Part 13 (1/2)

There was not enough labor available, and he was killed before construction could be completed. We improved on his design.”

”The entire lower level of the keep is a single huge vault. Within those walls are more walls, and within those still more. Each is protected by traps, and guardians. We have learned a great deal over the years, shunning nothing of value.”

Kodesh nodded. ”I know how the boredom of the years can make the mundane enticing,” he said softly. ”I want to see the vaults, and to see the artifacts.

We will place our friend here,” he patted his pocket, where the vial still rested, ”with his treasures, as is fitting.”

Gustav rose, clapping his hands twice, and two cowled figures stepped from the shadows. ”They will show you the vaults,” he said softly. ”I do not go near the artifacts if I can help it. The temptation to release their power is too great.”

Kodesh laughed. ”You are too cautious, old friend,” he said with glee.

”Power is meant to be unleashed, that is its nature. The longer you bottle it, much like curiosity, the more pressure builds for the eventual release.”

”I will let it build a while longer, I believe,”

Gustav said, chuckling.

Kodesh turned with a shrug, following the hooded figures down the long hall again. Gustav sat in his chair, behind the huge desk, watching the thin, crazed apparition depart. So many years. It seemed an eternity since Kli Kodesh had shared his blood, and his curse, with Gustav and the others.

Gustav had been old already, but his followers had been Embraced only that night. The old Nosferatu often wondered what had become of the progeny he'd left behind.

Now his existence was a never-ending string of puzzles and games.

There were many besides Montrovant who sought one or another of the treasures he guarded.

There were those, as well, who believed that the objects they sought were in Gustav's control. He himself had no true inkling of everything that had been entrusted to him. There was no inventory. There was no way to be in the presence of so many objects of power for any length of time.

It corrupted. The strongest of convictions paled when the mere chanting of a few ancient words could bring about ultimate change.Gustav had lived, and died, and walked the Earth again. Even that had not been the end of his journey.

He'd been Embraced by an elder Nosferatu, a vampire killed eventually in a skirmish with Kli Kodesh. From that moment on, Gustav, and his own, had followed Kodesh and his ”entertainments.”

He could not have explained why. There was no bond, not like the blood. Kodesh had not been his sire, nor had he drained that ancient upon killing him, as Gustav would have. It was something else, a hint of mystery, and of power.

Then the question of loyalty had been erased forever. One dark night, just outside Jerusalem, as Montrovant had fought his own battles with the Egyptian, Santos, Kodesh and the Nosferatu had waylaid a group of knights on their way to the Holy Land. They had fed on each of them, Embracing them, and Kodesh had given each a taste of his own blood. Blood so old, so powerful, that the scent had maddened Gustav, nearly stealing his senses.

Until it was offered to him as well. He was chosen to lead this new band. He was to leave all those he'd known, take this band of new, untested followers on a journey of immense proportion and import.

They carried secrets and treasures so old and so powerful that they had fallen into legend, and beyond.

Things so old that none remembered the people who had wielded them, let alone the stories behind them. And other things. Many of the treasures Santos had collected and guarded came from the early Christian era.

Not so old as others, but carrying immense power drawn from the belief and wors.h.i.+p of thousands. There were talismans, bits of the flesh of ancient priests and martyrs, scrolls, objects touched and blessed by men long crumbled to dust.

And there were rumors of other things. Of the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant. Many of the items were boxed and packaged, sealed to prevent their influence over those who guarded them. It was a Pandora's box of magic and corruption.

Gustav kept his distance. It was one thing to know the powers that were under his protection, but quite another to dream of those that might be. He had not seen the light of day in several hundred years. He had not felt breath in his lungs, or blood he could call his own in that same time.

Kli Kodesh's blood had returned a rotted semblance of these to him, but this only served to cause further pain. He could rise earlier than most of his kind, and remain upright and coherent longer as the sun rose. He could go long, almost interminable periods without feeding.

That bloodl.u.s.t, the desire to feed and rend, to hunt, that had been the one thrill left to him. Kodesh had removed it, leaving him nearly immortal on the earth, with a single purpose: to guard the objects entrusted to him, and to do as Kodesh bid. These were small recompense for centuries of boredom, but the Blood Oath was complete. He could not ignore Kodesh's commands.

He watched until his men and the old one were gone from sight, then moved to the hall and turned to the left, making his way to a winding stairway leading up to the walls of the keep. He knew that the dark one would not be far behind.

Kodesh would not show himself unless there was something to be done, or seen, a new thing to be experienced. It was the ancient vampire's nature to seek out that which could ease the perpetual boredom of his existence.

The night had fallen fully, and Gustav moved out onto the wall, gazing down the road into the shadows.

So much had changed. The arrangement with Rome had provided a measure of security for a number of years, but at the same time, the constant vigilance of Montrovant and the lack of activity had been stifling. Nothing had changed during that time. There were those who approached the Order, young Cainites with their own stories, a bit of something to add, but nothing of substance. Gustav had been ready to slip out one day, slide into the earth, and rest for eternity.

Nothing was worth that kind of stagnancy.

The order to move, at last, had seemed a G.o.dsend.

Gustav had been traveling back and forth from their old mountain hideaway to this keep for decades. He had planned each step of the reconstruction, been there when the stone walls were laid between the layers of the vault. He had picked and purchased the decorations, what furnis.h.i.+ngs were provided.

The library was one of the most fully stocked in the world. He had scrolls and tomes from every society that had walked the Earth, and a few in question. He had secrets that should have died with those who discovered them. He had read words in tongues long withered from the memory of men, and still there was nothing to hold his interest.

Only action served Gustav, and at long last there was action brewing on his horizon. Montrovant was no match for Kli Kodesh, but Gustav knew his master would exclude himself from what was to come if it was possible. It would be a matter left to Gustav and his followers. The old one would sit back and watch, waiting to see how much entertainment could be gleaned from the conflict.

That was fine with Gustav. He was ready for something different. If it was the last such thing ever to happen in his long years of existence, that was fine as well. The alternative was that he would remain in this keep, alone with his followers, until the world rotted around him, or another came along to attempt to claim the duties and make off with that which he guarded.

So many things he would have traded for a return to times past. He moved along the wall slowly, nodding to the guards as he pa.s.sed them, slipping around the corner of the wall and away in silence.

_.

Kli Kodesh moved through the stone doors quickly. They had slid open at the soft touch of his guide's hand in a certain sequence against the stones of the wall. The old one memorized that sequence quickly. He needed to know that he could access that which he controlled. They moved inward, and a few feet beyond the stone doors, the guide's hand returned to the wall, opposite side, and another sequence of stones was pressed. The door slid open silently, huge stone slabs slipping to the sides with no more evidence of their pa.s.sing than if a fly had landed on his cloak. Again he watched carefully.

There were four levels of security in all. Each time they moved inward he matched the pattern of the other's steps. There were traps planted, this he knew. Concentrating, he let his mind grow blank, redirected his thoughts to his physical senses. He could sense the potential danger of the trip mechanisms, and though he did not know their exact nature, he knew enough to be certain they were designed to guard against both mortal and undead intrusion.

The final portal slid wide, and he entered the inner vault. The same wagons that had transported the goods to the keep had been rolled inside. The wide pa.s.sageways of the keep itself and the huge stone doors had facilitated this pa.s.sage. The treasures themselves, many packed away from air and the sight of man for so many years their packing had rotted away around them, were still tucked safely in the wooden crates that had transported them since their exodus from Jerusalem so many years before.

Santos had been an excellent guardian. Gustav did him one better.

While Santos had been created to guard the treasures, he had had no desire to use them himself. He had his own powers and his own artifacts, some he'd designed, others he'd taken from those who'd tested him through the years.

The secrets he'd guarded were sacred to him.

Gustav was different. The old Nosferatu was so careful not to be tempted, so worried that he would slip and break his trust, that the treasures were not even unpacked. Kli Kodesh had seen most of them at one time or another. He had a good idea what the cache held, what sort of chaos that horde of secrets and power could unleash upon the earth if it was released. The tension this created made it so much more delicious to Kodesh.

He had hoped, actually, that his protege might slip. He had wondered for years how much more fun the world might be if some of the old powers were unleashed. Gustav had proven stronger than he'd believed. The treasures were intact, and now he moved forward, wrapping the vial carefully in a bit of silk from the packing material, and laying it on its side among the rest.

”Farewell, old friend,” he said softly, moving back and smiling at the guards. He made a quick circuit of the stone chamber, checking each wall, seeing how strong and complete the they were, then moving back toward the entrance.

He turned without a word, backtracking through the maze of trips and traps without a hitch. The two who'd led him to the vault followed as quickly as they could, watching his retreating form with concern.

They were to guide him, but he seemed oblivious to their existence.