“Go get one on.” He chuckled as his touch fell away. “Many of those sparring down here right now are our Hotel Guard; they would be happy to work with you and have also been alerted of your status as a special guest of Quinn’s, so you’re safe. Devi and I have other things to attend tonight, but if you wish to speak with us, simply find any staff member with a crimson ‘R’ pin and they’ll make it happen. Yes?”
“Thank you, that sounds good.” Ariana smiled, enjoying Curio’s kindness. Her jury was still out on the vastly temperamental Devi, though it seemed Devi’s heart was in the right place.
“Anyone with a Hotel pin can escort you back to your rooms, or to one of our banquet halls for a spot of dinner, and so on.” Devi spoke with her brusque nature back now as she snagged Curio by the sleeve. “I will speak with our Master and see what he wishes for you tomorrow, but in the meantime, your time is your own. Though… please remember to dress at least this well or better if you explore the Hotel, darling. We do have a reputation to uphold.”
With that, Devina and Curio departed, though Curio winked at Ariana with a debonair delight as he escorted Devi away. Left alone in the bustle of the dressing-area, Ariana felt a strange shock for a moment that she had no one hounding her around. But it was nice suddenly, as she gazed around and felt no threat, only a kind of curiosity as Vampire fencers glanced at her while donning their gear, a few giving her a sexy smile.
But though people were curious about her, Ariana realized suddenly that none of them sensed she was Dark Fae, not like Quinn and her Summer Fae Prince Lucca, nor Curio and Devi. Ariana was thankful for it now, as she felt Vampire energy and other magics swirl around her with a casual interest, neither forward nor intrusive. Inhaling a deep breath, she realized she was feeling comfortable standing in a place of Vampires.
Rather than threatened like she might have expected.
Ariana suddenly loved her anonymity as she moved to a cubby with a women’s fencing uniform in her size and began pulling it on. As she shed her apple-green cocktail dress and stilettos, she got more than a few looks from men and women both, but ignored them. Despite having never gotten into the kink scene, she wasn’t a prude, raised mostly in Italy and enjoying a European frankness about sex. Before long, Ariana was suited up in a slim-fitting white fencing ensemble, quickly French-braiding her hair. Selecting a beautiful épée that was balanced with the right grip, though it was tremendously ornate like something out of the Princess Bride, Ariana tucked her fencing mask under her arm and strode to an empty piste to practice.
No one interrupted her, though a few men and women did hover casually out of the way near the marble columns as she got going. Flowing through fighting forms from the human world first, Ariana gradually felt herself transition to more archaic Fae maneuvers her parents had ingrained in her when she was little, but which weren’t accepted moves in human tournaments. As if being in a place of magic suddenly brought all her Fae learning roaring back, she found herself moving into Fae-only lunges, parries, and ripostes as she worked up a sweat.
As she finally paused, hot and breathing hard from exertion, a lean, tall man with good shoulders moved up from between the columns and into her notice. Already suited up and masked with his face obscured, he nodded at the space in front of Ariana, and she beckoned him in, glad to have a partner.
As they faced off and saluted each other with their weapons, then sank into openingen gardepositions, she felt a tingle of energy rise up inside her, her new power opening into a dark-bright shine deep within. As they moved in, beginning to engage with a clash and slide of metal-on-metal, she realized her partner fought with archaic Fae-maneuvers only; adjusting her steps and posture, Ariana let him have it, with the quick, graceful force of those non-standard maneuvers. She was well-versed in the art, but her opponent was swift and elegantly brutal as he countered and struck, again and again. So fast Ariana almost didn’t see his moves, she was on the run now as her fever-fugue began to return.
Defending herself over and over as their swift, viciously elegant fight drew a crowd.
Vampires and others stared with a shine of pleasure in their eyes as their power swirled, though it didn’t interrupt the fight. As Ariana became incensed now, knowing her partner was the better fighter but was toying with her to find out just how good she was in her post-fever state, a whirl of anger suddenly unleashed inside her. As she swiped her next cut through the air at his wrist, he countered quickly – and a flash of silver-gold light blinded the air around Ariana as her frustration blazed. She didn’t even see her own riposte, she moved so fast. But the point of her rapier was jabbed right to his heart; and with a beautiful, almost touchable dark laugh, he stepped back.
Reaching up and swiping off his mask – and revealing the Barone Quindici DaPonti himself standing before her.
Ariana gaped at him as elegant clapping came from all around. As he saluted her with his weapon, congratulating her and signaling an end to the match, she saluted him back, removing her mask and blinking at him. As he gestured to a set of stone benches with a basket of white towels and a copper urn, hanging up his épée at a rack beside the bench, Ariana did the same. Pouring two lemon-waters from the urn, Quinn smiled at her sidelong as his dark eyes sparkled, handing one to her.
“You’re quite an accomplished fencer.” He commented smoothly as he saluted her with his water, then drank. “I recognized most of your Summer Fae moves, though I’ll admit, some were new to me.”
“Not so bad yourself.” Ariana gasped as she drank, out-of-breath from the fight, though she had done decently holding her own against Quinn in her current state. She had just been sick recently and he was a Vampire that was at least a few hundred years old, she reminded her slightly bruised ego, and had probably practiced that entire time. But cocking her head at him, there was something Ariana wanted to know as she watched him in their post-fight recovery. “How do you know Summer Fae fencing moves?”
“Vampires study every school of fencing.” Quinn spoke casually, though there was a glint in his onyx eyes now as he sat upon the bench and put one boot up on it. “I was also a war-Captain at one time, so it was my business to know weapons and battle. I am that no longer, but it is healthy for others to see I have lost none of my skills.” As Quinn nodded around the hall, Ariana saw how many Vampires were still watching them, trying to be subtle about it. And she realized suddenly that this had all been a little show for Quinn to display his prowess at defending his Dark Haven and Hotel.
And everyone in it.
“Are you trying to prove to me that you could defend me, if I stay here?” Ariana asked him archly now, though she sat beside him on the bench a slight distance away, her legs too shaky at the moment to stand. Still slightly wary of the enigmatic Quinn, she wasn’t about to cozy up to him on the bench, even though he had been treating her like a gentleman so far.
“Partly.” He spoke directly, though his dark gaze glittered as he watched her. “But partly, I just wanted to see how well you fight. Well, it seems. And you learned how to use your new magic on the fly also, trying to blind me for that last riposte. Your parents taught you Fae martial arts, but they didn’t just teach you the basics, Ariana. They taught you moves that when coupled with a magical drive, are vastly effective. Put a Faeanic spear in your hands rather than an épée… and you would be devastating in battle. With a little practice at moving your magics in tandem with your body.”
“That flash of light, that was me? And my parents taught me how to actually fight? Like… for war?” Ariana blinked now, her lips fallen open as she stared at Quinn, shocked. Deep inside, that strange dark-light sensation swirled again, as if pleased with the match and wanting to know more about how to fight with her power.
“Summer Fae battle maneuvers, yes.” Quinn spoke with a dark glint in his eyes now as he watched her. “Whoever your parents are, they are quite adept at the Summer Fae arts of war. Or were. And they were teaching you far more than you ever thought about how to use maneuvers that would be deeply effective with your magic. When the time came.”
“But I didn’t have any magic as a child. My mother was magic-burned when I was born… her magic was burned out before I was even conceived, and thus she didn’t pass any on to me.” Ariana frowned now, draining her lemon-water and setting her glass aside on the bench.
“Or was that just a story they told you?” Quinn spoke with a dark simmer now, as if he were angry. As Ariana watched, a subtle ring of crimson flashed in his eyes, his dark nimbus stirring all around them with a slow, rageful roil. It raised Ariana’s hackles as she watched it, though somewhere deep inside, she knew his anger wasn’t for her.
Inhaling, Ariana realized Quinn was furious with her family, though she didn’t exactly know why. Rising elegantly from the bench, he extended his hand now and with a slight frown, Ariana took it. But he was gentlemanly as his fingers stroked hers, his onyx eyes deep as if he wanted to tell her something. But people were still watching them; glancing around, Quinn noted it and gestured to the dressing area.
“Come, let us grab our clothes and change someplace more private. And then we shall have a frank talk, Ariana, about all the things your parents did or did not tell you growing up as a Fae hiding in the human world. And then you may decide what to believe… rather than simply being left in the dark.”
As Ariana frowned, deeply concerned now by Quinn’s statement about her parents, Quinn led them to the dressing area. And then they were gathering their clothing and leaving the fencing hall.
Moving out through the ebony double-doors to talk someplace else.
CHAPTER 6 – TRUTH
Leading Ariana to a beautiful bathing-hall deep underground, decadent with vaulted archways and high stained glass windows like the fencing-hall, Quinn left Ariana at a women’s changing area near the pool before taking himself to a men’s area on the other side. Moving into the women’s colonnaded bathing area, Ariana stepped to a changing space, shucking her fencing gear in an ebony cubby and assuming the Hotel’s housekeeping would get it back home. Winding her hair up, she took a quick shower in the women’s alcove, then toweled off and slithered back into her green cocktail dress and heels. Pinning her long red hair up on one side again, she noted with a pleased astonishment that it was still salon-perfect somehow. As Ariana glanced around, a teensy woman with curling dark feathers for eyelashes and a smart crimson cocktail dress with a garnet ‘R’ pin beckoned from what looked like a salon chair.
