Even with the candle, Jordan could barely see where he was going. He swept the flame low in front of him. Smooth stone surrounded him. He hung back, wanting to keep everyone where he could see them, not that there was a hell of a lot he could do if things went bad.

Korza seemed to understand his hesitancy and squeezed past him.

Erin, already a few paces ahead, sheltered her candle's flame with one cupped hand. Her head swiveled around so fast he thought it might come right off. To her, this must be like slipping out of present time and into history.

To Jordan, it was simply a minefield, where any misstep could kill them both.

He tried his best to keep track of their path. The passageway seemed to be angling downward, heading to the northeast, but he couldn't be sure. And without knowledge of the city's layout, he had no idea where they might be going. With no other recourse, he fell back on his military training and counted his steps, trying his best to keep track of the crisscrossing passageways, building a three-dimensional map in his head. At the very least, it might help them find their way back.

At last, the tunnel evened out and stopped in front of a thick wooden door with heavy iron hinges. At least this door didn't require the blood of a Sanguinist to open-only a large ornate key, which was wielded by Father Ambrose.

"Is this where we meet the Cardinal?" Erin asked.

Father Ambrose glanced up and down her body, his lips pursed with distaste, settling on her wounded leg, on her torn pants. "It would be unseemly to greet His Eminence in your present condition."

Jordan rolled his eyes. So far, the only thing this new priest had going for him was that he was human. When they'd shaken hands outside, Jordan had felt the heat of real blood in his veins.

Still, Jordan looked down at his own filthy blood-soaked clothes. Erin looked little better, and Korza was a disaster.

"We had a bad night," Jordan admitted.

A laugh burst out of Erin's throat, sounding slightly hysterical at the edges, but she stifled it quickly.

"I cannot imagine," Ambrose said, ignoring her.

The priest turned back to the door and unlocked it with an iron key as long as his hand. He pulled the door open, bathing them in the light from the hallway beyond.

The group filed past Ambrose. Jordan went last, stepping into a long stone passageway softened by a Persian carpet runner on the floor and tapestries on the walls. Electric lights shone from wall sconces. Rows of wooden doors, all closed, dotted both sides of the hall.

Jordan blew out his candle but kept hold of it, in case he needed to light his way to freedom again.

Father Ambrose relocked the door and pocketed the key, then gestured to the right. "That is your room, Dr. Granger. On the left is yours, Sergeant Stone. You may clean up inside."

Jordan took Erin's elbow. "We'd prefer to stick together."

Father Ambrose's voice went frosty. "While you bathe?"

A blush rose on Erin's cheeks.

Jordan liked watching it.

"It is safe here," Korza assured them. "You have my promise on that."

Erin caught Jordan's eye, passing on a silent message. She wanted to talk, once they were alone-which meant cooperating until the priests left.

He would go along with that.

At least for now.

9:24 P.M.

Rhun watched the pair disappear inside their respective rooms before he followed Ambrose. The man led the way up a rising passageway and to another door that had to be unlocked. The Church had many locks, and many secrets to hide behind them, but this doorway merely led to a winding stone staircase hewn out of the rock more than a thousand years ago.

Very familiar with it, Rhun moved to enter on his own, but Ambrose blocked the way with an arm.

"Wait," the man warned. The thin mask of civility that he had presented for the newcomers fell away, revealing his raw disgust. "I will not present you to His Eminence with the cursed blood of a grimwolf upon you. Even I can smell that foul stench."

Rhun glowered, letting Ambrose see his anger. "Bernard has seen me far worse."

Ambrose could not face that fury for more than a breath. His arm fell, and he shrank back, his thick heartbeat tripping over itself in fear. Rhun felt a flicker of guilt-but only a flicker. He knew Ambrose. The priest was driven by human desires, possessive of his rank, full of pride, and protective of his role as Cardinal Bernard's assistant. But Rhun also knew how loyal the man was. He guarded Bernard's position in the Church hierarchy as devotedly as any watchdog-and in his own bitter manner, he served the Cardinal well, making sure no one insulted or slighted his superior.

But Rhun did not have time for such civilities. He swept past Ambrose and swiftly climbed the stairs, leaving the priest far behind. On his own, he threaded through dark passageways until he reached the mahogany door of Cardinal Bernard's study.

"Rhun?" Bernard called from inside, his Italian accent rolling on the hard R, softening it with a warmth of friendship that spanned centuries. "Enter, my son."

Rhun stepped into a chamber lit by a single white candle in an ornate gold candlestick. He needed little light to see the jeweled globe next to the massive desk, the ancient wooden crucifix attached to the wall, and the rows of leather-bound volumes lining one side. He breathed in the familiar smells of old parchment, leather, and beeswax. This room had not changed in a century.

Bernard rose to meet him. He wore full cardinal attire, the crimson cloth shining in the candlelight. He greeted Rhun with a warm embrace, not flinching from the stench of grimwolf blood. A Sanguinist himself, Bernard had fought many battles in the past and did not shy away from the vulgar aftermath of combat.

Bernard led him to a chair and drew it back for him. "Sit, Rhun."

Not protesting, he settled to the seat, truly feeling his wounds for the first time.

Bernard returned to his own chair and slid a golden chalice of consecrated wine across the desktop. "You have suffered much these past few hours. Drink and we will talk."

Rhun reached for the cup's stem. The scent of wine drifted up: bitter, with a hint of oak. He craved it, but he hesitated to drink it. He did not want the pain of penance to distract him during this conversation. But his wounds also throbbed, reminding him that they, too, could distract him.

Resigned, he took the cup and drained it-then bowed his head so that Bernard would not see his expression, and waited. Would another vision of Elisabeta haunt him again tonight, reminding him of his sin? But that was not to be-for he had committed a greater sin, one that damned him for eternity.

Rhun's knees pressed against cold, damp earth as he prayed at the gravestone of his younger sister. A moonless night cloaked him in darkness, blacker than the sober seminary robe he wore. Even the stars of Heaven hid behind clouds.

Would no light ever shine again in his heart?

He stared at the dates carved into the gravestone.

Less than a month before childbirth, death had claimed his sister and her infant son. Without the absolution of baptism, the infant could not be buried with his mother. She lay here on consecrated ground; her child could not.

Rhun would visit his tiny unmarked grave later.

Every night since her burial, he had left the quiet of the monastery after everyone slept and had come to pray for her, for her child, and to allay the sorrow in his own heart.

Soft footsteps sounded behind him.

Still on his knees, he turned.

A shadow-cloaked figure stepped close. Rhun could not make out its features in the darkness, but the stranger was not a priest.

"The pious one," the newcomer whispered, his accent foreign, the voice unfamiliar.

Rhun's heart quickened; his fingers sought his cross, but he forced his hands to remain clasped, tightening his fingers.

What did he have to fear from this stranger who showed no threat?

Rhun bowed his head respectfully to the man. "You are in the Lord's cemetery late, my friend."

"I come to pay my respects to the dead," he answered, and waved long pale fingers toward the grave. "As do you."

Icy wind blew through the field of stone crosses and carved angels, rustling the last leaves of autumn and bringing with it the odor of death and decay.

"Then I leave you to your peace," Rhun said, turning back to his sister's resting place.

Oddly, the man knelt next to Rhun. He wore fine breeches and a studded leather tunic. Mud besmirched costly boots. In spite of his coarse accent, his finery betrayed his origin as a nobleman.

Growing irritated, Rhun turned to him, noting the long dark hair that fell back from a pale brow. The stranger's full lips curved up in amusement, although Rhun could not fathom why.

Enough ... it is late.

Rhun gathered his rough-spun robes together to stand.

Before he could rise, the man wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him to the wet ground, as if he were taking a lover. Rhun opened his mouth to yell, but the stranger pressed one cold hand on his face. Rhun tried to push the man away, but the other caught both of his wrists in one hand and held them as easily as if he were a small child.

Rhun struggled against him, but the man held him fast, leaning down. He used his rough cheek to tilt Rhun's head to the side, exposing his neck.

Rhun suddenly understood, his heart galloping. He had heard legends of such monsters, but he had never believed them.

Until now.

Sharp fangs punctured his throat, taking away his innocence, leaving only pain. He screamed, but no sound escaped him. Slowly, the pain turned into something else, something darker: bliss.

Rhun's blood pulsed out of him and into the stranger's hungry mouth, those cold lips growing warmer with his hot blood.

He continued to struggle, but weakly now-for, in truth, he did not want the man to stop. His hand rose on its own and pulled that face tighter to his throat. He knew it was sinful to give in to such bliss, but he no longer cared. Sin had no meaning; only the aching desire for the probe of tongue into wound, the gnaw of sharp teeth into tender flesh, mattered now.

There was no room in him for holiness, only an ecstasy that promised release.

The man drew back at last.

Rhun lay there, spent, dying.

Strong fingers stroked his hair. "It is not yet time to sleep, pious one."

A sliced wrist was pressed against Rhun's opened lips. Hot silken blood burst on his tongue, filled his mouth. He swallowed, drew in more. A deep moan rose in his throat, drowned itself in the blood.

Soon his entire existence glowed with one word, one wish.

More ...

Then that precious font was ripped from him, leaving an unfathomable well of hunger inside him, demanding to be filled with blood-any blood.

Above him, the stranger was struggling with four priests.

A blade flashed silver in the moonlight.

"No," Rhun screamed.

Rough hands pulled him to his feet and dragged him stumbling back to the silent monastery, where the gift of eternity soon became his curse.

Rhun shed his penance with a shudder. Even now, he missed that man who had killed him, who destroyed his old life. In quiet moments, he still longed for that first taste of his blood. It was a sin he had repented many times, but it never went away.

Across the desk, Bernard watched him, his face as full of sorrow as it had been the night that Rhun was brought before him, covered in blood, weeping and trying to escape the monks and flee into the night. Bernard had saved him then, shown him how he could serve God in his new form, kept him from ever feeding on innocent human blood.

Rhun shook his head to clear it of the past.

He faced Bernard, both friend and mentor, remembering the events at Masada and in the desert. Here was the man who had set much of it in motion, a man who kept too many secrets.

"You have gone too far," Rhun said hoarsely, still feeling his torn throat, the wash of hot blood from the stranger's wrist.

"Have I?" The Cardinal ran a robust hand through his white hair. "How so?"

Rhun knew the man was testing him. He gripped his pectoral cross, using the pain to control his anger. "You sent that archaeologist into danger. You sent me to face the enemy alone-strigoi of the Belial sect."

His friend leaned back and steepled his fingers. His eyebrows knitted with concern. "You believe your attackers were Belial? Why?"

Rhun related his experiences on and under the mountain, then explained. "The strigoi who came were not mere scavengers drawn to the tragedy. They came with plain purpose. And used concussive charges."

"Employing the weapons of man." Bernard lowered his hands. He sat straighter, his warm brown eyes pained. "I did not know that they would come for it."

The Belial were a sect of the strigoi who were in league with humans, combining the worst of both worlds-merging human cunning to feral ferocity, uniting modern weaponry with ancient evil. They were a scourge whose numbers had swollen over the past century, posing an ever greater threat to their order and to the Church. Even after decades of fighting them, hunting them down, much was still unknown about the Belial, such as who truly ruled them: was it man or monster?

Rhun's anger calmed. "The Belial must have caught wind of the strange deaths surrounding the earthquake and guessed what it meant as well as we did."

The Cardinal remained statue still. "Then they seek the Gospel-like we do-and are desperate enough to reveal themselves for it."

"But the book was gone, the crypt empty," Rhun said. "They did not find it either."

"No matter." The familiar face looked softer in the candlelight, relieved and reassured. "If the prophecies are correct, they cannot open it. Only the three may bring it back to this world."

Rhun's chair creaked when he leaned forward, an old fury kindling back to life. He knew all too well what Bernard meant by evoking the three mentioned in the prophecies surrounding the Gospel, the three figures who were destined to find and open the book.

The Woman of Learning.

The Warrior of Man.

The Knight of Christ.

Even now he saw the glimmer of hope in Bernard's eyes, knew what the Cardinal suspected.

He pictured Erin's face, bright with curiosity-a Woman of astounding Learning.