Page 18 of Depths of Hunger

“Obviously it is important. So important you flew across the sky and ended up here just after dark last week and you haven’t left. That’s a hell of a risk you took so something must have happened.”

“I got…carried away, and Mia…” For some reason, I didn’t want to talk about Mia being a virgin with my brother. I thought I had long ago given up caring about what people thought but Mia seems to have changed that. “Mia started to bleed.”

Nico blinked and then nodded. “And you wanted to feed on her.”

I nod. Although younger, Nico has always been even-tempered and wise beyond his several hundred years. He is often the voice of reason in my head. “I wanted to do more than feed. I wanted to fuck her and drain the life out of her at the same time. I haven’t been that far gone since I was a young vampire. I pride myself on my control. Mia will never know how close she came to dying that night. This is why marrying a human is a bad idea. Being around humans, in general, is challenging enough. I miss the days when we just killed the ones that annoyed us.”

Nico grins. “It’s the stress.”

I frown. “What? I’m a vampire. We don’t do stress.”

He ignores my outburst. “This whole dead capo business on top of the marriage, on top of the situation with the turned vampires in Berlin. It’s not just you. We’re all on edge. There’s something…” my brother’s voice fades out as he stares at the canal.

“I feel it too. Something is coming. A shift of some kind. Something I have never felt before. I keep having strange dreams. It’s as if the magick world is trying to tell me something, send me a warning and I just can’t understand the message.”

Nico nods his agreement. “I feel the same way. Luca, as well.”

“We all feel it,” my father says as he enters the room. “I am going to the magick realm later to see if I can discover more. For now… be careful, stay on guard.” He stood next to his desk. “Renzo, I am sorry toadd to your stress, but you have to go back tonight. Now. You have a meeting with the other families. Mia had called it when you were in prison, and I think it’s smart to keep it.”

“I will go right after I feed.” I stand. “I’ve asked all my human and magickal informants here in Venezia if anyone has heard anything about either Russo’s murder or the Albanian vampires. So far, no one has anything to report.” I clench my fists to quell the frustration creeping through me.

My father takes a seat in one of the visitor chairs across the desk from Nico. “I am getting silence as well.” He studies me. “Your wife moved swiftly to maintain control.”

I growl.

“It was a smart move and not just for her. It was the best move for us, as well. Do not be too quick to judge her as being too ambitious. She made the right call and if you had been stuck in jail, it would be better for all of us if she was in charge. Your brothers will help her if… it comes to that.”

“What do you mean if it comes to that?” I demand. “I didn’t kill Russo. It’s probably the only thing I haven’t done recently but I didn’t do it.”

Father agrees. “You didn’t kill him, but someone wants you to go down for his murder. I don’t have to tell you that there is nothing worse for us than going to prison. We cannot risk the exposure of our true natures. Humans are not ready for that...”

Yeah, he didn’t need to tell me that. My hand bones creak from the intensity of my clench. “So what are you saying?” I ask.

“I’m saying that if it comes down to it and it looks like you are going to prison, you will have to go reinvent yourself somewhere.”

I stare at my father incredulous. It was one thing to think it, but it was another thing all together to have Father suggest it. “Are you banishing me?”

He looks up at me, startled. “I would never banish you. I am merely stating that if we cannot figure out this Russo problem, you are going to have to start again somewhere else. We all do it every so many years.”

“But we all do it together. You are talking about sending me away all on my own.” I can’t believe my father is even suggesting such a thing.

“It will be safer for all of us if you disappear for a while. Only if we can’t figure out what happened to Russo. You can go live in the magick realm if you want. I don’t care but I want you to be prepared just in case.”

I grind my teeth. I’m prepared all right. I’m not giving up my life because some fucker has framed me. I will fight, and I will exhaust all my energies to hunt down whoever did this to me. Retribution will be sweet and satisfying.

“So we keep digging,” I say.

Nico stands. “I have a few contacts to check. I’ll keep my ear to the ground.” He came around the desk and stood beside me. He lays his hand on my shoulder and squeezes gently. “Don’t worry, brother, you’re not going anywhere. We’ll get this shit sorted out and then you can go back to ruling the underworld and screwing your new wife.”

I say nothing but I appreciate the support. It was more than I was getting from my father. “I’ve got to go. I’ll keep you informed on how the meeting goes.” I leave the room on the way to the kitchen where we store the blood.

Renzo, don’t think I am not behind you one-hundred-percent. These are strange times, and we need to be prepared for anything. All of us. I cannot let you go to prison for murder. It will mean we are unmasked. I can’t let that happen. As king of this seethe, it’s my job to keep us all safe.

My father’s voice fades from my mind. I hear what he is saying but I also hear what he isn’t saying, at least not to me. He will sacrifice me if it means keeping our existence a secret. That knowledge stings, but I understand his thinking. He doesn’t have a choice, but I do. And if it comes to it, he will have a damn hard time killing me because I do not plan on going down without a fight.

Chapter

Nine

---