"Victoria… you must have a care for yourself. You still grieve. Ignoring your loss will only make it worse."
"Aunt Eustacia, I am not ignoring my loss. I want to avenge it. But there are no vampires here in London… at least, until last night." She'd been so upset about the vampire who would not die that she'd missed the implication of last evening's events.
Perhaps the undead were returning.
And if the vampires returned, then she could learn where Lilith was… and how to get to her.
Rest? No, Victoria would not take her ease until she plunged her own stake into the fiery-haired vampire queen's heart. Or died trying.
Eustacia drew in a long, deep breath… then expelled it, slow, easy. She opened her eyes to find Kritanu watching her.
He sat on the floor, as she did. One of his ankles was behind his neck, the other leg stretched out in front of him. As she watched, he lifted the foot from his nape and brought it gently to the thin mat on which he sat, raised his wiry, ropy arms, and drew in a deep breath.
Eustacia straightened her own legs, dismayed to hear the soft click of muscle and tendon that hadn't been there only a year ago, and lifted her arms for a deep breath.
They did not speak until they were finished.
"Yoga should be relaxing and meditative," he said, padding over in bare feet to sit next to her. "Yet the worry did not leave your eyes." His short, loose pants rose up to expose two muscular calves covered with blue-black hair. Not one white or gray strand stood out over his tea-colored skin anywhere, despite the fact that he had recently turned seventy-three. He could still position himself in the most difficult of asanas when they practiced yoga ... ones that Eustacia had long ago lost the flexibility for.
She still stretched and breathed, as Kritanu had taught her when they'd first begun to train together… oh, well more than fifty-five years ago. But she could no longer put her ankles behind her head, nor could she hold her folded body up on one flat palm, fingers splayed, as he could.
"It did not? And how would you know, if you were meditating as you should have been?"
"I was meditating upon the familiar face of mere humsafar, and I was dismayed by what I saw there."
She smiled at him, and in the old way, as she had done when they were much younger, Eustacia drew his head into her cross-legged lap so she could look down at his face. Never mind that her knees did not touch the ground as they once had, and that her arthritic ankles throbbed with the weight of his head. It was familiar, and it was a comfort to touch him.
She replied, "It is true. I have been able to concentrate on little else since Victoria's visit this morning. It cannot bode well that she found a vampire and a demon together, yet I fear I haven't the energy to determine what it means. The demon spoke of someone named Nedas as well: a familiar name, but one that I cannot place. Wayren will know."
"At least it is not Beauregard who is making mischief."
"Unfortunately, there is no reason to believe that. Nedas could be one of his followers, or even one of his rivals. If I were not cursed with the mind of a Strega, I should be able to recall who he is. And then there is the amulet that Victoria found… it fairly reeks of evil when I touch it."
"I have been thinking on that as well as the worry in your face," Kritanu said, looking up at her. "The hound on it makes me think of the hantu saburos of the Indus Valley."
Eustacia smoothed her hands along his wide jaw in an automatic gesture. "The vampires who lived in caves and fed on animal blood?"
"No, mere sanam. The saburos in the stories I heard supposedly trained dogs to hunt humans and bring them back for them to feed upon. I do not know if there is any truth to the legend, but… the hound figure on the amulet reminded me of it. I do not know if it is worth mentioning to Wayren in your correspondence… but then, you have already sent it, haven't you?" He drew himself from her lap and smiled into her face. "Of course you have. With the swiftest of pigeons, haven't you?"
"Wayren should have the letter in four days or less. I will send her another letter with your thoughts, however, as I have learned never to discount your impressions."
"At least you have learned something in more than fifty years."
They laughed together, a comfortable, close chuckle, their breaths mingling and their noses brushing.
When the humor faded from her face, Kritanu picked up her hand. "And you are worried about Victoria."
"Vero. She is like my daughter. The pain is still so fresh for her. And there has been all the gossip, all the pity for the new bride of the Marquess of Rockley, so shortly married, so soon a widow."
"The story told is that he died at sea. A reasonable one."
"Si, although there have been more than a few comments about why he left for the Continent without his new bride, if they were so much in love… Even the servants do not know what truly happened. And certainly not her mother. And Victoria has held her head up bravely during it all… but she is only just twenty—so young to have this sort of burden and grief. Our life is difficult enough as it is."
"It is not your fault, Eustacia. What happened was not your fault."
A sudden sting burned her eyes. He knew her so well. "I know that… yet, I cannot relieve myself of the blame. If she had not become a Venator… if I had not pushed her…"
"You did not push her. She was meant to be… just as you were. As I recall, you were none too shy about taking on the task… and not demure in the least when a younger man came to teach you to fight using kalaripayattu and to meditate using yoga. You wanted nothing to do with me, as I was so much younger than your twenty-four years." He smoothed his fingers over the ugly, knobby knuckles of her old woman's hand. "And see what a difference you have made in the world, sanam. Without you… without your gift and your bravery, the mortal world would be very different than it is now. Remember that Christmas Eve in Venice? Eustacia… if you had not stopped those Guardians, the whole city would have been lost."
"And Lilith would have had the Gold Clasp in her hands." A tug of a smile caught her mouth. "We have thwarted her more than once, have we not, amore mio?"
"We have. You have." His eyes, pupil and iris the same black color, glittered with seriousness. "You and Max and the others… but you, most of all. And now it is Victoria's turn. She is destined for greatness. You know it, because she carries two generations of Venator skills, from both your brother and her flighty mother. You must let her achieve it."
"I think in the end it was best that Victoria's mother didn't accept her calling as Venator. I don't believe Melly could have given up her love for Society in favor of hunting vampires." The last bit of levity and comfort seeped away. "Kritanu, it's Max I am most worried about."
"You have no word from him?"
She shook her head slowly. "Not in more than ten months. I was not completely truthful with Victoria when I told her Wayren was with him. She was in Spain, and then Paris, until a month ago, when she learned I had not heard from Max since last August, shortly after he arrived in Venezia. Wayren went back to Italia to see if she could find him… but she has not. No one seems to know where he is." Lifting her eyes, she looked at her sanam, her beloved. "She writes that the Tutela is rising again. I am afraid it is the doing of this vampire called Nedas."
"They have risen before, and we have stopped them."
"There is something different this time, Kritanu. And I fear I do not have the energy, nor the clarity of mind, to know what it is… what to do. I am old and slow. And I ache."
"It is Victoria's turn, pyar. You will do what you can, but you cannot do it all. And do not worry for Max. He wears the vis bulla, though he was not born to it. He is one of the few who passed the life-and-death test to do so. There is a reason for it."
"I know that. But I fear for him still."
Chapter 3
An Encounter with a Most Discreet Gentleman
Victoria had walked the night many times since she had taken on her duty as a Venator. The freedom of wearing trousers and going where she wished to go had been a joyful adventure, despite the danger of stalking the undead. Knowing that no other woman from the ton would desire—or be able—to walk empty, dangerous streets alone fueled her excitement.Knowing that even a man would be in more danger, traveling Great St. Andrews or Little White Lion of St. Giles alone, on foot, made her feel invincible.
But tonight she was uneasy. Her nerves felt like her hair did after her maid, Verbena, brushed it too much—buzzing with static and energy. She waited for the back of her neck to chill or tingle. She gripped her stake, holding it ready in the folds of her man's jacket, when before she would leave it sagging in her pocket until she needed it.
She could have remained at St. Heath's Row, safe behind its cross-studded gates and stone walls. She could have given herself another night or two, after her experience at the Silver Chalice. She could even have waited until Aunt Eustacia heard from Wayren about the amulet she'd found. She could have spent the evening poring over the limited selection of manuscripts and scrolls that her aunt kept at her home, looking for some clue as to whether the amulet had been left by the demon she'd beheaded, or whether it was, perhaps, something Sebastian had lost months ago.
But she had not. If the vampires were indeed back, it was her duty to hunt and kill them. She could not hide in her husband's home and wonder how she would kill a demon if she faced one again tonight.
Her duty was to keep the innocent, the unwitting, safe from the immortals who would feed on their very life. If the residents of London—indeed, of all of England—had any concept how easily evil walked along with them, there would be mass hysteria.
So instead of attending dinner parties, or visiting clothiers and millineries, Victoria trained and planned and hunted.
A shadow detaching itself from the corner of an alley caught her attention as she walked by. She felt it step into her wake and pad quietly behind her, silent, oh, so silent.