Chapter 6 - “I Own You”

‘Trouble In Paradise? - Last night at the Vida Salsera in Waikiki, Hawaii, singer and recently newborn vampire Roxanne attacked a bartender by the name of Leilani Ikaika, after reportedly engaging in a steamy liplock with the Hawaiian beauty who just so happens to be the ex girlfriend of Roxanne’s husband, singer Bruno Mars.

Messy enough for you? It gets worse.  During the brawl between the two women, Mars got involved, and wound up knocking Ikaika unconscious by slamming her against the bar.

After realizing what he had done, he promptly took his former flame to the hospital, leaving his wife, who was soon rescued by Mars’ sister, Presley Hernandez.

Mars and Roxanne recently had a romantic wedding on the coast of Ibiza, and graced the cover of Essence magazine in an elaborate interracial couple themed feature; but issues could have been existent prior to the Vida Salsera incident, as sources say the two arrived separately.

Another source close to the couple tells Celeb Daily, “They used to be happy back when they were both human, like you never saw any kind of tension between them, but after he became a vampire, their chemistry was kind of off and hard to get back on.  They seemed almost bipolar, and now that she’s a vampire too, I wouldn’t be surprised if they split up.  I’d hate to see it happen, because you can tell they really love each other, but sometimes love isn’t enough.”

Reps for Mars denied rumors of a divorce, and reps for Roxanne stated, “Roxanne regrets her decisions for that night.  The release of her second album and her vampire rebirth have been extremely stressful, as she already has a diagnosed anxiety disorder.  However, she was also provoked, and it should be taken into account that she would not have attacked otherwise.  She and Bruno are very content in their marriage, and no further comments will be made on her personal relationship.”

Hmm…no further comments? Merely just content?  Looks as though there is trouble in paradise; all we’re going to say is…we hope there was a prenup; this could get messy.’

“Are you kidding me?! Who’s this so-called source?” Phil threw the magazine down in disgust.

Robyn picked it up and shook her head at the pictures of the fight, and Roxanne leaving all upset in Presley’s truck.  ”There’s no fuckin’ source, they just wanted to write in some bullshit.” She said, closing the magazine.

“That’s one thing I can’t stand about this industry.  They probably showed up separately so they wouldn’t draw a crowd, Bruno does that a lot.”

“And this bartender chick was his ex girl? I bet she was saying some slick shit to piss Rox off!” Robyn sat down on the studio couch and crossed her arms with a sigh.  ”…I don’t like that Bruno left with the ex though.”

“Yeah but this is the same magazine that quoted some random person as their ‘source’ and claimed them arriving separately meant they were getting a divorce.  How are you gonna believe that part?” Phil defended.

“Mmm look what I found.” Ryan quipped from behind his laptop.  Phil and Robyn hurried over and watched over his shoulder.

“What’s this?” Phil asked.

“Just watch.” Ryan pressed play and immediately the video began.  It was of Bruno arriving, realizing who Leilani was, and then Roxanne doing the same; the fight took place, brutally, and Bruno left with Leilani.  Ryan looked up at the two, who were open mouthed in shock at what they had just witnessed.  ”Leilani’s bad news guys.  She’s manipulative and I think there’s something really wrong with her.”

“Yo did you see the way she jumped over that bar though?  Damn!” Phil replayed that part of the video, wooping it up as he replayed it over and over again.

“But wait, the first part, they were kissing.  I guess that part was true.  Why would Rox kiss his ex?” Robyn asked, ignoring Phil’s enthusiasm.

“She probably didn’t know it was her.  Bruno told me he never said her name, or elaborated on her to Roxy.”

“Why though?”

“Oh shit man Young Brunswick iced her like a goddamn WWE wrestler!”

“Phil!” Robyn slapped him on the back of his head and he jumped, going to sit down quietly on the other side of Ryan.  ”Anyway…” she continued.

“Reasons.” Ryan said.  It was not his business to tell Robyn the details of Leilani and Bruno’s relationship.

“Bruno shouldn’t be hiding things from Rox, no matter what.” Robyn began to feel wary for her best friend.

“He’s not hiding anything from her, and I’m sure he doesn’t know everything there is to know about her.” Ryan defended his own best friend, understanding Bruno’s reasoning.  ”Anyway, Leilani probably did it on purpose to get bad press for Roxy.  She’s evil like that.”

Robyn played the video back again. “I hope there’s nothing wrong between them.  Shit would hit the fan, and it won’t be pretty…”
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I walked into the bungalow, expecting World War III; especially since, knowing I couldn’t make it to Maui before daybreak, I had to sleep at the hospital.

But instead, I saw Roxy strumming her guitar on the couch as she stared off blankly at the forestry outside of the window.  She made no movement to acknowledge my presence as I entered the room.  I sat next to her on the couch and she stopped strumming, yet she never looked at me.

This was worse than arguing.

She was never like this.

“I ran my laps tonight.” She finally said.

“Cool.  Good job.” I replied.

And for the first time since we met, conversation felt awkward between us.

“Thanks.” She said.  Suddenly she made a small shrugging movement, as if to wipe her left ear on her shoulder, and she quickly stood up and left the room.  But not before I caught a whiff of her blood and caught up with her, grasping her by the elbow.

“Wait a minute.” I said, looking over her.  That was when I noticed the trail of blood leaking out of her ear that she tried to wipe away again.  ”You stayed up all day, didn’t you?”

She shrugged me off.  ”I just wasn’t tired.”

“Missing rest isn’t optional, you know we get weak and hungry when we do that.” I pulled a blood bag out of my back pocket.  ”It’s a good thing I grabbed these from the hospital-“

“I don’t want it.” She refused.

“Rox-“

“I’m not hungry.”

“Drink the blood, now.” I had to use a command, unfortunately.  I couldn’t risk her starving herself and getting sick, or so overcome with thirst that she leaves the rainforest.

She closed her eyes briefly, before taking the bag from my hands and tearing it open with her fangs, drinking down the blood.  Her eyes brimmed with red liquid that she blinked away when she finished, handing the bag to me and promptly retracting her fangs as she walked away.

“So, is it true?” I leaned against the wall.

“What?” She stopped, but didn’t turn around.

“Presley told me what you said.”

“I was talking out of anger.”

“You seem to do that a lot—”

Finally she turned around sharply.  “Presley told me something too.  She told me about Leilani and you; she told me about the abortion.”

For once, I was taken aback, and at a loss of what to say.  I shoved my hands in my pocket.

“I’m your wife, you could’ve told me.”

“Well, I didn’t.” I replied.  It came off colder than I had intended.

She looked at me, reading my face for any retraction of my statement; but I never showed it. “At this point, I don’t care who I kill on the way, I’m leaving.” She pulled out her suitcase and threw it on the bed, shoving clothes inside.

“You’ve got another two weeks.  After that bar incident, you’re lucky if I don’t push it up to another month.” I stated, already knowing she was going to fight.  I didn’t want to do this…I really didn’t, but I had to.  I wasn’t given much of a choice.

“Bruno-”

“Roxanne, please don’t make me silver you.” I noticed she cringed at my threat, but continued to throw her clothes in the suitcase, assuming my love for her and general sympathy would keep me from following through with my threat.  I reached underneath my bed with a sigh as I pulled on my leather gloves and opened up the heavy, dark suitcase that was filled with thick, silver chains.

Unfortunately, she heard the clinking of the chains and sprinted from the bungalow.

I was unfazed by her escape, I vamped from the bungalow and caught her around the neck with the silver within seconds, and she went down hissing, her skin scalding and burning.  She tried to remove them, but only ended up burning her hands.

I knelt down to her as she looked up at me with sheer hatred in her eyes.  “I love you; but I can’t train you as your husband.” I reached over to her hand and she watched as I removed her wedding ring and I took off mine, tucking them both into my back pocket.  “Until we leave here, I am your Creator.  You aren’t a human anymore, so human rights don’t exist to you when it comes to me.  I own you, I am your Master.  I’m not Bruno, I’m not your husband, I’m not your lover.  I am your Master.” I tugged tighter at the chains and she hissed again as the silver burned deeper into her flesh.  Her pain was ripping me apart inside, but I held it together.

“You will respect me; am I understood?” I demanded.

Finally, she stopped struggling and just stared up at me blankly.  “Yes,Master.” She surrendered.

“You will not attempt to escape me again, am I understood?”

“Yes, Master.”

I ripped the chains off and she yelped in pain as her skin repaired itself and she clutched at her neck, coughing as she struggled to her feet.  “Run your laps, again.” I commanded and she sprinted into the distance.

Once she was gone, I pulled our wedding rings out of my pocket and looked them over carefully, remembering the way we were in happier times.  Everything was perfect when we were both human, so maybe after we get over this hump, we could go back to that.  We’re both vampires, there’s no inter-species barrier to overcome.  With a little adjusting…and a little patience…I could have my girl back.

But for now, I had to tame the beast she had become.
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The vampires murmured amongst themselves, some of them fiending for blood, the others, quietly afraid and wide eyed at the hundreds of people like them that were crowded in a semi-orderly fashion inside of the dungeon-like quarters of the sprawling estate (one of many they owned) in Maramures, Romania that all ten members of the Elitists stayed within.

“Shhh, they’re coming.”

“Stop it!”

“God help us all.”

They all fell into hushed silence as Orielle entered the room, walking up a set of stairs to a high platform that overlooked the quarters.  She was followed by JongHo, and then the other eight members;

Akela, a silver haired man, about eight hundred years old.  He was of average height and had striking blue eyes and a clean shaven face.

Lakshmi, a Hindu woman, one thousand, two hundred and fifty two years old, with hair that had a length likeness to Orielle, but was dark black and a frightening contrast to her hazel eyes and sharp features.

Mihai, a man of Romanian descent, very young, only appearing to be in his mid to late 20s, but was around nine hundred years old.  He was the only one that was dressed not as extravagantly as the rest, just in jeans, a tshirt and a blazer, his hair shoulder-length and dirty blonde.

Amam was extremely intimidating.  He was Egyptian, and his name meant ‘The Devourer’.  He was a large, muscular man with golden skin and dark features.  Dark brows, a dark goatee and intricate designs inked down the length of his arms and over his collarbone, up his neck and around the frame of his face.  He was nearly two thousand years old.

Casimiro, an Italian man who had kind eyes and smiled often.  He was handsome, possibly in his thirties upon being turned, and wore hand stitched clothing that you could tell was expensive and carefully made.  He wore a fedora over his cropped black hair and had a tendency to lean toward less violent methods used by he and the rest of the Elitists. 

Finally, Jason Hendrickson, Bruno’s creator, entered in last, having a seat upon his designated throne-like chair, pressing his palms together and resting them against his lips as he surveyed all of the vampires present in the room.

“How obedient you all are, this is pleasing to me.” Lakshmi opened her arms wide, the tiny gold plates that adorned her, jingling against each other with each of her movements.  “Many of you are afraid, newly turned and brought here so suddenly.  But we have many good things planned for you.”

She walked down to the other end of the raised platform, “There are currently 3,895 of you here right now, and that number is growing as we convene.”

There was an audible shock that ran through the vampires in the room.  “Had we held this meeting anywhere else, we would have drawn negative attention; when this is not a negative moment.  No, my children, this is apositive, groundbreaking moment within our race.”

Lakshmi continued, “Too long, our kind have been in hiding, and even now as we have revealed ourselves, we are still looked upon in shame by many people.  Slowly, we are winning over the humans through Hollywood media; but we need to move faster.  We will begin by taking over Romania.”

The crowd was eerily silent as they listened in awe to Lakshmi.  Orielle smiled at the small fraction of vampires they had turned for just this purpose.  Just the thought of the many other meetings they would have to hold over the next couple of weeks; made her happiness grow.  She was attaining power quickly, and soon, no human would be a threat to their superior race.

“Amam will help to train you as you live here, learning and growing quickly.  Do not fear, for soon we will be truly free to live as we please, rather than trying to become something we are not.” Lakshmi took a few steps backwards, gesturing to Jason.  He stood up and nodded to her in acknowledgement.  “This is our newest tenth member.  He is a highly respected and influential surgeon and health researcher in America.  Children, welcome Jason Hendrickson.”

The vampires erupted into applause as Jason smiled and took in the appreciation.  He maintained his stoic composure, feeling Orielle’s eyes on him the entire time.  Once the crowd quieted, he spoke.

“Thank you, Lakshmi.” The Hindu woman took a seat.  “I am honored to have finally accepted the invitation to become a part of the world’s most powerful league of vampires.  I will not let any of you down and will do my part in executing our plan to become the superior race amongst this world that humans have let go to waste.”

Orielle relaxed in her seat, a satisfied smile on her face.

Finally, her plans were coming to fruition.
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“KENJI!”

Kenji nearly jumped out of his skin as Eric surprised him.  “Hahaha, why are you so shook lately?”

Kenji’s eye twitched as he readjusted the knobs on his electric guitar, strumming a few chords.  “Family issues.” He said shakily.

“Well this break should do you good then.”

Kenji swallowed, trying to stop from blinking so frequently.  “D-Do you k-know when they’re coming b-back?” He took a breath, “You know….Bruno?”

Eric looked at his good friend and bandmate curiously, “You never stutter man, you’ve been getting really edgy more and more lately.  If you have family problems that bad, maybe you should be the one taking some time off…”

“No.” Kenji snapped, “I…I don’t trust…myself…”

Now Eric was really concerned, his tone becoming serious.  “You don’t mean what I think you mean, right?”  Kenji looked down at the floor, taking his guitar off and setting it against the amp.  “Kenji-”

“I can’t do this anymore.” He muttered softly, running out of the room.  Eric ran after him, but by the time he hit the studio lobby, Kenji was nowhere to be seen.

“Shit.” Eric mumbled.  He immediately pulled out his cell phone and dialed up Phredley.  Kenji had definitely fallen off the deep end this time.
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Knock Knock

“What the-“

Knock Knock

“Coming!”

Robyn rushed down the stairs, tying her bathrobe around her waist, “I said coming! Hold ‘em joe!” She threw her hair into a ponytail and swung the door open, only to find Ray…the burly, muscular, shaggy haired Sicilian southern gentleman and Shapeshifter who helped to hide her Bruno and Roxanne when they were on the run from vampires last year.

After the initial shock ran it’s course, she flung her arms around his neck…hugging him tightly.  ”I can’t believe it!  What’re you doing here?”

“Came up on some business, thought I’d pay my vamp friends a visit.” He smiled, sending butterflies through her stomach; something Robyn hadn’t felt in a long time.

She stepped aside so he could come inside and she closed the door behind him.  ”Well I’m a hundred percent human now…but Bruno and Roxanne aren’t going to be home for another couple of days.”

“Ah, maybe it’s better I missed ‘em anyway.” He ran a large hand through his dark locks.  ”I ain’t interruptin’ nothin’, am I?” He sniffed the air, his senses heightened with the oncoming full moon.

Robyn hugged her robe tighter over her chest, responding in a seemingly innocent manner, “Of course not.”

“Sure ‘bout that Miss Fenty? Smells like you had a fella over here not too long ago, and I wanted to catch up with you over some dinner.  Wouldn’t wanna overstep ma’ boundaries now.” He turned to her, quirking a brow.

Immediately she swallowed the lump in her throat.  Robyn wasn’t used to being so flustered by a guy, she was always much more stronger and confident than that.  Yet Ray was reducing her to the mentality of a third grader with a crush, just as he did when they stayed with him in San Mateo.  ”No…he’s just…someone that I…a friend.  A friend, I promise.  Please, call me Robyn…you know that.”

“Right, Robyn.” Ray nodded.  ”So you gonna head out with me in y’er robe? I knew LA style was a little different but…”

“No!” She laughed, “No, I’ll go throw something on.  Give me ten minutes.” Robyn turned and rushed up the stairs and he made sure to listen closely to her retreating footsteps.

“Take y’er time!” He called up after her.  As soon as he heard her rushing around in her bedroom, he began to casually look around the room, walking over to the computer desk that had a ton of post it notes everywhere.  He glanced back up the stairs before pushing a few papers around until he laid eyes on what he had been searching for.

He pulled a small yellow post it to the surface that read;

‘JASON HENDRICKSON - BRUNO’S CREATOR - NEW ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBER’

Ray pulled out his cell and snapped a photo of the info.  ”Filthy traitor vamp.  Knew I couldn’t trust none of ‘em.”  He called up his Pack Leader.

“You get it?” Thomas answered on the second ring.

“Can’t believe it, I really thought this one wasn’t on their team.” Ray reported.

Thomas chuckled, “You got a lot to learn, Ray.  Never trust any vamp, even if they save your life.  They’ll always put themselves before anyone else.”

“Guess so.  I’ll be sendin’ you the info.”

“Good look.”

Robyn began coming downstairs. “Ray?”

He quickly hung his phone up and replaced the post it where it had previously been.  ”In here Robyn!” He replied.

She poked her head into the room and smiled.  ”There you are.”

He looked her up and down, giving her a whistle.  ”Well don’t you look pretty as a spotted horse in a daisy pasture.”

Robyn laughed, “Is that a good thing?”

Ray placed his hand over his chest, “Southern thing I ‘spose.  Means you look gorgeous.” He smiled.

Perhaps for Robyn, love could be found in a hopeless place.