I was painfully thirsting. Innocent blood. I kept thinking about it, and I blamed Amel for it, but Amel might not have been behind it after all. But there was no putting off the meeting.
Amel had started murmuring to me in a strange language as soon as I opened my eyes. At first I'd tried to penetrate it and translate it, but that proved impossible. But the sound of it was like the sound of Sanskrit which I had not heard spoken very much in my life at all. Well, it wasn't Sanskrit, I knew that because I can understand Sanskrit.
Whatever the language, it became clear that Amel was repeating the same bits and pieces of material over and over again. A song? A poem? A speech?
Within no time, the telepathic intelligence of the world around me came piercing through to let me know that messages left on Benji's radio broadcast provided the songs that Amel was singing, messages from the non-humans, and no one had achieved a translation. For the moment the radio phone line was still open, because no one had made the decision to shut it down. The non-humans were using our greatest mode of communication to communicate amongst themselves.
I hurried up the staircase to the Council Chamber, ignoring Louis's protests that he should hang back. "Nonsense," I whispered. "I need you at my side."
I brought Louis into the Council Chamber with me, but I could see that it was indeed a gathering of the elders and Louis was surely the youngest in the room. Cyril and Thorne took their usual places against the wall.
I sat down at the head of the table and gestured for Louis to take the empty chair to my right.
Opposite, on my left, sat my mother, Gabrielle, and her beloved Sevraine, both in casual modern male attire, handsome dark wool suits with linen shirts open at the collar, Sevraine's long hair the usual veil over her shoulders and my mother's hair in her usual single long braid.
Marius was at the far end of the oval table, directly opposite me, which was his usual place, and maybe the only fixed place at the table other than mine. And this was the Roman Marius, responsible for the present Pax Romana of the blood drinkers, Marius who more often than not resolved all issues of authority on which I refused to take a stand. He wore his long-sleeved red velvet tunic as he almost always did at the Chateau, and he had not bothered to trim his hair as he so often did. It hung long and free, curling just above his shoulders. And he had a writing pad before him and a golden fountain pen.
"You should have destroyed that Rhoshamandes," he said immediately, to which Gregory and Seth both nodded. Gregory sat to his right, and Seth was to the right of Gregory.
"What is this, the Marius Party, assembled against me?" I demanded. "I've told you more than once. I'll never give an order for the destruction of Rhoshamandes."
Marius sighed. "There has to be an authority here," he said, in a reasonable tone, "and that has never been more obvious than now."
I studied the faces at the table.
Teskhamen sat to Marius's left and he nodded to this last remark, and so did Gremt, who was at Teskhamen's left hand. The Marius Party indeed, I thought. No ghosts were present, which meant that these two alone represented the Talamasca. And it also meant that they had in some way finally and officially come over to us, with Marius's approval, otherwise they wouldn't be here at this time of crisis.
David, my beloved David Talbot, was to the left of Gremt, and he sat with his head bowed and his arms folded over his chest. He looked spent, if nothing else, his khaki jacket and blue cotton shirt badly rumpled, as though he'd only just wandered into the Chateau.
Armand sat close by Louis on my right, and was his usual self in a dark burgundy velvet coat with layers of lace at the collar, very much the stylish master of Trinity Gate, his pale boyish face as unreadable as ever.
Next to Armand was Allesandra, Allesandra my old queen from the Satanic coven under Les Innocents, who had not been at Court since the beginning of the New Year. She had continued to grow in beauty and presence since her resurrection, and her ash-blond hair was tied back with a bone clip on the top of her head, spilling loosely down her back and over her shoulders. She wore a simple velvet gown of dark blue, without ornamentation.
I sensed an immense sadness in Allesandra.
Next to her--between her and David Talbot--was a stunningly beautiful black vampire whom I'd never seen before, though I knew who he was and he silently gave me his name, Arion, as our eyes met. He was so black that his skin was almost bluish, and his eyes appeared yellow, though I think they must have been more truly pale green. His jacket and shirt were almost rags. He wore an incongruous watch on his left wrist, one of those devices that tells the time all over the world. And his curly black hair was clipped short.
I felt a sudden pain in my heart at the sight of him. It was with this powerful vampire, somewhere on the coast of Italy, that two young ones, two young ones very dear to me, might have been lodging when the tragic conflagrations of last year had begun. No one had seen or heard of those two vampires since the Burnings. And I had a desperate feeling that this Arion knew their fate. I also had the sense he was withholding this information from me now because it was not the time to reveal it, and his quick furtive glance to Marius let me know he thought other things might take precedence here.
Pandora was directly opposite Arion, in her usual embroidered gown, her long tightly waving brown hair shining clean, and at her left was Arjun, Arjun of India, her fledgling and companion, dressed as usual for him in a fine black sherwani.
To the left of Arjun sat Fareed, who was always at the right of his maker, Seth. Both wore the simple white cotton coats of doctors, with nondescript shirts and ties.
No Benji, though I knew he was in the building, and had expected him here due to the importance of the radio broadcast.
And no Chrysanthe, Gregory's wife. In other words only those who were assuming power and wanted power.
Marius began at once.
"This is what has happened," he said. "During the daylight hours, the non-humans used the radio broadcast to communicate with us and with one another. We have to decide immediately whether or not to shut the radio broadcast down."
"I say leave it up," said Teskhamen, which surprised me, and I think it surprised Marius a little to be interrupted. Teskhamen was fashionably dressed in a fine suit and linen much like Gregory. "Let them communicate and let them come together," Teskhamen said. "Especially now that we know Rhoshamandes is hunting them down. We hear that Rhoshamandes is in a rage, and plotting against us with a vampire from Hungary named Roland. Both have powerful resources. And you--we--need to make contact with those creatures, and we need to find out what they know of Amel."
"Yes, that is the name of the emergency," said Marius. "The name of the emergency is Amel."
"Well, Amel's inside me now," I said. "But he's gone silent."
"Let me summarize what we know," said Marius. "This morning at about nine a.m. a non-human without a name called the radio broadcast and explained that he and someone named Derek were escaping Rhoshamandes's castle on the island of Saint Rayne. The creature explained that Derek had been held captive by a blood drinker named Roland of Budapest who'd had the being imprisoned in that city for ten years." Marius's voice gave a subtle indication of his anger over this. "Rhoshamandes only lately came in possession of this Derek and subjected him, according to the caller, to great cruelty. Immediately after this, the unidentified caller gave a long message in an unknown tongue."
I nodded. "I've heard it, sounds most like Sanskrit to me," I said, "but perhaps Arjun knows this language."
"I don't know it," said Arjun a little apologetically. "I can't crack it. It does sound like Sanskrit but it is not related to Sanskrit."
Marius continued: "Now what the being said about Rhoshamandes holding this creature Derek and treating him cruelly is true," he said. "Allesandra joined us just before sunrise this morning and is here to verify that she saw firsthand Rhoshamandes's treatment of Derek. Rhoshamandes hacked off Derek's left arm and actually tried to burn the severed arm i
n the fireplace. This Derek creature healed at once from the injury. And he is most certainly a creature exactly like Garekyn Brovotkin and Kapetria and Welf, whose stories you know. Indeed, Allesandra has left Rhoshamandes on account of his treatment of Derek and his refusal to make Derek's presence known to us or to bring Derek here to the Court. Arion has also left Rhoshamandes on account of this. Now Rhoshamandes knows full well of Garekyn's attack on Killer and Eleni. And yet he withheld knowledge of this Derek from us."
"Was it a human being who made this call?"
"It was not a human," said Marius. "We can only assume it's another of the non-human group, presumably one who managed to rescue Derek, though how he'd known where to find Derek--that we can't know at this point." He motioned for patience. "About two hours after that call went on the air," he said, "Garekyn himself called on a throwaway cell phone from somewhere in England and he too left a message, obviously, for the others who share this strange language. But before he signed off he also left a detailed message for us, that he meant us no harm, and had never meant us harm, but wanted only to make contact with us for reasons having to do with the identity and history of Amel. He said it was not his intention to kill anyone, indeed that he had only been defending himself when Killer was taken down, and that wounding Eleni he did only in order to escape Trinity Gate."
"Does that sound reasonable?" I turned to Armand.
He seemed unprepared for this, and glanced at Marius as if for permission to speak. Marius nodded.
"Yes," said Armand. "I do believe Killer took the wrong tack with this powerful creature. But there's more." He gestured to Marius.
"This Garekyn sounded entirely reasonable, and even persuasive," said Marius. "Less than an hour after that, another call came on the line. This time it was Dr. Karen Rhinehart who identified herself as Kapetria and she too left a long message in the strange language, before telling us that she and her kindred, as she called them, meant no harm to us whatsoever, and were deeply distressed to discover that we had now chosen to make enemies of her and Welf and Derek and Garekyn, who would never have sought to harm us."
"Eventually, I want to hear these messages, but for now go on."
"About an hour after sunset," said Marius. "While you were still kept safe away from the sun's rays, there was yet another call and this time it was from Derek himself. Of course he issued a long and obviously emotional message in the ancient tongue, before telling us in no uncertain terms of the wickedness of Roland and Rhoshamandes, and that he feared they would try to destroy him before he could ever reach his kin. Now if you want to hear the messages, I'll play them for you, but frankly, I don't think we have the time. We have to decide now whether to keep the broadcast phone lines open and what answer, if any, we are to make to these creatures about our interest in them."
"I say leave it open," said Teskhamen again. "It is imperative we make contact through the line ourselves with these creatures."
"Yes, absolutely," said Gregory, "especially if Rhoshamandes is hunting for them and plans to use them as hostages."
"Well, Amel knows of the obscure messages," I said, "because he began repeating them or I should say chanting phrases or sentences from them to me as soon as I opened my eyes. But I can't tell whether he understands the language or what it means to him."
Gremt gestured to speak. "If Amel doesn't understand the language now," he said, "he will soon." His face was sad, and he seemed to have none of the energy of the others around him. "Amel is a learning creature. All along he has been a learning creature."
Still Amel was not responding, and I gave them to know this without speaking a word.
"We must decide how to bring the creatures here," said Marius.
Allesandra had said nothing all this time, but she had begun to weep during the description of Rhoshamandes's cruelty. Armand had slipped his arm around her and was holding her as she rocked back and forth, apparently in deep grief. "If you had seen that poor creature, Derek," said Allesandra, "if you had seen what he suffered. It is possible that Fareed can help him. Restore the arm if the poor being did remove it from the fireplace."
"Perhaps I can," said Fareed. "You might use this as an inducement to Derek to come here for shelter immediately."
"He'd never make it if Rhoshamandes is about," I said. "Rhosh would see him approach and move to take him prisoner again."
"So they need to come here by day," said David, "to remain in the village until close to nightfall and then to be brought up to the castle before sunset."
"Yes, exactly," said Marius. "This is what must happen."
Now, the village beneath the Chateau was not a real village at all, but a community of the humans who had restored the Chateau and were still in the process of refining it, and improving it, and the technicians who worked on its electricity and computer connections, and the gardeners who tended the vast grounds which were now twice the size of what they'd been in my father's time. The restored church was for these people. So was the town hall. The inn was for their occasional visitors or new workers who did not have housing as yet. The shops were for their necessities, including DVDs, CDs, and books as well as groceries and the like. They had a chocolate shop. They had clothing stores as well. It was a pretty place, meticulously created in period architecture. But all of these people were paid handsomely to ask no questions about us whatsoever and would indeed greet these beings and put them up in the restored inn until nightfall.
"And what if they're hostile to us?" I said. "You want us to bring them into the house, so to speak?"
"We have to do that," said Teskhamen.
"Look, what threat do they pose?" asked David. "This poor Derek was a prisoner for ten years under the abode of a solitary vampire. So there are five of them now, assuming we can bring them together. What could they possibly do? Clearly they want to know us."
"And why is this so urgent?" I asked. "Because they know about us? The whole world knows about us. So they know we're real and the whole world thinks we're not real. You think they can persuade the whole world to take another view of us without revealing themselves? And why should these creatures reveal themselves to the world? And why ever would they put themselves in our hands if they are indeed a species whose blood is naturally replenished within a few hours? Why, we could keep them here forever as prisoners."
Armand whispered under his breath that that might not be a bad idea at all.
"That's just what Roland did to Derek," said Allesandra. "And Arion here has drunk from the creature's blood many times, and indeed the blood does come back over and over and over again. And Roland kept him as just such a fount of blood." She was plainly outraged at it. "You cannot do such a thing, Prince. You wouldn't."
Marius shook his head in disgust and folded his arms. He muttered to himself under his breath. I realized something which perhaps I should have seen before. The Court had given Marius immense new life and purpose. It had taken him out of the limbo in which he'd been existing since Those Who Must Be Kept were destroyed. He had been gaining in vitality for six months, and I wondered now why he put up with me at all. Wouldn't he have made the better monarch? I found myself strangely indifferent on the matter of a power struggle.
I turned to Arion:
"And what did you see in the blood of the creature?" I asked.
"Bits and pieces, nothing of great value, but it was Rhoshamandes who saw a strange vision of the great city before it fell into the sea. He explained it to me and to Roland. He saw the city teeming with people, filled with flowers and fruit trees, and giant translucent buildings beyond count. He said there was a 'great one' in the city and the Great One was...Amel."
"We have to invite them now, before Rhoshamandes finds them!" said Marius impatiently. "We can't let them fall into his hands."
"Well, how in the Hell can Rhoshamandes find them?" my mother asked. She spoke up in her usual cranky voice. "But I have to say, if you'd executed Rhoshamandes last year you would have saved everyone a lot of trou
ble."
"I agree with that," said Seth in a low voice. He turned to me for the first time. "He should die for what he did and what he has done now."
"Rhoshamandes has his own human lawyers," said Allesandra. The tears stood in her eyes, but she went on, in a carefully controlled voice. "He has teams of them who work for him, and he has sent them to search for Garekyn Brovotkin, using the same sort of intelligence your lawyers and solicitors use." She turned to me. "Rhoshamandes despises you, Prince," she said. "And his hatred and bitterness have grown. If he knows you want these beings, he will most assuredly try to capture them before they can come here."
"We're wasting time," said Marius. "Please send for Benji and go on the broadcast and talk to the non-humans."
"I understand all that," I said. "But I'm trying to think this thing through. I don't see that we have to be hasty. These creatures are a total unknown. Are you assuming that Amel was somehow once one of them?"
"Amel has brought them out," said Teskhamen. "Amel, the mention of Amel in Benji's broadcasts. Amel. They are seeking Amel. And the doctor and her companion, it was no coincidence that that Dr. Rhinehart was working in Gregory's company, spying on Gregory, studying Gregory. They'd been around for years, these beings, perhaps since the time you first wrote of Amel in your books, Lestat."
I nodded. "There's something here I'm not understanding. So they want to know about Amel. But we don't know for sure that our Amel is their Amel. We don't..." But I stopped. What was I thinking? "Our Amel doesn't have true coherent memories of this city. He gives no indication he knows who these individuals are, only that he might have seen them once."
"Lestat," said Fareed. "Look at the history of Amel. What do we know about Amel? Think of the centuries when the blood drinkers of the world thought he was a mindless spirit, when even the great Maharet and Mekare thought he was a mindless spirit. And look what happened when this mindless spirit gained a consciousness of its own, and a point of view."