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Darkened Hearts (Orcus/LeBella)

After he was gone from her windo, Cecilia quickly grabbed her spare gown and all it's parts and undressed, making sure that no one was watching. She slipped into the similarily colored russet and gold gown and then laced the sleeves by herself as best she could. After that was done, she doctored her lip and repinned her hair. How this man Cashis knew so much about her was unknown but she would definitely be grateful to him always for this. Of course if she had been caught with him alone in her chamber she would of been marrying him instead so there was little to be done on that account but she guessed he didn't want to marry. She didn't know why she thought that but that was what she suspected. Sighing, she took one last glance in the mirror and then went toward her balcony. She had experience using the balcony to get down to the street below so she glanced about before moving to do exactly that. It took much manuevering and carefully placed steps but she managed to get back down to the ground without looking ruffled.

The Borgia spy was close by, watching the house and seeing her climb down from her balustrade. He had been watching her closely as well as her family because his boss wanted to see if her older brother was appropriate to wed the young Lucrezia or if the widow Marcini was good for Roderigo's younger son Juan. It was no secret that Cecilia Marcini disliked everyone of the Borgia clan but the Lady Lucrezia but it was not her decision if her father wished to bind ties with the Borgia clan but her father's.
 
Cashis was in the bushes now. He slowly rustled the leaves and whispered. He had to do it three times just to get the fool's attention. The spy started walking to the bushes finally. His sword was drawn but shaking like a leaf in the wind. Such a coward. He poked the bush with his sword.

It was quick. Cashis dragged the Borgia spy into the bush and turned his head to the side to drink from his neck until he stopped moving. He was still alive though not able to move on his own. Cashis had to carry him away. He would leave him alive somewhere, seeing as how senora Mancini didn't like people getting killed for her. He looked one last time to make sure Cecilia made it down alright, before rushing to the mire.
 
Cecilia didn't know where this man Cashis had gone but now that she was straightened out, she could re-enter the house. She waited for a moment and when he did not return, she walked into the villa and saw her brothers Emilio and Cesare both speaking. Emilio turned, having the same coloring as herself given their English mother and smiled. "You are looking fetching this afternoon sister dearest," he said kissing her cheeks. She smiled and then looked at Cesare who was twenty-one and finishing up his collegiate learnings at the Vatican. His tutor had been the one to pass away the night before.

She looked at him. "I overheard the servants speaking of your tutor's passing," she said which was the truth as they had spoke about such things while dressing her. Cesare kissed both of her cheeks. "It is no matter. Father said that you were off with Signor DeLuca..." he said. She sighed. "I left...he was being uncouth and I honestly don't see what father sees in him," she said simply then crossed her arms over her chest. "Where's father?" she asked.

"He went to visit the Pope. The man is not doing to well...Our Holy Father may soon pass and we'll be looking at a new pope within the coming months..." he said. "And that means the Borgia cardinal might well become the next Holy Father...we will all be doomed then," he said sighing.
 
Cashis was going to be free that night. There were no appointment or jobs planned, but... he wanted to see her tonight. He was "home" now. A crypt that was far older than Christ. His night family made their homes here. He wanted to get some sleep.

"You were out so long today, Cashis." His maker was standing at the entrance to the section of crypt that Cashis had claimed for himself.

"I had myself an adventure." Cashis said as he turned to her. "I didn't get to kill anyone, but it was still interesting."

"I smell a woman on you. A woman of breeding." She said. She was wearing a night gown that was rather revealing. "A man too. Not that I'm judging."

"It wasn't that kind of adventure, domina." Cashis began to undress. He wanted to be ready if she wanted him. But she simply turned and left. After all these centuries, she kept him guessing. No matter. Cashis climbed into his coffin and closed the lid from inside. He had no idea how many more adventures he would soon be having.
 
Cecilia had been having strange dreams of late. It had been three days since the man Cashis had saved her from rape but her dreams had been strange. It would start off the same, she would be sleeping in her bed and with her eyes closed she would feel fingers on her breasts or belly and throat then the pressure of something against her neck. Perhaps a kiss she wasn't sure. But the man was always shrouded in shadows and he would leave after he kissed her neck and even nipped at it. She'd woken up nearly every night after his presence in her dream was gone and it was certainly a strange thing. She did not know what to make of it and didn't bother trying. She simply swept such naughty thoughts from her mind. If she told a priest he might well call her a harlot but she didn't think she was one. After all, one could not control one's dreams. She had only gone once in the past three days to tithe and was beginning to feel guilty but every time she left the house, she felt as though she were being watched.

After dressing, she went downstairs and ate breakfast with her brothers and parents before asking if she could go to the marketplace. She always liked going there. Not really to buy anything but to look around. Her maid had never returned after the DeLuca incident and Cecilia had said nothing. Her lip was healed now and she was gratefully free of the man who had withdrawn his suit claiming he had decided not to wed. Which to her, was a temporary reprieve until her father found a man more suited to the task.

With a little change in her pocket, she left the villa alone, promising to keep to herself. Her father had been kind enough to grant her a couple of hours alone and she was taking advantage as she reached the large marketplace in the center of Rome complete with all sorts of stalls. Exotic fruits and vegetables, silks, fabrics, jewelry and all sorts of different things. She smiled as she walked to a stall of jewelry, admiring the handmade leather necklaces with simple stones and jewels. Nothing of true worth really but the craftsmanship was lovely. She was wearing a dark green gown today with white tufts peaking out at the elbows and shoulders with lacing at the bodice. It fit her nicely and showed off her curves without actually being immodest. No extra skin was showing and she wore a white coranet on her head with her hair intricately braided though a few curls had come loose to frame her delicate features.
 
Casandra was in the shadows of the market place. A rare thing for her, but not completely unheard of. She was considering some new silk linings for her coffin. The ones she had now were 80 years old. As she browsed the finery she was distracted by the most interesting scent. Her progeny had been smelling of a woman over the past few days. It was a very sweet smell.

She spotted the source of this smell. A young woman indeed. Such pale skin. An English woman. She was paying an awful lot of attention to the cheap jewelry. Most of her breed would simply overlook it as trash. Curious.

Casandra slowly made her way to this young woman. She standing almost next to her in shadow. Casandra's skin was the color of moist sand and her hair was blacker than it's own shadow. Her eyes were like the gaping mouths of predators frozen in time just before the bite. These lethal eyes were set on Cecilia now. And she was grinning at her.
 
Cecilia sighed as she decided to buy one of the little trinkets and put it around her wrist before turning and walking toward another stall but stopped when she saw a beautiful woman looking at her. "Oh...was I in your way?" she asked curiously. "I'm moving now...I..." she began then her eyes met the woman's and it was like she was transfixed. She couldn't look away either. It was though her eyes were locked and her body immovable. She was transfixed on this woman for no reason and she couldn't escape. She tried to form words and speak but nothing came out and she just stood there like a doe that knew the hunter's arrow was going to catch them.
 
Casandra motioned with her finger for Cecilia to come to her. Cacilia's legs moved by her command and Casandra reached out to touch her cheek. "Such a beautiful young woman." Her finger traveled down to her neck and she found where Cashis had been feeding from her. "Tell me your name, sweet child."
 
Cecilia didn't know what was going on but she couldn't do anything as they entered an alleyway that was empty and she was unable to stop herself from moving forward to the woman. Then she stopped and felt the woman touch her cheek but her eyes didn't blink or move away. Then her hands went to her neck. As the woman asked a question, she found herself unable to stop from answering. "I am Cecilia, daughter of Francis Morcini...a wealthy...merchant..." she said, wondering why she couldn't look away. It as though she was trapped.
 
Casandra crossed her arms and tilted her head at Cecilia. "Interesting." She walked around her and touched her hair. She was back around to the front of her. She could smell a boring and privileged life all over Cecilia. The girl knew how to break the rules but she followed them far more often. "You need to have more fun, young lady. And you know it."

Casandra turned to walk away and let the pore girl be, but turned one last time to say, "I'll give Cashis your regards." And than she was gone.
 
After the woman was gone, Cecilia seemed to break free of her trance after she was gone and blinked several times before sighing. That was certainly strange. After the woman was gone, she ran her fingers over her neck where the woman had touched her. She glanced at the market then back toward where the woman had disappeared before slipping from the alleyway. That had definitely been a strange encounter but decided to push the thoughts from her mind and continue with what she was doing. As she walked into the marketplace again, she gathered some thread and a needle and then returned to the villa.

When night came, she went to bed as usual but found herself unable to sleep. She tossed and turned and then heard noises in her room. She froze at the sounds of scraping and then light footsteps. She put her hand around her dirk under her pillow and then turned as the footsteps approached, dagger raised only to see a very familiar form in the darkness. She gasped. "Signore Cashis..." She scrambled from the bed and grabbed her robe, putting it on quickly. She kept the dagger though. "What are you doing in my chambers?" she asked panicked. But she didn't scream.
 
Before going to Cecilia that night Cashis had gone to speak with her father. The Pope was very close to death now there had been another Borgia spy. This one was of a whole other caliber than the fool from before. This one was a vampire as well. Cashis hadn't let that particular detail slip to the lord Mencini when reporting it.

He wasn't the only vampire to come here from somewhere else. There were English, French, German, and even one African vampires down in the crypt drinking old wine with Casandra. They were all here for the same reason. The humans were about to loose their Pope, and from the looks of it there were darker days ahead.

And now his little guilty pleasure was pointing her knife at him. Cashis was only slightly shocked by this turn of events. It had to happen sooner or later. There was also something else. A familiar smell. "Senora, it has been quite some time since you last visited St.Peter's to pay tithes. I was beginning to worry that you may be sick or..." He considered his next words very carefully. "I have heard that some women become consumed by fear after being forced by a man."
 
She lowered the knife and then lit a candle before looking at him in the dim light. "I'm...not consummed by fear Signor...I swear it...you know...you are very mysterious and it is rather frightening...disconcerting really..." She bit her bottom lip. "I haven't gone to St. Peters because I feel as though I'm being watched and then there's the fact that I've been getting tired easily the past few days..." She watched him suspiciously. "You know Signor, you know much of me and I know little of you. You knew about my spare red dress...you knew about my going to St. Peter's when not even my family knows that I do that...how is that you know so much> Are you like those Borgia spies and creep about around the villa at all hours of the day? And then there was woman in the market today. She knew you and there was something strange about her...I just...you keep me on edge Signor Cashis because you know so much and I know so little..."

She fixed her robe over herself. "Not to mention the fact you've snuck in my room and if any one hears you or I then the whole house might be alerted. I've said before I have no wish to marry," she said simply.
 
So that is Casandra I smell on her. Cashis looked away from Cecilia. He wasn't sure what to tell. The truth was out of the question. Well maybe not the whole truth. "I am like those spies you spoke of. But I work for your father. What could you possibly care to know about me? Senora, I never meant to disturb you. If you wish. I will resign from your father's service and never see to you again." He was trying to sound penitent. He hoped she'd give up on asking questions he wouldn't be able to answer. He would hate leaving, but he would if he had to.
 
Cecilia sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "I see...There's no need to resign Signor...What purpose would that serve? It makes sense however..." she said then sank down on the edge of the bed, smoothing out her robe and nightgown then looked up at him, brushing her fingers through her hair. SHe flushed. After all, she'd been in a chemise when he'd entered the room and now she was here with him with her hair down and in nothing but a chemise and robe. "I'm just not used to all this intrigue my father and nearly everyone in Rome is obsessed with..." she trailed off and bit her bottom lip. "Were you charged to look after me by my father or do you just spy on other families for him?" she asked, thinking back to Cesare's tutor. She was suspicious but kept the idea to herself because to think something that horrible ws judgemental and being a judge of another was not her place.
 
"Your father has me spy on on your suites before you meet them. Though, he only seems to be interested in whether or not they have lovers. Even than he only seems to care if those lovers are men." He turned back to her. "Those are my only task concerning you. The other things I've done... Helping you... rescuing you... You deserve..." He turned a little as if he were about to leave. "You deserve better than this, senora."
 
"Yes well...I don't have much of a choice do I? I'm lucky that after what you did to De Luca, he withdrew his suit from me...but there will be others..." Cecilia sighed. "I asked my father if I could join a church but as his only daughter, my dutie is to marry whatever man he chooses. Do you know he even wants to marry me to Juan Borgia. I don't want to marry him. He's rude and arrogant and I dislike him..." She sighed and then got up, slowly stopping him. "Thank you Signore...It does my heart good to know that there are still kind hearts like yours in the world...and if I'm lucky I'll be given to a man that is kind as you've been towards me...but I'm only a woman and therefore my thoughts do not count," she said simply then brushed her fingers through her hair. She looked up at him blushing then turned away.
 
Cashis had no idea what he was doing. His hand seemed to move on its own to take hold of her shoulder. "Your thoughts matter. As does your happiness." He was standing at her back now with his strong hands on her shoulders. "Come with me to St.Peter's Basilica. I will only watch over you."
 
She looked at him as he offered to guide her and she nodded. Her father and brothers trusted him. She supposed she could trust him too. Cecilia was beginning to think she was flirting with disaster though. "Grant me a moment..." she said. After all, he was going to escort her to St. Peter's so that she could put in her family's tithes. She grabbed a dark dress from her wardrobe and went to the antechamber. She slid off her robe and then put on the gown and then grabbed her boots and slipped them on as well. After that was done, she brushed her hair back and braided it, tying it at the bottom and grabbed her cloak. Once she was ready, she grabbed the bag of money and then glanced at him. "I'm ready to leave...we can go through the house...or climb down the trellis...you musst do that a lot," she mused. "Climb things that is..."
 
Cashis was very patient and didn't look as she was getting dressed. He was keeping his ears open for anyone or thing that might pose a problem. He couldn't help but catch the odd smell of her. Every time her fingers ran through her perfectly black hair and landed on her pale skin he was treated to that lovely smell again.

Than she asked about climbing the trellis. "More than I thought I would be. Are you ready?" He was looking out to see if the way was clear. There were a few people down there. No spies. No one to worry about.
 
She smiled. "Excellent...I can climb down," Cecilia promised then reached her trellis and glanced around before slowly climbing down. She lost her footing a little but recoverd quickly. After all, there was experience in doing this. The other night she'd gone through the house because of recent rain causing the bricks to be to slick to climb down. Once she hit the ground, the seventeen year old fixed her gown and then smoothed out the cloak before hooding herself, making sure that she was shrouded as they could head to St. Peter's undetected.
 
Cashis was down before her. He was continuing to watch out for trouble. There were a few people going about minding their own business. No one saw Cecilia on her way down. Cashis helped her get out of sight of the Mancini house. "And now to the basilica. Is there anywhere else you want to go?"
 
"In the middle of the night? No...just St. Peters. It's dangerous to go elsewhere. I doubt there is much else to go to except for dark alleyways and local taverns," she said then smiled at him before leading him to St. Peters. She took her shortcuts though it wasn't far at all and reached the corridors of the basilica that were empty at this time of night. her nightvision was good enough to see and there were candles surrounding the alter. She dipped her fingers in the bowl of water and cleaned them and then grabbed the bag of money. She said softly, a prayer and blessing and then spilled the coins into the tithing's box and crossed herself. She took a deep breath and then slid the hood of her cloak back, looking at the crucifix hanging above the alter and prayed once more before drawing back and then slowly approached Cashis.

"Signor...I was wondering...will you be attending my natal day feast? Father's throwing a feast for the day that I turn eight and ten and it's in a few days. I told him not to but he's wanting to show me off to possible suitors or husbands. There's nothing more appealing than a woman who is a widow but still holds a large dowry thanks to her dead husband's lands and the money bestowed to her through her husband..." She sighed. "You are more than welcome to come if father has not invited you. I doubt he'll say anything..."
 
Cashis had little patience when it came to holy ground. Any vampire who stood on it would begin to feel as if they were being filled with needles. The discomfort was treated like a warning to most. It was far easier for a vampire to meet his end on holy ground. Cashis had been attacked once in a temple to Mars, it was the most trying fight of his life even though his adversaries were simple human muggers. But he could withstand it for her. At lest for now.

Once she was done with her bizarre custom and asked her question he had to think carefully about his answer. "If I were to come under your invitation your family would be suspicious. As far as they know we've never met. But, if I may, I could meet you in your chambers after dark." Directly after saying this, it occurred to him how that might sound.
 
She thought on that particular statement as she walked out. "I think I can trust you enough not to dishonor me. Granted, meeting me in my chamber has a risk. After all, even though I'm a widow, I'm still a woman with a pristine reputation..And most men don't like the idea of a scandalous wife. So I have been told," she said simply then smiled as they started back toward her father's villa. "Have you ever been married before Signor?" she asked curiously as they walked. She kept her cloak close to her skin as the air was a little brisk. She hadn't thought of how suspcious it would be. He was right. As far as her father was concerned and her family...they had never met. She sighed. "I can't imagine why most men marry. Hardly any of them honor vows of fidelity. So if they do not follow their vow of fidelity, then their wife should be allowed to break her vow of obedience...Sorry...I never have liked the idea of marrying. Men get to do far more than women...I suppose I must sound like a mad woman...but I never have thought it fair..." She sighed as they walked.
 
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