Venice Vampyr - The Beginning

He gave her a soft kiss on her lips. “You did get shot. You almost died. I took the bullet out of you. But, that’s not all.” Dante looked at his brother. How should he tell her what had happened? How could he explain to her what he was? What she was now too?

“Just tell her,” Raphael said.

Dante swallowed hard.

“Tell me what?”

***

Viola stared at Dante, who seemed insecure for the first time since she’d met him. Something was odd. While she could have sworn she’d felt the impact of the bullet and the pain that followed, she felt better than she had in a long time. She wasn’t tired, and there wasn’t even a hint of her usual headache. No throbbing, no dull ache, nothing. She felt the way she had before she’d gotten ill. No, better. She felt so full of energy she wanted to run a race, just for the fun of it.

All her senses seemed sharper too. Her eyesight was better—not that it had been bad before, but now she could see the smallest detail on Isabella’s embroidered gown and even the intricate filigree on the buttons that graced Raphael’s waistcoat. Not to speak of her sense of smell. Her nostrils flared as she tilted her head more in Isabella’s direction. She smelled distinctly different than the three men in the room. She’d never noticed the difference before.

“My love.” Dante’s endearment jolted her out of her observations. “This might seem strange at first, but there’s something important I have to tell you.”

Viola raised her hand and cupped his cheek. The knowledge that he was alive and well was all she needed. Nothing else could be as important.

Dante turned his head and kissed her palm. “I made you into one of us.”

Dante’s words made no sense. “One of you?”

“Yes, you’re like me and Raphael and Lorenzo now. Immortal.”

She let out a soft laugh. “You’re funny.”

“No. I gave you my blood so you could live. Viola, I’m a vampire.”

At his assertion, she jolted, her hand slipping from his face. She couldn’t have heard right. “Sorry, can you say that again? I think I misheard.”

Dante gave a slow shake of his head. “You heard right. I’m a vampire. And I turned you into one, otherwise you would have died. Even if you hadn’t gotten shot by Salvatore. I’m sorry, but there was no time to explain. I had to act. Swiftly.”

Viola listened to his words. Slowly, they sunk in.

“You were slipping away. I couldn’t let you die. I had to change you instantly.”

She tried to understand the implications of his words. “You’re a vampire? Immortal?”

He nodded.

“And I’m one too? But my brain tumor ... I’ll still die.”

A warm smile curled around his lips and spread over his entire face.

Hope bloomed inside her. “Won’t I?”

“No. Any illness you had was eradicated by the turning. You’re healthy. Your tumor is gone. You’re immortal.”

Your tumor is gone. Those were the only words she truly understood. She would live. Her life wasn’t over. She had another chance. Her heart filled with joy, making it so full it would burst if she didn’t give her emotions free reign.

Tears pushed forward and escaped. “Oh, my God.”

Dante’s face twisted as if in pain. “I’m so sorry, Viola.” He dropped his head and avoided looking at her. “Forgive me.”

“Forgive you?” He’d given her a new life, the greatest gift she could have ever wished for. She’d never been happier. She took his chin and made him look at her. Regret was evident in his eyes. He’d misunderstood her tears. “I would like to give you an answer to your question now.”

“My question?”

She smiled and drew closer to him. “I want to be your wife. For eternity.” Before she’d even finished the last word, his lips were on hers, kissing her breathless. He only lifted them long enough for a murmured “yes” against her mouth before he claimed her with his tongue, forging deep inside.

Only the clearing of throats in the room made her realize that they were not alone. Dante severed the kiss and turned his head briefly to the others in the room. “Go away.”

Viola chuckled. “That’s rude, Dante.”

“I don’t care. I want to make love to you now.”

Raphael laughed out loud. “Last time I checked, you did have a bedchamber, my dear brother. I suggest you use it.” He hesitated for a brief second before he continued. “And, Dante, the storage room next to my chamber is off limits from now on. Get your kicks somewhere else.”





Chapter Twenty




The door closed with a loud thud that echoed through the entire house. Dante didn’t care what anybody thought. He wasn’t even surprised Raphael knew that they’d watched him and Isabella make love. After all, Viola had been quite vocal that night, and Raphael would have picked up the sounds with his superior vampire hearing.

But none of that mattered.

Viola was alive, and she’d accepted him for what he was.

Dante captured his soon-to-be wife between his body and the door at her back, pressing her against it.

“Is your brother angry with us?”

“Raphael? Hardly. I’m sure he got a kick out of it himself, knowing we watched him and Isabella.”