Beati Belicosi:

Eleni:

I wake up as usual for the past month. On the silky red sheets of the bed in the hotel penthouse. This morning Vlad stands still behind my back, his legs entwined with mine, one of his hands resting possessively on my breast.
I smile. I always thought they were too small, kind of insignificant, but he seems to love them. He clings to them with hands and mouth and teeth and Ah. A silly giggle escapes me.

I turn to look at him. GOD! He's so cute, lying there, pretending to be asleep. With that bronze skin, that jet-black hair, those very long eyelashes. I think I'm drooling.

—Good morning, my lord. - I whisper coquettishly.

He opens his eyes slowly, his green gaze runing over my face as if caressing it.

—Good morning, little dove.- he murmurs in his deep, sensual voice.

I frowned, looking at him questioningly.

—What are you doing while pretending to be asleep?

He shows me his blazing white teeth in a wolfish grin. He sits up in bed, stalking in front of me.

— Oh, I fantasize and plan the thousands of dirty things I want to do to you.

***

Luckily today is Sunday. It's my day off and therefore I've spent it locked up in the hotel penthouse brazenly and shamelessly f*cking my boss.

After giving me two heart-stopping orgasms, Vlad got out of bed, took a shower, got dressed and handed me a piece of paper which contained the following digits: 10-12-03. I frowned and compressed my lips.

— I haven´t forgotten my birthdate, Vlad. I don't understand why you wrote it down on that paper. – I protested.

He smiled cynically and looked at me, watching with undisguised amusement my clumsy attempt to cover myself with the red sheet.
— It's the password to the safe in my office. Inside it you will find a manila envelope containing a necklace.


— It's for the auction in two days. Olenka and I have to leave for Russia as an emergency, the twins have been missing for weeks and she fears the worst.

I take the paper and caress it between my fingers. Worst? The twins mustn´t be dead, there is no way to kill a vampire, but if they have not fed for so long, it is very likely that they are in a state of mummification. Reviving them will be very painful for them. The blood that will enter their bodies will feel like lava.

Vlad takes the back of my head in one hand and tugs at me, causing me to kneel on the edge of the bed as he devours my lips hungrily. I bring my hands to his chest and kiss him back.
God! Whoever saw him kiss me like that would think he hadn't kissed me for centuries! He broke the kiss and released a sigh as I licked his bottom lip.

— We'll be back for the auction. Your dress will be delivered to you tomorrow afternoon. The objects to be auctioned are all here. They are guarded by people I trust.
You have nothing to worry about my dove, just to look spectacular for Tuesday night.

—Is the necklace we're auctioning yours?
— No. It was sent by an ... acquaintance from Greece. The man has more treasures and wealth than common sense.

I ponder his answer for a moment, all vampires are rich. Having lived longer than humanly possible gives them that privilege, but Vlad spoke as if the owner of the necklace was the richest of them all.

— Be good, little dove. Hmm? - He whispered menacingly. And maybe there is a great masochist in me but I couldn't help it...

— I will behave very, very badly my Lord.So when he comes back you'll have reasons to give me a good spanking session and then f*ck me furiously, the way I like it so much...- I whispered like an exemplary submissive.

Vlad growled, lunging at me. His private flight to Russia was delayed, of course.

***

With the hustle and bustle of preparations, the arrival of guests, and minor last-minute crises, I was caught Tuesday afternoon without even seeing the necklace.

I went up to Vlad's office.

I knelt in front of the safe and gazed at the Dracùl family coat of arms for a moment. A majestic dragon spread its wings, kept its tail curled and at the same time placed one of its sharp claws on a globe. Beneath the fearsome beast was an unfolded scroll bearing the Latin words ´´Beati Belicosi´´. I opened the safe, took out the envelope and was surprised. It's beautiful, I thought, as I caressed between my fingers the row of red stones, arranged in a circle and in the exact center of all of them hung a larger heart-shaped ruby.

I bit my lip, the dress I'm wearing tonight will make a great contrast to these sparkling jewels around my neck. Puting the necklace back in the envelope, I was about to close the safe when a document inside caught my attention.

It looked old, it looked yellowish, worn by the passing of the years. Curiosity got the better of me, and I swear that if I had known the consequences that my actions would bring, I would have slammed the safe and run out of there. But I didn't, I just took that piece of paper and read it. My world shattered in three seconds.

In my trembling hands, I held the marriage certificate between Vladislaus Dragulia III, Prince of Wallachia, and Lady Justina Szilágyi. It also had the signature of King Matías Corvino as a witness to the wedding.

The document dates from the year 1460.

I fell to the ground, I felt as if my lungs were imprisoned under the weight of a mountain, my vision became blurry and before I knew it my eyes were burning. No! I was about to cry, I was about to fall into the most childish and useless thing of all. Since that fateful interview at the Alexandros banished me from Greece, I had not shed a single tear and this new blow would not make me behave like a silly and weak child. I swallowed back the pain, took a couple of breaths to clear my mind, and extracted all the remaining documents from inside the safe.

If Vlad gave me the combination, is it because he wanted this to happen?
***

I returned all the documents to the safe and closed it. The click of the door seemed ominous.
Why had Vlad done this? Why did he play so cruelly with my feelings? It is true that I have asked myself several times about the strange obsession that dominates the model Justine Sziláy, the night of the masquerade ball her threat became clear to me, moreover, according to comments that have toured the hotel, the woman has been behind for years of Vlad.

I bite my lip hard. Now I understand why... Justine is the reincarnation of his wife. The woman he loved, the woman who betrayed him and whose betrayal was the drop that overflowed the cup of his sanity and threw him into a murderous streak, into the blood thirst to quench his pain with death. Justina or Justine, no matter the name, no matter the century, she is the woman he says he hates but hasn´t been able to forget, the woman he loved with sick fervor, the woman he still loves ... I swallow hard. This hurts, but I have to be realistic. Vlad still loves his wife. I know, I can tell in the icy tone of his voice, in the stiffness of his body, in the murderous gleam in his eyes every time he talks about her.

And this is cruel. I want to believe that he didn't do it out of malice, that maybe he didn't plan it this way...perhaps it was the intention, it wasn't that I snooped through the documents in his safe, but he can't be that stupid, he really doesn't hesitate to be such an idiot in believing that I would discover all this information and not attract ends.

The mighty dragon seems to mock me, ´´Beati Belicosi´´...It means ´´Blessed are those who fight´´, I bite the inside of my cheek. Fight? Should I fight for a man who gave his heart to another centuries ago? Should I fight for a man who lives poisoned by his past? My answer is no. Vlad is not going to change for me, it would be stupid to believe that.
I love him, if I'm completely honest I should say I love him, but I'm not ready to suffer while trying in vain to take the place of the woman he hasn't been able to forget.