Signora Karlovic, or Dragica which she insisted that I call her, peered at me from the seat beside me while the driver took us to my mansion.

“Is there something you wanted to inquire?” I asked.

“Why did you give that Mage the serums?”

“Not all of them, I kept one for myself,” I rectified and she rolled her eyes.

“Don’t split hair. Why did you give her the serums?”

“She has far more use for them than me as she needed them to save a friend,” I said casually while shrugging. To me the answer was obvious but to Dragica it seemed ludicrous.

“She betrayed us.”

“To find the cure in order to save her friend. I don’t say it was a wise choice but I understand. Now she indebted to me. Hopefully, she will remember that the next time she is debating on throwing us to the wolves. Besides, I will have to tell one friend that her lover was killed, I rather not see another one in agony,” I said while watching the landscape go by outside the window.

“I reckon having someone indebted to you will be advantageous in the future. Especially if she can replicate that serum. But she can also become a dangerous opponent if she turns her back on you,” Dragica warned.

I gave a faint smile.”I trust her. But if she would ever decide to turn on me, well, I do have an insurance.”

Dragica looked at me waiting for me to answer but I did not give her one. This was my advantage and is not to be shared. My friend let slip something rather dangerous in the previous conversation. Her friend, Santo Gallo, was unwillingly turned.

That is a forbiddance among the Ascendants as during ancient times many Ascendants was slaughtered by their own kin who wanted revenge. To combat this, a rule was set, one has to agree to be turned. If they hadn’t, then they would be killed along with their maker. In certain cases, the young one would be spared if they are from a distinguished line but one from the beast clan would certainly not. Clepho di Lombardi would most likely slay him on his own to make sure the stability of his clan.

If Angela ever decides to turn on me again, then I will make sure that she feels pain. Lucretzia might not have been any kind of kin of mine but she did teach me about being ruthless. I will not be taken for a fool.

We soon arrived at my mansion and as I suspected, Alessandro and Carlo were waiting for us along with Leonide who took one look at Dragica and seemed to pale. Well, pale even more.

“And might this be Signor Zahara who decided to give away the classified techniques of my order to an I Soli?” she asked and gave Leonide a sly smile.

Leonide glared at me and I rolled my eyes. “We were attacked by a mad Mage and she was bound by a spell. I didn’t know she could still see us.”

“I could see and hear perfectly well and from what I know, the Sun Clan has no knowledge of the Blood Arc technique. That is a technique created and taught only to the Order of the Dragon,” Dragica huffed while Leonide looked uneasy as he tried to come up with an excuse.

Dragica rolled her eyes. “I won’t object as the young Valeria Di Santis saved me from having my organs ripped out but at least tell me that you have secured a good spot here in Torino in exchange of that technique.”

“If he taught one technique to my heir, then I would support the Moon Clan when they decided to try to present a Herald in front of the reigning Sovereign,” Alessandro assured Dragica and she seemed appeased by his words.

“How many are there of our clan?” she asked.

“With you? Two,” Leonide said after he seemed to have counted the numbers.

“Two? I assumed Valeria had teased me. We will need to gather more of our kind to be acknowledged as a clan of Torino. Were is our base?” Dragica muttered and Leonide gave her a bright smile.

“Currently, The Moon clan is located in Signor Borgia’s basement.”

Dragica grunted and muttered something on her own language before sighing in defeat. “Well, we need to buy a mansion. We cannot entice more of the Moon Clan here if we don’t have a home for them to stay in.”

“The land across from my mansion is supposed to go up for sale. If you want to, I can speak to the owner. You can build a home there,” I mused while gazing the grass field across from my home.

Dragica turned to look at the plot. “Not dreadful idea, the plot is large enough for my interest and the location is desirable.”

“Sounds like you have rather large plans for the plot,” I sounded and she gave me a smile.

“I prefer having a steady income and have an idea for how to accomplish that. My father gave me a rather large sum to invest so I think I can build a suitable foundation here in Torino. It doesn’t hurt that the plot is near the I Soli either.”

All of us went inside while Dragica started to draft her plans under my and Alessandro's guidance.

………………………………………………………..

It didn’t take long before she set Dragica set her plan in motion. My mansion was far from peaceful as Dragica started to build a grand hotel at the plot. She became rather famous among our neighbor some, especially young girls, saw her as a visionary. A modern woman with grace and power, who are to be admired and respected. Others saw her as an indecent woman, who should marry.

Personally, I didn’t care for the opinions of the mundane. Dragica became a close friend and we share much. I adored Vittoria, who also came to care for Dragica, and even if she has fallen I bit from grace, even Angela was a close friend. But as they both were from a different clan, they could never truly understand me as I could never understand them. The I Soli and Le Lune were twin clans and as such, were closer than normal. Dragica could understand me in a way that neither Angela or Vittoria could.

Not that it hindered me from socializing with Vittoria, especially since she got the news of her lover’s death. She grieved but needed to move on as her kind, the paramours, needed to have intercourse in order to survive. She told me that it was heartbreaking but she refused to let grieve starve her to death.

I hadn’t spoken to Angela since the incident in the asylum. She had sent me some letters informing me of her progress. The serum had worked and she had been able to replicate it for further use but other than that news, Angela seems to have few interests in speaking to me. Vittoria claims that it most likely is the result of guilt. She told me to give it time, after all, time was something our kind have plenty off.

Under the disguise of the building of the grand hotel, I started my own project with the guidance of Alessandro. I wanted to be closer to my children and created a grand hall underneath my mansion and connected it to the catacombs. It took merely a few months to complete as the progress had already been started as during the latest century, the catacombs had been expanded to all of Torino.

Now, Alba and Tramonto Di Santis, was playing often in my house under the watchful eyes of Charon. I had fire most of my staff, and given a healthy pension to the elder ones, and replaced them with either human who knew about the Ascendants or hired Ascendants to care for my mansion. It was easier than to enthrall the servants. Now my two children could run freely inside my home without me worrying about them being discovered.

They enjoyed the sunlight and I made sure that the grand hall was livable for the Daemon clan, even making sure that they had their own rooms. Many of them enjoyed visiting the surface and even helped to care for my garden. I gave them food, medicine, and clothes in return as they said they have no use for money.

This caused quite the ruckus among the Ascendants as the Daemon clan seemed to grow in power as well as their loyalty towards the I Soli. The Monarchs have tried to entice the Daemon Clan for years but had not succeeded. Now The I Soli, a small clan with hardly any foothold in Torino, had both the Daemon and the growing Le Lune on their side.

It had not been my plan, I merely wanted to care for my two adoptive children and their people. I hadn’t considered that it would help my clan grow but as it did. We started to get the attention of both the Sovereign and far less hospitable attention from the shadows.

I didn’t know it at that moment but as spring arrived and bloomed to its peak, the political landscape of the clans had started to shift and my clan was at the center of it.