The Monster's Love

*Chapter 11: Parents

Chapter 11:

Parents

"I can explain!" the vampire gasped as he tried in vain to remove the elder vampire's grip from around his throat.

"I entrusted you with one simple task," Bertrand snarled, his eyes growing dark with his rage. He just returned to the Payne estate a few moments ago. Upon learning his angel was in the company of a necromancer he'd quickly finished his business in Virginia and returned home hoping to find Evangeline safe in his room guarded by his fledgling Will and his two ghoul slaves. Instead he finds the pathetic excuse for a fledgling waiting in his office to tell him the ghouls never returned with the girl.

"The necromancer is strong!" Will gasped, his eyes filled with tears at the pressure his master was putting on his neck. "He sucked the life out of my ghouls in a matter of moments and then turned on me. Lady Evangeline allowed me to escape in order to calm the necromancer. I reported back to Julian when I came back and he went to investigate the apartment."

Bertrand snarled again in anger before throwing the fledgling against the far wall of his office. "Get out of my sight!" Will rubbed his neck glaring at the elder before him before picking himself up from the ground and leaving Bertrand's office. A hiss escaped from his lips before he disappeared in a puff of black smoke reappearing in what he assumed was Evangeline's apartment, though it looked nothing like the other times he'd visited.

It looked like the place was hit by a hurricane. Furniture lay upon the floor in broken heaps of tattered fabric, fiber stuffing, and wood with shards of glass and china strewn into the mess. The walls, once a flawless white, were now an off grey color with multiple holes marring the perfectly hung drywall. The wall that separated Evangeline's bedroom from the living area was completely dismantled.

He looked to the corner of the apartment where he expected to find Evangeline's easel sitting patiently waiting for the young woman to pick up a paint brush and finish her latest masterpiece. All he was met with was a lump of kindling and shattered jars of paint. He flitted to the pile of wood and bent down, his eye catching a piece of cloth among the debris. Carefully his fingers pulled up the canvas to find the painting he watched Evangeline work on during his visits. He was surprised to find it incomplete.

"Welcome back to New York, My Lord."

Bertrand stood from his bent position, painting still in hand, turning to look at Julian who stood in the doorway of Evangeline's bedroom.

"What have you found?" Bertrand asked as he rolled up the canvas and held it in his hand.

"I'm not sure what happened here but it appears whatever it was had no affect on the bathroom," Julian explained as Bertrand joined his side to inspect Evangeline's bedroom. "The bedroom, though destroyed like the rest of the place, looks as if it had been cleared out. The closet is empty and there is no sign of any of her personal items anywhere. My assumption is the young lady fled with the help of the necromancer I encountered the other night."

Bertrand's jaws locked and his hands tightly gripped the canvas, crinkling the painted cloth before he relaxed his grip the slightest bit. "Is there any inclination where they may have gone?" he hissed between his gritted teeth.

Julian shook his head. "No, there is not," his eyes darted over to a particular pile of clothes on the floor of the living room. "And it seems Will was telling the truth when he said his ghouls met their end at the hands of the necromancer."

Bertrand turned to face the pile of clothes and ashes Julian's gaze was fixed upon. He made his way over to the remains of his servant and gently filled his hand with a clump of the remains, bringing it to his lips before blowing the ash into the air. Bertrand and Julian watched as the ash hovered in the air for a moment as if it wasn't sure what to do before forming a circle in the air before them. The two watched as the last moments of the ghouls played out before them like a movie in the midst of the ring of ashes. He watched as the ghouls opened the door with Will between them to Evangeline's bedroom to reveal his angel and who he assumed was the necromancer he'd been hearing so much about. A growl escaped his lips when he saw the young man push his angel behind him as if to protect her from the gaze of the group before them. It wasn't long after that the sight of the necromancer's empty eyes monopolized the ghoul's vision and the circle of ashes fell to the floor as the vision ended.