Epilogue
T wenty years later
Quinn wore clothes almost identical to the first time I had seen her sing. Black jeans, a green shirt and black lipstick. Her fingers danced across guitar strings, the joy in her eyes unmistakable. Her love of music hadn’t died, and I was as drawn in by her voice as the first time.
Her gifts as a vampire combined with those of her siren heritage had every human in the bar under her sway. They couldn’t look away if they tried. Using it as a hunting technique, she would lure our prey to follow us. I loved to see her ability in action, appreciating the fact that while many had been drawn to her before me, I had been the first to fall under the influence of her irresistible voice. That I was the one her heart had chosen, Calling me to her, binding the two of us together in a way that neither of us could have resisted.
As I watched, it was clear that all connections to her band were gone. Songs that she’d sung twenty years before had not passed her lips since. Her way to eliminate all connection with her old life. With Lilith. The Hunter had come to Venice years before, but I’d picked up her scent in time to warn the clan. She’d left, finding no sign of us. The only song Quinn held onto was the one she wrote for me.
“I’ll never tire of hearing her sing,” I murmured to Carlos.
Her gaze landed on me briefly. Wordless affection from our blood bond surrounded me.
“She’s bolder than she used to be,” he said. “More daring in what she writes. As if the vampire and the siren allowed her to embrace that part of herself she wouldn’t have been able to reach if she’d remained human. Her music is the very reflection of the vampire siren that she is. Darkness and desire.”
Not so long ago, Quinn had discovered that Carlos had a musical talent of his own, and she was trying to convince him to join her on stage. Their conversations around music often went late into the night.
I caught her looking at a couple in the front with a smile.
“She’s found someone,” I told Carlos.
My hunger stirred.
“Be patient,” he warned me. “Let her finish.”
Finally, she finished singing and packed away her guitar. Humans smelling of desire surrounded her the moment she stepped off the stage, but Quinn stopped to whisper in the ears of those she had picked. A hum rose from her, echoing around us. Energy surrounded those she had chosen for tonight.
“The hunt is on,” I told Carlos.
Quinn moved across the room and kissed me hard. I wrapped my arms around her, pushing my tongue into her mouth. I wanted to devour her and couldn’t help the growl.
“Let’s go.” Carlos turned to leave.
“My beautiful siren,” I murmured, kissing her again. “You know what your Siren Song does to me.”
She licked my throat, sending a quiver through me. “Then it’s best we get going, isn’t it?”
We left the club, and Quinn cast a look over her shoulder, humming again from within. The humans she’d chosen started to follow. I carried her guitar case, and she slid her arm through mine. She leaned into me, her head on my shoulder.
Outside, the night was alive: Tourists walked past, shopping and taking in the sights. with excited voices. My heart burst. I had been forbidden to return to Venice for centuries, and while time had changed much about the city, it was still my home. Our walk took us past an art gallery with my name on it. This time I’d chosen to remain anonymous, but often went inside with Quinn to appreciate the art of emerging artists, and to listen to conversations about the mysterious ‘Matteo Barone and his art.’
We led the couple to a quiet and dark alley where no one would bother us.
“Where are we?” The man asked with an Irish accent.
“Irish,” I laughed. “You and your accents. ”
“Everyone here has accents,” she told me. “The beauty of living in a city that attracts so many tourists.”
It was a rule Carlos had made that we never feed from locals. Some of them even worked for us.
“I saw you sing,” the human said as he gazed at Quinn. “Your voice, it’s-” He didn’t have a chance to finish before Carlos was on him.
The woman next to him didn’t scream, only stared wide-eyed, her fear calling to me.
Quinn removed her arm from me. “Kiss her,” she whispered. “I want to hear her moan.”
I advanced on the woman, my hunger surging. Her eyes turned to me, wide with fear.
“Don’t be afraid,” I murmured.
“I’m not afraid,” she replied, already under my influence.
I pulled her to me, pressing my lips to hers. She didn’t resist and responded quickly to my kiss. Quinn circled around and attached her fangs to the human’s throat from behind. The moan that escaped the woman was arousing, and I pulled away from the kiss, licking her throat and sinking my fangs in. Quinn’s hand slid around the back of my head as we fed, fingers in my hair. Her pleasure of the feed spread to me. The red haze rose up, pulling me under, everything else fading into black.
‘ Matteo. ’ A voice pierced the dark, fingers caressing my neck, someone trying to pull me away from the human.
I growled, unwilling to budge, letting the blood take me further into my frenzy. Voices surrounded me, but I didn’t care.
Someone started to sing, a song I knew. “I look into your eyes, they raise my pulse and I, am pulled to you and find new strings control my mind.”
I followed the voice from deep within my bloodlust and let the human fall to the ground, as Quinn continued to sing. “This beautiful abyss, I give myself to this. The dark eyes of a stranger.”
Unable to hold myself back, I pulled her to me, kissing roughly. I hadn’t killed in years, but often got close. Once she’d learned how to, she pulled me from my blood haze every time . It made things less complicated for our clan, not attracting Hunters.
“She’ll need a hospital,” Quinn said to Carlos without looking away from me. “Will you be joining us tonight?”
He picked up the woman. “I’ve been summoned to the bridge to attend to human matters. Perhaps tomorrow.”
I grinned as he left, then pressed my forehead against Quinn’s. “My song,” I murmured.
A song she’d written for me. Once called Dark Eyes of a Stranger, she’d renamed it Blood Song.
“I will always sing it to you, my wild beast.” She licked the blood from my chin, and I snapped my teeth at her playfully. Her laughter was like music, and we returned to the villa.
The descendants of my brother had occupied my family home when we’d arrived. I had compelled them to take a smaller villa on the other side of Venice, near where my own descendants lived. This opened a home for us, for our clan. Our den. Paintings from my days as a human lined the walls. Two portraits hung side by side. One, my only self-portrait, eyes full of hope for the future above those of my human wife and daughter. Next to it, that of my brother, older than me and a mischievous light shone from his face. He’d been dead for centuries, but the portrait I’d painted of him was a reminder of a life I’d long forgotten. Thinking of my human life was pointless. But I wondered about the life of my brother. And that of my daughter. I had missed seeing her grow up, marry, and have children.
I lay Quinn on our bed, hunger for her piercing me to my core. She pulled her shirt off before removing mine.
“Bite me,” she pleaded. “I want to see my blood on your face.”
Instead, I lowered myself over her, to whisper in her ear. “I once told you that you’d be begging me for my vampire’s kiss.” I pulled her earlobe in between my teeth. “You know I like to hear you beg.”
“Then bite me.”
“Or what?” I lowered my nose to her throat, taking in her scent. “Mmmm, you smell delicious. Your lust.”
The deep growl that came from her reverberated through my body as she wrapped one arm around me and flipped us over. She pinned my wrists, leaning towards me.
“Then I’ll bite you,” she insisted and lowered her mouth to my throat.
I tilted my head, waiting, wanting. She bit deep and I shuddered, our minds open to one another through the blood bond. She pulled back and I sat up, my arms tight around her. She moaned when my fangs slid into her throat, throwing her head back.
When I finished, I pressed my face between her breasts, and her cheek rested on the top of my head.
She lay back. A humming started from within her being, the sound wrapping around me. It was her way to express utter joy and contentment, her deep love piercing my own heart.
Straddling her, I gazed into those beautiful red eyes. “Il mio piccolo cantante. ” My little singer. I smiled. “ Mi amore .”
“ Ti amo, ” she replied.
THE END
Carlos’s story will continue in Consumed.