Page 16 of The Vanishing
He shakes his head, eyes still closed. “It does not matter.” He inhales a shaky breath and opens his eyes to meet her gaze. “You both entrusted me with him and I… I have failed you.”
Leaning forward, Cellina wraps her arms around his shoulders. “Don’tsaythat. He’s alive—we’ll get him back. Let’s go in the kitchen and talk, alright?” She releases him and rises to her feet. “Please? Will you stand?”
She reaches her hands out toward him. After a moment of hesitation, Haruka grasps them, allowing her to help pull him up from the tatami floor. When he’s standing, she clasps one of his hands warmly within hers and they all move to leave the library.
* * *
“I toldmy father the name Lajos Almeida, and he recognized it.” Giovanni takes a long sip of his coffee as they sit at the kitchen table. The patio doors are cracked open. Cellina can hear the soft drizzle of rain hitting the courtyard pavement like a subtle soundtrack to their conversation.
Haruka stares at his teacup. He hasn’t touched it, but the heat of it swirls and dances in the shadowy light. He flicks his eyes up at Giovanni. “In what way?”
“A long time ago—he said maybe two hundred years? Father was young. This was before he’d even met our mother. A vampire with the name Lajos Almeida requested a visit with him, claiming he was doing research.
“Father said he remembered it because he’d never met a purebred with such dogmatic, harsh views on ranked vampires. He said it disturbed him and that Lajos was obviously trying to get a feel for whether they shared the same views. Father didn’t—his best friend, Andrea, is Cellina’s father, a first-generation male he grew up with in Milan.”
The image of Cellina’s handsome, dark-haired father flashes in her mind. He and Domenico—Nino and Giovanni’s father—had been like brothers until Domenico fell ill and hid himself away. Her father often talks about how much he misses him, but Domenico has been refusing all outside guests for decades.
Giovanni takes another quick sip of his coffee. “Father said the meeting was uncomfortable, so he wrapped things up fast and sent the purebred on his way. He never thought anything else about him.”
“Lajos said…” Haruka pauses, thinking. “That he has created a ‘pure and perfect’ society where there are no ranked vampires. Was he trying to recruit your father at that time?”
Giovanni shrugs. “It’s possible. Father said he never heard from him again.”
“What Lajos did to Nino,” Cellina chimes in, “is how they describe the Vanishing in history books. Do you think Lajos had something to do with the Great Vanishing?”
They all pause, their eyes flickering to one another. Asao huffs from the counter behind them. “Shady old bastard.”
“If he was recruiting,” says Haruka, his eyes doggedly tired but bright for the first time since they sat at the table, “does this mean that those disappeared vampires still exist somewhere? And that perhaps they volunteered to be part of this new realm?”
“I don’t know about volunteering,” Asao pipes up again, folding his arms. “Think about Sora Fujihara’s father. He was purebred, but happily mated with a first-gen female. I don’t think he would have agreed to go to some purist society and abandon his partner and child.”
Haruka exhales. “Right… yes. In the historic records detailing those impacted by the Vanishing, there are similar cases of disappeared purebreds who were bonded with ranked vampires—but just a few. If their views were so conservative, they would not have mated with creatures of mixed blood.”
Sadness weighs heavy in Cellina’s heart. The ranked vampires left behind had all died within a few weeks of their mates disappearing. While it’s difficult to survive a mate’s death in a bond, it’s impossible for a ranked vampire bonded with a purebred. After being conditioned to consume such potent, rich blood, their bodies can’t survive without it—like being perilously addicted to a drug.
Giovanni sits back against the chair, bringing his fingers up to massage the center of his forehead. “This shit is unbelievable. Look—Lajos took Nino because he wantsLore and Lust, right?”
“Yes,” Haruka confirms.
“He told you to calm down and reconsider, so he’ll be back.”
Asao nods in agreement. “That’s whatIsaid.”
“So when he comes back, we’ll demand that he return Nino.” Giovanni opens his eyes to look at Haruka. “In exchange, you’ll give him the book. Do you have a problem parting with the manuscript?”
“Ofcoursenot,” Haruka breathes, exasperated. “If I could have fathomed that Lajos would go this far, he could have taken the book from the beginning. None of this is necessary—this barbaric and guerrilla style of negotiation. What century are we in? And when he was taken, Nino had not fed from me in a few days. How can someone who proclaims to have such high regard for purebreds simultaneously treat us with such contempt? To separate a bonded couple by force?”
“Hypocrite bastard.” Asao scowls. “He gives us old guys a bad name, you know? Get with the damn times.”
Giovanni leans with his elbows against the table and focuses on Haruka once more. “Asao said he hasn’t informed anyone in your realm about this. What have you been communicating to them? Who’s handling Nino’s business appointments? And yours?”
Haruka blinks, emotionless. He’s looking at Giovanni as if he’s a brick wall. “That is the furthest thing from my mind.”
“No one,” Asao answers. “Everything has just been paused for the past two days. I’ve made as many calls as I can to apologize, but things are getting suspicious. They can’t keep no-showing appointments without an explanation like this. It’s social suicide—and they’ve only been establishing themselves for a year.”
Cellina frowns. “Nino has worked so hard to get his Osaka and Kyoto contacts secured and confident in his ability.” Every time they talk, he gives her thorough updates about his progress. Nino loves his new work and position. The singular entity that excites him more is the distraught vampire sitting beside her.
Giovanni focuses his sharp eyes on her again. Cellina swallows.
