“Unfortunately, the four months Napoleon spent in confinement didn’t make a dent. As soon as his mother unlocked the door in the stable, he stole a horse and traveled to Spain. Like all of us, Diego had been in Etienne’s home, and being the gigolo that he was, he was forever spouting off about his love affairs. Of course, we would have never spoken about such things if we knew the boy was hiding in the shadows, but Napoleon was a crafty lad. In one of those conversations, he overhead that Diego fancied women and men, and we both know where Napoleon’s interests lie.”

“They’re the same as yours.”

“Christ, don’t remind me,” Max said with a huff. “I hate that about him. I truly do.”

“So, once Diego turned Napoleon, he returned to France?”

“Yes. Ballsy little bastard that he was, he entered the castle, announced he was a vampire, and then proceeded to wreak havoc. Etienne was outraged, and Margory was distraught, yet there was absolutely nothing they could do about it. It also created quite a rift between Etienne and Diego, a rift that would most likely have lasted for decades, but later that same year, Etienne and his family were murdered.”

“I heard about that,” Bennett said. “They were on their way to their home in the north of France, if I remember right.”

“You are correct. Because of our need for blood, we traveled often so the locals would never get suspicious, except the details about that trip just never rang true to the council. Napoleon told us his father asked him to travel a day ahead of the rest and prepare the house for their arrival, a task that should have gone to Charles. After all, he was the responsible one, and he was the oldest. Add to that Etienne’s aversion to Napoleon’s juvenile attitude, I cannot believe Etienne would have entrusted Napoleon to fetch water from a stream, let alone travel on his own across country and not get into trouble.”

“So, this is all based on Napoleon’s word then?”

“Yes, and as you know, his word is worth about as much as a grain of sand in the Sahara.”

Max came to a stop where the drive met the road. He saw the car parked in the distance and signaled for it to approach. “I’m assuming that’s your ride.”

“Yes, it is.”

“I know you have more questions, yet those will have to wait for another day. It shames me to think of all the ghastly things we did to survive, and I fear now that I’ve churned it all up, sleep will not come easily when dawn arrives.”

“Of course. I can’t thank you enough for—”