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and went
into her garden. She saw a light burning low in her kitchen and
knew that a visitor was waiting there for her. Before she entered
the house, she paused to look out upon the night, extending her
senses to read the currents and vibrations that flowed through it.
The dreams of the serpent were faint music in her mind. It dreamed
of the sun chief and of those who would guide him to it. Tamara
expelled her breath in a shuddering sigh. She was smiling when she
entered her kitchen.

Chapter Two
The Temptation of Eve
    Daniel Cranton slipped out of the house
into the grey twilight that presaged the dawn. This was the time,
for him, when ghosts walked the ageless streets of the city, and
myriad overlays of past times were visible to his eyes. There was
no interference, no white noise, and the traffic sounds were muted.
Occasionally, a dog might bark or a cat yowl, and sometimes he had
heard screams, cut off sharply, or sobbing, but mostly, he supposed
these were memories replayed upon the resting air, oozing from the
relaxing stones of the buildings. London thinking about its
past.
    The house where he was staying
did not look like a house, but a hall, a gathering place. It had a
double flight of steps running up to the double front doors, and
railings at the front. Above the lintel were the words Moses
Assembly Rooms, carved into the likeness of a folded ribbon or
sash. Large, uncleaned windows reared up for three storeys, while
in the roof small gables peered out like squinting eyes. Daniel
rarely ventured onto the top floor because it screamed at him. It
was a place where heart-broken domestics had hanged themselves in
the cold, stillborn children had been delivered, blood steaming in
the cruel winter nights of the Victorian age, and harsh voices had
uttered condemnations. Daniel could still hear the muffled echo of
those words. At night, they escaped down the stairs; a man’s
unforgiving tone, a woman’s trembling, desperate pleas. He could
never make out the words, even when he left his room and stood in
the hallway, listening. Altogether, it was not a good building, for
it would not let go of any of its history, and most of its history
was cruel. Perhaps this was why the outcasts of the Grigori
congregated there: the shunned seeking a shunned residence. It was
like a commune or a squat, inhabited but not loved or cherished.
The rotting rooms were full of finery — drapes and antique
furniture — but the walls were crumbling and everywhere smelled of
mildew. Daniel, the most purely human of his group of companions,
did not like the people who lived there. They seemed to him to be
like mannequins, sequinned and painted, but only representations of
living beings. Their eyes were shallow and their movements were
jerky, making them all the more eerie for their semblance of life.
When any of them looked at Daniel, he could sense their hunger, but
for what they hungered, he was unsure. What did they do when they
were alone? Did they speak, eat or sleep, or simply sit staring at
the walls? Was it his own presence, or that of Lily, Owen and Emma,
which made them come alive? It scared him to think that might be
true, even though he had seen clusters of them sneaking out into
the night through the alley door. During the day, he had heard the
front doors being opened and closed, but he liked to keep to his
room then or spend time with his companions, for he was
uncomfortable with the thought of running into any of the other
residents. They might speak to him, and he did not want to hear
what they might have to say.
    What was Shem thinking of,
bringing them to a place like this? It was a sideways step into the
dark, and Daniel could think only of light.
    Out on the streets, he could
breathe more easily. He was not afraid of the Assembly Rooms, and
in fact was fascinated by the dark, cavernous rooms and endless
corridors. But sometimes, it stifled him.
    Lime trees edged the road,
leafless now. The Rooms were situated on Black Lion