A Fall of Water (38 page)

“Because you are strongest in fire,” Giovanni said. “As I am. So to strengthen ourselves, the blood of a different element helps more.”

“It is all about
balance
. As much as it may wound our pride, immortals are stronger together, sharing our strength, than we are in isolation.”

“Four elements together,” Giovanni murmured. “Fire, earth, air, and water. Arosh, Saba, Ziri, and Kato.”

Arosh nodded toward him. “Giovanni, Carwyn, Tenzin, and Beatrice.”

He was reminded of Zhang’s cryptic statement months before.
‘Balance, Giovanni Vecchio. Balance is the key.’

Giovanni looked up. “So, you theorized it would work for healing and, according to Ziri, it did. He found a formula to stabilize the blood for human consumption. How did you make the connection to curing bloodlust?”

“It was my idea. I guessed that if a human was strengthened by this elixir, it was possible that their blood—treated blood—might cure our insatiable hunger.”

Carwyn asked, “Did you really care at that point? None of you must have had to feed very often. As ancient as you all are, why did it matter?”

A grim smile crossed Arosh’s lips. “Pride.”

Giovanni nodded. “As strong as we are, we still need humans. Whatever disdain some may hold for humanity after hundreds or even thousands of years, we all still need them to survive.”

“Yes.” Arosh’s shoulders seemed to droop. “Only a cure for the sun is more greatly desired, but there is no hope of that. Trust me, many have tried. And will continue to try. It will not happen. Whatever god created us designed us to be mortal. The very source of this world’s energy will kill us within minutes. Even the oldest immortal cannot avoid this sentence.”

Carwyn said, “But you thought you could cure bloodlust?”

Arosh smiled at him, but turned to Giovanni. “You waited long to feed from one of my women. Tell me, my friend, do you and your mate exchange blood?”

Giovanni frowned and answered, “We do.”

“And you both feed from humans, as well.”

“Yes, but…”

Arosh cocked an eyebrow. “Not as much as before, is it? While you may have needed to feed every week before you took your wife’s immortal blood, now you can go several weeks, a month even. How does human blood taste to you now?”

He shrugged. “Pleasant, but weak.”

“Not like your mate’s blood.”

“No, her blood…” Giovanni cleared his throat and tried to rid the longing from his voice. “It is the sweetest wine. Nothing compares to it.”

Arosh’s eyes danced. “Some of what you say is sentiment, but some is not. Your wife drinks the blood of humans. You drink blood from her. In her blood, both bloods sustain you. But what if that human blood was even more strengthened by this immortal elixir? What then? Could it sustain us even longer? Could it cure us, even?”

Giovanni’s eyes narrowed and his energy snapped in the air. “Can it? Ziri said that Kato drank the blood of his human and look what it has done to him.
How did this happen, Arosh?
What did Geber miss? What did
you
miss?”

Arosh’s nostrils flared, but just then, a gust of winter wind blew from outside and cooled the room. “We
all
missed it. The elixir worked. It cured the humans—unfortunately, its effects were short-lived.”

Carwyn shook his head. “So, even the successful cases that Geber documented—”

“Died. Yes. The effects of the elixir lasted anywhere between two to five years by our best estimates. Then, whatever illness had afflicted the human came back. Stronger than ever.”

“Kato’s lover?”

Arosh sighed. “Kato had taken blood from Fahdil two years after the elixir was tested and appeared successful. As proud as we all were with ourselves, we were still hesitant to drink from one of the test subjects. But Kato was too attached to this human. When the young man grew ill, it affected him. He gave the elixir to Fahdil and then drank from him. But, though we had reservations, none of us thought it could
really
be harmful. After all, it was only a potion! And made from our own blood. Where could the real danger be?”

Giovanni tensed. “You said something in the room with Kato. You said something about the fifth element. What were you talking about?”

Arosh’s dark eyes glistened in the fire. “Something our pride did not see. We were never meant to conquer the bloodlust, son of Andreas. We only looked at what was seen, not that which is unseen. By focusing on the earthly elements, we forget that which
truly
animates us. The energy that sustains our immortality.”

It was a whisper on Giovanni’s lips. “
Amnis
.”

Arosh’s mouth lifted in the corner. “Energy. Current. It has been called many things. Magic. Aether. Your holy man would call it the soul. Others in the East would call it the void, that which is not there, but permeates all things.” Arosh stared into the crackling fire. “Whatever you call it, in immortals, it manifests as the energy that animates our bodies.” He reached out a hand and tossed the flames higher. “It lets us control our element. It lets us manipulate the thoughts and memories of humankind. It is our weapon. Our shield. And, as I have learned, it preserves our mind. This ‘amnis,’ as you call it, is the fifth element that we all share. And no elixir can replace it.”

“So blood sustains not just our bodies, but our minds and our souls, as well,” Carwyn murmured. “And we must draw it from humanity.”

Arosh nodded. “Or animals. As many, including you, have learned, the wild things of this world do carry a spark, but it is not as strong. You must drink more often.”

“And preservation kills it,” Giovanni added. “That is why we grow weak if we drink too much preserved or stored blood.”

Arosh nodded again. “We must feed on the
living
to sustain our bodies, but even more importantly, our minds and energy.”

“So by killing the bloodlust—“

“We found a way to preserve the body, but the elixir of life cannot preserve or sustain the mind. Though Kato does not grow physically weak, his amnis is almost gone. And that is why he operates on instinct.”

Carwyn sat up and leaned forward. “So, when Kato drank from his lover it… what? It
broke
him? It damaged his amnis past the point of repair? Why couldn’t he just start drinking human blood again? Wouldn’t that have fixed it?”

Arosh shrugged. “He has no desire for it. Any blood he drinks I must force on him. And I do not know why it no longer feeds his amnis when he drinks human blood. Perhaps we may never know, but yes, it has broken his amnis somehow.”

Giovanni said, “But his mind isn’t completely gone. He did recognize me. He does still have some consciousness.”

“He does
now
.” Arosh took a deep breath and refilled his glass. “When I first found him, it was not so.” He took another sip of wine. “Kato stayed in Kufa with Fahdil long after the rest of us had left. Ziri was the first to leave the city. Saba left. Eventually, I did, as well. I went north to my home in Persia. I did not know about Kato’s decline for several years. His energy—his amnis, as you call it—was very strong. It sustained him, but it could not maintain his mind forever. When Fahdil finally contacted me, it was because his own health was failing. The human had protected Kato as well as he could, but he knew he was dying. When I arrived back in Kufa, Fahdil was dead, and Kato had been locked in a windowless room.” Arosh frowned at the memory. “I was confused. Why was my friend confined? What chamber could even hold him? When I opened the door, I understood.”

Carwyn asked, “What had happened to him?”

Arosh’s eyes furrowed in pain. “Kato was crouched in a corner of the room. He
growled
at me, his oldest friend, but then cringed from the sound of his voice. He flew at me like an animal, but fell back in pain when I touched him. It was when I touched him that I realized... His amnis was almost gone. He had no shield from his senses. The slightest gust of air frayed his skin. A whisper hurt his ears. He was as a newborn vampire without any shield. Water was the only thing that soothed him.”

“So his blood still connected him to his element…”

“But he had no control of it. Not as he had before.”

Carwyn said, “So that is why he stays in the bath.”

“Yes. The water still protects him from some of his senses, so he is most comfortable there. Back in Kufa, I immediately sent for Saba. She and I had argued before she left and she was angry with me, but that was typical for us. I wrote her and told her to gather Jabir’s notes and come to my home in Persia. She is the oldest of us and the most skilled in healing. I hoped that she would know how to cure him.”

“But she didn’t?”

He shook his head. “She had some ideas. From the beginning, Saba was most reluctant to drink from the elixired humans, though she never said why. Perhaps some ancient instinct warned her where our reason and intellect did not. We finally realized that Kato’s body remained vital, but the human blood we forced on him did nothing for his mind. It was then that we tried our own blood. Since human blood did nothing, we hoped that immortal blood would help heal his mind. After all, Saba and I were both very powerful, very rich in amnis.”

“Did it?” Carwyn asked. “If human blood no longer fed his amnis, did vampire blood?”

“It did help some.” Arosh nodded. “He was less aggressive and seemed to have some recognition of us. You saw him with Giovanni earlier. It was like that. So, we tried blood of other elements. I tried giving him Samson’s blood, but it showed no improvement. I found other vampires. Older ones. I killed them if they refused. Drained them of life in the hopes that it would do something for my friend. It didn’t matter. Their blood did nothing. Finally, it was Saba who suggested that it was Kato’s own blood in
us
that had helped him the first time.”

Giovanni lifted his eyes from the fire. “His own blood?” His eyes darted toward Carwyn’s and he could see the expression in his friend’s eyes sharpen. “You mean that his own blood
did
revive his amnis? Restart him, in some way? Is his sire—”

“Kato’s sire is no more. We suspected, as you do, that the untainted blood that had sired him could heal him. Remake him in some way. It only existed faintly in those he had exchanged with, like Saba and me, but we had one other hope. If his own blood in us could heal him, then the blood of his direct line could, as well.”

Carwyn broke in again. “So, since Lucien’s amnis is damaged—dying, as it seems it is—if we could find Saba, his mother, he could be healed?”

“I believe he could, yes. Has he tried to contact her?”

“He has, but…” Carwyn shrugged helplessly.

Arosh nodded. “She appears when she wants. I know this better than any other.”

“But
Kato
had a son,” Giovanni said. “My father. Did he have any other children?”

“None living. Your father was the only living child of his line, and at the time, he had sired no children. His blood would be undiluted and strong. He was our best hope to heal our friend. Kato had cut Andreas off years before, so I was the one who sent for him.”

Giovanni let out a measured breath. “So, that is the favor you asked of Andros. His blood.”

Arosh leaned forward. “I invited him to my home in Persia. I asked him for this favor. I never dreamed he would refuse. I considered killing him and taking his blood, but who knew if one ingestion would be effective? Saba and I had given Kato our blood many times over a period of months. But your father was unwilling.” The ancient leaned back and shook his head. “I should have kept him captive. I thought Kato would regain his strength as time passed, and I didn’t want the irritation of Andreas as my captive. He was annoying and rather surprisingly powerful.”

“So you took Kato away and asked Ziri and Saba to tell the world you had killed each other.”

“The last thing I wanted was Andreas to come back and try to assassinate his father. I wanted to give Kato time. I believed, in my arrogance, that no affliction could weaken my friend for long. After all, he had been as strong as I was! Surely, he would heal.”

Carwyn said, “But he didn’t.”

Arosh cocked his head and stared at the fire. “No, he didn’t. I brought him here. I made sure he was safe and left him in Samson’s care along with a few trusted humans. When I went back to my home in Persia—this was after the word had spread that we had killed each other—” His eyes lifted to Giovanni’s. “My home, particularly my library, had been ransacked.”

Giovanni closed his eyes and clenched his hands in anger. “And that is how the book came to my father.”

Arosh nodded. “Saba left Jabir’s manuscript and notes in my library. I doubt your father had any idea what he took. Maybe he discovered it. Maybe he didn’t. He was always a bright child, however detestable his character was.”

Giovanni slumped back, exhausted by the revelations. Had his father known? Did it even matter? The damage had been done. The poison had already spread, and Arosh was staring at him.

“So now, Giovanni, son of Andreas, you will ask me for your favor again, and I will tell you what you must give me in exchange.”

Giovanni leaned forward and stared through the fire to meet the ancient immortal’s gaze. “Arosh, will you expose this truth, and my grand-sire, to stop this evil from spreading? Will you take Kato to Rome and show the immortal world the true price of this ‘cure?’”

Arosh’s gaze was guarded. “You ask me to expose my closest friend, Giovanni Vecchio. You ask me to show the world what he has become. To show them his weakness?”

“To stop this? Yes. I ask you to expose the dangerous secret that you, Kato, Saba, and Ziri hid.”

He could feel the heat from the other vampire roll from across the room. “Why do
you
not kill this vampire and take the city? Destroy the book. Destroy those who know of it. Why should I expose my friend to scrutiny? To spare you the inconvenience of battle? I fought many battles I didn’t choose because I had to. What makes you above me?”

The flames threatened to burst from his collar, and it was Carwyn who answered while Giovanni fought to maintain his control. “This elixir, Arosh, this
secret
, has been released into the world! Who knows whom Livia has told? Who knows if there have been copies of the book or the formula made? We don’t need to just stop the elixir, we need to tell the world the
truth
. Enough secrets! Expose the danger. That is the
only
way it will be stopped.”