The Rest Falls Away (40 page)
“Did he?” Eustacia's protégé, Max, had left for Italy immediately after the tragedy of Phillip's death, and she had not yet heard from him. The tension between him, an experienced Venator, and Victoria had been palpable. She found it interesting Max had given her niece such a compliment, for he'd been so adamant she would be more concerned about beaux and balls than vampires and stakes. “So you went out. Tell me what happened. Whose blood is this?”
“A man. There was a manâ¦I killed a man. Iâ¦I think I killed a man. I don't remember doing it, Aunt Eustacia. He was going to rape a woman, a girl, and I stopped him. He was very big, much bigger than I. We started to fight, and when he pulled out a knife, I took mine out tooâ¦and the next thing I knew he wasn't fighting back. There was blood everywhere. There's never been blood.” Her eyes were vacant again, and Eustacia's heart squeezed as she looked into her niece's beautiful face. Her brave, smart, strong, lost niece.
How many times had she regretted making her a Venator and bringing her into this world? This world of violence and evil?
But Victoria was here, and they needed her. She and Max and the other Venators needed Victoria if they were ever going to destroy Lilith, Queen of the Vampires. The destruction of the evil that stalked their world was worth every sacrifice, great and small. Eustacia had lived this truth for more than sixty years.
Victoria would live it too. Eustacia just wished she had not experienced such a great sacrifice through her husband's death, and so very, very early.
“No, there's never any blood,” she agreed, responding to the last bit of her niece's commentary. The simplest part.
“It sickened me. Heâ¦I left him there. I didn't know what to do.”
“Victoria. Listen to me. The man was attacking a girl, and you saved her. You helped her. And he would have cut you if you hadn't cut him. You had to protect yourself.”
“I did. But I didn't have to slice him to ribbons! Iâ¦I couldn't stop!” Then, finally, the tears came.
Eustacia held her, feeling the jerks and heaves of her delicate shoulders as if they were her own sobs.
This had been a long time in coming, since Phillip's death, and she was relieved Victoria had finally released the grief and anger that had built up inside of her. Losing her husband less than a month after marrying him, and in a horrific way, had caused her to withdraw and cloister herself away. At least tonight she had found a way to confront some of those emotions.
But what a terrible way to do it.
After a very long time, after the heaves turned to small jerks and then to gentle little hiccups, Victoria pulled away. Her eyes were swollen, her cheeks blotchy. Tiny brown ovals of dried blood splattered her face, and one long streak edged her jaw. Some of her dark curls had come loose from their single braid, curling wildly around her face.
Victoria began fumbling with the shirt tucked into her man's trousers, yanking it free and pulling it up and away from her belly. Eustacia cast a quick glance, but Kritanu hadn't yet returned.
“I can't wear this. I can't let it control me.”
Victoria lifted the shirt and there, resting in the hollow of her navel, was the
vis bulla,
the holy strength amulet worn by Venators. Vampire hunters.
Crafted of silver from the Holy Lands, the small cross had been soaked in holy water from Rome before its small matching hoop was pierced through the top of Victoria's navel, just as Eustacia's own
vis bulla
had been when she had accepted her duty as part of the Gardella family Legacy. She still wore hers, of course. A Venator never removed the
vis.
She and Victoria were Venators, born, trained, and blessed. A select few were asked, and even fewer accepted. There were only a hundred or so Venators in the world who had actually passed the test and wore the
vis bulla.
And now Victoria wished to give it back. Eustacia opened her mouth to speak, but her niece interrupted.
“Do not fear, Aunt. I will take it againâwhen I can be certain I will not abuse it. I terrified myself tonight, but I learned I'm not yet ready to hunt again. It's one thing to kill an undead, an immortal evil beingâ¦but I do not wish to see human blood on my hands again.”
Eustacia grasped her niece's bloodstained hands. This decision pained her and, at some deep level, it frightened herâ¦but she understood. “There is no danger in London now. Lilith has taken her followers away, and although she will return, there is no imminent threat.”
Victoria's eyes cleared. Her mouth tightened fiercely. “Never worry. I will have my revenge on Lilith for what she did to Phillip, I swear it. What before was a duty is now my personal accountability.”
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Rises the Night
Available Now for Kindle!
Other Books by Colleen Gleason
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The Gardella Vampire Hunters
Victoria Gardella
The Rest Falls Away
Rises the Night
The Bleeding Dusk
When Twilight Burns
As Shadows Fade
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Macey Gardella
Roaring Midnight
Roaring Shadows (forthcoming)
The Envy Chronicles
Beyond the Night
Embrace the Night
Abandon the Night
Night Betrayed
Night Forbidden
Night Resurrected
The Draculia Trilogy
Lucifer's Rogue
Lucifer's Saint
Lucifer's Warrior
The Medieval Herb Garden Series
Lavender Vows
A Whisper of Rosemary
Sanctuary of Roses
A Lily on the Heath
Modern Gothic Romance
The Shop of Shades & Secrets
The Cards of Life & Death
The Stoker & Holmes Series
(for teens and adults)
The Clockwork Scarab
The Spiritglass Charade
The Chess Queen Enigma (forthcoming)
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Colleen Gleason
is an award-winning,
New York Times
and
USA Today
best-selling author with more than twenty novels in print. Her international bestselling series, the Gardella Vampire Chronicles, is a historical urban fantasy about a female vampire hunter who lives during the time of Jane Austen. Her first novel,
The Rest Falls Away
, was released to acclaim in 2007.Â
Since then, she has published more than twenty novels with New American Library, MIRA Books, Chronicle Books, and HarperCollins. Her books have been translated into more than seven languages and are available worldwide.
Visit Colleen at:
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