Venice Vampyr (Venice Vampyr #1)

was hiding from her.
    ***
    Raphael entered the parlor in his own home and noticed that he had a visitor. Lorenzo, one of his closest friends, was sprawled in one corner of the sofa.
    “Lorenzo, it’s good to see you.”
    Lorenzo gave him a crooked grin, mischief twinkling in his blue eyes. His loose, shoulder-length hair and open shirt attested to the fact that he’d been waiting for a while, and the drops of blood on his chest indicated he’d fed recently. Very recently.
    “Likewise. I hear congratulations are in order.”
    Raphael’s nostril’s flared as he scented the fresh blood. In fact, it was very intense. He glanced around the room and found Dante in his favorite chair in front of the fireplace, a young woman in his lap. Her gown was open in the front, exposing her small but firm breasts, which Dante fondled while he suckled from her neck.
    Drops of blood ran down Dante’s cheek, evidence of how greedily he drank from the woman. Her soft moans drifted to his ears. She was under Dante’s thrall. Raphael knew that she wouldn’t remember anything his brother did to her. The persuasion skill his brother used was what had helped him and his fellow vampires avoid detection over centuries. Every vampire used it when feeding.
     He felt his trousers tightening at the thought of feeding from a woman. Not any woman. Isabella. With a grunt, he pulled himself away from the sight and embraced Lorenzo who’d risen from the sofa.
    “Thank you, my friend.”
    Lorenzo made a sideway’s glance at Dante. “Would you like some? I brought her for Dante, but as we both know, he doesn’t mind sharing. Do you, Dante?”
    As much as he would have liked to accept the offer, he’d decided to only feed from men now that he was married to Isabella. He didn’t feel that it was right to touch another woman.
    “No, thank you.”
    “My brother is smitten with his wife, you must understand, Lorenzo,” Dante drawled, having dislodged his fangs from the woman’s neck. “It appears he doesn’t want to give into temptation by touching another woman.”
    “And Dante seems to stick his nose into things that don’t concern him. Who I feed from is entirely my business,” Raphael shot back. “Now, if you’re quite done with feeding, can we get down to business? What did you find out about Giovanni Tenderini?”
    Dante licked the puncture wounds on the woman’s neck, got up and carried her to the sofa where he laid her down. Then he wiped his mouth and looked back at Raphael, his face serious now. “He was a Guardian all right. But I’ll let Lorenzo tell you the story. It’s quite interesting, by the way.”
    “Yes,” Lorenzo confirmed. “A Guardian turned Vampire.”
    Surprise registered with Raphael. “What?”
    “You heard right. He was chasing a group of us together with a couple of other Guardians, but we managed to separate him from his brethren. We cornered him in a dead end. There was no way out for him. Nico had the brilliant idea of handing out the ultimate punishment.”
    Raphael held his breath, guessing what was coming.
    “And what fitting punishment it was for a Guardian to become the very creature he hunts, don’t you think? Nico turned him. He struggled, he fought—a very brave man, if I may add. But to no avail. In the end, the deed was done. He’d made him one of us. We heard of his death a month later. I wonder whether he took his own life. He must have known he would drown.”
    “It all makes sense now.” Raphael ran his hand through his hair.
    “What makes sense?” Dante asked.
    “Isabella noticed a change in him in the month before his death. And he never wore his Guardian ring again. But I don’t believe that he committed suicide. More like somebody close to him hastened his end.”
    “His wife?” Lorenzo asked.
    Raphael gave his friend a scolding look. Isabella wouldn’t harm a fly. “No. Isabella would never hurt a soul.”
    “You seem so sure, my brother. Didn’t I tell you not to trust your wife? Watch out or you might end up like her first husband.”
    Raphael glared at his brother. “Isabella has nothing to do with this. I rather suspect that his cousin Massimo is involved in his demise. Have you had somebody follow him?”
    Dante nodded. “He’s careful. No suspicious meetings with anybody so far. And we haven’t spotted the ring on anybody else. I suspect the Guardians only wear it in private or when they meet with each other.”
    Which could mean that Massimo