- Dietrich, the Puppet Master, seizes control of the Inquisition air ships and turns them against the city, while at the same time sending a monstrous new type of undead assassin against Caterina.
- For no apparent reason, the Inquisitorial air battleships have begun to bombard the city. Ion decides that they must get through to the Embassy and offers his life to Petro if he will lead and protect them. Petro accepts the offer.
Radu has survived his wound and is confronted by Rosenkreutz agent Dietrich von Lohengrin, aka "the Puppet Master" because of his ability to control the bodies of both Vampires and Terrans as though they were mere puppets. Dietrich admonishes Radu for his fumbled attempt to bomb the Embassy and for his sentimentality toward Ion, the result being Radu's failure to kill him. Dietrich gives Radu a device which allows him to control the airships from the ground and orders Radu to kill Ion so that the meeting between the Empress and Caterina will not take place. To further assure his success, Dietrich has created an army of Death Hunters, powerful killing machines, each containing a re-animated vampire corpse under his control. Dietrich has already sent a troop of Death Hunters to the Embassy, but Sister Paula and Gunslinger Tres were able to defeat them before they could harm Caterina.
Meanwhile, on their way to the Embassy, Esther, Abel, Petro, and Ion come upon Radu driving a Goliath electrical tank stolen from the Dept of Inquisition. While begging Ion's forgiveness, Radu open fires on them. Petro jumps into the line of fire, taking most of the bullets himself. Petro is seriously wounded, and Esther finds Ion lying in a pool of his own blood. As Radu prepares to fire again, Abel goes Krusnik, drinks Ion's spilled blood, destroys the airships, and blows up Radu's tank.
The meeting between Ion and Caterina finally takes place. Realizing that the Vampires and Terrans have a common enemy, Ion and Caterina decide to band together against Rosenkeutz and the Contra Mundi.
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