by Emily Bex
“I...yes...a tour... Holy Mother of God, I didn't know anyone lived like this.”
He took her hand and walked her down wide corridors, with ornate frescoes on the ceilings, hand-painted by the Masters of the Renaissance, and massive gold and crystal chandeliers. They entered room after room, each more grandiose than the last, a formal living room that looked bigger than a bowling alley, a formal dining room that could easily seat a hundred people, a modern home theater room, a library to rival any library in the world, a huge kitchen, for people who don't eat food, go figure. Sitting rooms, reading rooms, parlors, music rooms, ballrooms, bathrooms, and on and on until they ended up back in the hall he called the grand foyer. Gi was standing there as they returned to the foot of the stairs.
Gi nodded to Luca as he and Shannon returned from their tour. “Luca, Master has chosen your permanent room here at Castello for this and all future visits. Your luggage has not yet arrived, but I have had the staff lay out night clothes for Signorina Shannon, and in the morning, we will bring up your luggage as soon as it arrives. You will find a tray of hot tea and some finger sandwiches and fruit in the room...some light refreshment for Signorina until morning. All your belongings from the warrior camp have been moved to the room as well. You have a large trunk and some other items. The staff did not put these away as they assumed you would prefer to do that yourself. Follow me please.” He turned and headed up the marble stairs that curved to a landing, before curving again to the second floor. Luca was already surprised that Gi was leading him upstairs to the family living quarters, and not the staff quarters.
“Thank you, Gi.” He took Shannon's hand and followed Gi up the stairs. Shannon would have a sore neck by morning she was whipping her head so fast to see everything, looking left, right and up. They followed Gi down the long second-floor corridor to the bedrooms and he stopped in front of Shade's old bedroom and indicated to Luca this was his room. Luca gave him a puzzled look.
“Gi, this is Shade's bedroom.”
“Si. This was Shade's bedroom. However, master has decided his old room was not adequate for him now that he has a mate. And he has moved to the bedroom his parents once occupied. He requested this room be held for you.”
“He wants me to have his room?” Luca was expecting a room like the rest of the house staff in the servants’ quarters... not this room, Shade’s room. He swallowed hard to hold back his emotions. He looked down at his feet to hide the tears that started to form as he wrestled to get his emotions in check. He felt Gi's hand at his elbow, the lightest touch, he understood.
Luca cleared his throat and looked up again as Gi opened the door for them to enter. He knew Shannon didn’t understand the significance or the honor Shade had shown him by giving him this space, but she was still suitably impressed with the beauty of the room. Its massive carved mahogany canopy bed and the rich brocaded fabrics in deep burgundy and ivory colors were opulent. The room did have a masculine feel, as did the bathroom with the large marble tub. Shannon had let go of his hand and was running about the room, grabbing a sandwich on the run. She headed for the bathroom and he could hear her call out to him again.
“Oh my god, seriously? Can I get in this tub? I could swim in here!”
Luca followed her into the bathroom. “Si, mia belleza, we can get in the tub if you wish.”
He reached over her and turned on the water from the solid gold faucets, and poured the scented bath oils into the water, watching it create rich foam on the surface. As the large tub filled and the steam rose, they both stripped from their clothes. He held her hand, as she stepped into the large tub, and then he stepped in behind her. He sat with his back against one wall of the tub, and she sat down between his legs, her back against his chest, and laid her head back on his shoulder.
“Mia belleza, I can't tell you how happy I am you’ve joined me on this trip. You’re only the second mortal to enter these walls in centuries.” He ran the tips of his fingers down her arm, dipping his fingers in the water, and drawing them back up her arm again. “Shade has agreed he will allow you to attend the coronation, where Kate is officially crowned as our queen. And I promise you, no mortal has ever witnessed that before, not in this coven or any other.”
“Luca, this is all so unreal, I mean, this freakin’ castle, and the king and queen thing, and Kate being converted, or whatever you call it.”
“The turning... it’s the turning. You’ll not see the turning, as I mentioned. And both Kate and Shade will be sequestered in chambers that lie beneath the castle for several days.”
She looked up at him. “Days?”
“Si, several days. The time for the turning will take from one night to the next. It’s not an easy transition for a mortal. There are parts of the transition that’ll be painful, and it’s not without risk. But I don’t have concerns. Kate is strong...and stubborn. She’ll fight hard.”
“Fight? I don't understand, Luca.”
“Shade must take her to the very edge of death, one breath away... One heartbeat away. He must drain her mortal life from her and inhale her soul. He’ll then feed her a few drops of his blood, but she’ll fall away from him while her body undergoes the transformation. It’ll be up to her to fight her way back. If Shade drains her too far, he’ll lose her. If she’s not strong enough to fight her way back from the pull of the darkness, he’ll lose her. If she comes back, he returns her soul, now bound with his, and they’re one. That will happen on the second night. If it’s successful, we’ll see the moon turn a bright red in the sky.”
“And then they can come out?”
“No, Kate will need to feed from him, a lot, and often. He’ll let her feed, but he’ll also begin to teach her restraint, because initially, she’ll feel none. If she were free to leave the chambers, she’d feed from anyone. Her need would be ravenous and uncontrollable. He keeps her in the chamber to protect her, and others. Once she’s stabilized, in a few days, then they’ll emerge. And then we’ll have the coronation.”
“Does Kate know all this? This sounds…”
“Frightening? Si, Kate’s well aware. Shade has explained it all to her. She’s been feeding from him for almost a year now, her body is stronger, and Shade considers her his mate as they only feed from each other. But in the vampire community, until she’s turned, until she’s immortal, she cannot be officially recognized as his mate, and certainly not recognized as our queen. As a mortal, it’s unlikely she could successfully bear his children. And, of course, she’d age, and he wouldn’t.”
Shannon reached through the sudsy water and grasped his hand. “Oh, she told me about their baby.”
“Si, not something any of us want to go through again. It almost broke them both. But this is their path, mia belleza. They didn’t set out to find each other, mortal and immortal. It’s a very difficult path to follow. But they’re in love, si? And if they’re to be together, this is their only way. I’m glad you’re here to witness this, and you’re friends with Kate, because we’ll need to decide, my beauty, if this is our path. Don’t answer now, please. I want you to watch and consider. I want you to think hard about these choices. As with Shade and Kate, there’s no turning back, no undoing. This turning will bond them, blood to blood, soul to soul, for all eternity. And if one is killed, the other may choose to quickly follow, they’re that tied to each other.”
She tilted her head back so she could look up at him, “But Luca—”
He put his forefinger to her lips. “Shh. Mia belleza, I know you think you want to answer now. I ask that you not. Please. I only want your answer when this is all over and you’ve had time to think. Do that for me, please?”
She looked at his dark hair, hanging in loose strands around his face as the steam rose around him, and his hazel eyes looked pale against his dark skin. “I’ll do that for you, Luca.”
He picked up the natural sea sponge and poured the thick concoction of oils and sea salts onto the sponge.
“Sit up, my beauty, and I’ll w
ash your back.”
As she sat forward in the tub, he washed her porcelain skin with the salt scrub, watching as the heat and the friction turned her unflawed skin pink. She turned in the tub to face him, and straddled him, as he washed her arms and her breasts, his eyes roaming over her, taking in every curve. She took the sponge from his hands and poured more salt scrub onto it and began to bathe him. He watched her face, and those large doe eyes that portrayed innocence, when she was anything but. She dropped the sponge to float on the water as her hands disappeared beneath the surface and he felt her slide her hands up his inner thighs, and he took a sharp intake of breath.
She spoke to him in a breathy voice. “Will we wake the whole house if we make love?”
“Mia belleza, there are only vampires in this house. We’ll wake no one.”
She stood up in the tub with her feet on either side of his legs, facing him, as she let the water run down her body and watched his eyes devour her. “Well, how very convenient for us.”
She stepped out of the tub and onto a plush mat, watching as he stood and stepped out of the tub beside her, bronzed and muscled, broad chest and slender hips, his legs lean and defined. He grabbed a thick towel and dried her off, and then snapped the towel hard across her ass. Oh! Now here's a side of Luca I haven't seen before! If he was expecting a squeal, he was disappointed, because the moan that escaped her lips betrayed her desire.
He heard the moan, the raw passion, the sexual pleasure she felt in the pain and his cock responded to her immediately. This shouldn’t have been a surprise, this from the woman who’d teased and taunted his beast on the first night they made love. He looped the towel around her and pulled her to him, although she needed no encouragement, her body pressed into his, her face raised, eyes closed, and lips seeking. He didn’t kiss her but looked at her face... That face had so captivated him. She slowly opened her eyes, locking onto his.
“I love you, mia belleza.”
In her husky voice, she replied, “And I love you, Luca. But could you please fuck me?”
He laughed out loud at her boldness and picked her up and carried her to the bed, dropping her down hard on the mattress before crawling in bed on top of her, mounting her and riding her hard. She was ready. She was always ready. He pushed her hands above her head and held her wrists tight against the mattress. She wrapped her legs around his hips in a death grip and gave as good as she got. And this was round one of many.
Shannon woke up slowly, wrapped in his arms, to find him already awake and watching her. She smiled and stretched and looked around the huge room. The sun was bright today, and the room looked even more beautiful as the light bounced off the marble walls.
"What time is it?"
“It’s late, mia belleza. Maybe ten.”
She sat up suddenly in bed. “Ten! Wow, I don't usually sleep that late.” She giggled. “But then, I don't usually spend the whole night making love. It's so quiet here. No traffic noise from the city. No alarm clocks going off. This feels glorious.” She slid across the large bed and over the side. As her feet hit the floor, she noticed her luggage had been set inside the door.
“My stuff! When did that get here?”
“Early this morning, around seven I think, one of the staff brought it in.”
“Seriously? I didn't hear a thing!”
“You were sleeping soundly, my beauty. But the staff has all been trained by Gi to do their jobs in a way that is minimally intrusive. They’re not usually seen or heard unless you call upon them.”
“Did you sleep, Luca?”
“Si, my beauty. I slept. But I’m a day-walker, remember, I can sleep when I need to, day or night, and my body doesn’t require as much sleep.”
“How do you become a day-walker?” She walked across the room in bare feet, feeling the cold marble floor, and dragged her luggage into the middle of the room and started unpacking her stuff. She pulled out a pair of jeans and a top and stepped into her clothes.
Luca lay on his side in the bed, his head propped up in his hand, and watched her as she walked nude across the room and began unpacking with no sense of modesty or any sense of awareness of her own nudity. She was a woman comfortable in her own skin.
“One doesn’t become a day-walker, one is born a day-walker. It’s a gift. Every vampire will have a gift when they’re born.”
“Every vampire has a gift? What is Shade's gift?”
“Shade’s a dream-walker. He can enter your dreams, to observe, or shape them, good or bad.”
“Wow, that sounds a little creepy. You said Kate will have that animal thing, but will she also be a dream-walker? Since he turns her? Will she inherit the same gift?”
“Sometimes a gift is passed on, but not necessarily. But no, we are only given one gift and I’ve already seen Kate's gift manifest. She’ll have the gift of animalism.”
“So, does that mean, if you turned me, I wouldn’t necessarily be a day-walker too?
“Si, exactly. You may have to hide from the sun and slip into your death slumber. I’ve never known that existence for myself. But the gift of day-walking seems more and more prevalent among the younger vampires. Whether that’s an evolution to modern times, I don’t know. But most of the older vampires, like Shade, must avoid the sun. It’s a burden, mia belleza. Even as a mortal you can choose to go out in the day or to sleep in the day. For those vampires who must avoid the daylight, there is no choosing. And their sleep comes unbidden. They must succumb to it. That’s why we call it a death slumber. It takes you. The vampire can arouse himself if threatened, but there’s a vulnerability that comes with the death slumber too. Most vampires in a death slumber will have day-walkers around them, who can respond, protect them. Does this frighten you, mia belleza? The death slumber?”
She finished putting the last of her clothes away in the drawers and wardrobes, and returned to the bed, sitting on the side, and looking at him stretched out before her, his chest exposed, and his dark skin against the white sheets draped low over his hips.
“Frightened? I wouldn’t say it frightens me. It sounds odd to me. So if I... if you turned me... and I had to sleep during the day, you’d protect me?”
Luca frowned. They were back to this. It would always come back to this. He held her in his gaze as he sat upright in the bed and took a deep breath. “Shan, I’ll always do my best to protect you, when I’m with you. But my first responsibility—”
“Kate. You’ll protect her first.”
“Si, I’ll protect her first.”
“Does that seem odd to you, Luca? I mean, if we’re married, or mated, or whatever you call it, she’d always come before me?”
“Shannon, you know we’ve talked about this. And no, it doesn’t seem odd to me because it’s what I’ve spent my entire life training for. It’s our custom, our world. You’re equating my job and my responsibilities as a warrior and a protector to my love for you, and they’re two separate things. But I’ll tell you, most protectors don’t have a mate. There are exceptions, and I’ve discussed this with Shade. My heart tells me he’ll allow this for me... for us... if we choose this path. But you’ll need to understand, mia belleza, my bond to him as my king and my master, and my bond to her, as my queen, and her chosen protector, these are things that won’t change. I’ll be with her until her death. These customs in no way reflect my love and devotion to you, and I’ll protect you, directly or indirectly. We are Medici. This is a mighty coven, among the largest in the world. There are many warriors, and we’re protected by our numbers. We protect our own. There’d always be someone assigned to you in my absence. Do you understand this, mia belleza? But further to the point, do you accept this?”
“I do, Luca. I do accept it, I think. It’s just a hard concept to wrap my head around. If I think of it in mortal terms, like a bodyguard to a queen, or a Secret Service Agent for the President, then I get it. As a woman, I just have to get past the part where I feel like you’re choosing her over me. I mean, I know Kate.
She’s my best friend. And I can see how much she loves Shade. I know her heart. I know her intent. I’m not jealous in the sense I feel she’s trying to steal you away from me, do you understand? But I love you, Luca. And there’s a part of me that wants, I don't know… I guess I want to think if I were in trouble, you’d come to me first.”
Luca pulled her to his chest, wrapped his arms around her, and buried his nose in her hair. “It’s our burden, mia belleza. All I can promise you is an eternity of my love, and a commitment to protect you and our family directly or indirectly. It’s the same for Shade, my beauty. He cannot always be here for Kate. That’s my job. I’ll not always be here for you, but someone will be. And you must decide if this is a path you can follow, for there’s no compromise, si?”
“I do understand, Luca, and I know what my heart wants.”
She kissed him and then slid from the bed. “Come on, I'm starving! There must be more food in that huge kitchen!”
She grabbed a pear from the tray Gi left in the room for them last night and took a big bite as Luca climbed from the bed and started to dress.
He opened the large trunk Gi said had been brought here for him and started taking things out. It looked like a bunch of clothes and books.
Curious, she wandered over. “What’s this stuff again?”
“Just stuff I left in the barracks when I was chosen as Kate's protector and left for the States. Someone packed it all up.”
Shannon noticed a stack draped with a tarp of some sort and she lifted it away to reveal canvases containing his art. Kate said he was a painter. “Can I look at these, Luca?”
