Dark Ages Clan Novel 10 Gangrel PDF
Dark Ages Clan Novel 10 Gangrel PDF
Dark Ages Clan Novel 10 Gangrel PDF
“Brilliant.”
—Matthew Nadelhaft, Tangent Online
Tim Waggoner
AD 1231
Tenth of the Dark Ages Clan Novels
Cover art by John Bolton. Graphic design by Mike Chaney
Art direction by Richard Thomas. Copyediting by James
Stewart.
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ISBN 1-58846-847-X
First Edition: February 2004
Printed in Canada
4
What Has Come Before
Tim Waggoner 7
was two millennia older than he, and the ancient blood
that flowed through his veins granted him immense
power. He wielded a broadsword one-handed, moving
the tip in slow, small circles as if the blade were light as
a dagger. But the ancient also had other weapons be-
sides those made of steel. As they circled one another,
the leather-clad warrior sensed his opponent reaching
out with his mind, sending out waves of fear and awe,
searching for a chink, however small, in the warrior’s
resolve.
The youth smiled, but his eyes remained cold and
deadly. “Your mind is as strong as your body, Tartar.”
The warrior didn’t bother to acknowledge his
opponent’s words, or to correct his usage of a bastard
term for the faraway steppe tribe he had been born into.
Talk was nothing but a waste of time and energy in
battle. All that mattered was who would prove stronger
this night—the Ventrue prince called Alexander or the
Gangrel chieftain known as Qarakh the Untamed.
Qarakh grinned, displaying a mouthful of sharp
teeth. He raised his curved saber, bellowed a war cry
and charged.
8 Gangrel
Chapter One
Tim Waggoner 9
the trees. All told him that it would take a little over
two hours to reach his tribe’s main territory, its ordu, at
this pace. He would still arrive well before sunrise, and
his horse would be alive, its death postponed for a night
when its blood was more needed. On the Mongolian
steppe that had birthed him, Qarakh had learned not
to waste anything. That lesson held true even here, in
this distant land to which he had been exiled. Where
he had made a new home.
***
Since his Embrace twenty-four years ago, Rikard
had—like all Cainites—shunned the deadly light of day.
But now, sitting here in the branches of an oak tree,
arrow nocked and ready, with nothing to do but sit and
listen to the sounds of nocturnal animals scurrying about
as they foraged for food or searched for mates, he found
himself actually looking forward to the pink of predawn.
For then he could retire to his tent, crawl beneath a
blanket and sleep while one of the mortals was forced
to endure the mind-numbing monotony of watch duty.
This wasn’t exactly the glamorous existence that
his sire had promised Rikard before his Embrace. The
picture she had painted was that of an eternal baccha-
nal filled with unimaginable power and endless dark
pleasures. So how was he spending his unlife these
nights? Sitting in a tree like some damned owl.
I should be nuzzling the smooth, alabaster neck of some
young virgin instead, he thought. Running the tip of my
tongue over her artery as it flutters ever so gently…
His canine teeth began to ache at the roots, and
his stomach cramped. His sire had told him all about
the Beast—the raging fury and hunger that was the curse
of all Cainites. But what she hadn’t told him was that
the Beast could manifest itself in numerous ways. In his
case, as pain—from mild discomfort, like now, to agony
so intense that he would do anything, anything at all,
to make it stop.
Thank you so very much for the dark gift you bestowed
upon me, Abiageal. The thought was directed at his not
so dear but very much departed sire. He hoped she could
10 Gangrel
detect his sarcasm from whatever level of hell she’d been
consigned to after her Final Death at the hands of over-
zealous churchmen.
He’d come to Livonia because he’d heard rumors
of a Cainite kingdom here, a place where the undying
could live openly and without fear. And while all that
was true enough in its own way, what the rumors had
failed to mention was how dreadfully boring it was. The
leader of the kingdom, a savage called Qarakh, insisted
on being addressed as “khan” instead of “prince,” as was
more common with Cainite rulers. He also insisted that
all the members of his “tribe” be skilled warriors in or-
der to protect the region from “those who would take
our land from us.” Those would be the Livonian Sword-
Brothers—second-rate Templars intent on
Christianizing the place—and the few German vampires
who seemed to lurk among them. But they’d been beaten
back last year, well before Rikard arrived. No, his time
with the tribe had been spent training. The Cainites in
Qarakh’s tribe, as well as the ghouls, trained nightly in
the martial arts, learning how to use a bow, wield a sword
and ride a horse. Tedious though such training was, it
had proven effective. While Rikard didn’t consider him-
self a soldier yet, he had become competent with a
weapon, though he still needed work on his horseman-
ship. At least he didn’t fall off the damned animals
anymore.
He never should have sworn allegiance to Qarakh.
He had convinced himself that the Tartar’s kingdom
would one day become the Cainite paradise that
Abiageal hadn’t been able to deliver, but in the months
since he had come to Livonia, all he’d done was train
and, for the last week, sit watch in the trees.
“I should just leave,” he whispered to himself, giv-
ing voice to his thoughts to help relieve the boredom.
“It’s not as if the Tartar would miss me, even if he were
here.”
“Yes I would.”
A lance of cold terror pierced Rikard’s unbeating heart.
The words came only inches from his left ear, which meant
Tim Waggoner 11
their speaker was crouching next to him, but he hadn’t heard
anyone climb the tree. He knew he should turn to face the
newcomer, but he was too scared to move.
“Once a man or woman swears fealty to me and is ac-
cepted into my tribe, they become as my own childer,
whether they are of my blood or not. And ‘Tartar’ is the
Christians’ word for my kind. I am Mongolian.”
The words were spoken in Livonian—a language
Qarakh insisted all members of his tribe learn—but there
was no mistaking that accent. The khan had returned home.
“Like any good father, I would miss my children, should
they stray from the tribe. Miss them so much, in fact, that
I would hunt them across all the lands of the earth until I
had found them again.”
Rikard felt the cold, sharp edge of a dagger suddenly
pressed against his throat.
“And do you know what I would do once we were re-
united?”
Rikard was so frightened he lost his grip on his bow,
and both it and the arrow he had ready tumbled down the
ground. Beads of blood-sweat erupted on his forehead, and
he would’ve swallowed nervously if it hadn’t been for the
dagger.
“I would clasp them in my arms and say, ‘The tribe
misses you. I miss you. Come home.’”
Rikard felt the first faint spark of hope that he was
going to survive. He didn’t fail to notice, however, that
Qarakh kept the knife to his throat.
“But you didn’t leave, did you?” The khan’s voice was utterly
devoid of emotion now. No anger, no disappointment. Nothing.
“You merely failed to remain alert at your post. You didn’t hear
the approach of my horse, and you didn’t hear me climb up next
to you, though I purposely made enough noise to alarm every
sentry from here to the Great Wall. If I were an invader, I could
slit your throat before you could make a sound, and then con-
tinue on to the camp undetected. Do you understand?”
Rikard couldn’t speak. His throat felt full of sand. The
best he could manage was an almost imperceptible nod.
“Good. Then you will do better next time.”
12 Gangrel
A wave of relief washed over Rikard. Qarakh was only
trying to teach him a lesson! A hard lesson, but one that
Rikard knew he deserved. In the future, he would be more
careful to—
Fire-sharp pain blossomed in Rikard’s throat, and warm
blood gushed onto the front of his tunic.
“If you are strong enough, your wound will heal and
you will make your way back to camp before dawn. If not…”
Rikard felt a hand press between his shoulder blades
and shove, and then he was falling through darkness to-
ward the forest floor. He didn’t feel the impact when he
landed.
***
Qarakh leaped into the air and came down less than a
foot from Rikard’s head, his leather boots hitting the ground
silently. He intended to walk back to where he’d left his
horse tethered to a low-hanging branch, mount up and
continue on to the camp, but he hesitated. The scent of
Rikard’s blood hung thick and sweet in the air. Mortal blood
was for nourishment, but Cainite vitae—no matter how
diluted—contained power. It was the smell of that power
which called to Qarakh now.
A harsh, animalistic voice spoke in his mind. On the
steppe, one learns not to waste anything; survival depends on it.
Qarakh gazed down at Rikard. The Cainite lay on his
back, eyes wide and staring, blood still bubbling from his
slit throat as he tried to speak.
“This is not the steppe,” Qarakh whispered.
And you are not a man. You are an animal. You hunger
and there is food before you. Take it.
“This man swore allegiance to me as his khan.”
He is no man. He is a weakling. His kind exists only to
serve the strong. Right now, he would serve you best as suste-
nance.
Qarakh shook his head. “Perhaps that is how he would
serve you best. He would serve me and my people far better
if he survives to learn from his mistake and makes the tribe
stronger.” The Mongol warrior knelt down, wiped his dag-
ger on a clean spot on Rikard’s sleeve, then straightened
and returned the knife to its belt sheathe. He then walked
Tim Waggoner 13
off toward his horse, ignoring the frustrated howls of the
Beast inside him.
***
The boundaries of Qarakh’s tribal lands were marked
by a quartet of small altars, one for each point on the com-
pass, representing what Mongols called the Four Directions:
Front, Back, Left and Right. Qarakh rode up to the south-
ern (front) one and, as was his custom, cut several hairs
from his horse’s mane with his dagger. He then dismounted
and approached the altar on foot. It was a construction of
sticks and poles built on top of a stone mound. Qarakh had
made all four of them himself, after the style of the Mongo-
lian tribes he had left on the steppe. Tattered blue prayer
flags were tied to the poles, and they stirred in the gentle
breeze. Offerings were piled onto the stones: coins, fox tails,
eagle feathers and, of course, patches of dried blood. Qarakh
walked three times around the altar, then tied the horse-
hairs to one of the poles. Now it was time to leave his
offering. He lifted his right wrist to his mouth, bared his
fangs, and bit into his own flesh.
Qarakh extended his arm over the stones and squeezed
his hand into a fist. Thick drops of blood splattered onto
the previous patches of blood. When the old blood had
been completely covered, Qarakh drew his hand back and
lowered it to his side.
“Welcome home, my khan.”
If she had been a stranger, the interloper would’ve been
slain before finishing her sentence. But Qarakh recognized
her voice, and so turned calmly to face her. “Deverra.”
He noted that her gaze was fixed on his ragged wrist,
and her nostrils flared as she inhaled the scent of his blood.
He was unconcerned. He doubted Deverra would be so fool-
ish as to give into her Beast and attack him. Still, she was a
sorceress and possessed mystic abilities beyond those of or-
dinary Cainites, and thus bore watching. But then, as far
was Qarakh was concerned, everyone bore watching.
He didn’t ask how she knew he was coming and that
he would stop at the altar first. She was a shaman; knowing
such things was her lot.
14 Gangrel
She nodded toward the altar. “Building up hiimori, I
see.”
Hiimori meant “wind horse,” the power that came from
such sacrifices. He gave her a simple nod.
The shaman was not a Mongol. Tall and thin, she
dressed in a dark blue robe, its hood down to better display
her long flowing red hair. Her features were delicate and
fine, and her complexion pale, as was normal for the
unliving. Her eyes were a touch too large for her face, but
the effect merely added to the overall air of otherworldliness
that she and the other sorcerers cultivated. More striking
was the color of her eyes: They were a bright emerald green,
so bright that, in the right light, they almost sparkled.
“You were gone longer than usual this time,” Deverra
said. “Some of the mortals in our flock were beginning to
worry that you had run into mischief during your wander-
ings.”
Her tone was even, but Qarakh detected a hint of dis-
approval.
“I trust you reassured them otherwise.”
Deverra smiled, revealing the pointed tips of her ca-
nines. “Naturally, though some required the special kiss of
a priestess to draw out their ill humors.”
Qarakh wasn’t certain how to take this. She sounded
almost amused, but he knew from long association that she
took her roles as tribal shaman and high priestess of the
cult of the Livonian god Telyavel very seriously. She had
tended to the needs of the god’s mortal worshippers and
taken their blood as her due for many years before he’d
come to Livonia, before they had made common cause to
create a new tribe. Still, he found her tendency toward
ambiguity puzzling and often frustrating. Over the few years
he’d known her, he’d learned the best way to deal with her
unclear comments was to ignore them, which he did now.
“You have my thanks for coming here to welcome me
back, but it was not necessary. I would think you’d have
more productive ways to occupy your time.”
Deverra smiled and stepped closer to the warrior. She
reached out and gently touched his now-healed wrist. “Is it
so hard to believe that I simply might have missed you?”
Tim Waggoner 15
Another Cainite might have recoiled from Deverra’s
touch. She and the rest of her brood of priests were blood
sorcerers, and such folk could be very dangerous indeed.
Even Qarakh had heard rumors of the sorcerous Tremere
who stole the blood of other Cainites in their dark witch-
ery. But Qarakh judged people by the deeds they performed,
not by their lineage, and to his mind, the Telyav were noth-
ing like the Tremere.
Deverra rubbed her fingers over his wrist in slow, small
circles, then brought her hand to her nose and sniffed. She
frowned. “Your vitae is weaker than usual. It has been too
long since you fed.” She said this last as if she were a mother
chiding a naughty son, despite the fact that Qarakh was
her khan—but then she was also high priestess of the
Telyavs.
Take her, whispered his Beast. She fed well tonight on
one of her acolytes. Think of it! Living blood filtered through the
veins of a Telyav priestess… a heady brew indeed!
The Beast’s guttural laughter echoed in Qarakh’s mind,
and the Mongol was surprised to discover that his mouth
was watering. He found the loss of control most disturbing,
and he took a step back from Deverra.
“I will feed upon returning to the camp.” His voice
was thick with barely repressed need and sounded too much
like that of the Beast to his ears.
If Deverra noticed, she gave no sign. “There is another
reason I came here once I sensed you were to return this
night.” Her tone became grim. “There have been certain
signs of late. The land speaks to me—the wind that rustles
the leaves, the squeal of a mouse caught in the claws of an
owl, the silhouettes of trees outlined in silver moonlight,
they all say the same thing: He is coming.”
Qarakh scowled. “Who?”
Deverra looked at the Mongol for a moment before
answering, and the warrior was surprised to see fear in her
eyes.
“A prince with the face of a boy.”
16 Gangrel
Chapter Two
Tim Waggoner 17
then walked over to the sleeping ghouls and kicked the
male’s rump to rouse him.
The mortal woke with a start and sat up. He blinked
groggily for a moment, but when his eyes finally focused,
his mouth broke into a wide grin. “My khan! You’re
home!”
“Tend to my horse,” Qarakh said.
Still grinning, the male—a youth barely into his
manhood—said, “At once, my khan.” He threw back
the blanket, rose and started toward the door of the ger.
Before he could crawl through, Qarakh said,
“Hold.”
The youth stopped and looked up expectantly.
“When you finish with the mare, tell the other
ghouls to inform their masters that I wish to hold coun-
cil after sunset.”
“Yes, khan.” The youth hurried off to do his master’s
bidding.
The female roused then and opened her eyes.
“You’ve come back to us.” Her tone was that of a woman
welcoming home a lover.
The Beast that laired inside Qarakh growled softly
at the implied familiarity. The woman was merely mor-
tal, after all, a ghoul and a servant. But she was also
Livonian, and the mortals of these lands still held fast
to their ancient beliefs, and they viewed Cainites not
as demons, but rather as supernatural beings akin to
gods, as Deverra had taught them. Qarakh wasn’t al-
ways comfortable with this perception, but he had found
it useful in establishing the tribe.
So he did not chastise the woman. Instead, he sat
down next to her.
She sat up, and he smelled the odor of sweat and
semen on her. She and the male had lain together not
long before he’d entered the ger.
Good. The exertion would add spice to her blood.
“Your face is more pale than usual, my khan, and I
can see the hunger burning in your eyes. You must feed.”
She rolled up the right sleeve of her tunic and without
hesitation offered her bare wrist to him. Qarakh pre-
18 Gangrel
ferred not to drink from the necks of those mortals who
gave themselves to him willingly, lest he risk damaging
their living soul, which all Mongols knew resided there.
Qarakh could smell the blood surging hot and sweet
through her veins, and he could deny his hunger no
longer. He grabbed her wrist, brought it to his mouth,
and plunged his teeth into the flesh. The woman
gasped—half in pleasure, half in pain—and Qarakh
began to drink. As he swallowed mouthful after mouth-
ful of life itself, the woman ran the fingers of her free
hand through the wild tangle of his hair. He found the
intimacy of her touch distasteful, but even though the
Beast’s growling became louder, he decided to allow it.
The Livs often wished to touch the “gods” as they fed,
and desiring contact with the divine was a natural im-
pulse for mortals.
After a few moments, he began to draw less and
less blood until finally he pulled his teeth from her crim-
son-smeared wrist. If he allowed himself, he would drain
her dry, and as satisfying as that might be, it would be
wasteful. Alive, she could continue to produce blood
for decades to come. Dead, she would be worthless.
No! howled the Beast inside him. I— We still hun-
ger!
Hunger was a frequent, if not particularly welcome,
companion to those who lived on the steppe, and though
Qarakh’s mortal days were years behind him, he well
remembered what it was like to have a belly that was
never quite full. The hunger for blood was much stron-
ger, of course, but if he had been able to face the specter
of starvation on an almost daily basis as a man, he
should—
“Have you gone to see your friend yet, my khan?”
The woman’s words were slurred, as if she had drunk
too much wine. She lay back on the bed, eyes half-
closed, a contented smile on her lips. The wounds on
her wrist were already healing.
Qarakh looked at her, his canine teeth suddenly
longer, his eyes grown wolf-feral. “What did you say?”
Tim Waggoner 19
His tone was colder than a winter wind skirling across
frozen tundra, and the woman drew the fur cover up to her
chin, as if it might somehow protect her from her master.
“I— I meant no offense, great khan. I merely asked if you
had paid a visit to your friend yet. His name is Aajav, isn’t
it? The men of the tribe all say that you always go to see
him upon returning home. I thought—”
Qarakh’s hand shot out faster than a striking snake
and clawed fingers wrapped around the woman’s neck,
cutting off her words—and her air.
“Aajav is not my friend.” He spat the word. “He is
much more. He is my brother and my blood.” He
squeezed tighter, and the woman—eyes bulging from
sockets, face turning a deep dark red—reached up and
tried to tear his hand away from her throat, but the
Mongol’s grip was like iron. “I wouldn’t expect you to
understand. You are a woman, and a Livonian one at
that.” His vision had gone red, and there was a roaring
in his ears, as if he were underwater. In his mind, he
heard the Beast panting its lust.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!
“The bond between Aajav and I is a most sacred
thing, and not for the likes of you to speak of. Do you
understand?” The mortal didn’t respond, so he gave her
a shake. “Answer!” Still she did not reply, and Qarakh
squeezed tighter. She was his ghoul, and by Tengri, she
would obey him!
“Answer!”
A sound cut through the roaring in his ears then: a
harsh crack like a tree limb being snapped in two.
The next sound he heard was the Beast’s mad laugh-
ter… then silence.
He looked at the woman and frowned, confused,
as if only just seeing her for the first time. Her head
lolled to one side like a rag doll’s, and her bulging eyes
were wide and unseeing, the whites streaked red. Her
skin of her face was almost black now, and her tongue,
swollen and purple, protruded from her mouth like a
fat slug.
20 Gangrel
Qarakh released his grip and the woman fell onto
the bed, limp and lifeless.
What are you waiting for? Drink!
Qarakh did nothing.
What do you care if she’s dead? She was nothing more
than cattle to you, as are all mortals. You didn’t even know
her name. Now drink, before her blood spoils and goes to
waste!
Qarakh started forward, fangs bared, but then he
stopped. “Her name was Pavla,” he said. He expected
the Beast to respond, but his inner voice was silent for
a change. He felt a sudden heaviness in his limbs, and
he knew it was more than drowsiness from having just
fed. The sun had risen.
He crawled to the middle of the ger and moved aside
one of the red mats to expose a bare patch of earth.
He should’ve known better. The Beast could only
be denied for so long before it had to feed. And it needed
more than mere blood. It needed pain and death and
carnage. Most of all, it needed to prove its dominance
over its host body, to humiliate the Cainite so foolish
as to believe that he could ever be its master. He knew
that some called him Qarakh the Untamed, but the only
truly untamed thing about him was the Beast that was
his eternal companion through the endless nights.
He scooted onto the patch of earth and concen-
trated. As he sank into the ground where he would
slumber during the daylight hours, he vowed that he
would never forget the hard lesson the Beast had taught
him this night—just as he had vowed many times be-
fore.
***
Deverra stood before a large pine tree at the edge
of the tribe’s immediate territory. She drew a sharp nail
across her palm and vitae welled forth, mixing with the
tree sap already in her hand. The Telyav priestess stirred
the mixture with a finger, then brought it to her mouth
and lapped it up. She didn’t need to look at the light-
ening sky to sense the coming dawn. She felt it as a
heat in her veins, as if her blood were on the verge of
Tim Waggoner 21
boiling. She swallowed the blood-sap, closed her eyes
and calmly recited an invocation. Then, just as the first
light of dawn broke over the horizon, she stepped to-
ward the tree trunk and melted into the wood.
Safely encased within the pine, Deverra would sleep
until sunset. But though she felt languor washing over
her, the peace of slumber proved elusive. She contin-
ued to think about Qarakh and the conversation they’d
had on their way back to the camp. The Mongol chief-
tain intended to hold kuriltai, a war council, after
sundown.
It was the “war” part of the council that worried
her. She had full confidence in Qarakh himself. Despite
his relative youth, he was a mighty Cainite and as strong
a leader as she had known. He’d also gathered an inner
circle of seasoned warriors from across the northern
fringes of Christianity and beyond, but the rest of his
tribe was a rag-tag collection of Cainites, ghouls and
thralls. They trained in the arts of war and were not
without skill, but it had been a hard fight last year
against the Livonian and German crusaders and the
vampires in their midst. If this boy-faced prince was
whom she feared it was… well, they would be no match
for him.
A high priestess with so little faith, she chided her-
self. Qarakh had only arrived in Livonia a few years ago,
but she had been born here and had spent the majority
of her long unlife here. She had forged a bond with the
spirit of this land, with Telyavel, the guardian of the
dead and maker of things. As long as the flame of that
bond burned, as long as she and the others in her ex-
tended coven were willing to make the necessary
sacrifices, then there remained hope. Deverra had
helped the young Mongol found his tribe here with that
bond to the spirit and people of the land at its core,
and she would not surrender to despair now.
The boy prince was coming. The only question was
how they would face him.
At last, sun-sleep finally came for her, and her con-
sciousness slipped into the darkness that was Cainite
22 Gangrel
slumber. She had two last thoughts before oblivion claimed
her for the day. First, she would not inform the other Telyavs
about Alexander—not before consulting the man she had
sworn allegiance to as her khan. And second, she won-
dered what Qarakh’s vitae would taste like.
Sweet, she decided. And burning hot…
Then she thought no more.
***
Qarakh slumbered and remembered. A night years
ago, when a rough whisper cut through his sleep.
“Qarakh…”
He ignored the voice, rolled onto his side, and
pulled the bearskin blanket over his head. Outside, the
wind howled like a hungry demon across the steppe,
and though he was warmly dressed and covered with
fur, Qarakh shivered at the sound.
“My brother…”
He tried to say, “Go away,” but it came out as an
incoherent mumble. He wished Aajav would go back
to sleep. It had been a long day of hunting with little to
show for it: a single scrawny marmot and a few field
mice. He was bone weary and the small amount of meat
he’d managed to catch had done little to fill the empti-
ness in his belly. He wanted nothing more than to sleep
and wake up in the morning when hopefully the steppe
would prove more generous.
He felt a hand on his shoulder then, and it began
to shake him gently.
“You have a visitor, Qarakh. Will you be so rude as
to not greet him?”
He came instantly awake then, and sat up in a single
smooth motion, dagger in hand. He tried to see who
had entered his ger, but the interior of the tent was too
dark for him to make out more than a rough outline of
the man.
“If you come seeking shelter from the night wind,
you are welcome,” Qarakh said. “If you come seeking
more than that, you are not.”
The visitor chuckled. “The cold means nothing to
me, brother. Not anymore.”
Tim Waggoner 23
Fully awake now, Qarakh recognized the voice.
“Aajav! It is good to hear your words again!” He tucked
the dagger back into his belt. “Come, get beneath the
blanket and I will start the fire.” Qarakh started to get
up, but a hand—stronger than he remembered—gripped
his shoulder to stop him.
“There is no need. As I said, the cold doesn’t bother
me.”
Even through the cloth of his tunic, Qarakh felt
the chill emanating from his blood brother’s hand. “But
you feel like ice! Please allow me to—”
“Enough. I said there is no need.” His grip on
Qarakh’s shoulder tightened to the point of being pain-
ful.
Something else struck Qarakh as odd, though he
couldn’t quite… and then he realized what it was: the
smell, or rather the lack of it. Mongols smeared sheep
fat on their exposed skin as protection against the cold
wind. But Qarakh detected no hint of the scent wafting
from Aajav.
“Very well,” Qarakh said. He had no wish to argue
with a guest seeking shelter in his ger late at night. Be-
sides, Aajav was nothing if not stubborn.
“Good.” Aajav removed his hand and settled into
a cross-legged position next to Qarakh’s bed.
Qarakh stared into the darkness and tried to dis-
cern his blood brother’s features. Though his eyes had
adjusted somewhat, he still could make out only a shad-
owy figure where Aajav sat. But this didn’t matter. He
knew Aajav’s face better than he knew his own: head
and chin smooth-shaven, a broad and easy smile, and
the unflinching gaze of a warrior born.
Qarakh also assumed a sitting position, but though
he was cold and would’ve liked to pull the bearskin blan-
ket around his shoulders, he did not. If the temperature
did not bother Aajav, then it did not bother him.
Aajav chuckled softly, as if he knew why Qarakh
did not cover himself and found it amusing. But if so,
Qarakh took no offense. His brother had always had
something of a strange sense of humor, and Qarakh was
24 Gangrel
accustomed to not always understanding why he thought
certain things were funny.
“It has been many months since we have sat to-
gether like this,” Qarakh said.
In the dark, Aajav nodded. “Nearly a year. Much
has happened to me in that time.”
“You must have many good stories to tell. But be-
fore that, we should exchange gifts.” It was customary
to give and receive presents when someone paid a visit.
Often these were mere tokens, the most common being
blue scarves that were used in religious ceremonies.
Qarakh believed he had one such scarf left… some-
where. He patted his tunic, searching for wherever he
had tucked the scarf.
Aajav laid a hand on his wrist, and Qarakh flinched
at the touch of his brother’s cold flesh.
“I have a specific gift in mind,” Aajav said. “One
to strengthen the bond between us. A sharing of blood.”
Aajav’s request was odd, but Qarakh loved him. “As
you will.”
“Good. But first I have a most wondrous story to
tell you, my brother.” He grinned, and even in the dark
of the ger, Qarakh could see Aajav’s sharp white teeth.
“Most wondrous indeed.”
Tim Waggoner 25
Chapter Three
26 Gangrel
He prayed to Tengri that having her neck broken
hadn’t damaged Pavla’s soul too severely, otherwise she
could not be reincarnated.
Qarakh looked down at Pavla’s body. “Goodbye,
woman. You served your khan well. I hope you find many
rewards in your next life.” He then strode toward the
ger’s door, eager to get the council underway. But when
he stepped outside, careful as always not to allow his
feet to touch the threshold, he was met by a chorus of
cheers.
The camp was filled with mortals: men, women and
children, all wearing the dress of Livonian peasants.
Some of them he recognized as ghouls and thralls, but
most were unknown to him. He estimated the newcom-
ers at three dozen or more. Standing apart from the
crowd were the other Cainites in the camp—evidently
he had slept longer than he’d intended and was the last
to rise this night.
Deverra stood with the other Cainites, and now
she stepped forward. “These mortals live in the nearby
village of Gutka. They heard that the great khan had
returned to their land, and they have come to pay hom-
age.”
Qarakh knew he should have expected this. The
camp was always set up close to a human village so the
Cainites in his tribe would have easy access to suste-
nance, and since the Livs believed the vampires were
demigods, they were more than eager to sacrifice their
blood for good fortune, a bountiful harvest and strong,
healthy children. In order to keep from draining any
one village dry, the tribe moved every few months and
made camp on the outskirts of another human settle-
ment. The arrangement—not unlike that of a
Mongolian sheepherder in some ways—worked quite
well, but occasionally it meant that Qarakh was forced
to play host to his “worshippers.”
As a priestess of Telyavel, the Protector of the Dead,
Deverra served as the liaison between the mortals and
the spirit world, so it was only right that he address his
words to her. “Priestess, your people are welcome among
Tim Waggoner 27
us.” His tone was formal, and he spoke loud enough for
all to hear. “We accept their tribute and bid that they
remain among us for a time and receive our blessing.”
This brought a few scattered cheers from mortals
who were quickly shushed by those standing close to
them. The ritual wasn’t finished yet.
Deverra folded her hands over her chest and bowed.
“On behalf of the people of Gutka, I thank you, oh great
khan. May Telyavel hold our ancestors close and lend
them his ear when they seek his favor on our behalf.”
She straightened and Qarakh was surprised when she
winked at him.
Qarakh turned toward the humans and spread his
arms wide.
“Let the communion begin!”
***
In the center of the camp, a celebratory fire had
been lit, though it was not very big, and the Cainites
kept well away from it, averting their eyes from the
bright flames. The villagers sat around the fire, eating
bread and cheese and drinking wine, all of which they
had brought themselves. They offered none to the
Cainites or their ghouls; the people knew what fare they
subsisted on. An old man played a sprightly tune on a
violin while several pretty young women danced, no
doubt trying to attract the attentions of the male
Cainites.
Qarakh sat on a felled tree trunk, Deverra at his
right side. The Livs viewed her as the female comple-
ment to his male energy, almost a consort of sorts, and
so the two always remained together when in the pres-
ence of mortals that revered them. Sitting on a second
log and facing Qarakh and Deverra were three other
Cainites, all members of the Mongol’s inner circle.
In the middle, wrapped in an old blanket, sat an
ancient vampire known simply as Grandfather who
served as the tribe’s lore-keeper. His face was wizened,
as if he had been Embraced toward the end of his mor-
tal lifespan, and his eyes were slitted like a cat’s or a
serpent’s. His arms and hands, neither of which was vis-
28 Gangrel
ible at the moment, were covered with coarse gray fur.
When he spoke, his deep voice belied his apparent
feebleness, and though he normally remained still, when
he chose to move, he could do so with a panther’s deadly
speed.
To Grandfather’s left sat a large brooding man with
long black hair that spilled past his shoulders. A pony-
tail hung back from the center of his head, and two twin
braids dangled past his bearded chin. His eyes were cold
blue, and a scar ran across the right, a legacy of his
mortal life. Despite the fact that his mouth was closed
in a grim line, the tips of his two razor-sharp canines
protruded over his lip, and his ears were tufted like an
animal’s. Though concealed at the moment, his torso
was covered with fur—another mark of the Beast. Be-
fore his Embrace centuries ago, Arnulf had been a Goth
soldier, and now he wore simple leather armor, deer-
skin pants, black boots and a black cape. He carried a
broadax that Qarakh had rarely seen him without.
Like Qarakh, and much of the other blood-drink-
ers in the tribe, Grandfather and Arnulf traced their
line to the Gangrel clan. One of the great lines of the
undead, the Gangrel were known for their animalistic
gifts and their stalwart hearts. The hidebound Cainites
of the cities and settled lands looked down on Gangrel
as wild and barbaric, but Qarakh knew they simply hid
their fear. Unlike the khan and most others, Grandfa-
ther and Arnulf were both elders even among the
unliving, having spent centuries under the night sky.
Still they had both sworn oaths to their khan and that
superceded age.
On Grandfather’s right sat Alessandro de Garcia, some-
times referred to as the Hound of Iberia. Not a Gangrel at
all, Alessandro was a handsome man with short black hair
and a small thatch of beard beneath his lower lip. He wore
a simple black shirt and pants, a red sash around his waist,
and a pair of highly polished black boots. An Iberian whose
blood ran to the Brujah line, he appeared to be in his mid-
thirties and had been a soldier and mercenary during his
mortal life. He remained a skilled fighter, but was also a
Tim Waggoner 29
philosopher who sought a more complete understanding of
the Beast. He served as Qarakh’s second-in-command, run-
ning the camp and the tribe’s training sessions whenever
the khan was away.
Only one of his inner circle was missing. “Where is
Wilhelmina?” Qarakh asked.
“She left a week ago to patrol the western territory,”
Alessandro said, speaking Livonian with a slight Iberian
accent. “There have been rumors of trespassing Cainites
preying on the mortals there, and she went to determine if
they were true. We have had no word from her since.”
Qarakh grunted. A week was not long to be away, and
Wilhelmina was a Viking warrior-maid as well as a savage
huntress. She could take care of herself. And it was pos-
sible the interlopers were tied to this boy prince. Anything
she might learn about them would prove valuable to the
tribe.
Qarakh was about to begin the kuriltai in earnest when
his male ghoul—whose name was Sasha—came over, lead-
ing two other servants with him. All of them held clay
goblets filled with blood.
“My khan, please forgive the intrusion, but I thought
you might hunger.” He lowered his head and held out a
goblet toward his master.
Qarakh looked over his shoulder at the celebrating
villagers. The lower-ranking Cainites in the camp—about
a dozen in all—were moving among the humans, drinking
first from this one, then from that. Some were bleeding the
mortals into drinking vessels, while others partook straight
from the vein. The mortals closed their eyes and drew in
sudden hisses of breath, lost in the throes of ecstasy. Qarakh
approved—the Beast must be fed, after all. He only hoped
his people would be careful not to bleed too many of the
villagers dry, for the continued health the herd.
He was surprised to see that one of the more enthusi-
astic Cainites—a man on the verge of completely draining
a small female child—was Rikard, the incompetent sentry
whose throat he had cut last night. So the man had sur-
vived to make it back to the camp after all. Perhaps he was
made of sterner stuff than Qarakh had given him credit for.
30 Gangrel
Rikard’s complexion was ivory white from loss of blood,
and his throat was an ugly mass of scar tissue. The tribe had
strict rules about slaying children, but the man had earned
a reward for making it back to camp. Qarakh knew the
sweetness of a child’s blood and let Rikard be.
The khan’s mouth was watering as he turned back to
Sasha. “You may serve us.”
Sasha and the two others gave Qarakh and the elders
mugs full of blood. They bowed one last time, then turned
to go, but Qarakh said, “Hold for a moment, Sasha.” The
mortal did so, motioning for the other two humans to con-
tinue on.
He turned to face his master once more. “Yes, my
khan?”
“Last night…” Now that he had started, Qarakh wasn’t
sure how to phrase what he had to say.
“I saw Pavla when I brought your saddle and tack in-
side the ger,” Sasha said, voice and face expressionless. “You
had already retired for the day by then. I would’ve taken
her body from the tent, but I wasn’t certain you were fin-
ished with it. With your permission, I’ll remove the corpse
after the feast.”
“Of course.” Qarakh felt a vestigial twinge of an emo-
tion he hadn’t experienced much even during his mortal
life: guilt. Sasha had lain with Pavla last night, as he had
many nights before, but now all she was to him was the
corpse, trash to be removed from his master’s ger and dis-
posed of. And he had become this thing—this
ghoul—because Qarakh had made him so.
Sasha bowed one last time before departing.
“It’s never good for a Cainite to become too attached
to his own ghouls,” Grandfather said, as if sensing Qarakh’s
thoughts. “If a butcher begins to love cattle, how can he
wield a cleaver?”
Arnulf took a gulp from his mug, then lowered it, leav-
ing his black beard and mustache smeared with crimson.
“You should kill the mortal as soon as you get the chance,
so that you might extinguish whatever feelings you have
for him.” He drained the rest of his blood in a single draught,
Tim Waggoner 31
then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Never
had much use for ghouls anyway. They make you weak.”
Qarakh had been about to take a drink, but now he
lowered his mug and gave the Goth warrior a hard look.
“What do you mean by weak?” His voice held a dangerous
edge.
Deverra laid a hand on the Mongol’s arm. “Pay it no
mind, Qarakh. We have far more important matters to dis-
cuss this night.”
But it was the Telyav’s words that Qarakh chose to
ignore. He shrugged off her hand then stood. “Answer me,
Arnulf.”
The Goth’s eyes seemed to take on the same shade of
red as the blood smeared on his mouth. He made a fist, and
his mug shattered into clay shards that fell to the grass.
“Take care, Mongol.” He spoke through gritted teeth, voice
low in his throat.
Grandfather smiled, clearly amused. “So priestess, do
you have a spell for calming two belligerent Gangrel?”
“This isn’t funny,” Deverra said.
“No, but it may well prove instructive,” Alessandro
put in. “Arnulf is eldest and thus nominally the more pow-
erful of the two, but Qarakh is a more cunning warrior. It’s
difficult to decide who would be the victor in a battle be-
tween them.”
Qarakh wasn’t happy to hear his lore-keeper and his
second-in-command calmly discussing the battle that was
about to be joined as if he and Arnulf were nothing more
than common tavern brawlers to wager on. He would’ve
have said something to them, but he knew better than to
take even a fraction of his attention off Arnulf.
Neither Alessandro nor Grandfather realized just how
young Qarakh was. They thought their khan had stalked
the night for two centuries, not a handful of years.
Deverra stood and put herself between the two
Gangrel. She turned first to Qarakh. “If you two fools wish
to tear each other apart, so be it. But keep in mind that
you’ll only be doing our enemy’s work for him.” Before the
Mongol could respond, she turned to Arnulf. “Did you not
swear an oath of allegiance to Qarakh as your khan?”
32 Gangrel
The Goth’s only reply was a bestial growl.
“Did you?” she insisted.
Arnulf’s muscles tightened as if he were about to spring,
but then he relaxed. “Yes.” He fairly spat the word.
Deverra looked back to Qarakh, an eyebrow raised as
if to say, Well? It’s your turn.
Ignore the bitch! Tear the bastard’s heart out and feast on
it!
Qarakh said down on the log once more. “Your coun-
cil is wise, Arnulf. I shall slay the ghoul before the sun rises.”
The Goth scoffed but was mollified. Deverra gave them
both a last look before retaking her place on the log next to
Qarakh.
“You are ever the tribe’s scolding mother, Telyav,”
Grandfather said. “A tribe of querulous little boys.” He let
out a snuffling laugh that sounded more animal than man.
Irritated at Deverra’s interference—however necessary
it might have been—and the lore-keeper’s laughter, Qarakh
drained his mug in a single gulp and then turned to
Alessandro. “Why did you assign that fool Rikard to sentry
duty last night? An entire army could have marched past
directly below him and he would never have known it.”
“He’s a city-dweller,” Arnulf said with a sneer, as if
that explained everything.
“Rikard wasn’t the only sentry on duty last night,”
Alessandro said. “There were three others.”
“I was aware of them, and all three were alert to a man.
They are not the issue. Rikard is.”
“I posted him to sentry duty as a test. Since joining
the tribe, Rikard has been somewhat… ambivalent about
performing his duties. I wished to gauge the level of his
dedication by having him serve sentry duty for a few nights.
If he failed to perform his task well…” There was no need
to complete the thought. The tribe must be strong. Weak
members were culled from the ranks, one way or another.
“I am somewhat surprised that he not only survived
the ‘instruction’ you gave him last night,” Alessandro con-
tinued, “but that he returned to camp at all.”
“Perhaps he now wishes to prove himself to his khan,”
Arnulf suggested.
Tim Waggoner 33
“Perhaps,” Grandfather acknowledged. “Then again,
perhaps he wishes more.”
Qarakh scowled at the lore-keeper. “Such as?”
Grandfather’s only reply was a shrug. Qarakh hated it
when the old one did that.
“I shall keep close watch on him,” Alessandro prom-
ised.
“See that you do,” Qarakh said. “Now, to the matter
at hand: Deverra has had a vision.”
“Not a vision, precisely,” the priestess said. “More like
a warning from the land itself. A new enemy is coming, a
prince with the face of a boy.”
Qarakh caught a slight start in Grandfather, but it was
Arnulf who spoke first.
“Let the whelp come,” Arnulf said. “This tribe needs a
good battle.”
“Perhaps,” Qarakh said, but turned to the lore-keeper.
“You have something to add, Grandfather?”
The old Gangrel let almost a minute go by before
speaking. “When I roamed the woods west of the Alps, I
heard word of such a prince with the face of a boy. His
name was Alexander and he was terrible indeed. But he
was said to lair in Paris and never to venture from his city.
We are far from Paris indeed.”
Qarakh did not know of this Paris, but if he himself
could have come from far-off Mongolia he doubted very
much this Alexander couldn’t make the trip here if he
wished. But why would he wish it? The city-bred vampires
were sedentary, lairing behind their walls and feeding off
the fat merchants and harlots.
“Alexander no longer rules Paris,” Deverra said, in a
tone like a death knell. “He was exiled some years ago and
sent east.”
“Toward us,” Alessandro said.
“It would seem,” she said.
Grandfather frowned. “If so, this is distressing indeed.
The Alexander I knew of was a powerful ancient, Embraced
in Athens seven centuries before the birth of the Christian
god. If he has been driven from Paris, he will seek domin-
ion over others. It is in his blood.”
34 Gangrel
“Could he be allied with the knights we faced last
year?” Alessandro asked. “They were Germans, I thought,
but still…”
Arnulf snorted. “I’ve heard stories of French and Ger-
man high-bloods fighting together in the Carpathian wars.
Still, they were driven out then and they will be driven out
now.”
“Not easily, if he is nearly two millennia old,” Qarakh
said. “And even if this Alexander’s reputation is exagger-
ated, he will not come alone. He will bring a fighting force
with him. Perhaps large, perhaps small, but they will be
deadly to a man.”
“How do you know this?” Arnulf challenged.
“Because we defeated the smaller force last year.”
Qarakh smiled, displaying his fangs. “And because that is
what I would do.”
Alessandro looked thoughtful. “This would explain the
reports of trespassers that we have received of late. Perhaps
they are Alexander’s scouts.”
“Spies, you mean,” Arnulf growled.
“Whichever the case, we shall know more of that upon
Wilhelmina’s return,” Qarakh said. If she returns, whispered
his Beast.
“The question is why Alexander is marching on Livo-
nia,” Grandfather said.
“He no longer rules in Paris, and wishes to establish
his own empire here,” Deverra said.
Qarakh shook his head. “He is used to ruling a city. I
doubt he’s developed a sudden fondness for the wild. More
likely he is planning some manner of campaign to help re-
pair his damaged reputation.”
Arnulf nodded. “So he might increase his military
strength and ultimately return to Paris and take revenge
upon his usurpers.”
Qarakh grinned in agreement. “Again, that is what I
would do.”
“But we are still targets, whether or not he wants our
lands,” Deverra said. “If he has made common cause with
the Germans, then he will support their crusade. They seek
Tim Waggoner 35
to bring the Cross to Livonia. We are pagan heathens to
them.”
“You sound like Wilhelmina,” Alessandro said.
“The Christians rooted out her gods and they would
so the same to ours,” the priestess said.
“Your gods,” Arnulf said. “Not mine.”
The priestess looked at him for a moment before clos-
ing her mouth and averting her gaze.
“Enough,” Qarakh said. “There is only one way to know
Alexander’s intent for certain. I must parley with the former
Prince of Paris.”
“My khan,” Alessandro said, “let me go in your place.
I am expendable. You are not.”
Not for the first time, Qarakh thought the Brujah a
good man, and he was glad to have him as his second-in-
command. “Your bravery does you credit, Alessandro, but
were I to send anyone in my stead, this prince would be
sure to take that as a sign of weakness. Besides, I would see
this Alexander for myself, the better to gauge his strengths
and weaknesses.”
“If he has any,” Deverra added.
“All men—breathing or not—have at least one weak-
ness,” Grandfather said. “The trick is to learn what it is
and discover a way to exploit it.”
Arnulf stood and in a single fluid motion drew his ax
from the stump in which he’d planted it. “Everything falls
before a keen-edged blade and a strong arm! That is all we
need!”
“Hush now,” Deverra said. “You’re scaring the mor-
tals.”
True enough, a number of villagers were looking in
their direction with expressions of alarm. Standing and
swinging his ax, hair wild, razorlike teeth bared, Arnulf
looked like a demon from the deepest pits of hell.
The Goth warrior laughed. “What do I care for mor-
tals? Let them be afraid!”
“If you scare them, they will leave,” Alessandro said.
“And they will take their blood with them.”
Arnulf considered this for a moment before lowering
his ax and once again taking his seat. He looked down at
36 Gangrel
the broken shards of his mug lying in the grass, then lifted
his head and cupped his hands to his mouth. “More!” he
bellowed, and a half-dozen ghouls snapped to attention and
scurried to fill mugs from open veins.
Qarakh smiled. In many ways, Arnulf was the Beast
made solid: He lived solely to hunt, kill, feed and sleep.
Qarakh envied the Goth’s simplicity and wished that his
own existence could be so uncomplicated. But he was khan,
and he couldn’t afford to live like an animal, much as he
might want to. Not if his tribe was to thrive and prosper.
They waited until the ghouls had served them once
more before resuming their council.
Qarakh turned to Alessandro. “I will leave tomorrow
night in search of Alexander and his men. Most likely they
will approach from the southwest, so that is where I shall
look first. In the meantime, send out our swiftest runners
to spread the word: I want all of our wanderers to return to
the camp lands as fast as they can. And I want all Cainites
in the tribe—including the four of you—to send forth ap-
peals to whatever childer they might have. Though they
are not members of our tribe, ask if they will stand and
fight with their sires should Alexander and his forces at-
tack. More, tell them to bring whatever ghouls and thralls
they possess. If we are Alexander’s true target, we will need
all the people we can get as quickly as we can get them.”
“Yes, my khan,” Alessandro said.
Qarakh nodded, then turned to Deverra. “Send word
to your coven and fellow priests. We will need them as well.”
Deverra merely nodded, saying nothing.
“And do you have a task for me, great khan?” Grand-
father asked, without the slightest hint of mockery in his
voice, though he was older than Qarakh by hundreds, per-
haps even thousands, of years.
“Search your memory for all that you know of
Alexander, and find out more any way that you can. If I am
to fight this boy-faced monster, I need to know him as well
as I know myself. Better, even.”
Grandfather nodded. “As you will.”
“As for myself, I shall—”
“Master?”
Tim Waggoner 37
Qarakh whirled, a snarl on his lips. It was Sasha.
The ghoul held up his hands in a placating gesture
and took a step back. “I— I hate to interrupt, but there is
among the villagers a man and woman who were recently
married and are now expecting their first child. They seek
your blessing, yours and Mistress Deverra’s.”
Qarakh was beginning to wish he’d killed Sasha in-
stead of Pavla last night.
Deverra stood and held out her hand to the Mongol.
“Come, my consort. We have a holy duty to perform.” She
grinned.
The blessing consisted of Qarakh and Deverra drink-
ing from the bride at the same time—one on either side of
the woman’s neck. Not only did Qarakh dislike drinking
from the neck as a rule, the intimacy of performing the
ritual with the Telyav was… disquieting.
He took her hand—only because he knew the villag-
ers would expect it—and stood. “You are enjoying this
entirely too much.”
She grinned even wider. “Come, let us—”
Before she could finish, one of the lower-ranking
Cainites standing watch at the edge of the camp shouted,
“A rider approaches from the west!”
Qarakh swore. If the thrice-damned mortals hadn’t
been making so much noise, he would have heard the rider
himself long before now. He turned to the Goth. “Arnulf?”
The warrior stood and inhaled deeply through his nos-
trils, eyes closed that he might better concentrate. When
he exhaled, he opened his eyes and said, “Wilhelmina.”
Qarakh started to relax, but then Grandfather said,
“And she’s brought us a present.”
38 Gangrel
Chapter Four
Tim Waggoner 39
shield with a white section at the top, on which two
black ravens sat with folded wings. Qarakh didn’t know
what the arms stood for, and he didn’t care; European
heraldry meant nothing to him. The man was a knight
of some sort, though probably not a Sword-Brother like
those they’d fought last year.
“You do your tribe credit, Wilhelmina,” Qarakh
said, “and you honor me with your gift. What is his
crime?” The Mongol knew that the man had done some-
thing serious for Wilhelmina to capture him alive. The
Viking maid usually didn’t take prisoners—especially
knights. Christian raiders had some years ago murdered
the other members of Wilhelmina’s war band by burn-
ing down their house. Upon learning of her band’s
destruction, she’d vowed to hunt down those respon-
sible and slay them all—which she did, mortal and
Cainite alike.
But she didn’t stop there. She continued killing
Christian knights and clergy, blaming their church for
her people’s deaths. She’d come to pagan Livonia and
joined Qarakh’s tribe because she believed they would
stand against the Christian scourge, perhaps even grow
to wipe it from the face of the earth. Qarakh wasn’t
certain how realistic a goal that was but had no inten-
tion of disabusing her of the notion. Even a Cainite
needed her dreams, dark as they might be.
Wilhelmina looked at her captive as if he were a par-
ticularly loathsome species of worm. “Poaching, my khan.”
Hackles rose and patches of fur sprung up on the
backs of the Mongol’s hands.
Slay him! shrieked the Beast. Tear his throat out!
Qarakh felt the change coming over him, and he
fought to resist it. Soon, he promised the Beast. For an
instant, he thought he would fail to hold back the trans-
formation, but then the fur subsided into the flesh of
his hands, and he had control once again—for the mo-
ment.
“What is your name?” he asked the prisoner.
The man affected a haughty air and answered in a
language Qarakh did not understand.
40 Gangrel
“He speaks French,” Grandfather said in the
Livonian the tribe had adopted. “He is Sir Marques de
Saignon, vassal of Alexander of Paris. He demands you
release him at once.” The lore-keeper did not stifle his
mocking tone.
Qarakh smiled just slightly and turned to
Wilhelmina.
“Two nights past, I encountered this one, two other
Cainites and six ghouls near the western village of
Burian,” she said. “All were on horseback, and all wore
mail and carried swords.”
Qarakh looked at the Viking’s horse and saw that
the prisoner’s weapon was lashed to her saddle. He re-
turned his gaze to Wilhelmina as she continued.
“I was patrolling the western marches of our terri-
tory, investigating reports of trespassers in the area. As
I rode past a small farmhouse, I saw a number of horses
outside, several untethered. I knew then that they were
ghouls ordered by their masters to remain put until they
returned. I dismounted, drew my sword and stepped in-
side. There I saw the knights gorging themselves on
mortal blood while the human ghouls stood to the side,
looking on with hungry eyes. The farmer, his wife and
their five children were all dead, their corpses dry and
brittle as old wood.”
Qarakh looked to the prisoner. Marques appeared
suddenly pale, even for a Cainite. Ruby beads of blood-
sweat had broken out on his forehead.
Wilhelmina went on. “I immediately attacked, and
since I had the advantage of surprise, I was able to slay one
of the Cainites and all of the ghouls without difficulty. This
one”—she nodded at her captive—“I was only able to
wound before the remaining knight, who was much more
experienced and skilled than his companions, drew his
weapon and engaged me in battle. I fought my best, but I
am shamed to admit that he escaped me and fled on his
steed. I debated whether to give chase, but in the end I
decided to take the wounded Cainite prisoner and bring
him here so that we might question him.”
Tim Waggoner 41
“There is no need for shame,” Qarakh said. “Nine
against one is poor odds; you acquitted yourself well.”
“Three against one,” Wilhelmina corrected. “The
ghouls hardly count.”
This time Qarakh did smile. “Nevertheless, I am
pleased.”
“After I disarmed and bound this one, I set the farm-
house aflame, both to release the family’s souls to
whatever afterlife awaited them and to conceal how they
had truly met their fate. I did not wish the villagers in
Burian to think we had begun to kill mortals for sport.”
Qarakh nodded. “Another wise move.” He gestured
toward the bound knight. “Did he say anything of note
on the way back to camp?”
“He prattled on in his bastard tongue,” she said.
“At one point he tried to offer me his purse, I think.”
Qarakh burst out laughing, as did Arnulf and
Grandfather. Marques looked like a little boy who didn’t
understand why the adults found him so amusing.
“Translate my words, lore-keeper.” The khan turned
once more to the captive knight. “You are a fool, Chris-
tian, damned by your own hungers. We do not care if a
Cainite who travels through our lands feeds while here,
but it is forbidden for anyone not of our tribe to kill a
mortal.”
He turned his back and waited until Grandfather
had finished translating. He then raised his voice so
that all in the camp—Cainite, ghoul, thrall and vil-
lager alike—could hear him. “This man is guilty of
participating in the slaughter of an entire family in the
west! What should be done with him?”
The villagers looked at each other, uncertain how
or even if they should respond. The ghouls and thralls
were likewise unsure, but one of the lower-ranking
Cainites—Rikard, in fact—shouted, “He must be pun-
ished!” His voice was hoarse, but his words were clear
enough.
Other Cainites took up the refrain then, chanting,
“Punish him, punish him, punish him!”
42 Gangrel
Deverra leaned close and whispered in his ear.
“What are you doing? We need to question him and
find out why Alexander has come to Livonia!”
“Don’t worry, priestess. I will learn the answers we
seek, but the mortals need to see us take a firm hand in
this matter. The herd must know that the shepherd pro-
tects them.” And that was true enough, but there was
another, deeper reason for what Qarakh intended to do,
even if he couldn’t fully admit it to himself: His Beast
had been put off long enough.
He turned to Wilhelmina. “Free his hands.”
The warrior-maid hesitated for a second, as if she
might question her khan’s command, but then she drew
a dagger from her belt, stepped closer to the mare and
began sawing at the leather binding Marques’s hands.
Within moments, he was rubbing his wrists and look-
ing at Qarakh quizzically, as if he didn’t quite know if
this turn of events was to his benefit.
The Mongol once more spoke to the knight. “Start
riding.”
Grandfather translated and when the knight stam-
mered out an answer, spoke to Qarakh. “He says he
doesn’t understand. Perhaps my French is not up to his
standards.”
It was Alessandro’s turn to speak up. “My khan, I
do not know what you have planned, but I beg you to
reconsider. If there is even the slightest chance that he
might escape—”
“There isn’t,” Qarakh said gruffly, his voice thick-
ening, growing bestial.
“But if he returns to his lord, he’ll be able to tell
him the exact location of our camp!” the Iberian per-
sisted. “At the very least we’ll have to take down the
gers and move our camp. I respectfully suggest that we
should—”
Alessandro grew silent as Grandfather placed a
hand on his shoulder.
“Do not provoke him,” the ancient said softly. “He
heeds the call of his Beast.”
Tim Waggoner 43
Qarakh heard the two talking about him as if he
weren’t present, but he didn’t care. The world had nar-
rowed to a tunnel at the end of which was Marques and
only Marques.
“Ride.” The word was barely recognizable as speech.
“Ride as if the Devil himself is nipping at your heels.”
Qarakh smiled, showing teeth grown wolfish. “Because
he will be.”
The Ventrue knight looked as if he might faint.
He understood the khan’s intent well enough, it seemed.
He grabbed the mare’s reins and gave them a yank. The
horse turned about and the knight dug his heels into
her sides and shouted, “Eeyah!” With a startled whinny,
the mare galloped away at full speed.
Qarakh’s body shifted, twisted and reformed until
the last semblance of humanity was gone. In his place
stood a large slavering gray wolf. The animal let forth a
howl and sprang forward.
The hunt was on.
***
Alessandro watched with mixed feelings as his khan
melted into the night. The Iberian had dedicated his
unlife to understanding the Beast, had spent decades
collecting every myth and legend he could find that
might provide insight into how best to handle the un-
dying hunger that dwelt within the heart of every
Cainite. He understood why Qarakh needed to deal with
the knight in this fashion, and he had to admit that
there was a certain benefit in extracting justice in front
of the assembled mortals—especially by performing the
“miracle” of shape-changing. Still, from a military stand-
point, he feared this hunt was a mistake. The khan
wouldn’t be able to restrain his Beast long enough to
question the knight before slaying him, and then what-
ever information they might have gained from the man
would die with him.
Not for the first time, the Iberian wondered at the
wisdom of attempting to forge a tribe comprised of those
who listened to their bestial natures. Those who trav-
eled that road were most often solitary wanderers, and
44 Gangrel
when they did come together, their raging tempers made
certain they didn’t remain so for long. Civilization was
anathema to them, and what was Qarakh’s tribe if not
an attempt at feral civilization? And yet, there was much
to recommend the tribe. Qarakh had based it on the
hunter-herder-nomad model of his homeland. Hunters
were free to roam as they saw fit, but the camp and tribal
territory gave them a home to return to when they
wished. Those who remained in the camp traveled from
village to village throughout the region, much as the
khan said Mongolian herders followed their animals
from one grazing place to another.
Our Beast is unlike a true animal, Qarakh had once
said. An animal follows its instincts, lives by certain pat-
terns of behavior. Not so the Beast. The only boundaries
on its hunger and rage are those that an individual Cainite
can impose. But the tribe—and the rules we live by—pro-
vide a tether for the Beast: one long enough to permit
freedom, but not so long as to allow it to run completely
wild. Mongols value a principle called yostoi—balance.
Within my tribe, balance between Cainite and Beast is pos-
sible.
Alessandro wanted to believe in Qarakh’s dream
of a feral tribe living in yostoi, and most nights he did.
But this night, watching his khan lope away in the form
of a wolf hungry for the kill, he wasn’t so certain.
“Damn him,” Arnulf growled. “Why should he have
all the fun?”
Alessandro turned to the Goth, intending to ex-
plain why it was necessary for the khan to go after the
Christian knight alone, but before he could speak,
Arnulf ’s form wavered and then a second wolf, this one
black and significantly larger than the one Qarakh had
become, stood in the warrior’s place.
With a yip at Alessandro, Arnulf took off in the
direction the knight and Qarakh had gone. The Ibe-
rian turned to Deverra and Grandfather. The Telyav
priestess seemed worried, but the lore-keeper just
shrugged. Wilhelmina watched Arnulf speed away, look-
ing as if she wished she could join the hunt too.
Tim Waggoner 45
Alessandro sighed. So much for yostoi.
***
Rikard watched as the four remaining members of
Qarakh’s inner circle went their separate ways. The
decrepit lore-keeper shuffled off toward his ger, moving
as if he felt as old as he looked, and the Telyav witch
walked away from the camp in the direction opposite
that which Qarakh and the Goth barbarian had taken,
shaking her head and muttering to herself. The Hound
of Iberia (and what exactly was that sobriquet supposed
to mean, anyway?) stood where he was a moment longer
before heading over to speak with one of the Cainites
standing guard at the edge of the camp. The
Norsewoman summoned a ghoul to tend to her horse
and then moved into the crowd of villagers to feed.
Rikard wasn’t quite sure what had just transpired be-
tween them—though he was certain it had something
to do with the knight Wilhelmina had taken prisoner—
and he didn’t really care. It just showed that Qarakh’s
all-important tribal rules applied to everyone but the
great khan himself. Alessandro—who did the actual
work of running the tribe while Qarakh was off roving
the devil only knew where—was forever drumming the
Tartar’s precious rules into the recruits’ heads.
Feed when you hunger, but kill only when necessary.
Show your enemies no mercy, but do not torment oth-
ers needlessly.
He touched his throat. The blood of the girl he’d
drained had healed him (and by Caine, hadn’t it been
sweet as sin?), but he could still feel the wound. At least
he could speak above a whisper now.
After Qarakh had cut his throat and shoved him
out of the tree, he’d lain insensate for a time. But he’d
managed to wake up and stagger back to the camp and
into the ger he shared with several other recent recruits
just as the first rays of dawn painted the eastern sky.
Do not torment others needlessly… kill only when nec-
essary. What rubbish! Qarakh had definitely tormented
him last night, and he’d nearly killed him as well. And
for what? To teach him a lesson? How necessary was that?
46 Gangrel
And what about hunting this Sir Marques? Was that
torment necessary? His companions and he had only
been feeding. That’s what mortals were for!
Being a night creature wasn’t about rules. It was
about freedom—the freedom to do whatever one wanted
whenever one wanted… and to whomever one wanted.
Rikard considered leaving the tribe that night.
With everything going on—the feast, Wilhelmina’s re-
turn, Qarakh and Arnulf both off hunting the
Frenchman—he could slip away without anyone notic-
ing. And even if they did notice, he could always claim
that he’d come down with a case of wanderlust. Half
the tribe wandered off like filthy nomads at the drop of
a hat anyway.
He had just about made up his mind to go (after
draining one more child, perhaps a boy this time) when
he noticed one of Qarakh’s ghouls walking toward the
khan’s ger. (What was the man’s name? Sasha. That was
it.) The ghoul heading to the tent wasn’t unusual—the
Tartar actually allowed his ghouls to share his sleeping
space, a practice that Rikard found not only distasteful
but somewhat on the deviant side. What was unusual
was the way the ghoul moved. Normally Sasha carried
himself with a dignity that, in the ghoul’s mind at least,
befitted his station. But now he barely lifted his feet off
the ground as he walked, and he kept his head hung
low, almost as if he were in mourning.
As he watched the ghoul step into the tent, Rikard
was at a loss to explain the man’s demeanor, but when
Sasha came back out of the tent carrying the body of
Qarakh’s other ghoul—a woman whose name Rikard
couldn’t remember—the Cainite grinned. The khan had
once again broken the rule about killing without ne-
cessity. Sasha carried the woman away from the camp,
and Rikard, intrigued, decided to postpone his leave-
taking long enough to discover how the ghoul intended
to dispose of the evidence of his khan’s hypocrisy.
And perhaps, Rikard thought as he began to follow,
stepping as silently as a stalking cat, I might be able to
pay back my almighty chieftain for giving me this little
Tim Waggoner 47
present. He rubbed the nonexistent wound on his throat
and thought black thoughts as he continued after Sasha.
***
“How can he be so foolish?”
He only follows his nature.
It was dark here—so dark that even with her night-
born eyes Deverra had trouble seeing. There were good
reasons this place was called the Grove of Shadows, but
the scarcity of light was the least of them.
“His ‘nature’ might well end up causing the death
of the entire tribe! Not to mention destroying every-
thing I have worked so hard to create!”
Death comes to all things—even such creatures as you.
I’m surprised you have forgotten this, since you serve the
Protector of the Dead. The voice sounded at once chid-
ing and amused.
The rebuke stung. Still, Deverra persisted. “But
Alexander—”
Will come, the voice interrupted. Whether the French
knight survives to be questioned or not will make no differ-
ence. Even now, the one who escaped the Norsewoman rides
toward his master’s encampment to report what has befallen
his comrades.
Deverra, though not affected by cold the same way
a mortal would be, nevertheless felt a chill run along
her spine.
“And what will happen then?” she asked.
The voice was silent for a long moment before an-
swering.
Death. What else is there?
48 Gangrel
Chapter Five
Tim Waggoner 49
devil. But most of all, he was afraid of disappointing his
lord—and of the punishment such disappointment
would bring.
Another high-pitched howl echoed through the
night, from somewhere off to his left.
Then again, he had other things to fear right now.
Things with fur and claws and far too many teeth.
Marques was an experienced horseman, and riding
at night was no problem for him, but he didn’t know
this land and was traveling too swiftly to note his sur-
roundings. Besides, everything looked the same: tree
after tree after tree, the pattern broken only by the oc-
casional grassy plain or marshy expanse. He was well
and truly lost, and even if by some stroke of good for-
tune he managed to evade his pursuers, come morning
he would have difficulty finding shelter from the sun’s
deadly light. He didn’t relish digging a sleeping place
with his bare hands. He could accomplish the task well
enough, but without help, it was difficult to—
He saw a gray blur out of the corner of his eye, and
then a heavy form slammed into his side and knocked
him off his mount. He crashed into the ground, and
only the hardiness of his undead frame kept him from
breaking any bones. He tried to rise, but the great gray
wolf that had attacked him pinned him down. Its foam-
flecked muzzle was only inches from his face, and its
eyes burned with a bottomless hunger.
The mare continued galloping, whinnying in ter-
ror as she ran. Marques knew exactly how she felt, but
he couldn’t afford to allow his fear to control him, not
if he wanted to survive the night. He grabbed the pa-
gan chieftain by the throat—who else could it be?—with
both hands and squeezed. If the wolf had been a mortal
animal, he might’ve hoped to cut off its air, but this
was a Cainite in wolfish skin. The best he could hope
for was to snap its neck, and as strong as the Mongol
was, even that would only slow him down. But during
the few moments it would take him to heal, Marques
could break a limb off a tree and jam the wood through
the beast’s heart. Despite mortal legends, such an in-
50 Gangrel
jury would only paralyze a Cainite, not kill it, but that
would be more than enough. With the Gangrel rendered
helpless, Marques could make his escape and leave his
enemy to the unforgiving rays of the morning sun.
The wolf growled in frustration as it attempted to
break free of Marques’s grip, but Marques was no weak-
ling. His blood-filled muscles pressed ever harder. He
forced the wolf ’s head back slowly, inch by torturous
inch, until he felt vertebrae grind. But then the Mon-
gol pushed back, jaws snapping, eager to find purchase
on Christian flesh. Marques’s arms began to tremble
from the effort of holding the beast at bay. Marques was
strong, yes, but not strong enough. He knew it would
be mere moments before the wolf broke free from his
grip and tore his throat out.
A shadow leaped forth from the darkness and struck
the gray wolf in the side. The Mongol was knocked out
of Marques’s hands, and the impact sent both of them
tumbling. When the knight stopped rolling, he quickly
scuttled backward on all fours like a crab. There were
two wolves now—one gray, one black—and they stood
muzzle to muzzle, growling and snarling. They then be-
gan to slowly circle one another, gazes locked, animal
eyes unblinking as each searched for an opening to at-
tack.
Marques wasn’t certain what was going on here—
perhaps one of the Tartar’s tribesmen had taken this
opportunity to challenge his leader?—but he didn’t re-
ally care. For whatever reason, Providence had granted
him a chance to escape.
He got to his feet and started running.
***
The Gray’s first instinct was to attack the newcomer
for having the audacity to interfere with his hunt, but
even though he was possessed by the fury of the Beast,
he still retained enough sense of self to recognize the
black wolf ’s scent.
Kill! shrieked the Beast that shared his soul. Kill
him now!
Tim Waggoner 51
The Gray wanted to—but he couldn’t escape the
niggling feeling that there was some reason he shouldn’t.
If only he could remember…
But before the memory could return to him, the
Black charged. The Beast urged him to meet his attacker
head on, but instead the Gray waited until the last in-
stant then darted to the side, nipping the Black on the
haunch as he passed—hard enough to hurt, but not hard
enough to do any real damage.
No! protested the Beast. Claw-bite-tear-rip-chew-
swallow-bite again! Kill-kill-kill-kill-kill!
The Black howled more in frustration than in pain,
and spun around to attack again. But before he could
complete the maneuver, the Gray lowered his head and
butted him in the side, knocking him down. The Gray
pressed his advantage by leaping atop the Black and
fastening his dripping jaws on the other’s throat.
Yes!
The Gray’s teeth—all of them long and needle-
sharp now, not just the canines—dimpled the flesh of
the black wolf ’s neck. All it would take was a bit more
pressure, and the skin would be pierced and sweet blood
would gush into the Gray’s mouth, splash hot and thick
on his tongue, slide down his throat and into a belly
that was a cold aching pit of endless need.
Do it!
And the Gray almost did. But his nostrils were full
of the Black’s scent, and a name drifted into his mind
to accompany the smell: Arnulf. It was quickly followed
by another name: Qarakh.
The Gray released the Black’s neck and stepped
back. The black wolf ’s body shimmered, blurred and
reformed into that of a large black-bearded man with a
scar running across one eye and a huge grin splitting
his face.
“Good fight! For a moment there, I actually thought
you were going to tear my throat out!”
The Gray vanished and in his place stood Qarakh.
“For a moment, I was.”
52 Gangrel
The Goth laughed. He rose to his feet and clapped
the Mongol on the shoulder. “What do you say we fin-
ish this hunt together, eh?”
Qarakh was irritated at Arnulf for horning in on
his hunt, but he understood the Goth’s need to periodi-
cally test his leader. If he were in Arnulf ’s place, he
would likely do the same.
Qarakh returned the warrior’s grin. “If you can keep
up.”
Seconds later, two sleek wolfish forms bounded off
into the night. Soon after, a Cainite named Marques
screamed as he was torn apart by two sets of fang-filled
mouths.
He didn’t scream for very long.
***
Arnulf licked a smear of crimson from the back of
his hand. “Not bad at all.”
Qarakh looked away as the Goth warrior contin-
ued licking his hand like a cat cleaning itself, lest his
Beast be roused again. “His master will not be so easy
to fell, I think.”
Arnulf lowered his hand and started working on
the other, speaking between licks. “Let him come. Him
and however many other weaklings he has with him.”
Qarakh nodded to the grisly mutilated thing that
had once been Marques. “We have no way of finding
out anymore, do we?”
“So, will you tend to the ghoul now?” Arnulf asked.
For a moment, Qarakh wasn’t certain what the
Goth was talking about, but then he remembered Sasha.
“May I join you? It won’t be much of a hunt com-
pared to this,” Arnulf said as he gestured at the ravaged
remains of Marques. “But blood is blood.”
Qarakh had been reconsidering killing Sasha, but
now he knew that he had no choice. If he failed to slay
the ghoul, he would lose face in Arnulf ’s eyes. As khan,
it was vital that he maintain face at all times—espe-
cially when it came to a member of his tribe as powerful
as the Goth. “Sasha has served me well. I would do him
Tim Waggoner 53
the honor of a swift death at the hands of his master
alone.”
Arnulf shrugged. “I shall see what other prey might
be abroad this night.” The Goth exchanged his human
form for that of a wolf then melted into the darkness,
off on the hunt once more.
Qarakh lingered a moment, looking at what was
left of Marques and wondering how Alexander would
react to the death of his vassal. Then he too became a
wolf and loped off in the direction of the camp.
***
Sasha touched the flame to the pyre and stepped
back. There had been little rain for the last few weeks,
and the wood was dry and caught fire easily. He tossed
the torch he’d used to set the pyre aflame at Pavla’s feet
then said a silent prayer to commend her spirit to
Telyavel. The growing light from the blaze cast flicker-
ing, distorted shadows throughout the clearing, as if the
shades of those who had already passed over to the realm
of the dead had come to welcome a new soul into their
midst.
The smell of burning flesh and hair turned his stom-
ach. He thought that he might vomit, but he swallowed
several times and managed not to. He was sure Pavla
would forgive him if he did, but he didn’t want to spoil
her funeral rite, simple and inadequate though it might
be.
The life of a mortal servant to the tribe wasn’t al-
ways an easy one, and on some level he was happy that
Pavla had found release. He supposed he had loved her,
though it was difficult to say. It was true that they had
lain together and had both found pleasure in it, but the
act was nothing compared to simply being in the pres-
ence of their master, let alone taking in his holy blood.
So though he felt sadness at Pavla’s passing and anger
at their master for taking her life, the emotions were
muted and distant, almost as if they belonged to some-
one else who had only told Sasha about them. He
wondered if he’d still feel them tomorrow night, or if
he would remember feeling them at all.
54 Gangrel
Sasha was used to serving his lord at night, and
though his senses were nowhere near as keen as those
of the khan, he was suddenly aware of a presence in the
clearing. At first he thought it might be the priestess
Deverra, come to offer a benediction for Pavla. But when
he turned, he saw that the newcomer was a male Cainite,
one of the recent additions to the tribe.
He smiled at Sasha, though he eyed the burning
pyre nervously and kept his distance from it. “It appears
that your master has decided that one ghoul is suffi-
cient for his needs.”
Sasha didn’t respond. Though he was subordinate
to any Cainite tribesman, his master was the khan, and
that gave him a certain amount of status. He didn’t feel
bound to answer.
The Cainite’s smile turned sly and his eyes nar-
rowed dangerously. “Shall we see if he can make do
without any at all?”
Before Sasha could react, the Cainite was upon him.
***
Qarakh stood before the smoldering remains of a crude
funeral pyre upon which rested two burnt and blackened
bodies. After leaving Arnulf, he had returned to the camp
where he had picked up Sasha’s scent and followed it here.
True to his word, the ghoul had taken care of disposing
Pavla’s body, but it seemed he had also decided to dispose
of his own in the bargain. Qarakh should have been pleased.
If nothing else, Sasha had done his work for him, as a faith-
ful servant should, but he felt ambivalent. These two had
been his only human ghouls, and he had no childer. The
bonds of such relationships were difficult for one with a
nomad’s heart, and they always seemed like cheap imita-
tions of the true love-bond he had with Aajav, one that
had started in life as blood brothers and carried over through
the half life of drinking Aajav’s blood and then into his
Embrace. He should have been relieved to be free of such
ties, but for some reason he wasn’t. Could Sasha have truly
cared for Pavla so much that he refused to live without
her? Could those servants have shared something as strong
as his bond with Aajav?
Tim Waggoner 55
It was all too confusing. He needed to clear his mind
and regain his focus before setting out to parley with
Alexander, and there was only one person who could help
him do that.
He took wolf form and bounded away, leaving the clear-
ing and the earthly remains of two mortals who had meant
more to him than they should have.
***
As soon as Qarakh was gone, Rikard stepped out from
behind the tree where he had been hiding. He had been
afraid the Mongol would smell him, but it seemed the stink
of burnt flesh had concealed his scent.
Before slaying Qarakh’s ghoul, Rikard had persuaded
the mortal to tell what he’d learned during the Mongol’s
war council. Servants often overheard more than their
masters thought, and the ghoul had been no exception.
And thus Rikard had learned a most interesting tidbit of
information: Alexander of Paris had come to Livonia.
When he had finished questioning the ghoul—who
had little more to add—Rikard drained the mortal dry, then
tossed him onto the pyre and remained to watch him burn
(from a safe distance, of course). He had still been watch-
ing when Qarakh drew near wearing the body of a wolf.
While Rikard possessed no such shape-shifting abilities him-
self, his Cainite hearing was more than sharp enough to
detect Qarakh’s approach (when he paid attention, that
is), and he’d manage to vacate the clearing and make it to
the trees in time to hide himself before the khan’s arrival.
He had watched Qarakh standing before the pyre, face
impassive, expression unreadable as always, before the chief-
tain returned to his animal form and departed.
Rikard was disappointed, though he couldn’t say ex-
actly why. He’d known better than to expect any great show
of grief from Qarakh over the loss of his ghoul. Killing the
kine had been a small act of petty revenge, and Rikard had
known it. Still, now that he’d seen how little impact the
mortal’s death had had on Qarakh, Rikard was filled with a
desire to strike back against the Tartar in a way that would,
if not destroy him, at least harm him significantly.
He touched his throat before following after Qarakh.
56 Gangrel
Chapter Six
Tim Waggoner 57
padding alongside. When he reached the base of the
hill, he ordered them to stay. The wolves whined in
protest, but they did as their master commanded, cir-
cling three times before lying down, heads on paws, tails
tucked beneath them.
Qarakh climbed to the top of the hill, then sat
cross-legged, hands on his knees, facing the south. As
always when he came here, he was struck by how peace-
ful a location this was: trees all around, but none so
close or so tall as to block the view of the night sky, and
less than a quarter of a mile away was a small stream.
Water was sacred to Mongols—streams, rivers, lakes and
oceans were passageways for spirits traveling between
the worlds. All together, it made for an appropriate place
for his brother.
“I hope you are well, Aajav. It was been too long
since we last spoke, and much has happened.” Precisely
how long it had been, Qarakh wasn’t certain. The Mon-
golian people didn’t keep track of time the same way
Europeans did, and the passage of the days, weeks,
months and years had meant even less to him since his
Embrace. “I have seen many things in my travels, and I
am eager to tell you of them, but first I must speak of
the tribe and of a prince named Alexander.”
He told Aajav of all that had happened since his
return to the tribe—Deverra’s warning, Marques’s cap-
ture and execution, and his inner circle’s speculations
on Alexander’s motives for coming to Livonia. He also
spoke of Rikard’s negligence during sentry duty and the
bloody lesson it had earned him.
“In many ways, it is Rikard who concerns me most.
Not merely him, but what his level of preparedness and
dedication tells me about the readiness of the tribe to
engage in battle. Alessandro, Arnulf and Wilhelmina
are all skilled warriors, and though Deverra is a sha-
man, her mystic powers would be an asset in a fight.
Grandfather likes to present the appearance of an aged
elder, but that is only a mask: His experience and cun-
ning make him a most deadly opponent. But the
majority of the tribe is made up of ghouls and thralls,
58 Gangrel
and the other night-walkers are mostly untested—and
many of them are wanderers who aren’t currently in
range of the camp. None were trained warriors before
joining the tribe, and while Alessandro has done well
teaching them, they still have much to learn. Should
Alexander attack the campsite, I fear that we will be
unable to defend ourselves against him.”
He paused, as if giving Aajav an opportunity to
answer, though he knew his brother-cum-sire could not.
Aajav lay interred in the hill’s soil, swaddled in dark-
ness, deep in the torpid slumber caused by terrible
wounds. He’d slumbered for years now, and according
to Deverra, he might well remain in that deathlike state
for decades longer—or more. Many times had the sha-
man attempted to use her magic to revive Aajav, but so
far with little success. Still, her spells had managed to
accomplish one thing….
Qarakh put his fingers into his mouth and bit down
to the bone. He then pushed his fingers into the ground
directly above where Aajav lay and allowed his blood
to soak into earth that had been infused with Telyavic
enchantments. He closed his eyes and concentrated, as
Deverra had taught him, and reached out with his mind.
Aajav?
At first he felt nothing, and he began to fear that
Deverra’s spell had finally run its course, but then the
first tentative tendrils of thought extended toward him,
and he knew that the priestess’s magic remained as po-
tent as ever.
Though he didn’t need to breathe, he nevertheless
let out a sigh of relief and waited for whatever message
Aajav might have for him.
***
The night presented a dizzying array of sights,
sounds and scents more intoxicating than qumis could
ever be. Qarakh—newly Embraced—thought he could
spend eternity exploring this new world and never grow
tired of it—especially if he could continue to explore it
with his brother.
Tim Waggoner 59
“What is wrong with you, Qarakh? You run as grace-
fully as a mare about to give birth!” Aajav laughed as
he put on a burst of speed and flew across the plain, his
feet barely touching the ground.
Qarakh tried to concentrate on moving like Aajav,
but his legs felt heavy and clumsy, not much different
than they had when he was mortal. Aajav had told him
numerous times that he was yet an infant to this new
life in darkness and should be patient while he adjusted.
But even after the strange apprenticeship of having been
Aajav’s ghoul, this new state—being a true night-
walker—was like being a baby again: learning how to
eat, how to sleep, how to use his newfound abilities.
For a warrior such as Qarakh, who was used to being
master of both his body and his environment, the frus-
tration was at times almost intolerable.
But this realm of darkness he now inhabited had
its compensations. His senses had sharpened to an un-
imaginable degree—sounds now had texture and taste.
Smells had color and mass. The wind whispered secrets
from the dawn of time, and the soil beneath his feet
spoke of eternities yet to come.
And then, of course, there was the glory of the hunt,
the ecstasy of the kill, and the joy and wonder of blood.
Ahead of him by many yards, Aajav suddenly stopped.
One instant he was a blur of motion, the next he stood
still as a rock. Qarakh caught up with him a moment
later, marveling at how he felt no aftereffects of exer-
tion: no panting breaths, no pounding pulse, only a light
sheen of blood-sweat on his forehead.
“What is wrong?” he asked his sire. “Do you grow
tired of playing chase?”
In reply, Aajav merely pointed, a grim expression
on his face. They stood at the edge of a depression in
the plain not quite large enough to be called a valley.
At the bottom lay the mutilated bodies of a half dozen
horses, saddled for riding in the Mongolian fashion. The
stink of animal blood lay heavy in the air, along with
something richer that made Qarakh’s mouth water.
“Anda,” Aajav said.
60 Gangrel
Qarakh saw them then, several desiccated bodies
strewn among the horseflesh. They looked like corpses
left out in the harsh steppe winter, even though it was
well into spring. Dried and blackened, their skin
stretched taut across bones with little hint of flesh be-
neath it. They were freshly slain night-walkers, their
bodies withering away to dust but not yet eroded.
The smell is their blood, said a voice deep in Qarakh’s
unbeating heart. It should be ours.
Qarakh couldn’t imagine who—or what—could
have done such a thing to a party of Anda. They were
also beings of darkness and lived in secret among the
Mongolian tribes. While he was still new to the shad-
owy existence of night-walkers, Qarakh understood that
even though he and Aajav were Mongolian, they were
of a different clan from the Anda, a clan called Gangrel.
He also knew that while the Anda tolerated Aajav—
for he had been Embraced by a wandering Gangrel who
had been impressed with his battle skill and the Anda
did not blame him for it—they did not fully accept him
either. As far as they were concerned, he was not Anda
and never would be. The Anda maintained strict con-
trol over who was Embraced on the steppe, and when
Aajav sought permission to make Qarakh his childe,
the Anda had denied him. So Aajav, being Aajav, had
done it anyway. The Anda were unaware of Qarakh’s
existence, and if they learned of it, they would most
likely condemn them both to the Final Death.
“We should go, and quickly,” Aajav said. Qarakh
was surprised to detect a note of fear in his sire’s voice.
He had known Aajav since they were children, and he
had never seen his blood brother display fear toward
any man or beast before.
“What is wrong?”
Aajav replied in a hushed tone. “They have been
slain by one of the Ten Thousand Demons.” He sniffed.
“And not that long ago. We must flee before—”
The air next to Aajav rippled like water, and where
there had been nothing a moment before, now stood a
horse and rider. The rider’s features were those of a man
Tim Waggoner 61
from the other side of the Great Wall, nothing demonic
about him at all, save that his ears tapered to slight
points, and the hairs of his neatly trimmed beard writhed
slowly as if they were tiny black serpents. He wore the
armor of an eastern warrior, comprised of many inter-
locking scales that hung down to his knees like a
woman’s skirt. A horse’s mane adorned his helmet, and
his armor blazed with reds, oranges and yellows. The
warrior’s horse was black, but not, Qarakh realized, be-
cause the animal had an ebon coat; the creature seemed
to be formed from living shadow.
The demon made no move to attack. Indeed, he
didn’t appear to possess any weapons: no sword, no dag-
ger. He merely sat astride his strange mount—no reins
and no saddle either, Qarakh noted—and regarded them
impassively.
Aajav interposed himself between the demon and
Qarakh. “Back away slowly, my brother. You are still
too young in darkness to stand against such a being.”
Part of Qarakh was grateful for Aajav’s protection,
but another part was furious. Not only was Qarakh a
warrior born and bred, he was also a dark and terrible
master of the night. What had he to fear from a sup-
posed demon that didn’t even carry a sword?
This demon slew an entire party of Anda, he reminded
himself.
But then the voice inside him spoke again, this time
tinged with fury. This, Qarakh realized, was the Beast
in his heart. The Anda were weak; you are strong. Attack
and kill!
Qarakh tensed his muscles and bared his teeth, pre-
pared to spring at this so-called demon, but before he
could make a move, the eastern warrior raised his hands
and grinned, displaying his own set of fangs. Talons of
white bone pierced the flesh of the demon’s fingers,
lengthening and growing sharper until each was as long
as a short sword. Qarakh suddenly understood why the
demon (and he now had no trouble at all believing this
creature was indeed one) didn’t carry weapons of steel.
He didn’t need them.
62 Gangrel
The demon sprang from the shadow mount’s back
and landed on the ground without making a sound. He
turned toward the horse, opened his mouth, and took
in a deep breath. The ebon substance of the steed broke
apart like black fog, and the demon drew the dark wisps
into his lungs. Within seconds, the horse was gone, com-
pletely assimilated by its master. The demon was larger
now, nearly half again the size he had been, as if he had
added his mount’s strength and mass to his own. His
armor had stretched somewhat to accommodate his new
form, though it was still constricting.
The demon turned back to face them and then,
faster than even Qarakh’s undead eyes could follow,
plunged the bone claws of his right hand into Aajav’s
belly. Aajav cried out in pain as the demon, grinning
the entire time, lifted him into the air. Black blood
gushed from Aajav’s belly, but it didn’t splash onto the
ground. Instead the blood was absorbed directly into
the demon’s skin, the pores on his hand opening like
tiny mouths and drinking greedily. Whatever else this
demon was, Qarakh knew that it subsisted on the life
fluid of others, just as they did.
Qarakh then forgot that this thing was a demon,
forgot that he was, according to Aajav, too young to
battle it. All he knew was that the man who was both
his bonded brother and his sire in darkness was in agony
and losing blood fast. Qarakh rushed around to the
demon’s side, grabbed the creature’s arm with both hands
and pulled, hoping to dislodge Aajav from the talons
that held him above the ground. But no matter how
much strength he put into the effort, Qarakh was un-
able to budge the demon’s arm. In fact, the demon didn’t
appear to even notice his presence. The fiend was star-
ing intently at Aajav’s too-pale face, determined to not
miss a single moment of his destruction.
Qarakh released the demon’s arm and stepped back.
If he couldn’t best the monster with strength, he’d try
steel. He drew his saber, gripped it with both hands,
and swung it at the demon’s arm with all his might. The
blade sliced through the fiend’s flesh and struck bone
Tim Waggoner 63
with an impact so jarring that Qarakh wouldn’t have
been surprised if the sword had snapped in two. The
saber didn’t break, but neither did it have much effect
on the demon. No blood ran from the injury Qarakh
had inflicted, and if the creature was in any pain, he
didn’t show it. He did, however, turn away from watch-
ing Aajav wither and looked at Qarakh with narrowed
eyes.
Qarakh attempted to yank his saber free, but it was
stuck fast, as if the demon were somehow holding onto
the blade with the bone itself. Qarakh swore and re-
leased the handle of his weapon and ran to grab hold of
Aajav’s legs. If the thrice-damned demon wouldn’t re-
lease his blood brother, then Qarakh would just have
to pull him free.
Aajav screamed as Qarakh tugged, and he slipped
off the demon’s talons with a shower of blood. Both
Qarakh and Aajav tumbled backward, and Qarakh made
sure to cushion his brother’s fall with his own body. Now
that Aajav was no longer in contact with the demon,
there was a chance his injuries might heal—if Qarakh
could keep the demon away from him.
He shoved Aajav to the side, mentally apologizing
for being so rough, and leaped to his feet. The demon
was looking with amusement at the saber still lodged in
his arm. He reached up with his other hand and pulled
the sword free. As his wound healed, the demon turned
the blade first one way, then the other, as if examining
the craftsmanship that went into making it. He then
drew his arm back and hurled the saber into the dis-
tance. Qarakh didn’t bother to see where it landed—it
was clearly too far away to do him any good now.
The demon then turned to face Qarakh and grinned
so wide that the corners of his mouth split open. His
teeth grew longer, wider, thicker, skin peeling away from
the mouth in all directions until it seemed to Qarakh
there was nothing else left: no lips, cheeks, nose or eyes,
just a gigantic tooth-filled maw.
It was then that Qarakh knew he and Aajav were
going to die for the second and last time.
64 Gangrel
Not if you listen to me, said a guttural voice.
The demon came toward Qarakh, claws held at its
sides, needle-sharp tips clacking together eagerly as it
walked.
Very well, Qarakh thought. What must I do?
The voice answered with undisguised glee. Take
Aajav’s saber and leave the rest to me.
The demon was almost upon them now, and Qarakh
thought he could see black things squirming behind its
oversized teeth.
He didn’t hesitate. He bent down next to Aajav,
who lay motionless—unconscious or dead, Qarakh
couldn’t tell—and drew his brother’s sword. He gripped
it tight, straightened and waited for the voice that was
his Beast to keep its promise.
Fury welled up inside Qarakh beyond anything he
had ever known. It was as if a raging fire filled his be-
ing. No, it was as if he were fire… a vast inferno blazing
higher and wider than the Great Wall itself, sweeping
across the steppe and devouring everything in its path.
Qarakh lifted Aajav’s saber, gave forth a bellow that
sounded like the combined roars of a dozen Siberian
tigers, and charged at the demon. He moved faster than
ever before, fast even for one of his dark kind, and be-
fore the demon could do more than begin to raise its
taloned hands to defend itself, Qarakh swung the saber
in a vicious arc and sliced through the fiend’s neck.
The demon’s head sailed through the air, its maw
shrinking as it flew. No blood bubbled up from the
wound. In fact, all that was visible inside its neck was
darkness, as if the demon were hollow inside. The head
hit the ground and bounced once, twice, three times
before finally coming to rest on its right ear. Qarakh
expected the body to collapse now that it was bereft of
a head, but it continued to stand, waiting patiently for
whatever would happen next.
The fire that burned so strong and hot inside
Qarakh dwindled quickly from an inferno to a mere
campfire before extinguishing altogether. Qarakh ran
Tim Waggoner 65
his tongue over his teeth and found them sharper than
before. The Beast had left its mark on him.
He started toward the demon’s head, intending to
destroy it, but before he had taken more than a few steps,
the head opened its mouth and a long prehensile tongue
snaked out. The tongue split into a fork at the tip, and
then the head “stood up” and the tongue walked it back
to the waiting body. The body knelt and picked up the
head with its claws and gently set it atop the stump.
Cut flesh fused together and the head was once more
where it belonged. The tongue slithered back into the
mouth, and the talons retracted into the fingers from
which they’d grown. The demon, fully restored now,
looked at Qarakh for a moment before nodding his head
as if in a show of respect to a worthy adversary.
In the strange way of dreams of vision, Qarakh was
suddenly aware of what should happen next—of what
had occurred when this confrontation had actually oc-
curred years ago. The fiend would lean over and vomit
a gout of blackness onto the ground. The inky mass
would then rise up, coalesce and solidify into the shape
of a horse, and without another look at either Qarakh
or Aajav, the demon would mount the steed and ride
off toward the east. Qarakh would then see to Aajav,
who despite being in desperate need of blood, would
refuse to take Qarakh’s. Qarakh would then carry his
brother-cum-sire to the corpses of the Anda and their
steeds and help him drink the blood the demon had
left behind.
But none of that happened. Instead, after the de-
mon reattached its severed head, it spoke. And the voice
that issued from his mouth was a familiar one to Qarakh.
It was the voice of the Beast.
“That was the first time you truly gave yourself over
to me, and it saved both you and your beloved sire.”
Qarakh experienced a wave of dizziness followed
by a sensation of separation, as if his very self were be-
ing split down the middle. One part of him was still the
young Cainite who had barely survived an encounter
with one of the Ten Thousand Demons, but another
66 Gangrel
part was a decade older, khan of a tribe of Cainites far
away from his beloved steppe. The older Qarakh now
spoke face to face with his Beast.
“It was also the last time,” he said. After the per-
manent physical change that had taken place—the
slight sharpening of all his teeth—Qarakh had realized
that giving in completely to the Beast exacted a heavy
toll, one that he was unwilling to pay. Ever since that
night on the steppe, he had worked to keep his Beast
placated so that he might live in yostoi with it, and for
the most part, he had succeeded. When fury came, he
rode it like a wild mare, shaping it to its own ends and
never surrendering outright.
The Beast smiled with the demon’s mouth. “That
does not mean it will be the only time.”
Qarakh was rapidly losing patience with the Beast.
Though the older part of him knew this was but a
memory that had given way to a dream-vision, his
younger half worried about tending to his wounded
brother.
“I have no time for games,” Qarakh said. “I have
merely to will my physical body to withdraw my hand
from the earth, and this spell will be broken. So if you
have something to say to me, say it, and speak clearly,
without riddles.”
The demon’s face scowled, but the Beast did as
Qarakh commanded. “Before this is all over, you will
need me, Qarakh. And when that moment comes, you
shall be mine. Forever.”
Qarakh didn’t have to ask what the Beast meant.
“Perhaps I will need to make use of you again, but hear
this: I am Qarakh, known to some as the Untamed. No
man—or Beast—shall ever be my master.”
The demon’s mouth laughed and its arm gestured
toward the depression where the slaughtered Anda vam-
pires lay. “That is the ultimate fate of those who are
foolish enough to believe that they can resist me. My
way isn’t about yostoi; it’s about submission, about giv-
ing yourself to me completely—mind, bo dy and
spirit—so that we can become one.”
Tim Waggoner 67
Qarakh shook his head. “No, that way lies noth-
ing but madness and soul-death.”
The demon’s mouth stretched into a skin-tear-
ing grin. “Doesn’t it sound glorious? But enough
talk.” The Beast raised the demon’s left hand and
once more bone talons sprang forth from the
creature’s fingertips. “It’s time I paid you back for
decapitating me. A head for a head.”
As the demon made ready to strike, the younger
half of Qarakh mentally protested. It was the demon
whose head I cut off, not yours! But the older half knew
there was no point in arguing with the Beast. As the
talons streaked toward him, Qarakh closed his eyes
and willed his physical body to withdraw his hand
from the earthen mound…
***
… and he opened his eyes.
He yanked his fingers free of the earth as if they’d
been bitten. He knew that if he’d still been mortal,
his heart would have been pounding as if he had suf-
fered through a nightmare. He supposed in a way he
had.
He glanced toward the eastern horizon, and
though no human eye could’ve detected it yet, he
saw the first faint hint of the approaching dawn. It
would still be an hour or so before the light became
strong enough to be dangerous, more than enough
time for him to assume wolf form and return to his
ger. If necessary, he could always inter himself within
the ground he stood upon when the sun began to rise.
He could even sink into the mound and spend the
day with Aajav if he wished, though after the vision
he had just experienced, he was uncomfortable with
the notion.
He continued to sit cross-legged atop the mound
and pondered what the vision might mean. He was
certain that it meant something; all visions held
meaning. The trick was interpreting them. Qarakh’s
vision had begun as a memory of the night Aajav
and he had faced the eastern demon on the steppe,
68 Gangrel
and it had ended with what sounded like a threat
from the Beast that dwelt inside him.
His Beast had never spoken of such things be-
fore. Ordinarily it confined itself to urging Qarakh
to give free reign to his fury and to kill without re-
straint. Qarakh had no idea whether any other
Cainites experienced their Beasts as voices in their
heads. Grandfather and Alessandro were both schol-
ars of a sort in such things, but as khan, Qarakh felt
he could not confide in them. The details of his own
struggles were for him alone to know. But why had
the Beast chosen to intrude on that particular
memory?
Perhaps it hadn’t been the Beast that had se-
lected the memory but rather Aajav—and the Beast
had insinuated itself in his message. But what could
Aajav have been trying to tell him? Why had he
chosen that memory above all others?
Perhaps because it had been Qarakh’s first time
going into battle as a Cainite, and not merely any
battle, but one against a foe far more powerful than
he. Was Aajav trying to encourage him, to tell him
that he had no need to fear Alexander, for he had
fought powerful foes before and not only survived
but prevailed? True, Qarakh hadn’t killed the de-
mon—if such a thing was even possible—but he had
kept it from claiming Aajav’s life, which surely
counted as a victory.
Yes, he decided. That must be it. Aajav had sent
him a message to bolster his confidence before he
parleyed with the former Prince of Paris, and his
Beast had taken advantage of the opportunity to
taunt Qarakh in a way it had never done before.
There was no more to it than that.
Feeling certain he had interpreted the vision cor-
rectly, Qarakh patted the earth in gratitude. “Sleep
well, old friend. I shall return to visit you soon and
tell you of my meeting with Alexander.”
There was no reply, of course. There never was.
***
Tim Waggoner 69
Nearly a quarter of a mile distant from the mound,
behind a large oak tree that he had used as concealment,
Rikard watched Qarakh bound off in wolf form toward the
tribe’s campsite. He then turned his attention to the two
true wolves—ghouls, he guessed—that stood watch over
the mound. Once their master had gone, they circled three
times and settled down again, heads resting on paws, eyes
closed.
Rickard didn’t know which dark deity to thank for
helping him spy on Qarakh without being detected, but he
was most definitely grateful. He had no special Cainite dis-
ciplines to draw on to conceal himself, merely stealth and
slyness, but they had been sufficient this night.
After the Mongol had left the burnt-out funeral pyre
(and the equally burnt bodies of his two human ghouls),
Rikard had followed as best he could, but it had been diffi-
cult to keep up with Qarakh’s wolfish form, to say the least.
He’d almost lost the chieftain several times, but he per-
sisted and eventually caught up to him. By the time Rikard
had arrived, Qarakh had already reached the mound and
was sitting on it cross-legged, eyes closed, as if in the grip of
some sort of trance, one hand buried within the earth.
Rikard had taken up a position behind the oak where he
could see and hear well enough thanks to his heightened
senses, which were sharp even by Cainite standards. He’d
watched and waited. Not that there had been much to see:
Qarakh had sat motionless for some time before finally
opening his eyes and withdrawing his hand from the soil
with a violent motion, as if he’d been startled by some-
thing, though by what, Rikard couldn’t say.
He’d listened closely then, hoping Qarakh might give
voice to his thoughts, but he said nothing, which had come
as no great surprise. The Mongol was not exactly the talk-
ative sort. But then, just before leaving, he said
something—two simple sentences that told Rikard every-
thing he needed to know:
“Sleep well, old friend. I shall return to visit you soon
and tell you of my meeting with Alexander.”
70 Gangrel
Rikard nearly laughed with delight upon hearing those
words, but he managed to restrain himself. Good thing,
too—he doubted he’d survive being discovered here.
There were rumors among the lower-ranking Cainites
in Qarakh’s tribe, rumors that Rikard felt certain were ex-
aggerations at best and outright fabrications at worst. But
there was one tale, a story of how Qarakh had first come to
Livonia with his sire, another Mongol vampire named
Aajav who had fallen into torpor for unknown reasons (at
least, unknown to those who passed the tale back and forth)
and could not be roused. No one knew for certain what
had become of Aajav. Some said that Qarakh had taken
him back to the steppe and buried him there, while others
insisted that he lay sealed in some hidden monastery or
castle deep in the Livonian wilds. But Rikard now knew
the truth: Qarakh’s sire was interred inside a mound sur-
rounded by a ring of small trees and guarded by two wolves
bound by their master’s blood. The question remained, how-
ever, how he could use this knowledge to repay the bastard
Mongol for cutting his throat and leaving him to roast in
the sunlight.
He ran his fingers over his neck as he thought,
and then it came to him. He had originally intended
to leave the tribe tonight. Perhaps he would do so
and go in search of a new master, one who might
reward him most handsomely for the knowledge he
possessed.
A master like Alexander of Paris.
Tim Waggoner 71
Chapter Seven
72 Gangrel
might have been a highly detailed piece of statuary
for all the animation he displayed, and Malachite
wondered how long he could remain sitting like that
if it weren’t for the necessities of feeding and sleep-
ing. Nights? Weeks? Perhaps longer?
Though they had remained in this location for
two weeks without incident, and a number of ghouls
guarded the camp while the Cainites rested during
the day, Alexander was still dressed for battle in mail
armor and surcoat with his heraldry emblazoned on
the front: a vair, on a pale purpure, with a represen-
tation of a golden laurel wreath. The background
color was white with repeating patterns of black spots
that, if Malachite remembered correctly, were in-
tended to simulate ermine tails. Running down the
center of the shield was a broad vertical purple stripe
(the color of royalty, of course) and on the stripe
was a gold laurel wreath. Malachite, who had spent
most of his centuries of unlife in Constantinople,
recognized the symbols of imperial power and admit-
ted, despite everything, that they fit this boyish
prince perfectly.
“What do you want, Malachite?” There was no
irritation in his voice, no feeling of any sort for that
matter. Alexander displayed emotion only when he
wished to. He continued to stare at the map before
him.
“May I ask what you are doing, milord?” Mala-
chite asked.
Alexander’s head swiveled on his neck as he
turned to look at Malachite, but the rest of his body
remained statue still. “Surely you haven’t come here
merely to satisfy idle curiosity.”
“I have come for another reason, but my curios-
ity is never idle, milord. We Nosferatu are archivists
of a sort. To us, all knowledge—no matter how seem-
ingly insignificant—is power.” It hadn’t been such
in Constantinople. No, there Malachite had status
and respect and no need to hide in shadows and trade
Tim Waggoner 73
scraps of rumor like his cousins in the West. But then,
Constantinople was now a relic of its past glory.
Alexander smiled. The effect, as always, was
mesmerizing. He was a handsome “youth” with curly
black hair and deep brown eyes: a dark Greek god
cast in unliving flesh. Malachite experienced an urge
to avert his gaze, as if looking into Alexander’s eyes
was like staring at the sun itself. But he didn’t look
away, for he knew the prince would take that as a
sign of weakness, and there was nothing Alexander
of Paris despised as much as weakness.
“If I have learned one lesson in my long exist-
ence, my dear Malachite, it’s that power is power.”
He looked at the Nosferatu for a moment longer, his
expression unreadable, before finally turning back to
his map. “If you must know, I’m looking at a map of
Christendom and pondering the different ways it
might be reshaped.”
“In your image?” Malachite asked.
Alexander grinned. “Who else’s?” He looked at
the map for another moment before rolling it up and
placing it in the trunk with his other documents. He
closed the lid and turned to Malachite. “If you have
something to say, Nosferatu, you’d best get to it.
Dawn draws nigh.”
Though Alexander had referred to Malachite by
the name of his clan, there was no derision in his
voice as there often was in the voices of other
Cainites. The tainted vitae that ran through the
veins of all Nosferatu twisted and distorted their
forms, making them into hideous monsters and
unliving lepers. Malachite knew that the disgust oth-
ers displayed toward his clan was primarily because
their physical appearance was the Mark of Caine
made manifest, reminding them that, no matter what
any individual Cainite looked like, all were damned.
When around others—Cainites and mortals alike—
Malachite usually kept the hood of his black robe up
to conceal his features, or he used the gifts of his
blood to take on a more pleasing seeming, but he
74 Gangrel
didn’t bother to do so in Alexander’s presence. The
ancient didn’t care about Malachite’s appearance one
way or another. Malachite supposed the prince had
seen worse sights in the last two thousand years.
“We have lingered here for the better part of a
fortnight now,” Malachite said.
Alexander didn’t respond right away. He sat on
the edge of his bed and gestured for Malachite to
take the desk chair. The Nosferatu hesitated as he
considered the proper etiquette for this situation.
Should he take the seat that was offered or should
he remain standing? Technically, he wasn’t one of
Alexander’s sworn followers, though he certainly was
not the prince’s equal either. Malachite doubted that
Alexander considered any creature, mortal or immor-
tal, his equal. To him they were all either pawns to
manipulate or obstacles to surmount.
The merest hint of a crease appeared in the skin
between Alexander’s eyebrows, and Malachite knew
the prince was becoming irritated. Unsure which was
the wisest course—but knowing that keeping the
ancient waiting much longer surely wasn’t it—he
turned the desk chair around to face Alexander and
sat down.
Alexander’s delicate lips formed a small smile,
and Malachite sensed he had just failed some sort of
test.
“As you say, it has been two weeks since we made
camp here, but I fail to see the significance of the
fact. Don’t tell me that you’ve grown restless, Mala-
chite. For our kind, two weeks pass as swiftly as two
hours do for mortals. Perhaps it’s the… simplicity of
our accommodations? The wilds of the Livonian
countryside hardly provide the same comforts that
you once knew in Constantinople, do they?”
Malachite knew Alexander was baiting him, but
he still felt a surge of anger at the gibe. He felt the
need to take a breath—not because his undead lungs
craved air, but out of reflex remembered from a time
when his body breathed deeply to calm itself. He
Tim Waggoner 75
managed to keep from inhaling, though. He’d already
failed one of Alexander’s tests. He didn’t relish fail-
ing another.
“When you asked me to accompany you to Livo-
nia, it was my understanding that I was to serve as
your advisor.” Malachite allowed himself a smile. “It
is somewhat difficult to perform that duty when the
one I am to advise does not share his thinking.”
Alexander looked at him, not moving, not blink-
ing. When he finally spoke, his tone was amused,
though there was a coldness in his eyes. “As I recall,
it was you who asked to accompany me.” He held up
a hand before Malachite could respond. “Your point
is well taken. But there is a simple reason why I
haven’t told you more than I have: There is as yet
nothing to tell.”
Malachite frowned. “I’m afraid I don’t under-
stand.”
Alexander’s chuckle sounded almost human.
“I’m being disingenuous. I should say rather that I
am still in the process of gathering information.
When I have acquired enough, I shall it mull it over,
and then when I am ready, decide what my next move
shall be.”
“While I understand the need to perform a cer-
tain amount of reconnaissance, how much is truly
necessary in this situation? We have come here at
the behest of Lord Jürgen to subdue pagan Livonia
which, from what little I have seen, is nothing more
than an expanse of trees and grasslands broken only
by the occasional human settlement.” At least, that’s
why Alexander had come to this land. Malachite had
a far different reason—one that he had no intention
of sharing with the fallen prince.
At the mention of Jürgen’s name, Alexander gri-
maced as if he’d just tasted disease-ridden blood. “I’ve
come here for my own reasons, not to serve a petty
German prince.” He spoke the word serve as if it were
an obscenity. “And subduing this land won’t be as
easy as you imply. We are here to deal with this Tar-
76 Gangrel
tar chieftain Qarakh who seems to have established
a Cainite tribe of sorts here. He defeated a band of
Black Cross knights and Sword-Brothers last year. I
must know more about the size and strength of the
Tartar’s tribe before I can effectively plan my strat-
egy.”
Malachite was unable to keep the frustration out
of his voice. “I don’t see the need for any elaborate
plan of attack. It is my understanding that Tartars
are like the Turks we Greeks faced in Anatolia: sav-
age raiders, yes, but little more than wild men and
nomads. They can’t possibly match the skill and ex-
perience of your men. I would think—”
“But you are not thinking. That is the problem.”
Malachite had survived a very long time as a
Cainite, and he knew better than to judge his kind
by their apparent age. Nevertheless, given
Alexander’s youthful appearance, Malachite couldn’t
escape the feeling that he was being reprimanded by
a child. The anger and frustration that had been roil-
ing within him now threatened to fuse into a blazing
fury, and he knew his Beast was close to breaking
the mental chains with which he kept it bound.
Evidently Alexander sensed it too, because
Malachite felt waves of calm emanating from the
former Prince of Paris. Cainites were always wary of
the Beast rising in others, for it could provoke theirs
to come to the fore as well. Alexander’s personality
and will were so strong that he could inspire emo-
tions in others with relative ease, be it submission,
courage or calm. It was one of the things that made
him an effective leader.
Malachite felt his Beast recede into the back of
his mind, where it would lair and wait, ever vigilant
for the next opportunity to escape.
Alexander continued as if nothing had hap-
pened. “As you pointed out earlier, you understand
the value of information. Why then should it seem
strange to you that I am biding my time?”
Tim Waggoner 77
“Because it is unlike a lord at the head of a force
of knights,” Malachite admitted, though he feared
Alexander would be insulted. “I would expect you
to march your forces straight into the enemy’s terri-
tory and demand that he fight or surrender.”
Alexander shook his head, the motion so slight
that it was almost undetectable. “Ah, chivalry. God
and the Devil save me from that foolishness.”
Malachite winced at the blasphemy. Though he
was one of the Damned, he nevertheless considered
himself a Christian. Many Cainites believed their
condition was a test—or punishment—delivered by
God, while others thought their kind was created by
Jehovah to shepherd humanity. Malachite believed
both were true, and that the divine will had seen its
culmination in a wondrous city where Cainites and
mortals both could thrive, a lost dream called
Constantinople. Malachite was determined to see
that dream reborn—no matter the cost.
“In all honesty, I suppose I might very well do as
you suggest once I’ve established the location of this
Tartar’s haven,” Alexander said. “That is, if my ulti-
mate goal were indeed conquest.” He smiled then,
as if enjoying a private joke.
Malachite thought for a moment upon the
prince’s words. “You are seeking allies.”
Alexander’s smile grew wider. “There are pow-
erful Cainites who lair in these marches, Malachite.
Qarakh is one of them in Livonia, but there are
Tzimisce voivodes who claim lands here as well, and
others besides. If I can forge alliances with any or
all of them…”
“You shall be in far better position to retake
Paris,” Malachite said softly, impressed by the prince’s
raw ambition. Jürgen—on whose behalf Alexander was
technically leading this crusade—had warred with the
Tzimisce of Hungary for several years. To hear
Alexander talk openly of seeking alliance with them,
it was clear he would never rest until he regained Paris,
which he deemed to be rightfully his.
78 Gangrel
“Isn’t that the way of our kind, to take the
strength of others and add it to our own?” Alexander
said.
“That is how we feed.”
“No, that is how we exist.”
Malachite didn’t subscribe to such a bleak
worldview, but he knew this wasn’t the time to ar-
gue the finer points of philosophy with Alexander.
“And what if you discover that someone doesn’t wish
to become your ally?”
Alexander shrugged. “Then I shall engage them
in battle, defeat them, and the triumph shall add to
my reputation, ultimately helping me regain my
throne.”
Malachite was in awe at the simple audacity of
it. “And what if you have to fight them all—Qarakh’s
tribe and the voivodes both?”
“What if I do? I will take them on as they come—
singularly or collectively—and I will destroy them.”
There was no pride in his voice, no boasting. He said
it as if it were a simple statement of fact, no more
remarkable than saying that the sun revolved around
the Earth. Or in his case, Malachite thought, around
Alexander of Paris.
“I apologize, milord,” Malachite said.
Alexander frowned. “Whatever for?”
“For having the audacity to believe that I could
ever advise you.”
Alexander laughed with delight, and for an instant he
seemed as youthful as his countenance. “Do not despair,
my dear Malachite. The time will undoubtedly come when
I shall have need of your counsel. Until then—”
Before Alexander could finish his thought,
Brother Rudiger—a Cainite garbed in a mail hauberk
and a tabard emblazoned with the black cross of the
Te u t o n i c K n i g h t s — e n t e r e d t h e t e n t . W h i l e
Alexander was the ultimate leader of his army,
Brother Rudiger commanded the knights in the field.
All of the knights were members of the Order of the
Black Cross, a secretive brotherhood of Cainites and
Tim Waggoner 79
ghouls hidden within the mortal Teutonic Order and
loyal to Lord Jürgen. As a means to gather influence,
such orders within orders were not uncommon among
Cainites, but Malachite had to admit that the Order
of the Black Cross was among the most entrenched
he had encountered. Jürgen seemed able to use the
cover of the Teutonic Knights (and their allies, the
Livonian Sword-Brothers) with unparalleled ease.
Much of this was due, Malachite thought, to the
fact that the unliving Black Cross knights had much
in common with their mortal counterparts and cat’s-
paws. They were true believers in the campaign to
extend Christendom and fight the scourges of her-
esy and paganism, all for the glory of God. That they
enlarged their order and lord’s domains in the pro-
cess, and that many living Christians would consider
them devils, was secondary to their crusading zeal.
Brother Rudiger, though of Ventrue blood like
Alexander, could not have been more different from
the exiled prince. Though he tried to conceal it, he
loathed the secular-minded Alexander for his hypoc-
risy in using the Church for his own ends. Malachite
had witnessed the two interact on a number of occa-
sions, and while Rudiger always deferred to the
prince and carried out his orders, the Nosferatu
thought there might well come a time when he would
refuse to do so. And then there would be trouble in-
deed.
“A rider draws near the camp,” Rudiger said. The
knight was of medium height, broad-shouldered and
somewhat stocky. He had a round face with neatly
trimmed brown hair and a beard to match. His mouth
was set in a firm line, and Malachite had the im-
pression that he was fighting to keep his lip from
curling in distaste at being in Alexander’s presence.
The prince’s eyes glittered like shards of broken
ice. For an instant, Malachite thought that he would
spring off the bed and fall upon Rudiger for entering
without being announced. If the Black Cross com-
80 Gangrel
mander noticed Alexander’s reaction, he gave no
sign; he merely stood calmly and waited for a reply.
“Why do you disturb me with this news? Are your
knights incapable of dealing with a lone rider?”
Rudiger’s eyes narrowed, but his tone remained
even. “Of course they are capable, but I thought
you’d want to be informed of the rider’s identity at
once. It’s Lord István—and he’s alone.”
Alexander was silent for a moment before re-
sponding. “Bring him to me as soon as he arrives.”
“I shall do so.” Rudiger withdrew. Malachite no-
ticed that the knight had departed without speaking
an honorific: no Yes, your highness or At once, milord.
Definitely a sign of trouble to come.
Malachite started to rise, but Alexander gestured
that he should remain seated. “Stay. I would have
you hear what István has to say.”
Malachite inclined his head. “As you wish,
milord.”
Their wait wasn’t long. Within moments, they heard
István ride up. Outside, Rudiger ordered a ghoul to tend to
the Cainite’s horse. Then Rudiger and István entered the
prince’s tent, the latter giving Malachite a quick look as if
to say, What are you doing here? before bowing to his liege.
He was a slender Magyar with black hair that fell to his
shoulders and a neat black beard. He wore mail beneath a
tabard that was ripped in several places and stained with
dried blood. He hailed from yet another line of Ventrue
but had sworn many an oath to Alexander. Malachite
thought they’d bonded over a shared penchant for cruelty.
Rudiger, Malachite noted, did not bow. Nor did
Alexander remark upon this.
István straightened and began speaking rapidly.
“Your highness, I have returned from my reconnais-
sance mission with troubling news. I—”
All Alexander did was raise an index finger, but
the gesture was enough to make István stop talking
and close his mouth with an audible click. The prince
turned to Rudiger. “You may leave us, Commander.”
“I think it would be best if I—”
Tim Waggoner 81
“It’s not your place to think. Your place is to see
that my orders are carried out on the battlefield. Do
you understand?”
Rudiger looked at Alexander for a moment be-
fore bowing his head. “Yes, milord.” The knight’s
voice was wire-taught with barely suppressed rage.
He turned and walked out of the tent.
Alexander gave a small smile, clearly enjoying
Rudiger’s obvious displeasure at having to submit to
the prince, before looking to István once more.
“When you rode out of camp a week ago, you did so
alongside several others. Or have you forgotten?”
István’s eyes narrowed, and Malachite knew he
was calculating how best to respond.
“Of course not, your highness! I merely—”
Another lift of an index finger, another click of
a mouth closing.
“Tell me what happened, István.” Alexander’s
voice was barely above a whisper, but the tone of
command it held was undeniable. “Tell me clearly
and concisely, and without exaggerating your own
merits.”
István seemed ready to protest this last com-
ment, but then he nodded and began relating his tale,
precisely in the manner his prince had commanded.
When the knight was finished, he stood quietly, back
straight and chin up to preserve his dignity, but his
trembling hands spoiled the effect .
Alexander stood and István flinched, as if he ex-
pected his prince to strike him across the face—or
worse. But Alexander , an inch or two shorter than
his subject, merely looked up into István’s eyes. “Did
you have to slaughter the farmer and his entire fam-
ily? The Tartar will take that as a personal insult.”
István frowned in confusion. “I don’t under-
stand, my prince. They weren’t members of Qarakh’s
tribe; they were only mortal pagans.”
“The deaths of the kine mean nothing to that
savage,” Alexander said. “It’s a matter of territory.
82 Gangrel
We killed in his lands without his permission. Would
you let others pick from your herd, István?”
“No, milord.” It was clear from István’s expres-
sion that he still didn’t comprehend how this had
become his fault.
Alexander looked at István for a moment, as if
he were trying to decide what to do with him. Mala-
chite had the impression that the prince could just
as easily dismiss him as tear off his head. In the end,
Alexander chose the former.
“Dawn is near and you need rest after your or-
deal.”
Looking as if he couldn’t believe his good for-
tune, István bowed low then withdrew from the tent
without bothering to disguise his haste.
As soon as the knight was gone, Alexander said,
“The entire party slain… and by a woman, no less.”
He shook his head in disgust.
“István survived,” Malachite pointed out—not that
he thought it any great compensation—“and from his story,
it appears that Sir Marques did as well.”
“It has been two full nights. If Sir Marques were
able, he would’ve returned by now.”
“István just returned. Perhaps Marques will too.”
“Marques is skilled, resourceful and truly loyal
to me—far more so than István. I fear there are only
two possibilities: He is being held captive by the sav-
age, or he is truly and finally dead.”
Malachite remained silent and waited to see
what Alexander would say next. He was surprised
when the Ventrue smiled.
“This is not the way I would have arranged
events myself, but perhaps things shall work to our
advantage in the end.”
“Milord?”
“I had intended to approach the Tartar when the
time was right, but now—thanks to Marques, István
and the others—Qarakh will undoubtedly come to
us. After all, that’s what I would do if our positions
were reversed.”
Tim Waggoner 83
“And if you were in his place, would you come
to talk or to fight?” Malachite asked.
Alexander’s smile became a outright grin. “All
existence is a battle, my dear Malachite. The only
difference is what weapons you choose to fight with:
words or steel.”
Now it was Malachite’s turn to smile. “I believe
you are actually looking forward to the Tartar’s ar-
rival.”
“Oh, I am.” A faraway look came into
Alexander’s eyes, and Malachite knew the prince was
already busy plotting his strategy. “I am indeed.”
84 Gangrel
Chapter Eight
“Lost in thought?”
Qarakh turned to Deverra. The priestess rode
bareback upon a piebald mare, the reins held loosely
in her hands. She didn’t truly need them to control
the steed and held them only because she didn’t know
what else to do.
“Merely riding,” Qarakh lied. “On the steppe,
the wind is often so loud that speaking is difficult,
even when side by side. Because of this, my people
tend to travel in silence, communicating only when
necessary.”
Deverra reached up with one hand, pulled back
the hood of her robe and shook out her long red hair.
“Is that a hint?”
Tim Waggoner 85
Qarakh frowned as he tried to determine
whether the Telyav was truly offended or merely toy-
ing with him—or perhaps a bit of both. “No, only an
explanation.”
The priestess didn’t respond right away, and they
continued westward across open grassland, the night
sky above them clear and full of ice-bright stars.
Qarakh rode the same dusky gray mare that had been
so close to collapse only a night ago. Now, thanks to
some rest and a few swallows of her master’s vitae,
she was ready and eager to travel once more.
He would’ve made better time traveling alone
in wolf form, but Deverra did not possess the ability
to alter her shape as he did, so he was forced to go
on horseback. In the end, it would probably prove
the best choice, anyway. These Christian Cainites
rode among mortal knights and thought of them-
selves as noble-blooded, supposedly above low and
animalistic creatures like Qarakh. Arriving as a wolf
would have only reinforced this attitude in
Alexander, and perhaps lessened Qarakh in his eyes.
The Mongol cared not at all what the former Prince
of Paris thought of him, but he was too shrewd to
allow the man’s prejudice to lessen his own bargain-
ing power.
After a time, Deverra said, “I thought perhaps
that your silence grew out of your displeasure.”
Qarakh groaned inwardly. He wished for once
that the woman would say exactly what she meant.
“Of what displeasure do you speak?”
“You were not happy that I insisted on accom-
panying you.”
“At first,” he admitted. “But I have thought over
your reasons.” Deverra had argued that as the
Telyavs’ high priestess, not only was it her duty to
represent her clan when Qarakh parlayed with
Alexander, but that her presence would be a symbol
of the strong alliance between Qarakh’s tribe and the
Telyavs.
Deverra smiled. “Are you saying I was right?”
86 Gangrel
A night breeze whispered through the grass
around them. Maintaining a straight face, Qarakh
said, “My apologies. I was unable to hear you because
of the wind.”
Deverra’s laugh was loud, full of life and joy. The
sound stirred echoes of feeling that Qarakh thought
had died with him the night Aajav had visited his
ger. Qarakh realized that the priestess’s laugh re-
minded him of what it had been like—no, what it
had felt like—to be truly alive.
“You still call the Mongols your people,” Deverra
said. “But you are far away from those lands. Are we
not your people now?”
Qarakh said nothing.
Tim Waggoner 87
not know their Beasts half so well.” Deverra smiled.
“If you were a mortal youth, I might be tempted to
say you were precocious.”
“I am merely Mongolian. There is nothing spe-
cial about me.”
Deverra looked at him with a penetrating gaze
that Qarakh couldn’t quite read. “Oh, I think there
is, Qarakh the Untamed, though you aren’t aware of
it. I believe that if the need for battle arises, you
will not only be able to stand against Alexander, but
also defeat him.”
Qarakh chuckled. “I appreciate your confidence
in me, priestess, but while I fear no man alive or
undead, I would just as soon avoid having to fight a
two-thousand-year-old warrior.”
“Do you think—” Deverra broke off before she
could finish her question. Her head whipped to the
right and then she leaped from her horse. Lifting the
hem of her robe so she might run more easily, she
dashed off into the darkness.
Startled by her actions, Qarakh leaned over, grabbed
the reins of her horse and brought both mounts to a halt.
He quickly tied the piebald’s reins to those of his gray, for
though both horses were ghouls, he knew for certain that
his horse would not budge from this spot unless he com-
manded it. He then dismounted, drew his saber and ran off
after Deverra. He heard the sounds of a struggle followed
by a high-pitched animal cry of pain, and then all was si-
lent.
When he caught up to Deverra, he found the priestess
crouched over the body of a stag, her face buried in the
ragged wet ruin of its neck. Realizing what had occurred
and that there was no danger, he sheathed his sword and
watched her feed. He knew that he should turn and walk
away so that Deverra could have privacy, but he was too
fascinated. She gnawed the deer’s flesh as she drank, shak-
ing her head back and forth in the manner of a wolf. It was
so unlike the priestess’s usual calm and serene manner that
he knew he was seeing her Beast at work.
88 Gangrel
After a time she looked up, saw him and frowned,
as if she didn’t quite recall who he was. Then recog-
nition filled her gaze, and she lowered her eyes in
shame.
“I wish you hadn’t seen me like this.” She drew
the back of her hand across her mouth to wipe away
the stag’s blood, but there was so much that all she
succeeded in doing was smearing it around. “I must
use my own vitae in order to cast spells, and after
working an enchantment to determine the location
of Alexander’s camp…”
“You need to restore what you have lost,” Qarakh
finished for her. “There is no shame in that.”
“But to drink the blood of an animal…”
“The steppe is sparsely populated. A Cainite can
go for days, sometimes weeks without seeing a single
mortal. All of our kind who live there—including
myself—have drunk from the veins of animals.” He
hesitated for a moment and then stepped forward and
knelt on the other side of the stag, facing Deverra.
They looked at each other for a time without speak-
ing, and then as if reaching an unspoken agreement,
they lowered their mouths to the deer’s carcass and
fed.
***
Qarakh wished that he could stop and lash Aajav
more securely to his saddle, for with each strike of
his pony’s hoof, he was in danger of falling off his
mount. Should that occur, the Anda would be upon
them in moments, and Final Death would follow soon
after.
He had no idea what manner of poison the Anda
used to coat the tips of their arrows—demon blood,
perhaps?—but whatever it was, it was potent. One
strike had been enough to make Aajav lightheaded,
and the second had rendered him nearly unconscious.
Qarakh feared his blood brother would not survive a
third strike.
Coward! Stand and fight!
Tim Waggoner 89
Qarakh did his best to ignore the voice of his
Beast, but it wasn’t easy. It galled him to flee, but he
didn’t know what else he could do. If he hadn’t
needed to keep hold of the bridle of Aajav’s horse,
he could turn around and loose his own arrows at
their pursuers, not that the shafts would do much
good since the tips weren’t smeared with poison. But
at least he would be fighting instead of running.
There was little to mark the Anda horsemen as
different from any other Mongols. Indeed, in mortal
life each had belonged to one of the nomad tribes
that wandered the plains. They carried sabers and
bows, wore leather helmets and leather coats, and
rode hardy steppe ponies. The only indication that
they weren’t human was the color of their skin: in-
stead of a healthy dark brown, it was pale and
washed-out. The color of death.
The Anda ruled the night world of the steppe,
and they strictly regulated who could be Embraced
and who could not. Aajav was not Anda, but they
had accepted him after a fashion. As he had lived as
a Mongol, he had been allowed to survive and hunt
among them, but never as an equal. Again and again,
he had had to surrender territory and feeding rights
to his supposed betters. The Anda permitted him to
sit in on their councils, but he was not allowed to
speak. Most of all, Aajav was not permitted to cre-
ate any childer.
But Aajav had, and while he’d been able to keep
Qarakh’s transformation into one of the undead a se-
cret for close to two years, the Anda had finally
gotten wind of it and set a trap for them—a trap
Aajav and Qarakh had fallen into far too easily. Now
they were fleeing for their unlives.
They rode southward, and Qarakh glanced to his
left, toward the east. The sky was a lighter shade of
blue near the horizon, indicating that dawn wasn’t
far off. Should the sun begin to rise before the Anda
had caught up to them, they would all seek shelter
from its searing rays by interring themselves as well
90 Gangrel
as their horses in the ground. They would slumber
in the embrace of the earth until sunset when they
would rise to resume the hunt once more. And if the
Anda should rise before Qarakh and Aajav—or if
Qarakh was unable to help his blood brother wake—
the Anda would have them.
Qarakh knew he had to do something, and
swiftly, but what?
They approached a small depression in the
steppe, and Qarakh knew that they would be hidden
from the Anda’s view for a few precious seconds as
Aajav and he rode down into it. The question was
how to make those seconds count. And then it came
to him. He would use the Anda’s own trick against
them. He had no idea if it would work, but he could
see no other choice if his blood brother and he were
to live to see another nightfall.
As they came to the top of the rise, Qarakh re-
leased his hold of the piebald’s bridle and shouted,
“Tchoo! Tchoo!” In response to the command, both
ponies increased their speed, and Qarakh grabbed
hold of Aajav’s left arm and launched himself from
the saddle, pulling his blood brother with him. As
they fell backward, Qarakh—still holding tight to
Aajav’s arm—concentrated on becoming one with
the earth. Instead of striking the ground, they slipped
beneath it as easily and gently as if it were water.
When they were successfully interred, Qarakh re-
leased his grip on his blood brother’s arm and listened
for the Anda’s approach. There were six of them, and
he could feel the vibrations from their horses’ hoofs
judder through the soil as well as the substance of
his interred body. The vibrations increased in inten-
sity as the hunting party drew near, and when Qarakh
judged they were close enough, he envisioned him-
self rising from the earth and drawing his saber.
He rose up beneath a sweat-slick horse belly, and
before he was halfway out of the ground, he swung
his saber in a sweeping arc. The blade sliced into
the belly of one steed, then two, then three before
Tim Waggoner 91
the swing was completed. Flesh and muscle parted.
Blood and loops of animal intestine spilled upon the
steppe. The wounded ponies shrieked in agony. Their
front legs buckled, and they stumbled forward.
Their riders fought to maintain control, but it
was impossible. The three Anda went down with
their mounts. The remaining riders continued on,
not yet aware their companions had fallen.
Nostrils flaring at the scent of equine blood,
Qarakh rose the rest of the way out of the earth and
stepped forward. As the Anda struggled to get to their
feet—two were pinned by their ponies and one was
simply stunned—Qarakh swung his gore-slick saber
three times, and three Anda heads rolled upon the
ground. Vitae gushed from their neck stumps, and
Qarakh’s Beast screamed for him to drink before the
sweet blood was wasted on the hard rocky soil of the
steppe. But Qarakh resisted. There were still three
more Anda to deal with.
As the surviving hunters turned their mounts
around and headed back to attack their ambusher,
Qarakh sheathed his sword and bent to pick up one
of the decapitated Anda’s bows. As was the Mongo-
lian custom, the riders approached side by side, for
only a defeated party rode in single file, and Qarakh
had an excellent shot at each. He drew a poisoned
arrow from a quiver, nocked it, took aim and let the
shaft fly. The hunter on the right stiffened as a poi-
soned arrow pierced his eye and buried itself in his
brain. Before the wounded hunter could fall out of
his saddle, Qarakh had nocked another arrow and
fired. One more arrow, one more twang of a bow-
string, and all three riders were down.
Frightened, the hunters’ ponies ran off. Qarakh
dropped the bow and started forward, intending to
draw his saber and lop off the remaining Anda’s heads
to ensure that they were truly dead, but then he felt
a tingling sensation on the back of his neck and a
cold fluttering in the pit of his belly. He looked to
the east and saw a splash of faint rose pink on the
92 Gangrel
horizon, and he didn’t hesitate. He sank into the
ground where he stood, and moments later he heard
screams as the first rays of dawn kissed the flesh of
the three Anda he had brought down.
Satisfied that Aajav and he were safe for the time
being, he fell into the darkness of day-sleep.
***
Roots curling toward him, tendrils pushing through
soil like thick wooden worms. Tips touching his face,
caressing it, before undulating toward his temples and
gently piercing the skin.
Another’s presence in his mind, but not the Beast,
not this time.
This presence he welcomed.
***
“We shall rest here, and when dawn draws nigh,
I shall inter us in the soil, and we will sleep.” He
didn’t expect a response. It had been weeks since
Aajav had so much as twitched an eyelid, let alone
spoke.
Aajav lay on his back, eyes closed, face pointed
toward Tengri, arms and hands at his sides—just as
Qarakh had arranged him. They were in a clearing,
surrounded by pine and oak trees, the sky above them
clear and filled with stars. A nearly full moon glowed
greenish white. Their mounts were untethered and
grazed contentedly on the grass the clearing had to
offer. Qarakh sat cross-legged next to his blood
brother and sire, and tried to think of what to do
next.
This new land was very different from the steppe;
there was so much life here. Though it was night,
birds still sang and flew from tree to tree. Small ani-
mals scurried along branches and rustled through
leaves. Larger animals—rabbits, foxes, deer and
wolves—moved through the forest as they hunted or
avoided being hunted. Even the ground was teeming
with life: Insects crawled in the grass, and earth-
worms burrowed through the soil. The steppe had
these things too, but there everything was spread out
Tim Waggoner 93
across miles upon miles of barren plain. Here, it was
too much, too close….
He heard a word then, spoken by a feminine
voice in a language he didn’t understand. Before
whoever it was could speak again, Qarakh stood, drew
his saber and turned to confront her.
A brown-robed figure emerged from the shad-
ows between two trees and began walking toward
Qarakh and Aajav. He sniffed, trying to catch her
scent, but the air was a confusion of unknown smells,
and he couldn’t tell which—if any—belonged to her.
Perhaps she’s a spirit, a voice whispered inside his
head, and therefore doesn’t have a scent.
Qarakh gripped his sword more tightly. He did
not know what strange spirits or demons inhabited
this land, or if his blade would prove effective against
them, but he would stand and protect Aajav, even
unto the Final Death.
As the woman drew closer, she lowered her hood
to reveal delicate features, curly red hair and smooth
alabaster skin that almost shimmered in the moon-
light. She smiled as she came toward them, but
Qarakh knew better than to let his guard down. Did
not a predator bare its teeth just before attacking?
When she came within twenty feet, she stopped. Not
quite within fighting distance, but still close enough
to talk, Qarakh noted.
She spoke again in that o dd language, and
Qarakh pointed to an ear with his free hand and
shook his head.
The woman acknowledged the gesture with a
nod, and then reached into a leather pouch hanging
from her belt. Qarakh tensed, ready to spring to the
attack in case she should bring forth some manner
of weapon, but all she withdrew was a handful of
dried leaves. She then knelt and pulled up some
blades of grass and a bit of soil from the ground. She
crushed the leaves and added them to the other in-
gredients, then opened her mouth—displaying the
sharpened canines that marked her as one of the
94 Gangrel
undead—and bit her tongue. Vitae welled forth and
she lowered her head over her cupped hands and gen-
tly spit a stream of blood into them. She whispered
words that Qarakh didn’t understand, but he did note
that one word in particular was repeated several
times: Telyavel. She dipped her tongue into the mix-
ture and swirled it around—three times to the right,
then three to the left. Afterward, she rubbed her
hands together and applied some to her ears, then
wiped the remainder off in the grass.
When she was finished with this strange ritual,
she stood and looked at Qarakh.
“I am Deverra, high priestess of Telyavel, Pro-
tector of the Dead,” she said in unaccented
Mongolian. Or perhaps that was merely how Qarakh
heard her words.
He scowled and didn’t lower his saber. “You are
a witch?”
She smiled. “I suppose your people might call
me a shaman.”
Qarakh considered this for a moment, and then
he nodded and lowered his sword, though he did not
sheathe it. “I am called Qarakh, and this”—he ges-
tured to his blood brother—“is Aajav.”
“You are both Cainites, yes?”
“I do not understand.”
“Those who do not breathe, who feed on the
blood of the living and sleep during the day,” the
priestess explained.
Qarakh nodded. “And you?”
“Yes, though I wager I am from a different clan.”
“We are of the tribe known as Gangrel. I am of
Aajav’s blood, and he is of the hunter Oderic’s.”
The priestess nodded as if she’d expected as
much. “What is wrong with your sire?”
“He is not merely my sire,” Qarakh said with
some irritation. “He is my bonded brother. Our souls
are linked now as they were in life. As to what malady
has gripped him, I cannot say.”
Tim Waggoner 95
After Qarakh had slaughtered the Anda hunt-
ing party, the clan elders had put a high blood price
on his head. And though he was a strong and fear-
less warrior, he wasn’t a foolish one. He knew he
could never hope to stand against all the Anda in
Mongolia—not alone and certainly not while caring
for the ailing Aajav. So they had left the steppes and
ridden westward, searching for a place where they
not only would be out of the Anda’s reach but also
removed from civilization. They had made it as far
as the forests and grassy plains of this land—what-
ever it was called—before Aajav could ride no longer,
not even bound to his saddle.
Qarakh debated how much he should tell the
priestess. “Five weeks past, he was struck by arrows
coated with poison. He began to recover after a few
days, but now…” He trailed off, as there was no need
to explain further. Aajav’s still form was all the ex-
planation necessary.
“May I examine him?” the priestess asked.
Qarakh hesitated before giving her permission.
Even so, he kept his saber in hand as the priestess
walked over and knelt next to Aajav. She gently
pried open his eyelids, then opened his mouth and
peered inside for a few moments. Afterward, she ex-
amined his fingernails and then removed his boots
so she could get a look at his toenails. When she was
done with that, she put his boots back on and low-
ered her face to his head and sniffed his hair.
She looked up. “I need to taste his blood. A drop
or two should be sufficient.”
Qarakh didn’t like it, but he pressed the tip of
his saber to the back of Aajav’s left hand and pushed
slightly. The blade tip punctured the flesh, and a
thick drop of crimson welled forth. She dipped her
finger in the blood and then touched it to her tongue.
She closed her mouth and looked thoughtful for sev-
eral moments. She no dded to herself and then
pressed her fingers to his cheeks. She closed her eyes.
Qarakh tensed, wondering if she was attempting to
96 Gangrel
cast some sort of foul spell on Aajav. He decided he
couldn’t afford to take any chances and was just about
to cut off the priestess’s head when she withdrew her
fingers and stood.
“I could detect only the faintest traces of poison
in his body,” she said. “Not nearly enough to affect a
strong young Cainite like him. I believe that while
his body has purged the poison from his system, his
mind has retreated into torpor.”
Qarakh had only been a childe of darkness for
five years, and he did not know to what the priestess
referred. He didn’t wish to appear ignorant, though—
especially since he was—so he no dded as if he
understood.
“Some Cainites retreat into deep slumber in or-
der to rest while healing from severe injuries. Others
lapse into the state as a result of some terrible trauma,
while for some it is a last, desperate escape from the
tedium of eternal life. As to why Aajav has fallen
into torpor…” she broke off and shrugged.
Qarakh looked upon the face of the man who
was both brother and father to him and sheathed his
sword. “Is there nothing that can be done for him?”
The priestess considered the matter for some
time. “We can provide a comfortable place for him
to rest, somewhere he will be both safe and undis-
turbed. I can continue to pray to Telyavel and search
for a magical remedy, thought I must be honest with
you: I cannot guarantee that Aajav will ever rise
again. Some Cainites emerge from torpor after only
days or weeks, while others never do. Still, if you
are willing to accept my help, I will do everything
in my power to restore your brother to you.”
Qarakh looked into the priestess’s eyes and tried
to gauge whether he could trust her. He saw no guile
or deception in her gaze, only kindness and concern.
He bowed his head. “On behalf of Aajav and my-
self, I am both honored and grateful to accept your
aid, priestess.”
“Please, call me Deverra.”
Tim Waggoner 97
***
Qarakh woke to the sensation of warmth. He was
lying naked beneath a bearskin blanket, and he
wasn’t alone. His bedmate shifted position next to
him, and he felt the smooth curve of a feminine be-
hind press against his side. He thought
he—they—were inside a ger, but the fire was little
more than smoldering embers and didn’t provide
enough light to see by, so he wasn’t certain.
Qarakh wasn’t fully awake yet, but he knew
something was wrong. He remembered riding toward
Alexander’s camp with Deverra… remembered stop-
ping when the eastern horizon began to grow light.
They’d tied their horses to the low-hanging branches
of a sapling and then walked to a majestic oak that
Deverra had chosen. Using her Telyavic powers, the
priestess had merged with the tree, and therein she
would sleep untouched by the sun’s rays. Since one
patch of earth was much the same as another to
Qarakh, he elected to inter himself in the ground at
the base of the oak. He remembered sinking in the
soil and succumbing to the darkness of slumber, and
then…
And then he’d dreamed of fleeing the Anda
hunting party, and of his first meeting with Deverra.
So was this another dream? It couldn’t be anything
but, and yet… it felt so real. He reached over and
slid his hand along the smooth skin of a woman’s
hip and smiled. It felt more than real—it felt good.
The woman made a purring sound deep in her
throat and rolled over to face him, but when Qarakh
saw who it was, he jerked his hand away as if he’d
been burnt.
“I like that. Don’t stop.” She sounded amused.
“What is this place?”
She shrugged and the bearskin slipped down to
reveal a bare shoulder. “A place of the mind, a pleas-
ant illusion, a shared dream. It is all these things,
and more… and less.”
“Make sense, woman!” he snapped.
98 Gangrel
“I am still sleeping within the oak tree, and you
remain interred in the ground at its base. I used magic
to reach out through the tree roots and connect us,
mind to mind.”
Qarakh remembered the sensation of wooden
tendrils stretching toward him, brushing against his
temples before burrowing into his flesh. If he con-
centrated hard enough, he could feel the roots
protruding from his skin.
“If you wish, I can end the spell.” Deverra shifted
slightly, and the blanket slipped farther down to re-
veal the curve of her breast.
Qarakh thought for a moment before answering.
“Tell me more about this place.”
She smiled. “As I said, it is a shared dream. Here,
we can be together as man and woman. As a mortal
man and woman.”
Now Qarakh understood why his vision couldn’t
easily penetrate the dimness within the ger. For the
first time in years, he was seeing through mortal eyes.
It was strange, but at the same time, it was… excit-
ing. There were many advantages to being a Cainite,
but for everything gained by the casting off of mo-
rality—enhanced senses, increased strength, the
power to heal wounds that would slay a human—
something was lost. One of these things was the
ability to perform the physical act of love. Cainite
bodies could go through the motions, but they were
undead bodies, and as such could only engage in a
hollow mockery of the most life-affirming act of all.
But now, here in this place of dreams, such limi-
tations no longer applied.
Qarakh smiled, showing teeth that were small,
blunt and altogether human. Then Deverra came
into his arms, and they gave themselves over to a
sweet ritual older than even Caine.
Tim Waggoner 99
Chapter Nine
100 Gangrel
starved animal. Alessandro had cuffed Osip once, but
though the blow had been less than gentle, it hadn’t
been enough to dislodge the ghoul. Alessandro’s an-
ger had risen then, along with his Beast, and he’d
grabbed a fistful of Osip’s hair and yanked. He’d
managed to pull the youth away from his bloody
wrist, but Osip had continued snarling and snapping,
ravenous for more blood, until finally Alessandro was
forced to strike the ghoul hard enough to render him
unconscious.
He’d nearly pounced upon Osip then, but de-
spite how much his Beast had wanted to rip the little
bastard apart for having the temerity to insult his
master’s flesh, Alessandro had held back. He knew
it hadn’t been Osip’s fault—before Qarakh had de-
parted with Deverra, the Mongol had ordered every
Cainite with a ghoul (human or animal) to increase
the number of feedings so they might be at full
strength should Alexander choose to attack. But
ghouls’ intake of vitae had to be carefully managed
or they became aggressive and disobedient. Even so,
Alessandro still might have killed Osip if it hadn’t
been for what had happened to Qarakh’s two ghouls.
The khan hadn’t said anything before he departed
the previous evening, but when Sasha and Pavla
hadn’t shown up for martial training, the other
ghouls began talking and the truth soon came out.
Of course, Qarakh’s ghouls were his to do with
as he pleased, but knowing how much the Mongol
hated waste, Alessandro believed it likely that his
Beast had gotten the better of him, and that had
given Alessandro the strength to resist his own Beast
when Osip lost control.
Pavla and Sasha hadn’t been the only ones who
failed to attend martial training; Rikard had also
been missing. Alessandro had checked Rikard’s ger
then asked around camp if anyone had seen him
lately, but the answer was always the same: not since
the feast the previous night.
102 Gangrel
“But we all know that appearances can be de-
ceptive when it comes to our kind. I might well be a
great deal older than Arnulf, or perhaps the vitae
that runs through my veins came from a more pow-
erful sire than his. But for the sake of argument, let
us say that all is at it appears, and Arnulf truly is
faster and stronger than I.”
Arnulf grinned. “Was there ever any doubt?”
A few students chuckled—Probably new to the
tribe, Alessandro thought—but the rest remained
quiet.
Up to this moment, Grandfather hadn’t given
any sign that he was aware of Alessandro’s presence,
but now the lore-keeper turned to him and whis-
pered, “Have you noticed Arnulf ’s eyebrows?”
Frowning, Alessandro took a closer look at the
Goth warrior’s face. The brow (for now the two met
in the middle) was darker and bushier than it had
been before Arnulf had run off after Qarakh and the
Ventrue knight that Wilhelmina had captured.
Though Alessandro had understood the necessity of
it at the time, he now wished that Qarakh hadn’t
ordered—and carried out—Marques’s execution.
There was much information they might’ve gained
from questioning the knight, especially if Deverra
could’ve employed her magic, or even if Alessandro
had been given the opportunity to use some of the
more effective techniques of persuasion he’d learned
during his time as one of the fanatical Lions of
Rodrigo. A pity—and perhaps another omen, along
with the change in Arnulf ’s eyebrows?
“I hadn’t noticed,” Alessandro admitted.
Steel rang on steel as Wilhelmina tried a differ-
ent attack on Arnulf, and the Goth once again easily
deflected it.
“I’ll grant that it is not a huge change, but it is
often the minor ones which are the most disturbing,”
Grandfather said.
Alessandro didn’t need the lore-keeper to ex-
plain any further. Like all Cainites, the Iberian
104 Gangrel
Wilhelmina. However, just as the ax blade was about
to make contact with the tender flesh of the Viking
maid’s neck, Arnulf halted his strike.
“If you manage to gain an advantage over your
opponent, do not hesitate to make the most of it,”
Arnulf said, grinning with a mouthful of sharpened
teeth. “For the tide of battle can shift in less than a
moment.”
Ax head a fraction of an inch from her throat,
Wilhelmina stared into Arnulf ’s eyes, her jaw
muscles clenching and unclenching, sword arm quiv-
ering, eager to swing. Finally, in a husky voice, she
said, “Indeed.” Arnulf kept the ax to her neck for a
moment longer before lowering it and stepping back,
nodding once to Wilhelmina who hesitated before
returning the nod.
Grandfather turned to Alessandro. “Does that
answer your question?”
It certainly did. Alessandro decided to keep an
even closer eye on Arnulf as the tribe continued to
prepare for the possibility of war. “Grandfather, could
I speak with you—away from the others?”
“Of course. We’ve already witnessed the most in-
teresting part of tonight’s lesson, for after this Arnulf
and Wilhelmina will both be keeping their Beasts
on shorter leashes. Come, let us walk.” And though
Alessandro was sure the ancient Cainite had no need
to do so, Grandfather put his hand on the Iberian’s
arm for support, and together they walked away from
the training field as Wilhelmina began to pair the
students up for sparring practice.
As the sound of clashing steel rang through the
air, Grandfather said, “What is on your mind,
Alessandro?”
Now that he was in the presence of the lore-
k e e p e r, A l e s s a n d r o f e l t f o o l i s h d i s c u s s i n g h i s
concerns about omens, so instead he asked, “What
is your assessment of our tribe’s strength?”
106 Gangrel
from Final Death, let alone to defeat Alexander’s
army?”
“These are questions only time may answer,”
Grandfather said. “But if it’s reassurance you seek,
remember that word spreads fast among night-walk-
ers and that our people can travel quite swiftly when
needed. Several wanderers have already returned
since the call first went out, have they not?”
“Only three.”
“That is three more than we had two nights ago,
and still more will come. And while the young ones
might not be battle-hardened veterans yet, at least
they now know which end of a sword is which.” He
smiled. “Most of them. And all shall continue to
improve.”
“But Alexander’s men are no doubt highly
trained and experienced. I don’t see how we can hope
to stand against them.”
“It might not come to that, depending on how
Qarakh’s meeting with the prince goes. After all,
what is a parley but a battle of words? But in the
end, when two tribes go to war, victory is determined
by one thing alone: the strength of the leader. Would
you like to hear a story?”
Alessandro was surprised by this sudden change
of topic, but he agreed out of respect for the ancient
Gangrel, if nothing else.
“Two shepherds tended their flocks at opposite
ends of a valley. It was a large valley, and fertile, so
the few conflicts that arose between the shepherds
were minor and easily resolved. But then one day a
lone wolf came into the valley and began preying
upon the flocks, first taking a sheep from one and
then from the other. Both shepherds were saddened
and angered by their loss, and though they had al-
ways tended their flocks with care, they vowed to do
so with even greater diligence in the future. But the
wolf was a crafty devil, and despite the shepherds’
best efforts, they were unable to prevent him from
continuing to take sheep from the two flocks.
108 Gangrel
sheep, nor did he eat the meat offered to him by the
shepherd, for he had far more than enough to fill his
belly.”
Alessandro waited for Grandfather to continue,
but when the lore-keeper said nothing more, he re-
alized that the tale was finished.
“Forgive me, Grandfather, but I do not under-
stand.”
“It is a simple story with an equally simple mes-
sage. One man died because he thought he could
dominate the beast, with another man lived and
managed to protect his flock because he came to un-
derstand the beast and learned how to live with it.”
“I must be thickheaded tonight, for I do not see
how this story applies to Qarakh and Alexander.”
“As I said before, victory will go to the tribe with
the strongest leader. Which of the two men in my
story would you say was the strongest? The hunter
who had many friends to help him—at least at first—
and a weapon to slay the wolf, or the shepherd who
had only himself, his understanding and the willing-
ness to sacrifice?”
Alessandro didn’t have to think about it for long.
“The shepherd, I suppose. Though at first he seems
weaker, at the end of the story he is still alive, as is
most of his flock. More to the point, he knows how
to continue to protect them.”
Grandfather nodded, as if he were a teacher
pleased with the progress of a student. “Now which
of those two men would you say is Alexander and
which is Qarakh?”
Alessandro suddenly understood. “Alexander is
the first shepherd, and Qarakh is the second.”
“Alexander may be stronger than Qarakh in the
ways that most Cainites measure power, but the khan
of our tribe understands the ways of the Beast like
few others I have encountered—and I speak of my-
self as well. Despite what some of the Damned would
like to believe about our kind’s destiny and our ulti-
mate purpose, a Cainite’s existence can be boiled
110 Gangrel
Holleb wheezed, coughed, struggled for breath.
No, she wasn’t alone, and she was here for a good
reason. Her baby brother was ill, and she was taking
him to see Lechsinska, the healer woman who lived
in the forest. Many people believed Lechsinska was
a witch and claimed that she cast spells to spread
illness so that the afflicted would then come to her
for “healing.” Rahel knew better, though. Her father
was a woodcutter, and they lived in a small cottage
on the edge of the forest. Rahel had visited the old
woman many times as she was growing up—much to
her parents’ displeasure—and she knew that
Lechsinska’s abilities didn’t stem from black magic,
but rather her knowledge of herbs and their healing
properties. She’d spent many an afternoon helping
the old woman gather mushrooms and blossoms, all
the while listening as Lechsinska enumerated their
benefits.
This one is good for gout… and this one will help a
barren woman conceive… and this one…
But even though Rahel was thirteen now and al-
most a woman herself, her father had forbidden her
to have anything more to do with Lechsinska. The
healer had acted as midwife during Holleb’s birth: a
birth their mother hadn’t survived. Rahel didn’t
blame the old woman. She understood that herbs and
knowledge could only do so much, but her father had
been so devastated by the loss of his wife that he
accused Lechsinska of killing her with witchcraft,
and delivering unto him not a son, but a demon in
the form of a human infant. He cast Lechsinska out
of his home, buried his wife and then intended to
slay Holleb, but Rahel stood up to her father and
said that if he killed her brother, he would have to
kill her, too. And for a moment, she thought he
would, but then he turned away from her, walked to
the straw-filled pallet that had once been his mar-
riage bed, lay down alone and cried.
From that day on, he would have nothing to do
with Holleb or Rahel. Oh, he made certain there was
112 Gangrel
“I can see how badly the little one needs medi-
cine, so I won’t keep you much longer. I am searching
for the encampment of a man named Alexander. I
am confident that he is in this part of the country,
but I am unsure as to his exact location. Have you
heard anything about him, or if not him specifically,
about a group of knights that has come to Livonia?”
Rahel tried to reply, but her mouth was dry as
dirt and she could not speak.
Holleb coughed again, and the man stepped for-
ward and placed his hand over the baby’s mouth.
“If you do not answer me, I’ll make sure the
whelp never coughs again.”
Rahel found her voice then. “Please, sir! Do not
hurt my little brother! I’ll—I’ll do anything you ask!”
She had a good idea what a strange man might want
from a young girl he encountered in the forest at
night, and while the thought frightened her, she was
determined to do whatever it took to safeguard her
brother’s life.
The man removed his hand and Holleb took in
a wheezing breath. She expected the baby to begin
crying from fear, but he merely whimpered, too sick
and exhausted to do more.
“Very well. I promise that I shall not harm the
child. If you tell me what I want to know.”
“My father is a woodcutter. A week ago we took
a wagonload of wood to the village of Kolya. Some
of the men there were talking about a group of Chris-
tian knights that had made camp a day’s ride west of
the village.”
“And what did they say about these knights?”
“Some feared that they came here to force us to
worship their god at swordpoint. Others said that the
knights do not walk in the light of day, that they are
demons who have come to plague our land.”
“And what do you think? Are they demons?” She
couldn’t see his face, but she could hear the smile in
his voice.
She shrugged. “Men tell many stories.”
114 Gangrel
Chapter Ten
116 Gangrel
Qarakh wasn’t certain how to take this, but be-
fore he could think more about it, a rider left the
camp and headed in their direction.
Qarakh brought his mare to a halt and gestured
for Deverra to do the same.
As the rider drew closer, the Telyav priestess
stiffened. “Shouldn’t you draw your saber or nock an
arrow, just in case he intends to attack?”
“If Alexander wished to kill or capture us, he
would’ve sent more than a lone horseman. We are
being greeted.”
“So what do we do?” she asked.
“We wait. This is, after all, why we came, is it
not?”
Deverra nodded, but she continued to eye the
rider warily as he approached. Qarakh wondered if
the wind and grass were saying more to her than she
admitted.
The rider slowed as he reached them and brought
his mount to halt. He addressed the two in a lan-
guage Qarakh did not understand, but the Mongol
thought he could sense an undertone of distaste in
the man’s voice. The Christian surely felt it beneath
him to be addressing the newcomers as equals.
“He speaks German,” Deverra said. “He bids us
welcome on behalf of his highness, Prince
Alexander.”
The rider—a knight, Qarakh guessed—was
brown-bearded and wore a helmet and a mail
hauberk. On his tabard was a black cross, and Qarakh
wondered at the significance of the symbol. The
knights they had faced in previous years—the
Livonian Sword-Brothers—wore a similar tabard but
with a red cross and a sword emblazoned upon it.
These were of a different order, then.
Qarakh replied in Livonian. “I am Qarakh, and
this is the priestess Deverra. We have come to par-
ley with your master.”
Deverra translated and the knight replied in Ger-
man again. His expression remained neutral for the
118 Gangrel
Careful. That’s exactly what Alexander wants you
to think.
As they approached the center of the camp,
Qarakh smelled the stink of burning wood and light
stung his eyes. He squinted and managed to make
out a slim figure sitting in a wooden chair before a
blazing fire. Alexander of Paris.
Rudiger brought his horse to a halt. When he
spoke, Deverra rapidly translated: “Your Highness,
may I present for your pleasure Qarakh and the
priestess Deverra.” There was something about the
knight’s posture and tone that made Qarakh think
Alexander didn’t completely command the man’s
respect. If so, that was useful to know; any discord
between the prince and his knights could only be an
advantage.
“Thank you, Rudiger,” Alexander said, and
Deverra translated. “Would you dismount and join
me by the fire?” Alexander’s smile was thin and cruel.
Qarakh soon saw why: Small beads of blood-sweat
erupted on Rudiger’s forehead as he stared at the
flames. Cainites possessed an almost animalistic fear
of flame, which reminded them of the killing fire of
the sun.
The Mongol warrior was no exception. The
Beast inside him recoiled at the sight of the flames,
but Qarakh continued to sit calmly in his saddle. He
understood that Alexander was testing him, and he
would not give the Ventrue the satisfaction of see-
ing him react to the fire. He wondered how Deverra
was faring, but he didn’t look at her; he could not
take his gaze off Alexander lest the prince think she
was more to him than a simple ally.
Alexander looked at Rudiger, smiling cruelly as
the knight demure from approaching the flames. He
then turned to Qarakh and Deverra. “Welcome. Per-
haps the two of you shall join me?” The Ventrue
spoke in nearly flawless Livonian, his tone polite and
reserved, but Qarakh could sense the power behind
120 Gangrel
wide, fear-filled eyes. Qarakh understood that she was
fighting her own Beast, attempting to force it into
submission so that she might come near the flames,
but she was losing the battle.
“If it would make your companion more com-
fortable, she is welcome to stand behind us next to
Malachite,” Alexander said, gesturing over his shoul-
der.
Qarakh looked in the direction the prince had
indicated. Thanks to the glare of the fire, he hadn’t
noticed before, but standing ten feet behind
Alexander was a man garbed in a black robe. His
hood was down, revealing the misshapen, distorted
features of the Nosferatu. Many Cainites found them
repulsive and shunned them like the lepers they re-
sembled, but Qarakh knew better than to judge by
appearances. Few things were exactly as they seemed.
Deverra gave him a look that was half apologetic
and half pleading, and he nodded his assent. With a
grateful smile, she backed away from the fire and,
giving it a wide berth, walked over to stand beside
the Nosferatu. Rather than viewing Deverra’s choice
with disapproval, Qarakh saw it as a fortuitous de-
velopment. Whoever this Malachite was and
whatever his relationship to Alexander, he might be
more talkative standing apart from the Ventrue, thus
giving Deverra a chance to learn much more than if
she merely sat next to Qarakh while he and
Alexander parleyed.
“You are a Tartar, are you not?” Alexander asked.
Without waiting for an answer—which was good,
since Qarakh thought it was a foolish question and
had no intention of replying—he continued. “You
are the first of your people I have ever met face to
face, so you will forgive that we converse in Livonian
and not your tongue, I hope. You’ll also overlook
Rudiger’s reluctance to learn even that language, I
hope. He can be somewhat stubborn.”
“Yes. Livonian is fine.”
122 Gangrel
“I thought you might wish to have something to
remember him by,” Qarakh said. “I would have
brought more, but this was all that remained.”
The prince and the warrior locked gazes for a
long, tense moment, and then Alexander smiled. It
was an easy, natural smile, and Qarakh almost be-
lieved it.
“Poor Marques. He wasn’t the strongest or
brightest, but he was a faithful enough servant.” He
tossed the hair into the fire, where it crackled as it
burned, filling the air with an acrid stink that Qarakh
found at once repulsive and enticing.
“Now that we’ve dispensed with the pleasant-
ries—not to mention Sir Marques—to what do I owe
the pleasure and honor of your visit?”
Alexander’s words were velvet-wrapped steel,
and Qarakh knew better than to believe them. “I’ve
come to learn the reason for your presence in Livo-
nia. I would think there is little in this land to
interest a prince—certainly nothing worth assem-
bling an army for.”
“Anything and everything is of interest to me…
provided I can find a way to use it to my advantage.”
Qarakh was somewhat taken aback by this sudden
honesty on Alexander’s part. Perhaps the Ventrue was only
attempting to seem forthcoming in order to deceive him.
Or perhaps he truly was being sincere now so as to set up a
later deception. This thinking in circles was maddening;
Qarakh had to suppress a growl of frustration. He was al-
most tempted to draw his saber and attack the prince,
caution be damned. But he doubted he’d catch Alexander
off guard—he recalled how swiftly the Ventrue had moved
when he’d caught Marques’s hair—and even if he should
somehow gain the upper hand against him, Qarakh doubted
he could slay the prince before his knights came to their
master’s rescue. So he forced himself continue talking. If
he had to fight Alexander using double meanings and veiled
threats instead of steel, tooth and claw, so be it—for now.
“And what have you found to interest you here?”
124 Gangrel
defeat to the ears of Jürgen the Sword-Bearer, Prince
of Magdeburg.”
Qarakh was now certain that Alexander knew
little or nothing about the Telyavs’ skill with sor-
cery, else he would’ve mentioned it during his tale.
Good. That gave his tribe an advantage.
“I have heard of this Jürgen.”
Alexander gave Qarakh a puzzled look, as if the
Mongol had just uttered the most unnecessary sen-
tence in the history of the spoken word. “Of course
you have. Lord Jürgen was kind enough to offer his
hospitality to me after my leave-taking from Paris.
When news of the your tribe’s victory reached him,
he became concerned, and I offered to take a force
to Livonia—”
“And deal with us,” Qarakh finished.
“Indeed.”
“But now that you are here, you wish to bargain.”
A slow smile spread across Qarakh’s lips. “Is my tribe
so impressive that you are willing to give up without
a fight?”
Alexander’s face betrayed no emotion, but the
fingers of his left hand twitched. For a being of such
self-control, this was tantamount to a frenzied out-
burst. Qarakh had the impression of pressure building
behind his eyes, of Alexander’s gaze boring into him.
The pressure increased to the point of pain, and
Qarakh’s Beast howled for Alexander’s vitae. The
Mongol warrior felt the itching sensation of fur
sprouting on the backs of his hands, along his arms,
neck and face, and he knew that this time his Beast
would not be denied.
But then, just as suddenly as it had come, the pressure
was gone. Qarakh struggled to keep from assuming wolf
form, and though it was a near thing, in the end gray fur
subsided into his skin, and the Beast remained tethered to
its leash… for the moment.
When the Ventrue responded, his voice was cold
and completely devoid of emotion, and Qarakh knew
he was hearing the true Alexander—the undead crea-
126 Gangrel
also a pragmatic man, and I use whatever resources
are available to me. As far as I am concerned, Chris-
tianity is merely one more weapon in my arsenal: a
tool to use when I have need of it, and one to dis-
card when I do not.”
“Why do you tell me these things? We have only
just met.”
“We are kindred spirits, you and I—warriors who
take what they want without hesitation or apology,
with the courage to dare all and the strength to suc-
c e e d w h e r e o t h e r s w o u l d s u r e l y f a i l . We a r e
extraordinary men, even for our kind, and because
of this we should be allies instead of enemies.”
Qarakh understood that Alexander’s words were
nothing more than flattery designed to sway him,
backed by the Ventrue’s raw will. Qarakh felt ten-
drils of that will stretching forth from Alexander,
testing his defenses, probing for weaknesses, search-
ing for any avenue of ingress they could find. And
though he knew all this, Qarakh still found himself
half-believing what Alexander was saying.
“You are well spoken, Prince, but you have al-
ready told me that you are a pragmatic man who will
use and discard whatever tools he needs. Perhaps my
tribe and I are merely tools to you. How can you be
trusted?”
“I can always be trusted to act in my own best
interests. That is how I have survived for so many
centuries, and why I shall continue to survive for
many more to come, perhaps even unto the end of
time itself.” Alexander’s gaze became distant for a
moment, as if he were peering down the long tunnel
of eternity toward whatever unguessable fate lay
waiting for him at its end. “I believe an alliance
would not only benefit me, but you and your tribe as
well. I can return to Magdeburg and report to Jürgen
that the threat posed by your tribe was overblown
and easily dealt with. I can then work to discourage
others from mounting campaigns on Livonia. Jürgen
can be redirected to Prussia.” The Ventrue’s words
128 Gangrel
my power and influence to protect it.” Alexander’s
voice was strained, and blood-sweat had broken out
on his brow, but still he did not cry out in pain.
Qarakh considered for another moment before
putting his own hand into the flames. White hot
agony blazed along his undead nerves, and the Beast
inside him screamed.
“I accept your pledge, Alexander of Paris, and
in turn I vow to consider your offer and give you an
answer within a fortnight. May the flames of this
sacred fire bind us both—for as long as each remains
true to his word.”
The two Cainites stared into each other’s eyes
as their burning flesh hissed and popped. For an in-
stant it seemed as if Alexander might say more, but
then he nodded and pulled his ruined, blackened
hand from the fire. Qarakh waited one more moment
and then withdrew his.
Deverra and Malachite were at their sides then,
as if they both wished to give aid but were unsure
exactly what to do.
Alexander grinned and then called out, “István!”
A Cainite that had been standing in the back-
ground came forward and bowed. “Yes, my prince?”
The man’s Livonian was accented, but passable. Ap-
parently, he didn’t share Rudiger’s stubbornness on
the matter of language.
“Bring us bowls of blood in which to soak our
hands. Bleed only the strongest and healthiest mor-
tal you can find for Qarakh. As for myself… you know
my needs. Bring two flagons full as well so that we
might slake our thirst and drink to our new friend-
ship. Bring flagons for Malachite and the priestess
as well.”
István bowed even lower this time, and Qarakh
had the impression he was striving to be more atten-
tive than normal, as if he were trying to make up for
some transgression. “At once, my prince.”
130 Gangrel
Chapter Eleven
132 Gangrel
While they waited for István to return, Qarakh
addressed Malachite for the first time since entering
Alexander’s camp. “Deverra and I shall have no dif-
ficulty finding shelter from the sun as we travel. Will
sleeping in the open be a problem for you?”
Malachite shook his head. “I have been travel-
ing for many years since I left Constantinople.” The
Nosferatu’s mouth twisted into an approximation of
a smile. “I’ve learned how to make do.” There was a
sadness in Malachite’s voice that hinted at a story
behind his words.
István returned then, leading a roan gelding.
Qarakh and Deverra mounted their steeds. While
István held the gelding’s bridle, Malachite climbed
into the leather saddle with more grace than Qarakh
expected.
“Farewell, my new friends,” Alexander said. He
fixed Malachite with a stare. “And farewell to my
old one. I shall look forward to our eventual re-
union.”
“As shall I, your highness.”
Qarakh noticed the Nosferatu kept his tone care-
fully neutral. Whatever the precise nature of the
relationship between Alexander and Malachite, it
was obviously more complex than it appeared on the
surface. Perhaps the Nosferatu has more than one story
to tell, Qarakh thought.
“Farewell to you, Alexander of Paris,” Qarakh
said. “Our meeting has given me much to think on—
and perhaps act upon as well.”
Alexander smiled, upper lip curling away from his
smallish incisors. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”
***
“Do you truly believe that was wise?” Rudiger asked.
Alexander watched as the Tartar, his priestess and
Malachite rode off at a trot. The Nosferatu didn’t look es-
pecially comfortable on horseback, and Alexander thought
it was a good thing he possessed the preternatural healing
abilities of a Cainite. The way he sat in the saddle, he’d
need them.
134 Gangrel
bassador. “Still, we must prepare in case the alliance
fails to come to fruition.” He turned to Rudiger.
“Come to my tent after complin tomorrow night so
that we might plan strategy.”
“Yes, your highness.” Rudiger bowed his head
and departed. As he walked away, Alexander looked
at István.
“Tell me, are you aware of anyone… new?”
Ventrue didn’t like to speak openly of their tastes in
blood, but István was a loyal clansman. Moreover,
he was already aware that only the blood of women
in love could satisfy Alexander—just as István him-
self was restricted to feeding on mortals in pain, and
Rudiger on the ill.
István thought for a moment before answering.
“There is a young laundress barely into her woman-
hood whom I noticed earlier this night. She was
watching one of the mortal squires with keen inter-
est.”
“Is she pretty?”
“I’m afraid she’s rather plain, your highness.”
Alexander sighed. “I suppose one must take what one
can get when in the wilderness. See that this laundress is
brought to my tent after Vespers.” He paused. “And tell
Rudiger to wait a while after complin to visit me. I prefer
to talk strategy with a full stomach.”
***
As Rudiger walked toward his tent, he ground his teeth
so hard that his incisors pierced his lower lip, causing two
thin streams of blood to dribble into his beard. Everyone—
mortals, ghouls and Cainites alike—hastened to get out of
his way when they saw the furious expression on his face.
Despite his great age, Alexander was a fool. Worse, he
was a blasphemous, unbelieving fool who viewed the
Church as nothing more than a tool to further his own
ends. If Lord Jürgen hadn’t tasked Rudiger with carrying
out Alexander’s orders… But he had, and since Jürgen was
the Hochmeister of the Order of the Black Cross, Rudiger
was sworn to obey his every command—regardless of how
he felt about it.
136 Gangrel
ered the man’s jaw. As blood gushed from the wound,
the knight staggered back in agony and shock, but
he still managed to keep hold of his sword. Qarakh
was impressed; most mortals would have fallen by
now. It seemed the Sword-Brothers’ reputation for
being mighty warriors was well earned. Out of re-
spect, Qarakh decided to grant the man a swift death.
He plunged the point of his saber into the knight’s
right eye, and the mortal stiffened as steel pierced
his brain. Qarakh gave the blade a quick twist be-
fore yanking it free, and the man fell to the ground,
dead but still gripping his sword.
Wilhelmina and Arnulf fought back to back,
their blades moving so swiftly that they were blurs
even to Qarakh’s eyes. Steel rang on steel, metal bit
into flesh, screams of pain echoed through the night,
and fountains of blood—mortal, ghoul and Cainite—
sprayed the air.
Though his Beast urge him to keep fighting,
Qarakh paused a moment to consider strategy. If all
the knights of the Livonian order were of similar
mettle, it was fortunate that there weren’t many
Cainites among their ranks this night. He doubted
that Arnulf or Wilhelmina shared that view. The two
lived for battle—Wilhelmina so she could slay as
many Christians as possible, and Arnulf… well, the
Goth warrior just loved to kill, whoever the foe and
whatever the reason. Mortals and ghouls provided
little sport for either of them; they'd much prefer to
go up against other Cainites.
Alessandro, though no less deadly a fighter, was
more calculating. Instead of hacking at anything that
came within range of his sword, he moved across the
battlefield, selecting his targets with care. A hand-
ful of Cainite knights fought alongside the mortal
Sword-Brothers, and while there were far fewer of
them, they posed a much greater threat. Alessandro
sought out the unliving knights and dispatched them
with surgical precision, striking swiftly and without
a single wasted motion. The Iberian’s face was com-
138 Gangrel
obeyed. Wilhelmina bellowed a war cry, dashed for
the nearest struggling knight and decapitated him
with a single blow. Arnulf dropped his sword as he
shifted into wolf form and leaped for another trapped
knight, fangs bared and jaws flecked with foam.
Alessandro stepped calmly toward the bound knight
nearest him and laid open the Cainite’s throat with
a swift, efficient sweep of his blade.
Qarakh felt a moment’s pride in his warriors be-
fore surrendering to the urgings of his Beast and
rejoining the battle.
It was over all too soon.
Most of the knights—mortal and undead—had
been slain, while only a few tribe members and
Telyavs had been lost. Several of the Christian
knights had fled the clearing, but Wilhelmina and
Arnulf were in pursuit. Qarakh was confident their
hunt would prove successful.
“But it wasn’t, was it? One knight survived to
tell Jürgen what occurred.”
Qarakh did his best to ignore the voice. All
around him, Cainites were bent over the corpses of
mortal, ghoul and vampire alike, feeding to dispatch
the wounded and restore their own strength. Qarakh
approved; he despised waste. Deverra and the other
Telyav enchanters were among the most ravenous of
the feeders, for they had sacrificed a great deal of
their own blood to enchant the tree roots.
“They may have helped win a single battle, but
the war goes on.”
Qarakh told himself to ignore the voice, but he
couldn’t. As if controlled by an outside force, his
body turned of its own accord to face the owner of
the voice. At his feet lay the corpse of a mortal
knight he had killed by skewering through the eye.
Qarakh could’ve sworn he’d slain the man in a dif-
ferent part of the clearing. Still, in the thick of
battle, it was easy to become confused about details,
and really, what did it matter precisely where he’d
killed the mortal? The man was dead, wasn’t he?
140 Gangrel
Qarakh knew now that it was the same voice it al-
ways was: the voice of hunger, rage and endless need.
The voice of the Beast.
Qarakh frowned in confusion. He had taken an
oath with someone named Alexander? He could al-
most remember, but how was that possible? It hadn’t
happened yet—or had it? If only the damnable Beast
would be silent and let him think… The tip of his
saber remained inside the corpse’s—inside Aajav’s—
mouth, and Qarakh nearly rammed the blade all the
way in then, but he resisted. He knew there was little
point, for the voice came not from Aajav, but from
inside himself, and the only way to silence it would
be to greet the dawn and find Final Death. But this
he would not do, for he would never give the Beast
the satisfaction of claiming the only victim it truly
wanted in the end: him.
Besides, even though he knew this was some
manner of enchantment or hallucination, the face
was still that of his brother, and he couldn’t bring
himself to ravage it. He gently removed the sword
and lowered it to his side.
A shard of memory came back to him then. “I
have merely pledged to consider an alliance with the
Ventrue,” Qarakh said, sounding more defensive than
he liked. “Nothing more.”
“Alexander is a hundred times older than you
are,” the Beast said. “You cannot hope to best him,
neither in a battle of wits, nor in a battle of arms.
And have no doubt: It shall come down to the lat-
ter, and sooner rather than later.”
“No matter the opponent, there is always a way
to win. A warrior need only find it.”
“There is only one way to defeat this foe,
Qarakh, and I am that way. Give yourself over to me,
and I shall grant you victory over Alexander of
Paris.”
Qarakh felt fear, then—not of the Beast, but
rather of himself and his own need to protect his tribe
and their Telyav allies If the Beast could truly do
142 Gangrel
Chapter Twelve
144 Gangrel
Malachite brushed a bit of dirt and mold off the
left sleeve of his robe. “I’ve spent the day in worse
places than beneath a fallen tree, but I must say that
I envy your ability to inter yourself within living
ones. I don’t suppose I can convince you to tell me
how it’s done?”
“It’s quite simple, really,” Deverra said with a
grin. “All one has to do is renounce Christ and em-
brace the worship of Telyavel.”
Qarakh expected the Nosferatu to take offense
at this, but instead he smiled back.
“Is Tremere blood sorcery truly so simple?”
Deverra’s grin fell away. “I am not Tremere,” she
said, her voice taut with anger. “I am Telyav.”
Malachite made a half-bow and then straight-
ened. “My most sincere apologies. I have heard
whispers that there were members of that sorcerous
clan in these far lands. I made an unfounded assump-
tion.”
Deverra said nothing for several moments, and
though her face remained composed, her eyes re-
flected the fury that raged inside her as she struggled
to come to terms with her Beast. Finally, her gaze
cleared and when she spoke, her tone was relaxed, if
melancholy. “I was Tremere once, but that was some
time ago. It is, as they say, a long story.”
“I gather we have something of a ride ahead of
us,” Malachite said. “A story will help make the time
pass more swiftly, not to mention more pleasantly.”
Deverra considered for a bit, but finally she said,
“Why not?”
Qarakh was surprised. Not so much that she
would choose to share such a story with Malachite
when they’d only met last evening, but because he
was actually jealous of the Nosferatu.
“Let’s mount up and be off, then,” Qarakh said,
the words coming out more gruffly than he intended.
Deverra looked at him and, though he wasn’t cer-
tain, it appeared she was trying to suppress a smile.
Qarakh wondered if some fraction of the link they
146 Gangrel
scholar was going to take me on as his apprentice, and I
would leave with him in the morning.
“I was saddened at the thought of leaving my family,
but I was also excited by the prospect at learning more. So
excited that I didn’t notice the glassy-eyed stare in my
father’s eyes or the listless monotone of his voice. Years
later, I realized that Alferic had ensorcelled my father to
make him agree to give me up. The Tremere can be quite
aggressive when it comes to finding and taking on appren-
tices. And the more potential a child has, the more
aggressive they can be. My father was fortunate that he was
weak-minded enough to succumb to Alferic’s spell, other-
wise my soon-to-be teacher would likely have slain him in
order to obtain me.
“I went away with Alferic. Over the next several years,
he introduced me to the world of the mystic scholars of
House Tremere. We traveled from chantry to chantry,
through Hungary, Bavaria, Saxony, Bulgaria… and if I found
it odd that the magi preferred to sleep during the day and
be active at night, I put it down to simple practicality. Af-
ter all, so many spells and enchantments must be cast in
the dead of night—or so Alferic taught me.
“Slowly, step by step, Alferic led me deeper into the
realms of dark sorcery until I considered it commonplace
to offer up my body as part of a mystic rite or plunge an
obsidian dagger into the breast of a willing—or often not-
so-willing—participant. I learned my lessons well, and by
the time I entered my full womanhood, my apprenticeship
was at an end. And during the ceremony wherein I was
officially to become a full-fledged magus, I learned the fi-
nal secret of the Tremere when Alferic Embraced me. The
exchange of vitae was presented as merely another mystic
rite, and I had no idea what its true purpose was—not until
I changed.
“I suppose on a certain level I wasn’t surprised, for the
revelation that the Tremere were in truth vampires ex-
plained a great many things about them, but I was horrified
and furious that I had been transformed without my con-
sent. And I soon discovered that I was not the only one
148 Gangrel
Qarakh sniffed. “Yours is a religion of civilization—of
buildings that close you off from the world, of laws that
force you to act against your own nature, and of priests who
tell you the greatest glory is to force your god on others at
sword point.”
“Merely because one proclaims himself Christian
doesn’t make it so,” Malachite said, “any more than
I can become a falcon by simply stating that I am.”
Qarakh was about to argue the point, but then
he remembered what Alexander had told him, how
the prince used Christianity as a tool and nothing
more. The Mongol wondered how many other “sol-
diers of Christ” held the same view—not that it
mattered overmuch. In the end, an enemy was an
enemy regardless of how sincerely he practiced his
professed religion.
“We should be far enough away from Alexander’s
encampment by now for you to speak freely,” Qarakh
said to Malachite. “Why don’t you tell me the true
reason you wish to accompany us?”
Malachite hesitated before responding. “It is, as
Deverra said a while ago, a lengthy story.”
“You said that a story can make time pass more
swiftly,” Qarakh said.
Malachite smiled. “I did say that, didn’t I? My
tale begins with a dream—the Dream—a dream called
Constantinople.”
***
“Your Highness?”
Alexander sat sideways on his bed, head bent
over the body of a young woman in a plain brown
peasant dress lying next to him. He looked up from
the wet crimson ruin that had been the laundress’s
neck and glared at István. Alexander didn’t liked to
be disturbed when he was feeding. He was a civilized
man—after all, was he not a child of Greece, the
greatest civilization the world had ever seen?—and
civilized men didn’t speak to their servants while in
the process of fulfilling their most basic needs.
Alexander no more wished to be interrupted while
150 Gangrel
Chapter Thirteen
152 Gangrel
or of those who adhere to it in name only. And I
could say that a central part of the Dream is to cre-
ate a place where Cainites and mortals can live in
peace together and follow God’s will, and not man’s
confused and sometimes self-serving interpretation
of it. I could say that it was crusaders like the Sword-
Brothers who sacked Constantinople and restoring
the Dream would be a defeat for them. I could even
say that the will of God Himself is against you, and
you can no more hold back the spread of Christian-
ity than you can postpone the changing of seasons.
And while I believe those are all valid points, I also
believe that none of them will sway you. In the end,
you will help me because you choose to, or you will
not help me at all.”
Malachite fell silent then, and it was Qarakh’s
turn to think. The Nosferatu had shown no signs of
deception or intolerance so far, and moreover, there
was much information about Alexander and his
forces that he could share. But Qarakh doubted Mala-
chite was generous enough—or foolish enough—to
provide such information without cost.
He glanced at Deverra, and she gave him a slight
nod.
“It was several years ago, during the winter….”
***
Qarakh glided like the shadow of a passing cloud
over frost-covered grass. The night wind was cold
and biting as sharpened steel, but the frigid air had
little effect on his undead flesh. He had left his horse
tethered to a small tree a few miles back. He could
move more swiftly and silently on foot. This night
called for stealth.
He had been roaming throughout Livonia for the
better part of a month now. Since arriving here with
Aajav the previous year, and meeting Deverra, he
had made this land his new home. The Telyav still
worked diligently to revive Aajav and in return he
was determined to help her resist the encroaching
Christian knights and missionaries who threatened
154 Gangrel
No potential alliances among the Lupines then,
to put it mildly, but he discovered that if he remained
out of their territory deep within the thickest part
of the forests, they took no notice of him. The Lu-
pines would never be friends to his tribe, but at least
it appeared they wouldn’t be enemies. There were
other powers in Livonia, however. The land practi-
cally reeked of magic, but these other creatures—fey
folk and spirits that neither man nor Cainite had
names for—all took the Lupines’ attitude of separa-
tion from night-walkers.
But Qarakh wasn’t so sure of the beings that in-
habited the stone structure he now approached at a
loping run.
Several nights ago when he had first passed by
this place—high wall, courtyard, a main building of
simple construction and design, no ornamentation
to the stonework, plain wooden shutters covering the
windows—he’d experienced a strange sensation. A
feeling that someone was watching him, but not from
any specific vantage. It was as if whoever (or what-
ever) was observing him from every direction at once.
But as disturbing as that had been, there was more.
It was subtle at first, an almost unnoticeable
itching or tingling on his skin, thousands of phan-
tom insects crawling all over his bo dy on tiny
invisible legs. The feeling became more intense the
closer he rode to the stone building until it felt as if
the ghostly insects were now digging their pincers
into his flesh and tearing off small hunks by the hun-
dreds… no, by the thousands. Before long, the pain
had become so unbearable that Qarakh, no stranger
to pain, hadn’t been able to stand it any longer. He’d
turned the horse—which hadn’t noticed anything
wrong save for her master’s sudden and atypical clum-
siness with the reins—away from the building and
kicked her into a gallop. The pain had instantly be-
gun to lessen, and it continued to abate with every
yard they put between themselves and the cursed
place.
156 Gangrel
“This is a simple monastery, and I am naught but
a humble brother.” The man’s tone contained the
merest trace of amused mockery, as if he were an adult
speaking to a naughty but precocious child.
Normally Qarakh would have responded to such
treatment with rage, but the Beast inside him re-
mained silent, almost as if it had retreated to a far
corner of his mind and huddled there, shivering in
fear. Qarakh realized that his Beast was hiding be-
cause it had for the first time encountered a predator
far greater than itself.
Still, Qarakh was a warrior, and warriors did not
run unless there was no other choice, and even then
they only did so if it might lead to a later victory.
Instead, he nodded, accepting the man’s nonanswers.
The stranger went on. “I know why you have
come here, my son, and while I cannot offer you an
alliance, I can assure you that neither I nor any of
mine shall interfere with you and the tribe you will
create. We are contemplatives and scholars. The
Obertus order is not a threat to you.”
Qarakh knew better than to accept a stranger’s
word without question, but in this case he had no
doubt whatsoever that the man was speaking truth,
though he didn’t know how he knew this. He just
did.
“I have one other thing to tell you,” the man
continued. “Should you wish to hear it.”
The stranger made this statement in an offhand
manner, but there was something in his voice that
told Qarakh he was being given a choice—one that
would shape the course of his future for better or for
worse. Qarakh had never backed away from a chal-
lenge and did not intend to start.
“I do.”
A faint hint of a smile—perhaps of approval, or
amusement—moved across the man’s lips then was
gone.
“Victory is in the blood, my son. Thus it has ever
been, and thus shall it ever be.” The man then gave
158 Gangrel
so carefully. He sensed that Alexander, for all his
seeming indifference, was listening quite closely.
“I have come to betray no one. I wish to enter
into your service—if you will have me, that is.”
Rikard congratulated himself; a little touch of hu-
mility never hurt.
Alexander continued examining the map, now
tracing his fingers over blue lines indicating rivers.
He still didn’t look at him, but Rikard could sense
the prince’s increased interest.
The Ventrue was nothing like he had expected.
He looked to have been Embraced while barely out
of boyhood. He was slight of build, his features deli-
cate, almost feminine. Instead of wearing the mail
armor and tabard of the military orders, he was
dressed in a purple robe a bit too large for his body.
Rikard thought it made Alexander look ridiculous,
like a child playing dress-up in his father’s clothes.
The prince’s brow wrinkled in contemplation,
and for an instant Rikard feared Alexander had read
his thoughts. But then the Ventrue’s brow smoothed.
Rikard tried to relax, but not fully. Doing so in the
presence of a Cainite of such age and power as
Alexander of Paris would be tantamount to commit-
ting suicide.
“Why would you wish to do such a thing?”
Alexander asked. He now ran his fingertips over the
letters of place names on the map. Rikard noted that
he avoided touching Paris. “If serving Qarakh was
not to your liking, what makes you think you shall
be any more satisfied in my service?”
Rikard had anticipated this question and had a
ready answer. “Qarakh is a cunning warrior, I’ll give
him that, but he’s not much of a leader. Besides, his
whole notion of creating a tribe comprised entirely
of feral pagans is ludicrous.”
“Indeed?” Alexander looked up from his beloved
map at last and fixed his penetrating gaze upon
Rikard. “What makes you say that?”
160 Gangrel
standing where he was, unable to so much as lift a
foot, let alone turn and run.
In his terror, Rikard couldn’t recall what he had
said to so upset Alexander. “I… I don’t…”
“Are you telling me that the priestess that coun-
sels Qarakh is a member of Clan Tremere?”
“That was one of the rumors around camp. Not
only Deverra, but all the Telyavic priests. Suppos-
edly they broke off from the Tremere some time ago
and came to Livonia. Why, I don’t know.”
“And do these Telyavs still possess the mystical
knowledge and abilities of their former patrons?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t know a great deal about
the Tremere, but Deverra definitely wields magic, and
I believe the other Telyavs do as well, to greater or
lesser degrees.”
Alexander swore in a language Rikard didn’t rec-
ognize, and then his serpentine gaze bore into the
traitor’s eyes, and Rikard had the feeling that the
prince was digging into his mind, sifting through his
memories with unimaginable speed to determine
whether or not he was telling the truth. Rikard felt
pressure building within his head, growing more in-
tense and painful with each passing second, until it
felt as if his Final Death were at hand.
But then, just when Rikard thought he could
take no more, the pressure let up.
Alexander stepped back and Rikard saw that he
was smiling. “You’ve been an immense help to me,
Rikard, and I especially appreciate the tidbit of in-
formation that you were holding in reserve. You tried
so hard to keep it from me, but I’m afraid your mind
proved too weak. One of the weakest I’ve encoun-
tered in two thousand years, actually. Do you have
anything else to offer me before I dismiss you?”
Rikard did not. He felt like a hollow vessel that
had been well and truly emptied. With some effort,
he managed to shake his head.
“I thought not. Very well, then. Despite the fact
that I personally appreciate and am grateful for your
162 Gangrel
the pagans possessed a certain degree of mystic pow-
ers, Alexander had dismissed them as
inconsequential. After all, every Cainite had blood
gifts of one sort of another. But the Tremere were
power-hungry sorcerers of the worst type, diablerists
and schemers who routinely violated the traditions
of high blood. Sorcerers were interested in one thing
only: increasing their own power. It was a motiva-
tion that Alexander well understood, and he might
have been tempted to explore the possibility of an
alliance with the Telyavs anyway… if they hadn’t
b e e n m e m b e r s o f t h e t h r i c e - d a m n e d Tr e m e r e .
Goratrix and his clan had supported Geoffrey in his
theft of the Parisian throne, and it was quite pos-
sible that these “Telyavs” were in Livonia for the sole
purpose of drawing him here and luring him into a
trap. Such scheming would be just like his traitor-
ous childe.
And like Rosamund?
Two thoughts followed this one: simultaneous,
intertwined.
Rosamund wouldn’t do this. Rosamund would do
this to me.
Without being aware of it, Alexander bared his
teeth, looking as much like an animal as any Gangrel.
Plots within plots, wheels within wheels, motives
within motives… Two thousand years of unlife, and
what did he have to show for it? His entire existence
was one mirror facing another reflecting a reflection
reflecting a reflection reflecting a reflection, on and
on forever, until it was impossible to determine what
the real image, what the truth, really was.
In that situation, there was only one way to de-
termine what was real and what wasn’t: smash the
mirrors to pieces.
There was no point in waiting for Qarakh to
make a decision about an alliance—either he was a
willing partner in the Telyavs’ trap or merely their
pawn. Either way, Alexander had no intention of
allying with the Gangrel now. The fallen prince…
164 Gangrel
Chapter Fourteen
166 Gangrel
he immediately drained one of the mortals to death
upon arriving.”
Qarakh didn’t bother asking the name of the
Cainite who had killed the mortal. Ordinarily, slay-
ing one of the herd while feeding—whether
purposefully or not—was punishable by a year’s ex-
ile from Livonia or becoming blood-bonded to the
khan, whichever the guilty party chose. But this was
hardly the time to be concerned with enforcing tribal
law, not with the possibility of war looming on the
horizon.
Fifty-six mortals could support thirteen or so
Cainites, perhaps a few more if the humans were ra-
tioned. But for a force of Cainites as large as theirs
had become, they would need five times as many.
Even at that number there would be no pretense of
remaining hidden, and many mortals would grow
weak and ill from recurrent draining.
“When we finish the kuriltai, we shall take down
our gers and move our camp to within a quarter mile
of the mortals’ village so that we might feed more
easily.”
“As you will, my khan,” Alessandro acknowl-
edged, “but I doubt there are very many mortals in
the village—especially since a number have joined
us here at the ordu. With your permission, I will send
riders to neighboring villages and farms to gather
those they can and bring them here.”
Qarakh nodded. “See that it is done.”
“I take it then that you’re dismissing the idea of
an alliance with Alexander?” Deverra asked.
“No. But better to prepare for a war that doesn’t
happen than to be caught at less than our full
strength.” Qarakh took a moment to look at each
member of his inner circle in turn, his gaze holding
Arnulf ’s for a second or two longer than the others’.
“Before I decide about Alexander’s offer, I would hear
your words on the matter.”
As one they turned to Grandfather. The oldest
among them, it was his right to speak first. “High-
168 Gangrel
“He is a Christian,” Wilhelmina said. “Their
kind spread across the land like a plague simply be-
cause they can.”
“Alexander told me himself that he is no Chris-
tian,” Qarakh said. “He merely uses the religion as a
tool.”
Wilhelmina shrugged. “Perhaps the religion is
using him and he is unaware of it.”
“And if he sees his religion as nothing more than
a means to an end,” Grandfather put in, “then why
would he view our tribe any differently? Or his oath,
for that matter?”
Before Qarakh could respond, Arnulf jumped in.
“He will attempt to conquer us because he is a con-
queror. He can no more deny his nature than we can.”
He scowled at Qarakh. “Though some find it easier
to try to deny their nature than do others.”
Qarakh reached down and plucked Arnulf ’s ax
from the ground. He held the massive weapon lightly,
as if it weighed nothing. And image flashed through
his mind—the ax blade biting into Arnulf ’s skull,
cleaving flesh, bone, and brain, spraying a fountain
of vitae mixed with chunks of gray matter into the
air.
The Mongol gritted his teeth and tossed the ax
back to its owner. Arnulf caught the weapon by the
haft and tightened his fingers around it until the
knuckles were bone white.
Qarakh turned to Grandfather once more. “I
would have you finish your council, wise one.”
“If Alexander had his way, he would be sitting
upon the Parisian throne this very moment. In order
to reclaim what he believes to be his rightful place,
he will do whatever is necessary. He will ally with us
or seek to destroy us—whichever he ultimately be-
lieves will be to his best advantage. He does not care
for Livonia, not does he care about us. I doubt he
even cares about Paris, deep down. All Alexander
cares about is fulfilling his own desires.”
170 Gangrel
Qarakh wondered if Deverra were speaking
metaphorically or literally. He decided he didn’t want
to know.
“I acknowledge that the risk is a great one,” the
shaman went on, “but the potential benefits to Livo-
nia make it a gamble worth taking. Still, I believe
we should continue to shore up the tribe’s strength
while we explore the possibility of an alliance with
Alexander.” She smiled at Qarakh. “If only to be
prudent. I have already sent a message on the night
wind for my fellow Telyavs to gather here as swiftly
as they can. Some will arrive in the next few days,
and the remainder should be here within a week’s
time, two at the most.”
“And what if Alexander chooses to attack be-
fore then?” Arnulf demanded.
“Then we fight him as best we can,” Deverra
said, unconcerned.
Arnulf leaped to his feet, and Qarakh—fearing
the Goth had finally lost control of his Beast and
intended to attack Deverra—jumped up and put him-
self between them. Arnulf locked gazes with Qarakh,
and the Mongol saw that the Goth’s eyes had gone
feral and yellow.
“I was only going to ask the witch if she had any
weapons in her arsenal stronger than mere words.”
Qarakh struggled not to respond to Arnulf ’s
challenge, but he couldn’t help himself. He was also
khan, and he couldn’t allow Arnulf to get away with
this.
Qarakh’s voice came out as a low growl. “She is
not a witch, and if she chose to waste her powers on
the likes of you, she could slay you where you stand
without lifting a finger.”
Arnulf didn’t take his eyes off Qarakh. “Perhaps,
perhaps not. But what of you, Mongol? Do you have
what it takes to slay me? You—who bargains with
our enemy, who brings a Christian spy into our camp,
who would rather talk than fight?” The Goth war-
172 Gangrel
the fight. He paid them no notice. He needed his
full attention to deal with Arnulf.
The Goth bellowed a war cry, and Qarakh saw
that his teeth had grown longer and sharper. His face
bristled with black fur. If Arnulf was in the midst of
all-out frenzy, he might well be unstoppable.
The Goth charged and Qarakh waited—ignor-
ing the screams of his Beast to run forward and meet
their foe’s attack head on. Instead he drew a second
weapon from his belt, a sharpened length of oak. At
the last moment, Qarakh dodged to the side and
brought the blade of his saber down on Arnulf ’s wrist
with all his strength. The blow severed the tendon.
Though the Goth felt no pain, he couldn’t maintain
its grip on the ax, and the weapon fell to the ground
with a dull metallic thud. Arnulf continued stum-
bling forward, and Qarakh jumped up, spun around
in midair, and slammed his sword hilt into the back
of Arnulf ’s head. The Goth warrior pitched forward
and hit the ground face first. Before Arnulf could
rise, Qarakh dropped his saber and leaped onto the
Cainite’s back. There, he shifted his stake to a two-
handed grip and jammed it between the Goth’s
shoulder blades with all his strength—and through
his heart. Arnulf stiffened and was still.
It was over.
No, it’s not! His beast insisted. Tear him to pieces
with your teeth! Swallow his flesh, drink his blood! It’s
no less than he deserves for challenging the khan!
Qarakh let go of the oaken stake and looked at
his hands. The nails were long and black, and the
backs and palms were covered with gray fur. He rode
his Beast like a wild mare, but he could feel it buck-
ing under him about to send him straight into a wild
and frenzied killing spree. He could no longer resist—
But then he felt a hand on his shoulder once
more, the grip strong, reassuring and—though he
didn’t allow himself to believe it—loving.
He looked up into Deverra’s eyes, and though
he felt his canines jutting forth from an upper jaw
174 Gangrel
Though his wounds were healing, the front of his
jerkin was smeared with vitae, and his skin was
bleached white as a result of the blood loss he’d suf-
fered. Arnulf would have to feed soon.
Though the Goth was in no condition to fight,
still Qarakh did not lower his weapons. Even if
Arnulf had met the Final Death, Qarakh wouldn’t
have relaxed his guard—the warrior was that dan-
gerous.
“Have you decided?” Qarakh asked.
Arnulf looked at him for a moment, jaw and
throat muscles working as if he had forgotten how
to speak during his temporary paralysis.
“Yes,” he croaked. Then he turned, nearly fall-
ing over in the process, and began walking away from
Qarakh, his stride becoming surer and stronger with
every step he took. The entire tribe watched as the
Goth continued walking away from the campsite and
toward the line of trees not far distant. The message
was clear. He hadn’t chosen to continue their fight,
nor had he chosen to remain with the tribe. Arnulf
had chosen exile.
Wilhelmina was at Qarakh’s side then. “He shall
return. He merely needs some time for the fire within
him die down.” But the Viking maid’s tone suggested
she didn’t quite believe it herself.
Alessandro, Deverra and Grandfather joined
them.
“There was nothing else you could have done,”
the Iberian said.
“Except slay him,” Grandfather added. “It might
have been better if you had. He isn’t the kind of man
who forgives and forgets.”
Qarakh knew the elder spoke truth, and he
feared that all he had done was postpone their battle
for another time and place.
Deverra said nothing. She merely stood by him
and watched as Arnulf reached the forest, passed
between two large oak trees and was gone.
***
176 Gangrel
he forced himself to ignore his feelings and think
upon his doppelganger’s challenge.
“This is… a dream?”
The newcomer’s smile widened into a grin, but
there was no mirth in his eyes.
Alexander was surprised by this revelation.
While it wasn’t unheard of for Cainites to dream as
they slumbered, it was something of a rarity. A few
dreamed quite regularly from what he understood,
but he wasn’t one of them. He’d had only a handful
of dreams over the course of two millennia, none of
which he could clearly recall. This was something of
a novelty to him, and he found himself becoming
intrigued. After two thousand years of unlife, novel-
ties were very few and far between for Alexander of
Paris.
“I can’t say I think much of the setting I’ve cho-
sen,” he said aloud. “It demonstrates a regrettable
lack of imagination.”
The other chuckled. “You do Narcissus one bet-
ter. Even he wasn’t vain enough to imagine himself
creator of the universe. This is a dream, yes, but it’s
not your dream.” The other gestured toward the wa-
ter. “It’s theirs.”
Alexander looked where the newcomer indi-
cated and saw, just beneath the waves, the silhouettes
of dark forms gliding through the water. They were
roughly man-shaped and swam around the boat in
slow circles. He extended his gaze farther and saw
that the ocean was filled with the dark shapes. Hun-
dreds, thousands, perhaps millions of them, as far as
the eye could see in all directions, and all of them
were swimming around his tiny, fragile wooden craft.
He turned his attention back to his mirror im-
age. “You didn’t answer my other question. Who are
you? And don’t tell me ‘I’m you.’ I can see for myself
that you have assumed my guise, but that alone
doesn’t make you Alexander of Paris.”
“You say your name as if it means something. But
it’s merely a collection of syllables, sound that is pro-
178 Gangrel
though he was unable to read any expression or even
acknowledgment of his existence in her piscine eyes.
She held his gaze a moment longer before slipping
back beneath the waves and resuming her circuit
around the boat.
Other heads broke the surface now, all with the
same slick gray skin and dead black eyes. Alexander
recognized them all—Lorraine, Olivier, Margery,
Lucien, Renaud… Then more of the dark figures
stopped swimming, and dozens, hundreds, thousands
upon thousands of heads rose out of the water—no,
not water; he could see that now. It was an ocean of
dark red blood… Some of the beings were Cainites,
but most were mortal women that had once been in
love. But no matter what they had been, they all now
possessed the same fishy skin and lifeless eyes. All of
them—those close up and those so far away that their
heads were nothing more than tiny dots on the hori-
zon—glared at him and opened their mouths to
reveal row after row of serrated shark’s teeth.
“Do you understand what you’re looking at?” the
double asked.
Alexander, as is the way of dreams, knew pre-
cisely what he was looking at, though how he had
come by that knowledge, he couldn’t have said.
“They are all my…” He couldn’t bring himself to say
victims. The word was overly dramatic, and it didn’t
come close to communicating the enormity of the
sheer number of beings that surrounded him. Every-
one he had ever killed to feed upon or slain in the
thick of battle, for revenge, for amusement, or sim-
ply out of boredom, was here. Men, women (mostly
women), children, Cainites, Lupines, demons—the
intensity of their collective hatred pounded into him
like a tidal wave of emotion. But mixed in with the
hate were feelings of excitement and anticipation.
He realized the blood-swimmers were waiting impa-
tiently and with great eagerness for something to
happen.
180 Gangrel
his tent. He waited for a moment to see if any of the
ghouls who guarded his quarters during the daylight
hours would call out to see if he was all right. They
wouldn’t open the tent flap and check; they knew
better than to risk exposing their prince to sunlight.
He chose his ghouls carefully for just the right com-
bination of intelligence and tractability. And any
ghoul idiotic enough to let a single ray of light into
his master’s tent wouldn’t live very long afterward.
But no one called out, so he must not have made too
much noise upon awakening.
The Cainites’ tents were made from black fabric
so that even diffuse sunlight couldn’t penetrate the
cloth, and though Alexander sensed there was yet
an hour remaining until sunset, he was safe as long
as he remained inside. Normally the leaden sluggish-
ness that came over him during the daylight hours
would have pulled him back into (hopefully dream-
less) sleep, but just as a mortal awakening after an
especially disturbing nightmare finds it difficult to
return to sleep, so too did Alexander find himself
wide awake.
With nothing else to do, Alexander sat down at
his desk and rolled out his favorite map of Europe.
But this time when he looked at it, his gaze was drawn
to the blue sections indicating bodies of water. He
reached out to touch one—the channel between
England and Normandy—but he hesitated and low-
ered his hand.
In his mind he heard the shush-shush-shush of
waves, the wail of sea winds and the clack-clack-clack
of hungry teeth.
182 Gangrel
both tribesmen and allies—even the ghouls and mor-
tals. Some were old friends, but most were little more
than strangers. Still, he made sure to spend a little
time with each and make them feel welcome and
appreciated. It was an important task, for he might
soon be asking these people—Cainites, ghouls and
mortals alike—to follow him into battle, and he
needed to strengthen, renew or create bonds with
each one of them. Just as a tribe was only as strong
as its khan, an army was only as strong as its general.
Midnight came and went without Qarakh see-
ing or hearing anything of Deverra. Ordinarily, he
might have thought nothing of her absence; he would
have assumed she was off conducting one Telyavic
rite or another. But these were hardly ordinary times.
If Alexander’s offer of an alliance was only a ruse—
or if the Ventrue had simply changed his mind—he
might even now be preparing an attack against the
tribe, might have dispatched his own spies or assas-
sins. Deverra was a strong woman in more ways than
one, and he had no doubt she could handle herself
in any situation. But even so…
With a muttered apology, he broke off his con-
versation with a Saxon Gangrel chieftain and started
walking in the direction of the woods.
“Milord! A word, if you please!”
Qarakh almost didn’t stop—almost, in fact, drew
his saber and lopped off the fool’s chattering head—
but then he recognized the voice as belonging to
Malachite. He was tempted to keep on going, but he
stopped and allowed the Nosferatu to catch up to
him.
“My apologies if I am detaining you from an im-
portant errand,” Malachite said.
Qarakh tried not to let his impatience show.
“What do you want?”
“To ask if you have come to a decision whether
to reveal the details of this monastery.”
184 Gangrel
“Therefore, if words will not serve, perhaps ac-
tions shall.” Malachite paused, as if wrestling with a
difficult decision. “To prove my sincerity to you,
Qarakh of Mongolia, Khan of the Livonian tribe, I
shall swear a blood oath to you—if you will accept it
from me.”
Qarakh was stunned by the Nosferatu’s offer.
Oaths of blood were no light matter among the
undead, for they involved literally drinking the blood
of the lord sworn to, and Cainite blood could bend
the will. Three drinks was said to create an almost
permanent bond, but even a single sip was critical.
There was nothing else Malachite could have said
or done to convince Qarakh so quickly and com-
pletely of how serious he truly was about finding the
Dracon.
“Why would you do such a thing?” Qarakh asked.
“For you. For myself. For all Cainites.” A pause.
“But most of all, for the Dream.”
Qarakh nodded. “Very well. I shall consider your
offer. If I accept it, I will tell you all I know about
these Obertus monks.”
Malachite stiffened suddenly, but didn’t say any-
thing. He then bowed from the waist. “I thank you,
great khan.” The Nosferatu straightened, turned and
silently moved off, his robed body seeming to blend
into the night itself. Qarakh had a difficult time
keeping his eyes focused on the scholar’s retreating
form. If Malachite was this difficult to track when
he was merely walking, how much harder would it
be if he were trying to move without being seen or
heard? With the blood gifts of his clan, Malachite
might have easily chosen to slip away from
Alexander’s camp and follow Qarakh and Deverra
back to their tribe without being detected. Once
there, he could have spied on anyone, gathering in-
telligence for Alexander or simply picking up hints
to the location of this Archbishop Nikita.
But he hadn’t. He had openly asked to accom-
pany Deverra and him, and he had made his request
186 Gangrel
“You are also a member of the tribe, and my sha-
man. Would you risk the tribe’s existence in order to
ensure your clan’s?”
If she were upset by the implied accusation in
his question, she gave no sign. “Of course not, but
when you have two strong and equal loyalties, yostoi
isn’t always easy to achieve.”
Qarakh smiled grimly. “No matter the circum-
stances, balance is never easy to achieve. That is
what makes it worth fighting so hard for.”
Deverra took a step closer to him, and Qarakh
had to resist the urge to pull away. It wasn’t that he
didn’t want to be physically close to her but that
Deverra wanted it so much. They were Cainites, what
mortals called vampires. Undead creatures that could
not love in the ways of human men and women, no
matter how much they might wish to. Still, he didn’t
step back.
“Have you made a decision yet? About an alli-
ance with Alexander?”
Qarakh had not, but he wondered what she
would do if he decided against it. Would she, as a
member of the tribe, accept the ruling of her khan,
or would she, as high priestess of the Telyavs, decide
to oppose him for the good of her faith? It was a ques-
tion he did not want to ask because he did not want
an answer.
“I am still considering the matter,” he said. “I
shall decide by the next sunset.”
“Then I shall wait as patiently as I can.”
Sensing the issue was settled for now, Qarakh
knelt and wiped his saber on the grass before stand-
ing and sheathing it. “I should return to the camp.”
Deverra grinned. “Afraid people will notice
we’re both missing and start to gossip?”
Qarakh frowned in mock irritation. “No, but
given the current uncertainty, it would be better if
neither of us were gone too long. If nothing else,
Alessandro would begin to get nervous.”
188 Gangrel
she had to go, someone else she had to speak with,
and she would prefer that Qarakh not know about
it. Not until he needed to—if he ever did. But if the
alliance with Alexander failed to come to fruition,
and the tribe went to war with the Ventrue’s army,
they would need help if they were to have any hope
of emerging victorious. And Deverra could think of
only one other place to go.
The Grove of Shadows.
190 Gangrel
Qarakh walked up to the male and female wolves and
allowed them to approach.
“The night grows old, and I would speak to my
brother alone. I give you leave to go off and hunt
until dawn.”
The wolves didn’t understand his words, of
course, but Qarakh communicated with them on a
level much deeper than mere language. The guard-
ians wagged their tails and yipped like eager pups
before bounding off across the plain. Qarakh watched
them go, for a moment wishing he could shift form
and accompany them, but then he climbed to the
top of the mound and settled into a cross-legged po-
sition. He bit his fingers and thrust them into the
earth.
At first he felt nothing, and he feared that Aajav
had at last retreated so far into slumber that he
couldn’t be reached even by Telyavic magic. But then
he felt the first faint stirrings of his blood brother’s
consciousness, and he was relieved. One night, Aajav
might very well be lost to him, but that night was
not yet here.
“Greetings, Aajav. Much has happened since last
we spoke. So much that I hardly know where to be-
gin.”
Though he did not experience Aajav’s reaction
as words, Qarakh had the impression that his brother
was saying, So pick a place and just begin. You’ll get
around to everything eventually.
Qarakh smiled. Even in torpor, Aajav gave good
advice.
“Very well.” And he began. He spoke of the par-
ley with Alexander, Malachite accompanying them
back to the campsite, the kuriltai, the fight with
Arnulf and the Goth’s leaving, the return of tribes-
men and the coming of allies. The only thing he did
not tell his blood brother about was his increasing…
closeness with Deverra. He wasn’t sure why. Perhaps
because he didn’t quite know how to put it in words,
192 Gangrel
Qarakh, and the Anda had denied it. Aajav had
given the dark gift to his blood brother anyway,
arousing the Anda’s ire. The Anda dealt harshly—
and permanently—with anyone who broke their
laws. But now, nearly two years after Qarakh’s Em-
brace, it seemed that all was forgiven. The operative
word being seemed, as far as Qarakh was concerned.
“The Anda who delivered the news unto me said
that their change of heart was primarily a matter of
practicality,” Aajav explained. “The demons from the
south have been growing bolder in recent months,
attacking the Anda more often, more savagely and
in greater numbers than ever before. If they are to
defeat the demons, they need the sword of every
warrior they can get.”
Qarakh had heard this explanation before, of
course, but it still didn’t ring true to him. While the
Ten Thousand Demons were a continual threat on
the steppe, he hadn’t noticed any appreciable change
in the frequency or intensity of their attacks.
“Even if they do accept us for the time being,
what is to prevent them from turning on us after the
demons have been repelled?’ Qarakh asked.
“It is true that they have summoned us out of
their own need,” Aajav admitted. “And I grant that
there is a chance they will attempt to slay us once
our usefulness has ended. But there also is a chance
that if we distinguish ourselves in battle, we will gain
the Anda’s respect, and perhaps even their admira-
tion. If so, we shall be able to earn a place within
their clan.”
Even if it occurred just as Aajav said, Qarakh
wasn’t certain that he wanted to be a part of the
Anda’s clan. He liked the way his new existence had
been during the last two years—just Aajav and he,
riding and hunting upon the steppe together. Still,
he had to admit that it would be a relief not to have
to avoid the Anda anymore, let alone fight them.
Perhaps Aajav was right. Going to the kuriltai might
be a risk, but it was a risk worth taking.
194 Gangrel
like Aajav, his new life in darkness would be a sen-
tence in hell. Aajav had once informed Qarakh that
some Cainites—especially those to the West—re-
ferred to themselves as the Damned. Now he knew
why Aajav had told him this. But a true Mongol
warrior would never speak directly of such feelings.
It was a warrior’s lot to be strong, to endure, to be a
true stoic in every sense of the word.
So if Aajav desired the companionship of the
Anda—poor substitute that it might be for what he
had enjoyed as a mortal—Qarakh would do whatever
he could to help his blood brother obtain it. Even if
it meant—
He’d been about to complete his thought with
the phrase risking Final Death, but they were within
a dozen yards of the stone circle now and the hair
on the back of Qarakh’s neck stood up. He realized
that his uncompleted thought might end up being
not only prophetic, but also one of his last.
“Aajav, something is wrong….” The word died
in his throat as Anda warriors began to rise forth
from the ground around them. Heads, shoulders,
chests, the heads of their mounts…
With a stab of fear, Qarakh realized the Anda
had interred themselves with their steeds. Aajav
could do this as well, when the need arose. He’d at-
tempted to teach the skill to Qarakh, but he had yet
to master it. But as swiftly as the Anda rose from the
earth, there was no doubt as to their mastery.
The Anda had set a trap for them, using Aajav’s
need to be part of a tribe as bait. He and Qarakh had
ridden right into it.
The Anda and their mounts were halfway out of
the ground now, and their hands—which no doubt
held bows with arrows nocked and ready—were al-
most free. The Anda had interred themselves in a
circle, and they’d waited for their prey to ride into
the middle of it before springing their trap. Qarakh
and Aajav were surrounded.
196 Gangrel
the Anda that he had trusted them when he shouldn’t
have, and it had almost meant both of their Final
Deaths. As it was, Aajav had never fully recovered
from the poison the Anda had wounded him with.
Or perhaps it hadn’t been the poison so much as the
realization that he was doomed to live an unlife for-
ever apart from all the things he had loved as a
mortal.
Whichever the case, the memory-vision’s mean-
ing was clear: Aajav had made a mistake in trusting
the Anda. It was a mistake he did not wish to see his
brother repeat.
Qarakh had promised Deverra that he would
come to a decision about allying with Alexander by
the next sunset, but he’d come to one now. Like the
Anda so many years ago, Alexander of Paris could
not be trusted. There would be no alliance—and if
that meant war, so be it.
“Thank you, my brother.”
Qarakh stood and walked back toward his horse.
He needed to return to the camp. There were still a
few hours left until sunrise, and there was much to
be done.
***
In the darkness, Rikard lay upon a wooden
table—at least, it felt like a table. He wasn’t sure. It
was so hard to think. At first he thought he must be
somewhere deep underground, in a cavern perhaps,
although the air didn’t feel cool or damp enough,
and the sound didn’t echo the way it should have,
though since he had never been inside a cave, he
was only guessing at this. Besides, why would some-
one place a table in a cavern? It didn’t make sense.
But it was the only explanation he could come up
with for why he couldn’t see something. After all, he
was a Cainite, and his eyes were capable of—
And then he remembered. He no longer had any
eyes.
“Still conscious? You have a stronger constitu-
tion that I would’ve given you credit for. At first, I
198 Gangrel
“Do you want to know a secret, Rikard?” God’s
voice came then as a whisper in Rikard’s left ear. “No
matter what other amusements I indulge in, I always
take care not to damage the ears. Functioning ears
can continue to cause pain long after the rest of a
man’s nerves have gone dead. All I have to do is
shout!”
Rikard grimaced—demonstrating that he could
still work at least a few facial muscles. It felt like
God had driven a white-hot spike into his ear.
“But the best part is that hearing allows one to
exercise the imagination. For instance—”
Rikard heard the whisk-whisk of steel sliding
against a sharpening stone.
“What does this sound make you think of?”
An image flashed through Rikard’s mind then:
the sharp point of a dagger coming toward his eyes.
He remembered struggling against the restraints (this
was before God had removed them) as the blade in-
troduced him to a night darker than any he’d ever
known before.
“Now that you no longer have any eyes to get in
the way, let us see just how far the dagger will pen-
etrate, eh? I like to keep on going until the tip of
the blade scrapes against the back of the skull. Try
to hold still now. Without the restraints, there’s a
good chance you’ll thrash around a bit.”
Anything for his God. Rikard tried to smile to
show how willing he was, but the best he could man-
age was a lopsided grimace. The cold metal tip of
the dagger touched the ragged-edged hollow ruin
where his right eye had been.
“Looks like your eye has regrown a bit, but you
don’t have much vitae left in your body to fuel any
significant healing. That’s all right, a little push and
a twist or two—there! All gone. Now let’s see how
much of the dagger’s length you can take.”
Rikard felt the blade slide slowly into his eye
socket and keep going. He tried to scream, but not
only didn’t he have a tongue any longer, it appeared
200 Gangrel
Chapter Seventeen
202 Gangrel
scinded—you can allow him to believe that you will
indeed join forces with him, and then, when his
guard is down, we shall seize the opportunity to at-
tack.”
Alexander felt something very nearly like admi-
ration for the knight. “Why Rudiger! I didn’t know
you had such a streak of deviousness in you!”
The Black Cross commander’s mouth twitched,
and Alexander knew he was fighting to keep from
grimacing in disdain.
“It is merely a matter of practicality,” he said
stiffly. “Recent events”—he didn’t say your decisions,
highness, though Alexander was certain he thought
it—“leave us with few remaining options.”
“Practicality, eh? I suppose next you’ll tell me that God
helps those who help themselves. Never mind, don’t an-
swer. Though I understand your concerns, I do not share
them. I have reached the conclusion that Qarakh’s tribe
and the Telyavs are not suitable allies.” Meaning they were
of no use to him. “Thus, as pagans, they must be destroyed
for the greater glory of God, and the sooner, the better.
The people of the land have worshipped false gods long
enough.” He paused. ”Unless you think God is in no par-
ticular hurry to see the people of Livonia brought into his
fold….”
Rudiger replied through clenched teeth. “Of
course not, your highness.”
“Then go inform your knights that we shall be-
gin our march on Qarakh’s campsite come the next
sunset and begin making preparations.”
Rudiger inclined his head. “As you will.”
Which is precisely what you should have said in the
first place. “You may take your leave of me.”
A small puff of breath passed through Rudiger’s lips.
Even with his sensitive Cainite hearing, Alexander couldn’t
make it out, but it sounded as if the commander had whis-
pered, “With pleasure.”
Before Alexander could demand Rudiger repeat
himself more loudly, the knight turned and departed
the tent.
204 Gangrel
semi-mythical land, it had produced a Gangrel named
Qarakh.
Alexander was mildly surprised to realize he was
looking forward to testing his strength, his cunning
and his two millennia of experience against Qarakh.
He opened his mouth and put his thumb against
his right incisor and pushed. The sharp tooth pierced
the finger’s flesh and blood welled forth. Alexander
pressed his bleeding thumb onto the edge of the vel-
lum map, right on the word Tartars, and began
rubbing it around in slow, ever-widening circles. He
did not stop until the word was entirely covered in
wet crimson.
***
One night passed…
Two…
And the sun set for a third time.
***
“Tonight we shall dispatch a messenger to in-
form Alexander that there will be no alliance.”
Qarakh paused to gauge the reactions of those
attending this kuriltai. The tribe’s inner circle
stood—Deverra, Alessandro, Wilhelmina and Grand-
father—leaving the logs for their guests as was only
proper hospitality. As khan, Qarakh was seated, but
sitting alongside and opposite him were those allied
leaders he had invited to the kuriltai: Eirik
Longtooth, Karl the Blue, Borovich the Grim,
Tengael, Werter, and Lacplesis the Beastslayer. On
the other side of Deverra stood a half-dozen
Telyavs—two male, four female—all wearing the
simple brown robes favored by their coven. So far,
they were the only ones that had answered their high
priestess’s call for aid.
Malachite was present as well, standing off to
the side and ignoring the glances of mistrust the oth-
ers gave him from time to time. Qarakh, however,
had come to trust the Nosferatu enough to permit
him to attend tonight’s council, though not yet
enough to let him out of sight for very long.
206 Gangrel
Grim said. The Prussian Gangrel’s childe Tengael
nodded agreement with his sire.
Deverra addressed this concern. “My people have
employed their magic to set up wards around the
campsite. We shall know if anyone, friend or foe, ap-
proaches.”
“Sorcery!” Borovich spat a gob of crimson-tinged
saliva into the grass, but said no more.
Qarakh felt a drop of rain strike the back of his
hand, and he knew the storm that he’d been smell-
ing for the last several nights was nearly upon them.
Grandfather looked up at the sky. Dark clouds
covered the stars and hid the moon.
“A bad omen,” the elder said, and a number of
the allies nodded their agreement.
“It is only a bit of rain,” one of the male Telyavs
said. His name was Sturla, and he was a tall, thin
humorless man with a shaven head and a thatch of
black beard. “The mortals will be grateful; their crops
can certainly use it.”
Deverra gave the man a stern look, and he fell
silent, though he didn’t look too happy at having
been quieted.
He most likely resents having to humor a pack of
superstitious strangers, Qarakh thought. If their situ-
ation hadn’t been so serious, he might’ve found this
amusing—a sorcerer unable to accept the mystical
beliefs of others.
The rain began to pick up then, but it was still
hardly more than a light patter. Besides, they were
all of the Damned—what was a little rain to them?
It was Malachite’s turn to ask a question. “Have
you decided who will carry your message to
Alexander? If you send a Cainite of low station—or
worse yet, a ghoul—the prince will be most insulted.”
“Let him be!” Wilhelmina said, setting several
of the allies as well as a few Telyavs to laughing.
Malachite, however, did not seem bothered by
t h e o t h e r s ’ l a u g h t e r. “ Yo u m u s t u n d e r s t a n d :
Alexander values matters of personal pride above all
208 Gangrel
Now it was Qarakh who felt like saying, Easier
said than done. But he held his tongue; he would never
speak disrespectfully to his tribe’s lore-keeper—es-
pecially not in front of guests. “Alexander is what
the westerners call a Methuselah. He is too powerful
to be fought directly. He must be tricked.”
“What of the Telyavs’ magic?” Karl the Blue
asked. “Perhaps it would prove a potent weapon
against the Ventrue.”
All eyes turned toward Deverra.
“As Qarakh said, Alexander is extremely old and
strong. When I was in his presence, I could feel his
power. I believe he would detect any enchantment
directed at him in time to evade it, if not nullify it
altogether.”
Malachite spoke. “As you might well imagine,
Alexander never said anything to me about his
knowledge—of lack thereof—of sorcery. But I have
heard rumors over the years, and I have seen some
of the books and scrolls he carries with him. My im-
pression is that while he is no sorcerer himself, he
possesses enough knowledge of the mystic arts to
make using magic against him a risky proposition.”
“After two thousand years, he likely possesses
knowledge of just about everything,” Alessandro said.
There was some mumbling and downcast looks,
and while the statement Alessandro had made was
no doubt true enough, Qarakh wished the Iberian
hadn’t spoken it. An army that allowed itself to be-
come demoralized was an army that was already
beaten before ever setting foot upon the field of
battle.
“We have discussed many plans—both of attack
and defense—over the last few nights,” Qarakh said,
“and while all have had their merits, none has
emerged as the best route to take against Alexander.
I suggest that we do as Malachite says and turn the
Ventrue’s pride against him.” He continued on be-
fore anyone—especially Sturla—could comment.
“Alexander is a deposed prince seeking a return to
210 Gangrel
Chapter Eighteen
212 Gangrel
was particularly fond of the midnight black stallion
that served as his steed—while the human ghouls and
mortals sat astride ordinary mounts. Everyone was
equipped with the same complement of arms and ar-
mor: lance, sword, helmet and mail hauberk. None
had bows, however. The knightly classes emphasized
personal combat, and thus disdained their use—an
attitude Alexander found ridiculous but knew he
couldn’t change. Four separate standards were em-
blazoned on flags carried by heralds that rode with
each formation: those of Alexander, Jürgen, the Teu-
tonic Knights and the Black Cross knights.
Alexander would have preferred to ride beneath a
single standard—his, of course—but sometimes one
had to make sacrifices to keep one’s soldiers happy.
All together, the army numbered thirty-one
Cainites, fifty-four ghouls and thirty-nine mortals,
making for a total fighting force of one hundred and
twenty-four. The remainder of their people—the ser-
vants, blacksmiths, stable masters, cooks, laundresses
and simple feeding stock—now camped two miles be-
hind the army, well out of the range of battle, but
close enough for the soldiers to return to them once
the fighting was finished.
The army rode across a grassy plain, a small
thatch of forest off to the right. An empty thatch…
at least, according to Rudiger’s scouts. The man
might be an officious, humorless bore, but Alexander
had to admit that he was an effective field com-
mander.
If all goes well, Alexander thought, feeling in a
generous mood, perhaps I won’t kill him after all.
“It’s a lovely night for conquest, is it not, Com-
mander?” It had started to rain a short while ago,
and Alexander had feared that Rudiger would insist
on calling off the attack, for muddy ground and ar-
mored knights on horseback were not an effective
combination. Though Alexander would have insisted
they continue on, regardless of the weather, he
doubted he could have convinced Rudiger to order
214 Gangrel
strategy at this point. Besides, he wanted to see the
look on Rudiger’s face when he realized the pagans
had somehow known about their attack ahead of
time.
But as pleasurable as that would be, Alexander
decided it would be a petty indulgence, and while
he was not above petty indulgences in the least—in
fact, they were one of the main things that kept him
going after two millennia of unlife—he’d rather see
this campaign completed swiftly and successfully.
And despite Qarakh’s relative youth, Alexander
sensed that he was not a man to be taken lightly. So
he told Rudiger, and when he was finished, the
knight cursed.
“Scheisse! No wonder there are no sentries—the
Mongol doesn’t need them!”
“He doesn’t need them here, but he does need
them elsewhere, or he would have allowed some to
remain in order not to arouse our suspicions. This
tells us that he does not have the number of warriors
to match our own.”
Rudiger looked at Alexander. “I’m impressed,
your highness.”
Alexander did not fail to note that the knight
had added an honorific this time. “I’ve fought in and
survived so many battles, both large and small, over
the centuries that I quite literally cannot remember
them all.”
A shout came from someone riding in the van-
g u a r d , i n t e r r u p t i n g A l e x a n d e r. H e t u r n e d h i s
attention forward, but because the land was flat
here—and because even seated upon a stallion he
still was shorter than the average knight who rode
before him—he couldn’t see what was happening. But
he could well guess: The Mongol was making his
move.
Alexander smiled. So the alliance dies without ever
being truly born.
“Stay here!” Rudiger said, and before Alexander
could tell him that he didn’t take kindly to being
216 Gangrel
never been able to do it, no matter how much train-
ing they had received.
Hooves pounded across the plain like rolling
thunder as the four arbans rode toward Alexander’s
army, but the warriors themselves remained silent.
It was not the Mongol way to shout battle cries in
an attempt to bolster one’s courage or rattle one’s
foe. The Mongol warrior preferred to let his strength
and skill do the talking for him.
The Iberian judged the distance to the vanguard
of Alexander’s army to be approximately two thou-
sand yards. Cainites were able to draw bows and loose
arrows with greater speed, distance and accuracy than
either ghouls or mortals. But three-quarters of this
attack force—by design—was made up of ghouls, so
Alessandro knew they would have to get closer be-
fore firing.
Closer…
“Nock arrows!” he ordered.
Closer…
“Get ready!”
The tribesmen pointed their bows skyward.
Closer… “First volley, fire!”
Bowstrings twanged in almost perfect unison.
Arrows shot into the air, howling as they arced into
the night sky.
***
The knight on Rudiger’s left said, “What is that
sound?’ And then, with a howling like a thousand
ravening demons, a rain of arrows fell upon the van-
guard.
Helmets and hauberks protected most of the
knights, but many of those who were foolish enough
to look skyward, curious to see what was making such
an eerie noise, received arrow wounds to their faces
and necks. If they were particularly unlucky, a
wooden shaft now protruded from the socket where
one of their eyes had been. The knight riding next
to Rudiger was one of the unlucky ones. The idiot
looked up, lost his right eye to a falling arrow, and
218 Gangrel
ghoul or a mortal, Rudiger wouldn’t have spared the
time to ride around him. After all, this was war.
He broke free of the vanguard and rode toward
the pagans. He didn’t look back to see if anyone was
following his lead. Either they were or they weren’t,
and Rudiger, commander of the Black Cross knights,
gave the matter no further thought as he rode forth
to meet his enemy.
***
The tribal warriors had nocked a third volley of
arrows, but Alessandro raised a hand and shouted,
“Hold!”
The first two volleys had done their work well,
wounding a number of knights and mounts in the
Christian vanguard and creating chaos in the ranks.
But now a lone rider came charging across the field,
sword held high. A few knights followed after him,
but that was all.
Alessandro smiled. Perfect.
“Retreat!”
As one, the line of riders turned their mounts
around, shouted “Tchoo! Tchoo!” and rode off at a fu-
rious gallop. The course of their retreat was set to
take them past the small wood which, Alessandro
was certain, the Christian knights had searched and
determined to be empty.
He grinned. They should have searched with
greater diligence.
He cracked his reins. “Tchoo! Tchoo!”
***
Rudiger heard a chorus of shouts erupt behind
him, and he allowed himself a quick smile. It sounded
as if he had managed to seize the reins of the army
after all.
Before coming to Livonia, Rudiger had studied
every account he could find about Tartar battle tac-
tics. They were very few. The Tartars had apparently
been harassing the easternmost cities in Rus and
other Slavic lands, but very little detail was con-
tained in any letter Rudiger had been able to get
220 Gangrel
curved talons. Aside from Qarakh, none was on
horseback, but it mattered little.
Rudiger swore. Damn those Gangrel tricks!
Rudiger had heard that the animalistic Cainites of-
ten slept through the day within the earth, but it
had never occurred to him that they might be able
to use this ability for concealment.
Rudiger yanked on his mount’s reins, trying to
stop the horse so that he could turn the dumb beast
to meet this new attack, but the horse only spun
around in a circle, chuffing air and raising and low-
ering its head. Some knights were trying to get their
steeds to halt as well, while others—evidently un-
aware of the Gangrel’s deception—continued riding
past.
Rudiger then saw something that made him
doubt his senses: six brown-robed figures stepping out
from six oak trees. He wasn’t certain, for his horse
still refused to settle down, but it looked as if the
newcomers’ hands were bleeding. As the Gangrel
raced forward with Qarakh in the lead, the robed
ones—could they be Telyavs?—knelt and pressed
their bleeding palms to the grass. There was a rus-
tling whispering sound, and the grass surrounding the
knights began to sway back and forth as if stirred by
a restless wind, though the air remained still. Then
the blades stretched forth from the ground, growing
longer and thicker as they came and—Rudiger was
certain he must be hallucinating this—each blade
of grass now possessed a small gaping mouth ringed
by rows of hard toothlike thorns. The grass (or what-
ever it had become) struck serpent-swift, tiny mouths
affixing to horses’ flanks, bellies, withers, barrels or
necks—and they began to drink.
The horses shrieked in agony, bucking and jump-
ing as they tried to tear free of the horrible mouths
that had clamped onto their flesh and were now suck-
ing their blood with loud moist sounds. But no matter
how hard the equines fought, they couldn’t dislodge
the parasites.
222 Gangrel
Chapter Nineteen
224 Gangrel
The savage bitch tried to sink her fangs into his
throat, and he brought up his forearm just in time to
protect himself. The she-wolf bit into his arm in-
stead, and vitae gushed forth, hot and red. Then
Rudiger’s own Beast rose to the fore, and he began
to fight for his unlife.
***
The air was filled with screams and growls as
Cainites, ghouls and mortals fought, rending each
other’s flesh with swords, daggers, claws and teeth.
Deverra knelt on the ground beside the other
Telyavs. The enchantment they had just worked had
never been tried in this way before. It had been de-
signed only to spur crops to lush growth, but it had
succeeded. The horse blood drained by the surrogate
tendrils (which in her mind Deverra referred to as
snakes in the grass) had needed to go somewhere,
though, and that somewhere was into the bodies of
the Telyavs themselves. They were now suffused with
blood, swollen and bloated with it, their purplish skin
stretched tight and shiny. Deverra could feel equine
blood pooled at the back of her throat, as if she was
a well nearly full to overflowing after a long, hard
rain. The sensations were strange—a warm, pleas-
ant drowsiness combined with an uncomfortable
feeling of pressure and a slight tinge of nausea from
ingesting so much animal blood. It would take some
time for the Telyavs’ bodies to completely absorb
what they had taken in, hours for certain, perhaps
even a night or two, but in the end—
“Hurts… so much…”
The voice was distorted, wet and gurgling, but
Deverra could tell it belonged to Sturla. Weak as she
was, the high priestess crawled on fleshy knees and
sausage-thick fingers toward the acolyte. He lay on
his back, staring up at the dark sky. Clouds now hid
the stars, and Deverra knew it would soon rain again.
The fabric of Sturla’s robe was stretched tight across
a body swollen to grotesque proportions—easily twice
that of the other Telyavs, Deverra’s included. Blood
226 Gangrel
hadn’t witnessed Sturla’s death—none were in danger of
going the way of their companion, and for that she was
both relieved and grateful.
A form emerged from the murk of a nearby
shadow. Deverra was startled at first, until she real-
ized it was Malachite. The Nosferatu came silently
toward her, moving with a liquid grace that seemed
unlikely for one as misshapen as he. Then she re-
membered what she now looked like; she was hardly
one to judge another’s appearance at the moment.
“I am truly sorry for your loss,” he said.
She acknowledged his words with a nod. “It is
war,” she said, as if that explained everything. “How
goes the battle?”
“Your deception worked well. The vanguard was
taken completely by surprise, and the Gangrel are
fighting the knights even as we speak. Once the van-
guard was engaged, Alessandro brought his cavalry
around and returned to harry the remainder of
Alexander’s army with flights of arrows. While the
battle and rearguard formations appear to be hold-
ing, the right and left wings are in disarray, all
pretense of military discipline forgotten.”
Deverra smiled in grim satisfaction. The tribe
was a long way from winning this war, but it had ac-
complished an effective first strike.
The other Telyavs were sitting up now, fully con-
scious but still very weak. She felt a drop of rain
strike the back of her swollen left hand—the slight
impact surprisingly painful upon her tight skin—and
she knew the rain had returned. All to the better,
for rain would not hamper the Gangrel’s efforts, nor
would it affect Alessandro’s archers unless it came
with strong winds. But the change in weather might
well prove an impediment for a mounted force as
large as Alexander’s. If Qarakh was here, she knew
he would thank Father Tengri for his gift.
“And what of Qarakh?” she asked Malachite.
“Your khan led the charge against the vanguard
as planned, but for some reason he broke off at the
228 Gangrel
belonged to the wolves. The raiders hadn’t slain his
brother. They had abducted him--for Alexander to
use as a bargaining chip? Or perhaps merely to en-
rage Qarakh to such a degree that he was incapable
of leading his tribe. Knowing Alexander, Qarakh bet
on both possibilities.
He dismounted then, but he did not immediately
rush up to the mound to confirm with his eyes what
his nose had already told him. Doing so would be a
waste of time, and he had already taken too long to
get here as it was. The blood within him was burn-
ing with the exertions of interring himself and his
steed in the woods and with the boiling need for
battle. His muscles were swollen and straining and
it had been all he could do to resist taking the wolf
form on the way here. The extra speed might well
have driven him into a feeding frenzy, and he still
would not have arrived. Now he was here, and there
was no longer any need to resist. But before he
hunted, he needed to feed.
He stroked the mare’s muzzle. “I’ll take only what
I need,” he promised. Then he bent his head to the
horse’s neck, bit into her flesh, and began to drink.
Drain her dry! the Beast shouted. She’s your ghoul,
and you’ve fed her much vitae. It’s time she gave it back!
Qarakh was still drinking when the mare col-
lapsed to the ground. He didn’t waste time to check
if she would survive; either she would or she
wouldn’t. He turned away from the horse and ran
toward the mound, exchanging his human shape for
his wolfish one as he went. Once atop the excavated
mound, he lowered his nose and inhaled, trying to
pick up the raiders’ trail. The rain didn’t help, but it
hadn’t washed away the scent completely. He found
it with little trouble and leaped from the mound and
bounded across the plain.
The hunt had begun.
***
István congratulated himself. The task had gone
far more smoothly then he’d imagined. Only the two
230 Gangrel
His thoughts drifted to a mortal woman he’d had
his eye on for a while. She was the wife of one of the
blacksmiths, and she’d been growing increasingly
frail over the last few weeks as the wasting sickness
spread through her. She was in constant pain—István
was adept at sensing such things—and he thought
her agony had ripened quite nicely. Once they re-
turned to camp and made sure this torpid animal was
secured, István thought he would send for the woman
and enjoy her pain even as he delivered her from it.
Lost in thoughts of his meal to come, István was
unaware that anything was wrong until one of the
knights shouted. István turned just in time to see a
large gray wolf slam into the warrior and knock him
out of the saddle. The other two knights turned their
horses about, drew their swords, and converged on
the wolf, which was now savaging their screaming
companion.
István didn’t know if the wolf was another guard-
ian ghoul, one of the Gangrel, or even Qarakh
himself, and he didn’t much care. All he cared about
was surviving long enough to deliver his captive to
Alexander, so that he might continue to survive in
the nights ahead. He cracked the reins and kicked
his horse into a gallop, pulling the other mount along
with him.
***
Rain poured down upon the battlefield, and
Grandfather walked among the carnage as Cainites,
ghouls and mortals struggled to deliver the Final
Death rather than receive it. He walked calmly, dodg-
ing arrows, ducking swords and evading the claws of
his own people who had allowed the Beast too great
a hold upon what remained of their souls. He car-
ried no weapons, but he didn’t need any. As he
walked, his hand would dart out faster than any eye—
human or Cainite—could see, talons sprouting from
his fingertips, and another Christian knight would
suddenly be missing a significant portion of his
throat. Grandfather never stopped. He tossed each
232 Gangrel
too weak to fight—but she showed no signs of re-
lenting. The frenzy had too strong a hold on her. The
knight was also wounded. An arrow protruded from
the wrist of his sword arm, and his face and neck
were crisscrossed with deep gashes. His tabard was
soaked in crimson. But he too displayed no sign of
giving up the fight. He held his sword before him in
a steady grip, and his gaze remained focused on his
adversary.
Grandfather wasn’t overly concerned with
Wilhelmina’s wounds. A good feeding or two and she
would be fully healed. But he was worried about the
effects frenzy might have on her. Wilhelmina hated
Christians with a passion greater than any he’d ever
seen in his long unlife. Now here she was, with an
entire army of Christian warriors to slay. He had no
doubt that she would keep on fighting until every
knight in Alexander’s army lay mutilated and dis-
membered on the field of battle. That is, if the Final
Death didn’t claim her first.
Grandfather decided it might be best if he re-
mained close to her until the fighting was done. That
way, should she slip too far into the bestial side of
her nature, he could remove her from the battle and
stay with her until she (hopefully) returned to nor-
mal. But first he had to deal with that knight.
Grandfather walked toward the two combatants,
his fingers itching to bury themselves in the
Christian’s throat.
***
Wilhelmina’s world consisted of two equally
strong visions, one overlapping the other. In the first,
she crouched in front of a sword-wielding knight,
looking for an opening so that she might finish off
the bastard. But in the second she stood before the
smoldering ruins of a burnt longhouse, the greasy
stench of seared flesh still heavy in the air.
Bjorn was gone, as were the others—slain by
those who professed to follow a god of peace. She
was one of Bjorn’s shield-maidens. She should have
234 Gangrel
dim. A look of understanding, of pity and above all
love.
***
Rudiger lowered his sword as he watched the she-
wolf dash away. He wasn’t sure what had just
happened—why she had slain the old Gangrel and
then fled—but war was chaos and ultimately beyond
anyone’s understanding, save that of almighty God.
He could afford to spare no more thought for the
matter. The rain was coming down harder now, and
the pagans’ ambush had proven most effective. The
vanguard was in complete disarray, and he had no
sense of how many casualties they had suffered, let
alone how the rest of the army fared. There was no
hope for it; they needed to fall back (he didn’t think
of it as a retreat, for a true knight would never do
something so dishonorable).
He yanked the arrow from his wrist and threw it
to the ground. He turned and began jogging toward
the main body of the army, keeping his eye out for a
horse he could commandeer.
***
Alessandro’s horsemen were almost out of arrows
when he heard the sound of trumpets echo over the
battlefield. He ordered the archers to hold their po-
sitions. Moments later, the Christian knights began
to retreat. A cheer went up from Alessandro’s men,
but the Iberian didn’t join in the exultation. They
had fought and won but a single battle.
The war was by no means over.
236 Gangrel
warrior felt no elation at his victory. He felt noth-
ing beyond the determination to rescue Aajav.
He once again donned wolf-shape—though it
was more difficult this time and he knew he would
soon have to feed once more—and resumed the hunt.
***
Lightning flashed and thunder roared. The rain
sliced down from the heavens like a hail of minia-
ture knives. István couldn’t see a foot in front of his
face. His mount, and the one the unconscious Mon-
gol lay astride, were both so spooked that he was
having trouble controlling the animals. He had no
idea if he was heading in the right direction any-
more. All he knew was that he couldn’t afford to slow
down, not if he hoped to—
Out of the darkness and the rain, blazing eyes
and wide-open jaws came leaping at him, and István
had time to think, At least it’s not Alexander, before
Qarakh was upon him.
***
Qarakh, in man-shape once again, led the
knight’s horse by the bridle toward a stand of pine
trees. The steed upon which Aajav lay came along
obediently. The horses were skittish, but he spoke
to them in a soothing voice as they walked, and
though they didn’t calm down completely, they were
docile enough.
The taste of the last knight’s blood lingered bit-
ter in his mouth. He leaned his head back, opened
his mouth to catch some rain, swished the water
around and then spat into the grass.
Once beneath the shelter of a large pine, Qarakh
tied the horses to one of the branches before seeing
to Aajav. He knew he should have examined his tor-
pid blood brother right away, but he had been too
afraid of what he might find. Now a quick once-over
convinced him that while Aajav remained in torpor,
he had suffered no injuries at the hands of his ab-
ductors. Relieved, Qarakh untied Aajav and carried
him over to the trunk of the pine tree. Qarakh sat
238 Gangrel
tae—all of it—and add Aajav’s strength to his own.
Deverra called it diablerie and said it was the con-
sumption not only of blood, but of the very soul.
“I cannot! Do not ask me again!”
Silence for a moment, and then, “You… must.”
Qarakh remembered then what the ancient
Cainite he’d encountered outside the Obertus mon-
astery had told him: Victory is in the blood. Qarakh
shook his head. “Defeating this Christian is not
worth that.”
“To protect… tribe.”
“No!”
“Alexander… too strong. You… must let me
fight… with you.”
“I will not! And nothing you can say will change
my mind!”
Another silence, longer this time. Then Aajav
spoke a single word.
“Please.”
In that one word, Qarakh heard a desperate long-
ing for the lost pleasures of a mortal life on the
steppe—riding the plain, hunting, being a mortal
man among other mortal men… Qarakh understood
then that Aajav would never come out of torpor,
even if he should continue to exist beyond the end
of the world. Drinking his heart’s blood would be a
mercy—if only Qarakh could bring himself to do it.
He looked down upon the face of the man who
was both his brother and his sire in darkness. Did he
love this man enough to slay him?
Of course he did.
He kissed Aajav’s forehead and then, red-tinged
tears brimming in his eyes, he fastened his mouth to
Aajav’s neck and began to drink. For once, his Beast
was blessedly silent.
***
Only an hour remained until sunrise by the time
Qarakh returned to the battlefield, riding the geld-
ing that Aajav had been lashed to. His own mare
hadn’t survived his feeding.
240 Gangrel
“As am I, my khan,” Alessandro said as he took
a place at Deverra’s side. “Should I send one of our
people to retrieve his body so he may be properly
laid to rest?”
Qarakh thought of how Aajav’s body had begun
to decay after the diablerie was finished. Qarakh had
waited until his brother was nothing more than a pile
of ashes, and then he had carefully gathered the re-
mains and placed them in one of the gelding’s
saddlebags. One day he would return to Mongolia
and scatter the ashes on the shore of the Onan River,
the Anda be damned. He almost patted the saddle-
bag to reassure himself that Aajav’s ashes were still
there, but he resisted. Though he thought it likely
Deverra might suspect what had occurred—he
seemed unable to hide anything from her—he didn’t
want Alessandro to know. Perhaps because he was
ashamed, but also because what had transpired be-
tween Aajav and himself had been an intimate,
private thing.
“That has already been dealt with,” Qarakh said
in a tone that indicated he wished to speak no more
about it.
Alessandro looked at his khan for a moment be-
fore nodding his acceptance.
Qarakh took another look around the battlefield.
The stench of blood and voided mortal waste hung
in the air like the residue of agony and fury. Deli-
cious, his Beast said, and Qarakh had to fight to keep
from salivating. Too bad we missed all the fun. Then
again, Aajav was delicious, too.
“How did the tribe fare?” Qarakh asked.
“Well, my khan,” Alessandro said. “By my count,
we’ve slain sixty-seven of the enemy: seventeen
Cainites, thirty-one ghouls and nineteen mortals. I
estimate the number to be roughly half of their fight-
ing force.”
Despite his sorrow at Aajav’s loss, Qarakh was
pleased with this result. It was better than he had
242 Gangrel
“It is a great loss,” Qarakh said. “We shall add
his name to the list of those to be avenged.”
Alessandro didn’t appear especially comforted,
but he nodded anyway. “What are your orders, my
khan?”
“Continue to gather our fallen, but make sure
that all Cainites return to the camp well before dawn.
As much as we might like to honor the dead with a
proper funeral pyre, we don’t want to lose anyone
else. If that means leaving some of our casualties to
be devoured by the sun’s rays, then so be it. Also,
post sentries—both ghouls who can keep watch dur-
ing the day and Gangrel who can inter themselves
until the next sunset. Alexander will be stung by this
defeat, and he will surely attack again, sooner rather
than later. We must be prepared.”
“Yes, my khan.” Alessandro departed to carry out
Qarakh’s commands.
After the Iberian had gone, Deverra laid a swol-
len reddish purple hand on Qarakh’s leg. “I’m so sorry
about Aajav,” she said.
Emotions warred in Qarakh: gratitude for
Deverra’s sympathy, revulsion at the sight of what
she had become, guilt at the knowledge that it was
his command that had led to her transformation, and
a fury whose source was unclear to him.
“I am weary and must return to my tent and rest.
I suggest you do the same.”
A hurt look came into Deverra’s eyes, and she
withdrew her hand from his leg. Before she could say
anything else, Qarakh turned the gelding around and
headed away from the battlefield at a brisk trot.
***
Deverra watched Qarakh ride off. She knew how
Aajav had died—not all the specifics, but she knew
enough—and she understood how hard diablerizing
his blood brother had been for him. It was just like
the stoic Mongol not to want to talk about it.
I’m weary and must return to my tent to rest. I sug-
gest you do the same.
244 Gangrel
Alexander noted the commander wasn’t omit-
ting honorifics this time. “And we lost nearly half
that many Cainites, did we not?”
“Seventeen, my prince.” Tiny beads of blood-
sweat welled forth on Rudiger’s forehead.
“And how many pagans did we send to hell this
fine night?”
“I… There was no way to make a clear estimate
given all the confusion. But I’d wager that we slew
two dozen at most.”
Alexander walked over to Rudiger until he stood
toe to toe with the knight. To Rudiger’s credit, he
didn’t back away. “Not precisely a glorious victory
for the vaunted Teutonic Knights.”
Rudiger’s jaw muscles tensed. “I believe we first
went wrong when—” Alexander’s hand shot out and
clamped around his throat, choking off his words.
The unliving knight was in no danger of fainting,
but there were still many other ways Alexander could
harm him if he wished. From the look in Rudiger’s
eyes, the knight knew it.
“Not ‘we.’ You were in command of the knights
on the field. You rode off of your own accord to join
the vanguard, and it was you who ordered a retreat
without consulting me. We still might have carried
the night if it hadn’t been for your inept leadership
and cowardice.”
The fear in Rudiger’s eyes changed to anger. He
reached up and gripped Alexander’s wrist and tried
to pry the prince’s hand from his throat, without suc-
cess.
Alexander laughed. “You can’t possibly hope to
match my power, childe, so don’t bother trying. I
should grab one of the sharper pieces of my desk,
shove it through your heart and then leave you out
in the open to be consumed by the sun. Unfortu-
nately, I have little time to deal with those of your
brother-knights who would surely become foolhardy
after such a public display. So, as much as I would
like to, I will not slay you—”
246 Gangrel
picked a suitable spot. He was surprised to find him-
self almost cheerful.
As he dug, Alexander hummed a tune that he’d
first heard played upon a lyre as a youth in ancient
Athens. He couldn’t recall the name of it now, if he’d
ever known it, but it was a sprightly, bouncy tune
that spoke of high spirits and good times. It was well
worth Rudiger’s destruction, as well as those of all
the other knights who had fallen in battle this night,
to be reminded of that song after so very, very long.
He continued humming to himself as he dug
Rudiger’s grave.
248 Gangrel
murder of his brother should leave him feeling so
good.
Deverra sat up, not bothering to keep herself
covered with the blanket. “I know what happened
last night. I’ve worked so many spells on both you
and Aajav over the years that I’ve become linked to
you both. You’ve taken your brother’s essence into
yourself, and it has left you with great sorrow.”
Qarakh did not know what to say to this, so he
said nothing.
“I also know that whatever his reasons, Aajav
chose to end his life, and he asked you, his brother,
to grant him the mercy of oblivion. What you did
was an act of love, Qarakh. You must believe that.”
“Do you want to know what I believe? I had time
to think as I rode back to the battlefield last night,
and more time again as I returned to the camp. I came
to understand where Aajav’s error lay. He was un-
able to give up his mortal life on the steppe, and
because of this, he could never accept his existence
as a Cainite.”
“He tried to live in yostoi,” Deverra said.
“He did not truly understand yostoi, and neither
did I, until last night. Like Aajav, I too believed that
the only way to live with what I had become was to
attempt to take the best elements of both worlds—
mortal and Cainite—and combine them. But all I
managed to do was make myself into a walking con-
tradiction: a creature neither fully human nor fully
Cainite.”
“You speak from your sorrow. You do not truly
mean these words.”
“I do. I am a Mongolian wanderer who pretends
to be khan of a tribe bound to the grasslands of Livo-
nia. I am a hunter, yet I keep mortals, watch over
and protect them, as if they were sheep and I their
shepherd. I pretend to fight the Christians and their
civilization, but I keep my own Beast on so tight a
leash that it haunts my dreams. And last night both
Alexander and I fought as mortal men do—with
250 Gangrel
Qarakh thought that Deverra would argue fur-
ther with him, but the priestess wiped the tears from
her cheeks, making bloody streaks on her flesh, and
then nodded.
“As you will, my khan.”
Qarakh nodded once, then left the tent. He
needed to speak to Malachite.
***
After Qarakh had gone, Deverra threw aside the
fur blanket and quickly donned her robe. She left
the tent and hurried to the nearby stand of trees
where the other Telyavs had spent the day.
She knew something about diablerie. After all,
she had once belonged to the Tremere, a clan whose
very existence was due to the practice. It was more
than simply consuming another Cainite’s blood.
Diablerie entailed the consumption of the very
heart’s blood, the last nugget of essence. Diablerie
was to eat the very soul of another. This conveyed
p o w e r, y e s , b u t i t c o u l d a l s o o v e r w h e l m t h e
diablerist’s own personality. The initial period of
time immediately after diablerie—a few days to a few
weeks—was marked by irrationality and impulsive-
ness as the Cainite struggled to adjust to his
newfound strength and to integrate the elements of
his victim’s personality into his own. It was an ex-
tremely dangerous time, and many did not survive
it.
She knew that there was no way she would be
able to talk Qarakh out of confronting Alexander
one more time, but she was far from helpless. First
she would speak with the surviving members of her
coven, and then she would make one more journey
to the place where she had known all along that she
would end up: the Grove of Shadows.
***
Alexander finished with the red-haired girl and
lay her body gently upon his bed. She had been a
sweet, gentle creature that had pined for a minstrel
that had visited her village when she was but a child.
252 Gangrel
would simply bend them. If some broke in the pro-
cess, such was the cost of war.
Without warning, the shadows in one corner of
this tent thickened and a black-robed form stepped
out of the darkness.
Malachite.
Alexander surprised himself by not immediately
attacking the traitorous wretch. “Good evening,
Malachite. Should I welcome you as a returning
prodigal?”
The Nosferatu glanced at the body of the dead
girl lying on Alexander’s bed, and a look of sorrow
briefly passed over his leprous features. Alexander
smirked. Malachite always had been too soft-hearted.
It was a fatal flaw in a Cainite, one that Alexander
was grateful that he did not possess.
“I have come to bring you a message,” Malachite
said.
Alexander sneered. “From your new master?”
“From Qarakh.”
“How much did you tell him?”
“About your army? All that I knew.”
Cold rage filled Alexander, and he had to fight
to keep from springing to his feet and launching him-
self at Malachite. “From one deceiver to another. I’m
impressed. I knew you accompanied me to Livonia
for your own reasons, but I did not expect you to
switch allegiances so quickly, or so thoroughly.”
“Qarakh has dealt with me fairly. But even be-
yond that, having seen your rule in Paris and your
actions here, I can say without hesitation that
Qarakh is the better prince.”
“But they are pagans, or do you forget? I admit
that means little to me, but I should think that you
would desire their destruction even more than I.”
Malachite smiled sadly. “You understand no mo-
tivations beyond the satisfaction of your own desires.
Despite your great age, Alexander, in the end you
are nothing more than a spoiled child that never had
the chance to grow up.”
254 Gangrel
marveling anew at how much it felt like silk, then
he bent down and kissed her forehead.
“My thanks for your blood, sentimental one. I
shall put it to good use this night.”
***
Qarakh sat upon the gelding he’d taken from
Aajav’s abductors. The horse had been fed on one of
the slain knights’ blood, so it was stronger, swifter
and hardier than a normal mount. But Qarakh had
no special bond with it. This steed would not antici-
pate his commands and respond to his moods the way
one of his mares would have. He would have to re-
member that during the battle to come.
His force was arranged in a single line—mounted
warriors in the middle, flanked on either side by
those who by choice or necessity planned to fight
afoot. There were no divisions, no commanders save
Qarakh, and no elaborate battle plan. When the
Christian force arrived, as Qarakh was certain it
would, he would give the signal and the battle would
begin, and the fighting would continue until one side
or the other emerged victorious.
What if the other side wins? his Beast asked. What
if all that is achieved here this night is mutual destruc-
tion?
“Then so be it,” Qarakh mouthed silently. His
Beast practically purred at the response.
Alessandro was to Qarakh’s right. The Iberian
sat upon his brown mare with an ease that the Mon-
gol knew he didn’t feel. To his left was Karl the Blue.
He kept his gaze fixed on the horizon, watching for
sign of the enemy’s approach. He growled softly, per-
haps without even being aware of doing so.
It felt strange to be here without the rest of his
inner circle: Arnulf, Wilhelmina, Grandfather and
especially Deverra. He had not seen her since the
conversation in his tent. The other Telyavs were
missing, too. Qarakh feared that Deverra, disapprov-
ing of the way he intended to conduct this battle,
had left and taken her sorcerers with her. If so, so be
256 Gangrel
“It used to be one of yours,” the Iberian said, so
softly that Qarakh could barely hear him above the
sound of the night breeze wafting across the field.
Qarakh chose to let the comment pass without
remark.
From nearby came the plaintive howl of a wolf.
Karl the Blue smiled.
“The Christians draw near.” The Finnish war-
rior had commanded one of his men to take wolf form
and act as sentry. Even now the Gangrel was no doubt
speeding back on his four strong legs to rejoin
Qarakh’s army.
Up and down the line, warriors made ready,
drawing swords, nocking arrows or entering into the
first stages of transformation to animal shape. They
knew the enemy would be upon them soon. Even now
Qarakh could hear the faint sounds of hundreds of
horse hooves pressing down on grass, like the whis-
per of an incoming tide.
But when the first figures came onto the battle-
field, there were only two of them, and they came
from the north, and not the west as Alexander’s army
would. At first, Qarakh allowed himself to hope that
Deverra had changed her mind and returned. But one
of the figures was too large to be her, and the other
walked hunched over, occasionally dropping to all
fours. It wasn’t long before the two were close enough
for Qarakh to recognize—especially in this moon-
light. But even if it hadn’t been so bright out, Qarakh
would have been able to identify them by their
scents: Arnulf and Wilhelmina.
The Goth warrior walked up to Qarakh, the Vi-
king maid keeping up with him as best she could.
Arnulf looked precisely the same as he had when he’d
left the camp, but Wilhelmina bore the unmistak-
able signs of terrible frenzy. One of her ears was
human, while the other was that of a wolf. Both eyes
shone yellow with bestial cunning, but with little
indication of intelligence. Her teeth were all sharp,
though of varying lengths, and some had grown
258 Gangrel
“It is good to see you both,” Qarakh said. “Take
your places alongside Alessandro.”
“And my oath?”
“When this battle is over, you are released, free
once more to run alone.”
Arnulf nodded and Wilhelmina’s mouth twisted
in what Qarakh assumed was intended to be a smile.
The two then walked to the other side of Alessandro,
and the line of tribesmen adjusted to make room for
them.
It was then that Qarakh caught sight of
Alexander’s army.
260 Gangrel
Qarakh nodded. “When you are ready.”
Alexander cracked his reins, and his ebon stal-
lion leaped forward. The knights let forth a battle
cry, drew their swords and urged their mounts to fol-
low their leader.
“Archers, fire!” Alessandro ordered, and a hail
of arrows flew at the advancing enemy, striking
knights and horses alike. A number of ghoul and
mortal knights went down, arrows protruding from
the throats and eye sockets. Many Cainites were simi-
larly wounded, but they remained in the saddle,
swords held tight, ignoring the pain of their inju-
ries.
As planned, Alessandro himself targeted the
Ve n t r u e p r i n c e . H i s f i r s t a r r o w w a s a i m e d a t
Alexander’s right eye, but the ancient Cainite
dodged it easily. The first arrow had only been meant
as a distraction, though. As soon as he’d let it fly,
Alessandro drew, nocked and released another with
blinding speed. This one struck Alexander’s mount
in the chest, piercing the stallion’s heart. The horse
whinnied in pain and went down on its front legs,
causing Alexander to tumble out of the saddle and
fly over the steed’s head.
“Tchoo! Tchoo!” Qarakh urged, though his new
mount had not been trained to respond to the Mon-
golian signal. He snapped the reins and dug his heels
into the animal’s sides, and the gelding bounded for-
ward. Qarakh drew his saber and rode hard toward
the Ventrue ancient, who was only just getting to
his feet. He intended to lop off the prince’s head with
a single stroke and end this battle before it had truly
gotten started.
Qarakh heard Alessandro call out behind him.
“Archers, with me!” The Iberian would lead the bow-
men away from the main fighting so they could fire
from a safer distance and have more time to choose
their targets. The remaining tribesmen charged,
swords, axes and claws held high, all of them wild to
spill the blood of their enemies.
262 Gangrel
the making. Or perhaps he had come to sympathize
with the tribe and wanted to stay and help them, if
only by watching and wishing them success.
He heard a rustling of underbrush behind him,
and he instinctively melted into the shadows to con-
ceal himself. A moment later, he saw a group of
Telyavs. They approached the edge and stood close
to the trees, their brown robes seeming to change
color and texture to match that of the bark. Mala-
chite noted that Deverra was not among them. He
wondered at the absence of the high priestess. He
knew that Qarakh wished to conduct this battle with-
out the aid of witchery, but that hardly explained
her absence from her followers’ sides.
The Telyavs watched the fighting for several mo-
ments before turning their backs on the battle and
walking over to the spot where they had sat the pre-
vious night when casting their spell. They settled
into a small circle, crossed their legs, and then with-
drew waterskins from the folds of their robes. The
Telyavs bit their lips and vitae welled forth. They
leaned forward and allowed the blood to drip upon
the ground while they chanted words in a language
Malachite didn’t recognize. The Telyavs then un-
corked their waterskins and raised them to their
gore-slick lips, but they did not swallow. They
swished the water around in their mouths for a mo-
ment and then spat the liquid—now mixed with their
blood—onto the ground before them. They linked
hands, closed their eyes and resumed chanting.
Moments later, shouts of surprise and anger
drifted from the battlefield as whatever enchantment
the Telyavs had worked took effect.
***
Qarakh raised his saber barely in time to parry a
sword thrust aimed directly at his heart. Alexander
moved with a speed and grace beyond anything the
Mongol warrior had ever seen. He was hard-pressed
to counter the Ventrue’s moves, let alone make any
attacks of his own. Worst of all, he had the sense
264 Gangrel
Qarakh fought to contain his fur y. Not at
Alexander, but at Deverra and her fellow Telyavs,
for surely this was an enchantment of their making.
“I have nothing to do with this,” Qarakh said.
“I commanded the Telyavs to stay out of this battle.”
Alexander sneered. “Of course you did.”
“Upon my honor, Ventrue. Besides, this spell is
working as much against my people as it is yours.”
Alexander considered this for a moment. “In
that case, then, either your sorcerers lost control of
their enchantment, or they have turned against you
and your entire tribe.”
Qarakh glanced down at the ground beneath
their feet. It was difficult to tell, but it looked as if
the solid earth extended in a rough circle around
them for a radius of fifteen feet or so.
“So what do we do now?” Alexander asked. “De-
clare a draw and resume our conflict on another
night? Or should we combine forces long enough to
slay the Telyavs? That way they wouldn’t be able to
interfere with us when next we fight.”
Qarakh bared his teeth. “Nothing could ever
convince me to ally with you for any reason, Ventrue.
I have come to know you too well.”
“Pity, but then I can’t say as I blame you.”
Alexander looked around at the knights and pagans
trapped in the grayish-brown soup, many of whom
continued to try to kill one another, despite the fact
that they could barely move.
Qarakh recalled something Grandfather had said
during a kuriltai: Cut off the head and the body will
die.
“I have a proposition,” Qarakh said.
Alexander turned to him and raised an eyebrow.
“We continue this fight, just the two of us. And
whichever one survives shall be declared the victor
of this battle.”
“An intriguing notion, as well as an amusing
one. But regardless of the outcome, how can we be
sure our respective armies will abide by the result?”
266 Gangrel
“Because if I didn’t, the tribe was going to be
defeated by Alexander, and you…” She squeezed his
hand but didn’t complete the thought, not that she
needed to. “It was shown to me.”
Qarakh wanted to ask by whom, but instead he
asked, “Why did you leave the camp?” Why did you
leave me?
“If you were to defeat Alexander, there were cer-
tain preparations that needed to be made. That is
why I have brought your spirit here, to the Grove of
Shadows.”
Qarakh’s eyes had adjusted to the dimness of the
grove—though if he was a spirit here, then he didn’t
have physical eyes that needed to adjust, did he?—
and he could more clearly make out the trees around
them. They were not trees of wood, but instead
formed of intertwining coils of intestines and other
organs, splintered lengths of bleached bone and
sharp-edged leaves that appeared to have been made
from blue-gray steel. He looked down at the ground
and saw it was formed not of earth, but rather taut
skin inlaid with runes of metal that resembled intri-
cate tattoos. Beneath his feet, he felt a slight rise
and fall, and he realized that the ground was breath-
ing.
Despite his earlier assertion to himself that he
would not, he asked, “Where is this place?”
“As I said, the Grove of Shadows. I have brought
you here to talk to someone. Someone who can help
you defeat Alexander.”
This was disconcerting but not wholly unheard
of. Deverra was a shaman and part of the shaman’s
lot was to travel the spirit realms. Still, this charnel
grove felt wrong to Qarakh.
“But what is happening to my body while my
spirit is here? Is it not defenseless against Alexander?’
“This is a place of the soul and the mind. No
time shall pass in the physical world while you are
here.”
268 Gangrel
Chapter Twenty-Three
270 Gangrel
from saying anything—perhaps because she was not
permitted to.
Qarakh was on his own, so he asked the next
logical question. “Who are you?”
The smith continued to work the once human
metal as he answered. “I have been known by many
names in the past and will doubtless be known by
many more in the future, but that hardly answers your
question, does it? In Livonia, I am known as Telyavel,
Protector of the Dead as well as the Maker of
Things.”
Qarakh was not certain that he believed he was
truly speaking with a god, though whatever the smith
was, he was obviously a being of great power. “I do
not see how the two go together.”
The smith finished the new leaf and released it
to the air. Another homunculus appeared on the
anvil, this one a naked obese woman, and he
snatched her up with the tongs. She screamed as she
went into the fire, and the process continued as be-
fore.
“Why not?” the smith said as he worked. “Life
and death, creation and destruction have always been
linked. Without Making, there can be no Unmak-
i n g , a n d t h e r e f o r e n o R e m a k i n g . Yo u s u r e l y
understand this.”
Qarakh wasn’t certain, but he thought he did.
Mongols believed that the body contained three
souls: the suld soul, which merged with nature after
death, the ami soul and the suns soul, both of which
reincarnated into a new human form. If Qarakh un-
derstood the smith correctly, he was reincarnating
the souls of the dead, using them as raw material to
create the metallic leaves, whatever they were.
“Why do you wish to help me defeat Alexander?”
The smith looked up from his work and smiled.
“Because it is well past time to Unmake that one.
Besides which, he threatens my children, and what
father can stand by when his offspring are in dan-
ger?”
272 Gangrel
strength. If you do not, you will grow weaker and
weaker until you eventually meet the Final Death.
This will last so long as my bond with your priestess
does.”
Once again, Qarakh looked at the soil in his
hand as he thought about what the smith had told
him. To be bound to one place would mean giving
up the freedom to roam whenever and wherever he
wished. No longer would he be able to follow the
path of the nomad. No longer would he truly be
Qarakh.
“You must ask yourself one final question,” the
smith said. “How badly do you wish to defeat your
enemy?”
“You mean, how badly do I wish to protect my
tribe.” Qarakh looked to Deverra. “As well as the
Telyavs.”
The smith shrugged. “Rephrase the question
however you like; it remains essentially the same.
You know the price—are you willing to pay it?”
Deverra’s expression was unreadable, and Qarakh
knew she was trying to keep from influencing his
choice one way or another. But in the end, there re-
ally was no choice. He had already allowed Aajav to
offer his life so that he could defeat Alexander, but
the additional strength he had received from his
brother had not been enough to counter the
Ventrue’s power. There was only one way Alexander
was going to be stopped.
Qarakh brought the soil to his mouth and began
eating.
***
Deverra watched as Qarakh became a phantom
and then vanished. She knew his spirit had returned
to its body upon the battlefield to resume the fight
against Alexander.
“It is done,” the smith said. Instead of Qarakh,
the being now resembled a red-headed woman garbed
in a brown robe. “And now, my daughter, it is time
for you to pay your half of the price.”
274 Gangrel
eyes widened in surprise, but before he had a chance
to react, the Mongol warrior twisted the Ventrue’s
wrists as hard as he could. Alexander cried out in
pain and dropped his sword. Qarakh then yanked
Alexander in the other direction. Off balance and
confused, the prince slammed into the ground and
lay there, stunned.
Qarakh’s first impulse was to grab the Ventrue’s
sword, rush over and cut off Alexander’s head, but
he knew that if he removed his hand from the ground,
he would lose the strength and speed granted by the
dark god who dwelled in the Grove of Shadows.
Without that power, he would be no match for
Alexander. What he needed to do was free his hands
so he could fight while still maintaining physical
contact with the earth. But how could he—
And then it came to him. As Alexander
struggled to rise, Qarakh took his hand away from
the ground. He felt a sudden loss as energy drained
out of him and his perceptions returned to normal.
Alexander seemed to leap to his feet; he came strid-
ing toward Qarakh with death in his eyes.
The Gangrel sat back and reached for his left
boot. He didn’t have time to be neat about this. He
gripped the leather and tore it to pieces and then
did the same to his right boot. Scraps of shredded
leather clung to his feet, but for the most part they
were now bare.
Alexander bent down and retrieved his sword
so swiftly that it appeared the blade flew upward into
his waiting hand. But before the Ventrue could strike,
Qarakh planted his feet on the ground and stood up.
Strength surged through him once more, and
Alexander again moved at what appeared to Qarakh
to be normal speed.
As the Ventrue drew back his sword for another
blow, Qarakh stepped toward Alexander, moving in
so close that the prince no longer had room to wield
his weapon. Before Alexander could do anything,
Qarakh grabbed him by the throat and squeezed as
276 Gangrel
supernatural swiftness. “Only sorcery could allow you
to stand against me as an equal. It seems your Telyav
friends decided to borrow a page from Greek legend,
eh, Antaeus?”
Qarakh had no idea to what legend the Ventrue
referred, and he didn’t care. He needed to break of
free of Alexander and get his feet back on the ground
once more. Qarakh hit, kicked and clawed, but no
matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t loosen
the prince’s grip. Alexander continued to hold him
in the air, only inches above the ground. But inches
or miles, it made no difference. If Qarakh couldn’t
touch the earth, he couldn’t draw on the smith god’s
power.
“It appears we have reached an impasse,”
Alexander said. “Like a man who has caught hold of
a poisonous snake just behind the head, I am safe as
long as I maintain my grip, but if I put you down to
reach for my sword, you will bite me.”
Qarakh let go of Alexander’s throat and clawed
at his eyes, but the Ventrue turned his head back
and forth with such speed that all Qarakh managed
to do was scratch the prince’s cheeks. Vitae welled
forth from the gouges, the scent different from any
Cainite blood Qarakh had ever smelled before. This
was vitae aged like the finest of wines for two mil-
lennia, suffused with time and power. The Mongol
began to salivate, and he heard once more the words
of prophecy given to him by the ancient Cainite at
the Obertus monastery.
Victory is in the blood.
Qarakh realized then that the Cainite with the
stars in his eyes had not been speaking of diablerizing
Aajav; he had been referring to the vitae of another.
Alexander’s eyes grew wide with fear, and
Qarakh knew the Ventrue sensed what he was think-
ing. But unless he could find a way to free himself
from Alexander’s grip, he could not—
Free me! the Beast roared inside him. I will slay
the Ventrue, but only if you release me from my chains!
278 Gangrel
When it was done, the Beast lifted its blood-
soaked muzzle skyward and released a howl that
shook the very stars in the heavens.
***
Alexander was floating, drifting, almost weight-
less… He opened his eyes and saw a gray sky above
him, and surrounding him in all directions, a sea of
crimson.
“No…” he whispered as the first of the blood-
swimmers came toward him. As it drew closer, he saw
that the creature had Rudiger’s face, and it was grin-
ning. The bloo dy sea churned as thousands of
sharp-toothed, fish-eyed monsters surged toward the
man that had slain them in the world of the living.
And as the monstrous apparitions tore into him,
Alexander’s last thought was a surprisingly tender
one of a woman called Rosamund.
And then he thought no more.
280 Gangrel
soon covered with vitae as he chopped his sword into
the neck of one knight after the other. Arnulf ’s ax
was a blood-smeared blur as the Goth warrior reduced
enemy Cainites to wet piles of ragged meat and splin-
tered bone. Wilhelmina buried her snout deep within
the bellies of her victims and thrashed her head about
like a hound worrying a well-chewed and beloved
bone as she sought the tender meat of their hearts.
Despite the savagery surrounding Qarakh, his
Beast remained silent. Perhaps it was finally sated—
at least for the time being.
Qarakh saw a few knights dig free of their
earthen prisons and flee the battlefield on foot. His
tribesmen chased after most of them, but one or two
escaped without pursuit. Let them go, Qarakh
thought. The war was over.
He sensed someone approaching and turned to
see two robed figures—one in black, the other in
brown—coming from the direction of the nearby
woods. One was Malachite, but the other’s face was
hidden by a hood. Qarakh assumed the Nosferatu’s
companion to be one of the Telyavs, but which?
“My congratulations on your victory,” Malachite
said.
Qarakh felt a darkness stir somewhere deep
within him, and he heard a whisper of an echo of a
thought: Traitor. The voice was Alexander’s. He told
himself that it was only his imagination, that his
mind had not yet settled after experiencing the vi-
sion of the grove, of being filled with the smith god’s
power and diablerizing Alexander. He almost be-
lieved it, too.
The Telyav reached up with age-gnarled hands
and pulled back her hood. Her skin was wrinkled,
eyes receded into the sockets, their bright emerald
green now dull and cloudy. What hair remained was
thin and white, no longer a thick, lustrous red. But
when she smiled with her dry, cracked lips, a ghost
of her wry humor was still there.
282 Gangrel
those of the dark god who had helped him achieve
such a costly victory.
Great Father Tengri, he thought. What has my
tribe become? What have I become?
But the stars did not answer, choosing instead
to remain as they always had: silent, distant and cold.