Regis: Head of the Coven and the Conclave, the Regis can only be elected unanimously and blessed by the seven
Wardens representing the seven ruling houses. The Regis’s orders are law.
Regression Therapy: The process in which vampires learn to access past lives and the accumulated knowledge available to them from their vast past-life experiences
The Repository of History: The Committee headquarters and
Blue Blood archives, it holds all the knowledge and secrets of their race. Its towering stacks were once located several stories below the Blue Blood-exclusive nightclub Block 122, but after
Kingsley called forth a Silver Blood, it was moved to a
“corescraper” below Force Tower, miles underground.
The Sacred Language (the Old Tongue): The ancient, heavenly language of the vampires. Latin is the bastardized, awkward Red Blood version of the language, as the sacred language is not Latin, per se, and does not adhere to Latin structure or grammar. Its historical roots trace even beyond
Sumarian script or Egyptian hierogylphs. According to the laws of Heaven, every creature on God’s earth must obey commands given in this language.
Sanctus Balineum: The ritual cleansing a Blue Blood bride undergoes before her bonding. Surrounded by her bondsmaids and the female Wardens, she dips into an ice pool, a steamy vapor bath, a relaxing harmony pool, and finally a fire pool, all of holy spring water.
Sangre Azul : The blue blood: it is as old as time and a living database of the vampires’ immortal consciousness. It contains their wisdom, vast intelligence, and memories.
Sending: A manipulation sent through the glom
Shapeshifters: Vampires able to change their physical shell at will, for example, into another human figure or an animal. Unlike mutatio, not every vampire can do this.
Sigul: A telltale mark or signal, as the emblems of each of the seven ruling houses
Silver Bloods: Immortal enemies of the Blue Bloods who have sworn allegiance to Lucifer, the exiled Prince of Heaven. Like the Blue Bloods, they are fallen angels, but refuse to live by the
Code of the Vampires. Enslaved instead to a bottomless appetite of greed, sex, and desire, they now hunt the Blue
Bloods. They are insane with the legion of memories they hold.
Their eyes are crimson with silver pupils. They each have the strength of a thousand vampires.
Solom Bicallis: A one-way path from the underworld, as in
Leviathan’s prison at Corcovado. Once it is used, it is closed to all.
Stasis: A locked-in state of paralysis that inhibits motion
Subvertio: A spell that unlocks what can not be unlocked, that destroys what can not be destroyed. A white hole of death. Also called the White Darkness, a vacuum of space and time.
Sunset Years: The years between fifteen and twenty-one—the most vulnerable time for vampires, during which their
Transformation from human to vampire takes place and their
Blue Blood asserts itself as they come into their full powers.
This young generation of Blue Bloods does not use this term, as they find it “corny.”
The Uncorrupted: Angels who were not cursed and banished by the Almighty, but chose to leave Paradise out of love for their kind.
They are Michael and Gabrielle, the most powerful Blue Bloods on Earth.
Velox: The vampire ability of superhuman speed, so fast that they are undetectable, which leads most Red Bloods to think vampires have the ability to be invisible.
Venatio: The practice of memory hunting
Veritas Venator (Truth Seeker, Truth Teller): The highest order of the Committee’s secret police. Fearless warriors in the fight to keep the Blue Bloods safe from harm and discovery, they are able to decipher dreams and access human and vampire memories.
V.F.E. (Vessel for Evil): What Bliss calls herself when the
Visitor takes over. A way for her to laugh when she really wants to cry.
“Vos vadum reverto”: The words spoken at a funeral for a vampire who has left this cycle: “We await your glorious return.”
Ward: A secure protection placed on a location by incantation
Warden: Title given to senior members of the Committee and the Conclave
The Watcher: The Elder of Elders is an eternal spirit, born with her eyes wide open, in full consciousness of her memories. She holds vigilance against Blue Blood enemies to sound the alarm should Lucifer return to Earth. She can be called up in a cycle to take human form, but if threatened, can switch human shells.
She was the one who first discovered the Croatan betrayal in
Rome. Able to see the future, she also foresaw the breaking of the bond between Gabrielle and Michael and predicted that
Gabrielle’s daughter would be the salvation of the Blue Bloods.
White Darkness/White Death: The result of the subvertio spell. Leviathan released it into the intersection in Lutetia, creating a time vacuum that possibly swallowed or destroyed
Charles Force. Kings-ley called it forth to destroy the Gate of
Time and one of the Paths of the Dead.
Wisdom Teeth: A vampire’s fangs (the Red Bloods took the term from the Blue Bloods). They are not, as the Conspiracy has spread, in the front canines, but actually on the side. With practice, they can be extended and retracted.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many thanks and love to the people who helped bring this book to the world, especially my husband and collaborator, Mike
Johnston; my editors, Jennifer Besser and Christian Trimmer, and the rest of the superfabulous team at Hyper-ion; my agent, Richard Abate; Kathryn Williams, for her helpful research. Thank you to the DLC, Green, Johnston, Torre, Ong, and Gaisano families. Thank you to my readers. Love to all!