How does Empire of the Vampire end?
Gabriel discovers that the Rite meant to bring back the sun actually requires Dior's death — the crucial word in the ancient tome means lifeblood, not essence. When he tries to stop it, the silversaints overpower him, execute him in a Red Rite, and drop him from Heaven's Bridge, but Liathe revives him in the chasm with her ancien blood. He climbs back up, kills Chloe and Greyhand, sets the ritual tome ablaze, and walks out of San Michon with Dior. In the framing story Gabriel remains a prisoner at Sul Adair, dictating his confession while he waits for execution.
Who is Liathe really in Empire of the Vampire?
Liathe is Gabriel's sister Celene, presumed dead since the destruction of Lorson. Laure Voss did not kill her — she ripped away the lower part of her face, turned her, and abandoned her to suffer. Celene escaped, hunted down the Esani ancien Wulfric, cannibalized him, and emerged a sanguimancer of unusual power. After Gabriel's execution she forces her ancien blood into him to resurrect him and warns that killing Dior would undo everything.
Does Dior die in Empire of the Vampire?
No. Gabriel bursts into the cathedral as Chloe raises the silversteel knife over the strapped-down girl, runs Chloe through, and cuts Dior free, and the two escape San Michon together. The epilogue reveals that Dior was taken from Gabriel sometime after their escape, in a part of the story he has not yet told, and the sequel Empire of the Damned picks up moments after the cliffhanger.
Who kills Danton Voss in Empire of the Vampire?
Dior does. On the frozen river outside Château Aveléne, while Liathe engages Danton's surviving kin, Dior grabs the broken Ashdrinker, cuts her palm on it, and drives it through his heart. Her blood sanctifies the starsteel blade, and the Beast of Vellene burns to ash as the Forever King screams in the back of Gabriel's skull.
What happened to Gabriel's wife Astrid and daughter Patience?
Fifteen years after the battle at the Twins, Fabién Voss came to the lighthouse where the family lived, holding eleven-year-old Patience, and asked to be invited inside; Gabriel, broken, let him in. Voss killed Patience as vengeance for his daughter Laure and turned Astrid. Pinned in the rubble beside his risen wife, Gabriel mercied the turned Astrid and drank her blood to gain the strength to free himself, then swore his life to war against the Forever King.
Why do the silversaints turn on Gabriel at San Michon?
Because he uncovers the truth about the Rite. Re-translating the bloodscript tome Chloe worked from, he finds that a word rendered as essence really means lifeblood — the ritual to end daysdeath demands Dior's death on holy ground. Greyhand admits it, insisting God will forgive the trespass to save the world, and when Gabriel resists, the remaining silversaints overpower him and have his throat cut on Heaven's Bridge.