We have big news! We’ve combined all three parts of our series back into one ebook…and it’s FREE today!
We also put our other series back into single books, so no more reading the first part for free, but we will be serializing a few chapters in the future.
And now, back to Moonlight, Roses & Murder. (Notice the new cover.)
Chapter 7
“My father took me to Florence when I was seventeen years old,” Selina said, smiling at the memory. “I was so excited since I’d never been to Italy before. He was going on business, and I begged him to take me with him.”
“We lived in Paris and my mother did not want to go. He needed someone to accompany him, and I finally convinced him it should be me.” She looked down at the floor. “That was the biggest mistake of my life.”
“We arrived and stayed at a business partner’s home. It was beautiful, so large and impressive, right in the middle of Florence.” She started to pace as she continued. “Angelo De Lamorte,” she said bitterly. “The name should have told me something, but I was so naïve.” She looked at Damian, then went back to pacing.
“He was older, but so handsome and charming. He seemed to find me quite captivating, and I was enamored with him. My father didn’t mind as a marriage between us would solidify his business interests in Italy.” She stopped and sat back down in the chair. “It was on the last night of our visit that I found out who Angelo really was. Or what he was.”
She clenched her hands into fists, then relaxed them, holding them together in her lap. “We had just finished dinner, and I was sad that we were leaving. When Angelo said that he had something to show me, I looked at my father wondering if Angelo was going to propose. My father nodded and said he’d go into the library and have a cigar while Angelo walked with me out in the garden. He had such a lovely garden behind his home. He showed me the cake and coffee service, which had been laid out on the table under a huge pergola. He said it was for our celebration.”
Selina stood up and started pacing again. “I don’t talk about this, although I still dream about it sometimes.” She took a deep breath and continued. “Angelo said I was lovely, so young and so pure. That being pure was the most important thing. Then, he looked at the cake and said he wasn’t sure he could wait that long.”
“As he came over and took my hand, I really thought he was going to propose. I didn’t love him, but he fascinated me, and I knew my father would approve. As I smiled, he lifted my hand and kissed my wrist. Then, he got this strange look. I’ll never forget it. He….” Selina stopped and walked out of the room. “I’ll be right back,” she said over her shoulder.
Walking down to the kitchen, she poured herself a large glass of wine, then decided to get one for Damian. She walked back upstairs and into the guest room, offering him one. As he hesitated, she said, “Relax, I only drug people once in a weekend.” She took a small sip from each glass then held them both out.
“All right,” he said, seeing how upset she was, “I’ll take one.” She handed him the glass, then downed the wine in her own.
“As I was saying,” she continued, starting to pace once more, “Angelo kissed my wrist, then got this strange look. It was as if his eyes almost glowed. Suddenly, he shoved me against the table, hard. I think I screamed as he ripped the front of my dress and grabbed my shoulders. I thought he was going to force himself on me, but instead he kissed my neck. He kissed it and murmured something about purity…and then he bit me. I was in shock. I remember pushing him, trying to get away, and begging him to stop.”
“As he held me tight, I felt myself growing weaker and looked up at the pergola, which seemed to be spinning. I dimly heard my father shouting, then Angelo let go of me and turned around. I almost fainted but managed to grab hold of the table. Angelo yelled at my father to leave while he could. My father grabbed him and tried to pull him away from me. Then, Angelo picked my father up and threw him across the garden. His strength was unbelievable.”
“I heard my father yell my name and tell me to run. Angelo walked over and kicked him, then leaned down and stabbed him with a dagger that he’d pulled out of his coat. He stabbed him over and over again, then took the dagger and licked it off, smiling at me. He slipped it back into his coat and walked over to me, saying he wouldn’t need to use it on me. My blood was too sweet to waste in such a way.”
Selina sat down. “I reached behind me on the table and felt something sharp. It was the knife we were supposed to have used to cut the cake. As Angelo grabbed me by the shoulders, I stabbed him as hard as I could. I tried to run, but I barely stumbled my way out of the garden and into the street. As I felt myself starting to faint, a woman ran up and caught me. I thought she must have been an angel and that I was dying.”
Damian said nothing, waiting for Selina to continue. “When I woke up, I was in a dark room lying on a cot. It was not very comfortable, and I was in a lot of pain. The angel, although now I wondered about that since I hurt all over…she helped me sit up and gave me something to drink. She told me it would help and to go back to sleep.”
Selina got up and walked back and forth again. “Damian, she saved me. Her name was Apollonia and she saved my life. What was left of it. She told me that she watched Angelo’s house as often as possible, trying to find a way to stop him. That he’d turned her years earlier, but she had fought the urge to feed on others and would teach me to do the same.”
She stopped and looked at him. “Being a vampire is a terrible curse and one that should never be done to someone against their will. He wasn’t planning to turn me; he was going to kill me. By getting away, I was now infected with the same disease that had made him what he was. Apollonia told me some people made the choice to become vampires, but for those of us who did not it was a terrible burden.”
“So, you’ve never fed on a human?” Damian asked surprised.
“No, never,” Selina replied, “but the desire was there. It’s more of a coldness, which you feel all through your body and you crave the warmth that you know their blood will give you. Apollonia helped me through the worst of it. She told me that she believed God would forgive us since we had not chosen this path. As long as we resisted the urge, it would eventually pass, and we would be able to rejoin the living. She was so sure…but that’s not quite how it worked out.”
Selina stopped talking and looked at Damian. “I really need another glass of wine,” she said, “and if you’re up for it maybe you’d like to come downstairs and have some lunch.”
Damian watched her walk out of the room and let out a low whistle. What a story, he thought as he carefully got out of bed. He was pretty sure she was no longer a threat, but where did Diana fit in and what did she have to do with these murders? Or was there a connection? Damian put on his shirt very slowly and got up to follow her.
“Your turn,” Selina said as Damian walked into the kitchen.
“Fair enough, Damian replied, “but first, what year did you go to Italy?”
Selina looked down for a moment, then back up, holding his gaze. “I traveled with my father to Florence in the spring of 1787. I know that sounds incredible, but…”
Damian held up his hand. “No, actually it does not. I think it will make it easier for you to believe what I’m going to tell you.”
Selina nodded and sat down at the kitchen table, forgetting all about lunch for the moment. When Damian hesitated, she smiled and said, “Go ahead. I want to know.”
Damian sat down across from her. “I’ve been a vampire hunter for a long time. I apprenticed in Milan, Italy in the year 1839. I was sixteen and chosen for my lineage and my size.” He paused and smiled. “I was very tall for that era.”
“We considered our work a holy calling from God,” he continued, “to rid the world of demons that stole the lives and possibly the souls of others. I did this for nine years until the Italian revolutions of 1848. My teacher and mentor, Alessandro Cabrini, did not believe our work was finished, but I did. I was ready for a change, and I’d seen enough death even if it was for the good of humanity. And that was the year I met Beatrice de Campo. She was beautiful, kind, intelligent and had a wonderful sense of humor. I fell for her completely, and all I wanted was to get married and have a family.”
Damian stopped and looked around the room. “You mentioned some more wine?”
Selina got up and poured them each a new glass, which she brought over and set on the table. “Do you wish to choose first?” she asked seriously.
Damian shook his head and took the one on the right. “As you said, one drugging a weekend is more than enough.” He drank some wine as Selina sat back down at the table. “Where was I?”
“You wanted to get married and have a family,” Selina said with such sadness, Damian almost reached over and touched her cheek.
“Right,” he said, taking a breath. “Beatrice was more than happy to get married in Milan, but I knew her family was in Clusone. I convinced her we should go there to get married. We decided to travel by coach with some friends. She had written to her parents, who would put us up at their home and then the wedding would be the following week.”
Damian stopped and took another sip of wine. “We got a late start because Alessandro wanted to give me a gift. He said he could not attend the wedding, but he wanted me to have something very special to remember all of our work together. It was a silver cross with a lion’s head on top, hanging from a silver chain. It was the symbol of our order and I told him I would never forget all that we’d accomplished. I thanked him and hurried back to Beatrice and our friends.”
He paused and looked down for a moment. “It happened when we were about two kilometers from Clusone. A tree had fallen across the road and it was too heavy to move. We sent the driver back to the last turnoff, telling him to take the detour and meet us at the house. It would take at least an hour to make the trip by road since it wound around the other side of the foothills. Beatrice was so excited to see her family that we decided to walk the short distance instead.”
“It was late afternoon and the weather was beautiful. We were enjoying ourselves, talking about the wedding and the feast we’d have afterwards when we heard the growling. I looked over and saw a pack of what I thought were wolves coming out of the foothills. Wolves were not uncommon, but with a large party like ours they never should have approached us.”
He rubbed his hand over his face. “They walked toward us, growling with their ears flattened back. I told Beatrice and her friend Nora to get behind us while my two friends, Alberto and Lorenzo, stood on either side of me. We did our best to protect the women, but the wolves attacked with such precision I couldn’t believe it. We pulled out our weapons, but all we had were knives. No crossbows or guns.”
“As the wolves ran towards us, I swung at the first one drawing blood while Lorenzo managed to deflect the second. Alberto ran at the third, but a fourth one knocked him down and landed on him, grabbing him by the neck. The wolf shook him and threw him aside. Lorenzo and I did our best to stay between the wolves and the women, but they charged again knocking us down while one grabbed Beatrice and a second one joined it. I ran at it, throwing my knife. It hit the animal, but another took its place. Beatrice tried to fight them off, but it was over in seconds. My lovely Beatrice was dead on the ground.”
“I turned to see the wolves moving in on Nora, who picked up a large stick and threw it at the wolf closest to her. It jumped up and knocked Nora to the ground, biting her on the arm. I turned and made a grab for Alberto’s knife, which was lying nearby. One of the wolves lunged at me and I felt its teeth tear into my shoulder. I thought we were all dead until it saw the silver cross around my neck. Suddenly, the wolf released me and took off for the mountains with the others following behind. I thought the reflection might have scared it since the sun was starting to set.”
He drank some more wine. “Alberto was killed during the attack, but Lorenzo was only injured with a bite to the leg. He crawled over to Nora, saying she was alive but unconscious. I had already reached Beatrice and was holding her, crying like a baby. She was my whole life and she was gone. Then, I looked over at Nora and Lorenzo, realizing we had to get help, or we’d all be dead.”
“I got to my feet and walked up the trail. Lorenzo stayed with Nora, holding his shirt on her arm, so she wouldn’t bleed to death. It must have been fifteen minutes, but it felt like hours. I finally saw a farmhouse and made it to the door. The farmer helped me and quickly rounded up his neighbors to go back and get Nora and Lorenzo. We survived the attack, but we were never the same. The three of us healed very quickly, but when the next full moon arrived, we changed into wolves.”
Damian stopped and slowly got up. He walked over to the sink and splashed some water on his face. “It took a lot of time and effort to learn to control what we had become. I thank God that we didn’t kill anyone in the process. Eventually, I returned to Milan and told Alessandro what had happened. He said he’d heard about the attack and was sorry for my loss. It was only later when I finally hunted down the werewolves responsible for our attack that I learned he was the one, who had hired them.”
Selina put her hand over her mouth. “How horrible!” she said as she stood up and walked over to him. “Here, let me help you back to the table. You should rest.”
“I still heal very quickly,” Damian said. “A benefit of the curse I’ve lived with for over a century. It’s also slowed my aging, but I do look about ten years older.”
Selina nodded. “I look older, too. I was seventeen when I was attacked, but vampires age about five years for every century. Whether we drink human blood or not.”
Damian looked out the window. “I’ve got to get out of here for a while. Can you go outside without any ill effects?”
Selina nodded. “Yes. Bright sunlight gives me a headache, but with the clouds today…I would enjoy a walk in the garden.”
Damian took her arm. He was actually going to escort a vampire through a garden on a Sunday afternoon. As they walked outside, he decided to wait to ask her about her girls until after dinner.
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