Carpathian 10 - Dark Symphony

safety, and I will find who threatens her. She is mine, in heart and soul. She just needs to come to terms with who she will be when she embraces her choice."
    "Of course you will return with her to our homeland." Eleanor made it a statement.
    Byron smiled at her. "It is good to see you. Where is Vlad? Surely your life mate did not allow you to travel unprotected?"
    "I am not without my own protections," Eleanor reminded. "Vlad is here, and we have Josef with us. He wanted to visit other countries and see something of the world. We thought it best that we travel with him."
    Byron couldn't stop the small step away from her as the horror of her words penetrated.
    "Josef?" The name came out a croak. "You have not brought that horrid child with you. Not here? Near the palazzo?"
    "Byron, he is your nephew." Eleanor sank onto the curved marble bench seat and glared up at her brother. "What a horrible reaction."
    Byron shook his head. "Benj is my nephew. I will be more than happy to claim him, but Josef is an altogether different matter. There is no blood between us."
    "He is my son. I took him when Lucia died in childbirth.
    I love him no less than Benj. I know he can be difficult—"
    "Difficult! The boy is a menace. Lucia had no business having another child. She was so old, an ancient spending most of her days in the ground and hiding from the changes around her. She had no intention of living in a modern world. What was she thinking to try such a thing?"
    "She was thinking of the preservation of our people. Byron, you are being overly harsh, and it is so unlike you."
    "I am not being harsh, Eleanor, only truthful. The boy has done nothing but get in trouble almost since his first step."
    "He was orphaned, Byron. He lost his parents the very day he was born."
    "Most of us lost someone, Eleanor, and he didn't even know Lucia and Rodaniver. You and Vlad have been his parents, and no one could have loved him more. Lucia and Rodaniver lived in the past; they would have made that boy's life hell had they lived, and you know it.
    Now he just makes our lives hell."
    "Byron!" Eleanor twisted her fingers together. "He needs love and understanding. You should make an effort with him. Guide him on the right path."
    "Why do I get the feeling there is more to this visit than luck? You did not just happen to come to Italy, did you?" His black eyes began to smolder.
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    Dark Symphony
    Page 92 of 188
    Eleanor looked away from him. "Despite what you say, Josef is your nephew, and I think you should take an interest in him. He wants to paint. Italy is a wonderful country to paint in.
    Benj was too busy and could not escort Josef. He still needs looking after, and since you're here…"
    "No! Emphatically no! I cannot possibly take care of a child. And I don't want him anywhere near the palazzo." Byron shuddered visibly. "He wears his pants ten sizes too big. In fact, when you took him to see Mikhail, he stood right there in front of our prince and his life mate, wearing baggy pants, a ring in his lip, nose, and eyebrow." He shook his head. "I do not want to know where else he had one, but every time he opened his mouth, I saw something hideous attached to his tongue. And even worse, he wanted to perform for them, and you let him."
    "He was only a young boy, Byron, and it meant so much to him."
    "I prefer Mozart and Chopin, opera and even the blues, but not rap. What was that horrible song he made up? I still hear it in my nightmares. I believe he spat a lot and made strange sounds before he graced us with the lyrics." Byron showed his gleaming white teeth, his incisors slightly prominent as if he could take a bite out of his nephew. "It was so shocking, I cannot, nor ever will forget the lyrics. In case you have forgotten, they went like this: 'I'm the man, / The man you can't see, /An invisible man, you ought to fear me, / Fangs and cat's eyes, / Your blood on my hands, /I come out at night when the moon rises high, I'm a blood-sucking fiend, a most fearsome sight.' I particularly enjoyed watching the prince's face when he sang the blood-sucking fiend part and the refrain of 7 want to suck your blood, blood, blood.' " Byron found he wanted to laugh at the memory, as he couldn't those many years ago.
    "The only good thing that came out of