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"Blood rage?" Marcus looked at his father incredulously "That’s impossible It turns you into a cold-blooded killer, without reason or compassion There hasn’t been a case of it for nearly two millennia You told me so yourself"

"I lied" Matthew’s voice cracked at the ade, Matt," Hamish said "There was a mention of it in the family papers

Its symptoms include blind fury, the inability to reason, and an overwheln of the disease"

"I’ve learned to control it," Matthew said "Most of the tiation were to find out, there would be a price on your head

According to what I’ve read here, other creatures would have carte blanche to destroy you," Halance flickered overabdomen "My children, too"

Sarah’s expression was stricken "The babies"

"And Marcus?" Phoebe’s knuckles shohite on the edge of the table though her voice was calm

"Marcus is only a carrier," Matthew tried to reassure her "The syns of thee? Soht once that it was a virus, but it was in my blood and I passed it on to Marcus the moment I made him" Matthew looked his son squarely in the eye "When I enuinely believed that I was cured It had been ale of Reason In our pride we believed that all sorts of past evils had been eradicated, from smallpox to superstition Then you went to New Orleans"

"My own children" Marcus looked wild, and then understanding dawned "You and Juliette Durand ca up dead You killed thee"

"Your father had no choice," Ysabeau said "The Congregation knew there was trouble in New Orleans Philippe ordered Matthew to deal with it before the vampires found out the cause Had Matthew refused, you all would have died"

"The other vae of blood rage had returned," Matthew said "They wanted to raze the city and burn it out of existence, but I argued that the e I was supposed to kill them all I was supposed to kill you, too, Marcus"

Marcus looked surprised Ysabeau did not

"Philippe was furious with me, but I destroyed only those ere symptomatic I killed them quickly, without pain or fear," Matthew said, his voice dead I hated the secrets he kept and the lies he told to cover them up, but my heart hurt for hirandchildren’s excesses however I could--poverty, inebriation, greed Then I took responsibility for what happened in New Orleans, resigned ation, and swore that you would make no more children until you were older and wiser"

"You told race to the family" Marcus was hoarse with suppressed emotion

"I had to make you stop I didn’t knohat else to do" Matthew confessed his sins without asking for forgiveness

"Who else knows your secret, Matthew?" Sarah asked

"Verin, Baldwin, Stasia, and Freyja Fernando and Gallowglass Miriaers one by one as the nah, Godfrey, Hancock, Louisa, and Louis"

Marcus looked at his father bitterly "I want to know everything Fro of this tale," Ysabeau said softly "Only I can"

"No, Ma his head "That’s not necessary"

"Of course it is," Ysabeau said "I brought the disease into the family I am a carrier, like Marcus"

"You?" Sarah looked stunned

"The disease was infor a la and nearly i hich Ysabeau said the word "sire" made me understand why Matthew disliked the term

"There was constant warfare between vae was seized But I was a disappointment," Ysabeau continued "My h the blood rage was strong in his other children As a punishment--"

Ysabeau stopped and drew a shaky breath

"As a punishe to provide my brothers and sisters with a source of entertainment, as well as a creature on who My sire did not expect ers to her lips, unable for ati, wounded inside and out, unable to die though I longed for it But theI becaainstthat was done to ht finally taan to think I ht be useful to him after all"

"That’s not the story Philippe told," Marcus said numbly "Grandfather said he rescued you from a fortress--that your ainst your will because you were so beautiful he couldn’t bear to let anyone else have you Philippe said your sire made you to serve as his wife"

"All of that was the truth--just not the whole truth" Ysabeau met Marcus’s eyes squarely

"Philippe did find me in a fortress and rescued me from that terrible place But I was no beauty then, no randfather told later I’d shorn my head with a broken shell that a bird had dropped on theledge, so that they couldn’t use h they are hidden now One of uely "Marthe will remember"

No wonder Ysabeau and Marthe had treated me so tenderly after La Pierre One had been tortured, and the other had put her back together again after the ordeal But Ysabeau’s tale was not yet finished

"When Philippe and his soldiers came, they were the answer to htaway Philippe’s men demanded all of my sire’s children be put to death so that the evil poison in our blood would not spread Onethey came and took my brothers and sisters away Philippe kept randfather lied and said that I had not been infected with my maker’s disease--that someone else had made me and I had killed only to survive There was no one left to dispute it"

Ysabeau looked at her grandson "It is why Philippe forgave Matthew for not killing you, Marcus, though he had ordered him to do so Philippe knehat it was to love someone too much to see him perish unjustly"

But Ysabeau’s words did not lift the shadows from Marcus’s eyes

"We kept my secret--Philippe and Marthe and I--for centuries I ht that blood rage was a horror we had left behind My children all lived long lives and never showed a trace of the illness Then came Matthew" Ysabeau trailed off A drop of red for her lower lid She blinked away the blood tear before it could fall

"By the tiend a vampires He was held up as an exaave in to our desires for blood and power