Nero is Mad, of Course by Ruthanne Reid

Author:Ruthanne Reid
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: vampire, short stories, dark, rome, egypt, mixed mythology
Publisher: Ruthanne Reid
Published: 2017-07-31T16:00:00+00:00

The seven hills are crowded, to my mind, and so I choose a watching place some distance away. Bright and hungry fire devours this city, ruining it, and a startling number of humans choose to burn and die rather than continue without their goods and possessions.

Naturally, I have commanded my children to flee. None of my own will die this night, and all shall find warm blood and willing lips in some other part of the world.

Nero has burned the city, or had it burned; I have no reason to believe he’d planned to do anything else. No matter the outcome of his dark dallying, Rome was destined to burn this night. He simply intended supernatural powers as his patsy—an old and weary ploy. We were his excuse—or the battle Cadmin and I were intended to have. The little mortal must have known Umbra and I are not on good terms. Still, this is a strange plan, even for one so hungry. Perhaps immortality was a hopeful consolation prize?

He was correct, of course: nothing truly new can grow while the old still lives.

My sigh joins the ash on the wind, rising in acceptance. Cadmin was correct, as well: it is past time to close my small hermit’s home and re-enter the world. I have hidden long enough. Have I paid my own debt? No; but I now think there is no self-imposed exile to balance the regrettable in my life. It is time for me to live again, to steep in the weirdness of human behaviors for a time, and to encourage those who dwell in high mortal places to remember my name.

Rome burns.

The great city yawns and gasps in its death-throes. Stone cracks, and screams rise to heaven on wings of smoke with feathers of ash.

Over the heat and screams, delicate fingers dance along the cithara, playing with skill that hints at true talent if their owner were a more diligent player.

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