A dhampir.
My mother took no chances when it came to hiding my identity. I once asked her why she didn’t terminate me, knowing the difficulties ahead. She offered a single-word answer. Love. It was the only time I ever saw her cry. Whoever my father was, he didn’t know I existed. She refused to even tell me his name for my own safety. She’d cut off contact with him the moment she discovered she was pregnant. Too dangerous. Dhampirs who managed to survive were executed upon discovery, no justification required. Vampires were in charge and the law stated no dhampirs. Most vampires stuck to procreating with their own kind to avoid the issue and promote the dominance of their species. On rare occasions one slipped through and, on even rarer occasions, one slipped through with power that rivaled their own.
I was pretty darn rare.
9
I took a bus from Euston and disembarked at Charing Cross. I cast a wary eye at the Thames. You never knew what creatures you might encounter at any body of water, but the Thames was notorious for producing monsters that no one had ever seen before, likely due to its connection to the North Sea.
The surface of the water lay flat today. No suspicious ripples or strange glows. The color was its usual sludge brown.
Barnaby swooped down to rest on a nearby fence and cawed.
“I don’t see anything either.”
Satisfied there were no immediate threats, the raven took to the skies. I turned and walked northeast to the excavation site. This had once been the site of one of the most famous churches in the country—St. Paul’s Cathedral. It had been the target of frequent attacks during the rise of the vampires and eventually succumbed to its wounds. After Britannia took the throne, she ordered the destruction of all churches in her territory. The only one she spared was Westminster Abbey because allegedly she was a fan of the author Charles Dickens who was buried there.
Lights were directed at a specific area and I spotted two people on their knees in close proximity to each other, scraping at the earth with a set of tools. It occurred to me they might not know what happened to their colleague.
Great. Now I was the bearer of bad news on top of everything else.
The man looked up and our eyes met. I offered a friendly wave to offset my very unfriendly appearance. When you showed up at a strange place armed to the teeth and wearing magical armor, it was best to put the others at ease straight away.
The other worker stumbled to her feet and dusted off her knees. She appeared much younger than her companion. Her hair was the same sludge-brown color of the river and she wore specialty goggles. Her plain clothes were designed for dirty work. She clenched a chisel in her hand.
“Hi, sorry to interrupt. I was hoping to talk to you about one of your colleagues.”
The older man shifted the goggles to rest on the top of his head. “Are you talking about Maria?”
“Yes.”
His forehead wrinkled. “It isn’t bad news, is it? She hasn’t shown up for work in two days. I stopped by to check on her, but she wasn’t there.” He wiped his hand on his trousers and offered it to me. “Apologies. Where are my manners? I’m Dashiell and this is my intern, Lucy.”
“London Hayes, Knight of Boudica.”
Lucy’s eyes widened. “There’s a knight searching for Maria?”
My stomach tightened. This part never got easier. “I’m afraid Maria has already been found.”
Two shocked faces stared back at me.
“Found?” Lucy echoed. “You mean…?”
I nodded. “I’m sorry.”
Dashiell was the first to recover. “I didn’t know her terribly well, but still. Dreadful news. What happened?”
“That’s still under investigation.” I refrained from telling them about the molten casket.
Dashiell’s brow furrowed. “Why send a knight to tell us? Who would even send you on her behalf?”
“I wasn’t sent to deliver the news. I’m here about a stone that you uncovered at this location.”
The duo exchanged blank looks.
“Could you describe the stone?” Lucy asked. “As you can imagine, we’ve found quite a lot of them here.”
If only. The queen’s description left much to the imagination.
“I have very limited information. It’s the size of a brick, beige coloring, and marked with a symbol.”
“What does the symbol look like?” Lucy asked.
“I wasn’t given any more than that.”
Dashiell regarded me. “Do you know anything about the church that once stood here?”
He reminded me of my mother, eager to impart knowledge at every opportunity. Even if I hadn’t known he was in charge of interns at an excavation site, I would’ve pegged him for a university professor or a teacher.
“St. Paul’s Cathedral,” I said. “It was an Anglican cathedral that served as the head church of the London diocese.”
Respect shone in his eyes. “Very good. You’d be surprised how many people don’t know local human history. Then again, with a name like London, I expect your parents didn’t fall into that category of ignorance.” He swept an arm wide. “Where we now stand was once the highest point in the City of London before the Eternal Night began.”
“It isn’t the highest point anymore?” I asked.
Dashiell shook his head. “Not anymore. That honor now belongs to Tower Hill. The ground shifted many times during the early days of the Great Eruption.”
I glanced around. “I can’t imagine this area being very high.”
Dashiell smiled. “It wasn’t. You must remember the actual City of London was quite small and flat so it was no great feat to be the highest. Greater London, what we now know as Britannia City, would have included areas much higher than this.”