Hello, all! Today I’d like to share another character spotlight with you. Today we’re going to talk about Santino di Veneto. Santino is the oldest among the Murder, significantly so for some of them. He hails from Italian roots, is typically a portrait of calm, and wields an emotional mask much of the time. He’s an ordained member of the Church, which sometimes causes conflict and friction.
When I first wrote Santino those many moons ago, I thought he was going to be another antagonistic force within in the Order. Turns out, he’s really important. He sometimes comes across as smug and maybe a little condescending, but beneath the mask he’s incredibly reasonable and, his defining characteristic, patient. He knows when to push and pull, so to speak, and when to just listen. He also stands as a bit of an opposite force to Aleister, who wields black magic. So there’s a fun dynamic between them that’s not as hostile as one might expect.
Please enjoy this excerpt from The Song of the Sparrow, which will release August 11, and (shh) be on the lookout for the cover reveal very soon:
He too looks to Aleister in time to see his hands ball into fists. He turns unsteadily and pins a manic look on Johnny, who has stepped up beside Santino. Johnny’s surprise brings the air to life around them as he lifts his hands in defense.
“What did you see?” Aleister demands.
He’s like a walking firecracker, his magic still visible in traces on his skin. His eyes glitter like quicksilver. His hands shake visibly as he raises an accusatory finger.
“What,” he says again, much lower and more menacing, “did you see?”
Johnny’s hesitation is apparently enough to stir Aleister’s impatience, because he turns on Lochlann, who had been in front of him but who stepped aside when Aleister addressed the elf. Lochlann doesn’t exactly go on the defensive. He just returns a steady gaze from his good eye.
“Tell me what you saw that made the vampire cross the line!” Aleister cries.
Santino searches his memory for a time he has seen Aleister lose his composure this way. There isn’t one. This is entirely new.
“What are you talking about?” Lochlann says softly.
“The trap shouldn’t have worked. The vampires were onto me. Something forced Benjamin just as it forced the first vampire through the curse. I know you saw it appear!” Aleister says shakily.
Lochlann takes a step toward Aleister and clamps a hand on his shoulder. Aleister’s expression goes sour, like he suddenly feels sick. He sways again.
“I can’t say for sure,” Lochlann answers.
“I know you saw it!” Aleister snaps, jaw grinding visibly.
Lochlann says, “I don’t know. It had no shape. There was no face, but it had eyes of all colors,” says Lochlann, his one good eye holding Aleister’s furious gaze captive.
“What madness are you speaking?” the planar crow asks, an incredulous whisper that makes Santino shudder.
“It’s not madness,” Johnny speaks, stepping up beside Aleister and gently putting one hand on his back.
Aleister sags and the crunch in his features smooths. There’s indignation in his eyes, but it doesn’t come out of his mouth. His eyelids visibly weight down like he can’t keep them open.
“The elementals screamed when it appeared then fell completely silent. I couldn’t see anything, like it was obscured by its own power,” Johnny says.
Santino watches the exchange with a thinly veiled fascination. Something about the combined forces of Johnny and Lochlann have taken Aleister’s roar to a hum. Still, he can see the Corigan’s rage struggle back to the surface. A suspicion Santino had earlier in the day resurfaces.
“Your magic is too hot. Whatever it was has gone,” Lochlann says. “We can’t chase it across the planes.”
Aleister’s eyes flatten, beg to differ, but he still doesn’t speak.
“We have much more important obligations here,” Johnny says.
What a team Lochlann and Johnny make to quell the temper of the fire gate. By the looks of Aleister, it’s not an attribute he appreciates just now. He looks like he’s going to argue, but maybe like he can’t find the words.
“What did you feel, Aleister?” Santino cuts in. He watches the Corigan peel his eyes from Johnny then blink questioningly, as though the words are slow to make sense.
“On the front line, when the presence appeared. What did you feel?”
Aleister’s verging panic seems to have calmed, but his steel eyes are now full of suspicion as he stares at Santino for a long time. The priest doesn’t necessarily want to spread the cards of history out now, not this way, and he hopes that Aleister will catch the implications in the question. Santino knew their parents’ Murder much better than most of the others. He also knew Aleister’s mother.
Finally Aleister says, “It felt like we’re in fucking trouble. Whatever it is, it’s stronger than we are, stronger than the jinn. And it will be back.”
His gaze drifts to the ground and the fire goes out completely. He has drained himself to a dangerous level, and so soon when they hardly know what’s to come. Santino releases a quiet sigh and looks around at the rest of the Murder, waiting to see if anyone will question what he means or why he would ask Aleister that particular question. No one seems poised to speak, but Nichi’s eyes are on Santino and there’s a knowing light in them. Strange that she would be in on Aleister’s newly developed secret.
“How did you touch me without taking the curse, and how did you stop me?” Aleister asks quietly without lifting his eyes.
Santino glances at Miller and finds the priest also watching him closely. Santino clears his throat and says, “God’s light protects me. Good thing, too.”
Aleister’s eyes narrow again but he doesn’t say anything snotty. He just sniffs indignantly. Lochlann and Johnny remove their hands from him and he nearly falls. He manages to catch his own weight. He pushes his chin into the air.
“We should split up now,” he says, glancing sideways at Santino, who steps forward and reaches Solomon’s Key into the space between them. When Aleister moves to take it, Santino doesn’t let it go, which solicits a hard look and a moment of actual eye contact from the Corigan.
Santino holds the moment long enough for Aleister to realize there won’t be a deeper connection. He won’t say as much. He shouldn’t need to. Aleister’s eyes widen. Santino releases the book. It looks so big in Aleister’s hands.
“Agreed. We meet at the Square,” Santino says.
Aj Elmore, Author 