16. Soiree

16

SOIREE

A s I drive through the nighttime city of Florence, I carefully evade uneven cobblestones and potholes so my low-profile Maserati won’t bottom out. Ariana and I soon make it to a main road as we leave the Red Letter Hotel Florence, paved as it heads out into the countryside. As I roll down my window, I flash the crimson-onyx ring on my left index finger at an ancient, crumbling lamppost—and we flash between Realms with a terrible, high whine in my ears and a blaze of light.

Into the human world.

As that awful sensation of crossing Realms fades, leaving my gut in knots and my head ringing, I blink to realize I’m far weaker than I thought after transferring most of my power into Ariana and cutting myself off from my Dark Haven.

I feel almost human as I course hot and ice-cold, as if I have a fever. Pain grips every muscle, lancing deep into my bones as I pull out of a small, empty parking lot in the human world now onto a paved highway. Italian road signs grace the edges of the dark pavement, but my vision blurs as I try to read them; other cars’ headlights and taillights zoom by on the dark country freeway, leaving a glare in my eyes .

I floor the Maserati and pull out, joining the highway’s flow as I do my best to ignore how I’m feeling. I’ve had far worse, and it will not stop me from whatever we must do to be successful in Rome. As I check my mirrors and flick off the turn signal, Ariana glances out the window, watching a long swath of silver forest pass. The lights of human-world Florence recede behind us; intrigued that we’re headed to Rome via human means, she glances at me.

“Why are we headed to Rome in the human world?” she asks, curious.

“It’s far easier to get to Rome by car or airplane in the human world—highways in the Twilight Realm are few and far between. I’m too tired from donating most of my energy to you, plus cutting myself off from my Dark Haven today, to portal us over such a distance. If it’s even possible anymore.” I’m pragmatic as I check my mirrors, veering off the small highway onto a larger one now, heading south. “Besides, getting around by car in a Vampire-run city is less conspicuous. You’ll see.”

“Vampires do seem to love their Maseratis.” Ariana quips, running her hands over the lusciously dark, blood-red synthetic seats of the car now, admiring them. It’s my favorite car of the dozens I own; a gift from Arturos, the sleek Maserati Alfieri isn’t my most expensive car, but it is stylish and comfortable for a long trip.

Practical, if we need to get the fuck out of Rome in a hurry.

“Yes, we do. Part of why Arturos is as wealthy as he is, since he owns the company,” I say, and chuckle as I give Ariana an amused glance before returning to driving.

I feel anything but amused, however, as we drive towards the lion’s den.

“Any chance we could stop for gelato?” Ariana says now. She jests, but I can feel through our bond how many things she misses in the human world. The past weeks have been such a whirlwind, I’ve not had a moment to think about her human life. I feel terrible about that as I consider it now, seeing the human world all around us.

And feeling her missing it .

“I’m afraid we have no time tonight,” I say, though I wish we could do anything rather than go to this summons. As a tremor suddenly wracks me, I frown at it, flexing my hands and gripping them more securely on the wheel. I feel Ariana open the connection between us wide, then.

And find out I am not okay right now.

“Quinn, your energy!” she says in astonishment as she glances at me. “Are you alright?”

“I’ll be fine.” I glance over at her before looking back to the road, flicking a smile her way. “Just a case of magical exhaustion from everything we did, and from storing my power inside you.”

“You feel like you have the flu. Do Vampires even get the flu?” She reaches out now, setting the backs of her knuckles to my cheek. I take her fingers down, however, setting them on my thigh as I drive. “I’ve never felt you this drained before.”

“Because I always had reserves, before.” She sees me glance at her seriously, lit by the dim dash lights of the Maserati. “This entire time you’ve known me, I was bound to the Dark Haven of Florence, Ariana. I’ve cut that bond off now, so my people will not be in danger when we go before the Council. I can weather it. Believe me, I’ve been through far worse.”

A brief glimpse of memory flashes through me then; of being locked in an iron safe, not even a coffin, thoroughly etched with magical sigils to drain my energy so I can’t escape. Emiliana kept me in there a year.

Starving me until I was a shadow of myself, complacent to her once more.

“Oh, Quinn…” Ariana releases a breath as she shudders, receiving the memory through our bond. I raise my inner walls high and lock my doors tight against those memories.

Only surfacing because I’m so drained right now.

“She was a cruel Mistress.” I nod as Ariana discovers my memory. Even though I’ve shut that recollection down, and the countless others like it, it’s a struggle for me right now, so drained and weak in my power. “Emiliana never cared for anyone; she only wanted to prove she was right, over and over. Some of the Masters you will meet in Rome are worse—far worse. They make what she did seem like child’s play. Which is why I left everyone we care about in Florence, cut off from me and protected from being metaphysically taken by any of the Council Masters. If they want my Dark Haven, they’ll have to go there and bust the doors down; protected from invasion by not only extensive magical sigildry but also by Hotel laws. Which are dire in the extreme. And something not even the Council Masters can escape.”

“You did everything you could for your people, even though it places you at tremendous risk now, going to Rome without backup. That’s why Devi was so upset with you.” Ariana understands as she strokes my thigh.

“She thinks it’s a suicide mission.” My smile is fleeting as sadness devours me. “Perhaps we will fail in Rome. I have done all I can, however, storing my energy inside you so it can balance Lucca’s and be maintained until we need it. If we do fail, though… I’m certain Arturos and Eiseth will fight for the Dark Haven of Florence. Even if one of them ends up annexing it, I would not be disappointed. Arturos would make Florence his home, and Eiseth is strong enough to protect two loci of power, though the Council thinks very little of her and her origins up in Britain.”

“What happens if we prove our power, and actually return a Revenant before the Council?” Ariana asks now. I understand her question.

Even I’m unsure whether us winning will give us a get-out-of-Rome-free card.

“Maybe worse.” I darken now, even as something deep inside me hardens with intent. “For if we manage to return a Revenant to their sanity and flesh before the Council, they may see us as too deep a threat, and try to kill us anyway. Be on your guard, Ariana. For everything we do from here on out is a game—of politics, positioning, and power. Even if we do well in Rome, many there are not my allies, and some are outright enemies. They see Florence as a jewel for their taking, now that Emiliana is gone. I am no deterrent in their minds. Not even a small one to be reckoned with. ”

“But you are.” She is firm with me now, gripping my thigh to impress her point. “You are. Especially now, with me and Lucca behind you.”

“Let us hope so. For all our sakes,” I say as a terrible darkness takes me.

Ariana reaches up, stroking my cheek with her fingertips.

I take her hand, pressing it to my lips in a kiss as we drive.

We say nothing more as I rev the engine and throw up a small glamour around the Maserati, pushing our speed while avoiding the attention of the human-world police. Though the normal drive is over three hours, we make it in one and a half. As we arrive at Arturos’ manor on the outskirts of Rome, I flash my ring at a lamppost in the city, and Ariana and I screech through Realms again, back into the Twilight world.

We’re on Arturos’ street, an opulent avenue of towering villas and outright mansions on the outskirts of the city. Lit from stem to stern with tasteful spotlights, Arturos’ classical Italian villa is large enough to house thirty rooms in numerous wings, built in a modern, luxury stucco, stone, and red clay roof style. Though Arturos told me he was having a soiree and I expected a few people here tonight, his wide, semicircular cobblestone drive is packed with sports cars of the finest variety.

Not Arturos’ usual crowd of close allies and friends.

Darkness churns inside me as I pull in, cutting the Maserati’s engine. One of Arturos’ valets, a young Vampire I know named Benito, catches my keys as I toss them. I round the car, holding the passenger side door for Ariana, as I feel a true hurricane of rage build inside me.

That my ally did not tell me I would arrive to find a party of Masters in full swing tonight.

“This is Arturos’ place? Did he mention he was having a rager?” As Ariana and I gaze around, we see Vampire couples and groups exiting their vehicles. Dozens of people chat on the gravel drive or head up the wide, semicircular front staircase into the manor. A Vampire quartet plays decadent music inside, though it’s a lively dance reel. I had expected a quiet event tonight for Ariana and I to settle in, but this party is clearly just getting started .

“Arturos said he was having a soirée he could not cancel on such short notice.” I can’t help but scowl now as I put Ariana’s hand on my arm. She’s dressed in something Devi packed for her now, after changing in the car. A gown of scintillating, dark Vampire couture, her cocktail-length taffeta and black lace dress is fit and flare with a fan of black rooster tail extending up from one shoulder. She wears dark red beaded stilettos, everything in her outfit chosen to match mine.

The only thing that stands out is the filigreed pendant of onyx and black diamond I gave her when she was Kissed to me. It’s not just a pretty bauble or a token of my affection, as Ariana believes it to be. The central black diamond of Ariana’s necklace shimmers in the midnight hour, just like I intended when I imbued it with my power.

As it protects her from the vast, diabolical magics of the Council-aligned Masters here tonight.

I suppress a shiver from my ruined state now, glad Ariana has at least some protection in her pendant as we make our way towards the front staircase and into the villa proper. Benito has taken our bags to a side-door, up to the rooms Arturos promised us during our stay; Ariana and I must mingle, however, now that we’ve arrived in the thick of things, playing our part as if nothing is amiss.

Even though I feel like true death, barely able to stay on my feet now, I play it cool. I am elegance itself as I force my usual calm midnight aura to flow around me. I can’t risk anyone here delving deeper tonight to test me. Most of all, I can’t risk Ariana sending her truth-seeking power deeper inside me.

To discover I should be convalescing in a tomb underground—rather than facing off with some of the most deadly Vampires known to Twilight-kind.

The deadliest of the deadly are here tonight. Many were allies of Emiliana’s as I nod and smile, recognizing Masters on all sides who are tight with the Council, and not in any way my allies. Though the Masters who attend the Meeting of the Havens can be dangerous, or unpredictable, these are Masters I would not choose to associate with in a million years as I dig deep into what energy I have left.

The only thing preventing me from bristling—or sending a wave of my last Night out to skewer them all.

“Quinn…” Ariana is concerned, and I know she can feel me seething through our bond.

Say nothing, out where ears can hear. I think to her through our connection now, praying to every god and devil there is, that my power is still strong enough for other Masters to not hear our mind-sending. These are Masters aligned with the Council here tonight. Guard your tongue; be pleasant and civil, and we shall get through this. Arturos did not tell me he was holding a Council soirée this evening. Now I know why he could not cancel it. To do so is a death sentence at the Council’s hands. And one can never decline their suggestion that one hold a party on a specific night for all Council members and their guests. Ever.

I feel Ariana understand Arturos is bound to this, despite what he might think of it. He is not currently a Council member for his Master the Wanderer, though he has been in the past and he lives in Rome; therefore, the Council expects much of him. As we ascend the grand front staircase to the towering front doors, I feel Arturos move towards us. Though we are not bound in any official way, his ocean-deep magic speaks for itself. Unique among Vampire kind, Arturos is a sea of impeccable calm as he comes to us.

Though I feel how his darkwater energy churns underneath—furious at having to hold this party at all.

“Quinn! Ariana. So glad you could both make it to my little event.”

Arturos has a genial nature as he arrives before us. Like the consummate host, he smiles and reaches out as we clasp forearms, before he lifts Ariana’s hand and executes a brief bow over it.

I don’t miss the soft kiss he leaves on her skin, however. Like firebrands, it skewers her as he holds her with his ancient blue gaze—she is caught in those waves, just like every time they’ve been together. I had hoped it would have improved by now, Arturos’ strangely deep attraction to her, when I’ve never seen him be like this with anyone else, ever. His handsomely elegant power still rolls Ariana.

And tonight, I’m not strong enough to keep it at bay.

I know Arturos feels it as he looks at me, his dark blue eyes sharp. Sirens have mesmeric abilities nearly as great as Vampires, sometimes more; as he holds my gaze, I flare fury all through my veins, drawing on what’s left of my old Summer Fae power to bolster me. Fire flickers through my aura, and I see Arturos note it as his eyebrows lift. He cocks an eyebrow at me, and I hear the thought he sends me with pin-tight precision so no other Masters nearby hear it.

Quinn? Are you alright? Your power…

Later. I am curt, not confident of sending my thoughts with precision right now to anyone not bound to me.

He lifts an eyebrow at me again, then gives the subtlest nod. As he places Ariana’s hand back on my arm, I nod, then take a tour with him through the party.

Seeing how many of my enemies are here tonight.

It’s a Who’s Who of the Council and their allies, as Arturos presents me and introduces Ariana as my Kissed Dark Fae, though he says nothing of our deeper bond. Most of the Masters here tonight are civil, some of the worst on the Council not in attendance. They know better than to send their energy seeking towards Ariana right now at a Council-sponsored event, where any wrong magical move could mean a Master’s death.

There are those here tonight I’d rather not see, however. Masters I have a deeply tense history with, as Arturos can’t avoid taking us around to the one person in all creation I hate most.

Besides the late Emiliana DiClario.

Florian Delano is my nemesis on the Vampire Council of Rome. Handsome, haughty, and impeccably dressed, his power is all sex all the time as we arrive where he’s holding court with a group of Masters at an outdoor colonnade near Arturos’ topiary maze .

A lover of any sexual orientation, Florian is an abuser of all, as his vivid sea-green eyes pin me and he gives a beautiful, touchable laugh that rolls through the night. As heads turn to watch Ariana and me arrive, that laugh sends shivers all through me. Both decadent and awful, Florian’s laugh spreads through my veins in a wave, smooth as butter even as it cuts like knives.

With power far beyond mine, there’s a reason the Council gave Florian Emiliana’s seat when she died, rather than me. The Master of Monaco is not using his true power right now; it’s his natural attractiveness that builds a crowd around him, always. The spillover from his incredible magic makes his laugh musical and his voice so compelling.

But as he hails me like we’re the best of friends, that lovely tenor voice scrapes through me like a blade. Florian’s sea-green eyes twinkle with delight that he has me in his sights once again—just like he did before. He doesn’t know things are different this time, as I keep my bond to Ariana and Lucca quietly, and firmly, in check. Not just because I don’t want to show my hand, but also because I never want Florian to feel my bond.

Lest he find some way to use it against me—or take my bound lovers from me.

“Quindici! ?a va? How the stars align to see you here!”

Florian comes to me, flowing forward through his adoring crowd like a ship on the sea. Setting his hands to my shoulders, he gives me a peck on either cheek like we’re friends who have simply become estranged. Dressed in tan linen slacks, an eggshell cowlneck men’s sweater with a crisp white shirt, plus russet men’s dress shoes, Florian looks like a billionaire on holiday in the Mediterranean as he flashes his ultra-white smile at me.

His chiseled face is tan, those sea-green eyes sparkling from his golden-stubbled face. Florian’s short, tawny gold hair is rucked up into a pleasing mess, like he’s just been out speed boating for the thrill of it today. I’m not sure he hasn’t. Like me, Florian can daywalk, a talent that’s exceptionally unique among Vampire-kind .

But unlike me, he has many other abilities that he doesn’t show anyone.

Until it’s time to use them—with terrible effect.

“Shaina, ma belle , please get my friend Quinn here a cup of your specialty, if you would.” It’s only now that I notice he has a young woman with piercing lavender eyes and long, white-blonde hair on a slender golden chain at his side. Dressed in a strappy buttercream cocktail dress that nearly exposes everything but doesn’t quite, she’s got Florian’s expensive, slim rune-worked golden manacles around her wrists, though they’re fashioned to look like classy bracelets.

One of his custom golden torques is around her neck, which is what the chain is attached to. As we stand there, she whirls up a blood-halo around herself and holds out a wineglass. With a motion from one hand, she funnels all that blood into the glass, spilling not a single drop. It’s an impressive display of magic, and from her lavender eyes and what she just did, I know she’s a Blood Dragon.

But she’s enslaved to Florian, evinced by her jewelry and how she just did his will for him. Blood Dragons hate Vampires, because their magic is our perfect food source. They’re also wickedly hard to seduce or dominate, or mesmerize into a Vampire’s Dark Haven, because they detest us so much.

This poor girl has been given the works by Florian, no one home in her eyes as she hands me my glass. I feel Ariana shiver beside me, understanding the horror of who Florian is as she gets impressions from our mind-connection. I shut that connection down, lest Florian feel it and get the idea to seduce Ariana into his awful harem of women and men that he owns with his power. He trots them out at parties, when he isn’t forcing them to be slaves in his bedroom.

Of whom this poor Blood Dragon girl is no doubt a part.

“A lovely cup, Florian. My thanks.” I play it cool now as I accept his gift. He’s not stupid enough to put any of his magic in the blood right now with so many Council-aligned Masters watching. But it’s not beyond him, I know as I sip, feeling for the telltale smoothness of Florian’s terrible seduction in his offering.

There is none. The blood is clean. I set it down after the first sip, though, letting him know we’re not friends, even though I will not make a scene right now and be his enemy.

His lips quirk. His sea-green eyes devour me, sweeping me from head to heels. Attraction simmers off him; I let him be attracted as he admires me, since my looks are a weapon with Masters like Florian.

His gaze slips to Ariana next, and I firm my power around her as much as I can now, letting him feel that she’s not for the taking. His smile becomes ferocious as he stares her down. To Ariana’s credit, she doesn’t flinch.

Just lifts her chin at him, giving him a direct, fuck you look.

I couldn’t be more relieved that his charms aren’t working on her, just as they had never worked on me long ago. Florian had to resort to requesting me through Emiliana, back when I was a Hotel Courtier for her and had to do her bidding. But that time is long gone; I see hunger in his gaze as it slips to me again. It’s been two hundred years since I was last in Florian’s bed.

He’s clearly been missing it, as his gaze lingers on me.

Before snapping back to Ariana—Florian prepared to make my life hell tonight.