strikes anymore. A vampire has to harm people to get a warrant of execution now."
"We do appreciate that your testimony in Washington was instrumental in getting the law modified, Marshal Blake. It gave us hope that Jean-Claude would be different from all the ones that have come before him."
Dolph interrupted, "All the what that have gone before Jean-Claude?"
Weiskopf looked up at Dolph, all the way up. "Leaders of the Vampire Council, of course. It's been in the news, Captain Storr; surely you don't want me to believe you are ignorant that there is talk of the first American head of our council."
"I've heard the rumors," Dolph said.
"They are not rumors. They are fact."
I sat there, trying to be very still, trying not to show in any movement, or lack of it, or facial expression that Weiskopf might know things that weren't in the news and that I might not want my fellow police officers to know.
"The fact that Jean-Claude tolerated the Church of Eternal Life, and did not insist they all take oath to him, gave us great hope."
I fought not to relax, because he could have said blood-oathed, and I really didn't want to go into details on that with Dolph. He might know, but he might not understand, what it meant for a vampire to take oath to the Master of the City.
"But then, Jean-Claude did demand it, and we lost hope."
"So, you decided to try to kill him," I said.
"No," Weiskopf said, and he looked serious, and shocked. "No, we never advocated violence. On my honor, and the honor of my master, we never encouraged anyone to do violence to anyone. We were most aggrieved to see the dead police officers on the news."
"You chose vampires that looked like children, or the elderly," I said. "You meant to appeal to the media."
"We suggested that we show the media that vampires are not all beautiful and sexy like your vampires. We wanted to show that vampires are truly people in many shapes and sizes, so yes, we chose a group, but we never meant for them to be used in such a vile way."
"Your master, Benjamin, was their master; he had control of them while they did this vile shit."
"No, my master is not theirs. We have purposefully not tried to control any other vampires except through speech and the persuasion that any normal human could use."
"Bullshit," I said.
He let me see that flash of anger again. "I have given you my word of honor."
"He's a master vampire, and they didn't belong to any other master; it means that a powerful enough vampire exerts more control over them than any human ever will."
"Only if the master wills it so, and my Benjamin has been most careful for centuries to control no one but himself."
"Vampires are all about the food chain, the hierarchy; everyone owes allegiance to someone. Your master didn't just spring into being, he came from a bloodline of some vampire, so he owes allegiance to that line, and whoever created him."
"His master was killed by one of the long-ago vampire hunters, the predecessor of you, the Executioner. We were told that if the master of our bloodline died, then we would die with him, but we woke the next night. It had been a lie to keep us from attacking the head of our order."
"I only know one line that had its head wiped out, and only two vampires that survived it."
"Your Wicked and Truth, yes, they survived as my master survived, but our bloodline sprang into being and fled into the wilderness. He did not want to be part of the hierarchy of blood and depravity, but of course, by being a master and acquiring followers he began to value the growing power over his own good intentions, and they were good intentions once. He meant us to live as holy a life as the cursed could."
He was talking of some unknown bloodline that had basically tried to run a monastery in some isolated area. "A vampire monastery?" I made it a question, but couldn't keep the disbelief out of my voice entirely.
"Exactly; as much as the head of my master's bloodline could make it. He was devout, so his very faith made holy objects work around him; it was most distressing to all of us."
I fought not to show surprise, because he was basically saying the vampire had not lost his faith, and his very faith had made holy objects flare around him. I