And she finally did.
“Sirs, my client, Miss Daucourt, has pleaded to be released from her contract,” Maxim Lambert announced, bringing her out of her memories. “Please let it be known my client has been the victim of a brutal arrangement. Her vampire, Aubin Leclair, withheld food for days, water, and fed on her without care or precautions.” He glanced over at her and nodded.
She swallowed the dryness in her throat and let a long breath go. Her hands, shaky and clammy, she pushed up the edges of her sleeves. Apparently, not quick enough for Mister Lambert.
He grabbed her arm with an exasperated sigh and shoved the material up her skin. “Please let it be known, and given for evidence, my client has attempted cutting herself to the point of suicide to escape her situation.” He let go of her and she quickly pulled the sleeve back down.
“She brought this upon herself when she agreed to be with my client,” the vampire representative accused.
Alexia didn’t catch her name, not that it mattered. She represented Aubin. That’s all Alexia needed to know. Her hair was a disheveled mess. Her eyes had creases and her lipstick managed to run in the lines around her mouth. She wasn’t sure how old the woman was, but she wasn’t someone Alexia would ever want to be friends with. Considering the woman was defending the man who pretty much tried to murder her, no thanks.
“We’ve heard enough,” the vampire council announced. Made up of five male vampires, they all looked at one another, almost as if they were bored.
“How long have you been with Monsieur Leclair?” the first one asked.
“My client was with—”
“I was asking her,” the vampire interrupted. “Mademoiselle, please answer the question.”
She took in a deep breath and fidgeted with her fingers.
Was this a good or bad sign?
Did they not believe her story for wanting out?
Did they think she was spoiled?
Maybe they believed her and had other cases of abused blood demons.
She pressed her lips together for a moment, then met the eyes of the first councilman. “Five years, sir.”
His brows rose. “Only five?”
“Umm, yes,” she whispered.
“Speak up, girl,” the vampire ordered. “Speak to be heard or don’t speak at all.”
She flinched at his words. They were not an attack, merely asking her to speak her story, her voice. She could do that. Aubin wasn’t there to stop her, not this time. “Yes, five years, sir.”
“That’s better,” he said with a nod. “What say you?” he asked to the others.
“She only wants to break the contract because Monsieur Leclair is a lesser vampire. He can’t afford the luxuries she thought would come with being the concubine to a vampire,” the vampire representative accused.
Alexia shot to her feet and fisted her hands by her sides. “That is a fucking lie!”
“Mademoiselle Daucourt you will be seated. Another outburst like that will have you removed from this room. Do you understand?”
She lowered her gaze to the table and stared at the tablet of paper in front of her. She nodded and sat down once more.
Maxim Lambert patted her hand. “I’ll handle this,” he reassured her, or at least tried to. “Sirs, if I may,” he started and stood from his seat. “Alexia Daucourt did not deserve the cards she was dealt. She was tortured daily by being forced to live her life in an attic with no light, no food, no water, just the dust and the freezing temperatures of Paris winter. Please, we ask you to break the contract she was under as she had no idea what she was getting into when she signed with Aubin Leclair.”
The vampire representative, who shall be called Bertha since she couldn’t recall her name, rolled her eyes. “Sure. Sob story of a poor rich girl.”
“Isn’t that an oxymoron?” Alexia asked.
“What was that?” Bertha asked.
The first vampire snickered. He’d heard her. They all had. They were vampires. Their sense of hearing was amazing.
“She wanted money and thought my client would give it to her. When she realized he couldn’t give her what she wanted—”
“Wouldn’t,” Maxim interjected. “Withheld, abused his power, kept her prisoner. Shall I continue?”
Bertha cleared her throat. “As I was saying, she is a spoiled girl who didn’t get to play pretty pretty princess.”
Anger rose up her spine, as did the bile in her stomach. “You should be ashamed of yourself,” Alexia announced. “You’re a woman, defending a man accused of domestic violence.”
“He’s done nothing wrong. He put a roof over your head, did he not?”
“Enough,” one of the council members announced.
She didn’t know why she bothered. Bertha would never see to reason. At least, not until she experienced what Alexia went through firsthand. Food, water, even clothes, were a luxury she was never afforded.
No more.
Never again.
The vampire councilman in the middle of the group picked up a pen and scribbled something down. He pushed it to the man beside him, then the next one. It was returned to the middle vampire, then pushed to the other two. The vampire who did the talking throughout her hearing folded the paper and stamped it.
Setting it aside, he and the others stood from their chairs. “This will now be part of the records here at the Paris Covenant. The contract is nullified. A notice will be sent to the vampire Aubin Leclair and you’ll receive a letter letting you know the message has been delivered.”
Alexia closed her eyes and let out a long sigh, the weight of the world finally lifting off her shoulders. A single tear slipped from her closed lids and cascaded down her cheek, landing on her arm. She sniffed and opened her eyes once more.
“Thank you,” she announced to the councilmen. “Thank you for giving my life back to me.”
The one on the end nodded once, then the five took their leave. The room felt almost empty as Maxim and this Bertha picked up their things.
“Congratulations, Mademoiselle Daucourt,” Maxim whispered to her. “You deserve the world. Never allow a man, vampire or otherwise, to ever treat you that way. No one deserves it.” He glanced over to the other rep and smirked. “Not even you, who was so determined to keep this female in a prison.”
She lifted her brow at Maxim. “Sure, so says her.” She picked up her belongings and started toward the door.
“Thank you,” she told Maxim again. “If there’s anything I can do to help move this along, please let me know.”
“Of course,” he told her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Good luck to you, Alexia Daucourt. You have a long life ahead of you.” He paused for a moment, removing his hand from her shoulder. “Do you think you’ll ever consider becoming a concubine again?”
She shrugged. “Maybe. I know not everyone is this way. I guess I was dealt a bad hand.”
He smiled. “Great way to look at it. Go out into the world as a free blood demon. Do check in with The Covenant, though.”
“Yes,” she stepped past him. “They’ll be well aware of my whereabouts.”
Headed to the meeting room door, she glanced back again in the room. “Funny how all decisions pertaining to The Covenant here takes place here. And yet, I’ve never met our rulers.”