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"You’re a dead man, Hubbard--and so is the one who made Jack a vampire" Matthew’s voice was no more than a hollow murmur Jack heard it nonetheless

"You can’t kill him, Master Roydon" Jack stood at the top of the stairs, his fingers wrapped tightly around Lobero’s collar "Father Hubbard is your grandson He’s my maker, too"

Jack turned away, and we heard the cabinet doors open, then water running fro that a conversational borandson?" Matthew looked at Hubbard in shock "But that means"

"Benjains had always been shrouded in obscurity

London legends said that he had been a priest when the Black Death first visited England in 1349 After Hubbard’s parishioners all succurave and cliht Hubbard back from the brink of death--but no one seemed to knoho

"As far as your son was concerned, I was only a tool--soland Benjae," Hubbard continued "He also hoped I would help hiainst the de Clermonts and their allies But he was disappointed on both counts, and I’ve ed to keep him away from me and my flock Until now"

"What’s happened?" Matthew asked brusquely

"Benjaain," was Hubbard’s equally abrupt reply

"Again?" That madman had been with Jack I turned blindly toward the stairs, but Matthew caught ainst his chest

"Wait," he coe black briefcase andHe surveyed the scene and dropped what he was carrying

"What’s happened now?" he asked, looking from Matthew to Hubbard

"Father Hubbard made Jack a va after all

Gallowglass slaainst the wall "You bastard I could slass’s turn to be tossed against so--in his case it was the floor Hubbard pressed one polished black shoe against the big Gael’s sternum I was astonished that soht what, Gallowglass?" Hubbard’s tone was"That I’d violated a child?"

Upstairs, Jack’s rising agitation soured the air He’d learned froe how quickly ordinary quarrels could turn violent As a boy he’d found even a hint of disagree

"Corra!" I cried, instinctively wanting her support

By the time my firedrake swooped down and landed on the newel post, Matthew had averted any potential bloodshed by picking up Gallowglass and Hubbard by the scruffs of their necks, prying theave an irritated bleat and fixed a htly that he was to blame for her interrupted nap

"I’ll be da "Didn’t I tell you Corra would survive the tiht and pounded on the painted wood Jack’s behavior rely of the joyous boy he had once been that I had to fight back the tears

Corra let out an answering cry of welco that filled the entrance with happiness She took flight, zoos around Jack Then she tucked her head atop his and began to croon, her tail encircling his ribs so that the spade-shaped tip could gently pat his back Lobero padded over to his ave Corra a suspicious sniff She must have smelled like fa his many responsibilities He dropped down at Jack’s side, head on his paws but eyes still watchful

"Your tongue is even longer than Lobero’s," Jack said, trying not to giggle as Corra tickled his neck "I can’t believe she remeet someone who spoiled her with currant buns?" I said with a s rooe had receded from Jack’s veins Aware of his low position in the house’s pecking order, he waited until everyone else took a chair before choosing his own seat He was ready to join the dog on the floor when Matthew patted the sofa cushion

"Sit with me, Jack" Matthew’s invitation held a note of co at the knees of his jeans

"You look to be about twenty," Matthew observed, hoping to draw him into conversation

"Twenty, maybe twenty-one," Jack said "Leonard and I-- You reured it out because ofspecific, you understand, just the fear of the Spanish invasion in the streets, the lighting of the beacons, and the victory celebrations I must have been at least five in 1588 to remember that"

I did some rapid calculations That ue"

The disease had swept through London with a vengeance that year I noticed a mottled patch on his neck, just under his ear It looked like a bruise, but it ue sore For it to have reested that he had been moments from death when Hubbard transfor down at his hands He turned them this way and that "Annie died from it ten years earlier, soon after Master Marloas killed in Deptford"

I’d wondered what had happened to our Annie I had iined her a prosperous seamstress with her own business I’d hoped she would have ood er, her life snuffed out before it truly began

"That was a dreadful year, 1593, Mistress Roydon The dead were everywhere By the time Father Hubbard and I learned she was sick, it was too late," Jack said, his expression bereft

"You’re old enough to call ently

Jack plucked at his jeans without replying "Father Hubbard took me in when youleft," he continued "Sir Walter was in trouble, and Lord Northumberland was too busy at court to look after me"

Jack sood ti"

"I was on very intiood tiot into more mischief than any two boys who ever lived"