I’d heard vague gossip along those lines for years. The rumors were easy to dismiss because they sounded like something out of a bad thriller. But having met Roman, having fought him and his followers, I could well believe that this was their goal.
It would be easy to sit back and scoff that this could never happen, that vampires would never accomplish such an outrageous objective. Mortal humans outnumbered them. But Roman’s vampires had a plan. They were slowly coming into the public eye. Broadway star Mercedes Cook had publicly declared herself a vampire—she was one of Roman’s. A respected historian had published a book of interviews with vampires giving their eyewitness accounts of great events in history—the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the Battle of Agincourt, the army of Genghis Khan. That one infuriated me—I’d have given any of those vampires an interview slot on my show. But I had a feeling they were all followers of Roman, which meant they’d never talk to me. They were building public trust—promoting themselves, promoting vampires in general. Getting on the good side of public opinion, inserting themselves into pop culture—probably exerting influence over the politicians of a dozen countries as well. If … when … if vampires managed to take over, they’d probably convince us it was humanity’s idea to let them do so all along.
If they succeeded, vampires like Roman and his followers would make werewolves their slaves, their enforcers in this new world order. I couldn’t let that happen; I had a pack to protect.
So we gathered allies of our own. As Nasser said, many vampires didn’t want to trade their autonomy for some future, nebulous power. They didn’t want to be in Roman’s debt, or wear his coins.
“Can it really happen?” I asked. “How close is it to happening?”
“I don’t know,” Nasser said, which wasn’t comforting. “He has been traveling across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa for two thousand years. The Americas and Australia, he does not have such a firm hold on. He’s sent followers and has come here himself only recently. Only a few cities in South America have Families—I hesitate to guess how many of them owe their allegiance to Dux Bellorum. I’m also not certain of Australia. As far as I know, no vampires live in Antarctica.”
“I’d have thought the long winter nights would be just the thing for you guys,” I said.
“Perhaps. But the food supply is a bit wanting.”
I didn’t want to think about that too hard.
Nasser went on, “For centuries, the few of us who knew of him, who knew of his plans, have worked in secret. We couldn’t investigate him and his followers, or we’d risk retribution. Roman is ruthless, and he strikes from afar, sending his followers. But now—I hardly know what to think. We are moving into the open. We have some initiative. We have you to thank for that.”
“Don’t thank me,” I said. “I may have just blown our cover. Given them a target.”
His smile was thin. “Oh no. They have chosen to battle in the arena of public discourse, that is where we will face them.”
“Organized resistance exists, then,” Rick said. “What can we do to help?”
“For now, we need aid and support for those of us who travel, who move from city to city in an effort to identify his followers. Often, we can inspire the followers of a city’s Master to rebel, to free their Family from Dux Bellorum’s influence.”
“Anastasia worked on this,” I said.
“Yes. There are a few others, like her. Have you heard from her? I haven’t had word of her in years.”
Now, that was a story. “She’s … not with us anymore.”
“That’s … that’s terrible news. How was she destroyed?”
“She wasn’t. I mean, she’s not dead. Dead dead. She … there was this goddess, see, and … and I prefer to think of her as battling evil in another dimension.” I blinked hopefully; he regarded me blankly, nonplussed. “Never mind. I’m sorry, I know that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. She’s fine, really. She’s just not here.”
The perplexed lilt to his brow indicated that my explanation hadn’t helped at all.
“That’s unfortunate,” he said. “She was a good ally.”
“I think she still is.” We just didn’t know where she was, or how to contact her, or what she could do …
Rick said, “How do we proceed, then?”
Nasser said, “If those we must persuade to our cause believe that we’re the stronger side,