drinkers could take you prisoner and wring the truth from you, and they might strive to claim the King and Queen."
Mael studied me for a long while before he responded. "We fight others who attempt to take Rome from us. You know we've done this. We force them to leave."
"I know you do," I said. "But the Christian vampires continue to come, and they come in numbers, and those numbers grow larger all the time. They are devoted to their Devil, their Serpent, their Satan. They will come again. There will be more and more...""They mean nothing to us," said Mael disgustedly. "Why would they want this Holy Pair?"
For a moment I said nothing. Then the truth broke from me hatefully, as though I couldn't protect them from it, nor protect myself.
"All right," I said. "Since you know so much, both of you, let me explain the following: many blood drinkers want the Mother and the Father. There are those who come from the Far East who know of them. They want the Primal Blood. They believe in its strength. It's stronger than any other blood. But the Mother and Father can move to defend themselves. Yet still thieves will always be in search of them, ready to destroy whoever keeps them in hiding. And such thieves have in the past come to me."
Neither of them spoke. I went on.
"You do not want, either of you," I said, "to know anything further of the Mother and the Father. You do not want rogues to come upon you and try to overpower you for your knowledge. You do not want secrets which can be ripped from your heart."
I glared at Mael as I said these last words. Then I spoke again.
"To know of the Mother and the Father is a curse."
A silence fell, but I could see that Mael would not allow for it to be very long. A light came into his face, and he said to me in a trembling voice:
"Have you drunk this Primal Blood?" Slowly he became incensed. "You have drunk this blood, haven't you?"
"Quiet, Mael," said Avicus. But it was no use.
"You have drunk it," said Mael in fury. "And you know where the Mother and Father are concealed."
He rose from the chair and rushed at me, and suddenly clamped his hands on my shoulders.
Now, I am by nature not given to physical combat, but in a rage I pushed him off me with such force that he was thrown across the floor and back against the wall.
"How dare you? " I asked fiercely. I struggled to keep my voice low so as not to alarm the mortals in the banquet room. "I ought to kill you. What peace of mind it would give me to know you were dead. I could cut you into pieces that no sorcerer could reassemble. Damn you."
I was trembling with this uncharacteristic and humiliating rage.
He gazed at me, his mind unchanged, his will only slightly chastened and then he said with extraordinary fervor:
"You have the Mother and the Father. You have drunk the Mother's blood. I see it in you. You cannot hide it from me. How will you ever hide it from anyone else? "
I rose from my chair.
"Then you must die," I said, "isn't that so? For you know, and you must never tell anyone else." I made to advance on him.
But Avicus who had been staring at all this in shock and horror rose quickly and came between us. As for Mael, he had drawn his dagger. And he seemed quite ready for the brawl.
"No, Marius, please," said Avicus, "we must make peace with each other, we cannot keep up this struggle. Don't fight with Mael. What could be the outcome, but two wounded creatures hating each other even more than now?"
Mael was on his feet. He held his dagger ready. He looked clumsy. I don't think he knew weapons. As for his supernatural powers, I didn't think either of them understood fully what they might do. All this, of course, was defensive calculation. I didn't want this battle any more than Avicus wanted it, yet I looked to Avicus now and said coldly:
"I can kill him. Stay out of the way."
"But that is the point," said Avicus, "I cannot do this, and so you will be fighting the two of us, and such a fight you can't win."
I stared at him for a long moment during which words failed me completely. I looked to Mael with