“Yeah. We sure could use her now.”
The conversation seems to run into a roadblock. Paula lapses into silence. Like Seymour said, she has the gift of prophecy, like Suzama of old. That’s the main reason I’ve called her today, not to talk to her about the game. She’s the only one I have told about the Veil of Veronica, back when she was living at Lake Tahoe. I have reached out to her with the hope she’ll tell me something that will help me find it.
Yet when I bring it up, she practically cuts me off.
“Sita, stop. I told you that day we were sitting by the lake that the riddle of the veil will be revealed to you when the time is right.”
“I know that’s what you said back then. But things have changed. The people, or creatures, that we’re combating have discovered it exists. I’m afraid they might get to it before I can.” I pause. “I need your help, Paula.”
“I can’t help you.”
“Then let me talk to John.”
“No. You can’t involve him in this.”
“Why don’t we let him decide.”
“I’m sorry, Sita.”
“Are you? It must be pretty cool being you. Having a sixth sense that allows you to stand on a tall building and see miles away while the rest of us stumble around in a dark alley.”
“You have your own gifts. Be grateful you were able to reclaim your original form and can still use them.”
Paula is referring to the time I was trapped in Teri’s body. She and her son were present when Umara put me back in my old body. Of course, with John around, it was always hard to know who was doing what. The kid can just sit in a room and make it feel wonderful.
Still, his mother’s attitude pushes my buttons.
“Hell, I’m grateful. But you know the only reason I’m back in this body is to help you and your son and the other seven billion souls on this planet. I could be with Krishna right now, but I chose to come back.”
“Then be happy with your choice, and finish your task.”
“I’ll do that just as soon as I figure out what it is.”
“One hint, Sita, then I’m going. All right?”
I hesitate. “Okay.”
“Since the last world war, everything you’ve done for mankind has been amazing. Yet it all would have been unnecessary if you hadn’t failed at Auschwitz.”
Her words hit like a blow to my solar plexus. I have to struggle to respond. “How dare you. I was lucky to get out of that hellhole alive.”
“Yes, you were,” Paula says, and for the first time there’s warmth in her voice. But it’s small comfort because a moment later she practically hangs up on me. “Good-bye, Sita.”
She is gone. I’m left alone with a dial tone.
“Bitch,” I say.
Frankly, I have no idea what she’s talking about. What did I do wrong in the concentration camp? Is she judging me because I failed to destroy the place? It makes no sense. I told her enough about my time at Auschwitz for her to know I was in bad shape when I escaped from the camp. But the way she talks it’s like she thinks I should have done a lot more to save the prisoners there.
“She’s so full of shit,” I mutter to myself.
Yet I wonder why I suddenly feel so guilty.
I place another call, this one to Mr. Kram, one of the last surviving Telar and an ex-member of their inner circle. I met him not long before I destroyed what the Telar called the Source, a group of their most ancient leaders. With the help of Brutran’s Cradle I was able to wreck the Source’s psychic shield—a form of protection that made them virtually invulnerable. But it was Mr. Kram who launched a barrage of missiles at the last stronghold of the Telar and wiped out their physical bodies.
He did so because I offered to spare his daughter, Alia.
Unfortunately, Alia turned on me and I had to kill her.
I spared Mr. Kram instead and held him to a promise to help me destroy his leaders. He did so because he feared me, but also because he hated the Source as much as I did. He had seen what they were capable of.
I have kept Mr. Kram’s number just in case.
He seems surprised to hear from me and wants to know why I’m calling. I put my question to him bluntly.
“I want to know why the Telar referred to Yaksha and Umara’s son, Matt, as the Abomination,” I ask.
Mr. Kram is slow to respond. “May I ask why you need to know this?”
“Personal reasons. Answer me.”
“There’s the obvious reason. Matt is the product of two powerful bloodlines. He’s the only child of a vampire and a Telar. It’s no surprise he’s as strong as he is. It’s as if the two most potent qualities of both races blossomed inside him.”
“You say that like it’s a good thing. Yet the Telar feared Matt.”
“Of course. He killed so many of us. It’s no surprise we should fear and even hate him.”
“Still, you haven’t answered my question.”
“Haven’t I?”
“The Telar’s fear of Matt went far beyond his strength. The name you gave him—the Abomination. It’s as if you granted him legendary status, but not in a good way.” I stop to let my meaning sink in. “I want to know about the legends surrounding him.”
Mr. Kram hesitates. “That’s not something we talk about, even among ourselves.”
“Fine. But you’re going to talk about it now.”
“Or else?”
“Or else I will find you and force you to tell me to my face. And that, Mr. Kram, is not something you want to have happen.” I pause. “Talk.”
Mr. Kram is a long time answering. “The legend of the Abomination existed before Matt was born. It came into existence thousands of years ago when the Source was almost solely focused on attaining the supreme reality. In those days the Telar’s inner circle was in daily contact with celestial beings of almost infinite power and creativity. It was these creatures that warned that if the Telar was not careful, one of their own kind would give birth to a man who was not a man at all. Someone who was never supposed to be born at all. These beings called this no-man the Abomination.”
“And when Matt was born to Umara, an ancient Telar, and Yaksha, the first and greatest of all the vampires, the Source assumed that he must be this Abomination.”