Last Vampire 6(25)

"We were led away, my duke and I, and thrown into a stone cell where criminals were normally taken. We spent the night together in that stinking place. My fear was great—Iknew we were about to be killed. But my duke acted pleased. He said nothing could harm us, that the Holy Father would be forced to release us."



"Were you released?" I ask. My knowledge of the inner workings of the Vatican is extensive. No one accused by the pope of consorting with Satan ever survives. Such mercy would set a poor precedent. Yet Dante nods in response to my question.



"The next morning the jailer came and opened our door. There stood the Holy Father. He said theju dgment of the holy council was that we were to be let go, but to be banned from the city of Rome. My duke's titles and properties were not confiscated, and I was amazed. My duke knelt and kissed the pope's ring before we were led away, and then he stared into the pope's eyes, and far the first time I saw the Holy Father afraid." Dante pauses. "I was afraid as well."



"Ofyour duke?"



"Yes."



"Why?"



He gestures with a stump. "Because it was as if a black snake reached out from his eyes and touched the Holy Father between the eyes. A snake the others could not see."



"But you saw it?" I ask



"Yes."



"How?"



He speaks with conviction. "It was there!"



"I understand." I have to calm him again, not allow him to come out of his trance. "What did you and your duke do next?"



"Traveled to Persida."



The name is not familiar. "Where is that?"



"Not far."



"Where?"



"Near. Hidden."



I find it strange he is able to avoid answering me directly, and wonder if powerful hypnotic powers have already been brought to bear on his memory.



"What is special about Persida?" I ask carefully.



He coughs painfully. "It is where magic was first invented."



"By your duke?"



"Yes."



"Why did you stay with him in Persida?"



Dante struggles. "I had to."



"Why?" I insist. "Did he use magic on you?"



He bursts with memories. "Yes! He called forth the great serpent! The living Satan! He invoked it in pain and blood and it poured forth from his navel. I saw it again, the snake—it grew from his intestines and screeched when it saw the light of the world. He poisoned my soul with its filthy powers, and then he poisoned my body."



"That's when you started to get sick?"



He calms down, so sad. "Yes. In Persida, where magic lived, I began to die."



"Why did he make you sick?"



"For his pleasure."



"But you were a loyal subject?"



More tears. "He did not care. It pleased him to see me eaten away."



I want him to go on. "What did he do next?"



"He went to Kalot Enbolot. That is the door to Sicily. He has a castle there. It was given to him by the Holy Father. He wanted to open the door to the heathens."



"To let the Moslems overrun the Christian world through Sicily?"



"Yes."



"And it was there he took up the nameL andulf?"



"Lord Landulf of Capua."



"How did he slay his knights? At the castle?"



"He made them slay one another. The demons summoned by the sacrifices always demand betrayal."



"You keep saying he invoked demons, that he summoned them. What proof do you have of this other than the snakes you thought you saw?"



"I did see them!"



"Fine. But what was Landulf able to do with these demons?"



"He used them to torture men. To control their wills." Dante stops and glances away from the fire, into the dark, and his whole body shakes. "Distance does not matter with these demons. They can cross water and bring death. In the fair land of England, my duke boasted, knights in search of the Holy Grail wander lost because of the spells he cast over them. They will never find the Grail, he said. Forever, they will be lost."



I was familiar with this mystical quest. But it was hard for me to imagine that Landulf had a hand in it. "Why does he bother with these knights?" I ask.



Dante speaks with pride. "Because they are right­eous, and the light of God shines before them."



"But you say Landulf is stronger than they are?"



Dante hangs his head, as if ashamed. "I am afraid that he is the strongest."



"But you are a Christian. Your Lord Jesus Christ says no demon can stand before the name of Christ."