Book 6: Chapter 16
“The decision about whether or not Avalon will intervene in the crisis affecting the region to our west has been taken out of our hands.” Kay addressed the assembly of his ministers, advisers, and other important minds needed for this discussion. “Evidence that has been uncovered suggests that there is someone or something with an actual intelligence directing the vampyr, and they’ve flagged Avalon as their enemy. We don’t have any clear information about their goals, but I have no intentions of sitting around and acting passively while vampyr are continuously sent to harry us. I’m not making any decisions about the final consequences of our actions, whether we take control of any of the territory is still up in the air, but we will be eliminating the vampyr threat.”
A few people exchanged worried glances, but no one protested, not that Kay expected anyone would. His people were loyal, which was good, but even better than that they were smart, smart enough to know that leaving a growing threat to fester at their doorstep was a bad idea.
“I’m not much of a fighter, as you all know, so I don’t think I’ll be contributing all that heavily to this discussion, but what do we know about this supposed leader of vampyr?” Kay’s Minister of Planning, David, was one of the original refugees that had come with Cindy to what would become Avalon. “Everyone knows that vampyr are completely mad, I wouldn’t think any of them could keep themselves together enough to direct anything, let alone other vampyr struck by their own madness.”
Zeia leaned forward so everyone at the table could see her. “Hello, I’m Zeia and I’m with the Shatterplate Order. I’m one of the two leaders left behind to manage our contingent here while our highest leadership deals with moving our headquarters to Avalon.” She conveniently skipped over how the people left behind were technically all hostages and that whether or not the Shatterplate Order or the Itarian Crusade actually capitulated to Kay’s demands was still up in the air. Zeia herself was completely behind the move, since it would mean she could remain close to Kay and his eldritch purifying powers, but she wasn’t in charge of her entire organization. “I’m also one of our leading researchers, which is why I’ve been included in this meeting. To answer you question, sir, you’re correct to say that all vampyr are mad, but not that all of them are completely mad. And that is the important distinction here.”
“You’re saying that some of them hold on to some of their sanity?”
“Yes, exactly. The worst off among vampyr when it comes to sanity descend into being totally feral beasts. They attack anything that moves, they have little to no survival instincts, and they tend to die off the fastest.” She held up a second finger as she continued to list the different conditions among vampyr, “The second up the scale and the most common, are the ones that most fit the general descriptor of ‘mad’. They all have some kind of insanity that presses on them and directs their behavior. No vampyr like this is exactly the same, although they can fall into many broad categories, but on the whole they tend to experience psychoses, delusions, or hallucinations, all of which make it very hard for them to interact in concert with one another.” She held up a third finger, “The type that we’re worried about are the least common but are the most dangerous. Vampyr that retain some sanity and sense of self.”
Murunel made a face. “Are you saying that some vampyr have th person they used to be inside of them somewhere?”
“No, not at all.” Zeia shook her head violently, “We know for a fact that the person that is infected and becomes a vampyr dies, all of them.” She glanced at Kay with a look asking him for permission.
He wasn’t sure exactly what she was going to bring up, but he wasn’t aware of her knowing anything that needed to be kept secret, so he nodded.