Empire of the Vampire

by Jay Kristoff

  “‘Are you well?’ he hissed, eyes still on the glowering boy.

  “I looked down at my belly, realized Adrien had stabbed me a dozen times.

  “‘Not r-really.’

  “‘Take your time, Peasant,’ de Coste smirked, spitting blood. ‘I’ll have this dance.’

  “Aaron charged the vampire, the pair moving like water and pale shadow in the silver light. Looking behind us, I saw Greyhand and Talon still entwined with the ancien, just a blur. The stink of ignis and silver caustic hung in the air, silverbombs roaring, flails and blades gleaming. The woman moved between them like a bloody knife, the red of her dress and hair and lips the only color in the silvered glow.

  “‘Back!’ Greyhand roared, cutting the air.

  “‘Say please,’ she smiled, cutting his arm with those wicked claws.

  “‘We are the light in the night!’ Talon cried, lashing out with his flail. ‘We are the fire that rages between this and all world’s ending!’

  “‘Kiss me then, hunter. And see who of us burns.’

  “Luncóit tore one of the brass statues loose from the railing, brandished it like a club. Greyhand was knocked aside, senseless and bleeding. Bringing back her arm, Luncóit hurled the statue like a spear. Talon cried out as the angel struck him, crushing him against the railing with enough force to kill any mortal man.

  “I dragged myself upright, blood filling my boots, Lionclaw slack in my hand. Talon was on his knees, but Greyhand was back in the fray, coming at Luncóit like a thunderbolt. And so, I staggered back to help Aaron. For all his bravado, he was outmatched against that darkling boy, and wounded as I was, another sword might tip the scale.

  “De Coste thrust his blade into the vampire’s side, and I heard a sound more like cracking stone than splitting flesh. Jarred from his grip, Aaron’s silversteel fell to the cobbles. Adrien’s riposte ripped a red gash up the boy’s ribs, through the weave of roses on his chest. Clutching the awful wound, Aaron stumbled to his knees.

  “‘Close your eyes,’ he whispered, and the deadboy only laughed. Adrien lunged at de Coste, that dagger speeding toward Aaron’s heart, and then I was on him, crashing into the vampire’s chest and sending the both of us tumbling across the bridge. We hit the cobbles hard, a gong ringing in my ears as my head cracked the stone.

  “‘Insect,’ Adrien spat, turning on me. ‘Cattle.’

  “I gasped as gore-slick hands closed about my throat, Adrien’s flesh sizzling on the silver as he smashed my head back against the stone. I thrust my left hand into his face, rewarded with a wail of pain as light flared, as the warmth of God flowed up my arm and into my heart. The thing flinched backward, hissing, and in a desperate stab, I lunged upward and kicked him away, into the shattered railing.

  “The boy flailed, arms pinwheeling as he tried to find his balance. Bleeding, his ribs torn to the bone, Aaron snatched up his fallen sword. The lordling hissed in his rage, fangs bared, and with one final blow to Adrien’s chest, de Coste sent the monster backward over the rail and into the freezing river below.

  “I knew vampires couldn’t cross running water. But I’d no idea what happened if they were submerged in it. Adrien began screaming, thrashing, as if he’d been tossed into a river of burning lye. The current swept the monster toward the falls, alabaster flesh running to soup and washing off his bones as he was hurled over that frozen brink.

  “‘Adrien!’ came a scream. ‘NO!’

  “I turned toward Luncóit, saw her eyes filled with fury. Greyhand took advantage, calling out to heaven as he brought his blade in a whistling arc across her throat. It was a blow that would have split an anvil in two, and the vampire’s flesh shattered like ice. But she was an Ironheart. Ancien of the Blood Voss. And I saw now the terrible peril Greyhand was in: by risking his deathblow, our master had left himself off-balance. Bone-white fingers closed about his throat, sizzling on the silver. Her claws tore into the side of his head, ripped his ear clean off his skull, broke his jaw, pulped his right eye like a rotten egg.

  “‘Master!’ I shouted, running forward.

  “The vampire seized Greyhand’s wrist, flinging him down onto the stone so hard the flagstones shattered. Greyhand cried out, blood on his lips. Luncóit slung him like a bag of rocks—once, twice, twisting as she did so. I heard bone breaking, saw Greyhand’s red eyes wide with agony. And then he roared, head thrown back as the vampire thrust her heel against his chest and leaned away, tearing his swordarm out at the root.

  “‘Holy God…’ I breathed, skidding to a halt.

  “Talon staggered upright, bleeding from the eyes and ears. His shoulder was broken, chest staved in, left arm bloody at his side. De Coste and I joined him, gasping for breath. Aaron’s skin was pocked with a half-dozen wounds, blond hair plastered to bloodied cheeks. Greyhand lay broken on the cobbles as the vampire turned to us, tossing my master’s severed arm over the railing and into the river below.

  “‘What do we do, Seraph?’ Aaron wheezed.

  “Talon shook his head, teeth red with blood. ‘I … I don’t…’

  “‘We can’t abandon Greyhand,’ I whispered. ‘The three of us can take her.’

  “The vampire laughed then. Her skin was spattered crimson, eyes searching mine as she raised her hand and licked the blood from her blackened fingers.

  “‘Take me?’

  “The snow landed on her skin as if she were a statue. Her dress flowed about her like red smoke. She came to a halt at the edge of our light, beautiful and terrible, and she spoke with a voice that quickened my blood.

  “‘I am never taken. I only take. Such is the province of a Prince of Forever.’

  “My heart dropped in my chest as realization sank home.

  “‘Luncóit,’ I whispered. ‘Raven Child.’

  “‘His child,’ Talon breathed.

  “I saw the seraph’s face growing paler, Aaron’s bloodied sword tremble in his hand. We’d known the monster we hunted was powerful. But we’d never imagined …

  “This thing had been old when the empire was young. The red sovereign of centuries of slaughter. And I whispered then, my voice quaking. The name of this beast we’d hunted since Skyefall. This vampire who now hunted us.

  “‘Laure Voss…’”

  VI

  WHERE MORTAL GIRLS FEAR TO TREAD

  “LAURE VOSS. FAVORED daughter of the Forever King.

  “I remembered the tales I’d heard of her around the fireside. A terror of the night. A true ancient. When the walls of Vellene had fallen to her father’s Endless Legion, Laure had gathered every infant in the city, snatching them from cribs and wailing mothers’ arms like some horror from a tall fireside tale. She’d opened them up like saintsday gifts and poured their blood into the fountain in Vellene’s square.

  “And then, she’d fucking bathed in it.

  “The Wraith in Red.

  “My hand was raised before me, Aaron’s also, and our inkwork burned with a holy glow, keeping the vampire at bay. But I’d only one silverbomb left. Our wheellocks were empty. With Talon so badly wounded, Aaron and I only initiates, we stood little chance against a monster of such dreadful power.

  “Greyhand watched from where he’d fallen; the three of us huddled in our circle of light. ‘N-no heroes,’ he whispered. ‘R-run…’

  “Talon wheezed through bloodied lips. ‘I fear this foe is beyond us…’

  “‘The cathedral.’ Aaron nodded behind us. ‘Holy ground.’

  “‘We can’t leave Greyhand,’ I hissed.

  “‘Thou shouldst leave him.’ Laure turned her eyes on me. ‘As ye left her?’

  “My belly twisted as I felt the vampire push her way into my head. I tried to keep her out as Talon had taught me, but my defenses crumbled under the weight of countless years.

  “‘I see her, frailblood,’ Laure whispered. ‘That sweet daughter of Lorson, floating beside thee like a shadow. I smell her, dripping like blood from thy guilty hands. If thou hadst but been there, ye
might have protected her. If thou hadst but gone with her into the woods that day as she asked thee, thy sister Amélie might still be alive.’

  “Laure’s eyes bored into mine, and her voice was a knife in my chest.

  “‘Instead, she met me.’

  “My belly thrilled with rage. Fangs stirring in my gums. ‘You fucking lie.’

  “Laure Voss tilted her head. ‘Do I?’

  “‘Don’t listen,’ Aaron warned. ‘Dead tongues heeded are Dead tongues tasted.’

  “‘Ah, oui,’ the vampire breathed, circling our light. ‘Aaron de Coste. Noble blood pumped by a coward’s heart. Dost thou fear me, boylover? Just as thou feared thy stepfather when he found thee entwined in thy love’s bed? Sweating and spent…’

  “I saw de Coste tense at that. Fists clenching.

  “‘Thy pretty Sacha loved thee. Pleading on both knees before the Baron, and thou didst nothing to intercede. Instead, ye threw thy love to the wolf to save thyself his bite.’

  “‘Silence,’ Aaron hissed, fangs glinting. ‘That’s not true.’

  “‘It’s not my fault, Papa,’ Laure wheedled, hand to her breast. ‘I didn’t want it. Sacha made me, Papa. Sacha forced m—’

  “‘SILENCE!’ Aaron raised his sword, the light dimming as both hands closed about the grip. Only the radiance from my own palm remained now, and the ink on our chests and arms. The circle shrinking. Her eyes narrowing.

  “‘De Coste, stand your ground!’ Talon cried. ‘She wants you to fight her! Stay in the circle! In God’s light, we are stronger together!’

  “Laure only laughed. ‘Think thee, thy God shall save thee from me?’

  “Talon winced, fangs bared. ‘G-get out … of m-my head, bitch…’

  “‘We are thy punishment, Seraph. And thy God shall not spare thee. He abhors thee, and everything thou art.’ Her head tilted, lips curling. ‘And I would make thee love me, Talon de Montfort. I would promise thee pleasure no chaste and holy brother could dream of. But I see it now, behind thy blood-soaked eyes. Upon thy blood-soaked hands.’

  “The vampire smiled.

  “‘Thou art already ours, paleblood. Thy little Aoife could testify to—’

  “And that was it. I cried warning, but Talon just fucking snapped, charging in, Aaron beside him. And though I stepped forward, light blazing, still Laure Voss opened her arms. She slipped aside Talon’s flail, moved swifter than a hummingfly past Aaron’s sword. Her right hand tore through the seraph’s guard, twisting his good arm so brutally the bone burst through his skin. Her other hand collided with his belly, claws tearing deep. She threw Talon backward, loops of entrails spilling from the gaping wound. Aaron lunged with a bellow to the Almighty, aiming at the wound Greyhand had already begun. And at last, at last, the blade broke through, sundering that marble finish and opening Laure’s neck wide.

  “But the Prince of Forever struck back, and I cried out as those diamond-hard nails tore through Aaron’s face, opening the lordling’s cheek to the bone. I heard de Coste’s ribs shatter as a blow struck his chest, sending him sailing back across the bridge.

  “‘De Coste!’

  “‘Gabriel.’

  “I turned toward the vampire, once more circling the outskirts of my light. I was alone now, in an ocean of darkness. I remembered Skyefall, the blood of little Claude de Blanchet boiling under my hand. But if that gift was still mine, I’d no clue how to conjure it. Laure’s eyes were fixed on me, framed by flame-red hair, lips parted ever so slight. She ran her tongue along her teeth, bloody fingertips across the gaping wound at her throat, roaming down the hourglass of her body and pressing hard between her legs.

  “‘I feel the want in thee, frailblood. I feel the fear. I know what thou didst to thy poor Ilsa. Thy terror, that ye might do the same to thy dear Astrid. But no weak and feeble flesh have I, to break upon thy stone. Thou canst hurt me, Gabriel. As much as ye want.’

  “She was hideous. She was evil incarnate. But God help me, she was beautiful and dark as the end of all days. I swallowed hard. Thinking of Ilsa’s blood pulsing into my mouth. The perfume of Astrid’s blood in the air. Laure prowled back and forth before me, but I swear I could feel her behind me, hands running down my bare chest, my belly, lower and lower still. She looked at the pocket where Astrid’s portrait was folded. Biting her lip and shivering as her teeth cut deep, blood on her mouth.

  “‘Let me kiss thee, Gabriel. Let me kiss thee in places mortal girls fear to tread.’

  “I looked to my comrades, the fallen swords and broken bones. I could’ve run. Turned my back and fled to the cathedral, even now tolling the turn to San Maximille’s Day. But to retreat was to leave my brothers to their deaths.

  “‘It shall be bliss,’ Laure promised. ‘I shall be the goddess ye die for.’

  “And looking at those bright red lips, those slender hands and bloody curves, I wondered again what it might be like, to die in pleasure instead of pain. How it might actually feel to have those teeth slip into my skin. Taken instead of taking.

  “‘Kiss me. Just once, Gabriel. Kiss me.’

  “I felt my hand falling to my side. The light about me fading, only the lion on my chest burning now, dim and water-thin. The vampire’s smile widened, and she stepped closer. Her throat was shattered where Aaron and Greyhand had driven their blades into her flesh, and I could feel the chill off her skin, smell the blood and death and dirt as she enfolded me in her arms. Her lips drifted close and closer to mine. My whole body thrilled at her touch. And mouthing a prayer to the Almighty, I struck the fuse on my final silverbomb, and pushed it through the wound in her neck.

  “The explosion tore through her body, blasting me backward. Silver fire scorched Laure’s flesh, turning marble to ebony. Her shoulder and throat split apart, a blow no ordinary coldblood could have withstood. But though she staggered, still that unholy bitch didn’t fall, face twisted with pain and fear as her beautiful silken dress caught fire.

  “I dragged myself upward as the flames took hold, and Laure began to scream as I skidded to my knees at Greyhand’s side. My master was unconscious, but still he breathed, and I slung him over my back as Laure whirled and shrieked, tearing at her dress before she became a pillar of flame. Next, I ran to Talon, the seraph gasping with agony as I hauled him up, ‘COME ON!’ And last, I reached de Coste, his face ripped bloody, his chest shredded. Lifting him under one arm, Talon beside me and Greyhand over my shoulder, we ran. Down cobbled streets, past terrified townsfolk, and finally, out into the grand square. And there it stood, midnight tolling in the belfry: a circle of marble and gothic spires, reaching up to the heaven that had perhaps not yet abandoned us.

  “Coste Cathedral.

  “I kicked open the doors, staggered onto holy ground. Talon slumped across the threshold, his stomach a torn and bleeding mess. I lowered Greyhand to the floor, propping Aaron against the wall and pressing my hand to his bloody brow.

  “‘De Coste?’ I whispered. ‘Do you hear me?’

  “‘I hear thee.’

  “My belly filled with ice as I turned to the square outside. And there she stood, naked and blackened. The once-flawless alabaster of her skin was a ruin, bone gleaming beneath the shattered façade. Her flame-red hair was ashes.

  “But still, still Laure lived.

  “‘There is no God that shall save thee from me,’ she vowed. ‘I am a Prince of Forever, and forever shall I hunt thee. All thou hast, shall I take. All thou art, shall I unmake. And in the end, I shall have thee on thy knees, frailblood. I shall taste thee unto dying.’

  “Laure glanced down the street toward the sound of ringing horns, ironshod boots on snow-clad stone. Baron de Coste had at last mustered his men; soldiers with burning pitch and blazing torches. Wounded as she was, the vampire could still have sown ruin among them like a farmer in the fields. But in truth, she had no need to fight. She’d already done what she came to Coste to do. And after all, she could wait forever.

  “‘All Shall Kneel.’
<
br />   “She was gone. A blink, and she no longer stood there, leaving the square abandoned. My mouth was dust. Hands shaking. But against impossible odds, we lived.

  “‘F-foolish … l-little bastard.’

  “I looked to Greyhand. The wreckage of his face. The slowly bleeding gouge where his swordarm used to be. I searched about us, tearing a tapestry from the cathedral wall to wrap around his shoulders. He was paleblood, and the bleeding wouldn’t kill him. But the fact that he was conscious at all proved how deep the silver ran in his bones.

  “‘I told you t-to run,’ he whispered. ‘Disobedience will be the d-death of you, boy.’

  “I looked to Aaron. To Talon. To my master. All of us such strange bedfellows, with little in common save the sin of our birth. But still. But still …

  “‘Perhaps so, Master. But my brothers are the hill I die on.’

  “Aaron managed a sneer. His wounds cut down over his brow and through his cheek, ripped by Laure’s talons. I knew he’d carry that scar the rest of his life.

  “‘Fine s-sentiment. But I can’t help n-noticing you’re n-not dead, de León.’

  “‘There’s always tomorrow.’ My eyes returned to the place Laure Voss had stood. Her promise still hanging in the air. ‘This Hunt isn’t over.’

  “‘But so far, all for n-naught. We’ve still no idea why sh-she was here.’

  “A shrill cry split the night. I looked to the cathedral square, saw the first of the Baron’s men moving in, swords and burning torches in hand. But above their heads, a grey falcon swooped out of the dark. Archer wheeled once, then flew in through the cathedral doors, wings whipping the blood-soaked hair about my face. Wounded as he was, Greyhand managed a smile, and I sighed in wonder when I saw what Archer carried in his talons.