Empire of the Damned

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Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff

Jean-François, the historian, wakes in a bed with two thrall lovers, Dario and Jasminne. He remembers Gabriel in his face, threatening his life, and uses that fiery passion to fuel his lovers. Unfortunately, a knock sounds at the door. It is Meline, another thrall, and she alerts him that he has been summoned by the Empress. The Empress, his maker, tells Jean-François that three of the Priori are coming to visit at her summons. She needs more of Gabriel’s story and gives him a vial of red powder, Sanctus, sending him on his way.

Gabriel is moved from his cell and given back his clothes, freshly washed, and he had been freshly washed, too. It's been six days since he's been tortured and he knows better to believe that he is earning his freedom, only assuming his captor will begin the torture anew. Jean-François shaves the silversaint and tells him that his mother, the Empress, needs more of Gabriel's story. She needs to know about the Grail and how it was broken, to know how the Forever King met his end. Gabriel toys with a moth trapped in the room with them and begins his tale again.

Gabriel's story picks up where he left us at the end of book one. (For full details, please listen to that episode and check out our summary.) He has just rescued Dior from being sacrificed to end daysdeath, which would not have even worked according to Celene, Gabriel's little sister, or Liathe as we know her also. Gabriel finds his broken sword Ashdrinker and he and Dior leave the sacrificial chamber filled with everyone else's blood. Dior worries that they should have gone through with her sacrifice, but Gabriel stops that thinking. 

Gabriel and Dior find Liathe outside. Gabriel's worried about having drunk Liathe’s blood, even though it makes him very powerful, because he does not want to become her thrall, and it will only take three times drinking it for that to happen. Gabriel asks his sister about her vampiric abilities and that she has sanguimancy, like him, even though her maker was a different vampire, Laure. Liathe explains she studied under an ancient vampire called Wulfric and that her powers came from him, and that they are Esana, which is a group of people, not just one vampire maker. There is a place they can go that is a few weeks’ journey into the mountains where they can find more information about how to end daysdeath without killing Dior. And then she attacks. 

Liathe tries to kill Gabriel, obviously so she can take Dior and end daysdeath, but Gabriel does not want to fight back. He really doesn’t want to fight his little sister, even though she’s a horrendously scary blood puddling vampire now. Dior comes to his rescue, after having been knocked aside. Blood falling from her nose, she wipes it on her blade and holds it to Liathe’s neck. Dior’s blood has the power to kill ancient vampires, so it will kill Liathe too. They all must go together to find out how to end daysdeath, even though Liathe says Gabriel will kill them all.

They continue traveling, mostly Gabriel and Dior together with Liathe out stalking and keeping watch for attackers. Gabriel trains Dior on the vampire family lines and powers and also trains her to fight. They come upon an injured wanderer who happens to be another silversaint, Lachlan, and he tells them that he passed by the home of Aaron and Baptiste but it had been burned down. Dior wants to go help them, but Gabriel insists that they continue on. Of course they go to help. 

The village is a fiery ruin, but there are hordes of Wretched, mindless vampires, and some thralls there, plus three High Vampires Kiara, Kane and Rykard Dyvok, the bloodline of strength, more or less. Gabriel thought he killed Kiara several years ago, but she is still alive, still up to the same thing that Gabriel nearly killed her for once already, trapping children in cages for food. Gabriel and Lachlan begin to fight, sending Dior away for her protection, but things go south when the cage full of children is dragged onto an icy river. Dior goes to help them and of course the vampires want to eat her, but Gabriel can't get there in time. Luckily Liathe shows up.

There's a great battle and then Liathe removes her mask and drains one of the vampires dry, turning him to dust. Gabriel swears he sees her mangled face, normally concealed behind the mask, mending, which is fucking odd. Battle ended, attentions turn back to the children trapped on the ice, Dior still trying to save them by picking the lock on their cage. Gabriel rushes to the rescue and rips the door completely off, setting the children free. He sinks in the frozen river because of course he fucking does, but he is dragged out of the water by a lion. Not just any lion though. This is Phoebe, who we all thought died violently in book one. It turns out, she is a Wealdling, a duskdancer, and can shift her form into a lion. She swears her life to Gabriel and Dior.

Liathe insists that they continue on to Carinhaem to see Jènoah, but Dior is concerned about all the children that they just rescued and she and Gabriel are curious about Aaron and Baptiste, but they are likely dead, at least according to the children. They stop to rest for the night, Gabriel assuring the children he will keep them safe. As they rest, Gabriel sees his wife and daughter in the shadows, calling to him. 

Lachlan comes up, snapping Gabriel out of his desire to join them in death or wherever they are, to question him about Dior, who had gone back to pretending she was a boy but who is now currently menstruating and all the vampires and half-vampires can definitely tell. When Gabriel is less than forthcoming about Dior and his terrifying vampire companion and what the hell is going on, they fight, but Liathe ends it. She insists she, Gabriel and Dior leave everyone behind and continue on their way. After a quick fight with a Wretched that turns out to be likely controlled by a Voss vampire, seeing through the eyes of one of its own, they decide they need to move quickly. Lachlan takes the children back to San Michon, Gabriel not telling him that he literally just murdered everyone there, and he, Dior, Liathe and Phoebe head west toward Carinhaem.

As they travel up the cold snowy mountain, Phoebe spots the Voss Twins, Alba and Aléne, rumored to be the first children of Danton Voss. In horror, the group rides hard and fast and finally arrives at Carinhaem. Unfortunately, everyone there is dead. After playing dress up in a fancy closet, Gabriel and Dior find Liathe crying in a chapel. It seems her leader, Jènoah, killed everyone and himself rather than wait for the redeemer to come. And now she's here, so fuck. Dior, fed up, yells at Liathe and she finally tells the story of the Esana, her people. 

The story is thus, more or less. Long ago, one vampire, Illia, felt she was told by God to stop eating humans and to instead eat her fellows, draining them to dust, freeing them from their evil lives and redeeming them. She started with her lover, and in draining his blood, she took on his vampire gift and claimed she could hear his voice inside her head. Many others joined her in saving eternal souls and she called them her crusaders, her Liathe. Illia, in her quest for redemption, chose to support the actual Redeemer, Esan, and the Redeemer’s line, all the way down to Dior, and they were then, she and her followers, known as the Esana. After Liathe finishes the tale, Lion Phoebe rushes in, alerting them that the Voss twins have found them. And they are not alone.

Before the battle begins, Dior rests while Gabriel and Liathe prepare. The siblings fight about where they should go next, where Dior should go next, and Celene insists on Dún Maergenn because that is where Maryn, the last warrior of the Esana is entombed, but then Dior joins them. Gabriel explains a game like chess to her, explaining that she is the most important piece and he, the chevalier, is not. The battle begins and it's horrible. They try a ploy to sneak Dior away, but it is foiled almost immediately. Phoebe comes to the rescue a few times while the vampires and silversaint fight, but the battle ends when the bridge separating Carinhaem from the creatures is destroyed and Dior falls. Gabriel catches her and then Liathe catches him. Dior is able to climb up Gabriel to safety, and then Liathe lets her brother fall. After this, because obviously he survives, he does not see or hear anything of Dior for months.

Returning to Jean-François, he leaves the Last Silversaint. The historian’s job is to collect the story of the grail for the Empress, and, well, Gabriel just said he didn’t hear anything of Dior for months after his sister dropped him, so he is finished with Gabriel’s story for now. Gabriel is shocked when he learns that Jean-François has someone else to learn the next part of the story from… his sister.

Before the Last Liathe begins her tale, she makes sure to tell Jean-François that Gabriel loves nothing more than to hear himself talk and that everything he says is a lie. Their childhood was not as he said, their mother wanted nothing more than for her daughter to wear dresses and learn to be a woman. Celene hated her mother and worshiped her father, the blacksmith, but that’s because he treated her as she deserved to be treated, how she wanted to be treated. She starts her story where Gabriel left off.

Fighting with her sanguimancy, Celene, Liathe, was able to destroy most of the vampires around her, or at least she thought, then she had her arms ripped off and she was set on fire by Kiara Dyvok. Jean-François wants to leave Celene here, because obviously she was not with Dior if she was armless and on fire, but Celene says she was not alone.

Dior, manacled, is carried off by the Dyvoks and their thralls, but Kiara says she is not to be harmed, so she is mostly left alone. That’s good, because even though she’s been divested of her armor, she still has her boots, and in them, her lockpicks. She’s disgusted to learn that one of the thralls, Joaquin, is from Aaron and Baptiste’s town and he was the beloved of Isla, one of the group rescued from the cage on the frozen river. Dior tells the thrall that she knows where he can find his lover, but he refuses, loving the vampires more. When she’s left alone to sleep, Dior retrieves her lockpick, frees herself and escapes.

She is caught some eleven hours later and one of the thralls sent to retrieve her is killed by Kiara as he threatens to cut and fuck another hole into Dior. They were all told to keep Dior safe, and as she uses her blood to heal another of the thralls, one who was nicer to her and wanted to help, Kane Dyvok questions how that happened. He reaches for her with a bloody stump of a hand and, as her blood kills vampires, he begins to burn. Kiara manages to keep Kane off of Dior, again, because they need to keep her alive.

After finding Dior’s lockpicks, the group of vampires and thralls and Dior travel until they catch up to another group with people in cages near San Guillaume, where Gabriel rescued her from her sacrifice. Dior recognizes some of these people, they are the ones she rescued from their cages, and then she spots Baptiste. Baptiste isn’t dead! Dior apologizes for Aaron, saying she knows what happened to him, but Baptiste questions how she could. She explains that Gabriel found his sword, broken, so she knows he must be dead. Baptiste says he isn’t dead. He is Dead. 

As they travel to Dún Maergenn, which is conveniently where Celene wanted them to go, remember, Baptiste tells of how Aaron was forced to become a vampire and they hear and see as each night, they flay the skin, marked with his silver tattoos, from his bones. Dior tries to distract Baptiste by asking him to tell her how they fell in love. He says they did not fall, they plummeted. When they finally arrive, Kiara comes for Dior.

Kiara takes Dior to see her maker, Nikita, head of the Dyvok line, and his sister, Lilidh, sitting upon thrones in a hall full of vampires, keeping wolves as pets. They all watch as two fight each other for sport, but the battle ends as Kiara and Dior, followed by Kane, reach the thrones. They question what took them so long to return with their wagons full of food, and Kiara explains that while they were away this time, they fought, and she defeated, Gabriel de Leon, and she has returned with prizes, gesturing to a box they brought in.

The first prize is Aaron de Costa, fledgling vampire, silversaint, who, as soon as his box is opened, attacks Kiara, for though he has been turned into a vampire, the hatred he has for them still burns brightly. Nikita forces him to stop and then to drink his blood. Aaron does so, and then Nikita breaks his neck, waiting to play with him later. Everyone in the crowd is pleased that Nikita Dyvok has added a new member to his bloodline, which makes Lilidh jealous. The second gift then, Dior, must be for her. Kiara and Kane explain that her blood can heal people, but burns vampires, and so she forces one of her thralls to stab herself and watches in awe as Dior heals her. Lilidh then forces Dior to drink from her, and she does.

Carried off to a cell, Dior begins to practice her fighting after forcing herself to vomit up the ancient vampire’s blood, knowing it likely won’t do any good, but trying anyway. That is when she feels a tiny stirring inside her shirt. She removes it to find a moth made of blood. Celene! Here is when she reveals to Jean-François how she knew all of Dior’s story and he applauds her drama. Obviously she cannot speak as a moth, but she is able to answer questions from Dior, that she does not know if Gabriel is alive or dead and does not know where he is, but that the rest of her body is not far away. That’s good. 

Dior is forced into a bath and scrubbed by the thrall she healed, called Worm, but then Nikita enters and joins her in the bath. When he puts his hands upon her, Dior demands he get away. He wants to bite her, knowing her blood might hurt but curious about its taste. Liathe’s moth looks on, hoping that the vampire will bite the child of the Redeemer, but Worm cuts in, wanting to keep Dior for her mistress Lilidh. After a long time, and an attack on Worm that Dior heals, Nikita lets Dior go. Worm dresses her in fine gowns and a wig and makeup and takes her to see Lilidh. The vampire makes Dior drink her blood again and Celene’s moth watches on, worried about the possibility of her drinking again the next night. When they get back to the cell, Dior cries out for Gabriel, wishing he were there, asking Celene if she let him fall from the bridge. The Last Liathe lies of course, saying she did not in the flutterings of her moth. Dior knows she must escape and Celene suggests the sewers, if only she had her lockpick. Dior pulls a pin from her hair, not needing a lockpick at all.

Unfortunately, Dior is caught not long after escaping and running into Baptiste, who has been thralled, and locked back in her cell. Aaron, meanwhile, is forced to please Nikita, rather than see harm come to Baptiste. A puppet of Fabién Voss arrives then, demanding Dior, but then Lilidh makes her her thrall. Celene watches on, horrified, wondering where her brother is. 

Celene takes them out of the story then, threatening Jean-François, who gets angry with her attitude. Celene quotes the prophecy at him, From holy cup comes holy light; The faithful hand sets world aright. And in the Seven Martyrs’ sight, Mere man shall end this endless night. Jean-François tries to cut her off here, but she continues Before the Five, come unto one, With sainted blade, 'neath virgin sun, By sacred blood, or else by none; This blackened veil shall be undone. Jean-François questions what this second half is, but Celene refuses to speak further, suggesting the historian go speak to her brother now instead.

Gabriel has called for Meline and is about to drink her blood, but then Jean-François is back, sitting in his interview chair like he never left. He calls for his other thrall, Dario, to bring more wine and Sanctus so they can begin Gabriel's story again. Gabriel looks to the moth and asks what lies his sister told but Jean-François says only she preached to him rather than talking. 

Gabriel’s tale picks up with him being woken after having fallen from the bridge. Someone found and rescued him and that someone is Phoebe. And she's wearing a ball gown, the only thing she could find in Gabriel's saddlebags, which brings up a million more questions than I think we'll ever get answered, though it’s probably just because Dior thought Phoebe would look nice in it. The duskdancer rescued Gabriel and now they must try to find Dior. Luckily Gabriel put a vial of his blood inside Dior’s coat and can track it and he realizes that the Dyvoks have her. The two will have to go to the City of Scarlet to get supplies so they can rescue her. 

They arrive and manage to get inside the gates after Gabriel pretends he's a different silversaint and that he's captured Phoebe. The ruse gets them inside and then they stop for a meal in a pub. Gabriel finds in his coat a golden vial, the same golden vial that the Dyvoks drank from before destroying the bridge. Inside is blood, which Phoebe asks why he doesn't just drink it, but he doesn't want to become a bloodthirsty animal, which is not something you say to a woman that can literally turn into an animal. They are greeted by an old friend of Gabriel's, Fiona, the owner of the pub, who will help them with supplies. They talk about the capture of Dún Margeann and then Gabriel and Phoebe have a dance that makes Gabriel want to drain her blood before going to bed. 

Gabriel wakes from a dream of Astrid, his dead wife, pleasuring him only to find that it wasn't a dream and it was Phoebe atop him. She thought after their dance that he was interested in her and, though they've both lost someone they love, there's no harm in finding warmth and companionship with someone new. Gabriel tries to apologize and Phoebe does too but then he says that he should not have confused Phoebe for Astrid, who comes to him, sweet and fair and fine, a slight that he did not intend, and she storms from the room.

Fiona gives Gabriel a horse and sends him on his way, a little shocked that Phoebe left because they seemed like an old married couple. Not long after he begins his journey, Gabriel is attacked by Lachlan, who calls him a traitor and steals Ashdrinker from him. He is now traveling with some other younger silversaints and a woman from the inquisition, one of those crazy religious people who were going to sacrifice Dior. Gabriel tries to explain why he killed everyone to rescue Dior, but they gag him instead. They travel for weeks toward Augustine for Gabriel to hang for his crimes and he warns them not to go that way, but eventually, they are all picked off in the night, a stick effigy left behind for each person. Eventually the killer is revealed to be Phoebe.

After they are reunited, killing almost everyone except Lachlan, Gabriel and Phoebe apologized to each other for the last night they were together, but they both have empty places in their hearts where loved ones once were. Phoebe tells Gabriel about her husband, a betrothal that she came to love, and the child that she lost in grief when he died. They really aren't so different after all.

Gabriel and Phoebe travel together, chasing the trail of Dior’s blood, but then they spot an army of Wretched, marching toward Dún Margeann which can't be good, especially if that's where Dior is being held. Phoebe is curious about them working together, but Gabriel explains they will all be controlled by Fabién Voss, which is why he's so dangerous. Things get worse when they are hit by a storm and have to stop in their path to find Dior, even though he lost that trail anyway. They seek shelter in a ruined keep and find each other again, this time Phoebe promising not to touch Gabriel, but letting him touch her instead. Just as they are about to take things further, they hear someone approaching. Jean-François is upset at this break in the tale, but Gabriel and Phoebe were probably more upset.

Lachlan and the rest of the group that Gabriel and Phoebe didn't kill arrive and shoot Phoebe in the chest with a silver bullet, which is poisonous for a duskdancer. Gabriel beats the absolute shit out of everyone and tells Lachlan the truth about Dior, that she is the Holy Grail and the last hope of salvation for everyone. He explains that all the people he killed were trying to sacrifice Dior, that he's not a traitor like Lachlan thinks he is. He takes Ashdrinker back from the bastard and leaves him alive, and rushes to Phoebe, trying to get the silver out of her chest, but he's unable to reach it. Phoebe calls out, apologizing to her Aunt Cinna, who keeps the peace and is also a seer, and Gabriel realizes that she might be able to help. Even though the duskdancers will definitely try to kill Gabriel, he has to try to save Phoebe, so they rush away from Dior and to the Highlands.

Of course the journey is not easy and as they travel into a forest of horrors, Ashdrinker tells Gabriel that Astrid, his dead wife, would not want him to be lonely and celebate for the rest of his life and that it's okay to love Phoebe too. Soon though, Gabriel is surrounded by owls and is then attacked by a bear. All of these creatures are also duskdancers and after breaking the bear's jaw, they reveal themselves in their human forms, threatening to kill Gabriel. He introduces himself and says he's there to save one of their kin.

The duskdancers take Phoebe to her Aunt Cinna and put Gabriel in an open cell to wait. Thank goodness Phoebe comes to him the next day, not quite in perfect health but alive and close to it. Aunt Cinna is thankful to Gabriel for fighting for Phoebe and, having learned some of their story from Phoebe, says that they will be able to speak before the duskdancer clans, seeking help to rescue Dior, but she warns that it will be difficult because they have brokered a deal with Lilidh to keep the vampires from their lands.

Phoebe and Gabriel tell their tale to the clans of the Highlands, that they have found the Grail, that she is being held against her will by the Dyvoks, and that the only way they can save her is to take her. Everyone is in an uproar at this, because the Dyvoks have kept their promise to keep the vampires away. Phoebe doesn't think they have any hope of convincing any clans to fight with them.

In Gabriel's room later, Phoebe comes to him. They need to figure out a plan to save Dior without the help of the duskdancers, but instead of working that out, they have sex instead, finally succumbing to each other. In the throes of passion, Phoebe convinces Gabriel to drink her blood and he gets carried away, which is of course when Brynne the Bear comes into the room. She sees the blood and attacks, but, full of Phoebe’s blood, Gabriel is much stronger. Many duskdancers try to fight and Gabriel takes them all on until Phoebe yells at everyone to hold. She has the golden vial that Dior gave to Gabriel that one of the Dyvoks had. Phoebe realized that the blood in the vial was duskdancer blood, meaning the Dyvoks have betrayed them and have been traitors for who knows how long. The other duskdancers listen and know they will go to war.

Before Gabriel can continue his story, Jean-François interrupts, insisting he go back and speak with Celene again, afraid that the siblings’ stories are about to intertwine again. As he leaves, Gabriel looks at the moth and tells Jean-François he is thirsty, but likely not for wine as he has drunk three bottles in the telling of his tale. Jean-François sends Meline in as he goes to see the Last Liathe again. She tells him he is brave to leave one of his own alone with Gabriel, but Jean-François seems to have no fear of what Gabriel might do.

Celene begins her story again, picking up with her moth watching on as Dior wakes with Lilidh, thralled to the high born vampire. The rest of Celene’s body has very nearly arrived at Dún Maergenn. She is depressed as she watches Dior fawn over the vampire, trying to figure out what to do, but then the vampire leaves and Dior begins immediately practicing her sword steps again. Then Worm sneaks into the room through a secret passage, ready to stab Dior, but she stops her. Worm realizes Dior is not thralled, and Dior says Worm isn't either, and it must be because of her blood. The thrall that she healed along the journey to Dún Maergenn is also fine and pretending. Worm and Dior work on a plan to use Dior's blood, put into a vial from a cut on her foot, to heal everyone and rescue her people, for Worm is Reyne, the proper ruler of Dún Maergenn.

Dior uses her status as thrall to Lilidh and walks straight outside to where the young man, Joaquin, she saved along the way is, still pretending to be thralled because he wants to save his beloved, one of the girls Dior rescued from the cage on the ice. Dior tells him who she is and what she can do and that she'll need his help, then she goes back inside to see Reyne. Reyne takes Dior through secret passages to the chapel, obviously a safe place where vampires cannot go. Not even Celene's moth can cross over the threshold. Reyne and Dior speak to the unthralled gathered there and Dior fills another vial so they can continue saving others. As she and Reyne are alone and Dior starts to burn her foot wound closed, they notice that her blood moves on its own, which is very weird. Celene sees too, then sees symbols of the Esana on the walls behind them, and images of the grail.

More time passes and Celene still doesn't understand why Dior's blood reacted as it did, but she lets the girl know that the rest of her is almost healed enough to help. Nikita is summoned outside during dinner one evening and everyone follows, except Lilidh and her unthralled thralls who think this a perfect time to strike her down, but they bide their time. Outside, everyone is shocked to see the army of duskdancers approaching, and Dior sees Gabriel, but has to pretend really that she doesn’t care since she’s supposed to be thralled.

Nikita calls out in welcome to Gabriel and the duskdancers, but he is upset because Kiara said she killed Gabriel. He shames her and, even though she says she loves him, he doesn’t care. He starts hurling parts of the battlement at the approaching army and they retreat, for now. Dior and Reyne discuss what their next steps are going to be because they’re ready for a full on war and Dior doesn’t want innocent people to die, but that’s what happens in war unfortunately. Dior is not ready for her time to end with Reyne either and caresses her hand, but they've no time for that now. Maybe one day though.

Celene, her body healed, goes to see Gabriel, requesting on Dior’s behalf that they hold off their attack for one day so she can unthrall as many people as she can so they are not forced into battle unwillingly. Gabriel and Phoebe, and the rest of the duskdancers agree to hold their line. While they are talking, one of the lower Dyvok vampires is brought in, arms missing, to tell them that Nikita is planning to join forces with the Voss vampires and turn Dior over to them, but the Voss Wretched are still a few days away. Gabriel insists that Celene stay with them until it is time for them to attack.

Celene's moth, sitting at the threshold to the chapel, unable to pass, sees Dior and her freed thralls making plans to kill Nikita and Lilidh at the same time, when the vampires sleep, but that will be nearly impossible without some sort of weapon, preferably silver, coated in Dior's blood. They look up to see the statue of the Redeemer, made of silver, holding silver blades. They try to remove them from the statue, but can't, though in doing so, it seems that they've opened a secret passage. Dior and Reyne and several others go down into the passage and come back up looking horrified. Dior leaves, angry, to acquire a saw, brushing Celene's moth aside.

Celene and Gabriel talk through the night, Celene telling Gabriel her story. How she loved him so much and hated him for leaving her behind. How he was able to explore and she was meant to get married and start a family. How he killed Laure, the vampire that ripped her face off, when she wanted to. Laure, the vampire that killed the boy that was about to propose to her even though she did not want to get married, right before ripping apart her face. Gabriel didn't know anything that his sister was dealing with when she was younger. Then she mentions meeting her first vampire, which Gabriel thought was their older sister, but no. Celene met Gabriel's father before that.

Dior goes out to the blacksmiths and gets a saw, but when she returns, her foot is bloody again, though there's no time for any of that now. Reyne tells her that Nikita is going to give a speech and wants Dior to be there. It's possible he's going to show her off in front of the Voss or to inspire people to fight. They share a tender moment after Dior tells Reyne her mother is a cunt for ignoring her as a child because she was born from a man that was not her first husband. Reyne gets upset, but Dior tells her she's worthy even if her mother treated her like shit. They kiss, then Dior is sent off to Nikita.

Celene tells Gabriel of meeting his father. Gabriel got very sick when he was young and nearly died. One night, Celene watched as their mother threw what looked like a ruby into the fire, but now she knows it was blood, and a few nights later, a cat showed up, leading their mother to Gabriel's father. Celene followed. Their mother begged for Gabriel's father to save his son, but chose not to, until, that is, that Celene stepped from the shadows with a knife to his cat, prepared to kill it if he would not help. He nearly killed Celene then, but realized she had the same spark that her mother had, and bleeds into a cup for Gabriel to drink from. Celene tells Gabriel that after Laure killed her, she went searching for his father, called Wulfric, so he would teach her the ways of the Esana. 

Nikita knows that Dior is not thralled and has been unthralling everyone left and right. He knows this because the girl she saved from the river, Isla, swore herself to Nikita and has been helping him all along for the promise of eternal life. Many of Lilidh’s unthralled were made to stab each other, and as Lilidh begs for Nikita to stop forcing them, her wolf Prince snarling along in anger, they each did it, trying to maintain the ruse, but when Nikita told Dior to stab Reyne, she sliced her hand with the blade and went for Nikita instead. She failed of course, looking to Aaron for assistance, is he in on this too?, but he shakes his head imperceptibly. Nikita gives a rousing speech and then the war horns sound.

Gabriel is learning about his father from Celene while she is simultaneously watching Dior’s plan unravel and he realizes something bad has happened, then calls the duskdancers to battle. Jean-François breaks the story then and has Gabriel brought down to where he is holding Celene and insists that they tell the rest of the story together so he doesn't have to go back and forth between them to determine who is lying. Gabriel is given a bottle of wine and the lantern that has been next to him the entire time, the one with the moth bouncing around inside, is placed next to him. The siblings continue their tale, which begins with them each praying for a miracle. 

They rush toward the walls of Dún Maergenn, dodging cannon and trebuchet fire, but as they get closer, they hear a cry to hold. Nikita’s thralled soldiers have drunk from a keg to bolster their spirits, but the drink was laced with Dior's blood and they all became unthralled and switched sides immediately. Baptiste runs over to embrace his old friend and asks to be the one to see to Aaron. That is not what happens though as they approach Nikita and Aaron. Aaron hurls insults at Baptiste who refuses to fight his lover, but then, when Aaron tries to kill Baptiste, Gabriel throws Ashdrinker, piercing him in the heart. 

Unfortunately, this means that Gabriel has taken his eyes from Nikita, but then they are hit by a charge, and then Lachlan appears, his tattoos shining silver where Gabriel's are covered, burning Nikita. Lachlan brought with him the silversaints who are killing their enemies left and right. While all this is happening, Celene's moth with Dior sees Kiara, shunned by Nikita again, releasing Dior and Reyne from their cells. Unfortunately, that is when the Voss Wretched arrive, led by the twins. It's also when Lilidh and Kane arrive. Kiara fights and kills Kane and nearly kills Lilidh, too, but then the tables turn and Lilidh kills Kiara instead. 

Outside, after much fighting amongst the duskdancers and the Voss Wretched, Lachlan, Aaron and Baptiste joining that fight, Gabriel and Celene manage to kill the Voss twins, so angry are they about the thoughts the twins are pulling from their minds. Gabriel burns one with his sanguimancy while Celene drains the other to ash. Then Fabién Voss appears. He tries to control the siblings with his mind, but it doesn't work. He tells Gabriel that Celene killed his father, but that doesn't stop Gabriel from boiling his blood and turning him to ash.

The battle does not stop there, but switches quickly back and forth between the attacks on Nikita and Lilidh. Nikita is bashed to death by Baptiste’s great hammer. Though Aaron is thralled by Nikita and therefore loves both he and Baptiste, he loved Baptiste first, so he does not aid his master. Lachlan arrives and holds the ancient vampire in place as Baptiste kills him. 

Lilidh follows Dior and Reyne down into the chapel, reading and interpreting a verse from the Redeemer on the wall as a welcome. Beneath the chapel is a tomb with a statue of the Redeemer surrounded by five tombstones. The full verse of the prophecy that Celene recited earlier is there. Lilidh, Reyne and Dior all fight and it looks like Reyne will be able to kill Lilidh using a sword from the statue coated in Dior's blood, but then she gets cocky and the vampire fights back, Dior thinking Reyne is dead. Dior also tries and falls, but then Lilidh's wolf, Prince, arrives and helps Dior, having also been unthralled by her blood and cleverly playing along. With the wolf’s help, until Lilidh breaks his neck, Dior is able to stab Lilidh with her blood-laden sword, causing the vampire to burst into flames. Dior uses her blood again, trying to heal Reyne and Prince, but doesn't know if it will work.

Gabriel arrives then with Phoebe by his side and they help Dior. Not surprisingly, both Reyne and Prince are both alive, thanks to Dior's blood, but what is surprising is that Phoebe calls Prince Connor because he is not a wolf but a duskdancer. Connor is Phoebe's lost husband. Carnage mostly aside and everyone mostly safe, Gabriel realizes what the statues mean surrounding them, and he turns rage on Celene. With the verse and seeing the five surrounding the Redeemer, he realizes that everything they've been fighting for is wrong. The Redeemer was the one who created the five ancient vampires and gave them eternal life. And Celene knew it the whole time and didn't tell them, which is why Dior stormed past her moth angry earlier. Unfortunately, the tale does not end here. Lilidh is still alive and comes for Dior, breaking her neck. Connor attacks and rips Lilidh’s head off just as Lilidh rips his heart out. Gabriel screams.

Gabriel disappears before Dior’s funeral and while everyone gathers to mourn San Dior, what everyone is calling her now, for her blood did save them all, Celene sits beneath them in the tomb they discovered. She mourns, though at this point in the story, Gabriel attacks her, jumping across the river and punching the silver mask from her face. He yells at her that she is the last one of them all and she should just drown herself in the river and be done with it, but she swears she will never be done. Jean-François sends soldiers to get Gabriel off his sister and drag him back to his cell. The historian asks why she doesn’t just end it, because, with the Grail gone, there is no hope for her salvation, but ahh, there is more to their story. More for another night. 

Gabriel, back in his cell, is greeted by Jean-François who is angry at Gabriel for attacking Celene. He prepares to leave the silversaint for the night, his thrall Dario offering to fetch a bottle of wine for Gabriel, Jean-François thinking Gabriel will take more from the thrall. Before he leaves, Gabriel tells Jean-François to take his spy with him, and he fetches a little mouse that the historian is able to control. Alone with Dario, Gabriel calls him by his true name, Joaquin, and the two vow to do what is next for the Grail.

Celene meanwhile catches another of Jean-François’s mouse spies and feeds it her own blood, turning his thrall to her. She tells the little mouse that, though she did not attend the funeral of Dior, she was in the crypt below, waiting. First, Maryn, the warrior of Esana, buried beneath Dún Maergenn like we knew she was from the very beginning, wakes, attacking Celene for sustenance. Then, also in that crypt and not in the grave above, Dior opens her eyes.