Blood Brothers (Necroscope: Vampire World Trilogy) by Lumley Brian

Author:Lumley, Brian [Lumley, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2011-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

II

“My name?” the undead creature on the cross gabbled, his red eyes starting out, staring at the fire-pit into which he would topple slowly, face down, unless he chose to speak first. “Is that all you want to know? My name and a little useless information? Well then, and for all the good it will do you, they call me Vratza Wransthrall. There, and what else can I tell you?”

Lardis tossed the spade aside, stepped back a little and filled his labouring lungs. Then he looked up at the other and nodded, and smiled however humourlessly. “So you’ve taken your master’s name, eh? And was it also your plan to step into his shoes one day?”

Beneath lowered eyebrows, the vampire’s slitted eyes shot scarlet loathing at him. “In Turgosheim,” he grunted, “the Lord Wran the Rage had several lieutenants. Here and for the moment, he has just the one—myself! Yes, I would be Wamphyri. Or I would have been.”

Again Lardis nodded. “Turgosheim, eh? And where, pray, is Turgosheim?”

The others glared at him, flared their nostrils, remained silent … until Kirk Lisescu took up his spade again. Then:

“East!” Vratza cried, straining on the silver spikes until the blue veins jerked and writhed in his arms, but straining uselessly. He might tear his flesh but he wouldn’t tear those nails loose. And: “East,” he croaked again, relaxing as best he could and hanging there shivering, panting. “Beyond the Great Red Waste. There are mountains there, a lesser range—Starside to the north and Sunside in the south, much the same as here—but smaller. Turgosheim lies hidden from the sun in a gorge. It was our home but Wratha brought us away, to this.”

“Wratha?” Lardis cocked his head on one side. “A girl’s name? A Lady, your leader?”

“Wratha The Risen, a Lady, aye. She led us out of Turgosheim.” Vratza’s floodgates were fully open now; Lardis need only question him.

“Why did she bring you here?”

“Because Turgosheim was used up. Too many vampires, too few Sunsiders.”

“Ah!” Lardis craned his neck, narrowed his eyes. “And how many Lords were there, in Turgosheim?”

“More than forty, less than fifty. Including the Ladies.”

“And how many here, now?”

“Six. Wratha and her five.”

“And lieutenants?”

“Myself and one other.”

Lardis drew in his chin. “What? Six of them and only two of you?”

“Four of us died last night,” Vratza scowled, “when we came out of Starside to raid on a town standing east of here.”

Andrei Romani nodded and clapped his hands appreciatively. And: “Well done, Twin Fords!” he chuckled, however grimly. “A little good news at last. At least they were prepared!”

“No,” Vratza shook his head. “It was that we were not prepared. Some of the men fought back! In Turgosheim, that would have been unthinkable. But afterwards, striking here, by then we were prepared. As for myself, I was unlucky …”

“Very,” said Lardis, quietly, “for it will cost you your life—this loathsomeness which your life has become, anyway. But in fact we’ll be doing you a favour.”

“You’ll burn me anyway?”

“You know we will.”

“And

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