A Foreboding Allure

Chapter 6 - Part II

The scene that lay before me, I never would have expected.  Liana, was pinned on the floor, completely exposed, blood dripped from her neck into a pool beside her head as none other than Lucca violently had his way with her.  Her eyes were glassy, dazed, and she tried to keep her eyes from fluttering as she was quickly slipping into the depths of unconsciousness.  I knew I didn't understand why Lucca was here, but in that split second, I knew that Liana was dying, and I couldn't let that happen.  I had the element of surprise on my side when I pounced on Lucca, knocking him backward with such a force that Dante's novel collection tumbled from the shelves, however, I wasn't ready for the strength of Lucca's retaliation as he quickly recovered from the blow and responded with a push that caused me to fly across the room, my spine crashing against corner of the open door. 

"Son of a bitch!" I exclaimed angrily, more confused than ever and humiliated that this little nobody had beat me.  It was then, as he went to lunge at me again, that I saw his face.  His lips and chin were smeared with bright red blood that dripped down his neck and onto his bare chest, his skin seemed to glow from within, his eyes were richer, more vivid green.  Everything about him seemed to have a subtle difference.  Even his scent was different.  And then I knew.  I had seen this sort of transformation all too many times before when I, myself, had awakened young ladies during my excursions in Northern Italy.  I had no doubt about it, Lucca was a vampire. 

I was in such a perplexed daze because of the whole situation that my reflects were unnaturally slow for a vampire and if it wasn't for Dante rushing in at the last second, Lucca would have delivered another painful blow.  Dante had held Lucca back long enough for me to regain my footing and when I started over to the blood covered traitor, Dante held up one hand to me, the other closed painfully around Lucca's neck, forcing his back against the bookshelf.  Lucca may have been a newborn, but Dante was older, stronger, and clear headed and was able to subdue him slightly.  "Lucca." Dante snarled, his eyes black as coal. "Go back to Sonya and stay away from Liana."  While his words weren't menacing, their delivery accompanied with the look in his eyes were effective enough in delivering his threat.  While vampires seemed indestructible there were ways one could be killed - fire, wooden stakes, and silver bullets, and even more ways than one could be tortured.  Even Lucca knew this.  Dante released his hold on Lucca's neck that immediately fired death glares at everyone in the room, picked up his white shirt from the floor and left the room. 

Dante and I both ran to Liana at the same time, while I tried my best to remain nonchalant, my brother was having a much harder time controlling his emotions. Worry was written all over his face - brown wrinkled, eyes set, mouth drawn to a tight line.  This irritated me.  Why should Dante care so much?

Liana was unconscious, and had lost a lot of blood, something that my brother and I were obviously trying hard not to be tempted by.  Dante picked her up, the wound on her neck dripped blood onto his sleeve.  He didn't seem to try to hide the look of longing as he held her limp body in his arms then placed her on his bed.  "She can stay here until she comes around." he said, still not looking at me.  I was growing more enraged by the second.  Dante was almost pretending like I wasn't even there, like Liana wasn't my slave. 

"She's mine; she will stay in my chamber." I snarled, perhaps unnecessarily.

Dante's eyes seemed to flash with bolts of lightning as he quickly turned to me.  "God only knows where the hell you've been and if you're even coming back.  She's dying.  She's lost too much blood.  She doesn't need to be moved anymore and she needs to be monitored." he said quite forcefully, as though he was a mamma bear protecting a cub.  "Unless you'd like to put her out of her misery and snap her neck too."

If, at that moment, I would have had a steak, it most certainly would have been mercilessly driven into his heart.  But of course, in order to keep my cover, I had to act as if it didn't bother me, which was a lot harder than I would have ever thought possible.

"Maybe.  But it'd be quite a waste since I hadn't even had my way with her yet." I said without feeling. "Although, maybe she's tainted now.  Since that slime of a creature touched her." looking to change the subject before I slipped up and revealed anything about how I felt, I added, "Would you like to explain how in the hell he's still here? I'm very certain I took care of that."

For a second, the fire in Dante's eyes lessened and he let out a heavy sigh. "After you disappeared, Sonya went a little crazy.  You know how she is, melodramatic all the time anyway.  Well, she claims to be in love with Lucca, and when she found out he was dead, she found some old book in your library that gave her a way to change him post-mortem.  I wouldn't have even known had I not found them both submerged underwater when I was out searching the grounds for you.  I'm not exactly sure of the process but she changed him and almost killed herself in the process."

"Oh don't be so dramatic Dante.  I had the situation perfectly under control. " purred the familiar voice of my beloved sister who had apparently been lurking in the door way throughout the entire conversation."And Antoine, you can just crawl back into whatever hole you crawled out off because this is all your fault.  You killed him because of whatever ridiculous need you have to control things."  Her voice was starting to shake a little and I could tell she was starting to get upset just by talking about it.  I found it rather pathetic.  She took a deep breath and pushed a piece of hair away from her face an over her shoulder as she quickly composed herself. "You took him away from me. And I brought him back.  Your little whore here is the reason the transformation was completed, hers was the first blood he has drank.  So essentially, this is all your fault." she said, directly to me, eyes burning, voice threatening.  "And I suggest that you not lay a single hand on him, either of you." Sonya added before leaving the room.

I scoffed when she was gone and Dante joined me in my moment of exasperated amusement.  It seemed as though Lucca had become an obsession.  I was sure Dante could see it to, she wasn't in love with Lucca, there was no way should could be.  Everyone in the house knew how much Lucca detested her when he was alive, and she never was loving or let on that she cared about him in any way shape or form.  She was hording him, it was an unhealthy obsession, not love and I was sickened by it.  I had no idea what our parents would say when they found out but it wouldn't surprise me if they had him destroyed when they returned.