by Sotia Lazu
“We can have Constantine translate it.” Mom plucked it gently from my fingers. “Seems to be a letter to a Francesca.”
“Was she our ancestor?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Doubt Ruby would either, this far back, but I’ll ask when she calls.”
It made no difference either way. I found more notes and letters in the same writing, and stacked them neatly one on top of the other, without even bothering to look at them twice. As I lifted the tenth one in a row from the mess around us, a separate piece of paper fell from inside it. As large as my open palm, it landed face down by my foot.
Milano, 1447, it read on the back. I flicked it over, and saw a drawing of a woman. It was a portrait, and not a very detailed one. The hair was pulled back, and she showed too little cleavage for what I’d known of Ádísa, but it could totally be her. I searched the drawing for a signature or name. Nothing but the place and date.
“I’ll get Constantine. He might know where she was around that time,” I said, shedding the robe. The sun was low enough by then that I no longer needed the extra cover, and the basement had no windows anyway. On the way down, I thought of waking Alex too, but maybe some rest would make him less confrontational.
At the entrance to the basement, I froze. Constantine was sprawled on the pullout, an arm over his eyes. The sheets were only covering the bottom half of his body, and the part that was visible was naked. And smooth. And pale. And perfect.
Admiring beauty wasn’t cheating, I told myself, but I still didn’t let myself gorge on the sculpted abs and pecs, or the broad shoulders. What I focused on was his face. I hadn’t seen him so serene in years.
Then again, I hadn’t watched him sleep in years, though it hadn’t been all that long since I’d last seen him naked.
“Constantine,” I whispered, “we found something you need to see.” No response. “Constantine?” I leaned in, and lightly touched his arm.
Eyes still closed, he flipped onto his stomach, driving the covers even lower, and exposing the top half of an exquisite—and very naked—ass. I trained my gaze to the ceiling. I hated his habit of sleeping naked. Couldn’t he have worn underwear for once? I considered going back up, and having my mom fetch him, but that’d be an entirely new level of awkward.
“Is there some specific reason you’re here at this ungodly hour, or are you just admiring the view?” His voice was muffled by the pillow.
I didn’t take the bait. “You really need to get up. Have to show you something we found.”
“Go away.”
“No, seriously. You have to come with me.”
“If I get out of bed with you here, I’ll get accused of indecent exposure. What’s more, I’m quite certain your boyfriend won’t appreciate my reminding you what you’ve been missing.”
I could say Alex’s cock was just as big as his, or I could be a grown up. And damn it, it was a hard decision. “We found a drawing that might be of Ádísa. Do you know where she spent the 1440s? And wasn’t there a war in Milan around that time? I think I remember something from The Borgias, but I was never good with dates.” Naked asses make me ramble. Deal with it.
“What are you on about?”
He began to roll over, but I turned around before I saw more than a girl in a monogamous relationship should see of her ex. It didn’t help much. I still recalled every detail of his naked body from his last attempt to seduce me, just after Alex and I had gotten together. It hadn’t worked then, and it wouldn’t work now.
“Mom and I have been going over old family stuff. We found a drawing of a blonde woman, along with some letters. They’re in Italian, but I looked for her name. She wasn’t mentioned anywhere.”
“That’s because she was going by Adalgisa back then. I think I remember her being in Italy for part of the 15th century, but not exactly where. It’s not as if we could just Skype back then.”
A rustling came from behind me, then springs creaking, and finally the sound of a zipper.
“You decent?” I asked.
Constantine heaved a sigh. “Constantly. Whether I want to or not.”
That was true. He’d been way more decent than I’d had the right to expect him to be. He’d opened his mansion to Alex and me, never made a pass at me, and had now joined us in this family reunion, turned quest for answers to an age-old mystery.
“You know, you’re a good guy, deep down,” I said, and led the way up.
“It’s a burden I carry with style.”
Chapter Ten
I watched Constantine’s face for a reaction, when my mother showed him the picture we’d dug up. All I saw was curiosity, while he perused every line. In the end, he agreed the woman on the picture could be Ádísa, and spent the next hour and a half poring over the letters we’d decided were from that time.
“Nothing.” He set yet another letter aside, and readjusted his long, blond ponytail. “These are all from a gentleman named Mario to his young wife, Francesca, telling her how hard being apart from her is, and how he longs to hold his daughter in his arms for the first time. I expect his wife is an ancestor of yours?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Mom said.
I pursed my lips. “Probably, for the letters to have ended up here. You didn’t find anything weird in them, Constantine? Anything about a seductress trying to have her wicked way with him?”
“Nothing of the sort. I’m sorry.” He looked sorry. Sorry and sleepy. “Wait! This is in different handwriting.” He tilted his head to the right, narrowed his eyes, and leaned in to snatch the corner of a letter, barely visible beneath a pile of similar pieces of paper.
I should have noticed! Mom and I watched, as Constantine’s expression grew cloudier with every line he read.
“It is from Francesca’s mother, telling Mario her daughter was found dead. Savaged by what they believed to be a large animal.”
“Ádísa. Has to be her. This goes too far back. Do we have a family name? Something that could help us figure out if Francesca belonged to a branch of our family?”
Constantine shook his head. “She only signs as, Your Bereaved Mother in Law.”
So we knew Ádísa might or might not have been responsible for the death of a woman who might or might not have been our ancestor, six hundred or so years ago.
Which amounted to zilch.
“I got you out of bed for nothing, huh?” I asked Constantine.
“It appears so.” He scowled. “But I may actually be able to help after all. Kathleen, is there a computer I can use? One with an internet connection?” I raised an eyebrow, and he chuckled. “Being a council member comes with certain…perks.”
My mom led us to Dad’s study room, and logged on the computer. The perk Constantine had in mind turned out to be the council’s database, complete with detailed profiles on all USA-registered vampires. Finding Ádísa’s file wasn’t hard, but the first entry on it was in the 1700s, when the first vampire governing body was put together and began issuing laws.
“Shit,” I said, perching on the edge of the desk. “Is nothing easy with this woman?”
“Some things used to be.” Constantine smirked.
I made a gagging sound.
“There’s only more thing we could try, although I’m not sure what you’re after,” he said. “Assuming it was her, what good will knowing for sure do?”
“Try it. I just want to find out how far back her grudge goes,” I said.
“Went,” he said.
“Huh?”
“How far it went. She’s gone now, Cherry. Maybe you should forget about her, and focus on spending time with your family. Soon you’ll be able to go out during the day. Think of that, and stop wasting energy on someone who’s no more than dust now.”
“You’re right, but I can’t. I won’t relax until I know why she hated us so much. Besides, Willoughby is still out there. How do you know they don’t have the same agenda?”
“Willoughby?” Mom asked.
“My maker,” I said. “He’s Ádísa’s childe, and helped her with—with everything.”
“About that…” Constantine’s face darkened. “I told you there was a sighting. Go get Alex. He should hear this too.”
“He should hear what?” Alex’s voice came from behind me, and I snapped my head up. I hadn’t realized how close to Constantine I’d drifted, until I saw Alex’s gaze go from one of us to the other.
“I was waiting for confirmation, so as not to unnecessarily upset you, but it’s official. Willoughby has been spotted in the area. Just two blocks from here, in fact,” Constantine said flatly.
“What the fu—” I cut my question short at Mom’s glare. “What the hell, Constantine? He might have come after my folks. Why didn’t you say something sooner?” He and Alex were set on testing my limits. Couldn’t a day pass without one of them driving me nuts? “You didn’t think I might need to know that?”
“You had enough on your mind. I did not want to add to it.”
I pretended not to notice Alex’s smile. It wasn’t as important as the realization I’d been making the same mistake over and over, allowing the two of them to think I needed someone to protect me. I couldn’t blame Constantine for not knowing better. When we got together, I was a fledgling who depended on him for everything.
It was up to me to make sure he understood things had changed.
“New rule,” I said, locking my gaze to his. “Now on, nobody makes my choices for me. You don’t decide if I need to know something. If it concerns me even remotely, you tell me and let me deal with it. Is that clear?”
“I’m not reckless.” Constantine scoffed. “I had people watching, ready to interfere and let me know if he reappeared.”
I kept staring at him.
“Cherry—” He sighed. “We’re clear.”
Alex was still smirking, when I turned to him. “That goes for you too.”
He nodded.
“Constantine, you said you had people. Who? We have vampire spies near my parents’ house?”
“And humans,” he said.
“Can they be trusted?” Alex came up next to me and draped an arm casually around my shoulders.
“Yes.”
“Why are humans aware of our existence? Why do we have the whole stupid rule saying our families shouldn’t know vampires exist, if there are other humans who do?” I asked.
“They’re bite junkies.” Constantine saw my questioning look and elaborated. “A sort of adrenaline junky, only with a more specific hit. They love the danger of having a vampire at their neck, as much as the euphoria brought about by controlled blood loss. They’re usually among society’s castoffs, willing to do anything for a fix.”
“And you trust them?” I couldn’t believe my ears. “Addicts aren’t the most reliable sources.”
“That’s why the council doesn’t take action against their existence. Because they lack credibility, they do not really pose a threat to us.”
“And where do they say Willoughby is now?” Mom asked.
Constantine shrugged. “I have all my contacts in the area looking for him. He won’t stay hidden for long.”
“But the fact that he’s here could mean Ádísa’s issues with my family aren’t in the past. Not really,” I said.
Constantine huffed. “Let me pursue that alternate avenue I mentioned earlier.”
So pretentious. I rolled my eyes, but didn’t comment. Whatever his methods, he usually yielded results.
And he was hot—which didn’t matter, because Alex was hot too, and I loved Alex. Solely.
Constantine left the room, thumbing the screen of his phone. I was tempted to eavesdrop, but held back. Now he knew I didn’t need a protective bubble around me, I trusted him to come clean about whatever his call entailed.
Eerie silence, thick and heavy, filled the living room. Alex watched me quietly, which made me fidget. I fidget when I’m nervous, and his gaze unnerved me although I’d done nothing wrong.
“Sleep well?” I finally asked.
“Not enough.” He looked around. “Must be the new surroundings.”
Mom looked from one of us to the other. “Tea?” she finally asked Alex. “Or are you going back to bed?”
He beamed his most adorable smile her way. “I’d love a cup, thank you. Don’t think I can sleep again. I’ll come help you, and you can tell me embarrassing stories about Cherry’s childhood.”
Sneaky, was the word that came to mind. I didn’t like thinking that about Alex. He was just being nice to my mom and seizing the opportunity to get to know her and me better. I’d have done the same in his shoes. It didn’t mean he wanted to pick her brain without me hearing.
Constantine reappeared, a deep vertical line furrowing his brow. He seemed more contemplative than upset, as he tapped his phone against his palm, then slipped it in his back pocket. “That was Hui Zhong,” he said. Hui Zhong was one of the two scariest council members. She’d been turned near the end of the 1800’s and had gone on a spectacular killing spree before getting a grip on her hunger. You wouldn’t know it to look at her China-doll appearance, but she was rumored to have been deadlier than the plague, back in the day.
“She said she knew nothing more about Ádísa than we do, but she’ll ask Gheorghios and call me back.”
I resisted the urge to make a face. As scary as Hui Zhong was, Gheorghios was worse. Vicious and quick to anger, he always seemed to me like the kind of man to slaughter first, ask questions later. Then again, appearances can be deceiving. The council member I’d trusted most, Johnny boy, had been Ádísa’s cohort, while Benjamin, who’d always made me uncomfortable, had turned out to be nothing more than a grief-stricken father looking for his daughter’s killer.
They were both dust now, with Benjamin’s position in the council taken over by someone I’d never met, and Johnny-Boy’s by Constantine. Ádísa’s spot was still open, and I prayed it’d get occupied by a peace-loving, knitting old lady who preferred watching cat videos on Facebook to plotting world domination.
“What exactly are you looking for?” Alex asked.
“More on Ádísa’s past,” Constantine said. “Anything to indicate what brought about her resentment for this family, and whether Willoughby is planning to continue pursuing whatever nefarious plans she had.”
“Sounds solid.” Alex nodded. “Kathleen and I are making tea. Want anything?”
“I wouldn’t mind some blood, if it’s not too much trouble.”
“None at all.”
And there we were in Lala-land again, with the boys playing nice and creeping me out.
“I’m going to take the boxes back upstairs,” I said. I used full vampire speed to stuff the contents back inside, then took my time carrying them to the attic.
Dad got home, and we all did our best to have a normal dinner, with Mom being extra chirpy and bubbly as she filled him in on the night’s events. She’d cooked her signature pot roast with baby potatoes, and accompanied those with a salad I didn’t even glance at.
“Lucky we don’t have to breathe between bites.” Alex chuckled, and I realized I’d been wolfing my food like I’d been starved for weeks.
“I’ve taught her not to play with her food.” Mom batted his shoulder playfully. He answered with a boyish grin, and I liked that their short time together had brought them closer. It was important that my mom really like him.
I washed my bite down with some blood and daylight-serum combo. “I’m sorry, but this is just so good. Better than I remember!” It was the truth, but might be due to the enhancement of my senses more than to my mom’s cooking skills—which were generally indisputable.
“It is delicious indeed. Kathleen, do I detect a hint of rosemary?” My ex, the foodie, ladies and gentlemen. I didn’t even listen to my mom’s reply, too busy helping myself to a couple more slices of meat.
“Leave room for dessert,” Dad said. I picked up chocolate chip cheesecake cupcakes on the way.”
My favorite. I smiled. He smiled back. We all wore similar expressions of joy, as the conversation slid to a halt.
My expression was forced. I couldn’t just enjoy my lovely dinner, when there was so much we didn’t know. So much we might have to deal with. I was convinced the lynchpin to the mystery was Ádísa’s connection to my family. Once we figured that out, everything else would fall into place.
I sighed, and decided to bite the bullet and ruin the faux-pleasant mood. “We should—”
Alex cut me off. “I don’t want to be the party pooper, but I was thinking. About all of this.” The shift in conversation seemed sudden, but the way he squeezed my knee said he understood I needed it.
To my mother, he said, “I know we’re going by the theory that Ádísa was the monster who killed that lady in Italy as well as your grandmother, but why would she have spared you? If she had something against the women in your family, why not kill you too, when she attacked your mother? The connection is too flimsy. I’m afraid you could be seeing too much into things.”
Constantine nodded. He swallowed his mouthful and wiped his lips with a napkin before he spoke. “That’s a good point, Kathleen. Have you caught sight of her since she attacked your mother?”
“Ádísa would be hard to miss,” I said, the roast going rubbery in my mouth. “With her height, long blond hair, usually mostly-exposed bouncy breasts, and her legs for miles—”
“You sure you didn’t lust after her?” Constantine asked.
“I just got to take a good look at her,” I whispered. “You know, when she was naked underneath you?” That shut him up.
“Thank you for the graphic description of her attributes”—Mom either didn’t hear the last part of my comment or chose to ignore it—“but it wasn’t necessary. I could never forget her. Haven’t seen her since she turned Ruby, though.”
That was weird. Not counting Francesca, who had lived and died centuries ago, Ádísa had apparently gone after my great grandma, my grandma, and then me. Did her attacks have some intricate pattern? Why would she have skipped one generation?
Alex held up his index finger. “I may be feeding into the paranoia here, but what about the men?”