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The great empty room beneath its i us, seelooht

Silently I considered: Will the others leave the cemetery, or hover at the top of the stairs? Will any of them allow me to take Nicki alive from this place? The boy will re That leaves only the leader, really But Iat

"Armand?" I said respectfully "May I address you in this way?" I drew closer, scanning hie of expression "You are obviously the leader And you are the one who can explain all this to us"

But these words were a poor cover forhim how he had led them in all this, he who appeared as ancient as the old queen, co so before the altar of Notre Daain, that ethereal expression on his face And I found myself perfectly in him, and the possibility of him, this ancient one who had stood silent all this while

I think I searched hi! That’s what I thought wisdom would reveal And the mortal in me, the vulnerable one who had cried in the inn at the vision of the chaos, said:

"Ar of all this?"

It seemed the brown eyes faltered But then the face so subtly transfore, that I drew back

I didn’t believe one in Notre Da to this And such a perfect incarnation of malice I’d never seen Even Gabrielle ht hand to shield Nicki, and I stepped back until I was beside her and our arms touched

But in the saain that of a sweet and fresh mortal boy

The old queen vah her hair

"You turn to me for explanations?" the leader asked

His eyes ainst her shoulder Then returned to me

"I could speak until the end of the world," he said, "and I could never tell you what you have destroyed here"

I thought the old queen ed with hier within

"Since the beginning of time," he said, "thesein this vast cha from him effortlessly, his hands limp at his sides "Since the ancient days there have been our kind haunting the cities of ht as God and the devil commanded us to do The chosen of Satan we are, and those adh a hundred criiven to them"

He ca in his eyes

"Before their loved ones they appeared to die," he said, "and with only a small infusion of our blood did they endure the terror of the coffin as they waited for us to coiven, and they were sealed again in the grave after, until their thirst should give theth to break the narrow box and rise"

His voice grew slightly louder, more resonant

"It was death they knew in those dark chambers," he said "It was death and the power of evil they understood as they rose, breaking open the coffin, and the iron doors that held them in And pity the weak, those who couldn’t break out

Those whose wails brought ave no mercy to them

"But those who rose, ah, those were the vampires alked the earth, tested, purified, Children of Darkness, born of a fledgling’s blood, never the full power of an ancientthe wisdo And on these were i the dead, for we are dead things, returning always to one’s own grave or one very nearly like it To shun the places of light, luring victims away from the company of others to suffer death in unholy and haunted places And to honor forever the power of God, the crucifix about the neck, the Sacraments And never, never to enter the House of God, lest he strike you powerless, casting you into hell, ending your reign on earth in blazing torment"

He paused He looked at the old queen for the first tih I could not truly tell, that her face s," he said to her "Magnus scorned these things!" He commenced to tremble "It was the nature of his madness, as it is the nature of yours, but I tell you, you do not understand these lass, but you have no strength, no power save ignorance You break and that is all"

He turned away, hesitating as if he would not go on, and looking about at the vast crypt

I heard the old va soan to rock back and forth, her head to one side, her eyes dreaain, she looked beautiful

"It is finished for my children," the leader whispered "It is finished and done, for they kno they can disregard all of it The things that bound us together, gave us the strength to endure as das! The ain he looked at me

"And you ask me for explanations as if it were inexplicable!" he said "You, for whoreed You gave it to the very womb that bore you! Why not to this one, the devil’s fiddler, whoht?"

"Have I not told you?" sang the va to fear in the sign of the Cross, nor the Holy Water, nor the Sacra theas she went on "And the old rites, the incense, the fire, the vows spoken, e thoughtthe Evil One in the dark, whispering"

"Silence!" said the leader, dropping his voice His hands alesture Like a boy he looked, almost lost God, that our immortal bodies could be such varied prisons for us, that our immortal faces should be such ain he fixed his eyes on hastly transformations or that some uncontrollable violence would come from hi me silently

Why did this come about! His voice almost dried in his throat as he repeated it aloud, as he tried to curb his rage "You explain to th of ten va through the world in your brocade and your leather boots! Lelio, the actor frorand drama on the boulevard! Tell th, Magnus’s genius," sang the woman vampire with the most wistful smile

"No!" He shook his head "I tell you, he is beyond all account He knows no limit and so he has no limit But why!"

Heto walk but to coht

"Why you," he demanded, "with the boldness to walk their streets, break their locks, call thea their blood only steps froh and dance You who shun cehtless, arrogant, ignorant, and disdainful! You give me the explanation AnswerMy face ar with blood I was in no fear of hier, and I didn’t fully understand why

His mind -- I had wanted to pierce his mind -- and this is what I heard, this superstition, this absurdity He was no sublime spirit who understood what his followers had not He had not believed it He had believed in it, a thousand times worse!

And I realized quite clearly what he was not deed in a dark time when the small orbs of the sun traveled the dome of the heavens, and the stars were no oddesses upon a closed night A tireat world in which we roam, a time when for every question there had been an answer That hat he was, a child of olden days itches had danced beneath the ons

Ah, sad lost child, roareat city and an inco than I supposed

But there was no time to mourn for him, beautiful as he was Those entombed in the walls suffered at his command Those he had sent out of the chamber could be called back

I had to think of a reply to his question that he would be able to accept The truth wasn’t enough It had to be arranged poetically the way that the older thinkers would have arranged it in the world before the age of reason had coathering , Nicki’s fear "I’m no dealer in mysteries," I said "No lover of philosophy But it’s plain enough what has happened here"

He studied e earnestness

"If you fear so s of the Church aren’t unknown to you You es, that there are saints for all times under heaven"

Visibly he hearkened to this, warmed to the words I used

"In ancient days," I said, "there were ht to burn them, mystics who rose into the air as they heard the voice of God But as the world changed, so changed the saints What are they now but obedient nuns and priests? They build hospitals and orphanages, but they do not call down the angels to rout are beast"

I could see no change in him but I pressed on

"And so it is with evil, obviously It changes its forhten your followers? Do you thinkto each other of heaven and hell? Philosophy is what they talk about, and science! What does it matter to them if white-faced haunts prowl a churchyard after dark? A few more murders in a wilderness of murders? How can this be of interest to God or the devil or to hing

But Arround is about to be taken from you," I continued "This ceether froer sacred in this secular age"

His face softened suddenly He couldn’t conceal his shock

"Les Innocents destroyed!" he whispered "You’re lying to me"

"I never lie," I said offhand "At least not to those I don’t love The people of Paris don’t want the stench of graveyards around them anymore The emblems of the dead don’t matter to them as they matter to you Within a few years, markets, streets, and houses will cover this spot Cohteenth-century world"

"Stop!" he whispered "Les Innocents has existed as long as I have existed!" His boyish face was strained The old queen was undisturbed

"Don’t you see?" I said softly "It is a new age It requires a new evil And I a him "I am the vampire for these times"

He had not foreseen liliesture

"This incident in the village church tonight," I said cautiously, "it was vulgar, I’e of theater, worse still But these were blunders And you know they aren’t the source of your rancor Forget them for the moment and try to envision my beauty and my power Try to see the evil that I am I stalk the world in mortal dressthe worst of fiends, the monster who looks exactly like everyone else"

The wohter I could feel only pain from him, and from her the warm emanation of her love

"Think of it, Armand," I pressed carefully "Why should Death lurk in the shadows? Why should Death wait at the gate? There is no bedchalow of the hearth, Death on tiptoe in the corridor, that is what I am Speak to me of the Dark Gifts -- I use them I’m Gentleman Death in silk and lace, come to put out the candles The canker in the heart of the rose"

There was a faint h

"There is no place where they can hide froodless and powerless ones ould destroy les Innocents There is no lock that can keep me out"

He stared back at me silently He appeared sad and calhtly, but they were untroubled bymoment, and then:

"A splendid mission, that," he said, "to devil the them But it’s you still who don’t understand"