This compound of laboratories was the only hospital in the world ever created strictly for the Undead. It was skillfully and securely hidden in one of Gregory’s many high-rise office buildings in the small industrial compound known as Collingsworth Pharmaceuticals on the outskirts of the city.

“We’re all relieved that Eleni is well,” I said, “but explain to me what you saw when you drank from this creature. We know the facts of how it happened. But what did you actually see?”

Armand sighed. “Something about an ancient city,” he said, “falling into the sea. A metropolis of distinctly modern-looking buildings, futuristic buildings, suggestive of some long-forgotten utopia, I don’t know how to describe it, and this being having been there with others like him, and these beings having been sent to the city for a special purpose. I couldn’t see his companions clearly. And somehow it was all about Amel.”

“Is Amel with us?” asked Gregory looking at me.

“No,” I said. “That doesn’t mean he isn’t in any one of us at this table,” I added. “But he’s not inside me now. He left me last night before I crossed the Atlantic. I don’t think he’s been back since.”

“That’s highly unusual, isn’t it?” asked Marius.

“I would say so,” I replied. “But there’s nothing to be done about it, so why bother to talk about it?”

“Armand, explain what you mean,” said Sevraine. “That this was all about Amel.”

Sevraine was certainly one of the most impressive of the ancients. She and Gregory and Seth were clearly the eldest amongst us. And her soft golden skin, though often darkened by sun, had an unmistakable gleam to it that marked her age and power. I knew very little of her really, though she’d opened her house to me and her heart.

“The thing was looking for Amel,” said Armand. “The name Amel means something to the creature. The non-human thing had been listening to Benji’s broadcasts. I don’t think the thing meant to harm anyone. It came to find out if we and our Amel were real.”

“And you say that the blood you took from him was completely replenished in a matter of hours?” asked Marius.

“Absolutely,” said Armand. “And when the blood was replenished the thing came back to life. He overpowered Eleni and that took some doing. Eleni was made by Everard de Landen. She has the blood of Rhoshamandes in her. I don’t know how this creature managed to spellbind her or overpower her but he did. We had no real way of containing such a powerful creature at Trinity Gate.”

“Well, no one can blame you for what took place,” said Gregory. “This ancient city you saw, did it have a name?”

“I heard it but the syllables didn’t make sense to me.”