I am defiant, and no longer afraid.
The stain on my left hand has vanished.
"My only regret is the tears I cried for you," I say. "Other than that I have none. I am at peace. And you are still a monster. One day you will be forced to look in Perseus' mirror, and you will see your own reflection, and see just how foul you are to behold. And on that day you will turn to stone,L andulf. You will die and rot, and the world will be relieved of a great burden." I stop. "Kill me now and get it over with. If you have the nerve, you disgusting creature!"
I spit in his face. He does not like that.
He wipes the saliva away and raises his knife.
"I was going to kill you quick," he says. "But now, Sita, it may take all night."
He moves to slit open my side and then pauses, puzzled.
I am confused as well, for a moment. My body has begun to glow. The pond shines as well, with the light of the heavens. It is as if the constellations in the sky have been awakened, and been inspired to send down their light to Earth. The white light that fills my body comes from the direction of the pond as well as the sky. Landulf seems to recognize the transformation I am undergoing and is filled with dismay. But this stellar current fills me with euphoria. I have experienced it before, just before I rescued the child from the Setians. Landulf is like one of those creatures,I see, only worse. He struggles to cut into my flesh as I grow brighter. His frustration makes me laugh.
"I guess you're going to have to remain a leper," I say in a voice that grows faint. "But don't take it too hard. You're not going to be around much longer. Yaksha is still somewhere on this planet and you might try to find him, but I don't think that you'll get to him in time. As far as you're concerned, I am the last vampire. Your last chance, Landulf. How does that feel?"
His rage is incredible to behold. The fair face of the god is transformed into a demon. The all but invisible serpents above his head hiss poisonous vapors. They surround him in a noxious cloud. It is as if his whole body has been swallowed by his leper's sores. He tries to grab me but his fingers pass through me. Seeing his efforts are useless, he strains to regain his pleasant demeanor, to make one last stab at my soul. But he still has the knife in his hand and in either case I will never be fooled by him again.
"Sita," he says. "Our offer is still good. We can grant you powers unimaginable. You have only to join us, and we will rule this world together."
I am practically a ghost but I can still laugh.
"You shouldn't have mentioned the togetherness part," I reply. "Ican't think of anything more dull."
17
There is a brief moment when I am lying on the floor of the interstellar craft. I feel Alanda and Gaia close. It is possible Alanda even calls my name. She must know I have successfully completed my mission. She must be waiting for me, to smile at me, to take me to other worlds, into a glorious future.
But my battle withL andulf has taken something from me.
Finally I am tired of such adventures.
As Yaksha finally grew weary, I also crave a change.
Before Alanda can call me back to the present moment, I focus my entire being on another page of history. I return to the first vampire, the strange night Yaksha was born, five thousand years ago in India, when I was a girl of seven years. The Aghoran ceremony has ended and the evil priest has been killed by Amba's animated corpse. The corpse finally lies down but there is movement inside Amba's belly, which is still swollen with the nine-month-old fetus she was carrying when she died. My father takes his knife and goes to cut out the unborn child trapped in the womb. I leap from my hiding place behind the bushes.
"Father!" I cry, as I reach for his hand that holds the knife. "Do not let that child come into the world. Amba is dead, see with your own eyes. Her child must likewise be dead. Please, Father, listen to me."
Naturally, all the men are surprised to see me, never mind hear what I have to say. My father is angry with me, but he kneels and speaks to me patiently.
" Sita,"he says, "your friend does appear dead, and we were wrong to let this priest use her body in this way. But he has paid for his evil karma with his own life. But we would be creating evil karma of our own if we do not try to save the life of this child. You remember when Sashi was born, how her mother died before she came into the world? It sometimes happens that a living child is born to a dead woman."
"No," I p rotest. "That was different. Sashi was born just as his mother died. Amba has been dead since early dawn. Nothing living can come out of her."
My father gestures with his knife to the squirming life inside Amba's bloody abdomen. "Then how do you explain the life here?"
"That is the yashini moving inside her,"I say. "You saw how the demon smiled at us before it departed. It intends to trick us. It is not gone. It has entered into the child."
My father ponders my words with a grave expression. He knows I am intelligent for my age, and occasionally asks my advice. He looks to the other men for guidance, but they are evenly divided. Some want to use the knife to stab the life moving inside Amba. Others are afraid, like my father, of committing a sin. Finally my father turns back to me and hands me the knife.
"You knew Amba better than any of us,"he says. "You would best know if this life that moves inside her is evil or good. Ifyou knowfor sure in your heart that it is evil, then strike it dead. None of the men here will blame you for the act."
I am appalled. I am still a child and my father is asking me to commit an atrocious act. But my father is wiser than I have taken himfor. He shakes his head as I stare at him in amazement, and he moves to take back the knife.
But I don't give the knife to him.
I know in my heart what I must do.
I stab the blade deep into Amba's baby.
Black blood gushes over my hands.
But it is only the blood of one. Not thousands.
The creature inside Amba's body stops moving.
Alanda turns to Gaia after studying her friend's body. They are not in a spaceship, but stand in the desert at night beside a clear pond. Many stars shine overhead.
"She is not breathing," Alanda says. "Her heart has stopped."
"But she stopped him," Gaia says, who actually can speak in his own way. "The path is now clear for many."
Alanda glances down at her friend. There is sorrow in her voice. "But she was coming back to us," she says.