Page 35 of Potion of Deception (Potion of Deception #1)

QUITE UNUSUAL INVITATION

T he stars hung bright in the sky, the cold air filling Violette's lungs and the warm light of the lantern lightning up her and Dante’s silhouettes as they made their way through the trees.

They didn't talk all the way to the crypt. The sound of boots, squeaking in the thin layer of snow, filled the silence between them instead. Whatever good mood Dante had in the beginning of the evening had disappeared and it didn't look like it was coming back any time soon.

Not much time passed until their feet crossed the threshold of the crypt they had already visited a few moons ago. Fate seemed to be laughing at them as they got to the point they'd started from.

Nothing had changed since they left this place – the same cold, dark walls, the same painting of the Queen, the same stone grave in the center of the room, covered in the thick layer of dust.

Dante stalked forward and passed the lantern to Violette.

“Hold this,” the first words that came out of his mouth since their conversation in the dining room. The harshness still lingered in his tone.

Pressing hands onto the stone surface, he pushed the grave cover. The loud sound of a stone moving from its place echoed throughout the hall, awakening every inch of the crypt. Violette with caution came closer and peeked in.

Empty.

It was empty. No sign of someone being there. No body. No bones. Nothing.

It didn't look like someone ever was in this grave.

All color from Dante's face vanished. He stood there, unusually still, with his eyes fixed on the empty grave. Then he finally breathed a curse into the air.

His restraint was impressive for someone whose hopes crashed in a moment of time. He shut his eyes, gripping the edges of the open grave, and bowed his head.

Violette took a glance at him before tracing to the wall. She sat on the ground and leaned on the cold wall, thinking how stupid her head was to get herself involved in all of this mess. After all, the Queen indeed tricked them as it should've been expected.

A sigh released from her throat, her eyes trailing the pattern of the ceiling, following it to the portrait.

The Queen was indeed a beautiful woman, however the more she looked at her the more she started to realize she wasn't as kind as she seemed at first sight.

Her blue eyes weren't as kind as cunning.

Her soft smile wasn't that innocent either, and her overall expression was more arrogant than admiring.

Could it be true or Violette just started to see her not as a queen but a big obstacle who kept her away from the cure for her father, she couldn't say.

Standing up, she came closer to the painting, scrutinizing it very carefully, from the bottom to the top. And then it hit her like thunder – the stone on her crown looked slightly different than the whole painting.

“Dante,” she let out brightly. “Can you lift me up?”

He drew a side glance her way, his face twisted with confusion.

“Don't ask, just help me,” she said.

He didn't ask questions, instead he stalked closer.

She felt his breath above her head as he put his hands on her waist and then easily lifted her into the air so she was able to reach the stone in the center of the crown.

It was weakly shining in the dark, almost unnoticeable to the naked eye.

Violette held out her hand, plucking it out, leaving a small pit in the painting.

Then her feet reached the ground. Her gaze studied the stone before holding it up to the vampire.

“It was here all along,” she gasped.

“I'm impressed,” he admitted. “I was starting to think you just sought a reason to keep me closer.”

Violette speared him with a disapproving look.

“By the way, you don't need a reason. You can just ask.” The mischief got back to his voice as he flashed his dimple at her.

He lifted the moonstone into the air to examine in the light of a lantern, its beautiful effulgence playfully shimmering with blue and white hues.

Then Dante lowered the stone, lost in his thoughts .

Violette broke the silence, “Should we look for another riddle or some other kind of clue?” She looked around.

“The Queen was…” Dante tried to find a word to make it sound right. “A complicated person. She wasn’t really kind to others.” He eyed Violette. “I think there's no more prompts anymore. She gave us riddles before – consider this her gesture of goodwill. It will only get harder.”

“Such nonsense,” she burst out. “What are we supposed to do with a damn stone? How do we know what it means and what we should do next?”

“I don't think that's something she was worrying about,” he voiced simply, keeping his eyes on the stone in his hand. Violette did the same.

It was such a tosh! What should they do now? Where to go? How would the stone help them to take off Dante's mask? There should be, at least, something that could guide them in the right direction. A little clue.

A thought sparkled in Violette's head.

“Wait! What about that letter she left you? The one you threw away last time we were here. Maybe there's some kind of word play or something like that.”

“There was no important information for us,” he said and after a pause he added, “It was a personal message.”

“What? Something like ‘Ha! Ha! Gotcha!’? ”

His face lightened up with an approving smile. “You are not far away from the truth.”

“Then she is incredibly pitiful,” she commented at last.

Dante didn't say anything else, except asking Violette to save the moonstone in her bag, which he gave her back before the trip.

They were ready to leave the crypt, after all they had nothing else to find here.

Wondering about their next move was good food for thought, since they were stuck at a dead end.

But just before the exit of the crypt Violette bumped into Dante’s hand as he stopped her.

“We have guests,” a rigor painted his voice. “Stay here.”

She looked behind his hand; her eyes found a woman sitting on one of the graves, as she could guess by Dante's warning, unlikely a human.

“Don't show yourself,” he ordered and as she nodded he left her alone.

Violette took a step back and hid behind the wall.

She didn't want to meet another vampire so she'd finally decided to listen to Dante's words and wait for him where he told her, although her mind was curious as to who that woman was and what brought her here.

The voices brushed her ear: one belonged undeniably to Dante, another was insinuating and supercilious, however she couldn't figure out what the conversation was about.

She pressed her back to the stone wall, and stood closer to the entrance, trying to catch a single word.

“Good evening, Dante. Good to see you after so many years,” the woman said through a wide smile and crossed her legs. Her voice carried an unmistakable note of gloating.

“Can't say the same,” Dante grumbled. “What are you doing here, Rela?”

“Just here to deliver a message,” she flipped her chestnut hair, “from Caidas. He wants to see you. Immediately.”

“Tell him I do not accept invitations at the moment. Maybe, in the future, around a few hundred years,” he said and threw his head back.

The face of the woman suddenly changed – a serious expression took its place. Her voice became much sharper and colder. “This is not an invitation. It's an order.”

Dante sulked. “Caidas can order you . Not me.”

This earned him a loud snort like she wasn't bothered with his answer.

“I said what I said. You know it's inevitable.” Rela stood up with ease and shook the snow from her burgundy skirt.

“Oh, and one more thing,” she added as she drew steps towards the forest. “Your human friend, who is hiding in the crypt, can come with you.” Violette pricked up her ears, but didn't stick her head out. “You're not going to come to Caidas without a gift, right?”

Dante's features sharpened but he remained silent as Rela disappeared in the darkness of the night.

Violette paced to him as soon as she didn't see any peril. His gaze still lingered in the direction where the woman disappeared.

“Is everything…alright?” She inched carefully.

He faced her with his back but she could feel the disgruntlement in the way his body tensed.

The woman wasn't a welcome guest to him and even if Violette didn't know what exactly her words meant she could guess Dante didn't like it.

In fact, she didn't remember him to be so sharp and gloomy, even more than during their conversation earlier this evening.

“Not exactly,” he sighed and then finally turned his face to her.

Despite not hearing everything well, it was clear someone important wanted to see Dante and he was, to put it mildly, not excited by this news. She'd tried to hold the name she heard in her head.

“Who is Caidas?” she asked curiously as Dante wasn't quick to explain.

The vampire exhaled and sat on the nearest stone grave, propping up his temple with fingers. His gaze was drawn to Violette.

“Something like a king for vampires.”

“A king?” She dazed. “Vampires have a king?”

“There' s many more vampires than you think and they need a ruler to…not evoke chaos ,” he explained.

“Never thought vampires have their own…” she stuttered.

“Kingdom? Yes, they have.” He waved, not being satisfied with that fact either. “Caidas there's like some kind of,” he paused trying to choose the right word, “a protector. His duty as he says is protecting humans from vampires.”

“Protecting humans?” The news that vampires had their own kingdom was not as astonishing as the fact that their ruler was thinking about human safety.

Such nonsense to hear! Never in her life she'd think vampires cared about someone else except themselves.

“Sounds…strange for a vampire. Or he is…Is he a vampire at all?”

“Yes. The oldest.”

“The oldest vampire in the world?” She raised her brows, her eyes sparkling.

Dante nodded.

“He must be incredibly old. Do you know how much?”