Rises The Night (The Gardella Vampire Hunters 2)

Victoria skewered Sebastian with her look. “I’m a Venator and we must take chances, dangerous though they might be.”

Aunt Eustacia drew in her breath as though to speak, but Victoria stepped on her words, not wishing to be reprimanded—particularly in front of Sebastian. “I will, however, acknowledge I should have prepared for the possibility things were not as they had seemed. Without Max, I had to act on my own. There was no one else who could have followed along and been able to assist me had things gone awry. Which, of course, things did go wrong. As it was, I was fortunate enough to make my own escape, and to come upon Verbena and Oliver, who were able to take me home. It is not” —she nodded at Kritanu and her aunt— “an experience I care to repeat.”

“You did not arrange for your maid to follow you, then,” Aunt Eustacia said in a carefully modulated voice, which told Victoria that she was annoyed or angry.

“I did not. She did that on her own.”

“You did not send a message asking for Kritanu to come with you. He could have followed you as well.”

“I did not have the luxury of time to send to you, for I received the message from Alvisi less than a half hour before he was to pick me up.”

“A conscious decision on his part. He has long been trying find his way into the inner workings of the Tutela,” Sebastian added.

“You seem to be exceedingly well versed in the Tutela yourself, Monsieur Vioget,” Victoria responded archly.

His smile was bland. “I am very pleased to be of service to you and all of the other Venators. Now, if you will permit me, I will be more than happy to assist in connecting you with the appropriate people in Roma” —he rolled his R with an authentic Italian purr— “so you may continue your quest to find Nedas.”

Victoria looked at Aunt Eustacia. She nodded. “Si, we shall all make our way to Roma. By ship. It will be safer than by land, where the Tutela might spot us or follow us.”

+ 12 +

In Which Monsieur Vioget Calls a Bluff

* * *

“Enjoying the moonlight, or patrolling the ship for nasty vampires in order to save the rest of us mere mortals?”

Victoria wasn’t startled. She’d sensed Sebastian’s presence as he came up behind her on the ship’s deck. She turned to face him, leaving one arm propped on the corner of the ship’s railing. “No worries, Sebastian, darling. There’s not a vampire to be found on this vessel.”

“Did you just call me darling, or was I dreaming?” He selected a spot to stand next to her, far enough away that her skirts, lifting and shifting in the breeze of the Adriatic Sea, did not brush his trousers. “Perhaps I am making progress.”

She just looked at him, ignoring the curls that fluttered like pennants around her temples. When he appeared content to stare out over the glittering sea, colored black and midnight and gray by the moon and stars, she commented, “I didn’t think it would take long for you to seek me out.” She hated to admit it, but she was glad he had.

“I hope I am not too terribly tardy.”

“Not so very.”

“But late enough that you were getting impatient, non?” He turned his face to look at her, his elbows remaining on the railing. “Perhaps I don’t wish to be predictable either.”

“The only thing predictable about you is that you consistently appear when you suppose I least expect it. Perhaps that will be your undoing, for now I shall expect to see you every time I turn around.”

“You were very foolish to go to the Tutela meeting on your own. You nearly died, Victoria. They nearly tore you to shreds.”

“Do you think I don’t know that?” She looked away from his face, which had turned to stare out to sea, and followed his gaze. “I had no choice.”

“You always have a choice.”

“I don’t. I’ll see this through until the end, and on the way I’ll take as many of them with me as I can. I owe it to Phillip.”

“You speak about violence so matter-of-factly, Victoria. Will that always be your life? Your focus?”

“It can be no other. You don’t understand. You cannot know what it’s like, Sebastian. I’m a Venator, and that will never change.”

He was silent for a long time. She glanced at him once, saw the shift of a jaw bringing his cheek into shadow and back out of it again. “When I saw you in Venice, all those bites and scars, I…well I realized it would be quite a loss if the worst had happened to you.”

“Don’t worry, Sebastian. There are other Venators to protect you. Or is it the balance on my debt you are concerned about?”

He chuckled, but there was an edge to it. “I know where the Tutela meets in Rome. You won’t have to go alone.”