Chapter 24 #2
“Don’t be silly, Rosa. It has everything to do with you. He isn’t bound to Donatella or Paola. He’s bound to you. You’re stronger than you know. If the theories were right, you might have the power of two Seers. I know this sucks to talk about, but did you notice any change after Serena died?”
Yeah, I think, I noticed a lot of changes. Like feeling lonely all the fucking time. Like being consumed with grief at the loss of my family while knives made of guilt stabbed me in the eyeballs every minute of every goddamn day.
That’s not what she means though. “I’m not sure,” I answer. “I mean, we were still young then, and we weren’t on active duty. I was certainly strong, but I guess I was angry and eager to get on with killing things, you know?”
“I can imagine. And since then, apart from the last few weeks, you’ve never really been challenged, have you? And your visions, I’m guessing, are stronger than the other Seers’ visions?”
I nod. No point lying; they are. And I haven’t ever really struggled with my kills, no matter how many vamps I faced or how vicious they were. “I’m not great at charming people,” I say weakly.
She waves her hand dismissively. “Pah. So what. In every way that matters, Rosa, you might be the most powerful Seer that’s ever lived—which means you’re the most powerful Vecchissime to have ever lived.
Together, you and Luca could be a force to reckon with.
I think the witch who cast that spell saw what was coming and did this to counteract it. ”
“Great,” I say, standing up. I’m desperate to move, for action, for anything other than sitting here feeling like a pawn in some ancient game. “Well, let’s go get tested. Can you do it, or do we need, like, some kind of special witch?”
“That’s hurtful—I am a special witch, thank you very much. But yes, we can do it now. Let’s find Luca.”
She follows me down the stairs, and I ask, “What’s your deal, anyway? Witches don’t usually leave their own kind. You clearly despise Vincenzo. Why have you been with him for so long?”
“Well, that’s complicated, and maybe I’ll tell you over a beer some time.
For now, just hold on to the part about me hating Vincenzo—because I do, with a passion.
” The hard edge of her voice leaves me in no doubt about it.
Her cutesy name, adorable hair, and petite frame are clearly deceptive.
Minnie would make a formidable enemy that I would hate to find myself on the wrong side of.
The conversation in the kitchen trails off as we walk in, and Moonface runs over to woof at me in greeting.
They’re all still sitting around the table, apart from Luca.
He’s pacing the room, still wearing the same T-shirt I staked him through.
The wound has healed, but the blood on the fabric is still glistening red and moist. I avoid his eyes and sit next to Donatella.
“Anything new?” I ask.
“Yeah,” says Pietro, pointing at his screen. “I found out that the Grand Ball Sack has bought an old camp up in the Catskill Mountains.”
“A camp?” I repeat. “As in where children used to go for summer, maybe by a lake, possibly haunted by the memory of a mask-wearing, knife-wielding mass murderer?”
“Exactly like that,” he says. “It’s big, lots of land, and he’s been building there. Basic sleeping accommodations.”
“Barracks?”
“That’s my thought. He’s here, and maybe part of his army is here. I’ve been doing some digging into possible purchases near the other Cosca HQs, and I’ve found something in Mexico. A former drug lord’s compound, now owned by the Grand Ball Sack. He was always good at logistics.”
I turn it over in my mind. He’s putting his pieces in place, getting ready for a big play.
“And I spoke to Paola’s father,” Donna adds. “Apparently, Tomasso has been on the phone with him several times, claiming he’s found a powerful new Healer and wanting to find out her location so he can send him to her.”
I wince. “That wouldn’t end well. I assume you already warned them not to tell him?”
“Of course. They were confused—everyone trusts Tomasso, you know that. He ended up hedging his bets though. Gave Tomasso a fake address and sent guards he trusts there to see what happens. If he sends anything other than a genuine Healer, they’ll know he was lying, and it’s game on.”
Except it isn’t a game, I remind myself.
It’s a war—Vecchissime against Vecchissime, family against family.
Coscas fighting back against the attack.
Vamps and humans and everything in between will get sucked into the black hole of violence, and the innocent will suffer.
More children will lose their parents; more kids will lose their sisters and brothers. Men and women will die in agony.
And for what?
For the power-hungry dreams of two old men who should have died decades ago.
I can’t do anything about that at this exact moment, but I can do one thing.
I roll up the sleeve of my top and lay my arm flat on the table.
I’m aware of Luca’s eyes burning into me, and I force myself to look up at him.
What I see is unsettling in every way: anger, fear, and sadness are heaped on top of the fierce possessiveness he’s displayed since I first met him.
I’m hit by the realization of why he didn’t say it back when I told him I loved him. He knew that if he did, it might only be the blood spell talking. Perhaps I should thank him for that one small mercy.
“Sit your ass down,” I growl at him. “And get ready for your blood test. We’re answering at least one question, right now.”
He glares at me, folds his arms across his chest, and stays where he is.
“And what if you don’t like the answer, bella?
What if the spell is there, as we suspect?
You want to break it? You want to be free of me, right at the time you need me most?
We are on the brink of war here, and we need every tactical advantage we can get. ”
It shouldn’t hurt, but it does. It’s like he’s taken his fingers to an already tender spot, a bruise or a break or a bullet hole, and jammed them right in there.
Without needing to pick up a single blade from his torture table, he managed to cut me.
I’m horrified when tears spring to my eyes, and I screw my lids tight to keep them where they belong.
That’s what I am to him, what I’ve been all along—a tactical advantage.
He’s played a clever game, and he doesn’t want to lose his MVP at the end.
“I’m glad you see me as a tactical advantage, Luca.
I’m glad I’ve been useful. Now sit the fuck down.
I need to know if this thing exists or not.
But did you hear me say I was going to break it?
I’m not an idiot—at least not most of the time.
I see the value of it for the time being.
I see how it could help keep us alive. So, while we need it, I’ll consider leaving it be. But I have to know, okay?”
Our eyes lock, and despite everything—or maybe because of it—I feel the urge to go to him. To let myself sink into those powerful arms, to run my fingers through that thick hair. To lean up and kiss the sensitive spot beneath his ear that drives him wild.
His hand goes up to his neck, to that exact same spot, and he claws at it as though he has an itch. Yeah. We really need to sort this thing out.
Coming to the same conclusion, he nods once and sits opposite me. The others clear away from the table without being asked, Pietro wheeling himself backward in his chair.
Hang on. What the fuck? “When did you get a wheelchair?” I ask.
“About a half hour ago. Matteo got it for me.”
“What? How?”
Matteo gives me a lazy grin. “Well, Rosa, we have this thing called the internet these days. But as you can’t kill it or fuck it, it’s probably not relevant to you.”
“Ha. Ha. You should do stand up. Okay, Minnie, how does this work?”
She’s currently holding a wickedly sharp-looking knife into the flames of the gas stove, so I’m guessing we don’t all simply hold hands and sing folk songs.
“You have to open your hearts to me. Open your minds to me. And, uh, yeah, open your veins, just a little bit.”
I notice Matteo turning away as she approaches and assume his control isn’t as good as Luca’s. As Minnie takes hold of my forearm and pierces the skin in a vertical slash two inches across, he walks out of the room, shouting for Moonface to follow.
Nobody else bats an eye, and pretty soon, I have other things on my mind—like pain and the fact that Minnie is spilling my blood into a little bowl and mixing it in with some foul-smelling herby substance.
She chants as she works, something deep and discordant, and I swear to god, a few strands of her short hair float up into the air. Witches are weird.
She goes over to Luca and does exactly the same to him.
He doesn’t flinch as she cuts him. Instead, he looks at me as she holds his wound over the bowl.
I stare at his arms, mesmerized by the corded muscle and golden skin, wanting nothing more than to leap over the table and lick the blood from his flesh.
There’s a hint of static in my mind, a little buzz that makes me want to stick my finger in my ear, and I hear his voice in my head. It was real, Rosa. No matter what she says, it was real for me.
Get out, I reply mentally. I am not talking to you.
I slam the doors to my brain shut, but judging from the little smirk on his lips, it’s too late. He caught the tail end of what I was thinking, what I was imagining. The little tingle in my pants that tells me no matter how much I want to hate him, I can’t stop wanting him.
Minnie carries on with her chanting and mixing and herbing, and then takes a sip of water from a glass on the table.
She dips the tip of the knife into the blood and swirls it around, coating it, before lifting it to her lips.
After licking it clean, she sits back in her chair, her hands wrapped around the bowl.
She stares at us both and says some words that sound like no words I’ve ever heard before. It’s a real mind-fuck, the way she’s looking at me, but I find it impossible to turn away. She’s doing her witch thing, and I have to let her.
After a few moments, a look of almost orgasmic happiness comes over her face. She wriggles around, her pelvis squirming, and lets out a long sigh. Yeah, right—maybe not so much “almost” anymore. I think the witch just came, right here in front of us.
She throws her head back and sighs again.
A whoosh of physical pleasure rushes through my body like vertigo.
I think we all feel it. Donatella straightens and lets out a cry, and Pietro slumps in his chair, his face red and confused.
I refuse to look at Luca. That would be asking for trouble.
I sit through it, letting it wash over me, until Minnie pulls herself together.
She rubs her hands over her face and peeks out from behind her fingers, grinning. “Sorry about that, guys. Blood magic is powerful stuff, and that … Well, that was something else. I can see why you’ve struggled to keep your hands off each other.”
I stare at the table, determined not to crack. Determined not to beg for information.
“Stop fucking around, Minnie,” Luca growls. “What did you find?”
“Blood spell,” she answers, looking from him to me and back again. “Old. Strong. Delicious. Whoever cast that knew what they were up to. It’s lain dormant inside you both until you met, and then … Well, kaboom.”
I risk a quick glance at him from beneath my lashes.
At that sinfully beautiful face, the lips that can reduce me to rubble.
The fingers that know every inch of my body.
I have a flash of all the times we’ve been together—the fucking, the sucking, the earth-shattering orgasms. The small kindnesses and gentle caresses.
The way our bodies and minds have always felt like two halves of one whole. Kaboom indeed.
It was amazing. It was a revelation. And it was all a lie. A lie I am going to have to live with for the time being.