Page 50 of Dark Master's Redemption

As Curio confronts me with my old nature, I pause. Because I feel that side of me rising; already beginning to plot and plan how much magical sway we might have with a hundred Dark Fae, all bonded as one to our cause.

But I have to abandon my ambitions of power to wield the Music of the Spheres into Ascendant Sigils, so we can break Ariana, Lucca, and me away from the Gold Eyes. A war devours me now, deep inside, as I feel a conflict between my head and my heart.

Wanting to plot and plan with my head like always—and knowing I have to use my heart instead.

“What gain is there for me now, rescuing the Dark Haven of Florence from Florian’s clutches?” I ponder aloud as I wrestle with my ambition versus my love. “For I love the Dark Haven and the Hotel, and everything it represents, and the people once bound to me who I care for. All of that, however, was to one day gain a seat upon the Vampire Council. Now, all those plans have been destroyed.”

“That’s not why you took over the Dark Haven of Florence, Quinn,” Curio says quietly. “Tell me, what was it that moved you when you killed our old Master, Emiliana DiClario, that sunny morning she slept? Was it ambition, to sit the Vampire Council in her place?”

As Curio suddenly points my inner compass in the right direction, I see where my logic has been wrong.

As I feel my heart break wide open—and realize what I’ve been missing.

“No,” I whisper, as I see where all my mental logic has failed. “Emiliana was a tyrant, and I wanted to kill her. She wasn’t just abusive; in my mind, she had failed—failed to keep safe all those who descended from her bloodline, or were bound to it. Because to me, being in charge of a Dark Haven was a responsibility; to protect all those who depended on us as their Masters to keep safe their undead hearts for all eternity. Emiliana betrayed that most sacred trust; she shat upon it, every day of her heinously long life, and laughed as she was doing so. I thought it was an abomination, and I still do, for Masters who are like that.”

“So was you killing her about ambition, or power?” Curio asks now.

“It was about love,” I say as I lock eyes with him, understanding he’s right. “It was because I loved you, and myself, and everyone else there under my charge. I knew I had to be the one to change things… or we could never be a family, safe and cared for, and loved.”

“So is taking back your Dark Haven about power?” Curio pushes me, the smallest smile upon his lips.

“No. It’s about love.” I realize now, as something fierce rises inside my heart. “Taking back our Dark Haven from Florian is about saving those I love. Those all of us love… who are counting on us to come get them back.”

As the Music pours from me now, roaring in a powerful harmony through the room, I feel my heart blaze. Where there had only been darkness and doubt after going mad into my Revenant, a fierce certainty opens up all through me, as I finally know what’s right.

That certainty gets me out of bed; I don’t even know I’ve risen, until Devi is taking a maroon silk men’s robe down from the bedpost, helping me into it. I don’t care about clothing, food, or anything else now, though. As everything inside me fixes on every weakness I know about Florian Delano, and how I might use the few resources we have to exploit them, I suddenly feel myself come rushing back.

Because I’m planning my moves now with my heart, rather than with just my head. I feel my deep inner nature to plot and plan join with my blazing heart now.

Singing all through me—as the Music careens around me a hundredfold.

That pure surge of essence and sound is soon lost, however, unable to be sustained despite how strongly it just blazed from me. But the effect it’s had, even for that briefest of moments, on Devina and Curio is massive; both are down on their knees before me, gazing at me with true awe as the after effects of that Music inundates them.

They feel its glory, even as much as I just experienced it. As that incredible sound fades from the room, without making an Ascendant’s Sigil in the air, I offer my hands. I help my beloved friends to their feet.

Even as both stare at me open-mouthed, in shock.

“Prepare our Dark Fae, Devi, Curio.” I give instructions for where I know we must begin. “For we are to have a ceremony tonight, to re-bond as one with my Master’s Kiss for all those who would have me. I intend to get our Dark Haven back, and I will not sacrifice myself to Florian Delano or any other Master, to make that happen. Not anymore. Because I know who I am now—the Master of Florence. Even though I’m a Master Dark Fae, rather than a Vampire, I am still the Master, for all those who depend on us to protect them… along with everything else we love.”

As my tirade ends, I see true belief shine in Devi's and Curio’s eyes. I don’t know if it’s my words, or my passion, or the Music’s influence still working on them—but I find I don’t care. It feels too good to have myself and my dearest comrades back, despite us all being Dark Fae now.

As I make for the walk-in closet to find something suitable to wear from the clothing Illyria brought up for both me and Lucca, a knock comes at the door. Whoever it is doesn’t wait to be invited in; pushing open the door, Arturos strides in.

A woman behind him in the shadows.

Devina and Curio are on alert, as their twin auras seethe, menacing Arturos with their winter-white and crimson-dark power. It’s clear neither of them has forgiven him one bit for the part he played in betraying me to the Gold Eyes, though Arturos has tried to make amends these past few days.

Watching them with his sea-dark gaze, however, Arturos neither raises his power to defend himself, nor gives up ground. As his gaze fixes upon me, I watch him invite the young woman behind him into the room.

As I see her in the light, surprise takes me. It’s the same Vampire-Siren woman the Music returned from her Revenant state nearly two months ago, when the Gold Eyes’ influence caused Ariana’s, Lucca’s, and my power to shatter the Bloodstone.

She seems ageless, though her visage looks young, gazing at me with serene blue-white eyes. As she watches me, I feel the weight of millennia in her.

Old, like the oldest Elder Vampires on the Council.

And just as powerful.

“Quinn. This is Luliana Ouros,” Arturos says as he watches me, gesturing at the woman. “You may recall she was the Vampire-Siren you returned with your Music weeks ago at the Bloodstone event—the only Vampire-Siren I’ve ever met, besides myself.”

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