Larten hissed.
“I never claimed to be anything else,” Tanish said softly.
Larten was disappointed, but not surprised. He had
anticipated this and planned for it. Stepping forward, he
pressed a nail to Tanish’s fleshy throat, pricked the skin,
drew a few drops of blood… then moved aside and
lowered his hand.
“Go,” Larten said. “Leave and never let me see you
again.”
Tanish blinked, bewildered. “This is a trick,” he
whispered.
“Go,” Larten repeated, firmly this time.
“What about Gavner? Will you–”
Larten raised a finger and pointed it at Tanish’s heart.
The oversized vampire didn’t need any further warning.
With a miserable last glance at the astonished, agonised
Gavner Purl, he lurched away from his assistant and his old
friend, sobbing with relief and sadness as he was
swallowed by the shadows of the alley.
There was a long silence as Gavner watched his master,
the closest thing he’d ever had to a father, stumble away in
disgrace. The young man’s mind was spinning. He wanted
to rush after Tanish and tell him he didn’t care about his
sins, that he wanted to be his assistant – his son – forever.
He took a shaky step forward, but was stopped by the
vampire in the red clothes.
“Wait,” Larten said quietly.
That single word alerted Gavner to the danger. He
realised that Tanish was right — his release was just a trick.
Gavner opened his mouth to shout a warning, but before he
could, there came a short, startled cry from the far end of
the alley.
Then silence.
“What have you done?” Gavner cried.
“He was a killer,” Larten replied calmly. “The clan
demands the death of those who kill without just cause. It
was not in my power to set him free. Another was waiting to
dispatch him. But at least he died thinking freedom was in
his grasp. That was better than facing death honestly.
Tanish never had much time for honesty.”
“You murdered him!” Gavner shouted, hands bunched
into fists, eyes glittering with angry tears.
“I sent him to his death,” Larten said. “But I suppose from
a certain point of view that is one and the same thing.”
“I’ll kill you,” Gavner wept. “If you don’t deal with me
tonight, I’ll track you down and make you pay for what you
did to Tanish. I don’t care how long it takes.”
“You will not have to wait,” Larten said. He retrieved the
knife he had cast aside earlier and pressed it into Gavner’s
hand. As Gavner stared with shock at the cold metal, the
elder creature of the night said, “My name is Larten
Crepsley. I am a vampire General. Tanish Eul was
executed for good reason and I do not apologise for that.
“But I also slaughtered your real mother and father. In a
moment of mad rage, I took their lives and left you an
orphan. If you choose to take my life as payment for theirs,
you will be within your rights and no vampire will hold it
against you.
“Pass judgement on me, Gavner Purl, and let your hand
rise or fall as destiny decides it must.”
With that, Larten knelt in the muddy filth of the Petrograd
alley, offered his throat and calmly waited for the stunned,
uncertain Gavner to spare his life or kill him as he saw fit.
To be continued…
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