Blood Ties

Chapter 19

Lazaro had always smiled for her. Even when he was in pain, even when he'd had a tube in his throat and couldn't talk, he'd smiled, and turned a hand palm-up for her to hold.The worst thing about knowing he was dead was that it didn't change how she felt. Her thoughts would go back to him, like her tongue on a missing tooth, finding the void. Even when Giuseppe had held her, Lazaro's death hung over them. Even with Giuseppe's mouth on her flesh, the points of his fangs tracing twin lines of fire over her skin, the memory of Lazaro had rendered her numb and silent within herself. It was as if she watched another girl from afar. See, how smooth her skin, how dark her eyes, how she sighs. An automata. Even her tears were a cruel echo.

She had kissed her grandfather as he dressed to leave, his collar hanging unfastened from his neck, and felt him smile under her lips, breathless. He had pressed the haunted rose-gold ring into her hand before he left.Alone. He had left her alone in the dark. Damiana wrapped the sheets around herself and closed her eyes. Giuseppe had left her, as she had left Lazaro. Her brother Lazaro became her friend Fiorenza became the old woman at the farmhouse became the vampire Neroni and his blackshirts, all equal in death. All of them dead in her wake. Maybe Giuseppe was right. Maybe it was inevitable.---The light entered brusquely, with the sound of metal on metal. Damiana held her hand to her eyes, squinting out at the wreckage of her room, lit by stark winter sunshine. Her cousin stood at the window, hands on the heavy velvet drapes."China," Damiana's voice, unused for days, creaked and juddered as if her vocal chords had rusted closed. She cleared her throat, shifting in her chair. "What are you doing here?"China looked over her shoulder at Damiana, her delicate features pulling into a frown. "No-one's seen you in days. Tommy's boys are betting even odds that Giuseppe turned you before he left.""No," said Damiana. "Why would he?"China gave a shrug. "That's what I said." She twirled lazily, the hem of her skirt showing her knees, and she leaned back against the window, her golden hair made a halo by the afternoon light. "It's not like you're special."Damiana closed her eyes, the insides of her eyelids red. "Gabrielle bought you earrings. They're on the dresser.""That's all you're gonna say to me? Just change the subject? You're not even gonna deny it?" China cocked her head before turning to the dresser and picking up the box.Damiana watched her cousin. The winter light made her colours look washed out, her face sharper than it had been. Or was that the blood, changing the way she saw the world? She'd been in her room too long to say for sure. "I'm not special, China.""Do you have any idea," said China. "How hard I worked to get the gift? How many men I fucked? How many ageing plutarch's bellies sagged against mine? And you-" she gestured. "-you run away and join the revolutionaries, and you fuck who you want to fuck, and Giuseppe just gives it to you on a fucking plate. For what? For just being there.""China," said Damiana. "My brother's dead. I never asked for this. Just leave it.""And you spend it, how?" China pressed. "Hiding yourself away? No-one's seen you take food. You know it doesn't make you immortal, right?"Damiana shook her head. "I know.""So you're intent on wasting away?" China's voice dripped with scorn. "You really wanna die that bad, huh? Gonna take the baby with you?""Just fuck off, China. You know I'm not a vampire now." Damiana shifted, looking away from her cousin.There was a silence, and Damiana willed her cousin to leave. China was, as ever, recalcitrant. She stood at the window, framed by the light, and looked past Damiana for a moment, turning the jewelry box over in her hands."You know what?" she said. "You're no use to me like this. Hell, I bet you're no use to anyone. I bet I could suffocate you with a pillow and the only person who would even care is Giuseppe. If he even remembers you by the time he comes back."Damiana opened one eye. "You trying to antagonise me?""And if I am?"Damiana grabbed a cushion and chucked it at China's head. There was a crash as it hit the vase on her dresser, and China leapt for her.Damiana rolled away, knocking over her chair, but her cousin was faster than her. China was on top of her, pinning her, her forearm wrapped round Damiana's throat. "Candida," Damiana gasped, calling for the ghost that Giuseppe had left her.She felt China's breath on the back of her neck as her cousin laughed."You really think grandfather's pet ghost will save you?" China asked. "Your brother wasn't the family's only necromantic prodigy, you know."Damiana gritted her teeth, pushing at China's arm.China leered down at her, her breath hot on Damiana's ear. "Still wanna die, cuz?"China's grip was cutting off her air. It made it hard to think, her vision blackening at the edges. She needed something, anything that might make China stop."Gabrielle," Damiana choked out.China's grip on her throat slackened. "What did you say?"It wasn't much, but it was enough. Damiana gulped in air, and bucked her head back, hitting China in the nose with a satisfying crunch. Pain bloomed electric at the back of her skull."You bitc-" China squealed, her hand going to her face.Her hands freed, Damiana grabbed for the arm that restrained her. She could smell the blood from her cousin's nose, clear and sharp and sweet as baking bread.She flipped China, one knee on the small of her back, holding her arms behind her. It was more awkward than she remembered, her belly obstructing her view. Her cousin spat, and swore, and wriggled. "Stop that," Damiana growled. "Or I break your fucking arm.""You wouldn't dare," said China. "My father-""Would what?" Damiana asked, putting a little force into her hold. China gave a yelp. "Strangle me?" It felt good to be the one dishing out the pain."Fuck you-""He got you emeralds," said Damiana. "What kind of dishboy buys emeralds for his girl?""I chose him," said China, dripping blood onto the carpet. "I chose him. Do you have any idea how much that means?"She shook her head. "It's not fair. You get to have your rebel lover's baby and no-one says shit. And me? Fuck me, no-one's letting me so much as spit in Gab's direction."Damiana leaned close. "It's my brother's.""What?""You heard me." Damiana closed her eyes. It's true. I am a Giovanni, through and through. "There is no rebel boyfriend. Just me and Laz."China started to shake with laughter. "No shit?""No shit."China spat something out, still shaking. "I thought you had escaped, you know that? I thought you had Giuseppe watching over you like some kinda fucked-up guardian angel. Thought you were going to get away, out of the family's reach. Have a normal life. Your own life." China shook her head. "But no. You gotta be just as fucked up as I am.""Really? How fucked up is that?""You can say what you want about me," said China, twisting to look up at Damiana, face covered in snot and blood. "But I never fucked my brother."Damiana considered China's brother. From what little she remembered of Cesare, he was sullen and hot-tempered; he had once thrown a glass of wine at a maitre d' when the man had ignored him. "You sure about that?""Fine." China clicked her tongue. "I never fucked your brother. You gonna let me up now?"