14. Summons

14

SUMMONS

L ucca and I arrive at the Red Letter Hotel Florence, touching down on my balcony as night falls. I understand Lucca’s choice of entrance; it’s safer for us to come in this way, rather than risk going in through the main doors since we have no idea what’s going on. Curio Silverfrost waits for us in my apartment; as if Quinn knew precisely where we’d arrive, Curio says nothing as we step in through the balcony doors, only flicking his fingers at us to follow.

As we exit my apartment, I find everyone in the Hotel is on high alert. The entire Dark Haven of Florence buzzes like a beehive; tensions are higher than I’ve ever seen them, as porters and Hotel personnel scurry around with haste.

I feel as if we’re suddenly entertaining foreign dignitaries we did not know were coming. It’s the first time my bond to Quinn has been distinctly unpleasant; as Lucca and I are escorted to a first-floor drawing room I’ve never been in, one Quinn reserves for Hotel board meetings, I lift my eyebrows at Curio.

Not even Quinn’s top lieutenants can keep all that rageful energy from touching me, however, as Lucca and I arrive at a Hotel that feels like it’s going to war. Quinn’s Third in the Dark Haven of Florence keeps his mouth shut and his mind even quieter, rare for him, as he escorts us in. In fact, though I normally feel mind-chatter between all Quinn’s Vampires through my connection to Quinn, I feel dead silence between them now, other than that terrible buzzing.

It’s like everyone has locked their minds up tight against whatever’s happened, though their rage is palpable.

As Lucca and I arrive in the drawing room now, I see three individuals already there—Vampires not of our Dark Haven, conferencing with Devi and Quinn. The energy of those three Vampires sets everything inside me viciously on-edge, instantly. Though all three seem normal for Vampires at first glance, I know at once something is wrong with them.

One is a buxom brunette in 1950s attire, the second a lean, older man with greying hair dressed in a 1930s three-piece suit. The last is a tiny member of a Twilight bee-buzzing people, whose elegant gown forms and re-forms over her body as it changes color, made of filaments from her own person.

The three turn towards me as Lucca and I enter. As they pin me with their gazes, like firebrands of ice, I feel a terrible chill stalk right through my bones. Quinn and Devi turn also—but not before those three newcomers flash to me so fast I don’t even see it. They surround Lucca and me in a triad, raising their hands palm-up at their sides.

And open their mouths—as voices flow from each of them, not of their making.

Dark Fae Ariana Summers, of Master Quindici DaPonti’s Dark Haven. They say as one now, though the voice that issues from their mouths is not being made by their vocal cords, and neither do they move their mouths or lips. They simply stare at me as that terrible voice issues from all three of them at once.

As it comes to me in stereo, surrounding me and pummeling into my bones.

Dark Fae, you are Summoned to the Council of Rome. They continue, as I fight an urge to clap my hands to my ears and scream in defiance and horror from that terrible, inhuman voice. The Council has heard of you and your Master’s ability to return Revenants to their saner minds and flesh, and we wish to have a demonstration of your powers. We summon you and him to Rome; do this demonstration before us and prove your might. If you are successful, we shall grant Master DaPonti the leave to argue for his Sire’s seat among us. Your Summer Fae, however, is not invited. Prince Lucca Bellari of the Summer Fae Court is barred from setting foot in Rome, on pain of death. As we have told your Master, you have twenty-four hours to arrive in Rome, upon which we shall give you further instructions on when you shall appear before us. Failure in any of these tasks will incur severe repercussions, and direct action against the Dark Haven of Florence. Come to us, or face our wrath. That is all.

That terrible sound dies away, though now the three Vampire messengers suddenly scream. It’s a terrible, nails-on-a-chalkboard sound, as if their very souls writhe in torment in the darkest bowels of hell. I do clap my hands to my ears now, as all three erupt into whirling black smoke.

It rushes around me and Lucca before flying off through the tall, open windows.

The night feels blacker than death now as I stare in shock at Quinn, seeing his eyes dark with fury. Beside me, Lucca trembles with rage as he stands in defiance of this sudden new threat.

“What the fuck was that? ” Lucca says as I feel his bright-dark energy whirl at the message we just received.

“ That was an official Summons from the Vampire Council of Rome. Apparently, they heard about our little trio, and our ability to return Revenants. Which I had hoped to keep from them quite a lot longer than this. Until we knew what to do with it,” Quinn says with the worst sigh I’ve ever heard as he comes to us, severely Vampire-pale and marble-chill. His dark aura swirls around the room in a maelstrom as I feel it churn through our bond. It’s not just wrath Quinn is possessed by right now, though, as I feel his true emotions through our bond .

It’s fear—as we find ourselves in a worst-case scenario he had hoped to prevent.

“ That was bullshit.” Lucca’s eyes blaze with diamond-fire, his power surging now to protect Quinn and me. “You can’t go to Rome and do that demonstration, Quinn. You and Ariana have no chance of stabilizing the Music without me. Going to Rome is a death sentence.”

“Still. We have been Summoned. Without you, Lucca.” Quinn argues back as Devi and Curio stand silent nearby, watching our bound trio like we’ve just been given the death penalty. “Ariana and I must go to Rome alone… and wrangle this magic however we can.”

“You know that’s impossible, Quinn.” Lucca blazes as he scrubs a vicious hand through his hair now. “You know the Vampire Council just want to kill you and Ariana both for what our trio can do, now that they’ve discovered what you’ve been keeping from them. They’re setting you up to fail, on purpose.”

“I know, Lucca. I know.”

As Quinn and Lucca both stare at each other, I feel ardor and fear, fury and wrath blaze through Lucca’s magic. It’s matched by a terrible fury in Quinn’s dark eyes, which alternates with fear, then back to fury. I shudder at the power of both men’s rage at what the Vampire Council is forcing us to do. Because Lucca’s right; trying to perform a Revenant-waking demonstration in Rome will be a death sentence for Quinn and me without Lucca present.

Everyone knows it, as we all stare at each other in the night.

“But…” I think aloud now as I glance at Quinn. “How do we do the demonstration without Lucca? Without his magic in the mix… we’ll lose control of the Music, and maybe even the Revenant, if things go badly.”

“I know.” Quinn is soft as he speaks now, though his dark eyes burn. “We are commanded to go to Rome anyway, and if we do not, the Council has threatened action against the Dark Haven of Florence. Action means war, in Vampire terms. They will send their armies in to crush us. And take Florence’s Dark Haven by force… if there is anything left to take.”

“Fucking hells.” Lucca takes a breath, staring Quinn down. “So what do we do?”

“ We go to Rome. You stay here.” Quinn’s onyx eyes flash with furious red and gold fire now. “Ariana and I will leave at once and get settled with Arturos at his villa before the Council expects us, so we have some time to plan. We cannot refuse this Summons, nor what they are asking of us. I had hoped to have more time before the Council found out we could reawaken Revenants, but that is not to be. Clearly, either the Council has a mole amongst the Summer Fae who was there at our demonstration before the King, or someone at the opening gala of the Meeting of the Havens is not as much a friend to us as I thought.”

“But if we go to Rome, we’re toast, aren’t we?” I ask, feeling like Quinn has something up his sleeve, but not knowing what it is.

“Not necessarily,” Quinn says as he eyes me, thoughtful now. “For us to go to this Summons and succeed in Rome, we must have some way of stabilizing the Music without Lucca present—and without him using a Bloodsign again, which would most likely kill him. I had hoped to mature our connection to where any of us could wield the Music if we are alone from the others, but that cannot be helped now. What we can do, however, is a power transfer between us.”

“A power transfer?” I ask, blinking at him. “What’s that?”

“A power transfer is an ancient but rare practice among the Fae, and Vampires,” Quinn says now as he pins me with his gaze before it slides to Lucca. “In certain cases, when a deep bond exists between two or more parties who are Fae or Vampire, one person may temporarily transfer the bulk of their magic into another. Done for safekeeping or for imminent use, this is what I do when Vampires of my Dark Haven transfer their magic and energy to me for my use in times of duress, Ariana. I can call on them to give me support, and they do, metaphysically, though it strengthens me physically as well. What we need, in this case, is for Lucca to open his power and pour it down our trio’s bound connection, hoping that you, Ariana, can hold it long enough for us to do our demonstration in Rome. Without Lucca present.”

“Why me and not you?” I ask, knowing Quinn is far more adept at metaphysical shenanigans than I am.

“Though Lucca and I share much from his and my old magical pact, Vampire and Fae powers are too dissimilar for me to hold Lucca’s magic,” Quinn says. “As a Dark Fae, your powers hold active Summer Fae magic still. Thus, my guess is you can hold Lucca’s magic when I cannot. Though we don’t know when our showing will be, hopefully, you can hold Lucca’s magic long enough… before we must do or be ripped apart by the Council.”

“But I don’t know how to hold someone else’s power.” I glance uneasily at Lucca as he simmers with wrath at everything we’re facing. “How do I do that?”

“I’ll show you,” Lucca says now instead of Quinn, as he reaches out and clasps my hand. “It’s not pleasant, but it is possible, for a time. The Summer Fae Darkwatch does it to channel their power into one of their members in a time of need. They educated me on such things when I was among their ranks. The question is: how much of my power can you take, Ariana? And how long can you hold it… before time runs out?”

“Hopefully long enough.” I am scowling now, not liking any of this, especially when I have to try an untested feat of magic I’ve never even heard of before.

“What I want to know is how did the Council get this information, Quinn, about me being the decisive factor in our magic with the Revenants?” Lucca tousles a frustrated hand through his ash-blond hair. “I mean, we just did that demonstration for my father this afternoon!”

“Whoever reported this to the Council knew your power is the lynchpin of our trio, and that without you, we are hamstrung, badly,” Quinn says, still simmering. “It shows it was not just a Master from the Meeting reporting this to them, since only our closest allies even know Lucca’s involved in our magic at all. Another possibility is that I have a spy in my Dark Haven who saw our Revenant demonstration here at the Hotel a few days ago—which is a thought that vexes me, that someone here could be so disloyal to me and hide it so very well within their minds from my discovery. It may, however, be as I previously thought: that the Council has a spy among the Summer King’s Court. That person would have to be bound to them for the news to have traveled this fast.”

“Or Arturos or Eiseth reported it.” I hate to say it, but I know it’s something we have to consider as I glance at Quinn. “They were both with us when we did the demonstration here at the Hotel. They both know Lucca is instrumental in our bond, not to mention us wielding the Music and returning Revenants with it.”

Though Quinn pauses now, considering my words, at last he shakes his head. “Arturos and Eiseth have been my allies for many ages, Ariana. We have all fought together, bled together, and schemed together on countless occasions. I trust them like I trust you and Lucca… though they are not bound to me, we share a bond of a kind—a bond of ideology, which runs deep. Either way, this is far sooner than I had hoped for word to reach Rome, though I knew it would, eventually. We cannot delay. We need to work the transference magics fast. And for the sake of us all… we cannot hold anything back.”

“If I don’t hold back, transferring my magic into Ariana… I could kill her, Quinn,” Lucca says as I feel a deep fear rise inside him now. “You don’t know what you’re asking of me.”

“I do know.” Quinn is earnest as he stares Lucca down. “You must whip your magic to the screaming point, Lucca, and pour it into Ariana, as much as she can stand. For we have only one shot at this—and I need you to trust that she is far more powerful a Dark Fae than any of us imagine. Trust in her power, and yours; and in my ability to balance your Light with darkness if things get out of hand. For we are all in it now. If we do not achieve success at this new, unforeseen endeavor, we die. There is no coming back from how the Vampire Council would punish us should we fail. I fear that even if it is but one of us they punish, with a connection like ours… it would surely drive the others mad. Even unto death.”

Quinn’s subtext is not lost on either me or Lucca; we understand to our bones that he fears he is the one the Vampire Council will punish if we fail, and therefore drive both Lucca and me insane as we feel what’s happening to him. Not only that, but Fae can die from a broken heart.

And our hearts would surely break if Quinn was sundered from us.

As I stare at Quinn, my lips fallen open, I feel his connection to us surge now. I feel Quinn flood a mind-sending to all the Vampires of his Dark Haven—that the imminent danger is gone from the Hotel, though everyone is to remain at maximum alert until he tells them otherwise.

It’s like a hornet’s nest that’s been kicked, as his entire Dark Haven of Florence, nearly a thousand members strong, sends a wave of readiness and fury back. I understand in a flash of thought from Quinn that he told them the Vampire Council sent messengers to us. He was the one who shut down all mind-chatter until the emissaries were gone, since they were both messengers and spies from the Council and could have picked up on any errant thought while they were here.

Quinn’s magic in our bond roars now as he turns to Devi and Curio, leaving them succinct instructions for the care of the Dark Haven of Florence and the Hotel in his absence.

Especially if it proves permanent.

“Devi, Curio, hearken to me,” Quinn says. He speaks softly as he leaves his two top lieutenants what very well could be his last wishes for the Dark Haven of Florence. “Devi, you are now head of the Red Letter Hotel Florence, and Curio is your Associate Hotel Head. This change is permanent, unless I return in person and you both agree to surrender the running of this Hotel back over to me. The papers for this transfer of leadership are in my desk, signed and sealed already, in case something like this happened. Remember that when our Dark Haven Vampires are on Hotel grounds, especially if they are Hotel employees, they are untouchable to the Vampire Council of Rome, by Red Letter Hotel law.”

“Yes, Quinn,” Devi says. She is quick to respond, though I feel a dark crimson wrath boil from her as I see her aura flood the room.

“Understood.” Curio is just as quick, as his ice-cold winds seethe around him.

“Summon our entire Dark Haven to the Hotel, immediately, whether they live in the city or further away,” Quinn says with his last instructions. “Put them up in any room you can spare, double or triple, if you have to. The Hotel is closed until further notice—refund any guests for their current or scheduled stay and get them out of here, today. I want all our Vampires in this building, protected under Hotel law. Because I feel in my heart, the Council will try to take them whether we win or lose in Rome. And the Council will do everything they can to make us lose.”

With that, I feel Quinn do something I never thought he’d do. With a terrible in-breath, and a sundering roar of his magic that seems to slice all around him like a blade, he cuts himself off from the Dark Haven of Florence.

Entirely.

Devi gasps as her hand flies to her chest, her chocolate brown eyes pained as tears fill them. Curio cries out as he sets his jaw, his winter winds surging around him in a maelstrom as he stumbles, freed from Quinn’s bonds.

Even I feel it, as the Dark Haven of Florence is removed from me, since my tether to it was through Quinn. Like a distant echo, I can sense the Dark Haven Vampires remain bonded to each other by the ancient bloodlines they received from Quinn and Emiliana DiClario at the point of their initial death.

But Quinn is out now—and so am I.

Metaphysically cut from the Dark Haven of Florence as neatly as a leaf sunders to a blade .

“Quinn, no!” Devina says, a tear slipping down the statuesque Vampiress’ face as she blinks at him.

“If I take you all to Rome with me, the Council will interrupt our connection and seize the Dark Haven through me—they’ve done it before to other Masters. You know it as well as I do, Devina.” Quinn is quiet as he sets a hand on her shoulder.

“We should be there, supporting you!” Devina fights with him now, flinging his hand off and seething with wrath throughout her knifing, crimson aura. “If you will not take us with you metaphysically, then take us with you to fight, in person!”

“No.” Something tender passes between Quinn and Devi now, as I feel his mesmerization roar out, stroking Devi and telling her to be still. “Listen to me, Devina Scarlotti. This is not your battle, but mine. You are a warrior, not just a knife in the night, though you do not believe you are. And I need my warriors here now, protecting this place and everyone who is so deeply precious inside it. Are you with me, warrior? Tell me you understand, and will stay and protect what we hold dear.”

“I will stay and protect what we hold dear.” Another tear slips down Devi’s cheek, then another, as she finally succumbs to Quinn’s wishes.

I feel via my magic how much she wants to fight at Quinn’s side, though.

And die for him.

“We will stay, Quinn.” Curio steps up stalwartly beside Devi now, throwing an arm around her like a brother and drawing her close. “We will hold this place like a fortress for you. And the Vampire Council of Rome will rue the day they ever fucked with the Dark Haven of Florence.”

“Thank you.” Quinn gives each of them the deepest bow I’ve ever seen, before he moves in, embracing them and kissing their cheeks. The tender moment cannot last between the Master and his two best aides, however. Quinn releases their hands, turning to me and Lucca standing silently nearby.

“Come. We must do our power transfer now. And hope to every god and devil there is that it will be enough to thwart the Council and their aims with us.”

With that, Quinn strides from the hall, heaving the drawing room doors open.

He looks back, and Lucca and I follow.

Ready to fuck shit up with the Vampire Council of Rome—or die trying.