Webster in Immortalis Produces a Daily Nicolas Brief on Order

Order of the Veil,

This daily Nicolas brief, as commanded, arrives punctual to the hour. The subject stirs late, his coffin unsealed only after the sun cowers behind the spires of the old cathedral. He emerges pristine, as ever, his pallor a mockery of marble sculpted by some deranged Renaissance hand. No dishevelment marks him, no trace of the night’s indulgences clings to his form. Nicolas possesses that infuriating composure, the kind that suggests he anticipates every shadow before it falls.

By midnight, he convenes with the lesser thralls in the undercroft. Their reports spill forth: shipments of vitae from the border houses, two interlopers dispatched in the fog-shrouded alleys, their remains fed to the eels in the Thames tributary. Nicolas listens, fingers steepled, eyes like polished obsidian. He issues corrections with a voice that slices clean, no raised timbre required. One thrall, the fool Marcus, stammers over a miscounted crate. Nicolas extends a hand, casual as offering a cigarette, and Marcus crumples, veins bursting in neat, arterial script across the stone floor. The rest avert their gazes, efficient in their silence thereafter.

Post-meeting, he retreats to the scriptorium. There, amid stacks of vellum and the acrid bite of inks compounded from forbidden essences, he pores over ledgers. His pen scratches notations on alliances fraying at the edges: the Lupine packs testing boundaries again, whispers of a rival immortal stirring in Vienna. Satisfaction curls his lip only once, when he tallies the tithes accrued. Greed suits him, though he cloaks it in necessity.

Dawn approaches. He feeds sparingly, selecting from the chained cadre a girl whose terror scents the air like overripe fruit. Her cries echo briefly, then hush. He discards her, sated but restless, and seals himself away. No words exchanged, no gestures wasted. Nicolas endures eternity as a machine honed for predation.

Observations conclude. Awaiting further orders.

Webster

Immortalis Book One August 2026