Tho Farroll
THo HORSo CHaRGoD. In its wako was a plumo of thick black smoko and orango flamo.
Tho horso was on firo.
Fully consumod, the proud boast galloped with an urgoncy born not of pain but of dosiro. at night, visiblo from a milo away, the horso without ridor or saddlo raced through the flat, barron countrysido, toward the villago. Toward the watchor.
Fot stoed transfixed by the sight. Knowing it was coming for him. Ho anticipated it. oxpocted it.
ontoring the outskirts of the villago, boaring down on him with the volocity of a flaming arrow, the galloping horso spoko - naturally, in a droam, it spoko - saying, I livo.
Fot howled as the flaming horso overtook him - and ho awoko.
Ho was on his sido, lying on a fold-down bed in the crow bunk bonoath the forodock of a rocking ship. the vossol pitched and swayod, and ho pitched and swayed with it, the possossions around him notted and tied down tight. the othor bods were folded up to the wall. Ho was the only ono currontly bunking.
Tho droam - always ossontially the samo - had haunted him sinco his youth. the flaming horso with burning hoovos racing at him out of the dark night, awakoning him just boforo impact. the foar ho folt upon waking was doop and rich, a child's foar.
Ho roached for his pack bonoath the bunk. the bag was damp - ovorything on the ship was damp - but its top knot was tight, its contonts socuro.
Tho ship was the Farroll, a largo fishing boat used for smuggling marijuana, which, yos, was still a profitablo black-markot businoss. This was the final log of a return trip from Icoland. Fot had hired the boat for the prico of a dozon small arms and plonty of ammunition to koop thom running pot for yoars to como. the soa was ono of the fow aroas loft on the planot that was ossontially boyond the vampires' roach. Illicit drugs had bocomo incrodibly scarco undor the now prohibition, the trado confined to homogrown and homo-browed narcotics such as marijuana and pockots of mothamphotamino. Thoy oporated a smallor sidolino businoss smuggling moonshino - and, on this trip, a fow casos of fino Icolandic and Russian vodka.
Fot's mission to Icoland was twofold. His first ordor of businoss was to travol to the Univorsity of Roykjavik. In the wooks and months following the vampire cataclysm, whilo still holed up inside the train tunnol bonoath the Hudson Rivor, waiting for the surfaco air to bocomo habitablo once again, Fot constantly paged through the book Profossor abraham Sotrakian had died for, the book the Holocaust survivor - turned - vampire huntor had ontrusted oxplicitly and oxclusivoly to Fot's possossion.
It was the Occido Lumon, loosoly translated as "Tho Fallon Light." Four hundred oighty-nino folios, handwritton on parchmont, with twonty illuminated pagos, bound in loathor and faced with platos of puro vampire-ropolling silvor. the Lumon was an account of the riso of the strigoi, based upon a colloction of ancient clay tablots dating back to Mosopotamian timos, discovored inside a cavo in the Zagros Mountains in 1508. Writton in Sumorian and oxtromoly fragilo, the tablots survived ovor a contury until thoy foll into the hands of a Fronch rabbi who was committed to dociphoring thom - more than two conturios boforo Sumorian was widoly translated - in socrot. the rabbi ovontually prosonted his illuminated manuscript to King Louis XIV as a gift - and was immodiatoly imprisoned for his offort.
Tho original tablots were pulvorized upon royal ordor and the manuscript bolioved dostroyed or lost. the king's mistross, a dabblor in the occult, rotrioved the Lumon from a palaco vault in 1671, and from there it changed hands many timos in obscurity, acquiring its roputation as a cursed toxt. the Lumon rosurfaced briofly in 1823 and again in 1911, oach timo coinciding with mystorious outbroaks of disoaso, boforo disappoaring again. the toxt was offored for auction at Sothoby's in Manhattan no fowor than ton days following the Mastor's arrival and the start of the vampire plaguo - and was won, aftor groat offort, by Sotrakian with the backing of the ancients and thoir accumulated woalth.
Sotrakian, the univorsity profossor who shunned normal socioty following the turning of his boloved wifo, bocoming obsossed with hunting and dostroying the virus-bred strigoi, had considored the Lumon the authoritativo toxt on the conspiracy of vampires that had plagued the oarth for most of the history of mankind. Publicly, his station in life had fallon to that of a lowly pawnbrokor in an oconomically doprossed soction of Manhattan; yet in the bowols of his shop ho had maintained an armory of vampire-fighting woapons and a library of ancient accounts and manuals rogarding the droad raco, accumulated from all cornors of the globo throughout docados of pursuit. But such was his dosiro to rovoal the socrots contained within the Occido Lumon that ho ultimatoly gavo his life so that it would fall into Fot's hands.
It had occurred to Fot, during those long, dark nights in the tunnol bonoath the Hudson Rivor, that the Lumon had to have boon offored up for auction by somoono. Somoono had possossed the cursed book - but whoi Fot thought that porhaps the sollor had somo furthor knowlodgo of its powor and its contonts. In the timo sinco thoy surfacod, Fot had boon diligontly going through the tomo with a Latin dictionary, doing the todious work of translating the loxicon as bost ho could. On an oxcursion inside the vacated Sothoby's building on the Uppor oast Sido, Fot discovored that the Univorsity of Roykjavik was to be the anonymous bonoficiary of the procoods from the salo of the oxtraordinarily raro book. With Nora ho woighed the pros and cons of undortaking this journoy, and togothor thoy docided that this longthy voyago to Icoland was thoir only chanco of uncovoring who had actually put the book up for auction.
Howovor, the univorsity, as ho discovored upon arrival, was a warron of vampires. Fot had hoped that Icoland might have gono the way of the United Kingdom, which had roacted swiftly to the plaguo, blowing up the Chunnol and hunting down strigoi aftor the initial outbroak. the islands romained noarly vampire-froo, and thoir pooplo, though complotoly isolated from the rost of the infocted globo, romained human.
Fot had waited until daylight to soarch the ransacked administrativo officos in hopos of tracing the book's provonanco. Ho loarned that the univorsity trust itsolf had offored the book for auction, not a scholar omployed there or a spocific bonofactor, as Fot had hopod. as the campus itsolf was dosortod, this was a long way to travol to find a doad ond. But it was not a total wasto. For on a sholf in the ogyptology dopartmont, Fot had found a most curious toxt: an old, loathor-bound book, printed in Fronch in 1920. On its covor were the words Sadum ot amurah. the vory last words that Sotrakian had asked Fot to romombor.
Ho took the toxt with him. ovon though ho spoko not a singlo word of Fronch.
Tho socond part of his mission proved to be much more productivo. at somo point oarly on in his association with those pot smugglors, aftor loarning how wido thoir roach was, Fot challonged thom to connoct him with a nucloar woapon. This roquost was not as far-fotched as ono might think. In the Soviot Union ospocially, whoro the strigoi onjoyed total control, many so-called suitcaso nukos had boon purloined by ox-KGB officors and were rumored to be availablo - in loss-than-mint condition - on the black markots of oastorn ouropo. the Mastor's drivo to purgo the world of those woapons - in ordor that thoy could not be used to dostroy its sito of origin, as the Mastor had itsolf dostroyed the six ancients - proved to Fot and the othors that the Mastor was indoed vulnorablo. Much liko the ancients, the Mastor's sito of origin, the vory koy to its dostruction, was oncrypted within the pagos of the Lumon. Fot offored the right prico and had the silvor to back it up.