BELLADONNA MORENO!

 

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, by far the most awaited art exhibition across the world. London had never been this beautiful. London had never felt so much like home. Like somewhere I belonged. There I was in the corridors of Burlington House. Across I’d see all sorts of people; brave-hearted, silver-souled, golden-tongued, just name it. Everyone with the heart and hand of art was there. In all honesty, I had never seen so much art under one roof. There in the ecstasy, dancing from one room to another, my phone beeped. Of course it had to be him.

“Belladonna!” I exclaimed.

“Where do I meet you? You are in Lowa already? Do you mind a cup of coffee?” He asked without at least inquiring on how I was. It had been three years for whatever sake.

“Belladonna, Belladonna, isn’t the night too young for a cup of coffee?” I said sarcastically in my false British accent.

“I’ve sent you my location see you in twenty my dear!”  Belladonna said feigning a deeper accent.

I had met Belladonna Moreno, in my hometown Louisiana three years ago. He had exquisity in architecture and God! What more could those hands do! I had always teased him about buying his home in Bali, which he had designed from scratch. All my life I had not seen a house, so detailed and intentional. Despite being good at what he did, he was still intimidated by my contemporary interest and skill in folklore interior designing. We neither lost touch nor did we communicate as much. The night was just about to be something out of this world. I enjoyed Belladonna’s company, and his taste in wine! I took a cab to his location which happened to be a hotel downtown. I called him when I almost got there.

“Do you ever age?” His voice was usually exceptionally loud and so clear. He was already outside when I alighted.

“I should ask you that!” I could not help myself from staring at his teeth while he smiled. It sent some kind of ecstasy I did not foresee, across my body.

He held my hand as expected and walked me in the hotel, bragging about the people he had met the previous night in the exhibition and how they were pleased to see the designs he had been working on. He even won himself a chance to work with a team that was to set up a modern museum in Paris despite insisting that none of that had brought him to London and that he was purely on personal errands. I didn't believe that.

Anyway, his achievements always blew me off my feet. He had reserved a table. To my surprise, it was for three people. Did he bring a date over? He never seemed to amaze me.

Before I could even pull my chair to sit, a powerful arm did it for me; I looked up to be met by the third person.

“Hey,” I said quite naturally.

 I could see Belladonna smiling slyly. Is he dating a guy or what? Who is this man?

“Hello? Belladonna tells me you are Leterve.” He said.

 His voice was too soft and kind for his body. What a waste! He pulled the chair behind for me to sit and he then joined us. Belladonna went on to introduce him as Sabine. He was his host here in London. Wouldn’t it be easier to book a hotel room? We ordered wine and steak which was good I must say. The conversations were quite exhausting and by the time, it was midnight I was asking to leave. To my surprise, Sabine actually owned the hotel and that is exactly where Belladonna was being hosted. I should have thought of that. I had a voucher to a hotel room too on the other side of town and I was not looking to stay in the same hotel with Belladonna.

“Do you have a hotel room?” Sabine asked.

Before I could say anything, Sabine had already asked me to take a free room. I was quite unsure about that but I was eventually convinced that, it was a good deal. I took the stairs to the room I was assigned to. Room 444. The rooms spoke and shouted Belladonna and I would not be surprised that he designed the rooms. From deep saturated pearl walls, dark throw curtains, really dark. And a totally white ceiling and floor. I always felt like Belladonna was a modern version of my art. If I were not into folklore, then I would definitely be worshiping Belladonna’s work. On the bedside table was a collection of Belladonna’s magazines and that just confirmed my thoughts. Everything here fitted his aesthetic. I was ever proud of him.

I walked to the balcony to talk a warm look at the city. I was expecting warmth but I was hit by a cool stillness. The sky was dark, with a backdrop of heavy clouds. It would be a good night. I was set to watch a movie in the next hour when I heard a knock at the door. I thought it was room service so I just ignored the knock, until it could not stop. Heck! It was Belladonna.

“Can't I have my space sir?”

 I was always using a false British accent with him. It felt right all the time and he played along so well.

“Can't I check on this queen?” He said.

His choice of words while referring to me always gave me chills. I knew so well he was not interested in me. But I would easily say yes if he asked of me.

“Are you hungry?”

“I have been? Can I get blood?” I asked.

“I doubt you can” He responded.

 Immediately, I spotted blood on his shirt, just a few drops. Then I convinced myself that it actually smelled.

“Who are you feeding on? You have blood on your shirt!” I exclaimed.

He moved away and shrugged looking at his shirt. I then noticed it was on his white leather shoes too.

“Sabine, he let me feed on him. I could not control myself. But he is okay, he just slept.” He said defensively.

I was not about to judge him and I understood, Belladonna was the other vampire that I knew existed besides my family that I had freed from years back. His teeth were one of a kind, very close to Dracula’s fangs, unlike mine which were quite underworld. His skin was never pale and I was about to ask him what he used for his skin. My skin was ever pale that I began to get insecure when humans started recommending skin care products unknowingly. Then there was one thing we had in common. Eyes. Both our eyes had a deep-seated green aura. Moreover, we were energy vampires and we had both come to terms with it and drew our lines when we needed to.

 I let him go to sleep and most especially check on Sabine. I was worried about him. He promised to let Sabine get me blood from outside the following day. I could not wait. I passed on my movie and decided to sleep. The room was sufficiently dark. Morning came by earlier than I expected. I moved my bed to the furthest and darkest corner of the room. It just felt right. The place was like a haven. I took out a book to read but I immediately fell asleep. What is wrong with me? I was unusually lazy during the day; one knock at my door woke me up. That could not be Belladonna and as the norm, I did not open for room service. I did not want anything. I sprung out of bed when the door suddenly opened. Had I not locked the door last night? Oh, shit! It was Sabine. He scared me. He of course had access to all rooms I did not need to ask. He asked me about my night and was generous enough to bring more wine. Too good of him. He served me with hotel breakfast too.

"You need blood don’t you?" He asked.

"Yea I do?"

He was in a polo neck and I bet that was to hide his scars from last night.

"I could help you," He said looking concerned.

"But you know I would be okay either way," I said

I didn’t want him to go out of his way to save me. Like having to hurt another person. But I was starving at the thought of it.

"Have me please," He said out of nowhere.

I looked at him without any emotion. More like I had not heard his statement well. The next moment he had dropped some towels he was holding from his hands and was sucking on my lips. I didn’t want him that way. But I could not get him of off me. I wanted him to continue. The feeling I was getting was dangerously beautiful. Like I should stop, but I couldn’t. Without notice, he tore my silk night dress and threw me on the bed, his body was all over mine, he struggled to get his clothes off but he eventually did. He was now on and in me. How long ago was it before I did this? Long enough not to remember. I was not about to push him away. I traced the vein on his neck and the pulse sent weird ecstasy on my lips immediately, my fangs had sunk down his fresh, deep enough for him to let out screams. His warm blood ran through my lips quicker than I imagined. I could not stop feeding, his strokes went slower and slower and I realized he was getting weaker, he was falling unconscious. I fell back on the bed on the realization and he was already passed out. His body was so good to not sleep on it. I selfishly crawled on him to catch my breath.

One hour, two hours, three hours, he wasn’t up yet, his body was weirdly warm. It didn’t worry me as I was expecting it. He had lost a load of blood. I sat next to him for the next hour, tracing the veins along his hands, stroking the little hairs down his face, pressing gently, the scars and open wounds on his neck. I could feel his breathing getting louder and his hands moved on mine. He was up already. He pulled my hands back on him. He could open his eyes now and he actually smiled a little. I sighed in relief that he was okay. Neither of us was saying a thing. The silence, the unawkward safe silence, it drove me crazy, and it made me feel so at home. He then turned suddenly, looked at me, and whispered he was thirsty. I served him raw cranberry juice, cleaned him up a little and changed the bloody sheets. It was midday already.

“Was it Belladonna's idea?” I asked.

“No, he shouldn’t find out!” He said

For a moment I thought he was joking. It wasn’t Belladonna's idea that he should feed me. But what would Belladonna do if he found out? Almost nothing.

“Why shouldn’t he find out?” I was extremely curious now.

“Belladonna is in love with you. Madly. He can’t even stand you. He keeps talking about you. He is scared that you would reject him and so he keeps the whole thing platonic. You lower all his defenses Leterve. I don't know if he will ever let you know all these.” Sabine finished dramatically and my heart sunk weirdly. I could not say anything after that.

He was in love with me! Everything began to make so much sense now. All the times he sent me invitations to his exhibitions that I never attended. The last year we met he helped me buy property while I wasn’t even the highest bidder, who does that? That was not enough reason. Sabine wanted to leave and I let him out. He carried the messy sheets with him. I took a shower and an obvious nap. Evening came quite fast. I was ready to go out again. But was I ready to see Belladonna? I doubt I was.

I hoped he would be busy at the exhibition so we could not get a chance to hang out again. And I hoped that Sabine would cover his neck too. Here goes nothing. I left the room and took the lift down. Whoosh! I did not come across either of the two. A cab was waiting and I hopped in. Hardly had I taken my coat off when a location message popped on my phone screen. It was Belladonna. Does he live of sending people locations? I didn’t care to check. Of course he had to be in Lowa. It was a twenty minute drive and we were almost there. I opened his message only to realize that the location was at a cathedral three miles from where I was. There was a cathedral in Lowa? I should have checked. Why is he at a cathedral? I asked the driver to change the drive location and he did exactly that. I needed to find out what he was up to, or at least find out if he was aware I fed from Sabine.

When I got there, I almost thought nothing really existed. The place was unusually dark and the street lights were either broken or dim? I asked the cab driver to drop me. I had to get him out of whatever creepy idea Belladonna was up to. When he drove off, I took my phone to call Belladonna. Before I could do that, I heard someone walk from behind me. I was ready for anything. It was him. He was weirdly calm and in a really long black coat. An untypical Belladonna's style. Or less, I didn’t know him so well.

“Are you okay?” My first instinct told me that something was up.

“Am fine I just need to show you something.” He said, looking me in my eyes, like he was seeking something.

That is when I started feeling it, when I was following him, I was restless, a slight headache, fatigue and I stopped for a moment to catch my breath. I was now convinced, something was not okay with him. He was an energy vampire and he unconsciously used my strength to solve problems within his psyches. I didn’t like the feeling.

“ Do you mind talking?”

“We are almost there.” He responded.

He lifted a tree branch that actually led to an entrance. The inside was so dark, and I knew it was an entrance since there was a door frame without a door.

“This is family pride for me. My father, before taking his life, had just brought this cathedral up. It could be more that 400 years old. Yesterday was his anniversary and I am here not because of the exhibition but because I needed to pay tribute to him for the last time. He had never been so proud of working with the Catholic Church. It became a ruin during the war and more specific a landmark lost in time, here in London. Even more, I needed to tell you something.” He said without catching his breath.

I stopped him right there, and hugged him. That was quite something. It had never occurred to me that his dad would be dead and even worse he took his life. It must have been tough. I could feel him control his breathing and I sat him down on that filthy floor. He automatically held my hand.

“I’m sorry. I hope you find your peace Bell.” I whispered.

Before he could go on to tell me whatever I already knew, that he was in love, I had to tell him that I  fed from Sabine and had sex too. What a bad timing?  I was not about to make the mistake of keeping that a secret.

“Last night I had sex with Sabine, I fed from him too. It felt so wrong. It was not bound to happen.” I said.

He did not move even one bit. He didn’t say anything until a minute or more later.

“I know, he told me.”

The answer sent chills across me like I owed it to him.

“I love you Leterve, and i doubt you want to settle for humans. You should have known from the first time I met you. It was all over my body. Years later, am still here convinced that you are the one and that it could be mutual. Tell me have you ever felt something for me?”

This time he changed his position and I could feel him looking at me keenly in the darkness. Did I feel the same?

“I don’t know if its love, but you inspire me in different ways, you are attractive and your eyes are something I would wake up to on the daily. Sometimes, the three year old memories still play in slow motion in my little head, and I can’t tell if its pain I feel or if it’s affection...”

Before I could finish describing it, I felt Belladonna's lips on my neck, then my lips. There was a sense of familiarity. In between he said something close to,

“Tell me you don’t want to live in a peaceful Ghibli town with just me, you know they have the best bakeries and the most unambiguous architecture?”

I felt hypnotized for the first time in years. Hell! I wanted to exist in that moment.

“We could take a flight before morning right? To Louisiana.”

I was certain he was the one with just the smallest intimacy of my lips brushing against his nose. What was that I was settling for with Sabine during the day, while I could have a vampire and actual orgasms for the rest of my life?
“Lets go home baby,”  I said.

It was time, I was ready, and I was convinced that only a vampire would love me forever.