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Matthew drove into the Italian countryside, he and Diana had elected to start out of Rome where it was more peaceful and he could hunt. He parked the car and got out looking for prey. When he heard it. Faint but he heard it. Singing. Tortured singing. Matthew followed the time unable to resist trying to find the source. He found a building with the scent of a vampire.
Something was wrong.
He hesitated scenting for the other vampire but his scent was very old, he hadn’t been there for weeks. Matthew broke his way in following the sound of singing.
——
It was an old song her mother would sing to her when she was ill or had a nightmare, a soft, pleasing and relaxing melody that gave her the tiniest comfort as she lay on the cold cobbles of Vermier’s cellar.
Her jailer, abuser and owner, essentially.
She was little more than an object to him, taken out of it’s box to sing and entertain him and the other vampires he’d hosted at his Palazzo. That would have been nothing had it ended at singing.
However, Vermier demanded more of her, sometimes her blood and other times her body.
Bianca had not seen him for at least two weeks and she had been deprived of food in that time, her water had run out a little over two days prior.
She was dying, slowly and painfully, forgotten, too weak to even move when she heard a distant sound.
—
Matthew froze when he saw her. He was suddenly thrown back into his own imprisonment with Benjamin standing over him breaking his bones as he screamed. Matthew slowly crouched down to not frighten her.
“What’s your name?” He asked softly holding his hands up so that she could see them and not be frightened.
“I am not going to hurt you, my name is Matthew I’m here on holiday with my wife Diana, she’s back at the hotel.” He was talking in a soft and gentle voice hoping his chatter would reassure her.
Bianca watched the vampire as he entered the room and forced herself to push up from the hard cobbles of the ground and prop herself up against the wall.
“Bianca” She answered through her dry throat, “you really haven’t been sent by Vermier?”
Matthew smiled warmly and didn’t move to not startle her.
“No I wasn’t sent by him I heard singing and I came to investigate. It is my wife and I anniversary we wanted a holiday. I can get you out of here if you want I’m a doctor,” he would wait for Bianca to decide, “you have a lovely name and we don’t have to rush we can wait till you’re ready.”
“I don’t want to die here,” she starts, “but if he finds that I’d escaped and he gets me again, I’ll wish I had!” Bianca confides in Matthew.
“Don’t worry he won’t mess with my family.” Matthew assured shuffling closer, he offered his hand for her to take leaving the choice to her. Everything would be at her speed.
Bianca noted his outstretched hand and the fact that he was giving her the choice, rather contrary to her experience of vampires so far.
She took his hand.
“Your family?”
He smiled but didn’t move letting her get used to his touch.
“My family are the de Clermonts. It is a powerful family and able to protect you.”
“I know who you are, they spoke about you all the time,” she glanced at a section of the wall, “Vermier, his guests, all vampires. I wrote down what I heard-“
Bianca tried to get up but she was too weak.
Matthew gently wrapped his arms around her quickly breaking the restraints around her and lifting her against his chest.
“I’m going to take you back to my wife and then we will go to France alright? I will look after you.”
Bianca took a breath and decided to jump, to trust the vampire completely with the work of years. If he was somehow an agent of Vermier, the revelation would guarantee her suffering beyond imagining.
But he wasn’t, there was a kindness to him that someone in her captor’s company could never possess.
“My notebook, it’s behind the loose brick, it will tell you everything they’ve been plotting against you and your family.”
Matthew nodded making first sure she was secure in his arms, he moved the brick and tucked the notebook into a pocket and smiled at her.
“Let’s go my car is just outside and we will have you fed and warm in no time.”
He was careful to keep his tone light and welcoming to not scare her, but he would kill Vermier slowly for this.
Matthew carried her out to his car and opened the door setting her down in the soft seat. He closed the door and slid into his own starting the car and pulling away.
Bianca gasped at the fresh air when they got outside and the feeling of the sun on her skin as she held tightly to Matthew.
In very little time in the car she fell asleep, feeling safer than she’d felt in a long time.
___
Diana was worried about Matthew, he’d been gone longer than usual. She stretched on the luxurious bed as she heard the phone ring, he answered but his voice was different.
“Matthew where are you, hunting doesn’t take this long normally.”
Bianca jolted awake with the sound of the ringtone but relaxed when she heard the voice of the woman on the other end of the phone, yet another confirmation that what he told her was true.
She glanced at Matthew, then out the window, trying to offer what scant privacy she could in speaking with his wife.
“I’m waiting for you Matthew.” Diana smiled in relief
Matthew looked across at Bianca before he answered.
“Pack your things I’ll explain when I arrive.”
“Your wife, is she a vampire too?” Bianca asked after he’d said his farewell to Diana, bade her hurry and hung up.
“No my wife is a witch we have two children at home with my mother. She’s lovely and she will look after you.”
Matthew stopped at the hotel and got out going round to her side holding his hand out.
Bianca was taken aback by his casual statement regarding his wife, a witch and a vampire, married and with children. She’s heard the vampires talk of such a pairing but she had no idea it was related to her saviour and his wife.
“Thank you...Matthew.” She couldn’t help but tear up a little in gratitude with his entirely casual willingness to help a complete stranger and accepted his hand.
He gently lifted her out as a woman found them.
She ran to her husband but stopped when she saw him carrying Bianca. There were angry and scared threads surrounding her that tugged at her.
“Hi I’m Diana” she said quietly.
Diana didn’t know why she was there but Matthew had to have a good reason.
——
Bianca hugged her knees in the warm, soothing bath as Diana rinsed off the last remnants of shampoo from her shoulder length hair.
“You’ve both been so kind to me,” she spoke softly, “I don’t know how to thank you.”
“I know how it feels to be locked up and powerless and so does Matthew,” Diana responded, “we couldn’t have left you there. When he’s back from hunting we’ll get you some food okay?”
She nodded at the suggestion before a thought occurred to her.
“Did a vampire take you too?” She asked Diana.
“A vampire and a witch. They wanted to find my power and take me from Matthew. He came and he saved me.”
She smiled a little at that explanation.
“So he’s like a vampire Iron Man, always saving people?”
Diana laughed.
“I told him once he’s a combination of Lancelot and Superman. But he always wants to help he wouldn’t leave you like that.”
“But someone captured and hurt him too,” she mused, remembering what Diana said before, “did you save him?”
“Yes. He was held captive like you were and abused, he’s still healing from what happened, it’s why he went hunting. When he gets angry it’s hard for him to stay calm.”
Bianca understood that.
Fear and anger had been her constant companions for years under Vermier’s captivity but she’d had no choice but to hide the anger, it was defiance, and it had to be beaten out of her.
“You saved him, he saved you and me. You’re both superheroes.”
Diana smiled at her gently washing her back. She stopped at the scars and pulled up her own shirt so Bianca could see her back. There was the tattoos of Cora and the Book of Life but there were also the burned marks of Matthews insignia.
“Someone scarred me too, but you will heal.”
“If you can and if Matthew can, then maybe I can too,” she eyed the painful looking scar given by Satu, “does it still hurt?”
“Not anymore, she wanted to brand me so everyone knew I had betrayed them for a vampire.”
Bianca processed what Diana said, remembering the culprits in the scenario.
“If a witch did that, isn’t she the one betraying you?” Bianca asked.
“I had chosen a vampire, I had turned my back on old prejudices. They hated me.”
Vermier had confiscated her silver crucifix as soon as she was under his control but she never lost her faith and in hearing Diana’s story of her and Matthew’s shunning of the wicked forces of hate, it made her believe that her rescue had to be in part as a result of divine intervention.
“Matthew said you both have children. The ones who hurt you, all they have is their hatred.”
Diana smiled and rubbed some lotion into her skin.
“You can meet them when Matthew’s back he shouldn’t be long.”
“Diana, Bianca?” Matthew arrived after having fed till he was full.
“That’s strange,” Bianca smiled a little at Diana, “it’s like you knew he was almost here.”
——
Matthew was calm again as he set food before Bianca smiling encouragingly.
“Let’s see if you can eat”
She forced herself to eat slowly, despite her hunger, small bites, which wasn’t easy as the food tasted utterly delicious.
“This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten.” She told Matthew and Diana with wonder.
They smiled at her compliments.
“I promise we didn’t cook this, we have a housekeeper who keeps us both alive” Diana assured, “both of us are hopeless in a kitchen.”
Bianca giggled a little at this, it was hard to believe at this stage there was anything her saviours were incapable of doing.
She took a drink of the water and closed her eyes at just how incredible it tasted, of nothing, but nothing she hadn’t had in two days.
“I’ve never been to France,” she admitted, “but I’m look forward to it, I have to tell your housekeeper how amazing they are!” She added, feeling more herself after her bath and despite the food feeling strange in her stomach.
“You will, we are flying back to France soon and you can meet the rest of the family. My mother will adore you” Matthew said smiling at her, “and our children will be excited to meet you.”
“De Clermont, you said that is your family name, so your mother is Ees-a-bow,” she stated, having only heard her name mentioned by Vermier’s guests, it was not a name she had ever heard before and she knew there was no way it was spelled correctly in her notes.
“They’re all so afraid of her so I am looking forward to meeting her too,” anyone who put that amount of fear in those who hurt her was someone she already greatly admired, “and the children, how old are they?” She beamed brightly at the prospect of children.
“They’re both two and figuring out their magic so our house is a little chaotic” Matthew got up and after warning their guest, placed his ear against her back to listen to her lungs.
“Your breathing sounds normal how are you feeling?”
“Better, I think,” she hesitated, not wanting to seem like more of a burden but in truth, the food was not feeling settled in her stomach and she was fighting the nausea.
Matthew moved so he could assess her stomach and frowned.
“You can’t lie to a vampire come on go to the bathroom” he could smell that she nauseous.
Diana got up as well, “I’ll make you tea”
Matthew’s instincts had been so sharp that she didn’t even have time to argue before the feeling came over her and she rushed to the bathroom, fell to her knees over the ceramic bowl and dispelled the entirety of her stomach.
The effort left her exhausted, and she struggled to stand when she was sure it was over but she powered through it, emerging a short while later.
“Such as waste, it was such a beautiful meal.” She pondered idly.
He smiled and helped her lie on the couch.
“It’s alright we won’t take it personally. All we care about is that you’re feeling better” Diana places some tea down by her.
“If you want might help to settle your stomach”
“I am,” she realised, the nausea gone, “and thank you for the tea, I’m sure it will help.” She gave Diana a weak smile.
Still, she couldn’t help feel worried at her inability to keep down food.
Matthew was sitting in a chair beside the couch so he could monitor her vital signs. “It is probably nothing to be worried about”
Bianca nodded slightly but wasn’t so sure.
In the cellar, she had felt so close to death that it would have most likely happened within the day.
Hope delivered by her rescue kept it at bay but even then she was on borrowed time. Still, she was determined to fight, if only to repay the kindness of her saviours.
“I know,” she agreed instead and took a sip of the tea.
———
Matthew had been away on family business. He returned to Les Revenants, Diana was playing with the twins who adored Bianca. He would normally be happy but there was a scent that made him panic. In an instant, he had her swept up and racing to a section of the house away from his family.
She didn’t argue as he rushed through the house and into an unused room before throwing open the duvet, placing her in the bed, and covering her over.
“Matthew, what is it?” She asked but he didn’t answer her leaving instead to guard the door before his wife could enter.
“She has pneumonia” he said hoarsely and tense that his family had been exposed to the disease. “It’s why her breathing is off and I can smell the bacteria” he ran a hand through his hair. “Call Marcus I need antibiotics”
Bianca watched as Matthew closed the door, not having heard his conversation with his wife and feeling her anxiety peak.
“You’re scaring me Matthew, what is wrong?”
He turned back and sat by her bed.
“You have pneumonia I can’t have you near Diana or the children. Diana is calling Marcus to bring some drugs here”
“Pneumonia...” she whispered the word is disbelief, “but I don’t feel ill, just tired, I,” she stopped, looking up at him in horrified realisation, “Matthew, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know, if I thought I had anything I wouldn’t have gone near Diana or the babies.”
Her distress only exacerbated her uneven breaths.
He got up and wrapped his arms around her tugging her against his chest.
“It’s alright I’ll treat you and put them on antibiotics in case” he brushed her hair gently.
Knowing that he wasn’t angry with her offered just as much relief as his paternal comfort, he was a good father and she would have been lucky to have had one that cared as much.
“You’ve done so much for me I shouldn’t ask but...” she took a shallow breath, “promise that you will make sure he doesn’t get to hurt anyone else, Vermier, use the book I gave you?”
Matthew nodded as he placed her on his lap brushing her hair back smiling.
“Oh I promise. We are getting you healthy and then I will rip him limb from limb” he was listening for Marcus. “You’ll get better soon”
Bianca was soothed by his words as she drifted in and out on consciousness, between the room and still organising the jigsaw puzzle with the twins as though nothing had happened.
“We have all the sky pieces,” she said quietly as though she were talking to the children.
Matthew could feel her temperature rising and knew. She wasn’t going to last for Marcus.
He had no choice.
“Bianca I need you to listen to me. I need your consent I need to change you into a vampire”
She knew what he was asking her and she also knew that it was extremely time sensitive, she was fading and it was tempting, so tempting, to give up, let the warm current carry her off.
But she couldn’t, not after everything that had happened to her, that she had survived to be be beaten by a microscopic nothing. Vermier had preyed upon her because she was weaker than him, she had to survive, not just for vengeance but for the family that gave her hope.
“You have...my consent Matthew.”
Matthew didn’t wait any longer. He quickly switched their positions and apologised for the pain as he bit her neck draining almost all of her blood. When she was close to death, Matthew opened his veins and stuck his wrist to her mouth.
“Bianca drink!”