‘“Well, I’d invite you in. But holy ground and all …”
‘“Law the Fifth?” she slurred.
‘I nodded, fangs glinting. “Even the Dead have laws.”
‘Bloody sword in hand, blood-red frockcoat flowing about her, the vampire slowly walked up to San Guillaume’s gates. And despite the knowledge that this bitch couldn’t enter, I still drew Ashdrinker from her scabbard with a crisp ring of razor-sharp metal. The monster’s eyes flickered to the dark starsteel, the jagged edge where the blade’s tip had snapped free.
‘Never trust a woman who hides her f-face, Gabriel.
‘“Never mistake a monster for a woman, Ash.”
‘Aye. B-beware this one.
‘I needed no warning, sure and true. I could feel the power in this thing, that bloody blade and the darkling magik that had made it. Questions to which I had no answers were whispering in the back of my mind. But no matter the age, no matter the potency, no coldblood could set foot on sanctified ground. Such was the law of Almighty God Himself.
‘Liathe brought the toes of her knee-high boots to the monastery’s threshold. She looked about her, eyes running the length and breadth of the gates. Chill wind blew a strand of midnight-blue across her mask, and she brushed it behind her ear.
‘And then she stepped right across the threshold.
‘“What the fuck,” I breathed.
‘Witchery … Ashdrinker whispered.
‘I looked to the blade in the monster’s hand. Those unanswered questions ringing louder in my head. And I gave one voice, eyes on the vampire as I whispered.
‘“… Sanguimancy?”
‘“So out of hisss depth.” Liathe looked at me with something close to pity. “’Tis a wonder you can ssstill breathe at all, Gabriel …”
‘Saoirse raised her beautiful axe, and Bellamy lit the arrow loaded in his crossbow, Phoebe growling as she circled the vampire’s flank. Liathe seemed completely undaunted by any of us, looking instead to the refectory doors Dior was hidden behind.
‘“You play a game you cannot win,” Liathe told us, soft and poisonous. “Bring usss the child now, and we will allow the res—”
‘The vampire stepped back as Saoirse swung her axe, the blade skimming barely a whisker from her chin. Silent, swift, Liathe sidestepped Phoebe, the lioness’s claws catching that blood-red coat and shredding it like paper. I shouted warning as the vampire struck back, her bloody blade scything towards Saoirse’s throat. The girl raised her axe to block, but the vampire’s blade simply flowed around the girl’s guard like liquid and re-formed on the other side, leaving a splash of red on the haft as it kept cutting right for Saoirse’s neck.
‘The girl’s eyes widened, she bent backwards, that bloody blade slicing two of her braids neat as a razor. Overextended, Saoirse squealed as the vampire’s boot crashed like thunder, right between her legs, sending her tumbling across the bloodstained tiles.
‘Bellamy fired, but Liathe sliced the burning arrow from the air. Ashdrinker hissed and the vampire swayed, Phoebe leaping at her legs again. The monster moved, sinuous and swift, rolling aside and back up to her feet as that crimson sword flashed towards my chest. But I raised Ashdrinker, blood and blade ringing like steel as I blocked her strike.
‘Well, well, Ash whispered.
‘I caught a glint of surprise in the coldblood’s eyes. Her blade had flowed around Saoirse’s axe like water, but Ashdrinker had stopped it dead. And the smug bitch staggered as my riposte caught her right across the cheek of that painted mask.
‘Porcelain shattered, the coldblood flashing backwards, coat flowing about her slender body like smoke. Her mask had broken away, only her eyes still covered, and I looked in horror at the thing beneath.
‘The skin on the lower half of her face was gone. She had no bottom lip; sharp teeth sitting in blue-grey gums, mangled flesh clinging to pale bone. Under her silk scarf, I could see the muscles of her neck exposed. It was as if someone had grasped a fistful of her throat and torn the flesh away in one long strip, up and over her chin. I saw fury break through the ice of her eyes as she looked to the broken mask on the stone at her feet.
‘“You dare …” she snarled.
‘Bellamy fired another burning arrow, and again the vampire moved like water around a river-smooth stone. Liathe brought her wrist up to her mouth, fangs piercing her marble skin. Blood welled from the wound, bright and beautiful as the vampire flicked her wrist and spoke a word, inverted, thrumming with power. And before my wondering eyes, that sluice of ruby red formed itself into a long flail, as solid as the bloody blade she still carried. The scent of it gripped my aching belly; my hunger surged as Liathe spoke.
‘“You should have stuck to chasing bu—”
‘Phoebe roared and pounced at the highblood’s chest, but Liathe was the swifter, twirling beneath yet another burning shot from Bellamy and lashing out at me. I fended off a half-dozen sword blows – groin, chest, throat – but that crimson flail caught me about my forearm and I felt myself swept off my feet, flung across the courtyard and smashing a fountain to dust. Still wrapped up, I roared as she slung me again, down into the floor, teeth rattling in my skull as I shattered the mosaic beneath me.
‘“Fucksakes shoot her, Bouchette!”
‘The soothsinger fired again, striking close enough this time that the flaming shot sheared through a long lock of midnight hair. “God damn it, she’s too fast!”
‘Cut thyself free, ye b-bloody fool!
‘I lashed out with Ashdrinker, severing the bloody flail in a spray of ashes. The highblood sent me sailing backwards, black stars bursting as I struck the wall and crashed to the floor. Liathe ducked another flaming shot, that skinless face snarling as Phoebe finally sank her claws in. The lioness tore long slashes through the coldblood’s leathers, the pale flesh beneath, and Liathe struck back with her fist, pounding Phoebe’s head into the stone. The big cat buckled, groaning, the vampire raised her bloodblade, Saoirse’s mouth opened in a scream, “PHOEBE, MOVE!” as the blade flashed down like the bloody hand of—
‘“G-g-godddd,” Liathe gasped, staggering backwards.
‘The vampire stared bewildered at the four and a half feet of starmetal protruding from her chest. Ashdrinker quivered, shaking from the force I’d put behind the throw – enough to shatter the monster’s ribs and burst out through her back. Liathe’s flesh sizzled like sausage on a skillet and she staggered, her own bloody blade slipping from her fingers and splashing in a long crimson puddle on the floor.
‘She looked up at me, wobbling now to my feet. “Y-you …”
‘Liathe groaned, hands smoking as she closed them about Ashdrinker’s hilt and dragged the sword from her blackened chest. She let my blade fall to the stone with a bright clang, fingers burned to charcoal twigs, dead eyes boiling as she spat ashes.
‘“We sh-should kill you f-for that, you ungratef—”
‘“Know my name, ye sinners, and tremble!” came a fierce cry. “For I am come among thee as a lion among lambs!”
‘A silver-bright light sheared into the courtyard, and Liathe flinched like she’d been slapped in her mutilated face, charred hands held up to her eyes. Turning, I saw Chloe and Rafa both stalking across the stone, the sister brandishing her silversteel sword, the priest holding his wheel, burning with a light that was almost blinding.