Darkness Embraced Part 28

Vasco grinned at me. "That was wel reasoned."

I grinned back. "It just occurred to me."

"I can wake Dante and Dominique," Renata said, "for I made them and they are my guard. Once I am awake, I wil be capable of cal ing to them. The others you wil have to wake with the sword."

"Wil you be able to wake four Elder vampires with the sword?" Vasco asked.

I sensed Cuinn's ears swivel and flatten against the back of his skul . I didn't need to hear him to know what the gesture meant.

"I'm fairly certain you just insulted Cuinn."

"I did not mean to insult him. I am only checking to make certain."

Aye, Cuinn thought, ye can wake four. I'd not advise trying to wake the whole clan, but four is cake and as ye've seen, requires little blood.

"We can do it," I said.

"So we shal ," Renata said.

Vasco nodded his agreement.

Al three of us turned to Iliaria.

She smiled and there was a hint of danger lurking in her eyes. As far as agreements went, it looked an awful lot like one.

Chapter Twenty-Two.

Dante was posted just outside the door to the sitting room. Dominique was posted on the opposite door that connected to Renata's boudoir.

Renata went to the double doors leading to one of the lesser hal ways, opening it and making a gesture with her head, indicating that Dante should enter. Vasco, having determined the wishes of his queen, opened the other door and told Dominique, "The Queen wishes to speak with you."

Dante wore a black coachman's coat that had a metal clasp at the throat. The coat was reasonably modern. If he wasn't a vampire I might've accused him of trying to look like one.

Dominique, as usual, was the more modest of the two. His hair that was a brown so dark it was almost black was pul ed back into its usual low ponytail.

He wore a pair of black denim pants with a long sleeved black T-s.h.i.+rt. General y, it was the younger vampires that embraced the more modern fas.h.i.+on trends of the outside world. We were aware of the trends of the outside world, though very few of us embraced them. There was a great library within the Sotto that held many number of texts, both old and new. The Cacciatori hunted primarily for food, but if they had to go into the city, only those adept at concealing themselves were sent forth to retrieve supplies.

I'd slowly grown an appreciation for slacks and long-sleeved tops, but I would never in my undead life embrace denim. I hadn't even begun wearing pants until I was no longer Renata's pet. I did eventual y learn that pants provided a certain protection that a gown did not, and within the Sotto a woman liked to retain some decency.

Renata told them of our plan. However, she did not tel them we would be waking Vittoria, Vito, and Nirena. She trusted her guards more than the Elders, of that I knew for a surety, but I also knew that Renata would only tel as much as was necessary. I learned some years ago that there was always more going on inside her head than she let on.

Dante looked ready to pounce on the prospect, eyes eager as his mouth curled like a cat up to no good.

Dominique bowed. "I understand, my Queen."

"Good," Renata said. "You are dismissed."

I didn't have to see a clock to know that it was some hours until dawn.

The two left to return to their separate posts outside the doors. I sat on the smal couch next to Iliaria.

"What of the third chal enge?" I asked, meeting Renata's gaze as she returned to her seat in the high-backed armchair. "The others wil grow suspicious, wil they not?"

"No doubt one of the Elders has already informed the others of the meeting and its significance," she said.

"I thought you cal ed upon those you trusted?"

It was Iliaria that said, "You're fis.h.i.+ng them out."

Renata grinned. It wasn't the bright and good-natured grin Vasco often gave. It was slyer, more cunning, and cutting. "In a way."

"I understand what fis.h.i.+ng them out means," I said, "but I do not comprehend why you would wil ingly place your trust in those that you doubt."

"To see who wil break it," Vasco said from his perch on the opposite couch.

"Appunto," she said, inclining her head in his direction. "It is a risk I must take to see who is loyal to me."

I understood then. "How wil you know who breaks your trust by spreading the word?"

"I have my ways," she said.

"What your Queen means, Epiphany, is that she has her spies," Iliaria said.

Renata raised her brows. "You think so?"

Iliaria smiled wickedly. "I would, were I you."

"And who do you think my spies are, Dracule?"

I caught the flicker in Vasco's features and said, "Vasco knows."

He gave me a surprised look. "You caught that?"

"Yes."

"Once, you would not have."

"I've learned to play closer attention."

"How would I know who your spies are?" Iliaria said.

I remembered Renata's words about hearing talk of her death. Why hadn't I concluded then that she'd had her spies? I tried to figure out the question that she had directed at Iliaria. If I were Queen, who would I appoint as my spies? Vasco was an obvious choice. At least, from my position. I remembered the Underling that had held the doors to the banquet hal open for us. I remembered the girl and the boy that had helped prepare for the dream trial. They too had kept their faces hidden behind their hair, eyes studiously averted.

There were always Underlings. Anytime a mortal was reborn a vampire, they became an Underling within whatever clan they belong to. It was the way our society worked.

Of course, there were Underlings that let their newfound powers go to their head. There were also Underlings that never came into their power and those who chose not to embrace it even when they did. The Underlings that sought to ascend rank sooner than al owed were punished by the clan's head, if not the Elders. Those Underlings that conformed and served their Queen or King, that offered utmost loyalty, they would have made the perfect spies.

The Elders in a clan did one of two things with Underlings. As Lucrezia had done to me, they tormented and taunted, but as some of the other Elders had done, like Vittoria and Vito, they ignored the Underlings in such a way that it seemed almost as if they were pretending they did not exist.

If you were not important enough to be acknowledged, were you important enough for someone to censor his or her words and actions around you?

"The Underlings," I said.

Renata turned to Vasco. "My, my, Vasco. What have you been teaching her?"

Vasco practical y beamed with pride. "My lady, I have learned that if you offer Epiphany a grain of sand she wil eventual y find the ocean."

"Wel said, Vasco, but that does not tel me what you have been teaching her."

"I have taught her little in comparison to what she has figured out on her own."

"Again," she said to me, "you surprise me, Epiphany."

I didn't know what to say to that and so I said nothing at al .

"How does she surprise you?" Iliaria asked.

Renata turned to look at her. "You have not known Epiphany these past two hundred years," she said, as if that explained everything.

"No," Iliaria said, "but I too have seen what you must have at one time seen."

"And what is that?" Renata asked in a tone that was almost defensive.

Iliaria looked at me then, her expression most thoughtful.

"She is smal and gentle," she said, "and careful not to insult, like a mouse trying to slip quietly through a house ful of cats. But you are a clever mouse, aren't you, Epiphany?"

"I don't know."

"Even mice acquire skil s to confuse the cat."

She laid her hand over mine, tracing a circle on my skin with the tip of her finger. "And now, those around you are beginning to see your skil s. They are beginning to see that you have grown from a scared thing into something more secure." Her fingers trailed up my wrist, brus.h.i.+ng across the sigil in my skin. The sigil tingled, itching like mad biting insects. "Perhaps you were never a mouse. Perhaps you are only a kitten learning how to use her very sharp claws." Her voice was a breathy whisper. I shuddered, feeling her touch cal to my blood, turning it to fire in my veins.

"The problem with cats," Renata said in a voice gone cold, "is that they are easily distracted."

At Renata's words, I caught the Dracule's wrist. Her pulse thudded between my fingers. The mark at my wrist burned hot.

"I am a vampire," I said. "I am not a cat or a dog or any other manner of pet." I looked at Renata. "Unless I choose to be."

Renata inclined her head in acknowledgement.

The Dracule watched me intently. "And how often do you choose to play the role of the pet? How often, for another's sense of satisfaction, do you choose to appear weaker than you real y are? How often do you sheath your claws for the sake of avoiding confrontation?"

I let go of the Dracule's wrist. I did not know how she was able to read me so wel , but it was unnerving, as if she read the Brail e of my soul. "I do not pretend to appear weak, nor am I weak, Iliaria. I simply am what I am."

"And what are you?" Iliaria asked.

"She is Epiphany," Renata said.

Epiphany. I was not so sure I understood what that meant anymore. When I was a human child I once asked my father why my mother had chosen my name. I never knew her, for she had died not too long after I was born. Most of the memories of my mortal life were shrouded in darkness, which was fairly typical for one who had died and lived.

One memory that remained unaffected was that of my father's reply. I was some seven or eight years of age, eternal y curious as most children are.

"To understand why your mother named you Epiphany, you need to know what it means," my father had said. "You know those puzzles you enjoy so much? Wel , you know that feeling you get when you find the last piece and put it down and get to see the picture al of the pieces make?"

I had understood that much.

"When you were born your mother saw the picture. You were the piece that made her life whole, dear one."

I had asked what picture my mother had seen.

"Love," my father said. "Your mother saw love."

Iliaria was perceptive, for sure, but she did not know and understand me. Renata knew me, knew my nature. The thought made me turn to look at her.

She did not seek to outwardly understand or explain it. She embraced it. She accepted it.

In her, I saw love. I saw the last piece of the puzzle that made my heart whole.

She held out her hand, her expression gentle, and said softly, "Epiphany."

I went to her, letting her stroke my cheek with the back of her hand. The look she gave me was one of tender affection.

You are my Epiphany, her voice flowed through my mind. You are my missing piece.

Chapter Twenty-Three.

The others waited for sunrise in the sitting room. I lay in Renata's great bed, enfolded within the circle of her arms.

We were both silent.

Soon, we would go and try to catch the traitor that had summoned Iliaria. Until then, we would spend what time we had together.

Renata toyed with a strand of my hair, teasing a lock and wrapping it around her finger. I relaxed under her touch, content with the attention.

We had not informed the three Elders that we would be waking them. They had given their aid; we would simply take them up on their offers.