Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis (The Vampire Chronicles 12)

"Yes, absolutely," said Gregory, "especially if Rhoshamandes is hunting for them and plans to use them as hostages."

"Well, Amel knows of the obscure messages," I said, "because he began repeating them or I should say chanting phrases or sentences from them to me as soon as I opened my eyes. But I can't tell whether he understands the language or what it means to him."

Gremt gestured to speak. "If Amel doesn't understand the language now," he said, "he will soon." His face was sad, and he seemed to have none of the energy of the others around him. "Amel is a learning creature. All along he has been a learning creature."

Still Amel was not responding, and I gave them to know this without speaking a word.

"We must decide how to bring the creatures here," said Marius.

Allesandra had said nothing all this time, but she had begun to weep during the description of Rhoshamandes's cruelty. Armand had slipped his arm around her and was holding her as she rocked back and forth, apparently in deep grief. "If you had seen that poor creature, Derek," said Allesandra, "if you had seen what he suffered. It is possible that Fareed can help him. Restore the arm if the poor being did remove it from the fireplace."

"Perhaps I can," said Fareed. "You might use this as an inducement to Derek to come here for shelter immediately."

"He'd never make it if Rhoshamandes is about," I said. "Rhosh would see him approach and move to take him prisoner again."

"So they need to come here by day," said David, "to remain in the village until close to nightfall and then to be brought up to the castle before sunset."

"Yes, exactly," said Marius. "This is what must happen."

Now, the village beneath the Chateau was not a real village at all, but a community of the humans who had restored the Chateau and were still in the process of refining it, and improving it, and the technicians who worked on its electricity and computer connections, and the gardeners who tended the vast grounds which were now twice the size of what they'd been in my father's time. The restored church was for these people. So was the town hall. The inn was for their occasional visitors or new workers who did not have housing as yet. The shops were for their necessities, including DVDs, CDs, and books as well as groceries and the like. They had a chocolate shop. They had clothing stores as well. It was a pretty place, meticulously created in period architecture. But all of these people were paid handsomely to ask no questions about us whatsoever and would indeed greet these beings and put them up in the restored inn until nightfall.

"And what if they're hostile to us?" I said. "You want us to bring them into the house, so to speak?"

"We have to do that," said Teskhamen.

"Look, what threat do they pose?" asked David. "This poor Derek was a prisoner for ten years under the abode of a solitary vampire. So there are five of them now, assuming we can bring them together. What could they possibly do? Clearly they want to know us."

"And why is this so urgent?" I asked. "Because they know about us? The whole world knows about us. So they know we're real and the whole world thinks we're not real. You think they can persuade the whole world to take another view of us without revealing themselves? And why should these creatures reveal themselves to the world? And why ever would they put themselves in our hands if they are indeed a species whose blood is naturally replenished within a few hours? Why, we could keep them here forever as prisoners."

Armand whispered under his breath that that might not be a bad idea at all.

"That's just what Roland did to Derek," said Allesandra. "And Arion here has drunk from the creature's blood many times, and indeed the blood does come back over and over and over again. And Roland kept him as just such a fount of blood." She was plainly outraged at it. "You cannot do such a thing, Prince. You wouldn't."

Marius shook his head in disgust and folded his arms. He muttered to himself under his breath. I realized something which perhaps I should have seen before. The Court had given Marius immense new life and purpose. It had taken him out of the limbo in which he'd been existing since Those Who Must Be Kept were destroyed. He had been gaining in vitality for six months, and I wondered now why he put up with me at all. Wouldn't he have made the better monarch? I found myself strangely indifferent on the matter of a power struggle.

I turned to Arion:

"And what did you see in the blood of the creature?" I asked.

"Bits and pieces, nothing of great value, but it was Rhoshamandes who saw a strange vision of the great city before it fell into the sea. He explained it to me and to Roland. He saw the city teeming with people, filled with flowers and fruit trees, and giant translucent buildings beyond count. He said there was a 'great one' in the city and the Great One was...Amel."

"We have to invite them now, before Rhoshamandes finds them!" said Marius impatiently. "We can't let them fall into his hands."

"Well, how in the Hell can Rhoshamandes find them?" my mother asked. She spoke up in her usual cranky voice. "But I have to say, if you'd executed Rhoshamandes last year you would have saved everyone a lot of trou

ble."

"I agree with that," said Seth in a low voice. He turned to me for the first time. "He should die for what he did and what he has done now."

"Rhoshamandes has his own human lawyers," said Allesandra. The tears stood in her eyes, but she went on, in a carefully controlled voice. "He has teams of them who work for him, and he has sent them to search for Garekyn Brovotkin, using the same sort of intelligence your lawyers and solicitors use." She turned to me. "Rhoshamandes despises you, Prince," she said. "And his hatred and bitterness have grown. If he knows you want these beings, he will most assuredly try to capture them before they can come here."

"We're wasting time," said Marius. "Please send for Benji and go on the broadcast and talk to the non-humans."

"I understand all that," I said. "But I'm trying to think this thing through. I don't see that we have to be hasty. These creatures are a total unknown. Are you assuming that Amel was somehow once one of them?"

"Amel has brought them out," said Teskhamen. "Amel, the mention of Amel in Benji's broadcasts. Amel. They are seeking Amel. And the doctor and her companion, it was no coincidence that that Dr. Rhinehart was working in Gregory's company, spying on Gregory, studying Gregory. They'd been around for years, these beings, perhaps since the time you first wrote of Amel in your books, Lestat."

I nodded. "There's something here I'm not understanding. So they want to know about Amel. But we don't know for sure that our Amel is their Amel. We don't..." But I stopped. What was I thinking? "Our Amel doesn't have true coherent memories of this city. He gives no indication he knows who these individuals are, only that he might have seen them once."