21. Trap

21

TRAP

B ack at Arturos’ manor, Quinn, Arturos, and I stand before Quinn’s Florentine Box, delivered off a truck this afternoon to Arturos’ circular drive. The last evening sunlight sparkles off its silver bars as the containment runes written upon them shine subtly. Its blue velvet drapes are open, and it looks like a cage meant to trap a lion or a rhinoceros for the 1900 Paris world’s fair, or a Barnum that shouldn’t be hard since this is an ancient city, and the place our ancestors Fell. It has an extensive underground, most of which is lost, and Revenants haunt all of it. Vampires are creatures of the night, but only specific underground avenues are maintained by the Council for our daytime use. The rest has been let go of—simply because it’s been overrun by Revenants since our Ascended ancestors first Fell and kept falling.”

“So finding a Revenant in Rome won’t be a problem. Check.” I understand, though I cringe at Quinn’s description of the underways of Rome we’ll be entering soon. To face even one Revenant is terrifying. If we get cornered by more than one, with Quinn and me in our current condition, we’re goners.

Which is why Arturos is suited up with us also tonight—since the Council never specifically said we had to do this part on our own.

“The problem is finding a Revenant that’s by itself and weak enough to catch,” Arturos says with a dark look now as he finishes checking our gear at the open back hatch of a sleek black Range Rover. The SUV is parked in the shadows of the hedge, and the sun doesn’t touch Arturos as it flashes out over the horizon to the west. I feel the first breath of night settle all around me now, like a balm in my soul. Something deep inside me shines brighter as the sun goes down .

I feel it fill Quinn, too, as he stands taller, inhaling a deep breath in the falling night.

“Revenants often travel in packs, because capturing prey and feeding from them is easier when they do.” Quinn fills me in on Revenant behavior, which is going to be important for me to know tonight. “They are still Vampires, however, and thus, competitive. If a pack has decided they dislike a particular one of their fellows, they drain that one until it leaves. It is a way of ostracizing one who gets too greedy and does not share with the rest, or one who is too dominant and doesn’t feel like sharing. If we find a pack tonight, we use some special instruments I have prepared to disappear from view and leave. If we find one solo, however, we use our bait.”

“And what do we use as bait?” I ask, pretty much already knowing the answer as both men glance at me.

“Like regular Vampires, Revenants like live blood better than dead blood.” Quinn answers me soberly. “You would be our bait, Ariana. You don’t have to do this, though. Tell me now, and I will move heaven and earth to come up with some other plan for us to escape the Council and what they’re asking of us.”

“No. We stick to the plan. I’ll be the bait.” I am firm now, though I feel less than confident as I square my shoulders. “What do I do?”

“You enter the box, and let the Revenant draw close until it is inside with you.” Quinn holds my gaze. “It will have to get very close to you, as the box is not large. This will be unpleasant, but Arturos and I will do what we can to keep it from draining you much until it’s completely inside. Once it is, we close the cage, and it is caught.”

“How do I get out?” I ask, lifting an eyebrow at him.

“Arturos and I join our power to portal you out once the creature is trapped inside.”

“Are you sure you have enough power to do that right now, Quinn?” Arturos asks, facing Quinn.

“No.” Fire flashes in Quinn’s eyes now, though it’s not his usual. “If things go badly, though, we open the cage and get Ariana out, then blast the Revenant with whatever we have to either get it to flee or go back into the cage without her.”

“Good enough.” I stand tall, though the plan is dicey. “When do we get started?”

“As soon as darkness falls. Then they’ll be out and about, feeding,” Arturos says now as he glances at the sky. “First, we have to get into position, though, in a place where Revenants have been seen. Fortunately, I have some contacts here in Rome that aren’t associated with the Council, and I’ve already asked them about this. We have a spot that’s been active lately, an old catacomb that runs beneath the west side of the city. I suggest we start there. If we find nothing tonight, I have two other locations we can check on subsequent nights. Before you and Quinn have to appear before the Council.”

“How do we get this behemoth into position with us?” I eye the massive cage now, as large as one of the Hotel’s manticore carriages and certainly not anything we’re going to carry down into a catacomb beneath the city.

Much less move from place to place without a big moving truck.

“Ah. Fortunately, I have the answer to that,” Quinn says with one of his rare smiles now, as he pulls something from his pocket. A silver filigreed amulet with a piece of dark amethyst crystal encased in it, the amulet gives off a faint glow as the light fades from the sky. I sense it’s not anything of Vampire make as I blink at it, feeling like a singing energy issues from it.

“What is that?” I lift my eyebrow at Quinn. “Its energy is… lovely.”

“It’s a Summer Fae charm, something I can still thankfully use because of my old bond to Lucca, and our renewed bond now.” Quinn is proud as he offers the amulet to me, letting me touch it and inspect the intricate silver filigree. The silver seems to move and twist beneath my fingers, as if it forms Fae script, over and over. It’s a hauntingly beautiful object, as it glows stronger now in the waning day, as if in defiance of the night .

“It’s beautiful,” I say as that moving silver entrances me.

“It grants the wearer the ability to re-shape objects to fit their intention,” Quinn says with an intrigued smile. “Using this, we should be able to shrink the Florentine Box to a transportable size, then bring it back to normal once we’re in position. Then do it all over again once the Revenant is caught and bring it before the Council.”

“Will it work once the Revenant is inside the box?” I frown, feeling like that’s a big gamble.

“Revenants are made of energy and malevolence, Ariana,” Quinn says, as his gaze pins mine. “They can be condensed down to any size once they are trapped. Which is why the Bloodstone could hold so many of them when someone trapped dozens inside it to leave us a nasty little present at the opening gala of the Meeting of the Havens. An event which I still have yet to figure out who did it and when, though I will.”

I know Quinn will figure that event out, and who planted all those Revenants to fuck with us. It nearly destabilized his entire Dark Haven in a room full of Masters who were tentative allies. I know that determined look in his eyes now, that he will discover who set up that event, even if it’s the last thing he does.

“How did you trap the Revenants we returned earlier, for your test at the Hotel and also for the demonstration before the Summer Fae King?” I ask now, curious.

“They haunt the under-passages of the Florence Hotel, and I have powerful wards to keep them out,” Quinn says as he clips the amulet around his neck, tucking it behind his black shirt. “Both times, I demolished one of those wards and let a Revenant come pouring in, attracted by all the sex, lust, and powerful blood-energy inside the Hotel. The box was already in a location where it could be transported out, and our bait both times was potent.”

I don’t ask who Quinn used as bait the first two times he caught Revenants, nor what they did that would have drawn a Revenant right to them once Quinn demolished his ward. I only know I have to be the bait now in a plan that’s risky as shit, with so many unknown variables I’m loathe to even try it.

This is our one shot at proving ourselves to the Vampire Council and protecting the Dark Haven of Florence, though, not to mention getting Quinn a chance to argue for his Sire’s seat among them. It’s something he desperately needs if he’s going to enact any change at all in Vampire society, beyond just Florence. I nod, letting him feel I’m ready through our bond.

But deep inside, I’m still churning—as I wonder if this entire plan is just going to fail right now, tonight.

Quinn holds my gaze, and I feel how deeply he doubts this plan, too, though I know he’ll see it through because we have no better one.

“We should head out.” Arturos glances at the sky again. “We’ll want as much darkness as possible tonight to find a suitable spot to wait for a Revenant before sunrise finds us.”

“Yes.” Quinn nods, rousing himself back to the moment rather than worry about the future. Turning to the Florentine Box, he moves towards it, taking the Summer Fae amulet out from beneath his shirt. As it returns to the open air, it glows again, touched by the fading light of the evening. Quinn closes his eyes and touches the amulet lightly as I feel him set his intention, that the box be easily portable tonight until he needs it to return to full size again.

As the amulet sears a brighter violet now, the silver beneath Quinn’s fingertips seems to whirl. I can almost see silver lines of Fae script and violet light emanate out, touching the Florentine Box like ephemeral fingertips.

The whole thing is shrinking down now, still perfectly proportioned until it’s the size of Quinn’s fist. With a pleased smile, Quinn moves forward, picking up the box and placing it in a black leather satchel, the inside thickly padded with a black satin lining.

Quinn buckles the satchel now and glances at us. “Everything, it seems, is ready. ”

“Let’s get to the SUV.” Arturos nods at the Range Rover parked in the drive. “Everything’s loaded, so we’re ready to head out. Whenever you and Ariana are, of course.”

“No time like right now.” I head over to the car because there’s no use lingering. We’ve slept all day, we ate a big dinner to prepare for being out all night, and I know Arturos packed snacks for me, blood for him and Quinn, and all the other weapons, charms, and Revenant lures we might need in the car.

As we all turn, heading over to the SUV, Arturos heads around to the driver’s side and hops in. Quinn takes the passenger side, which leaves me in the back seat, but I don’t mind. I close my door and buckle in as I focus on what lies ahead, though like Quinn, I don’t let myself focus too far ahead. Our mission is just this tonight: capture a Revenant and bring it home.

With no one dying—or worse.

Everything else will wait for another day for us to worry about. As Arturos fires up the car and rolls out of the driveway onto the cobbled street, silence takes us. We’re all lost in thought, each of us wondering what we’re going to face tonight and whether we can handle it. I know Quinn has gone Revenant hunting before, and from Arturos’ demeanor, I bet he’s helped Quinn, as well. That just leaves me as the newbie involved in all this.

And the bait—trying not to freak out as we drive.

I’m lost in all the twists and turns Arturos takes in the tight downtown Roman streets as we reach the central city. We’re suddenly arriving at our destination, as he parks the car at an open spot on a side street near a Vampire bistro serving pasta, pizza, and blood-beverages to the early evening crowd.

Their tables out on the street are still sparsely populated; no one looks at us as we exit the SUV in our black tactical gear and fetch a variety of weapons from the back. There are pistols for Arturos and Quinn, that fire Revenant-stunning bullets of Quinn’s own design. I get a very normal taser, which apparently works alright on Revenants to startle them. There are also short black knives for Arturos and Quinn, that will lengthen into vicious Vampire spears; they are the same thing Quinn and his Dark Haven used to fight the Summer Fae King’s Brightwatch weeks ago when we were surrounded at the waterfall ravine.

I also get a Faeanic spear to fight with—the same thing as a Vampire spear but made of silver-white wood, covered in Faenic sigils and script rather than Bloodsigns. Quinn glances at me, and I pat the spear in its current knife-form, where it sits in an inner pocket of my tactical vest. It’s joined by vials of attractants to summon a Revenant, and stunning vials for stopping one.

We all carry weapons tonight, though.

Because no matter how many Revenants we find, we can’t let any of them get too close.

As Quinn slings the satchel with the Florentine Box on across his body, we’re ready. Arturos heaves the tailgate of the Range Rover closed and leads the way from the restaurant down a side alley. Ancient and tight, the alley has no shops or eateries; it’s just an old pass-through between busier, adjacent streets. As we come to an ornate, filigreed black iron gate set into a vaulted arch of the building on our right, I feel nasty black Vampire wards simmer over the entrance.

With a wave of his hand and a wash of his oceanic-dark magic, Arturos dissipates those wards. I see cruel red runes dissolve like smoke from the iron bars of the gate. And then he’s picking it with a lock pick set, opening the ancient iron lock and gate, ushering us in.

There are stairs behind, and they go down. As Quinn lights a swirling violet-red orb of light in one hand, we head on in.

Down and further down, until we’re in darkness.