Belle Morte Bites (Belle Morte 4.3)

Elise: Part Three

Chartres, France, 1739

Claudine was asleep, her dark hair fanned across the pillow, her breathing deep and even. Ludovic leaned over her, brushing his knuckles down the smooth skin of her back, tracing the jut of her shoulder-blades.

The cadence of her breathing shifted as she came awake.

"Good morning," Ludovic whispered.

"It's always a good morning when I wake up with you," she said.

Ludovic glanced at her window, where fingers of sunlight were creeping in.

He had once thought that vampires could never go outside in the sun, and this had been compounded by his earlier experiences as a younger vampire. But he had been a vampire for sixteen years now. Recently he'd come to realise that, although he'd never be able to be out in the sun like a human could, he wasn't as susceptible to it as he'd once been.

Still, he could never stay too long with Claudine in case anyone spotted him.

When he'd realised that Elise was no longer the woman he'd fallen in love with, he'd vowed to stay with her anyway, if only to keep her from hurting anyone else. But things had never gone back to how they once were. They couldn't.

On some level he did still love Elise. But he couldn't look at her the same way.

Their relationship had deteriorated until they no longer slept in the same bed, instead choosing separate rooms in their house. Sometimes Elise came to him in the night, naked, asking him to touch her as he'd once done. She knew their marriage had collapsed but she still wanted to save it.

Maybe Ludovic should have ended it for good rather than take a secret lover, but he still wanted to believe he could help Elise. She hadn't hurt anyone else since the night she'd killed that girl, but Ludovic suspected that was to keep him happy, rather than out of any moral purpose. He needed her to understand that human beings were not just food to be taken and discarded at will, and maybe when she understood that, they'd be able to go their separate ways.

He hadn't counted on falling for someone else.

With Claudine, he saw the chance to start again.

She knew that he was a vampire. She knew that he was married. She understood why he hadn't left his wife, and she accepted it, even though Ludovic still felt like he was being dishonest with her.

If he had been completely honest with Elise, maybe she wouldn't be a vampire now. Maybe they'd still be happy.

Or maybe he was putting too much stock in her darkness being down to the vampire inside her. Maybe that predator had always lurked beneath her skin, just waiting for someone to unleash it.

"I should go," he told Claudine.

She pouted prettily, rolling onto her back. "Do you have to?"

"You know I do."

Claudine sighed. Much as she understood why things were the way they were, she wasn't always happy with them, and who could blame her? Knowing that the man she loved was returning home to his wife? Ludovic hadn't touched Elise since meeting Claudine, but it was still hard for Claudine.

Soon, Ludovic would have to make a choice.

He'd stayed with Elise in an attempt to sway her from the path she had taken, and to make sure she didn't hurt any more innocent people, but he couldn't stay forever. Being with Claudine had reminded him that he had his own life to live, and he was allowed to be happy. But no matter what happened, he would never turn her. He would love her for the span of her mortal years, but it was not his place to make people into vampires.