The Bleeding Dusk (The Gardella Vampire Chronicles 3)

She looked down at the oval-shaped field, tufted with untouched grass and bushes on one side, and on the other rumpled and disrupted by a series of excavations in the form of dark holes. Aunt Eustacia had told her the story of Gardeleus and his final midnight battle with Judas Iscariot, the first vampire.

Max continued to stare down in silence. “It’s been a long time since I’ve visited this place,” he commented at last. “Born and raised a Roman, and yet I’ve forgotten the sacrifices made by him and the others through the ages.”

His words were so uncharacteristic and quiet, Victoria wasn’t certain that she’d heard them properly. She didn’t speak, didn’t want to break whatever spell had turned him into this pensive, thoughtful being.

At last he seemed to pull out of his thoughts. He turned and looked at her, and for a moment, as their eyes met, she couldn’t breathe. There was this vast area around them, this great space, and yet she felt small and crowded. As though everything had circled down to the space between them.

“Victoria,” Max said at last, “I never told you how sorry I am about what happened with Phillip.”

That was the last thing she’d expected him to say. He’d never mentioned Phillip, except to decry the fact that she’d planned to marry him, claiming that Venators couldn’t marry and that it would distract them from their duty.

Victoria was so shocked she couldn’t respond at first. Then, breaking his gaze, she looked down at her hands, small and pale and deadly. “I think of him every day. And Aunt Eustacia too.” Tears stung her dry eyes.

He moved, shifting his tall, graceful body so that he leaned back against the wall. “And yet you go on as if nothing has happened. You’re a strong woman.”

Victoria didn’t feel so very strong at that moment.

There were times when she was able to keep the grief at bay, to move through life as though she were whole, as if she’d never been torn apart as she had been that night she realized Phillip had been turned. There were even hours and perhaps, occasionally, a day where she might not have felt the weight of her loss—losses—and when, for a brief time, she could pretend that her life wasn’t preordained by duty to be defined by loneliness.

She let her knees buckle gently and lowered herself to the ground. Even when she was sitting, the sides of the walls were at her shoulder height, and she could still see around the arena. But she had something to lean against here, and suddenly she needed it. “How could I turn my back and walk away? Evil and danger are everywhere, and their power must be stopped or eventually it will take over the world. Of course I go on.”

She’d said nearly the same thing to Sebastian only months ago. He hadn’t understood.

“I know.” His voice was a low rumble, almost a breath, but she heard him.

She looked up at him looming above her, and her head brushed against the wall. Tiny crumbles of stone and a small shower of dirt and dried leaves filtered over her shoulder as the vampire dust had done earlier that evening. It was much easier to brush that away than the remains of an undead, easier to clean up a bit of dirt than the mess left by an immortal, damned for his desire to take and rape and devour the mortal version of itself.

They were silent again. This time it was a comfortable quiet, laced with sorrow, but without the underlying tension that always seemed to crop up between them. At last Victoria was moved to ask something that had been niggling at her mind.

“Did you truly intend to marry Sarafina Regalado?” she asked, thinking of the months he’d spent pretending to be a member of the Tutela and being engaged to the young woman, remembering the time she’d come upon him with his neckcloth loosened and his hair mussed after an obvious tête-à-tête with his fiancée.

Instead of looking down at the field, he’d turned his face up and was looking toward the dark sky. She wasn’t certain, but it appeared as though his lashes closed and his lips moved into a slender line. He gave one bare nod. “If it was necessary, I would have.”

She wasn’t surprised. Max would do what had to be done in the fight against Lilith and her vampires, no matter the sacrifice or pain. Would she ever be that cold and emotionless?

She nodded, and more dust sprinkled over her shoulder.

“The right decision isn’t always easy or evident. You’ll find yourself making more and more of those choices as time goes on.”

“I know it.”

Max drew in his breath, and there in the silent, dark night let it out slowly. “I miss her too, Victoria.”

“I know.” Victoria realized he meant Aunt Eustacia.

Again they were quiet for a time. At last, Victoria saw the faint lightening of the sky in the east and realized dawn was near.

How odd to have spent a night in Max’s company without once wielding a stake, and with very few razorlike comments. She began to pull to her feet, her legs stiff, and he reached his hand to offer her assistance.

Strong fingers and an impossibly warm, square palm closed over her small hands, easily bringing her to her feet. He released her hand immediately and started toward the exit, the vomitory, and she followed. All without speaking.

As they walked, she realized something that had been glossed over: He was wearing a vis bulla.

“Max.” Her voice stopped him ahead of her in the dark passageway. Victoria looked at him, studying him closely. “How did you get a vis bulla?”

“It’s of no consequence. The sun is rising, and it’s time for me to find my bed. Good night, Victoria.” He turned away, walking with his confident, long-loped stride.

“Max.” Her quiet voice stopped him, and once again he turned to look at her. “Does this mean you’re back?”

His arms hung from his sides in an uncharacteristically useless way. “I don’t know.”

Seven

In Which a Small Red Jar Becomes the Topic of Conversation

“You went to Lilith? Alone?”

Max looked at Wayren, who’d straightened up in her chair. Unsure how the other Venators would react toward him after Eustacia’s death, he hadn’t wanted to go to the Consilium to see her. He had invited Wayren to the small room he’d rented.“That’s what I said. I had nothing to lose, Wayren.”

“I know, Max. I know how much you want to be rid of her. But to take such a chance!”

“It’s not as if I haven’t been alone with her in the past.” He knew his words came out harshly, but, bloody hell, the memories weren’t pleasant ones. Blast it that he had to remind Wayren of them.