Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 112849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
“So far so good,” I tell her. “I think.”
“It’s tiring though, isn’t it?” she says, studying my face in such a way that I wonder if I look haggard. “Having to keep up the façade. Not just in the sense of all your energy making sure the spell stays on, but the energy it takes to truly hide who you are.” She grins at me, her teeth stark white against her brown skin. “But I know what helps. I’ll get you a coffee. Another espresso, or do you want something else?”
“A macchiato would be nice,” I tell her. “I drink those espressos too fast.”
Livia gives me an understanding nod and gets up to go into the café.
I bring out my mirror from my leather messenger bag and check my face to see just how tired I look. There are some dark circles under my eyes that even my concealer couldn’t diminish. So much for looking like a femme fatale who’s about to seduce her teacher. No wonder I’ve been having zero luck with the professor.
It hasn’t been for lack of trying, either. Vampires are good at compelling you, but it doesn’t mean they are easily compelled. I was bold that first day, even bolder the next when I invited him out for a drink. I thought since he seemed so impressed by my playing that I could further charm him, but he turned me down. He did it so easily too, like he thought it was amusing that I’d even try.
Can’t say my ego didn’t take a hit. But I’m obviously in this for the long haul now.
“So,” Livia says, coming back with two coffees. She places them on the table and sits back down, folding her hands under her chin, the morning sun peeking over the building behind us and lighting up all the silver rings on her fingers. “Have you made any progress with Valtu?”
I take a sip off the coffee, my eyes shutting briefly as I swallow. The coffee here is strong enough to put hair on your back. “Not yet,” I admit. “These things take time.”
Her smile tightens. “I agree with you. However, I’m starting to think we don’t have as much time as we thought.”
A chill runs down my back, despite the warm and sunny September weather. “What do you mean?” I ask carefully.
“Can’t you feel it?” she asks, her voice dropping. “The change in the air?”
I stare at her for a moment before shaking my head. “The weather?”
“Not quite. I guess you’re still so new to Venice,” she says with a note of disappointment. “Perhaps the glamor is dulling your senses, as well.”
She’s not wrong about that. My senses aren’t as heightened as they usually are and my instincts feel a bit muddled. Honestly, I hate the feeling but there isn’t anything I can do about it. All my energy is going toward my façade: keeping the glamor on and my true self concealed, keeping my Italian flowing at a higher degree, and allowing myself to play the organ at a professional level.
“But let me tell you,” she goes on, “that things are getting worse. I can feel it. A few other witches here can feel it too and Bellamy…”
I stare at her expectantly, my heart rate increasing.
“Well, you know how he is,” she says with a knowing half-smile. “He’s aware of everything at all times. He senses it too. Which is why you need to try harder.”
“I’m doing the best I can,” I tell her sharply. “I get that the vampires have a book that opens portals and that we need to get it from them, but if the professor was such a threat, why wasn’t he dealt with before? From what I understand, Bellamy originally wanted me to dispose of Valtu. Why now? I may have been off my game for the last two years, but I’ve had my ears open. After what happened in Northern Scandinavia, the destruction of both Skarde and Jeremias, Dracula hasn’t done any harm. If I have been sent here to kill him, why now? Why not years before? What has Valtu done recently, and more than that, why couldn’t you have dealt with him?”
Her eyes widen for a moment. “Are you sticking up for a vampire?”
I glare at her for that. “I’d kill all of them if I could.”
“Well, I suppose that’s the answer, isn’t it? You’d kill them all because you can. I’m just a witch, Dahlia. A sea witch if you want my specifics. I’m not a slayer. I wasn’t trained to kill vampires. I didn’t go to school for it. I wasn’t hand-picked by Bellamy at a young age. You know very well I can’t do what you do. Vampires can’t be killed by anyone but a slayer and with the blade of mordernes.”