"Indeed. Please, signora, you tell the tale. I will comment as necessary."
"Very well."
Victoria leaned forward expectantly, and for just a moment Eustacia hesitated. Looking at the beautiful, innocent face of her great-niece, she felt a wondrous sense of pride. She had staked a vampire on her first try. She had taken amazingly well to her training and had accepted all of the darkness and evil that lurked on this earth with a worldly attitude—one that even Eustacia hadn't initially had.
It would be a difficult life. She would give up many of the things other girls her age took for granted. She would be in danger more often than a young woman should be.
Yet, at the same time, Victoria would have a life of unparalleled excitement and adventure. She would face down the most evil creatures ever imagined, and know that she had the strength and cunning to best them. She would lose control of some part of her life, yet gain more freedom than a young woman even in this age could ever fathom.
And it was foretold: Only one descended directly from the first Gardella could destroy Lilith.
Max, as formidable and magnificent as he was, was one of the few Venators who did not carry Gardella blood; and that was a fact that made him perhaps even more effective, more determined a Venator.
"Lilith the Dark is the daughter of Judas Iscariot."
Eustacia began. She had told this tale only a dozen times in her lifetime. The first time had been to the pope.
Perhaps this would be the last.
"Judas Iscariot? The betrayer of Jesus Christ?"
Eustacia nodded. "Indeed. The man who betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. He is known as the Betrayer; yet the Lord forgave him as he did all mankind. But Judas Iscariot did not accept the forgiveness, and he hanged himself, as you know. He was thus damned to eternal hell. The devil sold him back his corporeal being, and gave him the power to walk the earth in the body of an immortal, a type of demon, in a form we call undead. An undead is damned for eternity once he drinks the blood of a mortal. He cannot be saved.
"In this damned state, caught between life and death, Judas lived in this world for centuries. While he was damned and walking this earth, he turned his daughter into a vampire. That daughter is known as Lilith the Dark. She feeds on human blood and human weakness. Lilith is now the queen of vampires, and she seeks revenge upon us. She lives on the blood of mortals."
"Because we—the world of Christendom—consider her father a betrayer?" asked Victoria.
"Indeed. There is no name in Christendom spoken with more malice than that of Judas Iscariot. Once a proud name, now it is spit upon, said with hatred and venom. Judas is gone, but Lilith roams the earth, and she builds her army of vampires. She intends to rule the world; her strength is always our weakness. It is our task, our legacy, to keep Lilith and her minions at bay."
"She and your great-aunt have been enemies for decades. Lilith knows that the only thing stopping her from taking over the world is Eustacia and her powers."
Max's face had deeper lines than usual, Eustacia thought. "When your aunt first came here from Venice, Lilith couldn't find her. She tore apart Venice, and then Rome and Florence… She sent her people to Paris and Madrid and Cairo, and here to London. It was nearly two decades before she found your aunt. Eustacia's people kept her well hidden, and well protected."
"You were the best of the lot, Max, young as you were." Young and determined, he'd been. Angry because he'd lost his beloved father and sister to a vampire; and bloodthirsty in his own way. He chose the path of Venator.
"What is Lilith doing now? Do you know her plan?" Victoria asked. Her hazel eyes were not worried or fearful, as Eustacia had feared. No, they were sharp and calculating. And intense. By God, the Legacy had chosen well.
For the first time in years, Eustacia felt a glimmer of hope. With Victoria as her protege, and, eventually, successor as the head of the Venators, perhaps Eustacia would soon be able to rest easy.
"In order to succeed, Lilith must destroy your aunt," Max said. "At the same time, she has sent hordes of vampires and demons throughout the world to turn as many to their way as possible. In order to feed on their blood, they bite the neck of their victim—not the chest, as is commonly believed—"
"But they leave a marking, don't they?" Victoria interrupted, comprehension dawning in her face. "Three Xs on the bosom of the victim, as found on the corpse of those men near the wharf. That was a vampire, wasn't it?"
"You are very well-informed for a young girl," Max commented.
Eustacia hastened to step in. "Indeed, you are correct, Victoria; although I can't imagine how you would know that. Three Xs representing the thirty pieces of silver Judas was paid for betraying Jesus."
"Which explains their fear of anything made from silver. That fool Quentworth was most definitely a victim of one of Lilith's vampires, and we have worked very diligently to keep any hint of vampirism from being attached to his death. It was fortuitous for him that he wasn't turned. As you likely are aware," Max said, looking down his long, straight nose at Victoria, "if a vampire feeds on a mortal, it is often deadly… but if he—or she—chooses, he may partake of the human's blood, and offer his own blood back to the human in a kind of mating ritual. If that occurs, the human is sired, or turned into a vampire. So a vampire bite may kill a mortal, or may turn one to an undead. And there are occasions when neither happens, when the bite is not deep enough to kill. Our job—"
Eustacia interrupted. "Our job is to destroy as many of them as possible while attempting to learn what Lilith is planning to do to seize power. We know that she has moved the bulk of her court to London; where she is hiding I do not know, and Max has not yet been able to ascertain. She is here not only because I am here, but because she seeks something called the Book of Anwarth, which we know nothing about as yet."
"We Venators have always stopped her in the past. Although in the past, we have not been forced to rely upon young girls newly out of strings," Max said with uncharacteristic nastiness. "I do hope you will find time betwixt filling your dance card and selecting your ball gowns to help us."
Her niece had risen from her seat and placed herself in front of Max, who'd refused to move from his lounging position on the settee. "Filling my dance cards? Lord Max, or whatever it is that I must call you, I'll have you know that I left my debut—I missed a waltz with the Marquess of Rockley!—in order to protect you from a vampire attack. The status of my dance card remained forgotten as I followed you and your companion out-of-doors—"
"Protect me? Yes, indeed, you were protecting me from my own sharp fangs, weren't you?"
"How was I to know you were a Venator? You did not see fit to divulge that information to me until you could crow with joy at my mistake. But the fact remains that I did what had to be done. And I will do what has to be done in the future."
"Victoria. Max. Please. We cannot allow ourselves to be divided at this time. Victoria, you must understand. Before you, there have been only three other female Venators in the last century of battle against Lilith. Two of them died hideous deaths shortly after they were inducted into the Legacy and received their vis bullae."
"And the third is sitting here with us as we speak." Max inclined his head toward Eustacia. "There are none who could or will hold a candle to you, signora—or, if I may say—a stake. You are truly the Chosen one, the Gardella who will unite us and lead us to Lilith's downfall."
Victoria turned to Eustacia in astonishment. "You are a vampire hunter? A Venator?"
Max snorted. "No, of course not. Lilith the Dark fears your aunt because she sits at home and has her hair dressed daily. Of course she is a Venator."