I closed the prayer book slowly, gathering my composure before turning to face him.He stood just inside the doorway, clipboard in hand, his white coat pristine despite the ship’s constant motion.His wire-rimmed glasses caught the red light, making his eyes temporarily invisible behind crimson disks.
“These are private devotions, Doctor.”
He tilted his head slightly, observing me with the clinical detachment one might direct at an unusual specimen.“Everything aboard this vessel falls under my observational purview, Miss Bladewell.Including your...religious practices.”
I rose to my feet, replacing the chalice in its box.“I wasn’t aware that faith required scientific documentation.”
“Everything requires documentation.”His pen scratched against his clipboard.“Particularly when it affects morale and performance.”
Something in his tone caught my attention.“Performance?”
“Indeed.”He adjusted his spectacles.“I’ve been instructed to inform you that Captain Mercer has reassigned responsibilities for your unit’s preparation.Desiderius will oversee all combat training.Your duties will be restricted to morale and spiritual guidance.”
I staggered back half a step, my spine straightening as if I’d been slapped across the face.“That was not our arrangement.My flock requires a consistent authority—“
“The General’s orders were quite clear.”Gallow cut me off with practiced efficiency.“Military necessity takes precedence over spiritual sensibilities.Desiderius has demonstrated superior tactical understanding, while your talents are deemed more suitable for maintaining the psychological stability of the unit.”
“Dr.Gallow, these souls are under my spiritual guidance.Fragmenting their training regimen undermines everything we’ve worked to build.”
He offered no further explanation, merely a clinical shrug that dismissed my concerns as irrelevant.“Captain Mercer expects your cooperation.”
He turned to leave, clipboard angled against his chest, but not before I glimpsed a page of his notes.The terminology leapt out at me: “No.7 exhibits heightened violent tendencies when exposed to consecrated objects” and “Blood-urge control methods align with procedures outlined in Codex.”
My breath caught.What was this ‘Codex’?It was language specific to the Order’s training manuals—terminology I recognized from my own time under their control.Not military language at all, but something older, more insidious.
“Doctor,” I called after him, “where exactly did you study vampire physiology?”
He paused at the threshold, one eyebrow arching above his spectacles.His smile was thin and revealed nothing.“One gathers knowledge where one can, Miss Bladewell.”
The door closed behind him with a metallic clang that reverberated through the hold.I stood motionless among my sleeping flock, the prayer book clutched against my chest.The ship’s engines continued their relentless thrumming, driving us ever closer to Europe and whatever awaited us there.
But the real danger, I now suspected, sailed with us on this very vessel.
I returned to my knees, opening the prayer book once more.This time, I turned to a different page—one titled “Petition for Discernment in Darkness.”If ever we needed such guidance, it was now.
Chapter 15
Theship’smakeshifttrainingarea had been hastily converted from the officers’ mess hall, its utilitarian metal ceiling now hung with canvas tarps to catch condensation, and its once-pristine steel floor scarred by the constant dragging of equipment across its surface.I slipped through the narrow doorway just as Desiderius commanded the flock to hold a perfect stillness.Unlike Mercer’s frenzied speed drills, Desiderius had arranged them in a precise formation, each vampire standing motionless as statues while he paced between them, his ancient eyes missing nothing.“Discipline begins with the body.”His Dutch accent was more pronounced when teaching.“Only when the flesh is obedient can the spirit maintain control.”The contrast with Mercer’s approach couldn’t have been more stark—where the Captain sought to unleash the predator, Desiderius worked to cage it.
Rebecca stood at the front of the formation, her body so still she might have been carved from marble.Even when Desiderius deliberately knocked against her shoulder, her posture didn’t waver.Catherine, our newest recruit, trembled slightly with the effort of maintaining her position, but her determination was clear in the set of her jaw.
“Three more minutes,” Desiderius announced.“Your enemy is not merely the Germans.Your primary enemy is within.The hunger that would make you monsters given the slightest opportunity.”
I watched from the shadows as the exercise continued.Mercer’s training had emphasized speed, aggression, the exploitation of our predatory nature.His drills had been designed to harness our darkness, to weaponise it.The vampires had returned from his sessions with eyes too bright, fangs partially descended—excited by the power they’d been encouraged to express.
Desiderius’ approach couldn’t have been more different.His exercises focused on restraint, on precision, on perfect control under pressure.While we’d had different approaches in the convent and monastery, there was something to Desiderius’ rigorous approach that I realized was necessary now.Perhaps it was only fitting that they’d given him this responsibility over me.
“The path to redemption has always required discipline,” he told them as they completed a complex maneuver.“Whether through prayer or through combat training.The monastery and the military are not so different.Both demand submission of the self to a greater purpose.”
Brother Vincent nodded at this, his military background making him particularly receptive to Desiderius’ methods.Ruth, however, looked less convinced.I had noticed her enthusiasm for Mercer’s more aggressive techniques—the way her eyes had brightened when he praised her ferocity.
“Sister Alice.”Desiderius acknowledged me with a slight nod.“Perhaps you would like to address the group before we continue?”
I stepped forward, conscious of the eyes that turned toward me.“In one hour, we will hold prayer service in the forward hold.Attendance is voluntary, but encouraged for those who wish to strengthen their spiritual discipline alongside their physical training.”
The side door swung open, and Mercer stepped through with the deliberate timing of someone who had been listening from the corridor.“Prayer services are permitted during designated rest periods only,” he announced, his voice carrying effortlessly across the room.“Combat readiness takes priority over spiritual exercises.”
I met his gaze directly.“Bishop Harkins’ sacraments were approved by General Gantry himself as essential to maintaining our unique abilities.These souls require spiritual nourishment as much as blood rations.”
