With the three of them together again, Rodrick bought his team a drink and let them discuss what they had found. “So you think One-eyed Pete is the roach?” Sam said. “That might explain what I found when I was taking to his granddaughter.” She placed a small leather-bound journal on the table. As she turned the pages there was revealed on the old worn parchment a collection of symbols and diagrams. “Based on the diagrams I’d say it was an old alchemical textbook, but it gives me a bad feeling; I feel as though an old fisherman shouldn’t have owned such a book.”
Victor flicked through some of the pages. “What of the writing,” he said. “These strange characters; what language is this?”
Sam shrugged. “I don’t know, though I can infer that it is one of the old languages that the alchemists once used.”
Rodrick downed his drink and leaned over. “Let me see that. Ah yes! The language here is Netherian, something a group of students such as yourselves has no business knowing about. It looks like some kind of alchemy field-guide, but there are writings in here that the world is better off not knowing.” He drew their attention to a passage on a marked page. “This here reads: khrome harven: deun en u cha. There is a life that is secret: here lies the path to completing the dark spirit.”
“It’s a strategy for vampirism!” Victor realised. “How did such a book find its way here?”
Rodrick turned it over to reveal the emblem of a silver owl (the crest of Mr. Silver’s academy) embedded in the back. “Perhaps Mr. Pete was once a pupil of old Silver but became a defector.”
“His granddaughter said that her great uncle, the last victim, was acting strange the night he died. He had packed many things before heading off into the night. Do you think it had something to do with Pete? Is that possible? For a vampyre to remember its old life?”
“Normally, no,” said Rodrick. “But this is no longer an ordinary vampyre, and it’s no coincidence that both brothers are dead. There must have been some feud between them that lasted more than one lifetime. Why this is the case is of no importance to us; the fact that he remembers means he may try to contact people he knew when he was alive. We need to keep an eye on the granddaughter, as there is a good chance he will be drawn to her.”
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