Yet there is another conversation going on, another miracle that I’m about to witness. Taking the white handkerchief, John wipes the blood from my face and helps me up. I see Matt holding Teri in his arms and she is dying. But it is Teri, it’s not me, because I’m back in my old body.
“You’re here,” Matt whispers as he cradles her in his arms, stroking her head. “I knew you’d come back to me.”
“Thank you,” Teri says.
Matt seems to blush in the red light. “Why do you thank me?”
“For now. For this moment.”
Matt nods. “This moment is forever. You can live forever. You have Sita’s blood. . . .” He suddenly stops as her eyes close and her head rolls to the side. He shakes her. “Teri?”
She struggles to open her eyes. A part of me is still attached to her and knows what that struggle cost her. “Oh, Matt. I have to go now but it’s all right. This body dies but our love is forever.”
Matt is suddenly desperate. “No! Your body will heal. It has to heal. It has vampire blood in it. It’s immortal.”
Teri forces a smile. “But I’m not a vampire, you never wanted me to be one. Now please, Matt, let me go. Let’s be grateful we got this chance to say good-bye.”
Matt shakes his head. “No! You can heal. You just need time.”
“Time.” Somehow she reaches up and touches his lips. “Yes, I see it. We will meet again in a world without time.”
“Wait!” He grabs her fingers and kisses them but it’s one kiss she doesn’t feel. Her eyes have closed and the life has left her. No longer does her leg bleed. Her heart has stopped. Once again, I have returned to life, but it’s to a suddenly lonely world. My child is gone.
FIFTEEN
Thirty hours later, I sit down the hill from IIC’s primary office in Malibu. Beside me in the driver’s seat is Umara. It’s early morning, nine o’clock, and our car is located on the lone road that leads up to the office building, if it can be called that and not a fortress. For the last six hours I’ve been alone in the car with Umara. During that time I’ve learned a great deal about the ancient Telar that she helped create and the modern Cradle Brutran and her associates now wield.
The parallels are striking but not exact.
“How do you feel?” Umara asks.
“Strong. Ready.”
Umara studies me, smiles faintly, nods. “You understand now why I had to wait for you.”
“But you know so much more about their psychic rituals than I do.”
“Knowledge is not the key to this victory, experience is. Only someone who has died and been reborn can face what you are about to face.”
“Then I wish Yaksha was here.”
My remark is too flippant. I see I’ve hurt her and try to apologize but she stops me. “He didn’t want to leave either of these monsters behind for us to destroy but he wasn’t given a choice in the matter. Krishna dictated much of his life and I never saw Yaksha disobey.”
“Yet Yaksha spent centuries fighting the Telar.”
Umara shrugs. “He fought to contain them. He knew he would never stop them.”
“How am I supposed to?”
“You’ve already said it. It takes a thorn to remove a thorn. Until the IIC matured and developed the Cradle, there was nothing on earth that could wipe out the Telar.”
“Then I guess I better get my butt up that hill.”
Umara eyes the steep climb from the Pacific Coast Highway. “I’d give you a ride but they have external cameras. I can’t risk them obtaining a photo of my face. Besides, it’s better I stay here. Once you enter the building, I won’t let any cars enter or exit this road.” Umara reaches over and hugs me. “Call if they start to gain the upper hand. Matt and I will come quick.”
It feels good to hold her. “I’ll only do so as a last resort.”
She kisses my cheek and lets go. “Time to kick ass, Sita.”
I laugh as I climb out of the car.
I suspect it will be a long time before I laugh again.
I hike the road to the center of IIC’s power at a casual pace. The sky is a brilliant blue and the morning sun feels good on my reborn flesh. Of course, if I wished, I could reach the structure in seconds. But it’s my goal to use as little force as possible to achieve my goal. Cunning will serve me better with Brutran and her people than force. Still, in the end, I know blood will be spilled.
I’ve been in IIC’s main building before. It’s four stories of bulletproof glass, and was designed by an architect who was so in love with the primal shapes—cubes, spheres, pyramids and such—that he couldn’t help but combine them all into his design. Surprisingly, the structure is pleasant to look at, nestled as it is in a wide patch of green almost two miles back in the brown hills.
I don’t bother to knock but walk in like I own the place. The same young woman sits at the reception desk: the secretary who insisted I use the company’s bandages to stop my fingers from bleeding. The woman flashes a bright smile, and I doubt she was in on the plot to collect my blood.
“You were here a few months ago. I’m sorry I’ve forgotten your name.”
“Alisa Perne. You are?”
“Janice Walker. How can I help you this morning?”
“I’m here to see Cynthia Brutran.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“Just tell her I’m here.”
“I will. But I must warn you that you might have to wait. Ms. Brutran’s in the middle of an important meeting.”
I smile but my eyes add an extra punch to my next remark. “Then be sure to add that I don’t want to be kept waiting.”
Turning, I walk toward the seats. As I do so, I reach in my pocket and remove a glass vial filled with a clear liquid and pop the cork. I allow the fluid to spill across the tile floor. The amount is so small and I leak it so quickly I doubt the receptionist notices. I hear her on the phone. It’s good to have my hypnotic powers back. She fights to make sure Brutran gets my message.
I’m sitting for perhaps five minutes when Brutran’s handsome male secretary exits a nearby elevator. He glances at me uneasily, he knows I’m dangerous. He has a high-tech metal detector in his hand.
“Ms. Perne. Ms. Brutran would be happy to see you now.”
I stand and walk toward him. “Thank you. Fourth floor?”
“Yes. I’ll take you up. But first let me apologize for a new security measure we have instigated. I have to scan you for any metal you may be carrying.”
I casually raise my arms, for I am not armed. Not with a gun.
“Scan away,” I say.
Minutes later I’m led into Brutran’s corner office on the top floor. The woman doesn’t stand to greet me but remains seated behind what she probably considers legitimate shelter, her beautiful walnut desk, which she keeps crowded with computer screens. She wears a charcoal blouse, an elegant gray pantsuit, and a bright string of pearls. Like before, she’d appear to be thirty at a glance, perhaps six years older with a closer look. Yet I know she’s at least sixty years old and has a daughter that’s five.
With my left hand in my pocket, I remove the top from another vial and allow the liquid to seep into my pants. Since that particular leg is turned away from Brutran, I’m not worried she sees it. Besides, I have on black, and it’s difficult to see a water stain on my favorite color.
Not that the liquid is water.
Brutran forces a smile. “Alisa. What an unexpected surprise.”
“A pleasant one, I hope.”
“Of course. Except for your bad habit of not calling ahead of time. Like a normal person.”
“I apologize. I was in the neighborhood. I thought I’d stop by so we could catch up.”
“I heard through the grapevine you’ve been traveling since we last spoke. London, Arosa, Colorado—you’ve had quite the summer. Did you have fun at the Olympics?”
“That was the most enjoyable part of the trip.”
“I can imagine. I watched the night your friend ran the fifteen-hundred-meter. It was an exciting race. The experts were all surprised when Teri won the gold medal.”
I’m careful to keep my voice steady. “Teri’s a gifted athlete.”
“I’m sure she is. And she had you there to cheer for her. She’s a lucky girl.”
“How was your summer?” I ask.
“Busy. I was hoping to get away but there’s too much happening here that requires my attention.”
“I can imagine. You’ve got Wall Street on one side and the Telar on the other side.”
“The Telar are an old annoyance of no consequence.”
“I agree with the old part. But you have to admit they’re your most lethal enemy.”
Brutran’s face quickly hardens. “Are you sure this is the time and place to rehash such matters?” she asks.
During my last visit, Brutran had indicated that our conversation was being monitored. At the same time, she had hinted that I was in danger just by being in the building. Before, I took her warning seriously and quickly excused myself.