just in case Zmyeevich returned. He wouldn’t have enjoyed the life anyway.
It was something he’d talked about with his mother on idle evenings when instead of planning how they would deal with Iuda, they imagined a world without him. He’d always said he’d return to Saratov to be with her, and she’d told him not to be silly, but he’d known she hoped he would. Now that was not an option. Wherever she was now, be it heaven or hell, then surely in a just universe she would be allowed the luxury of knowing that Iuda was dead, and that her son had lived. Without that, had any of it been worthwhile?
Tamara had told him how once when younger she had been in a similar position. For half her life she had been obsessed by a single goal – to find her real parents. It was a nobler goal than the one she had bequeathed to Mihail. She had wondered what she would do when she found them, what would drive her then. She had never needed to answer the question. She had been reunited with her parents and within hours they were both dead. She blamed Iuda, and the rest of her life gained a purpose: his death. Mihail had inherited that purpose too.
But now the task was complete; begun by the mother and completed by the son. Iuda was gone and Mihail’s future was a blank page, still to be written. And yet he could not even fill out the first line; the first word. He had no family, no friends, no home and no desires. Worst of all, he had no dreams. All that remained was the same question that had so plagued his mother years in the past and to which he, like her, had no answer. What was he for?
And yet for all that the question troubled him, there was a greater puzzle on his mind. From the moment he left the shop and began to walk through the streets of Petersburg, Mihail had felt uneasy – even before he heard the news of Aleksandr’s death. He had shared his mind, however briefly, with Iuda. He had done the same with Zmyeevich, but this had been far more unnerving. Iuda’s icy calm, even in death, had been terrifying, but worse had been his apparent determination to get one piece of information across to Mihail. He had failed as his mind had collapsed along with his body and his thoughts had been cut off, mid-sentence, as Mihail pushed him away. Mihail had heard only the beginning, and it made no sense to him. Yet it was clearly worth more than death to Iuda. Just a few simple words which Iuda would never have the chance to explain, but which would haunt Mihail for ever:
‘Tell Lyosha. It was …’
ENDNOTE
Of the members of the People’s Will featured in this story, all are genuine historical characters with the obvious exceptions of Luka and Dusya. On 3 April 1881 five members of the organization were hanged in Semyonovskiy Square for the murder of Tsar Aleksandr II, the same number as had been executed as ringleaders of the failed Decembrist Uprising fifty-five years earlier. They were Nikolai Ivanovich Kibalchich, Timofei Mihailovich Mihailov, Sofia Lvovna Perovskaya, Andrei Ivanovich Zhelyabov and Nikolai Ivanovich Rysakov.
As with the Decembrists, the executions did not go smoothly. On the first attempt Mihailov’s rope broke; on the second the noose itself unravelled. The crowd shouted that this was a sign from God that Mihailov should be pardoned, but their cries went unheeded. On the third attempt the rope held, but the knot was not tight enough and Mihailov thrashed in the air for several minutes. Eventually the hangman, Frolov, put a second noose around his neck without removing the first. Drawings of the execution show his body hanging strangely from two diagonal ropes instead of a single vertical.
Rysakov, who had betrayed his comrades under questioning, lost his nerve when his turn came, and clung to the scaffold, wrapping his legs around its wooden beam. Soldiers had to prise him loose before he could have the rope placed around his neck.
Kibalchich, the first to die, went calmly, having shown little interest in presenting a defence to the court. While in prison he spent most of his time developing his ideas for rocket-powered travel. He insisted that his lawyer present the work to the authorities in the hope that his invention could be used for the public good, but the papers were filed away and not seen again until 1918. While he had not devised a viable flying machine, many of his ideas foreshadowed those later used in rocket design.
A crater on the moon is named in his honour.
CHARACTERS OF THE DANILOV QUINTET
Aleksei Ivanovich Danilov Russian soldier and spy who defeated the Oprichniki in 1812 and saved Tsar Aleksandr I from Zmyeevich in 1825 by helping to fake his death. Sent into exile after the Decembrist Uprising
Dmitry Alekseevich Danilov Only son of Aleksei Ivanovich Danilov. Became a vampire in 1856
Marfa Mihailovna Danilova Wife of Aleksei and mother of Dmitry
Domnikiia Semyonovna Beketova Aleksei’s mistress, who accompanied him into exile in Siberia in 1826
Tamara Alekseevna Danilova
also known as Tamara Valentinovna Komarova Illegitimate daughter of Aleksei and Domnikiia
Iuda
also known as Vasiliy Denisovich Makarov, Vasiliy Innokyentievich Yudin, Vasiliy Grigoryevich Chernetskiy and Richard Llywelyn Cain The only human among the twelve Oprichniki who came to Russia in 1812. Under the name of Cain experimented on vampires. Became a vampire himself in 1825
Zmyeevich The arch vampire who brought the Oprichniki to Russia in 1812 and who seeks revenge for the trickery played upon him by Tsar Pyotr the Great in 1712
Svetlana Nikitichna Danilova Dmitry’s wife
Vadim Fyodorovich Savin Aleksei’s commander, who died during the campaign of 1812
Maksim Sergeivich Lukin Comrade of Aleksei, who died during the campaign of 1812
Dmitry Fetyukovich Petrenko Comrade of Aleksei, who died during the campaign of 1812
The Oprichniki The nickname for a band of vampires defeated by Aleksei in 1812. Individually they took the names of the twelve apostles
Prince Pyetr Mihailovich Volkonsky Adjutant general to Tsar Aleksandr I, who conspired with Aleksei to fake the tsar’s death
Raisa Styepanovna Tokoryeva Vampire who helped Iuda to escape Chufut Kalye in 1825 and who turned Dmitry into a vampire
Vitaliy Igorevich Komarov Tamara’s husband
Luka Miroslavich Novikov Tamara’s son by Vitaliy
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jasper Kent was born in Worcestershire in 1968, studied Natural Sciences at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and now lives in Brighton. As well as writing The Danilov Quintet (his Russian-set internationally acclaimed sequence of historical horror novels) Jasper works as a freelance software consultant. He has also written several musicals. To find out more, visit www.jasperkent.com
Also by Jasper Kent
TWELVE
THIRTEEN YEARS LATER
THE THIRD SECTION
For more information on Jasper Kent and his books, see his website at www.jasperkent.com
TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS
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First published in Great Britain
in 2013 by Bantam Press
an imprint of Transworld Publishers
Copyright © Jasper Kent 2013
Jasper Kent has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Version 1.0 Epub ISBN: 9781446497159
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Table of Contents
Cover
About the Book
Title Page
Dedication
Author’s Notes
Selected Romanov and Danilov Family Tree
Map
Epigraph
Prologue
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Chapter XIII
Chapter XIV
Chapter XV
Chapter XVI
Chapter XVII
Chapter XVIII
Chapter XIX
Chapter XX
Chapter XXI
Chapter XXII
Chapter XXIII
Chapter XXIV
Chapter XXV
Chapter XXVI
Chapter XXVII
Endnote
Characters of the Danilov Quintet
About the Author
Also by Jasper Kent
Copyright