Page 48

“We need to know anything you can tell us about the Bargain and the witches who sealed it.”

“I’m not sure I will be too much help, but I will try. The archives tell us that there were many witches around at that time. Called by Alberto Capelli, hosted by the Firenze court. But their names? I’m not sure I have them. They have been lost to the mists of time, which is exactly how the witches would want it. Why?”

Minnie pulls a face. “Well, we think one of them cast a blood spell on Rosa and Luca … um, Luca da Firenze. Or possibly Luca d’Argento.”

Bruno’s eyes flash with interest, and he frowns. “Luca da Firenze. He is the vampire who has replaced Vincenzo. He is the one who helped foil Tomasso’s plan.”

“Yes,” I say. “He’s also the absolute, one hundred percent, total love of my life. Even without the blood spell.”

I have no idea how he will respond to that, but I need to be upfront about it. He looks confused for a split second. “A vampire and a Seer, in love? Well, why not? We live in a world where a Vecchissime elder slaughters innocents, so nothing makes sense anymore. I will trust you, Rosa. If you love him, then I will believe that he must be worthy of that love. His actions certainly suggest so. Now. This name, d’Argento? It is interesting you should mention it. What is his connection to that dynasty?”

“Dynasty?” I echo. “Um … well. We’re not totally sure. He’s never really known his origin, and big shock here, but it seems like Vincenzo and Giulia lied to him about it. We think that his mother and his father were d’Argentos. We don’t know much more than that.”

“We know a little more,” Minnie adds. “She spoke Florentine. They were based in Tuscany. There was a family estate, some kind of village, that was possibly burned?”

Bruno nods, looking increasingly interested. “And your Luca—he was the son of this family?”

“Yes. He doesn’t remember it though, not really. He was transformed on the day the Bargain was sealed, apparently, and all memories of his human life were wiped out.”

“That seems like a little too much of a coincidence, no?” Bruno asks. “Especially when you know what the d’Argentos allegedly were.”

Minnie and I share a look. She shakes her head. “Could you enlighten us?” she asks.

“The legend has it that the d’Argentos were the most powerful family of witches on the planet. Their lineage, as the story goes, could be traced back to pre-biblical times.”

I’m surprised, but Minnie looks completely dumbfounded. She frowns, tries out a few words, all of them stuttering into oblivion. She rubs her eyes. “No. Hang on. That can’t be right. I’m a witch. I know a lot of other witches. I’m not … uh, I’m not without connections.”

I know the witches don’t have the same official structures as the Coscas or even the Vecchissime; they’re always very much on the side of the organic and the natural and forming any kind of strict hierarchy wouldn’t sit easily with them. But like all societies, they have their elders, their wise ones. Their pecking orders, I suppose. An unofficial council of sorts. I’m not surprised that Minnie has access to that, and apparently neither is Bruno.

He smiles gently, a twinkle in his deep brown eyes. “Indeed, Minerva. I am aware of who you are, and where you come from. But I can assure you, what I’m telling you is the truth, as far as I have encountered it.”

She gives me a little side-eye. I wonder where she does come from? How does Bruno know more than me?

“I’m not accusing you of lying, Mr. Lombardi, it’s just that I’ve literally never heard of them. I’d never heard the name d’Argento before Luca mentioned it. If they were such a big deal, why aren’t they more well-known?”

“I cannot answer that. My knowledge of them is based on one partially burned book and two further accounts. As records go, it is flimsy, and in all honesty, until right now, I had assumed that they were the stuff of myth, merely a story. And the story says that they were wiped out, completely and utterly, around the time the Bargain was signed. In fact, from what I’ve pieced together from those scant records, their slaughter was a mystery that shocked our world. One of the accounts is so lurid that I believed it might be merely fiction cooked up to show that even the most powerful can fall. But now you tell me a d’Argento survived … not only survived but was transformed? This could change everything we thought we knew. And history, as we all know, is written by the victors.”

This is all moving too fast. There’s too much information, and none of it feels real or certain, and I don’t understand it. “Wait. Slow down. So, Luca is a witch? How can that be true?”

Minnie is as shocked as I am at the whole idea. “He hates witches …” she murmurs. “Apart from me, of course. I’m his buddy. But he really doesn’t like them, does he?”

“No,” I reply. “He thinks most of them are megalomaniacs pretending to be hippies.”

She snorts out a laugh. “He may have a point. But I’ve never sensed it in him, never felt that about him, even when I was doing a deep dive inside his head looking for that blood spell. Surely, there’d be a hint?”

Bruno thinks about it. “I do not know. From what you are saying, he does not even know it himself. Perhaps being transformed into a vampire suppressed his witch heritage? Or perhaps he didn’t inherit it at all, just because his parents were powerful doesn’t mean the same is guaranteed for him. He could be ordinary.”

“Believe me, he is the least ordinary man you’ll ever meet,” I tell him. I’m already wondering how I’m going to explain all of this to Luca, never mind what it means in the bigger picture. Minnie nods in agreement.

“She’s right, Mr. Lomabardi⁠—”

“Please, call me Bruno.”

“Okay. She’s right, Bruno. Luca is special. There’s something about him; he’s just got that little extra, you know? People respect him, fear him, like him. They want to follow him. He’s the only person who could have taken power from Vincenzo. It’s because of him that Tomasso Capelli was stopped. I mean, Rosa too, obviously, but without Luca stepping in and challenging Vincenzo? Well. Rosa would probably be dead.”

Or worse, I think, shuddering a little. I’d be chained to a bed, being raped by my own brother, in the hopes of producing a line of Capelli-controlled Seers.

Bruno nods, accepting this. “I understand. So, I wonder … how powerful would he be if he was also a witch?” It’s an interesting question. The answer is probably along the lines of “pretty fucking powerful.” It might also explain why Luca has always been capable of more than other vamps. The way he was able to appear at will in my visions, the way we could physically be together while we were actually apart. Back in Chicago, a million years ago, he Called me in a vision in a way that had never happened before. To be precise, he made me come in a vision. Except it wasn’t just a vision. I was somehow there with him in his hotel room, while I was also in my own apartment. We assumed that was the blood spell at work, but maybe not—maybe it was just Luca. It could explain why our mental link is still there, even without the spell. It surely explains the silver eyes and his high tolerance for pain of pretty much any kind. I’ve never seen a vamp with such extensive silver tattoos as his.