“Just tell me what’s the matter. Has something else happened while I lay here in a stupor?”
Gareth smiled at her and shook his head. “No, nothing has happened. I’m merely wondering if it is possible that we could delay our departure for Alexandria for a week?”
Adele paused. “We could, I suppose. Why?”
Gareth twisted his head as if making a decision. “I’d like to work with Kasteel. Just for a brief while, you understand. Help him. A week at most and we can go.”
Adele sighed in relief. “Of course. Stay here. It’s important that you do. Take what time you need. I can go ahead to Alexandria. What I have to do there is no work for the Greyfriar in any case.” She smiled back at him. “So you think there might be something to Kasteel and his rebels?”
Gareth shrugged. “I don’t know. But I want to know.”
“Good.” Adele walked slowly to a table, where she found some fresh bread and several green pears, obviously brought in by Gareth in case she awakened. Her stomach rumbled. “Teach them well. Your Holiness.”
“Hardly. I have no idea what I can do, but . . .” Gareth let the words drift away. He stared out the window. “I won’t be a week at most, trust me.”
“Take the time you need. I’ll miss you but I’ll be very busy. The nation will be mourning the men lost here. And I have a great deal of work to do on geomancy. I just can’t leave it to develop on its own; look what happened with Goronwy. I’ve got to plan and organize.”
Gareth went back to the desk and held up a small sheaf of papers. “I have something for you to read on the voyage.”
Adele paused with a chunk of bread in her hand. Her eyes grew wide with excitement. “Is it . . . ?”
He handed the sheets to her.
With a wide grin, Adele looked at the top page full of his recognizable handwriting: My name is Gareth. I am the son of Dmitri. I was born south of Kiliwhimin in the Great Glen of Scotland. My father taught me to hunt humans and drink their blood. That is WHAT I am.
She turned to the next page to see a crumpled photograph of her and Gareth arm in arm. It was the picture she had taken in London and then ripped apart. Gareth had apparently collected the pieces and saved them all this time. He had pinned the two halves, creased and worn, together on the page to reform their first photograph as a couple. The picture still showed her looking haggard but happy standing beside Gareth in his unnatural state.
Below the repaired picture were the lines: But this is WHO I am. This is who WE are.
Gareth took the page from her hand and held it out to stare at the photo. “Here is the evidence you sought all those months prowling our kirkyard with your camera. This is proof of what you’ve wrought and it’s only a hint of what you’re capable of. It’s not about the Death Bringer or the Empress of the End. It has nothing to do with your magic. It’s you, Adele. You will change the world because you accept the impossible.”
Blinking back sudden tears, Adele threw her arms around him. Through the window behind Gareth, Paris was coming back to life. Humans emerged from hiding while dark shapes flitted over the city.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to our readers who wanted more Vampire Empire.
And thanks to Rene Sears—editor, colleague, and friend—who helped us to give our readers more Adele and Gareth.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Clay and Susan Griffith met at a bookstore thanks to Uncanny X-Men #201. They got married because of a love of adventure stories featuring heroes who both save the day and fall in love. Soon they were writing stories together. After years cowriting television scripts, comics, short stories, and novels, they remain happily married. When not writing or talking about writing, Clay and Susan are watching classic movies, playing Warcraft, and struggling to entertain the cat.
They still have that copy of Uncanny X-Men #201.
Photo by Vivian Cronin
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