Gankutsuou Fan Fiction ❯ Gankutsuou Reborn ❯ Captive Hearts ( Chapter 8 )

GANKUTSUOU REBORN
© September 30, 2005 By Rory V. Pascual


CHAPTER EIGHT: Captive Hearts

It was near dawn when Albert returned to the estate. Bertuccio and Baptistin who were worriedly waiting up for him the whole night were shocked to see their young ward soaked to the bone.

"Albert!" Baptistin ran to the boy, gripping his shoulders. "What the hell happened to you? Why didn't you call us so we could've at least picked you up?"

No reply came from the young man. But a tear dripped down his chin.

Bertuccio was filled with sudden dread. "Did something happen at the club?"

Albert's hands closed into tight fists. "Bertuccio, Baptistin…I couldn't protect him. That son of a bitch was hurting Etienne, but I could do nothing! Nothing!"

"Who, Albert?" Baptistin shook him. "Who hurt Etienne?"

"Benedetto! That rogue who posed as the Marquis Andrea Cavalcanti! The same bastard who had raped Eugenie seven years ago!"

Baptistin slowly released the angry young man, seized by guilt. They both knew all too well who Benedetto was. The bastard son of former Chief Justice Gerard Villefort and Victoria Danglars. The mad man whom the Count had paroled from prison in order to torment his parents and drive a wedge between him and Eugenie by manipulating the girl's greedy father.

Albert was shaking in rage. "Benedetto was the last person I expected to see at La Decadenza. What was worse, Etienne even admitted that they were lovers, but I refuse to believe it. Etienne was obviously terrified of him! Benedetto hurt Eugenie before. I cannot let him do the same to Etienne!"

"What are you planning to do?" Bertuccio grimly asked the younger man, already certain of what was running through his head. "Let me guess. You're planning to use your ambassador's powers to march into La Decadenza, arrest Benedetto and demand the release of Etienne."

"I'm the Ambassador to Luna! I can do anything I want!"

"Luna is a neutral zone, Albert. Paris laws do not apply here. Yes, Benedetto is a wanted man in all four quadrants of the galaxy, but here he is free to do whatever he wants. And one other thing. Don't forget that Etienne, by his own admission, is a whore. Have you ever given thought of what this could do to your reputation if word gets out that you've fallen in love with a prostitute?" Bertuccio observed Albert fall into sullen silence. "True, seven years had passed since that fateful summer, but the scandal and the atrocities that your father had committed remain fresh in the minds of the populace. Such a dark taint cannot be simply erased by changing one's family name."

"Then, tell me, Bertuccio," Albert demanded in frustration. "Tell me what I should do. Should I just sit here and do nothing while lord knows what Benedetto is doing to Etienne?"

"Bertuccio is simply saying that you should act with prudence and caution," Baptistin put in. "We must not rush into anything that may prove disastrous in the end, not only to you, but to Etienne as well. If you want to do something, speak with Messrs. Lucien and Beauchamp about this. They have more experience in these kinds of matters."

Despite his anger, Albert had to agree with the advice of his two friends. With a grudging nod, he said, "I really hate to say this, but you're right. Please inform Lucien and Beauchamp that I need to speak to them. Ask them when they're available. We could either meet at my office or here at the estate.

Bertuccio gave the younger man a reassuring pat. "You're doing the right thing, Albert."

"Am I?" Albert asked bitterly. "Then why do I feel like I had just abandoned Etienne?"

~~~~~~~~~~

Etienne was sitting at his desk, the pocket watch that Albert had given him held tightly in his hand.

"Albert…please forgive me," he sobbed, as he pressed his lips to the watch, the cold metal getting wet with his tears.

:Why do you weep, my gentle Angel?: the voice of Gankutsuou inquired inside his mind.

:Gankutsuou…: Etienne was surprised by that question. :I thought you knew what was happening to me.:

The singer felt a tremor inside his brow, as though the entity had just shaken his head. :Not all. It's only recently that I had awakened. I am still not strong enough to regain full awareness. That time with your filthy client, it drained a lot out of me. I was slumbering since then. I sensed your distress, that is why I forced myself to rouse.:

:He's come back, Gankutsuou!: that thought caused renewed tears to pour from Etienne's eyes. :I had prayed that I would be able to escape from La Decadenza before he returned. But I was wrong. He is now back in Luna, and I won't be able to see Albert ever again!:

:Who, Etienne? Who has returned?: Gankutsuou was about to probe for the memory that so terrified the young man.

The answer to his question came as a sly voice at the doorway that he recognized at once. "Unbelievable!"

:Gankutsuou…hide!: Etienne urgently told the entity, who retreated inside his mind.

The singer quickly hid the pocket watch inside the dresser, as Andrea Cavalcanti sauntered over to him.

"I thought I had you all to myself when I brought you here to Luna. Well…perhaps not exactly 'all to myself'." A wicked smirk went up Andrea's face. "I needed to make a profit, and your beautiful voice and sweet body certainly paid handsomely. Besides, it's the least you could do for me since it was I who saved your life." That evil smile vanished and was replaced by a dark scowl. "However, who'd ever thought that my most hated rival would wind up here on this accursed moon, much more show up in my club to woo my precious Nightingale."

A mewling cry was drawn from Etienne's lips as Andrea yanked him to his feet. Shaking the poor singer roughly, the rogue demanded, "How long have you been seeing Albert de Morcerf? And don't you lie to me!"

Etienne was too frightened to deny it. "A little over a month. I had a seizure while I was crossing the street from church. It was Albert who saved me before I could get run over by a carriage. He introduced himself as Albert Herrera."

"Why should he not change his name? His father was involved in a terrible scandal that rocked Paris. Even if seven years had gone by, Parisiens still talk about it. I'm surprised that poor little Albert recovered from the shame. More unbelievable still is that he is now the Ambassador to Luna."

"Albert is a kind person," Etienne defended his dear friend. "If he is, as you say, an ambassador, then he achieved that position through honesty and hard work."

"Oh, look! How nice! My sweet Nightingale is defending that disgraced viscount!"

A resounding slap to his face caused the singer to fall on top of the bed. Before he could shake away the stars, he was flipped over onto his back and his shirt torn open. The shoes and trousers came next, and the terrified young man lay totally naked, too shocked to move, much more defend himself. Trembling, Etienne tried to hide his nakedness with his hands and arms while he watched Andrea remove his own clothes. As he straddled the singer, the rogue gestured to the four parallel scars on his chest.

"Do you want to know how I got these?" Andrea asked, smiling fiendishly. "I was once betrothed to a beautiful baron's daughter. Of course, our engagement was against her will. She was originally engaged to another boy, but her dear old father became bankrupt, you see, and he needed my so-called 'fortune' to recover. On the eve of her wedding, she tried to run away, but I caught her before she could flee. Put up a struggle at first. In the end, I showed her who the real master is. I believe you know her, Etienne. She's one of your ardent admirers – the concert pianist Eugenie Danglars. As for her fiancé, he's your dearly beloved Albert."

Etienne gaped at the mad man above him in stunned disbelief. Beautiful, strong-willed Eugenie…violated by this bastard! And there's Albert. He could only just imagine Albert's pain when he discovered what Andrea had done to the woman he loved.

"I'm not taking all the credit for it," Andrea declared, without a single trace of remorse in his voice. "It was part of an elaborate scheme carefully planned by one man to destroy those who had ruined his life. I was only too happy to be of service to him. I also desired vengeance against my parents who had buried me alive the minute after I was born in a garden behind a villa in Auteuil. They are both in an asylum in Paris…Chief Justice Gerard Villefort and his mistress, the Baroness Victoria Danglars."

"Danglars?" Etienne gasped out the name in shock. "Then Eugenie…."

The rogue burst into evil laughter. "…Is my half-sister. Did you know that I also bedded my poor mother while she was in a state of depression? Hot-blooded woman, my mother. Now I know where I got my unquenchable libido from."

"You're sick, Benedetto!" the singer exclaimed in sheer disgust. "How could you do those terrible things to your own mother and sister?"

"And I told you to call me 'Andrea'!" Andrea seized Etienne's face, his fingers digging deep into the singer's cheeks. "Why should I feel any guilt? I was merely following orders." He peered into the Nightingale's mismatched eyes. "You told me to do it."

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

But Andrea persisted, "I know you're in there. Come out!"

"It hurts! Please…Andrea!"

"So you don't want to show yourself, eh?" the rogue remarked, roughly jerking the singer's legs apart. "Then, you won't mind if I do whatever I want with your new body."

Etienne desperately kicked free and started to crawl away from the mad man who was determined to have his wicked way with him. But as his right hand gripped the headboard, Andrea seized his hair and slammed his forehead on the rail. Dazed and dizzy, with a small bleeding cut on his brow, Etienne could no longer fight back against the blond.

The singer screamed as Andrea plowed into him, driving his hard erection deep within. At once, blood flowed down his legs as membranes were ruptured and blood vessels were torn.

"Andrea, please stop!" Etienne begged the man who was relentlessly ripping his insides to shreds. "It hurts too much! Please stop!"

"Ooh, does it hurt?" Andrea grunted evilly. "But I thought you like our coupling to be rough? A ramrod cock plunging in and out, in and out…" As he said this, he slammed hard into the young man beneath him, eliciting agonized cries.

The rogue felt the change in Etienne's demeanor gradually. It started with a sudden constricting of the channel he was plundering. Then the whole body stiffened. A quick twist and a sweeping blow of an arm, and Andrea found himself lying flat on his back, staring up at a leering face with glowing pink marks on his brow and four shining eyes glaring malevolently back at him.

"You seem to have a poor memory, Benedetto. I never ordered you to rape Eugenie Danglars," Gankutsuou snarled at the blond rogue. "And in case you've forgotten, I was the one doing the plunging, not you."

"Well, there's always a first time for everything. Don't tell me you didn't like it?" Andrea caressed that grotesque face. "I missed you, O Great Ruler of the Cavern."

Gankutsuou hooked the rogue's legs over his shoulders. "I wish I could say that I missed you, Benedetto. And this will be the first and the last time that you will ever take me!"

~~~~~~~~~~

It was midday when Andrea rose from the bed, groaning at the pain in his battered behind. He gazed at the singer sleeping beside him. An expression of utter hatred distorted the rogue's handsome features.

Standing, Andrea went towards the wall near the dressing mirror. With a twist of the wall lamp, a panel slid open and he entered a secret chamber where a Black woman dressed in a simple blouse and skirt, with a turban on her head, sat waiting for him.

"Did you see?" Andrea asked her.

"Aye, young Benedetto," the woman nodded. "Those marks…there is no mistake. 'Tis the Master of the Underworld himself."

"Well? Tell me!" the rogue demanded in impatience. "Can you do it?"

In the dim light, the woman's face was like a hideous mask as she smiled in wicked anticipation. "Aye! Where my ancestors had once succeeded, I shall do the same."

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