Her. It was a woman with long dark hair and glowing red eyes, and she gave a surprised squeak just before she disintegrated into a cloud of ash. She must have been one of the young vampires Beauregard had disdained earlier.
Whom had she called master, Regalado or Beauregard?
South along Via del Corso, away from the piazza, Victoria walked purposefully, but in no great hurry. It was many hours yet until dawn, before she would return to the Consilium or home.
More than once she felt that sense of being watched, but her neck didn’t chill again, and she heard nothing. Smelled nothing. Fewer and fewer people were about, and she’d walked two blocks without hearing the sound of carriage wheels bumping over the street.
Soon she passed the slender bell tower of Santa Francesca Romana, and she approached the curved, jagged wall of the Colosseum. It loomed ahead, its countless arches deeply shadowed.
The world was silent. Even the last of the revelers had gone to their beds, ready to start the stark weeks of Lent. She was alone.
Then she felt someone behind her. Close behind her.
She pulled the dagger from her pocket, whirling around.
And though she hadn’t even raised her arm to strike, he caught her wrist with strong fingers and said, “Not quite the greeting I’d expected. ”
Six
Wherein Victoria Encounters a Stubborn Chin
“Max?” Victoria’s free hand automatically grabbed his arm, jolting him toward her, as if to be certain it really was him. “It’s you!” Relief and a wave of gladness washed over her as she felt the solidness of him under her fingers. He was alive. He was back.
“Perhaps you were expecting Sebastian Vioget,” Max added, releasing her wrist and stepping away from what was as close to a welcoming embrace as she’d ever given him. In truth, she had expected it to be Sebastian—now that she’d sent the message through Beauregard.
“Where have you been?” she asked, her heart still hammering from the surprise of his unexpected appearance. She looked up at him as
if the answer would be in his countenance. And perhaps it was.
Even in the mediocre light from a smattering of stars and the occasional lantern on the street, she could see weariness there in his face, and a sort of hesitancy. His cheeks seemed more pronounced, his thick hair more out of place than usual, his sharp jawline set and harsh and with at least three days’ stubble. Max’s dark clothing, although never as perfectly stylish as Sebastian’s, was rumpled, and there was no sign of a mask, costume, or moccoletto anywhere on his person.
“It’s been almost four months, Max. Where have you been?”
“I’ve been in various places of no import. ” He stood back from her, but could not seem to remove his attention from her face. “You don’t appear to have suffered any great mishap during my absence. ”
Victoria realized how she must sound—needy and uncertain, and as though she and the Venators could not function without him. She straightened, becoming more aloof to match his style. “Have you been following me? Or perhaps you were looking for someone else tonight. ”
Max’s handsome, angular countenance appeared even sharper than usual in the bluish glow of night. Because he was so tall, when he looked down his long, straight nose at her, his eyes were little more than dark hollows in the shadows of his face. “Following you? I’d have no reason to do such a thing. ”
“You certainly weren’t lurking about in the shadows trying to protect me. ”
He paused, then replied in an odd voice, “You’d lost your vis bulla. ”
“So you were watching to make certain I was safe? How very nice of you, Max. But I don’t know what you thought…”
…you might do to protect me without your own vis bulla.
Victoria quickly changed the subject. “You’ve cut your hair. ” The last time she’d seen him he’d worn his hair clubbed back in a brief stub. Now it was too short for that.
“I couldn’t be more gratified that you noticed. ”
She ignored the comment and responded with one of her own. “Is Sarafina lurking in the shadows? Why not invite her to join us? I didn’t get to speak with her last night. ”
“I’ve just arrived, so I haven’t any notion where Sara is, but undoubtedly you have some point to make by mentioning her. If so, then make it, Victoria. Unlike Vioget, I prefer to cut to the quick of the matter rather than banter around it like a May dance. ”
“It sounds as if you’re bantering now,” she replied smartly. Then she thought better of continuing the game and said, “Your fiancée attempted to have me kidnapped last night. Do you have any idea why?”
He didn’t respond immediately; nor did he deny that Sara was his fiancée. Max just looked down at her, as though deep in thought. “What happened?” he asked at last.