The blood of the pounding heart splashes through the barrier and catches my face. I taste the waste of Cia's perverted life on my lips and the pounding in my head increases ten-fold. Surely I will go mad if I do not stop it in the next few seconds. Whirling toward the chained girl, I do not know what she hears except that she suddenly screams. Maybe the sight of my crazed expression makes her scream. What is one human life, I think? In four thousand years I have murdered thousands, ripped the lives from a parade of innocents. I need her heart, just for a second. Her sacrifice is necessary to spare the torment of billions in the future. She should be happy to die for such a noble cause. God should see that I have no choice in the matter.
But he will not see that and I know it.
Because I am fivenot fourthousand years old.
I know to murder innocents is to murder my own soul.
But the pounding grows louder.
It is a miracleL andulf's voice can be heard above it.
"You can rip out my heart when you are done with me," he says. "And then you will finally be at peace. Peace, Sita!"
My body balls up in pain.
I squeeze my ears between my knees.
The beat of the dead heart. Nothing can stop it.
Tears run over my face. Bloody tears.
The girl swims in my red vision.
My head will explode, I know.
"Kill her, Sita!" Landulf implores.
My mission will fail. Billions will burn.
"Rip out her heart!"
In my head. The pain. The pounding. Please.
"Do it!"
I do it. Finally, just this once, I listen to him.
Leaping toward her, giving her almost no time to react, I thrust my left hand into her chest, smashing through her white gown and her pale ribs. Yet for a fraction of a second, she knows what I am going to do. She feels the absolute horror of the ritual execution. That is what Landulf wants, what he needs, to activate his black sorcery. The battery of the bastard is tied to perversity and pain. The girl's heart is in my hand. I feel its life, and still I yank it from her chest and leap toward the circle. Out the corner of my eye I see her staring at me, and understand the betrayal she is feeling deep in my soul. Her eyes are as blue as mine. Even in death, they could be mine.
I land inside the circle, at the tip of a point on the pentagram.
The pounding stops. The agony in my head.
The dead girl's heart seems to melt in my hand.
Landulf has picked up the mystical spear.
"They are always hungry," he explains as he nods toward the heart vaporizing in my left palm. In moments it is entirely gone. There is not even a stain of blood left on my hand. Landulf raises the spear and takes a step toward me. He is pleased with me. "You have passed the second step," he says.
I ready myself for his attack. I shift to the right side.
My foot touches fire.
I whip my foot back. There are no visible flames.
"You are now in hell," Landulf says. "You are required to stay inside the lines of the pentagram. But I am free to roam where I wish, all over the circle."
He lunges at me with the spear. He is fast.
I leap over to the adjacent star point.
He barely misses me. He flashes me a smile.
"Isn't this fun?" he asks.
"Delightful," I say.
"There is one other rule you should know. Don't jump or walk through the center of the pentagram. There is an invisible being waiting there that might consume you alive."
"You expect me to believe you?" I ask.
"You don't have to. But then, I will lose you forever, and you will be trapped in a dark place forever." He raises the spear once more. "But do what you want. You may even try to escape from the circle, but you won't be able to. Once you are in here with me, you will stay in here."
He makes another stab at me. I leap to the next point on the star. He misses, but I realize that I cannot keep on like this forever. His freedom of movementgiveshim a devastating advantage. His speed and strength are a mystery to me. But perhaps they come from the sum total of all the demons he carries in his heart. He is not necessarily as strong as I am, but his strength is close. I can tell by the power in his physical bursts. And he has the mystical spear, and I have to wonder if Christ's dried blood is an advantage or disadvantage in this cursed place.
"The spear is neither negative or positive," he says, maybe reading my mind, maybe guessing. "The tip is simply a point around which destiny turns. In the hands of a saint, it could be used for great healing. In my hands, it is merely a tool for my immortality."
"You are not immortal," I snap.
"But I will be, Sita. In a few moments. As soon as I pierce your side with this spear and channel your blood into my body."
"You could have done that when I was unconscious."
"No. To get the full benefit of your blood it is necessary that I drain you in my place of power. And you had to enter here of your own free will, after executing an innocent. Everything that has happened to you has been planned to bring you to this precise point." He pauses. "You see, Sita, I know you are from the future."
He continues to shock me.
"How do you know?" I gasp.
"Because I am from the same future."
"Did I know you?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
"Linda's boyfriend. I was the one who sent you into the desert."
"That fat slob?"
He is not offended. "I was in disguise."
I nod in admiration. "You are clever. More clever than any foe I have ever encountered."
My remark pleases him. He lowers the spear.
"Thank you. You have also been a worthy adversary. Why don't you let this end with dignity? I will give you that if you stop resisting me."
I sigh. "What do you want me to do?"
"Stand still for a moment. I do not need a lot of time."
"What will you do to me?" I ask.
"I will take your blood. I need your blood. But you will not have to suffer. You have my promise on that."
I consider. "All right. I will surrender on two conditions."
"What are they?"
"I want to open my own veins. And I want to use the nail that was on the cross, the one now tied to the tip of your spear."
"Why the nail?" he asks.
"Because you say it was pounded into the hand or foot of Jesus. If I am to die, I want that nail to pierce my own flesh." I add, "It will make me feel closer to him as I die."