Blood Infernal: The Order of the Sanguines Series by James Rollins, Rebecca Cantrell Page B
Authors: James Rollins, Rebecca Cantrell
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took this all in. During the battle in that temple last winter, Leopold had been killed by Rhun . . . or at least, it sure looked that way. But if his body was now missing, that meant either he was still alive or someone had taken his body.
She returned again to a worry closer to her heart. “You said there was an attack.”
“A strigoi ambushed Jordan and his team down in that temple.”
She stood up and crossed to the coffee service, too anxious to keep sitting. She poured herself a cup, reminding herself that Jordan was fine.
Still . . .
Warming her palms on the cup, she faced Bernard. “Was this attacker one of these super strigoi ?”
“It appears so. The good news is that the others are bringing the strigoi ’s body back to Rome for study. We may learn something from the remains.”
“When?” she asked sharply, anxious to see Jordan, to make sure that he was safe.
“They should be here in the next hour. But they also found something else in the chamber, something they didn’t want to discuss over the phone. In fact, Jordan said that he wanted you to see it first.” The cardinal looked peeved that someone was withholding information from him. “He believed you might recognize it, because, as he adamantly insisted, you are the Woman of Learning.”
She took a sip of the coffee, allowing the heat to warm away the residual chill of her panic. She appreciated Jordan’s confidence, but she hoped it wasn’t misplaced. With no idea what he was bringing back from Cumae, she pondered the mystery of Leopold’s missing body and returned to Bernard’s cryptic assertion.
Something dug its way out of that temple .
7:02 P . M .
Rome, Italy
Legion sidled along the edge of a tall wall in the heart of Rome. He kept the barrier’s shadow over his form. Though the sun had sunk below the horizon, the surrounding streets still glowed with twilight. He preferred darker places to prowl. As an extra precaution, he pulled the hood of his coat farther over his head, knowing one certainty.
No one can look upon my bare face and not recognize my glory .
Yet, so much more remained unknown .
And that must end.
His vessel, the one called Leopold, has proven valuable. From that flickering flame that still glowed in the darkness inside his being, Legion had learned more about this prophecy and those who stood against him in his duty.
The words of that divination rang through him with each step.
Together, the trio must face their final quest. The shackles of Lucifer have been loosened, and his Chalice remains lost. It will take the light of all three to forge the Chalice anew and banish him again to his eternal darkness .
He pictured the face of the one known as the Warrior of Man, fixing that image of his blue eyes and hard planes of his face. The Warrior exuded all that masculinity represented, a true figure of a man.
As he continued along that tall wall, a large vehicle rushed past on the road beside him, stirring up trash, belching out foul fumes. From Leopold’s memories, he knew this was called a bus. But he retreated to his own memories. As a fallen one, he had spent endless years walking this garden of a world, well before man had trampled through it. Where once wild things grew, mankind had clad the land with artificial stone. Where once clear streams trickled under blue skies, now there was filth—both in the water and in the air.
Even from the beginning, he had known man was unfit to inherit this paradise. During the war of the heavens, where he had joined others against God’s plan for man, he had hoped to claim this garden for himself. But in the end, he and the others lost that battle and were cast down, and now mankind had proven, as he had envisioned, to be a blight in this garden, a weed that needed to be rooted out and burned.
I will take this paradise back .
He would let nothing stop him.
Not even prophecy.
To that end, he must learn more about this trio, enough to stop them. He ran his
She returned again to a worry closer to her heart. “You said there was an attack.”
“A strigoi ambushed Jordan and his team down in that temple.”
She stood up and crossed to the coffee service, too anxious to keep sitting. She poured herself a cup, reminding herself that Jordan was fine.
Still . . .
Warming her palms on the cup, she faced Bernard. “Was this attacker one of these super strigoi ?”
“It appears so. The good news is that the others are bringing the strigoi ’s body back to Rome for study. We may learn something from the remains.”
“When?” she asked sharply, anxious to see Jordan, to make sure that he was safe.
“They should be here in the next hour. But they also found something else in the chamber, something they didn’t want to discuss over the phone. In fact, Jordan said that he wanted you to see it first.” The cardinal looked peeved that someone was withholding information from him. “He believed you might recognize it, because, as he adamantly insisted, you are the Woman of Learning.”
She took a sip of the coffee, allowing the heat to warm away the residual chill of her panic. She appreciated Jordan’s confidence, but she hoped it wasn’t misplaced. With no idea what he was bringing back from Cumae, she pondered the mystery of Leopold’s missing body and returned to Bernard’s cryptic assertion.
Something dug its way out of that temple .
7:02 P . M .
Rome, Italy
Legion sidled along the edge of a tall wall in the heart of Rome. He kept the barrier’s shadow over his form. Though the sun had sunk below the horizon, the surrounding streets still glowed with twilight. He preferred darker places to prowl. As an extra precaution, he pulled the hood of his coat farther over his head, knowing one certainty.
No one can look upon my bare face and not recognize my glory .
Yet, so much more remained unknown .
And that must end.
His vessel, the one called Leopold, has proven valuable. From that flickering flame that still glowed in the darkness inside his being, Legion had learned more about this prophecy and those who stood against him in his duty.
The words of that divination rang through him with each step.
Together, the trio must face their final quest. The shackles of Lucifer have been loosened, and his Chalice remains lost. It will take the light of all three to forge the Chalice anew and banish him again to his eternal darkness .
He pictured the face of the one known as the Warrior of Man, fixing that image of his blue eyes and hard planes of his face. The Warrior exuded all that masculinity represented, a true figure of a man.
As he continued along that tall wall, a large vehicle rushed past on the road beside him, stirring up trash, belching out foul fumes. From Leopold’s memories, he knew this was called a bus. But he retreated to his own memories. As a fallen one, he had spent endless years walking this garden of a world, well before man had trampled through it. Where once wild things grew, mankind had clad the land with artificial stone. Where once clear streams trickled under blue skies, now there was filth—both in the water and in the air.
Even from the beginning, he had known man was unfit to inherit this paradise. During the war of the heavens, where he had joined others against God’s plan for man, he had hoped to claim this garden for himself. But in the end, he and the others lost that battle and were cast down, and now mankind had proven, as he had envisioned, to be a blight in this garden, a weed that needed to be rooted out and burned.
I will take this paradise back .
He would let nothing stop him.
Not even prophecy.
To that end, he must learn more about this trio, enough to stop them. He ran his
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