. During my beginning months, when it was harder to control my thirst, my mother stayed with me away from civilisation. Alexander would visit me every day and some days, he would bring Antoinne with him."
All through his speech I don't look at him. Instead, I close my eyes and let his soothing voice form pictures in my head, whilst my mind decodes his words and finds answers to my questions.
"We had travelled the night before to return to a town where we had just been only two months prior. It wasn't like us to return to civilisations so soon but Antoinne had asked to return and Alexander had authorised it. Antoinne had come to see me."
Flashback
"Achiel, I want you to know that I've met a human girl, Alexia" Antoinne says. Astonished, I let him go on. "She is in love with me and has run away from her family to be with me."
"But Antoinne, is she aware of what we are?" I shout at him, fearing that our secret is out.
"Yes, I have told her everything. My father believes that she is sacred. I do not dare to doubt him; her blood is like none other I've tasted in my entire existence. My father agrees; he too has drunk from her, but it seems to affect me differently than to him."
"I don't understand. What do you mean?"
"Every time she feeds me her blood Achiel, my eyes and my body glow as if Alexia and I were at the heart of a star."
"But that's impossible!" I exclaim. "How can her blood do that?"
"I don't know, but I'd like you to meet her. She will be travelling with us from now on. Father believes that she was created to join me on my life, and he wishes her to be my bride. Alexia, join us."
"There were no words to describe her when I saw her for the first time," Achiel continues. I am so concentrated on his voice that I fail to recognise that my surroundings have much changed. A new, faster and louder song plays, but we continue to embrace as if Van Morrison's voice still filled the room.
"I fell in love with her, but I couldn't interfere. Alexander had promised her to Antoinne, and so it would be. They were happy, but when Antoinne wasn't in the room, she would turn her attentions to me. She would smile wholeheartedly, giggle when I looked at her or even kiss me on the cheek when the others weren't looking."
"One night, the others went hunting. Mother still didn't trust me around civilisations and so I was left with Alexia. She quickly made her feelings known to me; she told me that she loved me and that she wanted me to feed from her before she became Antoinne's forever. When the others returned, it was too late. I explained what had happened, how my eyes had changed. My mother was ashamed, Alexander distraught, but Antoinne was furious. He took her into the night and - "
"That's enough," I say, interrupting him as his voice starts to go. I look up at him and witness the pain in his face. He holds me tightly and closes his eyes, taking in my scent.
"You smell as sweet as she did," he whispers.
We dance quietly for the rest of the song and when it's finished, he releases me. As we walk back to Eric, I ask him one last question.
"Achiel, did she love one of you more than the other?" I ask him and he immediately stops me in between a group of people.
"She told me herself that she loved me, but that she couldn't put her feelings for Antoinne aside. He would always be a part of her. Those were different times; if a woman was betrothed, she would marry that man despite her feelings. She would have been his had she lived."
"Have I told you just how beautiful you look tonight Miss Watson?" Eric asks me, spinning me onto the dance floor.
"I believe you have Mr Jackson, but if you want to say it again, I don't mind hearing it," I laugh in his arms as we dance.
"You look beautiful Ronnie," he says, making me blush once again. "There were a few young vampires that could not keep their eyes from you when you danced with Achiel."
"Well, they won't do. I have a particular type," I say, playing his game.
"Oh really, and what would that type be?"
"Well, I definitely don't go for young vampires. I like those that are 1,024 years old," I say and Eric can't restrain himself from laughing.
I smile, as I recall that first time when he had fed from me, kissed me and told me about his age. You're the first human I've been interested in. You're important to me.He had said this and so much more, and already then, he had discovered what I was. Like Achiel, his eyes had shone golden and without me knowing it, my fate had there and then been sealed. Eric's attempts to save me from his life had failed, because we were destined to be together.
"Eric, I believe Achiel," I say, aware of the fact that this topic of conversation would arise sooner or later.
He doesn't respond, but starts humming the song playing in my ear. Moments later, I try to regain his attention by stuttering something that I know deep down is true.
"I know that you believe him too."
Eric stops, despite the chorus of the song blurting out.
"Why would you say that?" He asks, trying to figure out the response in my eyes.
"Because I know you, Eric. I may not have spent the last 1,000 years of your life by your side, but we are connected by blood. My blood is within you and yours is within me. I understand you. You're afraid, afraid that it may be true and so am I, because there is no one that I'd want to belong to, but you. I know you Eric, and I also know your admiration and love for your maker. He would not have lied to you."
"You're too good Veronica Watson," he whispers against my hair and we continue to dance, every so often glancing at each other, kissing or embracing.
After a couple of songs, Eric speaks again.
"We need to go," he says.
"Why?" I ask alarmed. I'm at peace in Eric's arms, and having to be removed from there only makes me anxious.
"Alexander has asked me to take you back. He's been bugging me for the last three minutes," he says, laughing down at me.
I spend the rest of the night dancing with Eric, Alexander or with Achiel. I even dance with Jacques after he very kindly asks me, but as the main guest, I fulfil my duties with Alexander by my side, introducing me to those he distinguishes as either 'relatives' or 'friends'.
Some of those whom I meet are Roxanne's many children, some of them older and some of them younger than Achiel. Agatha, William, Ida, Bruno, Drakon, Sofia, Edmnud, Hugo. They are all beautiful, so beautiful that it leads me to wander how Eric has been alone all these years.
Alexander then introduces me to Roxanne's children's children and soon, the list of names begins to large for me to remember. Instead, I remember the people; one girl's eyes, a man's handshake, a woman's dress and a boy's smile.
Yet, although most of the night is over, there is one couple to whom I have not yet been introduced and as Alexander converses with Achiel and one of his daughters, I excuse myself and make my way towards the young couple, now dancing embraced on the dance floor.
"Excuse me, but I have not yet been introduced to you," I say, curious about both of them. The girl is exceedingly beautiful; she has a great figure and shows of her thing long legs in a short white dress, with coloured gems covering every inch of the bodice. "I'm Ronnie," I say, glancing from her to the boy. He looks at from the girl to me and gives me a timid smile.
"I'm Emily," she says. "This is William, he is a human." I understand now why I have been so drawn to this couple all night.
"Oh," I say, and I feel my mouth widen in shock. "Are you two…?"
"Yes," it's William that speaks. "I knew her in her human life."
"Oh," I exclaim again. This is getting more interesting, "So you're a young vampire then Emily?"
"Yes, I was 25 when I was turned by a stranger three years ago. Whoever the woman was, she disappeared and William soon found out what I was for himself. He helped me, and we travelled across the country until we found more vampires. I know what you must be feeling and it must be so much worse for you, not having anyone of your species to turn to."
I sigh and smile weakly, astonished by how this young girl and her human boyfriend have figured me out so quickly.
"Yes, you're right. I have so many questions and no-one to turn to, but I have Eric, he's - "
"Did someone say my name?" I hear Eric's voice behind me, as he slips his hands around my waist.
"Emily, William, this is Eric. He is whom my blood is matched to as a Healer. Eric, Emily is only three years old and William is a human," I introduce them.
"That's interesting," Eric says. "I don't know many vampires that take interest in humans for company."
"It's true," William says. "When we started to look for covens, we only came across another two vampires with human partners."
"Yes, because these relationships are short lived. The human will grow old and eventually pass away, so what do you expect from the relationship William?" Eric asks harshly.
"Eric!" I exclaim.
"No, I completely understand what he's asking Ronnie. We've given it much thought. When I am strong enough mentally, William wants to be changed. It's still too much of a risk, but he is only 29. We have time," Emily says, smiling up at William.
"Well, thank you very much for coming. I think that many are now retiring to their chambers; the sun will come up soon," I say, glancing at the sky through the windows.
"Yes, we were thinking of that exactly. It's been a long night," Emily says.
"It was nice to meet you," William says, and I smile back. With Emily behind him, William walks across the hall and up the stairs.
Having said our goodbyes, Eric and I follow behind the many couples now retiring to their chambers. Today, all of the castle's rooms will be used and I look forward to tomorrow night when I will be able to talk to the many people that I have met tonight.
When we get halfway up the stairs, we hear Eric's name being called from the hall and as he turns around, he doesn't need to see who it is for a huge grin to appear on his face.
"Come," he tells me, as he drops my hand and runs downstairs towards the man and the woman grinning up at him. He lifts the girl up from her feet and squeezes her in his arms, before bear hugging the man. I make it to his side in time for me to be introduced.
"Ronnie, these are Joshua and Lydia. They are my closest brothers; we spent most of our life with our father and so we were his favourites," he tells me.
"Hi," I say warily and I gulp.
"Baby, don't be afraid. They don't hate you for it," he says, and they both give me reassuring smiles.
"Why have I not seen you before now," Eric asks them. "Where have you been hiding all night?"
"We were on the road all night; we've only just got here now. Blake delayed us," Lydia says in a high-pitched voice.
"The plan was for all three of us to come, to be here for you Eric, but at the last minute he cancelled. He isn't ready to forgive neither her nor you," Joshua continues. Compared to how petite Lydia is, Joshua looks strong, but they could still fall for brother and sister as they are both black-haired and blessed with beauty. "We thought we could convince him, and by the time we realised he wouldn't come, half the night was gone and we set out, just the two of us to make it in time before sunrise."
"Well, I know that the room next to ours is free," he says to them, and with us, they set up the stairs.
When we reach the top of the stairs, I take one last look at the hall below me. Just moments ago, voices and laughter had filled it but now it is heavily empty; the crowds have disappeared, but one man. Alexander becomes the centre of my attention as he stands against a wall, where the early morning sun rays hit first. For the first time tonight, I let my eyes fall on his appearance. He wears a tux too, although his bow tie has now come undone and hangs around his neck, joining his unbuttoned shirt in a laid back look. His black undulated hair is untouched, greased back and like the first time I saw him, I can almost feel what it would be like to caress every inch of his body. His eyes are closed and he breathes heavily, but as my eyes focus on him, he stops, blinking his eyes open and meeting mine. He smiles cheekily, as if he can see into my mind and my thoughts, discovering my every wish to be with him. He winks and then mouths what he had said the night before: "Sweet dreams, sweet Ronnie."