James Rollins - Blood Infernal

And I have so much to atone for .

As the fire receded inside her, she bowed forward across her knees, covering her tear-stained face with her hands. But it was not to blot out any terrible memories.

It was to hide her relief.

She had survived their test — and she saw no scenes of past depredations. Her mind felt as clear as it ever had been. It seemed she needed no penance.

Perhaps because I have no regrets .

She smiled into her palms.

Were the Sanguinists the architects of their own penance and their own pain?

Rhun’s hand dropped onto her shoulder as if to comfort her. She let it stay, unsure how long penance normally lasted. She kept her hands in front of her face and waited.

Finally, Rhun’s fingers tightened on her shoulder.

Taking this as a sign, she raised her head, careful to keep her expression tragic.

Rhun beamed down at her as he helped her to her feet. “The good in you was triumphant, Elisabeta. Thank the Lord for His eternal mercy.”

She leaned on him, notably weaker from the holiness, stripped of the strangely expanded strigoi strength. She clutched Rhun’s hand, while gazing across the faces gathered here, most remained stoic, but a few could not hide their surprise.

She continued to play the role expected of her. She looked into Rhun’s eyes. “Now that I’m reborn, I cannot break my promise to you, to everyone. I will tell you what I know, something that could help you on your quest. Let this be my first act of contrition.”

Rhun hugged more tightly to her, thanking her and perhaps wanting to reassure himself that she was indeed still alive.

“Then let us go,” he said.

He led her past the others. They touched her shoulders as she walked among them, welcoming her to their ranks. However, one witness could not keep the shock from her face. She was the last to acknowledge Elizabeth.

Sister Abigail gave a small bow of her head.

“I am humbled to have joined you, Sister,” Elizabeth said.

The old nun marshaled her features into something resembling welcome. “It is a difficult path that you walk now, Sister Elizabeth. I pray that you will find the strength within yourself to keep to it.”

Elizabeth fixed the somber expression on her face. “As do I, Sister.”

She headed out of the chapel, bottling the laughter ringing inside her.

Who knew escape would be this easy?

The Blood Countess survived…

Still coming to grips with this, Erin stared at Elizabeth’s back as the former countess led them across the depths of St. Mark’s Basilica. She was dressed in a simple nun’s habit, accepted now as one of the Sanguinists. Still not believing this sudden change, Erin studied her. Despite the humble clothes she wore, Elizabeth still strode with the haughtiness of royalty, her shoulders thrown back, her neck stiff.

But she did pass the Sanguinists’ test .

Erin gave a small shake of her head, accepting this truth.

At least for now.

And if nothing else, the woman was at least proving cooperative.

“This is what I’ve come to show you,” Elizabeth said, stopping beneath a magnificent mosaic that graced the roof above. “It is titled the Temptation of Christ, one of the finest in the basilica.”

Rhun kept to Elizabeth’s side, shadowing her at every step, his gaze wide upon her, his face full of relief and awe… and joy. After all that the countess had put him through, he still loved her.

Jordan stood a little apart from Erin. She wished Jordan would look upon her with that same expression of unquestionable, unquenchable love. Instead, he studied the spread of the artwork.

“So this is showing the three times Satan challenged Christ,” Jordan said, “when Christ was out fasting in the desert for forty days.”

“Exactly,” Erin said. “The leftmost section shows the devil — that’s the black angel in front of him — bringing Christ stones and tempting him to turn them to bread.”

Christian nodded. “But Christ refused, telling him Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God .”

Erin pointed to the next section. “The second temptation is where the devil tells Jesus to jump off a building and have God catch him, but Jesus refused to tempt the Lord. And the last one — showing Christ standing on a set of mountains — is where the devil offers Christ all the kingdoms of the earth.”

“But Jesus turns him down,” Jordan said.

“And the devil is banished,” Erin added. “Then those three angels to the right take care of Jesus.”

A new voice intruded. “And that number is significant.”

Erin turned to Elizabeth, who kept her hands demurely folded before her.

“What do you mean?” Erin asked.

“ Three temptations, three angels,” Elizabeth explained. “Note also that Christ stands atop three mountains during the second temptation. Three was always an important number to the Church.”

“As in the Son, the Father, and the Holy Ghost,” Erin said.

The Holy Trinity .

Elizabeth unfolded her hands and motioned to Rhun, Christian, and herself. “And it is why the Sanguinists always move in groups of three.”

Erin also recalled how it took the blood of three Sanguinists to open the door that Bernard had sealed. Even the Blood Gospel’s prophecy centered on three figures: the Woman of Learning, the Warrior of Man, and the Knight of Christ.

“But that’s not the most significant trio that is hidden in this mosaic,” Elizabeth said and pointed up. “Look closer at the mountains under Christ’s sandals.”

Jordan squinted. “It looks like He’s standing on some sort of watery bubble?”

“And within that bubble?” Elizabeth asked.

With the mosaic so far overhead, Erin wished that she had binoculars, but she still saw clearly enough to understand. Small luminous tiles of white surrounded a trio of objects hidden there, floating in that watery brilliance.

“ Three chalices,” Erin said, unable to keep the awe from her voice.

One hope rose through the questions in her mind: Could one of them be Lucifer’s Chalice , the cup they were supposed to find?

She turned to Elizabeth. “But what’s the significance of you showing us this?”

“Because it might be linked to your quest. Long ago, this artwork was commissioned by men who would later form a court in Prague under Emperor Rudolf II. The Court of the Alchemists.”

Erin frowned. She had read about that group, in children’s tales about the Biblical golem. They were a group of famous alchemists assembled in Prague, who studied the occult, along with seeking ways to transform lead to gold. In their many labs, they sought to tease out the secrets of immortality.

So far as she knew, they had failed.

“What’s the significance of the chalices?” Erin asked.

“I do not know for sure. But I know they are somehow connected to that green stone you found. That green diamond.”

“Connected how?” Jordan asked.

“That stone also has a history that goes back to the Court of the Alchemists. To a man I once knew, back when I was performing my own study concerning the nature of the strigoi .”

Erin scowled at her choice of words. Study . It was a despicably clinical way to describe the torture and murder of hundreds of girls.