open the deep chambers and burned the starved ones. He has broken loose the earth to block the tunnels to our meeting place.”
The boy looked up slowly.
“You did this to us,” he whispered. “You have brought us all down.”
The woman stepped in front of him.
“You must help us,” she said. “Make a new coven with us. Help us to exist as you exist.” She glanced impatiently at the boy.
“But the old woman, the great one?” I asked.
“It was she who commenced it,” said the boy bitterly. “She threw herself into the fire. She said she would go to join Magnus. She was laughing. It was then that he drove the others into the flames as we fled.”
I bowed my head. So she was gone. And all she had known and witnessed had gone with her, and what had she left behind but the simple one, the vengeful one, the wicked child who believed what she had known to be false.
“You must help us,” said the dark-eyed woman. “You see, it’s his right as coven master to destroy those who are weak, those who can’t survive.”
“He couldn’t let the coven fall into chaos,” said the other woman vampire who stood behind the boy. “Without the faith in the Dark Ways, the others might have blundered, alarmed the mortal populace. But if you help us to form a new coven, to perfect ourselves in new ways . . . ”
“We are the strongest of the coven,” said the man. “And if we can fend him off long enough, and manage to continue without him, then in time he may leave us alone.”
“He will destroy us,” the boy muttered. “He will never leave us alone. He will lie in wait for the moment when we separate . . . ”
“He isn’t invincible,” said the tall male. “And he’s lost all conviction. Remember that.”
“And you have Magnus’s tower, a safe place . . . ” said the boy despairingly as he looked up at me.
“No, that I can’t share with you,” I said. “You have to win this battle on your own.”
“But surely you can guide us . . . ” said the man.
“You don’t need me,” I said. “What have you already learned from my example? What did you learn from the things I said last night?”
“We learned more from what you said to him afterwards,” said the dark-eyed woman. “We heard you speak to him of a new evil, an evil for these times destined to move through the world in handsome human guise.”
“So take on the guise,” I said. “Take the garments of your victims, and take the money from their pockets. And you can then move among mortals as I do. In time you can gain enough wealth to acquire your own little fortress, your secret sanctuary. Then you will no longer be beggars or ghosts.”
I could see the desperation in their faces. Yet they listened attentively.
“But our skin, the timbre of our voices . . . ” said the dark-eyed woman.
“You can fool mortals. It’s very easy. It just takes a little skill.”
“But how do we start?” said the boy dully, as if he were only reluctantly being brought into it. “What sort of mortals do we pretend to be?”
“Choose for yourself!” I said. “Look around you. Masquerade as gypsies if you will—that oughtn’t to be too difficult—or better yet mummers,” I glanced towards the lights of the boulevard.
“Mummers!” said the dark-eyed woman with a little spark of excitement.
“Yes, actors. Street performers. Acrobats. Make yourselves acrobats. Surely you’ve seen them out there. You can cover your white faces with greasepaint, and your extravagant gestures and facial expressions won’t even be noticed. You couldn’t choose a more nearly perfect disguise than that. On the boulevard you’ll see every manner of mortal that dwells in this city. You’ll learn all you need to know.”
She laughed and glanced at the others. The man was deep in thought, the other woman musing, the boy unsure.
“With your powers, you can become jugglers and tumblers easily,” I said. “It would be nothing for you. You could be seen by thousands who’d never guess what you are.”
“That isn’t what happened with you on the stage of this little theater,” said the boy coldly. “You put terror into their hearts.”
“Because I chose to do it,” I said. Tremor of pain. “That’s my tragedy. But I can fool anyone when I want to and so can you.”
I reached into my pockets and drew out a handful of gold