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

vision of her was superimposed with the sight of Cuinn. Cuinn rose to his paws, drawing his ears back with a snarl.
    Watch it, witch.
    A muscle in her jaw twitched, giving the slightest indication that she had heard him. “Vasco, you did not tell me one of the Fatas was among you.”
    “It is not important,” he said.
    “Enough,” Renata said, sounding tired. “You have said you will aid us. What aid can you give?”
    “Vasco has told me of your troubles,” Savina said smoothly, sounding politic. “I can reverse the spell.”
    “Why would you help? I asked.
    “Because I can,” she said, and I got a very strong sense she wasn’t offering to help because she cared, but for some other reasons. Maybe she just wanted to show off her powers.
    “We need to get Dominique first,” I said. “There’s no telling how long this could take. He’s still alive. Surely, restoring the Donatore can wait until he’s with us again.”
    “You have found him?” Nirena asked.
    “Dominique, yes. We’ve not yet found Dante. We can’t. Renata can’t sense him. We’ve been waiting to retrieve Dominique on the chance it’s a trap of some sort.”
    Vasco’s sword sang from its sheath. He stood armed and waited for Renata to give some instruction. She nodded and I retrieved the fox blade from the bed.
    “Anatharic,” Iliaria said and ordered him to take the rear.
    Vito moved to the main doors to be near his sister. As they had before, the Elders in tow put Renata and me in the middle. This time, Savina joined our little hunting party, standing on the other side of Renata so that she was between us.
    I spared her a glance.
    “If you’re worrying about me,” Savina said, sounding defensive, “don’t. I’ve no need of your weapons.”
    I held my tongue. I wasn’t worried about arming her. What worried me was whether or not she could be trusted.

    *

    The hallway of the purgatorio appeared empty.
    “No one else is here,” Iliaria said after taking a cautious look around.
    Anatharic was on all fours beside me, the length of his tail swaying gently. “Coward,” he said, half-growling and obviously referring to the fact that our intruders had disappeared.
    Our little hunting party descended further down the hall and rounded a corner to find the cell where Renata and I had seen Dominique. Vasco tried to open the cell and jerked roughly on the lock when he realized it was latched.
    “It will not open,” Dominique’s voice grumbled from the shadows.
    “Dominique,” Renata said, relief making her voice soft. “Are you well?”
    “I am, lady, aside from their silly parlor tricks.”
    “They’ve spelled the door,” Vasco said.
    It was the only thing that explained why, when he tugged on the metal lock, he could not break it. A human, of course, wouldn’t have been able to break it. But Dominique and Vasco should have been able to do such a thing easily.
    Savina parted our throng. “I’ll do it.”
    Vito and Vittoria stood near the sharp turn in the hallway, quietly guarding and keeping an eye lest Damokles returned. Nirena was just as silent, standing in a spill of flickering torchlight that made her long hair glisten like fine spider silk. Her violet eyes met mine, and though I’d never quite figured her out, there was something different about Nirena; different in a way that had nothing to do with vampirism.
    Savina examined the lock and confirmed that it had been spelled. When she summoned her magic, a warm breeze picked up in the hallway. She murmured no words of incantation, merely tugged on the lock and pulled it open.
    Those standing closest to the door moved aside to allow Dominique to make his way through. He knelt in his very modern black jeans and white T-shirt, the tail of his dark hair falling over his shoulder as he bowed his head.
    “Forgive me, my queen.”
    “Where is Dante?” she asked.
    “I do not know, my lady.”
    Renata nodded sharply and pressed him further. “What happened,