Chapter 34

The fire in the basement had spread to cover the ceiling with a blanket of orange and blue flame by the time Alicia sat up and smoothly rose to her feet. As she turned to regard Arthur's body, ripples of change coursed across her form. Her body mass and height rapidly diminished, her skin became several shades darker and her hair grew longer and more glossy.

Lei truly regretted that this had become necessary, but she had warned Arthur of the consequences of disturbing the balance between human and vampire too severely. And the balance had been disturbed, if not in the way that he had intended or believed. When she had entered dormancy the prior morning, the city had been full of ferals. In fact, there had been more vampires in the city than had ever existed before in the entire world. But, by the time she had woke this evening, only a handful remained and their hungering, raging little minds had been snuffed out before the light had fully faded from the sky.

Humanity had adapted to their presence far more quickly than she would have expected, but, even if they had reacted slowly, the result of any war between vampire and human was a foregone conclusion. However strong a vampire might be at night, humanity's ability to move about during the day was an insurmountable advantage. She, herself, was a perfect example. During the dark hours she was a veritable goddess, but, during the day, a determined child with a stick could end her existence without fear.

The existence of her kind depended on their ability to hide in the shadows; to conceal themselves among their prey. That was the reason why she had created the law. At this point, concealment was still possible. Most humans would think of vampires only in the context of the images of the mindless ferals that had spread so quickly throughout their communications networks. Most remained unaware that sentient vampires existed and, as the government's lies were disseminated ever more widely, that ignorance would persist.

There were a few who knew the truth. Because of them, Lei and her children would have to be more careful for a time. Lei could easily envisage special forces teams around the world scanning crowds carefully with IR gear. Most of her kind, however, were capable of compulsion and memory alterations, or were under the protection of one who was. It was unlikely that any would be revealed. In the absence of further incidents, fear and paranoia would gradually be replaced by natural human apathy and things would return to normal.

Had she waited any longer to bring an end to Arthur's crusade, it would not have been so easy. She could sense a number of her children converging on this city, coming to enforce the one and only true law that bound them. In the holds of ships, the cargo bays of planes and in the backs of trucks they moved ever closer, as cold and implacable as a glacier. Had humans witnessed any of the titanic conflicts that would have ensued if Arthur had still been alive upon the arrival of the others, no mortal would have rested until every last nook and cranny of the planet had been thoroughly searched and purged of her kind.

Her reverie was interrupted by a roar as the ceiling behind her collapsed in a gout of flame. Given his age and vitality, she knew that she should decapitate Arthur to ensure that he stayed dead, but she lacked the will to do so. The fire would have to be sufficient. Giving Arthur's body a final, silent salute, she leapt from the basement as the remaining timbers collapsed to bury him forever. He had been one of her favorite children, and her world would be diminished by his absence. While she had eschewed the ties of Mistress and fledgling in his case, she had watched and guided him over the centuries, although he had never known it.

He had been cruel, sadistic and utterly lacking in anything resembling compassion or mercy; all qualities that are necessary to withstand the remorseless grind of centuries. Whether it was because of these qualities or despite them, she had loved him in her own way, as she loved all of her children. Perhaps that was why she had faltered at the last minute and missed his heart with the improvised stake. Had Bergthora not quickly corrected her error, Lei would have been forced to go through the tedious exercise of erasing everyone's memories, healing their injuries, and repeating the scene from the beginning. She wondered if she would have had the strength of will to impale Arthur a second time.