by S J Williams
“I’m such a joke.” She groaned. Even if Sebastian did want her, she couldn’t face the idea of being intimate with him, not when intimacy was the waking nightmare to rival her dreams of burning.
Sebastian didn’t need this. He wanted his sexy, confident Effie back. Not the silly, insecure little girl that she was.
And how did she know that the old Effie had been sexy? Easy. Because she couldn’t imagine Sebastian with anyone else, anyone less. And for good reason. He might have been in mourning for the last five hundred years but he’d had more than two thousand years before that to experience the very best life, and women, had to offer. Maybe, after a few hundred years, she might be approaching his league.
Something white lying on the floor caught her eye. Stooping, she picked up a folded piece of paper that must have been caught in the folds of her kimono. Straightening it out, she read the words and was once more steeped in memory.
Come back, even as a shadow, even as a dream.
Sebastian’s note was haunting, not so much for what he had written — though that was powerful enough — but because of what seeing his handwriting on the page did to her. She knew that writing, knew what the “S” meant. The maybe memories and the dreams she could blame on her subconsciousness but this? There was no way she could have dreamt up this familiarity. She had felt it even before she’d known what immortals were. And how had Sebastian known that the Euripides quote meant so much to her? He couldn’t have done, not unless they had known each other once before.
Effie bit her lip, the note clutched between her shaking fingers. She wanted this so much, it was a physical ache in her chest. She wanted to be that sexy, confident Effie. She wanted to have someone look at her like Sebastian did and not feel like a fraud. More than anything, she wanted answers for all the strange dreams, the memories, the sense of belonging when she walked the streets of Florence.
Would becoming an immortal give her all of that?
“What do I have to lose?” She asked out loud. Empty silence was her only answer. Squaring her shoulders, she tried for some more confidence.
“I’m going to be an immortal.” She tasted the words on her tongue. They didn’t make her feel very different, except for a tiny sense of rightness, as if, deep inside her, something had just clicked into place.
“I want to become an immortal.” Effie said as soon as she walked into the kitchen the following morning.
There was a crash as Sebastian surged up from the table. He rounded it in a blur of movement to come to a quivering halt in front of Effie.
“Are you sure?” He asked. He made to grab her hands but stopped himself, his hands clenching into fists.
“Did I hear what I thought I heard?” Henry asked, appearing from the pantry.
Effie nodded and smiled. “I’ve finally made up my mind.”
“Stay right there. I’ll go tell the others,” Sebastian said, already charging for the door. “We’ll need them to contact the council.” He was gone in the next instant.
“Do you think he’s afraid I’ll change my mind?” Effie asked, slightly stunned.
Henry snorted, his arms full of bread and fruit. “Probably best not to try and guess what’s going on in his mind right now. It won’t be making much sense.”
“How do you become an immortal?” She asked Henry as he laid breakfast items on the kitchen table. “I mean, I know something about venom and fangs and everything, but what exactly do you do with them? And what happens when the venom gets into my bloodstream?”
“I was wondering when you would ask that.” He said, not pausing in what he was doing. “If you were worried about it being something gruesome like the fabled turn to become a vampire, don’t. It’s nothing like that. You don’t have to die or anything.”
“Good.” She said slowly. That particular scenario hadn’t crossed her mind but she was glad to have it cleared up, all the same.
He grinned at her. “It’s fairly simple, really. One of us gets nominated to turn you and that means we inject you with our venom.”
“Wait. Pass that one by me again?” Effie paused in the act of sitting down. “Did you day ‘inject’?”
Henry’s grin turned nasty. “I might have done.”
Effie narrowed her eyes at him. “We’re not talking needles here, are we?”
Henry chuckled and sat down opposite her. Grabbing the bread board, he dragged it towards him and began cutting slices of bread. Effie sat and waited for him to explain, her foot tapping.
“The processes for turning immortals and vampires have more in common than we like to let on.” He said as he worked, his eyes on his hands. The grin had vanished from his face now. “You’ve seen our fangs, after all.”
“And you’re just going to bite me, is that it?”
His eyes flicked up to hers then back to his hands. “Well, you do look tasty.”
She kicked him under the table. He winced. “Okay, that was in bad taste. But I couldn’t resist.” He added with a mischievous grin. Sobering up again, he continued. “The important difference between immortals and vampires is that we, the immortals, do not need to rely on blood to survive. Vampires do. Obviously. But we still have the physical equipment, so to speak. The only use we have for our fangs is to inject potential immortals with a substance that will trigger the chemical reactions in their body needed for the transformation.”
“That’s the only use?” Effie asked, somewhat sceptical.
“Well, that and biting people. But only if we really don’t like them.”
“You actually bite people? I thought you said the venom was lethal.”
“I said we only bite people we really didn’t like.” Henry caught Effie’s horrified expression and winced. “Now don’t get all upset. It’s not as if we do it a lot.” He looked around the table and swore. “Forgot the milk,” he muttered, getting up and disappearing into the pantry.
“Wait!” Effie jumped up and chased after him. “I thought you were joking.”
“Not this time.” Henry said, his head stuck in the fridge. “Who finished all the milk?” He straightened up with a nearly empty carton and an outraged expression.
“Forget about the milk. Have you personally ever bitten someone?”
Henry pulled a face at her. “I told you not to get upset.”
“I am not getting upset!” Effie squared off to him and folded her arms. Henry just walked around her back to the table, milk carton swinging at his side.
Effie dropped her arms. “Well, you can’t blame me. You’re basically admitting that immortals are predators at heart, with a predator’s moral code.” She followed Henry back to her seat, sitting down slowly.
Henry gave her a pained look over the piece of bread he’d lifted to his mouth. “Are you going to hold that against us?”
Effie opened her mouth, then paused. Humans were predators too, when they wanted to be.
“I suppose you’re one of those humans who like to forget eating meat counts as predatory.” Henry asked, correctly interpreting her expression.
Effie sighed. “I suppose I have the luxury to be picky about what I eat. If I was really hungry, I guess all bets would be off.”
“Hey.” Henry pointed the piece of bread at her. “I didn’t say anything about eating the people I bite. Now can we please focus on breakfast. I’m starving.”
“Who’s starving?” Lucien walked into the kitchen, closely followed by Sebastian and Catarina.
“We are.” Henry said. “Waiting for you two lazy sods to come down for breakfast.”
Lucien ignored him and went straight to Effie. Taking one of her hands in both of his, he smiled at her warmly.
“Congratulations on your decision. Allow me to extend a personal welcome to you.”
Effie blushed, torn between wanting to pull her hand away and not wanting to offend him.
“I’ve decided that there’s just too much evidence for me to ignore. Sorry it took me so long.”
Lucien sh
ook his head. “Not at all. It was an important decision and one you needed time to make.”
“Stop crushing her hand, Lucien,” Catarina said, rolling her eyes. She rather spoiled the effect of her words when she grabbed Effie in a massive hug, half pulling her out of her seat.
“I’m so pleased for you,” she whispered in Effie’s ear.
Staggering back when she was finally released, Effie glanced over to Sebastian. He wasn’t smiling but there was such an intense joy in his eyes, it almost hurt to witness it.
“I’ll get on to ringing the council after breakfast,” Catarina said, throwing herself down into one of the chairs. “In the meantime, we need a plan for today.”
“Christ, woman.” Lucien groaned. “At least let me have some caffeine before we start talking battle strategy.”
Catarina scowled at him. “If you don’t like my methods, you shouldn’t volunteer to work with me.”
“Volunteer to work with you? You ordered me to work with you. There’s a difference. I was happy in my study before you turned up.”
“Where is your study?” Effie asked, curious to know how immortal life worked when they weren’t solving Renaissance mysteries.
“Our headquarters are in Sweden.” Catarina said, sitting down beside Effie and picking up a piece of fruit.
When she didn’t say anything more, Effie prodded her. “Headquarters for what? Is that where the council is?”
“Headquarters for the enforcers who primarily hunt vampires.” Catarina glanced around the table and scowled. “Where’s the coffee?”
“Oh, I’m sorry your majesty.” Henry stood up and bowed with a flourish. “Allow me to run to satisfy your every demand.”
Catarina sneered at him and went back to her explanation. “The council is currently in France. They rotate their headquarters between the different territories so that no councillor gets the home advantage, so to speak. They mostly rely on enforcers to do the heavy lifting when it comes to vampire hunting.”
“Is that what you do? Hunt vampires?”
“Is there something else we should be doing?” Catarina snapped. She took the espresso Henry handed to her and sipped, her face relaxing by degrees. “That’s better,” she said with a smile. Her whole demeanour changed. “I always love being in a Mediterranean country. They understand coffee.”
Lucien watched her with amusement. “It’s good to know you have some weaknesses.”
She tossed a rude gesture at him and started piling more food onto her plate. “As we are the only beings who know the truth about vampires and what they are capable of, it is our duty to stop them. Either that, or be complicit in their murders.”
Effie grimaced. “Are there a lot of vampires out there?”
“More vampires than immortals.” Lucien said heavily.
Effie raised her eyebrows at that. “Why? If it’s so hard to spot an immortal, surely vampires would have the same difficulties as you?”
“You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” Henry mused, passing another espresso to Lucien. “Life isn’t fair like that. Vampires have a more refined ability to detect potential immortals. We think it’s something to do with smell or the taste of their blood. In any case, vampires breed much faster than we do. Of course, they end up killing more of the immortals they turn but that doesn’t seem to have a big impact on their numbers.”
“So vampires are physically stronger and they reproduce better?” Effie clarified.
“Doesn’t take much to guess why they think they are the superior species.” Sebastian said grimly.
“But they can’t heal or have all the mental powers. And, immortals are not dependent on humans for their survival.” Effie said thoughtfully. “I know which advantages I prefer.”
“You say that now.” Catarina mumbled around a mouthful of bread. “But just wait until you’re up against a vampire and you might think differently.”
“You should eat.” Sebastian said, pushing a peach towards her. “Before Catarina inhales the whole spread.”
This time, it was Sebastian’s turn to get a rude gesture.
“So, yes, it’s our job to take out vampires where we find them. Which is why,” Catarina raised her voice, “we should be talking about a plan of action for today. I’m not going to run around chasing my tail all day like yesterday.”
“Perhaps, if you’d paused to consider what you were going to do before hurtling off, you wouldn’t have wasted so much time.” Lucien said pointedly.
“Which is why”, Catarina rested her elbow on the table and jabbed her slice of bread at Lucien like it was a dagger, “I want to talk strategy now.”
“Going to the university is still a good idea.” Sebastian said, methodically slicing up an apple.
“Yes. Thank you.” Catarina swung round to look at him. “But you will not be going. I want you with me.”
The knife stilled in Sebastian’s hand. “Why?”
“Like I said last night, you know the city. I need you with me.”
“Like I said last night,” Sebastian retorted. “I’m hardly going to be any more help than I was five hundred years ago.”
“You were blind with grief then.” Catarina carelessly waved his protest aside. “At least you’ll be able to tell us where not to look.”
“As I recall,” Sebastian growled, “I was highly motivated.”
“Surely it would be wisest to check all options, in case Bartholomew has expanded his base here.” Effie interrupted what looked like a gathering storm. She wondered what danger Sebastian thought would befall them at the university. Surely, if Bartholomew had gone to all this effort to hide himself, he wouldn’t throw it all away by attacking them in plain sight on the campus. It would be daylight for one thing.
Catarina paused her chewing and narrowed her eyes at Effie. Swallowing, she pursed her lips. “You might be useful to bring along as well. It could be something in all the research you’ve been doing on the city might throw up a clue.”
“We need Effie to go to the university first.” Sebastian argued. Something in his face had gone very dark at Catarina’s suggestion.
Catarina sighed and nodded. “We’ll look into the historical aspect later, if we haven’t found anything by then. But,” she added, “I still want you with me. Don’t worry. We’re not sending Effie off on her own. She’ll have Henry with her. Lucien too, if he likes.”
“Tired of my company already?” Lucien asked sardonically.
“More than you could ever imagine.” Catarina said with a dramatic sigh.
He gave her a wry smile. “I’d like to go to the university anyway. I have a colleague in the school of medicine. I should be able to persuade him to let me analyse Bartholomew’s blood bags and those strange flowers we confiscated. More than anything, I think they’ll contain the clues to tell us what he’s up to.”
Sebastian watched Effie ride off on the back of Henry’s motorbike. It had taken a subtle reminder from his friend that he was acting like a stalker again to persuade him to go with Catarina. Already, he regretted the decision. Stalker or not, he wouldn’t trust that Effie was safe until immortal blood flowed in her veins. Perhaps not even then.
“Come on, old man.” Catarina called to him as he dragged his feet to the garage. “I want to find this vampire while there’s still daylight.”
“You realise that’s going to be practically impossible?” If it was so easy to find vampires’ daytime resting places, their lives wouldn’t be used up with hunting the damn creatures.
She waved a hand airily over her shoulder and stopped at his motorbike.
“You are not driving.” He warned her, guessing the direction of her thoughts. She pulled a face at him over her shoulder.
“Never let me be the one to come between you and the love of your life. Well,” she corrected herself, “the second love. How’s that going, by the way? Getting Effie to like you again?”
“You know the answer to that as well as I do.”
“Tr
ue.” She inclined her head at him. “Beats me why she fell for you in the first place.”
“If you pay attention, the next few days will be an education for you.” Sebastian said, with more confidence than he felt. He thrust a spare helmet at her, cutting off all further conversation. She grimaced at it before lifting it to her head.
Fiddling with the straps, she said, unnecessarily, “I hate these things.”
“And yet, the world still turns.” Sebastian said with a heavy sigh. He was not going to enjoy today and it wouldn’t be just because Effie was currently outside of his control.
“You can’t talk with these things on.” Catarina grumbled, finally working out how the straps fitted.
With his back to her, Sebastian allowed himself a smirk. Now that was an unexpected favour. Perhaps today wouldn’t be so tortuous after all. All he had to do was work out how to get the helmet to stay on Catarina’s head.
He wasn’t so lucky. Barely after they’d parked a little way from the Palazzo Vecchio, she jumped off the bike and pulled the helmet from her head. Twitching like an offended cat, she gave the motorbike a look of disgust.
“I’ve just remembered why I hate those things so much.”
Sebastian sat back on the seat, leaning one arm on the end of the bike. “Really?” He drawled. “Do tell.”
She scowled at him then shook out her hair.
“I need you to tell me everything you know about Bartholomew and his relationship with this city.”
Sebastian squinted up at the sky. He really couldn’t see why they couldn’t have done this back at the house. “Bartholomew was working his way into Savonarola’s orbit, climbing the ranks of his supporters. I can’t tell you how close he got to the top. Just that, by the time he came after us, he’d become a trusted and popular figure. He might even have fancied himself as a hero.”
Catarina snorted at that. “I suppose his eating habits hadn’t come to light?”
