Venice Vampyr - The Beginning

Her heartbeat doubled as she looked at the item that her hand gripped tightly: a stake! She was holding a wooden stake. A gasp escaped her. Had her father hunted vampires? Had he killed men like Lorenzo?

But she had no chance to think on it further, a movement to her left entering her vision. As she turned her head, Lorenzo vaulted himself onto her and wrestled her onto her back, his strong arms gripping her wrists and pressing them against the mattress to both sides of her head. At the same time he straddled her, pinning her to the bed so she was unable to move.

When she caught the look on his face, she shrieked. His eyes were glaring red, and his fangs were extended. He growled low and dark.

“You too? How could you?” Disbelief carried in his voice. “You devious bitch! I trusted you!”

She knew what it must look like, and knowing what his former lover had done, she could only too easily understand his anger. “Lorenzo! Please, don’t hurt me! Please, I didn’t—”

He flashed his fangs at her and snarled. “You tried to kill me!” Then he threw his head back. “And to think that I loved you! What an idiot I am!”

“No, no!” she pleaded. “I didn’t try to hurt you.”

He let out a bitter laugh. “Oh, no? The stake in your hand says otherwise.” He wrung the offending item from her palm and tossed it off the bed.

“I found it! It’s not mine. It was with the treasure!” Bianca closed her eyes, willing away the tears that threatened to burst to the surface. He wouldn’t believe her tears. Her only chance at making him believe her was to tell him the truth, all of it, every ugly detail.

“What treasure?”

She swallowed hard before she opened her eyes again. His gaze was as angry as before, yet she’d never thought him more beautiful. And she would lose him now. Once he knew of her past, he would toss her out onto the street. At least she would be alive, even though she couldn’t imagine living without Lorenzo. He’d come to mean everything to her in the last few days.

“My father, he told me of a treasure he’d hidden in this house. He said it was worth more than the house itself.”

Lorenzo huffed, but said nothing.

“I came back to find it so that I could finally start a new life. I’m not a lady. I’m not the gently bred daughter of a Venice merchant anymore. You deserve to know what I did. I’ve deceived you. I’ve hidden my shame, and I’m sorry. But when my father tried to marry me off to some old man I hated, I had to run. I had to escape.”

She closed her eyes and allowed a tear to escape. “To survive I became a courtesan. I’m no better than a common whore.”

“Bianca—”

“No! Don’t say anything now. Hear me out. I tried to escape my lot. When my father died, I came back to find the treasure he’d spoken to me about so many years ago. But then Signore Mancini told me that the house had already been sold. I let myself in, hoping the new owner wouldn’t move in until the next week. By that time I would have been gone with my treasure. But then you came that night—”

“You weren’t at the house hoping to seduce me so you could stay and snag yourself a rich husband?”

She shook her head. “No! Of course not. All I wanted was to search for my father’s treasure and leave to start a new life where nobody knew me.”

Lorenzo eased his grip on her wrists. “Go on.”

“You know the rest.”

“No. Tell me why you stayed and allowed me to seduce you into my bed.”

She averted her eyes, feeling embarrassment sweep over her at the memory of their intimacies. “At first, I stayed merely to continue my search. But then—”

“Then?” His eyes were back to their normal color now, and his fangs had retreated too.

“I stayed because I didn’t want to leave you. I felt something I’d never felt before.”

***

Lorenzo’s heartbeat slowed as his anger started to slowly dissipate. “If you have feelings for me, then why did you try to kill me?”

“I didn’t. I found the stake. There.” She pointed past him toward the head of the bed. “It was with the treasure.” She gave an unladylike snort. “And what treasure it was: a stupid ring and a piece of paper. Worthless! Now I have nothing.”

Lorenzo turned to look behind him and saw the opening in the headboard. A secret hiding place and cleverly done at that. He’d never noticed it, not that he’d given the piece of furniture more than a cursory glance before. Every time he’d been in this room, his entire attention had been lavished on Bianca, and he’d never really taken in any details about his surroundings.

As he was about to turn back to Bianca, his gaze fell onto the pillow. The black onyx ring contrasted against the white linen.

“Hell!” he cursed and picked up the evil item, snapping his head back to her. “This was the ring you found?”

She nodded.

“Do you realize what this is?”

“It’s just a worthless ring. It’s not even a diamond.” The disappointment in her voice told him that she really had no idea what she’d stumbled upon.

“This, my sweet, is the ring of a Guardian.”