Caleb caught up with Belle and her mate Beast, or as he had discovered since arriving at the castle, Charlie. Belle and Charlie were such a beautiful couple that they reminded him of the way he and Usha could have been if only she was still Red, if only she was the teenager who had been so kind to the wolf within him. Alas that could not be now, she had fled far away to a place where he could not find her, and surely that was the meaning of all of this.

'On behalf of my mate I completely apologise for the insult she has done the two of you,' Caleb informed the two of them when they opened the door to find him there. He'd been emotional at losing his mate, but he had felt, almost as though he had seen everything that Usha had done to the poor Charlie when he had been in his cursed Beast form. He had seen it all as though she had wanted him to see it, as though she had wanted him to see that she was as evil as she had claimed to be, as evil as the vampire that had killed and destroyed his family. She really was her father's daughter, and yet he still wanted her, desired her, wanted to hold her, to love her.

Belle must have sensed his emotions because she turned from Charlie and held out her hand for him to shake as though she were giving him the pardon he so desperately sought even though eh couldn't help himself for wanting Usha, wanting Red, wanting both sides, wanting his mate any way he could get her.

'It's hard to accept that unquenchable need for your mate, even if he or she is as loathsome as any being could be. Charlie and I made it alright in the end, but I don't even know what I can say about you and Usha now,' Belle apologised, using Usha's name instead of Red. Red was the woman trapped within Usha's body, the girl who still loved her best friend, and craved the wolf as much as the wolf craved the bat within her.

'Would you allow the werewolf mate of your hated enemy to pass into the halls of your home?' Caleb asked as his skin grew cold and his anger, his sadness, his confused mind and body threatened to overthrow him without a distraction.

'Of course, we hold no grudge with either you or Red,' Charlie's words surprised both his mate and their visitor.

'You hold no grudge with Usha when she tried, when she managed to kill you for a moment?' Bell asked and her man nodded.

'Of course not, Red is within Usha, trapped, defenceless, and unaware of what the vampire is doing. She loves you in there and she would not mean either of us harm. Give her a chance, we need to rescue Red, from Usha, we need to show Red that she has the power of us behind her and that her mate is not willing to let her go no matter what. It will encourage her enough to make an appearance.'

'You hope,' Caleb added and Charlie looked at him confused. 'Red drank the blood that kick started her transformation. I don't think we'd get Red back, at least not the human Red we all knew and loved. Perhaps we could drag Red out and push Usha so far down that she would never be able to make another appearance. Red has to be in there.'

'She is,' Belle told them and Charlie nodded. 'She can handle the sun, a full blooded vampire as Usha believes her to be would not be able to handle any ray of sunshine let alone high noon. 'Red was trying to come out, to save us, to save me her best friend from Usha. But they both had failed.

'Come in, we shall talk about what we will do with Lady Red,' Charlie said opening the door wide to Caleb and taking his mate's hand in his. It was a sweet gesture, something Caleb craved more than he craved a kiss with his mate, a kiss that would surely end his suffering once and for all.

#

When Lady Usha returned home she found a very odd event occurring. Her father was helping a female to move in to the castle. Her father was actually helping somebody. Usha scented the air and discovered the female to be human, not vampire, nor witch.

Why would father invite a human to our castle? She wondered to herself as se entered the castle casually and made her way up the stairs to where the human was hefting a huge suitcase into one of the bedrooms on the same floor as her. Father pollutes our home with a human female and then puts her on the same floor as me!?

The human female was beautiful, Usha would give her that, what with her long blonde hair and baby blue eyes, but Usha was weary of her nonetheless. Human, female, same floor. On the same floor as Usha was her father's personal suite, and if Usha wasn't mistaken he had just helped the female human into that room, which could only mean…

A howl of rage left Usha on a breath as she realised why her father had bought the woman home with him. He meant to impregnate her, in the hopes he would create the perfect child he had always longed for. A child, a son that would revere blood even before his transformation. The child that would replace her.

Vampires were indeed odd creatures, being inhuman; they were able to sleep with others of the opposite sex, even if they weren't fated mates. Did he not care for his own fated mate, Usha's mother at all! Was she nothing to him? Was Usha anything to him? Did he even love her the way she had always wanted to be adored by him? She was his daughter! Why did he need any other heir! She was strong enough to rival any and all future children, male or female!