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Arthur half laughed "Yes My dear, if he truly wanted you dead that day, you would have been"

"But I thought he thought I was dead all that tioes on in that castle"

"Then he must know Jason’s alive" And David

"Possibly But many other people also knew you were still alive No one knew about Jason He was taken aith the rest of the dead"

I pictured that in my mind; a pile of bloodied bodies, and Jason beneath the period of ti that," Arthur continued "Your escape happened before Drake was stabbed Anything after ht have slipped his attention"

"So, if he let me escape because he wantedto attack us, is he?"

"No," he said calive us to deliver what he wants?"

"I’m not sure"

I chuckled nervously, nuain "I bet he was pissed when the council arrestedso tactic when I first entered his chamber" He knelt down in front of me "I promised him I would co it to him But that was never my intention"

"Then what is your intention, Arthur?"

He sighed heavily, standing up "At first, I was going to help you flee the country, change your identity--er, I went to the library to research the location and legend surrounding it All I found was Drake’s Book of Shadohich had a half a page of inforo, and ripped away and stuffed in the back of the book, I found a note"

"What did it say?"

"I don’t remember the exact words, because when I returned to the library after getting the Dictionary of Translation, the note was gone"

"Who took it?"

"I have no way of knowing All I know is that the runes I reer had another use"

"Chopping up steak?"

"No" He laughed and gently lifted the dagger froain "That, if wielded by one deemed ruler by the mother of the Earth, one who is sworn in on the Stone of Truth, it could pierce the heart of any vampire, and send its soul to the other side"

"Kill it?"

"Not just kill" He rested his elbow over one knee, loosely holding the dagger "Do you re told that it is near impossible to sever the connection of a Lilithian soul from the realm of life?"

"Yes"

"Vampires are not so different Our souls are created iain They are the reason only some humans can be turned to vaene"

"No, it’s because you ene?"

"There is no gene"

"What!"

"It was a lieof ti ene lie caused so much trouble for me"

"I know" He patted ene, you could not have been a vampire, because you were born of Lilithian blood You cannot be Vampirian and Lilithian"

"I know But it just…I just wish I knew then what I kno"

"As do we all," he said sympathetically "But, even if you’d known you were Lilithian back when Jason bit you at theinto a coma as the venom poisoned your systeuish for thinking I was going to die"

"If I could have trusted hi what you were, I would have told him"

"Why didn’t you trust him?"

"I was concerned, at first, that his love for the laeighed his love for you"

I nodded to myself "So, how can you tell if someone has an immortal soul?"

"It’s in their eyes Have you ever met someone, seen a child born who has a certain depth about them--wise, as if they’ve been here before?"

"Yes I have, actually"

"Those are the souls who reincarnate--the ones who becoreat leaders, wise prophets, scientists--vampires"

"But, what about Lilithians? No hu turned Lilithian?"

"No We believe the Lilithian venom can immortalise a soul"

"How?"

"We’re not sure, but your kind is so much closer to nature than the Vampirian bloodline and all its created Perhaps a way to look at it would be that one is created of God, the other manmade"

"So, are there hly over a third of today’s population"

"Then, those Drake turned to create his new army--why did so many die?"

"That was exactly the question I asked ain, "--I suspect he killed half of theene Our people would ask questions if he suddenly created masses of vampires from hed "So, this dagger can send an immortal soul to heaven?"

"Or hell"

"How?"

"Prevents it froer "Then, it could kill you, or even er to it "Yes But only if wielded by the hand of the king--an entity we do not posses Unless--"

"Unless?"

"By right of heir"

"And that’s why you want a child with me--not because of the prophecy"

"Yes So I can kill Drake"

"Why do you want to be the one?"

"Because, there is soer"

"What?"

He angled it to the light, e of the hilt "He who drives the dagger takes the fate of that beneath it"

"Huh?"

"Whoever kills Drake will die along with hi them dry

"Do you see, Amara, I never wanted to hurt you; never wanted to have a child with you forI’ve taken that son of a bitch to Hell withof his plural registered in my ears "Nephews? Then you know?"