Diantha fidgets with one of the leaves on her skirt until Reina wraps her hand around hers.

They all look like they want to talk about something, but nobody says anything, and I get the sinking feeling it’s because I’m here. I knew they were holding something back.

“Who’s Lucius?”

“He’s the head of the Society,” Reina says.

“Why do you all look like he’s going to come out here and murder everyone?”

“He’s just a little… intense,” Xander says.

“Understandably,” Diantha says softly, looking around like she expects the guy to be listening in.

Maybe he could be. Maybe that’s something magicians can do.

“He really hates vampires.” Aristelle nods like this is the best compliment she can give someone. “He’s the one who created these.” She holds up the cuff on her wrist.

She lets that sink in. This man is old. Ancient Rome old. The whole idea makes my skin crawl. It’s one thing to be sitting next to a girl who’s been frozen at seventeen since 1969. It’s another to think about someone who’s been alive for centuries. I’m imagining him with paper-thin skin and frail limbs and dim eyes. I’m imagining him like a classic creepy vampire. A threat.

“What do I need to know about him?”

Aristelle gives me a look like she’s deciding whether or not to take me off a need-to-know basis. “When magic was first discovered, there were a couple of friends who just sort of took charge, Lucius and Numerius.”

“I thought a woman discovered it.”

“She was smart enough not to keep pressing for more,” Reina says.

“Men aren’t as smart,” Diantha mutters.

“True,” Xander says.

Aristelle snorts, but she also gives Diantha a hard look.

They are worried about him overhearing. My uneasiness spreads, and I glance around the room, even though I don’t know what he looks like.

“Lucius and Numerius were the ones who got into blood magic. Numerius is the one who went too far and became the first vampire. But once he realized his powers were gone, he went on a rampage. He killed his first magician and realized that by drinking magician blood, he could have everything: immortality and his old powers back.”

“So Lucius stopped him.” I respect that. Whoever he is, it had to take courage to do that.

“Not at first,” Aristelle adds. “Not until Numerius killed Lucius’s sister.”

Revenge formed this group. It feels right that I’m here, then.

“Numerius’s own sister turned against him at that point and teamed up with Lucius. She’s the one who gave her life to make these stones while Lucius cast the spell. She thought it was right. A sister’s life for a sister’s life.”