The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire, Book 1) by Clay & Susan Griffith;Clay Griffith;Susan Griffith (26 page)

Lord Ghast growled and reached for the woman he dragged. It was
only then that Adele realized the captive woman had a small baby clutched
close to her body. The vampire seized the child. A wave of sickness overcame the princess, instantly replaced by righteous murderous rage.

Adele reached into her blouse and took a stone knife, while her other
hand unconsciously grasped the washabti from her pocket. She leapt from
the dais with a shout. Lord Ghast stared at her uncomprehendingly, with
the woman in one hand and the baby in the other. The princess felt heat
surge through her body. Ghast started to shout, but his throat was already
cut. Adele spun, and drove the blade up through his chin into his brain,
then grabbed the baby before it dropped to the floor.

The room went silent. The bloody mob stared at Adele cradling the
baby as Lord Ghast's body collapsed to the floor. She looked down at the
child and saw that it was dead already, and probably had been for days.
The mother, driven to insanity by her lot in life, could not understand.
The wretched woman pleaded for the tiny cadaver, and Adele placed it
in her hands.

Adele was pulled back with tremendous force. Gareth quickly
released her and held his hand as if injured, staring at her with shock and
anger. His eyes locked on the washabti in her left hand. Growling, he
smashed it out of her grasp. The little figurine shattered against the tile
floor.

"What are you doing?" he snapped. "Are you insane? Attacking a
clan lord?"

"I thought he was going to-"

"Keep quiet! We'll be lucky to get out of here alive."

The dense silence was pierced by singular laughter.

Both Adele and Gareth turned to see Cesare doubled over with
uncontrolled hilarity. This incredible tableau left the already surprised
lords exchanging glances of confusion. Gareth placed himself between
his brother and Adele as Cesare turned to face them.

"Well," Cesare said quietly with a broad grin, "that couldn't have
worked out better if I'd planned it. Poor Ghast. Killed going for a
snack."

The doors burst open, and Flay stormed into the chamber. Behind
her stood a small male vampire, looking quite frail. The lords all turned
to see what new surprise lay in store.

Cesare was not pleased by the look he saw on Flay's face.

"My lord," Flay shouted as she shoved through the clan lords, nearly
dragging the vampire behind her. She approached the dais and pushed
her baggage to the foot of the steps.

The little vampire trembled from the collected greatness around
him. Flay prompted his recovery with a stern blow to the back, causing
him to stammer, "I ... have news, my lord. Humans."

Cesare folded his arms and waited in cold anticipation. Gareth eyed
Flay, wondering what game she was playing. Her face seemed quite intense
and involved in the moment; there was no furtive scheming behind her
eyes. She seemed almost breathless for the small visitor to speak.

Cesare did not prompt him, so the stranger glanced at Flay for
approval and then continued. "We are under attack."

The room broke into an uproar. A thought of escape flashed through
Adele's mind. She could take advantage of the confusion and slip away.
She shifted her weight to move and immediately felt a vise on her arm.
Gareth glared down at her. He seemed to sense her thoughts, and his
mirthless stare was enough to make her still.

Cesare held up a hand for silence, which was partially granted, and
demanded of the newcomer, "What are you blathering about?"

"I was near the water this early morning. The ocean." He pointed
southward. "I was with my brother. We saw an airship. A warship.
Flying north. We watched and then started to go, but one of the humans
climbed into the rigging of the ship. He had a gun. And he killed my
brother." The vampire put a finger to his forehead. "A hole here. I fled." He pulled his threadbare shirt up and turned to reveal a jagged hole in
his back. "He shot me too, but I escaped."

The appearance of the occasional human warship over the southern
sea was not unheard-of, although it was unusual. Typically it meant they
were off course. No captain would wish to stray so close to a vampire
stronghold. Still, Cesare knew he had to appear as if this was momentous news.

So he announced, "No doubt it is a scout ship for a coming invasion.
Or perhaps it is the beginning of the invasion itself. The Equatorians-"

Flay interrupted, "Not Equatorians, my lord."

Cesare intoned frostily, "No?"

"No. The ship's flag was American."

Adele gasped with sudden elation and exchanged a startled glance
with Gareth. The vampire prince's expression was unreadable, but she
sensed that he was once again jockeying for a new strategy.

Flay pointed a clawed finger up at Adele. "It is her mate. Clark. He
is coming for her."

The clan lords began to rumble again with dismay and confusion.

The war chief continued in a lower voice to Cesare, "Kill her, my
lord. You must kill her now."

Cesare drew Flay close. "Take Princess Adele back to the Tower.
Keep her alive. Do you hear me? Keep her alive."

"But this is the Butcher of Bordeaux coming to-"

"I said take her back. Now! You do it yourself. And if she's hurt, you
will answer for it! Then dispatch my packs around the city. If the American
dares set foot here, I want him dead no matter how many it costs you."

Flay nodded unwillingly. She crossed in front of Gareth without
looking at him and took Adele by the arm.

Gareth said to Flay, "You heard your master. Keep her safe or it's
your life."

Adele blurted out with unexpected alarm, "Aren't you coming?"

"No," Gareth replied. "I have much to do here." He looked again at
Flay with a silent warning before slipping out.

D TRUDGED THROUGH wretched London with Flay as
her her sole overseer. The manic pace of bloody celebration had
slowed. The air was warming, and the city's stink hung heavy with a
filthy fog. The war chief vented frustration on the princess with harsh
sounds and firm cuffs. The princess wasn't sure if Flay would protect her
from aggressive passersby despite Cesare's warnings, but the two moved
through the streets so quickly that most of the slothful vampires in the
street barely had time to stare, much less accost them.

Gareth's abandonment hurt her, but she shouldn't have expected
more from him. He was a vampire, and she chided herself for dropping
her guard as much as she had around him. Now, Adele thought about the
possibility that Senator Clark was indeed sailing northward. Selkirk's
information apparently had made its way to Alexandria, and now her
medal-chested Intended was roaring in to drive this rabble before him
and bring her safely home. She grudgingly allowed that this was the kind
of man many women would justly crave. After all, how many men would
take on a country full of monsters for his fiancee? In this day and age,
there was nothing wrong with having a husband willing to spill blood to
ensure his wife's well-being. Adele's thoughts were broken by a blow
from Flay that knocked her hard to the cobblestones.

"Get up!" the war chief snarled.

The princess struggled to her hands and knees. Flay had no patience
for the human's weary pace, so she reached down and gripped Adele by
the neck, pulling her to her feet, and slammed the woman into an iron
lamppost. The breath whooshed out of the girl, and she grunted in pain.

Flay smiled at the noise and raised a clawed hand. "Maybe if your
face was disfigured, Prince Gareth wouldn't find you so fascinating."

Adele had a sudden revelation about Flay. Pain and hurt showed in
the flicker of Flay's gaze, quickly obscured by despair and a feverish
recklessness. The vampire was jealous. Adele could hardly believe the
startling concept that vampires had emotions, but this emotion in this
particular vampire was even more horrifying. Flay was eager to harm
Adele in spite of Cesare's warning.

So Adele plunged her other stone knife deep into Flay's abdomen.

Flay screeched with fury. Blood oozed through the vampire's fingers
as she pulled the knife free and studied the weapon.

Adele raced down an alley, but the soft pads of Flay came up fast
behind. A weight fell on her and slammed her down in a tangle of arms
and legs. Hissing was close in her ear, and she lashed back with an
elbow. She caught something solid, but Flay's claws sank into Adele's
soft shoulder and lifted her up. Adele struggled, but there was no escape
this time.

A sliver of steel slid from Flay's chest. The vampire looked down
with surprise at the sword point dripping with her blood. Her mouth
tightened into an annoyed scowl as she leapt forward off the blade,
tossing Adele aside. A heavier blade whispered through the air where
her neck had just been.

Greyfriar surged past the prone Adele, tossing something white over
his shoulder that hit the ground at the princess's booted feet.

"Run!" he shouted as his cloak filled the narrow alley. The sound of
swords cut the air.

Adele grasped the small bundle. It was paper wrapped around her
own Fahrenheit khukri that she had lost in Riez. Glancing hurriedly at
the paper, she saw it was a yellowed old map of southern England with
a black X scrawled over the town of Canterbury.

Adele drew the glowing blade. "Let me help you."

Greyfriar took a second to turn and stare through smoked glasses.
"Run! Fast!"

In that split second, Flay fell on the swordsman like a hawk. The
two became a blur of arms, steel, and teeth. Flay surged, fell back, and
surged again. Greyfriar dropped the wide-bladed scimitar and worked
the tip of the rapier. His blade was a blur, and its sharp hiss filled the
air, competing with Flay's own snarling.

The war chief parried with her claws, taking awful gashes across her
hands but blocking Greyfriar's killing strikes each time. The need to
spill blood surged through her. This was the moment she'd waited for,
the moment when she could kill the Greyfriar and feed on him. But she
knew she could not. The princess was her charge. The princess mattered.

And the princess had fled.

Despite Flay's need to kill this man, he was merely an impediment
preventing her from going after Cesare's vanishing prize. He seemed to
know it and revel in his ability to delay her. Flay tried to slither past in
a swift shadow, but he blocked her with a skill and agility that was
extraordinary for a human. Each passing second carried the princess
away into the chaos of London. The desperate vampire lifted herself only
to feel Greyfriar's grip on her ankle. She kicked him across the face, but
his steel grasp refused to lessen.

Enough, Flay thought. I have no time to duel this lucky wretch.

The war chief threw back her head and screeched. Greyfriar flinched
at the sound. Within seconds, the alley began to fill with vampires.
Some responded to the old war call. Others were merely drunk and
hoping for some bloody street burlesque. The sight of a human and a
vampire in battle sparked an instinct that pressed them onto the
swordsman.

A flood of bodies tumbled into Greyfriar. Their claws and teeth
ripped into him while he strained to hold Flay's ankle. She took hold of
an iron fixture high on the wall and pulled with all her strength. His fingers slipped from her foot and, through a web of arms and legs, he saw
Flay rising into the sky.

With a frantic burst of strength, Greyfriar surged to his feet, shed ding revelers like a trapped bear sheds dogs. He rushed out of the
clinging mob and leapfrogged up from side to side between the narrow
alley walls. Pausing on a ledge, he pulled his pistol and fired all the cartridges one after another. The barrage hit the airborne Flay and tumbled
her like a pinwheel. But none was a kill shot, and she righted herself
quickly. The vampire slipped out of sight among the rooftops.

Greyfriar tore frantically at his gun belt and scabbards, needing to
jettison his weapons and baggage to go after Flay. He had to stop her
from finding Adele at all costs, even if it meant abandoning his precious
masquerade. But countless sharp hands pulled him down. He battered
helplessly against the surrounding rabble, only hoping Adele had
enough time to escape.