Page 54 of Light Fae's Love
Which I know takes at least four of Quinn’s preternaturally strong Vampires to levitate with their magic and move.
“So how are we supposed to get a Revenant inside this thing?” My gaze peruses the box. Like Quinn and Arturos, I’m dressed in modern black tactical wear for our activities tonight. I feel like an assassin or maybe a diamond thief getting ready for a heist as I shift in my black ankle boots, fitted black sweater with its mock turtle neck and zip up vest, and slim black cargo pants. Everything is comfortable, breathable, and warm, though.
Excellent if we have to chase something tonight to catch it—or get chased.
“It’s a simple process of bait and catch.” Quinn looks the box over. I feel him search for any damage to the structure or the magical containment runes from its transportation today. “First, we find a place in Rome where a Revenant has been seen; 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.