Lord of the Vampires Read Online Free PDF Page A
Author: Jeanne Kalogridis
The sight so startled me that I cried out: You! Boy! How and when did you come in here? For I wanted to know whether the child had had opportunity to overhear my plan to leave Gregors decapitated body in the forest, then have the monks killed. From the childs size, he surely was no more than in his sixth year, and most likely had understood little of what he had heard; but children are parrots, and I would not risk even the frailest chance of failure.
At my shout, the tiny creature did not so much as quiver, but continued tending the fire with preternatural calm. Infuriated, I strode up behind it, snatched up my sword, and drew it from its sheath, thinking to cleave that small body in two.
But in the instant ere I struck, the child turned to me and smiled.
Boy? Girl? I could not have said. I only knew in that instant that I gazed upon the most exquisitely beautiful creature I had ever seen. Its long, curling hair shone like gold in sunlight, its skin gleamed like polished nacre, its lips bloomed like the tenderest pink rose around the perfect pearls of its teeth. The wool cape round its frail shoulders was tattered almost to shreds, frayed, worn, and so smudged with grime that the fabrics original colour was impossible to guess. Yet the filth did not dim the wearers glory, but served to enhance it by the contrast.
Surely there was nothing in this world lovelier or more delicate than this small creature. Yet it was not until I gazed into its eyeseyes bluer than sea or sky or sapphire, framed by fine golden lashes and pale downy browsthat I saw the infinite intelligence there, the wisdom and knowledge greater than any man could ever possess and at the same time, an innocence deeper and more genuine than any human infant could possess. I thought, These are the eyes of the Christ.
My weapon clattered to the floor. Despite myself, I shuddered, but through sheer strength of will did not fall to my knees; pride would not permit me so soon to echo Gregor. Buthow difficult to be honestI was filled with awe and fear.
For I knew I looked upon the Dark Lord, come to me for the first time without my summoning Him in Circle. Always He had come at my urging; I had been the one in control of my fate, of my contract with Him. The Circle gave me power over Him, made me His lord, made Him subject to my commandso long as I was willing to make the appropriate sacrifice.
Now, it seemed, He was no longer mine to control. The thought provoked bitter horror.
You are the Dark One, I told Him, though in truth I had never seen anything so bright and shining as this smiling little pauper. He had come to me many times in the form of darkness, as the featureless shadow of a man blacker than midnight; twice, he had come to me as a bearded man more ancient and wizened than the old monk, with eyes as innocent and wise as these.
Innocent as a dove, yet wise as a serpent
I am He, said the little beauty pleasantly. I have read your intent and have saved you the need for a formal summons. What do you offer in exchange for my gift, O Prince? He spoke with a soft, lisping childs voice, yet his words and demeanour were those of a sage.
If you have read my intent, then you already know.
He laughed, sweet and high. Let us affirm the contract by your stating it.
I paused. I had never had great regard for any of my family, because of my betrayal at the hands of my own father and brother. And I had no love for my second wife, the Hungarian noblewoman Ilona; she had been like my conversion to Catholicism, or the raid on Srebrenica, one part of a long-term plan to win King Matthias favor and thus my freedom and kingdom. She had given me two sons: my namesake Vlad, for the moment heir to the Wallachian throne (though unfortunately not to my intelligence), and Mircea, who even in his youth clearly resembles my treacherous brother, Radu, in both appearance and feminine affectation.
But of all my family, I possessedstill possesssome paternal interest in my eldest
At my shout, the tiny creature did not so much as quiver, but continued tending the fire with preternatural calm. Infuriated, I strode up behind it, snatched up my sword, and drew it from its sheath, thinking to cleave that small body in two.
But in the instant ere I struck, the child turned to me and smiled.
Boy? Girl? I could not have said. I only knew in that instant that I gazed upon the most exquisitely beautiful creature I had ever seen. Its long, curling hair shone like gold in sunlight, its skin gleamed like polished nacre, its lips bloomed like the tenderest pink rose around the perfect pearls of its teeth. The wool cape round its frail shoulders was tattered almost to shreds, frayed, worn, and so smudged with grime that the fabrics original colour was impossible to guess. Yet the filth did not dim the wearers glory, but served to enhance it by the contrast.
Surely there was nothing in this world lovelier or more delicate than this small creature. Yet it was not until I gazed into its eyeseyes bluer than sea or sky or sapphire, framed by fine golden lashes and pale downy browsthat I saw the infinite intelligence there, the wisdom and knowledge greater than any man could ever possess and at the same time, an innocence deeper and more genuine than any human infant could possess. I thought, These are the eyes of the Christ.
My weapon clattered to the floor. Despite myself, I shuddered, but through sheer strength of will did not fall to my knees; pride would not permit me so soon to echo Gregor. Buthow difficult to be honestI was filled with awe and fear.
For I knew I looked upon the Dark Lord, come to me for the first time without my summoning Him in Circle. Always He had come at my urging; I had been the one in control of my fate, of my contract with Him. The Circle gave me power over Him, made me His lord, made Him subject to my commandso long as I was willing to make the appropriate sacrifice.
Now, it seemed, He was no longer mine to control. The thought provoked bitter horror.
You are the Dark One, I told Him, though in truth I had never seen anything so bright and shining as this smiling little pauper. He had come to me many times in the form of darkness, as the featureless shadow of a man blacker than midnight; twice, he had come to me as a bearded man more ancient and wizened than the old monk, with eyes as innocent and wise as these.
Innocent as a dove, yet wise as a serpent
I am He, said the little beauty pleasantly. I have read your intent and have saved you the need for a formal summons. What do you offer in exchange for my gift, O Prince? He spoke with a soft, lisping childs voice, yet his words and demeanour were those of a sage.
If you have read my intent, then you already know.
He laughed, sweet and high. Let us affirm the contract by your stating it.
I paused. I had never had great regard for any of my family, because of my betrayal at the hands of my own father and brother. And I had no love for my second wife, the Hungarian noblewoman Ilona; she had been like my conversion to Catholicism, or the raid on Srebrenica, one part of a long-term plan to win King Matthias favor and thus my freedom and kingdom. She had given me two sons: my namesake Vlad, for the moment heir to the Wallachian throne (though unfortunately not to my intelligence), and Mircea, who even in his youth clearly resembles my treacherous brother, Radu, in both appearance and feminine affectation.
But of all my family, I possessedstill possesssome paternal interest in my eldest