One More for Perdition - A Venetian Narrative AAR.

[Tufto]

Blek, I keep forgetting to update this one. Sorry for the wait.

Memento Mori: Well spotted-you're correct on one of those points...

Chapter Two:​

The Crossroads City​

Part One.​

"Venice was not a friendly place for Vampires, Reapers or Lanterns; all three had such a vested interest in the state that they naturally came into conflict. The Reapers wanted to raise it up, the Vampires to destroy it, the Lanterns to turn it into a crossroads city, a hub of travel and culture."- Xu Sangria, The New Vampiric Mission, 1699.



17th July, 1458.

"Venezia!"

Kael stood upon the bow, precariously balancing upon the slippery wood below. The remains of the crew which had survived the attack cheered at the name, the relief on their brows evident. Home! Away from the strange torments of the sea, the blood and bone which they had seen.

Mona, standing slightly behind her mentor, gazed at her new home. They were coming up to the canal now, and she could see the great dome of St. Marks Basilica, towering over the strange sagging forms of the slums and buildings of the city. The Doge's palace shone above the water, its weird Oriental forms marking it as distinct from the gondola-ridden water.

Slowly, the nondescript vessel made its way along the water. The sun shone brightly in the sky, as a few seagulls dipped and dived along the quay. Mona lived in a beautiful town, but this place was simply dazzling.

"Hey! Hey, Kael! Where the hell have you been, amico?"

Looking over the edge, Mona saw a tall, handsome Gondoleer waving up at Kael. The Reaper waved back with a smile. "Picking up new recruits, Ilario! How've things been back here?"

The look on Ilario's face gave Kael all he needed to know. But Ilario's expression changed instantly, shifting like frail sand. "And who is this picture of beauty? You have quite an eye for a pretty face, old man!" laughed the Lantern from below.

"This 'picture of beauty' is someone who I won't be bringing anywhere near you, you lecherous old coward" snapped Kael with a barely suppressed grin. Turning to Mona, he said "This irritant is Illario de Canossa, a man of noble blood, no less- the bastard child of a Tuscan Duke. He's what we call a Lantern, though they prefer to go by the name of Whisp."

"Lantern? You haven't mentioned-"

"When we're on shore, my dear." smiled Kael. His eyes were as ancient as ever, but his youthful body seemed particularly energetic and full of life. "I promise to tell you many things when we're on shore, and safe."

"But when you asked-"

"All in good time!" Mona's face twitched in annoyance. Seeing this, Kael smiled and said "Don't get frustrated, little one. I mean it this time."

"Are you always this annoying?" snapped his student in reply. Kael simply grinned, and beckoned to her to follow him, just as they hit the side of the quay and the sailors threw a rope over.

"Only when the moment suits it. Now, come, maiden of Egypt; we have a Doge to visit...

 

[Stuyvesant]

Interesting. Very different. Will try to follow.

 

[Tufto]

Ack, sorry for the lack of updating. Too many essays!

Stuyvesant: Glad to have you on board for this one it'll be very different indeed, and although I'm still concentrating on The Devil's Darkness in the main, I have megacampaign plans for this one, though they may never come to fruition, especially given my reliability with AARs. I've already planned out a lot of what will come ahead in terms of the storyline, which I'll have to adapt to ingame events.

Chapter Two:​

The Crossroads City​

Part Two.​

Thrusting open the doors, Kael strode in with his head held high, while Mona crept behind him, her own head hung in fear and respect.

The Doge's study was a newly built room, commissioned atop the Palace in 1419. It was ornate, yet covered on two walls with wall murals. Behind the desk of the Doge himself stood a huge window striding the length and breadth of the wall; giving an immense view of the canal.

It was a highly unusual room; not grand, but clever and twisting. And behind its desk sat Alvise Moro, the Doge of the Most Serene Republic of Venice and First Sealord of the Venetian Imperial Lordship.

The man who had sat in the shadows of a house in Constantinople was a world away from the fellow opposite the Reapers. He was dressed more ornately, but he wore the ceremonial robes not with pride or glory but with an air of duty. He was short, with greying hair cut so closely as to almost make him bald. He did not look up immediately at the entrance of the Reapers, but finished the sentence he was writing while Kael bowed in respect.

"Your servant, sire." spake Kael. The Doge finally put down his quill, sat up and smiled at the Reaper.

"My dear Signor Archon! Your work in Egypt has been exemplary! You were true to your word indeed."

Mona looked up sharply at her mentor. Work in Egypt? What had Kael done while she'd been asleep in that unconscious haze?

The Doge stood up, leaning his hands on the desk, that same jovial smile across his face. The two figures who faced each other looked totally different; the rail-thin little man in the grand cloth, and the tall, pale, slender Reaper wearing a ragged black cloak, a barefoot Copt looking up nervously behind him.

"I have no idea how you did it, Signor, but it was better than anything I could have hoped for. The rebels defeated! Their garrisons betrayed! You did not convince them to join us, you did one better! You got rid of them entirely!"

Matching the bright grin of the Doge, Kael formed a perfectly proportioned little smile. He knew well that behind those joyful eyes lay one of the keenest and darkest minds in Europe. This was not a man to be trifled with.

"I did what little I could, sire."

"Little? Why, with you on our side, we could bend all Europa to our will!"

"I'm sure that will not be necessary." Mona thought she heard a hint of steel in Kael's voice, as all three of them sat down. The Doge still had not glanced in her direction once, something which caused her both fear and relief.

"Now, sire, could you possibly inform me on events in your Republic? I have been on the open sea for weeks, and what with some... local colour, we haven't touched at any ports since Crete."

At this request, the Doge sighed, shuffling the papers on his desk. "I'm sure you remember the little spat we were having with our Northern cousins?"

"If your referring to the huge military advantage you had over Austria, and the crushing defeat you were about to inflict upon them, yes, I recall something of the sort."

"Well, it's gone", snapped the Doge. "All our work, dissolved! I myself was riding out with the Greek levies to face their last northern armies, when we were betrayed."

Kael leant forward, suddenly serious. "Betrayed? The Tiroleans?"

"No, the damned Bavarians." The Doge seemed a hundred years older, as the bitter memory overtook him. "A peace was made on the eve of battle. And for nothing! The Emperor had one chance to break Austrian power in northern Italy and he made peace for a token possession! The old man is not what he once was, Kael. He has become a craven, a coward. The older he gets, the more he fears death."

"And what happened then? You went to war alone?"

"No. We met with them on the same day; we couldn't defeat them alone. They forced us into a gesture of defeat as well, though that isn't of great concern to me. We did at least force Mantua into submission; it's now the latest state of the Empire."

Empire? Mona was confused. She thought the Venetians held a Republic, not an Empire...

"Well, your Serenity, is there anything which we Reapers can do to aid you? This is most disturbing news..." and Kael seemed to mean that, Mona noted. He looked genuinely worried; an emotion he didn't normally come upon him when speaking of the affairs of men.

The Doge looked at him thoughtfully, stroking his chin. "Not right now, no. I have been made aware that your people in the city may need your aid- something about the Vampires. I will send a messenger if I need anything."

"But tell me, Lord Archon," he said, his eyes suddenly whipping onto Mona, "who is this lovely Oriental maiden whom you have brought with you?"

"My protege. A young Copt from Alexandria."

"Ah..." Mona felt a chill run through her. The Doge's eyes were a curious black; she sensed the capability for great warmth and great coldness in each of them. "So tell me, little Reaper; what of Alexandria?"

Mona swallowed. "It... it is in a time of troubles, your serenity. The new overlords... they are not kind to the locals. And the Muslims are not fond of the Latins, either. We Copts are stuck in the middle, though there are precious few of us left."

"I see." The Doge kept his eyes fixed on her throughout the long silence, before once again snapping his gaze back to Kael, a smile suddenly spread across his face. "Well, Lord Archon, I think that should do it. My messenger will be a tall Moor with a blue ring on his left ring-finger. Look for him well."

The Reaper stood up, and Mona followed suit. As he bowed, the Reaper mouthed to himself, "I hear you, O Lord of Fish and Plankton. And, for now, I obey."

-----

You have no idea how much I wanted to throttle the Bavarian Emperor in-game. We were this close to Austria's total pulverisation, which would've solved almost all my current problems. Then he makes peace in return for Austria revoking their claims on one of his provinces, and I couldn't fight Austria alone. This forced me to concede defeat on the eve of victory. Very annoying. At least we vassalised Mantua.

 

[Memento Mori]

Well, I guess the game will be more interesting without crushing Austria early on. I am actually equally curious about the "empire" thing. Is the Doge just privately a megalomaniac or did you do some complex form of governmental change? And looking at the ambitions of the 3 races, I now understand why the reapers are friends with the lanterns and enemies with vampires...

 

[Tufto]

Memento Mori: "Interesting", certainly... "Worrying" too... There's some explanation of the Empire in this update, though it's really just my way of justifying my many vassal states for the purposes of the narrative.

The Reapers, though, aren't exactly friends with the Lanterns... the Lanterns have no governing authority, so while those like Ilario are their friends and allies, many others are neutral or even opposed to the Reapers. Even Ilario isn't totally on the Reapers' side- but more on that will be discussed later...

Chapter Two:​

The Crossroads City​

Part Three.​

"With Reapers, go for the skull. Vampires, pierce the heart. Lanterns, put out the fire between their eyes..."- Illario di Canossa, Recollections of a Whisp, 1583.


"So... is Venice a Republic or an Empire?"

Kael was standing, Mona sitting, and Ilario pushing the boat ever forward. Mona could see the fear on the Lantern's face as he staring into the setting sun. Kael, on the other hand, was scanning the water. Neither was paying her much attention, but Kael did at least give her answers, even if only in an absent-minded sort of way.

"It's... well, it's both. The state is called the Venetian Republic, which is in turn a member-state in the Imperial Principality, which is what the Venetians would call a "Venetian-led confederation of independent, like-minded states" and what everyone else calls a collection of Venetian client states. It's not called an Empire for fear of offending the Romans, one of those client states, who see their little city-state as the only "true" empire."

"It's governed by Sealords, a curious invention of an Achaean nobleman several years ago, adopted by the previous Doge," chimed in Ilario, taking a break from his sky-watching. "Basically, a representative of every client state is accorded the title of Sealord, with the Venetian Doge being accorded the title of First Sealord. These representatives are picked by the Venetians, though, and are all Venetian lapdogs whose job is to dictate the will of the Doge to the rulers of the states."

All three of them then fell silent. Mona lapsed into thought. It was cold, up here; the rain and wind caused her to shiver in her dirty tunic. She wasn't sure about this city. It was beautiful, and seemed to be prosperous, but it was all so much change. The slums of Alexandria to a Doge's palace in a few weeks... how did Kael manage it?

"I think we're clear, Ilario." Kael looked up at the Gondola-driver as the neared the shore. The Lantern's face seemed immensely relieved at the resounding bump made by hitting the other side.

"We're here." muttered Kael, pointing upwards. Mona followed his gaze, and saw a large marble building, built into a square. It looked odd and out of place among the mud of its surroundings.

"What is this place?"

"Ah, the house of the Reapers, belladonna!" laughed Ilario, his good humour returned. "The residence of most of your skeletal kin in this city!"

----

Mona lay back, mind a-flutter. A few faint noises of drink and noise came from the open window.

Everyone seemed to be permanently transformed in the confines of this little place. Some twenty or thirty Reapers lived inside- Kael said that this was a particularly large number, reflecting Venice's importance. Mona had transformed herself, to fit it- but she still found it an uncomfortable experience.

Kael had simply grinned when she told him this. "You'll get used to it. Soon, being human will be more uncomfortable."

The light was dim, here. The House of Reapers faced away, towards the Adriatic, and other than the occasional cabin-lantern, all was dark outside. Mona felt at peace for the first time in a long time. And in that, she began to make sense of all her conflicted emotions.

She was beginning to get used to Kael's odd, cold ways. And she was grateful- he'd saved her life, after all. But anger still coursed through her. He'd turned her into a... thing. A being from a nightmare, who'd then been thrust into a new and strange land.

She'd have to adapt. She'd have to learn. Now, more than ever, this fact stuck in her brain.

It was time for Mona Amides to come into her own...

 

[Memento Mori]

I had pictured the empire I built in a previous with its vassals to have a sort of similar governing mechanics as the sealords. But at the end of the game, the vassals were a bit more organised (probably) then in your Venice...

Spoiler

I was Castile --> Spain (and console released Castille as a vassal ... in Africa )



Below is a picture of just my empire, with particular vassals being shown



And that is the Holy Roman Federation in its full glory...

 

[Stuyvesant]

I see there's already a divergence between the ambitions of the Venetians and Kael. Not too much, yet, but it's there. It seems that, if the Venetians get too big for their own boots, the Reapers will not hesitate to drop them like a rock.

Is it polite to ask why the Vampires want to destroy Venice, or is this one of those "In good time" situations Kael keeps referring to?

 

[blsteen]

An interesting world...Nice to see the various races taking credit for this that and the other thing of human history.
And who's pulling the strings for the three races lurking in the darkness?

 

[Tufto]

Memento Mori: Wow, nice empire! Puts all of mine to shame. And yeh, definitely not as organised as yours- mine are a motley collection of Balkan/Italian cities, thus far.

Stuyvesant: Definitely- the Venetians are a self-interested city state, while Kael is simply using them as a tool to further the Reaper ambitions- which, along with why the Vampires are so anti-Venetian, is detailed below...

blsteen: Thanks well, they see themselves as the manipulators, but even so, there are sinister forces within each one who are using them as puppets... this'll become clearer when we meet the Grim later on...

Chapter Two:​

The Crossroads City​

Part Four.​

"Parry! Block! Lunge! Parry!"

The House of Reapers was a rectangular building, built in the new Classical style which was beginning to invigorate Italy. Most of the centre was a large grass courtyard, while the building itself had a veranda on each level, held up by shining marble columns. The whole building, in fact, was made of marble, with mosaic floor and spacious, luxurious rooms.

The people were told it was a building made to house "certain important foreign dignitaries", and that it was a place they were forbidden from entering under all circumstances. And that was true, in a sense.

But in the central courtyard, a duel was taking place. Mona had been eager to begin her training straight away. As part of her teaching, Kael had asked the quartermaster Mycroft to teach her swordcraft.

"You're doing well" smiled the tall Englishman. "Remember, strength is not your ally. Most of the people you will ever encounter will be seasoned fighters who are far more brutish. You need to rely on your small size and speed to fight."

Mona nodded eagerly, lapping up the knowledge. Her mind was driven, now; she'd learnt so much over the last few days. Kael had finally begun to reveal some of the answers to her questions.

"This endless conflict between us and the Vampires has its roots in ambition. The ruling classes of the vampires began, about two-thousand years ago, to promote an ideology among their people, which has taken hold among most of them. They believe that as "superior" races, the Reapers, Lanterns and themselves should be in charge, and not the humans. "

The lesson had taken place in a large, dusty room, with a single desk which Mona sat behind, listening and note-taking, while Kael paced up and down, lecturing to her on a number of topics.

"This, however, was anathema to the other races. The disguises of the Lanterns and Reapers make them seem more human than the Vampires, so they were always closer to the people. They found the Vampiric ideas sinister, and believed they would use humanity as a food source, rather than ruling them benevolently. The Lanterns just wanted to be left alone, but the Reapers decided to take a stand."

"Sometimes, we won. The defeat of the Persians in Greece, for example, was influenced by us. Reapers were slipped between the ranks at Marathon and Plataea, and ships manned by Reapers were present at Salamis. We stopped them using the Persians to conquer the world, while they manipulated behind the throne."

"But sometimes, they gained the upper hand. Alexander's empire, the Chinese unification- this all ended up in a weakening of our position. It all culminated in the Roman Empire, the closest they ever came."

"What happened there?" Mona looked up from her notes in curiosity. Her parents had always told her of the wonderful Romans, and how one day they would come and rescue the Copts from the arms of the infidel.

"We... we were scattered." Kael's face took on a particularly haunting shade of memory. "I was in China- the Arabs call it Sin- at the time, and the rest of us were forced into Germania and the Steppes. The Vampires ran unconstrained, bringing war and terror to the edges of the world."

"But they did good things! They brought us civilisation, allowed us to-"

"They subjugated innocent peoples and forced them into slavery!" spat Kael. He stopped walking, and looked out of the window for a second, composing himself. When he next spoke, he was quiet and deep in thought.

"While the Vampires manipulated emperor after emperor from the sidelines, all conjugating in Rome, we gathered our strength and our forces. And then, we began to use the Huns and Germans to blast holes in the Empire. We felled the West, and took control of the East to ensure there was a counterweight against the Persians."

"Ever since then, it's been a constant battle for supremacy between our two sides. We've been fighting for hundreds of years through client states, until about forty years ago, in 1422. Then, we agreed to a truce; the fighting died down, gradually. So, half the states of Europe are run by Vampires, the other half by Reapers."

"But the truce has nearly run its course. The Vampires in Venice have been stirring up trouble, and then there were the ones we met on the open seas. I fear that war, Mona, is coming to Europe once more. And..."

"And?" Mona was fascinated. Was her whole life really the result of frenzied power-games between these people?

"And... I fear they may have a trick up their sleeves. I think they might reveal to the Western nations what lies beyond their reach..."

"What does that mean?" But Kael had stopped wanting to talk. Silence descended, and as Mona reflected now, here on the green-grass with a blade in her hands, she'd seen something curious in Kael's eyes.

Fear.

She kept up her training with Mycroft, as she ruminated on all she'd seen. What about Kael himself? She'd asked him a few days later about where he'd come from, and he'd answered as cryptically as ever. "We all leave things behind. Even when those things are consumed in fire." What had that meant? Why-

Lunge.

She'd been fighting without thinking, and doing everything Mycroft had asked her to. And now, her blade was sticking in his heart.

"You... you said lunge!" she shrieked, eyes wide. But Mycroft was laughing! Why was he laughing? She'd-

But Mycroft simply pulled the blade out of his chest, grinning. "With Reapers, go for the skull. Vampires, pierce the heart. Lanterns, put out the fire between their eyes. You can't kill me like that, little Copt."

Mona gasped as the flesh and bone began to heal and seal up. She watched, fascinated, as her actions were reversed. She looked up at the quartermaster, who simply said, "You're getting very good. If I was a Vampire, I'd have died instantly."

Mona saw things flash across her eyes, and some of her fear trickle away. It seemed that though she might not be immortal, she was very close to it...

 

[Tufto]

A one-day essay break is letting me give you an update! Yay! And after tomorrow, I'll be back at home for a month or so, so plenty of updates for y'all.

Only a short one today, though. Next will be longer.

Chapter Two:​

The Crossroads City​

Part Five.​

9th December 1458. Stephansdom, Vienna

"We can't! It's too risky!"

The sound echoed off the solemn, silent walls of the great cathedral of Vienna. Within that vaulted roof and among those huge columns, two figures walked through the empty church.

"Why not? We have an opportunity here. The Crossroads City has been a thorn in our side for too long. To convert it to our cause..."

"But-"

"Alvise Moro will not live forever, Steiner." The two figures made a funny pair. One was tall, well-built, immaculately dressed in long, black robes. The other was a short, slightly pudgy little fellow, whose hurried footsteps were constantly having to catch up with the graceful steps of his companion.

The short man was Roderic Steiner, a humble merchant, born in a Hanseatic town to the north. He was the head of the Diplomatic committee of the Vampiric goverment, specialising in dealings with Reapers and Lanterns.

The other was the most powerful man in the Empire: Heinrich Von Kassel, the Lord Protector of the Vampiric State. Both were pale, as white as clouds, but Heinrich seemed oddly more so, with his pitch-black hair and darker eyes. He commanded authority, respect; power.

"Look, sir, if we sent the cell against the House, the Lanterns would be sure to move against us! We need that foothold in the city, it's the only way we could get the Bavarians to-"

"The Lanterns? They've got some kind of organisation there?" A cutting, sharp voice.

Steiner swallowed, and ran to catch up again. "No, sir, not exactly; they seem to have a kind of leader who organises meetings and the like, but no kind of government. Some pro-Reaper fellow called Callion. He has an assistant called Ilario.

Heinrich nodded. "Is his surname Di Canossa, perchance?"

"Y-yes, sir. How did you know?"

"I had occasion to run into him, once, back in Constantinople during that trouble with the earthquake. A tricky fellow. Not one to be crossed."

They walked on in silence, one serene, one wild-eyed and worried. As they reached the altar, Von Kassel turned and stopped. "Very well; we won't move now. We're not yet strong enough to face a combined Lantern force in the city. But be prepared. This truce has run its course, and I think its time to tell the Grim this."

Steiner looked up. "Does that mean...?"

"Yes, Steiner. I think we may have to organise a little trip to the Greek Empire...

 

[Memento Mori]

Interesting... so each state which aims for centralisation and expansion would be vampiric in nature? Next time I see the members of the EU commission I will know where to strike

 

[Stuyvesant]

Mycroft? Really? This puts the whole Holmes-Moriarty feud in a whole new light - not to mention the events at Reichenbach Falls.

Slowly, the goals of the different factions are revealed. I can't stand vampires (it's a Twilight thing), so I sincerely hope their schemes will be foiled. Even if I think a bit of centralization here or there can be quite beneficial.

So, Kael worries about the New World. I guess Venice will have to take a very active interest in the upcoming colonial game, then. Nuova Roma, preferably in Manhattan, please?

 

[Tufto]

Memento Mori: as an Englishman, I approve of that .

But it's not just that the expansionist states are controlled by Vampires. Some are dominated by Reapers wishing to act as a counterweight to Vampiric-controlled states, too; such as Bavaria and Hungary. But more on that later .

Stuyvesant: I, too, detest Twilight, so fear not: these Vampires are the aristocratic, old-fashioned type, who like to seduce women in revealing nightgowns and play loud organs late into the night. And I hope their schemes are foiled, as I'm playing as Venice .

Colonisation... I can reveal nothing yet.

As for Mycroft, well, he probably isn't the Holmesian one, but as you say, it certainly would explain a lot...

Chapter Two:​

The Crossroads City​

Part Six.​

Venice. 14th December 1458

"This council called to order."

Kael stood at the head of the table, as the masses quietened down. There were sixteen council members present in Venice; as the Council only constituted a hundred, this was the most populous outpost of senior Reapers outside of Constantinople itself.

Forty-thousand Reapers in the world. Forty-thousand. And the Grim somehow managed to make it all work with a hundred people in charge. Kael never could work out how their dear leader managed it.

"I, Kael Archon, Fourth Reaper of the Grim Empire, declare this session opened. I hope I find you all in good health" he said, flashing them a quick smile. Formalities were always appreciated. All of the men here were extremely old; the government ran on a seniority basis, with the hundred oldest Reapers composing the Council.

"This session has been called for one single reason. Over the last few months, we have seen a dramatic and worrying increase in the number of Vampire attacks on both our own men, various Lanterns and the citizens of this city. The Republic is, as you know, of vital importance to the Grim's plan in Germany and the eastern Mediterranean, and while we may have control over most of its empire, the presence of such a large Vampire cell in our city is too much of a problem to ignore."

A figure stood up. Kael winced slightly as he recognised Brennan of Gaul, a particularly annoying individual. His large, ginger moustache perpetually quivered as he gave his usual protestation. Brennan's flaw was his lack of empathy. He thought too much of the Reapers' safety and prosperity, and not enough about their mission. He was a follower of Avicia Horatia Sinarum, the Third Reaper and the main rival of the Grim's policies; her views were uncomfortably similar to those of the Vampires.

With a sigh, Kael glared at the Celt and stated "The Grim's Representative recognises Brennan of Gaul, Thirty-Eighth Reaper of the Grim Empire."

"This is absurd!" roared Brennan as soon as Kael had finished talking. Protocol was very important to a Reaper: wait to be allowed to speak, do not interrupt.

"It's ridiculous! The Vampires are a problem, yes, but we are in a truce with them! The occasional attack by an unauthorised bandit does not mean we have to take military action against them! Some humans may, regrettably, be lost, but if the Grim wishes for our purpose to succeed, surely it is more prudent to be pragmatic, to appease those who need to be appeased and not to strike rashly."

"My dear Brennan, a large Vampiric galley attacking a small merchant vessel at sea carrying two Reapers, one a council member, does not strike me as being the actions of bandits. The Vampires have broken their truce, no matter what Von Kassel has to say. Please sit down."

"But-"

"I said sit down, you Celtish Mongrel dog!" roared Kael. "Your time is over and you have no permission to speak. You would violate out laws? Sit down!"

Silence rang about the room. Brennan slowly began to sit.

"Does anybody else have anything to contribute?"

Silence.

"All those for?"

In their stunned terror at their normally calm leader's outpost, a sea of hands went up; well above half.

"Good. Now, here's what we will do. My sources tell me that in the Basilica, there is a trapdoor leading to a tunnel..."

 

[Tufto]

Chapter Two:​

The Crossroads City​

Part Seven.​

2nd March 1459. Two months later. Constantinople.

"Perdition. A curious concept, which you will soon be intimately familiar with, if you decide not to talk."

A tall, dark-cloaked Reaper, fully transformed, stood at one end of the room, by the shuttered window. It was midnight outside, with a single lantern swinging wildly from the roof- the only living light. Every time it stopped swinging, the Reaper would push it to start its motion again.

A man was tied to the chair, his face bloodied and beaten, just stared at the floor. He couldn't... no, he couldn't do it any more.

Every time he looked up, the same sight greeted him. A grinning skeleton, framed between a pendulum of light and dark, as the lantern's bright fire flew between two shadows. The endless creak of the chain and the soft, lilting voice before him hurt. The beating had just been to dizzy him, to blur the boundaries of his mind. This was the real interrogation.

The Reapers who had beaten him were gone. He felt that they had taken away his precious dignity. He was a vampire, for God's sake! He was a connoisseur: wine, art, music, all these things flew through him as easily as liquor to a drunkard. He was polite, cautious, a model of the civilised gentleman. A fondness for cruelty, and war, perhaps, but that was all acceptable in any civilised society, when properly channelled and controlled.

And the animal fury had ripped apart that house of cards. Their bony fists had pounded his perfectly proportioned features to a pulp. And all the while, the grinning skeleton was standing there, watching him, softly telling him of the Republic of Plato, the writings of Cicero, the liturgies of John Chrysostom. And now, the talk turned to some thoughts on his mortality.

"Or maybe you won't go to hell" came the voice again. "Maybe you'll be saved. Maybe you'll find salvation. Maybe, you like to flatter yourself, you'll be picked up and rescued, and all your pains will be over. Rest will be yours at last."

The skeleton leapt forward, grabbing the vampire's face and clenching it tight, so that the one's eyes were staring into the other's blank sockets.

"You are wrong" hissed the Reaper through clenched teeth. "Do you think God cares about any of us, the bastard children of men and power, at all? Your soul left you when they drew out your blood and replaced it with that of a vampire. God will not save the mutilated things we have become."

(What was that accent? Danish? Swedish? Something northern...)

The reaper dropped him, but kept kneeling next to him, talking now in a pleasant, quiet tone. "But maybe, just maybe, you want God to grant oblivion instead. For life to stop, for there to be nothing after the end. And that might be true; I don't know. But think about oblivion, Vlad Dracul. Think about what it means. It isn't a coldness, or a sleep, because those imply sensation. There is none. There is no past, no present, no future. No thought, no sense of anything. Nothing. You do not exist, and you never existed. A fate worse than perdition ever could be."

Vlad looked up, weakly. "And how... how would... you know that?"

The reaper laughed, and whispered in Vlad's ear, "Because, dear Vlad, I am the Grim. Death is what I deal in."

Vlad gave up. He collapsed, his head hanging limp, as the reaper kept whispering behind him. "Now, I'll ask you one more time. It's your one chance to remain a living person, and not to be just one more for perdition. What happened in my Venetian cell? Where is Kael Archon? Will you tell?

Vlad opened his eyes as far as they would go. The lantern was still swinging above his head.

"Yes."

 

[Memento Mori]

I always wondered what perdition actually was, now I am not sure if I want to find out

Joking of course

 

[Stuyvesant]

He was a vampire, for God's sake!

Slighty ironic that Vlad would be calling on a God he has, you know, kinda renounced by his prior actions. I guess old habits and figures of speech die hard.

The trapdoor under the Basilica in Venice reminds me an awful lot of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Reapers aren't afraid of rats, are they?