Page 41 of Light Fae's Love
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.