Read Online Angel Souls and Devil Hearts by Christopher Golden - Free Book Online
Authors: Christopher Golden
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Octavian, had revealed the existence of vampires to the entire world—a world programmed
by fictional representations of his kind as evil, vile, villainous creatures who must, at all costs, be destroyed. Humanity had been placated by soothing words, tales of the church’s attempts
at genocide, and the efforts by certain members of the shadow community to be accepted into human society.
Only Hannibal didn’t want to be accepted.
Hannibal wanted to kill.
To feast, to drink the blood of unwilling human hosts—this was the destiny of his kind, the Defiant Ones. They were parasites who lived off the body of humanity, and Hannibal
reveled in that knowledge. Evil, vile, villainous—this was an image he embraced, and a life he missed. But no, the children of his one-time adversary, the late Karl Von Reinman, now ascribed
to a different philosophy, one which allowed a merging of two societies, shadow and human. But Hannibal knew such a merging was impossible.
Shadows and humans were natural enemies, predator and prey. They might toy with peace, but it could not last. The nature of shadows was to kill, to feed, to take without permission, without
warning and without mercy, whatever was needed. And that way of life was not gone, only held in abeyance. For now, those shadows who, like Hannibal, lusted for the old ways, must hide themselves
among the sheep, falsely advocating peace, or die. Hannibal himself had found the perfect hiding place, for in his position as chief marshal of the SJS, it was his job to hunt and often destroy
those shadows who reverted to the old ways.
“Rebels” and “criminals” they were called. Hannibal called them brothers. While he was forced to destroy some, many others had been saved, organized, hidden away until
the day Hannibal called them forward.
For the peace could not last. He would not allow it. Unified, the shadows would destroy their human counterparts. And if unity did not come naturally to them, especially to the children of Von
Reinman, well then Hannibal would force it upon them.
Soon.
Now his plan had a new wrinkle. Mulkerrin had returned. Father Liam Mulkerrin, the last of a line of powerful sorcerers, a sect within the Roman Catholic Church, who had used magic to control
all supernatural creatures, all shadows, except Hannibal’s people. The church came to call the vampires “Defiant Ones,” and sought to subjugate them for centuries, attempting
genocide several times. The last attempt had been in Venice, the Jihad, when Mulkerrin had opened doors into hell from which emerged the true shadows, demon-things born of brimstone and death.
Though the Jihad revealed the existence of the shadows to the world, it also held a glimpse of the future for Hannibal. For the first time, he had seen the true potential in the unity of his
people. Mulkerrin and his demons had been defeated, the sorcerer himself carried into Hell on the back of the shadows’ self-appointed savior, the arrogant whelp Peter Octavian. And the Church
had been brought to its knees.
Somehow, Mulkerrin had returned. Once again, Von Reinman’s blood-children were at the center of things. And Hannibal had been ordered, ordered , by Meaghan Gallagher—herself
not even the spawn of Von Reinman but of Octavian—to obey the United Nations commander, Jimenez. Well, that remained to be seen. Hannibal wanted Mulkerrin destroyed once and for all, a goal
he shared with all other shadows, and humans as well.
But if Mulkerrin’s presence could be used as the means to an end?
“Watch your step, ya bloody git!!” came the gruff voice of a burly Englishman, just as Hannibal collided with him knocking the big man back on his ass.
In seconds the man had regained his feet and pulled Hannibal up by the collar of his coat.
“Lissen ’ere, you fancy bast—”
No change had come upon Hannibal, he had not even bared fangs, but the man somehow sensed that something terrible was there and that he’d stepped in
by fictional representations of his kind as evil, vile, villainous creatures who must, at all costs, be destroyed. Humanity had been placated by soothing words, tales of the church’s attempts
at genocide, and the efforts by certain members of the shadow community to be accepted into human society.
Only Hannibal didn’t want to be accepted.
Hannibal wanted to kill.
To feast, to drink the blood of unwilling human hosts—this was the destiny of his kind, the Defiant Ones. They were parasites who lived off the body of humanity, and Hannibal
reveled in that knowledge. Evil, vile, villainous—this was an image he embraced, and a life he missed. But no, the children of his one-time adversary, the late Karl Von Reinman, now ascribed
to a different philosophy, one which allowed a merging of two societies, shadow and human. But Hannibal knew such a merging was impossible.
Shadows and humans were natural enemies, predator and prey. They might toy with peace, but it could not last. The nature of shadows was to kill, to feed, to take without permission, without
warning and without mercy, whatever was needed. And that way of life was not gone, only held in abeyance. For now, those shadows who, like Hannibal, lusted for the old ways, must hide themselves
among the sheep, falsely advocating peace, or die. Hannibal himself had found the perfect hiding place, for in his position as chief marshal of the SJS, it was his job to hunt and often destroy
those shadows who reverted to the old ways.
“Rebels” and “criminals” they were called. Hannibal called them brothers. While he was forced to destroy some, many others had been saved, organized, hidden away until
the day Hannibal called them forward.
For the peace could not last. He would not allow it. Unified, the shadows would destroy their human counterparts. And if unity did not come naturally to them, especially to the children of Von
Reinman, well then Hannibal would force it upon them.
Soon.
Now his plan had a new wrinkle. Mulkerrin had returned. Father Liam Mulkerrin, the last of a line of powerful sorcerers, a sect within the Roman Catholic Church, who had used magic to control
all supernatural creatures, all shadows, except Hannibal’s people. The church came to call the vampires “Defiant Ones,” and sought to subjugate them for centuries, attempting
genocide several times. The last attempt had been in Venice, the Jihad, when Mulkerrin had opened doors into hell from which emerged the true shadows, demon-things born of brimstone and death.
Though the Jihad revealed the existence of the shadows to the world, it also held a glimpse of the future for Hannibal. For the first time, he had seen the true potential in the unity of his
people. Mulkerrin and his demons had been defeated, the sorcerer himself carried into Hell on the back of the shadows’ self-appointed savior, the arrogant whelp Peter Octavian. And the Church
had been brought to its knees.
Somehow, Mulkerrin had returned. Once again, Von Reinman’s blood-children were at the center of things. And Hannibal had been ordered, ordered , by Meaghan Gallagher—herself
not even the spawn of Von Reinman but of Octavian—to obey the United Nations commander, Jimenez. Well, that remained to be seen. Hannibal wanted Mulkerrin destroyed once and for all, a goal
he shared with all other shadows, and humans as well.
But if Mulkerrin’s presence could be used as the means to an end?
“Watch your step, ya bloody git!!” came the gruff voice of a burly Englishman, just as Hannibal collided with him knocking the big man back on his ass.
In seconds the man had regained his feet and pulled Hannibal up by the collar of his coat.
“Lissen ’ere, you fancy bast—”
No change had come upon Hannibal, he had not even bared fangs, but the man somehow sensed that something terrible was there and that he’d stepped in
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