"Yes..." Colleen said after she cleared her throat. "It is about His Majesty... He's been..." She paused, took several steps towards me and continued. "May I show you something...?"
"What is it?" I asked, now concerned due to her uneasy demeanour and manner of speech.
"Its footage of His Majesty's coronation."
My eyes drifted from her face to the black tablet in her hands. Heart thundering in my chest, palms sweating; I reached out towards her, silently but desperately urging her to show me the video.
You know that feeling you get - the jolt of adrenaline - when you know something big is about to happen... The quickening of one's pulse, the preparation for fight or flight, the moistening of the skin as sweat coats the surface, the inhalation of air in short, shallow pants. A feeling so nerve-wracking that your armpits itch.
I swallowed but my mouth was so dry that my tongue stuck to my palate.
"P-please show me." I croaked, evidently desperate as ever to see him. Dimitri.
My heart was splintering; like a wooden board. I could feel the fragments chipping off, hear the crunch as it began to bend in unnatural ways all over again, smell the papery smell of dead tree. Dead wood... or was that just the way the wooden walls, floors and ceiling of the cabin smelt.
Colleen came and sat besides me on the bed and placed the device in my lap.
He was right in front of me. Dressed in a white robe of silk or satin with trousers of the same material, Dimitri smiled at me through the camera. I smiled sadly back.
The venue was truly magnificent. Red tapestries hung from the great walls as embroidered dragons of gold danced on them six mighty pillars appeared to be holding up the sky in itself because the roof had been left open to allow their gods to watch over the holy place. Although, I did speculate that the great circle of light may have been sealed with some kind of magic to protect the interior of the building...
And amongst all this indescribable beauty, stood Dimitri at the centre of it all, another indescribable beauty in his own right. In front of him was an important looking priest dressed in a white robe with a traditional headpiece, all his clothes were embroidered in gold.
Dimitri went down on his knees in front of the priest and the priest began to pray for and bless Dimitri but I couldn't understand a word of what was said because he was speaking an ancient, 'holy' language that I had only heard Dimitri speak once when I found him in prayer.
I watched him carefully, completely immersed in the image of the man whom I had fallen in love with. This was the reason I met him, the reason he changed - everything we had done was leading up that moment and now there it was, all within his grasp.
His gaze was serious and he oozed this level-headed confidence; a sexy kind of confidence. I admired that the most about him. Despite his flaws and weaknesses - despite the curse - Dimitri carried himself with such pride and confidence in the person he was.
His broad shoulders slowly rose and fell as he took a few deep breaths but then the more he did, the more spasmodic his movements became. Like a seizure. My heart lurched out of my chest as I looked on helplessly.
The priest even took a step back when Dimitri fell forward and used his arms to keep his own head from hitting the ground. He tried to hold on to the priest's garments to try comfort himself but all he received was condemnation instead.
"You are unworthy." The priest spat, utterly disgusted by Dimitri's sudden, unexplainable convulsions and also by the raw desperation.
I prayed and prayed that Dimitri was not having an attack right then of all times, but the truth of the matter is that he was (did). And I couldn't be there to help.
A camera zoomed in on his bloody face as murmurs filled the room. A few uncivilised observers even had the guts to shout out that Dimitri was 'an agent of the devil.' The insensitivity and lack of understanding on the part of those people who stood and watched as Dimitri fell apart in front of basically the whole world cause my blood to boil.
"You have been marked by Evil and cursed... To have such a king would burden us, embarrass us, and bring nothing but chaos." The man 'preached' as he moved further and further away from Dimitri who now lay writhing and groaning in horrible pain on the polished floor.
"Please..." Dimitri begged, his voice low and troubled. "I will atone."
I knew what atonement was. I'd seen it happen first hand, one of my masters before had to do it so that he could receive 'spiritual cleansing' after he raped and murdered his own daughter. I remember the way he was led around town with a rope around his neck like a mule all while wearing nothing but underwear. Children and adults alike threw small rocks at him and spat on him as he made the hour long journey on foot to the town square where he was forced to whip himself with silver knives attached to a wooden handle by strips of leather. A hundred lashes later, he collapsed because of toxic shock. But he survived, unfortunately.
Back then, such punishments gave me such comfort and satisfaction because it meant truly evil vampires were being brought to some kind of justice but now... Dimitri was my everything and couldn't bear the thought. A heavy lump formed in my throat.
"No. You cannot, you have fallen and the gods do not want to pick you up. You are unworthy." The grey haired priest emphasised. "You must be erased, son of Bartholomeu, and cleansed with silver and fire so that we may be saved." I knew that 'cleansed with silver and fire' was just a twisted euphemism for 'killed'. They wanted to murder Dimitri.
I looked up at Colleen in terror in hope of finding some ray of hope that Dimitri was still alive but all she gave me was a sad look because it appeared she too didn't understand what exactly was going on.
When I looked back down to the screen of the tablet I saw Dimitri being dragged away by his arms as he screamed out in anguish.
Horrified by the lack of sympathy and the overall unimaginable turn of events, I shoved the tablet into Colleen's hands unable to watch anymore.
"Turn it off, turn it off, turn it off..." I said, trembling as I did. This was ridiculous. Dimitri worked so hard to even have such an opportunity, and now because of some shit Agnes pulled, he was being punished.
I screamed out as loud as I could, unable to contain my emotions. Grief and fury filled me and I couldn't bring myself to exercise composure any longer after doing so for the past month.
Colleen wrapped her arms around me and we sat there; me weeping and her silently providing comfort.
"He is not dead, Jamaica." Colleen whispered to me once I'd stopped crying out loud.
"H-how? Do you know where he is?"
"Apparently he was meant to be killed the next day but he vanished from the holding cell over night. He hasn't been seen since."
"Dear God..." I rested my hot, tear stained face into my open palms. "As if that makes a difference... he's still gone from me, Colleen."
"His half brother Darren has returned from exile and currently sits on the throne. Darren knows about you and his brother. He's searching for you, Jamaica."
"Why?" I asked, becoming annoyed now.
"For leverage to get his brother to come back so Darren can kill him."
"I don't even know what this Darren even looks like. I didn't even know his name..." And now he was the king, and he was looking for me.
"He's had a vendetta against Dimitri for years."
"I can't keep up..."
"There's more." She glanced at me evidently unsure about whether she should say it or not. "Rumour has it that Agnes helped Dimitri escape that night."
My blood boiled at the mention of that witch.
"Oh my God." I was loosing my mind.
"Ma'am, she's the one who sent us the video... She knows where we are and she wants to speak to you."
My heart sank.
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