by Helen Bright
“For fuck sake, Chloe, isn’t it enough that you hurt me by trying to get away from me as soon as we had sex, like what we did caused you shame? Now you are physically scared of me when I have never raised a hand in anger to you or any woman in all of the five hundred and forty-six years I have been on this earth. If you wanted me to feel this much pain, then why didn't you leave me injured?”
I could hear the hurt in his voice, but I couldn’t comfort him. If I comforted him, I couldn’t trust myself to be strong anymore and leave him. So I turned away from him, feigning indifference, though it was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.
I heard him open drawers and his wardrobe, as he took out his clothes and put them on. Then he came to stand by me, offered his hand, I declined, but not for the reason he thought. I knew if I took his hand I would feel that spark, that pull, that made me want so much more of him.
He nodded his head, and motioned for me to go first. Ever the gentleman, even in the face of heartbreak.
He stood beside me as I walked down the grand staircase, matching his steps with mine, so he was able to catch me when I stumbled four steps from the bottom. Weariness had taken over again, and I had a sudden urge to sit back and close my tear filled eyes. I know that not eating anything was a huge factor in this, but I didn’t think I would be able to eat anything now, I was too nauseous.
I was vaguely aware of him picking me up and carrying me somewhere, but was also very grateful as he laid me down on a comfortable surface and covered me with something soft and warm. I think I recall him calling me his flower girl in Russian, or was it English? I couldn’t be sure, but I found the endearment comforting, and I fell into a deep sleep.
Chapter Nineteen
Gregor
I looked down at Chloe’s sleeping form as she lay on my sofa. She was still slightly pale, and there was just a hint of shadow appearing under her eyes. I cursed myself for taking so much of her blood, although, I knew she would have been able to sustain this loss easily if she had eaten today.
She had dashed from my side this morning promising to eat when she got to her shop, but hadn’t had anything all day, and we were both so consumed with each other last night that neither of us had ventured anywhere near the kitchen.
I would have words with my Chloe when she awoke, whether she hated me or not. It would hurt me to know she wasn’t taking good care of herself, even if I wasn’t part of her life anymore. I would still love her long after the day she passed from this earth, whether she accepted that or not.
I heard a vehicle pull up in my driveway, and recognised it to be Nik’s, although once the door opened, I scented Sergei and he was alone.
“What the fuck happened here,” he yelled, from what was probably the doorway of my office.
For a moment, I had forgotten the blood and torn clothing that lay beside my chair. Sergei must have been imagining many things as he looked at the sight and took in the scent. I placed a kiss on Chloe’s cheek, then made my way to my office.
“Gregor, why is your blood all over here, and how come I can scent sex in here, too. I would have thought the sight of all this blood would put any human off, unless… no, I know you wouldn’t have hurt her,” Sergei said as he shook his head. “Viktor called me and said I should check on you as he had given you bad news regarding your woman. Where is she, Gregor?”
“She is sleeping in my lounge. Why?”
“I just need to check that she is okay. As I have said, I know you wouldn’t hurt her, intentionally anyway, but I need to see for myself that she is alright.”
“What the fuck Sergei? I would sooner die a lasting death than hurt my Chloe. You wound me to think otherwise.”
Sergei said nothing as he barged past me to find Chloe asleep. He turned to me and said, “She reeks of you, Gregor. It's not a full bond yet, but there is something there.”
“There will be no full bond between us,” I sighed. “I have betrayed her trust and lost her love. I only had it for a short time, but it was worth more than all I own.”
“Nonsense, Gregor. If you had lost her love, then whatever you had done would not have left the tear tracks down her cheeks. A woman will not cry over a man she does not love.”
“Now, come, let us clean up the mess you have left in your study or your housekeeper will have a heart attack. It looks like a massacre happened in there. While we work, Sergei will come up with a plan to get you your woman.”
“Sergei,” I groaned as I followed him to my kitchen to get some bags, and a mop and bucket. “None of your silly scheming, please. I need to do this on my own. It was me that caused the problem with Chloe, so I should be the one to put it right, or accept it if it cannot be.” As he came to stand in the light of my kitchen window, I noticed blue staining on his hands and a little on his jeans.
“Sergei, why do you have blue on your hands?”
“Ahh, so you noticed. I was hoping it wasn’t that obvious.”
“Your palms and the back of your fingers are blue, how is that not obvious?”
He then took off his Jacket, and I noticed his t-shirt was also stained blue.
“Well,” he began, “Daisy wanted to ride a magic blue unicorn like her favourite book and cartoon character, Queen Ellie. So Yuri and I decided to make this happen. The unicorn is coloured the same blue as the fairy’s wings, so we got in touch with a few of the horse riding schools in Yorkshire to ask if they would make one of their little pony’s blue for the day, and somehow have a horn like a Unicorn. None of them would do it, even though we offered ten thousand pounds for them to make it happen. But eventually, we found someone in Wakefield who was willing to do this, although we had to double the amount of cash.”
Sergei and Yuri considered themselves the little girl’s uncles and spoiled her on every occasion that they could, but this was something I imagined Daisy would never forget.
“The riding school said they had used child-friendly chalk to colour the pony so that it wouldn’t hurt either the animal or Daisy, and would brush off. They attached the gold coloured wooden horn to the bridle somehow. Daisy was in awe, and the colour of the horse was only slightly lighter than that of the wings she wore over her coat. All was going well as we took her into what she said were magic woods, along with one of the staff from the school.
“Then the heavens opened, and we had a short but heavy rain shower. We got her back as quickly as we could, and it had stopped raining only a few minutes after it had started. I was worried that the chalk would have washed away to show Daisy that it wasn’t real, but instead, the colour seemed to have gotten deeper where the rain had hit. I had been holding on to Daisy but noticed that my jeans had deeper blue patches on them, and when I steadied the pony, the blue transferred to my hands. I had no worries at that time that the colour would stain, as I was assured by the staff it would be okay.
“Dasiy was so happy and gave me a big kiss to say thank you for finding Queen Ellie’s unicorn. She asked Yuri to pick her up, then she kissed and hugged the horse before turning quickly and kissing Yuri, too. When she pulled away from Yuri’s face, I noticed she had left two blue handprints on his cheeks, and his lips and chin were blue also. Yuri hadn’t realised as he had hugged her to his shoulder straight after, so hadn’t had a chance to see Daisy’s face.
“When he set her back down on the floor, we both saw how bad Daisy looked. She had blue in her hair, down her right cheek, her lips, nose, and chin, and her hands and the arms of her coat were also blue.”
“Has Keeley seen her yet,” I asked trying not to laugh at Sergei’s obvious distress.
“No. We took her back to Nik and Gina’s so we could try and wash all the blue away, but it has only lightened slightly. Gina washed Daisy’s coat, and leggings then put her in the bath, but as I have said, it has only lightened it not removed it. We rang the riding school who have no idea how to remove it, and are worried that the pony will be permanently blue.”
“Well, if Keeley comes, y
ou are on your own Sergei. She is fiercely protective when it comes to her little girl, and I dread to think what will happen when it comes to Josh seeing her. Where is Daisy now?”
“She is at Nik and Gina’s with Yuri. I was glad that Viktor called me as it meant I was out of Keeley’s way when she finally see’s Daisy. Gina will put her in the bath again before that happens, but I have washed my hands over and over, and it’s still there. My t-shirt is stained from me carrying her to the bathtub, and the bathtub is also stained now.”
I shook my head and made my way back to my study. Sergei took the mop and bucket, and I picked up the discarded clothing. After checking the pockets and placing my findings from Chloe’s jeans onto the side table, I picked up the rest of the torn bloody clothes and binned them. Then I set to work cleaning the leather armchair as Sergei mopped the floor.
“So are you going to tell me what information Viktor sent that caused all this mess?” he asked. I knew I shouldn’t tell him, but I also knew he would still try and fix this if I didn’t show him how seriously I had fucked up.
“Let us get rid of this stuff and I will explain,” I said as I picked up the mop and bucket in one hand and bags in the other. Sergei nodded and made his way towards the front door.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“I have a feeling this will require much alcohol, Gregor, and it just so happens I have an unopened bottle of Abram’s finest vodka.”
“I do not like to drink vampire strength alcohol; you know this.”
“Gregor, do not worry about the alcohol. After the events of today, we both need to relax and forget about a few things my friend, and this will help. Trust in Sergei; he knows what is best for you.”
I was about to argue, but he held up his hands to stop me; which of course were blue, and instead of telling him I wouldn’t partake of the high strength vodka, I just laughed as I watched him walk toward Nik’s car.
Chapter Twenty
Gregor
“Gregor, where the hell are we?” yelled Chloe, through what sounded like a loudspeaker.
Why did she need to use a loudspeaker? I thought as I opened my eyes and tried to lift my head. Oh fuck, no, the room was bathed in ultra-bright light that made my eyes water and my head was weighted down with something heavy. I tried to say her name, but it came out dry and raspy sounding. Something was very wrong, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what.
“Gregor, you need to wake the fuck up because I’m really freaked out here, and I need to know where we are, as it sure as hell isn’t the grounds of Rothley Manor I see through this window.”
That got my attention a little more, and I once again tried opening my eyes. It took a good twenty seconds for my eyes to stop watering this time, but when they did, and I was able to focus on my surroundings, I groaned and closed them again quickly.
The warm cream tones in this room looked familiar to me, and as the haze began to lift from my mind, I finally realised why. We were in my bedroom, in my home in Rublevka, just outside of Moscow, and by the look on Chloe’s face she wasn’t at all happy that she was here. But how the hell had we gotten here?
My head was pounding and as I tried to sit up a wave of nausea rolled through me. There was a loud knock at the door, and I felt the bed dip as Chloe came to sit beside me.
“Come in,” I said as calmly as I could, in the circumstances.
“I have brought you breakfast,” announced a blue faced Yuri as he made his way into the room along with my cook, Andrei.
“I also brought something extra for you to help you sober up. For the amount you drank, I thought two bags of blood would be good to start with. Sergei said it was Abram’s finest vodka, so you will need to eat a belly full of food to feel even remotely near normal. I am surprised at you for drinking his vodka Gregor; you normally avoid vampire strength alcohol.”
With Yuri’s words, it all started to come back to me.
Sergei poured me a drink as I sat and told him about Chloe’s abuse at the hands of Peter Finch… Sergei being angry and upset, and wanting to kill this man… Me telling him about this man's injuries after the car hit him… Sergei, refilling my glass.
Explaining to Sergei how I smashed up the furniture in my cellar, and Sergei telling me he could understand why I did this… Me being so very grateful that he could see my side of things, and drinking another glass of vodka.
Then me telling Sergei that I thought I had lost Chloe forever. Sergei, disagreeing and telling me I should kidnap Chloe and take her back to Russia. Me saying that would be a stupid thing to do…Sergei, pouring me another vodka.
Sergei, telling me that spending time with Chloe in Russia would make her fall in love with me, and me seeing merit to his story after I downed the next glass of vodka in one go.
I had one more large glass of vodka that I can remember, before things became a little hazy in my memory.
Sergei, waking Chloe up and asking where she kept her passport, using mind control to keep her compliant, and calling Yuri, before guiding me to the back of my SUV and placing a smiling Chloe on my lap.
Then nothing else, my mind was a blank where the rest of last night was concerned. A couple of things I did know, was that I would never again drink any vampire strength alcohol. And Sergei had a lot of explaining to do.
I took the blood bags from Yuri and slowly made my way to the bathroom, my vision creating strange dimensions and abstract shapes in everything around me. It took a few minutes after I had ingested the blood for its effects to show. But after five minutes my vision became clearer, and the heavy throbbing drumbeat in my head began to subside. I needed a shower, but I wanted to get back to Chloe, and also needed to eat normal human food.
As I made my way out of the en-suite bathroom, I heard an argument developing between Chloe and Yuri.
“But I never asked to be here,” Chloe yelled. So Yuri must have told her where we were.
“I do not know why this bothers you; Moscow has some beautiful sights to see.”
“But I wasn’t aware of being brought here. You kidnapped me,” she almost screamed as she pointed her finger in my direction. I was about to open my mouth and tell her what had happened, when Yuri once again yelled back at her.
“Gregor was in no fit state to kidnap anyone. He was blind drunk and could hardly stand. It was Sergei that organised this trip. He said you were both stubborn and needed time away. Somehow, he convinced Gregor to take a drink with him, although I don’t know how, as that has rarely happened in all the years I’ve known him,” Yuri yelled, also pointing at me.
“I know that Sergei used mind control on you, so he could convince you that you wanted to get on a plane, and to tell him where your passport was. I also know that Sergei is working at your shop while you are in Russia. So why should you not enjoy your time here while he is working for you?”
“Because I didn’t choose to be here, why can’t you understand that? And why does your face have big blue splodges on it?”
“The blue is of no consequence. What is important is your obvious dislike of my country?” said Yuri, a hurt look coming over his face.
I knew I should have ended their argument there, defended Chloe, but I was so shocked that Yuri was acting this way. He was normally so laid back, unless my security issues called for more.
“I don’t dislike your country; I never said that,” said Chloe adamantly.
Yuri turned in my direction and winked before turning back to Chloe.
“So it is Russian people you dislike!” Yuri exclaimed, feigning shock as he took a step back.
“No, I haven’t said I dislike any of you, either. I just…”
“You are like many others throughout the world; you disagree with our politics, associate the Russia of today with the actions of a few leaders in our past, label us all as homophobic and racist, and think we are obsessed with weaponry and war. Shame on you Chloe, I thought you were better than that.”
“I am, I mean
, that’s not how I think of Russian people, I hold no prejudice to any race or country. You have this all wrong,” Chloe said clearly distressed.
“So you will stay for a few days? Let us show you around Moscow, and visit Gregor’s palace in St Petersburg.”
“Yes, I will stay, and see the sites of Moscow, and Gregor’s palace in St Petersburg,” Chloe said with a sigh.
“We don’t have to visit my palace,” I said, quickly. “I rarely go there much at all.”
“So, Gregor. Are you are saying you are refusing to take Chloe to your ancestral home? Why? I thought you loved this woman. Did you lie about this?” Asked Yuri with another wink.
“No, of course, I did not lie. I love Chloe; I would take her anywhere.”
“Good, so that is settled then. First, Anna will go shopping to get clothes for Chloe, as she cannot visit Moscow in what she is wearing. Here,” Yuri said handing Chloe a pen and a sheet of paper.
“Anna says she needs all your measurements for clothing and shoes, so she can bring you some over. She is already on her way to the store, but Anna can take a long time when she is shopping, so you can take your time with the breakfast Andrei has prepared. Now, I must go and ready the security detail for your sightseeing tour of the city. Enjoy your breakfast, Chloe.”
Yuri and Andrei turned to leave, and I followed them out of the door.
“Yuri, what is the meaning of all this? Why was I not consulted? The last time I checked, you worked for me, not the other way around.”
“My orders came from both Viktor and Sergei. I know it is you that employs me, but these men are my friends, as well as yours, and just now you would do well to remember that.”
“Sergei…” I yelled, well, attempted to yell, as my head still couldn’t tolerate loud noises. “It is because of Sergei that Chloe is so angry. I mean really Yuri; it does look very much like we kidnapped her.”