The Book of Life

by Deborah Harkness

Matthew had me out of the birthing stool and onto the bed in a blink.

  "Get the babies over here," he ordered.

  Marthe plopped one baby on me, and Sarah deposited the other. The babies' limbs were all hitched up and their faces puce with irritation. As soon as I felt the weight of my son and daughter on my chest, the shaking stopped.

  "That's the one downside to a birthing stool when there are twins," Dr. Sharp said, beaming. "Mums can get a bit shaky from the sudden emptiness, and we don't get a chance to let you bond with the first child before the second one needs your attention."

  Marthe pushed Matthew aside and wrapped both babies in blankets without ever seeming to disturb their position, a bit of vampire legerdemain that I was sure was beyond the capacity of most midwives, no matter how experienced. While Marthe tended to the babies, Sarah gently massaged my stomach until the afterbirth came free with a final, constrictive cramp.

  Matthew held the babies for a few moments while Sarah gently cleaned me. A shower, she told me, could wait until I felt like getting up--which I was sure would be approximately never.

  She and Marthe removed the sheets and replaced them with new ones, all without my being required to stir. In no time I was propped up against the bed's downy pillows, surrounded by fresh linen. Matthew put the babies back into my arms. The room was empty.

  "I don't know how you women survive it," he said, pressing his lips against my forehead.

  "Being turned inside out?" I looked at one tiny face, then the other. "I don't know either." My voice dropped. "I wish Mom and Dad were here. Philippe, too."

  "If he were, Philippe would be shouting in the streets and waking the neighbors," Matthew said.

  "I want to name him Philip, after your father," I said softly. At my words our son cracked one eye open. "Is that okay with you?"

  "Only if we name our daughter Rebecca," Matthew said, his hand cupping her dark head. She screwed up her face tighter.

  "I'm not sure she approves," I said, marveling that someone so tiny could be so opinionated.

  "Rebecca will have plenty of other names to choose from if she continues to object," Matthew said. "Almost as many names as godparents, come to think of it."

  "We're going to need a spreadsheet to figure that mess out," I said, hitching Philip higher in my arms. "He is definitely the heavy one."

  "They're both a very good size. And Philip is eighteen inches long." Matthew looked at his son with pride.

  "He's going to be tall, like his father." I settled more deeply into the pillows.

  "And a redhead like his mother and grandmother," Matthew said. He rounded the bed, gave the fire a poke, then lay next to me, propped up on one elbow.

  "We've spent all this time searching for ancient secrets and long-lost books of magic, but they're the true chemical wedding," I said, watching while Matthew put his finger in Philip's tiny hand. The baby gripped it with surprising strength.

  "You're right." Matthew turned his son's hand this way and that. "A little bit of you, a little bit of me. Part vampire, part witch."

  "And all ours," I said firmly, sealing his mouth with a kiss.

  *

  "I have a daughter and a son," Matthew told Baldwin. "Rebecca and Philip. Both are healthy and well."

  "And their mother?" Baldwin asked.

  "Diana got through it beautifully." Matthew's hands shook whenever he thought of what she'd been through.

  "Congratulations, Matthew." Baldwin didn't sound happy.

  "What is it?" Matthew frowned.

  "The Congregation already knows about the birth."

  "How?" Matthew demanded. Someone must be watching the house--either a vampire with very sharp eyes, or a witch with strong second sight.

  "Who knows?" Baldwin said wearily. "They're willing to hold in abeyance the charges against you and Diana in exchange for an opportunity to examine the babies."

  "Never." Matthew's anger caught light.

  "The Congregation only wants to know what the twins are," Baldwin said shortly.

  "Mine. Philip and Rebecca are mine," Matthew replied.

  "No one seems to be disputing that--impossible though it supposedly is," Baldwin said.

  "This is Gerbert's doing." Every instinct told him that the vampire was a crucial link between Benjamin and the search for the Book of Life. He had been manipulating Congregation politics for years, and in all likelihood pulled Knox, Satu, and Domenico into his schemes.

  "Perhaps. Not every vampire in London is Hubbard's creature," Baldwin said. "Verin still intends to go to the Congregation on the sixth of December."

  "The babies' birth doesn't change anything," Matthew said, though he knew that it did.

  "Take care of my sister, Matthew," Baldwin said quietly. Matthew thought he detected a note of real worry in his brother's tone.

  "Always," Matthew replied.

  *

  The grandmothers were the babies' first visitors. Sarah's grin stretched from ear to ear, and Ysabeau's face was shining with happiness. When we shared the babies' first names, they both were touched at the thought that the legacy of the children's absent grandparents would be carried into the future.

  "Leave it to you two to have twins that aren't even born on the same day," Sarah said, swapping Rebecca for Philip, who had been staring at his grandmother with a fascinated frown. "See if you can get her to open her eyes, Ysabeau."

  Ysabeau blew gently on Rebecca's face. Her eyes popped wide, and she began to scream, waving her mittened hands at her grandmother. "There. Now we can see you properly, my beauty."

  "They're different signs of the zodiac, too," Sarah said, swaying gently with Philip in her arms. Unlike his sister, Philip was content to lie still and quietly observe his surroundings, his dark eyes wide.

  "Who are?" I was feeling drowsy, and Sarah's chatter was too complicated for me to follow.

  "The babies. Rebecca is a Scorpio, and Philip is a Sagittarius. The serpent and the archer," Sarah replied.

  The de Clermonts and the Bishops. The tenth knot and the goddess. The arrow's owl-feather fletches tickled my shoulder, and the firedrake's tail tightened around my aching hips. A premonitory finger drew up my spine, leaving my nerves tingling.

  Matthew frowned. "Something wrong, mon coeur?"

  "No. Just a strange feeling." The urge to protect that had taken root in the aftermath of the babies' birth grew stronger. I didn't want Rebecca and Philip tied to some larger weaving, the design of which could never be understood by someone as small and insignificant as their mother. They were my children--our children--and I would make sure that they were allowed to find their own path, not follow the one that destiny and fate handed them.

  *

  "Hello, Father. Are you watching?"

  Matthew stared at his computer screen, his phone tucked between his shoulder and his ear. This time Benjamin had called to deliver the message. He wanted to hear Matthew's reactions to what he was seeing on the screen.

  "I understand that congratulations are in order." Benjamin's voice was pinched with fatigue. The body of a dead witch lay on an operating table behind him, cut open in a vain attempt to save the child she'd been carrying. "A girl. A boy, too."

  "What do you want?" The question was expressed calmly, but Matthew was seething inside. Why could no one find his godforsaken son?

  "Your wife and daughter, of course." Benjamin's eyes hardened. "Your witch is fertile. Why is that, Matthew?"

  Matthew remained silent.

  "I'll find out what makes that witch so special." Benjamin leaned forward and smiled. "You know I will. If you tell me what I want to know now, I won't have to extract it from her later."

  "You will never touch her." Matthew's voice--and his control--broke. Upstairs a baby cried.

  "Oh, but I will," Benjamin promised softly. "Over and over again, until Diana Bishop gives me what I want."

  *

  I couldn't have slept for more than thirty or forty minutes before Rebecca's furious cries
woke me. When my bleary eyes focused, I saw that Matthew was walking her in front of the fireplace, murmuring endearments and words of comfort.

  "I know. The world can be a harsh place, little one. It will be easier to bear in time. Can you hear the logs crackle? See the lights play on the wall? That's fire, Rebecca. You may have it in your veins, like your mother. Shh. It's just a shadow. Nothing but a shadow." Matthew cuddled the baby closer, crooning a French lullaby.

  Chut! Plus de bruit,

  C'est la ronde de nuit,

  En diligence, faisons silence.

  Marchons sans bruit,

  C'est la ronde de nuit.

  Matthew de Clermont was in love. I smiled at his adoring expression.

  "Dr. Sharp said they'd be hungry," I told him from the bed, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. My lip caught in my teeth. She had also explained that premature babies could be difficult to feed because the muscles they needed in order to suckle hadn't developed sufficiently.

  "Shall I get Marthe?" Matthew asked above Rebecca's insistent cries. He knew that I was nervous about breast-feeding.

  "Let's try it on our own," I said. Matthew positioned a pillow in my lap and handed me Rebecca. Then he woke Philip, who was sleeping soundly. Both Sarah and Marthe had drummed into me the importance of nursing both children at the same time, or else I would no sooner feed one than the other would be hungry.

  "Philip is going to be the troublemaker," Matthew said contentedly, lifting him from the cradle. Philip frowned at his father, his huge eyes blinking.

  "How can you tell?" I shifted Rebecca slightly to make room for Philip.

  "He's too quiet," Matthew said with a grin.

  It took several tries before Philip latched on. Rebecca, however, was impossible.

  "She won't stop crying long enough to suck," I said in frustration.

  Matthew put his finger in her mouth, and she obediently closed it around the tip. "Let's switch them. Maybe the scent of the colostrum--and her brother--will convince Rebecca to give it a try."

  We made the necessary adjustments. Philip screamed like a banshee when Matthew moved him, and he hiccupped and huffed a bit on the other breast just to make sure we understood that such interruptions would not be tolerated in the future. There were a few snuffling moments of indecision while Rebecca rooted around to see what the fuss was about before she cautiously took my breast. After her first suck, her eyes popped wide.

  "Ah. Now she understands. Didn't I tell you, little one?" Matthew murmured. "Maman is the answer for everything."

  Sol in Sagittarius

  Sagittarius governs faith, religion, writings, bookes, and the interpretation of dreames. Those born under the signe of the archer shall work great wonders and receive much honour and joye. While Sagittarius rules the heavens, consult with lawyers about thy business. It is a good season for making oaths and striking bargains.

  Anonymous English Commonplace Book, c. 1590,

  Goncalves Manuscript 4890, f. 9v

  The twins are ten days old. Don't you think they're a bit young to be made members of a chivalric order?" I yawned and walked up and down the second-floor hallway with Rebecca, who was resentful of being removed from her cozy fireside cradle.

  "All new members of the de Clermont family become knights as soon as possible," Matthew said, passing me with Philip. "It's tradition."

  "Yes, but most new de Clermonts are grown women and men! And we have to do this at Sept-Tours?" My thought processes had slowed to a crawl. As he had promised, Matthew took care of the children during the night, but so long as I was breast-feeding, I was still awakened every few hours.

  "There or Jerusalem," Matthew said.

  "Not Jerusalem. In December? Are you mad?" Ysabeau appeared on the landing, silent as a ghost. "The pilgrims are twelve deep. Besides, the babies should be christened at home, in the church their father built, not in London. Both ceremonies can take place on the same day."

  "Clairmont House is our home at the moment, Maman." Matthew scowled. He was growing weary of the grandmothers and their constant interference. "And Andrew has volunteered to christen them here, if need be."

  Philip, who had already exhibited an uncanny sensitivity to his father's mercurial moods, arranged his features in a perfect imitation of Matthew's frown and waved one arm in the air as if calling for a sword so they could vanquish their enemies together.

  "Sept-Tours it is, then," I said. While Andrew Hubbard was no longer a constant thorn in my side, I was not eager for him to take on the role of the children's spiritual adviser.

  "If you're sure," Matthew said.

  "Will Baldwin be invited?" I knew Matthew had told him about the twins. Baldwin had sent me a lavish bouquet of flowers and two teething rings made of silver and horn for Rebecca and Philip. Teething rings were a common gift for newborns, of course, but in this case I felt sure it was a none-too-subtle reminder of the vampire blood in their veins.

  "Probably. But let's not worry about that now. Why don't you take a walk with Ysabeau and Sarah--get out of the house for a little while. There's plenty of milk if the babies get fussy," Matthew suggested.

  I did as Matthew suggested, though I had the uncomfortable feeling that the babies and I were being positioned on a vast de Clermont chessboard by creatures who had been playing the game for centuries.

  That feeling grew stronger with each passing day as we prepared to go to France. There were too many hushed conversations for my peace of mind. But my hands were full with the twins, and I had no time for family politics at the moment.

  *

  "Of course I invited Baldwin," Marcus said. "He has to be there."

  "And Gallowglass?" Matthew asked. He had sent his nephew pictures of the twins, along with their full and rather imposing monikers. Matthew had hoped that Gallowglass might respond when he found out that he was Philip's godfather and that the baby bore one of his names, but he had been disappointed.

  "Give him time," Marcus said.

  But time had not been on Matthew's side lately, and he had no expectation it would cooperate now.

  "There's been no further word from Benjamin," Fernando reported. "He's gone silent. Again."

  "Where the hell is he?" Matthew drove his fingers through his hair.

  "We're doing our best, Matthew. Even as a warmblood, Benjamin was devious to a fault."

  "Fine. If we can't locate Benjamin, then let's turn our attention to Knox," Matthew said. "He'll be easier to smoke out than Gerbert--and the two of them are providing information to Benjamin. I'm sure of it. I want proof."

  He wouldn't rest until every creature who posed a danger to Diana or the twins was found and destroyed.

  *

  "Ready to go?" Marcus chucked Rebecca under the chin, and her mouth made a perfect O of happiness. She adored her older brother.

  "Where's Jack?" I said, frazzled. No sooner did I get one child situated than another wandered off. A simple leave-taking had become a logistical nightmare roughly equivalent to sending a battalion off to war.

  "Going for a walk with the beast. Speaking of which, where is Corra?" Fernando asked.

  "Safely tucked away." In fact, Corra and I were having a difficult time of it. She had been restless and moody since the twins' birth and didn't appreciate getting wedged back into me for a journey to France. I wasn't happy with the arrangement myself. Being in sole possession of my body again was glorious.

  A series of loud barks and the sudden appearance of the world's largest floor sweeper heralded Jack's return.

  "Come on, Jack. Don't keep us waiting," Marcus called. Jack trotted up to his side, and Marcus held out a set of keys. "Think you can manage to get Sarah, Marthe, and your grandmother to France?"

  "Course I can," Jack said, grabbing at the key ring. He hit the buttons on the key fob, and they unlocked another large vehicle, this one outfitted with a dog bed rather than infant seats.

  "How exciting to be setting off for home." Ysabeau slipped her arm through Jack's
elbow. "I am reminded of the time Philippe asked me to take sixteen wagons from Constantinople to Antioch. The roads were terrible, and there were bandits all along the route. It was a most difficult journey, full of dangers and the threat of death. I had a splendid time."

  "As I recall, you lost most of the wagons," Matthew said with a dark look. "The horses, too."

  "Not to mention a fair amount of other people's money," Fernando recalled.

  "Only ten wagons were lost. The other six arrived in perfect condition. As for the money, it was merely reinvested," Ysabeau said, her voice dripping with hauteur. "Pay no attention, Jack. I will tell you about my adventures as we drive. It will keep your mind off the traffic."

  Phoebe and Marcus set out in one of his trademark blue sports cars--this one British and looking as though James Bond should be driving it. I was beginning to appreciate the value of two-seat automobiles and thought longingly of spending the next nine hours with only Matthew for company.

  Given the speed at which Marcus and Phoebe traveled and the fact they wouldn't have to stop en route for bathroom breaks, diaper changes, and meals, it was not surprising that the couple was waiting for us when we arrived at Sept-Tours, standing at the top of the torchlit stairs along with Alain and Victoire, welcoming us home.

  "Milord Marcus tells me we will have a full house for the ceremonies, Madame Ysabeau," Alain said, greeting his mistress. His wife, Victoire, danced with excitement when she spied the baby carriers and rushed over to lend a hand.

  "It will be like the old days, Alain. We will set up cots in the barn for the men. Those who are vampires will not mind the cold, and the rest will get used to it." Ysabeau sounded unconcerned as she handed Marthe her gloves and turned to help with the babies. They were swaddled within an inch of their lives to protect them from the freezing temperatures. "Are not Milord Philip and Milady Rebecca the most beautiful creatures you have ever seen, Victoire?"

  Victoire was incapable of more than oohs and aahs, but Ysabeau seemed to find her response sufficient.

  "Shall I help with the babies' luggage?" Alain asked, surveying the contents of the overstuffed cargo space.

  "That would be wonderful, Alain." Matthew directed him to the bags, totes, portable playpens, and stacks of disposable diapers.

  Matthew took a baby carrier in each hand and, with much input from Marthe, Sarah, Ysabeau, and Victoire on the icy state of the stairs, climbed to the front door. Inside, the magnitude of where he was, and why, struck him. Matthew was bringing the latest in a long line of de Clermonts back to their ancestral home. It didn't matter if our family was only a lowly scion of that distinguished lineage. This was, and would always be, a place steeped in tradition for our children.