Rises the Night

well-groomed as he always did, with his artfully tousled gilt curls and perfectly folded neck cloth…

'It looks as though you had a rather close call,' Aunt Eustacia told her, peering at the bites, even poking at one with her finger. 'These are quite nasty, and even though you are a Venator, these kinds of wounds can have consequences, cara. Your maid said she treated you with salted holy water; and I have something else that will help the bruising disappear.' She began to rummage in the small reticule she'd pulled from her wrist.

'We are very glad you didn't suffer any worse injuries,' Kritanu said in his soft voice. He reached over from the chair on which he sat and patted Victoria's hand, ending with an affectionate squeeze. 'And to answer your question, Monsieur Vioget arrived at your aunt's villa late last night.'

Victoria turned to look at Sebastian, who had not stopped watching her since she came in the room, and raised her eyebrow in condescending query.

'I did not know where you were staying here in Venice,' he explained, settling back in his seat in an obvious attempt to appear relaxed. He crossed his arms over his middle, his well-cut jacket straining gently over his broad shoulders. 'But I did know how to reach your aunt and presumed she would put me in touch with you, particularly since I came with information that I believe you will welcome. It is unfortunate that I arrived a day late, or I could likely have prevented your bloody mishap last evening.'

'And how is that?' Victoria asked. She was beginning to become weary of his sudden appearances and mysterious pronouncements. He always seemed to be obscuring something. Or trying to get something.

'I could have told you that Nedas is in Rome, not here in Venice. And if you wish to infiltrate the Tutela in hopes of stopping him, you will not do so here in Venezia. And certainly not on the arm of Count Benedetto Alvisi.'

'And you waited until now to apprise me of this? Why did you not tell me this before I left London? In the carriage?' Her wounds throbbed along with the angry veins in her neck.

He spread his hands. 'I did not know it at the time.'

'Victoria, do tell us what happened last night,' Aunt Eustacia interrupted. She closed arthritic fingers around her great-niece's hand. They were chilly, but strong, and her skin was soft and textured with thick weals of veins. 'And here is some cream for your bites.'

With relief, Victoria turned from Sebastian and gave a detailed description of the Tutela meeting.

'So you went alone, without taking any precautions should something go wrong.'

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 that I should have prepared for the possibility that 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 that I would wish 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 that you can 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.'

Chapter 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 was not startled; she'd sensed Sebastian's presence as he came up behind her on the ship's deck. She turned easily 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, true?' 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 do not 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 his 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 that you are more 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.'

'So you've said, but I cannot help but wonder why you would endanger yourself so, O man of no violence.'

'Why are you angry with me?'

'With you? Don't flatter yourself, Sebastian. It is anger at this whole life of mine that digs into me right now. I carry this responsibility that, despite your naive assumptions that there is a choice, I cannot choose to shirk. I am