Years before, in the Italian city of Florence, three young men search for mandrake flowers to make a potion which will give them “occult power over women” (165). The three friends are Niccolo (also known as Il Machia), Ago Vespucci, and Nino Argalia. Ago tells many stories and nobody believes a word he says, though “everybody [wants] to listen” (167). He tells the story of his cousin Marco, who married a woman named Simonetta. She is said to be the most beautiful woman in Florence and put the whole city under a spell. She is painted often by Alessandro Filipepi (the younger brother of the famous painter Botticelli) and the “cult of Simonetta” (169) grows in the city, to the point where she is courted by members of the Medici family that rule Florence. She is not faithful to Marco, who eventually comes to resent her. When she becomes sick, Giuliano de’ Medici tries to save her by recruiting a vampire hunter to turn her into a vampire. The process fails, as Simonetta refuses “to face eternity as a member of that sad, pale tribe” (170).

In Florence, the Pazzi conspiracy has recently taken place. Several powerful Florentine families conspired to murder the city’s ruler, Lorenzo de’ Medici, on the altar of the city’s largest cathedral.