Understanding dawned in Gallow’s eyes, though these insights only confused me further.I was almost buying into Desiderius’s story.Had heactuallybeen one of us, on a quest for genuine holiness, or was he truly loyal to whoever this Vladislav figure was?Not to mention, if Desiderius had served Vladislav longer than Gallow had been alive, Vladislav was either very old or he wasn’tentirelyhuman.
“Of course,” Gallow murmured.“It was never about redemption at all, was it?The spiritual path, the prayers, the guidance toward control—all a pretense to gather vulnerable vampires in one place.To identify and eliminate those who could not be controlled.”He glanced at me with new appreciation.“Brilliant.Truly brilliant.You orchestrated everything, and you recruited a preacher’s daughter to become the perfect weapon, masquerading as a saint.”
I felt sick at his interpretation, yet I forced myself to remain impassive.Let him believe what he would, if it served our purpose.Let him see conspiracy where there had been only compassion, calculation where there had been genuine faith.Then again, was there moretruthto what Desiderius said than I wanted to believe?Had he beenusing meall this time?
Dupont chose this moment to enter the chapter house, his uniform now clean and pressed, his injury hidden beneath fresh bandages.
“The Germans are destroyed,” he reported crisply, playing his role with consummate skill.“I’ve confirmed it myself.The ammunition depot is completely obliterated, along with all evidence of our operation.Alice, Desiderius, and Catherine completed the mission despite the fact that Captain Mercer fell in battle.”
Gallow watched this performance with narrowed eyes, but I could see the calculation behind his gaze.He was being offered a narrative that protected his reputation while explaining the mission’s catastrophic failure.His serum hadn’t failed; Mercer had simply led the unit into a trap that we three—apparently secret Order operatives all along—had survived by design.
“I see,” he said finally.“I shall report accordingly to the general.He will be...most interested in this development.”
I inclined my head slightly, acknowledging his capitulation while maintaining the fiction we had constructed.“The Order appreciates your discretion, Doctor.”
As we left the chapter house, navigating once more through the abbey’s shadowed corridors, I felt Desiderius’s hand brush mine briefly—a silent signal that we would speak later, when safer from Gallow’s keen ears.Whatever secrets he had kept, whatever connection he had to this mysterious Vladislav, would soon be revealed.
Chapter 31
Dawnapproachedaswesecured ourselves in the abbey’s crypt, far below the chapel where we had once gathered for prayer.We couldn’t pray now, not publicly, lest we compromise the narrative we’d fed Gallow.
I sat upon a stone bench carved from the wall itself, my fingers tracing patterns in the dust that had accumulated over centuries of quiet death.How different our immortality was from the peaceful rest of those who had been laid here with prayers and tears, their souls commended to heaven while their bodies returned to earth.We existed in the space between—neither fully alive nor granted the mercy of true death, suspended in a perpetual twilight that promised neither salvation nor damnation but only the relentless march of nights without end.
Catherine had already succumbed to daylight torpor, less because her body required it, and more because she’d endured more than any young vampire should.She craved escape—and daytime slumbers were the only actual way any of us could escape what we were, even if only in our dreams.
Only Desiderius remained awake with me, fighting the sun’s invisible weight as I was, determined to address what had transpired in Gallow’s presence.
“You’re at another crossroads, Alice,” he observed, his voice barely disturbing the crypt’s heavy silence.“Having lost almost everything you built—your convent, your flock, your mission of redemption.”
I lifted my gaze to his ancient face, seeing in it the weight of centuries I could scarcely imagine.“Is that supposed to comfort me?”
“It focuses you,” he replied without rancor.“What remains unchanged is the bishop’s need for our protection, and the continuation of both wars—human and supernatural—regardless of our personal losses.”
“The bishop.”I touched my locket reflexively, feeling the outline of the consecrated host within.“Who apparently has werewolves among his allies, and who knew more about this mission than he ever revealed to me.”
Desiderius nodded, acknowledging the truth in my words.“Harkins has always operated with necessary discretion.The fewer who know the full scope of his network, the safer all remain.”
I clenched my fists.“Now I’m not even sure if I can trust you, Desiderius!”
He tilted his head.“What do you mean?”
“Who in God’s name is Vladislav?Was everything you said true?Were you sent by him to pacify us, to leave us like lambs ready to become lions at the beck and call of the Order?”
“Yes, and no.”He hesitated a moment.“What I told Gallow was rooted more in fact than fiction.”
I stood up, hands on my hips.“Well, now would be a fantastic time to separate the two!After all these years, I trusted you!”
“I never lied to you.”Desiderius looked at me with eyes wider and more innocent than were fitting a vampire of his caliber.“It is true that I was sent to Father O’Malley on a mission.It’s also true that I recruited you for the very same purpose we spoke about with Gallow.But somewhere along the way—“
I snorted.“You had a change of heart?Youfell in love?Don’t you dare tell me you fell in love with me because I’m not going to buy that load of manure even if I live long enough to see Christ return!”
Desiderius chuckled.“I didn’t fall in love with you.No offense.”
“Then what was it!”
“I found faith, Alice.The Eucharist actually purified me.And your example—it inspired me.I am the man you always believed I was, even if I wasn’t when we first met.I am not working for Vladislav, though I suspect he still trusts that I am.”
I wasn’t sure if I believed him, but I was willing to hear him out.“I’m going to ask you again.Who in the name of the Mother of God is Vladislav?”
