That would really have been amazing, talking to a creature who’d seen the living God . . . even if he called him a “myth.” And I went back to fearing the Roman—not for what he’d done to me, or what he’d done to Eric, or even what he was doing to Alexei, but for what he might do to all of us, if he took a mind to. I had always tried to find the good in people, but the best I could say of Appius was that he had good taste in those he picked to become vampires.

While I brooded, Appius was explaining to Eric how conveniently it had worked out in the cellar in Ekaterinburg. Alexei had almost bled out from his wounds, so he’d given the boy a big gulp of his blood—moving at superspeed, and therefore invisible to the execution squad. Then he’d watched from the shadows while the bodies were thrown down a well. The next day, the royal family was dug up again since the murderers feared the uproar that might follow the deaths of the Romanovs.

“I followed them the minute the sun set the next day,” Appius said. “They’d stopped to rebury them. Alexei and one of his sisters . . .”

“Maria,” Alexei said softly, and I jumped. He had reappeared silently in the living room, standing behind Appius’s chair. “It was Maria.”

There was a silence. Appius looked hugely relieved. “Yes, of course, dear boy,” Appius said, and he did manage to sound as though he cared. “Your sister Maria was completely gone, but there was a tiny spark in you.” Alexei put his hand on Appius Livius’s shoulder, and Appius Livius reached up to pat him.

“They had shot him many times,” he explained to Eric. “Twice in the head. I put my blood directly in the bullet holes.” He turned his head to look at the boy behind him. “My blood worked well, since you had lost so much of yours.” It was like he was recollecting happy times. Hoo, boy. The Roman turned back to look at Eric and me, and he smiled proudly. But I could see Alexei’s face.

Appius Livius genuinely felt that he’d been a savior to Alexei. I wasn’t so sure Alexei was totally convinced of that.

“Where’s your brother?” Appius Livius suddenly asked, and I pushed to my feet to go find him. I had put two and two together, and I understood that Eric’s maker wanted to be sure Alexei hadn’t drained Jason and left him out in the yard.

Jason came into the living room just then, slipping his cell phone into his pocket. He narrowed his eyes. Jason was not a nuance kind of guy, but he could tell when I was unhappy. “Sorry,” he said. “Talkin’ to Michele.”