Creatures of Forever (The Last Vampire #6)(13)
Author: Christopher Pike

Alanda is gentle. Her next word is not. "Yes."

"But how can you be sure?" I demand.

"Because my old and dear friend, I am from your future."

I take a moment to absorb her statement. "What is it like?"

Now she stutters. "In ruins."

I am shocked. "This world?"

The life leaves her voice. "This entire sector of the galaxy. When so much of Earth fails, much else fails later." Alanda steps close to me, puts her hands on my shoulders, her eyes in my soul. "We have come back for you, Sita, to ask you to help us. To ask you to go back to the days ofL andulf. To relive those days, and keep him from doing to you what he desired."

The prospect fills me with horror. "But I can't remember what he did to me!"

"You will, I promise, when you travel back to that time."

"No." I shake my head, feeling my guts turn to ice. "That is one thing I cannot do. Ask anything of me but that."

Alanda strokes the side of my face. "You are afraid."

Again I brush her off and turn aside. "Yes," I say in a shaky voice. "And I don't understand why. I can't understand why the simple thought of seeing him again overwhelms me."      

"It's because of what you can't remember."

I whirl around. "Then tell me what happened?"

"I cannot. You must face the memory when you are once more in his castle. It is the only way. It is why he was able to block your memory in the first place. At that time you refused to face what happened."

"Did he torture me? Did he mutilate me?"

She nods reluctantly. "In his own way. But there is more than that to the puzzle—you will see."

I am sick at the prospect. "Is your spaceship a time machine as well?"

Alanda glances up. "Not exactly."

"But how can I go back to those days? How can I meet myself?"

She stares at me. "Physically you will not journey in time. Only your mind will go back."

"I don't understand?"

"As our ships approach light speed, we are able to jump into a realm that exists outside time and space. In that realm we can cross many light-years in a moment. The enemy also has this technology, and that is how they were able to surround you in the desert tonight. In that realm, the laws of physics as you understand them do not apply. For a few seconds you will cease to exist in a particular time and place. Therefore, you will have the freedom to be where you wish to be. If you focus all your will on that ninth century vampire, you will become her. Do you see?"

"No. Will both our minds be in the same body?"

"No. There is only one of you. You will become her, and she will become you. There is no question of two."

I am still confused, but dread continues to domi­nate my mind. "I can't see him again," I plead. "You don't know what he was like."

Alanda is sad. "But I know his kind well. He is not from the dimension beyond this one, but from the one even beyond that. He is negative fifth density—not merely a sorcerer, but a master of sorcerers. Above his head the vipers hiss, and before his vision all wills turn to stone. Those you met tonight are only his minions. But he is not greater than you, Sita. I know you, old friend, know of your extraordinary origin. You cannot directly resist him when you confront him, for in doing so you will become him. That is his special power, the spell he cloaked you in before. Yet you can defeat him." Quoting Suzama, she adds,"' Faith is stronger than stone.'"

"But you will not tell me how to defeat him?"

"No. You must find the way. It is your destiny to do so."

I don't want to ask the question but I do anyway.

"Is it also my destiny to die? Alanda?"

She shakes her head. "I cannot say."

"But you come from the future. You know. Tell me."

"I know that you will rewrite our future. Please do not ask me to say more." Her eyes return to the heavens and she points. "Behold, Sita. Our ship comes for you."

6

The funny thing is, I don't see anything. Alanda explains that the ship will land deep in the desert, beside a clear pond. She offers to drive me there, but I prefer to take the Jeep, so she goes with me instead. We cut directly across the sand, murdering more than a few tumbleweeds in the process. Yet the ground is not excessively bumpy, and we soon reach the pond. After parking, I climb out and stare at it in amaze­ment.

The pond appears to be natural—Alanda assures me it is even though it is a perfect circle. A hundred feet across, the water lies so still that it could be a polished mirror set to reflect the stars. Indeed, as I approach the edge of the pond, I see more stars in the water than I do above. I see the approach of the saucer in the water before I see it in the sky, quite a few seconds before. It makes me wonder, yet I say nothing.

The saucer is blue-white, and the light from it slowly begins to flood the area and my eyes, wiping out any chance of my making out the details. If I weren't dreading seeing Landulf, I would be thrilled by this moment. But I can only think of Landulf s devilishly handsome face, his deep laugh, and the way he would make an incision in an abdomen with his long sharp nails and slowly pull out the victim's entrails while the victim watched. I feel I must resist Landulf with every fiber of my being. Yet Alanda says that is the way of failure.

I have no idea what I'll do that is different from what I did the last time.

I stare up at the saucer.

"This is incredible," I whisper.

"This is but a beam ship," she says. "Our mother ships are a thousand times this size."

"And I have been on these before?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"Another time."

"Are you sure the brakes work? The ship looks as if it's going to land on us."

"It will land over this pool."

"Then we should move?"

"No. We're fine. It will move right over us."

The light grows dazzling, and I have to shield my eyes.

"This must be visible from a hundred miles away," I gasp.

"No one sees it but us," Alanda replies.

I glance at her. "Is it physical?"

"What is physical in one density is not physical in another."