Summoning Shadows: A Rosso Lussuria Vampire Novel (10 page)

It was then I knew that Dante’s captors had broken his mind.

*

We learned from those who had ridden out among the Cacciatori that they had ridden hard through the woods in pursuit of a cloaked figure, presumably one of the witches that had been working with the Dracule. The cloaked figure had led them to Dante, bound by silver chains to a large tree.

It had been a trap, an ambush. Severiano recounted three Dracule. With Anatharic’s help, they’d fought them into retreat. Damokles had not been among them.

“Scouts,” Iliaria said. “If they retreated, they were scouts, nothing more.”

“Why set an ambush only to retreat?” Vasco asked.

To that, Iliaria shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. Perhaps he is biding his time and testing the abilities of your warriors.”

“Or he’s preoccupied doing something else,” I said.

No one disagreed with me.

Dante had been taken to a holding cell, for his protection as well as the protection of the other clan members. With his mind so broken, none of us knew what he would do. Renata could heal him bodily, but she could not repair the damage done to his wits. We could only hope that with time, he would awaken from his madness.

Lorrenzo shifted where he sat on the sofa beside Allesandra. He hissed through his teeth when he moved his leg as if it pained him.

“You are injured,” Iliaria said.

“Show us,” Renata said.

Lorrenzo raised the leg of his breeches to reveal the nasty gash along the length of his calf muscle. Iliaria knelt to inspect the wound and he backed up as far as his seat would allow.

“You have a Draculian barb in your leg. If we do not remove it, it will not heal.”

“I thought your barbs were toxic?” Renata asked.

“The skin sheathing the barb is,” she said, probing his wound despite his fear of her and making him wince. “Luckily, the Dracule missed and did not get a fatal shot. Anatharic, I need your assistance.”

Anatharic unfolded his wings from around his body and knelt with her.

“Hold him down,” she said to Allesandra.

Allesandra obliged while Iliaria and Anatharic set about removing the barb from Lorrenzo’s calf. Anatharic used the tips of his claws to slice the wound open wider and Iliaria plunged her fingers into the wound to find the implanted barb. Lorrenzo protested, but let Allesandra hold him down.

“This is going to hurt,” Iliaria warned him, as if her digging in the wound hadn’t, and then she jerked her hand back. Blood flowed in a rivulet down Lorrenzo’s leg and he screamed, but Iliaria had already pulled free the barb. She held up a sharpened spine longer than my hand.

“Would you like to see?”

I moved closer to her, because honestly, I did. She handed the barb to me and I examined it, tracing the bloody length. Beneath the blood, the barb was as white as bone. It sharpened at the tip like a dagger. Tiny teeth traveled down the length of it to a widened base.

“There is no way to pull it out delicately,” she said. “Once embedded in the skin, it is a snug fit.” She indicated the direction of the serrations. “It cuts and tears flesh on its way out, no matter how you pull it.”

“I see that.”

“So it is only lethal if it is a mortal wound?” Vasco asked.

“Yes, the toxin can kill a vampire if the blow is to the heart.”

“That is useful to know,” he said.

Iliaria took the barb from me. “It’s no longer toxic, as it’s no longer attached and the skin sheath has already been broken.”

“May I keep it?” I asked and everyone in the room gave me an odd look at the question. Iliaria shrugged and handed the barb back to me. It was fascinating, though I couldn’t put my finger on why.

“What will happen to the Dracule?” Lorrenzo asked.

“In regards to the loss of the barb?”

He nodded.

“Another will grow back.”

She sighed and tossed aside the long train of her brocaded coat. The Draculian attire, when they wore it, was a combination of both modern and outdated. It was specifically tailored to fit their bodies, at least Iliaria’s was. The back had perfectly stitched openings to give her wings freedom. Her tail, on the other hand, was usually hidden beneath folds of fabric.

She pulled back the slightly spaded tip of her tail to expose a barb much longer and sharper than the one that had been thrust into Lorrenzo’s leg.

Vasco gave a low whistle. “That’s a great deal larger than the other.”

“I’m older,” she said as if that explained everything. In a way, it did.

“I hadn’t known that the size of the barb was dependent on age.”

“Now you do,” she said and sent her tail flicking back beneath the folds of her coat.

She stood. “You should bind the wound to prevent further blood loss. You may feel some symptoms of the toxin, but your body will heal now that the barb has been removed.”

Lorrenzo looked a bit out of sorts but acknowledged with a nod that he was listening and understood. Even if he hadn’t understood, Allesandra paid rapt attention to Iliaria’s instructions.

Renata dismissed the Elders, all save Vasco, who reclined at ease on the sofa with his long legs crossed at the ankles.

“What a night,” he said, almost as if he were talking to himself.

“There is more, I’m afraid.”

He fixed me with a questioning gaze and I looked at Renata for permission to speak. She gave it, with a slight nod.

“We’ve been discussing matters, and it’s been decided that we’ll travel with Iliaria’s and Anatharic’s help and approach the King of Bull Shoals.”

At that, Vasco appeared somewhat surprised.

“Truly, my lady?”

“Truly,” Renata said. “I believe it is the only way for us to uncover whether or not Damokles and his toadies are targeting vampires as a whole or simply our clan.”

Vasco swung his legs to the floor and leaned forward. He propped his elbow on his knee, resting his chin on his hand. “Not that I disagree with you, my queen, but how do you suppose the king will take our arrival at his gates?”

At that, Renata raised her thin shoulders. “I’ve no idea.”

“If we do not take that many, we will be able to evade capture even from the king if necessary,” Iliaria said. She asked Anatharic, “Do you have any qualms about this?”

“No.”

“Who will you send?” Vasco asked.

“It is more a question of who I will take,” Renata said.

Vasco’s eyes were filled with calculation. “Do you think it wise to risk yourself?”

“Wiser than sending an ambassador, yes.”

“You believe the King of Bull Shoals will honor our laws?”

“I do,” she said, “unless he has changed that much in a few centuries.”

“Not an easy call, my lady.”

All of us agreed with him.

They finished discussing matters and Renata appointed Vasco to choose who he would take among the Elders. He gave the question some thought.

“Vito and Vittoria have skills better suited for defending the clan,” he said. “They are some of our strongest fighters, but I think, my lady, given their loyalty, they’re the ones you would want to leave behind to protect your throne.”

Wordlessly, Renata encouraged him with a nod to continue.

“Severiano is a good huntsman,” I added.

Vasco shook his head. “A good huntsman and a bad politician, he doesn’t have the patience for it. Nirena,” he said. “Nirena is politically savvy and a good fighter.”

“Then we will take her with us,” Renata said. “We will leave for the clan of Bull Shoals next sundown and see just how deeply this threat goes.”

“What about Dante?” I asked. “The mark?”

“The mark does not necessarily mean anything, cara mia. I know you fear the worst, but many cuts happen during a torture session.”

“So you believe it is purely coincidental, my lady?”

“I do not know,” she said, surprising me a little with her candidness. For a moment, I feared she would deny my fears altogether.

“Do you think it’s her?”

Renata’s features softened with sympathy. “I cannot say. The hand of logic would prompt me to decline the idea, but at the same time it encourages me to consider the possibilities. The Dracule have been working with witches, and though I think the chances incredibly slim, cara mia, I will not deny it altogether.”

“Thank you,” I said.

She reached for me and I took her hand. She gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. “We can but wait and see what strands unravel, my love.”

“Sì,” Vasco said. “The unfortunate way of politics, sorella. One step at a time, a lot of watching and waiting.”

I sighed. “I hate bloody politics.”

As sunrise drew near, Vasco, Vittoria, and Vito decided to bunk in my bedroom. My room was closer to Renata’s bedchamber than the Elders’ sleeping quarters and more accessible if we needed them. Technically, Renata’s room was the safest in the Sotto, and though Iliaria and Anatharic could travel quickly by their own means, everyone agreed it was a more convenient location if I personally had to wake the others.

Renata wanted me to wake her after the sun rose.

She had not chosen another guard. At Iliaria’s behest, Anatharic stayed in the sitting room off of Renata’s boudoir. Dominique hadn’t liked the fact that Renata hadn’t chosen another guard. Dante was like a brother to him and I could tell, though he hid it, that he worried for him. But Renata was his queen and he worried for her as well. His worry dropped a few notches when Anatharic agreed to keep vigil at Iliaria’s request.

It struck me as odd, how compliant Anatharic seemed to be toward her. I decided to ask about it when I wasn’t so overwhelmed with everything else.

“Epiphany,” Renata beckoned to me from her great bed.

I went to her and when she drew me close, I rested my head on her shoulder and reveled in the feel of her, of feeling sheltered in the circle of her arms.

“Dracule,” Renata said, bringing my attention to the fact that Iliaria stood watching us from the center of the room. “Will you join us?”

“Is that a request?”

“Please,” I murmured, “don’t start quarrelling. There’s been quite enough of that this day. Come to bed, Iliaria.”

“Is that what you want, Epiphany?”

“Yes, that’s what I want. If I didn’t want it, I wouldn’t have asked. This silliness must stop. I don’t have the patience for it. I want to lie between the two of you, to feel safe and protected and loved. So get over here and stop it.”

Iliaria merely blinked at me.

I let out a breath of air in a huff to show my impatience. Renata’s laughter came slowly, trickling softly throughout the candlelit room.

“Well,” Iliaria finally said, “when you ask so kindly. How can I decline?”

I snuggled into Renata’s luscious form and buried my face in the bend of her neck. The bed dipped as Iliaria crawled in behind me. She laid her body against mine and her arm slipped around my waist under Renata’s.

Well played, Piph,
Cuinn said with a victorious smirk.

Cuinn…

Aye, aye, I know
, he grumbled.
During vampire cuddling time, bugger off.

His words were enough to make me chuckle aloud. Renata drew back enough to look at me.

“You seem to be in good spirits, considering.”

“Well, it is
vampire cuddling time
, according to Cuinn.”

Iliaria snorted behind me while Renata smiled lazily and traced the line of my jaw with her fingertip. “We’ll have all day to do this, cara mia.”

I slipped my arm over her waist and began to trace tiny circles at the small of her back. “That sounds lovely.”

“Mayhap we’ll do more than cuddle, if your Dracule does not find it disagreeable?” Renata said with a baiting tone.

“I was upset with your timing, Queen.”

“How is my timing now?” Renata asked. “Would today be a good time for you? Or would you prefer for us to spend the entire day bored and doing nothing more than waiting for an attack from your kinsmen?”

Iliaria’s tail thumped the mattress as I sensed her agitation rise.

“Renata,” I said softly.

“Hmm?”

“I think we should establish a rule that the bed is a quarrel free zone.” Iliaria’s tail twitched again and I added, “As much as either of you may dislike it.”

“Perhaps that is a good idea,” Iliaria said, her voice low and threatening.

“Do you think you can accomplish that, Dracule?”

“Renata,” I said again.

“What, Epiphany? I am merely asking a question.”

“You are baiting her, my lady.”

This time, Iliaria’s tail actually thumped my leg.

“If you keep your mouth closed, perhaps,” Iliaria grumbled.

Renata laughed. “
Perhaps
if I find something to put in it, I will.”