Not only did Rosemary expect me to sit still and wait for Cranley to complete his enjoyment, some unwilling pyre forced to drink from his veins, injecting him with ecstasy, but then I was to endure the sight and sounds of him gorging on food pyres had prepared for him?

<<I have an idea>>, Rosemary intended. <<We will find Deppo>>.

And we did so, in the dreariest, most obscenely hellish kitchen I had ever stepped foot in. The heat was unbreakable, the black mold so thick I could slice it with a knife. Deppo was sitting on the floor, scrubbing the cobblestone with the filthiest brush I’d ever beheld.

His meaning flitted about his head like mutterings, intended for no one in particular. <<He comes and he destroys destroyers. He comes and he takes the takers. Oh he comes, he comes>>.

Rosemary studied him with her hands on her fine waist. <<He is stunned>>.

Stunned? How could he help us if all he could manage was mumbling nonsensical intentions and scrubbing perpetually filthy floors.

<<He has not been in the moon for too long. And then he shows up and shines right in his eyes. He will be useless for some time, my sister>>.

Rosemary sorted through the kitchen until she found a small knife. Then she motioned for me to hold out my hand to her.

Upon close examination of her visage, there were no hints of tiny smiles as I had observed Alexander give before he crushed Milieu into dust. And so I offered my hand to her. She dragged the blade across my finger. The blood began to run, and she took me, blood and all, over to Deppo.

<<Take a memory from him>>, Rosemary meant. <<Not a whole life, but a glimpse of one. It will relieve him, and then he will be of use to us>>.

Take a memory? If I could, I would promise Rosemary that I did not know how to do this. When Alexander, when Vincent drank from me, the visions of their lives became like my life, but I could not understand how such a thing was accomplished.

Still, Rosemary circled around Deppo and held his head still. He did not resist or struggle, only meant mutterings with the same frequency as before. When Rosemary moved my blood close to him, his jaws opened and his fangs stretched. In a flash, Deppo snapped his head forward and drove his fangs into my forearm.

I was an old man pulling in fishing nets. My grandson popped his head above the water, a creature with great claws in his hand and a wide smile on his face. I took the clawed animal and reached for my grandson.

It was over then, and Rosemary was wrenching the fangs of the pyre from my arm.

<<Take more from me>>, Deppo meant. <<Take more, take more>>.