A Vampire's Honor by Carla Susan Smith

Author:Carla Susan Smith [Smith, Carla Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2016-07-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Gabriel smiled. Of all the things Aleksei could have asked him, he’d requested a simple courtesy. What is your name?

“I’ve been called many things in my time, including demon,” he chuckled, “but you may call me Gabriel.” Aleksei’s gasp made Gabriel silently curse the priest. No doubt the peasant was wondering how he dared call himself by such an angelic name without bursting into a pillar of flame. “It is the name I was given,” he told Aleksei, easily reading the unspoken question on his face.

He could also see another question that the peasant farmer was struggling not to ask. Named by whom? Who would dare to call him thus? Gabriel waited, but when Aleksei turned his head, he realized he would not ask. There were some things it was better not to know. Besides, Gabriel thought to himself, would Aleksei have believed him if he had told him?

“I need to bury my family,” he said. The weariness lining his face was also carried in his voice.

“I do not think your priest will allow them in your churchyard,” Gabriel told him solemnly.

“Because of you?”

“Partly,” Gabriel admitted, “although I think perhaps his fear of Count Petrov is far greater than his fear of me, which is foolish. But if it is important to you, then we will take them there.”

Aleksei shook his head. “No. The villagers will only dig them up and put them somewhere else.”

Gabriel sighed, acknowledging the truth and absurdity of such action. “The body is merely a shell,” he said, offering what comfort he could. “It reminds those left behind of what once was. This rite of burial is, I think, more to console the living than the dead.”

Aleksei didn’t disagree. “But what about their souls?” he asked. “What happens to them if the body is not laid to rest in consecrated ground?”

“What do you think happens to a man slain in battle? Is his soul doomed if he falls on foreign soil?” Gabriel could tell from the other man’s expression that he had never thought about this. Was he never curious about the world beyond his village? “I promise you the souls of your family are in a better place,” he told Aleksei.

“How can you be so sure?” he challenged in a hoarse whisper.

Unexpectedly disconcerted by Aleksei’s distress, Gabriel softened his tone. “I was not always the being you see before you. I know when a soul has departed and where it has gone. Trust me when I tell you that your family does not walk the paths of darkness.” This time he put both hands on Aleksei’s shoulders. “Lay them to rest in the ground, and you will feel better for it.”

“And what then?”

“Then I will help you with Count Petrov.”

“Help me how?”

Apparently Aleksei had forgotten to whom he was talking.

Gabriel dropped his hands from the other man’s shoulders, took a step back, and said, “Why, to kill him, of course. Is that not what you wish for?”

There was a strange whistling sound as Aleksei sucked in a breath.

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