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“Valtu?” Lenore says softly and I realize I’ve been looking off into the darkened distance for a while. “It’s time.”
I look down to see her and Solon holding onto Dahlia, this time with more reverence.
“Did you want to say a few words?” Lenore asks.
I shake my head. There is nothing to say. Nothing that I can say that would be a tribute to her, to our love, to any of this.
Once upon a time, I would have told her that I’d see her again.
This time I’m not so sure.
This time I feel, because I’m the one that killed her, that she won’t be coming back.
If I were to say goodbye, it would be final.
Lenore and Solon hesitate, then they carefully place Dahlia in the ocean.
This time I watch as she sinks.
Watch as her pale face is swallowed by the deep, her hair flowing around her like silken seaweed.
And then the words finally come to me.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
I’m so fucking sorry.
* * *
A few days pass.At least I think they do.
Time takes on a new form. No longer this thing that is on my side, a friend for eternity. Now it’s the enemy. It flipped while it was in the trenches with me. Pulled a gun. Told me it was going to hold me hostage now, trapping me in it in never-ending agony.
Time has turned on me and taken me for a ride before. Then, I used the betrayal as fuel, as a springboard for my monstrous ways. I used it as much as it used me. But this time around, I am a slave to it, in the never-ending current that all immortals are blessed with. No. No, now I see it’s not a blessing at all. But a curse, its roots twisting in deep, fastening me to eternity like a tree growing through stone.
“Valtu,” Bitrus says in a gentle voice, an equally gentle hand placed on top of mine.
I swivel my head toward him, wincing slightly at the slice of sunlight bouncing off the windows of my neighbor across the canal.
“What do you want to do?” he asks.
I blink and adjust my sunglasses. Look around. We aren’t alone. Sitting in my back garden in Venice are Lenore and Solon, as well as Bitrus and Van Helsing. It was only two nights ago that I said goodbye to my beloved Dahlia as she sank to the watery depths. There hasn’t been any time for me to process anything, but I know my grief over my lost love has affected my cognitive abilities. I know of the pressing matter at hand, at the danger of having Saara and Aleksi in charge of the book, of monsters or whatever the hell is roaming around this city, but I simply do not care. I don’t have it in me.
I manage to take in the faces of my friends. While Bitrus’s dark face is looking at me with concern, taking his hand back gingerly, the others are talking animatedly. From the fury in Lenore’s eyes, to the stern determination in Solon’s, to the spark in Van Helsing’s, I know their entire focus is on eradicating the vampires and taking back the book. The whole reason they have gathered here isn’t because they feel I need companionship (I would rather be alone more than anything else), but because tonight they want us to ambush Poveglia, the island where the rogue vampires live.
You don’t have to do this, Bitrus says to me inside my head.I know Lenore and Solon are your friends, but don’t you think they’re a little too eager to get their hands on the book?
I give Bitrus a steady look.They are trustworthy, I tell him.
The problem isn’t them. It’s me. I don’t give a shit about anything anymore except for some way to end this constant pain and suffering inside me, this black and gaping maw that is eating me alive. Bitrus doesn’t know Lenore and Solon like I do, but even if they were planning on taking the book, they won’t be able to. That book will be mine. Inside those cursed pages lay answers, keys to end my suffering. I know that if I get my hands on it before they do, I could possess more power than any other vampire, and I would use that power to bring Dahlia back from the dead.
There has to be a way. There has to be a spell to bring her back. Necromancy is one of the oldest dark arts, ones that vampires have never been privy to, for we’re the ones who have never needed it, and it wouldn’t be much of a grimoire if it didn’t have a few spells for it.
Of course, being in possession of the book doesn’t guarantee that the magic will work for me, and getting the book in my possession isn’t guaranteed either. But that’s really the only reason why I will be going to the island of Poveglia tonight.
Bitrus is still staring at me so I give him an even deeper look.I’m fine, I assure him.And I’m going.
Bitrus nods then takes a sip of his white wine and turns his attention to Solon. “Only Valtu and I will be allowed on the island. Perhaps it would be best if only the two of us went tonight.”
