Blue Bloods: Keys to the Repository (18 page)

Croatan
: An ancient name for the Silver Bloods, meaning “Abomination”

Cycle of Expression
: What vampires cal the length of their lifetimes. After approximately one hundred years, the physical shel expires, leaving only

a single drop of blue blood, which wil be implanted in a vampire woman when it is time to cal up the spirit for another cycle. Between cycles the

vampire rests, evolving, until his or her next Expression. The closely monitored cycles are key to the Blue Bloods’ continued invisibility to the world.

Dimidium Cognatus
: A being who is half human, half vampire.

Unlike the other Blue Bloods, this is a new spirit without a past. The only example in current history is Schuyler Van Alen.

Dissipation
: Another term for Ful Consumption

Dormi
: A spel to put someone instantly to sleep

Elder
: The title of Elder is given to a Blue Blood who has served the Committee wel for many cycles. This title is usual y given upon the one hundredth Cycle of Expression.

Emeritus Member
: A Conclave member who has retired. Many were cal ed back to duty after the Rio massacre.

Enmortal
: Vampires who choose not to rest and keep the same physical shel over many centuries. They are exempt from the reincarnation cycles;

they also do not require the proximity of other vampires in order to live. Some Elders are Enmortals, but it requires a special dispensation from the

Conclave.

Eversor Lumen
(Light-Destroyer)
: Azrael’s sword, which she receives at every bonding to Abbadon. To be used only in direst need, to be kept

hidden from foes, and to strike to kil .

Eversor Orbis
(World-Breaker)
: Abbadon’s sword, received at every bonding to Azrael. To be used only in direst need, to be kept hidden from

foes, and to strike to kil . Unlike the archangels’ swords, which are a bright white flame, this sword is dark gray and edged with silver, with terrifying

black marks. It looks more like a primitive ax than a sword.

Evolution
: The passive resting stage of the vampire’s life, while the spirit awaits its next incarnation. The foremost mission of the vampire race is to

evolve to a point where God can forgive them and welcome them back into Heaven.

Expulsion
: What the vampires cal their experience of “death.” The expulsion of the spirit from the physical world.

Facio Valiturus Fortis
: A blessing meaning, “Be strong and brave”

The Four Hundred
: According to the Code of the Vampires, only four hundred vampires from each coven are al owed to express at one time. There

was some confusion in
Blue Bloods
: Repository Records #101, which incorrectly stated that there are only Four Hundred vampires in the world. This

is wrong and a clerical mistake on the part of overworked Repository scribes.

Four Hundred Ball
: Known as the Patrician Bal in the nineteenth century: the vampire-only, multimil ion-dol ar party of the year. A tradition that reaches back centuries, where new Committee members are presented to Blue Blood society. An event that celebrates status, beauty, power,

money, and blood—Blue Blood.

Frango
: A counterspel that breaks a ward on a place

Full Consumption
: When a human or vampire is drained of al of his or her blood through the Sacred Kiss. To do this to a human is the biggest

taboo of the Code of the Vampires; to do it to another vampire is Abomination.

The Gates of Hell
: The seven gates forged by the Blue Blood Order of the Seven to secure the Paths of the Dead. They are meant to keep Lucifer

and the Silver Blood demons imprisoned in the underworld. Their physical manifestation in the glom appears to be twelve feet wide and forged into

the crust of the earth, but the true barrier is the spirit and protection of Michael.

The Glom
: The vampires use the word “glom” to describe two things: a direct line of consciousness that can be used for vampires to commune with

one another, or to control the minds of other humans or vampires. It also describes the twilight netherworld that vampires can access—an alternative

plane in the universe.

There are five factors to the glom: 1) Telepathy, the ability to read minds, 2) Suggestion, the ability to plant a seed of an idea in another mind (it must

be done subtly, so the other believes it’s his or her own), 3) Compulsion, the ability to issue a direct order to another’s mind, 4) Suppression, the

ability to overcome the wil of another, and 5)
Consummo Alienari
, the little-known fifth factor, al ows complete control over another’s mind, but is

highly dangerous.

Hibernation
: A prolonged sleep that vampires enter at the end of a cycle, when they are weary of immortality

Human Familiar
: These are the “lovers, friends, and vessels” on whom vampires feed and rely. According to the Code of the Vampires, familiars are

never to be abused, and under no circumstances ful y drained; they are to be treated with affection and care for the service they provide, as once

taken as a familiar, the human wil always feel a special bond with the vampire.

Illuminata
: The vampire gift of glowing in the dark, which makes them recognizable to one another

Incantation Demonata
: The spel to cal a Silver Blood
Infractio
: “A breaking.” Lawrence uses it to describe what he fears has happened in Corcovado.

Inquisitor
: The official prosecutor in a Committee investigation

Intersection
: A part of the glom where Silver Bloods can enter but never leave. A limbo between worlds, hidden in the tunnels of Lutetia.

Lucifer’s Bane (a.k.a. the Rose of Lucifer)
: A giant emerald necklace that Forsyth Llewel yn gave to Bliss. It is supposedly made of a stone that fel

from Lucifer’s crown when he fel from Heaven. Also known as the Holy Grail, Bliss wore it continual y until the day of Mimi’s bonding ceremony to

Jack, when she ripped it off, rejecting any more association with her father.

Lutetia
: The ancient Gal ic city under what is present-day Paris, it was built by Blue Blood Romans as a massive underground network of tunnels. It is

also the location of one of the seven Paths of the Dead and a Gate of Hel . The tunnels are like a maze, enchanted against the
animadverto
, where a

vampire could be lost forever. The center is under the Eiffel Tower, where al tunnels eventual y lead. There are seven corridors radiating from the

center, representing the seven ruling houses of the Blue Bloods. When Gemel us moved the Gate of Time, he left an intersection there.

Mark of Lucifer
: A five-pointed star on the neck of a vampire who has been Corrupted by a Silver Blood. It looks like a burn or a cattle brand.

Mark of the Archangel
: A mark on the wrist of the Uncorrupted archangels, in the shape of a sword piercing clouds, identifying the archangels as

children of the Light. It cannot be duplicated or falsified.

Materia Acerbus
(Dark Matter)
: That from which the Silver Bloods come. The opposite of the White. Also the name of a book of black spel s in the

Repository.

Modo Caecus
: A blinding spel that makes humans forget what they’ve seen

Mutatio
: The vampire ability to change into the elements of fire, water, or air, including smoke and fog

Mutatus
: The shape a vampire shifts into

“Nexi Infideles”
: “Death to the traitors!” A Blue Blood war cry

Obsido
: An obstruction brought about as a ward

Occludo
: Closing your mind to external influence in order to resist the glom

The Order of the Seven:
The seven guardians of the Gates of Hel , chosen during the Crisis in Rome and composed of the seven original ruling

Blue Blood families. The gatekeepers scattered far and wide and are now unknown to one another and the Conclave leadership for their own

protection.

Palaver
: A conversation between those of different status: angel vs. demon. Bliss demands a palaver of the demon in her dreams.

Passive State
: The resting state vampires enter between cycles. Also cal ed Evolution.

Paths of the Dead
: The only remaining passageways between Earth and the underworld, they are now secured by the Gates of Hel , forged by the

Blue Bloods at Michael’s command after the battle in Rome. In the glom they look like paths of molten lava, hissing with steam.

“Phoebus ostend praeeo”
: “The sun shal show you the way.” It is the cryptic message Jordan leaves for the Venators searching for her.

“Propon familiar”
: “Tel your friends.” The Compulsion Mimi uses to get the little slum girl in Rio to tel the Venators of Jordan’s whereabouts.

Quadrille
: An old-fashioned figure dance at the Four Hundred Bal lead by the Committee members being presented; the teens in the foremost

quadril e are chosen because of their family’s hierarchy in the Committee.

Regenerative Memory Syndrome
: The process during a vampire’s Transformation when a Blue Blood’s memories of past cycles return; the young

vampires feel as if they are actual y experiencing the memory again.

Regent
: The second-highest ranking member of the Conclave. The Regent is responsible for the Coven when the Regis is unable to fulfil his/her

duties. Also, when the Regis is in the passive/ hibernation state, a Regent is chosen to lead the community.

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 al 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 cal ed 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 final y a fire pool, al 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

intel igence, and memories.

Sending
: A manipulation sent through the glom

Shapeshifters
: Vampires able to change their physical shel at wil , for example, into another human figure or an animal. Unlike
mutatio
, not every

vampire can do this.

Sigul
: A tel tale mark or signal, as the emblems of each of the seven ruling houses

Silver Bloods
: Immortal enemies of the Blue Bloods who have sworn al egiance to Lucifer, the exiled Prince of Heaven. Like the Blue Bloods, they

are fal en 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 al .

Stasis
: A locked-in state of paralysis that inhibits motion

Subvertio
: A spel that unlocks what can not be unlocked, that destroys what can not be destroyed. A white hole of death. Also cal ed 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 ful 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 Gabriel e, 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