Page 54 of Blood Vows
“Ours. Mine, my brothers’, even hers. He disguised it as an elixir, a tonic that promised strength and vitality. Mortals paid fortunes for it. And soon, we were no longer poor. The weak, starving family became a dynasty.” He looked up then, his gaze locking with mine.
“This manor was purchased with that blood money. A gift from one of his royal clients in England. It was meant to be a retreat, a place where we could start anew, away from the politics of Italy.”
I looked around the vast, shadowed library, the firelight painting gold on the dark wood and ancient stone.
“And for a time… you were happy?” I dared to ask, and his expression softened, though it carried sorrow.
“For a time, yes. My brothers and I were still young, barely men. My mother laughed back then…she laughed often. She filled these halls with light and music. We would chase eachother through corridors you’ve yet to see, our footsteps echoing with something I’ve long forgotten the sound of.”
“What sound?” I asked gently, and he smiled faintly, though the look never reached his eyes. The room stilled until finally he said a single word in reply,
“Peace.”A word that now hung in the air like a prayer.
“But peace never lasts, does it?” I asked softly. His lips curved into something dark, almost self-mocking.
“No. Peace is the first thing the world demands you sacrifice for power. And my father… was a man who never knew when to stop taking.” I shivered, though not from the cold.
“So that’s when everything changed?” He nodded slowly at my question, the light dimming in his eyes.
“That was the beginning. The foundation of everything that followed. The greed. The betrayal. The death… the bargain made that eventually cursed us”
“The darkness?” I asked, automatically looking to the side of his face that no longer needed a mask to hide it.
He paused for a long moment, as though the memory itself carried a weight that threatened to crush him. His jaw tightened, and when he spoke again, his tone was quieter, haunted.
“He wanted more than a name in the trade, more than a place at the table. He wanted immortality of legacy, not just life. So, he went looking for something no mortal, no vampire, was ever meant to find.” His gaze drifted, unfocused, as though he were watching it unfold all over again.
“What did he find?”I whispered. His lips curved in a humorless smirk.
“Not what he expected. He found a demon. One of the old ones. Not the kind that bargains for souls in alleyways or whispers to the desperate. This one was ancient, older than the night itself. And my father…” He shook his head.
“… He thought he could outwit it.”
I felt my pulse thrum in my throat.
“He made a deal,” I said softly.
“Yes,” Vas replied, his tone laced with bitterness.
“He offered something in exchange for power, something so great that even now, I don’t know what it was. None of us do. But the demon granted him what he desired. Strength, status, dominion.” He lifted his hand slightly, and I caught the faint flicker of shadow crawling just beneath his skin, pulsing faintly like veins made of smoke that danced at the end of his fingertips.
“But it came with this. A darkness that isn’t just part of us…It is us…A living, breathing entity that feeds on anger, pain, and blood. It gives us power beyond measure but hungers for control in return. We are now bound to it, chained by what our father summoned.” A shiver ran through me at the sight of the shadows coiling faintly along his arm.
“And your brothers?” I asked quietly.
“The same,” he said with a deep sigh.
“We all bear it. A curse wrapped in the guise of a gift. Our father believed he could contain it, that he could use it to elevate our name among the Fondatori. But power like that… it doesn’t like to be contained. It consumes. Him… Then us all.”
I swallowed hard.
“And you have no clue at all what this demon wanted in return?”
He finally looked back at me, and for the first time, I saw something that looked close to fear in his eyes.
“That is what I still don’t know. Whatever price he paid, it hasn’t come due yet… or maybe, it already has… perhaps it feeds from the destruction of our blood vows, the ones made to each other even in the darkest of times.” I swallowed hard before asking,
“Blood vows?”
