Giovanni (Blood Brothers Book 6) (15 page)

Chapter Sixteen

Sydney buried herself deeper into the softness of the large down comforter. It was so soft and fluffy. The warmth cocooned her, making Sydney not want to move an inch. “Mmm.” She rolled over and rubbed her cheek against a pillow so soft, her head sunk in it. Was she in heaven?

As she slowly opened her eyes, she ran her fingers along the bedding and froze. This wasn’t her bed. It was too large, too soft. And the sound of cool air generating around her was another indicator that not only was she not in her room but she wasn’t in her house. She didn’t have central air.

“Where am I?” she whispered more to herself than to anyone who might hear her. The last time she woke up in an unfamiliar place it had been the hospital but there was no hospital that she knew of with bedding that felt quite this expensive. This comforter and sheet reminded her of the time her father had splurged for a night at a nice hotel during a family vacation.

“Ah, so you’re finally awake.” The voice belonged to a woman. It was warm, and immediately put Sydney at ease when she should have been apprehensive. But still she was in a strange place with a woman she didn’t know.

“Wh-who are you?”

“I’m Maggie Grimaldi and you’re Sydney, right?”

“Are you John’s sister? He only mentioned brothers.”

Maggie laughed. “John? Oh, no. I’m GianMarco’s wife.”

“So you’re his sister-in-law?”

“Yes.”

“Where am I and why am I here? The last thing I remember is being at home. Your husband and brothers-in-law came by looking for John. I really couldn’t give them that much information. I got a headache and Romeo offered to do some kind of trick to take it away. And now I’m here. How?”

“They brought you here. Before you grow alarmed, they did it because they thought you might be in some kind of danger.”

Sydney shook her head, scooting away from this woman. Even if what she said was true, they had basically kidnapped her. She didn’t know these people or even if John wanted to be found by them. There had to be a reason they were estranged. Right?

“They said John was in some kind of danger. That he’s suffering from some kind of illness that makes him a danger to himself and others.” The breath hitched in her throat when she remembered what Dante had done. “Dante is some kind of hypnotist. He persuaded my friends to do something out of character. It seemed so weird. A lot of strange things have been happening to me lately and I can’t make heads or tails of it.”

“I understand you probably have a lot of questions and they deserve to be answered. Just know that everything Dante and the rest of the guys told you is all true.”

“They didn’t really tell me much.”

The bed depressed under Maggie’s weight. “There really wasn’t much time. It was important to get you out of your house. Like I said, there’s some kind of danger. They all felt it.”

“Felt it? What are you talking about? Are they a bunch of psychics or something? I’ve lived in that house for the last eight years with no incident. The only danger I’ve ever experienced was being kidnapped by four strange men who claim to be related to one of my former boarders. I notice you’re being evasive so I doubt asking you anything will yield me any answers.”

Maggie placed her hand on top of Sydney’s but she immediately snatched it away. “Don’t touch me.”

Maggie sighed. “I’m sorry. My family is so touchy-feely that I forget myself sometimes.”

“It’s not that I don’t like to be touched, it’s just that I don’t know you. Your husband and his brothers kidnapped me.”

“You weren’t kidnapped, Sydney. You were taken out of that house for your own safety.”

“And I felt perfectly safe before I met you people. But if I haven’t been kidnapped as you say, then I’m free to go?” Sydney threw off her covers and slid out of bed, thankful that whoever tucked her in had left her clothes on. Once she was on her feet she placed her hands out in front of her and took small steps. “I don’t suppose one of my kidnappers, oh excuse me, ‘rescuers’ were decent enough to bring my cane along?”

“It’s by the door along with your shoes,” Maggie said quietly. “If you really want to go, I can’t stop you, and I won’t, but seeing as how you don’t know where you are, how do you plan to get home? One can only assume you don’t drive and you need money for public transportation.”

Well, I hope you’ll be decent enough to tell me where we are.”

“We’re at the Grand Marine, about twenty-five minutes away from your house.”

So they were one town over. It wasn’t too far from her doctor’s office so had a good idea where she was. If she had to rely on the kindness of strangers to get home that’s what she’d do. One thing about being blind was that people went out of their way to help her. All she’d have to do was ask for some change and find a bus stop.

Sydney kept going until she felt a sharp pain in her knee. “Shit.”

“There’s a coffee table there. To your left is a love seat. The bedroom door is about ten paces to your left. When you leave this room you’ll be in the main part of the suite. About twenty steps from there is the exit. But I’d rather you didn’t go. Don’t you want to find out what’s wrong with you? Why you’re having headaches whenever you try to remember things?”

Sydney stopped mid-step. “How did you know?”

“There’s nothing my family keeps from each other. We share things. When the men brought you back they explained what happened at your house.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t explain how they’d know about the headaches. No one knows about them. I haven’t told a soul. I didn’t even mention it to a doctor since I left the hospital and honestly I’m not sure why I didn’t.”

“There are other ways of finding things out.”

A chill moved up Sydney’s spine. “This is getting too weird. First the hypnotizing thing and now this. It’s like someone read my mind.”

“In a way, yes they did. You just mentioned not knowing why you didn’t tell the doctor about the headaches. Have you thought that maybe something or someone is mentally manipulating you?”

“That’s just crazy talk.”

“Yet you’ve witnessed for yourself what Dante could do. Sydney, the world is bigger than you know. There are most that just humans and animals that walk the Earth.”

Sydney laughed nervously. “What is this? I feel like I’m on some kind of prank show.”

“Trust me when I say I reacted similarly to you when someone first told me there were supernatural beings walking among us; most of them blend in with the rest of the world so you never quite know who is who.”

“I don’t believe you,” Sydney whispered. This woman had to be two pennies short of a dollar. “And even if I did, why are you telling me this?”

“Because you’re important to our family.”

Sydney shook her head in denial. “I don’t know your family. We only met today remember?”

“It’s because you’re important to Giovanni which makes you important to us.”

“Who’s Giovanni?” The more Maggie talked, the more confused Sydney became.

“I’m sorry, you know him as John.”

“Wait a minute. Are you saying John was using an alias? That can’t be. I use an agency that does a background check on any potential boarders. Everything came back normal, John Chandler born in Willingboro, NJ, in 1981.”

“Your agency saw what he wanted them to see. I’m probably doing a horrible job at explaining things so maybe you should take a listen to this.”

“Listen to what?”

“Give me a second, I need to pull it up on my phone. There’s story on the news that might be of some interest to you. There’s video footage that appeared in this news clip but the audio should be able to tell you a little bit of what’s happening. Now this might not make any sense at first, but I’ll explain it to you if you have any questions afterward. I’m going to start playing it now.”

“Okay,” Sydney agreed cautiously.

There was silence for a moment and then what sounded like a newscast began.
In local news tonight, several police officers have been injured in what’s been called one of the most horrific acts of violence in history. In this bystander’s video, you see a man attacking officers after taking several bullets to the chest and back in what seems like an act of supernatural strength. Experts believe the man perpetrating the crime was possibly wearing a bulletproof vest and was on a substance call Alligator. Alligator is a new designer drug that has been said to cause irrational violence and erratic behavior. The suspect, described as a white male with black hair, and stands about six foot four, managed to escape. If you see this suspect please do not engage. He is said to be dangerous so please call the police immediately.

“That’s it,” Maggie said.

Sydney covered her mouth. That was definitely John’s description but was that really him? She couldn’t imagine him harming anyone let alone several police officers. “Oh, my God. Tell me what was actually shown in the video.”

“It was of Giovanni attacking the cops while they shot him several times. But unlike the news report stated, he was neither on drugs nor wearing a bulletproof vest, and even if he was, don’t you think one of those cops would have been a good enough shot to get him in the head at least once? There’s no way anyone could survive that many hits and still escape.”

Sydney took a step backward and found herself against a wall. “What is he?”

“He’s a vampire. We’re all vampires…well except for Niccolo and Dante. They’re a wit—”

“No,” Sydney interrupted the obviously delusional woman. “This can’t be real. What you’re telling me isn’t possible.”

“Okay, how about I tell you something about yourself that no one else knows?.”

“I seriously doubt you could but you can try.”

“Okay. Give me a minute. I’m a relatively new vampire so my mind-reading skills aren’t as strong as my husband’s, who happens to be over six hundred years old.”

Yep. It was official. She was being pranked. “Look, this joke has gone on far enough. I’m leav—”

“You had a sister named Tara.”

Sydney rolled her eyes. “Anyone could have looked that information up.”

“When she was younger she used to get sick a lot. And you were jealous because she got all the attention. So you hid her favorite doll. But you’d hid it so well you were never able to find it. When she was hospitalized, you were so guilty about hiding that doll you blamed yourself for her hospitalization. You broke your piggy bank, Mr. Pennyworth, and spent the money on a new doll. It wasn’t as nice as the one you’d lost but Tara loved it all the same. You couldn’t do any wrong in her eyes because you were her big sister and she thought the sun rose and set on you.”

By the time Maggie finished talking tears rolled down Sydney’s cheeks. She’d forgotten all about the Miss Pretty Tessy incident. That story reminded her of how much she missed Tara. Unlike most sisters the two had rarely argued. They were best friends. Wherever Sydney went, Tara was sure to follow. “My parents didn’t even know. They thought I was just being nice when I bought Tara that doll. I didn’t have the guts to tell them the truth. And the thing is, I think Tara knew what I did, but she didn’t rat me out. She was just that kind of person. I just wish…sometimes I feel that she should have lived instead of me.” She hastily wiped the tears away.

“You were a child. We all do impulsive, selfish things when we’re young. The fact that you tried to atone for what you did shows that you’re not a bad person.”

“You really are a vampire, aren’t you?” Sydney whispered.

Maggie chuckled. “That’s pretty wild, isn’t it? Nearly two years ago, I was just a regular human like you. I’d recently separated from this toad of a man and I was just getting back on my feet. That’s when I met GianMarco. Trust me, I was just as skeptical as you were.”

“But he turned you?”

“Yes. He did it because I was pregnant with his child. The baby, being a vampire, would have drained a human vessel.”

“Vampires can procreate? I thought they were dead.”

Maggie sighed. “You have a lot to learn Sydney, and I promise I’ll get you up to speed, but I think you should meet the other ladies.”

“Other ladies?”

“My sisters-in-law.”

“And they’re all vampires as well?”

“Christine is, who is Romeo’s bloodmate . Bloodmate is what vampires call their lifelong partners, by the way. Sasha, Niccolo’s bloodmate, and Isis, Dante’s bloodmate, are not.”

“They’re human?”

“No. Sasha is a witch and Isis is a shifter but you’re probably more familiar with the term werewolf, although I wouldn’t use that word around her. Shifters are very sensitive about that word. It’s almost as bad as if you called me or you the N-bomb.”

“Oh. You’re black like me?” Sydney didn’t know why she pictured all vampires to be pale creatures, gothic-looking beings.

“Yes. We come in all different ethnicities and cultures. Christine is Asian, Sasha is Russian and Isis is a mixture of Dominican and Bengali. So we’re our own rainbow coalition.”

“Wow, this is a lot to take in.”

“It’s understandable.”

“So John, I mean Giovanni, is a vampire as well?”

“Yes.”

“But he’s ill, you say? It’s possible for vampires to get sick?”