Summoning Shadows: A Rosso Lussuria Vampire Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

confidence and composure. But we were connected, and I could taste her fear.
    “Sì,” Vasco said. “All of them, sorella.”
    “I know why they targeted the Donatore,” Nirena said thoughtfully. “What I don’t get is how they found the Donatore. Do you think it possible they’ve been working with more than one vampire?” she asked Renata.
    “None save Dante, Dominique, and I know the way to this place. It does not make sense.”
    He used the witch to track mortal blood, Cuinn said, and I passed his words on to the others.
    “What do we do?” I asked aloud, though I was speaking with Cuinn. “They’ve effectively burned our crops.”
    Ah, but ye see, they’ve burned your crops with magic . In my mind, I saw Cuinn’s black lips curl into a fox’s version of a smirk. Magic is reversible. Ye’ve only to find a witch to reverse the spell.
    Reverse it? I asked.
    Aye, he said. If the Donatore were killed with magic, they can be remade with magic.
    “Epiphany?” Renata asked.
    “Cuinn said to find a witch to reverse the spell.”
    “That does not help us much,” Renata said.
    Vasco spoke up. “It might, actually.”
    “You know of a witch, my silver prince?” Renata asked.
    “Sì, I do. If she’s still in the same location. One of the Stregheria, actually.”
    “We can take you to find her,” Iliaria said. “Our means of travel is safer and less costly when it comes to time.”
    I was trying very hard to focus on their faces and not on the graphic remnants of the Donatore around us.
    Play violence I could handle; serious violence made me ill. Yet another thing that set me apart from my brethren.
    “But what of Dante and Dominique?”
    We can try ta track them , Cuinn offered.
    How?
    Remember when we tracked the Great Siren?
    I did remember. Cuinn had somehow led me to investigate the hallway without actually leaving Renata’s room. It was a sort of projection that had to do with his ability and not mine.
    I remember. Do you suppose that will work?
    It may take some time, but aye, it should. I’d not recommend doing it here, though.
    My chambers are safe, Renata’s voice flowed softly through my mind.
    I startled, not aware that she’d been eavesdropping. It was decided that all of us save Vasco, Nirena, and the Dracule would return to Renata’s chambers and wait while Cuinn and I tried to locate Dante and Dominique. Vasco, Nirena, and the Dracule would search out a witch to aid us.
    On one hand, I was relieved that I would not be waiting idly. On the other, I worried for Vasco and Iliaria. Would they find the Stregherian witch, and even if they did, would she help our clan?
    Cuinn explained to me that the Stregha were similar to him, albeit, they were, “half-blood Fata offspring.” Still, I felt as if I knew little about them. How intimately had we worked with them in the past?
    I can’t tell you that, Cuinn said, but your queen’s doors are spelled to admit only those she has invited. That’s Stregha magic at work.
    Is that what kept them from attacking Renata, do you think?
    Aye, he said , their witch might not’ve been powerful enough to break the warding on her room. It’s…” He seemed to be searching for the word. Finally, he said, It’s more intricate than the warding on the Donatore’s doors.
    I was tempted to ask, “How so?” but didn’t, figuring if I did, I was in for a lengthy explanation that probably wouldn’t have made sense to me anyway.

Chapter Two
     
    Vito and Vittoria stood just inside the room, guarding the two entryways. Both were garbed from head to foot in black: black boots, black pants, black tunics, and black hair. The only contrast to all of that blackness was the mirroring paleness of their skin and their clear, crystalline blue eyes. They were twins and though not identical, it was obvious with a glance they were biological siblings.
    Renata sat in the high-backed chair tucked into the corner of her room by a small glass table. She watched me calmly