0281: The Vampire's Daughter, Book Three

“So the Keeper is real?” asked Sol.

“Oh, very real,” answered Henry, who stood up and walked to look over his army again.

“Have you met him?”

“Yes, I have met the Keeper. A milk toast little fellow who truly loves what he does. Or maybe he’s been doing it for so long that he only knows what he does. I don’t know which it is. He doesn’t even use a modern language, preferring ancient Greek. I don’t understand why. He uses a computer now, but still uses that old language.”

“I guess he’s eccentric,” Sol suggested.

“That’s an understatement. Most people think he’s just strange. No, that’s being too polite. Crazy. That’s what most people think of him. They think he’s a nut job.

“In fact, there are many among us who don’t believe his role is even necessary any more. With modern technology, we have so many different versions of our history floating around that no one knows what our true history is anymore.”

“I’ve noted that,” said Sol. “My sire, as you mentioned, believes in hard facts. To her the idea of God and prophecy is silly. So, to her, the old stories aren’t true. She has fashioned her own version of how we came to exist.

“If enough vampires followed my sire, but were industrious enough to write their thoughts down, we would have all sorts of history—just not a very definitive history.”

“That is, in a nutshell, what has happened,” Henry said with a smile.

Sol stood up and stood next to him. “So we have something of a colorful mosaic.” Then after a pause, he added, “But too much color and all you get is brown mush.”

Henry laughed and turned to Sol. Putting an arm on the younger vampire’s shoulder, he said, “I like you. You’re a good kid with a clear head. I hope this all works out and I don’t have to kill you.”

“Not surprisingly, I hope so too,” Sol responded, leading both to laugh.

After a moment they grew quite and looked over Henry’s army. Both thought about how grave the situation was for each in their own way. Sol a virtual prisoner in the castle, with his only protection coming from an assassin, Gan, and a collection of powerful, but long forgotten, kings and queens. Henry, also prisoner, but one caught between his allegiance to the old kings and queens and the new.

“Someone once told me that I should find the Keeper,” Sol said, breaking the silence. “That he would help me to understand our history and what role I might play in its future.”

“If you are what John Paul believes you are, that would be a very good idea,” Henry said. “But I don’t know anyone who would be able to find him.”

“What?”

“He hasn’t been seen in many years. There is rumor that he has given up his task and gone to sleep. Some even suggest that he’s handed his task on to another and chosen death,” Henry said.

“Is that possible?” asked Sol.

“Anything is possible,” Henry answered. “All I know is that he used to attend court and now he does not. That isn’t to say that he’s missed anything. In a hundred years, maybe more, there has been nothing of importance to write down as far I’m concerned.

“Hell, the royals are so self absorbed that all they would want would be stories about their exploits. Who’s slept with who and who’s killed the most humans sort of stuff. The Keeper wouldn’t write that type of stuff down. The move to the New World, that was worthy of history.

“The fact that King Idiot slept with some famous human actress wouldn’t get a mention. Rightfully so, if you ask me. But that type of editing certainly wouldn’t get the Keeper any points.”



[The Vampire's Daughter: An ongoing vampire story. Copyright Reuben Gregg Brewer, 2005, 2006, 2007. All rights reserved.]