Page 67 of Ruin

“Well, come on, boy. I knew you would be back one day. But a guest…that is a surprise,” Ambrogio wheezed as he struggled to get the words out.

Arik stood silently until Ambrogio’s voice cracked through the cabin once more. “You are more deadly than I am, young Medici. You brought a stranger into my house? Announce yourself!” he screamed as I heard his feet hit the wooden slats below, vibrating in my direction.

I stood as Arik pulled his arm around me. His body shielded me from Ambrogio as he pulled me into him and placed a delicate kiss against my forehead.

As Arik’s body moved to my side, I saw Ambrogio for the first time. He stood in front of me, slightly swaying as his dark eyes scanned from my feet, up my body, before stopping at my eyes. He was dark and ancient, with flowing gray hair that shrouded him in a sense of unknown.

He leaned forward, hunching just slightly, as if he stood up or bent further, he may break in half. He made me feel…uncertain…but not as if I were in danger.

“Ah…” Ambrogio chuckled as he gripped the throne-like chair behind him and pulled himself back into his former rested position in front of the fireplace. “Now I see why you brought a guest. How nice of you. Congratulations,” he said with a deep laugh that rattled up through his chest like metal against metal.

“Ambrogio, I came to you for answers,” Arik said, his voice softening as I saw his shoulders rise and fall with restraint.

The sound of Ambrogio’s inhale filled the air as my breath quickened with anticipation.

“The way your paths aligned just perfectly for you to meet during her natural life. That is well-deserved, Arik,” Ambrogio replied slowly as his hand gripped the arm of the chair with restraint.

Arik stood silently next to me as we both waited, together, for Ambrogio’s revelation. “To meet your mate, organically…that is what legends are born from.”

Ambrogio stood slowly, his bones cracking as every vertebra snapped into place like a plastic children’s toy. “You know, the same hints that she’s your mate can also be very dangerous,” he said as his body neared the fireplace, casting a long shadow across the dust-covered planks of the floor. “Most of our kind meet their mate, and…well…get a little too hungry.”

“What do we do?” Arik screamed, panic deep in his voice like broken glass as he stepped toward Ambrogio.

“That choice is for you to make, young Medici. You let her live and she dies. Or…she becomes like you…like us.” Ambrogio’s voice hissed as he slid his hands together behind his back, his body never turning from the heat of the fire.

Like us. The words stuck in my chest like hot iron. In the time I had spent unpacking the gravity of the situation, it never occurred to me that I may have to make that choice.

My eyes locked into Arik’s as he glanced toward me. I could see panic and fear in him, but I also saw the look I had seen too many times before. He was checking my emotions, the closest he could get to my actual thoughts. His eyes drifted toward the floor with confusion. I wasn’t scared, and that scared him. I could feel it.

Arik’s face softened as he straightened himself once again. His chin was held high with devotion and duty, as if he were ready to take an order. “How?”

“The same way I changed you, boy.” Ambrogio coughed as he turned his body toward the chair once more, his eyes locking into mine in a way that filled my spine with ice.

“I…I just woke up like this,” Arik stammered.

“No. Come on, it has only been three hundred and some odd years. Your memory cannot be failing you already,” Ambrogio replied with a laugh as he sat in his chair, leaning deeply into the wooden back that sat high like a throne.

Arik’s face looked puzzled as I grabbed his trembling hand. My heart was breaking for him. He was so lost and confused and had held it alone for all these years. He wasn’t as stoic and noble as he let on. I saw that now. At the end of the day, his heart was still human.

“Please, Ambrogio! I will get on my knees and beg! Tell me…please.” Arik’s voice boomed through the cabin before softening in his desperation.

“The wine, boy,” Ambrogio stated as his long nail made cryptic circles along the arm of his chair. “A gift from your father.”

His eyes locked with Arik’s. “Poison.”

Ambrogio paused, letting his words linger in the air like smoke. His gaze stayed deeply focused on Arik to the point where I questioned if he was still aware of my existence. His voice rose slowly, as I held my breath.

“Poison?” Arik questioned, his voice lowering to a whisper. “You turned me with poison?” he stammered as I witnessed his stance go limp.

“No. The poison is just how I killed…well, almost killed you.” Ambrogio’s voice rasped as he struggled to speak. “You see…the venom cannot enter the body without the absence of life. I bit you. I turned you. But there must be just enough life left in the veins for the venom to take over. It is a delicate balance, you see,” Ambrogio said as he rested his white, slender hands against his beard, stroking it softly.

Arik stepped forward, his footsteps causing the planks below to make cracking sounds as he paced toward Ambrogio. My heart raced. Was he going to attack him? Had he had enough of his cryptic storytelling?

Instead of rushing Ambrogio, he kneeled before him. “Tell me, please. Just…tell me what I need to do,” he begged, his voice breaking like the wood within the fire.

“If you want to be with your mate, you must turn her. You must wait until her very last heartbeat…and then, give her your venom. Too soon, and it will do nothing. Too late, and there will be nothing left of her. Venom cannot replace life if there is none left.” Ambrogio spoke slowly as he rested his hand on Arik’s shoulder. His tone was somber in a way that frightened me as I stood silently, unable to speak, move, or even think.

My vision tunneled, ears ringing as the words echoed like a gunshot. I staggered back; breath caught somewhere between a scream and a sob—but unable to do either.