by Dan Davis
“We will not find him,” Eva said. “This is his land.”
“I am inclined to leave him and the monks alone,” I said. “For now, at least. Not only are they a distraction from William, they are doing no harm and may be doing good.”
“William, then,” Stephen said. “Who has either returned to Sultan Mehmed or fled elsewhere.”
“Probably burrowed into the mud,” Walt said, “like the worm he is. Don’t really expect to find him, do we?”
None of us answered for a time. We watched the sun sink beyond the hills and almost at once the air grew colder.
“Wherever he has gone, we will pursue him.”
Walt was right, of course. William slithered away and abandoned all he had worked for.
Sultan Mehmed had grown tired of Zaganos Pasha and instead turned his attention elsewhere. In the years that followed, he conquered the Mamluks of Egypt and the Turks, known as the Ottoman Empire, dominated the entire region for another four hundred years until its eventual collapse.
Mehmed’s sons and grandsons would conquer in all directions. They pushed Christendom back all the way to the gates of Vienna, first in 1529 and then for the last time in 1683, which was the point that the tide finally began to turn.
Every Christian kingdom in the Balkans fell to them, from Serbia to Albania and even much of Hungary, these places were subject to direct Ottoman rule. It was only Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia that remained as vassal states with their own rulers.
I am certain that Vlad Dracula and his strigoi monks were to thank for that, and they continued to watch over their people for generations. It would be centuries before I saw Dracula again.
William fled to Greece and from there to Italy. We followed his trail for a long time but we could never corner him and after many years had to admit defeat. Having lost William’s trail, I returned to England once more. So much had changed in our absence and yet it was a delight to return home, to be surrounded everywhere by my own people.
In my long absence, the Plantagenets had been overthrown and England had a new king, a miserable sod named Henry VII. Stephen and Eva wormed themselves into the machinations of the new lords during the reign of his son, Henry VIII while I fought in a handful of minor wars. We recruited men, I made some into immortals and built the Order of the White Dagger for the day when William emerged once more.
That day would come during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Unbeknownst to us, William ingratiated himself at the courts of Spain and worked to create an army of immortals large enough and powerful enough to conquer England for ever.
It would be my greatest challenge yet.
A vampire armada.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Richard of Ashbury will return in Vampire Armada ~ the Immortal Knight Chronicles Book 7. Coming 2019
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BOOKS BY DAN DAVIS
The Immortal Knight Chronicles
Vampire Crusader (Book 1)
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Vampire Outlaw (Book 2)
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Vampire Khan (Book 3)
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Vampire Knight (Book 4)
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Vampire Heretic (Book 5)
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Vampire Impaler (Book 6)
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Vampire Armada (Book 7)
Coming 2019
The Immortal Knight Chronicles Short Stories
Vampire Templar
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Vampire Assassin
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The Galactic Arena Series
Inhuman Contact (Prequel 1)
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Onca’s Duty (Prequel 2)
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Orb Station Zero (Book 1)
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Earth Colony Sentinel (Book 2)
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Outpost Omega (Book 3)
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For a complete and up-to-date list of Dan’s available books, visit:
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dan Davis is an author of action-packed sci-fi, fantasy and historical fiction. He writes THE IMMORTAL KNIGHT CHRONICLES and the GALACTIC ARENA series.
Dan is a massive history fan and brings a dedication to historical authenticity even in his books about vampires. One of the main factors in writing a series that takes place over centuries was so that he could explore his favourite historical events and the key battles in English and European history.
Dan is a husband and father living in the county of Essex in England.
Please contact Dan here:
WEBSITE: dandavisauthor.com/
TWITTER: twitter.com/DanDavisWrites
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EMAIL: [email protected]
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