As I stood in confusion, he offered me his arm. I accepted and we headed into the mansion together, leaving Antonio behind to follow without a word. I didn’t dare anything more.
There were whispers when Dante and I entered the mansion arm in arm. I exuded confidence and loved the attention. It was like I was nobility myself instead of a normal girl turned courtesan. I recognized many of the men from their visits to my chambers.
“Cortigiana!” I heard a voice call out and a man brought a bouquet of red roses that matched the scent of my perfume.
Dante had an odd smile and gave a small nod when I looked up to him questioningly. I accepted the flowers, realizing they were from him. A thorn had been missed and I sliced my finger on it. I tried to hide it, but the cut had not escaped Dante’s attention. We paused near the regal chair he had been sitting in the first night we had met. Another, slightly smaller chair pushed up against it. He lifted my hand and popped my bleeding finger into his mouth in front of everyone. I was shocked, but also found it oddly enticing.
On the small platform beside us was an easel with a black cloth draped over what I could only assume was a painting. I was becoming very aware that the night was more significant than a welcome home party.
We were brought drinks. Mine was red wine. His darker and thick in appearance. I finally made eye contact with Antonio. He was at the back of the room staring at me as he took a sip from his own beverage.
“Attention, my subjects!” Dante called out. “We all know we are here because I like a great party.”
Subjects? Sanuto had influence and power, but he was not a king. How could he have subjects? As I looked around, I noted that the people did project a sort of reverence for the man. Normal guests tended to be far less blatantly admiring than these men and women, these perfect, beautiful people.
There was a round of laughter and clapping. From the drunken exuberance in the room, I decided the party must have started long before we arrived.
“Some of you know, Evelina Angelis.” He gestured toward me. “Those of you who do not soon will. The time has been long since I have had a constant companion. Evelina is a woman that could rival any royalty. She is a queen to me. I wanted to announce, to you—my most faithful children, my intent to wed her.”
My eyes were still on Antonio. Vaguely, I heard Dante’s words. At the announcement, Antonio clenched the glass in his hand and it shattered. His hand was instantly coated with the crimson drink. He didn’t even seem to notice what he had done as he looked from me to Dante with an expression of pure rage.
Dante. Marriage. Queen. I had trouble processing the information.
“What do you have to say, Evelina?” He asked.
I started once, but my voice caught in my throat. “I… I have no idea what to say.” He squeezed my hand tightly as if threatening me not to embarrass him. I dared not protest so I added with a huge smile. “I am so happy that I cannot find words to express the feeling.”
It was a lie. I had no problems pretending to love the man, but marriage was sacred. There was only one person that I could see myself marrying. Now it was hopeless. In front of a crowded room, I had devoted myself to Dante. He was a man with untold power and influence. To be the bride of someone so handsome and rich should have been a dream come true. But all I could think of was the lost opportunity to have a life with Antonio.
Dante released my hand and walked over to the easel with the dark cloth. In a gesture faster than my eyes could process, he whipped back the cover like a matador taunting a bull, and revealed a painting. I was staring at myself. Was it really me? The features seemed too perfect and precise, as if the woman in the painting was more than human. Her left breast was exposed. That depiction, I thought, fit my lifestyle well enough.
An urge to flee hit me. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a man with a woman pinned to the wall. His mouth was on her throat as Dante’s was so often on mine. Something was wrong with these people… and with Master Sanuto. It was too late now. From the moment of our first encounter, it had already been far too late to escape.
***
After a night of strange passion, I awoke feeling weak in Dante’s bed. The party had been a whirl of unfamiliar faces, congratulations, and indulgences in wine, food, and body. Antonio had disappeared after the announcement and I had not seen him again for the rest of the night.
“I suppose I should set forth your rules.” Dante said from a nearby chair.
He had been silent and his voice startled me. I rubbed my neck. “Rules?” I asked.
“Claiming you as my own is a major step for me. I do not love. It is too… painful.” He broke eye contact with me briefly as if he were remembering the past. “Follow my loose guidelines and I will try.”
“Yes, Master.” I said, knowing nothing else to say.
Slowly, he stood, as if he had to deliberately make himself move at the tedious speed. “No more lovers. At times, I may allow it, but it will be decided by me only. What better way to boast to friends than give them a taste of what they cannot keep?” He laughed softly.
I smiled, albeit awkwardly. “How will I make coin?”
“You will no longer need to work. I will supply all that you need even before the wedding. This leads me to the next rule. I have a room prepared and you will live here. As long as you behave, you are free to leave to shop and venture around the city as you please.”
“What about my mother?” I asked.
He waved a hand dismissively. “I will take care of anything she may need.”
I nodded. “Thank you, sir.”
“Lastly,” he crossed his arms over his chest before continuing. “Do nothing to disrespect me whether in private or within view of the prying eyes of others.” The intensity of his voice made me tremble a bit with a fear I couldn’t place.
“I will not disappoint you.”
Without warning, he pinned me to the bed once more and his mouth was on mine with fiery passion. Despite my thoughts being jumbled and mind confused, my body responded eloquently to his touch. Images jumped out at me from the mural painted on the ceiling. Beasts and fangs, naked bodies and red pools… so much blood.
After Dante brought me to climax, he gripped my throat and held me in his gaze as if trying to discern my loyalty. His lips were pressed tightly together. Then, he turned his face away from me and from the side I saw his mouth arch open. What he was struggling with, I didn’t know.
“I need to get away from you before I take too much.” He let go, jumped off the bed to grab a robe, and opened the door. “Forgive my lack of control. It is unacceptable given my age.” He was gone.
“Take too much?” I asked out loud to myself when exited the room. Subconsciously, I had placed my hand on my tender throat again. In hindsight, my obliviousness would become apparent. If I had known, it would have changed little. I was young and being spoiled by one of the most powerful vampires in the world.
Dante was nowhere to be found as I wandered the mansion. I’d stopped in the kitchen where bottles, of what I thought to be dark red wine, were being taken down into an unlit room. Promptly, I was turned around and sent on my way by the guiding hands of a pale, weak looking servant.
“The kitchen is no place for the mistress of the house.” The man smiled. When he turned away I saw fading bruises on his neck like the ones that occasionally appeared on mine.
“I am not the mistress of anything yet.” I mumbled, further exploring the mansion. As I was heading for the library, a different person stopped me.
She was a thick, big-boned, and terrifying looking woman. “There you are, little one. I have been looking for you. Master Sanuto has assigned me to protect you should you leave the premises.”
“I… I do not think I need a bodyguard.”
“What you think is of no consequence. The Master’s word is law.” Her bulging biceps and short haircut were out of place in my part of the world and in the time period. In her leggings and tunic, she could hold he
r own with any of the men in the household.
As shocked as I was by my new protector, I immediately admired and respected the bodyguard. I’d never met a woman like her. “Okay.”
“My name is Giulia. Come, let me show you to your room and then you may explore the house further.”
Since I was unnerved by the woman towering over me, I did so with little protest. The room was at the end of a long hallway. Giulia opened the door for me and I stepped inside. “Are you sure this is my room?”
“Of course. I will leave you now. Should you wish to leave the premises you can send a servant to find me. I will not be far.” The bodyguard turned and left me quickly.
I should have noted how inhumanly agile and quick her movements were, but I didn’t. All my attention was focused on my new chamber. The room dwarfed any room I had seen before. It was like a miniature house within a house. I stepped further inside, drawing in a soft gasp.
A voice from behind made me jump and turn around. “This is the royal suite. Or was, I should say. I suspect Dante will give future guests a different place to rest. Then again, if they slept with you, it would be no different than the days you are accustomed to.”
“Antonio,” I whispered. As interested as I had been in the room, my focus immediately went to the man that filled my daily and nightly fantasies.
He walked into the room with a disgusted look on his face. “This is all pretty on the outside, but being a possession of the master can be a dark, sinister existence. Any sense of freedom is only an illusion. After a while, you will long for escape, but a strange loyalty will keep you by his side.”
“What was I supposed to do? I could not say no. He would never have allowed it.”
“He would not. You are correct.” A flash of anger hit me full force when he locked his amber eyes on me.
I stepped toward Antonio and rested a hand on his shoulder to try to ease the fury. “I live here now. There is no reason we cannot have a relationship without Dante’s knowledge.”
Unexpectedly, Antonio grabbed me by the throat and pinned me to the wall. “You are nothing but a young plaything. You would sentence us both to death.”
“You are hurting me.” I managed to say softly. My voice came out so low I wasn’t even sure he could hear me.
“We are never to speak again. If you see me in the halls or at the parties, or even on the street, do not look at me. Do not smile. Do not wave. Never think about me. Dante knows all.” Antonio’s grip loosened and his hand slid to my cheek before stopping. Then his lips pressed to mine roughly and hungrily before he stalked out of my room.
Heartbroken and confused, I flung myself onto my lavish new bed and burst into tears. A kiss like that could only mean goodbye.
***
One can only cry for so long before the act exhausts them. I slipped out of my room and headed toward the library that had caught my attention earlier in the day. It could be my sanctuary. The worlds were limitless in the pages of the books and I wanted to get lost in them. My desire to learn was insatiable. I knew I could hold my own in a man’s world if given the chance. It would be a long time before I would be able to prove it.
The scent of the library relaxed some of the tension from my body. From floor to ceiling, there were thousands of books. To read them all would have taken lifetimes. A large map spread across a table in the center of the room depicted the world in a way I had never seen. The boot was Italy, I knew that. Asia, France, England. Those I could point out even without the words written on them. Across the water, there was a large landmass, but it was minimally charted. That was the first time I saw the Americas. Amazed, I left the map alone and walked around the room, lightly touching the books with my fingertips.
A large, leather bound tome caught my attention. The cover was dark and adorned with strange lettering I didn’t recognize. I brought it over to one of the couches and placed it on the soft material. At first, I couldn’t read anything, then about halfway through the words were written in my own language. The story spoke of undying gods.
No one knows who ascended to become the first earthbound god. Legends tell of a nameless prophet wandering the lands and drinking blood from his dedicated followers. The more he consumed, the more uncontrollable his lust became. It is said after draining the last of his people, he realized his error. In a panic, the regretful god slit his wrist to feed the only remaining, but dying woman. Thus, our first queen ascended to stand beside her maker and king.
Years passed and together they discovered the limits of their existence. They created followers with undying devotion. The queen longed for something more. Years turned to decades and decades faded into centuries. During all this time, the queen never conceived. The awful truth was that the vampire women lacked the ability to breed.
Disgusted, I slammed the book shut. “Blasphemy.” I stared at the book, longing to toss it into a fire. My curiosity urged me to read further, though. There was more to learn about the beings that lived on the blood of humans. Besides, I thought it was only a story. It had to be a fictional tale like the ones about the ancient gods of Greece and Rome.
For hours, I read about the travels, wars, and oppression the gods wrought on humans. There were mentions of weapons the people had raised against the vampires in resistance. Crucifixes and garlic were useless, but held onto by the superstitious. Another legend caught my attention. It told of the rare occasion of a vampire birth.
“A vampire being born? Horrible.”
In the time of ancient Rome, a beautiful human wife birthed a vampire for the first time in recorded history. His father, a great vampire in his own right, became leader of all his people when the news spread. The child did not need blood to live until he began his transition into manhood. This son of gods spilled more blood in his ravenous first year as a man than most other vampires had in a lifetime.
A second time, I shut the book and pushed it away. I lay down on my back, looking up at the ceiling as I thought about the stories. The fictional world of vampires wasn’t one I would have chosen to escape into, but it fascinated me.
Abruptly, the door to the library slammed open. I slinked down on the couch and closed my eyes. If it was Dante, I didn’t want to be in trouble for hiding away in the library if he’d been looking for me. It wasn’t him. I could hear two voices.
“Stop it. Look, someone is in here.” A feminine voice whispered.
They were looking at me. I knew it. With effort, I maintained the appearance of being asleep.
“I paid you to entertain me because you are my favorite and that is what you are going to do. The mistress sleeps. We can be quiet. I cannot wait any longer.”
“Nicolo, why are you so aggressive? You have never behaved like this before?” The woman said.
That’s when I recognized her voice. Her name was Laura and she was another courtesan. I’d seen her at a few of the parties I’d worked. The woman captivated men and she was almost as requested as I was.
“You have no idea what it is like when a man gets hungry.” He growled at her.
A scuffling of feet and the sound of a body being pushed up against a table told me they had moved past me. They were no doubt charting a new course on that map. Cautiously, I cracked open one eye and peeked over the arm of the sofa to catch a glimpse of the action. Nicolo began to use poor Laura viciously. Nothing she couldn’t handle, I was sure. All the girls had been with a guy like that. But then, he bent her head to the side and bit into her flesh. Loudly, he sucked on her neck like he was starving.
For a second, I thought I would vomit. Then, I started shaking. The girl needed my help, but what was I but a courtesan myself? My mouth opened and I fully intended to threaten Nicolo. Or at the very least, throw a book at him. Instead, a scream pierced the room. At first I didn’t realize it came from me. In a scramble, I darted for the door. If they were chasing me, I wouldn’t have known. I didn’t look back. As I rounded a corner and headed down the stairs, Dante greeted me at the halfway po
int.
“Evelina, my dear. What is wrong?” He pulled me close to his chest.
“There is a… vamp… a vampire in the library. He bit Laura and she is going to die unless you help her.”
Dante’s eyes slanted for a second. “Cease this nonsense. There is no such thing. That would be like telling me you saw a ghost. Foolish girls. Isn’t that right, Antonio?”
“She is young, Master. You know how their fantasies get worked up in their imagination.” Antonio answered.
I peered around Dante to see Antonio looking into my eyes. Until I’d heard his name, I had no idea he was there. But, that didn’t matter. Laura needed help. “Please, I know what I saw. Come with me.” Firmly, I grabbed Dante’s hand and pulled him up the stairs toward the library. With the two large men in my wake, I no longer needed to flee.
Master Sanuto gently moved me to the side with a delicate push of his arm and, with both hands on the handles, pushed the double doors open wide in dramatic fashion. Nicolo sat on a sofa with Laura resting in his lap. There was no blood that I could see as I stepped forward.
“I know what I saw. I swear.”
Dante walked over to the couple and pulled down the lace against Laura’s pale neck. “There is a small mark, but nothing greater than the result of heavy foreplay. You cannot throw accusations around like this, Evelina.”
“Did we do something wrong, Master Sanuto?” Nicolo asked.
A sharp, hateful glare from Dante silenced the man. “Not that I can see.” He moved from the couple and turned his attention back to me. “What were you doing in here?”
I walked over to the couch I’d been relaxing on. “I read a little. That is all. Then, I saw him bite her. His actions were violent.”
Antonio followed me, picking up the book I had left resting on the couch. “What sort of book is this? Vampires as the true gods?” He scoffed, appearing repulsed by the idea. “I think it is pretty obvious what transpired.”
“The library was here when I purchased the home. I am sure there are many books with little knowledge of value between the pages.” Dante moved closer to me and gripped my arm roughly. “Antonio is right. It is clear to me that you fell asleep after reading this filth and dreamed the whole situation up.”