The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire, Book 1) by Clay & Susan Griffith;Clay Griffith;Susan Griffith Read Free Page A

those who attended were viewed as quaint at best
and deranged at worst. Mamoru was a very spiritual man, and Adele
found that part of him fascinating. He claimed that spirituality and naturalism, as much as steel and steam, would destroy the vampires. It was
only a matter of firm belief and correct practice.
    Ptolemy began to glow with the quavering blurs of chemical bulbs.
The other ships in the fleet appeared as vague yellow smudges in the
night sky. Far beneath the ship the earth was hidden in a swallowing
blackness that had fascinated and terrified Adele since they had left the
civilizing lights of the Empire for the vampire frontier of southern
France.
    Prince Simon's urgent voice interrupted Adele's thoughts. "Do you
think we'll meet the Greyfriar out here?"
    Adele shook her head with confusion. "What? The Greyfriar? What
in the world are you talking about now?"
    "The Greyfriar! He's a hero who fights the vampires in the north."
    "Oh, yes. No, of course not. He's not even real, Simon. Just a story
to make people feel better."
    Simon narrowed his eyes at his sister's ignorance. "He's not a story.
He's real. I saw pictures in a book. He carries swords and guns and wears a mask. People say he killed a hundred vampires in Brussels. A hundred!" The young prince began to wave his arm around as if he had a
sword, striking and slashing. "He's a master fencer with all blades! His
swords move so fast vampires can't see them! Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Their heads are rolling before they even know the Greyfriar is there!
Hah! Colonel Anhalt, you believe in the Greyfriar, don't you?"

    The soldier said over his shoulder with mock solemnity, "Indeed I do,
Your Highness. I heard he killed a hundred vampires in Brussels too."
    "You see, Adele! I told you!"
    Adele replied, "Simon, be still."
    "Why can't we meet him? I'll bet if we told him we were coming,
he'd meet us. We're the royal family of Equatoria."
    "We can't see him because he's not real! Now stand still and mind me!"
    Simon huffed. "Well, then, will they let me command the ship?"
    "No, of course not," Adele snapped irritably. Then she blinked and
said more softly, "Not now. Perhaps tomorrow when it's light."
    Adele wanted to nurture Simon's youthful curiosity and excitement,
not stifle it. His enthusiasm was important. The Empire needed men
like Simon, brazen and curious. Currently at court, to her dismay, there
already were far too many of the venal type of man he would become if
the palace drudges got their talons on him.
    "Why not?" Simon wandered from her side, intent on exploring the
ship's wheel, where blazingly bright copper pneumatic tubes gathered
to form something like a Baroque organ. Prince Simon was due to
become an officer in the Imperial Navy, and this idea excited him.
    Colonel Anhalt coughed commandingly at the young prince as
small hands played over the pneumo tubes.
    Adele darted from the rail and grabbed her brother's arm. "Simon,
don't get in the way!"
    "I'm not going to hurt anything!" the boy retorted.
    They were interrupted by the clack of a pneumo arriving from the
tops.
    With his back straight, Colonel Anhalt said to Simon, "Would
Your Highness care to retrieve that signal from the chief of the top
mizzenmast?"

    With a yelp of joy, Simon lifted a round copper flap, and a rubber
cylinder dropped out into his hand along with a splash of dark liquid.
"Ew. What's this?" He lifted his stained fingers into the yellow light.
    Oil or grease, Adele thought with mild exasperation, automatically
reaching into her pocket for a handkerchief. Anhalt stared at Simon's
hand with furrowed brows. He pulled the pneumo cylinder from the
boy's grasp and sniffed it.
    "Blood," the rough soldier murmured. Abruptly his stern visage
turned on a horrified Princess Adele. His voice was firm and demanding.
"Your Highness, take your brother below, if you please."
    Adele put one hand instinctively on the hilt of her dagger and with
the other