The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire, Book 1) by Clay & Susan Griffith;Clay Griffith;Susan Griffith (2 page)

Adele noticed a stony glare on Colonel Anhalt's face as he looked in
the direction of the vampires. It was unusually harsh and uncharacteristic of the man.

"Something, Colonel?" she asked, handing the spyglass back to him.

The Gurkha blinked in surprise, then flushed with embarrassment.
He studied his polished boots. "No, Highness. Nothing."

"Your expression said otherwise." She stepped closer to him. "Feel
free. Have I done something wrong?"

The colonel looked up suddenly, mouth agape. "No! I would
never-never-

"Easy, Colonel." Adele smiled warmly and laid a hand on his
forearm. "You merely looked angry. Is there something wrong?"

He wrestled with his thoughts for a moment, and then said, "For give my bluntness, Your Highness, but I think it unwise to send you so
far north on tour."

Adele nodded in consideration.

Anhalt continued. "And to send both heirs. I don't know what the
court was thinking. It's irrational."

"Politics aren't always a matter of the most rational path. I am happy
to be here, forging goodwill." Adele, in fact, was thrilled to be away
from Alexandria, on board this tossing ship. The alternative was to be at
home, immersed in court tedium. When Lord Kelvin, the prime minister, had suggested the tour, Adele had leapt at the opportunity. But she
couldn't just make the argument that she enjoyed the adventure. There
was a purpose, and it was one that was important to her aside from
escape. "It's imperative that the independent city-states on the frontier,
such as Marseille, see the future empress of Equatoria. The connections
I can make on this tour could be very helpful. There is a war coming."

This was a fact both Adele and Colonel Anhalt knew well. Within a
year, conflict would begin that would reshape the world in blood. Adele
was no warmonger, but she knew the fight was necessary.

It had been 150 years since the vampires rose. The monsters had
lurked quietly among humanity from the beginning of time, but one
dark winter night in 1870 they came en masse intent on subjugating
human society. It was not known why they chose that moment to attack.
Perhaps a great leader had inspired them. Perhaps they sensed a particular weakness in human culture as it teetered between faith and science.
And clearly, humans were not prepared; they were taken totally by surprise. Most people had even given up their beliefs in the existence of
such creatures as vampires.

The vampires struck at the hearts of the Great Powers of Europe,
America, and Asia. They decapitated governments and armies, and
destroyed communication and transportation. Order was replaced by
horror, panic, and collapse. Within two years, the great industrial societies of the north were cadavers and the vampire clans divided the old
world between themselves.

At that time, no one had understood the true nature of the vampires.
Few enough did, even today. Adele, however, had the benefit of the dons of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Alexandria to teach her what was
known, or thought was known, of the biology and culture of humanity's
greatest enemy. Myths about these creatures had grown up over the centuries-myths that were based on truths, but not the truth. Vampires
were far more dangerous than the old legends could have imagined.

Most respected men of science stated with certainty that vampires
were not the resurrected corpses of humans. The creatures were now
classed as a parasitic species that thrived on human blood, and they had
been categorized Homo nosferatii. Vampires and humans had disturbingly
similar anatomies and physiologies, except that vampires had sharper
teeth, retractable clawlike fingernails, and eyes acutely adapted to nocturnal hunting. Four of their five senses were magnificent; sight, smell,
hearing, and taste were well beyond the level of a dog or cat. However,
vampires had a stunted sense of touch, making it difficult for them to
manipulate objects or use simple tools. Anatomy lessons conducted in
the gaslit chambers beneath the Imperial Academy of Sciences in
Alexandria had demonstrated that vampires seemed to feel no pain and
rapidly healed from even the most horrific wounds.

It had never been demonstrated convincingly that vampires created
new vampires by infecting humans. Scholars debated with great vigor
how, or even if, vampires propagated. There were many theories, but the
current dominant belief among the learned was that the creatures lived
forever and that there were as many now as there had ever been or would
ever be.

Vampires had never been seen to transform into bats or wolves, but
they could travel on the wind by amazing control over their density,
which was not yet fully understood. Specimens rarely lived long enough
in captivity for satisfying experimentation. Sunlight did not turn them
to dust, but they were pathologically susceptible to heat, which made
them weak and lethargic. Hence, their tendency to come out at night
and haunt northern climes.

Certainly none of this latest scientific knowledge had been available
to the terrified victims of the Great Killing in 1870. After those attacks,
hundreds of thousands of humans had fled south toward the equator,
where they sought refuge in colonial possessions and fought savagely for land in a great frenzy of cultural collapse and coalition. Eventually the
shell-shocked remnants of northern humanity blended with local people
and set about trying to re-create new versions of their beloved societies
based on steam and iron in the wilting tropical heat where vampires
rarely trod.

Prince Simon scrambled to the rail again. "I think I see them!" He
looked back at Colonel Anhalt with a pleading gaze.

The Gurkha offered the young prince his spyglass before turning his
attention back to the princess, his hand resting on the hilt of his Fahrenheit saber, an officer's weapon. "I still think it's foolish to waste your
time currying favor with the border states. There are only two sides to
this war: human and vampire. What's the purpose of diplomacy with
those who will need us once the fighting starts?"

Adele sighed cheerfully. "You're just argumentative. You know it
isn't that simple. We will need the independent states on the frontier as
much as they need us. We will want their ports and facilities to move
our armies into Europe. Isn't it better to have an understanding beforehand? No one expects a human state to side with the vampires, but the
border states have self-interests too. And there will be opportunities for
the Empire to expand as we roll back the vampires. Our world is about
to change forever."

Adele's world was very different from the one her great-grandfather
would've known, and which she had read about in history books. There
were new Great Powers that were like the resurrected corpses of the
world powers at the time of the Great Killing. Her own Equatorian
Empire was built on the ruins of the British Empire. It stretched from
India to South Africa, with its great capital set amid the dusty mosques
of Alexandria. The American Republic was a republic in name only. It
was ruled by an oligarchy of wealthy families from its center in the
torrid quietude of Panama with firm control over most of Central
America and the West Indies, and growing hegemony over the southern
region of the old United States. When the vampires attacked Japan, that
emperor removed himself to Singapore and spread his power over the
green temples of Malaya and much of Southeast Asia. The world over, a
dizzying array of semi-independent city-states struggled along the vam pire frontiers, where warm summers made it difficult for the monsters
to extend their power on a permanent basis.

Those who traced their heritage to the north remained galled by the
vampire clans' continuing domination of the old lands. They always talked
of returning "home" and driving the vampires back into the darkness.

Now that moment was at hand.

The human states believed they were sufficiently reorganized to
strike and had the proper technology to counter the swift, savage hordes
of the vampire clans. A brutal War of Reconquest would begin with the
coming of spring in the north.

And Princess Adele, standing windswept on the deck of Ptolemy, was
a linchpin in the strategy. It was her birthright to be part of the bloody
struggle for the future of the world. She was the matrimonial prize that
would unite the two greatest human states into an allied war machine.

Adele regarded the imposing figure of Colonel Anhalt and laughed
at his worried scowl. "Thank you for your concern, but surely nothing
will happen. We are far south of clan territory. Marseilles hasn't been
attacked in-what-fifteen years?"

"Seven, Highness."

"Seven then. And the weather is quite warm. As our meteorologists
predicted."

Anhalt grunted in tepid acceptance of her logic.

"And I have my White Guard around me." Adele smiled at the furrowed brow on the dark face before her. "You'll keep me safe, won't you,
Colonel Anhalt?"

There was a sudden and surprising glisten of moisture in Anhalt's
hard eyes. "With my life, Your Highness."

Adele replied, "Dear Anhalt. Where would I be without you?"

"I pray you never have to find out."

"I as well."

A nervous young naval officer stopped and bowed. "The admiral's
compliments, Your Highness. He says we will have chemical lights
momentarily, and perhaps you should consider moving belowdecks."

The princess replied with proper formality, "Thank you, Lieutenant
Sayid." And she noticed his surprise and pride that the imperial heir recalled his name. "I think that two vampires would hardly dare attack
an imperial capital ship of one hundred guns."

"One hundred and fifteen guns, Your Highness," the boy responded
stiffly.

"Indeed?" Adele smiled. "Impressive. But in any case, since vampiric vision is reputed to exceed a cat's, surely they could easily perceive
the better part of a regiment on deck."

Lieutenant Sayid raised a knuckle to his brow in salute and immediately turned to pass orders to the bosun's mates with a less nervous
voice. Then he pulled appropriate signal flags and stuffed them into
hardened gutta-percha cylinders. The foot-long cylinders went into
shining copper pneumatic tubes and were shot to the platforms high in
the ship's rigging.

Princess Adele watched as gangs of sailors clambered up the shrouds
and ratlines toward the gigantic, gas-filled dirigible overhead. The dirigible was encased in a tightly crosshatched metal eggshell designed to
protect it from enemy cannon fire. A row of three wooden masts
extended laterally from each side and also along the top spine of the steel
frame. Sails were set in concert with filling and evacuating parts of the
multichambered dirigible, to propel and steer the massive airship. It was
an intricate ballet, a wonder to watch.

Simon glanced at his big sister. "You want to be up there with them,
don't you?"

A startled Adele began, "Don't be silly...." Then she stopped and
responded honestly, "Yes. And so do you."

The boy laughed and nodded his head vigorously, craning his neck
to get a glimpse of the fearless sailors. Adele dropped her arm around her
brother's shoulders and followed his gaze upward, feeling a powerful
desire to climb the quivering lines alongside the sailors and scale the
dizzying main topmast swaying high above the airship to feel the clouds
on her face. She envied those simple men who shouted, laughed, and
even sang in the wind-ripped tops with only the sureness of their grip
separating them from a long but certain death.

On the blustery quarterdeck, Lieutenant Sayid interrupted her
thoughts by touching the brim of his cap politely. "Your Highness, if you would please step to this spot between the carronades. I would be loath for
you or the prince to be struck by an inconsiderate falling airman."

Simon immediately planted himself and stared up at the swelling sails,
forcing Adele to tow his rigid form against the rail. She began to say something to the young officer, but he was already engaged in another duty.
With a heavy sigh, she leaned against the hard mahogany gunwale, content
to monitor her restless brother in the gathering darkness.

A maid appeared from below with Adele's heavy cape and a coat for
Simon. The weather was too warm for a cloak, and Adele would have
refused, but the maid was only following orders. If the poor girl
returned below with the cloak still in her possession it would create a
crisis that would envelop Adele's entire staff. The maid confidently
informed Adele that dinner was in exactly twenty minutes. Then, on her
way below, the servant exchanged light, bubbling words with the handsome Lieutenant Sayid. Adele watched them, fascinated by the mix of
hesitance and boldness; a young woman, a handsome officer. Such
charming simplicity.

A sudden flash of moonlight reflected in the ostentatious diamond
ring on Adele's left hand and forced her to remember her wedding was
barely a month away. It wasn't so much a wedding as the starting gun
for the war, the signal that Equatoria and the American Republic were
one. All the linen, china, and warships would be bound to the same
household. Adele thought of the beautiful gold locket that held a picture of her Intended, Senator Clark. War hero. Vampire killer. Scion of
a great American house. Undeniably handsome. He had the open brashness of an American, which in another situation she might have found
attractive.

Still, the young woman had generally refused to think about the
Impending Event because the thought of a stranger's weight on the
other side of her bed caused many sleepless nights bathed in a frightened
sweat and with a shortness of breath. She couldn't conceive of how her
Intended's war-roughened hands would feel on her skin, nor did she
want to. Her spy inside the Office of Court Protocol had confided to her
that the issue of sexual commerce was still under negotiation and,
although it probably could not be eliminated completely, it would at least be kept to the minimum necessary to conceive an heir. The marriage was a political necessity and, therefore, Adele's duty, but she
doubted it would ever be more than that.