I have been writing like crazy this winter, and am pleased today to bring you the first chapter of Dark Master’s Kiss: Vampire Masters of Italy #1!
Woo-hoo!
A scintillating, dangerous rollercoaster of a story set in Florence, Italy in the Twilight Realm, this story has been brewing in my mind for more than two years, and I’m so excited to be bringing it out now!
It involves Vampires, Summer Fae, and Dark Fae as the heroine Ariana Summers discovers the Twilight Realm and her own Dark Fae magic – and two beautifully sexy men, the Master Vampire Quindici DaPonti and the Summer Fae Prince Lucca Bellari, to help her discover her power in the Twilight Realm.
Please enjoy CHAPTER ONE from the first book below.
And if you’d like to read CHAPTER TWO, you can find that here.
I’ll be in touch soon with more info on release dates for this series – six books that will all come out in 2021.
Enjoy the excerpt, and get ready for the heat!
XO Ava
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CHAPTER 1 – STOLEN
Art was more reliable than people, Ariana Summers mused as she glanced over a Renaissance painting by the Italian master Raphael. People could lie about their motives and hide their truth, but art never did. As Ariana tapped through a few notes on her tablet and lowered her chic reading glasses to peer at the painting more closely, she saw the poplar base was the right kind of wood and the egg tempera was the correct paint to be original. But though this painting was recorded by the donor as being a true Raphael , it was unlike any works of Raphael’s that Ariana had ever seen. A depiction of Vision of a Knight, it was done with a fantastically dark demon looming over the sleeping knight and a luminous, almost fae-like being on the other side, a wilder version of the original.
That had seemed at once like it was fake.
But unlike people, when art was false, there were always tells; as Ariana frowned and leaned closer, noting Raphael’s trademark brushstrokes, she tucked a lock of her red hair back into its loose side-twist. Putting on white silk gloves, she slid her fingertips over the painting, feeling for imperfections in the wood. Turning it over, she inspected every inch of the piece, looking for signs of modern work, though she couldn’t find any. Wearing a slim charcoal pantsuit with a white silk shirt, the gold torque around her neck was classy, a matching bracelet on her wrist. Making her final assessment with an astounded shake of her head, Ariana turned on her grey lace stilettos to the Director of Florence’s Pitti Palace waiting beside her.
“Strangely enough, Direttore Voglio, this one’s actually a Raphael.” She spoke, putting her glasses up on her head and removing her gloves. “I’ve never seen anything like it, but it looks like an alternate version of Vision of a Knight. While the version in London depicts two women thought to be Pleasure and Virtue standing over a man, this has men who are clearly of demonic or angelic persuasion standing over a female knight – though if you ask me, this darker man looks like a vampire in modern lore, while that one looks like a fairy. It’s a very odd but unique donation to your auction, and since it has never been seen before, will fetch quite a lot. Your donor has very fine taste, and is extremely generous to donate this for the Pitti Palace’s upkeep.”
“Thank you, Ms. Summers. We will put this in the auction, then.” The director, a balding man with a nice smile and alert brown eyes spoke in a brisk Italian accent. Hired from the international Antiquities Authentication and Curation firm Robar, Fisk, & Lund, Ariana could tell the director of the Pitti was more of an architectural restorationist than an art hound as he smiled at her in relief. Standing in a drawing-room behind a formal parlor of the Pitti Palace in Florence where the exclusive invite-only antiquities auction was about to begin, he smiled at the item in question. “The donor of this piece often contributes to our restoration auctions here at the Pitti, and has donated many period-original items over the years. Still, we were happy to have you look at this one since it was so very odd.”
“Of course.” Despite her fatigue from having flown in from an auction in Cairo the day before, and Singapore the day before that, Ariana smiled at the palace’s director. “Your donor must be very generous.”
“He is.” The man smiled with pleasure now. “We are very lucky to have the Barone Quindici DaPonti donate to our cause as often as he does. Though he forbids us from erecting a plaque anywhere to thank him for his generosity.”
“It would mar the beauty of this palace you are trying to so painstakingly restore, Direttore Voglio. Which we cannot have.”
Turning, Ariana blinked at the beautifully smooth, sexy voice that had interrupted the Pitti Palace’s Director. Only approved individuals were allowed back here during the auction; but though the Palace’s security guards in their black Italian suits glanced at the man who now entered the ornate Italian Renaissance room, they kept their beefy hands crossed.
As for the man who approached, he was nothing short of exquisite. Ariana’s russet eyebrows shot to the ceiling as he arrived, and she was suddenly acutely aware of how she must look from five days of back-to-back international flights. Though Ariana was a professional with her slim grey suits and stiletto heels, her wild waves of long red hair always managed to make her look more renegade than she intended, even when they were mostly constrained like this afternoon. Smoky makeup accentuated her bright emerald eyes, but her look had been managed hastily on the plane.
And this guy looked like he demanded perfection from everyone around him.
Wearing a slim black Armani suit with a dark red silk pocket square, the man was exquisitely tall with nice shoulders, a lean waist, and elegant height. Wavy short dark hair had been perfectly styled back from his forehead, showing gold and auburn hi-lights as he passed beneath the overhead spotlights. With straight dark eyebrows and almost viciously high cheekbones above his perfectly cut jaw, he might have looked severe except for his sensually full lips and his piercing delight as he took in Ariana. As he clasped hands with the Pitti Palace’s Director, Ariana saw he wore a plain gold Rolex with gold and onyx men’s rings on his long white fingers, cufflinks to match. The stones in his ensemble matched his dark onyx eyes – as he looked back to Ariana, she found herself falling into those eyes, deep. With cordial manners, he lifted her hand before she had even known he’d done so.
And bent, leaving the softest kiss upon her skin.
“Ms. Ariana Summers.” He spoke in his silken, luscious baritone. “Your reputation precedes you, and it is an excellent reputation indeed. I am honored to have my donation to the auction today be evaluated by the rising star of Robar, Fisk, & Lund.”
“Barone DaPonti.” Ariana recalled his title, even as she also noted he had hardly any accent to his perfect English. His looks were drowningly Italian, however; the epitome of tall, dark & handsome as he brushed his thumb over the back of her hand. As he stared her down, Ariana felt a deep heat flush inside her. His touch was cool, almost astonishingly so – but as that deep heat flooded Ariana, she saw him catch his breath. His dark eyes sparked with a fierce passion as his touch upon her hand suddenly warmed ten degrees in an instant. As that fierce wave of heat and light rushed through Ariana, she reeled, seeing starbursts even as she cursed herself for skipping lunch earlier.
But this seemed like far more than her usual forgetting to eat as she reeled from the man’s touch. In her peripheral vision, it suddenly seemed as if a dark nimbus devoured the drawing room; like a massive sea, it boiled all around her, swallowing the lights cast down upon the auction pieces like some wrathful god. As Ariana saw it, she startled; and as she watched that black nimbus boil through the room, she saw it flash with crimson and gold fire.
Coming from the Barone.
Startling backwards, Ariana jerked her hand away from the Barone’s – now scalding upon her skin as he stared at her with his drowning black eyes. Her heart raced, impossibly fast as if her very blood leapt to him and he’d somehow provoked this massive flush all through her. Reaching up and rubbing her neck, she slowly backed away.
Allured, yet somehow terrified of him.
“Ms. Summers? Are you well?” Direttore Voglio asked as he frowned at her reaction to his best donor. Blinking, Ariana found herself released from the Barone DaPonti’s gaze as she glanced to the Director.
“Forgive me, Direttore, it’s been a long few days. I think I simply forgot to eat today. Is there anything…?” She asked apologetically, though that strange sunlight heat still blazed through her, making her feel more alive than usual, electric.
“Of course.” The palace director smiled, gesturing to a side door. “We have a catering spread through there for our staff working the auction tonight. A ladies’ bathroom is across the hall beyond, if you’d like to freshen up. The auction will begin in twenty minutes – please make yourself comfortable now that you are finished with your work. We are very lucky to have you.”
“Thank you. Barone DaPonti, if you will excuse me.” Ariana smiled to them both now, though she felt a strange resurgence of that reeling sensation as she glanced to the Barone. But though he gave a gentlemanly nod, he stood with almost marble perfection as his dark eyes watched her. A sensation like graves sighed from him now; and Ariana shivered, feeling that dark nimbus around him as she continued to see it in the air. Setting a hand to her temple, she worried she was getting a migraine or having a pre-seizure, seeing things like this.
And as the Barone watched her with a subtly piercing gaze, he moved a step closer.
“Ms. Summers, would you like an escort to find a bite before the auction?”
“No, that won’t be necessary, thank you.” She spoke briskly, though as she turned, she had to clutch the nearest table in her disastrous fugue. Seeing it, both the Italian guards moved forward with alarm, but the Barone was the first to reach Ariana. As her vision blanked out, his hands shot in fast, catching her. But he clutched her close to his perfectly-sculpted frame now; as Ariana gazed up into his dark eyes, she saw them flare with a ring of crimson-gold. Drawing a short breath, she suddenly felt as if the entire universe had dropped away as she stared into that ring of fire around the Barone’s drowning dark eyes. It was like watching the corona of the sun during a total solar eclipse; as Ariana saw it, the lights in the drawing room seemed to dazzle her with a thousand colors. A high whine hit her ears, her vision blazing white. When the room returned, Ariana found herself still in his arms.
Staring up into the dark eyes of the Barone.
Inhaling swiftly, she backed away from him – even as something deep inside her screamed to be closer. Using the tables for support where the auction pieces waited, she actually held out a hand to ward the Barone off as she backed towards the side door. She hadn’t meant to make such a rude gesture to a wealthy donor, but it was like she had to ward him away. Brightness still blazed inside Ariana and darkness surged around the Barone as she made it to the door. A vast aura of darkness and burning roiled from him as he stood watching her with his strangely knowing black eyes.
Ariana knew no one else in the room could see it as her back hit the door. Her heart thundered as she entered an unrestored royal suite with mildewing green velvet drapes and a moth-eaten bed with only a few dusty floor-candelabra. A lush spread of food and drinks waited on tables for the Palace staff. But Ariana barely saw it as she untangled her wild red hair from her jewelry in a nervous twitch. She could still feel the Barone’s dark aura boiling all around her, not to mention that searing light inside her. Taking a door marked Toilette, Ariana came into a new section of the palace.
And blinked, shocked by the hall she had stepped into.
The door she’d come through led into a long hall, and as Ariana gazed left, she saw the indoor marble colonnades of the Pitti Palace. But as she glanced right, that hall morphed into colonnades that were open to the sky, with greenery all around and ornately gilded fountains spouting from the white marble walls. Past a glimmering seam of white, it all seemed intensely real – as if two worlds existed simultaneously and she had somehow stepped into both at once. Though the marble hall of the Pitti was regal, the other side was insanely beautiful, ornate with details that existed nowhere else in the palace. As Ariana stared at the colonnaded hall, astounded by its fae-like opulence, she saw something materialize in a fountain grotto directly across from her.
Like a demon of the otherworld, a mist of darkness suddenly swirled up from the shadows inside the fountain-grotto, overhung with purple wisteria. Writhing up into a menacing swirl of black smoke that darkened the late summer afternoon and the ornate fae-hall, Ariana felt a chill pass all through her from that menacing black void. As she watched, it grew, filling the grotto as her entire body became riveted with fear. Eyes manifested inside that seething black mass.
Red eyes – that wanted to devour her and give nothing back.
Her breath froze. Her heart hit panic mode, thundering so hard she thought it might pound her apart. Ariana’s hands were clammy, terror rooting her to the marble beneath her stilettos as she stared into those vast red eyes. They were endless, full of death and destruction; and as she stared into its gaze, she saw her life reduced to nothing compared to its own ancient malevolence. As it whirled, eager to have her fear it, she felt something lance out from its mind with its terrible black smoke.
And thrust deep into hers.
Come to me… and we shall devour your dark summer wind, together…
As Ariana screamed at the thing’s intrusion, she felt something slam out from her in a tremendous wave – hammering the thing back out of her head. It was like a wave of silver and gold sunlight, starlight, and moonlight all at once as it seared the creature – and Ariana saw a massive wave of light blaze from her entire body, shot through with dark rainbows. A scream boiled out of her at the creature; a sudden roar of power coming from her mouth. And as she roared, the thing roared back, screeching like nails on a blackboard all through her mind.
As its red eyes blazed gold – insane to their depths.
As that scream left Ariana, two individuals suddenly rushed in at opposite ends of the hall, skidding to a stop with wide eyes – one in the real Pitti Palace, the other in the fae-side of the hall. One was the Barone Quindici DaPonti, staring at her from the Pitti’s hall, while the other man was just as intensely elegant; beautiful even as his lips fell open and he stared at Ariana in amazement. As searingly light as the Barone was darkly elegant, a blistering energy roared from the tall, blond man at the fae end of the hall as Ariana clutched her head.
Blitzing with pain now from the blast of power that had left her.
As Ariana collapsed to her knees, keening with pain in a vicious silver-gold maelstrom, she vaguely saw the Barone DaPonti and the unknown man rush into the hall – coming together in front of her and blocking her off from the creature. Tall and well-built, the Barone’s darker, intense beauty seemed to flow with raging night as he faced off with the creature, while the blond was as searingly vicious but sun-bright with power. As both men faced down the creature, the Barone raised hands.
Seething now with a terrible black menace.
As he did, the man with short white-blond hair ripped enormous gold-silver longknives from sheaths in his boots as he roared at the black creature also – light and fire flaming all along the lengths of those vicious blades as he shone, terribly bright. Wearing an embroidered sky blue doublet and charcoal breeches tucked into tall chestnut boots tooled with vines, the newcomer looked like a warrior-prince as he snarled, facing off with the smoke-creature as a vicious battle commenced in the hall. Barely conscious from the pain ripping through her, Ariana reeled as the Barone and the blond lord battled the smoke thing. Roaring and whirling as the black thing shot out thousands of smoke-tentacles to trap and skewer them, the dark-light duo fought like banshees through the fae-bright hall.
Before crashing back to the Pitti Palace’s marble colonnades.
Down on her knees at the seam of light that bridged both halls, Ariana watched as terror and exhilaration filled her. Like fire and darkness, wind and light, both men careened into the creature over and over, blazing it with dark power and bright, raking it with blades and talons and fangs. As Ariana gasped, fighting to remain conscious, she realized the Barone had actually manifested dark talons on his fingers, roaring with vicious fangs now as his eyes blazed with crimson-black darkness. Likewise, the blond had grown enormous wings of dragonfly-light from his back and shoulders, his eyes blazing with gold-white menace as he and the Barone fought like twin stars now, one hot-bright and the other deadly-dark. The smoke creature was gradually being beaten back; with one last heave of blades and a roaring slash of talons, the two men bested it, making it scream with nails-on-a-chalkboard sound inside Ariana’s mind.
As it whirled out – disappearing from the hall.
“What have you done, Vampire?!” The blond man turned upon the Barone as the creature vanished, menacing the Barone with his shining blades and tremendous wings of light. “Letting one of your Revenant brethren into the Palace of Light is forbidden, Quindici!”
“I did no such thing, Lucca, as you know very well!” The Barone DaPonti snarled back as his talons suddenly retracted into this long white hands and he swiped an irate Italianate gesture at the blond man, sharp fangs receding from his upper incisors. “Your precious palace is a warren of sub-basements and under-passages for them to haunt, idiot Fae!”
“They should have been kept out by my father’s wards!” The blond snarled again, though it seemed more to himself now as he blinked around the merged hall – and saw Ariana collapsed at the seam. Rushing to her, he came to his knees; but at his touch, light blazed all through her.
Her pain roaring like it might rip her apart.
The Barone rushed in as she screamed, falling to his knees and curling her into his strong arms. As a cool wind poured through her, calming that bright power back, Ariana gulped air, fighting to not pass out. As the blond lord touched her hesitantly now, his straight ash-blond brows knit, that power inside Ariana became tinged with gold and silver both, a darker blaze like she languished beneath a summer midnight moon. As a vision of the night sky full of endless stars spread all through her, she heard both men gasp. Staring at her as she blazed with silver-white moonlight now in addition to gold-light glory, lighting up the entire hall, she saw them stare at each other.
Astounded.
“She’s Unseelie – a Dark Fae! Sweet Levennia of the Woods, Quinn! Where in blazes did you find her?” The blond man whispered as his bright eyes fixed upon her.
“I didn’t find her; she’s an artifact authenticator in the human world. She was assessing a donation I had for auction at the Pitti Palace tonight.” The Barone returned, tender but perplexed as he gazed first in one of Ariana’s eyes, then the other. “I didn’t think her energy was anything other than human, until I felt it surge. I think she created this rift between worlds, spontaneously.”
“Powerful magic. We need to get her out of here.” The blond man spoke urgently now as his warm fingers caressed her face, pouring a steadying power through her now rather than his former blaze. “My father will kill her if he finds her here. Come. Quickly.”
But as the tall white-haired man hefted Ariana up from the ground, she lost her contact with the Barone. Pain went blazing through her again – creating a terrible spiral of burning all through through her. As Ariana screamed, the Barone moved in, clamping his long white fingers upon her wrist and pouring a soothing flow of darkness through her again. That starlight and moonlight sensation inside Ariana returned, now that both men touched her.
And as they glanced at each other now, the blond gave a quick nod down the ornate fae-hall.
“Hurry, Quinn. This way.”
As they raced down the hall, leaving the normal Pitti Palace behind, the Barone kept his hand on Ariana’s wrist. A commotion like guards followed as they took turn after twisting turn; pushing fast through halls both ornate and strange. Ariana was flickering in and out of consciousness from whatever energy had left her; as they broke into a colonnaded courtyard with what looked like dragonfly-wing domes far above, she felt herself whisked up into a carriage.
As the blond lord laid her upon a bench of light blue velvet, the Barone heaved up into the carriage beside her, still pouring his soothing powers through her. As the lord touched her cheeks with his sunlight-warm hands, his beautiful eyes appeared above. No longer flooded with light, his eyes were summer blue, as lovely as the noon sky – and Ariana lost herself as she stared into them. Staring back, his full lips had fallen open, his cuttingly high cheekbones handsome and exquisitely beautiful. Something passed between them like a lance of energy; as Ariana caught her breath, the dark-haired man sluiced it back.
And agony came into the lord’s blue eyes as his ash-blond eyebrows tightened.
“Take her to the Florence Hotel, Quinn. It is the only place a Dark Fae might be safe, for a short while at least.” He spoke quickly as he looked at the Barone. “If any harm befalls her… I swear, I will rip your corpse from this world and banish you to the four winds myself.”
“Lucca.” The Barone Quindici DaPonti spoke with dark intensity as he regarded the lord with his fiercely onyx and crimson eyes. “You’re a fool if you think I’ll let anything happen to a Dark Fae, especially one this strong. Back away. And leave her to me.”
“Bastardo.” The lord growled. But though his eyes flashed a terrible sun-hot gold, they left his rival. Glancing to Ariana, agony was in his every motion as he backed quickly out of the carriage, slamming the door and pounding the side with a strong hand, snarling up at the driver to take them away. As a whip cracked, the carriage lurched and some beast like a lion roared. And then they were pulling away, rushing out through rows of colonnaded archways topped by dragonfly wings.
Stolen away into the city of Florence – that wasn’t entirely Florence anymore.
All content copyright Ava Ward 2021. All rights reserved. No portion of this content may be reproduced without the author’s written permission.
