Page 7 (1/2)

THE LIVING

They ascended in the cage lift, a contraption of polished brass and lattice wood Genevieve hesitated outside the apartment, apprehensive for her friend She held her keys and looked at Kate, wondering how to phrase her concerns

&039;It&039;s been several years, hasn&039;t it?&039; she said

&039;Charles was in his late nineties the last time I saw him,&039; said Kate &039;He was already old I shan&039;t be shocked or upset&039;

Genevieve wasn&039;t so sure

The warh she&039;d had centuries to get used to, it left her often bewildered, blinking back tears Surely, a whole life couldn&039;t run past so swiftly It wasn&039;t fair

Carhteenth century, grieved for lost friends as if the ere her pets, grown suddenly ancient in dog years during the eternity of a huone too noice It had never apparently occurred to her that her favourites wouldn&039;t have died if she hadn&039;t been so fond of them that she had to have so much of their blood That had been the death of her

Treating the warement from hus should have changed But Genevieve worried that she couldn&039;t change Evolution was so one&039;s successors dealt with Vampires like Kate Reed should tackle those issues

&039;He&039;s past a hundred, Kate,&039; she said

&039;I&039;m not so very far off it&039;

&039;You know it&039;s different for us&039;

&039;Yes I&039; to say&039;

Genevieve opened the dark-wood double doors They were nine feet tall, more appropriate for a castle than a flat Romans liked impressive entrances

&039;Come in, come in,&039; she bustled

Kate stepped over the welcome mat and put her suitcase down She looked around the foyer, ads

&039;Very Victorian,&039; she said, &039;very Charles&039;

Genevieve kept bowls of dried rose petals, for the scent

&039;Co Kate around the corner of the passageway, toward the study The apartment was spacious, but the corridors - and the kitchen and bathroom - were crae bedroo roo breeze stirred the curtains The last of the sunset threw an orange veil over the city

&039;Charles likes to sit on the balcony,&039; Genevieve explained

There was so outside

&039;Charles-Cheri,&039; Genevieve said, quite loudly &039;Kate is here&039;

She left Kate and stepped out onto the balcony Charles had ed to turn the bath chair around with slippered feet, but his fingers couldn&039;t get a grip on the rims of the wheels to move it forward He was frustrated with the failure of his hands, but more amused than irritated He accepted frailty as he had always accepted strength, as a co to be asked, she wheeled Charles into the roo with the seae-lines stretched He looked oddly childlike, almost a baby

Kate flew at him and went down on her knees She took his hands in hers - rip - and laid her head on his lap

&039;Charles,&039; Kate sighed, &039;Charles&039;

Charles h

&039;Stand up and let me look at you,&039; he ordered

Genevieve turned on the electric lights Even after decades, she felt she ought to be reaching for a taper to light the candles Soht switch as if it were the key of a gas la,&039; Charles clucked Kate&039;s hands went to her exposed neck &039;It&039;sShe held herself rather aardly, refusing to believe sheVictorians were prejudiced against red hair, so she&039;d been taught to be ashaht pass for fashionable She was petite enough for the New Look Even spectacles weren&039;t the disfigurement they&039;d once been considered

&039;I had short hair when I arm,&039; Genevieve said &039;It was the fashion Jeanne d&039;Arc set it&039;

Charles thought about that &039;You were one of those girls who passed as a boy to go to sea and become a pirate Kate is in a ree with you, ot off her knees and kissed Charles

Genevieve had a pang Her nails beca about it, she knew Kate had earned her kiss She&039;d been there when Genevieve hadn&039;t While Genevieve had avoided the twentieth century, Kate had been a part of it and stuck by Charles through the nightmare years

Kate dabbed her eyes dry with a hankie

&039;Look,&039; she said &039;I&039; You&039;ll think me a fool&039;

&039;Not at all,&039; Charles said, kindly

&039;Kate has already got mixed up in murder,&039; Genevieve said

&039;So I&039;ve been reading&039;

Charles indicated the afternoon editions of Il quotidiano and Paese sera They lay on a kidney-shaped coffee table, the newest piece of furniture in the room

&039;I had to rescue her froe of the investigation?&039;

Genevieve looked at Kate

&039;An Inspector Silvestri,&039; Kate said &039;Do you know hiood ht that couple last year, the ones who left bloodied butterfly brooches on the corpses of their victi to the papers, you saw the Crimson Executioner?&039;

&039;Actually, I saw his reflection,&039; said Kate

&039;A fine distinction, but worth &039;

Charles was livelier than Genevieve had seen him for weeks, livelier even than when the British spy was consulting him She hadn&039;t known that he took an interest in the murders of vampire elders but it didn&039;t surprise her Was he concerned for her safety? He was occasionally solicitous of her, but she had put that down to the fussiness of advanced age She&039;d underestiht&039;s, there have been seventeen murders since the liberation,&039; Charles told Kate &039;All vampire elders All in Rome, and mostly in public places Tourist spots, even Professor Adelsberg was staked in Castel Sant&039;Angelo That lieutenant of Dracula&039;s they used to call Radu the Repulsive was beheaded on the steps of the Museo Borghese And the Duchess Marguerite De Grand, as reckoned such a beauty, was destroyed in the shadow of the statues of Castor and Pollux in the Piazza di Quirinale&039;

&039;I&039;ve heard of Adelsberg,&039; Kate said &039;Wasn&039;t he a war criminal? One of Hitler&039;s vampire doctors?&039;

&039;It&039;s possible he wasn&039;t a Crimson Executioner victim The others were real elders, four and five hundred years old, mostly of the Dracula line and with titles and decorations to prove it The Professor barely had his century The Israelis ht have been killed on general principle, by soood cause As you know, that happens when these et a run Other crimes are laid at their doorsteps It beco a pebble on a beach&039;

&039;As elders go, Count Kernassy didn&039;t seem such a monster&039;