17. Start

17

START

W e have no words after our incredible fuck-lovemaking as we make it up off the floor. As Quinn helps me and Lucca stand, then hands me my robe, he flicks his fingers, summoning a cobalt robe down from his loft to match Lucca’s incredible, dark blue eyes.

Moving slowly, we begin to dress, euphoric after such an amazing threesome. Energy is still thrumming hard between us as I watch Quinn’s lean, ridged sexiness, then Lucca, admiring his broad shoulders and honed warrior’s physique as he pulls on his borrowed robe.

With the exhilaration of what we wrought still rushing through us, Lucca catches me staring at him and gives a sexy smile. Simmering with dark delight as he dresses in his quilted maroon men’s robe, Quinn nods at my blush silk dressing-gown, idle in my fingers.

Entirely forgotten as I watched my men—an incredible afterglow still throbbing through me.

Shivering with aftershocks, I slide my robe on now, moving to the edge of the ebony dining table as I tie the sash. I don my barely there negligee, and Quinn gives me a long, appreciative look, pausing from where he had begun perusing the maps on the table.

Hot tension rolls between us as Lucca comes to the table also, the maps now glowing with a plethora of blistering white lines thanks to our endeavor in the otherworld . As I arrange my thin silk over my still-throbbing breasts and nethers, Quinn gives me a wicked smile.

The deep appreciation in Lucca’s dark blue eyes makes me blush; tension still careens between us as we stand at the map table. Quinn and Lucca move close now, cuddling me between them as we gaze down upon the maps, befuddled. I see now that those bright white lines we created with the Music cascade everywhere, across nearly every map we have.

Insane.

At first, I can’t make heads or tails of them—until Quinn reaches out, pulling certain maps into place. It’s then that I see our Ascendant phrase seek and ye shall find formed a sort of ornate layering effect, as Quinn arranges the maps.

I see now he’s connecting the white lines in a way that makes perfect harmony with the map Iris put in our minds. The way he’s done it, however, also makes little sense.

Because those paths exist nowhere in the Twilight Realm or the human world—at all.

“They jump between worlds.” As Quinn finally settles all the maps, it produces an intense starburst of sigildry with the lines, like an Ascendant mosaic. “That’s why we couldn’t find the pattern before. These paths don’t go through any single physical realm. They connect a vast array of physical realms. They’re portals through several sub-Realm spaces. Nexus Realms—similar to the Twilight Realm, but separate from it.”

“Staphylogenes created dozens of sub-spaces through the weft and weave of worlds that one would have to pass through to find his heart.” Lucca whistles now as he gets it, his blue eyes wide. “Holy shit. That is the work of a god, to do something as audacious as that to hide something.”

“Something extremely precious,” I say, understanding what Iris’ map is—a way to solve the portal-jumping we’ll have to do between worlds to get Staphylogenes’ heart. “It’s all in Florence, but it’s not. It’s in a hundred variations of Florence… all created by Staphylogenes to confuse and waylay anyone who came after his heart.”

“And entrap them.” Quinn’s frown is dark now as he peruses the maps. “I doubt the Gold Eyes did all this just to confuse those who tried to get his heart. He wanted them to become lost in these many-worlds, never to return.”

“Staphylogenes would have set a maze so complex that only a true Master of the Music would be able to solve it,” I say, an intuition striking as my deepest truth-telling power rings inside me.

“Even Staphylogenes himself couldn’t solve this maze, after he set it.” Lucca frowns now, though his look is thoughtful. “He didn’t understand that by cutting out the center of his Light, he would irreparably change himself so he could never solve his own maze again. And never get his heart back.”

“Which is where we have an advantage.” Quinn taps a spot on the maps—a place where the complex sigil of Light begins. “This is our origin. This is where we get in. I say we try to enter it from the Twilight Realm first, because that’s where Staphylogenes lived when he was still an Ascendant, or nearly so, rather than in the human world.”

“Good enough.” Lucca nods. “But I don’t think I can go after the heart tonight, Quinn. If we’re going to use the Music to solve this portal warren, à la Gold Eyes… I think I need at least a nap first.”

“Of course.” Quinn smiles now, then heaves a sigh. “I am getting ahead of myself, like always. Let us rest tonight, and we shall head out first thing in the morning. Some deep, restful sleep will do us good… and strengthen us, for whatever is to come.”

Quinn steps back from the table, extending a hand to me and Lucca. We take them, and he leads us up the corkscrewing stairs to his lofted bedroom beneath the crystal cathedral’s highest vaults. We tumble into bed, grateful and exhausted after such an amazing lovemaking .

I don’t even realize it’s morning until I blink awake.

I feel Quinn moving around the room getting dressed, as if trying not to wake me. I wake anyway, pushing up from the bed as I watch him. Quinn is dressing in black tactical clothes today rather than his usual finery; he looks surprisingly incredible in a simple black v-neck men’s sweater and lightweight down vest, plus tactical pants and cargo boots.

Sitting on the bed, he laces up his boots as he feels me awaken and looks over. Lucca isn’t in the loft, though I feel him moving around downstairs, getting breakfast ready. The smell of coffee wafting up from below awakens me further.

Quinn reaches over, handing me simple tactical clothing like his.

“Here,” he says as he smiles. “We don’t know where we’ll be headed today, bopping through Realms as we probably will be. The trail to finding Staphylogenes’ heart might be very interesting. We dress for success of a different variety today, rather than for any court.”

“Gotcha.” I’m pushing up from bed, thankful my men let me sleep in, though I don’t want to be the one that delays us getting on the trail today. A strange energy rises in me now, as I dress in the lightweight black women’s sweater Quinn gave me, and thin, breathable cargo pants.

My combat boots are Twilight-made as I lace them up, comfortable for any foray; everything I’m wearing is, as I zip up a thin down vest like Quinn’s with more pockets than you can shake a stick at.

Every pocket has something in it, I can tell as I peruse them now.

“Prepared for any occasion?” I lift an eyebrow at him.

“Prepared for any occasion.” He smiles back, though it’s tight as I feel tension swirl through him now with what we might face today. Quinn hands me a brace of silver Fae knives to strap to my forearms, then a holster for my thigh containing two shortened Faeanic spears.

As I velcro the weapons on, Quinn nods. He wears the same, and I imagine Lucca is outfitted just like us as I hear him call up from downstairs.

“Hurry up, Sleeping Beauties! Daylight’s wasting. ”

Quinn opens his hand towards the stairs and I nod, ready. We go, heading down to where Lucca prepares breakfast, and I find all my attire is ridiculously comfortable and breathable, the perfect weight.

As we arrive downstairs, I see Lucca moving around Quinn’s enormous dining table, setting up breakfast. It was probably delivered by magic to Quinn’s suite, but Lucca has taken the time to arrange everything, getting our coffee poured, our plates filled, and our cream and sugar mixed just the way each of us likes it.

Quinn goes to him, kissing Lucca briefly on the lips. As Lucca takes a moment to kiss him back, I reflect on how normal everything is now between us. It’s lovely to see Quinn and Lucca together in harmony, at last. They move around each other like an old couple, their familiarity born of hundreds of years of knowing, loving, and hating each other.

They make room for me at the table; as Quinn pulls my chair out, I sit. He’s at the head of the table, of course, Lucca on his left with me on his right.

The plethora of maps all shoved down to the other end to make way for breakfast.

We eat in silence, each of us enjoying our meal as we ponder what’s ahead. For the first time, it’s nothing we could ever know or even predict, as we contemplate what Staphylogenes might have in store for us. His trail through many worlds wasn’t laid for us, not really, but it has become our quest now to enter his labyrinth and decipher it.

As Quinn finishes his plate, downs his coffee, and stands—heading to the maps.

“I know where to access this tunnel on the Twilight Realm side of Florence. We can get there via some of my Vampire tunnels, right from the Hotel.” He taps the spot where the glowing white lines of our sigil originate. Before we entirely crashed out last night, I’d felt Quinn rise from bed, head downstairs, and do something. Now, I see that where the glowing white lines are, he’s marked with a vivid crimson pen.

The lines are still there, but his move was prudent. They’re faded now from what we did last night; I imagine they’ll be all but gone once we set out this morning.

Though our intention won’t be.

“Well. No time like now, I suppose.” Lucca nods at the maps as Quinn gathers up the ones with our marked lines. As Quinn slips them into the breast pocket of his down vest, Lucca scrapes the rest of his food into his mouth while I down my coffee. We’re up from the table in a trice.

Not knowing if we’ll ever come back here, as Quinn opens the door and holds it for us.

“Youth before wisdom and crotchetiness,” Quinn says with a strangely teasing demeanor this morning as his dark eyes twinkle.

“I guess you can be crotchety sometimes.” I banter with him as I exit, Lucca on my heels.

“I meant Lucca.” Quinn gives a sly grin now, as Lucca moves past him.

“I am crotchety when I have a Master Vampire goading me. Or rather, a Master Dark Fae.” But even Lucca is strangely smiling this morning, though I can still feel the tension of what we’re up against seething through us.

The fact is, we either do or die today, and we know it. The thought is strangely liberating, as we head out through the door and Quinn takes the lead, maneuvering us through the Hotel’s ornate underground passages before he opens a portrait and we head into the Hotel’s secret, blue-lit halls.

We’re only in those a moment, however, before we come to the same weeping madonna statue Devi and I once accessed the Hotel’s deepest catacombs with, which leads to underground tunnels that extend throughout Florence. As Quinn touches the weeping statue with his power and the dead-end alcove shimmers away, I have the strangest sense of déjà vu, like I’m escaping his diabolical scheming with Devi all over again.

This time, however, I’m not headed out to have an unexpected rendezvous with the Prince of the Summer Fae. He’s right here beside me, marching through these grey-lit catacombs with me and the former Prince of the Summer Fae.

Both of them mine—that day worlds away now.

“Here. This is it,” Quinn says at last. I see we’ve arrived at the ornate underground tomb I’ve been in twice already now. The first time was with Devi, then again when we and all Quinn’s people were escaping Florian’s takeover of the Florence Dark Haven and the Red Letter Hotel.

It makes me feel sad now as Quinn moves to the central tomb in the vaulted catacomb and stares down at it. A particularly ornate tomb, it has but a single bier inside it, though the entire alcove is carved in friezes, as if it tells the life of some ancient Vampire saint.

Ornate, Fae-like details devour the tomb; wind and water, flowering trees, and blossoming vines flow across the ornamented alcove and the bier itself. I don’t know why, but something about this tomb and the alcove it’s in holds an intense energy. As if the person who was buried in it was of great importance to the ancient Ascendants, it seems like it’s neither a Vampire nor Fae tomb, but both, with all the ancient sigil-work and beautiful pastoral etchings all over it.

Suddenly, I understand why this tomb is so ornate, and what it is. As I get it, I feel Quinn and Lucca get it, too.

We all inhale—knowing this is the start of Staphylogenes’ heart’s resting place.

“Quinn. Do you know who this tomb is for? Or who made it?” I ask now, to verify what we’re all feeling—though we already know in our deepest hearts, minds, and souls, it’s true.

“No.” Quinn glances at me, then looks back at the beautiful white stone tomb. “It has been a great mystery all my life, wondering who put this tomb here and who must lie inside it. The tombs surrounding it in this area are ancient Masters of the Florentine bloodline—some of our oldest, though only those of great renown were entombed in this region. But this most ornate one… it has been lost to time whose tomb it is. It was ne ver mentioned in any of our annals, though this spot beneath Florence has always been sacred to us. Now, we know why.”

“Staphylogenes was the origin of the Florentine Vampires’ bloodline,” Lucca says now as we all stare at the tomb inside its incredible alcove. “Before he went insane into his Revenant state, but after he tore out his heart, he must have Sired the first Vampire of your bloodline, Quinn.”

“Not my bloodline,” Quinn counters as he glances at me and Lucca, “for I was never Emiliana’s progeny. But to the Florentine Vampires, this is a sacred space. And I suppose we are all Staphylogenes’ bloodline, as we were Made Dark Fae by him.”

“Which is why this magic feels so potent for us, too,” I say now as I peruse the tomb. Walking around it, I almost feel it singing to me; as if whatever is in there, or whatever start to Staphylogenes’ maze it contains, calls to my Night magic. Though we’re no longer tethered to his taint, the Night he gave us will always linger in our veins. Quinn, Lucca, and I all seem to know that, as we circle the tomb now.

Wondering how to get in.

“Do we just raise the Music and do our open sesame thing again?” Lucca chuckles as we walk around it, perusing its every ornate facet and beautiful, unknown sigil-phrases.

“That worked once to find the origin of our quest, but I do not believe it will work again.” Quinn’s alert gaze roves over the tomb. “I imagine Staphylogenes would have set not just a physical maze for those seeking his heart, but a mental one, as well. I think we shall find it a magical one above all else… to use the Music in ever more creative ways to get what we want.”

“Diabolical. To the end.” Lucca snorts, then looks at Quinn. “What do you suggest?”

Strangely enough, Quinn looks at me. “Ariana? You have been quiet. What do you think?”

Moving around the tomb, I brush my fingertips over it. I feel that singing sensation rise inside me again, stronger now that I’m touching it. It makes something deep inside my original magic, my power from the House of Shadow Truth, rise high inside my veins. My wings of rainbow-dark magic shoot from me now as I close my eyes.

Touching the tomb and listening to that vast harmonic.

At last, it comes to me, as I open my eyes and look at Quinn, then at Lucca.

“Blood,” I whisper as I watch them. “To open this tomb, we must give a symbolic sacrifice of death. We have to bleed out, each of us, just a little. And then this tomb will open… and we will find our way to the start of the labyrinth.”

“Blood.” Lucca snorts. “Why is everything with Vampires blood?”

“Because blood is ancient, and to lose blood is death,” Quinn says quietly as he lengthens his fangs. Piercing his thumb, he gestures to each of us and we do the same. As we all hold our hands out over that stunning tomb now, letting our blood drip upon its startling white surface, I see that our blood is sucked into the gleaming stone. As if the tomb itself was a Vampire, it drinks us.

Then grinds open, emitting a deep groan and a blast of light.

“And to take blood is life…” Quinn says, as we stare at the dark space within. Though the outside of the tomb is stunningly white, the inside is nothing but black, with steps that go down.

A black hole we must enter, if we want to get the heart of our ancient Florentine Master.

“After you,” Lucca says, teasing, as he gestures at Quinn. But there is no humor at all in Lucca’s eyes as he nods at Quinn and Quinn nods back.

I understand Lucca’s reasoning; if anything down there is going to accost us, we’d better send down our best fighter of the Night to waylay it before Lucca can blast it with his Light.

I’m to go last, as protecting me is somehow most important right now. Though I sense the sleeping knight I am will have to awaken before this is all said and done. And protect everyone else from whatever the Gold Eyes has in store for us.

Unknown, as we enter its void.