Darkness Embraced

by Pennington, Winter

  “He’s right,” Vittoria said, watching Renata. “It could be any of us or any one of the vampires in the Sotto, lesser and Elders alike.”

  “It’s a suicide mission for an Underling to summon one of the Great Sires,” Nirena said. “Not to mention the fact that none of them know who the Great Sires are or what they once were. The Donatore have no power to use to make a summons—”

  “The Dracule said that the summoner was a man,” I said softly.

  They looked at me then, every one of them, and I fought years of court instincts not to turn away. I returned their stares, forcing myself to face them. In order to become one of them, I first had to think of myself as equal to them.

  It was not an easy thing, after so many years.

  Vittoria and Vito shared a glance with each other.

  “You spoke with it?”

  “Yes. I spoke with her.”

  “How do we know you did not summon it?” Alessandra asked and I turned to meet her light golden eyes.

  “I did not summon her, Alessandra.”

  “You could have,” Lorrenzo said. “You have been close to the Queen, close enough to learn things you wouldn’t normally have known if you had not been her pet. You came into your powers long before your two-hundredth year of rebirth.”

  “As loathe as I am to agree with him,” Nirena said, “he is right. She has been your pet. Perhaps she summoned the Great Sire to gain revenge on us?” She sounded more thoughtful than accusatory. “Or simply to gain revenge on you for casting her aside those years ago.”

  “How do we know you are not saying it is a man merely to rule yourself out as a potential suspect?” Rosabella asked.

  I shook my head. So far, Renata was not stepping in. I had to handle their accusations myself. I raised my face and smiled, but not like I meant it.

  “If that was my plan, Rosabella, it didn’t work out very well, now did it? In fact, why would I speak up at all if I knew it would only attract your attention? I could have simply kept my mouth shut and none of you would be aiming accusations at me.”

  A heavy silence fell over the room.

  Renata laughed.

  “Very well reasoned.” She touched my hair briefly. “If it were not for Epiphany, many of you might not have risen this night.”

  Severiano leaned forward. “What exactly do you mean, Padrona?”

  “Epiphany,” she said, “show the Elders of the Rosso Lussuria what I mean.”

  I raised my sleeve and bared Iliaria’s sigil at my wrist.

  For some, it erased doubts. For others, it only added to them. I had wondered if those Renata had called upon were worthy enough to be trusted. I tried to read them while they gazed at the sigil and did not sense anything that gave me a clue as to who the traitor was. There were only four Elders that were not in attendance, and the ones before me were not giving anything away.

  “You are bound to the monster that took Karsten?” Rosabella asked. I might’ve thought that the horrified sound in her voice was over her lost Karsten but knew it was not. She emphasized the word monster, and I knew by looking at her that her horror was at the fact that I bore the sigil of one of those monsters, not that the monster had taken someone she allegedly loved.

  “Yes. I would not call her a monster, Rosabella, as she was kind enough to spare your life.”

  “What did it cost you?” Nirena asked and I respected her for the fact that she knew enough about the Dracule to know that I had given something for the Dracule’s favor. I hesitated to call it a price, though it had been. An enjoyable price, but still a price, nonetheless. I wasn’t exactly sure how to answer Nirena’s question without feeling like my privacy was being assaulted.

  Renata answered for me. “Epiphany and the Dracule struck a bargain.”

  “What kind of bargain?” Vito asked, seeming more curious than intentionally invasive.

  “That is for Epiphany to tell, if she wishes.”

  “If she wishes us to believe her, then she should tell us,” Severiano said.

  I narrowed my eyes. “I took the Dracule to my bed, Severiano. I gave the Dracule my body in exchange that she would harm no more of the Rosso Lussuria.”

  After a few moments, Severiano leaned back in his seat. It was a white flag of sorts.

  “You must not scare very easily,” Vittoria said, scrutinizing me with her icy gaze.

  “Is that a question?” I asked.

  Her slim shoulders rose in a shrug.

  “How do we know that your sick perversion for this monstrous creature has not clouded your wits and caused you to turn on your Queen, your Siren?” Rosabella scrunched up her nose, looking positively disgusted. “How do we know you haven’t met many times in secret with the demon?”

  The look Renata turned and pinned her with would’ve made me sink from the couch and to my knees. As it was, Rosabella flinched.

  “I once had several alliances amongst the Dracule, Rosabella. A couple of those allies I would have considered almost friends.”

  “You are the Queen,” Rosabella said, “and within your rights to have alliances.”

  “How do we know that Epiphany has not been meeting with the Great Siren in secret?” Alessandra seemed a little paler than usual, but her voice was steady enough.

  “When Epiphany first met the Dracule I was there, Alessandra. When Epiphany took the Dracule to her bed, I was there. Do you have any more questions that are a waste of my time?”

  “Vasco said that the Dracule was summoned to kill us?” Nirena asked. Out of all the Elders, I was noticing that very little slipped past her studious attention. She was observant, which was a powerful tool but potentially a dangerous weapon, depending on how she wielded it.

  “Yes,” Renata said.

  “How is that possible?” Nirena asked, brows furrowing. Her eyes widened slightly. “They have a stone.”

  We had already spoken with Renata of the Stone of Shadows. She had already suspected that whoever had summoned the Dracule was using one. After all, it was one of the few relics that kept a vampire alive and safe during the daylight hours.

  “So it would seem,” Renata said. “Whoever summoned the Dracule is working with one of them, I suspect.”

  “That’s the only way they could get the stone,” Vittoria said.

  “One of the stones, at least,” Vito said.

  “How many stones are there in existence?” I asked.

  He shrugged much as his sister had earlier. “All of the Great Sires are capable of creating them.”

  “Ah, but they are not so easily made,” Nirena added.

  “No,” Vito answered, “not easy, but not impossible either.”

  “I will give you that,” she said smiling coyly.

  “What do you want us to do?” Vittoria asked Renata.

  “I have called upon only those of you I trust without a thread of doubt,” Renata said and I resisted the urge to glance at Rosabella and Allesandra. Rosabella might not have liked the Dracule, but it did seem she was strangely loyal to Renata. Alessandra, I sensed, was too afraid of the Queen to go against her. Renata turned to Lorrenzo and it wasn’t until I saw his Adam’s apple bob and felt the wash of fear from him that I knew he too was afraid of her.

  “I want you to be Elders,” she said. “I want you to protect your people. I want you to offer your aid in finding the traitor who summoned the Great Siren.”

  “Why not just ask Epiphany if she’ll summon her and offer her something in exchange for the name of the traitor?” Severiano asked.

  “When the Dracule are summoned a vampire is not required to give their name, Severiano. If Epiphany could have found the traitor for us, she would have already done so.”

  “Point taken, Padrona.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The Elders that Renata trusted implicitly had agreed to help. She’d given them the option of refusing to offer their aid, but most of them were politically savvy and clever enough to discern that refusing to help would ma
ke them look terribly guilty. When the rest of them left the room I moved to the couch to sit beside Vasco.

  Renata remained seated, slumping forward and looking tired in a way that her immortal body would never truly feel.

  I went to her.

  “Renata,” I said.

  Her hand touched my wrist and I crawled onto her lap, burying my face in the bend of her neck. She snaked her arms around my waist, holding me close.

  “What if what Severiano said had some merit to it?” I said.

  “What do you mean, Epiphany?”

  “What if I summoned the Dracule and asked her to point out the vampire that summoned her?”

  I felt Renata tense.

  “I could not do it.” I turned to find Iliaria standing in the middle of the room, in the more human of her forms. The glossy cloak of her hair tumbled down the front of her body to her knees. Black leathery wings arched from her back. I was surprised to see that she was fully clothed; surprised because dressing a body with the equivalent of large bat wings didn’t seem an easy task.

  She moved, bringing my attention to the full-length coat she wore. The coat had been altered so that her wings could fit through wide-stitched openings. The black panne velvet jacket was accented by highlights of gold silk, a reflection of her gold eyes with their veins of black lightning. The sleeves of the coat widened at the wrists. The coat was fastened between her neck and waist, and where it draped open there was a slit of shadowy gold silk underneath. Beneath the clothes, I did not see her tail.

  Renata cleared her throat, making me aware that I was staring. Dressed so exquisitely, the Dracule was worth a stare or two…or three.

  “Why could you not tell us who summoned you?” Renata asked, breaking the silence that followed my obvious appreciation of Iliaria’s presentation.

  Iliaria raised her chin. “The vampire who summoned me kept his face shrouded. I could tell you his height, his build, would it help any.”

  “That may help some,” Vasco said, looking Iliaria curiously up and down, “as it is more than what we presently know.”

  Iliaria moved gracefully and predatorily between the two couches, taking a seat on the smaller one.

  “I would put his height at about five-seven,” she said. “He was of slim build, not muscular.”

  “Could you smell him?” Renata asked.

  “No,” Iliaria said, “he used sage to mask his true smell.” What she meant was that, like us, she could smell things mortals could not. We could smell one another’s scent. The vampire had used sage to overpower his own scent, so that all she could smell was the sage. He had kept his face shrouded and disguised his scent, obviously not wanting Iliaria to be able to recognize him by it.

  “I am fairly certain that whoever he is, he is working with one of my kind.”

  “We suspected as much,” Renata said. “Would you know if he had been marked by one of your kind?”

  “If I tried, I would have known,” she said. “I did not consider the possibility that he was working with another Dracule until long after I had been summoned. He was very persuasive. He convinced me that the entirety of your clan had turned against us. He played on my dislike of you. I was a fool.”

  It sounded like the closest thing to an apology we would get from one of the Great Sirens.

  “You did not know,” I said.

  She shook her head lightly. “I was a fool. I came so close to believing what the others have said about your kind, Epiphany. If it were not for you, I would most likely still believe many of those lies. I see now how such fallacy has been used as a means to turn us against you.”

  “What fallacy?” Vasco sat back, crossing his long legs.

  She tilted her head. “That all of the vampires are ungrateful, have turned against us, and think us the demons and monsters from biblical stories. Some go so far as to say that the vampires will eventually become greater in number than we the Dracule.”

  “They’re afraid,” I said, remembering Rosabella’s reaction when she had found out that I wore Iliaria’s mark. “It is easy to fear that which you do not understand.”

  She met my gaze. “Indeed, but you as well, little one, feared me when first you saw me. If you feared me, why did you accept my bargain?”

  She was right. I had feared her. I’d even thought her a demon, though I’d hesitated to believe it and say it.

  “You are correct. I feared you. I feared because I did not know what you were. I feared because I did not understand.”

  “Yet still, you took me to your bed. You accepted my offer. Why? Was it only to keep your people safe? Am I mistaken that there was some sincere interest on your behalf, Epiphany?”

  “You are not mistaken,” I said, carefully perceiving the vulnerability behind her words. How did I explain to her that I was different than most? How did I explain that a little fear was like a heady wine to me? I finally settled for, “A little fear, for me, can be somewhat of an aphrodisiac.”

  She gave me a long and deep look, but there was something distant in her gaze, as if she were looking through me. Finally, a smile played at the corner of her mouth.

  “Only somewhat?”

  A little more than that, Cuinn added.

  Renata’s hand played up my back. It was a comforting gesture, but it caught Iliaria’s attention. The look Iliaria gave Renata wasn’t necessarily malicious, but it wasn’t exactly friendly either. I think it bothered her that I wore her mark, yet, I sat in Renata’s lap, with her hand tracing the line of my spine over the lightweight tunic.

  I wanted to go to Iliaria. At least, a part of me did. I wanted to go to her and erase that unfriendly look from her eyes.

  As if Renata had heard my thoughts, she stopped stroking my back.

  Go to her.

  I slipped to my feet and began moving toward the Dracule.

  Iliaria watched me, her features drawn. “Do not come to me only because your Queen thinks it a good idea. I do not enjoy being toyed with.”

  “I’m not toying with you, Iliaria, and I’m not coming to you because Renata bid me do so.”

  “Then why?” she asked, searching my face.

  “Because I want to,” I said. “Because I know the unfriendly look you gave Renata is only a mask to hide the pain and longing that you feel.”

  “Then you come to me out of pity.”

  I bit back a sound of frustration. “This is a delicate dance,” I said, “trying to please you as well as my Queen. You are only making this more difficult for me. Iliaria, I love Renata. I’ve been in love with her for two hundred years. You can’t make that go away. It’s not going to go away. A mark does not erase it. But just because I love her does not mean that I will overlook you. It does not mean that I do not care about how you feel.”

  She directed her attention to some vague point in the room. I went to her, touching her cheek with the tips of my fingers.

  “Will you one day love me as you do your Queen?” she asked.

  “I do not know,” I said, for it was true. Who can say who we will love and who we will not love when love itself is often not a conscious decision? “If I told you I would, it would be a lie, for I cannot know, nor can I foresee the future. But I can tell you that I care and I will always try to be considerate.”

  “And how many others do you care for?” she asked.

  “I care for those sitting in this room.”

  “Epiphany is not casual with her affection,” Vasco said, “if that’s what you’re trying to understand.”

  Iliaria looked past me to him. What she thought, I could not say. Her eyes flicked back to me. “I would not have you come to my lap like a pet dog.”

  I was about to reply when Renata’s laughter spilled like slow honey into the room.

  “If you think I leash her and parade her about the Sotto, you are mistaken,” she said, and I did not have to turn to look at her to know the humor in her voice made her eyes lighter. “She came to me willingly, as willingly as she stands be
fore you, Dracule.”

  “I do not understand that,” Iliaria said.

  “Epiphany is an empathic vampire,” Vasco said. “When she sees pain in another she feels it and tries to soothe it.”

  “She uses her attention and her love as a balm, Dracule,” Renata said. “It is her nature.”

  “Is this true?” she asked me. I thought about what Vasco and Renata had said and realized that they had spoken truth. I had never seen myself in such a way, but once voiced aloud, the realization slid rightly into place.

  “It is.”

  “Still,” she said, “I would not have you come to me in such a way. If you wish to show me you care, stand at my side. I do not ask you to kneel at it.”

  I moved to sit next to her and she caught my wrist, stopping me and sending the tingling sensation in the mark to buzzing.

  “Not now,” she said. “If you offer comfort now I will not be able to turn it away and I will forget the very reason I came.”

  I nodded, stepping back when she let me go.

  “What reason is that?” I asked.

  She stood. “I came to give you this,” she said, reaching into her long coat and retrieving a small scarlet satchel. She took my wrist again, the one with her mark on it, and placed the velvet bag in my hand. She folded my fingers around it. “It is for you and you alone. I cannot take back my misdeed”—her eyes dropped to her hand still cradling mine—“but I can do this. I can offer you my aid in catching the vampire that tried to destroy your kin.”

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Open and see,” she said, letting go of my hand. Her fingers slid across my knuckles and I fought not to shudder at the sweet brush of her skin. She sat back on the couch, watching me.

  I opened the bag and guided the contents gently into my open palm. A ring dropped out. It was elegant and appeared to be made of white gold. I raised the ring between my thumb and index finger, examining the smoky black teardrop that caught the light. At its center was a tiny dot of crimson.

  “A ring?” I asked.

  It was Vasco who spoke, as he moved to the far edge of the couch to see. “That is not just any ring, colombina. That is a Stone of Shadows.”