Chapter Nineteen

The night air was cool and Christabela closed her eyes, stretching her arms out on either side of her, and tilted her head back, letting the breeze brush across her face, blowing her hair all around her.

For the first time in years she felt at peace and the aching that had been tugging at her heart just a few short hours earlier was no longer there, instead was warmth and a feeling of completeness she had never known. The quietness of the dark engulfed her and she welcomed the strength it offered her and the satisfaction she received from it's beauty.

The figure in the shadows watched her from a distance and slipped away just as quietly as he had appeared, back into the darkness of the night, and moved around to the front of the house stepping into the waiting car. Folding his hands calmly in his lap, he watched out the window as the servant closed the door and took his place behind the wheel of the limo driving them to their destination.

Christabela watched the small deer trek softly through the woods and stop, leaning it's long neck down to graze at the grass beneath it's feet. Her eyes glistened it's yellow hue and her feet lifted from the ground below her as she moved across the woods to the animal, descending on him before he could ever sense her presence. Her hands grabbed his head holding him steady as her teeth sunk through the muscle and into the vein below it, drawing the warm blood into her mouth, closing her eyes to the flavor that satisfied her hunger.

She stopped and sealed the wound so as not to send the poor animal to it's death and stepped back, watching as the deer staggered away once released from it's grip. Satisfied, she moved back toward the castle, stopping in the garden to sit on the concrete bench located along a row of shrubbery and flowers and closed her eyes again, listening to the sounds that echoed through the night.

"Laurent taught me how to feed from animals once I was old enough to learn, to prepare me for feeding from humans. You have to learn control to be able to stop before you kill someone. Though human blood taste much more pleasing, I enjoy feeding from the animals better, the less contact I have with mortals, the better it is for me."

Natasha had been following behind Christabela, watching her from the distance, wondering why she had chosen to feed from the deer. Lance had already begun to teach her to feed from mortals, but never had he mentioned feeding from animals, and it seemed odd that Christabela would do such a thing. Once Christabela had acknowledged her presence, she moved toward the bench, sitting next to her and stared out across the garden to the patio of the castle where figures moved around in the soft moonlight that shown down on them.

"Lance has been worried about you.....we all have."

She placed her hands to her stomach and rubbed gently at the over active bundle moving around inside her and took a deep breath ignoring the slight twitch of pain she had felt.

"You've blocked everyone from you, if nothing else, at least let Lance in so that he will rest better and his mind will be at ease."

"Lance has better things to worry about. He has you, and your son will be here, I believe, before his actual time. He's a strong little boy....maybe now with Christopher back and a mate at his side then they will have a girl and your son could chose her as his mate. They would make a strong......"

"What about your child?" Natasha asked, becoming more frustrated with her then intended.

"Christabella, I may not know you as well as Lance or the others but I can sense that something is wrong. Please know that you can talk to me about anything and it shall remain between us, you have my word."

Christabela stood from the bench and turned her gaze toward the sky wrapping her arms around her waist as her head shook slowly from side to side.

"I trust you without a doubt Natasha, I helped Lance give you your new life because I knew you would be perfect for him, and a great friend to me, but my life is destined to be here, with the ancients, and live a quiet life all to myself till my eternity is over. I accept that, and the future of our kind depend on the vampires like you and Lance, and Justin and Lauren, and Joseph has secured his self with Janet and Sarah. And my dearest brother...."

She turned herself toward Natasha and smiled softly, determined not to let the tear shed that threated to fall from her eye.

"And you, my dear Christabella, who will you secure yourself with? Surely you deserve a mate as much as we do?" Natasha spoke, as she pushed herself from the bench and stood in front of Christabela continuing to hold her hand firmly against her stomach to still her son, but moved her hand away as Christabela reached out placing her hands on either side of her stomach, stilling the child at her instant touch.

"I am queen Natasha, and the queens carry a curse. We are few and far between, and love, for us, is misery in itself. My mother died at the hands of my father because of her love for Maharet. Laurent has chosen a love three times only to have all three of them sent to their deaths not long after their embracing resulting in no offspring and eternities of loneliness. Joshua is not meant for me, no matter how much training Maharet thinks he has given him, or what decision everyone feels that Joshua was going to make. I accept that, I am fine. I only ask that you let me be and all of you go back to Salem where this coven belongs. Laurent will not be with us too much longer, I am afraid, and I will be the only surviving queen, leaving my task too large and keeping me busy here in Madrid."

"We shall honour your request Christabella, but surely you can't argue with the fact that if anyone deserves true love, it should be our queen?"

"Shush child, In due time you will learn of the troubles and pleasures that will come with this new life, but for now Lance is looking for you. He senses that you are in pain and he is frantic. Go calm him, let him know that his son is just being uncooperative the way he can be sometimes."

With a faint smile Natasha wrapped her arms around Christabela hugging her tightly against her, as she heard Lance moving closer to them in the distance.

"I must go, but remember I am always here for you Christabela."

Touching her softly on the cheek, Christabela smiled and motioned her head toward the approaching Lance before turning and walking away back into the woods.

******

The hand on his shoulder startled him, and Joshua swallowed uneasily as he turned around and came face to face with Christopher in the center of the small, crowded airport, and remained silent as Christopher lead him to the closest exit door shoving him into the car that sat just outside those doors.

What seemed like an eternity of silence past, before the car began to move away from the curb and Christopher turned his eyes away from the window he had been staring out of and let them fall upon the frightened Joshua that sat extremely still across from him.

"You were told not to return to Madrid, that no contact was to be made between you or any member of this coven, and that Christabela did not want to see you under any circumstances. So tell me Joshua......what are you doing back in our world?"