Page 156 of Dragon Slayer

Malik took a shallow breath. “Vampires? There…there are stories…”

“That our kind sleep in coffins and burn in the sunlight,” Vlad said. “That we turn to smoke, and fly, and abduct young women.”

“That you drink blood.”

“Wedodo that,” Eira said. “But only to survive, and mostly from our wolves.”

“Mostly,” Vlad emphasized with a grin, and Malik’s throat worked as he swallowed. He sobered. “We can go about in the daylight, as you can plainly see. And we can eat garlic, and go into churches – I was raised Eastern Orthodox, and I pray to the Christian God. I can neither turn to smoke, nor to a bat. But we are strong, and we are immortal.” He hitched up straighter in his chair, feeling defiant. “My father was not only Vlad Dracul of Wallachia, but also Remus, son of Mars, co-founder of Rome.”

Malik’s gaze went wide. His mouth worked, but he could not speak.

“Your sultan?” Vlad continued. “Mehmet? He’s a vampire as well. Not bred, as I was, born of two vampire parents, but turned. Turned by my uncle, Romulus, who is still very much alive and, apparently, sending mages and wolves to attack me.

“The woman? With her fire? That was a mage. Learn the word – learn to fear it. They’re far more dangerous than any other immortal.”

“I-immortal.”

“Immortal,” Vlad repeated. “Wolves, mages, vampires. That’s what we are. We can be killed – but not easily. And if not.” He shrugged. “So now you know.”

Malik’s mouth fell open, a rare show of discomposure, and he took a series of slow, deep breaths. Then he closed his lips, nodded to himself. “What you said in the city square today.” He sent Vlad a pointed, questioning look.

This was the big question. The one that could have his own men turning on him.

Vlad took a deep breath, and heard the other immortals in the room do the same. His mother hesitated, poultice ready, but not wanting to intrude.

What was this truth after the mind-bending reveal of what they really were?

He said, “I’m here with the sultan’s blessing. I know this.

“But the Ottomans have been my captors. My tormentors. The entire reason why my father fell into conflict with the neighboring princes. And they–” His voice caught, emotion rising, and he swallowed it down. “Mehmet. Has disgraced my brother in every way imaginable. He’shurthim. I know you belong to the sultan, but make no mistake: when I’m able to, when I have the means, I will forsake my alliance with him in a heartbeat. And if I can, I will wash this land clean of his influence.”

He lifted his chin. “What do you think of that, captain?”

Silence.

Vlad stared at the janissary. He didn’t have his father’s power for persuasion, nor Val’s sweet, pretty looks. He could only hope that honesty was a kind of weapon in and of itself.

And if all else failed, he could kill Malik Bey and make it look like an accident.

Finally, Malik spoke, and the words were not what Vlad had expected. “I do not remember my family,” he said. “I was taken from my mother’s breast, and nursed by a slave woman. I don’t remember my mother’s smile. My father’s laugh. I don’t know if I had any brothers or sisters. I don’t know which god my family worshipped; what their home looked like; what they ate, and how they fit into their community. I was handed a spear when I was old enough to hold it, and told how to pray, and who to serve, and how to fit into the place I’d been given. I don’t remember my name – my real name, that my mother gave me the day of my birth; I hope she kissed my forehead. I hope she loved me.

“I was raised a janissary, Prince Dracula,” he said. “And I am a slave. I would like, very much, to serve a man who might change that.”

Slowly, Vlad sat up straighter in his chair.

“A man who doesn’t want glory,” he continued. “Who doesn’t want to take over the world just because he can. Anyone can make slaves of the people he conquers; it is another thing entirely to serve a peasant people and to be loved for offering them freedom.

“There were rumors amongst us in Edirne: that the heir – and now sultan – wasn’t quite human. We spoke of his appetites, though we dared not make accusations. And I thought, ‘Who could stop such a creature? Who could halt his ceaseless, violent progress?’ It would take another such creature. One who is also a man of worth.

“I don’t know what you are – not completely. But I will fight for you. Whatever happens, whatever your orders from the sultan, you shall have me as an ally.” And he bowed deeply, his fist to his chest.

Eira stood with her tools held in limp hands, eyes wide. She looked at Vlad, brows raised.

All three wolves looked likewise stunned.

Vlad eased to his feet, pushing up with his uninjured hand, aware of a dozen aches and pains he hadn’t known before he’d sat. “I will know if you’re lying,” he said.

Malik tipped his head back, his throat exposed, his gaze clear. “Then it’s a good thing I am not.”

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