Married To The Mad Vampire Lord
Chapter 244: Investigation_Part 1

Chapter 244: Investigation_Part 1

By the time Rohan finished his farewell with his wife, Rav and Gwen were fully prepared, including Evenly, who, after hearing she had saved his wife in Nightbrook, Rohan decided to let tag along. If she could fight a vampire as a human, she could fight a vampire fully as a vampire. She would be useful to his plan, thus he let her come along, despite Rav not seeming to like the idea of it for some reason.

Before the sun rose in the sky, the four had left the house. Rohan gave his wife one final glance at the doorway with the promise that he would be back to her.

Belle stood at the front of the door, staring at the spot where he had vanished through the door with the others who had bid her farewell as well. The warmth of his kiss still lingered on her lips, and her arms felt empty now that he was no longer wrapped around her. She pressed both hands to her chest, as though doing so might quiet the dull ache inside her.

He had said he would come back. He had promised. And she believed him, she truly did. But as the house grew quieter and the wind brushed softly against the windows, one thing kept echoing in her mind.

He hadn’t said "I love you" back. He had never told her he loved her.

She knew he did. She knew it in the way he looked at her, in the way he touched her like she was something precious he didn’t ever want to let go of. In the way he had pressed his lips to hers like he was memorizing her taste, and the way he always spoke to her with such careful tenderness. But the words... they still mattered.

Maybe the rush of everything had made him not realize he had never told her those words—and that she wanted to hear them today. Maybe he was still doubting his feelings for her and not certain if he loved her or only cared about her. Maybe...

Belle slowly lowered herself onto the second to the last step of the stairs, her hands folded over her stomach as the baby moved inside her like he, too, missed Rohan’s presence already. Her throat tightened, and she bit down on her bottom lip to stop the trembling. A single tear slid down her cheek, but she wiped it away quickly.

"I’ll be strong," she whispered to her belly, to herself, and to whatever part of Rohan she still felt lingering in the air. "We’ll wait for him... no matter how long it takes. He will come back for us, darling." She told their unborn son.

And when he came back, because she had to believe he would, maybe then, she would hear the words she longed for. Maybe then, he would let himself say it to her.

Belle did not know for how long she sat there with her heart aching, longing to be where he was rather than here, but she was still sitting there when a knock came from the front door. Her heart leapt, thinking Rohan had come back to take her because he couldn’t leave, her common sense not telling her that if it was Rohan, he wouldn’t be knocking and would find his way in somehow, like he always did when the front door was locked.

She leapt from her sitting position, with her hand supporting her aching back, and opened the door, expecting—somehow in the back of her mind—to see the four people who had left some hours ago. But she was stopped short at the sight of unfamiliar faces at the front step of her door, with many carriages outside on the streets.

Four men stood on the porch, and from the many voices she could hear from outside, she could tell more men were probably beyond the porch. The man in the front was a tall, lean man wearing a black coat and a wide-brim black hat on his head that covered half his face. But upon hearing her opening the door, he removed the hat and looked towards her,

"Lady Cutter?" he inquired with a polite smile that looked more automatic than genuine.

Belle recovered enough from her shock of seeing strangers at the door to remember Rohan’s words about the authorities coming. She nodded her head. "Yes. How may I help you?"

She knew exactly how she could help them, they were here for her husband. Despite her outer composure, her heart began to throb with anxiety in her chest as she struggled to maintain the act of ignorance. She had to appear innocent, not give away even the slightest hint that she was an accomplice rather than a victim of the vampires, just as Rohan had instructed her to pretend when they arrived.

"I am Everett McCoy, the Head Council of Bimmerville. If you may please let us in, we have a few questions to ask of every person living in this residence."

The man spoke with a tone that was more of a command than a request, and Belle knew she had no choice but to invite them in—if not for anything but to waste their time and give her husband and the others more chance to leave the land before they were chased down.

She nodded her head and stepped aside, opening the door wider to invite them in. But before the man who introduced himself as the Head Council entered, he gave orders to the men outside to surround the house and make sure no one comes in or out.

Belle invited them to sit in the guest receiving room for tea, but the man declined, then told the other men who followed him inside to search the house.

"What’s going on, Mr. McCoy? Why are men searching my house?" Belle demanded when men went upstairs in search of whatever they were looking for. If she stood and let them do as they pleased without speaking, they might suspect something.

The councilman did not answer her. Instead, he put his hand into the inner pocket of his coat and retrieved a small bottle. Uncapping it, Belle watched as he turned to pour the white liquid into his palm and then, without a word of warning, he caught her off guard by sprinkling the liquid on her face.

She gasped in shocked disbelief and glared at the disrespectful man in anger. "What’s the meaning of—"

"Hold her," he ordered two men, who rushed to grab both of her arms to keep her from moving or speaking, as the councilman stared at the liquid he had sprinkled on her face. He did not blink as he stared into her eyes for more than a minute, while Belle was boiling with rage but could not speak, as her lips were grasped shut by one of the men holding her.

The councilman finally stepped back, waving his hands for the men to release her. "She’s human," he declared, recapping the bottle that contained a substance vampires could not stand or have near them. Even a little of it could burn their skin to ash, and seeing how the pregnant woman before him did not burn or look in pain, he could tell she was not a vampire.

Before Belle could part her lips and voice out her displeasure at their uncivilized behavior, the councilman bowed his head in apology.

"We apologize for our rudeness, madam. We are just doing our jobs. There have been murders done by a vampire who we believe is from this residence. And if you cooperate with us, nothing will happen to you."

Belle pretended to look shocked at the revelation. "Vampires? In my residence? I believe you are mistaken and—"

"We are not. If you do not know about them, it means you must be a victim. Harry," the councilman called for one of his men, "bring the Nullshade. It seems she is under their spell as well."

He said this to his men, who were already feeding some strange pills to all of the workers in the house, who Belle belatedly noticed had begun to grab their heads and fall to the floor for some minutes before they began to confess how they had been fed on by Rohan and Rav.

What are these pills? Belle wondered with dreadful curiosity, as she had never heard of anything like it that gave one back the memories that were compelled away. Rohan had never mentioned it, which meant he also did not know about it.

She watched in fear as the man brought the pill to her and held it to her mouth. Before they could force her to take something that would harm her, she voiced out,

"What is this?"

The councilman was patient as he explained that it was Nullshade and what it was used for.

She looked from the silver-colored pill to the man. "I am pregnant. What if it harms my baby?"

"I can see that, my lady. Unless you fear that your baby is a vampire, you will take the pill. But seeing how you are still healthy and on your two feet, I doubt the child belongs to a bloodsucker—or you wouldn’t be able to stand with that stomach. Take the pill," he said politely, but there was a command in his tone.