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arm, she sank her pronged tongue into the swordsman’s throat. Magnus grunted and reversed his grip on the sword. He angled the blade upward and severed the vampire’s tongue. She fell to the ground, shrieking as blood gushed from her mouth.
    Magnus dispatched the two remaining minions while his audience watched. He killed with a brutal efficiency and blood lust which belonged to another era. After, as the dust settled, he brushed off his cloak and stepped out of the cloud.
    Daniel clapped slowly and dramatically. “Very impressive, Magnus, but then you’ve always been a showoff, eh? I have the sense to know I’ve lost the battle before it’s begun. So, if you don’t mind my asking, there’s something I’ve wondered for decades. What the bloody hell are you?”
    Magnus and Matthew exchanged a long look, and then Magnus shrugged.
    Matthew cleared his throat. “Daniel, Magnus is of House Shemyaza.” He spoke with malicious satisfaction, a sentiment unbecoming of a priest.
    His tone gave Aiden chills. In her entire life, she had never before heard Matthew sound mean.
    “Impossible!” Daniel exclaimed. His dead body moved with the stiff motion of a marionette. “House Shemyaza is extinct.”
    “Magnus, if you would.” Matthew motioned his friend into the circle of light.
    Magnus hesitated. “I want to kill him.”
    “You will,” Matthew agreed. “At least allow Aiden to see you.”
    Clearly reluctant, Magnus obliged. For the first time his features were plainly visible. Aiden caught her breath. To call him beautiful would have been inaccurate because his features were too masculine. To call him handsome would have been woefully inadequate. Clean lines and broad planes defined his face, a robust symmetry bordering on perfection. He possessed a tawny complexion, and his flesh had the polished sheen of stone. Magnus had a high forehead, an aquiline nose, and a generous mouth set in a predatory smirk. His warm topaz eyes, the color of gemstones and gold coins, lacked whites and possessed an elongated-slit black pupil—cat’s eyes or maybe snake’s eyes. His rich sable hair fell in a loose mass about his shoulders. Each hand had six fingers.
    “Dear God,” Daniel prayed.
    “That’s right,” Matthew said. “This entire time, for decades, while you searched in vain for immortality, Daniel, I was concealing it from you. How old are you, Magnus?”
    “Two thousand years. More. I don’t keep track.” Magnus shrugged.
    Dead silence followed the preposterous claim.
    “I’m going to kill you. Do you hear me, Matt? I’m going to rip out your heart and eat it!” Daniel screamed. A fit of fury seized the vampire. Daniel sprang at Matthew, flying at the priest with extended arms.
    Magnus stepped between the vampire and the priest. The sword sang to the night. It sliced through the air with clean broad strokes, severing Daniel’s arm and then his leg. The vampire crashed to the ground. Magnus altered the position of his sword. With a downward thrust, he drove the blade through Daniel’s abdomen, cleaving his torso neatly across the waist. Daniel’s corpse underwent sudden and rapid decay, collapsing inward.
    When the ash cleared, Magnus stood beside Aiden and Matthew. “You enjoyed that, didn’t you?”
    Matthew chuckled. “What, rubbing that sanctimonious braggart’s nose in your immortality? Yes, I must confess. I’ve wanted to do that for decades. Oh, oh, oh!” The priest grimaced in pain and pressed a hand to his left shoulder.
    “Matthew?” Magnus bent, reaching for the priest.
    “Father?” Aiden said. She continued to swim in her own weakness and resented her passive role.
    “Help Aiden,” Matthew said, waving away Magnus’ hand. “Let me rest. I’ll be fine. Here, take this.” He fumbled with his pocket and then handed Magnus a small silver flask. “It’s holy water. Aiden’s been bitten. The wound will need to be purified. My crucifix got knocked out of my hand and landed over there