Darkness Embraced

by Pennington, Winter

  “It is,” I said. “Someone summoned one of the Dracule to kill us, Vasco.”

  “That is treachery,” he said, clearly appalled. “Who would do such a thing? How could they do such a thing?” he asked, though it sounded more as if he was thinking out loud. “How could anyone be awake to summon one of the Great Sires?”

  Cuinn whispered through my mind.

  The Stone of Shadows.

  Since he didn’t explain or add anything more, I asked Vasco. “What do you know about the Stone of Shadows?”

  “La pietra di ombre?” He sat back with a thoughtful expression, his lips pursed. “It is a magical relic forged with the blood of the Great Sires. The legend is that the Great Sire who created the first placed his blood in the stone so that his immortal lover would not die when the sun rose.”

  “It was created with the sole intent of keeping a vampire alive during the daylit hours?”

  “Alive and protected from the sunlight itself, sì.”

  Why hadn’t the Dracule bothered to tell me as much?

  “Do the Dracule die at dawn like we do?”

  “No.”

  “So whoever summoned the Dracule must have the Stone,” I said.

  “Which complicates things.”

  “How does it complicate things?”

  “Because the stones do not belong to our kind, colombina. The only way a stone could have fallen into the hands of one of our kind is if one of the Great Sires gave it to them.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” I said. It was obvious there was an old underlying feud between our two kinds, but I had not grasped how deeply embedded that feud was. “Some of the Dracule resent us greatly,” I said, “I know this, but why would—”

  Vasco answered my question before I’d finished asking it. “Think about it, colombina. If the Dracule has bound his or herself to one of the Rosso Lussuria, their agendas must coincide.”

  “Their agenda being the destruction of our kind.”

  “Sì.”

  “Could it be the same Dracule that bound herself to me?” I didn’t want to ask it. I didn’t want to know, but I had to ask. I had to know.

  “A Dracule can only be bound to one lover at a time.” A look of melancholy crossed his face and I sensed the thread of heartache in his voice.

  “You had a Draculian lover?” I asked, managing to sound only a little surprised.

  The corner of his mouth raised in a half smile that didn’t reach or match the well of sorrow in his eyes. “Sì, his name was Pantaleone. He was my lover many years before you were even born.”

  “What happened to him?” I asked.

  “He was murdered,” Vasco said. It hurt to hear the pain in his voice.

  “Did Renata have a Draculian lover, Vasco?”

  “Our Queen had her alliances with some of the Dracule. To my knowledge, she never took one to her bed. That would be a question better directed at our Queen, Epiphany. Why do you ask it of me?”

  “She’s a little hush-hush on the subject.”

  “In other words, she is being vague with you?”

  “Yes.”

  “She will give you an answer when and if she’s ready to give it to you.”

  “I know that. I was her pet for fifty years, remember?”

  “Are you saying that you are no longer her pet?”

  “You know what I mean. Tell me about Pantaleone. Were you bound to him?”

  “Sì,” he said, and again his expression took on a sad look. “I felt his death when he was murdered.”

  “Did you ever find the murderer?”

  He turned away from me then. “No, and it is a bitter torment that still gnaws at my heart.”

  “I’m sorry, Vasco.”

  “Do not be sorry, bellezza. I have had a fair amount of time to grieve.” The smile he conjured was etched with bitterness and sorrow.

  “I never saw a sigil on your skin.”

  “The sigil faded when Pantaleone died.”

  I nodded. I wanted the answers that Vasco seemed to have, but it was a sore subject, and I didn’t want to rub verbal salt in his wounds. How do you find the answers you’re looking for when the only questions you have are painful ones? Vasco chose that moment to question me.

  “How did you come to bear the mark, Epiphany?”

  “Renata and I bargained with the Dracule.”

  “What did you use as the bargaining chip?”

  “My body.”

  “The Dracule asked to be taken to your bed?”

  “Yes, how did you—”

  “That is what Pantaleone did to me. I was newly reborn when Pantaleone appeared in my room late one night. I had been struggling with controlling my freshly awakened hungers. Pantaleone propositioned me. If I would offer him my bed, he would teach me to control all my hungers.”

  “Did the Queen not teach you to control your hungers?”

  “The Queen can only teach one so much,” he said. “You became her pet when she brought you over, Epiphany. She taught you to control your hungers more intimately than the rest of us.”

  I nodded, for it made sense. “So Pantaleone taught you how to control your thirst?”

  “As well as other things that I think you would rather not hear about.”

  “Probably not,” I said, eyeing him. “When did Pantaleone give you his mark?”

  “Not until some time had passed,” he said. “The Dracule do not give their marks lightly.”

  I glanced down at the curving black lines on my wrist. “Are you so sure about that?”

  “I am sure, colombina. If the Dracule gave you her mark, she did not do such a thing on a whim.”

  “I can understand that. What I don’t understand is why she felt I was worthy of her mark. The mark itself seems like a big deal. She said I pleased her and yet, she didn’t seem entirely pleased with our people to begin with.”

  “What did she tell you her reasoning was?”

  “That of an alliance,” I said.

  “That is dangerous for her.”

  “I know, that’s why I don’t understand why she chose to give it to me in the first place.”

  “Perhaps,” he said, “after your years with Renata the Dracule was impressed with your…skills?”

  “I am not so skilled as that.”

  “You would be surprised, colombina. The Dracule are a dominant lot. They like lovers that are willing to submit to them.”

  “I have offered Renata my loyalty and my submission. The Dracule has not earned such a gift from me, not yet.”

  Vasco gave me a surprised look. “You do not think she senses your innate nature? Our Queen did.”

  “Are you saying that the Queen brought me over just because she thought I would be her submissive plaything? She brought me over because I was dying, Vasco. She gave me life when life itself offered death.”

  “I am not saying that is the whole of it, only a sum of the reasoning. She saw in you what she desired, and perhaps, so too does the Dracule.”

  I wondered then if perhaps my innate nature was sensed by all. Is that why Lucrezia had begun tormenting me as soon as Renata cast me from her bed? Surely, Lucrezia understood the difference between consensual and nonconsensual pain. As soon as I thought it, I knew she didn’t. I sensed very strongly that the lines had completely blurred for her many years ago, if they hadn’t already been blurry. I told Vasco then about my confrontation with Lucrezia. I told him of the surprise and flicker of fear that I’d sensed from her when she had seen the Dracule’s mark on my wrist.

  “She is afraid of the Dracule?” He started sliding out of bed and I was glad to see that he didn’t die in the nude. A pair of silky blue boxers clung to his Greek statue of a body.

  “I believe so, yes.” I watched as he disappeared into his closet and reemerged tugging on a pair of black pants. I told him about how I had thought Lucrezia innocent until her comment about Renata and I being wary.

  He stopped me while pulling on one of his black boo
ts. “Wait, you threatened Lucrezia?”

  I thought about my reply and said carefully, “In a way, yes.”

  “What did you say to her?”

  “I told her to be wary of what powers she chases, for some powers have a way of returning chase.”

  He sat on the floor lacing his knee high boots. “I do not know whether to be proud of you or afraid for you. I would not say that threatening Lucrezia is exactly a wise thing to do.”

  “It doesn’t matter if it’s wise or not, Vasco. If I pass the trials and become an Elder and she keeps trying to torment me, she’ll be challenging my status within the clan.”

  “You’re not the only one she enjoys trying to torture, colombina.”

  “I know there are other Elders that Lucrezia verbally toys with, but she manages not to overstep any boundaries with them.”

  “She’s perfected the art of being an irritant while remaining outwardly courteous.”

  I nodded. “Precisely. She will insult the Elders in such a way they cannot always take outright offense. I do not think she will spare me the outward appearance of courtesy if I rise in status.”

  “You are probably right,” he said, sitting at a vanity table in front of a large mirror. He began practically trying to rip the bindings out of his hair, tugging at them vehemently enough that I knew he was ripping strands of hair out with the force of his efforts. I placed the sword on the bed and went to him, shooing his hand away from his hair.

  “Let me do it, Vasco. You’re going to rip your hair out doing it yourself.”

  He met my reflection in the mirror. “I do not have the patience for it.”

  “I noticed,” I said, carefully undoing the first black binding. I tossed it on the table and used my fingers to unravel the braid. The silver strands were a bit more difficult to unknot, as they had been carefully laced at the base of each braid.

  “Who braided your hair for you?”

  “One of the younger ones,” he said. “She took a fancy to what she said was my pretty long mane.”

  “And so you let her play with it?”

  “Why not?” he said and his eyes started closing like a lazy cat’s. “I don’t mind the pampering.”

  The corner of my mouth twitched. “Sometimes I think you were supposed to be a girl, Vasco.”

  He grinned at me wide enough to flash fang. “With a body like this?” he asked, touching the middle of his chest with one hand.

  I thumped him hard on the back of the shoulder. He awarded me with a masculine laugh.

  I was on the last braid, trying to untangle the silver tinsel when he asked me, “You think Lucrezia is involved?”

  “The Dracule said it was a male that summoned her.” I loosened the tinsel, freeing it of the long black strand. “I do feel that somehow, Lucrezia is involved.”

  “The matter is figuring out how she’s involved,” he said, “and what she has to gain, considering.”

  “Yes, I’ve noticed there’s a fair amount of tension between our kinds.” I leaned over to retrieve the brush from the table. I started brushing out the untamed waves of his hair, pulling it back so that I could braid it.

  Vasco laughed. “Fair amount. That’s an understatement. It’s been an ongoing animosity for too many years to keep track of. I do not understand why a Dracule would side with a vampire.”

  “Because they hate us?”

  “Or love us,” he said. I wasn’t sure what to say to that and so we ended up sitting in silence. Finally, I changed the subject.

  “When did you get the piercings? I’ve never seen you wear them.”

  “I’ve had them,” he said, “since Pantaleone.”

  I nodded, procuring a black band to secure at the end of the braid. The braid fell to the middle of his back.

  “You should finish getting dressed. We need to find Renata and meet with the others.”

  Vasco stood and I suddenly found myself wrapped in the circle of his arms. I hugged him back, resting my cheek against his bare chest.

  “It’ll be okay, Epiphany.”

  “I hope so, Vasco. I truly do.”

  “We’ll figure it out, mia sorella. It’s not the first treacherous conspiracy we’ve had to unravel within the clan and it won’t be the last.”

  Hate and love. Love and hate. I wondered if Vasco had a point. If so, which was it? Or was it something else entirely?

  Chapter Twenty

  I learned that the vampire the Dracule had taken was named Karsten. I had never spoken to him and did not know him, but he was one of the Underlings and in his years of servitude. Once Renata refreshed my memory, I knew he was the one who had been turned by the Elder Rosabella.

  The turning of a mortal to vampire is not a common thing and only happens when the Queen herself decides or grants permission to bring someone over. In my years among the Rosso Lussuria, Karsten was the only mortal I had known chosen by one of the Elders to become a vampire. Like me, Karsten had been taken by the Cacciatori.

  Unlike Renata, I do not think it was a matter of pity with Rosabella. Karsten had been healthy when she had taken a fancy to him. She was a creature of whim. She desired Karsten and so sought Renata’s permission to turn him some thirty years ago. Renata gave it, allowing Rosabella to give him the kiss of death and rebirth.

  Rosabella had taken the news surprisingly well. She had seemed disappointed when Renata told her of Karsten’s fate, but other than that, she showed no outward signs of grief. Nor did I empathically sense any from her.

  Renata had called upon only the Elders that she knew without a doubt were loyal to her. I was surprised to find that the list was not as short as I had thought it would be. Out of the twelve Elders, eight of them were in attendance. We met in the sitting room connected to Renata’s chambers. I sat on the floor next to Renata in her high backed chair. Even if she had been seated on one of the couches, I would not have sat next to her. She was the Queen of the Rosso Lussuria, and so had her throne. Vasco sat on the end of the couch closest to me. Since I was not yet an Elder, I did not sit beside him, as I was not yet in status equal to him.

  Nirena, with her long white-blond hair and pale face, sat next to him. Vittoria and Vito sat beside her. They were twins. Both had clear blue eyes, narrow chins, and hair the color of dark coal.

  Alessandra and Lorrenzo were seated on the smaller couch. Alessandra’s slim face was blank and youthful. Her brown hair that was several shades darker than Lorrenzo’s cupid-like curls fell loose around her shoulders. They were lovers and had been since before I was introduced to the clan.

  My gaze flicked from them to Severiano. His hair was pulled away from his face, showing the severity of his sharp features. It was the same reddish brown of hawk feathers. He had never threatened me, but the way he watched everyone as if he were the bird of prey that his features mimicked had always been a bit unnerving.

  Rosabella shifted in her seat at his side and I turned to look at Vasco, who was watching the two very intently.

  “So it is true,” Severiano said, “Epiphany is indeed your pet again?”

  “Whether she is or is not my pet is none of your concern, Severiano. Does Epiphany being my pet hinder my ability to rule as your Queen?” She fixed him with a look of cool disinterest.

  Severiano inclined his head. “I meant no offense, Padrona. I was only curious to find out if the rumors were true or not.”

  “You did not answer my question, Severiano.” Her words were spoken very carefully, very slowly. The warning in them was something tangible, like a match near the tip of my tongue. “Does Epiphany being my pet hinder my ability to rule as your Queen?”

  “You know it does not, Padrona.”

  “How is it a matter of such importance to so many of you when it does not concern any of you?”

  Nirena gave a short laugh. “There are those that feel spurned, Padrona. Those that would gladly give you their affection were you to offer your attention and make them feel special.”

  Renata l
ooked at her. “And are you children squabbling over a mother’s doting affection?” Her dark brows arched splendidly with the question. “No,” she said, “you are vampires. You are the Elders of the Rosso Lussuria. It is time you start acting like it. The last concern any of you should have is whether or not I have taken Epiphany to my bed again.” She fell silent for a few seconds before turning to Vasco, giving them her profile. “What is your concern?”

  “I am concerned with finding the traitor that summoned one of the Great Sires to kill us while we slept,” Vasco said, and I knew he’d said “slept” for a more politic term.

  I looked at each of the Elders. Despite the fact that most of them had enough practice at keeping a face blank from emotion, I knew more than what was readily seen. I opened myself, and like stretching out a hand to feel the folds of different fabrics, touched their emotions, drew that material into myself.

  Rosabella was shocked at the mentioning of the Great Sire, as Renata had not told her that Karsten had been taken by one of the Dracule. It was the first true sputter of emotion I’d sensed from her since she’d walked into the room.

  When I had asked Renata how the Dracule killed, she would not tell me. The only wisdom I gleaned was that they do not leave a mess. I stopped questioning at that point.

  Lorrenzo was filled with disbelief. Alessandra’s emotions changed, at first disbelief and then settling on a reserved fear and hope that it was not true.

  Vittoria and Vito were somewhat appalled, but at the same time their emotions seemed calmer, steadier, and more certain than any of the other Elders. I knew then that they believed Vasco’s words and did not doubt. I sensed Severiano’s curiosity, which did not surprise me. After all, he led the Cacciatori.

  From Nirena, I sensed uncertainty, as if she were not quite sure how she felt.

  Vittoria spoke then, in a voice that was low and clear. “If what you say is true, then we are in grave danger.”

  “That is why finding the traitor responsible for summoning one of the Great Sires is of utmost importance,” Renata said. “That is what you should each be concerned about.”

  “How do we even begin to figure out who is the summoner?” Vito asked his sister. “It could be any number of us, any one of us sitting here in this room right now.”