Nicoletta Ch. 11

"My father, being a stubborn man, spoke no more of Azazel; and beyond that night I did not lay eyes on him again until we stood face to face the night my brother Silas should have died." Genève said, lost in a tragic nostalgic haze.

I had not been looking at Genève as she relayed her story, so it did not register that she had passed out until I heard the muffled thud of her glass hitting the carpet. I did want desperately to hear the rest of her story, but I thought I had better lean on the side of compassion and allow her to sleep.

"God Genève ..." I muttered as I tried to lift her limp body from the floor. She was a small woman, svelte even, but as dead weight, lifting her promised to gift me a sore back, so I opted to drag her to the couch. Once I had her settled I left her in the office to sleep off the vodka and her misery.

"Je suis désolée, Azazel ... Je suis désolée ..." I heard her mumble before I closed the door. I did not understand what she was saying, but I heard the regret and absolute sorrow driving her words, and it broke my heart.

I had not had as much to drink as Genève, so as I ambled through the softly lit, silent hallways of the massive villa I did so with much more courage than I had had hours before, sober and with a house full of people. When I reached the top of the stairs I could not help but stop in front of the immense gothic tapestry of the family tree I had studied briefly before the party. Then, I could not see the names closer to the bottom as there had been a man working on it, and I had been in a hurry whilst trying to make my escape.

But now, the house was quiet, and I had ample time to study the beautiful blood red curves and swirls of the tree. It looked as if it had been created from one long churning line. It was stunning work. And then there were the names of the family sewn delicately on the branches, the top being much fuller than the bottom. Soon I found the names of the most recent Rossi's. Paola and Marco and their joined branches with the names of their children sweeping below, Alessandro, Donata, and Luca; and suddenly I spied what the man had been working so diligently on only hours before ... a name, newly sewn shown the way only new golden thread can ... on a branch joined with Alessandro's was mine, Nicolette Rossi.

I reached out to touch the thread. Part of me I suppose did not trust that it was really my name that I was reading. I mean, the tree, it not only served as a striking work of art, but more than that, it was a record, a record of an ancient family, one that seemed to be woven just as tightly as the thread on the tapestry. I found it difficult to process the implications of my name having been added to the work. In all honesty, I really did not understand what it meant. My own family was never close. I mean, yes, we travelled together all over, but normally on our trips my parents worked nonstop while I was entertained by Au Pairs and distant relatives I could barely understand, much less connect with. So now, being drafted into such a close-knit family baffled me.

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" I asked myself. Looking up I noticed one of my most favorite paintings. The "Girl with a Pearl Earring" peered over her shoulder at me demanding dignified grace; and she brooked no argument. I was a Rossi now, come hell or high water, I was a Rossi. I did not have time to process my feelings on the subject anymore as a faint cry distracted me. I started down the hallway towards Genève thinking that she had woken, and panicked at not being in her own bed, but the cry quickly turned into a furious scream, and at once I knew that she still slept soundly.

"Genève!" Luca's voice rang out in rage from somewhere below where I stood. "Let me out! I've done nothing wrong!" He called. It was the first time since his break down that I had heard him. I assumed that meant that before they locked him up he had been given a sedative of some sort.

"I'll kill him ..." he cried out again. "I'll kill him just as I killed her! Let-me-out!" he screamed again. As he became more coherent, his voice became stronger and stronger, he served as my beacon as I traversed the otherwise silent halls in search of my quarry. As I walked past a huge ticking clock, art strewn walls, and beautiful gilded candelabra I felt much like I had stepped through Alice's looking glass. I giggled to myself some as I imagined a white rabbit darting out from a corner as he frantically checked his pocket watch.

"I'm still buzzed..." I chuckled to myself as I walked on. The end of my journey lead me to two massive chrome industrial doors, wholly out of place in the classically styled villa. They reminded me of passageways one might find in a hospital. I pushed through the doors and I finally began to realize the true vastness of the Rossi manor as I passed over the threshold from lavish house to a cold sterile clinic. The passage I had stepped into was one long dead-end hallway with three doors on each side and one door at the very end of the hall. Luca's enraged rant came from behind this last door.

"Who's there?" He asked frantically as the doors shut behind me. The magic that the vodka had worked on me quickly faded when I saw his face in the window of the cell he was locked in. His once angelic, impish smile was now a twisted crazed snarl; and when his bitter hard eyes found mine, my blood ran cold. I did not realize that I had stopped moving forward until I jumped backwards into the doors I had just passed through when Luca slammed is fists into the glass rattling his cell door.

"Let me out!" He screamed at me; his voice cracking in his angst. I wanted to say that I couldn't, but quickly found that I could not speak and instead swallowed the words audibly as I shook my head in negation of his demand. At my refusal, he slammed the door again this time sliding down behind it as he broke into a long sob.

"Please..." he whimpered as I turned to go. I could not figure out what it was I had planned to do down there with a crazed centuries old vampire after all, so I opted to leave him to his desolation. I had one foot out the door when he spoke again.

"Don't go, Nicolette ..." he said, his voice ragged. "Please don't leave me down here alone."

"I-I can't let you out Luca ..." I said finding my voice. He did not respond right away, and the door handle remained in my trembling grasp.

"Genève?" he questioned.

"She is alright ... " I replied letting the door slip from my hand closing myself back in the hallway as I made my decision to stay.

"I left her sleeping upstairs ..."

"Alone!" He demanded with a new panic in his voice.

"No not ... I mean yes, alone, but ..."

"You have to let me out of here, now Nicolette ... Azazel ..."

"He is not here!" I said with haste. "Your father sent him and Alessandro away ..."

"What, father sent them away, together? But that makes no sense, why did he send my brother with Azazel?"

"H-he is to remain with him until an agreement can be reached ..." I said hesitantly

"So, he's still nearby?"

"Yes ... they are staying at your father's house in the country."

"An agreement ... what sort of agreement?" He asked attempting to put the pieces together. I did not know how to approach the situation ... it seemed that since he now had someone there with him that he was calmer, but I knew instinctively that any mention of Azazel and Genève on the same breath would send Luca over the edge yet again, so I chose to lie.

"I am not really sure Luca ... I was not allowed to remain for the conversation. All I know is that Alessandro is gone, and I am alone here ..." I sighed; slipping back into my own melancholy.

"I did not intend to kill her ..." he said suddenly.

"And yet she is gone..." I replied wishing I could bite my tongue, but the comment did not seem to faze him much.

"I don't know what I was thinking!" he said with a thud of his head against the door as he chastised himself. "I have made it so much easier for Azazel to claim Genève!"

"And me ..." I added again speaking too much truth.

"Wait, what do you mean, 'and you?' " he asked.

"Never mind Luca, it does not matter ..." I said rising to leave. Suddenly it had dawned on me that I could do no good sitting outside of his cell. All I wanted to do right then was to get away. I wanted to run far away from him and his madness, I wanted to run away from the grief and fear that had filled every second of my time since first laying eyes on Alessandro Rossi. But at the same time, I knew that no matter where I went, no matter how far I ran, they would be with me, the family, the fear, the pain ... it would all follow me so I decided the best place for me to go right then was to bed and hope that things looked better in the morning.

"I'm tired Luca ... "I said on a sigh. "I'm going to go to bed ... "

"No! What do you mean and you!" he half yelled at my back. "Come back here Nicolette! I know you know more than you are letting on!" He called hitting the door again rattling it on its hinges. He beat the door over and over again calling to me until I finally stopped walking away.

"You are down here because you killed your sister Luca ... that is what I know..." I said meeting his gaze. "You are down here because you are dangerous right now ... that is what I know ... and if you keep up this madness, I know that your father will never let you out! You asked about Genève ... tonight she watched you murder Donata, your own sister Luca ... Genève is terrified of you and for you right now, and so am I. That is what I know." And all being said that could be, I turned to go.

"Tell her I love her ..." he said almost so quietly that I did not hear him. I nodded my consent, and before I crossed the threshold from the white hallway I stopped briefly wanting to say something to reassure him, but when nothing came, I left shutting the door on a now quiet, but still miserable Luca Rossi.

"How is my son?"

I jumped when I heard Paola's silky voice behind me as I walked past the shadowy alcove she had been sitting in.

"Jesus! You scared me to death!" I squeaked. The house had been so silent I thought with the party guests all gone, and she and Marco still out hunting I was the only one still haunting the halls. She said nothing in answer, simply took a drag off of her cigarette before standing to come over to me.

"Child, you have nothing to fear in this house, least of all me." She said hooking her arm through mine. "You are family now, this is your home ..." She crooned pulling me to a walk. "Now, Luca ... the two of you spoke?" She asked conversationally as we walked slower than I wanted to back up stairs.

"Yes... yes, we did speak, briefly." I answered nodding ... "he is a mess Paola." I said as I tried to put some space between her and myself without offending her, but she would not have it.

"You seem to have had an effect on both of my sons though, Nicolette ...tell me my dear, what is this magic you have that calms such ferocity?" She asked, stopping us on the landing where the tree hanged.

"I-I don't know ... magic?" I muttered. "No, no he just needed someone to talk to ... I did nothing, really." I said shaking my head in bewilderment. "And as far as Alessandro ... that man idles at ferocious most of the time!" I said with a nervous chuckle. I tried to offer a small smile at an attempt to hide my discomfort, but the conversation baffled me.

"Oh, but my dear, you do have something ... something rare, in here ..." she said placing two finger tips over my heart. "Your father, he was a witch too, no?" She asked sweetly. "Alessandro tells me that he had a hand in protecting your father as well as your family from his own arrogance years ago ... he had quite a reputation did he not?"

Now I did step away from Alessandro's mother, breaking the grip she held on my arm as politely as I could. Her words were amiable, but cryptic, and as she spoke I felt a chill drag itself over my skin like a frigid rough blanket that hung on my skin irritatingly as it covered me.

"Paola, w-what are you implying?" I asked, my voice trembling some.

"No implications, please, nothing as pretentious as that my dear ... but I do wonder, since you have arrived my boys have not been, well, themselves." She said with a small innocent shrug. "It makes me wonder, Nicolette; that is, did you ever work with him ... with your father, did he ever teach you?"

"There is no such thing as magic Paola; and I do not know what happened between Alessandro and my father, but he is not a witch; and neither am I ..." I insisted hugging myself lest I fall apart completely.

"Hum ..." She answered narrowing her eyes at me as her chin lifted confrontationally.

"Luca just needed to know that he was not alone in this house tonight ... he needed reassurance that Genève is safe ... that is all ..." I said with a shake of my head.

"And you of all people were able to offer him that assurance?" She challenged before taking another draw off of her cigarette. "You, Nicolette, a girl he has known for only a short time? Just like that, you were able to calm a normally rational vampire who has committed sororicide and been imprisoned and shunned by his own family just a few hours ago? She asked narrowing her eyes at me.

"Paola what the hell do you want from me!" I demanded jerking away from her. "What the hell are you talking about 'magic'?" I am just here! I was there as a comforting voice to Luca! And for the record, I do not ... Look! I did not ask to be here! I know he does not know me ... for Christ's sake, Paola I know! But he needed someone, and I was here! Not you, not his father, and not Alessandro ... just me; I was here" I yelled at her frantically, forgetting how uncomfortable she had made me upon our first meeting and since.

"Nicolette ..." She tried.

"No! God, just shut up, please! I am done!" I interrupted slicing the air with my hand. "I have played your game Paola ... I came, I drank, I even danced pretty for your demented guests! And now I'm tired, and Paola, I-am-done ... There is no magic... this has just been a messed up night, and one I am thrilled to see ended ..." I said turning my back to yet another vampire.

"Nicolette, please ... you do not understand ..." she tried again ...

"Look, I am so sorry for your loss Paola ... but g-good night." I stuttered not meeting her eyes. She blocked my path on the landing, so making as little contact as possible I pressed past her praying for a clean get away that would not come. Before I could get one step higher my wrist was wrapped tightly in her grip.

"Paola, its late ... I'm exhausted ..." I muttered trying to pull away.

"Sweet one; Nicolette, I apologize for my approach but ..." Here she faltered. It was the first time I had heard trepidation in her voice. Even when she had challenged Marco she did it with such a conviction that would bring a raging wolf to heel. "The situation ..." she continued, "The situation as it stands cannot be contented on my and Marco's word alone, Nicolette."

"Paola, I really could care less!" I groaned turning to her hoping to implore her to let go of my arm. "You keep saying that I am a part of this family ... that this is my home ... and my name may be stitched on your tree there, but Paola, a name on a tree does not a family make! None of this is any of my business at all ... I-Do-Not-Care!" I said with mounting anger.

"Oh, but child ... you really should care, you really should."

"Honestly Paola, I was willing to try ... as freaked out as everyone in this household has made me, and as much as I wanted to fight it, I felt ... hell, I feel a connection with Alessandro ... with you all really, and I was still willing to try. But I cannot do this! Talking to you here tonight has opened my eyes to the possibility that any connection I am feeling has less to do with a sense of family and more to do with a very large manic case of stockholm syndrome!"

And why not Stockholm syndrome, I thought to myself ... I mean what self-respecting avid paranormal fanatic raised on authors like Anne Rice and Bram Stoker wouldn't subconsciously relish a connection with the Rossi family? Ever since descending the stairs arm in arm with Alessandro to the party thrown in our honor as I looked into the preternatural eyes of the guests raising their glasses to us, I wanted it all to be true ... even after witnessing the carnage that Luca wrought, after seeing the blood fill him, yield its vitality to him, sustain him ... a part of me wanted to belong wholly to this family. But a connection via capture- bonding was not nearly enough to want to go further down the rabbit hole with Paola.

"I just can't ... don't you get it Paola? None of this can be real for me! I cannot allow it to be real, and keep my sanity at the same time! Alessandro is going to have to let me go ... y-you, you all are going to have to let me go; because I am letting go of you!" I said on a whisper as a lone tear slipped down my cheek. I realized when I finished speaking that my wrist had dropped from her grip; so, with a small shake of my head, I turned and jogged up the rest of the stairs, glad that she did not witness the flood of tears that followed the first.

"They are coming ..." She said putting an edge on her cryptic words. I had just reached the top landing. I stopped for a second considering how badly I wanted to know who she was referring to. But in the end, I stuck to my guns and began to cross the bridge that would lead me to Alessandro's rooms. I was almost free before she spoke again, stopping me in my tracks.

"The parents, the first parents, Nicolette ... they are coming, here ... and they are coming child, for you."

"So, let them come ..." I said with a shrug hoping that the tone of my voice matched the, 'I'll fight you and your parents any day' words.

I had become accustomed to waking to the sound of breaking waves, and enjoying the scent and taste of the moist briny air of the Mediterranean wafting through the open doors of Alessandro's balcony, the cries of gulls carrying on the soft breeze as they searched for their breakfast was the sweetest of symphonies. In the short time I had been with the Rossi's since, Alessandro had been away, my solitary mornings filled with the composition of the sea were sacrosanct. However, on this particular morning the muffled sounds of drawers sliding open and shut, and hangers being disturbed coming from the direction of my closet accompanied my usual concert with its own cacophony.

The room was still dim as the sun had not yet broken the horizon ... I figured that he must have returned home during the wee hours. "A-Alessandro ..." I called tentatively as I slid off of the bed to head in the direction of the closets open doors.

"Put this on!" was the terse response I received from a frazzled Genève. She tossed a pair of jeans and a sweat shirt into my hands as she passed swiftly by me, grabbing a gym bag from near the front door only to speed past me again to disappear back into my closet.

"Um Genie ... are you alright?" I tested joining her in the closet. "Why are you packing?" She did not answer right away. It was as if she had checked out completely as she haphazardly shoved various items of clothing into the bag. Her manic behavior was nothing like the scene she had made upon discovering that Azazel had returned. No, this was more focused ... she obviously had a plan.

"Genève stop!" I yelled grabbing her by the shoulders. "What are you doing?"

"Where are the clothes I gave you? Why are you not getting dressed?" she countered shaking me off of her with mounting impatience. "We have to go. ... Get dressed! There is not much time." She said breathlessly. The tense calm in her voice did not match her frantic actions as she finished stuffing a bag full of the things Alessandro had bought for me. It seemed in her haste she had finished filling it before she had even begun as she flung it through the door only to grab me by the shoulders to force me through next.