by Jana Leigh
“Wait, won’t you still need blood?”
“Yes, well, there are other ways of procuring that these days. I do not need to go straight to the source. Anyway, I told her she was now able to choose what she wished to do with her life and who she wished to be with. She asked me what if she wished to be a Vampire and live forever with the one she loved. While she was asking this, I saw she kept looking out of the corner of her eye at one of my guards. When I looked at him, he looked tense and nervous . He is one of my fiercest and most loyal guards, so I knew he had not betrayed me. I also didn’t believe that he had behaved dishonorably towards Isabella. However, he had not come to me to ask for her release or for her hand, so I felt he needed a push. I forced him to come and stand in front of me and explain what he had been doing with one of my servants. At first, he apologized and stated it wouldn’t happen again . I was about to intervene when Isabella took a hand. My shy servant was now showing her anger at his seeming ability to be without her.” He stopped here to laugh again at the memory. Then they urged him to continue.
“He was teasing her; you see, he likes it when she scolds him. He then declared that she was his true mate, and that he loved her. I c ould see how much she loved him; by the way she looked up at him. So I was happy for them. I blessed their union, giving them my permission to mate, and told him when the deed was done to bring her to me so that I would become her Sire and welcome her into the clan.”
“That was so sweet,” Cami said with a contented smile on her face.
Orfeo just chuckled to himself. He thought so too at the time. Orfeo was a big romantic at heart and had no problem appearing like a big softy. He hoped when he was finally with his mates, that they would like that he would lavish them with all they could ever want , and every bit of himself as well.
“Okay,” said Cami with a sigh. “That’s a great story. I only have one more question. If she’s a servant, that’s like an employee , right?” At his nod, she continued, “Why would they need your permission to mate? This is the 21 century , you know.”
Orfeo gave Cami a thoughtful, serious look. “The creation of a Vampire is not something that should be taken lightly. This is not simply a mating. After Abaven mates her, he will also turn her, making her Vampire . Then I will trade blood with her , forming the Sire’s link and welcoming her into our clan.” He watched and was happy to see that they were all paying close attention to his words before he continued. “As Sire, she becomes my ultimate responsibility. So long as she remains a member of my clan; I’m responsible for all of her actions. At times, newly turned Vampire s can be difficult to control. It’s best if they only take the blood they need from their mate or Sire. It’s my responsibility, as well as Abaven’s, that she knows all of our laws so that the symbiotic relationship we have with humans is kept intact and not threatened.” He turned to Quin. “You told me of a member of your Pack had been attacked by the Vampire , Diavolo. This is unhappy news indeed; he is known to be a creature of pure evil. His Sire/father was also a son of the devil who was executed for his sins. The son is following in his footsteps.”
He may have continued, but they had arrived at their destination. The car pulled up in front of a very large house and stopped.
Orfeo climbed out of the limo and looked up at what, for a short time, was his new home. The house was much larger than most and, since it was night, every light the house seemed to be on. Orfeo wondered if the house was as busy as it felt from where he stood.
“Please follow me.” Quin’s voice seemed to go to all business again.
Orfeo knew it would be different meeting new people, but he had hoped the animosity he was feeling from all the people he had met so far wouldn’t be there. He wondered if the way they seemed to keep him at a distance and look at him suspiciously had anything to do with the tale Quin had told him, about one of their people being attacked by Diavolo . He would have to work to overcome the bad first impression of his species.
He followed the Alphas into the house and stopped inside a large foyer. There were more guards standing in the hall, and every one of them kept a close eye on Orfeo’s party. He was beginning to feel as if this was not going to be the meeting his clan had hoped for.
“I hope you don’t mind,” Quin said, with a business—like smile on his face. “The Council has gathered in the meeting room, and we would like to introduce ourselves before we show you to your quarters.”
Orfeo felt that being as cooperative as possible was the best thing at this time. “Yes, of course , though I do feel a bit as if we have been tried and convicted of a crime before our arrival . Please do not believe all you’ve seen in the movies, like any species, there are good and evil men among us.”
“We understand that, unfortunately, we already know of the evil and want to make sure you ‘re the good. I’m glad you ‘re being cooperative. As Alpha, I have all of my Pack to consider, just as much as you have to consider your clan ,” a nswered Quin, and Orfeo nodded his acceptance of that.
He followed them up the stairs and down a long corridor, into a room with a large round table set in the middle of it. Around the table sat many different magical creatures all seated in groups of three, two males to one female. Orfeo had heard of the New Council and had known of their matings; to see it in real life was actually quite encouraging, considering his own situation. He could see, by the way, the mates reacted to each other, that the dynamic would work. He knew this was just another sign from the g oddess that this was meant to be his destiny.
Cami and Jaden went to sit at one end of the table while Quin followed but didn’t sit. Cami gestured for Orfeo to follow. He obeyed, noting the room going from loud conversation to an ominous silence. When he stood next to Quin and looked out toward the rest of the room, he realized all eyes were on him , and none of them looked at all welcoming.
Quin cleared his throat. “Everyone, I would like to introduce you to Orfeo Ambrosetti, of the Ambrosetti Vampire clan.”
Orfeo was used to standing in front of his clan, but none of his clan looked at him suspiciously, like these people did. He smiled and looked at each face. Having lived for so long, he had met many magical creatures, and could almost pin point them as he went around the room. He saw many different shifters, a witch, a couple of Sidhe, and a Fae. It w as the Sidhe and their mate that seemed not to look at him as if he were the enemy.
“Hello. I would like to thank you all for agreeing to speak with me.”
Each person nodded their heads, but no one said anything. Tough crowd , Orfeo thought to himself.
“Yes, well, why don’t you have a seat, a nd we will commence the meeting, ” Quin said , pointing at the chair beside Orfeo.
Orfeo sat slowly and tried to act like he was comfortable, even though he could feel every emotion around the room and felt extremely awkward. Hmmm, maybe I should read their thoughts. Just as the thought popped into his head, the door to the room opened again and two more people entered. Almost instantly the energy in the room changed, and Orfeo knew who the two were.
He had thought it would take much longer than this to find them, but instead they were seating themselves across from him. His male mate was tall and muscular, with an olive complexion and a scar that went across his cheek but didn’t really diminish from his beauty at all. He looked back at Orfeo, and Orfeo watched him sniff the air a bit which told him the man realized who he was also. The man looked him in the eyes, but when Orfeo smiled, he just frowned back at him and seemed to put a possessive hold over the woman sitting next to him.
The woman looked at his male mate for a moment then turned her eyes to Orfeo. Her eyes widened when she saw he was looking back at her, then she looked down quickly. Orfeo could sense her fear of him, but couldn’t for the life of him figure out why. He knew she was human, and they sometimes had a harder time recognizing their mates, but he shouldn’t have struck fear in her.
As he looked at her, he realized she was the exact woman he had been dreaming about fo
r the last few months. Her hair was the same curly, long, dark s pectrum of colors ; h er lips were ful l, plump, and kissable ; her olive tone, and large expressional eyes were all as he remembered in his dreams. At that moment , he wished to reac h out to her and take away what ever fear she had of him, but the look he got from his other mate told him if he tried , he may lose an arm , and Vampire s may be able to heal quickly, but they couldn’t regenerate limbs.
Suddenly, not feeling so happy about the turn of events, Orfeo decided it was time to get to the bottom of all this animosity. When he had spoken to the Alpha on the phone, there didn’t seem to be any ill intent in his agreeing to meet with him, so he wanted to know what had changed.
“I’m sorry, but I was under the impression that this meeting was welcome in order to form alliances and help each other.”
Quin didn’t meet his eyes directly for a moment, but then he turned fully toward Orfeo. “Yes , well, some things have come to our attention, and we are having a hard time figuring out where your sudden wish to meet with us falls into all of it.”
“Please, just tell me what is going on, and perhaps w e will be able to clear this up, ” Orfeo tried to say as resp ectfully as possible, even though he wasn’t feeling it.
“Okay.” Quin pointed to the woman who had just walked in the room. “Before our last conversation, we met Caterina at the bed and breakfast in town. She came to us seeking shelter and protection against one of your own, Diavolo—”
“We spoke of this Diavolo in the limousine . You are a werewolf; I had heard that last year you had troubles with another of your kind; one who once held a position of power.” Orfeo interjected, “Like you; we have had troubles with one of our kind. This Diavolo, do not lump my clan into that mold.”
“Yes, and Diavolo has done indescribably horrible things to Caterina , and she has also informed us, that after she escaped him, she has faced many other Vampire s that have wanted to harm her as well.”
Orfeo felt his blood boil at the thought; he knew Diavolo and what he was capable of. No longer could he sit calmly. Suddenly, he stood up and walked away from the table ; he wanted to roar out his anger and could not. His guards would come rushing in, and the situation could easily degenerate into bloodshed. All this went blazing through his mind, and at the same time his rage increased at all his mate had gone through.
He didn’t realize that blood—red tears had begun to fall down his face. Or that he was muttering ‘Death to Diavolo’ and ‘Death to the Evil One’ under his breath. Suddenly , he turned to the table and gesturing wildly; he stared at his two mates and passionately swore to avenge the atrocity. Of course , he had forgotten and had spoken entirely in Italian , so Quin and Jaden reacted by motioning Enforcers to form a loose cordon around him.
When Orfeo saw this, he stopped and forced himself to calm. Seeing a teardrop fall onto his hand, he pulled a silk handkerchief from his pocket and slowly wiped his face. He then straightened his clothing and tie and stood still.
“My apologies! I did not mean to alarm you. I knew Diavolo years ago; he is a Rogue Vampire without a clan or sire. He has force -turned humans to do his bidding and has no regard for them as a species . He has been under a death sentence by all the clans and continues to elude our justice.”
He stopped to clear his throat. “Like all other organized societies, Vampire s have laws. Violence against women brings the stiffest of penalties, usually death. As only an evil Rogue Vampire would do such a thing. The taking of blood from the unwilling is another heavy crime under Vampire law and strictly forbidden.”
“They told Caterina the reason that they wanted her so badly is because of something in her blood. We’ve done tests and have found there is nothing different about her blood than any other humans.”
“You wouldn’t find anything different. It’s magical, not genetic,” Orfeo answered. “The Vampire s that attacked her, being untrained and unlearned Rogue s , would n’t realize that her blood alone will not give them what they seek. They can’t use her blood for its purpose without her mate ‘s blood as well. And even then , having her blood wouldn’t help them, only her mates.”
Orfeo looked at Caterina when she gasped and grabbed her other mate’s arm.
The shifter growled at Orfeo and scowled, “And what is so special about our blood that Vampire s want it so bad?”
Orfeo just smiled at his male mate, finding his growl to be more a turn on than a deterrent—this just made him growl more.
Orfeo just leaned forward, placing his palms flat on the table. “What is so special is that once you meet your true Vampire mate, the one to complete the triad; you will be able to give him and his clan the ability to walk during the day without the sun killing them.”
With that proclamation, everyone around the table began to speak at once .
“Then they will be free to go on a killing spree,” Cami spoke.
Orfeo was offended by this remark, but didn’t let it show. “Their mate is Sire of a clan and would never react in such a way or allow any others of his clan to do so .”
“How do you know? Who’s their mate?” Cami asked.
Orfeo just pointed a finger at his male mate. “He knows.”
Everyone looked at Orfeo’s male mate, then back at him.
“Tripp, is it true? Is Orfeo your mate?” Cami insisted.
Tripp just growled, but nodded an affirmative. Orfeo looked to Caterina, who was now sobbing next to Tripp and no longer holding him for support.
Cami and Cloe both jumped to their feet and went to comfort Caterina. Orfeo noted how she looked even more frightened and almost ready to flee.
“He and his minions will never touch you again, Caterina. You have my blood oath on this, ” Orfeo announced to the room. Rising to his full height, he stepped back and lengthening one nail, cut a slice in his wrist, allowing himself to bleed freely onto the floor. For a Vampire to spill his own blood was the strongest and most binding of promises. It meant that he would die to fulfill it.
Jaden stood up as well, and turned to Orfeo. “Orfeo, I can see that you are sincere, please re-take your seat and tell us as much as you can about this Diavolo character .”
Sealing his wrist with a swipe of his tongue, he sat back in his chair and continued talking. “As I explained before , my clan wants him dead and will stop at nothing to see it happen. This,” Orfeo waved his hand toward Caterina, “just makes it even more urgent that he dies.”
“Why do you want him dead?” Cami shot back.
“He ordered several hundred of his minions to tear me into little pieces when I refused to mate with him.” Orfeo smiled humorlessly at her.
“Why did he want you to be his mate if Tripp and Caterina are the key?” said the big man sitting with the two Sidhe .
Orfeo looked at him and still saw no outward hostility from him. He softened his tone a bit when he answered, “His clan is originally from Umbria; mine is from Tuscany; we are neighbors of a sort. At the time it happened, I was the Prince to our clan and the one prophesied to lead our people out of darkness. He was power hungry and wished to have me as his mate so that he could control what happened when that time came. He manipulated my father into believing my father could help him be a better person. Meanwhile, he continually tried to coerce me into becoming his lover. Finally, one night he tal ked me into going to a masquerade ball with him. When we got there, he disappeared, then reappeared on stage, introducing me to the crowd. Most, it turned out, were humans he had sir ed as Vampire s. He asked me to be his lover again and I refused him. He had his c la n o f Rogue ‘s attack me, and I barely got away with my life. Many humans were slaughtered that night. A fire was set to cover-up and all the Vampire s he created were hunted down and killed. He was the only one to elude us. At heart, he ‘s a coward and often runs unless he’s sure of overpowering his opponents.”
Orfeo, got up from his chair again, as this was a difficult topic to discuss. He went to a sideboard, poured himself a glass of
water, drinking it down. Then walking back to the table, he stopped in front of the blood pooled on the floor. Speaking a few words and gently waving his hand, he brought the blood up to rest in the glass. “I apologize. It is our way; your floor won’t be stained,” h e then continued his story.