They descended the stairs to find Dominic. On the second floor, Kendrick heard a far-off chorus of voices lift in song. He went to the window, and when he found the curtains were nailed down, he yanked, ripping them back. Through the dingy glass, he could see a church steeple a few blocks away. He lifted the stiff latch and pushed the window open.
“God rest you merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
For Jesus Christ, our Saviour
Was born upon this day,
To save us all from Satan’s power
When we were gone astray…”
“Caroler practice,” Joseph said. “At St. Alban’s.”
“That’s right,” Kendrick said. “It’s December, isn’t it?” He let the curtain fall back as Dominic paced up the hallway towards them.
“It’s a good thing you have the keys because the door down into the Ossuary tunnels is locked. But the back half of the house and the basements are disgusting,” Dominic said without preamble. “Absolutely abhorrent. Was Rupert continually feeding off his household staff? And there are…bodies. Old ones.”
“Why does that not surprise me?” Kendrick muttered. “The attics are similarly foul.”
Anger animated Dominic, his eyes flashing red. “Did he havenocare for his household?”
“They were human,” Joseph said, which seemed to be the only answer.
“Human or not, you don’t do this kind of thing to your own people. By God, you don’t do it to anyone. We havelawsabout killing humans!”
Joseph passed a hand over his face. “Laws do not apply to you if you are the one making them.”
“You’re right,” Kendrick said. “Laws should apply to everyone, or they are not truly fair or just. I have taken over as ruler of the Ossuary, but—as someone recently pointed out—I have not made it clear how my rule will be different. I want to make oaths to the populace and receive their oaths, to bind us together.” He flexed his hands, feeling vigor flow through him, as if he were waking up after a long time asleep. “I also want to find all the laws set in place for the vampires of London and discover out just what I am expecting the populace to obey so I can make changes if needed. I’d like your help, the both of you. I have found several of the law books in the Ossuary, but they are old and incomplete. I don’t know if there are any in this house. And if it’s as disgusting as you say?—”
“You’ll need to scour the whole building,” Dominic said darkly. “I’d suggest fire, but flame is not kind to London or vampires.”
“And for such a large building, we’d need a lot of help. Let me think on it,” Kendrick said. “But if the both of you are willing, we can comb through the law codes and find which are still in effect, and what—if anything—Rupert was using to govern.”
“Yes,” Joseph said immediately.
“It will be a large undertaking.” Dominic rubbed his chin in thought.
“I am confident,” Kendrick said, “that you are up to the challenge.”
They left the house the way they came, and Kendrick re-locked the door.
“I will not ask you to name names of the survivors who left this place,” he told Joseph. “And I would not ask them to return. But for the humans—they will keep silent?”
“The few still alive?” Joseph nodded. “They were controlled by fear, the threat of death to any they cared about. They will do their best to disappear. I did not know, at the time, what number of Rupert’s circle were still extant, and I told them so. Besides,” he said heavily as the wind picked up, “who would believe them?”
Kendrick bade them a good night and walked east, past the fashionable streets and carriages coming and going, through the throngs of people still out in the late evening.
Even though he walked through their spaces and moved through their crowds, he was still at a remove from humanity. As if they were all inside a warm and cheerful pub with a crackling fire and good company, and he watched them from outside the window, the sound tricking to his ears with a muffled quality as rain chilled him to the bone.
What a painful thought.
After a millennium, was he still lonely?
He didn’t even remember his own humanity.
But he saw it, every day, through the window.
