Sensual Danger by Tina Folsom Read Free Book Online Page B

makes it possible to identify vampires.”
    Nico dropped his arms to the side, his body hardening and straightening instantly. Air rushed from his lungs, and he took another breath. He noticed the same sort of reaction in his fellow vampires. Shock rippled through them.
    “How can that be?” Dante asked.
    “Are you sure?” Raphael added.
    Marcello nodded gravely. “You all know that my spies are reliable. I bloody well pay them enough. I believe it to be true. This rumor has been circulating over the past week and only just came to my spies’ ears. And if we know about this, then it’s safe to assume the Guardians know about it too.”
    “And they’ll want the machine,” Nico added calmly, even though he felt agitated. If the Guardians of the Holy Waters, a secret society of Venetian men who wanted to eradicate vampires, got hold of a means to detect vampires more easily, it would put them all in danger.
    “What if it doesn’t work?” Andrea threw in.
    Silvano tossed him a concerned look. “What if it does?”
    Marcello lifted his hand. “No matter whether the answer is yes or no, we have to find the machine first. If it falls into the Guardians’ hands and it does indeed work, then we’ll have a very hard time remaining in hiding. None of us will be safe. Once they have one device, they can duplicate it. Soon, all Guardians will have one and hunt us down.”
    His friend had a point. Every time one of them ventured out of their houses, the risk of detection would be multiplied. So far, vampires only had to be careful when out hunting for blood, so they wouldn’t be detected when they drank from a human. But if the Guardians had another method of recognizing them even though their vampire side was hidden, then a simple walk in the evening would become hazardous.
    “What are we going to do about it?” Nico asked, looking at his host. “Do your spies have any information as to the whereabouts of this detection device?”
    “Nothing concrete so far. As we speak, they’re using their contacts to find out more. But they’re being careful, because we can’t risk their questions being traced back to us.”
    “Marcello,” Dante suddenly threw in. “Tell them what you told me about the list of names earlier.”
    Marcello cleared his throat. “As most of you know, the list is a parchment with the presumed names of the Guardians of the Holy Waters that Bianca found hidden in her late father’s house. Only, the names don’t exist: they’re made up. Code names. We know this because we know three dead members from this list: Giovanni, the first husband of Raphael’s wife, Massimo, her cousin, as well as a known rake, Salvatore. They aren’t on the list, even though they were members of the Guardians.”
    Marcello looked dejected. “Unfortunately there’s no logic behind the way they chose their names. Even with using common ciphers and searching for the most common letters appearing in the list, I wasn’t able to figure out what names those three known Guardians chose. I’m not sure what else to try.”
    Lorenzo nodded. “I worked on a copy of the list, but haven’t come up with anything either. There might not be any code hidden in the list. It could be a hoax.”
    Nico balled his hand into a fist and slammed it against the door. “Damn!”
    “Never mind that now!” Raphael cut in. “Let’s deal with the problem at hand. I suggest that at nightfall each and every one of us search out his trusted contacts in the city and see what else he can find out. Somebody must know something else. Nothing remains a secret forever in this city. Servants talk. Let’s use that to our advantage. Let’s find the ones who’ll tell us what we want to know.”
    The others nodded, mumbling their agreement to Raphael’s plan. Nico did likewise. At least it gave him something to do rather than go home.
    He wasn’t ready to face his wife and find out the reason for her tears, for he guessed it: he disgusted her, and