In the immediate aftermath of the siege, Gabriel confronts Chloe in the Hammered Smith, furious and demanding answers about Dior’s powers. Bellamy and Père Rafa sit wounded by the fire, while Saoirse cleans her axe, and Phoebe has pursued the retreating wretched. Chloe tends Dior’s wounds as Gabriel presses for the truth.

Prompted by Gabriel’s threats to walk away, the group hesitates. With Dior’s reluctant nod, Chloe allows the explanation to proceed. Bellamy begins a recounting of Church history and legend: the Redeemer preached the One Faith, worked miracles, was betrayed and executed, and his disciple Michon caught his lifeblood in a chalice before taking up his cause. Gabriel complains, but Chloe insists the next part is deadly heresy.

Rafa and Bellamy reveal the Aavsenct Heresy: in Old Talhostic, the words for lifeblood and essence are nearly identical, and Michon was not only the Redeemer’s disciple but his lover. Instead of a cup, Michon carried the Redeemer’s essence in her womb, giving birth to a daughter, Esan (“Faith”). The line, said to manifest divine traits, was later persecuted by the Church, nearly erased, and its records purged.

Chloe connects this hidden lineage to a falling star the three of them once witnessed in San Michon’s library, which she now believes marked Dior’s birth. She and Rafa spent years chasing rumors of miracles until they found Dior, whose blood can heal and burn the undead. They declare that Dior is not the one who knows where the Grail is—he is the Grail, the vessel of the Redeemer’s blood.

The group quietly recites a verse—“From holy cup comes holy light … Mere man shall end this endless night”—underscoring their belief in a prophecy. Gabriel, reeling, paces as Saoirse tenses and Bellamy reaches for his blade. Despite his skepticism and disgust, Gabriel cannot deny what he saw: Dior’s blood igniting the wretched and pulling Rafa and Bellamy back from the brink of death.

Gabriel moves close to Dior, studies him, then turns to drink, finally summing up his disbelief and grudging recognition with a crude oath. The revelation reframes their mission and Dior’s importance, setting higher stakes for protecting him from Church and vampire alike.