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“Who is it?” Lenore’s voice comes from behind me and I spin around to face her.
My eyes meet hers and I flashback to Valtu’s kitchen in Venice, when she had me pinned against the fridge, wanting to kill me.
I know she’s remembering the same thing I am.
“Dahlia?” she says in a harsh whisper.
Then everything goes black.
Chapter6
Valtu
THEN
The mist whips between the vampires as they stare down at us on the dock, showcasing the ruined buildings of Poveglia behind them for a moment before covering them up again, like a sleight of hand magic trick.
“Professor Aminoff,” Saara’s voice comes floating over to us. “Bitrus. So delighted that you two could make it for the feast.”
I nod at them while Bitrus climbs out of the boat and ties it to the dock. “Thank you for taking us up on such short notice.” I must admit, it’s hard not to look at Solon, Lenore, or Van Helsing perched warily in the boat, cloaked under Lenore’s spell. I keep my eyes glued to Saara and Aleksi as much as possible and force myself into the role of a hungry vampire in need of real food. The last thing I want is to tip them off, even though I have to keep myself on guard as if I already have.
What I don’t want to do is act any different toward them. They both know I despise them and what they are. I have to act like I’m here out of desperation and not because I’ve had a change of heart. They’d never believe it.
“I must say,” Saara says as she walks toward us, wearing a black satin gown that’s barely held together by ribbons. She’s naked underneath and when the mist blows a certain way, she makes sure you can see every inch of her. “I didn’t think you’d ever come back here. You seemed so…” she looks to her brother over her shoulder. “What was the word you used to describe him, Aleksi? Ah yes. Pussy.”
She gives me a cunning smile. “I understood what my brother was trying to say, unfortunately he used a word that doesn’t quite convey that meaning. After all, there’s nothing weak about a pussy. Especially not this one.”
She slides the slit in her dress to the side, giving me and Bitrus (and the invisible three behind us) a show. I can practically feel Lenore rolling her eyes at the scene.
I clear my throat and keep my gaze on Saara’s cold blue eyes. “Definitely nothing weak about a pussy,” I say. “However, I still prefer to feed in a more civilized manner. I figured that we could work something out.”
She exchanges a look with her brother and chuckles as she turns back to me, one brow sharply raised. “It’s a pity you haven’t seen the way yet. Don’t forget, you are on my turf here, not yours. I’m afraid if you want to feed from a human untethered, you must be prepared to do it our way. The humans never survive at the end. But isn’t that the point of it all?”
No. That’s not the point.But of course, I don’t vocalize this.
“And you, Bitrus,” Saara says to him. “Are you ready to partake this time?”
He nods determinedly. “Yes. I don’t have the same qualms as Valtu.”
She grins, showing her fangs. “Perfect.”
Then she turns on her heel and crooks her finger over her shoulder at us. “Come along, now.”
We follow her and Aleksi the same way we did before, the mist fogging the path and then lifting as we pass the crumbling building with rusted scaffolding outside, then past the faded sign that readsPsychiatric Departmentin Italian, until we’re going through the main doors that have been left wide open, a large gaping maw that wants to swallow us whole.
I have no idea where the others have gone, if they’re still on the docks, if they’re following us silently, if they’re going around the building. They could already be inside for all I know. I just hope that whatever they have planned works.
I don’t even know whatwehave planned. It’s hard to know when Saara and Aleksi are so unpredictable and we’re in a place we can’t control. I just have to figure out how to get my hands on the book and take it from there. If I have to kill a few humans to do so, I really don’t care. Just add them to my recent tally.
I’d burn the world down for her if it meant bringing her back.
We step into the cold mouth of the building and follow a familiar path toward a large wooden door guarded by plague doctors on either side. I shiver despite myself, not quite used to their presence. I avoid the gaping holes in the mask they wear, not wanting to meet their eyes, though I wonder if that’s really a plague mask at all, or their actual face. That makes it all the more disturbing.
The plague doctors move to the side gracefully and in one wave of Saara’s hand, the door opens and we enter the chapel. As it was last time, it’s a combination of white walls molding with green, with vines coming in through shattered stained glass windows, broken pews on either side with a few still intact, and a candlelit altar at the very front.
And like last time, there is a victim lying at the foot of the altar.
My heart sinks.
