Power exploded through them all as Lucca drank Quinn’s blood. Unearthly harmonies cascaded through their bodies to the earth and sky and back again as Ariana rocked from it, crying out as Lucca grunted, drinking harder. Quinn gasped, his eyes rolling up and his dark eyelashes fluttering. Drinking like a demon now from Quinn’s wrist, Lucca growled in a way Ariana hadn’t ever heard from him.
But as if Quinn’s power locking deep inside them all carried an animal passion that made Lucca’s energy sear bright-dark and dark-bright all at once, Ariana felt them both lock inside her now as she screamed in a terrible, incredible bliss. As the Music crested in the night, washing through them all in a tirade of dark rainbows, red-gold fire, and blazing white moonlight, Lucca broke from Quinn’s wrist with a cry. As he came up, Quinn seized him hard behind the neck, dragging Lucca close to share breath in a kiss and finish the ritual.
But Lucca startled – gasping back from Quinn.
“I can’t!” Lucca shuddered as their ecstasy faltered.
“You can.” Quinn urged as his eyes burned like dark fire, devouring Lucca as his energy locked into their power, churning through them all.
“Quinn!” Lucca breathed hard now, shuddering like a man undone. “I want to, gods know I do… but we’ve not seen eye-to-eye for years! What if I can’t… what if I can’t control my rage?”
“You can.” Quinn spoke tenderly now as he shook Lucca by the nape of his neck. As he set their foreheads together, Ariana could feel Quinn’s energy yearning desperately towards Lucca’s now as the power in their trio faltered, the Music suddenly jangled between them. “I believe in you, Lucca; I believe in what we all can do if we finish this now. Trust me. Let me finish the ritual, and make us all safe.”
“But it’s not safe. If I trust you, I’ll just be left in the cold again,” Lucca gasped as tears fell from his too-bright eyes. “When you won’t trustmeand won’t tell me your secrets… and won’t let me into your heart.”
“I can, Lucca!” Quinn spoke back desperately now as he pleaded with Lucca. “Ariana is the thing that can bring us together, she can help us air our truths and make our bind strong this time! If you can but open to me now, and let me in…”
But even as Quinn wrangled Lucca closer, to kiss him and seal the ritual, Lucca struggled away. Pulling free of the Vampire and shucking Ariana off his lap, the Summer Fae Prince surged to his feet, shaking uncontrollably as their power crested hard inside him. The Music careened off-kilter through their group as Lucca retreated from finishing the bond. It was searing inside Ariana, the resonance terrible and cacophonous now as it hammered through them all. Crying out, Ariana clutched her chest with one hand. As Lucca did the same and Quinn did also, she felt their hearts beat as one.
And give a terrible thud – as if they might stop from the power breaking.
“Not tonight! Not when we’ve come this far!” Quinn growled as he raised his magic hard, flaring it through them all with a sudden blaze of his fire-dark wings. Quinn’s Vampire abilities had dominion over death; Ariana felt his magic push them all back from its precarious brink as the Music twisted and their united hearts seized again, faltering.
But Quinn was a powerful Master Vampire; as his magic surged like a hurricane of shadows and fire now, he wrangled their trio’s energy and forced the ritual to finalize without Lucca’s kiss. Ariana felt the magic of their newly-formed group respond. She heard the Music soar again, though it was a weaker, darker thing without Lucca’s kiss to seal his heart into their group – held back because of his doubt in Quinn. She felt that last bit of his resonance fade inside her as it rushed back to him and away from her.
But what they had stabilized between their trio was enough to finish the ritual, as dawn’s first light touched the sky and the Music roared to its final climax through them all.
As the sun began to brighten the sky, the stars winking out, the Music gradually faded away, spent along with all their magics. Quinn and Lucca stared at each other in the rising light, both breathing hard. With accusation in his eyes for breaking the ritual, Quinn stared Lucca down; and with agony in his, Lucca swiped up his things from the grass. He didn’t bother to wash the blood-sigils from his skin as he yanked on his breeches and boots.
Glancing at Ariana, Lucca’s eyes were the darkest she’d ever seen them, churning midnight-blue as he held her gaze with apology. Glancing back to Quinn, Lucca paused, his face the saddest Ariana had ever seen as he struggled to find words.
And then he bowed stiffly to Ariana – striding off through the cemetery into the rising dawn.
CHAPTER 24 – WARNING
Standing with Curio and Devi before the enormous doors of an underground gallery beneath the Hotel, Ariana inhaled a deep breath. The opening gala for the Meeting of the Havens was already in progress inside; as Devi glanced over, lifting her eyebrows to ask if Ariana was ready, she nodded. Wearing a midnight-black gown with oilslick beadwork in a black diamond pattern, Ariana drew up tall, moving forward with grace on her stiletto heels. Like a train of moonlight, her slinky gown trailed after her, cascading down her body like a waterfall. With thin beaded straps, a plunging neckline, a tight waist, and a scandalous slit up her thigh, the gown somehow managed to stay in place as she moved into the hall.
And Master Vampires stared at her throughout the underground space.
Whispers broke out in the vaulted catacomb as the Dark Fae arrived, over a hundred Masters milling in their best couture tonight, enjoying wine and small bites. The black marble vaults of the underground hall echoed with dark power; the white and black checkerboard floor accentuated the Masters’ stark beauty. White flowering mosses decorated pale marble gargoyles with snarling mouths and sculpted basins ringing the hall. Masters filled their goblets from the gargoyle spouts; as Ariana glanced around, she knew the viscous red fluid pouring from those spouts wasn’t wine.
As she lifted her chin, the smell hit her like an avalanche – blood. But even as her entire body shuddered and her eyelashes flickered, her power flowing all through her, she felt herself touch Quinn’s cool darkness inside her veins along with Lucca’s bright fierceness. Their powers were a deep, steady river inside her now after the ritual this morning – and Ariana drank them both in as she breathed, as if drinking a calming moonlit mist. At once, their twinned power steadied her, filling her up until that animal desire for copper and iron was pushed back.
And she swallowed in relief – released from her bloodlust.
“Well done.” Curio murmured by her ear as he and Devi greeted Quinn’s guests. Dressed in one of his amazing white Victorian tuxes tonight as he hovered close by Ariana, the debonair Curio gave the Masters welcoming smiles and nods as he clasped hands.
Ariana smiled and nodded also to the Masters Devi and Curio introduced her to, though she refrained from touching anyone. Devi looked ravishing tonight in a blood-red slinky gown with beadwork just as ornate as Ariana’s, as she greeted a number of Masters from around the world that Ariana had never seen before. And though Ariana was still aware of her bloodlust with this many powerful Vampires all around and the wealth of blood pouring from those spouts, the sensation wasn’t making her reel anymore in the underground hall.
A distinct improvement since her bonding ritual with Lucca and Quinn this morning.
As Curio snatched two glasses of red wine and not blood from a circulating server dressed in black, then clinked glasses with her, Ariana spied Quinn near the center of the hall. Dressed in a tux with a dark maroon jacket tonight and rounded black satin lapels, Quinn was handsomely arresting, gold and onyx flashing at his wrists and fingers as he shook hands and smiled with his fellow-well-met grace. But though he was elegantly coiffed for the soirée, his chiseled beauty wasn’t the most arresting thing about him tonight. Like a demon, his power spread in a vibrant wave through the hall, commanding attention even as he did his casual meeting and greeting.
Sipping her wine, Ariana watched him, feeling how much he let his power range free tonight when he usually kept it in vicious check. Quinn wasn’t shying away from showing how much his and Ariana’s power had steadied – and strengthened – as of the ritual last night.
But he left off with handshakes now as he saw her; making his way over, he beamed with pleasure in his dark onyx eyes. Even though their ritual hadn’t been a complete success with Lucca walking away from the final piece, it had been enough of a success that Ariana’s powers had been well-managed all day, and still were tonight.
Now that she was finally in the blood-hall with so much energy of the Night and tantalizing blood all around, there was every indication that this new steadiness in her magics would last, and she took it as a win. As Quinn set her wine on a server’s tray, then lifted her hands and kissed them, Ariana felt how easily she could ignore the scent of blood even as they touched. Though a part of her still felt jangled, lacking that last bit of energy from Lucca to complete their trio’s bond, the greater part of her felt soothed tonight, free and easy as Quinn beamed at her.
