“A treasure hunt?” Victoria felt a shiver across her shoulders. “Whatever would you be searching for in an old, empty house?” But she had a sneaking suspicion she might know.
“A scavenger hunt,” Lady Melly interrupted. “And we don’t know exactly how to find what we’re looking for, but it should be frightfully amusing. Well, perhaps not so amusing,” she added, looking abashed. “It will be nothing more than a good deed, helping the family find a key that has been missing for more than a century. I’m certain even the pope would approve. If he were here.”
Indeed.
“It does sound intriguing,” Victoria said. “I have decided I will attend after all.”
It took her another several minutes to extricate herself from the ladies’ enthusiasm, and then nearly forty minutes in the barouche with Oliver driving a roundabout path from the Gardella villa to the small church of Santo Quirinus.
Thus it was past five o’clock when she entered the small, unassuming church where a bowl of ashes sat in the vestibule. Victoria crossed herself with the gritty soot, leaving a dark smudge on her forehead and bits of dust floating down to catch in her lashes.
There were several penitents in the church, and she paused to kneel in prayer before slipping past the rail at the altar to the confessional.
Inside the small confessional, she closed the door behind her as if to meet with the priest. But instead of kneeling, Victoria felt for the small latch to the hidden door next to her seat. It slid silently open to reveal three steps that led down to a long, narrow hall studded with icons.
Victoria closed the door behind her and entered the passageway, taking care not to step on the middle stair as she did so. That middle stair was connected to an alarm in the Consilium below, warning when an unauthorized presence approached.
The hall in which she stood appeared to be nothing but a gallery of images that dead-ended in a brick wall. However, if one knew that the last icon on the left, the one depicting Jesus with the angels Gabriel and Uriel, concealed a subtle pattern of bricks that must be pushed in the proper order, one could release the rope-and-pulley mechanism that opened the dead-end wall and reveal the spiral staircase that led to the chambers below. After she’d opened the hidden door, Victoria started down the curling steps that were lit by several sconces.
She walked through the marble archway into the main chamber of the Consilium, where the fountain of holy water splashed and sparkled, and she stopped.
On the other side of the circular font was gathered a group of Venators: Ilias, Zavier, Michalas, Stanislaus. They were all talking in earnest. One tall, dark head rose above the rest, attached to a set of broad, black-clad shoulders facing slightly away from Victoria, and that man seemed to be at the center of the conversation.
Zavier saw her first, and retreated slightly from the little group to hail her toward them. “Victoria! At last you’ve arrived. I couldn’t help but be a wee worried after we were separated last night.” He gestured toward her, his face bright with pleasure, nearly matching his hair. “And see who’s returned.”
Max turned, and their eyes met briefly until she focused her attention back on Zavier, who, for all of his muscular bulk, looked as excited as a child with a new toy.
“Hello, Max,” Victoria said, walking toward the group. For some reason she wasn’t certain whether she should acknowledge that they’d spoken the night before. The expression on his face was devoid of the soberness he’d worn then and instead held the aloof, almost annoyed expression she was more accustomed to seeing. “Good afternoon, everyone,” she added, smiling at them all. The other Venators responded with nods and warm smiles, making her feel as if she were a long-lost sister returning to their midst.
But when Max arched a brow in that way of his and nodded in casual greeting, Victoria couldn’t help but feel a spike of annoyance. Why did his face seem to blank and sharpen now that she’d arrived when, before he saw her, even from behind, she could see that he’d been relaxed and engaged in conversation?
“I didn’t mean to be late,” she said, then was irritated with herself for apologizing, because she felt as though it was only for Max’s benefit that she’d done so. “But there’s a problem that has arisen, which delayed me, and it must be dealt with. Ilias, do you know where Wayren is? I should speak with both of you.”
“She is in her library, of course, and was waiting for your arrival,” Ilias replied.
Victoria had reached the group of Venators by now and found herself next to Zavier, who’d taken her arm and drawn her into the group. “Max,” she said, looking at him again, “welcome back. Are you indeed back?”
“For now, yes, I am.”
Victoria looked over the others and asked, “How was the last night of Carnivale?”
“Fifteen vampires slain,” Ilias told her.
“Then seventeen in all,” Victoria added with a smile. “And I saw no evidence of victims.”
“Where did ye disappear to?” Zavier asked, still holding her arm. “I was worried that whoever attempted to grab ye the night before had succeeded.”
Victoria felt Max looking at her, likely wondering if she would share her conversation with Beauregard. But since none of the others knew about the Door of Alchemy, nor about the missing armband belonging to Aunt Eustacia, she felt no need to go into the detail of her evening. They would find out soon enough, if it was necessary.
Instead she gave Zavier the smile she’d learned was helpful in distracting a man from his purpose and replied, “I went after a vampire, and when I returned you were gone. But, more important, I have need of your assistance as an escort this evening. Are you free to help me?”
“Aye, and with pleasure. Tell me only what I can do.”
“Thank you,” she replied, turning the smile just a bit warmer. Having Zavier with her to watch over her mother and friends would leave her free to do her own tasks at the estate.
“Did you say you needed to speak with Wayren?” Max interrupted.
“Yes, and Ilias as well,” Victoria replied, catching the elderly man’s eye.
Zavier looked disappointed when Victoria removed herself from his grip, but she said, “I won’t be long. Ilias, I have to do one thing, and then I’ll go to Wayren’s library to speak with you.”
She excused herself and hurried through the long gallery of Venator portraits, this time passing the newest one of Aunt Eustacia. At the other end of the hall she reached what appeared to be a dead end, but actually contained three hidden doors. One led to an old spiral staircase, one of several secret exits from the Consilium. These steps took one up to the ruins of a tumbledown building that appeared to be nothing more than an abandoned house on the small street of Tilhin. It was located many streets away from the main entrance at Santo Quirinus.