Empire of the Vampire

by Jay Kristoff

  “I glanced to Aoife beside me and whispered, ‘What is this place, Sister?’

  “‘The Scarlet Foundry,’ she explained. ‘The hearts of coldbloods do not really beat, you see. And without a pulse to drive it, their blood goes only where they will it. The Foundry is the most efficient means of harvesting their essence, and thus, producing the greatest quantity of sanctus.’

  “Looking around the room with jaw slacked, I could feel a strange current crawling on my skin. This device seemed born half of science, half of sorcerie.

  “‘De Coste,’ Greyhand said. ‘De León. Make our guests comfortable.’

  “Aaron and I obeyed, placing our captured coldbloods on the slabs. Both were gagged and blindfolded, but a low moan of agony slipped over Vivienne La Cour’s lips as Aoife fixed silver manacles about her wrists and ankles. As her flesh began sizzling, I had to remind myself again that these things weren’t anything other than leeches wearing human skin.

  “‘From the punishment they withstood, they’re definitely Voss,’ Greyhand said.

  “Talon nodded to the boy. ‘This was first of the brood?’

  “‘Oui,’ Greyhand nodded. ‘Frightening little bastard for a fledgling.’

  “‘Poor soul,’ Aoife sighed softly. ‘He’s barely more than a babe.’

  “‘Never to become a man,’ Greyhand scowled.

  “‘We will examine him thoroughly,’ Talon said, with rather more relish than was comfortable. ‘Flame shall reveal whatever his blood does not before he leaves us for hell.’

  “Aoife made the sign of the wheel. The seraph glanced down at the boything’s forearm, still scorched from my touch. I saw him exchange a glance with our master.

  “‘You two.’ Greyhand turned to Aaron and me. ‘Go get yourselves bathed and fed. We may be ahunt again sooner than you think. De León, I’ll be arranging extra duties for you until we depart San Michon again.’

  “‘… Duties, Master?’

  “‘Starting amorrow, you’ll report to the stables before each dawnmass and muck out those pens until they’re spotless. I’ll inform Kaspar and Kaveh tonight. I’m sure our young grooms will enjoy the extra hour sleep your labors will avail them.’

  “I blinked in disbelief as Aaron stifled a triumphant smile.

  “‘I’m to shovel dung every morn? I took down this thing single-handed.’

  “‘Disobedience has its price. You think I’m being unfair?’

  “I bristled with the indignity of it, but gave a stiff bow. ‘No, Master.’

  “‘Good. Off with the pair of you. I’ll follow presently.’

  “‘By the Blood, Frère.’ De Coste bowed. ‘Seraph. Sister.’

  “Aoife smiled farewell. Talon nodded vaguely, still peering at little Claude’s arm as Aaron and I marched out into the freezing eve. Standing on the Armory steps, I gritted my teeth, trying to hold my temper. I’d disobeyed Greyhand, no doubt. And despite capturing the de Blanchet boy, I knew I deserved punishment. But this?

  “De Coste dragged his hand through his grubby mop of blond and smiled. ‘Up to your shins in shit every morn, eh, Peasant? It’ll be just like home.’

  “‘Speaking of home, how’s your mama? Tell her I miss her, will you?’

  “De Coste turned to face me. As he stepped close, I noticed that even though he was older, I was almost as tall as him now. Able to meet his pale blue stare.

  “‘Close your eyes,’ he said.

  “Aaron’s words slipped into my ears like the cleverest knife. Not the velvet gunshot of that darkling boy’s command in Skyefall. Something subtler, and more frightening. It was forbidden for palebloods to use their gifts on each other, and part of me raged that he’d dare to do so. But for the rest of me, it seemed the most reasonable thing in the world. Aaron is your friend, came a whisper within. You trust him. You like him.

  “And so, I closed my eyes.

  “His punch took me right in the belly, and all the breath left my lungs. I sank to my knees on the Armory steps, holding my aching gut.

  “‘You h-hit l-like a lord,’ I managed.

  “‘I don’t like you, you ill-bred little bastard.’

  “‘You m-mean this isn’t a … m-marriage proposal…?’

  “Aaron loomed over me, sharp teeth at the corners of his mouth. ‘You made a fool of me in front of Greyhand. I owe you fucking blood for that. Our master might be content to have you swing a shovel for a while, but I surely won’t be. Now that he’s not around to watch your back every minute, you’d best sleep lightly, frailblood.’

  “Aaron spat onto the steps beside me, stalked off to the Barracks. He’d broken the laws of San Michon using his bloodgifts on me, and I was half-tempted to throw a parting jab about his cowardice. But truth told, I was just glad he’d left me the fuck alone. I’d caught that glance Greyhand and Talon had exchanged, and I wondered if the seraph knew something of the wound I’d inflicted on the de Blanchet boy.

  “With Aaron’s eyes off me, I aimed now to find out. So, I simply flipped the Fathers at his back, and holding my bruised belly, stole back inside the Armory.

  “My heart was racing, but all those nights I’d spent stealing out to Ilsa’s bedroom came back to me in a flood. I could still be a stealthy bastard when I chose, even without warm lips waiting for me at the end. I crept through the weapon racks, low honeyed lights shining above. And soon enough, I was crouched back outside the Foundry doors.

  “Peering inside, I saw Greyhand and Talon beside little Claude’s body. Sister Aoife was on the other side of the room now, busy at the Foundry’s workings.

  “‘… large infestation considering the time this maggot spawn had to hunt,’ the seraph was saying. ‘It only turned two months ago, you say?’

  “‘Almost three,’ Greyhand nodded. ‘But, oui. The blood runs thick in this one.’

  “‘Interesting that the leech who made it abandoned it?’

  “‘She may not have known the boy Became. Apparently, she departed in haste.’

  “‘Mmm.’ The boything shrieked behind its gag as Talon slid one of those silver-tipped tubes into its skin. ‘And this burn on its arm? Archer’s message said it was of import.’

  “Greyhand glanced to Aoife, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. ‘The boy did that with his bare hands.’

  “‘De Coste?’

  “‘De León.’

  “Talon scoffed. ‘That water-blooded little cockgobbler?’

  “‘Those wounds were inflicted two weeks ago,’ Greyhand said. ‘They should have healed at next dawn, and yet they linger. When I burst into the room, I could still see the blood boiling under this leech’s skin where de León touched it.’

  “‘… Boiling? You’re certain?’

  “‘I saw it. I smelled it. You know what this is, Talon.’

  “‘I know nothing of the sort.’

  “‘Damn you, open your eyes, man. This is sanguimancy.’

  “Crouched at the doorway, I felt my whole body tense. I’d no understanding of the word’s meaning, but the way Greyhand whispered it sent a chill through my aching belly. I could hear wonder in my master’s voice now. Wonder, and fear.

  “‘Impossible,’ Talon hissed. ‘That line is extinguished. Centuries past.’

  “‘Centuries are nothing to these creatures. What if the stories are wrong, Talon? Or lies?’ Greyhand glanced to Aoife, lowering his voice further. ‘De León failed every testing in the Trial of the Blood, but we never tested him for this. What if the leech who seeded his mo—’

  “‘Then we should take him to Heaven’s Bridge right now,’ Talon growled. ‘Cut his throat and give him to the waters.’

  “Again, I felt a surge of butterflies. I’d been taught there were only four kith houses. Voss. Chastain. Ilon. Dyvok. Had I heard aright?

  “Were they talking about a fifth bloodline?

  “And was I … one of them?

  “I pressed back against the door. I wasn’t sure if my chest had fallen into my
gut, or my gut had leaped into my chest. My master had lied to me when he said he’d no idea what I’d done to the de Blanchet boy. And Talon was talking about ending me. I wondered if I should run for it. Just head back to the stables, saddle up Justice and bolt.

  “‘We should do nothing rash until we’ve spoken to Khalid,’ Greyhand whispered. ‘I am the boy’s master. He’s impatient. Arrogant. Far too keen for glory. But he’s one of the finest swords I’ve trained, and he took down this highblood alone, drugged to the eyeballs on rêvre. If what I suspect of his line is true … he could be the greatest of us, Talon.’

  “‘Or the most terrible.’

  “‘Is that not for God to decide?’

  “‘God helps those who help themselves, old friend.’ Talon leaned on the slab and sighed. ‘You are the boy’s master, and I’ll not gainsay you. But if Khalid bids we end him…’

  “Greyhand nodded, grim. ‘So be it. We shall speak to the abbot after duskmass.’

  “The taste of iron and adrenaline was heavy on my tongue. I slipped away before Greyhand could spot me, stealing back across the Armory. Out the doors, dashing across the rope bridge to Barracks, my head swimming with all I’d heard.

  “A hidden gift named sanguimancy.

  “A fifth bloodline of the kith.

  “What did it all mean? Why did Greyhand speak of them with fear? And could I really be born of this mysterious line, and not the frailblood Talon had marked me for?”

  Jean-François dipped his quill in the ink jar, chocolat eyes on his tome.

  “Could you not simply ask Abbot Khalid?”

  “Fuck no,” Gabriel scowled. “All I’d heard, I’d eavesdropped. Greyhand had lied to me in Skyefall. God Almighty, Talon was willing to take me to the Bridge over this. Besides, it wasn’t in my nature to go bleating to adults when the road got rocky. You grow up with a stepfather like mine, you learn to solve your own fucking problems.”

  Gabriel’s thumb traced the small, raised ridges of the sevenstar in his palm.

  “So solving my own problems was exactly what I set out to do.”

  VII

  A LIBRARY OF GHOSTS

  “THAT EVE, I did something I never imagined myself doing when I first entered San Michon.”

  “And that was?” Jean-François asked.

  “I broke the rules.”

  The vampire’s eyes widened in alarm. “Scandalous.”

  “Mock if you will.”

  “Merci, I believe I shall.”

  “Fuck you,” Gabriel scowled. “You’ve no ken what it was like, you bloodless prick. All my life, I was raised in the One Faith. Deception sat as well on me as a rope around my neck. San Michon was a holy place, and in the last seven months, the commandments of the Order had become as the laws of the Almighty to me. In breaking them, I felt I was going against God Himself, and being paleblood, I knew my soul was already at eternal peril. But there was nothing for it. And it wasn’t the blood of lambs that flowed in my veins.”

  Gabriel sighed, gulping a mouthful of wine.

  “I never used to drink anything but water at meals, for fear of what the liquor had done to my stepfather. But Aaron had shared a bottle with Baptiste as promised, and as I bedded down that night, he was already drooling into his sheets. His crony de Séverin lay on his back, breathing softly, returned from a recent Hunt near Aveléne. Theo Petit was snoring loud enough to shake the floor. But I was wide awake, and taut with fear.

  “I lay there with Lionclaw hidden under my blankets, one hand wrapped around its hilt. Heart hammering. Mouth dry. Waiting to hear Talon and Greyhand open the door, set to drag me to Heaven’s Bridge. I knew I couldn’t take them, yet I vowed to fight with all I fucking had if they came for me. But hours slipped by, and I heard no heavy footfalls, no death march to the foot of my bed. And finally, I realized Abbot Khalid must have deemed that I be allowed to live. That whatever the truth of my bloodline, it wasn’t yet worth killing me for.

  “I let myself breathe a sigh of relief. My belly slowly unknotting itself. But despite my reprieve, I knew no peace. Greyhand had deceived me. Talon loathed me. My life might still be at risk, I wanted the truth of all this, and there was only one place I could think to find it.”

  Jean-François raised an eyebrow in mute question.

  “The Great Library. The forbidden section. There must have been a reason that we initiates weren’t allowed to visit it. If any word about this fifth bloodline could be found in San Michon, I supposed it awaited me there.

  “The Barracks were locked after nightfall, but I’d already pondered a way out of the doghouse. I rose shaking from my bed, and on whispering feet, found my way to the privy.

  “Waste disposal in San Michon was a simple affair—the Barracks was built with one wall jutting out over the vast stone pillar it rested upon. A bench ran along that wall, a dozen holes cut into it, with the waters of the Mère River waiting five hundred feet below.”

  “Sounds charming,” Jean-François murmured.

  “Better than chucking it out the window.” Gabriel shrugged. “I lifted the privy cover, looking down to the silver ribbon of the Mère and wondering if I was insane to be doing this. I was already on thin ice after Skyefall. If I were caught sneaking out after evebells, Talon might convince Greyhand to take me to Heaven’s Bridge and be done. But this wasn’t just idle curiosity now. My life might be at risk. I knew no other way to learn the truth of what I was. And after drubbing that vampire bare-handed, I was still feeling a touch invincible. So, taking a deep breath, I slipped down through the privy spout.”

  Gabriel paused, staring at the coldblood.

  “… Well?”

  “Well, what?”

  “This is the part you make some quip about human waste and my relationship to it.”

  “Please, de León, I stopped being a twelve-year-old decades ago.”

  “No jabs about how I was throwing my apprenticeship down the sewer or suchlike?”

  “If I were to quip, I’d be far more amusing than that.”

  Gabriel scoffed. “The wind was knives, snatching at my hair and turning my fingernails blue. I swung down onto the scaffold into a crouch, hands out for balance. An ordinary man would’ve broken his legs in that drop, but though I wasn’t yet a man, I was nothing close to ordinary either. Slipping along the timbers, then scaling the rock wall bare-handed, I found myself perched on a thin ledge skirting the building. Refusing to look down, I shuffled until at last, a touch light-headed, I reached the Barracks courtyard.”

  “There were no guards? No nightwatch?”

  “I could see a chymical lantern near the Ossuary, held by a dark figure that I guessed was Gatekeep Logan. But other than that, not another living soul. I made the sign of the wheel as I passed under the Cathedral’s eaves, begging God to forgive my disobedience. As I stole over the next bridge, I wondered if he’d just pluck it loose and send me plunging to my death. But soon enough, I found myself before the entrance to the Great Library.

  “The doors were sealed, of course. Huge copper-clad slabs they were, fashioned in baroque legends of the Martyrs—Cleyland with his key to hell and Michon with her silver chalice. I wondered if I’d have to force them to get inside. But strangely, as I pressed one hand upon them, I found the doors already unlocked. And with held breath and thumping chest, I crept into the vast hollow of San Michon’s Library.

  “The room was one vast chamber, lined floor to ceiling with books. Brass fixtures gleamed in the dim light, and the ceiling above was frescoed with angels of the host. Ladders on runners stretched to the loftiest stacks. Peering about the gloom with paleblood eyes, I saw the familiar sight of leather-bound volumes, dusty scrolls, beautiful tomes. Awash with dull rainbows of moonslight, spilling through windows of stained glass.

  “Most curious of all, the floor was painted as a great map, outlining the empire and the five kingdoms it had been forged from. To the northwest, the frozen reaches of Talhost, now lost to the Forever King. To the east,
the seat of Emperor Alexandre, great Elidaen. Nordlund ever in between, and Ossway and Sūdhaem to the south, the mighty spine of the Godsend Mountains running down Nordlund’s west flank. It was ever the strangest feeling, walking through the Great Library. The knowledge of the entire empire was gathered on the shelves around you, and the empire itself laid out beneath your feet.

  “I stole through long shadows, past countless books with countless stories to tell, until I reached the heavy wrought iron gates sealing off the forbidden section. Through the thick bars, I could see a long room, a maze of overflowing shelves. Strangely, I could smell candlesmoke. And ever so faint on the air, the soft perfume of …

  “‘Blood,’ I whispered.

  “My hackles were up now. My mouth watering. I’d been given the sacrament at duskmass as always, but the beast within was never truly sated, and I could feel it stirring. I remembered Frère Yannick having his throat slit in the Red Rite the first night I arrived in the monastery. That fate awaited every paleblood alive.

  “Me sooner than others, if Talon got his way.

  “I set my mind back to task, and took hold of the gates into the forbidden section. I thought perhaps to pry the bars wider with my dark strength and slip inside, but as I flexed, they parted like the waters of the Eversea before San Antoine’s prayers.

  “Already unlocked …

  “The hinges made not a whisper as I stole inside. The scent of blood grew stronger as I navigated a warren of dusty shelves, loaded with books and scrolls and the strangest curios. The skulls of men with the teeth of beasts. Sevenstars made of human bones. Metal puzzle boxes carved with arcane glyfs. I saw a skeletal creature pickled in a glass jar, and I swore it blinked at me as I passed by. The tomes were all shapes and sizes, but each was bound in pale leather, bleached with time. They were like the corpses of books rather than books themselves. It felt as if I stalked through a library of ghosts.