Out of the Shadows 029
A 5-star machine-augmented MIDNIGHT'S WAR novel
She shrugged slightly. “Central Italy has been very peaceful ever since.”
Elliott nodded. Medici’s self-restraint wasn’t weakness, he realized. It was the patience of a predator who was confident in his ability to kill whenever he deemed it to be the right time.
“Come,” Chiara said, rising to her feet with fluid grace. “Let me show you to your quarters. You need rest, even if you don’t sleep the way you used to.”
They left the study, passing through corridors that seemed to shift between centuries with each turn. Modern security doors gave way to medieval arches, high-tech laboratories sat adjacent to chambers that looked like they’d been carved by Roman slaves. The Citadel was a palimpsest, each era leaving its mark without erasing what came before.
“How long have you been coming here?” Elliott asked as they walked.
“About four years. Lorenzo sometimes needs guides for special guests, people who require more than just a tour of the Colosseum.” She glanced at him sidelong. “Though you’re the first I’ve ever guided who ended up joining the family.”
“Lucky me.”
She stopped at an ornate door marked with symbols Elliott couldn’t read. “This will be your suite. The locks are biometric, keyed to your DNA. Even a vampire can’t break in without triggering the defenses.”
The suite beyond was luxurious without being ostentatious—a sitting room with comfortable modern furniture, a bedroom with a bed large enough for three, a bathroom that belonged in a five-star hotel, and a small study with a desk already equipped with what looked like a state-of-the-art computer and a thirty-inch flatscreen.
“There’s a kitchen too,” Chiara said, noting his exploration. “Though I tend to doubt you cook.”
“Everything normal seems rather beside the point now,” Elliott said, hearing the bitterness in his own voice.
Chiara moved closer, her warmth noticeable even to his altered senses. “Not everything. You’re still you, Elliott. Changed, enhanced, but the core of who you are remains.”
“Does it? I wanted to kill those bastards tonight. When those hunters attacked, when I learned about Romanov… I wanted to tear them apart. Physically. That’s not the man I was.”
“No,” she agreed. “It’s the very special man you’re becoming. The question is whether you’ll let the beast inside define you or you’ll define it.”
They were standing close now, close enough that he could smell her perfume—something subtle and Italian. But beneath it was the scent of her blood, warm and alive and impossibly tempting. And he could smell something else too. She wasn’t afraid, he realized. She was excited.
“Aren’t you afraid of me, Chiara?”
“Not even a little.”
She smiled. Her eyes were bright under the dark eyeliner, and he noticed that she was breathing quickly, and her heart was beating faster. “It’s natural,” she said softly. “The hunger. Lorenzo told me you haven’t fed properly since your transformation.”
“I’ve been using the blood bags that Medici’s people provide me.”
“It’s not the same, is it? I’ve heard it’s rather like drinking water instead of wine.”
Elliott forced himself to step back, to put distance between them. “Medici sent you here to feed me?”
“He sent me here to help you,” Chiara corrected. “How I do that is up to me. To us.” She moved to the window, looking out at the underground garden with its impossible flowers blooming in artificial sunlight. “You know, when I first learned about vampires, I expected monsters. Demons of raw hunger and violence. Instead, I found them to be creatures who were capable of incredible beauty and terrible cruelty, sometimes in the same moment. Not so different from humans, really. Just… more.”
“More dangerous.”
“More everything,” she said, turning back to him. “Every rose has its thorns.”
Elliott joined her at the window, careful to maintain distance. “And you’re not afraid of them. Of us?”
“Of vampires in general? Sometimes. Of you?” She smiled. “No. I think you’d rather harm yourself than hurt me. It’s the old ones, the monsters who’ve forgotten what it means to be human, who frighten me the most.”
“Like Medici?”
“No, Lorenzo remembers his humanity very well. He just chooses when to utilize it.” She touched the glass, her reflection ghostlike against the garden beyond. “He likes you, you know. He sees the potential in you for more than just your work.”
“Potential for what?”
“To be more than just another predator. To be an ally who can help him bridge the gap between our worlds.” She turned to face him fully. “Your recollection of humanity isn’t a weakness, Elliott. It’s what makes you valuable to him. And, perhaps, even more dangerous to others.”
She smiled again, and the dinner with Blackrock, the attack, the hunters, and the revelation about Romanov’s treachery suddenly all seemed surreal, like something from a movie, or a dream. But the beautiful young woman in front of him was real, warm, and alive in ways he was already beginning to forget.
She slid her arms around him and looked up at him. Eagerly. Expectantly. Without any trace of fear.
He bent his head toward her and their lips met.
Out of the Shadows is available in Kindle, KU, audibook, and hardcover editions.