Shattered Circle

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Giovanni’s knee was bouncing impatiently as he sat in the darkened back of the white van. It was parked near Blood Culture—downtown Cleveland’s vampire bar.

Neither of them could be sated by Adam every night, let alone two of them. They needed him to drive them, and to watch over them during the day, so they agreed to send him in to buy blood.

It risked exposing that Giovanni was back in town, but Liyliy had already been seen and they hoped the man’s purchase would be linked only to her. To reinforce that idea, after Adam had been inside for a few minutes, Giovanni told Liyliy, “Perhaps you should step outside the van and be seen by observers near the club.”

“But I am hideous! The people will—”

“You are not hideous, Liyliy. Your sisters did much to heal you.” It was true. Though she was far from perfect, she had regained a level of her former looks that, considering how horrifying she had been, he found acceptable. Her body was still feminine and curvy in the right places. Half of her face was normal, but the eye on the other side was sealed shut with grotesque scar tissue. She was fully aware of it and gave him only a profile view of her best side. He could pretend that the other side was undamaged if she kept it turned away.

Wordlessly, she exited the van and paced impatiently next to it with her arms crossed. The hand with the damaged fingers she kept tucked under.

The hunger was gnawing at him terribly; he imagined it must be worse for her. She’d told him that after she’d delivered the phones to her sisters she had had to fight her way out of the haven.

But she hadn’t spoken a word to him about the child.

He hated her for it. And yet he admired her for it as well. Cunning. Like me.

His brain was still rushing over the possibilities. If he had the child in his control, no enemy could ever keep him out. He could organize a loyal team and destroy anyone who opposed him.

First, he would seize the girl and use her to bring the Lustrata to his side. Then he’d gather a group of expert thieves and, without ever being on scene for any crime, obtain limitless wealth to fund his goals. He could use his position near the Excelsior to establish his power base while keeping his identity as the architect of all the mayhem a secret. Eventually, he would remove the Excelsior and become King of the Vampires. He would end this peaceful coexistence political game. He’d use the Lustrata—once she’d become Wolfsbane as the legends foretold—to wipe out the wærewolves. He’d burn the witches and enslave the rest of the humans. All that he’d ever dared to imagine was becoming reality . . . all he needed to do was maintain the moment until he could harvest his new, powerful destiny.

Liyliy’s phone rang. Giovanni not only heard the ring as she paced outside the van, but he felt the vibration of his own phone in his pocket. He connected.

“Sister?” Talto asked.

“Yes?”

“I’ve had a concern. What if the child is not trained in magic? Wouldn’t that be terribly problematic?”

“As the foster daughter of the Lustrata I doubt she would be untrained,” Liyliy replied.

“Still, should we not consider this before I begin my part of the plan? If she is untrained, she is a danger to everyone around her, unless Ailo can contain her, should that be necessary. Do you think Ailo is capable of that?”

Liyliy was silent.

Giovanni was watching her out the front window of the van, and noticed that she turned toward the club. Adam must be coming out, he reasoned.

“Only Ailo can say for sure,” Liyliy said. “Talk about that between the two of you. I trust you both. I’ll talk to you again soon.”

When she hung up she returned to the rear interior of the van. Adam opened his door, and once he was situated in the driver’s seat, he handed the bottles to her. She accepted one for herself, and passed the other to Giovanni. It was warm in his palm.

“You were on the phone. Did your sisters find anything helpful?” he asked.

She unscrewed the cap to her bottle and drank, bringing the bottle to her lips carefully, as if the motion was unnatural.

He wondered if it was because she did not drink from anything but a living person or if it had something to do with her losing an eye.

After she swallowed, she said, “It was Talto checking in with me. Nothing eventful has happened.”

Marveling at the ease of her lie and noting the confidence of her tone, he opened his bottle also. However, Giovanni did not drink. He let the aroma of the blood rise under his nose and he savored the smell. Though nothing would ever be as satisfying as drinking straight from a human, the development of a method to both bottle the fluid and later warm it for vampire consumption had made this manner of feeding less atrocious.

He waited, feeling that pitiless hunger swelling within him and letting it filter throughout his body until it felt like his every molecule was quivering in anticipation. He grew hot. He had to have blood in his mouth, now. Right now.

Only when he could not wait another second did he drink.

Serenity in each swallow, he drained the bottle as he had drained victims in centuries past. As he longed to again. As he would when he ruled.

For his greedy intake, Liyliy stared coldly at him.

Lying bitch. He thought harshly of her duplicitous action, not telling him about the child within the haven.

He wiped his mouth and smiled at her.

He wanted her more than ever.

But he could not have her now.

He could not even dare to touch her. She might read his deception and know that he’d bugged the phones he gave her, and he would not risk that.