by AJ Llewellyn
“You would do that?” She put her hand over his and beamed up at him.
How he loved that smile, so much so that he would kill to see it back on her face permanently. “I love you and would do anything for you.”
Caprice quickly replaced her smile with a concerned frown. “But what if they catch you there? It would be just as bad for you as it would for me.”
“Don’t worry about me.” He brought her fingers to his lips and brushed a kiss along her knuckles. “I’ve been vampire longer than you and I know how to hide myself from any man I come across. They won’t even know I was ever there.”
“You promise to be careful?”
The bleak look was gone from her eyes and it made him feel warm all over to know that he was the one putting the spark back in her. “Have faith in me.”
“You know I do.”
Even as she made that assurance, he doubted her. Many a time she and Marcello had exchanged a covert glance when Massimo had returned home, yet again empty pocketed after a night of gaming. It was as if the others expected him to fail. It angered him, but at the same time, he knew they would someday see things his way. Soon, they would realize how powerful and smart he was and so would Philippe-Auguste. “She may be dead already,” he warned.
“She may be alive and well,” Caprice countered. “Some people live after being infected. Do you think if she is still alive and maybe sick that we could…what I mean could you…” She trailed off, leaving the rest unsaid, but the implication was there loud as a bell.
“You want me to try to turn her?” In truth, he wasn’t overly surprised at her request. Although he wasn’t as skilled as Philippe-Auguste at reading minds yet, Massimo was getting better and he’d been able to hear that question whispered in Caprice’s thoughts all day.
“Do you think it’s possible?” She turned to stare again at the damnable painting.
“I could try for you,” he lied. He’d just as soon turn a horse. As far as he was concerned, this little family of theirs was already getting too crowded and complicated. However, he could never tell the others that because then they might decide he was the one who needed to go and Massimo was enjoying the sex too much to leave. Besides, he did love them in his own way.
Bringing her fingers to his mouth again, he kissed the soft flesh. She smelled of those paints she used and he’d long grown to enjoy that scent because it reminded him of her and their encounters in bed. Ah, the things those fingers could do to a cock. That is where she is the true artist.
“I can’t do anything until tomorrow, however… not with the sun coming up so soon. Come to bed with me.” It wasn’t a question, but rather a command. He was in control at least for now and he wanted—no, he needed her to acknowledge that. A quick intake of her breath and the blossoming scent of her arousal told him she caught on and was more than willing to yield to him.
“That would be nice,” she purred looking up at him from under her dark lashes.
Massimo yanked her up to her feet by the hand and pulled her into a hard possessive kiss. He wasn’t brutal, yet he wasn’t gentle either. Each stroke, each caress, each nip led to one of complete dominance. When her fangs dropped in the heat of her passion, his cock jumped in response. He knew the others would be coming back, and while he truly did enjoy Philippe-Auguste fucking him, Massimo wanted the fun of using Caprice’s willing body for a while, too.
The next evening, as soon as the sun set, Massimo slipped out of the warm bed he shared with the others and stole from the house. When Marcello and Philippe-Auguste awoke, they would assume he’d gone to the gambling hall again. Caprice would know the truth, but Massimo trusted she would keep quiet since he was going to check on her friend.
The entire boat ride out there, he spoke little to the driver, not wanting to draw attention to himself. Surprisingly, the extra coin he pressed in the man’s hand helped to clear his memory as well. It was a good thing Caprice had made sure he had enough money before he left, Massimo mused. They were still several yards from the island when the smell hit him. Death, decay, burning flesh and the rotted stench of the sickness hung in the air like a thick, cloying blanket—made even worse thanks to his heightened vampire senses.
While this place had once been used to quarantine incoming ships and their crew, it was now overrun with plague victims. Straining his eyes, Massimo was able to make out the shapes of the wooden huts that dotted the landscape along with the larger buildings. The huts were used to house the ill and he’d heard that they could hold over a half dozen victims at the same time. He certainly hoped the dear, horsey Geovanna had a bit more privacy than that.
She should if her benefactor still cared for her, one would think he would pay for that privilege. Once he left the boat, he started to slip around the huts on the island, making sure to keep to the shadows, but also careful not to look too suspicious at the same time. One time a doctor looked in Massimo’s direction. On pure instinct, Massimo slipped into the man’s mind and made him believe he’d seen nothing at all.
A slow smile spread out over Massimo’s face. That had been a lot easier than he expected. Human’s minds were much more open than a vampire’s. Using his newfound skill, he skipped across the minds of the nearby men and woman, picking up random thoughts and images until he had the location of Geovanna. Once he was sure of where she was, he paused to reflect. So it would appear the courtesan isn’t so favored after all.
Finding the one hut amongst the others took him a few more minutes, but he soon had it and pushed open the door. If he’d thought the smell had been bad before, it was nothing compared to the inside of these squalid conditions. Bringing his handkerchief to his nose, he wished he’d thought to bring along some herbs.
A few other females were lying there, but they were either already dead or close enough for him not to worry about them. He found Geovanna against the wall on a sweat-stained pallet. Crossing the rough floor, he made sure not to step in the puddles of various fluids as he made his way to the courtesan. He stood and looked down in disgust at her.
Lanky, filth-coated hair covered her bloated face and lenticulae covered her body. The very spots marking the flesh she had worked so hard to keep flawless for her lover. Her tongue darted out past her dry, chapped lips, perhaps looking for a drink of water. As far as Massimo could see, that would be a useless request since there wasn’t any available. Opening her swollen eyes, she peered up at him.
“Marcello?” she croaked.
“No, it’s Massimo.” He still didn’t offer her a touch of comfort, but kept towering over her.
“Massimo?”
She sounded confused, not that he could really blame her. If anyone had to pick the twin willing to go into an island infested with disease just to check up on a friend, all bets would have gone for Marcello.
His brother had always been too kind for his own good. Just like Caprice. Which is why Massimo had to look out for them, protect them. The last thing he wanted was for them to be taken away from him because they had trusted the wrong person or risked everything just to help another. Someday, when they saw the truth of how things really worked, they would thank him for everything he’d done for them.
“Why are you here?” she asked and he didn’t miss the hint of fear in her voice now. Geovanna had always been as smart as she had been homely so she no doubt could tell, by his demeanor, this visit wasn’t to exchange hello.
“Vampiro,” one of the half-dead creatures moaned from somewhere in the room.
Geovanna’s eyes grew wide. “No.”
Even as she shook her head in denial, Massimo could smell her fear spike and take hold. He inhaled deeply. Even with the overlying stench of the hut, terror had a titillating aroma. One could get addicted to it.
“She is delirious,” Geovanna explained away the creature’s accusation, even though they both knew she was only trying to convince herself of that. “Right?”
Massimo let his fangs fall into place before he smiled wide. Even in
the dim light, there was no way she could miss them.
Letting out a rattling scream of horror, she tried to scoot away but the wall stopped her retreat. “You can’t kill me.” She took in a wet, wheezy breath, her diseased lungs starting to fail. “I’m your friend.”
“No, you were Caprice’s friend. To me, you were always an annoyance.”
“Why?” Geovanna shook her head. “I’m all ready dying.”
“True,” Massimo conceded, “but until you are dead, Caprice will worry and want to come to your aid. I can’t allow that to happen. The only way she will truly let go is if you are no longer around.”
Massimo yearned to give into his primal vampire urges and sink his fangs into her tender flesh. He wanted to know how it would feel to have it give under his teeth as the hot blood poured down his throat. Then he took another look at the lenticulae covering her and changed his mind. There was not enough wine in the world to make him drunk enough to touch that.
Taking out a dagger that he had brought along just for this purpose, and without giving himself time to dwell on what he was doing, he knelt and slashed her throat. The instant her blood flowed free, he could feel the vampire side of him come out and demand control. The crimson river seemed to be calling to him and he forgot that he was in the pit. He even forgot that death surrounded him until he brought his blood stained fingers to his mouth and sucked.
Massimo stomach painfully clenched at the taste. It tasted like rotted meat that one left out to stew in the sun to make it even more fetid. Pulling back, he twisted his face to the side and heaved. Nothing came up, making the retching all the more painful. It would seem that blood from plague victims did not agree with vampires at all. If only all the officials who blamed vampires for being the cause of the plague knew this.
Gathering his wits, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and looked over at Geovanna. Her eyes were open and glassy, the slash mark on her neck wide and vicious. Even though her cause of death was obviously not from the plague, Massimo doubted that anyone would care enough to look into it. As far as the officials were concerned, Geovanna was just another penniless burden on their already overworked system. Getting up, he gave her a mock bow before he turned to leave.
Once outside, Massimo took in deep cleansing breaths. Despite the fact there was an open mass grave not too far away, the air was still better than inside the hut. Although the urge to stay and linger over his first kill was strong, Massimo knew he had to leave before someone spotted him, other than a delirious half-dead woman.
As he rode the boat back to Venice, Massimo could not help but constantly relive the kill in his mind. How it felt to have Geovanna’s life force pour over his hands. For that one brief moment, he had been a god. He let out a low chuckle and it must have sounded dangerous because the ferryman swallowed hard and edged further back in the boat.
Again, the pungent smell of fear hit his nostrils and Massimo found that the more he smelled it, the better it got.
Chapter Nine
“Massimo!” Marcello dropped the glass he’d been holding, wine spilling all over the expensive carpet of the gambling parlor. He hardly noticed, too caught up in the sudden knowledge that his twin was in danger.
Breath caught in his throat, he looked across the room and made eye contact with Philippe-Auguste. The Frenchman had a concerned look about him, too, showing he felt the same threat to Massimo. Nodding his head, his gray hair catching the light, he motioned for Marcello to meet him outside.
“Please, excuse me,” he murmured to the table as he slid out of his seat.
Meeting Philippe-Auguste at the door, the two vampires didn’t say a word until they were out on the street and out of hearing distance.
“Massimo is in trouble,” Marcello stated without preamble.
“It’s Thais. I can sense his presence.” Philippe-Auguste lifted his face into the air almost as if the moon would hold his answer.
“How can you feel him and I can’t?” Marcello sniffed the air, but didn’t find anything new. “I can tell Massimo is in danger, but that is not new. I’ve been able to do that since we were born.”
“Yes, that special connection that all twins have.” Philippe-Auguste gave a bitter chuckle. “I guess I have something similar to Thais, although we are not related by blood, his still flows inside me.”
“I’m sorry.” Marcello felt dense, but he wasn’t getting what the man was alluding to. “I don’t understand?”
“Thais was my sire. He turned me fifty years ago when I still lived in France.” He smiled. “Believe it or not, I wasn’t much older than you at the time. I was a temperamental and spoiled son of a noble man and I lived for drink and sex. Thais didn’t have to work hard to seduce me, and before I knew it, he’d changed me and I was under his control. Come, we must find Massimo quickly. I can tell you more of my past later when we are all safe and at home.”
They took off running through the streets of Venice. With each step, the anxiety for Massimo grew. The fangs in Marcello’s mouth grew long in anticipation of a battle. A low growl rumbled deep in his throat at the thought of anyone harming his twin. But with every corner they turned, they found no sign of either Massimo or Thais. After an hour, Marcello and Philippe-Auguste paused. Although they had been running at top speed the entire time, neither one was breathing hard.
“Where could they be?” Marcello turned a full circle, scanning the street, before he ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
“I don’t like this,” Philippe-Auguste mused. “First Massimo wasn’t at the gambling hall like we anticipated and now he’s missing. I fear Thais lured him out somehow and he is stalking him.”
“Can you sense if Thais is near?” Panic was making Marcello feel a blind rage and he knew he needed to get a hold of his emotions or he would be no good to any of them. Taking several deep breaths, he tried to focus his mind on the task rather than on the despair ripping him apart.
“I think Thais is somehow blocking me.” Philippe-Auguste frowned.
“He can do that?”
“I’ve never known a vampire to have that skill before, but Thai is old. He may be one of the oldest of our kind. He has powers that most of us only dream of.”
Great, not only is a dangerous vampire tracking Massimo, but it is one with great power, too. Can this get any better?
“Let’s run again,” Philippe-Auguste suggested before he put a comforting hand on Marcello’s shoulder. “We won’t stop looking until we find him. I promise you.”
* * * *
Massimo walked down the darkened streets of the city. There were a few stragglers here and there and, off in the distance, he could hear the twinkle of the bells. Believed to clean the air of the plague, they had been an almost constant sound for far too long.
Even though he knew he should feel guilt or sadness over Geovanna, he found he didn’t. All that remained was that same almost giddy feeling he’d experienced as he felt her take her last breath. It was the same thrill he used to get at the gambling table or when he’d made a new conquest in bed.
He was like the bear from earlier, except he wasn’t in chains or hindered in any way. No, he was a hunter out in the wild and the whole city could be his prey. He smiled at the thought until he recalled the lecture Philippe-Auguste had given him the night he’d turned Massimo.
“You can hunt and drink their blood, but you must never kill,” the Frenchman had warned between heated kisses. They had been both nude, sated from sex and holding each other in the large bed at Philippe-Auguste’s sprawling estate.
“I don’t think you have to worry about that.” Massimo closed his eyes and enjoyed the sensation of the man’s hard body pressed against him. He ached all over, but it was a pleasant ache.
“That’s just it, Massimo.” Philippe-Auguste went up on one elbow and gazed down at Massimo. “You are no longer human and you will have urges—desires that could be terrifying if you were to give into them.”
“I
could never harm anyone,” Massimo protested with a nervous chuckle, even as he ran his tongue over one of his new, sharp fangs.
“You can and you will unless you learn to fight that side of your new vampire self. It will be a losing battle unless you learn to face that you can become a monster. I have given you immortality, great strength and the ability to feel things as never before. However, I have also cursed you with new dark urges that you must not succumb to.”
“What will happen if I do?” Massimo asked, fear clawing at his insides. Him a monster?
“Then other vampires will hunt you down and kill you. We can’t allow humans to know that we truly exist. Just look at all the witches that were burned at the stakes.” He leaned down for another kiss, his long hair, brushing against Massimo’s face before he pulled back and smiled. “Besides, my Italian lover, we are not evil.”
Now as Massimo stood under the moon, Geovanna’s blood on him, he couldn’t help but wonder if he was becoming the monster Philippe-Auguste had talked about in his warnings. A shiver ran through him as he imagined how it would be to see the looks of disappointment in Caprice’s and Marcello’s faces if they knew what he’d done tonight. “No, as good as it felt tonight there can never be another time,” he whispered.
“But why not?” a voice asked from behind him. “After all, it’s our destiny to rule over our chattel.”
Whipping out the dagger, Massimo spun around and got ready to defend himself. A tall, blond man stepped out of the shadows and smiled at him. With high-arched cheekbones, sensual lips and a muscular build, he was attractive, especially when he smiled. A soft come-to-bed-and-fuck-me-now look came over the man’s gaze and Massimo was stunned to feel his cock answering.
“Massimo, I have been longing to meet you,” the man crooned. He eyed the blade and cocked a brow. “I mean you no harm, I assure you.”