Part 6 (1/2)
”Acceptance is the first step to awesomeness,” I said
Was that what Ballard was so worried about? That I ht not approve if he was Supernatural like me? As far as I was concerned, it was the best day of otat the s, I don't mind”
”Do you mean it?”
”Absolutely,” I said
Ballard unstuck the throttle, and I flicked it It demanded to be taken out Now This very moment
As heeled the bikes out, and started the like ed up to persecute me for some unknown reason Ballard handed me a helmet and kicked his own ride into life I could see Mistress Genevieve, if she knehat I had been up to, scoldingwith a vampire! Your parents would never have approved!”) I wondered what she would think of a olf, when I slipped on my helmet, and then it was like the voices were all shut out I followed behind Ballard on h the Trasteverean chambers,through an open square I noticed people stop and wave, and Ballard return the gesture He side hi with a lion over the archway and accelerated south, until we reached countryside, when Ballard really opened her up
My Gah the twists and turns We h the hills My stuck throttle undone, I put the h a quick series of paces It answered every challenge
While that was happening, I couldn't help feeling like I had mastered, in a way, at least one aspect ofBallard, this time, not the other way around He came to my rescue, when it was dark and I was all alone, and there was no one else to helpup with hi for no other reason than to feel the wind on our backs, and the miles pass beneath our feet I felt alive with the joy of it
”You should coether,” he said We had stopped on the side of a hill
In the distance, the carass, and mounds of exposed rock It had that sweet smell I attributed with cypress trees, which rose over the terrain, in interesting shapes
If anything Ballard sounded like he was running to catch up, instead of running froued by demons not unlike my own That he had chosen to meet them And that he had come here to show me more than just how excellently awesome my newno ride fall to the wayside cona, which was si was going to be taking placeout there somewhere
”Remember,” said Ballard, ”when I took you to Via Appia Antica, and the burial grounds?
”There are cataco the countrysidesome so old that no one even knows they exist,” he said ”But we do They're being built, hidden away froic” He raised his eyebrows to ic cataco built, I certainly didn't knowall I saildlife
He seeht for sure you'd be able to see theic powers”
”I've never crafted, Ballard Sorry Shouldn't you try Lia? She sounds like the ic one”
”I already did”
”And?”
”We've all been invited I'll see theht it was just her”
”Oh, she got a letter all right, but as a member of the Packor the Pride or whateverI have certain inalienable rights A with everybody else At least, that's what they said I wasn't invited It's going to be one big harroup freakfest Witch, Immortal, and shi+fter kind Which reminds me”
I didn't like the bitterness in his voice
”We're having a get-together toht Everybody stays up late La Notte Bianca,” he said in his flawless fluid tongue ”You can bemore, and I followed behind him, on his way back to Rome, the teht that there was so Ballard, to which I could provide no assistance If he was busy with his own probleot ho to do But the only Wicca I could find was the stuff Becca and I had been so sure was hocus-pocus Year and a day, and telltown es They were mostly fraudulent covens, presided over by unscrupulous individuals We were leaving the cross-quarter days, and entering Mabon, one of the Lesser Sabbats, the ti was upon us You could tell by the h, upon the tiht, researching Wiccan esbatsfor any gathering that was not a Sabbat, was an esbat They were mostly sexual in nature At other times, they were used to train in Wicca I re They were doing it in New England right this ht sky, stained by the darkThe Venice clock beat like the wheel of time, andunder it onafter me
It was only then that I realized I was not alone, that they ith ether When I went to flick the throttle, I felt round; the countryside passed powerfully underfoot
Chapter 6 Munchies
Ballard caine in the street, as I would have done, my landlady buzzed him up, and let him pass unscathed
”How? What?” I was completely baffled by this
He looked all e His smile broadened in that irresistible Ballard way ”So what are we doing tonight, hotshot?” he said, stepping into rey V-neck andjeans, still bronze from the Mediterranean suot past bat down the hallway Ballard crossed his fingers like the two of theain
Was that stubble on his chin? Clearly, he was over being all sullen guy
I still had a little freshening up to do, I said, if ere going to be staying out all night So he stood and waited, by the French doors, and when I ca on to the iron roses, an ornate candlestick that reminded me very much of Lennoxlove Lenoirfor so Dallace had told me that anyone with connections to the Paris Coven took on the surname of Lenoir Except Dallace had called it a sirenarabbed the candlestick frohout the night as I had done research into European wizards, witches and vampires, and what could have been responsible for these wars, as Dallace called theized profusely but I said it didn't , absolutely nothing ”I'rab a bite to eat,” he said, ”and then we could talk, if that's all right, if you're still hungry”
My room was filled with junk food wrappers ”I could use a decent meal,” I said
”I have someplace to show you afterwards,” he said ”We're both invited this time” My ears perked up ”You'll see,” he said
We went downstairs, past what's-her-face, ore a look of death upon her wizened old , and soon Ballard and I were both on ourout to eat I made a mental note to buy more jeans I wore some now and a pair of boots
The place we ate at was a trattoria, a small mom-and-pop outfit on the banks of the Tiber It was a quaint picturesque picture-postcard hole in the wall I had not had a real meal since Venice, and the food did not disappoint It was served with a particular fondness for Ballard I looked inside the restaurant from our table out on the walk, and saw theat both Ballard and I
There seemed to be some kind of transcendent affection that went into the food itself There was spaghetti alla carbonara, a fresh wheel of pecorino cheese, and a scrumptious salad made of fresh produce from the local ht passed into deep, rich night, and the sparkling waters of the Tiber ca lamps of auto ivy of il ristorante, and the potted plants that rose as suan
His words filled , and witches confronting one another, vaht, to be s, that had no nas as they oin a faraway Past, too deliberately shrouded in et The air a scintilla of scents of shared less, all the while Ballard chewed and chose his words with care and confidence, and I wanted to know oing to be ready for it Everyone had given ether Didn't he think?
”That's what I'm excited about,” said Ballard ”When they cao, and a plan, and that it must be done, done, done, and here are soot Lia and the others and they had a Wolves' Council, which is where we're headed tonight to a second one I'm finally invited” He ate while I chewed on , just a totalThe letter is for girls only Sorry Woht some more
His confidence was faltering hatever was eating him up