Free LEGIONS OF THE DARK (VAMPIRE NATIONS CHRONICLES) by Billie Sue Mosiman Page A

You know I speak the truth."
    Dolan bellowed in frustration.
    Mentor continued, "If you want to do away with yourself, that's fine with me. That's entirely up to you. But you will not, do you hear me, you will not take anyone else with you."
    Dolan fell to his knees, head hanging. In a small voice he said, "You have to help me. Mentor, you have to help me. I can't go on this way."
    Mentor checked the fire to be sure it was out before stepping close to his patient. "That's all you had to do," he said. "All you had to do was ask. Now stand up and come with me."
    As he escorted Dolan out of the house, he noticed the Craven who had been on the floor was gone now, probably locked in his room, living out his fate with whatever strength he had left. Mentor sensed many more of the Cravens hiding in other rooms, cringing from the disturbance they'd sensed going on in the house. At least he had saved them from an untimely demise.
    It was dark outside, so Dolan could be led back to Mentor's house, as the Craven could not bear sunlight. At home, Mentor would place Dolan into a specially built basement room where he could rest and be instructed on how to live out the rest of his life. If he set fire to himself when Mentor was gone, then at least something had been done to try to save him first.
    Mentor did not save them all. In fact, he saved relatively few once they had decided to do away with themselves. But he was charged to have mercy. It was his job to deal with the despairing. It had never been promised that he would always triumph.
    As he hustled the old vampire along the street, pools of iridescence shining through an early evening fog, the streetlights made the two of them appear to be a couple of old friends going home from work. If only it were so, thought Mentor. If only we were human again, friends out having a drink, and on our way home.
    He shook his head sadly. No wonder so many of us want to die. And the wonder lies in the fact that so many of us go on.
    "Tell me what brought you to this impasse," Mentor said.
    In a chastened voice the old vampire said, "Is confession good for the soul, then?"
    Mentor saw an alleycat dart across the sidewalk and behind a garbage can with a bulging lid. He felt its hunger and experienced a sense of kinship with it. "You don't have to confess to anything. You just have to talk about your feelings."
    The tale began, haltingly at first, with long pauses. As they walked the silent street, Dolan shying from the beams of headlights from an occasional car, the story unfolded. It was not that different from others Mentor had heard, but nevertheless he paid strict attention. Dew fell from the fog and soaked their shoulders and gathered like silver jewels in their hair.
    Dolan talked, he wept softly, and Mentor listened carefully without responding, guiding the old one closer and closer to safety. Near his home, Mentor heard the silent plea reach him from the Cambian family. Dell, the new vampire, had taken blood and was in a state of ecstasy. She was listening to her parents, staying put in her home, but they feared she might break free from them into the night.
    Mentor hurried Dolan into the house, down into the basement, and asked him to hold out his wrists.
    Dolan stared at the handcuffs made of solid steel. He laughed. "Do you really think they will hold me if I want to go? I possess more strength than it may appear."
    Mentor slapped the cuffs on him anyway, fastening them tight. "Of course they can't hold you. But they might make you think before you fight your way out of them. I have to leave for a while. You'll be on your own for a few hours. It's up to you, Dolan. What happens now is up to your own conscience. But if you do free yourself, and if you return to that house where the others lie helpless, I swear I will be on you in a millisecond."
    Dolan slumped to the floor, hanging his cuffed hands over his upright knees. "I'll wait for you to come back."
    "Good."
    "I won't set fire to your