Palace of the Damned

by Darren Shan

  “It won’t help Gavner if these rumours about you continue unchecked,” Tanish said softly. “He already comes in for criticism and bullying, but when you marry Alicia and become his official father, that will worsen.”

  “I never heard of Gavner being bullied,” Larten said, troubled.

  “He tells me things that he doesn’t share with you,” Tanish said. “Gavner is struggling to fit in at school. People mistrust him because they are suspicious of you. Unless you actively dislike the boy and enjoy watching him suffer, you must reconsider the way you behave towards him.”

  Larten was silent a long time, mulling over Tanish’s words. When Alicia came back with wine and ale – and a tray of sandwiches for the ever peckish Tanish – she saw Larten’s worried look and asked if everything was well.

  “Aye,” he sighed. “Tanish has asked me to go into business with him.” Alicia stared at him and Tanish raised an eyebrow, sensing victory. Larten looked at both of them flatly, then smiled and said, “I have decided to accept.”

  Although the pair cheered and toasted him, he struggled to maintain the smile. Because, even allowing for all the good reasons that Tanish had set before him, Larten felt that he had made a poor call and was embarking on a dangerous path. He had an uneasy sense that destiny was steering him astray once again.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  There was much more to running a casino than Larten had imagined. Croupiers had to be watched like a hawk or they’d rob the house blind. Dancers had to be kept in shape and choreographed. The ladies who frequented the areas around the tables had to be vetted and monitored. There were all sorts of tradesmen to deal with, officials to bribe, overheads to settle.

  “Charna’s guts!” Larten exclaimed at the end of his first week. “This is no fit work for a vampire. Let us burn your casinos to the ground and take off for the wilds.” He was only half joking.

  Tanish dealt with Larten’s outbursts calmly. He had a smooth way of taking the sting out of any situation. He let Larten rant and rave, then soothed him with a joke or focused his attention elsewhere. He kept his old friend away from certain areas of the business – such as the opium dens he operated – knowing he wouldn’t approve. Larten was for the most part a moral man. In time, as he learnt more about the business and developed a taste for money and power, those morals would loosen and Tanish could lead him into seedier ventures. For now, though, it was better to pretend that he was halfway honest.

  Tanish didn’t wish to corrupt Larten. If anyone had accused him of being a bad influence on the other vampire, he would have reacted with genuine astonishment. He only wanted to get closer to his friend and build strong bonds between them, so that he needn’t feel so alone at the centre of the web that he had woven for himself since turning his back on the clan.

  Alicia knew nothing about Tanish’s dark secrets. She saw his positive features – the way he brought light into the lives of Larten and Gavner – and turned a deaf ear to rumours of his faults, dismissing them as she dismissed those about her fiancé. But she sensed that Larten wasn’t completely sure of his decision and she told him he could withdraw from the partnership any time he wanted.

  “I’ll love you no matter what you do,” she said late one night when he came back bleary-eyed and low of spirits. “You don’t have to prove yourself to me and you don’t have to support me. I’m a woman of wealth, remember?”

  Alicia had money of her own, but they hadn’t spent much of it since he’d begun to court her. Larten was old-fashioned and believed a man should pay for everything. Alicia thought that was ridiculous, but she let him have his way and left her money sitting in the bank, only spending what he earnt.

  “We have had that argument before,” Larten grunted sourly.

  “I know. And I thought it was behind us. But I’d rather we drew from my reserves than you came home unhappy all the time. I would spend every last franc in my account before I’d see you sad, my darling.”

  Larten smiled at that and kissed her. “I am not sad,” he said. “It is just a shock, all this honest work. I am not accustomed to it. Once I adjust, I will be fine. I simply need more time.”

  If circumstances hadn’t conspired against him, perhaps Larten would have acclimatised to his new position. Maybe he would have succumbed to the cheap, tempting pleasures of the human world, and all would have been different with him and those he loved. But a few nights after his conversation with Alicia, he paid a surprise visit to one of Tanish’s casinos, and what he discovered changed everything.

  Larten was checking the stock of whiskey in a club before it opened for business when an angry man pounded on the door and demanded to speak with Tanish Eul. The manager tried to turn him away, but Larten was curious and told him to let the gentleman in.

  “Who are you?” the man snarled when he was presented to Larten.

  “Vur Horston,” Larten replied. “I am Monsieur Eul’s partner. Can I help you?”

  “I want the organ grinder, not the monkey,” the man barked.

  Larten’s face darkened and he leant forward menacingly. “Do you wish to apologise for that ill-advised remark, sir?”

  The man stared at Larten’s burning eyes and the scar on his left cheek. Gulping, he smiled weakly and said, “Please forgive me. I spoke hastily.”

  Larten nodded and gestured to a chair. As the man sat, Larten asked for his name. “Maurice Fabris,” he introduced himself.

  “How can I be of help, Monsieur Fabris?”

  “I’m not sure that you can. It’s that rogue Eul that I want. But if you’re his partner, perhaps you can be of some use…”

  Maurice Fabris spoke quickly and plainly. Tanish had introduced him to a number of lady friends over the years. A few had stolen small items on occasion – that was something he expected – but the latest had taken a watch of great value, along with all of the money in his wallet. He’d been trying to track her down, but had enjoyed no success. He hadn’t been able to find Tanish either, and he had the sense he was being deliberately avoided.

  “The money’s not so important,” Maurice said, “but I can’t replace the watch. It was a gift from my wife and she will want to know where it is.”

  “Leave this matter with me, monsieur,” Larten said, looking solemn but smiling inside. This would be a welcome break from the more monotonous work of the casino. He’d find the girl, sort this out and impress Tanish. “If I could just have her name?”

  The girl was called Beatrice. Larten asked for a description of her too, since a lot of the ladies in Tanish’s employ went by more than one name. Armed with that, he promised to investigate the matter fully. He would do all in his power to return the watch, he said, and if he failed he would compensate Monsieur Fabris for twice its value. That satisfied the irate customer, and once he’d left, Larten set off in pursuit of the elusive Beatrice.

  Larten had a good memory for faces, and when Maurice described the girl – five foot two, long blonde hair, blue eyes, a faint scar over her right eye, missing a tooth near the front of her mouth – he placed her instantly. There’d been a dancer like that in one of the clubs a few months ago and he had seen her again more recently, this time doing the rounds in one of Tanish’s casinos.

  Larten hailed a cab and went directly to the casino. It was early, but there were a few customers already hard at it, gambling solemnly and without pleasure, creatures of addiction rather than casual merrymakers.

  The staff on duty nodded politely to Larten as he entered. Larten bowed in reply, then went upstairs to search for Beatrice. You could usually find the ladies on the casino floor, but their customers wouldn’t arrive until later, so most were relaxing.

  Larten found several women in a large room, sipping wine and chatting softly. They looked worried – almost scared – when he opened the door without warning and entered. But when they saw who it was, they smiled — all of them liked the courteous, serious, orange-haired charmer.

  “Good afternoon, Monsieur Horston,” a lad
y who went by the name of Charlotte greeted him. “Can we help you with anything?”

  A few of the girls tittered, but Larten ignored them. “Is Tanish here?”

  “No, monsieur. I haven’t seen him for three or four days.”

  “What about Beatrice?” As soon as he mentioned her name the smile vanished from Charlotte’s face. The others also went dumb. “What is wrong?” Larten asked as Charlotte glanced away. “Do you know where she is?”

  “No, monsieur,” Charlotte said quietly.

  “She is not in any trouble,” Larten said. “At least she will not be if I can find her. She stole a watch from a gentleman, but I can rectify the situation, even if she has sold it. I will not punish her. If you tell me where she is, I promise–”

  “But I don’t know!” Charlotte cried, then buried her face in her arms and wept.

  As Larten stared at Charlotte, astonished, another woman – he didn’t know her name – said, “Beatrice isn’t hiding, monsieur. She has vanished. Three others are missing too.”

  “Missing?” Larten frowned.

  “They’ve disappeared,” the woman said.

  “No — they’ve been taken,” Charlotte corrected her, looking up again. “Killed, I’m sure. And any one of us could be next.” The other ladies moaned and bunched together for comfort.

  “What makes you think they have been killed?” Larten asked.

  “It’s not the first time,” Charlotte said. “It has happened before. To…” She gulped and looked at the others for support. When they nodded, she added in a hushed voice, “To women who work for Tanish Eul.”

  Larten’s eyes narrowed. “Are you making an accusation against Tanish?”

  “No,” Charlotte groaned. “Monsieur Eul has always been good to us. He pays us well and treats us kindly. But this happened seven or eight years ago, and there are rumours it happened before that too. Several of the women working for him dropped out of sight and were never heard from again.”

  “This is madness,” Larten snapped, advancing furiously. “How dare you spread such rumours about…”

  He caught sight of something and came to a stunned halt. He stared for a long moment at the lady who had spoken when Charlotte turned away to weep. Then he asked softly, “What is your name, madame?”

  “Ginette,” she answered, holding his gaze although she was trembling.

  “I will deal with this, Ginette,” Larten said firmly. “Monsieur Eul is not the guilty party. You have nothing to fear from him. I will find the abductor – the killer – and I will stop him. You have my word.”

  Ginette looked at Larten for a long time, then smiled hopefully. “I don’t know why, but I believe you, monsieur.”

  “Stay together for the next few nights,” Larten said. “Keep the others close too. I will tell you when it is safe again.”

  He spun on his heel and exited. As he hurried down the stairs, he thought again of what he’d seen. Ginette was a pretty young woman, with pale, smooth skin. But there were marks on her left cheek, three small scratches, each the same length. She probably thought that she had scratched herself in her sleep, but Larten knew better.

  Ginette had been marked for death by a vampaneze.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Larten spent more than three hours searching for Tanish, frantically aware that if the vampaneze had struck four times already, he might have marked others beside Ginette and could even now be moving in for the kill. Larten hadn’t much personal experience of the purple-skinned killers, but he knew they normally marked their victims in advance, three small scratches on the left cheek, a night or two before they planned to strike.

  Larten finally tracked down Tanish in one of his smaller casinos. The overweight vampire was gambling with a few of his wealthier friends at a private table. The stakes were high, but nobody was taking the game too seriously. Tanish only gambled with men who didn’t mind losing, for whom betting was a sport, not a way of life.

  Larten waited for a break in the game – he didn’t want to let the others see his agitation – then called Tanish aside. Tanish sensed something awry, but he never let his smile slip. Telling the others to carry on, he slid into a room at the rear of the establishment and closed the door after Larten had edged in behind him.

  “What’s wrong?” Tanish asked, taking a seat and snorting a pinch of snuff.

  “Trouble,” Larten said bluntly, then quickly told him what had happened.

  Tanish listened silently. He was quiet for a few seconds when Larten finished. Then he cursed angrily. “I told Beatrice to stop stealing. Lots of the girls take trinkets, a ring here, a few coins there, but she was greedy. I’ve avoided Maurice since I heard what he was looking for. I hoped he’d simply tell his wife that he lost the damn watch.” He cursed again, then sighed. “But I have only myself to blame. I should have dismissed her from my service, but I was fond of her. The mistake was mine, not hers.”

  “What are you talking about?” Larten snapped. “This is far more important than a stolen watch. A vampaneze is on the loose and targeting women who work for you.” Larten was striding up and down in front of the seated Tanish, thinking out loud. “It is strange that he goes after women working in the same place. They are usually more cunning than that. He might be insane – apparently the vampaneze let their mad live – but the girls say that this happened before and the bodies were never found. This is bizarre. I cannot understand it.”

  “I can,” Tanish said and there was an almost merry lilt to his tone.

  Larten stopped and stared at his friend. Now that he thought about it, he realised Tanish had reacted too calmly. He hadn’t been shocked. There was no alarm in his expression or concern for his employees in his eyes.

  “Do you remember Randel Chayne?” Tanish asked casually.

  “No,” Larten said, then blinked as a memory surfaced. “Wait. That was the vampaneze who challenged us when we were Cubs, the one who…”

  “… killed Zula Pone,” Tanish finished when Larten stalled. “A nasty piece of work. He hated vampires. Still does. There has always been bad blood between the clans, but some, like Randel and our old friend Wester, bear more of a grudge than the rest of us.”

  “You think this is Randel Chayne’s work?” Larten asked.

  “I don’t think it’s Randel,” Tanish said. “I know it is.” He smirked at Larten’s incredulous look. “Randel came upon me by chance several years after I’d left the clan. I was in a different city then, though my line of business was much the same as now. When Randel found me living as a human, he was disgusted. He waylaid me one night and challenged me to a duel. He said I was an insult even to the bad name of the vampires, but he would give me a chance to die nobly.

  “As you might imagine, I was none too keen on that and I refused his challenge. I thought he was going to kill me anyway, but he let me live and instead focused on those who worked for me. He slaughtered several of my pretty things, along with a few of my business associates.

  “I fled, thinking that would be the end of it. But Randel followed me from city to city, always finding me and tormenting those I was close to. Eventually I settled here and when he came – as I knew he would – I let him kill until he grew tired of it. It was bad for business, of course, but at least he hid the bodies. A few people linked the disappearances to me, but I had alibis, and when he moved on they let the matter drop. After all, nobody of any real importance had been killed.”

  Larten was listening with a growing sense of horror. He knew Tanish had a low opinion of humans, as many vampires did, but he’d never suspected him of being this detached. Tanish could have been talking about cattle or sheep.

  “I hoped that was the end of our unhealthy relationship,” Tanish continued, “but Randel returned years later and again killed some of my pretty things, along with others who worked for me. And now he has come again. He’s persistent, I’ll grant him that.”

  Tanish laughed as if it was a joke, but Larten saw nothing funny in it. “
This cannot continue,” Larten growled. “He is killing people, Tanish.”

  Tanish shrugged. “It’s what the vampaneze do. They always kill when they feed, and we let them. Anything for peace, aye?”

  “This is different,” Larten snapped. “Vampaneze of good standing only kill when they need to, a victim every month or so. But Randel has already murdered four times. How many more before he loses interest and moves on again?”

  “Maybe ten or twelve,” Tanish said lightly. “But you’re right. This can’t go on. People are gossiping. I thought they’d forget the earlier murders, but humans must have better memories than I gave them credit for. Perhaps it’s time to leave Paris and settle somewhere new again. What do you think of Moscow?”

  “You cannot be serious,” Larten gasped.

  “Too cold?” Tanish frowned.

  “I am not talking about Moscow!” Larten roared, then lowered his voice in case he drew attention. “We have to kill him or drive him away.”

  “Are you mad?” Tanish yelped. “Vampires never interfere with the vampaneze. We have a treaty, remember? They feed as they please and we keep out of their way. We’d draw every vampaneze in Europe down on us if we went after Randel.”

  “No,” Larten said. “He is not feeding naturally. He is doing this to torment you, meaning he was the first to take action. We would simply be reacting, as we would to a challenge.”

  “I don’t think the vampaneze would see it that way,” Tanish said.

  “It does not matter. We have to put a stop to this, whatever the risks. He has marked Ginette. We cannot stand by and let him kill her.”