by Dan Davis
He had abandoned her, and Gilles, and all the other monsters he created, to their fates. And when he sent word of his return, it was too late. The centuries of death and murder had taken their toll on their souls and Joan and Gilles had been driven mad. Driven to consume ever greater numbers of children in order to increase their power, they had succumbed to the relentless damage it had done to their souls.
Gilles would be remembered down the centuries as the beloved captain and companion of Joan but mainly of course for his enormous crimes. He has taken all of the blame when it was equally Joan’s, or perhaps much more so, and so he has entered history as one of the first and greatest serial killers. Some of the other men who share that appellation were the sons of Priskos. Those murderers also I tracked down and killed in the years to come, one near Cologne and the other in Bavaria. But none had the power and the wealth and authority that had allowed Gilles de Rais and his servants to commit the crimes they did, for as long as they did.
In all my long years, I swear I witnessed no crimes so depraved and so evil.
***
Watching her drive that wagon toward Nantes, I knew Ameline’s heart was broken. The loss of her father was too great to be overcome quickly, if at all, and she was alone in the world. I wanted to stay and take care of her but I could not.
“Perhaps I could see her right,” I muttered. “Keep an eye on her for a while. From afar.”
“We must be gone,” Stephen said. “There are too many questions. The Bishop’s warrant for our arrest is still in effect. The Duke’s soldiers are looking for us.”
“Who will look after her if I do not?” I asked him.
“You cannot save everyone, Richard.”
I turned on him. “I do not wish to save everyone. Only her.”
It was my actions that caused her such loss, such pain but I could not undo it. Some deeds simply cannot be undone.
“You have saved her,” he insisted. “We saved everyone in this land from Gilles. From Joan. There will be no more murders and missing children. The weight of the curse has been lifted and the fear will be thrown off. The people will heal, in time. The land can be lived on again, fully lived. Marriages will be celebrated joyfully, and their children will be able to play and grow to adulthood without threat.”
“In time, yes,” I said. “But she needs someone now.”
“She has property,” Stephen said. “Some wealth, an education. She is a beauty. There will be suitors nonstop, now, and one of them will make her a good husband.”
He was right enough but I wished so very much for that husband to be me.
I knew I was not evil and prayed that I would never become so. Perhaps it was in me to turn to depravity, like Gilles and Joan had done, and if I gave in to it then I could become just as deranged and Satanic as they had. Whether it was the nature of William’s blood rather than mine, or if there was something especially rotten in the both of them to begin with, they had over the decades and centuries, turned into demons themselves.
There was only one way that I knew to stop myself from taking the same path. Whether he is a commoner or a lord, a man must strive to live a virtuous life. When confronted with the choice of virtue or sin, one simply must choose virtue. One will not succeed, not always. But as long as one lives, the choice between virtue and sin remains in every act, in every day, and one must wrestle oneself onto the right course. It is simpler for a sinful man to chose sin than virtue but when one is virtuous in his heart, acting virtuously becomes easier every day.
“Come, then,” I said, turning my horse. “Let us be gone.”
“Too right,” Walt said. “If I never see Brittany again, it’ll be too bloody soon.”
Of course I could not stay. For I knew that William had finally returned, just as he had promised he would. It had been almost two hundred years, as hard as it was for me to believe, but he was finally coming. Just as I had both dreaded and longed for all that time.
And he was returning to conquer Christendom at the head of an army of a hundred thousand Turks.
I did not know it then but the only man standing in his way was from a small, mountainous principality called Wallachia. A man who would become a hero of his country. A hero, in fact, for all Christendom, although he is not remembered that way.
He is remembered as Vlad the Impaler.
A man known to his own people as the Son of the Dragon.
They called him Dracula.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Richard of Ashbury will return in Vampire Impaler ~ the Immortal Knight Chronicles Book 6. Coming 2019
If you enjoyed Vampire Heretic please leave a review!
Even a couple of lines would help me enormously by making this series more visible to new readers.
SIGN UP to my newsletter and you will find out as soon as the next book is released - and also get a free novel.
BOOKS BY DAN DAVIS
The Immortal Knight Chronicles
Vampire Crusader (Book 1)
mybook.to/VampireCrusader
Vampire Outlaw (Book 2)
mybook.to/VampireOutlaw
Vampire Khan (Book 3)
mybook.to/VampireKhan
Vampire Knight (Book 4)
mybook.to/VampireKnight
Vampire Heretic (Book 5)
mybook.to/VampireHeretic
Vampire Impaler (Book 6)
Coming 2019
The Galactic Arena Series
Inhuman Contact (Prequel 1)
mybook.to/InhumanContact
Onca’s Duty (Prequel 2)
mybook.to/OncasDuty
Orb Station Zero (Book 1)
mybook.to/OrbStationZero
Earth Colony Sentinel (Book 2)
mybook.to/EarthColonySentinel
For a complete and up-to-date list of Dan’s available books, visit:
http://dandavisauthor.com/books/
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
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/dandavisauthor
EMAIL: [email protected]
Thanks so much for reading
