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“No,” said GoGo.

“May I ask . . . what happened with Sygnosis?”

“She was insulted by my request. I don’t think she has ever been seduced for any other

reason than her own splendor.”

“Ah, you wounded her pride. A vampire’s vanity is more fragile than the heel of

Achilles. Somewhere . . . a pedestal rocks.”

GoGo finished lighting the candles. The mood turned grave.

“We must prepare the prince for the afterlife,” GoGo said. “Bring water that we may make

it sacred. You and his loyal companions will bathe him and wrap his loins.”

Sooth walked over to Omar, unconscious on the bed, and checked for vital signs.

“The prince is still alive. Should the Maker not come for him at his time? Preparing him

could jar the arrow and send him sooner.”

“He is the sleeping dead,” GoGo said. “It is merciful not to make his spirit linger in the

vestibule of oblivion, waiting to enter; a lost soul sitting on an island shore waiting for death’s

ship that may be long delayed gathering other souls many leagues away. We cannot stay in the

caves forever. Our enemies will come. Moving him to safety will kill him as surely as preparing

him for death. We are his Makers now, whether we want to be or not, and it is by our hands that he

will find God’s safe harbor.”

“I am an Azulite vampire. Though I do not have power over death, I have the power of

abeyance. If I bite him and do not drain him of his blood, he will become a vampire, and this night

will be his rebirth.”

“Your prince will become your slave,” said GoGo.

“Yes. But he will also still be your son. You can speak to him and he will answer. You can

humor him and he will laugh. His nature will be as it was, as you knew him. He will walk, and

talk, and breathe. He will know joy and pain.”

“He will be the Undead,” GoGo replied. “He will sleep during the day then lurk at night in

the shadows like a fiend. He will burn in the noonday sun and scurry from the light like vermin.”