Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Kendrick stared up at the innocuous house.
It looked the same as every other house on the street—except for the black fabric wrapped around the door knocker.
He checked the direction Etienne had scrawled on a card with the name on the house.
Fernside. He slipped the card in his pocket and ascended the steps.
The knocker thudded against the door, muffled by the fabric. Kendrick waited.
An aged human butler carefully opened the door.
“I’m here to see Mr. Dominic Penrose,” Kendrick said.
“The family is not receiving visitors, sir,” the butler said in an apologetic whisper.
Kendrick caught his eye and smiled. “Tell him it is Kendrick.”
The butler blinked and opened the door. “Will you wait in the blue salon, sir?”
Kendrick glanced around the home as the butler ensconced him in the salon before disappearing. It was just as innocuous as the outside, except that all the mirrored surfaces were covered, and all the drapes tightly closed.
Except for the butler’s footsteps, the house was silent. Not even the ticking of a clock disturbed the air. They had probably been stopped as part of this era’s mourning practices. But Kendrick could smell the house’s inhabitants. Several humans lived here. Even one who was nursing.
The door swung open. “Kendrick. I had heard you had returned.”
Dominic Penrose looked just as Kendrick had last seen him twenty-five years ago, and as he had known him for the last four hundred years, though he wore his brown hair shorter in recent times.
Kendrick hoped he liked the change because, frozen in time as vampires were, it would not grow back.
Ironically, he looked younger this century with no beard to hide the cleft in his chin and the line of his jaw.
Dominic always had a serious, unsmiling mouth, as befit a man who had lived and died during the Wars of the Roses, but now his colorless eyes regarded Kendrick with sorrow—nearly despair.
“I had not heard you were in London, old friend, or I would have called sooner. I thought you were still in Cornwall.” Kendrick crossed to Dominic and clasped his arm. Dominic returned the gesture, but he moved like a sleepwalker, one beat behind.
“Yes. Rupert…liked having us all under his thumb.” Dominic gestured half-heartedly around him. “As you see.” He stared into the distance, unseeing.
“Dominic. What’s happened?”
“You didn’t know?” Dominic wandered to the unlit fireplace and ran his fingers over the mantle, staring at the dust that came away on them. “Cornelius had joined Rupert’s cadre. He was there, in Yorkshire. He is no more.”
Kendrick stilled. “I did not see him there. I am sorry to hear it, Dominic.”
“He was taken in by Rupert’s crowd. He…chafed against our rules. But he was our blood. Little fool,” Dominic whispered. “Godfrey is…taking it hard.”
“And you?”
Dominic made a little gesture as if to say once more, “As you see.”
Vampires had family units, after a fashion.
Bonds connected vampires who made others of their kind.
Makers had a responsibility to train and look after those they turned, and Dominic was a man who felt responsibility keenly.
He had been made by Godfrey, and so he looked after his sire.
He had made Cornelius a bit more than a hundred years ago and had cared for him as a son.
“In all honesty, it is a relief, you being here.” A ghost of a smile flickered over Dominic’s face. “I thought you had stayed away because…”
Because I had ended him. “No, old friend. I would have searched you out and brought you the news in person had that been the case.”
Dominic nodded mechanically. “Rupert managed to corrupt so much in just a blink of time. I thought it was simply a phase. Children grow out of phases. But his grip was strong, and his tongue was sly, the power he offered a…tempting lure.”
“Will you tell me some of what Rupert did in the last twenty years, Dominic? I hadn’t even known you resided here now.”
Dominic’s lip curled, showing a hint of fang.
“The worst vices and excesses with the most ridiculous pageantry. Rupert always liked to claim more years than he had. He tied us all to him with a blood oath and then used it to wield his will indiscriminately. Bullying and manipulation were the bywords of the court he gathered around himself, and he traded power and support for a blind eye to their behavior. No check on turning so he could strengthen his power base, and all the young, impetuous ones left to run wild with no guidance. I am afraid they are all ruined.”
“And the victims?”
Dominic blinked at him. “Victims?”
“The ones turned and abandoned.”
“Penned up in the Ossuary. I have not ventured to the catacombs except when Rupert demanded an assembly, but I believe it is bad.” Dominic shook his head, as if to clear some of the cobwebs from his mind. “Is this what growing old is like, Kendrick? This…desperate unhappiness?”
“No,” he said gently. “That is grief. And if you are old, what am I? No, you have a while to go before age catches up with you, Dominic, and a good thing, too. There are precious few to help me besides Etienne. Fending off the constant attacks is a bit tiresome.”
Dominic’s colorless eyes slowly focused on him. “Attacks?”
“Yes, four in the last few weeks. Come, walk with me and I’ll tell you about it. Or—let us go find a fencing academy. I’ll even concede to using the toothpicks you like so much.”
Dominic’s eyes widened a fraction. He licked his lips. “Fencing? Where?”
Kendrick hid a smile of satisfaction. Dominic had been in Spain for the rise of the rapier and loved the weapon irrationally. “If memory serves, there was some place down the street from Gentleman Jackson’s—Bradon’s or Bradley’s or some such. It may still be there.”
“Why?”
“Because you need to get out of this house a while, and soon someone who actually knows what end of a sword to hold will try to kill me. I’d rather practice with someone who isn’t actively trying to end me. Unless you’ve got a secret grudge.”
That seemed to wake him up a bit. “No grudge, Kendrick. You’re one of the few honest men I know.”
“What a compliment.” Kendrick laughed. “Get your coat.”
Brendan’s Fencing Academy did still exist, though it was much smaller and shabbier than Kendrick remembered.
It seemed to be the trend for everything in London, along with a thick layer of coal dust. However, this slide into genteel poverty ensured that the proprietor was more than happy to take Kendrick’s money to open back up for the evening for two nameless gentlemen, no questions asked, and not intrude on the practice session.
A small dose of Kendrick’s persuasion helped reinforce the coin.
Kendrick doffed his hat and coat. “Foils or rapiers?”
Dominic shot him a narrow look. “What need have we for foils?” He chose a rapier, feeling the edge.
“Not as sharp as I’d like, but it will do.
” With a sword in his hand, Dominic recovered a bit more of his vampiric liquid grace, shedding the stilted movements Kendrick had worried over at their reunion.
Kendrick picked up one of the light rapiers to test its balance. “You’ll go easy on me, won’t you?”
A slow smile crossed Dominic’s face. “Where’s the fun in that?”
Kendrick grinned. “En garde.”
Kendrick let Dominic make the first thrust and parried with the slim rapier.
They had to temper their strengths to not snap the blades—another reason why he preferred a stronger, wider blade—but that was part of the challenge and skill.
Kendrick disengaged and made a feint at Dominic before a thrust of his own.
Then the blades flashed silver, advancing and retreating faster than a human could follow.
Dominic grinned as Kendrick was forced to parry his attacks. “You say some have tried to kill you? I assume they haven’t come at you with a rapier, or they would’ve done some damage.”
“Funny,” Kendrick said, advancing with a thrust that Dominic jumped backwards to avoid.
“There are dueling rules, you know,” his friend complained.
“My attackers don’t follow dueling rules. They come at me with a knife in the dark, children trying to use the element of surprise. It’s very tiresome. But I expected that.” Kendrick defended against Dominic’s riposte. “I didn’t expect them to run mad.”
“Madness?”
Kendrick explained about the regressions, getting a hit in on Dominic’s shoulder. “What’s strange is that none of them are older than a hundred. We never saw ones that young losing their minds.”
Dominic acknowledged the hit. “Touché. In recent years, I have heard of a higher rate of recidivism with regards to human attacks, as well as an uptick in madness.”
“Do you know why?”
“No. No one does. That’s why Rupert ordered all the exits from the underground guarded a few years ago.”
“Did that help?”
“No.”
“So he penned up everyone who had no home.”
“Yes. He thought every vampire should be under a master’s thumb, with his thumb being the largest. Those of us with the money or position to establish our own households had a measure of independence, but Rupert wished to keep an eye on what he termed ‘rabble.’”
I’ll need to do something about that, Kendrick thought, retreating against Dominic’s lunge.
“Even at the very start, he insisted all vampires who had sworn a blood oath to him make their homes in London,” Dominic said. “And then after he lifted all restrictions on turning, those newly-turned ones were disenfranchised and dependent.”
“Who supported Rupert?”
“Those who never wanted to leash their base urges.”
“No one did anything about it?”
“We don’t deal well with change; you know that.
We assumed it would sort itself out. Then Rupert or his cronies dusted those older than him who might’ve stood against the injustices.
He made commands via the blood oath so we could not oppose him.
And everything seemed so…futile.” Dominic’s gaze turned inward.
Kendrick’s blade sliced through Dominic’s sleeve. “Another hit. Stay with me, old friend, or I might skewer you.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed. “The day you manage to skewer me with my favorite weapon, consign me to the grave.”
Kendrick’s teeth flashed in a grin.
“You’ve pinked me.” Kendrick watched the skin over his collarbone close.
“You let me through your guard,” Dominic said.
“I was getting tired of not breaking this.” He set the sword back on the rack.
His heart did not beat, but his lungs did heave to go along with the exercise.
Vampires did not need to breathe, but human bodies continued to work as they were designed to, even without need.
He took a breath and controlled what in a human would have been signs of exertion.
Dominic stared at the sword in his hand, and some of the sorrow settled back on him again. “What was the point of coming here?”
Kendrick picked up his coat. “Seducing you into coming with me so that maybe some night, you’ll be willing to use something more substantial than that pig sticker.” And so maybe I will not lose you to the dark as I am losing other vampires.
Dominic raised an eyebrow. “You mean stand there while you try to hack me in two with a broadsword or stab me with a spear? No, thank you.”
Kendrick tilted his head. “There’s a thought. Do you think any smith in this cesspit of a city could make a decent spear?”
“Save me from your barbaric instincts.”
“Maybe next time, I’ll convince Etienne to show up.”
“Maybe pigs will fly,” Dominic drawled.
Kendrick laughed and clapped his hat on his head. “Really, old friend—I need allies. Your help would be invaluable. Right now, the only ones I can count on are Etienne and Addie—as well as a mysterious correspondent.”
Dominic raised an eyebrow in inquiry. Kendrick explained about his note-leaver.
“A woman, you say?”
“Addie believes so. I have searched for her for a few days now, but no progress yet.”
“You have a secret admirer. How quaint.” Dominic half-smiled. “Well, there hasn’t been a London Master of Vampires whom I’ve respected in centuries. I suppose I shouldn’t squander you.”
Kendrick led the way to the exit. “I appreciate that. Now, I’d better get back to the Ossuary before any more would-be assassins miss me.”
Dominic stopped in the doorway. “You’re staying in the Ossuary?”
Kendrick turned to look back at him. “Where else would I stay?”
“Rupert had a house. He inherited it from the previous master.”
“See, this is why I need you. A house—where?”
“Mayfair. There’s a tunnel that leads from the Ossuary to the house.”
“Convenient.”
“Something else, Kendrick,” Dominic said. “Do you remember before you left for the Continent, you stored some belongings with me?”
“Yes, but I assumed they’d be in Cornwall.”
“No. We brought everything with us because…” He sighed. “Because it didn’t seem likely we’d be allowed back anytime soon. Your trunks are in the attic. You’re welcome to get them whenever you like.” He slanted a look at Kendrick. “Now that you have a house to put them in.”
Kendrick clapped him on the shoulder. “Incentive to search out the mysterious dwelling. Thank you, old friend.”
A mysterious dwelling. A mysterious note leaver. Mysterious assassination plots. To think I believed ruling the Ossuary would be simple.